Goodbye NX, hello Switch

[SteveGrabowski]

I know this isn't the game Switch owners were hoping for, but I can't freaking wait for Persona 5 Scramble.

With The Last of Us Part II getting delayed until May, I may have to import this one to play in February. A Musou game in this universe with this soundtrack looks awesome. I'll def get on Switch instead of PS4 since this seems like the kind of game that would be killer handheld too.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

For anyone looking to buy right a Switch, I'd steer clear of the Black Friday Mario Kart 8 bundle. It's Nintendo trying to clear stocks of old hardware while the newer Switch for sale in the red box has something like twice the battery life between charges . I don't think it makes sense to pay $300 for inferior Switch + Mario Kart 8 when you could pay $300 for the good Switch any time (the one in the red box) and then go pick Mario Kart 8 up for $30 from Target for BF.

 

[RPD]

For anyone looking to buy right a Switch, I'd steer clear of the Black Friday Mario Kart 8 bundle. It's Nintendo trying to clear stocks of old hardware while the newer Switch for sale in the red box has something like twice the battery life between charges . I don't think it makes sense to pay $300 for inferior Switch + Mario Kart 8 when you could pay $300 for the good Switch any time (the one in the red box) and then go pick Mario Kart 8 up for $30 from Target for BF.

It’s the retailers moving stock, it’s not Nintendo. The BM stores already have the inventory on hand and already paid for, they just want to move it.

 

[Aikouka]

So, I've been playing a bit of Luigi's Mansion 3 in co-op so far, and it's a fun time. Although, I will warn potential players that some of the co-op... isn't very "co-op-y". For example, in the gift shop area, you rely heavily upon Gooigi to clear out all the shops, which are inaccessible to Luigi due to security gates. What that means is that the entire time Gooigi is clearing the area and looking for money, Luigi is just doing nothing. You can definitely tell that some moments were really designed more around swapping between Luigi and Gooigi (like the aforementioned shops area) than playing in co-op.

For anyone looking to buy right a Switch, I'd steer clear of the Black Friday Mario Kart 8 bundle. It's Nintendo trying to clear stocks of old hardware while the newer Switch for sale in the red box has something like twice the battery life between charges . I don't think it makes sense to pay $300 for inferior Switch + Mario Kart 8 when you could pay $300 for the good Switch any time (the one in the red box) and then go pick Mario Kart 8 up for $30 from Target for BF.

Hmm, that's a good point. I do wish that Nintendo would consider some slightly better deals for Black Friday. Although, it makes me wonder if the stores will pick up the slack with gift card offers or well-priced bundles, or if they'll simply go with Nintendo's seasonal Mario Kart 8 bundle SKU? I know that stores have typically relied upon gift cards or discounts on other software/hardware when the manufacturer won't offer good discounts. (You see this with Apple a lot too.)

 

[purbeast0]

@Aikouka Is LM3 more of the same as the first one? The first one I found extremely boring on Gamecube and was super repetitive. I Just remember being so disappointed with it as a launch title.

Since I need a new game for my flight this weekend and next weekend, I was thinking about maybe picking it up but I dunno. It does have a great art style and graphics though. It definitely has it's charm.

 

[Aikouka]

@Aikouka Is LM3 more of the same as the first one? The first one I found extremely boring on Gamecube and was super repetitive. I Just remember being so disappointed with it as a launch title.

Since I need a new game for my flight this weekend and next weekend, I was thinking about maybe picking it up but I dunno. It does have a great art style and graphics though. It definitely has it's charm.

This is actually my first Luigi's Mansion title. Although, I can say that most normal ghost battles tend to not differ all that much as Goobs appear to be the most common ghost that you fight. So, you might find a lot of the standard combat to be a bit repetitive; however, I'd say that the boss fights are usually a bit different where each will have their own tactic.

Although, it's worth noting that the earlier bosses are still a bit simpler. The Pianist ghost was probably the first one that had a lot of unique abilities that required you to play differently. However, the game does do a proper job in reusing mechanics that you gained earlier as part of a boss fight.

So, my overall advice would be to grab it if you're more into the puzzle aspects of the game than the ghost fighting.

 

[purbeast0]

This is actually my first Luigi's Mansion title. Although, I can say that most normal ghost battles tend to not differ all that much as Goobs appear to be the most common ghost that you fight. So, you might find a lot of the standard combat to be a bit repetitive; however, I'd say that the boss fights are usually a bit different where each will have their own tactic.

Although, it's worth noting that the earlier bosses are still a bit simpler. The Pianist ghost was probably the first one that had a lot of unique abilities that required you to play differently. However, the game does do a proper job in reusing mechanics that you gained earlier as part of a boss fight.

