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Welcome to another installment of Week: End Game: On! What games are the staff playing this weekend? Read on to find out!
Shawn Wilkins
I’m playing through all of the Banjo-Kazooie games to see if they hold up as well as I remember them. Pulling out the CRT and my N64 was hard enough, but this game has so far made me feel like a kid again. It has some sort of charm that is all too gone (or was until Yooka-Laylee) from games today. Mario 3D Land and 3D World may be contenders, but they don’t come close to the level of weird and outright childish ’90s nonsense that we all find so appealing in games like this.
I think I might end up finishing Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse once I finish Banjo. I stopped playing it for some reason that I honestly can’t recall, but as far as I remember, it was one of the nicest displays of pixel-based side-scrolling since… maybe forever. HD art with pixel sprites and 3D. Nothing really comes close.
Anthony Pelone
I’m over halfway done with my 100 percent run on Tales of Symphonia. Every four or so months, I build off my previous file via New Game+ to obtain a new character ending, and this time I’m doing Zelos. For every run, I not only play exclusively as a specific character (once they join my party, naturally), but I focus on that character’s sidequests and such while I slowly fill in the Collector’s Book and Monster’s List, as well as obtaining all Titles. I’ve been at this for about two years, so after Zelos, it’s just Kratos, Colette, and Lloyd left. Flawed as is, for whatever reason I never get bored of playing the game, which is why it’s my favorite third-party game on any Nintendo console.
Shawn, I’ve been replaying Banjo-Kazooie as well. While it’s definitely aged in more ways than one, all that childish fart humor still gets me today. I certainly hope Yooka-Laylee lives up to that.
Robert Marrujo
I just picked up Puzzle & Dragons and am moments away from giving it a whirl. I enjoy match-three games (don’t even get me started on Bejeweled), but the mix of RPG elements and the fact it’s not a free-to-play nightmare makes it irresistible. I’m also anxious to get my hands on Splatoon next week, so I’m going to be blasting through this game now because I know I won’t have much time for anything else come next Friday.
Mario Kart 8 and Super mash Bros. remain fixtures in my gaming rotation. They’re both the sorts of games that I lose hours to with regularity. I’m curious to see what Nintendo says about DLC for the two titles at E3 this year. I know Smash has some coming our way eventually, but signs seem to be hinting that Nintendo might not be done with Mario Kart just yet. The response has been so strong to the MK8 DLC, it would honestly be foolish to stop, at this point.
Beyond all that, I’m also getting a new save file for Mario & Luigi: Dream Team started. If I had to choose between Mario & Luigi and Paper Mario, the former would have to be my favorite. I just find the games so funny and enjoyable to play. Dream Team did an especially nice job of transitioning the art style to 3D while still maintaining the series’ feel, something that I’m appreciating even more a second time through.
Craig Harnett
Just lately I’m finding it more and more difficult to spend some quality time with some decent games. There was a time I could sit back and clock up 100+ hours within a few weeks on some of my favourite RPGs. Nowadays, a quick half an hour here and there seems to be all I can spare, so I need something that I can just pick up and play.
Mega Man X on the Virtual Console is fulfilling this nicely at the moment. I played a few of the original titles way back in the day on NES; however, I never got around to playing or owning any of the Mega Man series for SNES. It’s great that I am able to do so now, and to be honest, I’m finding I appreciate the game that little bit more now that I am older and wiser, even if it is just for half an hour.
What games will you be playing this weekend? Let us know in the comments!
