Tag Archives: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Game of the Year 2023

I could argue that 2023 has been one of the best years for video games ever and I don’t know that I’d get too much push back for that. 2023 was jam-packed with games that would take top marks had they been released any other year, but somehow they all got smushed into one, very overwhelming year.

To set the stage a little bit, I played and enjoyed a lot of games this year, and tons of them aren’t on my hodgepodge of a list, primarily because I didn’t want to make this list a top 30 or whatever it might pan out to be. I also had a lot of positive experiences with games that I really didn’t have more to say about them other than, “I liked them.” Games like Sea of Stars, Super Mario Wonder, Super Mario RPG, Stray, and plenty of others just didn’t make the list because I don’t really have much more to say about them than, “they’re good!”

With that said, let’s just dive in.

Honorable Mentions

Animal Crossing: New Leaf

What better way to start off a Game of the Year list than with a decade old video game for a long abandoned platform? This year, in an attempt to find more games my partner and I could enjoy together, we both found ourselves getting hopelessly addicted to Animal Crossing: New Leaf for the Nintendo 3DS.

Our addiction and obsession stems, not only from being long-time fans of the series, but also because the latest entry in the series, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, played a key role in our burgeoning relationship back during the early part of the pandemic. It helped us stay together during a time when people were forced to be apart, and going back to play New Leaf together has really reinforced how special this series is to us. It also helps that Animal Crossing: New Leaf is arguably the best entry in the series, jam-packed with content that, despite our ravenous rate of play, we’ve only scratched the surface of.

Disney Illusion Island

Another game that my partner and I bulldozed our way through, Disney Illusion Island was a fantastic platformer that was easy for both of us to enjoy. It was interesting and varied enough for my seasoned gaming sensibilities, yet accessible and welcoming for my my partner to enjoy. Beautiful art and the decision to not have any combat in Disney Illusion Island, also really helped grease the wheels. Having to only focus on navigating the world without the headache of some random enemy try to ice us, really made for a more enjoyable cooperative experience that wasn’t subject to the normal difficulty spikes one might find in other Metroidvanias.

While the game was a little too long and simplistic for my taste, it was an excellent way to spend some time with my partner, and that alone earns it a spot on this list.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage

As someone who never really got into the newer style of Assassin’s Creed games, Assassin’s Creed Mirage was a refreshing return to form for the series that I found very mechanically satisfying, even if the story and setting weren’t my favorite. For the first time in well over a decade, I had a lot of fun playing an Assassin’s Creed game.

Narrowing the scope of these games feels like a necessary change to the bloat and grandeur that’s invaded the more recent entries, both in terms of mechanics and concept. I like just being an assassin and having to focus solely on doing a good job at that, which is the majority of what this game gave me. If Assassin’s Creed Mirage is the foundation for the direction of the series going forward, then I’m onboard for whatever is next.

Lil’ Gator Game

Lil’ Gator Game is an earnest and relaxing take on the recent Zelda formula, that I was absolutely taken with this year. You play as the titular “lil’ gator,” who conscripts every person who lives on their home island, to play along and effectively be NPCs in the adventure game they’ve concocted. As the gator, you go on a DIY, Breath of the Wild-styled adventure across the island, slaying cardboard cutouts of enemies and solving puzzles, all in an effort to get your older sister to stop working on her college coursework, so she can play with you like she used to.

It’s a very sweet and very fun examination of responsibilities and growing up, while also being incredibly low impact and not demanding. I really enjoyed Lil’ Gator Game on just about every level, and I think it’s worth checking out.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

Two Spider-Men and a Venom? That’s right folks, for the price of one video game, you can play as two Spider-Men and one whole Venom. That’s just the excellent value you can expect from Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, the very good sequel to two very good games.

Realistically though, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is a really good sequel that takes what you loved about its predecessors, shaves down some of the rough edges, and sprinkles on more of what people liked about those earlier entries in the series. They even brought back those bad stealth segments where you play as Mary Jane, except this time they gave her a stun gun that’s more effective than either of the Spider-Men you play as.

