mr_benn

A proper G&W collection for the Switch would be amazing. I was particularly fond of the G&W GBA collection (4?) because it made you work pretty hard at GETTIN GUD at the games to unlock others, sometimes being forced to be good at something makes you appreciate it more! DK3 and Boxing still both suck though.

I've got a couple of G&W games - Donkey Kong 1 and 2, Mario Bros, Snoopy Tennis, Gold Cliff - but the absolute jewels are the Panorama colour LCD screens that use ambient light and a mirror to produce colour LCD games - I've got Donkey Kong Jr and Snoopy, and DK Jr in particular is a marvellous game. Shame they go for a small fortune now and so many are in very dinged up condition - for the standard LCD ones you often have to swap out the polarising filters as they 'go' after a while - if you've ever seen a game that you can barely see the LCD 'sprites' it's probably because the filters have gone.

^ I daresay once they've turned it off, there will be a pretty feasible and user-friendly workaround to access this sort of content. I certainly won't feel remotely guilty about it at that point.

Astonishingly, still available 90 mins later. Have they actually gone and made enough this time?

Picked up 2 for nostalgia, finally it'll be time to upgrade my NSO membership! I do hope they continue to release N64 games on a steady drip...

I absolutely LOVED Streetpass, what an awesome thing it was. Loved taking it on trips into London and seeing that lovely green light pulsing when it came out of my bag! Lost all my progress when I left my 3DS on a plane once though - sad times.

Did anyone ever play Treasure World on DS? Not the best game (not even a good game) by any stretch, but the whole premise was that you went out and gathered wifi hits and magic them into in game items (which are then a bit pointless, but you can make some tunes). Concept was really cool though, especially at a time where wi-fi wasn't absolutely everywhere. Tempted to maybe take it out again and see how quickly I can get everything!

How many of these did they make in the latest run? 10? FFS.

It seems to get a bit panned when considered in the pantheon of Mario games, but I had plenty of fun with it for £8 or whatever it cost.

Can't help but think of the flying on holiday episode. Miss Rabbit's baggage handling is superb (2:00 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPqER4rKTxY). Five pounds on there being a LOT of the plane song in this too (in the same episode, avoid!)

I've heard him interviewed before - his experience with Nintendo is absolutely crazy. Summoned to work with Nintendo as a teenager and being involved with one of the definitive SNES titles, pretty cool!

First Bubble Bobble, now this..... COME ON RAINBOW ISLANDS.

@Ooyah absolutely this! Maybe chuck NZ story in for good measure.

If they release Rainbow Islands on the Switch but it's the slightly unpleasant and unncecessary Extra version, I'm going to kick off. I'd probably have bought the Egret II mini if it had included the original arcade version.

Credit where credit's due - the Tears for Fears cover was done by Scott Bradlee from Postmodern Jukebox - I only discovered this after I started listening to them - they are well worth listening to on Youtube doing their amazing cover versions of songs, super talented!

You whippersnappers! Super Mario Kart was my first - much fun had with this at school - and Ghost Valley 1 is still one of the best.

@Not_Soos Think you're possibly thinking of the Flip Grip? https://www.fangamer.com/products/flip-grip Quite a nice piece of kit, though I suppose different to this in that the FlipGrip is supposed to be handheld, whereas this is for tabletop playing.

Metroid 2 on the GB. Wasn't very fun, got stuck, got bored. Only came back to the series with the GBA games a lot later on!

I have the little My Arcade Galaga where I followed some instructions to make it play a bunch of the other games too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU11npoA-UY - but it's a novelty and little more.

Almost tempted by the Namco Museum for £50, but having watched a review the screen isn't that great and controls aren't even that responsive, which is a shame.

I've played a few of the Arcade 1Up cabinets in Smyths - I think they were originally advertised as 3/4 size or something because they're not too comfortable to play on and shoulder to shoulder 2 player is uncomfortably close - I think these are the same sort of size (they certainly look the same as this https://www.smythstoys.com/uk/en-gb/video-games-and-tablets/retro-gaming/arcade1up-street-fighter-capcom-legacy-edition-cabinet-with-12-games-riser-included-/p/199804). Also, for £500 you can get yourself a Switch (other consoles are available), a lovely 8bitdo arcade stick (or 2) and a heap of retro collections which cover most of the content offered here (alas, no Ms PacMan!).

