Your 2025 Gaming Diary

[nekunando]

 

[Hero-of-Time]

18 minutes ago, nekunando said:

 

I played through it last year and loved it.

Do you not have the English version?

[Dcubed]

11 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I played through it last year and loved it.

Do you not have the English version?

The English version is quite expensive on the second hand market, while the Japanese version is a lot cheaper.  I wouldn't be surprised if that's why he has the Japanese one.

Plus it's not like there's a lot of text in that game anyway.

Edited Monday at 11:31 AM by Dcubed

[nekunando]

16 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

The English version is quite expensive on the second hand market, while the Japanese version is a lot cheaper.  I wouldn't be surprised if that's why he has the Japanese one.

Plus it's not like there's a lot of text in that game anyway.

Correct on all counts 😄

I already have the freeloader and memory card for Winning Eleven so thought I'd get Air Ride when I saw it on eBay last year for a decent price.

I'd never pay the price of the PAL version, especially for a game I wasn't convinced I'd really enjoy anyway, but I wanted to try it and, as you say, there isn't much text to worry about!

It's probably taken a few races to get to grips with it but it's definitely one of those games that would be a welcome addition to any potential future GC NSO!

[Cube]

The next game on my list of 10 is a game you probably haven't heard getting mentioned for ages...Kirby Air Ride.

I thought this looked interesting when I was reading about it in NGC Magazine, but with the limited amount of games I could choose, I couldn't risk a game that they gave a score of 51% to. It's a shame as it's great, with three distinct modes.

Air Ride

The standard race mode, and mechanics of just steering and using the a button to drift/change up your boost. However, the vehicles you unlock are surprisingly varied, especially with this mechanic. There's no grand prix, but rather challenges you complete via an achievement-like system (the same as Smash Bros Melee), with plenty to work towards. A few more tracks would have been nice, but it's still a ton of fun.

Top Ride

The weakest part of a game, a traditional top down racing game. I do like that they let your choose your control preference in a cute way: one vehicle lets you aim in the direction you want to face, and another that lets you turn left/right instead. It's still fun, and the achievement system keeps you sticking to it for longer than you would otherwise give this mode (each mode has its own set of achievements).

Shite City Trial

If Nintendo released this mode on the Switch as a free to play game, it would probably be criticised for chasing a lot of current trends. It feels very modern, with a single open map, events happening during the setup and lots of increasing stats in a one-time manner. You can swap between vehicles and collect items which will boost your stats. When the timer plays out, a random event will be picked and you'll have to hope your stats are favourable to it.

As a singleplayer game, there's plenty to keep you at it, and this combined with the multiplayer would have meant that I would have absolutely loved this and played it for countless hours as a kid. I still immensely enjoyed it now. 

[Hero-of-Time]

40 minutes ago, Cube said:

As a singleplayer game, there's plenty to keep you at it, and this combined with the multiplayer would have meant that I would have absolutely loved this and played it for countless hours as a kid. I still immensely enjoyed it now. 

It was a fantastic multiplayer experience. Both this and Smash Bros. Melee were the top games when having friends over for a gaming night and the achievement system meant that there was still plenty to do and unlock once my friends had gone home. 

[Glen-i]

4 hours ago, Cube said:

the same as Smash Bros Brawl

Fixed that for you. Melee didn't have the achievement board.

Also, City Trial is the best mode, what's wrong with you!?

Multiplayer in that made up around 80% of my time with it. Absolute riot! And it also indirectly gave us the best Smash mode, Smash Run!

Edited Monday at 04:25 PM by Glen-i

[Cube]

17 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

Also, City Trial is the best mode, what's wrong with you!?

I agree that it's the best mode, it's a ton of fun - I was just repeating nando's phone translation of it. 

[Glen-i]

1 minute ago, Cube said:

I agree that it's the best mode, it's a ton of fun - I was just repeating nando's phone translation of it. 

Oh, I definitely missed that.

My bad, carry on.

[nekunando]

Given that mine is the Japanese version and I haven't tried it yet, what do you do in City Trial?

I was already a little disappointed to find that there's no real Grand Prix mode and that races are just in an individual basis and I'm not sure if I saw anything to suggest that one is 'cleared' once you win it 😅

Edited Monday at 06:47 PM by nekunando

[Hero-of-Time]

25 minutes ago, nekunando said:

Given that mine is the Japanese version and I haven't tried it yet, what do you do in City Trial?

