I’m a Mario Kart World sympathizer, but above Metroid Dread? Above the original Super Mario Bros? Seriously?
And Three Houses being down in the 90’s? That’s just plain wrong.
That said, I had a wonderful time with the face off page on IGN and forcing friends and family to do it. Got some real interesting results from them, as we always know what “the gamers” will vote for, but the casuals are more unique in their choices. My sister sending me a screenshot of Mario Kart 64 vs Animal Crossing New Horizons for her final showdown was fun to see.
I get the feeling that anyone who actually played the game will understand why this is the best selling physical game this year and everyone that didn’t play it will be upset by it instead and will refuse to try the game.
After playing this one last weekend, I think I’m good. The game looks great, has a wonderful soundtrack, and looks smooth, buuuuut… I think I got all I needed out of this one in the couple sessions I played already.
Still baffled Nintendo put this one out against Mario Kart World and also the level of hype this one has in Nintendo circles.
Day One for me. 2026 looks a little barren right now, but those lower stakes first party games like this and Mario Tennis are making me so excited for next year, honestly.
I have a feeling Kirby Air Riders may have a similar launch to this one. I know that, around these parts, that seems like blasphemy, but, with both of these games, they feel like niche titles that are hedging success on a holiday season when launch titles are on the lighter side for a new console.
The eyes are weird, but it’s Illumination, so it’s sort of expected for it to be at least a little off. It looks better than Mario though! I’m sure it’ll be fine in practice and the movie will be an inoffensive 6/10 tier piece of cinema that my kids will like far more than I do (and I’m sure they’ll watch it endlessly).
I love the visuals for the game. It looks sumptuous and surreal, but… the actual racing feels so hyper and random. I second whoever said let’s get F Zero in this engine because THAT would actually probably feel a bit more right to me than Air Riders did
Maybe I’ll finally go back to Yotei or start with Arc Raiders? The Kirby demo is this weekend too, so I’ll try to do that. I haven’t played much of anything this week, so I’d like to play something.
Happy birthday Nintendo Life! We love you all! Thanks for everything you guys do on a daily basis, especially in giving more viability and visibility to the indie community. You’re doing the good work out there!
Whoa that got gnarly at times. Donkey Kong Country 2 vs Metroid Dread sort of broke me. Final Fantasy 6 vs Chrono Trigger was such an ancient challenge, but it’s so hard when you actually have to choose.
My final face-off was Mario Odyssey vs BotW too. What a classic one for last generation… I’m a cliche.
And these numbers have occurred before the holiday rush! Switch 1 may have already outsold DS too, as I believe Q2 ends in September. Different industries, of course, but I’m in Q4 for my job’s metrics and that started in October
To be honest, I found one outfit I liked and, just like in a season of the Pokemon anime, my character never changed clothes again. Lol.
That said, it’s about time we get to have facial hair in Pokemon games. I’ve had a beard for 20 years and I want my character to have one too. I don’t care if the character’s 10 years old. I want to express me! Lol
Oh, and man… wouldn’t it have been cool if there was a Team Rocket shirt in the game? If I missed that, let me know.
Seriously though, the kollection is fantastic. I hate voting for old games, but I just love it.
Absolum tops Ball x Pit and Xenotilt for me, but it’s close. They’re all 8/10s to me. I like them all, but not quite love any of them too. Oddly enough, the litany of good roguelike-ish games is bringing me back to Balatro and Vampire Survivors too, which is sort of weird, but I guess they’re the ones I actually love, so it makes sense, I guess?
But the big takeaway from this for me is… 🤦♂️ Katamari had a physical copy? I thought it was digital only! That’s my true favorite October game, even above Pokemon and I really liked that one too!
September and October have made up for how slow most of this year felt with releases for sure! I think I’m going to take a break from purchasing anything in November. I think I am, at least.
As for me, Katamari and Mortal Kombat on the Switch 2 if I find time, but I’ve been constantly working either for my job or home projects the last few weeks and I keep having to invest more time and more time. I’m sort of wearing out from it, but I’ve got no choice. Sometimes house projects need to happen and you just got to keep working on it, right? The only downside is sometimes one project becomes four then becomes twelve and so on and so forth. I’d like to play Arc Raiders, but I just don’t know if I’ll have time for it.
This is definitely a must buy. The funny thing with Mortal Kombat is that it can be easy to forget just how fun the older games were. I had the fortune to play UMK3 at an arcade over the summer and it just felt like such a kool thing to go back to and the game looked far better than I remembered it (and that might be because I played it on SNES back in the day rather than in arcades typically).
Holy kow, I’m glad this Kollection is out there now. The older MK games had such a distinctive feel to them. As much as I do like MK games after this Kollection, the first kouple of games just feel so special, even today.
@shgamer totally agree that this is a 9/10 for me. Even with the bad games on here, there’s an archival completeness in having them there that makes the bad games a pleasure to return to.
