I need a new game, one filled with side quests but with a really decent central plot. I love Stray, Old Skies (really ANYTHING by Wadjet Eye Games), Bioshock 1&2 and Breath of the Wild - I couldn't get along with Tears of the Kingdom, Outer Wilds or Fall Out.

Please send help!

It's so unfair that you can't refund a game 48 hours after purchase or even 24 hours. I just downloaded body cam shooter complete warfare because I was looking for a new shooter game and Google recommended it. It was the first one that came up, I clicked on it the photos looked good, watched some gameplay and decided to purchase for £14.96 with a £15 gift card. Played after 20 minutes of waiting and it was wank. Wasted money. I hate this stupid policy if I didn't like an item from a shop I can refund it with a receipt why am I forced to sign away my rights to a refund 😔😢 I just want my gift card money back bro it's awful it's genuinely unplayable 😿🥲

This is a random question.. but I feel that previous consoles were pretty consistent with the A button being the only button to open games. But the switch specifically, is when I really noticed that shit was all over the place. Games like the Splatoom series and Mario Party series all use L+R/ZL+ZR to start their game while games like Princess Peach Showtime and Smash series use A button to start their game

I used specifically Nintendo exclusive ip’s as examples because I can kind of understand if non-fully Nintendo games missed the memo or smth… I have a friend who finds it slightly more straining on her hands to use ZL+ZR to open games (she’s disabled) and I find it weird using A button to open games, or god forbid the other 3 buttons

I was surprised to recently learn that Xenoblade X already released on the Switch a year ago, which I somehow completely missed. I played the game back in the day on the Wii U and loved it, it was a super complex and unique game. I assumed it would make a big splash whenever the rerelease happened and sell many times as many copies as it did while confined to the Wii U, but looking it up, it doesn't seem to have done all that much better compared to its sales on its former console with ~1/10th of the user base. Why not?

Standard "I'm actually a good parent" disclaimer: he gets an hour of screen time a day. He spends most of his day playing with toys, with friends, with his brother, with us. We read plenty of books every night. My thought with this purchase was playing video games feels more mentally stimulating than just watching TV during that hour.

For his fourth birthday, I got him an original Switch. Long story short, he has the skills to use it...but the amount of practice it would take to use it unattended is longer than his screen time allotment will allow. He can navigate an ipad as well as I can so I was hopeful some of that skill would translate. To some degree it did. He's gentle with the device, understands menus, knows what a video game is, etc. But graduating from a touch screen to a controller is a huge leap. I don't totally regret the purchase but I wanted to set expectations for any other parents considering at this age.

Single Player

Tried out the Bluey and PAW Patrol games. PAW Patrol World is a game he does well at on the iPad. The same game on the Switch was a dud. I sat down with him the whole time teaching him how to the use the analog stick. He sort of got it but it sucked all the fun out of the game for him. If he spent 20 hours with it I'm sure he'd be a pro but again the screen time limits conflict with that.

Bluey: The Videogame was...harder than I expected? The intro was perfect for him. Walk around a room, follow the arrow, hit the Y button when the Y button appears on the screen. He got stuck in corners sometimes but he always got himself out. But after the little house tutorial, doing the levels he had no shot. There are jumping puzzles that even I screwed up once or twice.

Overall I could tell he was bored by the games he was actually capable of playing. It'll probably be a few months before he's really capable of playing any sort of single player game, even with Dad over the shoulder.

Multiplayer

Ran the gauntlet of community recommendations. LEGO Star Wars, Bluey: The Videogame, Mario Kart, and gave Cars 3 a shot.

Mario Kart went okay. If I'm being honest this was the main reason for getting the Switch. Mom and Dad can actually play a fun game while he gets the autosteer. A nice little family activity. A year ago we had this experience at a friends' house. But a year makes a lot of difference for a kid. Now at four years old I think he could sense that he was sort of getting the "playing with an unplugged controller" experience. When he really got to steer he was just slamming into the wall and once again he kind of got the sense he wasn't making any progress. I'm sure we could make this one work in time but I'd probably have to demote my role to a cheerleader and intentionally slow down my racer right next to his and bump into each other for fun. Cars 3 was pretty much the same experience.

LEGO Star Wars was disappointing. It was just me and him doing co-op. 5 minutes in there was a task that required, you know, cooperation. Not a chance in a hell. He didn't like this one anyway because it required the right stick to move the camera.

Bluey: The Videogame was about as good as it got for the weekend. For the walking around tasks I let him lead and told him how to follow the arrow and jump and whatnot. When it got to a task he struggled with I could have my character do it. But it was hard to balance learning how to play video games with actually having fun. He'd laugh at the parts where the characters "touched hot lava" and did a little tippy-toe dance. If we just spent all day doing that he probably would have more fun than actually progressing in the game.

Watch Dad play

Bluey's Quest For The Gold Pen and Pokémon™: Let’s Go, Pikachu. This Bluey game was basically The Legend of Zelda with Bluey characters so it's definitely a game for older kids. I basically just played it while he watched. I'd go where he told me to go. When there was a discrete task "press X to dig" I'd hand him the controller. If there was a fun element I'd hand the controller to him to play with it. He liked bouncing on the trampolines and falling into the water to get turned into a bubble. This was the most fun he had with the Switch all weekend.

Pokemon was just something I wanted to play myself. I let him name the characters (Red: [My son's name]; Rival: "Dad"; Pikachu: "Pokemon"). I hammed up any move I was making "Thunder Shock!!!". I let him flick the joycon to catch a pidgey. He liked looking at the map. I read all the text aloud and added context if needed. It was certainly better than watching TV.

Summary

• No concern about destroying the device but YMMV
• Can't use analog stick but learning quickly
• Easy games are boring even for a 4 year old
• Multiplayer games aren't just an adult playing normally and ignoring the kiddo. Gotta adjust your play style to include them. I.e. go way slower.
• Bonding time is real. If you treat this like this any other activity and actually include them, try to teach them things.
• Unattended single player time from the get-go is unrealistic. Maybe in a few months that'll change.

It is the first time my brain keeps going in circles over a remake, and it is due to one single reason. I have no idea what the Ocarina of Time remake will look like, will it preserve the original aesthetic? Will it overly increase the map size? What will the gameplay be like? Traditional Zelda or newer Zelda?

Most of the remakes I have seen in the past few years are quite cookie cutter because there are clear quality of life changes that must be addressed, but of Ocarina of Time I can think of none, besides different controller layout, better graphics and frame-rate and that is about it.

I am sure Nintendo will absolutely ace it, I am just thrilled to see what they came up with though.

What do you guys think it will look like?

I've read that the Pro 1 HD Rumble is kinda weak, so is there a controller with hall effect, good hd rumble and no input lag? Or should I just go for a Nintendo Pro controller and mod the sticks if they ever get drift?

Or maybe get a Pro 2 for the Switch 2 and a cheap controller for the switch 1?

Hey everyone! Edmund here! Tyler Glaiel ( u/glaiel-gamer ) and i made a video game called Mewgenics ( its about cats ) that is launching on Switch 2 Sept 8th! ( TOMORROW!)

ASK US ANYTHING!

we will attempt to answer as many questions we can starting 10am pt to 12noon!

xoxo

-Edmund

ps: u/zombolis from Nicalis is also roaming the comments helping out too!