PixlBit

I got through a lot of GBA/PS2 stuff this week and retro on Xbox Series S. I got some good purchases on sales this week too. Also progress through the Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue show, books and podcasts. 

GBA on a DS Lite

I'm trading Tactics Ogre, Castlevania Circle of the Moon and Breath of Fire because even though they are good, I'm just not into these kinds of games right now. Advance Wars, however, yes, yes, yes. I love the graphic style of it. It makes what could be a very complex looking game a joy to look at. Executing commands is easy as pie. I played the first mission and put it in the keeper pile. 

PS2 Slim Platinum

Trading: Romance of the Three Kingdoms VII (looks great but too complex for me right now) and MDK2 Armageddon (I've always wondered why the left analog stick doesn't do movement. A very clumsy control scheme).

Keepers follow - 
Pinball Hall of Fame Williams Collection - I played the Williams Challenge mode and got through all of the table goals surprisingly. You get three tries on each to beat the goal and then get a score for the tournament. These are just the best pinball simulations ever. 
Hot Shots Golf 3 - It's great fun. I love the VS mode where you play against characters. If you win, you unlock them for your own use. 
Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land - The only Japanese Wizardry game put out in the US until the recent one on Switch I forget the name of off hand. I remember this as being real hard, but this time it didn't seem that bad. I didn't actually die on my first trip to the labyrinth. It would take a lot of annoyance to get me to trade this. 
Activision Anthology - For a long time this was the only place to play the Activision Atari games on console. This time I discovered an interest in Demon Attack, which is kind of a Phoenix clone. I also enjoyed Skiing and Crackpots which continues to wow me with its creativity. I also unlocked the patch for it. 
Culdcept - This Monopoly meets Magic the Gathering card/board game is an old favorite and my opinion of it hasn't changed. I played it all morning the one day and didn't want to stop. I'll continue it next week until I start getting beat a lot. You really have to dominate the AI or they will beat you. 

XSS

I very quickly revisited the following 2000s games I had digitally: Jade Empire, Conkers Live & Reloaded, Balders Gate Dark Alliance 2, Star Wars Jedi Starfighter, Star Wars Battlefront, Mercenaries, Red Faction 2, Geometry Wars Evolved, Lego Batman, Lego Indiana Jones and Beyond Good & Evil. None of them except maybe Mercenaries and Geometry Wars really made me want to keep playing much past the first few missions for one reason or another. I played some of Puzzle Quest Challenge of the Warlords so I could compare it to the Immortal Edition playing on Mad Krammer's TV. Graphics are worlds different. They even changed some of the rules and the cut scenes. I'm having fun replaying the original will a devil may care attitude. I'm playing it fast and with minimal spells to streamline the experience a bit. Who knows, maybe this will be a winning formula and I can fully beat the game finally. 

A couple long plays I finally quit were Spyro Year of the Dragon (not one more failed jump!) and Doom 3 (Hell is even darker than Mars. Who knew?). 

Finally one I loved, played to the finish again and finally completed the achievements. The Gunk.

This game hits every one of my favorite things in games. I love exploration, scanning things, cleaning up to save the environment, solid platforming and intuitive controls for quick fights and accurate shooting. I only wish I had a dodge move for those charging gunk rhinos. 
I played the entire game start to finish again to go after the four achievements I had left. Two were for fighting: 3 simultanions kills of the tiny gunk monsters and for getting the rhinos to charge into each other; and two for scanning and upgrading everything. 
This isn't a very long game. I've only played it 12.5 hours total and that's two whole playthroughs. I love it though. 
Image & Form (now part of Thunderful) devoloped it. They did the SteamWorld series. I can't wait to see what they do next. 

I also gobbled up every bit of content in the new DLC drop for Atari 50, the Namco Legendary Pack. Lots of great interviews, box art designs, design docs, advertisements and playable games from the Namco/Atari collaborations in the 80s. I was surprised to learn Namco's first video arcade game was distributing Atari's Pong in Japan. Also that it didn't take off quite as well as Breakout, which was a hit. 

Purchases

The Gunk for $4. I played this first on GamePass, which I don't have right now. I'm glad to own it. 
Atari 50: Namco Legendary Pack for $8. I bought it the second I saw it listed. 
Hogwarts Legacy for $10. I was on the fence when it was on sale for $15, but I couldn't resist at $10. I can't wait to get into it next week. 

TV

I'm still watching Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue on youtube. It's cheesy as heck but I can't resist seeing what they do with their physical effects. This time they launched a train into the sky before it transformed into the Megazoid. It gets wackier every episode. 

Books

Still reading Ted Chiang's scifi story collection Stories of Your Life and Others. It's excellent. There's lots of complex math, science, linguistics etc... weaved into these stories. I absolutely love it. I also read a little bit of the ebook version of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It's really good so far but it went back on hold on Libby.

Podcasts

More What Went Wrong pod about the making of movies. I'm doing all the 2000s stuff. I just finished Donnie Darko and will start V For Vendetta next. 

That's all. Hopefully I'll get to a PS2 overview blog tomorrow.