Sunday, January 19, 2025

my pressenter site Dreamcast reviews off wayback machine

Sega Dreamcast reviews from my 2000 pressenter hosted homepage

Air Force Delta

Konami 1999

3/5

07/01/2001 v 1.0

This game is a fighter pilot game. The game stands but, even though it was made by Konami. The backgrounds are smooth and the game has good frame-rate. The graphics in the game are reasonably good. The lock-on system works like a charm and stalling is realistic. (Always increase your speed when turning, I killed myself that other way. Normal mode is kind of easy expect when you get half way through, then it’s a little tricky to master. The game has hard too. Which is extremely hard. In this game I like to beat it once and play the missions independently. Each mission lasts for 10 minutes on average. I would recommended it.

The good: being able to be one; cold war effect

The bad: graphics could be a little better; wrong soundtrack; stalling

Crazy Taxi

Hit maker 2000

4/5

07/01/2001 v 1.0

Crazy Taxi came from the Arcade. The game is attractive. Your in a taxi cab and you race around with customers and drive them to there destination as quick as possible. The game recognizable vechals that exists. The best invention of the Dreamcast is the idea of the driving triggers. Right trigger for driving, left to brake, best idea since the joystick, I think. Even though the game has 2 cities to play, the game is perfect for the impatient gamer, which is me.

The good: crashing into cars, having the passenger getting mad and jumping out; originality

The bad: only 2 levels

Resident Evil: Code Veronica

Capcom 2000

5/5

07/01/2001 v1.0

Would you ever believe that the Umbrella Corporation (zombie creators) was developed by a 10 yr old genius whose name is Veronica? Never would of guessed it. If you haven’t heard, Resident Evil is a respected horror pre-rendered game made by those dudes at Capcom. The game is not for the inpatient gamer, it requires thinking and backtracking and shooting zombies. You be mature to play game, ok. There is a lot of blood and guts in this game so don’t leave this game in the DC for your 6 year old to find out. But its fun for 17 years olds if your parents don’t care. The game is very, very long. I bad, I never got through the first disc and been playing the darn thing for 3 months. Over all the game play is good with the exception when you walk the character through a still screen. Highly recommended.

The good: Shooting stuff; power ups; cut scenes; knowing what to do

The bad: The fact that Capcom hasn’t came up with it earlier.

Soul Caliber

Namco 1999

5/5

07/01/2001 v.1.0

Awesome fighter. The game is based on anime characters, laugh out loud man. The game has many characters to chose from, I think the women are cute. The game hands down, has the best combat system of any fighting game, ever. The left trigger is always block. The AI can be extremely good. Its not eh you hit me I’m dead, it competes with how well you play the game – and averages out the difference. The game itself is based on the Arcade by Namco. It’s so good that Namco is putting it in its own franchise. It was also had the best graphics of 1999. It is also a highly recommend game for Dreamcast.

The good: cute characters, great combat system; awesome music; realistic sound effects; very strong game play

The bad: Wasn’t released on a later system also.

Rayman 2: The Great Escape

Uri Soft France 2000

4/5

07/01/2001

Rayman 2 is a 3D sequel to Rayman. Good game. In the game you play a character with no arms or legs this a head, stomach and feet. The game has cool characters, that you would see in Super Mario or Banjo and Kazooie for the Nintendo 64. The game is kinda hard to beat. It requires a lot of climbing, running and shooting on Raymans part. One thing about this game is that Uri Soft totally redesigned the game for the Dreamcast, at the time the console had the best lighting effects around. The game has solid gameplay and a solid story. I like it. There are times when the game gets way to childish though, but you kinda respect that in a way.

The good: huge levels, good graphics, solid gameplay; clean textures; not too long, but not short by all means.

The bad:sometimes the level gets harder in the middle and if you quit you start all over with that level. If you don’t have a memory card I would feel sorry for yeah.

Daytona USA for Dreamcast

Gecki /Hasbro Interactive 2001

4/5

07/01/2001

The game is a remake of the arcade released back in 1994. Daytona USA is well designed. The game has three times as more tracks to race then Saturn. The game includes an enhanced music of Daytona and Gonna ride. Hasbro makes the cars longer. The game highly resembles the original that leads up to this day of age. The game is not based on drifts but when to brake and when to accelerate. My favorite track is Ryn Ryn Rank. Also not seen in the Saturn version is a full replay that looks like Electronic Arts Nascar series. Over all I think the game since its all been seen before, would not be the best buy, but a enjoyable remake of an arcade classic.

