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Cartridge Games @cartridgegames.bsky.social · 12h

GameCube version also feels held together by duct tape

But it’s still pretty fun

Might argue it’s the best sonic team game post Dreamcast, before shadow generations (with save states)

Cartridge Games @cartridgegames.bsky.social · 18h

Never understood why they did the eyes like that

Reposted by Cartridge Games

DK Vine @dkvine.com · 21h

Today was Gregg Mayles' last day at Rare. He posted this lovely little farewell over on social media. Since he's not on Bluesky, I hope he doesn't mind me sharing it here.

There's probably no video game designer, let alone creative mind, who has had as much of a positive impact on my life as Gregg.

A poem by Gregg Mayles, including a photo of him looking out at the countryside with Googly Eyes.

A Rather Resplendent Rewarding Rare Ramble

Grant me moments of your time,
To tell a story versed in rhyme,

In eighty nine this tale does start,
When famous wall did fall apart.

Still standing tall a lad left school,
Who'd employ this daydreaming fool?

A chance arose to go into banking,
Choice he ignored and forever thanking,

Local paper had tiny ad,
Go join Rare? WHAT! You must be mad!

He tested games then got into design,
Which somehow turned out reasonably fine,

Mentored by the Ultimate greats,
Expectations of Rare game traits,

Each game adding to his skills,
A memorable ride of many thrills,

First three toads and then some apes,
Donkey, Diddy, barrels of japes,

Grand adventures of bird and bear,
Whacking Ghoulies with haunted chair,

Critters of paper in gardening charm,
Sporting parties waving leg and arm,

Sailing pirates through stormy weather.
Players creating stories together,

Others too, much less well known,
With Rare magic in them sown,

Wonderful games made by splendid teams,
Enchanting players have been their dreams,

The Ruby Ramble one final chapter.
Of lovingly crafted games and laughter,

For here is where this story ends,
Thirty six years it's been my friends,

For come the day October fourteen,
At Manor Park then no longer seen,

His sack of fun upon his back,
To set off down a different track,

Leaving behind some parting advice,
Have no fear, it's helpful and nice,

If captivating players is what you seek,
Keep on making Rare games unique!

Now time to start new tales to tell,
Farewell to Rare he waves, farewell!

Gregg

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Cartridge Games @cartridgegames.bsky.social · 22h

Cartridge Games @cartridgegames.bsky.social · 22h

What do you mean it’s another Versus 13-like??

Screen caps from the trailer with similar imagery to the original ff versus 13

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Cartridge Games @cartridgegames.bsky.social · 22h

Yuji Naka would’ve loved to do insider trading with this 😔

Nova Crystallis @novacrystallis.com · 1d

Dissidia Duellum Final Fantasy announced for 2026 release on iOS/Android, closed beta to be held in November. novacrystallis.com/2025/10/diss...

Dissidia Duellum Final Fantasy announced for iOS/Android - Nova Crystallis

Square Enix has announced Dissidia Duellum Final Fantasy, a new 3-versus-3 team boss battle arena game for iOS and Android smartphones. It will be developed in partnership NHN PlayArt. In the gameplay...

novacrystallis.com

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Cartridge Games @cartridgegames.bsky.social · 23h

weird pick, but I like this more than Wind Waker even

One of the first games I played on my OLED TV

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Cartridge Games @cartridgegames.bsky.social · 23h

I’ve skipped pretty much every Pokemon game since fire red, but really liked Arceus

Pretty sweet that ZA seems to compare favorably and addresses is stumbling they had with SV

Seems like they’re back on track with this and Pokopia coming out soon

Cartridge Games @cartridgegames.bsky.social · 23h

Wait a second…

Pokémon is good?

That can’t be right

VGC @videogameschronicle.com · 1d

Pokémon Legends Z-A Review: A love letter to older fans that betters Arceus in every way.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

www.videogameschronicle.com/review/pokem...

Pokémon Legends Z-A Review: A love letter to older fans that betters Arceus in every way | VGC

Switch 1’s limitations fail to take the shine off a Pokémon adventure that has finally aged-up with the audience…

www.videogameschronicle.com

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Cartridge Games @cartridgegames.bsky.social · 1d

COD sales at 10% the cost without having to pay platform royalties

Wild

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Cartridge Games @cartridgegames.bsky.social · 1d

PS4 era Call of duty being 53 times more expensive than Pokémon is wild

Especially since they sell about the same

Imagine 2025’s Pokemon cost 10% of this year’s COD

Call of Duty's massive development budgets revealed: $700 million for Black Ops Cold War
The biggest development budgets ever disclosed by a game company, buried in a court filing (but found by Game File), along with updated sales figures.
STEPHEN TOTILO
JAN 06, 2025

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Cartridge Games @cartridgegames.bsky.social · 2d

“Don’t listen to bias sources”
-windows central

Then, various blog sites who seem oddly invested in the concept of "Xbox dying" ran with headlines based on said anonymous reports.

