Comments 1,167

Re: Talking Point: As Zelda: Wind Waker Turns 20, Doesn't Toon Link Deserve A Second Chance?

cyrus_zuo

Just started replaying Phantom Hourglass on WiiU after not having played since its DS release.
It feels like Nintendo of another era made this game (and maybe they did).
While I still WISH it wasn't stylus controlled with all the imprecisions the stylus creates, I love the upbeat positive feel to the game.

That positive, fun vibe is what I'd like more of!
Toon Link is a very nice connection to all of that, and it's unfortunate they've used Toon Link in so many poor games.

I'd love another Wind Waker!
I'd love more games that feel like the happy, fun, joyful Nintendo of 10-25 years ago. They are very rare anymore - instead we've got a lot more attitude, and if that is what I wanted there are already many other options.

Re: Best Nintendo Switch Football Games

cyrus_zuo

Said it before, will say it again...
Switch Sports Soccer with the leg strap is the best gaming experience I've had playing this year. It's crazy fun and rewarding online to kick in goals, and it replicates that feeling of 'wow, that was so fun' that I haven't felt since the original Wii sports all those years ago.

If you're overlooking Switch Sports, or bought it, but haven't tried the leg strap, you are seriously missing out!

I've been playing it for weeks now and while Soccer was ok before I discovered the leg strap it is an amazing revelation with it. That feeling of kicking in a last second goal or overtime goal to win the game does not get old.

Re: Poll: What Was The Best Wii U Launch Game?

cyrus_zuo

Nintendo Land - SO MUCH!

I wish we'd gotten more gaming like that - one person on the pad, 4 on the console - it was unique and remains unique, though I get it, MOST everyone wants more of the same (I'm just not in the group that gets stoked for CoD 19!)

Based on hours my household had nearly 100 hours on NintendoLand (and similar amounts on many of the other amazing party games on Wii U).

Re: Nintendo Switch Sports Ad Tees Up Golf For November Release Date

cyrus_zuo

Switch sports, online soccer with the leg strap is easily the most fun gaming experience I've had this year.

It's the first experience to recapture the feeling of the first time I played the original Wii sports all those years ago, and because you're online the competing is more fun than in playing the CPU.

Re: Feature: From 'Retro Bowl' To 'Retro Goal' - How New Star Games Returned To Its Grass Roots

cyrus_zuo

Interested.
What I loved about NSS will be hard to capture w/o a lot of depth. I loved running a team and having players playing on my team and international team and competing to move my team up a division, there was just so much to the game...
...and then there was all the training exercises that actually made you better at playing the game.

This should be interesting, and I'll be interested to see if it goes beyond an arcade Soccer game.
Simon and team do great work!

Re: Retro Goal Is Ready To Kick Off The World Cup Spirit On Switch This Month

cyrus_zuo

I thought Retro Bowl was really not great - fun for a short bit, but the running game was not good, leaving me let down (I much prefer Football Heroes Turbo - IMO its gameplay is vastly superior)

That said, I usually really like what New Star Games does. New Star Soccer on PC was one of the best sport games ever in my opinion.

I'll look forward to this.

Re: Konami's Earnings Report Reveals A Substantial Profit Drop In The First Half Of 2022

cyrus_zuo

They made more money.
Revenue was up 4%

This article and that twitter post are both terribly misleading. The extra details are the difference between making a correct and incorrect conclusion - and there aren't enough details, and what is there should be reported correctly.

Revenue was up. (made more money on games than before!)
Costs were up more (labor and marketing).
Profit was down. (costs were up more than revenue)

Re: Frantic Wii U Party Game 'Chompy Chomp Chomp Party' Coming To Switch With New Content

cyrus_zuo

I LOVE 8 player games and own MOST Of them on Wii, WiiU and Switch...

...this is not a great game
At least on the WiiU it was hard to keep attention for more than a few minutes (and we tried playing it many times)

Better options include:

  • Pico Park
  • Runbow
  • Party Golf
  • Baron: Fur is Gonna Fly
  • 12 Orbits
  • Knight Squad
    (my daughter would say Om Nom: Run - which is fun for 5-10 minutes and is again the next and each time you play it!)

...and there are many more options, I'm just listing ones that usually are enjoyed when I've introduced them to a large group.

Re: 2D Multiplayer Game 'Killer Queen Black' To Shut Down Next Month

cyrus_zuo

I didn't love the change they made to combat with the queen for the home version, which I though made combat really the only way to go 90% of the time breaking the 3 ways to win that makes the game so fun in the arcade.

Disappointing about Amazon shutting them down by not supporting Gamesparks. It's the danger of using a service provider and as we saw w/Google Stadia earlier this week, it doesn't matter how big of a partner you have, shut-downs come and can break your heart and your game.

Re: Ecco The Dolphin Devs Are Offering Money To Anyone Who Can Beat Them In Their New Game

cyrus_zuo

Bought it...

Worth $2 for sure.
It's a push/pull RTS, thankfully units pass by each other instead of always stopping to fight, which creates some unique strategies.
I find the difficulty to be pretty high, but it's one of those games that when you figure out what you're supposed to do you go from hopeless loss to dominating win.

I really, really wish it had a restart button - that feels like a big miss, but for $2? It was worth the money and the time.

Re: Soapbox: 20 Years Later, Super Mario Sunshine Is Still The Best 3D Mario

cyrus_zuo

?
Couldn't disagree more.
Not being able to do a crouch then a high jump was a big disappointment that took away from the ease of exploration.

