Julius

Right, so I've been putting off Odyssey to play older 3D Mario games first to enjoy that sense of evolution, and it looks like the wait has paid off. Very excited to finally get a taste of some of these games, and always a fan of soundtracks being recognised by making them more accessible. Hopefully they've been cleaned up a bit! As for the price...it doesn't bother me personally, because I'm just grateful to play the games on the Switch, to be honest. I've ended up with a pre-order of just over £40, so I'm justifying that as £15 on Galaxy and Sunshine, and £10 on 64, which to me is what I'd be more than willing to pick the games up for anyways. I feel like if - or when? - they're sold individually Galaxy could end up being £25, Sunshine could end up being £20, and 64 could end up being £15. The price tag feels justified for me going in knowing how critically acclaimed these games are, and wanting to return specifically to Sunshine for nostalgia and nothing else that I've mentioned elsewhere before. That being said, I do appreciate the perspectives of those saying that maybe Nintendo could have done more - be it with the frame rates of some of these games, or having a wide screen option for 64 - because, really, if you're putting out a collection like this I think you're right to expect the best versions of these games. When the Final Fantasy Collection eventually arrives, will I take a set of ports with sprites from the mobile version, with jank and all? Heck no. I'm expecting the original or best-looking sprites they've had before to be all dressed to the nines. "All-Stars" is Nintendo screaming from the roofs that they're bundling together some of the best 3D Mario games, so yeah, I think it's fair to want them to take it all the way. Does it bother me? Not particularly, because I (perhaps selfishly) just want to play these games for the first time. As for the limited time run, yeah, I'm landing hard on the side that by all means have that be the case for the physical version (I mean I'm sure it would make enough to support it, but I understand wanting to make it something of a collector's item)...but why the digital version too? I'm struggling to justify it even from a corporate perspective, unless of course they are planning on selling it piecemeal at some point. Sure, it's happened in the past, I get that, but it being the precedent isn't justification to do it again. It's an excuse. And, as @gaggle64 rightly mentioned, the end date of the limited run being the end of their financial year just screams some level of confused desperation from (or for?) their shareholders, by artificially generating demand through the fear of missing out, as others have brought up. It's just such a strange move to me. I don't think anyone else would get a pass on something like this - can you imagine if Xbox did this with the Master Chief Collection, or if PlayStation did this with the Uncharted Collection? - so I have to stick with my gut and say Nintendo is being a bit obtrusive here. But yes, I'm buying it, because I want to play these games, and I can't wait. I'm seeing some disappointed about Galaxy 2 not being included, but I'm happy with what we're getting in this, though of course I do hope that comes down the line to save me picking up a copy on my dusty Wii!

Kings of left field indeed, I think this looks awesome! A really distinct and creative idea, I'm a big fan of Nintendo still being in the toy business and trying to branch out from games, especially in ways like this where it ties back into gaming. Will I get one? Nope. But if I had a kid would I absolutely use them as an excuse to? You bet Honestly, I was a bit concerned about the price being too high, but £70 or thereabouts seems pretty fair to me. The only thing I can really think to compare it to is a Scalextric set, and the most basic of "starter" sets growing up were somewhere in the £80 - £150 range. Hope they continue to support this with maybe more accessories (ramps? Hot Wheels-style loops?) and racers down the line, feel like this could potentially build up quite a healthy following if it's an ongoing thing.

This looks really neat, smart way to follow up on the success of Tetris 99 being attached to NSO too. Not sure if I'll dabble with it for particularly long, but it looks like a good time! As for the limited release window, in this case, I have to wonder if it's tied to some performance figures they saw for Tetris 99?Maybe the number of players tailed off around the six month mark, and that's why Nintendo are planning to drop it at the end of March? I think it would be great if they just left it up to be honest, because this is almost exactly the typical argument for game preservation: a digital-only release being taken away after a limited time. Hope they at least think about it if it does well, but the limited time run lasting only until the last day of their financial year just feels grubby to me. Guess there's another game I'll be mentioning that for...

Right, just finished rewatching the Direct, so if you notice me bumping all of the threads for the games...that's why Only heard great things about 3D World having not played it before, and it looks fantastic. Bowser's Fury sounds like a reason to be excited, glad there's some extra content there for fans of the game already around. Will definitely be picking this up!

