Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (29th June)

Some Erdtree of the Shadow variety with a spot of PES 6 on the side. Mmmm gaming

Breath of the Wild on the Wii U. 😎

Digimon Survive. I’m in the 8th part. If I finish the first playthrough, I will take a break before going for other paths, and I will start Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope.

BIOHAZARD REVELATIONS – S-ranked all stages on Chasm difficulty! Unlocked Keith 2. Dealt 100000 damage to ooze, thanks to RPG(-7?), and unlocked sailor Chris. Grinded. Bought Rare Weapons Finder 3. Bought all grenade holders 3. Leveled up to 33rd level.
Kirby's Dream Land – beated the base game!
Fighter's History – beated the game as Makoto. Beated Survival Mode as Makoto, Li, Feiling, Ryôko.
Wario Land 3 – got 1st key. Got an ax(-e).
Phantom Breaker Battle Grounds Overdrive – beated stages 0 and 1 as Mikoto on Hard difficulty.
UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH II [Sys:Celes] – fought online in Ranked once. Won the 1st match online.
Guilty Gear XX ΛCore Plus R – fought 12 matches online in Ranked. 1 win and 11 loses, lol.
Phantom Breaker: Omnia – fought 3 matches online in Ranked. 2 wins and 1 lose.
Killer Instinct – tried to play the game in Practice Mode.
Sugoi Hebereke – tried to play the game as Hebe.
BLAZBLUE CENTRALFICTION Special Edition – tried to play online, but haven't found any players. Decorated lobby room, at least, lol.
Persona4 The ULTIMAX ULTRA SUPLEX HOLD – found 2 players online in Ranked or Casual... Waited, waited... They were busy with playing against each other. I was tired of waiting and leaved the game.
UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH Exe:Late[cl-r] – wanted to play online, but haven't found anyone.
Well, for now, that's all what I've played on this week. Have a nice gaming weekend, everyone.

I'm mostly playing Tears of the Kingdom. It's super fun playing from the beginning again, collecting the glide shirt, defeating Colgera, getting autobuild, getting the elevator rail, connecting the Stable Trotters, and everything else, but at a higher frame rate. I'm also playing BOTW, Rocket League, Wipeout HD, Choro Q 3, Super Mario 64 coop dx, and the PC Engine Parodius. I've also been having a lot of fun playing We Love Katamari, especially since it runs locked at 90fps on Deck.
I also loved the article on Time Extention about the creator of Worms. It feels like that article should be part of a Digital eclipse Gold Series game release with a bunch of early Worms versions and prototypes.
Also been watching graslu with all the great Perfect Dark, custom Goldeneye levels, and Perfect Dark Zero videos.
Tea of the week is iced Hojicha cuz it's hot! Song of the week is Ping Pong by Stereolab.
Have fun gaming and everything else!

<-------------------------------

The weather is too good to stay inside, but some more TTYD here and there.

Also, Wavetale, for research purposes. Developing my own jet ski racing game, so always interested in how games handle water/waves. As for the game itself, I can see why it scored a 6/10 here on NL. It's not bad, but held back by some serious flaws, with the absence of an invert camera option being the biggest one.

Have a great weekend everyone!

This week I will be mostly playing

Sonic Superstars
Blaster Master
Avenging Spirit

Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door: I'm beginning to see why this is consistently ranked the best Mario RPG. Excellent and enduring combat, interesting locales and characters, and a genuinely intriguing story (with a great visual aesthetic to boot) are all mere prelude to the brilliance that is sure to come.

Happy (gaming) weekend to everybody sharing on this weekly feature, and here is what I am up to on my sweet sweet Switch:

• Mark of the Ninja Remastered: I had never played this game before but really enjoy a good stealth game. I've just started it, so far I really like the feel and atmosphere of the game, so I've got high hopes. Also want to mention that I got this game just because of the positive comments I read from the gamers here on NL, so thanks in advance for this one 😍
• Just Shapes and Beats, still got 3 songs to unlock, and playing a lot of the online challenge mode as well as playlists when I'm in the mood for the Spider Dance XD
• I've been playing the NSO NES Ghost 'n' Goblins again, I beat the one Satan, crossed the next level and managed to beat the two Satans, and then they told me I didn't have the right weapon so I had to do that again. Argh! I had a good laugh but man, those are tough. So I've beaten the one Satan again with the shield and I'm trying to get through the next one again ... man is this really difficult! Even with rewind, and 4 save slots ... that's just not enough XD
  I also watched a playthrough, so I already know what I'm going to have to re-do all over after this XD I'm really into it, so it's fun, but I have to keep short play sessions with this one. I feel like I could break a controller...
• I've been going back into Super Mario Odyssey, looking for the invisible cap and the final final boss battle, only to realize that I had already done all that! So I'm instead playing the balloon hide and seek mini game to get enough coins to reach 999 moons. I've read there's a surprise when you do, so I'm happily moving Mario around, and after such a long time, it's quite fun, I hadn't missed that game, but I'm enjoying it a lot.
• More Tetris 99, I unlocked the F-0 theme while playing with the Pro Controller on the TV, which is something I never do and I didn't enjoy it as much. So I will be very happy to play the new theme in handheld mode.
• More Tears of the Kingdom, because it's probably my favourite Zelda game by now and I feel so at home while moving Link around in this version of Hyrule.

