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Final Fantasy IX No but seriously. As I said in the discord, this game is fantastic. Maybe the best in the franchise? Great characters, great story, great combat... just the perfect Final Fantasy. Give me that remake, now! Is there an equivalent of the Moguri Mod for FFVIII?

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island Behold! Another SNES platformer that I, previously, had never finished (despite being very familiar with the first few worlds) At times, this is the best Mario game. At other times, it's kind of frustrating. Allow me to explain with some random thoughts: First, the bad. I think most of these levels are way longer than they have any right to be. You could trim some of them down by 50% and they'd be much better. Not every level, but more than a few. I don't know how you go from SMB3 with short, perfect levels and then two games later end up with levels that never end. And then when they do end, some of the time, they just kind of peter out. In Super Mario World I feel like I could always tell when the level was about to end by the way everything intensifies. Now that does happen here but not all the time, often I was surprised by the ending circle. Also, I think the music is a big step down from the rest of the franchise at this point. Lastly, what's up with the racism? Holy shit I know it's 1995 but still, for the only depiction of indigenous people in Mario/Nintendo don't do them like that. All that said, this game has some really cool ideas and fun levels. The skiing, the boss fight that is obviously an inspiration for Galaxy, the psychedelic effects, and plenty more. When it's good, it's some of the best Mario platforming there's been. When it's getting long in the tooth? Well that's when it stops feeling like Super Mario World 2 and starts feeling like the first of series of platformers that Nintendo never bothers to develop themselves again. This game is beautiful too, sprite gaming perfected. It's really too bad the push for 3D games stopped Nintendo from making games in this style. It's ridiculous how much better this game looks than virtually every N64 and PS1 game that came after. I still can't believe Mario Maker 2 didn't have this style in it, talk about a wasted opportunity. And can we talk about this BULLSHIT ending? I know a lot of this sounded negative but I really did like it a lot. Also: Poochy, one of the great Mario characters. Give him his own game, Nintendo!

Donkey Kong Country My friends had this game when I was growing up and I feel like we played it all the time. But half way through, the levels stopped feeling familiar. Clearly, no one ever beat it. However, on Sunday, I started and beat it in one evening. I don't feel like it's a great platformer but it certainly has it's charm. I can't help but wonder now that Xbox is going third party or something, would Rare still have these assets? An HD remaster would be really interesting. Donkey Kong Country 2 Hey another game I beat in one night (plus about 30 minutes the next evening). This game, I think, is a much better platformer than DKC1. However, by the last few worlds there's definitely some parts that feel unfair. Say what you want about the difficulty in Tropical Freeze but it's always fair. Anyways, finished every level as Dixie Kong, the best Kong. I feel like we don't talk about her as one of the defining guitarists of the 90s and that's bullshit. I did beat Donkey Kong Country 3 as a kid and I think once more maybe on the Wii Virtual Console, so I don't really feel like going back to that one even if, hot take, I think it's the best of the three.

Donkey Kong Bananza Yeah @toxicitizen basically said it all. This game is fantastic. There's something really cathartic about turning on the Kong bananza and just smashing the shit out of everything.

Yeah if you know where you saw it, I'd pick it up again next time it's on sale!