@Bolt_Strike I remember Gen 4 quite differently, but it was a different era. There wasn’t a saturation of social media and such. Granted, I was approaching high school graduation when Gen 4 came out, so a chunk of the reception I recall is probably from a group of people that had hit that “too old for Pokemon” phase. It wasn’t as toxic though, you’re right about that. The “fanbase” is more toxic than any I know. I do feel things were really toxic Gen 5 though. That’s the only one that I remember even friends of mine actually protesting (at least until Gen 8 and Dexit). I was disinterested in the series at the time of release, so I didn’t really care much about it. I loved Gen 5 when I went back to it though after playing Gen 6, which I was also quite fond of, which may be part of why I enjoy Z-A.
I never knew anyone personally that disliked Gen 7, though I had read the comments online. Some didn’t like restructuring how badges were acquired and that whole business as well. It was the first Pokemon game that I felt people criticized without playing it. I know some people that consider Gen 7 as an example of the types of direction they wanted Pokemon to go though.
People have been complaining about Pokemon since Gen 4.
If you don’t know this, you were too young or don’t remember. Gen 4, people felt the game was incomplete and were so upset that the third version of the game overhauled a lot of it. Gen 5 sold poorly in comparison to other entries and was criticized for moving away from the popular Pokemon of the past. X&Y at one point in time was viewed as both a return to form and derivative of the original game. Gen 7 shook up the formula too much for some. Each one of these generations upset large swathes of the fanbase. The Pokémon fanbase has been toxic for decades. If you think the Switch era is the worst era of Pokemon, it’s because influencers are louder, but the complaints have largely been the same. Let’s be honest: all Pokemon games existed with dated game design! But most people didn’t care about that as much back then. Given how well Pokemon sells, there’s an argument to be made that people still don’t actually care about that, as well.
For Let’s Go, the issue was that it was another remake of the original games. Then for SwSh, it was Dexit. Arceus avoided many complaints by being radically different, but, when you look at critical scores, it reviewed roughly the same in the aggregate as Z-A! ScarVi had the technical issues. Z-A just has the misfortune of being the next Pokemon game.
My truth is that the Switch games have honestly been great. For me, Gen 4 and Gen 7 weren’t huge hits for me. Gen 4 missed me hard enough that I didn’t play Gen 5 until after Gen 6 released. The Let’s Go games were a very welcome and comfortable return to the series for me, personally. I thought SwSh was pretty average for the series, but enjoyed the Pokemon designs and battle mechanics. The Gen 4 remakes might be my least favorite games in the entire series, but Arceus might be my favorite game as well. ScarVi was honestly one of my favorites as well. I hadn’t enjoyed a mainline Pokemon game as much as ScarVi since maybe Silver and Gold, and the DLC is the best expansion Pokemon has ever received. Z-A is just another great Pokemon game for me. It doesn’t have quite as many highs as ScarVi or Arceus, but it’s also remarkably solid in spite of its dated game design.
I think that a lot of people that are critical of Pokemon probably need to accept that Pokemon isn’t for them anymore more than anything else:
@ibookboyuk Enjoy it! It’s a very unique show with a great premise. I’ll warn you that it’s one of those “the first season is the best” types of shows, but it’s also a show that was allowed to end on its own terms rather than be outright cancelled, and, as such, the cast was so good that it’s easy to overlook some of its issues that happened in the third and fourth seasons, largely due to network interference. I know my wife and I are going to miss watching it!
@Striker21 I can’t take you seriously if you really believe that Palworld has stronger production values than Z-A. I beg the question again: have you actually played the game and experienced it? Also, come on, Ni No Kuni having better production values or Digimon? I like both series and that just isn’t true. Ni No Kuni might have better art, but it’s not necessarily better in terms of production values, and Digimon only just became comparable with the latest entry. I can get it if you just personally enjoy the other games better from a subjective standpoint, but Z-A, outside of the voice acting, looks and performs much better than the majority of the internet is saying. Let’s remember it is an 83 on OpenCritic currently.
I understand how game development works and that’s part of the reason why I can give Pokemon a little bit of understanding, given the timetables and budgets they have to work on each project. Yes, Game Freak could invest more time and money into each project, but that’s not what works or is sustainable for Pokemon as a brand that requires constant media saturation. That development timeframe is much shorter than average at this point, as development now typically takes 5-7 years for AAA games. This development cycle truly is more like CoD than your typical JRPG. Sure, CoD could slow down and make “the best one,” but that’s more of a risk in the modern era than continuous production and making what the fanbase likes. Development for Tears and Pokemon are very different in 2025, even though development may have been more similar 20-30 years ago.
@Striker21 Have you played the game and had the experience of the game to be so critical upon it? Whether or not Game Freak has the developers or resources is irrelevant to the discussion if they are making a good game. You can toss more money on a project and make a more polished product and that doesn’t mean it will be any more fun to play. I’m not using copium to describe my opinion, but the fact that I played the game and enjoyed it quite a bit, and have seen enough people admit that they have not played Z-A and will refuse to purchase it and decide to base their commentary on YouTube videos rather than personal experience. The same could be said for critics of the series for each entry in the Switch era. Some of those entries deserve more criticism than others.
The game isn’t perfect. It should’ve had voice acting. That’s the biggest sin the game has, honestly. The tutorial is overlong for adults, but a perfect length for younger children. It IS one of the better entries in the series and one of the more interesting ones too.
