Just ran through my entire Switch library. Only one game (What the Dub) was not supported, but more interesting is the list of games that can't be found. A few are delisted, but others are not:
@Coalescence I'm glad you liked the article. That salty letter about Naomi was published during my first month working at Nintendo, when Kent Miller was the writer. I thought of his matter-of-fact response ("her work speaks for itself") when those three pieces of Naomi's work came across my desk. I didn't select the one of Chrono and Marle because we had so much CT art, but I got the other two!
Wow what a poignant article! The media and messages that we connect with over the years never lose their strength. They haven't for me, anyway. Chrono Trigger is one example, for many of the reasons Alana has so brilliantly expressed. The movie Groundhog Day is another, in which Phil discovers that some things can't be changed, some acts of kindness go unnoticed, and you can't make someone love you. Even so, he learns that you are defined by what you do, kindness is its own reward, and to be loved you become lovable. Thank you for this article @AlanaHagues!
Great post. I'm greatful for video games as well. They're my last remaining childhood hobbie that I've retained into middle age. It's special to associate a life event with a game because it makes it easy to reconnect with that moment. Cheers and good luck on your health journey.
Can't wait! I love these retro remaster projects. Ninja Warriors, Pocky & Rocky, Ghosts n Goblins, Final Fantasy Pixel, et al. It's a great time to be a retro gamer.
Wonderful article! I played a handful of the many, many DS RPGs, but completely missed this one. CT is my favorite RPG ever so your comparison is enough to convince me to give RH a try. Thanks for the tip!
This is a great conversation starter. I've got at least one of each of the six variants. As much as I love the big screen of the New XL, I prefer the feel of the New 3DS. The New XL feels somehow cheaper than either of the New 3DS models. But they're all great.
Ok, ok. I went back to see whether multii-targeting is possible in IV and sure enough it is. I forgot how long the intro is for that game! I had to play quite a while before I had a black magic spell that I could multi-target with. Thanks to @RushDawg, @KingMike, and @Deusfaux for the fact check.
@spacepope4u I wish I knew! I believe these were the names in the build that we played but I don't have any proof beyond these hand drawn notes. One thing that I distinctly remember is changing Terra/Sarrah's name to Megan since that was the name of my crush at the time. 😊
I tried, but was unsuccessful, in tracking down James to ask more details about the playtest. Hopefully @KingMike has more details.
@Kienda LOL, I'm glad you picked up on the reference. I was actually watching the LotR EE while writing this post so I couldn't resist quoting Elrond. I had never noticed the physical resemblance, but I think you just picked out this year's Halloween costume for me. Cheers!
@gojiguy Yes, the TG-16 is highly underrated. I might get to the CD games eventually. I debated whether to play those next, but all the FMV games scared me away for now. Instead I started working on all English-friendly released in Japan or Europe. I just finished the Super Famicom (~450 games) and am gearing up to review Mega Drive (160) and PC Engine games (170).
@Yousef- Good question! There are several data points I captured about each game which didn't get added to the blog posts. The Memorable flag is set for games that I have a particular nostalgic memory of, or an interesting story. For example, I played quite a few of these games before they released and had some interesting experiences, like when I met one-on-one with the president of Enix of America and had to tell him that King Arthur and the Knights of Justice was terrible. Some of the memories are personal so I left all of them off the blog.
Great article! LOL For anyone wanting to do something similar, it took me a couple of years to complete the project. I'd play and write up a couple of games each night. It's a mountain of work to do, and all those football, soccer, and baseball games will test your patience for sure. Regarding, the critique that I'm anti-Genesis, having played everything I can 100% say that the cream of the crop from the generation are mostly in the SNES library. But that doesn't mean there aren't a lot of good games on the SMD. You just have to scroll down a little to find them. As for the Sega Sound, I'm convinced that it's like cilantro. Either you love it, or it tastes like earwax. My understanding is that's a genetic trait that you can't will out of existence. The Motorola 68000 techno sounds either appeal to you, or they don't. Obviously, they don't to me. 😎 But hey, to each his or her own, right?
