It's a thread! (Games discussion, etc.)

[Arizona]

The NSO expansion isn't so bad if you're on a family plan with all the slots filled, which is how I'm going to get access to it...but obviously you can't expect everyone to be able to do that, or even understand how that works.

I almost feel like this is some kind of test on Nintendo's part to force you to make friends, like Pokemon Red and Blue.

[Moge]

The combined price of NSO + the expansion pak is just too much given how infrequent Nintendo updates their library (which is quarterly i think). The price will be easier to swallow once the library grows, but until then, hard pass. Looking forward to getting my hands on a NSO N64 Controller. Nintendo rereleasing updated retro hardware is undeniably awesome. I see so many in the retro scene salivate in getting one. Super pumped to see what Ninty would do with a possible updated Gamecube controller in the distant future.

I'm surprised Metroid Dread has gotten an overwhelmingly reception. After Other M flubbing hard, i was nervous, but i'm glad to see the series become relevant again after so long. Will definitely have to pick it up sometime.

[Arizona]

I nearly didn't get it because I thought Samus Returns 3DS was an abomination, but the hype got to me. I'm glad it did - they fixed the problems with SR (mostly) and it's a pretty good Super Metroid-esque game. That probably sounds weird to say, but it's the closest an official Metroid has been to feeling like Super since back then. Although that said, I do hope for any sequel they change things up and don't just try to repeat themselves.

Its two biggest problems are lack of D-pad controls (less of a problem for me since I like the short throw joycons, but it really should've been an option)...and lack of control options in general. They make you do a lot with the shoulder buttons in ways that can get confusing sometimes.

[JG]

Super Metroid was great and the first Metroid Prime was great. Since then the series has slid downhill. Prime 2 was a little less impressive than the first, and Prime 3 much worse than either. Fusion was okay I suppose but not quite Super Metroid and the small screen size didn't help. Zero Mission and Samus Returns were just remakes with new paint and extra content - in fact too much in the case of Samus Returns because the game bogs down so much trying to get from point A to distant point B without dying. Add in the "hunted" aspect of Dread and the need to run past all the pretty landscapes just to get to safety and I'm just not sold on it. If its surprisingly cheap on Black Friday I might get it, and by next year's Black Friday it might well be, but I just don't see it as a marquee game like Super Metroid and Metroid Prime were. It's going to win Nintendo Game of the Year awards - but its competition this year has been very lacking.

I thought Other M wasn't half bad. I didn't think the controls were all that good and it didn't feel as sharp as Super Metroid and Metroid Prime, but it was a good deal better than Prime 3 and Zero Mission. It got negative reviews because people wanted it to be Metroid Prime 4, and it wasn't. It wanted to do much more storytelling, something the first several Metroids almost totally avoided and the Prime series only partially covered through the use of artifacts and computer terminals. I liked the fact we got backstory for Samus and she wasn't just a faceless, spiritless, solo Bounty Hunter as she is in just about every other game. I'm sad not everyone else appreciated the game for what it was - and mostly disliked it for what it was not. Behind the first Metroid, Super Metroid, and Metroid Prime it is easily the fourth most important game to play in the series in my opinion. Not fourth best, but fourth most worthy of playing to know the story.

Agreed that Nintendo needs to go to monthly updates. Microsoft and Sony give two or three games every month (and much newer ones at that) - Nintendo going three months between updates is not as attractive, and only three or four games each time (averaging barely over one month.) Plus, higher frequency would help smooth over "unimpressive" updates. Last quarter's update was Bombuzal, Claymates, and Jelly Boy for SNES - none of which are particularly memorable titles for the system. (I hadn't even heard of Bombuzal, or at least didn't remember it, and I was a Nintendo Power subscriber at the time it would have come out.) I worry that the addition of many N64 and Genesis titles next week will leave the NES and SNES with nothing new.

Nintendo could also do more with the free trials for NSO members. At least once a month they should offer up some game of their own that is aging a bit and not just rely on third parties. I tried the third party Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town a few weeks back. Didn't like it, but I'd heard it was similar in some ways to the DQB series (only partially) so I welcomed the chance to see for myself. I think Animal Crossing or New Pokemon Snap would be a great choice for a trial in the next few weeks, as these games (especially Animal Crossing) are likely to be Black Friday deals and if you can interest people now, you might make more sales at end of November than you would otherwise. If the trials are a week long then Nintendo should have a trial a week, to always keep something in the loop. A trial and then two or three weeks without one is missing out on valuable advertising space.

