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This Week in Games - Nintendo Direct June 2024: New Age of Hype


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malvarez1



Joined: 17 Nov 2008
Posts: 2144
PostPosted: Fri Jun 21, 2024 10:07 am Reply with quote
The Nintendo Direct blew my expectations out of the water. Sony and Microsoft need to take notes.

There are so many games I want, almost too many to list them all.

Mario & Luigi and the new Zelda go without saying, I’ll be collecting those Dragon Quest HD games, the last Fairy Tail game was surprisingly good, so I’ll pick up the sequel, I’ve never played a Romancing SaGa game, or the original Phantom Brave, but those looked pretty good.

Mario Party games have a spotty track record nowadays, but the new one looks promising. More Ace Attorney is always good. The real show stopper was probably the Marvel/Capcom Collection. So many people thought it’d never happen!
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Lord Geo



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 2693
Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey
PostPosted: Fri Jun 21, 2024 10:46 am Reply with quote
Quote:
So big was Xevious's legacy that Namco even produced an all-CGI film of the game in 2002 that ran in a single theater. For a week. And never got a home release. Yeah, I'm not sure of the logic behind there


To clarify, and it's mentioned in RndStranger's video, but it all came down to Groove Corporation, the company that actually produced the film. While it's often stated that Groove Corp simply went out of business around that time, as it's stated in the video, the truth is that Groove still existed for a couple more years before finally going belly up, which is how Anime Crash managed to license & release Geisters: Fractions of the Earth, before having to stop after releasing the first half in early 2005. Groove going bankrupt did screw Anime Crash over, that's for sure.

However, for Xevious the rumor I once read is that the head of the company supposedly decided to just up & leave the company in mid-2002, never to be seen again, and apparently also took the film masters for some of the company's newest projects, including the Xevious movie. Along with Xevious not coming out there were also two Geisters compilation films that were also only ever screened alongside Xevious but never released on home video, and this blow to Groove also screwed over the OVA adaptation of the Nakoruru visual novel, so only one episode of that ever came out, despite a second being planned. Groove seemed to still sort of exist long enough after all this to work out a licensing deal with Anime Crash for Geisters, but it wasn't enough to keep the company alive.

As for (Bandai) Namco, they obviously own a workprint of the Xevious film, since they showed some other footage of it (literally only around five seconds worth) as part of a video made to celebrate Xevious years later, but it's entirely possible that they don't own a finalized version of the film, only an unfinished workprint. Also, since Groove Corporation produced the film, Bandai Namco may not even have full rights to release the film themselves, since Groove technically owned those rights... and since Groove doesn't exist anymore that creates a potential licensing problem.
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funkfoot



Joined: 22 Feb 2023
Posts: 86
PostPosted: Fri Jun 21, 2024 11:15 am Reply with quote
Nintendo seems to have cracked the winningly formula that people like it when companies announce fun looking games on their presentations.

New Mario and Luigi is nice to see I just hope it has the soul and charm of the original games.

I've never been the biggest Prime fan but we recently got a 2D Metroid with Dread so I guess I can't complain.

If nothing else it's nice to see Lollipop Chainsaw will not be censored like a lot of other remasters/remakes are outside the licensing issues. And I'm sure the fans will do their thing restoring the music and licensed costumes
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Top Gun



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 4828
PostPosted: Fri Jun 21, 2024 11:27 am Reply with quote
Quote:
...although value in pricing is a nonsense argument from gamers fueled by Steam's hatchet-job sales

I mean no disrespect, but those "hatchet-job sales" are responsible for probably at least 3/4 of my Steam library. There's a lot to be said for selling your older game at a significant discount in the hope of attracting gamers who may have overlooked it the first time around; it's chasing that "long tail" of sales after the initial peak. Lord knows there are any number of games I've bought that I wasn't interested in at their original price but figured were worth it at the discount. So instead of not getting any money from me, the developers got some money. Win-win. If you're a publisher who sets their titles at 50% off during a seasonal sale, and then you see 3 or 4 times as many purchases as you would have normally, well that seems like a no-brainer move, doesn't it?

