Hello all! A followup briefly from Tuesday’s note: unfortunately, I was told my current situation that leads me to not be able to have access to my home wifi (And thus, not have access to it) is still ongoing and they don’t have any idea on when it’ll be fixed. Cool. My laptop thus isn’t getting much use as a result and I still have other IRL things to do, so i’m way way way more busier than I normally am and have shittier wifi when I do have time.
I had a nice, huge opinion article in mind to make my Jan/Feb status update about all that’s going on and using my platform to boost causes, but I’m pretty much unable to write anything that huge with all this stress and uncertainty, and the most I can really cobble together is just ramblings based off notes. Reviews I’ve been trying to work on, but with little time and no real consistency, I can’t focus worth a shit, I’m so fucking sorry about that.
Oh, and I got a cold, but a mild one that just makes my throat incredibly achy. I hate it. At least it isn’t like that one time so i’m not bedridden or unable to move, but I did have to stay home today and I am increasingly annoyed I have to. Good thing there was a partner showcase today and with me bored and kinda mad that i can’t focus on much for long, why not ramble about it and give my impressions? I wanted to do SFG impressions for a while now, so why not with this showcase.
Sorry, you won’t have any fancy embeds or pictures or vids here yet; I will have to do that later when my situation gets resolved. (And thus I can talk about it without worrying about jinxing myself) But I think you’ll find even with me in a not-good mood, I’m a lot more mellowed out when it comes to reacting to these partner directs than I used to be… and boy, peeking at the rest of the internet you’d think this one was the end of Switch 2. I thought it was pretty rad.
Anyhow let’s begin, sorry for the bad grammar in this rough “while i am sick with some weird brain fog” version.
I’m not gonna go down every single game ever shown in this, or else i’d be here forever and I’d like to get back to napping. But there was a lot I found very cool. If I don’t mention a game, I had not much to say besides “oh, it exists” or “Oh, it’s not for me, I’m not gonna comment on it”. I know some people feel the need to commentate on every single bullet point and immediately label stuff they aren’t familiar with as something that sucks majorly, but I’m just gonna skip over that stuff. Hope you don’t mind.
But yeah, the funny part about being sick and out of my normal daily routine today, is while I missed the livestream as I’d usually would due to being busy with my daily schedule, I did get to wake up hours later after a big recovery nap when the stream was already done, and could just watch it and skip through the parts I didn’t care much about. Handy!
Orbitals was the game that started things off, and I already forgot this was previously announced. I watched the direct full screen on my laptop, and legitimately thought this was some kind of Laserdisc style adventure game due to how shockingly accurate everything animated; seriously good stuff and the music was phenomenal. Unfortunately for me, this is a co-op game and it doesn’t seem like you can just play solo.
Thankfully it appears to have game share and as many options as possible to get players to play this together, but I’m stubbornly a local co-op stan and my local co-op situation hasn’t been viable in years. It does make use of the mic for online play though, so if you like that, you’ll probably like the game. The soundtrack is something I absolutely want to try and buy day one when it launches on bandcamp or whatever, if the rest of it is as good as the trailer song.
Afterward we got a Paranormasight sequel announcement. I would have been stunned by this if it wasn’t for the fact the OG was an underground hit and even got some G-Mode Archives adventure games from the same writer out in circulation. I wanted to play the OG one real badly as a fan of Chunsoft adventure games, but horror theming is pretty touchy for me so unfortunately I had to pass on that one. I might have to do for this as well. Still, glad something from SE’s weird “tidal wave of random games sent to them to publish several years ago” phase sold well enough to get a sequel.
Captain Tsubasa was next, and man, was I the only one that hoped for the Famicom games to come back out someday with English support? I know this one isn’t the same, nor was the last Bamco Tsubasa, but those and an old ending theme I had on my iPod Touch from one of the anime are the most I know about this IP. (Tomie, of PMD writing fame, worked on the Famicom sequel game, hence my interest. They’re pretty fun, too!)
No Switch 2 version here, alas, but the last game didn’t sound all that great. Hopefully this is better for fans of the IP since it still is popular in a good amount of regions all across the world, even if not the US (where I am).
Next was a game called Tokyo Scramble I’m only including here because I legitimately mistook it for Tokyo Jungle. Cut me some slack, I’m kinda sick and woke up from a long nap. Anyhow, this is not Tokyo Jungle, but the standalone trailer for it was better than the Direct trailer. Not my kind of game though, but maybe you’ll like it with friends?
Hollow Knight, the OG one, got the Switch 2 upgrade shadowdropped today, and I’m gonna try for like the 6th time to give it an honest whirl and make it more than the first hour. With my backlog, queue, and other things it and Silksong weren’t viable for me to finish nor review, but I still do wanna complete both of these, as I love Metroidvanias. Maybe not infinitely long ones, though. I’m more of a Pampas/Selene guy myself. Silksong clicked with me more than the first game, but I’m stubborn when it comes to sequels and will play the OG first if I can, so that will have to wait. I’m sure I’ll enjoy both of them when I finish these two epics in 2035.
