[Music] Hello everybody and welcome to the first podcast of 2025. I hope you had a wonderful break. However, you take your Christmas breaks and it is good to have you back for the new year. It should be a very big year indeed for video games. In fact, it already is. I'm already sick of this year. It's been so supply and weight in many games. But yes, I'm Matt. I'm the editor in chief of digital downloader.net. I should probably aware if you've ever listened to one of these podcasts and we have two of our all-stars here this week. We have Harvard. Hello, Harvard. Good morning everyone. Happy 2025. Happy 2025 to you as well. It should be a big year for you too. I'm sure you have got lots on I bet. Yes, the quarter century. Yes, that too. That's amazing. We're 25 years into a century. It doesn't feel like it. Also Trent. Hello, Trent. Hello. Yes, I am also here. I am always here. I am the furniture. We all have to congratulate Trent. He is getting married very soon. Yes, that's why the podcast is all over the place. It's Jen February recording and also he needs to know that. He's going a little bit nuts on to Trent. Yes, yes, I am. I've already gone crazy. Yeah, but you're going to have a great time. So yes, big congratulations and I hope the day goes awesome for you. So you probably haven't been playing too many games this the year. What about you? Have you been playing anything? This is a real we intake. I've been playing GTA 4 and actually have a really great time with it. How was playing GTA 4 before we get GTA 6? No, no, no. So I genuinely recommend playing a game from the mid-2000s because there's such an interesting capsule of what life was like and we often forget how different it is, but that was 20 years ago. And it's just been so fascinating to me. Well, 20 years ago, time really has flown. It's one of those real feelings this year. I think looking back at all the stuff, just how old some things are now. Yeah, it feels old, but it doesn't feel bad. It doesn't feel dated, but it feels very of its time. It's like a GFC era game and you really feel it when you play it. Okay, there we go. So that's your first recommendation for the year is to play some old games, but I agree with you. It's good to. Let's all play postal to get some milk and shoot up libraries and other fun stuff. No, we don't recommend postal either, but GTA is okay. Okay, so we will take a quick pause for some music and then we'll be back to talk about all the new games that are coming out already this year. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Welcome back. Okay, so as Trent mentioned in the little intro, we are recording this a little bit early this month just to work around everyone's crazy, crazy, sticky modules, but there are heaps again coming out in the last week of January through all of February. It's already been a busy year for video games. We've already had dynasty worries. Origins come out, which was excellent. I've got a review up on DDN already. And then yeah, what's coming out over the next five or so weeks is also there's a lot of it. So jumping into the list on January 28, we have a game called Eternal Strands coming out. This is a new development studio, I believe. And their game is very heavily and obviously inspired by Shadows of the Colossus. So I suspect this will be one of those early, or this will be one of those surprise games that people do really have on their reignos, but when it lands, I think that there should be some fans that come out of that one. It does look very, very good. So keep an eye on that. On January 30, we have four people who like their trading card games. There's Card Fight Vanguard, Vanguard, D a days two coming out, which has over a thousand cards to play with, which should be a good time consuming hobby for some people. There is also Phantom Brave Lost Hero coming out on January 30, which is a tactics RPG by the saying people behind the disc area series and whatnot. So that won't be a very time consuming game as well. But if you have played the original Phantom Brave, then you know what to expect with this one. It does go very similar. And that is a good thing indeed, because Phantom Brave was a very good game indeed. Also on January 30, there is Wizardry, the five ordeals coming out. This was, I believe, originally a mobile game, possibly. So the game comes from 2006. So it's an older Wizardry game, but I think it's coming to Steam for the first time with some improvements to make it more playable. But whatever it is, it is a Wizardry game. So for Dungeon Crawler fans, that's your first hit for the year there. Also on January 30, so there's a lot coming out on January 30 for people that enjoyed Animal Crossing. And I know there's a lot of you out there. Hello Kitty Island adventure comes out on Switch. Now this was an Apple Arcade game originally, but it is now no longer exclusive to Apple Arcade. And you will enjoy this. It is very much Animal Crossing but starring. I want the frog, not the frog. A frog Hello Kitty thing. What? There's a frog. Yes, there is a frog. Centrino has centrino. Is that what they are? Centrino. Yes, Sanrio. Yeah. They've got the frog character guy. There is a frog. There is indeed a frog. There's an awful lot of characters in this one. It's kind of a all-star bunch of characters, except it doesn't actually have my favorite character, which is very disappointing. But it does have most of people's favorite characters in there. And it's a very casual playing laid back. Just kind of wander around the island doing little tasks and having a good time. If you like the Animal Crossing, you will definitely like that one. Moving on. So we finally go into February then, I believe. We're scrolling through a lot of other stuff that's coming out that I'm not going to mention. Yes. So the first big game of February will be Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, which comes out on February 4. Now I've been playing a bit of that. Had a preview copy of it. And it is very good. Very, very good. It is history-based RPG. It's probably the best way to describe it. And it is very authentic. Like the developers have clearly done an awful lot of research in making this game. If you played the first Kingdom Come Deliverance, and this is a direct sequel to that, but you don't need to have played the first, because there is a very good catch up at the start of the game. So if you did miss that one, then don't miss this one by any means. Don't feel like you need to miss this one, because there you can do it. Change between the first two games. I vaguely remember the first game. There was a conversation about it and we didn't enjoy it very much. There's issues with the first one, but I did give it a pretty positive review on it. There was a certain level of juvenile humour in the first, which kind of soured me on it a little bit. But this second one is a much more, how can I put it? Sober, I guess, reflection on history. Yeah, it's matured out a bit. Yeah, that's probably the best way to put it. It's matured. And because of that, this one's just a lot more playable. And it is very enjoyable. I really do recommend it. If you do like your history, and you also like your RPGs, and this one's kind of a good melting of those. Well, it's good to hear. We love some character growth here. Yes. Yes, indeed. Moving on. Now, this is the, I guess, this is the absolute huge cave. This is the one that I'm putting my whole year's hopes on whether this is going to be a good year for video games or not. On February 11, we've got Sydney as a civilisation seven coming out. And as somebody that has played about 700, 800 hours of civilisation six, I'm really, really keen on seeing how this turns out. I am nervous, of course, because if they change too much in a way that I don't like, then I'm going to get very, very mad indeed. I am very much in a six mindset. But I do think they'll do us right. Civilisations are remarkably consistent series. The only one that I haven't outright enjoyed a lot was four. How did you not like four? Four was like the beat. We talked about this, didn't we? I think we did last year. Yeah, I'm pretty sure maybe like off the internet. I was like, four was like the game which like everyone like liked. It was like the big giant thing because it had like Bubba Yetu and all our stuff. And like, I mean, three was when it became 3D, but like, four was when like everyone started playing the games and you're like... I did not care for four that much. I don't know why. I might have just been a time and place thing. I just didn't get into it. I did like three, I liked five. I really like six, six and two are probably my favourite. It's interesting because someone which would like four, for example, would like six better than five. And then someone, and you're like three better, so you like three and five better than four and six. Yeah, that's interesting. It is what it is, I guess. But it'll be interesting to see how seven turns out. I think I guess the thing is though, six ended up becoming such a massive game with about three, four, five years worth of DLC and addons and season passes and all kinds of things. Obviously seven is not going to have that amount of content in it, but it'll be interesting. And I think the other thing with six was it took its time to kind of really come into its own. Like I had a release. It was a good enough game, but it was really all that extra stuff that elevated it. So yeah, it'll be interesting to see if seven builds on that or we're going back to a place that we need to build on from there. Anyway, either way, I'm looking forward to seeing it. On February 13, we have hyper devotion. God is black heart coming out on stuff. I think that's the beta one that's getting a port to other platforms. Sorry. I really enjoyed how much you struggled pronouncing that name. Just making the series harder and harder to say. Yeah. Yeah, this was a beta game. I had to remind myself which one this was. It was a tactics RPG. It was quite good. I really enjoyed it actually. And now remember which one it was. So I think that's coming up on I'm going to get switch and PC. Does that start ball fights? No, it doesn't have snowball fights. I'm sure all five. It's going to support you. Yes. So on February 14, oh, this is not going to be a good month for me. So three days after civilization seven, the legendary heroes trails through daybreak two comes out. So there goes another hundred hours for another RPG. Yeah, obviously that's a sequel to the last legendary heroes game, which was also very good. It's