1994 Video Game Executive: *snorts another line of coke off the glass table* “BUT LIKE, HOW’S A PRETEEN BOY GONNA KNOW HE SHOULD SAVE HIS GAME UNLESS HE’S SEXUALLY ATTRACTED TO THE SAVE POINT?”

To be fair, the Metroid series, while critically loved, has only ever sold a fraction compared to Nintendo’s other series, and I seem to remember hearing that it’s much more popular in the west than it is in Japan. Even Metroid Prime, the pinnacle of the series and one of the most critically loved games of all time,…

“New in DKC Tropical Freeze Double Deluxe is Candy Kong Mode! Candy rides along on her boy-toy DK’s back, and she’ll soften up the competition for you by distracting those baddies with her...charms while you go in for the quick and easy KO!”

There are dozens of us! I know, right? Sonic fans are unusually passionate for some truly terrible and dated game design principles. I’m sure it’s confusing being a Sonic Team developer and being like “...wait, so this is really what you all want? Gameplay and level design from 2001?”

I’m curious how Microsoft is going to denote this generation, even though yeah yeah, I know that strictly defined generations are so outdated. But it’s still useful, as your post gets at, and especially as we get a couple years in and that overlap period where games still release for Xbox One ends. Is this new gen the…

Thanks! Too bad I’m only good for broad ideas, my brain can’t handle programming.

Thanks! I like the idea of throttle-based acceleration, although it’s too bad the Switch lacks the Gamecube’s amazing analog triggers. I think those chase-style levels you’re describing could be fantastic transitions between larger levels (imagine one going from Green Hills to Casino Zone, with the surrounding…

I was thinking that too - it’s clear from precedent that they can charge $50-60 for Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, or $40 for Ocarina and Majora, so it’s hard to see how they’d give up all that easy money.

All true! I guess I was using the term VC loosely, more as a library of classic individual ports, so in this case if the Mario 3d Allstars ceases digital sales on 3/31 and is then split into three separate game files. I think they’re all about those ports one way or the other, partly because they can charge more than…

Interesting - maybe they’ll have six months of Mario’s 35th (ending 3/31), six months of Zelda’s 35th (ending 9/30, including collections and hopefully BOTW2), six months of Metroid, etc. It’d be great to have both Metroid Prime Trilogy and a 2d collection (Metroid: Zero Mission, Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion? Samus…

You know what most excited me about this reveal? Being able to spend more time in this magnificent fantasy world. It also reminded me that I love this art style, and seeing it again has me far more excited than anything I’ve seen from next gen so far (but then for me, evocative art style and visual design greatly…

I spent most of this gen focused on PS4 and Switch, but in the last year Microsoft has really wowed me with their innovation in terms of Game Pass, xCloud, the dissolution of strict generations and preservation of backwards compatibility, etc. I picked up an Xbox One S last Black Friday for dirt cheap and it’s been…

Same here - that was always the most fascinating concept in BOTW and I had wished they fleshed it out more, so even as someone who’s not really into musou games I’m really excited about this.

I agree, I’ve been thinking they might focus on Zelda next year as well. That might be why the Mario direct had so many strange limited releases, as they might make this a special ongoing event for a different series each year (and hopefully each game in those collections can then be bought individually and start to…

Great point, I totally agree about the frustrating disconnect with the games’ speed. I remember figuring out as a kid that the old 2d games were best played at a slow jog, not full blast - you were way less likely to stupidly lose your rings to a cheap shot or spikes (especially necessary since I think some games…

“God has abandoned us, Tails.” Sonic weeps as the sky falls around them.

Absolutely. I’ve always been baffled that a series all about speed was completely terrible about letting you maintain it from the very first game onwards. All I want is a game where I’m not just going super fast on a brainless straight line track, and if I hit a little snag I don’t immediately lose all momentum. We…

Thanks! Yeah, that'd also be great! Plus then you could have even more variation between him, Tails, and Knuckles.

A sweaty trucker's ass after days on the road, and it's all you can eat wings night at the truck stop.

I always thought the 3d games felt like ass to play, because while Sonic was certainly fast in the least interesting way possible, he’s not agile or nimble. So my daydream the past few years is that Platinum would be in charge of a new 3d game in the vein of Vanquish, where movement feels fluid and dynamic. When…