Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (10th January)

Switch - Continuing Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition
Steam - Doing the "Nightmare" achievements in Quake 25th Anniversary Remaster

This weekend, I will get lost in Cyberpunk 2077 and try a couple more runs of Have A Nice Death.

Happy gaming sweet gamers ✌🏻🧡🎮

Vroom in the Night Sky as always. I will be playing that continuously all weekend. I will only take short breaks when I feel the unstoppable urge to get some time in with Hotel Mario.

Mainly Pokemon Legends Z-A. Best pokemon game for ages. Story will conclude soon, but I’m far from completing the Dex and all side quests. Might also consider the DLC despite of criticism.
Fantasy Life i: I want to try the new game mode in multiplayer.
Hello Kitty Island Adventure: doing visitor’s daily quests and progressing with the DLC story.

Gotta finish cat quest 2. I've been badly sick lately so quiet weekend for me, surely will start cat quest 3 after that. Happy gaming everyone!

I will be playing more STARTROPICS for Nes via NSO. On Chapter 7 now. Such a good game! I hope we get the 2nd game on NSO one day.😁

I might also be trying FIRE EMBLEM for GC via NSO. Never played a Fire Emblem game, not sure it will be for me, but least I can give it a go.

Happy Gaming & Weekend All!

I ended up getting carried away with Splatoon 3 so am playing that again. Also some Ring Fit Adventure and Final Fantasy 15 on my PS4.

I got Penny's Big Breakaway on sale too which looks fun.

Happy gaming everyone 😀

Frosty Fest is going on in Splatoon 3 this weekend, but despite how I currently look, I've had enough and quit it already. I love the event itself, but I just can't bring myself to have fun actually playing Splatfest. I always get discouraged into thinking my team's doomed when I suffer huge losing streaks. If I'm not having fun, that defeats the purpose, doesn't it? Good luck, Team Solo. I think I'll just enjoy the hub like Murch...

Anyway, I'll keep prepping my island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons for next week's big update and Switch 2 edition. I've already paid and downloaded the upgrade, which gets me a little hyped alone!

I might even wrap up my Switch 2 playthrough of Super Mario Odyssey. I'm impressed with how well that game looks and plays on Switch 2. It makes me a little more excited for a brand-new 3D Mario, not that I personally need it anytime soon. Nintendo should.

Still hooked on Ball x Pit but may find time to get back and finish Horizon: FW.

I'm working this weekend, so keep me in your thoughts, folks. Had some time to game yesterday though: still chipping away at Metroid Prime 4 (really like it) and am doing my long overdue, first ever playthrough of the original Final Fantasy VII.

Mostly though, Ball x Pit is still eating all my free time. It's just so good and so chill, man. Perfect podcast game.

Today I'm planning to play 1942 and 1943 Kai with a bit of Ghost 'n Goblins and Pirate Ship Higemaru on the side. All on Capcom Stadium 1 and 2.

Yesterday, I saved two very important characters in Fantasian: Neo Dimension. Not sure what else awaits me, this weekend, aside from collecting a little bit of Mechteria. Still having a good time and the music is good, too. Definitely sounds like Uematsu-san.

Happy gaming, everyone!

I am playing some Story of Seasons Grand Bazaar. I just got World Bazaar rank and am now trying to figure out how to maximize my profits and make my farming life easier. Also need to get married in the game too ha ha.

@Olrun
Get well soon! I hope you will still have a great time, playing Cat Quest.

More Dragon Quest VII. 40 hrs in and now a pretty strong contender for my second favorite DQ game (nothing's going to beat DQV).
I experienced my first job class grind after getting stuck on a boss. I expect many more in the future since I want to unlock all the ultimate jobs. Probably won't do all the Monster jobs, but I have two party members set aside to try some out.
Reimagined has big shoes to fill.

The first 2026 game I'll be playing releases next week, called Big Hops. Sort of an open-ended 3D platformer that looks quite promising. That's it really, maybe some time towards more RE games in preparation for Requiem but that'll likely go to Dragon Quest instead.

Skyrim again for me, playing on the Switch Lite and on my third main playthrough - each one about 5 years apart having played on PC and my original Switch. So lots to rediscover, while also appreciating the crafting mechanics more this time round, enchanting and crafting heavy armour for the most part. Takes a while to get going with these mechanics but have started to turn out some pretty cool items.

I have a bunch of amiibo and this is one of the few games I own where they’re kind of useful, mainly for generating random loot, but amusingly I’ve found you can block enemies behind the summoned treasure chests too!

