Video Games are awesome

[Sparky Prime]

Man, I LOVED Turtles in Time back in the day.

Turtles in Time was actually the first game I played when I got the Cowabunga collection. I didn't have that much experience with it as a kid. My friend had a SNES, but despite our love for the NES games, that wasn't one that they got. As I recall, I only played it at a local birthday party place. And I rented the Genesis version, Hyperstone Heist a few times.

"Mom tossed our Nintendo" is the 80s/90s update of "mom tossed by comic books and baseball cards". Damn, just damn.

She also tried to toss the Genesis when we got a N64. Luckily, I caught it before it was gone, and I still have it to this day. Although now that remakes, virtual console releases and compilations are a thing, I think I could probably let it go now...

[Sparky Prime]

Pokemon Violet

I held off on getting this game until Christmas. The reviews upon the games release were not very favorable. I'd hoped there would be a patch by now to improve the games performance, but unfortunately, this hasn't happened.

This is the first fully open world Pokemon game. Sort of. The game is still separated into various Areas somewhat like Legends Arceus, but in this game the areas are interconnected so you don't have to return to a central hub when you want to move to another area. I've only just gotten to the point where the game stops holding your hand, so I think I can pretty much roam as I please, save for Area Zero. Unlike previous Pokemon games, you're presented with three story elements. You can do the usual Gym challenge, go Titan hunting, or take down 'Team Star'.

Unfortunately, the game has a lot of issues. Janky frame rates, clipping, models not loading, dropped frames, bad texturing, pop-in, glitches... I've even seen some people reporting the game crashing. I'm shocked that this is the 3rd Pokemon title Gamefreak has developed for the Switch and this is how it looks and runs. Granted, SW/SH and Legends Arceus had a lot of the same problems, but they performed better than this game does. For one of the top franchises in the world, how is it the mainline games are not delivering the level of quality that they should? If Gamefreak is struggling this much to deliver a good quality game within the deadlines, they really need to make some changes, and/or Nintendo should help them out. I had more hope for this game now that Gamefreak had some more experience developing for the Switch, but this is easily the worst Pokemon game they've created in terms of quality.

Edit: Bit into the game now... So yeah, once the game stops holding your hand you're pretty much free to go anywhere you want, as long as you can get there. With each Titan hunt objective, your Koraidon/Miraidon gets upgrades to their mobility, such as higher jumping or swimming that allows you to access places you couldn't before. Basically the HM or Ride Pokemon from previous games. Unfortunately, the Gyms are not structured very well. The Gyms are not level scaled, so if you accidently skip one and go back to it, you'll be over leveled, or, you might be getting into a challenge you're not ready for. There is a definitive order the game wants you to do all the Gyms in, but it doesn't really give any clear indication of what that order is if you choose to follow it. You also have to complete all three story elements, and it's clear the game wants you to complete all of them concurrently, in order to unlock the final area/story.

Also find it interesting how they've downplayed completing the Pokedex in this game, considering they have stopped having all the Pokemon in the games starting with Sw/Sh. It's still something the game suggests for you to do, but it isn't a driving motivation this game's Professor wants the player to do for them like all the previous games. In fact, they seem to have downplayed the Professor's role as well, with their role mostly given to other characters in this game.

[Sparky Prime]

Metroid Prime Remastered

The original Gamecube version was the first Metroid game I'd ever played. So I was pretty excited when they announced this version. It's been a long time since I played the original, and the graphics are showing their age. This version is beautiful. They did a great job updating it for the Switch. I apparently still have muscle memory for the Gamecube control scheme so the new control scheme takes a little getting used to. It has some different control settings, which I haven't played around with, so I'm not sure if there is another scheme that is a little easier to get used to or not.

Spoiler

I was a little disappointed by how they made Samus look when she takes the helmet off at the end of the game. I looked up some screen shots comparing to the original version, and I actually prefer the model in the original version.

[Sparky Prime]

The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom

The highly anticipated and long awaited sequel to Breath of the Wild is finally here! I've played for maybe 5 hours thus far and basically just got out of the tutorial area.

