So, imagine a fight stick, but kinda big and it also has an soc in it to run games on itself and connect to a display. So it can be a controller for other systems or a self contained emulator box thing
Capcom released a comically ugly version of this a while back, shaped like a giant Capcom logo, with a very questionable selection of games. Only fighting games included were SF2 Hyper Fighting and Cyberbots. No Super Turbo, no Alpha, no 3rd Strike, no VSav...
Game & Watch Gallery 2: Holds a special place in my heart as the first game I ever owned. Has the best lineup out of all the collections, with 3 and 4 you can kinda tell they had used up all the heavy hitters.
Mario Tennis: An incredible tennis RPG. And Mario doesn't even show up until the postgame as a bonus boss, which I find hilarious. Has connectivity with the N64 version if you can get that running, lets you transfer your RPG mode character and unlock more content on both titles.
Panel de Pon GBC: Better known under a name of a different IP it got reskinned with, but I'm a stubborn snob who will only ever call it by the original title. It's a bit different from the console versions in order to compensate for the small screen, board is shrunk from 6x12 to 6x10, and the 1P Arcade mode is fake versus that gives opponents a health bar rather than their own board. I actually have a soft spot for this version, it's different enough to stand out and be worth enjoying on its own, even if Gamecube is still the GOAT.
GBA:
Boktai trilogy: Hideo Kojima's greatest masterpiece. First game's alright, second game is where it comes into its own. Note that you want the Solar Sensor hardware for the full experience, but emulating them is worth it over not playing them at all. And for the third game, you'd have to pick between original hardware or the translation patch anyway.
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow: It's Castlevania. It's good. Also check out Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance, but AoS was by far the best of the GBA entries.
Golden Sun 1/2: These games were way ahead of their time for how they designed a combat system that encourages you to use all of your tools and not just click basic Attack as if you gotta hoard your MP for a rainy day. Fantastic puzzles too.
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga: If you've played any of the other Mario RPGs, this one's great too. Has a 3DS remake but I haven't played that version so I can't tell you how it compares.
Metroid: Zero Mission: The original Metroid has aged rather poorly if you ask me, but this remake does a perfect job modernizing it into one of the best games in the series. Fusion is good too, but some fans have opinions on that one.
Mother 3: Surely you have already heard of this game and do not need me to tell you to go play it. Have you not played it by now? Why not? Well, okay, if you haven't played Earthbound first, go do so, then play this.
Rhythm Tengoku: A wonderful game about pressing the A button. Sometimes you press the d-pad too. Translation patch.
Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 1/2: If you've ever played the classic 2D Tales games, these are excellent spiritual successors to those. There's a third game that's JP-only, translation patch is being worked on but it's been stuck in development hell for years...
I recently came across a colorization that turns the original black and white/green version of Pokémon Red for the GameBoy into a proper GameBoy Color title. This sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole, but the sheer number of hacks that have been made over the course of several decades is slightly overwhelming, so I’d love to...
Celeste Mario's Zap & Dash (NES): SMB1 turned into a Metroidvania with Celeste mechanics ported in. I think what impresses me the most is that they got 4-directional scrolling into this engine.
Super Metroid and A Link to the Past Crossover Randomizer (SNES): It's an absolutely incredible technical feat that this even works. SM and ALttP smashed together into a single ROM, with a few doors that take you from one game to the other, then the item pools are shuffled together so you have to go back and forth to find one game's items in the other. Unfortunately because ALttP is a much bigger game with a lot more items it kinda overshadows SM, you may not find this to be as replayable as the standalonerandos. But I recommend trying it once because it's just so cool the first time.
Unfortunately I can't find an up-to-date download link for this one, just a few Youtube videos with no link, but there's an ongoing Panel de Pon GBC Restoration Project based on a lot of unused assets buried in the ROM before it tragically got reskinned (again, this poor IP can't catch a break). I've got an older build of this on my hard drive I could upload somewhere if anyone wants it, but the version I have is far from complete.
UNI finally gets rollback, which means I finally gave the series a shot. The GRD system is a very unique concept that adds an additional layer of trying to win the advantage state, then pressing the advantage when you have it or respecting the opponent's advantage when they do. And Vatista is just a very fun character to play, I'm having a blast with her.
Celeste $4.99 -75% - A platformer with 8-way airdashes. I'm sure you've already heard enough about how amazing the base game is, so I just want to take a moment to shoutout the incredible modding scene for more content. My favorites are Spring 2020 Collab, Strawberry Jam, Glyph, Conqueror's Peak, and Into the Jungle.
