Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (3rd May)

In Super Mario Run, after grinding a lot of Toad Rally I've finally amassed the 50,000 Toads I needed to purchase Peach's Tent. With that, I've now fully 100% completed the game with all levels finished and all items collected! 😀

I think Super Mario Run is very underrated. It takes the common endless runner genre and perfectly meshes it with classic Mario platforming. Getting good enough at the game to see your character gracefully acrobat their way around each level provides a very unique thrill unlike that of any other Mario game. The fact that Super Mario Run as a mobile app is a cheap one-time purchase with no ads is the icing on the cake. 🙂

Happy gaming, everyone!

7th and last weekend with Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition. 110 hours in, wrapping up the last affinity and story missions. Probably won’t go for 100%. My game of the year so far.
I’ll also boot up Hello Kitty Island Adventure, which I abandoned for XCX.
And maybe Mario+Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, as I bought the DLC pack in the latest sale.

Finished Valiant Hearts: Coming Home yesterday. Going to start A SHORT HIKE today. Both picked up in the recent e-shop sale. Hopefully I like it!

Have a good weekend!
And an extended one to us in the UK!

Starting my ‘summer of SNES’ with:
Terranigma on OG console
Flutter (Yoshi’s Island romhack) on OG console

Not sure yet! Quiet weekend so gotta have time for gaming. Finished Haiku the robot yesterday, maybe gotta play Temtem Swarm or Dicefolk rest of the weekend. Happy gaming everyone!

This week I will be mostly playing

Shining Force

Trying to finally learn Smash bros and gather some characters
Also as always: my Splatoon 3 sessions during breakfast where I should train on the Anarchy Battles!!
I also picked up Persona 5 Royal from my backlog and though I’m not a fan of RPG fights I’m really intrigued by the great looks and the story.
I recently tried to after several years really learn the controls in Mario kart 8d but when I picked it up now after two weeks of rest I came last in online race , so I should practice more when I get tired of the other games!!
So: I’m going back to the roots kind of!

I'm playing Oblivion and Shaolin Monks.

Chipping away at Hatsune Miku: Colorful Stage! (Mobile). I hadn’t been playing the game but I booted it up Thursday to full combo all unplayed songs on Expert difficulty. Yesterday, I full combo’d two songs I’ve had difficulty playing for a while, that being Sou Datta! And SnowMix. I intend on trying to do the same for harder songs, and playing a few songs on Master difficulty.

On console, I plan on playing The Crackpet Show: Happy Tree Friends Edition (Xbox). I bought it last week but I just started it Friday. Haven’t made much progress though. So far, I only completed the first level/episode and killed the Mega Toad. I had trouble finishing the second level both because of how I haven’t really gotten any strong weapons and items and from how many harder levels the game has been throwing at me, since the enemies there deplete my health a lot. But, I’m still confident that I can finish the level.

I'm currently playing....

Switch: Bulletstorm

PS5: Hogwarts Legacy

I was ill last week, so didn't get a chance to play much of Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation on Evercade. Hopefully I can do more this weekend.
I also downloaded #Drive Rally on GOG. It's a fun-enough arcade rally game.
On Switch, I will be playing Stitch. I should get the award for 365 daily puzzles today. I'm also tempted to play Super Mario Sunshine for the first time in 20 years!
Enjoy your weekends.

Marathoning the Ninja Gaiden trilogy. I just picked up a physical copy of Ninja Gaiden II Black so I can now experience that version ^__^

Halo: Spartan Strike (Windows Phone) - Loving this style of play. I would love more Halo in this style...

Playing DKC 2 after beating DKC 1 for the first time yesterday. Also playing some Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Jamboree

Been in a 2D mood these days revisiting New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe.

Xenoblade Chronicles X … 140 hours in … I’m on the verge of 100% it … doing my last quests and onto the final chapter of the new content.
I’ve been waiting 10 years for this finale and true conclusion to the story.

I'll be wrapping up my playthrough of Prodeus. It's a Doom-like game with visuals that look like they're from the 3DS, which is making me very nostalgic for it. It's been a ton of fun. Certainly up there in my Top 10 FPS games, I'm sure. I've also got several other games that I started a week or so ago, so I may play Kaze and the Wild Masks, Thumper, Shotgun King or 30XX if I have time. I also started River City Girls 2 with my wife, so I hope to get some of that in.

Other than doing my dailies in Genshin Impact, my plan is to keep grinding along in Xenoblade Chronicles X. Finished Chapter 6 the other day and finally got my first Skell, so I've been using it to reach certain places that I was not able to reach while on-foot. It's still going to be a while before I get to Chapter 9, though, after which I can unlock the flight module.

