What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.
The Legend of Zelda series celebrated its 40th anniversary this year, and A Link to the Past will have its 35th later this year.
So cast your mind back and let me set the mood. Picture this: the year is 1992 and you're a middle school kid who has saved up enough chore and birthday money to finally get your first new game for the SNES (the one you worked so many chores to save up for when your parents finally allowed you to have a console like the other kids you were so envious of.) You've beaten the Super Mario World game your SNES came with and you're definitely ready for something else.
You're sitting in the back seat of the car as your mother drives you home from the store, holding the box for A Link to the Past in your little hands. You open it up and find a cartridge (of course!). You carefully set that aside.
Next up, there's a detailed manual, because of course nearly all games back then came with some kind of little manual of some kind, or at the very least an instruction pamphlet. You read it cover to cover, because you're that kind of kid.
In the box you also find a little hint pamphlet sealed shut with a bit of adhesive. Tempting, but you want to challenge yourself to get as far as you can before peeking. (You give in a few days later.)
Finally, the ride back from the mall is done and you race downstairs to the den, pop the cartridge into the top of your SNES, and turn everything on. You're greeted with a Triforce in 3D that spins and assembles itself (3D on a console? Witchcraft!), while a short harp arpeggio plays:
Doodloodlooodloodloodloodloodloodl do do do do do Do!
Then the title screen, a sword drop, and a pictaresque castle, moat, and mountains behind them while a fanfare plays:
Bumpa deeee! duhduhdudludlut deeee! duhduhdudludlut deeee! Dee DEE DELAAAAH!!
A moment later, the intro prologue begins giving the back story as tense chords play. Then, the now-famous fairy fountain theme plays as you name your game save ("Link", of course!) and so the game begins. The mood is set as you step outside your house into a storm with a layer of splashing rain, flickering lightning (Wow! Amazing graphics!), crashing thunder and a reprise of the tense music. You binge through the first dungeon or two that day.
It's nearly summer, but school isn't done yet. So each day as soon as you get home from middle school, you can't wait to race down to the shade and the cool relief of the basement den to conquer the next dungeon, get the cool new piece of equipment and see what new areas of the game it opens. (Homework? Homework can wait!) That's the rhythm: one day, one dungeon, just an hour or two a day, until you get to the end.
That's how I first played it and why this game is so special to me. :-)
Don't be afraid to check the manual and hint book that I linked above. Yes, they spoil things a bit, especially the hint book. But the game shipped with them and they were part of the original experience. And if you pace yourself to one dungeon a day, you should easily get through the game by mid-month. It's not a terribly long game, all told.
I think you're in for a treat, and I look forward to hearing your experience with the game, as seen fresh through 2026 eyes.
There's a popular randomizer for the game, complete with a Reddit community.. I've never tried it before, but as I've played the vanilla game many times, CGA seems like a fun excuse to finally try the randomizer.
I'll be using this seed if you'd like to join me on it. It uses the "Beginner" preset which seems a good place to start with the randomizer, but with the "Hints" turned on (which I understand means that the telepathic tiles in the dungeons are changed to tell you where some things are). I'm eager to see what insanity the chaos produces.
Versions:
Platforms: Super NES, Game Boy Advance, Wii, Wii U, New 3DS, Switch, Super NES Classic Edition
Genre(s): Action-adventure, RPG, Puzzle
Stores: Free under the Nintendo Classics library if you have a Nintendo Switch Online or Nintendo Switch 2 Online subscription.
The main purpose of this topic is to get people up and running with the game. As such, it's recommended that you:
Another purpose of this topic is to revisit the game and its time period:
Finally, this topic is the beginning discussion for people starting to play it:
It is recommended that you reply to your own posts if you are making consecutive updates so that they are in the same thread.
Any links to the game should be legal distributions of the game only. Please do NOT link to any unauthorized copies.
Put any spoilers in a dropdown block. Copy/paste the block below if needed.
<details>
<summary>Spoilers</summary>
Spoiler text goes here.
</details>
Colossal Game Adventure (CGA) is Tildes' retro video game club.
Each month we will play a different retro game/games, discuss our thoughts, and bask in the glorious digital experiences of yesteryear!
Colossal Game Adventure is a reference to Colossal Cave Adventure. It's one of the most influential games of all time, one of the first text-based interactive games, and one of the first games to be shared online.
What do we want to do with this group? Play influential games; interact with each other through text; and share the love for retro games online!
It also abbreviates to CGA (because we love chunky pixel art), and its name communicates the Colossal amount of fun and excitement that we have with retro video Games in our shared Adventure of playing them together.
No. Participation is open to all.
There is a Notification List that will get pinged each time a new topic goes up. If you would like to join that list, please PM u/kfwyre.
Each month will have a focus game or games that will guide our discussions. Beyond that, there are no restrictions. The philosophy of CGA is to play in a way that works for you!
This means:
If you have already played a game and want a different experience:
There is no wrong way to participate in CGA, and every different way someone participates will make for more interesting discussions.
