Comments 132

Re: Feature: Six Things That Need To Change In The Zelda: Ocarina Of Time Remake

quickbeam

Load saves from anywhere would be the biggest QoL improvement for sure. The only other one I really want is fewer forced Navi interruptions. However, I agree with @Moonlessky in the sense that Navi should be centered a little more as a true character/sidekick. Don’t overdo it — just make her part of more cutscenes, give her a little more dialogue (but less often / less repetitive).

More things in Hyrule field would be fine and feels inevitable, but I don’t mind it as-is. For the day/night cycles, maybe make time go a bit slower but make nighttime last from 20:00–6:00 or something so we’re not waiting around too long for daybreak. Seamless transitions are also inevitable but I honestly don’t mind the quick load times as they are anyway.

As for Ruto — again, I’d be fine to have her move around on her own, and that feels like a likely modern update. However, I have to say having to carry a crabby person around an entire dungeon is hilarious and also definitely adds significant challenge. Something would be gained and something lost with this change.

Finally, I agree having the title screen as-is (plus updated graphics and song arrangement) is indeed the most important piece to leave untouched. It’s one of the most perfect things in video game history.

Fun article!

Re: Poll: So, Will You Be Getting Yoshi And The Mysterious Book For Switch 2?

quickbeam

Between this and Crafted World on Switch, I think I’ll opt for Crafted World instead. The gameplay in this just doesn’t look like it’s my thing — looks like a lot of tediously replaying the same worlds over and over, looking for small differences each time — bit of a collect-a-thon feel. I’ll check out reviews, though, and see if I’m wrong.

Really wish they’d do an HD Wooly World remaster, personally. Never got to play that one, but looks excellent!

Re: Talking Point: Will You Be Getting A Switch 2 Before The Price Goes Up?

quickbeam

98% sure I’m gonna get one before the price hike. I’d like to save the 50 bucks and I’m planning to get one anyway. I’m excited about the library — especially Bananza, Pokopia, several 3rd party games, and the rumored OoT remake — and it seems most of my Switch library will run even better. I have to say if it weren’t backwards compatible I’d be likely to skip this generation completely the way prices are.

Re: Talking Point: Star Fox Old Vs. New Designs Compared - Which Do You Prefer?

quickbeam

@Aquinas What “core” are you talking about? I’m not saying people can look at a marshmallow and call it a grilled cheese sandwich, I’m saying it’s understandable that some people like marshmallows more than they like grilled cheese sandwiches even though I do not. Yes, biological differences partially account for personal taste in both cooking and visual design — so what? Being able to explain something doesn’t invalidate it. The point is that we can all have different preferences about art and you can’t say with any authority that some people are right and some are wrong. Well, you can, but you are wrong in doing so. Your anger about social issues appears to be distorting your logic.

Re: Talking Point: Star Fox Old Vs. New Designs Compared - Which Do You Prefer?

quickbeam

@Aquinas And cooking is based in science, but it would be insane to say people with differing culinary preferences are objectively correct or incorrect. Sure, some people’s preferences are in the majority, but that does not inherently make them right. I say this as someone who is also resistant to the social “my truth” phenomena, but let’s not throw the legitimate subjective baby out with the bathwater.

Re: Talking Point: Star Fox Old Vs. New Designs Compared - Which Do You Prefer?

quickbeam

Doesn’t make much difference to me, as long as the characters aren’t absolutely botched, and I think it would be hard to argue they are. I personally like the 3DS designs most, but I know a big part of that is I’m “old” and often have personal attachments to simpler aesthetics of yore. If they’re going to remake/remaster the game, they kind of have to make the designs more modern, and — that being the case — I think the new designs are great.

Re: Pokémon Champions First Details About Price Reportedly Surface

quickbeam

I think these prices are fine, considering it’s a free-to-play model. Sure, it would have been much better if they had made a new-and-improved Pokémon Stadium with customizable movesets, etc, and released it for $60-70. That said, considering the model they chose, at least they’re doing it in a relatively non-exploitative way. I have bigger complaints about the game than this price announcement, but I’ll try it since it’s free and maybe even fork out for the starter pack. $0-10 for a game I’m enjoying? Hard to be mad about that.

