Got the 40th Anniversary Nintendo Switch 2

This has arrived yesterday. Luckily, the console came in one piece and fully functional, where apparently that's not something that you should take for granted. Not only was it difficult enough to pre-order one of these – you also have to go through an additional lottery that's up to the whims of the retailers and delivery guys.

For example, I saw horror stories from people who had preordered from Amazon, where they thought it to be a good idea to ship these limited edition consoles in paper bags to save costs. Naturally, some of these arrive completely demolished, where your only options are to return them or to ask for a discount. It's always amazing how incredibly stupid companies can be. In one case only the box was damaged (see ntower) and the person has received a 78€ discount as compensation. So, they tried to save a couple of cents by not properly packaging a collector's item and lost the hourly wage of one of their overpaid managers as the result.

Also keep in mind that the Switch 2 system sits at the very top of its box's inside. So, in worst cases you end up with a broken screen. That's Nintendo's design flaw, really, but at least they know this and deliver their systems with proper paper cushioning. You also get a nice 40th Anniversary shipping box, at least in Europe:

As someone born in 1986, I totally love the "Since 1986" on the bottom print. Though, this is so nice that I can't just throw it away. They did the same thing for Tears of the Kingdom three years ago (see here) and I still have all those boxes, because I have yet to cut out the good parts and do something with them. 

Now, I would praise Nintendo for the safe delivery and packaging if it weren't for the fact that I have yet to receive my Pro Controller. The post sent it back to Nintendo, because the shipping box got torn open... Not sure whose fault it is, but currently I have to worry if I will get this at all due to the accident.

Well, it would be nice to play the new Ocarina of Time with that controller, but for now I'm just happy that everything went well with my new Switch 2. I was somehow able to install the single screen protector near flawlessly, where it probably was good to have had some practice already, exactly one year ago with my "old" Nintendo Switch 2. (My partner will adopt this one, so she can play Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave.)

The system transfer also went well and without any efforts. I've said this before, but this is a huge improvement over the original Switch, especially when it comes to your Animal Crossing: New Horizons island data. It's one less thing to worry about.

And I also really like how it looks in the flesh... or in the plastic. It's hard to see on the photo, but the front of the dock actually has a glossy finish to it.

The right Joy-con has a pixel art of Zelda from the original The Legend of Zelda on its back. And when you open the dock on the backside, you will find a pixel arts of Link and Zelda holding up their pieces of the Triforce, as well as 16 full Heart Containers. And this is something I admire, because nobody will ever see this except when they change the wires of the dock. It's a completely pointless detail, but it's there anyway. And details like this really run through the entire collection.  

The carrying case is quite pretty as well. But there isn't any new art here, believe it or not, because there is a lot of stuff that they have re-used from around the 30th Anniversary. That map on the backside of the carrying case can be found on a lot of things, e.g. the flyleaves of Hyrule Encyclopedia or the official Zelda Monopoly. So, you've probably seen it before somewhere. Same with the Triforce logo that has the goddess symbols on it.

But it also adds to the list of hidden pixel arts, where there is one on the inside for the cartridge slots:

That's actually even useful. If you slip in the game cards, you won't be able to see what's what without pushing them up a bit. But here you can sort them via the symbols somehow, if that makes any sense. Put your copy of Ocarina of Time under the heart, because you love it so much. Anyway, the hidden details don't stop there:

The cleaning cloth has pixel art on it as well. The cleaning cloth! This is adorable. And it recreates the "IT'S DANGEROUS TO GO ALONE! TAKE THIS" scene, which is perfect for this item.

And I really like all that attention to detail. Compare this to the carrying case for Tears of the Kingdom, for example, which just came with a basic black cloth, which you can't even tell apart from any other of these cloths that are always bundled with screen protectors. Or its inside was just a basic black. So, all this 40th Anniversary gear got that little something extra, that little something special, and I can only appreciate that.

Now let's hope that my Pro Controller isn't lost, so that I can enjoy the whole collection when Ocarina of Time comes out. Let me know in the comments how it went for you!

Echoes of Wisdom ~ amiibo Ideas

Earlier this month, after twelve years of collecting Nintendo's little NFC-powered plastic figurines, I finally got some display cabinets to give them a proper home, instead of just storing them in a box somewhere. They are installed right on the wall next to our couch, so I have quick access whenever I might need one for a game. It's also nice to look at all the different figurines, but this had me thinking about what other amiibo there could and should have been...