I also wanted to mention that after finishing Arkham City during the week, I've played up to 9% of the main campaign (police escort) in Arkham Knight before I gave up. This is the worst game I have ever played. Performance is terribly bad, but everything else in this game is just as bad or even worst. The review on NL of 3/10 is actually very genereous. Luckily there was the other 2 games in the collection, that last one is a very bad joke imo, they had better leave it out.

The good news is, after such a bad experience, I will enjoy even more all the other good games on my list! 🤩

And I hope you all also enjoy all of your games very much and have lots of fun with them 🧡

@JohnnyMind I'm curious what the replacement to Peach will be 😁 And the rare enemies in Ring Fit are the silver/golden goomba-like ones, right?! Always nice to read the games you're playing, btw!

@120frames-please Nice to see your comment show up within the early birds section this time, I usually catch you later in the weekend when I come back and there's around 100 comments already.

Happy gaming!

TTYD and maybe a game of something on NSO with NL peeps. If you see me online and fancy a quick game of something, just send me an invite!

Also, probably a bit of Collection of Mana. Today marks 33 years since Final Fantasy Adventure was released on Gameboy, the game would become the 1st in the Mana series and not related to FF at all really (save things like Choboco).

While another splurge this week has increased the Switch backlog further yet (partly courtesy of a few cheap bundles like the motley "Action Games" trio and a scientist's starter pack called "Hentai Games Collection"), the proverbial first world storage constraints mean only a few new recruits making it on board and among the weekend session candidates, namely Dave the Diver, Grammarian Ltd and Prinny Presents Vol 1 (the latter particularly topical to invest in between the current sale for a tenner and the recent announcement of a Phantom Brave sequel), plus the Hamlet DLC for Don't Starve. Joining them with varied degrees of probability are the relative usuals from Xenoblades, NMS and Harvestella to First Departure, Bioshock 2 and BotW, relative recents from Dredge, Potion Permit and Metal Max Xeno to MHR, Cathedral and P3P, other continued journeys from Ys Origins, Little Lily Princess and Swords of Ditto to Void Terrarium, Dying Light and GTA Trilogy... then there are plans for the subscription playthroughs (Yoshi's Island, Zelda 2, Metroid ZM) and for more Symphonia under the ongoing bite effects from the Tales bug (whose itching is normally quelled by some progress in Eternia on Vita). Doesn't help that over on Steam I did end up grabbing Arise (and chewing a hole in my lip while shelving several other titles including a bunch of emulated ones for its sake🙀), so now it threatens to gang up with Xillia and Zestiria to usurp what weekend time I may allocate to Deck. Come to think of it, there's a weird side realization that I have now procured pretty much all the Tales available for digital purchase westside (Xillias on PS3 were off limits even before they got delisted, but I did get Hearts R on Vita way back when), and surely I wouldn't be the only one raising a glass to this situation changing in the visible future.

Beyond all the aforesaid, the dualscreeners may yet elbow in with some Fantasy Life, Strange Journey, Endless Frontier and Luigi's Mansion (to honour the fact that my hacked 2DS no longer has any hope of seeing LM2 installed thereon😄). I also have Divinity Original Sin grabbed on Steam alongside Arise, so the similarly-sized Disney Infinity 1.0 is sweating bullets as we speak but has all the odds of persevering AND joining the aforelisted weekend session crowd instead. Trust my gluttonous gaming ambitions to reach Bollywood tier drama.😆

Continuing my F1 23 and F2 23 career modes, both are at 105% AI and I'm whipping the competition, may be time to turn them up a bit. Also reached Act 2 of Witcher 3, have to do some Skellige quests so I can continue the story.

