Switch Buying Guide

Dis cord? I'll give ya dis cord.

/crotch thrusts self off cliff

Maaaaaart. Animal Crossing. Can I use sleep mode? Should I save the game before ending a session? Can I save without quitting?

You can use sleep mode, yes, assuming you're not accepting visitors (so, playing online). You really should save when you end a session. The game has autosave though (the spinny thing top-right every so often) so you should be okay. No, you can't manually save without quitting.

Recursion Island is doing well. I have an axe.

Let's spin this out into an ACNH thread, I think. I'd do it now, but I'm working…

Does anyone want to play some Mario Kart tonight? 8pm?

I would do but I only have the Wii U version, and the Switch version will never get down to the kind of price that makes it worth buying the exact same game again. 🙁

I thought the Switch version had another 16 circuits?

They were just the ones that were released as DLC for the Wii U version.

Oh ok.

Ah jeez.

I have the Kart on Switch and WiiU. But I'm booked up for something else tonight :(

We have plenty of time.

There is so much stuff on sale right now that I have decision paralysis or whatever it's called. I can't choose between Valkyria Chronicles, Torchlight 2 and Darkest Dungeon.

For what it’s worth, I’ve bounced off Valkyrie Chronicles twice, and haven’t played Torchlight 2 (I already own Diablo 3, and that scratches that itch whenever necessary), but I love Darkest Dungeon as much as it seems to hate me.

I’ve actually triple-dipped on it, but none of those versions is the Switch one (obviously), so this is anecdotal, but I have heard less than complementary things about the controls on the Switch port, just to forewarn you.

Same for me on VC, looks gorgeous, never found it that fun to play. Torchlight 2 is decent (has that got multiplayer online - a possible one to play Brian?) bought but haven't started it on Switch. Darkest Dungeon I just picked up on PC, looking forward to giving it a shot.

I did buy the Air Combat game on Switch though. Much cheapness. Much jank.

Thanks for the warnings everyone! Maybe I'll grab DD for my laptop sometime.

I think Torchlight is likely to be more relaxing than either of the others. Multiplayer would be fun if it's an option.

Uno is £3 (or £6 if you go for the bundle). Now THAT'S a good multiplayer game.

It really isn't.

I was disappointed to see that Torchlight 2 has online but not local co-op. I’d love to play something like Diablo 3 with my son but ideally without all the Satanic imagery and general teenage goth atmosphere.

I was disappointed to see that Torchlight 2 has online but not local co-op. I’d love to play something like Diablo 3 with my son but ideally without all the Satanic imagery and general teenage goth atmosphere.

Minecraft Dungeons, end of May. Wait for that.

I was disappointed to see that Torchlight 2 has online but not local co-op. I’d love to play something like Diablo 3 with my son but ideally without all the Satanic imagery and general teenage goth atmosphere.

Minecraft Dungeons, end of May. Wait for that.

I'm so looking forward to that

Diablo 3s story can be powered through and totally ignored. But what about the Switch Marvel Alliance?

Minecraft Dungeons does look pretty good, thanks for that. Hadn't paid any attention to that at all. Looks like it'll be on GamePass too.

It's such a shame about Diablo 3, mechanically it's so good but I'm just not comfortable with the subject matter for a 10-year-old. I mean probably 95% of it would just go over his head but I need to at least pretend to be a responsible parent.

That Marvel game looks a bit janky, anyone played it?

If it's like the other ones it'll be a janky Marvel version of Diablo….

Have you ever played Knack 2? (even 1). Co-op, very kid friendly platformer/brawler/Diabloesque sort of games. The first is quite rudimentary, but the second is legit not a bad game. I enjoyed playing them through with my 9 year old.

That Marvel game looks a bit janky, anyone played it?

Yep. It's… fine? Perfectly playable and silly. But then, I seem to remember you saying he wasn't into superheroes when you brought him to see Spider-Man.

I keep hovering over Divinity Original Sin 2 on the Switch store; anybody know if it's a decent conversion? I don't think I'd ever get through it on PC, but on the Switch where I can hop in on the sofa it might be a more realistic possibility.

Though with Animal Crossing taking up so much time, a multi-hundred hour RPG might not be the wisest investment…

Though with Animal Crossing taking up so much time, a multi-hundred hour RPG might not be the wisest investment…

One and the same, surely?

I just picked up a pixel RPG called Reventure for less that £2 and it's… well. Insane? There are 100 endings to discover, and each follows on from the next regardless of the order you find them in. It starts with you entering a castle to talk to the king about his kidnapped daughter, but who says that's how it goes? So far, I've:

Spoiler - click to showBecome Santa, killed the Elder, changed the hero's name after getting out of prison for the Elder's murder, gone back to bed, adopted the missing princess's cat and died by choking on a hairball and taken control of the cat (because the hero is dead)

I have no idea where this is going, but I'm genuinely loving it.

I keep hovering over Divinity Original Sin 2 on the Switch store; anybody know if it's a decent conversion? I don't think I'd ever get through it on PC, but on the Switch where I can hop in on the sofa it might be a more realistic possibility.

