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He’ll just play on @Dcubed he don’t need it

It's a load of fun, especially Dennis Hopper.

Just popping in to say my Switch is all fixed and like new again. I looked at the link @Dcubed sent and was going to do it that way, but 1. I found someone close by that fixed them for £40 so thought with postage id probably be paying less this way. and B. I didn't want to mess it up this close to Switch 2 release just incase I did something wrong. It does look an easy job though. If the Switch 2 was out and I could have transferred everything before doing it than I may have tried for the experience. But thought it wasn't worth it when I could get it done for the same cost. At least I'm back in time for Mario Kart on Thursday.

Yeah, this was something very special. Fantastic set of characters, gripping narrative, phenomenal soundtrack, amazing voice acting and a awesome battle system. If I had to criticise anything it would be that the game could do with a mini map when in dungeons and the world map. Other than that... What's crazy about all of this is how such a game has been created. It was done by a very small team and for many of them it was their first job in the industry. It's a prime example of what can be achieved when a development team are allowed to create what their vision is, without the focus testing and interference from big publishers. These are the kinds of games that are needed more than ever in this industry, which IMO, has become very stale. I'm thrilled that the game didn't get buried and has found success, both critically and financially. It's funny when you look at what the game was released with. The Oblivion remaster was dropped alongside this and yet this is the game that is on people's minds. Oblivion may have sold more but look at the state of the thing. Again, it's a good comparison between a game that has been created with care by a small team and one that has been pushed out the door for a quick buck by a large publisher. The battle system in the game is something very special. Every character brings something unique to the table and I had a blast with playing around with different abilities and team selections. The creative director of the game has said that FFVIII is his favourite Final Fantasy game (a man of good taste and Ben Starr must have loved him) and this kinda comes through in a few places. The Expedition uniforms are very SeeD like, one of the later bosses reminds me very much of a FFVIII boss fight, and the battle system in this game can be busted wide open early on, just like FFVIII. Due to the amount of customisable load outs, you can decimate enemies. I took on the game's super boss with a single character and killed it in a single hit. I wasn't even max level at that point but the game rewards you for smart use of ability stacking. @Glen-i you would love it. The game feels very much like a PS1 era JRPG but with modern designs. The game has 3 acts and each of them end as if the disc is finished and the next needs to be inserted. I loved this feeling when playing those games as a teenager and this game recaptures that feeling at the end of each act. The third act certainly feels like the final disc of FFVII or FFVIII, where all that's left in the main story is to take on the end boss but the whole world is open for you to explore. You end up losing yourself hours upon end in side quests, super bosses and general exploration. Like I used to do on those games, I made sure to do everything and reach the max level, before taking on the final boss. I won't go into the narrative but all I will say is that it gripped me from start to finish. The English VA cast done an amazing job and really brought the characters and story to life. It's another example of good VAs really elevating a game to another level. Usually in JRPGs I can't be bothered with reading logs or listening to random dialogue but that wasn't the case here. I was listening to every conversation by the fire at the campsite and reading every log that I came across. I was so engrossed in the world. Once in a while a game like this comes along and reminds me why I love gaming. These experiences seem few and far between these days but this has been a light in what has been a very dark year for the majority of the industry. What made this even better was how it just kinda came out of nowhere. What a marvelous surprise it has been. If you have any love for the RPG genre then you owe it to yourself to play this game.

I loved Doshin the Giant. It's a bit rough around the edges and clunky to control but it was such a chill game to play. When I traded my copy in at CEX they had to test it due to it being over the price threshold and the lad who had to play it was like "What the hell is this?" Clearly the game didn't have mass market appeal.

@BowserBasher going by where the battery is in the Switch, it could well be that. It does seem to be a relatively straightforward fix though, no soldering required, just the right screwdriver, a prying tool, and the new battery to go in place of the old one. Switch 2 is just under 4 weeks away though, so you could chance it until then... but... if it is a bulging battery then... yep... probably sooner rather than later, though it might be OK, and you could be lucky enough for it to last long enough for you to do a system transfer, then you could just sell it as working but 'spares' knowing that it likely needs a new battery. But for the sake of safety, the cost of about £15, and a little bit of time & effort, it could be worth replacing. In fact, going by what other people have said about bulging lithium batteries, it is probably worth putting the entire Switch console inside a metal container just in case... the same goes for if you replace the battery, put the bulging battery inside a metal tin, or maybe even a fire-proof bag, in case the battery reacts further, and definitely keep any lithium battery away from any water source. Heck, just reading up on this has made me think about how I want to store any replacement batteries I have, even new ones.

