Nintendo Switch Catch-All 2.0

Man, you guys missed out. The N64 had a small library, but there were some top-notch games on the system even outside of Mario and Zelda. It was a lot like the Wii U in that regard. Sadly unlike the Wii U, these games didn't get ports on the next system.

Mischief Makers
Star Fox
Ogre Battle
GoldenEye
Perfect Dark
Banjo-Kazooie and Tooie
Pilotwings
Bomberman 64 and Hero
Diddy Kong Racing
Mystical Ninja 64
Goemon's Great Adventure
Pokemon Snap
Jet Force Gemini
Snowboard Kids 1 and 2
Space Station Silicon Valley
Rogue Squadron
Body Harvest
F-Zero X
Donkey Kong 64
Rayman 2
Resident Evil 2

You forgot Shadows of the Empire

It's 2021 and yall are still fighting a console war from 1996.

Blind_Evil wrote:

I thought anything that wasn’t a JRPG or fighting game on the PS1 was kinda bad. Everything else I preferred on N64.

This was basically where I stood, though it depended on the fighting game (due to how the Saturn handled its 2D and 3D processors, a good chunk of Capcom's fighting games were all superior on that platform). I was not very impressed by 3D graphics for a long time, even on PC games my brother played like Quake II or MechWarrior 2. Even if those games looked better than 3D console games at the time, they still looked comparatively ugly to gorgeous 2D sprite art, which was getting even better.

The thing is...

Vrikk wrote:

I will go to my grave saying that the N64 was a bad console - even for the time. It's not just nostalgia. All my friends loved it. But me? I played Mario 64 and... that was about it. Sure, Zelda was good. But the PS1 blew it out of the water.

The N64 was old even when it was still being produced.

This has less to do with the system specs and capability as much as it does the support at the time. As stated, the only area the N64 was backwards was the use of the expensive cart. Even then, it was less "backwards" than it was a trade-off, as N64 didn't have the horrendous loading times that the PlayStation had. I still remember my first experience with a PlayStation was terrible just because of those loading screens.

But because you could print a game on a disc for far, far less money than a cartridge (which was also at a premium since a cut of that was going to Nintendo), and then use multiple discs if you needed the extra space, you saw developers flocking to weaker, inferior hardware and leaving the superior N64 in the dust.

I do not accurately recall if the controller would have been a factor as well. I don't even recall my initial reaction to it. I do remember my feelings towards the Rumble Pak was that it was unnecessary and you didn't even notice after a while.

Regardless, it's inaccurate to call the N64 or its games out-dated. Especially when you consider how Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time single-handedly influenced the whole of the games industry in how to develop a 3D game that worked with a controller. It wouldn't surprise me if FPS games became more popular to develop not only because of the twin-stick, but because it was just easier to make a good 3D FPS game for a while. Everyone else was still thrashing about with tank controls or bad camera even into the PS2/Xbox/GameCube era. Meanwhile, Ocarina of Time's lock-on capability was game changing... as was Mario 64, which lacked a lock-on and yet still managed to be far more playable than most 3D games at the time.

So it's kind of ironic to call the system outdated in terms of feel when everything about it was ahead of the curve, save for third party support.

But that just speaks to the greater point. Being ahead of the curve didn't matter all that much in the long run, did it?

garion333 wrote:

It's 2021 and yall are still fighting a console war from 1996. :D

The battle still lives on in my heart.

garion333 wrote:

It's 2021 and yall are still fighting a console war from 1996. :D

Have you never hung out with veterans before?

garion333 wrote:

It's 2021 and yall are still fighting a console war from 1996. :D

1996? I'm still fighting the 16-bit wars. Genesis does what Nintendon't!

garion333 wrote:

It's 2021 and yall are still fighting a console war from 1996. :D

You asked for fighting.

IMAGE(https://media2.giphy.com/media/d7mMzaGDYkz4ZBziP6/giphy.gif)

Jonman wrote:
garion333 wrote:

It's 2021 and yall are still fighting a console war from 1996. :D

Have you never hung out with veterans before?

Lol. We’re all veterans of the console wars. Cue the Band of Brothers style interviews.

Stele wrote:

You forgot Shadows of the Empire

Good point. That was one of the other N64 games I quite enjoyed. Overall I much preferred the graphics and power of the N64. And honestly I played more N64 games. I just didn’t play much altogether. I mostly dropped off until the GBA.

I believe Metal Gear Solid the first one was on PS1. That game alone was better than anything on N64. Yes. Even Zelda and Mario.

