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[The Satellite]

I have beaten Xenoblade X: Definitive Edition a while ago, but I'm saving deeper thoughts for when I'm done chipping away at the 100% survey. Those who know how I've historically felt about Xenoblade X should take that I'm even going for this as a good sign, but I'll leave it at that for now.

 

Instead I'll talk about another series: In preparation for Mario Kart World, I'd been replaying every single Mario Kart game, just to relive some nostalgia and revisit the ones I'd barely ever played. Last time I did something like this was after Mario Kart 8 came out, on Wii U. Before then, I'd only ever played Super Mario Kart, 64, and Double Dash. Was curious how old opinions of mine held up or changed over the years. Not going to talk about 8, not just because I haven't replayed it yet, but it's also fresh enough in my mind I can say with certainty it's currently my favorite one, but the rest?

 

Super Mario Kart is a product of its time. Sort of. F-Zero predates this game and is more fun to play, but I still can't for the life of me figure SMK out. I know I loved this as a kid, but Mario Kart 64 came out and I never looked back. It's a historically significant game for sure, the course variety is lacking due to limitations and there were better racing games in 1992. Including F-Zero!

 

Mario Kart 64 also shows its age in more than a few ways, though not as much. It's one of my favorites but it's outclassed by many better sequels. As a Nintendo 64 game, it's also graphically simplistic, and many courses are just kinda... barren. Some others look fine though, and honestly the track design is more than serviceable. It's always fun seeing the old racer sprites that tricked me as a kid playing on a CRT. Music's pretty great, too. It's not at all a chore to go back to, but it's not exactly aged gracefully.

 

Mario Kart: Super Circuit was one I remember surprising me when I first played it, and I worried that I wouldn't like it as much the second time around. While it still suffers from more simplistic course design, it fares a bit better than SMK in this regard, and also feels a lot better to control! This one's alright, and I could've seen kid me loving this if I'd played it then. The music's kind of whatever, but it has a couple solid songs. A fun novelty. It's even the first to have retro courses! ... but they're just all the SMK cups so I'll pass.

 

Mario Kart: Double Dash!! is one that I've gone back and forth on. Never outright negative, more between "this one's pretty good" and "this one's just alright." I think I'm back in the former boat now though. I know at one point I once called the courses kinda bland until you get to the special cup, but I think I rescind that thought, now. I will say I still prefer the modern feel of Mario Kart, and it's weird how there's no jump in this one, but the team mechanic has always been cool alongside the characters having unique items (no, CPU enemies cheating with their infinite unique items in SMK doesn't count). Oh, and Double Dash's Rainbow Road? Remains the best one in the whole franchise.
 

Mario Kart DS left a good impression on my first playthrough, and it remained on a replay. I will say that I appreciate snaking for what it is, but definitely far prefer the drift boost mechanics we have now. Or have in Wii through 8, assuming World doesn't change them. But there's some really good course design on display here, and, snaking notwithstanding, it was definitely the basis of how modern Mario Kart feels. This is definitely still a top three Mario Kart, and I wish I'd had this during its heyday.

 

Mario Kart Wii I went into recalling an intense dislike for. I quickly found it wasn't for its controls, nor was it for subpar course design, because both are quite good. No, the kicker is that this is the most obnoxious Mario Kart ever made! The main issue I had was that there just seems to be way too many items going off way too often! Red shells, lightning, bloopers, POW blocks, and fucking blue shells... This clip says it all. I have a hypothesis that the culprit is that there are twelve racers now instead of just eight, and they didn't properly balance around that. 8 could get chaotic, but doesn't quite reach this level. Also fuck POW blocks, good riddance, glad they never came back. Please don't tell me World brought them back. Oh yeah, and the horribly obnoxious alarm when a red or blue shell is on your tail, that plays through the Wiimote as well. This could easily be one of the greats, but the frustration factor is too high. Also why do 50cc and 100cc restrict you to only karts and bikes respectively? Bizarre choice.

 

Mario Kart 7 was one I found kinda slow and boring coming off 8 back in the day. I probably only played it on 50cc back then and that must've been the culprit; I've been playing these on 100cc on the revisits and nah, this one plays and feels pretty good, actually. (Side note, only times I didn't play 100cc were Super Circuit, as precaution if I didn't like it, and Wii, because I wanted a kart and not a bike.) There's also really good course design, and honestly it's nice to look at with some pretty vibrant colors. I'm still a little salty that it uses so many Wii courses in the retro cups while only having two Double Dash courses, especially because Wii was the literal most-recent game before this, but that's probably my only real "complaint." Nah, Mario Kart 7 is great.

