Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2) (Switch)

 

All in time for the Galaxy-movie!

I continued with the sequel that I haven't finished on the Wii. It originally came out in 2010 which means it probably was the last game I got as a student at university, meaning I was rather depressed so didn't feel like playing anything... and then four years unemployment followed. Recalling this I actually got the version with a DVD on how to play the game. Sadly the package it all came in had been destroyed by water or corroded electronics. Great I put it on since now I can actually see that the graphics are much better on the Switch version. On the other hand the game crashed on me on the very second level so it might not be as stable.

So the story is basically a retelling on the first Galaxy-game with Bowser attacking Toad Town and getting Princess Peach, but instead of being picked up by the Cosmic Comet, you instead meet a Luma called Lubba that travels around space. It takes the shape of Mario's face for some reason. Some people on the internet speculate that had the game been released today it would just have been DLC for the original game and I can see that. Some stages are lifted directly from the first game, but Thwomps Fortress from Super Mario 64 showed up and that was nice. 

Changes to gameplay is that now, as you can see on the cover, you also can get Yoshi with you. He eat stuff and can use the flutter jump as well as using his tongue to platform even higher. In that way it feel a bit like Super Mario World with the first stage being in front of Yoshi's house and he being out. You used the wii remote pointer, but the Switch make you use the gyrocontrols instead. Seen as one of the reason why it wasn't on the All-Star 3D Collection, but since it works rather well here that can't be it. 

So did I 100%? Not as of writing, I ended up with 120 star and activated the green prankster comets that put in another 120 stars to collect which double the stars for each stage. Mostly they are hidden around the levels so you gotta find them. Not that hard since they give away the sound of a shimmering star when you get near so as long as you hear that you can deduce where they are. I got stuck at the third green star at the digging level in the first world where I found it, but couldn't get how to get to it. After some tries I gave up for another time. This is written right before Halloween 2025 which means I have four day weekend to look forward to, but Dragon Quest 1+2 comes this Friday or something like that which means the weekend is scheduled for that. 

Super Mario Galaxy (Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2) (Switch)

 

Lost in Space... again!

Well, I guess I'm part of the problem when I got this duology since I've already got the first game for Switch, and finished it 100% at it as well. I guess they fixed some graphics and added some story book pages, otherwise it's pretty much the same game. Used the pro-controller for this and it worked rather well. I guess this is pretty much the only way to play this game now if you didn't get a copy of Super Mario 3D-All Star (which I did). 

I finished it at 60 stars and continued a bit, but I realized pretty quickly why it was a bit of a bother to 100% it. So I haven't unlocked Super Luigi Galaxy, but I already have the picture to prove I finished that one as well on my Switch so I don't feel the need to finish it. I'm more worried by Super Mario Galaxy 2 which I haven't finished so sometime would be the first.

Things I can say is that I hate the bouncing power up, I can't get it to work all the time and I don't know why. 

Kirby and the Forgotten Land Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Star-Crossed World (Switch 2)

 

It's Kirby... in 3D!

Well, the games don't really rain over the Switch 2 at the moment so I decided to get Kirby and the Forgotten Lands since I didn't get it for the original Switch and everyone was raving about this game when it came out. I also tried to play the NES games and such that I have for the Wii U, but I got stuck there and then the game come out. Kirby is minding his own business when a vortex appear above Popstar and drag him and the waddle-dees into it. He appears on a new world which looks a lot like our earth where he meet a flying critter called Elfilin that tags along on the adventure as the waddle-dees get kidnapped by some beasts.

Rescuing the waddle-dees allows them to gather in this town area where they set up a smith, shops and so on depending on how many you rescue. You fight through several different worlds collecting blue-prints to upgrade your copy-abilities that you collected from the enemies as well as gold and stars that you need for the upgrade. Each level have several objectives that gives you more waddle-dees and if you are thorough you can pretty much get them in one go. At the end of the levels there are bosses and they also have objectives, but they tend to be more of the variety use this ability to do this which means repalying the bosses a bunch of times. 

I'm not that thorough but I got something like 250 waddle-dees at the end out of 300 I guess. In the final stages Elfilin gets kidnapped by a brainwashed King Dedede and after Kirby beats him up ends up in a laboratory where a giant lionman have taken Elfilin in order to merge it with an dimensional hopping entity that the assumed humans captured and then experimented on to leave the planet. So the entity have controlled all the beasts and use waddle-dees to power the whole laboratory for some reason. Still, 4 or something bossfights later Kirby absorbs a truck and like Optimus Prime blasts right into this lovecraftian entity. F***ING AWESOME!

Dramatic Reenactment!

Credits roll and then you get the vision of the lionman trapped in some dimensional rift. You get back and then I finished up the new added stuff for the Switch 2 version, saving the starries to send out an evil space heart, but it fails and I fight the boss again much harder this time. This fight made me lower the difficulty to just be over it. The starries are on some of the levels that changes the level a bit with different plattforming. Anyway, credits roll and then I go and do the lionman quest. In yet another dimension you have to run through gauntles of all levels in each stage to gather the soul fragments of the lionman. Lucky enough Elfilin tells you if you get all the souls in each part so you can find them before going forward and lock you out of the stage so I did all that in one go. After gathering all souls you get a figure and then fight lionman again and the entity that possessed him again and then credits roll for a third time. 

It was a fun game. If I want I can 100 % it, but some of the challenges just feels to much to gather the waddle-dees (the starries I believe would be easier since there is no bosses to fight). There's also figurines to gather but I'm rather tired of those things after Minish Cap. Especially since I gathered most of the rewards is more figurines. That or I can probably gamble on the figurines machines. 

Donkey Kong Bananza (Switch 2)

 

The Journey to the Center of the Earth!

