We are in March of 2023 and one of the hottest new releases in the games industry is Resident Evil 4. One of the fastest selling Nintendo games is Metroid Prime. Counter-Strike has a new entry releasing this Summer. The Nintendo eShop on Wii U and 3DS is shutting down in a matter of hours, and my personal Wii U console has bit the dust until I can get around to learning how to solder. It’s as if time turned back about a decade or so, and I have no problem with this. The games mentioned prior have stuck around in people’s minds since they released a decade or two ago. Remakes or remasters make complete sense to make a game more easily accessible to today’s audiences (within legal means, that is) while also allowing for those who experienced them back at launch to see their favorites in a slightly …
GFA: Rollerdrome
In an alternate 2030 where computers never quite took off, but the visual styles and mechanical dreams of the 1970’s did; the world has been taken by storm with a thrilling bloodsport called Rollerdrome. Kara Hassan is this year’s rookie to watch, and she’s made it to the highest level of the competition.
The question is, will you be up to the challenge once placed into Kara’s skates?
GFA: Cadence of Hyrule
Nintendo handed one of their most well-known franchises to a bunch of Canadians who made a game about dancing with death in a Crypt. It’s absurd, but did it lead to an absurdly good game in the eyes of a longtime Necrodancer player? Kinda. It’s easy. Really easy. Not to say that’s a bad thing, but keep in mind that a single playthrough took just over five hours and only led to two deaths for me, both of which were outside of dungeons and within the first two hours of play. The biggest contributing factor to this ease is how many mechanics are carried directly over from NecroDancer itself. From several enemies’ patterns to the way weapons and items function. This one-to-one mirroring makes things an absolute breeze as a longtime casual Necrodancer player. In addition to this frequent mirroring, health is about as common as mosquitoes on a Florida …
GFA: Nuclear Throne
It’s over. The End has come.. There’s nothing left but dust, weapons, and mutants. The only option is the Throne, The… Nuclear Throne. Such is the life of the twelve mutants all set to risk it all to find this mythical, supposedly world-saving macguffin, the Nuclear Throne. The world of Nuclear Throne is a top-down shooter. Death is nearly permanent, as Nuclear Throne fits within the category of a Rogue-Light, where death is a swift boot back to the start with the loss of all upgrades and both weapons currently held. Each run for the throne is randomly generated, with level shape, enemy and item placement all being determined by an incredibly fast generation system. Of course, RNG can needlessly throw you into impossible situations sometimes, but more on that later. Level progression only comes upon defeating every enemy in a stage, with a portal opening over the corpse …
GFA: EarthBound
Simple gameplay, well-written dialogue, beautiful spritework and a great soundtrack. This game has it all, but this includes a few small quality of life snags that keep it from perfection. This is the first title I finished on the SNES Classic. More first-time thoughts on these 90’s classics are to come. Let me start this off by saying I am not a huge fan of RPGs. But, I decided I was going to play through this one as I keep hearing about it and its unfortunately region-locked sequel MOTHER 3. EarthBound. A game about a young, baseball-obsessed kid going out and fighting off art, rogue beverages and almost any stray animal he comes across in order to destroy some alien being before it can destroy the earth. Oh, also all this is fine as everything either disappears or “becomes tame” instead of just straight-up dying. Needless to say this is …