Gaming off the Beaten Path

It's time once again for my year end review. I can't believe I'm doing this again, or that I've been doing this for two years. Not going to lie, I didn't anticipate this going longer than a few posts. What started as a new years resolution two years ago has become something I look forward to doing each week (and also my de facto excuse to play more video games).  But enough about that, it's time for the year end review. As I did last year, I will be calling out best game, worst game, most surprising and most disappointing. It goes without saying, but 10's games are ineligible and will not be factored into the scores. I will also not be counting my review of the "High Score" series, since comparing a video game to a documentary makes zero sense. Speaking of scores, here's a reminder of what I gave each game: Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne - 9.75/10 F-Zero GX - 9.75/10 Final Fantasy VII Remake - 9.5/10 Phantasy Star IV: End of the Millennium - 9.5/...

In case you couldn't tell, I've played a lot of video games in my lifetime. About 10 years ago, I actually listed out every title I'd ever played and it was already well into the thousands. And again, that was 10 years ago. I've seen good and bad, unique and formulaic, inspired and boring, violent and family friendly, and everything in between. My past two years of posts have been a pretty good microcosm of the industry really, there have been a few stinkers, mostly okay to good games and a few true standouts. I've discussed my love for games like Doom, Street Fighter, Madden and Final Fantasy VII and how they kept me hooked on the medium throughout my years. But as important as they were in my gaming journey, it all started with Mega Man 3. It wasn't the first game I ever played, I remember being as young as 4 and playing Super Mario Bros at a friend's house. My cousin had an NES and I remember us both getting very frustrated that we couldn't beat any o...

Time to check another console off the list. With the official launch of the new generation (I think this would be 9th Gen?), it's safe to assume a lot of folks out there will be getting new gaming consoles for the holidays this year. I know I did! So, did I pick up a PS5, or did I go with an XBox? Neither. I got a Sega Dreamcast for Christmas this year. I've been after one of these for a long time and thanks in no small part to my wife, I've finally got one. It even came with a bunch of games, running the gamut from console mainstays to obscure outliers. I should also mention that while I've never owned a Dreamcast before now, I do have a lot more familiarity with it than I do other Sega consoles. I've certainly played more of it than the Saturn and I would even say I put more time on it than I did the Genesis. I've played a lot of the heavy hitters here, Sonic Adventure, Soul Caliber, etc. A lot of these titles were also ported to other consoles, I covered Gran...

I know it's a bit of a stretch for the whole "obscure games" thing, but I've been playing a lot of Mario Kart recently. It wasn't necessarily by choice. You see, my son has recently become absolutely obsessed with this 2003 entry into the much loved franchise, so much so that he asks to play almost every day. He's played games with me before, but this was really the first one he played by himself. He's not going to set any records (he finishes a course in an average of about ten minutes, they're supposed to take, like, two.) he does do a pretty good job for his age. Honestly, I kind of messed up, I had at least three years I could have used the "unplugged controller" trick left, but now there's no way he'll ever go for that again. Still I'm happy he enjoys it and it's nice to have some common ground. Of course, he doesn't understand that there are other versions of Mario Kart out there. This one, for the GameCube, kind of ...