Comments 2,340

Re: Mario Tennis Fever's Opening Movie Is As Cinematic As They Come

somnambulance

That looks fantastic, a lot of classic Nintendo energy in this scene. I can see my son wanting to high five me after the Toad part at the end and he’s not even interested in this one… yet. My wife keeps telling me that no one’s going to want to play this one with me, but she’s wrong! It feels so Nintendo. As long as my copy arrives on time, the 12th is going to be a great day! This is the first big game of the year of me.

Re: Pokémon Pokopia Switch 2 New Pre-Order Bonus Revealed (US)

somnambulance

With this one being a key card, I’m just going to grab it digitally, I think, unless I change my mind on picking it up. I’ve got a decent chunk of eshop credits and I’m thinking this one, Rubato, and… another digital game or few (seriously, we need to start getting some release dates for this year, things like Orbitals and Mina the Hollower). Neat preorder bonus though. My wife would like it.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (7th February)

somnambulance

I bought Battle of Asciion on the Steamdeck and that’s a neat little curio. I’m mostly playing “waiting for Mario Tennis to come out next week.” I’m feeling ready to play my “first big game of the year.”

I have eshop credit on the Switch and Bomberman is looking more appealing than it probably should because I’m ready to buy something good. I might do it. I started watching my son play Monster Hunter Stories 3 yesterday too and I suspect we’ll continue.

Re: Nintendo Showcases Every Switch And Switch 2 Partner Direct Game In New Infographic

somnambulance

Pragmata and RE are already preordered on PS5. To be honest, I’m still not sure how I feel about Elliot. Realistically, the only game out of this batch I’m definitely getting is Orbitals. I hate to say it, but I get the feeling that, just like last year, I’m going to end up using my Switch 2 basically for first party games again, which is a bummer. We need more exclusives, not just late ports.

I watched the Direct with my wife and son last night. It’s sort of weird for me now because I’m almost looking for games for my son as much as I’m looking for me now. He’s interested in the Monster Hunter game, so I downloaded the demo for him. My son thought the Scott Pilgrim game looked cool too. My wife said she felt like she’d already seen most if the games and asked if I already had a lot of them. She said I should play Pragmata with my daughter and if it’s good, we’ve got Halloween figured out. Lol. She liked the Bomberman reveal. She said she’d never heard of him before, but she’d like to try them. My son and wife both got excited about Oblivion as if they’d never heard of it or seen me play it last year. They both really wanted it. They both also liked the Tomodachi Life Direct better than the Partner Direct.

Re: Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase February 2026: Every Announcement, Game Reveal, Trailer

somnambulance

Can’t wait for Orbitals!

A shame we didn’t get Goemon in the West though. That would’ve been a genuine surprise and delight.

Overall, I’d say the Direct was a 5/10. Felt like a bunch of old games coming to Switch that were on other platforms last year, unfortunately. And most of the compelling games had already been advertised to death. There just wasn’t that element of surprise or freshness to the Switch content, you know? I want to feel more excited about Nintendo’s line up than I currently do, I guess.

Re: Nintendo's Share Price Drops 11% Following Its Financial Release

somnambulance

@sportymariosonicmixx The Switch 2 is selling very well. It outsold the WiiU’s lifetime sales in the half year it’s been out.

Also, 2008’s recession is a very different circumstance from 2026’s overall economic mindset. Being in America, things feel far more tumultuous right now, though I’m not so certain that’s 100% obvious on paper. It’s perhaps not wise to discuss too deeply about that here, as this isn’t really a political or economic forum, and discussing too in-depth is going off topic.

I’ll keep it simple and say that most of my personal stock and investments are in tech and I’ve “lost money” unilaterally across my investments this last year in a substantial way. My investments have decreased profitability by around 23% altogether. Yes, I do own Nintendo stock. YTD, that’s only down 12% as of the time of writing. That’s better than a lot of things. Even “sure bets” like Nvidia are down nearly 7% this year so far. So realistically, I don’t feel there’s any reason currently to panic about Nintendo’s stock price in comparison to the economy at large. Besides, once the Switch 2 fills out its release slate, it’ll attract more potential shoppers that have held off to date. A big Mario, Zelda, a genuinely next gen Pokemon game… these things will get people to buy the console en masse and they’ll come. Also, the Mario movie will likely positively impact the Nintendo stocks soon enough as well. Nintendo’s been in far worse situations than it’s in right now.

Re: Talking Point: Nintendo Direct February Partner Predictions - What Do You Want To See?

somnambulance

Oh man, I just hope this isn’t a collection of “Goty Contender Greatest Hits Previous Years Edition.” I love that new people can play great games, but I already played them and I want new games for me. I hope we see Oribitals, Mina the Hollower, and Witchbrook, but I also hope we see something we might not know about yet.

