It was the summer of '97 - we were on a family vacation in Montreal and went to La Ronde Amusement Park for the day. I couldn't believe what I was seeing when I was there; a Nintendo Megadome, right inside the park. It was like a dream come true. Even better, it was right before the release of GoldenEye 007, so I got my first look at what would soon become one of my favorite games ever. We played everything we could and left, VHS in hand, promoting some of the upcoming releases, including GoldenEye. There were some other promotional materials too, a dossier that would be thumbed through hundreds of times before we were graced with a copy of the game that Christmas.

Even from the outset, Pseudoregalia proves to be a fascinating game. Visually, it's striking - evoking the PlayStation 1 - you won't see many games that look quite like it these days, and few, if any, are able to pull off the style successfully. Similar to a title on the PlayStation, you're dropped into the game without much fanfare and with only the ability to jump. You have no map to help you navigate, no weapon to defend yourself, and compared to later in the game, extremely limited mobility. Exploring Castle Sansa and its surrounding areas will net you a sword and upgrades to it, as well as myriad upgrades to your movement abilities, enabling you to reach more parts of the castle.

The Star Fox series has always been special to me. When I turned 8, shortly after the original game came out, my parents surprised me with it on my birthday. At the time, I remember thinking the 3D graphics were incredible and the game was extremely fun. I was addicted to blasting through space and foiling Andross' plans to dominate the universe. Years on, I remember obsessing over my Nintendo Power issues that showed Star Fox 2 - the new characters and crafts looked amazing. Unfortunately, it wouldn't officially see the light of day until I was an adult, but my Star Fox appetite would soon be satiated with Star Fox 64.

It’s been a long time since we’ve seen an entry in the Metroid Prime series - 18 years, in fact. It was 8 years ago that Metroid Prime 4 was originally announced and its development was more than a little turbulent. Initially developed by Bandai Namco, it was later scrapped completely and development was shifted back to Retro Studios to start the project over. In the end, Retro has delivered a solid new entry in the series, but one that doesn’t totally capture what originally made the series so compelling.

I like to peruse the new and sale games in the Nintendo Shop on a weekly basis. Sometimes I find some really cool stuff, sometimes not so much. I saw this game Bramble in the new releases section and it was on sale for $5.99, and the description sounded interesting and like something I might enjoy. And I did, briefly. More on that later in the post.

I preordered DQ Treasures from my favorite indy game store (Gamebox Video Games in Topsham, Maine, because they deserve a shoutout) last fall shortly after it was announced. Dragon Quest is probably my favorite JRPG franchise, and Erik was my favorite character in DQ XI, so this was pretty much a no brainer for me. December rolled around and... I realized it wasn't going to be the game I wanted it to be. But that's OK, because I had fun with it anyway. Which is a first for most of the DQ spin-offs for me (with the exception of Rocket Slime, just because I know Cary will say something if I don't put this in, it's his favorite DQ title).

I deserted my Switch for the last month or so to play Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga on my PS4. I really enjoyed it, usual Lego game buggy issues, crappy vehicle handling, and all. I like having hub worlds to play around in along with the actual game levels, which Tt has been doing a great job with in the last several Lego games. Going to talk a bit about what I like to call the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword was an odd beast for many reasons. It originally released in 2011 for the Wii, and had a lot of expectations to live up to, both from fans and from Nintendo's financial department. Unfortunately, it met with a sharply divided reception among both, in no small part because Skyward Sword often got in its own way with its design.

Ten years ago, we were given a gift in the form of Super Meat Boy on Xbox Live Arcade. At the time, we’d never really seen anything like it. Smaller indie downloadable games were really just starting to enter the mainstream consciousness of gaming and Super Meat Boy effectively kicked the door in and made clear that these smaller titles had something special to offer and were here to stay. And since that statement, myriad other developers have taken lessons from Super Meat Boy and its DNA can be seen in so many games that would follow. However, this creates an interesting predicament that Team Meat needed to solve - how do you offer a sequel that manages to bring something new to the table, while still feeling as simple and approachable (and difficult) as the original did?