 

So yeah, if anything, this retread has taught me that, damn, Mario Kart's a really good series. Its only real "misses" are due to age in SMK's and to a lesser extent 64's cases, and Wii solely due to aggravation but your mileage may vary on that. I still plan on replaying 8, and I'm very excited to give World a whirl when it releases.

[klop422]

I recently went back through the Mario Karts as well (not all of them, but a few), found myself enjoying my time with each. SMK and Super Circuit are really their own thing, but quite fun in their own way. I do also remember enjoying Wii but having several issues with it (I don't like how often it decides to take your items from you).

That said, I do think Mario Kart 7 is the worst one (imo). Doesn't control that badly (honestly only the Mode 7 ones could be said to), but I just don't feel like there was a lot of love put into it. It's probably the only Mario Kart that, to me, feels churned out to meet a deadline.

This is most obvious in the soundtrack: honestly, most of the original tracks are ok at best, there's an overreliance on using pre-existing motivs for nostalgia (plus Koopa City/Neo Bowser City, which is just a basic medley of a bunch of tracks). It really shocked me to find out that the composer was the same as for Mario Kart 64 (which, even if the gameplay's aged a litte - I still enjoy it, but about as much for the aesthetics as for the actual gameplay - still has among the best soundtracks in the series, hell, the franchise).

 

Unrelated, I've just gone through four Metroids - Zero Mission, Metroid II, Super Metroid, and Metroid Fusion. Fantastic series, none of them missed (ok, Metroid II was rough). Shocked me how atmospheric they can be, and how unsettling too. Maybe I'll play one of the Metroid II remakes soon, but for now I'm waiting for a sale of some kind so I can buy Dread haha

...maybe I should start on Metroid Prime as well...

[The Satellite]

(I don't like how often it decides to take your items from you).

Yes, this as well! So frustrating, and it always often happened either right as I was prepared to use an item or right after I hit an item box. Frankly I'm glad I missed out on this one during its run. That and apparently hackers were a real problem. 

[Matthew]

Unrelated to any Mario Karting, but I just beat Clair Obscur / Expedition 33 and have to say it is hands-down the best RPG I have ever played. It's on GamePass right now, so I recommend giving it a try. The visuals, art direction, combat, and narrative are all top-notch.

[klop422]

Yes, this as well! So frustrating, and it always often happened either right as I was prepared to use an item or right after I hit an item box. Frankly I'm glad I missed out on this one during its run. That and apparently hackers were a real problem. 

I noticed when I played Mario Kart DS that it was a little bit of a thing there, but it really was at its worst in Mario Kart Wii. Items are kind of what make Mario Kart fun, it's just annoying when you don't get to use them. Literally the only upside I can think of is the possibility of a star just lying on the ground.

 

Very thankful that MK8DX only ever takes them from you with a shock.

[The Satellite]

Now that I have in fact replayed Mario Kart 8 (Deluxe), yeah, it is undoubtedly the best one. There's arguments for previous entries for sure, but damn, it just feels good to play, looks great, has so much variety... and holy shit, all that DLC doubles the game size! I'd never actually played more than a tiny amount of it until today, although I mainly just time trialed the original courses and most of the retro courses. No Tour levels. One thing about the base game was that, despite looking pretty, colors weren't as vibrant as previous games... Well, the DLC courses are mostly more vibrant! Some of those retro courses got cool glow-ups as well, such as Kalimari Desert.

 

I think one of my only real complaints is the goddamn coin powerup. Sure, having enough coins is important, but I do not need this powerup when I'm in first place with max coins! Give me a shell or banana or something to defend myself with! ... and that's the only real bothersome thing.

[Jared]

Been playing Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time. Amazing sequel to the fantastic 3DS game.

[The Satellite]

Alright, time for another roundup!

 

First off: No, I haven't finished that Xenoblade X 100% survey. I genuinely do want to, and literally only have two things left to do, but I got distracted by new games. And still am. So let's get to those.

