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Off Topic Nintendo


Ashez
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I'm so looking forward to this movie coming out! and the trailers are very good, both the first and the second. I remember how long I used to play Mario! great memories. by the way, it was one of the first games I played. Now it's hard to stop! It is very nice that now you can use a platform that helps in games. In Mario's time, there were none.

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So just bought my kids 2 nintendo lites and myself the switch. Spent over a grand 😆 anyway so disappointed, downloaded n64, super mega drive 1st edition) and super nintendo. No GOLDENEYE!!! They said back in September it was coming soon lol 😆 anyway got a couple of games, fifa 23, loads of Mario games, Olympics 2020, super deluxe Mario, racing mario/sonic, just downloaded snooker 19, loving this snooker. Just frustrating the aim is solid! 

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What I've Been Playing

November & December 2022

Unfortunately the last two months have completely got away from me as I'm currently writing this in late January! November was full of parties, a wedding/weekend away, Comic Con, illness and work building up to the holiday season while December was just as hectic. Basically any free time I've had for the last two and a bit months went into the games I'll discuss in this post as it's safe to say I was obsessed with both and I didn't want to waste any opportunity to play them! 

Switch

Pokémon Violet - I'll start by getting the negatives out the way as generation nine of Pokémon released poorly with the game having many issues, mainly around the performance, frame rate and camera and while there are plenty of horror stories out there I think the game is more than playable. The camera clipping issues are annoying but not game breaking and I can live with the odd frame rate skip, I will say however I do expect better from a series as big as Pokémon. I don't however want to focus on the negatives as Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are incredible, it just sucks knowing they could be so much more with more time in the oven and with some polish. While Pokémon Legend's Arceus was the first glimpse of an open world Pokémon experience with its open zone approach, Scarlet and Violet are true open world games and having Pokémon go open world is as awesome as it sounds. I'll admit the environments are somewhat empty in terms of landmarks and interactions (we finally have caves though!) but exploration is rewarded with finding new Pokémon which I think is the point, you never know what Pokémon will be around the next corner and that honestly excited me and kept me exploring every corner of the map. I think this approach makes completing the dex more exciting and rewarding as it feels like you earn it more, I do think however the next step in this open world journey should be to organically add in story elements and things to do in the over world. One thing I really loved is I spoke to a mate from work and we both took completely different routes, due to that we saw different Pokémon at different times which completely changed our teams set up, for example my in game team would have been completely different if I went a couple of different ways. Outside of the open world design the story is split into three sections as you have your staple badge and champion route the series is known for, but you also have two new paths being the titan path and the Starfall path. Staying with the positives I'll first talk about the titan path as I really enjoyed this side story as gameplay wise it sees you take on various boss battles across the map while having a heartwarming story, it was also how you earned this games version of HMs which are extra ways to explore the environment like the ability to swim and climb. This side story also ties heavily into the box legendary of the game which you aquire during the tutorial, however you can't actually use it in battle as it becomes your ride Pokémon which replaces the bicycle and what uses the HMs you acquire, typically I don't like legendary Pokémon and especially ones forced onto you early in the game but the added story interactions from this route of the game actually made me care about my new partner even if I still hate its design, but even that is explained later on in the story. I'd argue the titan path is where the main story is as the champion path is more about acquiring the badges and the Starfall path story is horrendous, but all three do link together for the end game where the story takes more of a focus and boy does it deliver, the closing chapters of the story are some of the best in series history as it links everything together well while explaining alot, I was actually slightly caught off guard by one late twist which I should have figured out since it's fairly obvious once the penny drops. As for the Starfall path I think it's by fair the weakest of the three as the story is utter nonsense about school bullying and the gameplay is boring as you use the new let's go feature to knock out a handful of Pokémon before awful boss battles, basically I didn't enjoy this mode at all but I will say the let's go feature is alot better than I expected it to be. In short the let's go feature is where you send your lead Pokémon out to attack wild Pokémon or collect items, it's essentially an auto battle system which seems to run off level and type match ups, I was worried about it during the preview footage but outside of this storyline it's a feature I like and used alot. Moving on to the post game there isn't much outside of completing the Pokédex but one area that really begins to shine once you've beaten the game is this generations gimmick of teralization where Pokemon can change type, this feature is used throughout the gym battles but it comes into its own via the raid feature. In raids you are in a team of four and you take on one giant over powered Pokémon with various spawning across the map in raid dens, however Game Freak have been doing monthly specials raids where they've introduced exclusive Pokémon like Charizard, Cinderace and Greninja is coming in January. These raids are extremely difficult and take preparation as you can't rock up with a Pokémon from your story playthrough. Personally I've always loved the idea of competitive Pokémon and even though it's something I've rarely dabbled with I have always enjoyed breeding Pokémon and theory crafting ideas, I think that's why I love this raid feature as it gives me a reason, outside of competitive battling to do these things. Thankfully Scarlet and Violet have made more changes to how you create competitive Pokémon as breeding or IV gathering is much easier now, as is EV training, TM collection and basically everything that used to bog down this aspect of the game has been streamlined, you can honestly make a competitive Pokémon in minutes with the right items. I've already got a fair few Pokémon I feel confident taking into these events being Pokémon I've build especially to counter a featured raid or just solid Pokémon I can take into general raids to collect the rewards, and the rewards are usually worth the effort as they all feed back into the system and allow you to make more competitive Pokémon easier. I've spent so much more time in these raids than I anticipated but I absolutely love them, I'm already approaching 135 hours into the title and I hope these raids will keep me returning for as long as they keep doing event ones. 135 hours in three months is utter madness but I've 100%'d the game finishing off 99.9% of my living Dex for this generation (I need Scarlets box legendary) while also dabbling with the competitive side via the raid events, all in all Pokémon Scarlet/Violet do have issues but the games were everything I wanted them to be and more. As I said at the start I'm writing this incredibly late so I'll talk more about this title in the January update as yeah I'm still playing it. 

