Games Inbox: Underrated Nintendo GameCube, next gen Pokémon, and Black Myth: Wukong hype-GameCentral-Entertainment – Metro

Metroid Prime – a genuine classic (Nintendo)

The Wednesday letters page hears from a female reader about her love of horror games, as readers look forward to Cygni.

To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Fun cubed
Neat to see that Dolphine prototype after all this time, although I don’t understand why it was ever a secret, since it’s not that different and it’s not like looking at it gives away trade secrets or something. That’s Nintendo for you though.

Maybe it’s mostly nostalgia but I do feel the GameCube is underrated by many. I think it just becomes an easy target because it’s the worst selling, other than the Wii U, and its mainline Mario, Zelda, and Mario Kart games aren’t very good. However, I do think it has a lot else going for it.

The Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door remake proves how good that game is and Metroid Prime Remastered confirmed that as a cast iron classic. Resident Evil 4 was fantastic, obviously, and many would still say Super Smash Bros. Melee is the best one.

Both Pikmin games were great and I loved Star Wars Rogue Squadron 2: Rogue Leader as a launch game, even if Luigi’s Mansion wasn’t great. F-Zero GX was fantastic too – I really think the sub-par Mario and Zeldas helped Nintendo’s lesser franchises to flourish on the GameCube.

So yeah, I think the GameCube is very underrated and while I’m not pretending it’s Nintendo’s best console, or the line-up is perfect, I do think it’s a very solid console with many great games that are still unique to it.
Biscuit

Console queen
RE: Practical changes. In answer to yesterday’s Inbox, about female participation and representation, it is indeed a great idea but I would like to add that it’s not like there are few women playing games (and not just Candy Crush) or reading this Inbox or consuming video game news.

My best friend and I are the main players in our households, hogging the PlayStation 5 myself recently with Stellar Blade and her playing Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2. Plus, we meet together to play horror games like The Dark Pictures games, Visage, or Resident Evil 4 remake.

My husband is playing Dave The Diver because I showed it to him, since he has no interest in keeping up to date on games. We may not be the norm but it’s purposeless to assume we are not a part of the market.
Paula
PS: Really looking forward to a new Yakuza/Like A Dragon game announcement.

Freaking out
Nice to see that Game Freak is finally trying to do something about the quality of the Pokémon games but it’s hard to imagine it suddenly turning into some kind of Zelda style open world adventure, which is obviously what they were going for in the last one.

It’s a real shame that Nintendo doesn’t have full ownership of the franchise as I can’t believe they’d let Game Freak carry on likes this, if it was just another franchise like Mario or Zelda. I’d say I’m not sure why Nintendo don’t just buy out the other shares, but we all know Nintendo hates spending money.

Plus, if you want to be cynical, Pokémon seems to sell no matter what the quality is. I wonder whether the success of Palworld is what finally pushed them in to bucking their ideas up. The game’s not good but it does show that Pokémon knock-offs can be successful with relatively little effort.
Ganache

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Manual control
Thanks for the Cygni review, GameCentral. I have a modest backlog at the moment but will definitely pick this up.

I often return to 2D shoot ‘em-ups, there’s a purity in their presentation and challenge that takes me back to my early days of gaming. I haven’t seen much mention of the Sky Force series but Reloaded has taken up a lot of my time recently. Once you start to unlock the upgrades, and the level goals become achievable, it’s hard to quit. It’s perfectly balanced with a contemplative pace similar to R-Type (though it’s vertically scrolling).

Did I understand correctly that in Cygni there’s a twin-stick element: you control the direction of fire as you move up the screen? I don’t think I’ve seen that before in a scrolling shoot ‘em-up.
P. Thomas Donnelly

GC: It doesn’t work like a traditional twin stick shooter, but you can move the ground attack laser around manually, as if you’re controlling a cursor with the right stick. With the air-to-air cannon you can swivel it in a roughly 45° degree arc in front of you, but no more than that.

Free entry
Thanks for the PSA at the end of the Cygni review, to say it was free on Epic Games Store. I thought it might of been a typo, but went straight over to the store and it does indeed unlock on the 8th, as one of the free games that week.

The other free game for that week, DNF Duel: Who’s Next, is also well reviewed and, like Cygni, in a slightly intimidating genre for newcomers, so it’s great that both are free to try and to keep.

They do give away some very good games on the Epic store. I’ve missed out on some classics like Into The Breach but my full list of free games from there is still excellent. Not sure it’s helping them make a dent on Steam’s stranglehold hold on the PC market mind.
Simundo

Monkey magic
In light of the recent news being dominated by the riots breaking out in the UK I’d like to light a beacon of positivity. In two weeks an anticipated and yet nerve-wracking title will release and make or break the studio behind the development. I am of course referring to my most anticipated game of 2024, Black Myth: Wukong. Which is truly something, when there is a remake of Silent Hill 2 and a forthcoming Dragon Age game releasing at the end of the year.

It’s a Chinese title based around Journey To The West and developed as the first mainstream Chinese AAA console game, that has garnered my attention for over four years. I’ve never seen a title like this one, and that’s something when every game wishes to replicate FromSoftware’s Dark Souls. I’ve lost count, of the countless copy and paste failures but this is something different.

I pray this game works. I’m fed up with constant live service garbage. Two weeks to go. If this ends up with stellar reviews my pre-order is guaranteed. It’ll gladly join Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth in my 2024 collection. A final note, I hope it is a lengthy duration. I’ve heard it’s apparently 15 hours long. That’s quite a short running time. Sekiro is double that and so is Lies Of P. Fingers crossed.
Shahzaib Sadiq

Fan creation
As someone that’s played The Medium, I’m not sure why Bloober Team should be given a chance over the Silent Hill 2 remake. Especially given how bad the trailers have been. I get that they like Silent Hill, but I like John Wick, it doesn’t mean I get to direct the next movie.

I’ll read the reviews for the remake, but that’s as far as I’m prepared to go. I’m not exactly holding out much hope either. If this manages to live up to the legacy of the original I will be legit shocked.
Wolfie

Online tribute
I fired up The Elder Scrolls Online this morning to do some daily in-game housekeeping and decided to have a look at the roster of my now long inactive guild. Among the names was Zen Maestro, a long-time friend and gaming companion over the years. We would always join PSN chat even when we weren’t playing but a few years ago he just went off the grid. At first, we thought maybe he’s just having a break so thought nothing of it. The weeks turned to months then eventually years, so I decided to do some detective work and try and find out what had happened to him.

I eventually found his wife on Facebook and she sadly informed me that Zen had passed away a year earlier from leukaemia. His fellow friends and myself were devastated by this news but at least we knew what had happened.

Back to this morning and as I scrolled down the roster, I clicked on his name which brings up a few interactions, one of which is ‘visit primary residence’ which is in-game housing you can purchase and decorate as you please. I clicked on it and was transported inside.

Looking around it was sparsely decorated, a work in progress. While standing there in the silence I was overcome with a profound sense of loss. After a while I left and went to The Randy Netch Inn and bought some wine, returning to the house to raise a glass to my old friend. I shall do this from time to time in honour of him and think on the adventures we shared over the years. Here’s to you Zen Maestro eternally missed by your fellow guildies.
Clumpy Rhino

Inbox also-rans
RE: Cygni. How wonderful to see a review of a great game and it comes from Edinburgh! With all the doom and gloom, do you intend chat with the developers?
TWO MACKS

GC: Yes, hopefully.

If this Cygni game is good I’m 100% in favour of the same team making a new Gradius. Konami has made so many bad decisions in the last few years but they’ve still got so many franchises I love and would like to see redeemed.
Cornell

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The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.

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