I'm currently in my last 3 days of a 10 day vacation. I managed to beat Pikmin 4, Just Shapes & Beats, Stray (on PS4 [my Father's day present]), and Nuclear Blaze. All of them were awesome, and now I'm playing Solar Ash, which I'm loving. If I do manage to finish it before the long Canadian weekend is up, I may start Flynn: Son of Crimson as well, since I heard that's a short one, and I could go for a metroidvania soon.

On PS5 i will be playing Tales of Vesperia Definitive Edition, Dragons Dogma 2 and Persona 3 Reload.

On Switch its Spy X Anya and Pikmin 1&2 Remaster.

And on 3DS I'm going to start Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright.

It'll be Gran Turismo 7, Balatro and something else this weekend along with watching the Euros and Tour De France. I'm thinking a Switch game for the something else but not sure what yet.

Been doing honkai star rail for the last two weeks for the most part but I got done what I wanted done so now it’s back to my persona 4 playthroug! Probably will also start my new elden ring playthrough for dlc prep! Not sure if I should finish dark souls one two and three before doing elden ring though 🤔

But it’s persona 4 for the most part I can’t wait to see more I love this game!

Stellar blade NG+ for me though I might get round to finishing off Metroid dread at some point too!

@Yalloo enjoy mark of the ninja, great game!

Last weekend I unexpectedly started playing Resident Evil Villiage as I never did finish the game. Think I am I the forth main area of the game, so may play some more. Aside from that, playing Metroid Zero Mission which has also led me back to replaying some Prime Remastered.

@GrailUK Why of course....

I got Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble day one and have been playing it since and I'm loving it, this is the most fun I've had with this series since the Gamecube games, even the multiplayer is much more fun than described in the NL review, tho I still won't be playing it as much as the single-player
I also picked up TOEM on sale so I'll make some time for it tomorrow

Jumping back into Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for me. Despite it being a ported Wii U game I still think the graphics look beautiful. Also my weekly Ring Fit Adventure fix.

All this Luigi talk has made me think I should revisit Luigi's Mansion 3, I never finished it, I got up to the film set and left it there. I won't have a clue what I'm doing!

I have a couple of titles on my Switch I should revisit, like finishing the single player mode on Splatoon 2!

@Zuljaras I'd love a Castlevania DS collection too, even though I own the DS games.

Been playing a little Luigi's Mansion 2 HD, I've completed the Gloomy Manor. But mostly, I've been recording footage as I just recently kicked off a YouTube channel (called "Nintentrovert," if anyone is interested). Right now I'm just doing let's plays, but I started with one of my favorite games of all time, Super Mario 64. Now I'm doing a playthrough of Crash Bandicoot 2. I've also been recording footage of Mario Kart 8, Mario Party Superstars, and Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble to use as b-roll footage for whenever I start to do scripted content. It's making games feel less like a waste of time and more like I'm doing something productive now, lol.

Playing Disgaea 5 Complete rn. Trying to get where I left off from the PS4 version

In the process of reincarnating my Valkyrie into a Armor Knight, Warrior to Dark Knight, & Witch to Rune Knight.

Still playing TTYD! Trying to get more recipes but it’s really hard!

I finally found settings for Prodeus on Switch that work for me. Now I am having a great time, despite lack of gyro. Honestly, I wish the game had a lock on feature. I'm always jumping and dashing and the visor reminds me of Prime.
Other than that, Link's Awakening (remake) has finally clicked. I still don't feel that it captures the surrealism of the original release/DX, but I'm really glad that it got it's hooks in me. LA on Gameboy is one of my favorite games of all time.

PS5: After 115 hours, I’ve finally platinumed Horizon Forbidden West and completed all the arena and machine strike. Now moving on to Sifu and trying to promise myself I don’t need to 100% it!

Switch: continuing with my play through of The Messenger

Paused:
3DS: Chrono Trigger
Steam Deck: Vampire Survivor

Continuing with Banana Rumble until I've finished or the difficulty gets too frustrating, I think the difficulty curve was kind of fair this time (Banana Mania got way too hard too early on). Afterwards, I'll start Luigi's Mansion 2 HD.

Aside from my usual answers of ACNH and Stitch, I am playing Forza Motorsport and Moto Racer.

I also picked up the 1980 classic Rogue in the Steam sale, so will be messing around with that and dying repeatedly.

Also, I see we've had another week without an Arcade Archives release. Sad times.

Picked up Yonder The Cloud Catcher Chronicles in a sale a couple of weeks ago. Really laid back and really beautiful. BOTW vibes. Loving it so far! 🙂

I finished Yoku's Island Express, that I found surprising but a bit bland, and now I started Sea of Stars (precious game, yet kind of slow paced).

