S.C.G

Welcome to the club. Also, I wouldn't be too quick to dismiss the dock, definitely get that screen protector asap, I've had one on my Switch since launch and it's probably what saved the machine from scratches from the dock, once you've got that protector on though, you really don't need to worry so much, also sometimes the dock won't behave like it should and you need to wiggle a few cables to get it working again but once it's all set up properly is will tend to work reliably for a long time. Yeah, OK... maybe you are right to dismiss the dock especially as you'll be playing in portable mode by your own admission, however... there is one area where I've found the dock to be a must and that is when playing games such as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate online, also to do that if you want to take advantage of a wired connection you need to buy an official Nintendo Switch Ethernet dongle, and I'd also advise on getting a mini USB hub if you want extra connections but I say this from experience that once you're playing Smash online, on the big screen with your controller of choice (another adapter is required if you want to use a GC controller of course) then there really isn't anything much better than that... ...except for Slay the Spire* of course. *totally unfounded claim, I haven't played the game myself but you keep telling me it's good (I'll get it at some point) and we know this is what you'll mostly be playing on the Switch anyway. Whatever you end up playing though and regardless of how you choose to play, enjoy!

S.C.G used "Zoom"... It's Super-Effective! Download Code, sell away!

Looking at the packaging, it says "Full Game Download" on the box so I'm guessing it's a download code, so assuming that's the case you could sell it... ...also, you monster! Seriously though... if you do end up with Mario Kart 8 DX on your Switch you'd be more than welcome to race against us in the N-E Mario Kart League. Out of interest, are you not interested in it because you had it on the Wii U or played it before perhaps? Because if so, I thought that at first but the difference is night and day.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate to host first anniversary spirit event I can't believe it has been a whole year already... While I started writing about the spirit event, it turned into an article reflecting on the year and all the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate related content on the site. In additon to giving thanks to the development team, third parties and a certain someone from Nintendo who's sadly no longer with us. And I'd like to say thanks to everyone in the N-Europe community, on the main forum and to my fellow staff members as well, it has certainly been quite the year... ...both for SSBU and just in general but one thing which has kept me going is our community game nights on Smash as I really do look forward to them. To anyone who I've played in Smash, Thanks for Playing! And here's to hopefully many more years of Super Smash Bros. based shenanigans.

Super Mario Maker 2 version 2.0.0 update information roundup All the relevant info from the past few days on Super Mario Maker 2 plus the original video in one handy article. (aka... a late cut 'n paste effort but it's something for the main page) Has anyone actually tried out any of the new course elements?

I happened to notice that last thing, last night/this morning, so it has already been added to Dennis' excellent promotional article on the front page. Good job on the editing on both versions, I liked the song choices Nick, obviously I'll say no more than that as I'm disallowed from guessing this week. The graphics for the YouTube version look great as well Greg, I've always quite liked the art style used in 1080° Avalanche.

That was a really great session. Thanks to @BowserBasher @RedShell @Glen-i and @Ugh first aid for some fantastic fights. You really couldn't have made up some of those character matches and I'm glad that I got to play as Samus and Dark Samus of course as I still like to fight as a character I'm familiar with every now and then. Some of those battles were really close though and dare I say it... maybe some of that Smash practice is starting to pay off. Either way, it was fun which is the main thing.

I thought it was about time I updated my Mii, I hadn't really changed it much since the Wii days really. Also... I can't have been the only one who tried to take the shortcut on Yoshi Circuit... ...Smart Steering says... "what are you doing? you can't leave the track! cease this madness!"

I reckon Dangerous Driving is a good purchase if he has played and liked the Burnout games in the past. If not then... Dragon Quest XI must be cheap on the PS4 by now.

in

I just finished listening to Episode 5 and I think it went pretty well. Thanks for having me on N-E Café @londragon @Nicktendo @nekunando it was a pleasure talking about games with you all and I enjoyed the musical quiz... ...even if there were one or two tracks on there I really felt I should have got right but couldn't think of them on the spot despite knowing where they were from. Well played Greg, some of those choices were very tricky indeed. I won't say anything about the tracks as I don't want to ruin the podcast for anyone but it was fun. I'm sure Dennis will promote Episode 5 on the main page later on and we'll add in the YouTube version to the article when it's ready.