No, no, no, NO! You gotta do it properly. Like when I was insisting @Dcubed play a certain Fire Emblem game I knew he would like. WATCH ANDOR, DAMNIT!

Theme week! Bit of a different tact this time. Competitive Smash! About a month ago, the Kagaribi 13 Tournament took place in Japan. It's one of the many Smash Bros. Tournaments that are happening these days, but it did have one of the largest amount of prominent competitive Smash players gathered in one place in quite a while. So, I decided to make a theme around it. I looked at the list of participants in order of highest placing seed, went down the list, and took note of the character each player put down as their main. I kept going until I got 20 different characters. I only needed to get to the 27th seed before I met the 20 quota. The variety of characters in that list is mad impressive! I think every character was there with at least one player! Goes to show how exceptional the balance in Smash Ultimate is. Anyway, so as far as competitive Smash is concerned, these are the best 20 characters. Which is hilarious, because I would only say 5 of these characters are great in comparison to the rest of the roster. But well, we play Smash in a more normal setting, don't we? Not this week though, I'm going almost all in on this. Every stage here is allowed in standard competitive tournaments. At least, that was the plan, but that would only leave us with, like, 7 stages. That's unacceptable, so I expanded it to include stages that are allowed under the "Gentleman Rule" (Stages that are allowed if both players agree to it beforehand) There are no items tonight. Yes, I know, I'm one of the biggest advocates of "Smash isn't Smash without items", but you know, I guess I can stomach it every once in a while... or every twelve years... Now this is important, there's a setting I've activated that is very unothordox here. Format: 3 Stock, 8 Minutes FS Meter: Off Stage Hazards: Off I have never turned Stage Hazards off even once since this game came out, so I have no idea what it actually changes! Also, I said I almost went all in on this, because technically I should make every match 1 V 1, but come on, I wanna avoid people waiting to play as much as I can. Custom Stages from 7:30pm. EDIT: Oh right, before I forget. When I give the heads up for the last match. Pick Fox. Yes, I want to do the overplayed competitive Smash joke. We won't get another chance for a very long time. Might as well.

Credits rolled for me yesterday, I feel like there was probably a lot of the final act that I missed out on, but just wanted to get to the conclusion of the story (which is really bloody good) so pretty much went straight for the final boss! Yeah, it's a shame that I kind of rushed through this one really as it's an utterly incredible game, the perfect combo of interesting narrative, stunning presentation and excellent gameplay, all wrapped up in a super stylish package! Perhaps I'll get to revisit it at a more leisurely pace at some point in the future. About the only negative thing I can think of is how the weapon menu always reverts to listing alphabetically, even after you manually set it to order by strength. Which is trivial I know, but did annoy me nonetheless. Actually, I personally found the acting also got slightly hammy towards the end of the game as well, but again, I imagine the majority of people won't have an issue with it, and to be fair the performances were amazing overall. Anyway, this is almost certainly going to be game of the year I reckon. It's currently mine*, but it's also the only 2025 release that I've played so far, so will be interesting to see if that's still the case later on in the year. *I'm thinking a certain moustached plumber in his gokart will have something to say about that.

Aside from work I'll most likely donate blood plasma and then meet with a friend. No. Probably gonna give Sand Land a go on PS5. Only if I can find Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 for cheap.

