JasmineDragon

@NintendoWife I had the same experience, back in the Nineties I worked on some TV shows that had freaking fantastic musical guests and they weren't even considering saving the recordings of the music. In some cases, the sound guys made their own private recordings (which is highly against the rules) and those are literally the only record of some truly legendary jams that I would give an eye to have on CD these days.

Things were very different before we had virtually unlimited cloud storage for everything (although for all I know they might still not record these things due to legal issues with performance vs. recording rights).

@steventonysmith I would definitely buy Super Mario Bros Crypt of the Necrodancer.

Now I want to play some Cadence. BRB

@FishyS I'm the same. I like it, it's insanely well crafted, but it's horribly frustrating to me because I get utterly lost and also have no clue how to beat even the first boss.

I'm glad I tried it, but it's definitely not my game.

I will give it another shot for Backlog Club, but I can't promise I'll stick with it.

As an old-ish parent, I have to say Hades is the absolute top "older Dad" in video games. He might be hard to love, and yes he unleashes a whole army of mythical monsters on his son, but damn I feel him.

And let's be honest, if you haven't wanted to unleash a whole army of mythical monsters on your kids from time to time, you clearly are not a parent.

@Themagusx1 I've never finished one yet. Started three or four times, but every time I either run out of patience or have unsurmountable problems with the pattern. This is the first time I'm close to the finish line. So this is my personal challenge, I'm finishing this one if it kills me.

@Themagusx1 Thanks, it's nice to hear that people appreciate me "crossing the streams". I love gaming and fiber crafts equally, and a typical weekend is gaming for an hour, then crocheting for an hour, until I'm forced to do housework or some other adulting.

I do blankets, too. They are fun to do but take forever to finish, so I almost always take breaks to do other projects while I'm doing them. I'm about halfway through a granny square afghan right now, but it's on hold until I finish my cardigan.

I'm around 10 hours into Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk and enjoying it immensely. That will be my main focus for a while.

When I'm ready for a break from Labyrinth, I've been craving some simple "fly forward and shoot everything" action and will probably dip into Cotton Fantasy and/or Raiden IV: Mikado Remix.

I'll probably also spend some time with Ring Fit Adventure over the long weekend, trying to whip my body into some kind of shape before I hit the beach at all this summer.

Elsewhere, I'm on the last bits of the cardigan I'm crocheting. Just a few more rows of a sleeve to finish, then assembly and detailing. It's exciting to me, even though it's an EXTREMELY basic cardi, because even though I've been crocheting and knitting since the Nineties I've never finished a sweater, so it will be a major achievement.

EA is the living embodiment of Hello, fellow kids!

Really solid Direct for me, with a ton of stuff I'm interested in, but this year was already overloaded for me. I'm at the point where I'm definitely going to skip some absolutely great games because there's no point in buying them - I just don't have enough time to dedicate to them. So from my point of view, it would have been okay if there were only one or two good games in the Direct.

There are a few that stand out, though.

Harvestella looks like one to preorder a special edition - a brand new IP combining two of my favorite genres, with the polish of a AAA Square Enix game? I'm definitely down for that.

Mario+Rabbids - what can I say? The first game is phenomenal, I expect no less from this one, especially after the anmouncement of three dynamite VGM composers participating on the music end of things.

Nier Automata has been on my watch list for years and I'm thrilled to be able to play it on my favorite platform, even if the graphics get an inevitable downgrade. I've been this close to buying it on Steam recently, but the fact is I play a lot more on the Switch.

Doraemon SOS sounds marvelous, wink wink. I still haven't played the first one, though, so we'll see how I feel when this comes out.

It's hard for me to get excited about Persona after hearing so many people whining about it for so long. It just feels like it's been massively overhyped. I don't doubt that the games themselves are good, because SMT is the bomb and I like Atlus games in general, but I'm just sick of hearing Persona Persona Persona all the time. Probably going to at least buy one of them (probably 4) but not really hyped for it right now.

@Olmectron It's Sonic, you gotta judge fast.

@SteamEngenius They did a pretty good job updating this feature for the post-CD world by implementing a song search that does the same thing, and this one also lets you scan transport IC cards - which of course does nothing for people outside of Japan, but I imagine it's pretty cool for Japanese people.

I miss CDs too (I'm actually still buying them, fossil that I am) but that weird magic is still in Monster Rancher in a slightly different form.

Well, shoot, what will we whine incessantly about now?

Looks like RF and Atelier's love child. I'm down. I just hope there's a little more crafting than what they're showing. This is a sizzle reel, so hopefully the following trailers show off cooking, farming and crafting in greater depth. But it looks fantastic.

I was massively disappointed with RF5. This could fill that void.

I love the theremin. It's the instrument that almost no science fiction movies ever used but almost all of them wanted the sound of, so they used other electronics and instruments to duplicate it. This would have been more than a little odd in Zelda, though.

