jon128

I am excited for this. I’d love a physical copy but will be buying digital if there is no physical copy.

I played Portal on Xbox 360. I bought portal 1 and 2 a couple years back on steam with the intention of streaming them to my phone to play with an Xbox One controller mount as a “handheld”. However, my old computer was not good enough to run even portal one well and stream it to my phone like I wanted.

This was not the Metroid Dread Update I was hoping for. I was hoping for paid DLC that adds something new. However maybe this means something more could come in the future?

Don’t get me wrong, I love Metroid Dread and I think it has plenty of content for the price (I played normal mode twice and hard mode once already), but it is just so good I’d love more.

Definitely won’t be trying rookie or dread mode. I feel like dread mode is just to add a crazy challenge for streamers/speed runners.

Rookie mode is a welcome addition to make the game more accessible though.

Maybe I’ll try the boss rush when it is available.

@ObjectiveMe
Yeah I agree with all that for sure. I just think it is neat when people build their own.

@ObjectiveMe @WiredProductions

As a software engineer myself, I think it is awesome that the team built their own engine and has the view that the platform is capable and they just need to optimize. I have been curious how common that is these days with the commercially available engines. I’d imagine it makes porting to consoles in some ways more challenging (certainly less “automatic”) than using an established engine, but when you run into problems you probably have more flexibility to address them.

I have never built a game, but wondering how games worked is the reason I got into software 20+ years ago. If I ever were to build one I think I’d want to build the engine from scratch for the learning experience (even if it doesn’t necessarily make commercial sense). On and off in my spare time I’ve tinkered with building the beginnings of a 2D engine from scratch in C++ and have learned a lot even from the small bit I’ve built.

The game looks really neat too! It is really impressive the scale of what such a small team was able to accomplish building the game from scratch.

I’ll probably check out the digital version when it comes out on Switch. I looked at the physical version, but shipping cost to the US (and uncertainty of possible customs duties) make me less inclined to buy the physical version at this point (I only saw the UK store site).

There is a lot of good stuff already announced that could get release dates, but I’d like to see some new announcements. I think I’d most like to see an announcement of a Metroid Prime remake. I have the trilogy on Wii U but haven’t played it yet because I would really rather play it in handheld.

It is probably too soon, but I am curious if we’d ever get some DLC for Metroid Dread.

Silksong release date would be great too!

@JBone Yeah, I had played the demo a while back, but then played it some more with the free trial and decided I wanted to get a copy while it was on sale.

I finished the Switch remake of Link’s Awakening this week. Such a great 2D Zelda. This is my second play through; I played the GBC version on 3DS VC last year. I personally like it and A Link Between Worlds much better than A Link To The Past (but I don’t have much nostalgia for ALttP, just rented it as a kid a couple times when I was too young to figure it out).

I have resumed playing Minish Cap on the Wii U VC. I paused playing it a few months back after getting frustrated with getting stuck too much. I’ve had to look things up more than I like to.

I also started Metroid Fusion (Wii U VC) for the first time.

I may also play some Luigi’s Mansion 3 with my son. We are both enjoying playing through it together.

So I’ll be switching between those and possibly some of the other games I have started but not completed recently: Captain Toad’s Treasure Tracker, Banjo Kazooie, Crash 4, Dicey Dungeons, Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania….

I’ll probably finish Captain Toad in a few more sessions. It isn’t super challenging, but there is something about the puzzles that I really like anyway.

I thought of a different type of one: Not properly enjoying and playing through many of the games I’ve owned over the years (at the time they came out and I first owned them). An examples would probably be Ocarina of Time and Metroid Prime. I would tend to get stuck in games and just give up.

Although this probably contributes to a lot of the enjoyment I’ve gotten from gaming since I got back into it a few years ago because I have gone back and enjoyed playing through some of those games (Ocarina of Time being one of them. I haven’t played Metroid Prime yet since getting back into gaming.)

In general: selling almost all the Nintendo hardware and games I owned over the years. The only system to escape that fate was my Wii and only because I sent it to my sister for her to use for Netflix. I did get it back from her a couple years back.

Of those I owned at one point and sold (SNES, N64, GBC, GCN, DS) I probably regret the N64 the most.

