GregamanX

I just got Splatoon 3 for my birthday, so I may crack into the single player first this weekend. I also just picked up Lil' Gator Game, so I may also crack into that for some Short Hike vibes. I need a relaxing game after pulling my hair out with Neon White over the last week. Reviews apparently usually skimp over the fact that this game gets brutally hard in it's second half, leading me to believe many of them never got that far. It's a completely different beast and loses that smooth momentum and addictive nature of it's first half. The developers just got way too carried away. It's still good, and I may finish it eventually, but my nerves are shot and i need to play something else right now.

This was the announcement that excited me the most, and I already own the game on DS. It's one of my favourite stories in all of gaming, and the gameplay is awesome to boot. It's an underselling classic, and I would encourage anyone to give it a shot.

I'm gonna guess a new Yoshi game announcement. I think they often throw out Yoshi games either near the end of console life cycles or during a dry spell where they need something to fill out the year with. Oh, a Wooly World port. That's a pretty solid guess to make, right?

That's frustrating to hear. I absolutely would have loved that, as Starfox 64 is my favourite entry and the puppet aesthetic sounds hilarious. Seriously, how does Retro Studios get paid for never releasing anything over a decade?

After beating Xenoblade Chronicles 3 last weekend (one of the best RPGs I've ever played), I now need something shorter and faster paced. I started Neon White last night and it really fits the bill. Its incredibly fun to speedrun stages over and over. It always encourages the player to try again and find the optimal route, and it's just plain addictive because of it. I'll definitely be playing more of it this weekend.

I'll be wrapping up Xenoblade Chronicles 3 this weekend. I'm right before the final boss and I've clocked in 67 hours since January 1st. Its quickly become one of my favourite RPGs of all time and has even surpassed Xenoblade 1, which I didn't think was possible. If I have any spare time aside from that, I may start up Neon White next.

Plenty of more Xenoblade 3 for me! Its quickly becoming my favorite entry in the series. I've played about 45 hours and I'm absolutely hooked!

It's still a 10/10 game for me, and I prefer it to P5 (although P5 is still really good). Oddly though, I still prefer the vanilla version on PS2, as I really liked Chie and Teddy's original voice actors. Still, I'll probably pick this up if it goes physical at some point. I could totally see a P3/P4 double pack being released someday.

More Xenoblade Chronicles 3 for me. I've already put 25 hours into the game since January 1st, and it has me utterly hooked. So any moment I get to play it this weekend is how I will be spending my time.

Having just finished Tiny Tina's Wonderlands on the PS4 with my wife (super fun game that they should totally bring to Switch), that frees up more time for me to dip into Xenoblade 3. I'm about 10 hours into it, and I certainly like it much more than 2, but still not as much as 1 (or even X for that matter). The story is the biggest hook for me as I really love the concept.

With having gotten Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and Shin Megami Tensei V for Christmas, I'm going to make the daunting choice of which 100 hour RPG to start first. I think I'll go with Xenoblade Chronicles 3 today, to ring in the new year. I'm hoping it's closer to 1 than 2, but I'm sure I'll enjoy it regardless.

That's awesome to hear since I caved and bought my daughter the green hill zone set for Christmas. We were building it yesterday and having a blast, so I know she's going to be very hyped when I tell her this news.

I very much agree with Windjammers 2. I waited out on my physical copy from Limited Run Games, and I've had a blast playing matches with my wife. It's a real short, but sweetly intense multiplayer title.

Also, not mentioned in the article, but the Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series is an absolute gem on a platforming series that truly deserves to shine.

I'll be playing Klonoa 2 on my Switch, and if this Ontario storm calms down, I would like to play some more Tiny Tina's Wonderlands with my wife on my PS4 (I'm afraid of getting a power outage while it's autosaving and getting a corrupted save or something, so I'll just wait if conditions don't improve). I'm more in anticipation to play something that I may get on Christmas. There's a decent chance that Xenoblade 3 is under my tree waiting for me.

I'm going to be guessing Ys 7 and Celceta will be the ones to make the jump to Switch afterwards. That's the order of release after Felghana, so it seems like the logical step-by-step approach to me.

I'm really excited for this one. I played it back on it's release and I loved it. I'm not even a fan of RTS, but it's gameplay was straightforward enough to understand. It does lack visual variety in the gameplay department compared to Odin Sphere, Muramasa and Dragon's Crown. But i think of this one like 13 Sentinels. Sure, the battles arent as visually appealing, but they are interesting and the mechanics are solid. But what really sold the game for me was the story and characters. It's like a mix of Harry Potter and time travel. I know I'll be picking this one up again.

