(Playstation 5) The hype didn't lie. This game should be considered one of the greats!

I will try not to gush too much on this but it is a must play. Expedition 33 took the old school fantasy turn based RPG formula and truly brought it into the modern era, more so than the best remasters that have come out in recent history!

Graphically the game is stunning with its own style. Taking place in late 1800s France, you are brought into this vibrant and beautiful world that heightens the journey throughout. The story is rich with complicated characters and emotional twists and turns that features some prominent actors to voice them (Charlie Cox and Andy Serkis to name a couple!). From the very beginning, you are fully immersed.

The combat feels very polished as well. It is a great combination of turn-based action with a parry/counter system that implements skill and reaction time. It's like Mario RPG combat on steroids. Each character comes with a very unique set of a moves. This combined with an impressively robust upgrade system, there's really no wrong combination of characters to go with, which allows you to truly proceed with your own playstyle.

Being a fan of many game soundtracks, this took me by surprise as well as I wasn't expecting to be so enthralled by it. It is a completely original score of music with French elements touching on electronic, orchestral, and operatic tones that adds to the unique feel of this game. The music keeps you calm through even the most difficult fights but still provides an epic experience! I am not ashamed to say that I actually bought the 6 vinyl set after beating this game!

Overall this game was a true treat to play! It was recommended by two friends and I am so glad I listened. My wife even got into the story just watching tangentially, by the end she was watching completely. Even after the story is complete, there are plenty of other things to explore but it doesn't beat you over the head with it which keeps it mysterious like the classic PS1 era RPGs like Final Fantasy VII.

Do yourself a favor and start your expedition!
"For those who come after!"

(Nintendo 64) It's been years since I revisited the Lylat system on Nintendo 64 and it still feels as smooth as it did in 1997!

Star Fox is a well crafted game featuring a nice arcade length story with two options for your path. Each path offers unique levels and adds even more characters to the story, all the way to Andross as the boss fight. The different levels keep you interested and some even feature different vehicles to explore various terrains.

Visually and audibly, the game has always felt very impressive for the time. It runs great even with multiple enemies and lasers being shot across the screen constantly. The voice acting adds a great amount of personality to each character as well! There isn't much backstory needed as it does a great job bringing you up to speed through the character's dialogue between each other.

Star Fox is certainly an underutilized franchise which is a shame because the whole crew and even the enemies are well designed (yes- even Slippy!). This year Nintendo announced a new game coming to Switch 2 which is great news! So if you haven't played the 64 title or haven't in a while, definitely boot this up to get yourself ready!

(Playstation) A charming action RPG from the heyday of Squaresoft!

Threads of Fate was a game I bought back in 2000, knowing nothing about it, after beating Final Fantasy 7 for the first time. Riding the high of the giant world building, wild story, and cool characters, I was looking for the next deep and epic game to dive into. Threads of Fate wasn't that, but it is a lesser known gem of the PS1 RPG era... I just didn't see it then.

The game consists of two main characters, Rue and Mint, who each have their own intertwined story and abilities to playthrough. Rue has a more tragic and serious story with the ability to take abilities from the enemies he defeats, while Mint is the more humorous story with magic powers. The combat is fun and more action oriented than other RPGs of that time. The movement and hitboxes feel a bit clunky at times but overall the game feels fast and satisfying as you go through. The world here is small but the story makes up for it with characters full of personality and a good lesson of duty vs. will. You certainly get attached to the little town and its residents.

I loved how it feels a lot like a classic anime of the time. It is mostly lighthearted but serious when it needs to be. The soundtrack composed by Junya Nakano is brilliant and really completes the presentation. I have already been listening back to it during some light reading!

Looking back, I only played about 2 hours of this game when I bought it (I still have that save file!) but I'm very glad I took this off the shelf for another go. It's fun, different, and a good one to play. I would recommend this to any fan of Squaresoft's prime.

(PC) A high of the boomer shooter prime!

By 1997, id Software had mastered their run and gun games. Wolfenstein and Doom the predecessors that birthed the Quake franchise. A high speed, big action game where you blow up as many enemies as you can! Quake II is a great improvement on the first game and still holds up today.

The campaign features a rough story of being a space marine ("Ranger") who crashes on the Strogg planet to fight against them in an ongoing war. To help the story along are a few small cutscenes that smell of that sweet 90s CD-ROM vibe. Much like id's other games, you run fast, jump far, and find big guns to take on bigger and bigger enemies as the levels progress.

On modern machines, this game soars. The graphics are nostalgic but don't fall short and the music is that pumping metal these games are known for! I think this game parallels nicely with Half-Life. It features some platforming and puzzles but really leans into the shooter, whereas Half-Life leans the other way.

If you enjoy this genre, you can't get much better than Quake II. Pick this up and start blowing stuff up!

