Off Topic Nintendo

[Ashez]

13 hours ago, Woody said:

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

Just Pre-ordered Metroid for £30, and Zelda for £50 obviously physical. TheGameCollection are doing Zelda for £50, everywhere else is £60 ATM, I don't usually order so early but thought I'd get in now incase they raise the price. They're also doing the £5 back for pre-order deal so I'll get £10 back in points when they dispatch. 

7 minutes ago, Rob said:

One of the things so good about that Direct is that it covered so many different types of folks.

I got a remasters of two of my favourite games in Metroid Prime and Ghost Trick. 

Plus sequels to two of my favourite games in Zelda and Fantasy Life 

That's not even mentioning how excited I am about the GBA games. I've not played Minish Cap, Golden Sun, Mario & Luigi, all of Fire Emblem and so on and they're all games I've always wanted but the price is too high for how often they're faked etc. 

[Ashez]

What I've Been Playing

January 2023

Switch

Pokémon Violet - I continued to put a stupid amount of time into Violet as my play time hit 140+ hours, utter madness. Not only did I continue to do raids and take part in the Greninja event (I used Toxicroak and won on my first attempt), I also got caught up in shiny hunting fever catching half a box of the sparkling critters, while also working on my forms dex as I do need a couple of extremely rare new forms in the game (1/100 chance forms). I just love this game and I've found it almost endlessly playable, between raids or shiny hunting I always seem to find something to do in the game and I only really put it down due to Fire Emblems release. I don't really have much more to say about the game at this point but in the spoiler below I'll put the route I took to beat the game.

Pokémon Violet Route 2022

Spoiler

Gyms
1. Bug
2. Water
3. Normal
4. Ice
5. Psychic
6. Grass
7. Electric
8. Ghost

Titans
1. Flying
2. Earth
3. Rock
4. Steel
5. Dragon

Raid
1. Dark
2. Fire
3. Fighting
4. Fairy
5. Poison

Fire Emblem Engage - In Fire Emblem Engage the story starts with you, the Divine Dragon awakening after one thousand years to discover the Fell Dragon has also awoken and put in action his plan to take over the world, obviously this is a brand new title so I don't want to say too much but you'll quickly encounter a tragic moment like most Fire Emblem titles that kick starts your motivations alongside meeting a cast of characters to help you along the way. Amongst this cast of characters are the Emblem Rings which are characters from previous games trapped inside jewelry with the first one you encounter being Marth from Shadow Dragon. These companions are a major hook of the game as they're the main macGuffin you and the evil side are aiming to collect with twelve of them being spread across the 26 story missions, with most story chapters revolving around them (the game also features mini side stories and grinding maps). I find it funny that alot of Fire Emblem games do heavy amounts of fan services and call backs to old games and characters, however alot of the games either didn't leave Japan or are incredibly hard to play legally, which means unfortunately alot of these characters aren't really known to us outside of illegal means or the few featured in Smash Bros. The rest of the characters I've met so far are serviceable yet way over designed yet I've grown attached to a few but something does feel lacking about them as I've found few supports that interesting, basically I've ended up liking characters due to their uses on the battle field compared to their personalities which is a shame, as usually with Fire Emblem you'll love both sides of the characters but I've just found too many of these one note, cliches or just uninteresting. Unfortunately I have to say the story and writting is utter garbage so far as it's predictable, boring and very wordy as the game loves to ramble on without saying much, I said on twitter it's like the CW trying to do Tolkien which is far from a compliment. After the stories of Three Houses and Echoes I think this is a let down, the tone is mostly alot lighter and the game is visually brighter too with its pastel colour scheme which does pop on the big screen at least. Thankfully I'm only early days in to the story so I do hope it develops into something better but from what I've seen/heard I don't have much faith on that front. Thankfully however the gameplay is absolutely fantastic and likely the best in the series as they've made a few changes to combat that really spices up encounters. Fire Emblem has traditionally used a rock, paper, scissors battle system where axes beats lances, lances beats swords and swords beat axes, however Engage has introduced a break feature where the winning weapon will break the opponent leaving them unable to counter attack and open to further attacks that turn, this really adds to the strategy as you need to use it to your advantage while also being careful to ensure the AI doesn't break you on their turns, it's such a simple addition but it's a game changer and alot of fun. The Emblem Rings also have gameplay uses as you can equip them to characters for massive bonuses like having the ability to essentially evolve for a couple of turns where the character will merge with the Emblem to create a over powered form that can really swing the tide of a battle, I've tried not to use this feature too often as it's not really my style but it's useful for sure and the game does seem to be balanced with them in mind, especially when the AI map bosses also have access to this feature. The combat isn't the only thing that makes the missions fun though as the maps are extremely well done as most have gimmicks or things to change up the game play like the map being dark and having to find torches to light the way to avoid ambushes, I do think these are some of the best maps in recently memory and if anything the map design reminds me more of Conquest which was praised for its map design on release. I have to admit I'm glad this title has focused more on the combat side of the game as Three Houses put a big focus on the social aspects which while enjoyable I did find a slog, and it's why I've only played that title once and not played it through the required four times to see everything the story has to offer, that's not to say Engage doesn't have social features however as it does have an area called the Somniel. This area is where you relax between battles as you can shop, do supports, adopt animals and take part in various mini games to boost support levels and require one mission stat boosts and I'm delighted to say this area is mostly optional, as I've ignored it as much as I could so far. This stuff just doesn't interest me as it's so filler it hurts, I get people like this stuff and I understand for people that fell in love with Fire Emblem due to Three Houses how this could be a disappointing feature of Engage but I'm delighted it's taken a back seat for this title, I want all the support stuff and the ability to get to know the characters but I don't want to waste time in my strategy game cooking meals, fishing, doing pushups or collecting resources for mini games. So far I'd say Engage is a mixed bag but the combat and maps are swinging it into a positive light for me, the fact I can ignore what I don't like and focus on the battles is awesome for me and while the story and writing are disappointing so far I'm still enjoying myself. At this point though I do think this is the weakest game for a while as the story is really holding the game back, as it's making me not feel invested in what's going on, especially as the characters are also weak. In short I love the gameplay but the package isn't up to the likes of Three Houses, Echoes and Awakening which I think are the modern standard bearers for the series, but we'll see what I think once I've finished the game.

Mobile

Marvel Snap - I continued playing Marvel Snap for the first few weeks of January but my playing did die down after that, until it's basically stopped by the end of the month. It's not intentional as such but it's a mixture of over playing the game, being stuck in a creative rut due to not having the cards I want to mess around with and the way the meta went. Basically the meta ended up being run by the last two event cards in Silver Surfer and Sabu and an incredibly toxic card in Leader. I get the power creep of paid for cards as that's how the business runs, but it's already announced they're being looked at for a nerf in a coming patch, while Leader has also been hit recently with a downgrade. Unfortunately though that hasn't enticed me back as yet, I think I will return when I feel like it though as the gameplay loop is just so fun. 

Games Of The Year

Spoiler

New Titles

1. Fire Emblem Engage
2.
3.
4.
5.

First Time Played This Year

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Recent Pick Ups

Fire Emblem Engage - £30.70 - Switch - The Game Collection did a deal where when you preorderd a game with them you'd get £5 back in credit on dispatch, and thankfully the dates lined up that I could get Death's Door and Pokémon and use the £10 in credit to order Fire Emblem, there was like a 24 hour period to achieve this as the deal ended the day after Pokémon dispatched but I got myself a nice little saving on this title. I do usually try for the special edition of Fire Emblem games, and I regret not trying this time but I got this order in advance and the special edition basically slipped my mind at the time, I should have risked missing out on this savings here and trying to get the special edition but oh well. The reason why? The two 3DS special editions I have complete are now worth a combined £450! The Three Houses one I just couldn't get at the time is also now worth £150, so yeah I likely messed up here by not tracking down a special edition. While I don't get games as an investment and the value isn't that important these kind of mark ups are ones I should pay better attention too.

[Rob]

Is Marvel Snap ok for a 4/5 year old or is it aimed older?

[Ashez]

3 hours ago, Rob said:

Is Marvel Snap ok for a 4/5 year old or is it aimed older?

Yeah it's aimed for older, it's free though so worth downloading just to look I guess. 

[Ashez]

What I've Been Playing

February 2023

February turned out to be a massive retro month as I ploughed my way through a number of the shorter titles on the Nintendo Online Service, I also finished off Fire Emblem Engage while also continuing to sink hours into Pokémon Violet. Basically I was waiting around for Metroid Prime Remastered to release at the start of March as I wanted to start that right away! 

Switch

Pokémon Violet - Shock horror I know but I continued playing Violet as I did some more shiny hunting, however the main reason I returned was due to the event raids. For Pokémon Day an event Pikachu raid was released, followed by two raids featuring brand new unreleased legendaries. All three were a fantastic distraction as they managed to make the Pikachu reasonably difficult before the community basically broke it, while the new legendaries were exciting purely because it expands my living Dex, and due to that I can't miss any of these as you never know if they'll show up again. I hope these raid events continue to come and I believe they will with the DLC announced on Pokémon Day to be coming in two parts, one during the summer and the other for the holiday period. 

