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91

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Official Sales Thread

« Last post by Enner on April 03, 2024, 06:10:47 PM »

Japan Numbers!

https://www.installbaseforum.com/forums/threads/media-create-sales-week-12-2024-mar-18-mar-24.2532/

TOP GAME: 01./00. [NSW] Princess Peach: Showtime! <ACT> (Nintendo) {2024.03.22} (¥5.980) - 77.562 / NEW <40-60%>

Media Create Sales: Week 12, 2024 (Mar 18 - Mar 24)

01./00. [PS5] Dragon's Dogma II <ACT> (Capcom) {2024.03.22} (¥8.990)
02./00. [NSW] Princess Peach: Showtime! <ACT> (Nintendo) {2024.03.22} (¥5.980)
03./00. [PS5] Rise of the Ronin # <ADV> (Sony Interactive Entertainment) {2024.03.22} (¥8.164)
04./00. [NSW] Dragon Quest X: Door to the Future and the Sleeping Girl Online <RPG> (Square Enix) {2024.03.21} (¥4.500)
05./03. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe <RCE> (Nintendo) {2017.04.28} (¥5.980)

Top 5

NSW - 3
PS5 - 2

(Taiwan)
01./00. [PS5] Dragon's Dogma II <ACT> (Capcom) {2024.03.22}
02./00. [PS5] Rise of the Ronin <ADV> (Sony Interactive Entertainment) {2024.03.22}
03./00. [NSW] Princess Peach: Showtime! <ACT> (Nintendo) {2024.03.22}
04./00. [PS5] MLB The Show 24 - English Edition <SPT> (Sony Interactive Entertainment) {2024.03.19}
05./01. [PS5] Final Fantasy VII Rebirth <RPG> (Square Enix) {2024.02.29}

Top 5

PS5 - 4
NSW - 1

(South Korea)
01./00. [PS5] Dragon's Dogma II <ACT> (Capcom) {2024.03.22}
02./00. [NSW] Princess Peach: Showtime! <ACT> (Nintendo) {2024.03.22}
03./00. [PS5] MLB The Show 24 - English Edition <SPT> (Sony Interactive Entertainment) {2024.03.19}
04./01. [NSW] Super Mario Bros. Wonder <ACT> (Nintendo) {2023.10.20}
05./03. [NSW] Animal Crossing: New Horizons <ETC> (Nintendo) {2020.03.20}

Top 5

NSW - 3
PS5 - 2


Famitsu Sales: Week 12, 2024 (Mar 18 - Mar 24)

