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Alright then, it's time to dig into my time at the Switch 2 Experience in London yesterday. Rather than structure it too keenly, I'm going to just walk through how the day went, the order I played the games in, and my thoughts on all of it as I went along, like a bit of a diary entry. So, while waiting in the queue to get in, they were playing the Switch 2 Direct up on a relatively small screen (considering the size of the hall) and it was all going smoothly...until Elden Ring got shown. Look, I know that game looked pretty scuffed in the trailer as it was, but parts of the screen gave out and so black bars covered it, which I found all kinds of hilarious – this persisted for almost the entire third-party segment before returning to normal later on. A coincidence or a bad omen, I wonder? Anyways, upon entering we were shuffled into what was essentially a warm-up room, with a lot of staff in Switch 2 shirts cheering as we came in. It was super awkward but did help to set the vibe for the day, so there was that! In this opening part of the Experience I got my hands on the first game of the day... ...Mario Kart World. I was attending solo and so was paired up with a stranger for a generic local co-op race in docked mode on a TV, turns out this guy in fact didn't have a Switch or much experience with Mario Kart, which I just thought was so interesting (and I kind of want to know what he played the rest of the day because of this). Anyways, I myself don't have crazy amounts of experience with Mario Kart either - haven't played in a few years - so was mostly leaning on my many hours in Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing on Wii and having checked the controls for MK8D before arriving at the event. I obviously picked Cow, and got to play with the Joy-Con 2s inserted in the grip like @BowserBasher asked about, and I can confirm it felt like a much more comfortable option vs the OG Switch Joy-Cons in the same setup, just because of the Joy-Cons being so much bigger this time around (if the original Joy-Cons didn't feel a bit toy-ish before, they certainly do now), but I would add the caveat that I'd still gladly take a Pro Controller over this setup, especially for longer play sessions; don't think I would run the same risk of cramping anymore with the Dog-Ears setup, though. The game played great, super smooth (as you'd expect from Mario Kart), holding R down allowed you to charge a higher jump which meant you could jump up onto rails and grind, unfortunately didn't find myself in a position with any walls to wall jump from! I ultimately came 2nd (beat the guy I got paired up with), and in the most Mario Kart of experiences, I was out in 1st, probably 2 seconds from crossing the line...and got Blue Shell'd. Go figure! We were then given the opportunity to play a race in single-player vs CPUs, and this time I again went with Cow, and again I came 2nd. And again, I kid you not, because of a Blue Shell, and this time I was virtually 10m from the line! I mean, I guess it is the Switch 2 This being the first chance I got to see the screen in action, and not having picked up an OLED model of the OG Switch, I was really happy with how the colours popped, and the screen itself being an LCD didn't get in the way of the fact that this was clearly such a massive jump from the screen on the OG Switch. My best comparison for this, from experience, would be going from that OG DS screen to the DSi – everything was just so much more crisp and it also felt, again, less toy-ish and more premium. Oh, and just to answer it here before diving into more games, I found throughout my time with the event that there was no means to access the main system UI and Mii Maker – so apologies, @RedShell, guess we'll just need to wait until launch to see what the deal is there! After those two races - roughly 5-10 minutes - with Mario Kart World, we were slowly pushed towards the next room and could see the floor proper for the first time, which was very exciting. There was a floor map and a list of the games shown like I mentioned on the last page, and I was surprised by some of the inclusions! It wasn't as crazily busy as I had been expecting, but there were still a good few queues to go around. After snapping a pic of the map to help plot my day as I went along, I decided I might as well start the day off with what had the longest queue and was the game I had the most questions about: Donkey Kong Bananza. I think this was the single-player longest demo I tried out, which staff confirmed was 20 minutes long, so I spent a decent enough amount of time with it to feel like I should have started to get to grips with it. It was also the first game I got to play with the new Pro Controller, which felt great – a little more heft to it than the current one for the OG Switch, which I liked a lot. I've seen some people say they kept accidentally pressing the new rear buttons? I totally forgot they were there. And, unfortunately, I have to admit that I came away even more torn and unsold on this game than the trailer and some of the impressions videos I'd watched had made me. You start off in a mine, punching your way through the area with some light platforming, but what I really want to emphasise from this stint with the demo was that it really felt like the platforming was taking a backseat here, and destruction taking centre stage. I don't mind some dumb fun, but it truly felt like just that, which for me, assuming of course that this is Nintendo EPD, is kind of wild? It felt very aimless and unfocused. I toyed around with the controls a good bit here to get a feel for it, and tried to go out of my way to go off the beaten path, going places and reaching rooms in ways my handler for this game hadn't seen anyone try – for instance, there's a fenced off room with some coins in, and there's a conveyer belt running through from that side to the side you're on with destructible material on it; the game wants you to punch into the dirt below you, then just punch your way through the material against the direction of the conveyer belt until you're in the other room. I, on the other hand, decided to climb up some walls (there are some slippery surfaces you can't grip throughout the demo, but this was fine to climb), and put myself probably 30m or so directly above the fenced off room – and then punched down through the floor to get to it like my life depended on it. And then it kind of clicked for me at this point what this game was, and I'm not sure how I feel about it just yet: it's some weird Mario Odyssey x Breath of the Wild hybrid but with destruction as the core mechanic (hilariously this first level in the demo is coloured exactly the same as the Sky Isles in Tears of the Kingdom, with the gold leaves, white stone, etc.). I've only played an hour or so of Odyssey back when I got my Switch (before deciding to play through the 3D Mario's from the start with 64), but for me that game places a keen emphasis on player skill and optional expression in the form of getting to Moons in your own unique way, whereas the modern open world Zelda titles place a keen emphasis on freedom and finding your own solution to things – and this is some weird middle ground which I just couldn't click with. I think what also struck me was how very un-DK this was, and how very Mario Odyssey it was – things like the "gold" you pick up being your source of lives in the same way coins were in Odyssey, the black screens in transitions looking and feeling almost identical, optional challenge rooms which felt distinctly Mario (find the bananas, kill X number of X enemy), etc. What makes it worse is that there were only one or two elements in the challenge rooms I tried where I felt it couldn't have been in a 3D Mario game, and that was purely down to needing to use the destructive capabilities of DK to force my way through to somewhere in order to get an optional Banana...meaning that this could have just been a power-up in a 3D Mario, surely? In one particular challenge room I was grabbing onto a chained fence overhead, and man, I kept losing sense of where I was and falling off the edge – and the solution to this was to super awkwardly position the camera upwards, which then means I didn't have a good sense of what was going on directly in front of DK. It was so strange. Oh, and speaking of Bananas, after completing the tutorial in the mine you grab a Banana and transition to the first level after a cutscene...where there's a Banana planted just 2 inches in front of you. I think for anyone who wasn't a fan of the crazy number of Moons in Odyssey, you might not be a fan of the number of Bananas in Bananza. I also want to speak to the game feel, which is something Mario games always nail, and something just felt a little off at times here. With DK standing still and taking control for the first time at the start of the demo, I tried to turn him around (i.e. pivot him to face the camera), and in doing so there was a weird sense of weightlessness to this specifically I've never before felt in a 3D Mario game. Similarly strange were some frame rate hiccups throughout my time with the demo; for example, digging down too much (with very little sense of direction when doing so, mind you) and then breaking out into a larger room occasionally saw a little dip, but the worst offender was the map – while it looked nice itself, a miniaturised 3D version of the level itself, I couldn't not notice how framey it was. There was also an instance where I was digging down to get a Banana, and the "celebration screen" popped up, and a flat texture was layered over the top of the hole I had made? Super odd. After that, I queued up for Drag x Drive to try the Mouse-Cons out for the first time – which are super accurate and sensitive, very similar to a mouse you'd use on your computer. The set-up to this demo was that we'd play through a brief tutorial to get the gist of the controls before facing off in a 3v3 against and alongside some other attendees. As you can see, things were set up for us to use the Mouse-Cons on a desk mat, which was honestly super awkward given the cables attached to the 'Cons themselves, as they'd occasionally rub up against the corner of the table. While playing through the tutorial it mentioned using them against your legs, and so I tried it – and found that I much preferred using them that way instead! Maybe it's just because of the motion and positioning then being more similar to how you'd be moving an actual wheelchair you were sitting in, but I was very impressed. I was also super impressed with the improved haptics in the Joy-Cons here, too, as they weren't something I'd noticed too much playing Mario Kart or Donkey Kong before this – there this really satisfying graduated "chink" feeling as you would get (and can sometimes hear) from real wheelchairs. We lost the 3v3, but I came away pretty impressed with Drag x Drive – and so what is gutting to me now is that this game shouldn't at all be the way that it is. It feels so absent of character that it doesn't feel remotely Nintendo, the 3v3 being full court just feels like too large a space for these games with how awkward it can be to get around the court (I think a half court with 3v3s, 2v2s and 1v1s would work much better, and also push passing more than the current set-up does, and did, as I was the only one on my team taking advantage of passing!), and honestly, realising that the little Joy-Con flick to shoot felt almost identical to the same action when playing basketball in Wii Sports Resort? It felt like it should've been narrowed in scope and bundled in with some other sports. Similarly, and returning to the point on a lack of character, if they wanted to salvage this as it is – different heights/sizes for characters? Upgradeable wheelchairs, perhaps with specials you can perform? Chair and character customisation? Different surfaces (e.g. ice, rocky terrain, etc.) to emphasise the challenges people in wheelchairs face a little bit in getting around, and which can show off the haptics some more? There's so much which they could have clearly done, absolutely in line with Nintendo's other games, to make more out of Drag x Drive. This game is unfortunately being sent out to be forgotten by the end of the summer after it releases. Next to this - I suppose in the designated Mouse-Con demo area? - was Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. For context, going into this I have played all of 1 hour of the original Metroid Prime via Remastered on Switch last year. I feel like this gives me a pretty good base from which to be fairly objective here. Game of the Experience for me. The game looks incredible, handles super smooth, the gun (well, beam) play felt fantastic. It was a vertical slice showing off the very beginning of the game - just what we saw in that original re-reveal trailer and then a boss fight - and so we didn't get to try any of the psychic powers, it felt like they didn't show off anything new rather than just let us experience what has already been shown, but yeah, I thought it was great. And what really helped with this was the Mouse-Con/Joy-Con hybrid controls – @Kav you'll be happy to hear it works a treat. You can seamlessly switch between Mouse-Con and Joy-Con modes just by turning the controller onto its side to engage Mouse-Con and back again to play with it as a standard Joy-Con. Mouse-Con control of the pointer felt fine and precise, unlocking doors was much faster with Mouse-Con vs the Joy-Con, and it made the combat encounters incredibly breezy to quickly focus my fire on an enemy who made a quick entrance – maybe a little too breezy, but it is just the opening of the game, and so that's to be expected. The only potential downside to the Mouse-Con is the face buttons on that Joy-Con still being used for some actions, for example Y, which would be on the left, is now at the bottom, and so there were one or two moments where I was accidentally pressing X to go into Visor Mode rather than going into a Morph Ball. Couple of super, duper nitpicky things to mention, just because I would do this for any other game: having played only an hour of Prime Remastered, I know how impressive the sound effects and design are in that game, and so it's a shame that this demo in particular didn't have an option to use a headset, though I don't know how practical that would have been from a hygiene perspective and I suppose it did place even greater emphasis on Mouse-Con. In terms of the game itself, there were one or two moments where you'd burst into an area and a cutscene would start, and the game presents it like it should be a seamless transition from gameplay to cutscene, but it isn't – for example, Samus has her Arm Cannon drawn in first-person and it looks like I'm ready to smoke some aliens, but then there's a beat between entering the area and then the cutscene starting, so I start off in the cutscene a step behind where I feel Samus was and she's just casually strolling in with her Arm Cannon down. Look, I said it would be nitpicky, and honestly, that I cared to notice something as small as this speaks to just how brilliantly the rest of it felt and played. Completely sold on this, and it has put Prime Remastered back at the front of my mind – but after spending time with the Mouse-Con in Prime 4, I might have to wait until the next Direct to see if they have a Prime Remastered Switch 2 Edition with that control scheme available in the works. For me, really, that was all the big-hitters, well, hit, and while there were some other games I was looking forward to trying out, I needed a bit of a breather. So I made my way over to the curtained off room in the back corner with the 18-rated games, and decided to wander the streets of Kamurocho a little bit in Yakuza 0 - Director's Cut. Japanese audio, obviously, I ain't no scrub (with Yakuza, anime dubs are great). The handler for me here asked if I'd played the games before and, well, I have hundreds of hours of them, so he gave me the sales speech and then mostly left me to it. Knowing this would be way too short a time to spend with Yakuza, I wanted to make my way over to some mini-games. Didn't stop me from needing to bring myself to a crawl on the way over because of a very familiar back, mind you... (if you've played 0 you'll know) Heading over to the karaoke bar, and obviously having not played 0 in a good minute (if a good minute is half a decade)...good lord does this look super rough. When the demo loaded up there was the name of a studio, who I assume are handling the port, that I'd never seen on Yakuza games before – and I have to imagine that they're to blame. It was that bad that I had to make a point to not take photos of what I'm talking about to save the handler having to awkwardly ask why I was photographing a bunch of nothing. What was so bad about it? The draw distance is like 25-30 metres before it becomes a blurry bloomed out haze, and the NPCs roaming the streets have very basic, flat, polygonal textures for faces before their nose and face curvature pops in when they're a few metres from you. The worst offender of all, though, is that the lyrics/music sheet in the karaoke are low resolution – as in, the text itself is spotty and blurred. How the hell I haven't heard or seen a peep of this mentioned anywhere online is beyond me, and I'm annoyed that I didn't grab the name of the studio porting this, because unless something radically changes before launch, they've done an incredibly shoddy job which they should be ashamed of. On the upside, it's still Yakuza, and karaoke (Judgement with my bro Nishiki and then Baka Mitai – some kids next to me questioned why I wasn't doing Baka Mitai, to which I say you clearly don't know Yakuza lol, I was playing Judgement for the emotional context!) and darts were still good fun – my handler said I got the highest scores he'd seen all weekend after seeing me get 90 on Baka Mitai, but I got 95 on Judgement before that when he wasn't looking! Honestly, even that felt down to just not knowing the face buttons to a Nintendo controller like I do those on PlayStation, but I felt like I adequately represented my love for the franchise at least, and it was a nice way to recharge. I think I also opened up the eyes of the girl working the Cyberpunk demo station because I heard a "WAIT THERE'S KARAOKE?!" exclaimed from across the room while I was playing But, honestly, this photo feels like a fitting image to capture how I felt about this port right now: Assuming this comes to other platforms, we best hope it's not a Dragon Quest XI S situation where they're going to port the Switch version of the game. The original Yakuza 0 was a PS3 game, by the way. Last photo from the event - I guess I got a bit tired at this point lol - I headed over and checked out the Switch 2 Editions of Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild (yes, in that order). Both were played for 5 minutes in handheld for that experience before getting to play it on a TV. Super impressed by both, and these gorgeous looking games just look that much more crisp and play that much more smoothly that they genuinely feel like entirely different games than their Switch versions. I'll be honest, I miss the weight and sluggishness the 30fps and below added to those games, but I have to admit that I'll likely be playing these Switch 2 Editions at some point. Both handheld demos were of the very start of the game, but the docked demos had 5 saves from various points in the hames. In TOTK I loaded up a late-game save, checked to see if I had the food necessary to seek out my goal (I did), went to Lookout Landing, and launched myself up into the air and beelined it for the Korok at the top of Hyrule Castle. Good stuff. On BOTW I did basically nothing because I got sidetracked by the person next to me attempting to take out the final boss (there was an endgame save with like 30 Ancient Arrows?), apparently loads of people had tried their hand at it that weekend, and only a few managed it! Didn't hear anything about anyone attempting the same for the ending of TOTK, mind you, but given that the handheld and TV demos were 5 minutes a piece, I don't think you'd have the time (unless you skipped cutscenes, like an animal). After that I tried out Wind Waker and F-Zero GX on the GCN NSO, with a GCN controller. In Wind Waker I just wandered around Outset Island a little bit to see how nice the game looks – and it sure did look lovely! But I quickly backed out to not spoil anything for myself, and because I didn't feel like I'd be able to do anything meaningful there. F-Zero GX was good fun, I won a couple of races on a lower difficulty, not too shabby for my first time with F-Zero. Super Mario Strikers/Football was also present here like it was in the Treehouse, despite not being a launch game (maybe it's dropping in time for the Club World Cup this summer?), and Soulcalibur II I left for now just so I can experience it all for myself. Then I tried out Welcome Tour, outdid my handler and got some gold medals on some of the challenges, though I think I was too shattered by this point to pay enough attention for the frame rate challenge. Think this might actually be what I play first on Switch 2, it doesn't seem like it'll be all that long but feels worthwhile enough for me who finds curios like this super interesting. Needing to bring my energy levels back up, I then wandered over to the 24-player Knockout Tour demo for Mario Kart World. I chose Cow again, of course (10 of 24 of us did!), and this was the first time I very briefly got to spend time in Free Roam while people were voting. Just a minute or two, but I managed to show my handler here something she'd not seen before by riding up the back of a dino! It was very brief, though, and honestly it was a bit awkward in that Free Roam started at the starting of a race – can't tell you which it was, but basically we were up in the sky, and so it took me 20 seconds to get back down to the surface by driving off these chunks of track in the sky before ultimately landing in some water. As for the race itself, I made it to the Top 8 before crashing out – I'm expecting to hear that Glen did better! I had been in 1st place for most of that round of knockouts but then, Mario Kart being Mario Kart, the cards (and question blocks) were stacked against me and I bowed out. Really fun and intense, especially in a local setting where people were being cheered on (which could be heard throughout the day across the floor!), don't think it would quite have that same intensity online and could be a bit awkward dropping out (as you kind of just have to wait or walk away), but I'm totally sold on it as a mode. Jury is out on the Free Roam, but again, limited time. I was trying to drive into the back of a truck to take control of it but then the race started! Either way, for someone who hadn't played Mario Kart for a few years, think I did myself and Cow proud. With it now being 17:55 and things starting to wind down, with no queues in sight, I had a choice: either replay my favourite game of the day, or what I perceived as the biggest disappointment, to see if I could clarify my thoughts any further. And so, for my last game of the day, I spent another 20 minutes with Donkey Kong Bananza. My thoughts after this second demo are largely unchanged - there's a lack of focus and excitement around some kind of core - but what did bring it together for me a little bit was trying to chain moves together like I did in Mario, and finding that I could surf on spinning rocks I picked out of the ground with R by tapping L, and you could do this with different materials, which might have degraded at different rates? Not totally sure. I think, inherently, there's an asterisk to my thoughts on this game in that it was only a 20-minute demo of a version of the game that's like a month or two old, but given that we're only 3 months and change from this launching, and especially with the vertical slice that they chose from the beginning of the game, it just didn't do a good enough job of conveying the throughline of this game in the same way that many of its EPD contemporaries do. I didn't feel like there was a hook to latch onto, and honestly, I can't believe I'm saying this for a potential EPD game knowing their pedigree: but I think this game might need a bit more time in the oven, and potentially a good demo - different to those one - to win people over. On my way out I went hands-on with a Switch 2 which wasn't tied down, getting to snap those new Joy-Cons in and out (the magnets feel super sturdy, and the button to release feels very rigid too) and the console itself felt great. I also got a couple of goodies in a Switch 2 tote bags from by the exit, and scanned a QR code for some Platinum Points, which was a nice way to round off the day. Overall, while I'm not sure I'd necessarily say the needle has moved one way or the other on my Switch 2 hype, I had a great time! Also of note for me was that were some guys walking the floor with All Access badges – don't necessarily want to assume they were Nintendo JP guys or developers specifically, but one of them looked loosely familiar, and I loitered for like 5 minutes and only heard them speak exclusively in Japanese. Highlight of the event for me - even more so than the games itself - was just how nice all the staff were, they all seemed very excited to be there and well informed beyond what you'd get from a bit of PR training ahead of an event like this. They also did a great job of keeping you informed on queue times – joining a long queue they'd always warn roughly how long it would take, it just felt very well organised. All the stations and controllers were wiped down or spritzed between demos. And every time I got the chance I asked staff what they were most looking forward to in terms of games on Switch 2 at launch, and I got so many different answers, from a Switch 2 Edition Zelda, to Yakuza, to Mario Kart World. What was nice too was that so many of them were open to talking about non-Nintendo games and platforms, such as with my Yakuza 0 rep where I mentioned that the Nintendo buttons are so foreign to me in karaoke because I play the Yakuza games on PlayStation, and he mentioned having a similar issue because he played the Hatsune Miku rhythm games on PlayStation too. Ironically, I didn't speak to that guy much about Yakuza – in fact, it was the girl handling my Tears of the Kingdom demo who talked to me about Yakuza 0 - Director's Cut being her most anticipated game at launch because she'd played them on PC and was always down for a replay (specifically because of Nishiki ). And then the guy who did my BotW and Welcome Tour demos, we were talking about me doing the final boss of BotW and I said I was more persistent than I was good at games, which made him laugh, and we briefly touched on Souls games before the BotW title popped up at the start of the game and I brought up the opening of Tsushima and he mentioned playing exclusively in black and white (Kurosawa mode) just because he could, and we talked about our shared excitement for Yōtei and my planned replay of Tsushima on Lethal difficulty ahead of that game arriving. There were just such undeniably jolly vibes all around, kudos to the staff for creating such a great atmosphere, and to Nintendo for hosting such an event! Just really makes me wish they - and other platform holders - hosted more opportunities for fans (and staff, who are fans!) to hang out like this and share their passion for games! But I suppose N-E will do just fine until then

