Nintendo Switch Retrospective with Dale Clayton, EDITMODE: Nintendo Apparel

[00:00:07] Welcome to Tokyo Game Life, a Tokyo-based video game podcast focusing on Nintendo and gaming culture in Japan's capital. Your host Mono here to bring you a slice of gaming life from Tokyo. Returning guest Dale Clayton of the DPG YouTube channel is here for a Nintendo Switch Retrospective. We run down everything from the hardware's development to the most important moments during the Switch's lifespan and give some final awards as we say bye-bye to the Switch.

[00:00:34] In the future, I take a look at Edit Mode, one of Nintendo's biggest merch partners here in Japan. Let's start with the game section and the Nintendo Switch Retrospective with Dale Clayton. Today in the game section we are going to do a deep dive retrospective on the Nintendo Switch. Joining me to explore everything about Nintendo's iconic system is a special guest. So guest, please introduce yourself.

[00:01:01] Hi everyone, I'm Dale, known on YouTube as DPG. I've been a Japan resident for just over eight years now. And fun fact about me is that the day I moved to Japan is the day that Nintendo Switch 1 launched, the 3rd of March 2017. Awesome. Thanks for coming back on the podcast. Last time you were on, we looked into the future and gave some predictions for Nintendo in 2025.

[00:01:24] But now we're going to look back into the past as we explore the history of the Nintendo Switch and share our thoughts on the memories and all the important moments of the Switch's lifespan. And we're going to get into a lot of fun, weird news items that everyone forgot about. So we're trying to get as deep as possible. And we might as well start off with moment one. March 17th, 2015, Nintendo holds a press conference with mobile game developer DNA to announce a new partnership to develop mobile games for smartphones.

[00:01:52] And during this press conference, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata reveals that Nintendo is working on, quote, new hardware with a brand new concept and dubs it the NX. Do you remember the whole NX era? And what did you think Nintendo was cooking up? Yeah, I do remember the whole NX era. I wasn't expecting what we did get, which was a hybrid device. I was expecting we were just going to get some like straight down the barrel kind of normal looking home system that would pivot away from the Wii U.

[00:02:22] I remember that time, all of the fake leaks that appeared like the football shaped NX and things like that. And that was a true Wild West back then. Yeah, for me, I assumed there would be a quote unquote successor to the 3DS. And then there would be a home console. So the idea of a hybrid system never entered my mind. And the Halcyon days of 2015. And this is my this was my idea of what the 3DS successor was going to be. Do you remember the PSP go? No, it's not. Sorry, I actually don't.

[00:02:50] The PSP go is where it was a late model PSP, but it's kind of like a screen. And then you flip up the screen and the buttons are on the bottom. Oh, yes, I know that. Okay. So I thought Nintendo's big strategy was that there's going to be some games you can play with only touch controls like a smartphone game. And then some games where you can play with only buttons. So thankfully, Nintendo is much smarter than I am and came up with a much. I'm so glad we did not get that. Me too. Don't hire me, Nintendo, because I'm just full of bad ideas.

[00:03:19] And it is kind of crazy that Nintendo revealed Switch nearly two years before it actually came out or not revealed, but said they were working on it and gave us the code name. Now the gap between announcement and release is just only a few months. But Nintendo really planted that seed early and they sort of had to considering the floundering Wii U. So now let's flash forward to October 20th, 2016, when Nintendo out of nowhere dropped a reveal trailer for Nintendo Switch revealing the name and the hybrid concept and also teased several games.

[00:03:49] So what was your gut reaction to Nintendo Switch upon first seeing it? Yeah, I remember loving what I saw in that first trailer. The trailer itself looking back is a little bit cringeworthy. They really make the case for how it can be used. I don't know anybody that has attached a Switch to the back of a headrest in a car and played it while driving. I've never seen anyone use it like that or take it across the block to a rooftop party.

[00:04:15] I don't think anyone has ever used the Switch like that, but it really shows the hybrid concept and the fact that you could play Breath of the Wild at home or outside was pretty mind-blowing at the time. And that was our first look at Mario Odyssey as well. And that's what really piqued my interest. Just there was a very brief tease of Mario Odyssey in that reveal and I thought, I want to know what that is. That's what I want to see. Yeah, I thought it was a very evocative trailer. A lot of people noted that, oh, there's no kind of kids in this trailer.

[00:04:44] It's mostly young adults. And Nintendo kind of has continued this sort of philosophy with their advertisements, even into the Switch 2 commercials that are happening now. They are very reminiscent of those early Switch commercials. And we skipped over a year of like insane in-ex speculation. But I believe Eurogamer was the one who kind of made the report that, oh, Nintendo is making a hybrid console. And the specifications or the design elements were almost exactly the same as what was revealed.

[00:05:12] I want to say maybe the Joy-Cons, the concept of detachable controllers, that was brand new or not leaked or not speculated upon. And also the name Switch. I saw nobody guess Switch, even though people had the idea, oh, that it's going to be a hybrid concept. What did you think about the name Switch? Or what did you think they were going to call it? Yeah, as for what they were going to call it, I had no idea. I thought it would be something really simple. And I suppose that's what we got.

[00:05:38] They didn't want to make anything more confusing like Wii U or 3DS. I think they'd caused so much brand confusion with both of those consoles. And I can remember when the Wii was announced, how everyone thought it was a really silly name, but people did come around to it in the end. So I'm glad that they went with a real straight down the line name that not only is easy to say, but really makes the case for what the system is, switching between handheld and a home console. Yeah, I cannot think of a more perfect name. It became its own noun, its own special word.

[00:06:09] And actually, I have another bad speculation idea that I had. I thought that, oh, they should call it the Nintendo 7 because it's their seventh home console. And that's kind of catchy or better than Wii U. But again, that's a terrible name. So I'm glad they went with Switch. That reminds me a little bit of Xbox One. Yes. Now that they use 64, it is kind of hard to use a number, but they are doing that with Switch 2. But you got the word and the number. So maybe it's a little better this time.

[00:06:37] And final table setting before launch day, January 17th, 2017. Nintendo holds a big Switch event right here in Tokyo, revealing the date, the price, some new games like Super Mario Odyssey, ARMS, Xenoblade 2, and of course, 1-2 Switch. At this point, what were your feelings on the Switch? Were you worried it would be a Wii U level disaster? Or did you think Nintendo hit it out of the park? Oh, out of the park. I was totally on board. Mostly just for seeing Mario Odyssey. And of course, Breath of the Wild, I did want that.

[00:07:07] And being able to play that on a console that looked better than the Wii U. I was absolutely sold. And I was really, really excited for it. But as I alluded to in the intro, it was very bittersweet because that was the day I had planned to move to Japan. So I didn't pre-order it because there would have been no chance for me to pick it up in Australia before getting on the plane. So I didn't end up getting mine until a few months after I moved here. Oh, okay.

[00:07:33] It's the only Nintendo console I've missed at launch since the Game Boy Advance SP. So I was disappointed about that. But yeah, I was totally on board. Yeah, I had a bit more mixed feelings on the presentation because if you remember, there was a heavy focus on concepts like HD Rumble, which is cool. But, you know, it's one of those classic Nintendo ideas that hasn't been really utilized a whole lot outside of maybe the first year or so. Mario Odyssey looked great. And Zelda, of course, was amazing.

[00:08:03] And that being on launch was so important. I remember I was a bit freaked out by the price. I expected $250. And then when they said, oh, it's $300. A lot of people were also really expecting $250. Or they thought Nintendo has to sell it, maybe not at a loss, but maybe as cheap as possible. So $300, once upon a time, $300 was quote unquote expensive for a gaming console. So I was a little bit like set back from, okay, the price is higher than expected.

[00:08:31] And they've got this weird focus on kind of Wii-esque gimmicks. But then looking back, you realize, okay, they have major titles like Zelda and Odyssey. They have new IPs like ARMS. They have sequels coming like Xenoblade, which is mostly focused on hardcore gamers. But it wasn't really until launch day, when I got my hands on the Switch, that I became a true believer. So let's move on to launch. March 3rd, 2017.

[00:08:58] In terms of Nintendo published titles, we got Zelda, Breath of the Wild, 1-2 Switch, and Snipperclips. So do you remember exactly when you got it in 2017? Yeah, it was mid to late April. And I'm some ways ashamed to say this, but I bought it from a reseller. So I bought it for an increased price, but I was just desperate to play Breath of the Wild and just have something else to play that wasn't a 3DS. So yeah, it wasn't too much later. It was about six, seven weeks after launch. Okay.

[00:09:28] And I settled into my new place by that point. So it was perfect timing. Hmm. I also didn't get it at launch, ironically, because I was getting it shipped to me. And so I had to wait, not a week, but maybe five or so days. And those were maybe the longest five days of my life. I was seriously thinking about, I should just buy Breath of the Wild on Wii U and play it for these five days and then replay it when it comes to Switch. But I didn't, and I'm glad I did not do that. Because it really is a special experience when you play that game for the first time.

[00:09:58] And I was kind of skeptical about, are they focusing mostly on the games? Are they mostly focusing on gimmicks? And also, will people like the idea of a switch between the TV and handheld? Because it is quite a big handheld device. It's not a smartphone. But then I realized, okay, this works as advertised. This works perfectly, maybe even better than expected. I was really impressed by the handshaking between the console or the TV and the mobile device with a handheld switch. It just happened so quickly.

[00:10:28] So I was really impressed by the technology of the Switch once I got it in my hand. And I also saw, okay, Switch was gaining momentum. And people did look at me on the train. They were kind of wondering like, oh, what is that? What's that thing that he's playing? It wasn't as common to see it outdoors as it is today. So now the format is we're kind of going year by year and talking about the games and the moments and all the weird and interesting things that happen.

[00:10:52] Because listeners, I'm sure that there's a lot of things that happened that were once upon a time people talked about it so much, but maybe have been completely forgotten about. So we're going to touch on to as much as we can. We can't talk about every single game that came out on the Switch, but we'll try to get as many as possible or at least mention a lot of them. And also at the end, we're going to give our own awards to some maybe under the radar games or our favorites. But we are in 2017, which a lot of people say is a pretty legendary year for gaming as a whole and also for Nintendo.

[00:11:22] In 2017, it had the aforementioned launch games and also Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, ARMS, Splatoon 2, Pocket Tournament DX, Fire Emblem Warriors, Super Mario Odyssey, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and Mario Rabbids Kingdom Battle. Although in Japan, that game didn't come out until 2018. So what are your standout titles from 2017, either from Nintendo or third parties? Yeah, definitely Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey.

[00:11:49] Those two, you know, just to this day, I can still go back and play them. They're timeless. Some of the best games Nintendo have ever put out. I'm glad you mentioned Mario plus Rabbids Kingdom Battle. I love that game. And luckily, still having an Australian credit card and Nintendo account, I could get it in 2017 but play it here in Japan. So maybe I was one of only a handful of people here that was actually playing it. But yeah, I thought that was just a wonderful collaboration. Yeah, Splatoon 2 I really enjoyed, especially the DLC, although that didn't come till later.

[00:12:19] ARMS is a very underrated game. I enjoyed that immensely when it came out, especially the online. And then when Min Min was put in Smash Brothers, it got a little bit of a resurgence with the online and it was fun to revisit that a few years later. So yeah, in my mind, just a perfect, perfect year. Yeah, I think definitely the standout is, of course, Breath of the Wild, easily a candidate for one of the most important games ever released. And it was the game Nintendo needed.