My wife and I have been addicted to playing Tiny Tina's Wonderlands on the PS4 lately, so definitely more of that. We got it on a black Friday sale for $30 CAN and it's been worth every penny. I'll also have the house to myself for a bit at one point, so I may try to wrap up Chicory, or possibly play some more from my Klonoa collection.

I'll definitely get Oath in Felghana again, as it's one of my favourite Ys titles, but X would really have to step it up to get a purchase from me, because IX's performance was so bad on the Switch that I couldn't stand it, and traded it in only after 2 days.

@darkswabber That's awesome to see someone doing a Games Beaten List Since (a certain year). I started mine at the beginning of 2009 (I got to my 700th game beaten this year), and it really kept me focused on clearing out my backlog. Congrats on pretty much hitting 200! Persona 5 is a good choice, but itll probably take quite awhile, so don't be surprised if you beat something shorter before it 😅.

I ended up beating Rogue Legacy 2 last weekend (it was good, but I prefer the original, as the sequel is basically impossible to beat without House Rules, unless I want to be grinding for the next 100 hours). If I get some time this weekend, I'll be playing the Cuphead DLC, or possibly some more Klonoa.

I would totally buy a port of it. I absolutely loved it on the 3DS (I never minded the controls much. I just propped a pillow under the stand and it was fine in play sessions under an hour). But some cleaner visuals and better controls would definitely make it more of a hit.

A big one left out on here is Persona 5 Royal, which is now 50% off. It's a good thing I got curious and looked at the rest of the sales. I bought it for my wife as a Christmas present at Best Buy a few weeks ago. Once I saw it was on the eshop sale, I looked on Best Buy and it was on sale there too. Just got a price adjustment and saved myself $45 Canadian.

EDIT: I just looked on the eshop, and digitally, it turns out it's 25% off, but physically in Best Buy, it's going for 50% off for the Black Friday sale.

@CJD87 I think both Rogue Legacy 1 and 2 are pretty much right up there with Dead Cells and Hades. Dead Cells is my favourite roguelite, and I'm more of a fan of RL than Hades (I still think Hades is great though). Rogue Legacy is sillier in theme and has a bit more randomness than the other two, but it's incredibly addictive in the same sense, and always gives me that "just one more run" feel to it. One other thing that I appreciate RL2 adds is the addition of House Rules in its options, so you can tailor it to be as challenging or relaxing as you would like it to be.

More Rogue Legacy 2 for me. The game is extremely addictive, but when reviews said that they could beat in 10 hours on their first try, it feels like BS. Those bosses are HARD, and some of the hidden abilities required for progression to new areas are obscure. I'm currently trying to take down that third boss, and I feel that reviewers must have activated House rules to get an edge over the bosses so quickly (spending gold for upgrades is a slower process than RL1, so you don't get stronger so fast). Ive played well over 10 hours, I'm not even halfway through, and I've had a lot of experience with RL1, so it's not like I'm going in completely blind. Still, despite all this, I'm really enjoying myself and am finding the game hard to put down.

Rogue Legacy 2 for me. The first game has been in my Top 40 games for ages, and the sequel hits all the right notes. It's an incredibly fun game to play on a moment-to-moment basis, and everytime I fail a run I just want to dive right back in.

This is amazing news! Rogue Legacy has always been in my Top 30 or so games, and I've always wanted to play the sequel. Coincidentally, I happened to finish another playthrough of the original around 3 weeks ago. I'll definitely be picking this one up later today.

Holy crap, one of my favourite games ever! I would definitely buy it again on Switch. More people need to play the game, at the very least for the awesome dog in it.

Mine is the first time you encounter a zombie in the original Resident Evil. I hadn't really been exposed to any zombie media before that point, but seeing the cutscene with it eating the guy and having it meander towards me...I remember panicking and shutting the PS1 off before it could kill me, and promptly returning it to the rental store 😅. I did return weeks later to face my fears and even ended up finishing the game. But that's probably the most freaked out I've been in a game (other than the re-dead popping out of a coffin in The Wind Waker, taking me by complete surprise in an otherwise wholesome game).