Fire Emblem Engage - I ended up finishing Engage in around 45 hours and I have to admit it never felt like that, the later missions though get massive as you'll easily spend 45mins to over a hour on some of them, especially taking into account the long drawn out story segments. The story unfortunately continued to be bland, forgettable, predictable and worst of all boring however to give it it's due two of the chapters were absolutely awesome but they don't make up for the other 24 chapters being mediocre. The maps however continued to impress as they got more complex as the game went on and it continued to add new elements to keep you on your toes. By the end game I really started to love a handful of characters with Chloe, Diamant, Alcryst, Yunaka, Merrin, Seadall and Kagetsu being worth a shout-out. Merrin I loved using as she was a powerful wolf knight that I could entrust to go handle sections of the map basically by herself, the same goes for the thief Yunaka who could exploit the Corrin emblem to excellent effect. I think my favourite two however were the bowman Alcryst and the sword master Kagetsu. Alcryst was my deadly ranged unit who I used to take out worrisome units from a distance, while Kagetsu was by far my most broken unit. I gave him a killing edge which has a high critical hit ratio and I also forged it to improve this ratio, by the end game this deadly swordmaster was basically having a 70-85% crit chance for every attack and he was just brutal! It got to the point where Alear who is the playable character wasn't even close to being one of my main units, I always tried to get him involved but they just couldn't compete with the squad I'd put together. Saying that I should say I did play on the classic setting which means permadeath, however I did reset levels if I lost someone important while I also took advantage of the excellent rewind feature which I've adored since Echoes introduced it on the 3DS. I think the characters did start to win me over but I still credit this more to their battling abilities than their supports and personalities as like I said before the writing in this game is just poor, unless you like endless support conversations about cups of tea or muscle building. All in all I have to say I really did enjoy Engage but it was lacking and didn't reach the heights of previous games in the series due to the poor story, however the excellent gameplay is more important to me and it more than delivered on that front. I essentially blitzed this game during a week off work and it was a blast and due to the lack of focus on social elements like Three Houses I know I'll return to replay it at some point to experience the other characters I didn't use on this playthrough as I often return to Fire Emblem games. If the story was better this really could have been a contender to rival my favourite titles in the series, which is a bitter sweet feeling, if anything it has made me want to replay Fates as that was a title I had alot of issues with but I am starting to get that nostalgic feeling for it, we'll see if I have the time.  

Nintendo Online Service 

GoldenEye 007 - N64 - If you asked me my three most nostalgic games I'd likely say Super Mario World, The Lion King and of course the first person shooter that took the world by storm GoldenEye. I loved the film as a kid and I'm still a big fan of Brosnan as James Bond but it's the game that really cemented itself into human history, this game is so iconic and basically invented the home console FPS which is some claim, especially if you look where that genre is now. It's a game I've dabbled with now and then but it's historically been difficult to emulate, I did repurchases a physical copy for my N64 back in December 2019 to discover my N64 has seen better days as it constantly reboots itself, saying that I need to take it apart and see if a clean up will fix it. This basically means I've not touched this game since my youth where I'd play it constantly with friends and family and it's a game I hold close to my heart, so when it was announced the title was finally returning to modern consoles I was incredibly hyped! I'll admit I had my reservations as I knew the game was incredibly of its time so I knew it wouldn't hold up to my memories, however I hoped it wouldn't ruin them either which can happen when you return to a cherished game. Thankfully I can confirm that while extremely dated as expected the title is alot of fun and more than just a novelty, especially if you change the consoles controls to utilise dual analogue sticks which makes controlling the camera and movement more in line with modern games. I think my main annoyance with the controls was movement and especially aiming via the retical is extremely sensitive and a real pain to use, I found attempting to line up shots practically impossible and extremely frustrating, so I soon got to the point where I stopped trying and relied on the auto aim to target my foes. I was actually really surprised how little of the game I actually remembered, like I remembered sections or some select levels but there were also levels I'd completely forgot about until I'd rediscover that memory in the back of my mind and it was an awesome experience. I suppose I've not seen the movie in years either and this game does follow it closely while also filling in some blanks, most people for example know of the Dam level that captures the film perfectly and the dive sequence popping out of the toilet cubicle is pure nostalgic magic. I found myself taking multiple screenshots throughout my play through while genuinely just having a warm feeling through out. Unfortunately due to it's of the era feeling I'm not sure what someone would think of the game if it was there first time playing it but as a returning fan I had a blast and I can't wait to get my brother around to properly relive our childhood as we battle it out in the multiplayer. My only concern with GoldenEye on the Switch is how long will we have it for, it's brilliant to have it back but it wouldn't take much for it to be taken away from us again, while I can't see a physical release happening I'd snap it up in a heartbeat as it'll only take one kink in the complicated licencing chain for this title to disappear again, it's actually a miracle we got it at all. 

Mario Kart 64 - N64 - I said above I hoped GoldenEye would be more than just a novelty which it was, however Mario Kart 64 fits snuggle into the novelty category in 2023. This is the first time I've played this title in likely two decades, however it really didn't feel like that long considering so many of these tracks have been remade and improved in later games in the series, which by default makes this title basically obsolete outside of nostalgia. It's odd as I was very nostalgic playing these tracks yet at the same time I'd almost rather be playing the remade versions of the levels, like my nostalgia for the updated levels was stronger. I ended up playing through all four cups on 50cc winning them without any issues on this drive down memory lane, I also decided to earn the credits as I beat the Special Cup on 150cc which admittedly did take a few attempts. One thing I did find interesting was my muscle memory was basically conditioned to modern Mario Kart mechanics as I constantly tried doing things I'd do in MK8, or follow the driving lines I'd use in that game which didn't always work as well, especially as Mario Kart 64 is alot stiffer with the driving almost feeling box like. I also found the game alot less item heavy, which I found surprising considering how big the battle mode was in this game as a kid but during the races I found myself using them less than I typically would in modern games. 

Yoshi's Story - N64 - I know I had access to Yoshi's Story as a child, I think it was a game my step brother had, either way I know I've dabbled with it without ever really playing it. This was basically summed up by the fact I only remembered the title screen with its infuriating music and the first level. I'm unsure why I don't remember anything else about the title as I know I've played it before, to be honest I wouldn't be surprised if I just didn't understand the game as a kid. On the surface Yoshi's Story appears to be a basic platformer where the dinosaur jumps and defeats enemies, however this title is much more about exploration as the levels don't really have an end, to finish a level you have to consume a certain amount of fruit, which once achieved ends the level and moves you on to the next one. The game consists of six worlds with each world having four levels each, however you need to find hearts hidden in the game to unlock the extra levels, due to this I basically only did one playthrough playing level one of each of the world's. During my time with the game I did only find enough hearts to unlock the second route through the game but to be honest my curiosity was satisfied after the first run through and I didn't see the appeal in playing or earning the other routes, especially as I did enough to roll credits. That's essentially how I've decided to view these titles as I don't have the time or desire to complete all of them, I want to experience titles I missed or feel that nostalgia hit from games I've not played in years. As for Yoshi's Story I thought it was okay, visually it's very impressive like most Yoshi games but as a game it's somewhat vanilla and average. The worlds are what you'd come to expect from Mario games with the typical water, lava and grassland levels and Yoshi's only really abilities are his eating of enemies and egg throwing, which do work well but there isn't anything really exciting here. I would say it likely is an excellent first platformer for a child as it's relatively easy and forgiving if they understand progress is made by collecting the fruit and not just trying to reach the goal. The game does really encourage replaying it as you're scored on what fruits you collect with certain ones like melons giving a bigger score and then there is obviously the different route approach the game has gone for. It was an interesting hour or so to play through the six levels I did and maybe in the future I'll return to see the other routes, I'm just not entirely sure I see the point in doing so. 

Kirby's Dream Land - GB - I don't know why but Kirby's first adventure in its long and established franchise has always appealed to me, something about the simplicity of the graphics and design always caught my eye, however until now Kirby is a series I've never really dabbled with having only played Triple Deluxe on the 3DS. So when the title released on the Gameboy online app I knew now was the time to give the platformer a try, especially as it's a short title and I'm basically filling time until I receive my copy of Metroid Prime. Anyway Kirby's Dream Land is a very basic platformer where Kirby doesn't even have his signature copy abilities yet, all the pink puff ball can do is jump, float and shoot out what it's sucked up being air or enemies. The game can be easily beaten in 45 minutes or so and the difficulty is rather low, but a harder mode is unlocked after completion of the game. I would however recommend using a decent dpad, as I tried playing with the Pro Controller analogue stick and I did repeatedly mess up jumps until I switched to the Dpad, I think I'll have to dig out my adapters and my Snes classic controller for use on these games. Like most platformers Kirby's Dream Land consists of a few side scrolling levels where you float and jump to the finish, with a boss fight at the end which are pretty decent considering the console it released on. The game also features some side scrolling shooter levels which was a nice surprise! I often struggle to return to Gameboy or Gameboy Colour games as I don't think they hold up usually, however I think this title is well worth the playthrough, especially as it won't take you long and it's a good time. 

3DS & WiiU

Just a reminder the Eshop on both 3DS and the WiiU closes in March so now is the time to grab any games, updates or DLC you may want. I went through my 3DS collection grabbing any patches I need for games I have, or games I might purchases in the future. Apparently updates will still be available for a while longer but I'd rather be safe than sorry. 

Games Of The Year

Spoiler

New Titles

1. Fire Emblem Engage 

2.

3.

4.

5.

First Time Played This Year

1. Kirby's Dream Land 

2.

3.

4.

5. 

Recent Pick Ups 

It's been a slow year for pick ups so far but that's mainly due to me securing preorders with no sales really catching my eye. Trust me I am looking but a mixture of the offers available, the games I've preordered and my current backlog has meant nothing has really tempted me. It hasn't helped this month I've basically neglected my backlog instead deciding to experience the Nintendo Online Service games. 

[leedsunited87]

Nice write up their Ash, enjoying reading your stuff. Getting shed load of time at work atm, so decided to take my Switch into work, going to again Tom

Really enjoying playing goldeneye atm. Got new buttons to the game and now feels alot more smoother. On 00 agent, lads at work can here me effing and jeffing when they just spawn out at thin air lmao its like ffs, give me a break haha. 

Also had a play around on the N64 stuff. Quite like the Mario tennis, looks good and its easy to play. 

[Rob]

Nothing of note happened with Nintendo today 

[Ashez]

What I've Been Playing

March 2023

Switch

Pokémon Violet - Pokémon had two special tera raids during March as Decidueye was released which I had to grab as it's one of my favourite Pokémon, while they also did raids featuring Blissey which had boosted rewards. I didn't mess about with the Decidueye raids much as I grabbed the one I needed and moved on, I did however grind the Blissey event for a couple of hours as stocking up on candies and shards is never a bad idea, especially the candies as they're so important and such a time saver. 