Have to say though, I love the IDEA of having a 'proper' (albeit I suspect very emulated) arcade machine, though I think the novelty would wear off, and I simply don't have the space!

Do we know if there is genuinely any difference between this and the original Mega Drive Mini except for the games?

If we're not counting handheld LCD-type stuff, probably something on a BBC Micro or some crumbling VIC-20 I reckon. No idea what the game would have been though!

I totally get those who would like the 'pure', unmodded/hacked experience. I've got a Wii and a 3DS (the lovely SNES one) that are still in their unmodded state, and practically a sackful of games for them...

But I never use them, very much wedded to the modded consoles! The sheer convenience of never having to swap out a disc or cartridge - or, indeed, have to carry all my games around with me when I travel - is such an utter bonus I'll never look back.

I'm just starting my second play through Spiritfarer now, having completed it around this time last year. I'd say that the characters have a little bit more meaning the second time around, when you have the perspective that you finish the game with with you at the beginning.

@Pak-Man I've either got a 128 or 256 gb card (genuinely can't remember!) in my New 3DS XL for what it's worth...

Modding both of these machines is the way to go - the much maligned Wii U really can become an amazing piece of kit once you put Wii U, Wii, GC, SNES, NES, GBA, GBC and GB libraries* on it (the N64 stuff still seems a tiny bit patchy for some games, but only because it seems more complicated to make them work!)

*That you own the originals of, naturally.

I'd say it's a bit of a thing:

https://www.google.com/search?q=frog+chair+kids&rlz=1C1CHBF_en-GBGB813GB813&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj8i8S93_33AhXCoFwKHdQBDU4Q_AUoAnoECAEQBA&biw=1920&bih=969&dpr=1

I remember rather enjoying this in a arcade as a kid. It looked super pretty (for the time) and was quite intuitive. Probably worth a few quid at least.

The paid DLC though is very not cool, there's really no excuse for not including it in the base package.

Donkey Konga - along with light gun games, the reason I got a CRT again. Unlike GH/Rock Band, there's no way to calibrate, so impossible to account for the processing delay of modern TVs. What a great game - just wish there were more than the 2 (not counting the Japanese #3 here).

@CANOEberry it's probably the same sort of 'warmth' that comes from going to conventions too. I've been to a couple of conventions that have had to stress in their blurbs about the importance of maintaining personal hygiene because... well, ugh.

Pretty sure that Ryan's friends were hoping to be captured and left alone. Isn't Ryan a sulky teenager by now?

I'd have probably gone in on the crazy priced Egret II mini if they had had the original version of Rainbow Islands on there. But they don't. And just like the writer I'm surprised to see it - and so many others - omitted here too. Maybe they feel it doesn't make sense to release the Egret II Mini (which is full of good games) at the same time as a collection for other consoles that had those same games?

Others here are right - just get that Legends pack out please!

3DS was such a good console. I had one ever since they made the XL version - I still have a few 3D pics from the Olympic stadium from London 2012 on there. Since then I've left one New 3DS XL on a plane (surprise, never found again), and bought three more (!). Such an awesome piece of kit, and with simple DS compatibility an amazing library of games.

"It's not me, it's you."

Lots of regrets here seem to be about selling Nintendo stuff...

I sold my N64 but even in retrospect don't regret it.

What I DO regret is getting rid of a decent size CRT tv. To be fair, they take up huge amounts of space and are heavy as anything, but to be able to play light gun games and lag-free Donkey Konga would be amazing.

There was a guy at school whose Dad worked for Bandai UK in the Gameboy days when Bandai had some big distribution deal with Nintendo. He had ALL the GB games, it was quite impressive. I remember he also donated a huge heap of really random Japanese robots toys for a school fete that at the very end of the day got sold for a pittance - I bought this (still have it somewhere!) https://www.transformerland.com/wiki/toy-info/chogokin-godaikin-deluxe-dx-daltanias/81323/ for £1.

I'm sorry, have people gone MENTAL?