a new narrative arc for the very long running series. And it was a good start. So this will be really interesting to see how they continue it on. So very, very quick summary. Where does this fit in the series? Yeah, like I said, this is a new narrative arc. It takes place after everything else, I think. Yeah. So there was cold steel and then there was the other one. And then this is like a new sub story of that. Yeah, this is a new chapter. That's probably the best way to put it. It's a new chapter within the overall universe and lore and all the rest of it. And part two of that new chapter. Yes, that's correct. You do need to you. I actually haven't played trails through daybreak two, so I can't say definitively. But I'm 99% sure that you will need to have played the first one to play this. This will be a direct sequel and it'll be a continuation of the story. And if cold steel was anything to go by, you do need to play the mid order. So that'll limit, I guess, it for people who haven't played the first one, you'll need to go back and do that first. But for people who did play the first, then there you go. That's something to look forward to in February. On February 14 as well, we've got Tomb Raider 4 through 6 remastered, which should be good. It's been a long time since I played any of those Tomb Raider games. So who knows how they've held up? But I am interested. I quite enjoyed the one through three package, despite those games being very old and very difficult to play today. I imagine these will be a little bit more playable by today's standards. Where are we going next? On February 20. Now this is a small game, but it did catch my eye because it does look a lot of fun. Godzilla Vauxhall Wars comes out. This is a turn based strategy game, which looks a little bit like, oh, what was the name of it? There was this tactics up strategy game that came out a few years ago that was kind of the indie darling for a while, where battles were, they took place on like an 8x8 grid. It was a very small kind of battle map. I can't remember the name of it now, I know. I feel stupid because as soon as we'll get off line, I'll remember. But anyway, this game looks a lot like that, but with a Godzilla coat of paint and yeah, into the bridge. Yeah, yes, into the bridge. There we go. Thank you very much, however. I'm so glad you're here. Yeah, it looks like that's amazing as well. Yeah. So Godzilla, this Godzilla game looks like into the bridge, but you get to play as Godzilla and motoring, kinkidora and stuff. Oh, so you're using the monsters into the bridge next. That's a great idea. Yeah, yeah. See, I told you, it's not going to be the world's biggest game in the I think it'll have its fans because it does look like a lot of fun. Moving on. PG Maker Wiz comes out on, I believe, PlayStation on February 21. That was already out on Switch and I think quite a few people have made games for it and stuff and I'm pretty sure it's cross-placed. So even if you're not big into making your RPGs, then you can download this and play a lot of other people's and that'll be, that'll be a lot of fun going through and kind of getting to see other people's creativity. That's something that I wish I was cool enough to be invited to is the Wonder Friends like, Hey, come on over, we'll make an RPG in one day together. Yeah, just a lot of fun things to do. Yeah, yeah. Dear God, I don't know if this is this actual part of the series. On February 21, there's a game called like a dragon pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. Now, is that actual Sega? It is. Oh, Jesus Christ, there's a Yakuza like a like a dragon game coming out in February. I don't know what this is. I'll hire it out. I don't, I must be, you were not. Yeah, you weren't around when like, all this stuff got like dropped, weren't you? This was all from what do you call the game awards? I wasn't expected to be this. See, this is the thing I don't, I don't pay attention to the game awards. So sometimes stuff gets dropped and I'd miss it. Yeah, but I mentioned all the cool stuff in this chart, but yeah, that's just how much I pay attention to your trend. But yeah, this is the, this is the cool pirate game with what he called with Majima. Yeah, Majima. Yeah. Yeah, he's a pirate. This is going to be good fun, isn't it? This is going to be great. I'm looking at a screenshot now and I'm like, yeah, this, this is going to be so much fun. Okay, so it will just come house. No, this time last year. Okay, I was fast. But think about it though, that's, these are massive, massive, massive games and they're coming out on an annual basis. That's nuts. That's absolutely nuts. I was really was not expecting another Yakuza game for, for a while there. And this is just landing in February amongst everything else. So just to reiterate, that's February 21. Now, here's another interesting one. The Yu-Gi-Oh early days collection comes out on February 27, which is amazing. I didn't, I saw this randomly when I was looking through the eShop around Christmas time. And I was like, I didn't know this was coming. And I immediately got very interested in it. So, this is, I love the doing this, but I love the doing this. It's every GBA and Game Boy completely unplayable Yu-Gi-Oh game. It's made just for me and only me. Yeah, so it's all of the Yu-Gi-Oh titles released between 1998 and 2004, which was a fair few of them. Why would you want all of them in one collection? Because they're all uniquely bad in their own way. Why not? It's just, why not excited? Pokemon card game is still very good. No, it's Pokemon card. One game. Yeah. The wanting needs to go out to people looking at this collection. A significant number of these games are not fun, good games. A lot of them either don't understand the Yu-Gi-Oh rules and are just held to play or have so few cards, there's no strategy and just trying to grind until you get cards that are objectively better than molecules. But that's what makes them good. Is it the bad? So, basically, anyone who's ever played Yu-Gi-Oh anyway, no one understands the rules. No, everyone only knows the TV show. So, they like just... No, no, no. Yu-Gi-Oh has changed a lot. Yu-Gi-Oh nowadays is like a lawyer's game because you're just playing cards and having an argument to figure out exactly what just happened. Whereas in the past, Yu-Gi-Oh was a commercial game. You just buy as many packs as you get the strongest cards. And these are the games that systemize that era. So, there's actual rules for Yu-Gi-Oh now. Depends on Yu-Gi-Oh too. Okay. So, it's the same. Yeah, so that's cool. I'm very much looking forward to that. I like the kind of old Game Boy card games and stuff. So, yeah, I'm definitely going to pick up that one. On February 28, we have what might be the first horror game with any kind of profile coming out this year. That's Dollhouse behind the Broken Mirror. It is the second, I guess, mini-series now. The first Dollhouse was all right. It wasn't a perfect game by any means, but it had potential to grow into a series. So, it would be interesting to see if this one continues to build on that. On February 28, the first sports game with any kind of profile comes out. That's PGA Tour, 2K25. So, if you like your golf, then this one will scratch an itch. I am sure. Hopefully, it's better than the EA1. I was not a fan of that. That was a terrible golf game. But this is... 2K games has been the name in golf for a while now. So, I'm expecting this one to be pretty good. Also, another massive time consumer is on its way in February. Monster Hunter Wilds is coming out on February 28. So, this is actually the first true new Monster Hunter since 2021. That feels wrong. But that's what they're saying here. Four years since it's a real... Yeah, four years since Prep and Monster Hunters come out. And now, we've got this one. That seems like a reasonable amount of time between sequels to the series. You'd think that, but this is the video game industry. And four years feels like, I mean, we're just talking about Yakuza having an annual release. And it just feels like Monster Hunter is more ubiquitous than that. You never took a break, but... Apparently, they don't have time to, like, play it all and then forget it out a bit, and then get nostalgic, and then want to play the next one. It's just... It's good. I'm excited. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it too. I mean, I am definitely... I don't know if I'll have the time for it. Probably not. I will add it to the backlog. Anyway, that's kind of it. I'm saying that. That's the last big game here in this list, February. But that's a big list of video games for the early part of the year. If I was to ask you to pick one of it, just one, which one would you find it to be looking to find the time for? It's the year year collection. I'm sorry. I've played so many of those games, my childhoods, through various means. It's the kind of game that people would just, like, pick up in the bargain bidding when they were still in ED games in the 2000s. They're all just uniquely bad. But in such a way that I can interpret them, it's like a language that I speak, so I'm so excited to go back to them again. That's good. That's what those kind of retro collections are for. The people who are nostalgic, and it certainly sounds like you are very nostalgic for those games. Yeah, it's not... If you like you here today, don't play these games unless you want to enjoy history, because not all of them are fun. Many of them are not fun. Yeah. What about you, Trent? I know you're probably going to be a little bit busy enjoying the married life, but... Yes. I do realize that pirate Yakuza was this close, so I'll probably pick that up. Yeah, that's going to be fun. That is going to be so much fun, I think. I'm sure. Yeah, that's definitely one up there for me as well. I mean, for me, though, definitely Civilization 7 is the one that I'm picking my hopes on for the month. There's a game that I actually want to play beyond the stuff I do for deviant. That'll also be good. But I think that's probably... You probably see it on the Switch too. It's on the Switch, but... It is getting released on Switch, which is great. I think that's a good thing. I have multiple versions of Civilization 6. I've got it on my phone, I've got it on PC, and I've got it on Switch and all of those. The Switch one is actually the one I play the most, so... Yeah. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Welcome back, everybody. So, about what, a day before we recorded this podcast, Nintendo, I guess responded to a bunch of leaks because, yeah, there were a lot of leaks about the Switch too. So, Nintendo hurried out a teaser trailer of sorts for the console, to guess, to, I guess, get ahead of the message. We don't know too much about it at this stage, but they have officially announced that it's coming. There will be Nintendo Direct that'll go more in depth in April, but we're going to chat about what we saw from this little teaser trailer and what we might expect from the Switch too, and I guess most importantly, the games that we're kind of expecting to see on the console around launch. It is coming out this year. Now, we've got back confirmed as well. Obviously, later in the year, probably around the December time, at least to capitalize on Christmas, but yeah, we all saw about two minutes of footage about what this console looks like, and it looks pretty good to me. I'm intrigued, but I think, official renders look a bit a lot better than the leaks, definitely, in terms of like the colour scheme. It looks a bit more plasticky in the leaks. Yeah, yeah, those, I mean, I didn't pay attention to the leaks, to be honest, because I just find that this, for obvious reasons, there's so much misinformation that goes out with those leaks that it's not worth. Yeah, I was getting really tired of how many leaks, though. Yeah, I'm just the way that they were recording about them as well, and just how the headline is really eye-catching, and then you look at where it came from, and you're like, none of this is information, you know? Yeah, so the good thing, I think, that Nintendo, I mean, they were obviously pressured to doing the aspire of those leaks, but at least now they've got some official information out there, and people talk about that rather than the leaks. What we saw of it, I guess, for me, the two things that kind of stood out most were, firstly, it is a bigger console now. It looked like it was, well, 10, 15% bigger than probably the size of a steam deck, yeah, I think that's what they're going for. Yeah, so it's a little bit bigger. It looks about the same width, sorry, the same depth. It looks about the same kind of bulk, so still a fairly the streamlined console, which is good. And then the joy cons are now attached to the console by what looked like magnetics. Yes, there might be a reverse USB-C. Yeah, so rather than lighting them in, as you did with the current switch, these ones now kind of snap in, which I've got to say, on the one hand, that looked pretty neat, but on the other hand, I'm a little bit concerned, those magnets are going to need to be very strong, otherwise people are going to snap those joy cons off, or they're going to drop the console, it just looks like the thing, the sliding mechanism for the switch was actually pretty good. It held the joy cons in nice and subtlety, which is the demand, and it's like a lock for it, right? There's like a release button, show it as a lock for it. You'd hope so, but again, the magnets will need to be like, you'll just need to be pretty strong, because otherwise you will be able to snap them off. That was my one concern, I think, about the console from what we saw. The kickstand is good. I don't know if any of you tried to use the kickstand of the original switch model. No, it's one of the least used features of the switch. It was terrible, but they actually revised for the OLED model, and it was actually good. This one looks like it uses the same kickstand, which is, yeah, that's a handy tool to pop off over time. I think there are a few switches where it just with lost the kickstand, because it just wouldn't clip down properly. Yeah, it was not a good, but that's all that's been sold here, which is fine. I think it's a charging cable, so you can play low on the stand. Yeah, the charging port was on the top, was it not? From the video, I think. I think it's in a same place, isn't it? If it's on the bottom, then no, the same issue. But it's a very non-issue for me, but yeah. Yeah, so I mean, that's kind of what we, they're just kind of, for people who haven't seen the video, all the idea was kind of a camera roll around the machine, so you could see the buttons and stuff in bits and pieces. They didn't show off too much else. Pretty slick, like it shows that all the console transformings, the new one, which I think is such a useful thing to explain the changes. I do think the joysticks look better. They do, yeah. They're just looking inherently more comfortable to use. Yeah, the profile of them and the design them looks superior, then hopefully the, I would imagine, Nintendo has definitely addressed the issues. The original joy con was too small. Like, for example, for things like Mario Kart, like I'm a wheel person, and the way Mario Kart was just ergonomically the best thing to have in the wheel, the switch one is horrible. Yeah, there's no way to it. Yeah, and even though it's just way too small, your hands are way too close. You're basically like almost like, as if you were handcuffed and just like twisting it. Yeah, you're pinching it, you know? Yeah, like it doesn't have any proper movement. Well, I don't think these joy cons are going to be much bigger for you, Trent. I mean, the console itself is not much bigger. So I don't think... I have a steamer. I'd be surprised at how much more ergonomic it is, even though it's just that little bit bigger, like it's... Yeah, you're right. That extra 10% size is probably going to make a significant difference. But yeah, it's not that much bigger. Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to see what this screen actually is, which is unfortunate. It'd be nice if we had confirmation if it was an OLED or regular screen, because one of the... I mean, probably the one concern I had about that was as somebody that uses the OLED model, if it was a regular screen, then that'll be kind of a downgrade to switch to... Is it a lot different? Because I have a... Oh, it's huge. It's massively different. Yeah, yeah. I don't regret buying you're getting the OLED at all, because it's just... Think of it like this. If your phone is flat and then there's a brightness and the quality goes down to like crap, and then just turn everything back up and all the refresh rates back up. That's like the difference between the original Switch LCD and the OLED LCD. LCD on the Switch. Yeah, it completely revitalizes. Yeah, like all the games are played. It was a big, big difference. So I'm 100% sure that regardless of what type of screen it is, it will be a better screen on the Switch II than the original Switch model, but I'm just satisfied with the original OLED screen. So anything's an improvement for me. But again, that will... I guess we'll have to wait till April for that to be confirmed. And that was kind of it for the hardware. In terms of footage of games, the only thing they showed was about 20 seconds of Mario Kart. So there it is in this. Yeah. It's like one turn. Yeah, they did effectively announce a new Mario Kart, but I think we all kind of guessed that that was going to happen, right? Because it actually has been a long time since a new Mario Kart. People forget that the Switch one was not actually a new Mario Kart. It had not been a massively bigger game than the Wii U Mario Kart because of the additional tracks and the season passes, but it was... I mean, it didn't before that it sold considerably better, like a lot of people would know it from the Switch rather than the Wii U. Yes, yes, for sure. But the point of making is that it was actually a Wii U game. So it has been a long time since we've had a new Mario Kart. So yeah, that'll be interesting to see how that plays out. I mean, people have been talking a lot about that five seconds of footage or whatever. I think there's more cars on the track now. Yeah, it's about 20 or something, at least in that screenshot. It'd be interesting to see if that's flexible or if that's around the number that they're going to be on, like, all tracks. There's some hardcore fans up there that go, like, this car looks a bit different, so it's a new game. I applaud those guys. That's detective work. I honestly didn't even realize. I thought it was... Is it Rosalina? She looks like she's on, like, skates. I don't know if it's a new new car or anything because I'm not, like, that big into Mario Kart, but it looks like... I wouldn't be surprised if there's some full of, like, snow-based gimmick where you're, like, on ice. Do you know what? When you said that, my brain just went. I did not read that trailer at all. My brain went, "Oh, it's Mario Kart. Cool." And then blanked out every detail. I honestly thought they were playing, like, Mario Kart 8. When I was watching that footage, that's how little I've been playing or how long it's been since I played Mario Kart. I know, but I didn't recognize that. I did not even recognize it. There are so many maps on Mario Kart 8 that I just assumed that it was when I played, like, once and then forgot about, because that game is massive. So I just did not recognize it, that this was a new Mario Kart. On that basis, I'm not sure that was the game to go with to kind of show off. But then again, it has driven people into overdrive in terms of studying every quarter of a second of that footage to talk about. So, yeah. What do we think will launch with this console? Because Nintendo hasn't told us anything about any of the games. We know that there's a Metroid coming, so that'll likely be a Switch and Switch 2 release. The Metroid Prime 4. Yeah. I think it all depends on when the Switch is actually going to launch. I'm expecting it's probably going to be a September-October kind of thing. I think maybe even Christmas season, possibly. Yeah. It's definitely the back end of the year. Because I don't think Metroid would be a launch title, but I'd say Metroid would probably be closer to Christmas if the Switch is out, say, October or the beginning of November. So, like, Metroid would be like December's Switch game kind of thing. Yeah, that's probably fair, but either way, it'll be one of the major titles for the Switch to launch with, like, in the opening, the window. It's probably too easy too early for a Zelda game, so that probably won't be a launch. I'll essentially do another 2D1. I mean, there's all that. They might do it. They might do an offshoot one, but I'm talking about it properly. Plus, there's been rumors for a long time about there's been ports, like, ports of, like, Twilight Princess and Wind Waker prepared for the Switch. I mean, they're probably not real. If it hurts to get