Yeah, that was a big advantage Yoshi’s Story had when I first played it, too: I hadn’t played its overwhelmingly superior predecessor yet. That was rectified by the time I replayed Story, so the combination of its own flaws and seeing how much better Island is left high school me despondent.

I know plenty of people who like Yooka-Laylee; that’s not an uncommon opinion as far as I’ve seen. You enjoy the Nintendo 64 Banjo games and Donkey Kong 64, right? Yooka-Laylee takes notes from them, so hopefully you’ll fall in the camp that enjoys it. We don’t know for sure what Playtonic’s been up to since Impossible Lair, but I wouldn't be surprised if they're making a direct sequel to the original. Really curious to see it.

I really like the Donkey Kong Land trilogy, but it’s impossible to recommend them to anyone but series diehards today. The tl;dr take on the first is that it’s easily the most interesting one; it’s a bona fide sequel to Country that reuses some of its content but adds a good amount of new stuff. Sadly, Land 2 very much plays the “worse version of a console game” cliché straight and reimagines Country 2 for the Game Boy, even if the level layouts are new. Land III has a unique story and is technically set in new areas, but it nevertheless retreads its Country counterpart—albeit its levels rely less heavily on gimmicks, so their pacing is closer to those of the first two Country games. All of them suffer from harsh technical limitations (though each entry less so) and other concessions, but if you really, really like Rare’s Country games, the Lands are worth trying.

You reminded me of how poor Nuts & Bolts’ first impression is. The starter / hub vehicle is clumsy (deliberately so, but still), Nutty Acres is unengaging, and, though I didn’t think this was meant as an attack on longtime fans, a lot of people took issue with the self-deprecating “pointless collecting” jab. As a whole, I actually think the game shares more in common with the older games’ DNA than people give it credit for—the vehicles are meant to be an evolution of Banjo and Kazooie’s abilities—but the execution was lacking. And the fact the initial Banjo is Back! teaser suggested something akin to the first two games understandably left fans disappointed. I’m confident we’ll get a new Banjo-Kazooie eventually, but I can’t see it building off Nuts & Bolts. I hope another game does down the road, though.

I am certainly generalizing - I'll readily admit that - but it is something I see a lot in 10/10 reviews, and something I consciously try to avoid when writing positive reviews. I once read a review of a game that went on for several... I guess you'd call them pages? about this game that the reviewer absolutely loved, and by the end, I didn't have even a basic understanding of how the game played, because they didn't make any effort to mention it. Just the same, I've seen negative reviews on Steam that were completely useless, because all they said was, "no. just no." These reviews had several people who marked them "helpful". I suppose I was able to dodge the Guitar Hero bullet because I didn't have any new consoles at the time; I've played Rock Band at parties before, but I don't think I've ever played an actual Guitar Hero game. But yes, you are completely right: the annoying trends of today will eventually fade, just like any other.

That is certainly true; I just hadn't considered it to be that bad in something with such minimal gameplay. The images kept flickering to the point that I couldn't even look at it anymore, and that sort of thing isn't prone to bothering me. It's like when I played Lure of the Temptress, and hadn't considered pathfinding to be something that could be broken, but let's just say it's free at GOG for a reason.

I could see it; comedy's a lot like that, too, or at least it used to be. I remember the Earthworm Jim being really funny, but once you get to the third stage, the jank just overwhelms it. I don't remember a lot of other specific games like that, but I do have a general memory of comedy games being much more fun to watch than to play. But yes, I've read erotica from some very talented writers (not necessarily as talented at the actual writing as turning the key to get that motor running), so certainly it would be possible. This is also why you hire writers for writing, unless that's your particular talent: the end result is usually much better.

Souls games and their imitators are a big part of it, sure, but the reresurgence of "Precision Platformers" is an entirely different beast wearing the same stripes. People debate endlessly about whether or not they're hard, but the desire to be punished is what I'm seeing on the rise, and it's bleeding into plenty of other genres.

