Dcubed

This is the most relevant thread we currently have to discuss this (and it's still in the rumour stage; so I don't want to make a new thread...) But... Oh shit... https://wccftech.com/stalker-2-is-a-3-month-console-exclusive-microsoft-will-increase-revenue-share-for-xbox-games-too/ This would completely change the console gaming landscape if they go ahead with this. All of a sudden? It might not even be worth Sony & Nintendo's time to bother with supporting 3rd party games on their platform at all if Microsoft make 12% revenue share the norm! I mean. For Microsoft? They can afford to do this because they're not bothered about selling consoles anymore; they only care about Gamepass subscriptions. But for Sony & Nintendo? This would completely break them! Nintendo invented the console gaming royalty model... and now it looks like it's about to be completely undone!

Oh shit... https://wccftech.com/stalker-2-is-a-3-month-console-exclusive-microsoft-will-increase-revenue-share-for-xbox-games-too/ This would completely change the console gaming landscape if they go ahead with this. All of a sudden? It might not even be worth Sony & Nintendo's time to bother with supporting 3rd party games on their platform at all if Microsoft make 12% revenue share the norm! I mean. For Microsoft? They can afford to do this because they're not bothered about selling consoles anymore; they only care about Gamepass subscriptions. But for Sony & Nintendo? This would completely break them! Nintendo invented the console gaming royalty model... and now it looks like it's about to be completely undone!

