bahamutgames

[bahamutgames]

Tried to design a character who wears her Health-bar and Mana-bar as stockings <3

#gamestoplay #*sobbing quietly* how are you gonna make it look like ff7 and NOT make it an RPG #I get it though making RPGs are a nightmare... im one of the girls now I get it

[bahamutgames]

Random Video Game Themed Question Prompts - Part 2

Part 2 of this little video game prompt thing! I thought this one would be easier because it's actually all Pokemon themed! But they asked a lot of questions I just don't know cause I haven't played all the games lol. But regardless, this was very fun! And I'm having a bit of Poke Mania after beating Platinum!

Thank you all for dealing with this and indulging me as I answer random questions for fun lol. If you wanna see some Pokemon opinions, go ahead and click the readmore :)

Part 1

1 - Favorite Pokemon

My favorite Pokemon for ages now is Charizard. I know it's a basic pick but think about for a bit and it makes total sense. Dragon. Fire. Salamander theme. Green elements. It's kind of tailor made for me. Not to mention Firered was my first game, and Charmander my first Pokemon! Also, I love him in Smash Bros. ALSO YEAH I LIKE POPULAR THINGS OKAY THAT'S WHY THEY'RE POPULAR-

2 - Favorite Game

Personally I am still really biased to Pokemon Firered. It's my first, so I have a lot of really good memories with it. I love the GBA, I love the sprites and music. And it's just a deeply important game to me. Though I do think SoulSilver is better in pretty much every way, I just have too much love for Firered. But if we're not counting spinoffs currently Emerald is my favorite!

3 - Favorite Spinoff

This one is easy, it's Pokemon Snap. Both games are seriously some of my favorite video games of all time. And it's the closest we'll ever get to a Pokemon Shmup/On-Rails Shooter. I also just love taking pictures in video games and I love seeing Pokemon in their natural environments, so it's pretty much tailor made for me. A close runner up would be Pokken but the only reason it's not number 1 is cause 3D Fighting Games are harder than 2D ones lol.

4 - Favorite Legendary

It's Mewtwo, let's not beat around the bush on this one, it's Mewtwo. He's one of my favorite characters ever, one of my favorite Smash Bros. characters, the star of one of my favorite movies, he's bad ass. I just really love Mewtwo. But some of my other favorites are Lugia, Groudon/Kyogre/Rayquaza, and Kyreum!

5 - Favorite Mega

I'm sorry all these answers are so predictable It's the Mega Charizards. With a preference for X, but they both RULE. I actually love a LOT of Mega Evolutions though. Some of my other favorites are Gengar, Aerodactyle, Gardevoir, Mawille, Aagron, Banette, Garchomp, Abomasnow, Steelix, Lopunny, and Audino!

As for Gigantimax... Eeeeeh I think these are kinda stupid looking for the most part, apologies. Alcremie kinda clears though in my opinion. Coalossal, Appletun, Durraludon, the Kanto starters are ok though.

6 - Favorite Regional Variant

Honestly, really looking at it. I'm not sure which is my definitive favorite but DAMN Galarian Linoone is just PERFECT. It's better than actual Linoone imo and I think I like it more than Obstagoon too honestly. I also like Alolan Golem, Galarian Corsola, Alolan Muk, Hisuian Zoroark and Hisuin Goodra. This is still one of the best concepts introduced into Pokemon, btw.

7 - Favorite Starter

It's Charmander. Sorry guys it's just the coolest and evolves into my favorite starter. But since that's such a predictable answer at this point I'll do you one better and list my favorite Starter from each region (I pick my favorites based on their final forms lol): Charmander, Totodile, Mudkip, Turtwig, Snivy?, Fennekin, Popplio, Grookey, Sprigatito.

Also I think Kanto, Jhoto, and Kalos have the strongest set of final stage starter Pokemon! Meganium, Typhlosion, and Feraligatr in particular are 3 of my all time favorites.

8 - Favorite Region

In terms of Pokedex? It's between Kanto, Jhoto, Unova, and maybe Kalos? In terms of games? Kanto, Jhoto, Hoenn? In terms of where I'd want to live? While I haven't played them all it's between Kanto and Hoenn I think.

9 - Favorite Pseudo Legendary

NOW THIS IS A TOUGH ONE! Lately the Pseudo Legendaries have genuinely become some of my favorite Pokemon from each region. Of course, right? They're all dragons lol. Goodra is probably the winner because I love slime and dragons. But some REALLY close runner ups are Tyranitar, Garchomp, and Dragapult.

While some are certainly stronger in terms of design and concept than others, I like them all though. The only one I'm eh on is Baxcalibur and even then I see the idea and I think some small design tweaks would really fix it for me.

Also random side note, but if they removed all the Pokemon currently in Smash and had to replace all of them with new ones. While I'd cry over Charizard and Mewtwo leaving... Just replace them all with all the Pseudo Legendaries. In fact, the Pseudo Legendary from each region would be a shoe in for each smash game if I was in charge!

10 - Favorite Mythrical

Darkrai. Next question.

Okay but seriously, I ADORE Darkrai. For a lot of similar reasons to Mewtwo. Bad ass design, cool concept, and their movie is one of my favorites. You guys know I love edgy badboys with hearts of gold and tragic backstories. Darkrai's movie is seriously one of my favorites and one of the only ones I've rewatched.

For runner ups? I didn't realize Genesect is Mythical? I LOVE Genesect. Also had a great movie. Also Meloetta is hot dude

11 - Favorite Rival

I've only played the first 4 games but personally I think I have to give it up to Blue. I think he's a lot cooler and more interesting than people remember. I feel like he gets remembered as a mean guy, but actually I feel like he's playfully a rival with you. Because he actually helps you a LOT during the game. But then as the game goes you progressively see him get more and more obsessed with power. And then finding out he's already the champion and having to tear him down is REALLY cool. I think it's one of the best parts of RBY.

Personally I haven't been super thrilled with the friendly rivals but I did think Wally was a neat idea where he starts out as a sick kid but genuinely gets pretty good. But it is messed up that you have to tear him down too lol. Just looking at the designs I like Bianca, N, Hubert, Shauna (though I remember her being annoying), Gladion, Marnie, and dude Klara is so fucking hot dude

12 - Favorite Professor

From the games I've played, Oak has kind of been the most interesting one no contest. But I do LOVE the designs of Juniper, Sonia, and Sada cause they're so hot dude

Although I kind of get the vibe that Kukui is gonna be my favorite by the time I get there.

13 - Favorite Elite 4 / Gym Leader / Champion

TOUGH QUESTION! I don't want this spoiled so I'm gonna only look at the ones I've beaten. Starting with Elite 4: It's probably Lance. He's really cool. Though Karen is absolutely up there. And I also like Lorelei, Phoebe, Drake, and Bertha. Also seeing Koga get upgraded between 2 games was cool.

Gym Leader: It's probably between Claire and Flannery? Dragon types obviously but also slightly older mean girls/tomboys. You know how it is. Erika is cute, Janine being Koga's daughter is cool, Giovanni was a cool concept, Whitney, Jasmine, Morty maybe, Roxanne, Norman is a great concept, Gardenia, Crasher Wake, Candice. Volkner has a cool design.

Champion: Again, probably Blue. I think it's the best built up for sure. And while seeing Lance get upgraded was cool, it's just Lance no offense. Steven could've been an ALL TIMER but Emerald kinda dropped the ball with that sadly. So, if not Blue. It's Cynthia. I'm sorry for being so thirsty on this post but she's SO hot and so cool and has such good taste in Pokemon.

14 - Favorite Villain Team

I think Team Rocket is neat but they're a little basic. But they're done pretty good in the first game and I think it's cool that they're a little more grounded than the rest. And Galactic is pretty crazy but I feel like the whole team isn't that cool as much as they're like, insane.

I probably have to go between Magma and Aqua. And while Aqua are pirates so objectively they're cooler. I think Magma's grunt designs are my personal favorite grunts so far. I genuinely want their evil hoodies with horns on them. And they love Groudon whose the coolest of the trio from Hoenn.

15 - Favorite Character

It's between Mewtwo and Darkrai. Again, they're both deeply important characters to me and both star in some of my favorite movies. But ultimately I do have to give it up to Mewtwo for being an edgy badboy made in a lab, his movie is also just really really good and I love him in Smash Bros and the Birth of Mewtwo and he's just so cool. I love Mewtwo. Darkrai runner-up

16 - Favorite Route/Town/City

I hate to say it but I don't really remember a lot of them off the top of my head. ATM I'm obsessed with Route 209's night theme from Platinum though lol. Going soley off of memory I would probably want to live in a place a little busy but not TOO crazy crowded. Maybe I'd like something like a beach town in Hoenn? Sunnyshore in Sinnoh was also a neat idea.

17 - Favorite Soundtrack

Ooof, tough question. I am certainly the most nostalgic for Firered personally. But I think from my playthroughs so far, a lot of Platinum songs really stuck out and stuck with me. 209, vs Galactic, the Celestic town guitar strumming theme lol. I also feel like I'm gonna REALLY like Black/White's ost cause from what little I played a lot of those songs stuck out to me. But yeah, I might have to give it up to FireRed personally. With my favorite song from it being Vs Champion Rival.

18 - Least Favorite Pokemon

SO... I hate to be a hater. But lately there have been some serious stinkers. However, I have 3 main "least favorite Pokemon". Number 1! Intelleon. Stupid design. Stupid motif. Never seen fanart that made it into a hot girl. How does it go from emo to 007? Huh? Wha? Stupid.

NUMBER 2! Calyrex. Stupid design. Looks stupid on the horses. Looks stupid off the horses. Drags down the cool horse designs. It's the best you could do for a KING pokemon? Seriously? I hate it.

NUMBER 3!! The worst of the worst: Quaquaval. No joke the only Pokemon to dethrone Intelleon to me. I HATE this Pokemon. I get the theme. I see the vision. But it's SO stupid looking. Again I don't want to be a hater, I know people like it. But it's design STINKS dude. I just hate it. Idk.

19 - Favorite Battle

My favorite battle COULD'VE been when you team up with Rayquaza to fight Groudon and Kyogre. But sadly that's only in my fanfic.

There's some really good ones. I love teaming up with Steven to fight the Magma admins. I liked fighting Giratina a lot, I thought that was cool and a nice surprise. I liked having Wally come back suddenly and be super strong at the end of victory road. But ultimately, again, I think I have to give it up to the RB Champion Blue fight. I know I keep saying it but it's so good and so well built up in my opinion. And unlike the friendly rivals, while I think Blue is friendlier than people believe. Watching him become more power hungry makes it feel good and like you have to cut him down when he starts getting out of line. Idk.

As for the Anime? I really like when Mewtwo fights Genesect and only beats him by giving him the overview effect lol. There's a lot of really good ones in the anime if I sat down and thought about it though.