...then there was the water backpack - it made movement so much harder than any other Mario game.
It's ok, but dead last of the 3D games and doesn't measure up to Mario standards in my opinion.

...but then if this is the first Mario game you played it would probably stand out...

Re: Japanese Charts: Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes Takes The Top Spot

cyrus_zuo

...I see challenges here - last year was rough for new Switch games, this year is MUCH worse. Less than 100K for Fire Emblem warriors is not a good start.
The overall sales for Switch games are all pretty poor - it's clear that there is a momentum issue on Switch and it's unclear how it will change (Splatoon 3? Pokemon? ???)

Re: Super Bomberman R 2 Coming To Switch In 2023

cyrus_zuo

IDK

I bought the original on release day and still haven't unlocked a bunch (1/2) of the stages, let alone characters and other content b/c the currency system in the game is a RIDICULOUS GRIND. (oh and the online was unplayable due to lag)

I paid for the online pack for the game they are closing down...

...and now they want me to buy another game, which I can tell has a LOT of the same content I've paid for in the last two games.

...and truth be told - the WiiWare game remains superior to the 'R' series.

I think I'll wait for a huge discount.

I wish they were less focused on modes like 'Castle' and more focused on getting the core gameplay tight b/c it simply IS NOT as good gameplay wise as it was for all the years from the TG-16 through the WiiWare release on the Wii.

Re: Best Nintendo Switch Sports Games

cyrus_zuo

This article needs some serious updating. Much of the text is years old, making the whole article feel like the EA approach to FIFA. Print it once and then reprint forever with minor updates. (Which is sort of ironic no?)

Oh, and Retro Bowl isn't good. Super repetitive, no running game and defense is CPU run. Football Heroes Turbo is a dramatically better game.

Re: Japanese Charts: Nintendo Switch Sports Dominates As Kirby Holds Strong

cyrus_zuo

@Yosher I honestly don't know what you mean. The game has 10x the meat of the original Wii Sports (which I played and loved to death - shaking Reggie's hand right after playing it at E3).

The online of Switch sports is fantastic! It is the main game mode, the predominate menu item and so full of goodness. I remain mystified by the comments of people not liking Switch Sports and it always seems to come to people playing offline and wanting the game to be just like the old games were - offline party affairs and not being interested in what the new game is - and online power-house (imo).

Your mileage may vary, but I personally couldn't disagree more with the narrative that it's an incomplete game. It's far more beefy than the original Wii Sports and far more beefy than the Wii Sports remake on WiiU.
It does lack single-player practice exercises like those games - but the online is so rich in difficulty and thoughtful modes and unlocks - I absolutely love it! (if I only played offline I'd just go back to the old games - but then I've been there, done that anyway...)

Re: Video: We Instantly Make Nintendo Switch Sports Better

cyrus_zuo

@AndyC_MK111 Bowling is too easy - and then you go online. Online you play tournament style where from the 16 players, half are knocked out every 3 frames. It's maybe the most fun online thing I've ever played in a Nintendo made game.

Bowling, imo, is a perfect example of why Switch sports is a tremendous online game.
No lag, lots of games, seriously challenging competition, tons of unlocks (none of which give you an advantage).

Online is truly a lot of fun.
I get that Wii Sports was a great party game with fun single-player modes (we had over 120 hours in the game on my Wii).
I think that putting that out again is what I expected here, and I'm glad that instead Switch sports is probably Nintendo's best online effort ever.

Again - mileage may vary, but when you see all the things that Nintendo put into online, then you see people reviewing the game based on offline - and totally missing MOST of the game, it's a weird disconnect. It's at best an incomplete view/review of the game, but mostly I just think people are crazy missing out on how good the game really is.

Re: Video: We Instantly Make Nintendo Switch Sports Better

cyrus_zuo

I love this game.
Sorry - but the online is fantastic! We've been playing the heck out of it - online.

I don't understand the hate - at all.
My guess is that people just don't like this type of game?
Not sure.
I'm a huge fan of the Wii Sports series, and honestly, I think the motion controls are better in the previous Wii games than Switch Sports (with the exception of the WiiU version as outside of Baseball and Bowling that game was a step backwards and online was a mess).
But - worse controls notwithstanding - this game recaptures the magic of the series - but specifically only in the online. The online is fantastic fun - and every time I find someone doesn't like the game it has been b/c they are playing it wrong.

MOST ALL, like 90%+, of the game structure is online. If you're playing offline you're simply missing almost everything that is great about the game.

Re: Reggie Thought Metroid: Other M Would Be A 'Defining Moment' For The Franchise

cyrus_zuo

His comments resonate with me. I have played through other M 3x. I've 100%-ed it (I've never played through any other Metroid 2x).

Still, with that said, it always amazes me how uninteresting the first 2 hours are. It's just not fun for a long bit, then, in my opinion, it becomes a ton of fun and the switching between 3D and 2D is an awesome unique and to this day unparalleled experience.

Re: Video: Is Nintendo Switch Sports Really That Bad?

cyrus_zuo

Your score and review don't reflect my feelings.

Online is awesome!
This is a fantastic Wii sports sequel that does online so well!

Online is the game!
... And it is a good game!

We've put in 10+ hours as a family into this in its first week. Maybe 20.

Honestly, I'm so, so happy I picked it up! It's been a long time since we had something fun and different that was also so well done.

Big win in my opinion.