As a collector, it's SNES all the way for me. They look amazing on a shelf and aren't as bulky as the NES carts. Nothing else comes close to those two cart designs.
What a great topic! I love hearing about the history of video games and companies. From the outside looking in, it's odd that a company would greenlight a project like this. It was obviously technically impressive, but had no chance for commercial success. It reminds me of Ian Malcolm's famous quote, "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."
@-wc- I get it. I have a brother who absolutely adores Earthbound too. It's very charming and I wish I could enjoy it, but these limitations hold it back too much in the gameplay department for me. I'm working off of memory but I'm pretty sure it has my first and third complaints, the third being the need to navigate two layers of menus to talk or check something. Maybe I'm not remembering that correctly. Either way, I know I'm in the minority in my distate for Earthbound.
Love this topic! For me, pretty much every RPG from the early generations fits into this category. There are a handful of quality of life improvements in an RPG that I simply can't live without, such as shared inventories, random selection of a target if the target has been killed, not having to open and menu to Talk, etc. For example, I've always found Earthbound to be charming, but I cannot stand playing it these days because it's missing all of those modern features.
You forgot Castlevania Symphony of the Night. It makes zero sense that Konami released Castlevania Requiem on PS4 but has never ported it to Switch. We've got the two collections but not the best Castlevania title ever. Zero sense.
Konami needs to sell their IP to someone. Give Contra and Castlevania to WayForward, MG to Namco, Goemon and Gradius to Treasure, and officially leave to industry. You won't be missed.
This game feels like a step sideways. There are no QoL improvements from the mostly-excellent BotW. I could itemize everything I dislike about TotK, but suffice it to say I'm not enjoying it. BotW was a joy from start to finish. I'm six hours in and I'm going to take a break and come back to it sometime.
I can't speak for everyone but for me 2022 was a barren wasteland. I didn't buy any first party titles and after getting a Steam Deck I bought all indies and non exclusives on that system. Everything plays much better over there.
PORTS Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury New Pokémon Snap Famicom Detective Club Miitopia Zelda: Skyward Sword HD Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl
NEW IP Game Builder Garage
SEQUELS IN NICHE FRANCHISES Mario Golf: Super Rush WarioWare: Get It Together! Mario Party Superstars Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain
That's a lot of Cons for a 9/10 review. I agree with everything in the review but would've given it 7 or maybe 8. There's a lot of content here but unless you're a mega fan you're likely to only play Aria of Sorrow. For the record I love and have completed all the Koji games.
Great list but wow I was shocked by the inclusion of Steam Gardens. I loath that song so much that I'm genuinely surprised that anyone likes it, much less that it would be considered as one of the top 10 best Mario songs. It is so un-Mario. There were a few nice tracks in the Odyssey OST but overall the music was the worst part of the game for me.
"Heritage Auctions wishes it had been given the opportunity to respond before the video’s publication" Yeah, that's not how investigative journalism works guys.
@VenomousAlbino Came here to say the same thing. What does "would be a great fit" even mean? Would the game look ok in 720p? Would it benefit from motion controls? Is it a pick-up-and-go mobile game? I don't know, I'm just shooting in the dark, tbh. I'm trying to make sense of a statement made by others.
I love lists so I enjoyed reading this one. I will, however, offer a couple of thoughts:
First off, Ogre Battle, Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia, and Terranigma are some of my favorite SNES games but they are NOT RPGs. OB is a Tactical Strategy game and the Quintet trilogy games are Adventure titles in the same genre as Zelda and Metroid.
Secondly, as others have noted, Dungeon Master, Shadowrun, Mystic Quest, and Arcana don't belong anywhere near the top of a "best SNES RPGs" list. I get that you were trying to include something other than JRPGs but frankly none of the western or dungeon crawler RPGs on the SNES were or are near the quality of the JRPGs that we got.
