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7) Nier Automata
Well that was a wild ride. Was a blast and frustrating. If you want more thoughts go to rpg. With the endings abcdeghkotuz. Won’t be getting anymore till a replay tho….. even if I wanted to. Definitely want try Nier replicant now, waiting for a sale or switch port tho. Now if only we could get a drakengard sale too
Previous games:
1)Yoku’s island express
2)Live a Live
3)Arcade Paradise
4)The Great Ace Attorney Adventures
5)Immortal Fenyx rising 6) SD Gundam Battle Alliance
I feel is a bit too visually busy, impressive and unique aesthetic and music, but maybe a little bit too good on the visual side, too much stuff and bullets, it has a absorb type shield that reflects attacks, kind of like Drainus, but I think the fact that you have to commit to the use and have to wait for a cooldown rather than manage it yourself and only get punished with a cooldown if you use the entire shield makes the mechanic implemented worse here, but still a solid game and again, really unique presentation wise for the shoot em up I played.
14. Progear - 8
Really good, pretty, simple military esque shoot em up with a weirdly cool ending, not much else to say besides the peak late 90's early 00's Capcom artwork.
15. Eco Fighters - 8
I really like the idea of spinning your second weapon around you, because of that focus on moving both your ship and weapon, is made more manageable by not being as bullet hellish as other games, the theme of fighting back against pollution is simple yet well executed as far as having a story drive, and context for some nice backgrounds and set pieces, and again, peak Capcom aesthetics.
16. Darkstalkers The Night Warriors - 5
Is pretty whatever, feels pretty simplistic, and I don't care much for the general setting, and don't have much of an attachment to the cast design wise.
12. Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride [ DS*] - 10
Guess I'll write something more substantial for this game. I think a good starting point of praise for older games like this, is that I haven't played much or anything like it, individually a lot of elements in this game have been done in others for sure, but I haven't played anything that blends all of that, and creates such a perfect synergy of all that storytelling through gameplay like this game, it pulls it all off with such elegance that it seems effortless. The journey of V's Hero is pure excellence, all the up and downs are just peak, the innocent starting mini stories, and all those twists and turns man
the kidnapping, making the death of his dad playable, the moments you are a slave, there is the simplicity of the marriage stuff, but is what the game does after that elevates that shit to peak fiction, the game making you wait for the birth of your children, essentially bringing it back to how it started with Pankraz, you and your wife being turned to stone, being separated, sold off as statues, seeing that you can't do anything for a child being kidnapped in front of you, your children being the actual legendary heroes, like shiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeet son, such a great subversion, V's Hero is still the one that sees the most growth through the game, but the fact that he isn't really that special, he is not as strong as his father, he doesn't have Zenitian blood just his wife, and his children are the ones able to do the more powerful spells and being able to equip the legendary equipment, yet still able to stand up to the challenges ahead, go toe to toe with the underworld monsters and leaders, and stand victorius, that blend of the player's effort, that synergy with the Hero as an avatar character, and that whole journey of growth is one of many reasons why this game clicks so hard. Also how it ties back the whole orb deal and the fairies with that time travel moment, another shiiiiiiiiiet son from me.
Besides all that, gameplay is great, classic DQ gameplay with some decently challenging fights, pacing is fantastic, you just get moment after moment of key story and gameplay sequences, it packs so much great stuff within 20 something hours. Also definitely one of the best soundtracks from the series, Make me feel sad is such a perfect track. And this being the DS remake also means that it has beautiful blend animation, sprites and 3D models that elevate the experience more, as a small tangent, SE's DS remakes still are the best effort on that front from the company to me, DS FF and DQ is how I imagine they should be done, really can't accept anything else.
17. Signalis [ NS ] - 10 - 2 playthroughs
What a game, a really gripping atmosphere, a truly wonderful story, great original music and also a great use of classical pieces, makes it all hauntingly beautiful, the low poly aesthetic is really the way to go to create an unsettling horror game to me, like the more realistic and detailed something is, the less scary it comes off, I prefer when I can't tell apart every detail.
Gameplay wise it feels like a mix of elements from REmake and OG RE2, I wouldn't say the survival horror aspects are at their best, but still a pretty good effort, it has enemies that can come back to life after a certain amount of time, but they don't get more aggresive like REmake's crimson heads, so it doesn't have the same level of strategy of what enemies to burn with that limited resource, is fairly linear in progression and has a pretty good pacing like RE2, with every main area you go through being puzzle solving, item collecting, with slight labyrinth like design but still mostly straightforward like 2. Game only has a couple of boss fights, really only 1 tbh, but kinda wish it had more because that one boss is pretty nice on a mechanical level. It also has some nice replay value with multiple endings and also that addictive arcadey nature of this style of survival horror games that makes one want to improve future runs. On the whole, is a pretty good survival horror game elevated to masterpiece levels by its presentation and story, truly lovely experience.
Games I already completed this year:
1: Octopath Traveler (23/01)
2: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe + Wave 1-3 of the Booster Course Pass (28/01)
3: Paper Mario: The Origami King (13/02)
4: A Short Hike (19/02)
I bought the game more than a year ago and never started on it. It felt like a good time to finally play it.
And I'm happy I did, because the game is so much fun! I truly wish the game was a larger hike!
I especially loved the freedom in the game that keeps growing the more feathers you collect!
5: Celeste (25/02)
Great game, the levels are crafted so well.
I adored Chapter 2 - Old Site, it might be the best level I ever played in a video game. The moment that you were able to dash through the space blocks and the music changed felt magical. I didn't expect it at all and it was so well done!
I'm not a fan of grinding and dying 100 times in the same spot, so I finished Chapters 1 through 8 on my own and did Chapter 9, B-sides and C-sides using assist mode.
5. The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan (8/10)
Okay, so it wasn’t quite Until Dawn good, and yes, the camera angles could be a bit bonkers at times, but I had a great time (unlike my characters).
The atmosphere was so incredibly creepy, and I absolutely loved the setting. The jump scares were great, and according to my watch, they certainly increased my heart rate, which unfortunately caused me not to think straight and lose one of my characters (sorry, Fliss). All in all, 4 out of 5 survivors isn’t bad though.
What a cool, little, funny game. I've always liked the premise of the game, since I initially bought it around its launch, but never finished it (because I was still a stupid little kid back in the days): now it's done, at least the "base" puzzle (I still have to complete the Bonus ones).
The only reason I can't put a higher rating is that the game is wayyyyy too easy. Like out of the almost 200 puzzles I did, only a few ones was a bit hard, but there was like 75% of the puzzles that were just doable brainless. It was still fun because of its concept, but it would have been better if half of the puzzles had been removed and the other half made better use of the game mechanics. Quality over quantity... But hey, for like 6€ at the time, I think it's worth the price, I had great tims with it and I'm happy I finally finished it. Gonna do Bonus stages a little bit every now and then!
Anyway, I'm playing Like A Dragon: Ishin these days and man, what a great game: Yakuza is definitely in my top 10 series ever lmao.
Next games should be the two Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon, since I bought them on sales this weekend.
Great tribute to Castlevania, with cool ideas. My main complain is that the game is WAY too easy. I mean I'm not an alpha gamer who's searching for difficulty in every game I play but when it's down to Castlevania and Castlevania-like, to me it's part of the experience, and Curse of the Moon wasn't hard at all, at least if you played any other classic Castlevania before. And maybe that's the only thing that prevents the game to reach Castlevania standard in my opinion, because everything else was really good and I had a great time with it during my 2 playthrough (I did the 2 True Endings). Should start Curse of the Moon 2 today I think.
8. Like A Dragon: Ishin - 9/10 ❤
Already talked a bit about it on the Yakuza ST but yeah, that was such a great game and god I LOVE the Yakuza/Like A Dragon series, even if I only played 3 of those including that one. Gameplay was great, story took a bit too much time to take off but after a few chapter that was really cool, my main problem with the game is the side content, with substories being like half of what I'm expecting from a Yakuza and they were quite short for the most (and a lot of them are tied to the friendship system sooooo), and side activities not being my favorite in the series so far, but hey 0 set the bar so high that I'm not expecting it to by topped.
1. Bayonetta 3 - 7.5/10 ❤
2. The Wonderful 101 Remastered - 6/10
3. Hi-Fi Rush - 8.5/10 ❤
4. Metroid Prime Remastered * - 9/10 ❤
5. Metroid Dread * - 10/10 ❤
6. Pullblox - 7/10
7. Bloostained: Curse of the Moon - 7.5/10
8. Like A Dragon: Ishin - 9/10 ❤
A nice zen game where you clean houses of dirt, replace crap, paint walls, assemble radiators and the like.