You were there in spirit Jonnas. Thanks for letting me know though, I knew there'd be something to correct as the article went up without any issues. It's like the N-E Top Ten "Game Console" articles all over again. All fixed now anyway, it should change on the main article... soon. I'm already looking forward to the next episode.

A Smashing Cast Episodes 2 and 3 are now available And they are now up on the main site! Thanks once again to everyone involved and to @Dcubed for casting a resurrection spell on Episode 2 and getting both it and Episode 3 uploaded. But as Dean said though, Episode 4 is coming later this week and we hope to be able to maintain consistency from now on. We've had a blast with this so far though as it's a lot fun for everyone involved and something we hope to keep going, perhaps even hosting different games down the line. There's plenty of scope as far as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is concerned though and we're always grateful for any feedback, comments or suggestions. Until we Smash again!

He-He-Here We Go! I can't believe it either, Donkey Kong 64 is twenty years old... it doesn't seem like that long ago to me, that's just... bananas! Maybe we should all play it again to celebrate this anniversary... then again, maybe not, I don't think anyone has time for that, even a speedrun on that game is probably long.

The Geek Critique finally made a video on Shadow the Hedgehog and I'd say that it was worth the wait. Also worth watching if you want to find out what actually happens at the end of game without having to play through it ten times over! Even back in the day, I remember getting some enjoyment out of the game but definitely not ten playthroughs worth. I might go back to it one day just to see but it's not something I'd make a priority as I haven't really touched the game since 2005. It definitely marked the end of an (edgy) era though and it did give us some classic moments, probably for all the wrong reasons but at least they tried.

I ordered both Va-11 Hall-A and 2064: Read Only memories from Limited Run Games. Just the standard editions and I shouldn't have really ordered those as it is, but I did because these games definitely seem unique and something I'd like to own in my Switch collection. I didn't really know a huge amount about them, I didn't even know that they were set within the same universe until I ordered them, but I look forward to playing them. They aren't even really the kind of games I would typically go for but the Switch library is nothing if not diverse and thanks to these releases, having these in a physical collection definitely makes them seem more memorable, just like if something such as Cadence of Hyrule would get a physical release alongside Crypt of the Necrodancer in one boxed game, I would be all over that but the fact that it's £15 in the sale and then the game which it originally spawned from is £17 just makes me want to wait a bit longer to see which games truly will get boxed versions. Anyway, these seem like two interesting titles regardless of whether or not you buy them physically or digitally but if you like the idea of these games having a shelf presence, then I would definitely advise getting a copy of these games, especially if the price difference isn't that great, but on the other side, they'll surely both be in a sale digitally for pretty cheap if they haven't been already several times over.

Sega Lord X with a video titled 10 Things Sega Got Very Wrong which mentions quite a few key points including how Sega management effectively tore the company apart in the end near enough which I remember @Dcubed mentioning a few times and while it's deifnitely true, looking back it's still hard to accept how it happened but what's even harder to accept is the things which Sega are still getting wrong like not believing in the Sega Ages range of games which could be so much more than they are now. I love the Sega Ages titles we have on the Switch but they could so easily expand and either bring some obscure titles such as obscure arcade games which people would surely love to play or maybe even port some of the existing range of games to other platforms maybe in compilation form they'd probably have the best shot at success; although I must admit I do like the exclusivity of some of these games on the Switch but they could be so much more if they were more widely available. It goes both ways as well, I'm really glad that the Switch is getting that Panzer Dragoon remake and for the second game as well, having them as a timed Switch exclusive (I assume) is a good move but they will have probably even more success once these titles are available on all platforms, not only that though but it would be nice if say... Panzer Dragoon Orta was ported to the Switch, heck I'd buy it even if it wouldn't quite look as stunning as the technically amazing backwards compatible version on the Xbox One which scales up to 4K... just having the game in true portable form would be astounding. There's plenty which Sega can improve upon but equally there is plenty to look forward to as well, especially when we're talking about games such as Streets of Rage 4 and a possible new 2D Sonic game in the style of Mania which surely has to be happening, I just hope Sega can keep going in the right direction though as there's still plenty on untapped potential there.