Mobile 

Marvel Snap - What happens when you take a franchise I'm semi interested in mainly due to childhood nostalgia, wrap it in an online card game and place it on a platform I hate? Well apparently you create the perfect mix a meth lab would be jealous of as Jesus Christ's this might be the most addictive game I've played in years! In Marvel Snap you create a deck of twelve cards and battle it out over three random locations, each card has its own effect and each location will also have abilities that will impact the cards you play there. The battles take place online across six turns where you battle for power points in each location earned by the cards you play there, as each card has a energy cost (cost to play) and a power point which is how much power you'll be adding to the location. You'll start with a hand of cards and one power point and each turn you'll draw a card and gain energy to match the turn, so on turn six you'll have six energy but there are also cards and locations which can impact these stats. The decks you build consist of twelve cards but you don't draw through your entire deck in standard play so you can't guarantee you'll draw a card you need but the small deck size and small turn limit leads to quick but intense matches. Where the Snap comes into it is the game also has a small gambling mechanic as you can "Snap" your opponent which means you're confident, when you snap you wager four cubes, and cubes are used to climb the ranked ladder. A win with no snap is worth two cubes, a win with one snap is worth four and a double snap win is worth eight cubes and it's one hell of a feeling to steal those cubes from your opposition, while losing after a snap is devastating. The ranked ladder is currently the only playable mode in the game but more are coming in future updates, but even as someone who isn't into PvP or online games I've found the ladder more than satisfactory even if I've not climbed as high as I'd have liked (55-60ish is my peak ATM, 100 is the target). Every season the ladder resets and you drop 30% which sucks but it does keep it somewhat balanced, especially as the match making isn't entirely based on your rank. You see the addiction level is raised by how you aquire cards within Marvel Snap as to obtain new cards you need to spend tickets which you earn from the usual mobile game fare, you spend these tickets on upgrading your current cards (making them foil/shiny/3D etc) which increases your collection rank. The collection path is the main way you'll earn new cards as between the start and rank 3000ish iirc you'll earn every card in the first three series's of release, but season four and five have recently started. I have to say the opening months of Marvel Snap is by far the most free to play in this style I've ever played, but don't get me wrong if you want to spend money there are plenty of ways too. You can buy a beginner bundle which gives a variant card, there is a season pass which gives a time limited exclusive cards and so far we've seen a number of special events with various offers but so far I'm still free to play. I have to admit though I think the season pass cards especially are creepers that influence the meta and they've been the only time I've been tempted to spend money on the game, I suppose the season pass at £8.99 a month isn't too bad and in fairness I do think they deserve my money but it's a rabbit hole I don't want to fall into in truth. The season pass cards will be funneled into the regular series's of cards at a later date though so it's not like you'll miss out, it's the typical mobile logic of wait or pay now. All in all I absolutely love this game as I'm doing my dailies consistently, I'm still playing after I've earned my rewards and I'm enjoying creating new strategies when I add new cards to my collection, it can be overwhelming at the start but the tutorial is well done and if the Snap mechanic gets its hooks into you it's a game well worth playing, I just hope it lasts at this point.

