WackerJr

Nintendo 64 controllers are, at the time I write this, in stock still on the Nintendo UK store (having gullibly caved in & clicked to purchase!). Thanks @Ealdst 😃👍🏻

These are high on my list too (especially the first, which I never got a proper chance to play) and are surely in with a good shot at being added?

Another World: 20th Anniversary Edition (PS4) Well this has not aged well! A big deal back when it was released, as a cinematic 2D platformer with it’s animation, and leading the way for the likes of Flashback, Abe’s Odyssey, etc. I died over and over and over and over again! The animation actually became a huge source of frustration for me, as you can’t jump or fire you weapon until your stepping animation has finished, and so often this will result in missed jumps, or the quick reflexes or your enemies to decimate you! It cemented it’s place in gaming history back in 1991, but that’s where I’d leave it.

My political knowledge may be poor, but I still absolutely agree with this. Forgetting whether you think the party did a good job or not with things like the pandemic, Ukraine, etc. the PR and public opinion from all the scandals and lies is shocking, and I imagine is what the majority of the general public will remember. As such, surely there are few better opportunities for the opposition to show how they are the better alternative? Even if it’s simply because the Conservatives are shooting themselves in the foot (repeatedly!), but I don’t think they’re taking anywhere near enough advantage of it and doing the opposite PR to win over the public. Whether I’d want them to is irrelevant, but it’s as if they have an open goal but don’t know what to do!

Bring these to Switch was surely one of the most obvious, but correct decisions in gaming! 😃 Especially after seeing these announced for XBox I’m really pleased about this. Now my fun quandary: I bought P5R on PS4 just a few weeks ago. Do I play it now or wait (& pay…) for the Switch release to be able to play it portably as well? 😃

Wow I’d completely forgotten about this! At least I’ll be able to catch up on runs via their YouTube channel. Anyone have any recommendations yet of what I should check out?

Good question! There were so many moments, or elements of characters that I enjoyed. If I had to plump for one I’d go with Nenji Ogata, as I really enjoyed his story and it’s puzzle elements, as well as being one of the Sentinels that did a lot of damage for me in the Destruction stages. Yuki Takamiya & Natsuno Minami were close runners-up for me and I really enjoyed playing their stories. What about yourself @Hero-of-Time?

Just completed it 100% and I think I spent most of my time in a state of ignorant bliss. I was so confused by what was going on, but I was enjoying it! The top-down battles were a nice break from the reading, even if not overly deep. Even Atlus recognise them as accompaniments to the story and being able to change the difficulty of them with no penalty is a nice touch and so you can choose whether you want a challenge or just want to clear the levels. While most of the 2D sections are very linear, there are a few that have puzzles of a sort, and I enjoyed. The characters are all relevant and there was something endearing about them. Despite feeling lost I felt compelled to complete it & I enjoyed it!

Probably a daft question, but does this still come pre-installed on consoles bought now? I assume it is, but just checking that nothing has changed in the past 12 months.