My Switch 2 hype levels are as follows: For Mario Kart World - 11/10!! Don't think this one really needs much explanation, it's Mario Kart, a franchise that I've absolutely adored since the SNES original. Not only that, but it would appear as if Nintendo have pulled out all the stops for this version, I mean it looks sensational! So yeah, I don't just want it, I NEEEEED it! justhookittomyveins.gif For the Switch 2 hardware - 7/10? This would almost certainly be higher (probably a 9 or even 10) had I not returned to gaming on PC a few years ago, but seeing as I did, the wow factor of Switch 2's technological improvements will definitely be taking quite a hit. Still looking forward to seeing Nintendo's own titles make use of the increased power though. For Nintendo's new pricing strategy - 0/10... I have a really hard time believing these increases are out of necessity. I mean, with the volume of sales that Nintendo games typically enjoy, there's no way they wouldn't continue being immensely profitable even if they stuck with the current game prices. It all just seems incredibly opportunistic and greedy. Has put a serious dampener on my excitement for Switch 2. So yeah, overall about 5/10, maybe. Could very well be the least hyped I've ever been for a new Nintendo system actually, which is nuts considering how good it looks. Don't have a pre order. I'll still attempt to pick one up at launch (purely because of Mario Kart) but if that's not possible, I think I'll survive having to wait. Will just have to remember to shield myself from all MK World gameplay/impressions, otherwise...