20 - Favorite Type

It's Dragon Type, hands down. Dragons are cool, I love a lot of dragon types, and I LOVE the idea that ANYTHING can be a dragon, even a tree. It matches my love and philosophy of dragons a lot.

Outside of the obvious dragon pick. I like a lot of Fire types, Electric is one of my favorite powers but I'm not super married to a lot of Electric types, I'm always shocked by how many Water types I'm OBSESSED with considering I'm not crazy about Water powers. Ground, Poison, Dark, Bug, there's a lot of good types lol.

21 - Favorite Move

This is really tough. I love a lot of the big HM moves that make my runs super easy. Fly, Surf, Waterfall, ect ect. I love stuff like the elemental punches conceptually. I also like a lot of the dragon moves like Dragon Claw / Draco Meteor conceptually. But I think my all timer is Blast Burn! Again... Charizard lol. I had it on my Charizard in FireRed as a kid.

22 - Favorite Ability

I'm gonna be real with you... I don't know about any of those dang "abilities". But I do always like ones that up the type of the Pokemon. And I'm sure there's some really unique ones if I ever felt like reading through them all. Maybe I'll come back and update this one later. For now, let's go with Dragon's Maw cause it's a dragon theme.

23 - Favorite Item

The only items I really focus on are the held items. I really like, similar to abilities, ones that make certain type moves stronger. I use those a LOT during my playthroughs. I also pretty consistently get Quick Claw and make use of that, I think conceptually that and Dragon Claw are cool. I think King's rock conceptually is cool. As for Pokeballs I thin Ultraball looks cool, Net Ball, Heavy Ball, Dusk Ball... I never use them but they look cool lol. For battle items... uuuuuuh... Max Revive... idk.

24 - Favorite Z-Move / Max Move

I haven't gotten to Sun/Moon yet so idk what these even look like. I watched them all before but fuck me if I can remember them lmao. Just from skimming through: Splintered Stormshards, Pulverizing Pancake, Genesis Supernova, Bloom Doom (reminds me of The End FF8), Savage Spinout, Neverending Nightmare, Devastating Drake, Corkscrew Crash, Black Hole Eclipse, Tectonic Rage are all cool...

I actually think Tectonic Rage might be the best cause I was NOT expecting that shit lmao. Maybe that and Black Hole Eclipse!

25 - Favorite Shiny

Another good question! Off the top of my head I'd probably have to give it up to Charizard, cause edgy black Charizard is just SOOOO bad ass, but I can take a look through the Shiny Dex real quick and pick some other favorites: Nidoking, Golbat, Venomoth, Muk, Kingler, Weezing, Dragonite, Mewtwo, Mew, Yanma, Umbreon, Shuckle, Heracross, Tyranitar, Sceptile, Swampert, Gardevoir, Altaria, Relicanth, Metagross, Rayquaza, Lopunny, Bronzong, Garchomp, Giratina, Gigalith, Crustle, Haxorus, Druddigon, Braviary, Mega Gengar, Tyrantrum, Salazzle, Pyukumuku, Naganandel, Hisuian Sneasel, Hisuian Zoroark, Appletun, Veluza, Sandy Shocks, Iron Thorns, Hydrapple

That's a lot and I still think I missed some lol. But some of these I'd never seen before and actually gasped when I realized how good their shinies are. Like Haxorus, Salazzle, and Appletun whose shiny I now PREFER over the regular one lol

#prompt

[bahamutgames]

Random Video Game Themed Question Prompts - Part 1

Hello everyone! Recently I haven't been playing much due to a really stressful move combined with a large amount of work and irl stress. Most of what I've been playing lately has been very short and generally my thoughts could be wrapped up in a tweet or two. So this tumblr has been sitting dormant. Slowly, things are turning around. I just recently played Pokemon Platinum which was my first RPG since the Rabbids DLC a few months ago. And I'm currently playing through Princess Peach Showtime which has been fun.

However I've been really wanting to just talk about games lately and haven't really had much to talk about at all. And then I came across some video game question prompts I never got around to doing. And figured, what the hell? Why not just make a little post where I go through them all and answer all the questions here? I get to talk about games AND clear some prompts off my computer. Win Win I think.

I've got around 4 of these so don't be surprised if there's some overlap, but for now I'm just gonna do the first one and I'll tackle the rest later. If you wanna see me just answer some random video game questions, feel free to take a peek! If not, don't worry, this is just for me to get some ramblings out of my brain palace :)

Part 2

1 - First Video Game

My very first video game ever was Super Mario World on SNES! I distinctly remember my brother giving it to me to play when I was a tiny baby. I also for some reason recall playing some Forest of Illusion stages, though I feel like they would've just put me at the start of the game. Still, very neat :)

2 - Favorite Character

Lately I've kinda gone back and forth on this. I have a lot of characters I love but recently a lot of them have just kinda been messed up for one reason or another. I think despite everything though I would maybe still give it to Shadow the Hedgehog and Team Dark as a whole. But honorable mentions do have to go to Sol Badguy, Mewtwo, Zero, Apollo Justice, Mario, ect ect

3 - Underrated Game

There's a few games I think are seriously underrated. But generally I think my biggest underrated game pick is Blue Dragon on 360. I know it's not super unknown or anything but I feel like it's generally overshadowed by Lost Odyssey even though I think BD is a LOT better than LO personally speaking. You just don't see many people talk about it and that's a shame. Honorable mention also goes out to the Dillon's Rolling Western series.

4 - Guilty Pleasure

I don't have guilty pleasures. I love everything openly and honestly and without shame or regret... But that's boring so I guess if I had to pick one it'd be Fortnite just because I feel like I don't want to like it and just can't help myself. But I do also openly enjoy Fortnite so. Yknow.

5 - Character you're most like

For me this has to be Apollo Justice, I don't know why, but especially in his debut game I just feel so much like him. Obviously I relate to Shadow and wish I was Sol Badguy and wish I looked like Peach but in the end I just think Apollo is so... Me... Also Ema Skye is my wife so it works perfectly.

6 - Annoying character

I have a hard time thinking of any immediately off the top of my head. I could just put a villain I don't like or "everyone else when I play a fighting game online" but if I had to pick something more serious I'd maaaybe say Filbo from Bug Snax just cause I remember hating him my first playthrough cause he's too friendly with me but even him I don't think he's that bad.

7 - Favorite Couple

So I'm not the world's biggest shipper. But I do genuinely like Mario x Peach. I think they're cute. They both love adventure. They get along. They're just very sweet to each other and I was one of the fools who REALLY thought they were gonna get married at the end of Odyssey (I think it's probably for the best they don't though).

8 - Best Soundtrack

THIS ONE IS TOUGH. Personally some of my favorite OSTs ever are Super Mario RPG, Killer Instinct 2013, Sonic 06, and Blue Dragon. Blue Dragon is the only game I've listened to the entire OST on loop because I like it that much. Do with that what you will.

9 - Saddest Scene

Another tough pick. The end of SA2 is a classic for me, I still find the destruction of ROB's home to be very sad (I cry a lot during video games lol), Mother has LOTs of good ones, lately I think a lot about Jeralt's death from Three Houses. I hate to be so generic but one that really is amazing and always sticks with me is Aerith's death scene. I'm not just saying that it really is a perfectly done scene with the music timing up to her bead hitting the ground and fighting JENOVA with her theme still playing. But if that's too obvious, the ending escape sequence from Starfox 64 is still one of the most hard hitting and brilliant scenes in any game ever I'm not kidding. "You've become so strong, Fox..." knocks me out EVERY TIME

10 - Best Gameplay

So, personally, I just really like my turnbased RPGs. So I absolutely have to give this up to the Mario RPGs. My personal favorite is Super Mario RPG but I think Paper Mario (64+TTYD specifically) as well as Mario & Luigi really just took it and ran with it in such fascinating directions. Turnbased RPGs but with fun interacting mechanics for the combat that make it more involved is basically my favorite genre and my bread and butter. Honorable Mentions to Smash Ultimate and Super Mario Sunshine

11 - Gaming System of choice

My computer... Okay that's kind of a cop out (though it is true.) For more current console games I tend to gravitate towards my Xbox One, it's a console I get a TON of mileage out of and currently really need to replace the cable for so I can get to those new Killer Instinct colors! But I love a lot of consoles like Gamecube, PS3, 3DS, GBA, ect ect ect

12 - A game everyone should play

Tales of Vesperia. I'm serious. Right now, everyone should play this game. It's genuinely an important game about what we need to do to those in power and how we have to rely on each other to protect each other rather than relying on those who abuse us and need to be destroyed for the future of the planet.

13 - A game you've played more than 5 times

Starfox 64. Probably the game I've beaten more than any other game in existence. There was a year where every single day during summer vacation I would wake up, not even get out of bed, just grab the wiimote and do a full run of Starfox 64 in bed to get me started. Every single day I did this. I fucking love that game. Runner ups would probably be Luigi's Mansion and Super Mario Sunshine

14 - Current gaming wallpaper

My computer wallpaper, I've had this on my laptop since I bought it :)

15 - A screenshot from a game you're playing currently

MA'AM

16 - Game with the best cutscenes

Hmmm... Well, my favorite cutscenes are obviously Super Mario RPG right? But what I think they're aiming for are best in terms of quality. There's some games with some really nice animations in their cutscenes (I currently think Peach Showtime has some cutscenes that are really impressing me) and obviously Smash Ultimate's are GREAT but you barely see them. For some reason I keep coming back to Kingdom Hearts 2. Which in my opinion had some remarkably good models in it and really nice fluid and cartoony animation especially for PS2. So we'll go with that.

17 - Favorite Antagonist

Of all time, it probably has to go to Bowser or Eggman. I have issues with how they're done but I think they're both really cool and when done right and at their best, they're done REALLY good. For more one-off or less appearing villains I probably have to give it up to Fawful. Who is in my opinion the best done Mario villain to date. He's cool, it's awesome to see him build up over the series, and I love that they respect him enough as a villain and a character to kill him. He's great.

18 - Favorite Protagonist

So not going for Apollo or Shadow. It's maybe between Sol Badguy, Zero (MMZ specifically) and Super Mario. They're all characters I like a lot for various reasons. Although truth be told I am a HUGE sucker for protagonists. Zidane, Sora, Agent 8, Robin, Ty, Simon (Gurren Lagann), if you're the main character. Odds are you're one of if not my favorite characters.

19 - Picture of a setting you wish you lived in

Easy, the world of endless adventures :)

20 - Favorite Genre

Like I said before, and on multiple occasions, it's Turn-Based RPGs. Traditional, Turn-Based JRPGs are what get me the most. Nothing makes me happier. I think they tell the best stories, have the best characters, tend to be master classes in graphics and music. And also, while the combat is slow, I actually think it's fantastic. I think it allows for so much creativity in how you solve problems and build characters, and if done right more than any other genre allows. Hell, I even love grinding. Seriously. I love seeing my effort immediately pay off as I steam roll through obstacles. I also like other RPGs like Action (Tales of) and sometimes Strategy (Fire Emblem) and my other favorite genres are 2D Fighting Games and 3D Platformers!

