Nintendo Switch

[James Bond]

Little late to the current discussion but my two cents - I do think Nintendo really came back strong with the Switch. For me though, as a very casual gamer, I look at games very much as a dollars to time ratio. Horizon: Zero Dawn cost me $10 and that's an insanely immersive game. Got Red Dead 2 for $50. I've probably sunk over a hundred hours into Hitman 2 and that was $15. 

Want to have a couple races in Mario Kart? $80.

Ultimately, I just get better value with the other consoles despite my love for Mario. I don't get too heavily invested in collecting older games that I just won't have the time to play anymore (as much as I would love to). The PS2 era GTA trilogy is on sale all the time on the PS4, but realistically I'm just not going to get into playing those again so I didn't even bother buying them. There are exceptions, but generally I game in the "now" and only very casually. I loved Mario Odyssey but aside from the Switch being the secondary console I'm not even sure I'd own it if I didn't have kids.

I got rid of my SNES mini and most of my old gaming stuff. The one exception is GoldenEye. I'm with @action on that big time - it's one of the very few reasons I still own a Nintendo 64 and I do still play that regularly enough.

 

[downzy]

3 hours ago, Dazey said:

I'd be far too paranoid for VR porn. Imagine you're all on your own on the couch, you pop the headset on with the sound cranked up and get down to business. When you're finished you take the headset off and there's a bacon sandwich and a fresh cup of coffee on the table next to you.   

Is that from a Ricky Gervais bit?  

I do think VR porn is really only meant for single guys living alone or married men with an entertainment room that has doors that lock from the inside.

[ZoSoRose]

I'd say I am a casual gamer too at this point in my life. I like games a lot, but its hard to find time to really sink into them. I like 1 or 2 big adventure/rpg games a year, and then a few Halo matches once in a blue moon (or Planetside when I am feeling frisky).  Each big rpg takes me months to complete. I started BotW in December and I still have a long way to go. 

The Switch is good for me because of the mobile aspect where I can play a few quick minutes here and there throughout the week. Xbox/PlayStation/PC are also good for those big AAA games that pop up a couple of times a year. 

I probably will build a gaming PC in the next year since I will finally be living in a house instead of an apartment, but I will also use it for music and stuff. 

[Dazey]

I had a Wii ages ago and though I did love some of the games I fucking hated the controls.

I've just downloaded a Wii emulator and Mario Galaxy 1&2 and I'm playing them with a PS4 controller in upscaled 4K at 120FPS. Sooooooo much better than the originals!

[ZoSoRose]

35 minutes ago, Dazey said:

I had a Wii ages ago and though I did love some of the games I fucking hated the controls.

I've just downloaded a Wii emulator and Mario Galaxy 1&2 and I'm playing them with a PS4 controller in upscaled 4K at 120FPS. Sooooooo much better than the originals!

I was one of the few that didn't have a Wii, but of course I'd play it at friends' houses and stuff. Looking back, it had a killer lineup of Nintendo games. 

2 full 3D Mario games, some 2D Mario and Donkey Kong games, 2 3D Zelda releases, a Metroid Prime game, a Smash release, a Mario Kart, and more third party and other stuff. 

If the Switch can add another Metroid Prime game, Zelda, and one more bit deal game like another Mario or new IP or something we would be cooking. 

I haven't played Splatoon, I keep forgetting Nintendo did a new IP "semi" recently. 

[Axls_Moustache_Rules]

Hades is an absolute masterpiece. I cannot put it down, it seeps into my head when I'm not playing, i find its word story and characters on my mind all the time. Its a type of feeling I haven't expected too often with a game. Its supergiants masterful stroke at their own sorta rouge lite, for those unaware.

Another boon for the Switch!

 

[Coma16]

19 hours ago, Axls_Moustache_Rules said:

Hades is an absolute masterpiece. I cannot put it down, it seeps into my head when I'm not playing, i find its word story and characters on my mind all the time. Its a type of feeling I haven't expected too often with a game. Its supergiants masterful stroke at their own sorta rouge lite, for those unaware.

Another boon for the Switch!

 

Is it like Dead Cells?