I'm coming very close to the point where my Blue Prince save data might become "corrupted" (i.e. no progress can be made until/if it gets patched), so I decided to tackle a trophy that has eluded me for years (since the game has been added to PS+ in 2019!) The Witness - Challenge In short: You have to solve a random assortment of puzzles. Since you unlock this challenge by beating the game (I think) and basically doing everything else it has to offer, you know how to solve these puzzles. The kicker: You only get 6 minutes and 30 seconds. In recent years I have tried to get it done many times. To no avail... Since I've come back from Spain last Monday, I decided to give it yet another go. Took me a few hours to get acquainted with the puzzle types again. Surprisingly, this didn't take up the majority of time during this attempt. Now...actually solving all puzzles in time...that is the real challenge. Especially when the song that plays during the final minutes is this: But, as you can imagine, given the fact that I'm writing this post: I did it! It was a bit anticlimactic, since I completed the challenge before In the Hall of the Mountain King reached its climax I was surprisingly calm during my successful run. I came close to getting the trophy many times and I noticed my heart beat becoming faster. Not this time Anyways, there it is: Coincidentally, this is my 200th Platinum. I don't really care about making certain Platinums special, but it is kinda cool (And yes, I know there is a way to glitch the final challenge right before the last two puzzles, but I would've done it that way years ago if I wanted to - getting it legitimately is so much more satisfying)

Well after jumping ship a couple of generations ago I've finally decided to come back to Nintendo for the Switch 2. I've been flogging a bunch of N64 and Gamecube games on Ebay which were gathering dust in a couple of boxes for years. So the Switch 2 should cost me about £0.00. Look forward to playing with the forum crew again.

Split Fiction Release Date: 6th March 2025 Developer: Hazelight Studios Publisher: EA Originals Platform Played: Xbox Series S Platforms Available: PC, Xbox Series, PS5, Switch 2 Split Fiction is the latest two player co-op from Hazelight Studios. The developers started this journey with Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons – which was a co-op game designed to be played by a single person controlling both characters with a single controller, and somehow managed to get emotion out of how you control the game. A Way Out started the full on co-op, a game that can only be played with two players. This one also started the trend of their games being played entirely in split screen, even if you play it online. It Takes Two was where their big success was, winning multiple Game of the Year awards and selling extremely well, even with its generous nature of letting player 2 join a friend online without owning the game. It was made up of lots of varied segments which changed up the gameplay and had each player working together by performing different tasks. Split Fiction doesn’t deviate from this formula, but it does refine it a lot, alongside doing a load of new things within the formula. The game stars Mio and Zoe, two aspiring writers who hope to get their work published. They turn up at Rader Publishing and find out that the deal isn’t quite what they expected, as it involves being connected to a mysterious machine. Mio refuses to participate, but ends up getting pushed into Zoe’s bubble and joining her simulation, which starts causing glitches. In order to escape, as well as to save their ideas from being stolen, they must work together to find more glitches by completing their stories. Mio works with sci fi, while Zoe works with more traditional fantasy. The main chapters alternate between these genres, each one telling a story which relates to their lives in some way, you discover their past through these stories. Both characters are likeable with plenty of depth with engaging stories, both their real world tale and their fictional stories that you play though. The main movement mechanics are kept the same throughout the entire game (other than a few specific sequences), the girls both have a double jump and a dash that can also be performed mid air. They also have a grapple to latch onto specific targets. The platforming feels very precise and a ton of fun, and allows for some enthralling chase sequences. The rest of the mechanics differ throughout the game, and are often different for each character. Ok the first main sci-fi chapter, you play as cyber ninjas. Mio has a gravity sword which allows her to use special tiles to shift her gravity to walk on the walls and ceiling. Zoe, on the other hand, has a gravity whip that lets her manipulate and move objects. Meanwhile, the first fantasy chapter gives both players two transformations each. At one part of the game I was even excited because I got to be “Banjo-Kazooie” Quite often, you’ll have to manipulate the world to allow for each other to progress. Split Fiction does err a bit on the easy side, option more for the odd brain teaser or tricker short platforming segment. Chase sequences are nice in that a player will respawn next to the other if they die (although you go back to a checkpoint if you both die) and when in bosses (and other combat scenarios), there’s a short quick time event to respawn to add a bit of tension to it, although bosses are also kind in that they often have checkpoints part way through them. Throughout the main levels you’ll also find portals that lead to side stories. These are short segments based on unfinished ideas of the main character. They’re completely optional, but I have no idea why anyone would willingly skip them (although there is one that is easy to miss, although there’s a handy chapter select to find it after finishing the game). These are filled with magical moments, with some surprising dark turns, beautiful journeys, some playgrounds for a nice change of place or even a bit of competition, such as a level that plays like an SSX game. This all culminates in a final chapter which is just too good to go into detail about, it does amazing things with the dual genre idea as well as with the split screen. This final chapter does things which are so impressive that this is the first game of the Series/PS5 generation which feels like it truly takes advantage of the technology and doesn’t just seem like a slightly nicer looking PS4 game. It also looks stunning without needing to use demanding graphics processes, which means that the only compromise the game makes for the Series S is that it runs in 1080p. It’s truly wonderful how astonishing and advanced the game looks and feels. If I had to give a flaw for the game, it’s that I wanted more. I wish that each chapter and side story was its own complete game. Not that Split Fiction is a short game, each chapter is a few hours long and the side stories are a great distraction, but some of the ideas seem too good to just be used for a single section. It still helps the game feel incredibly fresh the entire time, though, and it’s easily become one of my all-time favourite games. If you can get someone to enjoy the journey alongside you (either locally or online, I immensely recommend it. I’m certainly looking forward to playing the game with the roles swapped around. 10/10

SSX Tricky Resist gravity. NA release: 27th November 2001 JP release: 27th December 2001 EU release: 12th July 2002 Developer: EA Canada Publisher: EA Sports BIG (NA/EU), EA Square (JP) NGC Magazine Score: 87% Mods Used: None When it comes to basing your game’s identity on a single song, it has to be a good one. Thankfully, “It’s Tricky” by Run-DMC is up to the task and the song shines through at just the right moments, successfully making it feel special when you hear it instead of getting annoyed by its repetition. The SSX games are snowboarding racing games that focus on tricks and my only prior experience is SSX Blur. I didn’t even realise this wasn’t the first game until the commentator kindly pointed out how many tracks were brought back from the previous game (albeit with changes). While the snowboarding games on the Nintendo 64 featured tricks, including Nintendo’s own 1080° Snowboarding, they didn’t usually gel with the racing itself, often being more of a liability than anything else. The SSX games have two ways to help the two aspects fit together. The first is leniency. You can land at some odd angles without much issue and falling over still has you tumbling downhill and getting up at a decent pace. The second is tying it into a boost system. However, if you hang onto your boost and continue tricking, you’ll fill up the bar and “It’s Tricky” will start playing. During this, you have infinite boosts and can prolong it by performing uber tricks – and pulling off six will give you infinite boosts for the entire race. Another neat feature is how the other racers develop as you play. Attacking or not attacking other racers during races (which nets you boost) will impact future races – rivalries and friendships will form, adjusting how aggressive they are towards you. The tracks themselves all manage to both feel and look unique, and are a good length with a ton of fun segments. SSX Tricky is a game chocked full of the style and attitude of this era of sports games, which makes it a ton of fun to go back to as I kind of miss all this today. It’s still hugely enjoyable to play and the art style still holds up quite well. Great Remake or remaster? An SSX collection would be great. Official Ways to get the game There’s no official way to play SSX Tricky. -- The GameCube really did have a great start to it, with plenty of great games and nothing particularly terrible.

😍

Rogue Leader is still hands down one of the best launch games for any console. What Factor 5 managed to pull off was absolutely god tier game development. The fact that it still looks amazing running on original hardware to this day speaks volumes about the level of talent they once had.

Ah-ha! You admit it at last! So, he's talking about the first Knockout Tour we did. We were a group of 5, so in the line, we decided that we'd all pick the same character and work together to get 4 of us to the top 4, where all bets would then be off, and we scrap it out. I suggested going with a character who has style, but not so much that people gravitate towards them, and also not go for the obvious meme character like a certain other person here went for yesterday. I suggested Hammer Bro. I defy anyone to pick a better fit. I was right, we were the only ones of the 24 who did so. There were only 3 Cows. Honeymoon period there already wearing off. Good. So it was going well, absolute chaos, but we were able to identify fellow Bros, and hold back when necessary. All 5 of us made it to the top 12. And then, Dcubed, the utter scumbag that he is, threw a Bob-omb right in front of me! It all went wrong there. I dropped from 1st to 11th and I just couldn't catch up. But Glen, I hear you ask, how did he know you were the Hammer Bro he was aiming for? Everyone had their own TV! It was only a 25% chance that it'd be you. Well, you see. I managed to find an inward drifting bike during the VS CPU race portion of the Mario Kart experience, but I'm the only one in our group who swears by that kind of drift. So he saw a Hammer Bro on a bike, knew it was me, and betrayed me! Bowser will be notified. Still, none of the 3 Cows won, so silver lining there... In fact, the betrayal was so immense, that when we went back for a second Knockout race, the handler assigned to my TV that time asked "Wait, were you that Hammer Bro guy who got bombed by his friend?" Yes, yes I was. Turns out the person who was at that TV on the first race got knocked out pretty early, which means they were watching 1st place (Me) through MKTV. They saw everything @Dcubed. They know what you did!

