NES Classic Edition and My SNES Classic Picks

Much to the surprise of myself and many others, Nintendo recently announced a new product aimed at capitalizing on the nostalgia of its ‘classic’ titles of yore. The “NES Classic Edition” is a tiny NES console that comes equipped with 30 games ready to play out of the box, and modern HD sensibilities to boot. This in itself is not a new idea, Colleco and Atari have been selling similar items at drug and grocery stores for years, but I was still caught off-guard upon hearing this announcement. Nintendo has been taking advantage of their massive back catalog of well-loved titles via the Nintendo eShop and virtual console for years as well, but considering their nature and history of conservative brand protection, new hardware for retro games was not the direction I thought the company was moving towards, even with the recent heightened popularity of all things 80s and 90s.

The response of the masses seems positive, and I think Nintendo’s broad appeal shines even brighter when the focus is put on the games that many young adults grew up with. I have interacted with several people who do not traditionally purchase many video games, but are ecstatic to have a quick and easy way to play their childhood favorites, and even introduce some of those classics to children of their own. I don't need to repeat all the news stories and coverage, so if you want to check out some more information about specifics or see the list of included games you can check out Nintendo’s announcement here! 

Outside of all that excitement, what really got my mind racing was the idea that they could do this same product, but for my childhood favorite console: The Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Nintendo already has the emulation system and hardware figured out, especially now with the new 3DS sporting a brand new SNES eShop, and if the NES Classic is successful, I imagine a SNES Classic Edition is not far to follow. So with that, I bring you my personal list of what I think would make for a great SNES Classic console, following in the footsteps of some of the NES game choices, popular titles, and games I remember fondly as a young person. (Many of which I often still play today!)

My SNES Classic Edition 30:

• ActRaiser
• Chrono Trigger
• Contra III: The Alien Wars
• Donkey Kong Country
• Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest
• Earthworm Jim
• Earthbound
• Final Fantasy III
• Final Fight
• F-Zero
• Killer Instinct
• Kirby’s Dreamland 3
• Kirby Superstar
• Mega Man X
• Mortal Kombat II
• NBA Jam
• Secret of Mana
• Street Fighter 2: Turbo
• Sunset Riders
• Super Castlevania IV
• Super Mario Kart
• Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
• Super Mario World
• Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island
• Super Metroid
• Super Punch-Out!
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time
• Tetris Attack
• The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
• Zombies Ate My Neighbors

There are a few caveats here I wanted to mention as well. I know there are probably some great games that people love not listed here, but I wanted to mention a few things about my decision making process before the internet explodes with comments. I used the 30 games from the NES list as a guide, trying to focus more on Nintendo first-party games and exclusive franchises, and trying to balance genre’s well. There are some notable exclusions here like Star Fox and Pilotwings that use enhanced 3D chips that have been problematic to emulate. Some listed games DO contain them, but are already available on the existing eShop. I think I landed on a pretty solid list nonetheless. (People who love DKC 3 fight me)

What do you guys think? Any games you can’t live without that didn't make the list? Too many RPGs? Not your favorite MK Game? Shout out in the comments!

PucaTrade and I Are Getting a Divorce

When we first met, PucaTrade and I were like two peas in a pod. We went everywhere together: work, home, the grocery store, the laundromat, the bank, and even my brother’s wedding! I spent time staring deeply into the PucaTrade mobile site, and the soft LED glow gave me great comfort. I spent nights sleeping soundly knowing I was happy, comfortable, and maximizing my trade value.  Things were good, and I was more excited about trading cards and playing magic than I ever was before. For many months I was doing exactly what it seemed PucaTrade was intending me to do: put cards I don't want into hands of players that want them, and get cards I want in exchange, and in the process save time and money.

Our relationship was built on the foundation of value. What made PucaTrade so much better than everyone else was having its roots in eliminating the costly middle man: No Ebay fees, no TCGPlayer cut, no low buylist prices, and no gas money driving to a shop. I’m not trying to cash out of the game, I just needed companionship and someone that could help me trade without camping out at an LGS or attending all the big tournaments. PucaTrade was able to do just that, and did it well! The community was helpful and friendly, I got to get good ‘prices’ for my cards that beat the pants off of an online buylist or selling a card to the store, and I was able to turn my standard cards, unused modern staples, and unwanted foils into cards I played with day in and day out. I wish I could say that the same value was still there.

Fast forward to today: We still spend our time together daily, I still have a list of cards I'm trying to trade, I still have cards I want, our relationship is still the same in a lot of ways, but it just doesn’t feel ‘right’ anymore. The service went from being in a place where there was so much trade that I was afraid to put cards on my want list thoughtlessly because of how quickly cards were snapped up and traded, and now I have thousands of points, cards I can afford on my want list, but no movement for sometimes months at a time. I don’t expect instant gratification, I realize my early experiences of the ‘sparks’ when our relationship was growing is not something that will happen forever. It takes work from both sides to maintain a relationship, and I'm starting to think that PucaTrade has slowly been moving on a path that I can't follow.