They weren't, but the reason it bears mentioning is that others were doing it, it worked just fine, and if that's the case, why come up with something so needlessly convoluted instead of the most straightforward answer? Isn't that what playtesting is for? I know playtesting is taken for granted now, because you can con people into paying you to playtest your game by making it sound like a super exclusive closed event, but back then, you had to pay people; might as well get your money's worth. That's a valid point: somewhere along the line, my brain just stopped processing fear (I'll spare you the lurid details, but a lot of things are broken up there), so maybe I just don't get horror. There are certainly horror games that I like - Soma is an all-time favorite for sure! - but I'm definitely processing them differently. Might also be why I think Amnesia (yes, the original) is extremely overrated until about the last hour-and-a-half/two hours. I didn't mention sticks, but I will stick up (guh huh) for the PlayStation's d-pad! It's easily my favorite out of any controller that has one, because each directional input is a separate button; most modern controllers' d-pads are a disc with a raised cross on it, and at that point, why not just make it a third stick, because that's functionally what it is. It's fine for most games, sure (I beat both the Amons in Yakuza Zero while forced to use one, because my left stick wasn't working), but Fighters are a different story; I always have trouble with my characters jumping because the disc tilted just a little too far, but with PlayStation's individual buttons, that never happens. People are starting to realize this now, and there's an entire movement where people custom order fight sticks not with a joystick, but four arrow keys, like on a keyboard.

SEA BED! The Visual Novel is called Sea Bed; just saw it on SteamGifts today.

I did 1 dungeon in ages so not that far thankfully. And no the advance rings aren't obtainable natively on switch nor the 3DS release either. Nintendo doesn't usually account for these things when adding games to virtual console as far as I am aware. The only exception I know is that they kept in online functionality for Pokemon Trading Card Game on Gameboy making the Mew card obtainable after doing a random card trade with 15 unique players. Funnily enough there's supposed to be a second card obtainable with this method but due to a programming error it's just flat-out impossible to obtain.

But from what I heard thankfully the GBA rings can still be obtained via editing your password the game gives you to start a linked save at the end of the game. It's something I'll have to look into when the time comes. But I think there's also a password option to get rings from the opposite version so I wonder if that works as well.

I did grab a Yuri Visual Novel for free, and figured I'd give it a shot, but the damn thing was so broken I couldn't spend more than a few minutes with it. HOW DO YOU HAVE THIS MANY BUGS IN A DAMN VISUAL NOVEL!? Beyond that, it's just not a genre I think I enjoy; I need more interaction than just virtual page-turning and the occasional something else. Va-11 Hall-A is an excellent example; I enjoyed the characters and story quite a bit, but by the end, the lack of gameplay was getting me really antsy. It's frustrating, too, since I love queer content, as you might expect, but it seems like all my people know how to make is Visual Novels; there is the occasional Haven or Timespinner, but it's well over 90% Visual Novels. I would like to give Phoenix Wright a shot, and I did enjoy the first case, but I guess we'll see how much of it is Adventure and how much is Visual Novel.

As for the erotic stuff, I'm fine with it, but I don't like it to be the sole focus; if I want porn, I'll go seek out porn. Certainly, some of the things I'm into lend themselves very well to a written format, but erotica's out there, too, and the wildest you're likely to get in a game - Visual Novel or otherwise - is a little girl/girl action; it's usually pretty tame.

Exactly! The whole reason I tend to go for lower scores is that people are more descriptive when they're ranting about how much they hate something, and while people can and will write just as much for a 10/10 game, it's usually all mindless gushing, so the quantity doesn't have any real quality to it. Even beyond boring: imagine if every single game that came out was exactly what you wanted... your backlog and wallet would both suffer beyond human capability for description!

There does seem to be kind of a resurgence in bullshit hard, doesn't there? I'd thought maybe I was just getting old, but I managed to beat both the Amons in Yakuza Zero with a busted controller the other day, so nope: the old lady's still got it. I know some companies use bullshit hard to sell microtransactions, but with only some of them doing it, I'm not really sure what that's all about.

