Nintendo Switch

[Tanooki]

I totally agree which is why I was taken by surprise on this one. I still need to snap up Super Spy which I keep forgetting to do. I do have Crossed Swords 2 though and that one is fantastic. Magician Lord I own as well, and Viewpoint I have on my 161in1 and it's interesting just not $300 interesting.

[Atariboy]

While I've enjoyed a bit of that golf game on SNK Arcade Classics Volume 1 from time to time, most of the accepted highlights of the Neo Geo library are games that hold no interest to me. The overhead racers were actually some of my favorites from the platform.

 

I basically only care about the Metal Slug series, Shock Troopers 1 & 2, Nam 1975, the vertical shooters (Alpha Mission II, Sonic Wings/Aero Fighters 2/3, Ghost Pilots, and Strikers 1945 Plus all leap to mind), the three horizontal shooters that I'm aware of (Blazing Stars, Last Resort, and Pulstar), and these three racing games.

 

Since much of that is available such as Metal Slug or Strikers 1945 Plus (I have the latter on my PSTV), it's nice to see a new addition after probably five years of no Neo Geo rereleases that I'd care about. I'd love to erase the remaining holes one of these days, since the system is prohibitively expensive to get into and I enjoy the official nature of compilations and so on over just emulating them via homebrew means.

 

While Neo Drift Out is close, this racer actually is probably my top pick from those games still absent on a modern system in the west.

Edited April 12, 2017 by Atariboy

[Atariboy]

Blazing Star was mentioned as coming in tonight's Nintendo Direct, which takes care of another one. Japan saw this on the Wii Virtual Console, but as far as I'm aware, this will be its first emulated rerelease in North America. Hopefully Pulstar will be next.

 

And thanks to YouTube recommending a video of it just now, I realized that I forgot Prehistoric Isle 2 above. That one is another one I'd love to see appear, rather than all the usual suspects that usually have already seen 3 or 4 rereleases over the past 15 years.

Edited April 13, 2017 by Atariboy

[Atariboy]

Namco Museum announced.

 

 

Hopefully not the entire lineup, although it's presented like it is. But either way it's still nice to see Splatterhouse, Tank Force, and Rolling Thunder 2 added to the line. I almost bought the Splatterhouse remake just recently just to unlock the arcade game, so this works out nicely since I had no desire to actually play the remake.

Edited April 13, 2017 by Atariboy

[Austin]

Nice to see the inclusion of Splatterhouse, but the rest... yaawwwwn. Same old stuff. Of course, at this point I guess you can't really expect any more from the Namco Museum series.

 

I do like the addition of TATE mode though when playing on the tablet.

[Flojomojo]

Namco Museum announced.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcPkzTPYLVU

 

Hopefully not the entire lineup, although it's presented like it is. But either way it's still nice to see Splatterhouse, Tank Force, and Rolling Thunder 2 added to the line. I almost bought the Splatterhouse remake just recently just to unlock the arcade game, so this works out nicely since I had no desire to actually play the remake.

Challenge modes? If they're something like NES Remix, or other little tasks with achievements or leaderboards, that might be neat.

 

The vertical arcade games really need a 'TATE mode like Klax on the Lynx (or any mobile game). Have any Switch games done this yet?

 

Edit: I see from Austin's comment that TATE is happening. That's cool.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Namco Museum announced.

 

 

Hopefully not the entire lineup, although it's presented like it is. But either way it's still nice to see Splatterhouse, Tank Force, and Rolling Thunder 2 added to the line. I almost bought the Splatterhouse remake just recently just to unlock the arcade game, so this works out nicely since I had no desire to actually play the remake.

Yay!

 

But no Ms Pacman?

[Flojomojo]

Yay!

 

But no Ms Pacman?

Unlocked in the "season pass" for $34.99.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Kidding!)

[Austin]

Unlocked in the "season pass" for $34.99.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Kidding!)

 

Kidding aside, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if that actually happened.