 

One day, when I wasn't sure what to stream, I looked at the Nintendo Classics (formerly Nintendo Switch Online) libraries and decided, hell with it, it was finally time to play WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames! And. Well. Not much to say about this one, it was really fun! Definitely a game I could've sank hours into mastering the minigames— sorry, microgames. Not so much in the modern day where I have access to so many games, which is both a blessing and a curse, but I very much enjoyed what I played and definitely get the appeal. I could probably find myself playing others in the future.

 

Then for a more recent entry... Mario Kart World! Leading off from that post above, glad to say the drifting is the same. Now, I do think the game is pretty fun, but... Okay, I get it. MK8 kind of perfected the Mario Kart formula as it was. The game was the pinnacle. To get ahead of myself, still is, still easily the best Mario Kart game and it's not even close. But, because of that, I get why they tried something new with World. And I don't think it was a bad direction to go in, but... Well, I am one of the many who don't like the intermission courses between the real courses. They're samey, they're boring, and they detract from the final course, which often ends up robbing said course of identity due to needing to fit into an existing continent. Returning courses were robbed of setpieces. Now, many courses are still good, but I can't lie, the Grand Prixs weren't as exciting. Except for that Rainbow Road. Holy shit. On the other hand, the Knockout Tour format is actually pretty great, a genuinely solid new mode. The AI was super cheaty as fuck though, but allegedly a recent patch addressed that? Honestly I haven't played for about a month now.

 

Then there's the free roam... It's fun! But it needs better means of tracking P-Switches and Peach Coins. At least the panels have trackers. Kind of. Free roam grew on me as a "kill some time" mode, it's great for that. But the rewards... These stickers aren't shit, I will never notice these when driving. It's a very "the journey is the reward" mindset, but I also felt like you ran out of vehicles to unlock too quick? Maybe there's updates coming. I hope so. I also think character outfits should just be a submenu and not listed as separate characters. Why? I dunno, for the new things this game did, they sure went backwards in some ways. At least there's swimwear Daisy. ... what?

 

Then I found the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection was on sale for $10, so I finally got to play the original Street Fighter. It's bad. Sluggish, unresponsive, noisy, inputting special moves is odd. It's bad.

 

And now for the main reason I stopped playing Mario Kart World: Donkey Kong Bananza! So, I need to give this game the proper dues upfront: It's pretty, the sound design and feedback is great, the writing is witty, the music's great, and Pauline is wonderfully-written and her songs rule. I also enjoy how it seems to never run out of ideas even through the end; not all of them get as much time to breathe as I'd like, and there is one later on I outright despise due to it being finicky as hell, but it's a well-crafted game. All that said... I don't truly love it like so many others seem to. Hard to put into words. I enjoyed it enough to 100% it, but, as impressive as the total destruction element is, I think that's also part of why it didn't click with me? But also, I do love that it's very much its own thing and not just Odyssey 2 with a DK skin. I also quite love how the bananas add up to skill points, giving them additional value beyond "get enough to progress"; hell, they aren't even needed for progression anymore! So, yeah, Bananza is really cool, and yet I didn't fully fall in love with it. Maybe I just ultimately prefer the Country style, either Retro or Rare? But it's still a damn fine game, and the finale was fantastic.

 

This then sent me into a little DK side trip. I played the (NES ports of the) arcade trilogy, having never played Donkey Kong Jr. or Donkey Kong 3 before. The former is actually really good! For an old arcade game. The best of the three. It's far more skill-based than the original, had some fun ideas, and Mario canonically dies in the ending so that's cool. The latter game though? It... exists. It's okay. The weakest one for sure. Stanley probably died from bees.

 

I then went to the Game Boy, where I played Donkey Kong '94 after being intrigued by it for so long. Short version? Yeah, this is one of the best games on the system. Loved it. I only disliked the little roll when you fall from too high, as it often fucked me up; not saying that it needed to remove fall damage entirely though, or that'd break some level design. Still, they had so many neat ideas and only a tiny handful of levels didn't hit, but for the most part? It's perfection. ... can't say much the same for Donkey Kong Land though. Yeah, it's neat that it does some of its own original stuff to stand out a bit from Country, but it's wonky and unpolished, hit detection is weird, you can sometimes die a pitfall death because the vertical scroll will just break, it's uh. Definitely first of its kind. I hear the sequels are better, and I am interested eventually. Soon.