That might come down to my personal tastes though. With nostalgia goggles on, Metal Gear Solid might be my favorite gaming experience ever.

*Legion* wrote:

If we wanna fight just for the fun of it, I'm in.

You’re welcome.

Keithustus wrote:

It’s pretty striking to hear people here saying PS1>N64. I only didn’t think it was a 3DO joke of a console when they made the PS2. Every time I look at a PS1 video I have to control myself from barfing from all the jaggies. That and the load times, why would I subject myself to either of those things when Mario and Goldeneye worked perfectly and instantly? But looking back, sure, there really weren’t a huge lot of great N64 titles.

PS1 introduced bigger / cheaper storage which meant space for real video (for cutscenes) and actual character voices, as well as more comprehensive soundtracks. Tony Hawk, MGS , and Tomb Raider made the PlayStation the place to be.

Sure, looking back now, it’s jaggy as hell. Look back at Goldeneye on the 64, though. The limited visibility and 3d models also have not aged well at all.

Post-SNES, Nintendo was fighting a losing battle (mainly due to new competitors), and ultimately decided to change their approach. The Wii is the best selling console of theirs because of the change in their demographic focus.

Now, they’re back with a winning solution with the Switch, and I don’t see them taking chances to jeopardize that. I’m not expecting “what gamers want” to account for more than 10% of the eventual hardware upgrade. I’ll be surprised if they add support for Bluetooth headphones, tbh.

Nintendo consistently zigs when everyone else is zagging. Sometimes that works out (NES lockout chip, Wii motion controls, Switch convertible portability). Sometimes it doesn't (Virtual Boy everything, N64 cartridges, Wii U tablet controller). This predates their Wii-era decision to abandon the gigaFLOPS wars (which may come about because the Gamecube was more powerful than the PS2 but was never rewarded for it by the market, or just because Sony and Microsoft were spending ever-crazier amounts to develop custom chips). But it has become more important to their future since that decision not to compete in graphical power.

I predict that in the future they will continue to try weird stuff and that it will succeed roughly half the time.

garion333 wrote:

Someone disagree with Legion.

Can't. As nauseating as it is to admit it, I agree with him about the Switch Pro.

N64 didn't have RPGs. PS1 was, and always will be, superior.

And graphics? Please. FF7 had cutscenes, man! Look at those Popeye arms!

There. I win.

-puts on boxing gloves-

(The Switch is a great console for many reasons. One which is that there are so many RPGs to play that I've honestly stopped trying to keep up.)

Vrikk wrote:

(The Switch is a great console for many reasons. One which is that there are so many RPGs to play that I've honestly stopped trying to keep up.)

I use to play and finish every game that interested me. That’s because there were only about 15 games per year that interested me. This was during the PS1 and PS2 era.

Now, interesting games come out faster than I could ever play them. It was similar during the SNES era. I had “modded” my SNES to play games from any region. There was a rental store which was operated by a man and his kids which had tons of import SNES games. He would even help steer you towards games which were light on text since most of us teenagers spoke zero Japanese.

I think that’s how I first played River City Ransom; with Japanese text.

This looks beautiful.

I never gave the first game a shot on 3DS after enjoying the demo. Did anyone here play it? Thoughts?

Nice to see the Steam logo at the end

Dyni wrote:

I never gave the first game a shot on 3DS after enjoying the demo. Did anyone here play it? Thoughts?

I didn't finish it, but I put maybe twenty hours into the first game and really enjoyed it. It's my favorite of the Pokemon-style games that I've played.

The game is split up into a series of open areas that you can explore on foot or while riding around on one of your monsters. Some of your monsters have different exploration abilities that let you access different parts of the map or harvest certain resources. Combat is turn-based, but all the enemies are visible on the map and there are mechanics for sneaking up on them and so forth.

Combat is interesting. It's effectively rock-paper-scissors. You pick your opponent on your turn and then choose from one of three attack types (speed, technical, and power). If your opponent chooses a type that's weak to yours, you do a lot of extra damage; if they choose a type that's strong against yours, you take a lot of damage; if you pick the same one, you take even damage; if your opponent attacks your team mate instead, you get a small hit without retaliation.

The depth comes from learning your opponents, what attacks they have, and what attacks they're most or least likely to use. Some have clear patterns where they always follow one attack type with another, while others just have a strong chance of using one or another. Different species and different families have different moves and likelihoods. Winning against your opponents definitely felt like it required you to understand them and predict their moves while deciding on your own.