Each month the Insert Cartidge topic will be posted on the 1st, while the Remove Cartridge topic will be posted on the 28th.
Nomination and voting topics will happen in March and September (every 6 months).
Schedules are also posted then.
All CGA topics are available using the colossal game adventure tag.
Inserting and removing cartridges are our retro metaphor for starting and stopping a given game or games.
The Insert Cartridge topic happens at the beginning of the month and is primarily about getting the game up and running.
The Remove Cartridge topic happens toward the end of the month and is primarily about people reflecting on the game now that they've played it.
There are no hard restrictions on what has to go in either topic, and each can be used to discuss the game, post updates, ask questions, etc.
Well, the time is about up for this month's CGA, so I hope everyone that gave Lufia II a shot enjoyed it and defeated the Sinstrals forever. JK, it's a prequel, we know they came back :)
Please feel free to talk freely about the game in the comments and let everyone know how far you got, what you liked, and what you didn't.
I was able to finish the game and I beat the ancient cave (my true goal) on my second attempt. Did anyone else give the ancient cave a try?
Our next host is u/Boojum with the amazing game The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. I'm super excited about this one, even though I've played it a dozen times, as it is my favorite Zelda game.
What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.
What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.
Either because the game itself is still good, or because you think it's able to be appreciated for more historical/didactic reasons (e.g. Game X is the origin for a certain trope).
Or any other reason really -- you're not limited to the two.
Importantly, why do you recommend them? What appeal do they have to modern audiences?
The reason I'm saying "pre-NES" (Nintendo Entertainment System) is simply because I imagine that a good number of us here started gaming with the NES and don't have as much of a pulse on what came before it. I imagine even more of us started gaming well after the NES and would appreciate insight into that period of gaming history.
What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.
Hi everyone, zod000 here! Unlike many of our previous CGA hosts, I'm not much of a writer so this "insert cartridge" will likely feel a bit brief. Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals is hands down one of my favorite SNES games, and in fact possibly my favorite RPGs of all time. I'll do my best to prevent spoiling anything in the game, but I'll give you a quick rundown of the game itself, what to expect, and what to look out for to (hopefully) enjoy. This game is a proper 90s turn based jRPG, so I realize this game has a longer official runtime than we are used to, but I still feel that it is more than doable in a month of casual play as this was before the days of role playing games inflating their play times (I mostly blame Final Fantasy 7 on the PS1 for that trend).
Now despite the name, Lufia II is a prequel and is canonically the first game as far as the story goes, so don't worry about thinking that you should play Lufia 1 first. If anything, that would spoil some of it, ironically. As I said, I don't want to spoil any story, but will say that the story starts as trope-y as it gets, but soon gets far more interesting so please don't drop off after an hour or so.
So what sets Lufia II apart from the many other fantastic jRPGs of its time? Well, I'll give you some highlights:
Monster sidekicks! You get pet-like monster companions that fight with your party during battles referred to as "capsule monsters". They all start as essentially babies and they "grow" by you feeding them items. They are NPC sidekicks that you do not directly control, but they are always beneficial in some ways. Some are better than others, and there are ways to game the cryptic items they prefer and want to be fed, but unless you feel like going down that rabbit hole you can just passively feed them items you don't want/need and build up your little buddy. I don't feel like this is spoiler territory, but if anyone disagrees let me know and I'll hide away.
Puzzles! Lufia II has a strong leaning towards puzzles, I don't know that any dungeons in the game lack a puzzle. Some feel inspired by games like Zelda, but some of the later puzzles can be fairly challenging. There are also some optional later puzzles which stumped me as a kid. You'll know which they are if you stumble upon then; feel free to skip those or use some sort of guide online.
Optional Content! I know you're thinking "hey, stop using exclamation points, optional content isn't that exciting". And while you are probably right, the optional dungeon known as the Ancient Cave does get me excited. While not technically the only optional content (there are the puzzles and such I previously mentioned as well as a casino area that could be worth your time for some prizes), the Ancient Cave is almost a game in itself.
Anyway, I think that is enough, please enjoy Lufia II with me for this months Colossal Game Adventure!
There aren't any mods that I am aware of; however, there are some special modes that unlock after beating the game a few times and there are save game files around that have them enabled. One of the modes is called "Gift Mode" and starts you directly on an island with the Ancient Cave with the option to switch your party to any combination of characters you ever play with in the game. It is fun to either build an "all star team" or a "no star team" and either give you a better chance at it if you had a hard time normally or to give you a challenge if you're just that awesome.
As always, mark your spoilers as such with the following text block:
<details>
<summary>Spoilers</summary>
Spoiler text goes here.
</details>
Here is the rough news, to my knowledge Lufia II was never included in any sort of "virtual console" or retro console release. Pretty much the only way to legally play this game is to have a working Super Nintendo and the game cart (humble brag, I do). That being said, the game works perfectly in emulation and a simple search in basically any search engine of "play lufia 2" will let you play it directly online, though I am not sure how saves are handled, if they are handled, with these online emulators. I am sure any enterprising tilderino (did we ever actually decide on what to call ourselves?) should be able to run a rom file to play as well.