Yeah, this was something very special. Fantastic set of characters, gripping narrative, phenomenal soundtrack, amazing voice acting and a awesome battle system. If I had to criticise anything it would be that the game could do with a mini map when in dungeons and the world map. Other than that... What's crazy about all of this is how such a game has been created. It was done by a very small team and for many of them it was their first job in the industry. It's a prime example of what can be achieved when a development team are allowed to create what their vision is, without the focus testing and interference from big publishers. These are the kinds of games that are needed more than ever in this industry, which IMO, has become very stale. I'm thrilled that the game didn't get buried and has found success, both critically and financially. It's funny when you look at what the game was released with. The Oblivion remaster was dropped alongside this and yet this is the game that is on people's minds. Oblivion may have sold more but look at the state of the thing. Again, it's a good comparison between a game that has been created with care by a small team and one that has been pushed out the door for a quick buck by a large publisher. The battle system in the game is something very special. Every character brings something unique to the table and I had a blast with playing around with different abilities and team selections. The creative director of the game has said that FFVIII is his favourite Final Fantasy game (a man of good taste and Ben Starr must have loved him) and this kinda comes through in a few places. The Expedition uniforms are very SeeD like, one of the later bosses reminds me very much of a FFVIII boss fight, and the battle system in this game can be busted wide open early on, just like FFVIII. Due to the amount of customisable load outs, you can decimate enemies. I took on the game's super boss with a single character and killed it in a single hit. I wasn't even max level at that point but the game rewards you for smart use of ability stacking. @Glen-i you would love it. The game feels very much like a PS1 era JRPG but with modern designs. The game has 3 acts and each of them end as if the disc is finished and the next needs to be inserted. I loved this feeling when playing those games as a teenager and this game recaptures that feeling at the end of each act. The third act certainly feels like the final disc of FFVII or FFVIII, where all that's left in the main story is to take on the end boss but the whole world is open for you to explore. You end up losing yourself hours upon end in side quests, super bosses and general exploration. Like I used to do on those games, I made sure to do everything and reach the max level, before taking on the final boss. I won't go into the narrative but all I will say is that it gripped me from start to finish. The English VA cast done an amazing job and really brought the characters and story to life. It's another example of good VAs really elevating a game to another level. Usually in JRPGs I can't be bothered with reading logs or listening to random dialogue but that wasn't the case here. I was listening to every conversation by the fire at the campsite and reading every log that I came across. I was so engrossed in the world. Once in a while a game like this comes along and reminds me why I love gaming. These experiences seem few and far between these days but this has been a light in what has been a very dark year for the majority of the industry. What made this even better was how it just kinda came out of nowhere. What a marvelous surprise it has been. If you have any love for the RPG genre then you owe it to yourself to play this game.

Or not!

Well, it's been a while since we had A Jonnas NSO Update , but it's not a very interesting one. I've been very busy. The replays I replayed Wario Land 4, for a long time. I started around the time it released on the NSO and I've been playing it at a rhythm of... one level per week? It's an incredibly pretty game (in a grotesque way), with an incredible game-feel. Very solid level design as well. It's weird, it's like a 4-out-of-5 game, but I consider it essential playing for anyone minimally interested in platformers at the same time. It's the best kind of unique that a videogame can be. I also replayed Streets of Rage 1 in a single session when that came out as well. It's nice to go back to it after playing SoR2 so much. It definitely feels more archaic (no unique special moves is a bummer), but it's still very solid. I've played a few other games since then that take a lot from SoR2, but they often lack the tight design that was already present in SoR1. My only true complaint about this first entry is that boss fight with the twins: they're so dodgy, they will literally wait out the clock to beat you, it's one of the most legitimately frustrating bosses I've ever seen. The one new game ...The word "new" is doing a lot of legwork here. Mario's Picross is as typical as Picross games get. There are some challenges missing, like the puzzles that don't warn you of mistakes (the Game Boy can only hold so much). There's also an annoying delay with the buttons that caused me to make occasional mistakes. Still, Picross is a trusty companion to us, the folk-who-are-too-busy-for-truly-new-games-and-who'd-rather-look-at-some-creepy-eyes-if-that-means-something-comfy-and-familiar (There are dozens of us! Dozens!) My next update will definitely feature something more interesting. Whenever that is.

I always wondered what the game behind that weird Melee trophy was. I am happy to learn that it's as exactly as bonkers as I hoped it would be. Heart-shaped caves for reproduction? Jesus, Nintendo and their love hotels...

Cubivore: Survival of the Fittest Be the King of Cubivores! Got Meat? JP release: 21st February 2002 NA release: 5th November 2002 EU release: N/A Developer: Saru Brunei, Intelligent Systems Publisher: Nintendo (JP), Atlus (NA) NGC Magazine Score: 76% Mods Used: Widescreen Code Originally an N64 title called Animal Leader, Cubivore is a very strange game where the objective is to bring wilderness back to the land and defeat the Killer Cubivore to become the King of All Cubivores. The animals are made up of cube-like heads while their limbs comprise of squares in many different layouts to create different forms – called mutations – you can use to your advantage. You start off as a little piggy with one limb. As you battle and eat other cubivores, you’ll gain their colour, which alters your form. Throughout the game you’ll get more limbs, and specific combinations for colours will create new mutations. These various mutations affect how you move, how you attack and how much health you have. There’s also some special type of colours – such as ones with streaks of dark colour – that provide additional benefits. In order to get more limbs, you’re going to have to mate and produce a child, which always has an extra limb. You do this by entering a heart-shaped cave and, based on how many mutations you have, you’ll attract a certain number of female cubivores (which you never see out in the open). Some of these will give birth and you’ll be able to select a new “e-z mutate” form for your offspring, which will then let you morph into that shape whenever you want. These love caves are placed at specific places throughout the game, so you always have to advance at the same places for each playthrough. To progress, you’ll also need to create special parts called “Raw Meat”, which are usually held by powerful bosses. These bosses have rather bizarre names like the “Shoplifter Beast”, “CEO Beast” or “Neighbourhood Watch Beast”. Combat is simple, but also extremely tough. You hold L to charge your lock-on and press A to pounce. Enemies are really good at dodging and you need to get good at it, too. Evading attacks is especially important when you’re up against multiple foes, as they can essentially stunlock you and you’ll be unable to compete. I found the combat rather frustrating by the end. The structure of the game is also a bit strange. You’ll improve your Cubivore before getting killed off as the next “animal”, starting from a single limb again and going through the same set of levels (although with large changes) multiple times. It’s still nice to discover the new mutations, and the bosses and new groups of enemies you face still keep things interesting. The fact that Cubivore was mainly developed for the N64 is very evident in the final product. While the cube and square nature of the animals look great, the environments are all a bit drab. I really don’t like how they’ve used textures with detail on the cube-like environment, it’s an odd mishmash where something much simpler would look much nicer. The camera is also stuck in its N64 form, clearly made for the c-buttons, as a press moves the camera a set amount. The camera also tends to leave your cubivore out of frame in battles, and it adds to the frustration. Cubivore is a frustrating game that still manages to have a lot of charm, in both the character designs and the rather bizarre text in the game. It’s such a strange game that it’s definitely worth trying out, even if you don’t finish it – especially as the task of doing so requires you to discover 150 mutations, which is a bit difficult for me due to mixing up some of the colours. It’s an absolutely fascinating game. Fun Remake or remaster? A remake would be wonderful. Improve the camera, make the graphics more coherent and add a bit of flair in terms of particle effects and water, then it could look magnificent. Official Ways to get the game There is no official way to play Cubivore: Survival of the Fittest.

I played another session of A Short Hike and ended up reaching the peak and reaching the end credits. I didn't end up finishing everything in the game, and i doubt that i will bother, but i did enjoy it a lot. It's very satisfying, and there always seems to be something just on the edge of the screen that looks inviting enough to explore. The only downside that I found with it is the annoying camera. You can sort of move it a bit (but it moves the opposite way to which you think it should), but not far enough to see where you're headed. And then it forcefully switches perspective sometimes when you aren't expecting it to, which is irritating if you are trying to navigate and you suddenly get disorientated. Anywho, a lovely game, I give a thumbs up to.

At the Switch 2 Experience in Tokyo over the weekend, they gave people a free magazine: Nintendo Japan have made a free digital version magazine available on their website: https://www.nintendo.com/jp/topics/article/f1ef5869-e060-4ba6-acca-bb7e3f8f6990 For some reason the link only seems to work when I open it in an incognito window, but that might just be an issue with my browser. They seem to suggest an English version is on the way.

No More Heroes And that's another one down. I bought this and NMH2 in a sale on the eShop probably like 3 or 4 years ago (maybe more). I started playing this and I think I maybe got to about the 3 fight. Must have been a new game came out as I never went back to it, so thought this was a good way to go back and finish it. I decided to just start over again this time. Before, I was using the joycons and using the motion controls but found out that it does support the pro controller so thought Id give that a go so I wasn't waving those around, and I have to say it felt just as good playing with pro controller so I just did that. If you've played these then you'll know that, I guess the main selling point was the excessive blood and the language, along with the sexual references. I kept thinking of this throughout. Right the main story is you are an assassin and your task is to make it to the number one spot. there's 10 people above you and you take each one out. Whilst there is some variety to each part, they pretty much come down to, get the money to enter the fight, fight some cronies on your way to the boss and then defeat said boss. You then climb up the ladder towards becoming number 1. The only issue with this is that each one does start to feel like it is just a slog to get to the main part which is the fight. Each bit before was vey similar. However there were a few exceptions which mixed it up a bit. In between these there is the city to explore but there's not an abundance of things to do. Mainly assassin mission where you are tasked to beat a set number of guys or take out the main guy in a sea of others. Thee are what you will keep going back to to get the entry money for the main story levels. Or at least I did, and once you get more opened there are one or two that you can just go back to over and over to grind that money. The only problem with this is that you need to go to one place to select it, then travel across the map to get to the place to start the mission. Then you need to redo all that if you want to do it again. You can of course use the sops and places in the city to up grade your weapon and skills though I didn't feel that it really did much. It doesn't feel much of a change. There's tons of clothing to find and buy, moves, and a few other hidden things but again not really needed to progress from what I found. So slug on, beat a ranked match, get the money, beat the next. There were a few matches that gave me a bit of a problem, but after turning the game off and then trying another day I was able to beat them first time. IT comes down to figuring the patterns and just hitting them when you can. One thing I did like was it had a twist ending that I didn't see. Nice there, but also it seems there is more, or a true ending that I didn't seem get. Once you beat the boss, you get the cutscene then get sent back to a save where you can clear the data for what seems to be a new game +. It puts you back at the start with all your items in hand, so I guess yo just play through again. Maybe I missed something to get the true ending though. Overall, Im sure these games were considered really good. However I just didn't get that from them for my playthrough. It felt like it was just 10 chapters all doing mostly the same thing. And combos were really just button mashing the X or Y with an occasional B to try to do one of the suplexes. 7/10 Still think it deserves a 7 for just being so what is was for a Wii game. Updated list. I have recently been using up my gold points on the eShop in the recent sale so may take a break from this list to play a few of those. I guess they will show up here too.