worse, then they've got these, which we can easily just use as a launch title. Yeah, but again, that's not a new Zelda game. I'd sorry about it. Yeah, we're not going to have a new Zelda game. That was the thing I was like, tears to the kingdom is still fairly new, so it'll be a while before we have the next one in the Zelda series. We probably will get a Mario. Like, it would be live for Nintendo's launch without a Zelda or Mario, and so without Zelda, then it makes sense that it'll be a Mario to launch the Switch to. I completely forgot that the Switch launch for Breath of the Wilds. I think, yeah, vague leader remembered the early days that the Switch was having nothing, but that was because I didn't play Breath of the Wild. Yeah, so with the Switch, Odyssey came a year or two after, I would imagine that they'll be preparing a Mario for the Switch too. I mean, hopefully there's a Kyle Hyde remake happening, Hotel Dask, but everyone calls the series as Kyle Hyde, like, the protagonist, because you've got the last window of the second game. If Nintendo is launching that as their big Switch game, then they're in trouble. It is a game like Hotel Dask, this new time it came out. I didn't see anyone talking about it. Hotel Dask did well, especially more in America, but I think it's like in terms of like family reception, but I think it's sold better in the UK because last window didn't come out in America. To me, it's always been like the game on the DS that you're cool if you like, but I also don't know anything about it. I mean, there will be a couple of those smaller games, of course, as well, but in terms of the big ones, we'd probably, I would think we'd have something from intelligent systems, because they've been a bit quiet for a couple of years now. So they're still just comparing Fire Emblem and Fire Emblem. Well, I mean, they're 99% Fire Emblem these days because that's the money spanner, but I would imagine that because the thing is, Nintendo is now in this point where they have a lot of RPG properties and they've got all the fans of the genre buying the consoles. So, well, historically, Nintendo hasn't been like an RPG factory. I think now they kind of need one to launch their consoles with. From software to make Lost Kingdoms free. Yeah, that's not going to happen. But yeah, I would think that there'll be some kind of Fire Emblem. There were three on the switch, right? There were two. Two, maybe I think it's something different. There were three houses and then engaged. Oh, I think you're thinking of the last one. Was it three years? No, I think you're thinking about the, what do you call it, the heroes, not heroes, kingdoms. The game where you like battle people, like, Haru Warriors is part of the Warriors game. Oh, yes, that's probably why. Yeah, there were two of those. Yeah, they'll fire them all against it. Speaking of, I would expect that there'll be something that Curry Techno works on. It's a launch title for Switch given that they, sorry, for Switch 2, given that they have a, they're particularly close to Nintendo now. So, they will help to launch the console in some way, I would think. But how about Pokemon? Where's that lining up? I reckon that the- I don't think, I don't think we will get a Pokemon for the launch. Switch 2. No, because that's a Switch game. I mean, the thing to remember is that the Switch 2 is completely backwards compatible with Switch as well. So, they can launch a Pokemon game for Switch and it'll effectively be a Switch 2 release as well. Because those guys, Game Freak don't go and make the most technically advanced games anyway, so there would be no reason to kind of do two versions of Pokemon. Well, what we really want to see as well is just, Virtual Console is the same as Switch and every game on Switch. Well, it is, that's the point. That will all be part of the Switch 2 thing. It's going to be a fairly smooth transition this time because everyone will still be playing their old libraries while they start to push the Switch 2 games out. The only thing I would think, they will do some kind of push with Nintendo online to re-invigorate and get people interested in it again. So, I would imagine that there'll be either a massive expansion of games on one of those Virtual Consoles, possibly the GBA, or they'll launch a GameCube on. I mean, I just- That's your console. I wouldn't put it past them to just say, "Okay, back from Square, back to Square 1, you get Mario and he has to wait." Nah, I really don't think that because the thing is, this is like a subscription service. And Nintendo wants you to be signed on to whatever platform you're on forever. Right? And it burns too many times. Yeah, no, I know. I know. I know where you are. I fully know how you feel. And that was a concern of mine as well. But I think given that it is a subscription service, it'll just smoothly roll over. It's just going to be more additive. I would think that- I mean, the interesting thing potentially, which would be neat, would be if they integrate Nintendo's- that the music into Switch 2, because at the moment, obviously they've got that Nintendo music thing, and the way they've been drip feeding it out suggests that there's a long way to go for it yet. I would think that it would be integrated into the Switch 2 in some way, and it'd be pretty neat if you could have it on in background as you do other things on the Switch 2 and stuff. Maybe that's what that mystery button's for, is that they'll have more of a home menu rather than Switch 2. Well, the rumor was meant to be that it was like a Wii U kind of situation, was what the gimmick was going to be. But then everyone's like, "But they didn't label it the C button in the trailers." So it's not the C button that we do. Having that on the Wii U, what's the C button on the Wii U? No, no, no, like I have it sort of strange to the TV, so then you could have the dual screens. Yeah, so that's the gimmick which everyone thinks it is at the moment. I don't think so. Though, what I think it is, because everyone's all about the Joy-Con's being might, I think it's just a cursor loan. See, for cursor, your butt presser, and it turns into your cursor. Yeah, I think that's probably a fair call trend. I think I don't see Nintendo doing a Wii U thing again, because the Wii U was such a spectacular failure, and nobody ended up using the dual-screen feature anyway. But the mouse thing is an interesting one, because I was going to bring this up. One of the interesting things for me was that Microsoft was out there just a week ago saying how they're going to put all of their games on all the consoles, right, and they're talking about putting Halo on other not Microsoft consoles. I would not be surprised if Nintendo and Microsoft are going to launch firstly, you know, Halo, but also potentially Game Pass on Switch. Because Microsoft's all about everything is a Xbox, but they're like, "Gimmick isn't really like ready yet." I was saying years and years ago, that Microsoft was going to eventually get out of the hardware thing, because that's not their business, and their goal was always to just get people onto the Microsoft platform, and that's why they've gone and bought up all these studios, so that they just can have this massive software cloud-based thing, which is Game Pass. It benefits Microsoft to have that on other consoles. So, I mean, I know it means a certain thing, but I would not be surprised if the Switch 2 is something of Microsoft handheld play as well, and that may be a big reveal when-- Because everyone's like, "Why isn't Microsoft doing anything about handheld stuff while Steam is winning?" Because everyone's like, "Oh, the Steam OS can do like is--" Because Steam OS can be put on anything now, and that's the other thing. Nintendo needs an answer to all the Windows PC consoles now, right? Switch 2 is launching at a very different time to the Switch, so it would benefit Nintendo to all this PC gaming stuff behind them as well. If they've implemented that mouse pointer, then they've got the tools to kind of engage more with a Game Pass-like service, so I would not be surprised. By no means making that as a prediction, but I would not be surprised if that was-- It would raise a lot of interesting questions for how you get games on the Switch 2 if that was the case. I feel like Nintendo of all places has been so resistant to subscription models, and you pay this amount to play this game, and then you lose less and stuff. Have they not? Because they've got Nintendo online. The main games would ever be on a subscription. I think they would only do DLC. Yeah, I'm not suggesting that Nintendo would put its games on a Game Pass, but as an app on the Switch 2, it may be a thing that they see valuing. I just think it's weird when Nintendo have their releases that are new and you have to buy it, but on the same console, you've got a concurrent new game that's coming out, and you have to have a subscription for it. It just looks a bit strange. I guess they've done small things like that on the Switch already, but-- Well, I mean, that's no different to what you can do already with Game Pass. Like, all of the games are releasing on Game Pass, you can buy separately as well. Maybe I'm just resistant to it. I'm not a Game Pass person. Yeah, I'm not a fan of these subscription things as well. I'm just putting two together, and I might be getting five, I don't know. But given Microsoft's interest in, clear interest in supporting other consoles, and moving away from Xbox being its own kind of hardware play and competitive, direct competitive Sony and Nintendo, I think it would make sense for all concerned if they did that, I think. It's pretty clear regardless that when not heading into a PS5, there's no games for this situation. There's going to be so many games. There'll be too many games for this. No, I mean, if nothing else, you will be still working through all your backlog of Switch games, because again, they're all going to be backwards compatible, which is just massive. The Switch has such an incredible library, and for it to all be both digital and physical backwards compatible, like you lose nothing in making the choice. Apparently, there's like some games may not work, and people are saying, "Oh, maybe Labo and the other stuff." So it looks like is the eye up being gone? Is that why people are saying Labo and Warrior Way might be the games which don't run? We'll not surprise if they got rid of the IR. There'll serve few games that did anything with it. And who's saying that is the thing? It's all over