And on top of this list sits Echoes of Wisdom. The latest 2D Zelda game is a bit of an oddball on the topic of amiibo, because it's the only The Legend of Zelda game released on the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 that hasn't received its own. Both Link's Awakening and Skyward Sword HD came with one, while Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom got whole collections. And the new Ocarina of Time is also getting two amiibo next year. So, they've only skipped this one title.

But having Princess Zelda from the game with Tri and the Tri Rod together as an amiibo just makes too much sense. This has been a no-brainer since the game's announcement, where I was hoping that the 40th Anniversary might rectify this omission with some new amiibo figures for the whole series. Which doesn't seem to be happening, but the anniversary isn't over yet...

Now, this amiibo of Zelda could unlock another variant of the existing outfits – one that some fans even have been asking about, because it's technically already in the game. It's Zelda's disguise from the beginning, but with the hood down. Also known as "Hoodless Zelda":

There is only a very brief section during the game where you are able to play in this exact outfit and that's in Hyrule Castle after the game's mid point. Which is also where you unlock the ability to wear different outfits in the game, but for some reason this particular option doesn't stay with you. Of course, this should have been available in the game since its launch, without any additional costs, but if we're going with the above artwork for the amiibo figurine, then it will be a very good fit for a reward, because that's exactly what Zelda is wearing.

Realistically, this is all that you should expect for Echoes of Wisdom, but here is a quirky idea. There's another character from the game who would make for a great amiibo and I'm 90% serious about this one: the Stamp Guy.

The amiibo's socket could be one of his stamp stations, which would be a neat detail. It's something they are doing with the Metroid amiibo all the time, except that this wouldn't just be some random piece of rock. It would unlock an alternate color variant of the Stamp Suit, for example one in green, so you could do the whole Stamp Rally in the proper outfit. 

In addition, his own yellow paraglider would make for an excellent fabric in Tears of the Kingdom. That alone adds a lot of charm to the idea. Speaking of, the new Zelda amiibo would unlock a fabric based on the disguise's hood, similar to the Hylian-Hood Fabric from the Rider Link amiibo, but with a different pattern.

Though, it remains to be seen whether they are going to update Tears of the Kingdom for future amiibo after Mineru's Construct. They haven't announced anything for the Ocarina of Time amiibo here, but it would be awesome.

Nintendo Today: Echoes of Wisdom Collectible Cards

The third set of digital collectible cards in Nintendo Today began today: it's for Echoes of Wisdom, the most recent Zelda game. Curiously, the little video series where they let monsters fight against each other in the game has already finished in the meantime. You'd think that this is the perfect companion piece for these cards, but Nintendo had other plans...

They also haven't replaced the Majora's Mask icons on the Nintendo Switch Online app with something else, where they could have brought back those for Echoes of Wisdom. But there likely will be icons for Ocarina of Time in two weeks. And I also expected the same for the collectible cards, where it would have made sense to offer a set based on the new Ocarina of Time while the remake is fresh. But the Echoes of Wisdom set has a total of 25 cards, so it will last until November 17th...

Ideally, they will add the game's soundtrack to Nintendo Music in one of these weeks, but Link's Awakening isn't even on there yet and you would expect this game to appear first. So, just like with Breath of the Wild, this set of cards might not be connected to anything else.

As for the Majora's Mask set, its questions were all easy, as long as you have played the game. They have also focused almost entirely on important characters and entities: you get Link's different transformations, Skull Kid, the Happy Mask Salesman, the four temple bosses, and some more important side characters, like Anju and Kafei. The most obscure entry are the Rosa Sisters, actually. And the only nitpick is that they have messed up the order of the bosses – Twinmold was put between Odolwa and Goht for some reason.

Well, the content of these cards probably relies on what official artworks and sprites there are available. The Nintendo 64 classics have nice artworks for almost all characters, but there isn't really much to work with for the items and alike, except for tiny sprites. The more modern games have larger sprites available, which they can put on these cards, like the Bed from Echoes of Wisdom.

Anyway, Echoes of Wisdom is fantastic and somewhat underrated within the Zelda community. I have replayed the game earlier this year and I can only recommend to catch up on this title if you haven't played it yet.

Nintendo Music: ARMS Added (and Wario Land)

Say about ARMS what you want, but its music is a banger. Though, this is one of the soundtracks where I could have sworn that this was on Nintendo Music since launch, but clearly not. And I'm secretly hoping that the game will get a sequel on Nintendo Switch 2 some day, which makes up for the shortcomings of the first one, e.g. with a fleshed out Grand Prix mode.

