saanaito

I backed the game during its Kickstarter phase, and I plan to claim a Steam code if Yacht Club offers that option (which seems a given, but I'm trying to not assume). I'm hoping it does well for them! I didn't quite click with the demo, but I'm hoping that having the full game ahead of me will give me more motivation to stick with it.

This is kind of a bad look for Nintendo, considering this is one of their "hype train" games for a brand new system ... and yet, I can't fault them too much, because the game does seem fairly ambitious; and many folks, myself included, have played plenty of games on home consoles where performance would occasionally dip, yet we still enjoyed those games. Your mileage may vary, of course, but I can't see an occasional dip in frame rate as a deal breaker (as long as it doesn't happen in moments that demand precise input, at least!).

I bought the Steam version a few days after that launched last fall, and it's a short game, but a sweet experience. The music does indeed slap. Plus, a lot of gameplay snags and performance issues were ironed out on the Steam version, so the Switch version should make a much better first impression than the good one it already had on Steam.

The price is a bit steep for its length, but I don't regret buying it full price, and I still intend to buy the soundtrack.

LIGHT SPOILER: the final boss music, "The Seeker" is my favorite track. https://starlingoboe.bandcamp.com/album/pinball-spire-original-soundtrack

I was honestly anticipating this one to be an emotional heavy-hitter, so the note on it not being that disappoints me. Maybe on a sale.

This one never landed for me - Wario Land 1 was more my speed - but from what I've seen of its gameplay, it was a technical and game design marvel, and really showed off what the GBA was capable of while being a spectacular play experience. Glad it's being made (officially) available once again!

I must admit, I am still mildly tempted to buy this port, just because of how good it sounds like it is and because of my newfound love for Guilty Gear (you get three guesses why); despite me already owning a license on Steam plus a Steam Deck to play it on.

A good list! Paper Mario is a special game for me despite me having not played it as a child/on the GameCube, and while I didn’t beat it this year I definitely spent several good hours on it.

Balatro also took up way too many hours, and I bought it on multiple platforms this year.

Metaphor and Zelda: Echoes have both been amazing experiences for me, and I still have a long way to go on both.

My biggest games, though, have been the new Ace Attorney releases. The Apollo Justice Trilogy and the Investigations duology both came out this year, and I was lucky (for financial reasons) obtain physical copies of both collections. It helps that this year’s release includes the first official English localization of Investigations 2!

All in all, while not quite the biggest or flashiest year for the Switch, it was still a solid year for the system and a great year for games overall. Here’s to 2025 being an outright thrill ride if the Switch 2 comes out!

(I for one am going to need some big distractions from the world at large in order to make it through 2025 with my sanity intact.)

This sucks. I’ve bought the Steven Universe games on my Switch and Samurai Jack BTT on my PS4, and while they won’t likely knock anyone’s socks off, they are all quite enjoyable games, especially given the reputation licensed games usually have. (I’m especially a big fan of the Steven Universe “Light” trilogy for being a turn-based RPG series with action elements, a la Paper Mario.) I can’t speak on the other games, but overall this is a big loss for everyone but the company heads.

RCT Classic is a real treat on other platforms. Besides smartphones, it’s also available on Steam (in addition to the original versions of RCT 1 and 2 with their DLC), and playing that on my Deck is at least manageable (though I need to pair a proper mouse for better game feel). Despite owning the Steam, Android, AND iOS versions, I am tempted to purchase the game for my Switch and see how the button controls fare. I will likely have to wait until after a sale, though.

Gonna miss the 3DS era dearly. StreetPass in particular. The service was a delight.

Gosh, to have even an ounce of her talent and skill (and of course the ability to put it to use). Ever since Celeste I’ve been looking forward to anything she takes part in making (her, and Maddy Thorson).

I’ve got my physical copy preordered! I can’t wait!

Fine by me. The presumed reason (Switch users rely more on Wi-Fi) is understandable, especially given how (understandably) sensitive the fighting game community seems to be about network performance, resulting from the nature of fighting games. Plus, the Switch’s weaker hardware might have imposed technical hurdles that would have affected crossplay in ways we haven’t realized.

Still a must-buy for me, especially if any physical release includes all of the DLC thus far on the cartridge. I’m only interested in casual play with friends, and in enjoying the story content.

As a casual Bridget main, I hope the Switch port works well.

