Nintendo Switch: Thread 09

[dataDave]

That Project Triangle Strategy looks exquisite.

25 years on and I'm still waiting for something to take Tactics Ogre's crown. I'm not saying this will, but even if it's only half as good that's enough.

[randombs]

SCART is French so I think we should abandon our SCART leads and revert to composite.

You mean le peritel cable?

[monel]

Le 21 pin. Coming over here, taking our borders away. At a faster speed, too. Disgusting.

[randombs]

The only time I’ve ever seen the term “peritel cable” was in the instructions for my UK Mega Drive MK1. I remember asking the local electrical shop if he had a peritel cable and his expression was like I’d asked for the stupidest item in the whole entire world.

I didn’t know peritel is just SCART

[Dogg Thang]

And perineum is composite.

[Asura]

If the question is 'Should Ridge Racer and Sega Rally have more closely resembled a Raw Thrills effort designed for motorway service stations?' the answer is no.

I was talking purely in terms of financial outlay vs. financial return.

Like, back in the 90s I was convinced - convinced - that Art of Fighting was better than Street Fighter II. Given, I was a kid, and an idiot, but if I had some spare change and both machines were available, my money was always going in Art of Fighting. But AoF wasn't a better game; it was just better at spectacle, with its cutscenes, huge fighter sprites and so on.

In the western world, arcades since the early-90s have been the sort of thing people give their kids change to play while waiting for a movie to start. That's why, today, all the arcade games at the pier are massive versions of mobile phone games like Subway Surfers, Flappy Bird and Crossy Road. The game isn't what matters (even if the mechanics of Flappy Bird, while simple, are quite well-done); it's the massive screen, big speakers, flashing lights...

We (by which I suggest to mean us, i.e. those of us who are on this forum) put money into games like Virtua Fighter and genuinely got something out of it. Like we tried to get the hang of the scoring mechanics in Virtua Cop, or tried to master the shift-drifting in Daytona USA - but it'd be wrong to suggest that we were the mainstream punter. I actually remember, in 2001, being at an arcade at Alton Towers and seeing someone perform the shift-drift in Daytona; they were the first person I'd ever seen do it that wasn't me, and the game was practically a decade old.

I guess what I'm saying here is this - does the mainstream punter get as much out of Cruis'n Blast as we got out of Daytona despite it obviously being a far shallower game? I honestly don't know.

[kryss]

Hard pass if they pull that **** again.

Download the version from the US or JPN store, it'll still work with your UK Switch online account.

[Cepp]

Download the version from the US or JPN store, it'll still work with your UK Switch online account.

Awesome, I figured it would be a separate subscription for each region

[kryss]

So did I until [MENTION=3822]fuse[/MENTION] corrected me!

[Neon Ignition]

Ridge Racer should add more spectacle to its tracks like Cruisn' etc to bring in punters. I'm not saying it would please franchise fans to take away the series aesthetic but what it ultimately comes down to is... one of those two franchises is still getting made.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Ridge Racer should add more spectacle to its tracks like Cruisn' etc to bring in punters. I'm not saying it would please franchise fans to take away the series aesthetic but what it ultimately comes down to is... one of those two franchises is still getting made.

They already tried that, no? It was called Unbounded and it was crap to the point of seemingly franchise-killing.

[Asura]

They already tried that, no? It was called Unbounded and it was crap to the point of seemingly franchise-killing.

I think Unbounded did itself no favours because it wasn't a great Ridge Racer game, but it also compared really unfavourably to the contemporary games like Split/Second. I mean, technically Unbounded was actually amazing (its track editor was great fun) but I honestly don't think most players care about that stuff.

[Neon Ignition]

Yeah, Unbounded was like Ridge Racer in name only. I'd have it as literally Ridge Racer 8 but with a lot going on image wise. Just pizazz to draw people to the machine but the underlying game would be a true Ridge Racer sequel. As Cruisn' shows, it doesn't even need to be a graphical showcase, just eye catching.

[Nu-Eclipse]

I think Unbounded did itself no favours because it wasn't a great Ridge Racer game, but it also compared really unfavourably to the contemporary games like Split/Second. I mean, technically Unbounded was actually amazing (its track editor was great fun) but I honestly don't think most players care about that stuff.

Yeah, Unbounded was like Ridge Racer in name only. I'd have it as literally Ridge Racer 8 but with a lot going on image wise. Just pizazz to draw people to the machine but the underlying game would be a true Ridge Racer sequel. As Cruisn' shows, it doesn't even need to be a graphical showcase, just eye catching.

Let's be honest: It's not like Split/Second was any good in the first place. Now THERE'S an overhyped game if ever there was one!

No, Ridge Racer definitely doesn't need to be like Cruis'n (also massively overrated) or Burnout or Split/Second. It just needs to do the things that it was always good at with high quality polish and presentation. No half-arsed efforts like RR Vita.

[wakka]

I'll be honest, unless we're talking specifically about 6 and 7, I don't really get the criticism of Ridge not having enough spectacle.

The original game had the brash colours, techno music, helicopters overhead and whooping announcer. Type 4 was incredibly stylish and remains one of the most aesthetically distinctive racing games IMO, with its smooth lounge jazz and golden hour sunsets. The PSP game was technologically mind boggling and felt like a slice of the future, from the menu presentation to the camera-shaking in-game graphics as you turbo boosted.

6 and 7 lost their way a bit on that front and felt sadly sterile (although they still played very well).

But to say Ridge should be more like something like Cruis'n...I don't understand it. I think the game is simply uninteresting. Sound and fury signifying nothing and all that.

I would love (LOVE!) to see Ridge brought back. But it would have to done with the same level of style and conviction that the best of the earlier games had. They were genuinely cool.