21 - Best Story

My personal favorite stories do kind of tend to be the Mario RPGs. Although they're not as grand as some others. Super Mario RPG, Bowser's Inside Story, TTYD, SPM, ect ect. I also really love Sonic Adventure and Adventure 2's story. I love Guilty Gear's plot if you count that whole series. But maybe my all time favorite, or at least one of them. If Final Fantasy 9. I think it's a great story I think it's very emotional, and I do like the moral about how death is inevitable. Doesn't that mean you should be kind and fight like hell to keep yourself alive? There is beauty in life and you shouldn't wait for death to appreciate it. Idk.

22 - A disappointing sequel

For me there's 2 options to this probably. I could give it up to Sticker Star but that's so old at this point I'd rather not even give it the oxygen of attention. So instead I'll hit some newer games. Guilty Gear Strive was an incredibly disappointing game to me for a number of reasons coming off from playing the whole franchise to prepare for it and particularly how amazing Xrd was. I think it messed up the story a bit too and is generally way less cool despite the cool stuff it does. Also, Luigi's Mansion 3. Which sucks and does nothing (or very little, let me be honest) cool. I do not like it and everyone liked it more than Dark Moon even though DM was genuinely infinitely better.

23 - Game with best graphics/art

There's a few options for this. I love sprite based stuff probably most of all. Stuff like Bowser's Inside Story is still a classic to me. And I really like Dream Team's detailed sprites on 3D backdrops and Paper Jam's detailed sprites on detailed backdrops. But some of the best looking games ever to me would be Guilty Gear Xrd which I still think is the best looking in the series. And Dragon Quest 11 which is a GORGEOUS mix of anime visuals and hyper realistic visuals, but keeping the saturated beautiful colors from the anime side (and actual real life) instead going for something oddly muted. DQ11 still kinda blows me out of the water to this day lol.

24 - Favorite Classic Game

How classic is "classic"? If we're talking old school arcade, probably Dig-Dug! I really enjoy that game even to this day! It's an all time favorite! If we're talking more NES, the original Super Mario Bros. is actually a game I really enjoy just running through every now and then. And that's all that can be considered classic! I'm not old! I'm not old! Shut up!

25 - A game I plan on playing

SO MANY GAMES HOLY HELL!! There's so much to play! A game I've been looking to play for a hot minute but just keeps falling through the cracks is Legend of Kay on PS2! It looks like a game I'd REALLY enjoy as I love platformers and furry games especially from that era. But I just haven't given it a shot yet. Are there any hot furry girls in it? Maybe that'll get me to play it already.

26 - Best voice acting

Not sure off the top of my head. One that comes to mind is Xenoblade Chronicles. It's painfully british but I remember every cutscene being sold very well and there not being any major hiccups during important moments. I can still remember certain lines down to the tone and inflection lol. So that's probably a good pick off the top of my head.

27 - Most Epic Scene

GOD how to pick just one? I love everyone on the cliff from Subspace Emissary, the final battle between Cloud and Sephiroth, the Wish of the Princess scene always gets me. For one I always talk about: The final battle in Sonic Adventure 2 and the cutscenes following it are some of the most iconic and bad ass moments in gaming imo. Cannon's core too. I think it's the coolest finale maybe ever. But one I don't talk about as much is when they're all about to get blown to shit in GGXrd Rev 2's story mode. And Axl Low comes out and tells Sol that he's decided to give up on going home cause he can't let everyone in this timeline cease to exist. So he gives Sol the perfect opening in that short time frame to save everyone, and ultimately sacrificing his chance to go home. Gave me so much respect for Axl and let me favorite character (Sol) shine.

28 - Favorite Developer

Probably would have to go to Square Enix just because of their legacy titles. I haven't played a lot of their newer ones and their decisions have been really horrible lately. But Final Fantasy has changed and consumed my life and of course Super Mario RPG is one of my favorite games ever. I also like Intelligent Systems and Good Feel. Sega, Capcom, ect ect. An indie dev I always have my eyes on are Zeboyd Games cause they make some of my favorite indie RPGs, particularly Cosmic Star Heroine!

29 - Game you thought you wouldn't like, but loved

For questions like this I always have to go with Ace Attorney. I played the first one basically as a joke because there was no way in my mind that a game about lawyers could be fun. It sounds so boring. But I remember doing that first case in one go and thinking "that felt incredible..." and so I played the whole series up to that point, played the new ones as they came out, and while I haven't played all the spinoffs or Great Ace Attorney yet I certainly plan to. And Apollo is me and Ema is my wife so. It's had an impact to say the least.

30 - Favorite Game of All Time

Say it with me

Super Mario RPG : Legend of the Seven Stars

:)

#prompt

[bahamutgames]

Hi everyone! We're very proud and excited to start sharing BLANKSWORD to the world! Come aboard as we share snippets of BLANK's journey towards rebuilding his brain and fighting off the perils of His Country! We'll be sharing gameplay and posting regular updates on this Tumblr, but if you want all the freshest news from the Angelic Realm, please consider joining our newsletter! With love, The BLANKSWORD team.

#gamestoplay

[bahamutgames]

AFTERTHOUGHTS - ROUNDUP ROUND 11

February 2024

Hello hello! 2024 is already almost 1/4th of the way done right? That's pretty nuts. It's been a ROUGH month so far. But we'll keep trucking along!

I played a good bit this month but honestly I'm kind of feeling some burtnout so I haven't been blazing through anything seriously recently. So even in March I will probably play a little less than usual. But we'll see. In the meantime, there's still a good bit to talk about in February!

Also I just wanna mention... these are all a LOT longer than the usual length. I just keep having more and more to say about different games I play, and it might seem like I go on for a LONG time with some of them, but I promise I had less to say than I would with larger games that get their own post. Don't feel pressured to read ALL of it, right? lol

As always these aren’t reviews, just my thoughts, please play anything and everything I talk about if it interests you!

Sonic Rush (November 15, 2005) - DS

FINALLY breaking my way into the DS Sonic games! Rush is actually a game I played a loooong time ago, but I straight up could not beat the last boss of Sonic's run. I beat the whole game but got seriously and completely brick walled there. So I had to give it up, but, thanks to the power of cheating, I was able to finally overcome Sonic Rush!

Sonic Rush is, in my opinion, a SUPER cool game. Absolutely stylish as hell in a way only Sonic and the Nintendo DS could possibly be. It's got nice charming graphics, good models for the characters and good sprites for the enemies, some solid level aesthetics like Water Palace and even duller metal stages like Huge Crisis (GREAT name for a stage) felt unique and cool. The game feels good to play, everything works nicely, boosting is actually a huge help in 2D Sonic I feel like, and I thought the boost bar system where you can trick and hurt enemies to raise the meter was cool. I actually felt like there was a lot to this mechanic I didn't even fully explore, I liked it! Music is, of course, fantastic. This soundtrack is pretty popular and I totally get why. I ADORED the sampling in it, and pretty much every single song is a hit in this soundtrack. Some personal favorites were Wrapped In Black, Raisin' Me Up, and A New Day, but again they're all really good. I also really like the story, it's kind of simple, but I think it's really effective. I'm particularly really impressed with how it handles the parallel universe concept. Rather than having just Nega Sonic and the Nega Emeralds or something basic like that, you get a brand new character to be the alternate reality Sonic. She's completely unique in powers, personality, design, no connection to Sonic aside from being his AU counter. It's REALLY cool and way more interesting than just a purple girl Sonic which is what you would expect right?

However, I have one big complaint with Sonic Rush... It's that the game is HARD!! I have NO idea how I got through it as a kid! Some stages are filled to the brim with irritating death traps, and some stages can get a little long in the tooth, and those special stages felt impossible without the pause trick. But where the game really shows its true colors is in the boss fights. They are TOUGH and they are LONG! Like, seriously, I'm starting to think 8 hits is actually an INSANE number of hits for bosses in a 2D platformer. Some are easier than others, but some are just dementedly hard. I'm sorry to my younger self, I was NOT gonna beat the last boss of Sonic's Story. And if I did? I'd have to do it again in Blaze's. So die, I guess! They're not even bad fights, they're just way too long and expect way too much from you and can sometimes be a little annoying to land hits on. Like the Blaze vs Sonic fight (despite how bad ass it is) or the final boss where you have to knock the drones into Eggman. I also think the stages can be a little boring when they're too similar to each other, even if the game is short it is noticeable when you play the same stage twice.

But, yeah, while this game absolutely tested me and got under my skin sometimes, overall I'd say I had a very good time with it. I totally get why people are so obsessed with it. Is it my favorite 2D Sonic? Maybe not. But is it the worst? Not even close. I'm excited to try Rush Adventure cause I love pirates! And that's the only other non-port Sonic game on DS! Yep! No others! Cool stuff!

Mario + Rabbids : Sparks of Hope - The Last Spark Hunter (June 21, 2023) // Rayman in the Phantom Show (August 30, 2023) - Switch

2 for 1 deal here! I FINALLY got my hands on the Mario + Rabbids DLC! I was very impressed with the base game, so I wanted to try these side stories for a while. Let's start with The Last Spark Hunter!

The less interesting of the two, the Last Spark Hunter kinda was a little odd in my opinion? It's placed right before the final boss of the base game, which was odd to me as I feel like this should've been something that happens AFTER the game? You also go back to a previous planet, which was a bit of a bummer rather than seeing a new planet. I was kind of unimpressed with some of the overworld puzzles, and I personally thought the final boss, while good in concept, just didn't work. Or at least I couldn't figure out how to get it to work. The boss is immune to all damage unless you use bob-ombs to blow up switches, but the bob-ombs only spawn next to the boss, but if you're close enough to reach the bob-ombs, the boss will hit you typically sending all the bombs away, or worse all the bombs will walk up to you and instakill you. Idk I just couldn't figure it out. It's not all doom and gloom though, as overall I did enjoy this DLC. It's got a new warden who is really cute and hot, and even though it takes place on the melodic gardens again it felt very unique to itself. The battles felt good, the new enemies are absolutely annoying as hell but they look cool and I thought they weren't that bad. And Kanya... She's so hot, dude. I love girls with giant sharp teeth and eyebrows, and for some reason I just LOVED Kanya. She's also for some reason a character they decided to give panty shots of, and her underwear has a unique design on it. Sure. Why not. Thanks for the rabbid panty shot, not sure who came up with that but god bless 'em. And speaking of Kanya, while I didn't like the final boss I did actually really like the phase leading up to it where you had to run away from her mech, it didn't have the same issues with the bob-ombs like the last fight did and I actually really enjoyed it. Overall this DLC was good but I personally feel like it needed some slight changes to make it feel more impactful. Kanya deserved to really be her own villain rather than like a random footnote that takes place before the final boss of the base game.

