What Are Your Unpopular Gaming Opinions? (Ver. 2)

[Champion of Hyrule]

The sonic & sega all stars racing games did have too many Sonic characters but the only one I think really should have been cut was Metal Sonic

 

[Wario Wario Wario]

I don't think Game Awards nominating DLC is a good idea necessarily, not because of the "second chance"/"SpongeBob at the KCAs" factor, but more just because DLC will be utterly dominated compared to if it was to have its own category. This isn't like Best Animated Film where it's a medium that can be used as effectively or ineffectively as another, this is more like a different type of product with its own very glaring strengths and limitations, I'd say it's closer to comparing short films to feature length films - especially when you add on the extra trouble of whether you count the existing assets and gameplay the DLC is designed around as part of it or not. How do you qualify DLC that doesn't even have its own campaign? Would you have to qualify the Smash DLC by the pure "No items, Sephiroth only, Hollow Bastion" experience? Would Fixed Gold Evil Baby Paul (Shiny) in Antonball be judged as naught more than a sprite sheet?

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

Speaking of the Game Awards, the notion that Geoff Knightley has allowed the show to become more corporate and less of a celebration of gaming I find to be silly, because it was never really about that to begin with. For better or for worse, it's pretty much been a large scale business event designed to highlight major industry games and advertise upcoming product. That's not a condemnation, just an assessment of the practical reality of Knightley's business model with TGA.

Even those trumpeting his criticism of Konami ten years ago as some defiant statement against a big company is remarkably hollow given that in hindsight, he's never attacked any other big publisher/developer in a significant way (despite the major dubious behavior by many of them) and it's clear that much of the ire was more related to his friendship with Hideo Kojima than some big ethical stand.

If you enjoy the Game Awards and generally like seeing games recognized there and get hyped for trailers that premiere there, more power to you. I just think the notion that it was ever some prestigious and or sacred event that lost its way just does not square with the actual nature of the show has really worked.

 

[Wario Wario Wario]

Speaking of the Game Awards, the notion that Geoff Knightley has allowed the show to become more corporate and less of a celebration of gaming I find to be silly, because it was never really about that to begin with. For better or for worse, it's pretty much been a large scale business event designed to highlight major industry games and advertise upcoming product. That's not a condemnation, just an assessment of the practical reality of Knightley's business model with TGA.

Even those trumpeting his criticism of Konami ten years ago as some defiant statement against a big company is remarkably hollow given that in hindsight, he's never attacked any other big publisher/developer in a significant way (despite the major dubious behavior by many of them) and it's clear that much of the ire was more related to his friendship with Hideo Kojima than some big ethical stand.

If you enjoy the Game Awards and generally like seeing games recognized there and get hyped for trailers that premiere there, more power to you. I just think the notion that it was ever some prestigious and or sacred event that lost its way just does not square with the actual nature of the show has really worked.

Let's not forget that when the Game Awards debuted, it was rubbing shoulders with MANswers and Ren & Stimpy: Adult Party Cartoon - that's about as unprestigeous as you can get.

 

[Ness_eb]

I want there to be a limit on how long teens can play video games as it can become addicting.

 

[Rizen]

With a few exceptions, I think human enemies are the most boring part of souls-likes. I'd much rather fight monsters with cool designs than another knight enemy.

Also I don't like the design choice for Elden Ring's DLC to be in the "Shadow Lands". I don't like how several areas are very dark and it's hard to see what's in front of you. It's irritating and yucky. I like grand vistas where you can see places to go in the distance. I'm fine with dark cave areas but it's too much to have the over-world be like that. I will say that several areas like the Cerulean Coast, Raur Plateau and Bayle's peak are really cool and make up for it.

 

[Oracle Link]

I hate it when games are dark!
Why make it so you have to strain yourself to see whats going on!
Either make it black or light enough that you can make out most details regardless of your light level!

For example i had to use a Glow seed in a normal cave in totk because it was too dark for me to see anything even though you could theoretically see everything!

Bright Gamma options for EVERY GAME please!