[00:12:47] And this was also kind of the time when Nintendo really established the one game a month release schedule. Of course, in the Wii U days, not a whole lot of games were coming out. If you combine Wii U and 3DS, it's a bit better. But this was the generation where Nintendo really emphasized the idea of we need to get software out there at a pretty good pace once a month on average, which Nintendo has kept up pretty much for eight years now. Not a lot of other companies can say that.

[00:13:16] And some third-party games, I wanted to mention Puyo Puyo Tetris was an early Switch game. And that's just one of those weird games that came early on in the lifespan of a console that you probably wouldn't buy if it came out today. But when you're light on games, you're like, oh, okay, they made a Puyo Puyo Tetris game. And what was weird about this game is that it came out in 2014 in Japan. And then they localized it three years later on Switch and also other games.

[00:13:42] And then you also saw some other huge third-party games like Skyrim came to Switch in 2017. And some big indie hits like Stardew Valley and Human Fall Flat were also 2017 games. So Nintendo definitely made a really huge impact early on. So let's move on to 2018. I think people assume 2018 was kind of a drop-off. But I would argue some of the most important things happened this year. I agree. Yes. So for one, Nintendo got a new president, Shuntaro Furukawa.

[00:14:11] And not only that, Nintendo got a new Kirby in terms of Kirby Star Allies. So Kirby finally hit Switch. And then we got one of the most out-of-left-field swings of the entire generation, Nintendo Labo, a mix of cardboard construction and video game. Did you ever hop on the cardboard Labo train? Yeah, I was all aboard. So to speak. Loved the concept.

[00:14:34] I only ended up buying the VR because I was just curious to see Nintendo do VR and try it out with Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild and Mario Kart and Smash Bros. But I enjoyed putting together the VR headset. And I always wanted to play around with the other packs that they put out, but I never have. I really liked the concept. I think Nintendo could have gone a little bit further and done it a little bit better.

[00:15:00] And I would have liked to have seen that be successful because I thought it was a really creative idea that mixes, you know, real world materials with games. Good chance for children to be creative and learn about STEM in the same way that they do with Lego. So I loved the concept. I just wish Nintendo had done it a little bit better. I actually never played Labo, but it was such a cool idea from Nintendo. And it did set the stage for another weird peripheral and game combo that was much, much more successful that we'll talk about soon.

[00:15:30] And I am always wondering, did Nintendo make money from Labo? They never revealed sales info or sales expectations. Many assume it was a bomb since they eventually stopped making it and stopped marketing it. But it did lead to some more other successful ventures. So back to 2018 releases, the age of the Wii U port is upon us as Captain Toad, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, Hyrule Warriors, Bayonetta 2, and Sushi Strikers, which was a 3DS game, but let's just lump it in.

[00:15:59] All these games got Switch ports in 2018. How did you feel about Nintendo's strategy of re-releasing the Wii U catalog during the Switch's lifespan? I was pretty happy with that, even though I had already purchased them on Wii U, but my Wii U didn't make the jump from Australia to Japan with me. So I was happy to get them again, especially as they did add a lot of extra content or games that were released on both Wii U and 3DS.

[00:16:25] They would get the exclusive content from both on the same cartridge. A good example being Hyrule Warriors. You could get the DLC, the 3DS exclusive stuff all together in the one pack, which was great. So I didn't mind that so much. And I think the best thing is a lot of people skipped over the Wii U. It was a good chance for people to play some great games that they would have missed otherwise. Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze in particular. I think that's one of the best platformers ever made. So I'm glad that it got a second lease on life.

[00:16:55] Going back to 2017 a little bit, the first Wii U port was, of course, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. And that was another, oh, I'm a true believer moment because it loaded so quickly on the Switch, the menu. If you've ever played Mario Kart 8 on Wii U, it just took forever to load. So the fact that it loaded, I think I even did a comparison, loaded it up on Switch and Wii U at the same time, just to see the difference. And it is shocking how much faster it loads on the Switch. The Wii U games coming to Switch, there are some I didn't have really a lot of interest in.

[00:17:24] But there were some that, okay, I'm going to rebuy it, like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, of course. And there are some I missed on Wii U, like Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze that I played for the first time on Switch. And going back, the most important decision Nintendo did or a change in their philosophy is that we need software maybe one in a month. And Wii U only sold 13 million. A lot of the hardcore Nintendo fans like you and I, we played a lot of the Wii U games. Most people didn't.

[00:17:50] So it was like releasing a brand new game for the vast, vast majority of people. And it was good just to revisit them and get a second chance. Because if Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze didn't come out on Switch, I'm probably not going back to Wii U to play it. I would have just forgotten about it. So it really gave a lot of games a second chance. And it filled out that release calendar, which is something that Nintendo really stressed during the Switch era. So another big trend, this was when Indie started to pick up steam on Switch.

[00:18:20] 2017 had Stardew Valley, which was one of the biggest Indie hits ever. But 2018 also had Hollow Knight, Celeste, Dead Cells. So Switch was really turning into a major platform for Indie games. Maybe even the platform for Indie games compared to Steam. So while Switch was not getting games like Red Dead 2, it was really lifted by stellar Indie titles hitting the platform that you could play portably as well. And some other big titles, Mario Tennis Aces, Fortnite, and Dark Souls came to Switch.

[00:18:50] Octopass Traveler. And Holiday had a trio of massive hits. Super Mario Party, Pokemon Let's Go, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. So what are some of your favorite 2018 titles? Yeah, definitely. As you mentioned, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. You know, one of the ultimate games on the system. Yeah, Pokemon Let's Go Eevee. I have a soft spot for it. I don't think I've revisited it since 2018, but I did enjoy that on launch, being the first Pokemon game for the system.

[00:19:18] As for Indies, that was the first year that I played Hollow Knight. And I found it really difficult. And I got maybe five hours into it and gave up. And then a few years later, I gave it another go and I got through it. And it's now one of my favorite games. A lot of these games were being treated like, oh, they are Switch exclusives, even though they're not. Like Celeste, I always hear people talk about Celeste and the Switch. I played it on Switch. And this became a trend, even still today. But really at this time, it was a huge boon to the Switch.

[00:19:47] Especially during a year that was early on kind of light on some big first party titles. Most of those were saved for the holiday. So this really gave a chance for Indies to shine. And oh, I forgot to mention that Splatoon 2 also got the paid Octo DLC in 2018, which was outstanding. But Smash, pretty undeniable. And I know we're spending a lot of time on 2018. But another massive release from Nintendo, Nintendo Switch Online.

[00:20:13] On September 6th, Nintendo released their first ever paid online platform. And it came with free NES games or quote unquote free NES games. Along with introducing cloud saves and voice chat via a smartphone app. What are your thoughts on the early days of Nintendo Switch Online? Yeah, it was fun. I remember playing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Online using the voice chat. And in those early days, there were actually people on there. And I remember having some really nice conversations with people playing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

[00:20:42] And I got a mix of Japanese speakers and English speakers. So it was a good chance to practice my Japanese. And a good chance for Japanese players to practice a bit of English. It was good fun. But you know, I fell off that pretty quickly. I don't think I've revisited it since then. The NES games were nice. But I feel like the quote unquote free games that came with the subscription didn't pick up till years later. Found it more of a novelty at the beginning. But at least that laid the groundwork for what it's become today, which is much better.

[00:21:10] The NSO launch was very strange because they launched it with free online. And then they said, oh, it's going to have paid online. So all those games you were playing for free now need to pay for them. And people were definitely convinced that this is going to kill Splatoon. This is going to kill Pokemon. There was a lot of Sky is Falling moments. But eventually enough people converted over to NSO. If you wanted to play Splatoon 2 online, you were picking up NSO. Do you remember the original plan for NSO in terms of the games?

[00:21:41] No. This is very weird. A lot of people forgot about this. They were going to cycle games in and out. And I think the example they said was like, okay, this month we'll have three games. And then next month we'll have three different games. And you can't play those previous games. But they will have online capabilities. So month one is you can play Super Mario Brothers online. And then month two, you can play Excitebike online. So the original plan was not to have like a Netflix-style catalog that you can just play on your own.

[00:22:10] It was that they were going to cycle games in and out. Which was, I think, a terrible idea. And I'm very glad this was not the final idea. But that's one of those weird things that a lot of people don't remember. Yeah, I have my recollection of that. Yeah. So I'm glad that they did not do that. And today I'm very happy with NSO. There's so many great games I've discovered. And just so many weird games that I would have never ever played if it didn't come to NSO. So yeah, I think NSO eventually, it's definitely worth the money.

[00:22:40] I swear we're getting out of 2018. But one under the radar release. I guarantee you everyone listening to this podcast forgot about. In Japan, only online, Nintendo released the second unit set. Which was a Nintendo Switch without the dock at a reduced price. And I have no idea if you can still buy this. But there was a moment where you could buy the Switch by itself. Without the dock in Japan. Do you remember this? Do you also remember this ever happening? No, I don't remember this at all. I guess it didn't stick around.

[00:23:09] Because I think if you walked into any electronic store nowadays, you would not find that particular SKU anywhere. Yeah. Maybe if you go to like GEO, where there's something used. It's very common to see just the Switch by itself used. But this was the idea that, okay, we want to get more Switches into households that have Switches. It was about $250 around that just by itself. So a $250 Switch without the dock.

[00:23:36] Which is an interesting idea that you could only buy on the My Nintendo store. Can you imagine them selling a dockless Switch 2 online? They can't do it. Especially with the 4K capability of the Switch 2. They just can't do that. Okay. That makes sense. Oh, one thing. Also, another weird online thing they sold. Going back to 2017, before we move on. Do you remember that there was a Splatoon 2 edition of the Nintendo Switch that came with special Joy-Cons? And it came in a nice looking box.

[00:24:06] However, they sold the box, only the box online, for about 500 yen. This is because if you bought a Switch, but you wanted to have that Splatoon box, they would sell you that box. Do you remember this at all? No, I don't remember that at all. Yeah. So there's so many just weird stuff that Nintendo did at one point. So I'm really excited to see what weird things are Nintendo going to do early on in the Switch 2's life that we will forget about eight years from now. So we can finally move on to 2019.

[00:24:36] We also got new hardware in 2019, Switch Lite, which hit in September of 2019 at a reduced price. Did you ever pick up a Switch Lite? No, I never got the Lite. Honestly, I was never interested in getting the Lite as I predominantly play on the TV. I thought maybe I'd get around to getting one someday, but I still haven't. Yeah. I wasn't really that much interested in the Lite, but yeah, good for people who picked it up. I never got one, but I did want one. Having a smaller Switch you can play on the train. That sounded really appealing.

[00:25:05] However, the main issue why I didn't buy one is that, oh, it's kind of too annoying or too difficult to move your save data. That's true. There are cloud saves, but that could mess up at any moment. I don't want to risk it. So I never picked up a Switch Lite, but I have played one and it is a really good device for people who want to enter the Switch ecosystem. And I think in Japan, especially if you just live in a really small apartment and don't have a big TV, then it's a good alternative. And there's some really great models now, like the gold one.

[00:25:35] Yeah, I like that one. But 2019, I would say is another big year for games. And if you like old games, Super Nintendo was added to NSO this year. But for new games, we got Super Mario Maker 2, Fire Emblem Three Houses, a Link's Awakening remake, another Zelda game called Cadence of Hyrule, Pokemon Sword and Shield, Luigi's Mansion 3, more Wii U ports with new Super Mario Brothers U Deluxe.

[00:25:59] We also got some other new games like Yoshi's Crafted World, Astral Chain, Tetris 99, Dragon Quest 11, and surprisingly one of the biggest games of the Switch era, Ring Fit Adventure. And we also got some digital titles like Box Boy and Box Girl, Super Kirby Clash, and The Stretchers, which was a Nintendo published game. And this was actually co-developed by Tarsier Studios, who worked on LittleBigPlanet and also NST as well.