However, if Pokémon’s peers are moreso annualized releases than JRPGs, Pokemon is doing far more creative pushes forward than say CoD or EA Sports titles or even Assassin’s Creed.
@tankymctankus I agree wholeheartedly. People forget that Black and White were received relatively poorly at the time of release compared to other Pokemon games and the fanbase turned away pretty seismically too (and Game Freak’s not even sure if they should remake the games because they don’t understand a “cult game” as much). What the fans consider good today and tomorrow in the Pokemon world is rarely accurate. Sun and Moon had a lot of people very upset too, if I remember correctly. You wouldn’t know that so much from these ratings.
Finished Z-A yesterday and there is no way in a million years is it the worst Pokemon game. The bias against Pokemon since Sword and Shield is incredible. I guarantee that the low scores for Z-A have more to do with people scoring the game before finishing it or before even playing it than they do about the actual quality of the game. It’s not a perfect game. I’d rank it an 8/10. However, the vitriol against it is absolutely ridiculous and I have my concerns with regards to the amount of people that are blindly buying into such nonsense.
Instead of focusing on what a game developer “should do,” focus on what they actually produced and evaluate it in the context of how much fun a game actually is and what it actually accomplishes, you know?
Finished Pokemon Z-A this morning (and the final season of Resident Alien, as much as that is not a game). And after that, there was a new Katamari game. I will be out of town in a moment for the next two days. I will bring the Switch 2, sooooo… maybe a round of Hades 2 and Absolum to complement Katamari? Or maybe just Katamari. Katamari is such pure good to me.
@charliecarrot Totally agree. Just get past the tutorial section (which is a bit long, sure, but, I mean, we’ve all got to remember that kids are playing this too) and the game turns into magic. The catching and combat are fantastic.
@liljmoore I agree. It’s one of the better games to release this year for me. It absolutely nails things on the fun factor. While it doesn’t top Donkey Kong Bananza or Silksong for me and isn’t truly a GotY tier title in my eyes, it’s definitely in my top 10 this year. It may end up landing higher than Hades 2 and Ghost of Yotei by the time I finish with them all (and I already do like it more than GotY frontrunner Clair Obscur, call me crazy, I know), based on how I feel right now. The lack of voice acting and the stiffness of the NPCs are a concern, sure (though the stiffness thing is a JRPG thing, as they all sort of have that, even FF7 Rebirth), but the gameplay is utterly brilliant. The gameplay is the best Pokemon has ever been and it’s a shame some out there are so eager to slander the game that they can’t realize that.
Gotta be real: that was a fantastic presentation, but I’m still not sure I need another cart racer in 2025. I’ll try the demo for sure though and find out!
An 8/10. I like the game more and more the more I play it. Right now, I’m not 100% sure how I feel about the story, but the vibes are there. It’s a bit samey in environments, but the game also feels shorter and more compact. While the environmental textures could be better, the character models are pretty solid, honestly, so I think the online reaction has been sort of clickbait. I love the combat and catching mechanics. It’s truly addictive and I really enjoy my time playing the game. It’s no GotY, but it’s a really solid game.
@Jedrus_Lilac The introductory section of the game definitely makes a strong argument that a lot of people wear too much of an adult hat when it comes to Pokemon, as it was driving me nuts. Then I look to see how my 8 year old sees it and he doesn’t mind it at all because he sort of needed that section. Even so, with an adult hat, this game is exceptional in the fun factor and is perhaps the most addictive the series has ever felt. Once the game lets you just play, it’s a really enjoyable experience.
I wouldn’t argue Pokemon games are a cash grab. More that they’re an annualized release where Game Freak is clearly working on 8 projects at once, given the leak, so, given the workload on their developers, they’re creating more interesting results than most other games with similar development cycles, such as CoD or the EA sports titles. Also, basically anyone that wants to see results of the progress in the franchise in a significant way should consider maybe waiting a few years between which releases they purchase. If you went from Let’s Go to Z-A, for instance, the change is a lot more noticeable. I mean, to use CoD as an example again, all CoD games feel the same for a lot of people if they don’t take a break from the series and return to see the gaps.
Bringing up CoD though, once they have Beavis and Butthead skins, that’s when I’d constitute Pokemon going for cash grabs. Lol
@Jedrus_Lilac Hopefully the internet backlash doesn’t affect this game much. The game is largely solid and most of the hate videos I’ve seen have been from people that admitted in their videos that they haven’t played it and won’t buy the game because of what they see… without playing it and thus missing the game portion of the game.
Sure, there’s some issues Game Freak needs to address, but they’ve ensured the game has proper performance and released an addictive and fun revamp on series mechanics. Believe it or not, Z-A has a higher Open Critic score than the recent Digimon release as well. Not to pit them against each other as many are doing, but just to highlight the fact that, rather than seeing two series be in conflict, we should be perhaps celebrating that we’ve got two good games that released near each other in a similar genre and both games are different enough from each other to warrant playing them both.
The internet backlash is largely for the clicks at this point rather than any real passion for the IP. Are there issues with Z-A? Yes, there’s some areas Game Freak needs to work on, but they’ve worked on other issues from the last generation already and the fun factor is certainly present and strong in the game. Given the speed at which they release games, they’re creating better quality than you’d expect and being more creative with their IP than say… Madden or CoD is on a yearly basis.