Speaking of Black Friday we'll be seeing the big ads come out in the next two weeks.

[Moge]

Pictures of the NSO N64 Controller. Quite different in numerous ways.





Unlike Nintendo's other NSO controllers, this one has rumble.

[Arizona]

I like that tiny orphan ZR button.

[JG]

A little worried about hitting the Home button with trying to reach ZR but otherwise looks solid. I'll let you know next week when mine arrives - they are back in stock today

Not sure I'd upgrade to NSO deluxe yet, but I hope I can try it out on last year's Super Mario 3D All Stars' Mario 64 to see how well it compares.

[JG]

Thoughts on the N64 controller now that I've got one (yes, it did arrive by ninth business day). I have not yet had a chance to play a game with it yet - it needs to charge up.

It looks and reacts absolutely perfectly. If you were to cut off the cable and avoid picturing the top or underside, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference to an original except that originals have a pinhole in the middle of the joystick and the Switch version does not. Joystick, d-pad, and buttons all seem to give the same resistance and feel, too.

ZR button isn't as hard to reach as I thought for someone with hands as big as mine, though smaller hands (children) will have a hard time reaching it in the middle of a game. The bigger problem I see is that if your finger lays right across the top of the R shoulder button, moving it along the same direction onto the top plate takes you right to the Home button, not ZR. Not that Home shouldn't be easy to reach either, but ZR should certainly be the easier of the two. Bad design in my opinion - ZR should be where Home is and the Home and Snapshot buttons moved further towards the bottom.

Significantly more unbalanced than I expected. The N64 controller is notoriously light for its huge size, only 6.5 ounces (on my scale.) With a memory pak its 7.5 and with a rumble pak its 10. The Switch version weighs in at 8.3. But all its batteries (and presumably rumbler as well) are all the way up front where the memory or rumble pak would go, making it forward heavy. It feels about as badly balanced as the original with a rumble pak. I think Nintendo could have done better to balance the weight more evenly. With better balance and avoiding touching the top, it would be almost indistinguishable in the hands thanks to what I said above about joystick, d-pad, and button resistance. Instead I worry its going to be a bit carpal-tunnel inducing on the wrists.

Comes with a USB-C cable. If you've already got one (say, from a wireless Switch Pro Controller) you won't need it to charge.

Would be nice if it came in more colors than just gray. I have an original gray and a blue. If I wanted more than one N64 controller, I'd like them to be distinct colors. The whole multi-color thing started with N64, before they did it for Gameboy Colors, most of the DS/3DS models, and now Switch and Joycons. Maybe thats the plan but given the newness and limited supply they're only producing them in the most common (and probably most desirable) color. Maybe sometime next year they'll expand the options.

[JG]

These early Black Friday deals Walmart and Best Buy keep throwing out are worrisome. If they're going to hold their ground on pricing guarantees, that means the following games will not be getting anticipated discounts if Best Buy's offers are typical:
Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is full price. Not a big surprise given its a 2021 title, but as a remake I thought it would get some kind of discount.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe will be $43.99. That's very underwhelming for a 4 year old game (and basically a port of a 7 year old game.)
Animal Crossing New Horizons at $50.99. This a real surprise. With several top-tier Nintendo published games going as low as $30 last year I was certain Animal Crossing would be amongst that group this year. Particularly with the DLC bonus being offered for NSO.

I'm sure we'll see typical junk like Just Dance, Family Feud, and Carnival Games be cheap again, but so far the outlook is not nearly as bright as it was last year when all the stores had several pretty good titles under $40. Best Buy and Gamestop both had Luigi's Mansion 3, Mario Maker 2, and Link's Awakening for just $39.99. Target had the same three plus New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe and Splatoon 2 at that price. Walmart had all five at just $30 plus Fire Emblem: Five Houses, Mario Tennis Aces, Mario & Sonic Olympic Games, and Yoshi's Crafted World. I'm really surprised to not see Mario Kart and Animal Crossing join those groups. Unless one of them does Animal Crossing to spite Best Buy into making major refunds.

