Don't Revive Your Friends

F-Zero was one of my favorite games ever on the SNES. The iconic soundtrack, the cool graphics, the weird...alien beams that heal your car as you smash your way around the track. Racing against a few people at a time can surely be thrilling but of course, you're working with the old Nintendo hardware. Enter: F-Zero 99. In the vain of Tetris 99, or Mario 35, this game pits you against 98 other drivers willing to bump you into oblivion. It is insane. It is chaotic. It is a ton of fun. Not only do you race against all these people in a 4 lap race elimination style (you're only "safe" past certain positions after laps), you get to customize your car, player card, and badge. The races are usually just a few short minutes and definitely blast you in the face full of nostalgia. Even if you have never played an F-Zero title before, it's worth giving this a try if you are a Nintendo Switch Online Member. In my 10+ races, I have clenched more areas than I am willing to admi...

Yes yes and more YES. During the Nintendo Direct today we finally got a release date for spiritual successor to Suikoden, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes. On April 23, 2024 we will get to play the highly anticipated turn-based RPG from Rabbit & Bear Studios. EC:HH features old school pixel sprite work similar to Suikoden. It features the creators and writers from the original game so it is very familiar. Featuring over 100 characters to recruit and join your quest, you will will embark on a vast adventure through the war-torn continent of Allraan. This is one that has been one that I have waited YEARS for since their Kickstarter broke records back in 2020.  There has been a resurgence in nostaligic type video games recently, especially after the popularity of Octopath Traveler and I couldn't be more excited for this revolution. Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes will be out for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

Nintendo has finally brought Game Boy Advance games to Nintendo Switch Online! My first introduction to video games was actually with the GBA. Whether it was late night Pokemon Sapphire sessions with that swirly spaghetti light. Being very confused by the strange CDs collected in Wario Land 4 (look them up, some trippy shit). Or, challenging my brother to Mario Kart, and losing every time, I had some great memories with this system. Now that Nintendo has brought these back, I'm excited to revisit these classics. Let's see how these hold up in 2023. Mario Kart Advance Out of all the games brought to NSO, Mario Kart Advance was the one I played the most. I had all the tracks and shortcuts memorized. Even those tricky “invisible” shortcuts on Boo’s squeaky-ass wooden courses. There are so many great courses on here plus a bunch of SNES tracks which is a neat addition. Some of my favorites include ribbon road, cheese land and cheap cheap beach. Not only do I have many of these cour...

 If you are like me and you watch the Super Bowl for the commercials, you were treated to the Super Mario Bros Plumbing commercial. This featured the rap included in the old Live Action Mario Bros show back in the day.  If you were eagle-eyed or eared, and you noticed the website, you may think to yourself that it's just for show. Well. It is BUT it is also real. If you head HERE  you will be treated to an old-school designed website from two plumbers trying to get their business afoot. It's funny, its on brand and it makes me even more excited for the movie. Just check out these testimonials from the site: They even have the broken image icon in the top left. Very charming. The Super Mario Bros. movie hits theaters April 7, 2023.

I'm not sure why but the main menu screen and music for Chained Echoes instantly brought me back to a time when things were simpler. Come home from school, grab a hot pocket and play my favorite RPGs for HOURS.  I miss these days and after watching information on Chained Echoes for some time, I'm hoping it can bring me back. The story starts with Glenn, a young "sky pilot" tagging along with a rag-tag group of mercs named Iron Bull. They are tasked with destroying a stone said to fuel cannons of the enemy. Turns out, that stone does much more. We learn about the war that has been plaguing the continent for years and years. Bad things happen that lead to a peace treaty. We get to meet some more of our main characters and then, all hell breaks loose. Pretty standard stuff here but these tales are always exciting! I really find myself engaged with the stories more of RPGs lately and having played through Tales of Arise and Scarlet Nexus recently, I'm so ready for mor...