Spoiler

While exploring caverns under Hyrule castle, Zelda and Link discover several murals depicting the origins of Hyrule, and what Zelda refers to as the The Imprisoning War. I'm not sure if this is meant to be the events from Skyward Sword or something else entirely. This story introduces a new species, the Zonai, who were thought to be gods by the ancient Hylians, and were responsible for founding Hyrule and the royal family. In the next chamber, the pair discovers a mummy, sealed by a dismembered arm that falls away as soon as they enter. Link and the Master Sword are both badly damaged. The mummy begins to raise the castle causing a rift to open up that Zelda falls into. Link attempts to save her, but she vanishes, and the severed arm saves Link. Link awakens elsewhere, finding his arm has been replaced with the severed arm. A Zonai named Rauru, or rather his ghost, explains he had to replace Link's arm with his own and took him to a sky island to recover.

Similarly to BotW, this is area is essentially a tutorial area where Link gets various abilities, and the game teaches the player how to use them. At the end of it, Zelda contacts Link telling him to find her, and Link returns to Hyrule below. The new abilities are interesting. Ultra Hand allows you to move certain objects and glue them together. Fuse allows you to fuse certain objects to your weapon or shield to enhance them to some degree. Ascend allows you to jump up through solid objects above you. And Recall reverses time for certain objects to a limited effect.

So far, I'm very much enjoying it. It's got a lot of similarities to BotW, but is also doing its own thing. Looking forward to seeing where this game goes.

Edit more story spoilers:

Spoiler

I've gotten the Dragons Tears memories.... Turns out, Zelda was transported to the past thanks to a Secret Stone, which amplifies a person's natural ability (each of the Sage's have one). Zelda has both light and time, but her stone amplified her time ability. She finds herself at the time leading up to the Imprisoning War and quickly becomes friends with King Rauru and his wife, Sonia. Zelda begins trying to find a way back to her time but Ganondorf eventually arrives, pledging his allegiance to the Rauru. Despite Zelda's misgivings, Raru accepts, assuring her he only does it to keep an eye on him. Ganondorf predictably betrays them, kills Queen Sonia, and takes her Secret Stone, transforming into the Demon King. Zelda warns Raru that in her time, she already knows they weren't able to defeat Ganondorf. Rauru isn't so sure, pointing out Zelda's presence in their time has altered events.

Nevertheless, the fight against Ganondorf still plays out the same. Rauru ends up sacrificing himself to seal away Ganondorf until he eventual breaks free at the start of the game. Zelda ends up with the broken Master Sword thanks to some more time travel, and realizes she'd be able to restore it, and still needs a way back to her own time. Thanks to some research from Rauru's sister, Zelda swallows her Secret Stone, which turns her into an immortal dragon, but looses her sense of self in the process. This allows Link to get the Master Sword back, as it has been recovering thanks to Zelda's light, stuck in her hair on her forehead for thousands of years.

Still not sure how this works with Skyward Sword's origins of Hyrule... I kinda get the impression we're supposed to think of the previous games as stories that have fallen into more myth and legend rather than accurate depictions of those events.

I've only done two of the temples thus far. I'm a little disappointed with them... Most of the challenge is simply climbing the sky islands to reach the actual temple. Once at the temple itself, there's 5 locks or whatever you have to reach, and then fight the boss. Granted, you still have to solve puzzles for each lock or whatever, but, it just doesn't make it feel like there is much to these temples. The Divine Beasts in BotW had the same criticism, but it didn't bother me in that game because they were essentially mech vehicles. I was expecting Temples in this game to be bigger.

Edit edit:

Spoiler

After completing the first four Temples, there's a 5th Sage quest. This one is a bit more involved than the others, which is a bit tedious but a nice change of pace. Mineru, the Sage of Spirit, is a Zonai who unlike the others isn't a successor, but has kept her spirit alive in the mask she used to wear. She had essentially built a robot body for herself, but it became corrupted by Gloom, so part of the quest is putting together a new body for her, which Link can ride on the back of. She operates as a neat Sage ability. Weapons can be attached to her arms, and a third item can be attached to her back, giving her quite a range of utility. After completing this quest is where the game points the player to the Dragon Tears in order to collect the Master Sword, with Mineru filling in details of past events... Even if you already have the sword. There does seem to be some alteration to the dialog reflect that, but it felt like the developers could have smoothed that out better rather than rehashing information the player already has if they'd already gotten the Sword. At any rate, with the Master Sword, that brings the game to the confrontation with Ganondorf.