Sega Soccer Slam Are you tough enough? NA release: 18th March 2002 JP release: 26th September 2002 EU release: 18th October 2002 Developer: Black Box Games Publisher: Sega NGC Magazine Score: 67% Mods Used: Widescreen Hack As I’ve been playing through N64 and GameCube games, I’ve played plenty of over the top arcade style sports games – but it’s surprising that this is the first Football one I’ve covered. Sega Soccer Slam gives us a very small amount of 3 player teams (although there is a cheat for some fun costumes) for you to launch into each other. One big problem with Sega Soccer Slam is that tackling is far too easy, so you can get the ball off your opponent with zero problems. The CPU is nowhere near as aggressive, so you’ll end up having high scoring one side games with no issue. The flashy effects also don’t feel like they have much weight to them, the super special shots (down by shooting while in a spotlight) seem to be saved more than regular goals, and the crazy glowing special moves don’t seem to change gameplay much. After the GameCube version came out, Sega Soccer Slam was then ported to PS2 and Xbox with upgrades, which were then included in the European version of the game. One significant addition is the challenge mode. Here, you can mix and match characters from any team, along with a colour so they still all match. Complete a few matches and you’ll win a new character to build up three additional teams. It’s a fun mode and it’s a shame the “pick any three characters” mode isn’t an option for multiplayer matches. Another addition are a couple of minigames, one is a “hot potato” where you have to dribble the ball as long as possible, but get rid of it before it exposes, and the other is a surprisingly fun fighting game using the mechanics of the main game. It’s’ far better than some licensed arena fighters I’ve played, and a fun little addition. These extra things give you something to work for while on your own, and some nice extra modes to play between matches. Another neat idea that Sega Soccer Slam has is a way to team up: instead of controlling a team, you can control individual players, so you and two friends can take on the quest as a squad, or it can be used to spice up a four player match, making this something great for multiplayer. I definitely know that there are at least two much better arcade-like football games on GameCube. Fun Remake or remaster? Mario did this much better. Official Ways to get the game There is no official way to get Sega Soccer Slam.

New English Q&A is out https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2025/250509e.pdf It's basically 6 pages of investors hounding Furakawa about tarrifs

"It's a whole new world we live in!"

International Superstar Soccer 2 Victory pass line shining on the pitch! JP release: 14th March 2002 EU release: 3rd May 2002 NA release: N/A Developer: Konami Publisher: Konami NGC Magazine Score: 83% Mods Used: Widescreen Hack When International Superstar Soccer 2000 came out on N64, over on PS1 and PS2,Konami decided to start the naming from scratch, giving the games numbers instead of dates. I can only guess that this was done to try and get more long-term sales, as people don’t want a sports game from an older date, so someone may see this on a store shelf and not know it’s older. The “next gen” versions also seem to have given up on clubs, reverting back to only having international teams, giving far fewer options to the teams you can play as and the kind of tournaments you can have – even if they didn’t use the name Manchester United, fans still want to be their off-brand version. As for the core gameplay, I’m not a huge fan. Passing seems very temperamental and I found myself passing in the completely wrong direction to nobody. Players also hate trying to get into space, and seem afraid of going into the box unless you dance around in there for a bit to egg them on. This doesn’t come close to the enjoyment of the games on N64. Fine Remake or remaster? I think ISS 2000 is still the best ISS game for Konami to look back on. Official Ways to get the game There is no official way to get International Superstar Soccer 2.

I think that is one of the points the article is making. It's getting harder and harder for publishers to justify their rising prices and try to get away with it when there are a sea of games to be played on various subscriptions or that are simply far cheaper due to sales or just releasing at a lower price. Some high profile games will get away with a higher price but many will try it and no doubt fail.

Doshin the Giant Be a giant, do what you want! JP release: 12th March 2002 EU release: 20th September 2002 NA release: N/A Developer: Param Publisher: Nintendo NGC Magazine Score: 62% Mods Used: Widescreen Code Originally released on 64DD, Doshin the Giant is a game that I enjoyed but didn’t quite understand. Luckily, the GameCube version was released in Europe, so I know more about how the game works, which is definitely a good thing, although the game is also not as deep as I was hoping. Doshin the Giant is a “god” game where you control a yellow giant and help a bunch of villagers construct buildings by bringing them trees and adjusting the height of their land. You can also turn into the evil Joshin to smash stuff up, or to ward away natural disasters. Doing good or bad deeds will make you grow stronger – although only for one in-game day. The main thing I struggled with was building monuments, but the game hints at what you do a bit more here: for them to build a nice monument, you need to give them a flower, obtained by putting around seven trees close together, those trees will die but more will take their place, along with a flower – although there can only be one flower at the time. This tree mechanic is also needed to keep areas green and alive – as all the trees will die over time, you need to keep things refreshed for the villagers. Building the different monuments is also quite simple, the flags in a village indicate the group living there, with different tribes having different colours. Getting the different monuments built (which is the main objective of the game) is a case of smashing the old one, moving some villagers around, getting a flower, waiting for them to build the new monument and repeat. I had envisioned in my head a system where they would build different ones based on the actions you perform, but the reality is far simpler. There aren’t that many ways the villagers need your help, either. They either want a tree, want an object moved from where they’re building (usually the tree you just placed) or want the land levelling, which can be a massive problem, especially if lots of villagers need stuff adjusting, as fixing one area will make the others unhappy. Luckily, you do get a massive amount of hearts, although the bigger you get, the more difficult it is to avoid trampling and killing the villagers. For Doshin’s transition to GameCube, there are a few changes. First of all, nothing from the rather strange expansion is included, which is understandable. The map is also smaller, probably so the game doesn’t eat up an entire memory card. There are some enhancements, though, as the game (especially the water) looks much nicer and there are more animals and building designs to make the world much more vibrant, with the villagers having cattle and birds flying around and hunting fish. The camera controls also let you more closely look at what the villagers are doing. As it stands, Doshin the Giant is the only 64DD game to be remastered or re-released in some form, although a few portions of the Mario Artist series did inspire other things like Miis and WarioWare. While shallow, it’s still an extremely charming game that’s well suited to giving it the odd go every now and then. Fun Remake or remaster? A remastered version would make for a lovely little downloadable title that you can open up every now and then. Official Ways to get the game There is no official way to get Doshin the Giant.