FMM 23 - I don't have much to say really as anything I'd want to say about FMM I'd post on the main forums. In general though 23 feels very much the same as 22 and I enjoyed 22 alot, if anything it's too similar but I've enjoyed what I've played, I'm hoping to get into a save once the transfer update lands. 

Games Of The Year

This segment has been held back for its own 2022 write up.

Recent Pick Ups 

Death's Door - £25 - Switch - I know very little about Death's Door apart from it's an isometric action game which received alot of hype upon release. It was somewhat on my radar but it was Vibe's own Liam raving about the game to me on Twitter that made me pull the trigger. It also helped I purchased this and the game below during an offer which would save me £10 on Fire Emblem next year, so I bought two games I had an interest in and placed an order for Fire Emblem for around £30!! Damn just realised I've loads of Pokémon left to play and Fire Emblem is next month, yikes!! 

Pokémon Violet - £43 - Switch - I don't know if I've said this before but when it comes to selecting which version to go for I typically go for the more female targeted one, this is mainly because I feel it seems to be the less popular version which gives me more trading power when completing my dex. I don't really know if this is a thing but going for Y, Moon and shield worked out excellently for me previously with regards to exclusive training so I won't stop doing it any time soon. 

FMM23 - £8.99 - Mobile - Like I wasn't going to buy it!  

Rustler - £7.48 - Switch - Rustler is an old school top down GTA clone but set in medieval times and if that doesn't catch your attention I don't know what will! While the only top down GTA I've dabbled with is China Town Wars on the DS I did really enjoy another indie take on the genre in Retro City Rampage so for the price I was happy to add it to the collection. 

Persona 5 Royal - £33 - Switch - Honestly I know absolutely nothing about Persona apart from Joker is in Smash and that it's billed as one of the best games of all time. Admittedly I picked it up over Black Friday with the intention of "selling it" to a family member who'd gift it me for Xmas, unfortunately for me noone took the bait this year as they'd already bought for me but I basically picked this up to see what all the hype is about. I'm very fussy with RPGs but from the little I've seen the style alone of this title has me intrigued so I look forward to checking it out later in the year (it's meant to be 100+ hours with ease). 

Nier Automata: The End of YoRHa Edition - £25 - Switch - Another title I bought with the intention of getting the money back to receive it for Xmas, however Nier has been on my radar for a long time. I've an iffy history with Platinum Games but from the little I've seen it appears to be a stylised action game in their usual style with a story that apparently sets it apart, all I know is fans of this game are passionate and I look forward to seeing if it lives up to the hype as I've heard so much praise over the years since it originally released. 

Spyro Reignited Trilogy - £19- Switch - Spyro is a series that passed me by as a kid as the only title I've ever played in the series was on the GBA. However my missus on the other hand is very nostalgic for the purple dragon so I took the risk and picked her up the remastered trilogy for Xmas. I was surprised at how excited she was when she opened it Christmas morning as she's not into games in the slightest, but she's basically been playing Spyro 1 constantly anytime I'm not using the system myself and it's been ace to witness. Worst case I thought I could play it myself and see what I missed out on but it looks like I made the right decision picking this up for her, I have to say however I'm really not sure what all the fuss is about as I don't think it looks that good from what I've seen. 