Lastly, I would suggest adding Robotrek and Uncharted Waters: New Horizons.
@Steven_the_2nd I'm sure you're right. I love my RG351P but I know it's nowhere near the quality of the Analogue Pocket that I've got preordered. I also own the Super NT and couldn't be more happy or more impressed with its quality.
I've been surprised at how difficult it has been for Analogue to produce stock for their consoles. I'm not sure how manufacturing works but there are so many emulator handhelds being cranked out of China that it can't be too hard to get a machine printed in large quantities. I suspect that that simply isn't Analogue's objective. They always want their products to be in short supply to keep demand high. I don't see that changing unless they get some real competition - someone else making high quality FPGA machines.
Comments 187
Re: Nintendo Launches Switch 2 Backwards Compatibility Search Page
Just ran through my entire Switch library. Only one game (What the Dub) was not supported, but more interesting is the list of games that can't be found. A few are delisted, but others are not:
Delisted (understandable):
Not Delisted (why are these missing?)
Delisted, but c'mon Nintendo
Re: Feature: The Art I 'Stole' From Nintendo
@Coalescence I'm glad you liked the article. That salty letter about Naomi was published during my first month working at Nintendo, when Kent Miller was the writer. I thought of his matter-of-fact response ("her work speaks for itself") when those three pieces of Naomi's work came across my desk. I didn't select the one of Chrono and Marle because we had so much CT art, but I got the other two!
Re: Feature: The Art I 'Stole' From Nintendo
@GrantGM Thank you for the inspiration to write it! And for carrying on the tradition of fan art
Re: Poll: So, How Would You Rate The Nintendo Direct For March 2025?
Virtual Game Card is huge for those of us with kids and multiple Switches, but the game announcements were weak.
Re: Feature: But The Future Can Change - Chrono Trigger And Learning To Love The World
Wow what a poignant article! The media and messages that we connect with over the years never lose their strength. They haven't for me, anyway. Chrono Trigger is one example, for many of the reasons Alana has so brilliantly expressed.
The movie Groundhog Day is another, in which Phil discovers that some things can't be changed, some acts of kindness go unnoticed, and you can't make someone love you. Even so, he learns that you are defined by what you do, kindness is its own reward, and to be loved you become lovable.
Thank you for this article @AlanaHagues!
Re: Opinion: It's Taken 30 Years, But 'Terminator 2D' Could Right A Childhood Wrong
YES!I I love seeing studios revive old IPs via a neo-retro "demake" approach. Here's hoping Predator gets the same treatment.
Re: Feature: These Past 8 Years Have Been A Privilege
Great post. I'm greatful for video games as well. They're my last remaining childhood hobbie that I've retained into middle age. It's special to associate a life event with a game because it makes it easy to reconnect with that moment. Cheers and good luck on your health journey.
Re: Gallery: Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound Screenshots Show Off "Razor Sharp Pixel Art Excellence"
Can't wait! I love these retro remaster projects. Ninja Warriors, Pocky & Rocky, Ghosts n Goblins, Final Fantasy Pixel, et al. It's a great time to be a retro gamer.
Re: Opinion: Chrono Trigger Isn't The Only Great Time-Travel RPG On DS
Wonderful article! I played a handful of the many, many DS RPGs, but completely missed this one. CT is my favorite RPG ever so your comparison is enough to convince me to give RH a try. Thanks for the tip!
Re: Feature: 10 Years Ago, Nintendo Launched The Very Best 3DS
This is a great conversation starter. I've got at least one of each of the six variants. As much as I love the big screen of the New XL, I prefer the feel of the New 3DS. The New XL feels somehow cheaper than either of the New 3DS models. But they're all great.
Re: Feature: That Time I Was Invited To Square HQ To Playtest Final Fantasy VI
Ok, ok. I went back to see whether multii-targeting is possible in IV and sure enough it is. I forgot how long the intro is for that game! I had to play quite a while before I had a black magic spell that I could multi-target with. Thanks to @RushDawg, @KingMike, and @Deusfaux for the fact check.
