#[i have so many thoughts about nso]

[arkus-rhapsode]

What is up with Switch 2 Prices? (A discussion on the Switch 2)

Soooo Switch 2 Direct happened and I’ll say-I thought it was mostly good. Mario Kart World looked packed, NSO adding GameCube with many first titles promised, actually showing that after a decade they can run third party triple A titles, and the show stopper being an open world Donkey Kong game. But then the price came down.

Now… 499.99 for a console at the level of an Xbone or PS4 is certainly more than I think people were expecting. Especially considering the Japanese version is reportedly a hundred dollars cheaper. But hey, for a portable system as strong as this that’s gonna to likely be a one time purchase for most, I think this is manageable. Not the best, but not the worst.

However, what good is an expensive piece technology without a game to actually play on it? Well from what see of the first party/second party offerings, it’s pretty absurd to see these prices to say the least. Let’s start with things that I don’t believe are too bad and work our way up: Kirby And the Forgotten Land I actually think is the most justifiable. Because Nintendo games basically never go on sale, this previous gen game still goes for about 50-60 bones if you buy it new. So that means this version with the added campaign is essentially a definitive version with DLC bundled it. And because of backwards compatibility, you’d have the option to buy this Al la Carte. So while it may seem pretty prima facie exploitative, I think if you consider what new material you are getting, it’s lack of a price drop, and that there’s an option for those who already have the game, this seems fairly reasonable.

BOTW and TOTK being 10 dollars more despite already being high profile releases from a previous generation offering no new content though is a different story. While these are originally a 60/70 dollar games respectfully, the ten dollar increase in price is for more enhancements to the graphical resolution and frame rate of the original. Quite frankly that’s BS. I know these games weren’t originally made with the intent to be run on a more powerful machine than a switch, but the fact that these are enhancements that should just be automatic when put into new hardware is wild. They try to off-set this by saying it’s coming free with NSO, but that’s still payment.

And look, I’m not stupid. Like most people getting a switch 2 already had a switch, and likely own a copy of BOTW by now. So you already of the game. what’s wrong with paying 10 dollars then to make it play at it’s most enhanced state? It’s not like you’re being forced to buy just the switch 2 version. Well once again, I believe that personally that if all you are adding is basic graphical upgrades on a game as old as BOTW and TOTK, that’s not worth any money. At least if BOTW had the dlc bundled in I could maybe treat it like a delux edition, but it’s not. It’s just such a bad look in my opinion.

And now onto the new games. It’s pretty evident to me that Donkey Kong Bananza is going to be the Mario Odyssey of the Switch 2. Their big showpiece game on why you should buy this system associated with not only a member of the Mario-verse, but the first Nintendo video game character mascot. A character who for a time had his own consistent franchise through two generations of hardware. It does look great. So the idea of this being a 70 dollar purchase (potentially more with physical), is somewhat upsetting. Not that I didn’t believe this would be coming. When TOTK released, Nintendo pretty clearly stated they would consider 70 dollar games for select titles. And the tentpole for your launch line up of first party titles, it is understandable from a business stand point. So maybe MAYBE, if this was the only 70 dollar launch title most would grin and bare it.

However, this is coming with an announcement of games older than Bananza being priced at or higher than it, feels incredibly tone deaf. A brand new DK experience is valued that same as essentially a remaster the highest selling Zelda game that could run on a Wii U. I’m sorry but that just seems wrong. I think Nintendo thought that they could essentially make a sort of bespoke work around for cross gen titles, but, you do realize that some of these switch 1 games won’t be available forever. It’s not gonna be “just buy the cheaper option and don’t bother with the paid enhancement.” Well eventually all one might have is the switch 2 version. An enhanced version of a game that’s practically a decade old, right alongside your flagship new release? It takes what could’ve been at worst a rub down, and turns into some real salt in the wound.

And finally, Mario Kart World… yeah there’s no justification for this. I understand this is more ambitious than any other Mario kart. I saw the size of the world map, the costumes, the off road, the open world, the extra modes, etc. I don’t disagree that this is a premium title. But almost a hundred dollars for a video game is frankly wrong in my opinion. You could say that delux plus its dlc tracks would’ve equaled the same amount in the end, but once again, you had an option. You could always purchase the base package of delux for the same amount as every other triple A game on the shelf and receive countless hours of fun. With world however, it seems that it was impossible to make any concession with its scope, and rather than selling the software on a loss, Nintendo will do as Nintendo does. Now, believe me when I say ,y harsh words are because I think it lacks quality, but I struggle to believe in any game that is truly worth 80 dollars on launch.

Maybe some of this could be mitigated with a pack in title. Sadly post the Wii, getting pack in games on Nintendo systems isnt really a thing (at least on initial launch). A shame because while the PS5 had a rocky first few years, Astro’s playroom was at least a free tech demo game included on the system for those with no access to PS5 games. This is made even more egregious by the fact that this direct included the Tour of the Switch 2 game, that, while not as charming as a Wii sports, was a very basic interactive guide of the console with a few tech demo games throw in, that would be charged as a stand alone game. Like what?

I know I’m sounding very negative, maybe even jumping the gun in some instances, but these prices are genuinely frustrating. Especially seeing how the video game industry is going. Many speculate game publishers are looking to uniformly increase the prices of games at retail. With many news stories about how some have been waiting for GTA 6 to come out and be a hundred dollars. And the fact that Nintendo who is one of the bigger game companies that still shows it has a creative spark and has been praised for not following industry trends like turning franchises into games as a service and aggress expansion through acquisition of AA studios, has basically shot themselves in the foot with the most basic thing people will note when it comes to the exchange of goods and services, the price, is frustrating. It feels like I’ve gone back to the PS3’s first year, except I at least think the switch 2 new content looks much better.

I want to add, I don’t think anyone who buys these games at full price are bad. I’m not calling on people to boycott Nintendo or vote with their wallets, some people just want to play the next Mario kart and don’t care about the price to do so. For some people it’s normal to buy just one game as a big purchase and invest weeks even months into it before even buying another one. That’s fine. However, I do at least want people to be aware that we are drifting to state where games are becoming more and more expensive. It’s very easy to see this as the start to a slippery slope, and we ought to think about what that might mean for us, the consumers.

I’ll end it like this-I was overjoyed seeing that NSO is getting the GameCube emulated. Games like Luigi’s mansion, Fire Emblem Path of Radiance, Chibi Robo, F Zero GX etc. all games that go for hundreds of dollars second hand could now be accessed through a simple subscription service. And then I saw how much current gen games were gonna cost on the switch 2 and I thought “wait am I gonna be okay with spending 80 dollars at a GameStop, but not on eBay?”

[centrally-unplanned]

I played Needy Streamer Overload, which was a lot of fun, with an asterisk. NSO is a Lifesim Management game for a batshit up-and-coming streamer, where you as her 'boyfriend' allocate her time between streaming, resting, and content inspiration/development to hit 1 million followers. The writing is very on point for actual streams culture;the topics and comments and all that are very true-to-life, while its zany edgecore presentation is hilarious. And the UI is full kino:

Vibes - and also, spoilers, not just a cutesy aesthetic, as the player is not in fact a real person so the digital viewport is ludonarratively cohesive, +1 point.

However, it also pissed me off for specific me reasons!

So, these games tend to go into two buckets. One is the engine builder - managing the lifesim is both involved and The Point of the game. You work hard to optimize and achieve the goal. The second is narrative device - the lifesim elements are more about narrative choice than challenge, and either can't be failed or are trivially cleared. You approach playing those 2 game types differently.

NSO presents itself like the former - its mechanics are pretty involved. Managing Followers, Stress, Affection, & Mental Darkness, all on a clock, while unlocking ~10 different streaming content topic progression trees, its a lot to track. Not saying its crazy hard or anything, but its what you spend your time doing. You will be asking yourself questions like "yes I could have sex with her for the third time this week to lower stress and boost affection so I can burn that affect buildup on the Sexy Stream lvl 2 to sync my highest topic bonus with my streaming streak bonus before I need to end it for a rest cycle, but I can only play that card so many times, is day 13 too early?". That is fun, and where your focus lies. On my first playthrough I tried to hit the 1 million target, barely succeeded, but burned out Ame's stats so much I got a short, pretty-much-failed ending.