Then we get to the Rayman DLC. I'm not a huge Rayman guy, I've only played one of his games (that I mostly played to get ready for this.) But... damn dude, this DLC blew me out of the water. The story isn't anything mind blowing, and the overworld puzzles were still nothing much to write home about, hell the villain of this one was full on recycled. But, I'm not kidding when I say this, Rayman is SO much fun to play as that this genuinely might be the better DLC just for his inclusion. All of his moves really play around with the gameplay of Mario + Rabbids in really unique ways. From summoning in items, to not being able to equip sparks to make room for alternative forms (which combine nicely with the summoned items) to having CRAZY movement with his ability to grab hooks, Rayman allows for some REALLY interesting gameplay. I was doing some NUTS shit with Rayman, and some enemies I actually beat in 1 turn using all his tools. I think Rayman might be one of the most fun teammates in the Mario + Rabbids series so far, and I genuinely would not mind seeing characters in the 3rd game take some inspiration from his moveset for how to shake up the formula even further. I think this one's story is also just a little better even if it's less exciting and lower stakes kind of. It actually takes place in a new planet, it takes place post game, I really think the movie set concept is funny and works well. And overall I had a great time with this one especially despite not being a Rayman fan!

Overall, both DLCs were good! There's certainly stuff I would have done differently, but both stories were fun and absolutely worth my time. Allegra and Kanya were hot if nothing else.

Kiwi 64 (December 30, 2014) // Macbat 64 (July 3, 2015) // Tasty Ramen Episode 1 (December 15, 2019) // Silver Trigger 64 (August 21, 2016) - PC

A 4 for 1 deal! A whole collection of games!! To prepare for Kiwi 64 : Doomsday, I wanted to play through all the Siactro games I hadn't tried yet so I could properly understand the deep lore when going in. They're all pretty short though so I'll just write a short thing about each!

Kiwi 64 : It's simple, but it's fun. Basically a tech demo but it was cool to go back to Kiwi's origins. You can absolutely see how they've improved in game making since this. Kiwi 64 massively improves the graphics, levels, and especially Kiwi's movement. But for one of their first games? This is impressive, and it's short enough that it's worth coming back to.

Macbat 64 : This one is a bit more interesting. It's also very short, and Macbat doesn't have as satisfying a moveset as Kiwi 64 still. But this one certainly feels like a more full game. It honestly feels on par with other indie 3D Collectathons I've played! And it's even got a pretty neat final boss battle which I wasn't expecting! I also appreciate them keeping all the super creepy shit as bonus post-game content lol. If you only play one of these 4, this is the one I recommend!

Tasty Ramen Episode 1 : This one was very interesting. It's a short horror game where you have to put all the comically oversized batteries hidden around the store back into the generator to return the power without getting killed by the cute bowl of Ramen. It's a little stupid, but honestly I was very pleased with this one. Death doesn't reset progress, and it's not actually scary which was HUGE for me! Where this one really shines is with the super nice PS1 graphics, and of these 4 I think this one does the retro low poly style the nicest. Even the anime cutscenes look scaled down to be on a PS1 disc, very cute.

Silver Trigger 64 : This is a Jam game and as such, is the shortest one. But a game is a game so I still wanted to shout it out. This is an on-rails shooter styled after Goldeneye, but I thought it actually has a pretty interesting gimmick to make the game a little more difficult. You're encouraged to shoot as little as possible, meaning you really have to pay attention and not have an itchy trigger finger. It's simple and really easy but I had a good time with it and I wouldn't mind another light-gun game attempt from Siactro in the future honestly.

Super Kiwi 64 : Doomsday (January 26, 2024) - PC

But all of that pales in comparison to the most important game release in 2024! Super Kiwi 64 was a pretty fun game I played last year, so I was VERY excited to learn it was getting DLC! A whole free story line no less! You love to see it!

Doomsday is very similar to the base game. You're still running around and collecting collectables in small maps with the same nice controls and graphical style. In fact the first level REALLY feels like a level from the base game. But I was pleasantly surprised with the new cowboy level! In addition to giving Kiwi a cowboy hat, it has new mechanics like swinging from a lasso and is a BIG level. Larger than any of the stages in the base game, with a lot to find. I was pleasantly impressed! I also REALLY liked the final boss! I think Siactro actually makes some really nice boss battles and I'd love to see them do more especially in the upcoming Toree Saturn.

But where this DLC really shines is the story. It's got nice cutscenes, and even full voice acting which is very surprising! And it even gives a nice little ending to the King Melon Saga which has played out over the course of Kiwi 64 and Macbat 64 (play them if you can!) The story is quick, this DLC is very short, but it gets a little crazy honestly lol. I won't spoil it, but it's just neat that there's like cosmic stuff in these games? I'm genuinely interested to see if the ending of this will tie into a potential Kiwi x Macbat crossover game where they... yknow... do what's teased at the end of this.

This DLC actually even goes back and corrects problems with the main game. Such as actual cutscenes like some actual context to the game and a satisfying ending. But even smaller stuff like voice acting and time trials! I particularly REALLY appreciated those new story scenes though because that was a BIG issue with the base game.

My only main complaints with this DLC are the complaints I had with the base game. Mainly, no maps for the areas, and no hints for the missions. Again, I get it if you don't want it in the first playthrough, and the worlds are mostly small enough that maps aren't required. But I feel like giving hints and maps as a post-game reward would be really nice and appreciated.

Other than that? Another Siactro banger, this DLC is free so if you haven't played it, or were waiting for a reason to pick up Super Kiwi 64, this is your chance!

Megaman Legacy Collection Volume 2 (August 8, 2017) - Switch

It's Mega Madness once again! I've finally played through Legacy Collection 2 and, with the exception of 11, have played all the Classic Megaman games! Unlike Legacy Collection 1, these are actually different enough that I feel like I can give thoughts on each on their own. So let's start!

Megaman 7 : Fun fact, this was my first Megaman game ever! I used to play it on the SNES when I was a kid, and even though I actually could beat the opening stage after enough practice, I never beat any of the robot masters lol. But now I've come back and beat the whole thing! I've heard this is the worst Megaman, but honestly? I thought it was fine. The sprites are nice (though Megaman's sprite is forever a Smash Kingdom character to me lmao) and the music is nice. I'll be honest though, I actually don't remember most levels in this game, so maybe that's not a good sign! I do remember the one that had Ghosts N Goblins references in it? And I remember the Wily Stages being really really annoying and the Wily Capsule being needlessly hard in this one. One thing I particularly REALLY liked was the ending, where Megaman genuinely wants to kill Wily but just can't bring himself to do it. I think this conflict of Megaman seeing that the only way to truly keep people safe is by killing Wily, and his very fundamental coding saying he can't kill humans is FASCINATING. But sadly, it seems to be a weird translation quirk because it's never really followed up on lmao. Bass is cool though.

Megaman 8 : I gotta be honest, I was actually kind of impressed with this one! I remember feeling like Megaman X4, even though I liked it, didn't FEEL like a Playstation game to me. This one though, kind of did. It's more of the same, and the anime cutscenes have some NUTS voice acting, like, more than the memes make you believe. But the actual in game sprites are NICE. Like, the mets have so many frames of animation. I think this game looks pretty cool! And I think having the robot masters actually talk was kinda neat even if it's a little pointless. I think the plot is neat too with the weird evil energy and what not. I do think some of the levels had pretty irritating gimmicks sometimes. Like the snowboard sections or the parts where you press buttons to get a little platform through lava. It's maybe not groundbreaking for the first Megaman on Playstation, but I thought it was neat. Getting to see the fan made designs for the robot masters in the credits RULED, by the way. I loved that. Also why was Aqua Man gay coded?

Megaman 9 : The shining return to form for the series after so long and... man... idk about this one. Some people told me they really loved this one, but idk man. I understand why they went back to the NES style, these games came out in an era founded on nostalgia bait. And I imagine it made the games WAY easier to make. And I was hoping these games would be visually REALLY good. Because Megaman 4/5/6 are true NES games, but looked so good I actually thought they were SNES games playing a trick on me. Sadly though, MM9 doesn't have interest in taking the graphics style of the NES games into insane heights with the new technology, and instead plays it safe with simpler aesthetics. It's a shame in my opinion. Also, the gameplay is massively stunted here in favor of trying to be more like MM2. That means no dashing, and no charging, and worst of all, no quick weapon selecting. It makes the game feel clunky after playing the whole series right beforehand. I think this game could've been more interesting if it tried to use the simpler style to push Megaman forward, rather than bringing it backward. I will give it genuine props though, they don't remove any characters from canon and all the bosses/stages are fully original. Which rules! Compared to something like Sonic 4, which was made with a lot of similar goals in mind, MM9 isn't totally soulless, at least. Though I think its story brings up some HORRIFYING implications about how robots are treated in this series, especially after stuff like the Robot Museum in 7. Idk.

Megaman 10 : That was a lot lol. 10 I have a little less to say about. It's very similar to 9, I have a lot of the same problems with it. But thank GOD there's a quick weapon select this time. THANK YOU. It also does do some interesting unique stuff with the series as it lets you play as Protoman in the main story, and even Bass if you beat the game. Similar thoughts with the bosses and stages. Very similar game. I think the story in this one is more interesting though with the Roboenza, I liked the plot of Roll giving up her medicine, I do think it's a little lame that Wily is the villain cause while his plan is REALLY good and evil. I think having Wily genuinely have to help you for real would've been cooler. This one is fine though.

WOO, that was a lot. Apologies. Overall, these games are fine but I did think they were a little tedious in ways I didn't find any of the other games. And I think that comes down to this collection just... Not being as good? There's so few accessibility options, the only one is more health, and this is the ONLY collection that actively shames you for using it as it puts a little logo on the gameplay, not even on the border. It's so frustrating and NO other MM collections do this. Similarly there's no rewinding, no save states, you're at the mercy of the game's checkpoints which can be really far apart. And you can cheese this system just as hard as it can screw you over. I'm not sure why this collection just randomly doesn't feel as nice as the others, ultimately I feel like I could've just emulated these 4 and gotten more ease-of-access options. Oh well. Still glad I got to play them I suppose.

Nickelodeon Allstar Brawl 2 (November 7, 2023) - PC

This game got a free weekend this month, so of course I HAD to jump on it and give it a shot! I enjoyed the first one, but was so burnt by how barebones it was that I barely stuck around to try any of the free DLC (and especially didn't bother buying any of the payed DLC lmao). So I was really not confident in this one despite how much better it looked. And when I first played this free trial, I felt like my worry was justified. I did NOT enjoy it when I first played it. I thought it felt odd, and the story mode was too hard and a roguelike (a genre I dislike) so I just was thoroughly unimpressed. But I wanted to try it with a friend of mine who was into it, and decided to play it with them for a few matches. And I'm SO glad I did. Because playing it with a friend made the game CLICK. And it clicked HARD!