Well, it took the postal service a week to get it to my home. It arrived Friday the week after it was supposed to come out. Took me 2 weekends and two hours per day during the week, but now again I have a 100 % cleared games on the Switch 2 (no, don't look at my stack of unfinished or even played Switch 1 games). The game begins on Ingot Island where DK is mining for Golden Bananas until a meteor-looking thing crashes on the island dragging it into the depths of the earth. There he meets a talking crystal person that tries to escape from the Void Company CEO... Void Kong and his two henchmen. First time I've seen evil Kongs in a DK game, but since Metroid have already put in evil Chozos I'm already comfortable with the idea. The crystal person turns out to be Pauline that was kidnapped for her singing voice after you release her from the crystal. You meet different races on your way to the center of the earth in search of the Banandium Root for a way to get home and stop Void Kongs plans.

It's a rather fun game. You break most things and collect golden bananas in order to upgrade your abilities and then you collect gold to buy stuff and banadium chips to use to get more golden bananas or later musical discs. There are a couple of animal elders that allow you to use the Banaza that transform you into different animals, like snake, zebra, elephant, ostrich... and a gorilla. Gorilla form feels a bit weird since you already are a Kong, maybe I thought it would be a rhino as a callback to Rambi, but since there is a layer where you ride on Rambi they maybe thought it was enough. 

The final stretch of the games just ramps up the intensity. You have defeated Void Kong's henchmen and duke it out with the CEO himself, beat him and suddenly King K. Rool appears, beats up Void and get the Root for himself. That came by surprise. I gather that Cranky might imply him during the talks with him, but I didn't get it until he showed up. And now Kremlings appears and buzzaw bees so suddenly it feels like a Country game again. You corner K. Rool at the center of the earth and defeats him and your wish is about to get you back and credits roll, and it's the Kredits from Donkey Kong Country so you know the fight ain't over. K. Rool follows you with his barrel jet packs and you have to occupy him until you can reach the surface. You get to New Donk City where Pauline lives, K. Rool steals the root again and you have to platform to the boxing ring from Donkey Kong 64 and beat him again. Took me three tries, but I did it. Credits roll again and DK returns to Ingot Island while Pauline stays in NDC. 

After the credits you start at Ingot island again and reunite with Pauline that needs help finding a song she can sing. So you meet the elders again and do their rehearsal which is a gauntlet of platform challanges for each Bananza that forces you to use every power (and hopefully you upgraded every Bananza to the full). Zebra was the worst with the timed I thought, but then elephant wanted me to lure monsters into different areas to change shape and so on. After I remember to use the snake's time stop ability that one wasn't that hard. And after all that you have the Harmoneel. A true test of skills since you had to do it all in one go which I learned when I died on the very last stretch. After getting enough resources and changing outfits I went in again and cleared it. Rewarded with yet another credit scene, but I'm a bit disappointed since I thought I could get to New Donk City and just wander around, but no such luck. After that I cleared out the fossil to get every costume since you just could buy maps for those (and bananas as well, but those could be hard to get). 

So overall it was fun platformer. Some people complained that the ending was a bit to long, and if I had played it at the middle of the night before work and just wanna go to bed I might have felt the same, but instead I did it in the early afternoon so to me it was a great escalation. And here comes a reason why I prefer the Mario team to do these games, the bosses have pretty much a cycle of three which means that I can memorize the sequence within reason. Maybe the fact I played through 4 Donkey Kong Country games before I didn't have that hard of a time. Something I noticed though is that if this was Journey through the Center of the Earth and Mario Odyssey would be Around the World in 80 Days, I assume the devlopers at Nintendo seems to be on a Jules Verne binge. Gotta finish the collection of books I have at the night stand before Star Fox returns as a Captain Nemo rip-off... oh wait, that was Steel Diver for the 3DS. (And to be clear, this was written before the Star Fox game for Switch 2 was announced.)

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD (Switch)

 

And the monkey business returns.

Well, I still haven't gotten Banaza and it's been a week now. At least I had time to play through Donkey Kong Coutry Returns for the first time. I got it for the Wii, 3DS and Switch, but this is the first time I finish it. I think I played through the first two worlds on the Wii, but got stuck on the boss and then gave up. It wasn't that hard when I played it now, but that could be the Modern Mode cause I was ready to give up at some times.

Story is that one day the DK Island volcano explodes and unleashes the Tiki Tribe that begins hypnotize the animals and stealing Donkey's banans. Together with Diddy they set out to get them back and beat up the Tiki's. 8 worlds later you defeat the big boss of the Tiki and everything's great again, except it reveals the Golden Temple, yet another stage. I can't take it anymore and I really hope the new game comes tomorrow. 

I might sound irritated, but I spent 10 minutes on the final hit on the boss and I think levels like the barreljets and rickety rides just is infuriating. I used up something like 30-40 lives on two stages each trying to get through. Glad I got enough Banana coins to just buy more extra lives without problems. It was a struggle for me, and I can't see myself 100 % cause some of the feats to get some of the collectibles are beyond my abilities. I had a hard enough time getting how Rambi and the barreljets worked so I probably had more problem than necessary. Lucky I got the instruction manual from the Wii-version. Remember when games had physical manuals in the box? I do miss those.

Overall I can see the charm of it if you like 2D plattformers, which I do to a degree, but maybe not in 30 degrees Celsius on the first week back at my job after vacation. And a non-functioning postal service for the game I'm actually interested in playing. I find it interesting though that the game had really long load times, especially since I played it on Switch 2 since I thought the console would cut some of these, but maybe there needs to be an update for it first. Another thing I'be been thinking about it that compared to say Super Mario, Donkey Kong very often disrupts the flow in a level. Super Mario feels really great when you just enter the flow and can rush past stage after stage since it just clicks. Maybe I don't know the levels enough or the mechanics, but I just doesn't get that feeling over the game, since when it seems I'm on my way breaking the code, the game changes up and slows down the gameplay, either with the rickety rides or barreljets or something like the barrels that spin... or the bonus stages that constantly take you away from the main game. 

Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble (Wii U)

 

Shouldn't it be Tripple Trouble?