Yeah, it depends on the game, but if I don't feel like putting up with its shit, I'll drop the difficulty or use cheap tactics if I don't feel like spending that much time "gitting gud". That or I'll drop it altogether, unless it's an early entry in a series I think will be worthwhile in the end. Herakles no Eikou is a great example: the third and fourth game for SNES look really good, the second game for NES is a very middle-of-the-road Dragon Warrior clone, and the first game is so mind-numbing that I actually wrote a hex-editing guide FROM SCRATCH just to drag myself through it. I could never adjust to tank controls. A friend of mine wanted to borrow Mega Man X4, and let me borrow Resident Evil 2 in exchange, which I gave back to him THE NEXT DAY. He let me borrow Parasite Eve instead, and that turned out to be a much better game. They just baffle me: if you want me to fight less and run away more, then why are the shooting mechanics fine, and the movement mechanics completely fucked? I've heard people say it's because they didn't know how to deal with 3D back then, but people play 3D Platformers with WASD on a damn keyboard and point-and-click enemies to death, so I don't buy it for a second. Also, Final Fantasy 7 did the whole "3D models on a prerendered background thing" just fine with a regular D-pad.

nice profile

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I’m pretty picky with what I replay. If I’m confident an old favorite will hold up, as I’m sure Portal and Half-Life will, then I’ll happily boot it up should the opportunity strike. Replaying Yoshi’s Story back when it hit the Wii Virtual Console was eye-opening, as it taught high school me that not every game I loved stands the test of time. Story was one of my favorite games as a tyke, so it was pretty deflating to see how bland it really is. Of course, if I believe an old game will make for a worthwhile writing topic, I’ll play it even if I don’t expect to enjoy it.

Banjo-Tooie’s still in that camp, actually. I kinda liked it as a kid (mostly because I mostly watched my friends play it), but I stopped midway through every attempt at a replay since. I’ll give it one final try eventually. I actually meant to start a replay of it or Yooka-Laylee earlier this year, but I’m putting both off because I’m not in the mood to invest loads of time into a game I’m pretty sure I won’t like (Tooie) or know I won’t like (Yooka-Laylee; I remember this experience well enough to know how weak it is).

I have quite a few Star Wars games I need to try. I’m not huge on the franchise, but it’s fun to watch space wizards flash glowsticks at each other now and then. Especially when it's one of the movies that has an actual vision. It’s definitely an IP that could make for some fun games, too. Incidentally, I’ve been doing some spring cleaning and found a few old Lightsaber toys from way back. Gonna see if my kid cousins want them or something. …Anyhoo, hopefully you enjoy Dark Forces, Jedi Knight, and Jedi Outcast when you get to them.

Save for Mega Man and Sonic, most of those are franchises I’m pretty unfamiliar with, too (and even then, I'm only really familiar with the classic and ZX Mega Man games). And I’m actually similar, where I’ll only play one game on a console at a time. Okay, maybe two accounting for a downloaded game. And Super Mario Bros. Wonder has a very strong chance of being the next physical Switch game I buy. Gotta earn it by beating some of the backlog first, though.

Having technically beaten Symphony of the Night, I can now say I’ve beaten a Castlevania game. Looking forward to trying more of the Metroidvania ones down the road as well as tackling the Inverted Castle. I’ll try some of the classic entries as well, although their controls never clicked with me. Good luck with Castlevania II; I’d 100 percent need save states for that.

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Yes, I completed Grunty’s Revenge and spent a lot of time on Nuts & Bolts. Going off my decades-old memories of both, the former’s fine, a perfectly serviceable Donkey Kong Land-esque complement to the two Nintendo 64 games. I think it had some issues gauging Banjo’s jump height relative to some surfaces, but whatever. It’s not a game I’d bother to replay, but Rare’s done worse.

