There wasn't much new in that Direct to my eyes, with the possible exception of Fire Emblem Engage (which looks good) and Pikmin 4 (about which they revealed virtually nothing). A lot of the Japanese games looked quite generic at first glance, as I said a hell of a lot of farming games and loads of big-eyed anime characters doing vaguely RPG-ish things.
Was hoping for something Metroid Prime related but not this time, it seems.
This has been the longest two and a half months of my life. Good lord.
I joked about there being four different farming sims, but I think they all looked good and leaned in various different ways, with Harvestella hitting the spot for me.
OH. Not in our presentation, but in the Japanese one: Easy Come, Easy Golf. Basically Everybody's Golf for Switch, it's by Clap Handz. Out now. YES PLEASE.
You sneaky devils. I imagine to not overlap with the one they showed already, but sounds good.
No, it just wasn't chosen for our version. Not always parity across JP and EN (though US and EU will always match). You wouldn't believe how hard it is to balance everything so that if the games are different or in a swapped order, the big beats still happen at exactly the same time for everyone…
I was impressed at just how much stuff you fit in there tbh.
I am once again shilling for Atelier Ryza game too.
Thought you might…
I think I partially converted MPH to the fold, but it may have lost him before the end. 
OH. Not in our presentation, but in the Japanese one: Easy Come, Easy Golf. Basically Everybody's Golf for Switch, it's by Clap Handz. Out now. YES PLEASE.
Huge news. Does it have three-click swing?
Haven't stopped laughing since someone on Twitter pointing out that the title of the new BOTW being a factor for why the Direct wasn't shown in the UK, even if it's not true it's still funny to me.
Haven't stopped laughing since someone on Twitter pointing out that the title of the new BOTW being a factor for why the Direct wasn't shown in the UK, even if it's not true it's still funny to me.
This is entirely believable actually! Come on Mart, you must know the truth.
I know I'm glad I don't have to constantly refer to it as 'The sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild' any more, that's for damn sure.
OH. Not in our presentation, but in the Japanese one: Easy Come, Easy Golf. Basically Everybody's Golf for Switch, it's by Clap Handz. Out now. YES PLEASE.
Huge news. Does it have three-click swing?
YES.
The theathrythm and like 500 song announcement was the highlight for me
I bought both versions of this on 3DS so not quite sure I'm up for it yet again but I could be persuaded. If it has a more developed game structure underpinning all the music then I'd probably go for it, but I'm really only expecting a straight re-release with extra songs.
If I'm being honest, Pilotwings 64 on the N64 service was probably the highlight of that Direct for me.
Easy Come, Easy Golf really is Everybody’s Golf on Switch, with a couple of little annoyances.
The UI is very unresponsive, it lags on every single screen. And most importantly, there’s no feedback when you hit a perfect shot. You know that little ‘ding’ that happens when you get the angle bar right in the centre. The thing that makes golf games worth playing. It’s gone, along with any other positive feedback.
Very small, but very odd decision.
I hadn't noticed the latter, because I'm playing on my Switch Lite and vibration isn't a thing on that. Huh. I can see how that might be annoying.
The former though, I see that. The load times are awful and it has a weird suspend option (presumably left over from the mobile version) where it just looks like the game has crashed. I also don't like how it literally just throws you in and has no setup, preamble or any other kind of lead in whatsoever.
Nevertheless, it's still Everybody's Golf and therefore, I'm loving it.
Started playing Ocarina of time on the Switch pass thing yesterday morning, does not fill me with confidence I had to look up where to find the bloody sword because I was just utterly lost! :)
Did you still want help with the Animal Crossing thing, bunny?
Sorry I have paused that for now!
Easy Come Easy Golf: it's janky to the point where it feels slightly unfinished. Long loading times, music stopping abruptly and it has a tendency to leave you on a black screen after a round just long enough for you to think the game has crashed. Hopefully they can patch some of this to make it a little bit slicker.
The game itself is simplified, too. There are no power shots any more, no super backspin or super sidespin and no ability to customise the strength of your shot on hit with a different impact button. These are all key features from Everybody's Golf and their absence here makes the game feel a little basic, it shows its mobile origins a little too clearly for my liking. There's a new mechanic though which means using sidespin adds extra power to your shot - it doesn't quite compensate for the missing features but it's something new to think about at least.
It's still fun though and as with every other EG game, it's perfect for handheld. The tour mode looks substantial, I quite like the multiple characters approach to the game and it's generous with its content - I think it's got 11 courses judging by the menus which is nearly twice as many as the PS4 game had on launch. I'm undoubtedly going to sink a load of time into it but it's not quite the Everybody's Golf sequel I was hoping for.
There are no power shots any more
Is that right? I could swear there's a count on the side (shown as a row of balls) that goes down every time you use a MAX shot, but then goes up if you use a regular shot. It's not the same as power shots, sure, but it's close. I need to play more.
Is that right? I could swear there's a count on the side (shown as a row of balls) that goes down every time you use a MAX shot, but then goes up if you use a regular shot. It's not the same as power shots, sure, but it's close. I need to play more.
I thought that was just a visual indication of how many shots you've taken. Maybe I'm wrong and that is a kind of power shot mechanic.
Looks like there is a decent sale on currently, I finally got Loop Hero and Grindstone last night as had them on my wishlist for a while, would have grabbed a few more games but then had run out of credit and I don't have linked pay.