I think the runner up would be the SNES because probably a year or so before I got back in to gaming my parents sold it and it would have just been cool to have the actual piece of hardware that was the first gaming system I ever owned. It would have been cool to have the Super Mario World save files too if they were even still there after all those years (probably not — since I think those were battery backed).

Started playing this tonight and really enjoying it so far! There were some things to get used to but it is definitely sucking me in. I’d prefer to use my split pad pro, but since the system won’t let me remap it I am using joycons in handheld mode (remapping the right one at the system level to better match the intended layout). The camera was also bothering me a bit at first (feeling floaty and nauseating), but I got used to it now and it is no longer bothering me. Looking forward to continuing playing through this on switch!

Update: definitely enjoying this! I switched to joycons with the right one remapped so it is as close to the intended layout as I can get. The camera isn’t bothering me anymore motion wise. The camera still of course needs a lot of manual tweaking and the non analog control of it is not ideal but that is to be expected. Definitely happy to be playing this on switch!

@slider271 Yeah the N64 control mappings on NSO are pretty bad. I get why they did it to have the on screen prompts match up for A and B, but it is bad for muscle memory.

I don’t really have muscle memory for Banjo since it has been so long, but I am accustomed to B being jump. I started with my split pad pro and just dealing with the bad mappings, but I may switch to joycons with the right one remapped at the system level. I wish the system level would allow remapping for the split pad pro.

I also need to get used to the camera in this game it was a bit floaty and a bit nauseating at times.

I am happy to have a chance to play this game again though.

@slider271 It is available now! (In USA region at least) Just starting it up now myself!

I haven’t played this since the N64 days and I never played all the way through it back then. I do remember enjoying it though. With all the love people have for it I am excited to give it a try again. I am curious how well it has actually aged though and how much I will still like it.

The control mapping in the NSO app is a concern though. I may have to use joy-cons and remap buttons at the OS level. I really wish that remapping would work for the split pad pro which is my preferred controller, but for some reason they only support it for joycons.

I will probably continue switching between a few games: Crash 4, Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania, Dicey Dungeons, and to add to that I also started the Switch remake of Link’s Awakening. I played the GBC Link’s Awakening on 3DS VC a year ago so I am getting to go through it again with just faded enough memories of the puzzles. It is the first Zelda I’ve replayed. I have been getting more into replaying games I’ve finished. I never used to do it.

Oh, and I may renew/upgrade my NSO subscription this weekend so that will probably add some classics to my many in progress games.

@thedudeabides05 I picked up The Messenger for the first time on sale last month. I haven’t started it yet, but I’ve heard good things. So I am later to the party! One thing I like about this feature on this site is that it isn’t just people talking about playing the latest games.

I did end up picking up an OLED model and it is quite a nice upgrade since I play in handheld mode almost all the time.

I rolled credits on Astral Chain recently. I did switch it to casual for the last boss because I was ready to be done with it and didn’t want to restart file 11 and try to figure out how to get through to that point with enough health and revives to be reasonable.

I’ve been bouncing between a few games I bought on sales: Dicey Dungeons, Crash 4, Sonic Mania, Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania. It is fun to switch between games and not feel like so need to finish one before starting something else.

I also got Dead Cells, and booted that up for the first time the other day but wasn’t really in the mood for the dark atmosphere. I’ll try again at some point.

Metroid Dread is definitely my GOTY. I rarely replay games and I played it 3 times already. First time on normal with no outside info. Once in Normal to do a couple of the built in sequence breaks. Then a third time on Hard following the speed run path with glitches. When I play it again I will probably do A casual run through Normal again.

It may be unlikely but I would love it see some DLC for this game.

I’m still playing Astral Chain. I just finished file 8 last night. There is a ton you can do with the combat, but I still feel like I button mash a bit or at least spam certain things a bit even though I am on standard difficulty. At least to me the game doesn’t make it clear when in combat to use which of all the options available. I guess that is to give you freedom to do what you want and experiment. However with systems like this I tend to find some thing that works well enough and I keep doing it. I am still enjoying it, but I am curious how to possibly get more out of it or if it would be possible to have a game with this much flexibility in combat but that has a smooth learning curve that has you really mastering all of it.

I am continuing with Astral Chain. I think I’ve been able to get myself into it properly now and will see it through to the end. I am currently on file 6. It may be time for me to watch some more videos about the combat now that I have 4 legions. There is a lot I can do with them, but it is a bit difficult for me to know when I am doing the best thing for the situation in combat.