The main purpose of this topic is to get people up and running with the game. As such, it's recommended that you:
Another purpose of this topic is to revisit the game and its time period:
Do you have any memories or associations with this game itself?
What about its system or era?
What aspects of retro gaming were common at the time?
What other games from the same time period are you familiar with?
What are you expecting from this game in particular?
Which Castlevania game has the best Death fight?
Colossal Game Adventure (CGA) is Tildes' retro video game club.
Each month we will play a different retro game/games, discuss our thoughts, and bask in the glorious digital experiences of yesteryear!
Colossal Game Adventure is a reference to Colossal Cave Adventure. It's one of the most influential games of all time, one of the first text-based interactive games, and one of the first games to be shared online.
What do we want to do with this group? Play influential games; interact with each other through text; and share the love for retro games online!
It also abbreviates to CGA (because we love chunky pixel art), and its name communicates the Colossal amount of fun and excitement that we have with retro video Games in our shared Adventure of playing them together.
No. Participation is open to all.
There is a Notification List that will get pinged each time a new topic goes up. If you would like to join that list, please PM u/kfwyre.
Each month will have a focus game or games that will guide our discussions. Beyond that, there are no restrictions. The philosophy of CGA is to play in a way that works for you!
This means:
If you have already played a game and want a different experience:
There is no wrong way to participate in CGA, and every different way someone participates will make for more interesting discussions.
Each month the Insert Cartidge topic will be posted on the 1st, while the Remove Cartridge topic will be posted on the 28th.
Nomination and voting topics will happen in March and September (every 6 months).
Schedules are also posted then.
All CGA topics are available using the colossal game adventure tag.
Inserting and removing cartridges are our retro metaphor for starting and stopping a given game or games.
The Insert Cartridge topic happens at the beginning of the month and is primarily about getting the game up and running.
The Remove Cartridge topic happens toward the end of the month and is primarily about people reflecting on the game now that they've played it.
There are no hard restrictions on what has to go in either topic, and each can be used to discuss the game, post updates, ask questions, etc.
Important: This will be a noisy topic. If you do not wish to see it in your feed, please use the Ignore feature to hide it!
Tip: If the large number of comments are cluttering up the topic and you just want to see the main giveaway posts, click Collapse Replies at the top of the comments.
It’s time for annother edition of our biannual Game Giveaway topics! Share games with the community and get rid of those extra bundle keys you have lying around.
Before you participate, please make sure you read the rules below.
Post your available games, the platform and method of delivery, rules for your giveaways (e.g. first-come first-serve, random draw, etc.), and any additional info or requirements. Feel free to get creative!
Request giveaways. Please make sure you follow the gifter's posted guidelines.
Anyone can choose to be a gifter, giftee, or both! Giveaway rules are set by individual gifters, but there are handful of guidelines everyone should follow:
If you're new to these, check out previous giveaway threads to see how these usually go.
What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.
Quick links: Steam Store IsThereAnyDeal SteamDB Sales Tool Hidden Gems topic Game Giveaway topic The 4H Club Share noteworthy deals! Ask for recommendations! Discuss what you bought!
What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.
The eclipse is over! Dracula is sealed. Again. Kinda? Who knows, man, this was a weird bout for him. Nostradamus has gotta have some more stuff in the tank for another Belmont, but for now let's just enjoy all the Axe Armor souls we farmed.
I hope you enjoyed Aria of Sorrow! Playing it again, I've found this game is comfort food - simple and straightforward, but clicky and fun. How does it match up to the rest of the genre, or series, for you? Did you try any mods? HOW DO YOU GET PAST THE WATERFALL?!
Join us in July when u/zod000 presents Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals!
Inspired by the recurring topic every Steam sale over at /r/GameDealsMeta:
What are some lesser-known or overlooked Steam games that you recommend?
Are there any genres you’d like hidden gem recommendations for?
If you're interested in previous Hidden Gem topics, you can find them here.
For popular recommendations and general purpose sale discussion, please use the main Steam sale topic.
Optional: Feel free to categorize your recommendations by number of reviews (as a proxy for popularity)
| Category | Maximum Review Count |
|---|---|
| Shockingly Overlooked | 20 |
| Under the Radar | 50 |
| Buried Treasure | 150 |
| Underrated Great | 500 |
| Cult Classic | 1000 |
| Gem Graduate | 1000+ |
Note to future kfwyre: please see this comment about changes to the Hidden Gems topic when you come back to this one in six months.
Greetings everyone. I'm currently in the process of getting a Computer Science degree for two primary reasons. 1.) Because I want to get a stable development job where I'm currently employed, but most importantly to me 2) Because I want to make video games and have the educational credentials to confidently do so.