Let me tell you a story of our most recent activities. I gathered some foils and standard cards, in the $10-15 range, and put them up for trade. I was excited to share them with the world. These weren’t obscure EDH cards, or little played foils that earned the price from their uncommon or old status, they were cards from standard and modern, and PucaTrade comforted me once again whispering “On average this card is traded 3.8 times a week.” But weeks turned to months, and in despair I was forced to put it out of my mind. I had to spend a lot of time thinking if this was even worth all the effort, all the pain, and I ultimately decided it was time to be done with it.

In what I thought would be our last days together, I filled my want list with a multitude of cards, and I could afford any of them. In the past I would've been out of points in literally one second. PucaTrade was the place to do exactly what I was trying to enable, here’s some random old card you forgot you had or never played with, and you could throw it on this website and get like $35 worth of cards out of it. Once again all I was met with was the waiting game. I had thousands of points, dozens of wants, and no movement for weeks on end. I noticed a trend of others incentivizing getting specific cards; paying extra percentages, extra points, or paying extra for postage tracking, and this made my heart sink. I had to give in, and I went through my list, found what I card I wanted to the most, and put a bounty of bonus points on it.  Within minutes of doing so, I was inundated with a deluge of messages about the card. Questions about how much I would overpay, what levels of card quality I would accept, if I would pay for tracking. This experience was just the nails in the coffin for my relationship with PucaTrade. 

These incentives, shipping fees, and bounties, these are all the things that PucaTrade didn't have, and exactly why I was so attracted to it. It’s lost its value. The only reason I use it in lieu of buylisting or ebaying was to avoid these things, and things have progressed to them being unavoidable. Have a moderately costed card you are trying to move? Well you better check out how many are available because you could be waiting a long time. Have a lot of points you are excited to spend? Well you better be prepared to pay sometimes even HIGHER than equivalent of the Star City Games price for the ‘privilege’ of trading peer-to-peer. The ‘market’ prices of a card don't matter if no one will sell it to you at that price.

So when at an impasse, I decided that it was important for me to move on. I haven’t deleted my account, I have a couple hundred points in going to try and clear out when I need a few things. I don't plan to renew my silver account, and doubly so after the realization that almost none of the promised features have been added and the user experience has gotten worse over time. I am not mad that I spent the time that I did with PucaTrade, I will always look back on most of my time with sparkles in my eyes and full deckboxes. I'm glad that I was able to trade thousands of dollars of cards to get cards to play with, and I’m glad that I am done. It’s a separation I am comfortable with, and I wish nothing but the best for PucaTrade going forward.

My Top 10 Games of 2015: Game of the Year Part 2

The internet seems to have a lot of strong opinions about the idea of a 'best' games of the year list. I wish I could say that there is some secret formula or science behind my choices here, but these are just the games I enjoyed the most for the year. This is not a list of games by their respective importance to the industry or medium. This is not a list of the best designed or deepest experience. This is my first attempt at a game of the year list, and I plan to use this as a learning experience and try more in the future. So without further adieu: Colorblind Gamer's Top 10 Games of 2015!

#10 Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate

This was really my first foray into the Monster Hunter series and I’m really glad I tried it. I had heard a lot of things over the years about it: The popularity of the series in Japan, its grindy nature, and the way it was known to get its hooks in people. Some of those outside perceptions were exactly why I hadn’t pursued the games in the past. But, when MH4U came out, there was a lot of talk online about how it’s more approachable than ever and that it had sold better than any other entry stateside and it seemed like a good time to jump in. What I found in my time with it was a fun combat system that had the pace and weighty combat feel of a Dark Souls game, and an interesting world full of giant monsters and talking cats. I didn’t fall too deep down, I completed the single player missions and did a few fights online with friends, but I know there is a lot more online that I could be doing if I was willing to put in the time to grind.  It was a neat way to spend a couple dozen hours, and I want to try more Monster Hunter games in the future.

#9 Rocket League

Rocket League felt like it went from ‘indie darling’ to the only thing that reddit could talk about in a very short period of time. This could be attributed to the fact that all every PS+ user on PS4 got a copy of it for free this summer, but that shouldn’t discount the fact that the game is an exciting and approachable fast-action sports game. Now this idea that it’s a ‘sports game’ could throw some people off, I realize. There is a category of video gaming folk that don’t enjoy watching traditional sports, and subsequently shy away from sports games. If you are in this category I strongly suggest you give Rocket League a try, it has all the trappings and excitement of a real sporting event, except that the sporting event is soccer with flying rocket cars. More recently, Rocket League has been adding some free updates and paid DLC options which add more interesting features to the game like old-school Unreal Tournament style match mutators, and even though I haven't played lately, I plan someday to return to a future full of exploding cars and deathmatch sports.

