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

Mega Man: Powered Up

Goodboy Galaxy

Mario Kart DS: N64 Circuit

Power Stone 2

And Panzer Bandit

More Sonic, this time Sonic Origins Plus. At this point I'm pretty much playing shorter games to last me until Tomb Raider 1-3 releases on Wednesday.

Star Wars Jedi Survivor: Finishing up bounties, the last plant for my garden, and rounding out my time with Cal and BD-1. It's been a lot of fun, and I particularly enjoyed the different combat forms as well as building up the saloon.

Assuming finishing that by tomorrow, it's on to Xenoblade Chronicles 3, as I am finally caught up with the story and have heard nothing but praise regarding it. Can't wait!

Just finished Vernal Edge on hard mode, it was great

Just started Itorah, what a beautiful looking game.

Will probably start Skautdold Bloody Pack next or Eagle Island Twist.

Also picked up my Collectors Edition of Lunark from LRG so I'm looking forward to playing that as well.

Have a great weekend everyone.

I found my old cartridge of Zelda four swords and A link between worlds so... playing that this week. Sorry backlog but I feel like playing that.
Happy gaming everyone!

Working through the last world of Mario Wonder and the relaxing retro-inspired puzzle platformer Millie and Molly

Tears of the Kingdom and Terra Nil still. My brother and his family are visiting so might try and get in a board game or two as well. In fact, might see if I can convince my family to go to the brilliant local board game cafe (‘Treehouse’) tomorrow as it’s my birthday. Or alternatively play more Zelda 😁

Wrapping up Wonder, last 2 main worlds. More out of a sense of curiosity, because, so far, the game is too easy for me to really enjoy.

Also started cleaning up the backlog with Inside. If there was one game in particular for showing the advantage of OLED, it would be this one. I also like the fact that the game doesn't hold your hand.

Finally, some Quake 2 to test-drive the Split Pad Pros.

Aside from an hour spent on Warioware GiT, I haven't been able to put Tears of the Kingdom down this week.
I'm making all sorts of little plans to upgrade all of my armours. I'm missing mostly Lizalfos parts and star fragments now. So marking the map, making itineraries, looking online for tips, and skydiving, while of course looking for more Korok seeds.
It's all good fun.

Happy gaming!

I keep trying, but somehow cannot get into Shin Megami Tensei V. Might drop it, there are so many good games to play instead of suffering with this. Besides the usual Theatrhythm, going for the last 3 stars and last achievement. And Another Code DS, in the 6th chapter, so it can end any minute now. What an amazing little machine the DS was!

After a couple of weekends of being horribly ill I'm hoping to get back to Atom RPG once the kids are in bed.
Woloderwick is now a force to be reckoned with in the post-Soviet wasteland with enough guns and ammo to mount a small-scale war. And also a car, which is pretty sweet.

@JohnnyMind Hey there, just want to say I always enjoy reading your posts on these articles, since you play so many games and you take the time to leave a note on each one why/how/where you got in the games.
Having all the game titles in bold always makes it so clean and easier to read ... maybe you can do a plus sign or asterix next to the game title to indicate the vote.
Not that it's a big deal. Still thought I'd ask.
Cheers!

As far as the Nintendo Switch goes, I was planning on playing SpongeBob Squarepants: The Cosmic Shake, as I got it for my oldest and it looks like a lot of fun. On the PlayStation side of things, there’s both Foamstars, as well as Rollerdrome, that I plan on checking out.

I played a little bit of Fire Emblem Engage. I still like it, but the story is probably the most boring thing ever. It feels fleshed out like they want you to care, but there's nothing to like. On the other hand, I quit Trails in the Sky SC a little while ago but I'm back now. I believe I'm very close to the end. There's a ton of things to enjoy in this game, but it is definitely very overrated. Chapter 8 was genuinely disrespectful of your time. Travelling around Liberl for 3RD TIME?!

