RedShell

Let me refresh your memory: But yeah, I did play quite a lot of SNES games online while I was subscribed, and other than the moments above (and maybe half a dozen or so others) overall those type of issues were pretty rare. It's stable enough in general, it's just not very ambitious is what I was getting at before. I mean they literally just shoehorned the online feature via pre-existing local multiplayer.

Would be super interesting to know exactly what was going on behind the scenes with stuff like this, especially when it comes to the kind of costs involved. Wonder just how much Nintendo would've had to spend to get Rare's N64 titles, and the thought of them even doing so is just bizarre considering the history. Is GoldenEye 007 also a possibility? That would be a pretty big deal for sure. Although if there is indeed zero modification being done to any of these games, playing most of them online is probably going to be a horrible experience. I mean most N64 games run terribly as it is, factor in potential lag plus the fact it'll still be split screen and it could get quite messy! I think Mario Tennis is basically the only game I'd even bother trying to play online if I were to use this. It's a shame Nintendo couldn't have done more with this service really, there was a lot of potential there if they would've been willing to rework the games for proper online play and therefore provide a unique way to experience these classic games. For example, imagine Super Mario Kart with true 8 player online where everyone gets their own full screen (well, full screen + map ) display of the action! Or Super Mario World with simultaneous multiplayer! Or games that didn't originally even have multiplayer getting it added! Many moons ago I got the opportunity to play a modified version of F-Zero in multiplayer on PC, and it was absolutely glorious. Having always had to take turns when playing that game with friends on the SNES, suddenly being able to race at the same time was mind-blowing! If fans can get that kind of stuff going, then Nintendo definitely can, and although obviously much more effort, it would certainly make the service a lot more appealing.

Possibly, but the fact they didn't put any of the Goemon titles on the SNES app (not even Legend of the Mystical Ninja) isn't a good sign. Konami clearly don't give a shit about Goemon any more. Would be fantastic if Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon did make it to the N64 collection though, for the sake of those that have never played it before. But really, I think the closest thing we're going to get on Switch, is actually the upcoming game by Good Feel: Serious Goemon vibes! And with Etsunobu Ebisu (aka Ebisumaru ) involved, chances are it'll be great.

Well, sometimes we can: https://crossplaygames.com/games It's definitely a growing trend (and a great one I might add) so I'm going to remain optimistic.