#8 Bloodborne

While I am not one of those folks from the internet that has beaten it dozens of times, or does naked speed runs or the like, I consider myself a big fan of From Software’s Dark Souls series. While Bloodborne is not technically part of this series, there are too many parallels in both gameplay and design to ignore the relationship. Bloodborne seems to address many of the complaints had by critics of the Dark Souls series in a lot of positive ways. The concept of carry weight and the ‘fat roll’ is a thing of the past, and the slow and plotting combat is sped up a bit by removing shields and adding more back-dash and dodge options. It also adds really neat transforming weapons that add a cool flair to the combat, and a uniqueness each individual weapon, but it does come at the cost of variation of character builds. The familiar vague storyline, creepy voice acting, and combat system are there, but the pace is faster and it just feels different in a fresh way. If you like action games and you haven't delved into the series, Bloodborne might be a more approachable entry point. Either way, it was an excellent and creepy experience and I’m glad I pulled the trigger on a PS4 to play it.

#7 Nuclear Throne

I had heard about Nuclear Throne off and on for years, but never actually pulled the trigger on playing it until I heard it had an official release. While I think there is value to the early-access system that’s becoming increasingly popular, I often find that I don't have good overall experiences with games in early access so I have been shying away from them until release and I think it's been working out. Nuclear Throne is a roguelike twin-stick shooter set in a cartoony, yet brutal, post-nuclear-apocalypse world. You take control of one of many various mutant characters, grab a pistol and venture off on a quest to find the nuclear throne. Like any good roguelike worth its salt, Nuclear Throne has randomly generated levels, permadeath, and is chock full of secrets and Easter Eggs. The game also bleeds style, all the characters and game worlds are quite unique, and there is some hip-hop cultural influences (or maybe lampoons? hard to tell) with the Character Yung Venuz, a walking triangle with a golden revolver, dancehall horn sound effects, and a mansion full of fat stacks. I think ‘odd’ is a good word to describe it, but with the oddness comes a lot of replayability and a really good way to scratch the roguelike itch. I have not yet reached the Nuclear Throne, but I can tell you, it IS real!

#6 Jackbox Party Pack 2

I mentioned in my prior article that this game became the go-to pastime for my group of friends over the last year. That is true, but it's really quite the understatement. Basically every time my closest four or five friends and I all hang out we play this game, almost without fail. Quiplash is always an inappropriate treat of a game, and feels more like roll-your-own cards against humanity than anything else. And even after many attempts, we still haven’t been able to beat Bomb Corp, though we are quite a few days into the story mode. The variety and replayability here is huge, not to mention that anyone who knows how to use a smartphone can have fun playing these games. Having a party? Throw on Fibbage or Quiplash, you can explain the game in 30 seconds and I promise everyone involved will have a blast.

#5 Undertale

I still harbor some mixed feelings about this game, (seriously, cut out the first hour of this game)  but Undertale made me ask more questions about how and why I play games than anything I have ever played before it. It plays on tropes and expectations of the genre, and video games as a whole, in a really unique way. If you can get through the annoying slog of the first couple hours, the payoff is amazing. The game is genuinely funny in a way that's hard to do in the medium, and the last hour or two of the game will leave you saying “WTF?” and wanting to know more. The music is fantastic, and the game has dozens of unique and awesome tracks. Most of all about Undertale, I am really glad that the video game industry and the internet have developed to the point where not only can a game like Undertale be made and sold, but also be accessible to a big audience and get the praise I think it deserves.

#4  Fallout 4

As the long awaited sequel to one of my favorite games of all time, Fallout 4 took up a lot of my time in 2015. It is true, the game did not shy that far away from its modern roots, but I really enjoyed my time with it.  Fallout 4 made a lot of quality of life improvements to the game’s systems, making things like looting and item management easier, and it did not go unnoticed. Most importantly, Bethesda finally added a use for all the junk you acquire throughout the game in the form of upgrade and base-building systems. When Bethesda first announced this addition of a base-building mechanic I was happy about its existence, but not real excited about it personally. Boy was I wrong. I ended up building a badass mansion that held all my equipment, had a sweet lounge, bedroom, and even a room to show off all my power armor. The story had some not-so-great bits, and the limited graphical upgrades left something to be desired, but I regret nothing about my almost 150 hours in Fallout 4.

