The Nintendo news and discussion thread

This is where you can deliberate anything relating to videogames - past, present and future
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Alex79
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Re: The Nintendo news and discussion thread

Post by Alex79 »

Yeah I think the best you can do is set up a room, but not sure if you can invite specific people or not, or password it. I'll have a look later. Shame it doesn't really work at all. Also, no friends on leader boards! Only world rankings. That's poor, even Outrun had friends rankings I think.

FYI, my fastest clear on the first track is 3m18s. Anyone else got times to post?
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Re: The Nintendo news and discussion thread

Post by stvnorman »

Dr Mario World has landed a day early. I’ve played through the first 15 stages, and it’s definitely more Candy Crush than Dr Mario so far in gameplay terms, and I’m sure It won’t be long before it’s like it in free to play mechanics too. It’s a perfectly fine example of the match-three mobile puzzler, and now and again it feels like Dr Mario. But only now and again unfortunately.
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Re: The Nintendo news and discussion thread

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KSubzero1000
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Re: The Nintendo news and discussion thread

Post by KSubzero1000 »

As predicted. I knew waiting would pay off sooner or later.

Switch Pro next, please.
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hazeredmist
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Re: The Nintendo news and discussion thread

Post by hazeredmist »

Nothing about it appeals to me aside from the d-pad which would be good for shmups... But you lose the ability to do tate mode - plus buying the Hori d-pad con would fix that if you were desperate. It's also not small enough to turn it into a viable console to play lying on my side, and it's got reduced features. My Satisfye grip makes the original Switch excellent in handheld, so there is nothing for me here.

Nice to have a more affordable handheld Switch for some though!
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KSubzero1000
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Re: The Nintendo news and discussion thread

Post by KSubzero1000 »

Yeah, nothing for me there either. But I'm sure it will fulfill some people needs, however!

Here is a very neat summary of the differences between the two models over on NIntendoLife.

Pokémon Sword And Shield Edition announced as well.

Plus a pic for size comparison:
Image
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hazeredmist
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Re: The Nintendo news and discussion thread

Post by hazeredmist »

Man that looks uncomfortable to hold, and that's a press photo! Look at the thumb - proper hand gymnastics required to be able to reach the right thumbstick :D There really is no going back from Satisfye.
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Re: The Nintendo news and discussion thread

Post by KSubzero1000 »

hazeredmist wrote: July 10th, 2019, 2:31 pm Man that looks uncomfortable to hold, and that's a press photo! Look at the thumb - proper hand gymnastics required to be able to reach the right thumbstick :D
Yeah, that wouldn't surprise me.

Ergonomics are my main point of contention with the 3DS, too. Even though I have the XL model, the d-pad remains uncomfortable to access during gameplay - especially in combination with the left shoulder button. Unfortunately, the Switch and now the Lite seem to continue this tradition.

That's really the one area in which Nintendo have gone backward over the years for me. But that also depends on each individual's physicality / tolerance level.

I hope a potential Switch Pro would have improved ergonomics when used in handheld mode.
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Re: The Nintendo news and discussion thread

Post by Alex79 »

New NES games being added to the online service in July are Donkey Kong 3 and Wrecking Crew. Also, a rewind feature, which will be handy.

I do feel like they need to stop pissing about and start getting SNES games on the Switch, either paid for or as part of the online service. Happy with either. Just let me bloody play them! And I'll be mighty pissed off if they announce such a thing and say its for a pro version of the console only.
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Re: The Nintendo news and discussion thread

Post by hazeredmist »

^ like with the SNES games on New 3DS? Because the original 3DS definitely couldn't handle them :)
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Re: The Nintendo news and discussion thread

Post by ratsoalbion »

It’s an absolute fallacy that Nintendo deliberately shut itself off from selling SNES ROMs at £8 to the massive 3DS install base for the sake of selling a few extra N3DS units to the few who people were desperate to access the library of 12 or so (if that) SNES games that were released on N3DS VC.

They genuinely weren’t satisfied with the emulation on base 3DS. I have this on very good authority.
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Re: The Nintendo news and discussion thread

Post by Stanshall »

Not personally interested in a handheld only system because the Satisfye grip is too good, anyway. I never ever use the Switch 'naked'. That said, I'm sure this will sell like shit off a shovel. This paired with a new Pokemon is going to be an amazing Christmas present and a way of getting more kids in with a less expensive and maybe slightly hardier console.