I just started Xenoblade Chronicles 3 after putting off the 'commitment' for nearly two years. Oh lawd, what have I done? Goodbye summer, I barely knew ya.

I got an itch to play Three Houses again.
The summer it released I was obsessed, and played two and a half routes back to back before getting sick of it.

Well I bought the expansion pass to spice up my restarted third play through and this weekend I hope to knock out the Ashen Wolves house!

Not Luigi's Mansion 2 at 60 dollars, that's for sure lol

This weekend I’m playing Beyond Good and Evil The 20th Anniversary Edition. I bought it for my PS5, but realized I’m going on vacation for a week so I decided to double-dip and pick it up on my Switch. I owned the game on the PS2 when it released in 2003, and even on my GameCube, but I never played it because I was too obsessed with other games. I’m earnestly giving this game a shot, and so far, I’m impressed.

This game reminds me of a time when Ubisoft still had creative chops and ideas. You can clearly see the early foundations of what is to come - but it’s less contaminated due to hardware limitations at the time and that’s strangely a positive. Back then, it was a revelation.

What’s really impressive is the constant engagement the game demands from the player, and everything ties back into its story and main protagonist, Jade. She isn’t a famed heroine or superhero - she’s running an orphanage and working as a photojournalist, caught between protecting her village and exposing the truth during the war against an invading alien species. It’s a unique perspective to explore.

This action adventure title has a level of meaningful depth that wasn’t entirely common back in 2003, unless you were playing an immersive sim or a deep RPG. It creates a sense of immersion that draws you into the world of Hyllis. You can speak to nearly every character, with dialogue options. The planet feels alive with an array of species to discover. There are hovercrafts flying about towns. And while the game is set in the far future, it’s grounded in realism. Inhabitants have problems that regular people in current times have — money issues, paying bills to keep electricity going, vehicle repairs, politics and government. It just feels believable.

As I touched upon earlier, BG&E knows how to keep you engaged with its activities. There is always something to do, to accomplish. Outside of its story driven “dungeons” and puzzles to solve, there are “hearts” to acquire to boost your maximum health, and items to enhance your character’s abilities. And then there are outfits to find for your characters, hovercraft races, animals and solar systems to photograph. All of this ties into the narrative, all the while creating a true sense of progression because each activity has benefits.

As for the combat, the game does show its age — it’s a product of its time. It plays similar to the Arkham games, with its free flowing mechanics. It’s not the most refined system, but it’s still serviceable and still holds up. But more than that, most of the gameplay elements are an extension of the story, and who Jade is as an individual. That is arguably the most significant detail to me, and ultimately makes her and the supporting cast very endearing and memorable.

At the end of the day, I love playing older games that I haven’t played before, particularly on modern hardware because I like to see how my view on games have changed all those years since. Looking back at BG&E, there are a lot of qualities that were ahead of the curve. It was very ambitious title, and I think it succeeded in a lot of ways. There is no wonder it’s considered a masterpiece by many. I don’t know if I’ll go that far, but it certainly is exceptional, and makes me reminisce on when Ubisoft was original and making groundbreaking games.

Messing around in Shadow of the Erdtree and the Beyond Good and Evil remaster.

Luigi's Mansion 2 HD. I was late to the game on the original, I want to try to collect all the ghosts from the scarescraper

It’s BBQ prep and hosting today, if the weather holds, but rain is forecast for tomorrow and for sure I will squeeze in some Paper Mario: TTYD while the kiddos are watching. The game’s story has been charming enough to hold even their attention (somewhat). 😅.
A certain lovable purple ghosty just joined the team, and we’re hoping to encounter the notorious phantom thief of Rogueport again soon.

Also I promised Alain I’d go back to do a few more battles in Unicorn Overlord after not playing a minute of it all week! I was distracted by old faves Darkest Dungeon and Spelunky too much.

Hoping everyone finds just the right game for you this weekend! 🕹👾

@RubyCarbuncle personally I’m loving stellar blade and would recommend.

It’s quite different to bayonetta from what I played of those but the combat is really fun.

Put it this way… I NEVER play NG+ but went straight into it after completing the game first time round. I would say don’t judge the game by the demo as it’s much better than what that shows.

Yoshi (NES) - Wanted a nice blast from the past puzzler and here we are!

Microsoft Bingo (Windows Phone) - I'm still just dabbing away.

Need to get back to SMT Vengeance, playing the Canon of Creation first since I never finished the original game. Also just got Unicorn Overlord as Amazon had the Switch version for only $30 this week so I’ll likely dabble in that

Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD for me, it’s been great so far!