 

Uh, well, that's it. Oh, I've been replaying Mario games on stream. Let's see, quick hits... SMB1 is dated but still a fun novelty, SMB2 is legit good, SMB3 is a classic but feels a little off in the modern day, SMW stands the test of time with the best secrets in a 2D Mario, SM64 is also still a classic where Rainbow Ride is the only truly all bad level, Sunshine is close to my heart but it's definitely unpolished and padded out, NSMB is bland and boring and dull, Galaxy is fucking based, and New Super Mario Bros. Wii is pretty fun if not pretty safe. And that's as far as I've gotten, I'm sure I'll follow up on this later.

[Shane]

Been playing PC Port of Super Mario 64. I actually have grown to like the game a lot more, but maybe it's the QoL stuff. I used to hate all the upper levels, but honestly the only bad one still IMO is Tick Tock Clock.

[klop422]

I finally gave up on SMTV. I just wasn't enjoying it. A game with next to no plot, where what does exist is blocked off by boss fights difficulty-balanced to having done every sidequest before them. Just means you're essentially doing sidequest after sidequest, each of which is at best tangentially-related to our main story, blocking your from the next tiny nugget of plot. Supposedly, the alternate story is much better in this respect, but even so, I've just stopped caring...

 

Started Metroid Prime, though. Freaking fantastic, loving it. Will give more thoughts later.

 

Also been playing Mario RPG on Switch. A lot lighter, but it is just fun to blast through it.

[The Satellite]

Hey look another update post in the same month this time. Anyway, I went on a tear. Small one, but. Well. Following on from Donkey Kong Land above...

 

I finished off Donkey Kong Land 2 as well. The musical conversions are fantastic, courtesy of none other than Grant Kirkhope. It also looks a bit cleaner than the original, even if that means there's many plain backgrounds that aren't as interesting to look at. It also plays a lot better. However, the screen crunch is still in effect, and it doesn't really fully solve it. I also specifically had trouble in bramble stages, trying to decipher what was a safe platform and what wasn't. The fact it errs so much closer to DKC2 than DKL1 did to DKC1 also kind of hampers it a bit. The lack of its iconic sound effects and more simplified versions of SNES levels make this game just feel sort of lesser, even if I'd still call it a better game than DKL1. But I'd also understand preferring DKL1 for its originality. This probably went hard in 1996, but nowadays, it's a novelty.

 

Donkey Kong Land III came next, and yes, they did for some reason switch to Roman numerals for the third game. When DKC3 didn't. Anyway, I... found this the most enjoyable of the trilogy? Which is odd, because DKC3 is my least-favorite of the SNES trilogy. It doesn't entirely solve the screen crunch or the wonky hitboxes, but it does a lot better at the former for the most part. The music is DKC3 music, converted well but still admittedly the weakest link. But it seems to be slightly more original than DKL2 with level design and was definitely the least-frustrating. It also abandoned many of DKC3's worst gimmicks, so in that sense I may even possibly like DKL3 more than DKC3.

 

At the end of the day, though, the Donkey Kong Land games are more like novelties to me, but the first admittedly has some original and unique ideas. Especially involving the KONG letters in one level.

 

Then I decided I still needed a Game Boy fix and went to another series that I hold dear: Mega Man. I know I finished II and V in the past, but never the others. At least, I don't think I'd beaten Dr. Wily's Revenge before, and if I had, it was probably with save state abuse. But, I went through the entire Game Boy series, in order, so here we go:

 

Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge is a game I beat with save state abuse as well as rewinds. Frankly this game sucks. Oh it looks good, sounds good, plays good... but it's a constant barrage of unfair, unfun garbage. Absolutely miserable experience. It's up there with Mega Man & Bass as one of the most frustrating games in the franchise. Maybe worse, I haven't played MM&B in a while, but it's comparable from memory. Mega Man II felt like an overcorrection, being far too easy and derivative, but I still hold a soft spot for that game and its weird soundtrack that would've been one of the best if it had been programmed in correctly.

 

Mega Man III lures you in at the start, the first four robot master stages being very well-balanced and feeling great to play through. Then the second half happens where it suddenly kicks up the frustration again. Now this one I did manage to beat without save states or rewinds, but it was obnoxious to get through. I put this near the bottom, but it's nowhere near as bad as DWR.