@Ganner
Thanks for the encouragement to stick with it! I am going to try. A couple of YouTube videos I watched about the early mechanics were definitely helpful. The training mode does help too, and in file 3 it does seem like I am needing to properly apply some things I learned. I didn’t feel like the first two files do a good job of introducing the mechanics at all.

Last weekend, I finished my 3rd play through of Metroid Dread last weekends. This time I played it on hard mode in less than 4 hours and followed the speed run path and learned to do a bunch of glitches. It was a fun time.

I started Astral Chain which I had picked up a digital copy of for $27. This is my first Platinum game I’ve played. It took me a bit to get into to learn what I am supposed to be doing in the combat. I am playing on the standard difficulty which I have read is the way to experience it properly. I am currently just in file 3 (I think maybe at the end of it — the files are pretty long). I enjoy it while I am playing it, but it seems like the kind of thing I may have a hard time completing because I tend to be tempted to boot up some different game when I sit down with my switch in the evening. Maybe I can find a way to take breaks from it while not getting too into anything else that I lose what I’ve learned about how to play it. I am going to try to stick exclusively with it for a couple more play sessions to see if I can get fully into it.

I’d also like a premium version with gyro and rumble and I’d be willing to pay more for it.

I have the original one and it is still working well. I actually had to return the very first pair I had due to the B button breaking, but that was probably partly my fault for buying an “Amazon warehouse deal” open box one.

I know they have a wired grip for using them for TV mode, it would be nice if that were wireless as another optional add on.

This week I finished Axiom Verge. Overall I enjoyed it and thought it was a unique game. I found the 3rd to last boss (the Sentinel) to be quite annoying and resorted to using the turbo feature on my split pad pro for the first time.

After that I started a 3rd playthrough of Metroid Dread. This time on hard mode and I am following a speed run route I found online. Not that you could really call what I am doing a speed run. I am trying to keep the in game timer to under 4 hours and I am following the route at a high level and learning to perform all the tricks/glitches. I have spent more than an hour and sometimes probably multiple hours figuring out how to pull off some of them (YouTube tutorials have been helpful though). Then, once I can do the glitch sort of a little consistently, I will “load last checkpoint” from the system menu (because it resets the in game timer to that point) and hopefully do the trick before too much in game time elapses. It has been fun to actually do some of the tricks/glitches people have found. It is an interesting way to go through the game differently for a new challenge. I am at about 2h 50m now and I need to fight the twin robots boss. That boss has been the most difficult for me on normal mode, so we’ll see how it goes on hard mode. In my second play through most bosses took me 2-3 tries but this one took me many more.

(Update: I had a chance to play for 20-30m this morning and finished off the twin robot chozo soldiers. It looks like I’m going to be able to do this. I don’t think there are any more glitches to learn in this route)

Recently I picked up Dicey Dungeons for $3.74 on the eShop.

From GameStop I ordered Crash 4 (physical) for $20, Banana Mania (physical) for $20. I also got Astral Chain (digital) for $26.99 from GameStop.

In this sale I am thinking about picking up Dead Cells.

Other games I am maybe interested in but probably won’t pick up right now (or at least not all of them) are: Cuphead, Cyber Shadow, Spelunky 2 (haven’t played either of them), The Messenger. I have to save something to buy in future sales and keep the backlog from getting too overwhelming.

I ordered Crash 4 and Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania for $20 each from GameStop yesterday.

This tempts me to pick up more games, but I already have BOTW and NSMBU. The others I am not sure I would enjoy. But it is such a good deal, so maybe worth a shot?

Currently playing Axiom Verge. I think I am nearing the end. It is a really unique game with a really dark/strange atmosphere.

After that I will probably either go back to 100% Metroid Dread or do 3rd playthrough of Metroid Dread.

I bought a used one this year mostly for GBA Virtual Console, N64 Virtual Console, and WindWaker. I also picked up Metroid Prime Trilogy, but haven’t played it yet, I think I’d prefer a re-release of Prime on the switch with regular controls if it really happens. I strongly prefer handheld gaming.

I’ve thought about picking up Affordable Space Adventures, but I am not sure if my kids would play it and not get frustrated or possibly scared by the dark atmosphere. I should pick it up before the eShop shuts down some day though.