Still playing Wylde Flowers. I also just got Beyond Good & Evil, so I want to play that too.

Finally finished 13 sentinels. One heck of game. My friend finished it just before me even though we were trying to finish it at the same time but whatever 😂. It was a good deep game. I still some small issues with it though but it was definitely worth playing.

For games I am working on now, I am playing paper Mario ttyd on switch of course and I just finished chapter 6. Love this game so much. It’s my favorite paper Mario of course. Loved the remastered music in it and chapter 4 is my favorite of the game.

Playing golden sun the lost age too. I just got the boat. So the game is going to open up to me a bit more which means a bunch more to do. 😂.

I was playing bravely default 1 on 3ds but I am not enjoying it as much. Only go back to do a little at a time and that’s it. Don’t know if I have the strength to play through the game. 😂

Dang it, I came a bit too late, but here is what I am playing;

Perfect Dark Zero: I finished the Xbox remaster of the first Perfect Dark earlier this week and started its prequel Zero not too long ago. I think the game is good so far, even if it is more cheesier than the first game. The new mechanics Zero introduces are so helpful and are ones that I would have liked in the first game; while I did like the first one, I had issues with its gun aiming, layout and how confusing it got at times, so I feel Zero does it better in this aspect. I know some people will come for my head given a ton of people really hated this game.

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts: I did play this last year, but never finished it and dropped it, and it wasn’t until this year I decided to go back to it. I have the intention of beating it at some point. However, it is a bit hard for me to get used to riding vehicles and the new building mechanics after getting so used to the platforming in the N64 Banjo games, and I am so bad at building vehicles. You can walk around on foot and not use vehicles, but if I’m being honest, the game feels worse that way as it is intended to be played and finished with vehicles. Apparently I have to treat the game as more of a sandbox game rather than a traditional platforming game and explore a bunch to get the most out of it. A fellow I talk to said it would be best to play and finish Zero first before playing more of Nuts and Bolts, so I don’t know how long I’ll be playing this.

I already mentioned I’m playing Beyond Good and Evil, but I’m saddened to see nobody else seemingly playing it aside from one other person. Once again, the sales are going to be bad. Lol.

@Kienda That's where the cool kids play it.

What I am playing is the FFXIV Dawntrail expansion.

Well, since I beat TTYD last weekend, my single-player game time is up in the air. That said, lots of multiplayer guarantees: Elden Ring DLC, Helldivers 2 (if I have my way!) (which I guess means it's not a guarantee), and maybe some Rise of Nations.
I did buy Dicefolk, and just opened the door and beat the last boss last night. It's pretty delightful, I think, with a clever battle system that feels like it makes me think even if I've only lost something like 2 of 8 runs so far. I like an approachable roguelike (Inkbound, Little Scion of Paradise), so I'm pretty happy with this one. Nice music, fun little monsters, and interesting interplay between their abilities.
Gotta pick between a replay of Uncharted 4, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, or a first-time through Final Fantasy Zero, which I think is the name of it? My brother got me the Final Fantasy 15 Duscae demo years ago, and this game came with it.
Otherwise, I finished reading "The Lies of Locke Lamora," and started "The Silk Road: A New History of the World", so I'm sure I'll be lying prone sometime this weekend.

Playing Cassette Beasts all weekend. Blown away by how fun and creative this game is. About 30 hours deep at this point. The map that at first glance doesn't seem huge, ends up having so much to explore within it, densely packed with side quests and things to see. Well worth getting into this one. As an avid Pokémon fan, I'd put this above most Pokémon games I've played, it's that enjoyable!

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations on Switch for me. Yes…it seems I’ve made quite a lot of progress in the Trilogy since last week. Currently on Recipe for Turnabout, Part 3 (second investigation day). This one was always my favorite in the series—Godot is a great character and the overarching plot is among the series’ most engaging. So I’ll probably be spending most of my weekend hunting down Xin Eohp and playing the rest of the game, lol.

Fallout 4- On my 2nd playthough this time with mods!
star trek online- Its a MMO so I'm always grinding.
fire emblem three houses- Still on my 1st playthough.
Have a good weekend everyone!

Mostly Evil West and Live a Live. But I had a hankering to play Alttp as well so I did the initial dungeon. Might keep playing it til the end. We'll see!