@SteamEngenius It doesn't take place in America.

You never know with Nintendo, but I think the time is right. Personally hoping for some Bayonetta news and maybe something brand new. Feels like it's been a while since Nintendo surprised us with a new IP.

What I DON'T want is 40 minutes of BOTW2 footage. Game is coming, we're all going to buy it. I'd rather not spend the next six months being inundated with details about it.

@nhSnork I keep meaning to ask, do you actually play all the games on your list every week? There are close to 40 games on that list. On a totally gaming-dedicated day (which is a rarity for me) I can only play maybe four or five games. How do you even do this?

Every time I read your WAYPTW, my mind is picturing a person playing on a Vita in the left hand, a Switch in the right hand, a laptop open on the coffee table and something else playing on a PS5 at the same time.

I'm honestly not sure this matters to me. I've been watching movies with terrible lip syncing since the Seventies, it never crossed my mind to judge a video game by the quality of its lip syncing.

Currently I'm getting into Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk, which is excellent. I'm also working out with Ring Fit Adventure, working my way towards Level 300.

Not a lot of gaming time this weekend as I'm also trying to finish my sweater (working on the second sleeve now), doing some research for work, going to Pride tomorrow, and getting everything ready for our next big adventure. In one month my wife and I are going to Peru, and we still have a few details to iron out.

YEEEESSS I wanted some Off the Hook in S3!

Very nice additions to a great game. Anything that opens up gaming to more people gets a 👍from me. I still dip into Dead Cells once in a while and still haven't seen half the zones in the game, not because of accessibility but just because I suck at it, but it's great fun every time.

Shout out to Metal Max Xeno Reborn, which has a Shiba Inu that rides on top of your tank like a big fluffy hood ornament and can be armed with big honking guns.

And to Kitaria Fables, where the town guards are all Doberman Pinschers.

I can't believe you didn't go with "those sprites you like are going to come back in style".

In contrast to many here, I'm totally fine with buying the regular game, and then buying DLC later IF I like the game enough. I don't think preannouncing DLC necessarily means they cut content from the main game or made it incomplete. In fact, I'm almost certain that the additional story will NOT be necessary, like the overwhelming majority of DLC thst is already planned out on game release.

It doesn't matter if they announce the DLC before or after the game's launch. Everybody who has an ounce of sense should know to expect DLC by now. I mean, seriously. High-profile video game has DLC, wow what a surprise.

I love Cities: Skylines on the PC. It lives up to the legacy of Simcity but with significant improvements for the modern age and vastly more powerful computers. But I didn't even think about buying it for the Switch, it's a game that needs all the power of a PC or at least PS4 Pro level. My Switch would probably fall to its knees before I hit the first milestone in the game.

Not every game is a good fit for Switch.

@nessisonett Thanks, I'll check it out.

@Dilly-Mick Raises hand

@BloodNinja I'm right there with you. There used to be a few games that were actually Roguelike, and the word meant something. My introduction to the genre was Nethack (which I still think is one of the greatest computer games ever made). It was more or less exactly "Roguelike". But ever since then there have been fewer and fewer games that matched that description, and more and more games that are called Roguelike. Like, I'm sorry kids, but when you call a game Roguelike it really, REALLY needs to be a turn-based, procedurally generated, permadeath dungeon crawler, and preferably a top-down game with RPG elements. When people start calling space shooters and card games Roguelike, the term officially has no meaning.

@KateGray I'll make you a deal, I promise to read all of the article every time if you (NL in general, not you specifically) will stop describing every single game with lushly drawn anime-style graphics as Ghibliesque. I swear there have been days when the home page featured three different games that were all Ghibliesque. And when that happens, that's when you know you've crossed over from "using convenient reference points" to actually lazy writing.

Honestly, this is exactly how people pitch TV shows and books, and a lot of the time it's how fans describe them to eachother. Gene Roddenberry sold Star Trek by describing it as "Wagon Train in space", and I can't tell you how many book series I've heard described as "Harry Potter but..."

It does feel lazy sometimes, but it's a useful way to help someone decide if they might be into the thing you're describing. If I'm trying to explain Shin Megami Tensei to a coworker, I coukd take thirty minutes to talk about the mythology OR I could say "it's basically demonic Pokemon" and make the conversation 29.9 minutes shorter. I like the latter option, especially since my lunch break is only 30 minutes.

These games are very hit or miss for me. I loved the first Hyrule Warriors on 3DS, played it to death. HW:AOC, played like two hours and have no desire to go back to it. Persona Strikers was great fun. But Fate/Extella: the Unbral Star was one of my most hated games on the Switch and is still one of only two Switch games that I traded in.

So it's 50/50 so far for me. And this one looks good and the review makes it sound great, but I don't like those odds for a $60 purchase. I think I'm waiting with this one until I hit a game drought or it goes on sale.

