bahamutgames

[bahamutgames]

Thoughts on Princess Peach: Showtime?

Glad you asked! It's been a while since I played it but I remember really enjoying it and if you ask me now (which you did lol) I'd say I LOVED it! Genuinely such an adorable game, I liked all the different costumes and how they functioned and the different worlds you get to explore. I liked the customization. I love Princess Peach. The bosses are all neat and the final boss seriously KICKED ASS!

My favorite costumes were Cowboy and Mermaid and... well... YKNOW (is it late enough to post spoilers lol)

I'd only have to say that I was disappointed the big important actors you save just being Theets in costumes felt a little odd? But that's such a nitpick. I also wish there were MORE costumes and level types but I understand that's asking for a lot considering how many there already are

Yeah it kicked ass! I hope it gets a sequel, Super Princess Peach and Showtime are both GREAT!

Here's my afterthoughts post on it if you wanna see what I said at the time. I didn't reread it for this idk maybe I felt totally different I'm not reading all that

[bahamutgames]

Games to Get Excited About Fest 2025 has just dropped!

An indie games showcase designed from the ground up to respect viewer's time, with 110 indie games showcased in just over an hour. No filler, no cinematic trailers and no paid placements - all games are in the showcase under their own merit.

A huge thanks to everyone involved and for helping to make a games showcase about games! <3

[bahamutgames]

FIGHTING GAME AFTERTHOUGHTS ROUNDUP

Since I've been hit with my little case of burnout, what I've mostly found myself in the mood for are fighting games. They're short, but I can also play them infinitely as I see fit. Perfect things to binge when I'm just drained of energy. So I decided to start playing some games from series I like, but haven't played all the entries of. And even some games I haven't really given enough of a shot to!

For context, I played all of these through FightCade! If you're like me and have been struggling to set it up, I cannot recommend this video enough! It gets the whole thing set up SO easily. So I have to give BIG kudos to them! Also keep in mind you can play games solo on fightcade, remap your controls to your liking, and even switch the region and use save states when you play by yourself :) Some games even have really in depth training modes made for them with hitboxes and such. It's cool!

AND as always, these aren't reviews. Just my random thoughts. Please play anything I talk about that interests you yadda yadda so on and so forth!

Street Fighter

Street Fighter is a series I only really got into more recently. Around the start of Covid actually. My brother caught it and since we shared a room at the time I had to sleep in the living room. And in that time I got into some fighting games I hadn't given much attention to before. Particularly, Street Fighter 4. And I LOVED it! I used to think the series was a little boring when compared to say, Darkstalkers or Marvel vs Capcom. But now I really enjoy the series! 4 is probably still my favorite but I really REALLY enjoy playing against people in Third Strike at cons even if I kinda suck at it lol. And for some reason I'm kinda smitten with the Alpha games even if I don't really understand the ism system yet. But regardless, here's what I played from SF recently:

Street Fighter (August 12, 1987) - Arcade

OKAY not off to a strong start here. But I mean, I was curious and wanted to play as many of the games in the series I hadn't tried as I could... So... Yknow.

Yeah this game is not good. It looks... fine... And there's music. But idk it just doesn't feel cool at all. I really like when Street Fighter just goes full anime, and you don't really seem to get that until the Alpha games I think. But this doesn't really have the same charm SF2 manages to have. And oh my GOD it just feels weird to play. Like, special moves seemingly don't work and it just feels wrong. And your HP is whittled away in 2 hits meanwhile you do NO damage to enemies. It's interesting to see where this genre I love so much kinda started though. But honestly, while it's fun for a "so bad it's good" kinda laugh at first. I just don't know if it's worth beating lmao.

Street Fighter 3: Third Strike (May 12, 1999) - Arcade

Ah, HERE we go! So I have played SF3 a bit at conventions. I remember last year I think, someone was playing alone and I decided to hop in. I chose Ryu cause I knew his moveset since it's really staple. And I just had a BLAST for some reason. And now I kinda... really fuck with Ryu? So I've wanted to play this game way more on my own time for a while. AND NOW I CAN!

AND THE GAME RULES! I get why this one is super popular. I really love the aesthetic, it really feels like it's the first to try and emphasize the street part of SF like how 6 is doing right now with how menus are designed and the, idk how to describe it, almost magazine clippings look for the intro movie? The sprites are AMAZING, every character has amazing animations and the stages are REALLY detailed. This game just looks DAMN good! The music is really good, I appreciate any of the songs with lyrics, especially for a game from the 90's that really neat to me. I really like a lot of the new characters too, I like Twelve a lot and Alex is really cool. And I love the tie breaker girls lol. But of course, I had to play as Ryu since he's the reason I really got into Third Strike. And I've only just scratched the surface of my time with this game, I don't understand the parry and the whole depth of the systems in the game at ALL! I will absolutely be playing this one more in the future!

Street Fighter Alpha 3 (July 15, 1998) - Arcade

Last but not least, Alpha 3! Now, I played the Alpha trilogy a few years back. But Alpha 3... Oh... Alpha 3... I just couldn't beat that FUCKING Bison fight at the end. It's INSANE! BUT with the help of using save states, I was finally able to overcome Bison. Yeah, I straight up couldn't do it without cheating lmao.

But yes overall Alpha 3 is really cool! It's got a FANTASTIC anime aesthetic, the menu aesthetics are REALLY fucking cool for no reason. It's nice and bright and colorful and every character really pops and looks great. And it also just feels really good to play! In the Alpha games I actually gravitate towards Sagat! When I first got into them I was watching Thorgi's Street Fighter Retrospectives. And Sagat's story about being driven by revenge until he realizes he's lost sight of why he loves martial arts just really resonated for some reason. Like I said earlier I don't really understand all the isms, but it's something I want to get a deeper understanding of soon. Cause this is another game I plan on playing more.

Or maybe, I might play Alpha 2 more. Idk why but I just didn't vibe with this one as much as Alpha 2. At least, not when I was playing them for a first time a few years back. I just liked how 2 felt more. But maybe I should go back and try it again to see how it stacks up in my mind now. Cause while I enjoyed playing through 3, I still kept thinking "dang I just remember liking 2 more" so maybe I'll have to look into why and report back :)

Marvel vs Capcom

Next up is Marvel vs Capcom! So, MvC is a personal favorite fighting game series for me. I've played all 4 of the MvC games proper. I love them all. UMvC3 is one of my favorite fighting games of all time, and the series consistently has some of the most fun and creative characters to play as imo. I always find myself discovering a new favorite character whenever I pick one of the games back up. BUT, I had actually never touched any of the Marvel Capcom games that released prior to MvC1! And I've been wanting to change that for a hot minute, and I'm so very glad I did:

X-Men: Children of the Atom (December, 1994) - Arcade

First up, the first in the series. Of course. PERSONALLY, this is my least favorite of all the Capcom Marvel fighters. I just didn't gel with it as much, I think it's probably because it's not really anime enough? Idk how to describe it, it just doesn't feel like it's hit the Marvel Vs Capcom-esc extreme just yet. And it's shockingly hard lmao. Magneto and Juggernaut were TOUGH to beat. But it's still a cool game, it already has awesome sprites and stages. But overall I just wasn't SUPER into it, but I wasn't expecting it to blow me out of the water. Happy to have finally played it :)

Marvel Super Heroes (October 24, 1995) - Arcade

HERE WE GO!! NOW WE'RE STARTING TO GET SOMETHING A LITTLE MORE CRAZY! For whatever reason, this one just HIT for me! This is where I think the style of what the series will become is starting to come together. It really struck me how awesome this game was gonna be just on the character select, which ties directly into the VS screen to make one of the most extra and over-the-top CSS I've ever seen in my life. I feel like the sprites for characters and stages are only getting better and better, particularly with some of the stranger roster choices like Shuma Gorath (MY BELOVED) and Blackheart. Overall I just think the roster, while you could argue it's maybe more basic in same ways, is just more interesting to me, particularly cause they're including really strange picks like, once again, Shuma Gorath. I liked the concept of the infinity stones too, I'm not sure which angle I prefer, this or MvCI, but it's still cool they were trying something so gimmicky so early in. This is certainly my favorite of the non-tag Marvel Fighters and I do see myself coming back to this one!!

X-Men vs Street Fighter (September 1996) - Arcade

And here we are, the start of the proper tag fighters!! Somehow I hadn't even touched these before. But these are the ones I've been especially eager to try since the Marvel vs Capcom fighting collection launched. So how did it live up?

It's probably my favorite of these 4 Marvel games! I REALLY liked it! As usual, amazing sprites for characters and backdrops, and amazing music. That's a no brainer. Even if a lot of it is recycled from previous games, there's still a lot of new stuff and you can't be mad when the recycled sprites are some of the best to ever exist, right? It's also really cool to see the tag system really get it's start, it works great and feels awesome! While I probably still prefer 3v3 for the insanity it brings (CAN'T WAIT TO TRY 4V4 LMAO) I do actually like 2v2 cause it's a bit tamer and easier to get a grasp on. Like, I really enjoyed this team of Cammy + Rogue. Speaking of Rogue, I actually think she's one of my new favorite MvC series characters. She is a TON of fun to play, so much so I even brought her along to my team the last time I played MvC2. SHE'S COOL!! I hope she comes back for Tokon, though I doubt they'll want to give her the ability to steal everyone's powers... BUT IT'D BE SO COOL!! Anyway, I also like that this is the first one to have a BIG boss battle, the giant bosses are some of my favorite parts of the MvC games, and I didn't dislike the normal sized bosses of the first 2, but it's certainly more a spectacle when you can't even see half of the boss cause he's so huge lol.

Yeah this one was awesome! Certainly my favorite of the 4 Marvel games, and maybe my favorite of everything in this post? I will absolutely be playing it more!!

Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter (July 1997) - Arcade

Last but not least, is the final game before Marvel vs Capcom was unleashed unto the world. And it's also pretty cool! Once again I think this one just has a bit more of an appeal due to having stranger characters once more. Though I do have to say it's a shame I couldn't do a Shuma x Rogue team. I want to see Rogue do weird freaky chaos shit! This game is also a lot of fun, but I hate to say it, it was a little disappointing. I don't mind the games reusing assets, in fact it'd be stupid not to. But I think this one recycles too much. It's like, the same game. Even the final boss is the same... so what's the point? I also personally felt like it was a lot slower and less exciting to play in general? But do keep in mind I'm not an expert by any means. I think it just didn't hit the same highs the last 2 hit unfortunately. BUT that's okay, as it would tie us into the world of Marvel vs Capcom proper :)

Mortal Kombat

And the last series (for now) that I went through was the original Mortal Kombat Trilogy. I know, there's WAY more Mortal Kombat that I haven't played through when compared to my past with Street Fighter or MvC. But you gotta start somewhere. And while I haven't really been a big MK guy, kinda ever. I still have some level of respect for the series because, surprise. Mortal Kombat 2 was my first fighting game EVER!! I still remember Reptile's (Back,Back,Down,B) Fatality like it's nothing. So I can never really shake my ties to the series. However, I was aware that these games are notorious for some cheap ass AI. So how did I fair when revisiting this series:

Mortal Kombat (August 1992) - Arcade

OH MY GOD THOSE FUCKING COMPUTERS!! This is INSANE! I genuinely don't know how anyone was expected to beat this game, I'm serious. It's BRUTALIC. The computers read your moves an insane amount (save scumming is REQUIRED) and I actually despise whoever came up with the endurance matches. Seriously. I hate you.

But it's not all doom and gloom. I think Mortal Kombat does some pretty interesting stuff even while it's trying to get its footing. I think it's neat that it has such simplified inputs (though that certainly didn't help with the fatalities I just could NOT pull them off). I actually like the digitized actors, the game maybe looks a little muddy but it's still REALLY interesting that they tried and and I'd say it worked. It has an alright roster but I do certainly think it's a little lackluster to start out, which isn't a big deal of course it only gets better as the games go along. Yeah, it's a neat game, is it my favorite? No. Absolutely not. Fuck those endurance matches, dude.

Mortal Kombat II (November 12, 1993) - Arcade

Honey, I'm home!! It's been AGES since I last played this game. But it all come flooding back when I turned it on. I simply cannot deny... I may be a bit of a sucker for this, even if I pretty quickly left for different fighting games when I fell in love with the genre as a kid (Killer Instinct and Primal Rage stole me away from MK2)

Yes this game is a MASSIVE improvement over the first. The CPUs are still stupid cheating assholes. And I kind of hate Kintaro, like, just looking at him. Bring back Goro. BUT, the game feels better to play, I actually was able to pull of a fatality or two, and it LOOKS WAY BETTER! In my opinion you can tell they're toying with the sprites more. Drawing over them to make them more defined or maybe even saturating the colors so they pop more. I really appreciate this dark and fucked up world for having a surprising amount of bright colors, it's cool! BLOOD IS A BRIGHT COLOR!!! LET'S EMBRACE IT!!! The roster is way cooler, it's almost night and day. Way more women to choose, Reptile appears proper, and Kung Lao. I genuinely can't believe some of these guys WEREN'T in the first game. This game was neat! I enjoyed revisiting it after all these years for sure. I'm forever thankful to this game for getting me into fighting games!

Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (November 6, 1995) - Arcade

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, THE FINAL GAME HERE ON THIS VERY POST!! And the final game in the Mortal Kombat trilogy! Mortal Kombat 3 BAYBEE!!!!!

I certainly think this is the best one so far. Once again sprites are massively improved, everything looks REALLY good. Particularly stages in this game look PHENOMINAL for whatever reason I was really impressed by the city stages. And the fact that stages are actually multi-level and you can knock people to a new arena with an uppercut BLEW ME AWAY I didn't know this game had that! And I don't think I'd seen that in a 2D game that was this old before. Genuinely cool and good looking game! The roster is also once again hugely upgrades, I liked the way the robots look a lot and I respect the FUCK out of them for putting Sheeva on the playable roster! And Motaro is SO much cooler than Kintaro, man.

However I do still have some issues with it. Like, CPUs are easier kinda, but they seem to make stupid mistakes to let me win sometimes? Also if you just sit in place and crouch, the enemy will have NO idea what to do and you can just uppercut them if they get too close. With save states I was able to beat Shao Khan without getting hit once. I'm serious. ALSO WHY THE FUCK ARE ENDURANCE MATCHES BACK AAAAAAA FUCK OFF!!!

Also, this is random. Not a good point or a bad point. But it's SO funny to me this game was the height of violence at the time... Because... Bro it's so fucking goofy. These fatalities are STUPID AS HELL! Some of them can be a little unsettling, like ripping someone's skeleton through their mouth. But most of them are so quick, or so obscured, you can't see the violence anyway. It's just crazy to me that THIS was considered so violent they had to create the ESRB for this series considering how light weight the fatalities were in this era compared to nowadays lmao.

===

And there you have it, some quick thoughts on all these fighting games I played recently!

I still have fightcade installed (NO intentions of removing it) so I do absolutely want to play through more fighting games soon. Like, I really want to get a better grasp on the King of Fighters series and the Real Bout Fatal Fury games. I've played a lot of Garou, and I've played some KoF like some of the early 2000's games. But it's a HUGE series and I think I'd REALLY love it if I played it more. So expect me to dive into those soon enough. And there's also a lot of 3D fighting game series and series not yet on Fightcade I'd like to try more. I've only played a handful of Tekken and Soul Calibur games. I've been dying to try the Rumble Fish for YEARS!! And don't get me started on indie stuff. Similarly I will continue my time with Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat eventually too, but I don't wanna play the whole franchise in one month and burn out lol.

Basically, there's an endless supply of fighting games for me to try! I could play and play and play and still never run out. Even at some contentions I went to recently I got to experience fighting games I've NEVER tried before and I had a blast with them! It really is the genre that keeps on giving. If you read through any of this post and you're seeing this message, tell me about some of YOUR favorite fighting games! I'd love to hear them!

And, I did actually play one more fighting game on Fightcade. But I have to say it, I liked it so much it's gonna have to get its own post... After I play through everyone's arcade mode. YES I'M SERIOUS LMAO. See you then!!

[bahamutgames]

AFTERTHOUGHTS - ROUNDUP ROUND 19

April - May 2025

Hello once again!! The last few months have been a little weird for me, gaming and hobby-wise. I was in the middle of my next rpg when I suddenly got hit with some brutal burnout from all my hobbies. And I haven't really been able to shake it, sad to say.

