Splatoon 3 had the Splatoween Fest over the weekend. Same as last year’s event, just a typical Splatfest but with some spooky aesthetics added.

Some games I’m excited enough for to want to spend full price on release. Some games I’ll wait for a sale on. Just depends on the game.

Super Monkey Ball 1 and 2 got a remaster a few years back.

• Chrono Trigger, in SE’s HD-2D style. Do what they just did for Live a Live, change little to nothing but make it really pretty.
• Final Fantasy 8. Why 8? Because it has the most room for improvement. I expect SE not to keep FF remakes faithful, and 8 is the one that will benefit from that. Just retell the story in a better game that doesn’t punish you for leveling up.
• Kid Icarus Uprising. This doesn’t need more than a straight port really. One thing I’d really love to see though is a more competitive Light vs. Dark that restricts players to base weapons only, no min-maxing in PvP.
• Any classic Tales games that was never released in the west. They keep rereleasing newer entries, but where are the 2D classics? I especially want Destiny DC/2, Legendia, and Phantasia PSP.
• This is an extra impossible pipe dream for several reasons, but it’s my list and I’m allowed to dream. I wish the Boktai series could come back in some form. Silliest way to do it could be to sell it with a USB-C Solar Sensor attachment for the Switch, but that’s extra not happening. Even if we have to lose the original hardware though, I’d just like to see this game made available in some form…

This is why I don’t see Proton as a substitute for proper support. Because if they don’t actually support the platform, they could break it at any time and say you’re outta luck.

The problem is that Apple has become increasingly hostile towards developers, I’ve heard plenty of horror stories from devs in recent years. Refusing to support Vulkan is an especially boneheaded decision, expecting anyone to support Metal is just creating unnecessary friction.

I don’t support pirating anything that is readily accessible. I’ve never touched Yuzu or Ryujinx.

But I also think it’s important that these projects are developed sooner rather than later, before the things we want preserved disappear. Later is too late. Some Switch titles already have been delisted, but we’ve saved them thanks to these efforts.

Good showcase, but feels a bit strange not to use an actual handheld game for the LCD comparisons.

Strongly recommend playing Earthbound before Mother 3. Mother 1 is entirely skippable, I’ve tried to play it multiple times and never could get through it.

• Celeste
• Most Kirby games. Skip Amazing Mirror I guess, and for Super Star you can play every mode except Great Cave Offensive.
• Metroid Fusion (I do feel somewhat bad putting it on this list though)
• OneShot
• Persona series
• Punch-Out!! series
• Rhythm Doctor
• Rhythm Heaven series
• The World Ends With You
• Any stage-based arcade(-style) game. I’ll name Puyo Puyo (Tsu, 20th, Chronicle specifically), Panel de Pon, Puzzle Bobble 3, Twinkle Star Sprites just for a few.
• Any visual novel

Percentage-based damage doesn’t make you struggle more with more health, it just means a few attacks take the same number of hits to kill. You’re never any worse for it, and you’re still better against every other attack in the game.

Also, I said evasion anyway, not health.

I’m not seeing a link. Missingno.'s sprite is just the graphics decompression routine attempting to parse data from elsewhere in the ROM due to a wrong pointer, this obviously can’t be concept art for that sprite. The idea that they might’ve considered making it canon in later generations is far too unlikely as well, we know they hated that this glitch got found and never ever ever would’ve wanted to acknowledge it.

The article’s conjecture is just “it’s blocky and it has writing on it, and if you squint really hard, you could pretend writing is like glitchy pixels.” Too much of a stretch.

I have heard a lot of good things. I’ll probably start on it whenever I finally finish Persona 4 Golden.

• 1 - …I respect the historical importance of this game.
• 2 - Actually, dual-wielding shields and attacking yourself to grind evasion is peak game design.
• 3 - Beta for FF5. Shame about that final dungeon.
• 4 - First game that actually holds up.
• 5 - Peak.
• 6 - I liked this game up until I found out that I was supposed to be grinding three distinct parties the whole time.
• 7 - I went into this expecting the first 3D installment to be another example of historically important but poorly aged. Was pleasantly surprised by how well it holds up.
• 8 - I went into this knowing it’s the weird one. I was the sicko that liked 2, but I still couldn’t get through it.
• 9 - Bought it alongside 8, when I dropped 8 I never got around to this. I will eventually… maybe…
• 10 - Perfects the classic formula while still feeling sufficiently modernized. Uh, for some definition of modern…
• 12 - Hated hated hated the combat. Painfully tedious to take manual control, automation is too primitive. And I don’t want to automate the game away, I want to play it!

I recognize the importance of Proton to bridge the gap and bring users over who would never switch if they can’t play all their Windows games.

But I won’t ever agree that Proton should just replace proper native support.

I’m not expecting to beat Daigo Umehara any time soon. I’m just aiming to beat the next guy in front of me. And the next. And the next. No matter what my skill level, there’s always a challenge. That doesn’t mean I have to be the very best, quite the opposite.

You’ll find more close-knit communities in smaller games. I play a lot of fighting games, and the FGC moves heaven and earth to keep the one thing alive that very few other games are doing: locals. Go to locals and meet people!

I guess I just don’t get the tribalism here. Both are cool in different ways.

Singleplayer games offer a more curated experience. A story and a set of hand-crafted challenges. But that generally means finishing one and moving onto the next, rather than really sinking my teeth in it.

Multiplayer games offer a neverending challenge. There’s always a better opponent. And I’ve made a lot of good friends through these communities.

I play games that are so niche that the ‘matchmaking’ consists of pinging people on Discord. Because we don’t have proper matchmaking, we struggle to retain new players because they come in, get pulverized into the dust, and give up.

The point of matchmaking is that even a more casual beginner can find opponents at their level, without having to grind a ton to catch up with those of us who have been playing for years.

It was a great game that I enjoyed start to end, but ending on a “this will only make sense when the 3rd game releases in X years!” note leaves a really sour taste in my mouth.

Well, one problem with ZTD is that it completely ignored the teaser in VLR’s epilogue. Actively contradicted it even.

I don’t think the teaser made VLR feel incomplete though, since it was also completely disconnected from VLR’s otherwise self-contained story.