I have a few questions for you. Do you consider yourself to be masochistic in your choice of games to play? Are you driven by a need to show your superiority over other players and scoff at them for not “getting good”? Has your quest for harder and harder games desensitized you to the point that it’s impossible for you to enjoy anything that isn’t actively trying to frustrate you? Well, you’re in luck, because have I got the game for you! Enter: Valfaris, a game so focused on punishing players that it forgets to be fun. Which, if you answered yes to the above questions should get you absolutely psyched, right?

It almost hurts to write that it’s been 13 years since Sega released Banana Blitz back on the Wii. At the time, I know I couldn’t have been more excited that we were about to see a Monkey Ball game that leveraged the motion capabilities of Nintendo’s hit system. However, when it finally released, I wasn’t thrilled with the results. Rather than leveraging the Wii remote in its horizontal orientation, like many other motion-centric games had, it forced you to point forward and contort your arm in awkward ways to tilt the stage. I quickly shelved the game and wrote it off as a failure. I suspect I wasn’t the only one, because after all these years Sega has released an HD remaster of the game leveraging more standard console controls using the analog stick. Unfortunately, the transition has introduced level design changes that bring things to a degree of difficulty that I’ve found to be insurmountable.

Like so many other children of the ‘80s, I love Stranger Things. Booting it up is like taking a time machine back to my childhood. The pervasive synth music, the wardrobes and the cultural references instantly transport me, making it easier to get sucked into the day-to-day of Hawkins and the ever-creepy world of the Upside-Down. And just like a true ‘80s property, there’s also a tie-in video game to go along with the latest season of the show. Thankfully this tie-in isn’t quite as low budget as as the Atari 2600 and NES tie-ins of yesteryear, but the dungeon crawling brawler pales in comparison to the electrifying viewing experience offered by the show, especially this latest season.

Welcome to my last review of Nintendo's portable consoles. Today, I'll be talking about the 3DS, the little portable that could. It's been a wild ride with this system. From its not-so-humble beginnings to its numerous incarnations, and now, its slow walk into the sunset, it's had a good 8 years now. I'll be honest, the last time I bought a game for the thing was in 2014. Still, I did have a lot of fun with the system. It just felt like to me that it burned bright for only a short time. Developer support for 3rd party kind of dropped off. Plus, Nintendo's offerings felt more like afterthoughts because they were busy trying to push forward with the Wii U, and the versions of games offered were often watered down experiences from its big brother counterpart after the first few years. Still, I recognize that the market was strong even after I stopped playing it, and the target audiences were those that could not afford a home console. So let's get to it. But first, a meme:

What can I say about the DS? For one, it still is the best selling portable system of all time. Originally conceived as a third pillar to stand next to the GameCube and GB Advance, it eventually became its successor. They took a risk with its "Dual Screen", but it paid off big time. It outlasted both of those consoles by a good 5 years. Released in 2004, the DS offered a unique gameplaying experience that the looming Playstation Portable (PSP) didn't have - namely, a touch screen. They released it right before Thanksgiving of that year, just in time for Black Friday. This marked the first time that Nintendo had ever released a console in other countries before Japan. The only game that was really worthwhile at launch was Super Mario 64 DS, and it retailed for $150. However, it was backwards compatible with all the GB Advance games, which was a good selling point to those who supported the device for the first year before better games came out. As with all Nintendo handhelds, each model of the DS came in different colors.

This was The portable system to have back in the day. I had so many good memories with this thing. The graphics were so good, it was like having a small portable SNES in your hand. I had one of these things with me on my deployment to Iraq for the army, and it provided me with a lot of enjoyment over the years. I literally owned every iteration of this thing, and don't regret it one bit. When it was discontinued, I was kind of sad, because I felt like it still had some life left in it.

Well it looks like Nintendo's handheld systems are ending. With the announcement of the Switch Lite and no new games for the 3DS, I'm afraid that we are nearing the end of an era. So, I have decided to take a look back and see what made them so great, pick out my favorite games for each system, and pay some respects to all the great memories I have had with them.

