BandeeOfTheStars

This is the town of Greenhorne. People are peacefully chilling about and just minding their own business. Then along comes a time-traveling-scientist-turned-evil-wizard who calls himself the Dark Lord, Dr. Andonuts, and suddenly the town’s residents have no faces. Oh no! Who can put a stop to this madness?

Enter Aoi Asahina (Energetic Pop Star, formerly Warrior), our brave heroine. Formerly the Ultimate Swimming Pro at Hope’s Peak Academy and best known for her boundless love of donuts, she has since decided to take up a new occupation: defeating Dark Lords. Shortly after beginning her adventure, she meets three fellow adventurers with the same goal: Revali (Stubborn Mage), the stuck-up but highly skilled Champion of the Rito; Wreck-It Ralph (Kind Chef), the “bad guy” with big fists who’s really not so bad a guy; and Captain Underpants (Airheaded Thief), the…superhero of toilet humor who doesn’t really seem to know what he’s doing.

The party has met many memorable characters on their journey thus far. This includes King Dedede, his daughter Princess Peach, her fiancé Prince Farquaad and her true love interest Aladdin. It also includes a mysterious but powerful Great Sage named Sans, and a loyal steed named Yoshi who follows our protagonists to the edge of the earth.

Recently, the Dark Lord took the liberty to separate Aoi from the rest of her party, forcing her to find a new occupation and new friends. These new friends, of course, are just as colorful as the old ones: Miles Edgeworth (Cool Scientist), a highly skilled prosecutor eager to put the Dark Lord behind bars; Ribbon (Kind Imp), a fairy from Ripple Star seeking the lost Crystal Shards; and Peter Pan (Laid-back Cleric), the Boy Who Never Grew Up himself who loves nothing more than putting old codfishes in their place.

Will Dr. Andonuts have his way? Will Aoi and her friends put a stop to his havoc? Will the team ever reunite? Who is Sans, the mysterious Great Sage? Find out in the next episode of Miitopia!

So I beat Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair this week. Its ending might even be crueller than Trigger Happy Havoc’s, and that’s no small achievement. Anyway, that would put Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope’s Peak High School next on the list…but that’s an anime, not a game, so maybe I can’t talk about that here. But there’s a Crunchyroll app on Switch, so maybe I can? In any case, might as well share some of my thoughts on the series so far anyway. Spoilers for DR1, DR2 and DR3 (through Future/Despair Arc 3) follow:

Anyway, I’ll probably start on the final main game in the series, Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, sometime next week. Or maybe I’ll play something with less heavy narrative themes first. Guess only time will tell…

About to begin the fourth chapter of Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, so I’m roughly at the halfway point. Just like Trigger Happy Havoc, this one knows how to hit you where it hurts. A lot of plot connections to that game are buried in here, though it’s impossible at this point to tell where the game is headed.

There are a lot of things I’d like to talk about regarding this game, but that’d be tough without spoiling anything. But this definitely isn’t just some retread of the first game.

I’ll be returning to Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, of course. Haven’t progressed very much this week but I finally finished Chapter 1. That…was a wild experience. One left field plot twist after another…and somehow it’s already shot down nearly all my plot expectations coming from Trigger Happy Havoc. The class trial was lengthy and surprisingly tricky. It was a little tough starting fresh with a whole new cast and setting after only one game, but I think it’s starting to grow on me…and I think these games are probably a lot more connected than they seem.

I’ll be finishing up Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club this weekend. Currently on the tenth chapter, so I’m pretty close. As I said last week, the gameplay’s really just more of the same for the series, but the story’s gotten really interesting now. There are also a lot of references to the previous two games sprinkled around…

After that, I’ll probably continue on in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. I’ve mostly been focusing on Emio, so I haven’t gotten very far here just yet. But from what I can tell so far, the plot is going for something pretty different from Trigger Happy Havoc. Looking forward to seeing exactly what that is.

Switch 2 not playing games from the Switch 1 would almost be a dealbreaker at this point. Switch 1 not playing Wii U or 3DS games made sense—the hardware and setup are just so fundamentally different—but there’s no good reason for them to skimp out on backward compatibility again.

Still hoping for an English version of Yo-kai Watch 4, but that ship has probably sailed by now. Looking forward to Layton and the mysterious “Ghost Craft” game!

So I beat the first Danganronpa this week. Such a twisted, sadistic game, making you get so attached to characters just before they kill them off! So, naturally, I…am playing the second one, Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. Apparently I can’t get enough of the suffering.