I just beat the fan made game Pokemon Fire Red Rocket Edition and just wow. I came to complete my childhood fantasy of being a Team Rocket member/stealing Pokemon, but I stayed for the story beats. The game really enriched the lore of the Kanto region's original story and added things that not only made perfect sense, but tied up loose ends. Also had fantastic easter eggs. Gameplay was as fantastic as gen 3 always was, but added theft and a morality system of sorts that rewarded you for being bad or good. Superb game.

It's a long weekend for me due to Canada Day, so I'm hoping to spend most of it with some games. Luigi's Mansion 2 for sure and I'm feeling the itch to get back into Animal Crossing. On my recently purchased PS5, I'll be doing some late game clean up in Ghost of Tsushima.

This will be a "beat Super Mario Bros. Wonder at all costs" weekend for me. I'm digging into W6 now. One more area to access in the Special World before I can do the final stage of the Special World. Then on to Bowser. Then comes the "wait for it" moment to see if there's anything more I want to beat before calling time lol. If this doesn't consume my weekend, I'll be trying to get some Fitness Boxing (feeling fat and stressed lately) in. I already got my F-Zero 99 theme from Tetris 99, so that's out of the way (and unlocked a DK theme to boot). If that gets done, then I'll return to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom to enter Zora's Domain to get that phenomena taken care of.

I have been playing a ton of Fighting Games the last 3 weeks or so, and gotten really fed up with the genre.. but I just stumbled over Crypt Stalker Ultimate Edition at the eShop for 2 €, and that's actually looking really promising from what I've played so far.

It's a more or less a blatant rip-off of the old NES Castlevania games (but so are the Bloodstained Curse of the Moon games).
The package even comes with an extra Gameboy style (handheld) game that looks very much the same as the Gameboy Castlevanias plus 6 extra levels to the main (console) game called The Lost Sequel and a boss rush mode.

Still enjoying Super Mario Bros. Wonder and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe with my three-year-old daughter and four-year-old son, who in turn have discovered the joy of being mean in Untitled Goose Game, inspiring me to replay it as well as I haven't finished all the tasks yet.

Also hoping to get a physical copy of Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury soon, another game my kids have been intently eyeing. Better late than never, I guess.

Treated myself to half price Dragon Quest XI a good while back and have racked up nearly 20 hours so far. None of this real-time button mashing combat for me thank you, I'm far too easily confused and over-excitable for any of that malarkey at my age. Proper turn based combat for the win! The little time-travelling guys and their magical 16-bit village of love (is that a spoiler? I don't think it's a spoiler. Sorry if it's a spoiler.) Made me feel so nostalgic it was almost painful, even though I've never played a DQ game before. It's as old school as a very old school and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

I finished my playthrough of The Last of Us Part 2 earlier in the week, so I’m most likely going to focus on Persona 5 and The Finals as much as I can this weekend. Not sure what to play next, there’s quite a few games I’ve been wanting to try out so we’ll see. It’s been a bit of a long week so happy gaming everyone!

I finally picked up Sifu (Switch) on a good sale last week so I hope to continue my kung fu fighting adventures (or getting my @ss handed to me). This game is so awesome and addicting. I love the constant challenge it throws at you. The game can make you feel overconfident at times then you get surrounded by low level thugs that just pummel you to death. You need to stay on your toes and constantly thinking strategy regardless of how much you want to unleash your inner Bruce Lee on a big group. In an instant it's all over. A great, unexpected thrill.

I bought the Mega Man Battle Network collection that was on sale. I never played it back in the day but I finally want to give it a chance. I’m enjoying it so far.

Series X: BG3. Finally starting to get the hang on this game. Been playing blind for 25hrs but had no idea what I was doing. Started googling everything, going back if the rolls messed up and respec my character. Now Im killing everything and things are moving along, finally.
Soon wrapping up the basegame of Witcher 3 for the third time as well.
PS5 and Switch: Nothing.

I played PS4 games on my PS5 machine. 😊
1. Youtubers Life 2
2. Ratchet & Clank

Still chipping away at Trails of Cold Steel 3. I'm getting all the great swag to the point I'm game breaking and might try on Nightmare but maybe I'll just finish out.

Fighting the urge to play Unicorn Overlord which I got at a great sale as a physical - it's always walking that line to get the sale before used copies flood the market and drive new back up. I feel like a great economic mind when I get it right, even though I very much am not.

Happy gaming everyone!

@Kraven I’m playing it too!

First time since the PS3 release which was some 13 years ago…loved it back then and loving it now. Definitely a bit rough around the edges but still a lot fun. So atmospheric and just plain weird across the board…really a one of a kind game.

@Yalloo Yeah, I got lucky. I was switching from TOTK to Rocket League and checked here and saw that it had just been posted.
I second Just Shapes and Beats, Odyssey, and Tetris 99! Although I prefer Tetris Effect to 99, 99 is still incredibly good.