Gris - gift - Switch - One of my favourite things about the Switch is how I've used it to explore new genres of games, especially types of games I wouldn't typically pick up. Gris is an artys fartys walking sim platformer type thing that caught my eye on release as it received alot of attention. It was on my wanted list and to my surprise the missus gave it me Xmas morning, I'm not entirely sure what to make about this title but I'm intrigued I know that much, it's apparently only 4-5 hours long so even if the risk doesn't pay off I've not lost much. 

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3 hours ago, Rob said:

We added Zelda to the work wall calendar today 😂

Really hope it's not delayed again, if it is I think we'll find out in the next direct. I want to book that week off work but I'm not confident it won't be a wasted week if it's delayed yet 😂😂. If we get confirmation in the next week it's still May I'll book it haha

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43 minutes ago, Ashez said:

Really hope it's not delayed again, if it is I think we'll find out in the next direct. I want to book that week off work but I'm not confident it won't be a wasted week if it's delayed yet 😂😂. If we get confirmation in the next week it's still May I'll book it haha

A fine use of a week’s leave.

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3 minutes ago, Ashez said:

@leedsunited87

GoldenEye is Friday baby :D

Omg!!! Litterally having a heart attack over this!!! Sweet, ive bought myself a controller for the switch. Find it alot easier as been playing fifa 23 with their joybpad and I find it quite difficult to use. Big thumbs haha. So the controller is alot better, literally can not wait, as I'm off on Friday! Been telling the wife that once it's out, it's playtime 😆 

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I'm gutted as I agreed to work Friday last night, completely forgot about the Greninja event in Pokémon starting then, and now Goldeneye releases 😂😂. Plus I want to play Fire Emblem, oh well. I'm on holiday after Friday so I'll have a decent week off now 😂😂😂

Second I saw the release date I messaged my brother joking about being kids again, a weekend of Goldeneye and the Royal Rumble, that was the dream as a kid!! 

Which controller you go for? I got the official Pro controller on release day with my Switch and I love it, I've hardly ever used the Joycons tbf. I also recently picked up a wireless Power A Pokémon Sword/Shield one (was reduced to clear) which is also solid tbf, it's lacking some features and feels cheaper but for the price I'm more than happy with it. 

Tbh my Switch is the launch day model and I think it's starting to struggle, the fan on boot up is especially concerning haha. I've thousands of hours on it so I'm not worried but I'm reluctant to buy a new one at the same time 😂

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8 minutes ago, Ashez said:

I'm gutted as I agreed to work Friday last night, completely forgot about the Greninja event in Pokémon starting then, and now Goldeneye releases 😂😂. Plus I want to play Fire Emblem, oh well. I'm on holiday after Friday so I'll have a decent week off now 😂😂😂

Second I saw the release date I messaged my brother joking about being kids again, a weekend of Goldeneye and the Royal Rumble, that was the dream as a kid!! 

Which controller you go for? I got the official Pro controller on release day with my Switch and I love it, I've hardly ever used the Joycons tbf. I also recently picked up a wireless Power A Pokémon Sword/Shield one (was reduced to clear) which is also solid tbf, it's lacking some features and feels cheaper but for the price I'm more than happy with it. 

Tbh my Switch is the launch day model and I think it's starting to struggle, the fan on boot up is especially concerning haha. I've thousands of hours on it so I'm not worried but I'm reluctant to buy a new one at the same time 😂

Looking forward to Goldeneye.

Im not a Pokemon fan so cant comment but sounds like your going to have an epic gaming week off.

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When I had to get the online subscription for Pokémon, I got the higher tier one purely for Goldeneye, if that wasn't announced I'd have got the cheapest option 😂. I had hoped I'd dabble more with the already released N64 games but unfortunately nothing pulled me in but I do want to mess around with a couple eventually. 

