I couldn't stand it. It was as excruciating as watching Saturday Night Live. I don't think Americans should be allowed to do "humor"
To be fair, SNL hasn't been funny since the late 80s/early 90s even to us. Regardless, I'll take British humor (sorry, "humour") over ours any day.
I don't know how I hadn't spotted that Pokémon game was the Builders creators! Loved that despite not having played a Dragon Quest game before.
What are people's early impressions of Splatoon Raiders? My experience with the series is… the first one mainly. This is quite odd so far. Lots of yapping. And then a sort of arena shooter, with some quite novel mechanics (and some cliches) Then more yapping. The actual gameplay is quite satisfying and it looks quite nice, it reminds me a bit of Borderlands at times (with more squids). I imagine it might be fun in coop.
Not sure though. DK Bananza has really got its claws in (paws? hands?) so I might save playing it for later.
I did also get it as physical media, with all the recent shenanigans I think I'm going to buy actual carts/disks as long as I can.
I don't really know who it's aimed at. It's going to be way too easy for any existing Splatoon players, I'm not sure any of them will have the patience for endless tutorials and cutscenes. There's already a really good single-player Splatoon game out there (Splatoon 2's Octo Expansion) and Splatoon 3 has a great co-op mode. It just feels like a game no-one asked for and they may well be over-estimating the appeal of the series if they want to turn it into the next big Nintendo franchise outside of the existing multiplayer games.
Counterpoint: It's flipping great.
It's chaotic fun, it looks amazing, there are even some tactical choices you have to make. My son is the world's biggest Splatoon fan and he loves it. I'm not sure about it being too easy - there are three difficulty settings, and the highest is a real challenge, particularly solo. Even the normal difficulty gets really hectic, and you're going to fail levels even if you're a decent Splatoon player.
Yeah, I'm not sure I'd say it's too easy - I don't tend to play precision shooter games like this on a pad (I'd prefer mouse/keys) but even with my general pad like ineptitude, on the middle difficulty, on the more high rated maps it seems pretty difficult to me, Splatoon-veteran or not.
It was a comment on rllmuk that made it click in the end - it's basically Destiny, but done by Nintendo and far more respectful of your time. At first I found the really short levels a bit weird - like "that's it?". But as I've played more I've found it just sort of distils the bits you play those bigger games for and cuts all the chaff out. It has the same ebb and flow as Destiny too - the bits on the ship are where you take a breath and tinker, and once you're happy, select a mission and see whether the build works. Only, unlike Destiny, this loop is literally 5-10 minutes, not an hour.
I could REALLY do without the yapping, but the core gameplay loop is crack-like. If they ever do a Destiny 3, I'd force every one of the devs to play this for a month before they were allowed to code anything.
Incidentally, Unicorn Overlord is on special on the Switch/Switch 2. I like a Vanillaware game (even though you wouldn't want to play them in front of anyone thanks to the sometimes questionable anime outfits in it) and this one has absolutely RAVE reviews.
It's a strange mix of almost an RTS, with a side scrolling fighter/action RPG. I've only played it for a bit, but it looks absolutely glorious and I can't think of another game quite like it. I'm not sure if it runs better on S2 than S1, but it seems locked at 60fps too. Voice acting is hammy and British. Story is a bit bobbins. But the game itself, well, like I say, I can't really think of anything quite like it (maybe the Tales games, crossed with an RTS?) and all the systems seem really interesting. It also has a lovely onboarding curve to it, slowly explaining the mechanics, but not in an infuriating way.
Yeah, I dunno. Sort of feels like one of those games that is probably about 10 people's favourite game of all time, but most people have never heard of.
I loved Unicorn Overlord, despite its atrocious title. The combination RTS/Fire Emblem battles, powered by the Gambits system from FFXII, could maybe have been more challenging—hardcore gamers might find it a bit on the easy side— but it was better than 13 Sentinels' brainless combat at least, even if I don't recall ever feeling overly pressured in the main campaign.
