What "standards" are you comparing it to? The Switch 1 was behind home consoles, but that's not really a fair comparison. There was nothing similar on the market to appropriately compare it to, no "standard".
Five years later the Steam Deck outperformed the Switch, because of course hardware from five years later would. But the gap between the 2017 Switch and 2022 Deck is not so vast that you can definitively claim in advance to know that the 2025 Switch 2 definitely has to be worse. You don't know that and can't go claiming it as fact.
All we know so far is that the Switch 2 does beat the Deck in at least one major attribute: it has a 1080p120 screen, in contrast to the Deck's 800p60. And it is not unlikely to expect the rest of the hardware to reflect that.
The Vita had far more problems than just memory cards. You came very close to identifying what the real problem was, Sony couldn't sustain supporting two separate platforms at once. And conversely, Nintendo unifying onto a single platform was what saved the Switch.
The Deck is targeted squarely at enthusiasts. While it's a fantastic product for that niche, anyone who thinks it's going to capture a market the size of Nintendo's any time soon is living in a fanboy bubble.
Hell, right now Valve isn't even capable of manufacturing half as many Decks as Nintendo will manufacture Switch 2s. They literally can't sell that number because they can't produce that number.
Exactly what hardware at a similarly competitive price point and form factor are you comparing it to when you say it's behind?
The Switch 1 didn't use the very best top of the line parts that money could buy, but if that's what you're fixating on then you're missing the fact that neither did the Steam Deck. The Switch made compromises to hit a $300 price point in 2017, and the Deck made compromises to hit a $400 price point in 2022.
So it's not a similar device. Comparing to phones is rather misleading, given that phones do not have active cooling and wouldn't actually be able to run the kinds of games the Switch hardware could without catching on fire in the process. They aren't gaming hardware.
This is very true. It's not just that Nintendo makes good games, it's that a lot of their games are wildly unlike anything else on the market. The reason I'm losing my mind over a Kirby Air Ride sequel is because there hasn't been any other game like the original from 2003. I've waited 22 years for another game that could scratch that itch.
Eventually, perhaps. I do not claim to have a crystal ball powerful enough to peer decades into the future. But right now, for this generation, I can say we're a long way from that point just yet.
Puyo Puyo Chronicle, the last good installment in the series, don't @ me. I'd like Sega to make a proper new game, but they're clearly never ever ever ever gonna do that, so the next best thing they could do is port a good one. What I need most is a game that's on all major platforms with crossplay.
For me it’s Super Metroid. I have played Zero Mission, Fusion, Metroid: Samus Returns (3ds) and Metroid prime remaster, three of these games are remake/remaster. So you can see why I’m hesitant to start Super Metroid, I’m sure that game still holds up, but playing it with modern controls annd other bells and whistles would...
Any of the classic era Tales games. Destiny DC/2 both finally got fantranslations, but Namco keeps teasing that they want to bring over the games the west never got. Eventually. Someday. Maybe. Hopefully by the time I finish the rest of my JRPG backlog.
Re: Super Metroid, it's a short enough game that even if a remake does happen, I'd say it's worth playing the original now and then playing the remake too whenever one happens. Though I'm also hard-pressed to see what a remake could bring to the table honestly, it's pretty much perfect as-is. Not like 1 and 2 which have aged horribly and needed a complete overhaul. I think I'd be concerned if they tried to mess with it.
Most of the games I play are so niche that 'matchmaking' simply consists of whoever's available. Or sometimes it even requires pinging people on Discord.
Yeah pacman and pong were seminal but so was elite on the BBC, and Populous which I think was on the spectrum. Also unreal tournament, silent hill, vice city, homeworld, doom 2016, beam ng, I enjoyed em all but I can’t decide. Ppl here have done much more gaming than me, I’m wondering what you all think is the best game...
Puyo Puyo 20th Anniversary. They took the best competitive puzzle game ever made and added a ton of goodies to make it the best package deal. 20 variant game modes, 24 character stories, a comprehensive set of tutorials, a devilish set of chain challenges, and a final challenge where you play against max level CPU while it's allowed to cheat.