Anyone got any other good suggestions that are in the same?
I read through the full list yesterday, there were definitely some gems buried in there. Will take another look when I get to work and share a few for consideration.
In no particular order…
Enter the Gungeon
My Friend Pedro
What The Golf
Bug Fables
Ruiner
Both La-Mulana games
Hand of Fate 2
She Remembered Caterpillars
Katamari Damacy Reroll
Mark of the Ninja
Invisible, Inc
Toem
Broforce
…for starters. 
Hand of Fate 2 and Invisible, Inc are two of my favourite games - nice choices Mart.
Played hand of fate on Xbox so will grab that as seems perfect for mobile on the go.
Totally addicted to Grindstone. I am never that great at puzzle or match em games but really enjoying this effectively being turn based so it's easier for me to work out.
Once you learn the intricacies of Easy Come, Easy Golf's swing system (thanks for the heads up regarding curved shot power, Gar) it feels like a much more complete game. There isn't a limit to Max shot power (that indicator on the left is just shots taken), but it doesn't matter as much when you're now taking into account curve, slicing the ball, and each character's strengths.
The only thing it needs – and surely this is possible? – is a patch for the lagginess. Single menu presses can take five to ten seconds to do anything. I'd tweet asking them if they plan on fixing, but their Twitter account has about seven followers and seems to be translating Japanese tweets.
Totally addicted to Grindstone. I am never that great at puzzle or match em games but really enjoying this effectively being turn based so it's easier for me to work out.
Loved Grindstone on the iPhone, although it got very hard quite early on.
I gave up on Grindstone after the second boss, I think… found myself not clearing levels completely and losing regularly, which isn't great. But that's entirely on me not being good enough.
My bad on the Max shot limit thing in ECEG, I realised my error the other day when I went back to it. Is there a point where it teaches you the curved power thing? The wealth of info it throws at you is quite overwhelming at times, and I suspect I've either missed it or it's buried somewhere I've not spotted yet.
It's in the tutorial menu, which is 3 short videos explaining everything. (The curved shot thing is the only new mechanic.) It's hidden quite well.
Basically if you curve the ball (with the right stick) you can then offset the misdirection by setting your angle on the opposite side of the bottom, blue hit indicator. So curve to the right, and you'll have to hit the left side of the blue bar on your third click. Not the middle, like every other golf game teaches you.
Then the ball goes further, on a curved trajectory and, if you time the final click right, still ends up where you want it.
Ah! Clever. I'll try it!
Started "Loop Hero" which I had been looking forward too and am already close to saying is one of only two or three games I have found the Switch is simply too small for in handheld mode to comfortably play.
I might stick this on my steam list as did really like the concept.
Another eight tracks in Mario Kart today.
…AND the Custom Items option for all users, even if you didn't buy the DLC. Please enjoy.
Taking eight years to add that option is a very Nintendo thing to do.
The contrast of the new Tour tracks, which are mostly just streets, and the 3DS jumping, gliding, fired out of cannons, falling off of floating roads in the sky tracks, has made me realise that I prefer Mario Kart when it is on something approximating a race track.
Taking eight years to add that option is a very Nintendo thing to do.
It totally, utterly breaks the game. Saw someone comment on Nintendo Life that people will retreat back to the regular setup soon enough because everything is just so perfectly balanced… you remove one brick, the whole wall tumbles. But it gives a bit more life to a game that nearly everyone owns now, so that can only be a good thing. 
The contrast of the new Tour tracks, which are mostly just streets, and the 3DS jumping, gliding, fired out of cannons, falling off of floating roads in the sky tracks, has made me realise that I prefer Mario Kart when it is on something approximating a race track.
And this is why the SNES version will always be the best version. Those on the N64 onwards just distracted from the perfect core.
(the above is objective truth and definitely not because I'm old and can't cope with things being too lively or different or fun)
Mario Kart Super Circuit is an improvement on MK SNES in every way, and it includes MK SNES.
But other than that I agree.
The new set of tracks are superb, much better than the sometimes half-hearted earlier packs.
DS Rainbow Road, Merry Mountain and Maple Treeway are some of my new favourite tracks in the whole game.
I'm really trying to get along with this new Pokémon but Christ, they weren't joking about the visuals were they. I think this is the worst thing I've ever seen from a 'big' game. Even if they cleaned up the technical side of if (which is appalling) the underlying art would struggle to get a D at GCSE.
I dunno' how far you've got but the game was killing me at the start until I got the main three storylines and the world completely opened up.
Would you recommend it to a newb or should I try one of the others? My Pokemon experience is Blue, Pokemon something shiny on NDS and then Pokemon Lets Go
As a game, the underlying mechanics and content, it's great. As a technical achievement, it's a shambles. Depends which is more important to you.
The first thing.
Separated these out but has anyone tried any other grips or joycons with their switch?
I had the Ryze thing for the original but now that console is near permanently docked as become my kids, I have the skull and bones or whatever they are called for the OLED as they were available in the UK and kinda like it, I like the Hori Spilt pro things but also just spotted the RetroFlag Gamecube themed similar thing, and considering them.
I've got the Hori Split Pad Pro, it's huge and plasticky and a bit cheap-feeling but it's the only way I can play anything even slightly intense in handheld mode.
I do basically just play my Switch docked these days, though.