It’s funny to me that people are upset about this, yet seemed mostly agreeable to paying $20 for a port of 20-year-old FireRed or LeafGreen. Found myself in the minority there as well by finding those prices to be UNreasonable.

Re: Poll: So, Will You Be Getting Pokémon Pokopia?

quickbeam

If it were just me, I’d go with “maybe.” I’m not a big life sim guy in general, but I did mostly enjoy ACNH and I like Pokémon. However, for my seven-year-old, it’s a no-brained. Putting Pokémon together with Animal Crossing along with elements of Minecraft? This game was made for him!

Re: Talking Point: After 30 Years, Is It Time To Reset The Pokédex?

quickbeam

Though there are quite a few exceptions, the designs have generally gotten worse each generation, imo. I don’t mind new Pokémon, but when I play new games it’s typically for new lands and stories more than for new Pokémon. I personally don’t mind a limited selection in-game with the option to bring over other Pokémon via Home. I’d rather rebalance than add new Pokémon. Resetting would be the worst option, imo.

I know these opinions may represent those of many others, but one of the problems Gamefreak must run into is that many fans play for vastly different reasons. I’ve never been super into “catching ‘em all,” though I like to catch many. Definitely don’t care about shiny hunting or perfecting EV/IVs. But then if you ignored those features you’d have an uprising among the most vocal minority. Can’t please everyone all the time. 🤷‍♂️

Re: "We Thought It Would Be Fun" - Nintendo Explains Why Pokémon FireRed & LeafGreen Aren't On Switch Online

quickbeam

@jsty3105 Good point.

I have and will continue to spend plenty of money on video games, including from Nintendo. I think it’s reasonable to emulate games that one has bought before (I have specific reasons for this belief that I don’t feel the need to explain here). I don’t think it’s moral or reasonable to emulate anything and everything, and I do not do so.

That said, not everyone has standards. Nintendo and all creators and publishers have a problem on their hands and have for many years.

Making things high-quality and reasonably priced is a relatively proven way to persuade people to purchase media by officially-licensed means.

Re: Pokémon FireRed And LeafGreen Officially Revealed For Switch

quickbeam

@Trikeboy I’m not much of a piracy defender, though I do believe it is defensible when someone has already purchased the game, which I did in 2004.

Maybe you think $20 is a fair price (I’m sure many do, though I disagree). That’s fine, and you should buy the game if you want to, and Nintendo will make nearly a $20 profit from it. But what if they were charging $80 per game? Would you still say they’re “making it available?” What about $200 per game? $40? $30?

You see what I’m saying? When a game is — ethically or not — easily available for free, and the company that made it over 20 years ago rereleases it with no meaningful changes — a simple ROM, in other words — the reality is that many people will only pay so much for that rerelease. Everyone’s price is different, but the fact that a free version is accessible is absolutely a factor in that decision for a significant number of people.

Re: "We Thought It Would Be Fun" - Nintendo Explains Why Pokémon FireRed & LeafGreen Aren't On Switch Online

quickbeam

As I said on the announcement article, this is only a decent deal if you love Pokémon AND have never played the game before AND don’t already have a ROM of it.

Now if they had put in the work to enhance it in one or two meaningful ways, it would be a very different story. It would be cool to own the ultimate version of one or both of these “ultimate versions” of the original games. That’s what made the Mario Galaxy remasters at least defensible at $40 a piece.

Re: Poll: What's Your Favourite Gen 2 Pokémon?

quickbeam

Even though it’s my favorite Pokémon generation, I didn’t like the designs nearly as much as gen 1. There were fewer than a dozen that I even considered, but ended up going for Skarmory (who, as of this writing, isn’t getting nearly enough love!).

Re: Poll: What Nintendo Switch 2 Games Are You Most Excited For In 2026?

quickbeam

I chose (in alphabetical order)
007 First Light
Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition
Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Splatoon Raiders

At first I was surprised the majority are 3rd Party, but then I remembered that they’re some of the best 3rd Party games of the last several years that I finally get a chance to play. Works for me!

Re: Talking Point: Does Switch 2 Have Nintendo's Best Launch Line-Up Ever?

quickbeam

I gave it to Switch 2 because, objectively, it had a higher number of excellent games available at launch. That said, Wii Sports was such a phenomenon that it almost overshadows EVERYTHING else, and, despite maybe not even being in the top 10 games listed in this article, is still somehow the single best launch title of all time in the context of the console and the timing.

