Super Mario Bros 3. It barely makes the cutoff, releasing jn 1990 in North America. But man, it is something special. I completely understand why people prefer Mario World, but Mario 3 feels like the peak of the 2d franchise for me, and everything after that is just reiterating what it perfected.

Sonic 2 and Crash Bandicoot 3 are up there, too. The first time I played Crash especially, my mind was blown. There are several games that scratch the same itch as Mario and Sonic, but I’ve not found a single game that feels like Crash Bandicoot. Gamers were spoiled in the 90s. …unless you bought from a company that wasn’t Nintendo or Sony.

My unfinished games watching me boot up New Vegas again

Doom.

People are still making Doom WADs. And have you ever heard of the FPS genre?

Ah fuck. Now it’s gonna be Musk’s 20-year-olds in charge of EVERYTHING tech related.

Lol are you trying to say I’m being racist towards US citizens?

Nope. There’s definitely too much anti-Latin American sentiment here, that’s part of why we’re in this mess. But I would say a good portion of people here aren’t racist toward Mexicans. But, a large part of that same portion just doesn’t have empathy for their situation because of a self-focused attitude.

Again, it feels like you’re preemptively judging US citizens. We’re the evil empire, there’s no denying that. But, no doubt, some of us will be the victims when it’s all said and done. Just as you are one of the victims of US aggression now, US aggression will eventually turn toward its own citizens. Now, this is me preemptively judging the situation, albeit with more real life experience of our citizenry, but I do think many here will put up a fight on their turf (mostly because of that self-focused attitude mentioned earlier).

That said, if the situation escalates into civil war, there will be plenty of innocents caught in the crossfire - and those are the potential refugees to which I’m referring. Nobody wants you to let MAGA jump ship after they unleashed the plague rats. God willing, that attitude will crumble as it makes DC crumble.

I don’t think you’re all the worst, I think that your best is rare and that most of you are not nearly as great as you think you are.

Well, you have the general US attitude nailed down at least.

But, I do think you’re preemptively judging the situation. Most people who helped perpetrate this will go down with the ship. They still think everything is fine. You’re kind of just displaying the attitude most US citizens have toward our southern neighbors - and look what kind of leader that got us.

At least Trump’s win was enough of a wake up call to the world that it weakened Poilievre a bit. For now.

Hopefully, in that case, more enlistees than refugees.

So, you think we all are the worst of us?

Given the situation, I can’t judge.

Riiiight, because intelligent, hardworking people won’t want to bail too.

Hope you guys at least accept enlistees ;)

Ooh I forgot about Project+! The only way to play Brawl. It turns it into possibly the best Smash game to date.

This was a tough one. But I’m probably going to have to say JSawyer Ultimate for Fallout: New Vegas. A continuation of the game director’s own rebalance mod, it makes the game hard in a way that feels fresh and fair (unlike the baked-in Hardcore mode).

I like to pair it with my runner-up: JAM - Just Assorted Mods, for a more modern HUD and a sprint feature. Of course then you need the NPCs Sprint mod to rebalance combat and- you know what, all of the Viva New Vegas modlist while you’re at it ;)

I count Dark Souls as a Metroidvania in my head, honestly.

But I think the actual defining feature is unlocking new abilities to reach new locations.

DS1 has you unlocking new areas that are interconnected with ones previously explored, but you don’t really unlock new moves to get to a new place, it usually just happens after you beat a boss or buy an item.

Because we all know how well their promises played out for the first one…

It did get finished, eventually. Hope they stop hyping their games up like this. Just release a trailer like Witcher 4 and keep your heads down and work on it.

I don’t know if Trump will ever learn what consequences are. One month in office to this day, and he’s already made us an enemy to our neighbors and allies.

They have no real reason to show any kindness toward US Citizens, but I can only hope Canada takes refugees if the US domestic situation gets any worse.

Yeah I was gonna hop in here and say Fallout. New Vegas has all the themes of the classic series with the easier to play gameplay of the 3D era. That said though, I really don’t think you can start wherever with that series - IF you want a clear picture of what it’s about. I started with Fallout 3, and that definitely muddies the series themes a bit. Fallout 4 comes around and the realistic themes of humanity’s repetitive follies are all but thrown out the window to focus on the scifi, retrofuturism, and apocalyptic aspects of the series. Fallout 1, 2, and NV are the continued story of society rebuilding and making the same mistakes we always make as a species. Only the first one is a post apocalyptic game, 2 and NV are post-post apocalyptic with large communities and states starting to form.

No hate on the fun there is to be had exploring bombed out ruins, I still love Fallout 3 and I put in a good bit of time with Fallout 4. But while the West Coast tells the story of society rebuilding, with people making adobe houses reasonably soon after the bombs fell and eventually manufacturing concrete, the East Coast is full of convoluted reasons for why society hasn’t rebuilt yet in 200 years and everyone still lives in scrap metal shacks. Not that Fallout games are all realism, but I think the Bethesda games sacrifice the realism of how humanity functions to add more scifi components - and that’s just not what Fallout’s all about.

I should probably say an actual game series I think you can pick up at any game though, and I’ll have to go with Metal Gear Solid. Fantastic story that’s convoluted and told out of order. It doesn’t matter where you start, you’re always going to have fun! I recommend MGS1 for anybody with a day job, and MGS5 for anyone who wants to sink some hours into a sandbox.

Yeah, cancelling this seems like a good call.

Wow, wasn’t expecting to click that and see the old h3h3 intro. Really brings back good memories. That channel was pretty good back in 2014-2015.

Maybe it works well for the story, but just because Niko doesn’t know about places doesn’t mean they shouldn’t exist for the player to find.

I don’t really mean crazy side missions, more small side content similar to how San Andreas had bars with arcades and pool, horse betting, driving school, flying school, collectibles, dancing, low riding, delivery missions, home robbery. Or how III had a place you could go get bombs put in cars. Small stuff that I think fleshes out the world.

The thing is, GTA IV and V do have some of this stuff, but I think their worlds are getting so big that Rockstar just can’t make enough content to fill them the way they used to. I know they like to push bigger worlds and better graphics with every game, but I think if GTA VI had a map the same size as V with the ability to enter every building and a ton of different businesses and activities populated throughout, it would feel much fuller and more alive.

But that also doesn’t invalidate what you’re saying about GTA IV. If it feels right, it feels right. And that’s the best feeling a game can give you. Fallout 3 is a busted mess with some of the worst shooter controls I have ever used, but maaaaaaaan do I think that game feels right.

Same. GTA V felt like it was the size of a real city, with nothing to do in it.

Meanwhile San Andreas’ map is smaller, really does feel like a whole state, is packed so full of activities that I’m still finding out about new stuff, and you can enter virtually every building in the game.

GTA IV was the start of world emptiness in the series, I wish they’d start designing for gameplay instead of scope again.

I never even bought it. It looked monetized to hell compared to MK11, and it didn’t seem to offer much more for the increased price. I liked most of the character designs, and of course the game looks beautiful. But that’s not going to cut it for me. All I heard about it was that it added a lot of aerial combat, which I really don’t care to tangle with.