One more to add to the tally... This time it's... Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury This is the latest installment in the mainline Super Mario series. Though sold as a bonus add-on to a pretty decent (though somewhat contentious) Switch port of Super Mario 3D World on Wii U; make no mistake, this is a fully fledged, brand new 3D Mario game. It has almost as much gameplay content as Super Mario 64 and, quite frankly, feels mis-sold as a mere "bonus" feature. It is a fully fledged entry into the mainline series in its own right, and I'm gonna treat it as such. First off the bat, there's the big elephant in the room (and no, I'm not talking about Bowser here). This is an open world game. No ifs, no asterisks, no buts. If Super Mario Odyssey was a step towards making 3D Mario into a more open world experience (though I would argue that it's a Banjo Kazooie/Tooie knockoff more than anything else), Bowser's Fury throws all pretence right out of the cat flap. Bowser's Fury is the first, true Open World Super Mario game, and you ALL know how I feel about open world games in general... (cue the fit of rage about to ensue...) ... ... ... so I'm actually quite shocked to say that this game actually has more genuine platforming gameplay than Super Mario Odyssey! Yes, really! I shit you not! Actual platforms! In a Platforming game!? What will they think of next? For all of its lavish production values and Gee Golly presentation, Super Mario Odyssey was fucking boring to actually play. Never before had I felt so let down (and yes, furious) at a new mainline Mario game. It has all the movement options in the world and bloody nothing to actually do with them; with barely any interesting platforms to actually traverse and a whole lotta flat ground to contend with. Moons were scattered around nearly completely randomly, with no meaningful challenge behind their collection. They were collectable shite for the sake of collectable shite; and the only enjoyment I was able to wring out of that pile of nothing was to try breaking the game and completing it with the minimum amount of collectables possible (which I did, and then couldn't stomach going back to this anger inducing shite again). So Mario Odyssey (and BOTW, and well, the Switch itself as a whole really) has left in a really bad mood for quite some time. So when I heard that Bowser's Fury would be an open world game? I was FURIOUS! OUTRAGED! SICK WITH ANGER! But hey, I was getting it for free along with my Mario 3D World portable port so eh? I'll give it a try... ... you know what? It's actually not all terrible! This game basically cribs all of its gameplay mechanics, objects, enemies, powerups, platforming mechanics etc from Super Mario 3D World. That's totally fine by me, we haven't had a good mainline Mario game since SM3DW anyway (wow! That's 8 years ago now... damn...). However, it uses all of these mechanics in new ways within this open world; kind of like what New Super Mario Bros 2 did with NSMB Wii, with Mario being placed within a wide ocean with islands scattered around that house various platforming challenges. Structurally, it's not unlike The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker then; with pockets of handcrafted content spread out across the ocean. This demarcates Bowser's Fury from most open world games (including The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild), as its world is NOT made up primarily of procedurally generated content. The moment to moment gameplay is actually much more satisfying than in Super Mario Odyssey, because there are actual platforming challenges to be overcome! What a fucking revelation! Cat Shines are not just dotted randomly around the map, they're rewards for completing a platforming challenge! Hallefuckinglulia!!! While you'll find that the game does like to repeat its challenges across each island (not unlike Super Mario Odyssey), there's enough done with each challenge to make them feel distinct from each other here... but it doesn't necessarily feel that way (more on that in a bit). However, Bowser's Fury does take one big cue from Breath of the Wild... and it's unfortunate that it does... It's the visual language here. Each island is basically like a Shrine from BOTW, presenting a series of self-contained challenges; but here's the kicker, almost every island looks and feels near identical. There is very little visual variety in this game, with almost every single island being made up of the same, boring looking blue/metal or red/metal looking blocks. As such, the islands all end up blurring into each other in the mind; and this even has gameplay ramifications, as the entierly utilitarian look means that nothing stands out from each other. Things that should grab your attention, or lead you down a certain path to a secret just... don't, because nothing stands out. It also becomes very difficult to remember where specific cat shines are that you need to complete, because everything looks and feels the same! It's Metroid 1 syndrome! And it makes the game much less memorable and enjoyable as a result. Ceave actually made a really good video about this problem. It's a bit lengthy (about 30 mins), but it's worth a watch... This also has the ramification of making the repeated challenges feel really repetitive; because it feels like you're doing the same thing over and over again, even when they are actually designed to test your platforming skills in a myriad of different ways. That's not to say that there's nothing noteworthy about the presentation taken alone; the cat theme is rather lovely and well realised. The music is also really rather nice, a big improvement on the whole lotta nothing of Super Mario Odyssey (Let's be honest, outside of just 3 standout tracks - Jump up Superstar, Fossil Falls, Steam Gardens - you ain't humming any of the other tunes). And while the visual variety is lacking, the audio variety certainly isn't! From Jazz, to orchestra, to metal; Bowser's Fury doesn't disappoint on the audio front! (I never knew I wanted a Mario Moshpit, but by God I do!!) Power Rangers... now with METAL! The Bowser fights themselves are also pretty fun as Super Saiyan Oozaru Mario squares off against Giga Godzilla Bowser; it's ridiculous, stupid and pretty enjoyable. Though the loading times, as the game switches from the normal world map to the minaturised "giant" world map, does end up breaking the flow of things... ... and yeah... here in lies a pretty big problem... Bowser's Fury is one of the least polished games that Nintendo have put out in a long time. It's shocking how poorly this game runs! Slowdown is rampant, jaggies are fucking everywhere and handheld mode is a complete disaster (no, really, it feels absolutely AWFUL compared to Docked mode!). I am stunned that Nintendo released it in this state, I cannot, in all good honesty, recommend that anyone play this game in handheld mode. Docked mode itself has frequent bouts of slowdown from it's 60FPS target, and the resolution seems to drop below 720p pretty often (honestly looking like a Wii game at times); but GOOD LORD is handheld mode just something else! 30FPS is frequently missed, let alone 60FPS, making for an annoyingly choppy gameplay experience that feels like a 3rd rate 3rd party port. The aging Switch hardware is really struggling with this game, and when this is coming from Nintendo EPD themselves? Holy shit! We need Switch 2 NOW! Oh, but that's not the worst offender when it comes to lack of polish... Oh no. The part that really boils my piss? It's the camera. What The Fuck!? What happened here!? It's atrocious! That's fine, I don't need to see where I'm going anyway How did they mess up the camera so badly here?! It barely follows your movement at all and requires constant babysitting; and with this game keeping the run button from SM3DW? It means that you're constantly having to use the good ol' PSP Monster Hunter Claw to be able to run, jump AND move the camera. This camera is so lazy that I think Lakitu must've dozed off on shift! It also LOVES getting stuck on things, and in the few cases where you find yourself having to backtrack on an island? The camera ALWAYS works against you! It's absolutely rage inducing! Speaking of which... let's get back to the open world part again. So this game is made up of different islands with various platforming challenges. Well. Most of these islands are made up of towering structures that challenge Mario to climb them. Here's the kicker though, there are NO death holes/plains; because you just have one giant open world map. Outside of lava? Nothing will insta-kill Mario. Sounds easygoing on paper, right? Well... no. Instead, what typically happens is that you'll fall off a tower, only to watch as Mario helplessly plummets back to the bottom & into the ocean; and you are then tasked to swim ALL the way back to the island that you fell off and then start ALL over again. Combine this with a completely inept, braindead stupid camera, and the Switch's oh so wonderful drifting Joy-cons? Well my friend, you have FURY!!!! Quite frankly, this game would've been MUCH better if it simply had a level select screen instead of all this open world guff. The open world structure simply doesn't do anything to enhance the game, and instead, only serves to aggrevate and frustrate as it just wastes your time with meaningless traversal in order to actually get to the real platforming. You know what's the best bit though? There's no form of fast travel... UNTIL YOU ACTUALLY BEAT THE GAME! It's almost as if Bowser himself is throwing you a middle finger, as you finally unlock the thing that would've been helpful... you know... HOURS AGO!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All jokes & anger aside though? It's actually not a bad game at all. I don't know how on earth it managed to get released in such an unpolished state (I can only assume that COVID had a part to play here), but despite the shift to a full open world format? I still enjoyed it much more than Super Mario Odyssey. While I really hope that the open world format doesn't make a return in future Mario games, I'm at least happy to see the plumber return to actually do some meaningful platforming; about time he earned his keep again! And with that?