It's not exactly brimming with originality or new mechanics after, like, level 4, but it's satisfying.
I'm not sure if there is an "ending". I've beaten all the levels (not to 100%, as some bugged out and I quit at about 90-95), but there's also a mechanic where you buy houses, redecorate them and sell them for a higher price. That part of the game I didn't touch, as customers seem insane. I've done all I can to please a certain lady and got a whopping 5k dollars profit from my task.
The game has RPG elements where you can pick certain skills which makes some jobs too boring at first (painting walls is so slow at the beginning that even the smallest rooms terrified me) but provides a nice skinner's box reaction to doing stuff. Frankly, I'm glad I tried it for free, as I'm not sure I'd pay for it. It's not my niche, but if you're into Powerwash Sim and the like, maybe check it out. Still, from what I've heard downloading a game on GamePass gives devs some money, so I hope they can continue their craft.
1. Persona 5 Royal
2. Metroid Prime Remastered
3. WarioWare (GBA NSO) 4. Fire Emblem Engage
Overall, I think Fire Emblem Engage is a good game. To me, its strengths are mostly interesting maps and the many possibilities that come with the engage mechanic. It was fun to mix and match different units and emblems and find what worked best. From a gameplay perspective, I really enjoyed Engage.
I will say, though, that the dialogue, characters, and story were kind of jarring when I first started. Hearing some of these characters talk started annoying me after a bit... I don't know, it just felt like a children's cartoon at times, which wasn't what I was hoping for. However, this did get better as I progressed and got used to the presentation. None of these elements were ever especially impressive, but I was okay with them by the end of the game.
I'm glad I played Engage, and I'm looking forward to the remaining DLC. I'm thinking my next game will either be Crisis Core or Bayonetta 3 -- both of which are backlog games I can probably finish in 10-15 hours before Trails to Azure takes over my life.
1. Mario Party Superstars (NS) [Finished January 1st, 2023] - 8
2. Bayonetta (NS) [Finished January 2nd, 2023] - 8.5
3. Pikmin (GC) [Finished January 5th, 2023] - 8.5
4. Pikmin 2 (GC) [Finished January 17th, 2023] - 6
5. Metroid Prime Remastered (NS) [Finished February 14th, 2023] - 10
6. Metroid Dread (Replay) (NS) [Finished January 21st, 2023] - 8.5 7. Metroid Prime 2 (PrimeHack) [Finished March 5th, 2023] - 8.5:
I was in the mood for more Metroid, so I went ahead and downloaded PrimeHack. I really enjoyed using mouse controls in this game, and I kind of wonder if not using gyro with high aim sensitivity + dualstick to mimick Wii controls held back Prime Remastered a bit for me, as great as it was. The Prime games already have simplistic combat, not having to even think about aiming is just too far.
Playing this game, I was interested in seeing if it was really better in some ways than Metroid Prime, since I think it's picked up more and more steam with the online Metroid community in recent years, not unlike Majora's Mask. And for a lot of the playthrough, it seemed to be! I liked the beam system and how it made the color-coded enemy idea more interesting than in Prime, since enemies aren't immune to other ammo types usually, but are just weaker to certain ones. I liked how you have to switch between beams since you can spawn ammo types for one beam by using another one. And even the backtracking was improved for the most part, the map has every area connected to the other ones which is cool and allows for more natural backtracking.
However as it went on, the problems started accumulating, particularly towards the end. The low amount of areas is something I'm a bit mixed on. The more Majora's Mask structure, where you focus on each area individually for a long period of time, is neat because it means you'll be less confused as to where to go and it helps problem solving moment to moment. But this advantage starts to disappear as the game DOES start introducing the weird ass Prime 1 random backtracking moments that the player couldn't have guessed. The backtracking gets worse by Sanctuary Fortress, where even within the same area you'll have to backtrack through what are essentially two hallways stitched together with some rooms. So a lot of the advantages of having less areas start disappearing, and all that's left is repetition.
The upgrade pacing is genuinely pretty bad. You already start to feel like you should have one upgrade more than you do by the time you start Agon Wastes 2 hours in, and it only gets exponentially worse from there. The upgrades you also get are really bad. Honestly I usually don't nitpick upgrades being worse in one game than another because Metroid usually makes upgrades worthwhile, but when you have shit like the seeker missiles or the dark visor and echo visor, that's when you fucked up. Even the key quest is worse. And honestly, the bosses are kind of overrated.
Overall, it was good. But I think the combination of playing so much Metroid lately + the problems starting to accumulate towards the end + the key quest being even worse than Prime was just a step too far. I don't think this game deserved the low sales it got, it's definitely still one of the best adventure games Nintendo has ever made and one of their best sequels. It did reach the heights of Prime at times, and the art direction is arguably even better. But I just think it's a bit more flawed.
I'm Metroided out. Definitely going to take a break before playing Corruption.
Great tribute to Castlevania, with cool ideas. My main complain is that the game is WAY too easy. I mean I'm not an alpha gamer who's searching for difficulty in every game I play but when it's down to Castlevania and Castlevania-like, to me it's part of the experience, and Curse of the Moon wasn't hard at all, at least if you played any other classic Castlevania before. And maybe that's the only thing that prevents the game to reach Castlevania standard in my opinion, because everything else was really good and I had a great time with it during my 2 playthrough (I did the 2 True Endings). Should start Curse of the Moon 2 today I think.
8. Like A Dragon: Ishin - 9/10 ❤
Already talked a bit about it on the Yakuza ST but yeah, that was such a great game and god I LOVE the Yakuza/Like A Dragon series, even if I only played 3 of those including that one. Gameplay was great, story took a bit too much time to take off but after a few chapter that was really cool, my main problem with the game is the side content, with substories being like half of what I'm expecting from a Yakuza and they were quite short for the most (and a lot of them are tied to the friendship system sooooo), and side activities not being my favorite in the series so far, but hey 0 set the bar so high that I'm not expecting it to by topped.
1. Bayonetta 3 - 7.5/10 ❤
2. The Wonderful 101 Remastered - 6/10
3. Hi-Fi Rush - 8.5/10 ❤
4. Metroid Prime Remastered * - 9/10 ❤
5. Metroid Dread * - 10/10 ❤
6. Pullblox - 7/10
7. Bloostained: Curse of the Moon - 7.5/10
8. Like A Dragon: Ishin - 9/10 ❤
Great little game and just like Ishin I already talked about it on its thread, but: 4€ for a 1 to 2 hours game, with a cool innovative gimmick and a lot of different ideas packed into just 32 levels, yeah, I think that's pretty reasonnable and I have to admit that even if it was a bit frustrating due to its nature, I have now a new "must show it to my friends" game on Switch. I love that kind of concept, especially when it's greatly done, and here we have a perfect exemple of a short experience that will stay forever in my head.
1. Bayonetta 3 - 7.5/10 ❤
2. The Wonderful 101 Remastered - 6/10
3. Hi-Fi Rush - 8.5/10 ❤
4. Metroid Prime Remastered * - 9/10 ❤
5. Metroid Dread * - 10/10 ❤
6. Pullblox - 7/10
7. Bloostained: Curse of the Moon - 7.5/10
8. Like A Dragon: Ishin - 9/10 ❤
9. Give Me Toilet Paper - 7/10 ❤
Got a lot of bigger things in the offing so I'm going to unload these before I forget!
2.) Kirby's Dream Land (NSO) - I have always been high on this relatively minimalist Kirby experience, and after revisiting it I remain as such. The game feels pleasant and approachable while also remaining as engaging as any other 2D game in the series. A remarkable starting point for Kirby; the high water mark until Super Star, in my opinion.
3.) Super Mario Land 2 (NSO) - It took a little bit of adjusting to get used to Mario's more lethargic physics. When I did, I was invested in this bite-sized platforming experience. Despite being featured in practically ten bajillion games like it, I can't remember any other games in which Mario explores a house as a bite-sized plumber, climbs a toy version of himself, and mucks through tree sap to reach his goal. It is creative and delightful to the very end, even if the final stage is a little rough relative to what comes before.
4.) Wario Ware Inc. Mega Microgames (NSO) - This might be a masterpiece? In the same way that Metroid Prime feels like a modern game made 20 years ago, Wario Ware feels like a distillation of modern mobile games made two decades in the past. Of course, these are a lot less exploitative and thusly much more enjoyable to play. Though it isn't nearly as fun as it was the first time (when it was all brand new and kept me on my toes with surprise after surprise), it still holds up very well as the best game in its series.