#3 Super Mario Maker

I honestly wish there weren't so many games I want to play right now so I could devote more time to Super Mario Maker. Almost everything about this game is amazing, and the fact that the same Nintendo that brought you Animal Crossing Amiibo Festival and Sticker Star brought you this is mind-boggling. The tools for creation are amazing, not just because they allow you to make a wide variety of levels and player interactions, but also because of how easy to use they are. The tools that let my friends who never play games make simple fun levels or experiment, are the same tools that brought this monstrosity to life. On top of all the creation tools, the game has a system to share levels publicly and with friends, and while it's not perfect, Nintendo has been making improvements regularly over time. Despite all that, the part that I find I interact with the most is the 100 Mario Challenge, where you pick a difficulty and play through a ‘world’ of semi-random user made levels. Sure, it has some of the typical pitfalls of user created content, but the ability to skip any level quickly turns the mode into, play a bunch of levels, finish the ones you like. It is a fun way to waste an hour here and there, and an even better way to get inspired to make levels of your own. If you have any love for the classic Mario games, it's more than worth it to check out Super Mario Maker.

#2 Axiom Verge

The first article I ever wrote for this blog was about my love/hate relationship with the “Metroidvania” genre, and I can tell you that I had nothing but love for Axiom Verge. Looking at it when it was initially announced, I was so pumped about the idea of a spiritual successor to Super Metroid. Little did I know that it was going to be so much more than that. Axiom Verge turns the traditional game of the genre on its head by subverting expectations left and right. You find things you might expect in the environment, think for yourself you know how to solve it, and you will almost never be right. A simple but fun sci-fi story, amazing environments and music, and a lot of influences from classics like Metroid, Bionic Commando, and Castlevania make this a complete package that I would suggest to anyone who enjoys the genre, and even some who don't.

#1 Splatoon

This should come as a surprise to no one. I have been accused to talking too much about this game. I promise you it is only because it's a fantastic game and I think more people should play it. It’s fun, it's beautiful, it's unique, it's stylish, it's well designed, and best of all, it is all of those things while still having all the polish and silliness we’ve come to expect from first party Nintendo products. Ill spare you more gushing, go read my full review here for more about Splatoon.

Game of the year 2015: Part 1

2015 was an excellent year for games. There is some bais there following up after 2014, a year that wont be remembered as a great one, and even outside of that fact I think on its own merits it has been a fantastic year for video games.  We got a great mix of independent and triple-A games, the revitalization of some uncommon genres, and a lot of unexpected diamonds in the rough.  I spent a lot of my time over my yearly holiday vacation this year consuming a wide variety of 'Game of the Year' content from various websites and media outlets, and really enjoyed it. It inspired me do some writing, so I decided that it would be a good exercise in figuring out my thoughts on the year as a whole, and an excuse to take a deeper look at the games I enjoyed.

This year I played more games that came out in the same year than I ever have in the past. With a good job and some incentive programs that I can exchange performance bonus points for games, I was able get a good amount of games this year (and hopefully some good perspective). That being said, I didn't play every good title out this year, I didnt even play every game I wanted to play, so upon reading keep in mind that Im not a journalist or professional games writer. I don't get review copies for games or access to events, everything I played this year I paid for one way or another.

But enough with the pleasantries! I had a lot to say about a wide variety of games this year, so I decided to divide my thoughts about 2015 into two articles: this one, with some award cateogries based on my thoughts and some ideas from game websites I like such as Giant Bomb, Rock Paper Shotgun, and Gamespot. And, a second article, which will be my first ever 'Top 10' list of my favorite games of the year, that the internet seems to get so hot and bothered over. So without further adieu, I present "Colorblind Gamer's Game of the Year 2015: Part 1"

Best Looking Game

WINNER - Splatoon 

I have already written thousands of words about why this game is amazing in just about every way, especially with its looks. It has amazing style and keeps it consistently throughout, with a mix of 90’s nostalgia, modern day chic, and japanese fashion. The style even goes beyond the expected with even things like vendors and NPCs with unique and interesting appearence. The bright colors and excitement about finding the next cool hoodie or water gun often kept me returning even when I wasn't enthused about playing a shooter. It is obvious that a lot of time and effort was put into the details, especially the maps and weapons. For my full thoughts on the game you can look at my review here.

RUNNER UP - Axiom  Verge 

While this game builds on the classic games of its genre in a way that favors iteration over innovation, I think it’s a beautiful take on the classic pixel style. There are groups of the community that believe the pixel art is becoming overused and played out in the industry. While I understand the sentiment after the deluge of indie and mobile games that use the aesthetic, I think the way it is used in Axiom Verge feels fresh. Axiom Verge's gameplay mechanic that allows you to ‘glitch out' the enemies and environments adds some unique flavor that subverts expectations, but meshes with the aesthetic as a whole in a really unique way. The monstrous and unnerving creature design, created from inspirations like Metroid, Life Force, and even H.R. Giger, really ties together the pieces of a game in a gorgeous yet uncomfortable fashion that makes me look forward to the day when I return to the world of Axiom Verge. 

