The Wonderful 101 Remastered (Switch)

Go Go Team, Demolish Those Fiends!

Another remaster, another game I played before. As a write up for the last hurrah of the Wii U I even called it the best game on the Wii U. And now we got it remastered for different consoles and I of course bought it... again... for the switch. It's technically the third time I got it. First I got it as a free bonus download when getting Mario Kart 8 for the Wii  U since they tried to get more people buying the Wii U. And then I bought the physical version just because I liked it so much. And now again. And this time I went for physical from the beginning. Of course needed to wait a couple of weeks extra, but I got games to play in the meantime. 

So after not playing it for what? 5-6 years? Does it still holds up? I made one mistake playing it this time around, encouraged by the smoothness of Tokyo Mirage Session on Hard Mode I went in in Normal Mode for this and you know what, at times the game was a bit unplayable with the frustration at being pummeled by enemies again and again. The game is a bit too happy to send 2 or more well armoured enemies that each need 100 % focus to tackle and avoid damage, but since they get off screen when you focus on one, they will hit you with a critical attack messing up your flow. Although it is probably due to the game not giving you the right tools until you gathered more W-100's and bought the right skills and all that, since there was parts of the end game where I could stun-lock them with the time bomb and then wallop them into submission. And at those times the game felt really satisfying. So it's probably a "get good" mentality you need.

Even though you get times where the games is just a pain (the Vorkken fights comes to mind), the game still manages to make you feel awesome at the ends of certain chapters making it all worth it. The music pumps you up and pulling off the right unite morph is really gratifying. The humour, the dialog, I love it all. Now, what does the remaster do differently from the Wii U? Well, to fix the problem with only one screen you can press (-) and get the gamepad screen on the big screen. A bit like how you could move the different screens around on the Wii U. And that's seems to be it. Graphical upgrade, but I hardly see the difference. So there is nothing, no ability to watch the characters intro sequences beyond Wonder-Red and Blue (which is the only thing I would like to see since they are amusing, but I might not want to play through the game on a new save every time... but at least youtube caught up with the clips compared to back in 2014). Overall, I still love it, might prefer to play it lower difficulty, but the game is amazing.

Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore (Switch)

Go Go Power Rangers!

Been a summer of remakes and remasters (as of writing, when this goes up we are in November) so the time came for this one I haven't played since 2016. I decided to play it on hard this time since why not? And after roughly 50 hours I wonder, am I actually good at this game? I finished it in less than 70 hours that I played the original game on Normal, where I also used the DLC to level grind since I couldn't bother with playing as intended at that time. The achievement trophies are also a lot more filled out. I presume maybe the level grinding made it possible to avoid all battles, but instead this time I got more performa and got more skills that enabled stronger characters, but lower levels? It could also be due to me much faster just read the text and skip the spoken words, which I can't understand and fasten the session attacks. Or the improved quality of life upgrades maybe did something for me, if I noticed it at all. The big one was that they actually made a movie menu where I can watch the music movies instead of replaying the game. Still, the game is really lacking a quest log to keep track on requests and such, side stories they have in Topic, but requests you gotta remember what to do or whom to talk too. It would have been easier if the maps showed all request locations on such, but it only works if you are in that area.

The biggest change is that, since you don't have the Wii U gamepad they moved all the Topic and maps and such to the start button. It's also better since I recall I often had stop the game to look at the gamepad in order to go through Topic every 5 seconds. More costumes added and they also added an "arena" where you can go through in order to get more costumes and session attacks from non-main characters plus some extra story bits about Itsuki, Kiria and Tsubasa. Mostly the same story bits as the main game if you ask me.

Overall, the story is the same as I wrote the last time and still holds up for what it is. The social commentary is still relevant and all that. Still the censored version, but I don't mind that. What I noticed though this time around is... whatever happened to the CEO of Daiba that were hinted as a probably main antagonist that just disappears just after he is introduced? Where that some cut content to get it finished the first time or was it as intended? Also, is it really that smart to make Itsuki the President of Fortuna Entertainment (... Fortuna Entertainment, FE... Fire Emblem... never got that the first time) when pretty much every female employe of that company wants him? I can see potential #Metoo-moments here... and it might be the employees that harass the employer.