 

Mega Man IV continues the trend all of these games had: Reusing four robot masters from one NES game, then four from the following one. So, 4 and 5 in this case. Though the previous ones mostly didn't recycle level design wholesale, this one actually went out of its way to invent new mechanics to add to each stage, making them feel new and fresh. It's really fun! Crystal Man's stage kinda sucked but it also sucked in NES 5. IV stands out high above its predecessors and is an easy recommend. So is V, and I honestly can't decide which I like better. V might just slightly win out, for originality and for not having Crystal Man's stage. Great pair of games, I recommend both.

 

I also had been replaying all the NES games, I did 1-4 a little while back, took a break, played the Game Boy games, then went back to 5. It was amusing seeing the difference in screen size, almost blown away how much screen real estate I had to work with again. Anyway, historically I'd always been a 5 hater, but I've softened incredibly on it. I still think most of the soundtrack is mid barring a few standout tracks, and I don't like Crystal Man or Wave Man's stages, but it's a competent game. I also rebut saying there's nothing really "new" about it, a claim I myself had made, since Star Man and Gravity Man have unique stage gimmicks. And the wave bike, but that's bad. But yeah. 5 is fine. Bottom three NES game, but it's top of that pack at least.

 

I still love 3, despite its quirks, and 4, despite its poor checkpointing, but I found a little more love for 2—just a little—and a lot more disapproval for 1. 1 isn't all bad, but it's definitely the first of its kind and pretty rough. Like, I don't hate this game, but it's fallen out of favor. Playing 2 right after it helped me appreciate 2 that much more, even if I still consider it rough and flawed in its own ways. And 6? 6 is still fantastic, though its weird quirks like the charge shot not piercing and not being able to jump out of slides anymore are baffling. They don't harm it overall, though.

 

oh and on the Mario topic Galaxy 2 is also still so fucking based and stop arguing about which Galaxy is better and play both they're based

[nicklegends]

I've been playing Blue Prince, and I can't get enough of it. It plays much like Myst, with layers of broad puzzles and lore to dig into, except it has strategic elements where you're trying to assemble a mansion each in-game day in a way that lets you turn the next figurative page of the experience. It's extremely clever, impeccably designed, very refined, beautifully written, surprisingly deep, and seriously one of the most engrossing games I've ever played. I know not everyone is a fan of Myst/Riven, but for those who are, this game will not disappoint. It will test your puzzle-solving abilities, perception, and tenacity. I love it to bits, and I hope at least one of you might also. I give it my highest recommendation, and I've played a lot of games.

[The Satellite]

Oh god I have fifteen games to add since last post, uh, maybe I'll just go through a bunch and when I feel like the post is too large I'll stop and make another one later, uh, well, here I go.

 

I'd always played Streets of Rage now and then as a kid at my cousins' but never really got far. Decided to fix that. Apparently I gravitated toward the slowest character so that didn't help my experience but overall it's fine. It's an old beat 'em up. Has some great tunes and incredible sprite art. Had to use a lives cheat to get through it but yeah. It's fine. I may play the others later, or maybe try this again with another character to see if that helps at all.

 

Then came the big one, the big release of 2025, foreshadowed and foretold... Hollow Knight: Silksong. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy... God this game's beautiful. Emotional. It's fantastic and compelling. It's also fucking obnoxious in regards to difficulty balancing. Way too reliant on enemy gauntlets, which are frankly not compelling game design. Often it wasn't the kind of frustration that makes me want to get better, but the kind that just makes me want to get it over with. This doesn't typically apply to actual level progression, although Bilewater et al can go fuck itself, and there were definitely some really cool boss fights. But damn, did the game just... never end. Which is weird to complain that a $20 game offered 50+ hours of content, but I mean, I'm a firm believer that a metroidvania should top off about twenty hours at most, like the original Hollow Knight (aside all the extra content). That said... getting to the true ending was very worth the experience and it's not one I'll forget. I do have a Game of the Year that even came out this year that tops this for me, that won't be discussed yet in this post, but until I played that game, this still was going to be my Game of the Year despite my issues, which should really say something about the experience.