Outside of that I’ve been meaning to dig out the Game Boy Pocket again, even if just to play a few rounds of Tetris. Happy gaming all!

Finished the rather excellent demo of FF7 reimagined so back to my 2nd runthrough of TOTK.

My copy of the Amiga Compendium by Bitmap Books arrived this week so some evening reading ahead.

Might take my daughter this evening to the cinema for a 40th anniversary showing of Labyrinth.

@shgamer all good choices but Ghosts and Ghoblins is the old equivalent of Elden Ring. I have neither the dexterity or patience these days for uber difficult ..... Great game though 👍

Hello fellow Nintendo Lifers!

This weekend we'll be staying home due to the snow in the Netherlands, so I'll have plenty of time to play some games! I'm currently playing these games:

• Resident Evil 4: Normal - Chapter 3-2
• Tears of the Kingdom: 65% overall completion
• Pokémon Legends Z-A: just made it to rank C and progressing nicely
• Dragon Quest 7 demo: about 3 hours in. I think I'm almost done, sadly...
• Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance: Chapter 4

Last week I finished Pikmin 1 and Metroid Dread. So my year started pretty well on the backlog clearing 💪

Happy gaming everyone!

The amount of stuff I got for folk at Nintendo & Ghibli, it should be something fitness-based.

But I played Kirby Bowl at the Museum yesterday, and nearly got through a whole course before my seven minutes ran out. If I hadn’t flubbed three putts I might have managed it. Still a belting game. Plunk it on when I get back to my hotel in Kanda I think.

Wish they’d add BS Special Tee Shot to NSO Classics though.

For me, this weekend is going to be filled with Dragon Quest. Specifically the second game on I & II HD-2D Remake. Completed the first last week (having to use easy mode on the final boss), so now it's time to start the second game and hopefully get that completed before Dragon Quest VII Reimagined.

Of course, my Steam Deck will also be seeing use as I continue cleaning my way through the DLC of PowerWash Simulator. Completed the Halloween house yesterday, so will be on the cruise ship next. Then it's onto the crossover content. And maybe a bit more Red Dead Redemption 2, as well.

Now that I've joined the Switch 2 universe I shall be indulging in some Mario Kart World - loving it, free roam is super chilled...and I will give this Dragon Quest VII demo a spin to see how it is.

This past week I bought divinity original sin 2. my switch has become a RPG machine.
destiny 2
the outer worlds

On Switch 2, I am 31 hours into Mario & Luigi: Brothership and will be hammering that some more. Other than that, I'm playing Doom: The Dark Ages.

Getting nicely embedded in Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, but a side quest involving a mushroom has got me rather thirsty for a swig of Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker - I forget: has that game had a Switch 2 update?

I think there's also a Tetris99 maximus cup on this weekend for the impending Animal Crossing update, so I'll be nabbing that theme, and potentially clearing the cockroaches out of my house on Granola in preparation for 3.0!

Is there a Splatfest on as well? Sheeesh.

Peace, love and pixels to all (except for the M*G* scu*)

I rolled credits on Tales of Xillia enjoying it well enough that I might come back for the Milla route sometime. I immediately jumped into Tokyo Xanadu eX+ and am quite amused by little Falcom things popping up here and there in an otherwise completely normal, accurate alternate version of Tokyo. It's already proven itself silly, cheesy, with some mid-2010s Falcom jank that I'm very excited for what it brings on a more casual level.

Started playing more couch co op Absolum with my daughters, who I really think were born for a different era of gaming. It's fun to drop in on my profile with them completely baffled why random enemies from everywhere to include mini bosses are liberally dropping in during any given stage (which I don't spoil for them). And I'm still discovering new fun builds like the fact that Cider's triple air dash also inherits tidal waves midair, which can include burn with tidal waves, an echo effect, plus some interesting multiplier stacks. It's easily the most fun I've had with a beat 'em up since Final Fight in the 90s.

Happy gaming everyone!

PS5: Astrobot - My main game right now. Got it for Christmas and loving it. Currently at 200/301 robots and I dont want it to end.

Switch 2- Ball x Pit - Got about 30 hours played and definitely on the wind down now. It has been a blast.

DQ11S - Deleted my old save file from ages ago and thought I give this a proper good go again. My brother loves this game so I thought I'd put time into this instead of Prime 4 which Ive bounced off of.

I'm still grinding in Astlibra Revision Hell difficulty.

I’m still playing Splatoon 3 for the Splatfests. You do notice a pretty large visual upgrade when you visit the city square areas, which are nicely decorated for the ongoing Frosty Fest.