Looks fun, but it’s a serious bummer that it’s going to be stuck on Apple Arcade. Not everyone has an iDevice, and even that subset of people who do won’t want to pay $8/month just to rent a new Sonic game. Playing these games with the touchscreen or even a Bluetooth controller isn’t exactly my idea of a top-class gaming experience, either …

And yet here I am, still hanging on to my Arcade subscription over a year after I signed up just to play Horizon Chase 2, and now I’m super excited to try out Dream Team on my iPhone 13 when it launches. Horizon Chase 2 did eventually get a console port after one year of Arcade exclusivity. Perhaps Sega will do the same with Dream Team in early 2025.

Seeing the Epic Games login screen hurt my soul. I forgot that Epic bought the developers last year, and I feel that Epic ruined this port's chances of being good since Aquiris probably got put on Fortnite duty. The Apple Arcade version was a delight when I played it on my tablet (an 8th-gen iPad).

I truly hope that Aquiris gets a chance to polish the Switch port and reduce the present of Epic in the game.

@TeaCatherine Sorry, I was being facetious. Tharja is indeed tough, and she helped my party through some scrapes on my first playthrough

A lot of people were horny for Tharja, huh?

Awakening was an important game for me, as I ended up using it to explore womanhood a whole seven years before I knew I was a woman. However, I wasn’t (and mostly still am not) interested in men, so I spent a lot of time making friendships with the other women among the Shepherds until I was suddenly roped into marrying Chrom. I was … hesitant, but went along with it.

Lucina and Morgan, though, were my everything for a while. I went full “not my children, you BITCH” for them at times and probably deprived Morgan of some much-needed levels, to the point that I had to take him out of battles. Oops.

In a later playthrough, I ended up marrying Stahl. He’s just so level-headed and such a sweetheart at his core. I had so much trouble adjusting to Lucina not being my daughter, though. ^_^;

I feel that Lunistice and Toree 3D deserve to be on this list. They are each under $5, and deliver incredible value.

Monster Hunter Rise was $20, so I decided to pick that up and see what the fuss was about. I was also able to snag physical copies of Persona 5 Royal and Digimon Survive (Switch versions of both) for half their retail prices each!

I might cave in and pick up a Switch OLED model next year, I spend most of my game time in handheld mode.

Thanks for sharing this interview! It's a fun little read. I'm still working my way through my first playthrough of NEO; if the length of the first game is anything to go by, I estimate I'm halfway done with the story.

@rushiosan ["what's with the $20 price when it's 10 elsewhere?"]

Porting tax, basically.

@Buizel My armchair thoughts are that it could be quite easy: just assign "version exclusive" Pokemon to a hidden die roll and determine which ones you get when you start a save file, perhaps based on the trainer ID.

I think I'm a sucker for 3D platformers. I have spent far more hours on other 3DS titles, but 3D Land is one of the few 3DS games I took the time to 100% complete. It was a fun romp, it truly made great use of the 3D, and I'll always look back on it fondly.

@Clyde_Radcliffe My thoughts: $50/year being "expensive" is subjective. I can afford it; but I still don't want to pay for it because I don't feel it's not a good value for the money. It's a rip-off, in the sense that it's an unfair exchange.

Among the people who can't afford the price, some of them may simply not have the funds to pay the $50 all at once. It sounds nice that it's "a cup of coffee per month", but I imagine that not many people like the idea of buying twelve cups in advance, in one shot.

Emulation or not - this is a $50 controller. Many console controllers* at that price are also officially capable of functioning as PC gamepads. People have paid for the product, they own it now, and it's well within their rights to try to use it as they see fit, regardless of whether the use case is "supported" (although they certainly aren't entitled to customer support for "unsupported" usage).

I, for one, might try to play A Hat In Time on my PC with this controller, if I ever pick one up.

*mostly Xbox and third-party controllers

I'm sad that Tangledeep (still) didn't make the list. It's got a wonderful 16-bit charm while offering a meaty roguelike adventure. (I may be biased though, as I was a backer when it was on Kickstarter.)

With that said! There is a lot of good stuff on the list. I love Slay the Spire, and Yodanji is an interesting little game that I've yet to crack but find charming. And Hades, that juggernaut, is not to be missed.

2 and Birth By Sleep got me by surprise a few times, and I ugly cried for pretty much the entire end of Days. Ven and Roxas got it rough.

Oooh, I'm glad this has been brought on my radar now! That trailer music is infectious.

EDIT: The overworld style makes me think of Pokemon DPPt, with some technical upgrades one might see if the DS was a bit more powerful. The "side view" battle scene style is normally not my favorite, but here I feel like it works - plus I'm excited for an indie "monster collector" game that doesn't stick to 1v1 battles! (2-on-2 Pokemon battle fans rise up!)