It's a tragedy this game was never released in the west, and I can rant for hours about Sega has criminally neglected the series with the half-assed slop they put out now because they know that crossovers will sell better than the main series ever will.
I'd also add Mario 64's use of a controllable third person camera - all the games @Agent_Karyo mentioned are first person, and I don't think movement in those types of games is at all comparable. The camera was the key point to making a 3D platformer even possible at all, and it immediately became vital to many other genres too.
I know that by today's standards that camera is known for being rather antiquated, but it was revolutionary for its time. One detail I think deserves more credit is how they tried to anthropomorphize the camera as Lakitu to introduce it to players.
Hi people, I currently have two friends who injured their dominant arm in unrelated accidents and mostly can’t do anything but sit around and watch movies....
I feel like my “all-time favorite” changes depending on my mood, but if I had to pick just one, I’d probably go with The Witcher 3. That game just hit all the right notes—amazing story, incredible world-building, and so much stuff to do without feeling like pointless filler. Plus, the expansions were just as good, if not...
Puyo Puyo 20th Anniversary. They took the best competitive puzzle game ever made and added a ton of goodies to make it the best package deal. 20 variant game modes, 24 character stories, a comprehensive set of tutorials, a devilish set of chain challenges, and a final challenge where you play against max level CPU while it's allowed to cheat.
It's a tragedy this game was never released in the west, and I can rant for hours about Sega has criminally neglected the series with the half-assed slop they put out now because they know that crossovers will sell better than the main series ever will.
There are a lot of JRPGs from this era that I love dearly but would have a hard time recommending to anyone who didn't grow up on these kinds of games. Games that are slow, grindy, and mostly consist of clicking Attack every turn.
Chrono Trigger is the one exception I can recommend to anyone, and then say that if you liked this entry point then you can try some other JRPG classics.
Just note that the original SNES translation should be avoided, play a modern rerelease or a retranslation patch.
I respect the hell out of him for doing the best he could with very limited resources, difficult technical limitations, and an insane deadline. I just can't recommend playing that version today over a better alternative.
There is an optional party member that you can either recruit or fight based on which dialogue option you pick. You'll know it when you see it though, so it's easy to make the right choice.
There are 12 endings (13 in DS and subsequent rereleases). You can easily see all of them in just two playthroughs. Theoretically you could even do them all on the first playthrough, but it's much easier to do in NG+.
The only caveat is that you have to see them in order, you can't backtrack if you miss one, which is why I recommend starting with the final and true ending on your first playthrough, then do all the others on NG+. NG+ makes it pretty easy to speed through things as well, your second playthrough will be much shorter.
The character that leaves and rejoins the party is not permanently missable. It might be tricky to figure out how to get them back, but there's no fail state.
You can and should do the first playthrough blind. Save the guide for NG+.
Cadence of Hyrule - The original Crypt of the Necrodancer is one of my all-time favorites. CoH doesn't quite reach that incredibly high bar, but it's still an excellent game in its own right.
Metroid Dread - Hits all the highs of Super, but with greatly improved combat and bosses. So yes, I am calling this better than Super, you heard me.
Puyo Puyo Champions - Technically, this is not exclusive. However, I am counting it as such because the online playerbase is dead on every other platform. If you want to play the greatest competitive puzzle game ever made, the Switch version of Champions is really the only option.
The original game (but not CoH) is cleverly designed to be entirely playable with just four inputs, all non-movement actions can be performed with two simultaneous inputs (jumps). So it's entirely playable on a dance pad that way. I haven't tried it myself, but I know it's a thing you can do, and there's footage out there of speedrunners doing dance pad runs.
The King of Fighters 2002: KOF fans will tell you either 98 or 02 were the absolute pinnacle. I side with 02 because it has Kula in it. Also note that 98 and 02 both have updated rereleases with an extended roster and rebalancing, but those are Windows-only.