About 50ish hours into Persona 3 Reload. They've done an excellent job with this remake!

I'll be playing plenty of Bomb Rush Cyberfunk on my 40th birthday today, trying to feel like I'm 16 in my mind playing Jet Grind Radio. Haha.

Playing on the steam deck Oled

Mass effect legendary edition

Another payday, another bout of responsible financial decisions that lead to realistic weekend hobby plans and effective console storage management (oh well, my Dark Souls playthrough has been on pause anyway, after [further] intimidating me with the notion of needing a limited time consumable effect just to DAMAGE a certain location's inhabitants😅). I've got my sim RPG backlog further blo- expanded with Harvestella, the metroidvania one expanded with HunterX, the tactical/strategy one with Tyrant's Blessing (plus the DLC for Fell Seal and Sailing Era), the multigenre one with Smelter... Now watch me barely touch any of this at all because I also briefly juggled account region settings and upgraded my Binding of Isaac to Repentance.💀😆 Speaking of region jumps, I even grabbed the discounted Georifters while at it, making use of the grand 1 euro in gold points that would have withered away in Lithuanian eShop otherwise. What else is on my mind and in danger of being elbowed out by variably miserable basement descents, you ask? Oh, nothing much - Xenoblades and Rune Factories, Portia and Graveyard Keeper, TWEWY and Fuga, Very Very Valet and Truck Driver, Afterimage and Ender Lilies, Saints Row 4 and Graveyard Keeper, Borderlands 2 and Minstrel Song... business as usual.

Elsewhere, PS4 has been sitting out weekend after weekend (which, WCS, might not be significantly remedied until April), but the pastgen handhelds may still see some Eternia, Endless Frontier, Fantasy Life and Gravity Rush while the next couple days' Deck activity looks to be relatively focused this time - more progress in XCX, KH and Queen's Quest, more retraced progress in Horizon and FFXV... I did say "relatively". Sigh, FINE, I'm also not ruling out a bit more FFXIII, Ar Tonelico, Dishonored and Watch Dogs. NOW it's an honest @nhSnork weekend plan comment.😅

@JohnnyMind It looks just perfect now (I mean, it already looked really good in any ways), the bullet points and the bold make it super clean and easy to read. I'd say the italic stands out enough, and you already selected those games in the poll so it makes sense.

Regarding the games, I'm also playing TotK and if you've seen my post then you know I'm also very much enjoying it.
Otherwise I've also been playing Ring Fit a lot, I think working out from home is the best way to do it and keep at it.
And Prince of Persia is in my backlog for now.

Have fun, and I will read from you

UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH II [Sys:Celes] – completed Arcade Mode as Harada Orie Ballardiae, Yuzuriha, and Seth. Now, I can say that Hitomi Nabatame did a great job voicing Yuzuriha. She fits perfectly in her role. But, Ayumi Fujimura will always be missed. Sigh
Well, for now, that's all what I've played on this week. I'm planning to play UNI2 later today, so... Updates will come. Have a nice gaming week, everyone.
Update #1:
UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH II [Sys:Celes] – completed Arcade Mode as Nanase, Chaos, and Londrekia.
Update #2:
UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH II [Sys:Celes] – completed Arcade Mode as Enkidu and Hilda.

Not sure yet, any good game on sale right now?

@GregamanX oh, Happy Birthday! 🎉
@Lady_Galadhiel Melty Blood: Type Lumina (50% off), Breakers Collection (50% off)...

@nhSnork Have you played UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH games?

I finished Xenoblade Chronicles 3 last week (100+ hours!) and now I’m playing Dave the Diver. This ‘long game then short game’ pattern really helps avoid gaming burnout. 🙂

Close to finishing Dredge, which I've really enjoyed. Love those cute little fishy aberrations. Nowhere near finishing Cuphead, which I've....really enjoyed...I mean I have, it's great, but...y'know.

