What are you playing on your Switch 2: Play Harder

I played a lot of Star Ocean on the Portal, whilst listening to quality podcast such as GGS, that some of issues like VO, I only heard when I did play on the TV. All the positives, out weigh what negatives it might I have I think to be the second best HD-2D game.

Seeing as every other HD2D game I've played has been a 6/10, it's got a good chance of going one better for me.

I understand that podcast gaming is a thing without at all relating to it. However, if there's a good time to listen to a podcast while playing a game it's probably while Lena's talking.

The best is Triangle Strategy, but I do wonder what DQIII will be like being a Dragon Quest game getting the remake treatment. Which Square then want to flog another remake afterwards around that game.

If DQIII HD-2D is good then I'll certainly look at DQ I & II HD-2D but if its meh then those be a pass from me.

Jimbob wrote:

Tangent - I'm slightly cold-afflicted so please redirect me if I'm blind: did the Nintendo World Championships game make so little of a splash?

Buskalilly wrote:

The main thing I heard was that it doesn't have any built-in leaderboards to compare with friends which killed any minor interest I might have had.

masofdas wrote:

Same as single player, player. Who's not going to play local and the lack of online leaderboards, I do go why would I play a score chasing game by myself.  

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

It didn’t make any impression on me. Never mind owning a NES collection itself: between Virtual Console, the Switch’s NES Online app, NES Remix, Amiibo Touch & Play on the Wii U, the 3DS Ambassador Programme and Animal Crossing on the GameCube, I’ve played all of these games to bloody death.

Sorry, I know we've moved on from this, but just catching up - those are all good points; I do remember being disappointed in not immediately seeing how much worse than my friends/family I was at the game. That and trying to speedrun Kirby's Adventure is a nightmare as it pushes the NES far too hard and therefore eats a lot of inputs.

Anyway, sorry, about that - I've not played HD2DHD games myself, but I love it as a way of updating a classic; I just wish it wasn't big RPG doodads.

I helped myself to Cavern of Dreams when I saw it was under a fiver on the eShop. It’s a nostalgic 3D platformer that tries to capture the essence of the classic N64 platformers that it’s obviously inspired by, most obviously Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie. It came out to very positive reviews last year but I’m not enjoying it quite as much as I thought I naturally would. The controls and movement are sometimes complicated, there’s not a lot of signposting in the hub area or levels and the platforming can be a little inexact. It’s just about doing the job though, and if you’re like me and appreciate N64-style aesthetics and exploration and a Rareware-esque soundtrack then I think you’d quite like it.
 
Alongside that I’m playing Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure through my Netflix subscription. I think the sliding tiles mechanic that they base the whole game around and demonstrated in the Nintendo Direct trailer is a clever twist, but I think it handles the player getting stuck in quite an unsatisfying way. Basically the options seem to be that you just ‘luck’ your way through the puzzle or you skip it entirely. Surely some guidance that represented something in between those would have been better?
 
Tombi: Special Edition is still a work in progress, I’ll keep chipping away at that. It's impressing me at just about every turn.

After finishing Mario RPG, then completing playthroughs of The Legend of Zelda and The Adventure of Link for Hyrule Field Report, I haven't quite decided what my next game should be. I might go back and finish off some things I started on PS4, then maybe play Devil May Cry 2 and 3.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

Alongside that I’m playing Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure through my Netflix subscription. I think the sliding tiles mechanic that they base the whole game around and demonstrated in the Nintendo Direct trailer is a clever twist, but I think it handles the player getting stuck in quite an unsatisfying way. Basically the options seem to be that you just ‘luck’ your way through the puzzle or you skip it entirely. Surely some guidance that represented something in between those would have been better?

I can't imagine you liked the writing on this at all. I'm playing it on-off at the moment amongst other things, and while I quite like the puzzling the writing is the most colossal low-Tumblr guff. Trying so hard to be down with the kids, and yet with nothing braver to say than 'be yourself'. Really poor. It's a shame because the gameplay is good.

Also, those on the Discord (so, basically all of you) will have seen that I've started Treesmurf's favourite Splasher. It sure is a platformer. Quite slidey in momentum I think, based on the first few stages anyway. Decent though.

I bought Mr Driller: Drill Land when it was on sale for a couple of pounds recently - £2.29 I think? And actually I had a bunch of points saved up so it was a freebie. Pretty fun! I played the main "campaign" and once I got the hang of it (realising that it's more fun to play it at high speed where you can rather than take it too slow) it got pretty addictive.

Also playing Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising and Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. Jazzed up remakes of games I never played in the first place... like Mr Driller actually. Both also pretty fun!

I read a making of Mr Driller a while back and it made me really fancy a go but Drill Land wasn't on offer at the time so instead I picked up an old GBA cart of Mr Driller 2 which I now play on my Micro from time to time. It is at its most fun when you tear through it with a bit less thought.

I had a Mr Driller game back on DS that I never really got on with, would be willing to give the series another shot though now as I don't think I understood how to play it properly back then.

I finally went beyond Dig for the Steamworld series and started Steamworld Heist (only the release of the sequel behind) and to no surprise its rather enjoyable. The side on perspective is a nice change to the usual turn based strategy and whilst it can be quite unforgiving it never feels cheap.