@Kiz3000 DQ11S ❤️ I would love to experience the game anew like when i came out. It's worth your time.

I still need to finish Prime 4 . It's quite good, I love the gameplay it's fluid but it retains the feel of the original.

I played some MKW also with my family. That was nice I don't do the actual tracks much, I mainly go for the open world. So to try out the tracks themselves a bit more was refreshing. There are some truly stellar tracks in there.

I might play a bit of Ball x Pit at some point also. Great little time waster. I'm not into roguelike and I have a personal rule not to buy them, but it was on sale and this type of roguelite is more like a rng oriented arcade game if you think about it. And that's cool with me.

The week has seen another handful of Switch library recruits (from Valfaris, Senran Kagura Peach Ball and Demon Gaze to Floppy Knights and For the King which, alongside Path of Radiance arrival, are probably cementing a record number of turn-based tactics I've ever procured over a single month if not mere fortnight😆), but cramming them onboard is a different story, so chances are I'll be sticking to the already installed stuff. Namely? Well, the usual franchise buffet (Xenoblades, Rune Factories, Tales, Ateliers, Personas, Castlevanias... now also gluttonously joined by the Portia/Sandrock combo) and other variably familiar faces from Fantasy Life i, Unicorn Overlord, Ghost Trick, Remnant and Chasm to GTA 3 (a tank just obtained for the vigilante mission but I forgot how slow the thing was in that game😅), RE0, Powerwash, Civilization 6 and Hogwarts Legacy. The handhelds will likely see more Fantasy Life (OG), EOU, Gran Turismo, Xenogears/Xenosaga and Nioh, and if I find more time for PS4 before shelving it once again, chances are it'll be spent on Wolfenstein: New Order where I somehow made more progress than on the laptop (the OC version sadly refuses to work on Deck).

@mlt yeah, Ball x Pit may channel a fair bit of hoard surgical subgenre, but it's a classic brick breaker at its core. Even the base building segment turns stuff like resource gathering and infrastructure upgrades into ball bounce minigames that encourage a thoughtful approach to shot trajectory and base layout alike.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
Finished "Death Mountain". The game feels more like Zelda than Metroid at times.

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
First time playing this game and I'm instantly hooked. Already in chapter 10. I finally get to truly know these characters I've encountered in other games (Smash, FE Heroes, FE Cipher).

I might also check out Z-A's online multiplayer for the first time now that I've beaten the game and a new event just started. I still need to catch couple more Pokémon too.

Kyurem Fusion Raid Day took place today in Pokémon Go, and we had a decent turnout in spite of the 42 degree heat (that's 108 degrees Fahrenfeit for our metrically-impaired friends 🤓). By far the hottest PoGo event that I have yet attended. People were baffled seeing me in shorts and without a beanie, as I have been told that I'm usually more conservatively dressed (guilty!), even in warmer conditions, but I had to make an extremely rare exception today. 😅

The light rail was out of service too, so we weren't able to board that to escape the heat while still being able to raid.

I got three shinies, two of which were absolute trash, so I'm eager to mirror-trade them once I go lucky with some of the locals. I've been a lot luckier than when Kyurem débuted last March, where I had only caught one shiny in the space of an entire weekend, so three shinies in three hours was a pretty decent haul.

All in all, a fun but exhausting day, made bearable by pleasant company. 😊

Im hoping to finish Xenoblade Chronicles X this weekend. Im about 120 hours in, but i think im on the last act of the last chapter. Im not too confident in my strength, so ill probably do some xp grinding.

XCX is now only the 8th game that ive logged over 100 hours on Switch consoles. 3 of the those 8 are Xenoblade titles, and the first game I logged 90+ hours. What a great game series!

Hey everyone.

This weekend I will be playing Factorio: Space Age, it’s well and truly in my veins again.
To unwind from the factory building, I’ve got Kirby and the Forgotten Land NS2 and Kirby Air Riders, I have a lot of love for the pink gooball lately and it seems so does Nintendo.
Also Hitman WOA; I’m not usually one for realistic violence in video games, but Hitman has that whole slow burn strategic element to it which doesn’t make it completely mindless murder. Also you are hunting some pretty bad dudes and dudettes.