I know I know, you don't need a computer science degree to create video games, and my program doesn't even teach game development. So I have a long journey ahead learning game dev alongside my program in my own time. Also I have no intentions of working at an actual game company.
So my question today is,
What is a game that you are dying to play, that nobody has made yet?
I'm trying to get some inspiration. It's hard to think about something that truly doesn't exist, because there's so many amazing games already. I'm genuinely curious.
If you're struggling like I am, feel free to list a game that's been made exactly once but no ones been able to reproduce it's genius.
I'll start,
I am DYING to play a factory builder game, but with ARPG gameplay. So Factorio / Dyson Sphere Program meets Diablo 4 & Path Of Exile. I just think this would create such a dopamine addicting game that would be impossible to pull away from if done right. My idea would be to have the factory be the loot crafting mechanic for progressively better armos, while the ARPG is what you use to get the materials needed to craft truly insane gear. Idk, if done right I think this could have legs.
I recently have been reconnecting with something from my childhood: the Krosmoz universe! Anyone who was a kid in France between 2004 and 2012 or so either grew up on it or is at least a little bit familiar with it. Most people outside of the country, if they know of it, generally only know of Dofus, the first of their three (actually five (actually eight if you count the dead ones)) tactical MMORPGs, or the derived TV animated series Wakfu, which was picked up on Netflix at one point. But it's massive here. Even today, they're still quite popular and perpetually developed.
As a medium, video games are not generally so closely tied to countries; more than half of their history has been during the era of globalization and the Internet. Even in the past, when you could only buy games in person in a store, people's minds everywhere were nonetheless on games from overseas. Today, games made in Sweden or Morocco have lived on the same storefronts as games made in Venezuela and Australia for a good while, and I'd bet most people don't even think about where the people who make the games they play come from.
I personally think this is a great thing! But the fact that there's something like Krosmoz, that's so unusually localized to one place, makes me curious to know if there's more; and if there is, I want to know what's unique about it, and what it says about its players and makers, too.
I've asked this before on reddit, and I remember being told about Metin2, an originally Korean MMO that was so popular in Eastern Europe that even a decade after the original Korean and US servers were shut down, players from those countries are still updating the game and keeping it alive. This is a different situation from Krosmoz but another fascinating one. It's the kind of thing I wanna know about.
This is an invitation to yap, if you'll oblige me. Do you have anything like that where you're from? A game or game franchise that only people of your culture know, and that you want everyone else to know about? I wanna hear about it!
I posted this once and immediately deleted it to make it shorter. I did not really succeed. Please don't sue me!
What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.
Custom games/game modes/rulesets give gamers the ability to enjoy some games nearly infinitely. Gary's Mod, Rust, Minecraft, Robolox, Fortnite, and many others keep people coming back as people create new ways to play.
When I was younger I played a ton of Warcraft 3 custom games. I remember there being a solid ~2 years when that was almost entirely what I would play whenever I was able to use the computer and then another 3-4 years after where I would play at least a couple of times a week.
I remember loving custom games like:
I remember chatting with a lot of interesting people, though I didn't have any friendships I made move past Warcraft 3 in to other games.
I know there are many other games with custom games or customer game modes that the community developed, with DotA 2 coming full circle from being the sequel to a custom game to having custom games of its own.
To get the conversation going:
What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.
Now that we know everyone's favorites, I'd love to hear about games that are further down the list -- the ones that don't necessarily rise to the high heights of definitive favoritedom.
So, share your eleventh favorite game this time. You know, the one that doesn't quite make it into your top 10.
Feel free to share your top 10 if you like as well, but lead with your 11th, as those are the ones I'm interested in seeing highlighted.
For this post I was thinking of games more along the lines of an early access title that was abandoned or had a 1.0 release announced when it was not feature complete or still had bugs/issues that were never addressed. If you feel like a live service/MMO game that has shut down should have kept going, feel free to share it as well.
What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.
Something unusual you like to do in games -- your uniquely weird habit or preference or behavior. Tell us all about it.
Long story short, I'm making an everything arcade cabinet and soaring no expense. At this point, I have a racing wheel and plan to install wind sim receptacles on a custom pull-out wheel drawer.
My challenge now is that really want to build flip out armrests that have cockpit controls attached and give me a spot for the car gear shifter, so I'm thinking of buying two VKB Gladiator joysticks to mount into the armrests.
Most of all I want it to look awesome and fit the design I'm after. Second, I want to actually play sim games.
My issue is as stated. Is a purchase like this crazy? Should I be starting with a second hand hotas unit to see if I even like it?
And for those of you who do enjoy racing, flight or work sims, were you once a casual user who got hooked? Did you wish that you'd bought decent gear right away?
Yarrr! Now it be me... [ahem] Sorry, we're out of Pirates!. Now it's ACTUALLY my time to post! Let's set the scene. Looking for a nice summary last month, I found this one from TCRF:
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is a Castlevania game that, shock, isn't about one of the Belmonts! Instead, we get some white-haired emo kid that happens to have the ability to absorb souls.
... Thanks, TCRF. I'll spoiler the writeup for the sake of scrolling through twice.
Unfortunately, as a slap in the face to my thirties, the GBA is a decidedly proper "retro" console. That shouldn't really be a surprise, though, as it's a distinctly 16-bit console with many parallels to SNES hardware. Sampled audio, mode 7 graphics... But only a little 240x160 screen. Despite that, a few companies managed to pack in some very robust experiences on the hardware.
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is the third GBA Castlevania entry; before it came Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance. At the time, these were pretty well-received - Circle was nominated for a few awards and sold ~500k copies. Harmony wasn't quite as universally acclaimed, but sold a respectable 120k in America. It flopped in Japan.
That said, nowadays the first two titles aren't esteemed quite as well. Circle is a very polarizing title. Some appreciate the mechanics and exploration, while others detest it for some awful control scheme decisions. The GBA display did not suit its dark color palate well, and playing it on original hardware without a backlight is asking for eye strain. Since it was made by a different team than the contemporary Castlevania devs headed by Koji Igarashi, he swept Circle under the rug when it came to establishing a Castlevania timeline. (I have not played it myself yet, though I suspect my wrists are not ready for the impending RSI of a double-tap dpad run command.)
Where Circle's experimental bits get love, Harmony of Dissonance has really not aged well for many. Igarashi was looking to get a Symphony of the Night experience in a mobile form factor by design, but this meant a pretty conservative approach. He unfortunately left the comparison open - at a time when you can play both games on the same device - to call Harmony "SotN at home". The aesthetics are kind of nutty as well; the team flew in the opposite direction of Circle by making things - especially Juste Belmont - glow with a very garish set of vibrant blues, reds, and greens, on top of purple and sky blue backgrounds. This was to REALLY stand out without a backlight. Boy do they. The soundtrack was also compressed to save room on the cartridge, leading to a reputation as one of the worst Castlevania soundtracks in a pretty musically-storied franchise. (With some proper sampling, I love it! Played back on the little high-pass GBA speaker, though, stuff like this really grates.)
Igarashi and his team had another shot on the platform. This time, they nailed something special in the coffin.
Aria takes place in the year 2035, quite farther ahead than anything else in the series. Japanese transfer student and fashionista boy band dreamboat Soma Cruz is hanging out with his friend and shrine maiden Mina Hakuba to observe a solar eclipse. In doing so, he finds himself warped to the eclipse itself, where Dracula's Castle has been imprisoned. There, an enigmatic man introduces him to his unknown power - the dominion over monsters' souls to use for himself. Trying to find his way out of the castle, he meets a few other mysterious figures who are there for various reasons and agendas... I'll leave the rest of the plot to you to discover.
Now, we're not quite at 2035. (I think bell bottoms are back? I don't see the fur coats and flame boots yet.) However, it is 2026 now, and much like the cycle of Dracula's castle, last year's most hyped release was a 2D Metroidvania! Konami just announced the first 2D Metroidvania in a very long time, and they and the Dead Cells dev team will be fighting a forest which they all themselves planted. But looking backwards, despite over two decades of iterative work on this genre, Aria has plenty that stands out - not just against Castlevania's run of six games over about seven or eight years, but arguably still today in a very crowded genre.
First off, this game is eight megabytes small. It's nipping at its big brother Symphony's heels in scope, despite it being a little over one percent of SotN's CD file size, and some crazies like me still prefer it. The team made damn good use of that space after learning their mistakes from Harmony.
Despite that little size, it's a memorable adventure! I hope you enjoy it. I find Aria's main strength is setting a pace and size which it meets and rarely over- or under-stays. It's also an aesthetic crown jewel for the GBA platform; the colors still accommodate the hardware, but there's much more mastery of the system. Flowing water, the flickering moon, bats flying off in the distance... It captures the gothic feel of the castle in a more subtle way. And while I'm fond of Harmony's, uh. Dissonance, the sound design is much tighter here. Some little bits of lore and character interactions help color the adventure, and it creates plenty of space for your head to fill in the gaps, too. (Konami! J prequel when??)
The game has a number of neat secrets that I'll let you discover. So - I'll leave you to it!
...Or, if you'd like, I won't! Since Aria isn't the most obscure game, some of you may have played it. With that - or, to kick off some discussion of the game's flaws - I'd like to pivot into a new topic here!
Aria of Sorrow is great, but there are a few rough edges. Notably, the stats are a little fucky - Wit barely influences item or soul drop rate. Int is also a little weak, not influencing your bullet souls much. The colors still acquiesce to the mix of GBA and GBA SP screens, a bit too washed on modern displays. Weapon balance is a bit off, due to one particularly dominating choice.
Of course, with that 8 MB filesize, numerical problems are just a hex edit away! Bump some values around and you maybe can "solve" these problems. But is that better? Worse? In line with the developers, or a bastardization of their vision? The most powerful tool in the hands of modern video game players? Does it ruin a shared conversation of art, or does it stoke it?