I was already a little disappointed to find that there's no real Grand Prix mode and that races are just in an individual basis and I'm not sure if I saw anything to suggest that one is 'cleared' once you win it 😅

In City Trial you are given a set amount of time to collect various power ups. After the time limit you will be put into a random event with the other players. If it's something like a race then any speed stats you acquire will benefit you or if it's an event that requires you to fly the farthest then the air/glide stat will come in handy.

I'm not sure how much you'll get out of the single player. I love unlockables and achievements/trophies and so it's right up my street. If you aren't aiming to clear the checklist then there will be little for you to do.

[Cube]

Yeah, the progression is done via the achievements system (which also unlocks new stuff, including a new track).

Each mode has a "records" option (second from bottom from each mode) then "checklist" (top option) and there will be a grid of challenges. They start off hidden, but when you unlock one you'll see how to get the four around it. 

[Dcubed]

1 hour ago, Cube said:

Yeah, the progression is done via the achievements system (which also unlocks new stuff, including a new track).

Each mode has a "records" option (second from bottom from each mode) then "checklist" (top option) and there will be a grid of challenges. They start off hidden, but when you unlock one you'll see how to get the four around it. 

Yeah, the Checklist is the meat and potatoes of KAR.  Smash Bros Brawl (and each subsequent Smash game from there on) would go on to reuse the system wholesale.  So if you’ve played any modern Smash game, you should be familiar with how the Checklist works.

Edited Monday at 09:35 PM by Dcubed

[nekunando]

It doesn't feel like something which is going to hold my interest for very long but I'll have a few more races tomorrow to see if it grows on me.

Having to pull the phone out for a translation of each achievement probably isn't going to help 😅

[WackerJr]

On 3/23/2025 at 5:39 PM, Hero-of-Time said:

It's a shame the GBC version isn't on NSO. I would have liked to have given it a go.

It remember it being ok to play.  The fairly zoomed in view did make it a little trickier to get an idea of the surrounding areas and less time to react to wherever enemies were.  It used the GameBoy Rumble and was one level in particular, I think it was on a boat, where it would rumble every few seconds to indicate… something.  It wasn’t until I turned off the rumble that I realised how it added and that I missed it! 
 

With those Rare console games appearing on NSO, I do hope we one day see Perfect Dark, Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty’s Revenge and Conker’s Pocket Tales?

[Hero-of-Time]

6 hours ago, WackerJr said:

With those Rare console games appearing on NSO, I do hope we one day see Perfect Dark, Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty’s Revenge and Conker’s Pocket Tales?

I loved that game. I found it to be very underrated. I've no idea how well it holds all these years later though.

[Dcubed]

31 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I loved that game. I found it to be very underrated. I've no idea how well it holds all these years later though.

It's decent.  It does a surprisingly good job of translating Banjo's 3D Platforming/Adventure gameplay with Isometric 2D visuals; but it also doesn't really do a whole lot new to push the series forward.  It's worth playing though, and certainly one of Rare's better handheld titles (Though for my money, Sabrewulf on GBA is their best handheld title overall).

[Hero-of-Time]

@Nicktendo I blame you for this.

I decided to fire up the NSO and start a new file. I've no idea if I will go through the whole game but after Nick was talking about it the other day, I very much had the desire to play it again. I've only played through the first dungeon so far.

It's funny, the game released the same year as Metal Gear Solid and while that gets a lot of praise for pushing the medium forward with it's story telling and cutscenes, I feel Ocarina of Time doesn't get the credit it deserves. Sure, it doesn't have voice acting and long cutscenes but what it does with very little is very impressive.

For instance, the way the game pans the camera when entering a dungeon...

...and when entering a boss chamber and seeing the boss for the first time...

 

...or when the killing blow has been delivered...

...all of these are very cinematic.

Even some of the camera angles used give off this feeling as well, such as this shot...

So, yeah, one dungeon down...

...and many more to go. I may just do a dungeon a day (to keep the Ganon away) while I settle down for the night. Proper cosy gaming.  