Puyo Puyo Tsu: 20th Anniversary is the peak of the series, but if you're on hardware that can't run DS or Wii, arcade Tsu is fine. AI is a lot weaker though, and the story mode just forces five colors and high gravity on later stages to compensate.
Puzzle Bobble 1/3: You've probably played some flash game clone of this. IMO I think 1 was best for its simplicity, I'm not as fond of the garbage patterns introduced in later titles in an effort to give characters some asymmetry. But PB1 does not have AI opponents, singleplayer is only the stage clear mode, so if you don't have a human to play with try PB3 for the next best thing.
Tetris: The Grand Master 1/2/3: The only good Tetris, do not @ me. Start with TGM2's Novice Mode, then once you can clear that go back to TGM1.
Twinkle Star Sprites: A versus shmup with a very unique format. Chaining enemies on your screen sends attacks to your opponent's screen. Hard to really explain, just give this a spin and feel it out for yourself. There are a lot of moving parts, screenwatching is vital, and feels like I've barely scratched the surface of the game's depth.
Vampire Savior: Aka Darkstalkers 3. This game is fast as hell and it's a blast. Like with any classic fighter, good luck keeping up with FightCade folks who really know what they're doing, but I love it casually.
Waku Waku 7: This game's mechanics are honestly borderline kusoge, you can't even cancel normals into specials. But I love the design and atmosphere so much. Tesse is really fun to play even in spite of the system mechanics.
NES:
Fire 'n Ice: A very rad little puzzle game.
Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!: Just an absolute blast. I won't bother listing them seperately but also check out Super and Wii. Super's kinda the black sheep of the series, but it's still a good game, just not as good. Wii is an absolutely top-notch successor and I'm sad it didn't get any more sequels after that. The two arcade predecessors are honestly forgettable.
SNES:
Chrono Trigger: I am hesitant to recommend most JRPGs from this era if you did not grow up on them, because many of them haven't aged so gracefully. Chrono Trigger is the exception, this game is a fine wine. You may want to check out one of the rereleases though, or at least a retranslation patch, because the original translation was made on a rushed deadline and bound by heavy technical limitations.
Earthbound: A bit more of a slow burn in comparison to CT, but this game is carried by incredible writing. It's also required reading before playing Mother 3 next. You can skip Mother 1 though.
Kirby Super Star: Definitely the peak of the series, giving every copy power an entire moveset is a blast. Has an updated rerelease on DS with added extras, I do highly recommend this version, but DS can be awkward to emulate so SNES is fine.
Panel de Pon: Gamecube version is best, but if you can't run Gamecube then Super Famicom is good too. GBC is also worth checking out, in order to adapt it to the small screen the story mode has health bars instead of true CPU opponents, which makes it play rather differently.
Wario's Woods: The NES version is more well known since it was the system's last first-party title, and for whatever reason it's the only version Nintendo ever rereleases. But the SNES version is a notable upgrade, biggest thing it has is AI to play versus mode against. Versus mode is wild as hell, so if you've never seen it please check out the SNES version.
GBC:
Game & Watch Gallery 2: Holds a special place in my heart as the first game I ever owned. Has the best lineup out of all the collections, with 3 and 4 you can kinda tell they had used up all the heavy hitters.
Mario Tennis: An incredible tennis RPG. And Mario doesn't even show up until the postgame as a bonus boss, which I find hilarious. Has connectivity with the N64 version if you can get that running, lets you transfer your RPG mode character and unlock more content on both titles.
Boktai trilogy: Hideo Kojima's greatest masterpiece. First game's alright, second game is where it comes into its own. Note that you want the Solar Sensor hardware for the full experience, but emulating them is worth it over not playing them at all. And for the third game, you'd have to pick between original hardware or the translation patch anyway.
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow - It's Castlevania. Also play Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance, but Aria is by far the best of the GBA installments.