Project Downfall. It's just wonderful. I wish it felt better to actually play, but I think that happens when you play Quake all the time. I also picked up Gigabash for the PS5, cause the 5 year old has discovered Godzilla. It's no War of the Monsters, but it's great fun to watch him play.

Silent Hope on Switch. A cartoony take on Diablo with lots of loot and big headed characters. Also continuing the amazing Horizon Forbidden West.

@GregamanX Happy B-day! There's nothing like videogames to keep your brains young and fresh! Jet Set Radio on the Xbox was good fun, good memories.

I've finished Super Mario RPG this week and absolutely loved it - in terms of challenge... well, there was none. It was super easy. But that was exactly what I needed. And it has been a long time since a video game has delighted me so much. I had such a stupid smile on my face during the entire Dodo/statue minigame segment - it was ridiculous but brilliant.

So now I'm in that awkward moment where I'm trying to choose my next game. But I'm not going to rush. I have two other games on the back burner, which I return to sporadically because I want to drag the experience out for as long as possible, TOTK and Ghost of Tsushima on PS4. So I'll just play those this weekend.

Maybe I'm in the mood for something cosy next... like Coffee Talk 2...

I played the demos for Another Code and Mario vs Donkey Kong this week. Then, I dug into my backlog, pulling out Cave Story+. I’m near the end and have met the conditions for the best ending. Looking forward to wrapping that this weekend. It’s been super fun!

@JohnnyMind Funny you say that, I also have my morning slot dedicated to my Wii Fit routines. It really helps start the day positively.
I can recommend Fitness Circuit, for a little bit more intense but shorter sessions, I like that one three evenings in the week. The software itself is not super polished, but it works just great.
Sports is great, just to find the right kind and the time for it, that's the real challenge.
And GiT what to say ... I'm a bit addicted to those weekly cups, really enjoy driving myself crazy to reach gold each time!
I only heard good things about PoP so my expectations are high

@Qwiff Do you like Quake 1 as well? I am a huge fan of both.

I will be playing a lot of Multiplayer games this weekend, including HellDivers 2, Foamstars, Granblue Fantasy Relink and Apex Legends. I also got my PlayStation Portal yesterday so I'm looking forward to giving that a try when the TV is occupied.

On Switch I will be playing Fire Emblem Warriors Three Hopes and maybe some Splatoon 3.

Tekken 8, One Piece Odyssey, Street Fighter 6, Super Mario Wonder, Super Mario RPG Remake, Apollo Justice Ace Attorney Trilogy, King of Fighters 15, and Kirby Return to Dreamland. I’m on vacation starting today. So I will be playing those throughout the week. 😁

Revisiting Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu on switch and start a new game, and maybe some Cyberbunk and FGVII rebirth demo on ps5

I have been playing Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, and I beat the game a few days ago and got the platinum trophy. My thoughts have only grown deeper — it’s going to go down as one of my top 10-20 games of all time. This game resonated with me in a way I wasn’t expecting.

The next main game I’m delving into is Final Fantasy 7 Remake before Rebirth releases. As a kid, I remember buying the PS1 original one summer with my chore money at the local Blockbuster. I spent 100+ hours playing the game, had all characters at max level, and was astonished at the final boss fight. I have many fond memories, along with a negative one: I never acquired Vincent Valentine and I was so disappointed when I realized I overlooked him.

In terms of the remake, the last time I played the game it left a sour taste in my mouth. Don’t get me wrong - the game is fantastic, but I got to chapter 14 and suddenly the game bricked my PS4. Once this happened I couldn’t bring myself to replay the game once I managed to get a new console. I also wasn’t in the right headspace mentally due to life situations, so the game would relentlessly trigger negative emotions every time I attempted to start a fresh play-through, thus I haven’t properly touched it since its release.