I try not to ban people for petty reasons but sometimes it's difficult

I also imported my copy of AC, as I was convinced it was never coming to Europe. I had read about it in N64 magazine for a long while and just assumed it was a game that would never come out of Japan because of how different it was to any other game at that time. I remember I looked on eBay to find a US copy and was lucky enough to find a person in the UK who was selling one and it came with a Freeloader disc. The person I brought it from had already started a save file on the memory card that came with the game and rather then start my own town, I thought I would check his town out of curiously before deleting it and making my own, but it seems the previous owner had unlocked every single NES game and basically turned the second villagers home in a little arcade with them all lined up, even the unobtainable games. So I decided I won't delete it and that I would just take over one of the save slots/villagers by deleting them and creating my character and move in to this pre-set village. Barely anything had been done in the village so it was almost like a new save file aside from the NES game house and that became the Town i played in for years. I can't really add anything to the praise this game gotten already from @Cube and @BowserBasher other then to say I just enjoyed playing it so much. I remember printing patterns from AC fansites on our printer so that I could recreate them in my game. I also remember how dedicated to it at the time, having favorite villagers I didn't want to leave and trying to fill up the museum and catch every fish. Also, Camofrog was rude to me once so I sent him a letter with some rubbish attached as a gift lol I was so thankful Nintendo released it outside of Japan at the time because its now one of my favorite game series. And of course, Nintendo must be pretty happy too as its now one of their best selling games. Funny enough I went back to playing the Switch version this week and I seem to be hooked again.

Super Smash Bros. Melee Nintendo’s all-stars are ready to do battle! Let the melee begin! JP release: 21st November 2001 NA release: 3rd December 2001 EU release: 24th May 2002 Developer: HAL Laboratory Publisher: Nintendo NGC Magazine Score: 95% Mods Used: Widescreen Code While the N64 Super Smash Bros was a wonderful novelty, Nintendo realised what potential the game had and decided to go all out with Smash Bros Melee, bringing more characters into the fold and adding in a load of extras to make it a love letter to Nintendo’s history. Melee solidified Super Smash Bros as an important franchise for Nintendo, with each game getting bigger and bigger. Singleplayer has gained a few new features, including Adventure mode, where you play through a mixture of different kinds of stages. Some are platforming levels created specially for this mode, while others are fights on regular stages. The platforming levels do feel a bit odd using the control style of Smash Bros, but they’re still immensely enjoyable and set the stage for more to follow in the next game. There’s also the more traditional fighting mode, event fights and some minigames, like Home Run Contest, which are initially simple but are made quite deep due to the mechanics of the game. There’s plenty to do here when friends aren’t over. There’s also a ton of options for multiplayer as well, there are stock or points based matches, add special features like making the game slower or faster, making all the characters invisible and you can adjust how frequently items appear and turn specific items on or off. All this means you can come up with your own ideas for matches. A personal favourite of mine was setting items to high, Pokéballs only and everyone had to be a Pokémon character. It’s pure chaos and an absolute blast. Melee also introduced a compulsive form of collectible: the trophies. Some are earned by completing specific tasks in the game, while others spawn as items during other game modes. I would always dart towards one whenever I saw one. Once collected, you can view it as a 3D model and read a little bit about the character, offering some background on characters that many had never heard of, including some characters who had never left Japan. What made the trophies extra special in Melee was the amount of trophies that were new depictions of characters. There are a few Custom Robo trophies that bring the art style of the N64 games into more detail, we also got our first 3D version of Pit from Kid Icarus, whose description interestingly ends with “Will pit ever fight again?” and just a ton to discover. It gave weight and meaning to the collectables, which made them so compulsive. Melee just had a ton of lovely touches all around. The music is wonderful (you can’t go wrong with the DK Rap) and the game scores you at the end of matches in many different ways, with some amusing ones thrown in for being cheap or comedic. Even the menus get some love as you can use the C-stick to tilt them around, just because. It’s a wonderful package. Fave Remake or remaster? A “complete edition” Smash Bros game with the gameplay styles of each previous one would be wonderful. Official Ways to get the game There’s no official way to play Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Kart & Wario Wasn't expecting a bloody Game & Wario reference of all things!

Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader Be Luke Skywalker or Wedge Antilles and join the Rebellion against the Empire today! NA release: 18th November 2001 JP release: 22nd March 2002 EU release: 3rd May 2002 Developer: Factor 5 Publisher: LucasArts NGC Magazine Score: 87% Mods Used: Widescreen Code One thing that Rogue Leader does impeccably well is putting you into the Star Wars universe. Factor 5 captured the look of the films perfectly, and it still looks quite spectacular to this day. One thing I especially love is how well the cockpits are made, different for every ship in the game and each one fully 3D modelled with the ability to look around, seeing parts of your fighter out the windows. It’s an absolute joy to look at, even today. There’s also an immense amount of enemy ships, the large swarms seen in Return of the Jedi are fully present here. With everything looking just like the films, it does mean that TIE ships are quite difficult to see against the background stars, which is where the targeting computer comes in, an overlay that highlights ships – although if you want to earn the extremely difficult medals, you’ll need to learn to cope without it and use the force instead. One downside to this is that there are only 10 main missions (and a few more to unlock). One mission does have day and night variants, with it automatically selected based on the time of day you play the game, which is a neat surprise, but also means faffing with the clock if you want to specifically pick which version of the stage to play. These missions are a lot of fun, and you do get both Death Star battles and the Battle of Hoth to experience for yourself. There are a load of unlockable ships, though, each one feeling very different to each other, and it’s fun to try out missions in different ships. For the final Death Star II assault, picking the Millennium Falcon puts you in control of Lando rather than duplicating the ship, which is a nice touch, and navigating the tunnels is a fun challenge in the Falcon. The Naboo Starfighter also returns, but with a weathered look to make it fit the Rebellion. There’s no unique secret ship from the next film in this one, but there is a secret paint job for the Slave 1. Rogue Leader is still an absolute joy to play, and still captures the style of Star Wars impeccably well. It’s a wonderful experience and was absolute magic when it launched. It was one of two games I got with my GameCube on launch day, and one I kept returning to for many years. Fave Remake or remaster? This series definitely needs a remaster. It’s still one of the more difficult GameCube games to get running smoothly via emulation due to the advanced techniques and tricks Factor 5 used, so a version that properly runs on modern hardware would be amazing to have. Official Ways to get the game There’s no official way to play Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader.

Ok. I’ve had a mediocre sleep and I’m bum rushing my way into work; perfect time to throw out some coherent thoughts on the Switch 2 London event! First off, the system itself. It’s lighter in the hand than I expected! Despite being about 25% heavier than a Switch OLED (which was already heavier than the OG Switch model due to the glass panel), the weight has been distributed in a manner that makes the device feel light in the hands. The hardware architect dudes clearly spent a lot of time on this aspect and I reckon they’ve done a cracking job here! The new Joycons are also a lot more comfortable to hold, with a proper controller sized analog stick this time. Gone are the little nubbly control sticks of the current Switch and instead you get a stick that I believe matches the new Pro Controller. It feels much better than the current Joycon stick, and it has a very smooth, almost gliding motion to it. If I had to liken it it any particular control stick? I’d say it feels most like the one for the Xbox One/Series controllers. Likewise, the buttons and (especially) the triggers are quite a bit bigger and have a nice matte finish to them that makes them feel nice to use, the zL/zR triggers and the sL/sR buttons see the biggest upgrade in that respect though; as they have just that little bit more travel to give them a nice satisfying click. The console, the Joycons, the charging grip and the new Pro Controller are all given a lovely matte finish that feels both comfortable in the hands and very premium. These controllers won’t feel like they’re slipping out of your hands for sure. The screen is also striking with how large and bright it is. The bump in screen size is immediately noticeable, even coming off the OLED (which had a bigger screen), and the svelt bezel allows the screen to feel impactful. I only got the chance to play Mario Kart World in handheld mode myself, but the colour and motion reproduction looks very good; it doesn’t obviously feel like a downgrade from the Switch OLED. Though that being said, I would’ve liked the chance to see some other games running that had darker scenes to better examine the black levels (they did have TOTK and BOTW available to play in handheld mode, but I didn’t get to try them myself). Speaking of the new Pro Controller, the new handle shape is very nice. The Ask The Developer article for the Switch 2 hardware notes that the handles were modelled after the GCN controller and that checks out with the final product. The handles do indeed feel quite similar to the GCN controller, and feel very nice in the hands, though the matte finish is obviously quite unlike the GCN controller of yesteryear. BTW, the new Joycon grips also feature a GCN inspired set of handles! As for the NSO GCN controller? Yup, it’s a GCN controller alright! And yes I can confirm that the analog shoulder buttons/digital click all work just like the original (dunno who started the stupid rumour that they wouldn’t be included, but rest assured, that person can safely be thrown into the bin). That’s about all I can say regarding the hardware itself. All of the Home Menu and OS features were locked off (as you would expect), so it’s time to talk about the games! Actually, I lied, because there’s two more hardware features to talk about, but I didn’t lie because they both involve Super Mario Party Jamboree + Jamboree TV Lex Luthor’s Revenge. First up is the official Switch 2 USB-c Camera. We played the silly Bowser TV mode, the one that uses the camera for eye toy esc minigames, and we had a good time with the mode (naturally my team won, because I was the craziest lunatic there ); but I’m not here to brag about that, I want to talk about the camera itself, because it impressed the hell out of me! So we were playing Bowser TV in 4 player mode, with four of us stood in front of the camera against a bright red Nintendo coloured wall… Turns out that one of my friends just happened to come along wearing a one piece bright red Nintendo coloured dress; one of those little bits of sitcom that you couldn’t write if you tried. Except as it turns out, the joke’s on us because the camera had no trouble keeping up! Even with the matching colours! If any of you have ever worked with green/blue screening and chroma keying in video production, you’ll realise how incredibly impressive that is! We also had a chance to try out the mouse mode minigames, which were mad fun and all worked very well. The Joycon 2 works like a high quality optical mouse and the ergonomics worked pretty well, much better than I expected; and a lot better than my attempts to try using a Joycon 1 as a makeshift mouse… at least with a Right Joycon, since I’m right handed, I did find it easier to use a Right Joycon than a Left one… something to keep in mind for future multiplayer games. I particularly liked the minigames that combined mouse mode with the gyro tilt sensing, they were very cool and worked really well. The Joycon does a great job of detecting when you pick up the mouse as well. Mouse mode is a true killer feature, and I do reckon it’ll make for quite a few new gameplay experiences, as the combination of optical mouse and gyro/accelerometer motion controls opens up quite a few new doors. Anyway, that’s all I’ve got time for right now. After work? Maybe I’ll be able to talk about some actual Switch 2 games? Wouldn’t that be nice!