I’m on the first chapter right now. No murders yet. Some of the characters do remind me of the ones from the first game, but they haven’t proven quite as memorable…at least, not yet. But hey, at least it’s a break from asking “oh my goodness did they just kill Hina??” every time I find a body. (Granted, there is a character I liked that’s clearly based on Makoto from the first game, but I’m not stupid. He definitely dies first.)

Anyway, I’ll also be playing Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club now that the full game’s out. I’m on the third chapter right now. So far it’s pretty standard FDC gameplay, which admittedly does feel a little dated, but the story’s good so far, and Taro and Ayumi seem to get a 50/50 playtime split this time. This one seems meatier than the previous installments, too, so I might be at this for a little while.

With The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve now finished, I have completed my second playthrough of all eight Ace Attorney games on Switch. Since Emio doesn’t come out until next week and the AAI Collection doesn’t come until the week after that, it’s time to start something different altogether: Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc on Switch!

This game is…considerably darker than either of those series, I should say. I’ve long been familiar with the concept, but this is my first time actually experiencing the series for myself. The class trials are really fun, though usually a little too easy (even on Mean difficulty). I’m currently going into the third chapter.

The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve on Switch for me! I’m now on Episode 4: Twisted Karma and His Last Bow. Quite a lengthy case, if I remember correctly. But I can’t think of a better way to close out my summer break!

Having just beaten the first Great Ace Attorney last night, I’ll be starting on The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve on Switch this weekend. I remember that one quite well: it’s one of the most elaborate stories in the series, and I remember the last trial in particular as being quite the gauntlet. Looking forward to seeing Ryunosuke and Sholmes work together once more!

…Oh yeah, and this is actually the most recent installment in the Ace Attorney franchise, despite being over seven years old now. Oh where, oh where has my Ace Attorney gone?

Planning on getting Emio since I recently played and enjoyed the other two FDC games. And then there’s the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection just a week after that…not to mention Mario & Luigi in November…

This year really is stacked for Switch.

I’ll probably be returning to The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures this weekend. I’ve been progressing through it pretty slowly—after six Ace Attorney games back-to-back, the burnout gets to you—but I’m still having a fun time revisiting it. I’m on Episode 3: The Adventures of the Runaway Room…and man, I remember this trial was wild. Probably one of the most insane plot twists in the franchise…

Might play some other games, too. Revisiting EarthBound Beginnings has been fun, and no matter how many times I play it, it never seems to get old. Might also revisit Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and brush up on my fighting skills, now that I have all the spirits.

This past week I beat both Famicom Detective Club games for the first time. They aren’t long, and not nearly as interactive as Ace Attorney, but the stories are really engaging and they’re absolutely worth playing for visual novel fans. Looking forward to playing Emio next month!

But now that that’s over, it’s back to Ace Attorney with The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures on Switch. I’m currently on Episode 2: The Adventure of the Unbreakable Speckled Band. Looking forward to the Dances of Deduction with Sholmes and Ryunosuke…whoever thought of that was a true genius.

@Yosher The last four spirits (the Mario Wonder and Princess Peach: Showtime spirits from the event in March) haven’t been added back yet. All the others are now available permanently, though.

These were the last ones I needed! Now, finally, I have all 1528 spirits in the game!

I’ll be wrapping up Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice first. I’ve already beaten the main story and am currently playing the special episode, Turnabout Time Traveler. It’s certainly one of the most unique entries in the series, particularly because of the Khura’in trials and, well, the “legal revolution” plotline. Honestly, that last case in particular is super exhausting, even on a second playthrough. But the special episode is a pretty fun one this time, being the first case with Phoenix and Maya investigating together since Trials and Tribulations.

I’ll probably take a little break from Ace Attorney after the current case. I was going to replay the Great Ace Attorney games, but instead I’ll probably play something new with Famicom Detective Club: The Missing Heir. Not really sure what to expect from that one, though from what I know it has a similar gameplay loop to Ace Attorney’s investigation phases.

Sakurai’s right, in most cases. All games need a hook, and there’s no better hook than an exciting action scene right at the beginning. How We Got Here intros are really effective for story-driven games in my experience; throwing the player into the climax with no context definitely makes players eager to get that context.

Huge Ace Attorney fan here, and I’ve been wanting to take this series for a spin for quite some time. This announcement finally made me take the plunge and get the FDC collection on Switch. Can’t wait to try it out!