BUT I am still playing stuff here and there even if they're smaller games. Mainly a lot of indie stuff and fighting games. So let's get to it!

As always these aren't reviews, just random thoughts. Please play anything I talk about that interests you. Yadda yadda. You know the drill by the this point.

(updated a few hours later to expand on my thoughts about Cave Story cause they were really barebones)

Annalynn MD (April 1, 2025) - PC

April Fools day had a LOT of games release during it. At least 3 (though one, by Siactro, has been taken down sadly. Brutal.) and they're all very fun and cute! I REALLY love April Fools gags that are just "I made something genuinely cool, enjoy :)" So I will gladly take these types of games!

First is Annalynn MD! The long awaited follow up to Annalynn! I quite enjoyed the original so I'll play any spinoff they throw at me (Annalynn Grand Prix when?) I also LOVE Dr. Mario so I was very excited to give this game a shot and it didn't disappoint. This does NOT feel like an April Fools joke, it's like, a full game. Annalynn MD is similar to Dr. Mario in that you have to put viruses and medicine together, but the most interesting thing about it is the fact that the playing board is 3D. Meaning you have to spin it around to find the viruses and best place to put your blocks. It's REALLY neat and while I'm sure it's been done before, it's my first time seeing it! It took a minute to get the hang of but when I did it really clicked!

The game also has REALLY good visuals and music, and it's free so I can't recommend it enough if you want a new little puzzle game to toy around with!

Gurina (April 1, 2025) - PC

A certified Friend of Bahamutgreen game if I may say so. Gurina is another cute game that launched on April Fools that I got a big kick out of. But while this is a more one-and-done adventure, there's actually a lot of secrets to find in this game! Wootinaboot is really good at creating games with lots of secrets and cyphers that can be deceptively hard to 100%. I don't wanna spoil it but like, there's a fight in it at one point is all I'll say and it's similarly deceptively hard.

I like the graphics, I like the music and sounds, I love Woot's character designs. And this one is similarly also free you should play it!!

ART SQOOL (February 5, 2019) - PC

Around this point it when I got burnt out, and just kinda... stopped playing stuff? But I had a couple of small indie stuff on my computer I downloaded for such an occasion! First and foremost was a game about drawing. Hey, I love games and drawing!! AND you walk around in it. It's like it was tailor made for me!

So yeah Art Sqool is kinda what it says on the tin, you're in Art Sqool and each level is the Headmaster giving you an assignment. And you just go off and draw it! It has a nice aesthetic, trying to be like an old PC program with pastel colors and text to speech voices. It's interesting that it uses limited pallets not just for art but for the whole world. And interestingly the bizarre campus is open world! And you can find more tools to draw with! It's cute and I like that it can be as involved as you want it to be. You can walk around campus to find tools and get inspiration if you want, or you can just quickly draw whatever comes to mind. There also seems to be a LOT of assignments to do that are randomly picked. So there's reason to replay.

However, I do have some issues with the game. Particularly, in how assignments are graded. A few times I'd take time making a nice piece, only to get a failing grade. I'd be sent back to do it again, draw some stupid bullshit and get an A. I can't tell if it's random or if it looks for specific things, but it's certainly frustrating when writing "FUCK YOU" gets an A but an actual thing I drew gets a D. Similarly, the ending was a little messy for me, it skipped the final cutscene which sucked. And when you're done you're free to explore a town. But there's nothing to do in it? I feel like after I finish the game maybe I should be allowed to do the rest of the assignments I wasn't given during my playthrough as jobs or something? Idk.

There's some other stuff like the controls being kinda crazy, but I can forgive it since you can walk and draw at the same time and you can customize them. It's a neat game, and I got a kick from it. But I feel like I wanted more from it too.

Shutter Stroll (September 6, 2024) - PC

Next up is a game I also had saved on my computer for a while: Shutter Stroll! And WOW what an impression this game left on me. If you know me you may know I LOVE taking photos in video games, and walking in video games. Two mundane tasks that I just get a lot of joy from. So I was very interested in playing a walking simulator where your goal is to just take photos.

And yeah this game rules! You enter coordinates on a map, get out and just take photos. No enemies, no time limits, nothing scary. No nonsense. Just go out and take pictures of nice environments. It's great! I loved just looking around for perfect shots. And I think the whole set up is BRILLIANT with each island being on a specific coordinate, and your photos coming with the island's coordinates so other people can find them! I explored a TON of islands and still barely scratched the surface, and I only found the sword island at the end of my play time! Who knows what other cool stuff is hidden in it!

As for negatives, I did get soft locked by falling into a pit on the sword island, so I do think having a way to soft reset back onto your current island would be nice. But that's kind of it. Honestly I just really enjoyed the simplicity but surprising amount of content in this one. And I swear there's more stuff to do in it that I'm forgetting, so I'll absolutely have to give it some more play time soon! Maybe one day I'll visit every island if I'm crazy enough.

Nightmare Kart (June 5, 2024) - PC

Full disclosure before we begin: I've never played Bloodborne. BUT I do love Kart Racers and edge lord macabre stuff so... YOU KNOW ME!! I've been interested in Nightmare Kart even back when it was Bloodborne Karts and while I did start it a while back I just couldn't get a hang of the controls and for some reason remapping them didn't work for me. BUT NOW THEY DO AND I HAVE FULL GRASP ON THE CONTROLS AND NOTHING COULD STOP ME JUST SHORT OF A FINAL BOSS.... wait what?

So for positives, edgy kart racer where you use guns instead of items just RULES as a concept. I fuck with this game's premise SO hard. I love that you can kill monsters on the track to help you gain boost, and I like that this game's coin equivalent can be spent whenever to boost. I'm really enjoying seeing this type of mechanic pop up in a lot of indie kart racers, it always reminds me of F-ZERO in a very good way. I liked the weird roster of freaky characters and vehicles, I know they're all based on Bloodborne stuff but I think it's cooler that they're original. The mummy main character with the fucked up bloody claw RULES, the snake women were cool, I loved that you could play as generic mob monsters, and the weird cage wheel car in particular is SUPER cool looking. The soundtrack rules, I do like the PS1 graphics, and I LOVE that it never is like "lol isn't this so weird??" NO it's just super straight with its delivery regardless of the absurdity of it and I LOVE that.

BUUUUT I do have some issues with the game. For one, I know the PS1 graphics is the creator's style. But I just feel like it doesn't really make sense for this? Bloodborne isn't a PS1 game, and I think it can make some tracks a little difficult to have good visual clarity on them? Some story missions felt clunky like the swamp capture the flag match was weirdly brutal and the battle against the cage head guy I just permanently lost him at one point and had to reset. And then the final boss... Idk man I could NOT beat that thing! And not for a lack of trying. For some reason even just the road leading to the arena was IMPOSSIBLE to get across, and then the fight itself is super tedious with you having to properly dash through them over and over. And I wanted to beat it cause you can unlock the cool Dragon in a tiny kart right? No. I think you just get their baby form. Which is funny. But like.... if I went through that whole boss and that was my reward I would've been PISSED...

BUT REGARDLESS I THINK THIS GAME OWNS! And I'm VERY excited to see the next update with the train boss fight. But also, I would LOVE to see a sequel eventually that maybe goes for a different graphics style, greatly expands upon the concepts presented in this game (I'd like some more robust combat idk how but I just think you have a winner with a weapon based kart fighter), and doesn't tie itself to Bloodborne ever. I think what the team created here is really special and I'd love to see them lose those chains and just go insane with their own concepts!

Yume Nikki (June 26, 2004) - PC

Around this point it REALLY became clear I was having some form of burnout. I just didn't really wanna play much of anything. But I still wanted to play SOMETHING, if that makes sense? So I decided it would be the perfect time to play some classic indie games I've been long overdue to try! For one reason or another I just never took the proper time to give these a shot. Starting with Yume Nikki!

Now Yume Nikki I avoided because, I'm a coward. I was afraid this game would be too scary for me. But it turned out there really weren't THAT many jump scares. So I decided to take the plunge. And yeah! I enjoy it! Like I said earlier I like walking simulators and I've been a fan of LSD: Dream Emulator for some time now. So I was pleasantly pleased to see this game was fairly similar! Wander around, meet strange characters, and then wake up and do it all again tomorrow! While there's some things LSD has over this game, like 3D naturally being weirder to walk through than 2D. I do think Yume Nikki has a leg up over LSD in some ways. For one I do think it looks nicer, and I actually think the end goal is easier to do than playing 365 days of LSD.

That's something that really impresses me about this game actually, the visuals. Overall Yume Nikki is a REALLY polished and well made game. I wasn't expecting it to be bad or anything. But I was also not expecting it to just have so much polish? Lots of costumes, some of which have gameplay features, all of which have unique little animations and are even drawn in a handful of art styles at some point of the game. All sprites are nice and detailed, environments are nice, it does REALLY interesting things with RPG Maker like Parallax scrolling to create weird backdrops. I was surprised with my time with this game!

My only issues I can really remember are 2 things. One, the effects are weirdly difficult to find. But I do think this is kind of the point so it's silly to critique the game for it. Two, what was that ending? I know everyone will come out of it with different feelings, and maybe I'm looking at it wrong. But it just comes out of nowhere and feels kinda, idk, try hard edgy to me. I had to see what others thought and my favorite interpretation of it is losing sight of what's the dream and what's reality. But it still just feels jarring to me. I was not a fan of that ending.

ALSO I WAS RIGHT THIS GAME IS FUCKING SCARY I'M NOT PLAYING THIS AGAIN I'M TOO FRIGHTENED FOR THIS REAL GAMER STUFF!!

Cave Story (December 20, 2004) - PC

Next up is another indie I am SO overdue to play. Cave Story has been legendary for YEARS. And unlike Yume Nikki, Cave Story didn't really seem like it would be scary. In fact, it seemed more up my alley with platforming and robots and weapons and stuff. So I was excited to finally sit down and give it a try.

And yeah I liked it! Again similar to Yume Nikki I'm blown away but the level of quality in this game. I wasn't expecting it to be low quality or anything but I wasn't expecting an indie from 2004 to be THIS well made. Awesome sprites, fantastic music, it feels GREAT to play. I like the characters a lot, Quote and Curly are absolutely my favorites, probably to no one's surprise. But even other NPCs like Mimiga and the villains have great designs and are all fun. Everything just looks really good from enemies, to the areas the game takes place in, to all the bullets and what not going off. I also liked the story a lot, I was expecting it to maybe answer more questions but it didn't feel disappointing that a lot of it, like how Quote and Curly got to the island, goes unanswered (maybe it was? or maybe it was answered in the best endings idk). The game also just feels REALLY good to play. It's snappy and responsive and I LOVED getting to do stuff like use Curly's machine gun to hover. The weapons in general were VERY cool and while it was a bit annoying to have them downgraded on hit, I still thought they were all fun. The machine gun was my favorite, and King's sword felt a little useless BUT FUCK was it ever cool? There's a lot to love about Cave Story and I can absolutely see why people adored it so much! I think of all these games Quote and Curly are the 2 I'm most excited to draw!

My only big issues is that some areas can be a bit of a headache. The desert area with the dogs just SUCKED to get through imo. The final boss is really weirdly long with 3 phases and no healing in between. One thing I will say is that this game was remarkably more sad than I thought it would be. Like, lot of character deaths and generally sad themes like war and slavery. I know some of those character deaths can be reversed, but I don't think all of them do. Like, King is dead. Full stop. Bro's gone. It didn't ruin the game or anything, but when I came in expecting something kinda happy go lucky, seeing newly hatched dragons dying was... not what I was expecting! Very sad game overall.

But regardless I did enjoy it a lot! Very cool game and I'm really happy I finally made the time to sit down and play it!

東方靈異伝～Highly Responsive to Prayers - 東方怪綺談～Mystic Square (August 15, 1997 - December 30, 1998) - PC

And the final old indie game I was SUPER long overdue to play were the Touhou games! Now, I have played SOME Touhou before when I found cabinets of them at conventions. But I never played any of the main core games. And not for a lack of trying, I struggled to figure out HOW to play them. But I randomly stumbled upon a PC98 emulator with all 5 original Touhous preinstalled into it (click the title of the game to get it yourself!!) and I just knew I had to give it a shot finally! I love bullet hells so I was excited to see what the hubbub was about!

I'll probably write about them all as one unit here since they're all similar excited for Highly Responsive to Prayers. Which is interesting because it's like, a Break Out Bullet Hell? Which was neat but REMARKABLY difficult because you have to babysit the ball. Similarly, Phantasmagoria of Dim. Dream is a weird battle bullet hell where you can send bullet patterns to the enemies. Which took a bit to figure out but I actually liked it a LOT!

But the other 3 are traditional bullet hells and play similarly. I love them! They're fun, and while it's tough to maneuver super well with a keyboard, I got through good enough! These games are also really well made, I was NOT expecting to see Touhou is from the 90's!! I didn't quite realize big indie games on this scale were coming out back then! I have a lot to learn, clearly! Sprites look good and are for the most part very readable, I like the big cast of characters, I have to applaud them for making Reimu a lesbian in the 90's, the music obviously kicks ass, and it's SO satisfying to make it through tough bullet patterns. And I really appreciate that even if you play like shit, you're given an ending. Even if it's a bad ending, I don't like it when games just give you a "play better" instead of a real ending lmao.

My only issues are that. FUCK they are kind of too fast. I hate to say it, but full disclosure, the emulator I played them on had 50% speed. While I didn't play the full games on 50% speed, I did play a lot of the levels and bosses at 50% speed. It's tough! I know for a fact I wouldn't have beaten some of them (like Highly Responsive to Prayers) without the use of slowdown. And the games are still hard! Story of Eastern Wonderland is the ONLY game I beat without getting a single game over. AND THE GAME STILL CALLED ME A MEDIOCRE GAMER AT THE END!!! Similarly, I remember one of them being weirdly difficult to see the bullets. It was either the 4th or 5th. But I can't recall, I apologize lol.

BUT YES, overall I really enjoyed these games! These were cool and I'm glad I FINALLY got to play them! I'll certainly be checking out more of them in the future. But 5 in one month is already a lot for me lmao. And I'm REALLY interested in the fact you can just... make your own Touhou games? That's super cool, i'd like to try some unofficial Touhou games eventually and learn more about how Touhou fan projects work cause it's such a neat concept to me. Touhou is cool :)

LiEat: The Lie Eating Dragon and the Vermillion Vampire - LiEat III: The Lie Eating Dragon and the Gold Thief (April 26, 2014 - August 2, 2014) - PC

Another collection of games. My burnout hit in the middle of an RPG, so I thought maybe playing a really short RPG would help get me out of my funk. And you don't get much shorter than LiEat! This collection of 3 RPGs are like, 4 hours combined. I'm not kidding lmao.

But they're VERY interesting I actually got a good kick out of them. They're incredibly short stories that follow the same 2 characters, a detective and a little dragon girl he watches over. Each game is about them trying to solve a case wherever they are, so each game takes place across an incredibly tiny map. Only 2 teammates, you can get through it really easily at only level 10, and the maps are tiny. These are bite sized RPGs. But I kinda like that. It's interesting that they're so small. I like the characters too, the main characters are great and I LOVE seeing Theo warm up more and more to Efi. I think they're so cute and I'm a bit of a sucker for edge-lord guy who works with random child he found on the side of the road. The side characters are neat too but they're cops so idc. I like the dragons and the idea that they're born from people's deep wishes, that's cool. I like the art a lot, I was so shocked when it had animated cutscenes. I like the macabre look and feel of it and the characters too, while still having a lot of color. I like that it's an RPG with proper combat and skills and stuff. And I like the story, it was neat to learn about Theo and Efi as we went along and the whole concept of a "lie eating dragon" and how the only enemies you fight are the lies were neat!

My only real issues are that I wish it leaned into the RPG stuff more! It feels a little tacked on? Like, once you unlock triple knife for Theo in any of the games, it's over. Triple Knife and Efi's moves that buff the team? Nothing can stop you. Similarly, I didn't even realize you could equip stuff until the 3rd game lmao. And I understand they were made a few months apart from each other, but I do wish you could maybe transfer your save data across the 3 games. And the games got progressively harder as you went? So you had more incentive to grind? It's not bad by any means, I just feel like there's so much more here than what it had, in terms of its RPG side.