Oh, this story seems to get even more fun though, with one of the sellers in the chain starting to act really strangely: https://www.pokebeach.com/2022/01/logan-pauls-base-set-case-confirmed-fake-threats-bribery-and-shady-behavior-down-the-chain

Logan Paul got his money back though.

Oops.

I think that the real losers here are the authentication company, which don't get mentioned nearly enough. Clearly no idea what they were doing (and with seemingly no experience either according to that linked article). It's ok though, I'm sure they'll be returning what they were paid for their approval of such a high value item...

If there are a few good places like this for all those people interested in NFTs to gather and practice their Ponzi schemes, then hopefully they can be kept away from EVERYWHERE ELSE.

@KateGray I think I'm the exception rather than the norm to be fair, I'm sure that the majority are pleased with it!

I had a Secretlab Titan chair last year which replaced my knackered old IKEA chair.

Ended up having incredible back pain for the couple of weeks using it. No, this wasn't my spine adjusting to a 'better' posture. Yes, I know how to adjust a chair properly - I've done countless office ones!

Genuinely have no idea what the root cause was but a look on forums revealed I wasn't the only one. I eventually sold it on to someone else who was a lot happier with it than I was. Ended up buying a refurbished Herman Miller chair from a second hand office supply place which has been excellent ever since.

Some great picks on this list. Abzu totally stuck with me - oh, that bit with the whales! Goose Game needs no further hyperbole and it still makes me chuckle, and A Short Hike was just the perfect little game. Oh, and Gorogoa too, though I'm not totally sure that the Switch screen is the best way to play it.

Really struggled to get into Gris though despite the glowing reviews.

I've found all these 'short games' that I've enjoyed have REALLY left me wanting more of them - and it's also quite satisfying playing a game where you can still remember the beginning quite well by the time you get to the end, unlike my playthrough of Dragon Quest 11 this year where some of the in-game recaps were super helpful!

@clianvXAi because often they don't know better. One-console households where parents are buying for kids for example. This perhaps is what makes this scummy practice of EA even worse.

At Bullfrog he was amazing, and I still enjoyed B&W too. But now it's best to ignore what he says after the Curiosity/Godus debacle (the Eurogamer article on what happened to the winner is astonishingly depressing https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-02-11-the-god-who-peter-molyneux-forgot). He's a developer of his time.

Christmas is a time for co-op. And getting angry at your kids for not cooking the sushi rice because they're on that side of the kitchen, or cursing them for being terrible at helping move sofas in Moving Out.

My guess based on what plenty of my friends' kids are getting for Christmas is that a lot of those sales are being made with first Switch purchases, as it's perceived (arguably rightfully) to be the killer app for the Switch and hence getting bought with it for first time users.

The Donkey Konga games are now practically impossible to play due to modern TV lag. It's such a shame as they were absolutely brilliant.

I remember playing this on a demo unit in GAME when it came out. Totally blown away. Still holds up well I think.

The eshop via the Switch is terrible, eshop via internet browser on a computer is tolerable but still a bit rubbish in terms of sifting through dross. Deku Deals is a fabulous website and I wish him all the best in continuing to support it going forward.

Such an enjoyable game, I have fond memories of this. Though PC is the preferred platform for me, give me a mouse anytime!

Mine's arrived this morning from Nintendo. Have to say that I know that this isn't really the best way to play these games but it's a cute little novelty (like the SMB one). I do wish that they were more easily hackable to stick more games on like the NES mini but obviously understand why Nintendo wouldn't like that (I know that people have got things running on the SMB one but it's hardly a very practical solution).

Fascinated to see how these turn out. Have always played GTA on PC rather than a console so not totally sure I'm in for the Switch version anyway, but I certainly have fond memories of playing these three - wonder if they can live up to nostalgia in my own mind though?

I so don't need this... but I pre-ordered as soon as it came up.

Have you seen how much the original G&W Zelda game goes for nowadays in good condition? Easily into 3 figures. You could always go to http://pica-pic.com/ and enable Flash and play it (it's not great!)

@BloodNinja a suspended sentence is one which the individual doesn't go to prison but has to fulfil obligations handed out to them such as community service. If they fail to meet this, or they commit further offences, they'll end up in prison.

insert GTA joke here