This is my list in coordination with the all-time best OG Xbox games on Metacritic. I'm playing games in order of MC rating instead of release date this year.
Next up in my trek through the consoles is the PS2. This will take a while because I have a lot more games for it than previous consoles and the games are a bit longer, reflecting the improvement in technology. But first, two games I forgot to play in the previous weeks.
I didn't get a whole lot of gaming time on the holidays, which is kind of strange really, but I don't have a family that plays all that much. I did get a few half days with MK playing Army of Ruin though, and I'm gearing up for what I want to play in 2026.
I forgot to mention the two digital buys earlier in the week, plus, I need to share what I picked up after Game Boy trade-ins at Game Junkies yesterday. C. O. M. P. U. L. S. I. O. N!
The site was down when I tried to post last Thursday, so here it is now.
Yes, scouring through the store on Xbox (and other systems) has its rewards. I never know what stealth released title I'll come across. My eyes bugged wide when I saw the following collections.
When the Nintendo Switch 2 released earlier this year, one of the launch games was the download only Welcome Tour. It was set up like a museum, and you controlled a little person as they walked around a giant Switch 2 and its accessories. You could play mini-games, try tech demos, and take quizzes on facts about the new console. To me, it sounded like a lot of silly, quirky fun. And I love games that have museums in them, whether it be Namco Museums or Animal Crossing. There was only one problem. They charged you for it. It really should’ve come with the system, and that’s what it’s going to be known for from here on out. I really wanted to boycott it and not buy it to support that kind of behavior. But here’s the thing. I only believe in boycotting if it doesn’t hurt yourself. And the game still sounded interesting enough to me that I didn’t want to miss out on it. Life is too short to miss out on what you think is fun. So I got it. It was only ten bucks anyway, and I can spend more money than that on fast food! So I figured I’d take you all on a tour of the Welcome Tour!
Remember those Tamagotchi virtual pet keychains that were super popular in the late 90s? Well they’ve never really gone away. In fact, back on the Nintendo DS, they had a series of games called Tamagotchi Corner Shop, and there were three of them! You ran little shops and would play touch screen mini-games to serve and help out other Tamagotchi customers. My brother Jeff and I were weirdly obsessed with those games back in the day, probably because we did like those virtual pets (Jeff was even a Tamagotchi for Halloween one year when he was little). Well, Tamagotchi Plaza is the sequel to those games, so of course I had to get it. There are a dozen shops for you to run, and two more if you have the Switch 2 version. I thought it might be fun to run through the shops in this game, so let’s go!
i played a bunch of stuff from my month's theme (70s). When I run out of stuff on a particular day, I default to Lego Star Wars.
I've played 55 hours now in Mass Effect: Andromeda. The missions seem endless but I think I'm coming towards the end of them. I think I aught to tackle the main story again soon, but I'm having fun hearing all the side stories and interacting with the characters, sometimes to the point of romance.
Whenever users are looking for a quite easy operating and ultra clear line projection at various work distances, even though it is far more enough than formal hand reaching, it still enables quite easy use with a 650nm red line laser module. In all kinds of industrial and high tech precise line positioning work fields, owing to its unique use of a qualified glass coated lens with wide fan angles and good thermal emitting system design inside different dimension metal housing tube, the real use of a laser line generator just assures high density red laser light source emission, ultra clear and precise red line projection at long extending distance continuously.
Being made with an AC/DC adapter, comparing with a simple laser pointer with alkaline battery power source, the real use of a 650nm red line laser module just makes constant red laser beam emission from an inner part of a 650nm red laser diode. It should be working with even longer time line projection work for all precise device manufacturing works. Employed by a metal heat sink cooling system inside a highly durable anodized aluminum alloy housing tube, this laser line generator is working well with wide range operating temperature stabilization. For instance, either it is used for quite low or high temperature, it still performs well with ultra stable red line indication in long lasting use.
According to the real work distance and lighting occasion, this accessory part of a 650nm red line laser module should only be selected with correct output power and optic lens fan angle. Employed by a qualified glass coated lens within 10 to 110 degree, after strict laser beam stability test and aging preventing test up to 24 hours, it is generating high linear quality and highly fine red reference line within 0.5 meter to 6 meters line lengths. Only if red laser line generator gets proper use by skilled user or professionals, it maintains ultra stable and reliable line indication for multiple work fields, including laser cutting, saw mill, lumber machine, textile garment processing, lumber machine and high tech work etc.