01./00. [NSW] Princess Peach: Showtime! <ACT> (Nintendo) {2024.03.22} (¥5.980) - 77.562 / NEW <40-60%>
02./00. [PS5] Dragon's Dogma II <ACT> (Capcom) {2024.03.22} (¥8.990) - 68.592 / NEW <60-80%>
03./00. [PS5] Rise of the Ronin # <ADV> (Sony Interactive Entertainment) {2024.03.22} (¥8.164) - 64.646 / NEW <60-80%>
04./00. [NSW] Dragon Quest X: Door to the Future and the Sleeping Girl Online <RPG> (Square Enix) {2024.03.21} (¥4.500) - 17.919 / NEW <80-100%>
05./03. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe <RCE> (Nintendo) {2017.04.28} (¥5.980) - 9.276 / 5.758.176 <80-100%> (+3%)
06./04. [NSW] Super Mario Bros. Wonder <ACT> (Nintendo) {2023.10.20} (¥5.980) - 8.118 / 1.795.584 <80-100%> (-2%)
07./00. [PS4] Dragon Quest X: Door to the Future and the Sleeping Girl Online <RPG> (Square Enix) {2024.03.21} (¥4.500) - 7.333 / NEW <80-100%>
08./02. [PS5] Final Fantasy VII Rebirth <RPG> (Square Enix) {2024.02.29} (¥8.980) - 7.121 / 305.756 <80-100%> (-38%)
09./05. [NSW] Mario Vs. Donkey Kong <PZL> (Nintendo) {2024.02.16} (¥4.980) - 6.987 / 131.428 <80-100%> (-9%)
10./09. [NSW] Minecraft # <ADV> (Microsoft Game Studios) {2018.06.21} (¥3.600) - 6.563 / 3.476.939 <80-100%> (+12%)
11./10. [NSW] Splatoon 3 <ACT> (Nintendo) {2022.09.09} (¥5.980) - 6.364 / 4.258.158 <80-100%> (+13%)
12./12. [NSW] Animal Crossing: New Horizons # <ETC> (Nintendo) {2020.03.20} (¥5.980) - 6.152 / 7.722.772 <80-100%> (+18%)
13./08. [NSW] Momotaro Dentetsu World: The Earth Spins with Hope! <TBL> (Konami) {2023.11.16} (¥6.300) - 5.878 / 1.017.835 <80-100%> (-1%)
14./13. [NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate # <FTG> (Nintendo) {2018.12.07} (¥7.200) - 4.739 / 5.471.637 <80-100%> (+7%)
15./01. [NSW] Unicorn Overlord # <SLG> (Atlus) {2024.03.08} (¥7.980) - 4.646 / 61.649 <80-100%> (-71%)
16./00. [NSW] Dragon Quest X: All in One Package Ver.1-7 {Dragon Quest X: Rise of the Five Tribes Online \ Dragon Quest X: The Sleeping Hero and the Guiding Ally Online \ Dragon Quest X: Lore of the Ancient Dragon Online \ Dragon Quest X: The 5000 Year Voyage to a Faraway Hometown Online \ Dragon Quest X: Thorn Lady and the God of Destruction Online \ Dragon Quest X: Heroes of the Heavenly Stars Online \ Dragon Quest X: Door to the Future and the Sleeping Girl Online} <RPG> (Square Enix) {2024.03.21} (¥5.400) - 4.453 / NEW <40-60%>
17./17. [NSW] Nintendo Switch Sports # <SPT> (Nintendo) {2022.04.29} (¥4.980) - 4.186 / 1.294.881 <80-100%> (+36%)
18./15. [NSW] Pokemon Scarlet / Violet # <RPG> (Pokemon Co.) {2022.11.18} (¥5.980) - 4.137 / 5.316.689 <80-100%> (+13%)
19./19. [NSW] Mario Party Superstars <ETC> (Nintendo) {2021.10.29} (¥5.980) - 2.986 / 1.416.548 <80-100%> (+5%)
20./20. [NSW] Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics <ETC> (Nintendo) {2020.06.05} (¥3.980) - 2.761 / 1.262.356 <80-100%> (+2%)
21./18. [NSW] Pikmin 4 <ACT> (Nintendo) {2023.07.21} (¥5.980) - 2.756 / 1.192.287 <80-100%> (-8%)
22./24. [NSW] Super Mario Party # <ETC> (Nintendo) {2018.10.05} (¥5.980) - 2.514 / 2.268.357 <80-100%> (+21%)
23./23. [NSW] Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 [Special Price] <PZL> (Sega) {2022.11.17} (¥3.500) - 2.393 / 146.424 <80-100%> (+6%)
24./11. [PS5] Unicorn Overlord # <SLG> (Atlus) {2024.03.08} (¥7.980) - 2.389 / 32.381 <80-100%> (-57%)
25./06. [NSW] Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku: Isshoni Exercise <HOB> (Imagineer) {2024.03.07} (¥6.345) - 2.293 / 23.432 <60-80%> (-67%)
26./22. [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom # <ADV> (Nintendo) {2023.05.12} (¥7.200) - 2.205 / 1.968.334 <80-100%> (-3%)
27./28. [NSW] Jinsei Game for Nintendo Switch <TBL> (Takara Tomy) {2023.10.06} (¥6.000) - 1.986 / 196.015 <80-100%> (+13%)
28./00. [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild # <ADV> (Nintendo) {2017.03.03} (¥6.980) - 1.895 / 2.281.672 <80-100%>
29./00. [NSW] Luigi's Mansion 3 <ACT> (Nintendo) {2019.10.31} (¥5.980) - 1.874 / 965.767 <80-100%>
30./29. [NSW] Ring Fit Adventure # <HOB> (Nintendo) {2019.10.18} (¥7.980) - 1.872 / 3.536.277 <80-100%> (+13%)

Top 30

NSW - 25
PS5 - 4
PS4 - 1

HARDWARE

Code: [Select]

+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
|System |  This Week |  Last Week |  Last Year |     YTD    |  Last YTD  |     LTD     |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
| NSW # |     60.828 |     42.883 |     54.653 |    664.208 |    879.808 |  32.450.864 |
| PS5 # |     27.788 |     26.516 |     38.964 |    473.860 |    823.967 |   5.438.717 |
| XBS # |      1.360 |      1.496 |        583 |     27.637 |     35.780 |     567.744 |
| PS4 # |        250 |        588 |      1.531 |      9.324 |     20.030 |   9.500.383 |
| 3DS # |          9 |         12 |         84 |        156 |      1.366 |  24.601.086 |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
|  ALL  |     90.235 |     71.495 |     95.815 |  1.175.185 |  1.760.951 |  73.751.694 |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
|  PS5  |     24.183 |     22.665 |     34.154 |    396.560 |    697.892 |   4.694.730 |
| PS5DE |      3.605 |      3.851 |      4.810 |     77.300 |    126.075 |     743.987 |
| XBS X |        958 |        817 |        450 |     16.752 |     10.974 |     261.736 |
| XBS S |        402 |        679 |        133 |     10.885 |     24.806 |     306.008 |
|NSWOLED|     46.851 |     30.753 |     36.604 |    487.665 |    532.921 |   6.915.823 |
| NSW L |      7.826 |      7.337 |      7.169 |    111.329 |    153.227 |   5.785.403 |
|  NSW  |      6.151 |      4.793 |     10.880 |     65.214 |    193.660 |  19.749.638 |
|  PS4  |        250 |        588 |      1.531 |      9.324 |     20.030 |   7.924.660 |
|n-2DSLL|          9 |         12 |         84 |        156 |      1.366 |   1.206.141 |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
Peach, Dogma, and Ronin top the charts.

