“Whatcha Playin’, Pixels?” – February 2024
13 min read
A monthly roundup of games enjoyed by the writers of The Pixels
Love is in the air here at The Pixels! Sorta! Foregoing our annual Waifus and Husbandos tribute for V-Day, we put up a cheeky little post highlighting Single’s Awareness Day. Enjoy at your peril! HAHA. We also have reviews! First up is The Ascent, brought to you by new writer Tiger Castle. Next, longtime writer Max reviewed the hilariously-titled Turnip Boy Robs a Bank. Last but not least, our bookworm buddy Bookwarm looked into A Mind Forever Voyaging: A History of Storytelling in Video Games, by Dylan Holmes.
This month also marks the premier of Gamelogica, a new YouTube channel that takes deep dives into the legends and religions that helped shape some of our favourite video games. The first three episodes are up as of RIGHT NOW, so check it out!
So, what were the rest of the writers up to? Playing video games, of course! Let’s check in and see what they’ve been playing, shall we?
Persona 3 Reload has taken up most of this month, but I’m also finishing up Super Mario RPG Remake, Silent Hill: Short Message, Ultros, and FFVII Remake: Intergrade. We’re aiming to finish 100 games this year, but that will prove challenging with all these incredible JRPGs that keep releasing every week or two. I hope that there are some new releases from this year that you’re excited for, whether they’ve released already or not!
It’s about two months since I shared my gaming exploits with everyone, and that is mostly because I have not had much time to hit the games. At the time of this writing, I am about a month away from moving to Eugene, Oregon, and joining back up with my wife and children who are already there. I have been packing, selling, and trashing quite a bit of items in my home, but I am happy to report that I squeezed in the time to play (and complete) two legendary gaming titles.
The first game I completed is certainly the least popular among the pair, but I thoroughly enjoyed it anyway. I paid through the main campaign of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine and it only took me three days to do it! Despite its modest campaign length and limited arsenal selection, Space Marine was a truly enjoyable gaming experience. Donning the power armor of Capt. Titus of the Ultramarines, you charge your way through hordes of savage orks and bloodthirsty Choas daemons. The gameplay is very linear, and there is little exploration that needs to take place. It’s about as simple as point, shoot, and kill, which is as simple as a 40K game should be.
The second game I played through not only has a legendary status but is also widely regarded as the best game in the Castlevania franchise. For the first time ever, (gasp) I played and completed Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. I can see why most people say that this is the best title in the franchise. It goes way above and beyond what other “big map” games have done in the past. The fact that this game is close to 30 years old is simply incredible because it holds up way better than many brand-new titles do. Having run through both the regular and inverted castles, beating all the bosses, and receiving the most powerful items, I can officially say that I have had the SotN experience, and it was awesome!
Ask what my favorite beat-em’-up is on the SNES, and King of Dragons will be shouted back before you can finish the sentence. As a kid, the blend of high-fantasy characters, copious bosses, and RPGish level-up mechanics forged an unforgettable experience. But nostalgia digs its claws in deep, and I can’t deny King of Dragons is an exception. For most gamers, the question of favorite beat-em’-up is similarly reptilian, but of the shelled variety. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtle in Time is not only considered one of the best-in-genre for the SNES, but commonly appears on Top 10 SNES Lists across all categories. Growing up, I’d played plenty of the arcade version, but never gave Super Nintendo’s port a run through. It was time to see what all the fuss was about and dive back into a world of puns, martial arts, and never-ending pizza.
This shouldn’t have come as a surprise, considering 90’s-era Nintendo often mandated developers to include unique features in their version of a game, but I was very happy to discover that SNES’s Turtles in Time packed in far more content than its arcade counterpart. Like realizing your already-delicious pizza also had a stuffed crust. Not only are there extra levels, one of which features Mode-7, but the bosses have bolstered their ranks. While most hail from the cartoon, a few Secret of the Ooze villains were added to coincide with the release of the film, which debuted in the same month as the arcade game: March of 1991. The SNES version wouldn’t release until the next year, but it upped the film-factor even more by transforming the final clash with Shredder into a battle with Super Shredder. A pleasant surprise, as young-Matt was always disappointed at, amazing as Super Shredder looked in Secret of the Ooze, none of the turtles ever got to fight him. Back in the first film, Shredder’s confrontation was epic, with all four turtles struggling to even hit the dreaded Oroku Saki. Jump to the sequel, and now he’s ooze-powered into a monstrous collection of anger and blades.
For about a minute. Before accidentally crushing himself.
Lame as that ending was, at least Turtles in Time gives you the chance to actually do battle with Super Shredder. And at the game’s conclusion, in proper thematic fashion. Sure, by this point, your extra lives are mostly used up. And Shredder’s one-hit kill only pours gasoline on that fire of a problem, but at least you won’t have to keep feeding your SNES quarters.
Gameplay was as splendid as advertised, with your turtle-of-choice wielding a wide arsenal of moves. Various charging and aerial attacks are included alongside signature weapons. This versatility becomes increasingly useful as enemies and stage hazards grow more vicious. The sprite-work is also fantastic, especially in those moments where you find a turtle flattened or electrocuted. It still hurts to see your life bar depleted, but their cartoony reactions ease a bit of the sting. At least psychologically. Enemy variety is largely composed of various Foot Clan soldiers, but new versions with unique colors and weapons arrive often enough to keep things fresh. In total, Turtles in Time more than lived up to expectations. The game is a joy to play, packing in ample characters for Turtles fans, tight controls, and fun gameplay.