So, my overall advice would be to grab it if you're more into the puzzle aspects of the game than the ghost fighting.

Cool thanks for the overview. One thing I read that really makes me scratch my head is how they don't have an option to invert the Y axis. I always play inverted. I don't know if I could get used to that.

(unless they patched this in)

 

[Aikouka]

So, I've never played a Pokémon game before. I think a lot of that was due to never having a Gameboy, and eventually assuming the typical teen position of snubbing them as "for children". Well, with the new Pokémon being on a non-handheld console, I feel like this is a decent time to check it out... however, I've read some reviews that seemed to suggest that it was an "easy game". So, I'm wondering... is this a game that's worth checking out, or do most older folk tend to get Pokémon games out of nostalgia?

Oh, and I'll admit that as a "Poke-outsider", I find the whole two-version release that Game Freak does to be rather egregious. Especially when the company admits that they can't fit in all the Pokémon due to time constraints yet they're willing to release two versions that are nearly the same game but with minor differences. Of course, people suggest that you don't need both, but you can surely buy both together. It kind of bugs me a bit that people think this sort of practice is acceptable these days, and usually toss around an excuse like "it has always been like that". Really ought to change the motto to "Gotta buy 'em all!" (Yes, I know you can trade Pokémon, and that the newer version makes that easier given the online capabilities and such.)

 

[mnewsham]

To be fair, they've been doing the double game thing for years with their major releases.

Red/Blue, Gold/Silver, Ruby/Saphire, FireRed/LeafGreen, Diamond/Pearl, HeartGold/SoulSilver, Black/White, Black2/White2, X/Y, Omega Ruby/Alpha Saphire, Sun/Moon, Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon, Let's Go Pikachu/Let's go Eevee, and finally now with Sword/Shield.

I've played about 2 hours of Sword so far, and as someone who hasn't played since Ruby/Saphire. I'm enjoying the game more than I thought i would. It's certainly easy so far, but I can't tell just how easy it'll be later, you can always rush through without bothering to level your pokemon which will obviously increase the difficulty.

 

[DrMrLordX]

@Aikouka

I've played some of the older games. They're generally pretty easy, and most of the time you only really need one of the two (or more) game versions being sold. It's pretty rare for Gamefreak to put something in one version of the game that you'll feel the need to have from the other. Mainly it was to encourage trading of Pokemon between players that owned different versions. It is a bit silly though.

 

[purbeast0]

I picked up The Messenger and Sparklite last night to play on my flights today. They are both great games and I recommend both of them if they look interesting to you. The dialog in The Messenger is hilarious, especially the damn shop keeper. Sparklite is a great roguelite game. Dead Cells was my first experience with that genre and this is my second and so far after 2 hours of playing I am a bit fan of it.

 

[Aikouka]

To be fair, they've been doing the double game thing for years with their major releases.

I know that they have, and I think that's part of the problem. We just sort of accepted the behavior in the past, and that acceptance has become a bit of an excuse. I was thinking earlier about what would happen if a company like Ubisoft or EA tried that sort of tactic these days... there would be tons of YouTube videos calling for blood. I think that if we're going to push game developers/publishers to have better practices, why do we give Game Freak and Nintendo a pass?

I've played about 2 hours of Sword so far, and as someone who hasn't played since Ruby/Saphire. I'm enjoying the game more than I thought i would. It's certainly easy so far, but I can't tell just how easy it'll be later, you can always rush through without bothering to level your pokemon which will obviously increase the difficulty.

Hm, maybe I'll give it a try. I've always been a bit hesitant due to not wanting to play the games on the tiny screen of a DS/3DS while a big TV sits in front of me turned off.

It's pretty rare for Gamefreak to put something in one version of the game that you'll feel the need to have from the other. Mainly it was to encourage trading of Pokemon between players that owned different versions. It is a bit silly though.

Yeah, I know you technically don't need the other version, and I looked up the differences between these two, and it's really just a couple Pokemon and some trainers... I think? I mean... I'd be more okay with it if you could just purchase the other stuff as like... an extra $5 pack or something.

I picked up The Messenger and Sparklite last night to play on my flights today. They are both great games and I recommend both of them if they look interesting to you. The dialog in The Messenger is hilarious, especially the damn shop keeper. Sparklite is a great roguelite game. Dead Cells was my first experience with that genre and this is my second and so far after 2 hours of playing I am a bit fan of it.