the internet, because if you look at the still frame, it says that not every game will run on the Switch too. Yeah, you have to draw the lines of how big that pool you think is. Yeah, and you also have to remember that they may be just doing that to cover their own backside. Yeah, because it is that one game where you drop the Joy-Cons can't be played, and that's it. Or it could just be something as simple as a slightly different architecture. The Switch 2 means that some random indie game that got released four years ago just stops working. For some reason. And the developers not around anymore, so they don't patch it, and therefore you can't play it on the Switch 2. I mean, that happens all the time. It happens with Steam and whatever, to just as new hardware comes through some games, stop working. So it may just be that. They may, we'll just be covering themselves. We don't know if there's no IR thing in the Switch 2. We don't know if the rumble features are different in a way that breaks that milking game. You know, who knows? But we're going to play Switch play. What was it called? Switch 2. Let's play 1-2 Switch, yeah. And then I would like to get that again. So much everyone or whatever it is, yeah. Yeah, which I didn't see a single class in talking about. But I would love for there to be a new Nintendo Land kind of situation where, hey, let's just show off all the tech that we have with these fun mini-games. That's always been my favorite when a console launches. I think I unfortunately, if you have it, I think you might be disappointed with the launch. Honestly, if the way you gimmick is the thing, I want a direct port of Nintendo Land, just with a few extra games. I'll be fine with that. Yeah, you're not going to get that. I guarantee you, I would bet a million dollars that thing that Nintendo will not do is a dual-screen situation with the Switch 2. That's just not going to happen. They let their listen to it to be you. That's not a thing. Unfortunately, I guess it would be a neat feature, but it's just, yeah. But I don't think you're going to, it just seems like this is not going to be a big gimmicky hardware thing for Nintendo. And it makes sense because why would they? They're about to have the best selling console all the time. Why? Just screw with that when a Switch 2 could just be an upgrading power with, whatnot, and would still be a perfectly viable console. You know, what this reminds me of though, is the jump from the Wii to the Wii U, where a lot of people were confused because they thought the Wii U is just a new controller for the Wii, like the Wii fits. I wonder if that messaging might... I actually don't think that's the case, and I think the reason I was actually, you did want to bring it up, so I think thank you for that, Howard. I did see some commentary out there about people saying the Switch 2 is a boring name and something, something, but the thing is, the Switch 2 is actually a very good name because it makes it very clear that it's a sequel. I think the thing that confused the people, and I remember reading this a lot, actually, back when the Wii U was struggling early in its launch, people were confused because they weren't sure if it was like a new console or with some add-on or what it was, whereas it's very clear that the Switch 2 is not the Switch, it's not an add-on, it's a new Switch. So I think as boring as the name I could be to read, it was the right thing for Nintendo to do in this case, especially with the hardware being fairly similar in design. Do you reckon Nintendo was pushed by to launch because of the leaks, or do you think that their plans have changed considerably over the course of a few months? Oh, no, they're definitely weird timing-wise. Definitely, definitely, they wouldn't have had their launch impacted by the leaks. I think the video that they released this week at time of recording, I think that video was done quickly because of the leaks. I think that was- I think click about that is pretty 2000 and 25 as the steel frame at the end. I think everything else of that was already prepared. It feels like, okay, fine. All the conversation online is fine, you get to see this now. Okay, so in terms of the marketing pipeline, they would have already had the video in production. Yes, that kind of video takes a couple of months to do from the start of the conceptualization to when they would have done the shooting and then get the sign up and all the- there is a process involved in doing that kind of video clip and it was in the works. But I think that the release of it, the timing of the release of that was definitely hurried by the leaks. I think the reason that there's such a big gap until the actual release, like the actual reveal, which is in April, I suspect that the reason for that was the big gap is because of this video clip that we've got now. That was probably designed for a mid-February kind of tease and they've had to move it up a couple of weeks, just to deal with the rumors. So back to your point- Because Rex has been pushed, the director was originally going to be in January because- No, no, no. I think three manufacturers are suddenly like, oh, we're able to say so much about the switch to and we can leak stuff and it's like, well, did their embargo finish? Why are they suddenly able to just say things about what they're releasing? No, well, I think there wouldn't be a breach of contract in there, so Nintendo's lawyers will probably be busy for a while. The things that I'm sure of was the main reveal in April was definitely- that was always the plan. The release of the actual console was never going to be affected by leaks. There's too many moving pieces to- once you've decided on when you're launching a console, that's when it's launching. Just this trailer has just been moved because of the leaks, and the leaks happened because the leaks happened. Some people were- I think where that came from was perhaps CES. I think some hardware guys got a little bit enthusiastic and following up for that once the plug gets opened there. I mean, there was always rumors, but CES seems to be when the actual leaks started to happen, like the big time, and once the plug gets opened, they can't shut them back down again. So that seems to be the order of events. The reason for April, I think for the full reveal is because Nintendo's financial year ends in March, doesn't it? While they're not launching the console this financial year, they wanted to make sure that they had that information out to allow it to impact on the stock and to give that into financial year report, the boost it needed. So they needed to have the announcement out before March. And once that's out then, yeah, we'll find out about the release date itself, but Christmas time frame seems pretty reasonable. November. November, let's lock it in. We'll be November- do-do-do-do-do-do. I mean, in the late October, early November, I would think. I'm going with November 6th, orders, Nintendo. I would Friday launches here. Long days. I don't remember, actually. When will the Switch launch? I don't think the day itself will matter so much, but what will matter is making sure they've got enough stock. Oh, Switch was worldwide on a first, on a Tuesday, like American releases. So it'll be November the 4th. Lock it in. [laughs] Yeah. That week, that first week of November would make sense, because then they'll have enough stock in inventory to fulfill Christmas orders. I actually can't remember. It's fine when Nintendo had stock issues. I feel like they've more just had here's why you should buy the console issues. Yeah, Nintendo hasn't- they've never had an issue like the PlayStation 5, where they had to go for 12 months and people hadn't been able to get it. In the original year of the Switch was a bit up and down, but there was still a steady supply coming in. It was like, "Oh, your Switch would be a few weeks later." Kind of thing, but you're still going to get it. Whereas everyone else was like, "Oh, your stuff's going to come in like two years' time randomly." Yeah, it wasn't a PlayStation like on the ballot lottery to try and get one. Yeah. I think they also had this first major, which was probably February, January. The following year was when the first major stock came in. Do you think it's a situation where everyone currently has the Switch is going to go, "I want the Switch to," or do you think there's going to be a slow uptake as more and more franchises get onto the Switch to? I just entirely depends on software, I think. Yeah. That's always been the case with Nintendo. Nintendo has never sold hardware because the hardware is cool. Nintendo has always sold because the games are great, and the only way to play them is to have a Nintendo console. I think they'll be relying on the dude, bro, this year. I think Metroid will be a big push, even if it's not a launch tile. I think if Microsoft Xbox on Switch or even Ubisofts does this separately, a few other people do this separately. Like even if there are other platforms like that are coming to Switch to our launch or nearby it, that would be the big push. It's like you can have Game Pass on your Switch, and then you're going to also have Metroid, and that will get all the dude bros in, which will then get the sale up. I don't know if that's if Metroid's the dude broking. Yeah. I don't think it has a dude broking. That said, if my other half guess comes true and Halo launches on the Switch, then that'll be it. That'll be a thing. I think I'm going to have a Halo launch to the Switch, people will be like, nice, and people who haven't played Halo before might try it, but no one's going to the Switch because they want to follow the Halo. That's the sign. Well, I mean, nobody buys a console for just one game. It's more about having confidence that enough games are there that you want to see value in the console, and that was the problem that some Nintendo consoles have had in the past that they just haven't had enough Nintendo games on their right at launch to follow through with sales. Like the 3DS, for example, is a good one. I don't remember what launched on 3DS, but it wasn't much, and the console sales for Terrible would start. What did launch? It launched with Ocarina of Time 3D. Yeah, which is just a remake at an old game, so it really wasn't much. And I think that Nintendo will want to avoid that with this one, which is why I think Metroid will definitely be a launch window title, if not a day one launch. You know what, in a Mario game, I guarantee you will have a Mario game for the Switch