What are you playing on your Switch?

Ah. Been there, mostly with Smash Bros. Take a break from those games at least, I would, just until one of those two is resolved. Could always give something more peaceful a shot?

I'm still playing Sushi Striker, incidentally. It is not more peaceful.

Yeah my break lasted as long as it took Netflix to need to buffer . . . then I grabbed my Switch
i smashed the bit I was stuck on in Hollow Knight, which turned out to be totally optional anyway, then carried on with that game for two or three more hours. Opened up the map and now it feels a different, more pleasant kind of stressful.

I get the stress element of Hollow Knight, but it feels like a totally different stress to other "hard games" that I've played. It's closer to Mega Man considering every enemy and boss has a clear attack pattern - once you've learned that, it's so satisfying exploiting their weaknesses.

I started Mario Odyssey but then really got in to playing Xcom 2 the Chosen dlc on xbox one and stopped playing Mario , so having finished that yesterday then I guess I will go back to Mario.

Man, I can't believe anything managed to pull you away from SMO! That was something I had to play start to finish with no interruptions.

He's not wrong, SMO is basically the second-best game ever[citation needed].

After Dark souls, right?

Well at least that's better then what Balla would say is number 1.

I really like Mario dont get me wrong, but Xcom and Fire Emblem and things of that type just kind of call to me.

I am back playing Mario now and enjoying it.... I also tend to stretch games out a bit if I like them, I could have finished the Xcom 2 Chosen days ago but kept messing around doing things that would get achievments because I wanted it to last..... I dont want mario to finish to quickly because it will be a long time till we see its like again.

JayMoyles wrote:

I get the stress element of Hollow Knight, but it feels like a totally different stress to other "hard games" that I've played. It's closer to Mega Man considering every enemy and boss has a clear attack pattern - once you've learned that, it's so satisfying exploiting their weaknesses.

For the most part, I agree. It's not so much hard as it is firm. In this case, though, I was on a real bastard of a platforming challenge.

kerr9000 wrote:

I dont want mario to finish to quickly because it will be a long time till we see its like again.

Aye, this is a good point - there'a lot of effort gone in to the old Odyssey, and I don't think there's a Super Mario Galaxy 2-like situation round the corner.


I've finally started Yooka-Laylee. Bless him, that Mr. Kirkhope only knows one song. However, it's a very nostalgic one, and, despite the silliness, I almost wanted to do a bit of a cry - it's the good old days. Then the camera rotated itself to get round a tree, and made me veer off a cliff.

after playing some more mario I reached what I guess is the last level maybe, and so I put it down and tried Mario Aces.

I think I fall someone between Messrs Kerr and Moyles. I ploughed through to the credits of Mario, unable to put the game down, but I'm taking my time a lot more with gathering the other moons.

Whereas I ploughed through them all as I am an impatient bastard.

DoPo: I've had a crack at Iconcolasts. It's a puzzle-platformer that got at least some decent reception, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

Ladies and gents and enbies: if you are making a platformer, or a 2D Metroidvania, absolutely the first thing you have to get right is the jump. Make it quick to start, and give it some thrust. Make it a thing of power. Iconoclasts ignores this golden rule. Its jump feels slow, floaty, ponderous. It is not a thing of power. It is bobbins.

Its enemies also don't drop any form of reqard (occasionally some health) when they die, which surely must also be another rule of the platforming creed. Coming from Hollow Knight, both aspects were especially jarring. (They respawn quickly as well.) Throw in an Owlboy-like graphical style, and so far Iconoclasts and I have gotten off on the wrong foot.

However. The little bit of dialogue I've experienced was actually quite funny. I was quite impressed by that. So I think I'll keep going, but it's got to start holding up the gameplay end of the bargain some time soon.

Balladeer wrote:

Its enemies also don't drop any form of reqard (occasionally some health) when they die, which surely must also be another rule of the platforming creed.

Outwith of Metroidvanias, I don't think a lot of enemies drop anything of note in most traditional platformers beyond a sense of satisfaction at stomping another Goomba.

I can't get past Mario and its coins I'm afraid. I don't play many other 2D platformers...

Do the enemies drop coins in 2D Mario? Maybe I'm not thinking past the original SMB, but I thought that was something reserved for the realms of 3D Mario.

Maybe it is just points... All I can say is that stomping a Goomba feels a deal more satisfying than shooting the spiky blighters who form Iconoclasts' bread-and-butter foes.

I'll chime in on this again if I ever get around to picking up Iconoclasts, but I reckon it's dipped a wee bit down my wishlist after you've mentioned you're not getting on well with it.

Ah well, you know our tastes don't match up perfectly (see HK ), and other people obviously love it! I'll let you know how I get on.

EDIT by way of re-post: The story and characters are actually getting pretty intriguing. Mixing slapstick with ideas about Utopia. As for the enemies, it turns out that after you get not too far into the game, they start to emit fuel... which I can only think of as SOUL right now.

It still doesn't feel as good as the Knight, or Mario, or any one of a number of platform heroes, but it's doing its own thing and I'm interested to see more of that.

Good to hear that it's picking up somewhat. I'll return to keeping an eye on it, then.

Wasn't sure whether to put this in here or the eShop-specific thread, but it's what I'm playing, so here will do!

Downloaded Crypt of the Necrodancer and Yoku's Island Express yesterday, as my first forays into paying for stuff off the eShop. CotN is a lot of fun and very addictive due to the fact that it's pretty easy to get diamonds to unlock new stuff, but don't get me wrong, everything else about the game is haaard. I managed to beat Zone 1, but Zone 4 currently seems like a distant dream. YIE is also a lot of fun and while the pinballing can be a little frustrating sometimes if you can't quite nail a shot, it's very sweet, original and well put together. I'd recommend em both!

I played through the first 10 levels of Aqua Kitty UDX the other night, really nice shoot em up especially if you are just after a quick go of something and it's on sale right now for £3.24

Those are exactly my thoughts on Yoku's Island Express and Aqua Kitty UDX - both are well worthwhile. YIE has a downloadable demo that's just been put up on the eShop too, if it takes anyone's fancy.

I'm at that point where I'm hanging about for the next big game, after playing and/or completing a load of smaller ones (like Miles & Kilo, Go Vacation, Bleed and Enter The Gungeon). I'm thinking about squeezing Flipping Death in before FIFA 19 comes out - has anyone got Flipping Death?