5.) Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (NSO) - After nearly 20 years, it felt great to pry this off my backlog. Way back when I was a youngling, I got to the final boss and quit. There was no quitting this time!
I was taken by the game's pixel art. Also, its world! Remember when the RPG games were allowed to have those? Good times.
I was a little less taken with the combat. It's engaging, mostly, but it is even simpler than Paper Mario. At some point, I was just alternating between two different moves and crushing everything in my path.
Alas, a fun time, if not a little disappointing given the way this game tends to be celebrated.
I'm conflicted on this one. Each individual piece of this ranges from good to excellent, and yet somehow it didn't quite all come together for me. There is a good amount of gameplay variety, it looks good, music is excellent and most importantly to me, it's fun moment to moment. However, as a complete game it felt strangely dissonant to me. First game in a long time that I really don't know how I feel about it. I enjoyed my time with it, but not as much as I felt like I should have. Has some really high highs, and nothing stands out as a low. Less than the sum of it's parts I guess. Wish I had waited for a deeper sale we all know is coming eventually.
Previously in 2023...
* Denotes replay
1) Guardians of the Galaxy - Cloud Version (NSW)
2) Rise of the Third Power (NSW)
3) Haiku, the Robot (NSW)
4) Fire Emblem Engage (NSW)
5) The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (GBA NSO)*
6) WareWare Inc. (GBA NSO)*
7) Panzer Dragoon Remake (NSW)*
8) Final Fantasy IX (NSW)*
9) UnMetal (NSW)
Unfortunately did not enjoy Violet but Tinkaton is my new favorite pokemon; joining Arcanine, Dragonite, and Tsareena.
Elden Ring and Tactics consistently blew me away and didnt feel like i was playing a game in thier traditional genres. Elden Ring is probaly my current favorite rpg if all time. Tactics ogre is my second favorite tacitcs game, ultimately losing to Three Houses due to how archaic and tedious TO's post game was.
It was fun! Zach is a likeable guy and with cameos from other familiar faces makes the game fun. Battle system is decent and snappy, the DMV/leveling system completely random, but I enjoyed my time with it.
Took me a while, but after 60 hours I finally completed it. Overall I’d say I enjoyed previous FE games more, but in terms of gameplay, which is my main motivation for playing these, it’s extremely good.
It feels like it’s very streamlined compared to Three Houses, Shadows of Valentia etc. and that’s why its very playable and addicting. Storywise its just a celebration of 30 years of Fire Emblem, not a bad thing, but not good either.
#01 Aladdin (SNES)
#02 Disney's Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse (SNES)
#03 Magical Pop'n (SNES)
#04 Bonkers (SNES)
#05 Portal (Switch)
#06 Star Fox (SNES)
#07 Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania (Switch)
#08 Nintendoland (Wii U)
#09 Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii U)
#10 Mario Kart Super Circuit (NSO)
#11 Kuru Kuru Kururin (NSO)
#12 Super Mario Land 2 (NSO)
#13 Wario Ware Inc. Mega Microgame$ (NSO)
#14 Metroid Prime Remastered (Switch)
Feels surreal to be putting this in my finished games list after all those years of speculation!
That was my first time playing Prime, I became a Metroid fan after playing Super in 2014, on an original SNES, nonetheless! I had a cartridge lying around for years but thought it was broken, turns out it just needed new batteries, the game is programmed to stop the player from playing if the batteries are dead, Samus will die immediately after starting a new file. Weird, right? When I randomly read about that online I just replaced the batteries and finally had access to one of the best games of all time.
Anyway, since then I've played all the mainline 2D games (except for the NES og and Samus Returns, but I did play ZM and the og Metroid 2) and loved each one, and I was hyped af for Dread in 2021 and the game fucking delivered. 2D Metroid is one of my favorite franchises of all time. So hearing all the constant praise for Prime built up huge expectations, and I couldn't wait to play it.
The Remaster looks amazing, it's probably the best graphical showcase on the switch. It controls really good at 60fps, despite some weirdness with the button mapping, and overall the first impressions were great, it just felt like a modern game. The Spaceship sequence was awesome, landing in Tallon waiting to uncover a new mysterious adventure was amazing, and Chozo Ruins presented me to what the 3D Metroid gameplay looks like and I loved it. Those first hours were wonderful, and it felt like the game hadn't aged a bit.
Unfortunately, the more I progressed, the more some problems became apparent to me. I thought backtracking in the game was excessive and exhaustive because you never get substantially stronger or more mobile that you can just breeze through the rooms like you can in 2D Metroid, you kind of always have to approach the rooms like the first time, do the same sequences again and again ad nauseum (especially since it was my first time, I didn't know where stuff was so I was going back an forth A LOT). It ended up being ny longest Metroid play time ever, at 17h, and I'm sure at least half that time I was just transversing areas I had already cleared before. The game desperately needed to be more interconnected and offer ways to speed up going from one place to the other. By the end, I just wanted the game to end as it was excruciating killing those colored space pirates for the umpteenth time.
I think the later areas also never managed to be as interesting as Chozo Ruins and early Phendrana, they focus too much on combat when the game's combat isn't particularly engaging. Phazon Mines and the Research Lab at Phendrana are basically enemy gauntlets, and switching weapons to match the color of the enemy might have been novel at the time, but today is just boring and there's way too much of it.
All in all, looking back I feel bad for all the shit Jim Sterling took for their review of the game because I read it and it's exactly how I felt about the game as well. I'd even go further and give the game a 7, not 7.5. I'm still very happy that it reviewed super well and most people are liking it more than I did, because in the end the Remaster is a wonderful quality effort, and the Metroid franchise in general needs to be more widely recognized. I'll always root for it.
I hope some of these issues were addressed in 2 and 3 (and I hope I get a way to play them someday!). The 3D formula has a lot of potential, but playing Prime today I think of it more as a great first step rather than the definitive experience other people have the game as. I think 4 in particular will most likely address all of what I said, so I'm really excited for it.
10. Metroid Prime (Wii) - that’s right, I decided to play this on Wii Trilogy since I didn’t feel like spending money. Not gonna lie, wasn’t as good as I remembered. Still great game. Loved the world building, environments, and traversal. Wasn’t too keen on having to face enemies again and again just because I went 2 rooms away. Wii controls were amazing and I think it’s probably the best FPS set up ever. Way better than the OG controls. Definitely will go through the other two games this year.
8)Crimson Skies High road to revenge
Well I was supposed to be blitzing soul hackers 2 before my gamepass was up but I wound up knocking this out instead. An og Xbox fave of mine I haven’t played in probably a decade. A fun plane combat game with a pulp feel of an old cheap paperback or b movie in the best way
Previous games:
1)Yoku’s island express
2)Live a Live
3)Arcade Paradise
4)The Great Ace Attorney Adventures
5)Immortal Fenyx rising
6) SD Gundam Battle Alliance
7)Nier Automata
Been replaying Hitman games in World of Assassination pack. I've only played 2 and 3 before and only cleared main story. This time I'm trying to go through everything, get Silent Assassin Suit Only rank wherever possible and complete as many challenges as I can.
The game's incredible.
A really short First Person Photography game where you get dropped into various levels and are tasked with photographing some specific stuff.
It's pretty fun, but very janky. The very first thing that happened to me in the game was my character going over some rubble and flying 10 meters into the air.
The atmosphere, however, is pretty neat, and I would recommend it. In its... 7-8 levels, I think? It made me think about humanity and optimism during crisis far more than the entirety of Xenoblade 3's plot. The game uses no words, but manages to convey specific situations in its levels, and I think it's great.
I guess i would pick Yakuza 0. I've beaten it on platinum and it was a really hard challenge for me. It took me a whole year actually, but i'm fine and proud. I think if i got more time, i could do more, but i need to concentrate on my study and to do as many tasks as possible. I've already found a help from nursing essay writers but this is not enough, as i have a lot more tasks. But hopefully i soon will comeback to games
Thought I'd finish Oracle of Ages before tackling Metroid Prime Remastered but alas, I couldn't resist.
Not much to say about it, to be honest. A timeless classic that feels like a modern release thanks to the facelift it got. The only thing that sticks out as a slight negative are the bosses. It probably has the weakest selection of the trilogy but I'd have to refresh my memory. While I miss the pointer controls from the Wii version, the dual analog + gyro setup has become my preferred way to play this game. Might go back to get the last few missiles but I will let it rest for now and hopefully tackle Hard Mode when I find the time.