As a side note, I've reverted back to using my gaming Twitter account purely because BlueSky don't allow for a private option. I hate people following me (sorry @Happenstance, @Glen-i and @Cube) or anybody been able to just look at my post and comment on them.

[Nicktendo]

My Switch Wishlist is now empty! The first time since 2017, or ever, basically. I got my final voucher a couple of weeks ago, which I used on Xenoblade X and Famicom Detective Club. Found a nice deal on Amazon Germany for Emio physical, so that's coming later this week, and I used my final gold points on Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster, which was on sale at 40% off if memory serves me correctly. With my gold coins it was around £30, which I thought was a solid deal for 6 games. 

Of course, this all means I actually have dropped RDR2 for now, and I'm currently going through FF1 and Xenoblade during most of my free time - I'll have updates on both soon. 

Feels kinda strange that the Switch is coming to an end though. And I'm also kinda sad that my final physical game is going to have a huge irremovable rating / warning badge on the cover and, even worse, be in German .

Spoiler

I'm looking forward to seeing just how much Der Mann is lächelnding in this edition.

Sad times, but there's always a financial or aesthetic cost to remaining somewhat physical in this part of the world. 

What pledge, sorry?

[Hero-of-Time]

Yeah, German ratings/box arts suck. Sorry. @drahkon.

Looking forward to reading what you think of Emio, @Nicktendo. Hands down one of the best games I played last year.

[drahkon]

4 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Yeah, German ratings/box arts suck. Sorry. @drahkon.

No need to apologise, I agree  

9 minutes ago, Nicktendo said:

lächelnding

That is one of the funniest "words" I've ever read  

[nekunando]

I played a few more races in Kirby's Air Ride and I have absolutely no idea what achievements I've been unlocking b cause I haven't been grabbing my phone for a translation 😅

I've won the first 4 races but I'll maybe see defeating them all as my 'completion' point unless I get anything else out of the top down races or City Trial.

Apart from that, I resumed my save file in Red Dead Redemption on Switch and am just on my way to Mexico.

I probably still have a good few missions to go before surpassing my original PS3 save file which was destroyed by the YLOD 🥲

Not always in the mood for this sort of experience but I'm enjoying it for now and will hopefully finish it this time. It would save me have to get used to the controls again, if anything!

[Julius]

21 minutes ago, nekunando said:

Apart from that, I resumed my save file in Red Dead Redemption on Switch and am just on my way to Mexico.

Pretty sure I got attacked by coyotes on my way to Mexico when I played Red Dead, during what was clearly meant to be the moment (musically) when that transition was happening 

Totally killed the vibe but gave me a good laugh 

[Dcubed]

6 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

@Nicktendo I blame you for this.

I decided to fire up the NSO and start a new file. I've no idea if I will go through the whole game but after Nick was talking about it the other day, I very much had the desire to play it again. I've only played through the first dungeon so far.

It's funny, the game released the same year as Metal Gear Solid and while that gets a lot of praise for pushing the medium forward with it's story telling and cutscenes, I feel Ocarina of Time doesn't get the credit it deserves. Sure, it doesn't have voice acting and long cutscenes but what it does with very little is very impressive.

For instance, the way the game pans the camera when entering a dungeon...

...and when entering a boss chamber and seeing the boss for the first time...

...or when the killing blow has been delivered...

...all of these are very cinematic.

Even some of the camera angles used give off this feeling as well, such as this shot...

 

So, yeah, one dungeon down...

 

...and many more to go. I may just do a dungeon a day (to keep the Ganon away) while I settle down for the night. Proper cosy gaming.  

As a side note, I've reverted back to using my gaming Twitter account purely because BlueSky don't allow for a private option. I hate people following me (sorry @Happenstance, @Glen-i and @Cube) or anybody been able to just look at my post and comment on them.

Worth noting that you have StarFox 2 to thank for much of OoT's camera-work; as it was based directly on that game's camera system (particularily the way it shows doors opening after you hit switches; that was taken directly from SF2).  Of course, OoT is an evolution over what SF2 did, but the influence is shockingly clear when you go back and play SF2.

OoT is a real one though.  It's crazy how far ahead of its time it was when it came out, and how much of a debt basically every modern action game owes to it

Edited 20 hours ago by Dcubed