1
Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 954: Thangsgiving
« on: December 10, 2025, 02:48:28 PM »Whoops, that's mostly on me. Thanks!Not necessarily. I believe James refers to it as Calamity in the podcast also.
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2
TalkBack / Re: Skyrim Adds Another Platform As Anniversary Edition Now Available On Switch 2
« on: December 10, 2025, 07:49:20 AM »
Bethesda is owned by Microsoft, and Microsoft is facing a general boycott for their actions. Therefore, buying Skyrim would not be in the interest of someone boycottting Microsoft.
I didn’t realize that wanting people to not-die was pandering, but I can sympathize trying to find a space where you can avoid feeling bad about the overwhelming amount of awfulness in the modern world. I do think you’re maybe looking in the wrong place if you’re searching for that space on the internet, though.
I read the talkback forum post first, so I was a bit confused by the original comment. It doesn’t feature there, so maybe that’s the alternative you’re looking for?
I didn’t realize that wanting people to not-die was pandering, but I can sympathize trying to find a space where you can avoid feeling bad about the overwhelming amount of awfulness in the modern world. I do think you’re maybe looking in the wrong place if you’re searching for that space on the internet, though.
I read the talkback forum post first, so I was a bit confused by the original comment. It doesn’t feature there, so maybe that’s the alternative you’re looking for?
3
TalkBack / Re: Skyrim Adds Another Platform As Anniversary Edition Now Available On Switch 2
« on: December 09, 2025, 05:37:29 PM »Is there a point in mentioning the boycott at the end? Especially since there is always someone doing a boycott of someone elseI’d say a boycott over complicity in genocide is worth mention.
4
Nintendo Gaming / Re: 2025 NWR Forum Awards - Best Switch Game
« on: December 08, 2025, 07:05:46 PM »Totally valid, but trying to pick the best game from what I consider to be a pretty mediocre launch lineup overall is a bit painful.I am throwing my hat in here, with an update to follow:
The best game that Nintendo released this year was Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition, and it's not even close.
I have issues voting for a remaster as a Game of the Year, just like I don't believe the Switch 2 editions belong here.
5
Nintendo Gaming / Re: 2025 NWR Forum Awards - Best Switch Game
« on: December 08, 2025, 03:55:06 PM »
I am throwing my hat in here, with an update to follow:
The best game that Nintendo released this year was Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition, and it's not even close.
The best game that Nintendo released this year was Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition, and it's not even close.
6
Nintendo Gaming / Re: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond [Insert thinly veiled Back to the Future reference here]
« on: December 08, 2025, 03:51:57 PM »
...Well, I'm done.
I'm going to throw my full impressions here, though this could honestly exist as its own Reader Review. However, I'm going to make my feelings very clear here in anticipation of a future project so that I have a concrete, digital footprint of my intentions moving forward. Enjoy?
I absolutely devoured Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. Like, I ended my first playthrough on the Sunday night after the game released with 100% Scans and 97% Inventory, which is telling. I had combed the entirety of the playable world and pretty much felt no desire to search for that last 3% of items, though I’m fairly certain I know where they were (the giant desert where none of the landmarks show a “completion” or “clear” indicator), and outside of some concept art and a movie explaining the backstory of the villain(?), I don’t really feel the need to clear the game completely.
I… have mixed feelings.
On one hand, I think the environmental design is overall quite nice. Yes, it’s not as interconnected as the original Metroid Prime, and maybe no game will ever recapture the lightning in a bottle that was that game’s world design. I’d like to think otherwise, but we are on the verge of a collapse of the video game market, so who knows. With that said, the idea of Samus visiting locations that serve a function and operate in isolation of other environments is itself a more grounded and logical way to design environments instead of “door in wilderness/ruins opens by getting shot.” What I do like is how much of the world design here is practical. A research facility has locked rooms for storing specimens, performing experiments, and managing power and maintenance. The bike factory builds bikes and sends them along for certification. The mine is a central chasm that had branching tunnel paths looking for a specific resource. They all make sense, and have a lore purpose, which I appreciate. Although two of them focus a portion of their explorable time to turning the proverbial lights back on, they are all paced well and use their environment and theming in clever ways.
Would I have liked a bit more variety? Yes, but I understand that making a biome and populating it with alien species is a big ask, especially when you’ve done it to great effect in a previous trilogy (even better in the last entry of said trilogy). Jungle, Tundra, Volcano, Mine… the only outlier is a forge built atop a swirling storm. Which is cool, but very “element-coded.”
And on that note, elements of gameplay are fine, no, they’re good- it’s Prime, and I think it’s hard to make something centered around this style of gameplay offensive. I’d argue that Beyond operates in a similar fashion to the original, in that it offers some familiar biomes, weapons, and power ups, which begs the question: what does a new installment in this series have to offer in 2025? The obvious answer is “more characters and cinematics,” which some would argue isn’t the reason they play Metroid. I don’t mind the escort sections, largely because the game doesn’t show its teeth until its final act, though this is a normal playthrough I’m talking about. The characters are what they are, and I’ll talk about them a bit more when I get to the narrative.
Beyond is at its best when it is offering the player novelty: Flame Pool’s boss having a Vi-O-La sequence before the boss battle in earnest, for one. The entire Deep Mine area, regardless of its scripted nature, is a blast and ratchets up tension through claustrophobia and overwhelming odds as the enemies get tougher and trigger more incursions via their own behavior. There are a couple of nice wrinkles that emerge in boss fights, but they hardly feel “revolutionary.” Having to morph ball under the staggered body of a heavily armored enemy in order to plant a bomb is cool and risky in the moment, though it echoes moments present in Prime and Echoes. Weaving shots in between plant vines and through caverns is cool, especially in the case of the latter, when it can result in a chain reaction. The most novel the game gets is in the mote gameplay, which I would have gladly invested more time into if the game had developed more dedicated content around the concept. The ability to turn morph ball bombs and power bombs into motes that can be tossed to hit or power long-distance targets is something that could have been integrated into so many more puzzles, yet they comprise a pretty minimal portion of the overall experience.
So what are we left with? There’s a lot here that is the same, and while I know that “dated” is a negative sentiment, it leaves me conflicted. On one hand, Beyond feels nostalgic and comfortable and of high quality, all while not-really pushing the series in a meaningful direction. The Vi-O-La, a central part of the game’s design (especially since a whole biome is dedicated to building it) doesn’t feature at all in the game’s finale. Like, what?
There were ways that Sol Valley could have been made more engaging, and some of the shrine and Galactic Federation rubble manage to hint at this. I was personally hoping that the Federation rubble would be a bit more labyrinthine, offering up opportunities to go out and find a smaller structure in the overworld that provided a similar Prime experience, but those are instead relegated to the six shrines, which are themselves pretty basic one- or two-room puzzles.
There are also times when you can encounter a particularly fascinating Federation NPC out camping, sharing a conversation with him about his life and adding some actually decent lore to the Metroid universe. If there had been about 20% reduction of green crystals in favor of more content like this, I might have enjoyed the Valley a bit more. Unfortunately, there’s a bit too much of those fourteen hours spend ramming into green crystals… or narrowly missing them and having to turn around for a second swipe. And like, I know, the game is fourteen hours and it feels like that bike stuff is wasted time. I’ve probably spent twice that amount of time screwing around in Breath of the Wild’s Hyrule, but that stuff was more engaging. A boss fight is teased in this region early on and it sure does happen… but it’s no more or less complex than any of the Vi-O-La gameplay before it. Heck, the Vi-O-La tutorial introduces just about everything you are going to experience when using the bike, and that is a bit dour.
The Prime series is known for having a dual-narrative strength: Samus is simultaneously solving a problem that involves her being in a lore-rich environment. The plot of the original Metroid Prime involves the Chozo and Space Pirate perspectives on the central threat of the Phazon Leviathan. It was, by design, a somewhat more passive, methodical unveiling of the scope of a threat, and though Beyond is a bit more immediate in its main task, the way it gradually unfolds its mystery is enjoyable enough. The theming of each environment plays into the ways that Viewros has fallen to tragedy.
I think character drama is a tough thing to write, and it doesn’t always mesh well with video game logic and objectives. The character interaction and the motivations of the main… villain here are weak, the latter I feel could have been improved with some reshaping of what is already in the game. With that said, the fact that this game really let it all hang out in its trailers and didn’t have much else to offer narratively is… disappointing. Mostly, it just serves to highlight how miserable Samus’s story really is: an orphaned child infused with Chozo DNA who has encountered a variety of colorful characters, only to lose them along the way. The only explicitly positive ending to any of these stories seems to be Echoes, which has Samus thanklessly leaving after having ensured the survival of a desolated race. Beyond does not offer a much happier conclusion, with Samus having given a future to a dead world’s legacy, but not without having made some sacrifices along the way.
This surprises me, because while I wouldn’t call her a particularly community-focused character, the final moments of this game feel a bit out of place for Samus. You’ve spent the entirety of the campaign rescuing and picking up these lost souls, only to leave them in the lurch at the last second. I was given a game over for hesitating to activate the Master Teleporter and then had to re-fight the final sequence of the final boss. I understand the tragedy of the scenario, but it strikes me as antithetical to the messaging and crux of the gameplay, which is perhaps what makes it feel disempowering. At the same time, it is also very obvious that the Federation members you are working alongside place your survival and mission in much higher regard than there own: this is most evident in the Deep Mine section of the game where they go out of their way to keep you moving forward at the cost of their own safety. So although you have developed a very cooperative relationship, with their efforts being the primary way of accessing Chronos Tower in the endgame, they ultimately feel that the legacy of the Lamorn and Samus herself are more important. That these Federation members who sacrificed themselves might also be temporally displaced brings a great deal of finality to their narrative, though that would sort of defeat the purpose of this game being the start of a new saga in the Metroid Prime series.