7. Hotel Dusk: Room 215 [3/5]
I absolutely love the aesthetic of this game: the visuals, the animation, the writing, the characters. That said, I was a little underwhelmed at the end. The puzzles were mostly a bit basic and infrequent, but as a story-driven game that wasn't a deal breaker as long as the plot came to a satisfying conclusion. However, over the course of the game the mysteries just kept building up one after another, and by the end, very few of them were actually resolved. While I still liked the game overall, that did dampen the experience somewhat. I do intend to play the sequel soonish, and if that one ties up some of the loose ends, it could leave me with a better impression of this one retroactively too.
8. Theatrhythm Final Bar Line [4.5/5]
I already loved Curtain Call on the 3DS, and this one was an improvement in just about every way imaginable. In addition to just having a huge amount of content, tweaks like the series quests with special objectives and rewards for each song, the changes to the RPG elements, and streamlined methods of unlocking characters and equipping abilities all help make the game feel even more robust and enjoyable. I've already put 50 hours into the game, and between the DLC that'll be coming throughout the year, the remaining quests, and the higher difficulty levels, I expect to keep coming back to this one for a while.
11. Gorogoa (NSW) - trying to intersperse some smaller titles between bigger games. This was a fun puzzle game. Quite liked the art style and music. Loved the actual storyboard aspects and how interacting with the tiles changes up the perspective. My biggest issue is that you often just have to click around and guess to see if you are doing the right thing. But then you get the “aha!” Moment so overall it’s not too big a deal. Would quite like more games in this style of puzzle.
2 games finished off today for me, and another 2 old school handheld classics.
6. [GB NSO] Metroid II: Return of Samus - 4/5
This is a vast improvement over the first game in the series. The game runs far smoother which is impressive considering the hardware. I recommend playing this with the Game Boy Color palette as it brightens the game up a bit and helps make everything look clearer.
I was initially a bit bored as you can spend a lot of time trying to find a stray Metroid in a maze (and once again there is is no map, and I really didn't fancy making another of my own), but once I had a few upgrades and understood the specific mechanics of this game better I got into a nice rhythm and started to enjoy myself.
Metroid II is far less punishing than its predecessor but still offers a nice challenge, particularly toward the end.
My biggest criticism is that it suffers from a little repetitiveness and a few questionable design choices. (I got stuck in an area after killing a Metroid and had no way to get out before having to face another and so had to grind for health and ammo by constantly leaving and entering one screen and defeating the same enemies over and over...)
The sheer size of Samus' sprite can make some areas also feel little claustrophobic, and make navigation harder.
All that said, this is a good action game with some puzzling elements and a-ha! moments and one which didn't have me reaching for the rewind buttons too often!
And just now in bed:
7. [GBA NSO] Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 - 5/5
World-e brought this game from a 4/5 to a 5/5. It's been a blast playing the levels Europe never got and America only got a portion of (and even then they required an additional peripheral and a bunch of physical cards). These extra levels are so creative and often feature enemies and items from later Mario titles. I enjoyed seeking out all the Advance coins and e-Coins. (Less so doing each level as Luigi, the slippery bugger.)
The base game is fun to play through of course, though it's not my favourite Mario due to the lack of difficulty until World 8 and the short length of many of the levels. It's still a classic of course, and I was pleased to see you can re-enter any stage upon completion. Scattering hidden coins in these levels would have adding even further replay value.
I was ever so slightly disappointed that there is no reward for getting 100% of everything in the game, but it was still satisfying to fully complete.
My 2023 list:
January
1. [NSW] Regency Solitaire - 4/5
February
2. [NSW] Dungeon Encounters - 5/5
3. [GB NSO] Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins - 3/5
4. [GB NSO] Gargoyle's Quest - 3/5
5. [NES NSO] Metroid - 3/5
March
6. [GB NSO] Metroid II: Return of Samus - 4/5
7. [GBA NSO] SMA4: Super Mario Bros. 3 - 5/5
Great little game and just like Ishin I already talked about it on its thread, but: 4€ for a 1 to 2 hours game, with a cool innovative gimmick and a lot of different ideas packed into just 32 levels, yeah, I think that's pretty reasonnable and I have to admit that even if it was a bit frustrating due to its nature, I have now a new "must show it to my friends" game on Switch. I love that kind of concept, especially when it's greatly done, and here we have a perfect exemple of a short experience that will stay forever in my head.
1. Bayonetta 3 - 7.5/10 ❤
2. The Wonderful 101 Remastered - 6/10
3. Hi-Fi Rush - 8.5/10 ❤
4. Metroid Prime Remastered * - 9/10 ❤
5. Metroid Dread * - 10/10 ❤
6. Pullblox - 7/10
7. Bloostained: Curse of the Moon - 7.5/10
8. Like A Dragon: Ishin - 9/10 ❤
9. Give Me Toilet Paper - 7/10 ❤
Kinda disappointed with this one. I had read almost everywhere that the sequel was better on every point than the first game but I just don't agree. And after finishing the game I had the opportunity to talk about it with a few friends and people online that have played the game and who think the same so I feel a bit better at not liking the game very much.
HOT TAKE:
Would be really hard for me to explain everything I didn't like about the game since english isn't my native language but basically: it felt like the anti-Castlevania. First game was a huge homage to the NES era Castlevanias, especially the third, and I felt CotM 2 was indeed more original but failed to deliver what I was searching for. And I'm okay with trying other things, especially since I really like what they tried with the new characters in the first place. But in the end, it almost felt like it was a mixture of specifications of all modern games that want to be "retro", but with the level design and physics of a Castlevania game, and with the new characters controlling like ass.
To understand better what I want to say: I played a lot of the old Castlevania, and yeah those games can be frustrating, but there were almost never totally unfair except for some specific moments. CotM 2 on the other hand felt unfair for like half of the game, and the other half was okay, maybe fun sometimes but nothing more.
I've beaten it twice (Episode 1 and 2), was about to do it a third time to get the true ending (Final Episode), but I ultimately gave up because I couldn't handle it more. It wasn't fun, and that's not a completely failed game (which is the reason I can't give it less than a 6/10), but I'm done with it.
ANYWAY. Next game... Yeah, I bought a digital copy of Lost Odyssey on my Series S. I swear I played this game throughout the entirety of my teenage years but never finished it. And at first I didn't want to do a long game after LaD: Ishin but I'm feeling this is the best moment to do it before I can't for like years. Hopefully I will progress quickly despite work... Maybe I'll start it tonight.
1. Bayonetta 3 - 7.5/10 ❤
2. The Wonderful 101 Remastered - 6/10
3. Hi-Fi Rush - 8.5/10 ❤
4. Metroid Prime Remastered * - 9/10 ❤
5. Metroid Dread * - 10/10 ❤
6. Pullblox - 7/10
7. Bloostained: Curse of the Moon - 7.5/10
8. Like A Dragon: Ishin - 9/10 ❤
9. Give Me Toilet Paper - 7/10 ❤
10. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 - 6/10
Replay #4: Super Mario Bros. (NES - Game & Watch Super Mario Bros.)
Happy MAR10 Day! Gotta celebrate it with a blast through this classic. What was once a tough game that took many tries and continues to clear is now one I can beat comfortably during a commute to work. Even with sequels like Mario 3 and Mario World to contend with, this is still a great game that nailed so much for a first attempt.
Previously:
01 — Melatonin
02 — Kirby and the Forgotten Land
03 — Pentiment
04 — stitch.
05 — Castle Crumble
06 — Crossfire X Single Player, Season One
07 — Hitman Freelancer
This is technically a kind of remix of the existing Hitman trilogy, but Freelancer is so transformative that I can’t help but see it as its own thing. It takes (almost) all of the maps from all three games and structures a roguelike progression around them. Being unshackled from the story and the canned Opportunities, along with no mid-mission saves, just completely transforms the experience. For the better if you ask me! Playing this way truly forces you to improvise and commit to a daring plan — often with hilarious results, success or fail — and nothing feels more Hitman than that.
[VERDICT — The Best This Series Has Ever Been Out of Ten]
08 — Bonfire Peaks
The puzzles in this game are absolutely devilish in the best way. Many look so incredibly innocent when you first load into them. Each one is about getting a box of your possessions into a bonfire. Maps are uniformly small; most have only a box or two to shift around. I’ll tell you right now: it is astounding how far these mechanics are taken and put to use.