Golden Sun 1/2: These games were way ahead of their time for how they designed a combat system that encourages you to use all of your tools and not just click basic Attack as if you gotta hoard your MP for a rainy day. Fantastic puzzles too.
Mother 3: Surely you have already heard of this game and do not need me to tell you to go play it. Have you not played it by now? Why not? Well, okay, if you haven't played Earthbound first, go do so, then play this.
Rhythm Tengoku: A wonderful game about pressing the A button. Sometimes you press the d-pad too. Translation patch.
Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 1/2: If you've ever played the classic 2D Tales games, these are excellent spiritual successors to those. There's a third game that's JP-only, translation patch is being worked on but it's been stuck in development hell for years...
Romhacks:
Celeste Mario's Zap & Dash (NES): SMB1 turned into a Metroidvania with Celeste mechanics ported in. I think what impresses me the most is that they got 4-directional scrolling into this engine.
Super Metroid and A Link to the Past Crossover Randomizer (SNES): It's an absolutely incredible technical feat that this even works. SM and ALttP smashed together into a single ROM, with a few doors that take you from one game to the other, then the item pools are shuffled together so you have to go back and forth to find one game's items in the other. Unfortunately because ALttP is a much bigger game with a lot more items it kinda overshadows SM, you may not find this to be as replayable as the standalone randos. But I recommend trying it once because it's just so cool the first time.
I started at 7 and looked forwards to every iteration of the series since then, 8 was more of the same with a weird story, 9 was cute and a good throwback, then I went back to 6 which was a masterpiece, 10 was emotional and beautiful, 12 wasn’t great but had cool worldbuilding, being a FFT fan....
I'm just disappointed in the way Square Enix seems to think turn-based combat is anathema for some reason. The series has abandoned its roots, it just isn't FF to me.
I tried to like 12, but I found it painfully tedious. I couldn't carefully ration my MP the way I wanted to with gambits, and I don't want to automate the game anyway, I want to actually play it myself. But manual takeover just felt way worse than a normal turn-based system too, the way it grinds the pacing to a halt and takes forever made it apparent that the game isn't designed to be played manually.
It's not like Square Enix doesn't know how to make good turn-based games. They've been hitting it out of the park with their smaller budget projects like Bravely Default and Octopath Traveler. So I don't know why they've rejected it for FF, imagine what they could do with a big budget title if they tried.
I joke about how halfway through development, someone at Square Enix must've realized that Bravely Default was actually a good game, and thus too good for the FF name. So instead they had to throw darts at an English dictionary to rebrand it.
I'd say HeartGold/SoulSilver were the absolute peak, and the best entry point. Faithful to the spirit of the originals while feeling sufficiently modernized, and they went above and beyond with how much bonus content they packed into it.
I'd say HGSS is much more polished, and the formula hasn't changed much since anyway. Only major mechanic differences in XY would be Fairy-type and reusable TMs.
IMO, XY is pretty rough around the edges, felt a bit unfinished. There's a good foundation in there, with more time in the oven Z potentially could've been one of the best games in the series...
RGBY - You had to be there. By today's standards, these games are incredibly dated, to a point where it's hard to explain to anyone who didn't grow up on them why they were so magical. Despite feeling aged now, they honestly were ahead of their time in several ways, and there's a reason these games took off and became such a massive cultural phenomenon that dominated the late 90s.
GSC - In comparison, it's honestly surprising to me how well GSC still holds up after all these years. The sequel carries forward the magic of the first games, while polishing and improving the formula in every way. Being able to revisit Kanto for the postgame was the coolest thing ever, and it's sad that we'll never see anything like this again.
RSE - I will forever be a Hoenn hater. Coming off the heels of GSC, these games were just a massive step back in many ways. One region and 202 Pokemon. Weirdly unbalanced with the excessive amount of Water-types, and tedious amount of Surfing. Began the trend of Legendaries becoming more and more god-like, and forced in the story. Not a fan of the art style or trumpet-heavy OST either. Only good thing this game brought to the table was Abilities.
