Goron_3

@Rob3008 His video's a more critiques/evaluations of the game design and are, by far, the best long form critiques in the entire industry. There's no bias, just a deep look at the game and level designs. He stays away from comments like " I don't like this so it's bad" and instead focuses on analysying why certain decisions were made, and the impact they have on the end user. I would highly (HIGHLY) recommend viewing his review series on the 3D Mario titles (which start with 64 and go up to 3DW) and his Zelda series critique. They've changed the way I view those games completely.

I just want to pop in and say that if Resident Evil 4 comes out with pointer controls, I would highly recommend that people still play this game with the Pro Controller. Why? Because the Wii version, which had pointer controls, made Leon hilariously overpowered compared to the enemies in the game. Encounters go from being tense and strategic to having a guaranteed on every enemy in the game. Simply put, Leon's aiming speed goes up by about 50x whereas the enemies remain slow. I recall being able to complete Professional mode with just the basic handgun very easily as it's all you need, whereas on a regular playthrough, you basicaly have to get really good at mastering the combat and upgrading your weapons throughout. That's not to say the motion controls don't work (they feel great!), but it's basically a super easy mode.

Agreed @Ronnie. I've just finished Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and going from that to this....just wow. My main problem with Sun and Moon is that they never felt like adventures. The world felt incredibly tiny and the entire game design felt about a decade old. This feels similar. A Xenoblade 2 model for world design and encounters would have worked wonders for this game.

Is this is a remake of the original Vita game? I played that, got a bad ending and never got round to playing through it again. I'm tempted to buy this but I'm not sure if it's a sequel, remake etc

The second half of this year is absolutely stacked with games but I'm a bit gutted by the fact that the first half of the year is just Yoshi (and a port of Mario ofc). Even just one more game would have massively helped, although I guess that game would have been Fire Emblem if not for it getting delayed. I just want them to announce Metroid Prime Trilogy HD

I'm getting a bit worried about Nintendo's current line up, at least what we know of anyway. Yoshi is coming out at the end of next month, and then I imagine Fire Emblem will be launching around May/June. I hope they've got another couple of games ready to come out on Switch between now and mid-year...Even Metroid Prime Trilogy in addition to a smaller eShop title or perhaps SNES games via the online service would be better. I'll be grabbing Yoshi to play with the other half but in terms of single player content I was hoping for a bit more. That said, I've still got Yakuza Kiwami to play on PS4 (as well as a bunch of other 2018 titles like SotC and Spiderman) so I might take some time to get back into the PS4. Apparently this is now the longest gap between main directs. Come on Nintendo...give us something

For titles that take 3-4 years of development and aren't announced too early, I'm actually surprised MORE stuff doesn't leak, especially when you've got 100's of people working on a game. That said, I do believe some 'insiders' are deliberately given information from inside sources. The Starfox GP thing for example...It wouldn't surprise me at all if it's 100% accurate and the informaion was simply given out to let the initial confusion over the concept settle. Likewise, there are sites like Eurogamer who seem to get things very early.

Insider/Leak culture is frustrating but Rogers is generally pretty on the ball. Heck, she leaked most of the Switch's year one titles pretty early on. She also mentioned on Resetera yesterday that she isn't interested in sharing the games she's heard of as it ruins the surprise for fans and also must be frustrating for Nintendo staff. Her post with the list of untitled games was more about assuring people that there's more to come this year than just Yoshi, Fire Emblem, AC and Pokemon.

it's funny you mention that because I genuinely feel as though the Switch and its software is a follow up/successor to both the GameCube and GBA, which was definitely my favourite era of Nintendo!