In one puzzle you must cross a bridge of crumbling tiles to retrieve your box of possessions, but as soon as you step off of those tiles, they’re gone forever and you can’t get back over to the fire. Boxes can be stacked on top but don’t stop the crumbling. When I finally realized what was going on, I shook my head at my Switch in stupefied amazement.
The game is jam-packed with those kinds of moments! The game trusts you enough to throw you into the thick of it, and so very few of its 200 puzzles feel like gimmes. There is a profound satisfaction to be had from that. I hit the credits with a little over half the puzzles solved. While part of me wants to stick around and keep mopping up the ones that have really stumped me, I also kinda want to grab the just-released DLC and be in on some Bonfire Peaks from the start.
I try not to make emphatic recommendations on the internet because I don’t want to be a guy on the internet telling you to do anything. But seriously: If you dug games like The Witness or Stephen’s Sausage Roll and haven’t got around to this one yet, this one is worth your time. It’s fantastic.
[VERDICT — The Best Puzzle Game I’ve Played In Years Out of Ten]
I took my time with this one as I wanted to savour it. Just an absolutely lovely game that was pure fun to play, and the added Magolor epilogue was a great bonus.
7. Dead Cells Castlevania dlc (9/10)
I love Dead Cells and would hate to think how many hours I have in it across three systems. I always buy their dlc because I know it will be fun and because I want to support the devs. This is definitely their best.
The 2 new areas look gorgeous, the 3 new boss fights are fun, and the music…oh, the music is perfection. I also really appreciate you can listen to the Castlevania soundtrack throughout the entire game and not just the new biomes.
I never expected to see an Obra Dinn-like of all things.
It's a point and click "adventure" where you're given a few screens of nearly static images at a time. Your goal is usually to descipher what happened and to whom.
By clicking around you acquire words and names you can use to fill in the blanks. While the names part is very Obra Dinn, it's usually only the beginning of any given stage. First you try and put the names to faces, then do various other tasks. I do appreciate that the game has quite a few different puzzles. There are "whose room is this one" or "who sat at what seat" and the like. It's pretty fun!
Might ramble and I’ll try not to be too mean about it but this game was…insipid. Gameplay was fun for a bit but I was hoping for some more clever maps towards the end. Didn’t happen. Ends like a wet fart of generic friendship monologues and creepy fanservice.
Everything about it felt dumbed down and made purposely uninteresting. The “break” mechanics with the weapon wheel is probably the best addition this game had going for it. But the Somniel served very little purpose. All of the character interactions felt lame. You faced the same villains who refused to die for around 5 maps almost in a row (the four hounds). The decision to prioritize the “Emblems” was the wrong one; doesn’t feel like it was ever truly elaborated on what they even were beyond playing on the idea of an “engagement ring”. They all have the same personality with very few deviations. All any character does is talk about how they may not be strong enough, only for an Emblem to say “no you are!” And then the character says “wow I’m sure glad you’re my friend and you’re here Sigurd” like omg STOP this is awful. By chapter 15-16 I wound up skipping cutscenes. Towards the end when it felt like major things were happening I let them play but honestly I wound up skipping a bunch and it doesn’t seem like I missed anything.
I remember Kyle Bosman talking about this games trailer overly emphasizing summoning Marth. He said something along the lines of “this game really thinks that summoning Marth is that cool.” He was kinda right on the money. It was the focus of the trailer because that is all the game had going for it.
I’ve only played 5 FE’s but this is easily the worst of them. This is the worst roster of FE characters by a mile. I’m not even mad it wasn’t like Three Houses. It’s not even like Awakening. Felt like all major scenes were written at the same time by different people. No sense of growth, progression, learning. And unless the character was clearly an old woman, I’m not sure there was a single major female character that didn’t feel like an oversexualized minor. And most of all, I’m thankful that Smash is done so no one is subjected to Alear’s whiny ass voice in it.
I had fun at times but reading this back I’m fairly confident I hated it lmao idk why I kept going to the credits. I guess I wanted to get my moneys worth.
17. Ace Attorney Apollo Justice ( Replay ) [ 3DS ] - 6 - Replay but first time on the 3DS
This is the first time I have revisited this post DD and SoJ, before those I probably would have said I kind of hated a lot of 4, those feelings are long gone since the ship has been corrected and as it is now, it stands as partly unique, partly a game that set the stone for things to come, and a deeply flawed game.
My general opinion on the cases remains the same as the last time I played this, this must be my 3rd or 4th playthrough of 4. It is pretty much a downward trend, first case is great and only second to Investigations 2's first case as far as making a fairly complex and surprising first case in the series, (and really the only 2 to achieve that) case 2 is fine, the idea of a lot of seemingly unrelated mysteries is cool at first, but kind of resolved too quickly and it doesn't feel as tight on the whole, case 3 is pretty terrible, probably the biggest drag in the series both mechanically and in terms of its mystery, only because people don't ask basic shit, case 4 I find it to be awful and ilogical, the first day of investigation and trial is good enough, but the rest is such a trainwreck to me that whatever themes it was trying to convey I can't quite allow myself to give a shit because of the structure and general narrative of that half.
In terms of characters, I find this to be the low point of the series, most of it comes off as a blend of bland, cynical, and not much to really like? Apollo doesn't have much going for him until the very end narrative wise, and it would fall onto DD and SoJ to flesh him out to the point of becoming one of my favorite characters of all time, but I can't give any credit of that to 4, game is less preocupied in fleshing out this new story and more so caring about Phoenix Wright, which I'll probably never acknowledge as such, like who is this guy; it kind of makes the idea of naming the final case as Turnabout Succession kind of silly, when it puts Apollo so much in the back burner that it doesn't feel like he really earned his place as a protagonist and the future of the law when Phoenix does most of the job there, and Apollo eventually does become a beacon of light for the law, in another game, Trucy as the successor of the Gramarye magic and give closure to that whole thing? that is a job for another game. Klavier is like a mish mash of previous prosecutors but that in itself makes him come off as forgettable to me. I don't think I really liked any character in this game, not even that much of a fan of the antagonists.
One thing I'll give that I love about the game besides the first case's mystery is the presentation, lovely sprite work and wonderfully upscaled for the 3DS, I definitely find this a better job than how the trilogy looks on more modern systems, they never quite look fully right to me, but 4 looks excellent, and the music gives it a fairly unique vibe and presentation not fully present in future games, some tunes evoke that in DD and SoJ, but the whole game has an atmosphere unique to itself, and I fully respect and appreciate that.
This is the first game where it feels like they are trying to hammer in a theme, that being the law, which was only sometimes present in the original trilogy, while I like the idea I think it sacrifices too much of the compelling character writing, chemestry and development in its attempt to acheive that and as such, I didn't find myself caring too much about it, but the themes themselves aren't lost in the future of the series, every single entry, both numbered, both Investigations, and both Great Ace Attorney games have a strong thematic core through their stories like 4 did, but they manage to balance that with the excellent character writing that I loved about the games originally.
Gameplay wise, I like the addition of the Percieve mechanic, court proceedings remain fairly good, despite pacing issues with the unraveling of some of its mysteries, but the Investigation segments suffer a bit more, without Magatama for the most part, and the scientific investigations, because they are pretty limited instead of checking what you want like in 1-5, feels a lot more one off gimmicks that spend more time in the tutorial than actually using them, it hurts the investigations segments more than make them interesing.
I hate how Phoenix acts here, like the dork with both luck and a way of unravelling a mystery is now some hobo looking dude that somehow already knows how everything will play out, comes off as annoying, basically forges evidence, refers to Maya as just some kid, the flashback case is awful tbh, wish it wasn't playable, like honestly it comes off as stupid how Wright loses his badge, and I don't think the case itself helps, like it reminds me of 3-4 in the general tragedy of it all, but the characters and their reasonings come off as pretty awful, idk I just don't like when Ace Attorney has to go fully cynical with the cast involved in the case to make it work, I don't want that out of the series, the MASON system is pretty nonsensical, like I'm gathering that is basically a simulation, because otherwise it can't work, you have to jump back and forth in time with evidence and information that you wouldn't be able to have and these characters react to that? There is no way to make it work in a linear fashion so that the information gathered makes sense in the jump, the ending itself feels limp, I don't think lenghtyness is necessary to make an excellent final case out of these games, but the final trial segment is so short and sudden, and Apollo basically only serves as a puppet to throw exposition dumps that Phoenix feeds him, what a great way to pass the torch, make Phoenix do all the job, and at that point, why even take away his badge if he is going to do most of the legal proceedings in the climax of the story, and half defend himself in the first case. Turnabout Serenade is so bad man, like so much time wasted rewatching that performance video, nobody bothers to ask Lamiroir about the time frame in which she witnessed the crime, like dude is so obvious that the time of murder was at a different time, like idk how the game goes from trusting the player with a fair amount of complexity in the first case, but has to drag out the "twist" that has been used plenty of times in the series before so much. Also showing Kristoph right at the start of the final case intro and Ema doing that impression, like the one thing that could have been kind of cool, tying it all back to Kristoph with some level of surprise is gone from the get go, and I don't think the narrative itself makes up for letting go the one moment that could have been very "oh shit".
