TCP

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

Super Metroid Yeah, I somehow have never finished Super Metroid. I've started it a bunch, but I've never gotten that far for one reason or another. This great shame ended today. It's a game rich in atmosphere and ~vibes~. I liked it more than Samus Returns/Return of Samus and more than Zero Mission. The controls kind of.... sucked. Maybe that was one of my issues in the past with it. But especially coming from the other games, this game felt very differently. Fortunately I used the Redux patch which, among a few other things, modernized the controls making the game a much more comfortable experience to play. Score: A+

I'm trying to play more retro games, and despite the lack of save states on some cores (most frustratingly SNES), it's definitely the best way to experience those games portably, IMHO.

Not the game but the hardware: I was excited to see my Metroid II save file that I would have started in 1995 is still alive. My Oracle of Seasons save file from that games launch also still exists.

Steam Deck! There's a few different layout options, including stacking the screens on top of each other in the same screen, having one big one small, side by side, etc. I prefer going full screen, on the Steam Deck if you use Emudeck R5 will swap screens.

Metroid: Samus Returns The original Metroid II holds a special place in my heart. It was the first game I ever beat. My memory is foggy since it's been almost 30 years but I played it all throughout grade 3 when I was just an 8 year old TCP. There was no map and every location looked the same. What I was suppose to do next was never clear especially as a kid. I'm pretty sure I sequence breaked at one point because I definitely sank through a bunch of acid and got to an area before I was suppose to. At some point I killed all the metroids and took on the final boss, then, with the baby I got to the surface. My point is, it was a perfect game to just wander around in for the entire school year since you lucked into getting to the end. I think this was always going to be a difficult game to remake because by it's tedious by it's very nature. I think MercuryStream did a good attempt at it. Ultimately I think there could have, and should have, been more variety in the types of metroids because by the end it feels like you're repeating the same boss battles over and over. Either that or just have the majority of metroids in each area be the basic metroids and have the challenge be in finding them. Obviously my memory is foggy but none of the areas felt familiar. Some of the enemies were straight out of Return of Samus which was cool but there was a lot of gameplay based on the aeion abilities which were obviously not a thing on the Game Boy version. So a very loose remake which is understandable. The depth of the backgrounds look cool and I bet it would have looked cool in 3D. It looks good playing at 2x resolution on the Steam Deck via Citra. It sets a lot of groundwork for what would later be seen in Dread and honestly I think I would have liked it more if I played Samus Returns before Dread. It's a fine Metroid game but the weakest of all the ones I've played recently (Prime, Dread, and Zero Mission). I'll be moving onto Super Metroid in a bit but I'm waiting for a new piece of hardware to arrive to do 8 and 16 bit games on so for the moment maybe I'll try Prime 2. Grade: B-

Metroid Zero Mission A nice, short, Metroid game. Great pace to it too, you're constantly finding upgrades. The section where you play as Samus without her armour and weapons is pretty cool, I wish they had expanded on it. Anyways, onwards to Samus Returns! Grade: A

Metroid Dread So I started playing this game at launch, got maybe half way through and just sort of... forgot about it. But after playing (and mostly liking) Prime, and wanting a game I could play portably without a huge focus on story so my wife and I can watch TV at night, I thought I'd give Dread another take. I started a new save and dived back in. This game fucking slaps. It's everything I want out of a Metroid. Samus' movement is great and gets better throughout the game, through both unlocking new abilities, and you the player mastering those new abilities. There's a lot of quality of life enhancements too that the Prime Remaster was lacking, like auto save outside boss rooms that make retrying the bosses much less frustrating. Which is good because the bosses are tough in this game. But honestly, it's kind of fun learning their patterns and retrying, progressing a bit further each time. I think I prefer the exploration in Prime. The secrets were harder to find. The environments were more engrossing due to being 3D. Both styles of Metroid games have their advantages. Bring on Prime 4 this year. Grade: A+

Has anyone here upgraded to a Steam Deck OLED?? If so, what are your thoughts? I want to upgrade but at this point I'll hold out for the next revision. Unless they start selling refurbished OLED Decks like they did with the LCD models.

One last game!!! Metroid Prime Remaster Fun fact: I've never finished this game before. I got maybe half way through on the GCN version (playing on a Wii) back in '09 or maybe '10 but stopped somewhere around the part where you see Metroids in tanks and the lights go out. I'm not sure exactly why! I do recall enjoying it. Maybe Uncharted 3 came out and I got distracted? Anyways, so essentially I've been playing a 20 year old game for the first time. When this game is great it's very great. Unfortunately it's also very tedious: Did you just walk back into a room you were just in? Fuck you! The enemies are all respawned. Seriously though, for a game that wants you to backtrack they sure didn't make it fun. Save points are few and far between. Defeated enemies will give you bombs when you need health or vice versa. The underwater section, without the suit that makes mobility easier, is SO slow. And then when you do get the suit the platforms are all still arranged for the old suit so you can easily over jump an fall all the way to the bottom. Speaking of the underwater section, I got about 75% through it and then the game told me I can't progress. Thanks for letting me waste my time! Want to get to the ice area from the overworld? Ha fuck you! See something cool that you can't get yet so you want to mark it on your map to come back to? Also fuck you! However, the world design is (mostly) great. The music is great. The power ups are awesome. Most of the bosses are cool (except Thardus who got stuck in a wall which made hitting it's weak spots very annoying. Visually the game is gorgeous Nintendo/Retro did a good job cleaning it up. I just wish they'd put some QOL changes into the game as well. Score: B+ That finalizes my list of games that I've completed this year: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - 2023-06-21 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D - 2023-06-23 Super Mario 3D Land - 2023-12-03 Starfield - 2023-12-03 The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds - 2023-12-23 Super Mario Bros. Wonder - 2023-12-25 Metroid Prime Remastered - 2023-12-31 This is compared to three last year (both Pokemons and New Vegas) so.... I'm basically MetalCaveman or Pojo. Ok maybe not but as you can see I did pretty good in December.

