Recent Posts

71

TalkBack / Re: Donkey Kong Country Returns HD Gets Surprise Update To Add Dixie Kong, Switch 2 Enhancements

« Last post by Caterkiller on January 24, 2026, 12:55:15 PM »

Yabadabadoooooo!!!!!!

I finished my 200% play through last year but my son and I never finished our co-op adventure. With co-op fixed and Dixie Kong added it's time to return to Returns.

The upgrades and clarity in the visuals is a great bonus and for my super trained DK eyes, very noticeable. Despite finishing hard mode while achieving Gold/Shiny Gold in every single stage and boss fight, this new super speed mode does not appeal to me. Not yet anyway. Not a fan of a game like this on Dodrio Mode.

Lastly but most importantly... Do you all notice the ongoing attempt in bringing the DK brand back into S-Tier?! This has been a continuous slow burn for over a decade now culminating in the theme park and Bananza and I'm so glad to have DK treated like a top tier franchise again. Remember how Nintendo introduced Dixie Kong in Mario Kart Tour? Now look at what we are getting here! It's not the biggest thing but still! It's like getting Knuckles in Sonic 2! Sonic 1 & 2 these days! As THE prominent female figure in the Donkey Kong series they have been pushing her as one of the faces of the franchise and I couldn't be happier! Now that Nintendo internally took over DK, you watch Smash is gonna get so Donkified including Dixie as a newcomer! Mark my words!

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TalkBack / Re: Donkey Kong Country Returns HD Gets Surprise Update To Add Dixie Kong, Switch 2 Enhancements

« Last post by broodwars on January 23, 2026, 06:46:04 PM »

I just couldn't justify grabbing this since I have the original, but now it feels like a no-brainer since I never finished it AND it added all this new stuff and fixes Co-op.

For those unaware the pre-update HD game broke how co-op worked. Enemies died too fast leading to partner deaths. In the original there was a delay before killed enemies dropped, allowing both simians to use the same enemy for hopping over chasms. The HD release made the enemies die immediately so partners would fall. Now the delay has been fixed.

From everything I've heard, this update more or less Returns everything to how it was in the original Wii version, including visual effects and the load times. Would have REALLY liked those 4 second load times last year when I was waiting 15 seconds at a time just to load into game. Unfortunately, I just don't see the point to going back to the game right now since I already completed all the levels, including the Bonus World.

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TalkBack / Re: Super Mario Wonder Switch 2 Edition Sprouting End Of March

« Last post by Stratos on January 23, 2026, 01:07:42 PM »

Threatened is a very apt phrasing. I just don't know what to think of this thing, but it does make me uncomfortable.

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TalkBack / Re: Donkey Kong Country Returns HD Gets Surprise Update To Add Dixie Kong, Switch 2 Enhancements

« Last post by Stratos on January 23, 2026, 01:06:11 PM »

I just couldn't justify grabbing this since I have the original, but now it feels like a no-brainer since I never finished it AND it added all this new stuff and fixes Co-op.

For those unaware the pre-update HD game broke how co-op worked. Enemies died too fast leading to partner deaths. In the original there was a delay before killed enemies dropped, allowing both simians to use the same enemy for hopping over chasms. The HD release made the enemies die immediately so partners would fall. Now the delay has been fixed.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: What will Nintendo release in 2026?

« Last post by Order.RSS on January 22, 2026, 10:24:57 PM »

I actually struggled to find 10 good predictions. Maybe its where I am at in life but I just can't think of a lot of things that would make sense and believably be done by Nintendo in 2026. I'd love for certain old franchises to be revived, but that doesn't seem to happen too often these days. (and no, dropping old games on their live service isn't a revival). I ended up looking up what anniversaries were happening to get ideas since that seems to be somewhat reliable as a predictor.

Yeah, plus it's an unusual year since we already know like half their intended output for the year, unlike the past few years. There's just kind of a natural cap to the amount of games they can/want to produce in a year, and at this point we have fairly reliable data points to make guesses.
Perhaps I should've limited it to 5 predictions this year, but oh well.

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NWR Feedback / Re: Connection Problems

« Last post by Stratos on January 22, 2026, 03:59:09 PM »

It was for me the other day. I found refreshing the page once or twice got it through.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: What will Nintendo release in 2026?

« Last post by Stratos on January 22, 2026, 03:58:21 PM »

Okay Nintendo is starting to put out little teases so I better get my formal predictions in soon.

1) I called the Switch Online Fire Emblem release so I'm going to take that as a prediction for 1/2 a point, but will say we get more with the release of the next mainline Switch 2 game. Either another retro release or a spinoff.

2) I think we will get at least two ports/updates of Wii/Wii U games. Wooly World and another game. Maybe we get a modified NintendoLand using additional Switches as remote gamepads?

3) We will see a Switch release of a classic Zelda game. Most likely Ocarina/Majora from the 3DS up-ported or some missing retro titles on Switch Online.

4) We will see something to do with Smash Brothers. Either a re-release w/ Switch 2 Editions, or a trailer for the next one. You know they don't want to sleep on that franchise.

5) More Switch Online Rare releases! DKR, DK64, and Star Fox Adventures are my primary votes (would love Conker but I suspect Nintendo won't push for that one). Though I do hope we see some of the more niche GBA games they released late in life.

6) More perks for Switch Online subscribers. I think some of these DLCs like Bonanza Emerald Rush will be offered for free like some past DLCs were.

7) Mario Kart DLC. They have been quietly and consistently patching the game and some changes have been quite significant in terms of what they do (actually changing the layout of tracks among other things). It feels inevitable we will get more karts and racers.