They have also added Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 last week, easily one of the best Game Boy soundtracks. And this should have already happened back in July when the game was put into the Game Boy library (see Wario Land Week), but better late than never.

Replaying Majora's Mask via NSO

Back in June I was replaying Ocarina of Time on my Nintendo Switch 2 and already made a mental note that I wanted to do the same with Majora's Mask later this year. However, it was originally my plan to do so after the Ocarina of Time remake came out, so that I can replay the second Nintendo 64 classic with a full understanding of what a potential follow-up remake could offer.

But then Nintendo highlighted Majora's Mask this month with all their 40th Anniversary activities, which made me reconsider. Maybe it's best to play this one last time now, before the Ocarina of Time remake spoils you so hard that this just won't be enjoyable any longer. I was worried that I wouldn't want to play Majora's Mask again without a remake of the same caliber.

Well, and by now we have a pretty good understanding of how the Ocarina of Time remake is going to look in detail, even without having played it myself. And there were some things that I was already longing for.

It starts with the item management. Since you need to put your Ocarina, Hero's Bow, Bombs, Hookshot, Lens of Truth, and all the masks on the C-buttons, you have to constantly go back into the menu to re-assign things. It's almost as bad as with the Game Boy Zelda games. Majora's Mask 3D made things a bit better with its touch screen buttons, but it wasn't ideal either.

Now, in the Ocarina of Time remake both the L- and R-buttons bring up the item quick select, where I suppose that a similar remake for Majora's Mask would use the L-button for switching your masks instead. The first entry let's you remove your current mask, but you should also be able to switch from one mask to any other. In the original it wasn't possible to swap from a transformation mask to a normal mask, without taking it off first, but this would need to be possible to make such a menu comfortable to use.

The Lens of Truth and Ocarina go to the D-pad, just like in the Ocarina of Time remake. And since there are no different boots, there would even be one D-pad slot left (downwards), which they should reserve for the Great Fairy's Sword. So, instead of making the two-handed sword a ZR item, you would switch between the two different swords via a button press. With only one item slot this is for the best, because you wouldn't want that button be blocked by a second sword.

Such a remake would also be a great chance to flesh out the three day cycle in areas outside of Clocktown, e.g. the Romani Ranch. If you successfully aid both Romani and Cremia during the first two days, then Cremia will be completely absent during daytime on the final day. And this may even be intentional, because she's probably on her way to bring Anju's family to the ranch with her carriage.

But that's something a remake could show us: let her travel from Clocktown back to the ranch with a bunch of people on board. You should be able to watch these people take shelter there, instead of magically appearing at 6PM. This was completely fine for a 26 year old Nintendo 64 game, which was developed within a single year, but a remake in today's time could do so much more...

Otherwise I'm curious how they would handle the auto-jumping–or the lack thereof, because Majora's Mask has this odd inconsistency about invisible grounds. There is a hidden pathway at Ikana Graveyard where you just walk off into the abyss, where I wish I could jump manually... The invisible platforms around Snowhead on the other hand let you jump off them automatically, even when you don't see them, oddly enough. But it's how you are able to get to the Lens of Truth in the first place, where I suppose they would change this in a remake into one continuous path with curves.

But enough talk about a remake... I will get back to that topic once I've played and completed the new Ocarina of Time. 

One of the reasons why I started replaying Majora's Mask now were the collectible cards this month in Nintendo Today. And here it's funny how this often coincided. Well, I wasn't rushing, usually just playing a single cycle per evening with some breaks here and there, over the course of the last two weeks. These cycles were also far from optimized, so this wasn't about challenging myself to cram as much into one cycle as possible.

And by doing so I matched the cards with what I was playing that same day a couple of times. I've obtained the remains of Odolwa, Goht and Gyorg when their cards came out on October 7th, 10th and 16th respectively. Kafei's card showed up when I played parts of his quest early in the game, on October 8th. And I got both Zora Link and Fierce Deity Link on the day of their cards. Zora Link came out on October 15th and the Fierce Deity card is live today, where I have finished the game.

But yeah, I was playing a lot more casually and even going for things I haven't seen for quite some time, because they usually don't matter. For example, I've stalked Pamela with the Stone Mask, where you can watch her go to the well... slowly.