Very happy gaming to you all

This week I will be mostly playing

Ripening Tingle’s Balloon Trip of Love
Mario Party Jamboree
Layton Brothers: Mystery Room

On PS5 i will be finally completing Digimon Time Stranger, I've got the final boss to do but the game just gave me about 20 side quests to do 😔. I will also try a wrap up Borderlands 4 and start Edens Zero

On the Switch 2 I will be continuing with Metroid Prime 4, I put around 3 hours in last weekend but it didn't hook me in, hopefully it clicks with me this weekend. I will also be playing some Kirby Air Riders.

On Playstation Portal I will put another hour or two into Banishers Ghosts of New Eden, solid game so far.

And finally last week I bought me a Steam Deck Oled 1TB for £400, I've bought Sunset Overdrive for my first game so I'm looking forward to starting that today.

Sword of Mana on the GBA, Xenoblade Chronicles X on Switch

I'm finishing up 'Tokyo Xanadu xe' which I've been absolutely loving. I know they're different beasts, but this game is now making me more intrigued to take on the much more mammoth 'Persona 5 Royal'.

I also really need to get back into 'Clair Obscur' on PS5 and then after finishing 'Tokyo Xanadu' on Switch, I'll probably give either 'Donkey Kong Banaza' or 'Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment' a go, as I got both for Christmas.

Happy gaming!

Greetings fellow video game enthusiasts. I’m resisting starting my shiny new PS5 games until I’ve finished the game I was playing pre-Chrimbo, which is Fate/Samurai Remnant. Happy weekend everyone.

I'm playing lots of mods at 300fps on my laptop connected to my cheap (but man do I love it!) monitor. Also playing Rocket League, Wipeout phantom edition (but with Wipeout XL tracks), and Utopia Must Fall at 300.
I'm also playing Marble's Marbles, which is a 2026 release that has awesome and weird music to go with it's old school marble rolling gameplay. Xenosensory is another new one I'm playing that seems great so far. It's incremental, has parts where you protect space station people from aliens, and has good sound design.
Another awesome game I'm playing is ASCIILL, which is made of beautiful 90fps ascii art, has interesting gameplay based off of minesweeper (but with an RPG set up, bosses, etc), super cool! Also playing Plague Breaker, which seems good so far (just starting it). It runs locked at 90fps, has Castlevania influence, and I'm liking the gameplay and basic graphics. Drift Survivor is another interesting one I'm playing. It isn't smooth for some reason, but is pretty cool with drifting a car around while shooting enemies. Day of Drift feels like a mobile game, but it's good and I like it. Flippup came out a week ago and is good, but I'll never beat it (it's like Bennet Foddy's getting over it, but with pinball).Infinos Gaiden is a great STG I just got recently, love it! And I'm loving Rainy Day Racer more and more. I just got Strawberry playing my favorite CDs (which I was able to rip at work on an ancient PC), so I can race in Scotland to my favorite tunes. I'm also just discovering the joy of some of the music stuff available through Decky. It's amazing and I've been telling people about it for days.
Take it easy, and happy gaming everyone!

30 hours in Persona 3 Reload …. a bit tired of Tartarus and the same five locations… so I’m hoping the story picks up soon.

Should be finally beating original Metroid NES (took a while for me).

While I notice Mario Kart atop the poll (perhaps surprising for an oldish title).

Included with my console purchase, though I have yet to be all that much interested.

At least glad to see so many others enjoy 🙂.

Hello again, y'all! This weekend I'm playing:

Switch:
Animal Crossing New Horizons: a few days ago, I paid off MY FINAL HOME LOAN!!! Now I'm starting to save up for the two more from the new update next week 😅.
Tetris 99: I got the theme from the new Maximus Cup yesterday already, but I might play a few more rounds just for kicks this weekend.

PS4:
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1+: found a great monster for grinding and have been doing a lot of that before taking on a story boss that I lost to a few times, most of my party member characters are now in their mid 50s in terms of level.

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2. Ive hit the 20 hour mark and am finally getting the hang of combat and the games mechanics. Still a long way to go.

Continuing my co-op campaign in Baldurs Gate 3 with my girlfriend. She is new to gaming and after recently completing it takes two, she has got the bug.

Happy weekend gaming everyone!

Hey everyone
I’m Mr boring again and will be playing the same games.
The long dark PS4
Animal crossing new leaf 3DS XL
Dragon warrior monsters chromatic

I think last week I said I might start playing pizza tower on switch lite but I didn’t so I’m going to start that as soon as I’ve finished typing……

Have a good one everybody 👍

I beat Mega Man 64 (N64), so I've been playing Fantasian: NEO Dimension (Switch) and the Dragon Quest VII: Reimagined demo (Switch). Both have been great so far! Man, I really wish Square Enix had done the Final Fantasy VII remake something more like what they did with DQVII.