Lastly, the main character Itsuki, I resonate more with him now than I did back in 2016. Mostly because I now acknowledge that I have some things in common with him (not the thing about every female coworker jumping after me, let's not be unrealistic here). More that, just like him, I just follow what happens, I haven't had some real ambition in life to where I wanted to go and just followed the tide and just like him I feel I've ended up at a good place. That feels rather nice.

Ys Book I and II (PC Engine Core Grafx mini)

So played this game again as the news of Ys IX coming to the west so getting a bit of a reminder of the series. It's also been 6 years so thought it was a good amount of time in between. I recall liking it and reading about it confirms that I did. Although, replaying it showed some strange things. How did I finish it last time? It's hard at times and I easily got lost in the different mazes strewn around the game. The ending area I don't wanna talk about. Would have been nice with a map other than from the internet. It has been remade a couple of times, even for the DS, but sadly ain't that easy to get a hold off. 

Still great music and graphics. Sound effects were interesting since the getting item sounds a bit like the same sound from Metroid. Also, the audio mixing is not the best, but this time I actually cranked up the sound for the final battle so I at least heard what he said. Speaking of the final battle... who the hell thought that putting the necessary level to beat the final boss was the maximun 62? I was level 60 and got trounced every time, but level grinding for a couple of hours made it a cake walk. That's one of the most frustrating parts about the games. Sure, you can use certain items and strategies for some, but mostly there is a hidden level cap that is recommended to have to get past it. People talked about the end of Book 1, but that was never a problem.

And another thing... it's noticeable that there is 2 games stuck together since the mechanics change after entering the next one. Rings went to the inventory instead of the equipment which is a shame since you gotta equip the Goddess ring in the end, making you unable you to use any healing item at the final battle (hadn't I used the golden drop during the battle of Dalles it might not have been that much of a problem). And I hate the fact you can't change items or equipment during boss battles. 

Now, it sounds like I'm bashing the game, and I do. but there is still moments in the game that makes it a joy to play. I like the story. The gameplay is fun and the exploration is great, still sad about several point of no returns. 

Alien Crush (PC Engine Core Grafx mini)

Hello there.

Well, gotta play through all these games, cause what is otherwise the point getting them? Besides looking good as dust-collectors on my shelfs that is? Earliest released game on the console apparently

and it's a... pin-ball game. And not like the Sonic one on the Sega Mega Drive that appears to be story-based and such, no, you got one board with the choice of slow or fast ball and which background music you want out of two. So, try to the beat the high score I guess. It's greatest strenght is the design since it's obviously inspired by H.R. Geiger and especially the movie Alien. I can see the face-huggers. 

Fun for a couple of minutes and it looks good. The lunar song is great, but I wouldn't say it's something I would get out of my way to get. The space cadet pin-ball that came on Windows XP would be as fun, especially since I have more nostalgia for that one since me and my best friends spent one math lesson in school playing that game and taking turns to get the highest score. Still, it's Halloween week as the release of this so great game to write about it. And just maybe be another filler game to space out all the RPG:s.

Sunsetriders (Switch)

Ride em Cowboy!

As mentioned a couple of time I watched every video from the Clan of the Gray Wolf and their 16-bit gems. One of them being Sunsetriders for the SNES and Mega Drive. The music caught my ear and I really wanted to try it out, now 9 years later the arcade version is released on the Switch. A shoot'em'up with cowboys fighting their way through the wild west in search of wanted criminals. Now, it only takes 30 minutes to play through it if you are really easy on the continues... which I am. Great visuals and music and good gameplay. What would elevate this is the multiplayer option where you can be up to four people shooting it out. Now, I don't have that option. I tried to get my sisters to play it home during midsummer, but it never came to be. So I played it on my own. 

Fun game, but it probably is best played with others since the chaos of several shoots fired and someone stealing upgrades or money is always fun. Plus you all will laugh at the last one dying. Still, can at least enjoy the music on my own.

Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition (Switch)

The Bloody Rage of the Titans!

Xenoblade Chronicles is back on Switch with the first game... and I played it through again... another 120 hours. I've already mentioned the story so we can cut that, but it's still a great game. The music is fantastic and the graphical update is good. I recall starting the game back in 2014 and noticing that the eyes on the characters where a bit dim or almost hazy. Not so much anymore. They also improved the item limits so I didn't get the same sell all at a time. And the best thing they did was making the questing easier with the option to let the map show you where the items or persons are together with a dotted line on the map how to get there. No more guessing which enemy carries what item. Love it, might explain why the main game only took 106 hours this time around. Of course, the Colony 6 side quest is still a guess on some of the things, but you got the visions for that. Games move a bit slower with the change of the menu layout. I started up the 3DS version and when you pushed X you got to choose the menu while walking around. Here the games stops and bring it up. Probably due to using a bit more shortcuts on the d-pad. And I think they made certain parts easier, like the battle with Loretha... cause isn't the pools of ether gone?

Some more new thing was a battle arena where you can take on challanges, either however you want or limited to a pre-set party and level. Finish it with a special rank and you get items and equipments. I pretty much forgot it after getting Melia. Now, the big meat of the definitive edition is an epilogue chapter starring Melia and Shulk one year after the original game ended. They travel on the Junk (a machina ship) to the Bionis Shoulder to get to Alcamoth which I guess disappeared after the battle with Zansa. They get shot down by some beam from the city and crashes in a lake. Two of Rikki's children have been stowing away and you rescue them from some Volffs. Kino and Nena. There they find an army encampment of High Entia that point them to a camp of civilians with a lot of different races... did Alcamoth disappear after Zansa's battle? Cause, why is there Machina here? Anyway, they have fled the capital since it was taken over by the fog king, a monster of fog that came out of a rift in the sky. Where does the rift comes from? No answer.  You get there and saves a High Entia kid you met in the first game that is doing research in order to turn the Tellethia back into High Entia. He works together with Tyrea, Melia's step-sister that tried to kill her in the first game. Meanwhile you also look all around the Bionis Shoulder to find the Nopon archeology team that got lost there and is your stand-in for the team attack. Probably the best side quest in the game. I want a whole game with the Nopons after this. Didn't think I would ever say that, but replaying the game just shows that you have merchants, mercenaries, archeologies, inventors and cold bloodied drug smugglers... yes, Bana makes an appearance. It ends with you uniting the military and civilians to give you time to fight the Fog King with a special built Monado and you defeat it and return to Colony 9 with the survivors and then restores the capital and have a coronation for Melia.

It's a bit of fun. Apparently it was an area they took away for time constraints. We got some new battle music and I really liked it. The story is interesting in the beginning and seeing some of the characters from the first game and seeing what they are up to are fun and Melia and Tyrea setting their differences aside are great. The Fog King though... is a bit of a disappointment. I thought we were gonna see the other side of the rift, like connecting the game further with Xenoblade Chronicles 2 or even Xenoblade Chronicles X. 15 hours, a bit grinding in the end until I realised you could always put in casual Mode since I was rather done with the game. I got to level 76 (started at 60) and there was only one quest left, a battle with a level 80 dragon or a mini-boss level 77 lizard that insta-kills me instantly before I took the easy path.

Overall, still likes the game. Maybe prefer XCX over it with more mystery and exploration. In X you could look at a mountain and climb it, a bit of the same feeling like in Breath of the Wild, but here it is more like corridors. Still, great game. Playing it again also makes one think about certain aspects, for example how the Bionis soul is represented by a man and the Mechonis is a woman. Not only is the man the titan of life, what we usually attributed to female gods like Gaia, Venus, Freya and so on, he's also emotional and irrational which we used to (well, at least some used to, many still does) describe woman overall and kept them out of power. Meyneth is rational, a machine and is the good god in comparison giving life a chance. It's a bit subversion off clichés. Its anti-god message is hammered in at the end and really lifts free will as the greatest thing of all living. Also, the games main quest for the first 1/2 is a revenge plot where the heroes goes out to exterminate a whole race. And really, is Shulk really the leader in the beginning? Reyn is the more cliched hero from older games and is pushing the plot (although he is stupid and hotheaded like Garet in Golden Sun and Garet was clearly not a leader), and Dunban when he joins is the natural leader that shows the way. But the longer the game goes on Shulk grows to the leader that they look too. Probably helps that he can see the future so what he says is probably the right thing anyway. Also, Dickson is really fun observing how he affects the story and where it goes, and his 70's hippie outfit is amazing.