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41 minutes ago, Ashez said:

When I had to get the online subscription for Pokémon, I got the higher tier one purely for Goldeneye, if that wasn't announced I'd have got the cheapest option 😂. I had hoped I'd dabble more with the already released N64 games but unfortunately nothing pulled me in but I do want to mess around with a couple eventually. 

Keep me posted. I cant wait to see how it runs.

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9 hours ago, Ashez said:

I'm gutted as I agreed to work Friday last night, completely forgot about the Greninja event in Pokémon starting then, and now Goldeneye releases 😂😂. Plus I want to play Fire Emblem, oh well. I'm on holiday after Friday so I'll have a decent week off now 😂😂😂

Second I saw the release date I messaged my brother joking about being kids again, a weekend of Goldeneye and the Royal Rumble, that was the dream as a kid!! 

Which controller you go for? I got the official Pro controller on release day with my Switch and I love it, I've hardly ever used the Joycons tbf. I also recently picked up a wireless Power A Pokémon Sword/Shield one (was reduced to clear) which is also solid tbf, it's lacking some features and feels cheaper but for the price I'm more than happy with it. 

Tbh my Switch is the launch day model and I think it's starting to struggle, the fan on boot up is especially concerning haha. I've thousands of hours on it so I'm not worried but I'm reluctant to buy a new one at the same time 😂

The olimoxi one, is so much better then using for normal Switch one. Counting the hours till Goldeneye is out! 

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Think I spent around 650 St Xmas 🤣 got about 8 games from CEX, their pretty good. 😍 the 2 controllers are for myself and one of the kids, I've got 6 of those small ones, so all the family can play well 3 or 4 of us 😀 absolutely mint goldeneye, tried just playing on normal controller and I'm absolutely pants, so controller will definitely help! 

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5 hours ago, leedsunited87 said:

These are the 2 controllers I use Ash, goldeneye is out!!!! Love it 😀 

20230127_054728.jpg

20230127_054736.jpg

Yeah I've seen them before, I've got a Pro Controller, the original Joycons (grey), the PowerA Pokémon one and an adapter for GameCube/Wii controllers, which I've not used much tbf. Typically I only use the Pro. 

5 hours ago, leedsunited87 said:

Think I spent around 650 St Xmas 🤣 got about 8 games from CEX, their pretty good. 😍 the 2 controllers are for myself and one of the kids, I've got 6 of those small ones, so all the family can play well 3 or 4 of us 😀 absolutely mint goldeneye, tried just playing on normal controller and I'm absolutely pants, so controller will definitely help! 

GameXplain have a video on how to make it wide screen and how to modernize the controls abit. Unfortunately all the NSO games have had naf controls so I've heard, which makes sense with how unique the N64 controller is. 

I've not played it yet though, I got up early to play some Fire Emblem then once I've walked the dog I plan to do the Greninja raid in Pokémon since that's time limited. That'll likely be it for today as I'm working tonight, so I doubt I'll play GoldenEye this weekend but I will during the week for sure. 

5 hours ago, leedsunited87 said:

This is my docking Station, for the smaller controllers, personally I don't use them lol

20230127_055802.jpg

I was going to get one of these but like I said I just never use them but they're always connected to the console. The Pro controllers battery is like 60 hours so it's not flat often, if I ever get caught short with it being flat I just use the PowerA one now as that takes AAs so I don't have to think about it. 

I play fairly often with my brother and nephew (MK8D mainly) which is the only reason I grabbed another controller, especially as my Joycons show signs of drifting which is stupid considering how little play they've had. 

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Sounds like a awesome controller! I've only just realised I can link the switch to the tele 😆 been reading all your detailed things about the games. Absolutely epic, and its great we have something then just FM.on here. The Pokémon looks pretty mint tbf, I was never a fan of it growing up. Just hope some great new games will be released this year. 

