Analyzing the art style of every Smash Bros. game
Posted on 2 weeks ago by Ethan in 3DS, Features, GameCube, Switch, Wii U | 0 comments
It’s been many years since the original release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in 2018. There’s been no official announcement for a new game at the time of writing, but the wait between Ultimate and its eventual sequel is already setting a record. Indeed, the time between new Smash Bros. games has never been greater. But that leaves us with plenty of time to appreciate the titles we already have, and one aspect of them that often goes undiscussed is their art styles.
Despite being fairly similar to each other on a gameplay level, each Super Smash Bros. game winds up feeling distinct because of its art style. 64, Melee, Brawl, 3DS, Wii U, and Ultimate are all visually distinct from one another, and this is a trend we can expect to see when the next entry eventually does come out. In the meantime, today we’re analyzing the individual art style of each entry in the series and going over what makes each one charming.
More: highlight, Super Smash Bros., top
[Let’s Talk] Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition impressions
Posted on 2 weeks ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Let's Talk, Switch | 0 comments
Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition launched this week, making it one of Nintendo’s last big releases of the Switch 1 era. It’s technically not a new game given that it first appeared on Wii U, but many system owners probably missed it the first time around. Even if you’ve played it before, there’s new content to go through – not to mention the game has received a ton of improvements.
If you’ve started playing Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition this week, what are your thought thus far? Are you a new or returning player? Let us know in the comments.
Highlights from last week’s topic: Games you can’t believe exist
Stephen Yap
I still can’t believe Atelier Sophie ~The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book~ got a 2022 interquel with Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream, but that’s mainly because while I wasn’t fully a fan of the Atelier series myself, it became my favorite Atelier game (and Switch RPG) and one of my absolute favorite games of all time. It was seemingly an Atelier game that was built specifically for me and therefore, I had a lot of fun with it left and right.
Shmuel McConen
Metroid Prime 4 is too easy, so let’s go with Suikoden 1&2 remasters.
Nate
New Pokemon Snap is the biggest gaming surprise sequel I’ve ever seen. It’s also such an amazing game and well worth the wait to finally get a sequel.
theFooFighter
Emio the smiling man is probably the most out of nowhere revival Nintendo has ever done. Or honestly the fact that they remade and localized the first 2 famicom detective club games is also wild.
Luke Houser
Saga Scarlet Embrace is still kind of a surprise to me today. Saga is easily getting more attention, but I never quite suspected that the oldest JRPG series to be about as open world as Elder Scrolls still has made entries after the early 2000s, let alone so heavily after around 2004 or something.
The most and least useful amiibo figures ever released
Posted on 2 weeks ago by Ethan in Features, General Nintendo, Switch | 0 comments
With confirmation that the Nintendo Switch 2 is backwards compatible with Switch software, it’s safe to assume that includes amiibo – and if that’s true, then it’s also safe to assume that Nintendo’s signature lineup of toys-to-life figurines isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. That being said, there are hundreds of amiibo figures to choose from, and that’s not even including amiibo cards. So today, we’re analyzing which specific figures are the most useful across many Nintendo games. And although we did look at eight of the most useless amiibo almost a year ago, we’ll also be determining the definitive most useless amiibo today.
4 ways the next Animal Crossing could improve multiplayer
Posted on 3 weeks ago by Ethan in Features, General Nintendo, Switch | 0 comments
One of the most highly-criticized features of Animal Crossing: New Horizons is its multiplayer system. Strangely enough, though, multiplayer was also one of the reasons the game became such a runaway success. It released during the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, which played a big part in why New Horizons sold almost 50 million units. Players were able to use Animal Crossing as something of a communication medium during this time – where people couldn’t meet up and hang out in real life, they still could in Animal Crossing to an extent. That being said, once players actually visited each others’ islands, they found that there wasn’t all that much to do. You could take others on a quick tour of your island, but that wouldn’t take much time After that, all that’s left is to walk around and look at things. Animal Crossing’s multiplayer has always been like this, to an extent, but its shallowness kind of hit a peak with New Horizons.
So today, we’re looking at multiplayer in the Animal Crossing series and how Nintendo could improve it for the next game in the series. There’s real potential for something great here, and we have some ideas on how to make it much better.
[Let’s Talk] Games you can’t believe exist
Posted on 3 weeks ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Let's Talk | 0 comments
Every now and then, a game is announced and / or released that you can’t believe actually exists. This could be for various reasons – series that seemed finished, games that get sequels despite the originals not selling well, and more.