I dislike Nuts & Bolts. Ignoring the whole genre shift hoopla (which I felt was kinda overblown, even if I empathize with those who were disappointed), the level design was drab, there wasn’t enough variety with the mission objectives, I'm not big on the art direction, and… I know I had issues with the vehicles themselves, though I can’t remember what they were specifically. But that all really lets down what’s actually a great premise: this was on track to becoming the Lego game I always wanted, a sandbox where you can create your own vehicles to problem-solve. Nuts & Bolts is another game I plan to retry at some point, though I’m not pressuring myself to beat it. Oh, and it has a lovely soundtrack. Wish some of it got into Smash.

…But what’d you think of them, having just finished them?

After looking into the method of obtaining the rings that's about what I had figured was the case. (Shame I have to restart Ages again though. ) Assuming they carry over in a linked save. (I'm 90% sure they do or there's at least a way to bring over the exclusive rings.) Another issue is the GBA rings which aren't natively obtainable in the Switch Online version. (They really should be though. As far as I'm aware it's just a matter of checking the flag that it's being played on GBA or something.) The port of the first Shantae to modern consoles did something like that. I can however get them from modifying my linked game password by 1 digit. Which is going to be a little difficult to figure out let alone the fact that at least 2 password generator sites have been taken offline.

The 64 Emulator functions now which is good, as far as I am aware there haven't been any massive complaints about the emulation on any of the games as of late, it does its job. And yeah I get not wanting to try it. I also much rather prefer to play games on their original hardware. Emulating games is something I'd rather not do unless it's a fan game or something that's entirely unplayable without it. I'd rather focus on games that I own. I know I don't technically own the Switch Online catalog but I'm still considering them a part of my backlog because of the wide array of games to finish on it.
Gotta em all.

I have been loving Banjo-Kazooie so far! I'm only about halfway through but so far it seems that it will be one of my favorite N64 games. The level design is just done so well for a collectathon game, I can see why people hold in such high regards even all these years later. I really like how each level has the same amount of collectables to find so that each level is about the same in length and is never overstaying it's welcome.

I look forward to finally playing Donkey Kong 64 and Banjo-Tooie as well after I finish Banjo-Kazooie. They have been sitting on my shelf for way too long, and I have the feeling I will like them a lot as well.

Just HuniePop, really; I'm not sure there are any other games out there quite like it, even its sequel. Neither Match 3 nor Dating Sim have EVER been my genre, but somehow, it just works for me; the puzzles are fun but not too hard for an outsider like me, most of the girls have great personalities and are fun to get to know, and it ends before it wears out its welcome. Also, I know you're not stupid, so I'm not going to hide it: the artwork on the actual porn is top-notch; this isn't just something dragged from your typical Deviant Art page.

I do almost the opposite. I'm no intentional contrarian, either; I just happen to disagree with the masses on a lot of things. It's more that I pay zero attention to what critics are saying, because to be honest, I find that they're full of shit most of the time, have bizarre and/or arbitrary standards, and give too much of a bonus to legacy series; it's moved into this strange position where everything is very Confucian. I understand the importance of critics to elevate whatever medium they're in, but I feel like game critics just aren't doing that right now. I go for what looks interesting to me, and lately, that seems to be getting narrower and stranger, so yes, I have to admit my own mental state in all of this, too. If anything, what I'll take from a review is what's actually being said, rather than any kind of rating it's being given, and decide whether I feel this or that is a good or bad thing. No minigames? Only 20-hour length? Sign me UP!

It certainly happened to me; in the '90s, I was playing a LOT of Racers and Shooters, and then just... stopped. I stopped for a very long time, then within the last few years or so, I went back to F-Zero X, and I couldn't even steer the damn... whatever the vehicles are called in that. Hovercrafts? I can still play Shooters, but I can't go back to the old ones, like Doom an its ilk; I tried Heretic again not that long ago, and the mouse moving my entire character almost gave me motion sickness, and I'm not prone to it... though maybe that's changing, too, because the more footage I see of Eiyuuden Chronicle (and plenty other games with 2D sprites in 3D environments), I get legit vertigo just watching the camera move around. Tank controls have always been a no-go for me, so I could never get into Resident Evil, and while I'm fine with that, I wish I could get into Silent Hill.