While I found the enemy variety, move sets, expanded world and story pacing to be greatly improved over Marvel’s Spider-Man, there were some really lame bits of storytelling and uninspired mission design on display. There’s also the fact that the good, Spider-Man-based stealth, has been minimized both in terms of opportunities for it and its effectiveness. It sucks because I really enjoyed the stealth mechanics and focus of the previous entries, and now it feels like you can only get away with so much before combat is foisted upon you.

The overwhelming sentiment I was left with once I rolled credits on Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was an excited curiosity to see what Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 was going to be about, because despite my criticisms, I still am very invested in seeing this story continue or resolve.

Runner Up

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a phenomenal game, just like its direct predecessor that came out over six years ago. It is the successor to one of the most groundbreaking open world games of all time, and if not for the next game on this list, it probably would have been my game of the year. But despite all the well deserved praise, it’s a very iterative experience that didn’t deviate too far from the winning formula that Breath of the Wild established.

I truly loved The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and all most its new mechanics, some of which really changed the way I approached combat and puzzles, and some of which could be completely ignored if you just didn’t want to deal with it. Fusing objects together to make ridiculous weapons was great fun, even if it was a bit tedious and a way to backdoor crafting into the game. Ascending through ceilings and being able to reverse the flow of time really changed how I approached platforming and navigating the environment, even if I kept forgetting I had access to them.

But then you have the absurdly named Ultrahand ability, which allows you to build all sorts of vehicles that can help you, quite literally, fly across Hyrule faster than any pathetic horse could ever hope to. It’s an amazing feature in its execution, but it’s a total bummer for people like myself who have no interest in engaging with building things in games. I just don’t have the patience to sit and finely engineer the perfect flying machine that won’t flip over the second I board it, when I could just walk to my next location. And even if I did want to engage with that system, I’d have to spend ages grinding away to build up enough battery capacity to run these things for more than 30 seconds. It’s this entirely optional system that’s been added, that’s responsible for a good portion of what’s new about Tears of the Kingdom, and it’s just something I had no desire to engage with.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a great example of taking what worked, and giving the player more of it. “Not enough dungeons? We added a bunch more. Not enough boss fights? Here you go! Not enough korok seeds? How’s about we triple the amount then?” Hell, they even added a bunch of floating islands above Hyrule, as well as an underground area that’s just as big as the mainland, just to see how much they could strain the CPU of a Nintendo Switch. Granted, the floating islands are cool, albeit fairly empty and more limited in number than I’d like. Meanwhile the underground area is just one large grayscale nightmare zone that isn’t fun to explore and filled with things that want to kill you.

I don’t mean to harp on The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, because I really did enjoy it quite a great deal. But just about every positive aspect of it is something that I got out of Breath of the Wild, six years ago. Sure the sky islands are cool, sure the traversal options are fun, and sure, the story is much better than the one in Breath of the Wild. I’m not denying that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is an excellent game that is worthy adoration, but it does sometimes feel like the “director’s cut” version of a movie I’ve already seen before.

Game of the Year

Baldur’s Gate 3

Defying all reason or logic, Baldur’s Gate 3, a tactical role-playing game, is my game of the year in a year that was filled with some of the most laudable games of all time. A genre of game that I absolutely do not enjoy, didn’t just win the top spot on this year’s list, it’s forever cemented as one of my favorite games of all time.

Initially, I bounced off of Baldur’s Gate 3 when it first was available in early access, opting to spend more time with it once it fully released rather than battle against constant progress-wiping updates that were to be expected in its preview state. When it finally did release fully back in August, it did so to a deluge of fanfare that left me excited to get my hands on it in a, “eventually I’ll have time, but not right now,” kind of way. I put it off until this October, where I proceeded to pour about 100 hours into a game I thought I’d just like.