The good: more levels; good gameplay; Nascar on Dreamcast; good AI

The bad: too futuristic for its own good.

Resident Evil 2

Capcom 1997, 2000

4/5

07/01/2001

A game that comes very close to Code Veronica. The game takes place where the last one took off in Raccoon city. In 1997 Sega had a debate whether to bring the sequel to the Saturn, even though I own both consoles, I’m glad they didn’t. It’s a very good game. The game has noticeable improvements from the Playstation game. Like all the Resident Evil games you backtrack, shoot zombies. But what make it so good was some people thought that the game was kind of past stuff until Sega released it. In the game you try to find a way out of the Raccoon city which was developed by the Umbrella Corp because they were already there. You play James who meets up with Claire who has her own game in Code Veronica. Any way, they split up and meet each other discovering what’s left of the Umbrella’s attack force that as sent to destroy all the evidence. James who is a STARS member is located in Raccoon City. And that’s what the entire game is basically about. Its fun though. This is also a recommended game

The good:Capcom did an exceptional job of porting RE2. Improvements over Playstation version like camera angles; shooting zombies

The bad: Capcom didn’t add to the story; trying to walk on a still screen. Dieing.

Test Drive: Le Mans

Infrogrames 2000

5/5

07/01/2001

Driving is really realistic. Graphics are comparable to those of PS2. Le Mans has 4 large tracks that take you 5 miles around for each one. The game has a loading time but also has smooth frame rate. The cars include Chrysler, BMW, Duncan International, and some other man made racing cars. The replay timing and angles are real time angles. The controls are that you use A and X for gearing up and down and L and R triggers for acceleration and braking. Overall the game is ultra cool. But is best when there are 2 players one on one. Overall the game his one of the best lighting effects on the Dreamcast that pushes the hardware to the limit.

The good: Le Mans car series, ghost mode, replay, solid controls, long detailed tracks, auto body customization.

The bad: graphics are starting to be outdated, freezing, loading time.

F355 Challenge

Acclaim 2000

4½ / 5

07/01/2001

This is also a really good racing game if you like realism. The entire game has Ferrari tracks. The game has good lighting effects, not as good as Le Mans but pretty close. The game has solid game play where you have to either gear down or brake hard and lose your place out of 5. The game has 5 tracks plus 4 secret tracks that aren’t that small. With all the handicaps off like power everything, the driving can be extremely hard for the average gamer, me. Sound tracks have rock on them. I don’t mind it though, its like Harley Davidson music.

The good: car actually loses its place when you slow down, awesome music and graphics. Good game-play

The bad: sometime freezes

Aero Wings 2: Air Strike

CRI 2000

3/5

07/02/2001

If you take the three flight simulators on the Dreamcast, AW2 would be your best pick. The game has combat and stunt flights. Even though you don’t get to chose as many planes as in Air Force Delta, you’ll find that this game doesn’t need all those speedy planes to past. The game play equals that of Air Force Delta since the prequel wasn’t that good. It has a fairly descent 2-player mode that you and your friends to dogfight. You can do barrel rolls and back loops to out smart the enemy. In this game if you make that small error it could cost you the game. There is a training mode on how to plan and maneuver your plane. Over all its what is expected from a flight simulation, I liked it, even though it isn’t to be played all the time. Good Control, realistic altitude conditions, and smart enemies.

The good: most realistic fighter on the Dreamcast; maneuver capacities not seen on any other game

The bad: takes time to know what to do; a little difficult

Speed Devils

Uri Soft 1999

4/5

07/02/2001

Speed Devils is one of the best racing game of any of the launch titles besides maybe Sega Rally 2. The game is based on hot rod racing. Each car has a different feel to it, some looser then others. The game itself has a unique feel to it as you go through Area 51, Hollywood, Canada, Oklahoma , places like that. There is options that let you make it a timed race. In each race there are about 2 or 3 shortcuts each boo bee trapped. In the game there are also power ups like better acceleration or speed, all terrain tires. Overall the game design is an A but it takes an experienced player to make it through. The game isn’t as commanding as F355 Challenge and Le-Mans. The game is fun to play for your spare 10 minutes. But if you play more then that you may get a little tired of it.