NASB2 is a little difficult to figure out at first, but once I got the hang of it, I was actually REALLY impressed with it. For starters, it makes a TON of improvements over the first. Actual voice acting, actual items, actual stages with actual stage hazards, and actual costumes for the characters. It's a HUGE step up over the first. And this also really shows in the unique gameplay, particularly the Slime Meter. This mechanic is INCREDIBLY cool. It allows you to roman cancel and burst, I'm not kidding, just like Guilty Gear. This game feels like Rushdown Revolt with Spongebob. But it also lets you use the slime meter to upgrade your moves to give them alternate effects, which reminds me a lot of Killer Instinct 2013's shadow meter. And of course, it also has final smashes when the Slime meter is full. I actually LOVE this concept of bringing in universal traditional fighting game mechanics into a Platform fighter. It's fun, and it feels GREAT! It can make this one feel confusing and daunting, I personally still feel like I don't fully grasp the extent of this mechanic, but it is GOOD and makes the game feel GREAT. The game also just looks better with some AMAZING models and animations, there's nothing that really sticks out as being super ugly unlike certain animations in the first game like Spongebob's taunt. The animations and references here are seriously SO good and this one feels like it was allowed to be a labor of love way more than the first one was.

The story mode is, yeah, a roguelike. And I'm still not super fond of that. But I actually did have fun with it. I feel like I didn't enjoy it as much as I could've just because it's REALLY Danny Phantom focused and I've never seen that show. But it is neat and I was really impressed with the fact there's actual minigames, as well as the amount of upgrades you can unlock for your fighters, and the amount of enemies that appear in the story mode. Like, even Chum Bucket slaves from the Spongebob movie, really random, but cool! Where the story really impressed me was the fact that EVERY character has unique dialogue for the cutscenes, and Clockwork and Vlad (and maybe the other characters?) actually have unique dialogue in response to each fighter. This is NUTS! Like, I played as Reptar who only talks in roars, but the characters always addressed him as Lizard and would be like "Somehow you make yourself perfectly clear" and other silly jokes like that. It's small but it's neat!

The roster overall is cool but it's a little hit or miss. Both games have tried to be a little out of the box rather than just picking the big names, which is great. But you do get some odd choices like Azula being there but no Toph or Zuko being pushed to DLC so there's 3 fire benders and no Toph. Overall though, I do think their approach to odd choices works well like Grandma Gertie makes a TON of sense. They bring in some much needed series like Angry Beavers and Jimmy Neutron, and a lot of the characters are pretty fun. Spongebob is great, I think Jenny was neat. And of course, Reptar, who was my main in the first too, is back and is still FANTASTIC! But my favorite newcomer, by far, is Plankton. He is SO interesting to play as and has a ton of really unique moves. Like his up smash being a grab? Or his down smash being a projectile? It's SUPER random, but it's cool! This game is cool and Plankton and Reptar are genuinely fun and are so much more fleshed out from the first. Also, as a side note, I actually secondaried Garfield and Korra in the first but I don't like their moveset changes this time lol.

But yeah the game isn't exactly perfect. There's still only 3 costumes per character without unlocking anything. Meaning 4 player dittos will just require 2 people to be dressed the same. It sucks. The items also are not that interesting honestly? I'm glad they're here! But I feel like they could be forced into the match a little better? And similarly while it's GREAT to have Final Smashes, the animations in them are easily some of the least polished parts of this game. I wouldn't mind an update that really fixes them up. And while the roguelike mode did grow on me and you can make it easier with upgrades, I still think it's REALLY brutal especially if you don't play as your main. I straight up could NOT beat story on texas tough even though I was able to beat Arcade on it no issues. Each run is also just a bit too long for my taste. I think maybe instead of 3 individual worlds, maybe one world that's long but shorter than all 3 worlds separate would've been nice? And maybe some different world themes so you're not always fighting the same bosses and enemies. Idk. Also, still forever salty that they only use the 80's TMNT stuff. I get that it's nostalgic but it's also maybe the worst of the 4 cartoons and has so little to work with when compared to any other series. I appreciate that a lot of it is inspired by the beat em ups this time. But idk if you have to make April's final smash the spirit bomb, maybe just consider using things from outside the most limiting TMNT series thusfar.

But yeah! I actually ended up having a really good time with this game despite my initial feelings! I was actually kind of sad when I woke up on the 19th and the free trial was over lol. I'm not a huge cartoon watcher but I do enjoy them. I used to watch a lot of Spongebob on DVDs I rented from video stores and Rugrats on VHS tapes my brother had. I used to watch a lot of bootleg episodes of Invader Zim and Angry Beavers online. And genuinely, Avatar and TMNT are some of my favorite things ever created currently. And similarly to Smash Bros, playing this makes me interested in some of these other shows I've never seen. I've never watched Danny Phantom but Ember is SOOOO hot I might honestly have to check it out.

I talked too much about this one. Mr. Meaty for DLC thanks

Killer Instinct (October 28, 1994) - SNES

Oh of COURSE I had to play this the nano second it got added to NSO lol. For anyone who doesn't know, Killer Instinct is my favorite original rareware series, by a long shot. Killer Instinct 2013 is not only one of my favorite fighting games but one of my favorite video games period, and I have TONS of fond memories playing the original SNES version with the black cartridge when I was a kid. So I was very excited to play this version again even though I own the way superior Arcade version on my Xbox lol. Originally I wasn't gonna write anything about this but I just had to gush about KI for a bit.

I still love this game. Yeah, it's pretty inferior to the Arcade version. Yeah, it's been completely outdone by 2013 (play KI 2013). But there's still something so magical about this one. I still think it looks very impressive, the 3D is cool, I like how weirdly chunky all of these old designs are even if they are very 90's and not as good as the 2013 designs (play KI 2013). I love the crunchy audio from the announcer, voice clips in old games are always SO impressive to me. The music is awesome, even back on the SNES before Mick Gordon got here, the soundtrack is just so damn good! I played as Sabrewulf as a kid and I kind of hate myself for that cause he has so many charge moves which I suck at using lol. But I also found myself really liking Glacius! My main in 2013 is Spinal and I think he's better to use in that game (of course it's way more modern) but similarly my other 2 favorite characters (and probably the 2 I'm better with if I'm being honest) are still Sabrewulf and Glacius! Some things never change!

My only real issues when coming back to this version is that it's SO HARD! I played on normal difficulty cause... I'm cool. I like KI. I know what I'm doing. But DAMN, later on into the arcade ladder they will knowledge check the fuck out of you. If you don't know how to Combo Break (something I can't even do in 2013) (play KI 20-) you WILL get destroyed. And of course, I don't like a lot of stuff in it as much as I do 2013, but like it's from the 90's of course the design sensibilities are very different.

But again still it's so magical to come back and play this game I was so obsessed with as a kid and just remember how important it was to 2013 which was a game so important to me as a teenager. 2013's ost wouldn't be as good if Mick wasn't a HUGE KI fan. The designs for the characters wouldn't be some of my favorites of all time if the original hadn't made some crazy as hell character designs. And KI 2013 wouldn't be potentially one of the most creative fighting games ever made if some weirdos at Rare weren't like "hey why are there no raptors and aliens in fighting games?" way back in the 90's. This brand of creativity stuck through all the generations to give us crazy shit like Aganos and Hisako years down the line.

Idk where I'm going with this. I love this series. If you haven't tried KI because you're not an xbox guy, but you do have NSO, I IMPLORE you to check it out. It's still fun, it's still cool, it's still creative, I still think it holds up surprisingly well. I would love to trick some people into playing online with me sometime soon. Please get into Killer Instinct, it deserves your attention! The raptor can eat an ice alien, for crying out loud!

#roundup #2024 #thoughts

[bahamutgames]

Keeping the update brief this month.

Some more general progress, new enemies, springers, come in 2 varieties the small versions and the large variant, the big version takes a few hits to go down which can make them quite deadly as they try to corner you.

There's also a giant snake enemy, this guy will slowly slide accross the floor blocking the way, hitting them on the head will knock them out pretty quick.

Lastly wanna show off a new passive powerup, crouch charging, staying crouched for a few seconds will make dee start glowing and then pressing jump will let her jump higher and reach higher platforms.

You can see these updates a month early if you join my Patreon

#gamestoplay #reblog

[bahamutgames]

AFTERTHOUGHTS - ROUNDUP ROUND 10

January 2024

Hello again! I hope 2024 has been treating you well so far. Even if it hasn't, we have 11 months to make it better, so hang in there!

So far I haven't played anything I wanted to give massive extensive thoughts on, so I'll go ahead and talk about everything I played in January here! The year might be a little rough already but the gaming's been decent so far at least!

As always these aren't reviews, just my thoughts, please play anything and everything I talk about if it interests you!

Final Fantasy 3 (April 27, 1990) - NES

First game of 2024 and my first RPG of 2024! It's Final Fantasy 3, and the last of the NES FF Trilogy! I went back and forth on which version I wanted to play for a while. 1+2 I played the PS1 port, but the DS port of 3 felt WAY too different for my liking. So, I decided to go with a fan translation of the NES original. It... was interesting.

FF3 is a peculiar game to me because it feels like a step forward from FF1, but not a step forward from FF2. FF2 was a kind of boring slog in my opinion, but it did to a lot to drive the series forward. Named characters, multiple teammates, stuff like that. But it WAS boring, make no mistake. However, FF3 didn't feel like a continuation and a correction of FF2. It felt like an alternate universe FF2, if that makes sense? Like they were going back and building off of FF1 again. This reverts back to (mostly) silent characters and jobs. And it just feels like FF2 more than FF3 if that makes ANY sense at all.

But it does have some interesting stuff in it. I think the plot is very unique with the Crystals being sentient, and the dark world having its own Warriors and Crystals (though they show up SUPER late lmao), and the reveal you're on a floating island is very cool! And while I'm personally not SUPER into changeable Job Classes PERSONALLY (in games where this is an option I MOSTLY tend to just stick to the character's default class), I do think this game does some interesting stuff to play around with it. Like requiring mages who can shrink the party or thieves who can unlock doors. It's a neat idea. The soundtrack also had some gems in it, like the final boss in particular was REALLY good. And while it's NES so it's not visually mind blowing, I was impressed with some stuff in it. Water effects look REALLY nice and I was really impressed to see animated crying when a teammate was low on HP. It's small, but it is neat!

But I don't know... it was still kind of boring to me. The plot is certainly more interesting than 2 (I remember most of what happened in 3 lmao) there's still some details that have already slipped my mind... Who was the guy who awoken the Dark Cloud? I genuinely do not remember lmao. And while changing job classes for Paper Mario-esc overworld puzzles is COOL. It's barely used. You mostly just do it to shrink your party for sections where you have to run away from all the giant enemies anyway. I think more sections that required different classes would've been cool. But even still, changing your classes is SUCH a HUGE headache for NO reason! You have to unequip a character's ENTIRE inventory to change classes, and if your inventory is full? Bummer! Then you have to reequip them. And I get it, some classes can't use some tools, but just auto remove those, right? It's SO time consuming it's crazy. And of course being an NES RPG just comes with certain drawbacks, battles can get pretty boring, random encounters can be pretty brutally common, basic stuff like that.