Kena is going to be Game Informer's next cover story, with a 14-page spread to boot! Really looking forward to hearing and seeing more about this game!

I was only thinking in terms of pure handheld experiences for some reason, I guess I've got them on my Switch as part of NES Online? Think I might have just shown how little I play in handheld...

Zero. Saying that makes it more tempting. Why are you doing this to me Glen?!

It's up on the UK Store! £44.99. Managed to talk myself down from that ledge: looks awesome and like it will be worth a lot in years to come, but doubt I'd play with it for more than an hour. EDIT: someone else please talk me down from this ledge because my finger is hovering over pre-order!

I spend 2 hours refreshing the main page...and even when it is added it doesn't show up there? Appreciate the heads-up @Helmsly, managed to get a pre-order in

Your point?

Even worse (by a day), it's out on the 18th! And the physical version is still nowhere to be seen over here...been refreshing the UK Store home page for a good hour and a half or so now, which is where the game page redirects to at the moment for those interested in physical copies. Only place I've seen comment on it was GAME... Very odd. I'm guessing stores haven't been given much of a heads up if it's even caught the official UK store by surprise!

Welp, at work, but got caught up on the Direct during my lunch. l'll comment on the Direct later, because like everyone else, I'm now constantly refreshing the Nintendo UK Store home page

This is out tomorrow, is anyone else planning on picking this up? My copy is on its way, but admittedly, I'm kind of in the mood to start up a JRPG, so might not get to playing it for a week or two but I'm really looking forward to playing this, it's been such a long time since I played 2 on my aunt's sofa, and took turns chaotically scraping my way by with one of my cousins! Undoubtedly the soundtrack will take me back, really hope they've managed to maintain the core of the original gameplay, but bring it up to modern standards. Should be a really great time!

Yeah, I'm a big fan of the blue! What's curious to me is that they've announced the release date ahead of the trailer, very surprised that they didn't want to attach that to the end of a trailer, seeing as we're bound to get one any day now? Just weird to me they wouldn't just wait a little longer. The (rarely) pessimistic side of me wonders if they're trying to deflect from John Boyega's interview with GQ released earlier today, which has split opinion and garnered a lot of outrage...because of course it has. It's a great interview and well worth a read, but to me it just seems to be the case of people once again making a big fuss out of a little nothing all over again.

Glad to see you're having a great time with it so far drahkon! One of those games where the more I think about it the more I want to return to it, because the world, characters, and the combat are just so brilliantly done - it's pretty much all improved upon from the original, which set such a high bar as it was already. Some of those boss battles are hands down some of my favourite in gaming, and I'm sure you'll have a blast with what's left to come too! Any particular favourite boss encounters or standout track from your experience so far?

Well, speaking of The Mandalorian... Season 2 starts 30th October!

During last month's Granblue Fantasy Summer 2020 Special livestream, Fukuhara said that development was going well on the game, and teased a release date announcement at this year's Granblue Fantasy Festival (11th - 13th December). Seems like a 2021 release could well be on the cards!

Rated in Taiwan: Guess that means there's a good chance this turns up at TGS, then?

So, I actually finished Yakuza 4 super early yesterday morning, but was too tired to offer any cohesive, and got really busy after work. I absolutely loved it, but I do think it has some minor flaws. All-in-all, I think Yakuza 4 is a worthy continuation of the series and 3, doing so much more I feel than previous games, especially amazing when considering they ended up splitting a similar total length for the main story (about 20-22 hours?) across four different playable characters. Akiyama and Saejima stole the show for me, and it has probably my favourite first half of any Yakuza game I've played so far because of them. The plot is much more focused than in previous games, doing so much to further Majima's backstory too, and is a pretty astounding feat all around. Solid soundtrack as always, and a great evolution in combat from 3 - it honestly handles just like 0 and Kiwami, astounding considering that 3 was so sluggish by comparison. Now that I'm five games into the series (!), I think it's time I share my personal ranking of my experiences so far. Still not fully settled on 4, so that's tentative, but pretty sure about the rest (and to be clear, I loved them all!): 1. Yakuza 0 2. = Yakuza Kiwami 2 2. = Yakuza 4 4. Yakuza 3 5. Yakuza Kiwami So, another visit to Kamurocho done and dusted, in what has very quickly become one of my favourite video game series. I've read that 5 is quite long (something like double the length of 4?), so I won't be diving in immediately, but I am certainly looking to return to the domain of the Dragon of Dojima sooner rather than later!

