Agree with the gist of the article, especially going to bat for Drag x Drive. Funny enough what's kept me from returning to Mario Kart World is seeing the tricks and shortcuts good players are winning with, and knowing I won't have the time to master them. That and 30 tracks being probably not enough. But I think it doesn't get enough credit for shaking up Mario Kart's core gameplay - the rails, tricks, wall riding and charge jumps are really transformative.
Sadly I bounced off Kid Icarus Uprising, not even for the controls, but it felt overwhelming having VN dialog play simultaneous with action gameplay. I'd rather focus on those one at a time, thanks! It had me actually wishing for more cutscenes so I could just look at the characters and read.
The desert being comparatively cruddy looking is a good reminder that this was designed to run at 60fps on Switch 1, which is a real feat. The 3D Zeldas with full camera control didn't come close to that, the top down Zeldas didn't even maintain it well, some side-scrolling games like Kirby and Paper Mario were 30fps. And it makes the more beautiful biome areas all the more impressive.
I have some qualms about the game, but I think the mixed reviews are really underselling what a visual and technical achievement this is. If the Switch 2 didn't exist and we only had this Switch 1 version, it would be seen as more revolutionary.
The other good PSA I've seen is the green energy crystals in the desert being required to progress the game, like a LOT of them. It's been bugging my OCD seeing reviewers drive straight through a cluster without the Akira slide and not get them all.
Mario Kart World not being up for Best Score and Music might be the most discrediting thing I’ve heard about an awards show. It’s the best OST Nintendo has produced to date.
I’m here for the growing backlash against everything becoming open-world. Many games were simply better when they had to design good hallways and rooms.
Fortunately the desert is more like padding between the real meat of the game, which is the biomes. In that way I saw it compared to pre-BotW 3D Zelda, which is a structure I’m happy to play.
The main areas where it looks to fall short of the original are the open desert, yapping npcs and more linear structure. Fortunately, there’s plenty of space between “Metroid Prime 1” and “really great game.”
Some of the alien architecture I’ve seen in footage is just jaw dropping, like nothing I’ve seen in an any medium. Those more constrained areas are clearly still Retro’s strength. The desert looks like it’s from a different, worse game.
Loved the demo, the digging was shockingly similar to Splatoon movement but in a top-down game. Shame they missed the Halloween launch, but I’ll look forward to when it does release.
Came here to complain that they made yet another fanservice mega for Lucario instead of anything new... but even I have to admit that design is really cool. Easily beats the normal mega Lucario.
I keep seeing the argument that a character like Myles was added to give it wider appeal, but no reasoning for why he’s appealing. Do we really think people are drawn in by an annoying nerd who looks like McLovin prattling at them? That’s going to drive sales, really? I would understand the argument if it was for more anime characters in bodysuits and dating elements, that’s what would actually court more players.
Metroid arguably has some sales momentum after Dread sold the most in the series, but that game had MUCH better marketing imo. It was front and centre in the Switch OLED launch.
I don't believe the Pikachu etc are new "forms" as we typically understand them in Pokemon, where they're part of the species that we'll see across games and anime. The game's press doesn't refer to them as "forms". I think they're just original characters, like Professor Tangrowth.
And that's refreshing, imo. Pokemon branding is usually too uptight to allow a 3rd party dev to make OCs out of pokemon. Maybe it helps that Game Freak is collaborating on this.
I’ll just remark on the “denying yourself an experience” defense of this. Some are talking about this game like it’s walking into the woods and seeing a waterfall, a free and accessible thing. It costs $70!!! Not even a budget title!
When someone is trying to pry $70 from us, you’d hope their presentation, delivery and everything else would be on point. Otherwise they’re just giving us reasons to second guess if it’s worth it. I am frequently on the fence about spending that much for a game, so this sure doesn’t help.
I know he wasn’t working on Mario games in an official capacity anymore, but I’m also surprised at the “first 30 minutes or so” comment, that is so little. I guess he’s always seen himself as more of a product design and entertainment guy, not so much an avid gamer.
Officially fed up with internet discourse around new Pokemon games and how partisan people are getting about the brand. I haven’t bought it but I can’t even watch a balanced review on its flaws and merits without every comment calling the reviewer a hack for “defending” it at all. Or repeating the same superficial complaints about textures we can all see in the trailers - in other words, not impressions from playing the game.