CrossCode $9.33 -65% (for base game and DLC) - Phenomenal action RPG. Combat is fast and explosive, dungeons are very obviously Zelda inspired but with way more puzzles. Packed with tons and tons and tons of sidequests, many of which put unique twists on the combat system to keep you on your toes. Make sure to grab the epilogue DLC.
Crypt of the Necrodancer $11.21 (bundle with DLC) - Rhythm game/roguelike sounds like the strangest mashup ever. But what's even stranger is just how well it works. It's just a matter of keeping 4/4 time, but forcing a steady pace forces you to think fast and not make any mistakes. Every death is clearly your fault as every enemy is designed to be beatable using only a base dagger without getting hit (and indeed there's a challenge character that forces exactly this), but dealing with swarms is where it gets complicated. I especially recommend trying to speedrun, playing for speed really makes this game adrenaline-fueled as you have to pace yourself judging how much time you can afford to gather items if you want to make sub-15 or sub-10. Danny Baranowsky's soundtrack absolutely delivers. Get both the Amplified and Synchrony DLCs.
Mega Knockdown $7.99 -20% - A turn-based fighting game that's fun for complete beginners to pick up and play, while still offering a lot of depth. Use this to entice your non-fighting game friends in.
Skullgirls $2.49 -90% base game, $14.83 bundle with DLC - Still the best damn fighting game of all time. Almost never not on sale, hell you probably already own this by now and may not even realize it.
Slay the Spire $6.24 -75% - Roguelike deckbuilder, basic idea is that after each combat you get to add a card to your deck, plus collect relics from elites/events/shops/bosses which provide passive effects. There's a ton of depth in trying to assemble the perfect deck one card at a time, resource management gets very complicated balancing what you need in the short-term versus what you want to take to the endgame. Tons and tons of possibilities, you can pretty much expect to never build the same deck twice. Oh, and did I mention there's 20 levels of hard modes once you think you've gotten A0 down? Also has a very powerful mod API with Steam Workshop support, check out Packmaster and Adventurer for my favorite must-plays.
Them's Fightin' Herds $3.99 -80% - Another great fighting game, been waiting a long time for this port to bring us up to a grand total of two good fighting games on Linux. Has a lot of really cool features like a big story mode with overworld exploration, a cute lobby system with cosmetics to collect and treasure chests to fight for, a dynamic music system that reacts to the fight, and even a semi-cooperative dungeon crawler mode. Has crossplay with consoles as well. Full review.Word of warning: Baihe DLC is very busted and banned from tournament play. Long story about how the publisher fired the entire dev team and released her in an unfinished state. If you buy the DLC, just get the other three characters and skip her.
Anything by Zachtronics - A bunch of different engineering puzzle games where you have to write code or build a machine to solve problems. Once you've solved the puzzle, you can see a histogram comparing your solution to everyone else's on a few different metrics, encouraging you to go back and try to optimize it further. I recommend Opus Magnum as the best entry point.
[alt text: a text post by @coolrich.bsky.social. The text is entirely in quotation marks, as if it is being quoted from an article, and it says: “but the most chilling aspect of the so-called game, which is already being described by some as ‘a training program for CEO-killers’, is the presence of a weapon that exclusively...
A look at the downfall of turn based battle mechanics in the Final Fantasy series and through out the larger industry. Followed with new hopes in recent releases and upcoming ones like Expedition 33
It sounds like you've had bad experiences with games that just didn't make their systems engaging enough to not feel repetitive. That was true of some older titles, but modern turn-based RPGs have learned a lot since then.
Combat is supposed to be the core gameplay loop. If you feel like that's an unwanted interruption, I think there's a deeper problem where the game has left you feeling like you don't want to play its core loop.
I bought a Miyoo Mini Plus last year, just an impulse buy because it was on sale dirt cheap. Ended up liking it so much I wish I'd bought a more expensive model with analog sticks.
Meanwhile, my Deck gathers dust because it's just too bulky too fill the void left behind by the GBC/GBA/DS I grew up on.
First manufacturer to get SteamOS running on a form factor that fits in my pocket gets my entire bank account. Doesn't have to be beefy, just needs to run all my favorite 2D indie games.
Hi. I'm the guy that wants a low-spec model that fits in my pocket. I exist. Just gimme something that can run my favorite 2D indie games and I'm happy.
I bought a Miyoo Mini Plus last year and ended up loving it far more than my Deck, which is actually just gathering dust still. And now I dream of seeing SteamOS in that size.
But nothing you're describing will fit in that kind of form factor. So if you want to enforce minimum specs, you're really telling me I can't have my dream handheld.
I definitely feel like my tastes have narrowed with age. Or maybe it's just that I've found a few games to really really fall in love with, and not much else pulls my attention away from grinding those top favorites.