I picked up a month of Game Pass last week, with the intention of squeezing in Doom: The Dark Ages before Mario Kart World arrives. But seeing as there was still a bit of time before Doom launches I began checking out other stuff that's available to play before then, that is, until I started playing this. Now it's become a case of trying to squeeze this in before Doom! Anyway, just reached Act II, and despite still not really knowing what the hell is going on I'm very much enjoying my time with this. Usually with games that have convoluted and cryptic stories I find it a bit frustrating, but I'm actually loving how this one has been unraveling so far, it's proper intriguing stuff. There have been some pretty unexpected and shocking moments in there too. It definitely does a great job at keeping you hooked, although it's also making me rush a bit in order to find out what will happen next, and I already have a tendency to avoid battles in RPGs (yes, I know, I'm playing them wrong ) so have found myself underpowered on a few occasions. Luckily, with the dynamic battle system and being able to dodge/counter enemy attacks, I can often rely on those moves to scrape through the tougher encounters. So yeah, didn't see myself playing another turn-based RPG right now, and certainly not enjoying one as much as this, but here I am. Good old Game Pass.

SpyHunter Prepare to be Hunted NA release: 12th March 2002 EU release: 28th June 2002 JP release: N/A Developer: Paradigm, Point of View Publisher: Midway NGC Magazine Score: 55% Mods Used: Widescreen Code The original Spy Hunter took the concept of James Bond games and made a fun arcade game about it, which got its own sequel. This version, SpyHunter (no space this time) is kind of a reboot, but does mention that the person inside the car is the same as the original arcade game. However, in the previous few years, James Bond games had ramped up, including its own vehicle based game in 007 Racing. Can the homage do a better job than the original? Well, sort of, as 007 Racing was abysmal and SpyHunter is just bad. The biggest problem by far is that there’s no sense of speed and that there’s no spectacle. Destroying enemies doesn’t feel satisfying. If those things had been done right, then you can kind of forgive a game for shallow gameplay, but shallow gameplay is all there is. The 12 levels (plus two training levels) are all linear affairs where you have to complete a main objective (usually blowing up stuff) and some side objectives (blow up more stuff or collect stuff). None of them are much fun to complete, and it’s very easy to completely miss an object as everything in a level just merges together. I also discovered a handy trick for the few escort sections: rush forward and completely ignore them, as enemies will only attack them when you’re close. The GameCube version also has awkward controls. The game was designed around four shoulder buttons and they were adjusted to the GameCube’s three without much thought. Originally the bottom shoulder buttons fire offensive (right) and defensive (left) weapons, which match the HUD, and the top shoulder buttons swap between the different offensive/defensive weapons. For the GameCube, R is to fire offensive weapons, L is to change offensive weapons and you need to hold Z to do the same for defensive weapons, which feels very awkward. I think it would have been slightly better to have L and R to fire, then holding Z to change. SpyHunter also faced an additional problem on GameCube: it came out after Agent Under Fire, which featured a few Bond vehicle sections that are far better than anything offered by SpyHunter. Overall, SpyHunter is a fairly dull but functional driving game with a bit of shooting involved. The levels all feel the same, and even all the music is similar throughout the game – oddly, almost every bit of music is based on the theme tune of an American detective show called Peter Gunn, which ran from 1958 to 1961. The GameCube never got the two sequels to this SpyHunter (the third of which lets you play as Dwayne Johnson). Poor Remake or remaster? A complete collection of the Spy Hunter games wouldn’t be bad. Official Ways to get the game There is no official way to get SpyHunter

Ouch! My Switch is ever so slightly chubbier these days as well, but nowhere near to that extreme @BowserBasher! Unfortunate timing for sure (with Switch 2 being so close, yet so far away ) but it would probably be better to get that sorted out asap. Especially if you plan to system transfer.