[Tanooki]

Namco kind of hates MsPacMan and at times still seems bitter that Midway did that.

 

That pack of 10 is all there is unless they get into their gutter tactics they do on ios/android where everything is a coin up, everything is a charge, and they add 10 more games for $2.99 a piece which really would not surprise me.

 

I've only played about 2/3 arcade games, so like if this was cheap, and put to real media I'd buy it.

[Atariboy]

It's a retail release for $29.99. Bit pricey even though it has three new games that haven't been on older volumes, but it will no doubt be easily had for under $20 soon enough.

[Tanooki]

Splatterhouse, Tank Force, and Rolling Thunder 2 are the newbies right? I do agree in time it'll drop, perhaps pretty fast on the resale market.

 

The thing is I used to love Splatterhouse on my Turbo Duo over a decade ago, miss it, so that adds real value. I'm also a good fan of Rolling Thunder mostly due to the Tengen/NES port, yet I've never touched the sequel and it looks fantastic too. Not sure I'd get much out of the battle city looking tank game, but of the others there Galaga 88 is fun, a total junky for the original as I used to score high on that, and pac-man is a nice gimme. Tower of Druaga I have little Famicom time with and it seemed fine. I just could see throwing time into this little card.

Edited April 14, 2017 by Tanooki

[Punisher5.0]

I downloaded and tried out the Puyo Puyo Tetris and had a lot of fun tonight. It works better than I thought it would. I like the Tetris and the gf likes Puyo. There is surprisingly a lot to the demo. You can play up to four player and it appears to be unlimited time.

[Flojomojo]

Rolling Thunder 2 had a nice Genesis port. The arcade original is awesome.

[Tanooki]

I had put it into my cart and forgot to order so I did it earlier today with Puyo Tetris along with MK8 Deluxe and Ultra SSF2. Can't wait to get my hands on them.

[BillLoguidice]

I'm thankful for the Puyo Puyo/Tetris demo. Although I need to spend more time with it to make a final decision, it went from a must pre-order to probably-won't-buy-it. It probably doesn't help that there's no d-pad on the JoyCons (and no, those buttons still don't do it for me).

[Punisher5.0]

I'm thankful for the Puyo Puyo/Tetris demo. Although I need to spend more time with it to make a final decision, it went from a must pre-order to probably-won't-buy-it. It probably doesn't help that there's no d-pad on the JoyCons (and no, those buttons still don't do it for me).

 

The girlfriend and I actually prefer the joycon over the procontroller for this game. We both find the D pad to be unplayable because it constantly does a hard drop when you press left. I studied the problem and if you press the upper corner of the left side it counts as a quarter pocket and automatically hard drops the piece. This could be easily fixed with a change in controls (don't see an option in the demo) or disable hard drop (rather not).

[Andromeda Stardust]

It probably doesn't help that there's no d-pad on the JoyCons (and no, those buttons still don't do it for me).

 

They made a special controller for "old hat" gamers like us...

 

[Andromeda Stardust]

The girlfriend and I actually prefer the joycon over the procontroller for this game. We both find the D pad to be unplayable because it constantly does a hard drop when you press left. I studied the problem and if you press the upper corner of the left side it counts as a quarter pocket and automatically hard drops the piece. This could be easily fixed with a change in controls (don't see an option in the demo) or disable hard drop (rather not).

Odd. I've heard reports all over the internet of Dpad issues with the PRO controllers registering accidental diagonals, but I've not experienced any issues with mine at all. Maybe I'm one of the lucky ones, or a lot of other people really don't know the delicate art of Dpad mashing. Not one single accidental "hard drop" for me with my hands on experience with the Japanese demo I downloaded a few weeks ago...

 

Playing Bomberman on the analog stick in split Joycon multplayer though...