The good: the street racing part of it, many options.

The bad: if your behind you’ll never take 1^st, and if you push it, it usually means bad luck for you.

Skies of Arcadia

Overworks 2000

4/5

07/02/2001

This is the Final Fantasy of Dreamcast, the Role Playing Game. The game is very long and spreads across 2 discs. The game is based on fantasy tale where a young girl gets stole by the Empress Arcadia and two rouges go after her and there friends that have mean caught hiding on an island by the Royal army. Cool eh. The 2 rouges eventually save there family that was captured and they eventually take over the empire, I think. The combat system is pretty well organized since RPGs’ aren’t Sega’s specialty. The game is in 3^rdperson. But when this game isn’t the only RPG around, it tends to be un welcomed and sat aside. But the backgrounds are well oriented and gameplay is very good, in the future this game would be a gem to have.

The good: good artwork, story, battle system, made for the teenage gamer; the choose system (one decision can change the way people view you)

The Bad: single player; the need to continually save the game, if you don’t have the health you might as well start all over because it wont matter.

Street Fighter Alpha 3

Capcom 1999, 2000

5/5

07/02/2001

Street Fighter Alpha 3 is the better 2D fighting game, at least its very good. What makes it so good is that it has the screens move you in the game and not this put you there like your actually after world conquest. The baron and the rye and jo are back to kick butt. The animations are fluid as any other fighter. The game has over 20 locations and 40 characters most of them are lock into the game. Like all Capcom fighters, there are no blood and lots of anime characters. In my option the game is the longest worked on fighter by Capcom on Dreamcast. The game is very detailed and has moving backgrounds, instantaneously. This game is defiantly one to own.

The good: fluid motions, there is a point to the game; good everything

The bad: graphics outdated

Dead or Alive 2

Tecmo Games 2000

4/5

07/02/2001

This is a very unique game since it the characters are pretty life like. Its also the only game that Tecmo produces. The music in the game is based on Japanese rock, I guess. Every time is in Japanese. What makes this game stand out is that the characters have totally different ways of fighting. One might do a body slam wrestling (what Japanese think of us Americans) and another may be doing judo. One of the character’s breasts jiggle a bit, I find that interesting. Any way the moves are basic enough, though there are combos when you are near your competer. Like Soul Caliber it has the right stuff to be a 3D Fighter. One plus is that you get to through characters of edges. That’s fun. What isn’t fun is when you get thrown off. The game has every thing that other 3D fighters have. Survival, VS mode, Arcade, Team Match, and some others I don’t know on top of my head. Even though Soul Caliber is the bomb, DOA2 is a welcome addition to my library.

The good: Great Graphics; woman; solid fighting; beating the boss with wings

The bad: spoke in Japanese; ugly defense system for amateurs

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater

Neversoft/Crave 2000

4/5

07/02/2001

I hear that a lot of people like this game, but I not really interested in it even though I own it. Basicly you have the top skaters in the world jumping the ramps, riding rails, doing 360s and 580s and ‘side airs’ which made the game really popular. The game is fine, it has solid graphics and control but your on a skate board all the time. And have you even ran away from Officer Dick. He skateboards too you know. The game has goals that are challenging but you can avoid it, that’s a good thing. The game is solid in every way, but I this don’t like skating. But if you like skating, this is the game to buy.

The good: realistic courses; very solid game play; challenging but avoidable requirements

The bad: in my option I’m not a stake board fan, and I think that the game is over rated a bit.

Hydro Thunder

Midway 1999

3/5

07/03/2001

The Dreamcast title Hydro Thunder has everything from the arcade plus 4 bonus tracks and 4 hovercrafts. What made the arcade title so fun was that Midway didn’t waste any energy making this really fast. The game has power ups to gain position. Each race lasts 3 to 4 minutes. Each vehicle has tighter or looser steering which is made up with faster speeds. On your first time playing you’ll may get 4^th or 5^thplace because some of the power ups are hidden and need to play a few times to find where they are. Each time you place gold in each stage (beginner, medium, hard) you will receive a new environment and vehicle. Over all this game is fun to play a couple times but you might get tired of it if you play it all the time. It’s good for a 10 or 20 minute game.