Hallo, ich bin immer noch am Leben.
Ich gelobe ab jetzt wieder Besserung, eigentlich macht es mir immer Freude, hier auf Backloggery mit dir zu kommunizieren - ich habe aber tatsächlich die Anwandlung, mich auch sozial irgendwie zurückzuziehen, wenn ich emotional viel um die Ohren habe, selbst wenn das eine gar nichts mit dem anderen zu tun hat.
Die Veränderungen sind aber eigentlich positiv, nur gleichzeitig trotzdem etwas beängstigend, weil sich eben damit wirklich sehr viel in meinem Leben ändert. Aber keine Sorge, eigentlich sind gute Dinge passiert.

Ja, mein Ziel ist auch nicht wirklich, jemals auf 0 zu sein. Also bei dir macht das aktuelle natürlich schon Sinn, aber im Endeffekt fängt man dann ja wieder "von vorne" an, wenn man nicht plötzlich mit dem Hobby "fertig" sein will.
Ich mag es eigentlich auch sehr gerne, eine größere Auswahl an Spielen zu haben, die ich als nächstes anfange! Ich möchte die Anzahl nur etwas mehr in den Griff bekommen, sodass ich nicht so oft das Gefühl habe, mir ständig Dinge zu kaufen, die ich im Endeffekt dann gar nie zu Gesicht bekommen werde.
Also ein Backlog von 30 oder so wäre für mich ideal, glaube ich. Aber natürlich ist das auch kein festes Ziel, solange das Spielen an sich weiter Spaß macht, ist alles halb so wild.

Wie läuft es beim Sport? Jetzt ist ja doch wieder einige Zeit vergangen seit Anfang des Jahres, ich wünsche dir aber natürlich weiterhin viel Motivation!
Ich selbst schaffe solche Phasen leider wirklich nie lange, dabei habe ich schon einiges probiert. Aber noch bin ich jedes Mal dann doch wieder zu bequem, bzw. schaffe ich es einfach nicht für lange Zeit meine Freizeit für etwas aufzugeben, wozu ich mich zwingen muss. Ein bisschen kindisch, ich weiß.

Wie weit ist Paderborn denn von Bremen entfernt? Ich sehe auch Osnabrück dort halbwegs in der Nähe, wie sieht es damit aus? Dort war ich nämlich auch schon mal, weil Verwandte von mir da wohnen, und es könnte sogar sein, dass ich im nächsten Jahr da auch nochmal hinkomme!
Würde sicher nicht jeden Fremden aus dem Internet treffen, aber meine jetzt besten Freunde sind wiederum vor etwa 10 Jahren auch mal solche Fremden gewesen. Also ich glaube bei einen Kaffee spräche nichts dagegen.

I had just completed Majora's Mask and already I miss it a lot. Currently I'm attempting to play through every game chronologically until I get burnt out. I really liked that the world felt lived in and how they managed to make arguably a more memorable experience (In my opinion at least) than Ocarina of Time in only 1 year and with a lot of reused assets. And yeah I have heard a lot about the changed aspects in the 3DS version I might possibly pick that one up one day as well. (I've been eyeing a new 3DS recently, the R trigger on mine is broken which makes playing most games almost impossible. ) I think I like Breath of the Wild a bit more because of all the time I spent on it and the vast world it has. But this game is definitely my favorite traditional 3D Zelda so far.

