dmcc0

If nothing else, this list tells me I need to get stuck into to my backlog. I've only played about 16 or 17 of these, but have about 40-45 either in the backlog, or on the wish list.

The rest (Zelda, Pikmin, Fire Emblem etc) is stuff I'm not likely to play/not interested in.

I've read how they scored it, but it still doesn't make any sense to me. I can't see how they've tallied up some of the scored games - Bandai Namco for example says 50 scored products - but I can only see around 40 titles in 2022 with scores. It also seems heavily biased towards games that got reviews on multiple platforms. A mediocre game getting lots of reviews on multiple platforms would pulls the average down it seems, while the opposite is true for something like Persona5 which reviewed well on every platform and pulls the average up.

@Tharsman There's a line in the report that states the software figure doesn't include 'Download-only software or add-ons', so unless the 99c games have a physical edition they're not counted.

Makes sense really, given the install base - 900m+ is less than 10 games per system.

@dmcc0 Nintendo Life article on the demo states you can play arcade mode to the part-way through the stage 1 boss, so will be indicative of the game - as opposed to being a demo based on an early build for example.

I guess that should be enough to let you know if the game is for you or not. Maybe a couple of gameplay videos may help too if you are still not sure?

@Scapetti I haven't actually bought it yet - it's on the wishlist waiting for a sale and got the notification of the price drop earlier this morning.

From the various reviews I've seen, it's a bit of a mixed bag - decent enough, but nothing ground-breaking. Most seem to comment on the relative high price for a shmup though.

There is a demo on the eShop though, so worth a try if you're not sure if you'll like it.

Also, the base game seems to be discounted by 32% as of today (at least in the UK).

@MarioBrickLayer I imagine discs cost next to nothing to produce compared to carts though

@Kiz3000 I still bust out the Buzz controllers occasionally. The quiz games are pretty good, but my favourites are the Buzz Junior games which were a series of mini games/party games controlled with the Buzz controllers. They are for kids, so are far too easy against CPU players, but against other players they are great fun.

@Fizza Pokemon Picross would be so good if it wasn't for the F2P grind. I still play it most days for the daily training puzzles, but I'm at a point now where I have to grind for a couple of weeks just to open up the next map.

@Moonsorrow999 It's more of a list of affiliate links dressed up as an article. Cheapest I've seen in the UK was £29.99 at Smyths I think. Currys sometimes discount new releases pretty quickly after release too - I've stopped pre-ordering from there as I've been stung by that a couple of times

It'll be a Captain Falcon icon on NSO rewards in a "Forgotten IPs" series 😀

Even now their official messaging is rather confusing - you can still add funds beyond August via linked Switch/Nintendo account. Also "purchases will no longer be available" does sound like you'll lose access to stuff you've already bought too - which is not the case.

Just a pity they chose to release it in the same week as TMNT Shredders Revenge. I think I'd rather go there for my side-scrolling beat 'em up fix. I'll probably pick it up at some point in a sale though

Got Horgihugh and Friends on the ay from Amazon. Will definitely pick up Shredders Revenge, but not sure if I'll go Switch or Xbox yet (maybe even both if its as good as the reviews say). Might get Final Vendetta & Neon White at some point too.

Fourth of May be with you.

I get I'm probably not the target audience for this, but who needs a new T-Shirt every month? I've got T-Shirts that I still wear that are older than my kids (late teens)

@darkswabber Xbox appears to sell better digitally in the UK - still not outselling PS versions, but it's a bit closer than physical, but PS does have a much bigger install base than Xbox so it's to be expected.

Would be interesting to see the sales breakdown of a game across all 3 platforms, but we rarely see any big sellers release across them all at the same time.

The last Xbox games I remember appearing in the physical chart were Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5 towards the end of last year, which is actually quite impressive given they were available day 1 on Game Pass.

@Specter_of-the_OLED There's a Rocket Knight Game on Xbox 360 - I was actually playing it a few weeks ago. It's even part of the backwards compatibility program (was playing on Series S). Think it might've been part of Games with Gold as I'm pretty sure I never bought it.

According to Wikipedia it's a sequel to the Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2 rather than a reboot and is also available on PS3 and PC

To be honest I thought it was pretty average at best.

@Nontendo_4DS I actually had no idea gold points were added for 3DS until last night - I redeemed my MK8 Expansion code on Switch and noticed I had way more points than I was expecting

@Not_Soos While the Nintendo games you mentioned were highly rated, Nintendo had a few that were 'Average' which pulled the overall score down - stuff like the Pokémon D/P remakes and Famicom Detective Club along with the likes of Mario Golf that you mentioned didn't review all that well. SEGA includes all the Atlus stuff (Persona, SMT) as well as the Yakuza franchise and Football Manager which seem to review quite well. Despite seemingly mixed reviews, Monkey Ball does have a pretty good Metacritic score - in fact the only SEGA games that were considered average seemed to be Sonic and the Olympics Game.
You should head over to the Metacritic Article which explains the scoring and gives a bit more detail on the top 30 - quite an interesting read.

@troj27 quoted from the text above the list -

"...we asked Nintendo Life readers to rate their favourite Switch games since launch and the list below is the result according to the User Ratings..."

So nothing to do with the Reviews

@Dirty0814 Yeah, I'm using an upscaler too, but that one you've linked to is for composite RCA (R/W/B). I was using one of those initially, but it wasn't great. I've also tried a Wii2HDMI adaptor as well, but found the best results using component cable and upscaler similar to the one @1UP_MARIO pictured above.