[Graeme]

I downloaded the Super Nintendo feature for the Switch a week or so ago and I've been playing through (and subsequently replaying) Super Metroid. What a game. It looks so good on a big, modern flatscreen TV, the colours pop and the world is just bursting with personality. I've found it totally immersive, and the thing that's really surprised me is how instantly replayable it is - normally on finishing a game I'd want to move on to something new, but I immediately started another save file and wanted to see how much faster I could beat it if I played it again. Did most of it in a 3-and-a-half-hour session last night and I might be on track for a sub-4-hour finishing time depending on how I do in the endgame!

It would be weird for Nintendo to be a non-hardware company, I'm aware I've just spent a paragraph gushing about playing an old Nintendo game on non-original hardware but to be honest I've bought every generation of Nintendo console since the N64 (apart from the Wii U) and I've never bought a Sony or Microsoft console, and really have no interest in either. Nintendo's stuff just always seems to have more soul and creativity, whereas Sony and Microsoft are like "we have made a slightly more powerful version of the same box we made last time".

[action]

 

a game like this is a good case as to why nintendo absolutely needs to stay a hardware company.

nintendo is truly the most innovative and creative company in the world of video games.

[James Bond]

Are they though? I don't think the N64 or the Gamecube were particularly innovative. The Wii was cool of course, but also somewhat polarizing for fans who weren't behind the whole motion gaming thing. It was the beginning of the whole "Nintendo being the secondary console" thing in my opinion, and it's not like the other consoles wouldn't have been capable of it. They both have their own variants of motion gaming but it's not in demand for their respective fan bases. Let's not discuss the disastrous Wii U. Even Nintendo doesn't defend that one.

Don't get me wrong, Home Circuit looks incredible and the possibilities are endless. That said, that sort of creativity sits more within what they conceptualize for games. The other consoles wouldn't have any trouble running the same sort of thing if Nintendo were developing games and/or hardware add-ons for them. Mario Odyssey is perhaps the best Mario game I've ever played, but it's not dependent on the Switch's hardware.

I'm with you though. I don't have any problems with them staying a hardware company, especially for Nintendo's dominance of the handheld market. That's why I think the Switch was a genius move after the Wii U. Filling both niches of their fan base at the same time - people who want the traditional Mario, Zelda, etc... experience on a console while also being a successor to the 3DS in terms of expanding what can be done on a portable console.

I just don't think it's fair to say Nintendo has more soul and creativity. I think that's almost an insult to the plethora of third-party and indie developers who pour everything they've got into their games. Nintendo is essentially the Disney of the video gaming world at this point - they know how to intensely market their nostalgia to the current generation. Apple does the same thing too. Look at the huge deal all the Apple fans made about widgets being added to iOS!

 

[Dazey]

46 minutes ago, James Bond said:

Are they though? I don't think the N64 or the Gamecube were particularly innovative. The Wii was cool of course, but also somewhat polarizing for fans who weren't behind the whole motion gaming thing. It was the beginning of the whole "Nintendo being the secondary console" thing in my opinion, and it's not like the other consoles wouldn't have been capable of it. They both have their own variants of motion gaming but it's not in demand for their respective fan bases. Let's not discuss the disastrous Wii U. Even Nintendo doesn't defend that one.

Don't get me wrong, Home Circuit looks incredible and the possibilities are endless. That said, that sort of creativity sits more within what they conceptualize for games. The other consoles wouldn't have any trouble running the same sort of thing if Nintendo were developing games and/or hardware add-ons for them. Mario Odyssey is perhaps the best Mario game I've ever played, but it's not dependent on the Switch's hardware.

I'm with you though. I don't have any problems with them staying a hardware company, especially for Nintendo's dominance of the handheld market. That's why I think the Switch was a genius move after the Wii U. Filling both niches of their fan base at the same time - people who want the traditional Mario, Zelda, etc... experience on a console while also being a successor to the 3DS in terms of expanding what can be done on a portable console.

I just don't think it's fair to say Nintendo has more soul and creativity. I think that's almost an insult to the plethora of third-party and indie developers who pour everything they've got into their games. Nintendo is essentially the Disney of the video gaming world at this point - they know how to intensely market their nostalgia to the current generation. Apple does the same thing too. Look at the huge deal all the Apple fans made about widgets being added to iOS!

 

The N64 was incredibly innovative, it was the first console that made analogue controls the norm. The Gamecube was very much mainstream and the Wii was absolute hot garbage despite having a few decent games.

[James Bond]

1 hour ago, Dazey said:

The N64 was incredibly innovative, it was the first console that made analogue controls the norm. The Gamecube was very much mainstream and the Wii was absolute hot garbage despite having a few decent games.