I don't have much else to say about it unfortunately which is why I'm not a game reviewer. And yeah the Switch Online ports of Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask are pretty close to the original emulation wise. I think I heard at one point that Gamecube was slower than the original or something? Luckily that problem is eliminated here. I've only had slowdown once or twice in weird situations such as when chasing Captain Keeta for like 2 seconds the visuals and audio were messing up and the second time I don't entirely remember the circumstances but I believe it was in great bay where one of the mini bosses had slowdown for a second or two as well. On a side note I remember that when the service launched, OOT had slightly delayed controls from what I had heard but that has since been patched. (That or it's something I never noticed). The Dark Link room was broken as well in a way that hadn't been seen in any other version if you had heard about that.

Side question have you done a complete playthrough of the Oracle games? I'm trying to look up the correct path to completion and I found out that you have to do Seasons->Ages->Seasons->Ages and/or Ages->Seasons->Ages->Seasons but the and/or is the confusing part. would I be able to grab all 64 rings in both games by doing one path or both? I'm probably overthinking it to be honest but it's also a shame that I'm probably gonna have to restart my progress in Ages because of this.

It is one of the very few times I actually agree with the masses. That and Phantasy Star 4. I do like Devil May Cry 2, but it does have a certain blandness to certain elements of it (the weapons especially) that I could definitely see leading to burnout.

That's exactly it: scores, whether numerical, letter, or something else entirely, are a good starting point and nothing more; the value of a game is much more nuanced than that, especially given that a C or 5/10 could either mean very bland or lots of ups and downs that cancel in the middle, and those are VERY different experiences.

I think that's just a matter of mentally shifting scale to something with less precision, but what works in your head is what works in your head, and that's what you should go for. That certainly would be a problem, since HuniePop has H graphics, and they're very high quality.

To be fair, I pick on IGN, but it's been a very widespread issue for quite some time; they just get the most punches thrown their way because the Internet decides that's the outlet that most needs to be shoved down my throat. There is kind of a spot there for me, too; I rate most everything A- or B-tier, and after several of the same ratings in a row, I start to question myself until I get something better or else significantly worse. In any case, rating everything a 7 is much better than using nothing lower than a 9 for anything.

Bested Shadow Link legitimately; I didn't know about the trick until the Angry Video Game Nerd episode. I can't say I've ever been great at Racers, and lately, I find that I struggle with 3D Platformers quite a bit, too. Not that I was playing it constantly, but Mario 64 took me about three years to beat, and about ten total to get all 120 stars. But yes, I picked Diddy Kong Racing up again recently with that hack that lets you play as the stopwatch guy right from the beginning, and I couldn't even do basic things like grab the key in that one race in the first world. I'm definitely getting worse at them as I age, since I'd totally completed the first two worlds and I think got close to beating the second bosses in the other two back when the game was new.

I don’t usually replay games in general, but it’s been so long that revisiting the Portal / Half-Life universe with adult eyes would be worthwhile. I did dabble in a few of the games a few years ago, but never did a full, proper replay of any of them.

To clarify, I meant that I want to play Resident Evil 5 before its inevitable remake hits. 4’s remake foreshadows one, apparently, and I’d be surprised if they remake Zero or Code: Veronica next (or at all; they seem to carry less prestige). Regardless, I am still enjoying Symphony of the Night! While I am not far and, again, plan to skip the Inverted Castle this playthrough, I’ll say that nothing about the game so far feels like it requires a remake. Graphically and mechanically, it’s holding up well!

Thanks. The Sea of Thieves piece doesn’t cover much our discussion on the game didn’t. It was fun to write, though, and a nice venue through which I reacquainted myself with a long-neglected series of mine. Getting to work with someone outside the SG team was novel, too. That doesn't happen often, even accounting for guest writers.

And thanks again; so far I’m enjoying Endless Ocean 2. Back when I bought the game, I got to Chapter 3—so roughly halfway through the single-player mode—but trailed off for some reason. I don’t remember what I was doing, so at this point it made way more sense to restart it, especially since I’m looking to review it. Probably won’t finish it until after the new one hits, sadly, but that’s okay. Rushing things isn’t fun.