I just find it tedious trying to level up by fighting enemies; I've found that discovering locations, finding treasure, and completing quests gives you more EXP. But even then, there's only so many locations and pieces of treasure to find and only so many missions to complete, some of which are in regions that are well beyond my characters' capabilities to explore at the moment, due to how high the enemy's levels are.

Continuing with Civ 6. Well, I say continuing - I restarted after doing a bit of reading on my chosen Civ (Gaul) and realising I hadn’t really taken advantage at all of their unique abilities. Now I’m doing much better.

May also get in a bit of MK 8 if I have time.

Just passed the 'half way point' in Hundred Line, that's the main focus.
Also doing a bunch of the Emblem Paralogues in Engage before entering the final stretch of the campaign.

My primary focus this weekend will be Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Not too long ago, I was raving about Kingdom Come Deliverance —rightfully so; 200 hours later I finally got the platinum — and said I can’t see anything topping this as my frontrunner for GOTY. Well, that sentiment has changed.

I’ve put roughly 20 hours into this game. I recently completed Act 1 and am near the tail-end of Act 2, and I am blown away. The story is heartfelt, with twists and turns that have left me in utter disbelief. And the shocking moments that do occur don’t happen for the sake of trying to pull a fast one on your emotions. No; it happens organically, with beautiful allegories behind its decisions. You don’t see this often with modern RPGs.

Many developers neglect the story for gameplay and exploration. Clair hasn’t substituted anything. Everything is purposeful. It has taken all that makes an RPG what it is — story, party members, bantering, evil villain(s), a classic leveling up system, beautiful OST, exploring a vast open world — and elevated it above all of its contemporaries in a masterclass execution.

The combat has left me just as speechless as the narrative. It keeps you engaged from start to finish, and always evolving with new mechanics. Even more impressive is how many builds you can create — quite literally at least a hundred, and they aren’t minor. Just when you think turn-based mechanics couldn’t evolve in a redefining way, here comes a studio with their first game knocking on the door saying, ”Surprise”!.

In a similar fashion as how Dark Souls paved the way for a lot of the games we see today, I truly believe Clair will be the example with turn-based RPGs moving forward. What is even more impressive is how many various builds you can create — quite literally at least 100 different variations. Speaking of DS, you can see how that historic franchise was an inspiration for this game. There are thrilling boss fights where you need to learn patterns, know when to dodge and counter, and understand weaknesses and affinities. There are even multiple phases. It’s quite astonishing how they have used the FromSoftware formula and implemented it seamlessly in a turn-based system. There is a layer of strategy to each combat encounter.

Other than lip syncing issues and invisible walls, I haven’t found a false note anywhere. I’ve been waiting for the game to plateau, but it still hasn’t come. I wish I could write a full length feature on this game because I’ve barely scratched the surface, from voice acting, the metaphors, the unique character designs, and the world building. Alas, that can’t be the case, so I’ll sum up the game like this: Clair Obscur is genre defining, and a generational game. Let’s not take it for granted.

Clair Obscur. Great combat, story is great so far and it’s very linear which in my case is a good thing- keeps things moving a long without trying to figure out what to do next.

@JohnnyMind Basic missions are essentially infinite, I wouldn't worry about doing them all 😅

Ocarina on 3DS.

Organised a Mega Kangaskhan Raid Day event in Pokémon GO today. Very few showed up as I'm not a Community Ambassador (at least not yet), and perhaps others weren't interested enough as Kangaskhan is a fairly regular spawn in Australia. I also bought the ticket, and was close to having those tickets go to waste, but thankfully a few on my friend list chipped in remotely and saved the day. Got a decent shiny out of it too (to better my previous zero star one 😅).

Finished Old Skies yesterday evening. It's a slow burn, but the writing and characters keep it interesting throughout. This game was delayed on Switch, so played on the laptop and Deck instead.

This was one of two games that I was looking forward to this year. The other one is Metroid Prime 4. Likely, that will be the only remaining game I'll play this year.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Surely I cant be the only one playing shotgun cop man?

On the final case of the first of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles games but I've run into one of those roadblocks where my logic and the game's logic are clearly running on divergent tracks since I haven't the foggiest how to proceed. No doubt I'll have to resort to brute forcing my way through by just trying everything and hopefully have it wrapped up by this time next week. It's been a wild(ly uneven) ride, but these games are just so charming it's hard to get too worked up by the sheer improbability of some of the happenings. The music is gorgeous too.

With a lot of real world stuff going on in my life, I have retreated to the simple: Rocket League, Moto GP and a match 3 game. But those simple games bring respite to my brain.

Happy gaming everyone!

Now we have our Player 4. Me and my wife had a new baby this May, 01.

So this is our game this weekend (and forever)

Curiosity:
What calmed my wife down during her labor, which took 40 hours from the start of contractions, was playing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Balloon Battle Mode - 24 rounds. She won: 172 balloons popped. I popped 167.

More XCX, about to start chapter 12.