@AverageGamer I only want them to remake Gen 5 if they’re going to make it worthwhile. Judging by the leaks, it seems Game Freak isn’t sure how to feel about Black and White either. Interest in Pokemon was sort of at a low at that time and it seems the company doesn’t look back on that era fondly for internal reasons. I wouldn’t be surprised if the ScarVi DLC shifted to Unova to acknowledge the region and move on, just the same as I wouldn’t be surprised if Z-A is doing the same thing for Gen 6. I suppose I’d understand if Game Freak is shifting away from straight remakes and putting the focus elsewhere.
I would agree that most of the remakes are good. SoulSilver/HeartGold might be the best game in the series, honestly. The leaks and the fact that Gen 4 was outsourced leads me to think that Game Freak’s vision may be in a different place now though.
Japan for me, but, man, I remember getting this one for my birthday ages ago. If you mixed Peter Molyneux with Pokemon, that was this game… except it didn’t work at all. For such a “cute game,” it was beyond frustrating to play.
NES was my first console. I haven’t played it on the console in a long while, but I know that it still works. It’s in my parents’ basement still hooked up. Usually for me, I’ll play NES games on NSO or compilations though. I truly love and appreciate the NES and I’d say I play games from that era the most if I’m not playing modern games.
@PateloDim After the Gen 4 remakes, do we really want a remake? I say this as someone who loves Gen 5 and is typically far more positive about Pokemon than the rest of the forums here. BDSP is probably the only Pokemon game that felt like a full-on misstep to me. I just… want to preserve my current thoughts on Gen 5. Totally understand if you don’t feel that way. I know plenty of people that don’t.
Pokémon Z-A. I am suspecting everything else I was playing will temporarily be put on hold for a bit after my session last night. The discussion on its “Dreamcast visuals” is totally overblown and untrue. If we’re going to pick a topic that makes more sense to go after Game Freak about, it’d be the lack of voice acting…
Anyway, the gameplay so far is just so good and addictive! I had a hard time putting the game down now that I’m finally out of the introductory portion of the game and I have the freedom to play as I like.
I was playing other things before Pokemon, such as Absolum, Hades 2, and Yotei, but those games will be on ice for a little bit.
Also, I’ll be making a habit of showing off that I was on TV yesterday! Lol.
Comments 2,340
Re: Top 100 Nintendo Games, As Chosen By Nintendo Life & IGN
I’m a Mario Kart World sympathizer, but above Metroid Dread? Above the original Super Mario Bros? Seriously?
And Three Houses being down in the 90’s? That’s just plain wrong.
That said, I had a wonderful time with the face off page on IGN and forcing friends and family to do it. Got some real interesting results from them, as we always know what “the gamers” will vote for, but the casuals are more unique in their choices. My sister sending me a screenshot of Mario Kart 64 vs Animal Crossing New Horizons for her final showdown was fun to see.
Re: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Is Now The "Best-Selling" Physical Game In The US This Year
I get the feeling that anyone who actually played the game will understand why this is the best selling physical game this year and everyone that didn’t play it will be upset by it instead and will refuse to try the game.
Re: Kirby Air Riders: Global Test Ride Demo Updated To Version 1.0.1, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
After playing this one last weekend, I think I’m good. The game looks great, has a wonderful soundtrack, and looks smooth, buuuuut… I think I got all I needed out of this one in the couple sessions I played already.
Still baffled Nintendo put this one out against Mario Kart World and also the level of hype this one has in Nintendo circles.
Re: The Indie Game Awards 2025 GOTY Nominee List Is Packed With Switch Hits
Silksong should sweep this year.
Re: Super Mario Galaxy Movie Trailer Reveals Rosalina, Bowser Jr., And More
How long has Brie Larson been petitioning for this role? I’m actually more surprised it took a second movie to get her in the cast
Re: Two PS1 Curios From 'Doshin The Giant' Creator Are Heading To The Switch
Can we please get an Alex review for these? With his love for Doshin, I am genuinely curious of his thoughts on these
Re: Pokémon Pokopia Is Seemingly Nintendo's First Game-Key Card Release
Guess I’m the only one buying this game then?
Re: Pokémon Pokopia Gets March 2026 Release Date, Brand New Trailer Coming This Week
Day One for me. 2026 looks a little barren right now, but those lower stakes first party games like this and Mario Tennis are making me so excited for next year, honestly.
Re: Super Mario Galaxy Movie Nintendo Direct Announced For Wednesday, 12th November
@N00BiSH What a reference. Can’t believe that was almost ten years ago.
Re: UK Charts: Hyrule Warriors: Age Of Imprisonment Just About Scrapes Into The Top Five
I have a feeling Kirby Air Riders may have a similar launch to this one. I know that, around these parts, that seems like blasphemy, but, with both of these games, they feel like niche titles that are hedging success on a holiday season when launch titles are on the lighter side for a new console.
Re: Poll: What Do You Make Of The Mario Galaxy Movie's Leaked Yoshi Design?