I picked up Yoku’s Island Express on sale this week and played through the main quest. It is a neat/different idea. The pinball physics are really good.

I think I am giving up on Minish Cap, at least for now. I think it is either just not for me or not for me right now. I liked the dungeons I played but getting to the next one has felt like a chore figuring out what I am supposed to do to get there. I like the pixel art and some of the music that is different from other Zelda games. Maybe I am just burned out on Zelda games or something. I played a fair number of them over the past year.

Next, I’ll probably try starting Axiom Verge or maybe Metroid Fusion. I keep thinking about playing Metroid Dread a 3rd time too. The thought of replaying Hollow Knight has also crossed my mind, but I am not sure I want to play a game that long.

I love my Hori Split Pad Pro. I bought it as soon as I heard about it not too long after it came out. They are so much more comfortable than the joycons.

I’ve been wanting a way to use it outside of handheld mode, but would much prefer it to be wireless. Not sure I’ll be getting this. Although if Hori doesn’t make any wireless controllers, I guess this makes sense.

I would consider paying more for an enhanced split pad pro with at least motion and maybe rumble. It would be nice to not need to disconnect them when there is a part of a game that needs motion.

Finished my 2nd normal mode play through of Metroid Dread last weekend. I did a bit of item collecting back in my original file after that, and am now thinking I may 100% it at some point.

However, I didn’t want to get burned out on that game since I Iike it so so much, so then I started Minish Cap on Wii U VC the next day. I really like the pixel art in Minish cap. I got a little stuck I a couple of spots so far but figured it out without guides. I also ran into portions of the overworld where it seemed like nothing would drop health which seemed odd.

I finished Metroid Zero Mission On Wii U VC las weekend and restarted Metroid Dread for a second play through non normal mode. I’ll probably finish it again in the next couple days. Then I have to decide if I am going back to collect more items and maybe 100% at least some areas, trying hard mode, doing normal mode again to see if I can do under 4 hours, or (most likely) playing a different game so I don’t burn myself out on Metroid Dread.

I hope this gets people to try it and buy it. I am loving this game. Finished it once and have started a second file and am playing it again (on normal mode, not sure if I’d like hard mode). I am enjoying the second play through too. I tried some of the basic designed in sequence breaks to change things up a bit. I actually like that it is shorter (relative to say Hollow Knight), because that is what made me give replaying it a shot.

I haven’t subscribed yet, but I may at some point in the future (maybe for Banjo Kazooie). The button mapping sounds like the only issue that would bother me. I like that I can remap buttons on the Wii U virtual console.

It seems like Nintendo optimizes their default mappings for the on screen prompts making sense to newcomers. However they should have at the very least an option to switch to a position based mapping (and really just allow full remapping).

I finished Metroid Dread on Monday night (10h 16m in game, 20h on the switch clock — I died a lot). Wow what a great game. I was going to resist going back and playing older Metroid games right away since I figured it’d be tough to play earlier entries in the series after such awesome modern entry.

However, I started Zero Mission (which I never played before) on Wii U and I am enjoying it. It is fun to see the Mother Brain room that the “core”/ omega cannon rooms in Dread were apparently referencing.

In the past I’ve not been one to replay games, but I think I will replay Dread soon. I was considering going back to collect all the items, but that ended up seeming kind of tedious to me.

I think less than 6 hours is short. Even for games longer than that I prefer them to be in the 10-20 hour range. I loved Hollow Knight, but I have not really considered replaying it because it is so long. Although the notion of replaying a game I’ve finished is a bit of a newer thing to me — I have not historically done much replaying. This year I replayed Celeste though and still really enjoyed it the second time around. That second play through was about 6h for me. That has gotten me thinking about doing more replaying.

For Dread the switch says 20 hours or more and in the game my clear time was 10h 16m. I am kind of tempted to play it again right away (or soon at least) I enjoyed it so much.

I’m still playing Dread. I’m not sure how close to the end I am, but I am really enjoying it and making good progress. I would guess I am like 70-80% through the story but I am not sure. There is a chance I may even try to 100% items on this game, which is something I generally don’t do. Depends how tedious it is to do.