92

General Gaming / Re: 4th Annual NWR Four on Four

« Last post by M.K.Ultra on April 02, 2024, 07:55:20 PM »

As usual I am coming into April with quite a few games already started so finishing four should be quite reasonable, though which four is not clear at the moment. I will throw out the likely candidates:

• Wii Sports Club - I am playing this on Wii U of course. I have been tackling this one sport at a time and treating it like a compilation. I have previously completed Tennis and am now working on Baseball. "Beating" these games is a bit nebulous, but "completing" them is easily identified by getting all ten of the in-game stamps. I currently have 9/10 stamps and just need the last.
• Fire Emblem Engage - I am playing this on, you guessed it, Nintendo Switch. I am just going for all the main chapters and prologues and I am currently on Chapter 23 out of 26.
• Cult of the Lamb - While this is available on Switch, the NWR review mentioned significant performance issues so I picked this up for Playstation 5. I am eventually going for completion but this month just aiming for beating the main campaign, which is about 75% done.
• Cyberpunk 2077 - I was given the Xbox One discs for this and held out until I had a Series X to play the better version on. The game is really long as you might expect and 60 hours in I am only about halfway done. I might try to put some serious hours into the main campaign and beat this to get a fourth game on a fourth console but there are some others that might take this spot.

I will try and report back as I beat/complete games but you can always see what I am doing on Backloggery (link in the signature). Feel free to share your plans for the month or just post as you play.

93

General Gaming / 4th Annual NWR Four on Four

« Last post by M.K.Ultra on April 02, 2024, 07:08:55 PM »

Hey there forum denizens! It's April and you know what that means...time to reel in those Playdates, set those Quests to roomscale, attach those 32x's, and unfold those DS's. That's right, it's the fourth month of the year and a very special 4th annual Four on Four community event!

The basic idea is to complete four games from four different systems during the month of April. This will encourage us to play more games and as well as games on different systems. Feel free to modify the rules as you see fit. You could use the system the game was originally released on rather than the system you played it on. Or maybe you just play four games on four different system without beating them. Personally, I am going to pick some games that I have already started and plan to finish in April

Just post the games you are playing and what system you are playing them on and have fun! I also like to report back when I beat or complete a game and have this temporarily take over as the "What is the last game you beat?" topic of the month.

94

Reader Reviews / Re: Hell is Playing a Sonic game in 2024

« Last post by Dinar87 on April 02, 2024, 05:19:08 AM »

Why.

Why.

Why do I do this to myself? It's past the point of morbid curiosity at this point- it has to be putrefied curiosity, or perhaps, post-mortem curiosity. Or maybe I'm just a cheap sick loser who saw Sonic Superstars on sale for 25 bucks and, after hearing the mild response it received in the form of "uh, yeah, don't get it full price but it's okay I suppose," I decided to test fate once again and throw myself into the realm of kusoge masking as some legacy franchise.

But you see, in subjecting myself to yet another form of torture, I have come out stronger. I know that Sonic can no longer hurt me. Every attempt at a new innovative 3D platforming style has failed, spectacularly, but I still held out hope for 2D Sonic. Even though Sonic Mania was frankly just kind of okay, I believed in my heart of hearts that Sonic Team could take a good hard look at what people liked from that game and maybe implement it in a new Sonic title.

So what did people like in Sonic Mania?

• Good Art Style?
• Good Music?
• Clearly Defined Level Gimmicks?
• A Lack of Pinball Mechanics every two goddamn seconds?

Sonic Superstars has none of these things. And now I know that I will never play a Sonic the Hedgehog game again.

I'm so tired of bad Mega Drive synths being used for nostalgia bait. I'm so tired of 90s zigzags and primary color menu screens. I have never cared about Fang the Sniper, and after playing this game, I never will care about Fang the Sniper. But I just can't stand the idea of spectacle over control any more.

Sonic Superstars allows you to play as "the gang," which should baffle those of us old enough to remember when Sega made a big deal about Sonic being the only playable character in Sonic the Hedgehog 4. Hey, that was garbage too, but how is Sonic Superstars in comparison? Well, it's better. Sonic actually moves like he did in the old game, which isn't like, a huge feat considering some guy managed to do it several years ago. But There's tiny little changes to other members of the cast that make this game harder to control and enjoy, though. It's weird stuff that maybe only someone who is a psychopath that played Sonic 3 and Knuckles a lot. As a big Knuckles fan, I was disappointed.

There are a few things that piss me off about Sonic Superstars. First of all, the art style is plasticky in a similar vein to New Super Mario Bros., but those games had good level design. The revolutionary new zones are all pretty awful thematically, and arguably remixes of classic level themes. Like, Mania had a train. It had a newsprint garden. It had a funky 90's themed music city. This game has... an island. A jungle. An ice. A FUCKING PINBALL "Carnival" but it's just Casino Night- apparently this gets spooky in act 2 but since the graphics have no sense of personality, it was barely noticeable. The utter lack of effort in making inventive level themes is insane.