@Zeldawakening As Arlo often says, Nintendo is king of left field.

@Blooper987 He's even been in a fighting game already, and he's been exclusively on Nintendo systems until the mobile ports of the Trilogy. Seems a shame to consider him (or any of his comrades) out of the running entirely.

The "Dracula" reference is greatly appreciated. Now, if only the prices weren't sticker-shockingly high ...

I've been waiting on this since it was announced around May! It may be an enhanced port of OK Golf on smartphones, but the style is still compelling and I'd love to check out the content they've seemingly put in.

@tatchy In case it's slipped by you, look forward to Bomb Rush Cyberfunk!

Glad to see that I'm not the only one still playing through Great Ace Attorney

Physical for me, as per usual, in spite of the news about a day-one patch. I like having a box on my shelf and it saves me from suffering the long wait my poor Internet connection imposes; 10 GB would take a couple of days at minimum.

I played 1 and 3 on my PS1; so many good memories - especially my constant practice on 3's Foundry level trying to get a 1 million point run. I succeeded, and I hopefully still have the replay, but I've never been able to replicate the feat.

I just got the new Switch game in the mail yesterday, and I'm looking forward to having a grand time with it!

For those still having trouble with downloads - consider simply rebooting your Switch. It managed to work for me the first time I tried it. (Hold down the power button for the power options menu.)

I already have the amazing Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair - Donkey Kong Country fans should definitely check it out! Ageless and Going Under are tempting me.

@Tyranexx That, and/or she's channeling her inner Oldbag.

I've played OK Golf on my Android devices a fair bit, and I've enjoyed it. I like that they seem to have carried over the art style. Looking forward to this!

EDIT: Judging by the trailer, they may be bringing over the courses wholesale. I definitely recognize a few of those. Some others seem completely new, at least.
Oh well. I paid three bucks for the Android game and it started with less than half the courses it has now. I'm willing to pay for an enhanced Switch port if that's what this amounts to.

@THUNDERM00SE IIRC there aren't any microtransactions in the Switch version of the first game, nor are there any in the Switch version of the second game. Thank goodness, since the Android and iOS versions go too far.

I've really enjoyed both games on my Switch, enough to complete the first one, and I'm still clocking hours on the second one. Definitely worth the price, but if you're on the fence, I won't blame anyone for waiting on a sale.

This DLC adds some greatly wanted new tracks, as the second game's track roster is dominated by revised versions of the first game's tracks, adding only a few new ones. With the DLC, the track total is now 27.

Side note, folks: I see a lot of references to the developer as "he" in the comments, when in fact they are "she" or "they". Please respect a person's pronouns.

Carry on.

@flibblesan I'd like to add the Gaming Historian's video on Tetris, too; it's very much worth the watch! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fQtxKmgJC8

@ChromaticDracula As Nintendo Life's own reviews say, the Mercenaries games are pretty unremarkable. But if you grab them cheap, they're still a passable way to get your SRPG fix while waiting on something bigger to come along.

Note: Of the franchise, I've only played Mercenaries Saga 2, on my 3DS.

I sometimes wish I could get into the mindset that the author writes about. Unfortunately(?) for me, a lot of my drive to finish a game comes from the simple desire to know what happens next. Sure, I could predict the general line of events, but I always find myself wanting to find out exactly how the developers make it come to life.

So quitting a game partway, even if I'm not enjoying it at the moment, often leaves me feeling unaccomplished if it has a story to follow.

I absolutely loved playing the first game on my Switch! The sequel on mobile devices is fun but the timers and the push toward IAPs are ugly, so I've been waiting for this port! Day 1 for me.

Wow, what makes Tiny Racer so bad? Based on the screenshots, I was really looking forward to it.

There is a bit more value to fighter purchases than just the characters, though. Keep in mind that every DLC fighter for Ultimate has also included a new stage, plus new music.

I admit that can still be a hard sell for some people, at $7, but I feel it's worth considering.

I was lucky enough to receive some eShop funds for my birthday in September, so I used a good chunk of them to purchase the phase 2 bundle, making the value a bit better. Even if I'm not personally a fan of every added fighter, I want to give my friends access to their favorites when we play Smash in local multiplayer. (Eventually ...)

@mjharper Most likely both. I just downloaded the mod in Doom 1. You do have to log in with/create a Bethesda account to download add-ons, although they're nice enough to only ask for your email address if you have to create an account (and make your password on a PC/smart device).