So is he always gonna be wearing turtle necks? Don't see how else he can hide that damn collar 

https://theotakuauthority.com/arcade-archives-tutankham-coming-to-switch-ps4/ This is great news!  VRR is fantastic tech that really helps with game performance. This is a big sign that the Switch 2 is going to support it.  Couple this potentially with HDR and DLSS, and the Switch 2 is going to be a considerable margin better than the original Switch in terms of fidelity and performance. 

Pause over. It's time to tackle a couple of more recent takes on the genre: Enemy Mind So! This 2014 game is actually one of the reasons I wanted to tackle this genre in full. I first heard about it several years ago, in an Extra Credits video. The game sounded interesting, so I bought it on Steam at some point... But a problem came up. The game was clearly designed to be played with a gamepad, which I did not have at the time. I could still play it with a keyboard, but I eventually ran into a level that required me to move with precision, and my laptop keyboard at the time didn't even recognise diagonals that well, so I couldn't beat that level at all. I ended up dropping the game and marking it with a shameful "Unfinished". Time passed. I eventually got better keyboards, a proper pad... But I never revisited this curious little game. Well, one of my resolutions this year involved tackling my "Unfinished" games, so it was time to put this one to rest, once and for all. And that's enough backstory, let's get to the game. At first glance, it seems like your usual shmup fare, controlling a ship, shooting some enemies... But there's this unique mechanic: you can mind control and "take over" any enemy ship. One at a time, sure, which means you're constantly "hopping" from ship to ship. This clever mechanic truly transforms how the game is played, not just because you can move from ship to ship in a skirmish, but because you can escape into a healthier ship whenever your health is low. Furthermore, there are no power-ups or extra guns, only various types of ships with different stats and weaponry. Some craft is lighter and faster, others are large and bulky, some contain a spreader gun, others contain lasers, etc. There's like 20+ ships in the entire game, and they all feel wildly different. This includes alien ships, by the way. One thing to keep in mind is that each type of ship, without fail, contains limited ammo. At some point your bullets run out. I presume this is meant to encourage you to mind-hop more often, and yeah, it does that quite well. Game-feel is pretty pleasant. A bit slower than most shmups I played, but that does mean I relax a lot more with this game. It's not a bullet hell at all. The only times I felt a difficulty spike was during certain bosses, and I can excuse those. One cool thing in this game (that I wish more shmups would adopt) is that you can actually turn and shoot left with most of the available ships. So good, I'll definitely miss it in other games in the genre. Art style is pretty pleasant, and the aliens in particular are quite memorable. More importantly, each ship is visually distinct, and the sprites are large for the most part, so you'll never really find yourself confused over which type of craft can do what. Story is fascinating. It's told in small snippets at a time, every time you complete a level or wave. The twist is that the snippet itself depends on whether you finished that level as a human or as an alien. You could potentially only see human snippets for an entire playthrough, and you'd be missing a lot of vital context from the aliens' perspective. Same thing if you only ever finish levels as an alien. The more likely scenario is that players see a few snippets of one, and a few of the other. It's a narrative choice that piques the curiosity of any player, and there's plenty to find for those who look. Overall, this brilliant little gem is a solid 4 star game. If I liked the genre properly, I probably would've given this a fifth star, but if there's anything I realised after so much exposure to the genre, is that it's not quite my type. I can at least guarantee that this is the best dang shmup I've ever played, even better than MUSHA.   Super Amazing Wagon Adventure I originally saw the Game Grumps play this 2012 game on a one-off episode. I thought: "What a silly little short game. And so cheap! Might as well take it", and then I proceeded to not touch this very short silly game for years and years. Until now. So, have you ever played Oregon Trail? Of course not, you're not American. It's a game where you manage a family's migration to the west coast via caravan. A few generations played this game on their school libraries, hence why it's so famous. Super Amazing Wagon Adventure (SAWA) looks a lot like a more silly and action-y version of Oregon Trail (for example, hunting your own food along the way), and I definitely thought it would be just that, a silly short pew-pew game with references to Oregon Trail. Sure enough, there are levels where you mow down buffalo, where you cross rivers, where you're attacked by wolves and zombies in a snowstorm, and even one where you go to space. Somehow, you run into machineguns and rocket launchers in all of these places. It is all very, very silly, yes, but it is also... a roguelike. That's right. The levels and bizarre scenarios your caravan gets through are randomly selected. And after a few attempts, you can even unlock some other caravans, with other attributes and weapon types. I didn't manage to complete a run, but I felt like I got close. It's not a cakewalk or anything, but each attempt was leaving me closer to the goal. It's an enjoyable game, but the humour and aesthetics (and genre) didn't fully click with me. I give my enjoyment 3 stars overall, and for the low price it's at on Steam, I feel like it's a steal, even at a non-discounted price. So here's a shout for roguelike fans, such as @drahkon   Starfox ...Wait a sec, this isn't a shmup! Except it kinda is, if you think about it: what are On-Rail Shooters, if not 3D shmups? This is one I had on my pledge. Not only is it part of a genre I don't usually like, it's a whole series that's very popular and beloved by Nintendo fans... but never really clicked with me. Considering I never put much time into any Starfox game (except Adventures, which is a whole different thing), I figured I owed it, and myself, an adequately deep playthrough. As it turns out, playthroughs are quick in this game. You pick one of 3 distinct routes, and it's 6 or so levels exclusive to that route (even the starting level, Corneria, is different depending on the route). I appreciate this kind of difficulty system, offers a lot of fun and replayability. No way around it, the game's graphics were super impressive for the time, but boy do they hurt my eyes now. I appreciate that weak points are colour-coded, but that's pretty much it. Some boss designs work well with the blocky style, at least. On a brighter note, the animal aesthetic for Fox, Slippy, et al. is very charming and memorable, as are the bleeps and bloops for speech. Gameplay-wise, I appreciate there being a health meter, and frequent health pickups. I appreciate the Arwing's maneuverability. The aiming is wonky as shit, but it's better in the first-person levels, where they include a reticle. It's not super important, as movement is the main thing that allows me to survive, and the game never demands pin-point shooting precision at any moment (even when saving teammates, there's so much leeway). I managed to finish runs on the easy and normal routes, but couldn't make it even 3 levels on the hard route. That's one for more skilled fans, and I admit I'm not one of them. I also hear there are secret levels, warps, and easter eggs in the game, which is always good, brings depth to any game. (On a side note, Sakurai must love this game. He's included this version of Andross in every smash game since Melee. It's a memorable boss fight for sure, and now that I'm better versed in the genre, I can't help thinking of Xevious whenever I see his rotating projectiles ) I am happy I gave this game more of a chance. It's still not my style, but it's a very well designed game. I give it 3 stars, it earned that much. ----- Phew... and Super R-Type is still there for me to tackle!