But regardless I really did enjoy this series! I was really surprised by my time with it and got a good kick out of it! There's very few real issues with it, maybe there's some iffy lines here and there but generally I'd say it's well written and I liked the characters a lot. I won't spoil anything but there's some small touches across the 3 games I think you'll get a kick out of them when you play it. They also seem to be kinda popular? There's a novel, for example. So I may not be done with LiEat just yet. These were neat :)

Killer Instinct Gold (November 25, 1996) - N64

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, KILLER INSTINCT IS BACK ON THE MENU, BABY!! DID YOU HEAR KILLER INSTINCT IS IN THE NEWS AGAIN!? BIG DAY FOR KILLER INSTINCT FANS!! I was NOT expecting this to appear on NSO any time soon, so I was SO excited when it just randomly was announced to be appearing. I've been a KI fan for pretty much my whole life. Grew up with the first on SNES, and 2013 was a big deal for me through Highschool. But I just never got into Gold. I got a copy of it way after 2013 was long out. And by the time I tried it I just couldn't get the hang of it. Yeah, I beat Killer Instinct Gameboy before I properly went through Gold.

And I hate to say it... But I'm still kinda not that into this game. I think it feels like cool to play than the original for some reason, and maybe it's just cause N64 NSO controls are GARBAGE (please readjust your controls in the in game controls settings menu best you can lmao) but I just feel like moves didn't come out as nicely or combos didn't feel as natural here. I think it looks fine but I think it might still not look as cool as the original did in some ways? Though it's not bad at all and it has some great stages like Spinal's in particular being a highlight imo. And while the roster still has some heavy hitters with the weirdness, Glacius, Spinal, Sabrewulf. It still feels a little toned down. Like. You're telling me you axed the raptor and the fire guy and added THREE humans!? Come on now. I'dunno, I hate to say it cause it's not bad by any means. I just... don't like this even nearly as much as the original on SNES. And of course compared to 2013 it's not a fair contest.

BUT it's not all doom and gloom! It still looks alright, I actually do kinda like the weird fucked up zombie Sabrewulf idea. The edgy vibe is still there and it's awesome. And, holy shit, that ost. Like, it's a fucking GOOD soundtrack!! Jago's theme and Gargos' themes in particular just go fucking nuts! If you haven't heard this game's OST yet (I hadn't actually) then I really recommend giving it a shot, it RULES! Killer Instinct have a bad OST challenge (impossible).

So yeah, even though it's still not my favorite. I'm glad I played through it and I certainly would love to try it with some friends if I ever get the chance. PLEASE Y'ALL PLEASE PLAY KILLER INSTINCT WITH ME THERE'S 2 OF THEM ON SWITCH YOU DON'T HAVE AN EXCUSE TO NOT BE PLAYING PEAK!!

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The Crips for eSims for Gaza Bundle is live!!

Thanks to the generous contributions of over 175 developers and artists, we’ve got over 200 digital games, zines, TTRPGs, and other projects and assets to offer bundle buyers. 

Every $16 purchase covers the cost of an eSim activation to help connect Palestinians in the occupied territories and beyond. On sale April 28-May 20!

🇵🇸✊♥️

PLEASE SHARE WIDELY!

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buying microsoft products funds genocide

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AFTERTHOUGHTS - ROUNDUP ROUND 18

February - March 2025

Alrighty! We're early into April right now, and I figured it'd be a good time to go ahead and write up my thoughts on what I played the last few months! I didn't play much in February cause I was distracted with Fantasian, but I ended up getting through a LOT during March! So without further ado, let's get into it!

You already know, these aren't reviews, just my thoughts, please play anything I talk about if it interests you!

Halo 2 (November 9, 2004) - Xbox

YAY HALO TIME YAY YAY!! Me and my sister have slowly started making our way through the co-op campaigns of the series, and while we started Halo 2 last year we only recently finally managed to beat it.

In my opinion, though I really enjoyed Halo 1, Halo 2 kind of knocks it out of the water. There's not a crazy reveal like with the flood or anything, you kind of already know what's up until the finale. But the overall quality is just so high in comparison to the first. Dual wielding rules, proper sound mixing, ACTUAL SUBTITLES! We finally could properly understand what was happening in this game! Also, getting to play as the Arbiter kicks ASS! I love games with opposing stories and my only complaint is that they don't really cross over in a satisfying way until the end. I would've loved a Master Chief vs Arbiter boss battle, but alas. It has a lot of the same praises as the first though, fun alien designs (I liked the introduction of the brutes and the weird bugs), beautiful set pieces (LOVED the last arbiter level on that beach), and a FANTASTIC ost. The ost in this one blows Halo 1 out of the water. I loved the licensed music, the Mjolnir mix obviously kicks ass. But particularly I REALLY liked the use of drums in this soundtrack, im not a music expert so idk how to describe it, but it has a tropical feel to it that I think is so unique for music in a sci-fi shooter. My favorite songs were Follow and Peril :) This game ruled, man. I can't wait to see where Halo 3 takes it.

I don't really have too many complaints off the top of my head. I think there's still some issues with getting lost on maps, I just think some sort of map or quest marker could really help. Though it's considerably easier to navigate than halo 1 was, but we still found ourselves getting stuck in some rooms with seemingly no way to go. There were also some odd visual bugs by the end of the game, but that's certainly the 360's fault and not the game. Some games just don't make the transition good, but you would expect them to iron out stuff on their flagship series. Uh... I think that's all I got... It's weird there's no run button?

The plot is getting juicer, the characters are thicker, the gameplay feels better, the score is goated. Halo 2 rules! Also... Gravemind... ahaha.... omg gravemind...

BIT.TRIP BEAT - FLUX (March 16, 2009 - February 25, 2011) - Switch

With the announcement they're sunsetting gold points on Nintendo Switch, I went through and claimed all the points I could (which were not a lot I didn't realize they expire lmao... cool) but I was able to grab a few games for free. Namely, the whole BIT.TRIP series. For free. So that's cool! Previously I had only played Runner, but never beat it. But I remembered when these games were coming out, and they felt like pretty big name indie titles I hadn't really tried. So I figured, why not?

I'll just give a basic run down on my thoughts for each:

Beat: Very fun, I liked playing motion control pong. That final boss is deviously brutal though. It's fun, but like, not fun enough for the time investment to get good at those frame perfect hits against it, yknow?

Core: Neat! Felt the most like a rhythm game. I don't really remember much about this one but it's cool.

Void: Potentially my favorite concept, playing as a void and eating blocks to become bigger and bigger and knowing when to compress yourself to make it through obstacles. But for some reason this one felt not great to play, I can't describe why. It felt, ice physics-y??? Kind of frustrating.

Runner: The most game like of the bunch and probably my favorite? It's where the music really starts to shine, this is the only one with songs that REALLY stick with me personally. It's fun, but one hit point can be pretty annoying when the levels get particularly long.

Fate: What probably should've been my favorite, seeing as how it's a shmup. But something about it just feels kind of tedious. I couldn't make it past the penultimate boss and just lost interest and decided to move on. I like the different bullet types, but honestly giving commander video a group of friends which include Super Meat Boy and a girl commander video. It feels corny in a way I'm not super vibing with.

Flux: Weirdly enough I barely remember anything about this one except it goes back to being really weird after Runner became kind of random (derogatory). It's cool that the gameplay ends where it begins though. Neat.

Overall BIT.TRIP is cool but my general consensus is that when the levels get really long, the gameplay feels kind of tedious. But I respect the hell out of it for being so weird. Neat stuff.

Spyro the Dragon (September 9, 1998) - Playstation

Would you believe me if I told you that I, the huge fan of dragons and platformers, have never played the dragon platformer before? It just kinda slipped by me. I don't think I had a copy of it as a kid, and if I did. Idk I just never really got into it. BUT ALL THAT CHANGED THIS YEAR!! And the verdict is?

Yeah it's cool. Spyro is a very fun game, it feels great to play even now, it looks wonderful and really bright and cheery, it's got nice environments, cute music, a fun premise, and a dragon as the main character! I like Spyro a lot I think it's very cool and unique that he's a quadraped when most platformer characters are bipedal. His powers are all simple but really fun, gliding in particular was really cool and I liked how big maps could get because of this ability. I didn't really hit many roadblocks while playing it, it's cute, I really like the high fantasy dragon aesthetic. I don't really know what else to say, there's not much to NOT like about it. It's simple, but effective!

But it's not perfect. Particularly, I think the bosses in this game suck. The first boss, I thought it was a regular enemy, I didn't even realize it was a boss cause there's no fanfare for beating it! Similarly the final boss just blows. I was not a fan of doing those races against Gnorc (awesome name btw). I didn't like super dashes, the game is obsessed with them but I didn't like them doing them. I didn't have to grind for the gems the whole game but going back and grinding for them to reach the final world was a drag. The last dragon in the racist level fucking sucked. Why do all platformers from this era have a racist level for no reason?

But regardless of that. This game was fun, and aside from that, has aged really well! I'm genuinely interested to see where it goes from here! I actually do already have Spyro 2 and 3 so I'll be sure to keep you all posted on when I play them!

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (November 6, 1997) - Playstation

But not just one PS1 platformer, BUT THAT SECOND PS1 PLATFORMER! I'm back in action with Crash Bandicoot once again after playing Crash 1 for the first time last year. And true to my word, I actually played it physically on my PS3, neat!

This game is a BIG step up from the first in my opinion. Feels nicer, looks better, has a lot more level types, I liked the plot, it introduces Coco (even though she's barely used she's cute so I like her), I like the music I like the aesthetic (there were some gorgeous levels this time around like a night time jungle level idr the name of). Overall it was just a very cool game that I again don't really have too much to say about. I liked the bosses, there was something about the hub area that I really liked. I like that we already are teaming up with Cortex in the second game, that's cool. Yeah it was neat!

My only real complaints are that the final boss kinda sucks. I couldn't beat it at all until I realized that I just had to never leave Cortex alone and suddenly it was the easiest fight ever, even though right before that there's a big boss against N. Gine who has a brand new mechanic and is a way crazier fight. Odd.

Yeah I feel like I had even less to say about this than Crash 1. It's a good game! I do think it's leagues better than the first. Crash is a cool guy, I'm interested to see how the original trilogy wraps up with Crash 3, and how I'll feel about it in comparison to Spyro when all is said and done.

One Strike (November 3, 2017) - Switch

Here's another game I got for free using my emergency Gold Points. I got it just cause it was so cheap and the concept of a 1-hit KO fighting game seemed novel if nothing else.

But to my surprise this game RULES! Like, seriously rules it kicks ASS! a 1-hit fighting game might sound a little basic and boring, but it's actually such a stressful and fun game and probably my favorite thing I've gotten with my gold points so far. Each character has a strike, a block, a back dash, and some unique gimmick to themselves. It's so simple but so effective. My favorite character was Oni, who is slow and has a special strike that's even slower, but can break through blocks. He rules. I also think Soujiro is interesting, and Kenji. But I barely remember what they do not cause MY BOY ONI IS ALL THAT MATTERS!

My only complaint is that, imo, and this is so mean. This game is kind of ugly looking. I know that's harsh and usually not something I'd pick on a game for but while there's nothing objectively wrong with the pixel art and the css art I just couldn't get into the style of the game at all. Aside from some of the environments, I just found the game to be really ugly looking. But, the sequel, which I am INSANELY interested in now. Has an INCREDIBLY strong and cool art style.

So yeah, this game was a shining success. I can't wait to play it with friends, and I will absolutely be trying the DLC characters and I will ABSOLUTELY be trying the sequel when I get the chance! Awesome stuff!

Be Brave, Barb (March 11, 2025) - Mobile

Another day, another Thomas K Young banger! This is actually the first game of his I played on phones aside from the Fowlst games. I apologize Young, I hope that the ad revenue helps fund you as much as buying the game does! I was a touch bit broke when I played this haha.

Be Brave Barb is a game where you play as a cactus who can walk on walls, and will always walk forward, you just make her jump. But the neat part is that the wall she stands on becomes her new standard of gravity. It's cool and remarkably tricky at times! But overall the game is cute, I love Barb's design, I really like the music with the weird little voices singing in some of the levels. The plot is cute, with Barb needing to find pages from her positive affirmations journal, they're meant to be silly but some of them were genuinely nice and I'm still thinking about even now. Overall it's just another fun game! Plain and simple.

My only issues are level length and bosses. Level length can be an issue for particularly long levels, since you have to wait for Barb to walk places on her own, dying in one hit really late into a long level can be a MASSIVE time sink. Overall the levels are pretty straight forward and very creative, but sometimes they can be confusing (or at least confused me) on how a jump will land from a certain angle and stuff like that. For the bosses, I felt like they were a little basic. I still feel like there's something more interesting you could do with the boss battles in this game, the final boss ended up being the best one imo.

BUT YEAH, this is another simple but fun adventure. I really do love everything this dev makes and I will always be there day 1 to play their stuff. AND NEXT TIME, I PROMISE I'LL HAVE BETTER MONEY TO BUY THE GAME PROPER!!

Neodori Forever (June 15, 2022) - Switch

Another game I got for free using gold points, I'm always up for a good car game. Even if I tend to be kind of bad at more arcadey ones. This one just looked really nice and I got it for free so who am I to complain?

And yeah! This is a very cool game! It looks GREAT, I think the low poly graphics are really put to good use here with saturated colors and nice environments. And levels that take place at night just look even prettier, it's great looking! It also has a really good sound track, a ton of cars you can unlock, and a lot of modes. You really get some bang for your buck here! I mainly stuck to Odyssey, which is the main story mode where you make your way through random levels and beat npcs in races. It's fun!

But for some reason I just never got used to the gameplay. Driving itself feels fine but drifting feels SO weird and specific to me. However, I'm almost certain this is a skill issue and not an issue with the game. Like there's something I just can't understand but I want to understand so bad cause I can tell this game kicks ass. Oh well, even with my struggles, I was still able to finish the Odyssey mode, so it's no big deal. My other main complaint is that npc drivers are fucking morons and only appear when I'm drifting on the wrong side of the road (their fault not mine) or on top of items I want to collect. Very annoying

But yeah regardless of my inability to play, this was a fun game, especially for free. Glad I stuck with it, cool stuff!

Astro's Playroom (November 12, 2020) - PS5

HOLY SHIT, GREEN PLAYING A PS5 GAME!?!?! If you can believe it, yeah! It's not mine, and I won't have access to it for very long most likely. But a family member got a PS5 which means for a short time, I have access to PS4/PS5! Neat! I don't have many games but the PS5 comes preinstalled with a free tech demo game, and I've wanted to play Astro Bot for a minute now so of course I was so excited to try this one out!

AND YEAH, IT RULES! I'm blown away this was a free game that came preinstalled on the console. I probably would've paid money for this game but thankfully I didn't have to cause that made the experience all the better. Astro's Playroom is a small 3D platformer where you jump around 4 worlds inspired by different aspects of your PS5 to get a better understanding of what roles each component play in the console. Your GPU has monkeys in it, for example. Really educational stuff! But in all seriousness, this is a REALLY fun and legit platformer, no nonsense here. It feels great, looks amazing (like seriously good looking), has a wonderful soundtrack, it's super cute and fun and bright I LOVE the bots. And I'm particularly impressed with how well it shows off what the controller can do, it's like Nintendo Land in that kind of way. You have to make use of every aspect of the PS5 controller to beat the game, from the touch pad to gyro to the microphone! I LOVED this! I also loved all the references to PS1 stuff, which I know only gets better in Astro Bot, but I didn't expect it in this one so it was a pleasant surprise. My favorites were the astrobots worshipping and fangirling over the Buster Blade, and the final boss. Which is a GENIUS final boss and a reference I didn't get at first (I was still pretty young when PS1 was new lol) but is SUCH a genius pull for a final boss to this game. Stuff like this, getting to look at all these peripherals, and pulling back really obscure random characters from tech demos or scrapped mascot designs almost makes me feel like Sony is the best as making goofy celebrations of their past.