Apple has announced they’re removing Frogger and the Rumbling Ruins from Apple Arcade by the end of the month. And if its like Frogger in Toy Town, it won’t be coming back in any form afterwards. I’ll have to rush through the game’s 140+ levels to beat it before its gone now. Despite being a Frogger game though, it has more in common with Captain Toad’s Treasure Tracker, with its emphasis on limited platforming, self-contained levels and environmental controls. Its was also developed by Q Games, known for the Pixeljunk games and a few Nintendo collaborations like my dearly beloved X-Scape.

I'm back into Hitman: Blood Money - Reprisal and I intend to finish it this time. I've reached the last mission "Amendment XXV" and what I can say is that this is quite an old/outdated game. With a walkthrough it is doable but overall I don't really find it entertaining.

I've started another playthrough of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, this time in Apocalyptic mode. I'm not sure how far I'll be able to go but for now it's a lot of fun!

I will also participate in the weekend ritual + full moon @ Tetris Effect Connected as usual.

Happy gaming! ✌🏻🧡🎮

For what I’m mainly playing, I got Bayonetta 1+2 last week, so I played through the first game again (it was just as amazing if not more then the first time) and just started 2 for the first time four days ago which I am loving! So much so I already decided I will definitely play through it again on hard mode just to get all the outfits and stuff.

After that I will continue with three houses. I’m also taking my time with red dead redemption two as people said you should so I’m not rushing it or anything, and playing through it as I feel, it’s so much fun.

Xenoblade Chronicles X, about 50 hours in and I'm roughly halfway through the main story. Also a bit of Fast RMX.

The Spearess and I finally have a nice Saturday to enjoy, so we will be out and about today. Tomorrow will be soggy, so I will have the day to begin a new run in Civ VI. I've also been filling time with Bust-a-Move 4 on the PSP and PS3.

Happy gaming, everyone!

I just finished Dungeons of Hinterburg (would love to see this on the Switch 2) and Doom on the Xbox Series X earlier this week, so I randomly selected a backlog game.

I randomly selected Gestalt: Steam & Cinder for the PC (playing on a ROG Ally X). Nice little metroidvania so far that I was surprised wasn't on the Nintendo Switch, although it did just release last year. Seems like a perfect fit.

On the Nintendo side of things, I've been playing more of the classics as of late like Zelda II on the NES. Nothing like a bit of nostalgia while recovering from illness!

I burned through the Magolor Epilogue in Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe and am now playing Part Time UFO with my kid. I had completed Part Time UFO on my phone ages ago, but revisiting it with a second player has been a blast. If you have a kid that's just starting to play games, can't recommend it enough as a good introduction to co-op gaming. Pretty much any Kirby game is great for that, too.

I'm also still playing Luigi's Mansion 2 HD and F-Zero 99 on my own.

mario kart 8 deluxe
fallout new vegas
The elder scrolls IV oblivion-hunting for nirnroots

mario kart tour. trying to get my first top 1000 badge. bc3 is my fav track in 8dx so this being the tour it debuted is special.

The excellent ACA NeoGeo Selection Vols 3 & 4 delivered this week (including a unique old beatemup Sengoku I remember liking a lot at the local bowling alley about 35 years ago), but I still haven’t slotted them in as Xenoblade Chronicles X: DE is still monopolizing all my gaming time.

Half my skells are lv 50, they’re all named and we’re all airborne, but there’s still some corners of Mira we haven’t flown to yet (too many distractions!). I started chapter 11, so the climax and end-game content is in sight! I have a feeling I’ll be dragging my feet, though, having enjoyed the game so much.

My weekend free time will dwindle a little for the next 4-5 months as, sadly, that perennial favorite game Lawn Mowing Simulator with bonus Fix the Flower Garden content is back, demanding attention. Ah well, it’s good to get out and enjoy the fresh air.

Wishing everyone an invigorating weekend! 🕹🌷🌱

I’m squarely focusing on Expedition 33 until I hit credits. You can definitely feel some of its AA jank here and there but it’s one of the best thus far.

gonna be working through ocarina, love it so far (although admittedly the camera controls are not fun). also probably some mario kart and jamboree with friends and family 😝

Having fun playing mandragora whispers of the witch tree, a really good 2.5D metroidvania with souls-like combat and a lot of ability and magic.

I tried the demo on steam and bought it right away, I really recommend the game if you like metroidvania, the graphics reminded me of the trine series, but with a darker theme.

Have things to do today so probably won’t be able to game much. Will try to play my usual though.

Xenoblade chronicles X - haven’t been playing it much. I need to sit down and really play it since I keep seeing people here finish or near finish the game lol.

Bravely default 1 on 3ds - ughhh. Still on chapter 5. Doing those optional bosses. After looking a bit into what I will be getting into in the later chapters, I will not be doing any post game stuff like that crazy dungeon. Just getting the true ending and that’s it.

