Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 -better than Mario? (PIcture: Sony)

The Tuesday letters page shares more tips for getting cheap video games, as another reader praises Ni No Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch.

To join in with the discussions yourself email [email protected]

Strange contenders
Presumably you’re not at liberty to say when the review embargo on Super Mario Bros. Wonder is up?

Glad to see Spider-Man 2 has received generally positive reviews and I’m genuinely interested to see how a 2D Mario game fares in one of the strangest head-to-head releases I can remember.

As they are so completely different, I honestly don’t think the two games would be considered as competing with each other if it weren’t for the simultaneous release date.
John Atkinson

GC: We are not allowed to say, no.

Share the cost
Cheapest way to play games is what I do. I’ve pre-ordered Spider-Man 2 and my mate has got my login details on their PlayStation 5 on a second account. We normally like the same games, so I’ve bought Spider-Man 2 from the PlayStation Store.

I’ll download it, then on her PlayStation 5 she will log in to my account and download it on hers. Then she will log in to her account and because her account on her PlayStation 5 is primary the game allows her to play it.

Then if Call Of Duty comes out she buys it and I’ll log in to her account and do the same that way. It ends up as half the price because we take it in turns buying games and sharing them. That way we get two games for the price of one. That’s the best and cheapest way you can get games, works out at £35 per game.
David

The cycle continues
I’m a little disappointed with the reviews for Sonic Superstars. Although the general reaction is that it is an OK title, I was hoping this would be something special, on par with Sonic Mania. Did I fall for the Sonic cycle again?

I’ll probably pick it up at some point but wait for a price drop, especially as your review points out that it is inferior to Sonic Mania, which was only a third of the price.
Barry

GC: It’s a shame but it’s clear Sonic Mania, and to a lesser degree Sonic Frontiers, are the only exceptions to the cyclical rule. Sonic Superstars is better than average though, for Sonic, and far superior to rubbish like Sonic Forces.

E-mail your comments to: [email protected]

Beautiful Pokémon
Got to agree with James, Ni No Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch is an absolute beaut of a game. One thing he didn’t mention though were the familiars, monsters you can capture like in Pokémon and train up and evolve. But better than Pokémon’s ever been handled is the way you can call, three I think, into battle, where upon they run around attacking with elemental and physical attacks, fiery meteors and icy icicles raining down from above; familiars dashing across screen in a flash of light and um… flashiness.

I remember at the time thinking this is the direction Pokémon is going to go. Alas, that was over 10 years ago and still… hmm. Best we ever got was sending a pokémon out with the press of a button and thwip enemy pokémon disappears, thwap enemy Pokémon disappears. Maybe one day someone from Game Freak will play Ni No Kuni.
big boy bent

Pikmin: The Movie
I’ve just finished Pikmin 4, brilliant game. My two favourite parts are the Cavern for a King, 20 sublevels where your Pikmin don’t get replenished. You can fudge it by using glow Pikmin, which I had to do. Then Olimar’s shipwreck tale, 10 varied and tricky challenges.

I also came across, on YouTube, the short movies Nintendo did in 2014. The more I think about it the more I think Pikmin would make an excellent movie, so much potential. The Pikmin don’t need to talk, they have more than enough personality.
James Monnelly, Jersey

GC: Yes, they were good. Maybe Nintendo should’ve handled the Mario movie itself.

Official reveal
Regarding cheat codes, I remember Official Nintendo Magazine made a big deal of revealing the codes for GoldenEye 007, that gave access to the various modes and guns that originally could only be unlocked by completing challenges in the levels.

The thing is, this reveal was several years after the game had released suggesting this was a planned release by Rare/Nintendo to prolong interest in the game. Several games level select codes were debug menus that were left in the final release (such as the Mega Drive Sonic games).

My favourite cheat code was for International Superstar Soccer Deluxe, where putting in the Konami code would turn the referee into a dog. It never got old watching it regurgitate cards after fouls.
Frogs Bowser

Key to saving
I wish Hoodedyoda01 had checked out CDKeys before purchasing that PremiumEedition of Forza Motorsport from Amazon, as it’s a whopping 32% cheaper, at £60.89. Same game, same extra content.

I always check out digital game codes at ShopTo and CDKeys (they are both legitimate) before purchasing a game. It doesn’t take long to do and thankfully Microsoft still allow game codes to be brought from other stores.
Chaosphere616

Apropos to nothing
Spider-Man 2 is fantastic but not worth paying £70, we all knew that from the onset; that’s old news. The new news is that I’d like to pop a question. Project Zero; I’ve mentioned it before, but I’d like to ask you GC. Is it a better choice to purchase the second title instead of the first instalment? I’ve heard the second instalment is easier, both in difficulty and accessibility.

