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Finished Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest today. Really enjoyed this, oddly enough I'm kinda glad I accidentally deleted my save after the first 3 worlds as I was very much on the fence whether it was a downgrade on DKC at that point, replaying those 3 worlds again changed my mind on that. Definitely a better game than the original, the level design is perfect and the music while it isn't as catchy as DKC, it feels more atmospheric. With DKC I was humming the tunes for the rest of the day after playing it during my lunch break, with this, nothing but I get why they mixed it up for the sequel. The boss battles are certainly more challenging, I was struggling with the final boss and his "disappearing act" right at the end of the battle. Eventually I got the pattern and that was that. It's crazy that it's taken me 28 years to play this. Next up in my lunch time GBA gaming and to complete the trilogy - Donkey Kong Country 3

Nintendo Direct: Partner Showcase 21/02/2024 Roundup Now up on the main page. Joint effort roundup article, featuring an excellent, detailed writeup by @Josh64 (plus some useful time-stamps for each title in the video) And the usual formatted press release. A decent direct overall.

No Mother 3, but here are your Earthbound Beginnings icons To make matters worse/funnier/waaaaaaaaaay more cruel, icons for Earthbound are due out for a week from the 29th, and for Mother 3 for a week from the 7th (March)...at least in Japan, don't think we've had full confirmation of what's going on over here just yet (at least at the time of writing), but I would assume it's the same deal. Which makes it potential even worse/funnier/way, way more cruel; are we really about to see Mother 3 icons drop in the West in 2 weeks' time, despite the game having never released over here?

N-Europe Partner Post Mates.

Very much deserved.

I used to enjoy playing the older games on the Wii. I remember there was a feature on them to play MP3's off of the SD card, so I made a little playlist of water themed music from other video games, like the water music from Donkey Kong Counry and Dire Dire Docks from Mario 64. It should be interesting to see how online mode works.

Somehow, none of my predictions came true But it was a pretty solid showing: Gonna try out the demos for Pepper Grinder and Unicorn Overlord; The 5 Rare games are games I have never really played, so to my NSO backlog they go; Penny looks good, though my priorities are elsewhere right now (same thing goes for Another Crab, really); Pretty cool to see Epic Mickey return, honestly. Wishlisted; I already have Pocket Card Jockey on the 3DS, so I won't repurchase it, but it's really dang good!; Monkey Ball, Endless Ocean, and MH Stories aren't my cup of tea, but I'm happy they're there. All in all, pretty decent.

Glad you enjoyed it, @lostmario. Now for what many call the worst out of the original trilogy but what I call the best. Interested to see where you land on it.

To be clear, I wasn't trying to call you or anyone else out as not thinking ahead by saying that, so I'm sorry if it did come off that way – more highlighting how utterly bonkers it is that Atlus and SEGA are getting away with some increasingly anti-consumer moves, like Atlus with this and Persona 5, or what SEGA recently did with NG+ and some other content being locked behind a certain (more costly) edition of Infinite Wealth. Totally get that, and totally agree that Atlus can get stuffed when it comes to this sort of thing

That’s an entirely different game right there folks.

I can't help but find it pretentious when someone keeps speaking the full title of the show. You know no one ever says it, save your syllables and say Demon Slayer

I've not played it yet but have downloaded it ready for the weekend. This should lead me nicely into Rebirth. It's very rare that I watch people playing games on YouTube but I have been watching PlayStation Access' Dave tackle the original Final Fantasy VII. It's been great viewing, if a little frustrating watching him fumble away through the game. Final Fantasy VIII may be my favourite in the series but Final Fantasy VII certainly holds a special place in my heart. Such a magical game.