When I was a kid, I could only get a new game every few months or so, so I kind of had to make the most of each one. Now I've got several hundred games in my Steam library, and more than half of are unplayed, because they don't grab me enough to boot them up over playing another ranked online set of riichi mahjong today.
World of Warcraft still exists in 2024. The game’s 10th expansion was released in August, and while it doesn’t command quite the same influence as it did during its early-millennium prime, millions of players still step through its portal every day. But the dynamic I’m describing—the complex social contract, the...
It really depends on what games you play. Some of my favorite games are so niche that 'matchmaking' simply consists of Discord pings. The upside of that is that you will get a very close-knit community out of it.
The 9800X3D just came out, so I’m looking to upgrade my 2017 PC to join the modern era, which means I’m waiting to play Baldurs Gate 3 (runs, but not ideal), Dead Space Remake (poorly optimised), Space Marine 2, Cyberpunk, Metaphor etc when I build my new rig in a couple of months....
I’m looking for titles that will run well on my only computer. Which is a 5-year-old 13" convertible laptop attached to a docking station with a 24" 1920x1080 screen. It’s got Intel internal graphics....
Almost everything I play is just 2D indie games, practically any 2D game should run just fine on that.
There are so many great 2D games I could rattle off that I almost don't know where to start. But since you mentioned RPGs, I am legally obligated to shill CrossCode at any opportunity.
Riichi Mahjong - Been doing way too well in my IRL games all season. I think that means I'm due to lose this week. That's called like Gambler's Theorem or something, right?\
Blue Revolver: Double Action - This has been sitting in my Steam library and I saw it got a big update. Learning how to play a shmup is on my bucket list, but so far I cannot get any further than stage 4 on the lowest difficulty. Very fun though, and banger OST.
Also went down to Round 1 today, haven't been in years. Played a few rounds of Wacca, Chunithm, Arcana Heart, and Chaos Code.
This new edition concludes the Half-Life 2 development story, with never-before-seen concept art from Episode One and Episode Two, along with ideas and experiments for the third episode that never came to be.
Not that it should be a surprise to anyone, but is this the first time Valve has openly admitted that Episode 3 is officially cancelled?
There's an entire genre of fantastic arcade/versus puzzle games not named Tetris. And that whole genre lies forgotten in ruins now. The one game that survived the longest was Puyo Puyo, but ironically, you can blame Tetris for killing that IP in the end.
I wish any developer luck in trying to do anything at all with this genre, give me something new and I will be first in line to buy ten copies. But I don't think Pajitnov, or anyone else for that matter, will ever find even 1% of the success Tetris did. I just don't think audiences still want this genre anymore, they just want Tetris and only Tetris.
This dumbass contacted Nintendo to taunt them about how he's gonna stream leaked pirated copies. Hard to have sympathy for this idiot for poking the bear.
They usually are free to play with predatory monetization mechanics. That was especially back in 2016 when thanks to these games, the mobile gaming revenue outpaced PC and console gaming revenue.
Mobile very quickly turned into a race-to-the-bottom. When the market is flooded, any paid title has an incredibly difficult time standing out. So in order to get players in the door, you gotta make it f2p. And in order to maximize profits for a f2p game, you gotta employ all the worst dark patterns, because that's what all your competitors are doing too.
And this has led to a feedback loop of consumer expectations. People understand that this is just what mobile is now, so people who want anything else have given up on mobile and are instead buying games on other platforms. Releasing a premium title on mobile is basically just trying to sell to the wrong audience.
Puyo Puyo Champions - After the video essay I posted two weeks ago ended up doing so much better than I expected, 11k+ views and 600+ likes, I decided to try streaming some ranked for the first time in 2.5 years. I'm still cracked.
I am a really big fan of base building in RTS games, which is why I never liked Starcraft. Bases in Starcraft feel like they have such little rhyme or reason. They are messy and ugly. I always build a ton of bases in games like Tiberian Sun, that, while gameplay wise, are a waste of time and money, feel fun to build and fun to...
Bring back versus puzzle games. Puyo Puyo is more or less the only surviving IP today, and even that is only barely on life support now that Sega has banished it to Apple Arcade exclusivity.
The whole damn genre lies in ruins now and I miss it so much. Someone, anyone, make a new game please.
There's no magazine on any instance that I see of such a community on the topic matter. To anyone not familiar, a patient gamer is someone who is immune to FOMO, doesn't get caught up or tied up with current modern gaming. Someone who doesn't care that they've beaten a game from 1996 and here it is 2024. Someone who doesn't care...