I also started the Cassette Beasts Game Trial and almost immediately bought the game, it was always on the cards but actually starting it made me realise what a game I'd been missing out on, really great take on Pokémon.

I've been playing Cassette Beasts because of the Game Trial as well and I can't quite make my mind up on it! It's fun and I like the setting, but because it errs on feeling overly complicated I haven't been able to decide whether I want to commit the time to wrap my head around it fully.

I'd say it's less complicated than it looks. There's a slightly different type chart to Pokémon but once you learn (or muddle through) that you're golden, and the rationale for each type effect is actually explained unlike Pokémon.

My currently playing list contains but isn't limited to the following:
- Another Code: Recollection which I got for my birthday. My main worry about this was the voice acting and this has proven to be well-founded: I don't like Ashley's Japanese VA and while her American one is mostly fine, the other characters (especially D) act with all the convincing quality of an Oblivion NPC. Otherwise this feels like a big old nostalgia-fest aimed squarely at those who played the game(s) back in the day and haven't since. Good thing that's me.
- Sam & Max: The Devil's Toybox. Two-and-a-bit cases in and this is ace actually! Really solid, really funny, levels more sprawling than in Save The World but not as convoluted or moon logicky as Beyond Time And Spice. Genuine corker.
- Cat Quest 3. This is more Cat Quest, and that's good - but it's looking like it's actually a substantially smaller game than 2, which is less good.

Pokémon's type chart isn't explained becuase it is correct and unimpeachable.

Ice being not very effective against water will always be

Put an ice cube in a glass of water, does the ice melt or does the water freeze?

Put a glass of water in a blizzard (or just a freezer) and try again.

You can’t go wrong with Mr. Driller. I thought Drill Land was superb at full-price, it’s simply a must-own bargain at £2.29.
 
Cavern of Dreams – a nice enough N64-era 3D platformer with as rubbish a final boss sequence as I can remember – got finished and since then I’ve been playing a game called Martian Panic, a cartoony light-gun shooter that’s been ported from the Wii and uses the Joy-Con for aiming and shooting. On a technical level it’s probably the worst game I’ve played on Switch, running and performing amazingly badly. It’ll end up being one of the worst games I’ll have played all year. Playing it has been a deflating experience on the whole, reminding me that it’s been ages since I’ve played and completed anything truly brilliant.
 
I took a fancy to LEGO 2K Drive, where the ‘Awesome Edition’ was reduced all the way down to £8-odd on CD Keys. While it’s not changing my life or anything I’m enjoying it more than the reviews suggested I might. The performance is all right, the racing is pretty good and the open-world structure is fun enough too. The usual 2K microtransactions sit with it poorly though, that leaves a bad taste (as it always does). That said they’re not essential to the game or it’s flow, I’ve got along absolutely fine without using it's real money marketplace.

Balladeer wrote:

- Another Code: Recollection which I got for my birthday.  My main worry about this was the voice acting and this has proven to be well-founded: I don't like Ashley's Japanese VA and while her American one is mostly fine, the other characters (especially D) act with all the convincing quality of an Oblivion NPC.  Otherwise this feels like a big old nostalgia-fest aimed squarely at those who played the game(s) back in the day and haven't since.  Good thing that's me.

UPDATE: Flipping heck Another Code R, the second half of the duology, is a load of steaming mince to begin with. It got mediocre scores on Wii in 2009 so I didn't pick it up then, and now I can see why. Ashley is a bit more of a whiny brat, her dad seems like he's learned nothing from the events of the first game and continues to win Most Neglectful Dad Of The Year awards by the dozen without the game ever taking him to task properly, the villain has all the subtlety of a brick to the face, the other characters are a bunch of terrible hangs, and as for the attempt at a D replacement... I'm sticking with it because there are hints of something bubbling below the surface, but I'm not impressed. This is down there with the worst game I've played this year.

What seems to be a bit better is Can of Wormholes, a highly regarded little puzzler that feels good, tests the mind without breaking it, and has a playable hint system. Could be a stealth banger.

Another Code is great, one of fav DS games, and I've still never played ACR. Doesn't sound like I'm missing much mind.

I'd posit that a lot of what you like about Another Code isn't in either R or Recollection.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

I’ve been playing a game called Martian Panic, a cartoony light-gun shooter that’s been ported from the Wii and uses the Joy-Con for aiming and shooting. On a technical level it’s probably the worst game I’ve played on Switch, running and performing amazingly badly. It’ll end up being one of the worst games I’ll have played all year. Playing it has been a deflating experience on the whole, reminding me that it’s been ages since I’ve played and completed anything truly brilliant.

Oh no, that looks so "bad old days" it's unbelievable. Down to the "11 year old who tells people they're an artist" illustrations.

Balladeer wrote:

What seems to be a bit better is Can of Wormholes, a highly regarded little puzzler that feels good, tests the mind without breaking it, and has a playable hint system.  Could be a stealth banger.

Oh yes on the other hand - if I wasn't still stuck down the Animal Well I'd be looking at this one I reckon.