[00:26:26] And also some big third party games like Witcher 3 and Final Fantasy 7 finally hit a Nintendo console in 2019. So what are some of your favorite 2019 games or favorite things from the Switch in 2019? From that year, definitely Fire Emblem Three Houses. That's one of my top Switch 1 games, definitely in my top five. I love everything about that. I'm a big Fire Emblem fan. And for me, that's just the perfect Fire Emblem game. I love the multiple pathways you can take through the game.

[00:26:55] I find that very replayable. I've spent hundreds of hours in it. Love the story, love the lore. In terms of story, that's one of the best first party Nintendo games there is. So yeah, that's definitely my favorite from 2019. Luigi's Mansion 3, another good one. I really enjoyed that. Astral Chain, I think, is an incredibly underrated game. I've played through that twice. I'd love to play that again, especially if it gets a performance boost on the Switch 2.

[00:27:23] So yeah, that was just a great bumper year, 2019. Yeah, I definitely agree with you big time on Fire Emblem Three Houses. That was my game of the year. It was easily what I think is the best Fire Emblem game. And I just love that game so much. It really is amazing. And I think if you've never played a Fire Emblem game, I really do like Engage, which we'll talk about. But I do think Three Houses is definitely better. And as a huge Link's Awakening fan, to get a remake was really awesome.

[00:27:51] Yeah, this was the first quote unquote new Pokemon on Switch. And believe it or not, people were not happy with the performance of Pokemon game. If only they knew that was coming. Yeah. I do like Pokemon Sword and Shield. I like all Pokemon games, like warts and all. I do like Pokemon Sword and Shield. But I do remember there were some weird technical issues. My favorite technical issue. The NPCs in the game would freeze if you climbed a ladder. For example, there's a doctor character. She's tossing a Pokeball up and down.

[00:28:20] And if you climb a ladder, that animation stops. And the Pokeball will be in midair. I don't know why this happens, why all the animation in the world stops when you climb a ladder. But it does. And this was like a, oh no, something is going on at Game Freak type of moment. I don't remember that. But I do remember a lot of weird things in that game, like the wild area. I wouldn't call it a glitch, just maybe just a poor decision. How you would take one step and suddenly the weather changes. And then you take a step back and the weather just disappears again.

[00:28:50] I don't know what they were thinking there. Yeah, I don't hate Sword and Shield. In hindsight, I'd probably call it my least favorite generation. Yeah, it's pretty low for me as well. It has problems, yeah. Yeah. Some of the other ones I rattled off. Love Luigi's Mansion 3. I'm a big New Super Mario Bros. U fan. I'm a defender of that game. And a lot of people were saying, oh, how are they going to port it to Switch? What are they going to call it? They're not going to call it New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe. That's ridiculous. Nintendo called it that exactly. It's just like the weirdest name.

[00:29:20] And a lot of people bought it. Yes. I agree with you on Astral Chain. Really underrated game. Tetris 99. This was the start of. There are NSO exclusive games. And I would argue this is still the best of the 99 games. Oh, we got to talk about Ring Fit Adventure. Did you ever pick up Ring Fit Adventure? Yeah, I picked up Ring Fit Adventure early 2021. So a little bit late to the party. But during the pandemic, having to spend a lot of time at home, I saw it on sale one day and just impulsively bought it.

[00:29:50] And I got really into it for about six months. And I had to move house. And my new house doesn't have enough space for me to play it. So I haven't played it since then. But I would love to pick it back up again. Love everything about it. I think it's incredibly creative. Incredibly motivating to play. And it does actually work your body. I remember my arms being absolutely destroyed after a few sessions on Ring Fit Adventure. So it's a great piece of software, great piece of hardware. Yeah, and Nintendo announced this, I want to say maybe six weeks or so before it actually launched.

[00:30:19] It was just a tweet saying, hey, we made this game and it comes with a ring. Everyone check it out. But it's a huge success. It sold over 12 million copies. One of the best-selling Switch games. So like I said before, this type of idea and this type of thinking outside of the box, it eventually paid off for Nintendo in terms of Ring Fit Adventure. Yeah, it's one of those ones I would love to see brought back for Switch 2. Yes. And yeah, it is kind of a hard game to play if you live in Japan in an apartment because you have to be very space-conscious and also people-conscious.

[00:30:49] So next up is 2020, Cue Ominous Music. And the biggest release, let's get it out of the way, Animal Crossing New Horizons. And it's right at the start of the global pandemic. So Dale, do you have any fond Animal Crossing memories? Yeah, I can't not think of that game completely separate from what was going on in the world at that time. And it was a nice... I got into a daily routine with it, being stuck at home, playing it in the morning for a little while,

[00:31:17] and then playing Final Fantasy VII Remake during the day, and then at night getting back into Animal Crossing, do the nighttime stuff, and playing online with some friends. It was a good chance to reconnect with some people I hadn't seen or spoken to for a while, doing some online voice chat and playing Animal Crossing together, sharing items and things like that, sending the letters or the postcards. I can't remember what they were. But yeah, it was good fun. I was pretty consistent with Animal Crossing for about three months. It was a good time.

[00:31:47] Yeah, I'm a huge Animal Crossing fan, so I was very much looking forward to this game. And I would say it's definitely the best Animal Crossing game. There are some things that other games do better, I have to admit. The soundtrack is much better on the 3DS game. The dialogue is also probably better on the 3DS game. Everything else, I was very pleased and very excited for Animal Crossing. It's definitely my most played Switch game. And I have a lot of fond memories playing it with my wife early on because she played Animal Crossing a lot on her account or my Japanese account.

[00:32:17] Thanks to her, I can have a Switch 2, which we'll talk about later on. But you can have an entire podcast solely about what you do in Animal Crossing. It really is that deep, that fun. I know a lot of people were maybe surprised early on because there were some basic things missing. Like Red was not in the game day one, which is very bizarre. But eventually they added more and more things to it. And then it got a big update later on that we'll talk about. But yeah, it kind of kept me sane during the pandemic

[00:32:45] because personally, there was a lot of things going on in my life at this time. Number one reason why I stayed sane in 2020 was my wife. Number two, Animal Crossing. So thanks to those two, I was able to get through the pandemic. And yes, the pandemic, we've got to talk about it because it did delay a lot of major titles for years. But Nintendo still had a pretty consistent release schedule for 2020. So yes, more Wii U ports with Tokyo Mirage Sessions and Pikmin 3 Deluxe.

[00:33:14] And we got more remakes with Pokemon Mystery Dungeon and Xenoblade Chronicles 1. But we also got some new games, including the Jump Rope Challenge game, which was free. I never got around to that. And I really regret not making the smallest amount of effort to download it. It is what it sounds like, but it is a cool anomaly in the history of Nintendo that they made this weird thing. Who knows how long it took them? They put it out there for free. It was literally a direct response to the pandemic.

[00:33:42] So it is weird that Nintendo made something based on what was happening in the world. And some other new games. We got Clubhouse Games, Paper Mario the Origami King, Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity, Pokemon Sword and Shield DLC. So no third version, which was new. And Mario Kart Live Circuit, which I'm going to count. And I would say the kind of a bizarre combo of Super Mario Brothers 3D All-Stars and Super Mario Brothers 35, both which had a time limit on them.

[00:34:13] So Dale, what did you think about Nintendo's 2020? I thought considering everything that was going on, it was just a great year. I was actually very excited that Pokemon got DLC instead of a third version. I thought that's such a great idea because it means it's something new every time. And it's not as expensive as buying a new game where you have to replay something you've already played before with some minor changes, like looking at Ultra Sun, Ultra Moon. So I was really excited for that.

[00:34:41] Age of Calamity, one of my favorite games. I enjoyed that way more than the original Hyrule Warriors. Very excited for Age of Imprisonment on the Switch 2. And something that I'd really like to highlight from this year is Super Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC. This was the year where we got Masahiro Sakurai bringing his fighter introduction videos from his house. And I just have so much nostalgia for that Min Min reveal trailer where he's in his house talking to us.

[00:35:10] And that paves the way for his eventual YouTube channel, which is just incredible. I've watched every video on that channel as well. So I have a lot of nostalgia for that too. I thought it was a great year. And just in general, the Switch kept me sane at that time. Yeah, I definitely rushed over Smash Bros. Ultimate, but it is one of my all-time favorite games in my top five. And of course, this is a big thing during the Switch era is that who was the next newcomer? Because once Ultimate came out, we had Fighter Pass 1 and then we had Fighter Pass 2.

[00:35:38] So the buildup to every new fighter was a huge deal. So much speculation. And I definitely think they hit it out of the park in terms of the DLC. The new fighters in the base game in Ultimate, you've got all the fighters from the past games. The new ones they added were great. I loved how King K. Rool played. And then the DLC fighters were really like dream inclusions. Do you have a favorite DLC Smash Ultimate fighter? Yeah, Banjo-Kazooie.

[00:36:05] I remember playing Smash 64 when I was about nine years old and thinking like, oh, this is such a great game, but where's Banjo? Did they forget to put him in? Because Banjo is just so synonymous with Nintendo 64 for me. Seeing that dream come true 25 years later was just incredible. Yeah, I think Banjo, in terms of announcement, Banjo is the one I wanted the most. And then that trailer was perfect. I think after Banjo, I kind of didn't care about who else they added because Banjo was my most wanted character.

[00:36:34] They did add a lot of really important out of nowhere characters. They added Steve from Minecraft. They added Sora, if you can believe it. I would say Sephiroth is really fun to play in the actual game. I actually did quite well with him online. I think I have most of my wins with Sephiroth somehow. Yeah, he's one of my favorites too. He's just absurdly powerful. And yet, Cloud and Sephiroth in the same game. I always kind of wanted, oh, they should add Sephiroth, but I just never thought it would happen because why would you add Sephiroth if you already have Cloud?

[00:37:03] But I'm glad that Sakurai or somebody was like, let's just add him in there because it's cool. So for me, other 2020 games, Pikmin 3 Deluxe. I didn't play it in 2020, but I got to it later on. And this really kicked off my Pikmin obsession or my Pikmin fandom because I played Pikmin 1 on the GameCube and I kind of fell off because I didn't really like the time limit idea. Later on, I played Pikmin 3 with my wife and I got really into it. And then I played Pikmin 1 and 2 and then Pikmin 4 and then I became a Pikmin hardcore after that.

[00:37:33] So Pikmin 3 Deluxe is really my entry into the series. And some other 2020 games, I mean, for me, Animal Crossing was the game that I was most obsessed with. And also Hades, which I didn't mention, but that came to Switch in 2020. And that's another big, okay, this is an indie game that you can play elsewhere, but many people are treating it as kind of a Switch exclusive almost or Switch is the place to play it.

[00:37:58] A lot of Mario came out this year and I did like the 3D collection because, you know, I liked those three games. And, okay, they're here, might as well play them again. What did you think about the 3D All-Stars collection and the idea to limit it to only being sold for six months? Yeah, I have it. I was glad to play those games again. But it is bizarre that it was only limited. So, of course, I snapped it up right away. And Super Mario Bros. 35, that online game, was also very limited. I would love to go back and play that again.

[00:38:26] I've still got it on the Switch, but, you know, it's unplayable. They did the same thing with Fire Emblem, Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, getting an English release for the first time. So I snapped that up pretty quickly as well. I don't know what their intention was there, but I'm glad that I have a copy. And if you go down to Bookoff nowadays, you can pretty often find the 35th anniversary collection there. I wonder if Nintendo looks back and thinks, yeah, that was a great idea that we did that. That was perfect.