And I get that Nintendo largely does their own thing, and obviously it's paid off in spades for them during the Switch era. But it's still frustrating that they've completely eschewed the likes of the "Greatest Hits" or "Players' Choice" pricing options from console generations past. Almost my entire Switch library is made up of first-party titles, and I'd own even more of them if older releases received a discount at some point. As it stands it's more like, "Hey, I never bought that game, I wonder if...of course it's still $60." If anyone can tell me why the likes of Breath of the Wild or Super Mario Odyssey, games that are years old and have sold tens of millions of copies, aren't available on the regular for $25-$30, I'd love to hear it.

That aside, there was a lot of good stuff in that Direct. It's great to finally get some tangible confirmation on Metroid Prime 4, and the new Zelda looks cute. And while I'm not into fighting games at all, I'm happy for all the people for whom Marvel vs. Capcom was huge news.
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Minos_Kurumada



Joined: 04 Nov 2015
Posts: 1190
PostPosted: Fri Jun 21, 2024 11:52 am Reply with quote
If I had a nickel for each time a game with Hiro Mashima art was announced I would have 2 nickels, which is not a lot but it's weird it happened 2 times.
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FireChick
Subscriber



Joined: 26 Mar 2006
Posts: 2494
Location: United States
PostPosted: Fri Jun 21, 2024 11:55 am Reply with quote
Speaking of Steam stealth drops, Kanon is finally available on there as of yesterday, though the Switch update isn't out yet. Now you can play the original nakige!
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snake-eyes



Joined: 07 Mar 2007
Posts: 164
PostPosted: Fri Jun 21, 2024 12:35 pm Reply with quote
Jean-Karlo Lemus, When playing Tatsunoko vs Capcom, did you play as any of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman Aka Battle Of The Planets, G-Force or Eagle Riders in the US?
Capcom’s The Punisher is a side scrolling Beat Em Up using the Final Fight Engine. You Control either Frank Castle or Colonel Nick Fury as they brawl against numerous Villains.
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oilers2007



Joined: 23 Sep 2022
Posts: 130
PostPosted: Fri Jun 21, 2024 12:46 pm Reply with quote
Top Gun wrote:
I mean no disrespect, but those "hatchet-job sales" are responsible for probably at least 3/4 of my Steam library. There's a lot to be said for selling your older game at a significant discount in the hope of attracting gamers who may have overlooked it the first time around; it's chasing that "long tail" of sales after the initial peak. Lord knows there are any number of games I've bought that I wasn't interested in at their original price but figured were worth it at the discount. So instead of not getting any money from me, the developers got some money. Win-win.


It's also worth pointing out it's even more absurd when a lot of Nintendo's releases these days are ports of games that are 10, 20, or even 30 years old and asking full price is not that appealing to a lot of people. Square-Enix asked for $19.99 for Chrono Cross's remaster and you could still wait for a sale if that's too much for you. Those kinds of cheap official releases are super convenient and nice for modding even if the base releases are atrocious. Meanwhile, Nintendo wants $59.99 + Tax for Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door's remaster when the HD texture packs mod has existed for over a decade now and is still being updated. And the original lacks all the censorship in the new release and even has patches to undo the localization of the original Gamecube release if people want an even more authentic experience.