(Playstation 5) It's all about the voice acting!

If you are a fan of Rick and Morty and other Adult Swim shows, High on Life is right up your alley! The game features you as a bounty hunter teaming up with a bunch of talking guns (all voiced by familiar voice actors and comedians). The whole game feels very much like a crazy Rick and Morty episode... every person you run into has insane dialogue that adds to the feel of the game.

Crazy banter aside, the gameplay itself is also well done. I would put it in the Bioshock genre of shooters. At its core, it is a run and gun first person shooter, but it has unique combat mechanics to bring some diversity to it. Each gun has different personality (literally) but also different special abilities that help you kill enemies and even traverse the levels. Visually speaking the game is wild and vibrant which adds to the already wild ride.

Overall it's about the vibe and story. If this crazy humor style isn't your thing, then I would say pass on this. But for everyone else, this is a charming game with a TON of personality and funny moments that is very aware of itself. I found myself talking to nearly every person I could just to hear what they would say. Very fun!

(Nintendo Switch) Game developer Dotemu hit another homerun riding on their success from TMNT Shredder's Revenge!

I am so happy to see that arcade beat 'em ups are getting a revival of sorts. There have been a lot of great remaster releases of the classics and now we are treated to some great new games in the genre. Marvel Cosmic Invasion safely sits itself among those great modern titles.

From a gameplay perspective, it's a lot like Shredder's Revenge. It's your classic 2-D side scrolling brawling action with some light RPG elements for leveling up. It's a well oiled machine so there's not much to knock in terms of the core mechanics. Cosmic Invasion's strength however, is in it's variety of characters. They did a great job trying to represent some popular characters as well as some deeper cut but loved choices. Each hero comes with a unique move set but the controls are the same so its easy to switch back and forth. It is so satisfying racking up combos on enemies with some of the faster brawlers! The visuals and audio are great as well. It's familiar but fresh all at the same time.

Whether you are a Marvel fan or a beat 'em up fan, this game is certainly worth the playthrough!

(Nintendo Entertainment System) Even more rare to play these days, but still fun!

Recently I was able to level up my game room and add an old CRT TV to the mix. One of the main perks of this (besides nostalgic bliss) is the ability to play light gun games as they are not compatible on modern televisions. Once it was setup, Duck Hunt had the honors of being the first game on the new "old" TV!

I think it holds up as a great fun arcade type game. The big and bright sprites (even the damn dog!) are iconic at this point as well as the sounds. Like a lot of the early repeatable NES games, this game caps out at 20 unique rounds where the ducks get faster and the amount of misses you are allowed are reduced. Once you hit level 20, you have to score perfect on the fastest ducks every time. I made it to Round 23 before losing!

This game still holds its charm and is worth a revisit if you haven't booted it up in a while!

(Sega Genesis) The very first boomshakalaka!

NBA Jam still brings out the nostalgia for many millenials, basketball fans or not! The developers knew what they were doing. Simplify the game to make it fast paced, exciting, and on edge at all times! Even going back to it now, I dove right back into the insane dunks and highly aggressive defense with constant shoving for turnovers.

Upon start up, I (as always) immediately went for my favorite 90s Nets duo of Derrick Coleman and Kenny Anderson. I was actually surprised at how difficult it was to pull of a win. The computer player always seem to hit the right shot at the right time to beat me by one or two. It's funny, as a kid, I always thought it was bad luck. I can recall losing to buzzer beats quite often. But as an adult, it now became immediately clear that the computer player is coded in a way that it will adjust it's skill level to make sure you don't have a blow out which was a bit disappointing but it does in fact keep the tension up.

Visually this game has the same charm as it always did. It's not a replica of the arcade, but it looks good enough to carry the action. It always impresses me when 16-bit games throw in a little full motion video like this game does at the halftime break. The soundtrack is still killer. Perfect 90s synth with deep beats!

Much like Street Fighter, shortly after this release, there would be an upgraded version put out. Tournament Edition (T.E.) is probably the preferred option for most due to its larger roster, but it still felt nice to go back to this game's roots!

(Playstation 4) A decent follow up to the breakout Diablo II.

There was quite a bit of time between Diablo II and Diablo III and you can definitely tell that the standard of difficulty in games shifted quite a bit in that 12 year span. Still keeping its roots, this third installment is a solid dungeon crawler; you pick your class and hack and slash your way through mobs of enemies and level up for more abilities etc. It's a good time. A great expansion of the Diablo lore and really translates well to console play (especially couch-coop). However, I do think they lowered the difficulty to a surprisingly easy pace. My wife and I made it through this game on "Hard" difficulty with barely a hint of struggle. I don't think we used a health potion once... a big contrast from its potion spamming predecessor.