Cartridge Games @cartridgegames.bsky.social · 2d

It’s so transparent

Embarrassing

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Cartridge Games @cartridgegames.bsky.social · 3d

I think it was mostly:
There were no coins to guide you

No map

Stages would force you to return later with new abilities and new areas

Rolling used stamina

Half as many collectibles (felt empty)

Camera sucked

Controls were Janky

No Pause music

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Cartridge Games @cartridgegames.bsky.social · 4d

Probably not a great game, I love how dawn of mana looks

Screenshot showing running through forest area

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Cartridge Games @cartridgegames.bsky.social · 4d

Why would you start your “workers first“ studio by throwing a tantrum because you were caught using anti-worker technology

Kate Gray @hownottodraw.bsky.social · 4d

so, uh, I guess the studio responded to this by replacing their website art!

(not gonna lie, I'm torn between "lol, lmao" and "hm, that's a bit of an immature response from a professional game studio")

A screenshot of the Sackbird website that shows their social media icons replaced with intentionally bad MS Paint-style art

A screenshot of the Sackbird website which used to have an AI-generated skyline of Baltimore, and now has an intentionally shitty bunch of brown boxes labelled as "Fort McHenry" and "Sackbird Studios" in Comic Sans. It has clearly been drawn in MS Paint in about 5 minutes

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Cartridge Games @cartridgegames.bsky.social · 4d

Really interested in how it does in October

But at least for now, it does seem like the man hasn’t completely collapsed, which is great

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Cartridge Games @cartridgegames.bsky.social · 4d

It’s a bigger better switch, calling it. Anything else would’ve been confusing.

Nothing wrong with that either

Cartridge Games @cartridgegames.bsky.social · 4d

Wii u’s issue was that the hardware was bad and the pacing of releases is poor

That’s all they had to fix and they did

The marketing also improved with that reveal being really good

Cartridge Games @cartridgegames.bsky.social · 4d

They still made Splatoon and Mario maker. But they gave up in 2014 yeah.

They might have had some hope with Mario kart and smash in the same year

Anything not announced in 2014 was either outsourced or incredibly tiny

Cartridge Games @cartridgegames.bsky.social · 4d

I think we got that sales report the same week Ubisoft delayed and made Rayman Legends multiplatform

PS4 was officially announced like a week and a half later

Just immediately stuck with something unsalvageable for five years

Brutal

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Cartridge Games @cartridgegames.bsky.social · 4d

Thinking back to Wii U’s 3rd month

It had a successful launch in November and December, selling in line with the 360

But then January numbers came in: 50k - a gargantuan drop

The system died immediately at that point

pierre485 @pierre485.bsky.social · 4d

Nintendo Switch 2 sales in the US
• June 2025 - 1.6m units
• July 2025 - 480k units
• August 2025 ~ 320k units
Total - 2.4m units

pierre485 @pierre485.bsky.social · 6d

For hardware, Nintendo Switch 2 increase offset both PS5 and XBS decrease
• Nintendo Switch 2 reach 2.4m units in 3 months
- Ahead of PS4 by 5%
- Ahead of Switch 1 by 77%

*Nintendo does not share digital sales
*Bundle sales not included

Thanks, @matpiscatella.bsky.social

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Cartridge Games @cartridgegames.bsky.social · 5d

They were fired so Microsoft can invest in AI

Instead of paying a single illustrator, this is how they choose to announce themselves to the world

Panther feasting on faces today

Kate Gray @hownottodraw.bsky.social · 5d

I'm pretty sure this is an AI-generated logo. If you look at the other versions of it on their website, every single bird is slightly different (the feet, the head, the bag).

I mean, this sucks, no?

A screenshot of the Sackbird website that says "seek the sack" (horrible) followed by four images of a black bird with a bindle and a human arm. there are minor variations in the art - some birds have bigger heads, or more fingers, or flatter feet.

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Cartridge Games @cartridgegames.bsky.social · 5d

They also added the Nintendo pictures logo. The third upload also adds an Nintendo pictures logo.

Would be nice to get one of these every few months

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Cartridge Games @cartridgegames.bsky.social · 5d

Nintendo uploaded a third version

A combination of the two videos

After the invisible version plays out, text that reads “something invisible might be behind the mystery, let’s take another look“

Then we see the final version

Cartridge Games @cartridgegames.bsky.social · 5d

Incredibly funny bit:
Nintendo tells you to download the app to watch the video

But the video is no longer available, and you cant search for it

Cartridge Games @cartridgegames.bsky.social · 6d

Pikmin “Close to You” animation was the first short by Nintendo pictures

They will continue to create more

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