The good: good pace racer, the arcade sounds, decent AI

The bad: sometime freezes after 3 or 4 races.

F1 World Championship

Videogames 2000

4/5

07/03/2001

If you want a good all around Indy car game, this one would be it. I played it, it is very good. One reason is that the game uses real Formula One tracks across the world. The game has a good AI, that will leave you in the dust if your not careful. Braking and then accelerating after turns in by far the most important. As you slow up the car becomes easier to handle this like the real thing. That’s the best. One drawback that the game has is that the backgrounds could be a little sharper, but the game for what it is has a stable frame rate. The game runs after the 1998 season and comes with over 20 vehicles and 40 drivers. And also every F1 track internationally. The champions mode lets you play the whole season in order, one that I haven’t tried before. Over all the F1 World Championship is a very ‘slick’ racer.

The good: Tight control, many tracks, options for power braking and acceleration, nice intro, fans cheering, decent music, good frame rate.

The bad: saving is questionable

my pressenter homepage Nintendo 64 reviews off the wayback machine

4 – Fun to play for a little while

3 – needs improvement

2 – rental

1 – don’t review these games

Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Legend of Zelda is good. What the best about it is that it has not only has simple controls Z to block and A to attack. I has a simple battle system with a cursor on the enemy. Though after a while I loss some interest, and I could always come back later. The game is huge, maybe not as much as it’s sequel but as big as Turok 2 I would imagen. In the game you play Link, an adventurer “half-elf,” (half human) who had a dream of the Princess Zelda kidnapped by an evil sorcessor and figure out the next day that you were summoned by the Deca Tree.

Rating – 4/5

Developer Nintendo | Publisher Nintendo esp. 1998

The Pros. Very huge game, slingshot, talking; 3D transition excellence; detailed – not too detailed though.

The Cons. Sometimes I can get overwhelmed by fighting enemies too long.

Banjo and Kazooie

Banjo and Kazooie is good platform that simple and innertaining. The game was also RAREs first game of this type which is petty large about as much as Zelda 64. The backgrounds are blurred out, but looks overall petty nice, almost like Dreamcast ~ almost. In the game you have to search for puzzle pieces that let you in curtain areas. In all there are 10 levels that you search for. Much like Mario 64, each level has quests like when you get 100 gems or reach a current point you will almost always get a reward. Like most other games that are based on finding items you may find yourself bored running around searching for skulls (power-ups 5+). zin ten or years or so you this game could still be a gem on the N64 if you can find it, and even though its aimed at a younger audience, the oppicals vary in a good way.

Rating 4 – 5

Developer – Rare 1998 | Publisher – Nintendo

The Pros – 10 hours + gameplay, not agerveting

The Cons – takes a lot out of your joystick

Mario Kart 64

Mario Kart is one of my favorite games. Its easy to beat and the races don’t take that long. And I don’t know about you, but racing in the mushroom cartoonish world that Mario usually exist sort of takes me back to the Super Falcom. And people didn’t buy a new console with flashy graphics every 2 years.

Rating 5 -5

Developer RAD1 1996 | Publisher: Nintendo

The Pros – solid game play with awesome weapon system

The Cons – characters are not grown up yet.

Golden Eye

This was my very first person shooter ~ before I had Diablo for the PC. :). The game uses the original movie made in the 1960s with the new James Bond. I remember back then how lifelike the soldiers moved and the how realistic the AI is. Although the enemy put up a good fight before even if you cant see them, the way the soldiers move don’t really amaze me, I seen Perfect Dark you know. But its funny how you can shoot these guys in the balls and they crouch like sissies and then they fire and you shoot them again and they repeat them selves. My god. At the time, hard core gamers where buying consoles this to play the game mostly because the multi player mode was ahead of its time. I mean N64 had four controller ports and scattered ammo in very large areas. The internet wasn’t very good back them and this way you could hunt down your friends by the radar. Gadical.

Rating 5 – 5

Developer: Rare 1997 | Publisher: Nintendo

The Pros – solid gameplay, verses heaven, 20 single player stages.

The Cons – graphically outdated.