[Sparky Prime]

I recently got the expansion pass for the Nintendo Online service. I'd been on the fence about getting it, but since they announced Gamecube games for the Switch 2, I decided to finally get it. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to pre-order a Switch 2 due to the mess that was. I had one in my cart ready to check out when the website crashed or something. I just kept getting an error. As annoying as that was, I don't mind having to wait a bit longer.

So, I've been playing Metroid Zero Mission. I never played the original NES Metroid, which this game is a remake of. I know the NES lacked a map, and the graphic limitations I'm sure made it much harder to navigate. This version thankfully does have a built in map, and the graphics give indications of many hidden paths. They also introduced a sort of hint system giving the player an indication of where to go. I've just beaten Ridley, so I'm near the end of the original storyline. I'm surprised how short of a game it is. I'm aware this version thankfully expanded the story, having a whole new part after Mother Brain, and also gives Samus access to power-ups introduced in later games. Looking forward to having those, although thus far I have to say the game is surprisingly easy. Kinda wish they'd made Kraid and Ridley more challenging.
Edit: Beat Mother Brain. Nice that they added a blast that shoots from the eye so that she can somewhat defend herself. At least before she got her second form in Super Metroid. The turrets, rinkas and acid pool makes this a challenging fight on their own, so unlike they Kraid and Ridley fights, I don't think they needed to change anything in this fight, but I do like that Mother Brain doesn't just sit there. The Zero Suit segment I felt went on a bit long, but it is satisfying getting the fully powered suit. I could fight the final boss and beat the game, but think I'll collect the remaining weapon expansions and energy tanks.

I also started Metroid Fusion. I'm not very far into that game yet, having just seen the SA-X for the first time. This is more challenging, with even standard enemies being able to do a lot of damage. I think one enemy took me out in just 3 hits, even with a couple full energy tanks. Interesting that they seems to have the navigation, save and recharge rooms together at the entry to every area. It makes sense for a space station, but a little odd for a Metroid game to have them in a row like that when they're usually all spread out, or somewhat incorporated.
Edit: Played up to getting the gravity suit, er, this game calls it an effect. I think there's only 2 or 3 more major upgrades left. I like how the missile upgrades stack like the beam upgrades in this game. No having to switch to super missiles. The Ice missiles is an interesting difference. Kind of annoying to need to fire two missiles sometimes, since the first will freeze an enemy, but I like this more than the ice beam. It's interesting how Samus is specifically sent to get upgrades in this game as a result of loosing the main power suit. I mean, essentially every Metroid game is the same idea of collecting upgrades, but the story generally makes it feel like they're happenstance. And there's actually a reason for the enemies in this game to have the upgrades, as they're trying to prevent Samus from getting them.
Edit edit: Defeated Ridley. Luckily, I watched a playthrough years ago on Youtube of this game and remember at this point of the game, if you want all the items before the final boss, you have to avoid the navigation rooms, because it'll lock many of the doors. Which means, you have to also find alternate hidden routes between each sector of the station. This is probably the only thing about the game I wish they'd done better, because there's nothing that indicates these alternate routes exist, and they are very well hidden.
Edit edit edit: Unfortunately, I missed 100% item collection by one. There was one item on the main deck that I thought I'd be able to get on the way to the final boss, but it was blocked by a locked door. Ah well. I had a lot of fun with this game.

[Sparky Prime]

I decided I wanted to play Super Metroid now that I've played Zero Mission and Fusion. I've played Super before, but it has been a few years. I'm at the point of the game where I just got the speed booster, still relatively early on in the game. It's taking a little getting used to the different controls. The dedicated run button and using the select button to toggle through missiles is a bit clunky compared to the more streamlined Gameboy Advance games. The map is somewhat less useful, but is still nice to have. Items, whether you've collected it or not, appear as a dot, where as the newer games had an open dot if you hadn't collected it yet.

[Ursus mellifera]

Super Metroid is one of the all time best video games in my book. I have played it SO MANY times. Of course, SNES is also my favorite console.

[Sparky Prime]

I don't have much experience with Super. I played it a little bit as a kid after school with some friends, and like I say, I played it a few years ago thanks to virtual console. It certainly is still one of the best. The first Metroid game I owned was Metroid Prime for the Gamecube. And I've pretty much been hooked on the Metroid series ever since. Really happy to have the ability to play Fusion and Zero Mission now.