at launch this time. Whether it's a 2D or 3D one, I don't know, probably 3D, I would guess. Cycle-wise, they're up for 3D, aren't they? Usually based off. It's not so much about Cyclism, we'll just about what will have the bigger impact. The 2D Mario games are great, like Wonder was great, and I'm sure it sold more than reasonably enough, but when they're trying to just blow people's minds with what a console offers, then you've got to go with the 3D game. Oh, I mean, it's more than something in the pipeline. They're not like, oh, well, you know, we can't push like it earlier or later to get it to the Switch to launch. It's like, there is actually something which would probably line up based off what their usual release schedules are. Yeah, and that's why I mean, it's been ages since the last 3D Mario anyway. I was like the second year of a Switch, was it? Yeah, so I've got no doubts that I've been putting it in the way at one for what some time. And then Mario Kart. Mario Kart's probably a little bit. Mario Kart, of course, that'll be a big big seller, and I really do think that I have some kind of RPG that will from one of their marquee series that will really catch that kind of audience. Like Fire Emblem games sell crazy well now. That was not on my finger, karts. They're just so crazy well, so... Did not see that happening, but I'm happy it didn't. Pickman? Yeah, if not that then, as in a blade, but it might be a little bit too early for Xenoblade. I'm thinking, when was Xenoblade 3 released two years ago? Well, maybe it's a monolith, yeah, rather than a Xenoblade, maybe it's just an ex-monolith game. Because Monolith is big now, right? It is very entirely in Nintendo now. Yes, yes, they are in Nintendo Studio, and they are quite a large one. So yeah, maybe we'll get a new bacon k-toss game. Number three, that would be good. Smash Bros. Yeah, probably a little bit too early for Smash Bros, I would think. It would be good, but I think maybe a little bit too early for that one. Running through the rest of Nintendo's franchises, there's... Animal Crossing. We could be doing this for a whole segment. It's just like the health update of every Nintendo franchise. Well, that's the thing. Animal Crossing sold more than they expected. They launched it in the pandemic, so it's been a good few years since the main development cycle. It's... they didn't really make much more content after the initial Animal Crossing. Like, it is a big game for them, but I would think that that would probably be a more mid-cycle release for them. Like, I'm not sure that would be a Nintendo. I'm not sure Nintendo would see that as a console shifter. No, it's a system cell. Day one. I don't know, I don't know. I don't think... I get a... my gut feeling is that when we do get a new Animal Crossing, we will. It will be more than 728 or whatever. Animal Crossing X2. (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) Okay, so for the last segment of the podcast, we're going to talk about some more Nintendo, because that is on the top of our minds. And as I mentioned in the previous section, I do believe that Nintendo will do something with its online service to kind of reinvigorate it and get interest back into it and try and drive some additional subscribers or resubscribes or whatever with the Switch 2. And I think that means... for me anyway, it means that we'll probably see another console get added to it. I say that because I think the N64 is kind of tapped out. There's not too many other games that would be able to... that would be able to come onto the platform because of licensing issues and just the simple fact that 64 didn't have that many games in the first place that are kind of classics. You know, you don't want... you can't bring FIFA sport games or those kinds of things to the N64 platform. And there's certain games like Castlevania 64 and whatever that people just wouldn't want to play anyway. That certainly wouldn't be enough to kind of re-drive interest in it. So I think the existing platforms are kind of tapped out in terms of what Nintendo can do with those. So we will probably... I would guess anyway, we'll be getting a new console or two on the online team to go with the Switch 2. And that would mean most likely GameCube or 3DS. So... Regular DS. Sorry DS, not 3DS. Yes, you're correct. DS. The DS is an LCD screen. Maybe that's why it's an LCD screen. Well, yeah, see, the thing is... The mouse thing is an interesting part of that. And also the larger screen... You know, if you turned it on its side and did the split screen that way, it would be a reasonable platform for emulation of DS. So that's why I'm suggesting that might be possible as well. So those are the two virtual console things that I think would be most likely to go. The question is what games, I guess, would you want to see? The original... another code. Yeah, that's not going to happen, Trent. They've got the remake there. Yeah, but the remake's considerably different from the original game. Yeah. You don't need to play the original DS game, which everyone grew up on. They do do that. I do kind of like the way that the Nintendo Online just has no care about remasters as well. There was that leak when, I think, Wild Guns came out as the remaster edition. And a few weeks later, it came out on Nintendo Online. Like, they just thought that it's great. It's chaos. There is some crossover there. I mean, Shadow Man is actually on the N64 app, and then it's also the remaster version. Yeah. The Turoc games as well. There's a remaster version as well. Mind you, the Turoc one is different because Turoc 2x actually multiplayer thinks on the N64 app. Whereas the remake of Turoc 2 is not multiplayer, which is just annoying. Given that it plays better. But anyway. The remake is better. Put it on the side. Let's talk about the bigger ticket items, then another code. I know you like it, Trent, but it's not kind of the... Lost in Blue. I do like Lost in Blue. That is, it wouldn't lose people. It would move me. It would be fun. One, two, three. And the Gameboy Color games, and the Wii game, all at once. Code of Konami games, though. I feel like Konami might actually just do one of those, like... Well, I don't think Konami will end up because they haven't released anything on these N64 apps. Yeah. Because they don't know that they don't do the cost of anything, or the... Yeah. They've been making our games instead. Which I'm surprised there isn't a Lost in Blue survival kids yet. They'll get there. Yeah. I don't think we're going to see that one either. I'm the only one who wants it. I understand. I don't know what I want to do. I suspect if Nintendo launches these, like, the games are going to launch where they're more like Mario Sunshine or actual Nintendo games. I think we should turn around the Switch thing. They won't release something we should have released recently, even though it was a limited release, that collection on the Switch. But they did put Mario 64 on the N64 app. So, I mean, they would have to have a Mario game on... Yeah, they go into... This hypothetical virtual console expansion, because that's what people expect. I mean, you know, if Nintendo doesn't put its big ticket items on these things, people complain endlessly. So that's the question, really. It's like the GameCube was a good console, but what would they put on their good games? So now... Interesting console. I think it wasn't like a... Well, everybody console in the same way that the Switch was. Like, the Mario and Zelda games are a bit odd-off, don't you say? Yeah, so I don't think a Zelda would be... No, yes, let's do it. Everyone wants to re-matics. Let's just put the original Wind Waker and the GameCube Twilight Princess onto the Switch too. That's also the other thing, is that these games are in that weird territory where you could reasonably remake or remaster them, or you could just release the originals. Yeah, no, I think Zelda and Nintendo would rather remaster them, so those would probably be out. Which is... It's minimal darkness, even though it plays like crappy feuds that jump into it now. Nintendo owns it. Wait, what? Yeah, that's an Nintendo... and... property. Maybe. So, no, I'm so confused. I just thought the longest time thought it was lost because of some licensing issue. There may be rights that Silicon Knights have, but Nintendo did publish it, so it is a Nintendo property. But it's like a Nintendo. They could probably drop it onto... Gold? Or... No, I think they just went out. They just went out. They did go there. They could just go back up to you. Yeah, because I'm pretty sure it... internal darkness, Nintendo at least bought the rest of the rights. If there were more rights, I don't know. It happened a while ago, so I can't remember why it actually happened. I'm surprised we'll still remember this game. Like, I know they've all loved it on a day, and it was interesting to talk about, but... See, I wanted it really badly, because I was reading magazines at the time, and I'm like, "This sounds really, really cool." I never got it, and then I probably got it, bought it probably about seven years ago, five years ago, and it was the worst experience I ever had. It was unplayable, and it was boring. So... I'm not able to dislike it. It's a fun game to talk about, suddenly. It was really ahead of its time, but I will... Yeah, I think the concept is great. I think it's the same as a lot of GameCube games. I don't think they actually play as well as people think they do. Like, when it comes down to button feel and clicky and gameplay, GameCube games are pretty bad for a lot of those, especially more third-party games. They're very horrible. There's a lot of quality of live things that we take for granted now, that just weren't really considered when people were developing games of that era. Yeah. That kind of applies to all of our consoles. I mean, the N64 is the same deal. It does, but it feels... I feel like... I don't know why I draw the line there. Maybe that's what my childhood was, but N64, to me, is a retro console. And GameCube, for some reason, is not a retro console. Yeah, I think that... I mean, everybody has their line there, I guess. For me, the PlayStation 2 is not a retro console, yet. It kind of is. So, yeah, I think the GameCube would be no different. In terms of how people respond to the app, it'd be no different to the N64, for most people. There'll be some people that have nostalgia for whatever games they're on there, and they play them, which is great. And then people that kind of miss retro games