I am determined to play the game from start to finish. Physically and mentally I’m in a much healthier frame of mind. At the moment of writing this, I’m playing the game on the PlayStation Portal and have beaten three chapters. I’m unclear of the reason, but this game is hitting differently emotionally — and in a good way too. I’m picking up on subtle nuances that are resonating with me, and the mysterious backstory between Cloud and Sephiroth is superb. I forgot how powerful the impact of these characters had on me when I was younger. I’ve already experienced goosebumps in a couple of scenes.

Hopefully, I can have the FF7 Remake scratched off my list of games I feel I need to complete. I was also browsing the trophy list and the platinum trophy doesn’t seem too unbearable to obtain (but we will see) so I might set that out as a goal for myself.

This week I will be mostly playing

Super Mario RPG (SNES)
Pokémon Y

Got Saint's Row IV recently and I'm pleasantly surprised by how much of a blast I'm having with it. it's entered into a small handful of open-world games that have thoroughly blown me away.

I've also been playing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge and it's so much fun. My favorite beat'em up on Switch so far.

Finished Metroid Dread on hard mode about a week ago and still can't get enough of it, so I've started my fourth playthrough, after finally getting 100% on my first playthrough file. I don't think I'll ever try Dread Mode though.

And then there's Vernal Edge, only played a few hours of it but the Combat is so much more fun than I was expecting. I'm in for a lot of bliss!!

Couldn't find my copy of Master System Sonic 2, but found a replacement in a retro shop, so playing that. Also some G.G. Shinobi.

Over on Switch picked up Alisa Developer' Cut. I've found it reallly challenging at the start despite having played classic survival horror back in the day, but made some progress. Still think the game should let you use the d-pad for tank controls, but the 8bitdo controller has the analogue/ d-pad swap function at least, so that's one way. Still playing Grimrock too, think I am at about level 9 of the dungeon.

@Vyacheslav333 no, but they're on my wishlist. Still a bit salty over missing a massive discount on the first game in UK eShop, but I reckon I'll eventually get them anyway.😄

My physical copy of Apollo Justice Trilogy finally turned up yesterday. Only 2 weeks after launch, but that'll be me for the weekend 🙌

Replay of Dragon Quest 8 and maybe some Amiga games

@DasWunderkind I think maybe the developers of Panzer Bandit enjoyed some Treasure games. Are these the developers of Gunners Heaven, or something?

Chrono Cross on PS1
Random mame games

Sorry, but it will be Granblue Fantasy Relink on the PS5 Portal.

I’ve been kind of stuck on what games to play as of late, but I’ll most likely go back to finish playing FF7 Crisis Core before the end of this month. Other than that, I’ll probably alternate between playing some more of The Finals and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney trilogy. It’s been a long week, so I’m looking forward to the weekend, happy gaming everybody!

I finished Dredge earlier, and have started Final Fantasy 3 Pixel Remaster. I'm also playing Helldivers 2. I really enjoyed the first game on the Vita, and so far this one seems as good.

I've been messing around with no power builds in Tears of the Kingdom. I'm usually slapping a few fans on a few elevator rails and flying around Hyrule's beautiful sky until the fans despawn, but no power (or resistance) builds are too fascinating. Also just exploring and enjoying the game generally.
On Switch I'm also playing BOTW, Rocket League (yes it's way better at 144fps on my laptop, but I still enjoy it on Switch), Panzer Dragoon Remake (hope they get all the other PD games out soon!), Unpacking, Zero Fire, Melty Blood, Golfinite (lovely simple golf game with nice music), God of Light Remastered (amazing soundtrack and good basic gameplay), Jett Rider, Mario Maker 2, Advance Wars 1 + 2 reboot (I love the expansive shop Hachi has in this remake!), WarioWare Move It!, Fitness Boxing Fist of the North Star (amazing improvement on Fitness Boxing!), Marble It Up Ultra, Mario Golf Super Rush, and Puzzle Battler Mirai.
On Deck OLED I've been enjoying Rise of the Tomb Raider (seeing Lara start up a flare in a cave at 90fps is pretty incredible!)(no, I can't keep the game up at 90, but it looks great), Mr. Run and Jump (beautiful at 90hz, and quite a fun game!), qomp (pretty fun, and I played this at 144fps on laptop, not on Deck), and Risk of Rain 2 (plays very well at 65 to 90fps).
Also drinking a Wuyi, Big Red Robe, this week (and enjoying drying out trails).