Then Sony released the first DualShock and immediately made it better.

[ZoSoRose]

Looking back I would actually a say the N64 was innovative. 3D cartridge based games and the analog stick were pretty fresh at the time.

Gamecube was their most basic, straight up console I guess

[Axls_Moustache_Rules]

Nintendo have more soul and creativity. This captures my feelings pretty spot on.

[action]

15 hours ago, James Bond said:

Then Sony released the first DualShock and immediately made it better.

few PS1 games used the sticks. 

Also, first person shooters on the PS1 felt really awkward to me. Compare duke nukem on the N64 and PS1 for example in terms of handling. You had to press the L1 and R1 buttons just to look up and down, with the N64 this was done with the stick.

The dualshock sticks are weirdly placed, especially for a console like the PS2. Why put the directional cross at the main spot and the stick on the secundary spot? Makes little sense to me. Sony's unwillingness to evolve (the dualshock is a good example of this), made that they used the same controller for three generations. Hardly innovative, and contra-productive. 

The xbox controller is the best controller ever made, with the N64 controller starting it all. the dualshock sits in a weird spot for me.

Edited October 4, 2020 by action

[Dazey]

3 hours ago, action said:

few PS1 games used the sticks. 

Also, first person shooters on the PS1 felt really awkward to me. Compare duke nukem on the N64 and PS1 for example in terms of handling. You had to press the L1 and R1 buttons just to look up and down, with the N64 this was done with the stick.

The dualshock sticks are weirdly placed, especially for a console like the PS2. Why put the directional cross at the main spot and the stick on the secundary spot? Makes little sense to me. Sony's unwillingness to evolve (the dualshock is a good example of this), made that they used the same controller for three generations. Hardly innovative, and contra-productive. 

The xbox controller is the best controller ever made, with the N64 controller starting it all. the dualshock sits in a weird spot for me.

The problem with the Dual Shock isn’t that it’s a bad controller. It’s actually a really good 2D controller using the d pad. It’s basically at heart an evolution of the SNES controller. Same button and d pad placement with extra shoulder buttons. 

The problem is that Sony took an existing controller and crowbarred the analogue sticks  in without carrying out a proper redesign. People who were already used to the original PS1 digital controller would probably have complained if Sony completely rebuilt it from the ground up for the DualShock because it wouldn’t have been as good for the majority of existing PS1 titles that had no analogue controls.

 With hindsight they should probably have redesigned the controller with the release of the PS2 but I guess by then people were used to the DualShock 1 and didn’t want to change it. As a result we had a crappy controller not suited to 3D gaming through the PS2 and PS3 generations. 

That said, having recently bought a PS4 I do think that the DualShock 4 is a MASSIVE improvement. It’s bigger and sits much better in the hand  the buttons are much improved as are the analogue sticks albeit still slightly awkwardly positioned.

Saying this as a lifelong XBox controller devotee is a big deal for me. I actually think the PS4 controller beats the XBox in many ways. I play most of my games on PC right now and I’ll swap between PS4/XBox controllers depending on the game now. For instance games like Tomb Raider, Mortal Kombat etc play much better with a DualShock 4 whereas Doom Eternal is much better using the XBox pad likely due to the triggers being much better suited to shooters than the PS4 R2 buttons. 

Bizarrely enough I also prefer to use the PS4 controller for Wii and Wii U games. Mario Galaxy works brilliantly on it and Zelda: Breath of the Wild takes good advantage of the gyroscope for motion controls which obviously isn’t possible on the XBox pad. 

Edited October 4, 2020 by Dazey

[James Bond]

5 hours ago, action said:

few PS1 games used the sticks. 

Also, first person shooters on the PS1 felt really awkward to me. Compare duke nukem on the N64 and PS1 for example in terms of handling. You had to press the L1 and R1 buttons just to look up and down, with the N64 this was done with the stick.

The dualshock sticks are weirdly placed, especially for a console like the PS2. Why put the directional cross at the main spot and the stick on the secundary spot? Makes little sense to me. Sony's unwillingness to evolve (the dualshock is a good example of this), made that they used the same controller for three generations. Hardly innovative, and contra-productive. 

The xbox controller is the best controller ever made, with the N64 controller starting it all. the dualshock sits in a weird spot for me.