[00:38:55] We nailed it. I don't know if Nintendo really released a lot of the updated sales data, but I want to say maybe the first quarter or that first year, it sold over 10 million copies, the 3D All-Stars version. So I'm like, why don't you just keep it on the shelf? And then it could have sold, who knows, it could have sold maybe 20 million plus. There is a world where that's one of the best-selling Switch games ever. I just don't know what they were thinking. They did do work to that collection, and I played through all three of them again. Galaxy is one of my all-time favorite games.

[00:39:24] And when you go back to one of your, in your memory, one of your favorite games and you replay it, you're thinking, oh no, I'm afraid that maybe I was too young at the time or, oh, it's dated. But nope, Galaxy still holds up. So I'm glad I replayed it. Yeah, likewise. So let's move on to 2021. Nintendo releases brand new hardware. That's right, the Switch OLED. Now, rumors of a Switch Pro were at its peak during this time.

[00:39:50] What was your reaction upon hearing that Nintendo was releasing a new version of the hardware with the incredibly catchy name of Nintendo Switch OLED model? I had pretty much no reaction to this. As I mentioned earlier, I'm mostly playing on the TV. All I remember from that time is, oh, the white Joy-Cons look cool. And when they showed that off, they showed a lot of footage for Metroid Dread, which is something I really wanted to play. So I thought, oh, there's new footage of Metroid Dread in the trailers, but that's about it.

[00:40:18] Yeah, this is, again, in-expeculation was crazy. I would say maybe the Switch Pro speculation was even more crazy in terms of every day is new rumors. Every day somebody is saying it's coming out. And there was a lot of legitimate news sources that were saying Switch Pro is real. It's coming out. It's a more powerful version of the Switch. But then it was, again, a random tweet on a random day. Oh, OLED model coming out. It's not more powerful. The screen is more beautiful. People were really stunned.

[00:40:47] So much speculation and so much talk and rumors that hundreds of thousands of hours of YouTube videos of speculation exist on YouTube servers right now about the Switch Pro. And Nintendo was like, nope. Again, going back to real-world things, there was a chip shortage at this time and, of course, the pandemic. So there's always a rumor that, oh, Nintendo was going to make a Switch Pro, but then they pivoted because of the chip shortage. We don't really know that 100% for sure.

[00:41:13] I think a lot of people are maybe trying to cover their tracks or trying to make up for their false reporting or their false speculation. But Nintendo, they just released the Switch, but it has a bigger screen. And I did not buy this at launch. This is not something that was a priority, even though I thought, okay, if it does have a bigger screen and more power, I'll definitely buy it. But I did get an OLED for Christmas from my wife, which was a legitimately surprising gift because I didn't ask for it or anything like that.

[00:41:42] She's just, I know he plays Switch, so I might as well get him this. So I do have an OLED now. And I am glad that I have it because I do play portably quite a lot. So that screen is just, it is so much better than the Switch 1 screen. So if you play portably, definitely worth getting it. But if you're only on TV, yeah, you can skip it. Some other big news, Nintendo Switch Online introduces the expansion pack with N64 and Genesis.

[00:42:06] We also got introduced to some DLC being free if you had the expansion pack tier, such as the new Happy Home Paradise expansion for Animal Crossing. So what did you think about the NSO expansion pack? I didn't get into it initially. I don't think I tried it until they released GoldenEye. Because I already had the DLC for Splatoon 2, and I was not interested in the DLC for Animal Crossing. I had fallen off Animal Crossing a long time ago by this point. So I was very indifferent to it at the time.

[00:42:35] But I have it now because they've expanded a lot. They've got Nintendo 64. And with GameCube coming, I think it's actually quite good to have now. But at the beginning, I was just not really interested. To have the N64 games, those are kind of hard to play now. So I'm glad they put them on Nintendo Switch somehow. But again, Nintendo 64, that is the console with the most specific controller. You kind of need the controller to play. And I do have the Bluetooth controller, the NSO N64 controller.

[00:43:05] I would say if you're serious about playing N64 games on Nintendo Switch, it is worth getting that controller. Yeah, I dropped GoldenEye in about five minutes. Those games were made for that controller. I like the expansion pack tier. And the idea of Animal Crossing is getting paid DLC. But it's just free if you have the expansion pack. I'm quote-unquote saving money. If I have the expansion pack, I'd be stupid not to get it. And yeah, the Happy Home Paradise DLC was actually quite great. I really enjoyed that DLC.

[00:43:30] And also Nintendo randomly decided to turn on Bluetooth headphone capability for the Switch in 2021. Yeah. I always assumed it was a hardware issue. You just can't do it. But then Nintendo was like, oh, you can do it now. I don't know why it took- That's such a game changer for me. Once they released that, I finally started using my Switch portably. Yeah. Like, I have AirPods. And I just- I always hope like, man, I really wish there was a way to use my AirPods with my Switch. And then one day they were like, yeah, you can do it now.

[00:44:00] I just don't understand why it took four years. But yes, it took a while. Again, that's another thing a lot of people take for granted is that, oh, there was a time when you couldn't connect your AirPods to the Switch. It was just so bizarre, but that's kind of why we love Nintendo is that they do insane, bizarre things that we can talk about years later. And in terms of new games, we got Buddy Mission Bond, which is the only Japan-exclusive Switch game published by Nintendo. So kind of an anomaly there.

[00:44:29] And we also got Super Mario World and Bowser's Fury, new Pokemon Snap, Famicom Detective Club remakes, DC Superhero Girls for some reason, a Miitopia game-builder Garage, which spun off from Labo and sold over a million copies. So again, going back to is Labo a success or not? The answer is maybe. Mario Golf Super Rush, Skyward Sword HD, Warrior Get-It-Together, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, Metroid Dread, Mario Party Superstars,

[00:44:58] and of course, you can't forget about Big Brain Academy, Brain vs. Brain. And the biggest third-party release was easily Monster Hunter Rise from Capcom. Yeah, it was a good year. I really enjoyed Bowser's Fury, some of my favorite single-player Mario content. I think it's just incredible. I would have loved it to have been longer. Monster Hunter Rise I got into. That was the first time I'd properly gotten into Monster Hunter. Metroid Dread is probably my favorite game from that year. One of my favorites on the Switch. Love Metroid.

[00:45:27] Love everything about Metroid Dread. A third-party release that came out that year was the Great Ace Attorney Collection. And I was so happy that that got a release on Switch. I'd played the fan translation of the first one. And then to get both of them officially localized was just like a miracle. I'd given up on them ever getting localized. So that for me is... That's probably actually my favorite Switch game of 2021. Oh, nice.

[00:45:57] And then Metroid Dread 2nd. I love everything about Ace Attorney. So to finally get those two games officially localized and on the Switch was just like a dream come true. Yeah, I recently had an episode about Japanese retro games that got a first-time-ever English release in these past few years. And I would say that Switch is a big reason why. I'm trying to think in a world where the Switch is not a success, so many of these classic games would not be on modern hardware.

[00:46:23] I don't know if Capcom is going to put the Ace Attorney games localized only for PC or only for PS4. You kind of need the Switch audience there to make that worthwhile. This is also kind of the age of retro collections that did very well on Switch. And that's the reason why they're doing so many of these collections is because Switch is so prevalent and the audience loves retro games and loves these classic franchises, especially in Japan. So it really made it worthwhile to do this type of stuff, to make these collections, to bring

[00:46:52] these old Japanese games to the West for the first time. So this is another trend of the Switch era. Some of my favorite 2021 games. My favorite game of the year, I'll probably talk about it later on once we get the awards. My favorite game was New Pokemon Snap. I absolutely loved this game. I'll save my spiel for later because I'm going to give it an award, just FYI. Another one, Metroid Dread. I would say probably the best Metroid, in my opinion. I really love this game. And again, it looks great on the OLED.

[00:47:21] So it was a good thing to launch with. Yeah, it was just a really consistent year overall. One game I want to say is underrated. It's not Monster Hunter Rise, but instead Monster Hunter Stories 2. They're Monster Hunter themed JRPG. I'm not a huge Monster Hunter fan, but I kind of like Stories because it takes all the good things about Monster Hunter and kind of distills it into a faster experience or a more streamlined experience.

[00:47:45] So you get the fun of hunting monsters, but in this really interesting and fun JRPG structure. Listeners, if you're looking for a modern JRPG that you haven't played yet, check out Monster Hunter Stories 2. So let's move on to 2022. It was Pokemon Crazy with Pokemon Legends Arceus and Scarlet and Violet hitting the same year. Some other major releases include Kirby and the Forgotten Land, which was Kirby's first foray into 3D. We also saw him appear in Dream Buffet that year.

[00:48:15] Nintendo Switch Sports, which has sold 15 million copies, believe it or not. Also Mario Strikers Battle League, Fire Emblem Warriors 3 Hopes, Xenoblade 3, Splatoon 3, Mario and Rabbids Sparks of Hope, Bayonetta 3, another 3 game. And Nintendo also published Triangle Strategy and Live Alive in the West. And Persona finally came to the Switch with Persona 5 Royal in 2022. So Dale, what 2022 games stand out for you? Yeah, it's a real bumper year 2022.

[00:48:44] In my opinion, I think it's the best year on the Switch. Yeah, the double Pokemon. I think Arceus is a great game. Scarlet and Violet for love it or hate it, I still think it's a great Pokemon installment. I still do love it. Bayonetta 3, I absolutely adore. Mario Rabbids, again, Sparks of Hope. I think it's just an incredible game. Kirby and the Forgotten Land in 3D. Like, remarkable shift from 2D to 3D, executed flawlessly. I love that.

[00:49:12] I'm so glad it's getting a Switch 2 edition, which I'll definitely be playing through again. Like, I'm forgetting one. Oh yeah, Fire Emblem Warriors 3 Hopes. I loved that a lot in the same way I loved Age of Calamity. And I think the best game that year for me was Xenoblade 3. I just absolutely adore that. I think it has an incredible story, great cast of characters, wonderful music, wonderful battle system. Yeah, just an incredible year that year. Yes, Game of the Year nominee at the Game Awards, Xenoblade 3.

[00:49:40] Nintendo typically has maybe one game a year will sneak in. Jeff Keighley, he tries to put a Nintendo game in there. And that year, it was Xenoblade 3. And for me, my favorite game was definitely Splatoon 3. I'm a big Splatoon fan. And there's just so much you can do in the game. And especially now, it is kind of crazy about all the different modes and all the different things you can focus on. It is kind of like Nintendo's Fortnite in a way. Because in Fortnite, you can go into the game, you can do the Battle Royale mode, or you can just watch anime in the game.

[00:50:09] Or you can do all these custom maps. Now in Splatoon 3, if you load it up right now, you can do Turf War. You can do the Ranked mode, which is totally different gameplay rules from Turf War. You can do the Single Player mode, which is 10 plus hours of single player content. There's a Horde mode, Salmon Run. With DLC, there's a Robelight deck builder mode. There's also a collectible card game that you can play. Events happening all the time. So you can kind of pick whatever you want to focus on. And you can do a little bit of everything or just do one thing.

[00:50:38] I'm sure there are some people who have only been playing the Roguelike mode for a year now. So I'm a huge fan of Splatoon 3. And Arceus, this was definitely the best Pokemon game on Switch, in my opinion. It felt so fresh. So many great new ideas. If I can switch my lead Pokemon just with the press of a button and then throw him out. Why that hasn't been implemented into the main games yet, I don't know. Why that wasn't in Scarlet and Violet, I don't know. But that small thing was so awesome. And then both Kirby games were great.