@Ooyah Do you know the frame rate of Legend of Grimrock? I've watched all these YouTube videos of switch gameplay and can't tell if it's 30fps or 60fps...

Still at Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.

I’ve been joking with the kids that “Today is the day I beat Spelunky” and we all chuckle and roll our eyes when I croak after just a few stages, usually because of rushing or greed. The futility is fun, though.

Strangely, I’ve mostly played Immortals: Fenyx Rising this week. It’s all because my oldest daughter is into Greek mythology lately, and I spotted the game for only $10 at an indy card & game shop that opened locally. For a Zelda BOTW lookalike it just can’t match the craftsmanship of the original, but it has its charms and has kept me playing. The narration/banter/gossip between Zeus and Prometheus has gotten some laughs from me and the kids, and running around trying to liberate the gods has been compelling. OTOH, Ubisoft’s mandatory log-in is extremely annoying, but after starting a save file in airplane mode, I’ve found that I can resume the game later while docked and connected to the internet. I just cancel the log-in a few times and keep yamming on the LOAD button, and eventually it works. It’s a mini-game unto itself! I’m glad Ubi ditched this practice in their later Switch games.

Wishing everyone a fun weekend! 🕹👾

I've been playing Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers and Street Fighter III: Third Strike the last few days and I will wrap those up (for now at least) today.

And then the Tomb Raider collection can't come fast enough (already have it pre-downloaded on my Switch Lite for it's release wednesday).

Other than getting the new spirits in Smash Bros Ultimate, I don’t know what I’ll be playing this weekend. A few days ago, I finished Gris and got that out of the backlog. Such a beautiful game!

So in terms of Switch, I don’t know what to play this weekend. Maybe I’ll start something new or replay an old favorite.

Uncharted: Golden Abyss (Vita) - My boy Sully came to save my hide.

Daxter (PSP) - Nearing the halfway point with this as well.

Lode Runner Classic (Windows Phone) - Still playing in bursts.

I just completed Xenoblade 3, and now I’m working on getting all the heroes. I still have NO idea how to get Segiri🤦🏽‍♂️. Also gonna dive in to Splatoon 3, I’m so so so excited for side order, but I’m going to be on vacation when it comes out sadly. Maybe I’ll find time to play it. Also thinking of getting persona 5 royal but I’m saving up for a PlayStation so I don’t think I’m gonna get it currently ☹️

Splatoon on the Wii U. I bought it when it released, played a little of the single-player campaign and lost interest. With the servers nearing shutdown, I popped it in again last week and am loving it. Let's see how much I can level up in 10 weeks.

And also Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

Back at OOT on my 2DS. 5 Skulltulas and then final boss.

On switch, Batman Arkham Asylum. On xbox, i just beat Robocop Rogue City a couple days ago, so I've fully moved onto Sunset Overdrive which has proven to be chaotic and fun.

@LikelySatan Back in '96, I only played Quake 1's shareware episode and dismissed it based on its brownish look. The remaster made me change my mind. The main campaign holds up very well. The new Machine Games expansions are also excellent.

Still trying to catch 'em all (easy) and get dex entries (sometimes harder) in Pokemon Legends: Arceus on this lazy weekend. I've just unlocked the Coronet Highlands but have been dawdling with requests, resulting in returns to previous areas and picking up more Pokemon data. Back on the main story/quest today though.

In Dragon Quest Builders 2 (Switch), I've confirmed I'm in the last area. Plot developments have been very interesting, but I'm continuing to build away! If only to one day get back to my own island....

Happy gaming!