Adventures of Elliot is the next hype game for me; Good looking action game, coming out in a few months, pretty cool time gimmick, sign me up! I still have to play the debut demo though, since I got preoccupied (by Bravely Default, which this reminds me a ton of) and never booted it. Eager to check this out, but something else in June will likely take up my time…
It’s the “almost yearly Konami Collection Reveal” time, with this one being a Super Bomberman Collection. Finally, Hudson games! It feels like these have been sat on forever and ever and ever. Surprised this didn’t happen around the time of Bomberman R2, but oh well, glad we have it. This one shadowdropped on Switch 1 and 2 (Switch 2 has a resolution boost and gameshare), and I wanna review this as a spare time review, but that might not be for several months. It includes Super Bomberman 1-5, the 2 NES ones, but no TG ones. Oh well, that’s still more than enough Bomberman, and everything has been fully translated to english for the ones the US/EU never got. Super fun stuff, and my brief first impressions so far are that the set is pretty good despite being made by Red Art and not M2.
That’s because M2 was busy with something else, a Goemon collection that includes an insane amount of games. Thirteen in total, with all the FC, SNES, GB and even the two GBC ones. Unfortunately, all in Japanese because the collection is Japan only. A couple of games (ie; 3 of them) have EN versions, but the others would need translating. I have a feeling some of the dialogue in the SFC not aging the best might be a reason they’d hesitate on localizing this, but I also think 3 RPGs and so many RPG-infused platformers being part of this collection for an IP most people don’t know (unlike Yu-Gi-Oh) is why this one is sitting out. Oh well, this one I will be importing and reviewing when I can. Pretty hyped for this one! But Bomberman is great too, and I hope it means we get Bonk, the Soldier Games and co as well.
Next up is FF7 Rebirth, which is the game I’m aiming for in June. I gotta beat Remake first, but that’s been incredible so far and this game coming shortly after is pretty good pacing. It might be rougher than the first one on Switch 2 due to it being a pretty demanding PS5 game (it makes the Steam Deck choke), but if the version is better than the Deck version, I will buy it. Otherwise, I guess I finally dust off my Series X?
Kyoto Xanadu finally got revealed, and this to me is the Falcom game I’m most hyped for. Sure, Ys X Nordics is on the to buy, and I’ll buy Trails SC when I beat the 1st Chapter shortly before that launches, but man, I really dug the OG Xanadu when I played it via Egg Console, and this seems like a modern take on that, which Tokyo Xanadu didn’t really seem like. Of course, all of this depends on if the 2d segments are good, but hopefully they are and have the fun secret-infused elements of the OG Xanadu (without being as hard). If this turns out well, I’m easily more excited for this than the usual Trails/Ys combo we’ve been stuck with for years.
Speaking of fun RPGs, Digimon Story Time Stranger is the one “this should be on Switch 2” port I’ve wanted the most since it came out (due to enjoying the IP, great word of mouth, and it being the game my local co-op bestie has spent most of her time playing last year), so it getting announced is fantastic. I’ll definitely be picking this up, but there’s too damn many RPGs as-is, so it’ll probably not be at launch. Rebirth is priority No 1 that summer.
But ah, the moment of the direct you, the reader, probably want my takes on the most. Yes, Arcade Archives 2 and Console Archives; me, the retro compilation/port obsessed writer, was absolutely thrilled with both of the announcements today. Rave Racer was kinda expected since this is the anniversary year for it and all, and having never played it before, sure I’ll give it a spin when it launches! I remain amused we got that reissued before Starblade or Solvalou though.
Console Archives on the other hand, was something I honestly stopped having hope in coming. It got trademarked around when Namco first started reissuing games (in 2021) and then just never, ever happened. I only got a vague assumption that maybe it was still alive when Hamster bought the catalog to Athena, who doesn’t have that many notable Arcade games, but did publish a lot of gems for console like Dezaemon. Sure enough, the PS1 version was spotted in the JP trailer, but not the US one.
The shadowdrop debuts for today are the funniest ones to me though; Cool Boarders, a game I legitimately thought was owned by Sony but I guess not, and Ninja Gaiden II, AKA, the best NES game ever made (dont at me), but also the one that just hit NSO a few months ago. I don’t have a PS5 and this lineup is next gen only (probably due to the PS emulation/maybe plans for other systems that need the power?), so I alas, am not spending money on Ninja Gaiden II NES for the first time in my life. Very sad.