My kids have been playing Luigi's Mansion (GameCube), Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection (Switch), and TimeSplitters 2 (GameCube). We've also been playing a lot of TimeSplitters 2 multiplayer together. They love Virus mode

@Jhena Thank you! These are pretty fun games, so they will definitely help!

@gcunit Yep, Captain Toad did get a Switch 2 update.

I finished all of the prominent side quests and companion missions that I want to in Divinity Original Sin 2, so now I’m focusing on beating the game. I’m hoping to have it wrapped up in a couple of days—and I’m sure I’ll somehow get distracted by another side quest(s) despite saying I am fulfilled.

I did start Donkey Kong Bananza finally. I can acknowledge how great the game is, and its overall delightfulness, but it’s not for me. I find it to be too dense in its content. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an incredible achievement to have a game be tailored toward absolute destruction, yet at its core still be a platforming experience. That’s hard to do, and it’s done immaculately, with an ample amount of secrets, and provides an organic sense of player freedom and expression, it’s ultimately detrimental to my enjoyment.

Sometimes, there is simply too much content. I shouldn’t feel overwhelmed by a 3D platformer. Granted, a lot of my feelings could be remedied if I focused primarily on getting to point A to point B, but that’s not how I play video games. As a result, I feel completely disconnected. That’s okay, though; not every game is meant for everyone regardless of how critically acclaimed it may be.

My goal is to earnestly start Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles. It has sat on my cross media bar for months, tempting me regularly, only to be too intimidated to start since I’ve been playing meaty RPGs as of late. Interestingly enough, I’ve never played this game; my time was spent with the Gameboy Advance version, and I have fond memories of it. I’m looking forward to seeing why this game is hailed as one of the best in its genre, if not the greatest.

Playing Cyberpunk but impatiently awaiting Caves of Qud!

I’ve been on a roll with Hades 2 lately, so I think I’ll keep thst goin this weekend.

Continuing with FF Tactics, had to turn down the difficulty to Squire because some boss fights were too hard but it’s still a very fun game.

It’s a rainy weekend here which I’d just love to spend meandering on the couch with different games. The usual chores await, though, and I’m obligated to take down the Xmas tree and decorations or the neighbors will think I’m weird. Er, know I’m weird.

I’ve trailed off of Metroid Prime 4 a bit. It was the holiday sale’s fault. On the final sale day, I caved and bought 4 long-watchlisted eShop games at great prices: Barony, Black Skylands, Kingdom Eighties, and Wall World.
I didn’t need the games right now, but Holiday Tradition! I must get my cheap & good game purchases. And they’ll never make physicals of those, so the time was right.

So most likely Samus will have to keep doing laps on her vi-o-la this weekend while I dabble in my new indie purchases, ACA NEOGEO Selection games, and a Sega Picross puzzle or two.

Wishing everyone a peaceful and pleasing post-holiday pursuit, per your prerogative! 🕹️❤️👾

Basically just PS5 games (Ratchet & Clank: A Rift Apart, Ball x Pit and Borderlands 4). I know the next Switch game is want to try is this one called Vividlope, that I got on sale last month. But man, my new console has stolen all of my gaming time. For the record, I would have bought and have been playibg Ball x Pit on my Switch, but i heard it didn't run so well on it, so I opted for the PS5 version.

@Duncanballs
Thank you truly for the heads up about Labyrinth 40th Anniversary screenings! I’ve watched that gem on DVD with the kiddos a few times, but never on the big screen. I’ll see if I can motivate them to go to the theater with me tonight!

“You remind me of the babe!” 😁

Mario Kart World for sure… in fact I already have 😆 Tetris 99, got the Animal Crossing theme secured and I might start Hollow Knight Silk Song this weekend. My son will also be playing MK World and Splatoon 3. I really love that I can vote for Switch2 games now ☺️

Sonic Origins on Switch 2 and loving it! For anyone wanting pure 90’s platforming fun go treat yourself

I'm moving slow at it but I hope to dive deeper into Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Switch 2). Also, I really want to continue all the documentary stuff with Mortal Kombat Legacy Kollection (Switch 2). What I find so fascinating about is I actually lived through that era. When that first Mortal Kombat cabinet arrived at our local pizza joint, I was in that crowd of kids with our jaws on the floor at what we were seeing. At the time, the future was now!