RUNNER UP - Bloodborne 

This game combines dark victorian cityscapes, steampunk weapons, and comsmic horror in a way that made for a neat and unique setting. In true Lovecraft fashion, the enemies in this game are scary and unsettling, to say the least, often complete with extra long limbs, tentacles, mandibles, and their own interesting weapons to boot. When Bloodborne was first shown, I was very excited to see more about the game because the early parts that were shown off of the city at night were amazing, and From Software has had a history of making interesting and varied settings. That being said, a big part of why it's not the winner of this category has to do with exactly that: outside of a few small instances, the game doesn't really shy away from dark victorian architecture and ruined city streets. Bloodborne set fourth with some specific style goals, and succeeded to hit all of them in a way that looks amazing, but I just wish it would have mixed it up from time to time.

 
Best Music

WINNER - Undertale

Of all the games I played in 2015, Undertale was the one that I had the most mixed feelings about as a whole. That being said, I never had anything but positive feelings when it came to the music. The game is full of fun and interesting tracks start to finish, and I was always excited to find a new area or enemy just to hear if they had a new tune, or often an interesting variation of an old one. The music changes in style and ‘generation’ several times throughout the game. Some music is reminiscent of of the 8-bit era, while other pieces use recognizable bits from Super Nintendo, Gameboy Advance, and even some modern electronic and metal guitar riffs that keep the player on their toes. While I have spent a significant amount of time listening to all of the music from the games on this list outside of the game, the Undertale soundtrack has been by far the most frequent listen, and if that’s not the best praise I can give music from a video game I don't know what is.

RUNNER UP - Splatoon 

This soundtrack prefectly blends Nintendo’s traditional upbeat quirkiness with modern pop, punk, and hip-hop music influence. Like the rest of Splatoon, careful consideration was put into how they wanted to use music to set the mood and setting of the game. The bright colors, happy squid kids, and bubbly music makes for a really interesting juxtaposition with Splatoon’s somewhat dark storyline roots. It does start to get a little repetitive after long sessions of multiplayer because there aren't too many tracks for the online mode, but overall I think it had not only some of the best music of the year, but also some of the best modern music Nintendo has ever produced.

RUNNER UP - Axiom Merge

The music in this game is eerie and unsettling, and it fits the setting absolutely perfectly. I have some mixed memories as a child of watching my older brother play super metroid and and combination of the visceral alien art style and the ominous music gave me literal childhood nightmares. The music fit the setting: a bounty hunter exploring an alien planet alone, and in doing so made it feel that much more immersive, even with the more simple 16-bit graphics. The music used synth vocals and modern electronic sounds that suited each individual area really well in Axiom Verge, akin to a modernization of Metroid’s different area music. This soundtrack was not successful at giving me nightmares, but the tracks really tied together the elements in a way that made the game feel like a whole well thought out package.

Biggest Disappointment

WINNER - Galak-Z

Is it a rogue-like? or rogue-lite? or rogue-like-like? I never know what to call games of this kind anymore, at least not in a fashion that is both accurate and doesn’t incite the ire of the entire internet. Either way, games of this genre are some of my favorite games of all time (Spelunky anyone?) and because of that I had really high expectations. Maybe, even too high of expectations. There are a lot of things about Galak-Z I really enjoy. The style is off the charts, and the nouveau 80’s & 90’s giant robot anime aesthetic is executed perfectly, down to the pause and menu screens looking like an actual paused VHS tape with a VCR menu.  That being said, the game is structured in a way that I found really unappealing. Like the genre dictates, when you die you are done, game over, and you need to start over, and I have no problems with that concept. But, the problem here is that the game is structured in multi-part episodes that function like worlds in Mario, and ramp up in difficulty significantly. Galak-Z gives you the option to restart the game from the beginning of any world, but it's essentially a useless feature because the difficulty curve is such that starting the game over halfway through, you wont have found enough equipment or items to make the game an approachable difficulty level. Now before you go thinking ‘this color blind dude’s just sum bish that dun play hard games’ I can assure you some of my favorite games are challenging and hard to approach. Amongst my favorites are games like Spelunky or Dark Souls, but they take a  better approach to the challenge. I hear rumors of an ‘Arcade Mode’ that addresses some of my issues with it that’s available on the PC version, but as someone who played the game on PS4, this is not currently available to me without buying the game a second time. I want to go back and spend more time with it, but every time I do I just find myself wanting to play a better game in the genre and I think that’s telling of the game as a whole.

