No first party company has bothered making a good d-pad since the Saturn. Like, I get it, 3D gaming took over and the d-pad became a bit of an afterthought, but that doesn’t mean you have to replace the already great d-pads we had in the early nineties with worse versions. Just copy what already worked well. Sony and Microsoft at least had the excuse that they didn’t technically own a good d-pad design (though it wouldn’t have taken much effort, time, or money to make a legally distinct variation on somebody else’s design), but I have no idea what Nintendo was thinking when they gave up on the SNES d-pad design. Literally sitting on the second best d-pad anybody’s ever made, and Ninty’s like, nah, we want something worse for all our future consoles.
They made the joycons super functional for multiple uses, so I'm not really as bothered by the experimentation and changes with controllers over the years. As long as nitnendo does something like an SNES controller... I'm pretty happy for the few specific games I want a really good dpad for. And though the SNES controller is better than the Pro for dpad input, I don't really have any serious beef with the pro controller. It's a pretty fantastic controller. Same for the Wii-U Pro and GC Wavebird. I just hope whatever they do next, maybe we can get analog triggers back and that they make good BC with the Switch controllers (and still let us use the GC adapter).
That was maybe one of the earliest titles I can remember on a Nintendo platform that I said "digital only", even though I had Best Buy's 20% GCU discount for physical games. That VERY weird Direct did sell me on it, and yeah, fell in love with the game. The traveling thing was interesting to see, and seeing where the kids would go. Though...one of them got stuck in an airport in Europe I think. Wished there was a way to recall your kids in cases like those. Would like to see a proper followup to it.
I decided to play Super Mario World 1 & 2 after finishing wonder. With all the modern enhancements, wonder is a better game in all technical ways, but I don’t like the art style or graphics as much as what, 30 year old games at this point? I don’t think it’s just nostalgia or liking pixel art, I’m not really inclined to pixel art, but some modern 2D games just look like clip art to me for some reason. Mario wonder less so than the new super Mario series at least. I liked the very first map area of wonder the best, with the more pastel type art, then they dropped that for the rest of the game. I’d say the music for wonder was a good fit for the game, and its areas, but it’s not melodic like Donkey Kong Country or Yoshi’s Woolly world from something more modern. I can’t remember a single track. I really enjoyed wonder, but I guess the art and music just didn’t stand out to me as other games have. The story felt bland and shoehorned in. Story is usually just “there” in a Mario game, this is the first that it detracted from the game for me, with how bizarrely boring it was. Boss fights were good, but why just Bowser Jr reused, and not the Koopa kids? And why make Bowser a castle, then do almost nothing with the unique gameplay opportunities that could have presented. Control options are also a step back and simplification from the previous 2D Mario’s.
To protect the innocent.
I just mean that it's very likely. The original was a fairly loose and creative translation.
A lot of the charm was also the original art. I can always just play this on my SNES Classic (or emulated any number of other ways)... though I'll probably grab a copy from gamefly or wherever it ends up $30 first.
I agree, the remake looks very nice, but there's a special kind of charm in 16 bit sprites and art styles that can't be replaced. I have it on the Wii Virtual Console, so I'm in no big hurry to get the remake, unless it hits like $30-40.
Frogfucious is now Frog Sage, that’s the big one. Can’t offend our freedom-loving friends in China, after all.
You’re right, just a coincidence, and not Nintendo preemptively trying not to offend the notoriously censorial CCP in order to eventually get access to that sweet, sweet Chinese market.
"No rocket propelled grenades as advertised. 1 Star!"
Deku deals shows it went down to $20 this past January https://www.dekudeals.com/items/cruisn-blast and it's $20 for the physical copy at bestbuy right now https://www.bestbuy.com/site/cruisn-blast-nintendo-switch/6469794.p?skuId=6469794
Awesome. Thanks! I didn’t know about the BB deal. Just figured it would probably be in the Nintendo sale but nope..
Amazon has some of these as well.
Nope. Only Microsoft allows that.
And Steam, since you can use Steam wallet funds to buy a Steam Deck.