I didn’t enjoy Scarlet/Violet and wasn’t pleased that it broke sales records, so I’m not going to cheer the success of this game I haven’t played. But at least the comments here aren’t just calling Pokemon players sheep ad nauseum.
Loving my Switch 2 and the only big exclusive I’ve played on it so far is MKW, since the bundle offset its price. Mostly the Switch 1 library was crying out for something that could play it more capably with non-drifting controls, and this is the first properly new hardware launch from Nintendo in 7 years. So I’m not surprised it’s doing well despite the cost and small amount of exclusives so far.
Never thought I’d die fighting side by side with Nintendo’s legal team.
If only Studio Ghibli had the same resources - I hear it’s popular with AI bros to profane Miyazaki’s animation style. I hope this bubble is all a bad memory someday.
The kneejerk reaction of the community that "this isn't Fire Emblem" and Nintendo giving it zero marketing sure didn't do it any favours. But the artwork looks quite nice actually, and I'm intrigued by the main character. It's scarcely a spoiler to say, but Kurt is obviously a woman, and her fiancée Rose loves her all the same, giving us a canon LGBT pairing in a Nintendo published title.
Regrettably I don't make much time for mobile games, and I already open Pokemon Sleep and TCG Pocket every day. But I may give this a try to see how I find it - the paid characters becoming free later seems fair enough.
Friend park waiting lists and player levels were the exact kinds of things the game could have used at launch!
Between this and tracking collectibles in Mario Kart World, it really feels like some 1st year Switch 2 games came out with pretty undercooked user experiences…
This appears to barely involve Fire Emblem mechanics or characters, and is more like the IP slapped on an unrelated DeNA project they didn’t think would sell. And now dropped with no buildup whatsoever.
I’m honestly surprised they’re allowing the Fire Emblem brand to be abused like this.
I watched preview footage of the Mega Victreebel fight where 2 trainers hit it over and over for barely any damage after several straight minutes, and now I'm deeply skeptical that the gameplay is all that good. It's screaming MMORPG combat.
For the first time I've had to think about the physical vs. digital question. Jon formerly from NintendoLife here published a video today about the Star Wars: Outlaws situation and how the game probably couldn't have run properly on Switch 2 physical media. Switch 2 cartridges read at only 400MB/s vs. 2.1GB/s internal storage. Never have I felt so much like I may actually be getting a worse experience if I buy certain games physically.
I think Nintendo really dropped the ball this gen with their physical media, it really seems to lack feature parity with digital.
One angle to this I haven’t seen, regardless of the rest of the indie market, is release pacing. Team Cherry took 6 years between announcement and release to develop a 2D metroidvania, which suggests to me they worked at a hobbyists’s pace on it (not a criticism, hobbies are noble).
They can charge what they want of course, but this pricing suggests they don’t plan to speed up their output. Maybe if you want your favorite creators to expand and finish projects more than once every 8 years, their games should cost more than this.
@Ellie-Moo Yesss there's lots of kits to try now and the online remains active, just don't sweat the wins and losses too much! Focus on learning all the things that can kill you, lol
This is really unsurprising and it makes sense when development is profit driven - once the old code no longer serves something that will make money this financial year, it can be done away with. Execs and investors won't care about preservation for some future possible rerelease 30 years down the line.
If anyone thought preservation doesn't fall to the fans, this is a good example of why it does.
None of these - a lesson was learned from ARMS where button controls were strictly better than motion and became the optimal way to play. Visually I’m still seeing all these comments that it’s “only black and blue” - you know the characters are customizable? Be hot pink and wear bunny ears if that’s your fancy. And I get wanting more environments but it’s a refreshingly budget Nintendo game, and environmental modeling is a lot of work. What’s there has a solid amount of detail, reminds me of a Splatoon plaza or map.
What would keep me coming back is a rank system. The park rings are temporary and unlocking all helmets is a good amount of challenge, but after that I’d like some way to track my skill progression. It seems they pictured it as a more casual affair where you don’t sweat wins and losses too much, and that’s fine, but a bit funny for a game this technical.
Also maybe another optional tutorial set for the subtleties of things like wheelies and bunny hops. They add a LOT to the gameplay and I imagine some people bounce off the game without getting them down. When I had trouble with certain techniques there were zero English language guides for them on the internet, so I had to do all the testing myself.
I don't disagree that $20 for this and particularly $80 for a new buyer on Switch 2 sounds steep. But I thought the "£17 for four hours of entertainment" line was a bit funny, have you seen the price of concert tickets lately?