Oh, man, you're missing out; 3 is the best one! Well, depends what you want, I guess; there are a lot more choices with weapons, and you can only bring 2 Devil Arms and 2 guns into a mission, so boss fights aren't a high-speed puzzle to figure out which moves to use when, because they couldn't.

I know a lot of people don't use it that way, but 10/10 is still a "complete" score, so when I'm forced to give a numeric score, I absolutely will not give any game that; that's why I enjoy both the wishiness and washiness of the letters. Again, I don't take issue with anyone else using them, but that's why it doesn't work for me, personally; if you're not going to use the whole scale, then why use that rating system? Like what is this: IGN? It's weird, though, because I used to be all about math and numbers, but the older I get, the more I slide into language.

I'd think I was completely delusional when I hear people talk about Shadow of the Colossus, because they seem to be describing a completely different game from the one I was playing, but my significant other played it at a museum exhibit one time, and stopped after a minute or so because of the controls. We both found it to be absolutely fucking unplayable, the graphics ugly, and the music bland; the only thing I can praise about the game at all is the premise, because running around on giant monsters to take them down piece by piece is a fantastic idea. So yes, I'll take my wrong opinion to the grave; bury me with my flaming crown, because I am the queen of hot takes. Got plenty of other wrong opinions, if you want them, particularly when it comes to Konami on the NES. But yeah, I know you're not the type of dogmatic asshole who believes that the only types of opinions in the world are theirs and wrong ones.

I figured you'd get that reference; that might be the only RareWare title on the N64 I really enjoyed. Well, I did have some fun with Diddy Kong Racing, and love the overall structure, but I'm not great at Racers, and it was a bit too bullshit hard for me.

I gotta be honest with you mate, it doesn't really look like an improvement to me. The 'page note' in the center is kind of nice and the unlimited memory card is also a welcome addition...but everything else looks kind of rough. The limits on the page colors and banner size is pretty disappointing. But maybe it's just something to get used to, like you said.

Is it already known when the site is going to make the transition?

Haha, I lowkey kind of regret starting with Dragon Quest XI as well, because the earlier games are probably going to feel a bit like a downgrade, but oh well. Dragon Quest VIII is probably the best game to start with.

Is Nuts & Bolts really that bad? You want to be done with that game according to your update, so I'm guessing it is.

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There’s nothing wrong with ignoring parts of a game that don’t interest you if you’re only playing recreationally. I do plan to give a Call of Duty game’s multiplayer mode a shot at some point out of curiosity, though. Off the top of my head, Prey is the only shooter I spent any real time online with. But even then that was more so because I didn’t have a lot to play on my Xbox 360 in 2006, so I wanted to haggle out as much value out of my collection as possible.

I’ve actually been feeling really nostalgic for Half-Life and Portal lately. One of my friends / our guest writers even wrote about the latter, which highlighted how much I miss them. Later this year I outta replay Portal 1 and 2. Maybe I’ll even write about best girls Chell or GLaDOS. And yeah, Half-Life 1 and 2 are great. A friend of mine recently told me he never played them and I told him he should.

Admittedly, NSO isn’t my favorite service for the same reason, because you don’t actually own your games (the fact Nintendo discontinued two of their 99-style games isn’t a plus, either). Still, it has value in introducing a wealth of older stuff to people who’ve never played them before. It’s also convenient, since I actively use my Switch. Thankfully, I’m on a family plan, so the price isn’t outrageous.

F-Zero and Wave Race are good picks. Technically, the former did come back through F-Zero 99, but I get that isn’t the sort of game people envision when they think of an F-Zero revival (and since it requires an NSO subscription, not everyone can even play it). But I’m sure F-Zero fans will get a more traditional game eventually, either a GX remaster or something new. I actually feel like a Wave Race revival is within the realm of possibility, too. A lot of it probably boils down to able development teams being available, making a solid pitch, and someone within Nintendo being interested. Things somehow aligned for Another Code, Famicom Detective Club, and Endless Ocean. More franchises will get lucky.