And despite how I felt about it in 2020, where I thought my familiarity with D&D mechanics would be the thing pulling me through the game, it turned out that the combat was my least favorite part of the whole thing. The story, the setting, the characters — most of the characters, they were the things that kept me coming back with ravenous desire. They were the things that made me restart the game 4 times until I “got it right.” While I don’t think there’s actually any choices you can make that will force a fail-state in the game, which I should point out, is an incredible feat of game design and execution, I still didn’t want to chance it and accidentally doom the future of my campaign.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is not a game without its faults, to be sure; the path finding is a joke, performance is spotty, the camera hates indoor spaces despite how many of them there are, quest tracking was iffy at best, and there were some sections of the game that I did not find to be fun at all. There are sections that I’m dreading having to do again in an inevitable second playthrough, but those low points are incapable of outweighing the towering highs of Baldur’s Gate 3.

Baldur’s Gate 3 was easily the best and most addicting game I played this year. It wasn’t just because of excellent world building and punchy combat, but its writing, acting and narrative that all worked in tandem to deliver some truly emotionally impactful moments. Very few games have ever moved me, and I did not expect Baldur’s Gate 3 to be the latest addition to that list.

Baldur’s Gate 3 was an adventure I got to go on with this group of ragtag NPCs that, for the most part, I grew to genuinely care about and get invested in. But most importantly, it’s a game that adapted to me and actually accounted for the things I did and chose. I wasn’t just playing a game, I was writing my own story, and the game was going along with me. Baldur’s Gate 3 gave me the most personalized and unique gaming experience of the year — hell, the most unique gaming experience of my life, and that alone makes it worthy of calling it my Game of the Year.

Thanks for taking the time to read this list, I really appreciate it. The Bonus World, if nothing else, will return in 2024 to make another one of these lists. Hopefully more stuff is posted as well, but at the very least, another Game of the Year list is scheduled.

Regardless, I hope your holiday season was as stress free as possible, and your new year is better than the last. Have a good one, everybody.

2023 Seems Cool So Far

Leave a reply

While malformed and incomplete, 2023’s release schedule is already looking pretty impressive full. In the first few months alone we’re getting highly anticipated titles like Forspoken, the Dead Space remake, Atomic Heart, Octopath Traveler 2 and Destiny 2: Lightfall. While I don’t necessarily care about those games, other people seem pretty jazzed about it. But hey, let’s take a look at the announced titles that I actually am looking forward to thus far.

Hogwarts Legacy

I’ll be honest, I’m not the biggest fan of the Harry Potter films or books, but even I can appreciate the atmosphere of the source material enough to want to play a game set in that universe. Considering Hogwarts Legacy is set around 100 years before the events of the film, I feel like I can get away with playing this game and not feel like a sucker for not being a diehard fan.

Based on the trailers, Hogwarts Legacy is visually impressive and certainly nails the feeling of kicking it in that old, wizardly castle that we all know and love. It also looks like its got a speedy and mechanically satisfying combat system coupled with some cool in-world RPG trappings, mostly surrounding making and learning new wizardly abilities by taking their respective classes, which to clarify all sounds pretty rad to me.

Outside of a trailer or two, I haven’t really kept up with much of the marketing blitz or promotional materials which has allowed me to live in blissful ignorance about whether or not Hogwarts Legacy is actually going to be the game for me. The one thing that does worry me and give me pause about actually buying the game surrounds J.K. Rowling being a miserable transphobe who monetarily benefits from my purchase, along with the fact that the lead designer has a history of being a shithead. I’ll wait and see how this one reviews when it eventually launches on February 10th, 2023, but I don’t know if I can justify a purchase.

Wild Hearts

On paper I really like the main conceit of the Monster Hunter franchise, but in practice I’ve found them to be clunky and unsatisfying to play. I know that I’m in the minority with those complaints but they’ve always been obstacles that have kept me from enjoying this wildly popular franchise. I’m hoping that the upcoming Wild Hearts can scratch that long unattended monster-hunting itch for me with what looks like much faster and more action-oriented combat.

