VIDEO GAME: Micro Mages (2019)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Micro Mages Year: 2019 Rating: E10+ Time Played: ~1 hour Six years ago, I watched an enthralling YouTube video from Morphcat Games that described their process of creating a brand new video game that could still fit on the hardware for the original Nintendo cartridge. Of course, this was in itself an advertisement for their game, Micro Mages. Since I still owned the hardware to run an original Nintendo game, I backed their Kickstarter and eventually received my game. Now I show this game off to my friends at regular intervals and let them in on the secret: it came out in 2019. The game itself is fairly simple, but with just enough difficulty to require a few play-throughs to get a hang of it and beat the last boss. Its vertical platformer layout is unique for its genre, but it's even more unique in its ability to support four players simultaneously (assuming you have the adapters for the Nintendo to expand the controller spots...
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VIDEO GAME: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Year: 2018 Rating: E10 Time Played: ~45 hours I grew up playing the original Super Smash Bros. on the Nintendo 64. I loved being able to play as a variety of characters across some well-known (and perhaps less well-known) Nintendo franchises. With each iteration of the series, I’ve enjoyed seeing new characters representing new and classic games join the roster. However, even if I can understand cutting some characters as the series moved forward, it was still a disappointment when I couldn’t play as my favorites in subsequent entries in the franchise. This is why I was hyped up for the release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. For the first time, I was able to play as a staggeringly large number of characters. The fact that (almost) everything from previous games made it into this one made it feel like this was a celebration of the history of video games and not just a party brawler. And while I didn’t bother...
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