PixlBit

Looking at sales numbers for FF7, FF8, and FF10 compared to FF9 or Square's pre-PS1 games, it's easy to see why they went in that direction. FF9 deserved better, as it was both highly polished and well-balanced, but it also had the problem of releasing the same year the PS2 did.

Dragon Quest is interesting. Unlike Final Fantasy, its designers refuse to change the series other than some quality-of-life changes to take advantage of modern technology. After over 30 years, Dragon Quest still has the same three core creative designers that led development on the original NES game - Yuji Hori, Akira Toriyama, and Koichi Sugiyama. And the games still sell like hotcakes, at least in Japan. 

River City Girls is out now, right?

To be fair, Fighter's Destiny did look okay in the same way that San Francisco Rush looked okay compared to Ridge Racer or Daytona USA. Solid B-tier game. Certainly better than the likes of M.A.C.E. or (ugh!) War Gods.

That Mana collection is really good stuff. Glad we got an official version of Seiken Densetsu 3/Trials of Mana. That was always one of my most wanted localizations.

Love Valkyria Chronicles. So far I've played it on PS3, PC, PS4, and Switch. 

I thought after playing Fire Emblem that it would be impossible to top, but Dragon Quest is giving it a serious run for its money. These are like the two best RPGs of this generation, unless you want to count Breath of the Wild. 

Also getting FFVIII and Zelda: Link's Awakening.

I started gaming in the early 80s, but I've played most of this stuff or things like it. My sister had an off-brand Pong console, and I was familiar with all the Atari stuff since my cousins and friends had 2600s. I had a few cheesy LCD games from Radio Shack and even a Nintendo Game & Watch, until I got my first Game Boy.

Stage Select: That's a tough one. Most of the games I like have dating sim elements to them already. Maybe the Nintendo universe. You could have dating choices like Pauline, Peach, Zelda, Samus, Isabelle, Palutena, or a huge selection of Fire Emblem waifus. 

Cage Match: I laughed for quite a few minutes at this one.

My first 5th gen console was a N64. I guess for some reason I'd hoped that, even though FFVII was gone, that Enix, Nintendo, or some other company would step up with a good RPG. We had the promise of Earthbound 64, after all. What we got was Quest 64, which was the poster child for a lot that was screwed up with Nintendo during the 32/64 bit era. Nintendo seriously tried to say that Quest 64 was an adequate substitute for all the RPGs N64-only owners were missing out on. It was crazy. And in my desperation for an RPG, I even thought about getting it... until I found out that it had no party members, a primitive combat system, no money or shops, and very little else. At that point, I gave up on the N64 and broke down and bought a PS1. My first game for PS1, was, of course, FFVII, which is my favorite game of all time.  But it wasn't the only game like this. Nintendo was also reduced to heavily promoting games like ClayFighter 63 1/3, M.A.C.E, and Fighter's Destiny as competitors for Tekken, and Hybrid Heaven as the N64's Metal Gear Solid. I don't think they even had any competitor for Resident Evil lined up, though they did get a port of Resident Evil 2 at the end, along with Ogre Battle 64 and Harvest Moon 64. By then, it was too little, too late.

Contrast that to the Switch, which has so many great RPGs from Nintendo, Square Enix, and almost every other third party that it's hard to find time to play them all.

So, to summarize: "A congenital design defect has felled Quest 64 moments before it could enter the ring."

I have the DK ornamemt. DK is my favorite arcade game of all time. It's one of my most played Switch games.

I just wish WB would release the actual Defender, Joust, and the rest of the Midway library on to Switch/PS4.

Sony just bought Insomniac, so hopefully they'll come up with a new R&C for you.

Nice. I would like to try snowshoeing at least once.