Julius

Polished this off the other night. I'll pay the game a bit more attentive lip service when I get around to updating my Gaming Diary, but for now: • I loved the ending. • I really, really enjoyed the penultimate dungeon (or what I'm counting as the penultimate dungeon), Eagle's Tower. Did get a little lost once or twice, and not leaving the heavy ball in the right spot only added to a little bit of confusion, but I think it's incredibly well designed and forward thinking. Crazy how many ideas - and well executed ones at that - were packed into a GB game. • what I'm calling the final dungeon (the one after Eagle's Tower)...eh. It was pretty good, but felt like a step down for me from Eagle's Tower, and also just wasn't as interesting mechanically. • final boss fight was awesome. Lastly, this has to be one of the best credits medleys I've heard in a minute: Hit me hard, surprisingly so for a game as short as this, and made me nostalgic for the original game – which I've never played. Wonderful and charming little game

Holy what?! It lives!!! And it looks wonderful. Happy to wait for this!

I mean, up until now, a quick search tells me drahkon is the only person to even name the game in a post on the forums, let alone talk about it in any form at all on here. I also feel like it was a case of him just wanting to find a space to talk about his experience with the game after his first few posts about it in the PS5 thread made it clear he'd be playing and talking about it a whole lot, and based on how things have gone in the past in that thread and others, don't really blame him for making the thread here rather than in Nintendo Gaming. Nintendo Gaming does also have an Indie Games thread which this game would fit into seamlessly, whereas I don't really think that same topic would work too well in Other Consoles (too many platforms to keep track of and it would be too general). Lastly, as @Sheikah said, we've had topics created for the same game on both groups of platforms before. You could just make a thread over there for the game (though I do still think it'd fit into Indie Games very snuggly), but I doubt anyone over there is going to play or talk about the game as much as drahkon inevitably will. I mean, Dark Souls also came to Switch, but I posted about my journey through it a few years ago in Other Consoles rather than in Nintendo Gaming because I was playing it on a PlayStation and it seemed like a much more natural place to do so. Anyways, sorry to take a bit of detour from the thread, @drahkon – to get back on track, very much looking forward to reading your thoughts on the game! I saw how great the response was to the demo and the pricing of the game, so I'm very curious, but I've also never played a card-based [video] game like this before. Hope I can make some time to finally pick one up with this at some point this year!

Per Billbil-kun, Shadow of the Erdtree and various complete editions of the game - a GOTY Edition and Collector's Edition - could be arriving 21st June. 4 months seems like a reasonable wait from a proper reveal to launch for what I'm assuming is some very substantial DLC. The summer is looking awfully quiet at the moment, too, so I'd be very happy with a summer return to The Lands Between

We got some gameplay from this a few days ago, and it looks pretty great: IGN have said they'll have a bunch of scoops coming up on the game in the latter part of this month ahead of the game's event on 1st March. Souls vibes for sure.

Final trailer for Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender I'm nervous about it, I won't lie, but the original will always be there to return to. I want to see how certain scenes look in live-action and what changes and tweaks they make more than anything else.

Next demo, covering Junon, drops tomorrow:

Trailer for Shadow of the Erdtree premieres tomorrow at 15:00 GMT! Let's. Freaking. Gooooooooooooo

They actually announced more episodes of the show being in production just yesterday! Kind of strange in hindsight that they didn't save it for the Presents, so I wonder if it'll get a bit of lip service next week?

Again: "small chance." Realistically, I do agree and think that it's Unova next, but it wouldn't be the first time they've done things in a weird order, regardless of teases. This is obviously the most direct and extreme example with the Scarlet & Violet DLC being set there (well, with one location crossing over and then just a bunch of winks and nods, from what I understand), but I wouldn't ever be 100% confident going into a potential reveal about what we're going to get from them. Since the move to the Switch they've definitely been open to stranger things than this, what with the Let's Go games and Legends: Arceus existing, how they handle remakes really seems to be up in the air and the order doesn't seem to be something they care about too much. I was also a big fan of Legends, definitely felt like an experimental injection of fresh ideas, even if some were half-baked, there are definitely lessons to be taken. Given the period a Legends game in Unova would likely take place (either before or during the civil war) there are definitely plenty of opportunities to play on some of the concepts we saw in the first Legends game, too. I quite liked the zones, to be honest. They felt pretty focused thematically, had great, clear ties to the modern day version of region they were set in, and felt just big enough to explore and hunt for Pokémon while not being so big that it felt largely aimless. I still haven't played my copy (my brother has been borrowing it for a long time), but so long as the Pokéathlon returns in some form, I'd gladly check out Let's Go games in Johto (or a breezy ILCA remake of HeartGold/SoulSilver just with more budget and more time). Just please don't make it a weaker version of the Johto games we already have, that's all I ask! Give me Pokéathlon or give me death!