So on my second playthrough I tinkered around and stumbled on a soft infinity engine, where I could push Ame's stress to the limit in the opening days to get her follower count to the point where she would unlock "follower milestone celebration" streams that I could bank, that did not increase stress but would count towards a streaming-every-day streak bonus, and never take a rest day to get that bonus insanely high. I got several million followers with low stress, low darkness, I thought I did a good job.

And I got a short, pretty-much-failed ending.

Turns out this game has 30 endings, and the lions share of the long, involved ones are from you completely fucking up. You will get a way more interesting ending if you make Ame-chan overdose on LSD and she trips her way into breaking though the illusion of the internet. You want to raise her darkness high as hell for half of them. You can found a cult, you can induce all sorts of violence against her or others, whatever you want. But the game didn't tell me!!

It instead presented me with a solid optimization puzzle, which I spent like 10 hours doing. I shouldn't have bothered! It doesn't really tell this partially for surprise, but if we are being honest its because they expect you to google it, and they expect you to watch streamers unlock 25 of them after you do 5. Which is how modern games are made, but personally I don't love relying on that. I do think games are at their best when they self-teach a player the right way to engage with it.

But I respect that some people would see the discarded scraps of a tryhard faildaughter that is Ame-chan and immediately push her into doing conspiracy theory streams while smoking weed. I am just not someone you can plunk an engine in front of and expect me not to try to tinker with it. This is 50% on me.

[starrycometmoth]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUMI HINOMORI!!

My first card edit!! 😰

Original + rambles and an announcement about Lumi underneath the cut

Hello everyone!! Today (for me) is January 11th, 2025!! It's my eighteenth birthday!!

It's also my oc's, Lumi's, birthday!!

Lumi has been my s/i since early 2022, as they were originally a Danganronpa s/i. That may not be too long of a time for most people, but to me that feels like a lifetime. They've been through A LOT of phases. Fun fact: their name used to be Echo. I changed their name because at the start of my Pokemon SV phase because I got the idea to make a Miraidon oc, since I kin Miraidon. I used the name Echo for an rp as my Miraidon oc until i figured out a different one, but the name stuck onto them. So, I renamed my s/i to Lumi (coming from the Italian word "luminoso/a," which means "bright!"). From there, they were just this silly guy that I shipped with Penny. They touched the NSO universe for a brief second as well, more about that later. Eventually, we get to my PJSK phase, where I create my first Lumi counterpart with slightly fledged-out lore. I did something I never thought of doing with them before, which was giving them lore that didn't connect much to my actual self. Their PJSK counterpart made Lumi more of their own person, compared to their past counterparts who barely had lore because I didn't want them to stray away from me too much. The same thing ended up happening when I put them into Mouthwashing, I gave that counterpart their own lore as well, the only thing really similar to myself being their very different appearance from their other counterparts. I liked having freedom when I made these two counterparts of Lumi.

Here's where I start the rambles that lead up to my announcement FJSKSLA

So, there was an issue with the NSO counterpart once I started begging the question "how old even is Lumi?" Because the thing is, their NSO counterpart never actually became a thing. I had plans to do so, and the furthest I got was making them a streamer persona. I quickly realized an issue. I didn't want to age Lumi up. Obviously, I was not going to ship an adult (Ame) with a minor (Lumi). The streamer persona was already a confirmed adult, but I didn't have the heart to connect them to Lumi because of the fact that I didn't want to age Lumi up nor ship them with an adult. So I never got to go too far with that idea.

The idea of making Lumi an adult has never sat right with me once I started thinking about it. Originally, their age was supposed to line up to mine, but it was hard to keep track of that, so basically I just made their age 15-17. Plus, I was still uncomfortable with the idea of aging them up. With that freedom I felt when giving them their own lore, I realized something I wanted to do, something I'm going to announce right now...

I didn't want to have Lumi be my self insert anymore.

Obviously, I didn't want to get rid of them as an oc, but I didn't want them to be me anymore.

I wanted to make them their own person, and then make someone brand new to be me. However, the person I tried to make as the new, adult "me," I didn't really like. They didn't feel like me.

So I'm currently figuring out a new s/i, which I haven't really had many ideas for that. Eventually, they'll be here. But for now, the only thing I can say is certain is that as of today, Lumi Hinomori is now their own person. They're no longer my self-insert. They're their own person. I will still self-project onto them, as I do all of my ocs, but not to the point where they're loreless.

Whoever actually took the time to read this, thank you. Thank you for being here on this journey, whether this is the first time you've heard my oc's name or you're somehow one of the 3 people that knew them when they were still named Echo. It makes me happy seeing people interested in my blorbos, and I hope I can make more that I'm confident in one day!

[devoted--angel]

what did the anon mean by "comments about the NSO angel ?" /genq

i'm not aware of such comments /srs

i had seen a post a bit back that i think could have been partially about me (though it was not explicitly saying it was about me or anything!!) about how unoriginal some people on here were and how you'll never be kangel. though obviously not confirmed it was about me!! there are many kangel-kin accounts so it could be any number of them i just know my account does get a bit more traction than others do

the other incident was i had created a poll asking what people thought about my blog, the one option was "cute but cringe" and someone had commented "not cute, just cringe" under it. someone ended up sending them an anon about it, they thought it was me, i tried defending myself, they were honestly rude about it, whole thing.

but those are in the past now! i don't have malice for those people or anything because i really do believe they are entitled to their opinions but it would be a lie if i said it hadn't hurt a bit! but that hurt motivated me to start over and do better in the end!!

[justletmemakeapage]

Introducing!

WARNING: my English is awful and practicing it is one of the reasons why I registered. Sorry :_. Please don't criticize me for this or anything else.

Hi. I am Bridgett/Bridge(or Vess for headmates), she/it, 16 y.o(25.05), UTC+7. Host of system, in front 90% of the time. I registered because I liked plural community here. This is my personal blog, but it is possible if others will write here. I will post my thoughts, about plurality or not, and resources like userboxes. Requests are open

DNI (thin ice)

Anti endos(!), any radical opinion, support any discrimination, very religious. You still can interact and use my works(if they exist), but if you want to conflict, it would be more comfortable for all of us if you leave now.

I need TW on religion and caffeine. I also can get triggered by better artists than me. And I don't want to talk about politics.

About system

Name - Sick Fantasy, no collective pronounse but statistically more she/her. Paragenic, neurotraumagenic, sepagenic, misaconscious, co-con flux. I DIDN'T CHOOSE TO BE PLURAL. Languages - russian(native), ±English, learning Japanese. Simply plural work in progress

5 headmates front regularly, somehow appear about 15, I won’t headcount all. I mostly use “we” to the entire system, but not always. I can call headmates headmates, alters, characters, or just fools and assholes. I am in an in-system relationship. We are only trying to self-accept

About me

INFP, 4w5 so946, melancholic, chaotic good, sociophobic extravert. Neutralship. Pro- to many things if it's doesn't involve harming and conflicts. I have chronic depression, get therapy, promote support and research for MADD, was practically diagnosed with ADHD as a child. Omni, demiromantic, bellussexual, gendercura, genderfloret, ambiamorous.

I live to create an animated series based on daydreaming, and the alters came from it. I'm a member in many fandoms. Very many. I can't list them, but these are mainly popular or completely unknown games and cartoons. Now I have hyperfix on genshin and "jellyfish can't swim in the night". Listen any music, genre and language don't matter.

Blurred kinnlist(I have problems with self-awareness, sorry): Mahiru [Jellyfish...], Kanade and Ena [PJSekai], Mr Jewel Box [THHK songs], Ame [NSO], Pomni and Gangle [TADC], Moxxie and Fizz [HB(yes...)]; Noelle, Fischl, Chiori, Kachina and Citlali [Genshin]; Huohuo and Firefly [HSR]; Fluttershy, Scootaloo and Luna [MLP]; Corin, Seth and Caesar [ZZZ]; Horuda [Yansim], Abby [FNAF movie], Sybilla [Spyroom], Fuuko [UDUL], Darwin [TAWOG], Jack [Beastars](I haven’t read it yet, but my friend says so)

And a lot of songs, but I won't put them all here :_. Ok, take this (twcw, in short listen carefully) ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♪ ☆ ☆ ☆

Some about headmates...

🧿 Wallery/Var/Валера/ワレル (he/don't care) - co-host, janusian, psychodemon, japanese, queerphob, aggressive beast but protects me. 7000+ y.o(11.10). Associations - red, green, hallucinations, betrayal; Tail from HSR, Princess from THHK songs, two-faced chaotic villains(Bill Cipher, Discord, Alastor, Kinito, Yellow's Flowey ect) and song あきらめよう by tsumikusa.

🎆 NNico (it/its > neo) - socializor, procomship, radqueer, radincluse, cute overtolerant ect but really cool person, puts its own comfort high, but someone else’s even higher. In dreams plays the role of a butler(?). 17 y.o. Associations - purple, night, internet; KAngel from NSO, Charlie from HH and Hai Yorokonde by Kocchi No Kento

🌫️ Exy/S.A. (he/him) - protector, anxiety holder, poor boy who always screams and catches panic attacks if something doesn’t happen according to his plan :_. 14 y.o. Associations - scary derealization pictures, investigation board from movies, anchan; Tweek from South Park, I haven't watched yet but maybe Anxiety from Inside Out

🍫 Choco(-retta Firsot) (she/her) - little, innocence holder, silly childish child who loves the whole world. Don't hurt her, others defend her. 8 y.o. Represents inspiration. Associations - sweets, sun, plushies, bright accessories; Olya from Tiny Bunny, Hook from HSR, a lot of cartoon songs

These were the main ones, now let’s quickly talk about the rest important

🎧 Kari (she/any) - Choco's babysitter and janusmate, music holder, chill teenager(13 y.o.) who doesn't care about anything. Kinns Ellen from ZZZ

🔏 Marya/Meirine Firsot (she/her) - gate keeper, order keeper, Choco's sister, strict, rude, constantly watches everyone and is tired of it.

🩸 Director (she/her, на Вы on russian--) - berserk, inadequate theater owner, performs gore on stage, if she will front, we will be imprisoned. Signature song

❤️‍🔥 Javello (she/he) - arsonist, cartoon's main antihero who wants save(???) the world, in system we have crazy pyromaniac, but good companion. Choco's evolution lol, 16 y.o. Signature Songs

🕳️ Aice (he/him) - shock absorber, owner of cats collection, blind aggressive guy who will swear on you

👄 Okufano (she/her) - oikeian, hypersexual mommy who will flirt with you

💡 Uni (she/her) - antidepressant, comforter, my girlfriend, romantic, humanization of aristocratic floor lamp, speaks pre-revolutionary russian--. Signature Songs

Well, i think, that's all. I’ll add more later x). I always have trouble with goodbyes, so I'll just give you this and go, ok?

Pfp made in this maker. I use dividers by @cafekitsune, @saradika-graphics and @thecutestgrotto. IT'S VERY CRINGE FOR ME TO POST THIS, PLEASE SORRY THOSE WHO HAVE READ.

[kafus]

okay well i guess i didn’t need my alarms cause i can’t seem to sleep more lmao. it’s 5 am

soooo pokemon presents in a little less than 4 hrs huh? realistically i’m expecting something either johto or unova related and since they’re apparently lighting up NYC today, which is not usual for pokemon day, i’m kind of leaning unova. i have mixed feelings about this since as much as i actually did enjoy my time with BDSP, i was dually disappointed by them and i’m still sad that sinnoh isn’t going to get the HGSS or ORAS treatment ever - if unova remakes were to be of a similar caliber of bdsp, i’d rather them just not exist at all frankly. nostalgia bias and my immense love for sinnoh aside, i think the unova games, especially bw2, are some of the best games in the entire franchise, and if they are remade, or get bw3 sequels, or whatever, i want them to be GOOD. lets not spit on the legacy of gen 5 now!! but. i remain cautiously optimistic. i’m not a super cynical pokemon fan and like i said i did enjoy bdsp despite everything. also a legends kyurem or whatever would be awesome btw i wanna see the og dragon lol. johto would also be cool but i’m having a lot less thoughts on it for some reason. i’m sure if they announce anything johto ayano will have incredibly passionate thoughts about it

now i’m not really one for predictions, the above talk is maybe the most obvious outcome since they usually do remakes mid-gen. instead i’ll just talk about some things i would WANT even if they’re a pipe dream and i don’t necessarily expect them:

a new PMD. not an explorers remake, a new PMD with a fresh story and everything. we haven’t had a proper new PMD story since 2015 and i MISS IT. i’d also enjoy explorers remakes but frankly i want a new game the most and i wanna play as sprigatito SOBS THE PALDEA STARTERS WOULD BE SO GOOD FOR PMD

gen 3 on NSO with full online capabilities and also connectivity to NSO ports of colosseum and gale of darkness. i 100% do not think this is happening but it would blow me away if it did. the amount of gen 3 that so many people were never able to experience as children, especially me… could finally be done online!!! it’d be cool if they removed all the dumb trading restrictions too but unlikely. (as an aside if they released gen 1/2 VC again with stadium compatibility that’d be epic but i somehow expect that even less)

some sort of new stadium-type game with home compatibility that provides single player trials similar to that of the old gen battle frontiers. i just REALLY really miss old singleplayer battle challenges. i want a new one to spend a bazillion years on making wacky teams and winning w them. i enjoy VGC but sometimes that singleplayer experience hits different

i really am a spinoff enjoyer. surprise me with something new! that isn’t a mobile game with gacha elements! just a whole new standalone pokemon idea. no idea what genre just excite me

MAKE A COMFY FRIENDS SPRIGATITO PLUSH OR SO HELP ME GOD (this is barely related to the presents im just thinking about it i want one soo bad 😭)

and those r all my thoughts i think. these presentations r always a treat because i wake up early and watch them with my friends. i probably won’t be liveposting it on tumblr bc i will be lost in the sauce of discord w the besties. i’ll provide my thoughts later though!

[bluesdesk]

People. 50.6% of 87 votes are exactly 44 votes. And 49.4% is 43 votes. Tears of the Kingdom lost to Alttp for ONE VOTE

Anyway, I decided to yeet both off the poll! Let the 9th round begin! There are 8 games left, and these are really the best. I still have one game I want to vote but then the choice will be harder!

As I've written many things about totk but I don't want to give unwanted spoilers, this time the rankings are here and my opinions on the games are under the cut!

<< Previous round

The CDIs

Triforce Heroes

Zelda 2

Hyrule Warriors / Legends / Definitive

Cadence of Hyrule

Zelda 1

Four Swords Adventures

Four Swords

Oracle of Seasons/Ages

Age of Calamity

Phantom Hourglass

Link's awakening/LANS

Spirit Tracks

Tears of the Kingdom

A link to the Past

Soo! TotK and AlttP. I played AlttP shortly after BotW on nso, when TotK still wasn't out. I liked it a lot at first, but I have to say I didn't complete it. It was technologically advanced for that time for sure, but I don't think it aged well. The dungeons didn't leave me anything valuable to remember, like other games did, the items weren't equipped easily and the story was too simple and banal.

As for TotK. Oh TotK. I got to play botw another bit before returning it (I had borrowed it from a friend), after quitting alttp. And I still liked it! Then I bought TotK and at the beginning I was extremely surprised, it looked so great. I thought Rauru was the same first sage from OoT and he had a "goat disguise" to not be recognized, like his owl form. Of course I was wrong and then I was so disappointed, i left it almost one year ago and don't have any urge to play it again, I probably will though and give it another chance because something was really good like seeing grown up characters or finding those "Zeldas" or building things or finding amiibo costumes. - the story is great for a standalone game, but for zelda? The zonai make no sense to me and contradicted everything we knew. In the past right after sksw the gerudo weren't known, the zora and rito didn't exist, the gorons weren't on death mountain. They should have made another antagonist and not Ganondorf. Zelda's sacrifice was honestly a so great part, but the ending was awful. - the "dungeons" were copies of each other. And short and banal as heck, and the dialogues after each one were always the same. - People didn't remember Link. Only some of the major characters did but the majority of the npcs didn't know him. And Link didn't have the majority of his clothes. I know the outfits weren't mandatory to get in botw (nothing was mandatory tho) but at least the most known could have been left. The gerudo outfit, the climber set, the hylian set, the luminous stone set! They made up a story for the zora tunic and that's a good thing. - The depths were empty and too dark, even after the light roots were lighted. It was too easy to get lost. - the ultrahand and fuse mechanics are amazing as well as the ascend, but they should have made them mandatory at least for some parts of the game, to give them more spotlight. - I would have loved to have way more sksw references, this isn't a flaw of course but a personal preference! Also I would have loved to have Wolf Link as an ally again, instead of the spirits of the sages. - personal experience: the game crashed after I defeated Ganondorf for the last time. I was about to see the final cutscene when the screen went black and it never played (I saw it on youtube). Everything else on the swotch worked perfectly so it was just the game. Of course it doesn't autosave or let people save the game after entering the zone before the first fight with Ganondorf so I'm back there. I hated it.

