Creatures from Newgrounds!

I thought of using this blog-style format to just spill some gaming thoughts. I played a decent amount of games in 2023 so why not highlight a few memorable ones: I don't have plans of doing anything like a video-essay anytime soon, so this will have to do, as brief impressions/commetary, it's not a 'Best of' or anything like that, but overall all of these are games I both enjoyed and recommend (Art portal post).

Pokemon TCG (gb)

This one came out re-released for the Nintendo Switch, it may sound absurd being a port of the Card-game port of the original Pokémon games so it may seem like it was just a cashgrab at first, however, it's surprisingly well executed. You live in this pixellated utopia where every human is obsessed with Pokémon cards. You customize your deck at will to challenge dozens of players to beat the champions, go collecting, trading and playing to earn the Shiny Legendary Cards, What more could you ask for?

The pixel art is awesome and so is the music (really, check out the music!).

Final Fantasy VI (Pixel Remaster version)

I was looking forward to re-playing this one and good thing I did! it's 'classic-style' RPG at it's finest, a strong story with magnificent characters and remains my favourite of the series (close to FF7 and FF9). Characters cast, including the magnificent villain are what make the game -I'll probably get back to draw a bunch of them- similar to Chrono Trigger, FF6 comes from a time where RPGs finally begin making more complex/layered characters, which especially shows on a point where the whole party splits apart and many of them develop a backstory of their own, it really leaves you wanting more.

Music (surprise?) is among the best of the series, it has a bombastic-teathrical(?) feel that heightens the whole adventure.

Eastward

This adventure game has you play with the memorable duo of humans: John, adult jack-of-all-trades (and great cook), and Sam, the mysterious girl with magical abilities on their quest of surviving the day-to-day errands on their underground town and then, of course, explore an endangered outside world.

It reminded me a lot of Mother 3 in overall story, humor and the development of a BIG cast of characters. The pixel-art, not only in aesthetic but also in animation is on a whole other level here. If you're interested I'd just keep in mind that the pacing is not the most regular, it often switches to loonger story-cutscenes in between the adventuring segments.

BONUS: This game has a 'mini-game' you can play at most towns called Earthborn (sounds familiar?) which is an excellent rogue-lite RPG, I was honestly surprised with it's depth. (also comes with great music)

Death's Door

An awesome Zelda-ish action-adventuring game with satisfying combat, cartoony characters and humor, and a good deal of darker themes as you explore each of the main bosses areas, it's kind of what we've come to expect from a good and stylized indie action game, but I mean that in the best way possible: it speaks for itself and delivers a fun and polished experience.

(music is great too).

F-Zero 99

F-Zero has returned!... Not as many of us expected, but still, this one is high on adrenaline and surprisingly well executed, It revisits the Super Nintendo style of flat courses, but polished in every aspect as you race against 99 players at insane speed.

It seems hard to innovate in racing games and the simplicity of this one's mechanics really make you appreciate the execution, you're always trading life/power for speed, and oftentimes risking exploding(!) just to finish the race, which is what inspired this drawing. It's one of my favourite examples of a risk-reward system.

(music comes from the original game, which is great too).

Long Gone Days

This is an unusual indie RPG in that it has a contemporary setting (No magic!?) but instead it's heavily focused on the effects of war on our world.

I don't want to spoil much since it's strong on story and plot-twists. It's a well-polished experience which I highly recommend if you're looking for a character-driven RPGs with a potent timely message. While you deal with the more serious aspects of the conflict, there's plenty of sidequests which cover some (quite relatable) tangential Npc stories which is where this more casual dog scene comes from.

(music is great too, and interestingly as it has some post-rock elements which I don't recall hearing much in game music in general).

And Finally, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Probably the most well known of the bunch so I don't think there's much to add about this one, a complete sequel to Breath of the Wild, and a great direct sequel at that, which is not something we see as often.

I could have drawn a huge crafted construct, but there's one simple part I remember quite well from the first hours which is the first time you have to use the 'Zonai Wing', with (as far as I recall) little to no explanation, there's some unique adrenaline of testing out this new means of transport out of pure intuition, and one that becomes key to the whole game's exploration.

(music is great of course, I do wish there were more new tracks in general, but the main theme and final battle tracks are especially great still)

TIME'S UP!

I could go on for hours on each of those, but that's probably enough, this was fun to draw and write, and hopefully fun to read aswell, actually let me know if it was, so I may perhaps repeat it on the future. What were YOUR memorable games played on the year? Did you play/are planning on playing any of these?

Here's to a 2024 plentyful of magnificent video-gaming entertainment!