 

Still feeling a Mega Man itch from the previous post, I get to another game I'd played a bit before but never finished: Mighty Gunvolt Burst. By all accounts the only good thing that came out of the Mighty No. 9 franchise, yeah, it's a really fun action platformer. There's a lot of potential for customization depth with the weapon mods you can find and make, although I personally would just have preferred designated weapons to use in the stages. I should play it again as the other characters but yeah, other than one boss and a couple annoying platforming segments, highly enjoyed. Although I wasn't done and for the first time since my morbid curiosity playthrough in 2018... I played Mighty No. 9 again. Yeah, there's some annoyances, yeah, visually it's kinda dull, yeah, it was a PR fiasco... but the game's fine. Bringing back Mega Man 1's "knockback doesn't save you from instant death spikes" was fucking stupid, but it's an enjoyable enough Mega Man game. The interactions the Mighty No.s have in certain stages are cool and the music is excellent. This game was what finally satisfied my Mega Man itch, because goddammit, it deserves to be counted in that series' lineage too. (Goddamn I hope Dual Override is good and better than 11.)

 

OmniBus is a fun little indie game about a bus that literally cannot stop. It's enjoyable to mess around with in its goofy levels but there's a few that require a bit more precision that are actually kind of frustrating. Still, for $5 USD (currently 74 cents until Steam Winter Sale's over), you could do a lot worse.

 

Speaking of $5 indie games, one I saw on an eShop sale and grabbed for that price was Cloudpunk, bought around the same time I got Silksong I think. I had little expectation when I dove in, having only gotten it based off vibes in the screenshot. Turns out, those vibes really are immaculate. It's basically a plot-driven delivery driver simulator in a voxel cyberpunk city and it's gorgeous. On that note, get this game on PC if possible, because the Switch version is apparently way worse off visually and none of the console ports got the DLC; this is possibly because the publisher that handled the console ports is shitty, from scuttlebutt. Anyway, the voice-acting is a bit uneven, to say the least, on foot navigation is not exactly graceful, and the writing can be inconsistent, but it's all so earnest that I was strung along for the ride and loved being in this city. One day I'll probably get the PC version so I can play the DLC and see this city even prettier, but damn, excellent vibes-based game.

 

Yet another indie game, Belle Boomerang, caught my eye. A solid retro platformer that gets the NES vibe well. Maybe too well at points. It's got the occasional obnoxious level design or enemy placement, and the bosses are horrible endurance rounds. Also the boomerang range was a little bit lacking at times. But it's decent enough. Probably not decent enough to recommend over other NES-style platformers, but if that genre's what you're into specifically, definitely worth a play.

 

And yet another indie game! DUSK may need no introduction, but just in case: An FPS inspired by Quake, Doom, Blood, and similar titles. You go around killing demons and cultists and it's really fun, really great throwback game. It ruled. Feels like a late 90s game in the best way possible. Creepy atmosphere, good gameplay feel, I didn't go completionist on it but maybe on a future playthrough...

 

Time to break the indie chain because Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment came out! It doesn't tie up every loose end from Tears of the Kingdom, there's some plot threads I wish were explored more, but for what's there, I love the characterization of Zelda, I came to love the Calamo and Construct character arc, honestly the plot's the best of any Hyrule Warriors (low bar, to be fair) and that alone makes me like this the best of the three. Sure, playing as the Divine Beasts in Age of Calamity was awesome, and it does sort of feel like there's less going on in the individual levels as far as terrain changes and such, but I dunno, I had the most fun with this one overall. Quite enjoyed it.

 

I then finished yet another game I started in the past but never beat. New Super Mario Bros. 2 is one of the video games of all time. The silly "OMG SO MANY COINS" gimmick actually can be more engaging than it looked sometimes, but the game itself is just too full of recycled assets and music... and the music's been given awful backing vocal tracks that make the already bland NSMB music even worse somehow.

 

Anyway, back to indies with Windswept! This is a super Donkey Kong Country inspired platformer starring a duck and a turtle that wears its inspiration on its sleeve but evolves the mechanics along the way. It's super good! And can get super challenging, especially in the optional levels. There are assist options for those not as good at these kinds of platformers... or if you lose patience sometimes like me. Anyway, I admit I opted not to go after the optional postgame stuff, but getting to the end was a super fun experience and I highly recommend it.

 

... alright, I got ten of 'em. I'll save the remaining five for the next post, which honestly works, because four of those five I will have extended thoughts on. I knew I shouldn't have waited so long to dump all my new game progress.