There are 4 hour games that I'll think about the rest of my life, and don't underestimate our ability to goof off in a game and roll around as Gear Kirby for 30 minutes without progressing anything. Measuring games by play hours is always simplistic.
We really didn’t know how good we had it with the 3DS. Wish it had a stronger start and the 3D effect got more widely explored, because there’s nothing like it now.
7 seems fair to me. Visually it’s actually quite nice and polished, and the models, music and gameplay design were reminding me a lot of Splatoon, so I was very unsurprised to find Hisashi Nogami served as Producer. The main thing I wish for is some sense of progression in your rank. I think they didn’t want players obsessing over competition - another common Nintendo move for better or worse.
As I’ve approached rolling credits I agree with this site’s review that the controls - the main selling point - are about 90% there. The bunny hop really requires you to yank both joycon straight up, not the slight lift you usually do with a mouse, which makes the 100x jump rope challenge evil. And I’m at a loss for how to wheelie straight forward as required for the ‘Tilt & Run’ trial. It seems very timing sensitive and not well explained by the game. Granted you don’t need these techniques to just hop in a match and have fun.
Hopefully by fall they mean October or so, and we get a couple expansions based on Johto in the meantime.
And I’ll always be a curmudgeon about X/Y nostalgia and megas not being new pokemon. Some of my faves like Mawile and Altaria could have used real, permanent evolutions.
The demo mentioned a skill-based matchmaking system so I wonder if we can progress some kind of rank points that weren’t live yet for the prerelease period. I could see that keeping me coming back.
The core gameplay is clearly the draw here, and it’s a polished package just light on content so I understand the 6s. But I wonder where all the sky-high expectations beyond that come from for a $20 game with no micro transactions. Part of what makes me amenable to this game is I’m so encouraged that Nintendo will still make smaller projects, instead of feature creeping everything into $50-$80 games. We didn’t get a single $20 Nintendo game on Switch 1.
@MarioLinkSamus You can join the same park as your friends (I did it in the demo period) so I’d say that’s not accurate.
The game then sorts you randomly into squads so you may play on the same side as your friend or against them, or a game on the other court, so it’s not perfect. But games are only 3min so you play together eventually. There’s also private lobby play which can have bots.
They didn’t want teams of 3 experts sweeping a public lobby or trolling everyone.
I’m a stickler for art direction and the game is really not THAT bland. Neon lights everywhere, you slap your favourite team’s colours on your robot and a pair of cat ears, choose between shiny and matte textures, and then get into a game with a neon yellow ball and wave your goofy mitts at your teammates to clap or high five. It has charm. Some of my friends said it looked like Halo, though I see how Nintendo fans might not take that as a compliment.
The UI is snappy as well. You can’t judge everything from screenshots.
The fun I had during the 3 test jams was probably worth $20 alone, it felt like an event. I'll be there launch weekend and curious to see how long the online stays active.
Replayed it last year on NSO and it holds up just as well as TTYD in my eyes. It was a very ambitious title that had at least 4 years of development, a long time for those days, and was meant to be on par with Square’s big rpgs on the Playstation. On top of Intelligent Systems, Iwata era HAL labs worked on the writing, and there’s a LOT of character and scenario writing with not only new areas, but a changing and growing Toad Town every chapter, and Tattle entries for every npc. Fitting as it’s called Mario Story before localization. Paper was never the point, 2D was just a refreshing art style by the time it released in 2000.
I hope we get a game that returns to these roots someday. Story and original characters as the focus, not battle gimmicks and papercraft.
Played 90 minutes of the first Jam and intend to play the next two. I definitely see the depth of skill expression in the controls, the wheelies in particular. They not only give a different turning radius but also slightly change your sweet spot while shooting. And I'm very interested in the dash+hop technique shown off in that dev video, makes grabbing rebounds look much easier.
The dash speed felt slow at first, but it's better once you're on a court. They start you on a big outer track with much longer straightaways than you'll actually play on. A basketball court isn't that big, so a single dash takes you quite far.
And mind your ergonomics - I came out of it with a bit of pain in one wrist already, which I think is correctible. 90 degree angles for your elbow are supposed to be best for handling mice.
Seems really straightforward actually that the main DK games happen in chronological order i.e. arcade -> country -> returns -> bananza. Bananza happens after Odyssey and spinoffs don't matter.
That wraps it up and it doesn't take a corkboard diagram.
I normally don’t tell people how to navigate their Nintendo fandom in these times but some of the excuses I’m seeing here are the lowest of the low, even casting aspersions at this long-running charity event and invoking groomers and scammers. Seriously give your head a shake.
Anyone with half a heart or brain at Nintendo could have 1. fast-tracked permission for this event, 2. gave notice further in advance, 3. waived permission this time with an understanding of what to do in the future, 4. ignored it entirely as with every year before. Assuming none of these happened, Nintendo deserves all the negativity that will come to them for this.
@HeadPirate Yes, and selling through existing stock is exactly the phase they should be in with the Switch 1. It has been in mass production for 8 years with all the economics of scale in that time and no price drop, which feeds into the biggest margins Nintendo has enjoyed in company history. You could argue Switch 1 is more equipped to eat the tariff hike than any other consumer good on Earth.
This would be like Apple announcing they're raising prices on the iPhone 8 (2017), that is the model contemporary with the Switch 1. Switch Online is younger than the Switch 1, they could just as well double the price of subscriptions.
This is transparently a company going "well we HAVE to raise prices SOMEwhere" and picking a product arbitrarily instead of charging proportional to what things cost. And I know the incentive structure that makes them do that, but people are right to criticize it.
Comments 544
Re: Opinion: Kirby Air Riders & Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road Have Me Wishing For More Control Experimentation
Agree with the gist of the article, especially going to bat for Drag x Drive. Funny enough what's kept me from returning to Mario Kart World is seeing the tricks and shortcuts good players are winning with, and knowing I won't have the time to master them. That and 30 tracks being probably not enough. But I think it doesn't get enough credit for shaking up Mario Kart's core gameplay - the rails, tricks, wall riding and charge jumps are really transformative.
Sadly I bounced off Kid Icarus Uprising, not even for the controls, but it felt overwhelming having VN dialog play simultaneous with action gameplay. I'd rather focus on those one at a time, thanks! It had me actually wishing for more cutscenes so I could just look at the characters and read.
Re: Video: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Stuns On Switch 2 In This Side-By-Side Comparison
The desert being comparatively cruddy looking is a good reminder that this was designed to run at 60fps on Switch 1, which is a real feat. The 3D Zeldas with full camera control didn't come close to that, the top down Zeldas didn't even maintain it well, some side-scrolling games like Kirby and Paper Mario were 30fps. And it makes the more beautiful biome areas all the more impressive.
I have some qualms about the game, but I think the mixed reviews are really underselling what a visual and technical achievement this is. If the Switch 2 didn't exist and we only had this Switch 1 version, it would be seen as more revolutionary.
Re: PSA: Copy Your Save In Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Before You Enter The Endgame
The other good PSA I've seen is the green energy crystals in the desert being required to progress the game, like a LOT of them. It's been bugging my OCD seeing reviewers drive straight through a cluster without the Akira slide and not get them all.
Re: The Game Awards 2025: Time, Date & How To Watch
Mario Kart World not being up for Best Score and Music might be the most discrediting thing I’ve heard about an awards show. It’s the best OST Nintendo has produced to date.
Re: Rolling Stone's GOTY List Shows A Whole Lot Of Love For One Nintendo Mascot
My GOTY is Splatoon 3 for the 4th year in a row. Surprise 10.0 patch was a game changer and Salmon Run finally runs without frame drops.
Re: Round Up: The Reviews Are In For Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
I’m here for the growing backlash against everything becoming open-world. Many games were simply better when they had to design good hallways and rooms.
Fortunately the desert is more like padding between the real meat of the game, which is the biomes. In that way I saw it compared to pre-BotW 3D Zelda, which is a structure I’m happy to play.
Re: Review: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition (Switch 2) - Samus Returns In Prime Form
The main areas where it looks to fall short of the original are the open desert, yapping npcs and more linear structure. Fortunately, there’s plenty of space between “Metroid Prime 1” and “really great game.”
Some of the alien architecture I’ve seen in footage is just jaw dropping, like nothing I’ve seen in an any medium. Those more constrained areas are clearly still Retro’s strength. The desert looks like it’s from a different, worse game.
Re: Drag x Drive Devs Tried Wheelchair Basketball In Prep For Game
Love developer interviews and I’m not sure why this didn’t release alongside the game, but better late than never…
Re: "It's Make-Or-Break For Sure" - Shovel Knight Dev's Fate Rests On Upcoming Zelda-Like
Loved the demo, the digging was shockingly similar to Splatoon movement but in a top-down game. Shame they missed the Halloween launch, but I’ll look forward to when it does release.
