Walterd

I'm enjoying Demon School so far. I'm not too far into yet, but I'm happy I gave it a try. It's been fun spending 20-30 minutes with a day, like watching an episode a day of a series.

@Neckcrane Don’t forget toxic spray ☔️

I recently finished playing Majorca’s Mask for the first time (it’s great!!) and was thinking the whole time—this game at higher resolution, frame rate and widescreen would be incredible. And here it is, plus impressive lighting. Really cool to see!

Most exciting Box Art Brawl ever? It seems like my difficulty in choosing a favorite is in sync with the community as a whole!

@Ralizah
I couldn’t agree more! For me, SMT III in particular is the ultimate in stoner/doom metal vibes.

I came across this game on the eshop last week. I had never heard of it and was immediately interested. I’ll definitely check it out soon!

I agree with others here, this game caught my eye for some reason more than others in the direct. Maybe it will be the first Soulslike that I play!

It’s comforting to read that I have company in reaching but not defeating the final boss in Metroid Dread. I’ve been living with so much Gamer Guilt over it. 😅

I’m entering the final portion of Persona 3 Portable, it’s not impossible that I’ll see the end of it before new year. I’m really enjoying it, it’s my first time experiencing it.

Wishing everyone a great weekend!

@Purgatorium Me too!! I successfully defeated Ganondorf, but my builds would definitely not pass this class.

@FawfulDX I’m totally with you! Absolutely great game, I would welcome some expansions for it.

I am old and played SMB when it was new. Can confirm that:
1. The information about this ‘secret’ was extremely tantalizing, passed from fan to fan in that pre-internet world.
2. The experience of the minus world was disappointing and did not live up to what I imagined but
3. even still, it further cemented SMB as a epic game full of seemingly endless secrets!

Ach, this really nailed exactly why I do not want to see a Legend of Zelda movie made!

Also, I’m really enjoying the Back Page and Letter Column features—I look forward to more of them!

@Anti-Matter I like your suggestion better, but I’m not sure anything is too obvious for the devs based on their choice of the name for this game!

@Anti-Matter Perhaps there will be a sequel called Testehicles!

Meanwhile I just spent an hour running around giving mushrooms to people.

Yikes, I predict another Square Enix release that underperforms in relation to their expectations. I’m not seeing any personality in that trailer at all. Does make Splatoon shine even brighter though.

It’s a shame to hear this game doesn’t succeed. Yono had charm although overall was pretty rote. I was hoping this more ambitious game could be a solid next step. Perhaps it will gets some patches.

I’m ok with the original Zelda. Would be interesting to see a remake of Adventure of Link that makes that game enjoyable (it was such an innovative game, but I have never found any joy in it).

But after recently playing it for the first time in decades, the Zelda game I most want a remake of is Ocarina of time. I’d love to see new textures and character models as well as updated camera & controls.

I just finished Breath of the Wild (my second play of it). I’m ready for Tears of the Kingdom!

He’s provided me with so much happiness over the years—James and Meowth are two of my favorite cartoon characters ever and the voices agree a big part of that.

Wishing him the best for his recovery and can’t say thank you enough!

I hope this article inspires game developers to create more quality rabbit characters in games!

Got a notice that my copy was dispatched last night, hoping to see it waiting for me when I get home from work today. Will be my first time playing it!

@jon128 Ha, I feel you—I just stumped myself on that recently on my second play through. I managed to forget that it was a simple as hitting the cannon and was convinced I forgot to talk to someone or turn on the power of something. And was very embarrassed when I finally figured it out (again). D’oh!

Amazon in Germany has had the game up for pre-order at 70€ for a couple months now. Just checked and preorders at that price are still live.

Playing the Near Future chapter in Live Alive, it’s my last one. Really terrific game! I’ve enjoyed it even more than I expected.

I’m old, so the original The Legend of Zelda is comfort food for me. It’s always a relaxing pleasure to return to it.

Happy new year, everyone! Hope 2023 brings health and happiness to you all.

I really enjoy my regular check ins on this site and look forward to that routine continuing in the new year. Which will come into conflict with my deep desire to avoid being spoiled too much on Tears of the Kingdom, which I want to experience as freshly as possible. But, before that day, there are many more exciting games to learn about, play and discuss!

Baseball Stars was a great game! Cool to see it mentioned as something Williams remembers and continue ms to draw inspiration from to this day.

@Teksetter Ha, I read the words “PAC-MAN for the Atari 2600” and I instantly hear that internal dot chomping sound!