Which begs the question: is this game about time travel? While Kensuke Tanabe’s comments have previously implied an interest in exploring this idea, the truth is that Beyond is a game about thoughts and emotion. The psychic powers of the Lamorn are the central focus, particularly because their desire to unite their world in the Psychic Age eventually led to its downfall. A downfall that Samus herself doesn’t really have to worry about, because the green energy that mutated the Lamorn into Grievers apparently has no effect on her. Sure, it boosts the aggression and power of some of Sol Valley’s enemies, but that has minimal impact on the gameplay. Also, it complicates the nature of the green crystals that ensure the psychic memory of the Lamorn, which may or may not also be connected to the green energy they used to bring life to the planet? Hm.
Considering that Samus also learns about her connection to Sylux via this psychic awakening, it stands to reason that the artifact triggered at the beginning of the game is not a time travel device, but rather a warping of spacetime, which could theoretically result in temporal displacement, but the narrative certainly doesn’t seem to suggest this. So, maybe Beyond isn’t about time, which is a shame, because it really could have been.
It turns out that Sylux has just been chilling in the Master Teleporter and in control of Chronos Tower since the start of the game, which enabled him to screw around with happenings remotely as the game was progressing. He comes out in the end when Samus is about to save the day because he’s a bad guy, he then proceeds to use the most unhinged forms of technology ever seen with little plot relevance, save for maybe the ability to create wormholes that are tied to the technology of the Lamorn?
When the first Sylux encounter is revealed to be a drone in disguise, I was immediately suspicious of his own nature and potential history with the Lamorn- I even considered that Sylux was in reality some sort of artificial construct created by the Lamorn to fit their Chosen One role. I’ll be real: I hate Chosen One narratives, and when the Lamorn never outright call Samus by any name other than “Chosen One,” it made me believe that Retro had crafted a bit of a smarter narrative than the one that exists here.
Heck, you even have one of the key colors of Sylux- green- being used as a growth accelerant and cause for societal collapse. But more pertinently, the Vi-O-La suit is almost meant to look near identical to Sylux’s own suit as it develops, with the black accenting mimicking its placement on his suit. I just feel that there was huge untapped potential to make Sylux a similar “Chosen One,” who had his glory stolen by Samus and the Federation as they set about making things right. Maybe it could have involved him crash-landing on the planet in the past and being trained by the Lamorn in a way similar to Samus with the Chozo, only for her to swoop in with this time travel plot and set things right. When the gang came back to the future, I believed that Sylux would see a new civilization restored by and celebrating Samus, thereby fueling his hatred. But no, he’s just an ambitious and spiteful jerk.
So having his rage be the final barrier to leaving Viewros makes sense from a psychic standpoint, which means his survival at the end of the game- assuming he has survived the Master Teleporter explosion- could be the key to a continued rivalry in the series. But honestly, with the tumultuous nature of this game’s development and the implications that has on budget and profit, as well as the way the story overall concludes, it feels like Metroid Prime 4 is not really the beginning of anything. It is a retread of the past, with such strange steps to the side rather than forward that I wonder what enthusiasm might exist for this series at Nintendo, Retro, or in the community.
But damn, does it run well and look pretty as hell.
...Honestly, I'm not done. I'm going to be jumping back into this game probably on and off throughout December while I chip away at the Pokemon DLC, because I failed to get 100% inventory completion and that's going to drive me bonkers. I think I'm willing to give it a go, possibly on Hard mode, though I am a bit intimidated by the final act of the game on a higher difficulty. But all of this will result in at least a 100% Clear review in Reader Reviews, though I am anticipating making this into my first foray into some sort of video content.
I'm going to throw my full impressions here, though this could honestly exist as its own Reader Review. However, I'm going to make my feelings very clear here in anticipation of a future project so that I have a concrete, digital footprint of my intentions moving forward. Enjoy?
I absolutely devoured Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. Like, I ended my first playthrough on the Sunday night after the game released with 100% Scans and 97% Inventory, which is telling. I had combed the entirety of the playable world and pretty much felt no desire to search for that last 3% of items, though I’m fairly certain I know where they were (the giant desert where none of the landmarks show a “completion” or “clear” indicator), and outside of some concept art and a movie explaining the backstory of the villain(?), I don’t really feel the need to clear the game completely.
I… have mixed feelings.
Gameplay
On one hand, I think the environmental design is overall quite nice. Yes, it’s not as interconnected as the original Metroid Prime, and maybe no game will ever recapture the lightning in a bottle that was that game’s world design. I’d like to think otherwise, but we are on the verge of a collapse of the video game market, so who knows. With that said, the idea of Samus visiting locations that serve a function and operate in isolation of other environments is itself a more grounded and logical way to design environments instead of “door in wilderness/ruins opens by getting shot.” What I do like is how much of the world design here is practical. A research facility has locked rooms for storing specimens, performing experiments, and managing power and maintenance. The bike factory builds bikes and sends them along for certification. The mine is a central chasm that had branching tunnel paths looking for a specific resource. They all make sense, and have a lore purpose, which I appreciate. Although two of them focus a portion of their explorable time to turning the proverbial lights back on, they are all paced well and use their environment and theming in clever ways.
Would I have liked a bit more variety? Yes, but I understand that making a biome and populating it with alien species is a big ask, especially when you’ve done it to great effect in a previous trilogy (even better in the last entry of said trilogy). Jungle, Tundra, Volcano, Mine… the only outlier is a forge built atop a swirling storm. Which is cool, but very “element-coded.”
And on that note, elements of gameplay are fine, no, they’re good- it’s Prime, and I think it’s hard to make something centered around this style of gameplay offensive. I’d argue that Beyond operates in a similar fashion to the original, in that it offers some familiar biomes, weapons, and power ups, which begs the question: what does a new installment in this series have to offer in 2025? The obvious answer is “more characters and cinematics,” which some would argue isn’t the reason they play Metroid. I don’t mind the escort sections, largely because the game doesn’t show its teeth until its final act, though this is a normal playthrough I’m talking about. The characters are what they are, and I’ll talk about them a bit more when I get to the narrative.
Beyond is at its best when it is offering the player novelty: Flame Pool’s boss having a Vi-O-La sequence before the boss battle in earnest, for one. The entire Deep Mine area, regardless of its scripted nature, is a blast and ratchets up tension through claustrophobia and overwhelming odds as the enemies get tougher and trigger more incursions via their own behavior. There are a couple of nice wrinkles that emerge in boss fights, but they hardly feel “revolutionary.” Having to morph ball under the staggered body of a heavily armored enemy in order to plant a bomb is cool and risky in the moment, though it echoes moments present in Prime and Echoes. Weaving shots in between plant vines and through caverns is cool, especially in the case of the latter, when it can result in a chain reaction. The most novel the game gets is in the mote gameplay, which I would have gladly invested more time into if the game had developed more dedicated content around the concept. The ability to turn morph ball bombs and power bombs into motes that can be tossed to hit or power long-distance targets is something that could have been integrated into so many more puzzles, yet they comprise a pretty minimal portion of the overall experience.
So what are we left with? There’s a lot here that is the same, and while I know that “dated” is a negative sentiment, it leaves me conflicted. On one hand, Beyond feels nostalgic and comfortable and of high quality, all while not-really pushing the series in a meaningful direction. The Vi-O-La, a central part of the game’s design (especially since a whole biome is dedicated to building it) doesn’t feature at all in the game’s finale. Like, what?
There were ways that Sol Valley could have been made more engaging, and some of the shrine and Galactic Federation rubble manage to hint at this. I was personally hoping that the Federation rubble would be a bit more labyrinthine, offering up opportunities to go out and find a smaller structure in the overworld that provided a similar Prime experience, but those are instead relegated to the six shrines, which are themselves pretty basic one- or two-room puzzles.
There are also times when you can encounter a particularly fascinating Federation NPC out camping, sharing a conversation with him about his life and adding some actually decent lore to the Metroid universe. If there had been about 20% reduction of green crystals in favor of more content like this, I might have enjoyed the Valley a bit more. Unfortunately, there’s a bit too much of those fourteen hours spend ramming into green crystals… or narrowly missing them and having to turn around for a second swipe. And like, I know, the game is fourteen hours and it feels like that bike stuff is wasted time. I’ve probably spent twice that amount of time screwing around in Breath of the Wild’s Hyrule, but that stuff was more engaging. A boss fight is teased in this region early on and it sure does happen… but it’s no more or less complex than any of the Vi-O-La gameplay before it. Heck, the Vi-O-La tutorial introduces just about everything you are going to experience when using the bike, and that is a bit dour.
Narrative
The Prime series is known for having a dual-narrative strength: Samus is simultaneously solving a problem that involves her being in a lore-rich environment. The plot of the original Metroid Prime involves the Chozo and Space Pirate perspectives on the central threat of the Phazon Leviathan. It was, by design, a somewhat more passive, methodical unveiling of the scope of a threat, and though Beyond is a bit more immediate in its main task, the way it gradually unfolds its mystery is enjoyable enough. The theming of each environment plays into the ways that Viewros has fallen to tragedy.