In general I think FPS has aged the poorest for both consoles. GoldenEye/Perfect Dark seemed to handle it the best overall. I also remember Rainbow Six being very awkward on the N64 because of the need to use the C-buttons to move and the stick to look (so it felt backwards). Then again, pretty much every version of Rainbow Six was inferior to the PC version except for perhaps the Dreamcast.

I would agree that by the time the PS2 came around the controller was in need of a redesign (and it got even worse on the PS3 with the awkward triggers). But still, they should get credit for the dual stick set-up which would soon become the standard for camera movement.

Xbox controller is still king though. I'm with you on that one. However, as a newish PS4 owner I have to say that Sony finally got the controller right. I still prefer asymmetrical sticks, but overall the size and triggers feel much better. 

[downzy]

On 10/2/2020 at 2:54 PM, action said:

 

a game like this is a good case as to why nintendo absolutely needs to stay a hardware company.

nintendo is truly the most innovative and creative company in the world of video games.

This looks pretty cool, though I wonder how long the novelty wears off in terms of having to set up a course every time.  

What would really pique my interest is if they came up with a Pilot Wings version using the same AR technology.  A little drone that could fly around the house using the same idea would be awesome. 

I do agree with @James Bond, this doesn't require a Nintendo machine.  This could have been accomplished on a PS4, Xbox, or even an iPhone or iPad.

[Dazey]

I’ve put my sister on notice that I want my Switch back after she nicked it before I got to even play it about three years ago.   

Quite fancy a go on Mario Odyssey. 

Edited October 5, 2020 by Dazey

[action]

1 hour ago, Dazey said:

I’ve put my sister on notice that I want my Switch back after she nicked it before I got to even play it about three years ago.   

Quite fancy a go on Mario Odyssey. 

mario odyssey is for liberals and sjw's. 

super mario 64 / 3D all stars: now that's where the boys are separated from the men. If you managed to collect all 120 stars in that game (none of that stupid moon BS), then you earn my deepest respect and I'll never make fun of your face again.

[Dazey]

4 minutes ago, action said:

mario odyssey is for liberals and sjw's. 

super mario 64 / 3D all stars: now that's where the boys are separated from the men. If you managed to collect all 120 stars in that game (none of that stupid moon BS), then you earn my deepest respect and I'll never make fun of your face again.

I got all 120 stars in Mario 64 in 1997. Keep up Jr.   

[action]

1 minute ago, Dazey said:

I got all 120 stars in Mario 64 in 1997. Keep up Jr.   

we should exchange dog tags

[action]

 

here is my nintendo collection. I only collect games I used to own, or wanted to own back in the day. All of these games I have enjoyed thoroughly and have provided me with hours of fun. These days, it's almost exclusively the switch I play.

gameboy collection:

Spoiler

snes collection:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

nintendo 64 collection:

Spoiler

 

 

 

gamecube collection:

Spoiler

 

switch collection:

Spoiler

 

 

 

Edited October 6, 2020 by action

[James Bond]

Nice collection @action!

I'd show you mine but it is quite small at this point. My Nintendo 64 collection consists of Mario 64, GoldenEye, The World Is Not Enough, and Perfect Dark. I had about 60 games, mostly complete in box, at the height of my Nintendo 64 interest but a couple of years ago I downsized. I liked the money better considering these are basically the only games I still play.

My copy of Mario 64 is autographed by Charles Martinet so that's my one claim to fame for collecting Nintendo.

[action]

20 minutes ago, James Bond said:

Nice collection @action!

I'd show you mine but it is quite small at this point. My Nintendo 64 collection consists of Mario 64, GoldenEye, The World Is Not Enough, and Perfect Dark. I had about 60 games, mostly complete in box, at the height of my Nintendo 64 interest but a couple of years ago I downsized. I liked the money better considering these are basically the only games I still play.

My copy of Mario 64 is autographed by Charles Martinet so that's my one claim to fame for collecting Nintendo.

I couldn't possibly think of a game I'd like to get rid of. maybe splatoon 2 because of lack of a decent offline multiplayer mode, but even that game has an enjoyable singleplayer mode I know I'd like to revisit sometime.

I don't collect for the sake of collecting, I collect because playing games is my hobby. When you're 39 years old, there tend to be a lot of games in your backlog. Every new game that I buy only adds to the collection, so I consider my new purchases wisely.