[00:51:07] I am a big fan of Dream Buffet. Because that game is pretty cheap. I want to say like $10, $15. But I played quite a lot of it. And it also looks great. The graphics are really amazing. Kirby, they nail the food graphics in every game. In Nintendo Switch Sports, I'm a defender. I'll just load up bowling and then bowl some rounds online. Yeah, 2022, another great year. So let's move on to 2023. Maybe a better year or maybe not. But pretty close. For me, this year is dominated by one game.

[00:51:37] Tears of the Kingdom. Yeah. We also have Fire Emblem Engage. Metroid Prime Remastered. Kirby Returns of Dream Land Deluxe. Bayonetta Origins. Advance Wars 1 plus 2 Reboot Camp. Everybody want to switch. Pikmin 1 plus 2. So a lot of 1 plus 2 games are coming out this year. And this came out, of course, right before Pikmin 4. Detective Pikachu Returns. F-099. WarioWare Move It. Then a duo of Mario games with Super Mario RPG and Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

[00:52:07] So quite a big year, despite being six years into the Switch's life. So what are your favorite 2023 games? Yeah, definitely Tears of the Kingdom. I think that's, yeah, one of my favorite games of all time. Pikmin 4, I think, is another incredible game. I've been a Pikmin fan right from the beginning. And Pikmin 3 really disappointed me on Wii U. I thought it was way too easy. Oh, okay. And with such a big gap between 2 and 3, I just wanted so much more.

[00:52:35] But Pikmin 4 finally gave me what I wanted. It had a lot of new ideas, a lot of cool stuff. I loved the night expeditions, the Dandori mode. I thought the single-player campaign was just wonderful. The environment's just incredible. So Pikmin 4 is definitely one of the best Switch games, I think. And yeah, just a lot of good stuff that year. Mario Wonder is also very good. A big surprise getting a Mario game so late into the console's lifespan.

[00:53:04] I thought that would have been something they would have saved for Switch 2. So yeah, a lot of good games that year. Yeah, of course, Tears of the Kingdom, really undeniable. You and me, we've talked about it on the podcast in our Tears of the Kingdom episode. So listeners, go back to 2023. We have an episode where we talk about our early impressions of Tears of the Kingdom. Definitely one of the best games ever. I always say one of the best pieces of fantasy fiction ever. Not really in terms of the story, but just in terms of conveying the idea of an adventure.

[00:53:34] Tears of the Kingdom does it better than pretty much any book, any movie, any video game out there. Thinking back to what was going on in Japan at the time, a lot of awesome things were happening in Japan for the Tears of the Kingdom launch. We got the Lawson food. We got so many advertisements. We got a ton of new merch and everything. So really the buildup in Japan, two Tears of the Kingdom was really exciting. Also with Splatoon 3 from last year. Nintendo was really going all out in terms of marketing in Japan. This is not just a game.

[00:54:03] This is a big pop culture event in Japan that is spreading out of just the hardcore Nintendo sphere. And everyone in Japan is looking forward to it or is excited about it. And some other great games from that year. Fire Emblem Engage I really enjoyed. Kirby Return of the Dream Land Deluxe. I never played the Wii version. So I was very pleasantly surprised by this game. And people thought, well, if Kirby is going back to 2D, is it still good now that he's in 3D? And I would say yes.

[00:54:30] There's definitely room for 3D Kirby and 2D Kirby in my mind. Also this game definitely has the best collection of Kirby minigames. Because they pretty much took all the great minigames from all the past games. And HD-ified them into this game. There's a brand new version of Checkerboard Chase from Kirby 64 in this game. It's totally worth paying full price just to have HD Checkerboard Chase. A huge Pikmin 4 fan as well. I definitely think it's the best Pikmin game. Super Mario RPG.

[00:55:00] Again, this is another game where I kind of played a little bit of it on the SNES. But this was my first real go at it. I absolutely love this game. Just imagine it. What if there was a game that was fun 100% of the time? It had no bad parts. No slow parts. I would say this and Astrobot kind of made me think, why do games have bad parts to them? Why do games have slow and boring parts? Why aren't they just fun all the time? Super Mario RPG is a game that's fun all the time. And I would say maybe the best soundtrack on the Switch.

[00:55:30] Because it is Yokohimimura's original soundtrack. And then she remastered it for the new version. And it just sounds amazing. I just love that soundtrack. And it did come out in Japan recently. So if you do want it, you can buy a really cool Japanese version of it. And Super Mario Bros. Wonder. I really enjoyed it as a 2D game. I'm a new Super Mario Bros. U defender. I really love that game. And I'm sure a lot of people say that Wonder is much, much better than you. But I would say they're almost about even. Maybe Wonder is a little bit higher.

[00:55:59] But I would say that they're both excellent. I actually agree with you there. I think a lot of people are very unfair to New Super Mario Bros. I think there's been a lot of revisionist history around New Super Mario Bros. as well. When it came out on the DS, I thought it was just a revelation. Releasing 2 and U in the same year was probably not a great strategy. But I still enjoy both of them immensely. I think it's a great series. For Wonder, it didn't really feel like that huge of a leap forward, if that makes sense.

[00:56:29] It feels very rooted in the new Super Mario Bros. DNA. Which is good, because I love that game. But it wasn't like a, oh, 2D Mario has been changed forever. It wasn't that type of moment. But I still love this game. So if you do love Wonder, check out U. It is worth checking out. So let's move on to 2024. This year had big. We are working on Switch 2 Energy. A ton of games came out, including Another Code Recollection, Mario vs. Donkey Kong,

[00:56:56] Princess Peach Showtime, Endless Ocean Luminous, Luigi's Mansion 2 HD, Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door, Nintendo World Championships, Splatoon 3 Side Order, which was the DLC, MEO The Smiling Man, a new Famicom Detective Club game, Zelda Echoes of Wisdom, Super Mario Party Jamboree, and Mario & Luigi Brothership. And for third parties, what sticks out to me is Bellatro and Dragon Quest 3 HD 2D. So what are some of your favorite 2024 Switch games?

[00:57:25] Yeah, definitely Bellatro. That's one of my all-time favorite indies. I've wasted, I don't want to say wasted, but I've spent so much time. No time spent on Bellatro is wasted. Not one second. Exactly. Yeah, great game. I really enjoyed that one. Although something I'd like to highlight about this year is that I think this year gave us one of Nintendo's biggest misfires ever, which would be Princess Peach Showtime. I absolutely hated that game. I felt so disappointed by it,

[00:57:54] and I was just surprised that we got this game with Peaches, the main carriage, with all these wonderful costumes and really good designs, and the game itself is just flat, boring, performs very poorly. It's one of my least favorite. Yeah, one of the Nintendo games I felt the most disappointed by. And then in the same year, Mario & Luigi Brothership, that's another one that I felt really let down by. So I felt 2024 did have some good spots, but a huge step down from the heights of 2022 and 2023.

[00:58:23] I think looking back on it, it makes more sense considering Switch 2 is coming out this year. I am impressed that I had stuff to play. Was it the cream of the crop? No, but you could buy new games on Nintendo Switch in 2024. It was just really cool to see another code is getting a full-blown remake coming out. I enjoyed that one. And yeah, Mario vs. Donkey Kong, I had never played this series before. It is the spiritual successor to DK94. And I thought this game was pretty good for what it was,

[00:58:52] but then I played DK94 this year, and I thought, okay, well, I think DK94 is better, but it was fun for what it is. Showtime, I'm a bit more positive on it than you are. I think if you are a seven-year-old girl, maybe you would enjoy it. I go back to Luigi's Mansion, which was his big foray into his own series. I'm not a huge fan of one. I'm a big fan of two and three. So I'm kind of hoping if they make a two and three Showtime, maybe it will be as good as Luigi's Mansion 3.

[00:59:21] But again, I think this is just like a series that is maybe not for us. It's really geared towards seven-year-old girls only. So if you're over that age, don't play it. I'm definitely not the demographic. Yes. Endless Ocean, again, another game that is cool to see come back. The Switch version, it got terrible reviews. It's probably one of the lowest reviewed Switch games. And it's just weird because there's fun to be had with the game, but it should not be a game that should have been sold for money

[00:59:49] because it is developed by Arika, who developed Tetris 99, which is a quote-unquote free game. It's free if you have Nintendo Switch online. And the format of the game and the way you unlock things and how you play it, it is very much like a 99 game. It's very similar to the game from that series. It feels like this was developed as a NSO exclusive game that was supposed to be free, but then Nintendo decided for whatever reason to sell it at the last moment. That's bizarre.

[01:00:18] I didn't know about that. If you have people to play with, and the matchmaking is really good because you can just go into dives and there's 20 people swimming around. These fish are really crazy. I learned about the Australian ghost shark. Do you know about this shark? I've never heard about that. Well, it's a really cool looking shark, so definitely look it up afterwards. But it's an interesting game, and I think a kid would like it because you are just exploring, but there's not a lot to do except kind of swim around. Nintendo World Championships, not as good as it could be, but better than I thought it would be.

[01:00:48] So it is that weird middle ground, but it did kind of make me appreciate speed running more. I never played Emeo, though. I know you are a big fan of Emeo, correct? Yes, that's right. What did you think about the story? Was it kind of shocking for a Nintendo game? Yeah, absolutely. Especially the last hour. This is not really a spoiler, but once you beat the main campaign, you do unlock the epilogue, which is told in a very different way. It's more like you're just watching an anime. But that ending,

[01:01:17] the stuff that happens there, when you're watching it, you think, oh, this is kind of shocking. But then you step back, and a few hours later, you think about it a bit more, and it really encroaches on some very uncomfortable themes that are even taboo in Japanese society. This game talks about things that people here just do not talk about. It goes into some really dark territory, and I'm just amazed that Nintendo signed off on this one. Hmm. Yeah, I'll definitely get around to it one day.

[01:01:46] I don't care about spoilers at all, but for this game, I kind of want to go into it fresh. So I honestly don't know anything. I don't know who MEO is. I don't know anything about the twist or the turns or anything about it. That's absolutely the best way to go in. I'm so glad Nintendo's promotional material didn't really say much about it, because that is absolutely the best way to go in. And Echoes of Wisdom, I really enjoyed a lot. And yeah, two of the biggest games for me, definitely Bellatro, which was my game of the year last year. I just immediately fell in love with that game. And one game that I think is really important

[01:02:16] in the Switch's lifespan, Dragon Quest 3 HD 2D. Of course, Dragon Quest 3, an iconic game in the pantheon of Japanese games. In Japan, it's always pretty much at the top of what is the best game ever type of list. And Dale, we didn't get a brand new Dragon Quest game on the Switch. Despite it being the best-selling hardware in Japanese history, Square did not put out a brand new Dragon Quest game for the Switch. And this is kind of the de facto, I don't know, runner-up?

[01:02:46] Or the de facto, this is a new Dragon Quest game on the Switch. Or this is the new Dragon Quest game launching on the most popular hardware in Japan. So did you ever play Dragon Quest 3 HD 2D? And what did you think about it? Yeah, I did play it. Even though it's not a new game, here in Japan, it certainly felt like it was an absolute phenomenon here. It was sold out everywhere. So many people I saw posting about it on social media, people who I didn't even know played games were actually posting about it.