@Teksette if you can't motivate them, 2 hours on your own in a cinema not having to share your popcorn, is no bad thing 😃👍

Mixing it up this weekend. I'm still plugging away at my Civ VI run as Trajan leading the Roman Empire, going for a culture victory. Not looking good, as Vietnam is pretty far down the line in the space race, but my spies are working on that.

I've also been playing a lot of Cast n Chill on Switch 2. I bought the game Monday and already have more than eight hours in it. It's a fun little game with gorgeous landscapes.

I did a little post-game moon harvesting in Super Mario Odyssey last night. It had been years since I last played, and sheesh, it was like trying to ride a bike for the first time.

And I'll be grabbing the Animal Crossing skin in Tetris 99 at some point this weekend.

Happy gaming, everyone!

It’s been a couple weeks since I last updated, since then I finished Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Breezed through most of it comfortably and without losing any characters, but the final battle was a bit challenging. Took a few attempts, and lost poor Felix during the eventual victory. Enjoyable game, even if the combat and maps felt slightly underwhelming relative to what I enjoyed in Triangle Strategy.

Since then, my main game, and that I’ll be mainly continuing this weekend, is Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition! Last one in the series that I still need to play, wanted to have a little gap after XC3 before starting. It is certainly very different to the others, as anticipated, and would definitely say it’s not as engrossing story-wise. That said, Mira is a wild place to explore, just got to an area that absolutely blew me away, reminiscent of so many other locations in the series tend to do. About 30 hours in, doing as much side missions as possible, starting Chapter 5 soon.

The big surprise for me, though, has been a game I picked up last minute on sale. Grabbed Kingdom Come: Deliverance for £3.99, after being very intrigued by what I’d seen of KCD2 last year on various Twitch streams. Decided to just start it up and take a look, and there’s not many games that have captivated me so immediately from the beginning. Not my usual style of game, but I am absolutely hooked with this story, characters and setting. About 15 hours in, on about the 6th main story chapter.

Elsewhere, minor progress in Final Fantasy V, but I’ll get back into that one a little bit this weekend too! Also won a free copy of Diablo 4 and its expansion, so been dabbling a bit with that on Steam too, seems very cool so far. Sorry, fairly long post this time, have a good weekend all.

Tetris Effect: Connected and Sonic Racing Crossworlds

Switch 2- Cyberpunk 2077, Fire Emblem Path of Radiance, Luigi’s Mansion

Xbox- GTA Vice City

It's a cold weekend in my part of the world, which means plenty of indoor activities. Though Saturdays are typically my only major gaming day lately.

• Dragon Quest II HD-2D Remake (Switch) - Still my main game and one I'm really enjoying! I've just picked up the windbraker and used it to unlock a new part of the map. Three party members currently. I've been very impressed with their character development so far (outside of the silent protagonist). 16 mini medals found. Now, about my tombola addiction....
• Super Mario 3D World (Switch) - I reached the main game's credits this week and am messing around in the postgame worlds for now. Not sure how far I'll get since I don't plan to 100% this portion of the game, but I have unlocked Rosalina. These levels are more punishing than I remember from the Wii U, and I know I never fully beat Champion's Road the first time around. I might move on to the Bowser's Fury half of the game should I become too fed up. Edit: Seems it's mostly the spinning platform levels giving me trouble. I think it's the Switch version's faster speed messing with me. Most other levels are manageable so far.

Happy gaming!

Finished quite a few games this week! Came to the finale in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond & I must say that reviewers and overall opinion seems correct: ending felt rushed, lost, & very not Metroid. The last dungeon & crystal collection takes the air away from what was a 10/10 experience prior to the Mines. A couple tweaks and this would’ve been a GOTY contender for me! Still a solid “good” but I was craving an “excellent”. I will play MP2 at some point this year and see where the dark world takes me

I also finished Mega Man 4 and I truly enjoyed it more than 3! The sprites. The music. The buster. The slight easiness to it! I’ll take a mini break before getting to 5

I happened to start and finish PaRappa the Rapper in a couple sittings as well! Phew! I wasn’t expecting the control inputs to be so off! In a rhythm game non the less. Enjoyable experience. One I never finished as a kid but happy I got to as an adult!

Currently working on Sonic Triple Trouble for Game Gear, Dragon Spirit for TurboGrafx16 & picked up my play through Donkey Kong Bananza!

@deecas
Nice profile pic. Is this panzer dragoon saga?
@Tyranexx
Man Bowser's Fury is a gem. Have fun!

