It’s been a wacky year for me — I haven’t had a lot of time or energy to dig into heftier games, so things trended toward smaller bites and Nintendo Baby territory, BUT don’t revoke my IC member card just yet (please!!)! Here’s a few of the games I have played (some of which I have loved).
G’s of my Y, 2024.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
After a belabored name change back in March, I fell back in love with AC. This time around I dug into more of the online elements — hanging out with friends while catching up over video chat and taking little island tours with a group is a lot of fun (just wish the connection / loading times weren’t so clunky — One of my hopes for Switch 2)
I know the game has shifted from its life-sim roots into a more creative / decorating and online hangouts realm, but I really enjoy these directions too. Plus, it’s still nice to pop-in and decompress for a bit just walking around your island. I love the vacation home designer DLC so much.
Darkstalkers 3
aka: Vampire Saviors 2: Lord of Vampire Saviors 2: Lord of…
March was also when I finally learned that fighting game is something so great. I tuned up my fight stick and settled into this pretty regularly every evening for a couple weeks. Slowly, combos started etching themselves into my motor cortex and I began to see the light.
I explored everything on the Capcom Fighting Collection as well as SF3, but this game in particular, I just loved. Am I good? No. but I loved the horror theme, soundtrack, bizarre character designs, goofy sense of humor, and incredibly cartoony animations.
Plus, this newfound appreciation led to some wonderful memories hanging out with @tradegood playing Guilty Gear and Street Fighter together late into the evening. <3
Demon Throttle
Picked this up after @TracyDMcGrath 's recomendation. In a similar vein to cracking the seal on the fighter genre, this was such a great introduction to Shmups — Felt like the perfect length, jumping over bullets feels great, the switching mechanic between two characters is really satisfying, and I was able to do a 1CC after a little less than a week. Really manageable difficulty curve.
Melon Story: Bittersweet Memories
Such an ideal hangout. Distinct sense of humor . The music rules. Thoroughly enjoyed my time with this one. I want more breezy adventure games in an 8/16-bit RPG style!
Before the Green Moon
This might be the game that has stuck with me the most since finishing in July. The open-ended nature and lack of explanation around many mechanics or even your purpose led to a lot of room for me to invest my personal meaning into it. I loved running through those rainy streets and slowly learning about my neighbors and their lives.
We ♥︎ Katamari
I disagree. Up there on the tippity top of all time for me. So many different ideas and artistic expressions in here — Rich like an absurdly perfect strawberry!
Signalis
This might be my GOTY. I haven’t felt so engrossed in a game’s world since Rain World. I want to write up more thoughts in the Games We’re Currently Playing thread.
Other Highlights:
• Super Monkeyball Banana Rumble — Couch coop w/ @Tradegood !
• Super Mario Maker 2 — Online coop w/ @connrrr & @Funbil !
• Popeye Saves the Earth - Pinball!
• Legend of GoodGary: Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask - Familiar comfort food.
• Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom - Dialogue is boring and endless for the most part, but adorable world to hang out in and explore for a bit. Character designs are wonderful.
• Coffee Talk — I really like the world they outline beyond the rain streaked windows of your urban coffee shop.
• Resident Evil 3 (PS1) - Good time. The Mr. X mechanic became more of a headache than anything.
• Dishonored 2 - Loved it, but the fidelity and production was a little too effective, and I eventually chickened out.
• Death Stranding - Never quite settled into the pacing.