[greenknightlao]

Nintendo Direct Predictions

I know the Nintendo direct isn’t happening for a few months now but eh… I’m going to do my predictions now while it’s fresh in my mind if there is anything that directly contradicts a prediction here I’ll just update it like a few days before but anyways:

Metroid Prime 4 as a Switch game that’s all like “you can play this on the Switch 2 too and it’s better”

Switch 2 either be May/June or November 

Mario 3D game as a launch year game

Kirby 3D game also launch year game

Zelda likely won’t be here UNLESS it’s a port 

New Mario Kart: I mean we are already confirmed of a Mario Kart game and I REALLY hope it IS a new one (all signs point to that as being the case but I won’t presume either until it’s confirmed)

Splatoon 4 given my guess as to when the Switch 2 is releasing it could be a year 1 game that releases in 2026 so it could be shown off here… I will be disappointed if I see 2025 for this game though…

Xenoblade Not really we have X Definitive Edition releasing in March so I can’t see a new Xenoblade game releasing in 2026 never mind 2025 UNLESS it is a warriors game or something (but even then it’s a slim chance)

Fire Emblem: I feel like a brand new original game is too soon as Engage was released in January 2023 and being realistic we’re looking at about 2.5 years give or take for a 2025 release date doesn’t really make a lot of sense IMO but a remake on the other hand would as many concepts are already there for it but I also just… feel weird about a remake being Fire Emblem’s debut on Switch 2…

New Smash game is possible but ONLY as the last reveal and 2026 release

I think NSO will be implemented here as well and maybe even upgraded to include new consoles like GameCube

Hopes/System sellers (for me)

XC4 of this list I think it’s least likely due to XCX releasing in March and the next new Xenoblade could be XCX 2 for all we know…

XCX2 depending on how the story goes for X but again definitely not anytime soon

Fire Emblem Genealogy remake of any Japanese only remake will do here but this is the most likeliest one from what I hear so… but yeah I probably won’t get NA fire emblem remakes ASAP for sure

New Fire Emblem but it has to pique my interest more than Engage did to get it ASAP I probably will get the new Fire Emblem game at some point if it doesn’t but… well what good is speculating over a game that may not even exist anytime soon…

All of these games have like a reasonable chance of showing up as Switch 2 games here while also being things I personally want the next ones are more low chance overall

Advance Wars Dual Strike remake: I mean it’s possible all things considered before reboot camp was confirmed I thought the series was dead so…

New Advance Wars game: kind of the same but I feel less likely about

Pikmin 5: definitely not 2025 given Pikmin’s history with game releases

Xenoblade Warriors my random prediction literally 0.1% chance 99.9% Faith here…

Pokémon is absent because a Pokémon presents is likely going to happen before this direct anyways I’ll give more thoughts on that around then

[choutenyuki-chan]

INTRO!!!

This will hopefully be the first and last time I break character on either of my NSO blogs, but I felt it was necessary to post a real intro considering the things that will be posted on this account.

(TL;DR @ the bottom)

DISCLAIMER!!!

These blogs were created with the purpose of being a creative outlet for my trauma and mental illness. This means that some of the content on this page might be unpleasant for some people. If that's the case, don't view my blog.

To start things off...

16+ only, please. I want to create a safe space for as many people as I can, but I don't want to be responsible for influencing any kids into doing any of the things I speak about.

For anonymity, I'm not going to tell you my actual name, so please just call me Kangel or Ame, depending on the blog you are viewing.

I will do my best to always tag any possible triggers on my heavier posts, so please correct me if I miss a tag or incorrectly tag something.

TRIGGER WARNINGS!!

As I just mentioned, there will be a lot of triggering things posted on both of these blogs. Because of that, I'd like to compile what will be the most common trigger warnings to look out for on this page (will be updated as I post to remain accurate)

Mentions of grooming

Mentions of past trauma

Neglect

Fear of abandonment

Long rambles during panic attacks

Addiction

Abuse/toxic relationships

Intrusive thoughts

Self-harm

Mentions of suicidality

A Bit About Me

I like Jirai and the message it sends as it's something I heavily relate to. I don't have any jirai clothing yet, but I'm saving to buy my first item asap! I also really like vocaloid, visual kei, breakcore, and honestly most kinds of music haha.

If you couldn't guess, I really like NSO. The kind of person Ame-chan is really spoke to me. I've always wanted to take on a new persona online, and what better way than a Kangel blog! I'll speak a little more on the roles of each blog later, tho <3

I really like RPGs like Persona and Final Fantasy as I grew up playing both. They're both really comforting games for me.

I suspect I have Autism and either BPD or bipolar. I'm in the process of trying to find a psychologist to get an assessment and confirm my suspicions, but it's hard to find anyone where I live.

The Kangel blog!

This blog is where I'll post my lighter content. It's my distraction from my actual life and is mainly here for me to pretend I'm someone else. This means that while I'm on the Kangel blog, I'll do things like write in American-English as it's another layer of disconnect from my real life.

There will be much less triggering content on this blog, but there will be an occasional vent post, but that will likely be written in the style of the in-game vent streams and tweets. That means it will likely be a bit dramatised to sound entertaining. Those posts will still have tagged TWs regardless.

The Ame-Chan blog!

This blog is like the priv Twitter account that Ame has in-game. Darker posts will go here, and almost everything will be a vent of some kind. If I feel it's necessary, I will also add a 'check the tags' disclaimer at the beginning of the post so you can decide whether you're in the right headspace to read that post. This is essentially my diary tho and sometimes I just might not add tags. I'll always do my best tho.

This blog is essentially a public diary, which means there will be a lot of in-depth description of my current state and any retelling of past trauma. "Traumadumping" about my childhood will be kept at a minimum though.

This also means that I will occasionally post about dreams I have. I rarely have good dreams, and they're almost always some kind of dream relating to trauma. These normally have a different list of TWs to look out for (including the original list).

I will list those below:

Kidnapping

SA (sometimes explicit, but I will likely never go into those details unless I found it particularly distressing. Those will always be under different tags, though)

Running away/homelessness

Survival game type plot

Physical abandonment

Murder

There will likely be more added as this account develops.

Both blogs, but primarily the Ame one, will occasionally mention a P-Chan. This refers to two different people, but I'll never disclose which is which. This is mostly for privacy.

P-Chan 1 refers to a real-life person I know and have a semi-toxic friendship with. If I succumb to the BPD allegations, I'd assume they're my 'favourite person'.

P-Chan 2 is fake. They don't exist. They're a character in my head who is my ideal person. They exist so that I have someone to project my unhealthy obsession onto instead of the real P-Chan. This often also means posting the intrusive thoughts I have around P-Chan.

OUTRO!!!

I tried to keep this short while having as much info about this page as needed. I hope this can be a safe space for anyone who relates to me and wants to get to know me. I'm always open to making new friends <33

TL;DR

Mentally ill girl creates blogs to ignore her problems and vent while staying as anonymous as she can. Triggering posts galore, but it will be tagged to the best of her ability.

[blazehedgehog]

Thoughts on the Last Nintendo Direct for the Switch?

It was alright. A lot of people are very excited by what was shown but, I dunno.

A lot of modern Mario RPGs are pretty hit-or-miss, so Brothership isn't necessarily an instant win for me.

Nintendo World Championship could be interesting. It's probably a better take on the NES Remix idea than previous games, and the way they're doing online multiplayer could prove to be pretty cool. It's a shame it isn't live, but I suppose racing against ghosts means you don't have to worry about latency.

The thing is, with both NES Remix and this, I also want the option to just... play the full versions of these games. No timers, no competitions, just the raw games. But Nintendo's not going to do that. They'd also rather have you subscribe to their NSO service, too.

Fantasian is mostly interesting to me for the fact that a lot of the backgrounds are effectively pre-rendered -- but not using CGI. They apparently made realworld dioramas using actual model making material and photographed them. That's cool. The rest of the game seems like generic JRPG fluff.

I've tried over and over to like Donkey Kong Country Returns, both on the Wii and the 3DS, and it just rubs me the wrong way. I've said it's something weird with the controls feeling sluggish, but I think it's also the level design. It feels like it stretches some of its ideas pretty thin. Like we did not need a whole world dedicated to minecart levels. I'd hope the DKCR remaster is the version I'd finally enjoy, but I don't have my hopes up.

It's cool to see the "HD-2D" Dragon Quest games, at last. Those old phone versions they have on the Switch are awful. But also the only DQ game I've ever connected with was the demo for DQ8, so I dunno how much this tickles my fancy. But I've also never given a real one of these games a chance.

Hearing "timed exclusive for the Nintendo Switch" for Denpa Men is weird, given that was a 3DS game. I always thought it was first party. Is this also coming out on PS4? PC? Very strange.

Glad to hear about the Marvel Vs. Collection. I was just scrolling through my XBLA library on my 360 a few days ago and lamenting how I only own MvC2 and not MvC1, even though I like MvC1 better. Weird it's apparently only coming out for last gen; there aren't native PS5/SX versions of this or the Ace Attorney Collection. Just PS4/Xbone/Switch. With backwards compatibility I guess they don't have to bother with a native version, but still. Weird.

Zelda looks good and is a long time coming but I wish it wasn't so different. Like I have faith it'll be interesting but it does disappoint me it's going to be more puzzle-y and not an action game. After so many years of asking for the ability to play as Zelda, for them to say "well she CAN'T swing a sword like Link!" feels a little compromise-y. I'm sure it'll be fine.

That was not enough Metroid Prime 4. They picked the most unceremonious, least exciting way to show it, too. I actually thought it was them announcing remasters of Prime 2 + 3 like they did with Metroid Prime 1, because it's just generic "shooting nameless space pirates to metroid prime music" footage until the end.

Rewatching it, I can definitely see how people are saying it's a Switch 2 game, though. Like that Metroid Prime remaster seemed like it looked really pretty, but this feels like a step above what the Switch is normally capable of, at least as far as 60fps goes. Like compare for yourself. Prime remastered on the left, Prime 4 on the right.

Look at the ridges in her shoulder panels, and how they're a 3D modeled groove with inset detail in Prime 4. That detail is probably just a texture in the Prime remaster. And just, like, how much better the material work is overall.

I could see this being 1080p 60 on Switch 2 but only 30 on the OG Switch.

Also please show me new guns or mechanics or something next time.

[the-larxist-manifesto]

Whatnot ~ The long road to Saffron

Welcome to Whatnot, where I just kinda talk about random thoughts I'm having at the moment. Irl I say the phrase "... and whatnot" a lot—but do you ever wonder what exactly the whatnot is? That's what this blog will be.

I love me a good, long journey. I don't always know what decisions will lead me to a worthwhile journey, but the best ones tend to arise from spur-of-the-moment ideas and just saying "sure, let's give it a try." For example, this whole GameGirl31 project. Nintendo added GameBoy games to NSO, I noticed how few of the titles I recognized, and I decided it could be a unique challenge to play them. It is now setting in exactly how much time this will take me.

Pokémon Yellow, for instance. I don't know this particular generation super well, but I understand the Pokémon formula well enough. Despite this, more than 20 hours have been dedicated to this playthrough so far. I've only earned four gym badges (five if you count the one I skipped, accidentally?), meaning I'm about halfway through the experience. Just stating the facts here. We can imagine what the timer will read by the end.

I'm actually playing a session right now, taking a break in the middle to write this entry. I left off in the middle of route 14. In-game, I've been really wanting to return to Vermillion City because, about five hours back, I managed to completely avoid fighting Lt. Surge and then leave without the badge I need. That being said... five hours later, I couldn't be stuck on the more opposite side of the Kanto region. There is no quick way back to Vermillion from Fuchsia. I can only press forward. And the next leg of the journey is... the long, long road to Saffron City.

So, I packed as many hyper potions and ultra balls as I could into my trainer bag, and then started on the road. The journey is so long that it's actually made up of 5 separate routes.

Map; for reference, the path between any two cities in the Kanto region averages 1 to 2 routes

I can feel the length of the journey as I begin dismissing the possibility of travelling back to Fuchsia City for the Pokécenter. I'll just have to rely on the resources I've got. The only things to be found along these routes are other traveling trainers and the occasional patch of grass.

I've complained in the past about this game looking kinda ugly, in the graphics department. The overworld sprites are quite simplistic. The colors are limited. Often, it feels like I'm just staring at pencil lines etched in a white void. Yet somehow, the simplicity of the landscape around me as I bike the miles of this road... a true sense of distance sets in. DUCKIE is so far away from home. She's so far from anything that even resembles home. Only passing blades of grass, bushes, a small forest, abandoned fence posts... lines etched into the world by nature itself.

And then I read a sign.

Route 14 / West to Fuchsia City

There's something very haunting about a sign that only points you in one direction. Dead end. One way. Do not enter. Or maybe a highway sign that names a city you've never heard of about 50 miles away. This sign didn't tell me I was going anywhere. It only told me the quickest way back to civilization.

For those who don't know, in my actual life, I recently drove over 3,000 miles across the United States—nonstop except to sleep and eat, over the course of 6 days. It was another one of those decisions that felt so much smaller when it was just an idea in my head. Then I got into the car and drove away from my house, for once with no intentions of coming back. Then I crossed my first state border. Then I passed one last small town. Then, only the lines of rock and shrubs etched in the world around me.

I saw a lot of signs like this one on the long drive. Route 14 / West to Fuchsia City. It's just a practical sign to put up. A statement of fact as to where the nearest market would be, for instance. Yet something about it ineffably reads like a warning.

Subtle game design choices like this leave an impression on me like nothing else. The developers could have written "Road connecting to Saffron City," like they did with every other sign in the game. They could have put up no sign at all. But they chose this sign. I don't know; that made this world feel so much more real to me. And once again, for the first time ever, I think the simplicity of the graphics in this game do a great service to the tone and worldbuilding at this leg of the game. The same scenery passing you by over and over again. Eventually blurring into abstract lines etched in the void. You have grown so much as a trainer, to make it this far all by yourself. This is what it feels like to be far from home. It feels sickeningly lucid to become so aware of the bigness of the world.

That's a feeling only video games can give you, baby! And that's why video games are art, as if I even had to argue that. But who knew such strong emotions could come from a game that looks like... this?

Go on, guess which Pokémon that is. I bet you can't.

And so, I'm actually pretty excited for the long journey to Saffron City. It is, after all, just a small part of the long journey to beating Pokémon Yellow. Which is, of course, only a small part of the long journey to play 31 GameBoy games!

Well, at least for these journeys, I don't have to sleep in my car. :p

That's it for this edition of Whatnot! Too niche for GameGirl, but stuck out too much in my mind not to write about. I hope to do a lot more of these in the future (including non-video game stuff, ideally). Ta-ta for now~

[necroangelz]

HIA YOU SEEM SO NICE JAJAAHDHEJWV- I remember following you from one of my Tumblr accounts (I have like 4 and have forgotten about the passwords of most of them)- So you may know me from there ig!!

Actually I came back here because I wanted to ask something- What is "Needy Streamer Overload" about?? I keep finding the game pretty intriguing and since you had it on your layout I thought I could ask you- (I also felt that it was a perfect opportunity to try to socialize a bit and meet more people on Tumblr-) Sorry if I'm bothering you! ^^

@.mistysaur

AWWW THANKIEEE 🥹🥹 and yeah I'm pretty sure i know uu from there!!

oh boy. let me see if i can explain NSO without dropping 19 paragraphs LOL

also, don't worry, uur not bothering me at all!! i love when ppl send me asks bc i have a hard time talking to ppl first, so this is also a good time for me to socialize!

ramble under the cut >:3

anyway, at its core, NSO is a game about managing the streamer career of a very mentally ill girl. the player is p-chan, the manager of their ' girlfriend ' Ame or k-angel/omgkawaiiangel, and they basically tell Ame what to do throughout the day. they can hang out, spend time together, play games, go on the internet, go outside etc. doing certain actions gives Ame ideas fur streams. there are many types of streams uu can do, each streaming category has level 1 up to level 5 streams, streaming is what gets uu followers. certain streams can get uu more followers but they would also increase ame's stress...

the player also has to manager her stats, her affection, stress, follower count and mental darkness. there's not much story because the whole game is centered around the players actions if ya get what i mean. the endings center around the effects of ame's stats if that makes sense.

NSO is a very fun game (i guess it's obvious that i love it lmao) the gameplay could get a little repetitive bc it's all the same but the graphics and music are so so cool. the interface is like this little computer and stuff and uu see Ame through the webcam screen and uu select her daily activities through app icons. the music is so catchy and perfectly fits the vibe of the game.

NSO is also a good portrayal of the toxic side of the internet—during some of the worst endings, ame spirals in front of the camera during a stream, and instead of having sympathy for her, her fans are quick to turn on her and dogpile on her instead. laughing at her misery as if she wasn't a person at all. they spread rumors, talk about how they always hated her from the start, doxx her, and then move on to the next entertaining internet personality with no loyalty to ame at all. it shows how people online can become cruel to each other because, well, it's all online, so they believe nothing is important or significant. NSO also depicts parasocial relationships, internet addiction, and wanting to get attention, love, and gratification from the internet. in general i love how NSO portrays the internet because everything feels so... real. the stream chats, the comments under ame's tweets, even Ame's texts to the player, they all feel so natural. like they're all actually said by people who spend way too much time on the internet and hence use slang and ways of speech that are common online. i always felt really bothered that mainstream media, especially those made by adults, SUCKED at portraying the internet. NSO isn't like that

so ya that's nso :3 if one thinks that NSO is something one is interested in, and one is sure they won't be triggered by it (bc yeah this game is super heavy) please by all means check it out!! i don't have any playthroughs to recommend since i don't watch playthroughs, but there's def some fun ones on yt! or buy it!

[alienwaspbee]

I was thinking about what I would like to write about. I have so many ideas and maybe I shouldn’t single out one of them right now. Just use this as something I myself would like to read. The ideas that pop up from my brain can just end up here.

I been thinking of a guide on how to travel as an autistic person. Cause I’m one and I do travel a lot. How I do it and how I make my travels easier for me. Still figuring it out as I go along.

And also an idea on how to be an NSO in roller derby. From my point of view as a new member in this universe, and as an autistic person as well.

These two things is what takes up most of my time and energy and therefore they’re both my special interests right now.

Hopefully my thoughts can help someone else.

[bahamutgames]

AFTERTHOUGHTS - ROUNDUP ROUND 3

April 2023

Nintendo Switch Online Edition!!

HELLO EVERYONE! Yes, you right that right, NSO Edition. This time I'm gonna split the round up into 2 different posts. In April I spent most of the month moving. It was a particularly hard move but we managed to make it through. And some days I wouldn't have a car so I would just be sitting around with my Switch, and even after the move was done I did a lot of just sitting around cause I injured my feet during the move! So, I found myself playing a TON of Nintendo Switch Online games. I've mentioned before that I can't afford the expansion pass, but I was actually able to get 8 people who could all send me $10 each, so we were able to finally afford the $80 family plan!

As such, I've been finally getting to sink my teeth into those other emulators and try out stuff that isn't just on the default version. So get ready for a lot of N64 and Genesis stuff haha

As always, these aren't reviews just thoughts yadda yadda yadda. If you wanna play any of these play them. They're all easy to emulate (I think? Idk how good N64 emulation is atm). Anyway enjoy.

Kuru Kuru Kururin (March 21, 2001) - Gameboy Advance

Of course, we start with GBA first. I'm obsessed with this console and it's actually insane how few games on this console is available on Switch! But one of them is Kuru Kuru Kururin! Which is a game I've actually wanted to play for YEARS cause it's an assist in Brawl. But it never made its way over here (but I found out the day I played it that it WAS released in the UK so... I could have been playing it the whole time. Oops.)

But yeah now that's I've played it, I think this game is pretty cute! It's short and sweet, only having around 30 levels or something around that range. But it can be TOUGH to make it through! The game is all about patience so if you're like me, it's tough to make it through. And if you're like me, you'll use rewinds a LOT to make it through this cause you suck at waiting. Regardless, yeah, this game is fun! Cute music, cute visuals, and you can customize your ship!

Only real complaints is that some of the levels are like straight up mazes, so they can be really hard to navigate. And also in general the game is a little frustrating but I think generally people will find it very easy. Again I'm just not patient. Glad I finally got to try this one out! Would have loved to see this get a sequel on DS or 3DS or something. Oh well. Look at my custom ship! The red parts blink on and off like a warning light :)

Yoshi's Story (December 21, 1997) - N64

And here we go with some games I replayed! Recently I said in my first attempt to do a podcast (shameless plug) that I don't have a lot of memories with the N64. But getting NSO just totally brought everything back. I never forgot how much I loved Starfox 64, Paper Mario, ect ect. But I completely forgot about just how many games on this console I ADORE! One of which being Yoshi's Story!

I was OBSESSED with this game as a kid, I played every level in the game and this also spawned my love for the Black and White Yoshi! And I'm happy to say that, yeah, this game still holds up. I see SO many people say this game sucks. But honestly, I don't agree. Maybe if you payed $60 for it back in the day it'd be disappointing. And while it is easy there's a lot of levels to play and trying to get the high score can be really really tough in certain stages like the piranha plant level or the level with the big fishes.

Regardless, I still think this game is incredibly charming and fun! Great music, great visuals, i ADORE the characterization of the Baby Yoshis. This game really makes them feel like puppies? They growl and act so much like little dogs and I LOVE it. The story book aesthetic rules. I think the gameplay is great. And honestly, this might still be my favorite Yoshi game if you can believe it! My only major complaint when coming back to it is that the switch version makes a lot of the graphics look REALLY odd. This game gets the 2D stuff messed up more than anything else on the service. Very odd.

Starfox 64 (April 27, 1997) - N64

Here we go! Here is one of my all time favorite games EVER! Honestly... I don't even really think I need to write up my thoughts on it as I'm fairly certain the last time I beat this game and talked about it was just last year aha. Without a doubt, Starfox 64 is one of my all time favorites and is easily the game I have played to completion the most. I ADORE this game. So, yknow a quick run of it again wouldn't hurt right? I have NSO now anyway so I might as well...

And now we're here. Yeah, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. This game still absolutely RULES! It's such an amazing game and shmup (do on rail shooters count as shmups? I think they should... 3D Shmups). Even all this time later and after so many playthroughs the game never fails to scratch that itch. Great music, great levels, great characters, great gameplay. And that ending. Augh, gets me every time.

If anyone is curious my favorite route is

Corneria > Meteor Herd > Starwolf > Solar > Macbeth > Area 6 > Venom. Always my favorite set of levels to run through!

Pokemon Snap (March 21, 1999) - N64

Another all time favorite! I mean... This is basically an on rails shooter, if you think about it. Just with VERY different objectives and the bullets are, yknow, photos. So it's only natural I would love this Shmup classic! For real though, if you know me you know I LOVE taking pictures in game, so I love games all about taking pictures!

I used to play Snap a TON back in the day. And after I was absolutely madly in love with the sequel that took way too long to come out, I was interested in revisit the original for a bit now. I will come out of the gate and say it, New Pokemon Snap is better by leaps and bounds. It's got tons more content and things to do. But this only speaks to how good New Pokemon Snap is, because the original still holds up great! It feels fantastic to play, it's super cute, great music, lots of lovely scenarios to take pictures of. And it's made at that cute time period where the Pokemon brand was still figuring itself out. Honestly I think seeing Pokemon just living in nature is one of my favorite ways to see them and now I REALLY wanna play more NPS!

My only real complaints outside of just, not as much to do as the sequel that came out YEARS later is that the stages are SO short! I forgot how insanely short they are! I would love them to be a little longer with more Pokemon, but again that's what the sequel is for I suppose!

I had a bunch of really nice photos I wanted to show off but I deleted my save data before the final boss so I had to play the game a second time and didn't really feel so intense to take many pictures. eh.

F-ZERO X (July 14, 1998) - N64

I feel like I NEVER get to talk about it but I LOVE FZero! It's a series I totally adore and find super fun to play! And with the small amount of games in the series (crying and dying and coping and seething) it's also not very often I get to play a game in the series I've just NEVER played before! But here we are!

I've wanted to try this game for ages but just never could really get my hands on it for one reason or another. But now I didn't really have any reason not to try it! I'd still say it's not as good as GX, but it's still REALLY good! And it's crazy to me that they were so close to the insanity of GX on the N64. Game feels AMAZING to play and has TONS of characters, alt colors for each of them, and lots of tracks! And of course the OST is SUPER GOOD but that's not surprising for FZERO. I'm not a music guy but the guitars in this game sound really good and cool. And it has the fantastic cover of Rainbow Road if you've never heard that.

Off the top of my head the only issue I really have are kinda nitpicky. it's not amazing looking, but I totally understand that it just kinda can't look crazy good on N64, it's a big game with a lot going on and it's not gonna look as good as GX I'm not stupid. But a larger problem I had is that there are SO MANY KILL PLANES! I was trying to jump around the track and kept dying super high up or the collision for the road wouldn't load in cause I guess I skipped checkpoints. Frustrating. LET ME GO NUTS!!

But yeah, good game. I played as Pico and did every track in the Novice Class cause I suck

Dr. Mario 64 (April 8, 2001) - N64

Another game I've been interested in for a while but never got to play before. This one is very odd. it's Dr. Mario so of course it's good but it actually has a story mode with 2 very slightly different stories between Dr. Mario himself and Wario! Yeah this game actually features TONS of Wario Land 3 characters which is so weird and was a big reason I wanted to check it out.

Not much to say on this one. It's Dr. Mario so it's good. But it's just Dr. Mario. Story is cute. Although I didn't have the energy to play through both stories on higher difficulties so I didn't see the true final bosses. It plays fine, looks cool, has a good amount to do. I think the game is a little brutal though. I've never played VS Dr. Mario believe it or not. And I actually think trash blocks in this game are totally detrimental to you if you're not the best at it (like me) so the enemies had a pretty easy time just filling my board with garbage. Ah well. Still neat. Wouldn't mind a new Dr. Mario with a Story Mode and maybe more stuff like Miracle Cures from Miracle Cure on 3DS.

Kirby's Dreamland 2 (March 21, 1995) - Gameboy

Random Gameboy Jumpscare! Yeah last time I played Dreamland 1 so... Why not run through Dreamland 2? Yeah, this one is a LOT better than Dreamland 1. It's got copy abilities, and a whole game set up more similar to Adventure (or Nightmare in Dreamland if you're like me aha) and it has some animal buddies from Dreamland 3! Who, of course, all have different ways of using the copy abilities so there's LOTS to see and experiment with!

Cute sprites, some really honestly very cute and nice looking environments. Good soundtrack. It's honestly pretty dang good feeling and looking for a Gameboy game! I think something that really surprised me with this one is that there's a LOT of unique and cool boss battles in this that I've never really seen before as a casual kirby fan? Nruff, Sweet Stuff, and Ice Dragon are monsters I've seen before but never as bosses. It was neat and actually surprising to not only fight whispy and stuff. I know a lot of Kirby games have new bosses. But still!

Only complaints are stuff like. Ah not enough copy abilities or animal friends. But it's still gameboy there's only so much you can jam pack into it. No, my biggest issue is easily the final boss. Which, if you've played this game you might see the screenshot and realize I didn't fight! Every game in the Dark Matter saga (DL2, DL3, 64 as far as I'm aware?) all do this annoying thing where you can only challenge the final boss after 100% completing the game. This doesn't bug me all the time as I did this for Super Princess Peach and Demon's Crest, but I wasn't like ecstatic to do it in those even though I adore those games. And while I really like these Kirby games. I'm just not crazy enough about it to sit down and try to do EVERYTHING in them at the moment. But that's just me I'm sure Kirby fans could probably 100% this with their eyes closed. And if I ever do sit down to play the entire franchise, I will make an effort to try and grab everything and finally fight the true final bosses to these games.

Pokemon Stadium (April 30, 1999) - N64

Ah now here's a game I have a lot of nostalgia for! Despite not ever doing a full playthrough of the original RBY until last year, I played Stadium a BUNCH growing up! The minigames of course, everyone did, but I actually played Free Battle with Rental Pokemon a LOT for some reason. I was really into it and I remember really wanting Stadium 2 and whatever the GC and Wii ones were called but I never got them.

And something I tried as a child but never managed to do was beat Gym Leader Castle! And now I'm happy to say I did! Did it all with Rental Pokemon of course because they... dont have RBY on Gameboy Online for some reason which is a HUGE mistake by the way. I'll just come out and say it. With your own team I feel like this game would be REALLY exciting. But looking back, with Rental Pokemon. It's REALLY boring. It feels so slow to get through and I totally understand why I just didnt have the energy without save states as a kid.

BUT this game is still nice in a lot of ways. Very charming little title and I ADORE the animations made for all 150 Pokemon. They all have tons of personality, are fun to watch, and are just plain cute. I know Pokemon Company has said there's no reason to make a game like this now that Pokemon main series games are 3D but I disagree because a game like this really allows them to showcase unique emotions and quirks in the personalities of the different species. If that makes sense. Game looks good, music is nice, and of course the announcer is LEGENDARY.

No I am not unlocking Mewtwo, I thought you got him for clearing Gym Leader castle. You do not. I looked it up, you have to do EVERYTHING. I am not doing that.

Also if you wanna see the team I took on Gym Leader Castle with. All rental Pokemon of course. But still neat! (x)

Pokemon Puzzle League (September 25, 2000) - N64

Gosh now here's a REALLY weird game. For years I've seen people say this game is absolutely awful and... honestly it's not. It's just Panel De Pon so it's good objectively. But it still sucks but like, in other ways? Like. I don't know how to describe it the game is just really weird. It's fully based around the anime, which is rare. It has one or two original animations made just for the game (I think they're made just for it)? Which is neat. And it has covers of music from the anime which is neat! I was particularly blown away by the inclusion of Catch Me If You Can from the first movie which is a song I liked a lot in highschool lol. (no Free Up Your Mind or Brother My Brother though 0/10)

But I'dunno even though it plays fine and it has a lot of stuff to do including making your own boards for people to solve which is neat. The game just feels so lame? It looks like a PowerPoint presentation and while you can pick a Pokemon to bring into battle as far as I can tell it has 0 impact on the actual battles which is a HUGE waste because the blocks have type icons on them so I feel like there's a huge missed opportunity for a Panel De Pon game with like elemental weaknesses? Idk how to describe it but it really feels fake, or maybe like a flash game you would have played on the official Pokemon website back in the day. It's not bad but even playing it for free, I'd rather just play Panel de Pon lmao. Sorry Puzzle League.

THAT BEING SAID, I did randomly beat it twice so I could get the better ending. Which I didn't bother doing for Dr. Mario 64, so that's gotta be worth something.

Pulseman (July 22, 1994) - Genesis

Speaking of Pulseman, here's a game with no Pokemon in it! I'm sure I don't have to tell anyone this at this point but Pulseman was made by Gamefreak and even has a lot of the art done by Ken Sugimori which is very neat! This is a game I've actually enjoyed for a bit as I bought it on Wii Virtual console a loooong time ago. But I could never beat it sadly. Thankfully I finally managed to get through it!

Pulseman is VERY cool! I like the character designs of Pulseman and his sidekick girl a LOT. Pulseman also has a lot of really interesting abilities, I think the ability to run fast and build up static to super charge your moves is SUPER cool! There's even some voice acting which is REALLY neat. The game feels very advanced in a lot of parts. And the game has a lot of impressive visuals and looks very good for the most part!

