Nintendo Switch

[Viator]

Seems the "Nintendo Direct" of this month is the Pokemon Presents

 

[Mike S]

Seems the "Nintendo Direct" of this month is the Pokemon Presents

There’s always a Pokémon Presents. The rumor was for a normal Direct in addition to it which is less likely every day.

 

[Viator]

There’s always a Pokémon Presents. The rumor was for a normal Direct in addition to it which is less likely every day.

Personally looking into things; I suspect we won't get a general direct (or even a mini direct at all) until past April 2nd.

During the gap of the announcement of the Nintendo Switch to the Nintendo Switch live presentation; the only "Nintendo Directs" that occurred at that time was that of single-game based directs that covered and went into matters.

I think in theory, Nintendo likely doesn't want to have a regular, a partner, or a Mini direct; until the dust clears and they are able to have the rollout of the Switch 2 hit the road more fully.

 

[Mike S]

Personally looking into things; I suspect we won't get a general direct (or even a mini direct at all) until past April 2nd.

During the gap of the announcement of the Nintendo Switch to the Nintendo Switch live presentation; the only "Nintendo Directs" that occurred at that time was that of single-game based directs that covered and went into matters.

I think in theory, Nintendo likely doesn't want to have a regular, a partner, or a Mini direct; until the dust clears and they are able to have the rollout of the Switch 2 hit the road more fully.

The rumor was that it would exclusively cover Switch games but I guess there aren’t that many that could be considered major which to me is a good thing.

 

[mccgavin]

I imagine there has to be some releases between Xenoblade X in March, and the Switch 2's rumored Summer release date. It's possible we'll just get some announcements from social media on a random day, rather than a dedicated presentation.

 

[Viator]

The rumor was that it would exclusively cover Switch games but I guess there aren’t that many that could be considered major which to me is a good thing.

I think if the Nintendo Switch is aiming for the Late May/Early June position that it is seemingly aiming to be at, I think it makes sense that they might've decided to "Flip" the choice of directs for this year.

I think if we're looking at it smartly, the Direct rollout for the year should look like this:

April 2nd - The Big One
Mid/Late April - Indie World
Mid June (Post NSW2 launch) - General Direct for Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 titles
Late August - The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2 Trailer Direct
September - General Direct for Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 titles
October - Indie World
November - Final General Direct of the year

In-between that we should probably get "Mini-Directs" post the Big One that covers specific titles. Mario Kart 9, Metroid Prime 4 feel like good contenders for that.

 

[Mike S]

So as I’m going through Donkey Kong Country Returns HD it does feel a bit low effort even compared to Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD. I do wish Retro was somehow able to handle this between Prime 4 and Prime Remastered but I get it that that probably would’ve been too much for them. It does feel like it’s based mostly on the 3DS version rather than the Wii version but it still looks leagues better. At the end it’s still a fun game that I recommend getting especially if you’ve never played before. It’s also easily the best version to play based on not having forced motion controls plus the extra levels from the 3DS version.

 

[mccgavin]

So as I’m going through Donkey Kong Country Returns HD it does feel a bit low effort even compared to Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD. I do wish Retro was somehow able to handle this between Prime 4 and Prime Remastered but I get it that that probably would’ve been too much for them. It does feel like it’s based mostly on the 3DS version rather than the Wii version but it still looks leagues better. At the end it’s still a fun game that I recommend getting especially if you’ve never played before. It’s also easily the best version to play based on not having forced motion controls plus the extra levels from the 3DS version.

Overall I agree, it's an okay port of a great game. What's frustrating to me is it feels like this version's issues are relatively minor and could be easily fixed with a patch, but I don't necessarily expect that to happen. It needed a bit more polish, but Forever Entertainment does not have the best track record with their recent projects.

 

[Mike S]

Overall I agree, it's an okay port of a great game. What's frustrating to me is it feels like this version's issues are relatively minor and could be easily fixed with a patch, but I don't necessarily expect that to happen. It needed a bit more polish, but Forever Entertainment does not have the best track record with their recent projects.

The thing I notice all the time is the models for the bananas are very blocky. Some enemies look better than others and the Kongs look fine but there’s a lot more that could’ve been done. Hopefully FE either learns from the criticism or Nintendo doesn’t partner with them again.

 

[saint.piss]

 

[mccgavin]

Something like Pokémon Champions feels overdue at this point. Hopefully, it should help to make the Pokémon competitive scene to be more accessible. I have a few friends who enjoyed the completive scene during the 3DS era, but lost interest in playing through the campaigns of the newer entries. This could potentially get them back into the series.

Legends Z-A looks good from what they showed, but there wasn't anything that particularly "wowed" me. I ended up skipping the first Legends game, so I'll probably want to go back and play that first before I consider getting the new one.

 

[Mike S]

Jeez that Pokémon Champions reveal almost had me thinking that collection rumor was actually true. Z-A looks to be confined completely to the city which seems extremely odd. I’d say the Switch 2 will give GameFreak the ability to finally really move Pokémon forward but then I remember it’s GameFreak lol. Looks like it’s still not time for me to get back into Pokémon besides the classics I have ready to revisit when the itch comes.

 

[mccgavin]

Z-A looks to be confined completely to the city which seems extremely odd.

Honestly, this could be to the game's benefit. Reducing the size and scope of the world seems like it's letting them creating a more fully fleshed-out and detailed environment for the game to take place in. I find that to be preferable to the vast expanses of nothingness that made up Scarlet & Violet's map.

If Lumiose City ends up having a full game's worth of depth and interesting things to do in it, that's a concession I'm willing to except, especially since the generation 10 title rumored for next year will likely iterate on the concept of open worlds in the series.

 

[Mike S]

Honestly, this could be to the game's benefit. Reducing the size and scope of the world seems like it's letting them creating a more fully fleshed-out and detailed environment for the game to take place in. I find that to be preferable to the vast expanses of nothingness that made up Scarlet & Violet's map.

If Lumiose City ends up having a full game's worth of depth and interesting things to do in it, that's a concession I'm willing to except, especially since the generation 10 title rumored for next year will likely iterate on the concept of open worlds in the series.

There are plenty of fleshed out open world games on the Switch. GameFreak is just allergic to actually modernizing.

 

[mccgavin]

There are plenty of fleshed out open world games on the Switch. GameFreak is just allergic to actually modernizing.

That wasn't the point I was making. There are many fully-featured games that have the scope of their world set within a city, such as part 1 of Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Spider-Man. These types of games allow you to more intimately explore their environment than what a vast open world allows for. Limiting the setting to Lumiose City could allow for interesting creative opportunities within the game if they leverage it correctly.

 

[Mike S]

That wasn't the point I was making. There are many fully-featured games that have the scope of their world set within a city, such as part 1 of Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Spider-Man. These types of games allow you to more intimately explore their environment than what a vast open world allows for. Limiting the setting to Lumiose City could allow for interesting creative opportunities within the game if they leverage it correctly.

Pokémon isn’t supposed to be about just staying in your city though. It’s about going out and exploring.

 

[mccgavin]

Pokémon isn’t supposed to be about just staying in your city though. It’s about going out and exploring.

This isn't a fully traditional Pokémon game, it's a spin-off. This is a perfect opportunity to experiment with the formula, as the game already has a radically different battle system from the standard mainline games.

 

[Mike S]

This isn't a fully traditional Pokémon game, it's a spin-off. This is a perfect opportunity to experiment with the formula, as the game already has a radically different battle system from the standard mainline games.

The battle system is the only part that seemed interesting as it looks like the anime. Watch them never use it in a mainline game.

I hope PalWorld just continues to succeed so it forces GameFreak to finally make the types of games the fans want.

 

[mccgavin]

I hope PalWorld just continues to succeed so it forces GameFreak to finally make the types of games the fans want.

While I would hesitate to call Palworld "dead", it hasn't been able to maintain the popularity it had at launch. I think it's unlikely that it will ever come close to its peak player count ever again.

Ironically, I think if Nintendo hadn't tried to sue Palworld, nobody would be talking about it at this point. The backlash gave it a small bump of popularity again, but not enough to sustain it long term.