For what it's worth, I personally fell off Super Metroid about three times until I applied a patch that gave Samus movement closer to the GBA games. Modding sometimes just opens up options or tastes to us - and I think when it comes to pure enjoyment, go buck wild. So I invite people to try it and see what you think!
As always, I'm a slut for randomizers and Aria rando seems fairly robust. But since I suspect I will eventually play that in Archipelago many times, I think instead I'm going to try a slew of new hacks and throw them together to see what happens. Weapons modifications! Color palate changes! Vegan items? Sure, why not! I'll post what I go with in the end.
As always, mark ya spoilers as such with the following text block:
<details>
<summary>Spoilers</summary>
Spoiler text goes here.
</details>
A couple years ago, Konami released the Castlevania Advanced Collection with Circle, Harmony, the SNES version of Dracula X, and Aria. This is pretty much the only way to legally obtain Aria nowadays - and if I'm not mistaken, it includes the .gba ROM in case you'd like to play it in a way other than the official emulator. (Someone fact check me on that...)
The main purpose of this topic is to get people up and running with the game. As such, it's recommended that you:
Another purpose of this topic is to revisit the game and its time period:
Do you have any memories or associations with this game itself?
What about its system or era?
What aspects of retro gaming were common at the time?
What other games from the same time period are you familiar with?
What are you expecting from this game in particular?
Which Castlevania game has the best Death fight?
Colossal Game Adventure (CGA) is Tildes' retro video game club.
Each month we will play a different retro game/games, discuss our thoughts, and bask in the glorious digital experiences of yesteryear!
Colossal Game Adventure is a reference to Colossal Cave Adventure. It's one of the most influential games of all time, one of the first text-based interactive games, and one of the first games to be shared online.
What do we want to do with this group? Play influential games; interact with each other through text; and share the love for retro games online!
It also abbreviates to CGA (because we love chunky pixel art), and its name communicates the Colossal amount of fun and excitement that we have with retro video Games in our shared Adventure of playing them together.
No. Participation is open to all.
There is a Notification List that will get pinged each time a new topic goes up. If you would like to join that list, please PM u/kfwyre.
Each month will have a focus game or games that will guide our discussions. Beyond that, there are no restrictions. The philosophy of CGA is to play in a way that works for you!
This means:
If you have already played a game and want a different experience:
There is no wrong way to participate in CGA, and every different way someone participates will make for more interesting discussions.
Each month the Insert Cartidge topic will be posted on the 1st, while the Remove Cartridge topic will be posted on the 28th.
Nomination and voting topics will happen in March and September (every 6 months).
Schedules are also posted then.
All CGA topics are available using the colossal game adventure tag.
Inserting and removing cartridges are our retro metaphor for starting and stopping a given game or games.
The Insert Cartridge topic happens at the beginning of the month and is primarily about getting the game up and running.
The Remove Cartridge topic happens toward the end of the month and is primarily about people reflecting on the game now that they've played it.
There are no hard restrictions on what has to go in either topic, and each can be used to discuss the game, post updates, ask questions, etc.
Ahoy there cap'n, and welcome to Puerto Retiro! Once you have docked your ship, head over to the town's best (and only) tavern, La Aventura Colosal, to rest your peg leg, sip a glass of rum, and exchange tales of your exploits with other well-salted seadogs.
How was your time with Sid Meier's Pirates!, our CGA title for May? Which version did you play? How did it meet your expectations? What worked for you and what perhaps didn't? Did you read the manual?
Don’t get too comfy though! In just a couple of days, u/Lapbunny will be booting up Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow for us, which based on the title I assume is a karaoke game for melancholy songs. I for one have been practising my rendition of Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" for weeks in anticipation!
I still think it is effectively the best possible version of a mainstream game platform that can realistically exist under current conditions and I think it is better that it exists than if it didn't. In particular their desire to not be reliant on Windows means the Linux gaming is in significantly better place than it would have been otherwise. They simply constantly remind me how low absolute bar the best possible version of the worst possible kind of game store platform is.
My non exhaustive list of problems in no particular order is
What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.
What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.
Once more I come to you with this eternal annoyance of mine, that just won’t go away, with regard to 100%ing games:
I own a Switch 2. It’s my one and only entertainment device (I don’t watch shows, movies, or do anything else).
I already limit myself to only buying Switch 2 games (meaning, no Switch 1 or classics on NSO), so I don’t get overwhelmed with all the options, but good new games come out so quickly now, and there’s so many that I am dying to play, that I’m still feeling like I can barely keep up.
I never buy a new game (even if on discount) before I roll the credits on the one that I am currently playing. That would kill me, to just have them sitting there, on my digital shelf, collecting dust.
For me, anywhere between 20 to 40 hours with one game is ideal, but many of the kinds of games that I enjoy and buy take more than 50 or even 100 or more hours to 100%. I don’t buy them because they’re huge. I buy them because I like their worlds, their stories, and/or their mechanics. If I chose my games based on how long it takes to roll the credits or 100% them, then I’d probably not play almost any modern games.