Or, I've witnessed the hustle between Sakon and the Curiosity Shop owner when he's trying to sell the stolen Bomb Bag. There is a lot to explore in Termina, which is quite amazing for a Nintendo 64 game.

One thing I never realized until today is that the Deku Stick trick also works in Majora's Mask. You can turn a butterfly into a fairy when it touches the stick's end. It's something that you learn in Ocarina of Time from a Gossip Stone, which came up the other day with the news about the Fairy Thoughts. So, I just randomly gave this a try on the moon, which worked like a charm. And it makes sense that this still works, since the two games share the same basis, but it's just something that never occurred to me in all those years.

The Nintendo Switch Online release also came with a number of caveats, like the slightly smoother 20FPS of the NTSC version. And I'm not sure I have ever experienced the game with active rumble before. It was an option on the Wii U, but I normally turned this off back then and I also haven't mentioned it in my blog post from almost ten years ago... (Which was the last time I had replayed Majora's Mask.)

But Link has essentially the Stone of Agony on him all the time, where it's not only rumbling for the two secret grottoes, but also on spots where treasure chests may appear. That was more irritating than helpful, however.

The true novelty was the rewind feature and this certainly shines in Majora's Mask with its many mini-games. The two Shooting Galleries always have been a pain without gyro aiming, but with rewind this was still easy enough to score a "PERFECT" on "first try". This is an absolute blessing even a remake wouldn't provide.

It's still painful how you have to do the Beaver Race four times in total, where the ten seconds less on the clock for the Piece of Heart certainly don't make any difference for when you can easily undo mistakes. But I generally hate it when mini-games just make you repeat the exact same thing with less time, where Rollgoal in Twilight Princess was the worst offender. 

And that's it... This may have been the last time I have played through the original Majora's Mask, because I'm expecting a remake to appear within the next four to five years and I won't go back from that. Though, I also thought the same about the Nintendo 3DS remakes and here we are. Still, if I want to refresh my memories until then, I will probably go for Majora's Mask 3D instead, where a part of me missed those fishing holes. 

Finally, here is some of my latest RNG:

• Bomber's Code: 21435
• Lottery Numbers: 021, 656 and 848

Ocarina of Time Remake: Steel Yourself Trailer

Nintendo has published a short trailer for Ocarina of Time, which focuses on boss battles and comes with some new footage. This includes a first look at Dark Link, Morpha, Bongo Bongo, a Big Poe and Ganon's Castle.

The latter looks massive now—it got a huge upgrade over the original. Can't wait to see it all collapse into a flat plain of rubble. But it looks like they are a lot more concerned about making the outside of buildings fit the inside, which is also true for the Skulltula House in Kakariko for example. They have scaled up Ganon's Castle, so that there is theoretically enough space for all the rooms with the barriers. And this may also mean that the final battle at the end may let you cover much more ground.

Anyway, that Big Poe hunting scene looks positively creepy, certainly a lot more atmospheric than before. I've talked about this topic already, but I really hope that this quest gets overhauled somewhat. But we could already see that the Big Poes now have visible spawn locations, which will be helpful.

Curiously, there seems to be a new indicator for when Link is using magic. His arms is glowing green while he is charging that Fire Arrow. It makes it look like the magic Zonai energy from Tears of the Kingdom, which doesn't mean that it's the same thing, but it's interesting how this now gets portrayed more actively. That Link is able to use magic was meant to be something special in the classic Zelda games, but it became a lost art later in the series.

Ocarina of Time Remake: Nintendo 64 Replica Box

If you live in France, you might want to buy the Ocarina of Time remake from a Micromania store during their midnight launch, because it will come wrapped in a replica of the Nintendo 64 box, the black and gold PAL version. This doesn't seem to be an official Nintendo product and it's not an exact replica, because the front and back will be identical...

But I love this idea. Limited Run Games has done this a couple of times, like for the Turok games. Sadly, I don't have my Nintendo 64 box of Ocarina of Time any longer, only the one for Majora's Mask. The one for Ocarina of Time was sealed with stickers and got damaged when I tried to remove them. Then I just cut out the logo, as well as parts of the backside, and threw away the rest. Unthinkable today, but I was a child at the time and it was just cheap cardboard.

But if Nintendo were to offer something like this in their Nintendo Store, maybe even as a reward for Platinum Points, I would totally get this. Though, I would probably then use it for the Nintendo 64 original to replace the missing box.

Via: Nintendo Life