in general will just kind of ignore it. But, yeah, I'm really drawing blanks in terms of what they would actually release on this. What's that game on the GameCube? The pinball thing. The pinball thing. I only don't know what era it's called. Pinball thing. Yeah, like it's pinball, but like... Like, it's not pinball, pinball, but it's like the gimmick. It's like... It's like... What? I have no idea what you're talking about. Yeah, it's like... It was like... You got him on a journey? Yeah, it was like... It's a tactics pinball game. What? Yes. Again, I think that's... It's a little bit too niche to... It's niche to no publish. ...and don't publish it. They have the rights. They can do it. Yeah, but I think that's a... Again, it's a bit niche to kind of launch this thing. No, it's Game of the Year. How do you discover these things? I can't believe this is real. How did you not know about this? This was like really in the like, weird like internet part of gaming where people were like, "Here's some weird obscure game which you must play." This would really be... Yeah, I mean, look at the cover. Look at the cover for this game. It's a warlord in the sky looking down at Village being destroyed. And it's just a pinball rolling through it, causing destruction. It's... But looking at all the reviews on this, again, it's just not a game that you can launch a... Remember, if the Nintendo is going to do this, it's going to be like, this is kind of the expansion of Nintendo online. They're going to need to go big and this is not huge. It's not. This is, no, it's huge. I agree. I released this. I want it right now. It's created by the guy which made Seaman. Seaman. Yes, Seaman. We could also release Seaman. That was a interesting game. It's a Dreamcast game, but sure, that's really... Really? Dreamcast. Yeah, this is a kind of... Wasn't it released on PC? No, or am I not like it was like ported? Actually, that's a good point. The Dreamcast might be a more interesting one for Nintendo to kind of... I would love that. Because they have got the Mega Drive. Yeah, yeah. So there's obviously precedent for that. And that dolphin game. And the Dreamcast has probably got a better library of games that make more sense for this kind of thing that would also have the kind of profile to wow people. And Seaman is trying to revive their IPs now. Yeah, like they could throw Sonic on their crazy taxi, you know, these are the kinds of... Letting is... Yeah, these are those kinds of games that would actually have that profile that people would think, "Oh, this is a great app. I've got to go and download." So, yeah, that might actually make more sense in the GameCube. Because like I said, I've been scratching my head the whole time here and I just can't get past Mario Sunshine. It's kind of the only game that they could launch a GameCube. Well, they wouldn't. A wonderful life. They couldn't do Double Dash. Well, they could, but they wouldn't because they're trying to sell Mario Kart. And like you said, like you said, kind of... The GameCube kind of sits on that cusp where maybe some people would think, "Do I really need to get the new Mario Kart? If I've got Double Dash?" I think this is our age shocking. I think that people who are younger than us will see a huge difference between Double Dash and Mario Kart 9. Probably right. I think the only people which would like be really, "Oh, I've got GameCube games. I don't need the new games." Us. As in old people. We are old now. We are boomers too. This is what the platform is for. You think the youngens are playing GameCube games? Except for Melee, of course. That's Emily. So that's why Dreamcast also makes more sense because it's kind of like... It's cool on hip because it's like, "Hey, kids, Dreamcast." That was something which you didn't even know existed. What? It's also different games. It's like, they could put Powerstone on there and that would get a bunch of people interested. Without there being any kind of conflict with Smash Brothers or whatever. I think Dreamcast would make more sense. Again, maybe possibly probably won't happen. This conversation would remind me of the Wii U early days when all of us were like, "Yeah, Dreamcast games are going to happen." I don't want to get my hopes up but also my hopes are up. Yeah, Dreamcast. Dreamcast 2. It's the Nintendo Switch 2 and it's called the Dreamcast 2. Nintendo is going to rebadget and rebrand it just before launch as the Dreamcast. Do you think DS is a possibility? Or do you think the hardware is not going to make it work? Well, like I said, I think if you turn the Switch 2 screen on its side, there's enough real estate there and then that an emulation kind of could work. So yeah, I think DS would be a good one. But again, while you're talking, I was kind of thinking, what would they actually release on this DS kind of virtual console? DS is a much better library than the game you did, I would say. There's lots of random little games and you'll forgotten what that is. It did, but like you said, it's a lot of random kind of little games. But people learned to that. I think being able to say, but would they be out of the way? Yeah, it's not so much about what people were into. It's what they could actually get onto the platform is the thing. What I found about it to be is to think about it this way. Like the Game Boy Advance had a lot of little quirky, interesting games and none of them have ended up on the virtual console. We have, oh, I forgot what the name is. This has been written in a bar game, but we're sitting in a bar game. Well, maybe one or two, but you know what I mean? It's like, if a DS gets virtual console, feel the magic, or as some people might know it better as Project Rob. Game Boy for you. Oh, yeah, that's Project Rob. You see, this is what the system is for. You forget these games and as someone's like, hey, it's coming and you're like, yes, Project Rob. It's all about the Rob Magic. That game and the touching is good. The DS was just something special. Like it was an era. That's hilarious. And I get that online is chip stability ads, but I do feel like we're in the minority here. I bet there's a lot of people who have online and don't even touch the online, like the virtual console. Yeah, I think so. I don't know if they would subscribe there. Because the online player is online online online. Are you giving away? Yeah, that's right. You didn't need to be subscribed to play online. Yeah, but you don't necessarily need. Oh, no, you get the extra as if you want the DLC packs. Yeah. So people might be buying the DLC. That expensive. I definitely feel like the people who want to play Wouldn't be horrifying if you become the podcast. That's Metro. But specifically this year, people are Metro. No. Well, why else could be on the DS? Which could happen? That like, you know, Project Rob, better vibe. The DS had a lot of great RPGs. Had a lot of very, very good RPGs. Lost magic. But most of those RPGs were not Nintendo properties. So we may get- Yeah, but like we've got some pretty close relationships with a lot of like, weed companies from that era. Because like- Yes, but what I'm saying is Square Enix isn't going to put their games on the online thing really. You know, Konami hasn't done it. You have to look at what is already on those platforms as well, because they can- What's on the existing platforms? Because that gives you a kind of handle what could possibly get released on other platforms that Nintendo might do in the future. And basically the big publishers are not putting their games into Nintendo online. It's the games where they're like, well, we don't really want anything to do with this anymore. So you can have it, I guess. It's more you look at, for example, the Super NES one, like the games that are on there, not including Nintendo ones, a third party ones, are really kind of the- the obscure ones where the licenses are kind of- they're their own. Somebody hosts them and you say, kind of drop the game onto the platform. But it's not the high profile stuff from third parties, is the point. So the good thing about the DS, it did have quite a lot of stuff. But I'm drawing blanks about what some of that would be. I'm wondering if the hardware constraints are going to be too much, because every game on the DS use the touch in the microphone a little bit differently, and some of them are really crucial in some of them aren't. I don't remember too many using the microphone. I mean, Nintendo dogs wouldn't happen for that reason, because the microphone was trying to be extremely simplified. Yeah, it was like all randomly used in the microphone. Sometimes you play a ball at like the last dungeon, and anyone would have like, as per attack or a die from a heart attack by just breathing into that market. But I'm pretty sure it's a work. I mean, they would be able to work around those with some- they'd be able to develop into the software solutions for some of those, I would think, if they wanted to. Depends, I haven't seen a lot of games touching in the original, like, software. Oh, I'd just be like, this requires a headset or something like that. By a headset to start a fire at Lost in Blue. Yes, I would do that. Hey, guys, I'm playing some fully sick games right here. I just need to do this. What was that? And then that'll be my, like, thing. I'll be like a Twitch streamer doing that. I think the fact that I can't remember a lot of DS games actually makes me more excited for this, because I'm going to rediscover things that I've forgotten existed, and that's what made me so happy. There's a lot of business conversation. This is like a nostalgia conversation now. Yeah, no, I would- that's the thing I would love for- I'd love for this app to happen. I'm really not sure. Just- it's just interesting about. Like, now that we've been talking about this, I can see why Nintendo hasn't done these already, if that makes sense. Like, yes, I'm sure the Switch one would be able to emulate DS and game games. I don't think it's a technical issue that's holding them back. I think it's just that I didn't believe in the priority. Like, they just put things on it when they remember to. But even with the Switch online, they did a regular schedule of monthly games for a while, and then they went, you know, that's just not our thing anymore. Well, it's more just, I think, it was what they had available that they could actually release. That's the point. It seems like the issue with these Switch online things is that they don't always have stuff to release. And again, as we've been