Drakengard 1 on retroid - just got ending B and C. Wow. This game gets even more crazy and depressing storywise like someone said to me a while back. Getting the last 2 endings will take a while. I am on Chapter 11 now. But I am deep into seeing this through.

Gonna try and finish FE11, then fully move on to FE8.

Playing waiting for my Nintendo switch 2 pre-order 😍

@Rpg-lover thats an decent game, I just found it to drag on a bit.

I want to finish Planet Zoo today. Afterwards, I will play a little bit of Yoshi's Island on my Super Nintendo and maybe Starwing too. Good times ahead.

Happy gaming everyone!

Guilty Gear Strive.

@BASEDSAKRI I know right, 😀.

I finished the prolouge of Expedition 33 and am excited for more!

After about 12 hours of parrying & dodging enemy attacks, I’ve decided to give up on Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Loved the story with its many twists & turns- yet I could never get the timing right! It was sucking the joy out of it. I took my talents over to hacking & slashing in Ninja Gaiden 2 Black. It’s good to be back hanging with Ryu & continuing his adventures against evil. I did manage to get all the gold cups in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!. WE’RE READY FOR MK WORLD BBY!

I should have more gaming time this weekend, so I'll continue playing Laika Aged Through Blood (Switch). I'm really enjoying it, but it reminds me of why I don't play this genre that much. I tend to take forever in 'metroidvanias' even if they're supposed to be short games. I like to explore and spend lots of time checking every nook and cranny when I get a new ability which tends to take up hours of not progressing the main story. I feel like I should have been done with this game like 6 hours ago LOL. Oh well I'm still having fun so hopefully I can maybe wrap it up this weekend but I ain't holding my breath.

Will probably throw in some Snowrunner (Switch) if I can. I keep saying I'll also continue my second playthrough of Red Faction Guerilla Remastered (Switch) but I haven't touched it in weeks. So much to play but so little time.

@AstroTheGamosian agreed! I haven’t figured out the best leveling method yet either. Currently my party is level 29. Gotta get to 30 for chapter 9, but it’s a little grindy if you’re not taking on like every side quest in between story quests

I’m on break from university for a while, so I’ll be spending my time getting back into Sea of Stars. I made it to Wraith Island. I’ll also be playing DK Country Returns HD, doing mirror mode in world 6. I’ve decided to not be serious about doing time trials for now.

In other news, I’ll be awaiting my Steam Deck OLED to come in the mail! After I set it up, I might test it out with Sonic X Shadow Generations.

Pretty much tunnel-visioned in on Hundred Line at the moment myself.

On a bit of a GBA kick lately so just finished up Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones and deciding between Mega Man Zero and Mega Man Battle Network next

I'm playing Lunar Remastered Collection, Contra Anniversary Collection, and Sonic Mania.

My kids are back into Sonic right now, so they're bouncing between Sonic Mania/Sonic Origins and then playing Contra.

I haven’t posted on this feature in a while. I finished up the main story of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 a few weeks ago. I think I was around 65 hours or so. So there is plenty of side content if I decide to go back for more. I am intrigued by all the combat systems in this game and I feel like playing on normal I’ve only scratched the surface. In spite of all the tutorial screens in the game I didn’t feel like it explained it super well. I think there may also be some practice mode or something that I didn’t engage with much though. I think it would take a lot of time to really understand everything going on and get good at higher difficulties. Maybe something to do one time if I want to try to dig more deeply into something.

Then, I went back to Tears of the Kingdom which I never finished back when it came out and did the 4th temple and some other stuff. I played Shredder’s Revenge the last couple nights. A friend and I had been playing through It Takes Two and we finished that up last weekend. So, yeah… bouncing around between games I’ve started previously I guess.

I’ve been meaning to do some more Slay The Spire. I enjoy that game but am not good at it (I’ve had only a few successful runs and have not touched acensions). It may be fun to learn what it takes to be better at it.

I also have quite a few things in the backlog so I’ll see if I end up getting stuck into something else.

After dropping a couple zelda-like games that weren't really grabbing me, I decided to play the real deal again for a replay. So on switch, I'm playing Oracle of Ages and first dungeon down. As well RetroMania story mode.

On Xbox, Wwe 2k24 and Clair Obscur which is my big game. I'll probably fire up Mullet MadJack as well.

Still Avowed and Xenoblade Chronicles X.
I'm just wrapping up the Thirdborn section (probably) in the former. I've made some decisions sort of on accident a couple times, so I don't expect things to go well for me. At least I know play time is over when it comes to the Garotte --they're gonna get it next I see em!
In the latter, I keep getting roped in to completing the squad missions. I can't help it! If someone's knocking em out, I've got to do my part!
Also a little Windblown (the new update made reviving pals horrible--a little too knee jerk after the previous update made it really, really easy). And probably a little bit of Fashion Dreamers, too.