Time for another update, this time featuring games with no end! Fist of the North Star LEGENDS ReVIVE: Fist of the North Star in a crappy mobile phone game that is jam-packed with soooo many different microtransactions and in-game currencies it'll make your eyes bleed! Yeah, this one is a bit of a mess really, and gameplay is practically nonexistent, but for some reason I can't stop playing it. Maybe it's one of those "so bad it's good" kind of things, or perhaps it's just the ludicrously OTT presentation that keeps me coming back. The incredibly overexcited Japanese announcer on the title screen (and in the above trailer) never fails to make me laugh. There's some cool crossover stuff in it too, right now I have Chun-Li and Pai Chan in my team. And I see Sonic is also in the game. Hopefully they add some Yakuza characters as well. There is actually a story mode, but progress to each chapter is locked behind your overall level and it starts to take a long time to level up, especially if, like me, you don't make any purchases. But I can't say that I'm particularly interested in the story anyway, so am happy just jumping into the game for a few minutes every now and then. GWENT: The Witcher Card Game: For anyone that might not be familiar with it, Gwent is a tactical card game in the Witcher series that is also a playable minigame in the Witcher 3, where I was first introduced to it. Initially I was not a fan but the more I played it, the more I started to like it. Eventually I'd even start going out of my way to challenge as many of the NPC's in Witcher 3 that I could find! About midway through my Witcher 3 playthrough I discovered the standalone version of Gwent on GoG, at which point I was like "hell yeah!" so I downloaded it and jumped right in... and then, right out again. What the hell? They had changed it from the version in the Witcher 3! It was all weird and needlessly complicated. I uninstalled it almost immediately. Fast forward to the end of my Witcher 3 playthrough, and I'm having serious Gwent withdrawal symptoms. Decided to give GWENT: The Witcher Card Game another chance. I still hated it, but (and you know where this is going ) eventually it started to click. The changes from the much simpler Witcher 3 version that seemed so terrible and inexplicable to me at first, began to make sense. And yeah, I love this game now! Not very good at it mind you, but that's to be expected given my severe lack of tactical ability. And playing against other people, rather than AI obviously makes a big difference as well. That said, I still manage to win about 50% of the time, no doubt because of the fact that I'm being really nonstrategic and doing completely unexpected and stupid moves which end up putting my opponent off. It's also the only way I'm ever able to win Pokémon battles too. Anyway, I will definitely be sticking with this game for a quite a while now I reckon. It can also be played on mobile and features crossplay/progression with the PC version, which is super handy. Last but not least we have... Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout: Oh my God! It's Takeshi's Castle the video game! This caught my eye back when it launched but I was playing other stuff at the time so decided I would check it out at a later date. It was recently half price on Steam, so decided now was a great time to pick it up. Ear to ear grin the moment I started playing. This has to be one of, if not the best, slapstick comedy game ever made. It's just hilarious. Easily my favourite battle royale game too. I managed to win a show on the second day of playing, but haven't managed it again since then (apart from in team games). Even with a lower number of players compared to most battle royale games, it's still very tricky being the last one standing. Hell of a lot of fun though. The way the characters look and move about is just so ridiculous, no matter what happens in a round, it's always entertaining. However, it does get repetitive super fast! Also, there don't seem to be that many different maps/style of game, so even after a few shows it feels like you've seen everything Fall Guys has to offer. Looks like they periodically update it with new cosmetic items and modes though, so I'm sure it'll be something that I continue to play every so often for a while to come. And any time I need a laugh, I definitely know which game to play! Quick mention on Yooka-Laylee. This is another game that I started playing but decided to drop. While I get what they were going for with this, the N64 platformer nostalgia thing doesn't really have much of an impact on me and I just didn't find the gameplay that fun. It was a similar experience to when I played the Impossible Lair earlier this year (yeah, I played them in the wrong order ) just not the kind of thing that appeals to me really. I tip my hat to whoever worked on that N64 filter though! That was legitimately impressive, right down to the fact that it even made me a bit nauseous.

What makes you say that? I'm hoping it will (ideally with cross-progression too) and the fact there hasn't been any Nintendo themed DLC this time around would make things simpler. Even though crossplay wasn't a thing with MHW, Capcom did manage it with SFV.

Well, can't say I was massively impressed by this latest Direct, apart from the new Kirby game that is. Definitely the star of the show for me, looks fantastic! I'm sure the Monster Hunter Rise DLC will be good, but it's a long way off. And won't the PC version also be out by then? If so, I think I'd prefer to re-purchase the game plus the DLC on there, rather than subscribe to Switch Online again. Yeah, N64 and MD games have done nothing to convince me to resubscribe. The Mario movie cast... Only recognise a couple of them (the ones playing Mario and Bowser) so no idea what to expect with that really. It does seem kind of wrong for Charles Martinet to be involved with the project but not as Mario though. Anyway, it was nice seeing Miyamoto make an appearance in the Direct, but man, I wish it was to present a new game instead. As for Splatoon 3, it's still just way too close to the last game for me to be interested in it. Played the hell out of Splatoon 2 but this doesn't seem different enough to warrant a sequel so soon and especially not on the same platform. And then there's Bayonetta 3. Get the feeling development has not been going smoothly, it's still looking pretty rough at the moment. They also appear to be shifting away from the kind of stuff that made Bayonetta such an appealing character in the first 2 games, which is a shame, but I guess expected given the current social climate. Although there is also a chance that it isn't actually the Bayonetta in this trailer. Time will tell. So yeah, not necessarily a bad Nintendo Direct, just not one that I can get excited about, unfortunately. Quite looking forward to the Smash character reveal though, not because I'm naive enough to think it'll be a character I like, but because no matter who/what it ends up being, the reactions are guaranteed to provide some entertainment at least.

Rick?