It's not bad. If you have it on Steam, you can link it so the saves go back and forth. You can play it on PC, and then pick up your game at the same spot on the Switch. It's like witchcraft.

The conversion itself is pretty good. The text is enlarged to work on a handheld. The controls are fine, and pretty well thought-out generally. The graphics aren't as nice, for obvious reasons. I prefer to play it on PC, as I think even with the controls being nicely done on Switch, mouse is just more well-suited to this type of game, or perhaps just what I'm more used to. I have probably played it almost as much on Switch as PC though, due to the portability.

It's a superb game, but I haven't actually got very far with it yet, as I've been concentrating all my gaming time on the Shenmue series. I will play it properly though, as I suspect it could end up being one of my favorite games of all time. I have a strange paralysis with it as I'm worried that I've got a really bad party set-up, or that I've picked the wrong character. There are six characters and I want to take them all with me, but have to pick four. They all seem fun, so I don't want to miss out on their stories, so I have choice paralysis.

Depends how into the lore you are - I don't think it's that interesting, as long as you have one or two named party members you'll get certain scenes triggered at points in the game, but they're hardly mind-blowingly entertaining. Any character can really be built into anything. If you're not bothered about Steam Achievements you can run with mods enabled that let you respec at any time anyway, and it's just a case then of buying the skillbooks you want. We're about 40 hours into multiplayer now and I think we all have particular issues with it - mainly around the glacial pace of the combat - but it's a great game (with a large side order of jank and Monty Python)

Is Donkey King Tropical Freeze all the fun the trailer seems to imply? The sale price makes it look attractive too.

Tropical Freeze is brilliant, one of the best 2D platformers ever made. It's tough in places though.

I played an hour of the Torchlight 2 demo tonight to decide if I wanted to buy it. It was fine, but kind of lightweight. Might have been better if I had stick it on hard. I'm sure the first one had more interesting abilities early on. Anyway, I decided I didn't need the full game.

I've gone back to Hyrule Warriors, for want of something to play. I bounced off it first time, didn't even make it past the prologue. This time though, something's clicked and I'm having a lot of fun.

It's basically the anti-Breath of the Wild. It's unrestrained, mental, full of big anime tits, a constant rush to get things done, with awful metal versions of great Zelda songs. (It's actually a marvel how bad the soundtrack is so far, considering the quality of the source material they're remixing.) But it's really satisfying blasting dozens of enemies away with a single attack. Serious power trip.

I've already failed a couple of missions without understanding why, which is annoying. And for a game that relies on its map so much, the map is crap. But it lets me twat thousands of enemies at once, and it's got the Zelda chest jingle.

Genuinely one of my favourite games of all time. It's great comfort gaming, you get to hammer buttons and loads of things go splat while Zelda music plays in the background.

The storyline is bonkers and insane and very good fun in its own right but once you're done with that, go take a peek at Adventure mode and come back when you've seen how much stuff there actually is in the game. It's utterly ridiculous.

big anime tits

How dare you call Tingle that.

A game with so much content I don't know anyone who managed to do it all. I love Link's attack where he throws a blast of wind forward from his sword, it's a real 'Moses parting the sea' moment when you split an army in half down the middle with it.

I’m not sure using the hookshot to PULL DOWN THE MOON has ever been beaten as a special move. Especially as it’s the leering Majora’s Mask moon too.

There's a character who chops that moon in half during his special lol

There's something incredibly weird about the tone in this, and I'm not sure I like it.

I also think it's not returned to the RPG-style battle system of the original and Thousand Year Door, which I find disappointing – though the trailer is a bit vague about actual mechanics.

Sadly, I couldn't tell you because I only found out about this yesterday.

Combat looks like a mix of the old system with a new 360 twist, if the JP video I've seen is anything to go by. I'm looking forward to it.

Which was the one where you had to tap A at the right moment, with the hammer, to get a crit?

I've played a couple of Paper Marios and that was my favourite battle system.

Which was the one where you had to tap A at the right moment, with the hammer, to get a crit?

That was definitely a mechanic in the first one, on the N64.

I've played a couple of Paper Marios and that was my favourite battle system.

We are in 100% agreement.

Xenoblade's good innit.

Much better than the second one. And I haven't seen any 24-inch-waisted-improbably-titted-women yet either.

Xenoblade is great, though it does go on, and on, and on. The opening couple of areas are marvellous though. I played the 3DS version and it was remarkably good, I'd imagine the Switch version is an improvement even if the new graphical style does make all the characters look like they are 6 years old.

I haven't seen any 24-inch-waisted-improbably-titted-women yet either.

Me neither, but I haven't been on the internet today.

I have the Wii version and the Wii is still plugged in, is it worth upgrading to the Switch version?

I'd say probably not. Digital Foundry did a video if you're interested but apparently the remaster is decent but not transformational. There's an extra epilogue but that's not a huge consideration I don't think.

Absolutely do play the Wii game though if you have it already!

Cool. I've started it twice, really liked it both times and never got more than a couple hours in. I discarded most of my pile of shame but this one still calls to me.

I hope I can still enjoy the combat, and lack of welsh catgirls.