Below are full spoilers for the story of Beyond:
I think character drama is a tough thing to write, and it doesn’t always mesh well with video game logic and objectives. The character interaction and the motivations of the main… villain here are weak, the latter I feel could have been improved with some reshaping of what is already in the game. With that said, the fact that this game really let it all hang out in its trailers and didn’t have much else to offer narratively is… disappointing. Mostly, it just serves to highlight how miserable Samus’s story really is: an orphaned child infused with Chozo DNA who has encountered a variety of colorful characters, only to lose them along the way. The only explicitly positive ending to any of these stories seems to be Echoes, which has Samus thanklessly leaving after having ensured the survival of a desolated race. Beyond does not offer a much happier conclusion, with Samus having given a future to a dead world’s legacy, but not without having made some sacrifices along the way.
This surprises me, because while I wouldn’t call her a particularly community-focused character, the final moments of this game feel a bit out of place for Samus. You’ve spent the entirety of the campaign rescuing and picking up these lost souls, only to leave them in the lurch at the last second. I was given a game over for hesitating to activate the Master Teleporter and then had to re-fight the final sequence of the final boss. I understand the tragedy of the scenario, but it strikes me as antithetical to the messaging and crux of the gameplay, which is perhaps what makes it feel disempowering. At the same time, it is also very obvious that the Federation members you are working alongside place your survival and mission in much higher regard than there own: this is most evident in the Deep Mine section of the game where they go out of their way to keep you moving forward at the cost of their own safety. So although you have developed a very cooperative relationship, with their efforts being the primary way of accessing Chronos Tower in the endgame, they ultimately feel that the legacy of the Lamorn and Samus herself are more important. That these Federation members who sacrificed themselves might also be temporally displaced brings a great deal of finality to their narrative, though that would sort of defeat the purpose of this game being the start of a new saga in the Metroid Prime series.
Which begs the question: is this game about time travel? While Kensuke Tanabe’s comments have previously implied an interest in exploring this idea, the truth is that Beyond is a game about thoughts and emotion. The psychic powers of the Lamorn are the central focus, particularly because their desire to unite their world in the Psychic Age eventually led to its downfall. A downfall that Samus herself doesn’t really have to worry about, because the green energy that mutated the Lamorn into Grievers apparently has no effect on her. Sure, it boosts the aggression and power of some of Sol Valley’s enemies, but that has minimal impact on the gameplay. Also, it complicates the nature of the green crystals that ensure the psychic memory of the Lamorn, which may or may not also be connected to the green energy they used to bring life to the planet? Hm.
Considering that Samus also learns about her connection to Sylux via this psychic awakening, it stands to reason that the artifact triggered at the beginning of the game is not a time travel device, but rather a warping of spacetime, which could theoretically result in temporal displacement, but the narrative certainly doesn’t seem to suggest this. So, maybe Beyond isn’t about time, which is a shame, because it really could have been.
It turns out that Sylux has just been chilling in the Master Teleporter and in control of Chronos Tower since the start of the game, which enabled him to screw around with happenings remotely as the game was progressing. He comes out in the end when Samus is about to save the day because he’s a bad guy, he then proceeds to use the most unhinged forms of technology ever seen with little plot relevance, save for maybe the ability to create wormholes that are tied to the technology of the Lamorn?
When the first Sylux encounter is revealed to be a drone in disguise, I was immediately suspicious of his own nature and potential history with the Lamorn- I even considered that Sylux was in reality some sort of artificial construct created by the Lamorn to fit their Chosen One role. I’ll be real: I hate Chosen One narratives, and when the Lamorn never outright call Samus by any name other than “Chosen One,” it made me believe that Retro had crafted a bit of a smarter narrative than the one that exists here.
Heck, you even have one of the key colors of Sylux- green- being used as a growth accelerant and cause for societal collapse. But more pertinently, the Vi-O-La suit is almost meant to look near identical to Sylux’s own suit as it develops, with the black accenting mimicking its placement on his suit. I just feel that there was huge untapped potential to make Sylux a similar “Chosen One,” who had his glory stolen by Samus and the Federation as they set about making things right. Maybe it could have involved him crash-landing on the planet in the past and being trained by the Lamorn in a way similar to Samus with the Chozo, only for her to swoop in with this time travel plot and set things right. When the gang came back to the future, I believed that Sylux would see a new civilization restored by and celebrating Samus, thereby fueling his hatred. But no, he’s just an ambitious and spiteful jerk.
So having his rage be the final barrier to leaving Viewros makes sense from a psychic standpoint, which means his survival at the end of the game- assuming he has survived the Master Teleporter explosion- could be the key to a continued rivalry in the series. But honestly, with the tumultuous nature of this game’s development and the implications that has on budget and profit, as well as the way the story overall concludes, it feels like Metroid Prime 4 is not really the beginning of anything. It is a retread of the past, with such strange steps to the side rather than forward that I wonder what enthusiasm might exist for this series at Nintendo, Retro, or in the community.
But damn, does it run well and look pretty as hell.
...Honestly, I'm not done. I'm going to be jumping back into this game probably on and off throughout December while I chip away at the Pokemon DLC, because I failed to get 100% inventory completion and that's going to drive me bonkers. I think I'm willing to give it a go, possibly on Hard mode, though I am a bit intimidated by the final act of the game on a higher difficulty. But all of this will result in at least a 100% Clear review in Reader Reviews, though I am anticipating making this into my first foray into some sort of video content.
7
Nintendo Gaming / Re: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond [Insert thinly veiled Back to the Future reference here]
« on: December 05, 2025, 07:55:44 AM »
Metroid Prime 4… good?
Metroid Prime 4 good.
It feels reeeeeeeally good to be back, though there are a couple of sticking points, none of which have previously been discussed. The game is as gorgeous as I have been led to believe, with Samus in particular looking very sharp. I have the Vi-O-La at this point, and the narrative and gameplay aspects that lead up to that point are fantastic. I really love when level design is recontextualized on a return trip, and the region in which you discover/use Vi-O-La does that excellently. I’ve seen multiple “hey, you’re going to come back here and unlock stuff” elements as I’ve been exploring, and yeah… Myles is not a huge deal. I think there’s a tendency to assume that just because a character exists, you need to give them your full attention. People who have never played a Prime game are likely to benefit from Myles’s commentary, but if you have experience in these games and know where you want to go, he sort of fades into the background. Once he’s in his element- i.e. tech analysis, engineering- he’s also a lot more bearable.
Lastly, the lore of Viewros is a bit more upfront than previous games due to the nature of the main quest, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. What I mean is, you’re getting more commentary about the planet and its culture in cutscenes, but there’s plenty of supplementary material to observe, and some connections could be inferred intuitively just by reading logs. There’s a specific lore room in the first region that actually telegraphs the second boss clearly, and it’s neat to see how it was originally perceived and dealt with by the Lamorn. I do also like that the first two regions are sort of opposed to one another thematically.
My personal gripe is more of a new adjustment, which is how you can and are encouraged to free aim while locked on during the first boss battle. I assume this will be less of a problem with the Psychic Charge Shot, but having to aim at nodes on a character’s body while said character is cycling through shield animations was a bit cumbersome. We’ll see if it remains an issue.
I’m absolutely incredibly biased, but I’ve been having a great time so far. Even the ways that some mechanics are streamlined over the course of play is very cool.
Metroid Prime 4 good.
It feels reeeeeeeally good to be back, though there are a couple of sticking points, none of which have previously been discussed. The game is as gorgeous as I have been led to believe, with Samus in particular looking very sharp. I have the Vi-O-La at this point, and the narrative and gameplay aspects that lead up to that point are fantastic. I really love when level design is recontextualized on a return trip, and the region in which you discover/use Vi-O-La does that excellently. I’ve seen multiple “hey, you’re going to come back here and unlock stuff” elements as I’ve been exploring, and yeah… Myles is not a huge deal. I think there’s a tendency to assume that just because a character exists, you need to give them your full attention. People who have never played a Prime game are likely to benefit from Myles’s commentary, but if you have experience in these games and know where you want to go, he sort of fades into the background. Once he’s in his element- i.e. tech analysis, engineering- he’s also a lot more bearable.
Lastly, the lore of Viewros is a bit more upfront than previous games due to the nature of the main quest, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. What I mean is, you’re getting more commentary about the planet and its culture in cutscenes, but there’s plenty of supplementary material to observe, and some connections could be inferred intuitively just by reading logs. There’s a specific lore room in the first region that actually telegraphs the second boss clearly, and it’s neat to see how it was originally perceived and dealt with by the Lamorn. I do also like that the first two regions are sort of opposed to one another thematically.
My personal gripe is more of a new adjustment, which is how you can and are encouraged to free aim while locked on during the first boss battle. I assume this will be less of a problem with the Psychic Charge Shot, but having to aim at nodes on a character’s body while said character is cycling through shield animations was a bit cumbersome. We’ll see if it remains an issue.
I’m absolutely incredibly biased, but I’ve been having a great time so far. Even the ways that some mechanics are streamlined over the course of play is very cool.