Grounded & Pentinent : first time seeing these. First impression was a grimace. If this is what other consoles have maybe they should keep them. But I'll keep an open mind and do some homework on them over time. Ender Magnolia: Not my cup of tea but looks good nonetheless. Arranger: Looks cool! Drew a nod from me when he said "handcrafted dungeons." Unicorn Overlord: Forgot about this because, seeing it again, it looks forgettable to me. Will need to have a look at the demo. MH Stories: Liked the demo on 3DS. Not especially fond of 3DS games coming after they fomo'd us with the eShop closure. But that's business. Should've said, "Now fully voiced and in... TWO D." Epic Mickey: Enjoyed on the Wii despite it's shortcomings. Annoyed at myself for being open to picking it again. SMT V Vengeance: A long time coming. Would like to have the willpower to skip it. Battlefront: had a few 2-player sessions on this/these on Playstation 2. Unsatisfying gameplay. South Park: Snow Day: looks cool. Sword Art Online: Looks nice. I'm in no way well-versed in these. Gundam Breaker 4: yep, another one that looks cool. Monkey Bollocks: just the kind of thing I wanted from the showcase—games for the fans, not for me. Then my eyes lit up at the 20-player clips. World of Goo 2: good to see it live on. Fantasy Life: good to see it pop up. Another Crab's Treasure: looks cool. Penny's Big Breakaway: looks iffy. No doubt decent. Suika update: yes! Get it back on game trial. Suika 99 coming next. Pepper Grinder: still looking cool. Pocket Card Jockey: enjoyed it on 3DS. Snufkin: everyone loves the moomins! Tales of Kenzaru: would like to know more. Demon Slayer Sweep the Board: curious what this entails. Kingdom Come Deliverance: looks all right. Contra: classic. Rare NSO: I felt a twinge of emotion at the KI music. Really nice that they added these without the drip feed. For a split second, I thought borders were coming with the way the crossfade was done. Endless Ocean: liked it well enough on Wii. Need to learn what this one offers exactly because some group dives could be fun. Overall, just a handful of games I'd write-off. The polar opposite of what I wanted. "In this presentation we'll be focusing on Nintendo Switch games launching in the first half of 2024." Then just say coming this spring for those undated 2024 games, eh? Relieved Fantasy Life is October. Don't need it this side of summer. Check yourself before you wreck yourself.

Brother you be trippin'

Sometimes a run can be super easy: Obviously, it was based on diamond flushes Very happy that lots of cards were enhanced. For example: 3 Queens of Diamond were glass cards which means they multiply the multiplier - yes - by 2 when played but have a 1 in 4 chance to be destroyed. The final round was pretty great, as I played a flush with all three. My Jokers and the glass enhancements made quick work of the required score The more I play, the more I realize that sometimes the game can screw you over very early. There's one Boss Blind that reduces the level of the hands you play (levels decide how many chips and multiplier a poker hand provides) and if you get it early you can get fucked pretty easily. You also need to get a good joker early, especially in higher difficulties, because otherwise your run ends quicker than you can say "I don't have a gambling problem". These situations happen quite rarely, though. Most of my runs end further in. Mostly because I misplay or try to do something fancy Anyways, hope to get a few more runs in before I get to leave for the concert tonight

If they put it in the eShop, it will be a significant enough change to be worth changing it. Pro Mahjong Extreme 64 JP release: 21st November 1997 NA release: N/A PAL release: N/A Developer: Athena Publisher: Athena N64 Magazine Score: N/A Another Mahjong game, and this one is the most basic one yet. There are a couple of main modes, either gambling or pro, and the interface is pretty much non-existent, making it the hardest to understand in order to play, and somehow the controls feel unintuitive – quite an achievement for something so simple. The “selling point” of this Mahjong game is that it features 16 real players. This means that if you’re not interested in the 16 professional Mahjong players from 1997, you’re competing against images of old men who all look like they’d rather be somewhere else – quite a contrast to the colourful and varied cast of the other Mahjong games. Remake or Remaster? Nothing needs to be done with this. Clubhouse Games is a good Mahjong game. Official ways to get the game. There is no official way to get Pro Mahjong Extreme 64

Kyle Bosman delivering on yet another Easy Allies bet...nearly three years on. By walking around a park dressed as Batman. A true man of his word

11 hours played in two days...shows how much I'm enjoying this Managed to unlock all Decks that are not locked behind difficulties. Only five more Decks left (all locked behind the first 5 higher Stakes) and then it's time to "ascend" with each Deck. Sadly, I won't be able to play much until Saturday And I might not play much during the weekend, either...I'll try to get some rounds in, though. Can't not play it for a few days.