Re: Feature: That Time I Was Invited To Square HQ To Playtest Final Fantasy VI
@spacepope4u I wish I knew! I believe these were the names in the build that we played but I don't have any proof beyond these hand drawn notes. One thing that I distinctly remember is changing Terra/Sarrah's name to Megan since that was the name of my crush at the time. 😊
I tried, but was unsuccessful, in tracking down James to ask more details about the playtest. Hopefully @KingMike has more details.
Re: Feature: That Time I Was Invited To Square HQ To Playtest Final Fantasy VI
@Kienda LOL, I'm glad you picked up on the reference. I was actually watching the LotR EE while writing this post so I couldn't resist quoting Elrond. I had never noticed the physical resemblance, but I think you just picked out this year's Halloween costume for me. Cheers!
Re: Random: How Do You Find Out The Best 16-Bit-Era Game? Play Them All, Of Course
@gojiguy Yes, the TG-16 is highly underrated. I might get to the CD games eventually. I debated whether to play those next, but all the FMV games scared me away for now. Instead I started working on all English-friendly released in Japan or Europe. I just finished the Super Famicom (~450 games) and am gearing up to review Mega Drive (160) and PC Engine games (170).
Re: Random: How Do You Find Out The Best 16-Bit-Era Game? Play Them All, Of Course
@DanijoEX-the-Pierrot Nope, there are 704 of them
Re: Random: How Do You Find Out The Best 16-Bit-Era Game? Play Them All, Of Course
@Yousef- Good question! There are several data points I captured about each game which didn't get added to the blog posts. The Memorable flag is set for games that I have a particular nostalgic memory of, or an interesting story. For example, I played quite a few of these games before they released and had some interesting experiences, like when I met one-on-one with the president of Enix of America and had to tell him that King Arthur and the Knights of Justice was terrible. Some of the memories are personal so I left all of them off the blog.
Re: Random: How Do You Find Out The Best 16-Bit-Era Game? Play Them All, Of Course
Great article! LOL
For anyone wanting to do something similar, it took me a couple of years to complete the project. I'd play and write up a couple of games each night. It's a mountain of work to do, and all those football, soccer, and baseball games will test your patience for sure.
Regarding, the critique that I'm anti-Genesis, having played everything I can 100% say that the cream of the crop from the generation are mostly in the SNES library. But that doesn't mean there aren't a lot of good games on the SMD. You just have to scroll down a little to find them.
As for the Sega Sound, I'm convinced that it's like cilantro. Either you love it, or it tastes like earwax. My understanding is that's a genetic trait that you can't will out of existence. The Motorola 68000 techno sounds either appeal to you, or they don't. Obviously, they don't to me. 😎 But hey, to each his or her own, right?
Re: Poll: Which Is Your Favourite Nintendo Game Cartridge Design?
As a collector, it's SNES all the way for me. They look amazing on a shelf and aren't as bulky as the NES carts. Nothing else comes close to those two cart designs.
Re: Soapbox: Why I Love A Good Map, And That Time I Mapped Yoshi's Melons For Nintendo Power
@PinderSchloss I'm glad you liked the article! Props to the editor Gavin Lane @dartmonkey for the cheeky headline 😇
Re: Soapbox: Why I Love A Good Map, And That Time I Mapped Yoshi's Melons For Nintendo Power
@Zverik "on a real world map, we don't have a symbol for jump" 😂
Re: Feature: The Famicom Failure That Almost Bankrupted HAL, But Shaped Nintendo's Future
What a great topic! I love hearing about the history of video games and companies. From the outside looking in, it's odd that a company would greenlight a project like this. It was obviously technically impressive, but had no chance for commercial success. It reminds me of Ian Malcolm's famous quote, "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."
Re: Talking Point: The Switch eShop Could Be Great With These Few Tweaks
Nintendo ought to just hire Michael from DekuDeals to rewrite the eShop. He leans heavily into prebuilt filters, which suits me just fine.