This "winter" has been disgustingly hot and practically snowless... so I'm tempted to do some shed work to prepare for the paddling/outdoor patio season, while decrying the evil that this non-winter represents.

I keep meaning to return to The Excavation of Hob's Barrow, which I began on a foggy night many weeks ago. It is excellent and well-paced both as narrative and game, but... perhaps the fog must return before it feels right again. I think I'm going to persist in my long search for my missing power bomb upgrades in Metroid Prime Remastered. Perhaps ending the Phazon threat on sweet Tallon IV will be a kind of sympathetic magic, for recalling the winter to this place. I strongly prefer Fusion to Prime for it's "post-game" (finding the last few items which are hidden to me), though Prime is the superior game in practically every respect - Fusion holds many surprises, whereas I've already drunk deep from Prime more than once...

I'm very sad to have finished The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles at last...it was so good!!! Will we ever see 'Hurley' again? So I've started playing Super Mario RPG and Atelier Escha and Logy, plus carrying on with Cult of the Lamb. Mario RPG is just OK so far; I don't feel particularly invested yet so I put it on while listening to an interview or documentary.

About to finish Knights of Grayfang today. It's alright, fun for what it is I suppose. I got it cos of the Fire Emblem lookalikes: Lise looks like Alear from Engage and Dark Knight=Black Knight from the Tellius games. Even has a few FE weapons in the game.

Speaking of Tellius, Fire Emblem Path of Radiance is to be my next game, as I've been itching to replay the game again. It was going to be my currently played game, but in the process of moving a couple of years ago, I don't know which tote in my storage room or shed has my GameCube power chord, so I had to go on an adventure this week to buy a new one... Turned it on last night to a success though with the PoR screen greeting me! Looking forward to beating it again, easily my favorite GameCube game.

I am not sure how much gaming I will do this weekend besides possibly F-Zero 99 on Nintendo Switch. I bought a Steam Deck OLED yesterday and I have been too eager waiting for that to want to play anything else! Happy gaming as always everyone!

Original Splatoon online before the servers go down.. 👍

Absolutely hooked on Eastward: Octopia. I’ve never played the original, but after reading the glowing review for Octopia on here I had to buy it. One of the best, most charming farm sims on Switch.

Granblue Fantasy Relink. Proud difficulty keeps adding more fights, and we couldn't be happier. I just wish there was a better way to level up weapons than slow drops of Fortitude Crystals (L).
I also expect some Rise of Nations or Element TD 2 since my cousin is hankering for some game nights. Possible (but unlikely) that we'll pop in some League of Legends for another friend looking for some MP game time. But frankly, I'd rather not

Also taxes. Should be a good time.

@Zaruboggan how is Granblue so far? Looking to get this on Steam but I’m unfamiliar with the series.

@Ooyah No problem, just curious!

@Dpullam It's so awesome. I hope the next Nintendo console is basically exactly like the OLED Deck! Maybe add variable refresh rate and bump it up to 120hz though!
Seriously, I can't imagine anyone getting the OLED Deck and not liking it.

Used my accumulated gold points and availed of some discounts to get Octopia, Infernax, Torchlight II, and Shantae and the Pirate's Curse.

But enough talk! Have at them!

Had a fun game of Mario Party Superstars last night. It was a blowout but we all still had a nice time.

This weekend I’ll mostly be being my PC. Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising is super fun and very accessible to those without fighting game experience!

I'm playing splatter house chrome on my analogue duo.

@nhSnork Okay...

Same as last week, Fire Emblem Binding Blade (hard mode) with a little bit of Tekken 8 online matches here and there against randos and friends.

I'm up to Chapter 18 in Fire Emblem now and have reached the game's 2nd route split. I've only ever played through the game once before so I'm now in completely unknown territory, since obviously I wanted to go for the other route this time to visit the snowy lands of Ilia.