Best guess is the Switch specials will unfortunately revolve around the same ones from last year, but add Bravely Default 2 and Balan Wonderworld to the rotation since they are SquareEnix games and SE always cuts the prices at Black Friday. PS4 will feature FF7 Remake, Balan Wonderworld, and Kingdom Hearts stuff for same reason, though I'd like to see a deal on Ghost of Tsushima myself. Xbox will have.. not much of anything that isn't available on the other platforms since they don't squat for exclusives (yet.) Some of the PS5 and Series X/S games will come down $10 to $20 though (Its already known Spider-Man Miles Morales will be $50.)

[Moge]

You're playing FF VI rather early. Not gonna wait for the Pixel Remaster?

The Black Friday deals look rather ho-hum. Might not actually buy anything this year. Last year i bought an Xbox Series controller for $40, but they're priced consistently higher now even when going on sale.

Man, i can't wait to get an NSO N64 controller. Every impression i've seen so far has been positive. Since i couldn't get one those things, i decided to buy a new Pro Controller. Might be on my 6th or 7th Pro Controller? Each time i get a new one i sell off my old one. The reason i do that is because Nintendo updates the controller every year, but in rather subtle ways that the general gaming populace will not notice. The latest Pro Controller i got has a much nicer plastic shell than previous iterations (especially the first).

[JG]

After playing some of the SNES and NES games on NSO I got the urge to replay FF4. I really only wanted to play FF4 to finally get around to playing FF4: The After Years which I've had on my tablet for several years now and never touched. Instead, I moved on to FF6. Playing on PC via emulator. Not really challenging myself - just visiting old friends. I've done a lot of that this year, between the first Bravely Default, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Skyward Sword, Super Mario Galaxy, Duke Nukem 3D, and many of the NSO games, as there really hasn't been many new games of interest this year. (Bravely Default 2 and the surprisingly welcome Fire N Ice have been just about the only new experiences this year.)

I did manage to finally conquer Zelda 2 a few weeks back as well. I'd tried that one on emulator a few times as well but its such a grindfest, even with save states and the like. The NSO's SP version that starts you off at level 8 health, level 8 magic, and level 8 attack really speeds things along and lets you focus entirely on conquering the temples, caves, and other dungeon-like elements, without ever having to bother to level up (i.e., more like all the other Zelda games.) It turns a 100 hour grinding slog into a more enjoyable 10-15 hour game. I got to Shadow Link a few times, but couldn't ever beat him, on original hardware, so I don't think using the SP springboard or making use of save states was all too much a cheat. Its also the very first game I got for myself so it holds a special place in my heart. My brother and I got an NES Power Set (with its trio of Super Mario, Duck Hunt, and Track & Field) late summer 1989 after moving to a new city and our dad rewarded us for putting up with a difficult move in mid-childhood. A few months later, near my brother's birthday we each got to choose an additional game at the Toys R Us (they had some special to get a second game half off or something, which would never happen these days.) I choose Zelda 2, which was a poor choice in retrospect; the first would have been better. (I can't recall which game my brother got for his birthday but it was likely either Contra or Dragon Warrior. I just remember being shocked it wasn't RC Pro Am, which he played at our neighbors all the time before the move.)

Speaking of old games that tug on the heart strings, Alex Kidd in Miracle World got a remake this year but I'd like to see a sale on it as I'd rather play the original in an emulator than fork over $30-$35 for the new one. Its the very first home video game I ever played. Our best friend when young got a Master System for Christmas in 1987 (the neighbor with the NES got it sometime in 1988 as I recall) and his games were Ghostbusters and Alex Kidd in Miracle World (along with the obligatory pack-in games Hang-on and Safari Hunt). We'd usually just watch him play, but on occasion he'd give us a chance and I wanted to play Alex Kidd the most.  I'd played a Ms Pac-Man arcade machine at the roller skating rink at some birthday parties held there for classmates and such (the only arcade machine they owned), and maybe another arcade game here and there, but Alex Kidd was the first time I remember having a choice of what to play, sitting down doing it, and not having to pay to do it.