People can argue whether Super Mario Wonder is worth $59.99 or Tears of the Kingdom is worth $69.99 if they want but the real egregious issue to me is how Nintendo (and other companies to be fair) handle re-releases of old games. When Star Ocean The Second Story R is $49.99 with all the additional content and care put into it it's crazy what some companies get away with such barebones and inferior releases. But I guess the egg is on my face since they must all sell well enough for companies to keep doing them.
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Top Gun



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 4828
PostPosted: Fri Jun 21, 2024 1:04 pm Reply with quote
oilers2007 wrote:

It's also worth pointing out it's even more absurd when a lot of Nintendo's releases these days are ports of games that are 10, 20, or even 30 years old and asking full price is not that appealing to a lot of people. Square-Enix asked for $19.99 for Chrono Cross's remaster and you could still wait for a sale if that's too much for you. Those kinds of cheap official releases are super convenient and nice for modding even if the base releases are atrocious. Meanwhile, Nintendo wants $59.99 + Tax for Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door's remaster when the HD texture packs mod has existed for over a decade now and is still being updated. And the original lacks all the censorship in the new release and even has patches to undo the localization of the original Gamecube release if people want an even more authentic experience.

People can argue whether Super Mario Wonder is worth $59.99 or Tears of the Kingdom is worth $69.99 if they want but the real egregious issue to me is how Nintendo (and other companies to be fair) handle re-releases of old games. When Star Ocean The Second Story R is $49.99 with all the additional content and care put into it it's crazy what some companies get away with such barebones and inferior releases. But I guess the egg is on my face since they must all sell well enough for companies to keep doing them.

Seriously. Nintendo has always been incredibly adept at getting people to buy the same game multiple times, though to be fair it's suckers like me who have largely enabled this. I went out of my way to scoop up Wii U-exclusive titles at the end of its lifetime, only to see pretty much all of them re-released on the Switch...and there I was getting them again. I think Hyrule Warriros has to be one of the biggest offenders. "Buy the original game...now here's a bunch of extra content and DLC you can only get for the far technically-inferior 3DS version...but don't worry, we'll put all of that back into the Switch version so you can get that too!" Fantastic.

Then again, this is the company that's been publishing two exact clones of every single Pokemon game since the late 90s, because gotta catch 'em all, right? I feel like the entire gaming world gives them far too much of a pass for that sort of gross cash-grab.
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BadNewsBlues



Joined: 21 Sep 2014
Posts: 6356
PostPosted: Fri Jun 21, 2024 1:17 pm Reply with quote
oilers2007 wrote:
And the original lacks all the censorship in the new release


When you say the original are you specifically talking about the original Japanese version or the international releases because the original releases of the latter had at least 3 changes that could be considered censorship.

Aside from making Vivian exclusively a female

They removed a chalk outline in Rogueport

And turned Peeka & Lahla’s Bunny Ears into Cat Ears.

funkfoot wrote:
Nintendo seems to have cracked the winningly formula that people like it when companies announce fun looking games on their presentations.


I think we’re kinda overselling them a bit here.

While I do like the idea that we will finally get an official release of Gyakuten Kenji 2 in the states.

And a remake of Romancing Saga 2 (never mind the weirdness that the iOS/PS4/XboxOne/Switch ports of the SNES version isn’t even a decade old). Everything else didn’t exactly wow me.

Top Gun wrote:

Then again, this is the company that's been publishing two exact clones of every single Pokemon game since the late 90s, because gotta catch 'em all, right? I feel like the entire gaming world gives them far too much of a pass for that sort of gross cash-grab.


That switch port of Donkey Kong Country Returns formerly released on Wii & 3DS doesn’t get you excited?
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TheKoniverse



Joined: 24 May 2021
Posts: 6
PostPosted: Fri Jun 21, 2024 1:36 pm Reply with quote
Top Gun wrote:
If anyone can tell me why the likes of Breath of the Wild or Super Mario Odyssey, games that are years old and have sold tens of millions of copies, aren't available on the regular for $25-$30, I'd love to hear it.


Top Gun wrote:
There's a lot to be said for selling your older game at a significant discount in the hope of attracting gamers who may have overlooked it the first time around; it's chasing that "long tail" of sales after the initial peak.