Disney Classic Collection (Switch) Sorry, this could be a long post due to the number of games here… Nostalgia-filled fun (at times), with a whole lot of 8- and 16-bit versions of Lion King, Aladdin & Jungle Book. I played the Master System version of Lion King back in the day and really enjoyed it. Shame that’s probably the one game not included! These games are tough and I needed the rewind function A LOT! A quick run-down of each game in the collection: Jungle Book The weakest games in the collection. * N version (i.e., SNES) - horribly unenjoyable. Really tough, not helped by only a few frames of invincibility when hit, so it’s way too easy to take multiple hits quickly. Rock solid bosses too. * S version (i.e., Mega Drive) - Collectathon platforming where you need to find enough gems to finish a level. A more zoomed out view and clearer graphics help make the platforms more obvious. Still tough but not as hard/frustrating as the N version. * Handheld (i.e., GameBoy) - I believe the handheld version is same game as NES version, just with more basic graphics. Explore levels and find all gems to finish a level, although the small viewing area can make this tricky. Still an easier game than the others and at least the bosses are much more bearable! The Lion King All look and sound good, although the compromise is a slow frame-rate and clunky controls. * The N and S versions are essentially the same. The Nintendo version has more detailed graphics but a more zoomed-in view, making it slightly harder as a result. * Handheld / Handheld Colo(u)r - similar to console games although generally easier apart from it being hard to make things out with the ‘handheld’ graphics. Aladdin By far the highlight of the package with the main games still playable. * N-version - platform-based gaming with more focus on your acrobatic skills than fighting. The lack of recognisable music is a bit odd (considering the others all use the popular Disney tunes as background music) and some artistic licence with the story to create extra levels (do you remember that moment when Apu fell off the carpet & Aladdin had to hunt through pyramids to find him? No, neither does anyone else!). Remember this scene from the movie? Anyone? * S-version - more combat-focused, with great animation. Tough bosses though. Probably the most recognisable game. * Final Cut - an updated S-version, fixing some bugs and other tweaks. Play this over the usual S-version. * Demo version - a nice treat, this a 3-level demo from a trade show. Really interesting to see how this developed into the full Mega Drive game. It’s understandable very rough still, and very tough, with enemies taking a LOT of hits to defeat and characters missing graphics. Glad to see it here still. * Handheld / Handheld Colo(u)r - a much slower and clunkier version of the Mega Drive game. The 2-buttons make weapon swapping slower too. Stick with the Final Cut. Ultimately it’s a neat nostalgic package for those that remember the originals. The games are likely to be too frustrating for younger gamers. I enjoyed the trip down memory lane, but don’t think I’ll be going back to it.

The game may well end up playing & looking much more fulfilled and exciting than the initial gameplay footage, but showing off the footage that they have has created a large amount of uncertainty surrounding the game and it’s quality. There was no pressure to show it off right now, and if this is the beginning of the supposed third phase of Sonic games (2D, 3D & now open-world) then the marketing team have had ample opportunity to make the first footage of the game to be as impressive as possible. A shame it looks to be yet another mis-step. The developers are at least defending all of their decisions, as I’ve seen plenty of news of them doing so, with the most interesting being that they suggest playtesters would score the game at 80 or 90 at this stage. I’m not entirely sure what that really means, and whether they’re being humble, bragging, or solely defensive.

Murder By Numbers (Switch) More than a simple Picross game, Murder by Numbers is essentially a glut of Picross puzzles, interspersed by a fast-paced and witty detective story. The story is light-hearted, doesn’t take itself too seriously, with a few crime-story twists, and starring a variety of diverse and likeable characters. I liked the humour, although appreciate it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, with lots of one liners and references to well known TV and literary detectives, such as Miss Marple and Nancy Drew. It was pleasant to see some diversity & representation within the cast of characters too. While you can ask questions to characters & search for objects, these are very basic and the story sections play out more as a visual novel than a puzzle game. The Picross challenges play how you’d expect, although, even by Picross standards, a few liberties are taken with how closely the solutions actually resemble the object you’re revealing… and I’m used to having to squint to make out images in usual Picross puzzles. The disadvantage to using Picross puzzles as the main gameplay element inbetween story sections is that it does occasionally slow down proceedings. When the story really heats up and things are happening quickly, it can be a little jarring to then have a 5-minute break to do a puzzle before heading back. It’s not the best Picross game, nor the best crime story, but it is fun and is definitely the best ‘Picross-based-crime story’ game I’ve played!

The live action remakes have looked good, but for most I’ve still preferred the animated versions. I’ve never been a fan of Pinocchio (& until recently I never realised just how little the nose-growing when you lie aspect was actually featured!). Still, the character created in “Once Upon A Time” was likeable and heroic, so it is possible. On a separate note, has anyone seen the new Chip N Dale film? It’s an Easter Egg-filled love letter to fans of old-school children’s TV, movies and games! I loved the massive list of references!

Agreed. I’m always partial to a good looking waterfall as well, and the one shown here looked pretty. Shame as I was expect a Sonic Master System-style platforming section when I first saw it. The seagull was a little disconcerting when it appeared and was following Sonic no matter how fast he ran, but I understand it’s just a graphical example to show other creatures and add to the environment at this stage. I hope there’s more variety in environments to come, and to me this still looks a long way of completion, unless it really was designed just to give a basic view, which is highly likely. I’m intrigued by what was shown though and it has potential.