Controllers (especially Microsoft's) are always cheap that first Black Friday. They flood the market with them but don't have enough consoles so stores are stuck with a lot of controllers that they just can't get rid of until the console sales catch up.

Somewhat related, I bought a new 360-style controller for my PC just last week: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08CN7DJ1J/
While playing I was, once again, aggravated by my 10-year old or so Microsoft corded model's cord that has a horrible tendency to tangle up. A few times it kept pulling my hand down and to the left (where the PC sits) while playing and I'd have to pause and try to stretch out the cord only for it to do it again after a short while. I finally decided I was done with this and decided to buy a cordless model. I'd have bought a Microsoft original but those are so long out of stock that they are easily $100 or more. This knockoff feels perfect though the buttons have a loud spring under them - which I hope goes away after a bit more use. For just $20 and tax I guess I'll settle for it being a bit noisy rather than having a cord actively trying to yank it out of my hands. I wish it had a manual on/off button to save battery lifetime though. It finally turned off on its own but I don't know how long it took. (10 minutes would be my guess.)

Regarding my experience with the NSO N64 Controller, it played Mario 64 in the All-Stars flawlessly. Except for screen prompts saying to press + instead of Start (which is maybe something Nintendo should patch), the help screen showing joycons (rather than the N64 controller itself or even the Pro Controller as it does when that's used) and likely some other places where it'll give Switch button labels instead of N64 it was solid while in game. However it has a fatal flaw at the system menu: you can't ever close a running game using it. To do so requires pressing X, and the N64 doesn't have an X button (or Y). It has the 4 arrow buttons instead, and the system menu interprets these as left, right, up, and down so no button is ever mapped to X. After pressing Home to return to menu the only real choice you have is to reenter the game with A or checking options with Start (which maps to +). Unfortunately, Options menu doesn't give a choice to close software like it probably should, so you really need another controller standing by. The N64 controller alone just isn't capable of fully controlling the Switch OS. I suspect a future OS update will allow you to close games with Z, but as of today its a serious oversight and I'm shocked no one at Nintendo's done anything about it.

I didn't even know Nintendo updated their Pro Controllers yearly. They certainly don't advertise new versions like Microsoft does about every other year. Mine is perhaps 3 years old. I went a good year using the joycons attached to the grip, but it would hurt my hands after a few hours and had to cave in and get the Pro Controller. Its a very good controller, certainly better than the joycon grip, and obviously better than the Sony monstrosity, but not as good as the Xbox 360 or Xbox One controllers, particularly in the shoulder buttons. Unless that's something greatly improved upon in the last few years. Not that it would be enough for me to buy a new one.

[JG]

These early Black Friday deals Walmart and Best Buy keep throwing out are worrisome.

Couple more Nintendo first/second party titles not as cheap as expected, per today's Walmart sale:
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze @ $43.99
Kirby: Star Allies @ $44.99
Given these are about the same price as the Mario Kart 8 price at Best Buy, this may be a target price Nintendo has set this year. Disappointing if last year's games were $30 or $35.

Equally concerning is Spider-Man: GOTY edition. I got this for $14.99 at Best Buy's Black Friday in 2019 and Walmart has priced it $29.49 this year. That's going the wrong direction. I hope this is not an indication of a trend this year.

[JG]

Can get Mario+Rabbids for $9.99 today though. So some hope yet. Although this is one of the oldest Switch third party games and a sequel coming out next year, so I figured it would be cheaper than the normal $19.99. I was thinking a more modest $14.99 or $12.99 though.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/mario-rabbids-kingdom-battle-nintendo-switch/5909500.p?skuId=5909500

[Moge]

Bravely Default 1 is a real slog, but i still love it despite it's massive flaw of too much repeated content. You should seek out Bravely Second since it's a direct continuation of the first game's story.

I don't remember which came first, but either Zelda 1 or Mario 2 became the first game my parents bought me. We had a Mario/Duck Hunt NES bundle. This is the first time i've ever noticed you going back to playing so many retro games at once. In my case, my obsession with retro games in modern times began when i hacked my original Xbox and loaded it up with emulators.

I'm surprised you went out of your way to get a dedicated PC controller. You already have controllers that'll work fantastically on PC: the XBone, Dualshock 4, and the Pro Controller. If you value a decent dpad then i high recommend picking up a new Pro Controller, but if that's not a problem to you then there's not much reason to upgrade.