I must admit that I'm stunned by the sales of Switch and PS4. Compared to where Japanese gaming was a few years ago, I'm delighted to see that Nintendo especially have taken some major strategic decisions that have almost resurrected them. Best of all, their renaissance looks like it's sustainable and isn't based off of a gimmick. A Switch revision to coincide with Animal Crossing and Pokemon, followed by a likely 'Pro' Switch next year (possibly with another Zelda/Mario) should easily maintain momentum. I really look forward to see what they can do software wise for the next 18-24 months. On another note, I've just seen that Sony has made more money over the last 12 months from PSN alone that the entirity of Nintendo's software division. I think this really does show that Nintendo's approach to it's online offering and no longer offering VC is a great idea, even if it's lacking a bit of content atm. Edit. Also, it looks as though Monolith are continuing to grow at quite an impressive right. Their site claims that they now have 193 developers, which is about 80 more compared to when they were developing Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Hopefully we can start seeing a big RPG from them every couple of years.

I still remember that N-E meet up where you turned up with your U.K Wii and your U.S one, both with different sets of games! I don't really sell the problem with importing games from another region. It generally means I buy WAY more games than I ordinarily would. It's also worth keeping in mind that only a tiny percentage of the overall Switch market actually do it. On a different note, looks like the Switch sold like hot cakes over Christmas. Absolutely delighted for the company and the strategic decisions they made. They clearly took a very long, hard look at what went wrong with the Wii brand from mid-2010 to the end of the Wii U's lifecycle and have quite literally done a 180. The Switch feels like a successor to the Gamecube and Gameboy Advance more than anything, especially regards to Nintendo's approach to software. It's great to see so many of my friends who haven't been interested in Nintendo for about a decade playing games like Smash and Zelda again.

Just wanted to drop in and say that I'm really loving this game, especially after the huge disappointment of Brawl and especially Smash 4. The game play is just so much snappier and the ground speed of the characters makes the game play more fun. Most of all, they've moved away from the hyper-defensive Smash 4 and gone back to more aggressive game play, which I love. You can tell the engine is no longer designed to be compatible with the wii-mote so a return to analogue movement is always welcome. Graphically the game is superb and the music is just absolutely awesome. The Castlevania tracks especially....god damn. That said, I have a couple of relatively small negative points: I don't care at all for the single player. I see what they've tried to do (and the nostalgia hits are sooooo good) but overall I find it a tad too repetitive. Each to their own though. The online is hilariously bad, especially for a 2018 title. Melee's netcode is better than this. Thankfully I'm happy to adjust to the lag but it's frustrating, but local battles are where it's at for me. My girlfriend now hates me because I can't stop playing this bloody game. Who are people adopting as their main characters at the moment? I'm LOVING Young Link, but I'm also quite keen on Pichu. Pikachu and Inkling seem to be the best characters in the game at the moment but I don't particularly enjoy either of them,

Oh good lord I can't believe that thread was from 3 years ago! That said, I do think things are generally better than they used to be, although the damage has kind of been done. It helps that Serebii doesn't post as much, but it's a shame that some of the main problems keep appearing. On a different note, and one relating to this topic, I've had the last 2 weeks off of work ahead of starting a new job next week. I managed to start (and finish) Yakuza 0 and also start Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Feels good to be getting some quality gaming time in.

Can someone explain what is supposed to be so good about Phantasy Star? Surely it will have aged terribly?

A lot will depend on how much of a system seller Pokemon Let's Go turns out to be. I have a suspicion that it may perform similiarly to the NSMB games, in that it will sell well to people who own the console already but may not become a system seller, especially compared to a next gen Pokemon RPG. I have a lot of friends who still play Pokemon GO and none of them plan to shell out £300 for a Switch and Let's Go. In a perfect world, we would be getting a traditional Pokemon RPG this year and LG in a few years time, when the install base was already massive and it didn't need to be a system seller.

What I think the game was missing was a final kingdom or two before the Bowser fight that really tested the players understanding of the Mario's moveset. Remember Tick Tock Clock at the end of Mario 64? Holy moly, that was super intimidating to me when I first played the game. I wish there was a level like that before the Bowser Kingdom.