I'll probably put it out there as a possible Christmas gift for me. Seems pretty fun, but I don't need to play it this second. I really enjoyed Bayonetta 1 and 2 though, so I imagine that I'll be playing it at some point.

@Teksetter I actually beat Downwell on my phone, believe it or not. There's even an option to make the buttons invisible, which helped a lot in seeing what was below me. I'm also normally opposed to playing high adrenaline games during work breaks, but with Downwell, I found the more I got into it, the more I could relax in a zen-like state. One more thing I would like to mention is to become very observant of enemy types and really lock down strategies to defeat them, and to also know when to dodge them and get down the well faster if it looks like you can't possibly get above them to attack. I'm not sure if you made it to the end, but its important to build up and conserve health for the final boss. It's got 4 phases, a lot of moves, and the environment shifts between the 4 world types you go through. At first it seems utterly impossible, but with enough time, I started to find it somewhat manageable. I would give more tips, but I'm not sure if its something you would be seriously interested in taking on. It took a lot of dedication and persistence. Months worth. But for me, it resulted in one of the most satisfying things I've done gaming-wise, not just because of the challenge, but because I love them game so much.

And yes, I would like to beat Spelunky someday and maybe try the sequel. It's got awesome mechanics. It's just that I suck at it (for now).

@Teksetter The floaty style is what I also used. I think the biggest thing that helped me was the tips i got online. Learning how to increase my max hp properly, how to combo and keep my gem high going at a good pace (apparently keeping your gem high makes your guns more powerful), prioritizing what upgrades are most important (knife and fork allows you to gain a point of HP for every 10 enemies consumed, the gem popper that sends bullets upward when you collect gems will protect you in later stages), not grabbing every weapon upgrade as some weapons like noppy are terrible and will cause you to get hit more often (machine gun and burst are great, and laser is the best one that you'll want to keep). There are a multitude of helpful tips out there, but aside from practice, it really helps to use it on a portable platform and play during work breaks of you can. It all adds up over time. But I can understand if it feels overwhelming. Some games are like that to me. I dont think I'll ever beat Spelunky. But you know what? Maybe I'll try that as my next project during work breaks. Haha.

@Teksetter Thanks! Although I'm almost 39 years old, so it's definitely possible. I couldn't beat it years ago because I always had so many games on my plate to play. However, I did play it over work breaks over the course of months to make it happen. If you have the opportunity to do so, it's worth a shot. It just takes a lot of practice, persistence, and getting some helpful tips online makes a world of difference.

Before getting to what I'm playing, I've got to note what I recently beat this week: Downwell. One of the hardest games I've ever beaten, but also one of the most satisfying ones. It really is a masterpiece in game design to keep such a level of fun going, even when I have to replay the game seemingly hundreds of times over.

I'm not sure how much I'll be playing this weekend, but I've still got Chicory: A Colorful Tale to play through, but its losing steam. Usually the best I get through is one chapter every once in a blue moon. Maybe I'll get through another this weekend.

@BongoBongo I actually just beat the final boss today, with only 1 HP remaining! It's probably the most satisfying victory I've ever had. It took months of practice, but it paid off (I played it on and off for years, but I really buckled down over the last couple of months).

Why wasn't there an option for having played it, but hated it? I love metroidvanias. It's one of my favourite genres and I've even beat stuff as hard as Hollow Knight. But good lord, I got so frustrated and rage quit the thing. It was no fun at all for me. Which is a shame because Wayforward x metroidvania seemed like a perfect combination.

@AmplifyMJ Ill give it a shot. I had to look up a bunch of tips to make progress myself. Overall tips are to focus on not getting hit and buying HP items to increase your max HP whenever possible. Buying extra charge every now and then helps for the bigger weapons. Grabbing weapons in the caves will give you an extra HP or charge as well, but only switch for weapons you'll be comfortable using, or you'll just waste more HP (my go to's are laser, burst, machine gun and sometimes shotgun if I have enough charge).

For upgrades, knife and fork is essential. When you defeat enemies, if you can land on their corpses before they disappear, itll go towards getting you an extra HP. I think you need to consume 10 enemy bodies to refill a hit point (or getting 1 block out of 4 in the bar below your health bar towards increasing your max HP). When you get used to it, it's one of the most useful ways to get back HP, or to increase it. The upgrades that magnetized gems, fuel your jet boots with gems and the one that pops bullets up when you get gems are essential (the latter will be very useful in the water stage and the following stage). The water stage is still pretty tricky to me. The most dangerous thing to take note of is if you wont defeat squids, they will divebomb you from the top of the screen once you scroll down. In the 3rd water stage, I mostly lose health to the red guys that track you. I dont have a good strategy for them, other than hoping I get them before they chase me.