[JG]

I've got Bravely Second but never played it. Reviews indicated it wasn't nearly as good as the first.

Zelda 1 was a few years before SMB2.  SMB2 was the first video game to suffer launch rarity - which isn't so much a problem for games anymore but consoles it remains a serious issue. I remember we were looking for SMB2 well into spring 1990. It was always sold out at Toys R Us,  Kay-bee, Babbages, and Electronics Boutique. It was the game I wanted most for Christmas and then again for my birthday, and came up empty both times (though Mega Man II for one of the two was a great substitute.) We eventually found a copy (sans instruction booklet) at an independent video/game rental store, whose worker that day foolishly let us buy it at face value (i.e., $50) I later ordered an instruction booklet from Nintendo to complete the set. So unless you got a NES set in 1990 or later, I'd wager your first additional game was Zelda.


I don't know if $20 is going out of my way. I already had the wired Xbox 360 controller (and I still think Xbox 360 has the most comfortable feel ever, with the Xbox One a small step back.) I just got tired of the cord twisting up.

Now I'm dealing with a new problem - Steam insists its a PS3 controller and has now rotated all the buttons 90 degrees. I can't figure out how to make Steam treat an Xbox360-type controller as if it were an Xbox 360 controller, instead of something unrelated. I've seen tricks such as going into Steam Big Picture and choosing a config there, but it seems not every game respects that choice. I need Steam core to treat it as Xbox 360, not just Big Picture. I just don't know why Big Picture gives you choices that Steam core does not, when Steam core is where the config needs to be applied. I worry I might need to reconnect the wired controller just to play some of the Steam-based games correctly.

My PC doesn't have a bluetooth adapter which is needed for XBox One, PS4, and Switch Pro Controllers. I considered getting an adapter but reasoned I'd pay a bit more for the comfort of an Xbox 360 style. I might yet resort to that option though if I can't solve this Steam config issue. I'll probably use a PS4 controller as my PS4 has been struggling over the last few months with random shutdowns and I've got two of them. I'd like to wait until there's a game I've got to have on PS5 first (and increased likelihood of a black model), but I may have to jump into the pool before I'm totally prepared. (I could use the more comfortable Xbox One controller but probably not until after I've completed Halo 6. And since I only have the one Xbox One controller it'll have to be sold with the Xbox One console whenever that happens whereas having two PS4 controllers gives me some leeway.)

I was huge in the emulator scene back in the late 90s. I even contributed code to some of the developers, particularly for Game Boy as I cracked a lot of the ROM header information revealing developer/producer codes. That was sort of the golden age of emulation, as we had some older computers and older Arcade games, and simpler consoles like Game Boy and Master System, while NES was maybe half-way there (some games worked and some did not.) Basically it was 8-bit only with a few 16-bit arcade games. I saw the first emulations of Genesis and SNES, the refinement of NES to near perfection, and then leaps to things like Capcom System 1 and NEO-GEO (despite being 16-bit its ROMs were comparatively huge.) By the time I sort of fell out of it, some 32-bit systems were coming along like the original Playstation. I even discovered the VIPER series, via VIPER-BTR, though PC-9801 emulation circa 2000.

The NSO games have kind of rekindled an interest a bit. I especially like the fact of how easy it is to create and reload save states by pressing L+R together. PC emulators make you press the keyboard: tolerable but not as easy. I also bought the NES and SNES Classics a few years back, but the original controllers aren't as comfortable as my Pro Controller so I never really used them to their fullest. I also bought Rare Replay, which has a similar savestate system. The big problem I have with these, and I know its due to licensing issues, is that they all have a fixed library: I'd love to see an NSO that gave the option of adding additional games for 50 cents or $1. I know the original Contra and Bionic Commando are two I'd have to have for NES.