Re: Pokémon Legends: Z-A DLC Is Introducing A New Type Of Mega Evolution
Came here to complain that they made yet another fanservice mega for Lucario instead of anything new... but even I have to admit that design is really cool. Easily beats the normal mega Lucario.
Re: Nintendo Debuts Two Metroid Prime 4 Ads As Eight-Year Wait Nears Its End
I keep seeing the argument that a character like Myles was added to give it wider appeal, but no reasoning for why he’s appealing. Do we really think people are drawn in by an annoying nerd who looks like McLovin prattling at them? That’s going to drive sales, really? I would understand the argument if it was for more anime characters in bodysuits and dating elements, that’s what would actually court more players.
Metroid arguably has some sales momentum after Dread sold the most in the series, but that game had MUCH better marketing imo. It was front and centre in the Switch OLED launch.
Re: Official Zelda Movie Photos Give Us Our Best Look Yet At Link And Zelda
He’s not wearing his hat here because they don’t want to reveal Ezlo as a character yet.
Re: Pokémon Pokopia Reveals "Peculiar" New Forms In Extended 10-Minute Trailer
I don't believe the Pikachu etc are new "forms" as we typically understand them in Pokemon, where they're part of the species that we'll see across games and anime. The game's press doesn't refer to them as "forms". I think they're just original characters, like Professor Tangrowth.
And that's refreshing, imo. Pokemon branding is usually too uptight to allow a 3rd party dev to make OCs out of pokemon. Maybe it helps that Game Freak is collaborating on this.
Re: Pokémon Pokopia Is Seemingly Nintendo's First Game-Key Card Release
I’ll just remark on the “denying yourself an experience” defense of this. Some are talking about this game like it’s walking into the woods and seeing a waterfall, a free and accessible thing. It costs $70!!! Not even a budget title!
When someone is trying to pry $70 from us, you’d hope their presentation, delivery and everything else would be on point. Otherwise they’re just giving us reasons to second guess if it’s worth it. I am frequently on the fence about spending that much for a game, so this sure doesn’t help.
Re: "I Just Hope To Stay Healthy" - Shigeru Miyamoto On Taking Further Steps Away From Development
I know he wasn’t working on Mario games in an official capacity anymore, but I’m also surprised at the “first 30 minutes or so” comment, that is so little. I guess he’s always seen himself as more of a product design and entertainment guy, not so much an avid gamer.
Re: Pokémon TCG Pocket Lands New Expansion As App Surpasses 150 Million Downloads
Blaziken’s 120 damage + burn for 2 energies is disgusting. And 210hp? Why bother running anything else?
Most attacks that cost 3-4 energies are not viable if you’re giving players that.
Re: Japanese Charts: Surprise, Surprise, Pokémon Legends: Z-A Leaves The Competition In The Dust
Officially fed up with internet discourse around new Pokemon games and how partisan people are getting about the brand. I haven’t bought it but I can’t even watch a balanced review on its flaws and merits without every comment calling the reviewer a hack for “defending” it at all. Or repeating the same superficial complaints about textures we can all see in the trailers - in other words, not impressions from playing the game.
I didn’t enjoy Scarlet/Violet and wasn’t pleased that it broke sales records, so I’m not going to cheer the success of this game I haven’t played. But at least the comments here aren’t just calling Pokemon players sheep ad nauseum.
Re: Switch 2 Reportedly Sold 2.4 Million Units In First Three Months On The Market (US)
Loving my Switch 2 and the only big exclusive I’ve played on it so far is MKW, since the bundle offset its price. Mostly the Switch 1 library was crying out for something that could play it more capably with non-drifting controls, and this is the first properly new hardware launch from Nintendo in 7 years. So I’m not surprised it’s doing well despite the cost and small amount of exclusives so far.
Re: "OpenAI Is Trying To Get Sued" - Nintendo IP Floods Sora 2 Video Generation App
Never thought I’d die fighting side by side with Nintendo’s legal team.
If only Studio Ghibli had the same resources - I hear it’s popular with AI bros to profane Miyazaki’s animation style. I hope this bubble is all a bad memory someday.