That's so awesome! It's amazing when that actually happens IRL! And yes, that video is rad! Defo worth a watch! This one is also really cool, breaking down how the chord progression works with various songs in the DKC series... But yeah, music is a BIG part of what makes games so enjoyable and memorable (much moreso than the visuals in many cases). There are plenty of good games that have utterly unmemorable music, and they are much harder to really remember and reminisce with; concurrently though, there are really shit games out there with fantastic music, and you will remember them whether you like it or not!

Oh man... I'm so sorry for your loss... I'd be fuming! This is absolute 100% truth though. I really wish I'd used my ones sooner, I basically didn't get anyone even close to 20/20! I ended up with basically all of them going un-used! On that matter, it's pretty crappy that there's no way to tell what item works on which class (not even the online instruction manual tells you!). Was pretty pissed off when I tried using Orion's Bolt on Castor (who I chose to focus on instead of Tomas in getting them to level 20; very dumb decision!) and found out that it did nothing! Like... why can Archers promote, but not Hunters!? It's so dumb!

I just started it today and have been playing it for about a couple of hours or so now (just unlocked the second stage)... So far, it's not bad, but I feel that it is lacking in interactivity so far compared to the N64 original. Each Pokemon seems to just be walking around doing its own thing, and they don't seem to interact with each other really... And most don't seem to do much of anything when you throw apples at them either (at least in the first stage anyway). There's nothing like the Surfing Pikachu, or the Meowth Knockout, or the hidden Scyther or Lapras from the first Beach stage in the N64 original here. So far, the game seems to be lacking those puzzle and interactive stage elements that made the original game so much fun. Now, from what I've been hearing around the internets, it sounds like the game starts introducing more of those puzzle elements as it goes on. I hope that's the case, because it feels a bit bland so far. That being said? I do like the new star system for the poses; it neatly solves an issue with the original game, where certain poses were just worth way more points than others (thus making it not worth showing the lower scoring poses to the Professor), since each different pose now has its own seperate score to obtain. The Requests system also seems quite promising, offering some incentives to snap different types of Pokemon poses, so perhaps we'll see more of those puzzle & interactive elements come into play there? Also... Mad props for this! Music is alright so far, nothing all that memorable though. The stick controls are also pretty sluggish, even on the highest sensitivity setting (also it defaults to non-inverted for the opening tutorial, which pissed me off); the decision to get rid of the quick 90 degree turning is also not a good one, as it makes it really slow to move the camera around you fully... Thankfully the motion controls manage to save the day; with the maximum sensitivity offering the speed & precision this game sorely needs! So... mixed feelings so far then. Not bad, but so far it's not quite living up to the original. The potential is there though, and from what I've been hearing? I'm hopeful that the later stages will bring back more of the puzzle solving and interactive elements that made the N64 original such a joy.