Pretty much what you said over here. Many Nintendo frst party games on the Switch already have insanely long tails, no discounts required. Super Mario Odyssey, for example, sold 9.07 million copies in it's launch quarter back in 2017. As of the end of 2023, the game has sold 27.65 million copies. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe had sold 9.22 million units in it's first year and is currently at 61.97 million units... and that's a port. Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and Nintendo Switch Sports are more examples of this in action.
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Top Gun



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 4828
PostPosted: Fri Jun 21, 2024 1:48 pm Reply with quote
BadNewsBlues wrote:

That switch port of Donkey Kong Country Returns formerly released on Wii & 3DS doesn’t get you excited?

If by "excited" you mean "shit I'm gonna wind up buying that too because I'm a total sucker," then yes.
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BadNewsBlues



Joined: 21 Sep 2014
Posts: 6356
PostPosted: Fri Jun 21, 2024 2:21 pm Reply with quote
Top Gun wrote:

If by "excited" you mean "shit I'm gonna wind up buying that too because I'm a total sucker," then yes.


I was being sarcastic but hey.

I’ll just sit over here waiting until they announce DKCR3……………or a remake of Diddy Kong’s Quest so I can own that game or a version of it for the 4th time.

Hell if they announce a remake of Super Mario World I’ll be like that guy in Kaiji who had to do a bunch of unexplained but seemingly dangerous stuff to make the money to pay back his loan. All for a game that I’ve already owned 5 times over.
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Paul Soth



Joined: 06 Jul 2010
Posts: 142
Location: Columbus, Oh
PostPosted: Fri Jun 21, 2024 2:26 pm Reply with quote
Slight errors in the article. The English version of Final Fantasy came out a year after Dragon Quest/Warrior (1990 and 1989, respectively), and Konami's X-Men cab supported six players, not eight.
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Flash33



Joined: 06 Jun 2024
Posts: 78
Location: Florida
PostPosted: Fri Jun 21, 2024 2:44 pm Reply with quote
I'd say it was a solid direct overall with a little something for everyone. Now we just have to hope that the games themselves are good.
M&L B makes me wonder who's making it since Alphadream is gone.
MP4 Beyond: So they finally announced it eh? Now people can shut up about it. Jokes aside it's nice that it's finally gotten a proper release date.
SMP Jamboree: Sticking with the Super style of lots of playable characters and a good chunk of modes. Wasn't expecting those 2 retro boards to come back, Western Land especially.
Fairy Tail 2: I still need to finish watching the final season as I've been putting it off for a long time. Gameplay seems interesting enough though. As an English Dub watcher it's a little annoying how they used the JP voices here but it's not surprising since games based on anime rarely bring the dub cast back these days (One Piece and Sword Art Online are especially bad with this with OP not using the current English cast since Wiis Unlimited Adventure (the only game to use the Funimation VAs) & SAO never using them outside of the crossover DLC in Tales of Arise). It's possible that it will have an ENG dub & it's just not ready yet but I sadly doubt it.
The Hundred Line: From the art style & ahoge I knew it was from Spike Chunsoft (their games MCs always have the ahoge/idiot hair for some reason). Unlike with FT2 though it's more likely the ENG voice track wasn't ready yet, though thinking about it Rain Code used ENG voices in its reveal trailer so it is weird, but it's still unlikely it's JP VAs only.
Among Us, Lego Horizon, DQ3: I already knew about these. Wasn't expecting DQ1+2 though.
LOZ: Nice to see them trying something new with having Zelda as the MC instead of Link. At first I thought it was gonna be AlttP remake due to the artstyle so this was surprising.
Farmagia: Seems interesting, and also interesting is that the character designer is Hiro Mashima of Fairy Tail, Edens Zero & Rave Master fame.
Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero: I have a copy of the OGs PS2 version but have yet to play it, but I still recognized the art style right away. Gameplay seems fine, and while the voice acting featured wasn't the best it's always possible they could go back & improve upon it before release like they did with the Choose Your Path scene in FE: Fates (compare the Corrin's SSB4 reveal version w/ the final game version & there's a noticeable improvement).
The rest I'm mostly neutral on.

P.S. In the article the photo meant for LOZ is currently bugged and not showing up.
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