A few years ago some friends and I returned to SimTown after finding a copy and had a blast playing it. Somehow it ran just fine on the modern Windows at the time and even though it wasn't perfect it I had a lot of fun playing it. The best part of SimTown is that it doesn't get bogged down with complex simulations and lets you build your tower as you want, with minimal direction. One downside of letting the player do something in a way that isn't optimal is that it is possibly frustrating but that's not always a bad way to learn.

I quite enjoyed this SimTower review by Hungry Goriya and recommend you all check it out. I don't quite look at the negatives in the same way, but I learned a few things like SimTower got a spiritual successor in 1998 called Yoot Tower that looks like a proper follow up!

"SimTower is a game that I passed a lot of time with in my youth. It's a simulation game where you build a massive one-stop-shop tower with every amenity you'd ever need, and more. Revisiting it was a dream come true but it wasn't quite as warm and fuzzy as I remembered. 🍖"

Hearthstone has been the Queen of digital card games for quite some time and to keep the game stable, to-date they haven't added any new base playable classes. They aim to change that in the upcoming Ashes of Outland Expansion in that it will add the Demon Hunter class.

"Demon Hunters brandish the power of fel, while crushing their opponents with colossal demon allies. They have access to cards with the Outcast keyword, which become more powerful when played from the left or right-most position of your hand—including the turn they’re drawn.

The Demon Hunter is a permanent, full-fledged class that will be supported across all future Hearthstone expansions. The Demon Hunter is completely free for all Hearthstone players after they complete the Demon Hunter Prologue missions that become available on April 2. The prologue retells Illidan Stormrage’s origin story, from his perspective . . . and with a unique Hearthstone twist. Upon completion of the prologue, players will receive, for free, all 10 Demon Hunter Basic cards as well as a 20-card Demon Hunter Initiate set. Starting with Ashes of Outland, 15 new Demon Hunter cards will be released with each future expansion in the Year of the Phoenix"

I used to be a fairly hardcore Hearthstone player and stopped as the game was getting much more grindy in later expansions. With that I do plan on heading back and playing the free single player content to unlock the new Demon Hunter class. I'm not sure the Demon Hunter will get me back playing the game regularly but it's fun to see Blizzard add something new to a game that's been around the block.

https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/blog/23324071

As Half-Life: Alyx nears launch Valve has been doing press about it and found this half hour interview with Gabe and Robin to be really compelling. They talk about Alyx, the Campo Santo acquisition and brain interfaces. If you dig Valve and like hearing Gabe talk about it, clickity clack that video play button above.

"In a rare half-hour conversation, Valve co-founder Gabe Newell talks about the studio's past with Half-Life, the surprising answer to what his favorite Half-Life game is, mistakes that Valve has made, what keeps a man worth billions of dollars coming to work every day, how he spends his days, what the next decade looks like for Valve (hint: it involves a brain-AI interface), and more!"

Some early media reviews are coming in for Doom Eternal and they look great. I wanted to share one from one of my favorite YouTube channels LGR. LGR has a nice chill style and mixes top notch capture footage (seriously the game looks incredible in his video) and it running on his wide ASUS monitor.

One of the first things I noticed is that in Doom Eternal the starting weapon is the shotgun which is a great. The pistol in Doom 2016 was fine, but Doom Eternal looks to start you out with Doom's signature weapon which is as it should be.

If you are getting Doom Eternal soon let me know and what you think of the game once you play it.

The RetroTINK creators have released a new version called the RetroTINK 2X-Pro that is an upscaler/line doubler for retro consoles with analog, s-video and component inputs with an output to HDMI. Metal Jesus puts the new TINK through it's paces and it does quite well with a very minimal amount, if any noticeable lag. The TINK is an essential option if you want to plugin your old consoles to a modern television and only have HDMI on your TV to work with. That and the TINK is also great to convert old console video signals to HDMI for capture the video or streaming to Twitch.

The RetroTINK 2X-Pro is $140 brand new and is currently sold out. At the time I wrote this RetroTINK is also sold out of the classic as well so hopefully they can get more stock as it looks like they are fairly popular.

You can get Anodyne 2: Return to Dust, A Short Hike and Mutazione free on the Epic Games Store on PC right now until March 13th! Let's say you are finding yourself at home with a bit more time on your hands then now is the time to click buy on these games at a really incredible price of $0.

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/product/anodyne-2-return-to-dust/home
https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/product/a-short-hike/home
https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/product/mutazione/home

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Warzone is a brand new Battle Royale game that launched for free on Battle.net, XBox and Playstation. So far the game is garnering great reviews calling it a fresh take on a pretty established Battle Royale genre. Warzone ups the ante by allowing a maximum of 150 players in a match, creating a much larger world map and adding two games modes in the normal Battle Royale mode and Plunder. So far, Plunder is the only mode I've played and it's great. You jump into the map Apex Legends style with a team and you work together to collect cash from loot chests around the map. The teams that collect the most cash are shown for everyone to come after and as part of the mode you can call in helicopters to haul your cash away.

Since Warzone is totally free and I enjoy playing Battle Royale games from time to time I decided to start up Battle.net and give Warzone a shot. It's nice that Warzone is free and integrates cleanly in Battle.net but the 70+ gig download is more than annoying. In the end I had fun playing Warzone and if you love games like Apex Legends or Fortnite and you are looking for something totally different this is well worth a shot. Linking to the video review from Digital Foundry above as they've played it quite a bit more and focus on the games engine and performance.

https://www.callofduty.com/modernwarfare/warzone

Nintendo and Lego are teaming up with a new Lego Mario set that looks like it will be a lot of fun for kids. If you were thinking Nintendo + Lego collection would just be any ol' themed Lego bricks then you'd be wrong as Lego seems to have added some digital gamification to this set. Not only does the new Mario figure speak but when you bop on a Goomba head you can collect coins as well as a few other things. Regular Lego set are already expensive so I'm curious how much this digital set will be? Regardless of the price I bet this will be a popular present come this holiday season.

Ultimate NES Remix is a 3DS games collection of the "best of" remixed classic Nintendo games that came to the Wii U in the form of NES Remix 1 and 2. Basically if you love retro NES games and want a fresh way to play them, Ultimate NES Remix is the perfect game for you.

"Take on a rapid-fire onslaught of challenges and mash-ups from 16 of Nintendo’s finest 8-bit games! Test your skills on a gauntlet of quick, tricky challenges and remix stages that combine parts of different games. The best mix of titles from the NES Remix and NES Remix 2 games is on Nintendo 3DS. Now you’re playing with PORTABLE power!

Link vs. Donkey Kong! Kirby vs. Boo! It’s mash-up mania in this celebration of all things NES! Race through to earn stars on increasingly tough tasks, like beating Ridley from Metroid or making Princess Peach save herself! Compete in Championship Mode’s blitz of challenges from the Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, and Dr. Mario games, then compare scores with others in your region via online leaderboards."

As demand for the 3DS has gone down considerably I've been picking up 3DS games on the cheap such as a recent sale at a local store that had Ultimate NES Remix, Animal Crossing New Leaf and Pokemon Ultra Sun ultra-cheap. Since I don't have enough time to crack an Animal Crossing or Pokemon game right now I popped in Ultimate NES Remix knowing that it was a mash up of classic NES games and wouldn't require a massive time investment. Immediately Ultimate NES remix starts you out with a few classic games such as Super Mario Brothers, Donkey Kong and Dr. Mario to ease your way into the remixed challenges starting with the easy "accelerate on your bike" in Excitebike to more challenging scenarios like completing a race without crashing. Each challenge can net you up to three stars and many are timed making them quite fun. I'm an avid retro gamer and so far, none of the challenges have stumped me beyond a handful requiring a few attempts. I'm also going for a completionist run making sure for each challenge I net 3 stars. I've heard from a friend something fun happens if you complete the game this way so it's what I'm going for.

Ultimate NES Remix is one of those incredible games that begs for a Switch port and considering Nintendo hasn't Remixed the Super Nintendo era it seems like rich territory for a sequel. I'm certain i'm never going to get tired replaying classic games and when Nintendo puts an entirely fresh spin on them i'm totally in.

Today over lunch break I finally defeated Bowser in New Super Mario Bros. 2. I picked up New Super Mario Bros. 2 on the 3DS back in September of 2018 and i'll clip a bit from that initial review:

"New Super Mario Bros. 2 takes everything that worked about the previous games and continues to do that while focusing on coin collection. You have a running tally of coins you can collect that unlock things in-game making progression tied to coins and continually completing stages."

Ever since picking it up back in 2018 I've played when I got the itch as it's a perfect game for that kind of attention. If you are a player that likes to play everything a game has to offer New Super Mario Bros. 2 has a lot to do with re-playing stages to collect all the large coins, unlocking the Star World as well as the hidden Mushroom and Flower Worlds. When I started out I was quite attentive to finding all the large coins but as time passed I started spending most of my focus on completing stages. Leaving behind the large coins doesn't matter too much if you just want to defeat Bowser but you can only unlock the Star World if you collect 90 large coins and I'm a few short.

How Does New Super Mario Bros. 2 Rank In The Series?

Out of all the New Super Mario Bros. games I've played 2 feels the most accessable and fun. The attention to coin collection and the inclusion of the leaf from Super Mario Bros. 3 makes this entry fly above the rest. New Super Mario Bros. 2 never feels too difficult and this might turn off some hardcore platformer fans. That said the hidden stages might offer more of a challenge and the included coin rush mode literally allows players the ability to partake in challenging scenarios with others.

New Super Mario Bros. 2 is a great game and the saddest part about it is that it's a 3DS title and the system might soon be sunset by Nintendo. Many new fans to the Mario series might miss out because getting a 3DS isn't in the cards for them. As Nintendo ports the best of Wii U titles to the Switch I hope these best of breed Wii and 3DS games can get packaged for a newer audience too.

The 3DS Will Never Die - My First Impressions of New Super Mario Bros. 2

https://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/3871/the-3ds-will-never-die-first-impressions-of-new-super-mario-bros-2