Grazza

I know this thread is about Wii U, but my real prediction is that Nintendo's E3 won't be about the Wii U. It will be about Quality of Life, and the backlash this year will be about that. From our point of view, we think Nintendo has to go all out with the Wii U, but the reality is they might think "Show a Metroid, show a Zelda" etc (if we're lucky) and spend the vast majority of any broadcast on Quality of Life. I watched an episode of Click last night that focused on wearable technology. Whilst I know Nintendo's tech is going to be non-wearable, if it's the same sort of principle (measuring alertness etc) then I think there will be a massive backlash.

I suppose this follows on from the racism topic, but I saw something on TV tonight that really angered me - BBC3's Free Speech programme. To be fair to the programme, it did allow a controversial topic. It was actually the panellists that annoyed me. One of the later questions (from a viewer) was along the lines of "Should male circumcision be banned like female genital mutilation?" An excellent question, in my opinion. What made me angry was that some of the panellists (and I'm sorry I can't quote them directly) started attacking the question, saying it shouldn't have been worded like that - basically that it was racist/sexist to equate FGM with male circumcision. The presenter said he wouldn't have said it if it was racist as it would have been "hate speech". Now isn't this the problem? You can never be 100% sure whether something is racist or otherwise, so by banning words and "hate speech" you are actually shutting down debate. Anyone in their right mind will probably say "What's the benefit of racism?", to which the answer is, of course "Absolutely none". But there is certainly a benefit in being able to say things that others might denounce as racism. It is crucial we don't ban words or ideas. Most of the panel seemed terrified of offending Jews and Muslims and said banning male circumcision would infringe upon religious freedom. The only half decent one was the prison guard (sorry, I forget her name) who explained she had met people who thought both should be banned (although she stopped short of strongly denouncing it herself). The best person by far was one very articulate man in the audience. It shouldn't matter if we, as a society, offend religious groups. The whole point in having principles is that you decide what is right and apply it regardless. Some may try to shut down the conversation and say it is anti-Semitic, but of course it is not, as it is actually (racially) Jewish children we're trying to protect. If they want it done when they are 18, fine, but I think it is outrageous that we allow adults to remove the foreskin of a child. Being anti-circumcision is not persecuting religions - it is deciding what's right regardless of whether it affects a religion.

Ah, thank you, that's the bit that was confusing me. I was thinking of putting it into Ages. I believe you start a Hero's game with four hearts instead of three. It's quite easy to get full hearts just with a linked game, but of course, that wouldn't be until Ages. I did write my Hero's Secret down, so I'm tempted to do it when I haven't got anything else to play. Some of the transferable rings would certainly help a great deal.

Groan... I half suspected this. If I start a Hero's game of Ages, does that mean I can still link back to Seasons and get my Level 3 equipment to use in my Hero's game? (I've already got them in Ages, but I mean if I started again.) I was under the impression a Hero's game was more like starting again than a linked game? I have done the Hero's Cave in Seasons, including that incredibly difficult boomerang throw in the penultimate room! Bah... Will these games ever leave me be?

I look at it like this (and it's a bit of an essay, I'm afraid): When I was a kid, the NES was an extremely revered console, but this was not because it was aimed at kids. It was because it was pretty much the best games console on the market and the games had a reputation of being better and more involving than the competition's. If you think back to things like Super Mario Bros 2 or 3, they were seen as the best game cartridges money could buy. When I was a young teenager, the most revered machine was the SNES. As a Mega Drive owner, I lost count of the times Nintendo fans boasted about how much better the Super Famicom was going to be - mostly the infamous quote "it can display more colours!" Fair play to the SNES though. With games like Super Mario World and A Link to the Past, we all knew it offered the best experiences around. As a mid-teen, we were tremendously excited about the forthcoming Ultra 64. Remember those far-fetched mock-ups of the locomotive and what Donkey Kong might look like? Even so, the N64 was genuinely revolutionary. It had the power to back up Nintendo's amazing software. With Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time, we knew this was the best of the best - and in fact, those two are still revered to this day by a very wide audience. Analogue sticks, Z-targeting... Gaming was going 3D, and Nintendo was the company who knew how to do it. But something happened that restricted the N64's popularity - the Sony PlayStation. This is where trends started to infiltrate the games industry. It was trendy to have one under your TV, regardless of whether you'd played the SNES/Mega Drive. Whilst I won't claim the SNES and Mega Drive didn't attract a casual buy here and there, I'd argue the PlayStation was the first time a trend had a negative effect on the existing market. We kidded ourselves that gaming was getting bigger and bigger, but really it was just companies learning to target demographics better. Whilst I agree with the premise of this thread, I think the truth is that kids just follow trends like anyone else. This led Nintendo to feel they weren't getting enough of the market, but perhaps they still had the gamers' attention after all. I'd argue that throughout the days of the GameCube, although it was never trendy, they still had the attention of more gamers than they do now. With the Wii, though, they truly stepped out of the race, and gambled on making successful one-off products. Extremely successful one-off products at times, but still one-offs. Although the Wii had great games like Super Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime 3, fewer gamers were willing to give the company their attention. It just wasn't the same as the Mario 64/Ocarina of Time days, when the hardware backed up the software. Now we seem to be in a situation where less and less people are interested in Nintendo and, in all honesty, I think it's very easy to see why. The only way to be relevant is to either be trendy or to be in the race. Nintendo was popular when it was actually great, not just because it was good at marketing. The best games on the best (or comparable) hardware. Whilst the most dedicated will still make sure they experience Nintendo's output, they are not going to send thrills through the wider population's veins until they get back in the race.

To me, GameCube = best console ever. It's definitely not nostalgia either. When the generation began, with the Dreamcast and PS2, they meant very little to me - I even thought I was growing out of gaming. Don't get me wrong, the DC was technically awesome, but I just wasn't gripped by anything on it. Then the Xbox and GameCube came along and they caught my interest a bit more - maybe it was psychological because I knew they had slightly more power/better graphics. I got a catalogue from a comic books shop (Forbidden Planet, I think) and was impressed with all the games listed for GC. Not only did the GameCube have updated versions of Nintendo's own games, it looked like it could be a multi-format machine as well. That's what 3rd-party support is all about, in my opinion - being able to play the multi-format games of that generation. Forget about exclusives - you might get a few, but if a machine can't play the multi-format games of its day, you're not really in it. 3rd-party games were a big part of why I enjoyed the GameCube, and I can honestly say the only multi-format game I wanted another machine for was OutRun 2006. But of course, as important as that is, the stars of the show are always Nintendo's own franchises. The thing that really made me a buy a GC was the glorious Wind Waker. I quickly picked up Super Mario Sunshine and F-Zero GX as well - both updated perfectly for the times - and of course Nintendo's new series, Pikmin (I liked Pikmin 2 a lot more, personally). The only game I will admit to liking only in hindsight is Metroid Prime, because I just couldn't play it at the time, but now recognise it as very good. GameCube was a console I could be proud of as much as I enjoyed it. The games... That beautiful controller with every button and stick you could need... It wasn't as niche as it's sometimes made out to be either. I had lots of discussions about it non-gaming websites, and many of us defended the GameCube strongly. Don't forget the sales figures weren't far off the Xbox. And of course, you can't get a complete picture of the GameCube without mentioning Twilight Princess. That stunning trailer... We just knew, didn't we, that it'd be the best game ever. Whilst it didn't really turn out like that, I long for the days when something like that seemed possible. So, the GameCube - not nostalgia, not hindsight, just a brilliant console. My heart sank when I saw the direction in which Nintendo was heading afterwards. It could be argued they gained an audience, but lost a following.

This is a really good point. Before the recent Direct, it seemed as though Smash Bros might arrive earlier, but that turned out to be only the 3DS version. The reality is that it's still going to be one of their big Q4 games, along with (as you say) X, Bayonetta and maybe even Yarn Yoshi.