Definitely agree with some of the above comments regarding moons and the overall difficulty. I think the issue is that the game was designed around the hybrid concept, and they clearly wanted people to be able to pick up and play the game for 5-10 minutes and feel like they achieved something. The easiest way of doing this was to introduce a lot of moons and to make some of them very easy to capture. If you're playing this in handheld mode on a commute, the concept works and works well, but I would have preferred a greater degree in difficulty when it comes to getting some of them. I feel like BOTW got the concept right. 120 Shrines (more challenging and rewarding to find/complete) and 900 Korok seeds, compared to 900 Moons but only 30-40 that I found rewarding to find.

Great thread. I'll leave a more detailed post about this later on but I find myself in the same situation. I definitely spend far more time thinking about video games and following the industry than I do actually playing anything. Edit. The 'money per hours' way of determining the value of game is certainly a good way of thinking about whether it's worth buying or investing in software, but I also find it slightly flawed. I would say my biggest financial spend per month, outside of rent and bills, goes on food and alcohol. If I didn't do these activites I would save enough money to be able to buy more brand new titles the consoles that I own, whether that's Spiderman on PS4 or one of the many Switch games I've been interested in but not purchased. Whilst Spiderman may offer a 30 hour experience however, it's worth noting that many people aren't looking for experiences that long to fit into their lives. I don't finish most of the big games that I own because I don't always have the time, capacity or commitment for them. BOTW was the exception for me, but only because I was inbetween jobs at the time. Back in the day, I would complete a 30 hour game in a week and basically prioritise it. Now, a 30 hour game is basically 1-2 months of gameplay for me. I'd rather spend that money and time on seeing a few two hour films that I can fully commit to and digest. I would happily spend £20 on food/beer knowing that it's a singular experience that I can experience with the company of my friends/girlfriend. But the idea of putting aside 20-40 hours to commit to a game is too much as there are plenty of other things that occupy my time. I can't actually remember the last video game I completed on my PS4 and on the Switch I haven't even started XC2, despite it sitting inside my Switch since January. As I've got older, I tend to prefer much smaller, bite-sized games that I can get through and complete sooner rather than later. I've just started Yakuza 0 and I'm actually a bit worried that I won't get round to seeing it through the end, but I'm going to at least try.

I imagine it will largely focus on games coming within the next six months or so, so from now until March. Hopefully the 3DS section is small but I wouldn't mind a Link's Awakening remake. In a perfect world they'd make a HD version and a 3D version but hey ho. I wouldn't be surprised to see a NSMBU Deluxe as it certainly has mass market appeal, but I also hope we get a more core focused title released, even if it's a port/remake. Metroid Prime Trilogy HD would be most welcome, especially with Metroid Prime 4 coming out next year. A release date for Yoshi would also be great

Folders are a basic feature of any OS. Or something like that. I recall a certain poster getting very angry about this a few years ago on the PS4 thread

A big thanks to @Ashley for securing a review code. 2D Dark Souls is something everyone needs to experience!

Finally got round to ordering Yakuza 0! Am I right in thinking I should play the original Kiwami game from last year before buying 2?

I don't see the issue with price drops. If anything, it's a sign that the competition is so high for software sales on other platforms. If you're happy to wait for a price, go for it. Likewise if you don't want to watch a film at the cinema due to it costing the same as month's Netflix fee, you're welcome to wait for that film to come out on Netflix six months down the line.

Ultimately, the cost of a product isn't determined by the value it is to buyer (although that would determine if they purchase it), it is determined by the value it is perceived to have in the market. A Ralph Lauren polo top doesn't cost 10x the cost to make compared to your average H&M polo top, yet costs 10x the amount. It's the same for late ports of Nintendo titles. They could drop the cost by 20% and probably sell more copies, but Nintendo don't value their games as being anything less than full price.

Is anyone a fan of Retronauts? I'm digging through their vast library of episodes and their content is absolutely superb. I've just finished listening to the Wind Waker episode and their knowledge on not only the game but also the context of the era it released in is so impressive.