@Julius has done an excellent job explaining the more intricate details there. So I'm gonna try and just add my impressions and thoughts. Mario Kart World is what we were forced to play at the start. 2 player local play, followed by a single player race. We weren't allowed to try 4 player split screen, which says to me that it will still be 30 FPS, like in 8. This game is so very slidey! Drifting feels very different to 8. Unfortunately, there was no way to turn off Smart Steering, which, if any of you N-E League regulars would recall, tends to make us more experienced players hilariously rubbish. Funny for a theme night, not so great when you're trying to get a feeling for how it handles. Add to that the fact that it took me two races to find a bike that drifts on an inward line, meant that I looked very clumsy at first. The items are universally nerfed. I guessed as much from watching Treehouse footage. Probably for the best, seeing as there's double the amount of players. The Bullet Bill and Lightning got hit the hardest. The Lightning doesn't hit people behind you (Good change), but it also wears off magnitudes faster (Bad change). Apart from making people lose items, it's almost pathetically ineffective. The Bullet Bill, while still great for rocketing ahead, no longer makes others flip over if you touch them. It just bumps them out of the way. It's so rubbish now. The Mega Mushroom is more effective, lets you retain control, and is more common. Weirdly enough, some items remain pretty much the same as their 8 versions. Mushrooms are the same, but with how little items slow you down now, the Mushrooms become borderline OP! And some of the intermission tracks we played have some immense fields of grass that you can use a Mushroom to completely cut through. Stars are just as lame as they are in 8, but with 24 players, they (And Boo) are now absolute godsends. Items are all over the place in this game, so being able to ignore them and plow through is very desirable. Spiny Shells, on the other hand, still stop you dead. Which makes them even more devastating, as every other offensive item has been neutered. That's quite surprising. I didn't win a single race (Except the CPU one), one was down to DCubed's disgraceful behaviour, but the other two, I just couldn't get used to the bike I had. It's inward drifting, but it's not quite as tight as my 8DX setup feels. Didn't wanna risk changing it up and getting lumped with an outward one though. So I'll have to see if there's a better fit for me once the game is out. Hammer Bro was probably a poor fit as well, too light for it, needed more speed. After that, Donkey Kong Bananza. It hasn't changed my trepidation. In a 20 minute demo, I got about 18 Golden Bananas. Flashbacks to the abundance of Moons in Mario Odyssey there... Not promising. I also did a similar thing to @Julius in that a place was blocked by something that the game clearly wanted me to use that exploding material to get into, only for me to just clamber on top of the structure, and pummel my way downwards into it instead. Not very satisfying. If you like that kind of thing that the Zelda games have loved doing recently, more power to you, but I prefer a more structured format for problem solving. Next, Mario Party Jamboree had two different sections. One for the Mouse Con minigames, one for the camera based Bowser TV. Bowser TV is fine. The camera works better then I expected, but it was still a bit finicky. Neat distraction, but not one I'd care to go back to often. The Mouse Con minigames though? Oh man, that thing is smooooooth! It's works beautifully. There were only 6 minigames available there, but they all were great fun. One of them even needed you to rotate the Mouse-Con around, kinda like turning a dial, very cool. Shout-out to the minigame where you are in a toy car, which you catapult forward by dragging the Joycon backwards to try and propel yourself into a goal on the other side. Problem is, the other team is trying to do the same thing, but in the opposite direction. And the bridge that connects the two sides is quite narrow. Hilarity ensues as you end up smashing into each other and flinging yourselves all over the place! While the others played Drag X Drive, I went to try Bravely Default. Not an easy game to demo, to be fair. Not helping was the fact that the party setup the savefile had was atrocious! It's in the second third of the game and you have no White Mages!? ARRRRRRGH! Game is silky smooth though. 60 FPS Bravely is lovely! There's a dash button now, so you can move at double speed! Very nice! The kiosk I got put on didn't have any of the Mouse-con minigames available, which was a shame. We had a quick go on Street Fighter 6. Terry wasn't in this demo, so big bummer there. Honestly, I don't care about the game, but there were Pro controllers here, and this was a great game to test out if the D-Pad is as crap as it is on the Switch 1's Pro Controller. Noticeably better! Didn't have a single accidental diagonal input. Obviously can't tell if the sticks will end up drifting as fast as the Switch 1, but still! GameCube outside of being forced to play the EU on this Demo works as lovely as you'd think. GameCube games really do benefit from the HD bump. @BowserBasher, @S.C.G and us are going to get some mad mileage out of this thing! Funnily enough, the demo kiosk had a save file on F-Zero GX that had the AX Cup unlocked! This was the first time I got to play one of those tracks! So that was neat! Please Nintendo, give us an SP version of that game that has everything unlocked from the start. I, and I imagine many others, are incapable of doing it ourselves! I skipped Kirby and Metroid, as I'm already sold, don't need to try them. And I didn't care about the rest of the games. Anyway, one more thing to say is that you can attach the Joy-cons to the Switch 2 backwards, which is amusing. Yes, they were very good at what they were doing. Shout out to the guy who had to interrupt our Mario Party minigame session to ask me if my shirt (The one I posted a photo of on 2024's Christmas thread) is meant to look like a Kecleon's stomach. What a nerd!

Madden 2002 #1 For a reason NA release: 18th November 2001 EU release: N/A JP release: N/A Developer: EA Tiburon Publisher: EA Sports NGC Magazine Score: 75% Mods Used: None While Madden 2002 also came out on Nintendo 64, that was just the previous game with some stat changes. The GameCube got the full fledged sequel, which feels like a much different product, even starting off with personality with its own rap song. Knowing nothing about American Football, I was expecting to mess around with it a bit and then move on, but this one features a training mode. While the training mode doesn’t explain the complete basics (so I don’t fully understand when the ball passes to the other team, for example), it does explain each play in detail, with markers on the map, plays it out for you then gives you a bunch of tries to test it out. Due to this mode, I was finally able to figure out how American Football plays, how to look for passes and how to create gaps for running through. Although I did get told off for scoring a touchdown in one of the tutorials because I passed to someone that wasn’t the intended target, but luckily that doesn’t apply in proper matches. With the simple to use create-a-team, it was then time for the Welsh team Llaneron Sheep to try their hand at joining the NFL. Thanks to their training and some handy assist functions (branded under EAsy play), they were able to perform quite well. Gameplay felt very smooth and with the button prompts for passing giving you four players you can pass to, it felt like I was fully in control of the situation. For someone that doesn’t know much about the sport, Madden 2002 actually made me appreciate, and realise that it’s not a load of people flailing towards each other, but more like a turn-based tactic game where you have to plan your move while also anticipating what your opponent is going to do. I actually quite enjoyed it. Fun Remake or remaster? I’m not sure what the current games are like. Official Ways to get the game There’s no official way to play Madden NFL 2002.

@BowserBasher going by where the battery is in the Switch, it could well be that. It does seem to be a relatively straightforward fix though, no soldering required, just the right screwdriver, a prying tool, and the new battery to go in place of the old one. Switch 2 is just under 4 weeks away though, so you could chance it until then... but... if it is a bulging battery then... yep... probably sooner rather than later, though it might be OK, and you could be lucky enough for it to last long enough for you to do a system transfer, then you could just sell it as working but 'spares' knowing that it likely needs a new battery. But for the sake of safety, the cost of about £15, and a little bit of time & effort, it could be worth replacing. In fact, going by what other people have said about bulging lithium batteries, it is probably worth putting the entire Switch console inside a metal container just in case... the same goes for if you replace the battery, put the bulging battery inside a metal tin, or maybe even a fire-proof bag, in case the battery reacts further, and definitely keep any lithium battery away from any water source. Heck, just reading up on this has made me think about how I want to store any replacement batteries I have, even new ones.

We've always been rankers.

Randomly mentioned in an Xbox article, remakes of the first two Ecco the Dolphin games plus a new one is in development with the original team. Looks like the full reveal is a year away, though.

Smashing Drive The fare’s waiting, step on it! NA release: 18th February 2002 JP release: N/A EU release: N/A Developer: Gaelco , Point of View Publisher: Namco NGC Magazine Score: 29% Mods Used: Widescreen Code Smashing Drive is an arcade game that advertises itself like it’s some kind of Crazy Taxi competitor, talking about fares and having you drive a taxi. It’s actually an arcade racing game, one where throughout the course of the game you’ll race on top of burning buildings, jump through a helicopter, smash through offices and drive up the Empire State Building chasing King Kong and knocking him off. What’s extremely impressive about Smashing Drive is just how boring it manages to make all those moments. Everything feels like it’s “on rails”, like a Star Fox 64-style of game where all you do is drive left and right. Your objective is to make it to the end of the course before the time runs out while also beating your rival racer. Your rival seems to vary in speed based on if you take shortcuts. Stick to the main roads and you’ll probably make it to the end with time to spare, but your rival will beat you. Take shortcuts and it seems to take longer, but with your rival far behind you (so you’ll be more likely to run out of time, even though you’re in front). It just feels artificial. There’s also no spectacle to the game. The graphics would have been considered poor when the arcade game originally came out in 2000, and the sound effects lack punch. Couple this with a soundtrack of three songs composed of someone singing with zero emphasis, and it makes for an incredibly muted experience. Making things worse is how slow your car is, so there’s no sense of speed. This is also just an arcade port without anything new brought to the table for the home release, so you can see everything in half an hour. A few years after the GameCube release, it was also ported to the Game Boy Advance. While the graphics were blocker (and pedestrians removed, although they have zero impact on the game and you can’t hit them), it’s the entire arcade game in 3D, even with the terrible songs included as well. It still doesn’t make it a good game, but it’s interesting to see how they put the full experience on the GBA. Worst Remake or remaster? It’s something Arcade Archives could have. Official Ways to get the game There is no official way to play Smashing Drive. (Here's the GBA version if anyone is interested)

Adding on to that unannounced thing, buying a game on your eShop wishlist now removes the game from your wishlist automatically. Long overdue, that.