One thing I don't think a lot of people today remember is that this was Dexit before Dexit. When RS first launched, you only had 202 Pokemon in the Hoenn Dex, a step back from GSC's 251, and the missing 184 species were not mentioned or referenced at all. At the time, I thought that they had been retconned out! Eventually, linking to later gen III games would unlock the National Pokedex, but at launch no one knew that was going to be a thing. And it was still fairly wack how many games they spread it out over, gen III as a whole was a mess.
FRLG - RGBY minus the soul. It may be more modernized, but it just doesn't hit the same. I know this is very much a "you had to be there" take.
Colosseum - Painfully slow. Never finished it. Never played XD either.
DPPt - These games were just... bland. There's not much I can actively hate on as much as RSE beyond just how slow they were, but there's also not much that stands out either. I don't have much to say.
HGSS - IT'S PEAK. Does a much better job than FRLG of feeling faithful yet modern. And the sheer amount of bonus content they added in was incredible. By far the best game in the series, nothing else is even close.
BW - Gen V really had a hell of a vibe to it, this era felt like Game Freak really wanted to experiment and it paid off. I give this game a lot of credit for being the first and only entry to have a good plot. However I do feel that the gimmick of new species only wasn't so great, dragged down by the fact that half the Unova Dex is blatant copies of existing Gen I mons. Why bother doing that?
BW2 - However, this game's story was so bad that I stand by my conspiracy theory of it being a last-minute rewrite from a planned Gray. I wonder what that would've looked like. Other than that though, everything else about BW2 was quite strong.
XY - The jump to 3D was rough, but could've been a lot worse. These games honestly feel like an unfinished beta to me, there's a really good game in here somewhere but it's dragged down by performance woes and very very little content. With more time in the oven, I think Z could've been one of the best games in the series, but they never gave this game the Director's Cut it needed.
SM - Since XY's framerate was so troublesome, let's make it worse by adding more models onscreen! Also, let's drop XY's best feature, the Player Search System, in favor of doing almost nothing on the bottom screen! People really liked Megas, so let's replace those with attacks that just do big damage and call it a day! And let's really go way overboard with the cutscenes, tons of long tedious cutscenes! Most of all it was the framerate that really pissed me off. This was actually the first time I bothered finishing the Regional Dex, but I was too fed up with the framerate that I decided I would wait until the next generation on new hardware to try for National...
And so that ended up being the last game I played. Skipped USUM because I didn't want to deal with this engine any longer, and then SS... Seeing how they'd just been cutting more and more corners with each game, I simply saw Dexit as the last straw. Maybe I'd have been willing to accept it if they'd actually been bringing new things to the table to compensate, but they don't. I've come to terms with the fact that the Pokemon that I know and love, the Pokemon that I grew up on, the Pokemon that I named my account after, is dead to me.
I play games that are so niche that 'matchmaking' consists of pinging people on Discord. I've played the same rivals often enough that I have a pretty good idea of who's close to my level and where the skill gaps lie.
I can play a long FT20 set with someone and there will be many individual rounds that look completely one-sided, for both of us. But because it's a long set and not just one-and-done, we can see how normal that really is when it keeps happening in both directions. That's something that will always be a part of games, and there's no magically flawless matchmaking algorithm that would prevent it.
I don't understand what you're talking about. Balatro does not contain loot boxes/gacha. In a world where so many modern AAA games are exploiting all kinds of shady dark patterns, Balatro took off by not doing any of that shit. It's just a sincerely fun game, and it sounds like you're literally just complaining that it's too fun and that should somehow be policed.
Been a while and I don't remember the routing details at all, but I was surprised to find that they weren't much of an obstacle at all for the speedrun. They're designed to scare you on a first playthrough, but on subsequent replays you just go fast and they won't catch you.
FWIW, that room is completely optional, only reward is a Power Bomb Tank. If you fall down there you do gotta get out, but if you can at least make your way up to the first platform you can bomb it to reveal a tunnel that lets you bail.