Amazing how this cash grab of a game has been in early access alpha development for about 8 years now, finally releases, and this is the best they can do
Unlike the Gamecube and Xbox, which used DVD-like discs but just weren't licensed as DVD players (though Xbox later sold a "DVD Playback Kit" meant to cover licensing fees), Dreamcast's GD-ROMs were closely based on standard Compact Disc technology, just with dual-layer discs.
Upgrading the hardware would've increased costs considerably, GD-ROMs were meant to be a lot cheaper than the still very new DVD technology. Tech that did get cheaper by the time the PS2 hit the market nearly two years later, but Sega wanted to be early.
Playing complex strategy games for many years, one of the things that irks me the most is that hard AI levels often just give the dumb AI cheats to simulate it being smarter. To me, it’s not very satisfying to go against cheating AI. Are any games today leveraging neural networks to supplant or augment hand-written decision...
For most games, it's not difficult to make AI that can absolutely destroy humans. But it turns out to be very difficult to make AI that feels like a fun and engaging challenge to a human. Hardest of all is making AI that realistically plays like a human does.
The slowdown problems you experienced may be relegated to the Switch version, because...it's the Switch.
It's a 2D puzzle game. It's not doing anything the Switch shouldn't be able to handle. Champions never had any problems. Even the Wii was perfectly capable of running 20th, and not much has actually changed since then.
Like, I know the Switch is not the beefiest system ever, but this is not a game that should need a PS5 Pro or whatever.
You may not like playing against bots, but you'd also hate playing against absolutely no one.
That's the current state of every platform but Switch.
I'm well aware that crossplay isn't trivial, but it's too important to not be a priority. If you're making a multiplayer game and you want it to have a playerbase, crossplay is vital to keep your game alive. A publisher the size of Sega has the resources to get it done.
I don't know that some new game is going to solve the player acquisition problem without a new gimmick.
Does simply being content-complete count as a gimmick? It's something we still haven't seen yet in the west. I think 20th and Chronicle had a ton of great things to offer new players. Chronicle's JRPG story mode might be the most innovative onboarding experience any puzzle game has ever seen.
Aside from live service games that are dependent on the devs' servers, and anything that uses more intrusive DRM (note that while Steamworks DRM is a thing, quite a lot of games don't use it anymore and ones that do are very easily cracked), they can't actually take the bits off my computer.
DRM-free games are still considered a license too, at least as far as the law is concerned. Even physical games are. But I'm not worried about anything that can't be enforced.
This is a totally unsatisfying answer, but your only actual recourse, if you want to keep using steam, is to reach out to them and express your displeasure at their updated TOS and its implications.
Valve's TOS hasn't actually changed. The new law just requires them to more clearly disclose that a license is not ownership, but that was always the case.
As the title suggests: I’ve had it with open worlds with dozens of things to do and checklists to complete. What are your favorite, delightfully simple, linear games?...
Strongly recommend playing Earthbound before Mother 3. Mother 1 is entirely skippable, I've tried to play it multiple times and never could get through it.
idea for a controller that sounds good on paper and I wanna share
So, imagine a fight stick, but kinda big and it also has an soc in it to run games on itself and connect to a display. So it can be a controller for other systems or a self contained emulator box thing
Nintendo 64 vs PlayStation graphics (lemmy.world) angielski
favourite gameboy family games?
Looking for more games. Only requirements are following:...
What are your favorite ROM hacks? (beehaw.org)
I recently came across a colorization that turns the original black and white/green version of Pokémon Red for the GameBoy into a proper GameBoy Color title. This sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole, but the sheer number of hacks that have been made over the course of several decades is slightly overwhelming, so I’d love to...
What is your Game of the Year?
Steam Replay is out, so what game did you have the most fun experiencing this year?
Steam Winter Sale 2024 Has Begun! (store.steampowered.com) angielski
Post good deals in the comments
it's big with all the kids, they're calling it "Karting" (beehaw.org) angielski
[alt text: a text post by @coolrich.bsky.social. The text is entirely in quotation marks, as if it is being quoted from an article, and it says: “but the most chilling aspect of the so-called game, which is already being described by some as ‘a training program for CEO-killers’, is the presence of a weapon that exclusively...
Slay the Spire 2 - Official Gameplay Trailer (www.youtube.com) angielski
We need more turn-based RPGs (youtube.com) angielski
A look at the downfall of turn based battle mechanics in the Final Fantasy series and through out the larger industry. Followed with new hopes in recent releases and upcoming ones like Expedition 33
'Powered bv SteamOS' gaming handheld validation leaks in Valve documentation, Asus ROG Ally may be among first handhelds with official SteamOS support (www.notebookcheck.net) angielski
Making peace with liking very few games? angielski
I love my favorite games and have been playing them for years, but I disliked about 99% of the games I played....