Hype levels are at an all-time low for me, but here's hoping Nintendo are finally going to start dropping some megatons again.

I've not played it on Switch but Witcher 3 on Switch: The Switch has seen numerous wonder ports really, Rocket League is great on there and the Doom games look much closer to the other versions than I would ever have expected. Will try to think of some for older systems.

It certainly was, but I can now add to my list of completed games for 2021... The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Game of the Year Edition: Very late to the party with this one, but after enjoying Cyberpunk 2077 so much last year, I figured that I should check out this game too. Picked it up dirt cheap on GoG and the original plan was to wait for the upcoming next-gen update to arrive, but then I was like "well, I should probably just download the game anyway". But then the icon was staring at me every time I used my PC, so I thought "well, better run it just to check it works" 100 hours later... here I am having completed the main game and both DLCs! Yeah, once this game hooks you that's it, you're well and truly trapped. I think the fact that once I'd started playing it I couldn't actually stop sums up how much I enjoyed it, in some ways it was a similar experience to how I felt playing Ocarina of Time for the first time back in 1998! Yeah, I now fully understand why this game has received so much praise, and why the hype was so insane for Cyberpunk. I have to say though, while I was playing the main story of Witcher 3 I don't think I was enjoying it quite as much as I did Cyberpunk, but upon playing through the 2 DLC chapters (both of which could easily stand as individual games BTW, in terms of playtime and quality!) it tipped the scale and now there's no doubt in my mind that Witcher 3 is the better game overall. Having said that, it was interesting to discover that the game still has (even at this very late and heavily patched stage) quite a few bugs in terms of presentation, characters doing freaky animations, floating items etc. not that I'm going to really criticise it for that, I'm mean this kind of stuff is to be totally expected for games of this magnitude, but in terms of the amount and frequency of visual glitches, Witcher 3 is definitely comparable to Cyberpunk, and keep in mind that I played both on the exact same PC and that I played Cyberpunk at launch. I imagine the main difference between the overall perception of the two games is that the console versions of Witcher 3 were probably a lot tidier than the console versions of Cyberpunk. Speaking of console versions, how... the... hell... did they get Witcher 3 ported to Switch?!! Knowing the game as I do now that is simply unbelievable. That has to be the most ambitious video game port of all time. Incredible. Anyway, very glad that I finally got the chance to play through The Witcher 3 (and especially its DLC! ) it was an absolutely fantastic journey and I still have some side quests left to do for when the next-gen update arrives, so looking forward to jumping back into it then.

Interesting. I didn't know that. To me it's always seemed a bit unfair how only some characters can counter. Feels like it should be a universal move really. Hopefully when the new DLC character arrives it'll generate some more interest and you'll get a few more people joining in. Even though I personally prefer 1v1 (these days) it is unfortunate how few N-E peeps play the game now. Might be worth doing an open/public Battle Arena on Thursday? Although that obviously comes with the usual risks and annoyances, like dodgy Wi-Fi connections. But at least you'll potentially have more players. You and @BowserBasher could team up against some randoms!

Thanks, and yeah, those were some unbelievably tense 1v1 custom stage matches we had while @Glen-i was spectating. BTW, I feel as if I should apologies for my antics when playing as Sonic yesterday. My word that character's neutral B is cheap/broken, and I was spamming it like crazy! How the hell has that move not been nerfed? Even got Glen-i going for counters, which is just unheard of!

Cheers. I haven’t, no. Only ever play Smash with you guys on Thursday these days, any other time I’m on is making custom stages. Unfortunately though, that could be the last time I join you for a while (maybe ever ) as my online sub is expiring very soon and I don’t plan to renew it. While I love the weekly N-E battles, as I already mentioned it’s the only time I play Smash online (and pretty much the only online gaming I do on Switch now) so it really isn’t worth it to remain subscribed for 1 game. If Nintendo announce something appealing to me in the next Direct this will probably change though. But yeah, thanks to you [email protected] and everyone else that has played since the game launched, it’s been great fun!

I remember that. Used to love GamesMaster. Doubt this new version will be anything like the old one though, unfortunately (especially in terms of humour) but will still check it out.