For me, there are probably three that immediately come to mind. The first one involves Xenoblade Chronicles – while it’s a fairly successful series for Nintendo these days, that wasn’t always the case. Fans will remember how they had to beg for the first game to be released in North America. The fact that we ended up getting a game beyond the original is an accomplishment in its own right, but now the franchise has various games and Monolith Soft is one of Nintendo’s most prolific developers. It’s crazy to think about how Xenoblade started and where it is today – multiple games, Smash Bros. representation, and even amiibo figures.
Comparing all three Splatoon games against each other – series comparison
Posted on 3 weeks ago by Ethan in Features, Switch, Wii U | 0 comments
For the most part, the Splatoon series is iterative – each new game that releases is intended to replace the previous one. Even though Splatoon 3 is currently the most recent entry in the series, there are still reasons – albeit small ones – to go back to the original title on Wii U plus Splatoon 2 on Nintendo Switch, which still has semi-active servers in Turf War and the like. Most of these reasons boil down to the unique story modes available in both games, which have unique levels and lore that Splatoon 3’s story mode doesn’t. Also, even though Splatoon 3 is essentially meant to replace both Splatoon and Splatoon 2, there are still reasons to love these two games above all else. Today, we’re going through all three Splatoon games and the unique features they have over the others and asking you: what’s your favorite of the three?
More: highlight, Splatoon, Splatoon 2, Splatoon 3, top
One way Xenoblade Chronicles X can connect to the numbered trilogy
Posted on 3 weeks ago by Ethan in Features, Switch | 0 comments
It’s no secret that Xenoblade Chronicles X is much, much different than the numbered games. It’s also no secret that when Monolith Soft was making Xenoblade Chronicles X in 2015, they didn’t plan for it to connect to future games in the series. But things have changed, and Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s Future Redeemed DLC has us thinking that the studio may or may not try to connect Xenoblade Chronicles X to the numbered trilogy. We’re no lore experts, but today, we’re going over some possible ways that it could be retconned to connect to Xenoblade 1, 2, and 3. We do have to cover spoilers from those games in order to properly speculate, so you might want to come back later if you’re trying to avoid plot details. There are also spoilers for Xenoblade Chronicles X itself here, so keep that in mind too.
Potential storylines for the The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2
Posted on 4 weeks ago by Ethan in Features, General Nintendo | 0 comments
The Super Mario Bros. Movie is almost two years old already. When it first released in April 2023, it was received fairly well as far as video game movies go – and it became one of the most successful animated movies of all time. That said, one of its shortcomings was its story. It moved quite fast, separated Mario and Luigi at the start, and overall didn’t feature a ton of character depth or development. That’s fairly typical for the first movie in a series, though.
Indeed, we’ve received confirmation that there is a second movie “based on the world of Super Mario Bros.” in development. There’s no word on exactly what it will be. It’s probably safe to assume that it will simply be The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2, but there’s a chance it could be based around Donkey Kong or possibly someone else. So today, we’re discussing some potential plot point ideas for the next Mario movie, which we may even see for Mario Day this year. In order to best predict potential storylines for the next movie, we do have to spoil many elements of the first film – so keep that in mind before you continue reading.
[Let’s Talk] What are you playing? – March 2025
Posted on 4 weeks ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Let's Talk | 0 comments
A new month just started up a few days ago. Now that we’re in March, we want to know what you’ve been playing.
Have you been picking up some of the recent releases like Suikoden 1 & 2 HD Remaster, Tomb Raider 4-6 Remastered, or Wario Land 4 on Nintendo Switch Online? How about something from your backlog? No matter the case, let us know in the comments.
Suikoden 1 & 2 HD Remaster review for Nintendo Switch
Posted on 1 month ago by Elias in Reviews, Switch | 0 comments
System: Switch
Release date: March 6, 2025
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Konami’s Suikoden series is not only much-lauded for players of turn-based RPGs, but boastfully comprises a total of eleven games, with five of those being mainline titles and the rest being considered spin-offs. With the original Suikoden hitting the PlayStation back in December of 1996 here in the west, it was a time where RPGs could sometimes be hard to find, with pre-orders being a common way for gamers to assure they’d get to have their own copy rather than being a dirty rental peasant like myself. This resulted in the title being mostly overlooked at the time, but having gathered a bit of a cult following since gaining more traction as subsequent titles joined the roster. Teased originally for a 2023 release, after a delay the first two mainline entries in the series will be available for players on modern consoles with Suikoden 1 & 2 HD Remaster Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars – so if you slept on Suikoden before, or haven’t heard of the series this is a very good time for you to see an example of the golden ages of turn-based RPGs.
