ReaperMelia

I would be playing Theatrhythm, but the save-corrupting bug has me scared to boot it up now. Instead of that, I'll probably be playing games like Death's Door, Splatoon 3, the GB/GBA NSO collections, and maybe some Hades.

I'd also like to get back to The Quarry on my PS5. I was at least halfway through... I also need to figure out what to play next on Steam and 3DS.

Resident Evil Gaiden is one I'd love to try out! Same with Metal Gear Solid.

Also, it's worth noting that the Game Boy Bill & Ted game is coming to Switch at some point via Limited Run Games. It's going to be in a collection alongside the NES game. I've heard... not great things about them, but if the GB entry got a shout-out here, maybe I'll give it a try when it comes to the eShop...

@Krull I remember hearing that the guy who was essentially Sugiyama's apprentice has different ideas regarding the use of orchestral music at the very least, so if they go with him, I'd imagine we'll see some differences.

@Krull The old composer passed away, so it's pretty safe to assume we're getting a new one.

Splatoon 3 (team white chocolate!) and Fire Emblem Engage will be my big games this weekend, but I'm sure I'll spend some more time messing around with the new Game Boy/GBA games on NSO as well. With the Sea of Stars demo and Steam Next Fest on top of those, I'm not sure that I'll have time for much else!

@ActionPanther From what I've heard, it ran poorly on Switch, so my guess is they decided it wouldn't really be worth trying to sell a port with technical issues in a market where DQ is already really niche.

At this point, yeah, I'm pretty happy with it. The DLC doesn't really matter much to me since I bought the Splatoon and Mario Kart DLC separately (and would prefer to "own" them rather than have them tied to a subscription service) and I'm too disappointed in Animal Crossing to be bothered to check out the DLC, but the retro lineup has grown a ton! I can't wait to see what all is added to the GB/GBC/GBA libraries. I still wish Virtual Console was an additional option because I don't really like having things tied to subscriptions (even though you don't really own digital copies either), but the value's good enough for me to be fine with subscribing at this point.

Probably one of my top 5 Directs of all time. I know it was a lot of remasters and ports, but just about all of them are games I'm super excited to play. Baten Kaitos is a series I've wanted to try for ages, so I'm super excited those are coming to Switch now! Those were easily my favorite part of the Direct, but there were plenty of fantastic announcements. I'm also really looking forward to the DLC for Xenoblade 3 and Splatoon 3.

Fire Emblem Engage is still my main game for this weekend. I've been busy lately, so I haven't made much progress. I'm hoping to change that soon! I got through a couple paralogues today, so I'm starting to get back into a good rhythm. I'll also likely play more of the Theatrhythm Final Bar Line demo and Goldeneye on my Switch.

On other platforms, The Quarry, Ara Fell, and BoxBoy are still all options I should get back to soon...

Theatrhythm is the big one for me this month. I loved Curtain Call, so I'm super excited for a new entry in the series! Whether or not I wait on Kirby depends on whether or not that leaked mode is real and substantial enough to warrant picking the remake up at launch when I played the original a year ago. Octopath II is one I want to get, but I'll wait on it for now. I have plenty of JRPGs in my Switch backlog as it is, I don't need to add another.

For smaller releases, the physical editions of Signalis and Eiyuden Chronicle Rising next month have both already been pre-ordered! I'll also import Fatal Frame, but with how long it'll likely take to arrive, I probably won't be starting it until after I finish Resident Evil 4 Remake...

@Munchlax Yeah, I'm going to have to second this. A lot of people are just bringing up good game music, which is fair, but the idea of the article is themes that were unexpectedly amazing for the circumstances. Odds are that most people who played X don't know how good Melancholia is because they sped through that menu to get on to the game. It's probably one of the best tracks in the whole game, though. It's kind of a crime that it was only relegated to a menu 99% of players won't spend more than 10 seconds in per play session.

I'd like to play most of these (Conker is the only one that stands out as something I'm not interested in personally, it seems too reliant on edgy humor for my tastes), but Diddy Kong Racing and Banjo-Tooie are the two big ones for me. I've heard nothing but praise for the former, and for the latter, I really enjoyed Banjo-Kazooie and I'd like to play more! Diddy Kong Racing with online also sounds like it'd be a ton of fun.