[01:03:15] I saw Japanese idols were posting about it on social media. It was a big phenomenon here. So it certainly had the energy of a new game. I played it and I did finish the story. I didn't love it. It definitely feels its age. But after completing it, I felt, wow, I've played an important piece of Japanese game history. I feel like Game Freak saw that and thought, oh,

[01:03:43] I feel like there is so much Dragon Quest 3 DNA in Pokemon Red and Blue that I felt like I was playing an ancestor to one of my favorite games. So I'm glad I got through it. I don't know if I'll pick up one and two HD. I think three was enough. I wasn't crazy about it, but I'm glad that I played it. Yeah, it is kind of the de facto this is the big Dragon Quest game, which is, again, is so weird that Square never got around to really see a brand new Dragon Quest,

[01:04:12] like day one on the Switch, the most popular system in Japanese history. It's just such a fumble in my mind. Of course, Dragon Quest 11 came out, which was the new Dragon Quest game at that time, but it came out like two years after the original launch in Japan. I would say the 3 HD 2D launch felt much bigger than the 11 launch on Switch. Going to this year, 2025, Nintendo has only released Donkey Kong Country Returns HD and Xenoblade X Definitive Edition. So, Dale, between these two games, which one is better?

[01:04:43] Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition. I did play them both. Returns, in my mind, is not a fantastic game. I remember being somewhat disappointed by Returns when it launched on the Wii, but it did pave the way for Tropical Freeze, which I think fixed all of the problems I had with Returns and Retro just made a fantastic game there. Xenoblade Chronicles X, I was really glad to play that for the first time. You can kind of see how it's an ancestor to Breath of the Wild, which, you know, set the tone for pretty much

[01:05:13] every Japanese-made open-world game to follow. Some of the music in Xenoblade X is really hit and miss. The new Los Angeles theme, I wanted to mute the TV every time I entered the city, but besides that, it's... I love that scene. You do? Oh, man. One, two, three, four, that was so catchy. Just the snare drum in my ear, it's giving me a headache. But besides that, I enjoyed it a lot. Yeah, I actually haven't played the Switch versions, but I have played the original versions of both these games. And I would definitely say X is better than Donkey Kong Country Returns.

[01:05:43] I'm not a huge fan of Returns either. Tropical Freeze is way better in my mind. Xenoblade X is the only Xenoblade game I've ever played, which I wonder how many people on the planet can say that. I think we are a small group of people who have only played X and not won, two, three. But it is a really excellent game, and it's a good game to have before Switch 2 comes out, because if you want something to play that's hundreds of hours, here it is. Go play it. But more Switch 1 games are coming out. Metroid Prime 4, Legend ZA,

[01:06:13] Rhythm Heaven, but we're going to be playing them on Switch 2. So Dale, before we hand out some awards, any final thoughts on the Switch 1 as we're now going to be calling it? Was it the best Nintendo console of all time? And looking back at these eight years, yes, I think it was. One of the major points we mentioned in this discussion was the almost monthly release schedule of games. I really loved that. Always had something new to play. During the pandemic, it was just such a lifesaver

[01:06:42] having something that could play. A lot of great highlights as we talked about the launch with Breath of the Wild, the pandemic moment with Animal Crossing, the impossible characters of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, getting not one but two excellent Zelda games. Yeah, in my mind, it's the best console generation Nintendo's had. Yeah, I definitely agree with you there and even though I'm a huge Nintendo fan, if you asked me before the Switch came out, what's the best console of all time?

[01:07:11] I would probably say the PlayStation 2 because the amount of games, the quality of games, the variety of them is just undeniable. But I definitely believe Switch has 100% lacked PlayStation 2. It's a little unfair because Switch also has a ton of classic PlayStation 2 games on the Switch and playing those games portably is still really novel to me. But if you're looking at exclusives or first-party games alone, Switch easily clears every home console in my mind. This was really

[01:07:41] Nintendo's return form both in video games and pop culture. Just, they are at their peak. Will they go up? Will they go down? We'll see. But it really is the golden age of Nintendo in terms of everything. We got a Mario theme park during the Switch era. Something that you might not have been able to imagine during the Wii U days. So, definitely one of the most game-changing moments in the gaming industry. So, Switch 1 lived up to expectations. So,

[01:08:11] before we move on, we are going to give out some awards to close it out. I made up just five random awards about our favorite things from the Switch. So, Dale, best Switch game. What is it? Best Switch game. It's come up a few times already in this discussion, but I have to award it to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. I've probably played that the most. It's been a great social experience here in Japan. Many years ago, I was hosting game nights when I lived in Kobe

[01:08:41] where we'd get a bunch of foreigners, a bunch of Japanese people together, play Super Smash Bros. at a game cafe until the last train. And the game itself is just incredible. You get every character back. I remember that reveal trailer where Snake appears and it says everyone is here. And I thought, wow, this is the dream come true. And then later that day, there was Ridley who's been one of my most wanted since the Brawl days. And then those incredible reveals that we got, Banjo-Kazooie,

[01:09:12] Bylas, Sephiroth, Sora, Steve. It was just a wild ride and I don't know if anything is ever going to top that experience. Not only of playing the game, but the hype that came with it. With Sakurai's next game being Kirby Air Riders, you know, it might be a while until we see Smash Bros. again or we may never see it again. And if we never do see it again, I'm glad it finished with Ultimate because I think it's just a perfect game and it's, yeah, my favorite Switch game. Yeah,

[01:09:41] pretty undeniable. They weren't kidding when they called it Ultimate. Although in Japan it's called, I want to say Special? I think it's Special. Yeah, Special. Which is not as catchy as Ultimate, I have to say. I think Ultimate is way better. I played it, it's slightly under Animal Crossing in terms of my most played game, but it lived up to expectations. It really is a dream game. It's hard to imagine this even exists. My award to Best Switch game, I gotta give it to Tears of the Kingdom, which we've talked about a lot. I kind of went into the game thinking, okay, this is not going to be as good as Breath of the Wild.

[01:10:11] If it's half as good as Breath of the Wild, I'll be satisfied. But it somehow managed to be better than Breath of the Wild. There's some things you cannot replicate from that first experience of playing Breath of the Wild, but Nintendo knows this and they built the game kind of understanding this idea in that, okay, you can't go home again, but instead we're going to introduce all these interesting mechanics and change the world in such amazing ways. Because if you think about it, making a brand new world is hard, but it's almost harder

[01:10:40] to remake it in a way that is fresh if you've played the original game for 100 plus hours. But somehow Nintendo did it and it's just a huge achievement and then you also had Aonuma saying, yeah, we finished it in 2022, but we were spending a year just for bug testing and just for polish. The scope of this game is unbelievable. Maybe in square footage, the biggest open world game, if you're counting where you can put Link's feet, but it's on like

[01:11:09] iPhone 2014 tech in terms of the Switch, it's really baffling how they were able to achieve this. And there's no glitches or no bugs when you're playing. Play Pokemon Scarlet and then play Tears of the Kingdom and tell me which game runs better. So Tears of the Kingdom is definitely my favorite Switch game. Yeah, that's my number two. If I wasn't allowed to choose Smash Bros. Ultimate, I would have chosen that. That's definitely my favorite adventure game. I think it's one of the best games Nintendo have ever made. And yeah, we would have to just say it's Nintendo's biggest game

[01:11:38] in terms of what you can do and the size of the world and just everything about it is so much fun. You know, I thought, how can you go up from Breath of the Wild and they did it. I'm very excited to play the Switch 2 edition. I got back into it recently in preparation for playing it again on Switch 2. So I'm very excited to revisit that world with the performance bumps. Oh yeah, I definitely want to check it out on Switch 2. I've been holding off after I saw the Direct because every now and then I'll pop in but then during the Direct they showed off

[01:12:08] the Switch 2 version. Even looking at it for three seconds I was 100% convinced. Like, wow, this is a huge step up. So next award, Best Pokemon and by Pokemon I mean Creature, the monster. So Dale, what is the best new Pokemon introduced during the Switch era? The best Pokemon introduced during this Switch era in my opinion is Pokemon number 1000, Golden Go. And I think that's because, you know, you and I, we both love Zelda, we both love

[01:12:37] Breath of the Wild and you can see Breath of the Wild's influence in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. It has a very similar open world that you traverse around the same way and I feel like Gimme Ghoul, the little coin monster is kind of like Pokemon's answer to Korok seeds. You know, you can hear them somewhere nearby and you've got to look for them and you find them and that act of finding all the Gimme Ghoul coins allows you to evolve Gimme Ghoul into Golden Go, Pokemon number 1000,

[01:13:08] which is just a golden coin monster that looks like a string cheese mascot. So for me, I just love everything about it. And then in the DLC, where you have the option to play as the actual Pokemon, surfing around is just so much fun as Golden Go traversing around on a skateboard made of coins. So yeah, he's my favorite. Yeah, that's a good pick. And if you remember, there's no national decks in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. So at first, you're kind of

[01:13:37] wondering, okay, what number Pokemon are these? And it wasn't until Pokemon Company released a video counting down the Pokemon, they revealed the numbers for the new Pokemon. And then people were wondering, is 1000 going to be a big deal or not? And then they revealed, oh, it's Goldingo, which makes sense because like you said in the game, the way you evolve him is that you have to collect 1000 Gimigool coins and then it evolves. So it is a very clever 1000 Pokemon. Yeah, and I think being made of gold and

[01:14:07] being made of coins just works well with the number 1000 as well. It's just great. I want to give it to another Pokemon from Scarlet and Violet. And this is kind of a newer one because it was introduced in the Scarlet and Violet DLC. I'm going to give it to Sinistcha. Sinistcha listeners, if you don't remember, it is the Matcha Pokemon. I don't know if we have a name for this type of Pokemon. A lot of people call them regional fakes. I don't think there's an official term. It's basically a new Pokemon that looks like an old Pokemon, but it's not that

[01:14:36] Pokemon. Like for example, Diglett and Wiglett are not the same family. They're different DNA, different Pokemon. And Sinistcha is kind of that version of the tea Pokemon in Sword and Shield. This is the Japanese tea Pokemon. I run her up with Polchageist, which is the unevolved version where it's the Chaide, or Natsume, where you keep the Matcha, and then it evolves into the Matcha Bowl, and then you've got the Chasen, the tool you use to stir the Matcha.