I haven’t touched my Switch 2 all year. I know I’ll be using it for Mario Tennis soon enough, but I dunno… I haven’t played my Switch since I beat Metroid Prime 4.

I feel like there’s a lot of space between Switch releases for me at the moment.

Re: Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase Announced For Tomorrow, 5th February 2026

somnambulance

@Bunkerneath Mario Tennis, Hello Mario, and Pokopia are all releasing within a month, Tomadachi Life at the start of April, and Yoshi’s supposed to be launching in Spring. That’s far more first party content than Sony or Xbox have in the same time period. That’s more than they have combined in the same time period, in fact.

The Switch 2 just needs to start churning out some exclusives. I’ll admit that I prefer gaming on the Switch 2, but there’s very little reason to pick up the console for me personally and I’m sure others that have other consoles are feeling the same way. I haven’t touched my Switch 2 once all year. Granted that’ll change next week with Mario Tennis, but I hope that changes tomorrow instead.

Re: Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase Announced For Tomorrow, 5th February 2026

somnambulance

It’s about time. I’m really excited for it, even though I can’t say I care much about the current third party line-up. It feels like we need an update on the first party games like Yoshi and Fire Emblem, but maybe Nintendo’s strategy going forward is to give individual games individual Directs? Seems like things are transitioning to that a little bit.

It’s so frustrating that these things leak weeks in advance and then Nintendo waits til the day before to finally announce. At this point, man, would I love this Direct to end with a timeline of future Directs the first half of the year just so that the leakers can’t do it first. Since this was leaked as a partner Direct, people are already trying to “leak the REAL Direct” and it’s a little obnoxious.

Re: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Sales Have Got Off To A Slow Start

somnambulance

@hcfwesker Totally disagree. The game’s easy, but so are BotW and Mario Odyssey and you don’t see people reaming those games. The reaction towards the ancillary characters was totally overblown as well. It’s not a perfect game, and it’s dated in places, but the fact that it feels as vintage as it does was honestly refreshing to me. It plays very similarly to the other games in the Prime series and I’d honestly say it does a better job with world crafting and sound design. It doesn’t top the original Prime, but honestly what does? People were dog piling on the game as if it’s Metroid Prime: Farcry. Prime 2 and 3 weren’t perfect games either. There’s far worse games out there than Metroid Prime 4. I’ve played the entire series as it’s released and, for me, it’s certainly no second coming of Other M.

Re: Preview: Pragmata Might Wind Up Being The Biggest Surprise Of 2026

somnambulance

The demo on Steam was fantastic. Preordered on PS5 rather than Switch, but I can’t wait. It might be my most anticipated third party release this year.

2026 is the year of Capcom. RE, MH Stories, Pragmata are launching month after month and then there’s Onimusha and who knows what else? Seriously, Capcom’s keeping this industry alive.

Re: Nintendo Reconfirms Release Windows For Major Upcoming Switch 2 Games

somnambulance

@kmtrain83 They’re solid games, but they all feel like mid-tier mid-generation titles. Even DK Bananza felt like a mid-generation game by virtue of being an experimental platformer. Seems odd for Nintendo, but then again Xbox and PlayStation also launched their latest consoles with a relatively vacant and lower stakes release slate too. By comparison, the Switch 2 has more volume right now this far into the console’s lifespan to date when it comes to first party titles.

Re: Nintendo Reconfirms Release Windows For Major Upcoming Switch 2 Games

somnambulance

Love Fire Emblem a lot a lot and it’s my most anticipated game this year, especially if it has ties to Three Houses like it appears to, but let’s all be real here: that’s selling consoles like Metroid Prime 4 is selling consoles. Personally, Yoshi, Mario Tennis, Pokopia, Fire Emblem, and Rhythm Heaven alone is a strong line-up for me, but I’ll even I’ll admit that line-up’s missing a console seller. Switch 2 has such a more niche line-up, which I love, but I also would love it more if the conversation around the console changed where people see it as an essential console like the first Switch. That will require something more mainstream and yet also more novel than anything currently scheduled.

Re: Feature: Nintendo Life eShop Selects (January 2026)

somnambulance

Personally, January’s a miss for me.

Mio should be my cup of tea, but, as @Kraven said above me, it’s unbalanced. The visuals are good, but it’s ultimately not a favorite of mine. I’ve no interest in Dispatch, despite really enjoying Telltale games as I’m not a fan of superhero stuff. I’d say I liked Cassette Boy best this last month, but that one didn’t really click with me either. I’ve enjoyed my Steam backlog far more than anything new I’ve played last month. My Little Puppy, when it comes to Switch, which it will, I recommend that. That one’s really standing out to me for being a relatively new and unique title out there right now.