I never played the original since I never had an N64 growing up, so this has been my first time playing it. I've only played a few levels so far, but it's pretty fun! There's definitely a bit of jank with the controls, but it didn't take too long to adjust. It's really just the fine aiming that's giving me trouble now, auto-aim does a lot to help. I think the objective-based structure's a cool thing that helps it stand out from other shooters. I love all the fun little animations the enemies have, too. There's a lot of personality for an N64 game! It's certainly not perfect, but I'm impressed by it overall.

On Switch, more Fire Emblem Engage as my main game. I'm pretty sure I'm past the halfway point in terms of the main story by now, but I can tell paralogues will be adding a lot of extra playtime. I'm still really enjoying it so far! It's definitely one of my favorites in the series from what I've played. I'll also get in a bit of GoldenEye since I've always wanted to try it out.

@PikaPhantom I believe they are! I think this is probably for the Genealogy remake, which I'm hoping we'll see next year.

Mainly just Fire Emblem Engage. I'm on chapter 8, and I've been having a blast so far! It's exactly what I wanted from FE after bring disappointed by Three Houses. This modern trend of heavy social sim elements in JRPGs hasn't been my thing in the slightest, so I'm personally glad Engage ditched that and focused hard on refining the combat elements. I love all the new mechanics and changes so far! I might squeeze in a bit of Splatoon 3 over the weekend as well, but it's very possible that FE Engage won't be leaving my cartridge slot for a while.

As usual, if I play anything on other systems, it'll be The Quarry on PS5, Ara Fell on Steam, or Boxboy on 3DS. I made some pretty good progress in The Quarry while waiting for FE, and I don't want that momentum to completely die.

@Selim There are different sets of clothes you can wear at your base, and one of them gives her the ponytail in the thumbnail. I haven't seen any other ways to change hair yet (I got my copy early and I just unlocked customization, so there might be options later on). Unfortunately, the customization doesn't apply in battles.

I'd love to hear if this helps fix the issues in the Switch version. I was planning to pick up a physical copy when it hits retail, but I've been worried after hearing about bugs and performance issues.

My copy actually came in today! It's my first time getting a new major release a little early, so it was a very pleasant surprise.

I was personally incredibly disappointed by Three Houses deciding to go the high school dating sim route that I can't stand (the incredible combat and customization are the only things that kept me from disliking it in the end), so Engage dropping that and focusing on the combat is a massive plus for me! I can't wait for my copy to arrive. If there's as much party customization as Three Houses offered combined with much tighter pacing not additionally bogged down by requiring multiple playthroughs to understand the story at all, this could absolutely become one of my favorite entries.

I finished the main story in Dragon Quest Treasures, but it looks like I've still got more to do in the postgame, so I'll be working on that. I don't think I'll go for 100% because the treasure grind seems insane, but I definitely want to keep playing for now! If I play anything else on Switch, I'll probably go with either Splatoon 3 or some smaller games so I can put my full focus on Fire Emblem Engage when it releases releases (though it seems like I'll be waiting a while for my copy to arrive anyway...).

On other platforms, Ara Fell on Steam Deck and The Quarry on PS5 are looking like my main options again. I'd like to get a little more progress in Boxboy on the 3DS as well.

I voted for Tactics, but I completely spaced on Dissidia. I'd love a Dissidia 012 remaster with online play (or just a full new entry that's more in line with 012 as opposed to the disappointing follow-up, Dissidia Arcade/NT). 012 was my favorite PSP game, I'd love to experience it again on the Switch!

Speaking from personal experience, these "world premieres" from the Pokemon variety shows tend to be really disappointing. Any notable announcements would be saved for a proper presentation, not a TV show. It could be a fun little video or some merchandise or something, but I wouldn't expect any actual news until we get a Pokemon Presents.

I vastly prefer physical. If it's an option, I'll go for it 99% of the time. I don't see a point in spending a lot on a digital game when the storefront could get shut down at any time (like we're seeing now with the Wii U and 3DS). And yes, I do like to play old games, so the whole "You won't be playing them 10 years from now" counter-argument doesn't apply to me.

Steam is the one exception where I'll buy digital since, well... it's the only option. That being said, I don't really pay more than $25 for a digital Steam game unless it's something I REALLY want to play.

I'll be spending plenty of time defending Team Sweet in the Splatfest this weekend. I'm already a bit into Champion rank, I want to see how much catalog progress I can make during the event. When I'm not playing Splatoon 3, Dragon Quest Treasures will be my go-to Switch game.

On other platforms, Ara Fell on Steam and The Quarry on PS5 are the main ones I'd like to get back to still. My Switch has really been stealing my attention, though!