Re: Review: Fire Emblem Shadows (Mobile) - Flat F2P Folly With Simplistic Strategy & Social Deduction
The kneejerk reaction of the community that "this isn't Fire Emblem" and Nintendo giving it zero marketing sure didn't do it any favours. But the artwork looks quite nice actually, and I'm intrigued by the main character. It's scarcely a spoiler to say, but Kurt is obviously a woman, and her fiancée Rose loves her all the same, giving us a canon LGBT pairing in a Nintendo published title.
Regrettably I don't make much time for mobile games, and I already open Pokemon Sleep and TCG Pocket every day. But I may give this a try to see how I find it - the paid characters becoming free later seems fair enough.
Re: Switch 2 Exclusive 'Drag x Drive' Scores First Major Update, Includes Local Wireless Games And Much More
Friend park waiting lists and player levels were the exact kinds of things the game could have used at launch!
Between this and tracking collectibles in Mario Kart World, it really feels like some 1st year Switch 2 games came out with pretty undercooked user experiences…
Re: Surprise! A New "Free-To-Start" Fire Emblem Game Is Out On Mobile Devices Today
This appears to barely involve Fire Emblem mechanics or characters, and is more like the IP slapped on an unrelated DeNA project they didn’t think would sell. And now dropped with no buildup whatsoever.
I’m honestly surprised they’re allowing the Fire Emblem brand to be abused like this.
Re: Round Up: The Latest Previews Are In For Pokémon Legends: Z-A
I watched preview footage of the Mega Victreebel fight where 2 trainers hit it over and over for barely any damage after several straight minutes, and now I'm deeply skeptical that the gameplay is all that good. It's screaming MMORPG combat.
Re: Daft Punk Is Bringing The Digital Love To Fortnite Later This Week
Robot No. 2 didn't get exploded for this.
Re: Nintendo Releasing Physical 'Talking Flower' From Mario Wonder Next Spring
No options, no interaction, and likely $70 USD minimum. This is the ultimate Nintendo product
Re: Nintendo And Accessory Maker Genki Reach Settlement In Switch 2 Lawsuit
Nintendo should be thanking Genki for all the free publicity before the Switch 2 launch, and priming their audience for what they would see.
A real stretch to claim this harmed the Switch 2 in any way.
Re: Nintendo Life Reader Survey 2025
For the first time I've had to think about the physical vs. digital question. Jon formerly from NintendoLife here published a video today about the Star Wars: Outlaws situation and how the game probably couldn't have run properly on Switch 2 physical media. Switch 2 cartridges read at only 400MB/s vs. 2.1GB/s internal storage. Never have I felt so much like I may actually be getting a worse experience if I buy certain games physically.
I think Nintendo really dropped the ball this gen with their physical media, it really seems to lack feature parity with digital.
Re: "I Can't Afford To Give It Away For Free" - Silksong's Low Price Is Causing Devs To Re-Evaluate Their Own Games
One angle to this I haven’t seen, regardless of the rest of the indie market, is release pacing. Team Cherry took 6 years between announcement and release to develop a 2D metroidvania, which suggests to me they worked at a hobbyists’s pace on it (not a criticism, hobbies are noble).
They can charge what they want of course, but this pricing suggests they don’t plan to speed up their output. Maybe if you want your favorite creators to expand and finish projects more than once every 8 years, their games should cost more than this.
Re: Splatoon 3 Version 10.1.0 Announced For Switch And Switch 2, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
@Ellie-Moo Yesss there's lots of kits to try now and the online remains active, just don't sweat the wins and losses too much! Focus on learning all the things that can kill you, lol
Re: Final Fantasy Tactics' Devs Had To Lean On Fans To Recover Original Source Code
This is really unsurprising and it makes sense when development is profit driven - once the old code no longer serves something that will make money this financial year, it can be done away with. Execs and investors won't care about preservation for some future possible rerelease 30 years down the line.
If anyone thought preservation doesn't fall to the fans, this is a good example of why it does.
Re: Talking Point: Would Drag x Drive Be Better With Miis Or Non-Mouse Control Options?
None of these - a lesson was learned from ARMS where button controls were strictly better than motion and became the optimal way to play. Visually I’m still seeing all these comments that it’s “only black and blue” - you know the characters are customizable? Be hot pink and wear bunny ears if that’s your fancy. And I get wanting more environments but it’s a refreshingly budget Nintendo game, and environmental modeling is a lot of work. What’s there has a solid amount of detail, reminds me of a Splatoon plaza or map.