Well, had to continue and Bananza didn't come to me on the Monday after release so I had one more evening. Didn't feel it as much in this game. On one hand from start to finish it is very close to the second game, but there is a lot more stuff to do, getting items to trade to find your way to the Secret Area and such compared to the second game where you just needed the money to pay. But at the same time it was straightforward. 

Story is that Donkey and Diddy disappeared in this new area so Dixie sets of to find them. Funky Kong gives you vehicles to traverse the area and Dixie Kong's cousin Kiddy Kong joins her. He's a stand in for Donkey. I liked the gameplay in the second game better for some reason. Maybe due to the things they tried was a bit more obnoxious like the area where you constantly gets shoot at or an area where you swim in poison water where your controls are reversed. I also feels that the stages from Donkey Kong Land 3 is rather different which also maybe gives me a pushback (or maybe since I played that game legit on my Game Boy Pocket I replayed the stages so much that it felt like they where more stages).

Maybe I'm fatigued after playing the whole series during a weekend or maybe that review in Super Play was right, it's not that good of a series. Or the fact that temperatures are reaching 30 degrees C might effect my enjoyment of the game.

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (Wii U)

 

The Revenge of King K. Rool.

Continued playing the second game. Basically Donkey Kong's been kidnapped by King K. Rool so Diddy and his girlfriend Dixie Kong sets out to save him. Cranky and Funky returns with them and some new Kongs like Wrinkly and Swanky. Pretty much returning animal buddies like Rambi, Enquarde, Sqwakes and new ones like the spider and snake. And I enjoy this game much more than the first game.

I think because they made it somewhat easier (still hard levels and such), but other things that helped the enjoyment. For one, every animal buddy can attack, compared to the ostrich in the first game. They made it more obvious where secrets are, both in the levels like with banana arrows or letters indicating what ability to use or hints you can get from Cranky. The bonus stage also had a title card for what you where supposed to do so it wasn't that obtuse. This allowed me get over 60 % this time around and my lives was at a full 99 (well, using the restore point I saved up on unnecessary deaths and such, but compare it to the first game when I only ended the game with something around 50 lives, you where supposed to grind for life I assume). 

On the other hand, since I've played Donkey Kong Land 2 a lot and actually finished that one I might have already learned some of the patterns it wasn't completely new to me. Don't like that you have to pay to save at certain points. Always made me stingy with the collectibles. It could also be that the duo Dixie and Diddy actually plays better. You switch characters with select this time around and can join up for some special move with A if both are in the party. 

So this is clearly a better sequel. Or it can be that I haven't gotten to play these games as much compared to the first one and I'm not good at the first one, meaning I never get past it. But we know that can't be the case.

Donkey Kong Country (Wii U)

Time for some monkey buisness!

I was gonna play Donkey Kong Bananza during my final weekend of my vacation, but yet again the postal services have betrayed me. So it will probably come when I started work again. Thanks for that. So what can I do to occupy myself these last days? Well, I got the whole Country-series on Wii U so that could be something. I got the game on GBA, Wii Virtual Console, 3DS, Wii U and SNES Mini and technically I got the Donkey Kong Land as well, but this is the first time I actually finish it for the first time. Only around 50 % since I haven't gotten all secrets and so on and I won't get them since I really don't like the game.

Story is that King K. Rool and his kremlings have stolen Donkey Kong's banana hoard so DK and Diddy sets out to get them back. Kranky Kong, Funky Kong and Candy Kong sets out to help our primate friends as they traverse all over DK Island in search for the golden bananas. It's rather hard and maybe why I don't like it. To often there is a new gimmick for the stage and you basically have to memorize the stages in order to get past them. I remember reading a review of... maybe the GBA game for the Swedish magazine Super Play where the reviewer apologized for ever thinking this game was good so it might have colored my perception as well. 

I got past the game mostly by abusing the save state function on the Wii U and in total the gameplay ended on less than 2 hours, but I assume that it maybe would have been a couple hours added since I restarted all the time. To finish it legit? Who knows how many hours I had to spend on it. Now, if I was a kid and played it as intended on SNES I might have forced myself to learn the patterns and such and have a completely different appreciation of the game. 

But to be more positive, it looks good with the graphics and the music is really good, but it plays a bit bad in my opinion. And the game is a bit evil with enemy placement, for example there is a couple of stages where before clearing a jump from moving platforms there is a big muscle guy you only can defeat with Donkey Kong since Diddy is to small, if you hit them as Diddy, they push you back into the pit, game over. And the bosses takes a lot of beating and with only two hits it's a question of pattern recognition. So you see, I'm not that impressed by the game.

Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore (Switch)

 

I can do the duck-walk!

Like most people in the know, I've heard about the unholy triforce, the three Legend of Zelda games that wasn't made by Nintendo, but contracted out to Philips in a deal for when Nintendo looked for a CD-add on for the Super Nintendo that first lead to the creation of the Sony Playstation that would become their biggest rival and then the Philips CD-I, which pretty much went out and died as a game console. I think I saw the AVGN episodes on the CD-I first, then PeanutButterGamer, then Game Grumps (which I still watch from time to time) and then Pro Jared play through it. Why bring all this up? Because Arzette is a game that tries to recapture the feelings from those game. 2D action platformer with animated cutscenes. What I've seen Arzette is actually a much higher quality, both in graphics and gameplay.

Story is that 10 years earlier Arzette and her friend stopped Daiumur the evil demon lord, and trapped him in a book with the jewel of Faramore. Now, the traitourus Duke have gathered the Jewel and released Daimur and plunged the world in darkness. Arzette sets out once again to protect her kingdom and fight Daimur. And then you go around finding beacons to uncover new lands, find bosses that carry the pieces of the Jewel and helping people to boost your stats and such. Took less than 4 hours to finish the whole game (including 100%). Also finished Hero Mode which as I suspected was a bit frustrating, but it at least forced me to do things in right order since you just couldn't tank the damage or luck out on some kills. You pretty much needed the edge to finish certain parts of the games. That of course unlocks even harder modes and I think I will stop here since I play to have fun.