The main game I'm playing this weekend, the coming week, and likely into next weekend when work and other goings-on permit, is Spring Cleaning 2025. It's a yearly life sim release I play that I don't recommend for the faint of heart. I'm tackling the "living room" level today.

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake on Switch has been moved to the side game position in the meantime. My party ranges from level 25-30, and I've collected 2 orbs and 52 Mini Medals. I REALLY feel sorry for the people of Theddon....

Happy gaming!

I finally said goodbye to 2021 in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. I am down to 5 Nook Miles stamps, but those will take some time to earn. Under 50 DIY recipes to go. And reached Legendary Designer status in the DLC.

Still plugging away at Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble. I will likely break the Top 100 on the time-wasted leaderboard, otherwise known as the Mysterious Banana Tree, this weekend.

And I am slowly working my way through Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. Finished the first class trial earlier this week. Not a fan of the change to Bullet Time Battle. Ended up just spamming the A button to clear it…. I doubt that will work in later trials. Would’ve loved to have played this series when it first released. Playing 1&2 for the first time back-to-back is leaving a lesser impression on 2 for me, since so far it has the same plot of 1 only with new characters.

I’ll be playing Star Wars Bounty Hunter via game trials! It’s a pretty fun game so far and… it’s… s soulslike??? kinda? not really but it has a dodge roll so kinda?

And some Balatro of course.

On a quick spin out to grab a couple of things - not doing too much the next couple of weeks before payday; play this right and I could throw north of £500 into the trip fund.

Going to try and put a few dents in the old backlog there, and after talk of spicy ladies in vertical shmups earlier in the week, I’m going to go back to one of my prettiest girls - Idol Janshi Su-chi-Pie: Saturn Tribute. Kenichi Sonoda will always be a favourite mangaka of mine - there are noticeable recycles of his character designs from Gall Force and Gunsmith Cats - and being ex-AmeCon, an affinity for magical girls is almost baked into the DNA. For years I had our mascot Ame-chan on my phone wallpaper from one of our wonderful artist Hel’s badge works - Super Ame-chan Galaxy. She was adorable. Like I always said - Ame-chan is someone’s Girl Next Door. And that someone is an inordinately jammy sod.

And Kyoko/Su-chi-pie is a redhead too, which helps no end.

Still chugging along with Xenoblade Chronicles X. The game is great but I definitely have some issues with the game particularly the affinity missions which can be misleading with the level recommendations and locks you in until you finish the mission. Other than that it's a fantastic game.

Beat Fire Emblem the Sacred Stones, but this time for Switch online finally giving my poor GBA copy some rest. I'm clearing the post game. Doing the final run of Lagdou Ruins today to get Lyon!

@Rykdrew Congratulations on the new Player 4! I hope everyone is doing well, particularly your wife (40 hours of labor!) and the new addition!

Finished the Excellent (though slightly disappointing in the late game) Tunic with the wife and have jumped back in to Y’s X: Nordics. I’m also very interested in Sea of Stars and The Messenger but we’ll see whether I actually follow through on one of those.

@Rykdrew
Congratulations! I wish you and your family a wonderful life together!

So one of the first things I did was start paring down my wishlist and prioritized my backlog, both for now, and into the future to prepare for Switch 2. I have 2 main tasks: Complete The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Xenoblade Chronicles X THIS year, the sooner the better, and the former first. My immediate backlog consists of another priority-- Bringing the Gunvolt series to a close by beating Luminous Avenger iX 2, then in turn Azure Striker Gunvolt 3. The former will be kicked off today.
Lastly, I am kicking off Gravity Circuit and am going to try to dispose of that this weekend.
Honorable mention and retro throwback will be Super Thunder Blade... Just wanted to see more of that game to know what it's about.

Will be starting the suikoden collection, also tempted to buy dragons dogma (its really cheap on the e-shop right now)

Another expected streak of available hobby time arrives with the expectedly inflated appetites even by my standards and coincides with what might be my last notable Switch splurge until summer... although the bulk of this splurge, being the Guardians of Azuma deluxe preorder, will be literally unplayable for just as long.😭😆 Still, the next several days of hybrid sessions are likely to tap into the other new recruits like Crisis Core, Star Wars KotOR, Digimon Cyber Sleuth and Ruvato. Beyond that, there are NMS and Speedstorm events to wrap up, Aionios, Mira and Aladiss to explore, Sharance, Rigbarth and Portia to develop, Scandinavian tracks and Siberian wilderness to traverse, palaces and tartaruses to sneak through, vampires and twilights to survive, variably cooked hyrules and irreparably cooked raptures to endure, some railways to go from rags to riches on and others to beware demon trains along... as well as Crime O'Clock, Borderlands, Rorona, Langrisser, Minstrel Song, Skyrim, Symphonia/Graces, Circle/Aria, GTA trilogy, RE0, Void Terrarium and Civ 6. I knew I'd run out of fancy descriptions before running out of playthrough whims.

