As someone who has played the original numerous times, this is a vastly inferior demake of it. Everything is slower, easier, and more dumbed-down. There are a few positives, such as the fact that the game has a few more languages than the six that the original had (and all on one cartridge on every single region as well), but it's worth learning one of the original six languages (English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Japanese) and playing the original over this due to how much faster and more of an actual game it is. In the original, the maximum coins are 999, in the demake it's 9999. The original started you with 10 items (and they don't stack), which is upped to 15 in the demake. Tutorials in the demake take longer and make things more obvious when the gameplay already does a good job of conveying things as it is. And should you happen to lose in the demake, you'll get the choice of immediately trying again, not from the last save-point (where the demake already has more of than the original) but from the last room you entered! And this doesn't even go away during the game's ultimate challenge, the Pit of 100 Trials! It's normally a challenge to beat the Pit prior to Chapter 2, but in this version, anyone with a lot of time and patience could probably manage it just by losing on purpose and getting favorable groups of enemies. It also used to be a challenge to keep partners at 1 HP so the Mega Rush P would make them do much more damage, but in the demake, even that's ruined, because a party member will come back with 1 HP if they had 0 in the battle, making them re-usable shields for each one. And when you level up, everyone goes back to full HP, not just the one you currently have out. The original was already easy, but the demake finds a way to cut you every possible break it can. Recent Paper Mario games have been bad, but this one is just plain unnecessary. Don't be happy with it just because it exists at all- stick with the better original.
The reason I bought a Vita. Without Shun, it's incomplete. But you get improved versions of two games, including the first game, my favorite, which is good enough for me. This game was enough to make the Vita and Vita TV worth it for me. It's that good.
Astro Bot Rescue Mission is an amalgamation of recent Nintendo platform games, such as Super Mario 3D World, Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze, and Splatoon. Problem is, those games weren't great, they were just average. This rendition is greatly improved by a clever second-person view that I would love to see more of in video games. Problem is, while taking ideas away from Splatoon, they could have taken the lives system (maximum of 3, restores every checkpoint). Problem is, this game is just good. It's not GREAT. It's not enough to justify the prices of PSVR on top of what a PS4 or PS5 costs. And make sure it's at least a PS4 Pro, because this is a very advanced game that might crash on something earlier. Overall, this will be a fun game when many more people experience it for the first time in 2025 when it runs smoothly enough and prices of the hardware are low enough.
The Moderate Relevance of Zelda Skyward Sword is a boring game. Certainly not worth buying with current prices or re-buying on Switch. The game is designed for the creators' idea of what an emotionally fragile person is. You are constantly led by the nose constantly given opportunities to save. Enemies are slow and infrequent. The difficulty slowly and nonchalantly inches up whenever it feels like it, never making any daring jumps. The motion controls are the least of this game's problems. Take them out, and it's still a **** game that doesn't want to be played- it just wants you to be done with it so it can be relieved of its duty.
Wii Sports Club is the game that turned me on to online gaming. Sadly, my favorite mode, Boxing, is empty now, but I still have the memories with it. The online wasn't perfect, but it was unique among online games which mainly seem to be FPS games on other consoles. Plus the online was free, which Nintendo has abandoned sadly. What we're left with is the single player, which with rare exception, is not as good as the five sports from the original. Still though, it's special. And it's VALUE. Certainly one of the best first/second-party games on Wii U. This is still the most recent Wii Sports game at the time of writing. It's a shame that Nintendo and their fans don't understand why they need new Wii Sports games and why the Wii Sports series is good.