Yeah, was really nice to play Smash with you guys again (god am I out of practice though!)

A supremely unsafe lack of social distancing

Reviews all seem pretty glowing. Glad to hear that the levels seem to be good at hiding branching paths & secrets for progression (something that some idiots actually dinged as a negative!). Just hope that the scoring system is as fun & interesting as the original now...

The production values of this remake are REALLY impressive! It actually does look and feel like you're playing a handdrawn anime! Crazy to see a point n' click adventure get such a lavish budget in this day and age! (especially after Miyamoto himself said that getting Adventure games greenlit in the modern era is a big challenge) Really interesting approach they've taken with the localisation here; having letters/signposts/notes etc kept in Japanese with a translator's note floating next to it. Really stylish & cool! Really gives off an exotic "Japanese import" feel! Still feels like a fever dream that we're getting these games in English! And done in such a lavish & high budget fashion! Mad!

Indeed. It's very rare to see every console platform holder doing well at the same time (don't think this has ever really happened before actually!). Good times all round

“Alright!! I just nicked that guy’s star!!” (Suckmyballz69 has just disconnected. You will be brought back to the Title Screen.)

Impressive cadence they’re having with these events. Nintendo could stand to learn a thing or two!

Gravity Rush has always stood out to me as one of the games with the most wasted potential. It has a fantastic core mechanic, but does almost nothing interesting with it. Honestly? If you’ve played the demo? You’ve experienced 90% of the gameplay that the full game has to offer. There’s so much more that they could’ve done with the gravity shifting mechanic! It’s mind boggling just how little mileage they manage to get out of it! It’s so frustrating!

Aren’t the checkpoints optional? That’s the “Not so Impossible Lair” IIRC. I do agree though, the addition of checkpoints does kind of ruin the whole gimmick behind the final level (and the game itself really).

Wahey!! https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/04/deathsmiles_collection_brings_more_shoot_em_up_action_to_switch_in_2021 Deathsmiles 1&2 are coming to Switch! About damn time that we started seeing some of Cave’s shmups start heading to Switch! Too bad that they’re two of my least favourite Cave shmups, but hey! It’s a start! Hopefully it paves the way for the likes of Mushihimesame Futari!