Silent but Deadly: I met some of my closest friends through multiplayer games. Then a strange happening turned everyone (literally) speechless. (slate.com) angielski
World of Warcraft still exists in 2024. The game’s 10th expansion was released in August, and while it doesn’t command quite the same influence as it did during its early-millennium prime, millions of players still step through its portal every day. But the dynamic I’m describing—the complex social contract, the...
In a bit of a pre upgrade slump, what do you recommend? angielski
The 9800X3D just came out, so I’m looking to upgrade my 2017 PC to join the modern era, which means I’m waiting to play Baldurs Gate 3 (runs, but not ideal), Dead Space Remake (poorly optimised), Space Marine 2, Cyberpunk, Metaphor etc when I build my new rig in a couple of months....
What are your favorite "gotta go in blind" games? angielski
Which games blow your mind, but only if you know nothing about them in advance?...
What are the best games you can play on a laptop? angielski
I’m looking for titles that will run well on my only computer. Which is a 5-year-old 13" convertible laptop attached to a docking station with a 24" 1920x1080 screen. It’s got Intel internal graphics....
Greatest video game ever played? angielski
What are some video game quotes that is stuck in your head? angielski
“You Must Construct Additional Pylons”
What websites provide video game maps? (fedia.io) angielski
Maps based on the fictional universe of video games, with locations, points of interest, etc.
Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of November 17th
Apologies for another late post....
US Senator Warner Presses Valve to Crack Down on Hateful Accounts and Rhetoric Proliferating on Steam (www.warner.senate.gov) angielski
'My personal failure was being stumped': Gabe Newell says finishing Half-Life 2: Episode 3 just to conclude the story would've been 'copping out of [Valve's] obligation to gamers' (www.pcgamer.com) angielski
Half-Life 2: 20th Anniversary Documentary by Valve
Half-Life 2 is currently 100% off for its 20th anniversary, plus a major update (store.steampowered.com) angielski
Bonus: it also seems that the episodes have been rolled into the base game. Full details of the anniversary update....
After the Triumph of Tetris, an Unsolved Puzzle (www.nytimes.com) angielski
Nintendo sues streamer for playing pre-release, emulated Switch games (overkill.wtf) angielski
Why are most mobile games trash? (fedia.io) angielski
They usually are free to play with predatory monetization mechanics. That was especially back in 2016 when thanks to these games, the mobile gaming revenue outpaced PC and console gaming revenue.
Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of November 10th
Late post sorry about that....
What type of game do you want to see?
I am a really big fan of base building in RTS games, which is why I never liked Starcraft. Bases in Starcraft feel like they have such little rhyme or reason. They are messy and ugly. I always build a ton of bases in games like Tiberian Sun, that, while gameplay wise, are a waste of time and money, feel fun to build and fun to...
Warner Bros. Admits MultiVersus Underperformed, Contributing to Another $100 Million Hit to Revenue in Its Games Business (www.ign.com) angielski
Are you a patient gamer? (kbin.melroy.org) angielski
There's no magazine on any instance that I see of such a community on the topic matter. To anyone not familiar, a patient gamer is someone who is immune to FOMO, doesn't get caught up or tied up with current modern gaming. Someone who doesn't care that they've beaten a game from 1996 and here it is 2024. Someone who doesn't care...
7 days to die is no longer Early Access, but still looks like this (lemmy.world) angielski
Amazing how this cash grab of a game has been in early access alpha development for about 8 years now, finally releases, and this is the best they can do
Thank me later (lemmy.world) angielski
Are any games using neural networks for better hard AI that doesn't cheat? angielski
Playing complex strategy games for many years, one of the things that irks me the most is that hard AI levels often just give the dumb AI cheats to simulate it being smarter. To me, it’s not very satisfying to go against cheating AI. Are any games today leveraging neural networks to supplant or augment hand-written decision...
The State of Puyo Puyo in 2024 (www.youtube.com) angielski
The State of Puyo Puyo in 2024 (www.youtube.com) angielski
deleted_by_author
Showcase for RetroArch Shaders 2024 (Blog) (thingsiplay.game.blog) angielski
…game.blog/…/showcase-for-retroarch-shaders-2024/...
The official Nintendo Museum appears to be emulating SNES games on a Windows PC, which is slightly embarrassing (www.pcgamer.com) angielski
Recommend me your favorite linear games! angielski
As the title suggests: I’ve had it with open worlds with dozens of things to do and checklists to complete. What are your favorite, delightfully simple, linear games?...