 

[Champion of Hyrule]

If a Persona 6 is ever made, it doesn't necessarily need to stick with one new colour for it's menu aesthetic. It would be good, sure, but the focus should be on crafting a visual style that works for the story they're trying to tell, if said visual style happens to re-use blue who cares?

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

As much as people say that the first Sims game was weird and/or darker than the later games, I actually think it comes off as an oddly optimistic game in hindsight. Part of it is a combination of the satire on consumerism being fairly lighthearted, the aesthetics being so tied to the 1950s homeowner vibe, and its original release coming pre 9/11, but there's a certain innocence to it that it feels like later games didn't quite have. It almost feels like a final vestige of that nonchalant, wry 90s irony and Maxis' original sensibilities before real life events and the extent of EA's control changed the nature of all Sim adjacent titles.

 

[Oracle Link]

I personally think Mother 2 (earthbound) has the weakest overall story in the Mother Series! Sure it has great moments however
Both Mother 1 and 3 have more emotional and consistent Plots!
Giygas prior to losing it, Porky and even the masked man are more intersting villains than mister I have Traumatising but ultimatly pretty meaningless Dialouge! If We actually saw The Pre Red Dust form of Giygas and him becomming The red Cloud during the game well that wouldve been effective!
Also the devils machine and apple of enlightentment are really weak elements of earthbounds plots!

 

[Diddy Kong]

Mario & Luigi Brothership is a good game.

 

[fogbadge]

Mario & Luigi Brothership is a good game.

yes

 

[Wario Wario Wario]

I don't get why "renders the previous game irrelevant" is EVER seen as a good quality for a game, even if it's said of a remake. Do you guys just like having less game options? Was this whole "gaming" thing just an undercover doorstop hobbyist front all this time?

 

[Oracle Link]

I don't get why "renders the previous game irrelevant" is EVER seen as a good quality for a game, even if it's said of a remake. Do you guys just like having less game options? Was this whole "gaming" thing just an undercover doorstop hobbyist front all this time?

I mean a remake is just supposed to be a better version of the original game! So that does make sense!
I mean for sure you can change up stuff a Tiny bit (like LAR's Combat and enemy patterns) But its probably still gonna make the og irrelevant if the developers know what they are doing!

 

[fogbadge]

I mean a remake is just supposed to be a better version of the original game! So that does make sense!
I mean for sure you can change up stuff a Tiny bit (like LAR's Combat and enemy patterns) But its probably still gonna make the og irrelevant if the developers know what they are doing!

there are people that an original will always have their place in history to show where we come from. you know like how we try a retain a lot of history

 

[Rizen]

I think remakes outclassing the original games really needs to be looked at on a case by case basis. There are some games where the remake made significant changes that weren't all good like Majora's Mask where there's still a place for the original. FFVII is another example where the remake and original are like entirely different games. Sometimes the remake is a strait upgrade of the original like Link's Awakening.

On the topic of remakes, the Horizon Zero Dawn remake is the most pointless thing ever because HZD was already the best looking game on PS4 and looked better than most PS5 games. I ended up buying it however because I lost my copy of the original HZD in a move.

 

[Wario Wario Wario]