Metroid Prime Remastered - Metroid Prime is a series I was late to, actually Metroid as a whole was a series I largely ignored until the WiiU game drought, as it wasn't until those dry years I finally dived into the series starting with the 2D games and eventually moving on to the 3D Prime series. The first time I played Prime it absolutely blew me away, I was entirely engrossed in this universe as the world design, atmosphere and environments are some of the best in gaming, unfortunately I didn't find this second playthrough as mind blowing but it was still a massively enjoyable experience! In Metroid Prime Samus Aran has shifted from the 2D plane into the third dimension as the title is a first person shooter of sorts, however calling it a first person shooter isn't actually correct either as while it has elements from that genre Prime is more of an adventure game. The whole point of Prime is you're left isolated on a planet and you have to explore it to discover the story and progress the plot, during this exploration you'll discover volcanic caverns, frozen wastelands and ruins of many kinds as you piece together what's happened on this planet. Exploration is aided as you'll discover upgrades like the missiles, the space jump and the morph ball which will allow you to open up new areas or find hidden paths in places you've already been and all this is brought together and even enhanced by the first person view point. Everything you see is from the point of view of Samus as your HUD is her visor, one of my favourite parts of the game is how explosions and flashes of light will show you Samus' reflection in the visor, it's such a simple idea yet it's so immersive it's unreal, that's what Prime does right as the immersion and the atmosphere really pull you into this world, in ways I've not seen many other games achieve, especially not 20 odd years ago. While exploring and looking for ways to advance you'll also encounter plenty of 3D platforming which shouldn't work in first person but it's actually handled extremely well, admitted some parts can be somewhat clunky but as a whole the exploration is vertical and horizontal with so many hidden paths to take and optional upgrades to find, basically your efforts are rarely wasted, especially as the map will point you in the right direction after a certain amount of time of you not making progress. You see the map doesn't unlock until you enter rooms or find a download station so exploration is the only way forward which unfortunately does lead to alot of backtracking, especially in the final hours but I love how this system works as it gives you enough rope to explore before reigning you in and stopping you from wasting too much time by pointing you in the right direction, to be honest even when it does suggest where you should go it only marks the area on your map but not how to get there so while it helps it doesn't remove your ability to roam the world. I can't hide the fact I adore this game but that doesn't mean I love all aspects of it as there are two areas in which I think the title let's itself down, the first of which is the boss battles. While exploring you'll encounter plenty of bosses across the map but most of them are so bloated and boring they soon become frustrating, I played on normal and none gave me any trouble which I'm actually pleased with considering how drawn out the fights are, they all basically boil down to waiting for openings to attack while staying alive while waiting for said opening, they're not bad as such but they're also not that good, spectacle aside as some of them are massive and cool looking. The final thing I dislike about Prime is the late game artifact hunt which is essentially a massive dollop of padding right before the end game where you need to find 12 items hidden across the entire map! Thankfully due to this being my second playthrough I was aware of this being a thing so I did manage to remember where about half of them were which I grabbed along the way, however it still meant I had to look up the ones I was missing as you're just given a vague clue to the items location, so I'd 100% suggest using a guide at this point to mitigate the frustrating time sink as you could waste so much time trying to find them naturally as some of them are complete bullshit, for example one is a hidden door behind a normal looking wall in a random room on a random platform. These two factors don't hinder the game too much though as the whole package is just superb, I couldn't recommend the title enough, it's honestly a magical game. 

Gris - The first cutscene of Gris showcases a woman singing in a world full of colour, however the colour soon drains from her life and her voice disappears as she crumbles into a heap and the stage is set, you're on a journey to rediscover her voice and to return colour to her world. All this is expressed with no dialogue and I think it's a clear visual metaphor for some form of trauma or heartbreak, and while it's open to interpretation I think it's effectively done. The gameplay is a very basic and honestly mediocre puzzle platformer where you have nothing to fear as you can't die and there are no real enemies, the whole point of the game is to explore and solve puzzles to regain your lost senses. While exploring you'll need to collect star pieces which unlocks the path to continue the adventure while you'll also find abilities to help in exploration like a double jump, one really cool thing you'll unlock as you explore is your missing colours which add to the palette as you gain them, the game starts in black and white and after each area you'll add more and more colours to the screen and it's very effective. It's a shame the gameplay is somewhat lacking but the game is saved completely by its absolutely incredible visuals as the game has a water colour style and it's stunning, I found myself taking screenshots throughout and just taking in this masterpiece, I'm not really into artsy fartys games as I'm a gameplay first type of guy but playing through Gris was an experience, the visuals are that good and it's incredible how much emotion they manage to convey without any dialogue. The emotion is really hit home by a fantastic and flowing sound track which is quiet when it needs to be while empowering and heart breaking when the journey calls for it, this game is way more art than it is a game. Gris is a hard game to recommend as it's short at 3-4 hours in length which personally I think is a good thing but I think your millage will vary, it's definitely an experience but I wouldn't say it's a good game, as I'm not entirely sure it's trying to be a game, it's more an art exhibition with the odd puzzle and platforming section thrown in. If the gameplay was tighter and more in depth this could have been something really special.

Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth - I'll save this for next month's update considering I've only recently started it and this update is big enough. 

Nintendo Online Service 

FIFA 2023 Legacy Edition - I feel dirty even including this title but needs must, you see MyNintendo had a set of Gameboy posters available for Platinum Coins and I was a little short of the 600 points I needed to purchase them. However on the Switch Online missions you could get 100 points for taking part in the online trial of FIFA 23, basically you just had to download the trial and open it to get the reward so it's what I did. To be honest I had no intention of actually playing the title as I was just going to boot the game, trigger the mission completion and delete it from my system but in the end I decided I may as well take a peak since I took the time to download it. It actually dawned on me during this process that I've not played FIFA since the 2018 edition which is funny as 23 is that same exact edition but with updated squads. Like most teens FIFA was an important series for me and my family as I'd play it all the time with my brother's, but when we moved out of the family home I basically left the series behind, mainly due to how EA decided to not support the Switch. I picked up 2018 cheap around its release and I doubt I even put five hours into it as it's a shocking version and I discovered my days of seeing FIFA as a single player game are well and truly behind me, in the following years when EA only released the Legacy version on the Switch which as I said is basically the 2018 version with transfer updates I almost forgot about the series. Anyway I played a handful of matches and realised I made the right decision as I'm missing absolutely nothing ignoring these pathetic releases, to be honest the only time I ever miss the series is when I hear about my brother's continuing our traditions and playing it together online on the other consoles, for that reason I think if the Switch port was on par I likely would have stayed with the series but this Legacy nonsense was enough for me to walk away from it, hey at least it got me 100 Platinum Coins and helped get me some awesome posters. 

8Bitdo G Bros Wireless Adapter + Controllers Chat - I said in the previous update how I wasn't happy using the Switch Pro Controller on the Gameboy games due to its poor DPad and it's placement, and that I intended to dig out my adapter and compatible controllers. As you can see my adapter is the 8BitDo G Bros one which I got for £13 years ago, unfortunately however it seems alot more expensive now but other options are available. I picked this adapter up as it's a wireless device with connection ports for Wii and GameCube controllers, which appealed to me as I have various controllers for those systems and the SNES classic controller has the same Wii connector. Anyway when it came to play another game where I wanted a solid DPad I got the adaptor and my Snes classic controller out and it worked a charm, however there is one draw back as unlike the Switch specific Snes controller available via the Nintendo Store, the Snes classic controller doesn't have the ZL/R buttons so it can't access the menus, or use features like save states and rewinds. This led me to dig out my Wii Classic controller which is similar in shape but not as comfortable to hold, but it does have all the required buttons to access all the features of the service. Ideally I'd like to pick up a Wii Classic Controller Pro as it has handles/grips but I'm not sure if I will, they're cheap enough but I'm not sure it's worth the investment at this point as the normal Wii classic controller is more than serviceable, I'd just rather it be nicer to hold. I also don't see myself picking up the official Switch Snes controller as the price is stupid and it's never in stock and I've never really been tempted by the various 8BitDo Snes inspired controllers. If anything was to tempt me it would be the amount of games on the service that require a solid DPad so we'll see if I can get into the online games enough to warrant considering it, basically I'm rambling but I wanted to mention it. 

Star Fox - SNES - Star Fox is another series I've basically no experience with outside of really liking the characters in Smash Bros, as who doesn't like them as they're badass, especially Wolf. Anyway Star Fox wasn't even on my to play list until I watched a video by NintendoWorldReport released for the 30th year anniversary of the series, I know the director there is a big fan of the series and this documentary and the passion around it inspired me to check out the game, originally I was just going to jump into Star Fox 64 but considering the games are short I decided I may as well experience all the titles I have access to. It's amazing how important Star Fox is in Nintendo history as it basically kick started Nintendo's adventures in 3D and led to even more influential games like Mario 64 and Ocarina Of Time, I have to admit seeing a 3D game coming from a console I associate with 2D sprite based games still hits different even after all these years, I can only imagine what it was like having this game as a kid when it was a brand new experience for home consoles. Obviously the graphics don't hold up at all and at times I did struggle to get my head around them but I'm glad I decided to start my Star Fox journey here. Star Fox is a rail shooter where you control Fox McCloud and his Arwing and fly around levels shooting basically anything that moves until you reach the end of the level, admittedly I've always sucked at shoot em ups and games in similar genres which is why I've stayed away from the series, however I found the easy route of this game fairly chill bosses aside. Two of the bosses especially gave me serious trouble as I struggle to focus on what I'm doing while avoiding damage, it's basically why I'm shit at this type of game as I can't keep track of everything, which is why I'm glad I played through this title with access to save states as it did really reduce the amount of frustration I'd have faced otherwise, although I think if I wasn't rushing and treating it as a one and done I'd of eventually got my head around everything. As I said previously I played the easy route of the game as the game does contain three routes with each being progressively harder, originally I did intended to play the normal route as well but I was frustrated enough by the first route I didn't want to continue with the title. I was just struggling with the graphics, keeping track of what I was attacking, where attacks were coming from and all that stuff but mainly just in the boss fights, during the normal levels I did find myself really enjoying myself. I think I spent a hour or two which was enough to scratch that itch, while also intriguing me to play it's Snes sequel which wasn't released until decades latter and the fan favourite Star Fox 64. 64 is the one I'm most excited to play as it's graphics are more modern for the time and more in line with what I'm used to, I think that lower adaption period should increase my enjoyment as I've never played a 3D game in this style before. 