The idea of teaming up with friends and setting out to hunt down some monstrous prey is extremely tantalizing as is, but Wild Hearts looks to blend in some light tower defense elements into the mix which if done well, could be a real game changer. In my mind I’m imagining a game that isn’t just about tracking creatures down, but also setting up traps and acting on what you’ve learned about said creature to use its natural instincts against it. I assume that’s something that happens in Monster Hunter, but I’ve never played long enough to know for sure. I also am well aware that this being a game about hunting legendary beasts, there might be less natural instinct to work against and more ancient magic or whatever.

If the combat and the tower defense mechanics actually deliver on their promise however, Wild Hearts might be the first monster hunting game I end up enjoy playing. Lastly, and this is a minor quibble, but if the menus in this game could be more straightforward and less of an Eldritch mystery that requires a damn cypher to decode, that would be huge for me. Wild Hearts is slated to release on February 16th, 2023, potentially becoming the second video game I end up buying in a six day period.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

While not perfect, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was one of the best pieces of Star Wars media I’ve consumed in the past few years and a fun game to boot. The characters were likeable, the gameplay was tough but satisfying, and the story, while underdeveloped, was still filled with interesting and surprising moments filled with nods to deeper Star Wars lore for the hardcore fans.

Hopefully Star Wars Jedi: Survivor will build upon its solid foundation, adding in more variety in both lightsaber and force power combat, the latter of which in my opinion should resemble the Stormtrooper flinging simulator that was Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Judging by preorder bonuses, it also looks to address the pitiful lack of customization options of the previous entry by offering more character skins that aren’t just color swaps of the tunic you’re wearing.

My only real fear here is that Star Wars Jedi: Survivor leans too much into its ‘souls-like’ or ‘masocore’ inspirations, tweaking the difficulty curve to be more inline with other games in the genre. Hopefully with it being a licensed game of one of the most popular franchises ever, the game will boast a wide variety of accessibility and difficulty options that’ll let even a casual like myself enjoy it. Guess I’ll find out when it releases on March 17th of 2023.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

I feel like I really shouldn’t have to explain why I’m excited for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom considering its predecessor is probably one of the greatest games of all time, but I’ll give it the ol’ college try.

I’ve never been a big Zelda guy, but Breath of the Wild was such a phenomenal experience that dropped you into a painterly version of Hyrule with the simple goal of ‘stop Ganon.” You could always look toward the castle to see wisps of his menace swirling around and encompassing it just begging for you to come and square off against the horrors within. But before you’d even attempt to tackle that, you could see seven other interesting places to explore, all of which led to several more.

Breath of the Wild represents the pinnacle of motivating the player to explore their surroundings and all I can hope for from a sequel is more of that. More places to see with more tools at my disposal to explore them. I’d also super love to not have to worry about weapon degradation anymore. I know that’s a common complaint and hot debate topic amongst fans, but for once I’d like to see Nintendo give a shit about their players and offer some accessibility options, specifically one that lets me use the Master Sword as much as I want without having to go through hell to do it. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom allegedly comes out on May 12th of 2023, but I won’t hold my breath.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League

I’m not gonna sit here and pretend that I’m a big fan of the Suicide Squad or anything, but I’ve certainly been won over by what little I’ve seen Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Granted, there hasn’t been a ton of gameplay or anything for me to reference, but I trust Rocksteady Studios’ ability to make compelling gameplay so much that I’d play a game solely about Calendar Man if they made it.

In Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, you play as one of 4 members of the Suicide Squad, Harley Quinn, Deadshot, King Shark, or Captain Boomerang, as you square off against a Brainiac controlled Justice League that’s doing some real nasty shit. I don’t know too much more about it other than it’s cooperative, but will fill in computer controlled allies where you need them which will come in handy when you can’t find anyone to play as Captain Boomerang, a character I know nothing about aside from his dumb name.