In the end, years removed from the original release of Apollo Justice, after getting 2 really good games with the Great Ace Attorney titles, 2 wonderful titles in Dual Destinies and Investigations, and the best entries in the series since the original, Investigations 2 and Spirit of Justice, I don't have as much negative feelings against Apollo Justice as a game anymore, in retrospective is a stepping stone for what the future games build upon, still not a very good stone.
1. Nier Automata (Switch)
2. Lunistice (Switch)
3. Super Mario Land 2 (NSO)
4. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Switch)
5. Metroid Prime Remastered (Switch)
6. Fire Emblem Engage (Switch) 7. The Legend of Zelda: the Minish Cap (NSO)
Yeah, I enjoyed this overall but wouldn't put up there with the Oracles games and Link's Awakening. It's a gorgeous game, and there's some neat evolution of handheld 2D Zelda design, but it also suffers from the One More Step issue you get in Skyward Sword. By that I mean the designers frequently put an extra step (or a few) in front of accomplishing things. The kinstone system - which I really couldn't be bothered with - is a logical extreme of this. It's charming, and well designed, and still very good, because it's Zelda, but it didn't resonate with me the way the stronger games in the series do.
I've also been back to Splatoon 3 thanks to Big Run, Mario Kart thanks to wave 4, and Xenoblade 3 thanks to wave 3 (though I haven't actually done wave 3 yet). A Space for the Unbound, the Cereza demo, Wario Land 3, Goldeneye and Superstar Saga are the next set of options.
1. Fairune
2. Fire Emblem: Engage 3. Octopath Traveller II
Octopath II was an absolutely stunning rpg, I just wasn’t able to put it down. The cast is fantastic, a nice selection of interesting characters with a mix of ages and professions and starting situations. Every tale starts with a bang as you only have five scenarios for each one’s story, but they all function like mini rpgs in their own right. Which means you can play for an hour and accomplish something meaningful if you want to, or just wander off into the wide open world, wherever you like. The threat level of areas is listed to make it easy to guide you to appropriate chapters and exploration to try next, but the choice is yours. The music and writing of every minor NPC is good too. It’s all handled incredibly elegantly and, while there’s a couple of bits I wasn’t overly keen on (a certain level of weird, voyeuristic ickiness in Throne’s story, and it felt a little rushed in the endgame attempting to tie everything together), the whole thing is easily one of the best RPGs I’ve played on the Switch. The 8 characters with their job system and support skills and reliance on equipment > levels can make up two full parties I’d be happy to play as, and while I have favourites, none of them have me instantly wanting to stick them on the reserves bench for the next fifty hours, which is what usually happens when I play an rpg with more characters than you can field at once. I’d give it a 9/10.
1. Persona 5 Royal
2. Metroid Prime Remastered
3. WarioWare (GBA NSO)
4. Fire Emblem Engage 5. Metroid Fusion (NSO)
I ended up taking a break from games for a few days after beating Fire Emblem, so I wanted something I could beat quickly before Trails to Azure arrives. Metroid Fusion was a childhood favorite of mine, and I knew that I would be able to fly through it now since I know the sequence very well. It felt like backtracking was a lot more tedious since the game wants you to go to certain places and often blocks off exploring other paths. I thought about trying for 100%, but accidentally went past the point of no return. Then I looked up a 100% run and realized I wouldn't have found some of those things on my own, so no big deal.
Anyways, Fusion is still a great game! If you play it for the first time, just don't expect the same kind of freedom you get in Dread or even Prime Remastered. It may be a while before Zero Mission hits the service, but it's nice to see more and more Metroid games becoming available on switch.
5.) Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (NSO) - After nearly 20 years, it felt great to pry this off my backlog. Way back when I was a youngling, I got to the final boss and quit. There was no quitting this time!
I was taken by the game's pixel art. Also, its world! Remember when the RPG games were allowed to have those? Good times.
I was a little less taken with the combat. It's engaging, mostly, but it is even simpler than Paper Mario. At some point, I was just alternating between two different moves and crushing everything in my path.
Alas, a fun time, if not a little disappointing given the way this game tends to be celebrated.
6.) Metroid Prime Remastered (NS) - If you showed this to someone in 2023 (without the Remastered appended to the title), would they even know this game is 20 years old? It can never be said enough how modern Metroid Prime is despite dating back two decades.
The remastered visuals really complete the package here; I genuinely think it is the best looking game on the Switch. I’m happy they didn’t futz with too much else, though I think the Artifact Hunt needs some editing. It is fine for what it is, but the enemies respawn so frequently in areas you traverse often that it becomes a slog to move between biomes.
One complaint aside, it is a perfect game and I am glad it got such an amazing glow up for a new generation.
Fire Emblem Engage- i enjoyed it a lot, but as an overall package felt that it's a big step down from Three Houses.
Horizon Zero Dawn (Steam Deck) - really had to force myself through it- outside of the amazing graphics the whole game felt very derivative and I suspect if it weren't a Sony 1st party game it would have not got the level of praise it had.
Lost Judgment (Steam Deck) - absolutely loved it.
Bayonetta 3 - a fun ride which sadly isn't on the same level as the prior two games in the series. That said very few action games can rival any of the Bayo games.
After Investigations i felt bad for feeling burnt out of the series, so i started Apollo Justice out of curiosity, kind of. Wanted to leve it there, but the tutorial trial was good enough to pull me back in.
It's an interesting sequel that tries hard enough to not reproduce the Phoenix Wright formula. You have a mentor, kinda, the prosecutor is likeable and friendly, complexity of certain aspects of the game have been reduced (environments have way less examination points that before, wich is kind of a bummer, i enjoyed Phoenix and co's ramblings about everything they see) and there's a gimmick that takes the trials further than the classic contradiction pointing gameplay.
But it fails in certain aspects. For starters, Apollo suffers the Gohan syndrome: He's built to fill the role of Phoenix Wright, but different. He's serious almost to the point of bitterness, and doesn't really start becoming likeable until the second to last case. Graphic fidelity has gone up more than a few notches, but to say that some characters are overdesigned would be an understatement (they feel more alive than Investigations' designs and sprites, at least). Certain characters are annoying beyond belief while also being ultimately good written characters, i swear i wanted to like the Kitaki kid, Eldoon and Brushel, for example, but they got on my nerves too easily. There's such a thing as too quirky
Story is good and certainly not unfixable as i've seen thrown around, but it's annoying in the way it keeps secrets from you until the very last case, to the point of feeling certain disconnect between the cases and the ongoing mistery. It works in JFA, but not here, where you're being teased constantly about it.
And finally, the soundtrack is amazing as always, listening to it right now and some themes are instant classics to me.
TLDR: It's an enjoyable Ace Attorney experience, but flawed to the point of annoyance from time to time. Still, it's worth playing, if anything to find out what happened to certain old characters, and to unravel the main mistery of the game. Best characters are daddy Phoenix and Trucy, no doubt, followed by main prosecutor Klavier Gavin.
If Apollo appears in the next game (wich i guess he does, given the Dual Destinies subtitle) i hope he enjoys life a bit more.
I bought a steam deck about half a year ago now, and it's gone completely untouched because I don't think it's particularly good hardware and haven't found a game I can play on it that I wouldn't rather play elsewhere (ie on the Switch OLED or Xbox). Until today! Turns out the Steam Deck is kind of sort of pretty decent at playing games that don't run easily on modern Windows PCs. So I played through what is probably the best pre-Steam PC game, the beloved Hot Wheels Stunt Track Driver.
Well February came and went once again quickly. Only managed to beat a few games in Feb as Like a Dragon: Ishin had consumed all of my gaming time:
Erica (PS5) - A weird mystery interactive FMV tale that delves into dark themes such as trauma and gaslighting. I got the ending I think the characters deserved.