Personally I hope not, and if they do I hope there's an option to either turn it off or not have it... I suspect it will be in there though, just like it's in every Windows 10 laptop. I get that these things are in everything now, it's something I really dislike and would just as easily type something in than have something listening in just in case I need it. It would be nice if they gave their consumers a choice, just an optional small microphone which you could either choose to use or not, if it was in the actual console are at the same proximity as a Kinect then I could see that being a problem... in a lot of setups Xbox Scarlett owners would probably have their console quite far away from them, especially if it's in the living room so a separate mic would probably be the best option if they were to do it. I'm a bit concerned that Sony might go the same route with the PS5 but we'll just have to wait and see, it's always nice to have options though. It's not really that they shouldn't include it for anyone who wants or might need it, it's just that I really feel that it should be optional where possible but still accessible if it's required, we're getting into the realms of so many different things being added into next-gen consoles that it's defintiely worth asking the question of what is actually needed.

(Quoting these for the new page seeing as the sale is still on) Bleh... now I'm thinking about getting those Konami collections while they are 50% off as well... They probably won't ever release a physical collection with all of these Konami games on... right? Konami doesn't really release games any more in any case so I'm sure it would be unlikely. Gah... I'm so close to purchasing these three Konami anniversary collections digitally... I don't think I can do it though, I'm going to wait.... these are on sale until December 4th anyway.

More eShop titles I've spotted while actually having a look on the eShop... Super Hydorah 50% off Cursed Castilla EX 50% off Earth Atlantis 50% off I spotted others as well but these were the ones which stood out to me and ones which either don't have or probably won't get boxed versions. It's amazing which games you spot when looking on the eShop, I usually find totally different ones when I'm reading through the latest eShop releases then when it comes to browsing through them, other titles just seem to stick out more on the storefront... as in, 'Oh THAT game! I forgot that title was even out on the eShop' It's a nice surprise in a way. You can currently get all of those three games for a little bit over £20 which doesn't seem too bad to me.

Sega Lord X with a video on Nintendo Switch Sega Ages Fantasy Zone which looks like another fantastic port from M2. Well worth supporting these titles, also as a heads-up I'm pretty sure that most of the titles have gone on sale in the US so I'm hoping that we should get the same deal next week... at least I think that's the way that it works, I hope so as I want to get the rest of the Sega Ages titles that I'm currently missing. Hmm, it looks like that sale was just for Black Friday until December 4th on the American eShop for both Sega and Atlus across Switch and 3DS though they should really cut the prices here as well because they'd do pretty well I reckon. Edit - Nope... looks like we got some Sega Ages titles on sale this week... all the ones I already have of course.

That was quick, that Skies of Arcadia OST turned up this morning, I'll likely give it a listen this weekend as its been a while since I listened to the soundtrack. I just checked and they still have four copies on the Sega Store, it's weird... the store seems really well setup but not that many people know its there. Will keep a look out on the site from time to time now, as I forgot it was there as well, probably the best things I could see on there at the moment were the console pin badges. I bought the Mega Drive version elsewhere and didn't know they were available on the Sega store... they might not have been at the time, didn't know there was a DC one. Anyway, I don't need any more stuff, even if it is cool Sega stuff and I can't really afford it in any case but that OST was worth going for. *hides credit card from self*

Another video from Happy Console Gamer on Shenmue III (Final Thoughts) no spoilers in the video and it just makes me more interested to play the game. I will play it, of course... I've just got to put some time aside for it and hope that when I do go to play it that some of the bugs will be fixed but they don't seem to be game-breaking. No idea how that backer code works either, I get the impression that you need to redeem it in-game? Looking forward to trying it out soon anyway.

Sega Lord X with a video on Early Sega Master System Games which has some interesting titles in there, along with some not so interesting ones. I only have a few Sega Master System games, definitely a few that I'd like to check out some day such as Ninja Gaiden and Danan: The Jungle Fighter amongst others. I know the latter of those two games isn't supposed to be that good but I am curious about it, also check out this Mean Machines review of Danan from back in the day... http://www.meanmachinesmag.co.uk/pdf/junglefighterms.pdf I really like the captions under the screenshots something we've tried to keep going across many N-Europe reviews, it definitely adds to the enjoyment of the reviews.

Also, after looking at the bottom of the forum page I just realised something else, the PS4 was released on your birthday so Happy Birthday @drahkon (and to the PS4) Are you going to play anything tonight to celebrate or are you off out? Either way, have a good one. Maybe I'll play one of those games you keep recommending so often... I did actually pick one up recently, Enter the Gungeon... on the Switch though of course. Perhaps I'll give that a blast later, or start/finish one of the many PS4 games I've been meaning to which are listed in my previous post.