The eyes are weird, but it’s Illumination, so it’s sort of expected for it to be at least a little off. It looks better than Mario though! I’m sure it’ll be fine in practice and the movie will be an inoffensive 6/10 tier piece of cinema that my kids will like far more than I do (and I’m sure they’ll watch it endlessly).
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl - Dragon Power (NES)
You’d think I’d vote for the one with the pixel portraits given my avatar, but I’ve got to go with Japan for the full image Toriyama art
That said, I wonder if I can find a t-shirt with that European box art on it!
Re: Kirby Air Riders Looks To Be Powered By Bandai Namco's New In-House Engine
I love the visuals for the game. It looks sumptuous and surreal, but… the actual racing feels so hyper and random. I second whoever said let’s get F Zero in this engine because THAT would actually probably feel a bit more right to me than Air Riders did
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (6th November)
Maybe I’ll finally go back to Yotei or start with Arc Raiders? The Kirby demo is this weekend too, so I’ll try to do that. I haven’t played much of anything this week, so I’d like to play something.
Re: Site News: Nintendo Life Turns 20 Today!
Happy birthday Nintendo Life! We love you all! Thanks for everything you guys do on a daily basis, especially in giving more viability and visibility to the indie community. You’re doing the good work out there!
Re: What Are The 100 Best Nintendo Games? Here's The Chance To Make Your Voice Heard
Whoa that got gnarly at times. Donkey Kong Country 2 vs Metroid Dread sort of broke me. Final Fantasy 6 vs Chrono Trigger was such an ancient challenge, but it’s so hard when you actually have to choose.
My final face-off was Mario Odyssey vs BotW too. What a classic one for last generation… I’m a cliche.
Re: Round Up: The Reviews Are In For Hyrule Warriors: Age Of Imprisonment
@Erigen It’s definitely time for a Marsuo game.
Re: Switch Is Poised To Be Nintendo's Best-Selling Console Of All Time
And these numbers have occurred before the holiday rush! Switch 1 may have already outsold DS too, as I believe Q2 ends in September. Different industries, of course, but I’m in Q4 for my job’s metrics and that started in October
Re: Back Page: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Fit Check - Celebrating Lumiose Fashion Week In Style
@ShadLink @nib0 If they’re old enough to run a hotel, they’re old enough to have a beard.
Re: Back Page: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Fit Check - Celebrating Lumiose Fashion Week In Style
To be honest, I found one outfit I liked and, just like in a season of the Pokemon anime, my character never changed clothes again. Lol.
That said, it’s about time we get to have facial hair in Pokemon games. I’ve had a beard for 20 years and I want my character to have one too. I don’t care if the character’s 10 years old. I want to express me! Lol
Oh, and man… wouldn’t it have been cool if there was a Team Rocket shirt in the game? If I missed that, let me know.
Re: Feature: Nintendo Life eShop Selects (October 2025)
MORTAL KOMBAT!
Seriously though, the kollection is fantastic. I hate voting for old games, but I just love it.
Absolum tops Ball x Pit and Xenotilt for me, but it’s close. They’re all 8/10s to me. I like them all, but not quite love any of them too. Oddly enough, the litany of good roguelike-ish games is bringing me back to Balatro and Vampire Survivors too, which is sort of weird, but I guess they’re the ones I actually love, so it makes sense, I guess?
But the big takeaway from this for me is… 🤦♂️ Katamari had a physical copy? I thought it was digital only! That’s my true favorite October game, even above Pokemon and I really liked that one too!
September and October have made up for how slow most of this year felt with releases for sure! I think I’m going to take a break from purchasing anything in November. I think I am, at least.
Re: Upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 Games & Accessories For November & December 2025
Metroid Prime 4 is the last and only game I will purchase the rest of this year. Hopefully it’s worth the wait!
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (1st November)
As for me, Katamari and Mortal Kombat on the Switch 2 if I find time, but I’ve been constantly working either for my job or home projects the last few weeks and I keep having to invest more time and more time. I’m sort of wearing out from it, but I’ve got no choice. Sometimes house projects need to happen and you just got to keep working on it, right? The only downside is sometimes one project becomes four then becomes twelve and so on and so forth. I’d like to play Arc Raiders, but I just don’t know if I’ll have time for it.
Re: Poll: So, Will You Be Getting Animal Crossing: New Horizons - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition?
Ordered the upgrade the moment I saw it
Re: Review: Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection (Switch 2) - A Killer Kompilation, But Online Is A Mess At Launch
This is definitely a must buy. The funny thing with Mortal Kombat is that it can be easy to forget just how fun the older games were. I had the fortune to play UMK3 at an arcade over the summer and it just felt like such a kool thing to go back to and the game looked far better than I remembered it (and that might be because I played it on SNES back in the day rather than in arcades typically).
Holy kow, I’m glad this Kollection is out there now. The older MK games had such a distinctive feel to them. As much as I do like MK games after this Kollection, the first kouple of games just feel so special, even today.
@shgamer totally agree that this is a 9/10 for me. Even with the bad games on here, there’s an archival completeness in having them there that makes the bad games a pleasure to return to.