Also, the laser is essential. By stage 3, I think it's the most useful weapon of all since it cuts through everything.

I haven't been playing much on the weekends, but I have had one obsession that I play on my breaks during the workweek - Downwell. Its something I keep returning to over and over, and I've been getting better and better over the weeks. This week I've been reaching the final boss relatively consistently, but it keeps destroying me since it's the point I tend to panic on (and its 4 phases long). My best was making it to the third phase, and i refuse to give up. The game is TOUGH, but it's also a masterpiece in game design that keeps me coming back for more.

I've said it myself that Zelda should be taken on by Ghibli. Although I think Splatoon should be taken by some over-the-top type of studio, like Studio Trigger. That would be pretty epic.

I kind of wish I could choose 3 choices on this poll. I went for Dire Dire Docks, but I would also vote for Valak Mountain Night theme (Xenoblade) and Phendrana Drifts (Metroid Prime). And one that's not on this list that I would include is Hyrule Field from Ocarina of Time.

Really good list here (especially with including Night in the Woods). The only area I would have added to this is the Harvest world in New Super Lucky's Tale. Awesome autumn atmosphere there.

They should have just hired the Linda voice actor to voice Mario. It would have been cheaper, it would have sounded similar, but at least that voice actor can emote more.

The comparison must be spot on, because without looking at social media or comments at all, after watching the trailer, I said to my wife that Mario reminded me of Fix It Felix. I'm happy to be validated.

I've been playing a ton of Wii Bowling with my daughter lately. Last night for the first time, I bowled a near-perfect game. I got strikes for all but two frames, so I think I had something like 276 or 278 at the end. I found a perfect place to stand, aim, and I was throwing very consistently. She also got 6 strikes that game. All in all, a good time. I'm also having a buddy and his girlfriend over this weekend, so I'm sure we'll nerd out in the basement and play some pool and arcades at some point. I'm not really gaming myself lately. When I do, it's more of a social thing.

I also want to get into Tunic at some point, but if anyone can answer me, I have an important question. Is it similar to Death's Door? Because I HATED that game. The combat got so incredibly frustrating for me, that I don't think I have it in me to go through something like that again.

If anything, itll probably be some Klonoa, but I also need to finish Chicory, so I may squeeze another chapter in if I have the time.

My daughter is watching me play through Klonoa: Door to Phantomile from our physical copy of the Phantasy Reverie series. It's always been one of my all time favourite games, so it's nice to be able to share it in some capacity with her.

What I would really like to see at this point is Oracle of Ages and Seasons done in the Link's Awakening remake style. But it's more likely Wind Waker and Twilight Princess will be released. The only other thing I'm predicting we will get (maybe not this direct, but certainly in the next year) is a new Yoshi game. I feel like Yoshi games are usually releases not too far from Kirby games, so I guess we'll see.

I'm not sure if I'll be playing anything, but if I do, I just received my physical copy of Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series in the mail, so I would very much like to crack into that. Klonoa is one of my favourite series of all time.

I've beaten Super Meat Boy (including hard content like the Dark Cotton Alley World), Cyber Shadow, Dead Cells, DKC Tropical Freeze, Hollow Knight, Cuphead, Mario 3D World (on Wii U) and Celeste on this list. I definitely know there are some other games which I found super hard, like Battle Chef Brigade, The Binding of Isaac, Hyperlight Drifter, The End is Nigh, Katana Zero and Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair.

Due to manga reading being my primary hobby lately over the last 4 or 5 months, I haven't been playing many games over the weekend, but I have been playing some stuff on breaks at work. I finished a replay of Steamworld Dig 2 and it still remains an absolutely incredible game all these years later. I'm now replaying Joe Danger on my Vita, and while this may be a Nintendo site, the relevance I would like to add is that this game NEEDS to come to Switch. I appreciate that The Last Campfire came to the platform, but the fun, bright, accessible nature of Joe Danger would be a perfect fit for the Switch.

As long as they don't have any more GUAVA JUICE LEVELS, it could be decent. I did love most of the original, but those levels were impossible for me to do in co-op. They just got WAY too carried away. Actually, I may have had enough of this game the first time around.