The Nintendo Switch

Yeah, man, I am afraid to even start with Stardew. Younger kid has been really into Animal Crossing for Wii, though.

Speaking of Switch, Shovel Knight is so stupidly unforgiving, I think I might be playing it wrong. Like, touch a spike, die instantly. Maybe I need to buy better armor? But there doesn't seem to be a place just to mess around and amass gems, only levels that you have to beat to bring anything back to the town and trade later. But the levels are so hard! Grrr.

git gud

That's one strategy. Having flashbacks to Contra codes and Zelda maps.

Chibi Robo hasn't really excited anyone in a long ass time, i think is the joke

Nintendo internet is in a frenzy over when the Nintendo Direct announcing the first half 2018 stuff is going to be so they're just tweeting cryptic stuff to troll everyone now, is the joke

oh we covered this already nvm

and lol they just dropped it with no pre announcement https://youtu.be/a_u7g5BlfiY

the world ends with you remaster
new mario tennis
donkey kong tropical freeze port
Hyrule warriors port
dark souls remaster
some other anime games and stuff
release date for Kirby (mid March)

Some good shit and the first party announcements don’t even go that deep into the year :o

I’m excited to play Dark Souls for the first time and probably TWEWY again and the Mario Tennis game looks rad and I’ve been excited for Celeste and etc etc VIDEO GAmEs

Oh and I’m real jazzed for Kirby, I love Kirby

oh yeah ys 8 port too which is apparently one of the best ys games

I never got to play the world ends with you so I'm excited for that

same w tropical freeze

yeah i am down with just about everything in that direct except the SNK fighter and celeste

Celeste is from the creator of Towerfall and will be the best thing since sliced Super Meat Boy

just need ports of tokyo mirage sessions and wonderful 101 now and we can pretend the wii u never happened

not true, we need a Captain Toad port too

not happy until new DQ installment and some Suikoden remasters

DQ11 is getting a switch port though no date yet

psyched to own dark souls on a fourth gaming system

I've never played the dark souls games since every impression they gave off was that they're Not For Me but maybe this will be the time to try

dark souls is life my dude

I guess I don't trust the opinions of an entire generation of gamers

i mean that's a good idea in every other context except this one

ok fine I'll play it but I'm not playing 2 and 3 even if I like it

deal

Celeste is from the creator of Towerfall and will be the best thing since sliced Super Meat Boy

Didn't Super Meat Boy come out this week? Or am I thinking of something else? Oh, wait, it's a sequel that came out this week.

Not too excited about most of these announced titles (for lots of reasons) except maybe Kirby but I'm cool with that because the handful of big titles and indies I have should keep me occupied for months. Looking forward to more ports later, like Captain Toad or Smash Bros, plus something fun like Luigi's Mansion.

Funny observation about Dark Souls on Switch in Forbes:

Also, I'm really not sure how this will work on the Switch, at least when you're on the go. Think about it: You can't pause Dark Souls. If you're playing on a bus and have to get up at your stop in the middle of a fight, well, you'll just have to miss your stop. Or die.

You can mash Home or sleep and it is equivalent to pausing I guess

it is a weak but not negligible coupling of worlds. Planning your bus rides becomes part of the game.

if they don't have smash 4 ported by the end of this year it seems safe to assume they're planning to make a new one

Anyway, all aboard the Friend Train
https://media.giphy.com/media/xULW8N59RnIZ1Mve2A/giphy.gif

im ready for DS remaster, probably DKC as well

Also, I'm really not sure how this will work on the Switch, at least when you're on the go. Think about it: You can't pause Dark Souls. If you're playing on a bus and have to get up at your stop in the middle of a fight, well, you'll just have to miss your stop. Or die.

the solution is git gud, scrub

kidding aside, im pretty excited for the remaster. is it going to use DS3 engine? would be insanely rad if so. the trailer certainly makes it look like that.

you'll almost certainly be able to pause it on the go as long as you're in offline mode.

How is Rayman Legends? Worth the $30 or whatever if I've never played Rayman?

I haven't played yet but have heard its one of the best level-based 2d platformers out there, it gets the same sort of praise as donkey kong country tropical freeze

Shovel Knight is pretty tough. It's definitely the kind of old-fashioned game that expects you to die on the same stage over and over and gradually attain mastery. Sometimes that's fun, and sometimes it's just maddening. This is the first current-gen console I've owned since the flippin' Dreamcast, and I am psyched to finally be able to play a Souls. So much good indie stuff available on this too.

the tennis game looks pretty cool too

pretty exciting to think this was a mini direct and a full one will probably show up within a few weeks. maybe we see Metroid Prime 4?

supposedly the switch version of rayman is kind of a shitty port so caveat emptor

Prime 4 had nothing but a logo when they announced it late last year, suspect it's a holiday release at the earliest. Maybe we'll learn who's making it though, it's not Retro this time since they're busy with some top secret project that no one knows anything about

The Yoshi game and Octopath Traveler are 2 things that weren't mentioned in this one but should be upcoming

Switch Rayman got a patch that fixed most of the shitty load times and stuff the reviews were complaining about iirc

yeah i have heard that rayman is really great now

it's on my get when it goes on sale or im bored list

i stand corrected, emptor fuckin buy it or whatever

Sometimes that's fun, and sometimes it's just maddening.

One reason I've always liked Nintendo is that they often get the balance just right. Sure, I grew up on Contra and Castlevania and Mega Man, which were all hard and unforgiving, but I felt that was more a limitation of the technology than the design. That is, they weren't designed to be maddening (I don't think). Something like Shovel Knight, it took me by surprise, because almost from the start the levels are frustrating and the bosses relatively tough, though interestingly enough when I finally made it over an early hump I was sort of rewarded by two easy bosses in a row and a level that just let me accumulate gems, so maybe that was all on purpose?

Honestly, difficulty is one reason I dropped out of video games for so long: the games were getting so challenging, so complex, that they just didn't seem fun to me and, in fact, were often more fun to watch other people play. I guess some people dig the stress more than others? Something like Dark Souls looks cool but also looks like the worst of both worlds for people like me: unforgiving and driven by tons of game play details and data. I mean, I tried Monster Hunter on the Wii once and man, there is just no way I have the time and energy and enthusiasm to master that (aka "git gud"). But the franchise Nintendo titles (Mario, DK, Kirby, etc.) are always fun even when they are frustrating.

that fun when lynel's galloping back with savage lynel spear, and you don't know that you are crouching

"difficulty is one reason I dropped out of video games for so long: the games were getting so challenging, so complex, that they just didn't seem fun to me"

this is interesting to me because the reason i feel like i lost interest in video games was because they were getting too EASY. the mechanics were more involved but the stakes were essentially removed. die, lose 4 seconds of progress. follow the arrow to the next objective. press A to WIN. Dark Souls and its breed brought me back a little bit.

yeah I thought that was why dark souls was such a big deal, it translated the frustrating but conquerable difficulty of old games into the modern action rpg style

how old are you folks? I'm almost 43 and just don't have the time, energy and brain power.

like, steamworld dig 2 was easier than I expected, but I did have it on the easy setting. still took me a bit.

long story short, I'm cool with difficult games as long as there is an easier setting. That way I can play it once on easy, practice or master skills, and try it again on difficult.