Overall it's kinda fun, both to see the nods to not only the Zelda-games, but also the Hotel Mario game with the bonus room where you close doors and such. It pretty much alludes to that Arzette is supposed to be Zelda, and her bard friend would be Link. Daimur is obviously Ganon, greenskin and all as well as references to his capture in the book like in the CD-I games. You also got the original voice actors for Zelda and Link from the CD-I games and they do a pretty decent job. I enjoyed playing it, never got difficult, but that could also be for me playing with health restores since I just couldn't be bothered. 100% also gives you a short little cutscene at the end with the book flipping the pages while a woman hysterically laughs. I assume a new enemy since Daimur got killed off. The end credits even spelled out that Arzette will return so I've got something to look forward to.

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (Switch)

Girl Power!

So this game came late to me. Damn postal service couldn't get in on Thursday so it didn't come round to Monday the week after. Made it hard avoiding spoilers since many channels I follow on Youtube decided this is the game to stream. Tough luck for you, I won't watch it until I finished the game, which took me to Saturday the same week. Gonna be interesting to see things I missed.

So the big thing about this game, that was spoiled at the release so nothing missed there is that the first 5-15 minutes you start at Link fully decked out and after fighting Gannon Link gets trapped in a rift and Zelda has to step up to fight for Hyrule. On her journey she has the spirit Tri that helps her mend the rifts and create echoes that she can use to traverse the world, fight monsters and solve puzzles. During the adventure you get Links items, sword, bow and bombs that you can use during a fighter mode that you can use to fight of monsters and such for a short time. 

So arriving back at Hyrule castle Zelda tells her father that gets swallowed up by a rift and out comes an imposter that sends the guards after Zelda. Escaping with the help of Tri and Impa Zelda ends up in Suthorn village, the home of Link. From there you mends the rift near you, then either Gerudo desert or Zora river. I choose Zora first and then Gerudo. After that I traversed the world to get heart pieces, stamps and smoothie ingredients before tackling Hyrule Castle again, rescuing the King. 

After that three more rifts appear, Eldin Volcano, the Wetlands and Lanurya mountain. Went into the wetlands first being locked up by Deku Scrubs and destroying Ghoma from creating cotton candy webs for the scrubs so that they get swallowed up by the rifts. After that Eldin volcano and their new Goron Elder that need your help. After that Lanurya mountain where I meet this snowman Condé that looks like the snowmen in the DS Zelda games or Twilight Princess. And I never felt this bad for the snowman that only want's to do good so that his big brother returns from his hot air ballon adventure after their father died. Damn! It was also this boss that gave me the most trouble, Schorchill. You're supposed to use fire attacks on his helmet when theres ice and ice attacks when theres fire. Now, I used the wizrobes, but they didn't seem to hit so I ran around a bit until I looked it up. After that they worked rather well. Miss that Tri doesn't give you a hint or something like the companions in the 3D Zelda games. 

Which probably brings us to the mechanics of the games. The echoes are fun for puzzle solving. Getting too high ledges or using the abilities to get a monster behind the bars in order to hit a switch is rather interesting. Battle on the other hand is either so simple you steamroll them, or it's a drag as the specific monster needs to do certain things in order to defeat the enemy, usually elemental monsters. Bosses is elevated by using the fighter mode, but take the final boss, Null. If you have enough smoothies you only have to run around so that Link can fight him off together with an echo of moblin level 3 or the lizard enemy level 3. So I spent most time running around since you can't attack directly anymore since you have given Link his items back and there isn't much puzzles in the boss fight more than recognizing patterns and avoid damage.

Null is also an interesting boss concept. He is a creature of the void that want everything to be nothing, but the goddesses appears and create the world to contain him and he in retaliation creates the rifts, but the goddesses sends spirits like Tri to contain them. And apparently Gannon is an echo from Null. His plan is forcing Zelda to get the Prime Energies (which is the Triforce, or the Golden Power or whatever they call it) so that he can steal it and therefore destroy the whole Universe. Which you and Link stops when you rescue Link.

It was a great game. Didn't have to much trouble, there's one chest I haven't figured out how to get and I'm missing like 5 heart pieces, 8 echoes and something like 9-10 might crystals that you use to upgrade Link's weapons. Somehow the short horse race gives me more trouble than the others. And there is some challenges left in the slumber dojo. The graphics looks like the Link's Awakening remake and that looks rather well. Music is ok. I can hear the melodies that they are going for like Zelda's lullaby and such, but I can't say that any track stands out for me. A bit short, it only took me something like 27 hours to get through and there is like 6 main temples, plus Hyrule Castle and the starter and final area. So 7-9 dungeons depending on how you see it. Link to the Past at least had 10 main dungeons, Hyrule Castle and Gannon's Tower. That is 12 dungeons to explore. Or maybe the Ship in the bay and Eastern Palace counts as well... have to think about that. Speaking of Link to the Past, the map is taken from that game and expanded so you go beyond what could see in that game explaining thinks like Gerudo, Gorons and Sea Zoras not existing in that game, as well as Deku Scrubs. Although the Deku Tree is not in the Wetlands with the Scrubs, but in the Lost Forest to the north. 

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Switch)

Throw a book at them!

Yet another GameCube-remake, this time of a game I actually finished... not that long ago either... 6 YEARS AGO? Boy, must have played it as soon as I got my home. Should probably play Golden Sun again so I can get a remake of that as well, but that was 6 years ago as well. Got nothing to add really since the last playthrough regarding story or so. Same story. They changed some lines, no catcalling goombas in the sewer and Vivian clearly a trans-character in this. Somehow this was controversial before the games release, but I don't really care, I get to send a shadow demon queen back to the abyss with jumps!