I’m excited to play this game because I’m a big fan of the Arkham games and trust that Rocksteady is going to make something that’s fun to play. As long as they don’t add some boring but mandatory Batmobile-tank battles to Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League like some other Batman games, I think it’ll be a great time. They say it’ll be out on May 26th of 2023, but I’ve been lied to before.

Baldur’s Gate 3

This one’s interesting because I’ve already played Baldur’s Gate 3 back when it released into early access approximately 14 years ago and liked it despite its rough, buggy busted-ness. I made the conscious decision to not play it until its full release because every major update brought with it a wipe of save files and I didn’t want to deal with that, so I just put it back on the digital shelf so it could marinate longer.

But now Baldur’s Gate 3 has a projected release window for August of 2023, and once it does I’m fully anticipating losing a lot of hours of my life to what might become the best Dungeons & Dragons video game of all time, depending on who you ask. I for one have high hopes for Baldur’s Gate 3 because it represents the first real turn-based RPG I’ve ever really enjoyed, which is a colossal feat in itself.

The biggest thing for me about Baldur’s Gate 3 is that it’s using the 5th Edition rules, and since I’m fairly well-versed in those I’ve had a much easier time playing this genre of game without essentially having to learn two games at once. I just want a good way to play D&D without having to be a DM or even finding a group, and Baldur’s Gate 3 seems like it’ll fill that void for me.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

I really enjoyed both Marvel’s Spider-Man and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, so being excited for their inevitable sequel doesn’t seem like that much of a stretch. Insomniac Games already proved that they know how to make a mechanically sound Spider-Man game that can also deliver a compelling narrative, and that’s kind of all I want out of a sequel.

A lot of folks are clamoring for some sort of cooperative play between Miles and Peter, which would be cool for sure, but isn’t something that I need from Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. All I want from the sequel is a little more variety, both in terms of main story missions and side quests. Sprinkle in some new abilities and costumes, and you’ve got yourself a solid follow up to one of my favorite games of 2018.

But therein lies the exciting part, cause I don’t know what Insomniac could do outside of the things I’ve already listed in order to top themselves. I’m sure they’ve got something wonderful cooked up for players, but I’d sound stupid even attempting to predict what that could be. Sure I could theorize payoffs for the last game’s cliffhangers, but I’m more excited about what mechanical changes are implemented. I suppose I’ll find out at some point in 2023.

Mina the Hollower

For those unaware, Mina the Hollower is the next title from Yacht Club Games, makers of the tremendous Shovel Knight series. If Shovel Knight was their Mega-Man, then Mina the Hollower looks to be their Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past, which an incredibly exciting concept to me.

Full transparency: I backed Mina the Hollower on Kickstarter because it not only looks dope as hell, but is being made by a studio I trust. What really sold me in its initial pitch was the core mechanic of digging through the earth as a quick means of transportation, hence the ‘Hollower.’ That coupled with the variety of weapons, enemies and zones in the world made it really easy to throw 20 or 30 dollars at this unfinished product.

As I’ve mentioned, I’m not really a Zelda guy, but as I’ve essentially screamed at the top of my lungs twice already, I think Yacht Club Games could be the ones to finally make that math work out for me. It doesn’t have a concrete release date just yet, but they’re aiming for 2023 at the moment, but something tells me that date wont stick.

Starfield

Call it wishful thinking or misplaced optimism, but I really hope that Starfield is good. My feelings about Bethesda as a competent game maker aside, I would love for a good sci-fi RPG cause I haven’t had one of those since Mass Effect was set in the Milky Way. I guess The Outer Worlds was pretty good, but it didn’t really leave a lasting impression despite really enjoying it at the time.

What excites me about Starfield is the fact that it’s a fresh start in terms of lore. Despite enjoying some of the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, I could not tell you much of anything about that world because of how dense the lore was. I can’t say for certain, but it definitely felt like I was missing a lot of context for the universe by not following the series since its inception. Starfield represents a chance to get in on the ground floor and have Bethesda introduce not just myself, but everyone to this new setting.