Re: Talking Point: What Games Are You Nervous To Replay In Case They Don't Hold Up?
@-wc- I get it. I have a brother who absolutely adores Earthbound too. It's very charming and I wish I could enjoy it, but these limitations hold it back too much in the gameplay department for me. I'm working off of memory but I'm pretty sure it has my first and third complaints, the third being the need to navigate two layers of menus to talk or check something. Maybe I'm not remembering that correctly. Either way, I know I'm in the minority in my distate for Earthbound.
Re: Talking Point: What Games Are You Nervous To Replay In Case They Don't Hold Up?
Love this topic! For me, pretty much every RPG from the early generations fits into this category. There are a handful of quality of life improvements in an RPG that I simply can't live without, such as shared inventories, random selection of a target if the target has been killed, not having to open and menu to Talk, etc. For example, I've always found Earthbound to be charming, but I cannot stand playing it these days because it's missing all of those modern features.
Re: Feature: 25 Things You Might Have Missed In The Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom Reveal Trailer
My first thought while watching Link fight Ganon at the beginning of the trailer: "Oh wow, they've remade the OG Legend of Zelda!"
Re: Feature: 33 Games We're Surprised Still Aren't On Switch
You forgot Castlevania Symphony of the Night. It makes zero sense that Konami released Castlevania Requiem on PS4 but has never ported it to Switch. We've got the two collections but not the best Castlevania title ever. Zero sense.
Re: Nintendo Reportedly Seeking More Studios To Work On Its IP
Re: Oh Dear, Contra: Operation Galuga's Physical Edition Is A Download Code In A Box
Konami needs to sell their IP to someone. Give Contra and Castlevania to WayForward, MG to Namco, Goemon and Gradius to Treasure, and officially leave to industry. You won't be missed.
Re: Homage's Range Of Tecmo Bowl Apparel Looks Like A Touchdown For Retro Sports Fans
What? No Bo Jackson?
Re: Review: The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom - An Absolute Marvel, But Is It Better Than BOTW?
This game feels like a step sideways. There are no QoL improvements from the mostly-excellent BotW. I could itemize everything I dislike about TotK, but suffice it to say I'm not enjoying it. BotW was a joy from start to finish. I'm six hours in and I'm going to take a break and come back to it sometime.
Re: Review: Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider - Drop-Dead Gorgeous, Neo-Retro Action Platforming
JoyMasher is one of my favorite retro indie devs. I loved Odallus and Blazing Chrome so I'm not surprised this one turned out well.
Re: Soapbox: If You Thought Last Year Was "Sad" For Switch, 2023 Might Be Hard To Handle
I can't speak for everyone but for me 2022 was a barren wasteland. I didn't buy any first party titles and after getting a Steam Deck I bought all indies and non exclusives on that system. Everything plays much better over there.
Re: Nintendo Reconfirms Release Windows For Major Upcoming Switch Games
As they say, no news is no news
Re: In Memory Of Philip J Reed, Writer And Nintendo Life Contributor
RIP
Thank you for including links to his articles. I'll read a few today to honor him
Re: Analogue Pocket's Major Beta Update Is Live, Here's What's New
Got the firmware updated and the cores installed. The OS is ugly but everything works like a charm. Can't wait for more cores to arrive.
Re: Poll: So, How Would You Rate Nintendo's 2021?
PORTS
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury
New Pokémon Snap
Famicom Detective Club
Miitopia
Zelda: Skyward Sword HD
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl
NEW IP
Game Builder Garage
SEQUELS IN NICHE FRANCHISES
Mario Golf: Super Rush
WarioWare: Get It Together!
Mario Party Superstars
Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain
GOTY CANDIDATES
Metroid Dread
Re: Exclusive: Mobile Smash Hit 'Retro Bowl' Will Bring American Football To Switch
@badmotorfinger74 Came here to say the same thing. I HATE mobile games...aside from this game
Re: Review: Castlevania Advance Collection - Utterly Essential Thanks To Aria Of Sorrow
That's a lot of Cons for a 9/10 review. I agree with everything in the review but would've given it 7 or maybe 8. There's a lot of content here but unless you're a mega fan you're likely to only play Aria of Sorrow. For the record I love and have completed all the Koji games.