Most of what FF3 tries to do is interesting, but still just doesn't hit as good as FF1 did. And while it is WAY better than FF2, I just feel like it's a step back from FF2. Not to say 2 is better, but I feel like 2 had some good potential to build off of that 3 just didn't feel like it did right. Did I think it was bad? No, not by any means. I had a good time with it and there were moments where I genuinely got a rise from it like when everyone comes to fight the dragon statues and stuff like that. But even though it was certainly better than 2, I just think 1 was so surprisingly solid that is genuinely casts a shadow over the rest of the NES games in the series, sad to say. And so, without further ado, here's my current rankings:

And that's about that on that. Glad I played it, and I'm VERY excited to play FF4 next. The SNES is when the series is supposed to start REALLY cooking, and I cannot wait to see what all the hype is about!

Here Comes Niko! (August 3, 2021) - PC

A shiny new collectathon I've had my eyes on for a little bit. Here Comes Niko is a game where you run around doing tasks for people as an audition to become a Professional Friend! You collect junk, play some minigames, do some jumping, typical platformer collectathon junk. But I would actually describe this as a mix between walking simulator and collectathon. There's no enemies or anything to really impede your progress, it's a very relaxed game where you just around and do these tasks at your own leisure. And I really enjoyed it!

I thought the game was very fun, Niko feels pretty good to control, maybe a little standard with nothing too flashy in their moveset. But considering there's no real pressure in the game I think that's okay. I like the art a lot, the Paper Mario style suits it very well and is neat to see in a non RPG game. And I LOVE the NPCs, there's a lot of REALLY hot furries in this game, more than I expected. I liked the Seagull girls a lot, the volleyball cat chick was cute, I liked the leemur music person too... There's a hot hedgehog in it. There's a lot of really hot characters in this game. And everyone else is ADORABLE if they're not oddly sexy. So that gets the game my approval. Cute music, lots to do, some really nice summery vibes in each world, and some really nice and relaxing worlds make this game a lot of fun and a very relaxed time. The summery vibes actually really reminded me of Sunshine in a great way cause I fucking LOVE Mario Sunshine.

My biggest issue with the game though, is actually an issue I had with Super Kiwi 64 too. And that's the fact the game has NO map for each world and NO hints as to what your objectives are. The maps are tiny and you don't need to 100% each world to progress, yes. But I feel like it becomes a bit of an issue when you go in to 100% the game especially. A quick and easy way to see where I am on the island, potentially see where NPCs are, and a list of what objectives I've completed would be SO helpful! Sometimes I'd run around for a hot minute just doing the wrong job cause there's no way to tell really. You can return to the start of the map to see your totals, and talk to your employer who will tell you if you have something else to do. But if you're in the middle of something, you have to drop it and walk ALLLL the way back to get there. It's a little annoying.

I have some other issues like Niko being a little hard to control at times and the water volleyball making me so mad I had to go on a walk considering it's a very easy game aside from that one challenge lol. But overall I think the game is fine. Just could use some quality of life improvements to make getting everything feel less like a massive chore (especially where totals and seeing what you've already gathered is concerned)

Also can I just say... they never say Niko is trans but oh my GOD it's so obvious. I doubt they're actually trying to hide it. But like... The game is all about frogs... You're not fooling anyone.

Toree Jolly Jam (December 23, 2023) - PC

Well... it's another Toree game! I'll be honest, there's not much to say about this one as it is just one single stage. But it is fun! It's super cute, got great music and aesthetics, and it's not scary thank god! I didn't find a single creepy thing which was a relief. Also it played like Toree Saturn which is great! And Toree seems to have a new friend on their back which is interesting.

I also liked all the fun little presents you could unlock. It's mostly just alt characters but the demo for the other game featuring a bird (I forgot the name) was also neat and I can't believe they teased me with a Toree RPG!! PLEASE SIACTRO I NEED A TOREE RPG! I NEED TO SEE THIS BIRD THROW HANDS!

But yeah, it's simple, just a single stage like I said. But it's cute and I'll shill Siactro at any opportunity I can!

Mighty Switch Force Academy (November 23, 2015) - PC

Have I ever mentioned I'm a Mighty Switch Force fan? I feel like I never talk about it but I loved the first two games a LOT and I think Patricia is SOOOOO hot. Ahem. Anyway. So the only game I had never tried was Academy. But a while back one of my bffs bought me the Mighty Switch Force collection, and I saw it as the perfect opportunity to try it out!

Academy is interesting as it's not exactly what I would consider MSF3. It's more like a spinoff. It's meant for 4 players at once, although you can play it solo like I did. However, I will say, playing is solo make it VERY apparent imo that you should not be playing it solo. It's clearly meant for multiplayer as the maps are MASSIVE.

But if you do play it by yourself? It's fine. It's short and pretty typical MSF stuff. But it does have some unique stuff like screen warping, so you jump into pits and end up at the top of the screen. And the stages with the giant blocks were interesting. But overall I kind of thought the levels were a little boring or sometimes even frustrating. But again I think that's cause I played it solo. Idk about buying this game on its own but in a collection? I think it's a fine addition. You have 2 fantastic solo games and a neat spinoff to play with 3 friends who also think Patricia Wagon is SOOOOOOO hot-

M.U.S.H.A. (December 21, 1990) - Sega Genesis

Another cool Shmup on NSO! It's genuinely kind of a treasure trove for the genre if you haven't played a lot of the old ones like I hadn't. I was sitting around on the couch, with nothing to do. And I decided, hey what the heck? Why not try that MUSHA shmup on NSO? So... I did. And that's why I'm here now.

MUSHA is a shmup where, from what I can gather, you play as a person piloting a big humanoid robot and fighting against the military force sent out by a rogue AI trying to destroy earth? The plot is a little difficult to find because from my understand it's different in each region. Also this game is a sequel? Well, regardless. It's cool. You fight massive waves on enemies, and get to use elemental power ups that give you different powers and have 3 stages of progression! Electric was, as is always the case in shmups with elemental powers, my favorite. And of course you have the little blasters orbiting you that you can command to attack in a variety of patters. It's all well and good, but I will be honest the gameplay wasn't anything mindblowing. A LOT of Shmups from this era have similar mechanics (even down to 3 elemental weapons with multi stage upgrades) and a lot of them tend to have more gimmicks to play around with like tractor beams and sub weapons.

Where MUSHA really shines is in its presentation. The sprites are GREAT, this game looks SO good. There's a level where you can see a river of lava far down below the stage, and shooting down enemies actually makes them fall down into the huge chasm and explode in the river of lava below you. It's honestly kind of impressive to me! The soundtrack is also good, and I like that the game kind of has a Metroid twist at the end. I was genuinely surprised to see I had been playing as a woman the whole time! And even having a boss show up at the end and try to sneak attack you after the final boss was pretty neat and not something I usually see in shmups. Genuinely cool!

So yeah MUSHA maybe isn't the most mind blowing shmup in the world but I think it's very good looking and cool.

Guilty Gear Isuka (December 17, 2003) - PC

Alright... So for a hot minute this was the only GG game on Steam I had never beaten. And the reason for that? I think this game kinda sucks lol. For context this isn't a traditional fighting game. It's a 4 player fighting game where all the characters are on screen at once and you have to press a button to turn around and there's lanes I couldn't figure out how to use (cpus barely use it either so it doesn't really matter) and while it's certainly interesting. It just kinda blows.

It's not super fun, even with the interesting gimmick, it's very clunky (having to use a button to turn around is BRUTAL, I get why they do it... but like, dude...) and overall just feels not fun to play. And a big reason for that is that I think the Steam Port is a little messed up. Mapping buttons to it is VERY difficult and took a long time to figure out. The Arcade ladder being like, an endless roguelike but without any of the upgrades that make roguelikes fun made it very boring imo. Genuinely, I think this might be the worst GG game. I finally got one I like less than Strive, you guys (at least Strive works).

But it's not all doom and gloom, the game does have some good stuff. It's got a good soundtrack like you'd expect, a personal favorite of mine (and one of my new favorite GG songs) is 'Drunkard Does Make Wise Remarks'. It has some GREAT stages that never returned after this as far as I'm aware? There's a pirate ship stage, a stage in a field with weird giant beasts walking through it, and maybe my personal favorite : A cookout on the beach with the Jellyfish Pirates. The stages in this one rule! Leopaldon is also super cool. And the fact you can make your own custom colors genuinely rules. Here's a custom Sol I made when I tried to play this game ages ago:

#roundup #2024 #thoughts

[bahamutgames]

Mockup for Melontroid (i really should figure out a proper name for it lol) bc im struggling to really feel out the exact VIBES i want the game game to have setting-wise? I'm real close i think tho.

#gamestoplay

[bahamutgames]

nintendo supports israel

i was looking at the extended lists of brands supporting israel due to the last ask i had gotten about pepsi (since the pepsi boycott hasn't been officially recognized by BDS as far as i'm aware- but is an ongoing organic boycott) and i saw nintendo on the list. because these lists tend to be very broad i wanted to look into it myself to see how directly they had supported israel, and it turns out that in 2019 they opened their second ever official store location in tel aviv. this feels like a fairly big display of support and recognition to me. BDS has not called for an official boycott but given that i buy nintendo and nintendo brand stuff with more frequency than pretty much anything on the BDS list and i know it might be the same for others on here, so i want to try to boycott them and share this information in case others feel the same way.

#reblog

[bahamutgames]

AND NOW, apologies to bring this meme back so late. But here's MY gamer variety check list. How many of my (current) favorite game series (at the moment) have you played? And I even gave you a space to mark which ones you beaten / played a bit / or just tried out. Enjoy :)

I was gonna do 100 but you know how hard it is to pick 50 of my favorite series of all time? This was already tough as hell to do

Some of MY gamer variety scores... in the read more thing

Remember these? Everyone was doing them a little while ago except me. Because I was collecting ALL of them and doing them ALL. But I never finished it until now. Here's all my gamer variety scores

Red - I've beaten a game in that series / Played a game enough that I'm confident in my experience with it Blue - I've played the game, made some progress, but never beaten one Green - I've tried the game, but didn't play for particularly long Purple Heart - Personal favorite

Also yeah I've never 100% completed a Sonic game but I would like to go back and try to finish 100% completing Generations one day

#prompt #good LORD this took too much of my time this sunday

[bahamutgames]

Gravity Circuit has recently hit 60K total units sold!

Never in our wildest dreams did we expect the game to sell as much as it has done in just a few short months. As such, we thought this was a moment to celebrate, with new art provided by @jmanvelez!