I could be wrong, but I think that only happens if you repeatedly enter and exit the EMMI Zone, allowing it to wander around too much. Which is something you might get scared into doing on a first playthrough!
It's super cool that SMZ3 is a thing that even exists, but beyond the novelty of it I felt it was dragged down by the fact that ALttP is so much bigger than SM, to the point where it kinda drowns SM out.
Are PC handhelds like Steam Deck really competitors for Switch 2? (www.polygon.com) angielski
I really need these games ported to Steam. What do y'all have on your lists? angielski
I'm currently scraping the Steam barrel and I could really use these ports:...
Silksong announced for 2025 on the Nintendo Direct angielski
have positive reviews destroyed games? angielski
www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3UO1j9TYpg...
What game do you really want to play, but haven't yet because you feel it in your soul that it will get a remake/remaster soon enough? angielski
For me it’s Super Metroid. I have played Zero Mission, Fusion, Metroid: Samus Returns (3ds) and Metroid prime remaster, three of these games are remake/remaster. So you can see why I’m hesitant to start Super Metroid, I’m sure that game still holds up, but playing it with modern controls annd other bells and whistles would...
Rhythm Heaven Groove – Announcement Trailer (www.youtube.com) angielski
EXCLUSIVE - Nintendo Switch 2 Will Have a 3-Phase Launch Plan For Its Games (insider-gaming.com) angielski
The struggle is real angielski
Cross posted from !deadlock, but really applies to most games with matchmaking that I’ve played…
Best game ever? angielski
Yeah pacman and pong were seminal but so was elite on the BBC, and Populous which I think was on the spectrum. Also unreal tournament, silent hill, vice city, homeworld, doom 2016, beam ng, I enjoyed em all but I can’t decide. Ppl here have done much more gaming than me, I’m wondering what you all think is the best game...
One-handed games? angielski
Hi people, I currently have two friends who injured their dominant arm in unrelated accidents and mostly can’t do anything but sit around and watch movies....
Your all-time favorite game? Let's discuss the best options! angielski
I feel like my “all-time favorite” changes depending on my mood, but if I had to pick just one, I’d probably go with The Witcher 3. That game just hit all the right notes—amazing story, incredible world-building, and so much stuff to do without feeling like pointless filler. Plus, the expansions were just as good, if not...
Chrono Trigger Is Timeless (www.dcgameblog.com) angielski
What are your favorite Switch exclusives? angielski
I’m including anything only available on other Nintendo systems as exclusive for this....
Pokemon Legends Z-A's visuals aren't "great" say former Nintendo marketing leads, but hope Switch 2 could allow Game Freak to "go back to the drawing board" (www.gamesradar.com) angielski
Square Enix will be revisiting Chrono Trigger in several projects in 2025 to mark game's 30th anniversary (automaton-media.com) angielski
Github: Nintendo Submit DMCA Notices to Ryujinx Forks (github.com) angielski
Kaizen: A Factory Story makes a game of perfecting 1980s Japanese manufacturing (arstechnica.com) angielski
Favorite Racing Game Soundtrack? angielski
cross-posted from: lemm.ee/post/57179824...
need retro game recommendations
So, I want to use my handheld for more than a music player. Need recommendations for systems to to gen 4 + GBA...
Are modern Final Fantasy games bad?
I started at 7 and looked forwards to every iteration of the series since then, 8 was more of the same with a weird story, 9 was cute and a good throwback, then I went back to 6 which was a masterpiece, 10 was emotional and beautiful, 12 wasn’t great but had cool worldbuilding, being a FFT fan....
Let's discuss: Pokémon (beehaw.org) angielski
The format of these posts is simple: let’s discuss a specific game or series!...
deleted_by_moderator
Balatro wins formal appeal to reclassify poker game as PEGI 12 (www.eurogamer.net) angielski
Favourite Metroid game? angielski
My favourite Metroid game has got to be Zero Mission on the GBA....