The graphics follow the Warcraft III/World of Warcraft feel from the time. It's getting to the age of nostalgia now but I don't love this look as everything always feels chunky, however it is fun to loot new armor that really beefs up you character. The rest of presentation is good, the levels are big and fun to navigate. You even go up to Heaven to battle demons, which gets pretty epic.

We had fun playing this through! I had played this when it came out and they had an auction house to get armor from other players. I was glad to see that they have since removed that mechanic to keep the item progression scaled correctly. I do think a middle ground of difficulty between II and III would a more ideal way to go but still glad we popped this one in!

(Nintendo Switch) A nice way to revisit the simpler days of Pokémon!

I had been having the itch to revisit Pokémon for quite sometime. I played a lot of Red/Blue and Silver/Gold when they were released but haven't really gone back into any of the mainline games since then.

Sword/Shield brings a nice evolution (pun intended) to the early games without overcomplicating it with an abundance of stats and items. The world is small but in a time where nearly every game is "open world", this is not necessarily a bad thing! The gameplay is simple turn based combat as always with the occasional added flair of "dynamax" Pokémon, which is basically making your Pokémon temporarily giant sized. Its visuals aren't spectacular but feel like an appropriate way to bring the franchise into the 3D console world and the music is very reminiscent of Sonic Adventure, which I really enjoyed.

The game also adds the Wild Area which is a dedicated space where Pokémon free roam for you to catch and level up against. The area changes terrain and offers a nice variety to battle and catch which is fun, especially if you want to grind up! I do feel the game falls a little short on its story in this new Galar region. I think it tries to hard to be "big" and work in the "destined hero" angle. I don't feel that resonates much and comes across a little corny, especially with your rival, Hop who I didn't love.

Overall I think this game is fun but it won't blow you away. There are definitely better mainline games in the franchise out there but if you're looking for something easy to relax and battle in, this is a good one to boot up!

(Nintendo Entertainment System) Basic but fun fast paced 90s wrestling action!

WrestleMania Challenge is definitely a level up from the first WWF game on the NES. The sprites are decent. There are a few basic moves for each wrestler all with the same control scheme which makes it easy to learn. You can even climb the turnbuckle to do flying elbow drop! It's not without its issues. The hitboxes are finicky at times but that isn't surprising for the time. The 8-bit versions of each wrestler's theme are still great renditions in this game too!

There are a surprisingly a good amount of gameplay options in this game; the main one being an 8 round tournament where you play as a new wrestler, "Yourself", and go up against the greats one at a time for the Championship belt match against the Ultimate Warrior. It took me a few tries to best him but I got there! Like a lot of the games of the time, it always pushes you in the way of finding a way to cheese the computer which in the this case was body slam and leg drops all day. I would have loved to see more strategy involved.

If you like these old wrestling games, I would say this is certainly a highlight for 1990. It runs smoother, the wrestler moves work a little better, and its overall just more enjoyable than the first game! This was my first exposure to wrestling as a kid as well so I will always enjoy it with fond memories.

(Nintendo 64) A bridge between two eras of sports gaming.

I've mentioned on here before my fondness for the simpler days of sports games. As impressive and in-depth as sports games have become over the years, I can't help but feel they also have a barrier to entry. You don't hear a lot of non sports fans playing sports games anymore. But back in the earlier years of games, sports games were shared by all! This game is a good middle ground. It took the simple gameplay of your 16-bit Madden games and brought it into the 3D world. I don't watch football besides the occasional Super Bowl party and I still find enjoyment in this game almost 30 years later!!

Visually, it is what you would expect from a Nintendo 64 game, the polygons are a little clunky but there is good attention to detail with the player models and jerseys. The game sound is decent as well bringing some player and crowd noise as well as live commentary. The game also features the entire 1999 season roster as well as an impressive line of historic teams which for any fan, can be fun to explore.

Madden is obviously the industry standard for football games but this game is a solid entry into NFL's gaming history. It's very easy to pickup and run with it. The playbooks are easy to understand and it's super satisfyingly to complete a Hail Mary pass! So if you're looking to revisit the old days of Jerry Rice (one of the few players I know) and the 49ers, this is a fun pickup!

(Atari 2600) The first of the video game icons!

Before the time of Mario, Sonic, or Master Chief, there was Pac-Man. I was fortunate to be given a small collection of Atari 2600 games and I figured this would be a great one to kick it off with. Although the game is very simple by today's standards, there is no denying this game's impact.

Most may find the Atari 2600 version surprisingly bare as the arcade version of this game is more iconic with brighter colors and better graphics. I enjoyed seeing where it started at home. The sprites are flat and simple but the gameplay is the same... eat your pellets, dodge the ghosts! Atari was before my time but I can imagine how revolutionary this would have been playing on the couch instead of going to the local arcade. Like most, I prefer the arcade version but this is a solid treat to enjoy and appreciate!