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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.

Remake felt like a tech demo for Rebirth. There's significantly more to do in Rebirth, side content, main story, areas to explore. And almost all of it is great. There's a bunch of mini games in there that could be there own game. I heard a podcast today where one person said "Rebirth is one of the best games I've ever played", and another person responded "Rebirth is two of the best games I've ever played, Rebirth and Queen's Blood". But also: Rebirth is the best mini game collection disguised a semi-open world RPG.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth This game fucking slaps. I was skeptical, Remake was "just ok". But goddamn I loved this game. It's my favourite Final Fantasy. Hopefully we don't have to wait 4 years for Remembrance... or whatever it will be called. Grade: A++

Spider-Man 2? Final Fantasy Rebirth? I couldn't hold out any longer, something had to be done.

Metroid Fusion I never hear anyone talk about this game (compared to the other Metroid games that is) but I think it's one of the better ones. I imagine people have issues with the robo telling you where to go, but there's so much reward for exploring that it makes up for it. And honestly, I like that I didn't always have to figure out where to go. The boss fights were great. There is a lot of modernized Metroid in it, like Samus holding onto edges. Each area was varied. I liked the super missiles just being an upgrade to the regular missiles instead of their own separate weapon. The moments when you randomly (sometimes literally) walk into SA-X. But most of all I liked the pixel artwork. This game looks GREAT. I wish Nintendo would still make the occasional pixel based game. There's some great moments like when you walk past windows and see the planet below floating past. The game is very colourful especially coming from Zero Mission and Super, which makes the image really pop on the Analogue Pocket screen. Grade: A