 The Nintendo Direct crash landed into our atmosphere today and while there were some pretty notable games revealed (Octopath Traveler 2, anyone?), the main event was reserved for Breath Of The Wild 2. Which, finally, now has a name:  The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. It goes without saying that I am EXCITED. Was I one of the people in the summoning circle trying to get a Wind Waker port to the Switch? Yes. Was I slightly disappointed? Sure. Was that overshadowed by the fact that we get the next chapter in The Legend Of Zelda's universe. Abso-freaking-lutely. The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom releases on the Nintendo Switch May 12th, 2023.

  In a time filled with First Person Shooters, Season Passes and never ending loot, Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising halts that with a peaceful and happy filled soundtrack mixed with easy to handle controls and supremely elegant visuals. Sure, you often find yourself repeating levels over and over but they're not that long. Fetch quests galore? Yep. Again, not an issue. Fighting my way through evil bats, plants that shoot seeds at me and the occasional giant tree that comes to life only to attempt to rip out my soul, I've never been happier to hop back and forth between Town and Dungeon (level? area? fighting space!). Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising is the precursor to 505 Games and Rabbit & Bear Studios' upcoming  Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes which is essentially a spiritual successor to the Suikoden Series. It's basically the original creators who started such a huge Kickstarter to get the game launched into the atmosphere. In Rising, though, you take over as CJ. A young,...

  HAVE YOU SEEN THESE STARTERS? I'm going to set the record straight. I had a huge gap between my Pokemon Generations. I started with the original Red on Gameboy and skipped everything all the way to Sword on the Switch. What a difference. I have wanted to play the Pokemon games through the years but I just haven't got around to most handheld systems. I was always hoping that one day I would be able to play something a bit bigger on my TV. I did try out the Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee and it was nostalgic and neat but it didn't really feed my need for NEW TV Pokemon. Sword/Shield did that. And I was happy. Now I know Arceus came out recently but I was still thrown off. Open world? Check. Played on the TV? Check. New Pokemon and original story? Not so much. ENTER SCARLET AND VIOLET. New starters. New Pokemon. New location. Open world. ON MY TV. What a dream! Watching the reveal trailer, I felt like a kid again. I instantly wanted to be in this world and already started planni...

 The Nintendo Direct gave us our first glimpse of Bayonetta 3. The game was first announced back in 2017 and sort of unheard of ever since. We knew it was in development but was not sure how far along it has been. The trailer was shown at the end of the Nintendo Direct and it looks chaotic. Lots of action you've come to expect from Bayonetta. Combos galore, morphing costume changes and big arena fights. Check out the gameplay here: Those were...Giant...Kaiju? And she fought them with her own Giant Kaiju?! Pretty crazy if you ask me.  Bayonetta 3 will be released in 2022.

Did you know that Mario is coming out with a fully animated movie in theaters? If you didn't, SUPRISE! Mario is coming to the big screen in 2022. There's a twist. The cast is insane. If you're having trouble comprehending this, don't worry, so is everyone else. Chris Pratt, better known as Star-Lord, is Mario. Mario. The Italian plumber famous for his "wahoo" and "yah" noises. Personally, I have no idea how this will work but I am SUPER (get it?) excited to find out. Oh. Did you think that was it? Nope. Charlie Day is Luigi. Jack Black is Bowser. Anya Taylor-Joy is Peach, Keegan-Michael Key is Toad, Fred Armisen is Cranky Kong and Seth Rogen is...Donkey Kong? No joke. The movie is being made by the Illumination label who are credited with the Minion's fame. It will be interesting to find out how this all comes together including the story as well as the characters. We shall see in 2022.

The Nintendo Direct was held today and they had a few surprises the internet didn't have a chance to leak to us: Nintendo Switch Online is getting a new membership tier for it's service. That's not all so no frets here. The new tier includes new content: Nintendo 64 games AND Sega Genesis games on the online service.  The Genesis games were completely unexpected and include: Ecco The Dolphin, Sonic The Hedgehog 2, Phantasy IV and Ristar.  N64 games will, of course, have Mario 64, The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time, Pokémon Snap and Mario Kart 64. You will be able to play the Nintendo 64 games with multiplayer either locally or online. No more screen cheating! Be prepared to burn the palms of your hands once again because Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis controllers will also be released for Switch Online members for 49.99 each. It's nice if you want to play the games with the control scheme they were originally designed for. The new membership price increase has not been ...