From memory its anime outfits aren't so bad, either.
Hearing that if you have the storage space aside for it, the version of FFXIV on Switch 2 is pretty good, really happy to hear it. The idea that someone is going to play that game on handheld in bed, through four free expansions sounds actually insanely good. Honestly, levelling up Miner and Leatherworker and the like on it in bed every night sounds VERY tempting.
I regularly play it on the Deck using Xbox Cloud Gaming and it works really well. I think the Switch 2 version will be a big hit.
I'm really enjoying Splatoon Raiders still. it's as if someone has distilled the bloat of Borderlands into a game you can play in tiny little blasts. I do find myself coming back to it a lot, as you can go through an entire level, grab some loot and then rebuild your character in about 15 minutes. It's incredibly respectful of your time.
Mario Kart 8 is getting an update on Switch 2!
8 player split screen
A 96 track championship
Sharper graphics
and
All cars are 1 coin faster!
Okay, I said it was too soon to judge the OoT remake from that Link teaser but now we've seen gameplay that OoT remakes visual style is kind of ugly, wow
I thought it looked incredible, really excited. Want that console too.
I thought it looked great, I’m just ever so slightly disappointed it appears to be a straight remake given that I replayed a big chunk of the N64 version this year before the rerelease was announced.
Not to repeat opinions I've seen online but Kokiri was definitely giving the 'Focus M' Mario video vibes for me, Link was also weirdly doll like compared to other character models. If it plays well I'm sure I can enjoy it but I'm a bit surprised this UE style is what they've gone for
I'm getting a really strong, visceral discomfort from that kid Link, and while I'm not sure exactly why, I think there's something about the big, wet eyes looking up submissively through the fringe, coupled with the pink nose and flush cheeks, that immediately makes me think of a particular style of thirst-trap cosplay makeup that I've seen on Tumblr. (I realise that there's no way I come out of a sentence like that not sounding like a deviant pervert, but truthfully I have not sought any of this stuff out, it's just how Tumblr's userbase is.)
Aside from that, the environments are overly detailed in some places, but weirdly basic in others; similarly Link's clothes and gear are covered in texture and greeblies, but the NPCs in Castle Town were comparatively flat; the over-the-top flashing when Link's sword lands a blow. I did think the running animation when Link was crossing Hyrule Field was really good (the shield looked like it was too big and bulky for a kid his size, which I thought was a nice touch).
I've never had the nostalgia for this game in particular that would make me enthusiastic about a remake, but if nothing else this just generally looks like an Unreal Engine 5 fan project, or one of those DLSS 5 demos. I expect a bit more flair or style from Nintendo.
New 2D Metroid and an open-world 3D Kirby game announced in today's Direct. Plus a bunch of updates for Mario Kart World, Starfox and Kirby Air Riders, and new versions of Witcher 3, various Resident Evils, and Tomb Raider. It was a pretty good show, even if it was a bit of a slow start.
Also, specifically for Gar, there's a Danganronpa 2 remake with a whole new alternate story mode.
Anyway…who cares we got a new 2D Metroid!!! I thought it was going to be a port of Samus Returns but I'll take a completely new game! Dread is still one of the best Switch games so I'm even more excited about this then I already would be, especially after Metroid Prime 4/10 was the last game we got.
That was a good Direct, I'm so tempted to drop my plans and start Starfox Adventures tonight! I don't know if it's considered a very good game but this is a game I remember from back in the day, so it's a bit special to me. I only wish we were getting more GC games per wave because they're picking good titles so far it's just 1-2 games a pop is going to leave the GC section of NSO looking extremely anaemic.
I knew buying Witcher 3 on the original Switch would eventually pay off.
New Switch 2 system update enables VRR in docked mode (I think there is a dock firmware update too).
A fantastic feature but in true Nintendo fashion each game will need to be individually patched to take advantage of it and the only thing to support it so far is Welcome Tour.