[01:15:07] Once upon a time, I used to study Sado, tea ceremony. And so I'm a huge fan of this art of Japanese tea ceremony, and I just love drinking Matcha. So the fact that they made a Matcha Pokemon is really cool, and it looks so awesome. Like the design is perfect. It's a ghost, it lives in a tea bowl, and it's got a little Chasen, it has like a hat. There's the Unremarkable form, and the Masterpiece form. And the only difference is that Masterpiece form has the stamp of the maker

[01:15:36] on the bottom of the Pokemon. It has a move and it just has a fun name. Yeah, I love it too. And I love that it's kind of like a response to the previous generation, how you had the English tea there, and that had the same concept where most of them were fake, but sometimes you get an authentic one. And I love how they kind of changed it into Japanese tea. I'd love to see more of that in the future with Pokemon. I always thought with Pokemon Legends,

[01:16:06] Arceus, they should have had a regional version of Honege that was shaped like a Katana. I was glad we got something like that in the form of this Macho Pokemon. So yeah, I love everything about it. Yeah, my only criticism is that all the names of this Pokemon and the English tea Pokemon are hard to remember and say because there's Sinistee and there's like Sinistee evolves into Poltegeist. Yeah, Poltegeist. Poltegeist. But then the Japanese version or like this Macho version, it's Polchageist

[01:16:35] evolves into Sinistcha. I don't know why they reversed it. It is so hard to remember. So I have like mini-Bulpedia pages open right now just so I can remember the name. Okay, so let's move on to the next category. Most underrated first-party game. So a game published by Nintendo. Dale, what's your pick? It's already come up in our discussion but it is MEO The Smiling Man Famicom Detective Club. I think when that game was first revealed we had that cryptic teaser and the internet

[01:17:05] just exploded thinking like, oh, what is this? It's like some Nintendo horror game and then a week later they had the reveal of, oh, it's a sequel to Famicom Detective Club and everybody just gave up and forgot about it and dismissed it at that point. I think marketing like that was a bit of a miscalculation on Nintendo's part. I think it turned a lot of people off but it is incredibly worth playing. Even if you haven't played any other Famicom Detective Club games, even if you don't like visual novels, I think it's just

[01:17:35] an excellent story and if you are even the slightest bit interested in Japanese culture, this would be a great game to get into. I can't think of any anime or manga or Japanese movie that really captures the aesthetics of late 80s rural Japan. I love going to rural Japan on trips here and it's just portrayed excellently in the game. the art, the music, the storytelling,

[01:18:04] it's just incredible and then the mystery itself is very compelling, very engaging and the ending is something that I still think about to this day. It is shocking, it is unexpected and I can't believe Nintendo of all companies allowed this to be made. Nintendo vet Yoshio Sakamoto one day just said I want to make a new Famicom Detective Club game. Nintendo said okay. There is absolutely no universe where a Famicom Detective game sells millions of copies

[01:18:34] and makes a lot of money but I'm so glad that we do get games like this. We get big games like Tears of the Kingdom but then Nintendo also sign off on smaller, weirder games like this that say something about the world. So I think it's 100% worth playing by everybody. Yeah, that's a really great point is that Nintendo definitely had some room to experiment or green light games that probably are not going to sell a lot of copies but again, I think the most

[01:19:04] important thing for them was that they needed new games coming out at a constant pace. It's great that Nintendo is willing to take these chances. Absolutely. What's your pick? My pick for most underrated first party game, I kind of teased it earlier but I'm going to give it to New Pokemon Snap which was my game of the year in 2021 believe it or not. I played Pokemon Snap on N64 and enjoyed it well enough but even as a little kid I understood that okay, this is kind of a limited game. There's not a whole lot to do. You play it once and then you're

[01:19:33] kind of done with it but New Pokemon Snap, they really took the idea of Pokemon Snap and built upon it in really interesting ways. It's a game that a lot of people forgot about even though it was something that people have wanted for years and years. I don't hear a lot of people reminiscing about New Pokemon Snap even though they should because essentially what New Pokemon Snap is is that it is a puzzle game. You're going into each level and you're trying to solve these puzzles so you can take the pictures of the Pokemon. If you go into the game thinking that

[01:20:03] this is a puzzle game I'm going into each level with a mission I want to do this, this, and this solve this puzzle by interacting with them in this way then you understand the game is much, much deeper than what's on the surface. It's not just taking silly pictures though you can do that if you just want to take silly pictures it's totally okay. And how they used the levels was just so smart because there's a day and night version and the day and the night version had different Pokemon. So even though they're kind of recycling the same area

[01:20:32] the night version will go in like a different route or you'll see a new Pokemon you didn't see in the day version. So it really adds a whole lot of replayability to even one level. They really used it in smart ways and there's so many cool levels. There's one where you go under the sea and you go into the ruins area where depending on how you interact with the stage the seasons are different. So this one level has one route is spring one route is winter one route is summer and there's

[01:21:02] another level where oh you're just in the front yard of the lab and then you can also go into the lab which is really a creative idea. There's so many challenges and puzzles and things to do it's really content rich while Pokemon snap on N64 you're done with it in like five hours and you've done everything. I've played it for over 40 hours and I haven't 100%ed it. I did get a picture of all the Pokemon but even with one Pokemon there's four stars you can get a one star picture two star picture three star picture four star picture

[01:21:31] and this is not based on composition it's based on the action they're doing so each Pokemon kind of has four puzzles associated with it which really adds a lot of replay value and a lot of content to the game and I think some people were like I don't like the star system or I took this really beautiful picture of this Pokemon why is it only two stars? That's fair but the game also lets you just take pictures of the Pokemon by yourself and you can even kind of reframe it or change the lighting and do all this other stuff after the fact

[01:22:01] so it's not super strict in terms of if you just want to take silly pictures you can but yeah I just really love New Pokemon Snap I think it's really underrated a few months after the game came out they just added two new levels for free with New Pokemon New Pokemon Snap listeners if you've never played it it's well worth your time what about you DL did you ever check out New Pokemon Snap? Oh yeah I did I loved it and I loved the free DLC that was a nice surprise if you want to experience a Pokemon game with voice acting you should give this one a go yeah it does have voice acting

[01:22:31] it's not something that they're willing to put in the mainline installments yet yeah I got super into it at the time I have a lot of nostalgia for the 64 one especially taking the cart down to Blockbuster and printing out the stickers and in an attempt to recapture that magic I actually have a Fuji Instax printer I remember just printing some photos that I took in Pokemon Snap and you know using them to decorate books to recapture that nostalgia it's an incredibly fun game I love it I haven't 100%ed it but I've done quite a lot

[01:23:00] and there is a lot to do in that game alright moving on best indie game if you had to pick one what is the best indie game on Switch yeah this is probably the hardest one to choose there's just been such a great variety of indies but the one that I always come back to the one that I just love to play and it's a game that years ago we never would have thought would be possible to come to a Nintendo platform as it was you know a Microsoft exclusive for a long time and that is Cuphead that's my favourite

[01:23:29] it kind of opened the doors for Microsoft to collaborate with Nintendo later getting Steve and Banjo-Kazooie and Smash Brothers and you know Cuphead got his own costume in Super Smash Brothers Ultimate too but I just love everything about Cuphead I love the art direction I love the music I've bought both of the art books I often listen to the soundtrack on Apple Music and the game itself it's so difficult and I love that I love difficult games I love games where I have to keep

[01:23:59] trying the same thing again and again and again for hours and get frustrated but I never quit I just love everything about that game the DLC is incredible too yeah I would love to see Studio MDHR do a sequel I don't know if that'll ever happen but yeah I love that game yeah that's another one of the many many shocking Switch releases is that oh Cuphead is coming to Switch I never thought that would happen but eventually it did sad to say I have never played Cuphead because it does look very very hard so I'm thinking

[01:24:29] maybe I should just skip it just watching it it's incredible animation it's really unbelievable yeah definitely one of the most aesthetically pleasing games there is all right for my best indie game this might be recency bias but it's the indie game I played most on Switch and it's one we talked about Bellatro which was my game of the year last year in the Switch era all my games of the year I do have a PlayStation 5 as well that I play sometimes but I mostly play on my Switch and every year since Switch came out my favorite game

[01:24:59] is a first party Nintendo game but that streak was broken with Bellatro I don't really need to explain what Bellatro is since you've played it and I'm sure many listeners have also played it but it's just such a genius idea I really like that it's focused on here's a point total you need to exceed the point total where in most roguelites it's you need to beat this boss so you are constantly running into the wall of I'm not good enough to beat this boss so what do I need to do but in Bellatro the game is built for you to just

[01:25:28] break the game there's so many crazy things you can do in the game other roguelites you're thinking about okay what's the best build how can I min-max it what do I need to do to beat this but here you have just so many different options to beat the game and it's just so fun to build your deck when I first cleared it I thought okay this is how you do it you do the two pairs that's what you focus on but the next time I beat it I had a totally different strategy and then I had a strategy where I only played high card

[01:25:58] where just playing one card every single time was way more powerful than playing a flush for example every time you play it you can do something totally crazy totally new and I think it's the perfect length for a run maybe what 15-20 minutes and you don't feel like it at all it just goes by in a flash so everything Bellatro did it's just so genius yeah Bellatro definitely my favorite indie on Switch yeah definitely up there for me I love it

[01:26:27] I've sunk a lot of time into it and it's one of those games you play it and you just forget everything else that's happening in the world your focus is solely on there and just when you play a high hand that gets a massive point total it's just like a rush of dopamine I can't believe I did that it's just incredible I find Bellatro is such a hard sell like if you show the trailer to someone they're probably going to think what is this it's a card game and I want to play this I was somewhat like that at the beginning very apprehensive but once I gave it a go

[01:26:56] I totally saw what all the hype was about all right our final award favorite Switch memory now this can be a moment from a game moment from outside of a game it can be anything related to the Switch so what's your favorite Switch memory something I already touched on actually it was Banjo-Kazooie getting revealed for Super Smash Brothers I remember that was I think June of 2019 back when E3 was still a thing it was about 1am I was watching the direct live in my apartment

[01:27:25] and as soon as that jiggy came out I just screamed just an absolute dream come true I'd always wanted to see Banjo-Kazooie and Smash Brothers and yeah as we mentioned earlier it's something that we would have thought would be impossible but the Switch generation has just been full of the impossible becoming reality and I think there's no greater example than Banjo-Kazooie Smash Brothers yeah that was definitely one of the highlights of the Switch era it was my most wanted character

[01:27:55] to see that it actually happened was amazing and playing him in the game is still pretty fun and I like his stage the music it was a perfect inclusion into Smash Brothers how about yours? so my favorite Switch memory this is going back all the way to 2017 but it's just something that really stuck with me it's a quest from Breath of the Wild playing Breath of the Wild totally obsessed with it at my desk at work I would write down what am I going to do when I get home in Breath of the Wild I'm going to go to this mountain I'm going to do this shrine

[01:28:25] I had a to-do list about what I'm going to do once I get back into the world of Hyrule so I was just totally obsessed with Breath of the Wild at the time and the easiest thing that you can do is what's the highest point in the game in Breath of the Wild it's Mount Lanayru so I thought okay I'm going to climb Mount Lanayru one day when you climb up there you see Nadra the blue dragon is covered in malice and it's in pain at the tip top of this mountain and this was not spoiled for me at all I had no idea

[01:28:54] that this was up here so just imagine you spend how many minutes first of all a lot of preparation because it's cold you need food you got to make sure your weapons are okay so you got to do a lot of prep and then climbing the mountain is kind of hard because it is icy and snowy and cloudy so it's hard to get up there and then when you finally get up there you see this gigantic dragon and it's just covered in these evil pustules that you have to break open and then once you free it you got to chase it down I don't want to say it's the best quest

[01:29:23] in Zelda but it's hard to duplicate that moment of when I climbed the mountain and I saw that dragon up there I had no idea it would be up there freeing Nadra from Breath of the Wild is probably my favorite moment from the Switch era it's a great memory and it's something that is just one of the best parts of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom is that your curiosity will always be rewarded it's like oh I see something it's the tallest mountain I'll climb it and then you get something like that

[01:29:53] that you didn't expect there are just so many moments like that in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom and I remember playing Pokemon Scarlet and Violet and not getting that feeling I remember climbing a mountain in Scarlet and Violet and there's like a little cave surrounded by a moat at the top of the mountain I think oh what's in here it's going to be something and it's just like a TM on the ground there's nothing in there so I would agree with you there just having those moments of curiosity in Breath of the Wild be rewarded

[01:30:23] yeah I definitely agree with you 100% so I think we can go ahead and wrap up putting it into everything I'm trying to think about what are some things that I just want to rattle off Yui Adagaki Japanese actress she was in many Switch ads in Japan and then she married Hoshino Gen which is a singer who was in the Super Mario 3D All-Stars ad so in Japan there was a Nintendo Kon was trending Kekkon is to marry in Japanese so these two people that were in separate Nintendo ads got married

[01:30:53] in Japan so that's just a weird thing that happened any other thing we didn't touch on that you want to mention any random Switch fact that you want to share oh it's so hard to compress eight years you're the favorite Joy-Con color I think we've done a oh Joy-Con color I never ended up owning it but the Tears of the Kingdom Joy-Cons those were pretty awesome I would have loved a set of those I like the Animal Crossing ones that are sea green and kind of light blue those are pretty cool oh yeah all right well on that super exciting note

