Week: End Game: On 05.02.2015

Welcome to another installment of Week: End Game: On! What games are the staff playing this weekend? Read on to find out!

Kyle England

I finally beat Majora’s Mask 3D last week! I’ve had it since the day it came out, so it’s been slow going. This week, I decided to turn an eye back toward some older games on Nintendo 64. Conker’s Bad Fur Day has been my game of choice, and I’m really enjoying it. Believe it or not, I never owned or played the game until recently, so it’s a brand new experience. It’s a bit odd, seeing a game produced by Rare that’s so dirty and adult-oriented. But it’s an awesome game! I have some issues with typical N64 camera issue and judging the depth of things from time to time, but that’s really my only gripe. The gameplay is constantly changing between levels in Bad Fur Day, so there’s really never a dull moment. Too bad we’ll never see this one on the Virtual Console for various reasons.

Shawn Wilkins

I’ve completely lost my life to Story of Seasons.

Andrew Hsieh

Day 124 of my capture to Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. I’ve lost all hope of escaping this cave. The Lagiacrus days are over, but the age of Gore Magala has begun.

And… somehow… I’m okay with it.

Praise Gore Magala! Long live the Yian Kut Ku! MONSTER HUNTER 4 ULTIMATE FOREVER!

Craig Harnett

I have decided to make a conscious effort to stop playing Mario Kart 8 on 200cc mode before I have some kind of nervous breakdown. I need to slow things down a bit, just for a few days. I think the only way to do that is to abandon Wii U completely to avoid any temptation.

So… what to play instead? Well, after reading Robert’s retrospective on Game Boy Advance, I decided to have a rummage for any of my old handhelds that I’d forgotten about. Unfortunately, I wasn’t fortunate enough to find a Game Boy Micro, but I did come across an old DS of mine with a bunch of games. Fantastic! Just what I needed. Okay, so let’s see, what should I play first… Oh look…Mario Kart DS. AARRGH!!!

Anthony Pelone

I still have some essays to tie up from university, so I may not have too much time to play games. I suspect I’ll be dabbling in Smash Run for Super Smash Bros. 3DS for breaks, which I’ll be needing.

Kyle, you have to try Conker‘s multiplayer mode. Even playing with bots is a blast. I highly recommend War, Death Match, Heist, and Raptor.

Robert Marrujo

I totally feel Craig’s pain. Mario Kart 8 has become something of an addiction ever since the second DLC pack came out. However, 200cc hasn’t hooked me, though I do find it fun. Ever since I first played Call of Duty online many moons ago, I’ve come to find that human opponents are my favorite thing to combat. So as much as I like 200cc, since I can’t engage in it with anyone but bots, it hasn’t latched on to me as much as I thought it would. MK8‘s online multiplayer, though– I don’t care how much of a crap shoot it can feel like sometimes, I just love the competition. That thrill of having things come down to the wire, or the tension of streaking ahead of everyone else and hoping a blue shell doesn’t come screaming overhead– man, talk about pitch-perfect gaming.

And my Nintendo bias notwithstanding, but this is the prettiest game on Wii U. I can’t think of anything else that leaves me in near awe just by playing it. The lighting, the textures, the course design, MK8 is just obscenely spectacular from a graphics standpoint. Seriously, I can admit that I have yet to buy a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, but I’ve fiddled with them in stores and at my cousin’s house, and I honestly feel like games like MK8 easily stand tall with the best that either of those consoles have produced. I’m as curious about NX as the next person, but if Nintendo can give me games like this on Wii U… well, all I can say is they can take their time getting this mystery console on the market!

What games will you be playing this weekend? Let us know in the comments!