[Punisher5.0]

Odd. I've heard reports all over the internet of Dpad issues with the PRO controllers registering accidental diagonals, but I've not experienced any issues with mine at all. Maybe I'm one of the lucky ones, or a lot of other people really don't know the delicate art of Dpad mashing. Not one single accidental "hard drop" for me with my hands on experience with the Japanese demo I downloaded a few weeks ago...

 

Playing Bomberman on the analog stick in split Joycon multplayer though...

She first played with the procontroller and was getting mad that it kept happening. I chalked it up to her not knowing what she was doing. Then the next day I tried it and it was doing it in the first round. I've been using d pads since the late 80s so I would say I'm well versed in d pad controls. I think it's a controller issue for this particular game. It would be perfect for a 2D fighter game though.

[Punisher5.0]

Now that I think about it, I have the same problem in Zelda. When going through the inventory and going left it often times goes up instead. I think there is a flaw in my controller.

[Atariboy]

I've seen a good number of other people report similar Pro Controller d-pad issues, so I think it's a design flaw.

 

One of the pitfalls of being an early adapter.

[Atariboy]

As of the posting of Nintendo's fiscal year results this week, Nintendo's sales statistics on their Japanese site are much more detailed than they were. Take this for example.

 

It shows what I've long said about the GameCube. Despite the reputation it has earned as being another disappointment where 3rd party support is concerned, it still saw heavy support from 3rd parties and only the Super Nintendo and Game Boy Advance have a greater percentage of 3rd party sales.

Lots of neat charts and such to dig through, if anyone is curious about how things like how the Switch launch went from a sales standpoint, the lineup of 1st party million sellers on the Wii U and 3DS (Previously, only a top 10 was ever posted), etc.

Edited April 29, 2017 by Atariboy

[+swlovinist]

I have currently owned a Switch for about three weeks. My favorite game on the system is FAST RPX racing. Since I played alot of Zelda BOTW and Mario Kart 8 on the Wii U, I am really enjoying my time with this game. Spit screen racing is fun. Agree that the Joycons by themselves are too small, but the kids like them. I also picked up Puyo Puyo Tetris and that is a solid title as well.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Got a couple of gripes with Gamestop. I bought Mario Kart 8 from them yesterday along with the Mini Wheels and an unrelated Harly Quinn statue. Got home and NO GAME IN THE BAG!!!

 

So I immediately drove back to Gamestop to plead my case, and the store manager did an inventory check. sure enough there was one extra game in stock which she promptly handed over. An honest mistake but still inexcusable.

 

Second gripe. The wheels they handed me were third party. It didn't dawn on me until I opened the package, so now I can't exchange them for official ones. I know I should have asked, but that should be implied.

 

Why do I keep patronizing that store? They push 3rd party accessories and junk colllectibles down people's throats. Everytime I go in there, I walk out with some figurine or other collectible junk I don't need and didn't plan on buying. Maybe I have a problem LOL.

 

= = = = = = = =

 

Played Mario Kart 8 last night (9 cups total) and my impressions are mixed. I played four cups in 50cc without realising they enabled "hand holding" autosteer mode by default. I tried to cut a corner and it kicked me back on the track. To disable, you must pause the game and disable auto steer and auto accelerate from the menu. I used the (3rd party) mini wheel and it's very nostalgic of the Wii. I'll keep using it for now.

 

Funny story, I actually lapped Golden Peach and Likatu on the Mario Circuit track in the Banana Cup, hand-holding finally turned off. Yes, they were just about to finish their second lap as I straddled the finish line. So I can kind of believe preliminary reports that stated you can literally win a cup by setting the controller down with the cart on autopilot. Great if you never graduated from kindergarden I guess.

 

Other thoughts, you need 30 coins to earn additional kart parts instead of 50, all characters and speed classes are unlocked from the start (which leaves little incentive to earn gold trophies in every cup and speed class), and the ghost, feather, and the double item box are back. Also you can perform an ultra mini turbo in addition to minis and super minis, if you hold down R until the sparks turn purple. The ultra mini turbos take a long time to charge, so you really have to plan their execution.