#255: Your Nintendo Update

REVIEW ‘Mario Party Superstars’ is a return to form, save for one baffling, painful feature — The pain point alluded to in the headline here is having to spin the stick too much; other than that this entry  ” oozes with nostalgic charm ” and ultimately ” refocuses on what fans loved about the series in the first place and nails its most important mode, Party Mode “. Here’s another review from James Daly at Gaming Bible .

Jhaan Elker // The Washington Post

▶ What the critics think of Mario Party Superstars — I take a quick look at the critical consensus of the new Mario Party game, bringing together some choice quotes from a handful of reviews. BTW, I got a new laptop this week, and as such seemingly botched the colour grading on this video. 😬 — Anyway, be sure to sub so you can see all my future mistakes. 😅

Switch Weekly // YouTube

Nintendo draws attention (and ire) to its weak online offering — ” A ham-fisted attempt to entice customers to a higher-priced subscription with poorly emulated retro games reveals just how weak Nintendo’s service pillar still is “.

Rob Fahey // gamesindustry

Switch Online’s N64 emulation has been met with criticism

Chris Scullion // VGC

▶ Unboxing the Nintendo 64 Controller for Nintendo Switch — Another quick video from me, giving you a quick look at the new N64 controller for Switch . Vooks has a side-by-side comparison post up too that looks at both the new and old.

Switch Weekly // YouTube

REVIEW Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy: Cloud Version — Simply put: ” A terrible way to play a very good game “. Apparently this Switch cloud version ” renders pretty much any praise we could lavish upon it entirely inconsequential as it serves up a truly messy, laggy and unreliable experience “.

PJ O’Reilly // Nintendo Life

PREVIEW Shin Megami Tensei 5: An old school JRPG with a modern twist — This is out in a few weeks, and Jade claims it has ” the potential to be one of the year’s strongest RPGs, and with its Nintendo Switch exclusivity, it could also attract a large enough audience to bring this niche slice of brilliance into the limelight. Persona is wonderful, but SMT depicts the end of the world and the plight of being a young person in a society actively working against you in a way that is bleak, honest, and depressingly enthralling “.

Jade King // The Gamer

REVIEW Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars — ” represents a great entry point for RPG newcomers that employs a compelling and unique aesthetic “.

Jordan Rudek // Nintendo World Report

REVIEW Dungeon Encounters — This RPG is described as ” a masterstroke of game design, character and narrative – it’s storytelling in the way only games can be ” .

Roland Ingram // Nintendo Life

REVIEW ‘Unsighted’ is the best Metroidvania of the year

Renata Price // Kotaku

Analysis: Why these N64 games will likely never come to Switch Online — Yes, GoldenEye 007 is on the list, however this interesting little tidbit offered a little ray of light on that front earlier this week .

Chris Scullion // VGC

Bonfire Peaks explores complex emotions through puzzle design — ” Playing games like Bonfire Peaks can help players work through tough chapters in their lives, but the act of creating the game’s mechanics and puzzles can be equally as cathartic for its developers “.

Joel Couture // Game Developer

Reviewed: Every Lovecraftian Switch game, ever — It’s Halloween, so I couldn’t pass up sharing this massive bit of work reviewing over a dozen eldritch Switch experiences .

Jay Rooney // Level Up Media

Lara Croft is making her Switch debut in Tomb Raider spin-off ports in 2022

Chris Scullion // VGC

How The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles portrays the immigrant experience

Alan Wen // Eurogamer

Four Animal Crossing island designers on how they’re prepping for the New Horizons 2.0 update

Nicole Clark // Polygon

I hope Nintendo never remakes Super Metroid

Ben Lamoreux // Nintendo Enthusiast

Okay seriously, why are these Wii U games not on Switch yet?

Brett Medlock // Nintendo Enthusiast

🎮 Upcoming Releases

All releases are digital, Europe & U.S. unless otherwise stated.
Release data sourced in collaboration with Switch Scores .
⭐️ = Ones to Watch | 📦 = Physical release | 🎮 = Demo available

⚡️ Quick Links:

• Nintendo’s YouTube vid for the NSO Expansion Pack is now its most unpopular upload .
• This datamine hints at what extra N64 games may be coming to the NSO service.
• A demo of Metroid Dread is now on the eShop.
• Mark Brown looks at why you maybe didn’t get lost in Metroid Dread.
• Looks like the delayed Advance Wars game may be arriving in early April of next year.
• The second wave of DLC for Age of Calamity is out now, here’s what you need to know .
• Pinchcliffe Grand Prix, a game based on the 1970s Norwegian stop-motion film is coming to Switch . Watch the trailer – the animation here is great .
• Sony do what Nintendon’t. In this case, censor some tawdry platforming game .
• The N64 controller for Switch has some slight internal changes , unsure if it will stop the stick getting loose over time though.