8
Nintendo Gaming / Re: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond [Insert thinly veiled Back to the Future reference here]
« on: December 02, 2025, 07:51:09 PM »
Hi Khush! Long time no see, though that’s more on my side. I can’t believe how the pandemic sort of rewired my brain in regards to game discourse, and how I have had to deprogram it in lieu of some personal observations I found concerning in that regard. I’m back here to talk about games because I think forums are kind of nice, actually, so we’ll see if I can contribute to this place in a more positive way.
The reviews are out, and I heard IGN in particular claim that this game is around 15 hours in length. Whether those 15 hours are chock-full of quality Metroid Prime content or not is still up in the air, as their review cited some aspects that I was already concerned with, but at the same time, find strange as critiques. I won’t get into specifics until I have the game in my hands, but a rather encouraging comment from them was the idea that Prime is sort of fitting a linear-3D Zelda sort of niche.
The reviews are out, and I heard IGN in particular claim that this game is around 15 hours in length. Whether those 15 hours are chock-full of quality Metroid Prime content or not is still up in the air, as their review cited some aspects that I was already concerned with, but at the same time, find strange as critiques. I won’t get into specifics until I have the game in my hands, but a rather encouraging comment from them was the idea that Prime is sort of fitting a linear-3D Zelda sort of niche.
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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond [Insert thinly veiled Back to the Future reference here]
« on: November 21, 2025, 07:37:50 PM »
As surreal as it feels to say this, we’re less than two weeks away from release and I personally haven’t wavered in my excitement. I wanted to pivot from the silliness of this one conversation and talk about another: environment design and scope.
What made Prime 1 feel like a good 3D representation of Metroid was the way that the environments were interconnected. I mean… yeah, okay, the elevators going from one place to the next doesn’t feel spatially plausible, but it did evoke that traditional Metroidvania map in how many environments felt connected to one another by multiple elevators.
I wonder if Vi-O-La is going to impact that sense, somewhat. Don’t get me wrong, I think the increase of scale warrants the inclusion of a fast-er travel system, but Sol Valley being “Hyrule Field” means that environments have fewer places to cross-cross with one another. What with all the talk of teleportation (and a rather explicit teleport occurring from one place to the next happening in the early hours of the game), one could argue that teleporting from region to region could add to the interconnectivity of the world in a way not too dissimilar to the elevators of Metroid’s past.
On the other hand, Prime 3 was a much more straightforward and much less interconnected game from an environmental standpoint, and due to the game’s context, that makes sense. Perhaps we will see a similar “chunked game world” philosophy in Prime 4, which might beg the question: how essential is the Vi-O-La?
Based on some preview videos, which I won’t really spoil, it seems that the Vi-O-La is not simply “Epona,” but has additional versatility/use even in each particular region. Which is good- I did feel that the gunship was a nice concept that could have been improved or a bit less context-specific.
What made Prime 1 feel like a good 3D representation of Metroid was the way that the environments were interconnected. I mean… yeah, okay, the elevators going from one place to the next doesn’t feel spatially plausible, but it did evoke that traditional Metroidvania map in how many environments felt connected to one another by multiple elevators.
I wonder if Vi-O-La is going to impact that sense, somewhat. Don’t get me wrong, I think the increase of scale warrants the inclusion of a fast-er travel system, but Sol Valley being “Hyrule Field” means that environments have fewer places to cross-cross with one another. What with all the talk of teleportation (and a rather explicit teleport occurring from one place to the next happening in the early hours of the game), one could argue that teleporting from region to region could add to the interconnectivity of the world in a way not too dissimilar to the elevators of Metroid’s past.
On the other hand, Prime 3 was a much more straightforward and much less interconnected game from an environmental standpoint, and due to the game’s context, that makes sense. Perhaps we will see a similar “chunked game world” philosophy in Prime 4, which might beg the question: how essential is the Vi-O-La?
Based on some preview videos, which I won’t really spoil, it seems that the Vi-O-La is not simply “Epona,” but has additional versatility/use even in each particular region. Which is good- I did feel that the gunship was a nice concept that could have been improved or a bit less context-specific.
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Nintendo Gaming / Re: 2025 NWR Forum Awards
« on: November 20, 2025, 10:52:51 AM »
Hoping I can crush Prime 4 before I submit my thoughts.
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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond [Insert thinly veiled Back to the Future reference here]
« on: November 19, 2025, 07:38:45 PM »
I do agree with you that, at its core this certainly does look like more of the Metroid Prime we know. However, that is also a game that people praised for being incredibly ahead of its time. Maybe things have finally caught up with ol Metroid. Then again, I look at what a modern game release looks like these days, and I’d rather play something gamecube like.
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Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 952: My Name Used To Be on the Masthead, James
« on: November 18, 2025, 12:07:35 PM »
Sorry about that one, guys. I have banished myself to forum exile because of my unhinged rambling. I believe it has been a frequent critique that I write too much in my emails. It won’t happen again, particularly in that format.
I’m surprised to hear the discussion on physical media, especially regarding the transition to digital. I’m still squarely committed to physical media unless it means I’m getting a hardware bundle with an 80 dollar game costing 50. But, all your discussion of older physical collection did strike a chord with me. I think physical media appeals to me because when I keep a game in my collection, it’s a sign that I enjoyed it. I’ve bought too many digital games that have ended up disappointing me- maybe that’s a sign that I need to be more scrutinizing with my digital catalogue and purchases, however.
Also, glad to see that I’m not alone in my feeling towards Bananza. Not disparaging anyone’s enjoyment of the game, but I get that notion of this dev team’s work just not being it for me.
I’m surprised to hear the discussion on physical media, especially regarding the transition to digital. I’m still squarely committed to physical media unless it means I’m getting a hardware bundle with an 80 dollar game costing 50. But, all your discussion of older physical collection did strike a chord with me. I think physical media appeals to me because when I keep a game in my collection, it’s a sign that I enjoyed it. I’ve bought too many digital games that have ended up disappointing me- maybe that’s a sign that I need to be more scrutinizing with my digital catalogue and purchases, however.
Also, glad to see that I’m not alone in my feeling towards Bananza. Not disparaging anyone’s enjoyment of the game, but I get that notion of this dev team’s work just not being it for me.
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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond [Insert thinly veiled Back to the Future reference here]
« on: November 17, 2025, 08:03:22 PM »
I also understand the value of player choice, and I’m not sure that Nintendo will ever make a game with overt consequence for cruel or careless behavior. I think back to the wagon sequence of Twilight Princess, or even the Phaaze sequence with the marines. In this case, I think they’ve invested too much into these characters to allow them anything other than a full narrative arc. I hope I’m wrong, but… the telegraphed nature of these cutscenes just feels a bit too on the nose.
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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond [Insert thinly veiled Back to the Future reference here]
« on: November 17, 2025, 11:29:05 AM »
Prime
With that said, I wasn’t expecting this discussion to go… the places it has. I have watched some coverage of the preview and I have seen some truly unhinged behavior (weaponized incompetence leading to minutes of poor gameplay, repeated voice prompts, and general inattentive or out-of-character actions), which leads me to believe that, much like every other form of journalism, much of this vitriol is being used for the purpose of outrage engagement.
I mean, I watched someone shoot Mackenzie for like 30 seconds uninterrupted, and willfully ignore the prompts he gave to help him out for a similar amount of time. There’s plenty of solo footage from the game that’s been posted elsewhere, as well. I understand that the quality of the writing is a major sticking point, but Retro/scan files confirm that Mackenzie is “talkative” which implies they are aware of this. Was it the best part of the game to use as a preview? No, but considering it is one of the earliest parts of the game and likely requires the minimal amount of skill from the journalists playing, it was the call they made and I can understand why people would be hesitant about the game afterwards.
I don’t know about the comparisons to Dark Souls- I have only played adjacent Soulslikes (Remnant, Another Crab’s Treasure, Animus, Mortal Shell, etc) and they range in the degree of isolation/interaction they offer. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Soulslike have an escort section, which sounds like a level of hell I’d rather not engage with, but I do see the point of density/deliberate interaction that is being raised, here.
Escorting Mackenzie feels like an attempt to emphasize Samus’s hero status and particular traits. She’s much more competent than him, has the skills and talents granted to her by the alien species of the week, and she’s dead quiet. I don’t see a problem with contrasting the two and the example of the actual escort segment feels pretty generous.
I totally understand the sentiment that this may not be the direction people want Metroid to go. On the other hand, I also understand that this has been the direction that the series has been leaning towards, both in 2D and 3D. The ratio of story to gameplay in Dread was perfectly fine to me. Corruption’s narrative, while a lot more talky than I would have expected, had a good balance of isolation and conversation. I guess I understand why people want Samus doing dangerous stuff on her own and I think the investigative element of scanning and beam switching could be applied to a different IP. But until I can get more than a vertical slice, I can’t make the call on this one and I’m not going to argue that Prime should or should no longer exist without the spirit of isolation. What I will say is that I will take the fall for any too hesitant to buy after these previews. I might have too much faith in Retro, but I don’t think a single one of their games has fallen beneath the “good” line- only the first DKCR risked that.
Side note about the topic title:I know that Kensuke Tanabe has been hammering the desire to explore time travel in the Prime series into his interviews for ages, and the center tower of Viewros is Chronos Tower, and every Federation Soldier talks about being able to go home perfectly fine. So obviously, Lavos will kill them all and they’ll need to be replaced with Chrono Triggers.