Pac-Man has been mishandled post-Ghostly Adventures, but people misblame that on nostalgia - Pac-Man without the pixel 80s nostalgia element is uninteresting, just as Mickey and Felix are uninteresting once divorced from their 20s rubberhose style, the World games owe a lot of their most unique elements to things lifted from the maze games, and were themselves nostalgia projects - late 70s/early 80s games achieved nostalgic status far quicker than later games just because of how fast technology evolved in the 80s more than any other period of gaming - the leap from Atari to microcomputers was significantly bigger than the 3D jump, let alone in the US where the NES reintroduced people to gaming - rather the problem with Pac-Man in the 2010s is that they kept releasing conceptually near-identical games that would cost less and make more as DLC for a single retro port "Pac-Man but it's endlessly scrolling" "Pac-Man but the maze is big" "Pac-Man as a battle royale" "Pac-Man but you can make your own maze" "Pac-Man but with LICENSED IP CHARACTER" in close proximity, and often treated Pac-Man as a symbol, a playable logo like a MUGEN mod, not infusing the simple Luxo Jr-style personality you'd see in the 80s coffee breaks outside of promo material. It's ironically the same problem Pac-Man's own era had, too many identical products you can only distinguish with research - that applies to old game re-releases too. The status of Namco Museum on Switch is BAD. Namco Museum on Switch has a tiny 8 game lineup, Namco Museum Arcade Pac is marketed as a unique thing but actually just that game with a single extra game, and Namco Museum Archives is a niche-by-design product made for Japanese fans who grew up on downgraded Namcot ports (more noticable in JP marketing), but also has the biggest game lineup, despite entirely being inferior versions that's modern status should be as a variant sold bundled with the original versions. I know all of these games and their nuances, and even I find these compilations hard to distinguish between, the average 50-something year old who just wants to show their kids Galaga would really struggle, not helped by the fact that while early Namco Museum had their game lists up and center on the box, you have to go to external sites to find out what games are in the new Namco Museums - even the digital download blurbs don't have as much as an incomplete list of games. And that's not even getting into prices. Namco also has failed to keep their non-Pac-Man 80s games on mobile devices despite that being their perfect modern home.

While I do think Shadow Labyrinth is just a spin-off and won't impact Pac-Man going fowards, and does deserve to have a chance to exist in a different context, it's an understandable fear and "edgy adult Pac-Man" feels like the natural endpoint for a franchise that has failed to resonate with new generations, just like the Banana Splits before it, and while it would be a fun side-project if Pac-Man was still active and popular in general, I think it's something that either way shouldn't have had to go through Namco's eye or be positioned as part of Namco's Pac-Man - you guys know I dislike overextended copyrights, Pac-Man's over 40 years old, yaddayaddaydadda, I've said it all before.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

Honestly, I think Pac-Man's status and how much the core concept is still well liked has me pretty okay with the series doing weird experiments like Shadow Labyrinth. I'd like some more World remakes and/or sequels sure, it's just that the character is so set in stone as an iconic figure that stuff like edgy Metroidvania titles (regardless of how they turn out) can't really hurt him. Like I don't think Pac-Man 2 the New Adventures is the greatest release, but kudos to the developers for being bold enough to utilize their mascot for such a wacky game (that if nothing else, is distinct).

It's a contrast to something like Bomberman Act Zero where that was a well liked but still modest series that almost was hurt by such a notorious release (and arguably survived because there was such a steady stream of Bomberman titles prior the 8th gen that any major damage was pretty mitigated).

 

[Wario Wario Wario]

Honestly, I think Pac-Man's status and how much the core concept is still well liked has me pretty okay with the series doing weird experiments like Shadow Labyrinth. I'd like some more World remakes and/or sequels sure, it's just that the character is so set in stone as an iconic figure that stuff like edgy Metroidvania titles (regardless of how they turn out) can't really hurt him. Like I don't think Pac-Man 2 the New Adventures is the greatest release, but kudos to the developers for being bold enough to utilize their mascot for such a wacky game (that if nothing else, is distinct).

It's a contrast to something like Bomberman Act Zero where that was well a liked but still modest series that almost was hurt by such a notorious release (and arguably survived because there was such a steady stream of Bomberman titles prior the 8th gen that any major damage was pretty mitigated).

Yeah, I'm not saying Shadow Labyrinth is inherently bad or will damage the Pac-Man brand, "dark edgy Pac-Man" is no less true to Pac-Man than the rave aesthetic of CE, or even the more fantasy-adventure-with-a-side-of-humor tone of world, it's a game that was intended as a Tom & Jerry-style chase with Japanese-style mascot characters, but its limitation-born aesthetic lends itself well to reinterpretations - moreso that Shadow Labyrinth is a consequence - good or bad - of Pac-Man's modern circumstance post-Ghostly Adventures; fears from World fans over how this will impact Pac-Man going forwards are, while not founded, understandable; and that the whole "officially-sanctioned creepypasta" trend has been, in general, handled a bit poorly even if we're to say "shocking people is the artistic intent, let's judge it by that", Shadow Labyrinth is a lesser evil here (Pac-Man has had normal games quite recently and Shadow Labyrinth is quite distinctly not being marketed as a Pac-Man game, and you have to look really close at the box poster to spot Pac-Man - contrast that against the Banana Splits movie literally being marketed as "The Banana Splits Movie")