My only real issues with it, while I did really like these sections. The scenes where you get into suits like the monkey, the frog, stuff like that. They're fun, but they're not more fun than Astro Bot and sometimes I felt like their sections lasted a little long, but I wouldn't want them removed! They're still fun! I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel for stuff to complain about lol. It's a free tech demo there's not much to complain about! I guess I do wish that there was maybe more stuff to read in the levels about how your PS5 works and where you are in the PS5. I know it's fictional and the PS5 doesn't ACTUALLY have this stuff inside, but it could be a fun more in depth learning opportunity. I'd LOVE to know more about how the console works beyond a gameplay level, yknow? Am I being a nerd?

Anyway, this game RULED! I can totally see myself 100% completing it, and I actually do also have Astro Bot proper, so when I get the chance I'm jumping RIGHT into that! This was such a fun experience and I cannot believe the Switch 2 will also have a tech demo that takes place inside the console. And you have to pay for it and it comparatively looks way less cool. But I guess it's have the teaching aspect be more of a focus. But I don't care, NERDS!!

Donkey Kong (June 14, 1994) - Gameboy

And last but not least, is DK 94! When this was announced to be coming to NSO, people FREAKED OUT! I saw just about everyone I follow popping of for this. And I thought "the... gameboy DK arcade game? Really?" And I knew it wasn't a straight up port of the original, but still. How could it possibly be THAT good that everyone's freaking out? So I had to give it a shot.

AND YEAH I GET IT! This is the BEST of the DK Arcade games, in my opinion (I haven't played Mario vs Donkey Kong). I'm seriously impressed with this game! Maybe I'm overreacting but it felt like a game made nowadays to feel like a gameboy game, but they massively overestimated what the GB was capable. But it's not that, it's a real GB game doing the work! The sprites look great and are readable, there are cutscenes that are fun and really well done, the music is AMAZING! The gameboy had NO BUSINESS putting out a song as good as "Showdown at the Tower". The levels are all fun, it feels snappy and smooth to play (it may be one of the best feeling platformers on the console??? Maybe?) And there's a ton of interesting stuff, I didn't know DK Jr was gonna be in it (I know he's on the cover be nice to me), I didn't expect the final boss at all which was really cool. This game totally whips ass! I'm blown away, y'all were right!

My only complaints are that some of the levels can feel a little samey, like there's nothing too crazy in some of them. And I'd almost prefer less levels in some worlds so they can really make them more unique. Some of the levels were also particularly confusing and sometimes felt too complicated or way too easy. I only had to look up solutions to one or two, but when I did I felt so stupid lmao. Also, it just occured to me they totally should've put in a level recreating the Game and Watch DK game! Nevermind 0/10 trash game.

No but seriously, this was a blast, I'm pleasantly surprised! I know Mario vs DK is supposed to be WAY less cool, but I may still give it a shot cause this game was so much fun and I remember when that one was coming out lol. Also, I NEED the next Smash Bros. to axe 75m and put a stage based on this in it. With a Showdown at the Tower remix, please!?

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Magic Trickery! 🐇🐇🐇🐇 Graverobby and Pretzel!

WISHLIST Magic Trickery on STEAM! Pretty please and thank you!

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AFTERTHOUGHTS: Black Version

Game: Pokemon Black Version (September 18, 2010)

Console: Nintendo DS

AW YEAH, IT'S POKEMON TIME ONCE AGAIN!! These are some of the RPGs I look most forward to playing lately, and this game was of particular interest to me, so I'm glad I finally made it here!

Without further ado, lets get into it! As always this is NOT a review, just me throwing up my thoughts on the game now that it's finished. Please play anything I talk about that interests you!

AND AS ALWAYS, SPOILERS FOR POKEMON BLACK (and probably white as well) AHEAD!!

Opening

So interestingly enough this is not my first time attempting Pokemon Black and White. When I was younger I had given it a shot, but could never get past Elesa and her stupid Emolga. But I've had a soft spot for this region for years. It's one of my favorite Pokedexs with some absolutely fantastic designs, and it always seemed like the coolest and most interesting one in the series from what I'd seen people say about it. So needless to say, this was my most anticipated Pokemon game for me to properly beat since my first playthrough of Emerald a few years back!

Stuff I liked

I'll confess, when this game started I actually was a little underwhelmed by it. It didn't feel like a massive leap forward in the same way previous entries had. And I think that comes down to this and Platinum both being on the DS. But as you progress through the game it really starts to dawn on you just how much of an interesting shift visually and technologically(?) it is over Platinum. It just does it in smaller ways. Having animated sprites was DELIGHTFUL, I liked that you could see the full Pokemon's backs so it feels more like you're standing a bit away and we see the battle from your POV, I like that heavy Pokemon shake the screen when they come out, I love that Pokemon actually close their eyes when asleep, or how they animate slower when at lower health. Again it's not a massive upgrade over the original but it IS an upgrade and does a lot of stuff in new and interesting ways. I also think it makes more interesting use of 3D, with my favorites being the huge bridges you cross during the game. And even removed from Platinum the game is very pretty looking with a lot of fun areas. I liked that this game is more focused on cities with a lot of the towns actually being pretty large, weather felt like it was WAY more prevalent this time around (I love seeing the actual weather in the overworld affect battles.) The game is just filled to the brim with small touches like this that, while it may not be a massive technology leap over the original, make it easily the best looking Pokemon game I've seen so far!

There's other nice small touches too. I really love a lot of the cute things they do with the OST in this game. Everyone knows the low health theme, which is a great touch. But I liked the musicians in towns who will upgrade the songs as you encounter them. But in my opinion the BEST musical flourish, and my favorite song in the game, is Gym Leader's Last Pokemon. Having a special cool song that plays when the Gym Leader is almost defeated is SO cool and hypes up every battle with them and in my opinion, it should be used MUCH more! At the very least, the final boss should've had a similar effect for his fight. Where maybe a triumphant version of the Plasma theme plays over his last Pokemon. But in general the game has a fun and cute soundtrack, while it's not my personal favorite OST in the series, when a song HITS it HITS HARD! Gym Leader's Last Pokemon, the Plasma Fight Theme, Driftveil City, Driftveil Drawbridge the Bike Theme, and pretty much every battle theme from the finale, when a song lands it lands good!

Unova is another nice addition to the world of Pokemon. It's cool to see one that takes place in a new continent, and I think they actually do a really good job of differentiating it from the previous regions with all the massive buildings, cities, and bridges in the game. It feels very grand and indulgent, in a cool way. It's also neat to me that this game feels a little more fantasy in its locations, but still remains grounded in reality, if that makes sense. Like an electric cave with floating rocks, or an underground mansion. It's a bit more fantastic than previous Pokemon games but I like that, it adds some nice flourish to how a kid might view a region that takes place in another part of the world. Very fantastic and even over the top at times.

Each region has had an overarching theme (Kanto=Science, Johto=Spirituality, Hoenn=Prehistory, Sinnoh=Creation) and this one keeps it going with the theme of connection, particularly between people and Pokemon. I love how many NPCs make small talk about their Pokemon and how they interact with their Pokemon. It may seem small but you'll see even random trainer battles where they talk about how they AND their Pokemon train, work, play, and live together. I know this is kind of the theme of the whole franchise, but it really comes to shine in this game more than any of the previous ones. I think it's cool just how much BW focuses in on the ways humans and Pokemon coexist and thrive together, even down to the way Pokemon are designed like Conkeldur helping with construction, or Audino who help people with injured Pokemon in the wild. To even the map itself, having tons of grand bridges that are all huge 3D set pieces. It's neat they're able to keep a sort of more broad and general theme like "connections" present throughout the whole game. These small themes in each game are always some of my favorite parts to see when I play them!

And of course, this theme ties into the main plot of the game. Which is easily the coolest part of Pokemon Black and White! This is easily the most plot relevant game in the series so far. And I think the plot weaves its way into your personal journey SO well, probably on par with Kanto for how it does it. The concept of Team Plasma is SCARY, people who take away Pokemon and then gaslight you into thinking you did something wrong. Meanwhile straight up abusing Pokemon despite their self righteous cause. But of course the grunts aren't really the star of the show. It's N, Ghetsis, and their whole evil scheme. So, I thought this game's evil team was meandering about a little bit at first. The villains weren't really doing much, however by the end of the game you realize all this small stuff they're doing has been building to a really crazy finale in a way that's SO satisfying and personally, while it's arguably less insane than Galactic's plan, feels more satisfying and earned? At first I didn't like N either, his philosophies and some of the things he says were kind of strange. But the challenge to reach the champion first and stop him is so enticing and I LOVE the effort to combine the evil team with your overall league journey more.

That's where we get to the finale where the REAL fun begins. Having the Champion fight cut short with the reveal of N's Castle was INSANE! It's so over the top and crazy but in a way I REALLY like that, again, still feels pretty grounded and in line for Pokemon. And this is where the whole story all comes together so expertly. Why do they liberate Pokemon despite abusing them? To build a giant castle underground. Why is N like that? Because he was manipulated his whole life for this fake prophecy of becoming the hero (the reveal that Ghetsis only brought him abused Pokemon and seeing N's creepy room. What a fucking hit.) The reveal of the white stone at the start of the game (this happens a bit earlier but you get the idea). There's even small dialogue touches that really resonate in this final area. A Plasma member who watches over kidnapped Pokemon so they can't escape, but he loves them too much to liberate them now. Scientists who have hacked the PC system to FORCE people to release their Pokemon. A grunt revealing that they worked in the shadows cause Rocket and Galactic were too open, so they got defeated. It's just SO neat!

And then of course you have the true final battle. Having the catch Reshiram was really cool (I'm so glad this and Platinum are REALLY adding in more non-human battles I want to see more of these!!) and using the big box art legendary against N's was SOOO kick ass! Ghetsis revealing that he wants to be the only person with Pokemon was great, again this is such a deviously evil plan and I'm so impressed Pokemon had it in them. And the ending where N reveals that your Pokemon said they loved you and that's when he started realizing something was wrong. To even the way it just cuts to black and the credits, it's such a shake up to the endings of the whole series up until now and it's so masterfully done. I feel like I'm floundering this explanation but it was just SO COOL, this finale is, without a doubt, the best finale in the series up to this point. And I kind of doubt it'll be topped.

Then, of course, we come to the most important part of a Pokemon game for me. The Pokemon. I've said before, but Unova is one of my favorite regions for its Pokemon designs. There's simply too many good ones to even list here! Scraggy, Druddigon, Haxorus, Scolipede, Archeops. I could go on and on! Even though there ARE Pokemon with designs I'm not particularly crazy about (the conkeldur line I think is particularly ugly for example) the strong designs just so massively outclass and outweigh the weak designs that I simply cannot see it as being on the best of the best for Pokemon designs. And yeah, the Pokemon distribution in this game is PERFECT. Removing any old designs is EXACTLY what Pokemon should've been doing this whole time! You can't mess up the distribution of new Pokemon if you have to use the new Pokemon the whole way through!

I actually think this game tries to parallel Kanto in a lot of ways, but instead of coming off as cheap, it really helps make this game stronger because they're not paralleling it by being like "here's Charizard again :)" they're doing it in much more interesting ways! Stuff like "what if you only have new Pokemon to catch?" "what if your rival is struggling with a desire for power?" "How would we tackle this kind of Pokemon concept 14 years later?" And I personally think, while you may not be able to do this for every Pokemon game, it was the perfect approach for a soft reboot and made this game particularly special.

There's other stuff I could praise, again your rivals are really well done here and I think having multiple rivals is really cool! This one has the most by far with 3 (Bianca, Cheren, and N) and while N is clearly the star of the show, the other 2 have really nice stories themselves. Bianca wanting to find her goal in life and seemingly settling on not being a trainer at all but a researcher rules, and Cheren's story mirrors Blue (my favorite Rival) a lot but ultimately gets to shine as a hero more in this compared to Blue. I like that the Gyms were proper facilities with Gym leaders being celebrities and genuine bad asses who work together with you to stop Plasma. I LOVED the introduction of healer NPCs before bosses so I don't have to back track before every boss. Overall, while again it's not a massive technological leap forwards like the other regions have been, it's certainly an interesting and satisfying Pokemon game all the same.

Stuff I didn't like

But, it's not perfect. And I do ultimately have some issues with the game overall.

First off, I do think not being a huge technological leap, while it's fine ultimately. Does hold the game back a bit. Not just in ways I discussed before, but in other ways. These games themselves are expert showcases of the hardware they're on, using every aspect of the console in cool ways. And personally, I just didn't see a ton of that in this game when compared to how Platinum made use of the DS. While it certainly makes the game cleaner without the Poketech, I felt like there's just not much hardware showcasing stuff unless you have access to the online features. Which... I don't in 2025 lol.

I also think the opening, while not nearly as contrived as Platinum's (in fact I think you and your friends getting starters as a gift is a wonderful way to start the story), just kind of drags a little. It's filled with SO many ham fisted tutorials that kind of made the first gym or two feel a little rough. Like, having the first gym teach you about type weakness is odd because... That's what the 2 rivals are for, I thought? And the fact you have to go get a free monkey in the woods to deal with the gym leader just felt so weird to me. Idk how to describe it.

I also think grinding for the finale is a little tough. It feels like enemies in victory road just give NO exp, so you have to spend ages audino farming in the badge check area. But this makes grinding for the finale easily feel the most tedious so far, idk if it actually was longer than previous games, But it FELT like it was, you know? And I thought that was cause the elite 4 weren't the real final bosses, but truthfully they kind of are because you can't grind in N's castle. I just think a lot of the grinding spots and best end game moves are saved for AFTER beating the game and that was a bit of a bummer.

And then... the worst crime of all... The lack of gimmicky battles... There's 2v2 fights sure. But there's barely any where you work together with another NPC, especially considering how many times you and another guy fight off Plasma Grunts, they sure do NEVER let you fight them at the same time. And we FINALLY get 3v3 fights!! Kind of... It's rotation battles, which are used maybe twice in the main story, not even a gym to show them off. And like, the rotation gimmick is just kind of nothing, I genuinely don't understand how this differs from regular battles if you can just swap your Pokemon. IMAGINE, if you will, 3 v 3 battles. The first gym with the 3 chef dudes, instead of just fighting 1 of the 3. You, Bianca, and Cheren, team up to fight all 3 of the leaders at the same time. IT WRITES ITSELF!! But for some reason Pokemon, even when it's trying new things and getting creative, is just allergic to weird and unique Pokemon battles. By this point we should be having some insane 6 v 6 free for alls using your whole team! But alas... It's just not meant to be. But maybe one day...

For other nitpicks? Uh, I think the start of the game has some odd balance where enemies CONSTANTLY got crits on me and I missed ALL THE TIME. But that went away after a while. Also, man Lillipup is a BEAST in the early game and can just mow down pretty much anything. And my biggest, and stupidest nitpick is that the gyms in this one are TOO unrealistic. I enjoy the more fantastic locations, but I think the gyms just don't feel like stuff I could do irl. The cannons? No I would die. The ice gym where if you fall you die? I would die! Again this is like, the goofiest nitpick on the planet and it didn't take away from the game at all I just thought it was funny.

BUT, even still, while it had short comings. I can't help but feel like I kind of don't give a shit considering just good that finale was... Finales are my favorite parts of stories, so a good ending can really make me forget all the problems a game had. And I truly do think BW has the best ending in the series... hmmmm...

Final Thoughts

Pokemon Black and White has been recommended to me by everyone on the earth multiple times. It's a crowning jewel Pokemon game for a lot of people, and despite it maybe disappointing in some ways, I totally understand why it's given such praise. I think sharing its console with another Pokemon region is ultimately the ONLY thing holding it back, and it shares a lot of similarities with Red and Blue in interesting and unique ways that help propel it forward, rather than holding it back to a game almost 15 years older than it. Which is a game that so many entries struggle to live up for me so far BECAUSE they rely on it too much... So... Where would I rank Black and White?

Your eyes do not deceive you, I think we've finally got another game to go over Red! I went back and forth a LOT on which I prefer. They're both similar, but both accomplish different things with their shared elements in ways I really enjoy and left a good impact on me. So truly, I guess you could say it's a tie. And while I was originally gonna make it a tie, that feels like a cop out. So ultimately, while Red might still be an all timer for me, I can't deny just how much better looking, sounding, and feeling this game is over, yknow, a Gameboy title. So, at least for now, Black wins! But I still prefer Emerald, Nostalgia is a hell of a drug.