Part of the renewed interest in older games is because there have been very few worthwhile new games this year. I was playing Hyrule Warriors; Age of Calamity into the first week of January, followed by the surspringly short Trials of Mana, then I went through Bravely Default again to prepare for BD2 in February-March. By summer I was investing time in things like DQ11 S, Skyward Sword, and most importantly Xenoblade Chronicles 2, which because of the known difficulty in acquiring the last few Blades via gacha I tried the Switch Online trial to use cloud saves as a means to cheat the system. Its at this point I discovered the NES and SNES game library, played a few old games I'd not played in 25-30 years (like Double Dragon and Blaster Master) or discovering games I'd never played before, both good (Fire N Ice) and bad (Rygar.) Sure I could play those games on PC, but I felt the combination of cloud saves, easy save states, and its cheap price was worth a yearly investment. (If the Switch had capability to back up saves to USB like PS4 and Xbox, I'd have likely never gotten NSO.) Besides, I've spent nearly nothing on video games this year: BD2 ($60+tax), the Skyward Sword remake ($60+tax), and picking up DQ11 S when it was dirt cheap (just $9.82 after the $15 Prime Day and 40% Discover Card payments discounts stacked.) I'm sure its the least I've spent on video games since that first year in 1989.

Probably right that I've not played so many retro games all in a short period of time though. If 2021 had the quality of games 2022 is going to have, I probably wouldn't have. On the other hand, the lull did give me time to rework Xenoblade Chronicles 2 after giving up on it years earlier, and fit in the DQ11 S edition's extra story (I'd beaten the original DQ11.) I'm still tinkering with my DQB2 island here and there as well. I'd still like to work in Witcher III sometime before the 2022 games start rolling in. I've probably got the time as none of the ones I really want (like Mario+Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, BotW2, Tinykin, Forspoken) have a release date yet, meaning they aren't coming until at least April.

[JG]

Oof. The Walmart and Target ads came out overnight (about 2 weeks later than previous years) and they are rather uninspiring.

"Interesting" Wal-Mart options (they go live Monday 11/22 at 7PM EST, though the Walmart+ members will get it earlier)
   $15: Mario+Rabbids Kingdom Battle
   $20: Last of Us Part II, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania
   $25: Monster Hunter Rise, Deathloop (PS5), Back 4 Blood
   $35: Far Cry 6, Guardians of the Galaxy, Kirby Star Allies, Paper Mario: The Origami King, Splatoon 2*, Breath of the Wild, New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe*
   $39: Zelda: Link's Awakening*, Super Mario Maker 2*, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (PS5), Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS5)
   $40: Playstation Plus 12-month membership card
   $49: Xbox X/S Wireless Controllers

And Target's (they apparently go live sometime Sunday 11/21):
   $10: 24 games: Cyberpunk 2077, God of War
   $15: Over 70 games: Mario+Rabbids Kingdom Battle, Marvel Avengers, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
   $20: Over 75 games: Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania
   $30: Over 50 games: Deathloop (PS5), Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS5)
   $40: Over 22 (?) games: Far Cry 6, Playstation Plus 12-month membership card
   $40: 10 Switch games (which may or may not be in the "over 22" set): Link's Awakening*, Super Mario Maker 2*, Breath of the Wild, New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe*
   $50: Xbox X/S Wireless Controllers, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (PS5), Ghost of Tsushima (PS5), Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade

So let's talk about the good stuff first. Cyberpunk 2077 is supposedly alot better than it was at lunch, and $10 sounds like a possible steal. $15 for Avengers, $20 for Last of Us Part II, and $25 for Monster Hunter Rise look attractive, too. If you've got a PS5 (or getting one) your choices of of $25 Deathloop, $30 Miles Morales, and $40 Ratchet & Clank all look juicy. If you're a fan of Super Monkey Ball, you can get the brand new Banana-Mania collection which just came out in October for $20 either place. Very unusual to see a "new" game for any platform reach $20 and/or half price less than two months from release. Also a good time to get an extra Xbox controller if you need one.

Now the not so good: All those Switch games with an asterisk at the end (Link's Awakening, Super Mario Maker 2, New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe, and Splatoon 2, plus maybe some more that aren't listed) were all in the $30 set Walmart had last year, and each of them is $5 or $9 more expensive this year. Boo!

Might see some more attractive games once the sales go live, but typically the extra games are low quality fare (Carnival Games, Just Dance, 2021 sports games where 2022 is already out, etc.) Naturally they'll advertise the best stuff. Personally I hope the PS4 version of Ghost of Tsushima isn't also $50 or only discounted to $40. I want it cheaper than that.