Fire Emblem Engage Divine Edition, Eiyuden Chronicle Rising, and the Sephiroth + Corrin P2 amiibo are the things I plan to pick up this month. In February, Theatrhythm and Signalis are the only ones I really plan to get right at launch, but I also want to get a number of those other games at some point... mainly Kirby and Octopath II.

I'm almost done with Crisis Core, so I'll be finishing that this weekend and probably moving on to Dragon Quest Treasures as my next Switch game. On other platforms, I've got Ara Fell on my Steam Deck... and maybe I'll finally get back to The Quarry on PS5. Who knows?

Glad I managed to get a pre-order of the standard Switch edition before it sold out. Square really dropped the ball on this, it should've been a standard retail release.

The main game for this weekend will be Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion on the Switch. I really enjoyed the original on PSP back in my teenage years, so it's been fun getting to revisit it, cringe-inducing dialogue and all. Outside of Zack's new voice actor not being nearly as good as the original, I've enjoyed the general overhaul over the original release. I'm also a little addicted to doing side missions...

Outside of Crisis Core, I started up The Quarry on PS5, so I'd like to continue that. I'm a huge horror movie fan, so Until Dawn by the same studio was right up my alley. I tried the first entry in their Dark Pictures Anthology and was honestly kind of disappointed, but The Quarry feels much more like what I wanted in an Until Dawn follow-up so far. I'll also be playing Ara Fell on my Steam Deck since I've made a bit of progress in that recently.

@strollin_stu She hasn't voiced Ash since generation 3, so it's not something she'd be told in advance. The voice actress who took over from Battle Frontier still voices him today already made a statement about it, she's probably known for a while that this was the plan.

My top three were:
1. Xenoblade 3
2. Splatoon 3
3. Pokemon Legends Arceus

That being said, my Switch's timer says I've put more time into Splatoon 3 than Xenoblade 3, so something's off. Either way, Xenoblade is my favorite game series of all time while Splatoon is my favorite multiplayer series, so those two competing for #1 is no surprise. I absolutely love both of these games! Pokemon Legends Arceus was a lot of fun too, although I honestly prefer Violet. That being said, I had more time to build up my hours in Arceus, so it makes sense it took the #3 spot. Violet would probably be #4. I really enjoyed this year as a Switch owner! There were a lot of really exciting games I enjoyed, and there are still a lot of other releases I need to catch up on.

I'll be picking my copy up tomorrow! I absolutely loved the original PSP release back when I first played that... probably about a decade ago. While my tolerance for Nomura's... unique writing style has admittedly gone down quite a bit since my teenage years, I'm still looking forward to revisiting this game. Clunky dialogue aside, I remember the overall story itself being gripping, the combat being a ton of fun, and the music being awesome. I'm really excited to play it on Switch!

Pretty much the same as last week. I beat Pokemon Violet's story (including the postgame events), but I still need to track down the legendaries, fill out my Pokedex, and work on raids, so I'll be playing plenty of that this weekend! In addition, Splatoon 3's Chill Season is going to mean I'll be spending plenty of time there as well. I also want to try to squeeze in some Salmon Run practice before Big Run since I really haven't spent as much time in that mode as I should have.

If I play anything else, Valkyrie Elysium on PS5 is a priority. I'd really like to finish that before Crisis Core Reunion releases. I should probably get back to Ara Fell on my Steam Deck as well since it's so short. I might fire something up on the old Wii U as well; I did start up Twilight Princess HD a few months ago before being distracted, so I should really return to that soon.

@ModdedInkling I'd personally advise playing the original FFVII before this and Remake. VII Remake was made with the idea that players would know the plot of the original game and its follow-ups. I won't spoil anything, but newcomers who jump in with Remake will be getting a very different experience compared to the original game and Crisis Core.

I'm definitely going to play more Pokemon Violet! I've made pretty good progress in each of the main quest lines so far. I feel like I'm putting together a pretty solid team as well! It's hard to choose with all the cool new Pokemon, though.

I'll also be working on Splatoon 3. I've only got a few more catalog levels to go, so I want to make sure I finish that before the end of the season. If I play anything else this weekend, it'll probably be more Valkyrie Elysium on PS5.

Are any of these worth picking up even with the NES versions available? I haven't played any of the arcade versions, so I don't know if there's a point in getting these when I have a lot of the NES games available through the NES Classic Edition and Wii U/3DS Virtual Console.

