[Let’s Talk] What are you playing? – January 2024
A new month – along with a new year – started up this week. Now that we’re in January, we want to know what you’ve been playing.
With game releases slowing down in December, have you started anything in your backlog? Maybe you’re now going through something you received during the holidays? No matter the case, let us know in the comments.
Highlights from last week’s topic: 2024 hopes and dreams for Nintendo
Stephen Yap
Here are my hopes and dreams for Nintendo in the following year (and onward, for that matter):
1. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door being more than a simple remake
I do like the enhanced graphics and other added presentational features, alongside the “Tattle Log” option in battles…but I hope the additions go further than that. Let us undertake more than one side quest at once from the Trouble Center. Make the “Double Pain” badge available at the start (and for free). Increase the coin counter beyond 999. Add a bit more exclusive content. Maybe add some elements to alleviate most of the game’s backtracking. etc.
2. Just reveal the next-gen Switch successor…
We all know you have a next-gen successor planned for the Switch, Nintendo. 2024 is the year for it. Just open the curtains for it. On a related note…
3. Princess Peach: Showtime! being decent at the least
I’m willing to give up the crazy-fun platformer Super Princess Peach on Nintendo DS if this upcoming Princess Peach: Showtime! manages to be decent at the least, especially on each of the “plays” the game presents. Personally, this upcoming title renewed my faith for the Switch as a whole because this game (so far, by the latest footage and info) seems to be the type of game I missed from the DS/Wii/3DS/Wii U days, something that I rarely found with the Switch, despite having some good ones to me on the way. Regardless, please be good, game.
4. Re-manage Nintendo Switch Online
Look, guys: I like Nintendo Switch Online myself and y’all can bet that I’ll be subscribed to this service for the next generation and onward…but this service is far from great, in my opinion. Nintendo still has more of their own first-party games left to add to the catalog of its past systems (Zoda’s Revenge: StarTropics II on NES, Wario’s Woods on SNES with its VS CPU mode that the NES version lacks, Super Mario Land on Game Boy, etc.), there needs to be a “roadmap” of sorts to give us a clue on which part of the service is getting what and whatsoever, Game Trials need to occur more often, etc.
5. Another mainline Kirby game (…or at the least, an announcement of one)
This should go without saying, but I’m sure HAL Laboratory has something cooking for the pink puffball, even though one of their partner developers (Vanpool Inc.) for Kirby and the Forgotten Land and Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe went belly-up in May 31, 2023…which bites. Either way, hopefully the next mainline game is at least up to the same level of quality as the modern mainline games prior.
…aside from all of this, I’m fairly hopeful for Nintendo delivering to me next year (at least, by everything we know right now). I would add my hope to Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time and Mina the Hollower for being amazing in the end, but those aren’t Nintendo games. lol
Vinicius
I hope the Another Code Recollection is enough of a sucess to convince Nintendo to invest in remake/collections for The Kyle Hide Saga and some other more obscure games I can’t recall right now.
A HD remaster of The Last Story and Pandora’s Tower. The first allowing for Offline MP with bots and allowing us to get the MP exclusive weapons offline.
Nintendo finally bringing Buddy Mission Bond to the west.
Right now this every Nintendo specific thing I want.
Locky Mavo
New console announcement
Metroid Prime 4
Expand NSO with GameCube, Wii, DS & 3DS
More dormant series revivals (F-Zero, 1080, Custom Robo)
Nintendo’s putting pressure on GameFreak to up their quality 100 fold on the next Pokémon game, whether that being putting more developers on it (Monolith would be good), make it a longer development time, or preferably both.
Purchase the TimeSplitters IP.
Andrew
I have a pipe dream that people will have the option of buying retro games separately from NSO. Ideally, they’d be able to coexist, with casual players getting the subscription and dedicated gamers able to buy select titles, but that probably won’t happen. I think NSO is okay, but I’m sick of everyone trying to have their own subscription service, and Nintendo’s could have a lot of improvements.
I’d like smaller, more quirkier releases akin to the 3DS days, or at least new releases from those entries, like Harmoknight or Pushmo. it happened with BOXBOY on Switch, so it’s not impossible. I’d also like some faithful localizations on some older, weirder titles that never made it out of Japan. Also, to give a decent amount of advertising to these releases and adjust sale expectations based on the level of advertising and how much appeal lesser known games have.
There are a lot of trends I don’t care for in gaming, though Nintendo has shown the value of taking their time with bigger releases. My hope is that this remains consistent, and they make sure that every person working on the game is putting the quality of the release first and foremost.
This can apply to other franchises, but I mainly want Pokemon to have more time to iron out ideas and concepts, as well as properly optimize their games. Also, add level scaling with badges or a difficulty setting. Making harder difficulty levels would address my biggest complaint with modern Nintendo games-many tend to be very easy, at least to me who plays games regularly.
Addy
Metroid Prime 4. Anything related to it, don’t care if it’s not coming next year, just some news about it still happening. More then just a png logo and a development do-over after Nintendo didn’t like what some outsource studio did.
Luke Houser
Honestly, All I want is for everyone to be nicer. 🙂
Not only to Nintendo, but to each other, if not in general.