It's not super challenging like an Atlus game, but I felt like there was more to it and more to chew on than the Pokemon games I've played. I've really excited for the sequel. Moreso since I figured Capcom had given up on the idea; the first game didn't sell all that well.

Vrikk wrote:

N64 didn't have RPGs. PS1 was, and always will be, superior.

And graphics? Please. FF7 had cutscenes, man! Look at those Popeye arms!

There. I win.

-puts on boxing gloves-

Oh, FF7 certainly had cutscenes. Your character makes a normal attack in a battle? 10 second cutscene. Someone casts a spell? Good time for a bathroom break. Someone casts a summon? You might as well go to bed early tonight; it might be done by the time you wake up. And they even got worse with FF8 and FF9.

The CD format just made it worse too. Crazy long loading times every time a battle starts or when you enter a new area. You spend more time waiting for the game to load than playing it. And god forbid your CD gets a tiny scratch because now your game is ruined.

Carts didn't have that problem. Lightning fast loading times and an indestructible design were worth paying a couple of bucks more for a game.

N64 > PSX

-puts on brass knuckles-

popcorn.gif intensifies

IMAGE(https://i.ibb.co/ZxFrqZX/nintendo-power-snail-space-shuttle.jpg)

Someone take up for the Saturn.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
Dyni wrote:

I never gave the first game a shot on 3DS after enjoying the demo. Did anyone here play it? Thoughts?

I didn't finish it, but I put maybe twenty hours into the first game and really enjoyed it. It's my favorite of the Pokemon-style games that I've played.

Cool, thanks for the insight I've been in the mood for a Pokemon-style game lately, so I might see if I can find a cheap 3DS copy to mess around with before the sequel drops.

Sega did what Nintenshouldn't.

That’s some impressive hyperbole

Dyni wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:
Dyni wrote:

I never gave the first game a shot on 3DS after enjoying the demo. Did anyone here play it? Thoughts?

I didn't finish it, but I put maybe twenty hours into the first game and really enjoyed it. It's my favorite of the Pokemon-style games that I've played.

Cool, thanks for the insight I've been in the mood for a Pokemon-style game lately, so I might see if I can find a cheap 3DS copy to mess around with before the sequel drops.

I played it to completion and I think you'll really like it if you enjoyed the demo.

Seeing all our favorite MH stuff tuned to an RPG setting kept me intrigued throughout, along with the charming plot, visuals, and sound.

Oh, and don't forget that the hunting horn is one of the four weapon choices. MH:Stories knows what's important!

Agathos wrote:

IMAGE(https://i.ibb.co/ZxFrqZX/nintendo-power-snail-space-shuttle.jpg)

Yes. But the snail would be able to carry the space shuttle on its back while maintaining its normal snail speed, while the space shuttle couldn’t ever carry more mass than the snail in question because then the cartridge would be prohibitively expensive.

The snail wins.

RawkGWJ wrote:
Agathos wrote:

IMAGE(https://i.ibb.co/ZxFrqZX/nintendo-power-snail-space-shuttle.jpg)

Yes. But the snail would be able to carry the space shuttle on its back while maintaining its normal snail speed, while the space shuttle couldn’t ever carry more mass than the snail in question because then the cartridge would be prohibitively expensive.

The snail wins.

Either you missed the point of why he posted that or I did.

So getting back to the Switch and Switch games, I recently purchased the game GNOSIA just because I was looking for a new visual novel to play. The concept caught my eye thought because it's a bit more than just a visual novel--you're part of a crew on a spaceship trying to get rid of an enemy known as a Gnosia, who is one of the crew. So, essentially a visual novel Werewolf (board game version) or Among Us.

Basically the game involves five rounds of making accusations, partnering up, or defending others to try and deduce who the Gnosia is. After that, the crew votes to put someone in "Cold Sleep" which takes them out of the game. If all the Gnosia are in cold sleep, you win. If the Gnosia outnumber the remaining crew, you lose. There's also a bit of an RPG mechanic where you get XP based on your performance and how difficult the scenario was. You can then use the XP to beef up your characters skills so that you can do things like detect lies better or better convince people to join your side of an argument.

What is interesting to me is that the main game loops after you reach an end state, and then everything changes. You're still doing the same basic gameplay loop, but different mechanics will get introduced and roles can shift. I'm about 14 loops in now and the "real" story is starting to show itself in tiny bits. It's been really fun! So, if you like those social deduction games and want something to noodle with for a bit, I'd say check it out: