Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (13th April)

Sonic Frontiers and Zelda Tears of the Kingdom for me. It's still impressive to me just how much fun TOTK is. Fusing things together, exploring creepy caves, going for the shrines etc. Not sure why this game has got me hooked so much where BotW just.. couldn't.

I tried the new Princess Peach game and it wasn't very engaging. I put it down and likely won't pick it back up for a long while. That game really isn't very friendly to players who want to try and get all of the collectibles within the stages, and the stages themselves aren't anything to write home about.
I got to the "Dashing Thief" level, and the side-scrolling hookshot action brought to mind Chibi Robo Zip-Lash, and I guess I had some kind of adverse reaction to that comparison lol, it made me really want to stop playing and find something better to do with my time.

A shame too, cause Peach deserves to have her time in the spotlight. But this game is just. .... not it.

I'm playing cat quest 2 on meowitch

Finally more or less 100% completed Neo: The World Ends With You, so I’ve gone back to my beloved 3DS in the week the servers shut down. I’m playing Cave Story 3D, which is great. I’m slightly surprised by how much story there is, as I thought it was going to be a fairly basic Metroidvania. Instead it’s almost like a pixel Dust: An Elysian Tale.

Thinking of which one of the devices should I complete my playthrough for Hyper Light Drifter, I enjoy the steam deck bigger screen, however, the Nintendo switch smaller screen still looks good to me. The next Hyper Light Drifter, will be out around summer, I think it's going to be an early access though.

Also, replaying Walking dead (Definitive edition)

Happy gaming all.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising, currently free on NSO. Enjoying it more than my games in progress, let’s see if I can finish it till Thursday.

Tears of the Kingdom: rekindled my love for the game, it has it's flaws but it also has it's comfy moments, been exploring looking for shrines and koroks.

Metroid Dread: Finally beat it last Monday

Red Dead Redemption: Beat it Monday as well, going to continue exploring the map. I love the Old Wild West theme so much.

Maybe Vigor on my Xbox One S, not sure about this one.

Last but not least:
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag: Beat it 3 years ago, recently started a new save file. Love it, best pirate game I played so far.

Finished Nobody Saves the World.
What an awesome game, Drinkbox have made another game that I absolutely love.
Highly recommended.

Also finished Curse of the Sea Rats after my Kickstarter bundle arrived a few months ago.
Thoroughly enjoyed it, another great Metroidvania.

Started The Bounty Huntress after grabbing it cheap in the Eshop Metroidvania sale.

Also bought a second complete copy of Wayne Gretzky 3D Hockey 98 for my N64 collection to steal bits and pieces off to make a mint Aus rated copy so I might play that again while I've got it out.

Have a great weekend everyone

This week I will be mostly playing

Fire Emblem Echoes
DK Jet Race

I’ve just finished Portal for the very first time, so I’ll probably start Portal 2 this weekend, or maybe Quake 2. I also have to go back to Metroid Prime, maybe start it again. Have a lovely weekend all

I finally went back to Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy for the first time since launch, and it's been so much fun! I just finished case one (definitely the best of the first cases in the series so far). I can't wait to see how the rest of the game is.

Mario Strikers Battle League Football and Cultures 2 Gates Of Asgard (PC). I will try to win some Cups with Mario. Cultures is quite fun and relaxed. Today I will start the fourth campaign mission.

Happy gaming everyone!

I have finally finished the not so impossible lair in Yooka-Laylee. I had collected all the tonics and what not last weekend already, and the whole week got me extremely frustrated with that one level that I was initially really looking forward to. Turns out it ruined the whole game for me. It wasn't even that difficult, just parts of it were absolutely sadistic and there are countless bugs were you get stuck and loose your bees, and all of those collected tonics turned out completely useless. And that's not to mention that lame/slow boss fight that keeps coming back. Needless to say, I don't want to hear about those guys for a very long time.
I'm so glad there's so many good games out there with great challenges. This was just not it. And it actually makes me a bit sad since I had really enjoyed the rest of the game until that.

I showed Vectronom to my 9 year-old and she fell in love with it. She's currently driving herself mad trying to get all the pick-ups. It's so cool to see. Funny thing is I got this game for free with my gold points, while it was down at 3 bucks, now I bought it for her full price XD it must be really good, right!

After that, we'll continue through Wind Waker HD, we've got the Swift Sail and need to find the Cyclone Frog God to go further.

I'm looking forward to playing the Umbraclaw demo. I should maybe first lower my expectations, I'm somehow, for some unknown reason, really looking forward to it.

Further, I'll play Tetris 99 and Hatsune Miku as well, that's for sure.

Happy gaming everybody!

Majora's Mask!! Thanks @felix

@JohnnyMind
Good lord, and here I thought juggeling between three games (Zelda, Sonic and Kirby) was impressive.. here you come with 13 haha. Impressive!

This is my favourite Nintendo Life topic. Every once in a while, someone mentions a title that I would have overlooked otherwise. Such is the case with Yoku's Island Express. Aside from being a great game, with unique mechanics, its vibe is a good match for the sunny and warm weather over here. Have a great weekend everyone!

PS5: This week I platted Helldivers 2 and Street Fighter 6. So theres obviously only one thing to do. Play Helldivers 2 and Street Fighter 6. That is until Stellar Blade comes out.
Switch: Supermario Wonder (backlog work)
XSX: Nothing

Sidenote. SF6 might be the best modern fighting game Ive ever played. Its just so smooth. And Ive been having a lot of fun playing Helldivers with friends and strangers. Even had some randoms willing to help me with some coop trophies.

Apollo Justice Ace Attorney Trilogy and Freedom Planet 2.

Prince of Persia The Lost Crown: It's a neat platformer that is challenging in a way similar to the Metroid series. I like the idea of screen captures to remember items you can later obtain and the pastel artwork is phenomenal.

Elsewhere I will be trying the Stellar Blade demo out to see if I want to purchase it. From the screenshots and chatter I probably will, but here goes.

I've started playing Freedom Planet 2, and even though I could never really get into the first game, the sequel has really clicked with me. The graphics are really well done and the music is also great, I've already found myself listening to the soundtrack, particularly the first stage's tune.

Aside from that, still need to get back to HEBEREKE Enjoy Edition or Tomb Raider II on the remastered collection.

I've finished Super Mario Wonder and am sure there's some post game stuff to do but I can't be bothered with it, the game felt quite gimmicky to me.

Will be going for some Splatoon 3 and Metroid Prime Remastered.

Happy gaming everyone.

On PS5 i will be continuing with the awesome Unicorn Overlord, Im currently half way through Elheim and the difficulty is ramping up. I will also hopefully complete Trails of Cold Steel 3 this weekend, Still have 2 more games to go before I can move onto Daybreak 😔.

On Switch I'm currently on Chapter 5 of the Xenoblade Chronicles 3 DLC so I might be able to complete that this weekend, I will also be putting some more time into AI The Somnium Files Nirvana which so far has been excellent and just as crazy as the last game.

I finished Psychonauts 2 last week, which was pretty great. The quirky world designs and amusing writing were the standouts. The overall story was a bit disappointing (maybe due to pacing?) and the game's mechanics feel rather janky versus other recent platformers. It's been so long since the first game, I'm unsure how they compare. I hope there's a Psychonauts 3.

I'm now playing Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling, which is off to a good start. I'm struggling a bit with depth perception (missing platforms when jumping, etc.) and targeting the boomerang is finicky, but the gameplay is enjoyable otherwise. I've left the hard badge equipped and it's been pretty tough. I'm not far enough in to judge story or characters. It doesn't have the immediate charm of TTYD, but it also doesn't have the existing IP advantage.

Tiny Sasquatch on dreams ps4

I'm playing Carrion, awesome game! Already at the bunker, and I'll play the Christmas DLC. After than, I want to start with Eastward.

MK7 3DS via Pretendo

Persona4 The ULTIMAX ULTRA SUPLEX HOLD – played through Naoto's and Mitsuru's stories, and unlocked Labrys' story in P4U mode. P4U mode is 50% complete.
Crypt of the NecroDancer – completed Nocturna's(Amplified DLC) and Melody's stories. Tried to beat 5th Zone as Aria multiple times, but failed. Playing the game as Aria is hard as hell. But, I hope that I'll be able to finish the game. Game's story is 75% complete, after all! Only Aria's story remains...
Skullgirls 2nd Encore – beated Arcade Mode as Eliza.
What's about gaming related things, though...
Volume 3 of YoRHa: Pearl Harbor Descent Record was finally released on English! So, I'm gonna read it later today, probably.
Well, for now, that's all what I've played on this week. Have a nice gaming week, everyone.
Update #1:
Crypt of the NecroDancer – finished 5th Zone as Aria. Tried to beat 4th Zone, but failed. I don't want to imagine how insanely hard is to play the game as Aria with rhythm mode ON... Because of her health, your run heavily depends from the randomness and skill. Sigh

The weekly highlights for me are playing Jumping Flash! at 60fps, Pokémon Black at 90fps (via the awesome PokeMMO), and Gran Tourismo 1 and 2 at 60fps. I've loved Jumping Flash since the PSX launch, but absolutely love seeing it at 60fps on Steam Deck!
I also want to say that even though I've quit playing Switch and totally disagree with Nintendo's actions, I also see a broader perspective. I do this exercise with a friend (who happens to be a therapist in her career) where we share emotional stuff every 2 weeks or so. A month ago I was going off about Nintendo stealing computers, websites, software, and millions of $. Afterwards she asked what this scandal was about because her son got a Switch to connect with friends in Fortnite. I said "Oh, people don't need to worry about it! I've just been upset about it." So people should take my opinions with plenty of salt!
I've also been playing Outrun 2006 (PC version on Deck), Need for Speed Underground 2 (60fps wide-screen on deck), Megaman Rock N roll (awesome fan game), Dogyuun and Grind Stormer(awesome new shmup releases on Steam), Tiny and Big: Grandpa's Leftovers, Simpsons Hit and Run, and the incredible PC version of Blur! It's awesome to finally play Blur at 60fps (I've only played the 30fps PS3 version)! Oh, and I got an old PSX Choro Q running mostly at 60fps via setting the processor at like 900% of normal in Duckstation on Deck.
Oh yeah, and I'm also enjoying Pokémon Brown, Unbound, Gaia, and other very nicely done romhacks.
And still playing tons of wipEout Phantom Edition, Rocket League, FF7 at 60fps with tons of great mods, Ship of Harkinian, Render 96, and Peggle Nights.
And book of the week is The Raven Tower, while tea of the week is Osmanthus Flower Oolong!
Enjoy your games everyone!
Edit: oh yeah! And I've been supremely enjoying Mario Kart Wii Deluxe. It has 800 tracks! I love seeing every SNES course, and hearing the unique remixes of their awesome songs! Can't imagine how much fun people have been having playing it online (I'm stuck with time trials and CPU races on Steam Deck). What an incredible fan creation though!

Pokemon conquest! And maybe the Sackboy adventure game for PS4. Good lord I didn't expect pokemon conquest to have so much content. Happy gaming everyone!

I have started a playthrough of Assassins' Creed: Odyssey. I studied the Peleponnesian War at university and am interested in how the game handles the setting.
Aside from that, I'm playing Midnight Resistance on Evercade, Princess Peach: Showtime! on Switch and Alone in the Dark on PC.

Unicorn Overlord has taken over my life.
And when I need a break from that, I have a quick blast on Quake 2 remastered!

It’s actually nice to be able to juggle two games for a change 🤣

I just rebought Donkey Konga with the DK Bongos for GameCube for my kids. They are loving it so far. In between I'm going to continu to 100% FFVII rebirth.

I just played through that whole Gunbrella demo because the game is on sale. I really loved what I played, and it offered a whole hour and a half of demo...but the save didn't carry over. I still bought the game, but I'm going to wait a bit to replay everything all over again.

In the meantime, I just started up Freedom Planet 2, and it's such an eye-popping, polished game. I've been waiting 10 years for this one and it does not disappoint.

I’ll be playing the entire Mother/Earthbound series. I recently got back into it and I love the series so much more than when I played the games years ago.

Picked up the STALKER trilogy on Xbox, so I’ve been playing through the excellent (and extremely janky) Shadow of Chernobyl.

On the Switch I’m enjoying Read Only Memories 2064 and Princess Peach Showtime

Flipping through pages in Paper Mario on the N64. I think I’ll be done long before TTYD comes out! Gah! Although, maybe I could bridge the gap with a Dark Souls and Bloodborne back-to-back extravaganza. I’ve played through each of them many times and I will keep doing so!

On a short holiday in Copenhagen in Denmark so left the Switch at home and brought along my 3DS. Unfortunately I forgot the charging cable so a couple of hours or so of Steamworld Dig 2 is it for me. That’s ok though, loads to see here anyway, lovely city.

Still trying to tie up Octopath Traveler II, which is really a matter of stepping through Osvald's story and whatever comes after that. I'm catastrophically overpowered and the battles are trivial, but finding the time with work, school, moving, and family has been difficult. The woes of a balanced life, I suppose.

I also want to play Oxenfree II: The Lost Signals if I get the chance, but I likely will not 😅

Well, if I don’t get my butt in gear and file my tax return (deadline is Monday), I’ll be playing “Teksetter Girl Commits Tax Evasion” in real life. A fighting game vs. the IRS is definitely one I wish to avoid.

That said, I’ll still try to continue my slow march through Drakenhold in Unicorn Overlord, as time permits. Or maybe try that Hebereke vs. game on NSO SNES with the kiddos because we need more Hebereke in our lives.

Wishing everyone a fun yet law-abiding weekend! 🕹🏛

Still playing Tunic. I think I am near the end now. I got slowed down by a boss that I tried for at least 3 of my evening play sessions in a row. I ended up using reduced difficulty to get past it. Now, near the end there is a bit where I am likely to need to do that again. I really like the exploration and the discovery of the in game manual but I wish I would have been quicker to temporarily reduce the difficulty in that one boss battle because spending so much time on that put me off a bit.

Next up is probably Super Mario RPG

@EarthboundBenjy Yeah, I got that feeling from the game as well. It's tedious as all hell to exit the stage and then having to rewatch all the unskippable (mini) cutscenes.. Hella annoying. Will be trading it in soon

My consoles are observing a "weekend of silence" in respect for the passing of Splatoon for Wii U.

I'll be playing more Final Fantasy VII Remake. I think I'm about 8 hours in now. Chapter 6 felt a little annoying admittedly but I'm excited to see where this goes.

Kingdoms & Lords (Windows Phone) - Still getting my footing in this one.

Earthworm Jim HD (Windows Phone) - Buttville is seriously kicking my rear end...

Angry Birds Star Wars II (Windows Phone) - Always a special place in hell for three starring every single level in this game

I finished Tomb Raider 2 and its DLC (Golden Mask) so now I’m likely on to Unicorn Overlord continuing the full game from my demo save file.

Nintendo’s silence is interesting, they’re in that phase where everyone’s Direct begging at this point. But waiting for a Direct before deciding my next game seems unwise.

Outside possible dips into Unwound Future, Endless Frontier, Gravity Rush and Eternia, I'm expecting this weekend's gaming side to be split between Switch and Deck. The former has traditionally high odds of Xenoblade trio and Fuga, RF trio and Portia, roguelites like Isaac/TumbleSeed/Frost and sidescroller journeys like Eiyuuden Chronicle Rising/Dust/Bloodstained, shooters like Bioshock 2/Doom 3/Borderlands 2 and more strategic stuff like Civ 6/Sailing Era/Before We Leave, plus other possibilities like Barbarous, Powerwash, Twilight Survivors, One's Justice, Mudrunner, Carto and Smelter. The latter will likely be busy with its own usual suspects from XCX, Horizon and the FFs to Kingdom Hearts, Payback and Watch Dogs with a potential side of Drakengard, Hand of Fate or Dishonored.

@AlanaHagues The first Dark Souls is my favorite of those games (not a common opinion, i think), and i consider it a (however flawed)masterpiece. My feelings would not be hurt if you wrote that the Bed of Chaos was the worst thing ever.

Note- I forgot to type congratulations on defeating a trying game!

@Maubari I'm the same. Could never really get into BOTW, but TOTK has had me playing almost daily since Christmas. Maybe because it's a more complete version of what BOTW was going for?

Playing TOTK this weekend, and just finished a play through of Story Mode on WWE Day of Reckoning on the Gamecube.

After a long, busy week for me, I will get the chance to do quite a bit of gaming (for once) this weekend. With that said, here's my list:

Umbraclaw demo
I'm generally a fan in Inti-Creates' output, but I'm not rock solid if I'm down for this game for some reason. I'm not sure what brings me pause, so I'm pleased they released a demo to help me see where I stand.

Super R-Type
THIS was the R-Type that got me into the series. It was a nice surprise as a rental way back when. Looking at footage now, it seems so much slower and less frantic compared to most other R-Types, which is probably why I was able to play this so well — I love shmups but I'm not elite in any measure, I just like to shooty shooty, and tossing that force around was hella fun. This will be one of several of my weekly weekend retro plays.

Amazing HEBEREKE
There has been A LOT of HEBEREKE love lately! I've heard there are a lot of games in this series, but I've never even heard of this one, so I'll dip a toe in. Similar to Inti-Creates, I generally like a lot of the output from Sunsoft. This is another retro play.

Wrecking Crew '98
A game I've only heard of through the wind, and here it is. I was a fan of Wrecking Crew (NES), and actually a bigger fan of the less puzzly arcade game Vs. Wrecking Crew, so I'm intrigued to see how they've removed the platforming to just focus on the puzzling. Another retro play.

F-Zero: Maximum Velocity
Continuing on with the Standard Knight league. I can't stop getting a round or 5 in on this game, so much fun. The last of my retro plays.

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed: Ecto Edition
As a Ghostbusters fan, I HAD to check this out. I'm just renting from GameFly at the moment, but if I like it enough, I'll just buy it outright. Buggy, but a lot of fan service for $20.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
About to reach Goron Town. Chasing down my fireproof lizards on the way.

Fitness Boxing
Time for me to get back serious about dropping pounds. I'll get a few rounds in of this.

gonna pick up mass effect legendary edition ps5 again, bought the game in december but only got trough the citadel part. looks excellent on 4k and 60fps

Pikmin 4. I quit after 7 hours last year when it launched…something about it that didn’t click for me.

I’m enjoying it but I think the lack of any sense of emergency harms it honestly. There’s no need to be as efficient as possible or to cram as much as you can do into one day so it’s much more leisurely than the other games (at least 1+3 anyway, which incidentally I like a lot more than 2). I know they were trying to appeal to more people and looking at the sales it looks like it worked but I’d have liked to have some sense of pressure. I’ve also just found it really easy in general which wasn’t how I’d describe the other games.

Enjoying it more this time around going into it knowing that it’s a more relaxed take…hope it starts to push back a little more though as it goes on.

@FishyS I saw last week you were playing Scourgebringer. It’s one of my favorite roguelikes, though quite difficult. I think the combat is perhaps the most intense I’ve experienced in that genre, without thinking too hard on it.

I’m going to be alternating between three games:

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury ; repurchased a physical copy after selling it a few years ago back when I was in high school (and had no money lol). Fired up a new Bowser’s Fury run, defeated Bowser twice now. At around 15 shines.

Hollow Knight ; also started a new playthrough as a reward for beating every game in the Mega Man X Legacy Collection. Got all spells with upgrades except for Howling Wraiths, all movement upgrades, one nail upgrade, six masks, one extra soul vessel. All stags unlocked except for Stag Nest, Deepnest Village, and Queen’s Garden, two coliseum trials completed. This weekend, I would like to start exploring Deepnest. I always tend to tackle this area and defeat Herrah later in the game since I find Deepnest to be pretty difficult if you’re not prepared enough. This would include upgrading my nail, finding charms I could use, and upping my health meter. I would also like to find more of the warrior dream battles to collect essence and get the Dream Gate.

A Little to the Left ; got this game on a whim last night. A really chill puzzle game with satisfying puzzles. I like it!

My birthday is today, so I will be juggling these three games around when I’m not working or celebrating.

Shin Tensei Devil Survivor 2 Record Breaker. I enjoyed the first game remake (SMT Devil Survivor Overclocked) so much, but due to my 3DS having a corrupt memory card that I bought used and my at the time gacha addiction, I never finished this amazing game. Overclocked remains one of my top ten favorite games to this day. With Record Breaker I'm already having a blast of nostalgia, strategy, and monster taming. The story so far doesn't seem quite as good as Overclocked, but everything else seems to be just as good. Magical game already.

I'm finishing Haak. I can't believe you guys at didn't review this one, it's freakin amazing!!!

All of Nintendo Land's asymmetric multiplayer modes are a treat! I miss that console, just as much as I miss all of the asymmetric multiplayer games that studios never made...

I'll be playing more of the usual suspects: Helldivers 2, Unicorn Overlord (just cleared the third continent; my squads are finally starting to come together!), and maybe, juuuust maybe, I'll be naughty and buy Pepper Grinder.

@MeloMan

you are just bragging, 8 games in one weekend:/

Playing star ocean 2 the second story r and possibly doing some Megaman battle network collection and paper Mario 64 on switch. But star ocean is priority since it’s a backlog and i haven’t beaten it whereas I beaten nearly every Megaman battle network game on gba and beaten paper Mario 64 several times 😂

@OwenGamer22 Happy birthday, God bless, enjoy your special day, and have many more!

@EveryoneElse:

Super Mario Bros. Wonder - Completing the levels I missed, or didn't unlock yet.

MegaMan, X, and Zero/ZX Legacy Collections - Right now, going through Zero 2, and another playthrough of ZX.

Star Wars: KOTOR - Going through another playthrough. Played this a whole lot. Too bad the Switch version appears to also have the glitch that locks out party members' advancing dialogue trees, and quests if you completed a certain party member side quest early. This is why you continually save often, and selectively keep certain save files. Unfortunately, I don't have a prior save. I'm continuing to experiment with the Cheatbot, since it allows accessing segments that later become inaccessible under normal gameplay. I'm going to continue experimenting with time travel.

Shantae series

Happy gaming, and God bless, everyone!

Still making my way through Persona 5 Royal. I truly love this game, but I have never fallen asleep so much during a game before ( I play late at night after my daughter goes to bed). Every time I think I’m about to reach the finish line, it gets moved a little further. I’m not complaining, though. After 115 hours, I love all of these characters and am excited to see where the story ends.

Happy gaming, everyone!

Unicorn Overlord. (Switch) I finished up Elheim yesterday, so it's off to Bastorias next. I hear it's the hardest region, too, so I'm interested to see how that goes.

Freedom Planet 2. (Switch) - I didn't get a chance to play much this week, so I'll try to connect that.

Splatoon 3. (Switch) - Took break for the last two weeks but I need to get back on to continue leveling up the catalog and practice before the Splatfest (Team Lil Bunnies FTW)

SW Battlefront Classic Collection. (Switch) - Will probably jump on Instant Action when I need dome quick, casual fun.

FFXIV. (PC) - Still working my way through Stormblood. Getting caught up before Dawntrail releases may not be as feasible as I thought.

Yes, I'm watching Fallout and I'm also a few episodes in. Makes me want to try the series for the first time.

Also loved wrestlemania last weekend and loved the new direction wwe is headed in. It does make me want to buy wwe 2k 24 which is a on a sale atm.

But as for gaming this weekend, I just finished my 5th or 6th playthrough of Cadence of Hyrule last night, so to continue on my zelda push, I started up Skyward Sword again.

On xbox I'm playing Banjo and Diablo 4.

No time for games dr Jones. Watching Hawk the Slayer xxx

Trying my hand at my second play through of P5R. Also playing through P3Reload in between!

I played these games. 🙂
1. Harvest Moon : Tree of Tranquility Wii
2. Go Vacation Switch

I just beat Banjo Kazooie last night. I played the game a lot "back in the day", but never even got close to the ending because of how discouraging it is to reset your note score every time you enter/exit a level. I am not ashamed of heavily abusing the NSO save state function, especially on games like this that I put so much time into without beating.

Personally I prefer Tooie, but there's a lot to like about BK. I hope Banjo Tooie and DK64 both come to NSO soon. DK64 at least should have been on it day 1 in my opinion.

In other news, I'm probably about halfway through Princess Peach Showtime. I've actually enjoyed it a lot, but I do wish they let you skip cinematics when replaying levels. It makes it kind of a drag to go through and get all the stars you missed the first time.

Last night I played Helldivers with friends which was plenty of fun. Tonight it’ll be single player for me with Wonderful 101 remastered. I’m not very far in yet, but I’m shocked how much style this game has. It’s starting to feel like a hidden gem.

Still playing The Messenger. So good!

@EarthboundBenjy It seems we have opposite taste. I adore Princess Peach and I’m enjoying the quests in Eiyuden Chronicles: Rising. Somehow this year is about short and easy games for me, so much trouble in real life.

Been on an indie kick recently; playing Thunder Ray as well as Hades. Plan to pick up Slave Zero X sometime soon and I'm hyped for the recently announced Beyond the Ice Palace 2 (which is coming to switch btw )

@FishyS Ah, i hadn’t checked the poll yet as i was in a hurry earlier.
It took me longer than some roguelikes to beat because of the difficulty which really ramps up in the later stages, but i did feel compelled to play it, so i did get that addictive feel that you find missing.
As you say, the cramped space is a huge factor . I find it also helps though, as one needs to be aware of all the enemies, projectiles and objects on screen at all times.
Either way, i had spotted you were playing it and couldn’t let it go unacknowledged. Best of luck with it and thanks for the reply!

On 3DS: Ridge Racer 3D - I started the last category of Grand Prix mode last night. A very fun and challenging game.

On Switch: Mario Tennis Aces - I'm playing tournament mode, I want to win the three trophies with all the characters. There have been 5 so far, I still have a long way to go.

Been going back to the 3DS trilogy of Yo-kai Watch games. My current focus is to obtain Whisper’s medal in the third game, which requires a good bit of level and item grinding. Apparently, you have to have a level 60 Yo-kai and win a rare item from the Candy Stop lottery. Thankfully, I’m almost there.

After that, I’ll probably just go back to collecting Yo-kai Medals in the first game.

@OwenGamer22 happy birthday to you

Well, I finally did it. This past week, I defeated the final, secret boss in Octopath Traveler. The game took me about 140 hours to complete all stories and about another 100 hours to grind and gear farm in preparation for the final boss. Ended the boss on the 3rd try once fully prepped. (Countless failures along the way, though...)

I also achieved 100% in Mario Odyssey, having found all moons, beat all levels, beat Bowser's second secret form and finished with a moon count of 999. Even that game required some significant grinding (via coin farming in order to max out moons once you've acquired all the ones that are possible to find) which is weird for a Mario game.

Both games are now retired.

I'm going to take a break from modern games for a while and focus on my retro collection. (Although Prince of Persia: Lost Crown is tempting me.)

I'm playing Dragon Quest 6 on SNES and loving it way more than 5 (which, along with 3 seems to be everyone's favorite). The colorful, detailed 16 bit graphics are the height of 2D Dragon Quest, with the environments even looking better in my opinion than DQ7 did on the PS1. The sound is crisp and clean, the music is unobtrusive and the story (though a little confusing) is a mystery that continues to unravel as you play. I just reached the part where you get the boat and the game world opens up to you. You can explore the world in any order you wish, docking at any interesting location, moving through side quests and finding rare and powerful loot. This part of JRPG's, usually reserved until the end of the game, right before confronting the final boss is always my favorite. It's interesting they chose to introduce it earlier than normal in this game.

After DQ6, I'm going to play the most legendary installments in my backlog in chronological order, revisiting some old favorites along the way. Final Fantasy 4 (2 on SNES) from 1991 is up next, followed by Actraiser.

On the side I'm still working through my FPS heritage playthrough (all first person shooters in order of release). I'm about 70% through completing all campaigns on Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous (the game is looooong with over 100 levels) and the classic, Heretic (precursor to Hexen) is up next!