Now, you might be asking: why are we taking a moment to celebrate such a specific number? Well, in truth, we were planning on doing a celebratory announcement earlier, at 50K. We were on track to hit that in December, but then the holiday sales happened. Thanks to the holiday sales on various storefronts, we essentially skyrocketed past 50K, climbing all the way up to 60K before the sales were over, so didn't have the time to prepare for it! Goodness, the sales performance just continues to surprise us. All in all, the reception and feedback we have received over these past months have been overwhelming, and we can't thank you, the players, enough. You are the best. Now, you might be curious about the sales distribution among the platforms? Fret not, we have prepared a pie chart for you (based on sales as of January 18th, 2024):

Note: PS4 and PS5 are coupled together due to crossbuy. This means that if you purchased the game on one, you can download it on the same account for the other at no extra cost.

On PC, the game is available on Steam, GOG, Epic Games Store, as well as Stove (Korea). Out of these, Steam is the most popular storefront.

On consoles, the game is available on Nintendo Switch and Sony's PlayStation 4 and 5. The game is also physically available on afore-mentioned consoles, by Pix'n'Love (PEGI), Red Art Games (ESRB) and Oizumi Amuzio (Japan).

Given the amount of wishlists on Steam before the game's release, as well as us getting Steam Deck verified by Valve, PC outselling the other platforms is not a wholly unexpected outcome. Steam is a huge storefront, after all.

But after all the sales across these platforms, what about the reception? Well, even on that front, Gravity Circuit has performed better than even our wildest expectations, as shown by the collage below:

Truthfully, before the game's release some six months ago, we weren't sure about what the reception ultimately would be. As a developer, it can be difficult to distance yourself from whatever project you have been working on for so long, to see the game for what it is. So, ultimately, it was up to you, the players, to determine the game's overall quality. Needless to say, we didn't expect the majority opinion to be this good, both from critics and players alike!

To provide some background: throughout the development, there were a plentiful of sleepless nights, fueled by stress, energy drinks, boatloads of work, and constant lingering doubts about the game's potential success. Creative endeavors while on a deadline are never easy, but we soldiered on, so to try and complete the game to the best of our abilities. Now, months after release, it has been a truly humbling experience that players have enjoyed Gravity Circuit as much as they have. Such a warm reception has made all that effort behind the game worth it. Again, we can't thank you all enough.

Of course, it might go without saying that even with all this positive feedback, the game hasn't been without its own sets of issues. Especially around the game's launch we had to do multiple quick rounds of bug fixes, so to address various situations and oversights that had slipped past us during development and Q&A. While doing all this was taxing, it's perhaps thanks to these rapid, quick responses that have helped minimize any lasting impact that the various game crashes and bugs could have otherwise had.

Essentially, on that point, our policy has been to accept any and all feedback from players with open arms. Whether positive or negative, we have read all points of feedback, and even responded to them wherever we have been able. Ultimately, this back-and-forth discussion with players has then resulted in us implementing various additions and changes post-launch (Speedrun Mode, Armor Paints, Boss Rush, small quality of life additions, etc), completely free of charge. And while we do try, it's not exactly realistic to act or respond to every bit of feedback without fundamentally changing some of the game's DNA. Nevertheless, we do try our best -- and perhaps hold onto the lessons learned for any future endeavors.

In the meanwhile, we at Domesticated Ant Games want to thank you all for all the support so far from the bottom of our hearts -- and we wish you all a good start to 2024!

#reblog

[bahamutgames]

25 YEARS OF SUPER SMASH BROS.

#screenshots #smash bros #super smash bros #i worked so hard on this aha #apologies if the quality is wack i had to scrunch it up a bit to get it on tumblr

[bahamutgames]

SUPER SMASH BROS. SERIES // FAVORITE NEWCOMERS

⭐️Super Smash Bros. // 001 - Mario

⭐️Super Smash Bros. Melee // 024 - Mewtwo

⭐️Super Smash Bros. Brawl // 033 - Pokemon Trainer

⭐️Super Smash Bros. for 3DS & Wii U // 048 - Rosalina & Luma

⭐️Super Smash Bros. for 3DS & Wii U // DLC // 061 - Cloud

⭐️Super Smash Bros. Ultimate // 065 - Ridley

⭐️Super Smash Bros. Ultimate // Fighter's Pass 1 // 072 - Hero

⭐️Super Smash Bros. Ultimate // Fighter's Pass 2 // 082 - Sora

I really wanted to post something for Smash Bros.' anniversary yesterday, but I couldn't think of what. Then I remembered I had these screenshots sitting around that I never finished! But my heart just wasn't in it, so you'll have to forgive me for posting them a day late lol.

Super Smash Bros. is no questions asked one of my all time favorite series! I absolutely ADORE each entry, and I really don't think there's any other game series I've sunk this much time into. I love how many different ways you can play it, how crazy it is, and how much it just makes me love video games! I know it's very early but I'm ready for the next Smash already and I can't wait to see anything that comes next from the series!

All these pictures, with the exception of 64 and Melee, are taken on official hardware. Even the Brawl one thanks to the power of Project M! Also I think I have an idea of what I want to do for the 30th anniversary of the series. But we've got 5 years before that comes so I'll just have to sit patient. Happy (slightly late) 25th anniversary Super Smash Bros.!!

Also because I wanted to include a 3DS and Wii U stage I didn't get to do a Smash 4 DLC stage. If you're curious my favorite stage from the Smash 4 DLC is Midgar, no contest.

Just in case you were curious and because I'm a crazy person here's all the runner ups. I got back and forth on whose my favorite a lot though lol

#screenshots #super smash bros #smash bros

[bahamutgames]

Every January I check in on which emulators are currently #1 🏆

I reviewed Emulation Wiki and updated my "Top Emulators" guide with the latest & greatest emulators.

So are there any updates from 2023? SameBoy is now #1 for GB/GBC. Other than that, there are no changes in the top emulator for every other system.

Note that the graphic I attached is simplified for social media. If you check out my guide, I offer different recommendations for advanced users and people with old/slow machines.

I put (*) for RetroArch since it's a multi-system emulator. Different cores power its video game emulators. And my guide states which core is recommended per system.

#emulation #have to fact check this with my emulators but i think im using most of these! #can you believe i still use visualboy advance though... it just works for me

[bahamutgames]

AFTERTHOUGHTS - ROUNDUP ROUND 9

December 2023

Woohoo! 2024 is here! Happy New Years, gamers! There's not much from 2023 left for me to talk about, so I figure the sooner the better. Once I've shared my thoughts on the last few games, we can start 2024 off with a clean slate!

I played a bit of stuff in December, but overall the month was a little bit slower as I kind of hit a wall with hobbies. But still managed to get some stuff done so it's no big deal! As such there's still a good handful of games to talk about.

And like every time, no reviews, just my thoughts. Please play ANYTHING I talk about here and get your own opinion on it! Thank you!!

Crystal Chip Collecter e (December 7, 2023) - Nintendo Switch

This one was a big surprise to me! A friend of mine came to me with a free code for this game cause we both work with the creator, and they wanted me to have a copy of it! I even got to play it early, isn't that nice? I was very thrilled and played it right away! This is a simple puzzle platformer where you jump around collecting Crystal Chips (see the title). But you can only collect one color at a time, and have to flip switches to be able to collect the other colors. Sounds easy, right? WRONG! This game is surprisingly tough! Each world has to be beaten within 3 lives, and while that's just 10 very short levels, it's still a tough challenge! Thankfully the game also has surprisingly tight movement (just be sure to play with the D-PAD and NOT the joystick) and is very well made. It's got some really good sprites and fantastic music. And where this game is a lot better than other games that require perfection, is that they let you practice the levels. Just seeing a stage, not beating it, unlocks it for practice. Meaning you can try a problem stage risk free for the actual run. So many brutal hard games could really do with a feature like this.

My only main complaints is that the levels can get a little confusing, but overall that's probably gonna be different person to person. And also I wish the minigames at the end of a run were different, so you aren't just cleaning out the fans every time. But other than that, a short and sweet platformer! Check this one out for sure!

Dead or Alive Series (2004 - 2019) - Xbox 360 / Xbox One

Next up we don't just have one game, but a full series. My sister has been a big DoA fan for a while now, and on her birthday we helped her complete her collection of the full main series! And well, they're in my house... So I might as well give them a go too, right? Personally I've never been a big fan of 3D fighting games, but I still have enough fun with them. And these games were the same way. Not really my cup of tea but I still had a good time with them. My favorite character is Hitomi, but I played as my second favorite, Tina, for the games prior to Hitomi's creation. I think the biggest thing I have to say about the series on a whole is that it is DAMN good looking! Every entry, even back on the PS1, have really really good graphics. And by the time you hit Xbox, they look really stunning and age remarkably well. I was seriously blown away with the graphics in these games and genuinely suggest you take a look at all of them sometime. The second, and the biggest and best fighting game feature introduced later into the series: sweat. Your characters will sweat during matches and their clothes become a little see through. This is the best fighting game feature of all time and I need ALL games to jump on this. All I'm saying is that if the next Smash features Peach and Snake in tight white t-shirts and they sweat a bunch, the game might be the best selling game of all time.

I actually thought a lot of the sexy stuff in this game was fine, I know it's known for being horny but I think a lot of the characters are genuinely sexy so it's fine. While I love seeing hot wrestler girls and chicks with giant wings being sexy, some of my biggest issues with the series stem from this horniness. Number 1, they pull that N/A age shit too much. I think by the time you're on DoA 6 everyone is 18. But still, dude. Stop it. Second, is the jiggle physics. I love a good jiggle physic. But idk it's not really sexy when they're going absolutely insane. And where are the butts? Please for DoA 7 consider giving more characters huge butts and lets put some buldge jiggle physics in, thanks.

But overall I'd say this series gets my seal of approval. Now if only it was a 2D fighter. But that's what Skullgirls is for I guess.

I will also mention that I could NOT beat DoA4 to save my life. Had to play on Normal which doesn't SOUND that bad but the game totally kicked my ass, I could not beat the Arcade ladder. Embarassing.

Cthulhu Saves Christmas (December 23, 2019) - Nintendo Switch

Another day, another Zeboyd Games certifies banger. As I'm sure you're all aware by how I never shut up about them on twitter, I really like this studio. They've quickly become one of my favorite indie devs of all time for their fantastic and unique RPGs. Sometime in 2022 I believe I played Cthulhu Saves the World, so naturally the next step was to play Saves Christmas! Which serves as a sort of prequel. This was a fun little game for me personally as it almost feels like a medley of everything else they've put out. A lot of the mechanics for avoiding combat from Breath of Death VII + Saves the World, the core combat and gameplay from Cosmic Star Heroine + This Way Madness Lies, and even having a system very similar to the episodic scenes in TWML despite coming out first. It's neat especially if you're playing it last of all their games like I did. The way the game works is rather than having multiple towns and shops, you do little bond building scenes with certain characters for items and weapons, and then at the end of a week, you're shoved off into a dungeon where the more traditional RPG stuff starts. The characters are all holiday themed, the story about saving Santa is cute, and fighting the legion of Christmas evil made up of various evil Christmas characters was fun! It has the same combat style as Cosmic Star Heroine, a personal favorite indie RPG, so I had a good time with it. And while it's not as good as CSH, it does have some unique gimmicks to help itself stand out. In particular, I really loved the madness moves, where you cannot pick your final 3 attacks and they are instead randomized during the fight. It can be a little annoying but I thought it was a neat idea that mostly proved to be very fun!