Re: Talking Point: Six Months Since Launch, How Would You Rate Switch 2?

quickbeam

I don’t have one yet — will probably buy one next year — but I’ve been following coverage closely. From what I’ve seen, I’d give it an 8/10 (great) so far. Hardware is beyond what I expected, graphics-wise, and everything seems to work as advertised. I’m a tad disappointed in the 1st party offerings so far, but I think the only reasons I say that are 1) Switch launched with BOTW, and Switch 2 hasn’t had anything best it yet (which isn’t the fairest complaint, and DK Bananza does look top-tier), and 2) Mario Kart World looks good but a bit of a disappointment (though, again, that’s coming from 8 Deluxe, the GOAT, so fighting an uphill battle there as well). However, I am fairly pleased with 3rd party support so far, and many more that have been announced. There are several 3rd party S2 games I can’t wait to get my hands on, filling out the first six months nicely.

Edit: Also, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how many quality S2 Edition games/upgrades have been made available, and overall backwards compatibility has been satisfactory.

Slight step down from the S1 launch overall (yet again, comparing to my overall favorite console of all time), though a step up in 3rd-party games.

Re: Site News: Nintendo Life Turns 20 Today!

quickbeam

Happy Birthday to one of the best sites on the World Wide Web! I respect your coverage, of course, but it also seems like you try to do business in a thoughtful, well-meaning way, and I support that just as much. Keep up the excellent work!

Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Pokémon Legends: Z-A?

quickbeam

The only Pokemon Switch games that really appeal to me are LGPE and Legends: Arceus. Pokemon was once my favorite series, but that's changed as I've gotten older and the games generally haven't gotten better. I was open to getting this instead of Arceus, but I don't think I will.

The battle system in Z-A looks excellent, and I hope they keep using it for future games! But seeing trailers for this game made me realize that one of the things I enjoy most about Pokemon games is going on an epic journey and achieving things as I travel, so Arceus is more closely aligned with that, even though the battling is ho hummer.

Pokemon might be the gaming franchise with the most regularly missed potential. I know reasons ultimately come down to money, which is sad. If the developers had a budget to match the profits these games make, and were able to work on a game for at least three years or so, they could make one of the greatest games of all time, especially if they implemented this new battle system!

Re: Best Super Mario Games Of All Time

quickbeam

My top 10, considering how great they were at the time as well as how well they hold up today (more heavily weighted toward the former) are:
10. Sunshine
9. New SMB U
8. 3D World
7. Galaxy 2
6. Galaxy 1
5. Mario 64
4. Mario 3
3. Wonder
2. Odyssey
1. Mario World

Re: Latest Switch Online Release Potentially Confirms Leaked Upcoming N64 Classics

quickbeam

Are Smash and DK64 the best games on the system? No (though Smash is close, imo). But it's the nostallgiaaaa, and I put so many hours into those games as a kid, particularly multiplayer.

It may sound crazy, but NSO's current offerings are almost enough to get me to resubscribe to the service. These two games are what would push me over the line. Then all I will need is some friends and some free time!

Re: Opinion: We Need To Talk About X Games

quickbeam

I agree with this article overall, though it doesn’t bother me quite as much as the author. Yes, market research has shown pretty definitively that X is the most marketable letter. You see it with phones and cars quite a bit too

I think the only places it’s perfectly acceptable are when it represents a cross (in which case it should be pronounced “eks”) and as a Roman numeral — though this only when it is, in fact, the tenth in a series, AND when the others in the series are numeraled Romanly, as in the case of Final Fantasy X (“ten,” and X-2, “ten two,” though that’s a whole other issue)

Re: Talking Point: Does Switch 2 Have Nintendo's Best Launch Line-Up Ever?

quickbeam

I actually said NES because Clu Clu Land, Duck Hunt, Excitebike, Ice Climber, and Super Mario Bros. On a level playing field, obviously those games suck compared to modern games. However, taking into account gaming history, it was the most revolutionary launch lineup, imo

After that, I'd put SNES, then Switch 2. If Prime 4 and DK Bananza could be there at launch, it would probably have taken the crown