Does the first title come with an easy difficulty choice, as the second does, or is it locked to a standard difficulty? One more question. I’ve heard the first game is the scariest title, possibly of all time. True?
Shahzaib Sadiq

GC: The last time we played Project Zero 2 was 11 years ago on the Wii, we can’t remember anything about the difficulty options. However, we do know that the second one is definitely the scariest and the best.

Constructive criticism
One thing that bothers me is the little star rating that you have right at the top of most of your reviews, I really like to read through the whole review before finding out the score and this being right at the top ruins the experience somewhat.

Perhaps this can be moved or hidden under a ‘click to reveal’ button?
Dangeraaron07 (PSN ID)
Now playing: Hogwarts Legacy

GC: We’ll have a word with IT and see if anything can be done.

Unknown relationship
I have read the article about PlayStation and Nintendo joining forces to combat Microsoft, but this is not correct as Sony and Nintendo have not been in good relations since the 1990s. The Super Nintendo Entertainment System CD-ROM prototype is the evidence, as at that time it was approved by Sony but Nintendo cut their ties with Sony after the information was revealed to them, as a result Nintendo made a deal with Phillips to create the failed CD-i platform. That’s it.

The truth is that Nintendo and Microsoft are in good standing with each other and they see Sony as a common threat to the video game market. Therefore, Jim Ryan the outgoing CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, is using the dominant position to aggregate the video game market shares.
Anon

GC: None of that final paragraph is true and the Nintendo Play Station debacle was over 30 years ago, so that’s not a factor. However, it is interesting to think that Nintendo and Sony almost never speak about each other in public, so there’s really no clue as to how they might feel about each other.

More: Trending

Sensible precaution
When do you expect your Super Mario Bros. Wonder review to be up? I’d like to take advantage of the Currys pre-order code of 25% off but have taken a vow to not pre-order until there’s some reviews up at least.

Also, any chance of adding Chants Of Sennaar to your end of year missed games list to have a look at if you’ve time. I’ve stuck it on the wishlist, as it looks very interesting.
Simundo

GC: It’s Nintendo, so we’re not allowed to say. But the embargo is well before the launch day. We’ll see if we can take a look at Chants Of Sennaar before the end of the year, we did have our eye on it at one point.

Artificial cheating
In response to Glynn’s Inbox letter about cheating.

This weekend I was looking at the possibility of getting an AI to click all the buttons for me in a poker game on the PC. I found a program that you can subscribe to and can train. Results sound pretty varied and after a hundred hands or so the poker websites are meant to be able to tell that you are a bot and ban you.

I then played a game of poker (for the first time this year by the way, I find it too slow and boring) and there is an AI helper on the actual poker website that will analyse your game and give you tips!

So it seems like AI helpers are being added to give you a bit of a helping hand.

I also used to try out the odd glitch in old Call Of Duty games. These are glitches where it takes you under the map or makes you float into some unassailable position where you can pick people off. I’d test these out more than actually use them. Just something interesting to see.

This was back In the PlayStation 3 era.

I’m too scared of getting my PSN account banned to try them nowadays.

The technology interests me. If I could train an AI to replicate my decisions making process, then I’d definitely consider using it for… everything.
TommyFatFingers

Inbox also-rans
Just a short message to say the Kickstarter for Hogs of War Lardcore starts today (Tuesday) at 4pm UK BST. I am going to back it to get a digital copy and my name in the credits! I never played the original game but read the article about it on GameCentral recently.
Andrew J.

Just thought I would share this picture of Luigi. A student at Anne Lister College at the University of York made it.
Woz 007 (gamertag)

Luigi number one! (Picture: Woz 007)

This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Onibee, who asks what is your favourite Nintendo game?

Nobody’s been in the video games business longer than Nintendo, or has as many famous, and not so famous, franchises as they do, but what is your absolute favourite Nintendo game and why?

How does it compare to other entries in the franchise and other similar games from other companies? Is Nintendo one of your favourite developers and what do you think are their key strengths and weaknesses?

E-mail your comments to: [email protected]

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.

You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

MORE : Games Inbox: The easiest way to get cheap video games, Forza Motorsport bugs, and Phil Spencer interviews

MORE : Weekend Hot Topic: Do you beat every video game you play?

MORE : Games Inbox: The danger of Nintendo being bought out, The Legend Of Zelda love, and GTA 6 doubts

Follow Metro Gaming on Twitter and email us at [email protected]

To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.

For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

The Tuesday letters page shares more tips for getting cheap video games, as another reader praises Ni No Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch.