#Maybe I should make a Wii U retrospective

[averagefungus]

My first experience in realizing *what* Splatoon was happened back when PeanutButterGamer released his review on the game, when Splatoon was “Nintendos Answer to Call of Duty” was how everyone described it because it’s 2016. My actual first experience, just seeing Splatoon, was a ****ing Profasia Gaming all bosses YouTube video, where I was enraptured by what I thought was some forgotten Xbox game I never heard about. Ironic, huh? Then I got the game for my birthday, and I was there for the very first Cats Vs. Dogs Splatfest. I don’t remember the team I chose, but I remember the splatposts, the inbox, the inside jokes, and when Splat Tim was a fresh new meme.

Splatoon was my exposure to the concept of OCs. I remember seeing fan agents, and the green giant squid girl, and other characters people had made not realizing I could make my own character in an already established universe. I thought for a short while that the official names for the “two main characters” the Orange and Blue inklings were ink and some other squid related noun. But then I learned that these were characters people made for themselves, and that I could make characters for myself too. Once I did, I created nigh a dozen characters with their clothings and weapons in my head. I wish I wrote those inklings (and Octolings that were undercover) down.

The fan content was at an all time high, where I could read entire comics just by looking at google images since I didn’t have any social medias yet. YouTube had GMOD animations by LizzieRattcicle, Pooole, Spider, Mister Prawn, and so on. Comic Dubs, Creepy Pastas, anything I could find that I’d watch well into the morning, and sleep all day on a bean bag chair. I’d dream of being at Inkopolis, the raised balcony and massive open area being home to the hundreds angsty fanfictions I read on my phone on long car rides, listening to a single Siivagunner track on repeat for 6 hours all the while. The Living Tombstones song held a tragic chord to me at that time, thinking about what it must’ve been like to live in Inkopolis while watching the stylized music video with the limited cast of characters we had.

While I’ll likely never be as into the series as I was back then, even when Octo Expansion redefined the fandom as we know it, it’s one of the few times I look back on with complete satisfaction for. The Wii U was such an amazing console to be young on, unaware of the constant disappointments people had about the thing while I played Nintendo Land, Tank!Tank!Tank!, Pikmin 3, Sm4sh, Yoshis Wooly World, Mario Maker, Scribblenauts, Windwaker, New Super Mario Brothers U, and of course;

Splatoon.

I’ll likely not get the chance to play it one last time, but I’ll remember it fondly and nostalgically, as the first fandom I found that taught me to make art. Thank you Splatoon

Soon we'll say goodbye to Splatoon 1 online! (officially at least) Thanks for all the fun! Stay Fresh!

What were some of your favorite memories of playing it back then? ᔦꙬᔨ

[filligan-universe]

TOP 5 Games of 2018

5. Octopath Traveler

Despite all of its shortcomings and lack of depth, I was entranced by this jewel. I wrote a full review here.

4. Spider-Man

Another one that took a lot of my time this year -- to the point where I platinumed it. But I haven’t returned for any DLC. I wrote a full review of this one as well, and it touches on why I probably won’t be back to web-slinging until a proper sequel.

3. Red Dead Redemption II

I still haven’t finished RDR II, but it really is the most polished game I’ve played all year. And maybe it’s unfair to judge this game before I’m done with it, but that’s part of why it’s both so high and so low on my list. The previous game sank claws into me that I couldn’t escape for the better part of a year. This game wants to be more cinematic. Rockstar wants to push the art in the art form, and while that’s admirable and we should have A-list games striving for the very best the medium can produce, it also seems to have come in the progression of gameplay. I’m in the absolute minority on this so I won’t say much on it -- at least not until I’ve completed the main story. And the game still plays well. Quite well. But I dunno. The last game was still a game. This sometimes feels like the most boring parts of a film.

2. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

I don't know if I need to recalculate my score for Smash Wii U after this, because for all intents and purposes, Ultimate IS the better game. It's like the Mario Kart 8 of the franchise: refined to the point where improvement is impossible. The roster is madness, the single-player modes are grindy but better, and it feels like there's nowhere left to go. But I'm sort of okay with that. I'm ready for this franchise to retire. And maybe my score reflects that more than anything.