Super Mario 64

Even though I never finished the game yet, Mario 64 had merit to it to say the least. Nintendo made the game so compact at the time that they oven tally released larger carts anyways. Its amazing but Nintendo spent 3 years putting the game together. At the time I thought the browser theme was “heavy Music” Much of the game is based on 5 stages in 15 levels. One thing that was a breakthrough in these game was the MIDI music and how it added to the background theme. Its interesting what the sequel will sound like on Gamecube and I’m not talking about Luigi’s Mansion. The game-play and graphics were state-of-the art in 1996 but the game it self, people thought strayed away from the original world Mario played in. In the game you try to save Princess Toadstool (Peach) from Browser. You had to get 75 stars to finish the game. By trying different maneuvers to get form place to place obviously. In my option, SM64 is a must buy for the console.

Rating 4-5

Developer RAD1 1996 | Publisher: Nintendo

The Pros – seeing Mario in 3D, solid gameplay, return of the “marshon men” hehehe

The cons – basic errors that made up a 3D game, unrecognizable at the time

Extreme-G

Extreme-G is pretty fun except for the visablity which isn’t that good. The game is a fast paced shoot em up game surrounding high-tech combat cycles of the future. Sadly the first Extreme-G was a quick developed game from Acclaim. The game has protential which the 3rd one already has. But the first can be fun if you get the turns and being able to use the right trigger. Other then that the game has good Artificial Intellegence and plenty of tracks. Even there is a techno theme to move the game along.

Rating 3-5

Developer : Probe | Publisher : Acclaim

The Pros – AI, variety of weapons. nice fast pace shooter/racing game, good controls

The Cons – mediocre graphics (I can’t see where I’m going half of the time)

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edited by Hoppymister <2001>

CNN's Scott Jennings Was Left Speechless By the Insanity of This Ex-Kamala Staffer

CNN’s Scott Jennings was stunned that Joe Biden said that the nation was threatened by misinformation and that lies are being told to enhance power or increase profits. This man is shameless since that’s precisely the modus operandi of the Biden crime family. Jennings sparred with former Kamala Harris aide Ashley Etienne, though he didn’t have to do much since virtually all her talking points were lies. The whole segment was the seat of irony, given the panel's topic on January 15.

Etienne seemed to make the argument that Donald Trump’s remarks induced COVID to kill people, which is insane. Also, using COVID to attack the first Trump presidency is largely ineffective since Anthony Fauci and the entire medical establishment have been exposed for lying about the disease. Etienne tried to make the case that Trump’s lies had a top-down effect regarding containment. False—Trump gave us the vaccine, which is another story. But for those who want to manufacture the false narrative that Trump’s COVID protocols led to all the deaths, that’s simply fantasy. She also repeated the debunked lie about drinking bleach—it left Jennings paralyzed due to how degraded the conversation had become.

CNN’s @ScottJenningsKY schools former Kamala aide Ashley Etienne for praising Biden lamenting the decline of trust in the media and then hurling disproven lies about Donald Trump: “Has Joe Biden, Kamala Harris or Karine Jean-Pierre ever lied?...Your speech is about the truth and… pic.twitter.com/pgspP7JK7w
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 16, 2025

“This is crazy. I’m sorry, this is insane,” he said.

Biden is the wizard of lies, and CNN, Mr. Jennings excluded, is a factory for falsehoods. A couple of days later, the network was found liable for defaming a Navy veteran who they singled out was exploiting Afghans trying to flee the country in 2021 when the Taliban took over the country again. They were ordered to pay millions to Zachary Young. So, lies and misinformation seem to be a liberal media and a liberal America problem writ large.

This is the segment in which CNN defamed a U.S. Navy Veteran and has to pay him $5 million for.

Up top is the segment, bottom is the apology.

“We did not intend to suggest that Mr. Young participated in a black market.” 🤣 pic.twitter.com/at75NsQfCA
— MAZE (@mazemoore) January 17, 2025

LAFD Whistleblowers Sound Off. No Wonder Why the LA Fires Got Out of Hand.

The fires are still raging in Los Angeles County, but once contained and extinguished, this fiasco will be investigated. These fires are likely to be the costliest natural disaster in American history. The cuts to the Los Angeles Fire Department, the scrubbing of LAFD memos pointing to deficiencies in the department, and the lack of water have all been documented, especially for the Palisades blaze. Independent reporter Michael Shellenberger has tracked the behind-the-scenes fiasco that led to this catastrophe.