 

[Wario Wario Wario]

I really wish platform fighter fans were more open to non-IP-crossover games, and that the platform fighter genre was not treated as "the crossover genre" where character attachment is the main driving force behind game choice. What percentage of the Smash roster were you familiar with when you first played it as a kid? It's probably not too far off from the percentage of the Rivals roster taken up by Shovel Knight. If Smash's only appeal is having Mario next to Sephiroth, then why does your crossover of choice have to be a platform fighter, why couldn't it just be a tradfighter or some other sport, why don't the crossovers that already exist - even if they're simply cheap mobile titles or old crossover ads - already statisfy? And if people looked at media as a whole the same way people look at platform fighters, they wouldn't like any characters except whatever random Disney side character they happened to have printed on their baby onesie. In every other gaming genre, licensed characters add a stigma, but platform fighters have the opposite and it's just depressing, even as someone who wishes more ephemeric games like licensed games got more love and considers NASB1 his favourite game of all time.

 

[Champion of Hyrule]

A lot of reviews of metroidvania games say “it’s fun to get lost” and if that’s your experience with the game, sure, but I just don’t think that’s the point. Getting lost is stressful and confusing and metroidvanias aren’t all fun all the time. That’s just a necessary part of the experience because it makes it more rewarding when you are able to find a way through and when you get a new ability you can try out in previous locations.

 

[aSMa]

Apex Legends is a good game with bad devs

 

[Diddy Kong]

Star Fox Adventures should've been a reimagined 3D Donkey Kong game from the beginning. The theme around Dinosaur could be be restyled as Kremlings, Sharpclaws are basically Kremlings anyway. And the combat, exploring, adventuring and puzzle focusing gameplay would've fit DK better than Star Fox too. It would have set a better foundation for the future of Donkey Kong too.

 

[fogbadge]

Star Fox Adventures should've been a reimagined 3D Donkey Kong game from the beginning. The theme around Dinosaur could be be restyled as Kremlings, Sharpclaws are basically Kremlings anyway. And the combat, exploring, adventuring and puzzle focusing gameplay would've fit DK better than Star Fox too. It would have set a better foundation for the future of Donkey Kong too.

give me some time to think over it and get back to you

 

[Wario Wario Wario]

A lot of the reactions to the recent Live & Learn lawsuit announcement have been a little... strange. Of course it's obvious to anyone older than 15 that prioritising the song's use itself over the royalties is questionable, but I dunno why people are surprised that he wouldn't have known about how Live & Learn has been used by now. Do you think everyone who's worked on a Sonic game is a Sonic fan who'd keep up with later releases? and then down the flow-chart, do you think every Sonic fan would have an intimate knowledge of the songs used in - of all things - Sonic Generations' bonus challenge mode? Cross-referencing wikis, there's only one Sonic game that both features Live & Learn post-SA2 and had direct Gioeli involvement, Shadow the Hedgehog (in which it's only a few seconds long)

 

[Dinoman96]

Star Fox Adventures should've been a reimagined 3D Donkey Kong game from the beginning. The theme around Dinosaur could be be restyled as Kremlings, Sharpclaws are basically Kremlings anyway. And the combat, exploring, adventuring and puzzle focusing gameplay would've fit DK better than Star Fox too. It would have set a better foundation for the future of Donkey Kong too.

The thing is, the main reason the Star Fox Adventures thing happened to begin with is because Shigeru Miyamoto and Takaya Imamura were both already wanting to create an on-foot action adventure follow up to SF64 starring Fox (hehe) with literally the title "Star Fox Adventures" over in Kyoto.