Considering the player spends a fair amount of time roaring across a desert wasteland in a motorcycle, I feel like the TC missed an opportunity to go...Beyond Thunderdome?
With that said, I wasn’t expecting this discussion to go… the places it has. I have watched some coverage of the preview and I have seen some truly unhinged behavior (weaponized incompetence leading to minutes of poor gameplay, repeated voice prompts, and general inattentive or out-of-character actions), which leads me to believe that, much like every other form of journalism, much of this vitriol is being used for the purpose of outrage engagement.
I mean, I watched someone shoot Mackenzie for like 30 seconds uninterrupted, and willfully ignore the prompts he gave to help him out for a similar amount of time. There’s plenty of solo footage from the game that’s been posted elsewhere, as well. I understand that the quality of the writing is a major sticking point, but Retro/scan files confirm that Mackenzie is “talkative” which implies they are aware of this. Was it the best part of the game to use as a preview? No, but considering it is one of the earliest parts of the game and likely requires the minimal amount of skill from the journalists playing, it was the call they made and I can understand why people would be hesitant about the game afterwards.
I don’t know about the comparisons to Dark Souls- I have only played adjacent Soulslikes (Remnant, Another Crab’s Treasure, Animus, Mortal Shell, etc) and they range in the degree of isolation/interaction they offer. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Soulslike have an escort section, which sounds like a level of hell I’d rather not engage with, but I do see the point of density/deliberate interaction that is being raised, here.
Escorting Mackenzie feels like an attempt to emphasize Samus’s hero status and particular traits. She’s much more competent than him, has the skills and talents granted to her by the alien species of the week, and she’s dead quiet. I don’t see a problem with contrasting the two and the example of the actual escort segment feels pretty generous.
I totally understand the sentiment that this may not be the direction people want Metroid to go. On the other hand, I also understand that this has been the direction that the series has been leaning towards, both in 2D and 3D. The ratio of story to gameplay in Dread was perfectly fine to me. Corruption’s narrative, while a lot more talky than I would have expected, had a good balance of isolation and conversation. I guess I understand why people want Samus doing dangerous stuff on her own and I think the investigative element of scanning and beam switching could be applied to a different IP. But until I can get more than a vertical slice, I can’t make the call on this one and I’m not going to argue that Prime should or should no longer exist without the spirit of isolation. What I will say is that I will take the fall for any too hesitant to buy after these previews. I might have too much faith in Retro, but I don’t think a single one of their games has fallen beneath the “good” line- only the first DKCR risked that.
16
Nintendo Gaming / Re: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond [Insert thinly veiled Back to the Future reference here]
« on: November 15, 2025, 02:11:32 AM »
I am trying to train my brain from knee-jerk, inflammatory sentiments like those I made above, which I think is a symptom of me being always primed to assess new info coming my way and part of the reason I stepped away from most all social media platforms. I’m going to reframe my perspective and try to be generous.
I totally get that most people want Metroid to be isolated, contemplative, and moody, and for the most part, I think the series has accomplished that in both its 2D and Prime branches. I say this even with the existence of Prime 3, which was a much more focused game with a lot more character dialogue and world building, not to mention Dread’s sort of culminating plot threads with a very mustache-twisting antagonist. And, I know, this is a hot take from the guy who hated Super Mario 3D Land, but I didn’t mind the larger universe aspects of Other M’s narrative and actually like that game on the whole.
My understanding is that this threatened Federation base is an experiment-oriented facility, which might explain some of the more unique Federation armors and… personalities. I’d like to think Retro has enough world building under their belt to explain it in that way. And to be maybe a bit too optimistic, I have to wonder how many more times we can encounter Samus on an abandoned, lifeless planet with layers of lore to be peeled back via scanning. I’m not saying I fully understand or like the inclusion of these more talkative soldiers, but as I mentioned before, I like the organic locks they put into place is a nice way of not simply retreading the same ground. I really don’t want to watch a great deal of footage, but I’ll definitely temper my hype moving into these final few weeks.
I totally get that most people want Metroid to be isolated, contemplative, and moody, and for the most part, I think the series has accomplished that in both its 2D and Prime branches. I say this even with the existence of Prime 3, which was a much more focused game with a lot more character dialogue and world building, not to mention Dread’s sort of culminating plot threads with a very mustache-twisting antagonist. And, I know, this is a hot take from the guy who hated Super Mario 3D Land, but I didn’t mind the larger universe aspects of Other M’s narrative and actually like that game on the whole.
My understanding is that this threatened Federation base is an experiment-oriented facility, which might explain some of the more unique Federation armors and… personalities. I’d like to think Retro has enough world building under their belt to explain it in that way. And to be maybe a bit too optimistic, I have to wonder how many more times we can encounter Samus on an abandoned, lifeless planet with layers of lore to be peeled back via scanning. I’m not saying I fully understand or like the inclusion of these more talkative soldiers, but as I mentioned before, I like the organic locks they put into place is a nice way of not simply retreading the same ground. I really don’t want to watch a great deal of footage, but I’ll definitely temper my hype moving into these final few weeks.
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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond [Insert thinly veiled Back to the Future reference here]
« on: November 14, 2025, 10:19:36 PM »
Ah, but of course. No longer being on the pulse of gaming discourse has foiled me, as I’m sure there’s plenty of discussion of the previews in other waters. Ah well, the curse of not being in the loop constantly.
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Nintendo Gaming / Metroid Prime 4: Beyond [Volt Forge]
« on: November 14, 2025, 08:23:45 PM »
Hi. I’m giving my volcanic opinions the audience they deserve, which is…
*Tumbleweed.gif*
So, Metroid Prime 4 is here, or at least, it will be here momentarily. For some reason, the only gaming podcast I listen to has no hype for it, so I’ve got to build that hype myself. For a while, I was very hesitant- I don’t think Nintendo has done a stellar job promoting this one all that well. I am resigning myself to the reality that it probably won’t be getting a Nintendo Direct, especially with the recent overview trailer. Then again, maybe Nintendo wants to keep the budget pretty tame when it comes to marketing, since apparently the game will never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever make a profit.
With that said, this latest overview gives us what I think is the most comprehensive look at the game yet, and while I’m surprised by some specific details in both good and bad ways, I’m coming away feeling very positive. Let’s discuss.
The Good:
The Bad:
I adore Metroid Prime, and I loved replaying it in the remastered version three (?) years ago, and to be perfectly honest, I'm on the fence about playing it again before Beyond comes out. I think I'm going to hold off though, because I want this to feel very fresh. I'm just incredibly excited to play another Prime game and I hope it sticks the landing. Please, feel free to share your own, likely far more reasonable thoughts.
EDIT: I have learned that there is an abundance of dialogue and hand-holding. Everything is terrible.
*Tumbleweed.gif*
With that said, this latest overview gives us what I think is the most comprehensive look at the game yet, and while I’m surprised by some specific details in both good and bad ways, I’m coming away feeling very positive. Let’s discuss.
The Good:
- The music. I had heard some people worrying about the butt-rock-y guitars used in the earlier, and I was kind of in the same camp. But the music in this new overview sounded very in line with classic Prime tracks from Kenji Yamamoto and Kouichi Kyuma. Some might argue that this is one-note. I have been listening to the original game's OST on Nintendo Music and I say, "yeah, it is, kinda." I still think Talon IV's OST is very subdued in a way that the series moved away from in Prime 3, but the original managed to add subtle color in between those subdued tunes that the series hasn't always been able to recapture. Still, the orchestration did feel a bit more in-line with those earlier games and not merely high-intensity and sort of forgettable like in Dread.
- The marines. This is one genuine surprise from this trailer and I personally think its a welcome one. Yes, they're all probably going to die horrible deaths, what with how much they talk about getting back home. But I do like that Samus is using them to open complex locks, deal with machinery and terrain outside her prowess, and the like. It feels a bit more authentic than the lock-and-key nature of previous Prime games and they also boast some pretty good animations and faces. It's... sort of weird seeing realistic faces in a Nintendo game.
- The environments. They look nice.
The Bad:
- The theming. The electric spire place looks nice and electric-y. The jungle looks very jungly. The volcano looks very magma-y... but man, it feels a bit odd to go from the very wild environmental theming of Prime 3 to "pick your extreme biome... and a lab!"
- The bike. I was also sort of hoping that the Desert wouldn't be the only Vi-O-La free roam area (and to be fair, it very well might change/evolve or not be the only place where you can use it), but I find it a bit funny that the big hook here is "let's have an Ocarina of Time Hyrule Field." Using it to roll around in limited speed mode is a bit odd too, I wonder how that's going to work in gameplay. Hoping that we'll get at least a Vi-O-La sequence in the biomes themselves, and maybe a nice spectacular Vi-O-La fight.
- The marines. I don't really love the over-specialized nature of these goofs, since the Federation gear was much more standardized before this and I find it odd that the Federation seems on track to match Chozo tech in the near future. The dialogue seems a bit on the nose also, but I'm willing to keep an open mind.
I adore Metroid Prime, and I loved replaying it in the remastered version three (?) years ago, and to be perfectly honest, I'm on the fence about playing it again before Beyond comes out. I think I'm going to hold off though, because I want this to feel very fresh. I'm just incredibly excited to play another Prime game and I hope it sticks the landing. Please, feel free to share your own, likely far more reasonable thoughts.