Pokemon both continues its sad decline with Gen 10 while at the same time releasing something far better from a technical standpoint on Switch 2 than past games. I think we're at a pivotal point and the series is about to have a revival of sorts when it comes to the games, but it will take another generation for that to be realized. Most likely tied to the first natively developed Switch 2 title (since I am sure the currently developed one is still Switch 1 Native)

9) We will see more from Animal crossing aside from this 3.0 update. Maybe some additional future content for the current game or another spinoff of sorts.

10) Metroid 40th Anniversary will be given a token acknowledgment through some retro releases, but nothing big like it deserves.

I actually struggled to find 10 good predictions. Maybe its where I am at in life but I just can't think of a lot of things that would make sense and believably be done by Nintendo in 2026. I'd love for certain old franchises to be revived, but that doesn't seem to happen too often these days. (and no, dropping old games on their live service isn't a revival). I ended up looking up what anniversaries were happening to get ideas since that seems to be somewhat reliable as a predictor.

It's also the Gamecube 25th anniversary so maybe we get a lot more GC love this year?

78

General Gaming / Re: What are you playing?

« Last post by broodwars on January 20, 2026, 06:52:07 PM »

I've shown her the trailers to Princess Peach Showtime, Yoshi's Crafted World, and Animal Crossing so those will be played soon as well.

Having recently played through Princess Peach Showtime, I can tell you that it's alright, but it really just made me want to hook up my PS3 and finally do that full run of Puppeteer I've been putting off for years. Getting certain collectibles in Showtime is so annoying.

I bailed on Crafted World fairly early on, due to it being so repetitive and the music being so utter ****. Still hoping to see a modern port of Woolly World.

If people are are going to post on the forums again, I might as well post some impressions of my own from recent games I completed or are actively playing:

- Yooka-Replaylee- A much more polished version of the original game, perhaps to a fault. The game has a distinctly Mario Odyssey feel to it now that seems to override the franchise's actual identity. It was a nice, quick play, though.

- Cocoon - very clever Zelda-esque Inception puzzles, though I haven't the slightest clue what the story was trying to be.

- Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter - A much less interesting clone of the first game with difficulty balancing that seems nonexistent. Easy is such a cakewalk it's boring, and Normal is so punishing it's aggravating. Glad I only paid $5 or so for it.

- Ball x Pit - Dangerously addictive. Had to force myself to put it down and not come back to for some time, because I would have just kept playing it. Currently on Level 3.

- Terminator 2D: No Fate - The name on the tin doesn't lie. It's exactly what you think it would be: a SNES-style movie tie-in game that's well-made for what it is. Unfortunately, it has next to no replay value, as well as strangely VERY little actual Terminator content. It's also fairly punishing even on Normal, and don't even bother trying to play above Normal without using the in-game cheats.

- Cronos: The New Dawn - I put this one down about 5-6 hours in because I just lost interest. Horror is all about emotion, and this game is incredibly cold and detached. It's just not clicking with me. Maybe I'll get back to it at some point.

- Metroid Prime 4 - Perhaps this one is a surprise considering all the drama in the official topic, but I had some decent trade credit coming off Showtime, so I thought I'd give the game a shot.

The game's...not great. I'd probably give it a 5/10 overall. Surprisingly, the Federation Troopers were probably among the game's least-damaging sins, as they mostly just fade into the background. They're neither interesting nor overtly offensive. Even Mackenzie basically stops being an annoyance after his tutorial segment, and his occasional hints towards where you should go next are basically mandatory considering how **** the game's level design is.

The game in many ways reminds me of Final Fantasy 13, a game I had a decent time with back in the day but can completely see why people hate it. And like FF 13, this is a game with level design consisting...entirely...of linear hallways. No branching, no interesting choices. There is only...the hallway, and it's such a boring hallway that if the game didn't actively tell you where to go you wouldn't remember where you couldn't go previously due to missing upgrades. And between the hallways, there is the desert, and **** all worth mentioning happens in the desert. But boy does the game love to ping pong the player through that boring desert every 20-30 minutes.

And I sure hope you enjoy the whopping 5 enemy types recycled in such about every hallway: crawling bug; flying bug; griever; robots; and explosive flying things. Even most of the bosses have the same basic attack pattern.

I tried to like this game. Despite how boring the game's design is, it's a pretty good-looking game. It also runs pretty well. It's just a very boring game whose edges have been so thoroughly sanded down and dumbed down to appeal to "everyone" that it appeals to no one.

And whoever designed that final boss fight can **** all the way off. Planning on trading this one in soon to pick up Xenoblade X and complete the set.

- Trails in the Sky: First Chapter - This is a game I wanted to get to last year, but I had Xenoblade games to catch up on, so it's the RPG I'm currently playing. So far, I'm enjoying it a lot more than I did the original PSP game, mainly because the battle system is much more enjoyable. That said, a little of this kinda repetitive and grating music and these pastel visuals goes a long way. I'm taking a bit of a break from the game to reset.

And finally...

- Astral Chain - Part of my attempt to catch up on my Switch backlog, this is my current "lunch time game". I originally put this game down around...I think Mission 7(?) years ago due to how ungodly long the chapters were starting to get.

Restarting the game to refamiliarize myself with it, it's still probably my favorite Platinum game (and it still looks fantastic) but the controls are definitely still extremely wonky and unintuitive. Definitely not going to go for the higher scores.

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General Gaming / Re: What are you playing?

« Last post by Evan_B on January 20, 2026, 04:44:39 PM »

I didn’t know what Unrailed was and now I desperately want to play it.

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NWR Feedback / Re: Connection Problems

« Last post by Khushrenada on January 20, 2026, 01:34:43 AM »

Ugh. This connection error is popping up a bunch of times for me tonight.