RUNNER UP - Just Cause 3

It feels strange putting this game on this list because of how many hours I put into it, but despite how much I enjoyed it, I always left every play session wanting more. Not wanting to play more, but wanting there to be more to what I was playing. I only dabbled in Just Cause 2, but seeing more new features, and wanting more time with the ridiculous Rico Rodriguez intrigued me to give it a try. After the intro video with the highly-stylized character portraits, the unexpectedly awesome cover of Prodigy’s “Firestarter”, and the opening sequence of gameplay, I was more excited about it than I had thought I would be. What came after was a frustrating combination of skill challenges and repetitive missions. There is a highly-customizable gear mod system that allows to you upgrade based on your playstyle and preferences, but every single upgrade is locked behind random, repetitive, and uninteresting skill challenges. There is so much about this game I really liked, but the gear progression system is so flawed it made me upset with Just Cause 3 on that ground alone.  The game makes a lot of promises about cool explosions and being a one man military-base-destroying-machine. While they do fulfill those promises, the fact that the tools to make it easier, more fun, and less tedious are locked behind ‘Fly through the rings’ or ‘shoot the targets’ challenges really soured me on the experience as a whole.

RUNNER UP - Witcher 3

Let me start off by saying that I did not play The Witcher 3 to completion. I only put about 25 hours into it, and I know that's a ‘shame’ for the fans and the developers since the game supposedly has 200+ hours of content. I am not going to say the thing that what a lot of writers are saying regarding the game ‘not respecting my time.’ I love games with hundreds of hours of content, I put over 150 hours into Fallout 4 alone this year, and I’ve done similarly with games in the past, but I just couldn’t do it in the Witcher. There seems to be a focus in the game on the mundane that really didn't mesh with me. I appreciate deep systems that allow for flexibility, but the skill system was confusing and underdeveloped. I think some of the folks over at the Giant Beastcast did the best job of explaining my feelings: It was tedium, and not the kind of tedium that makes me feel immersed in the world, its the kind of tedium that makes me feel like i just got done building a piece of ikea furniture or going to the post office. The combat wasn't interesting to me, systems for creating oils and bombs didn't even seem like you needed to engage with them to do well. The world is an interesting one, and the characters are too, but if you tie that up with a bullshit inventory systems, technical problems, and a skill system that left me with constant unspent points because it didnt encourage diversification, I am not going to feel encouraged to continue the game, doubly so for hundreds of valuable hours.

Best Multiplayer Experience

WINNER - Jackbox Party Pack 2

In 2015, Jackbox Party Pack 2 became the go to passtime for my group of friends. We spent many hours with all the games, be it the newly remade version of the original Fibbage game, the always funny and inappropriate Quiplash, and even the pixelated little brother to ‘Keep talking and nobody explodes’ called Bomb Corp. The games they added are interesting and fun, but don’t go too far out of the traditional Jackbox equation: simple but clever game + snarky host + great music.  Typically I would fault a game from not going out of their comfort zone or trying something new (Bomb Corp is pretty different all things considered) but, said equation works so well I don't think you need to venture out of it before you use up the design space you have. Overall, I have made more memories with my friends and family playing this game than I think I have with any game in years and I’m looking forward to playing it with more people for years to come.

RUNNER UP - Rocket League

I don’t even know where to start with this one. While it is a game where you play a ‘sport’ so to speak, in a lot of ways Rocket League is a better facsimile to soccer than FIFA or even the beloved Amiga classic Sensible Soccer. I think Danny O’Dwyer over at Gamespot did an excellent job of talking about why the game is so amazing, and I won’t do his thoughts justice, so just check out this episode of ‘The Point.’  I feel like this game went from little-known weird sports game on PC to multiplayer gaming sensation overnight. I can't even count  on two hands how many people I know who don't regularly play video games, that when presented with Rocket League, wanted to play and see more. It is easy to learn, hard to master, fast paced, fun, and legitimately exciting.   When it comes to the multiplayer, it has multiple ways to play online, both a fun for all mode where you simply play online, and a ranked mode for players more interested in harder competition. You can play online with a friend next to you on the couch and team up, or even host your own private games with your friends, the limit is only your imagination! (and how many PS4s you have and bandwidth etc.) I have since fallen off of it, but the game is fun to pick up and play, approachable for friends family, and is a total blast online solo, or with friends.

RUNNER UP - Splatoon

What can I say about Splatoon that hasn’t already been said. Listen.. guys.. I really like this game. Go read my full length review of it here because I had a lot to say. But, in general the multiplayer was really good, and I feel kind of bad putting it this way as a big fan of the company, but in a very NOT Nintendo-like fashion. They have notoriously been weak supporters of online multiplayer, save things like Monster Hunter, and seeing how smooth and functional the game is online was a breath of fresh air. Both the normal online ‘Turf War’ mode and the more advanced ranked mode work flawlessly. There is still a good population playing the game online, even more than 6 months after launch, and Nintendo has not been stingy with the free content adds and player events. On top of that, since launch they’ve added a constructed team-play mode, private custom games, countless weapons, and enough new maps to make returning to the game after months almsot like a brand new experience. I took a few months off and returned to the game recently and its just as fun as it ever was. I hope they not only continue to support it for 2016, but maybe work on a sequel for the NX in the near future. Either way, I will continue to play, and enjoy, Splatoon for what it is: the best multiplayer shooter of 2015.