Re: Talking Point: When Did 'Good Enough' Become Good Enough For Pokémon?
@Bolt_Strike I remember Gen 4 quite differently, but it was a different era. There wasn’t a saturation of social media and such. Granted, I was approaching high school graduation when Gen 4 came out, so a chunk of the reception I recall is probably from a group of people that had hit that “too old for Pokemon” phase. It wasn’t as toxic though, you’re right about that. The “fanbase” is more toxic than any I know. I do feel things were really toxic Gen 5 though. That’s the only one that I remember even friends of mine actually protesting (at least until Gen 8 and Dexit). I was disinterested in the series at the time of release, so I didn’t really care much about it. I loved Gen 5 when I went back to it though after playing Gen 6, which I was also quite fond of, which may be part of why I enjoy Z-A.
I never knew anyone personally that disliked Gen 7, though I had read the comments online. Some didn’t like restructuring how badges were acquired and that whole business as well. It was the first Pokemon game that I felt people criticized without playing it. I know some people that consider Gen 7 as an example of the types of direction they wanted Pokemon to go though.
Re: Rare NES Platformer 'Little Samson' Is Coming To Switch In 2026
Day 1. Not a fan of LRG, but I AM a fan of getting my hands on this game in a legal, modern format.
Re: Talking Point: When Did 'Good Enough' Become Good Enough For Pokémon?
People have been complaining about Pokemon since Gen 4.
If you don’t know this, you were too young or don’t remember. Gen 4, people felt the game was incomplete and were so upset that the third version of the game overhauled a lot of it. Gen 5 sold poorly in comparison to other entries and was criticized for moving away from the popular Pokemon of the past. X&Y at one point in time was viewed as both a return to form and derivative of the original game. Gen 7 shook up the formula too much for some. Each one of these generations upset large swathes of the fanbase. The Pokémon fanbase has been toxic for decades. If you think the Switch era is the worst era of Pokemon, it’s because influencers are louder, but the complaints have largely been the same. Let’s be honest: all Pokemon games existed with dated game design! But most people didn’t care about that as much back then. Given how well Pokemon sells, there’s an argument to be made that people still don’t actually care about that, as well.
For Let’s Go, the issue was that it was another remake of the original games. Then for SwSh, it was Dexit. Arceus avoided many complaints by being radically different, but, when you look at critical scores, it reviewed roughly the same in the aggregate as Z-A! ScarVi had the technical issues. Z-A just has the misfortune of being the next Pokemon game.
My truth is that the Switch games have honestly been great. For me, Gen 4 and Gen 7 weren’t huge hits for me. Gen 4 missed me hard enough that I didn’t play Gen 5 until after Gen 6 released. The Let’s Go games were a very welcome and comfortable return to the series for me, personally. I thought SwSh was pretty average for the series, but enjoyed the Pokemon designs and battle mechanics. The Gen 4 remakes might be my least favorite games in the entire series, but Arceus might be my favorite game as well. ScarVi was honestly one of my favorites as well. I hadn’t enjoyed a mainline Pokemon game as much as ScarVi since maybe Silver and Gold, and the DLC is the best expansion Pokemon has ever received. Z-A is just another great Pokemon game for me. It doesn’t have quite as many highs as ScarVi or Arceus, but it’s also remarkably solid in spite of its dated game design.
I think that a lot of people that are critical of Pokemon probably need to accept that Pokemon isn’t for them anymore more than anything else:
Re: Review: Once Upon A Katamari (Switch) – A Roll-'Em-Up Revival Done Right
For me, this is the best game released this month. Absolutely wonderful return to form for Katamari.
Re: Rumour: Sonic Prime Studio Reportedly Working On Crash Bandicoot Animation For Netflix
Sonic Prime wasn’t for me, but son sure liked it, so that’s good news for him that they’re making another show on a gaming IP.
Maybe this’ll get him interested in Crash? Seems to be a character that doesn’t really interest him currently, but, hey, things change!
Re: Poll: So, Will You Be Getting Hyrule Warriors: Age Of Imprisonment?
I’ll watch the cutscenes on YouTube. Sorry, but I really can’t do musuo games, no matter how interested I am in the story.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (25th October)
@ibookboyuk Enjoy it! It’s a very unique show with a great premise. I’ll warn you that it’s one of those “the first season is the best” types of shows, but it’s also a show that was allowed to end on its own terms rather than be outright cancelled, and, as such, the cast was so good that it’s easy to overlook some of its issues that happened in the third and fourth seasons, largely due to network interference. I know my wife and I are going to miss watching it!
Re: Best Pokémon Games Of All Time
@Striker21 I can’t take you seriously if you really believe that Palworld has stronger production values than Z-A. I beg the question again: have you actually played the game and experienced it? Also, come on, Ni No Kuni having better production values or Digimon? I like both series and that just isn’t true. Ni No Kuni might have better art, but it’s not necessarily better in terms of production values, and Digimon only just became comparable with the latest entry. I can get it if you just personally enjoy the other games better from a subjective standpoint, but Z-A, outside of the voice acting, looks and performs much better than the majority of the internet is saying. Let’s remember it is an 83 on OpenCritic currently.
