Congratulations! I only have one, so it’s really not too bad for me, but my sense from my friends with two or three is that even that chaos will settle into a rhythm eventually. Best of luck to you in the coming months and years, and just think of all the 4 player games you’ll get to play somewhere down the line :)

I’d like to have a Switch rerelease of the Metroid Prime Trilogy as part of Metroid’s 35 year celebration, in the vein of Super Mario 3D All-stars.

Now that you point it out, Bowser really has earned his place beside the Joker and Emperor Palpatine in the pantheon of evil genius project managers. Those guys know how to get things done.

When I was a kid, I had a couple friends who preferred being called by their middle names instead of their first names, so I just figured that Bowser’s full name was Morton Bowser Koopa, and that he preferred to be called Bowser. I think I still prefer this explanation.

Considering I’m not much better than those robots, even when I’m buzzed and at a wedding, I, for one, look forward to tearin’ up the dance floor with our new robot overlords.

As much as I like to say I’ve come to terms with my backlog - and I really have, to a degree - I still envy you. Because you’re right, no matter what progress you make, no matter what fun you have, there’s always some part of it that will feel like a chore. I vaguely remember what it was like to be young and not have…

Thank you so much for your insightful writing. It truly is a pleasure to have you as a guest here.

The game it took me longest to beat was, of all things, the original Sonic the Hedgehog. I just beat it for the first time last month. When it first came out I was young enough that my platforming skills were mostly non existent, but I managed to get up to the Labyrinth Zone. Unfortunately, that was as far as I got. I…

Could you expand upon your criticism of Zelda as being too pious? I’ve never anyone refer to it that way before, and my first reaction is that I can’t necessarily see that as a bad thing... But that’s why I’d like to hear your thoughts on it.

I heartily second Chuchel, which I was finally able to share with my son (4) last week. Man, it is a hit. It takes all of two hours to finish, but the replay value for him is on par with any of the more obvious Switch titles you mention. Also, the simplicity of the puzzles acts as a sort of general tutorial on point…

Just to add my two cents to what RecklessDreamer said, I hope you aren’t hard on yourself either, but if you are, try to forgive yourself for it. Give yourself permission to feel all the feelings this experience has brought up for you, because you’re not wrong for feeling them.

I’m with you on DS2. I also recognize why others don’t like it, but I ended up enjoying it a lot. It was a rough start - for a while, I thought it was much harder than DS1, and I had spent the majority of that game flailing wildly and feeling like I could barely keep up with what it threw at me. So my initial struggle…

I’ll finish Rime, and launch immediately into Botanicula. I’ll probably spend the rest of the month on some chill, quick adventure games. I need to finish this year with something easy, having spent the year doing one long slog after another, including all three Dark Souls, Bloodborne, BotW, and 100%ing the first…

I actually went and tried a couple, and they were noticeably better, but in the end I still recoiled from doing them. Even recognizing the improvement, I still had the (admittedly irrational) muscle memory of feeling frustrated by the ones from the first game, and I just couldn’t do it. It’s funny, but if I had fought…

Good points, and an excellent example with the Valkyries. I was so invested with that objective that, by the time I made it to the Valkyrie Queen, I somehow didn’t mind repeatedly running into a brick wall for 3 hours (which is how long it took me to beat her, over the course of two nights).

I had an identical experience with Rain World (the slug cat game). When I finally stopped playing, I actually felt celebratory. It was like finding $20 in my pocket, except with time instead of money. Not a good place to be in with a game.

There’s something to be said for the game’s emotional impact, which is different for everyone and very hard to nail down in a way you could describe to someone else. Could be because of the story, the acting, the art direction, or something deeper. Could just be you’re playing the right game at the right time in your…

In addition to what’s noted under “Consider what you’re getting out of it”, it helps to be aware of one particular hard-to-break tendency many people share: the sunk cost fallacy. Sometimes a game doesn’t grab us right away, but sometimes it takes long enough that by the time you realize it, you think you should keep…

Your shopkeeper example is a good one. My first thought was that the ban sounds a bit like a workplace policy (and in fact my office has that policy). It’s not that good things can’t be said, but that regardless of their merit, the things you say can be better said in a different forum that doesn’t impact the function…

Mother pus bucket...