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4 hours ago, leedsunited87 said:

Sounds like a awesome controller! I've only just realised I can link the switch to the tele 😆 been reading all your detailed things about the games. Absolutely epic, and its great we have something then just FM.on here. The Pokémon looks pretty mint tbf, I was never a fan of it growing up. Just hope some great new games will be released this year. 

I only play connected to the TV tbf, I hardly ever play in handheld. 

As for the write ups, it's just something I do for myself but feel like I may as well post it since it's written haha, it's just my personal game playing journal I guess 😂. I just got to the point where I couldn't remember what I thought about games and now I can go back and see what I thought at the time which has been alot of fun tbf. 

Yeah if Pokémon never caught you before these new games won't either, they're very similar and still hold onto those old principles. I loved Pokémon as a kid and never really grew out of the games, Pokémon is totally my comfort series haha. 

4 hours ago, leedsunited87 said:

And I want one of those n64 controllers for the switch, no idea where to look though 🤔 

They're Nintendo Store exclusive, stupidly expensive and usually like gold dust. 

Screenshot_20230127_161059_com.android.chrome.thumb.jpg.2ff58006c0ddbdc091059343ee47aa04.jpg

Don't know if any third party company has made any knock offs though. 

 

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31 minutes ago, Ashez said:

I only play connected to the TV tbf, I hardly ever play in handheld. 

As for the write ups, it's just something I do for myself but feel like I may as well post it since it's written haha, it's just my personal game playing journal I guess 😂. I just got to the point where I couldn't remember what I thought about games and now I can go back and see what I thought at the time which has been alot of fun tbf. 

Yeah if Pokémon never caught you before these new games won't either, they're very similar and still hold onto those old principles. I loved Pokémon as a kid and never really grew out of the games, Pokémon is totally my comfort series haha. 

They're Nintendo Store exclusive, stupidly expensive and usually like gold dust. 

Screenshot_20230127_161059_com.android.chrome.thumb.jpg.2ff58006c0ddbdc091059343ee47aa04.jpg

Don't know if any third party company has made any knock offs though. 

 

That is so beautiful 

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4 hours ago, Ashez said:

I only play connected to the TV tbf, I hardly ever play in handheld. 

As for the write ups, it's just something I do for myself but feel like I may as well post it since it's written haha, it's just my personal game playing journal I guess 😂. I just got to the point where I couldn't remember what I thought about games and now I can go back and see what I thought at the time which has been alot of fun tbf. 

Yeah if Pokémon never caught you before these new games won't either, they're very similar and still hold onto those old principles. I loved Pokémon as a kid and never really grew out of the games, Pokémon is totally my comfort series haha. 

They're Nintendo Store exclusive, stupidly expensive and usually like gold dust. 

Screenshot_20230127_161059_com.android.chrome.thumb.jpg.2ff58006c0ddbdc091059343ee47aa04.jpg

Don't know if any third party company has made any knock offs though. 

 

Yeah that's fair enough buddy, was a massive thing for us as kids Pokémon 👍 interesting to see what others play and definitely worth the read. Yeah I've just looked on nintendo, told them to email me once they have stock. Goldeneye is a thing of beauty lol only thing wrong is they bloody resporn and you have like 10 men shooting at you lol don't even get me started on nataya, just walks in front of me lol 😆 

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2022 Write Up

What better way to wrap up a year than looking back at what unfolded during 2022. In this post we'll briefly look at the games I've spoke about this past year and announce my top fives in my two usual categories. 

Games Played This Year

Spoiler

Ori And The Blind Forest 

Biker Mice From Mars DS

Pokémon Legends Arceus 

Slay The Spire 

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC 

Astral Chain

Football Manager Mobile 2022

New Super Lucky's Tale 

Kunai 

No Straight Roads 

Grand Theft Auto 3 

Paper Mario Origami King

Batman Chaos In Gotham 

Mario Strikers Battle League

Lucky Luke Wanted! 