It Might Not Save the Wii U, but Nintendo Nailed it with Splatoon!

It's good to be back! I just wanted to preface this article with a little bit of non-game talk about the blog before I delve into the wacky world of squids and kids. It’s been a crazy couple of years since I stopped, and I'm glad to be writing again. I have finally gotten into the swing of things with managing my job, relationships, hobbies, and household. I don't have a lot of time to play games, but I will tell you this: since its launch, my game time has been utterly CONSUMED by Splatoon!

For those who aren’t paying too close of attention to the games industry, or at least don't follow Nintendo's products, Splatoon is a new third-person shooter game (hopefully game SERIES!) from Nintendo on the Wii U. Now, I know what you are thinking "But CBG, Nintendo doesn't make shooters! Their fingers are far from the pulse of the mainstream gaming population!!" and to that I have to say... well... yes, that’s been true for years. Nintendo takes an atypical approach, creating unique products for their all-ages fanbase, who are quickly becoming a niche audience. But, that doesn’t mean that a shooter can’t fit smoothly into the Nintendo body of work. Splatoon is a original and compelling gaming experience that combines mechanics from wide array of popular titles of the last decade from several genres, complemented by the iconic charm, polish, and attention to detail you've come to expect from Nintendo's first-party titles.

Some squid kids looking fresh.What really sets Splatoon apart from its ‘modern military’ or ‘evolved combat’ counterparts is its quirky aesthetic. The world that Nintendo has created is a bizarre combination of bright colors, hip Japanese and American fashion, bumping music, set in an indescribable cutesy-meets-post-apocalypse setting. Thats right, this game about squid-esque teenagers shooting squirt guns at each other in a post-human earth. It’s completely committed to its wild vision.

The customization system does an amazing job of capturing the popular culture trends of today, both East and West, particularly current millenial and hipster fashion: Knit caps, bright multi-colored shoes, tight jeans, flat-brimmed ballcaps, big headphones, patterned hoodies, and all sorts of contemporary and 90's nostalgia-inspired articles. The handful of characters that you do interract with, be they characters from the single-player story mode or even the announcers and vendors for the multiplayer features, are all stylin' as well. The hip flavor even spills over into the looks of the shops, the characters dress, and the language everyone uses.  Splatoon does an amazing job of capturing 'the now,' and I look forward to looking back on it in the future as an amazing gaming and cultural 'snapshot' of 2015 and the 2010s as a whole.

But Splatoon moves beyond the 'form over function' label of other stylish games. The gameplay is not only immensely fun, but designed with engaging mechanics for the casual and hardcore gamer alike. On the base level, the game is a relatively simple, behind-the-back, third-person shooter. What makes it different is the cartoonish and free-flowing squid and ink style instead of the dour realism seen in most shooters.  You are not running around with AK-47s blasting each other with bullets, you are covering everything you see with your team's colored ink.  This is a two-fold change up on the traditions of shooting games: It adds ground-coverage as an objective for players, and it allows for increased player mobility in the form of your character being able to drop into your own team's ink color, sliding fluidly for faster movement. Just ink the floor around where you are and if you are on your own color, you can move quickly. But, when more skilled players are thrown into the mix, the subtleties of these mechanics become crucial, and players have to make a lot of split-second decisions that keeps play exciting.

A squid that is also a kid

Where the ink mechanic really shines is the standard online multiplayer mode: Turf War. Unlike other online shooters, which typically feature a traditional deathmatch as their entry-level online mode, turf war is much more objective-focused.  Turf war is a 4 vs. 4 multiplayer battle mode where the focus is covering as much of the map with your team's ink color as you can.  And that is the ONLY thing that counts in scoring and determining a winner. While it is strategically advantageous and fun to 'splat' (Nintendo's family-friendly alternative to killing) your foes, ultimately the ground coverage is what matters for your team. Only needing to cover the ground to earn points and win games in this mode (and yes, there are other modes) makes this mode approachable for new players and easy to learn, something that Nintendo has always excelled at. While it is a little less skill-intensive than some other modes, I think it is the best representation of the core online gameplay that Nintendo wanted to exhibit.

Now Nintendo does have a, we'll call it 'storied', past when it comes to online multiplayer and online functionality in general.  While it is far from perfect, Nintendo has done an almost uncharacteristically good job in managing Splatoon as a large-scale online game.  Around launch there were problems here and there with disconnects and errors, but for the most part the online play has been very smooth. Matchmaking seems to do a good job of quickly matching teammates to keep play rolling, and there is even a ranked mode with different game types and matchmaking for more advanced players. Now for a little more insider-baseball, the 'net code' (general name for some of the code ran to manage how players interact with each other online) is not great all the time. I rarely feel like I am suffering from lag issues, but once in a great while you will just become splatted by a roller you just jumped over or a splat bomb you narrowly dodge. This can be frustrating at times, when you think you should have gotten a splat, or at least not be splatted yourself, but I don't think I would consider this anywhere near a 'glaring' issue. Its distinctly possible that this could just be due to the fact that match-making occurs internationally and not everyone has the speedy broadband I have access to that can make up for some of the slowness. That issue aside, the overall online experience I have had with the game has been excellent, and it has been made even better with multiple free online content updates!