While GRIS is a short, 3-4 hour experience that doesn't take a whole lot of gaming skill for most of its run-time, don't be fooled into thinking there aren't legitimately challenging platforming and puzzle sections. Whether this immerses you more in GRIS's world or is just an interruption to your good time depends on what kind of games you like, but I'd say it's well worth the experience. 

As much as I love games, I dread the hours it takes to get over the hump of one that’s new and unfamiliar. When I finally get over it, I hope that I didn’t waste those hours on a game I won’t keep playing. So when I fired up Disgaea 1 Complete for the Nintendo Switch I wasn’t sure what to expect. Even though it’s been fifteen years since the game’s initial release, it was still a new and unfamiliar title for me. Thankfully, I’m glad to say that the hours spent getting over that initial hump were worth it.

There’s always been something special about the Super Smash Bros. series for me, even starting with the very first release. I’ve always enjoyed fighting games, but admittedly, I’m not very good at them. Smash Bros. gave me the opportunity to really compete and enjoy mastery of a fighting game for once. Being skilled in the game doesn’t come down to your ability to input complex combos, but rather your ability to read and react to your opponent. It’s a satisfying mind game that continues to draw me to the series, especially as each game becomes more grandiose, featuring bigger rosters and level selections. Ultimate, as expected, is the most impressive offering yet, boasting every character to grace the series, most of the levels, as well as a set of brand new fighters that include many of the big requests fans have had for years.

As I’m coming to realize, I have a weakness for games classified as Metroidvanias. Between the layered progression and backtracking and the feeling of getting progressively more powerful, with some great boss fights sprinkled throughout, there’s always something to help continuously pull me through these experiences. Omega Strike, clocking in at five hours, is no exception to this rule and is further bolstered by its clear Metal Slug influence.

One thing you should know about Life is Strange 2: Episode 1 is: It’s political. And that’s going to affect how much you enjoy it, because politics are woven more deeply into the game’s main narrative than in previous entries.

I suspect many, like myself, spent long stints in front of their Pentium II PCs constructing a wide variety of amazing theme parks and complex coasters in RollerCoaster Tycoon. Between the base game and its expansions, I clocked countless hours completing scenarios and building all manner of parks, maximizing profits and occasionally, constructing complex death machines for fun. Some of what made the original experience so great finds its way into RollerCoaster Tycoon Adventures on the Switch, but it seems that a good bit of the experience has been streamlined and simplified to make it more accessible on the platform. This makes it a less compelling iteration of the series that’s outshined by even the original release.

After playing Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu, I am convinced that Game Freak is incapable of dropping the ball (pun not intended). Everything about the new title convinced me that something had to go wrong. It’s a remake of Pokemon Yellow, a rehash of Red and Blue Versions (which already received remakes fourteen years ago). In addition, it’s incorporating the more shallow catching mechanics from the free to play Pokemon Go on mobile, usually the kiss of death a console game. On top of that, Nintendo has admitted it is a cash grab, as they wanted a Pokemon game on the Switch without rushing the true sequel. And yet, not only is Pokemon Let’s Go just as fun and addicting as the core titles, but I now I want Let’s Go sequels for every other Pokemon generation.

For those of you out there sold on both Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight, the Persona Dancing: Endless Night Collection on the PS4 is a great way to get both, along with one fancy bonus: a PS4 port of Persona 4: Dancing All Night. The title once exclusive to Vita makes an appearance in this bundle and offers up a bit of a different approach to the Persona Dancing formula when compared to the newer titles. A full-fledged story mode is on offer rather than the simpler sidebar social interactions. For those vested in the characters and story of Persona 4, there’s a lot to like about this brand new story.

Rather than retread the same ground covered in my Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight review, I’d suggest you start there to get a good feel for what Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight offers. Broadly speaking, the two are identical in composition, offer the same modifiers, unlocking stuff is done in the same ways, and the progression is consistent. Other than being skinned for Persona 5 with its music, the games provide the same great experience.