Mostly the remake have been upgrading is the graphics with what people speculate is the Origami King-engine. Now, I can't instantly see that the graphics have been improved unless someone shows me a side by side comparison. As someone said, it looks like I remember the game to look. Especially since last time I was using a small screen so it will probably look rather awful at my current setup. I now that they also added a match with Prince Mush, the former champion of the Glitzpit, which I haven't beaten, my attacks just stops working after passing 50 % health. I beat everything else like Bonetail, and every trouble, all star pieces and upgraded all characters. Which unlocks all the art galleries and music players. Best addition probably the increased coin purse sine it goes to 9999 instead of 999. Less need to use coins constantly and actually have a buffer for special occasions.

Game stills great. Fun and engaging. They also apparently added some shortcuts which minimise the traveling time between areas and thank god for that with the General White quest and side-quest. Hope this will make Nintendo do another adventure like this. The badge system is so fun since it gives you freedom to play however you want as long as you got the badges. I ended powering up Mario to max in jumping, even disabling the hammer for extra damage. Kinda fun hitting 7 damage constantly. If I was a bit more daring I might even have lowered the hp get more badgepoints to push danger (5 hp or lower) and critical (1 hp) extra damage. Of course, one hit and your dead so better be good at those super guards.

So I tried it for Prince Mush, and I got so close so many times. I get him down to 9 hp and then I have to time the damn super guard to be able to damage him. I make it in the beginning to get him to the second phase but after that I just can't seem to do it, and I use both simplifier badges I have. Either start leveling up for more bagde points or actually get good at the game... might be time to change game.

Eiyuden Chronicles: Rising (Switch)

Red and Blue, the main character colors

Decided to get the game Eiyuden Chronicles, but the physical game doesn't release until a month or so after the digital release so I got the prequel that was released a year earlier. Eiyduen Chronicles is supposed to be a spiritual successor to the Suikoden games where the first two games was supposed to be rereleased in 2023, but got moved to 2024 and as of writing (early may 2024) no words of when they are gonna be out. So I might play through them on my PS3 as I snapped them up on the Classic releases years ago. 

That game was a full on JRPG with battle mechanics, this game though is an action-rpg plattformer where you go through several areas to mine materials and fight enemies to help the people in this little town that have been struck by an earthquake. You play as the scavenger girl CJ (as we learn in the end credits scene means "Crown Jewels") who look for a bigger treasure than her father so that she can go home due to her homes rite of passage. You begin helping the town to get access to the Barrows that exists below the town. Together with the kangaroo samurai Garoo and the acting-mayor Isha, who can use magic without rune lenses (rune lenses grants magic for some reason), you explore the forest, quarry and barrows around the village. Turns out that the town is besieged by bandits that in reality are soldiers of the Empire that looks for rune lenses. 

The Barrow was also sealed long ago to stop an evil sorcerer from escaping and turns out that he still there, possessing Daksa, Isha's father and the lost mayor of the town. Apparently the sorcerer created a sigil that created rune lenses in people in order to harvest them, and this in turn created Isha's magic. She's not the first one from that town and it seems to be a curse upon the town with a person being born once in a blue moon with blue hair and magic and a rune lense in their body that will kill them before growing up. So of course you destroy them.

It was a fun game. Got really addictive with the gameplay loop of going through areas to collect resources, solving quest and upgrade the town to get more stuff. Mostly the story beats and some of the characters will probably appear in the main game. CJ, Isha and Garoo feels like a no brainer, as well as Melora the magic girl and the mercenary samurai that protects the village. And the imperial bad guy of course. 30 hours to 100 % everything. Might try Suikoden 1, heard some say it's only 8 hours. 

Princess Peach: Showtime! (Switch)

 

All the worlds a stage!

Newest Princess Peach game and a short game at that. My niece got it as well when she turned 8 and seemed to like it. At that time I still hadn't picked up my copy which I did the day after. Got to play it a week after when I finished up the Dragon Quest Monster game.

So the story is that Peach wanted to go to the theater, but after arriving a body-less "sorceress" named Madam Grape and the Sour bunch seals of the the theater with Peach and a lot of locals called Sparklas (I think). So she has to go through each play to get 10 different costumes that allows her to master different vocations like some bakery chef, a kung fu master, swordsman (or woman in this case), ninja, detective, superhero like Iron Man, a cowgirl, master thief, figure skater and a mermaid... maybe not a vocation, but still?

There's three stages per costume, first you begin with Peach and something like half-way through you get the costume and learns the rope. The second stage you are dressed from the start and the third stage is rescuing the one that the costume was based on. There's 5 floors and a basement and 5 bosses to beat. In every stage there is Sparkle gems to collect and a costume for Peach and her friend for the adventure, Stella. After beating the game you can find hide and seek ninjas in every stage and refight the bosses and try getting sparkle gems from the bosses by clearing some conditions, like take no damage, use minimal of resources and such. Each floor also has a rehearsal stage that allows you to do certain costume segments to get a high score, like Swordsman and Kung Fu Master beating up enemies without taking damage, the master thief gliding and collect jewels during an obstacle course and the superhero rescuing civilians from aliens. 

I did most things and it took something like 24 hours. Only thing left is getting the sparkle gems from the bosses. Two cleared in full, one with one condition left and two where I got to get everything. The gems is then used to buy decorating stuff in the theater. Only one thing left. Final boss is interesting since you "get" a new costume called Radiant Peach which turns the battle into a shoot'em'up. I also get that the joke is that Peach is radiant like a star since she's the star of the game (and in universe the plays). 

You would have a queen, not dark but beautiful and terrible as the dawn! Tempestuous as the sea, and stronger than the foundations of the earth! All shall love her and despair!