Blast Corps. Backlash, YOU SUCK! That is all.

That suit on the right looks beautiful. The one on the left and these atrocities (even if for a good cause?) are something else, though...

Snake Rattle 'n' Roll and R.C. PRO-AM both join the service today:

Polished this off the other night. I'll pay the game a bit more attentive lip service when I get around to updating my Gaming Diary, but for now: • I loved the ending. • I really, really enjoyed the penultimate dungeon (or what I'm counting as the penultimate dungeon), Eagle's Tower. Did get a little lost once or twice, and not leaving the heavy ball in the right spot only added to a little bit of confusion, but I think it's incredibly well designed and forward thinking. Crazy how many ideas - and well executed ones at that - were packed into a GB game. • what I'm calling the final dungeon (the one after Eagle's Tower)...eh. It was pretty good, but felt like a step down for me from Eagle's Tower, and also just wasn't as interesting mechanically. • final boss fight was awesome. Lastly, this has to be one of the best credits medleys I've heard in a minute: Hit me hard, surprisingly so for a game as short as this, and made me nostalgic for the original game – which I've never played. Wonderful and charming little game

I disagree. They didn't haphazardly set the second DLC of Scarlet/Violet in "Unova" for giggles. Unova's next. You know what though? I'd be willing to give a Legends style game another chance. They'd have to tweak a few things though. - Get rid of of the open areas nonsense. Don't need it now that the mainline games are open world. - Make me catch Pokémon through battling them. Give my Pokémon some reason to contribute! It's not remotely satisfying just chucking a ball at them and moving on. Make me work for it! If I want to catch thousands of Shinx, I'll play Pokémon Go, which I won't. Because it's crap. - No-one likes gathering hundreds of crap to craft stuff. Boring busywork. And while we're getting rid of boring busywork, have the corresponding Pokédex entry fill in completely once I catch a Pokémon. Don't make me use Tackle 40 times to get halfway there. - Use the old battle system. It's not broken, don't try to fix it. They can keep those action segments where you have to dodge a boss's attacks in real time before using an opening to switch to turn based and dealing loads of damage. Those were legit great!

I was legit surprised by this mini-game. Because I really don't like the PS1 version (Luckily, you can throw it and still get the huge materia with a standard boss battle), and I was dreading it when I saw it was a thing here, but Remake's interpretation of it is solid! In fact, that applies to most mini games. The minigames in the PS1 games and X are pretty janky, and not very fun, but Remake has nailed them, even if the more difficult pull-up sessions were difficult to deal with because I use Nintendo Switch button layouts.

Popped this back in for the first time since launch in order to get around to checking out INTERmission ahead of Rebirth's launch...at the end of next week?! Don't know how much I'll talk about the DLC in this thread, but I'm here to mainly heap praise on Fort Condor. I love it. Spent over 2 of the 3 hours I played tonight just having a blast with it I know we'll see them in Rebirth to some extent too, but high-res models of the PS1 versions of enemies was a stroke of genius. Incredibly charming and fun to see. Have a feeling Gold Saucer is going to cause me a lot of problems in Rebirth, seeing how much I loved the mini-games in Remake and now Fort Condor in INTERmission

Nintendo eShop new releases (week 06) The sixth week of releases. A selection of new titles are now available on the Nintendo Switch eShop. Check the article for the full roundup. - - - - - Thanks to @Josh64 for the recently posted articles, which include... Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash - Launch Trailer Nintendo Switch Sells 139.36 Million Units New Pokémon Spirits Arrive in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Tomorrow! Software Updates Arrive for F-Zero 99 and Super Mario Maker 2 Disney Invest in Epic Games Knuckles - Series Trailer Watch The Legend of Zelda Orchestra Concert From Midday Today See you next week!

Arrrrgh! Why are the secret tracks so secret!?

Apparently if the F-Zero 99 mode is glitching out, you can vote for ??? to have the chance of competing on a secret track, which is a mashup of two existing tracks. Haven't been on the game myself but I still wanted to know what these secret tracks are all about.

Damn. I need Switch 2... in 2027 on the condition nothing else comes out except what's officially known. Perhaps even JFG if we behave ourselves.