Star Fox Adventures – 2002 Developer Interview - shmuplations.com

Digital Foundry’s side-by-side comparison of Star Fox Adventures with Forest of Illusion’s recently-dumped Dinosaur Planet N64 build; this build shows the game in a transitional state, with the original protagonist Sabre’s character model and certain voiced sections replaced with those of Fox...

shmuplations.com

Imamura: Star Fox Adventures originated here in Kyoto: personally, I've been working on the series for a long time and am quite attached to it, so I went to Miyamoto like, "let me do it! let me do it!" and he replied with, "for this game, why not try an adventure-style game instead of a shooting game?", and so Morita and I began toying around with various ideas.


—What kind of game were you attempting to make, exactly?

Imamura: Something where Fox runs around on foot, taking out enemies with his gun, but shooting games with the character displayed with that behind-the-back perspective can be tough to play, can't they? You can't always see the enemies because the player-character's blocking your view, right in the middle of the screen. I was aware of these issues, but I really wanted to realize Fox fighting with a gun, so I continued pondering directions for the game to take. In the N64 game, there are those stages with the Landmaster—the tank—where the camera automates itself and enemies pour in from the sky, right?


—Right.

Imamura: I really loved those sections—it feels great to take down all those enemies from below, so I was trying to build on that sensation and create something where you'd get to mow down tons of enemies.


—So how'd you decide upon the eight-year time-skip?

Imamura: I was thinking up a justification for why those four characters might reunite to fight the enemy, and I figured that after eight years, a few things had to have changed (laughs).


—I see (laughs)

Imamura: After all that time, Peppy might be too old to still be piloting a fighter… obvious stuff like that (laughs). The game system's different, and the relationships between the characters has also evolved, so eight years seemed like a nice, neat window of time.


—When the N64 version was released, you said if you ever made a sequel…

Imamura: …"I'd like to set it 20 years in the future". I remember (laughs).


—Fox would be 38 years old, right at his prime (laughs).

Imamura: Yeah! (laughs)


[h3]—So, you decided to take your Star Fox Adventures concepts and merge them into a game Rare was working on, Dinosaur Planet.[/h3]

Imamura: That's right. Dinosaur Planet was also being made for N64 in the beginning, but it was fairly late in the N64's life product cycle and people were already talking about Dolphin, and as we were asking ourselves whether to go ahead with our project internally, the staff were already being pulled away to work on big projects like Mario and Zelda, and so after work wrapped up on Majora's Mask, the project was restructured.


—What went down?

Imamura: After Majora was done, Miyamoto as producer made the call to move both games to the Gamecube and suggested that we take the best elements from each project and combine them into a single game.

Rare Explains Star Fox Adventures - News

www.nintendoworldreport.com

Why did you decide to apply the Star Fox licence to Dinosaur Planet?

It just so happened that even as Rare were in development on the original version of Dinosaur Planet, NCL were getting down to work on a Star Fox game in much the same vein. The similarities between the projects offered too great an opportunity to pass by, so the properties were merged and the project moved from N64 to GameCube to allow for the extra development time. Advantages? No conflict between two similar titles on the market; developers freed up for other projects; the promise of a first-rate franchise title within the first few months of the GameCube's launch. We're sorry if you were really looking forward to the N64 version, but at the end of the day these changes will result in a better game.

Miyamoto was even teasing that the next Star Fox game would be called "Star Fox Adventures" as early as a Nintendo Dream interview in early 2000, a couple of months before Rare even showed off Dinosaur Planet at E3 that year.

64 Dream February 2000 02 (600dpi) : MyCom : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

64Dream - February 2000 scanned in at 600DPI with a Fujitsu fi-7460. Some pages were scanned on a v550 flatbed with a cardboard background600dpi PDF was OCR'd...

archive.org

It's just that, as mentioned by Imamura in the 2002 Nintendo Dream interview above, it wasn't going anywhere because it was a late stage N64 project and the staff were being pulled away to work on more important titles like Mario and Zelda for the then-coming GCN. That's when Miyamoto noticed that Rare happened to be making their own action adventure game with a furry main character around the same time, and I guess that was enough to get him to meet up with Rare and convince them to merge the two projects into what we know today as Star Fox Adventures.

https://www.ign.com/articles/2000/06/06/interview-miyamoto-and-aonuma

IGN64: What do you think of Rare's lineup at the show? How about Dinosaur Planet?