1. Into the Breach

Into the Breach is deceptively crystal in its presentation and gameplay. Every possibility, option, and strategy is communicated to the player at all times, and failure to exercise the best method is always your own fault. The amount of abuse I allowed this game to inflict on me is lunacy, but I felt like I gained new knowledge and motivation with each failure, and if I started over then I could finally win. I am no battle chess player, but this sucker is so simply addictive.

Something different:

I’ve been making personal GOTY choices for a very long time now and I got curious about the stack of them -- what possible stats or preferences I could glean from seeing them all together. They’ll also fluctuate more commonly than my favorite films of the year because games are expensive, I often wait for them to go down in price to try them, and by then we’re in the next year and my list has already been made. So, I wanted to look back through my choices, make any appropriate changes if I’d played anything else since those lists had been made, and see what I’ve chosen. Here’s what I found:

1998: StarCraft 1999: Super Smash Bros. 2000: Paper Mario 2001: Super Smash Bros. Melee 2002: Super Mario Sunshine 2003: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2004: Halo 2 2005: Mario Kart DS 2006: Gears of War 2007: Halo 3 2008: Grand Theft Auto IV 2009: Batman: Arkham Asylum 2010: Red Dead Redemption 2011: Portal 2 2012: Journey 2013: Grand Theft Auto V 2014: Mario Kart 8 2015: Super Mario Maker 2016: ABZÛ 2017: Super Mario Odyssey 2018: Into the Breach

Obviously, some of these I reviewed in retrospect. I wasn’t makin’ GOTY lists way back in 1998, I can tell ya that much! No sir! What a lame hobby for a child! Ha ha!

Wins by exclusives: Nintendo - 8 Microsoft - 3 Sony - 1

Wins by franchise: Super Smash Bros. - 2 Mario Kart - 2 Halo - 2 Grand Theft Auto - 2

Wins by genre: Action - 4 Shooter - 4 Platformer - 4 (5 with Mario Maker) Strategy - 4 Racer - 2

I feel pretty well-rounded. More so than I used to consider my tastes to be, anyway.

Personal surprises: I thought I chose Nintendo far more often, but 8/20 isn’t too dominating. True enough, there was a near ten year gap where I barely played much Nintendo had to offer. The Wii U might have been a financial crater, but the Wii was a creative one, and even when Nintendo cracked it (Super Mario Galaxy), there were still better games on the market. 

2001 is a funky year. I flip back and forth between Melee and Combat Evolved all the time, but I think I’m happy to leave it here. I can’t fathom how much time I spent on either of them. And speaking of time spent, that appears to be my number one criterium for determining what’s worthy for top spot. Other things can factor in when it’s close (this year, for example, I had spent far more time on Octopath and Spider-Man, but neither of them had moved me to sit down and play them like Breach -- they felt more like personal obligations I’d given myself). But it’s a fair, I think: my strongest memories of games are going to become stronger with more game time. The only reason I stopped playing Halo 2 (at 2800 matches) was because Halo 3 released, and I left that game at almost 2950 matches. Compare that to Reach, which struggled to reach 1000, or even the MCC (914), and there’s an argument for playtime = GOTY. Also, we’re not gonna talk about the INSANE stat my Xbox says about my Halo Wars 2 playtime: 233 hours. What a load! Ha ha!

My affection for Nintendo is no surprise, and neither is my love of certain franchises, but I’m surprised to see the pattern shaken up with regularity. I’ll be shocked if my GOTY for this year isn’t Mario Maker’s sequel, and thus the Nintendo/franchise love will continue, but you never know. Little gems like Journey, ABZÛ, and Breach keep popping up these days. I know my tastes are very mainstream, but I love to be surprised by excellent indie ventures. I consider Journey to be the best game of the previous generation, so we’ll see how my tastes continue.