EDIT: I have learned that there is an abundance of dialogue and hand-holding. Everything is terrible.
19
Nintendo Gaming / Re: Star Overdrive: We Have Immortals: Fenix Rising at Home
« on: March 24, 2025, 11:21:40 AM »Combat and movement mechanisms need to improve smoothness, this will help increase excitement for players.WRONG. Gosh, it’s just… so wrong. Bad robot!
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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Nintendo Switch Forum Favorites
« on: March 18, 2025, 02:36:14 PM »
I guess I should have bulleted both Kingdom Battle and Sparks of Hope. I really enjoyed both, but I won’t deny that the art direction of the first game is superior.
Also, if you want some more details on any of those picks, let me know. They are receive my highest recommendation.
Also, if you want some more details on any of those picks, let me know. They are receive my highest recommendation.
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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Nintendo Switch Forum Favorites
« on: March 17, 2025, 08:51:43 PM »
As a bit Gen 4 Monster Hunter fan, I've struggled to get into the series post Generations Ultimate. Rise and the wirebug mechanics just feel a bit too cumbersome to me and it feels like the series has had a bit of a marked shift.
...So, I need to update this topic with my picks from all the prior categories.
Best Switch RPGs
Ever the contrarian, my list for the Switch is pretty heavily based on my tenure writing about RPGs for another site, and an admission that, despite my love of Xenoblade and Monolith's big-ass worlds, I have come to the conclusion that bigger isn't always better. I mean, sometimes it is, but not always. Rather, I've found I much prefer an RPG that has extremely unique mechanics over something that tries to evoke the standards of the genre. What do I mean? Well, here's what I mean:
Favorite Ubisoft Game
I haven't been a staunch Ubisoft advocate, especially since Black Flag pretty much ruined my chances of enjoying Assassin's Creed as a series, but I do have more Ubisoft games on Switch than I initially anticipated. They've released what I would easily consider to be some of my favorite games on the console, and in genres that I think go largely unappreciated by Western developers. Admittedly, I own but have not played Starlink and Rayman Legends, but the latter wasn't really a Switch release and the former... is just waiting.
Favorite Metroidvanias
Boy howdy, this genre has seen a revitalization, and we finally have a crop to pick from, rather than simply gnawing on whatever bones came our way. Luckily, there's some really incredible releases from throughout the Switch's lifetime. The Lost Crown deserves a slot here as well, but since I already mentioned it, I guess I'll let it slide.
Favorite Multiplayer
What a genre. Though online hasn't always been a win on the system, there are some absolute bangers to be found here.
Favorite Capcom
If there's one publisher whose works are under-represented in my library (and kind of under-represented on Switch in general, to be honest), it's Capcom. While they've given some updated ports, a sparing Monster Hunter release, and that silly Ace Attorney series that I've never really liked, I really haven't found a new Capcom release to love and enjoy. Really, if it comes down to anything, I am grateful to have finally played Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen on the Switch. It is maybe one of my favorite games ever and I haven't even put crazy hours into it.
...So, I need to update this topic with my picks from all the prior categories.
Best Switch RPGs
Ever the contrarian, my list for the Switch is pretty heavily based on my tenure writing about RPGs for another site, and an admission that, despite my love of Xenoblade and Monolith's big-ass worlds, I have come to the conclusion that bigger isn't always better. I mean, sometimes it is, but not always. Rather, I've found I much prefer an RPG that has extremely unique mechanics over something that tries to evoke the standards of the genre. What do I mean? Well, here's what I mean:
- Crystal Project
- Potato Flowers in Full Bloom
- Black Book
- Harvestella
- Pokemon Legends Arceus
Favorite Ubisoft Game
I haven't been a staunch Ubisoft advocate, especially since Black Flag pretty much ruined my chances of enjoying Assassin's Creed as a series, but I do have more Ubisoft games on Switch than I initially anticipated. They've released what I would easily consider to be some of my favorite games on the console, and in genres that I think go largely unappreciated by Western developers. Admittedly, I own but have not played Starlink and Rayman Legends, but the latter wasn't really a Switch release and the former... is just waiting.
- Mario + Rabbids and Sparks of Hope
- Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Favorite Metroidvanias
Boy howdy, this genre has seen a revitalization, and we finally have a crop to pick from, rather than simply gnawing on whatever bones came our way. Luckily, there's some really incredible releases from throughout the Switch's lifetime. The Lost Crown deserves a slot here as well, but since I already mentioned it, I guess I'll let it slide.
- UNSIGHTED
- Metroid Dread
- Crypt Custodian
- Unworthy
- SteamWorld Dig 2
Favorite Multiplayer
What a genre. Though online hasn't always been a win on the system, there are some absolute bangers to be found here.
- Crawl
- ARMS
- Dokapon Kingdom Connect
- Mario Party Superstars
- Light Fingers
Favorite Capcom
If there's one publisher whose works are under-represented in my library (and kind of under-represented on Switch in general, to be honest), it's Capcom. While they've given some updated ports, a sparing Monster Hunter release, and that silly Ace Attorney series that I've never really liked, I really haven't found a new Capcom release to love and enjoy. Really, if it comes down to anything, I am grateful to have finally played Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen on the Switch. It is maybe one of my favorite games ever and I haven't even put crazy hours into it.
22
Nintendo Gaming / Star Overdrive: We Have Immortals: Fenix Rising at Home
« on: March 12, 2025, 09:50:40 PM »
Listen, don’t get it twisted: Immortals: Fenix Rising is a pretty decent Breath of the Wild-like. But if that game is “we have Breath of the Wild at home,” then Star Overdrive feels like one step further removed from that equation.
Having played the demo for about 5ish hours, I find the game to be quite pretty from an aesthetic standpoint. There’s lots of unique fauna and very little flora to be found in this opening zone, but with the context that this planet was being mined of valuable resources, a desolate climate feels justified. What is a bit more surprising are the juxtaposing lush greens that exist to the north of this starting area, our proverbial “Great Plateau.” Regardless, there's some strong environmental design, though enemies are a bit more of a mixed bag. There's a relatively low amount of enemy variety in this starting zone, and I'm not sure if that's an indication of the game as a whole, or just this vertical slice.
Pretty much, if you’ve got a hankering for racing across dunes on a hoverboard, this game is for you. If you’re looking for decent combat or sandboxy action, however, things are a bit more middling. Combat is focused on dealing incremental bits of damage to enemies with your keytaur. You do have the ability to counter enemy attacks, which can act as a speedy way of mitigating the length of battles. If you’re struck with an attack, damage is represented by the color of your energy shield. I never experienced death or complete depletion of my shield throughout the demo, but that was more due to my first skill tree upgrade being shield capacity- one of two upgrades you can immediately access a the start of the game, which is surprising, to say the least. I only encountered one enemy type that involved a more complex method of approach, needing to attack a large tortoise-like creature when it exposes itself after attacking (and being able to use one of your cassette powers to deal even more damage). Combat feels muddy due to the soft lock-on that snaps to the closest proximal enemy, and the lack of decent defensive capabilities. You can roll and dodge roll in midair, but movement feels incredibly sluggish at the start of the game.
This is maybe an indicator of what progression looks like throughout Star Overdrive, as movement both on and off the hoverboard are upgradable traits that aren’t really exploitable in the demo but telegraphed by the respective upgrade trees. The means of upgrading the hoverboard is via collectable objects and doodads strewn throughout environments and in treasure chests. Chests often have higher quality materials, all of which are combined with *another* collectable currency in order to craft hoverboard components. The grind for these materials and the ultimate payoff of the resulting components is, uh, humbling. Considering how big the stat spread truly is, it makes sense that the developers wouldn’t want the player to feel as if they could craft a perfectly appealing hoverboard right out the gate, and I find it particularly interesting that racing challenges have suggested stat spreads that will likely result in players modifying their board at a consistent rate. I just hope that you’ll be able to disassemble previously-constructed components, because the resource cost is pretty intense.
As for the base stats of the character, you’ll need to complete the game’s equivalent of shrines in order to earn the currency needed for the character’s skill tree. This tree has a fair amount of variety to it, from defensive buffs to combat techniques, but the aspects I would recommend prioritizing are the movement speed enhancements. I almost thought I was being pranked when I tried out BIOS’s jump at the start of the game, as “pathetic” doesn’t really even begin to describe it- it does get better when you add the jetpack function soon after, though. He’s also got a leisurely gait that makes each of these shrine sections, and really any off-hoverboard portion of the game a tad too plodding for their own good. All of this seems to be in service of allowing for consistent progression across the open world (which is absolutely massive if the size of the demo in comparison with the rest of the map is to be trusted), and boy, do I hate it. Zelda and even Immortals were very willing to let their base characters feel good to move, even if their overall stamina was lacking. I can’t say that is the case with BIOS, here, and that’s pretty unfortunate. I understand the slow trickle of abilities to some extent, but an open-world title should immediately grab the player, not tease an end goal down the long, open road.
Which reminds me, this demo closes with a battle against a stubby sandworm. It’s… fine, I guess? I think chase battles, like those encountered in Sonic Frontiers, are honestly some of my least favorite, especially because Star Overdrive’s first field encounter tasks players with latching onto the enemy with one ability and shooting it with the pulse ability when it breaches the sand. The way the game first explains this process makes it seem as if the player will need to continuously switch between these two cassette powers, but you are automatically tethered with the first and then allowed to switch to the second without consequence. Hell, you can even auto-tether to the sandworm if you accidentally run into one of the pillars it spawns as you surf in its wake. So how do you add a legitimate challenge to a game like this?