Miyamoto: It looks really nice, doesn't it? I wish they would Star Fox characters so that they could use the title Star Fox Adventures. Maybe I should call the team and talk about it [laughs].

So ultimately DK was never gonna be involved in this.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

That the immediate instinct by those higher up in Nintendo was not to do a sequel building up on the space shooter elements of Star Fox 64, but instead an adventure title with on footing shooting is pretty illustrative of their thinking with SF these last 25 years, for good or for ill.

 

[Diddy Kong]

The thing is, the main reason the Star Fox Adventures thing happened to begin with is because Shigeru Miyamoto and Takaya Imamura were both already wanting to create an on-foot action adventure follow up to SF64 starring Fox (hehe) with literally the title "Star Fox Adventures" over in Kyoto.

Star Fox Adventures – 2002 Developer Interview - shmuplations.com

Digital Foundry’s side-by-side comparison of Star Fox Adventures with Forest of Illusion’s recently-dumped Dinosaur Planet N64 build; this build shows the game in a transitional state, with the original protagonist Sabre’s character model and certain voiced sections replaced with those of Fox...

shmuplations.com

Rare Explains Star Fox Adventures - News

www.nintendoworldreport.com

Miyamoto was even teasing that the next Star Fox game would be called "Star Fox Adventures" as early as a Nintendo Dream interview in early 2000, a couple of months before Rare even showed off Dinosaur Planet at E3 that year.

64 Dream February 2000 02 (600dpi) : MyCom : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

64Dream - February 2000 scanned in at 600DPI with a Fujitsu fi-7460. Some pages were scanned on a v550 flatbed with a cardboard background600dpi PDF was OCR'd...

archive.org

It's just that, as mentioned by Imamura in the 2002 Nintendo Dream interview above, it wasn't going anywhere because it was a late stage N64 project and the staff were being pulled away to work on more important titles like Mario and Zelda for the then-coming GCN. That's when Miyamoto noticed that Rare happened to be making their own action adventure game with a furry main character around the same time, and I guess that was enough to get him to meet up with Rare and convince them to merge the two projects into what we know today as Star Fox Adventures.

https://www.ign.com/articles/2000/06/06/interview-miyamoto-and-aonuma

So ultimately DK was never gonna be involved in this.

That's back story information I never had. I mean, I did know of Dinosaur Planet and the fact it was a totally different game, but outside of that previous sources sort of implied that the Star Fox brand was slapped unto it, and the original project had to be changed by order of Nintendo. Not that there was a very similar Star Fox game already in development. Very curious.

However yeah I don't know, a 3D Donkey Kong game of a similar caliber probably would've been received better. I do love Star Fox Adventures however!

In general I feel that Rare didn't give Donkey Kong enough priority. It makes sense to want to do your own creative projects, but Donkey Kong was their biggest brand ever. If they'd prioritise it more, it would've meant longer partnership with Nintendo and a better established DK brand. But that's entirely speculative of course.

 

[Rizen]

Starfox Adventures was an underrated game. My only real complaints about it were the minigames could be tedious and some involved annoying button mashing.

 

[Wario Wario Wario]

I think a proper Zelda-type adventure game starring DK is a cool idea, so long as it balances out the seriousness and humour in a Disney Renaissance-style as DKC2 did, and Donkey Kong and dinosaurs feels utterly perfect (now I think about it... why haven't they done that? DKR is close but that game's aesthetic leans into a sort of Nick Jr. kiddie show look (not an insult mind you) which isn't exactly how I'd imagine "Donkey Kong vs. Dinosaurs"), but I don't think a theoretical DK version of Star Fox Adventures would be that good a guiding point for DK's future, even if the writing was comedied-up for the IP switch - a fun side thing, could maybe become a series of its own, but if it becomes What DK Is, a lot of audiences would be isolated and Nintendo would lose a strong 2D platforming pillar, both of which you could argue already happened in the transition from Arcade to Country.

Now I think about it, this isn't exactly related to the discussion, so I'll post some additional thoughts on DK's supposed awkward phase on Nintendo Off-My-Chest