Camp Triggerfish, one of the several newly-added maps from the free content updates

Thats right, I said multiple free online content updates. Think about that for a moment, Nintendo, the company that brought you the famously awful Smash Bros. Brawl online experience, and up until recently were very anti-DLC, has been rolling out frequent free content updates.  Granted, some of this content was on the disc, and that touched a nerve with a lot of players on multiple levels, but I can honestly say that this process has definitely kept me playing longer than I would for most shooters.  These updates have came in the form of multiple areas of content: new multiplayer maps, new weapons, and even new game modes.  This near constant addition has done an excellent job of making the multiplayer 'stay fresh' through the nearly 100 hours I have put into the game.  Seeing the announcements about new weapons and maps really gets me excited to try them out in a way that I haven't been excited about an online multiplayer game in some time. While the prospect of going on a tear with a new ink brush or a shooter with new abilities does excite, nothing has gotten me as excited for a long Splatoon inking session quite like Splatfests.

Starting on July 4th, the first of now several special events called 'Splatfests' started.  They are fun 24-hour special events in game that changed up the game world and rewarded players for playing frequently during the duration. Splatfests allow players to pick one of two possible rival sides and battle team vs. team and see which team prevails at the end of the event.  Splatfest events are regional, and themes so far have included picking sides in classic rivalries such as Cats vs. Dogs, Rock vs. Pop, and Roller Coasters vs. Water Slides. During Splatfest, players are greeted with a new menu, new music, a city plaza in full party-mode complete with big screens showing off friendly smack-talk about teams, and the fan-favorite pop-star characters Callie and Marie performing on mobile stages. When queueing for online multiplayer during these events, the turf war mode is the only available way to play, but to keep it interesting they expand the number of available maps in rotation and match you up with just other players who picked the same team as you.  The whole thing really has a great team unity feel and I found that in general players really tried to play even more as a team than usual because everyone is unified under the flag of their splatfest team! At the end of each Splatfest, each player who participated is rewarded for both how they played as an individual and how well their team did as a whole. Players are rewarded with an alternate currency ('Super Sea-Snails' because everything has to be aquatic-life related) that can be used to change or upgrade your equipment. Scoring is based on a combination of how popular your team was and how many games each team won, but thanks to rewarding based on individual performance, you still feel like you are properly rewarded even if your team was not victorious.

Well, I have been talking a lot about multiplayer and while it does seem to be what Nintendo wanted players to focus on, there is indeed also a single player mode. The single player mode is a mix of platforming and shooting, and pits your hero against an army of alien octopi to rescue the captured Captian Cuttlefish and restore power to Inkopolis by retrieving the stolen Great Zapfish. Yes, the story is as silly as it sounds, and the seafood and aquatic wildlife puns don't stop, but the gameplay itself is well designed and fun. The first couple worlds of the game I found to be a bit bland and simple, but as the game progressed and the difficulty crept up, I found the single player really rewarding. You go through each level section by section dealing with platforming obstacles and defeating octopi, and its structure of shooting platform-to-platform gave it a really good feeling that is reminiscent of the Mario Galaxy series. You get additional story bits via secret 'Sunken Scrolls' that can be found in every level, and it adds a nice incentive to explore everything the designers put in there. Each of the five worlds ends with simple but fun boss fights that are structured in a way you already know and love if you have been fans of Nintendo games in the past. One of the things I really appreciate about the single player is how playing through it actually has an effect on your multiplayer play as well.  I know this concept is not a new one to the genre, but the way it teaches you how to use the sub and special weapons, and some of the subtleties of the mobility of the game. Also, defeating Splatoon's bosses even unlocks weapons for you to use in multiplayer. This is something that I think the Call of Duty's of the world have really been missing out on over the recent years, and it shows by how few people even play through the single player modes in those games. In general, I consider the single player experience a positive one, and even if it doesnt have the amount of content of other Nintendo titles.

Splatoon is not going to single-handedly pull the Wii U out of its slump.  Its not going to change Nintendo's development cycle for the NX. But, it's already sold multiple-millions of copies in both the US and Japan, and I can tell you why: its fun, charming, balanced, well designed, and the non-stop content updates will keep me and many others like me playing for months (or maybe even years) to come! I hope Nintendo can learn from their experiences with Splatoon to improve not only their infrastructure and design in relation to online multiplayer, but keep up the trend of mixing their unique charm with modern day game mechanics! and as always....

Staaaaay Fresh!