For the most part though. I honestly can't help but feel a little disappointed in Pulseman now that I've played it? I think a lot of the levels don't play to Pulseman's cool abilities enough, I think a lot of the levels in general kinda suck. A lot of the game looks kinda headache inducing with tons of flashing lights instead of focusing on the REALLY nice sprite art if that makes sense. I don't really remember most of the enemies and bosses. And I don't recall any of the music. Idk I hate to say it cause I love Pulseman's design and a lot about the game. But I can't help but feel like this game didn't bring out the concept's full potential.

PERSONALLY I think Pulseman REALLY could use a sequel and honestly, it's not too late. I know Gamefreak is kinda eh on not doing Pokemon every year or so but I really think Pulseman is a game that could go SO nuts nowadays with some cooler levels and expansions on Pulseman's abilities and giving him new tools he can use and upgrade using the static electricity stuff. Ah well, it's still worth playing as an interesting piece of history!

Street Fighter II - Championship Edition (March 18, 1992) - Genesis

Can you believe I've never beaten this game before? Yeah despite how much I love fighting games I only really got into Street Fighter during covid when I played Street Fighter 4 and really found myself loving Juri Han. And while I've been REALLY wanting to get the Capcom Fighting Collection, which includes this, I've just been kinda strapped for cash so I'll have to go with the NSO for Street Fighter II!

Yeah it's fine. Not mind blowing but it is REALLY interesting to go back and play this and see how much of it is still accurate to modern day fighting games? Either the genre hasn't changed much or this game just hit the nail on the head so well (probably a bit of both) but yeah it's neat that it has a lot of modern day fighting game trappings and while it feels outdated, it doesn't feel as outdated as you would expect such an old console port fighting game to feel? Idk how SF2 feels in general though cause I've barely played it. But yeah it's neat. Looks good, has good music, stuff you would expect for Street Fighter. I played as Blanka cause Cammy isn't in this version. Neat :)

Super Fantasy Zone (January 14, 1992) - Genesis

Ah never a bad time for Shmups! I have a little bit of history with Fantasy Zone as I used to LOVE playing my bootleg NES cartridge of it as a kid! Fantasy Zone is very reminiscent of Twinbee with its cute bullet hell stuff and also having a living ship. I love OpaOpa.

This game pretty good, feels great to play, looks adorable, has great boss fights, nice music. And I especially LOVE how many upgrades you can buy for OpaOpa! I just wish they were all permanent or at least lasted longer? I also appreciate that it had a kind of out of nowhere ending with a really cool and edgy dark matter concept and villain, I guess I need to research more Fantasy Zone lore!

My only problem with this game, and while this may feel stupid, I think it's fair to bring up. This game feels like it would be impossible without rewinding? It's 1 hit and you're dead, and it's a bullet hell where it can be really hard to tell where everything is including your ship (which is REALLY important to tell where that thing is during bullet hells aha). With rewinds it wasn't a problem, but I genuinely don't know if it would be possible without them. Still, it's fun so if you have NSO (or an emulator which is free btw) it's a great time!

Ristar (February 16, 1995) - Genesis

Last, but absolutely NOT least, is Ristar! HEY!! RISTAR ROCKS!? WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME THIS GAME RULES ACTUALLY!?!? I've seen it around a lot but idk the game just never really looked like something I'd enjoy. But I figured, why not? Let's give it a go. And I can safely say I was WRONG! Ristar is a FANTASTIC platformer I'm sad I never sunk my teeth into before (well, I never owned it I dont think. But still)

First off, Ristar is ADORABLE. I didn't like how he looked on the boxart but he looks GREAT in game and has some lovely animations (him making snowmen in the ice world killed me.) The music is also fantastic, the bosses are cool, and the whole game is full of really cool ideas! It's even got a neat albeit small story. But particularly, the visuals. Oh my god. This game is GORGEOUS! Ristar has such AMAZING sprite art I was honestly totally blown away by every part of the game's visuals! A part that really made my jaw drop when I first saw it is when you beat a world, the cutscene that plays when Ristar flies to the next planet looks AMAZING and also has some really beautiful music! Honestly, Ristar looks like an indie game trying to look like a Genesis game, but massively overshooting what the Genesis could actually do. And I mean that in the best way possible!

I have some nitpicks with it, I think the final boss had some attacks that were really stupid to dodge? And there were some stages that just... Weren't hitting. But I think my biggest issue with the game is similar to Pulseman's issue. Ristar has cool abilities. He can stretch his arms out and launch things around by bouncing into them like a sling shot. But, this just kind of never gets used? You use it for the spinny things but that's it? I feel like I should be able to angle enemies when I grab them to sling them into eachother, or just be using these abilities in ANY additional ways. Also the game is SLOOOOW, it's REALLY slow game. I think Ristar is another game that REALLY could use a second go around. Ristar 2 could really add to Ristar's abilities and turn up the speed! I think there's so much you could do with grappling and slinging with this character that hasn't been explored yet. PLEASE GIVE US RISTAR 2!!

[sl33py-g4m3r]

ACNH Hard Mode Challenge~~~ Let's Go~~ got some questions about it tho~~

rip the animal crossing island that I thought "fit my criteria" for a really good island. I ended up not liking how it felt to be on for some dumb reason~~ "I do not vibe with this island" reset.

and I reset to try something the community had been doing since 2023 apparently~~ "hard mode"

which begs a couple questions~~ or many questions cause I just edited the post and put more there (haha) since you can only wear clothes you create, along with accessories you can buy, where do I begin even trying to design my own clothes? Just in the designs app on your nookphone?

I think I've got all the rules down in my head~~ from selling things to certain npcs to flea markets on sundays (or turnips but I don't have NSO so that's out, the flea markets w other hard mode players) to not being able to sell fossils at all, and idr what all else~~~

or what counts as "buying something" does it need to be an item? or can it be bags of flower seeds or wallpaper or something? or does it absolutely HAVE TO BE an item?

so~~~ how do you design your own clothes? and what counts as an accessory to be bought at the able sisters shop? are shoes counted as an accessory?

also with one of the other rules of "you can only sell crops if it's a full harvest" (watered every day) what do I do with the ones that hadn't? just throw them in the garbage cause they can't be sold? speaking of crops can I plant more instead of just selling if I only buy like one? Intended to try to get all of the crops again and then fashion them into a garden that way, but idk if that's allowed or not....

do flowers count as forageables?

I feel there are still small intricacies of the "hard mode" ruleset that I'm too tired to understand atm~~~ cause I'm sleepy posting about it shortly after starting it~~~

hope hard mode makes animal crossing new horizons fun for me again~~~ cause after playing for maybe 3 months and going really hard at it, I burnt myself out pretty hard and want to enjoy the game again~~~

here's the island name generator that I used~~ I think unfortunately some of the names it generates are too long tho~~~

doing this challenge alone and no time traveling cause I think that's cheating anyway~~

Island Name: Nectarlake

Native Fruit: Pear

Native Flower: Cosmos (?) I can't tell yet~~

South South rivers

Starter Villagers: Reneigh, Sterling

Re-roll for island? No~~

Airport Color: Orange~~ tho idk if that matters unless I'm doing Hard Mode 2.0, which I didn't plan to but might given I just started~~ what's the difference between OG and 2.0?

[tsukai22]

Stuff - 17/1/25

The Switch successor being the Switch 2 which has much the same design is great for me - I really liked using the original Switch. I think I prefer the joy-cons being attached by pushing them in (for lack of a better term) rather than sliding them in. I really hope the Switch 2 joy-cons aren't as fault-prone.

EDIT: Something I hadn't thought of but other people have: The fact that the 1st Direct for it will be on April 2nd means that there'll be a s***ton of fake leaks on April 1st, but with probably some real ones buried under them - I find this hilarious. I don't believe any leak though unless it's datamined info from a game.

The new Mario Kart game on Switch 2 looks like a brand new one and not just Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Deluxe. It'll be hard to top MK8D though, as I think there isn't many ways to improve the gameplay much.

I've started another Pokemon Scarlet run - #6 I think. My character is Bernadetta. I've only done about ⅓ of the base game but I already have 3 Shinies (Wattrel, Maschiff, Gastly). This would be really cool if it wasn't for the fact that they're on a disposable save file and it's on my 2nd account which doesn't have NSO so I can't send them to my main save.