Elsewhere, I'm also hoping for an increased variety of stuff to tend to from this weekend to the next one, but the [relative] usuals like Endless Frontier, Valentia, God Eater, Eternia, Death Stranding, Nioh, NFS2015 and Sakura Wars might still eat up the bulk of respective opportunities for all I know. Then again...

@CriticalHit Those 2 games were excellent!

Clair Obscur - PC
Metroid Prime 2 - Wii
Read Dead Redemption - Switch

After a long time I started playing Super Mario 3D World Bowsers Fury again.

Still all-in on Xenoblade, pretty much until the Switch 2 launch

I've been into open-world games lately, so I've been juggling Sniper Elite 4 and Red Dead Redemption along with some quick bursts of Android Balatro and Wildfrost on the side.

Really enjoying the Lunar Remastered collection. I’ll be playing this for the most part on Switch.

I haven’t been gaming much of late as life is doing its thing right now. I did manage to snag a Switch 2 bundle pre order so I’ll have to start something new from the depths of the eternal backlog until June 5.

@Ironcore
Surely you are not! Been having a shotgun blast of a time with Shotgun Cop Man…it’s great to play in spurts and has some pretty neat gameplay aspects and provides a nice challenge to boot. It’s just you and me playing it this weekend by the looks of it 😝

@Ganner
I finished Laika:Aged Through Blood a couple weeks back. What a game! Don’t stress about your time spent, I played a similar style where I like to explore the environments and such. Think I spent about 40 hrs on the game. It’s a gem. The game has stayed with me even after beating it…the story really does capture the brutality of the life of its inhabitants and the world they live in. The music is top notch…matches the overall tone of the game.

Wolfenstein 2 the new collosus. Going for 100%. One sentence sums it up. SCREW NEW ORLEANS AND MANHATTAN RUINS.

finally got my skell on xenoblade chronicles x currently hitting more quests before moving on the next chapter.

Wind Waker HD, Oblivion Remaster, and Dankey Kang HD

S I D E O R D E R

Though if someone will Netbattle me on Mega Man Battle Network, I will do it.

I only have eyes for Clair Obscur, hope switch 2 gets a port!

F-Zero 99! This game is seriously addictive, don't know why I haven't played it until now.

Am I really the only one playing recently added Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones? What a great blast from the past! This game was my first in the series and still nothing beats it to me.

Tears of the Kingdom. Loving it.

Well with the new Switch update, I’m going to borrow a virtual game card from my son and play Pikmin 1 for the very first time! I absolutely adore Pikmin 3 and have beat it on Wii U and Switch many times, and I was delighted with Pikmin 4. Now it’s time to finally experience where it all began.

Mainly playing Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout. I'm about 10 hours into it, still really enjoying the cozy vibes and getting to grips with the alchemy mechanics. Nothing too taxing in the main story progression, barring one early fight where I discovered that creating the best possible armor through alchemy was a key part of being fully prepared for battle!

Still dabbling in Final Fantasy X-2 but not been overly motivated to play it for more than short bursts. I'll continue with it though, even if at a slow pace.

Actually completed one of my side games at last! Afterparty, by the Oxenfree devs Night School, was a really fun 6-7 hours. Always had me engaged, and even laughing aloud quite a few times. Nothing special but certainly got my value for money after picking up in a sale.

After seeing the list of Switch games that might not work on the Switch 2, there was only one game present that was part of my backlog. Therefore, I'm also starting Alan Wake Remastered to get most/all of it done by early June.

@Notsoavid When I was still playing it on the Wii U (although I never did beat it on that console), I would have to recruit other players avatars who were at a high level to help me fight enemies far more powerful than I was in order to grind for the EXP. But I am trying to avoid doing that this time around. Even though it's a feature of the game, it does kind of feel like cheating.

I was also not aware that I had to upgrade the Battle Arts for my characters until recently. In that sense, it's just like how I have to upgrade the Talents for my characters in Genshin Impact. I'm so used to how other RPGs do it (such as Pokémon), where the attack power of my characters automatically levels up with my character.