Does anyone watch the Snooker World Championships other than purists?

Gex 64: Enter the Gecko NA release: 25th August 1998 PAL release: 26th February 1999 JP release: N/A Developer: Crystal Dynamics, Realtime Publisher: Midway (NA), GT (PAL) N64 Magazine Score: 59% Gex is a series of platformers that started out in 2D on the 3DO before moving over to the PlayStation with Gex 2 in 3D (which was then ported to the N64). While the series is seen as an alright platformer, it’s mainly known for its humour. So how well does the humour hold up? I think the bigger question is “was the game ever funny in the first place?”. The attempts at humour seems almost entirely disjointed with the game itself, with almost all of it being a random selection of quotes from Gex himself, spoken at random intervals – they have nothing to do with what’s happening on screen and they repeat very quickly. It’s like making a pun when there’s no thyme or plaice for it – it doesn’t work without context. Most of the rest is in the level names, with the levels themselves being generic themes. There are a few moments, such as Gex in a bunny outfit fighting Elmer Fudd, where the parody creeps in to the actual level, but definitely not enough to be a focus of the game. There’s also a few musical rip-offs, most notably the Indiana Jones and James Bond themes. For the most part, Gex is a very generic platform game that doesn’t do anything special with its levels. It also has a few crippling issues. It’s extremely difficult to judge where objects are in relation to each other, so you’ll end up missing a lot of jumps because you thought a platform (or Gex) was somewhere else. The camera is also atrocious – even on manual mode, it likes to try to “correct” itself. This means that when you’re running on a narrow platform, at some point the camera will decide to quickly turn around to be behind you. This may sound good, but it also affects your controls, so before you’ve had time to react to the camera change, you’ve already ran off the side of the platform due to Gex turning in relation to the camera. Gex doesn’t have enough moves to keep the game interesting. You have a jump and tail attack, along with an awkward to use high jump and a running kick, both not really needed. Sometimes a collectable will be slightly out of reach, but there’s enough in the level to just ignore those ones He can also climb up walls, but this is only possible on a very small number of walls and the feature is never used for anything interesting. Enter the Gecko is a surprisingly unimaginative game that is quite annoying to play. Remake or remaster? There a semi-emulated remaster in the works of the PlayStation version. At the time of writing, it’s unknown if this will include any of the N64 specific levels. Official ways to get the game. There is currently no official way to get Gex 64 (or a version of the game), but that will change shortly.