New advert: Short and to the point, just as it should be. Would be so much better with a 'Pre-Order Now' at the end, though

Well, looks like it's a day for showcase announcements, first TGS's stellar lineup and now this! Pre-show at 19:00 BST followed by the main show at 20:00 BST. Thought it was very rough last time, hopefully this is refined, though having a pre-show which starts an hour ahead of time at 19:00 BST damages my hopes of that being the case. That being said, very interested in seeing more of Gods & Monsters, and I'm always optimistic for a surprise announcement.

Makes sense at this point, what with us knowing Pikmin 3 Deluxe coming at the end of October, would've been strange to announce something as coming sooner. I just hope there's some truth to it, been looking forward to trying out the older 3D Mario games!

Well apparently Mando S2 has been rated in the Netherlands as 12+ for fear. Pretty sure a Spidey cameo is all but confirmed then But seriously, not exactly sure what Disney is doing. Might be a bit different to Solo seeing as this will be available through a streaming service, but still, their arrogance about marketing sometimes, especially when it comes to Star Wars (again: Solo), drives me up the wall. Still can't stop thinking about what Bob Iger said a few years ago about how they could hypothetically not announce a grand opening for Galaxy's Edge and he could tweet it out, and millions would still be there on the first day. Unless your ear is low to the ground on Star Wars news, would you even know Season 2 is releasing next month?

Man you two must love talking to each other, every time I come in here it's all I see just teasing though guys, you've both got good points Yeah, I've noticed this a lot too, I think it's a little unfortunate. I just hope it's because of us still being light on info about the console and games (a criticism which I think is fair to bring up at this point), and calms down once the console has launched and people are enjoying next gen. PlayStation have killed it this gen with the PS4 and have come out with several first party titles which could be argued to be amongst the best released this generation, but you wouldn't tell it from some of the discussions that go on here. I don't want to start arguments with anyone so I normally stay quiet over it, because I do think there are some genuinely good conversations to be had about what PlayStation can and should do to improve, but the same goes for Nintendo and Xbox. I know this is a Nintendo-focused site and forum, but at the end of the day the Switch is killing it just like the PS4 did, yet how they're discussed on here couldn't be any more different. There are strengths and weakness to all three console manufacturers and their first party titles, and how they handle things, all of which I feel should be discussed a bit more evenly than they are at the moment. The biggest problem I see discussed over in the Xbox thread might be its lack of titles, but it looks like everyone - even those without an Xbox - WANTS there to be more titles and for Xbox to succeed, if only for their fellow forum users who have an Xbox! I think that's great. But at the same time, fans of PlayStation in this thread point to and call out issues they want to see improved, but the discussion always seems to become muddied and a bit on the negative side, even from those who don't own/seemingly have little interest in owning a PlayStation, as you mentioned drahkon. I just want to play games and talk about them with other people who like to play games, couldn't care less about which console they're playing games on

Yeah, agreed with you and @drahkon. I think we need to know price for and launch titles for both (and for the PS5 also what is going on with the UI) by the end of the month, as well as a launch date, because it's starting to wear a bit thin for me too. We're in the middle of a pandemic which isn't going to go away on its own anytime soon, and the world's economy is already upside down. Yes, we can guess roughly how much things are going to cost and save based on that, but in such uncertain times, giving consumers a heads-up well ahead of time is the most respectful (and respectable) thing you can do in this situation. I think it's different for the Switch when that launches at £279 and these could well end up being over £500. And speaking of which, I agree Ronnie, I think the Switch did it best. That initial reveal in October 2016 I think it was invited us all in, but didn't show everything off, and left us plenty to look forward to in the January presentation; launching two months later was genius. I think if we can go six months from announcement to launch for games, why can't we for consoles? t feels to me like Xbox and PlayStation would have wanted a tight schedule to announce price/launch titles anyway, even without COVID, but while we knew about the Switch as the NX for years beforehand, Xbox and PlayStation have been getting up on the stage and talking about their next gen consoles for a year or two, which seems more in line with the older and much longer announcement to launch marketing cycle. I kind of just want my pre-order in at this point.