I picked up DK Bananza early in the week and so far I've been enjoying it a lot and also getting overwhelmed by it. Now that I'm on the 2nd layer tho, I have a better understanding of what to look for. But in the 1st layer I spent a huge amount of time just smashing rocks thinking there might be something to collect lol. I am really loving this game, the few areas I've been look gorgeous and finding bananas can be really fun especially the really well hidden ones. Music's decent so far. Honestly I really look forward to getting further in. But so far it also feels like it has the same issues Odyssey had. When the bananas are put in fun challenges or hidden areas, it's awesome. But so far many of them are just sorta there, I think I've got like 70 of them now and a good chunk of those have been found at random with no puzzles, no challenge or anything. I'm hoping that's just cause it's early game still. Either way I look forward to making progress

Finally finished daemon X Machina titanic scion. Not a bad game. I liked the story and characters much better then the first one. Don’t even remember the story for the first one. 😂. The game’s performance isn’t good though at all. It gets worse later it seems. The game also has a lot of controls to it and lots of customization. It’s a bit overwhelming. Still better then the first game to me regardless though. The devs just need to do better optimizing this game.

Otogirisou(snes) on gkd pixel 2 - Still working on it.

Metroid prime 4 switch 2 - on viewros now. In the very beginning.

Trails in the sky FC remake switch 2 - in the beginning then of the first chapter.

Debating if I should do fire emblem path of radiance very soon. Hmmm

Happy gaming everyone!

I played Despote in one sitting yesterday, incredible short game that reminded me more than a bit of Cosmic Top Secret.
Now I'm loading up my PS5 as my lovely partner bought me a PSVR2 for the holidays, and while we wait for it to come in, I'm playing Metro: Last Light and Yakuza Kiwami 2.

This weekend, I'll be playing...

Animal Crossing: New Horizons - I'm continuing to save up for the new update's storage upgrades. Is it January 15th yet?

Penny's Big Breakaway - I'm at the fifth world as of this comment. This is also the first I played in 2026 that happens to be brand new to me, and I like it.

Kirby Air Riders - I only dabbled in it while Super Mario Galaxy was my main game, so I want to dive deeper into this game. Last time, I played most of the tracks in the Air Ride mode.

Mario Kart World - Gonna play an online Knockout Tour race or three.

Hope you're all doing well. I do want to prep for my upcoming party - my birthday is coming up - so things might get busy for me this month, lol. Have a lovely weekend, everyone.

Back to some Elden Ring, Star Wars Outlaws and Robocop on PS5. Retro wise, probably some SEGA Rally on Saturn, maybe some Revenge of Shinobi on the Mega Drive.

• Super Mario Wonder: online for the first time.
• Mario Golf Super Rush: adventure mode, desert speed golf. Speed Golf is wonderful. Thank you, Nintendo.
• Splatoon 3: i am the worst splatoon player ever.

Pokemon Legends ZA and Fitness Boxing 3. Gonna try out that Fire Emblem game on GameCube too.

Good night.
This weekend I played something unusual.
I have never played this game before but I tried to get some different experience.
I played LIGHTNING RETURNS: FINAL FANTASY XIII PS3.

Something that really different from general JRPG which you given by deadline to save the world before the doomsday in 13 days.

I'm sick right now so I don't know that I'm going to play anything. Mostly, I'll just be trying to rest.

Maybe some Mario Kart World.

Donkey Kong Bonanza

Probably BG3 after that

@mlt Thanks! I'm looking forward to trying out the Bowser's Fury side. It's the main reason I bought the game - despite already owning it on Wii U - since impressions seem very positive.

I’ve had a pretty eventful day today as far as games go. I placed first for the very first time in a race on Fzero 99 with my least favorite car the fire stingray. I was in the mute city iv track when it happened, that’ll probably stay in my memory. I also beat terminator 2d no fate today which has been a great playthru. I just opened my physical copy yesterday and started it up. I’ll play thru it to see some of the side paths you can get and try out the harder difficulties. It wasn’t too bad in no problemo. I just wish there was more content in here. To play thru the first terminator story and maybe even a bonus T2 arcade spinoff with multiplayer would be so awesome. I really hope this team does an aliens game with a bonus predator to play as and a robocop game would be awesome. I’m just dreaming now.

@Yoshi3 i have 170 hours of Persona 3 Reload on Steam, and I still have more 9 achievements to do ( i will play again, new game +, this january to max out ll links). This game is huge! Do everyting Elizabeth put to do. 100%. It will be important. Do not forget it! The end of this game is epic!