On that note, as great as the original system is, it's probably the most fragile, fiddly and creaky Nintendo hardware I've personally ever used. All the little flaps and the ever so slightly loose Joycons and the ugly and unergonomic rails and stuff. It's ingenious and it works but it's hardly Apple in either aesthetics or functionality. Compared to the DS Lite or 3DS, it's pretty average. The dock as well is pretty chunky and ugly and cheap. It's a strange product purely from a visual and functional design perspective and yet it's my favourite console ever. What it needs to do, it does extremely well.
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Re: The Nintendo news and discussion thread

Post by ratsoalbion »

I mean, the launch DS was certainly sturdy, but aesthetically that was the most ‘still in prototype’ piece of kit I can remember anyone releasing.
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Re: The Nintendo news and discussion thread

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ratsoalbion wrote: July 10th, 2019, 3:24 pm They genuinely weren’t satisfied with the emulation on base 3DS. I have this on very good authority.
Well I'm not going to question your source, but it does leave me wonder about what exactly went so wrong on the technical side of things. The NDS and even the GBA had some perfectly serviceable ports of SNES games that played very well (Chrono Trigger, LttP), so I'm puzzled as to why the 3DS was deemed insufficient in that regard. Although maybe it's easier to port individual games and optimize them as necessary.
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Re: The Nintendo news and discussion thread

Post by ratsoalbion »

I expect it would have been possible with a certain amount of investment to optimise the emulator, and/or individual games, but for whatever (business) reason they didn’t think it was worth it.

Emulation is a very different proposition to conversion (Chrono Trigger was DS rather than GBA btw, but still), and having played SNES games on a hacked PSP (which was a more capable machine than 3DS in many ways, despite being older) I can attest to some serious frame rate issues on certain titles.
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Re: The Nintendo news and discussion thread

Post by Stanshall »

ratsoalbion wrote: July 10th, 2019, 3:31 pm I mean, the launch DS was certainly sturdy, but aesthetically that was the most ‘still in prototype’ piece of kit I can remember anyone releasing.
That's a good one. I only ever used the original DS for about five minutes but I remember thinking it was remarkably shit. Amazing how refined and frankly beautiful the DS Lite was, in comparison. My black DS Lite is probably my favourite ever product from a pure design point of view. Absolutely stunning.
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Re: The Nintendo news and discussion thread

Post by Alex79 »

@ksub: They were ports though, not emulation, which is an entirely different thing.

Having said that, I had a SNES emulator on my launch DS which ran games perfectly acceptably.

@ratso: Yeah SNES emulation was never great on PSP until fairly recently, where its now pretty flawless. Either way, I am very doubtful the Switch would struggle.
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Re: The Nintendo news and discussion thread

Post by hazeredmist »

KSubzero1000 wrote: July 10th, 2019, 3:33 pm
ratsoalbion wrote: July 10th, 2019, 3:24 pm They genuinely weren’t satisfied with the emulation on base 3DS. I have this on very good authority.
Well I'm not going to question your source, but it does leave me wonder about what exactly went so wrong on the technical side of things. The NDS and even the GBA had some perfectly serviceable ports of SNES games that played very well (Chrono Trigger, LttP), so I'm puzzled as to why the 3DS was deemed insufficient in that regard. Although maybe it's easier to port individual games and optimize them as necessary.
Agreed, I simply don't believe that it was impossible to get SNES emulation to an acceptable standard on 3DS hardware. Perhaps they gave up on it as not being financially viable to continue which would be understandable, but incapable? Hmm.
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Re: The Nintendo news and discussion thread

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ratsoalbion wrote: July 10th, 2019, 3:31 pm I mean, the launch DS was certainly sturdy, but aesthetically that was the most ‘still in prototype’ piece of kit I can remember anyone releasing.
It was hideous!
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Re: The Nintendo news and discussion thread

Post by ratsoalbion »

I’m not suggesting for one moment that the Switch can’t run SNES games btw, but it is true that as it stood, the base 3DS was not up to snuff as far as Nintendo was concerned. Same reasons as GBA games were only ever released kinda cobbled together for ‘ambassadors’.

No doubt people would have been on their backs soon enough had they released sub-par VC titles - in fact, they were in regards to the washed-out visuals and latency of some Wii U VC games!

There are loads of other ways to play SNES games though, right now..!
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