[The Satellite]

Oh whoops, it seems I forgot Saga of the Moon Priestess two posts ago, which I played between DKL1 and 2. And that was in August. And it's... not very memorable. So I'm gonna be cheap and just quote the note I left for it in my media thread in my Discord:
 

This short Zelda-like was okay. Had some solid elements, like some decent sprite art, good music, some fun writing. I liked that it saved enemy health even if you left a room, and a small but nice thing was that every dungeon map had a unique message. There were a lot of little annoyances, however. The overworld's pretty dull and not fun to navigate. Movement and attack animations feel slow and sluggish. There's a lot of repetitive push block rooms that aren't puzzles so much as something to slow you down. Dungeon maps do a poor job of telling you what rooms you have and haven't been in, and don't show which rooms have items you haven't gotten yet. There's also a lack of distinction between regular and boss key doors. Also, Game Boy throwback or not, there's no reason in the modern era to make the player swap to the glove item just to pick up a rock, and multiple item buttons would've been nice. It's a fine game overall, but nothing that really stands out.

... so that means this post is now about six games instead of five but ah that's fine.
 
So when I said Silksong was my Game of the Year until I played another game that came out this year that dethroned it? ... this isn't that, but it is a game that came out in 2021 that dethroned Silksong as my Game of the Year. Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights was a game on my wishlist for a while when I threw a few metroidvanias on there that caught my interest. I didn't know that much about it other than it was a fairly popular one and had good Steam reviews. What I didn't expect was just how much it would grip me. It's a gorgeous game, melancholy and somber, and that can be oppressing to some admittedly. But the gameplay, while challenging, is great and plays smooth, and you accrue many items and abilities to customize your build. Bosses can be tough but are largely well-done, the music by Mili is excellent, and the story... Let's just say I cried when it was all over. I'd enjoyed the game a lot up to that point but it was that moment I knew I played something special to me.
 
Then came the game that came out this year... but isn't the one that dethroned Silksong. That game is Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. Which is somewhat disappointing for me to say but I have to stress: I did enjoy this. I enjoyed obsessively scanning things again, I enjoyed the silly things like standing in waterfalls or other scenery to see the visor effects. The game is gorgeous and plays exactly like a Prime game should. It also errs a bit closer to 3 than I anticipated, what with more segmented and linear level design and Federation focus. Except instead of a spaceship level select menu, you get... a boring-ass desert that's larger than it needs to be. I don't hate the bike itself but Sol Valley is a huge drag. One of the few sour points, alongside your Federation teammates chiming in too often when they should just let you explore. I ended up otherwise being alright with them, but the aggressive nudging needed to go or at least be a toggle. Oh, and the game's naming schemes leave A LOT to be desired. I do hope that a future Prime game goes back to a more 1 or 2 level design style, and what's here is fun with some actually really damn good boss fights. And the music's back up to par again after Dread fumbled hard, which is a huge plus. I just need more AAA games to understand that they don't need to have big open world areas when they add nothing to the gameplay; arguably it subtracts from it in this case. Prime 4 is ultimately a really good game and I'm happy to have it, I just hope 5 learns from its mistakes and cuts the fat. And I just hope there is a 5.
 
Hmm... let's make it seven games. Kirby and the Forgotten Land – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Star-Crossed World is a technicality; I played Forgotten Land when it first released after all. And yes, I thought putting the full official title would be funny. But I played it again with this upgrade and... yeah, this is my favorite Kirby game for sure. I was honestly expecting more from Star-Crossed World, like a standalone adventure, not one that sprinkles in new content alongside the main game. That said, what's here is really fun, with a neat boss at the end. Hey, Forgotten Land is a based game and I'm happy to play more of it, so in the end I'm satisfied.
 
Speaking of games that end in "World," Wario World! This is one I actually remember wanting to play back in the day, hearing that it was fun and the only real criticism people had was that it was "too short." Which I kept in mind when it dropped on Switch 2 and I was between games at the time. Game's fun! It can be janky and sometimes frustrating, and that underworld mechanic any time you fall down is actually garbage and a waste of time, but damn Charles Martinet was at the top of his game here. And that pause music belongs in a museum. Anyway, not sure it's one I'd revisit anytime soon but I definitely had fun with the first playthrough!
 