@shonenjump86 @Morsel I've been playing Pokemon Z-A a lot, I'm 45 hours in, have been running all over collecting the colorful screws, have every Mon from the first 13 wild zone things but... I just hate the controls of battle, it feels like there's something I'm missing? Having to hold the lock on button all the time and then the enemy pokemon uses something where they become untargettable for a second and your Mon just stands there taking hits, I am a sucker for Pokemon and am pushing through this but I really feel like the controls with holding to lock on to even be able to see your Pokemons moves is so counter intuitive, Also with the questions, finding myself inside in a wild zone just throwing pokeballs at everything and then emptying out boxes of the same mon just to get the side quests done and move towards the shiny charm, doesn't feel in the original spirit of catching Pokemon and training them... feels more like Pokemon go but instead of converting them to candy I'm just releasing them for nothing.

• as for what I'm playing this weekend, same as always for me with Asphalt Unity (9 Legends) on Switch and Pokemon ZA, tomorrow a friend was going to call here and we plan to play PSO episodes 1 and 2 on the Gamecube in splitscreen

almost done with my second playthrough of metroid prime 4 about to 100% it such a good game and the minor issues it has doesnt really effect the main game itself but over all retro did a good job with it and cant wait for Prime 5.Also almost done with cyberpunk 2077 main storyline getting rdy to face adam smasher plus after that then ill do the dlc storyline that continues after the main game.

I’m playing some more Civ 7. There’s a nasty little city state that’s been a thorn in my side for quite awhile now and despite my efforts to play nice with them they are still “hostile” so I think I’m finally just gonna wipe them off the map. They are about to find out the true power of FAFO.

I'm still working on the great mines in Metroid Prime 4, but I might dip into Pokemon Z-A to finally reach A rank. I'm also working on an Undertale pacifist route.

I beat Metroid Prime 4, the internet at large lied about that game. It's excellent. No, I won't be taking any questions.

As for others, I'm playing Splatoon 3. Gotta get ruler and win for Shiver. Pokémon Legends ZA, I made it to B. I may try to play some Deathloop, but that's mostly for MS rewards points that I can use towards NS2 purchases. Anyway, have a great rest of your weekend!

After playing the DQVII Reimagined demo earlier this week, I've been in a pretty big Dragon Quest mood. I beat my replay of DQV the other day, so I'm debating whether to start up my replay of DQVI or actually go through DQIV for the first time. Gonna patch the DS version with the party chat feature for the best experience, whenever I get around to it. So, one of those this weekend.

Octopath0, DQ7Rev Demo, FF7Inter Demo....I am now just running around with DQ7Rev for fun don't want it to end yet.

@Rykdrew Do you recommend the DLC?

I've become pretty addicted to Blue Prince. It's good! I was pretty skeptical that a Myst-like puzzle game could work with the roguelike elements, because the the core game design ideas seem almost antithetical. But it works surprisingly well. It can be very frustrating though at times, when you have an idea for a puzzle solution and you just can't make it work due to RNG. I kinda wish they had designed it would just a tad more choice and control. But still, something about this weird world really draws me in and I am extremely curious what happens in Room 46.

I just finished Metroid Prime 4. Such conflicting thoughts. So much good stuff. The art design, the visual effects, the music (in the areas that have classic Metroid Prime musical themes like Fury Green, Volt Forge, Ice Belt), sound effects, most of the bosses.

Then some not so good too. The desert and the bike paired with the abominably tedious green crystal grindfest, cliche NPC dialogue, easily missable scans, the odd reliance on bland ambience over classic Metroid themes in some areas. Also it suffers from being a Switch 1 game and having a billion loading screens, which would’ve been less of an issue without constantly having to ping-pong back and forth between Sol Valley and the other areas.

Overall I definitely still enjoyed it. It’s a solidly good game, it’s just so frustrating that it’s not an outright great game because there was so so so much potential here. Again I have to mention the visuals and music, because these aspects are amazing. I can only hope there will be a Prime 5 for Switch 2 at some point that builds upon the strengths and avoids repeating the weaknesses.

@Yoshi3 DLC is only story-heavy and difficult battles. No RPG elements. Dialogue - lot of battles - lot of dialogue - lot of battles......its automatic.

Difficult battles.

I like. But not everyone.

The Dragon Quest VII remake demo is out of this world. I am so obsessed with Hades 2. I need to do everything in that game. Lol

Hollow Knight: Silksong (SW2)

I’ve been playing this since I nabbed it from the holiday sale. Im about 12hrs in and I believe near the end of the first act. At least, if the act ends when you get to the citadel.

Having a blast and only a few moments of pain and struggle XD