Have fun everyone!!

I finished Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe over the week. Really enjoyed my time with it, but don't really care to play through the extra mode that unlocks when you finish the story. Might come back and play the Magalor Epilogue at some point though.

As for my next game.... I'm thinking Portal!

@Grail_Quest As someone who decided not to battle the final, secret boss in Octopath , i extend my utmost congratulations and respect to you!
Also, since i’m already messaging you: i love Actraiser too. It was a blind rental back in the day that turned out to be a top tier SNES title. Still have never gotten tired of it. Happy gaming!

Post the Phoenix Wright trilogy, nothing is really doing it for me 🫠 but I am watching the anime and a playthrough of the Miles Edgeworth Investigations game to tide me over 😌 I am still playing Shining Resonance Refrain as well- it's pretty decent and scratches that RPG itch 😊

I got to watch our boy, Damien, defend his journalistic integrity this week, and i am still proud of him.
Switch: Been playing a lot of small stuff.
Neodori Forever : I’m in-between horipads right now and my joycons were drifting so while this seemed like a fun 90s style racer, it was painful. I gotta wait.
Death’s Hangover: i am surprised this gets such low user reviews here. It’s a solid Arkanoid clone. But i did only pay twenty cents for it.
Bee Simulator is awful on Switch. Also, there’s no robber flies(f.Asilidae)… how do you have a bee game with no robber flies? There’s wasps.. spiders, dragonflies, humans(ewwww) and birds.. all bee predators… but no asilids.. not a one. Rgh!
I saw Lady Charlie mixing it up in the comments this week and it had me thinking of the great, Terror of Hemasaurus(cuz she recommended it, not cuz she’s a raging kaiju!), so i went to see if the dev had made anything else: i got Super Blood Hockey. On NES , i really gelled with the OG Ice Hockey, but wished it had the violence offered by Blades of Steel. And this is basically that. Plus funny writing, franchise mode etc. I love it. Just wish i had some skill at it. And thanks to Ollie’s excellent review, my expectations were tempered perfectly.
PC - Crazy Taxi I had a Dreamcast(bought it used) but never had CT. Guess what? It’s a gas. Glad i gave it a chance.
Also Vermintide 2 has a new map. Will play through it with a friend.
The Table: So, i made this tavern in DnD with all these playable events and she ignored them all and moved onto the rest of the town. sigh But that’s DMing. I’ll gently try to nudge her back, but won’t force it.
Take care all!

this weekend, ive got a hearty mix of elden ring, sonic frontiers, valorant, and fire emblem path of radiance lined up. and i wonder why i get nothing done

For those who enjoy platformers and metroidvania style games, with a bit of Street Fighter action and Alex Kidd, I highly recommend Intrepid Lizzy. Which is currently on sale on the Nintendo eshop. A very solid game with great music, animation and some challenging bosses. Perhaps one of those hidden gems. It has become one of my favorite games on the Switch.

@Anti-Matter Thanks for the reminder that I still don't have Go Vacation in my collection, either the Wii original or the Switch version.

This weekend I'll go with Wrecking Crew '98, some WarioWare: Get It Together! and maybe finally give Mario Kart 8 Deluxe the closure it deserves.

The Masters is on so I’m all golf and no gaming! But maybe I’ll play Mario Golf on the Gameboy NSO whilst watching it.

Switch - Princess Peach: Showtime

PS5 - Final Fantasy XVI

@Rpg-lover Well, Hyper Light Drifter – Special Edition works at 60FPS on Switch! And 120FPS on iPad Pro... Amazing... So, if you already have the game on Switch, there's quite little reason to play it on Steam Deck or other platforms, excluding iPad Pro, of course. Or, especially, if you have Switch OLED.
@BIG3 «Sidenote. SF6 might be the best modern fighting game Ive ever played. Its just so smooth.»
Have you ever played BLAZBLUE CENTRALFICTION or UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH Exe:Late[cl-r]?
@OwenGamer22 Happy Birthday!

@Vyacheslav333 you are right about that. Sadly, I already owned both 😥

No gaming for me this weekend.

@Diogmites Thanks for reading my long post, and for the words of commendation! Actraiser has been on my "to-play" list pretty much since it originally came out.

I'm glad I'm old enough to have been there as a kid when games jumped from 8 bit to 16 bit. The amazement of seeing games burst to life with all that extra color and sound never left me and somewhere in my gamer brain, that feeling still lingers whenever I boot up a Super Nintendo game to this day. It allows me to go back and really enjoy playing all those old games that I missed. Same thing for early 3D games.

My wife and kids think I'm crazy every time I exclaim "Wow, look how good the graphics are in this one!", while marveling over some antiquated relic. But, to me it will always be 1992, or 1996, or 2001. I loved every one of those evolutionary console cycle leaps... and guess I always will.