I understand how game development works and that’s part of the reason why I can give Pokemon a little bit of understanding, given the timetables and budgets they have to work on each project. Yes, Game Freak could invest more time and money into each project, but that’s not what works or is sustainable for Pokemon as a brand that requires constant media saturation. That development timeframe is much shorter than average at this point, as development now typically takes 5-7 years for AAA games. This development cycle truly is more like CoD than your typical JRPG. Sure, CoD could slow down and make “the best one,” but that’s more of a risk in the modern era than continuous production and making what the fanbase likes. Development for Tears and Pokemon are very different in 2025, even though development may have been more similar 20-30 years ago.
Re: Best Pokémon Games Of All Time
@Striker21 Have you played the game and had the experience of the game to be so critical upon it? Whether or not Game Freak has the developers or resources is irrelevant to the discussion if they are making a good game. You can toss more money on a project and make a more polished product and that doesn’t mean it will be any more fun to play. I’m not using copium to describe my opinion, but the fact that I played the game and enjoyed it quite a bit, and have seen enough people admit that they have not played Z-A and will refuse to purchase it and decide to base their commentary on YouTube videos rather than personal experience. The same could be said for critics of the series for each entry in the Switch era. Some of those entries deserve more criticism than others.
The game isn’t perfect. It should’ve had voice acting. That’s the biggest sin the game has, honestly. The tutorial is overlong for adults, but a perfect length for younger children. It IS one of the better entries in the series and one of the more interesting ones too.
However, if Pokémon’s peers are moreso annualized releases than JRPGs, Pokemon is doing far more creative pushes forward than say CoD or EA Sports titles or even Assassin’s Creed.
Re: Best Pokémon Games Of All Time
@tankymctankus I agree wholeheartedly. People forget that Black and White were received relatively poorly at the time of release compared to other Pokemon games and the fanbase turned away pretty seismically too (and Game Freak’s not even sure if they should remake the games because they don’t understand a “cult game” as much). What the fans consider good today and tomorrow in the Pokemon world is rarely accurate. Sun and Moon had a lot of people very upset too, if I remember correctly. You wouldn’t know that so much from these ratings.
Re: Best Pokémon Games Of All Time
Finished Z-A yesterday and there is no way in a million years is it the worst Pokemon game. The bias against Pokemon since Sword and Shield is incredible. I guarantee that the low scores for Z-A have more to do with people scoring the game before finishing it or before even playing it than they do about the actual quality of the game. It’s not a perfect game. I’d rank it an 8/10. However, the vitriol against it is absolutely ridiculous and I have my concerns with regards to the amount of people that are blindly buying into such nonsense.
Instead of focusing on what a game developer “should do,” focus on what they actually produced and evaluate it in the context of how much fun a game actually is and what it actually accomplishes, you know?
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (25th October)
Finished Pokemon Z-A this morning (and the final season of Resident Alien, as much as that is not a game). And after that, there was a new Katamari game. I will be out of town in a moment for the next two days. I will bring the Switch 2, sooooo… maybe a round of Hades 2 and Absolum to complement Katamari? Or maybe just Katamari. Katamari is such pure good to me.
Re: Pokémon Legends: Z-A: Walkthrough
@charliecarrot Totally agree. Just get past the tutorial section (which is a bit long, sure, but, I mean, we’ve all got to remember that kids are playing this too) and the game turns into magic. The catching and combat are fantastic.
Re: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Sold 5.8 Million Copies Globally In Its First Week
@liljmoore I agree. It’s one of the better games to release this year for me. It absolutely nails things on the fun factor. While it doesn’t top Donkey Kong Bananza or Silksong for me and isn’t truly a GotY tier title in my eyes, it’s definitely in my top 10 this year. It may end up landing higher than Hades 2 and Ghost of Yotei by the time I finish with them all (and I already do like it more than GotY frontrunner Clair Obscur, call me crazy, I know), based on how I feel right now. The lack of voice acting and the stiffness of the NPCs are a concern, sure (though the stiffness thing is a JRPG thing, as they all sort of have that, even FF7 Rebirth), but the gameplay is utterly brilliant. The gameplay is the best Pokemon has ever been and it’s a shame some out there are so eager to slander the game that they can’t realize that.
Re: Kirby Air Riders Direct #2: Every Announcement - How Would You Rate it?
Gotta be real: that was a fantastic presentation, but I’m still not sure I need another cart racer in 2025. I’ll try the demo for sure though and find out!
Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Pokémon Legends: Z-A?
An 8/10. I like the game more and more the more I play it. Right now, I’m not 100% sure how I feel about the story, but the vibes are there. It’s a bit samey in environments, but the game also feels shorter and more compact. While the environmental textures could be better, the character models are pretty solid, honestly, so I think the online reaction has been sort of clickbait. I love the combat and catching mechanics. It’s truly addictive and I really enjoy my time playing the game. It’s no GotY, but it’s a really solid game.