talking through, I don't think there's that much game queue than DS stuff that I could potentially release. I always just think right away. We would be interesting. I actually don't think we as out of the picture. What do you think about it? Yeah, I think- I mean, obviously, the Wii has some challenges with the hardware. You'd need to be able to emulate the Wii moat and/or various peripherals. But I think that would be an interesting one, for sure. There was probably a fair few games. There probably are more games on the Wii that could fit within what need to know would be be able to release on a virtual console than perhaps GameCube. I do think that just the biggest announcement to the wider audience would be, you can play Wii Sports now, rather than anything on the GameCube or anything on the DS. Yeah, and Wii Sports Resort put that on there as well. That's how Nintendo's sports did. I've never seen anyone play that game. Resort? No, the Switch Nintendo's sports. I think it's actually been pretty popular. I like it, but I hate it from it. If I want to get extra costumers and stuff like that, I have to basically- That's why I hate about Nintendo Online Games, is basically you have to play it to get all the cool stuff. But they're all about this week, you're going to get this costume or this theme for Tetris 99, and then never seen again. And if you're not up-to-date with what's releasing, then you might miss out on some cool theme for Splatoon, for Tetris 99 or... It's just like, that's not going to break in. Welcome to the world of modern video games. This is how they all work. On that note, though, what I would really like is more of an overarching platform. I guess it's not really the right word, but like, framework for Virtual Console? Maybe not separate apps for each console, but like, one thing that's built into the console, software? Or even just like a folder in the interface, where you just need to tap onto the folder, and then all the apps kind of pop up, that would be enough for me, I would think. Yeah, and like a little bit more organization with the games, like here is when you play it at last, or like, just something that reminds you. Although you just sort of show up in the menu, but then you can just like sort by platform, and then you could have like- Yeah, yeah. You could have a switch folder and like, you know, Nez and Renes folder, that kind of stuff. They could do like highlights like this week. We want to do a little piece on this game, like a paragraph or something, and everyone's playing and talking about it. And this is my 2000s, my talk, and they could put in achievements like- And then it can link into a new social media. That's not going to do that. They are not going to do that. They're never going to do that again. That's not going to happen. Sorry, that's very much not going to happen. I really hate to destroy your feelings. France is destroyed. It's not happening. Neverse was such a weird time. Neverse was fine. It was fun and creative and quirky, but it's just it's never going to happen again. Yeah. Sad, sad, but true. It's to the point of right. It's a joke, but I also think in that it's an office. It's just a big poster with Neverse, and it just does never do this again. And it's from Neverse. Like an actual someone's comic from Neverse. I would be interested in social features, like street costs, maybe longer. I don't think that, yeah, I can't see Nintendo doing that stuff. I mean, it was. Nintendo always tries new things anyway, but yeah, I think I think their experiments, which that kind of social features stuff is kind of done. What I like your idea about kind of having kind of a game of a week thing would be pretty cool. You mean the framework though? Yeah, yeah, if they had the framework, you're right. There's an arcade app that I use a bit called Antstream, and they do that. They like they have a thousand old arcade games, and then every week they kind of pull out one or two and give players specific challenges within those games. That sounds great. That would be a good way of actually getting people to play some of this stuff as well, because there's a bunch of Super NES games that I haven't even touched in that thing. And I'm a fairly heavy user of the virtual consoles. It's just they're that obscure, or they're just I've got other things to play. So for those games kind of throwing in a, putting them in a kind of having a challenge or having a kind of weekly game would be would be a good thing to do, I think. Yeah, because there's actually more games in that across the collection than I think people realize. There are other games that I feel like you need someone to explain to you why they're fun, because they don't have to the book because they don't have to play. Like yeah, maybe like an Nintendo like walk for on how to play, which isn't like a YouTuber or something like that, where it's like just horrible and like an actual explanation, like just something really overly clinical, not full of memes. This is how you play said game. Yeah. Yeah, the lack of manuals in some of these older games is definitely an issue. Maybe you can't employ the manuals. Yeah, have the manual there wouldn't be such a bad idea. Well, like this is reaching, but like museum features would be really less. Yeah, I think we've seen digital clips do some great stuff with museum features for that Tetris game and collection and Atari 50 and stuff. I think that's probably reaching beyond what Nintendo is willing to invest in. It's our nine thing, unfortunately, but it would be good. We had a relationship with the past where they want to celebrate history, but they also very much want people to be buying and playing their new games. So I think maybe they're a bit wary of how much effort they put into this. I really don't think it's effort, like the sense I get from Nintendo online is that the effort is there to just collect the best of kind of heritage of their older games. I really think the issue that they have with these platforms is getting games on there from that people loved. Like a good example is the N64 app, right? I would love for Bomberman 64 to be there. Like we spent so much time playing Bomberman 64. Is that? No, it's not unfortunate. Unfortunately, I spent so many hours with my brothers playing Bomberman 64 on the N64. It was a really great game, a lot of fun, especially multiplayer. But unfortunately, it's a Konami game and Konami is not touching this stuff. Okay, that would be too sad. I also love that Bomberman 64 for an amazing reason, has a resurgence because soundtrack is amazing. Yeah, it's great. There's a whole lot of old PC games. If Nintendo's gimmicks the controller, like the cursor, what if Nintendo partners with some like people to get like old PC games? Like let's get Lemmings 3D onto the Switch. Actually, that's a good idea. I mean, Commodore 64 kind of app would be great. It was Commodore 64 and the Wii. That being said, does... I feel like the poor people in the world that know what the console is, is getting smaller and smaller. Yeah, but that's kind of the point of having one of these apps, is to give people... And the back tracks on it. An opportunity to kind of experience it for the first time, but also, you know, appeal to those small and diminishing group of people that do remember it. But yeah, that would be another option. Potentially, if Switch 2 does the cursor thing. It would be like Best of GameCube and Best of DS. And I think you're right. There were great games in that day, but what's going to look like? Yeah, it's that. It's just, what can they possibly put on these things? So, yeah. Now that we went into this section all going on about, yeah, Nintendo's going to go and expand on the Nintendo online thing, but the more we talk about it, the more I wonder with it, I can. I think everyone will like these games. It seems like you've made available in other methods recently. Like, I'm seeing Transformers, that's ours. Professor Layton, that's ours. You know, Castlevania, the DS games, those are already ours. What else can they do? Spare tracks. Yeah, it really would just be that. It would be the first party Nintendo games that they're not going to really ask them. Yeah, that's it, which is just not that many. Mario and Luigi buttons in time. Mario Kart DS. And everyone's the best. Mario Kart DS. Mario Kart DS would be great. It would be great. Just how you need it. Like, the whole lap just for Mario Kart DS would be enough. But that's a great, great racing game, that one. This is also our age showing. I think everyone's got their Mario Kart game, where they're like, this is where Mario Kart starts and everything before this is ready. Oh, we absolutely do. Like, my brothers and I, we get together to play games on the weekend, and we default to Mario Kart 64 rather than Mario Kart R8. Which to me is retro. Like, Mario Kart 64 doesn't have some things that I consider necessary for Mario Kart. I'm all about the best Mario Kart was the Wii 1. Let's put that on Virtual Console. The Wii 1 was alright. I didn't mind everyone. Especially since it was the first one. The first one that really did online well, well enough. It was, it was alright. I was very good at the Super Nintendo track on that one. [Music] Double click, you'll just spin it. Your hair's in for your fluff. 2D, 2D, you'll throw your balloon. You're able to whisk us to find this truth. You'll play in this story of sweet hill. Do you know what's left? Do you know your feet? Do you know what's left? The moon's going up for it. [Music] With fire forms of burning on her fire. Look, see the door, watch the phone is big. You'll just sing them in the song and dance in the light. [Music] The party is down into all what it is. [Music] Do you know what it is all about? Do you know what it is all about? Do you know what it is all about? Do you know what it is all about? Do you know what it is all about? Do you know what it is all about? Do you know what it is all about? Do you know what it is all about? Do you know what it is all about? Do you know what it is all about? Do you know what it is all about? Do you know what it is all about? Do you know what it is all about? Do you know what it is all about? Do you know what it is all about? Do you know what it is all about? Do you know what it is all about? Do you know what it is all about? Do you know what it is all about? Do you know what it is all about? Do you know what it is all about? Do you know what it is all about? Do you know what it is all about? 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