[01:31:22] I think we can wrap up so that was our Switch retrospective we didn't get into everything but we got into quite a lot so listeners I hope you enjoyed looking back on the Switch era and we're going to look forward to the Switch 2 because Dale you won the Switch 2 lottery as did I I guess before we wrap up what was your reaction to seeing that you are a winner oh I was so excited I remember the website was crashing hard that day and I kept refreshing and finally the website worked and there was no message and I was just drifting off to fall asleep checked it one more time

[01:31:51] about 12 30 in the morning I saw one new message and I saw that I won screams in the same way I did when Banjo and Kazooie were revealed for Smash Brothers so yeah I felt very relieved that I'm not missing it at launch this time when I woke up I checked my email and then I was selected which was legitimately shocking but I think I talked about it before on a previous news segment if you applied for the multi-language Switch we had a much much better chance at getting it than the Japan only Switch so yeah very fortunate that

[01:32:21] we both will have Switch 2s very soon but in the meantime Dale where can people find you? Yeah find me on YouTube I've simplified my channel name to just DPG I haven't put out many videos recently but I did do one on Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition and with the Switch 2 coming out pretty soon I should have some videos on Mario Kart World Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour Donkey Kong Bonanza and anything else that I feel like playing Great and the links to everything are in the podcast description

[01:32:50] so listeners check out Dale's YouTube channel give him a like and subscribe so Dale once again thanks for joining me thank you it's a pleasure to be here as always Today's feature is on Edit Mode a Japanese apparel brand that has a long history with Nintendo you might not know them by name but if you're into Nintendo merch you've at least seen some of their shirts and they even sell some of their merch at Nintendo stores across Japan

[01:33:19] but if you're not in Japan they do have an online shop Edit Mode.jp so yes you do not need to come to Japan to nab some of their cool merch they were the first company to make Nintendo apparel in Japan with the first shirts hitting all the way back in 2002 Andy Robinson of VGC has an excellent article with the owner of Edit Mode about how they developed a relationship with Nintendo I'm not going to read the article verbatim it's well worth checking out but the origin definitely feels like something that couldn't happen today Edit Mode was founded

[01:33:48] by Masayaki Inami in Kyoto and Nintendo developers would sometimes come to his shop he saw one developer wearing a Nintendo shirt and Inami wanted one for himself however these shirts were only made in-house by Nintendo and not for distribution so the developer connected Inami with a member of Nintendo's licensing team in 1999 just imagine you're talking to somebody they say oh yeah I work for Nintendo do you want to talk to the licensing team it would never happen today and instead of hanging up the phone the licensing team

[01:34:17] actually listened to him and he was able to make a pitch to Nintendo about creating Nintendo branded apparel however this was easier said than done as Nintendo was incredibly strict with what they wanted displayed and it required a lot of back and forth Inami's big idea is that he wanted to display pixel graphics on the t-shirt meanwhile Nintendo was thinking that's not what the characters look like they look like the 2D art however Inami smartly understood that for players they connected stronger with the pixel graphics and it took nearly three years but Edit Mode

[01:34:47] eventually released their first shirt in 2002 it was a big hit and they've been a valued partner with Nintendo ever since their shop is in Kyoto and sadly I've never visited it but I have been to two pop-up shops right here in Tokyo that I'll talk about and I do own some Edit Mode merch as well I can't lie it is a little expensive so I don't have as much as I want but I guarantee you you will be able to find something of interest especially if you're an old school Nintendo fan they started off with t-shirts which I have to assume is still their most popular item

[01:35:16] but they also sell hats, hoodies, polo shirts, jackets if you can put it on your body they sell it the designs are fairly minimalistic and definitely geared more towards an adult audience but they do have some more vibrant and in-your-face designs as well especially for the Splatoon gear which accurately mimics the clothing from the actual game so thanks to Edit Mode you can become a real-life inkling their main sub-brand is called The King of Games and I'm not sure if all their clothing falls under this line or what determines

[01:35:46] if something is the King of Games or not but you'll often see this branding on their shirts instead of just the Edit Mode logo which by the way is a Triforce they even sell some of their clothing where the motif is the King of Games so it has kind of a meta level where you are wearing a shirt celebrating a shirt brand like I mentioned earlier there is a big emphasis on showcasing the pixel graphics on clothing I have a Duck Hunt hat from Edit Mode with a nice stitching of the green duck on the front and then a stitching of the laughing dog on the back they also have a purple duck version

[01:36:16] but which is the default duck from Duck Hunt Smash has the purple duck as the default but I always felt the green one was more prevalent and like Duck Hunt they often have a lot of merch for old school games Pro Wrestling Mahjong Donkey Kong Jr Nintendo isn't putting out new merch based on the Famicom Mahjong game but Edit Mode is if there's a first party NES game that you think is really underrated I bet Edit Mode has some merch of it they also collab with non-Nintendo developers like Namco and Sega but Nintendo stock is far more abundant

[01:36:45] now I haven't been to their home base in Kyoto but I have been to two pop-up shops right here in Tokyo first one was in 2023 at Tobichi which is the official store for Hobonichi here in Tokyo and yes I will do a feature on this store one day as they do sell some Earthbound merch of course at this pop-up event you could buy a lot of their shirts and oh by the way the boxes the shirts come in are really nice and they try to mimic the box art of whatever game the design is from so the box itself is kind of like a collector's item

[01:37:15] but beyond that at Tobichi the pop-up shop was to celebrate Edit Mode's 20th anniversary so they had a ton of old school Nintendo merch on display and some even for sale I'm talking about stuff from the 80s and 90s that you wouldn't even find at Nakano Broadway a ton of Mario figures old school Donkey Kong plushies like Pre-Tai Street Fighter 2 pin badges Mega Man pencils it was a really awesome exhibit of under the radar game merch and I believe these items are on permanent display inside their Kyoto store

[01:37:45] so it was great to see them ship some of their items all the way to Tokyo at least for a little bit I bought a rubber Bulbasaur keychain and this is kind of the mean looking squinty eyed Bulbasaur you saw in generation 1 and this is easily one of my favorite pieces of game merch that I own the second Edit Mode pop-up shop was the next year but this time in Shibuya Parko so a bit easier to get to this is more of your typical merch pop-up shop but they still had some of the decorations I saw the previous year they even had one of my most wanted items the gold Mario statues that used to decorate

[01:38:14] the Famicom sections in Japanese retail stores and people have contacted me and said hey you can just buy it on Mercari right now but everyone I see is just so beat up even the ones here were a little beat up but they look better than most when I see the condition I want trust me I'll buy it it was at this pop-up shop where I got my duck hunt hat and the clerk was trying to explain the other hats and was like this one is Donkey Kong Jr. listen I know you're trying to be helpful but come on I know who Donkey Kong Jr. is

[01:38:44] so that's Edit Mode in a nutshell a really amazing story about how one Nintendo fan managed to combine his passions of fashion and video games to become the apparel brand for Nintendo it took literally years to get one simple t-shirt out on the market but now it is a staple for Nintendo fans in Japan Miyamoto Aonuma they've all worn Edit Mode shirts I'm thinking about the merch that is now in Nintendo Tokyo and they have a lot of deep cuts and really obscure designs for example recently they put out a merch line based on the

[01:39:13] Mario Hanafuda cards and this is something that would never have happened maybe 20 or 25 years ago but I think Edit Mode is really a pioneer in terms of making really interesting artistic Nintendo designs for apparel so do you want something from Edit Mode well you can buy them online at editmode.jp Nintendo Tokyo also sells some of the shirts I know they have the Edit Mode Metroid shirt in stock but the online store has many more items I am very interested to go to their Kyoto shop it'll definitely be on the agenda next time I head over there

[01:39:43] so stay tuned for Edit Mode Part 2 this time I'm there that's it for the feature let's look at some news we are less than three weeks away from Switch 2 and marketing is ramping up a bit here in Japan train billboard ads are up commercials are running including two new Mario Kart ads with the boy band Snowman not Snowboy but Snowman I don't know where Yui Adagaki is but I'm sure she will come back

[01:40:12] I do think the advertising in Japan is a little muted I'm thinking back to the big first party game launches like Tears of the Kingdom and Pikmin 4 which had a lot of different collabs with other companies honestly the launch for the new console doesn't seem any bigger than any random first party game but Nintendo did state that they planned to spend 966 million dollars next fiscal year on Switch 2 advertising I think the strategy for now is that the first wave is to sell to hardcores then a major ramp up during the holiday season you could easily argue

[01:40:42] Switch 2 needs zero advertising for day one it'll definitely ride on hype from hardcores of which there are now plenty game stores also don't have a lot of displays for Switch 2 up yet there is typically an area with printed out posters explaining what games you can pre-order and the lottery information but I haven't seen any decorations or physical game boxes just yet I think those will likely be put up around two weeks before launch and we got the latest quarterly financial briefing from Nintendo Switch has topped 152 million units sold so 1.26 million in the last quarter which was from

[01:41:12] January to March it could crawl to 160 million but it would likely need Nintendo to focus on markets where Switch isn't as prevalent or get a price cut which honestly seems less likely considering the global economic situation Xbox recently raised their prices and PS5 will probably be next so don't get your hopes up for say a $150 Switch 1 as for new games Donkey Kong Country Returns HD past a million units sold because why not Echoes of Wisdom is at $4 million

[01:41:41] which is about on pace with Link's Awakening though I doubt it will hit that game 6.5 million units like Link's Awakening did and Mario Party Jamboree is at above $7 million which makes it the fastest selling Mario Party yet I do wonder about its legs since Nintendo is pushing the Switch 2 version as a major release so we will see how many people buy on that version who maybe skipped it on Switch 1 I can't imagine a new Mario Party next year so I can see a lot of people who maybe bought the first Super Mario Party and then nothing since jumping on this new version

[01:42:10] as for the future Nintendo predicted 15 million Switch 2's sold the first fiscal year which seems pretty conservative for example Switch 1 sold 15 million its first year but Nintendo is in a far better position than they were in 2017 and the number of early adopters is going to be way more this time around but again global economic situation they need to convince people to upgrade from Switch 1 to 2 I can easily see it passing the 15 million forecast but it might not be by some astronomical amount

[01:42:40] like 17 million year 1 is more likely than 25 million year 1 there are just too many outside factors affecting Switch 2's production this time around to make me think it'll be just one year of smooth sailing but I 100% believe that it will top 15 million last bit of news the next Mario movie is maybe called Super Mario World NBC Universal used this name in a press release then promptly removed it but that's probably what it's called right the first movie ended with these strange tease of Yoshi in New York but we already

[01:43:09] saw Yoshi earlier in the film and where was that were they on Dinosaur Island I don't think it will literally be an adaptation of the game but instead it will have a greater emphasis on globetrotting to other parts that are not the Mushroom Kingdom I'm still sticking with my prediction that Wario and Waluigi are antagonists this time around Mario and Luigi go to a new land they get thrown in jail due to a case of mistaken identity since some other ruffians in very similar clothing have been causing trouble hire me illumination

[01:43:38] but until I get hired by them let's wrap it up thanks as always for listening be sure to like and subscribe to this podcast on your favorite app leave a five star review as well it really helps this podcast is also available on YouTube so like and subscribe there as well I'm on Blue Sky Twitter, Threads, Instagram just search for Tokyo Game Life or find the links in the podcast description if you like the podcast be sure to share it with your friends on social media the next episode will be on June 1st the last episode before Switch 2 this time for real

[01:44:08] see you next time matane