Shaq Fu

Barack Fu 

Oxenfree

Ori And The Will Of The Wisps

Witcher 3 Wild Hunt 

Pokémon Shield 

Void Bastards

Vampyr

Marvel Snap 

FMM23

Pokémon Violet 

It's safe to say 2022 was a hectic year in my gaming life as I cleared 26 titles from my ever growing backlog! It surprises me I've gone another year without touching a 3DS title which is something I'll have to address in the coming year, while the lack of Wii/GameCube playing time doesn't surprise me as the console hasn't been in my possession for most of the year, I do intended to get back into those backlogs soon though. In truth this is pretty much a handheld list as it contains mostly Switch titles with some DS, GBA and Gameboy Colour sprinkled in for good measure, my Switch collection and backlog is so enticing though I have struggled this year to look past it. 

Looking back at the list I'm fairly proud to say I've beaten all of them apart from Batman Chaos In Gotham which is a dumpster fire of a game that can burn in hell, I'm also surprised at how a handful of those titles took up most of my gaming time. Pokémon Violet, Pokémon Legends, Slay The Spire and The Witcher 3 is roughly 300 hours of gameplay by themselves but I'm annoyed some more shorter games weren't played this year. I absolutely adore Slay The Spire and it's hands down one of my favourite games of all time now, but I have to question why I sunk 90 hours into it instead of moving on, but to be fair I was highly addicted to that game for months. Little stuff like that annoys me as I know I had no reason to play the game that much, but I enjoyed myself which I guess is all that matters but it does make backlog guilt build up! 

I think this is something I'll have to take into 2023 as I'll have to try and move on when I can, thankfully my Switch backlog isn't full with too many big open games at this point with Persona 5 Royal being the main one which causes me concern since it's reported to be 100 odd hours long, apart from that I've a fair few 15-20 hour games, so my target this year is to try and play 4-7 games instead of losing myself in one long one. 

The next section will be my games of the year but before we hit the positive I think my two most disappointing games played this year were The Witcher 3 and Astral Chain. Both games were incredibly cool but they just never really clicked with me, I've already said how easily I lost hours upon hours in Pokémon games or Slay The Spire but the 50 odd hours in The Witcher felt like 50 odd hours, I'm glad I pushed through and finished it but it didn't click with me how I expected at all. As for Astral Chain it was definitely style over substance which left basically no impression on me at all, which is how I typically end up feeling after a Platinum Games title so hopefully when I get to Nier Automata that game can break that trend. 

Games Of The Year

Titles Released This Year

1. Pokémon Violet 

2. Pokémon Legends Arceus 

3. Marvel Snap

4. FMM23

5. Mario Strikers Battle League

I think every game I brought new this year is here as I don't tend to buy day one outside of big Nintendo releases, I suppose one or two new releases are in my backlog though. First and second place was an incredible hard decision for me as I adore both but have issues with both too, however Violet won out despite it's performances issues purely because there is more of a game there, I loved Legends and it was an exciting journey but once it was done it was done, while with Violet I'm struggling to put it down and I beat the story hours ago. Those two games give me so much hope that GameFreak, The Pokémon Company and Nintendo are on the right path with a genre defining mind-blowing game just around the corner, they just need time to do it so I really hope they lessen the release schedule to focus on one awesome, tight and well performing follow up. 

Seeing two mobile games on this list surprises me most of all as I'm not a mobile game player really, but while FMM basically made the list by default I have to say Marvel Snap is the real deal. Between Slay The Spire and Marvel Snap alot of my gaming this year has focused on card games and the amount I enjoy and get addicted to these titles always surprises me. Any spare time I have I've found myself whipping my phone out for a few rounds of Marvel Snap, I'm religiously collecting my daily missions and I'm constantly running my phone flat while playing it. I expected Snap to be a distraction for a week or two but I can see Snap being played long into 2023, it's just a fantastic game. 

That brings me to Mario Strikers which is by far the most disappointing releases on this list as it quite frankly was an embarrassment. The game released with hardly any features or content as it landed like a fart in the wind, personally Mario Strikers on the Wii is one of my most treasured gaming memories and to see it end up like this is massively disappointing. I didn't even go in with stupidly high hopes, I just wanted a solid single player campaign and characters to unlock and we didn't even get that, I don't feel let down by Nintendo often but this game burnt me. 