I mean, I'm just going to go off on the art style for a second, because I cannot believe Sonic Mania beats this game from a visual standpoint. How are we living in a world where Sonic's brand has multiple excellent cases of animation formats and this is the art style they choose for the latest 2D platformer? It's definitely indicative of the developer's previous works, but I had a section planned for a dramatic reveal later in this rant, so I'm not going to mention them here. Oh, and speaking of aesthetic inconsistency, how do you make a Sonic game WHERE NONE OF THE MUSIC IS GOOD?! Sound design as a whole is migraine-inducing.

The level gimmicks in this game are always annoying because they slow things down or are just poorly designed. Some are literally worse versions of gimmicks that have existed in older games- there's rocket sections that you can't control, there's drilling sections with rocks in the sand meant to... slow you down? There's slippy slides that make you... slippy slide. There's one gimmick in zone called Press Factory that felt unique- where the floor continuously bounces you in timed intervals- but these are the rare exception in a sea of just... bland ****. But for each new gimmick and idea, there's something that has already been done, and likely even better. Too many of these gimmicks result in auto-running sequences, which is the antithesis of fun- I like when I build up speed in classic Sonic games because launching myself off of a ramp whenever I wanted was a thrilling unknown- would I even end up in a part of the level that was functional? Old Sonic games actually accounted for this. Superstars does not.

Oh, the stages are also like, seven minutes long. I hate it.

Special/bonus stages! Hey, you want to stop playing a mediocre platformer and instead play some of the most aggravating special stages ever? Okay, let's reach into the old nostalgia bag and see which one we're- what's that? Everyone loves blue spheres? Everyone would gladly do more blue spheres? There's rarely a new special mode that's better than blue spheres? Oh, let's bring back the rotating mazes from Sonic 1 that sucked and give them more cheap gimmicks and then create a web-slinging emerald chase game that is never explained thoroughly in any way and is extremely frustrating! Whoo!

What's worse is that, if you fail the rotating mazes, you just keep doing the same one over and over. And you might say "well, that way you can practice them and get better!" They are not fun. They give you a bad in-game currency that you can use to by costumes, because apparently that's why people play Sonic games.

"But what about the Emerald Powers, Evan? I was promised Emerald Powers! I deserve Emerald Powers!" They too are also bad, and because the stage design is so bad, developer Arzest (of Yoshi's New Island fame!) decided to telegraph when exactly you should use them, because they also only recharge every time you hit a goalpost checkpoint so god forbid you want to experiment with them all over. Oh, also many of them are stupid and highly situational and once activated will help you complete a very simple challenge and then they will last entirely too long. Like, sometimes the telegraphed "use (x) Emerald Power here!" indicator pops up, you use the power, and you just... get a medal. The only challenge was actively selecting one of these tools. God, it sucks so bad.

I should mention that you get about 3-5 second of inactivity when you transition from a special/bonus stage, which is a minor inconvenience that really adds up.

The bosses. Dear god, where to begin? Some are painfully long, some have weaknesses that utilize mechanics that are never telegraphed throughout the entire fight, and some will just... kill you randomly for no reason. I'll be honest, the malice that fuels this rant was started by a mini-boss in Golden Capital, which is a giant rampaging piggy bank that... steals all of your rings at the start of the battle. I'm sorry, what? Why would you do that? How is that fun? Every obstacle it throws at you can just instantly kill you. Since so many bosses have brief periods of vulnerability, also, and the game is really bad at letting you know which bosses this applies to and which do not. See, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze got away with having long, insane boss battles because it was a good game. Sonic Superstars is not.

I did not finish Sonic Frontiers because, at a certain point, I knew what the rest of the game would be, and my obsessive compulsive tendencies would not allow me to do anything less than clear each of the game's bad open-zones of all their collectibles. I frankly thought that would be a waste of my time. But I just stopped playing Sonic Superstars because I wasn't having fun. Like, I don't need to be good at a game in order to have fun- I beat the entirety of Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze and got my ass handed to me the entire time. I played Sonic Colors and was happy to return to stages because they were small and short and offered easily telegraphed goals.

I just gave up. I have no will to continue. If Sega refuses to put any effort into Sonic games, why should I?

It's funny that Sonic Superstars came out the same year as Super Mario Bros. Wonder, because I have done everything in my power to avoid playing both of them because I wasn't sure I could justify a 60 dollar platformer. But I know deep in my soul that I would probably feel better after playing Wonder at full price much more than Superstars at 25 bucks. But that's just a theory- a game etc. etc.

I gotta end this review on a banger zinger like last year's review. Dear god, I can't believe I did this same thing last year. Uh, okay, here it goes:

Play Toree 3D, Toree 2, Toree Genesis, or the upcoming Toree Saturn. They understand Sonic the Hedgehog better than anything Sega has put out in the last decade.

**** this.

As a huge sonic mania fan, I did not buy sonic superstars. Bad music, bad art style and graphics (somehow looking worse than gens classic sonic back from 2011??), bad pacing with some zones only having one act, the boss battles.

Not to mention Izuka calling pixel art "outdated"

I'm happy it sold badly.

95

Reader Reviews / Hell is Playing a Sonic game in 2024

« Last post by Evan_B on April 02, 2024, 12:54:42 AM »

Why.

Why.