Super Mario RPG Outside of Zelda, I basically stopped playing games on my Switch in the past few years, in preparation for the inevitable Switch 2, which I was reasonably sure would contain a performance boost for games and maybe even be more comfortable to hold. Lo and behold, it did! Admittedly, not that Super Mario RPG needed a performance boost. Truthfully, I might have just been not very excited to play this. Which was dumb because this game is as charming as it is fun, which is to say it is both very charming and a lot of fun. Probably shouldn't have waited nearly 30 years to play this game. Super Mario 3D World At least I consider it beaten. I rolled credits last night but it unlocked a secret bonus world. I also need to go back and get all the green stars. But I think I'm done playing it as my main game for now. The game didn't make a great first impression, I started it and played the first world or two on Wii U back in the day. I also played it when it first came out on Switch and got about the same length in. But that was a year or two after Odyssey which I felt like was a much more inspired game. Not to mention the early levels are easy and kind of boring. Simply put: 3D World is the New Super Mario Bros of 3D Mario platformers. By that I mean it's a really great game that doesn't really try to push the boundaries of the genre. It plays it safe. When I played Odyssey, Galaxy 1+2, even 3D Land, I could constantly feel the inspiration from the developers but nowhere near as often in SM3DW. Of course there's still some levels that are amongst the best in the series, and that's when the game really shines. A lot of those levels are locked behind green star gates, so make sure you seek them out. EDIT: Also, a few levels into the special world now, and these levels are all fantastic. Ultimately, it feels like they took what worked so well for 3D Land and transitioned it to console. But everything fantastic that 3D Land did, it did as a 3DS game, in 2011. 3D World was released as a HD console game in the 'modern era'. Yes, everything is bigger and looks nicer, but it's iterative. Wait a second. Did 3D World initially come out 12 fucking years ago? Jesus Christ. My eagerness to play games on the Switch 2, got me to pick this game up over the past few nights and finish it off and I'm glad I did, there is some really good level design in here. Just don't go in expecting to see the majesty of Galaxy or Odyssey. But the game still is a ton of fun. Bowser's Fury Now this, is an inspired 3D Mario platformer! Boss fights between Super Sayan Cat Mario and Kaiju Bowser are as ridiculous as they sound and I love it. The various islands instead of cut off worlds works well and is an approach I'd like to see a full length Mario game do in the future... open world Mario platforming, let's go. The controllable camera definitely makes it feel more like Odyssey than 3D World which I appreciate.

I bought Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, but then I realized it runs like hot trash on the Deck. Fortunately Valve makes it really easy to request and receive a refund. It's believe it's time for a Steam Deck 2.

Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare Want to talk about vibes? This game has vibes. The gothic surf rock, especially with this song, is so fucking good. I never finished this back in the day and I couldn't recall why... until about half way through I hit a familiar spot. You have to grab 10 flowers (two types, five of each) for West Dickens and there's no other missions at the time. The flowers are a pain in the ass to find. Still not worth dropping the pack for, but definitely something that should have been adjusted to one of each. I probably had to wrap the game up early to play Uncharted 3 or something. Outside of that the game is a ton of fun and definitely earned it's reputation for being one of the best expansion packs of all time. It's too bad Rockstar refused to do anything like this for RDR2.

Red Dead Redemption I have a lot of nostalgia for this game and it's still a ton of fun to play in 2024. I haven't touched it since it came out originally and I was surprised that there was less jank than I was expecting. Here's a random collection of thoughts: That said, the game has aged poorly in some respects. Characters are racist, antisemitic, sexist, homophobic, etc and no one gets their comeuppance. I get that they're trying to paint a realistic portrait of what common beliefs/attitudes would have been like in 1911 but this is also a game where John Marston kills like, over 1000 people, in a one month span. So it's already not realistic. They could have just... not done included that? Instead a random shopkeeper will just say like 5 horribly racist things during a single transaction and doesn't get challenged on it, nothing bad happens to them, it just is. I think my biggest gripe has to be with the representation of indigenous people. Off the top of my head I can think of one Native American with speaking lines in this game, and he is unceremoniously killed off after a few missions. Meanwhile Dutch's gang is mostly indigenous men and you kill so many of them. I suspect Red Dead 2 is probably better for all this, which I'll probably be playing next, after Undead Nightmare. Gameplay wise, it was more arcade-y than I remember but it's still a ton of fun. I love the world they crafted even if it does feel kind of small. The soundtrack is great (love all that Fender Bass VI you can hear). I'm glad this game is available to play again, it worked really well on my Steam Deck.