February should be a better month if there truly is a Direct. A Partner Direct especially means an above average shadow drop is likely.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (31st January)

somnambulance

My Little Puppy is my game of the weekend. I started playing it with the wife and kids last night and it seems to be a short one. I imagine there’s a possibility I’ll complete the game and have yet more gaming time this weekend as the wife is sick and I expect she may want to rest rather than do our weekend plans, but I’m not sure what else I may play just yet.

Re: Poll: So, Will You Be Getting Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream For Switch?

somnambulance

Not sure just yet. This is one that I’m tempted to get for my wife and kids. It seems like it might be up their alley, but it also might not be. I’ll do some research, read the reviews, and see. It might be very much for them, but also it might not be. It’s not one I’d buy for myself, but hey Pragmata’s out in April too, so it’s good to have other games for the family to play while I’m playing that one.

Re: Rumour: A Nintendo Direct May Be Coming As Soon As Next Week

somnambulance

I just want to know about the first party stuff, though hopefully Mina the Hollower and Witchbrook receive a release date soon. Orbitals too, that was a highlight from the Game Awards. I want to know more about Yoshi and Fire Emblem though and whatever else there is cooking this year.

Honestly, Partner Showcase makes me uneasy that it’ll be a bunch of old ports “finally coming” to the Switch family of consoles. For those of us that want Switch to be their primary console but have PS5 and Steam, I hope it’s still an exciting showcase.

Re: Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream Moves In On Switch 1 This April

somnambulance

@Anti-Matter that description clarifies things a lot. Honestly, sounds like they’re distinctive enough to be releasing at a similar time frame. Might pick them both up then. I think one will end up for the kids and one will end up for the wife and everyone will be happy while I play Rubato and Pragmata instead. Lol.

Re: Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream Moves In On Switch 1 This April

somnambulance

As someone that’s never played Tomodachi Life and skipped the Direct, which I’ll watch later, what exactly is the game? Is it like Animal Crossing? I’ll be looking into it more, of course, but I’m trying to figure out if it’s headscratching that Pokopia and Tomodachi Life are releasing one after the other or not. I mean, I’m planning on getting Pokopia for the wife and kids, and potentially Tomodachi too. Neither one is really massively my taste, but I’m casually interested in what I’ve seen in previous Directs.

Re: Feature: "Demoralisation Is A Strong Word, But It Accurately Describes The Situation" - Why Do So Many Games Get Delayed?

somnambulance

@metaphysician That may be true. Unfortunately, I forget that the internet is a cesspool of rage bait and baseless toxicity sometimes which is at odds with what I’d personally enjoy, which is more direct engagement. I really enjoy following games I’ve backed on Kickstarter that are intelligently designed, as the regular updates make me feel like I’m informed and that I did something right by essentially preordering a game. If that’s how preordering was, I’d gladly do it for many games, even if they were 5+ years out, but you’re right that the public at large isn’t ready for something like that.

Re: Feature: "Demoralisation Is A Strong Word, But It Accurately Describes The Situation" - Why Do So Many Games Get Delayed?

somnambulance

Personally, I really don’t care if games get delayed for years. Games should be developed as art and art takes time.

What frustrates me though is the lack of communication. We barely even get release dates in general anymore and it’s harder to plan and budget gaming these days, especially when we’re in an era where week 1 sales basically make or break every game’s longterm shelf life. We’re sold urgency by an industry that doesn’t allow us to plan for it.

To use March as an example, when Pokopia got a release date, it was the only thing that interested me that month and it stayed that way for about 3, 4 months. Then 007 got a release date and I was sort of meh on it, but still curious, but then that got delayed. More quiet. Then Rubato got a release date, then Life is Strange got a release date, then Ratcheteer DX got a release date, etc etc. Two months before release on all these games and they have release dates. You could say, “Well, that’s fine, you don’t have to buy them all at once and it’s a great thing to have things to be interested in later,” but Pragmata’s in April (and who knows what else?), Bubsy’s in May, and all those studios I don’t support immediately may be shuttered by the time I go back.

The rush to release and rush to sell ethos of the industry is far more maddening to me than any delay. Why not have more transparency? I think we would like it more and the developers would like it more. We’ve got the means to be more relaxed, but it’s gone the opposite way.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (24th January)

somnambulance

Played the Rubato demo on my Switch 2 last night and I just have to remark about that because it was utterly fantastic and I’m looking forward to buying the full game in March now.

But, for the weekend, I’m working today and my birthday party’s tomorrow, sooo… I’m sure we’ll play some form of party game tomorrow. Jackbox or Mario Party or something along those lines.

With my birthday being so close, I’m sort of using that to play more games than usual. I did finally start Terranigma after years of wanting to see what it was about and it’s a really beautiful 16 bit JRPG. I’d really like to start the Seance of Blake Manor tonight. I was also able to find Vib Ribbon recently and that’s been a definite go-to game for me. Man, do I wish Sony would revisit Vib Ribbon and Parappa… That’s a wish for the birthday candles…