Re: UK Charts: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Sales Almost 50/50 Across Switch And Switch 2
@Jedrus_Lilac The introductory section of the game definitely makes a strong argument that a lot of people wear too much of an adult hat when it comes to Pokemon, as it was driving me nuts. Then I look to see how my 8 year old sees it and he doesn’t mind it at all because he sort of needed that section. Even so, with an adult hat, this game is exceptional in the fun factor and is perhaps the most addictive the series has ever felt. Once the game lets you just play, it’s a really enjoyable experience.
I wouldn’t argue Pokemon games are a cash grab. More that they’re an annualized release where Game Freak is clearly working on 8 projects at once, given the leak, so, given the workload on their developers, they’re creating more interesting results than most other games with similar development cycles, such as CoD or the EA sports titles. Also, basically anyone that wants to see results of the progress in the franchise in a significant way should consider maybe waiting a few years between which releases they purchase. If you went from Let’s Go to Z-A, for instance, the change is a lot more noticeable. I mean, to use CoD as an example again, all CoD games feel the same for a lot of people if they don’t take a break from the series and return to see the gaps.
Bringing up CoD though, once they have Beavis and Butthead skins, that’s when I’d constitute Pokemon going for cash grabs. Lol
Re: UK Charts: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Sales Almost 50/50 Across Switch And Switch 2
@Jedrus_Lilac Hopefully the internet backlash doesn’t affect this game much. The game is largely solid and most of the hate videos I’ve seen have been from people that admitted in their videos that they haven’t played it and won’t buy the game because of what they see… without playing it and thus missing the game portion of the game.
Sure, there’s some issues Game Freak needs to address, but they’ve ensured the game has proper performance and released an addictive and fun revamp on series mechanics. Believe it or not, Z-A has a higher Open Critic score than the recent Digimon release as well. Not to pit them against each other as many are doing, but just to highlight the fact that, rather than seeing two series be in conflict, we should be perhaps celebrating that we’ve got two good games that released near each other in a similar genre and both games are different enough from each other to warrant playing them both.
The internet backlash is largely for the clicks at this point rather than any real passion for the IP. Are there issues with Z-A? Yes, there’s some areas Game Freak needs to work on, but they’ve worked on other issues from the last generation already and the fun factor is certainly present and strong in the game. Given the speed at which they release games, they’re creating better quality than you’d expect and being more creative with their IP than say… Madden or CoD is on a yearly basis.
Re: Poll: Which Starter Pokémon Did You Choose In Pokémon Legends: Z-A?
@AverageGamer I only want them to remake Gen 5 if they’re going to make it worthwhile. Judging by the leaks, it seems Game Freak isn’t sure how to feel about Black and White either. Interest in Pokemon was sort of at a low at that time and it seems the company doesn’t look back on that era fondly for internal reasons. I wouldn’t be surprised if the ScarVi DLC shifted to Unova to acknowledge the region and move on, just the same as I wouldn’t be surprised if Z-A is doing the same thing for Gen 6. I suppose I’d understand if Game Freak is shifting away from straight remakes and putting the focus elsewhere.
I would agree that most of the remakes are good. SoulSilver/HeartGold might be the best game in the series, honestly. The leaks and the fact that Gen 4 was outsourced leads me to think that Game Freak’s vision may be in a different place now though.
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl - Duel: Hey You, Pikachu!
Japan for me, but, man, I remember getting this one for my birthday ages ago. If you mixed Peter Molyneux with Pokemon, that was this game… except it didn’t work at all. For such a “cute game,” it was beyond frustrating to play.
Re: Mini Review: Xenotilt: Hostile Pinball Action (Switch) - The Balatro Of Pinball Games
Oh no… it’s Balatro for pinball… that sounds intoxicating in all the best and worst ways of gaming…
Re: Talking Point: How Do You Play NES Games These Days?
NES was my first console. I haven’t played it on the console in a long while, but I know that it still works. It’s in my parents’ basement still hooked up. Usually for me, I’ll play NES games on NSO or compilations though. I truly love and appreciate the NES and I’d say I play games from that era the most if I’m not playing modern games.
Re: Poll: Which Starter Pokémon Did You Choose In Pokémon Legends: Z-A?
@PateloDim After the Gen 4 remakes, do we really want a remake? I say this as someone who loves Gen 5 and is typically far more positive about Pokemon than the rest of the forums here. BDSP is probably the only Pokemon game that felt like a full-on misstep to me. I just… want to preserve my current thoughts on Gen 5. Totally understand if you don’t feel that way. I know plenty of people that don’t.
Re: Poll: Which Starter Pokémon Did You Choose In Pokémon Legends: Z-A?
Totodile! A definite top 5 starters of all time Pokémon!
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (18th October)
Pokémon Z-A. I am suspecting everything else I was playing will temporarily be put on hold for a bit after my session last night. The discussion on its “Dreamcast visuals” is totally overblown and untrue. If we’re going to pick a topic that makes more sense to go after Game Freak about, it’d be the lack of voice acting…
Anyway, the gameplay so far is just so good and addictive! I had a hard time putting the game down now that I’m finally out of the introductory portion of the game and I have the freedom to play as I like.
I was playing other things before Pokemon, such as Absolum, Hades 2, and Yotei, but those games will be on ice for a little bit.
Also, I’ll be making a habit of showing off that I was on TV yesterday! Lol.