Well that's bloody terrifying! That does not look like a happy battery (The crack on the right-side of the top of the unit tells me that it's not just coming loose, but it's the battery bulging). Luckily iFixit have a ready-made battery replacement kit for £35, which should be a pretty easy and straightforward job, even for a pleb.

Pac-Man World 2 The ghosts have unleashed the evil Spooky. Pac-Man must save Pac-Land again. NA release: 12th March 2002 EU release: 21st March 2003 JP release: N/A Developer: Namco Publisher: Namco NGC Magazine Score: 70% Mods Used: Widescreen Code With Namco’s dislike of the N64, Nintendo gamers never got the first Pac-Man World. With it being much easier to port between the PlayStation 2 and GameCube, though, Namco not only supported it a lot more, but even developed multiple games for Nintendo. The Pac-Man World games are a series of enjoyable 3D platformers. They don’t quite reach the heights of Mario or Banjo, but aren’t bad. One thing I did like was how much it captured the feel of Pac-Man. There’s an obscene amount of pellets to collect in each level, often laid out in maze-like patterns. Instead of being tedious to collect, there is an oddly compulsive nature to them and I found myself wanting to collect them – even though there’s not much of a reward other than getting a slice of health for every 50 you eat up. There’s also a load of fruit hidden around the level. Like the pellets, these aren’t an annoying way to gate progress, but at the same time, there’s also no reward, it’s purely for a high score. Yet, even though I don’t care about high scores, I still wanted to hunt for them. Pac-Man controls quite well, and the ledge grab helps with some of the more difficult platforming sections. His ground pound is quite satisfying to use as it makes Pac-Man bounce back up, and you can repeatedly pound the ground. You can also charge up a dash, although I found this to be a bit unreliable. The camera works well for the most part, but sometimes it takes away some of your control or gets stuck so you can’t fully turn it around. Still, this only happens on occasion, so it’s still a lot of fun to make your way around the linear levels. Also hidden in the levels are Galaxian keys, these open up mazes to play. These play like classic arcade Pac-Man, but each with its own layout and a visual style based on the level you’re on. They’re a great reward for exploring away from the main path, and you can also try for a high score by replaying them in the arcade in Pac-Village. There are also a few levels that mix things up. The ice skating and rollerblade levels are fast paced and a lot of fun, although the underwater levels are extremely slow and tedious and go on for way, way too long – and they’re all in the row, with two swimming levels where you automatically move forward immediately followed by two slow arcade style shoot-em-up levels. They should have been spread out more to change the pace throughout the game. One additional collectible hidden in levels are Namco tokens, which unlock some classic Pac-Man arcade games. Pac-Man It’s classic Pac-Man, a faithful port that was also used in Namco Museum. Pac-Attack A falling block puzzle game. You place ghosts, fruit and walls, and then put Pac-Man down in a position to gobble it up. It’s an interesting way to integrate Pac-Man gameplay into a puzzle game, but I wasn’t fond of it. Pac-Mania My first impressions of Pac-Mania was that it was a version of Pac-Man that was far too zoomed in with an awkward isometric view. However, this version focuses much more on the chase aspects, and skilled use of the jump mechanic is vital to evading the ghosts. It’s a fun mix up to the classic Pac-Man formula. Ms. Pac-Man Like Pac-Man, this port is identical to what is seen in Namco Museum. It’s a better version of the original Pac-Man. — Overall, Pac-Man World 2 is a very enjoyable game. It looks great and the classic ditties being used for level completion is lovely. The rest of the music is a bit annoying (one level – Butane Pain – I had to check if it was playing wrong due to how bad it was, but it really is that bad), which is the only complaint with the presentation, as it looks lovely and the sound effects are satisfying. Fun Remake or remaster? A remastered collection of 2 and 3 would be nice, as this still looks nice, so it doesn’t need a full remake as much as the first game. Official Ways to get the game There is no official way to get Pac-Man World 2.

The only thing I can think of is that the City staff were annoyed that Palace hadn't just taken Guehi straight off when he got his head injury. Think they were just pissed off with the time wasting.