What would keep me coming back is a rank system. The park rings are temporary and unlocking all helmets is a good amount of challenge, but after that I’d like some way to track my skill progression. It seems they pictured it as a more casual affair where you don’t sweat wins and losses too much, and that’s fine, but a bit funny for a game this technical.
Also maybe another optional tutorial set for the subtleties of things like wheelies and bunny hops. They add a LOT to the gameplay and I imagine some people bounce off the game without getting them down. When I had trouble with certain techniques there were zero English language guides for them on the internet, so I had to do all the testing myself.
Re: Video: We Bought 100 Copies Of Mario Paint... For Science
Between this and getting Switch running on a widescreen CRT, consider me engaged by Zion’s recent videos.
Re: Round Up: The Reviews Are In For Kirby And The Forgotten Land + Star-Crossed World On Switch 2
I don't disagree that $20 for this and particularly $80 for a new buyer on Switch 2 sounds steep. But I thought the "£17 for four hours of entertainment" line was a bit funny, have you seen the price of concert tickets lately?
There are 4 hour games that I'll think about the rest of my life, and don't underestimate our ability to goof off in a game and roll around as Gear Kirby for 30 minutes without progressing anything. Measuring games by play hours is always simplistic.
Re: Abxylute's $1,700 Handheld PC Resurrects 3DS's Glasses-Free 3D, But Using Mario To Promote It Might Not Be The Best Idea
We really didn’t know how good we had it with the 3DS. Wish it had a stronger start and the 3D effect got more widely explored, because there’s nothing like it now.
Re: Nintendo Identifies Xenoblade Chronicles X Voice Sync Bug On Switch 2
I encountered this bug in XC2, heard a voice line saying “DON’T FORGET ME” over and over.
Re: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Lands Another New Mega Evolution
The one area where Pokémon hasn’t fallen off is delivering whimsy and surprise with their designs. This goober is perfect
Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Drag x Drive?
7 seems fair to me. Visually it’s actually quite nice and polished, and the models, music and gameplay design were reminding me a lot of Splatoon, so I was very unsurprised to find Hisashi Nogami served as Producer. The main thing I wish for is some sense of progression in your rank. I think they didn’t want players obsessing over competition - another common Nintendo move for better or worse.
As I’ve approached rolling credits I agree with this site’s review that the controls - the main selling point - are about 90% there. The bunny hop really requires you to yank both joycon straight up, not the slight lift you usually do with a mouse, which makes the 100x jump rope challenge evil. And I’m at a loss for how to wheelie straight forward as required for the ‘Tilt & Run’ trial. It seems very timing sensitive and not well explained by the game. Granted you don’t need these techniques to just hop in a match and have fun.
Re: Pokémon TCG Pocket's Next Expansion Introduces A Mega Mix-Up
Hopefully by fall they mean October or so, and we get a couple expansions based on Johto in the meantime.
And I’ll always be a curmudgeon about X/Y nostalgia and megas not being new pokemon. Some of my faves like Mawile and Altaria could have used real, permanent evolutions.
Re: Pokémon Champions Is The Main Battle Game For The 2026 World Championships
Really don’t see this replacing player battles in the main games. It’s more an indication that Generation 10 won’t be out before next August.
They’ll have current-gen titles eventually and would probably rather showcase those than a mobile game.
Re: Round Up: The Reviews Are In For Drag x Drive
The demo mentioned a skill-based matchmaking system so I wonder if we can progress some kind of rank points that weren’t live yet for the prerelease period. I could see that keeping me coming back.
The core gameplay is clearly the draw here, and it’s a polished package just light on content so I understand the 6s. But I wonder where all the sky-high expectations beyond that come from for a $20 game with no micro transactions. Part of what makes me amenable to this game is I’m so encouraged that Nintendo will still make smaller projects, instead of feature creeping everything into $50-$80 games. We didn’t get a single $20 Nintendo game on Switch 1.
Re: Review: Drag x Drive (Switch 2) - A Real Baller With Friends, But Is There Enough To Do?
@MarioLinkSamus You can join the same park as your friends (I did it in the demo period) so I’d say that’s not accurate.
The game then sorts you randomly into squads so you may play on the same side as your friend or against them, or a game on the other court, so it’s not perfect. But games are only 3min so you play together eventually. There’s also private lobby play which can have bots.
They didn’t want teams of 3 experts sweeping a public lobby or trolling everyone.
