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51

TalkBack / Re: Kirby Air Riders 2 Getting Direct August 19

« Last post by broodwars on August 19, 2025, 12:57:26 PM »

Metroid seemingly being delayed to 2026 (or Beyond) is a real blow. Looks like there's really no reason to own a Switch 2 in 2025 unless you really like mascot racing games. I mainly bought mine to play Switch 1 games with performance that isn't soul-drainingly bad. Guess that's just going to have to do.

52

TalkBack / Re: Kirby Air Riders 2 Getting Direct August 19

« Last post by Ian Sane on August 19, 2025, 11:45:20 AM »

So they revealed Kirby's release date as Nov 20.  That is a lot later than I expected.  I figured worse case scenario it would be October.

Now what are the odds Nintendo releases anything in 2025 after Nov 20?  After that you risk missing the Christmas shopping window.  So I fear Metroid is moving to 2026.  Why would they give Kirby a Direct first if it was the later game in the release schedule?  You figure they would do all of this in order.  So a Nov 20 date suggests that nothing that has been announced but doesn't have a date will get released before then.  And it's late Nov too.  A Dec release would probably be at the beginning of the month.  I can't imagine Kirby on Nov 20 and Metroid only a few weeks later.

53

General Gaming / Re: Backlaugust 2025 - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition

« Last post by Lemonade on August 19, 2025, 10:10:28 AM »

Finished Enslaved Odyssey to the West. I really enjoyed it, definitely my kind of action game. I liked the story and characters too.
The game is 15 years old and definitely dated. The platforming and combat was quite janky, but it was fun. The combat was kind of annoying to start with, but after I unlocked some more abilities, it got better and easier.


Next game to play is Bit Trip ReRunner. It launched on PC in 2023, but I didnt find out until a few days ago that it launched on Xbox last year. I have played some of it already. Its kind if half remake and half sequel to the original Bit Trip Runner game on WiiWare. Im really enjoying it so far.

54

TalkBack / Re: Kirby Air Riders 2 Getting Direct August 19

« Last post by broodwars on August 19, 2025, 08:29:36 AM »

45 minutes is a lot of time to spend on telling players to hold the A Button.

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TalkBack / Re: Kirby Air Riders 2 Getting Direct August 19

« Last post by Khushrenada on August 18, 2025, 05:04:18 PM »

It's going to become Super Smash Riders instead!

56

TalkBack / Re: Kirby Air Riders 2 Getting Direct August 19

« Last post by Mop it up on August 18, 2025, 03:16:43 PM »

A Direct for just this game, and it's 45 minutes? Wow, makes me wonder if this thing is gonna be huge!

57

TalkBack / Re: Kirby Air Riders 2 Getting Direct August 19

« Last post by Ian Sane on August 18, 2025, 11:59:19 AM »

I figured we would get a Direct after Drag x Drive came out.  Somehow the running gag of not revealing Metroid Prime 4's release date continues.

45 minutes seems really long for one game.  That long would be hell for a game I'm not interested in and for a game I am I feel like that would spoil too much.  I guess I would have thought it was awesome when I was 10 years old and didn't care about spoilers.

I only know the original Kirby Air Ride as that Gamecube game where you press one button and it virtually plays itself. It came across as barely a game.  And in general Kirby games are usually pretty good but never something I'm really excited about.  If I'm going to skip a first party release, Kirby tends to get the cut more times than not.  So I'm not going to check out the 45 minute Direct, maybe a shorter trailer if they have one.

I am curious as to when the release date will be.  This might be an indication of how Nintendo wants to reveal information now.  They seem to want to do one game at a time.  So is Kirby coming out a month from now?  Two months?  We can probably assume that the lead time from this Direct to the release date will be similar for other future game-specific Directs and that will apply to the other first party releases that are supposedly coming out this year.

Still I don't understand why Nintendo wants to drip feed us this info.  Having a new console with a barren release schedule doesn't give people confidence in your product so why have it appear that way when there actually are releases coming soon?

58

Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 938: Hey. How's it Poppin'?

« Last post by Lemonade on August 18, 2025, 11:07:31 AM »

I listened to the old spoilercast and then this new one. They are both great. They make a nice double episode.

Im surprised John didn't want to play it again on Switch. He liked it on Wii U. It is a big time commitment though, so I guess thats why.

59

General Gaming / Re: Backlaugust 2025 - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition

« Last post by broodwars on August 17, 2025, 09:16:46 PM »

Well. I wasn't expecting to add this one to the list.

Blue Prince - Yeah, it's this year's Indie Darling. After picking away at this game for a month or so and restarting it several times after I'd realized I'd inadvertently screwed myself due to not understanding how some of the game's mechanics worked...yeah, I finally managed a successful run, reaching Room 46 and triggering the Credits.



Felt like pure dumb luck that I managed to get a run where the RNG didn't screw me over and I got the rooms I needed with a protection against the negative effects of the room I REALLY needed.

Overall, I like the game, but I feel like the Roguelike elements clash badly with the puzzle box design of this game. I don't think it's fair to have a run fail in a Roguelike due to elements beyond the player's control. I feel like the player should always have some sort of fighting chance, and that's certainly not not the case here. While the player has a choice of what rooms get drafted next, you can randomly get fucked out of the materials you need to progress, and that's assuming you even noticed those materials as you went along. This is a game with very intricate puzzles that you do need to be keeping notes to complete, and yet it's also a timed game with heavy RNG elements and some important mechanics that the game will never explain and you're just expected to pull up a Wiki.

60

General Gaming / Re: Backlaugust 2025 - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition

« Last post by broodwars on August 17, 2025, 12:55:30 AM »

After 4 months I'm finally done with Xenoblade X: Definitive Edition...

Now there's one I'm going to inevitably have to reactivate into my backlog at some point. I only ever got an hour or so into the Wii U version, and after my external HDD failed I basically lost all interest in continuing play since I'd have to restart. Got to get through the other non-1 Xenos before I can get to X again.

At the moment, Xenoblade 3 is currently in my backlog but also Xenoblade 2, which is the game currently occupying my Switch 2 now that DK Bananza is done. That game's been something of my backlog's White Whale, as it's the game I just can't get myself to push through and finish. Last time I played it years ago, I got about halfway through Chapter 4. I'm whittling away at it (using that previous save), but I don't expect to finish it in time for the end of this game. Not sure I'd want to try, anyway, considering I'm nearing 40 hours in and I only just reached Chapter 5 (of 10).

By all rights, I should like this game better than I do, but it's just full of so many stupid little design decisions taht piss me off, from the Gatcha system on the Blades to the glacial pace of combat to the absolutely labyrinthine UI. I swear, picking the game up all these years later, I had to spend days figuring out how to play it again because Xenoblade 2 does not have a consistent Quest log. There are times when you just don't HAVE a main quest so you can remind yourself what you were even doing the last time you played (and which was the case when I picked the game back up. Fun). And so many high level enemies populating story areas low-level parties are meant to get through, seemingly turning environmental progression into whack-a-mole.