So many memories with the 2600, I think about those games and I’m back sitting on the floor in friends’ and family members’ living rooms. Most of the games were awful, but at the time I loved most all of them, even the stinkers. So maybe memories of E.T. falling again and again into holes.

One more vote for Saints Row, the funny & great scripted moments with Aerosmith and Haddaway, plus inspiring moments of radio station serendipity—one of my favorite video game memories is OutKast’s B.O.B. starting up exactly when I unlocked glide and better jump ability. Hurling myself around the city to that all time jam was ace!

Pushing through my second play of Nier: Automata, and continuing to be impressed.

Wishing everyone a great weekend!

Excited to finally experience Nier: Automata! I don’t have much experience playing games with similar game play so I expect it to be a bit of a humbling experience. But I’m ready to give it a go.

Wishing everyone a great weekend!

Well, we can cherish the amazing game that was produced! I wish the creators well in their new endeavors. And I look skeptically at what remains of the company ZA/UM, the statements by Luiga don’t inspire confidence, that’s for sure. At the very least, looks like Disco Elysium will remain unique and if a sequel ever appears it will likely be so in name only.

I enjoyed reading the many different viewpoints everyone shared. The Legend of Zelda is my favorite series in gaming so I’m always happy to distract myself by thinking about it.

My thoughts: if someone has never played the series, I’d advise them to start with the most recent games so they feel they’re part of what’s happening now, and can be involved in the conversation and get excited for Tears of the Kingdom. So I’d say Breath of the Wild or Skyward Sword.

I spent so many hours with the original NES Contra! It’s one of the only games I ever became perfect at and able to play through without dying. Such a fun game to get into the zone with!

A hard choice, they are very close in quality to me. I voted for JA because the duck is more prominent in the drawing!

An exciting matchup. I like the action of the NA/EU but the JA is so entertaining that I had to vote for it.

Playing Link’s Awakening this weekend, my first time ever (I’m very late to this party, I know.)

Wishing everyone a great weekend!

I’m going to go with Mk64. It’s possible that I played Super MK, but I can’t really remember it, and I largely missed the Super Nintendo (never had or lived with one). My distinct memories of Super are from later on. But MK64 released when I was in college and ruled the TV in our apartment. When I remember those years, I think of my roommates and friends listening to Wu-Tang Clan, and posting MK64 and Wave Racer. Great memories!!

Came here to the comments to read game lovers sharing cool examples of risk and reward and instead read a bunch of comments complaining that NL over reports on Sakurai, what a bummer.

I guess the Doom games from the last decade are good examples of this with the glory kills giving incentive to get up close and not try to hang back and play it careful.

Really found his theory at the end interesting, great point that as ‘game essence’ increases broad appeal decreases. Maybe a good way to look at the difference between ‘game’ and ‘entertainment’? Entertainment is broad/mass appeal, but not everyone has the patience to grapple with the failure built into a more pure game experience. But for those that click with the challenge of the push-pull will keep coming back for more.

I’m in bed with Covid this weekend so looking to play some RPGs and other handheld-friendly games. Trying out Breath of Fire on NSO at the moment and looking for other oldies that I’ve never tried before.

Wishing everyone a great weekend!

Such a great article, thanks Kate! I’m inspired to play some great games and read some great books. And since I have “won” the Covid lottery this week, looks like I’ve got time to do just that. Though maybe not a functioning brain.

Much respect for this decision, wishing the whole team success!

I really enjoyed the demo. Though it certainly is a product of a certain era, it has a lot of inventiveness and variety. Even in the early parts of these chapters there are secrets and extras added in. The game play in the demo felt very smooth and zippy.

My weekend games will be Ring Fit, Breath of the Wild (second playthrough) and some games on the Castlevania Anniversary collection.

Wishing everyone a great weekend!

I started a new (my 2nd) play through of Breath of the Wild. Great to revisit the beginning of that game! And plan to poke through the eShop and find something that inspires me. And, will probably buy TMNT Shredder’s Revenge because it looks so great.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

It’s a great game, great to hear more people can experience it. And I’m here to celebrate the depavity of disco!

I just completed The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, a game that is always a joy to play. And for the rest of the weekend, I don’t know yet!

Wishing everyone a great weekend!

This is a great comments thread, the openness and honesty in it is a beautiful thing. Last year was a very hard year for me, full of loss and it was hard to even envision a future. One game I’m really thankful I played was Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin. The story of all the characters having lost everything and finding a way to recreate their lives really touched me, and the meditative and rigorous process of growing the rice was very grounding. It’s a really lovely game and I’m thankful for the dedication of the developers to realize their vision and share it with the world!