But if you wanted VC and were the ones begging for VC all day, every day… put your money where your mouth is. It sure seems like we have a huge range of games coming to this service, and with the publishers hamster works with having a lot of games on NSO/Compilations already, I’d not be shocked to see some repeats. Hopefully they don’t go a week with COA and no ACA, and instead just do a week with 1 ACA and COA game each. Either way, I’m hyped for more and Master of Monsters PS1 is a great pick I’ll sure be playing!
The last two things I’ll group under “Capcom Block” and “Bethesda Block” since it’s just mostly a bunch of games from these two companies, and I held off mentioning some games from the former until now so they’re all together, but yeah. Capcom had a lot of fun stuff here, with Pragmata getting a demo today I’ll check out at some point. I’m just still super excited we’re getting day and date releases of new games when they come out on other platforms, and with ports that don’t look like they’ll make the system explode. If they’re as good as FF7R, I’ll be glad to check em out on Switch 2.
Monster Hunter Stories 3 also got a demo today, but I haven’t played the first two and I honestly feel like I probably should before I jump into the 3rd. I don’t think these are super lore linked RPGs or anything, but again, I like to catch up when I can. I’ll get to it in a few years probably. Another Day and Dater. Same for Resident Evil Requiem, which is a series I do not give a single crud about because it feels milked harder than a cow at this point, but I know others do and the newer games are great, and I still am happy this is another day and date game and a impressive looking port at the very least. When it ended I believe the last partner showcase (or was it the sept direct? I forgot lol), it was a great get for the Switch 2.
Then we get Bethesda. Little interest in buying any of their games right now due to all that’s going on with their parent company, but of any I’d buy it would be the Indiana Jones game. Great looking game, heard great things about it, and it’s somehow not a game key card for those of you who like that. Also good for me, so I can buy it used a bit later on and still enjoy the game while their parent company continues being a doofus.
The whole Fallout/Oblivion combo on the other hand, not my kind of thing. I’d be interested in giving both IPs a shot if it was a port of New Vegas for the former, and Morrowind for the latter, but as it stands I’ve only played Arena and Skyrim for the latter IP, and nothing at all from Fallout. The weirdly laggy Switch 2 port of Skyrim and the fact these games just love to be buggy in general are the main factors in me just not caring for these ports, but also the fact that you know, BDS and all if you can, so that’s easy to do and play these much later. I can see why some might be annoyed this was the closing reveal though.
And that’s essentially the direct we have today. Sorry this was a tidal wave of words and not fancily edited like i try to normally, but that’s what I got when i’m low on function and have a brain that partly feels like scrambled eggs. All in all, I thought it was pretty good and had games through to the summer shown off, which is what the Feb directs normally do anyhow. We’ll get one in June and September as well, and I’m sure June will have some of the first party things people were wanting here.
Speaking of wants, while I barely poked around before writing this piece, even I could see a good chunk of people pretty annoyed/unhappy that X game wasn’t in the direct or that there were not many full exclusives to Switch 2; I mean, yeah I kinda get if you’re annoyed by something like Clair Obscur not being on Switch 2 yet since it’s another in the “this game would be great on the Switch 2” camp like Time Stranger was for me, but I think at this point, early in the system you ain’t gonna get a permanent, Switch 2 only third party game. Obviously I wanna see what Nintendo has next, but with them just shadowdropping trailers for undated stuff from the last direct recently, I’m not surprised today’s showing was a partner, and I figure they’ll probably reveal something around Mayish for what comes next from them.
So i’m not really bothered by the lack of them in this showing at all, even if it was very weird to see Age of Imprisonment in the last partner direct. But yeah, for me with the Switch 2 now that it has the power needed for proper ports of a lot of games and is generally all around a better machine than the Switch 1, (where ports, late or on time, always felt like the worst version by default, especially compared to Steam Deck) I’m just more than happy if we get more day and date ports of things, which it seems like we are per this direct. With all the third party stuff coming out, I’m more than occupied in my non-review queue backlog for a good length of time this year, and am easily able to wait until June for the next one.
I don’t know if I’d score these presentations or not; I debated doing so, but I decided against it. Either way, today’s partner showcase was pretty good. Remember, these directs aren’t usually meant for a full year roadmap anymore. For a while now they’re usually reveals for stuff coming out in one window, and that window today was from Feb-Summer. So expecting the november stuff to be talked about now wasn’t ever practical. The only game I felt was “missing” here and was disappointing for me was the Elden Ring Port; nothing about that whatsoever. Hopefully it still will come out and will be in a better shape than at gamescom, and if the delay is to make it a locked 30, fine by me.
…That being said, I think we can guess what a November reveal game would be, and you bet i’m gonna do this again with the inevitable Pokemon Presents this year. If I get to feeling better and have my annoying internet situation fixed holding me back from writing (and can finally talk about it), I may even have a pretty good opinion piece up on that day to celebrate the 30 year anniversary. No promises on that though, but i really wanna do it.
Anyhow, until next time take care, and sorry again for the sloppiness of this post.