And... completed! Finished Oracle of Seasons (linked game), which means I have finally completed every Zelda. I believe there are 15? Every proper console and handheld Zelda, anyway, plus Four Sword Adventures. @Jonnas was right - I did much prefer Seasons to Ages. It's a much more straightforward game. If Ages is about dual-world thinking and abstract puzzles, Seasons is characterised by tough bosses. In all honesty, I think they would have been too tough for me on the original cartridge, but thankfully we now have Restore Points! Oracle of Ages frustrated me with its dual worlds, and how much planning it took to reach certain areas of the overworld (although many Zelda games use this mechanic, I don't think any do to the same extent). Oracle of Seasons may sound even more difficult (after all, there are four seasons, as opposed to two worlds), but it's not. Changing the seasons never really gets more complicated than standing on a tree trunk and turning it to Summer, for instance, to make some vines grow; or to Winter, in order to create a snowy bridge. Towards the end of the game I started linking back to Oracle of Ages, in order to get the Level 3 sword, shield etc (you can probably guess which ones they are!), which I found very helpful when fighting the later bosses. They are definitely meant to be played as a linked game - there is actually a square in Ages I spent a long time trying to access, only to find out it was impossible unless I had played Seasons first (and carried the password over). Truthfully, I'm glad to be done with these two games. If there's one word I'd use to describe both of them (and together as a whole experience) it's "arduous". For me the whole idea is too complicated and, and I hate to say this, but also too ambitious. I'm grateful to have been able to play Oracle of Ages/Seasons on the Virtual Console, but personally they go into my lower tier of favoured Zelda titles. Don't get me wrong, the quality is absolutely there, I just find them a bit too "much" for my liking. When I bought the Oracle of Seasons cartridge in 2001 and hardly got anywhere into it at all, I thought I was growing out of games - getting too old to bother with their intricacies - but I suppose the truth is that, as far as Zelda goes, these two are simply for the most hardcore of the hardcore.

My Wii U predictions: 1. If Zelda is shown (and I have a feeling it won't be, despite all the evidence), it will be controversial. It won't look outright bad, but an optional multiplayer mode could influence the whole game, similar to Super Mario 3D World. Rather than the expected "in there with Link" camera angle, there could be a somewhat overhead view, like a 2.5D game. Hope I'm wrong with this. 2. Metroid Prime 4 (or possibly Metroid V). Samus Aran has been very prominent recently - in the Smash Bros Direct, the Tomodachi Life Direct and as a pin on Reggie's blazer. If it's Metroid Prime 4 (or the beginning of a new trilogy), it would be by Retro Studios, in which case they would need to have been working on it a long time before they finished Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze. It's also possible that Metroid Dread/Metroid V, whilst initially expected to be a DS title, was delayed and transformed into an HD console game with hand-drawn graphics (similar to Ware Ware: the Shake Dimension). However, I'm leaning towards this being a fully 3D game by Retro. 3. Wii U Re-launch. The Wii U re-launched - cheaper, and with a traditional controller. Although Nintendo has said it will unveil software that shows the worth of the GamePad, I have a hunch that most games from now on will work without it. 4. F-Zero. I don't think the evidence for this is as strong as Metroid or Zelda - however, it's true that it's quite an unusual choice for one of the first three GBA Virtual Console games (unusual because, in my opinion, it's one of the less accessible entries) and so might be a hint. 5. More wishful thinking than a prediction, but... Kid Icarus as a fully 3D game. This franchise has been quite prominent recently (at least in the Smash Bros Direct) and overall I feel Nintendo has updated the whole world and characters in a way that is too good not to use.

The "Rest" option is there, but I assume it doesn't become available until you're Level 30. Yeah, things like "I think it's weak to fire."

Well, that was an awesome demo - probably the best one I've ever played. It felt so much like I was beginning the real game, I almost forgot it was a demo at all. Didn't realise how different this remake was. The 2nd Floor, for example, is almost nothing like it was in the original. Grimoire Stones are another new addition, which seem to offer and aspect of sub-classing. Also, on closer inspection, the skill trees are much better. You're much less likely to waste your skill points. Let's say you put points into Shields, for example - you will learn Level 1 Smite just by doing that. Seems like a fantastic update and I can't wait to play the full game.

To be fair, he should have used a picture of Emily Ratajkowski. And yes, that is my contribution to this serious topic!