Games New To Me This Year

1. Slay The Spire

2. New Super Lucky's Tale

3. Ori & The Will Of The Wisps 

4. Vampyr

5. Oxenfree

A full house of Indies, you love to see it! 

What else can I say about Slay The Spire? It was my second most played game of the year behind Pokémon Violet and a game I was completely addicted to. The game can be rather repetitive, especially if you find a winning way so you try to replicate that, however the fun comes from trying to make other ways of winning, Slay The Spire is just an incredible game that I know I'll return to again at some point. 

If someone asked me what 3D platformers I'd recommend on the Switch New Super Lucky's Tale would be suggested in second place behind Mario Odyssey. Granted I've not picked up Bowser's Fury yet but Lucky's Tale was an awesome throw back platformer that I absolutely adored, it felt old school while being modern and it's easily one of my favourite Switch experiences, this game seriously isn't talked about enough. 

I've just realised this list contains two games with Xbox connections in Lucky's Tale and the Ori sequel, I have to say though that Ori and The Will Of The Wisps surprised me more than most games this year. While I found The Blind Forest an okay game I didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped, the game just irritated me throughout however Moon Studio's absolutely killed it with the sequel as they fixed everything I didn't like about the first game in the series while building upon everything I loved about it, this game is easily one of my favourite Metroidvania's on the system for sure. 

I've always been into Vampires, Werewolves and things that go bump in the night so when I saw Vampyr it instantly got my attention, especially as it was a game exploring every aspect of being the creature. The dilemmas of the main character being a doctor who should want to preserve life while also being a vampire that needed to kill to survive was extremely well done, it opened up so many choices and pathways it was a joy to playthrough. The social aspects weaved into the gameplay and while the combat wasn't amazing it was more than serviceable, as was the ability to pick how evil you wanted to be, I think that's why I enjoyed the game so much as I always like the villain side of things and how often do we really get to play as the villain? 

The final surprising game to make the list is Oxenfree, a game I knew was well regarded so I picked it up for a couple of quid on the eshop, I wasn't sure if I'd ever play it but one lazy afternoon I ended up beating it in one sitting. The game is short which works in its favour but the title definitely stayed with me, considering this is the first walking sim type game I've ever played I'm surprised how much I enjoyed it. The mysteries of the story keep pushing you forward as do the gut wrenching reveals as you get to know the cast of characters. I'll surely play through this again to see a different ending at some point but my only regret with this title is I got to it too late and missed out on the limited physical release as I'd absolutely love this on the shelf. 

That wraps up my 2022 thoughts, it's typically late like everything I do at the moment but at least I have this to look back on in future years. 2022 was awesome when it comes to games and 2023 looks to be even better with Fire Emblem Engage on the horizon, Tears Of The Kingdom is a few months away and I'm sure Nintendo has more surprises up their sleeves, and if they don't the backlog is stacked so I'm definitely going to be busy!! 

My January update will follow shortly. 

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Random but if anyone wants a free WiiU game 

Just got my code, I'll have to download it tomorrow. It's going to suck when the Eshop closes for the WiiU/3DS in March, granted I'll miss the 3DS one more as I wasn't a fan of the WiiU. 

I need to go through my 3DS games and update them all and check out any DLC before it closes, but damn that's a task and a half 😂. Xenoblade Chronicles X is the only WiiU game I own I've not played, but it's still sealed and I don't think I want to break the seal to update it as I don't see myself playing it at this point, I don't miss the WiiU and if I do return to it it won't be to play 100+ hours. 

Also we got an awesome new Mario Movie poster 

20230203_222954.thumb.jpg.f000b0c907cf76d75098865bb4a02ed6.jpg

I need to make that my wall paper thinking about it. 

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7 hours ago, Ashez said:

The Nintendo Direct was insane, absolutely insane. Holy shit. 

Defo getting all those gameboy games and the remastered Metroid......wow!

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