For the Palisades blaze, it took LAFD almost an hour to respond. And yes, while the cuts to the LAFD proved damaging, its chief, Kristin Crowley, also geared her department toward training that had little to do with fighting fires. In short, people want firefighters to save their homes—they don’t care if a black lesbian does it. The DEI nonsense played a significant role in the LAFD’s degraded and shambolic response to these wildfires, which whistleblowers can attest. The cost of these woke initiatives is also immense, and resupply can become a byzantine journey as LA will only work with pro-DEI vendors. A few of them reached out to Shellenberger to vent about the current state of the department [emphasis mine]:

They [LAFD whistleblowers] say the reason they arrived too late to stop the fires from becoming catastrophic was because of severe budget cuts. The Fire Department did not pre-deploy fire engines to strategic locations, and helicopters arrived half an hour too late to put out the Palisades.
[…]
“That [Santa Ynez] reservoir being closed did not allow helicopters to drop and suck water up from five minutes away,” a new firefighter whistleblower, the third who has come forward, told me. “Instead, they had to fly 10 to 15 minutes away to go get water somewhere else.”
The problem is that the LA Fire Department is one of the most severely understaffed of America’s 10 largest cities. It has less than a single firefighter per 1,000 residents compared to Chicago, Dallas, and Houston, which have twice as many.
“ In 1960, our city population was 2.5 million, and we had 112 fire stations. In 2020, our city population was 3.9 million, and we had 106 stations,” a representative of LA’s firefighters ’ union testified last month. “That's 1.4 million more people and six fewer fire stations.”
This undermines the Department’s ability to respond to emergencies. “In 2020, the average emergency response time was seven minutes and 53 seconds, nearly double the NFPA recommendation.”
[…]
The third firefighter whistleblower says the firefighters are being put in danger by budget cuts. “Even last week,” the person said, “I wanted to work and I was told, ‘Sorry dude, we don't have a seat for you to fill because there's not enough apparatuses,’” meaning fire engines or other equipment.
One hundred fire engines and other apparatus are currently out of service because the city cut the Fire Department’s budget, and it couldn’t afford to hire mechanics to fix equipment.
“We have a crack about halfway down our water tank. Half of our [engines and other] apparatuses are broken. They were sending rookies, new probationary firefighters, out to the field last year with no department-required brush jackets.”
The firefighters lack life-saving equipment. “We were running out of electrodes to do EKGs,” the person said. “We've been running out of gloves. We've been running out of drugs, you name it. There's been ambulances that have been having to steal stuff or borrow stuff from the hospitals just to stay available.”
At the meeting last month, the president of the city’s firefighters union warned, “If we cut one position, if we close one station… the residents of Los Angeles are going to pay the ultimate sacrifice, and someone will die.”
All this and yet Los Angeles is one of the richest cities in the world. Eighty-four of America’s richest 400 people live in California, and LA is home to 26 billionaires who collectively possess a net worth of approximately $185 billion.
[…]
As such, the problem is not poverty, it is severe mismanagement and bad governance. Not only is the city’s mismanagement to blame for LA’s disastrous response to the fire, but it’s also responsible for the city’s ongoing homelessness disaster.
Why is that?
Part of the reason is the city’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) programs. “The city will only purchase from vendors that support DEI,” said the firefighter. “So we'll go with a vendor that we have to pay twice as much, or the shipment may take twice as long, in order for it to be a DEI vendor rather than the vendor who has it at half the price and can get it to us tomorrow.”
The whistleblower said that DEI programs put firefighters and the public in danger. “I personally witnessed in my own drill tower them making and passing women just to get their [female quota] numbers even though they didn't have to meet all the criteria the men did.”
When asked what those criteria were, the person said, “A certain amount of push-ups. Holding a certain size hose line. Throwing a certain ladder. We no longer require two firefighters to be able to throw a 35-foot ladder because of the amount of women that were failing that. So now, it's just a three-person ladder. We no longer require that as a job requirement. In the field that doesn't work because we don't have enough people to spare when a fire is happening to just throw one ladder.”
The DEI programs are also expensive, distract attention away from preventing and fighting fires, and result in the Fire Department hiring unqualified people, whistleblowers said. “Do we really need to sink millions a year into DEI? I don't think so.”
Another reason is corruption, which drains money from the city’s coffers, including for firefighting.