@Grail_Quest You’re welcome! I pulled an all-niter the first time i played Actraiser. One of my fondest memories of gaming.
I was there for the jump to 16 bit too! My first system was an Atari 5200.
Every hardware generational leap was a sight to behold!
As someone who can find beauty in every console’s graphics, i am with you.
Thank you for the thoughtful reply and have a good weekend!

@Vyacheslav333 Havent heard of those games.

Having a blast with Unicorn Overlord and only feeling slightly guilty to not be revisit TotK for those remaining 20 sidequests and ~60ish koroks.

@Darkly is the first one worth playing? I have an uninformed impression that it’s basically a stripped down version of the second without much unique to offer

Lately I've mostly been juggling between WWE 2K24 and The House in Fata Morgana.

Loving the Switch. This weekend:

Unicorn Overlord
Pentiment
Brotato

@Dark_Isatari despite being a little weird for earthbound, I still like it. I’m actually playing a fan hack that improves the visuals and makes the game a whole lot easier. (If you’re wondering, it’s the Mother 35th anniversary fan hack).

@Grail_Quest Reading your post, I feel like I've missed the train with Mario Odyssey. I really enjoyed that game, and now I will have to go back to see what is that second secret form and how many moons I'm really missing then, I was quite sure I had them all ...

I just love the comments on this site, there's always a (good) surprise somewhere!

replaying firewatch and causing absolute destruction in red faction gueriilla(either today or tommorow😂😂😂)

@BIG3 Then, you don't play fighting games that much, I think. BLAZBLUE CENTRALFICTION and UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH Exe:Late[cl-r] are masterpieces.

@Vyacheslav333 Never said I did.

Alrighty here we go with another WAYP. Pretty decent week this week as I got to beat Hi-Fi Rush, try out Eddy Gordo and dabble in Helldivers 2 and Penny’s Big Breakaway. All absolutely excellent tho I would say my favorite of that was Hi-FI Rush. The final boss fight with Kale is just a work of art. Also picked up a copy of Pepper Grinder and preordered Saga Emerald Beyond. Also secured the money in the bank for the FFXVI DLC coming out this week The Rising Tide. And I would say the most important and interesting part of this week if you couldn’t tell by my little reference there is I would now say I’ve gotten into professional wrestling. Yep I saw Wrestlemania last weekend and it just clicked for me finally and I just love it. Like most things with “sides” I would say like marvel or dc I’ve firmly decided on WWE over AEW. As for games this weekend aside from hifi rush and penny like I said I’m thinking of finishing off the weekend with some Trails Into Reverie and Persona 3 Reload. Other than that I got some real early shifts this week so I’m thinking of looking on the bright side with that one and using it to work on some more Unicorn Overlord. Other then that the switch plans are simple: Princess Peach Showtime, Another Code, AI The Somnium Files and the games I’ve listed before. And on the PS5 I’m thinking of dabbling in some FFXVI before the DLC as well as other games like Dragons Dogma 2 and FFVII Rebirth as well as the other games I’ve listed before too. Anime of the week have to go to such excellent shows like Mashle, Solo Leveling, High Card, Shangri-La Frontier, Delicious in Dungeon and Witch and the Beast. Tho I won’t lie my main focus I feel this month in terms of shows is gonna be on Game Adaptations. I wanna watch Twisted Metal and Fallout before the Knuckles show comes out and I think they all will make a excellent trio of shows. As for podcasts of the week you know it’s the usual beauties like Castle Superbeast and Big Think Dimension, Into The Aether, RPGsites Tetracast, WIndbreaker and Firelink, Nextlander, Minnmax, Remap Radio and this week special newcomer Easy Allies podcast. All seriously awesome and excellent listens. Of course we gotta give a special amd lovely shoutout to my good friend over at twitch.tv/akibread and their absolutely excellent streams. As always be good to each other. Stay safe and have a great rest of the weekend. And Happy Gaming.

@BIG3 Okay.

I've been playing demo's. Pepper Grinder, Dave the Diver, Europa and Fallen Leaf. The last mentioned one was the most fun and I can't wait for that game to get a Switch release.

@AlanaHagues The last time i went through Dark Souls , i had taken a long hiatus, and i think i died to Bed of Chaos more than in even my first playthrough. Not a well-designed boss from my perspective as well. Very frustrating!
The dlc is a high point, for sure! Also, the transition to Anor Londo is a favorite moment of mine.
I still have never played Bloodborne as i never owned a Playstation past 2. Someday!
I’m happy you found enjoyment in the game, despite its frustrations. Thank you for the reply. Alana!
Apologies for the long note!

I've put down my Switch for a while since I recently got a PS5. Still working my way through FFVII Remake so that I can start Rebirth. Enjoying it quite a bit!