I'm enjoying a variety of STGs these days.
Battle Marine is a 4MB game that feels like an Atari 2600 game perfected. Once I followed a commenter's suggestion to map the keyboard "C" button to a trigger (for rapidfire) it was a blast to play! I've also been playing that same dev's next game, which is Battle Airforce. It's much bigger to download at 12MB. That larger file size allows more and better music, a variety of scrolling backgrounds during gameplay, and more enemy types. It's a fun, well made shmup! I'm also enjoying Final Exerion. It's got gravity (feels difficult to move your ship around), interesting popup scrolling backgrounds (like the 1980s original), and one of the devs used to work for Cave. It's worth a shot, so to speak.
Billy Bum Bum is another game I'm liking recently. Sort of a Boxxle clone, it has great graphics and gameplay.
I also just got Tengai on steam. It's nice on Deck, after downloading the community profile that allows controls to work.
Shotgun CopMan is also great, and I think it's locked at 90 on my Deck and 240fps on my laptop. Fun, well made game!
But for me the main draw in gaming right now is wipeout 2097 phantom edition. Someone online helped me increase the distance your hovercraft can go away from the track before a drone catches you and places you back on the track. This little change makes Spilskinanke playable(Spilskinanke still requires using the left side pit lane, and hugging the left side of the track in that area, to keep from crashing the game. It's the only track with a mjor problem like that right now)while making all the other tracks more fun. It's fun to use the modified .exe file (greater range allowed from track) with Altima 7 and Terramax. I love using a speed boost is just the right spot and launching way up to fly around above the track! I'm also adding perfect wav(using wav files instead of mp3s eliminates the crackling audio) file tracks like Underworld tin there mix(using a longer mix than what was in wipeout xl) and racing around Phenitia Park, hitting restart after the race so I can enjoy the entire track. It is absolutely awesome to see all these wipeout XL tracks at 90fps or 240fps depending on which device I'm playing on!
Take care, and happy gaming!
I forgot about UFO 50 and Parking Garage Rally Circuit! Some of the modded tracks in PGRC are amazingly fun (and often have great modded music too!).

I'm absolutely swamped so my playing lately has been limited to trying to decompress enough to go to sleep at the end of the day, so I'm limited to very brief sessions in 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, which is about all I can manage to wrap up while my newly-arrived copy of Xenoblade Chronicles X waits patiently to take over my headspace. Life isn't going to be much quieter after the semester wraps up, but I can still hold out hope.

Happy gaming everyone!

skyward sword hd for me. Trying to get through the stealth section to find the dragon in Eldin, who has the third part of the song you need to get in the final act.

I've got a pinball itch which I've scratched by playing Metroid Prime Pinball on DS. And now I've gone and ordered Star Wars Pinball and a flip grip for Switch 😅

Order of Ecclesia for babe

Yosh...!
I got a lot of games yesterday so these are the games I played for this weekend. 😊

PS5
1. Gravity Circuit
2. My Vet Practice In The Zoo

Switch
3. Musynx
4. My Universe: Interior Designer

Wii
5. Barbie: Groom and Glam Pups

@Rainz Thanks for the advice. I easily can stress sometimes on how long it's taking me to get through a game. I put a lot of pressure on myself because there's so many games I want play but there's only so much time. I want to focus on the backlog which I've been doing decent at, but there are times instead of playing that "main focused game on the list" I sit back and play something casual (like something I already beat) to maximize relaxing the brain. But when I don't focus on that main game then I get stressed about now it's taking me longer to get to the "next" game on the list. And when I'm playing that main game, I don't like speedrunning and enjoy the ride. But then getting to that next game takes longer...it can be a viscous cycle sometimes. Overall I try to focus on just having a good time regardless of what I'm playing. But there's just too much and all I have is a Switch! It's the exact reason why I scaled it all down because having the gaming PC, multiple consoles and handhelds made me such a wreck.

Catching up on some of my oldest backlog entries: Star Ocean: Till the End of Time (Bought about 15 years ago)

@Tasuki yep. It's all done thankfully

Baldurs Gate 3, getting close to the end, just finishing a few companion quests before endgame. On Switch, Fire Emblem Sacred Stones. Finally managed to clear Phantom Ship, that map gave me no end of trouble, and I didn't want to grind monsters.

Five Nights at Freddy's: Into the Pit-I just bought it, and I'm trying to get the hang of the controls. Stupid Springtrap has killed me 3 times already. Happy gaming everyone.

@Rykdrew Congratulations to you n yours, on the little one.

I just got physical copies of Ghostpia: Season One and Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club: Tokimeki Roadmap to the Future so I'll be starting the Love Live! one after work. Once Best Buy has The Hundred Line in stock then I'll be grabbing it immediately.

Tetris DS and other games downloaded on my 3DS

@Ganner
I hear ya! Gaming has become both expensive and overwhelming at the same time. There’s are so many good games to play but all on limited time these days. My backlog gives me some mild anxiety..but hey it’s all gonna be on Switch 2 so what’s the rush now right? Laika:Aged Through Blood takes a unique approach to the Metroidvania genre. Guns x Motocross??..and somehow it works beautifully. Take your time with the game , there’s some beautiful artwork throughout the game and the characters and stories are interesting, impactful and disturbing altogether. Cool game, it’s underrated and I hope more ppl experience it. I think you have the right approach with just enjoying the games and not speed running through them just to say you’ve completed them. I’m sure Nintendo intends for Switch 2 to enjoy atleast another 5-8 yrs cycle so there’s time. That backlog will really come in handy during game release lulls or when your on a particularly long trip…who knows!? There’s no prize for completing your backlog but as a consumer , you owe it to yourself to play and experience the software you have purchased!