Why do I do this to myself? It's past the point of morbid curiosity at this point- it has to be putrefied curiosity, or perhaps, post-mortem curiosity. Or maybe I'm just a cheap sick loser who saw Sonic Superstars on sale for 25 bucks and, after hearing the mild response it received in the form of "uh, yeah, don't get it full price but it's okay I suppose," I decided to test fate once again and throw myself into the realm of kusoge masking as some legacy franchise.

But you see, in subjecting myself to yet another form of torture, I have come out stronger. I know that Sonic can no longer hurt me. Every attempt at a new innovative 3D platforming style has failed, spectacularly, but I still held out hope for 2D Sonic. Even though Sonic Mania was frankly just kind of okay, I believed in my heart of hearts that Sonic Team could take a good hard look at what people liked from that game and maybe implement it in a new Sonic title.

So what did people like in Sonic Mania?

• Good Art Style?
• Good Music?
• Clearly Defined Level Gimmicks?
• A Lack of Pinball Mechanics every two goddamn seconds?

Sonic Superstars has none of these things. And now I know that I will never play a Sonic the Hedgehog game again.

I'm so tired of bad Mega Drive synths being used for nostalgia bait. I'm so tired of 90s zigzags and primary color menu screens. I have never cared about Fang the Sniper, and after playing this game, I never will care about Fang the Sniper. But I just can't stand the idea of spectacle over control any more.

Sonic Superstars allows you to play as "the gang," which should baffle those of us old enough to remember when Sega made a big deal about Sonic being the only playable character in Sonic the Hedgehog 4. Hey, that was garbage too, but how is Sonic Superstars in comparison? Well, it's better. Sonic actually moves like he did in the old game, which isn't like, a huge feat considering some guy managed to do it several years ago. But There's tiny little changes to other members of the cast that make this game harder to control and enjoy, though. It's weird stuff that maybe only someone who is a psychopath that played Sonic 3 and Knuckles a lot. As a big Knuckles fan, I was disappointed.

There are a few things that piss me off about Sonic Superstars. First of all, the art style is plasticky in a similar vein to New Super Mario Bros., but those games had good level design. The revolutionary new zones are all pretty awful thematically, and arguably remixes of classic level themes. Like, Mania had a train. It had a newsprint garden. It had a funky 90's themed music city. This game has... an island. A jungle. An ice. A FUCKING PINBALL "Carnival" but it's just Casino Night- apparently this gets spooky in act 2 but since the graphics have no sense of personality, it was barely noticeable. The utter lack of effort in making inventive level themes is insane.

I mean, I'm just going to go off on the art style for a second, because I cannot believe Sonic Mania beats this game from a visual standpoint. How are we living in a world where Sonic's brand has multiple excellent cases of animation formats and this is the art style they choose for the latest 2D platformer? It's definitely indicative of the developer's previous works, but I had a section planned for a dramatic reveal later in this rant, so I'm not going to mention them here. Oh, and speaking of aesthetic inconsistency, how do you make a Sonic game WHERE NONE OF THE MUSIC IS GOOD?! Sound design as a whole is migraine-inducing.

The level gimmicks in this game are always annoying because they slow things down or are just poorly designed. Some are literally worse versions of gimmicks that have existed in older games- there's rocket sections that you can't control, there's drilling sections with rocks in the sand meant to... slow you down? There's slippy slides that make you... slippy slide. There's one gimmick in zone called Press Factory that felt unique- where the floor continuously bounces you in timed intervals- but these are the rare exception in a sea of just... bland ****. But for each new gimmick and idea, there's something that has already been done, and likely even better. Too many of these gimmicks result in auto-running sequences, which is the antithesis of fun- I like when I build up speed in classic Sonic games because launching myself off of a ramp whenever I wanted was a thrilling unknown- would I even end up in a part of the level that was functional? Old Sonic games actually accounted for this. Superstars does not.

Oh, the stages are also like, seven minutes long. I hate it.

Special/bonus stages! Hey, you want to stop playing a mediocre platformer and instead play some of the most aggravating special stages ever? Okay, let's reach into the old nostalgia bag and see which one we're- what's that? Everyone loves blue spheres? Everyone would gladly do more blue spheres? There's rarely a new special mode that's better than blue spheres? Oh, let's bring back the rotating mazes from Sonic 1 that sucked and give them more cheap gimmicks and then create a web-slinging emerald chase game that is never explained thoroughly in any way and is extremely frustrating! Whoo!

What's worse is that, if you fail the rotating mazes, you just keep doing the same one over and over. And you might say "well, that way you can practice them and get better!" They are not fun. They give you a bad in-game currency that you can use to by costumes, because apparently that's why people play Sonic games.

"But what about the Emerald Powers, Evan? I was promised Emerald Powers! I deserve Emerald Powers!" They too are also bad, and because the stage design is so bad, developer Arzest (of Yoshi's New Island fame!) decided to telegraph when exactly you should use them, because they also only recharge every time you hit a goalpost checkpoint so god forbid you want to experiment with them all over. Oh, also many of them are stupid and highly situational and once activated will help you complete a very simple challenge and then they will last entirely too long. Like, sometimes the telegraphed "use (x) Emerald Power here!" indicator pops up, you use the power, and you just... get a medal. The only challenge was actively selecting one of these tools. God, it sucks so bad.