Super Mario Land 2 6 Golden Coins - Gameboy - The Mario Land series is an area of Nintendo I've never experienced before so with the second game in the series being on NSO and being only a hour or two long I decided to smash it out while I had the opportunity. In truth the game is an okay little platformer taking graphical inspiration from Super Mario World while also being the first introduction of Wario, who's one of my favourite characters. The game starts with Wario taking over the castle as you have to collect the 6 gold coins to regain access. To collect the coins you go to 6 small worlds, do a handful of levels and beat the boss which is repeated until you've all 6, the world's however are somewhat unique for the time as you have a toy world (featuring Nintendo's old Lego type toy in one level), and a world where you're shrunk so even ants are bigger than Mario to mention just 2 of the 6. I think that's about all i got out of this title in fairness as it was fairly standard, it was just the world's and enemies I'd never seen before that kept me somewhat invested for the hour or so it took to play through, it's safe to say it won't be a go to for me the next time I want a 2D Mario fix. 

Other 

Tetris Arcade In A Tin - It's Tetris in a tin slightly bigger than a tobacco tin, the D-Pad is mushy but as a pocket size Tetris it's dudey as hell. I've mainly been playing the sprint mode where it's essentially a time attack mode to clear 25 lines, the only other mode available is marathon. It's totally a novelty product but it's one I get a kick out of, it's still on the table in the front room so I pick it up when I have a few mins to kill. It's pocketable Tetris I don't really know what else to say about it haha. 

Mobile 

Marvel Snap - After a break I returned to see what I'd missed, while I enjoyed returning it only held me for around a week or so because the progression is still really slow as a F2P player. It didn't take long for me to get bored of the decks I'd played previously and even though I was ranking up still in the collection path I wasn't getting any of the cards that I wanted. Playing more consistently might have eased this issue somewhat due to the token shop which rotates through cards you don't own but you only have so many tokens. I think this return proved I will keep coming back though as the game is awesome. 

Games Of The Year

Spoiler

New Titles

1. Fire Emblem Engage 

2.

3.

4.

5.

First Time Played This Year

1. Kirby's Dream Land 

2. Gris

3. Super Mario Land 2

4. Star Fox

5. FIFA 23 Legacy Edition

Recent Pick Ups 

Metroid Prime Remastered - £30 - Switch - Metroid Prime is one of my favourite games as I'm sure I've covered above so it was a title I was always grabbing, especially at its discounted price! I only assume Nintendo thought it wouldn't sell at £40-45 so it released at the budget price of £30 but I have seen it float up to £35ish as the demand seems to have been big. Either way I'm just delighted this series is back and getting another shot on a system that's actually successful, it's honestly one of the best games ever made. 

3Souls - £0 - WiiU - I posted in the thread about the developer of this game giving it away for free on Twitter due to the Eshop closing, tbh I haven't even looked into it I just received the code and downloaded it. In truth returning to the WiiU to download this was a grim experience, god I'm not a fan of that system at all and thankfully all the Switch ports make it basically forgettable at this point. 

Tetris Arcade In A Tin - £10 - While browsing B&M before Xmas I saw this product on the shelf, I rather clearly stated in front of the missus and the brother that it would make an awesome Christmas gift, in fact it was the only thing I was confident about getting. However disappointingly it turns out neither of them were listening to me and I didn't receive it and the item disappeared from store shelves and was only available online with a mark up. So imagine my excitement when I spot it brand new and unopened at a carboot sale at a lower price than retail, I just knew I had to have it. 

Wacky Races Crash & Dash - £5 - Wii - I loved Wacky Races as a kid so this has been on my want list for a while, tbf I know nothing about it but everyone needs more kart racers in their lives. 

Speed Racer - £2 - Wii - Speaking of kart racers here's another one, I know nothing of the license it's attached to but I remember watching a video about this game and it stayed in my mind so for £2 I'll add it to the collection. 

[Rob]

You need to make it a little clearer whether you liked Metroid or not. 😘

[Ashez]

8 hours ago, Rob said:

You need to make it a little clearer whether you liked Metroid or not. 😘

Wait for Metroid Prime 2 HD, I didn't like the original of that at all when I played it 😂. Wonder if a remaster would improve what I didn't like though.

Still not played Prime 3, or Other M though. Prime 3 will hopefully be released before Prime 4 while I need to get the Wii set up to get back into that backlog.

[Ashez]

What I've Been Playing

April 2023 

April was a very odd month as I'm basically just sitting around waiting for Tears Of The Kingdom, I got into a bit of a funk where I just didn't want to play anything. This is likely the least used the Switch has been in months but at least I know I'll be making up for that soon! 

Switch

Pokémon Violet - The first event tera raid of the month was for Samurott which I defeated first try with a Tauros build I saw on Twitter, as always these are an excellent distraction and alot of fun to take part in, worryingly though this did push my total play time for Pokémon Violet to 150 hours! Madness considering we've got two DLC expansion to come! The second event featured an Ice type Inteleon which I also beat first time (online this time though) with a support Umbreon, I also took this opportunity to do some online play with Zaangie as we grinded the event for a few hours messing around with various strategies and it was a blast! 

Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth - I said when I picked this up it was an impulse buy I wasn't sure on, and how I hoped it would be my gateway back into a franchise I loved as a kid. Unfortunately however this title hasn't worked out for me as I've put over 8 hours into the title and I've no desire to push on with it, especially as how long to beat has it listed at 50 hours, if it was 20-30 hours long I think I might have pushed on with it as I do enjoy elements of the game but I can't justify playing this game for months. I suppose the hint was in the title as this game is very story heavy with long visual novel type cut scenes and loads of confusing exposition that baffled me, this combined with confusing game mechanics made the barrier for entry very high, yet while I got my head around the gameplay I just couldn't handle the long story segments as I just found them boring and extremely filler, it was taking away from the RPG dungeon crawling and monster collecting elements I was really enjoying. Storywise you're a cyber detective who can transition from the real world to the digital world where you aim to stop hackers using programs called Digimon, which gameplay wise means you wonder around the real world doing busy work going from A to B back to A to then transition to the digital world. The digital world is where the fun gameplay is as it's a basic dungeon crawler where you explore the area to achieve your goal while encountering plenty of Digimon. You get given a partner Digimon early on and you aquire more by encountering them, with each encounter you get a scan percentage and when the percentage is 100-200% (200% gives bonuses) you can download them and use them. The combat is your typical turn based combat with the game having 3 unique battle triangles which allows some strategy, while unlike Pokémon you have a three team party plus Digimon in reserve you can call upon, and while basic i did really like this battle system. One part that surprised me how much I enjoyed was how you Digivolve and de-digivolve your monsters as unlike Pokémon these creatures don't have set paths so you can evolve them into various creatures on their path, you can also de-digivolve them to attempt to find new paths, each change in form reverts the monster back to level one while keeping their stats but they level up super quick, with some evolutions needing certain stats to obtain so it was very fun just seeing what I could get, I have to admit I was very very nostalgically happy when I finally got my hands on Agumon, Greymon and Gabumon, unfortunately I stopped playing before I got Garurmon though but getting those definitely kept me playing a few hours longer than I might have otherwise. Like I said I really enjoyed the digital side of the game but the real life side of the title was a total chore, which isn't helped out by the fact there are plenty of seemingly mandatory side quests halting progression. Unfortunately I just lost the desire to play this title which really annoys me considering I've only not finished 2 titles in my Switch played lists, one being a buggy unplayable mess (Taletell Batman) and the other being impossibly difficult (Has Been Heroes). I don't take this decision lightly but I did some google searches and found plenty of people in a similar spot to me, apparently the story gets good around chapter 10 but it's taken me 8 hours and I've not hit chapter 5 yet, so I don't want to play another 8-10 hours to see if I like it, knowing there's another 20-30 hours ahead of that point. I actually have a few friends I didn't realise have tried this title and I got further them both of them but we all dropped it for the same reasons, it's a shame as what I like here I really like but what I dislike I strongly dislike and I just can't justify putting another 40 odd hours into the title, that would mean this is all I'd play between now and Tears Of The Kingdom which na I don't like it anywhere near enough for such a commitment. At least I have Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh and Digimon games on the shelf together for a nostalgic smile, ah I wish this game was 25ish hours long.  