@Rainz I'll definitely be sure to chill out and enjoy the time with Laika. And yeah, it's funny how badly I want the Switch 2 to literally just transfer it all over to the new machine and be done with it. Honestly, the only Switch 2 specific game I care to play at this time is Donkey Kong Bananza. Besides that, it's carrying on exactly with how I'm doing it now with backlog and those casual games from Switch 1

Ace Attorney Investigations 2, am at the third part of case 3. Trails in the Sky, am about to go to Sapphirl Tower. Fire Emblem Heroes, have not made any story progress, have instead been doing paralogues. Apologies for not being more detailed, I'm in a bit of a hurry rn.

@AstroTheGamosian There are a few systems that I haven’t really exploited yet - like insert creation for example. I get the impression that maximizing stats becomes more of a issue when your goal is to beat some of the super high level world monsters.

I did recently discover that if you have heavy skells for your whole level 30 team, you can beat certain enemies at a significantly higher level if you plan out damage (like Ganglion are generally weak against laser). I just leveled 5 levels in about 30 minutes on the outskirts or Fort Jair.

I also played on the WiiU but honestly it was my first Xenoblade game and I had no idea what I was doing- so I didnt get very far

Well here we go with another wonderful WAYP. The week was some awesome games all around. Mostly Trails Through Daybreak, Mario and Luigi, Pirate Yakuza, WWE2K25, Dynasty Warriors Origins, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition, Atelier Yumia, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Fatal Fury City of the Wolves and Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake. Yeah I finally got to start City of the Wolves and honestly it may be the most fun fighting game like ever. Absolutely loving it from story to matches with friends this game rules and I can’t wait to play more. Most of the weekend was spent with Split Fiction. Had the GF over and yeah we finally got to get a session of Split Fiction in and honestly while at first we had to get reintegrated with it there were some really funny and cool moments while we played. Excited for more. Rest of the weekend I’m thinking is gonna be some Trails Through Daybreak and Monster Hunter Wilds or Dynasty Warriors Origins or maybe Borderlands 1. Trails I’m trying to beat and like legit think I can do it. Then it’s moving onto Daybreak 2 but until a decent shot comes up it’s probably gonna be some fun Mario and Luigi Brothership. And Monster Hunter is still awesome. Just working on raising those Hunter Ranks to maybe dabble in some of that seasonal stuff in the Grand Hub. With Dynasty Warriors I genuinely just wanna beat that too and really clear out the storage on the PS5 and the current games I’m working on. And with Borderlands I’m just thinking of trying to do a marathon of the games before Borderlands 4 comes out. Otherwise I’m thinking this week is mostly gonna consist of some Trails Through Daybreak, Mario and Luigi Brothership, Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake, Tales of Graces F Remastered, Split Fiction, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, Dynasty Warriors Origins, Monster Hunter Wilds, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Disgaea 7, Atelier Yumia, Fatal Fury City of the Wolves, Bakeru and Pirate Yakuza. Wanna try to start Clair Obscur this week too so I can see what everyone’s so hype about and what game could possibly pull fighting game streamer Maximillian away from FFCOTW. The wrestling thing this week being AEW Double or Nothing. Yeah we talking AEW this time because yeah they kinda do have a interesting setup for DoN this year as maybe we could see a war over the World Championship depending on if the person holding it changes hands or not. Jon Moxley or Samoa Joe. Anime of the week gotta go to Okitsura. Again we still trying to work on the catch up so we can start spring animes but it’s really just been all wrestling and other shows. Also saw Thunderbolts* this weekend with the GF and honestly may be the best movie I’ve seen this year. Genuinely teared up and laughed and smiled and loved the movie amd the characters special shoutout to Yelena she rules. Podcasts of this week gotta go to Castle Superbeast, Big Think Dimension, Into The Aether, RPGsites Tetracast, Minnmax, Jeff Gerstmann, Kit and Krysta, Punching Up, Easy Allies, Second Wind, Nextlander, Cultaholic Wrestling, Weapon Wheel Podcast and Remap Radio. As always yall stay safe, be cool to each other. Have a totally safe and awesome weekend and of course Happy Gaming.

@Notsoavid Where I am on the Switch version now is about as far as I got in the Wii U version in terms of the main quest. Currently am trying to get to Level 30 so I can purchase more Skells. And I am very close.