Re: Hand-Drawn Game Guide Kickstarter Taken Down Following "Legal Trouble"
Oh and thank you @KateGray for reporting on the takedown. This sort of thing should have a big spotlight on it.
Re: Hand-Drawn Game Guide Kickstarter Taken Down Following "Legal Trouble"
I hate Nintendo so much right now. This is an absolute moronic move by them. They actively hate their fanbase.
Re: Best Mario Music Ever: Our Top 10 Mario Songs - Super Mario Playlist
Great list but wow I was shocked by the inclusion of Steam Gardens. I loath that song so much that I'm genuinely surprised that anyone likes it, much less that it would be considered as one of the top 10 best Mario songs. It is so un-Mario. There were a few nice tracks in the Odyssey OST but overall the music was the worst part of the game for me.
Re: Heritage Auctions Responds To Allegations Of "Fraud And Deception In The Retro Video Game Market"
"Heritage Auctions wishes it had been given the opportunity to respond before the video’s publication"
Yeah, that's not how investigative journalism works guys.
Re: Soapbox: Life Is Strange Belongs On Switch. So Why Isn't It?
@VenomousAlbino Came here to say the same thing. What does "would be a great fit" even mean? Would the game look ok in 720p? Would it benefit from motion controls? Is it a pick-up-and-go mobile game? I don't know, I'm just shooting in the dark, tbh. I'm trying to make sense of a statement made by others.
Re: Feature: Best SNES RPGs
I love lists so I enjoyed reading this one. I will, however, offer a couple of thoughts:
First off, Ogre Battle, Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia, and Terranigma are some of my favorite SNES games but they are NOT RPGs. OB is a Tactical Strategy game and the Quintet trilogy games are Adventure titles in the same genre as Zelda and Metroid.
Secondly, as others have noted, Dungeon Master, Shadowrun, Mystic Quest, and Arcana don't belong anywhere near the top of a "best SNES RPGs" list. I get that you were trying to include something other than JRPGs but frankly none of the western or dungeon crawler RPGs on the SNES were or are near the quality of the JRPGs that we got.
Lastly, I would suggest adding Robotrek and Uncharted Waters: New Horizons.
Re: Analogue Explains How It's Going To Deal With Scalping Amid Concerns Over Pocket Pre-Orders
@Steven_the_2nd I'm sure you're right. I love my RG351P but I know it's nowhere near the quality of the Analogue Pocket that I've got preordered. I also own the Super NT and couldn't be more happy or more impressed with its quality.
Re: Analogue Explains How It's Going To Deal With Scalping Amid Concerns Over Pocket Pre-Orders
I've been surprised at how difficult it has been for Analogue to produce stock for their consoles. I'm not sure how manufacturing works but there are so many emulator handhelds being cranked out of China that it can't be too hard to get a machine printed in large quantities. I suspect that that simply isn't Analogue's objective. They always want their products to be in short supply to keep demand high. I don't see that changing unless they get some real competition - someone else making high quality FPGA machines.
Re: Analogue Explains How It's Going To Deal With Scalping Amid Concerns Over Pocket Pre-Orders
@hypercoyote Ebay has a policy against selling preorders. Anyone can Report a listing that is for a preorder item.
Re: Anniversary: ActRaiser Turns 30 Today, And There's Still Nothing Quite Like This SNES Classic
Easily one of my favorite SNES games
Re: Poll: Rate Your Favourite SNES Games
@JacobMonks Amen to your comment on Secret of Mana. imo it's the most overrated SNES game
Re: Poll: Rate Your Favourite SNES Games
@John_Deacon Wow. Legend. Ogre Battle was also epic. Thanks for inspiring it