rosemo

@Yodalovesu I haven't played the game so I am speaking as an outsider on this one. However, bugs and lack of polish in my opinion should be counted against a game. If you applied this to a sports team, then you could say "Well, if only the players and coaches just made better decisions or better plays, then they would be an all-time great team." But they didn't, so their record is bad. In hearing people talk about this game, it sounds like they are going way out of their way to be charitable because it looks nice and they want it to be good. I heard Casey on NVC talking about this game and you could tell she hated it but was trying to be nice. I think our society is geared that way now, where we have to try to find the good in everything. However, there is nothing wrong in saying, "This is not a good game. It's disappointing. I don't recommend you buy it." The developers may try harder to either patch this game or make a better game next time. Or they may be inspired to start a new career that leads to astronomical success. I'm not saying to be overly critical or harsh, but be honest. If it's not good, give it a 2 or 3. Don't lead people to spend their hard earned on something that isn't worth it.

Here is the truth about the Steam deck:
1. It's screen is not as good as Switch OLED.
2. It is not as portable.
3. The base model is $399 and will not perform well with high end games. You will have to pay at least $529 for the mid-tier model.
4. You can't dock it without extra hardware, though that hardware is cheap.
5. You can't play multiplayer without purchasing extra controllers, another $60 investment.
6. This thing won't really be useful until you sink $600 into it.
7. People compare the base model price of $399 to the Switch but this is a fallacy, assuming that everyone only plays single player games and no couch co-op. The more apt comparison is to the Switch Lite, which is $200 or 50% of the price of the base model.

Not to say I don't appreciate the Steam Deck and what it's trying to do but I think the comparisons by Nintendo Life and IGN are off the mark. They are really going for different markets. I know plenty of people who will never know what a Steam Deck is but will happily purchase Minecraft on the Switch.

I am playing Part Time UFO right now. It's a great "wholesome" game. It should be on this list. Also, good call on Yoku's Island Express. Highly enjoyable and wholesome, though stressful at times.

I think the target audience is the Japanese market, where I bet Nintendo knows that many more players use handheld mode. For me, I'm about 50/50 between docked and handheld. So are my kids.

I paid $10 for Golf Story and it was absolutely worth it. One of my favorite games on Switch. I will definitely be buying Sports Story.

My son also saw this and said he needs to go back and finish the first one.

This looks great. Played both campaigns in the first game and loved it. I got the first one for Christmas when it came out and will likely be asking for this one for Christmas 2022! I agree with others that I hope DK makes an appearance.

I keep telling my son that the Switch "Pro" is not real and that these leakers are just people looking for attention. That said, if it is real I am probably not in the demographic for it anyway since I have many games to play on my backlog that don't need an upgraded Switch. I will preorder a new 2D Metroid though.

I just finished the base game and no, I won't be buying the expansion pass. Though I enjoyed the game, I think I've had enough. I hope others enjoy it!

I quit on Teslagrad about halfway through because I thought the controls and puzzles were clunky. The boss fights were also not great. The premise is outstanding and the animation is great. It just didn't click with me after so much frustration.

My brother in law has them but they are gathering dust under his TV stand so yeah...I decided not to invest.

Are they taking the entire game down next? 😆

@Grandiajet I totally agree with this and have mentioned it in other threads. It devalues the directs and Nintendo's role as curator of enjoyable content. Honestly, it feels like they are getting paid to include things in directs at this point. This may just be my jaded nature talking but the directs are starting to feel more like commercials where space goes to the highest bidder. The older format directs felt a lot more personal.

I agree with the perspective of the article and Jeff Grubb. The new Switch model screen will look great. The other thing to consider is that 720p OLED screens are probably much cheaper than 1080p. It will be "good enough" to deliver a great experience and allow them to keep the cost down.

The problem with Level-5 is that they oversaturate the market with an IP once successful. I played almost all the Layton games and enjoyed them but it became too much to follow and the gameplay didn't change enough from game to game.

@datamonkey You mean left field stuff like Famicom Detective Club? I like Pullblox (Pushmo), Advance Wars, etc. as much as the next person but the truth is these things don't typically sell very well. Mario and Zelda are annual franchises so you knew that was going to be there. Animal Crossing gets a new game every few years plus with new IP like Arms (that's not left field?), Splatoon, Astral Chain, etc. I don't think we have any room for complaint. Not all these are my cup of tea but we can't complain about lack of variety. And yes, I am pre-ordering the FDC games.