By the time I roll the credits, I usually feel ready to move on, I feel satisfied with how much I got to experience that world, story, and/or mechanic, but if I do move on, then I also feel bad for not 100%ing the game. It’s some kind of OCD or “all-or-nothing” mental issue that I have. I don’t know.
I guess there’s nothing that I can do about it, because I’m even less interested in grinding for hundreds of hours to 100% a game. The magic and newness of whatever world, story, and/or mechanics a game has to offer have usually worn off by the time I roll the credits, so I would just be forcing myself to check off a list of chores and that’s not fun at all for me.
By that time, there’s also usually a new game that I am dying to play anyway.
So, the choice is between leaving games behind without 100%ing them, or playing two or three games a year, slowly and tediously chipping away at them. The new experiences tip the scale for me.
How about you?
I just wish that I could make this nagging feeling in the back of my head go away and accept that moving on from a game that I didn’t 100%, is OK.
That being said, on occasion, I play a game that is designed to be 100%able on the first playthrough, and those are by far my favorites. Very few games are like that anymore though, which I find sad.
Edit: A short poem I made (with some inspiration from ChatGPT) to help me get over my desire to 100% games. I entitle it, “An OCD Gamer’s Mantra”.
Credits rolled, story told.
New adventures shall unfold.
Rolled the credits, closed the quest.
Move on and discard the rest.
Credits rolled, I’ve seen the end.
Loose threads I need not to mend.
Rolled the credits, let it be.
The next great game is calling me.
Taking it all into account - storyline, presentation, roster, gameplay, etc.
Not sure if there are too many fighting game enthusiasts on here, judging by the posts. I'm not exactly an aficionado myself, as I haven't really been into them since the Neo Geo and PS1 days. I'm probably only really qualified to say Samurai Shodown 4 is the best in the series, although it is remarkable how well Street Fighter 2 still holds up today. For Tekken, Soul Calibur, Marvel vs. Capcom, etc. I didn't play past the first couple entries.
Background:
While playing games for the Backlog Burner, I was surprised to learn that the Humble App (which is a "free" perk of having a Humble Choice subscription) has a few games that are actually exclusive to it.
Part of the reason I chose to play games from the Humble App is that I don't expect it'll be around much longer. It isn't getting updates or new games added to it. Also, Humble Games, the publishing arm of Humble which released many of the games available through the app, was abruptly dissolved in 2024.
With this in mind, I went through the entire current library for the Humble App and tried to identify games that I could not find available for purchase/download elsewhere.
Below is a list of games that I consider to be "endangered" because they might become unplayable/lost media if (i.e. when) the Humble App does shut down or stop working.
If you've got the Humble App, it might be worth playing some of these sooner rather than later.
If you've got game preservation sensibilities, it might make sense to download and archive these for posterity.
Game List:
Here are the games that are, as best as I can tell, Humble App exclusives and in danger of being lost permanently.
For each title below, I tried to find a decent link that gave information about the game. Many of these simply don't have a lot of online presence.
Some of them have Steam pages linked, but in those cases, they're just placeholders and you cannot actually buy the game.
A2Be - A Science Fiction Narrative - Steam page
after HOURS - info link
Crescent Bay - info link
Divinoids - Steam page
Elephant in the Room - trailer
fistful of nothing - homepage
Heeey! Park-Boy - Steam page
Keyboard Sports - Steam page (note: I found an itch.io page with it available for download, but it is clearly unofficial)
Lyric Sonata - gameplay video
Operator - trailer
Quiet City - trailer
Rogue Mansion - Steam page
Roman Sands - gameplay video
Space Routine - Steam page
Spoolside - trailer
The Groundz - gameplay video
THOR.N - gameplay video
Woten - Steam page
Yojimbrawl - gameplay video
Zodiac XX - trailer
Feel free to check my work and let me know if I missed any, or if some of these games are actually officially obtainable outside Humble and I didn't find them.
Also let me know if I whiffed any of the links or if you find better ones for any of the games.
switches to an emotional ending music
Once upon a time, in the sun-dappled realm of Millefeuille, a tale of courage, folly, and friendship came to a close. After enduring countless trials born of pride and greed, our gallant yet hapless Prince of Sablé has reached the end of his journey.
It all began when the Prince learned that the radiant Princess Tiramisu had vanished, spirited away just after his umpteenth defeat in a duel against the ever-boastful Prince Richard. Barred from sailing beside his rival, our humble hero took to the road alone, his purse light and his hopes heavy. What he lacked in fortune, he made up for in heart (and the occasional odd purchase).
Along the way, he fell for a trickster's promise, a ludicrously-expensive potion said to restore his human form "at any time", though bound by more strings than a puppet show. In his kindness, he even repaid the damages wrought upon Saltwater Town, tossing a mountain of Nuts to a boy whose gratitude shone brighter than gold.