Aside from lore, I just hope that Starfield isn’t as buggy and busted as some of its predecessors, a thing that most fans seem to find endearing for some reason. I also wouldn’t mind if the shooting was good. I get that it’s an RPG first, but there has never been anything less satisfying to me than shooting a character in the head being met with them just losing slightly more health. I mention this because as a sci-fi game, I would expect Starfield to rely more on gunplay than Fallout did, which I would hope would result in weightier combat, but what do I know? Those and other questions are bound to be answered when it releases sometime in 2023.

This list could have been a dozen or so more entries long, but these are kind of the big ones that I could think of from where I’m at in 2022. I’m sure a bevy of things will be announced and released as the year progresses that I’ll be equally excited for. There’s also the possibility that something on this list will slip into 2024 which would be insane considering most of these games already have been delayed. But hey, I’m sure we’ll talk about that stuff as it comes up during the year.

E3 2021: What’s Looking Good, Nintendo?

Leave a reply

Even though it’s been a few days since E3 2021 actually wrapped up and our collective consciousness is rapidly moving away from the event itself, there’s still a lot to say about what we saw on display. Today’s subject is none other than the purveyors of the plumber, the masters of the mustache, Nintendo.

It sure feels like every year people have their long lists of Nintendo “dream announcements” that never actually get fulfilled, and this year didn’t do much to allay that perception. Notably Nintendo didn’t talk about their long rumored new Switch model, nor did they talk about long awaited games like Bayonetta 3, Metroid Prime 4, or even games they announced last year such as Splatoon 3. Nintendo remains an enigma to me, but there was still some stuff they touched on that I’d love to highlight.

One thing I want to mention upfront is how weird it was to see literally nothing in the way of Animal Crossing: New Horizons content. I feel like the player base of that game, myself included, have been clamoring for something new or interesting to come along so that we can have a reason to return to our, undoubtedly overgrown islands. But it’s starting to feel more and more like Nintendo had no real plan in place for supporting Animal Crossing beyond its first year, so I hope y’all like Bunny Day, cause that’s all we’re gonna get apparently.

SUPER MONKEY BALL BANANA MANIA

It has been way too long since we’ve gotten a proper Monkey Ball game, and while we’re not actually getting a new one, we are getting this pack of the first three console games in the series: Super Monkey Ball, Super Monkey Ball 2, and Super Monkey Ball Deluxe. Now I have very little experience with the series because I never actually owned a Gamecube, but Super Monkey Ball was definitely one of the few games I saw on that console that made me really want that little purple lunchbox with the terrible controller.

I’m glad to see Monkey Ball return in some fashion though. Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania comes out this year on October 5th and according to some retailers, the package is listed at $39.99 which is probably the most I’d consider paying for this collection if we’re being honest. I’m actually surprised it isn’t more, but considering it is a SEGA property maybe that’s why the price is more palatable. We literally saw Nintendo do this not too long ago with the Super Mario 3D All-Stars bundle, where they charged full price for a collection of ports of “classic” 3D Mario titles. Speaking of Nintendo severely overvaluing their products…

MARIO PARTY SUPERSTARS

I really don’t actually give a damn about Mario Party or any of its many iterations, but Mario Party Superstars is probably the smartest move they could make with this miserable series. With remastered “classic” maps and mini-games, along with online play right out of the box, I think this is the way to properly capitalize on the misguided nostalgia people have for this series. Curiously however, there’s also online matchmaking which sounds like a good idea in theory, but man, I already don’t want to play Mario Party to begin with, but doing it with random strangers seems even worse somehow.

Incredibly, Nintendo is going to be charging the full sixty bucks for this one when it drops on October 29th of this year.