I suppose it's time to talk about Star Horizon’s most visceral appeal, which is the nature of the hoverboard and dune surfing. The game is very explicit about telegraphing “boosted” jumps off of bumpy terrain, which adds air time for you to engage in the game’s trick system. Performing tricks in specific directions using the Right Control Stick will either regenerate your energy for performing attacks or increase your base speed for a time. Both of these are important, the former for making sure you can perform some of the special cassette powers while surfing, and the latter because… well, speed is speed. Speed is going to get you to the time trial gates faster, and cassette energy is going to allow you the means to cross terrain that might make your journey to the next time trial gate less painful, or more efficient. Though the hoverboard is a light-traction, high-speed device, that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to zone out and complete these with ease. There are other aspects of the hoverboard that will affect your completion of these time trials. The velocity/physics aspect of hoverboarding seems to be subtle, as customization options like adding a new coat of paint to your board and the damage that your deco has taken can impact your overall speed. You will need to unlock specific upgrades to traverse certain terrain types, as water and terrain/ramp materials specifically kill momentum.
There are boost gates littered throughout the environments that also act as time trial markers that are the most ideal form of traversal, and since the game telegraphs the locations of certain landmarks and collectables, it doesn’t really feel necessary to go off of the beaten path. In this opening region, there are one or two areas with exploration-based puzzles that focus largely on fairly simplistic “how do I get there?” movement and switch puzzle solutions, as well as scattered different graffiti designs that equate to new hoverboard components, which have some subtle differences when crafted with the accessible materials. So if all of that is the case, why have this large expanse to play around in?
The most obvious answer, and the one I’m hoping is the case beyond the demo, is that Star Overdrive has multi-region time trials that push the player to navigate even larger swaths of its open world, especially as you invest more materials into advanced components. If combat does become more complex, how do future cassette powers diversify encounters? Will the “shrines” of the demo (aptly listed as “mines”) increase in complexity, or will they only serve as a function of unlocking new cassette powers? Is this truly just a hoverboard time trial game, or will there be more to this world than this style of gameplay? How does completing hoverboard time trails unlock and/or power devices elsewhere in the world?
I don’t know, I’m just a scrub.
Having played the demo for about 5ish hours, I find the game to be quite pretty from an aesthetic standpoint. There’s lots of unique fauna and very little flora to be found in this opening zone, but with the context that this planet was being mined of valuable resources, a desolate climate feels justified. What is a bit more surprising are the juxtaposing lush greens that exist to the north of this starting area, our proverbial “Great Plateau.” Regardless, there's some strong environmental design, though enemies are a bit more of a mixed bag. There's a relatively low amount of enemy variety in this starting zone, and I'm not sure if that's an indication of the game as a whole, or just this vertical slice.
Pretty much, if you’ve got a hankering for racing across dunes on a hoverboard, this game is for you. If you’re looking for decent combat or sandboxy action, however, things are a bit more middling. Combat is focused on dealing incremental bits of damage to enemies with your keytaur. You do have the ability to counter enemy attacks, which can act as a speedy way of mitigating the length of battles. If you’re struck with an attack, damage is represented by the color of your energy shield. I never experienced death or complete depletion of my shield throughout the demo, but that was more due to my first skill tree upgrade being shield capacity- one of two upgrades you can immediately access a the start of the game, which is surprising, to say the least. I only encountered one enemy type that involved a more complex method of approach, needing to attack a large tortoise-like creature when it exposes itself after attacking (and being able to use one of your cassette powers to deal even more damage). Combat feels muddy due to the soft lock-on that snaps to the closest proximal enemy, and the lack of decent defensive capabilities. You can roll and dodge roll in midair, but movement feels incredibly sluggish at the start of the game.
This is maybe an indicator of what progression looks like throughout Star Overdrive, as movement both on and off the hoverboard are upgradable traits that aren’t really exploitable in the demo but telegraphed by the respective upgrade trees. The means of upgrading the hoverboard is via collectable objects and doodads strewn throughout environments and in treasure chests. Chests often have higher quality materials, all of which are combined with *another* collectable currency in order to craft hoverboard components. The grind for these materials and the ultimate payoff of the resulting components is, uh, humbling. Considering how big the stat spread truly is, it makes sense that the developers wouldn’t want the player to feel as if they could craft a perfectly appealing hoverboard right out the gate, and I find it particularly interesting that racing challenges have suggested stat spreads that will likely result in players modifying their board at a consistent rate. I just hope that you’ll be able to disassemble previously-constructed components, because the resource cost is pretty intense.
As for the base stats of the character, you’ll need to complete the game’s equivalent of shrines in order to earn the currency needed for the character’s skill tree. This tree has a fair amount of variety to it, from defensive buffs to combat techniques, but the aspects I would recommend prioritizing are the movement speed enhancements. I almost thought I was being pranked when I tried out BIOS’s jump at the start of the game, as “pathetic” doesn’t really even begin to describe it- it does get better when you add the jetpack function soon after, though. He’s also got a leisurely gait that makes each of these shrine sections, and really any off-hoverboard portion of the game a tad too plodding for their own good. All of this seems to be in service of allowing for consistent progression across the open world (which is absolutely massive if the size of the demo in comparison with the rest of the map is to be trusted), and boy, do I hate it. Zelda and even Immortals were very willing to let their base characters feel good to move, even if their overall stamina was lacking. I can’t say that is the case with BIOS, here, and that’s pretty unfortunate. I understand the slow trickle of abilities to some extent, but an open-world title should immediately grab the player, not tease an end goal down the long, open road.
Which reminds me, this demo closes with a battle against a stubby sandworm. It’s… fine, I guess? I think chase battles, like those encountered in Sonic Frontiers, are honestly some of my least favorite, especially because Star Overdrive’s first field encounter tasks players with latching onto the enemy with one ability and shooting it with the pulse ability when it breaches the sand. The way the game first explains this process makes it seem as if the player will need to continuously switch between these two cassette powers, but you are automatically tethered with the first and then allowed to switch to the second without consequence. Hell, you can even auto-tether to the sandworm if you accidentally run into one of the pillars it spawns as you surf in its wake. So how do you add a legitimate challenge to a game like this?
I suppose it's time to talk about Star Horizon’s most visceral appeal, which is the nature of the hoverboard and dune surfing. The game is very explicit about telegraphing “boosted” jumps off of bumpy terrain, which adds air time for you to engage in the game’s trick system. Performing tricks in specific directions using the Right Control Stick will either regenerate your energy for performing attacks or increase your base speed for a time. Both of these are important, the former for making sure you can perform some of the special cassette powers while surfing, and the latter because… well, speed is speed. Speed is going to get you to the time trial gates faster, and cassette energy is going to allow you the means to cross terrain that might make your journey to the next time trial gate less painful, or more efficient. Though the hoverboard is a light-traction, high-speed device, that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to zone out and complete these with ease. There are other aspects of the hoverboard that will affect your completion of these time trials. The velocity/physics aspect of hoverboarding seems to be subtle, as customization options like adding a new coat of paint to your board and the damage that your deco has taken can impact your overall speed. You will need to unlock specific upgrades to traverse certain terrain types, as water and terrain/ramp materials specifically kill momentum.
There are boost gates littered throughout the environments that also act as time trial markers that are the most ideal form of traversal, and since the game telegraphs the locations of certain landmarks and collectables, it doesn’t really feel necessary to go off of the beaten path. In this opening region, there are one or two areas with exploration-based puzzles that focus largely on fairly simplistic “how do I get there?” movement and switch puzzle solutions, as well as scattered different graffiti designs that equate to new hoverboard components, which have some subtle differences when crafted with the accessible materials. So if all of that is the case, why have this large expanse to play around in?
The most obvious answer, and the one I’m hoping is the case beyond the demo, is that Star Overdrive has multi-region time trials that push the player to navigate even larger swaths of its open world, especially as you invest more materials into advanced components. If combat does become more complex, how do future cassette powers diversify encounters? Will the “shrines” of the demo (aptly listed as “mines”) increase in complexity, or will they only serve as a function of unlocking new cassette powers? Is this truly just a hoverboard time trial game, or will there be more to this world than this style of gameplay? How does completing hoverboard time trails unlock and/or power devices elsewhere in the world?
I don’t know, I’m just a scrub.
23
General Gaming / Re: Shocktober V: The Dream Child
« on: October 06, 2024, 04:26:35 PM »
I'm going to attempt my first Fatal Frame in Maiden of Black Water, and then try to finish out the month with Crow Country, which looked delightful when it was released on other platforms, but now I get to play it! Ha ha!
24
General Gaming / Re: BacklAugust 2024! (Forums Are Dead Edition)
« on: September 23, 2024, 05:22:59 PM »I also played some of Age of Calamity, but I didnt like it very much.Weird how I absolutely devoured the original Hyrule Warriors, but pretty promptly bounced off of Age of Calamity. I think it had something to do with that stupid map unlock system- not a fan.
25
General Gaming / Re: The Great(?) Video Game Spreadsheet Project: Year 32 Challenge!