Man, I'm not too sure, unless it's something like the Delta Episode and the sequel content is split up and/or heavily edited down with some huge changes to the story, considering you'd be the same playable character, you'd need to skip the time skip (or enter some portal or something to skip into the future?), bringing over select side activities like PWT and Pokéstar Studios, and so on. I can't see many being happy about it if it's handled that way, because it would fly in the face of BW2 being sequels in the first place. But I do think I agree with you that, unfortunately, DLC does seem the smarter route to go. Not sure how it would be priced if it were more like the full BW2 experience (because if it were then it'd just be its own game and at full price), so yeah, maybe heavily edited down sequel content as DLC. Man, that'd suck. Looks over at Tears of the Kingdom

Been listening to The Warning, a Mexican sister trio, a good bit over the last month or so: Love their choruses. Also love their occasional song in Spanish: (their bassist, the youngest sister Alejandra, was just 14 here...which is kind of insane) Also had Spectre by Radiohead on repeat a whole lot. The best Bond theme that never was Besides that, been revisiting some Bastille. Pretty sure they're a big part of why I like the music I do now, kind of crazy to think All This Bad Blood released over a decade ago, listened to them a lot in my latter high school years, which... doesn't make me feel old or anything Lastly, @drahkon I'm sure you'll be happy to hear that Oh No :: He Said What is my most played song since it released

Didn't realise you were such a big fan of the first qomp that you'd be picking qomp2 up on Day 1

Give me a GBA main series game or give me death! But seriously, give me a way to play the GBA main series games already. This is quickly turning into a Final Fantasy remaster situation, don't do this to me TPCi I've said it before, but I'm really interested in seeing how they handle revisiting Gen V after their odd-at-best handling of revisiting Gen IV. Do you: • remake only BW? Is that a Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl low effort remake situation, or do they go back to bringing remakes up to the "standard" of the current games? • revisit BW2 as well at some point? Gen V is unique in that it's the only generation with a truly direct story sequel (and in the same gen, to boot). If you do revisit it too - well, how does BW2 factor into the remake plans? Do we see a weird split of resources and a third party coming in for the BW remake and GF (or someone else) handling a BW2 remake? Do we get BW this year and BW2 in a few more? • forget remaking BW and BW2 and instead make a BW3 or an alternative third Unova-based game? I feel like this would be an interesting route to take in order to get around revisiting both BW and BW2. • make a Pokémon Legends game? Kyurem, Reshiram and Zekrom certainly have the backstory for it, as does the Unova region as a whole. Whatever they do, I'm honestly not really sure how remakes get handled beyond Gen V, because while I'd argue that some later Gens probably need to be revisited with remakes/whatever more than Gen V does (Gen VI has its positives, but is also a severely undercooked experience), we arrive at a point of limited returns where perhaps resources would be best directed elsewhere, because we're then in the position of remaking the already 3D* (*kind of) games territory. I could see a return to Johto being on the cards at some point - even if it's "just" a Let's Go title - simply because we haven't gone back to Johto since 2009 (JP)/2010 (rest of the world), and we're arguably due a return to Johto more than we are Unova - based purely on the number of years it's been since we last took a trip there (BW was 2010 in JP and 2011 in the rest of the world). Honestly, thinking about it a little more, if they do plan to do more than "just" a BW remake - so a BW2 remake or something like a Legends game in addition to a BW remake - I wouldn't be totally shocked if we see a return to Johto first, simply as a way for them to bide time on whatever Unova plans they have cooking up. Some might say this is jumping the gun and skipping over Unova before going to Johto, but not only are we most overdue to revisit Johto as I said before, the Let's Go titles set a precedent for this when we returned to Kanto before Sinnoh (which was next in line for a remake at the time), and the gap between FireRed/LeafGreen (2004) and Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee (2018) is 14 years, actually a shorter time between the nearly 15 years it's been since HeartGold/SoulSilver first released in Japan (2009) and now. I think it would need more time in the oven than Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl got, but I think I'd prefer an ILCA Johto remake to a Let's Go title, janky as their first attempt was I get what they were going for, as I don't think they were given an appropriate timescale or budget. So yeah, while guessing what Game Freak/TPCi are going to do next based on patterns is a fruitless endeavour, I think there's definitely small a chance that we see Johto games next. You can then time Gen X as being cross-gen at the end of next year, and do the same for whatever Unova plans they have, too, before Gen XI is then Switch 2 exclusive in 2027. Maybe. I struggle to see GF pushing a Pokémon game hard enough that it wouldn't also feasibly run on the base Switch if it were in someone else's hands, not to mention the potential audience you'd be leaving behind! As ever, I respect the hustle honestly I'd gladly take ports of the existing Ranger trilogy or even a remake of the first game. I love the Ranger games, definitely won't be without a bit of tweaking to get the series on Switch, though.