We play the PC versions on Zoom with our extended family every month or so. It's not too hard but you do need pretty good internet to stream it over the meeting without lag.

One thing Nintendo needs to address is that games like this and Calico, etc. are showing up in Nintendo Directs. These games are not good. There are other examples as well. Nintendo needs to screen these games better or else people will no longer trust Directs as a curated experience. If you are going to show us bad games, you might as well not have them.

I played about 30 minutes of it this morning. It was not good. The platforming is very clunky and framerate is...sigh. I agree that the music is good and the CG cutscenes have good production values. It reminds of a mediocre PS2 gen platformer.

My son and I just reviewed this game and gave it a 3. We paid nothing for it, but even at $5 this game has no business being given an 8. There are so many cheap games and re-releases of old games that eclipse this one. I understand that game reviews are subjective but this review is way off base. Don't buy this game, especially at full price. Buy one of the Neo Geo Pocket fighters instead.

@SwitchVogel I totally agree. I really hope that Nintendo reconsiders this new policy. It's anti-consumer and anti-developer in my opinion for the following reasons:
1. The eShop is a terrible mess and most games get buried very quickly. Sometimes sales are the only way to find "hidden gems".
2. I personally have discovered developers/publishers through highly discounted games and then bought subsequent games from them at higher prices.
3. Some developers have very limited budgets and simply can't market their games without aggressive pricing schemes.
4. Not all devs make money off the base game, some sell that for very cheap going to make money on DLC packs, etc.
5. Price fixing is never a great long term strategy. The free market should ultimately decide how much something is worth. Now, Nintendo says "All games are worth at least $2", but the consumers didn't decide that.

Now, I agree that Nintendo maybe should stop games that are discounted over XX% from climbing the bestseller charts. Developers can market their games through social media and sites like Nintendo Life doing PSAs on sales or Deku Deals. However, they should not stop developers from charging what they want to or consumers from discovering games based on a very low price.

@Tourtus I didn't know that. I'll have to look into how to do that and download all my DSiWare games again.

@Bizaster My kids still play it occasionally, even though we have a switch. My six year old son thinks it is hilarious.

One of the big issues here is storage. If you bought a good number of DSiWare games (like I did), then you can only store them on the internal memory of a DSi or a 3DS, both of which do not have much internal storage. If the games are removed from the shop permanently, then some folks might have to pick and choose the games they keep.

I finished this game a couple months ago. I liked it a lot. Had a few flaws but overall was enjoyable.

@Yodalovesu Totally agree. Agent A is great but Broken Age is a top notch point and click.

I've purchased two Sega games that I've enjoyed in the last five years: Sonic Mania and Puyo Puyo Tetris. Now, I may not be the target market for most of their games, even on Switch. For instance, I haven't bought one Sega Ages game. However, if most gamers are like me, then maybe they just don't sell enough games to turn a profit. Games are very expensive to make and market these days.

@Hero8-Bit @aaronsullivan Go back and look at reviews of DSiWare games on this site. Back then, Nintendo Life reviewed every download game, and I bet the average review score was more like a 5.5 or 6 because they reviewed a lot of shovelware.

@Low I pre-ordered Yokai Watch 3 for my son and I was glad I did as it became very hard to find after its original release. He still has it, but honestly, never finished it. We both completed the first one (I really enjoyed it) and he played the second one. He said that the third game felt "too much the same" as the other ones. I felt that way about the second game and quit playing it. I really like the Layton games but never got through the last one because again, they started to all feel the same. I think that is Level-5's curse.

I played this game for a while but it became too grindy and begging for money like a lot of the other free-to-play Pokemon games. I just removed it from my Switch and probably won't go back.

I put this game in my wishlist and then removed it once I started seeing some gameplay and hearing podcasters describe the game. It certainly presented well in the Indie World presentation.

@retro_player_77 I am assuming it will be a New 3DS like upgrade where the screen/components are upgraded (i.e. better screen, bluetooth headset support) but the games are relatively the same and will run on both the OG model and the new model. Over time, I think Nintendo will continue to iterate on the Switch hardware/form factor and taper off support for the OG model. Just like with GB/GBC, a lot of games were backward compatible for several years with the GBC providing cosmetic upgrades.

