Hero-of-Time

Some of the December line up has been announced. It Takes Two Aliens: Dark Descent Temtem Sly 2 Sly 3 Jak and Daxter Very happy with the classic games. I'll happily play through Jak and Daxter again (best platformer from that generation). I've never played the other PS2 Sly games and so they will be a new experience for me.

He was the last remaining personality in the company that gave PlayStation a human touch. It's very much all dry and corporate now.

Shu is leaving Sony/PlayStation.

Happy that more games have been added but disappointed with the selection.

Yeah, I had it in my legs this time around as well. My knees were giving me a stupid amount of pain and the sweat was pouring out of me. When I originally had it, all I had was a very bad cold. Hopefully you have turned the corner and are on the mend. I hate how dismissive people are about it now. The thing still causes a stupid amount of damage and issues. I was talking to a nurse about it and she said it's ridiculous that the general message is that it's just like a cold now, when it's clearly not the case. It may be milder but many are still experience long term illnesses from the latest strain. When I got it back in June, another lad at work picked it up on holiday in France and he was bed ridden for over a week. The work place policy was if you're positive but feel okay then you can still come in. Bonkers. Anyway, how about them video games?

Sorry to hear you have covid. Flu symptoms? I had it back in June (brother from the US visited the family and brought it with him) and it was honestly worse this time around than it was when I had it during the pandemic.

Hope that is indeed the case and DK64 will drop just in time for its anniversary. Good stuff. Will probably fire it up this evening. I'm not sure if I've ever played DL2 and 3 before.

The main inspiration was Breath of Fire 3, with Dark Cloud inspiring the town building sections. Had a holiday from work today and so cranked out a few more games. My physical copy finally arrived. Absolutely fantastic collection of games. These are some of my all time fav 2D fighting games and to have them in a single collection, and on a modern platform, is a dream come true. It was nice to actually play a version of COTA that doesn't run like garbage. I had it on both the Saturn and PS1 when I was younger and neither of them ran that well. I'll always appreciate Capcom and Marvel using Onslaught as a final boss in MvC. It was a huge event in the comics at the time and having him appear in a game as the big bad was fantastic. Playing it again, I completely forgot they even used his famous quote ("Behold my mighty hand!") in the game. Good stuff. Due to me not doing PC gaming or faffing on with emulators, I've never had the opportunity to play The Punisher. It's a shame it's taken this long to make it widely available but it was worth the wait. It's a classic Capcom scrolling beat-em up with a Marvel skin attached. Loved every second of it. Most of these games were a big part of my teenage years and playing them all again was such a nostalgia trip. What's impressive is that everyone single one of them holds up. Playing them in order of release (had to complete every game for platinum) you can see how each of the games gets tweaked and refined until you are left with the perfection that is MvC2. From one collection to another... I was looking forward to revisiting the SNES and Mega Drive games in this collection. I played both of them when I was a kid and remember enjoying them. I played through the other games in the collection first. I have memories of playing the Gameboy game but have no idea where or when. I don't recall owning it but certainly remember parts of the game. Very weird. The second Mega Drive game was pretty frustrating. For some reason it was the only game in the collection that required me to complete it on hard difficulty for a trophy. The levels themselves are very confusing and with enemies constantly respawning, it made for slow progress. Also, for some reason you aren't allowed to kill a lot of dinosaurs. If you do, you fail the mission. It isn't really explained and I didn't realise what it was all about until halfway through the game. I really enjoyed playing the first Mega Drive JP game. It's a fun action/platformer and it allows to play as both dinosaur and human characters. The raptor takes some getting used to but is fun enough to use once you get the hang of it. It's a game I never owned myself but played the hell out of it when my friend came on holiday with me and he brought his Mega Drive. The SNES game...yeah, this wasn't good at all and certainly didn't live up to my memories. I do remember it being tough and I never did complete it as a kid but I remember having fun with it. Not so much now. The main map is a bit of a confusing mess. You are constantly met with barriers that need lifting by going into the buildings and using the computers. These sections are an FPS but they run like garbage and the controls are very fiddly. At least if you clear these areas out of enemies they never respawn upong revisiting them. Had the game kept to a top down shooter like it is in the overworld, I think it would have been a far better experience. Due to its difficulty, I imagine the game featured heavily in hints and tips sections of gaming magazines at the time. I vaguely remember having a map with all of the dino egg locations on it but I'm not sure if that came with the game or if I got it from something like Gamesmaster/Nintendo magazine.