@Dirty0814 I recently bought an HDMI adaptor for Wii, but I think the component cables actually looked better IMO - the colours looked a bit washed-out with the HDMI adaptor - both far better than composite obviously. I guess it depends on the adaptor

Some pink joycons would be nice

I have to admit when I first saw the ads for Switch - hipsters on roof tops playing Mario Kart in table top mode - I did think it was a pretty dumb idea and wondered who was going to buy it.

We've bought 3 in our household now, so I guess it's a good thing I have nothing to do with making or selling games consoles 😂

I'm still not sure there are many hipsters playing MK on rooftops though....

@Bunkerneath That is odd. Have you tried different browsers or just adding either of the cards to PayPal and just using that?

@Bunkerneath What type of cards won't it take? Seems to have all the main ones except Amex

This was one of the games I was most looking forward to playing when I got my Series S as I didn't have an N64 as it seems to be widely regarded as one of the best in the genre. Unfortunately, I hated it - just didn't click with me at all and I abandoned it after a few hours.

@Skunkfish I originally thought that when I saw the GB numbers, but given that they are counting PS4/Pro, XB1/1X and even Series X|S as as single entry then it doesn't seem so bad.

@Skunkfish PS4 and Gameboy apparently.

https://www.vgchartz.com/analysis/platform_totals/

@BCMT I played it again a few months ago after I replaced the ridiculously noisy fan in my Dreamcast - it holds up really well even after 20-odd years.

@Deathstar461 Ah, ok. I haven't actually played the NSO one so that's a little disappointing.

@DashKappei Patch should be imminent for that one:

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/12/cotton-guardian-force-saturn-tribute-is-getting-an-update-to-improve-input-delay

No mention of lag on this review so presumably it's fine

@Deathstar461 there's a Mario one on NSO, also, there's a mobile game called Pixel Puzzle Collection which is basically Konami Picross

@Rpg-lover Yup, FIFA25 Legacy Ed. on Switch 2 will probably be a straight port of PS4 FIFA22 with updated squads 😉

@Meteoroid I'm sure I read somewhere that Switch only gets an annual a FIFA game because it was part of the licencing agreement that it has to be on all major current platforms. They don't seem to be too bothered about any other sports games on Switch so I doubt EA would bother otherwise.

@Rpg-lover I've probably said this before, but it's pretty much your only option for a football 'sim' type game on Switch - taken as a standalone game it's not bad. The vast majority buying it either have no other option, aren't comparing it 'proper' versions on other platforms or are simply not aware that it's a re-skinned version of previous years.

@FragRed I'm sure I read somewhere that Nintendo doesn't actually release digital sales data so maybe why they stick to just doing the physical chart so they are comparing like-for-like.

Was curious to see what else was in the chart that week given exclusives weren't that common as #1:
2. FIFA '99
3. Tomb Raider 3
4. Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped
5. Turok 2: Seeds Of Evil
6. V Rally
7. Toca Touring Car Championship
8. Brian Lara Cricket
9. Abe's Exoddus
10. Crash Bandicoot

FIFA99 was actually top the week before and the week after and would've likely taken top spot if it has been on another platform - Sports games sold well on Mega Drive, but it was gone by that point and Dreamcast not released yet - EA ignored Dreamcast anyway.

Not exactly a great month for games, but still quite an achievement for Zelda as an exclusive, especially given the PS install base likely much bigger than N64 at that point.

@Mando44646 @somebread Where do you two live? Where I come from, living on a tropical island where your neighbours are anthropomorphic animals would definitely be considered fantasy 😂

Great news, but I wish I knew this before I bought the Japanese import that shipped 2 days ago. Great timing 🙄

@clianvXAi If you're new to Switch and want a football game there's not that many other options. TBH feeling like a 20yo football game not a bad thing given the last couple I played on Xbox were awful.

Just noticed Halo in there too - Pretty impressive given it's on Game Pass

At least Analogue are trying to stop scalpers/resellers/whatever you want to call them - quoted from their pre-order FAQ:
"However, if you place multiple orders for Pockets, attempt to subvert the quantity limit, place your order using a bot, or are found to have placed your pre-order for sale prior to delivery, you order will immediately be canceled or moved to the end of the line."

Not sure what else they could do TBH. I'm going to hold off pre-ordering for now - looks great, but I'm not sure if I actually want one or if it's just the hype clouding my judgement.

@SwitchForce I don't think its about not liking digital, rather than being able to have the choice - especially of you want to play any physical stuff from last gen you might already have. Sony themselves have said about 70% of games sold are now digital and I think Xbox is about the same so the majority clearly do like digital.

It's not an eShop sale without DB Fighterz, Mario + Rabbids and probably UNO (which isn't on the list but will more than likely be on sale)

They look pretty cool, but probably way too fiddly for me nowadays. I worked at a sign makers back when the original games were released - I would've totally blown these files up to a ridiculous size and made huge versions if they were available back then 😂

@kobashi100 For me it seems like less hassle than having to change country every time - I can just open the store from whatever user account is cheapest. Don't you lose existing funds/coins when you change countries, or is that just for different regions?

@OorWullie Yeah, that's my go-to site for price checking too. I've already got a Russian, South African and Norwegian accounts as well as my regular UK account and can usually get somewhere pretty close to the cheapest price with one of them so don't really want to set up another for a relatively small saving - I only have one user slot left anyway (family are using the rest) and was considering a Japanese account for the odd exclusive.

Russian eShop is already a good bit cheaper than the UK one most of the time. I wonder if they'll see a spike in sales due to other regions hopping onto the Russian store to buy rather than their "local" one

@nocdaes I guess it depends how many there are/how much it'll cost. I suspect they're just holding off so that the patches are ready for day one (of the physical release) - they won't want a repeat of the criticism they got when the digital version released.