On condition that 650nm red line laser module applies an APC, ACC driving circuit board, even though it is used with high power up to 50mW to 100mW, it still maintains highly reliable red laser beam and red line projection. It enables long serving lifetime of more than 8,000 hours and reduced possibility of tube burning out or damage in proper use. For the most important of all, once red alignment laser is projecting powerful red laser radiation and thermal energy hurt to eyes, only after proper wearing of laser safety goggles, it brings users no danger and no mistake line generation for all application fields effectively.
This is what my friend's Barbarian in Diablo IV says all the time as we're battling together. I can't resist repeating it whenever I hear it. He's got to work on keeping his rage meter filled. Anywho, I'm waiting for his cleaning lady to finish with his apartment before we game it up today (my day off). I thought I'd relate my progress on the late 90s Metacritic list I'm made.
It’s raining game reviews I’ve recently written over at GamerDad.com! Please click on the links and read as many as you can, and maybe post a ‘like’ or comment or two. I’d appreciate it. OK let’s begin!
Diablo IV threatens to take over every minute of my gaming, but I managed to squeeze in some retro and get my GP rewards points done.
Well Good Morning Pixlpeeps! I just finished breakfast and I thought I would update you all on the games I’ve been playing.
2023 was a year that happened and I played games during it, sometimes. Let's talk about it! First we'll take a look at the games I beat and bought and then we'll move onto the Golden Hippo Awards!
Let’s start the new year off right with game reviews I’ve recently written over at GamerDad.com. Please click on the links and read as many as you can, and maybe even post a ‘like’ or comment or two. I’d appreciate it. Ok let’s begin!
With Super Mario Bros. Wonder being recently released, everyone is talking about the new power-up that turns Mario into an elephant! I didn’t realize Mario was such a University of Alabama fan! He DOES wear red all the time, though! Roll Tide, Mario, Roll Tide! Anyway, Elephant Mario isn’t the ONLY elephant in video games, so I thought I’d talk about my other top video game elephants. So let’s stomp our feet and trumpet our nose! These aren’t in any particular order or anything, though.
Oh boy, this one was a tear jerker for me as they told the backstory of Rocket Raccoon's harrowing past as a laboratory animal. Otherwise, it was enjoyable.
I'm a big fan of the Pikmin series. My eyes are always on the lookout for games that use its minon-controlling mechanic like the Overlord games or Hotel Transylvania 3: Monsters Overboard. I even try and shoehorn that mechanic into games like Diablo II. The Necromancer character lets me command groups of skeletons and golems. So when TinyKin appeared on Game Pass one week, I had to play it.
A lot went on while I was blogging daily in February. I thought I'd let y'all in on every game-related thing, but it'll take a few blogs to do it. I'll start with Serious Sam.
In the 80s, Popeye, who had originally appeared in Elzie Segar's Thimble Theatre comics as a supporting character in 1929, was at the peak of his popularity, with a new wave of cartoons, a movie starring Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall, his own line of canned and bagged spinach, and even a licensing deal with the otherwise unrelated Popeyes fried chicken chain. An awful lot of American, and Japanese, children had grown up with Popeye over the preceding few decades. With that in mind, Nintendo wanted to use the Popeye license to create a video game. At first, however, King Features Syndicate refused to license Popeye to a then-unknown Japanese toy and game company, and instead, Nintendo would be forced to develop its own characters, which would lead to the creation of Donkey Kong, and Mario. As Garth Brooks once said, some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.
15 Years of Super Mario Galaxy!
Konami recently came out with a collection of their licensed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games they released back in the late 80s and early 90s, during the first round of the Turtles’ heyday. Since a lot of people grew up with and enjoyed these titles, this collection is a pretty big deal. Especially since for a long time, it would’ve been hard to get the rights to all these games again! But I guess since Nickelodeon has all the rights to TMNT stuff now, maybe that part was easier to do? Anyway, of course I got this collection so grab a slice of pizza and let’s take a look at the games on here as well as my personal history with each title.