Nintendo Online Service 

Pokémon Stadium - N64 - Unfortunately the decision to drop Digimon Story really put me in a funk, I really hate dropping games and this decision basically meant I didn't play anything on the Switch for two weeks or so. I knew I needed to get back on the horse as they say but nothing was interesting me until Pokémon Stadium released on the online service and I forced myself to use it as a palette cleanser. Once again this is another game I'm massively nostalgic for as I played it to death as a kid on my N64 unlocking Mewtwo and the dark title screen or something, I dunno those things come to mind even if I don't remember what they mean off the top of my head. I remember my mother gifting the family the game one Easter and we devoured it, it was so cool finally seeing our favourite pocket monsters on the big screen in 3D, we spent so many hours sitting around the console trying to prove which of our favourite Pokémon really was the best. The second the title music started and the intro animation played I was transported to being a kid again, the Nintendo Online service gets some stick but experiences like this are worth the money, even if I have my original cartridge upstairs and my N64 hooked up, these releases just give me a reason to return. Anyway Pokémon Stadium is essentially a Pokémon battle simulator where you pick prebuilt Pokémon from a selection menu and battle it out, there isn't really more to it than that but the game has so much charm with the battle announcer and seeing these Pokémon in 3D for the first time was a big deal at the time. I decided to do the Gym route path of the game which is a challenge run where you take on each Gym (3 trainers + the leader), followed by the Elite 4 and the Rival. You can change your team in-between gyms and before the E4 run from the prebuilt options and while these preset Pokémon are garbage I enjoyed looking through them trying to decide who to take to each battle. Starmie, Jynx and Zapdos were the saviours of the run as I found they had solid and diverse movesets which really helped, especially Jynx as Psychic was unmatched in gen 1 and it was one of the few Pokémon with the actual move Psychic. Unfortunately the preset Pokémon did mean you had to rely on some garbage moves for example hardly anything had ice beam or thunderbolt yet loads of Pokémon had Blizzard and Thunder which obviously have much worse accuracy. The Gyms were pretty easy in fairness as i knew what types to expect from them as I've played Gen 1 countless times but they did throw some curveball trainers in there which almost caught me out, I didn't start to struggle until the Elite 4 however as building a team to tackle them and the rival was a tad more challenging but it only took a couple of tries. I actually forgot to mention that in this mode you get to pick six Pokémon but each battle is 3 Vs 3 so you get to see the oppositions team and have to select which three to take into the battle. Once that was completed I decided to mess around with the most memorable part of Pokémon Stadium being the mini games, unfortunately however I really found that these didn't hold up at all. I forgot how shallow and easy they were, maybe I was missing the competition of playing on the couch with a sibling but I was disappointed at how little I thought about these mini games considering I did love them originally, like when I think of N64 multiplayer I think of GoldenEye, Mario Kart, Diddy Kong Racing and the stadium mini games. Anyway this wasn't a short distraction as I ended up putting over three and a half hours into the game and I loved it, I doubt I'd return but as I've said before about these N64 rereleases what a way to spend an afternoon reminiscing and reliving your childhood.

Star Fox 2 - SNES - The story of Star Fox 2 is alot more interesting than the actual game and I'd recommend looking into it, however the short and basic version is the game was practically done and ready to release but Nintendo pulled the plug and the game disappeared. The game was basically lost media outside of the odd early ROM leaked online until decades later when Nintendo included it on the SNES mini and later onto the Nintendo Switch Online Service. As for the game itself it's more Star Fox as you shoot your way through various levels but the game is alot easier and shorter as I flew through this title in 30 minutes with no issues at all. While short and sweet I did enjoy my time with the game and it did add some new elements to the title like the ability to land and have the Arwing turn into a walking tank. Another new feature was the inclusion of tower defence like gameplay where the enemy ships were sending reinforcements to you base on the map and you had to cut them off to protect your base. Gameplay wise you basically travel planet to planet or station to station picking off the enemy's while taking the odd pit stop to take out anything approaching your base, once all the enemy camps were taken care of you could take on the final boss and see the credits. 

Mobile

Marvel Snap - I ended up continuing to play the game after another little break but this time I got more lucky with my card unlocks which led to me being able to run new decks, this basically brought the game back to life for me as I ended up playing it daily again for most of the month. Getting good meta cards really does change the landscape of the game but I'm still missing staples like She Hulk and Dr Doom which can make climbing frustrating, for example I finally got my hands on Darkhawk who's awesome yet I don't have Rockslide to truly use him to his potential. However climbing I did as I actually hit the max rank of infinite on the ladder which makes me stupidly happy, I don't usually get into online competitive games, never mind actually top ranking a game! I don't know what percentage of the player base hits infinite but i just can't explain how happy I am to have achieved it, I don't know if I will in the following seasons but as achievements go this is easily my favourite for years! I'll post the deck below if I remember. 

Games Of The Year

Spoiler

New Titles

1. Fire Emblem Engage 

2.

3.

4.

5.

First Time Played This Year

1. Kirby's Dream Land 

2. Gris

3. Super Mario Land 2

4. Star Fox

5. Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth 

Recent Pick Ups 

This month's pick ups will need some explaining as I went pretty wild picking up basically a series in one swoop. There have been reports recently of WiiU's already failing due to age and lack of use, that combined with how much I hated returning to the system last month to download that free game made me want my WiiU games on the Switch. While I was debating doing this Nintendo UK released a limited physical version of Bayonetta, which I don't think I'd have bought if I wasn't thinking about this stuff but the release hit when I was weak so I pulled the trigger. Once I had Bayonetta in the collection I wanted to also grab the sequel, so I started browsing eBay to try pick up a copy, I wasn't in any real rush but I saw a listing including the 2nd and 3rd game for £60, I offered £50 not expecting much but they accepted so I added both to the backlog, I've played Bayo 2 before on the WiiU but Bayo 3 is a new title for me, I was somewhat interested when it released but it wasn't a high priority target so I ignored it, which turned out the right decision as I think I paid a good price for the entire mainline series. Plus having Bayonetta and Devil May Cry physically on my shelf makes me happier than it should. Now the only title I really need to grab to have the important WiiU games on the Switch is Mario 3D World. 

Bayonetta - Switch - £25 - I played Bayonetta 1 and 2 back to back years ago on the WiiU and to be honest I'm somewhat blurred on them, if I remember correctly the first title has a very poor and confusing story and uses annoying quick time events? Either way I remember enjoying the combat and the characters so I look forward to trying it out again in the future.

Bayonetta 2 - Switch - £25 - While I remember little about these titles I know I enjoyed the second more than the first, I was actually really happy to get these at the time as both games came physically as a package, but in their own boxes. I was in Game and they had a 3 for 2 pre-owned offer on so I grabbed three games and I was stunned when Bayo 1 was actually included with the 2nd game (Bayo 2 was on the shelf, at the till they gave me cases for 1+2), so I actually got 4 games for the price of 2. The other games I got were Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater (now worth £60+) and New Yoshi's Island both on the 3DS so it's safe to say I came out of that deal winning, even if Yoshi's Island isn't that great. 

Bayonetta 3 - Switch - £25 - The newest release in the mainline series released with plenty of controversy surrounding the voice actor of Bayonetta and the ending of the story but outside of that it didn't seem to stick in the headlines, it reviewed okay but it was never a must buy for me as it was always a title I expected to get to down the line. It's safe to say I picked it up alittle earlier than I expected but I'm excited to play through the series again and see what I think about them, as I've said before I'm iffy with Platinum Games but Bayonetta is one of the ones I do enjoy. The only thing that annoyed me about this is Amazon dropped the new price to £23 towards the end of the month (I guess it didn't sell well), which sucks but isn't the end of the world, considering I still got a good deal on the second title which is holding its value on the second hand market. 

Tears Of The Kingdom is a week away! I repeat Tears Of The Kingdom is a week away! Ahhh I'm so excited! Unfortunately the release week and week after are looking somewhat rough for me so I dunno how much I'll get to play but every single free second I have will be on Zelda in May that's for sure!! 

Edited May 5, 2023 by Ashez

[Ashez]

What I've Been Playing

May 2023 

May wasn't the most productive month as I had a lot going on in real life, mainly due to the missus having two operations and another family member being in hospital. Obviously this massively hindered my free time and general mood but there are things more important than video games. 

Switch

Pokémon Violet - Pokémon Company does Pokémon Company things as they released another raid event, this time on the release day of Tears Of The Kingdom, what's up with that! Anyway the event featured a Chesnaught which I rushed to get done jumping online with my support Grumpig. I got a decent team on my first attempt and with my support we made quick work of the event which allowed me to jump into the world of Hyrule. 

The Legend Of Zelda Tears Of The Kingdom - In the 19 days this title was available to play in May I managed to clock in 6-8 hours of gameplay. I knew I was going to struggle for time due to everything going on but to basically only get the tutorial done did shock and disappointment me. Due to that I don't really have much to say yet as all I've achieved is the opening area and I've briefly explored the start of Hyrule Field. It's safe to say the game starts with a bang as you get a long story sequence which immediately insinuates this title will have more story than it's prequel, and boy does it gets its hooks into you early as the opening cut scenes are full of drama, excitement, emotion and mystery. The opening sees you start on a sky island revealed in the trailers and similarly to BOTW you need to complete a number of shrines to collect the games new power ups. In Tears Of The Kingdom we've lost the previous abilities from Breath Of The Wild as we have a new collection of abilities to help us explore the new Hyrule. Ultrahand is the first ability I got and this enables you to pick up objects and move them, while also having the option to glue items together like adding a sail to a plank of wood to make a boat. Fuse is another new game changing ability as this allows you to fuse items/weapons together to create new ways of attacking, one of my early mind blowing creations was adding a flamethrower to a shield, so whenever I defended with it a flame burst from my shield damaging the enemies, this was the first oh boy we'll be able to do alot in this game moments. Next up is Ascend which allows you to travel up through most surfaces, for example if you're below a ledge you can use this ability to travel through it to be on top of it, this awesome feature also works in caves where you can immediately exit to return to the surface. Finally you get recall which is an ability that allows you to rewind time on an object, for example an enemy shot a rock at me and I recalled it to fire the rock back at the enemy which was admittedly alot cooler than it should have been. Obviously due to my lack of play time I've not really explored everything these new abilities can do as yet but they're all so different to Breath Of The Wild that the gameplay does feel fresh. Which I do think is a good thing as the opening tutorial did have the feeling of "oh this is just more Breath Of The Wild" which isn't a bad thing as that's one of the best games of all time but I did start to worry what direction the game would take us in to spice it up. This fears continued slightly throughout the tutorial but once I got to Hyrule Field and started exploring freely I got that excitement back immediately, while the tutorial wasn't really restricting or hand holdy it felt like a tutorial but once you gain the freedom to do what you want that BOTW magic returns. Especially when I continued the story and ventured into the depths for the first time, as this map isn't just Hyrule as you have the sky's and the ground underneath the Kingdom to explore. Unfortunately that's essentially where I got to as I started to explore the depths for the first time then the month was up, I'll admit I feel so far behind in the general discussion of this game that my interest has diminished somewhat, however I know I'll be able to plough through that once I'm able to sink some serious time into the title, which I'm craving to do.  

Mobile

Marvel Snap - I continued to play Snap at the series reset but I have to admit I found it a struggle, after getting Infinite last season I hoped to again this one but in fairness I dropped like a stone at the start of the season and kinda lost interest. At least I achieved it once and they've since announced they're making the Infinite requirements easier as not enough people were hitting the top rank so I'm proud to say I got there before the nerf. I just never played Snap consistently this month as I jumped in here and there when I felt like it. 