I should mention that you get about 3-5 second of inactivity when you transition from a special/bonus stage, which is a minor inconvenience that really adds up.

The bosses. Dear god, where to begin? Some are painfully long, some have weaknesses that utilize mechanics that are never telegraphed throughout the entire fight, and some will just... kill you randomly for no reason. I'll be honest, the malice that fuels this rant was started by a mini-boss in Golden Capital, which is a giant rampaging piggy bank that... steals all of your rings at the start of the battle. I'm sorry, what? Why would you do that? How is that fun? Every obstacle it throws at you can just instantly kill you. Since so many bosses have brief periods of vulnerability, also, and the game is really bad at letting you know which bosses this applies to and which do not. See, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze got away with having long, insane boss battles because it was a good game. Sonic Superstars is not.

I did not finish Sonic Frontiers because, at a certain point, I knew what the rest of the game would be, and my obsessive compulsive tendencies would not allow me to do anything less than clear each of the game's bad open-zones of all their collectibles. I frankly thought that would be a waste of my time. But I just stopped playing Sonic Superstars because I wasn't having fun. Like, I don't need to be good at a game in order to have fun- I beat the entirety of Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze and got my ass handed to me the entire time. I played Sonic Colors and was happy to return to stages because they were small and short and offered easily telegraphed goals.

I just gave up. I have no will to continue. If Sega refuses to put any effort into Sonic games, why should I?

It's funny that Sonic Superstars came out the same year as Super Mario Bros. Wonder, because I have done everything in my power to avoid playing both of them because I wasn't sure I could justify a 60 dollar platformer. But I know deep in my soul that I would probably feel better after playing Wonder at full price much more than Superstars at 25 bucks. But that's just a theory- a game etc. etc.

I gotta end this review on a banger zinger like last year's review. Dear god, I can't believe I did this same thing last year. Uh, okay, here it goes:

Play Toree 3D, Toree 2, Toree Genesis, or the upcoming Toree Saturn. They understand Sonic the Hedgehog better than anything Sega has put out in the last decade.

**** this.

96

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Boredom and Nintendo

« Last post by Dinar87 on April 01, 2024, 12:29:49 PM »

I think that extra power for the GameCube might be another reason why it gets more fondly remembered for that era. 

It's the entire reason.  Most people get hung up on the fact that the Gamecube was comparable to the competitors while Nintendo has been a generation behind since.  But completely ignored Nintendo's decision to use mini Disc instead of the standard DVD's like Sony/Microsoft combined with the systems lackluster sales made many third parties completely ignore the system because it wasn't worth the hassle.

The Switch on the other hand despite being a generation behind, was designed to handle the various game engines that most developers were using, so they could scale their games to run on the Switch much easier.  So even before the Switch gained the massive sales it did, many third parties where able to have games ready for the system even if they didn't have much faith in it because it was easier to port games for it then they could back in the Gamecube era.  And then when the Switch gained the massive sales it did, we started seeing ports of some of the more popular titles from the PS4 era because the hardware once again allowed for such a thing.

This is why when I've seen comments from some Gamecube fans saying the Gamecube was the last Nintendo system to have good third party support I have to roll my eyes so hard they literally fall out of my head.  The Gamecube was still Nintendo designing hardware for their own developers without a thought to third parties.  The Switch on the other hand was the first Nintendo system actually designed with third party support in mind and as a result, has by far the best third party support in Nintendo history.

I don't mind people saying the Gamecube is their favorite Nintendo system, but I do mind when they make stuff up.  Saying the Gamecube had better third party support then the Switch is just factually incorrect, when the actual data shows the complete opposite.


Oh and Gamecube fans are complete fucking hypocrite when you praise games like Luigi's Mansion 1, Wind Waker, Paper Mario TTYD, but then turn your nose at the recently released Princess Peach Showtime.  Quite a few of these highly praised Gamecube titles were incredible easy game, and yet the same people we now praise these games, say they have no interest in the recent Princess Peach Showtime because it looks too easy.  Give me a fucking break.

Seriously, this is why I have no respect for opinions like this.  This are the very definition of peak nostalgia blinding people.  Seriously, if Princess Peach Showtime was released on the Gamecube 20 years ago, the same people who refuse to play it now because it's an easy looking game, would be praising it as a masterpiece like they do to many of these extremely easy Gamecube era games.

Nintendo definitely got deservedly punished with the mini discs and cartridges, fucking over developers in an evil attempt to stop piracy (which is morally correct). But the games themselves were amazing.

You might be right about nostalgia, but even then the princess peach game would probably run better back then in 60fps as opposed to 30. Hell the REMAKE of TTYD seems to be running at 30fps when the 20+ year old original ran better.

97

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Boredom and Nintendo

« Last post by Dinar87 on April 01, 2024, 12:24:30 PM »

Then of course you can always come to the darkside and start playing Sony software. Some of my favorite games from last gen were never released on Nintendo consoles.

Banned! Banned! Banned! Banned! Banned! Banned!!!! 