Though tempted by greed and misled by pride, the Prince of Sablé's heart remained pure. Through tangled mazes and fierce foes he pressed on, never losing sight of his mission to rescue Tiramisu. By the end, even the proud Richard bowed his head, moved by the Prince's resolve to fight without malice and spare his old rival from needless harm in their final duel.
Yet behind every fairytale lies a clever twist. For while our Prince was chasing glory, he unwittingly became a key piece in the grand design of Polnareff's scheme to save Millefeuille from the sly serpent Delarin. His bravery, fuelled more by sincerity than wisdom, turned the tide at last.
And where was the Princess, you ask? Why, she was by his side all along! In disguise as the wise witch Mandola, Tiramisu guided her beloved Prince more times than he ever realized. Perhaps he should have noticed the resemblance in their mannerisms a bit sooner.
And as our story fades to its final act, the air fills not with solemn silence but with the rhythm of celebration, a raucous DJ's beat spun by a mad scientist in his whirring metal giant. A strange ending, perhaps, but a joyous one all the same.
So then, dear travellers, as the curtain falls on this comical and heartfelt adventure, let us gather 'round and share our thoughts on the tale of The Frog for Whom the Bell Tolls, a story where even the smallest frog may leap into legend. I'll start.
The Frog for Whom the Bell Tolls feels less like a traditional video game and more like an interactive storybook, something remarkably ahead of its time for the early '90s. The combat, platforming, and puzzle segments are kept simple on purpose, serving as stepping stones for the charming storytelling that carries the whole adventure.
Battles play out automatically when you bump into an enemy strong enough to challenge you, with the outcome depending on your stats like HP, attack, defense, and speed (plus whatever items you might have on hand). It's a good idea to keep your health up and hunt for stat-boosting items if you want to make steady progress.
A sprinkle of puzzles and light platforming keeps things fresh, and the ability to switch between forms adds some fun variety, the strong human, the amphibious and nimble frog who can breathe underwater, and the slinky snake who can turn some foes into stepping blocks.
Sure, none of these mechanics are deep by modern standards, but their simplicity works in the game's favor. It keeps the spotlight on the story, one that explores how kindness, greed, and good intentions can intertwine in unexpected ways. It's funny, heartfelt, and often downright ridiculous in the best way possible.
While I might not revisit this one as often as other Nintendo classics, I'm glad I played it. Not only is it interesting to see where Link's Awakening borrowed a few ideas (and a certain prince!), but it's also worth it for the humor alone.
As I make more progress in Cure Dolly's Japanese lessons, I might even try the original version one more time someday. Who knows what little translation quirks or cultural touches I've missed?
That about wraps it up for this month's game. Our time in the whimsical world of the Millefeuille Kingdom may be over, but the adventure continues.
Next time, u/vili takes us on a trip to outer space aboard an overly complicated spaceship, hopefully with fewer spacetime mishaps... but no promises.
Until then, jot down your thoughts and memories; no moment of gaming glory deserves to be forgotten!
(sorry for my rookie attempt at photographing this screen in real life!)
| Month | Game | Host |
|---|---|---|
| April 2026 | Space Rogue | u/vili |
| May 2026 | Sid Meier's Pirates | u/vili |
| June 2026 | Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow | u/Lapbunny |
| July 2026 | Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals | u/zod000 |
| August 2026 | The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past | u/Boojum |
| September 2026 | Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 | u/J-Chiptunator |
What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.
What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.
Inspired by a youtube video thumbnail I saw saying "Which Link would function the best in society?" I didn't watch the video, but that did get me thinking to how weird player characters can behave. You know, with all the walking into strangers' houses, constantly crouching and jumping while moving, breaking any containers we see in hopes of loot, using special powers for silly things... Destroying stuff just for the heck of it...
So! Here's my extended question: how long would a society comprised mainly of video game protagonists last? And I mean protagonists who behave the way players make them behave, not just how they're written by the story. And that includes still having all potential powers.
Can be based on specific past playthroughs, could just be generalizations of how they're typically played. How many protagonist characters could actually hold down proper jobs without getting fired? Who would be able to avoid causing heavy destruction in daily life? Or get arrested fastest?
How long would they be able to put up with other protagonists' weirdness before snapping and starting a city-wide battle?
What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.
I've been getting more suggested game trailers on youtube and have been surprised by the number of "knock off" games. I've seen three different versions of Dregde (a game I absolutely adore) and a number that seem to be mimicking Hollow Knight. I don't even mean just like fishing or rogue like games, I mean like full on knock-offs.
I get the niche they fill, but I'm kind of curious about the ethics of it. Like, I would love to play more dredge but it doesn't appear more is on the way. But I also don't really want to support a company that is just completely ripping off everything from mechanics to art. Like this game seemingly took the actual artwork from Dredge. As a developer I think I'd be pretty pissed.
Is this really common and I'm just learning about it now? Is it the video game equivalent of Atlantic Rim? Where do people stand on playing these kind of knock off games?
What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.