« on: August 29, 2024, 09:48:50 PM »
Week 52: Current Weighted Top Twenty (as of 8/29/2024):
VVVVVV
Roller Coaster Tycoon 2
UNSIGHTED
Crawl
The Swapper
Paper Mario TTYD Remaster
Anodyne 2: Return to Dust
Inscryption
Donkey Kong (1994)
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Crystal Project
Roller Coaster Tycoon (Deluxe)
Dandara
Mr. Driller Drill Land
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
ARMS
Into the Breach
Skwish
Tetris Effect Connected
Kirby's Air Ride
My birthday was yesterday, which means I get to say whatever the hell I want about video games.
Okay, I must have gotten my weekly numbers twisted at some point but I am now officially 33, so that means it’s time for some number crunching. Of my new purchases and backlog, I rated 62 new games this year. While my rating catalogue stood at 494 at the start of the year, it now stands at 601, meaning 45 rankings were from games that I had already completed and forgotten to include. I suspect this number will likely shrink as I continue this project, but I will also return to and recheck my library in the future. There are sadly and undoubtedly a number of games in my backlog that have evaded inclusion.
I have come to accept that I have made bad purchases in my lifetime. With that said, the ranking criteria is designed to be relatively non-biased, but that does call into question what earns a 5 in some areas. So. You’ll see that a 5 is labeled as “standout within genre” save for pacing, which is listed as “justified pacing for ambition.” This is arguably the most contentious ranking criterion that currently exists, because “justified” is a highly subjective metric. From some perspective, an incredibly bloated JRPG might be completely justified in its pacing, but as a now-33 year old, I can’t really justify that. This might also have to do with my purchasing habits, as I was perfectly fine when I had a long-ass RPG to chip away at in my youth as one of the few purchases I made.
As of right now, pacing is still a highly weighted category in my rankings, so maybe this needs re-evaluation. However, two of my highest-rated titles this year were JRPGs that fell into the 40-ish hour range, which might be my sweet spot for that genre of game. Many of my other highly rated games from this year and the list overall are incredibly concise, leaving a strong impression due to their brevity. I can’t help but wonder if some games are still cursed by the facade that length provides. 13 Sentinels is a great example of this- it’s content rich because of its narrative, not its strategy gameplay, or its inane, obtuse adventure game puzzles. In the other hand, Sayonara Wild Hearts is exactly as compelling as it needs to be with relatively little mechanical depth and a player-motivated gameplay loop. I can imagine myself playing one more than the other, even if I’ve decided to stop playing both.
Hey, speaking of one of those games, let’s take a look at my top five games from year 32:
Paper Mario TTYD Remaster
Crystal Project
1000xResist
Cobalt Core
Sayonara Wild Hearts
There’s one game here that should come as no surprise. The others, however, come from throughout the year and have become some of my favorite games of all time. Life is funny that way- sometimes, when you start paying more attention to a thing, you start to appreciate it a bit more.
Something else I’ve noticed is that I like indie games. A lot. Though I have played a number of games this year that have come from major developers and publishers, I’ve enjoyed just as many as those I haven’t. In some ways, I’d like to think I’m smarter about getting games I know I’ll like, but hey, I did play a Sonic game that I hated two years in a row.
My backlog, now updated, is at 200 games exactly, and there still might be some floating around there that haven't been listed. That's... upsetting, but many of these games are easily digestible, so I'm not all that concerned. There are many that are pretty hefty, though, so I'm going to have to scale back on purchases hard if I hope to ever make a dent in this thing. There are, unfortunately, so many games out there that look really appealing to me, some in long-beloved series, others of which I have a passing curiosity. But, based on the ruminations of my last post, maybe I need to be a whole lot more stringent on the games that I do pick up. After all, if these games really are just sitting there, is it really a good thing that I nabbed them at an absurd discount? The answer is no, and I feel a bit better about a game that I'm excited for and play through immediately after picking it up rather than these games I've long been curious about that sit on my physical/digital shelf.
The Switch is, without a doubt, the platform with the biggest library I've ever owned, and by default ends up being my favorite console device, despite its myriad quirks. Whatever comes after this not-so-little-handheld that could will need to haveDragon's Dogma 2 a hell of a strong pull to get me to pick one up, and really, so long as Zelda keeps getting made, I'll probably end up pulling the trigger at some point... but all those blanks that I've filled in with all these games will probably need to remain open.
Toree's Panic Pack (3.65) - Liked
This big old level pack features some of the developers longest, most complex, and incredibly challenging stages yet- but these levels really show the limitations of the Toree engine and level editor, and the cracks start to show. It's a bit buggy, but still a wild ride.
SteamWorld Heist II (3.50) - Liked
This game is bigger and arguably better than the first. Arguably. Okay, I'm the one arguing that it isn't as good as the first. It suffers from a bit of feature creep (in an indie game, which is really sad) and overstays its welcome. I like the dedicated level designs, but bigger is not always better.
Next post will be a bit different, and (maybe?) more fun.
VVVVVV
Roller Coaster Tycoon 2
UNSIGHTED
Crawl
The Swapper
Paper Mario TTYD Remaster
Anodyne 2: Return to Dust
Inscryption
Donkey Kong (1994)
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Crystal Project
Roller Coaster Tycoon (Deluxe)
Dandara
Mr. Driller Drill Land
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
ARMS
Into the Breach
Skwish
Tetris Effect Connected
Kirby's Air Ride
My birthday was yesterday, which means I get to say whatever the hell I want about video games.
Okay, I must have gotten my weekly numbers twisted at some point but I am now officially 33, so that means it’s time for some number crunching. Of my new purchases and backlog, I rated 62 new games this year. While my rating catalogue stood at 494 at the start of the year, it now stands at 601, meaning 45 rankings were from games that I had already completed and forgotten to include. I suspect this number will likely shrink as I continue this project, but I will also return to and recheck my library in the future. There are sadly and undoubtedly a number of games in my backlog that have evaded inclusion.
I have come to accept that I have made bad purchases in my lifetime. With that said, the ranking criteria is designed to be relatively non-biased, but that does call into question what earns a 5 in some areas. So. You’ll see that a 5 is labeled as “standout within genre” save for pacing, which is listed as “justified pacing for ambition.” This is arguably the most contentious ranking criterion that currently exists, because “justified” is a highly subjective metric. From some perspective, an incredibly bloated JRPG might be completely justified in its pacing, but as a now-33 year old, I can’t really justify that. This might also have to do with my purchasing habits, as I was perfectly fine when I had a long-ass RPG to chip away at in my youth as one of the few purchases I made.
As of right now, pacing is still a highly weighted category in my rankings, so maybe this needs re-evaluation. However, two of my highest-rated titles this year were JRPGs that fell into the 40-ish hour range, which might be my sweet spot for that genre of game. Many of my other highly rated games from this year and the list overall are incredibly concise, leaving a strong impression due to their brevity. I can’t help but wonder if some games are still cursed by the facade that length provides. 13 Sentinels is a great example of this- it’s content rich because of its narrative, not its strategy gameplay, or its inane, obtuse adventure game puzzles. In the other hand, Sayonara Wild Hearts is exactly as compelling as it needs to be with relatively little mechanical depth and a player-motivated gameplay loop. I can imagine myself playing one more than the other, even if I’ve decided to stop playing both.
Hey, speaking of one of those games, let’s take a look at my top five games from year 32:
Paper Mario TTYD Remaster
Crystal Project
1000xResist
Cobalt Core
Sayonara Wild Hearts
There’s one game here that should come as no surprise. The others, however, come from throughout the year and have become some of my favorite games of all time. Life is funny that way- sometimes, when you start paying more attention to a thing, you start to appreciate it a bit more.
Something else I’ve noticed is that I like indie games. A lot. Though I have played a number of games this year that have come from major developers and publishers, I’ve enjoyed just as many as those I haven’t. In some ways, I’d like to think I’m smarter about getting games I know I’ll like, but hey, I did play a Sonic game that I hated two years in a row.
My backlog, now updated, is at 200 games exactly, and there still might be some floating around there that haven't been listed. That's... upsetting, but many of these games are easily digestible, so I'm not all that concerned. There are many that are pretty hefty, though, so I'm going to have to scale back on purchases hard if I hope to ever make a dent in this thing. There are, unfortunately, so many games out there that look really appealing to me, some in long-beloved series, others of which I have a passing curiosity. But, based on the ruminations of my last post, maybe I need to be a whole lot more stringent on the games that I do pick up. After all, if these games really are just sitting there, is it really a good thing that I nabbed them at an absurd discount? The answer is no, and I feel a bit better about a game that I'm excited for and play through immediately after picking it up rather than these games I've long been curious about that sit on my physical/digital shelf.
The Switch is, without a doubt, the platform with the biggest library I've ever owned, and by default ends up being my favorite console device, despite its myriad quirks. Whatever comes after this not-so-little-handheld that could will need to have
Toree's Panic Pack (3.65) - Liked
This big old level pack features some of the developers longest, most complex, and incredibly challenging stages yet- but these levels really show the limitations of the Toree engine and level editor, and the cracks start to show. It's a bit buggy, but still a wild ride.
SteamWorld Heist II (3.50) - Liked
This game is bigger and arguably better than the first. Arguably. Okay, I'm the one arguing that it isn't as good as the first. It suffers from a bit of feature creep (in an indie game, which is really sad) and overstays its welcome. I like the dedicated level designs, but bigger is not always better.
Next post will be a bit different, and (maybe?) more fun.
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