Turns out that the Switch 2 Dock features the same HDMI conversion chip as the PS5 Slim… https://famiboards.com/threads/nintendo-confirms-the-switch-2-wont-support-vrr-while-docked-apologizes-for-publishing-incorrect-information.13707/post-1800042 Meaning that it should be possible for Nintendo to eventually enable VRR support in Docked mode with a future system update. It took Sony about 18 months to finally get VRR working on PS5 post-launch, but hopefully it’ll happen eventually with Switch 2 too VRR is especially important on Switch 2, because a flawless 120FPS is not a realistic expectation for most Switch 2 Exclusive titles; but VRR would make that mode a lot more viable all of a sudden!

That's actually not as feasible as it used to be. It's @Ugh first aid's one I'd be playing on in that scenario, seeing as he'll be a dad soon, so he spends a lot more time with his girlfriend these days. Anyway, I would prefer to get my own one. Mario Kart World is not a true dealbreaker, I can always just use Virtual Game Cards to borrow UFA's if she's not up for playing, and give it back when I'm done and if she is, well, 2-player splitscreen is still an option online. But the console itself would breathe a lot of life into games like Age of Calamity due to the framerate bump. I could probably spend weeks just seeing how different everything feels. Anyway, all tentative. Gotta chat it out first. You can be a neutral party witness!

Hey look, actual screenshots of it running on Switch 2. That is a notable bump in the amount of Pokémon on-screen. Also, the spawning in distance has been increased. Not actually sure if that's a good thing though. I already get annoyed bumping into wild Pokémon in the Switch 1 version.

KIller Instinct Gold, nice, I just sold my copy of the original N64 game the other day, love the timing on this.

A lot of these Pokémon utilise smart strategy or exploit the mechanics in such a way, that they can be unexpected in their brokenness. And then there's Pokémon like Mega Lucario. Lucario, being the third most popular Pokémon in the entire series, was a sure thing to get a Mega Evolution when Gen 6 (X/Y) rolled around. I'm afraid you're not gonna get much insight here, because there's not much to say. Take a massive Attack stat, with impressive Speed; Combine that with a similarly high power ability; Adaptability: Increases the Same Type Attack Bonus from X1.5 to X2. Double that attack power again with Swords Dance, and then proceed to use Fighting and Steel moves like Close Combat (120 Power, lowers users Defense and Sp. Def 1 stage), Iron Tail (100 Power, 75% accuracy) and Bullet Punch (40 Power, always goes first) to bulldoze everything in your way. Simply put... "MEGA LUCARIO SMASH!" Does that mean it's good in casual play? You tell me. Granted, you can only get a Mega Lucario during a playthrough in X/Y, but you're given one for free halfway through the game. The game just gives you a Pokémon that destroys any sense of difficulty curve. Probably why it's considered the easiest Pokémon game.

Killer Instinct Gold is the next N64 game to hit NSO:

Diddy Kong has had a redesign. It's not as drastic as DK's new look. Era have pointed out that the hat is from the movie. No idea if it was featured anywhere before that though.

Just saw on my PSN wishlist that Roboquest will be released on May 27th. Been waiting a looooooong time fo... Nevermind. This will be my next purchase.

Fixed it for you.

I'm going to be back home from the 7th June for a few days, so I've decided to bite the bullet. It's incredible how much cheaper it is to buy in the UK compared to Eastern Europe. Saving myself a good £50 on the console and MK alone in comparison to local pre-order prices. Throw in a pro controller and a case and it goes beyond £70. Will have to hunt around for an EU power supply when I get back, but I have joined the club

Oh, what is this? drahkon has played Slay the Spire yet again? "Completing the Ending" is the worst part of StS. You usually need a specific type of deck to counter what awaits you and this is no fun. However, The Watcher is the most broken character of the game, so it was actually pretty easy. You basically need one particular card and you're golden. Anyways, with that trophy I think I'm done with StS on PlayStation: Still a 10/10 game, would play again.

Same here! I was always sad they never did another version of this - I'd have loved to have had more of it.