Finished a few games over the past few days. I played and completed the first game a month or two back and enjoyed it so much that I bought the sequel. This is a massive step up from the original on every level. Graphics are no longer in the style of the NES era but rather the SNES, the amount of moves that you have at your disposal has increased, and navigation around the map is much better. Cracking Metroidvania. I've been waiting for this to go on sale and I'm glad I did. The game does a great job of recapturing the feeling of the classic show but it's ridiculously short. I got it at just over half price (11.99) and I still feel robbed. It was only an hour and half long! The game plays like Super Mario Bros 2. Each of the kids represents one of the characters from that game. Tommy plays like Mario, Chuckie plays like Luigi, Phil plays like Toad and Lil plays like Peach. The difference here is that you can switch the kids at any point in the level. I always hated Chuckie in the show and I'm sad to say he's the most useful here. This is another one that I've been waiting to drop in price. I'm a big fan of the original, both arcade and SNES versions, and was keen to see how this remake fared. The graphics are a bit weird but the gameplay is spot on. The game even has some free DLC, complete with extended stages and Trophies, which was much appreciated. I'm always on the hunt for new Indie games and I came across this earlier in the year. The game is a very cozy JRPG that has a fantastic battle system, cooking system that help levels you up and a town building system to help the inhabitants of the world. I also like that it's a very breezy experience. Most RPGS last for hours on end but this can be clocked in around 12 hours. The fact that you can also fast forward the fights is a welcome addition and makes grinding levels super fast. Game is absolutely gorgeous as well. Nothing much more to say about this series that I haven't said before. I discovered these games this year and have been snapping them up whenever I had a spare slot in my gaming calender and if they were on sale. Think I only need to play two more now. I picked this up during my BF gaming binge. It's a bit of a mixed bag. The combat is decent, with encounters being fast and fluid, and there's a weird/fun Persona style system in place that encourages players to talk with NPCs to increase their stats. The problems the game has are that it gets very repeatative, with levels repeating constantly, and the loading times are pretty bad and numerous. There's a decent game in there somewhere but it needed more care and attention before release. Story is decent though. It takes places a few months after the most recent movie, which I loved. I played through Donkey Kong Land on the NSO. Really enjoyed it. It's another cracking example of a Gameboy game being much better than it had any right being. The music from the SNES DKC game that is used here sounds amazing for the hardware it's running on and the game doesn't look all that bad now that you can actually see what's going on! I did get a laugh at King K. Rool during the boss battle. He's tiny in this version! Diddy Kong is bigger than him!!

I'm still chugging away at the game. I'm currently heading to the 3rd Great Lighthouse. Those players and reviewers who complained about how long the game is...yeah, I can now kinda see where they are coming from. I'm 30 hours in and probably have another 20 or so to get through before the credits hit. Everything just feels very dragged out and the fact that the game is now sending me back and forth to revisit areas that I've previously been to doesn't help things. The game still makes me smile though. It's so jolly and the reactions of characters are always worth a watch.

Yeah, most 3rd party games do. It's why I bought the PS4 version of Turtles as well and continue to purchase Yakuza games for my PS4.

If the PS4 version comes with a free PS5 version then I usually go with that. Two for one price and it comes in handy if I decide to do 2 playthroughs and go for a double platinum.

As per tradition, the BF sales have started and so it was time for my yearly spending spree and pick up some games that I've been waiting to drop in price. Never played an SMT game before (3DS one has been sat on the shelf for years) and figured I would give the new one a whirl. It was only £15 at Smyths. Jurassic Park collection I've mainly bought for the Mega Drive and SNES versions of the game. I have fond memories of playing both as a kid. Helldivers II is one I've been interested in since it launched but never got around to playing it. With it being £20, as well as all the awards it won at the Golden Joystick, I figured I would give it a go. Sonic, Outlaws, Metaphor and Steller Blade were ones I knew would drop in price during this sale and was happy to wait for this to happen. Having played and loved Star Ocean First Departure R this year, I was more than happy to give the sequel a chance. Shame that the first game never got a physical release. This year has been nuts for releases. There are still games like DBZ, Silent Hill, Dead Rising, Lego Horizon Adventures and Warhammer 40K that I would like to buy and play but they have yet to be discounted.

A couple of 2025 calenders have been added for 350 platinum coins each. https://my.nintendo.com/news/cc363f7b0f6c2a64 https://my.nintendo.com/news/9c7f794e6df9111b

The 2024 Nintendo Winter catalogue is now available to look at in English. https://www.nintendo.com/jp/software/feature/magazine_2024winter/sp/index_en.html?page=1&device=sp

This isn't the Donkey Kong game I was hoping for (DK64).

Coward.

I'm sitting watching the Golden Joystick Awards and it's a far better show that what Keighley puts out. Sure, it's not as extravagant, but it actually feels like an award show rather than a massive advertisement.

I thought you didn't! I remember you sacking it off as you had seen enough from the first ending, so you never got to see the true end of the game.

I tried playing the S version a year or two back but ended up dropping it. It was too soon to be playing again after playing the vanilla version. I still plan on going back to it and starting it again at some point.

IIRC, you were right at the end anyway, weren't you? Didn't you drop it once the 3rd act started? Shouldn't take that much effort to push through and finally finish the game.

Reading people's impressions of the update, that does seem to the case. I suppose it could be worth it depending on what games eventually come to the service. If it allows a person to play all their digital games then that would be great but if it's tied to what's only available on PS+ then it becomes a bit limited. I've still no interest in it be it's certainly a cool update.

Looks like their interest is legit.

Huge update for Portal owners. It no longer being tethered to the PS5 will be a bit of a game changer for a lot of Portal owners.

Despite me typing "of" instead of "over"?