And there we have it! A Partner Showcase coming in at 25 minutes long and focusing on the first half of the year. Notably: this is not a Direct Mini, making it the first Partner Showcase to date to get the "full" (as in, well, not "Mini") Direct treatment. Also: on-demand and not livestreamed.

Obligatory couple of minutes on leakers

Didn't you read the headline? It's going to be a GAAAS, nothing to worry about

Gameplay overview trailer:

Nacon have announced that their Connect event is returning 29th Feb: Elsewhere, Indie Live Expo is set to return 25th May:

Popped this back in for the first time since launch in order to get around to checking out INTERmission ahead of Rebirth's launch...at the end of next week?! Don't know how much I'll talk about the DLC in this thread, but I'm here to mainly heap praise on Fort Condor. I love it. Spent over 2 of the 3 hours I played tonight just having a blast with it I know we'll see them in Rebirth to some extent too, but high-res models of the PS1 versions of enemies was a stroke of genius. Incredibly charming and fun to see. Have a feeling Gold Saucer is going to cause me a lot of problems in Rebirth, seeing how much I loved the mini-games in Remake and now Fort Condor in INTERmission

This is unprovoked Mudkip slander and I won't stand for it. As a water Pokémon fan you should be ashamed of your words and deeds!

It's the Cyndaquil line for me, simply because Typhlosion is my favourite of the bunch. Thank Pokémon Chronicles and The Legend of Thunder special for that Probably watched those Chronicles Volumes 1-3 episodes dozens of times. Love 'em. Also: Jimmy is infinitely cooler than Ash. I've mentioned the cards before, and while I vastly prefer Lugia to Ho-Oh (don't @ me), I actually picked up the Golden Sky theme deck from Unseen Forces specifically because it included Typhlosion in its card list. I think that might have been one of my earliest Pokémon card purchases? Gen II is a weird one for me in that the anime was my only direct attachment to it for the longest time. I played the first hour or two of Gold at a friend's house on their sister's GBC and got the first badge, after that it was buying some knock-off 100-in-1 GBA cart over in the Philippines which said it included Silver...which it didn't; also: a similar knock-off LeafGreen cart - it was grey, completely fake, lost all progress after attempting to transfer to the Pal Park in Diamond several times, I've yet to go through Kanto all the way by *official* means, because that first playthrough and losing it meant something as a little kid. I still remember learning about SoulSilver for the first time over on Serebii, the short PWC 2009 release date news, it was the second Pokémon game I followed that closely to release (I guess we'll get to that later on). By the time SoulSilver released over here at the tail end of March 2010 I was a few months away from leaving primary school, and we were actually on a family trip to York at the time, and weren't allowed to bring our DSs in order to focus on the trip (I was devastated too). We picked the games up on the last day of the trip, I quickly shuffled away into my room after we got back, and stayed up for a few hours under my duvet jumping into Johto properly for the first time and yes, as @Glen-i rightly points out...Typhlosion did feel useless a lot of the time during my time with SoulSilver. But I loved it all the same (and he might up for it with some awesome Pokéathlon performances) The Chikorita line does nothing for me, I think those designs are some of the weakest for a starter line in all of Pokémon (sorry @RedShell), though they've certainly had some awesome Pokémon card designs over the years. I think Bayleef might be my favourite from that line? The Totodile line, on the other hand, I do have a lot of love for, and if not for Legend of Thunder and Jimmy, it would probably be my favourite line. The line was one of the favourites of one of my best friends/Pokémon rivals (c'mon, we all had 'em) back in primary school; Totodile was the Pokémon I ended up as my first time through Blue Rescue Team (Charmander was my partner, and so getting to the point where I had a Feraligatr and Charizard walking around was AWESOME); I remember Feraligatr giving me memorable times drawing loops around it in Pokémon Ranger and in Guardian Signs (a boss in the latter if I'm remembering right? So it had some cool art!); and obviously, Silver having a Totodile during my playthrough of SoulSilver and how their story plays out, as well as Ash's Totodile, just gave it a lot of impact/comedy to me that I don't think we got to see out of some of the others. Croconaw looks pretty dumb, though. Yessssssssss Master Quest had a banger opening too! Damn it H-o-T, I wasn't planning to listen through all of the theme songs today...but here I am

50% and Requisition multiplier this weekend: Also got the Digital Foundry review: Played this for a couple of hours last Friday, it was good fun. Think it'll be a game I slowly chip away at in the background for a while

It was six months from reveal to launch last time around, we got that initial Switch reveal trailer in October the release date wasn't announced until January in the Switch Presentation though, if that's what you mean?

VGC also jumping on the Q4 2024 to Q1 2025 bandwagon, saying that Nintendo have informed third-party publishers of the same. What an interesting couple of days of news!