I'm playing Donkey Kong Country. In 1994, I had a Genesis so I only played through a couple worlds with a friend who got it for Christmas.

Hot take #1: It doesn't hold up very well. The music is great but the graphics and gameplay mechanics have aged in a way that the greatest SNES games have not. Some of the levels are still pretty fun though.

Hot take #2: I wasn't that impressed with it when it came out. I was more jealous of other games on the SNES than this one. I remember being more impressed with Sonic 3 and Aladdin.

@gaga64 I decided to play the Donkey Kong DLC a couple weeks ago after beating the main game in January. I finished it yesterday. IMO, it's better than the main game.

The PS2 seemed to me to have the same problem as the Wii. It shifted a lot of units but the people who bought it often did so they could play GTA, Gran Turismo, Rock Band or Guitar Hero. Once they bought their 1-2 games of choice, they didn't buy any more. I know several people in this boat. I think digital distribution of games has changed that to some degree.

It's a shame about Nintendo Land. My kids still play that game just about every day. In fact, it's one of the reasons a couple of my kids say they like the Wii U better than Switch. That game doesn't get enough credit. It was truly great as a couch multiplayer game.

I think they will eventually make one but the issue is that it won't lower the cost of the device enough for people to see the need to get it. As others have noted, the cost of extra storage will increase the cost of the device. As for stores being turned off like the Wii eShop, I don't foresee that happening. Nintendo is going to stick with this architecture for a while and (IMO) they will just have one shop going forward where you can buy games compatible with the original Switch or those compatible with Switch Pro, etc.

This looks intriguing. I will add it to my wish list.

Bought it three days ago and finished it last night. It's a great little game if you want a break from the backlog. It's not too challenging and the writing is funny.

@Supadav03 Agreed. I was thinking the exact same thing.

@NImH Make the leap. I 100% completed that game last fall. It's great.

I've told my kids that the Switch will likely be my last console. I'll just play retro games from here on out. Nintendo is doing this in their console games as well (see the neverending "DLC" of SSBU). I want to buy a game, play it and have it come to an end, not have it shoved down my throat "as a service".

Also, from a personal finance standpoint, subscription services are devious because they hide how much of your income is being spent per month instead of just saving up for a thing and buying it one time. It only really benefits the company in the end. I don't like these developments at all.

@Dm9982 My son was confused about this as well and did some research. I believe there are no microtransactions in the Switch game. The "loot boxes" are a leftover from the fact that this started out as a mobile game.

Old Man's Journey is short but very good as well. I recommend that one, especially on a sale.

Agreed that Unwound Future is the top. It's a great game. I'm still trying to get through Azran Legacy. I've been playing that game for about a year. Also, how about Layton vs. Wright?

Gacha gaming is basically like a bad carnival game where the prize seems plausible but really it's just there to let the carnie swindle people out of more money while they try to impress their significant other. (Step right up! Get your Metro Mario folks!)

I personally found MK Tour to be odious and Dr Mario World yawn inducing. Dragalia Lost was more generous with the currency but hideously sexualized. Nintendo may be successful with the Switch and I am enjoying it, but their mobile strategy and games so far have been rough.

I will continue to vote with my dollars.

@Ooccoo_Jr Mario Run made about $60 million I believe which means that a lot of people bought it. I did and enjoyed it more than any of their other attempts at mobile gaming. However, in the high greed, no respect world of mobile gaming, you don't get ahead by being the good guy.

@Bunkerneath Me too! I saw that basically all progress resets every two weeks and was very discouraged from playing beyond that so I deleted it from my phone. I don't have time in my life for that and I really just want to play games on the Switch that respect my time and money.

@gamefreak77 The Switch Lite is the 3DS successor. Nintendo has merged all their hardware/software efforts into one stream. That is why the next mainline Pokemon game is on the Switch. Going forward, we will be thinking much less in categories of "handheld" and "home console" and more in the categories of "gaming devices" vs. "streaming devices". All these devices will be digital only, the only choice you will have is whether you download a game and play it on a device or stream it from a server.

@sketchturner Agree with you on Pool Panic. Really liked the concept but it was a slog to get through all the levels and the final boss was just not fun. I'm a big fan of "short but sweet" games.