[Let’s Talk] What are you playing? – August 2024
Posted on 8 months ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Let's Talk | 0 comments
A new month just started up this week. Now that we’re in August, we want to know what you’ve been playing.
Have you been busy with Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition? How about other games like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate or Star Wars: Bounty Hunter? No matter the case, let us know in the comments below.
Cutting the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster in half
Posted on 8 months ago by Ethan in Features, General Nintendo | 0 comments
At the time of writing, we’re kind of in a dull spot for the Super Smash Bros. series. Ultimate’s DLC ended several years ago, cementing that title as the franchise’s definitive entry. We’re left wondering – what’s next for Smash? An enhanced port that retains all of the characters plus a few new ones, or a complete reboot with fewer characters? No one knows what’s next, but just for the fun of it, we’re going to speculate on which characters are most likely to stay or leave for Smash’s next entry.
Revamping Kirby’s moveset in Super Smash Bros.
Posted on 9 months ago by Ethan in Features, General Nintendo | 0 comments
If you’re familiar with developer talk centered around Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, you might recall game director Masahiro Sakurai saying that Kirby is one of the most challenging fighters to develop – especially in Smash Bros. games with DLC characters. This is because Kirby has a unique neutral special for every single character, and each one gives him a unique hat to wear. Given that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has well over seventy characters, that means over 80 unique hats for Kirby were needed – plus seventy “Kirby-ified” versions of the corresponding moves.
At the time of writing, we’re not sure what the next Super Smash Bros. game will look like. Will it be a port of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for the next hardware with even more characters? Or will it be sort of a soft reboot of the franchise with fewer characters, but new movesets for the returning ones? Whichever the case may be, we’ve come up with a new Copy Ability system for Kirby that would most likely make developing his character easier while remaining true to his series.
More: highlight, Kirby, Super Smash Bros., top
[Let’s Talk] Which Nintendo franchise should be revived?
Posted on 9 months ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Let's Talk | 0 comments
These days, it feels like anything has a chance of returning. Looking at Nintendo specifically, the company just recently announced Emio: The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club, which is the series’ first new game in three decades. Mario & Luigi is also making a comeback after nearly a decade (again we’re talking new here), and this is after many thought the franchise could be dead since developer AlphaDream shuttered. We’ve seen other examples as well such as Kid Icarus: Uprising on 3DS, which followed Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters on Game Boy way back in 1991.
Nintendo has plenty of series it could return to. There are more obscure names like Ice Climber and StarTropics, but things have even been quiet for others such as Donkey Kong Country (though we’re at least getting Returns HD at the start of next year) and Star Fox.
What are your thoughts here? Is there a certain Nintendo game or franchise you’d like to see return? Let us know in the comments.
[Review] Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown – Deluxe Edition
Posted on 9 months ago by Nicholas Serpa in Reviews, Switch | 0 comments
System: Switch
Release date: July 11, 2024
Developer: Project Aces / Future Tech Lab
Publisher: Bandai Namco
While the Switch may be feeling a bit long in the tooth these days, leave it to Bandai Namco to swing for the fences with an incredibly ambitious port in the tail end of the console’s life. There’s nothing quite like Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown on the platform – dogfighting games are a rare breed in general, these days – and Ace Combat has always been a singular experience, melding fast and frenetic aerial gunplay with schlocky, yet surprisingly captivating storytelling. I’m a fan of the genre as a whole, so I was excited to see how the game would play on the Switch in what Bandai Namco is calling the game’s Deluxe Edition. While this version of Ace Combat 7 certainly is held back by the raw power of the Switch, it’s also an impressive port that retains the white-knuckle gameplay of the original release, and it captivated and challenged me from start to finish.
[Rapid Review] Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition
Posted on 9 months ago by Ethan in Reviews, Switch | 0 comments
System: Switch
Release date: July 18, 2024
Developer: Nintendo / indieszero
Publisher: Nintendo
Nintendo World Championships NES Edition was revealed by surprise a few months back, and now it’s finally available. In a way, this game is a kind of spiritual successor to the NES Remix games on Wii U and 3DS – they’re all made by the same developer, in fact. This time around, though, the game focuses on taking a more competitive approach to the genre. In doing so, it makes itself accessible to both casual and hardcore gamers, as well as introducing a bunch of classic NES games to a brand-new audience. Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition was made with a wide audience in mind, so there’s something here for everyone.
3 things we want to see in the next Paper Mario game
Posted on 9 months ago by Ethan in Features, General Nintendo | 0 comments
It’s no secret that the Paper Mario series took a steep downhill tumble when Sticker Star first released in 2012. In many ways, it was almost not a Paper Mario game at all. The franchise is known for its story, unique characters, and RPG mechanics – and starting with Sticker Star in 2012, the series lost just about all of those things. Paper Mario: Color Splash was then released in 2016, and while it retained many of Sticker Star’s questionable-at-best design decisions, it was a much better game overall. Then we got Paper Mario: The Origami King in 2020, which actually introduced more than one original character for the first time in years. To everyone’s surprise, the next Paper Mario game was a remake of The Thousand-Year Door, with no original characters cut in any way. Between this and the revival of Super Mario RPG, things are looking better for the Paper Mario series. But what could we expect out of a future game in the series?
More: highlight, Intelligent Systems, Paper Mario, top
Best Pokemon games of all time, ranked
Posted on 9 months ago by Ethan in 3DS, DS, Features, Switch | 0 comments
Today, we’re going over the best Pokemon games of all time – more specifically, the top 10 main series Pokemon games. Spin-offs don’t count for this particular list, but there are definitely plenty of those that are more than worth playing in the modern day.
The Pokemon series is, in a way, difficult to write about. At present, the series isn’t quite in a lull, per se, but it’s also most certainly not at its peak. Developing games is difficult, and for a never-ending media franchise like Pokemon, deadlines can be tough to meet. Over the past few years, titles like Sword and Shield and especially Scarlet and Violet have drawn criticism for several reasons. Though the design quality of individual Pokemon has remained strong, things like the graphics, performance, and postgame content have become somewhat inconsistent. This leads us to ask: what do you think are the best Pokemon games of all time? We’ve made our own list, so be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
More: Game Freak, highlight, Pokemon, top
[Review] Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate
Posted on 9 months ago by Dawn in Reviews, Switch | 0 comments
System: Switch
Release date: July 17, 2024
Developer: Super Evil Megacorp
Publisher: Super Evil Megacorp
Since their debut in the 1980s, it feels as though the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have always been around in some form or another, undergoing a complete visual reboot every few years to appeal to a new audience. Despite this, the franchise as a whole has remained remarkably consistent in terms of characterization, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate is another iteration of the four iconic brothers. As a roguelite, it is also an interesting pivot away from the arcade and beat ’em up titles that they typically star in.
Examining the lore of Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Posted on 9 months ago by Ethan in Features, Switch | 0 comments
The Xenoblade Chronicles 3 art book was released a few months back, and in addition to providing an in-depth look at character designs, it also provided a huge amount of lore via its included interviews. Xenoblade Chronicles games are famous for their lore, and all 3 numbered titles provide story tidbits at the end that sort of re-contextualize cutscenes from earlier in the game. The interviews included in the art book are with game director Tetsuya Takahashi, and a good chunk of the new lore he reveals in them re-contextualizes certain cutscenes from Xenoblade Chronicles 3 in the same way. Today, we’re looking at the Xenoblade 3 art book and all of the new story details – and what they mean for the game’s overarching plot. This will contain full spoilers for Xenoblade Chronicles 1, 2, and 3, so keep that in mind before you continue.