Games Of The Year

Spoiler

New Titles

1. Fire Emblem Engage

2. 

3.

4.

5.

I've decided not to add TOTK yet due to not playing it enough, but we all know where it'll likely rank come years end. 

First Time Played This Year

1. Kirby's Dream Land 

2. Gris

3. Super Mario Land 2

4. Star Fox

5. Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth 

Recent Pick Ups 

The Legend Of Zelda Tears Of The Kingdom - Switch - £50 - Like I wasn't picking this up and thankfully I managed to preorder it before the RRP was increased to £60. The release date sucked for me as it released the day after the first operation and the day before Comic con, this meant I basically only played a couple of hours release weekend and then hardly touched it.

Star X - GBA - £5 - This title was heavily inspired by Star Fox so it's a fitting pick up considering how I've been working my way through that series recently, this also means it's one of the few 3D games on the GBA so for those reasons alone it was worth a pick up. It's also a title I've heard mentioned multiple times on Nintendo World Reports Connectivity Podcast so I'll see what all the fuss is about some day. 

James Bond 007 Everything Or Nothing - GameCube - £10 - One of my small collecting goals of recent years has been to collect all the GameCube James Bond games, this is by no means a difficult task but it gave me something to look for when I'm out and about game hunting. Everything or Nothing is one that eluded me for a long time as while it's readily available for decent prices on eBay it's common enough I wanted to wait for a chance encounter at a store. The search is now over though as I ran into a copy at my local Cex and this now means my Bond GameCube collection is complete! I might expand the goal to getting all the Bond Nintendo games as at this point I'm not really missing many, and some of the ones I need I want anyway. Top of my head I have none of the handheld games (with the Gameboy original being one I really want), I need The World Is Not Enough on the N64 and I think it's just Legends then on the WiiU. As for Everything or Nothing I think it's the only GameCube Bond game I didn't play as a kid and it's one that excites me due to it having Bronsan as Bond, in recent years you may remember I've played through Nightfire, Agent Under Fire and Rogue Agent so I'm hoping to play this and From Russia with Love in the coming months as I've set my Wii back up this month. 

Reign Of Fire - GameCube - £5 - Reign Of Fire is an absolutely quality film and a hidden gem in my opinion, it kinda bombed even though it has excellent CGI and a strellar cast including Christian Bale and Mathew McConaughey in an story where humanity is struggling to survive in a world over run with dragons. Anyway as a big fan of the film I've always had half an eye on the game and while it got mixed reviews at the time it stood out enough to intrigue me, especially as you can play as the humans and the dragons. 

[Ashez]

On 07/03/2023 at 15:39, leedsunited87 said:

Nice write up their Ash, enjoying reading your stuff. Getting shed load of time at work atm, so decided to take my Switch into work, going to again Tom

Really enjoying playing goldeneye atm. Got new buttons to the game and now feels alot more smoother. On 00 agent, lads at work can here me effing and jeffing when they just spawn out at thin air lmao its like ffs, give me a break haha. 

Also had a play around on the N64 stuff. Quite like the Mario tennis, looks good and its easy to play. 

https://store.nintendo.co.uk/en/nintendo-64-controller-for-nintendo-switch-000000000010006981?utm_source=Organic_Social&utm_medium=Twitter&utm_campaign=n64_controller_replen_june&utm_content=Link

N64 Controllers back in stock @leedsunited87

[leedsunited87]

9 hours ago, Ashez said:

https://store.nintendo.co.uk/en/nintendo-64-controller-for-nintendo-switch-000000000010006981?utm_source=Organic_Social&utm_medium=Twitter&utm_campaign=n64_controller_replen_june&utm_content=Link

N64 Controllers back in stock @leedsunited87

Yeah I saw mate, nice one! 

[Ashez]

5 hours ago, leedsunited87 said:

Yeah I saw mate, nice one! 

I've picked one up, I wasn't sure but in the end I was weak. My logic is I did want one, and in theory this wireless controller should see me through the next couple Nintendo systems so it's better to just have it, as I assume the online service is here for the long haul. I want the Snes ones more, I won't even debated that if they come available again. 

Now I just need to find time to play anything, never mind find time to play the N64 catalogue haha. 

[leedsunited87]

7 hours ago, Ashez said:

I've picked one up, I wasn't sure but in the end I was weak. My logic is I did want one, and in theory this wireless controller should see me through the next couple Nintendo systems so it's better to just have it, as I assume the online service is here for the long haul. I want the Snes ones more, I won't even debated that if they come available again. 

Now I just need to find time to play anything, never mind find time to play the N64 catalogue haha. 

How is it? How does it link up with the switch? Bluetooth? Let me know what you think of it, regarding game play, as I play alot of Goldeneye 

[Ashez]

On 16/06/2023 at 08:29, leedsunited87 said:

How is it? How does it link up with the switch? Bluetooth? Let me know what you think of it, regarding game play, as I play alot of Goldeneye 

It came yesterday but not had chance to mess about with it yet as life is just hectic ATM. I have opened it and it feels and looks like the real thing. 

Yeah it's Bluetooth, I've not connected it yet but I have charged it via the system (I charge my controllers with the USB via the dock). 

I'll have a mess around with it ASAP and let you know how it actually plays, I think it'll be fairly close to the original though from what I've seen so far, apart from obviously having a new joystick as they're notorious for getting loose on original N64 controllers. 

[Rob]

Anyone got any thoughts on the direct?

Super Mario Wonder ❤️ 

[Meryland2]

On 09.02.2023 at 14:29, Ashez said:

Только что предзаказал Metroid за 30 фунтов стерлингов и Zelda за 50 фунтов стерлингов, очевидно, на физическом носителе. TheGameCollection продает Zelda за 50 фунтов стерлингов, везде остальные банкоматы за 60 фунтов стерлингов, обычно я не заказываю так рано, но подумал, что зайду сейчас, если они поднимут цену. Они также возвращают 5 фунтов стерлингов за предварительный заказ, поэтому я верну 10 фунтов стерлингов баллами, когда они отправят товар. 

У меня есть ремастеры двух моих любимых игр Metroid Prime и Ghost Trick. 

Плюс сиквелы к двум моим любимым играм Zelda и Fantasy Life. 

Это даже не говоря о том, как я взволнован играми GBA. Я не играл в Minish Cap, Golden Sun, Mario & Luigi, во все Fire Emblem и так далее, и это все игры, которые я всегда хотел, но цена слишком высока для того, как часто их подделывают и т. д. 

I think this is a normal price. It's not expensive.

[Ashez]

What I've Been Playing

June 2023 

June was another meh month but some retail therapy improved my mood somewhat! Didn't get much playing time in but eventually I'll find the time...... Hopefully!!

Switch

The Legend Of Zelda Tears Of The Kingdom - Unfortunately this will be another short update as time is still a precious and limited thing at the moment. I did thankfully manage to put another 15 or so hours into the title as I'm approaching the 30 hours played mark but I don't have much to show for that at all. I've not advanced the story, been to a single town or even unlocked all of the map yet, this game is seriously massive and I've been swept up in just exploring and trying to unlock all the towers while doing the shrines I've come across along the way. I suppose I can say from the 30ish shrines I've done so far I like them a lot more than the ones in Breath Of The Wild, they've all been so unique and creative so far and taken fantastic advantage of the new tools in Links arsenal. I just wish I wasn't so far behind in this title at this point, it's making me want to attempt to blitz it yet at the same time I really want to take my time and soak in everything this game has to offer, unfortunately I think I'll likely end up doing something in the middle by the time I'm done with it, at this point I can't see myself doing everything like I did in BOTW, I want too but I just don't have the time and the longer it drags on the more I fall behind.

Nintendo Online Service 

Super Mario Kart - SNES - Super Mario Kart was the featured game for the weekly bonus Platinum Coins on the Nintendo service, and I'm currently farming coins for some rewards I'm hoping return to stock soon. Usually I'd just open the game and exit to collect the coins but I had some time to kill so I decided to play through the 50cc mode for old times sake. Like all the console Mario Kart titles I played this game to death as a kid and while it's incredibly floaty in the controls and the tracks are basic for the first entry in the series, I did enjoy returning to it. I'd actually forgotten more of the tracks than I thought I would have considering I have dabbled with this title over the years as I still have it with my Snes console so it's one I often pop in when I set the system up, but now the system is permanently set up I guess I've not played it in a few years. The track variety isn't amazing as they do reuse ideas while developing them in later cups into longer tracks and each course is longer than 3 laps which is a change I forgot about considering modern titles are usually only 3 laps a race. Unfortunately I didn't roll credits as you need to play 100cc to unlock the final cup which again I'd forgot about and I didn't have time to run through the game again but I will if I find myself with some time to kill. 

SNES Classic 

Super Mario Kart - I found myself stuck upstairs while the missus had guests round and to my horror my Switch controller went flat so I had to abandon my Tears Of The Kingdom session. I looked at my Snes console and it's emulation friend the Snes classic and picked up the controller with the intention of trying to unlock the credits, unfortunately I again ran out of time but I thought I'd mention I played the same game twice on different hardware as how often do people do that haha. 

Mobile 

Marvel Snap - I didn't have any intention of investing much time into Marvel Snap this month but it's just the perfect pick up and play title, especially to relax with after work. I was just casually messing around with a Silver Surfer deck which stagnated around the 70 rank, while doing this however I unlocked the Beast card which was one I really wanted. Beast is the key component to the bounce style of deck as he allows you to pick up and replay cards and it's a style of play I've wanted to try for ages, unlocking him led to some deck tests and I soon landed on something that saw me fly up the ranks until I hit Infinite yet again. I really enjoy this style of deck and I can see myself continuing to use it, meta wise it is one of the top decks so I'm not surprised I've climbed with it, however apparently alot of people think it's hard to play which I find surprising as I've found it one of my easier decks to learn, especially compared to things like the movement style which seriously fries my brain, I'd rather play bounce any day. The deck will be below as I celebrate my second Infinite!