There's a lot of GC software that hasn't quite been surpassed or is iconic.

Quality over quantity for the gamecube IMO. Pokemon Colosseum and XD gale of darkness are the best pokemon games and put the likes of scarlet and violet to shame. Paper Mario TTYD is the best one in that series too. Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 both on the gamecube were amazing. Metroid Prime 1 and 2. Pikmin 1 and 2. Luigi's mansion 1 was actually creepy unlike the sequels.

And there it is. The same point I was making in my earlier post. 20 years on and a lot of fans now see the GameCube had a lot of significant entries and high points for quite a few of Nintendo's franchises. It's like a film franchise. For instance, James Bond. There are certain movies that are considered the best, the worst and others that are good and ok yet even some of those entries can be a person's favorite for whatever reason. When looking at series like Metroid or Paper Mario or Smash Bros (or, heck, Sonic too, as mentioned by me and Dinar87), software released on the GameCube for various Nintendo franchises often ranks on the high side or top of the Best Games list for those franchises.

And to add a little bit more context to something and my perspective:

Especially in recent years where there's suddenly been all this Gamecube nostalgia and Nintendo fans declaring the Gamecube the greatest system ever made and how the Gamecube era was the best time, when it's like, are you fucking kidding me.

Recent years? The GameCube nostalgia was already happening after a couple of the Wii years. I know. I've been here and I've been part of it! 

I've mentioned it before but I'll bring it up again. During the N64 years, I was falling out of gaming love. First, it took a long time before I even got an N64. It was basically around the time DK64 came out. There was some stuff that I liked to play or enjoy but I was finding myself interested in other things. My brother played a lot more N64 than me. He'd rent games and I wouldn't even bother to play them once unlike all the years with our Super Nintendo. I can think of quite a few games in which I'd check in on him and watch him play a little bit of something and then go off and pursue other hobbies. Years later, I found myself wanting to track down and try some of that software that I missed out. When the GameCube was released, we ended up getting it early compared to the N64. Feburary 2002. The GameCube really reignited my love of gaming. I loved the controller way more than the N64 one and the level of graphics and what game design had learned from going into 3D just seemed so much more refined at that time. It took awhile to acquire software for it but I would replay a lot of the games I had for it over and over because I just enjoyed them. You can say that it might also be that I had more free time to play games on the GameCube as it was during that time I would graduate high school and begin working but I'm not sure how true that it is. I had a lot of time also while growing up to play SNES and N64 but GameCube software just spoke to me more.

It was that passion for GameCube stuff that led me to PlanetGameCube and posting on these forums. I remember back then how the community was despairing at Nintendo's shrinking market share. How Sony had the lion's share of 3rd party support and XBox was making waves with Halo and online multiplayer while Nintendo was choosing to sit out online for the Cube. How every decision Nintendo made was being scrutinized and if they could ever reclaim the market. I do think a big part of that is because of the passion a lot of us GameCube users felt from feeling that the actual product, the software and the hardware, were really great. It was the idea that if people would get past the "kiddy" label or the "purple lunchbox" dismissal then they would find that there was terrific software on it that was top class compared to what the other companies had. I mean, take away Halo and what other software are people reminiscing about for the original XBox? Most of it is practically forgotten while much more GameCube software, both third party and Nintendo, have withstood the time.

I'll also say that the GameCube is the system in which I've easily played the most multiplayer gaming on. Perhaps that's a factor in my continued love for it. There's definitely some added appeal when you can play software in-person with friends but that was also what Nintendo was focused more on. In-person multiplayer over online multiplayer and a lot of titles were and still are great for that.

Even with the Nintendo criticism on these forums, there was still a lot of excitement over what the next games in a series could be like for a Nintendo franchise and also a lot praise for software that was being released for the Cube. People were often quite happy with what they were playing and talking about it here. Despite the negativity people might feel about Nintendo's future, I was very happy with pretty much everything I was playing for the system at the time even janky stuff like Sonic Adventure 2 or Sonic Heroes. Maybe I was less cynical or less experienced with gaming so it made a difference with things still seeming new and fresh. I'm not sure. Yet, it feels like a lost time in game development when Sony and MS went HD and suddenly everything had to be a huge software seller to afford the development of a title and the market changed in how it made and released games.

When the Wii came out, I found myself disappointed somewhat with Nintendo's software for it and despite Nintendo's goal of trying to win back lapsed gamers, it actually made me a lapsed gamer as I just wasn't liking the system as I did the GameCube and my gaming time went very low and almost non-existent for a few years. At least for console gaming. DS was still keeping me a bit more active. The next time I felt like I had during the Cube year was actually with the 3DS and its early years. It got me reignited again and I really enjoyed a lot of the early software on it. The design of games and their length somewhat reminded me of games developed during the time of the Cube and PS2. Now, I find it comes in waves. If I play something really great like BotW or Hollow Knight then that can get me excited about gaming again and I'll start playing a bunch of other software. Yet, since a lot of other software can be middling then that enthusiasm can wane.