Dark Summit Unlock the mystery! NA release: 5th February 2002 EU release: 24th May 2002 JP release: N/A Developer: Radical Entertainment Publisher: THQ NGC Magazine Score: 51% Mods Used: Widescreen Hack One thing I love about playing through games from a particular console or franchise is being surprised by a game you never expected. Dark Summit is another “edgy” extreme sports game that got middling reviews. When I first started playing, I kind of got the same vibe, but the more I played, the more I loved it, and in the end I was absolutely enthralled by it. Unlike other extreme sports games that went into the edgy direction, it didn’t do it by being rude or crass, instead it did something more unique. Dark Summit takes place on Mt. Garrick, a ski resort that has been taken over for the military, with a dark secret being hidden by them. All the skiers seem to be part of keeping it covered up, and snowboarding is massively frowned upon. You play a new snowboarder in the area, who quickly gets wrapped up in the snowboarding resistance fighters. The story is only told in a few brief cutscenes and you get some snippets from the challenges being described to you, so it never gets in the way of the game, but gives it its own feel. This also extends to the slopes, which all take place on a single mountain, with you unlocking more paths as you go on. Each area feels like its own thing – different paths focus on elements like a ski jump, stunt track and half-pipe – while still being part of a connected world, with danger and keep out signs everywhere, a distressed look and a dark and foreboding atmosphere, which is oddly appealing to skate through, especially as you smash through things and watch everything snap and fly down the mountain with you. When you reach a starting point for an earlier part of the level, you can choose to get into the chairlift. You can also do this from the pause menu at ant point (one handy feature is you can also return to the start of your last challenge). Despite it, I went all the way down to the bottom of the mountain every single time – even after I’d gotten the required points to unlock all the equipment and outfits (most of which are minor variations of each other). There’s lots of different paths to take and I was still discovering newthings near the bottom towards the end of the game. The secrets of the mountain are dumb in an amusing way, but the game does kind of end abruptly, barely even having a final cutscene before going to the credits and back to the main menu. You then unlock the other snowboarders you meet as playable characters. These control extremely well, as they start with the best equipment and have no outfits. They don’t change the game, although at the very least the original character takes their spot. There are also a few oddities surrounding the game. The GameCube version seems to be a slightly earlier build than the PS2 and Xbox versions, despite being released later. It also has an “only for” sticker on it in North America indicating it was a GameCube exclusive when it wasn’t. I also found someone discussing the cheats on GameFAQs, which has had incorrect cheats for decades. It’s difficult to describe just how compelling I found Dark Summit. It was bashed and ignored when it came out and is barely remembered now, so I wasn’t expecting much from it, but from the moment the controls clicked to the game ending, I absolutely loved it. Fave Remake or remaster? I’d love a more cleaned up version with a bit more of a finale. Perhaps add in a character creator as well. Official Ways to get the game There is no official way to play Dark Summit.

Absolutely under no circumstances should you ever touch the Wii sequel, especially if you enjoyed the original game!! It’s a complete travesty!

Cel Damage 10 psycho toon tear it up in a wild and wacky drive ’em up adventure. NA release: 7th January 2002 EU release: 3rd May 2002 JP release: N/A Developer: Pseudo Interactive Publisher: EA NGC Magazine Score: 60% Mods Used: Widescreen Code Cel Damage is a vehicular combat game with a cel-shaded view. It’s presented as a TV show where these cartoon contestants compete to smash each other to pieces. Screenshots of this game don’t do it justice as everything moves in a stunning way, from well animated characters to the vehicles themselves bending as they turn to capture the brilliant cartoon style. With mayhem flying, it’s quite wonderful. The main mode is all about causing as much damage to your enemies. Dying doesn’t have much consequence other than wasting a bit of time, and respawns are very quick. Because of this, the weapons are immensely satisfying to use – especially one hit weapons like the axe, which causes car parts to bounce around. Because getting back into the action quick, these weapons aren’t even annoying to be on the receiving end of either. It’s pure chaos, in a good way. Another fun mode is the relay race, where you go between two checkpoints multiple times, while still battling it out. Some levels have multiple potential routes, and there are traps dotted around that are very handy for this mode. The third mode has everyone figuring for flags, but that one isn’t very good. To unlock more stuff you have to win matches playing against the computer with more rules, but really the game is just more enjoyable if you unlock everything and just have fun – it is mainly designed for multiplayer, after all. Hidden in the game are also a few different rendering types – I think the “plastic” mode also works really well, and having everyone’s weapons accessible in the game instead of their own special weapon really adds to the chaos and gives you a tun of fun weapons to use. It’s silly, but also a complete blast. Fun Remake or remaster? The game was altered for the PS2 with the name Cel Damage Overdrive. They tried to “balance” things by nerfing the one-hit-kill weapons and adding a health bar. Cel Damage HD is based on that version. I tried that version a few years ago and didn’t think much of it, but enjoyed the original. Official Ways to get the game The HD version of Cel Damage Overdrive is available on Steam, Switch, Xbox and PlayStation.

That bloody movement platform puzzle in Talus Cave might as well be the death knell for any Four Swords Run! Missing out on the Hero Key requirement by 23 Rupees is heartbreaking, though...

Sonic Adventure 2: Battle High speed battle with Sonic and Shadow! JP release: 20th December 2001 NA release: 12th February 2002 EU release: 3rd May 2002 Developer: Sonic Team Publisher: Sega NGC Magazine Score: 70% Mods Used: Widescreen Code With Sega dropping support for the Dreamcast early, it was only a matter of time until Sonic appeared on a Nintendo console, and it was on an enhanced port of his latest adventure with an improved multiplayer mode and many tiny tweaks to smooth things out (such as removing the Big the Cat Easter eggs). With Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic came over to GameCube during his attitude years. Which means an amazing soundtrack, from Escape from the City to Live & Learn, alongside a snarky Sonic and a gloomy newcomer called Shadow. The story is cheesy but enjoyable, and you play through the story from two angles – the heroes and the villains – before the final part of the story and its epic finale. Each story comes with three main mission types. Sonic/Shadow have the main platforming sections, with Knuckles/Rogue having a treasure hunt and Tails/Robotnik having shooting sections. This does mean that sometimes you can go a bit too long between the proper Sonic and Shadow stages of the game, due to having too much or the other sections in the game. Not that those sections are bad. The Knuckles and Rogue sections are mini exploration levels with you hunting for three parts of the master emerald. They’re kind of like little 3D Mario style levels, where you have to use clues to locate the hidden emerald shards. They’re a nice distraction from the main event, and suit the climbing and flying of the characters well. The shooting sections for Tails and Dr Robotnik are the main issue with the game. It’s entirely focused on lock on, as there’s not really a proper aiming mechanic. These levels also tend to go on a bit too long, and they really make you long for the next Sonic level. Which brings us to the main stages. These definitely feel a bit janky now, but are still great fun. They’re full of spectacle without taking away too much control, with the more automated sections being short bursts. With some wonderful levels, from escaping a giant truck as Sonic to grinding gravity- defying rails as Shadow (who “skates” in a cool way instead of running), it’s an immense amount of fun. In addition to the main game is the Chao garden, where you hatch and raise the little animals you find within levels – a great incentive to replay them. There are some hidden types to unearth as well as training them to compete in fights and races. You can also send chao to a Game Boy Advance for extra training, although this isn’t as handy as the Dreamcast’s VMU, as you can’t turn the device off, but it gets the job done. All in all, Sonic Adventure 2 is rough around the edges but still great for the most part. There’s a lot to love and if you spend enough time perfecting the game, you unlock a neat Green Hill Zone level, a level that is still rarely seen in Sonic games. Great Remake or remaster? This game needs a bit if sprucing up and a remaster with some effort put into it. Official Ways to get the game Sonic Adventure 2 is available on Steam and Xbox, with the Battle features (Chao Karate and multiplayer extras) as additional DLC.

My favourite of the original trilogy getting a reference in a modern game makes me very happy.

According to Era, this is now live for everyone.

Animal Crossing. I have so many fond memories of that game and the joys it bought. It was the first time I ever bought an import copy of a game along with the FreeLoader to play it. I think the game arrived like 3 days before the FreeLaoder so I had to wait. I made so many friends from a site that I found when I started playing the game, ACC, Animal Crossing Community. Still talk to some today, and I was there like 20 years ago when the game came out. There were two thing I did that I never saw anywhere else on the internet. One, and remember this was before saving photos directly was a thing, I took a photo of every inch of the map and stitched them all together to form (what may be) the only full town photo ever. https://www.bowserbasher.com/images/ACImages/GCFullTownImages/ACTheShireFull.jpg The second was the fabled "huge shadow" in the ocean when you went to the GBA island. I remember hearing about it and seeing people use codes to walk on the water to see it, but I had never seen an actual image of the thing, especially in unedited gameplay. I was playing one day, went over to the island and suddenly saw it. Luckily my camera was right by me and I snapped the only known photo (that I know of). https://www.bowserbasher.com/images/ACImages/GCImages/ACGiantShadow.jpg Sorry for the links instead of images, I think my site is so out of date that things just aren't working right. I last updated it like 10 years ago. Things work, it's just the way I did my image gallery seems to be broken.

Animal Crossing Welcome to Animal Crossing, where something happens every day-whether you’re here or not. JP release: 14th December 2001 NA release: 16th September 2002 AU release: 17th October 2003 EU release: 24th September 2004 Developer: Nintendo Publisher: Nintendo NGC Magazine Score: 90% Mods Used: Widescreen Code Animal Crossing was a game born from the 64DD. The extra space for saving games led to the idea of a game that not only grows with the player, but also grows on its own, which led to a clock being implemented into the 64DD. As development of the 64DD struggled, many features were cut for the initial Japan-only N64 release. There are a few different versions of Animal Crossing. For the original Japanese release, many of the original plans were implemented into the game, such as the museum and design shop, with the North American release adding some extra features, such as e-Reader support. The Japanese then had another release with massively increased e-Reader support (and some other changes), before finally Australia (and a year later, Europe) finally got the game, based on the North American version. While the E+ version does have an English patch, I opted for the PAL version due to understanding the holidays more and a sensible date format. Animal Crossing isn’t a game you play in a single setting, but designed more for short visits multiple times a week over a long period of time – which is how I’m playing the game to get a close to authentic experience – I’ll be refraining with messing with the clock, which the game can sometimes tell you off for doing. Interactions As you spend time on your island, you’ll meet other residents that you can talk to. These are brief conversations, and you’ll sometimes be asked stuff. One surprising thing is how mean some of the villagers can be, although they’ll likely be nice again the following day. One problem I had was that you can often get the same conversations from multiple villagers on the same day – they’re often lumped into personality types, which will act in the same way. You can also type out letters to send to the residents, where they’ll respond. No matter what, I couldn’t get a single response other than “I can’t understand you”, no matter how simple I made my letters. It just doesn’t seem to work at all. Still, it’s nice talking to them all each day, and new residents will move into your village over time. Events Events are a large part of Animal Crossing. On certain days, like Halloween or Christmas, there will be an in-game event. It’s wonderful being able to attend these events, but if you’re busy in real life, you either have to miss it completely or mess with the clock on your system. While this goes against the spirit of the game, it really is necessary to get the full enjoyment if you can only play it later on at night, as you’ll find many things closed and your residents asleep. The real time aspect of Animal Crossing is both a blessing and a curse, but I believe a middle ground could be found as the game could cater to the user more. Collecting There are lots of bugs, fish and fossils to find in your village, some of which only appear at certain times of the year. Your village has a museum that you can donate one of each animal or item to, and exploring the museum lets you read up more on each object. It’s something that’s great to work towards as the years go by. There’s also a lot of furniture to collect. A few items will be available from Nook’s shop each day, while sometimes you’ll receive some as gifts from animals or events. Sometimes, you’ll talk to an animal and they’ll force you to give up or trade your new item, which can be frustrating. Your furniture can be placed in your home, which you can pay to make bigger or add more rooms, but there’s only limited space for your furniture. Luckily, once you have an item once, you can then re-order it from the catalogue at Nok’s shop and be sent it in the post. Animal Island If you have a Game Boy Advance connected, you can visit a little tropical island. Here you can find some unique fruit and a special villager. There’s not a massive amount of stuff to do while there, but when you leave, you can transfer the island to a Game Boy Advance. Here, you can get them to eat fruit and leave items behind for them to use – they like fishing, for example. Improving their mood will make them leave bells and other surprises. One slight issue with the GBA was its lack of storage, which meant that all data is lost when you turn it off. It does have a sleep mode to help conserve battery, although that probably doesn’t help if you notice your GBA is low on battery and changing them turns it off. Still, it’s a nice little feature. NES games As you play the game, you’ll sometimes discover NES consoles that come with a game. Put these in your house and you’ll be able to play them – as in properly play the full, original games. You can even transfer the games to a Game Boy Advance to take with you (until you turn the power off). Sometimes these are in the shop, some had to be scanned via eReader, one can only be found on the island and one can only be obtained by cheating (or using an unreleased password in the Japanese version). There was also a NES without a game which held an interesting secret that wasn’t uncovered until much later. This special NES can load any properly formatted NES ROM file from the memory card. People found references to this being done in the N64 version (with special Controller Paks with Ice Climber being in a competition), but it was never officially used for the GameCube version. The NES game functionality unfortunately never returned in later games due to services like the Virtual Console. Overall Animal Crossing is a rather wonderful experience. It’s calm and relaxing and something nice to visit occasionally. There are some annoying aspects, as you need to decide if you’re going to miss events or mess with the game. Animal Crossing can also feel depressing to come back to if you leave the game for a while, as animals will leave and weeds will cover your village the next time you return. But these aspects are what makes the game feel alive, so you make do for the good moments. Great Remake or remaster? It would be nice for a version with the e+ content added into the main game, but I don’t think Nintendo will ever re-release an Animal Crossing game. Official Ways to get the game There’s no official way to play Animal Crossing.