I haven't been gaming that much but have dabbled in a couple of things. But there are at least two games I can talk about that I've completed recently: Little Nightmares (Steam Deck) I've played through this game as I was looking for a short experience and had it in my Steam backlog. Little Nightmares is the first game in the series and it's easy to call it Limbo/Inside but 3D. There is a similar vibe going on, with the premise of a kid in a hostile adult world and a narrative that's told by the context of the situations you get in. There are plenty of difference though. As mentioned Little Nightmares is 3D, which gives it an extra layer of depth although I sometimes had trouble navigating, for example when crossing a narrow pipe or plank and I would just walk off. The game has a lot more colour as well, with the yellow raincoat of your character standing out. Most of the gameplay is some light platforming, being stealthy and solving puzzles. Nothing too complex, but it has enough variation to stay interesting for the ~4 hour the game lasts. Here and there it's a bit tricky to see what you can climb or pick up, and being detected by (quite disturbing looking) enemies felt a little cheap sometimes. Nevertheless it's a fun short little game and it definitely made me curious about part 2 and the upcoming part 3. Resident Evil 3 Remake (Steam Deck) Another game I played on the Deck and this time it's a pledge game! I've completed Resident Evil 3 Remake somewhere last week and loved it, in fact I'm currently replaying it again (shame there is no official Mode B this time like 2 has) just to blast my way through with some weapons I got from the shop. It runs amazing on the Steam Deck by the way, kudos to the RE:Engine for running these type of games. The city with all the shops and neon are pretty to see. It's just a matter of time before these come native to the Switch 2 right? Anyway, it's a lot more action focused than 2, but I definitely enjoyed my time with it. The Nemesis was less of a pain in the bum than I expected, especially after the horrible tales of it and the Tyrant in 2. A bunch of satisfying boss fights, and fun to return to a couple of familiar locations. I've never played the original so don't know how it compares, and no it doesn't last that long but that fit me perfectly as my gaming time is quite limited. 4 Remake is already on my wishlist but I'll tackle Village first. And with that, I can finally cross something off the list! I'm currently also making some progress in Hyrule Warriors and StarCraft Remastered, so hopefully I can cross these off this month before Switch 2 arrives and probably kills my pledge for the remainder of the year. Other gaming stuff I've been doing is softmodding my 3DS so I can now install homebrew. Took the occasion to try out the Virtual Boy emulator which is fun to dabble with. But I've also spend too much time using NetPass to play StreetPass Mii Plaza games and collecting puzzle pieces haha. I just love the 3DS and all its gimmicks, what a shame the Switch and Switch 2 (for now) are a lot more bland in that regard.

Written article version of the information… https://www.eurogamer.net/digitalfoundry-2025-nintendo-switch-2-final-tech-specs-and-system-reservations-confirmed 3GB and two whole CPU cores is a crazy amount of RAM and system resources to cordon off just for the OS! I think they will have to give developers the option to deactivate Game Chat and non-essential OS stuff to claw back system resources; especially with later life titles. That’s way too many system resources being allocated to non-game related operations. They did it before with the 3DS, they can do it again here. Even Switch 1 had a special OS mode that clawed back a good 350mb of RAM for games or so by deactivating the video recording feature. They can then put out an enhanced OLED model that adds the extra two cores and RAM needed to re-enable these features later on. Similar to what they did with the New3DS. Not having VRR support while docked essentially makes the feature useless as well (not to mention making 120FPS support basically worthless for most games; since almost nothing will be able to flawlessly sustain such a high framerate). Hopefully they can find a way to fix it post-launch (IIRC, VRR didn’t work on PS5 until it got a post-launch update, so there’s precedent for this).

NFL Blitz 2002 Real Teams, Real Players, Real Attitude! NA release: 18th March 2002 EU release: N/A JP release: N/A Developer: Point of View Publisher: Midway NGC Magazine Score: N/A Mods Used: Widescreen Hack Another American Football game, retaining the arcade action of the previous games. Well, mostly, the gameplay is simplified, yet this doesn’t seem to have the frenzy of some of the previous games, feeling rather sluggish instead This version also doesn’t have many features. The fun creation tools of NHL Hitz haven’t made an appearance here, and the minigames have not made a re-appearance. This is a bare bones update. Fine Remake or remaster? This kind of silly sports game should come back Official Ways to get the game There is no official way to get NFL Blitz 2002

This game seems to have dropped off hard. Hardly see anyone playing it anymore… in other news, I’m now on 105 weapons crafted! 🤣

Harmony of Dissonance was my first Castlevania, and for that reason I will always be fond of it. There are some legitimate flaws to that game (too large of a map, can become a slog, unpleasant soundtrack), but it's got a lot of cool things going for it as well (creepy atmosphere, intimate story, interior decorating, the most disgusting Legion in the franchise). It's a solid 3, and one I'd like to revisit someday. I have never heard of that title. Where did you get that name from? Top 10 quotes out of context

Screw the Japanese market. On the flipside...