===

And there you have it! Another Pokemon game in the books! I'm so glad I FINALLY got to play this one! I remember when it was new and I was a little kid I was like "heh, Smugleaf is SO LAME Kanto is so much better." And now look at me, I ranked it higher on my personal tier list. Lighten up, little kid me.

Also, this game was maybe the most "HOLY SHIT THAT'S FROM SMASH BROS!!" game I've played so far, when the castle came out of the ground and the bridges slammed into the league, I was like "THAT'S WHAT THAT IS!?" It's always a super exciting feeling but I felt is so feely in my feelings for this one. While Unova Pokemon League isn't as cool of a stage as Spear Pillar, imo, it's still VERY cool! Props for putting N's creepy music box in the game too.

Next is Black & White 2, which I may play later in the year if I get the oomph! I'm curious how that one is gonna play out story wise. Serious question, what Pokemon Grey ever an ACTUALLY real game? Cause this game's plot seems to end off so perfectly set up for a direct sequel, rather than a 3rd version with the same plot. Just some food for thought.

If you want to see my team from Black & White you can find them right here!

And of course you can follow me on Bluesky to see what other games I'm playing!

That's all I have, go out and play a beloved entry in a series you love!

[bahamutgames]

wrote those both up while i was away, double whammy for you today. but that's everything ive played in 2024 done and dusted :)

[bahamutgames]

FANTASIAN AFTERTHOUGHTS DIMENSION

Game: Fantasian Neo Dimension (December 5, 2024)

Console: PC

It's time to finally talk about Fantasian!! I feel like I've been waiting AGES for this game to finally be available to me, and I'm so glad I finally managed to get my hands on it and play through it! Also, this was my first RPG of 2025, neat!! I won't beat around the bush cause this is a pretty interesting game I have a bit to talk about with, so let's get to it!

As always this is NOT a review, just me throwing up my thoughts on the game after playing it. Please play anything I talk about if it interests you, regardless of my thoughts!

SPOILERS FOR FANTASIAN AHEAD!! IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED IT, DON'T ENTER!!

Opening

If you all know me, you might know I'm a huge sucker for Mistwalker studios. I think they're really interesting and they made one of my personal favorite RPGs, Blue Dragon! So when I heard back around 2020 or whenever they were making a new game, I was of course very interested! Then I learned it would be apple arcade exclusive and was completely barred from playing it... Well that sucks!

So I waited and waited for a console port... And 3-4 years later, it FINALLY happened! I will confess, it feels like it's been WAY longer than that, but maybe that's just cause I wanted to play it so badly! I wanted to play it when it launched last year but I was in such a bad headspace I didn't want to ruin the experience with it, what was one more year right?

Stuff I liked

And ultimately? Yeah Fantasian is a cool game!! There's a TON of cool stuff to gush about!

I like the story a lot, I think the concept of Mechteria invading the world, while it may be another covid story maybe? I think it's very compelling and interesting and if it is meant to parallel covid, it doesn't feel totally forced and contrived. I like it! I liked going between multiple worlds, their use of the term "mutiverse" in the trailer made me worried but I think it'd handled tastefully and allowed for the really interesting warring gods plot to come together nicely! I like the world, I like that it's high fantasy but still very high technical and it has a lot of cool environments. I think finding out the mystery of Leo's past is a compelling driving force, I think it handles all of its mysteries really well, and again I find the feuding gods using their worlds to destroy each other really compelling! It's cool!

I love the characters! Genuinely I adore every teammate! They're all fun, they have wonderful designs, they're super cool to use. You feel compelled to make use of all of them, and best of all the game wants you to use all of them! It lets you swap teammates during battle later into the game so you actually get to make full use of their strategies and how they can work together. You get to go through their quests, and see all their stories unfold and I think all their stories are pretty satisfying and interesting. So by the end of the game you're REALLY attached to everyone! I mainly used Leo, Prickle & Clicker, Valrika, and Cheryl but I got good use of EVERYONE! Tan doesn't join you until way later but I ended up making MAJOR use of him for the final boss. And even a character like Ez, who is a smug little kid, usually the most annoying kind of character, was really compelling and fun! And potentially the best character in the game, once you accept you have to consume resources in this game, he becomes the best character. Infinite Loop saved my ass SO many times during act 2. And this isn't even considering NPCs and other characters who are interesting and have great designs. Jas and Vam look awesome and are both very interesting, Owen, the Cinderella Tri Stars were delightfully goofy, the cast is very nice!

I like the gameplay! Combat is very interesting as it's kind of based around enemy positions and the AOE of your attacks similar to Chrono Trigger! Magic spells can be curved to hit more people, some characters have slashes that can tear through enemies in a straight line, or some attacks have big circular radisues, it's cool! And I've seen a few attempts to ease the burden of random encounters in my time. Zeboyd games have given it a few tries to varying results. And Fantasian presents an interesting idea with the Dimengeon, where you store random encounters for later and take them all on at once. It still can be a bit intrusive so it doesn't TOTALLY "fix" random encounters, but it's a nice and unique solution that I had some fun with. I actually really loved when the game took advantage of the ability to display so many enemies at once and I kind of wish they played with it more! I loved encounters where you were mowing down 100s of basic mobs at a time! But honestly I also just REALLY love walking around the overworld! It's basic, super basic, nothing to write home about. But it FEELS like a PS1 RPG, one of my favorite types of RPGs. But it's so evolved now. The prerendered backdrops have become real dioramas that exist in real life, and because of that the prerendered backdrops can shift and the camera can move dynamically around a map. It looks SO cool and there's less load screens between areas because of it! When I realized it was emulating the PS1 RPG style, I immediately fell in love!

And I think that's a great opportunity to talk about potentially the strongest part of Fantasian, the visuals! This game looks GREAT! If you don't know, all the maps (with very few exceptions) are actually real world dioramas they made in real life and took photos of to make the prerendered backdrops. And I ADORE this! It looks SO good, so unique, and is so endearing. They make absolutely no effort to hide it either, and I think that it pays off so well. I loved when you could see the texture on stuff, or when I recognized materials I had seen on Warhammer maps in the past. It was also just fun to think about how they made certain effects work like water or snow. And it's crazy how above and beyond they went for this, even random generic NPCs houses are fully unique fully furnished dioramas, it's nuts! I can't put too many screenshots cause I don't want to flood this with them but I have to give a few examples:

And it's not just the prerendered backdrops, I think the models themselves are actually pretty good looking! When you see them up close during cutscenes they look REALLY nice! The character designs are particularly really good, I think Kina, Cheryl, Valrika, and even Leo are really gorgeous. Spells and attack effects look good, your big super moves have fun animations, it looks great! And while this game does do some insane enemy recycling, I think they get such drastically different redesigns when recycled that I can excuse it for the most part.

Then there's the music, maybe the best part of each Mistwalker game. Nobuo Uematsu always gives his best and it shows here. The music is REALLY cool, and while it's maybe not my favorite of his soundtracks, there are some WONDERFUL songs here. I like Battle Oath, and I think Mechteria is such a beautiful and haunting song.

And there's other stuff to sing the praises of, I like the gear variation and the ways they look. Using gems for special abilities is cute and I liked that a lot, I LOVE that your weapons actually show up in combat. I understand why it doesn't happen for armor so I respect them for still making the effort for weapons. I like all the small fun references in it like when they gave a nod to Akira Toriyama or let Uematsu write a short story for it. I liked the reoccuring bit where Leo is dog shit with switches and buttons. I liked the robots gaining hearts, I'm a huge sucker for stuff like that! There's so much to love about this game!

Stuff I didn't like

Then act 2 begins... I truly do think it's that crazy of a cut off, the whole game just kind of falls apart when you get here. It's gradual, I think you can make it through pretty comfortably until about the Chaos Salamander, when act 2 starts to show it's true colors. But when those colors come out, the feelings of act 1 just never really return. I saw people saying it wasn't good even in act 1, but I disagree! I think it was really solid! And I know when it was on apple, act 2 was released way later so there was a bit of time between them which may have helped? But that's not a thing here.

There's a couple of contributing factors to this problem, I feel. But I think a BIG one is the skill tree you unlock in act 2. I like skill trees, and I think the skill tree itself is a welcome addition! The problem is the way the whole game starts to bend around this skill tree entirely. I was hoping in act 2 we'd see more interesting use of positioning and AOE. But it's practically dropped as a concept save for a few moments where you have to aim attacks between thin gaps while the camera is at a bad angle, not showing you where you can aim. It's no longer about how you use skills to deal with enemy positions, no more unique enemy patterns and no more unique attacks that go through enemies in interesting ways. Instead, it's ALL about how you spec into the skill tree to deal with bosses, and NOTHING else matters. Well, that an equipping the hyper specific gems needed to nullify the insane barrage of status ailments you receive in act 2. You effectively have to stop playing the game you want and must tackle every boss in this rigid way they want you to and I HATE that! If you look for help online, all you get is "respec your skill tree" which is so laughably unhelpful. They say not to grind, but grinding is the only way to get points for your stupid skill tree? And I hate to say it, but there's NOTHING on the skill tree that can prevent the issues with every boss:

EVERY BOSS IN ACT 2 IS A SLOG! The skill tree is meant to help buff you up, but the problem was never "I'm too weak" the problem was always "they're too strong"! Major damage sponges, dishing out insanely strong team wiping moves over and over, giving out tons of status ailments, and taking tons of turns back to back. There's nothing you can do on the skill tree to help with this. Yeah, you can equip gems to negate SOME status ailments, but if you don't have multiples of the gems? Get fucked I guess. And I know this sounds pretty standard for a JRPG but just trust me, it's so much worse and more annoying than usual. Even fights where I had the upper hand would always devolve to me hopelessly healing until I could use Infinite Loop to totally restore my party (cause the boss would have too many turns and wipe me out otherwise) at least once. The final boss is particularly cruel, lasting forever, having tons of team wiping attacks that destroy you unless you plan ahead PERFECTLY, and then ultimately having an attack that auto kills you (no exaggeration) if you don't defeat him within 5 turns. I stayed up until like, 9 AM trying to beat the final boss and ultimately had to give up and go do more grinding another day. The only grace I'll give the bosses in act 2 is that they're pretty much all susceptible to stat debuffs, for the most part, which is nice. But these bosses are given SO many options that it really grinds the playthrough to a screeching halt.

Speaking of grinding, that's something act 2 also decides to take away from you. So, in most RPGs, when you reach a high level, enemies stop giving good exp. That's standard. But in Fantasian, when you reach level 35, the game full blown tells you that they're gonna stop giving you good exp, from EVERYTHING! Even bosses and high level monsters just stop giving good exp. And, again, the main way to get points for your skill tree is through level up. So if you want those skills, you better start fighting a LOT! They have x2 exp gems but only 2 of them so you have to keep swapping them around to teammates (gems are your life and soul for EVERYTHING in act 2) and even with them it seriously took HOURS to reach level 60 or so to get the final skill tree points (yes they stop giving you skill tree points after a bit too... why not). I just don't get it, if the skill tree is so important, why completely knee cap how I'm allowed to upgrade and approach the skill tree in this way? I completely understand halting level up progress in act 1 so you couldn't beat act 2 super easily when it released back in the day, but this is one continuous game now, let me level up as I see fit!

And then there's the story which also kind of comes undone in act 2. They try to take a chrono trigger approach where each character has quests dedicated to them that upgrade the character upon completion. It's cool, but I think the fact they're required in this game and also are driving the story forward in act 2 ends up making the plot feel somewhat disconnected? Whereas in Chrono Trigger you could argue they're "required" but they are pretty much contained to themselves? Idk how to describe it, it just makes the pacing of act 2 feel clunky and all over the place. They also start to go more into the details of the gods, which is cool! And I actually thought these were incredibly interesting flash backs. But it slowly starts to dawn on you that this game has a WEIRD problem with forgiving villains. Vam is slowly painted as a sympathetic character, which I saw coming. But I was expecting it to be by redeeming himself by joining your party... Instead I'm supposed to forgive him because he DIDN'T kill the last woman in a race of people he genocided?? Excuse me??? Like, yeah I get it he had to use negative emotions to stop Jas, but the game paints him as this tragic hero when... NO dude we was still a dick head who ruined so many people's lives. WE saved the world without doing that? Or Cheryl just kind of forgiving her mom when she was so neglectful towards her, why was her mom on the final shot with all the characters? Why did Ez forgive the guild? They beat up children... I don't want them to be redeemed. Why did the king, who is a total pervert creep and throws you in jail for calling him out on it, never get punished? Some of it is small but it feels so weird. And when they introduce Yim it REALLY feels like she's going to be a natural final boss but instead she's like a hidden super boss you had to go through a bunch of bullshit to get to. I felt like Leo's amnesia is contrived and it really shows when it's almost a non issue in act 2. I think the ending was disappointing. I can't believe they ACTUALLY used the Lost Odyssey story time cutscenes, which were the most boring part of Lost Odyssey (though they're done WAY better here with nice art and also being 10x shorter than the Lost Odyssey versions.) Idk how to describe it I just think the story, while it does kind of stay together and do what it needs to do, just sloppy and rushed and underbaked by the end of the game. Like maybe we needed more time with Jas, act 1 was all about stopping Vam. But act 2 isn't really about stopping Jas until late into it and is mostly about each character's individual stories. Which isn't BAD it's just... odd in a way I can't explain.

And there's other small issues even as far back as act 1. I think the game makes tiny mistakes with its story that don't ruin it, but make me think "ah it would've been so much cooler if they made this tiny change." I think the game sometimes has weird 90's as hell uncomfy sex jokes that do not land. I don't even always hate these kinds of jokes but I don't think any of them landed in this. And I REALLY think if I'm going to be forced to respec my skill tree and change my gems for every single encounter, I should be able to save presets for all the characters I can quickly swap back to.

Final Thoughts

Fantasian is SO close to being perfect, I think it has everything it needs. Compelling story and characters, unique visuals, and fun mechanics. But it feels like it doesn't know how to make use of them in the long run. Instead of expanding upon the strong points act 1 presents, it tries to change to something completely different in act 2. The cynical part of my brain wants to say it's to keep you playing so you'll pay for more apple arcade, but I want to give them the benefit of the doubt and say they just ran out of time to perfect act 2.

I think I'm seeing a bit of an issue with Mistwalker games on the whole. Blue Dragon is a slog through the opening until it gets REALLY good, Lost Odyssey failed to really grab my attention, and Fantasian falls off HARD in act 2. But all of these games made me think "damn I bet this will be really good on a replay." I feel like they're designed to be played in new game +. But, the thing is, I'm not DOING a new game +. I'm doing my first run. Yeah, act 2 probably will be way easier when I retackle it with all the tedious grinding already finished. But I still had to do it the first time to earn that new game plus.

Ultimately, I'd still say it's overall a good game. But in my opinion it had no business not being a GREAT game. This should've been my game of the year, but I've already played an RPG this year that I think managed to keep its good ideas consistently through the whole run time.

===

And that's that! I can't help but be a little disappointed I didn't love this game more. But I seem to always fall into this trap of getting my hopes so high for a game and I guess they just can't live up to the version of them I create in my head. Is it me? Is it my fault? Maybe so. But that's another Mistwalker RPG in the books and even though it made me so mad while playing, I'll still be keeping a close eye on whatever they choose to make next.

Feel free to follow me on Bluesky if you're interested in whatever else I get up to!

And that's all I have for you, go out and play a game you've been waiting or a chance to play for years!

[bahamutgames]

Afterthoughts & Luigi - Brothership

Game: Mario & Luigi: Brothership (November 7, 2024)

Console: Nintendo Switch

It's time... to talk about Mario & Luigi Brothership... I beat this game when it came out last year but haven't really gotten to writing out my thoughts on it cause I just have a lot to say and don't exactly know where to begin. Initially I even considered making this the first one of these I did in a video format, cause I thought maybe making it a video would be easier to just talk about it off the cuff rather than really having to think about it. But ultimately, I'm just too lazy to bother even doing that. So you get the normal write up.

As always, this isn't a review, just my general thoughts on the game. If ANYTHING I talk about is of interest to you, please play it and get your own thoughts on it!