Now, I found it rather enjoyable the time I played it. There where some issues like that the nature of the stages dragged a bit if you replayed them a lot to get everything. You can't skip in-game cutscenes so it drags a bit, the movie like scenes you can skip and you can watch them whenever you like. Wished you could jump around the stages a bit easier. The game also took a long time loading the stages for some reason. And the final nitpick is that the dress costumes you can buy and get. Most of them look the damn same, in that they are white and pink for the most of it. They have different designs, but more colors wouldn't be bad. Really, the most interesting dresses are the bosses since then you get a different color. And the detective costume since it alone is brown to suit the Sherlock Holmes look. 

I heard some people compare it to Balan Wonderworld that have the same costume idea, but I guess it's much less costumes here and it only affects the stages they are in. In Balan I got the impression you choose which costumes to use and that differentiated the game play. Of course I haven't played Balan and with the reviews I will probably never do it. I thought going in that this game would be get the costumes and choose what to use and such. 

Overall, fun game. Feels like it could be in the Paper Mario Universe with the stage feeling and such. Will I play it again? Maybe not, I'm not that interested in playing the bosses until I master the game and there is no reward what I could see for doing it. I wonder if they use this to test certain ideas for games. The super hero one gave me vibes of Wonderful 101 and I would have liked more Kung Fu Master, Master Thief and Detective. I can skip Mermaid and Skater.

The last thing I saw before playing this was that the director is actually the same director who made Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon for the Nintendo 64 and you know I like that game. The ninja stages made me think of that and still wait for the Mystical Ninja collection Konami has to be working on.

Mario vs. Donkey Kong (Switch)

 

A return to their roots.

As of writing it's the end of February and I haven't played any video games beside some levels of Super Mario Bros. Wonder when I was at my sisters place the weekend 13 days after Christmas, and before that nothing since early December. As usual I'm not too inclined to play games during this time, and usually I get over it with a puzzle game. The game for 2024 was apparently Mario vs. Donkey Kong for the Nintendo Switch.

It's a remake of a 2004 GBA-game (which make it the second GBA-remake I know of after Advance Wars Switch-game) which I have two versions of on 3DS and Wii U. Never finished though. I finds that being the best thing about remakes, improvements to ease off play that actually allows me to finish them. Yes, I played casual mode that took away the timer which is new for the remake. The mode also gives you five bubbles instead of using extra lives taking some stress out of getting hit (in most levels it doesn't even hinder you from getting a gold star compared to the original). It also seems that they've added 2 set off overworlds since looking at the original it just seems to be 6 overworlds compared to the remakes 8. Since I don't intend to play through the GBA version I won't know unless I'm stuck somewhere with my 3DS and can't muster anything else to do.

Story is that one day Donkey Kong is zapping through the TV-channels when he stumbles upon a commercial for a new toy called Mini-Mario, he rushes out to get one (as the commercials message of "gotta get them all" repeats in his mind, think it's a jab at the Pokemon tagline). The stores is sold out so he rushes to the Toy Factory and steals them from the Toad workers there and Mario just happens to be there so he follows the Kong in order to get them back. He jumps and platforms his way through a set of 6 levels collecting mini-Mario's so that he can use them to collect the letters T-O-Y so that they open a chest he can put them in to get 6 hits on a boss level with Donkey Kong. Both the music and gameplay evokes the Donkey Kong arcade game and the Nintendo 8-bit series. After that you get a new set of levels and continue that for 8 overworlds to fight the big boss and then you do that all over again for the plus levels so that you can fight the final boss, Donkey Kong in a giant Kong Suit. Credits roll.

Then there is 10 extra levels that you unlock by the amount of gold stars you have, in the end I had 112, missing the boss fights. So in total. 130 levels to complete everything, but I don't feel the need to overextend my enjoyment. Took me a weekend of on-and-off play to get through it and that felt enough. A couple of days and I'm ready for something else during my half-week vacation.

SolSeraph (Switch)

 

Sword and shield of gold!

The Mighty Stand Alone!

A spiritual successor to ActRaiser, which I finished the remake of not that long ago and boy, do I appreciate ActRaiser so much more after playing this. I wasn't glad at the end, it was frustrating. So basically the game tells the story of Helios, the son of man and god that is one of the last old gods that came with Father Sky and Mother Earth that drove away chaos and created mankind, but after they left the new gods appeared and scattered humanity across the continents leaving Helios to protect mankind.

In ActRaiser fashion you do this by going through an action scene where Helios in an angel form defeat monsters and in the end fight a boss. After that you enter the world stage where you help the humans through building farms, houses and defence towers to fight off the waves of enemies that the new gods sends to you. You open their lairs and there is new action scenes and in the final lair you defeat the area boss. Rinse and repeat for stages, that eerily follows the same progress like ActRaiser. You have the plains, followed by a desert, followed an island, then a mountain range and finally a snow area.

I don't know if this game cross mingled with the remake since I feel that certain aspects, like the tower defence and characters speaking made it over to the remake. Of course there is some problems that they missed that made ActRaiser better. First off, the story. A god that slept for unknown time after a stalemate with the devil that then wakes up and has to protect its people are a more intriguing start. What is Helios excuse in this game for not interfering earlier? Another thing that the world was more connected in ActRaiser, you had to progress a bit in each zone to get for example music from the desert to use in BloodPool to calm the citizens and you connected the starting area with DeadPool through creating roads and so on. And also, even if its fun to have more control over buildings and such, it's a dissonance in the story since you hardly impact the people with miracles, you just build and the reason you build is that you have to create the defence, and your limit is actually how much wood there is in any given stage. So quickly I learned that you cut down the wood as fast as possible, then build defence towers (and I mostly just got the basic arrow towers since it did its job). No SimCity or Civilization here. Which causes another problem in storytelling. In the original ActRaiser, the larger the population, the more worshipper and the greater power you had. Here? Upgrade through the action scenes. Why do I care about the people again?