Now here's an interesting one. Beating III HD-2D inspired me to take on an old game, that I've planned on finishing for a long, long time. See: I finished one of those games back then, but tonight I finally completed my original save file, from the cart, on a DS... Dragon Quest IX I bought this game when it came out in the summer of 2010. I was 23 then. It was my first Dragon Quest game and I remember really liking it. But eventually I hit the final boss, Corvus, and he easily destroyed my party. I think I tried a few more times got frustrated and as this was the era of $59.99 CAD games ($49.99 Wii and... maybe 30 or 40 dollar DS games? I can't recall) I probably had a bunch of new games to play so I moved on. I always intended to come back and I think I might have tried one or twice, and probably when I made the above post in 2011, but by that point, 8ish months later, I couldn't exactly remember where to go or what to do. So if that was a challenge in 2011, you can bet it was a challenge here in 2024. But I'm old as fuck now and with that means I've completed like, three Dragon Quest games since then. I'm arguably smarter. More worldly. So I found my wife's old DSi XL, my copy of DQIX, and hoped the save was still there. Turns out it was! And the DS somehow had like half a charge, I don't remember when I plugged that in last. Either way, I googled the best place to fight Liquid Metal Slimes, struggled to figure out how to get there, but eventually spent a few hours slicing those little dudes up. And then I made my way to the bottom of Gittingham Palace and.... nothing. Turns out I must have finished that as it is not the final boss area I thought it was. After consulting a GameFAQ walk through (as per the spirit of this endeavour) I realized I had to go somewhere called the Realm of the Mighty. Which I have no memory of. But I've been there before because there was open chests. Figuring out how to get there took time too, no guides just tell you, they expect you to know because in game you were there like 5 hours ago maybe. It's like the devs didn't even account for someone coming back 14 years later. Eventually I made my way to the top and accidentally started the final battle with low HP and low MP. Oops. So I got wrecked again. And then a second time with proper provisions. At this point I realized, shit, I should have 4 party members. How the fuck do I find my other party members? More googling, but eventually, much like DQIII I found an inn with Patty, found my fourth party member, a fighter, who, like my warrior, was named after a long gone family pet (). Oh back to slicing up Liquid Metal Slimes for a bit too. Anyways, long story short, I finally beat this game. 14 and a half years later. I had no idea what happened at the end. There was a bunch of angels and some flash backs. I'm sure it would have been great in August 2010. But at least now, I can finally check this one off the list. I liked it, even if I don't know why or how. For that I will give it a score of... Grade: ?+ Also, the DSiXL screens make everything look awful, I can't believe this was an actual product. And the DS is so uncomfortable to hold, how the fuck did I ever play this thing all the time. Bring out a remaster and put it on Steam so I can play on my Deck. This time I'll do it in the span of a few weeks not 1.5 decades.

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake Fucking hell I love Dragon Quest. I've been playing this game in the past two weeks as temperatures dip and snow starts to fall, and I haven't minded because DQIII HD-2D is cozy AF. I love the way this 2D-HD art style looks, and I would love to see Final Fantasy VI remade like this. Especially with thick depth of field... and the way the lighting engine makes lanterns look at night. It's a ~vibe~ and I'm here for it. I guess this has been the year of TCP playing classic JRPGs as I also beat Final Fantasy VI and VII for the first time as well. And similarly to those two games, I can retroactively see the influence of this game on other games I've played, especially Pokemon. It's a shame other classic Dragon Quests aren't on Steam. I'd love to play V and VIII. I and II are coming but knowing they won't be as deep as this game has me less excited. Anyways Grade: A

Final Fantasy VII Well, that was good but I have questions: Who did Red XIII bang? In all seriousness I think Remake/Rebirth kind of spoiled me, I would have enjoyed this more if I played it first. But it did make me even more excited for Part 3, things just kind of happen in VII with no weight given to it, I'm excited to see everything expanded. I also used a bunch of texture packs via 7th Heaven, they looked really good, Square needs to do something official and do a faithful remake/remaster. Grade: A-

Final Fantasy VI I've started this game many times but never completed it until now. Looks and plays great on the Steam Deck with the Pixel Remaster. It's a classic for a reason, just a really great 2D JRPG. I can only imagine how great it would have felt in 1994, but it holds up in 2024. Fun fact: coincidentally, I learned earlier today that today, April 2, is the 30th anniversary of the game! I saved last night right before the Kefka boss fight and saw something today about it being the 30th anniversary. Clearly, it was meant to be. One other thing: this game needs the HD-2D treatment. Expand the script a bit, make some areas bigger, but keep the ~vibes~ Rating: A+

"Rebirth makes Remake feel like a tech demo" is that better?? or "Rebirth retroactively makes Remake feel like a tech demo"?? At some point in the next year or two Square will rerelease XIII (I think it's the only game currently not really available except maybe via an old PC port and Xbox BC) and I feel we'll see a lot of people come out of the woodwork to sing it's praises. Basically, it's going to get some Star Wars prequel revisionism.