Just feeling my way. The first two games didn't have difficulty settings (they were just hard/very hard) and EO IV had Easy and Normal, whereas this has Picnic, Normal and Expert. It's quite confusing as to how they relate to each other. Might try Classic and Expert when I've completed Story Mode.

I know this is radical, but I think Nintendo should split the Zelda series into two - one using the Wind Waker style (my favourite) and the other using the Twilight Princess HD style, as used in the E3 2011 demo. I'd say they're the two best they've come up with. The Wind Waker series would be the "real" Zelda, still made by EAD3 and Eiji Aonuma. The Twilight Princess series could be called "Adventures of Link" or something like that, and would be made by an American studio (not wanting to generalise, but much of the aversion to WW comes from western gamers, right?) It could feature lots of combat, horse-riding and wide open spaces. I say this because the two camps seem so polarised (even though many of us look past the style) and I just think it would be better to establish two teams so that both sets of fans get what they want and know what they're going to be getting out of a Nintendo console. Neutral Zelda fans would also get more Zeldas! This is the one thing I wonder about. But I do think it would be possible to do Adult Link in the Wind Waker style. Just make him cartoony, but anatomically-accurate (no pipe cleaner arms!) I always think a good example of an adult character done well in a cartoony style is Dirk the Daring from Dragon's Lair.

There are two for me that I find hard to choose between. The first is the SNES/Mega Drive era. This was partly because of my age, and partly because it was the time consoles really went mainstream, but it was just so darn exciting. It began for me, really, with my school friend (it must have been around 1990, so we had just started secondary school) showing me his copy of Mean Machines and what games and consoles were on the way. I knew about the Mega Drive from playing Altered Beast in Comet, and thought it was the best piece of consumer electronics ever, but he also showed me the Super Famicom (the issue had Super Ghouls & Ghosts in it) and even admitted it would be better. Nonetheless, that Christmas we both got our Mega Drives and never looked back. I remember when I went in a newsagent's and got a copy of Sega Pro. I would read those magazines from cover to cover, absolutely fascinated by every single game. When I saw the Mega CD I thought that would be the pinnacle of technology. The Mega Drive was a very social console for me, and much of my enjoyment stemmed from playing 2-player scrolling beat-'em-ups with my friends, particularly Golden Axe (and Golden Axe II), Streets of Rage and Two Crude Dudes. The 1990s went on and, not meaning to sound spoilt, but I got a SNES as well. Although I did enjoy it, I never saw the magic in it as much as some. My neighbour, for instance, thought it made the Mega Drive seem like complete junk, but personally, my heart always belonged to Sega's machine. GamesMaster was on the telly, Sonic the Comic was in the supermarkets. It was a great, great era. My other favourite era (and the one I'd have to vote for if forced) is that of the PS2/GameCube. This is the generation where I felt I played the best single-player games. I had actually been on a hiatus from gaming, owning the Dreamcast but never getting into it. I suppose I thought I was getting too old, in all honesty, but then one day I saw Wind Waker running in GAME and knew I had to purchase it. From that moment I never looked back. The memories of my favourite N64 games - Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask - came flooding back. It was as though Nintendo had used new technology to build upon and improve upon their franchises in every way. Super Mario Sunshine was, for me, just as good as Mario 64. With the GameCube, I had a machine I could be proud of and really feel its games were better than the competition's. On a side note, I still think Wind Waker is the perfect model of the right way to make games fresh but familiar. It wasn't all about Nintendo though. After hating Sony for a while (childish, but I did), I bought a PS2 and that was great too. The main game I loved on it was Dragon Quest VIII, which I believe still hasn't been bettered. Not meaning to end on a negative note, but the PS2/GameCube era was the last time I felt gaming was still traditional, but used the best technology to be as up-to-date as possible. I've enjoyed games since, but none have been quite the same as the ones I played on the GC/PS2.

