Games you've recently played

[Sprite Loving Mimiga]

i have played through the main story of super mario bros wonder, and let me tell you this game is awesome. this game is a huge breath of fresh air from the nsmb games. (no hate towards the nsmb games they are great too) there is a lot of variety, the game looks and feels lively, the levels were fun, and the new mechanics like the badges are great additions. my only complaint is that i wish the boss battles were more than just bowser jr. (the final battle with bowser was very cool though) this is a very good mario game that will go down as a classic like the other marios.

[DogToon64]

I got Super Mario Bros. Wonder a couple weeks ago and I've been playing and enjoying it. On top of that, I've been playing some WarioWare: Get It Together! as well - I wanted to make more progress towards 100% completion before I get WarioWare: Move It! (not sure if I'll ever 100% the game, though).

I've also started playing Rhythm Heaven Megamix not too long ago.

[JacintaB19]

I've been playing League of Legends quite a bit recently. I've been wanting to play for a few years, so now I finally play it. But it's one of those titles that's easy to understand in theory but pretty hard to master once you actually jump in.
The game can be really demanding. It's a mix of knowing the ins and outs of your chosen champion, understanding the broader strategy and tactics, and actual in-the-moment gameplay, like landing skill shots or timing your abilities right.
I pretty much suck at these, that's why I use this lol script to have a chance at winning against the pro players which the match making system throws at me. This script offers automation features that streamline some game mechanics, helping to reduce the number of things I have to juggle simultaneously. Since I started using it, the game feels more satisfying.

[Shin FireyPaperMario]

Mostly Super Bomberman R 2 & Brave Dungeon: The Meaning of Justice atm

[Cerdiablo]

Earthbound, an absolute classic, Love all the characters, the third mole was the strongest mole.

[DogToon64]

As of late, I've been playing WarioWare: Move It!, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and Dr. Luigi.

[Yawackhary]

Not a lot that I can play now...

Firstly it was DiRT 4 and 5, couldn't get far on them. Had problems with the tutorial with 4 and was last place all the time at 5. When it got to the icicle track, that was it for 5.

Then it was WRC Generations but couldn't get far. Controls are really slippery, kept banging into walls, falling off the track, collision detection issues where I literally got stuck on the road and had to reset the car plus going up just a tiny slope causes the car to fly and spin around. Had it been real life, would have been a goner. Also tiny text doesn't help at all. Another fact was the career mode was recycled from WRC 10 that has some issues (game crashing with an error message was common and really annoying). Just had enough of the game and no more rally games now.

Very recently Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. Back when I first played on this on the PS3 around 10-12 or so years ago (can't remember now), I found the game to be lukewarm. Not as good as they say but not a bad game. The remaster does look better from what I remember of the OG, can't complain graphically or control wise. Played both the PS4 and Switch versions, I couldn't do the first race on the Racer side on both consoles. Surprisingly did okay on the Cop side so far on the Switch version (more closer to the OG version technically). A far cry compared to the last time I played the game where it wasn't complete but was considered beaten. Shame that Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2012) never got the remaster treatment.

Going to be playing Need for Speed Heat & Rivals, Hotshot Racing, Dangerous Driving (Burnout but not Burnout), Pinball Arcade on the PS4 while the Switch is TT Isle of Man 1 & 2, Horizon Chase, Cruis'n Blast, MotoGP 18 on the Switch with some VN mixed in to see if I can play on them (or play on them still in the cases of NFS Rivals and Pinball Arcade). In the future; if it keeps up it's going to be just F1 games on the PS4 outside of 22, selected Mario games and maybe Burnout Paradise on the Switch at this point...

Update: Turns out that I couldn't play NFS Heat as the cops always got me before getting to the hideout aka the game is still in tutorial mode, the first Burning Lap (or whatever it is called aka driving on boost for a lap almost perfectly) is impossible for me in Dangerous Driving and can no longer play Hotshot Racing as it is the case of last place or ran out of time. NFS Rivals was okay but had the same issue as Hot Pursuit. Also played a bunch of old Atari games and went through the list from Flashback Classics 1 & 2. A good 90% are very hard to play now or are mainly multiplayer focused.