Damn, I was really looking forward to this. Massive disappointment. I guess I can get them on Steam, but this seemed like a perfect game for the Switch.

@AllieKitsune Thank you, I was starting to think I was the only one who remembered Rollerball at this point.

It's honestly a terrible idea for a video game, though. Rollerball wasn't supposed to be a fun sport, it was supposed to be an illustration of the bloodlust of a society that was completely broken.

Oh, wait.

@YANDMAN That was the first thing I thought when I saw the headline. Is this even the same company? Same designers and programmers? If it is, what have they been doing since 2014? Does Treasure pay them salaries to sit around for eight years waiting for someone to decide it's time for another game? Don't they get bored?

Not to rain on anyone's parade, the name Treasure fills me with excitement too. But I really doubt that it's the same people who made the games Treasure is famous for. And if it's not, there's not a lot to be excited about.

Someone who has some knowledge of the situation please tell me I'm wrong. This is one time I'd like to be wrong.

I mean, come on. This is Muhammad Ali vs. me pretending to be Ali when I was five.

I keep forgetting that I own this game, to be honest. I played Episode I and half of II, and haven't gone back to it since. I didn't hate it, but I knew going in that Lego games weren't really my thing (which is weird because I love Lego and video games - and I have a lot of nostalgic love for Star Wars, too).

@HIGHscores85 Lol, gatekeep much?

@Bucket It honestly never crossed my mind that there were other yarnies around in this crowd! I do some knitting, too, but I've been crocheting for much longer and am way better at it. I will continue to post my updates! 🧶

@Bucket Lol, no, I just thought people were probably tired of hearing me mention my non-gaming activities every week!

I'm actually crocheting right now. Working on the sleeves. I haven't made a lot of progress because gaming cuts into my crochet time. The sweater is almost done, but it will probably keep on being almost done for at least a few more weeks.

A little bit of Metal Max Xeno Reborn, a little Mary Skelter 2, some Cotton Fantasy and maybe Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk later on. I've had my eye on it for years and finally pulled the trigger when I read about the sequel coming out next year.

Anyway, I'm not that surprised that Demon Slayer took number one. It might not last forever, but Demon Slayer is white hot right now. My kids are both into it and it's widely promoted everywhere, it seems like. And the reviews of the game seem good, so even I'm interested (but not buying it yet - I already have too much on my plate).

I expect Demon Slayer will be charting for a few weeks before the new cool arrives, but Mario Strikers will hang in there for longer.

What I'm honestly amazed by is Ring Fit Adventure. Those sales are insane for a fitness game. It's a quality game and a great workout, so I'm happy for its success and maybe some DLC or a sequel down the road.

@Magrane "Super Mario Odyssey Easter Egg" is much more SEO-friendly than "Super Mario Odyssey Continuity".

@SwitchVogel There's actually a few DRPGs on the Switch, including Saviors on Sapphire Wings, Stranger of Sword City, Demon Gaze, Undernauts and the Mary Skelter series. Most of these are from Aksys/Experience or Idea Factory/Compile Heart. I think DRPGs are pretty niche everywhere except Japan at this point (and honestly might be niche in Japan too!), but there are some out there.

@JeanPaul On the Switch, Undernauts: Labyrinth of Yomi (not related to this series) and Mary Skelter are both good. Mary Skelter 2 has some highly questionable fanservice that I could do without, but it's brief enough and the gameplay is great.

(Also note: MS2 comes with MS1 already on the card, so it's pretty great value if you're into DRPGs at all.)

@SteamEngenius Soccer is literally the most popular sport in the world by a pretty wide margin.

@ChromaticDracula No, we're calling it Boba Fett's Starship Zero.

Which I gotta say, I would buy that game in a heartbeat.

@kopaka Yeah, not so much Junji Ito. But cool nonetheless. I love the art.

Somehow I just never caught the TMNT bug. At most I've seen five or six episodes of the old cartoon, never played any of the games or read the comics. Not sure this is for me. But it looks like great fun for the fans. I'll keep on trying to not suck at SOR4.

You know, I'm a cynical person. But I'm deeply touched every time a company does things like this. Accessibility in entertainment can really improve some people's lives. Especially video games, since they're all about letting you feel like you have these amazing abilities and can go on adventures without limits. A lot of the time, the kids who need that kind of empowerment the most are excluded by the games' controls and design. I don't expect everyone to do the same, but it's so good when they do. It's good PR for the companies, of course, but it does make a difference to some kids and that's the bottom line for me.

I'm honestly much more inclined to buy an 8BitDo controller after reading this, so good for everyone.

Minor correction, not everyone is a cat in Kitaria Fables. They are all kinds of animals, including rabbits and numerous dog breeds. They are all cute.

Also, Aqua Kitty UDX and Astro Kitty need to be on here.