Games Of The Year

Spoiler

New Titles

1. Fire Emblem Engage

2. 

3.

4.

5.

First Time Played This Year

1. Kirby's Dream Land 

2. Gris

3. Super Mario Land 2

4. Star Fox

5. Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth 

Recent Pick Ups 

James Bond 007 - GameBoy - £10 - You couldn't make it up! I've waited basically since I started collecting Gamecube games again for Everything Or Nothing to show up in the wild, then the following month I run into another Bond game I've been hunting for for 2 years at this point in a used DVD store or all places (I only found out about the game due to a YouTube video that released 2 years ago), it looks like my aim of an Nintendo Bond collection is gathering pace!! Anyway a 007 game on the Gameboy is a surprising concept considering the franchise is usually shooter based which doesn't work on Nintendo's first handheld console, however this title is a Zelda like action RPG. From the footage I've seen you do missions in a similar vain of Link's Awakening going screen to screen and the game has intrigued me ever since I found out about it so I just had to have it. 

007 The World Is Not Enough - GBC - £6.50 - The recent shot in the arm to my Bond collection made me want to continue this journey as I intensified my eBay hunting for the games in the series I'm missing, I found this copy of The World Is Not Enough for a decent price so I clicked buy now and added it to the collection. I actually know nothing of this game and I've not played the N64 version either (another title I'm on the look out for), but it's one of my favourite Bond films. GoldenEye gets all the plaudits but I've always loved The World Is Not Enough, I've been a fan of Robert Carlyle for years as I honestly think The Full Monty is one of the best British films of all time, it's a toss up of which villain I like more out of Sean Bean and Carlyle to be fair. 

007 Everything Or Nothing - GBA - £4.50 - While browsing the available titles I needed I threw a cheeky offer in for one of the Gameboy Advance games I needed and it was accepted, as I've said before with GBA titles I'm hesitant to spend too much due to all the fakes out there so I'm happy to walk away with a bargain. I've not looked into any of the handheld titles but unfortunately Nightfire on the GBA does appear to be an uncommon or more expensive game, likely the trickiest to pick up from this point. With that said the handheld pickups will be blind as at this point I don't see the need to look into them really, but I'll be after most of them in the wild as they're cheap enough at Cex that eBay can't really compete when you factor in postage. I've a couple searches set up for The World Is Not Enough (N64), GoldenEye (NDS), Blood Stone (NDS) and Legends (WiiU) though. I've already got the Wii and GameCube sets, I've none of the Nintendo DS titles and I'm then missing one each for the GBA and N64. The last one I'll look to pick up will likely be the NES Bond game as I don't have a system to play it, that'll be one I pick up purely for collection purposes I suspect, I don't actually own a single NES game physically thinking about it. 

Premier Manager 2004-2005 - GBA - £5 - While browsing a general GBA search on eBay I stumbled across this intriguing title, a football manager style series on the GBA you say? How did I not know this was a thing? It instantly caught my attention and I bought it without hesitation or actually looking into it too much, all I did was confirm it was a sim style game and not some crappy actually controlling the players football game. I'm not going to lie I'm stupidly excited to check this title out, worst case it's the Liverpool squad that won the Champions League so that's worthy of a spot on the shelf by itself! To be fair I always wanted FMH/M to go the Nintendo route after the PSP died as I can't help but think a two screened FMM on the DS would have been magical. 

Digital 

Yooka-Laylee - Switch - £3.49 - It's no secret I love 3D platformers and I've always wanted to play Yooka-Laylee which is basically a spiritual successor to Banjo Kazooie. Unfortunately though it only received a Switch physical release in America and a limited one at that which seriously ticked me off so I basically ignored the title due to that. It's been cheap on the eshop before but this time I was weak and added it to my backlog, while I'm not a fan of digital media you can't really complain at that price can you, it does annoy me how I'd still rather pay like 10 times that price to have it physically though. It also helped @Robrecommended the title!

[leedsunited87]

Just bought 120gb micro card for the switch. Got a beta code for ea sports and I couldn't download it. So card coming tomorrow about 1pm. Finish at 5pm tomorrow so getting that and going pub with it 😄 

[Ashez]

What I've Been Playing

July 2023

Switch

Pokémon Violet - The month started with a Delphox raid which I beat with a Skuntank set I took off twitter as I had nothing suitable already built, it still took a couple of attempts to get a good team online but I eventually added it to my collection. The second raid event of the month was Rillaboom who I wiped out on the first attempt with my trusty support Grumpig, as always when I use this set my teammates do all the heavy lifting but I'm always surprised how helpful this little pig I made on a whim has been, it just shuts down physical attackers so well! 

The Legend Of Zelda Tears Of The Kingdom - Unfortunately the relationship with myself and Tears Of The Kingdom continues to be a distant one as I didn't get to play it until basically the end of the month, and even that was only a couple of sessions. I am approaching the 30 hours played mark now but I feel like I've achieved nothing at this point as I've still not unlocked the full map, I've not been to any of the major towns and I've not progressed the story at all. I do only have two tears left to find however and I think three more towers to activate, while I've also done around 35 shrines. Unfortunately I've just not had the time or the desire of late but I'm going to have to put a big push into this game in the coming month as the holiday season on Switch is insane so I can't be stuck on Zelda for long. The Pokémon DLC release in September, Mario Wonder releases in October, the Arkham games are coming this holiday too and that's not even thinking about the MGS collection, Red Dead Redemption releasing physically in September and Mario RPG! Ahhhhh. 

GBA 

Premier Manager 2004-2005 - I went into this game really hyped, I dunno why but I let the excitement get the better of me and I was let down within minutes of turning it on. It's safe to say this game was a massive disappointment and nowhere near comparable with FHM which started with 05 on the PSP. Obviously I wasn't expecting it to be, as the consoles these games are on aren't comparable but it was still alot worse than I was expecting, especially tactically as this game offers next to nothing. The only tactical options this game has is selecting from a set of shapes and even picking that is a chore as the menus and on screen information is horrendous. Once you get into matches it's just dots flowing side to side with no visual insight into what's happening, if anything it seemed completely random, the game does have stats but even they seemed questionable. The only brief bit of joy I got from this title was looking at Liverpool's Champions League winning squad again, but even that was short lived as trying to make transfers is a very long winded process, the game doesn't even have a player name search! You have to go through long lists you can hardly filter or go via clubs to check their players. The game also brings alot of chairman and interview nonsense to the table which is stuff I've never seen the appeal of, like I said I went into this game with high hopes of something else to test my tactical concepts and it really didn't deliver, long live FMM I guess. 

Mobile 

Marvel Snap - I achieved another accidental Infinite very quickly this season with a slightly altered deck, as I used my Beast 2.0 bounce strategy. I basically unlocked Luke Cage who was an excellent meta card at the time so I put him in the deck over The Collector and I also dropped Dazzler for Medusa. Medusa's effects being doubled after being beasted caught a number of people out (especially if she'd also hit by Bast) while also giving me another decent target for Taskmaster if I didn't get Kitty set up. To be honest I got this Infinite too quickly and it kinda ruined the season for me as it took away my motivation to play, admittedly I still did drop in and out of the game but it just wasn't the same once I'd hit rank 100 again, and not playing it means I'm not earning new cards (I'm still not S3 conplete) which ruins my motivation to play. There is conquest mode which is where you're meant to head if the ladder isn't for you anymore but the mode just doesn't interest me in truth, it's basically a life based 1v1 mode but I found it too situational as I'd often run into decks with the perfect counters for my strategy, at least on the Ladder I can just exit for a cube if I know I don't stand a chance in the match up, I also find conquest matches take too long, with a side deck I'd be more likely to get invested in them I think. Anyway lessons learned and in the next season I'll try take my time with gaining Infinite or at least mess around with new decks instead of using one I know I can win with. 

Games Of The Year

Spoiler

New Titles

1. Fire Emblem Engage
2. 
3.
4.
5.

First Time Played This Year

1. Kirby's Dream Land 
2. Gris
3. Super Mario Land 2
4. Star Fox
5. Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth 

Recent Pick Ups 

I'm really in a purple patch the last couple of months where I've been finding a surprising amount of games from my want list in the wild, I don't know what's going on but I'm not complaining! It's strange as I've wanted some of this games for years and I've never came across them, them boom I have a spell where I'm finding them for good prices consistently and I hope this continues! Admittedly I have also been enjoying some eBay retail therapy of late but even there games I have on my saved searches have been appearing at prices I can live with, it's an exciting time! 

Second Sight - GameCube - £12 - A few years ago when I was researching the GameCube library Second Sight was a game that instantly stood out, the third person action game is a stealth shooter where you also have psychic abilities and the game just looked really cool. If I remember correctly you awake in some facility and have to solve the mystery of how you ended up there with said abilities, which I think would have been somewhat unique for the time. It's been on my wishlist for a while so when I saw it in my local Cex it was a easy pickup. 

Star Wars Episode 1 Racer - N64 - £6 - I'm not a Star Wars guy but I do have a history with the games and Episode 1 Racer is one I did really enjoy as a kid, the second I saw it reasonably priced on the shelf I knew I had to add it back to my collection as I've not played it in years! The title is just a racing game based on the Pod racing scene from the first movie and while those movies aren't anything special they were big at the time, especially for my age range so this game holds alot of nostalgia for many people, so much so a HD version was released not too long ago. 

Need For Speed Undercover - Wii - £2 - Basically I was enjoying a Fast and The Furious series rewatch lately so when I saw a Need For Speed title I didn't own on the shelf for £2 I thought why not, as much as I adored the Need For Speed games during the PS2/GameCube era I have to admit I know little about the later titles in the series and now I have another one I can check out at some point. 

Bad Boys II - GameCube - £6 - I've finally added Bad Boys II to my collection and it's a game I've wanted since I started the GameCube collection up again, it's meant to be an awful game like most movie tie ins but I'm a big fan of the Bad Boys series (1+2 anyway, I wasn't fussed on 3) so I knew I had to have this in my collection. It's been on my eBay saved searches for as long as I can remember, but it's not one that comes up often, especially at a good price but I got lucky this month and I picked up this complete copy for cheaper than I would have I found it at Cex. 