This isn’t really news. The trailer already showed that Link was playable at the beginning of the game. A character-switching aspect is certainly possible, but the ESRB rating could just as easily have been referring to the game’s first level.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies on Switch. It’s one of my favorite games in the series, and this one has been fun to revisit so far. Turnabout Academy in particular was always the highlight for me, mostly due to its stupidly high level of melodrama. Everyone needs that kind of thing every once in a while…

I’m currently on Episode 5: Turnabout for Tomorrow. It’s a very climactic final episode, which I suppose is par for the course for the series. It begins with the kind of unexpected twist that rivals the one in Justice For All. Oh, to play these games for the first time again…

Oh yeah, the Densetsu no Starfy GBA trilogy is on Switch now, right? I suppose now’s as good a time as any to check them out, now that I own the whole series. The language barrier makes it a little tricky to figure out, but I suppose that’s what translator apps are for.

Very happy to hear this! The lack of translation is a bit of a bummer but not really surprising. I’m just glad they acknowledged the series in the West at all.

I was a big fan of Starfy 5 on DS (the one that was translated). I have Starfy 4 as well, though I never finished it. Might be time to revisit it now that I can play the whole series. They are platformers, so they should be enjoyable untranslated, even if the dialogue and much of the story will be lost.

Tose…haven’t really heard much about them lately. It’s good to know they’re still going strong with game development, though it’s always a shame to hear about canceled projects.

Speaking of canceled projects, I miss Starfy. That’s the series I know them best for, anyway. I suppose at this point we’re not getting a new one, nor are we getting English localizations for the first four. It would be pretty cool if they did, though…such a colorful and unique series.

Currently playing through Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney once more on Switch. It’s a unique entry in the series, having a very different tone from the others. Hobo Phoenix was always the highlight for me…such an unexpected direction for his character, but it works brilliantly. Just starting Episode 4: Turnabout Succession.

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

So with the upcoming, long-awaited English translation of Ace Attorney Investigations 2, I figured I’d go back and replay the six main Ace Attorney games from the beginning, starting with the original Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney on Switch. I’m currently on episode 5, Rise from the Ashes, on the second trial day. Even though I know all the twists and turns from when I played the games last year, reexperiencing these cases is still a blast. Some logic jumps are still a little obtuse, but for the most part, the writing is as brilliant as I remember. (Ace Attorney 7 when?)

I am also still playing through Super Mario RPG on Switch, and I currently have four Star Pieces. The game seems to be a lot shorter than I remember, but the gameplay is still awesome and I love the Triple Moves. Though I’ve always been partial to the Mario & Luigi series, it would be cool to get another game that follows this formula more closely.

For the record: Nintendo of America affirmed on X/Twitter after the Direct that Metroid Prime 4 is indeed coming to Switch. Source: https://x.com/NintendoAmerica/status/1803076685723550204

Certainly, it’s still possible they might pull a BotW and do a dual Switch/Switch 2 release. But the game is definitely coming to Switch, just as was announced back in 2017.

I’ll 100% be getting this. I’ve played the fan translation but I’m so excited to finally play the game officially in English! The fan translation had good character names but I’m quite fond of Eddie Fender, Eustace Winner and Verity Gavèlle, myself. Maybe we’ll actually see some of these characters in AA7? It can’t be too far off…

Mario & Luigi: Brothership and Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor’s Gambit made this at least a 9 for me. Never expected to see either one.

I’ll be playing Super Mario RPG on Switch. I’ve played the SNES version once before on Wii U, but it’s been quite a few years since then. It’s fun and unique; there isn’t really another game quite like it, even though it spawned no shortage of sequels. Currently have two Star Pieces and a party of Mario, Mallow and Geno. The remake’s pretty faithful to the original from what I remember, though as I said, it has been a while.

I’ll probably be playing some Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, too; still the go-to multiplayer game, and Squad Strike (Tag Team) is still king for duels. BTW, spirits 1514 through 1517 (the spirits from the first 2024 event) are now available on the Spirit Board; go grab ‘em if you haven’t already!

I’ll be continuing in Mother 3 this week. Currently in Chapter 7. Three out of seven Needles have been pulled. Did some level grinding so I could get Healing γ (at long last!), so now Lucas is level 39. The first time I played this game, I had no idea PK Ground even existed, so I’m hoping to learn that by the end of the game, too.