SPOILERS FOR MARIO & LUIGI BROTHERSHIP AHEAD!! I'M TALKING ABOUT ALL OF IT SO BE WARNED!!

Opening

So you all probably know by now but the Mario RPGs are deeply important games to me. This whole niche side part of the Mario franchise is the most important part of the franchise to me and is why I became such a big Mario fan to begin with. You all probably know the whole song and dance. Old Mario RPGs good :) New Mario RPGs don't hit anymore :( They start doing remakes, but I don't want remakes, I want something NEW that is actually GOOD! The remakes were fantastic, but I need proof NINTENDO can make a good Mario RPG that's new. NOT UBISOFT, Mario Rabbids are great, but that's 1 of the 3 main Mario RPG series.

So when I saw we were getting a proper new Mario & Luigi game, I FREAKED OUT! I was in SHOCK! I thought this series was done for good! But to my surprise, we were getting a new one and it's pirate themed and it's on console and looks GREAT! This would show me if we're TRULY back in the era of Mario RPGs. Is it TRULY time for this series to shine again?

And... well... I'll stop beating around the bush. I kinda hate this game. I hate being so overly negative, but I can't recall the last RPG that made me this upset while playing. And I'll admit, there's some factors that may have contributed to that. Last year was awful, so I was in a bad headspace while playing. AND I was sick while playing it. Double whammy. But by about half of the playthrough, I wasn't really sick anymore. But I was sick of this game, I'll tell you that much!

Okay, let me relax. You can already tell this is going to be a MEAN one. So if you're not interested in seeing me flame on this game, that's totally fine. I don't blame you. Goodbye. But I need to bitch and moan about it a bit.

Stuff I liked

Let's start with some positives! This game looks GREAT! I wasn't worried about that one bit cause you could tell it was good looking from the trailers. You'd be nervous they'd lose something in the transition from 2D sprites (each game, even Paper Jam, has some of the best 2D sprites in the business) to 3D models. But they look FANTASTIC! Super expressive, super bouncy and full of life, I really like the gradient effect on the Mario Bros' clothes. All the characters pop, the enemy designs are cute, the environments are colorful and fun. It is a GREAT looking game! And I especially appreciate the effort to make it a little more over the top and anime-esc. I think of the Mario RPG series that exist M&L was the most open to being an anime.

I think the concept is cool! The idea of this ship continent that got split up and you have to link all the islands back together, that's cool! I love tropical stuff and pirate themed stuff, that's cool! I like the extension corps and their mechanical angle kinda going against the wattanist's plant angle is cool. I like the idea of the plug people. I like the villain and the egg (as a concept but we'll get to that).

I think the battle gimmicks, like being able to combo the bros together is cool. And even though it takes forever to show up, the battle plugs are a neat idea and I especially love how they also have combos when equipped properly! That's probably the best part of the game and where it shines the most. I do like the bros. moves in the overworld, the fire/ice flower in particular was really cool.

And there's other things I do enjoy. I REALLY like the extension corps fight where they use their own battle plugs, I'm a big fan of fights where you have to fight your own mechanics. I think the ailment that makes the bros not cooperate is such a devious concept I can't believe didn't happen until now. I think when it wants to, it can have pretty good jokes (the joke about not washing hands killed me). And I was REALLY impressed with the new Mario and Luigi voice actor, the fact he could do the Italian gibberish immediately told me we were in good hands.

So as you can see, the game is filled with tons of good ideas! Lots of really interesting concepts, and I respect them for keeping the team just Mario & Luigi and working with them rather than going crazy with a new team up. Cause it gives them good practice before diving into some nuttier concepts (Sonic & Tails next please.)

Stuff I didn't like

But that's the problem with Brothership, in my opinion. It's only good IDEAS, basically no good execution. Let's get into what I didn't like about this game. But where to begin? There's so much about this game that just didn't click with me personally.

I think the best place to start would be the pacing. It's probably the most famous issue with this game. It is a HORRIBLY paced game. Everything is dragged out so long, or they wait as long as humanly possible before introducing core elements to the game. The main antagonists take FOREVER to properly appear. They tease you with them with a small glimpse, but it's a fake out. The main gimmick to the combat, the battle plugs, take even LONGER to appear! It's been a minute since I've played so I don't want to speak on exactly how long, but it's more than hour or two in this 40 hour RPG (the longest since Dream Team according to HowLongToBeat, but Dream Team is cool imo so it was okay that it drags its feet a bit). And they drip feed story beats and waste your time with stupid characters for SO long. It feels like it's taking AGES to get anywhere in this game. That's not even considering the addition of sailing which seemingly is just there to make the game take even longer, especially for the start where you can't even sail quickly for god knows what reason.

But don't be under the impression this game is just poorly paced in the opening, no. It's poorly paced the entire adventure. Hopping around to these different islands sounds fun, but doing their silly chores like a long detective sequence, solving a maze, or dancing, just makes each island feel disconnected and BORING. At least to me. And Mario & Luigi is a series that isn't new to wasting your time, I'll admit. But this one feels purposefully cruel about it. What's that? You beat the final boss? Oh no you didn't there's still 10 hours left! You gotta waste your time running BACK through those islands, IDIOT!! Idk how to properly describe to you just how brutally long this game is if you haven't played it. It has about 3-4 different times it could just choose to end, but never does. It's so tedious and gets boring before you even reach the first time the game could come to a satisfying conclusion. By the end of the journey I was so burnt out I was struggling to beat the Final Boss on easy mode. Just running on fumes by that point.

Then there's the gameplay. I think the battles are fine for the most part. But they can become kind of unfair in really weird ways. Some enemy attacks are absolutely impossible to dodge, feeling nearly frame perfect at times. And the consequences can be kind of insane when the status ailments really come in. I can't remember all of them but I remember struggling with Zokket and the stupid fucking birds. Their telegraphing can feel kind of contrived at times (though again I am stupid and I was sick). And some of those fights and can just drag on and on. But the overworld is where it can get particularly boring. I think solving puzzles with Luigi can be neat but a lot of times feels really weird and unsatisfying. It almost feels like it doesn't belong in an M&L game but maybe that's just me. Encountering enemies feels like it just didn't work at all. Neither me nor my enemies could EVER get a first strike no matter how hard we tried. I don't think Luigi logic is that fun after a minute considering it's like the big gimmick of the game and stops appearing late into it. The use of it in combat is fun, but that's about the only time I like it. And sometimes Luigi comes up with something so basic it makes Mario look like a moron lmao. Also, the fact you stop running into new enemy designs pretty early doesn't help make the game feel any less repetitive and dull.

Then the characters, what a laughably useless set of characters this game has. You have Connie, she's cute I like her. Technikki is fine, she at least serves a purpose. The Extension corps are easily the highlight. Burnadette and Chilliam are maybe the only not main-crew npcs I care about. There are good characters. But they are so outweighed by useless characters who serve no purpose. Hey why is Arc in this game? No seriously, why is he here? Is it JUST to have a villain fakeout with him being in a capsule? Is it JUST to give 1 sailing tutorial? They try to make his story with his dad so tragic but it never even got resolved in my playthrough! Useless character! Why is Snoutlet here? Just to make the same unfunny pig joke a billion times? I know he's your little helper, but you still shoehorned in Starlow. Why couldn't Starlow join us? That way you wouldn't end up having 2 useless characters in the game. Peach shows up JUST to be off camera for most of the game, WHY? Why is IDLE pitched as being the most important set of characters in the Mario universe, they are BORING I don't care about them. And this isn't even going into island specific characters who are completely irrelevant to my life but are at least mostly self contained to their areas. You could not put a gun to my head and get me to say that the dance master guys were meaningful in anyway and couldn't have been cut. I think what makes it particularly frustrating is the games insistence you LOVE these characters and they're all SO interesting. But like, if you have to convince me I care about them, maybe I don't care about them. And in addition to that, I think the plug people look kinda boring after a bit. These are supposed to be different islands with unique identity and cultures, but all the people look IDENTICAL. I think they could've made different islands have plug people with different region's plugs or something to set them apart. Since plugs are famously different all across the world.

And last, but not least. What the fuck was that story, man? Why did any of this happen? I remember seeing people say it was the M&L version of Super Paper Mario. And that made me stick with it, cause surely that means it's gonna be as good as SPM right? NO. That means it's a rip off of SPM. There are aspects of this game that, in my opinion, add nothing to the game except for being a rip off of SPM. It takes place in an alternate universe, but why? Nothing about it really screams that it's different from the Mario universe. Same items, some of the same enemies when it borrows from DT's roster. And yes, SPM has similar issues, sure. But the art style is drastically different from the Mario world, and there are lots of wholly unique enemies to set it apart. The stupid heart watering can thing trying to be the pure hearts or whatever. And the stupid twist villain that wants to be dimentio but just doesn't work (WE'LL GET TO IT)... The whole story is about meaningful connections to people, and I love that concept. But it's not done in a good way, they try so hard to make you care about a billion characters to show how much you love them and how much they love each other but there's no time to spend on anyone cause we have to give more screen time to IDLE and Arc and pig jokes so no one feels meaningful by the end of the game. Or how every character is pitched as being some emotional heavy life changing story when they're really not. I don't particularly care about the IDLE girl wanting to be strong like Peach when they only really let Peach do one thing in the game. It comes off a bit contrived to me. There's small forks in the road of the plot, that's neat. But they feel like they barely change anything. Idk honestly I'm already forgetting most of my issues with it. My sinuses are messed up, I can't think. Forgive me if I'm getting details wrong or forgetting something particularly awful. Let's just cut to the worst part.

Zokket. Zokket is the most painfully wasted character in the game. I feel like it's pretty obvious he's the original Wattanist pretty early. But in my opinion they do a good enough job or stringing along this mystery of who he is. Until they decide to introduce another usless character. The Great Conductor, who seemingly serves no purpose other than the contrivance of this game taking place in an AU and also... JUST TELLING YOU THE REVEAL INSTEAD OF SHOWING IT!! WHY!? WHO THOUGHT THIS WOULD MAKE THE 40 HOUR RUN TIME WORTH IT!? What's Zokket's plan? He wants to separate all people because connections are corny. So he's raising an egg that contains an evil god of loneliness. Which then brings in, in my opinion, the worst character in this game.

Reclusa. Reclusa is the most painfully wasted character in the game... huh... Look, I know he's gonna be the new fan favorite. I get it. He's not an objectively bad villain. But he is, in my opinion, objectively the WRONG villain for this game. He shows up SO late, that I cannot bring myself to care and he completely upends EVERYTHING about this game. Sudden complete shift in the plot, and tone, and also he extends the run time for another few hours. His whole thing is that he wants everyone to be apart and live in their little fantasy world. But for a guy who hates people interacting and connecting he sure shows up to talk to you A LOT during his screen time. He's constantly taunting you, and he has this crazy tumblr sexyman personality which I really feel like goes against his whole thing. But maybe that's just me. And what's Reclusa's goal? To grow the giant tree.

The Solitree. The Solitree is the most painfully wasted character in the game... WAIT A MINUTE- The whole point of the game is you growing a tree to unify people. The villain's final goal is the grow a tree that separates people. I feel like this is never brought up in the game but it's the most interesting concept of the whole finale. Fighting the giant fucking tree should've been the coolest part of the game but it's so wasted because they're so afraid to commit to ANYTHING. They tease you with this camera angle that suggests you're gonna fight the fucking giant tree, but then the angle changes and you just fight its little tentacles at the bottom. Okay. that's great. whatever. And then you fight reclusa instead... okay... whatever...

I think what particularly bugs me about Reclusa is just how crazy the game gets when they arrive. Brothership is a toothless game. I mean it. They say nothing mean to Luigi because you can't have anything too crazy, the game is so nice and sweet and kind to everyone because you can't have anything too crazy, it all feels so basic and barebones cause you can't have anything too crazy just in case a 6 year olds cries if they're mean to Luigi. Then suddenly Reclusa appears and the game grows 50 rows of teeth and latches onto your neck full force! I don't mind a game going from 1-100 but usually when the game is at a 1 it's still fun and worth the time I put in. This game was NOT, and then SUDDENLY it wants to be crazy and edgy. Everyone in their fucked up flowers that lock them into their own brains. The power of friendship, the edgy tree, the end of the world, the blood red ocean, the dark visuals of Mario & Luigi stuck in the dream world (which can I say, such a wasted concept. It's such a boring gameplay piece that lasts SO long to drain any additional run time out of you. And is Reclusa an idiot? WHY would you put the 2 strongest guys who can stop you IN THE SAME DREAM WORLD!?!? THIS IS AMMATURE HOUR!!!), the way they kill reclusa by crushing his skull in the most brutal way ever. All the anime over the topness of the final boss with the shmup section (why does every video game do this nowadays?) and his final forms. It's neat, it's cool, it's edgy. Why is it happening and why did it take 39 of the 40 hours for something interesting to happen?

Not to mention that you can't even access the stupid fucking final dungeon, which you were already in BEFORE Reclusa shows up, until you backtrack to get all the petals for your stupid ass watering can. I genuinely felt like I got shot when I went through that long ass bull shit only to get 1 half of a petal filled in. It's such a slog it's actually insane to me they had the audacity to waste your time like that. Oh but we just HAVE to do another dancing minigame! Oh but we just HAVE to rematch the first boss battle again! Dear lord what if the audience forgets all these incredibly memorable characters before they stop playing!? Idk. Maybe I'm too mean. But this game is such a waste of time it's genuinely frustrating because I kinda see what they were aiming for but in my opinion, it just didn't come together in any meaningful way...

So instead of moaning about it, here's how I'd fix the story. Axe reclusa, they are unnecessary. I know people are gonna love them cause they're a cackletta ripoff... but is this what we really want? A K-Mart cackletta to be the grand return of Mario & Luigi? No, axe them. Zokket is now the true villain. He is not raising an egg. He is a fucking wattanist. He is raising a seed that only grows when people of the world are separated. The Solitree IS the end goal of the villain. The opposing sides of Connie holding onto hope and growing a new Unitree vs Zokket giving up and succumbing to the temptations of the Solitree is PERFECT and all you need. When you beat Zokket in a fight, his mask comes off, THAT'S when you reveal he's Cozette, you don't need another useless character to EXPLAIN it to me. Then have Cozette realize the error of her ways maybe, and then it's too late, the Solitree sprouts from the seed and the world is doomed. From here you AXE THE STUPID WATERING CAN SHIT! That whole scene could've been a cutscene of everyone's love removing the barrier around the solitree. Maybe a cutscene that shows everyone's love powering the unitree that fires a giant light laser into the Solitree to destroy it's barrier. That's anime right? It writes itself! From there you either go directly into the true final boss, or if you want to waste time (the apparent MO of this game) you can have us enter the Solitree for a final dungeon. But regardless, the SOLITREE should be the final boss, not Reclusa. And you should ACTUALLY fight it, not it's tentacles at the bottom. PROPERLY fight the giant tree, it's cool, it's anime, and it makes more sense with the story than Reclusa's battle in my opinion. Maybe if you don't want to commit to the tree proper, you could have its different phases be Mario & Luigi climbing it and fighting different sections of the tree. Or if you MUST use Reclusa, they should be something within the Unitree that grows inside of it. You can just make it the nut phase or something... Idk.

And that's just a bit of what I have to say. There's so many other problems with this game imo. What the FUCK was up with the pollen in the final dungeon that teleports you to the start of the room and still moves between battles so you're guaranteed to be hit by it. The soundtrack, while it has some decent songs, is the weakest soundtrack in the series no contest. Why doesn't Ecks wash his hands? Really troubling stuff.

Final Thoughts

So with all that you might be asking "why did you play it?" AND, WELL, IT'S MARIO RPG PIRVELAGE!! I love these games so I wanted to see it through. And I'm stubborn and don't particularly like dropping games when I'm so far in them. But because I love Mario RPGs I kept telling myself it'll improve... It'll get better... And for me it just didn't. I wasn't a fan. And frankly, I kinda regret not just giving up when I had the chance. But I didn't want to, you know??