I woke up so late!
I am excited to learn that Kate will be penning another review soon. Speaking of Kate…
Still playing Moonstone Island. It’s the best. I am just about to wade into Summer and have beaten the first Spirit temple. Also, i finally crafted a glider which makes island hopping easier. My partner hit Summer a week ago but i have my days set to long and i pack them to capacity. That’s my excuse. There’s nothing i don’t like doing in this genre mashup that has more Ghibli references than you can shake Jiji’s tail at. The game is like a 2d wind waker, but battles are turn-based, card-based and fought between creatures you subdue ala pokemon. And each creature has its own card deck which you can edit with consumable items. There’s also gardening, gathering and crafting as well as building and decorating. And fishing.. which is quite fun! So, Animal Crossing stuff too. There’s villagers, and you can try and get in their pants by giving them stuff. Ala irl. It sounds like a lot, but the learning experience has been a smooth and gradual one, and never overwhelming. The pixel art is great, the mechanics are solid, the music is sweet, and all the words are by Kate, making it the cat’s pajamas. If you have any interest in this game, i couldn’t recommend it more.

I am also finally playing Blade of Darkness. I just picked it up yesterday, and were Hidetaka Miyazaki himself to swear on all that is rad and righteous that he had never played it, i wouldn’t believe him. It is a template for Dark Souls. I got really lost in the 3rd area but now i am on to the fourth. The combat is a bit janky and the controls are aggressively primitive, but by Nito’s withered countenance, i love it.
Big thanks to @Zuljaras for the recommendation (which he made a year and a half ago.. it takes me awhile to get to stuff sometimes).

@Zuljaras It took me awhile to get used to the game’s older ways. I saw a lot of videos on yt that trashed the game’s controls and combat, but it just takes time to acclimate and is then quite fun. I am currently using the trident and it has this funky twirling move that i love.
I had only intended to play for a little bit yesterday upon starting, but ended up sinking hours into it. It is awesome! I hope to beat it today. Thanks for the reply, and again, for the recommendation!

Currently playing paper mario thousand year door.

Going through some Paper Mario TTYD on Switch, and a bit of my replay of DQV on DS. I also started my first ever Souls game (DS2) earlier this week on ps4, so probably a bit of that as well.

Mostly juggling Apollo Justice and Grand Theft Auto 4.

Gonna do a second play-through of Cris Tales with the DLC content

Some Tetris 99 to unlock the F-Zero 99 theme. (The fact my comment is #99 is just a coincidence)

Beyond that, not much. Maybe I'll boot up the Nintendo 64 for some Conker's Bad Fur Day.

Banana Rumble is my third fave Monkey Ball game and I'm so happy with that!

Tears of the Kingdom - Nearly 140 hours later the journey is almost over. A handful of side quests left then it’s off to finish the final main quest.

Cat Quest 2 - A few hours into this one and enjoying it just as much as the first one.

Baldur’s Gate 3 - Halfway through Act 1. Still really just enjoying exploring around and seeing how much this game has to offer. Much better understanding of the game’s mechanics now. Pretty fun trying out different companions and spells/cantrip setups.

Flea! (Evercade) Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain (PS1)

Been replaying Pokémon Ruby on mobile. I'm just demolishing the game with an overlevelled Blaziken mostly so I can relive the story beats. I have a newfound appreciation for Gen III, but I was never crazy about the newly introduced Pokémon. I'll do the same with the Gen V games, which I haven't played in over a decade (!!!).

Also recently got back into Pokémon Go, and I completed the first level of Luigi's Mansion 2 HD. Curse its awful save system! 😠 Oh, and a bit of Namco Picross here and there.

Tears of the Kingdom. Finally made it to the temple in the desert after much sidetrack-ness (I had gathered enough orb thingys for 5 extra hearts since I set off to upgrade my armour!)

If ever there was a spiritual successor to Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest, it’s the new DLC for Bloodstained - Classic Mode 2: Dominique’s Curse! Really hits all the same beats and scratches that itch. Enjoying that this weekend.

@_Figo_ Same here, Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble has been great so far. The multiplayer is solid too. It's well worth picking up for those on the fence. A return to form for the series really.

It's Elden ring. Luigis mansion 2, and more Elden ring.