Re: Review: Drag x Drive (Switch 2) - A Real Baller With Friends, But Is There Enough To Do?
I’m a stickler for art direction and the game is really not THAT bland. Neon lights everywhere, you slap your favourite team’s colours on your robot and a pair of cat ears, choose between shiny and matte textures, and then get into a game with a neon yellow ball and wave your goofy mitts at your teammates to clap or high five. It has charm. Some of my friends said it looked like Halo, though I see how Nintendo fans might not take that as a compliment.
The UI is snappy as well. You can’t judge everything from screenshots.
Re: Poll: So, Will You Be Getting The Switch 2's Next Exclusive 'Drag x Drive'?
The fun I had during the 3 test jams was probably worth $20 alone, it felt like an event. I'll be there launch weekend and curious to see how long the online stays active.
Re: Anniversary: Paper Mario First Unfolded On N64 25 Years Ago
Replayed it last year on NSO and it holds up just as well as TTYD in my eyes. It was a very ambitious title that had at least 4 years of development, a long time for those days, and was meant to be on par with Square’s big rpgs on the Playstation. On top of Intelligent Systems, Iwata era HAL labs worked on the writing, and there’s a LOT of character and scenario writing with not only new areas, but a changing and growing Toad Town every chapter, and Tattle entries for every npc. Fitting as it’s called Mario Story before localization. Paper was never the point, 2D was just a refreshing art style by the time it released in 2000.
I hope we get a game that returns to these roots someday. Story and original characters as the focus, not battle gimmicks and papercraft.
Re: PSA: Shoot Some Hoops With Drag x Drive's Dev Team This Weekend
Played 90 minutes of the first Jam and intend to play the next two. I definitely see the depth of skill expression in the controls, the wheelies in particular. They not only give a different turning radius but also slightly change your sweet spot while shooting. And I'm very interested in the dash+hop technique shown off in that dev video, makes grabbing rebounds look much easier.
The dash speed felt slow at first, but it's better once you're on a court. They start you on a big outer track with much longer straightaways than you'll actually play on. A basketball court isn't that big, so a single dash takes you quite far.
And mind your ergonomics - I came out of it with a bit of pain in one wrist already, which I think is correctible. 90 degree angles for your elbow are supposed to be best for handling mice.
Re: Random: Metroid Composer Was Just Trying To Impress Someone With Ending Theme
Great example of why testing is a huge part of development and shouldn’t just be shipped off somewhere to disposable contractors.
Re: Tactical RPG 'Demonschool' Finally Gets A Launch Date, And It's Real Soon
I'll be interested in seeing more of this. The inspirations are cool and isometric grids turn my brain on.
Re: Opinion: We Really Don't Need A Donkey Kong Timeline
Seems really straightforward actually that the main DK games happen in chronological order i.e. arcade -> country -> returns -> bananza. Bananza happens after Odyssey and spinoffs don't matter.
That wraps it up and it doesn't take a corkboard diagram.
Re: Nintendo Won't Let Charity Speedrunning Event Use Its Games Without Permission, Because Of Course
I normally don’t tell people how to navigate their Nintendo fandom in these times but some of the excuses I’m seeing here are the lowest of the low, even casting aspersions at this long-running charity event and invoking groomers and scammers. Seriously give your head a shake.
Anyone with half a heart or brain at Nintendo could have 1. fast-tracked permission for this event, 2. gave notice further in advance, 3. waived permission this time with an understanding of what to do in the future, 4. ignored it entirely as with every year before. Assuming none of these happened, Nintendo deserves all the negativity that will come to them for this.
Re: Nintendo Switch Console & Accessory Prices Are Going Up In The US
@HeadPirate Yes, and selling through existing stock is exactly the phase they should be in with the Switch 1. It has been in mass production for 8 years with all the economics of scale in that time and no price drop, which feeds into the biggest margins Nintendo has enjoyed in company history. You could argue Switch 1 is more equipped to eat the tariff hike than any other consumer good on Earth.
This would be like Apple announcing they're raising prices on the iPhone 8 (2017), that is the model contemporary with the Switch 1. Switch Online is younger than the Switch 1, they could just as well double the price of subscriptions.
This is transparently a company going "well we HAVE to raise prices SOMEwhere" and picking a product arbitrarily instead of charging proportional to what things cost. And I know the incentive structure that makes them do that, but people are right to criticize it.