And I hate to say it, but my confidence is now completely reshaken in the future of Mario RPGs. What's gonna happen? Are they capable of doing better? Is Nintendo gonna see this reaction and assume we don't want edgy and crazy stuff in Mario games so we keep doing what Paper Mario is stuck on? Idk. I hate to be so mean about it, but I'm just completely flabbergasted that this game came out the way it did. I suppose, objectively speaking, it's not the worst game ever. I may even prefer it over Paper Jam because it's not completely self loathing and miserable. And I suppose it's refreshing to have a Mario RPG just be completely fucking stupid and over the top and fail it in a super unsatisfying way than have never tried to do anything interesting at all... I guess in the end I'm just doing it again. I'm putting the whole future of the Mario RPG pantheon on the shoulders of Mario & Luigi, just like Nintendo did with the Bowser's Inside Story remake all those years ago. Maybe I'm being unfair to it. Idk.

BUT, I know a lot of you did love it, so genuinely, that's great. I'm kind of curious about what people liked about it cause I think it's like, frustratingly close to being pretty good but just so utterly fumbles the bag. So if you feel inclined to tell me what about the game, and the combat, and Reclusa clicked with you, let me know!

===

And that's all I have to say. I'm writing this on Tuesday after running about with some sinus issues so this maybe horribly written but I will reread over it before I share it (I reread over it today and polished it a tiny bit). Yeah... Idk, I love Mario, but I WANT to love the Mario RPGs and it's just such a coin flip with these games lately. The Rabbids games are good. But I still don't care for modern Paper Mario and this game missed the ball hard. Oh well. We'll see what the future has in store for Mario RPGs even though it's really REALLY up in the air as far as I'm concerned right now. Maybe remakes and rabbids is all we have to look forward to for now.

If you want to keep up with me, you should check me out on Bluesky! I may start posting more about what games I'm playing there soon.

That's all I have, go out and play the newest game in a series you thought was dead!

[bahamutgames]

Ending my Saturday by beating Pokemon Black for the first time ever!! What a cool game!!! Unova has some of my favorite Pokemon designs so I've been looking forward to this for a while!

And the part everyone's dying to see: Here's the team!! I had SO many Pokemon I wanted to take to the top, but ultimately I'm very proud of this crew!

The naming theme was places!

Also... I cheated to get them to level 100, they made you WORK for the Hall of Fame this time... Does it bug me they're not at their authentic level for the Hall of Fame??? Yknow... A normal amount I won't cry about it...

If you wanna get a look at their stats and see the levels they were at when I actually beat the story for real, you can find that here (x)

Also, if you're curious, Venice was NOT cheated!! She is actually the first ever shiny I have EVER encountered in any game outside of Pokemon GO! I genuinely didn't understand what was happening when I was grinding and she came out of the grass all sparkling

[bahamutgames]

AFTERTHOUGHTS - ROUNDUP ROUND 17

January 2025

Hey hey, new year, new games to play! I took a break from playing stuff in December because I was feeling particularly down and wanted to enjoy my next big RPG in a better mood (it was Fantasian, I'm currently feeling better and playing it right now and enjoying it a lot!)

Ultimately it was the right choice, and now I'm really back with a desire to play a bunch of games! And I got some good gaming done in January, and now it's February... Soooo... Let's talk about what I played!!

Marvel vs Capcom Infinite & Beyond (December 21, 2024) - PC

OH MY GOD!! DID YOU HEAR, MARVEL VS CAPCOM IS IN THE NEWS AGAIN!!! I feel like I don't talk about it much, but even though I'm not a huge Marvel (or comic in general) fan, I AODRE Marvel vs Capcom. A genuinely lovely and incredibly fun fighting game series that's become very near and dear to my heart over the years (I just recently came to the conclusion that UMVC3 is one of my favorite fighting games of all time!) And you may also know I ADORE mods! I love modding and got really attached to it through Brawl mods and my love for Project M and have recently dived into TONS more Smash mods like P+ and Akenia Build!

So... imagine Project M... but for Marvel...

I'm sold. I actually LOVED Infinite, I thought it was a really underrated game in terms of its gameplay, a lot of its newcomers are AWESOME, the power stones are fun, I even like the story (though I dont remember much of the specifics, it's just a great idea for a plot with Ultron Sigma and X being the protagonist.) But when Beyond was announced I was BEYOND excited (ha) for it!! MORE MvCI? And they're fixing the admittedly pretty nasty graphics? YES PLEASE!!

I haven't played it an insane amount but I've played it a bit and so far it's WONDERFUL, the game genuinely looks AMAZING. The new OST rules (I particularly love the remix of the MvC theme in the menu and Zero's new theme rules! I also find it funny that they gave Gammorah She-Hulk's theme. It's a great song and I love playing as both of them lol). The new stages are awesome, the new costumes and colors are nice, and it's cool they're trying to change some balancing and moveset stuff. I'd love to see them add in AT LEAST 2 new characters from both sides of the battle, but I imagine something like that is WAAAAY down the line. No rush, they're already doing amazing work with this!

My only issues is that the Onslaught stage makes the game CHUG like crazy, just becomes unplayable for me. And also GOD DAMN THAT FINAL BOSS IS A PAIN IN THE ASS AND I WAS PLAYING ON NORMAL MODE!!

But other than those tiny nitpicks, nah MvCI:B rules! And I can't wait to see where it goes from here! I hope it shows that there's still an audience for the VS series, even if Marvel isn't the next foe for Capcom to take on. But in the mean time, I'm cool with an insanely high quality mod.

Side note: PLEASE MAKE MODS FOR FIREBRAND THAT ADD THE OTHER DEMON'S CREST GARGOYLES TO HIS MOVESET, I DON'T CARE THAT THEY DON'T ALL HAVE WINGS, DESIGN SOME CUTSOM WINGS FOR THEM!!

Panzer Dragoon (March 10, 1995) - Sega Saturn

And next up, for my first brand new game I beat in 2025, we have Panzer Dragoon! A series I have been LONG overdue to play! I love Dragons, I love Starfox and general Shmup/On Rail games, I love lowpoly graphics, I love tropical settings, and I love mixes of ancient/scifi technology. Panzer Dragoon is TAILOR MADE FOR ME. And yet, I haven't given it a chance yet. Mainly because Saturn Emulation wasn't that great for a long time, and Panzer Dragoon isn't super cheap (though not as bad as Saga.) But I decided to give it another shot this year, and found an emulator that takes a bit to understand, but works PERFECTLY! And so, I finally got to dip my toes into this series!

And uh... honestly?? This game was okay. Like, it has a COOL story and world. Like, people having to fight the strange experiments of a bygone civilization while the powers-that-be are constantly trying to resurrect them for their evil gain. And dragons are there? That RULES. I LOVE that shit. I love the graphics, and the music, and the design of the Blue Dragon are wonderful. I particularly enjoy the kind of odd design the Blue Dragon has, with it's big horned helmet, it's unique! And the fact it has fully animated cutscenes is pretty impressive I feel like, especially in a pre-starfox 64 world. The game is very compelling.

But honestly it just wasn't really the most exciting game for me. In fact, I felt like it was pretty lackluster from a gameplay perspective. I know I shouldn't compare it to Starfox 64, its one of my favorite games ever and Panzer Dragoon came out before it... But maaaan, there's just not much you can do in this game. No real movement techniques, movement is kinda stiff in general and I felt like I could barely dodge ANYTHING and instead had to rely on shooting it down. No bombs, no laser upgrades, no upgrades of any kind. Even lock on feels a little impactless to me? And it makes the whole game a little boring at best and frustrating at worst. Like, the main gimmick is that you can look in 360 degrees all around your dragon to fight attackers on all side. Cool! But when you're looking at another angle you lose the ability to dodge all projectiles. Not so cool. It's a neat idea but it's not really as exciting as I feel like it could be if you made more use of the buttons to give the player more techniques and tools. Maybe it's just me?

Gargoyle's Quest II (July 17, 1992) - NES

Speaking of Capcom series I don't talk about nearly enough. Did you all know I LOVE Firebrand? More specifically, Demon's Crest! It's one of my all time favorite games ever made!! But I hadn't really tried any of his other games until GQ1 was added to the NSO. It was fine, but not exactly what I want out of the series and not nearly as good as DC (an unfair comparison for sure). And then, GQ2 just never came to the service! So I forgot about it... UNTIL TheSeventhForce did their Firebrand video and it reminded me I never played it (one of my favorite channels atm btw you should totally watch their stuff!!) And now I finally made the time to play it and complete the Firebrand trilogy! How did it stack up compared to the other 2?

Eh, it's tough to say. Obviously it's not as good as DC again, but that's still an unfair comparison. And when compared to GQ1 it's get a little trickier. It looks way nicer, the NES sprites are actually very good looking. It's faster cause there's no random encounters this time. And it probably controls better and the plot is maybe more interesting? But idk, it was just a little more boring maybe. I don't remember any of the music or anything and sad to say, it just didn't leave the most impactful impression on me. But it was fine! Like, it wasn't bad or anything. Just kind of unremarkable in the grand scheme of things. However, if they ever do that Firebrand Trilogy Remake they mentioned in the Capcom Survey, I think they could totally make this and GQ1 REALLY nice with some improvements and mechanics pulled from DC. But in the mean time, it is nice to have finally played this whole trilogy :)

I will also say, now I have a better understanding of what I think a new Firebrand game should be if the series ever got a reboot of some kind. I won't go into too much detail but I think they should just fully embrace the RPG inspired parts of the Gargoyle Quest games and make the next one a full blown JRPG. And since the series never really had turnbased stuff, and even GQ1 used platforming in its combat, you could totally make it an Action RPG! And what I'm getting at here is that the Tales of team should make a Gargoyle's Quest / Demon's Crest JRPG Reboot.

Panzer Dragoon II Zwei (March 22, 1996) - Sega Saturn

Speaking of Panzer Dragoon... Did you all know there was a sequel to it? I actually don't think I was aware of this game until recently (I thought Saga was next). But I was never one to not be thorough, so, I had to give the sequel a shot too!

Zwei is more of the same, cool world, cool plot, cool cutscenes, you ride a dragon. But this one improves on the first a LOT in my opinion. For starters, you can actually maneuver your dragon in a more meaningful way, allowing you to actually dodge enemy fire. The game on the whole just feels better to control and play, like it's considerably more polished. And while they didn't add a ton of upgrades or techniques your dragon can preform. There is now a bar at the bottom of the screen, and when it's full you can preform a screen wipe / deal massive damage to the boss. It's small, it's not really groundbreaking, but it's COOL and makes the game feel that much more engaging. But I think the most interesting change is the fact your dragon can mutate based on how well you play the game!! This is REALLY cool and I can only imagine how interesting it could've been if different mutations allowed for different control, blasters, or sub weapons you could use in levels. However, I'm not sure if this mechanic will return in the future games. We'll have to see. In the meantime here's what mine looked like by the end of the game, again a very interesting and unique look for the dragon. I like their use of oddly shaped helmets for them.

And building off that concept of lost potential, yeah the game still isn't perfect. Once again looking around you isn't used that amazingly, and some of the bosses are real damage sponges this time around. Similarly, what was UP with that final battle? The camera for the first time ever is jumping all around the arena and it was genuinely a little stomach churning with the way it's snapping all over the place. It certainly was an improvement over the first, though. No question about it, and I hope to see some big improvements on your options in Saga and Orta.

And yes. My Saturn emulator works like a charm. I've played Panzer Dragoon AND Zwei... That means it's finally time. Next time I return to the world of Panzer Dragoon... It's finally time to play Saga. I can't believe it.

Bombing!!: A Graffiti Sandbox (May 18, 2021) - PC

Next up is a really tiny game where there's not too much to talk about. But it's an indie game so I still wanted to give it some attention and love. Bombing is pretty much exactly what it says on the tin, a graffiti sandbox! You just walk around small areas and do some graffiti! It's simple, but it's a lot of fun. There's no goal, you just take your time drawing stuff in quiet night time locations in a city. Listen to music, experiment with different tools. The works.

I don't have too much to say except it's really cute and you probably own it if you've bought any of those big relief bundles, cause it was in a few of them! If you're looking for something small to play and draw with for a bit, it's a good time!

BUT, I have to give it one point of criticism. It's unnerving to me. IDK WHY!! But for some reason cozy first person games where there's NO NPCs while you just do your own thing in silence freak the FUCK out of me. Power Wash Simulator is genuinely so unnerving to me aha. And this one takes place at night so it's even worse. But it's still cute.

Bayonetta 2 (September 20, 2014) - Wii U

ITS FINALLY TIME FOR PEAK ONCE AGAIN!! I played Bayonetta 1 back in 2023 and was blown away by just how amazing it was. And so I went into Bayo 2 with high expectations. I've heard it was just better from my friends and also, I prefer her character design in this one a lot more! I just like the short hair over the bee hive lol.

Overall I'd say Bayonetta 2 is more of the same but clearly much more polished. Combat feels nicer, movement in general feels nicer, and those graphics. GOD DAMN THIS GAME LOOKS GOOD!! I was seriously blown away by how amazing the cutscenes looked, I dont think I've played anything this hyper realistic made for Wii U, and I'm genuinely impressed it was able to do graphics that look this stunning. I also liked the new story, it's nice seeing Bayo adapt to her new life and hanging out with Jeanne. I thought the whole plot with her saving Jeanne from hell was really cool and it was nice to fight some demons this time. I like teaming up with Bayo's parents, I'm shocked this series has had 2 child main characters and neither of them were annoying, Snake within was SO COOL I can't believe the animal transformations aren't in smash, Bayonetta pole dancing on the ISS before shooting it at the final boss was AMAZING! The whole game is just as exciting and over the top as the first, and I'm SO glad they didn't tone anything down! In fact, it felt even hornier and even more violent than the first, I'm blown away Nintendo let them do all this stuff lol. I liked the new summons like the frog, and I loved do boxing matches between the giant summons. Bayonetta is still awesome!

But, I still have a lot of the same problems with it as I did the first. Easy is too easy, hard is too hard ect ect. Like all character action games I just cannot be bothered to care about combat when it's stuff like X,Y,X,X,Y,Y,Y,X ect ect. But for me. I do just feel like this one dragged a little bit towards the end. Like, it wasn't as exciting in the final moments as the first one was? I'd argue the plot was easier to follow than the first, but I still found myself more bored by the ending than I did the first one. However, it certainly did pick up for the final boss. Maybe I would've liked it more if it had focused on fighting Hell's forces the whole way through, cause I can't help but feel like the Loki stuff almost got in the way of it and Jeanne's revival felt a little rushed? Idk

Over all though, yeah it's more good as fuck Bayonetta fun. Bayonetta rules, and I'm... interested to find out why everyone hates 3 so much. Oh well, even if 2 maybe wasn't as life changing as 1, I still think it was probably over all a better game. Maybe... Maybe I just think she's hotter in this one... Idk. Bayo is cool.

Fatal Fury 2 (November 26, 1993) - SNES

They put Fatal Fury on NSO. I pay for the damn thing so I'm gonna play some Fatal Fury!! I've played my share of SNK fighting games in recent times, but I still feel like I haven't played enough of their stuff. So any excuse to try more is always appreciated.

Not much to say on this one cause I'm a coward and played it with super easy settings, but yeah Fatal Fury 2 was neat! I'm actually still really impressed with the graphics and music in this game, I don't know if it was higher quality on the arcade cabinet but it looks pretty damn good even if it was compromised in any way to get it on SNES. I was particularly really thrilled when I saw it had a light day/night cycle where the time of day changes between rounds. More fighting games need that NOWADAYS, but this game was doing it on the SNES. Also while I couldn't really get the hang of the lane system (something I remember struggling with when I tried FF1 when Terry was announced for Smash, and also struggled with in Guilty Gear Isuka lol) I feel like the idea of having a fighting game take place on multiple lanes COULD be really cool. Especially if they were to make attacks that traveled between lanes or could be angled? Idk.

Another random small detail I have to give this game some love for is that the final boss music is actually being played by a band in the background. Such a cute detail. Neat game :)

[bahamutgames]

the last game from 2024 to give my thoughts on is brothership :(

i dont even know where to begin to be perfectly honest lol

[bahamutgames]

Afterthoughts X Shadow Generations

Game: Sonic X Shadow Generations (October 22, 2024)

Console: PC

Alright let's kick off the 2025 afterthoughts by clearing out some unfinished business from 2024! It's finally time to talk about my thoughts on Shadow the Hedgehog again (I have SO many... you have no idea...)