This is a bit of an off-topic remark, but if you want to play The Messenger for free and have a PC, it's free on the Epic Games Store right now. It's a 2D SNES-like game, so it should run well even without a crazy gaming computer.

 

[Aikouka]

I’m kind of disappointed in Nintendo this holiday season... yet also not surprised. I was looking at games that are on sale this year, and pretty much all the older Nintendo-published games are on sale... except for one... Mario Kart 8.

This makes a lot of sense from Nintendo’s standpoint as they’d really prefer to sell the bundle that helps them move all the older Switch models. However, it’s a bit of a kick in the pants to the consumer that may want to pick up the game as a gift for someone that doesn’t need the Switch. I’m not really sure what other good options there are for 3+ player split-screen Switch games.

 

[purbeast0]

Nintendo doesn't NEED to have any sales. It's just smart business.

MK8 is old at this point I'd think you could find a used copy pretty cheap. I haven't played mine in over a year. I don't plan on selling it or anything though.

 

[nurturedhate]

It's a mario/zelda game, they are never on sale and used only means $5 off.

 

[Aikouka]

Nintendo doesn't NEED to have any sales. It's just smart business.
MK8 is old at this point I'd think you could find a used copy pretty cheap. I haven't played mine in over a year. I don't plan on selling it or anything though.

But is it? I mean... didn't JC Penney's folly show us that sales actually increase business? Usually, the idea of putting the game on sale would be to help drum up sales of older games that have moved most of its units so far.

Although, one thing that kind of surprised me, is that I was looking up Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's sales numbers, and I saw that it apparently recently took the title of the top selling Switch game from Breath of the Wild. To be fair, I don't know if this is sort of the effect of being the seasonal pack-in game -- two years in a row now -- or if the game just sells well.

Maybe that really goes back to my other question... what other good local multi-player games are there for the Switch? ...especially ones for more than two players? I think it's mostly just Mario Kart and Mario Party... and maybe a few indie titles? I did see that Crash Team Racing was a potential replacement, but I saw a lot of negatives about Activision adding a lot of grind to the game. Anyway, my thought is... does Mario Kart do so well because... well, it's Mario Kart, and also because it's good for allowing groups to play together?

It's a mario/zelda game, they are never on sale and used only means $5 off.

There were actually some decent deals on other Nintendo titles such as Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, and Mario Party, which had them as low as $30. The awkward part of getting these deals is that they were surprisingly quite spread out. That's a little odd for me as the Sony and Microsoft deals were pretty much ubiquitous among the big retailers. For example, if you wanted to get a cheaper Pro Controller, the only store with that on sale (for $50) was Meijer. Target was the only store that had Mario Odyssey and Zelda on sale for $30, and Amazon had Mario Party for $30.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

Looks like MLB The Show is coming to Switch

https://twitter.com/x/status/1204230503651364864

 

[cmdrdredd]

Looks like MLB The Show is coming to Switch

https://twitter.com/x/status/1204230503651364864

Lol

 

[Kaido]

Click on the sound icon lol

https://imgur.com/a/fFypcAg

 

[DrMrLordX]

So that's what happens when Sega and Nintendo join forces. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all.

 

[Aikouka]

Click on the sound icon lol

https://imgur.com/a/fFypcAg

I kind of wish they would've gone with the Sonic 2 or Sonic 3 boss battle theme.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

The Bioshock series seems to have gotten rated for Switch.

source:

 

[repoman0]

I recently played through most of Pokemon Sword .. disappointing dumb and shallow story, super punchable overly cheery "rival", only Pokemen I like are old ones. It did put me in the mood for a good JRPG though so I've been playing through Dragon Quest XI .. fantastic so far with excellent music and storytelling. Bit hard to get into for the first couple hours but I'm glad I stuck with it.

No idea why Nintendo / Game Freak / whoever doesn't realize their audience is a bunch of late 20s / early 30s people who grew up with Pokemon

 

[cmdrdredd]

I recently played through most of Pokemon Sword .. disappointing dumb and shallow story, super punchable overly cheery "rival", only Pokemen I like are old ones. It did put me in the mood for a good JRPG though so I've been playing through Dragon Quest XI .. fantastic so far with excellent music and storytelling. Bit hard to get into for the first couple hours but I'm glad I stuck with it.

No idea why Nintendo / Game Freak / whoever doesn't realize their audience is a bunch of late 20s / early 30s people who grew up with Pokemon

You are pretty spot on there IMO. I’ve heard similar things from others about the new Pokémon games.

 

[DrMrLordX]

@repoman0

Look at the bright side: you get to play DQXI which is a great JRPG. And you get better music than the unmodded PC/PS4 version.