Some great thoughts here so far! Enter another contender: the Atari Jaguar! Apparently 1993 Atari developers thought the future was in controllers that looked like phones! Nintendo showed it was actually looking like TV remotes, so close……

I feel the character will he someone obvious when it’s finally revealed and I’ll kick myself! 😂

I’m delighted to hear this! I hope they really don’t ignore Curse of Monkey Island, especially as that helped to clear up some of the “what the?” plot threads from the 2nd one, but I’m excited to once again play as a mighty pirate and drink me some grog!

Like others have said too, I’m absolutely fine with the delay. The expectations for this game are huge, and so I’d rather they got it right & came at least close to realising their aims then rushing it out. The extra areas / features mentioned - could this be playable Zelda, even if just in the underworld?

Wow that’s a hefty collection! Getting the Arcade game on there is a great addition. Plus rewind states so finally I may actually stand a chance of beating the original NES game! 😁

Me and a neighbour only discovered the warp whistle in the desert in Super Mario Bros 3 because we were told there were actually three whistles in the game, so we worked together to hunt around the maps until we stumbled across it and celebrated like we’d won an award! While not a rumour, I fondly recall talking with friends at school to work out the locations of all the Chaos Emeralds hidden in Sonic the Hedgehog on Master System, and between us we finally managed to track them down! While not quite from the playground, I do remember talking with others and trying to find the Triforce in Ocarina of Time, thanks to this internet hoax. For me, probably the most brazen rumour was that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (although only ‘Heroes’ back then…) on NES was actually beatable….. No-one at my school managed to prove this one…… 😃

😂 I much prefer these names! Maybe the English localisation team will take note! Have to say I was not expecting this. It looks a little like Arceus, so hopefully it’ll evolve over gen 8 and build on the things that worked well in Arceus. I’m slightly concerned that the short of length of time since Arceus and so maybe a longer development cycle could’ve made it look nicer? I’m not sure how Arceus played technically?

It all just sounds horrendous and my thoughts are with your friend @drahkon and all those others caught up in this horrific situation. @Julius some excellent words and thoughts there. I also agree about everyone looking after their mental health too, as with this being all over the news, the recent storm (which I was lucky enough not to have suffered any property damage in, although did have to cut my holiday short), and the global pandemic, there’s a lot of difficult things going on. Talk to someone, use these boards if needbe to vent and get the weight off your shoulders, but most importantly look after yourselves!

My experience & opinion pretty much matches what others have said. The connection for me was smooth. Matchmaking wasn’t instant, but it was fairly quick. 20-player bowling is a great idea and puts a little more pressure on players and more stakes on each game. The fame suggested that different clothes and gear could be earned by playing games, but obviously this wasn’t available in the test. A good idea to me, and gives some further incentive / reward for playing.

Ah, here we go again! I love the speculation and dreams for these Directs. Predictions then: Actual Guesses Virtually all focus to be on games we already know a little about: Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Advance Wars, Two Point Campus, Triangle Strategy, Splatoon 3, Mario + Rabbids Spark of Hope, Life is Strange Remaster, Kingdom Hearts and Fall Guys. I agree that Majora’s Mask will be shadow dropped. Plus new games coming soon announced for NSO: Kirby 64 and the return of Boogerman for Mega Drive! Just a brief update on Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2. Super Mario Galaxy 2. DLC for the latest Mario Party. More Optimistic Guesses New F-Zero game, plus using F-Zero X on NSO to help hype it. New Donkey Kong. Goldeneye (would love the HD remaster, but if somehow it comes it’ll surely disappointingly be a port). Things people are wishing for but won’t be shown… Name for Zelda: BotW 2. GameBoy / GBA on NSO (they’re saving this, plus the inclusion of a localised Mother 3 for E3 you see…………….) New Super Mario (not a new New Super Mario Bros though!) Metroid 4 / Metroid Trilogy (nothing more than a logo to look at still).

No real cut-off for me. I still enjoy games going back to the NES / Master System too, and the current consoles have seen a bit of a resurgence in 8 and 16-bit games being released, either in original or updated format. Examples include Wonder Boy: Dragon’s Trap, Alex Kidd (twice!), Lion King, Aladdin, Jungle Book (in the Disney Collection), Day of the Tentacle. Even Advance Wars is over 20 years old! I think as long as you can put up with some of the outdated features or higher difficulty (save states / rewind abilities are excellent additions) then there are still many games that are fun to play now.