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Some Kind of Top 20 List for 2022

After the jingle of the bells quiets down the fresh new year is upon us. As part of the glow of the new year I always think a bit about the previous year. As part of that, it's fun to consider what things I enjoyed that bubbled to the top of the rest and since lists are fun, here we go. It's not a top 20 gaming list(as in I don't have 20 things), not sure I played that many games but a list of all the stuff I enjoyed in the book, movie, music and game space.

Feel free to drop your lists in the comments.

Andor: It seems Star Wars life is now lived as a series of Disney+ TV shows. Most of them have been fine, some have been pretty good (Obi-Wan) but one show punched out... Read All

Risk of Rain Returns!

Risk of Rain Kickstarted back in 2013 and at the time I called it "An Interesting New Platformer" and since then Risk of Rain became on of the most popular Indie Rogue-likes and got a sequel that was published by Gearbox. Since then the Risk of Rain devs have sold the IP to Gearbox and have recently dropped the news that Risk of Rain is getting a re-build / re-master / re-release.

"Carefully designed, beautifully remastered, and loaded with new ways to play—Risk of Rain is back and better than ever! This remake of the classic Risk of Rain packs enhanced visuals, an updated codebase, and tons of new content.

No two runs in the iconic roguelike are the same, and that has... Read All

Vampire Survivors Is Out On Mobile!

jdodson gives this an astounding "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale

This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.

jdodson gives this a "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale

This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.

Earlier this year Vampire Survivors blew up on Steam due to it being a fresh take on the Rogue-like that feels incredible on the Steam Deck. Since then it's been ported to all the XBoxes and recently came to iOS and Android phones and tablets. I've played Vampire Survivors on the Steam Deck and it shines in that format but when I played it on the Deck I wondered if it would work on a phone. Needless to say is that it's a great phone port but It's not quite as good as playing on the Steam Deck but it's still a great way to play. Vampire Survivors is currently free to play on mobile and if you want, you can watch an ad to get a few more gold than you obtain normally in... Read All

The Story of Super Mario Kart

Apparently there isn't any world where there are too many video game documentaries about video games I love. Video Game Historian is back with a nod to the history of Mario Kart and you should click play. You know, in between Andor, House of Dragons, The White Lotus, Wednesday, Handmaidens Tale, Yellowstone, 1899, Willow, Warrior Nun, Tulsa King, The Peripheral, Pepsi Where's My Jet, Walking Dead, The Crown, The Tim Allen Santa Clause Show, Manifest and that billion dollar Lord of the Rings show on Amazon.

Bro, More Broforce Forever Bro!

Looks like the biggest update to Broforce is coming in 2023 and while there aren't a lot of details surrounding the announcement, I'm still quite excited. Yeah, the game came out almost 8 years ago but it's still incredible and plays well on everything it's on (I've got it on Switch).

"The Biggest Update to Broforce Yet: New Bros, New Missions, New Freedoms - Coming Early 2023"

New freedoms, hell yeah, now let's high five an Eagle while we wait for 2023.

Marvel Snap is Fantastic!

Marvel Snap launched last month to quite a bit of press and accolades and I'm here to say it's fantastic. Yeah, yeah it's free to play going heavy on cosmetics but none of that is annoying, in fact I think it nails the free to play curve.

Second Dinner is the development shop that created Marvel Snap and it formed up a few years ago from former Blizzard employees that made Hearthstone great. Hearthstone at launch was one of the most refreshing digital card games that later went so heavy into free to pay to play that caused me to go from a long time player to a former player. Marvel Snap changes the digital card game format by making the matches faster and removes... Read All Marvel Snap launched last month to quite a bit of press and accolades and I'm here to say it's fantastic. Yeah, yeah it's free to play going heavy on cosmetics but none of that is annoying, in fact I think it nails the free to play curve.

Second Dinner is the development shop that created Marvel Snap and it formed up a few years ago from former Blizzard employees that made Hearthstone great. Hearthstone at launch was one of the most refreshing digital card games that later went so heavy into free to pay to play that caused me to go from a long time player to a former player. Marvel Snap changes the digital card game format by making the matches faster and removes nearly all the pay for power aspects. Some cards you can unlock FASTER by paying for the season pass but if you want to wait, you can unlock them normally through the card upgrade mechanics later.

The basic game premise is fairly simple, there are three lanes and you focus on winning 2 out of the 3 lanes to win the match. Each lane has a Marvel effect that changes how you can win it such as doubling the strength of your cards or lanes you can't play cards in at all. How you approach these random lanes can really mix up the matches and they keep adding new lanes all the time really changing how the game works.

If you want to you can buy gold to unlock new cosmetic cards (essentially card skins) or power to unlock other cards faster, but there is a daily limit to the amount of cards you can upgrade this way. So even if you unleashed your credit card to buy everything, you'd still need to play daily matches to unlock all the cards quickly.

With a quick yet fun base game and progression system that doesn't, to me, feel excessively grindy, Marvel Snap is the game I now play daily. I don't think I'd ever NOT buy anything in game, but at this point, I'm not sure what the point would be. I'm content playing free to play games like Fortnite without buying cosmetics and Marvel Snap seems like a perfect game for that. In fact, you can earn enough gold in game to buy cosmetics and I've just been hording mine for the perfect card skin or ... something else.

If you are interested in playing Marvel Snap, as I said, it's entirely free and available on Android, iPhones, tablets and PC on Steam. When I tried the Steam port it had a phone aspect ratio but at some point the developers will add proper widescreen making the PC version better.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 11/10/2022 at 06:42am

I'm glad you gave this a great review! I haven't checked it out yet, only added it to my Steam library when I realized it was available. I got a "new" phone. It's the best phone I've ever had, but it's still not the greatest (Samsung Galaxy A01), so I'm not sure which games I'll play on it. I've been playing a few. I tried Marvel Strike Force on my old phone and I never got passed the loading screen, haven't tried it on the new one.

I enjoyed the single player part of Hearthstone, but that didn't last long. I really don't like competitive play, so I came to the conclusion that the game (and similar games that force competitive play) just isn't for me. I'm still interested in MtG and Gwent, just not competitively. I played MtG staring in high school along w/ the Star Trek: The Next Generation CCG. I loved Gwent in Witcher 3.

Is there a single player part of it or do you have to play against others?

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 11/14/2022 at 10:22pm

I have been enjoying snap. Even when I lose, I don’t feel penalized too much. Makes for an enjoyable experience.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/15/2022 at 02:20pm

It’s always against others but like Will said, it’s prob the best kind of online multiplayer in that it isn’t soul crushing.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 12/07/2022 at 05:56pm

I've tried Snap for a week or so, and I just don't think it's a game for me. The game kinda just feels grindy, trying to upgrade my deck and card appearance, but there's no other objective that I could find?

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/08/2022 at 03:35am

I haven’t played in a week or so. Focusing my time on Marvel Strike Force.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/08/2022 at 09:35am

So with these kinds of free to play games it seems they need a progression system that’s in some way tied to money to pay the bills. Marvel Snap ties progression to cosmetic card upgrades hated around gems. Once you upgrade card cosmetics your get rank which allows you to unlock more cards. This is a grind for sure.

They keep adding more cards and I’m at a good place with my level now (959) where I have a lot of cards to upgrade and get gems slower. Which means I can pay a bit to speed it up or wait some and grind. Good news is the base game, for me, is fun enough so it’s ok to do that.

If the base game isn’t fun enough I can see where the grind wouldn’t be fun enough. Right now I unlock about one card every day or two so it’s slower but still fun.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/08/2022 at 09:35am

> hated around gems

Should be GATED 🤣

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The Story of Super Mario World

According to some, Super Mario World is one of the best platformers of all time. For me and my family, this game sold us the Super Nintendo. My parents were really impressed by the 16bit graphics and I think that convinced them to buy us one that Christmas.

If you love Super Mario World or have yet to play it, the Gaming Historian has a great video all about the game and it’s historic creation.

Happy Helloween!

Wanted to wish everyone a very Happy and safe Halloween this year. Also wanted to share the latest Angry Video Game Nerd episode covering all the classic Doom ports. We’ve covered the basic Doom port history before but the Nerds review is fun and worth watching.

Minecraft 1.20 the "unnamed" update

I just watched xisumavoid’s video (embedded) about the new 1.20 updated for Minecraft, as I did not watch Minecraft Live. I don’t think it’s incredibly exciting, but it still is interesting and I like what I saw. I really like xisumavoid’s channel (he has a second one, too) for Minecraft news. I strongly recommend xisumavoid's channel or channels.

The “Sniffer” won the mob vote. According to an article I found via Google, https://www.windowscentral.com/news/live/minecraft-live-2022 , “[t]he Sniffer is an ancient, long-extinct, which players can revive by finding underwater eggs and nurturing them. If the Sniffer is returned to the Overworld, players can use its amazing... Read All I just watched xisumavoid’s video (embedded) about the new 1.20 updated for Minecraft, as I did not watch Minecraft Live. I don’t think it’s incredibly exciting, but it still is interesting and I like what I saw. I really like xisumavoid’s channel (he has a second one, too) for Minecraft news. I strongly recommend xisumavoid's channel or channels.

The “Sniffer” won the mob vote. According to an article I found via Google, https://www.windowscentral.com/news/live/minecraft-live-2022 , “[t]he Sniffer is an ancient, long-extinct, which players can revive by finding underwater eggs and nurturing them. If the Sniffer is returned to the Overworld, players can use its amazing sense of smell to dig up seeds to long-lost ancient plants.“ This description doesn’t really mean anything for me, but I’m interested in seeing more about it. I didn’t have a preference, but I’m glad we got the Allay (which I still haven’t checked out yet).

Fireflies were announced for the previous Minecraft update and were shown, but didn’t make it into the game. This and some other similar examples lead Mojang to decide to only announce features that were far enough along in their development and thus most likely to be available. I think this is smart, I’m still unhappy that we haven’t gotten those little bags, I need that inventory help! I’m disappointed, too, that fireflies didn’t make it in, they would have been great for ambiance.

One of the things I think that’s cool about this update is that bamboo is becoming a wood type and I think it looks good. The jungle has always been a favorite biome of mine, but that's because that's where we used to get cats (now parrots). Bamboo wood has some of it’s own style, too, including it’s boat, which is a raft.

Camels are being added Desert Villages and I think this is great, too! I’m not fond of the desert biome and I think this certainly adds to it, making it better. Two players can ride them, which can help traversing easier, particularly since one player can shoot mobs. Camels will be bred with cactus, giving it a use finally.

There will be hanging signs, too, which I think helps make signs look better. This is in part due to this update being about self-expression and it’s really cool to see new Minecraft character models included, which feature a good amount of diversity and choice for players, not just Alex and Steve.

Bookshelves will be able to hold actual books, too, and this includes spell books. You can interact with them. I think this will be a great way to store spell books. The Librarian is my MVP when it comes to Villagers and bookshelves are extremely important in the game, IMO, so I’m looking forward to this, too. I’m always on the hunt for Mending ASAP (and I've discovered how to get it easily)!

There will be more about this update coming in a matter of days and beta/preview builds will also become available very soon. The update is expected to come out sometime next year, though.

I think there’s news about other Minecraft games, but my interest in them is minimal, so I’ll let you explore that on your own. Feel free to share what you find here.

Let me know what you think about this update! Are you excited?

jdodson Admin wrote on 10/18/2022 at 02:04am

This update, so far, looks like it has a lot of great stuff. I really like the new bamboo block type and with that, will bamboo drop different stuff when you harvest it or can you just craft planks from the current bamboo poles? Either way, the new bamboo stuff is nice.

THAT SAID, I think the killer new feature is Camels. Finley and I explore our worlds with boats (two can fit in a boat) and it's great because you can move around in the water at night or day without being harmed if you can avoid arrows. Having the Camel to explore on land and not take damage is incredible.

Now I just hope it comes out early next year!

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 10/18/2022 at 04:03pm

Yeah, I wonder how that wood type is going to work out. I don't know how we're supposed to get it. I wonder if they're going to make bamboo trees. That would be cool, I think.

It always makes me smile, reading about you and Finley playing Minecraft. It reminds me of how Vinny got me into Minecraft. I was thrilled that my little boy introduced me to an awesome game I may have missed out on if it wasn't for him. I'm so happy you get to have that same experience! 💙

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/15/2023 at 11:21pm

1.20 is looking great! I saw the Cherry Blossom trees and they look beautiful. I haven't looked much into the Sniffer yet. I built a new PC and have tested out Minecraft a bit. I noticed in the 1.20 snapshot that bundles are there, so hopefully they'll make it into the update. I was most disappointed when they were not released when expected. Check out this link: https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/article/cherry-blossom-biome-coming-minecraft-120

Zedrick_bali wrote on 02/18/2023 at 12:21pm

I want to download

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 03/06/2023 at 10:36pm

It has been named the "Trails and Tales Update." You can read more about it here: https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/article/the-trails---tales-update

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/10/2023 at 02:54am

Really excited to play this with my son. Camels looks like important.

We have so much Bamboo so on day one we'll be all set.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 05/26/2023 at 07:17pm

June 7th!

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/27/2023 at 12:11am

Really excited!

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/minecraft-1-20-trails-tales-173827672.html#:~:text=The%20Minecraft%201.20%20update%2C%20officially,1.20%20update%20for%20the%20game.

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The Making of Doom on the Super Nintendo

DF Retro interviewed Randy Linden, the programmer behind the Super Nintendo Doom port. The interesting part about that console Doom port is that it was created to run on the Super FX 2 chip and was one of the better Doom console ports. It's still a bit framey, but was one of the best non PC ways to play Doom for quite some time. The DF Retro interview is incredible and Randy talks about how he miraculously ported the game to the Super Nintendo.