I came here to post that CEX have a further two copies in stock online... ...though that's now had as they sold out again within half an hour. This game would surely sell a lot more, particularly on PS5 if there were more copies available. Edit - even brand new sealed, but sold by private seller copies are going for £60+ with bids... and new copies sold by businesses are selling for £70... Meanwhile... CEX have at least 7 copies of the Xbox Series version, at £42... though that's not too surprising, as I believe it's on Game Pass? So the Xbox physical version will be the first to level-out on the price, while the PS5 version should hold its value. (Xbox version price on eBay... £42 - £45 new, with some going on a little bit less on bids) Check back regularly for more exciting Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 price updates!

Well, that was entertaining, reading my posts from 2008, some seventeen years since GTAIV was originally released, that was when open-world games were relatively new to me, and I did seem to enjoy GTA a fair amount, as I seem to recall it was the first one I played properly. (pages 49 - 70+ onwards) Yeah, it's probably about time for a remake, with all the DLC etc. I do remember buying GTAV... but I don't remember sticking with it for that long. And while GTAVI will inevitably be another ambitious outing (within the scope of the game) I question whether or not I'll have the time for it, though... if it comes to Switch 2, there's a good opportunity for it to sell even more, and potentially have some version exclusive quirks, but it'll probably depend on the file size, as to how feasible it'll be, and technical limitations... to a point.

According to Tez2, who accurately detailed the relatively recent Red Dead Redemption remaster amongst other Rockstar leaks in the past, the port to modern platforms for GTA IV is still in the works and could drop later this year: I totally didn't start GTA IV for my pledge the other day and swore when I saw this. Nope, not me...

I think it's inevitable; it's the perfect audience for a game like this, I could see the Japanese market taking to this the same way they did Ghost of Tsushima. As we've already seen with UE5, for all its flaws, is very malleable in terms of scaling up and down – I think this game is going to run into similar concerns as I currently have for Baldur's Gate III coming to Switch 2, which is whether the actual development studio is handling the port (in this case, Sandfall), or if it's going to be outsourced or co-developed. For that reason, I'll be pleasantly surprised if it gets onto Switch 2 this year – I can easily imagine a scenario where certain port studios are trying to reach out about porting it already. It really depends on what their future plans are for the game, I remember reading that there are no plans for DLC and they plan to just continue fine-tuning the game (which sounds like a similar approach to that taken by Larian for BG3), but I can imagine them wanting it to be in a state for a "definitive" release; not that there seems to be much wrong with it now from what I've read, but just the other day there was a lot of talk about the latest patch nerfing certain characters/builds (albeit broken ones from what I understood). Thanks again for sharing your detailed thoughts on the game @Hero-of-Time, been great reading through your check-ins; it sounds like a blast and I'm very much looking forward to getting to this over the summer! sorry Final Fantasy X you'll need to wait a little longer

Stamina format tonight. Custom stages from 7:30pm.

So yeah, 10pm rolled around when we finished our 20 turn "Save and quit once Sam joins for Perfect Dark" game, where @BowserBasher got totally robbed by CPU DK being an unexpected massive jerk. (I've never seen a CPU player gun for a person who wasn't in 1st place like that before!) Cue me saying, "Wow, Sam never showed up", only for Simon to say "Hang on, he's in the chat!" We tried to ask you why you never said anything, but silence. My theory was that you butt-dialled us.

Yep... no NSO this week, I totally joined the chat, thought about joining late, and then fell asleep. No worries though, as much as I like Mario Party 3, I feel like we've played it a decent amount. I'll likely be up for finally buying Super Mario Party Jamboree - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV ...what is it with Nintendo and excessively long titles? As that's a new Mario Party game to play at least, and now I don't feel that I missed out by not buying the Switch version, though... it looks like I'll be paying more for the Switch 2 version now, but hopefully it'll be worth it. Anyway, from what I heard - briefly - it sounds like you had a blast on Mario Party 3, so that's cool. Right, time to hopefully catch up on the rest of the sleep which I clearly need.

Halfway there! I've started playing around with the different skills and bonuses each character can use. You can get equipment that has a skill attached to it. After so many battles, this skill becomes usable for all members of the party and without needing to equip the item. The skills can mixed and matched with some truly fantastic results. At the moment I've got ones set up so that my characters get first go and have enough points to unleash their most powerful moves in their first turn. I imagine there are some crazy broken builds out there.