But all that is small nitpicks that don't affect the overall enjoyment of the game, no, the thing that makes me mad is the combat in the action scenes. I hate the enemies. You have arrows flying everywhere from traps and enemies out of reach that you have to avoid. Don't get me started on the final stages where you have exploding enemies that blows up in your face or the kamikaze bats that been there since the first action scene (gives me Dragon Quest II flashbacks). Bosses are a bit boring since it's basically swipe at them with your sword and block with your shield with one exception, the damn Queen of Ice, a giant owl which you have to fight over a pit of spikes with moving plattforms. And you have to fight her twice, thank god there was a save before and I could chose to fight her first in the damn boss rush mode. Her lair was the most annoying of them all since there was no save so after every defeat you had to go through that stage of endurance again and again, was so close to quiting the game then. But I didn't and finished the whole game.

*SCREAMS IN TERROR*

Never gonna play this game again. Graphics is alright, but the music is lacking in comparison to ActRaiser, which is kinda funny since the main theme was composed by the original composer of Actraisers music. The game is to frustrating, but it was cheap since it was on sale and I think I pretty much used some gold points for it. Could have saved it for a better game, but they can't all be winners.

Sofiya and the Ancient Clan (Switch)

She was a magic girl!

Well, after finishing a 140 hours JRPG you really need something easier to  just reset the mind after pouring so much emotion into one game. And what's better than a cheap retro-platformer game that sells itself on sexiness that is developed by a company called  Hentai Room... wait, that wasn't in the description of the game! Whelp, I'm glad it's a couple of years to I turn 40 cause this is getting sad. I just saw the comercials on the Switch and it was gonna be a metroidvania like puzzle plattformer with very good graphics... mostly amazing backgrounds and yes, good sprites, especially the voluptuous main character that can't stand still making her bossom jiggle constantly. I'm probably beyond shame at this point. And what happened with the Metroidvania-elements I thought I saw? Damn those jiggle physics!

The story being that there was two clans with different philosophies on using magic, a war broke out and one side destroyed the other and now the witch Sofiya have learned the magic of the ancient clan that was destroyed and set out to stop her former master that destroyed the ancient clan. Pretty straightforward. So instead of a single metroidvania map, we instead get 3 chapters with a bit over 10 parts in each chapters. You jump around throwing magic spells defeating enemies, get to the end defeat a boss and find different books that give you pixelated picture with lewd art that tells a bit of story. Only a couple of hours. A bit stiff controls and such, but it works. Not fan of the instant kill spikes that is the most dangerous thing about the game. Overall, a distraction at most.

I thought that was that, but turns out I went into a rabbit hole by looking up this game. It was pretty much a hentai-game in its original release (well, when the developer is Hentai Room, I should probably have expected that). For example, I thought it was strange with a lot close-ups of Sofiya in the books with some lewd description and hinting of other people in the conversation. Turns out it was straight-up sex scenes. Ok, and one of the gimmicks of the game was that Sofiya could have sex with defeated enemies to get potions for health and magic. And the games original name was Sexcraft: Sofiya and the lewd clan. Clearly, I got the inferior version, this made the story make sense at least. Well, the console version have a bit of replayability in that you are fully powered up meaning you can defeat enemies fast if you go back to the first chapter and so, but I think you would get more from the uncensored release, even if it's just material for ones alone time. Console, one and done. Still, looks good and sounds good, a bit short overall. 

Look at those huge tracts of land!... I was talking about the backgrounds you perverts! Geez!

Aer: Memories of Old (Switch)

 

Flying High, High!

I'm A Bird In The Sky!

I'm An Eagle That Rides on the Breeze!

Another story-driven plattformer puzzler in the vein of Rime. It's rather short since I finished in an afternoon between lunch and dinner. And after rage quiting Chrono Cross after a boss beat me up good. So I needed something soothing instead. The game tells the story of Auk who have the ability to transform into a bird and is sent out on a pilgrimage like the sages of old to the different temples on the islands in the sky after the great divide where the creator lifted the islands to the sky.

So basically go around and gather the parts of a relic and piece together the story behind it. The first thing you get is a lantern with light that can show you ghosts of the past and listen in to the story of before and after the great divide. Apparently the Dreamer slept the dream that created the Creator that in his turn created the world and together with the spirit animals protected the humans, but the humans began losing faith and began preying to the god-king (if it was a god or mere human the game doesn't clear up) who sent soldiers to gather the powers from the temple and holy places, in the meantime the Creator felt a Void in his heart that threatened to swallow him that came from the humans which he had bonded with since they were his greatest creation. So to protect them he ripped out the Void from his heart and sundered the world and imprisoned the Void behind the Veil.

The humans led by the great sage made pacts with the spirit animals so that a few humans could take the form of said animal. The first sage took the form of a bird and the same goes for Auk. The sage also hid the parts of the relic with the three guardians of the dream and spirit animals guarded the keys to the temple. But since the Veil is failing snow from the north crawls south while animals falls dead and their ain't many humans left in the world. 

After gathering each relic a clearer vision of the Void appears in some nightmare world and after gathering all three and activating the lighthouse that open the ways to the Creators Shrine  Auk flies in. She is touched by the Void and seems to fall dead, but is saved by the flame of the lantern that tells Auk that she is the spirit of the great sage and that she will protect Auk for as long she can and guide her through the darkness in this tomb or whatever it is. Right before the confrontation the sages light goes out, but a shimmering light appears on Auks arm as she enters the final room. The Void appears and tries to grab her but is repelled by the light on Auk's arm that now also appear on Void, it again tries to reach for her but she stand fast and pushes her hand onto the hand of the Void and a white light engulfs them both and... credits roll, the end. 

Interesting story and piecing together everything. I missed that your mentor had his own cave near the lighthouse, but I guess it was just another clue on how to get to the keys and temples. So that's the great thing, but as a game... there's hardly anything there. Mostly go from point A to point B and maybe push a button. The hardest thing was actually finding a stair in the last temple that took me a hot minute (and one small look at youtube to see what I was missing). I also had the game freeze on a loading screen ones and the loading times can be rather long I feel, especially just for a room when the overworld or the temples aren't a problem and rather huge in comparison to this one room.

