slowpoke_tail

@Yoshi3 As much as I loved BOTW, I cannot wait for the end of this era of every major game needing an open world.

Some of the design elements remind me of Suicune and Lopunny, but it actually works well.

@Max_the_German I’m not sure a limited time sale counts as swallowing the tariffs.

Zeraora is probably the most forgettable mythical for me, but hopefully this DLC gives it a good plot/lore to make it stand out more.

It's nice seeing A Link Between Worlds so high up, it's a personal favorite of mine and it feels like nobody talks about it anymore.

Would be cool if the new forms end up being added to the mainline games, love seeing Smeargle get some love.

Mega Chimecho looks pretty cool, looks like it might get an added Steel type?

@CANOEberry Data privacy is a valid concern overall, but any applicant who is asked to hand over their phone during an interview should immediately end the interview and leave.

@Akropolon I think the monthly premium pass must be a massive money maker on top of card collectors being a group that spends a lot of money on the hobby. I don't think Go has any kind of similar subscription does it?

@Ramouz I put about 20-30 hours into it before it started feeling repetitive in a bad way. It's a little like Animal Crossing in that it hooks you fast and hard, but these types of games don't keep my attention long term. I still enjoyed it and feel I got my money's worth though.

@DennyCrane I have to agree. The hotel setting unfortunately ended up being a way for them to shoehorn a bunch of outlandish themes into the game rather than being an actual creepy/haunted hotel, although the gameplay was still solid. I think they'll continue to go down the path of "cartoon ghost house" rather than ever going back to the genuinely eerie atmosphere of the first game

@iLikeUrAttitude It depends on the Pokémon’s location, but shiny hunting is overall very easy in this game. You can just fast travel/sit on benches over and over to reshuffle the spawns in an area, and since shinies don’t despawn, they’ll still be there when you go in to check for shinies.

I love this site and have read it regularly for 15 years, but you all are really milking the clicks you get from negative Legends ZA headlines. The vast majority of people who have actually played it generally like it (despite its flaws), and most negative comments and user ratings seem to come from people who haven’t actually played it. This site’s own review gave it a 7/10 which is a good score, and it was one of the lower reviews compared to other sites.

Ranking Legends ZA behind BDSP is a choice.

I'm fine with unimportant NPCs walking around to give the game more atmosphere. But I hate when you have to talk to an NPC for a quest, and they move around throughout the in-game day. Makes it really annoying to track them down.

I'm content with the subscription service overall, especially since it means we don't start over with the drip feed of retro game releases with each new console generation.

Everyone wants voice acting, but I'm honestly glad I don't have to turn my TV volume down every time there's a cutscene with loud/annoying voices. If anything, I'd like them to replace the Pokémon cries with something a little more in line with what the anime does, the older Pokémon sound so out of place these days.

@Bats1234 That’s true, they probably fan the flames a bit because all the negative comments surrounding a new Pokémon release are still engagement.

Interesting that NL is one of the more critical reviews, although a 7 is still a decent score.

@Ham-n-jam The constant criticism is probably a sign of its success because it’s staying in the discourse. When something is a failure, people criticize for a short period of time and then move on. Kind of like how nobody outside of dedicated fans was talking about the Wii U after a while.

I’ve never been a big fan of games that go overboard with crossover characters. I could understand throwing in a few characters from other SEGA games, but characters like SpongeBob sort of dilute the original intent of the game in my opinion.

@RoboCube That was more so what I was getting at, the original's visuals still hold up incredibly well for me. It's impressive what they were able to accomplish with the Wii.

Maybe I'm getting old, but I would never be able to notice a lot of these visual upgrades unless I see them directly next to the original like in that video.

A nice reminder to not spend money in future Bandai games like this.

It’s no excuse for laziness, but I have such a high tolerance for subpar graphics and mostly only care about gameplay. Probably a result of growing up with the N64.

I like the design, but I’ll always prefer regular/permanent evolutions over mega evolutions for Pokemon like Hawlucha that don’t evolve.

@molkom if you go back to the game, make sure you do a little research on which launch Pokémon to not transfer. There are a few Pokémon from launch that have moves that aren't available anymore, so it's possible that you have some rare ones and may not realize it.