METROID DREAD

I’ve never been the biggest Metroid fan, but I’ve enjoyed a couple of the iterations that have come out over the years. I’ve never messed with the Prime trilogy, but I’ve dabbled with the original Metroid, Super Metroid and I think maybe I played a bit of Metroid Fusion, but I might just be imagining that last one. My point is that I’m way more onboard for a new 2D Metroid game than I am for Metroid Prime 4, a game that might never come out.

I suppose my biggest question is what genre of game we attribute Metroid Dread to, because it seems silly to classify a Metroid game as a Metroidvania, but like, it’s right there in the title. See these are the big questions I’m willing to waste a paragraph on as well as your precious attention span.

It has been a while though since I’ve actually strapped on my Varia suit and rolled up into a little bomb-dropping ball, but I think I can get my sea legs back in time for Metroid Dread‘s release later this year on October 8th. Damn Nintendo, you’re really stacking releases in October, huh?

WARIOWARE GET IT TOGETHER

Hell yes, now we’re talking. The last time I played a WarioWare game was when I was still in high school when the Wii was out there conquering the world, and WarioWare Smooth Moves had just come out. I don’t know if it was a good WarioWare game or not, but I do remember enjoying it quite thoroughly. It’s unfortunate though because the series mostly lived on handhelds, which is just not how I play video games. So the series mostly passed me by, but that dry spell ends this year.

I don’t know how I feel about the main conceit of controlling a little avatar that goes on screen and interacts with the micro-games using their unique abilities, but WarioWare was a series that always had a new hook from game to game, so I’m not surprised they went with a new gimmick this time around. It’s not surprising they went this angle however, considering they wanted to make a cooperative focused game that utilizes the unique aspects of the Nintendo Switch, namely, two people controlling the game simultaneously with a Joy-Con apiece. Hopefully it lives up to the legacy of the series, but we won’t know for sure until it drops later this year on September 9th.

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: BREATH OF THE WILD 2

I’ll admit that when Nintendo went to conclude their Direct by showing off Hyrule Warriors DLC, I turned the thing off entirely and moved on with my life. Little did I know, Link and his cool new hair were gonna be on display shortly after that deflating announcement. Now look, I loved the first Breath of the Wild, it was one of my favorite games of 2017 after all. I just hope that this sequel builds on the right aspects of its predecessor while ditching the shittier parts of the original. Namely, if they could maybe get rid of weapon degradation, that would just be so cool.

I know that weapon degradation is kind of a low-hanging fruit when it comes to criticism about Breath of the Wild, but in what I might consider the best Zelda game of all time, it really stuck out as an unnecessary pressure point. I’m not here to backseat develop, but that part of the game is what genuinely keeps me from wanting to revisit it.

While the trailer showed off some new powers, weapons and Link’s cool new hairdo, it was only a tease of what we might see later in the year or whenever they decide to show off more of the game. I personally would like to see a little more life out of the world this time around, like cities and such, along with some actual dungeons as opposed to the lackluster ones we saw in Breath of the Wild. Who knows what the final product will actually be like, but the fact that they’re building off of Breath of the Wild fills me with a lot of confidence that at the very least, I’ll get another game that’s at least as good as the original. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 will get a real name at some point that we’ll learn before it releases sometime in 2022.

I feel like every year the same conversation happens around the Nintendo Switch and its lineup. At the beginning of the year we lament the lack of confirmed releases for the holiday season, and then E3 happens and we all get put in our collective places. I’m pretty relieved that there wasn’t a new Switch model announced as well because Nintendo is terrible when it comes to utilizing their new hardware iterations, like that 3DS that came with the little nubbin’ second analog stick that I think like 2 games utilized. I also just don’t trust Nintendo to properly support two consoles at the same time, considering that even in 2021 we’re still out here using friend codes and trying to do voice chat in the most convoluted way possible.

But yeah, that’s what I saw from the Nintendo Direct that resonated with me in some fashion. I usually don’t have to worry too much about the quality of Nintendo games, but there’s always the chance that these games could turn out to be real stinkers. Here’s hoping that isn’t the case though.