I bet he ha the metal soundtrack on some mp3-player in the satchel.

PC Engine Core Grafx Mini

It has finally arrived!

Finally got it, supposed to get out back in march, but thanks to the global pandemic it was obviously postponed. As a bonus it came right before I went on summer vacation. I've mostly seen people talking about the American release (since most Youtubers I watch are Americans), the TurboGrafx-16 mini, and I gotta be honest, it looks bad. I get why they changed the colours from the original PC Engine, but how could they make it so big and bulky? At least Europe got the Amazon black and blue. Funny enough the smallest of the mini consoles I have, but the most games on it... technically. It sports 57 games on the back-cover, but the thing is that some of them are the same game, but both a japanese and an english version. And some of the Japanese-only games are with japanese text and sound... meaning that I can't actually play them. The two games most effected are Snatcher and a game called Necromancer. Both very text heavy so that makes it rather impossible to play them. The german voice for Castlevania: Rondo of Blood isn't a problem since I know enough and it's just the intro.

Now, some information that I tried to find was how many controllers are there in the package? Just one, you were supposed to buy at least one more to get the most out of the console. And if you wanted to go all in you could get the multitap and buy three more so that five people could play games like Bomberman and Dungeon Explorer. Now, the pandemic shut down that idea as well so I have just the one. Although I thought that it's basically a NES-controller with some added turbo-configuration I though I would try some of the other controllers I had laying around. Now, I only got the Sega Mega Drive Mini controllers with USB-connections and they didn't work. So when the logistics of Konami is solved I will probably pay for 4 more controllers and a multitap. Gotta need some spare at least. The d-pad is a bit harder than the NES mini, but overall works like normal. Greath lenght on the cable so no need for extensions.

Like the Sega Mega Drive mini you can get to the game menu from the games, but this time holding both the Select and Start button... or Select and Run button. Save stats goes a long way and you can choose different backgrounds. They also decided to divide up the games for the PC Engine and the TurboGrafx-16 (I assume the European releases were rather insignificant or that the PAL format really messes with the games) so you gotta switch them around to get to the games. Interesting choice and since they have doubles I get why they did that. They also play little animations while starting up the games, reflecting if it was a huecard (the cartridge the first games come on) or a CD-ROM game. 

Speaking of the games, I've got a couple of them before on Wii and Wii U (and the Switch arcade archives). As mentioned, some games that are completely in Japanese I can't play if I wouldn't do something drastically like putting in some translation patch (which I won't do since I'm not that technical). Other games don't need it, Castlevania or some of the shooter games since the words don't affect how you play the game. I started up snatcher and the visuals and music are fantastic but a lot of text and words in Japanese and as the game starts... you gotta chose words to progress and I can't read it. And it is pretty much a visual novel I gather? Might just youtube someone playing the Sega CD version. You got a lot of shooters like Salamander (the arcade original of Life Force, which I gotten 7 times... and some times twice on the same console). With this I might finally finish Neutopia and Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, but since it's the Summer (as of writing) I might play Ys 1 & 2 again, especially since I just learnt that Ys IX is coming next year.

Playing some of the games and looking at it... probably had I not gotten the games on Wii and Wii U it would probably be the best way to experience these games for someone who haven't played the games. It was a bit more pricey, but I think it's worth it. This is at the moment also the last mini console I will get unless they release a Nintendo 64 mini (I'm not touching the Playstation mini).