I’ll also be playing more Tomodachi Life. I’ve already “beaten” the game in that I’ve gotten a couple married with a baby who grew up and became a traveler, but it’s still entertaining to watch the dynamics between everyone else play out. Paula from EarthBound is dating Peter Pan…a very unexpected twist!

Just finished EarthBound again last night. The last few hours of the game were just as chillingly beautiful as I remembered. I also explored the postgame a little more than before…biking in Deep Darkness is still a highlight. Kept my old Baseball Cap from Magicant so I could put that back on at the end, too (yeah, ik it’s just a weak defense item but idc). I believe Ness was level 89 by the end, at least partly due to my Sword of Kings grind in Stonehenge (which was grueling, but still worth it). Still a very special game…and quite possibly my favorite of all time. That’s saying a lot, because Beginnings and Mother 3 are really special, too.

And speaking of Mother 3, it’s that game’s turn now! It’s very different from Beginnings and EarthBound in setting and tone, but it remains another shining masterpiece from Itoi, and I’m looking forward to crying at the ending all over again.

Aside from that, I’ll be checking in on my island in Tomodachi Life. So far, I’ve married Maya Fey from Ace Attorney, and Nate Adams from Yo-kai Watch has successfully brought together Mario and Peach as well as Ninten and Ana from EarthBound Beginnings. Peach is best friends with Katie Forester, Phoenix Wright has an opera solo about tough cases and Peter Pan is watching all this unfold as he remains 12 years old forever. Only Tomodachi Life, y’all.

Back to EarthBound for me. Currently in Threed, shortly after meeting Jeff and trapping the zombies. Currently have the melodies of Giant Step and Lilliput Steps. Still a great game, even on my second playthrough.

Also recently started Tomodachi Life. Have some bizarre VG universe crossovers going on here. It’s a lot more fun than I thought it’d be. It’s not just a shipping game…though that is part of it…

I replayed EarthBound Beginnings this past week. I still love the game, and I enjoyed this playthrough perhaps even more than my last. Sure, it’s a little rough around the edges, but it’s very memorable and the character dance sequences are still a highlight. Anyway, now I’m replaying its (much more popular) sequel EarthBound. Currently in Twoson and it is once again very easy to see why I and many others love it so much.

I’ll also be playing Yo-kai Watch 2 in an attempt to complete the Medallium. Setting up multiple save files on multiple systems in order to trade by yourself is a hassle, but I’ve done most of the work.

Yo-kai Watch 3 on 3DS once again. Currently trying to finish Blasters T, since so many quests are locked behind it (including the Whisper quest I was trying to unlock last week). It’s…tedious, but not terrible, I suppose. I’ve beaten the first dungeon (the keyhole); only four more to go!

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

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

Spent the final hours playing Mario Maker. Kept playing for half an hour after the closure and it still worked, but when I rebooted the game, it was gone.

Rest in peace, Nintendo Network. You had a great run.

Yo-kai Watch 4 (Switch) - I’m now in the final chapter, just past the Five Trials. Have I mentioned how wild the story has become by this point? I guess I can’t say much more without spoiling anything, but they really have gone to great lengths to expand the series’ lore. (Instead, I’ll talk about how you can take child Nate and Katie to their adult counterparts. They seem to think they’re hallucinating, which seems odd, because wouldn’t they remember time traveling as kids? But I digress…)

Super Mario Maker 1 (Wii U) - And we’re in the final weekend now! Only 2 days and 7 hours remain! Going to have to get serious about that costume grind. I know I won’t get them all, but I’d like to get as many as possible! I’m pretty doubtful at this point that I’ll beat Super Expert by the shutdown, but I’ll certainly keep trying…

I’ve got the same two games as last week to play this weekend:

Yo-kai Watch 4 - Now in Chapter 8 (of 10). I haven’t progressed a whole lot since last week, but I’m still very eager to press on. Didn’t take long for a simple time travel story to turn into demon possession and ominous visions and prophecies. Ooooooooh…

Super Mario Maker 1 - 100 Mario Challenge, before it disappears. Most of my progress has been made trying (and failing) to win Super Expert, but I’m getting better! Even still, nine days might not be enough time if I want the Normal costumes as well. I really hope Pretendo is ready for public release soon…

At first I thought this was Nintendo shutting down online play earlier than scheduled. Glad to see we still have 12 more days…

Now to grind 100 Mario Challenge costumes until it’s gone.