As mentioned earlier in this thread, I've found that Nintendo Directs can sometimes act as a way of reigniting that enthusiasm. Just from watching a trailer of a game that might be a favorite entry of mine or looks like a sure winner, that can get me going to get back at playing games as I wait for that title to release. When that isn't there, which has been the case for over half a year then I feel the boredom that Dinar87 mentions. My gaming time has been very low these past six months. There was a bit of time in mid-February when I wanted to get back to gaming and finish up some titles I'd been working on and start up some new stuff and was playing my Switch a bit more regularly but that enthusiasm soon faded away. It's this vibe that there is nothing pressing to play right now. I'm not missing out on anything. There's nothing announced that's coming out soon where I feel I should catch up on a past title. With all the retro games I seem to be playing on Switch like N64 games or ports like Final Fantasy or Ori and the Blind Forest, it just seems like I can get to those whenever. I've waited this long to play them, they can wait some more before I get to them. Meanwhile, there can be new movies or TV Shows or books that I want to see now and don't want to be spoiled on or don't want to fall behind on. So, these things end up winning my time because the current offerings, particularly from Nintendo, don't seem as fresh or exciting.

There was a great quote from Miyamoto about how games have become these consumables that folks just try once and then discarded but like a great book or movie, they can sometime not be fully enjoyed until they are experienced repeatedly.

TLDR: replay an older game you enjoyed or try out a multiplayer game.

On the subject of time, there are a lot of games I'd like to replay and I have been returning to things slowly like stuff on the Switch apps or in my personal gaming collection. The problem is that I often feel guilty about doing so because there's so many games I've acquired that I've yet to play so why am I now returning and spending more time on something I've already played and finished. Usually, though, replaying a game doesn't take as long as the first time as you know more what to do and how to play it but it also makes me more aware of past games that do things which can waste a player's time which is why I love the save state or rewind feature with the Switch app titles to help speed a replay along. Sometimes I wonder why I'm buying new stuff if I just want to replay the games I already have. Gamers - We're Never Satisfied!

Damn that sounded like a good time to be a passionate fan. Sure nintendo wasn't as popular but the games were all extremely fun. I wish I'd grown up with forums instead of youtube. Modern youtube is an insult to what the site used to be.

98

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Boredom and Nintendo

« Last post by Dinar87 on April 01, 2024, 12:19:51 PM »

I remember getting a little bored in the Wii U days and I think I was just buying and playing the big first party releases. Then I started trying out third party games, replaying games, buying other nintendo systems (3DS), and eventually buying non-nintendo consoles. Now I have way too much to play (link to backloggery is in my signature) and even if there were no new games forever I would have enough to play. I am guessing that some of these options won't float with others as buying other systems takes extra money, so my advice would be to replay some older games. I get so much enjoyment out of replays either going for 100% completion, trying a harder difficulty, using different settings, or going for a speedrun. There was a great quote from Miyamoto about how games have become these consumables that folks just try once and then discarded but like a great book or movie, they can sometime not be fully enjoyed until they are experienced repeatedly. For Switch in particular I have put 50 hours into Mega Man 11 which can be beat in just an hour.

Another option is to get hooked on a game that never ends like Splatoon. I sometimes feel like I could just play Splatoon and nothing else and be happy. Of course there are a ton of great multiplayer games on switch that offer such extended replayability because of the online multiplayer. Some other great ones on Switch include the Mario Sports games and Mario Maker 2.

Then of course you can always come to the darkside and start playing Sony software. Some of my favorite games from last gen were never released on Nintendo consoles.

TLDR: replay an older game you enjoyed or try out a multiplayer game.

I used to be a huge sony fan as well as nintendo, before the ps4 era when suddenly every game had to be a "cinematic masterpiece" like the last of us. Series like ratchet and clank lost their edgy humor. Jack and daxter, sly cooper, etc.. all dead.

99

TalkBack / Re: Late Era 3DS Remake Hatch Tales Delayed Again, Now Due In Summer

« Last post by M.K.Ultra on April 01, 2024, 09:44:23 AM »

Chicken Wiggle has always been on an uphill battle. I am playing through the Limited Run collection on 3DS and this one is next on the queue. If I can ever finish Etrian Odyssey that is.

Funfact: That version of Chicken Wiggle has a gamebreaking bug.

Just the Limited Run collection version? Is it avoidable?

100

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Boredom and Nintendo

« Last post by Evan_B on March 31, 2024, 10:41:46 AM »

Maybe it’s just me, but industry trends are so depressing and Nintendo’s technical issues on the Switch are so baffling that I find myself defaulting to indie titles instead. It’s why my library has ballooned (well, many review copies, too) and honestly so much more enjoyable. Not every game needs to be a 60-70 dollar 500-hour nightmare with bad industry practices baked in, and indie releases usually put some degree of effort into optimizing for platforms in the hopes of making a good impression.

It’s likely why I’m not qualified to participate in this discussion, but also why I find these takes on the Switch so baffling. I mean, yes, the hardware construction/design and overall UI is embarrassing and it will take some considered effort on Nintendo’s part to convince me of an upgrade if they’re going to use the same design philosophy as the Switch, but aside from the toppest of tiers in Nintendo’s library (and not even that sometimes), I’ve found the system to be best for portable, reasonably-sized games.