Well here we are with another wonderful WAYP. It’s been one of the craziest weeks here. Start of the week had me conquering one of my biggest fears with Persona 3 Reload and now I’m further then I’ve ever been before in it. Also made it to the finale of Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth too. But the big day of the week had to have been Friday. Going to NYC for Friday Night SMACKDOWN and getting to get the Japanese Xenoblade 3 art book and go to Nintendo NYC as they were having a Luigi’s Mansion 2 launch event? Pretty cool. But going to Madison Square Garden and getting to see Solo Sikoa, Jacob Fatu, Cody Rhodes, Tiffany Stratton, and so many more in person was just a thing of magic it was the greatest night ever. Then I followed that up yesterday with the start of Dawntrail and honestly it’s kinda been the greatest weekend ever. Thinking the rest of the weekend will maybe be a Persona 3 Reload weekend. Feeling kinda under the weather since Friday so maybe it’ll be no games and just an early nights sleep. Otherwise I’m thinking this week is mostly gonna consist of some Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth, Paper Mario, more P3R and maybe some Stellar Blade. And some more Dawntrail and hopefully starting Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD and Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble. Very excited for those two and Trails Through Daybreak too. Didn’t watch any anime this week so really I’m just gonna shoutout one of my favorites that I’m always always gonna shoutout which is Urusei Yatsura. Love Lum. Podcasts of this week gotta go to Castle Superbeast, Big Think Dimension, Into The Aether, RPGsites Tetracast,Minnmax, Jeff Gerstmann, Kit and Krysta, Last Stand Media, Easy Allies, Second Wind, Nextlander, Cultaholic Wrestling and Remap Radio. And yet we wouldn’t be done without an incredible huge magnificent lovely shoutout to my dear friend over at twitch.tv/akibread and their wonderful streams please give them a look. As always yall stay safe, be incredible to each other. Have an excellent weekend and of course Happy Gaming. And Happy Pride Yall.

@Ryne-Gaia Was that your first WWE show? Incredible ending with Paul Heyman.

This weekend, I've been making my way through Bowser's Castle in the first Paper Mario game from the N64 on NSO. Going to be a little sad when it ends.

My new game:

• Capcom Fighting Collection I put 6 hours in this game in 24 hours). Just waiting for my 8bitdo m30 controller come home ..preparing for Marvel vs Capcom Collection

And:

• Balatro what a great gem this game is

@Vyacheslav333 do you wanna play Capcom Fighting Collection online with me?

@120frames-please I imagine you're playing Effect on the PC, I find the online on Switch quite poor unfortunately, and I actually usually play the offline modes. Been trying to participate in the weekend rituals, but like I said it's difficult to get a game started and working online. No issues there with 99 (and luckily!) even team battles. And overall I much prefer the rythm of 99. But the choice of challenges is nice in Effect.

@JohnnyMind aha, thanks for the playful answer. 😁 I actually think that I read that comment but I can't remember the game. I've been looking at your comments but didn't figure it out yet. The treasure hunt continues and I look forward to the answer next week!

When I search for Game Center CX, I can only find references to a TV show ..

Like last weekend, this weekend was very light on gaming. Work and traveling are keeping me busy. Finished the fourth case in Spirit of Justice and played some more of Persona 5 Royal, where I'm now deep into the content of the Royal version and last palace.

Hope you're having a fun time gaming, everyone!

@Yalloo Recently I've played Tetris Effect on oled deck. It's quite gorgeous at 90fps. I've played more hours of it on Switch though, where I think it also looks and plays great. And yeah, it's incredible at 144fps on my laptop. I love all the music and graphics in both Tetrises (the spacy atmosphere of Effect is just as great as the cute songs, game themes, etc in Tetris 99).
I like this guessing game you and Johnny have going. Like, who can read Johnny's mind first?

@JohnnyMind So I remembered one of your comments about part of the gameplay maybe not being your cup of tea, but of course I couldn't remember the game. Looking in the comments, it was about Stray, so that's not it.
Looking a bit further, I think I found it. Is it a remake/remaster/port starting with an M?

Thanks for the link, completely missed out on that one!

@120frames-please Yeah, thinking about your comments, I have to realize that we're pretty lucky on Switch to have those 2 great versions of Tetris!

And, yes, NL is full of good surprises, not only in articles and reviews, but also in the comments and community sections!

@datamonkey Thanks! It really is, I've been having a great time with it so far. And seeing all the stuff you can unlock and bonus challenges, I think I'll be busy quite some time with it 😍

@JohnnyMind ehe cool! Thanks for making a game of this. And I'm glad I could figure it out 😁

I haven't played Stray yet, it's on my list, I heard good things about it. But I wouldn't have imagined horror elements in what seems like a cute game. Good to be prepared 😅