echoplex

I don't own a Switch 2 (yet? we'll see) and this is probably one of the best looking and most consistent framerate-wise Switch 1 games I've played. The level of detail in the jungle environment is baffling (the desert one - not so much, but I hear it's not a Switch 1 thing...). The handheld mode looks a bit blurry but not exceptionally blurry by Switch 1 standards.

But why did they have to throw those annoyingly obvious hints all the time? I know it's a niche game but I don't think those make the game more appealing to newcomers.

I have no doubt this will be a good game, but sadly not a great metroid one (according to the reviews quoted above). Appealing to larger audiences never made a lot of good to long-installed IPs.

There is no way that those 75 games are all better than Secret of Mana.

Top 25 looks pretty solid though, but maybe not in that order.

It looks more like an Xbox Series cut in half than a Gamecube.
Being able to stream games on the SteamDeck is nice.

I would love to be hyped but sadly I'm still not. Says the guy with a Samus avatar. It looks great, the action phases look promising, the maps vast enough to be lost for hours. But I don't know. There's just something that's missing and I can't put my finger on it. It looks like different games bundled together under a Metroid skin. I hope I'm wrong.

@PharoneTheGnome It's the same for me here, except I play on a SteamDeck and not a PS5. These ports take so long to be released that the games have reached platinum status everywhere else (if people still say that nowadays).

Loving TP:Museum so far. No big surprises in one way or another. I'm a bit disappointed there's no art section (unless I still have to unlock it further down the campaign) which is the main thing I go to museums for in real life. And also disappointed with the introduction of in-game currencies like metal, cogs and... plant goo (?) to build those contraptions I have no intent of building except for the purpose of the main story.

What's next, SEGA? Some suggestions: Two Point Mall, Two Point Airport, Two Point Resort, Two Point Used Car Dealership, Two Point Dry Cleaning or even Two Point Government.

I don't know if that's of any interest to you NL, but I think a question about when we buy games (in relation to their release date) could be interesting (day one, waiting for a sale, second hand...). Choosing between physical or digital usually depends on this to me.

Thank you for this article, this city/base building side of many RPGs is what makes me excited for OT0. I'll keep an eye on the games mentioned that I have not played.

Other games come to mind : Ys VIII (as mentioned by @the_beaver above) and Final Fantasy: My Life as a King (Wii). There's some basic city management in No Man's Sky's settlements too.

I wish Tears of The Kingdom had kept the inspiration that led to the Tarry Town quest from BotW and included rebuilding Hyrule castle town. Especially as there were foundations of various buildings with construction materials sitting right next to them (it really got my hopes up for a sidequest and ended up being a major let down for me). Designing your own house was cool but not that cool.

I chose Europe. I loved when hand drawn artworks were interpolating a game's atmosphere, generally exaggerating it. When games could only give you so many pixels on a screen, it was a real help for you to mentally build a universe of your own when technology could not recreate realistic environments in a game.

It's a nice game with limited replayability, unless you want to speed run it and/or find all the anomalies. Wonder what they added from the movie.

From the same devs, Platform 8 is a bit spookier if you're looking for some more horrific visual elements.

Ah, yes, the inevitable low-poly/2D sequences because otherwise it would just be an empty shell of a game. Let's see how the whole gameplay holds through the whole game.

Remember buying it second hand and really enjoying it despite its (minor) flaws.

Nightdive Studios should look into it… it’s right up their alley.

I love town building/restoration aspects in RPGs.
Played the first one but not the second as I thought it was a bit repetitive.

This announcement saved this direct for me!

They call that sound "baby"? Yeah right.

Were the stamp and animation modes in the original version? I can't remember those.

Edit: Listening to the soundtrack on the Nintendo Music App, I do remember Stamp now. The power of music... Love that they included the precomposed melodies as well.

An AI-rejuvenated Tom Cruise playing Nathan Drake in a 007 licenced game ? Erm…

Well, it looks like an expensive bento box cooler.
With such a price tag for the console itself, Nintendo should have included it in the Switch 2 box (like Valve did for the Steam Deck).

The Japanese one is very representative of the snowboarding aesthetics back in the 2000s. All the magazines, clothing brands, ski equipment and all that had that edgy / clinical look.

But here it does look like an ad of the game on the game itself.

Shudders
War memories of the Secret of Mana remake

Red was more NSO than eShop but now they're undistinguishable. Way to go.

Oh, yeah, make it run better and get rid of all the shovelware as well.

Reminds me a bit of Littlewood. I'll try the demo!

Well it kinda puts all the other games to shame, right?
This game looks like a remarkable way to showcase Switch 2's technical abilities at launch.