@RareFan I can see where you’re coming from, especially with Sonic when we’ve already had a mainline remake so recently and another one on the horizon. In general, I think ports and remakes are an important part of game preservation, but…Sonic Heroes is pretty well preserved, honestly. And really, most Sonic games are.

Gonna have to go with Europe here. Definitely captures the essence of the game best, what with the dinosaur and the car, and there’s something about Maxwell taking in the sights of the game world that gets to me.

Yo-kai Watch 4: Now on Chapter 7. I won’t spoil anything, but…Chapter 5 was pretty much my dream come true as far as this series goes, lol. It probably would have happened eventually, but I didn’t quite expect that. Well…okay, I’ll spill. Katie got the watch! Katie got the watch! Canonically! …That aside, this plot is definitely a little darker than previous games, and you can tell how much this series’ plot lines have evolved from the first game. It’s unfolding pretty quickly at this point, too… Definitely curious to see how it ends! (Until they make a Yo-kai Watch 5, that is…)

I’m also revisiting Super Mario Maker 1, a game that is quickly rising on my priority list, since Nintendo Network Doomsday is unfortunately only 16 days away. I have so many Mystery Mushroom costumes left! Not to mention I still need to beat Super Expert 100 Mario for the first time. I won’t get them all; I know that. But I’d like to get as many as I can. If I can grab Dedede, Meta Knight and Lucas before the shutdown, I’ll die a happy man. (Until Pretendo, that is…)

@RupeeClock Ah. I still don’t really understand TAS and wasn’t really aware it could be done on real hardware in the first place, so thanks for the clarification.

@MeloMan Basically the level was disqualified from Team 0%’s goal because the original creator beat it with TAS, and thus never legitimately passed the upload check. In other words, if he hadn’t hacked, the course would never have been uploaded to Nintendo’s servers.

Been looking forward to this; I’ll enjoy what is likely Ultimate’s last Spirit Event! I’m also waiting for the spirits from the last three events to enter normal circulation so I can complete the Spirit List for real. (I’ve got 1513 spirits…so close, but I need these, too!)

@WiiWareWave This will continue to be possible “for the foreseeable future”: https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/63227/~/announcement-of-discontinuation-of-online-services-for-nintendo-3ds-and-wii-u

For the record: this level is almost certainly possible in theory. Pros have beaten the different parts of the level individually; here’s a video of someone beating its second half: https://x.com/LilKirbs14/status/1769220736835875108?s=20

There’s really no evidence to assert foul play on the creator’s part. It’s just a matter of having a player replicate all those feats in a single run. It’s also worth noting that the level was originally created as part of a kaizo contest, so that might explain some of the drive and persistence to beat it that the original creator must have had.

So I’ve finished Mother 3, and, by extension, the EarthBound trilogy. I’ll admit I was somewhat spoiled on the “big twist” thanks to Smash Bros., but the ending still hit me hard. I certainly was not expecting that.

Why they won’t localize that game is beyond me. But now that I’ve beaten it, it’s time to go back to a certain series I played through late last year. I finished the three Yo-kai Watch games on 3DS, and then I went on to play the Japan-only Yo-kai Watch 4 on Switch. I eventually dropped it during the third chapter, though, since it was hard to really enjoy the game using Google Lens on every piece of dialogue, to often mixed results. But I’ll be giving it another go, this time with a work-in-progress English fan translation. It’s still a little rough and some sidequests aren’t translated yet, but more than enough is translated for me to enjoy the main story.

This time, I’ve made it to the fifth chapter. So far, our good friend Nate has met his future daughter and her friends and traveled with them across three different eras. How much of this does Nate still remember in the future? Why do the Yo-kai look so different 30 years later? Why is it always winter in the past? Is this story going to have Nate manipulating the rules of time travel like he did in Yo-kai Watch 2? So many questions…

Springdale’s more fun to explore than ever this time around, being in full 3D this time. The story’s tone has shifted significantly from the series’ early days, and there seem to be many characters from and allusions to multiple Japan-only spin-off movies and series I’ve never seen. So it’s fairly clear why they never localized this one (even though they originally said they would; I’m still waiting…), but honestly, I’m not totally lost not knowing this stuff because Nate doesn’t know any of it, either.

(DISCLAIMER: This is a relatively new game still in print. I have a Japanese cartridge, and so should you if you intend to go this route with the fan translation. Please support the developers!)

Paper Mario: Sticker Star.

Change my mind.