In Tekken 8 I managed to reach up to rank of "Vanquisher" nabbing some wins from players clearly more skillful than myself but I guess they just couldn't deal with the bs tactics Asuka (my main) employs. I'm also attempting to pick up another character for a secondary and I went for Zafina, a much tougher character but she's cool and I kinda want to try and make her work.

Crash Banditcoot 4: It's About Time (Switch,) Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (PS2,) and Star Fox Assault (Gamecube)

Finally brought Xenoblade Chronicles 2 to a close after a week otherwise occupied with life. For all its flaws, I thoroughly enjoyed the game, although I'm not quite ready to dive into Torna: The Golden Country just yet. I've got a monstrous backlog and I'm trying to figure out the next game to dive into.

Thinking Octopath Traveler II or Persona 5.

Just finished replaying Metroid Dread. Raven Beak is one of my favorite boss fights ever.
Now I'm returning to Elden Ring, which I beat a year ago but never went to the Haligtree, so I'm making my way through it now to find out what the fuss is about Malenia. Wish me luck.

F-Zero 99 for my daily ranks. I bought Splatoon 3 during the NA New Year's sale but I'm not super into it so we'll see. Been hankering for some Fire Emblem but I'm not sure if I want to do another playthrough of Blazing Blade or Engage.

So I decided to replay Final Fantasy VII. It's been a few years at this point since I did my first playthrough and I've been meaning to revisit it before playing through crisis core. I've gotta say I love how good the game is right from the start. I'm only 2-3 hours in so I'm looking forward to playing more this weekend!

I'll likely be playing Splatoon 3, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and Metroid Prime Remastered this weekend. S3 to get some early conch shells before the Splatfest, ACNH for Happy Home Paradise, and MPR to hopefully beat that boss fight that's been giving me trouble.

@120frames-please I have no doubts that I will enjoy the system! This will also be one of my first experiences with Steam in general, so the experience will be pretty fresh right from the get-go.

A little bit of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy. Might also start Persona 3 Reload. Happy gaming everyone!

Pokemon Crystal and restarting Oracle of Seasons to try my new secrets. I dunno if I hafta beat Ages to use my secrets in Seasons, but it's worth a shot.

EarthBound Beginnings on Switch. I’ve progressed quite a bit since last weekend: Ana has joined my team, I now have six pieces of the queen’s melody, and I recently unlocked the Teleport ability in Youngtown. Ninten is level 29, Lloyd is level 23, and Ana is level 19. The game’s gotten pretty difficult by this point, but it’s a lot easier once your allies are at high levels. Of course, I’ll have to start from square one once Teddy joins my team…

Smash Ultimate to get the new spirits (a plague on both Nintendo's houses for toying with my 100% completion!!!)

Then back to my Arkham Asylum play through on Hard difficulty.

Jusant. Really cool so far!

@Keegsy Very, very fun. Especially with friends. The main story is about 20 hours of set pieces (1 player only). There are tons of characters (20?) that all play very differently, and each one can be played in multiple ways depending on how you customize them. If you like to grind, it has a Monster Hunter style post game. I do, so I've been very satisfied.
It's also one of the prettiest games ever.
I've played the browser game and the two fighting games, so I started with more investment than you'll have. But my friends haven't touched the series before, and they are just as engrossed in the content on offer.

Lmk if you have specific questions, I'd be happy to answer!

@Zaruboggan wow that’s some glowing feedback, I really appreciate it! That might be my first purchase for the Steam Deck will to, thanks again

I'm a bit exhausted this weekend but still playing through Yakuza: Like a Dragon. So many different mini games and systems in that game, dunno how they churn out so many of those games. It's unlikely I'll play anything else this weekend.

Admit it, who voted Metroid Prime 4?

@Dpullam Interesting. I already had a good collection built up on Steam before getting a deck. This makes me realize Nintendo should use their eshop like Steam, keep everyone's bought games and let them access them with new and ever more powerful devices. I love seeing how a game runs on deck versus on my laptop. I'm basically seeing not having backwards compatibility as throwing away tons of customers, instead of embracing them and encouraging them to keep buying and playing games from Nintendo's ongoing, continuous eshop. But they also need to fix it so it doesn't crash and freeze up and run at 1 frame every 2 or 3 seconds!