@Hurblyburbly

Just a hint for Dread if you want it: You don’t progress from area map to area map without going back (In Samus Returns I think you did), but in this one you have to go back to previous areas to use your new abilities to progress. Look for areas that can be opened with your new ability across all the maps you have access to. Sometimes the game does a pretty good job of pushing you back where you need to go without really telling you, but not always.

I let my basic subscription lapse. I may pick it up again at some point (probably with the premium subscription) if I feel like playing some of the games on the service. I generally prefer SNES games on the low-res 3DS XL screen and I picked up a Wii U for games not available on 3DS VC (like N64 games that don’t have 3DS ports). I would be interested in seeing what it is like to play Banjo Kazooie again. I’d have to consider game pass as well for that though. I did play some Yooka-Laylee a couple years back and enjoyed what I played but didn’t finish it.

Metroid Dread.

Other games I’m in the middle of and may play a level or two in: DKC2 and Advance Wars. I decided to restart DKC2 on 3DS last week because I think those games look way better on there than on NSO. SNES games look great on the 3DS to me because the screen makes it look almost like the scan lines on an old CRT or something. Also every time I play DKC2 I think that Baba Is You uses a couple of sound effects very close it, but I don’t see much online about that.

Amazon says my copy is arriving by 10pm. Hopefully it will be a bit before that, but I won’t play it until the evening anyway.

I don’t know if I can legitimately claim to be a fan of the series. I really enjoyed playing Super Metroid but despite having started it twice (once many years ago and once a few years ago) never finished it. I also at one pointed owned Prime 1 and Prime 3 but never finished them. I played and finished Samus Returns shortly before Dread was announced and I enjoyed that, but thought the Metroid battles were repetitive. I’ve really enjoyed other metroidvanias like Hollow Knight. I think I’ll like Dread from what I’ve heard. Then I plan to go back and try to properly play through some of the older games in the series.

I play almost exclusively in handheld mode, but I am not upgrading (at least not now). If it ends up that some future next gen switch hardware is not backwards compatible with switch game cards, I’ll probably get this model eventually so I have the best version of the hardware.

I designed and 3D printed my own basic one for the original model of the switch for playing Downwell.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4414289

I am not planning to get an OLED model, but someone who has one could probably adjust the OpenSCAD files to make it fit.

Playing Mario Galaxy (via 3D all stars) and Advance Wars (via Wii U VC). I am at about 90 stars in Galaxy and on mission 13 in Advance Wars. I’m not sure if I’ll finish Advance Wars before Metroid Dread comes out, but I’ll definitely be jumping right into Metroid Dread on Friday evening.

Looks nice. I’m currently playing the original on Wii U VC and picked up the second game on there as well. It probably doesn’t make sense for me to buy it on Switch — at least not anytime soon. If I hadn’t picked up the Wii U I’d probably be buying it on Switch though.

Today I learned: there is an option to turn it to a dark theme.

I’ve been bouncing between games a bit while waiting for Metroid Dread. I played Mario Galaxy and am considering getting all 120 stars eventually, but I think I only have hidden stars and comet stars left which become less fun for me so I am not sure. Such a great game.

Also got back to Advance Wars on Wii U and finished the tutorial and got into the real game. It is a fun game (Inever played it back in the day)

Also tried the demo of Warioware because I thought my kids may like it. It seems like it would be way too fast for the kids, but I enjoyed it way more than I expected to. It is just crazy how short its “micro games” are, but somehow it is fun. Maybe I’ll have to pick it up at some point.

I also started Bastion but probably won’t finish it. Some of the narration is fun, but Hades is just so great it is hard to go back to Bastion (we’ll this is my first time playing it).

I have the split pad pro themed after this game just because it was the first one available. Awesome joy-conn replacement for hand held mode. The only reason I know the game exists is because of the controller. Personally, I don’t think I’d be interested in the game.

13.56% and over 60 hours played. I did the 4 main dungeons and beat Ganon. Maybe I will revisit it at some point to do more. I think the shrines would be the most compelling thing to return for.

I started Ori and the Will of the Wisps recently after finishing Wind Waker HD. I think I should be able to fit it in before Metroid Dread comes out.

Really enjoying Will of the Wisps so far. Some of the things they’ve added from the first game around combat and boss battles reminds me some of Hollow Knight. I also thought I read it was more linear than the first game, but to me (at least from what I remember of the first game) the second game seems less linear.