[Inkling_Studios]

Just to name two games I've been playing a ton lately, Civilization V and Burnout Paradise.
Civ V is a game that's REALLY easy to get sucked into without even realizing it, you're like "lemme just start a game and play a bit" and before you realize it you're on turn 200 and it's been 3 hours since you started playing. Helps that the game itself is quite fun, especially in regards to when you play your cards right and get so far ahead of everyone else that you're like 2 eras ahead of everyone else. I don't play on Diety though, I play on Medium (or whatever medium is called), not a fan of playing on the hardest difficulties in games usually (unless if I get REALLY good at playing), plus from what I've read it's a LOT of micromanaging and using ultra-specific strategies to win, so I think I'm good on that for a while >_>

Burnout Paradise on the other hand is simply just dumb fun, just going as fast as I can and creating massive crashes (and crash chains) is just endlessly entertaining. I actually don't play racing games much (though I should change that, more of a fan of the arcade-style racing games rather than sim racers) but Burnout Paradise is one of the main games I've been playing on my PS3 recently, along with I wanna say COD4 (and MW2), Skate 2, Tony Hawk's Proving Ground, and Mirror's Edge. The soundtrack really helps the game too, plowing through races set to Killswitch Engage or Saosin just makes it even better.

[Yawackhary]

Probably the penultimate time of writing in this thread... (as I do not class VN as games but its own thing)

Firstly a bunch of racing games. GRID looked nice and controlled okay but was the case of last place all the time and the AI are really aggressive banging into your car. So easy to make someone a nemesis, even your own team mate. Horizon Chase kept disconnecting the game with an annoying popup and the one race that it let me play was the typical last place. Gear Club Unlimited the camera was too close and couldn't progress beyond the first 3 races. The sequel had a bad stuttering problem on the PS4... PS4 Pro to be exact. I was so bad at TT Isle of Man 2 that the game told me off. YOUR CONTRACT HAS BEEN TERMINATED. Well you try going beyond last place then... I do like the idea of the game and when you drive fast on the road, it is a sight to see especially on the PS4 version (sorry Switch...).

While Cruis'n Blast has the same issue as Gear Club Unlimited with the camera (that I don't recall seeing from the original arcade), surprisingly enough managed to get 1st place on the first batch of races. Probably down to the fact that the game is more or less on rails, the good old takedown system and the sneaky boost near the end of the race. It's also rather bright which is a good thing as Switch games for some reason end up being darker or too dark... Sounds like something that I'll play more in the future unless an issue pops up.

Then came CTR Re-ignited (unpatched so no microtransactions)... First race in the Adventure Mode and last all the time... Even getting to 7th throughout the race was hard. Might have to go back to Mario Kart 8 to see if that can still be played...

Lastly played Fast & Furious: Spy Racers. You would think a game based off a cartoon (at least I think it is from a cartoon, it's not from the mainline series) that I would make a bit of progress but nope. It's one where the track design has some tight places, some sharp corners and hard to turn around even with brake or drift. When you have to be 3rd and lucky to get to 7th place says a lot... Sometimes can get as close to 3rd if I'm lucky with a bit of boost (usually 4th/5th though) but quickly goes to 7th/8th due to the mentioned track design, other cars closing in as a bunch and the Mario Kart-esque powerups.

Just throwing this point out. I have noticed that many racing games, you have to be first or within the Top 3 to progress. It's a standard but it's no fun when you're at last place all the time and cannot progress. Fair enough if I could even get to like 4th because at least might get 3rd or higher next time but not last all the time... What's the point of playing a game apart from wasting precious time? Weirdly some of the modern Codemasters games seem to let you unlock the next stage to a certain point anyway.

For non-racing games, just a touch better. Managed to play the 3 Pinball Arcade games (Season 1, Season 2 and Stern; all physical versions) and can still enjoy them.

Star Wars Pinball is a different story. As a pinball game it's fine but they just had to add gimmicks to the game such as shmup stage and a reaction based lightsaber battle, the former only passed by the purest of luck and the latter couldn't do at all. If it wasn't for that, would have kept and played more.