Switch 2 talk

Nintendo has been very clever with the Switch and it's production pipeline. I don't know if youve noticed the pattern, but the cadence is very sleight of hand to make the release calendar seem more robust than it really is. They'll release one game per year that would be considered an actual bonafide "AAA" game (Tears of the Kingdom, Smash Bros, Pokemon, etc) and then they'll surround it with a lot of "3DS" level bullshit filler games, but still charge you AAA prices for them. Last year there really wasnt even a big AAA game. I guess Echoes of Wisdom was the closest thing, but in they surrounded it with a bunch of filler like Brothership, Princess Peach, Mario vs Donkey Kong, etc. This year is a little different since Nintendo is releasing a new console. So I expect a better year of big releases. I still maintain that the best single year for Switch exclusives was the launch year. No other year measured up after that.

Sure, like all companies, Nintendo would be happy with making money anywhere it can be made. That being said, Nintendo is clearly skeptical and isn't dumping a ton of money into this live service play. Mario Kart and Smash have optional online play, which I'm fairly sure only makes up a small % of hours played in those games. Most players have probably not utilized online play even once for those games. I'd be shocked in the online features for the next MK or Smash have much if any additional features from the Switch games. Heck, Nintendo still clearly has no interest in an achievement system akin to Microsoft or Sony, which would probably lure more people to playing online.

If anything, I'd say Nintendo is even LESS prone to following hot market trends and experimentation than they have been in the past. The Switch 2 seems like the safest/least change/least loaded with new gimmicks console Nintendo will put out since the SNES. I suspect much of that is the current management (namely Furukawa) being more risk averse than past leaders at Nintendo, which I generally think is a good think.

My only minor quibble is that I'd like to see a bit more in the way of bringing back certain older Nintendo IP's or games long dormant, such as F-Zero, 3D Donkey Kong Country, Wave Race, Star Fox, etc. But I do get why most of those don't return. Mario Kart seems to cannibalize all other Nintendo racing games, seemingly every Star Fox games goes through development hell, and their one attempt at a pure 3D DKC continues to give Nintendo PTSD due to it's reception (a lot of which is unfair, it was an amazing game) even decades later. Apparently, there was a 3D DKC being farmed out to Blizzard Albany not too long ago, but Nintendo hated it and scrapped it. So I'm not exactly optimistic about anything other than a new 2D/2.5D DKC anytime soon.

While I don't love the wait till April for the software, man am I glad they opted to reveal the games in a Nintendo Direct rather than another live presentation to a clearly very corporate audience, as they did with the Switch. Video game people in general don't do particularly well with live presentations (large share are very introverted and/or autistic, as am I... not trying to criticize), resulting in a LOT of cringe worthy presentations like the Switch software reveal and most E3 presentations. The original Switch software presentation was like that, but also with an audience that had ZERO excitement. Nintendo is better suited all around for taped Directs. Still miss Iwata's presence and wish he were still around to witness the huge Switch success.

Nintendo already does this quite a bit actually, and the problem is you start to lose quality control. As good as the Switch has been, some of their IP's were not done proper justice and were not so loved by critics and fans. Titles like Mario Golf: Super Rush (Developed by Camelot Studios) has a metacritic score of 70 and a user score of 6/10. That's way below what you expect a game like that should be and I still think Everybody's Golf on PS4 is better! Mario Strikers: Battle League(Next Level Games) is another example. It has a 72 metacritic score with a user score of 4.5/10. Again, way below standards you'd expect for a title with Mario attached to it. Yoshi's Crafted World (Good-Feel) is a 79 on metacritic with a user score of 8/10. A LITTLE better but still, kind of pedestrian for a Yoshi licensed game IMO. Princess Peach Showtime (also Good-Feel) 74 on metacritic with a 6.2/10 user score.

All these games that use Nintendo IP are extremely mid and all of them were farmed out by Nintendo for other studios to make. Why couldn't Nintendo make these in house? Nintendo used to have a very strict seal of quality standard for all of their 1st party properties. But if they're going to keep farming out their characters to lesser talented studios, this will continue to be the results.

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