PS5 - Mafia: Definitive Edition. Have never played the series but have both 1 and 2 as PS Plus games. Enjoying it as a smaller GTA like experience. Will probably get around to playing 2 sometime in the future. Have heard Mafia 3 is a bit disappointing though.

XSX - Gears of War: Ultimate Edition. Have never played Gears either. Started the 360 version on Game Pass and then found out the newer version exists so have restarted on that.

Switch - Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration. Rounds out the games I'm playing with colons. Moving through the chronological timeline and have reached the mid-80s.

I just finished Super Paper Mario (My favourite in the series) and decided to dive back in to Origami King which I'd left abandoned. The game has some real heart and soul put into it but man does the combat and toad mandate really drag it down.

Also been really lazily playing Season of Discovery for World of Warcraft now Phase 2 is out. I'm not even 26 yet lol. But it gives me time to play with my best bud.

@Qwiff Yeah I finished both of the Machinegames episodes, and am hoping the ties they suggest between Q1 and 2 are more than them just having a little fun. Really quality episodes. I'm on Scourge of Armagon now in the first game.

Fellow Ghostbuster fan, eh Gavin? Yeah, as much as I'm elated the saga continues, I have to always remind myself to keep calm myself, but it looks like it'll be plenty of action along with a good amount of fanservice.

As far as what I'm playing, it'll be TOTK mostly, though I did slip in a little F-Zero 99.

PSO2: NGS and Genshin mostly
Pokemon Go when I'm out

I think I'll finish off SMRPG - I'm on the last area and it's been a joy to play through the remade version. Then I can finally get stuck into Wonder.

I thought I had escaped TOTK's clutches after finally completing it recently but I've realised I didn't get the Hylian Shield, so I might need to jump back into Hyrule and get it just for that sense of completion.

Later on today, kirbys dream land 3

On Switch:

• Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (battle mode): me and my wife love this game (battle mode)
• Advance Wars 1+2: 100% finished 100% S rank (first campaign, normal difficulty). Starting the second campaign.

Well this week is a pretty proud WAYP. Because yes as stated in last weeks entry I did play the majority of the week Trails of Cold Steel IV and feel properly stuck in. And not only made good progress I feel but more importantly to me on a personal level I finally did it. After avoiding it for 2+ years I finally went back to FFXIV and conquered the quest I seemingly couldn’t overcome. I hope my Ma is looking down and smiling. As for this week tho oh boy well we got the Super Bowl today and since that means the end of Trails Football Sunday’s as I call them I think I’ll tackle some Cold Steel IV today as well but I definitely wanna dabble in some other Nintendo games this week like Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Future Redeemed and Another Code Recollection. Otherwise in terms of Nintendo games I’m looking forward to Mario Vs Donkey Kong at the end of the week but otherwise my main goal is rotating the games previously mentioned and some more Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth, Granblue Fantasy Relink and also my goal of the week which is gonna be to see if I can wrap all of the base Endwalker MSQ in FFXIV by next weekend. Which is to say the stuff that came out when Endwalker launched back in 2021 not any of the post Endwalker patches. Anime of the week of course gotta go to the usual beauties like Urusei Yatsura, Mashle, Solo Leveling, Undead Unluck, Shangri La Frontier, and High Card. All absolutely amazing. And of course Podcasts of the week gotta go to Castle Superbeast, Big Think Dimension, Into The Aether, RPGsites Tetracast, Windbreaker, Firelink, Sacred Symbols, Summon Sign, Minnmax and Nextlander. Of course we always gotta give the love and shoutout to my friend over at twitch.tv/akibread who was a major motivator and help in me overcoming Endwalker. As always y’all have a excellent rest of your weekend and Happy Gaming.