I killed everyone except the other inmates who escaped with me. Revenge is sweet.
The House of the Dead Overkill (Wii) - Fun lightgun game but I definitely prefer HOTD2 but it was a fun time.
Like a Dragon: Ishin (PS5) - I beat the main game last night so this barely qualified for this month. But wow, this a great game. Flawed and very much reminiscent of the older RGG Studio games (even right down to the slow menu crawls and the way combat felt) but I really enjoyed the story in this one. Substories are decent, some of them are really funny but unfortunately most of them are lacking compared to the ones from other RGG Studio games like Lost Judgment, Yakuza 0 and Yakuza 7 (the three I reckon have the best side content in the series). But I am glad we finally got this gem after it was left in Japan for so long.
Tetris 99 (Switch) - One does not simply "beat Tetris", no, however I got did get addicted to this game in the past few days and managed to get into the Top 20 ranking during one game, so it counts for me, okay. Really fun multiplayer.
Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (Switch) - Great handheld Zelda. Never played this game before the NSO release. The dungeons were all fun and I enjoyed the NPCs and the way that the main hub evolves over the course of the game. Bosses ranged from good to rather forgettable, the main star of the show was definitely the dungeons themselves (and the beautiful pixel art that's aged like fine wine).
It's no ALBW or Link's Awakening but it was still really solid and what I was after.
Grim Guardians: Demon Purge (now known as "Gal Guardians"...) - a really fun Classicvania from the creators of Curse of the Moon (IntiCreates). The requirements to get the proper ending were annoying and there's weird Gal Gun shit in there unfortunately (what's even the point?) but I enjoyed the actual gameplay side of the game. The boss battles are amazing. Other downside was definitely the music was very lacking.
Enjoyed the game and was a decent price too. Having said that I hope they return to Curse of the Moon next.
Took me a while, but after 60 hours I finally completed it. Overall I’d say I enjoyed previous FE games more, but in terms of gameplay, which is my main motivation for playing these, it’s extremely good.
It feels like it’s very streamlined compared to Three Houses, Shadows of Valentia etc. and that’s why its very playable and addicting. Storywise its just a celebration of 30 years of Fire Emblem, not a bad thing, but not good either.
Its been twenty years, but this game has aged quite well. Sure when compared to more modern games and certain QoL improvements its unmistakably an older game, but purely based on its design it’s still one of the best. Talon IV is a fun maze to walk through and I’m shocked how many little details I remember.
Phazon Mines is still the weakest part, but that’s mainly because of the long break between saferooms. Still, Phendrana Drifts, Overworld, Chozo Ruins are amazing to explore. I had a lot of fun with it.
If there's one thing you can say about this game for sure, it's that it's better than F-Zero GP Legend. Climax still uses the anime characters and world, but with a much better art style and menus which give everything a lot more character. The game has all of the good new features of GP Legend without the horrible art and story mode.
As a racer, this game pushes even further to make a 2D F-Zero X than it's predecessor. The game looks great and the mechanics are actually very involved, but I think they are so involved that it's actually to the games detriment. Having unlockable control options and being forced to pick and choose from them is certainly novel for the series, but not in a way I think they should ever return to. The original stages seem improved compared to the last game as well.
All in all this is definitely the game GP Legend should have been and is a huge step up, even if it's still worse than all of the non-anime games in the series.
Fun fact, from this game I learned that the Captain Falcon that has been in Super Smash Bros. since Brawl is actually Rick Wheeler. Go figure!
I got the game all those years ago and I have the golden Wiimote and 25th Anniversary CD to prove it. Alas, I loaned my Wii to my sister as a Netflix box and left the disc inside, not to be seen again for years. Finally, I embarked upon my adventure as part of a Game Club with various friends.
While I never had the pleasure of waggling the Wiimote aimlessly or being constantly interrupted by Fi, Nintendo repackaged a great experience for Pro Controller & handheld users. Only finishing moves were inconsistent for me. Dungeon design was top-notch, but this could be an emptiness of not experiencing a new 3D dungeon since 2006. The music was, as the kids said a few years ago, on fleek. The story and the art were both superb. While a bit on the linear side, I actually quite enjoyed exploration as devised in this game.
This game featured interesting dualities - it had some of the best boss mechanics: see Kolktos and the multiple different strategies for Demise, but also some of the worst: see Ghirahim’s lack of emitting any information you’ve landed a hit and that stupid Earth Temple boss aka downhill bomb bowling. It had some of the most complex means of backtracking to explore new areas, yet force-fed you which area to explore. It had an interesting and multi-game defining instrument with the second-worst implementation of an instrument after Spirit Tracks.
Taken as a whole package, it’s a great game, but I can’t in good conscience mark it an all-time great.
2) Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna - The Golden Country - 9/10 Expansion - 8.5/10 as a standalone package
Immediately after finishing Zelda, I yearned for something simpler, so I started Super Mario Odyssey. But Waluijob, you said you finished XC2: TTGC?! Yes, after a few worlds of Mario domination, I decided to go back and finish XC2: TTGC. And boy, am I glad I did.
I had already logged about 10 hours prior, about half of the experience, and had to re-read some earlier plot points to get my bearings. But after over 100 hours combined between the main game and this expansion, I just could not get enough of this world.
Monolith Soft are some of the absolute masters of their craft of engaging storylines, characterization, and gameplay coming together for a unique experience. I was glad to finish the plot and getting to know the full story of Pyra/Mythra because this puts XC2’s main heroine in a completely new light and makes her ever more tragic.
Despite owning XC on Wii & XCE, I’ve never gotten past 10 hours. I immediately went and bought a Special Edition XCE on eBay, alongside a Japanese XC3 Special Edition(damn you, Nintendo Store!!) so that after Tears of the Kingdom I can dive deep into this magical multiverse and complete this trilogy throughout the year.
Games I’m currently working on:
Pokémon Violet - half-way through
No No Kuni - about 9 hours in and I think I’ve unlocked the final gameplay mechabic
Super Mario Odyssey
I expect to finish all three and Metroid Prime Remastered at a minimum before Tears of the Kingdom launched.
3) Marvel Snap 4/5
I can't really conceive how to review this, but my addiction to this gameplay loop was high and needed to delete it off my devices to remain a productive member of society. The best compliment I can give.
Hopefully Capcom doesn't release an Apollo trilogy this year, I mean, I would replay them again no problem if they did, nothing stops me from replaying Ace Attorney whenever but still, I should play other stuff.
When the game with 3 attorneys manages to achieve being an Apollo game better than the Apollo game, and with only 2 episodes, and also manages to convey the themes and core of 4 and the series flawlessly in the process.
Spirit of Justice was pretty surprising when I first played it, and my appreciation for it remains and in some parts is elevated in this replay.
Within the main numbered titles, since the first game, there hasn't been such a consistently good set of cases, 2 and 3 in particular are so good that with some tweaks they could be ending cases for a solo Apollo and Phoenix game respectively, only second to Prosecutor's Path overall in the series.
The setting is great, Khura'in serves as a good way to add new tension and despair to the story, land where attorneys are non existant and tried for the crimes of their defendants if found guilty, it makes the crazy, and impossible scenarios that the protagonists have to overcome to prove the innocence of their clients all the more intense.
Within the context of the whole series, this is a fairly challenging game without having obtuse moments like the original trilogy, is also funny that is sandwiched between the GAA games that are way too easy. Divination Seances are definitely my favorite mechanic of the series, is both a really good story tool and gameplay wise presents a fairly open challenge with no direct guidance from any character, just you and your logic and deduction, I feel that part of letting it be a good challenge comes from the fact that there is a guide option if the player is stuck, but it can be turned off in the option menu so I find it a fair compromise letting the player choose if they want to do this on their own. While the individual powers of the Magatama and the bracelet don't reach the same complexity in their solo games and sagas, they remain a good way to help the pacing of the investigation sequences, and cross examinations are really good, with a lot of back and forth between pressing certain testinomies that shed information to properly present evidence in other statements more akin to the older games.
Presentation wise, it goes full in taking advantage of the 3D models, polishing up animations and having a lot more custom ones for the different characters, Uendo Toneido I feel is a good highlight of that, and overall as a character. It also gives way for more interesting sequences like the Divination Seances and the motion testimony from Trucy in 6-2. Listening to the soundtrack again I can say with confidence that this is the best it has ever been since the first game, while nothing and not even this will ever match the simple perfection that is that original score, it gets as close as it can, filled with tracks that nail down a mood like nothing else, from the incredibly moody Basics of the Case, the wonderful renditions of character theme, Nahyuta's may honestly be my favorite prosecutor theme, the sheer satisfaction feeling of Courtroom Revolution, is all filled with winner tracks.