Between the two its clear Walmart one-upped Target, with Target's only known wins on Guardians of the Galaxy and Spider-Man: Miles Morales. They've got some $10 games that might better Walmart though, like Cyberpunk 2077 but now that Walmart knows they can adjust and match. Don't really know how large Walmart's selection is while Target was very forthcoming (though "over 22" sounds very suspicious, as being at least 23 but less than 25.)

Of the games known from ads, I give "most impressive deal" so far to the $25 Monster Hunter Rise at Walmart. That's a likely 2021 GOTY winner for Switch, that just came out in late March, with a major DLC addition on the way in 2022, and we hardly ever see really good Switch games go less than $30 except for Mario+Rabbids (which is now in its fifth Black Friday.) I know MHR has dropped a lot, down to about $40 now, so I wasn't expecting it to get too much additional discount (if any) for Black Friday. But apparently its getting a healthy cut. Deathloop is a close second as its still at practically full price $60 on the PS Store today, though its PS5 only and much less in the realm of GOTY considerations. Last of Us Part II is good price, but honestly the first one dropped to about same price in its second year, so it doesn't terribly surprise me like MHR and Deathloop do. Still need to see what Best Buy and Gamestop offer though. And Square Enix RPGs like Bravely Default II, Octopath Traveller, Final Fantasy VII Remake (except the Intergrade version), and Kingdom Hearts are curiously absent from both ads.

Personally I'm disappointed. The PS4 deals aren't overly impressive with Last of Us II and Avengers being good price but out a while and already reasonably cheap so that the Black Friday discount doesn't blow anyone's socks off. And the Switch deals are yuck outside of Monster Hunter Rise. Switch prices going up from last year is a bad trend. And the lack of Xbox exclusives has pretty much forced their hand to offer controllers cheaper just to get *something* unique into the ads. Only the PS5 stuff (Miles Morales and Ratchet & Clank) looks like a strong group to me, but with PS5s still being scarce its hard to call it a strong win.

Expecting some unattractive deals (which is mostly true) I'd been toying with the idea of maybe picking up something like Mario Maker 2 if it were $25 or less to fill the holiday gap. But $10 more than last year and $15 over my desirable price point has shut it out. On the bright side, I can now swap it with the much more attractive Monster Hunter Rise. I'm on the fence regarding Avengers. If I don't see anything better its a likely buy; but if something more attractive comes along its a likely pass. I really want Ghost of Tsushima (PS4) to unseat Avengers for that second game. Its rare for me to buy more than two at Black Friday now, because I just don't even feel like I get to the time to play them all. (For example, Witcher III from last year is still on my to-do list, so I really need to hold to two so I can give that one some time.)


Another surprise is that Walmart has completely foregone listing DVD and BluRay movies in their ad. For the last several years this has been 3 or 4 pages and not even part of one page this year. Target still advertised them over several pages, but didn't put them into any price groups and just list them all as Buy Two, Get (Cheapest) One Free so we might not see deals of recent movies for $4 or $6 or anything like that like we have in the past. I don't know if its because people have jumped strongly into stream platforms since the pandemic started or what, but I suspect that's the core reason. It wouldn't be a bad idea for big box stores to get out of the BluRay/DVD business though. New releases I can imagine make a tidy profit, but the stuff that hangs around long enough to be free on streaming platforms just can't be money makers for them anymore. They all went that way with music years ago, when things like Pandora and Spotify wiped out the attractiveness of selling older albums (and things like iTunes had been around long enough to sell single songs from older albums for those who wanted them.) So its really not that much of a surprise if they've flipped the switch on movies now, too, though the complete absence of any in the ad caught me off guard. I usually buy 5-6 BluRays/DVDs at Black Friday each year for the digital cards and watch the movies on trips (not that I've had any trips since the pandemic started.) Likely will still have them online but now I won't know until that week.

[JG]

Newegg.com published their ad this morning. I don't ever really mention them for games because they're such a minor player. They've mostly retreated from physical games and hardware to providing digital codes over the last few years. On occasion they have something enlightening - I got a Steam code for the Duke Nukem 3D 20th Anniversary World Tour for $1.74 when they had a huge sale back in April. (Not quite the game it was in 1996, but for under two bucks it was a steal.)

They have a few e-shop cards that might be of interest to those looking to save some money now for redemption later (ie, when good games start coming along next year.) Their sale will start Monday the 22nd.
   $44.50: $50 Xbox Gift card (code delivered by e-mail) - $5.50 off $50 price with promo code BFFRDY34
   $45: $50 Nintendo e-shop Card (code delivered by e-mail) - $5 off $50 price with promo code BFFRDY33
Of course they have the Playstation 12-month card for $40 like everyone else, too.

[JG]

BestBuy has apparently decided to just completely forego a print ad and go digital only this year, with their sale starting today. Digital only really is the best idea, because you can swiftly pull back a product if a competitor undermined your price and not be beholden to a print ad and price matching guarantees. Some deals that look better than others:
   $15: Mario+Rabbids Kingdom Battle, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Marvel's Avengers (including the PS5 edition), Immortals: Fenyx Rising (including PS5 edition, but not Switch), Dragon Quest XI S: Definitive Edition
   $20: Crash Bandicoot 4: Its About Time (Switch), Crash Bandicoot: N-Sane Trilogy (Switch), Kingdom Hearts All-in-One, Ghost of Tsushima (PS4), Last of Us Part II, Hades (including PS5), Immortals: Fenyx Rising (Switch), Death Stranding (PS4), Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania (including PS5), Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster (PS4)
   $25: Final Fantasy VII Remake, Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster (Switch)
   $28: Mass Effect Legendary Edition
   $30: Guardians of the Galaxy (including PS5), Spider-Man Miles Morales (PS5), Monster Hunter Rise ($30), Deathloop with steelbook case (PC and PS5), Rider's Republic (including PS5), Dragon Ball Z Kakarot + A New Power Awakens (Switch), NieR Replicant
   $40: Tales of Arise, Death Stranding Director's Cut (PS5), 12-month PS Plus card (physical or digital)
   $45: Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade (PS5)
   $50: Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (PS5)
They had Ghost of Tsushima Launch Edition for $20 too but already sold out. I'll have to settle for standard.

Gamestop has started a pre-Friday sale today. While the base prices don't seem any different than Wal-Mart or Targets offerings (and maybe less than Best Buy's), they're adding a Buy 2 Get 1 Free deal on top of it. Seems like a good place to check if you're looking to stock upon PS5 games. https://www.gamestop.com/search/?pmid=ebf-vg-1&sv=new
   $20: Last of Us Part II, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania
   $35: Deathloop (PS5)
   $30: Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS5)
   $40: Death Stranding Director's Cut (PS5)
   $50: Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (PS5), Ghost of Tsushima (PS5)
Note that Gamestop's main ad is still outstanding. They may be following Best Buy's lead and going digital only this year, too.

Newegg has also started their games sale early. Almost exclusively Xbox and Steam digital codes but a few potentially nice deals here like a $5.99 Assassin's Creed 4 code for Xbox or the BioShock Collection at $9.99 for Xbox and $10.79 for Steam.
https://www.newegg.com/Digital-Games-Sale/EventSaleStore/ID-10402?N=100161678&Order=2&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=IGNEFL111921&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL111921-_-EMC-111921-Index-_-LEB5A-_-DigitalGame

And if you don't want to wait until next week for 10% off the $50 Nintendo e-shop code, they're giving 10% off a $35 code today only.
https://www.newegg.com/nintendo-35-00/p/32-074-003

[JG]

Nintendo has started their sale, and for a change it has a few deals. Usually Nintendo's own sales aren't on par with stores, and for a lot of titles they still aren't, but I see a few listed there that I've not seen on sale before, like Bravely Default 2 and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (both $41.99). The Castlevania Advance collection that just came out a few months back is also $5 off ($14.99 now)

Same page lists some third party games as well, including Ubisoft, Capcom (several Resident Evil games), EA, Sega, and Konami, though in some cases the stores still have better deals on physical games.

https://www.nintendo.com/games/sales-and-deals/

[JG]

Amazon has their sale up now, too. Alot of their stuff is the same things the other stores have, but I did see one spectacular deal on the physical edition of Bravely Default 2 for just $26.99.