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective - Switch - £34 - I told myself I wasn't importing this remake from Japan (was only physically available in Asia) as I have the DS original but the closer it got to release the weaker I got until I caved in, at the end of the day what's £30 for one of the best games ever made, that hardly anyone has played, but you ask anyone who's played Ghost Trick and they'll tell you the same thing, you have to play it! So what is Ghost Trick? Well it's an adventure puzzle game with a Rube Goldberg Machine twist, where you play as Sissel who's a ghost as you uncover the mystery of how he died while also saving a handful of other memorable characters. The puzzles work by you possess items in the environment to trigger knock on effects to change how the events unfold in a story with plenty of twists and turns that'll soon get its hooks into you, I remember really enjoying this title back in the day and I'm excited to play it again to see if it holds up but I'm sure it will. The game has a demo on the Eshop so I'd heavily recommend people check it out!

Cel Damage - GameCube - £10 - Cel Damage is another game that's been on my list for years, it's a cel shaded car combat game with an incredible cartoon art style that I've always wanted to check out. I'm a sucker for cel shaded graphics in truth and as a fan of car games it seems a really interesting and intriguing mix. 

Disaster Day Of Crisis - Wii - £4 - Ever since I played Xenoblade the other year I've wanted to track down a copy of Disaster Day Of Crisis as it's a game by the same developer being Monolith Soft, who might be Nintendo's most important developers as the reach of this company is incredible as not only are they behind the Xeno games, they've also helped out in the Zelda series, the Splatoon series and Animal Crossing. Anyway the game is an action title where you have to survive natural disasters, fight terrorism and save civilians which sounds a crazy combination of events and from the gameplay I've seen of this title it lives up to that billing as a bizarre game. In fairness this game has mainly been on my radar due to it being a running gag on Radio Free Nintendo due to its craziness and the fact the game wasn't released in America. 

Disaster Day Of Crisis is game 499 of my Nintendo physical collection! I'm amazed by that number yet it's also not too bad considering I've been collecting for over 30 years now, it's crazy I have titles in my collection I've had for most of those years, and some were my Mum's before I was born. 500 will be the first landmark I actually paid attention too and I can't wait to see what game 500 will be, in the next post I'll include a breakdown of the collection as I actually have no idea what that is, I'm assuming Wii and maybe the Switch will be a big chunk of it though. 

On 11/08/2023 at 20:56, leedsunited87 said:

Just bought 120gb micro card for the switch. Got a beta code for ea sports and I couldn't download it. So card coming tomorrow about 1pm. Finish at 5pm tomorrow so getting that and going pub with it 😄 

It any good? I have to admit I've basically ignored FIFA due to it being the Legacy version, but this year we're getting an actual decent version aren't we? 

[leedsunited87]

4 hours ago, Ashez said:

What I've Been Playing

July 2023

Switch

Pokémon Violet - The month started with a Delphox raid which I beat with a Skuntank set I took off twitter as I had nothing suitable already built, it still took a couple of attempts to get a good team online but I eventually added it to my collection. The second raid event of the month was Rillaboom who I wiped out on the first attempt with my trusty support Grumpig, as always when I use this set my teammates do all the heavy lifting but I'm always surprised how helpful this little pig I made on a whim has been, it just shuts down physical attackers so well! 

The Legend Of Zelda Tears Of The Kingdom - Unfortunately the relationship with myself and Tears Of The Kingdom continues to be a distant one as I didn't get to play it until basically the end of the month, and even that was only a couple of sessions. I am approaching the 30 hours played mark now but I feel like I've achieved nothing at this point as I've still not unlocked the full map, I've not been to any of the major towns and I've not progressed the story at all. I do only have two tears left to find however and I think three more towers to activate, while I've also done around 35 shrines. Unfortunately I've just not had the time or the desire of late but I'm going to have to put a big push into this game in the coming month as the holiday season on Switch is insane so I can't be stuck on Zelda for long. The Pokémon DLC release in September, Mario Wonder releases in October, the Arkham games are coming this holiday too and that's not even thinking about the MGS collection, Red Dead Redemption releasing physically in September and Mario RPG! Ahhhhh. 

GBA 

Premier Manager 2004-2005 - I went into this game really hyped, I dunno why but I let the excitement get the better of me and I was let down within minutes of turning it on. It's safe to say this game was a massive disappointment and nowhere near comparable with FHM which started with 05 on the PSP. Obviously I wasn't expecting it to be, as the consoles these games are on aren't comparable but it was still alot worse than I was expecting, especially tactically as this game offers next to nothing. The only tactical options this game has is selecting from a set of shapes and even picking that is a chore as the menus and on screen information is horrendous. Once you get into matches it's just dots flowing side to side with no visual insight into what's happening, if anything it seemed completely random, the game does have stats but even they seemed questionable. The only brief bit of joy I got from this title was looking at Liverpool's Champions League winning squad again, but even that was short lived as trying to make transfers is a very long winded process, the game doesn't even have a player name search! You have to go through long lists you can hardly filter or go via clubs to check their players. The game also brings alot of chairman and interview nonsense to the table which is stuff I've never seen the appeal of, like I said I went into this game with high hopes of something else to test my tactical concepts and it really didn't deliver, long live FMM I guess. 

Mobile 

Marvel Snap - I achieved another accidental Infinite very quickly this season with a slightly altered deck, as I used my Beast 2.0 bounce strategy. I basically unlocked Luke Cage who was an excellent meta card at the time so I put him in the deck over The Collector and I also dropped Dazzler for Medusa. Medusa's effects being doubled after being beasted caught a number of people out (especially if she'd also hit by Bast) while also giving me another decent target for Taskmaster if I didn't get Kitty set up. To be honest I got this Infinite too quickly and it kinda ruined the season for me as it took away my motivation to play, admittedly I still did drop in and out of the game but it just wasn't the same once I'd hit rank 100 again, and not playing it means I'm not earning new cards (I'm still not S3 conplete) which ruins my motivation to play. There is conquest mode which is where you're meant to head if the ladder isn't for you anymore but the mode just doesn't interest me in truth, it's basically a life based 1v1 mode but I found it too situational as I'd often run into decks with the perfect counters for my strategy, at least on the Ladder I can just exit for a cube if I know I don't stand a chance in the match up, I also find conquest matches take too long, with a side deck I'd be more likely to get invested in them I think. Anyway lessons learned and in the next season I'll try take my time with gaining Infinite or at least mess around with new decks instead of using one I know I can win with. 

Games Of The Year

  Hide contents

New Titles

1. Fire Emblem Engage
2. 
3.
4.
5.

First Time Played This Year

1. Kirby's Dream Land 
2. Gris
3. Super Mario Land 2
4. Star Fox
5. Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth 

Recent Pick Ups 

I'm really in a purple patch the last couple of months where I've been finding a surprising amount of games from my want list in the wild, I don't know what's going on but I'm not complaining! It's strange as I've wanted some of this games for years and I've never came across them, them boom I have a spell where I'm finding them for good prices consistently and I hope this continues! Admittedly I have also been enjoying some eBay retail therapy of late but even there games I have on my saved searches have been appearing at prices I can live with, it's an exciting time! 

Second Sight - GameCube - £12 - A few years ago when I was researching the GameCube library Second Sight was a game that instantly stood out, the third person action game is a stealth shooter where you also have psychic abilities and the game just looked really cool. If I remember correctly you awake in some facility and have to solve the mystery of how you ended up there with said abilities, which I think would have been somewhat unique for the time. It's been on my wishlist for a while so when I saw it in my local Cex it was a easy pickup. 

Star Wars Episode 1 Racer - N64 - £6 - I'm not a Star Wars guy but I do have a history with the games and Episode 1 Racer is one I did really enjoy as a kid, the second I saw it reasonably priced on the shelf I knew I had to add it back to my collection as I've not played it in years! The title is just a racing game based on the Pod racing scene from the first movie and while those movies aren't anything special they were big at the time, especially for my age range so this game holds alot of nostalgia for many people, so njoying a Fast and The Furious series rewatch lately so when I saw a Need For Speed title I didn't own on the shelf for £2 I thought why not, as much as I adored the Need For Speed games during the PS2/GameCube era I have to admit I know little about the later titles in the series and now 

It any good? I have to admit I've basically ignored FIFA due to it being the Legacy version, but this year we're getting an actual decent version aren't we? 

[leedsunited87]

You know what, I will actually give this a 9/10. Actually really fun, easy to play, alot harder then I 1st thought. But graphics have improved massively mate. Think their frostbite for the 1st time. I've got the egg box slim and it's very much like playing on that. So I think it's worth a punt this year. Ovs will be buying it for my ps5 and egg box, bit certainly will get it on the switch. As take that to work these days. It's just EA I think this year, as fifa finally got scrapped 

[Ashez]

11 hours ago, leedsunited87 said:

You know what, I will actually give this a 9/10. Actually really fun, easy to play, alot harder then I 1st thought. But graphics have improved massively mate. Think their frostbite for the 1st time. I've got the egg box slim and it's very much like playing on that. So I think it's worth a punt this year. Ovs will be buying it for my ps5 and egg box, bit certainly will get it on the switch. As take that to work these days. It's just EA I think this year, as fifa finally got scrapped 

Interesting, I'll keep an eye out for reviews and maybe pick it up down the line. I really thought I'd miss FIFA when I went Nintendo only but I haven't tbf, I only do when the brothers are around as it used to be one of our go toos. 

I won't be getting it around launch though as this holiday is awesome already lol. Pokémon DLC, Mario  Wonder, Mario RPG, Batman collection, Red Dead Redemption, MGS collection and just Jesus there are too  many games coming and my backlog is horrendous haha. I've only ordered Batman so far (got a steal tbf) but I'll likely get both Mario's and Pokémon at launch, then RDR is a budget release so I'll likely grab that too 😂😂. I adore side scrolling Mario so that's a day one and I've always wanted to see what the fess is about with Mario RPG.