Glad to see TOTK in it's rightful place! That said, I'm very disappointed to see none of you voted for Super Mario Wonder.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder I feel like this is what playing Super Mario World in 1991 would have been like. I mean, I'm pretty sure I did play SMW in 1991 or maybe 1992 at my uncle's house but I was 4 and dumb and didn't understand the difference between an NES and a SNES. So this is what playing Super Mario World would have been like when it was new and you understood the context of what you were playing. That is to to say, this game is very good. In any other year it would probably be a consensus as GOTY but alas 2023 was crazy. Grade: A++

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds I bought this game when it was released.... 10 years ago (wtf). I remember being really down on Nintendo at the time and not liking the 3DS at all. The resolution was crappy, it was uncomfortable to hold, and the 3D effect never really looked that good. So I played the game, grinded out rupees, bought all the items and then felt unmotivated to keep playing. Fast forward to 2023 and now I have a Steam Deck, which is much more comfortable to hold in my hands than a 3DS. Most 3DS games, including ALBW look really good in HD and the Steam Deck has no issue playing most games at 3x resolution. Well, the game itself looks better but maybe "looks good" is a step too far. The artstyle in this game is atrocious. It's the New Super Mario Bros of Zelda. I'm so glad Link's Awakening got a better art style in the remake than this game did. It's definitely a lowpoint in the series visually. Which is too bad given the whole painting theme with this game, it could have been their excuse to do something really creative and ambitious with the visual style. That said, gameplay is fantastic. I love top down Zelda, but have never really been a huge A Link to the Past fan, I just don't like the way sword combat feels in that game. Fortunately this is much more link Link's Awakening, Oracle games, and Minish Cap. The dungeon design is great, I especially liked Thieves Hideout, Dark Palace, and the Ice Ruins. Lorule, while dumb in concept, feels really fresh. The items you collect compliment the game well and it's focus on layers. You can also see some Breath of the Wild elements in this game. The treasure room challenges are essentially proto-shrines and collecting monster parts to turn into potions is something they'd elaborate on as well. Overall I feel I was too dismissive of this game back in 2013 but I'm glad I could play it now. The Steam Deck is great at breathing second life into some of these 3DS and Wii U games. Grade: A+

I beat a second game tonight... Super Mario 3D Land Anyways, one of my big gaming discoveries this year is that emulation is actually..... pretty great. I remember emulating NES/SNES games 20 years ago and it never felt right. But 3DS games at 3x the resolution on the Steam Deck? Pretty good! Anyways, I started this game a few years ago when it came out. ...According to Wikipedia that was 12 years ago. Fucking hell. I liked it a lot but I recall it was a busy fall. Looks like Uncharted 3 (the second best Uncharted) and Skyrim came out just days before it, and Skyward Sword a few weeks later. So anyways, it was a pleasure to return and finally roll credits on it. I'll chip away at the special worlds too but looks like they're mostly remixes of previous levels. 3D Land shares a lot of it's DNA with Super Mario Bros 3, a game which holds a special place in my heart. The game feels like a genuine combination of 3D and 2D Mario. The powerups are a lot of fun, the level design is pretty imaginative. The world map is kind of plain but for a 3DS game I guess they had to cut corners somewhere. Still, I can't believe Nintendo has never re-released this game. 9/10

You remember me?!?! I've been lurking and checking in from time to time. I haven't been playing games too much in the past few years. Work is long, I get tired, and doing nothing is always easier than doing something. But, I got really into TOTK this year and I've found unwinding with a game like that at night to be beneficial for my mental health, so I've been trying to play more games. Ahaha yeah I use to love Uncharted 3 didn't I?! And no it would be TOTK, the champ. But in all likely hood probably TOTK, Starfield, Mario Wonder, BG3, and uhhh TOTK again.

Starfield This game just would not end. I've never seen a game have so many distractions that are just interesting enough to keep me playing. I was never wowed. I never hated it. It is the bread of games.

Can I vote for the same game 5 times?

As you folks know, I've been a long time admirer of PC gaming and have definitely never said anything dismissive of it. I really love the Switch, it's everything the Vita wanted to be. It's just, especially in 2022, a little under powered. While Nintendo games are great on it, it's missing a lot of the third party games. So on July 17 2021 I reserved a Steam Deck 256GB and on July 18 2022 I was finally able to order it. During the Steam Summer Sale a few weeks ago I bought: Red Dead Redemption 2 Fallout 3 Fallout New Vegas Elder Scrolls IV Elder Scrolls III A few days ago I also bought Sable.

Pokemon Legends Arceus The best Pokemon game since Gold/Silver and unless BOTW2 comes out this year I think it'll probably end up being GOTY.