I actually just today finally played the DLC Tokyo stage, I wanted to wait until after Sonic 3 came out to play it. Which I know is a little goofy, but hey it's MY gaming habits, I'll play stuff in any arbitrary way I please!!

I was pretty excited for this game for a few reasons. Of course, mainly, I am a HUGE Shadow fan. Team Dark are some of my favorite fictional characters ever made, if you somehow didn't know! So a new Shadow story that was like a sequel to the Shadow game (a game I LOVE) was very exciting. And Generations itself is actually one of my favorite Sonic games and one of my favorite video games of all time. So that was nice too! As usual with remakes I'll just focus on the new stuff and not linger on the original too much. But my mini Generations review is: It's an AMAZING game with awesome levels, some of the best fan service and nostalgia I've ever seen in my life. It really feels like a celebration of Sonic in such a genius way. My only problem is that the final boss kinda sucks despite having a cool design, the writing isn't AMAZING but I think it's relatively inoffensive compared to some other Sonic games by the same writers.

And there you have it, as always this isn't a review, just my thoughts after playing the game. Please play anything I talk about on this blog if it interests you!

SPOILERS FOR SHADOW GENERATIONS AHEAD!! I'M MOSTLY FOCUSING ON THE SHADOW STORY SO IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED IT, DON'T READ!!

Opening

So, as I just said. I am a MASSIVE Shadow the Hedgehog fan. For years I've considered him to be my favorite character of all time. Rouge and Omega too, they're a really important trio of characters to me. And I'm also a really big fan of what's been arbitrarily considered "The Dark Age of Sonic". It's such a vague concept but you probably get what I mean. I love Heroes, I love 06, and I really love Shadow the Hedgehog (the game). It actually has some very important scenes to me so, again, a generations remake with a side story that acts as a sequel was VERY exciting to me!

But also, very worrying to me. See... I think Shadow has been poorly handled in recent times, to put it politely. Sonic Team just seems very interested in messing up his character and removing a lot of his growth. Like they flat out ignore the story of SA2 just to make edgelord jokes. Then they made him treat Rouge and Omega like trash, and I hate him in the IDW comics, ect ect. It gets to the point where I actually appreciate Sonic games that don't include him so they can't do stupid shit with him. It's not THAT bad I guess in retrospect, but for a character who means so much to me, it was a little bad. So of course, I was nervous about the idea of them tackling such a sensitive subject to me, even in a post frontiers "Sonic is so back" world, yknow? However...

Stuff I liked

Yeah I think they did a really good job! Shadow Generations is GREAT!! Let's start with some of the more game focused stuff. The levels in this are fantastic! They really feel like Generations levels with their quality. Perfect length, WONDERFUL remakes of the graphics, really over the top stuff that makes the levels feel like "how you remember them" y'know? Actually a level that particularly really got a chuckle out of me was Sunset Heights cause a part of it was straight up taken from the Shadow Story in Forces. The part with the Buzz Bombers in a wheel that you dash through midair. I remember doing that shit SO MANY TIMES while 100% completing Forces lmao. And some of the challenges in Sunset Heights were designed IDENTICALLY to how the Forces challenges were designed. It was just funny to me. My favorite level would probably have to be Kingdom Valley though, it's always SO exciting to see 06 stuff in modern times! But in my opinion, similar to the original Generations, my favorite parts are probably the boss battles themselves. THEY ARE AMAZING IN THIS!! The way they change are so bad ass, the music for them is great. And I mean, it was just so exciting to see Mephiles the Dark again. I feel like I've been waiting for this forever, man. Devil Doom was also a huge treat, for some reason I didn't expect that at all. And Neo Devil Doom genuinely got such a huge pop off out of me, I ABSOLUTELY did NOT expect that one bit.

Then there's the graphics, this game looks AWESOME! Every level actually looks so stellar, the character models look FANTASTIC. Like, I wasn't expecting new models of Maria and Black Doom to look quite so good. But GOD DAMN do they look GOOD! Particularly, again, the bosses look AMAZING. That new Biolizard Model is DISGUSTINGLY GOOD! PLEASE REMAKE SONIC ADVENTURE 2 I KNOW IT COULD BE SO GOOD LOOKING!! The cutscenes are also FANTASTIC and you can tell it's probably the same people who animated the really nice Frontiers cutscenes. They look great.

The new Shadow abilities are AWESOME and actually a ton of fun to use, I really like the wings and the manta ray visually, but my favorite is actually Doom Blast because it's so over the top and cool and I like that it has gameplay function too. It's neat that they let you use chaos spear again too and Chaos Control actually lets you freeze time and stuff. It's cool! And the abilities actually brings me to my first interesting point about how this game manages to be really good even for me, who is sensitive about how Shadow is portrayed. So, this may come as a surprise to you. But I HATE when fan redesigns of Shadow give him Black Arms aesthetics. Horns, a third eye, ect ect. I HATE this. A lot. I won't go into massive detail but I'm really sensitive about this cause Shadow is NOT Black Doom. He is NOT the Black Arms. He is the antithesis of the Black Arms, he was made to help and heal where the Black Arms exist to hurt and destroy. And yes, I know Shadow was made under the agreement he would help destroy, but first and foremost he was made on Earth by earthlings for the purpose of healing. So, when everyone else was SO HYPE for Shadow having Black Arms powers. I was sitting there like "oh god no..." But I think they actually did it in a REALLY good way! Having them be something Black Doom forces upon Shadow unwillingly, and you actually get to see them have negative impacts on him is a great way of handling the concept without making him, yknow, be his dad or whatever. Maybe I'm just crazy but yeah I think they were able to do this thing I was REALLY horrified about in a really good way.

Which brings me to the story itself. It's good! It's actually really good and respectful to Shadow's story overall! I'm genuinely so pleased with it, and I know I really liked how Frontiers was shaping up to change the insincere way Sonic games were written. But there's a certain gravitas needed for Shadow I just didn't think they had yet. And while it's not perfect, you can still see some of the "EEEEH I'M SHADOW I HATE MY FRIENDS AND JOY" in the way Shadow acts sometimes. But I think they did way better a job than I gave them credit for initially. Black Doom coming back is something I was nervous about, Shadow killing him is important to me. But I think the time travel shenanigans was a good excuse to bring him back. Bringing Maria back is REALLY risky especially with my lack of confidence in them. But I think she was handled WONDERFULLY. Like genuinely, the way she talks down shadow from being consumed by the Black Arm's need to destroy was fantastic, and the way she says goodbye at the end of the game was REALLY good. I'm shocked they able to write something kind of dark again with her being like "I have to go back". It's cool. I had my own idea for a way darker ending, but yknow, it's still nice! I was also shocked they were able to explain the Sonic boss fight, the fake emerald thing is a bit of a stretch but it works! I actually wish there were more games where you fight Sonic, or the protagonist in general as a boss fight! I liked even small writing stuff like Mephiles being like "I WANT TO EXIST!!!" Or the way Rouge and Omega encourage Shadow if you talk to them before the final boss. Seeing Shadow interact with Orbot and Cubot, the secret best characters in the series was also nice. Again, it's not perfect, but considering the implications and importance of this game and this story and how easily they could've fucked it up SO BAD. I'm really pleased with it. From the perspective of someone unhealthily obsessed with Team Dark, anyway.

For other small stuff. I liked the open world White Space, that was neat. I liked the giant Doom Moon or whatever it was called, I thought we were gonna fight it but I think Neo Devil Doom was more exciting to be honest. I liked seeing new members of the Black Arms, that was SO cool! I love Eggman and Badniks and they should ALWAYS be present in some capacity in a Sonic game, but MAN do I ever miss Monster of the Week Sonic and seeing new villains and new grunt enemies of weird species in Sonic games. And also the Shadow prequel animated series they did was REALLY good and cool. And the Tokyo level was neat! Really impressive visually and I loved that we get a Movie Shadow model now. It makes me happy cause I was sad the movies didn't get a tie in game lol.

And it goes without saying, but the soundtrack kicks ass. Listening to it right now I really like Kingdom Valley, Sunset Heights, the new Supporting Me remix, the new Mephiles remix, Neo Devil Doom, it was FANTASTIC to hear What I'm Made of Again after the last few years where it was illegal to fight Metal Sonic to anything OTHER than his CD fight them. And I really liked the White Space theme and how it incorporates All Hail Shadow into it.

OH RIGHT THERE WAS A SONIC SIDE OF THIS GAME TOO!! Well, not much has changed here. But I do appreciate some small tweaks to the Sonic story. Particularly having modern Sonic actually respond to his friends when he frees them. Genuinely really odd he was silent in the original, so I appreciate them actually taking the time to record new lines for him there. And it's neat they rewrote some of the lines for the script too, like the infamous "You got this, Sonic" line. It's maybe unnecessary, but it's a nice touch!

Stuff I didn't like

But again, it's not perfect. Though most of my complaints about the Shadow story are kind of nitpicks. For one, the bosses are TOO SHORT! I actually feel like Mephiles is kind of shafted cause you can kill him in like 5 seconds! THESE BOSS FIGHTS ARE TOO GOOD TO BE SO SHORT!!! PLEASE MAKE THEM LONGER I'M BEGGING YOU! However, maybe I shouldn't complain cause S ranking them is actually way harder I feel like (though I only tried a little bit today for the first time). But still, for how awesome they are, I think they go by too quickly. In Generations I feel like the bosses are pretty nicely lengthed and that's why they're some of my favorite bosses in the series. I'm also not crazy about some of the new voices. Particularly Black Doom, it's not bad but it's not as good. But PARTICULARLY Mephiles. It's not bad, but it's not even close to the energy of original Mephiles. And I get it, you can't have someone compete with the dulcet tons of Dan Green. But still.

Then, there's Radical Highway. Look. Listen. Look at me. I love Radical Highway. It's an iconic stage, it's a very cool stage. It's Shadow's Green Hill Zone at this point though. I love both those stages, I think GHZ gets over hated. But also, holy shit, move on. Black Doom CONSTANTLY warps you to Radical Highway throughout the game and it's genuinely so bizarre to me? Like why are we going here during EVERY level. I don't WANT to go to Radical Highway again. I WANT to be in Rail Canyon. Stop interrupting me. And then, worse than that in my opinion. Radical Highway is the big fancy reveal at the end of the game. It's the last level and the only level they didn't tease. I love Radical Highway. But it's not a shock to see this stage in a Shadow Game. It's important to Shadow gameplay wise, but is it really important to him story wise? You want to surprise me? Why not, idk, pick a level FROM SHADOW'S FUCKING GAME!? IT HAS NO STAGES IN THIS GAME!! If the final level was the Black Comet and a remake of "The Last Way" and Black Doom was trying to pull it through time, that would be INSANE! But instead, it's the stage from Sonic Generations 3DS. Okay. Whatever, am I crazy for thinking this?

And then, one more. And this might be the wrong time and place to talk about this. Because I'm about to go a little off topic. And I'm sure y'all are not gonna like this one. But. I am SO over Big the Cat, dude. I'm serious. Literally the Sonic equivalent of Waluigi where everyone is like "OH MY GOD I LOVE HIM" but you guys don't actually give a shit about them and are just making a meme. Except, Waluigi doesn't appear in EVERYTHING because of those memes. Big the Cat on the other hand, at this point, has appeared in more Sonic things than a shocking amount of other characters. And for what? Just because it's a meme!? I like Big, I really do. I think he's misunderstood and deserves way more respect. But also, stop putting him in things. Why was Big in Frontiers when so few characters got to be in that? Why is Big in Team Sonic Racing when so many other guys didn't appear in that? Why is Big in Sonic Prime when HE'S NOT EVEN PART OF SONIC'S MAIN CREW IN THAT SERIES!? And everyone making jokes to me "I hope they put Big in the Sonic Movies" SHUT UP!!! SHUT UP!!!! WHY WOULD YOU WANT THAT OVER LIKE, ANYONE ELSE!? WHY is Big in this game? It's ultimately harmless and I love Orbot and Cubot being here despite them having interacted with Shadow maybe even less than Big. But still. Like, why? I'm sorry. I love Big the Cat. Genuinely. He should not be in more games than Omega. I'll die bitter.

ANYWAY, then there's Generations itself. I'm not insane about the actual remake part of this remake. Now, sure, it's been a minute since I last played the original. But I've played it a TON. And I have to say. This remake of it feels off. There were levels where I just kept dying in ways I'd NEVER seen in the original. I straight up had to walk through the opening of modern Crisis City cause I kept getting caught in the walls and dying. This NEVER HAPPENED in the original. Baffling. Maybe it was just me and my laptop but still. And also, I hate to say it but the graphics and animations of Shadow's story are SO GOOD they make the Generations graphics and animations feel very odd and dated. It's still a great looking game, but in comparison it's kind of rough looking. And then, while I love the script changes, they're kind of meaningless for the most part. Like, it's cool that Sonic has new voice lines. But some of the changed lines are kind of nothing? Idk.

For some smaller nitpicks, I also have some issues with the white space, it can be a little tricky to navigate especially before you unlock all the levels to warp around. It's not horrible or anything but I found myself getting stuck a few times. I wish Omega was as involved as Rouge is, it bugs me when he's left out. But I'm thankful he was there at all!! I do maybe wish there were more levels in general, but of course I do. I wish they had brought back the 3DS levels but, again, of course I do. I think $4.99 is a little pricey for a single level DLC. But overall it's a good game. It's a fantastic addition to one of my favorite Sonic games ever.

Final Thoughts

BUT YEAH!!! SONIC CONTINUES TO BE BACK IT WOULD SEEM! And with it, Shadow seems to be back. Something I never thought truly possible. But between this game actually trying to take it seriously and be sincere, and Sonic 3 being probably my favorite iteration of Shadow in a LONG time. I think we could potentially be in a new era for Shadow the Hedgehog. And hopefully, a new era for Team Dark as a whole. I won't get my hopes up, but maybe we could see Rouge and Omega in the movies and maybe see them join Shadow more often in the games. In the meantime though, things are looking very good for Shadow here in the year of 2024. I haven't read Gerald's Journal or the Shadow manga they made, so I need to get on that. And I need to write my thoughts on Sonic 3 cause I really loved it!

I love Shadow, he's a really important character to me. So it's important to me that Shadow content actually comes out good and respectful of his character growth. Not just his journey through SA2, but his journey through Heroes, and 06, and the Rivals games. There's a lot more to Shadow than just an edgelord, and I really hope we can see more of that start to return. Not just for a time displaced Maria, but for his friends Rouge and Shadow as well. If somehow you've read this and you're just getting into Shadow. Either through this game or Sonic 3. I encourage you, genuinely to check out Heroes, Shadow, and 06, and potentially the Rivals games. There's a lot to Shadow as a character, and maybe it's never been PERFECTLY executed, but there's SO much more to him than just "edgelord". There's more to Rouge than just "valleygirl". And there's more to Omega than just "crazy guy". These are AMAZING characters with amazing potentials. And I hope more people can come to understand what I see in them.

Idk I haven't really talked about this character and how much he means to me in depth in a long time. I'm sort of in a limbo state with a lot of my favorite characters cause a lot of them just kinda fell off in recent games. But idk. I still really like Shadow and my love for Team Dark is coming back pretty hard lol. I just don't gush about this stuff on the same level I used to lol. But I DO still love Team Dark. I DO love when Sonic games are sincerely crazy and over the top. I DO love edgy characters who have depth. It's nice to have a win for something so important to me that feels like it's been losing a lot lately lol. But even through those frustrating times, I can't stop loving Team Dark I guess. This is who I am.

===

And wouldn't you know it. Once again, that's that! Just like Frontiers, this makes me very interested and excited for what could come next in the Sonic series. I like these remakes, and these attempts to make other characters playable. But I am patiently awaiting a true return to form for Sonic with a WILD over the top, high stakes, monster of the week plot and lots of playable characters with unique gameplay and interweaving stories and stuff. Not just adventure 3, but 06, and Rivals, and Rush, and what not. Sonic has a history with this stuff and I think we're slowly seeing glimpses of these concepts returning, and hopefully we can keep getting truly great Sonic games. I'm at least very hopeful and interested in the future.

That's all from me, go out and play a game without favorite character in it!