Meaning at this point, there is a VERY LIMITED range of games that I can play. Even the likes of NFS Hot Pursuit/Rivals (cop mode as racer is no go), Burnout Paradise, Cruis'n Blast, F1 games and the selected Mario games (3D World, NSMBU, Wonder)... I don't know how far I can get to the point of no return. Discounting VN (as mentioned), it would just be over the double digits in terms of console games out of millions of games.* The last time it was like this was when I got my PS1 (my Mega Drive games when I had them depends whether the Mega 6 multi-cart is one game or six).

*-In terms of physical or digital releases on an actual console.

Last minute update: Can no longer play NFS Hot Pursuit (PS4) and Rivals due to the police sirens affecting my eyes with the flashes during the night time moments. Had to look away from the screen as it is worse in a tunnel, that alone is deadly in a Rapid Response or a Hot Pursuit when I ended up crashing into ongoing traffic. Got as far as I could on both games but still something like 1/6 at most.

Then have gone to the PC side because PC gaming (outside of sprite ripping) has been really neglected within the past 15 years. On the grounds of a bad experience playing GTA 3 around 22 years ago and the oldest one that could play the old Sega PC ports had long broken down. Have played a bit of what I got about six years or so ago, most were free and a few were on sale.

Played YS: The Oath in Felghana but literally couldn't get past the first boss in Tigray Quarry. It is the case of knowing exactly what to do as in attack when the shield is down but keep dying every time and this is on VERY EASY too. Uninstalled afterwards.

Then played DariusBurst. Couldn't defeat the first boss in CS mode and AC Mode was even worse due to the screen size and bullets swarming in where I'm lucky to survive beyond the first 20 seconds of the first stage. Obviously uninstalled. Just proves that STG is not designed for my skill. Neither are RPGs, Strategy, Simulator, Dancing, Fighting, Puzzles, QTE, Adventure, Beat em ups, FPS/TPS, Action, Sports, most games that have bosses (80% of gaming), majority of platformers and now racing games. Probably easier to say most of gaming at this point...

I did try to play Unreal and Psychonauts but wouldn't even count as playing. Unreal was really stuttery when it should run it in ease, yes a 25 year old game being stuttery, dark and could only see about 3 rooms of the game. Psychonauts, again too dark for me to see and the control scheme doesn't feel right to play. It gives me hand cramp and controlling with keyboard and mouse felt awkward. The mouse for the camera is fidgety and very easy for me to press the wrong direction button, it would also make it very easy to die as it would be clumbersome and just takes an enemy, a missed platform, an element or a bottomless pit if there is one to happen. How PC gamers play with WASD keyboard controls (and Spectrum gamers play with QAOP) especially when it comes to games that are 3D based that isn't a FPS, it must be like second nature. At least those and Mafia that couldn't even boot up were free.

[viserys]

It's great to see such a diverse range of games being enjoyed here! I also love diving into the captivating worlds of Super Mario Bros. Wonder for its refreshing take on the Mario universe, and League of Legends, despite its steep learning curve, always keeps me coming back for more. Retro Bowl: Get It Together! has been a blast for its quick and quirky mini-games, and Civilization V absolutely devours my time with its "just one more turn" gameplay. Burnout Paradise is my go-to for some adrenaline-pumping action. It's amazing how games can offer so many different experiences and challenges!

[Shin FireyPaperMario]

I just played some Super Mario Bros. 2 USA. Did y'all know that there's a warp to world 5 in world 3-1? It's in a section that's very easy to miss

[G-Rex]

I recently played Croc the Legend of Gobbos for the first time. 

I gotta say it's actually good. The game, characters and the style looks very gorgerous Levels are pretty easy and fun. The controls, however, is a bit tricker. Mostly when the character is rotating in opposite directions, that makes hard to control the croc. Levels can also be tricker too, but it's not a big deal.

I haven't 100% the game yet, but it was very entertraining. It's nice to give a shot on a platformer game released in the 90s on a PS1. It's also worth playing the game for exploring PS1 standards and capability.

[Shin FireyPaperMario]

I've been playing some Toejam & Earl on the NSO Sega Genesis app yesterday. It's like the game was made for me somehow... 0_o;