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones has been added to the service! Given that it got a game on NSO and a soundtrack upload on the Nintendo Music app, I had to check – and the 20th, a few days ago, marked Fire Emblem's 35th anniversary, so that'll explain it!

Universal Studios Theme Parks Adventure Have a good time at Universal Studios with Woody Woodpecker. JP release: 7th December 2001 NA release: 18th December 2001 EU release: 3rd May 2002 Developer: Nai’a Digital Works Publisher: Kemco NGC Magazine Score: 24% Mods Used: Widescreen Hack Often said to be the worst game on GameCube. I’ll have to see how it compares when I’ve made it further into my GameCube games, but it’s certainly the first terrible game on the GameCube. You’re a boy visiting Universal Studios, with free reign of the park. Well, sort of. Navigating Universal Studios is apparently utter hell. This game features pre-render backgrounds and fixed camera angles, with no care taken on how they flow with each other, as the orientation changes on every single screen. Sometimes even finding your character is a challenge, as they’ll be far in the distance, obscured by other park visitors. ET Adventure Most likely you’ll bump into ET Adventure for your first minigame. This is a terrible Excitebike-style game where you slowly cycle to the right and go over jumps. Actually landing is pretty much impossible, so you’ll fall over constantly – thankfully, the game is so easy that you’ll have no problems beating it while falling over every few seconds. With this out of the way, the next time you go to an attraction, there will be a queue, and you’ll be unable to answer. You can buy hats to access events, using points you earn from completing attractions, meeting mascots and picking up rubbish. To be fair to the game, the amount of hassle from this set-up is nowhere near as bad as I’ve heard other people say it is. From the ET minigame, a quiz and some interactions, I had enough points for three hats and was given an e-pass that lets me access another for a single attempt, so I didn’t spend that much time needing to collect points. That said, trying to navigate the park to find the other events, as well as the immensely tiny hidden Universal Studios letters, makes even that an unpleasant experience. With that said, here’s my rundown on the other events. Back to the Future: The Ride This is the only minigame that’s properly based on the ride itself. You need to chase Biff as he races through the first three locations from the ride: Hill Valley, an ice level and a lava world. You have a surprisingly strict time limit so you can’t afford to hit the walls. There’s not much to the game, but it’s probably the best one in the package. Jurassic Park An on-rails shooter. Kill as many dinosaurs as possible, including the ones that aren’t a danger to you. You can hold A to lock-on multiple times and there’s a needlessly robust points system. The problem is that the minigame is both boring and goes on for far too long. If it wasn’t for the music, you’d barely tell that this was related to Jurassic Park, as it looks and feels like a knock-off. Waterworld Pick a seat and watch a 5 second CGI clip of a prop plane landing into water. If they wanted to discourage people from seeing the actual attraction, they managed to do a great job at that. Jaws The shark from Jaws (which this minigame incorrectly calls Jaws) is attacking the Orca. It’s full of barrels, so many that you’ll think they’ll need a bigger boat. On the top right are two different displays showing where the shark will head over from, so just go there and throw a barrel at him. Immensely simple and easy. The Wild Wild Wild West This is loosely based on a stunt show at the park, not related to the fun Wild Wild West film from Warner Bros. The original show features fun stunts, fights and explosions. Here you shoot cans and targets. Focus on the cardboard cut-out and the bonus targets and you’ll win with zero effort. Backdraft Everyone knows and loves Backdraft, right? the film [googles] where Kurt Russel becomes a firefighter to impress his brother. Apparently it got a Direct-to-DVD sequel in 2019. This is probably the closest to an actual minigame, as you explore a burning warehouse (with bad camera angles), putting out fires and rescuing people to run into. This one also goes on for far too long. And that’s Universal Studios. A game where you get to explore a theme park and play minigames based on the rides is definitely a good idea, but this is just a terrible attempt at doing so, partly from how horrible navigating the park is to how soulless all the games feel. The music from the films seems like the only elements actually used, with zero meaningful interaction with the characters (other than the annoying and deplorable Woody Woodpecker). It’s amazing how this doesn’t just fail as a game, but also as an advertisement, as it makes Universal Studios look like a bad place to visit. The game doesn’t even make it clear that it’s based on the Japan park, not the main one in Orlando. Worst Remake or remaster? This idea would be interesting if it were done well, it could even be an interactive website. Official Ways to get the game There’s no official way to play Universal Studios Theme Park Adventure on Nintendo GameCube, but you can experience Nintendo at Universal Studios.

This is why the game prices have been hiked, to pay for Paul Rudd!

Super Smash Bros. Melee was my favourite game ever for nearly two decades. Only Ultimate surpassed it. I never really felt the appeal behind Subspace Emissary (excessively repetitive and dull), even if it had the right idea. Adventure Mode in Melee was quick, to the point, and kept all of its ideas focused. Like, if a stage in SE was more fun with, say, Sonic than any other character, there was no real reason to explore and find that out. Melee Adventure kept its levels short and replayable, and as a result, I found out, for example, which characters handled the F-Zero level better (Capt.Falcon can just run through it like a champ, but figuring out how to keep myself airborne with Jigglypuff was a legit challenge) The personalized levels in Break the Targets was also an incredible way to learn the ins and outs of various characters. I learned to wall jump thanks to this mode. And that's just single-player, because also in multi-player there's stuff that it did really well. Even modern Smash games don't do the cheeky bonuses at the end of matches, nor do they measure SDs properly. Finally, the gamefeel was incredible, really good use of rumble (whenever you landed a good hit, you felt it). By comparison, Brawl was like punching with pillows. Melee was also quite fast, which made for a very exciting spectacle. I do admit it made it harder to play for beginners. Thankfully, Ultimate matches Melee in the gamefeel area, while still being very accommodating for beginners (partly because there are many more beginner-friendly stages as well in Ultimate). And there's a lot more to gush about Melee. That's why I still put it at the top of any list where I rank my favourite GCN games.

This made me remember we did discuss what a new entry might look like a few years back: @Dcubed was right about it being a launch window game!

The game looks unbelievable! I'm feeling genuine excitement for a game for the first time in ages!

It's honestly getting to the point where I'm really hating this hobby more and more. Prices of games continue to keep going up and that's without putting things like battles passes, DLC, season pass on top of the main price. Games are launching half baked and not even fully on physical media. Every company seems to be nickel and diming their user base, which is probably because the audience is shrinking and so they are needing to squeeze every penny out of the gamers they already have. Even Nintendo are at it, what with them charging for a tech demo and increasing the price of their games. The industry is just a mess.

The Switch 2 Experience was awesome, just on my way back now – a bit too tired to string together any meaningful cohesive thoughts, but I was busy taking notes of my time and opinions at the event, so to do them justice I'll share those thoughts tomorrow. For now, though, @Dcubed @Glen-i @Ugh first aid (and anyone else attending tomorrow?), just thought I'd share some things that'll hopefully make your day just a little bit easier... Nice-to-know I couldn't find this anywhere before the event, so had to keep my eyes peeled for a big ol' weirdly fonted '2' and that unmistakable Nintendo red – but check-in is in Hall N5, which is on the left side of the main corridor when entering through the Excel pyramid entrance. It's kind of hard to miss, honestly, but it's nice to know where you're heading! You'll get given a wrist band and wait in one of three lanes in a pretty hilariously barren hall while they show the Switch 2 Direct again. When you walk in there's somewhere to check-in bags on the right, and a super brief bag check by security. So, my Experience was set to start at 14:00, but the FAQs make it clear to not arrive more than 15 minutes before your start time – yet, arriving promptly at 13:45, I found that there was an entire lane already taken up, which promptly entered at 14:00 on the dot! So I reckon you could probably start queuing around 20-30 minutes ahead of time. Don't worry if you end up not going in at your assigned start time on the dot – if you're in one of the later lanes, you'll have a different band to the others, and they let you in as part of a wave every 20 minutes. You'll get the full 4 hours either way – so I was in there from 14:20 to 18:20. Controllers and Switch 2s, as you can imagine, are tied down through the entire hall...except for two, which are either side of a display case for all of the hardware arriving at launch. I think a whole bunch of people missed out on this. You can just ask the guys or gals to hold them to get a feel for the weight, and, obviously, *snap* those Joy-Con 2s off! Feels super solid, those things. They'll be watching you very intensely, like a hawk, while you *snap*, mind Don't miss the little goodies to your right on your way out! The Games/Floor Plan I've watched a couple of videos which showed some of the games which have been at these things, but I was still surprised by a couple of the games which were available to play today. It was a nice surprise for me, so I'll throw it in a spoiler tag so you can decide whether you want to know going in or not, but here's a full list of the games available and the floor plan for the event – which might make it a bit easier to plan your day or route around the floor, especially with a few of you going and likely wanting to check out different games! Might have been because I was in one of the later sessions, but I found the big ticket items - i.e. the Nintendo Switch 2 first-party newness - had a bit of a queue when I first walked in, which I didn't mind, but I could stroll right into the play areas and replay some of the big ticket games towards the end with no queue time. Pretty arguably the biggest ones there, too. YMMV, of course, but something to keep in mind! Hope that can help you plan your day just a little bit and that you guys have a great time