Ronnie

Mario Maker end of next week? I've got so many eShop games I need to play I don't know where to begin. Bomb Chicken, Hyper Light Drifter, Moonlighter, Chasm, GRIS, Guacamelee 2, Katana Zero...

Highly recommended read, based on an exclusive two day visit to Respawn: https://www.gameinformer.com/feature/2019/06/08/the-true-power-of-the-force A few highlights I picked out - Somewhat Metroidvania in structure. Freely explore worlds, and come back later with new powers to reach new areas - 50:50 brand new to well known planets. - Each world has a hub where the ship lands. Player can "return to rest up, save, apply skill points, and spark conversations with characters to learn more about them, the worlds, and overall story." - No waypoint/dotted line to destination system. BD-1 projects a real-time holographic map. "We’ll mark an objective on their map that is well off in the distance in the fog of war, and the player has to figure out how to discover and explore toward that.” - Ship, droid, character customisable - Flight to new planets is done in real-time, no loading screens, "giving the player time to engage with the different activities on the ship" - BD-1 sounds designed by Ben Burtt. Ship designs by Doug Chiang. Seems that 15 demo during EA Play did a terrible job of selling/explaining the game and focused more on the combat side of things.

I listen/watch Kinda Funny Games (daily hour long news/feature shows and very knowledgeable insight into the industry), and IGN's Game Scoop (mix of retro games + modern day stuff) and Nintendo Voice Chat. Would recommend all three.

You can't please every fan all the time. If growing the game means leaving behind some Pokemon that the vast, vast majority don't care about then so be it, that's how things go. Those Pokemon aren't wiped out of existance, they still exist in all the previous games. Am I sad they never kept Tatl from Majora's Mask or Linebeck from Phatom Hourglass in every subsequent Zelda game? Of course not, that would be stupid. Instead, those subsequent games give me brand new experiences each every time, not the exact same game repackaged time after time like Pokemon does, with the same simplistic button-puzzle gyms, the same buff/debuff animations and souds, the same statuesque copy and pasted NPCs patrolling routes ready to stop you if you walk past. As the above data proves almost every Pokemon is someone's favourite but needs of the many, needs of the few etc. Good post from Reddit though, it's definitely a tough situation to be in.

Yep, that's definitely a mobile game Looks fun and full of charm, but with all the mobile gaming rubbish on top of it.

NPD insight

Good point hadn’t thought of that.

I'm sure they objected to it back then as well, but didn't see a way around it. No doubt you'll be able to time travel this time as well.

Well they gave me a year free, so yeah. Very cheap, classic games, things like Tetris 99, special discounts, I'm happy. That's because most games have them.

For the cheap price, I think it's perfectly acceptable. I would have probably paid £18 a year just to have a library of NES/SNES games tbh. Better than paying £5 per game like on Virtual console. Never said you can't comment but I just think it's worth waiting to see how it pans out. I'd be very, very surprised if they don't change their minds.

That is so silly. Literally what are we paying for with this online service?! They're giving me a year free with those voucher things, it's an offer only to Online members. Plus things like Tetris 99, virtual console, clouds saves in most games, and you know, online play. This is stupid though, and one of those things that they'll course correct on closer to release, so no sense to start the uproar on here until March 20 gets here and we still can't cloud save, then by all means...

Didn’t even bother watching the video. Managed to get to third place. Could have made second another time but died at Bowser Clever idea. Works surprisingly well

Fun idea lol

Rolled credits on this just now, absolutely fantastic. Highly recommended. I almost never rush through a game like this in a weekend but I couldn't put it down! Those just starting out, I'd recommend not switching to fixed beat mode. You'll die a dozen or two times at the start but you'll soon get the hang of it, then the game really clicks. I'm glad to have experienced the game first time as it was meant to be. The only things I'm missing from a 100% run is 2 heart pieces and a space in the middle of two bottles? LOVED the overworld, so many secrets to find, enemy variety was great too. People mention the difficulty spike towards the end but I can't say I really noticed. I think because I'd cleared the map and gotten loads of hearts it wasn't too bad. Only needed one fairy in the final boss. The weapon on Hyrule castle is a godsend too, that really helped. For me, this is on par with top tier indies like Shovel Knight, Hollow Knight, Celeste etc. Games can be pretty samey these days, so I appreciate this putting a fresh spin on a classic formula.

Glad to see Nintendo to set their record straight re: crunch

When this game clicks, it really CLICKS. So incredibly satisfying taking out enemies to the rhythm of the music, wow. The overworld theme is so, so good.

The diaroma looks exactly like the in-game graphics! Or should it be the other way around

This game is amazing, I can't put it down for more than a few minutes. Beautiful visuals, incredible music, polished, perfect gameplay. I've managed to not put it on fixed beat, and playing it as intended, it's tough but doable. Just beat the first dungeon. Took a dozen+ deaths before the game started to really click. Very very impressed. Reviewers seem very positive too Polygon review Destructoid Review 9.5/10

What's interesting is Link clearly has the Master Sword in that teaser, so I wonder if they'll have him lose it or just ditch the weapon mechanic altogether (which I think would be a shame)

BOTW was perfectly fine, Korok Forest apart. The vast majority of people don't see any issue, certainly not enough to call it unacceptable.

I mean, I question the need to put a screenshot of the final boss in the first place, but never mind

The same button puzzle gym mechanics. I mean come on. Great post @Julius

That's a real shame, was hoping it'd be like other similar roguelikes and be more of a ten hour or so playtime. That said, switching to fixed beat mode probably shaved a couple of hours off your playtime, but still! Edit: Wow. Editing a post reveals spoiler tags, so I now know the final boss. Great.