This game aged so much better than a lot of other N64 games due to its art style. I replay it about every year, it never gets old to me.

It's crazy how dull the colors are in the original version when the GameCube had so many vibrantly colored games. I had to look up some gameplay to make sure they weren't exaggerating on the 'before' footage.

@ShieldHero I'm guessing they purposely gave this app a quiet launch since it isn't something a majority of Pokémon fans will use. Hyping it up would cause confusion.

Is it just nostalgia that has Mario Paint that high up, or is it actually enjoyable in 2025? Genuinely asking as someone who has never played it.

I hate that those cute plushie models were used in such a dull game. They remind me of Yoshi's Woolly World, one of my favorite games.

I got accepted for this the first time around and couldn’t get into the game at all. Probably not going to apply again if it means taking another person’s spot who might actually enjoy it.

They perfected Pokémon Colosseum by stealing people's pets.

Surprised this didn't make it into World, elements of it would have made for an interesting intermission area.

It's too bad they've moved away from the story mode/RPG elements that a lot of the early handheld games had. Mario Tennis (GBC) is my personal number one of the lot.

That alone will probably dock this game a couple of points in a lot of reviews.

@Cry_Zero third parties would have a lot more negotiating leverage this time around when they know the exclusion of their character(s) could either tank the entire project or result in Nintendo releasing an incomplete version of Ultimate. This could cause them to ask for a lot more than they asked for the first time around, and Nintendo may not want to put up with that. Building Ultimate the first time was likely a lot easier because if there was an impasse in negotiations, Nintendo could move on to the next character/third party.

@shoeses it'll be interesting to see what they do with the series following Ultimate, I think licensing all the third party characters into a repackaged version of Ultimate would probably be a challenge. My guess is they'll narrow the focus of the next game to include only or mostly Nintendo characters, kind of like how Mario Kart World has only Mario characters in its roster. I'd be okay with that as long as the roster expands to Nintendo characters/series that haven't had much representation in Smash yet.

I mostly agree with this review, but one difference I immediately noticed between the new controller and the original is the plastic itself. The original controller is completely smooth, whereas the new controller has a very noticeable texture to it. The extra texture might help with grip, but it feels slightly too gritty in my hands. Overall a great recreation of the GameCube controller though.

I've gotten first six or seven times and wouldn't necessarily say I play a ton. Your best bet is to use mushrooms/speed boosts off the main track as much as possible to avoid all the chaos. And don't drive in the middle of the track if you can avoid it, that's where you're most likely to be hit by items. A lot of it is luck in the beginning but turns more to skill the more racers are eliminated.

@Sonicka agreed, I feel it'd make more sense to rank them as standalone games rather than in comparison to each other. They could keep the caveat that the Switch 2 version probably isn't worthwhile if someone owns the Switch 1 edition while still acknowledging that one is better than the other.

@Yoshi3 I remember when he joined the site back in 2016 or so, his comments and all the people he stirs up made those dry Wii U era comment sections entertaining. His comments aren't always my cup of tea necessarily, but I can't help but kind of admire how he carries on despite all the hate.

@progx great explanation, thank you!

This is probably a dumb question, but is there a reason why Switch 1 games seem to have so many more backwards compatibility issues compared to previous Nintendo systems with backwards compatibility (e.g., Game Boy to GBA, DS to 3DS, etc.)? Is it because the hardware is significantly different between Switch 1 and 2, or are we simply in a place where internet updates allow them to patch the random bugs more easily so it only seems like there are more issues?

Not surprising. I'm in my 30s with a decent job with no kids, and I felt one game was all I could justify at launch (Mario Kart World). I'm sure third parties will have more success down the road, but for now, it's going to be all about Nintendo exclusives.

It was miles better than the Mario Kart World direct. I wasn't planning on getting DK Bananza at launch, but now it's got me reconsidering.

I'm excited to see/learn more about Pauline, although I think Daisy's personality would've been perfect for the chaotic adventure of this game.

I'll probably buy this down the road if/when it's on sale, but what I've seen so far doesn't make me feel I need it right away. As of right now, my biggest hope related to this game is that we get some free DLC in Mario Kart World that adds Diddy and Funky as playable characters again.

Was this Kevin guy spotted kicking a puppy or something?