Been playing the demo - absolutely brilliant! I'm playing Story Mode on Normal difficulty, because I've completed the original and I just want to play the remake as normally as possible. I quite like the fact you get a set party with the five classes - including the two new ones - all chosen for you. I wonder if it's possible to defeat the post-game bosses with this team? I also wonder if you get to play about with the other classes once you've beaten the main game? You needed a Troubadour/Bard, for example, to defeat one of the dragons in the first game, and the team I beat the super-boss with included a Landsknecht and a Survivalist. Skill points were thin on the ground in the original, so I was surprised to see the skill trees seem to be the same plus some new skills. Has the level cap been increased from 70 to 99? I wonder if it's still inadvisable to take the Protector's Anti-Fire/-Ice/-Volt skills past level 5? Anyway, loving the game and the two new classes.

Hopefully it's the actual eShop version, which uses sprites and is basically a widescreen version of the DSiWare. Cave Story 3D was good, but the small, polygon graphics caused a bit of a problem.

Not to be flippant, but that almost sounds like modern day Nintendo! The American-style GameCube days with sites like IGN championing F-Zero GX, Metroid Prime and Twilight Princess, compared to how things went a bit Yoshi, Skyward Sword and New Super Mario Bros. So true - that's the best thing about it. It's hard to understand, isn't it, how people wanted a powerful machine from Sony, and not PS3-tech with some "innovation" bolted onto it.

Arguably the disruptive strategy never took off with the 3DS though. It only started selling when there were enough games people wanted and the price was low enough to disregard the expensive component. This is the problem with the disruptive strategy - if it isn't successful, the games machine is left with a high cost price that makes it seem far too expensive for what it is.

I don't think IV would be too complex for a newcomer, but Millennium Girl is out very soon, so you might as well wait for that (I've yet to finish III, but am waiting until I've completed Millennium Girl first). It's true, though, the original is simpler. Two things that made the series more complex for me were sub-classes and external maps (both introduced in III), although I got used to them both.

Nintendolife gave it an 8/10: http://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/3ds/conception_ii_children_of_the_seven_stars Sounds very good, especially the battle system. Think I'll just get it on the 3DS, but will probably need to delete something - maybe Code of Princess or Animal Crossing.

Apart from better graphics and controls, it has more bosses and mini-bosses. I actually think the mini-bosses make all the difference.

This game is actually the one that taught me to like Metroid. The first game I played in the series was Metroid Prime, which I enjoyed for a while, but eventually found overwhelming. Maybe I was just too used to series like The Legend of Zelda - having shops and villages etc - but (for me) Metroid Prime got to the point where every single moment of progression was laborious. Then I thought "Maybe I'll try the 2D ones" and bought a copy of Zero Mission. From beginning to end, it just felt right - the controls, the gameplay, everything. What's more, it taught me the Metroid gameplay so well that I went back to the Prime series and had no trouble with them (even Echoes... Spider Guardian aside). But Zero Mission is such a beautiful game - right up there with Fusion as my joint favourite (my actual favourite between them changes day-to-day). I think what Zero Mission has going for it are the colours and the tone, amongst other things. I've completed the NES original on 3DS, but I really do think Zero Mission renders it obsolete. As you progress through the game and you're stacking better and better beams, and getting more powerful missiles, it just gives the feeling that it's 2D gaming perfection. Playing Zero Mission makes me think "How can a game this good not be more celebrated? Why don't Nintendo make more?" It's been 10 years now, and my heart sinks a little bit every time they unveil a platformer that's not Metroid V. Although like some others, I don't think a textured polygon "2.5D" approach would quite cut it. Side-scrolling Metroid is almost as much about the beautiful sprite work as it is about the gameplay - Zero Mission is the pinnacle of both, and so my hope remains that one day it'll be bettered.

Whoa, that's very kind of you. Got 'em yesterday, thanks. 100% Quests completed - can't believe I started playing it in 2010! I really wonder if there will again be anything that grips me like Dragon Quest IX. It's only my 2nd-favourite DQ, but there was something special about the way the community on here went through it together.

This is unbelievable. If you look at the girl's features, her eyes and lips are drawn to a completely different level of detail to what was originally displayed. Assuming assets like this are on every DS cartridge, Spirit Tracks and Phantom Hourglass could look much more like Wind Waker than they did at the time. If Nintendo builds its DS emulator as well as this, I would want a much bigger collection that I thought.