A Switch (1 or 2) AND a Steam Deck (or its rivals) = best of both worlds.

I do not have the budget nor the space to get any of the models showcased here 😅

Looks like a tech demo + allegedly feels physically painful + looks like an Ali Express Tron, no buy from me!

Do the same poll with Nintendo exclusives only now...

Most third-party games shown in the direct are ports that regularly get sales on Steam. So I guess my Steam Deck will sit a little longer in my living room and I'll get the Switch 2 for the NIntendo first-party games that caught my attention (MKW, MP4 and maybe the BotW upgrade, for now).

Still on the fence between getting this on Steamdeck (there are sales all the time but I need the storage) or waiting for a sale on Switch 2 for a physical copy with no additional storage needed.

Those big empty red spaces at the top... 🙄

The upgraded versions were the occasion to refresh the designs but noooo, better slap an ugly text box onto the original one.

I think the DK game looks the best, even though the game in itself doesn't really do it for me from the previews I've seen.

Why is that controller already that dirty?

Nintendo making sure no one will play it by making people pay for it is almost an insult to its developers who dedicated time to such a niche project.

I gave it a forgiving 6.
That running order was so chaotically Nintendo.

Please allow us to browse by composers.

I can see why some will say it’s a bit of a ripoff. I followed the earlier stages of development for this game on Twitter and the colours were much more vibrant, like Littlewood (his previous game). Making it look like a GameBoy Color game surely makes it look more nostalgic but I don’t know. It just looks less inspired as well.

Littlewood was a cute little game, I’ll pass on this one because I’ve never been a monster collector but i’m sure this one will be a great game too.

@Koffeeking0407 Same here, I remember a studio with rather solid games coming out, mostly in the 90s/early 00s.

People don’t have the storage room for ancient systems, cables, controllers and games. Assuming these passed the test of time and still work today.

Emulation, official or not, is the easiest way to go.

@nhSnork I think it would work better as ending credits. It just feels out of place to me, having a fully produced song in the middle of the game, especially when the overworld music is that brilliant (NLA Shuuhen, Shiro no Tairiku, Kuro no Tairiku...), it just doesn't deserve to be cut off that way every 30 seconds. And so it also seems like overkill to have a track like this one for such a tiny part of the game, as you usually don't go past the first 12 bars because you never fly that long.

@Coalescence I (very much) like being beaten over the head musically — there's never enough bass or percussion — but this one does not do it for me. As you said, it's a question of balance.

That track was a major irk for me among the otherwise flawless soundtrack (complete with night versions too <3). But that one was tacky and didn't fit the mood at all. Having to hear it it in small bursts during short flyovers from here to there made the late game quite tedious.

You're standing in a lush, gigantic primordial jungle, having just felled an enormous beast, then you embark your skell and there's that abhorrent Eurodance track that starts belting the second you lift off. To me it broke the fourth wall every time.

At least the rockey-dancey track in New LA with the lady going "uh-one, two, three" was funny.

@mariomaster96 Exactly! There's no need for a flying theme.

I don't think the fake version should even be dignified with its own (empty) page here on NintendoLife.

I've watched streamers play this game. It was quite fun watching, I don't know about playing it.

Why are most games on this list rhythm games? Are we in the mid-00s again?

@DemonKow Actually, Trent Reznor is scoring the new Tron movie.

Well at least censorship and/or prudishness hasn't gone worse in ten years. Yet...

Now I'm sure some of these box art brawls are just made for the sole purpose of trolling.

From the creators of the Joy Con Drift… introducing the Joy Con Drop.

Love those 3D renders from the nineties.

Can the number of racers (24 instead of 12) tell us something about Switch 2's hardware specs? Is it twice as powerful?

Maybe today (Thursday) was just about announcing the announcement all along.

My heart keeps missing a beat whenever there's news of hardware on the front page.

This would not stand a chance in court in the music industry.
The video game business is a whole different culture where everyone has a short memory and low standards for manners apparently.

I'm glad Nintendo Life keeps reporting about this (as others do). People saying this is not a big deal is the proof that it actually is worth reporting

Donkey Kong Country Returns returns. #mysinglemysingleisdroppingisdropping

@Dom_31 It's clear that the AC sets were designed so that they look good when you have plenty of them, not just 2 or 3. The minimalistic feel they all have just fades away when you put them all together (I own none but there are some examples online : https://www.reddit.com/r/AnimalCrossing/comments/1b543zi/i_built_all_of_the_lego_animal_crossing_sets/?rdt=36757)

So it's really called "Switch 2" ? As seen on the dock here ? Or is it just a mock-up ?