It's a one playthrough game really if you were as thorough as me so I got the story and all that around it and its rather soothing as mentioned. Also funny is that it was a lot of Swedish names on the production of the game, guess more cinematic than gameplay comes from that. Checked the internet for what others felt and many classified the ending a bit abrupt, maybe missing one final puzzle before entering the final cutscene. Also a great theory on what it all means and some explanations on things I missed as well. Sadly there is no sequel or spiritual successor since the company behind it have shut down as well. 

Alwa's Legacy (Switch)

 

Well, it looks worse than it is.

Well, I gotta try the sequel. So I did and finished it during the free time of my work week. Same gameplay mostly, but they changed the progression of spells and added some spells. Instead of singular upgrades you get the orbs to unlock different abilities for the spells, some coming back from the first games, other are new and probably a good idea to learn what they do. One allows you to change the colour of Zoe's cape by passing through a bubble and another allows you to change the colour of the bubble. So mix and match different abilities. Thankfully they allow you to reset and change the skill tree which compared to other games I played is a nice welcome. 

Story is... well, basically the same idea as before, find four bosses, get things, fight Vicar and the game ends. There's not much story. One thing that IS problematic with the story is that it doesn't start the same as the first game ended, instead of Sage greeting Zoe it's this child Mary that leads you to Sage. I also get the sense that it have been somewhat of a continuing loop since Sage mention that Zoe has to choose the right thing this time... and if you jump to the left in the water at the start you can see several piles of bones with what looks like purple hoods... are they past incarnations of Zoe?

Not that hard, I found all but one orb and one tear, died only some 80 times. Then again, I had a really hard time after finishing the first boss to know what to do... turned out I missed an exit to the bridge area. This caused me several deaths, running around all over the map and using one tear to teleport away from the Rose Castle since you can't get back until you get the yellow magic. How can it be that I still feel stupid?

One neat thing is that they have a choice of choosing Swedish for the text, which is included since I believe most of the creators have Swedish names. I couldn't have that on for more than 5 minutes since it doesn't sound epic, but instead rather corny. Might be that the language barrier creates a distance to the very clichéd text overall.

Alwa's Awakening (Switch)

Another magic man... I mean woman!

Got my hands on Alwa's Awakening, another of those 2D 8-bit games that harken backs to the olden days. A puzzle platformer with Metroidvania elements thrown in. The game tells the tale of the land of Alwa where peace ruled until Vicar appeared together with the Protectors that have stolen the four gems of the people and devastated the lands for hundreds of the year. The people call for a hero in desperation and summons forth Zoe, the player character.

Zoe's mission is to use her magic and platforming ability to find the bosses, find the upgrades to her magic and defeat the bosses. It is a bit on the hard side, not impossible and they give you the choice to turn on a return to the same room instead of back to the save spot. I only turned it on at the final dungeon since I have a limit on how much I can take from pixel perfect platforming together with timed one-shot uses of magic in sequence. And I've already came rather close to going for 100 deaths, although, best way to ravel back was sometimes to die so it is probably a speed-running tactic. Even though the game mocks me by displaying the ever increasing number at the game over screen.

After defeating the protectors it's time to face Vicar, who turns into a dragon... and is the easiest boss of them all proven by that I didn't die at him. After that you are taken to a room that looks like the save spot... and a light like the ones from the warps appear, Zoe goes from 8-bit to 16-bit and the game seems to restart and then credits... I'm a bit lost, luckily I got the sequel already.

Overall a fun game, I liked the music, the graphics are nice and I did enjoy the challenge. Found all the things and got 100 % map so I feel accomplished and it only took me one weekend, and that weekend included being forced to hang-out with my sisters on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 

Blaster Master Zero 3 (Switch)

 

Return of the Blaster Master

The third and final (?) part of this reboot trilogy of the classic Blaster Master-series. I've played the first game on 3DS and Switch and the second game on Switch. Began playing this just after Ys IX, which was kinda interesting since both games starts you just escaped from prison. Then I stopped like I usually do with these games and then finished it finally. 

Story is that you arrived at planet Sophia, but Jason and Eva was taken in by the military since they registered Eva being a mutant. So Jason breaks out thanks to Kane Gardner, the scientist behind Eva so you gotta track Eva down since she disappeared. On this journey you then got Leibniz from the second game to be your co-pilot. In the end it turns out that Eva have been affected by the mutants at the end of 2 which led to her becoming the Mutant Queen and the mutants becoming more aggressive to protect her. As Jason reach her she decides to leave this dimension behind. Now, during the cut-scene you can activate the system that allows you to enter different dimensions and see her through feelings. I only got it since I looked up how to defeat the "final boss", which I didn't have to do since I got it with the changing colours of the boss anyway. But I got the secret behind it and could get to Area ???.

Area ??? is some time after and apparently a rip through dimensions appeared and you have to find Eva and stop her. Basically you travel through areas from the first game (with the same music), fighting bosses from the second game. Which is hard since you hardly have any upgrades or weapons. But I did it! And the twist is that it isn't Jason, but Kane Gardner that was sent by the Sophia forces to investigate and eliminate the threat from the mutants. The final boss is Jason that joined with Eva in this other dimension. Or it's Kane Gardner depending on which one you choses at the end. First time I was Kane and got obliterated. Then I got some upgrades and by mistake got Jason, but I take it since it was easier to blow Kane up. You get to the ending and it turns out Eva and Jason have been birthing twin humans and intended to give them too Leibniz to raise them on earth since they themselves couldn't leave this dimension. The end.

The ending was worth it, but it was hard at times and a bit unfair I feel. Of all the games, I would rank the first game the best. Basically, that's the only game that hold up from beginning to end. Both sequels take me to a point where I get so irritated that I rage quit, and then a couple of months come back and go for the end. The only thing that works better in the sequels is getting the special endings since the first was 100 % get all items, but the others you get to reach certain conditions that don't get my OCD running.