I'm super excited for Maple Treeway and the 3DS tracks! I'm curious to try the others (Super Circuit and DS are the only Mario Karts I (unfortunately) haven't really played, and I also dropped Tour quickly), but the aforementioned three are all fantastic additions!

Honest question, were there ever any physical copies of Star Fox Zero that didn't have Guard included? I was under the impression it never sold enough to require a second print, every copy I saw was the double pack.

Lots of Pokemon Violet. I'm feeling pretty sick currently, so taking some time off of work to just relax and play a ton of Pokemon this weekend is sounding like a pretty good plan at the moment.

@nhSnork I won't go into any details to avoid spoilers, but VIIR absolutely has differences from the original storyline and it kind of assumes players are at least familiar with the events of the original game as well as the anthology that followed. The next two games seem to be making even bigger changes as well, so it's definitely best to play it after the other entries.

@JJtheTexan I'll throw it out there that playing the remake first is going to lead to a lot of confusion for a new player. Original -> Crisis Core -> Advent Children -> Remake would be the ideal order for someone who wants to get all the story beats.

It definitely won't win GOTY or Best RPG, but I'm glad to see Xenoblade 3 nominated for those categories. It's my personal game of the generation, let alone game of the year. After 2 was snubbed by TGA, it's great to see 3 get this much recognition. It deserves all three of the awards it's up for, and I hope it at least gets best music!

The main thing is going to be defending team water in the Splatfest. If I have time for anything else on Switch, I'd like to get in some more Death's Door as well.

On PS5, I've been working hard on Resident Evil Village: The Mercenaries... I had fun playing through the standard maps, but the hard variants have been a massive pain, so I'll probably just skip them and do the DLC maps. If I get tired of Mercenaries, then I'll probably shelve the game and get back to Valkyrie Elysium instead.

And on 3DS, I recently got around to picking up the Boxboy trilogy, so I started up the first one. It's been pretty fun! I definitely want to get in some more of that.

While I like having the full game on the cartridge, if all this patch does is allow online play, I don't think it's really that big of a deal. Odds are that by the time this patch can no longer be downloaded, the online servers will have shut down or will soon be shutting down anyway.

Rogue Legacy 2 is easily in my top 3 games of this year. I had an absolute blast playing it on Steam, and if anyone's considering getting it on Switch, I highly recommend it! The combat and platforming are both tight and challenging in a satisfying way, and there's a ton of diversity in the way each run can go. Each class feels unique, there's a great new risk/reward system for traits, and there's even more charm and personality than what the first game had. If you liked the first, I have no doubts you'll like this one!

I was thinking about getting the physical copy for Mega Man and because I have the first volume on my shelf, but Mega Man is really the only game in this one that interests me... guess I'll just get it separately digitally.

New Leaf, it's not even close. New Horizons is the most disappointing game I've played from Nintendo. It was fun for a while, then it just became a total chore to play. It lost a lot of the charm and personality the series had up to that point in favor of being a grindy city builder. If the next entry continues down that road instead of focusing more on the life sim elements, I might be done with the series in all honesty.

It's been about a year since I played it. I loved City Folk and New Leaf, but New Horizons was a huge disappointment. It threw out everything I think made Animal Crossing special in order to turn it into a grindy city builder. I guess it's ok for what it is, but it isn't what I want in an Animal Crossing game.

My main game is going to be Resident Evil Village on PS5. I just finished replaying it in third-person mode, so I'll finally be starting on Shadows of Rose soon! I've heard that's short, but I'll have The Mercenaries to get into after that (I haven't even done the missions that came with the base game yet!), so I'll have plenty more to do there. I'm also debating just going for the platinum trophy now, although that depends on how willing I am to do multiple runs... This replay has been an excellent reminder of why it's my favorite entry in the series though, it's been a blast returning to this game!

I started up Death's Door on the Switch, so I'd like to get in a bit more of that as well. It's been pretty fun so far! I'll also need to pick Splatoon 3 back up so I can get ready for the Splatfest and get all the conch shells I can.

I'd also like to make more use of my new Sega Genesis Mini 2 this weekend. Guess I'll figure out what to play on there when I get around to it!

I really hope that there will be an option to import a copy that still has an English option like with Maiden of Black Water. I'm looking forward to this one after playing that, but I'd be disappointed if it really is digital-only with no alternatives. I'd like a copy to go with its sequel on my shelf!