My only real complaints about this game is how it handles skipping combat. CSC uses random encounters, which yknow, a lot of people don't like. I get it, so having options to skip it is fine. BoD7 + CSTW get around this by stopping random encounters after you've fought enough battles, but still letting you activate fights yourself if you want. I liked it, it was a neat system. But this game also adds in the ability to scare away encounters by pressing 'A' when an '!' appears above your head. This is neat, but ultimately if you mash A when the meter that tells you when an encounter is gonna happen is high, you will NEVER get into an encounter. And ultimately I just feel like having all this kind of ruins the point of random encounters. Especially in a game with nonstandard maps like this, I feel like all this skipping could potentially brickwall a player if they get too crazy about skipping fights. At this point, why not just use enemies you see on the overworld like CSH before it? Thankfully, TWML does make that change.

It's short and simple, so if you're looking for something to play when Christmas comes in a little over 300 days, you can certainly do worse! But I do still think it's maybe the weakest of the Zeboyd games library, though I doubt it was ever meant to be their masterpiece or anything like that.

Little Inferno (November 19, 2012) - Wii U

A game my siblings have been BEGGING me to play for ages. I had the Wii U hooked up for... some reason I can't really recall now. And figured I could play through it really quickly in an evening just for fun. And, hey, you know what? I rather enjoyed it! Little Inferno is a very simple game where you just... burn stuff in a fire place. You order things, burn things, thing drops money, order more things. Again it's very simple but it's fun for sure! The game also encourages you to combo things together and experiment with reactions between burning things so you can unlock more catalogues (ultimately how you beat the game.) The game is very goofy, kind of morbid, but ultimately I'd say pretty cute and interesting. I don't really have a lot to say here aha. I love Sugarplumps, I thought the plot was interesting, it's got a fun art style that can be kinda creepy when it wants, similarly with the music. I think my only issue is the wait times for stuff to be delivered to you to burn. But again the game is so short that I feel like it's almost a non issue.

Regardless, neat little game! I totally understand why my siblings were so into it. Using the game pad to burn stuff was also very fun. And I liked that if you lined the teriminoes up, they would instantly destroy themselves :)

Bayonetta (October 29, 2009) - Wii U

Bayonetta... Oh my god, Bayonetta. If you looked at my games of the year, this was a runner up for one of my favorite games I played in 2023. And I think the ONLY reason I didn't put it on the main list is because I'm not the biggest fan of 3D beat em' ups like this. But holy shit this game was SO good! Bayonetta is an insane, unapologetically crazy, stupid, and over the top adventure that's just fun and wild the entire way through!

Bayonetta follows the titular character as she battles her way through hordes of freaky looking angels in an effort to recover her lost memories. That's right, we've got an Amnesiac Edgy Badboy Protagonist. This game just hits every nail RIGHT on the head! The story is pretty cool and has some really interesting moments like time shenanigans and bringing back the creator. But the plot can be a little hard to follow if I'm being honest, mostly because it's told a little out of order. But where the game REALLY shines is with all the crazy set pieces that make the story shine even when it's tough to understand. Fighting Jeanne on a skyscraper, fighting a giant Angel 10 times the size of Bayonetta, the super over the top motorcycle level! The game has COUNTLESS incredibly cool and over the top scenes! There's almost no moments where the game didn't make my jaw drop or at least make me smirk from the nonstop over-the-top action and goofy moments. Genuinely the game is such a treat start to finish, flashy combat, crazy enemies, some brutal torture attacks, fun cast. Even the little girl character is cute and funny and isn't annoying. Can Bayonetta do no wrong?

Well, I did have SOME issues with it. Aside from my usual "3D Brawler Combat wanting you to remember doing moves with inputs like 'ABABABBBBAAAAAAABBBBBXYYYAAABBBB' for one attack". The game is a little brutal. I managed to play the first few levels on Normal like I wanted, but by the time I reached the burning city stage, I could NOT win the fights. You're expected to witch time with insane accuracy that I just couldn't do. And as such I had to play the rest of the game on easy which made the game feel TOO easy. I think not making combos automatic maybe would've helped with that. But oh well, I still had a great time.

There's still more I could compliment the game on in terms of how over the top and cool it was. Bayo can turn into a Panther? THAT'S SO BAD ASS WHY ISN'T THAT IN SMASH? The cover of Fly Me To The Moon is SO good! And this is another great example of a game that's so insanely horny but is actually fun and I feel like it's justified because Bayonetta is incredibly sexy and it never tries to sell itself as something else. The game knows EXACTLY what it's doing, it does it well, and it's hot! Bayonetta is a new honorary edgy badboy made in a lab, I love her. I cannot wait to play Bayo 2!

WarioWare: Move It!! (November 3, 2023) - Switch

Another year, another WarioWare it seems! Last time we had Get It Together, which turned out to be a surprisingly fun game. My biggest issue with it though is that it truly felt like a WarioWare that could've been on ANY console. And as such didn't feel like a TRUE Switch entry for the series. But I'm very happy to say that Move It fixes that little issue RIGHT up!

Move It is straight up a Switch WarioWare game, no ifs ands or buts about it, this is a game that could have only worked on this console. Which is what I love about this series, I want them to be like crazy tech demos. And the Switch itself has not done a super good job of capitalizing on its unique controller, so it's great to see WarioWare step up and fix this issue. By bringing back the form gameplay from Smooth Moves, they're able to use the Joycons SO well. You can always cheat them for the most part, sure, but I think actually putting your whole pussy into it truly makes the game fun! And the game really did impress me with some of the forms, namely the Hand Model form which actually makes use of the Joycon IR camera. Which is INSANE, is there any other game on the console that does this outside of that nightvision game on the Eshop? THAT'S NUTS! They're actually making use of Joycons! That's so cool!

And of course the game itself is very fun, chaotic, and cute. As you'd expect. There's lots of fun microgames (my favorite is the Mario 64 Slide one, but there's a lot of great ones like the one where you're a model trying to find the cameras or the Pinball Land one). The cutscenes are fun and really goofy. I liked the plot and particularly the final level was REALLY cool.

I do have some issues with it though. Like, the Pounce Form is a little... Overkill. I understand what they're going for but the idea is to NOT have objects around me. I can't just whip up a table that quickly for select Microgames. And you CAN crouch down, sure, but during this fast paced game? No thank you! This form I had to cheat a lot by just holding it in my hands. I also felt like the story was too short! It's over in a flash especially with the Second Chance Stance that lets you regain all your lives and continue a level as many times as you want. I think it's a good feature but it does make it TOO easy if you can do it infinitely, yknow? And so many of the characters are lumped together, I feel like you could've split them up to make way more levels. Even Get It Together was considerably longer I feel. However, Move It is absolutely quality over quantity so I get it.

Overall, a fun game and a nice return to form (ha) for WarioWare I think! Not the perfect game but, yknow, we can't all be Wario Land yknow (please guys we're fast approaching the 20 year anniversary of Shake It YOU CAN'T KEEP DOING THIS TO USE PLEASE MAKE A NEW WARIO ADVENTURE GAME)

Sonic Superstars (October 16, 2023) - Switch

Last but not least, another Sonic game! I play them a bunch I just really love this series lol. Sonic Superstars was a game I thought looked pretty neat when it was announced. It looked like NSMB for Sonic! Which sounds wonderful! However, when it came out, I wanted Mario Wonder just a little bit more, so Superstars kinda passed me. But I thankfully got my hands on it for Christmas and had a pretty good time with it!

It's got all the basic good stuff I can say. Great music, really nice visuals, and it's fun to play! Where the game particularly shines is that it has multiple playable characters! I'm always glad whenever Sonic doesn't shy away from this. Each character has their own unique abilities which is great! My personal favorite was Amy because, well she's rarely playable ever, and I thought the double jump was SUPER useful. I played the whole game as her in her modern dress. And I honestly think Classic Amy dressed like Modern Amy might be my new favorite design for her! And of course I love the new characters, Trip is adorable and I'm SO glad to have a new reptile Sonic character! AND SHE TURNS INTO A DRAGON!?!? COME ON THIS IS MADE FOR ME SPECIFICALLY!

My only big issues with the game is that I think it doesn't really live up to its full potential? Like a lot of classic sonic stuff, it takes SO many stage themes and mechanics from previous classic sonic games. It's particularly disappointing here because when the game introduces new mechanics I LOVE it! Like the Break-Out sections or the rewinding level or the whole Fantasy Zone section. But I feel like a lot of these at least felt few and far in between. Similarly, those Chaos Emerald powers are just kind of nothing. I barely used them during the whole playthrough. I think smaller abilities that had more immediate use similar to the badges in Mario Wonder would be better. But there's absolutely potential for the concept! I also thought Trip's story was a little long in the tooth because it's so similar to the first story but with longer boss fights.

And I want to talk about the boss fights a little bit. I remember seeing EVERYONE complain about the bosses but I have to be honest. They were not that bad. Maybe I'm just spoiled from how horrible the Sonic 4 bosses were. But I thought Superstars boss fights were fine. With the exception of the three "final bosses". Those fights are all REALLY cool but they are SO insanely long. And they have some kind of brutal insta-kill attacks too. Which honestly I could look past if there was a check point in the fights because without them the fights take FOREVER. The final Fang the Sniper fight felt like it took AGES just for him to wrap up basic animations to me. I was talking about all this with a friend and they did bring up a good point that the fights are actually kind of easy if you remove all that. But I have to say that just a basic checkpoint between phases would NOT make them any easier in my opinion. The phases in these 3 fights are SOOOO long that having to survive the second phase without any rings would still be insanely tough in my opinion. But, at least they're fun unlike Sonic 4's absurdly long and boring boss battles.

That's basically it. I don't have a ton to say but overall I thought this game was fine! I remember a lot of people saying it wasn't good back when it launched but honestly I really do think it's okay. Maybe not the most mind blowing or exciting game ever made but I had a good time with it. It's mid at worst I'd say. And it gave us a thorny devil character soooo.... It gets my seal of approval.

#2023 #thoughts #roundup

[bahamutgames]

Conduit's public demo is released!

Conduit, the falling-block puzzle game I've been working on since high school, finally has a public demo. I'm admittedly somewhat terrified to post a game publicly like this for the first time, but I hope this is a good learning experience for me. Get the demo here: https://theonixie.itch.io/conduit

#gamestoplay

[bahamutgames]

Final Fantasy III - NES (April 27, 1990)

#screenshots #2024 #dont ask how the magus is doing a summon its not important #tw flashing #tw flashing lights #they flash WAY more in game but these gifs are 30fps for your safety