Is the Switch installment of Smash really the Ultimate one? Not really. First off, unless you have other people to play with, this game is worthless. The multiplayer is amazing, with more stages to pick from than any previous game, as well as the ability to have up to 8 players and select Battlefield and Flat variants of every stage. First off, the single player is bad. The multiplayer is where you're going to get your money's worth, up until the next one comes out (which it will, Nintendo isn't going to end a popular franchise, no matter what subtitle it has). World of Light lacks platforming stages and is a bunch of gimmick fights. Classic mode keeps changing the difficulty instead of staying on the same one like the other games do. And I forget the other things because they're not as important. One huge positive is the variety of options, including plenty of languages to change into. Compared to the other games, you'll at least get something out of those. The problems begin when you replay matches and stages- you need to select characters and colors again every single time. You need to select the song (from a long list) every single time unless you want it randomized. You need to come up with rulesets and save them and remember which ones are which, and it's a hassle. The game is notoriously full of input lag. And there are so many characters, it might take a while to choose or even just find which character you want. Then there's the online mode. The online mode is terrible and certainly no For Glory from Smash 4. First off, it's 1-on-1 only, meaning you have to wait in a lobby instead of matches being instant. They got this right in the previous one, and now they change it to something much worse? And if you play in handheld mode and your Switch falls asleep, not waking it up will kick you out of the lobby and back to the start. You wait and wait, all to lose to someone who plays the game constantly and destroys you in an instant. The online input lag doesn't help either. It's so severe, it even changes the tier lists and allows slower, but more powerful characters to be better than they should. And I should stress, the Wii U's online was free! And the experience was better! And the character choices, don't get me started. There are too many third party characters, some from games exclusive or mainly played on consoles other than Nintendo. This is diluting the identity of Smash and making me less excited for new character announcements. And despite the endless discussions of which new character should be included on forums, this is how the hierarchy works: Creators > Investors > Japanese Fans > Everyone else. Chances are, the choices of you and your colleagues aren't making it in unless they're desperate to sell a new installment or a new season pass. Especially given how expensive new characters are, they aren't worth buying DLC for. You might get your choice once in a while, and usually when a new installment comes out. Overall, not a bad game on its own, but one that has soured me on the series.
The best 3D Mario offering on the Switch IMO. Classics preserved without too much updating. Every language is available, even Korean in Galaxy! Please play this instead of Odyssey, 3DW, or Bowser’s Fury World- these games are much better.
It’s Wii Sports! A game that needs no introduction. This game is immensely popular, full of value, and accessible and appealing to more than any game before or since. Each sport is intuitive to begin and a quest of mastery thereafter. Hardly what I would call “casual”. This game brought people together like no other game has before, and remains the ultimate ambassador of household penetration by a console. Still popular over a decade later and after two sequels, Wii Sports has increased in value. Nintendo and their fan base have thrown this series under the bus, and they have done little with it since.
I do not understand the general consensus of SMO. The game is more of a tour than a game. Deaths range from trivial to beneficial. It has some of the least replay value in any 3D Mario. The controls are unintuitive and not fun to use. Rarely do transformations benefit you. There is little to no art cohesion as all the characters from different worlds look like they belong in different games. And the bosses are terrible. The Broodals are too cute. At one point you fight a gigantic dragon that makes me wonder why Bowser is necessary. I do not look forward to seeing characters from this game in spin-off games- or being reminded of Odyssey in General. Disappointing game. Don’t bother now that better 3D Mario games are on the Switch.
The best thing you can say about Super Mario 3D World is that it's inoffensive. So inoffensive that it becomes offensive. It's insubstantial, forgettable, and definitely not worth $60. Even with all the flak 3D All-Stars got for not being updated and upgraded enough (as they should- they're supposed to be CLASSICS remember), that collection is the best of the 3D Mario cartridges to get on the Switch. Buy it before supplies run out and it gets kicked off of the Switch eShop, leaving you with the mediocre Odyssey and 3D World. But wait! There's also a new game, Bowser's Fury! And it's the worst 3D Mario game in existence. This game would not be played by many people had it not been tacked onto a re-release of 3D World, another game not many people played the first time. First off, it features controls and mechanics similar to 3D World, but it's set in a big open world with all the levels connected. This makes the game absolutely CHUG and if only that were the worst problem. This game continues the modern Nintendo tradition of being toothlessly easy. You have five separate power-up slots, one for each power-up, and you can store multiple power-ups. You will constantly have more power-ups than you will ever need for each situation. Even if you forget you have them and die, there's hardly any consequences. And as the only new content for this duology, it's short and lacks replay value, not giving Wii U players much of a reason to buy this re-release. It's worth noting that while playing this game, both of my pairs of Joy-Cons have the Drift now. I prefer playing my Switch in handheld mode and I don't like using the Pro Controller. I grew up playing the N64, during a Nintendo Dark Age, and I've stuck with Nintendo ever since, even buying their older systems and games from before. I don't know if I can continue buying Nintendo's new consoles after the Switch. Sales nonwithstanding, the Switch is the most disappointing Nintendo generation for me and I feel like an alien from a foreign planet seeing the regular hype and glowing praise for its games.