Two games left, both released this year. And first up... the game that dethroned Silksong. The other one, but uh, specifically the one from this year. Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist, sequel to Ender Lilies. Now, I loved Ender Lilies so much that I didn't want to immediately jump to the sequel, wanting to savor that experience. A couple of weeks and a couple of games later, I decided it was time. Ender Lilies? A game with so few real flaws. Ender Magnolia? An unbelievable improvement from the jump. We can start with the map! It's so fucking good! Each room is actually shaped like the room itself, tracks your location in that room, tracks items you see and can't reach, and has just enough detail on it so you can see what the room is just looking at the map without it looking cluttered. There's many other subtle improvements too, such as giving you multiple equipment/relic/loadout slots instead of just the one like in Lilies, even if you can only change them at a save point. It's just an amazing game start to finish. Even more incredible music and art. Admittedly, the story wasn't as strong as Lilies and some plot threads seemingly do feel rushed or incomplete, but the additional characterization of your partner characters still carries a lot of weight. I also think Lilies has better bosses overall, though the ones here aren't at all bad. I also might think the loadout options in Lilies might be stronger but ultimately what I'm saying is both games have strengths. Ender Magnolia is just so fucking good and easily my 2025 Game of the Year, if not overall Game of the Year; even with all its improvements, I'm still not sure if Lilies' intangible aspects still elevate it over Magnolia for me. The point is, both are incredible and I highly recommend.
 
And the last game of 2025 is the complete opposite and squarely occupies the bottom spot in the rankings, at least of 2025 releases: Shadow Labyrinth. This is that weird dark and gritty metroidvania take on Pac-Man. You know, an idea so weird it alone was what sold me and hoped the game was good. I attempted to stream it but immediately was struck by how it wasn't a good stream game. Gave it a second stream as another chance and then dropped it to finish it on my own time. See I'm honestly here for the ridiculous story, and when you discover the Pac-Man style levels, those I actually enjoyed! ... horrid controls aside. But the metroidvania aspects are sorely lacking. Everything is big for the sake of it, so many paths leading to nowhere that just... exist. I mean hey, being maze-like is true to Pac-Man, sure, but if that was the intent, it doesn't a good game make! It also took so long to get movement upgrades, which can be counted on one hand. Your controls feel off, especially jumping. It's just... such a dull, boring game, and it takes way too long to beat. Also, a major patch apparently added many more checkpoints, which is nice but also seems like an overcorrection at points. I hope that, if they ever try something like this again, they learn from this and make a more streamlined and interesting game, but honestly if such a sequel ever got made I would probably just stay away from it. Wanted to like this more than I did, alas.
 
Sucks ending 2025 on a sour note for games, but hey, I got to play thirty-five games this year! Seven of them are Game Boy games so uh... shout-outs to Game Boy I guess. Eager to see how 2026 goes and I'm hoping we hear news of a new, true release date for Mina the Hollower. Also Pragmata should be fun. Maybe Resident Evil Requiem, which I wasn't going to play until they showed us Leon. Bastards.

[Jamian]

I've been playing Blue Prince, and I can't get enough of it. It plays much like Myst, with layers of broad puzzles and lore to dig into, except it has strategic elements where you're trying to assemble a mansion each in-game day in a way that lets you turn the next figurative page of the experience. It's extremely clever, impeccably designed, very refined, beautifully written, surprisingly deep, and seriously one of the most engrossing games I've ever played. I know not everyone is a fan of Myst/Riven, but for those who are, this game will not disappoint. It will test your puzzle-solving abilities, perception, and tenacity. I love it to bits, and I hope at least one of you might also. I give it my highest recommendation, and I've played a lot of games.

 

I loved Blue Prince and it was undoubtedly 2025's GOTY for me, but I would not compare it to Myst (which I personally never cared for at all, notably for its clunky controls and sense of direction). Apart from the Myst comparison, I agree with what you've said. Blue Prince is an unlikely mix of a roguelite and a puzzle game (half board game, half escape room), and it somehow works really well. The game does at first sufficiently hold your hand, to a certain extent, so that anyone motivated enough and familiar with puzzle games should see the end credits eventually. Then there's the huge post-game content, where there's no longer any hand to hold, but you can just continue to find out how far you can go in the layers within layers of puzzles.