Oh yeah! I almost forgot! There was actually one other game I've completed this year that I forgot to mention... or should I say... THREE games? Sonic Delta This is one of the absolutely insane & most impressive ROM Hacks I've ever seen. This crazy mod takes Sonic 1, 2 and 3&K AND COMBINES THEM ALL INTO ONE SEAMLESS GAME!!! Now, this would be an incredible feat in of itself, but the mad lad responsible for this has even gone ahead and added the cut stages from Sonic 2 into this absolute Sonic marathon too! 37 Zones! Back to Back!! What they've essentially done is that they've ported Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 into Sonic 3&K. This means that you not only get the spindash in Sonic 1, but you also get Knuckles, the elemental shields, the save game feature, the new bonus stages, ALL of the new mechanics introduced in the later titles spread across all three games! The insanity doesn't even end there, as they've even made all new transition cutscenes that tie the three games together! It's bonkers! Lock-on Technology gone wild! The way that they handle the special stages is also really interesting. The Sonic 1 stages bring up the classic Sonic special stage (only this time, collecting all of the emeralds does indeed grant you Super Sonic/Tales/Knuckles), but once you get to Sonic 2? The Sonic 1 stages now start showing up as the Bonus stages that you get from checkpoints! The game selects one of 4 bonus stages depending on the following rules... Sonic 1 is a LOT more fun with Knuckles than regular boring old Sonic! Being able to climb up through the slow vertical sections makes it a LOT more fun to play! They've even added a few extra areas for Knuckles to find! They've also chucked in a few elements from the Beta version of Sonic 1, like the weird rolling ball in Green Hill Zone; not really all that major, but neat to have a few new things to play with! The pacing is much faster than the vanilla version of Sonic 1 and there's a lot less waiting around for stuff to move. Great stuff! Sonic 2 however? To be honest, this part of the game just drags on and on. Sonic 2 does NOT benefit from having more guff added to it; and quite frankly? The beta stages suck. They're not fun; they're dull, empty & boring. Vanilla Sonic 2 already drags on for too long as it is and runs out of steam well before the end of its running time, so it does not benefit from having more junk added onto it at all. It was fun to be able to use the elemental shields in Sonic 2 though, that helped spice things up a bit. A Beta stage that looks a lot nicer than it is to actually play Another thing that's interesting here is that they use the Beta version layouts for a lot of Sonic 2's levels; so things play out a bit differently than in Vanilla Sonic 2. While this makes things a bit more interesting, playing through Sonic 2 for the billionth time, the level designs do feel more sloppy than in the final versions of these levels. Still, thank God for the save feature! Really helps lessen the feeling of tedium going through Sonic 2. Sonic 3 ends up playing out more or less exactly the same as the vanilla version then; barring the use of the beta (non Michael Jackson/Brad Buxer) music for Ice Cap Zone/Launch Base Zone/Carnival Night Zone. Outside of the bonus stage changes, it's pretty much the Sonic 3&K you know and love; and yeah, it's the best Sonic game for a damn good reason. Every single zone is a masterpiece of level design craft; the pacing is perfect and no stage ever outstays its welcome. It absolutely puts the first two games to shame; and absolutely deserves its place as one of the best games ever made. Here though? It definitely ends this marathon on a high note! Now THAT's a Sonic marathon! Overall? I had a blast processing playing through this crazy thing! It was absolutely wild playing through the thing as one seamless game; and it's shocking how well it all works! (Even working on real hardware!). It's incredibly well made overall; though I think I would've preferred it without all of the Sonic 2 beta guff added on top. The three games combined are plenty of content as it is! I guess it really shows just how iterative the Sonic Mega Drive games really were, that they can literally be combined together into one game like this. Still, I'd wholeheartedly recommend trying it out, it's a really fun way to revisit these games again! And man, I would KILL to see some crazy fool give the SNES DKC Trilogy the same treatment! Imagine having one game with ALL of the stages & mechanics of DKC 1-3 combined into one game!? It'd be nuts! And with that?

I wouldn't be surprised if this collection is using an official Saturn emulator from SEGA/M2. Considering that we already know that M2 already have a Naomi/Dreamcast emulator up and running on Switch? And that SEGA previously hinted at Saturn games coming to SEGA AGES? I would imagine that M2 were also working on a Saturn emulator while working on the SEGA AGES series. SEGA also included the original System 16 version of Cotton with the Astro City Mini; so they have an established relationship with Success/City Connection too. If that's the case? We could well be seeing more Saturn titles from SEGA and others following this Either way? All three of these games are legit rare and cost an absolute BOMB on Saturn (£250 is really the floor any of these three games on eBay!); so it's fantastic to see them get re-released at last!

Woah! https://www.resetera.com/threads/cotton-2-cotton-boomerang-guardian-force-saturn-tribute-collection-announced-for-switch-ps4.415074/ @S.C.G Well isn't this a nice surprise! Hopefully we can get some more surprise SEGA Saturn ports going up in here! Edit: Seems to be running on a Saturn emulator! Hopefully that means that more Saturn games will be to follow! Gimme that Saturn goodness SEGA!!

That's not even the best one... Hipper than a Hypno

I want a new Shining Force... Come on Nintendo! You can just call it Golden Sun Tactics and boom! Done!

This being from the same creator/team behind Attack of the Friday Monsters & the My Summer Vacation series immediately has me interested; even though I don’t care about Shin-chan!

Nice, but what they say in that tweet isn't entierly true... 3DS had every Shantae game playable on it until Half Genie Hero was released much later.

Well @BowserBasher, we know why the site was down today now... https://store.nintendo.co.uk/en_gb/home It's just had a redesign! Ahh yes, Monster Hunter. My favourite Nintendo franchise!

The original leak said that JPN & US would get a physical version; while EU is digital only... Seems to be panning out exactly as planned sadly