Law, inheritance, what defense attorneys and prosecutors have to do, Spirit of Justice feels like a mix of every theme the series has touched upon and wraps it around one of the best and most intriguing set of characters and stories, and it acknowledges Apollo as a protagonist in the process, dialing back any bitterness that 4 had, and it delivers a more wholesome relationship between Phoenix and Apollo, seeing Wright say how much he trusts Apollo, that he has become a full fledged lawyer made me smile, and it kind of hits harder right after playing 4 lol. And boy what a turn for Apollo, this game alone is a big reason why he has become one of my absolute favorite characters in the series and videogames, the amount of badass moments he gets, specially in the ending is nothing short of impressive boy dethrones a queen while held at gunpoint, like damn.
Case 1 while simple, is a really good introduction to all the main mechanic and central storyline, while adding that sense of despair from the setting that elevates it from most intro cases.
Case 2 is a good Gramarye case (didn't think I would say that), it gives more proper character to Trucy, even outside of Khura'in it has a good sense of urgency through the case, and is the starting point of that sense of acknowledgement of Apollo as a protagonist, continuining from his better characterization in DD. Again, with a few tweaks, this is easily ending material for an Apollo game.
Case 3 is peak Phoenix and Maya turnabout, and probably one of the few times that these mysteries feel completely wrapped in secrecy for me, like I feel like I'm going 1 to 1 with Phoenix's train of thought and the unvelling of everything, and it delivers with one of the best stories in the series.
Case 4 is a fun diversion before the final chapter, the only Athena episode and a fairly short one, but is filled with a lot of good characters, and is honestly hilarious, one of the better "filler" cases, even if Athena herself feels less competent than her solo case in DD.
Case 5 is so good, my favorite thing of the Yamazaki games is what holy shit twist are they saving for the finale, and it didn't disappoint, for me definitely an ending on a core emotional level that rivals Trials and Tribulations.
Hearing Turnabout Sisters 2016 the first time it plays in the game still makes me tear up btw. Second favorite game in the series.
15. Nancy Drew: Message in a Haunted Mansion (PC) [7.5/10]
I finally got around to playing and finishing what I would consider one of the more iconic Her Interactive Nancy Drew games. This is still very early in the series, and you can tell they're still trying to find their footing. There are multiple situations where you can only move forward after exhausting everyone's dialogue options, and the not-immediately obvious triggers mixed with the time differences can make a lot of the game feel like padding. That being said it does feel like a step up from Secrets Can Kill, or at least the remastered version of it I played previously.
One thing I found odd was the atmosphere-- the so-called haunted mansion doesn't look spooky at all. Maybe for story reasons this is on purpose, but it gives the whole game a much stronger I Spy Treasure Hunt vibe than an I Spy Spooky Mansion one. Since this is such an iconic but early entry in the series, I would be interested in a remake which makes everything a lot creepier. It is an old un-renovated house after all.
I would love to see this game end up on GBA NSO. Not the best version of it but it would be funny.
Got sucked into Metroid Fusion on NSO so I had to replay it for the umpteenth time. Fantastic like most Metroid games despite its more linear structure and with just enough new ideas to set itself apart from the rest. SA-X, despite its scripted nature, still leaves a stronger impression than the EMMI in Dread. On the GBA, I still think I prefer Zero Mission so I'm looking forward to replaying that hopefully soon.
Needed a palette cleanser after Fire Emblem Engage so I went back to a classic:
#7 - Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (SNES)
Beautifully crafted game; pure 10/10 material. It had been a while since I played it and I had forgotten a lot of these levels. It has an excellently paced difficulty curve and things feel tricky but they're always forecasted, and you never feel like anything is insurmountable. I also never realized the nuances of Yoshi's behaviors and moveset. Reminded me a lot of Miyamoto's suggestions to Retro about Donkey Kong, injecting him with more whimsy instead of him just being this hulking brute strongman of the jungle. Yoshi is delicate and cute while also being kind of a ruthless predator if you really think about what it's doing lol.
Also truly one of the best final levels and bosses in a 2D platformer ever. Beautiful ending.
1) Super Metroid (NSO) 2) Metroid Fusion (Wii U) 3) Metroid Dread (NSW) 4) Sonic Frontiers (PS5) 5) MX vs ATV Legends (XSS) 6) Kuru Kuru Kuruin (NSO) 7) Metroid Prime Remastered (NSW)
8) HiFi Rush (XSS)
A highly enjoyable, highly original action game with great characters, music, visuals, and style. HiFi Rush is one of Xbox’s best games in years.
9) Final Fantasy Crisis Core Reunion (NSW)
I really enjoyed this one. The story is bonkers in a way that makes me roll my eyes sometimes, but the characters are great, and the ending hits hard. I haven’t cried because of a game like that in a long time. Gameplay-wise, it’s basically Kingdom Hearts, which makes it a ton of fun. There’s tons of optional content if you’re into that sort of thing too.
10) Spider-Man Miles Morales (PS5)
I actually wasn’t a big fan of this. Maybe it’s just too similar to Spider-Man 2018.. The gameplay is as solid as ever, but something about the combat just feels repetitive and button mashy. Dropping the difficulty down a notch helped somewhat, since it made the baddies go down quicker. I also wasn’t really digging Miles as a character all that much. The ending was nice though. Here’s hoping they’re able to shake up the formula at least a little bit for Spider-Man 2.
Finished in 2023 #6: Wonder Boy: Monster Land (Arcade)
So we come to the second Wonder Boy game, moving away from jungles and chowing down to fantasy and swordplay - we got the start of the Monster World subseries. Quite the shift, but at least fans of the original gameplay can go to the Adventure Island franchise for more games in that vein.
Having previously played Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap (the remake of Monster World II), I could clearly see the DNA of that game in this one. Monster Land is still a timed arcade game, but it trades the more Mario-like momentum based platforming in favor of action platforming with RPG mechanics. You still leap around platforms, but now there's a health meter that grows as you earn points, a much greater focus on enemy combat using sword strikes and magic, collecting gold to spend on upgraded armor, and finding secrets to make the journey easier.
This one can be very difficult if you do not know how to approach it. Game knowledge is key - in this case, likely intended to be earned through spending lots of quarters. If you want the best chances to reach the ending without much issue, you'll need to master the short range of your sword attack, find specific items in hidden rooms, maximize how much money you collect with this really weird wiggle jump mechanic, and spend your money wisely. I absolutely would not have beaten the game this quickly without the Anniversary Collection's generous rewind features. Still, for all the rewinds and resets I did, it was a fun day of learning the game and getting to that last dungeon (used as an effective callback in Dragon's Trap, but for me it was a lovely call-forward!) and defeating the MEKA Dragon waiting at the end.
Just don't ask me to do that on original hardware!
Finished Super Metroid last night. Like its portable predecessor it improved on the previous game in so many ways. It felt like Metroid's A Link to the Past moment, taking the established formula to the next level, refining it and making full use of the new hardware.
It's truly a visual feast. I still believe some of the graphics we saw in the SNES era are timeless. At times it was hard to believe this was released in 1994 when the screen is shaking, Mode 7 effects turned to 11, there is debris everywhere, flashing lights... Whew... Intense!
The music also deserves a shout out. Perfectly fitting the mysterious and somber tone of the game, but appropriately bombastic when it needs to be.
I felt the controls were somewhat cumbersome at times... Cycling through your arsenal in the heat of the moment is not fun... And wall jumping in this game is very Marmite. And I usually love Marmite. I hated it here.
The bosses aren't as inventive as Zelda's, with some feeling a bit like slug fests with almost unavoidable attack patterns, but there's a decent enough variety on offer, and I love how all of them are combined into that hideous golden statue.
There's a nice little plot twist at the end, which I enjoyed. Those who have played will know what I mean.
5 Metroid larvae out of 5
My 2023 list:
January
1. [NSW] Regency Solitaire - 4/5
February
2. [NSW] Dungeon Encounters - 5/5
3. [GB NSO] Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins - 3/5
4. [GB NSO] Gargoyle's Quest - 3/5
5. [NES NSO] Metroid - 3/5
March
6. [GB NSO] Metroid II: Return of Samus - 4/5
7. [GBA NSO] SMA4: Super Mario Bros. 3 - 5/5
8. [SNES NSO] Super Metroid - 5/5
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