Cowabunga, indeed.
I tried, I really did. But after sincerely enjoying its predecessor last month, my intent to start the month off with Prince of Persia: Warrior Within quickly collapsed – the shift toward EDGE was far too strong for me to handle. I’m sure I’ll give it another shot eventually, I could already see improvements to gameplay and combat over Sands of Time, but man, I was not prepared for a tonal swing that pronounced. At least I know what to expect when I try it again – and at least it’s a game that can be approached in short bursts, as I suspect that’ll be the best way for me to come at it.
Instead, February ended up being a month of replays for me. Part of that stemmed from the release of the Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy on Switch. I’ve long had a love of legal-drama stories, and the goofy take on it that Ace Attorney provides is right up my alley. I’ve played all three games involved before, but of course I’d take the excuse to re-experience them all!
The rest of my month was spent playing not one, not two, but three of the Ultima games, as the start of (yet another) attempt to play my way through the full series. As much as I love it, there’s still a third-ish of the series I haven’t played to completion yet – but as I’m the kind of guy who also wants to put them in the context of the whole shebang, I inevitably start back at the beginning every time.
I’ve mentioned before in Whatcha Playin’ how Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness is a bit of a comfort game for me, one I can zip through in an afternoon, so I gave myself a bit of a challenge this time, going full thief-mode – no buying of food, weapons, or armor, only use what I could steal. No magic, either (which is the REAL challenge, as magic makes things a lot less dangerous in dungeons!). Ultima II: Revenge of the Enchantress also went rather quickly, on account of getting lucky on the draw and managing to get onto the EZ-mode grinding track incredibly fast, but Ultima III: Exodus surprised me by only needing a weekend to get through, it took me considerably longer the last time around. It’s amazing how fast you can zip through some games once you know what you’re doing and what’s expected of you, the difference is dramatic – even if you’re not a speedrunner (which I’m definitely not)!
Hi everyone, how are we all doing, and how on earth is it nearly March already!?
Over the last few weeks I’ve actually gone crawling back to Cyberpunk 2077 again, like some kind of dystopia junkie. This time I’m playing a Corpo melee fighter with a katana, and it’s such a blast to play so differently from my usual netrunner type character!
I’m also sinking my teeth into Arma Reforger, the world of Cold War military simulators is deep, intimidating and somehow kind of fun, and I’m surprisingly not the worst at it either, which is saying something because I’m usually terrible at online shooters of any kind!
Finally I’m still chipping away at Baldur’s Gate 3, but I’m disastrously bad at it, and even a gang of goblins seems to be able to smash me to pieces.. it’s a real situation, let me tell you!
Month two done and I’ve made quite a bit of progress on the backlog. I got the platinum for Final Fantasy VII: Remake Intergrade and I had so much fun doing so. Speaking of Remake, put some scrubs on me and hand me a scalpel, cuz Dr. Coffee is gonna put on a clinic by writing a full critique. Expect it sometime in mid-March or so.
Beyond that, I’ve completed Kid Icarus for the NES. It was a lot of fun, despite it being challenging. I also finished a game called Shadow Dancer for the Sega Genesis and that I played via the Sega Genesis Collection on my Switch. A game in the same vein as The Revenge of Shinobi, it’s pretty tough as you lose a life the moment you get hit. On the flipside, it’s very short. The best part about the game is the NINJA DOG! He is the goodest boi and I will willingly lose lives to save him. Then again, TGFR (Thank God For Rewind).
Also completed was Kirby’s Dream Land 3. I didn’t know there was a third entry in the series. I have to say, it’s both extremely fun and quite challenging! I loved the hand-drawn sprite work, it’s very whimsical. And the fact that you have to fulfill certain requirements to fully beat each level is a nice touch. Overall, I enjoyed my time with it.
Next on the list – Final Fantasy Tactics. I’m gonna beat this one, for real this time. I’m using a guide and everything! Also on tap is the Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster. Even with boosts enabled, it’s a bit of a slog, honestly. I also have more Wonder Boy in Monster World to play. I’m even replaying the original Final Fantasy VII for like the 25th(?) time. This time, I’m playing it on a handheld emulator. Why am I playing this game yet again when I have so much on the backlog? Well, the same reason I replay Sonic 2 and Zelda II all the time: Just because lol.
Sundry conversations this week impressed upon me a belief I’ve long held: there’s more than one way to skin a cat and more than one way to enjoy video games. Whether that means hype culture or satire, parody, farce, criticism, memes, dialogue, evaluation, deep dives, analysis, escapism, or earnest study, we’re all focused on the same subject. For me, it’s content creation in this stage of life.
I’ve played a smattering of games with my family throughout the month, a little bit of Mario Wonder on the side, a little bit of Kirby’s Dream Land 3 with cousins, a little bit of Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate with kid brother, a smackerel of Final Fantasy XIV when I can sneak the time. However, the majority of my waking hours have been dedicated to an array of creative projects centered around video games, and while I can’t reveal all of them just yet, I can reveal one of them!
Gamelogica is a somewhat silly exploration of world mythology and theology in video micro-documentary format, with three episodes currently available and a fourth premiering tomorrow (Saturday the 2nd of March, 2024). This concept has been in the works for literally years so… you know when like you’ve been constipated for a real long time and you can finally get it out. It’s like that, only it doesn’t stink. Check it out at youtube.com/@GamelogicaYT for the upcoming episode on Cait Sith in tandem with the launch weekend for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.
I decided at the beginning of the year that I wanted to spend the first few months focusing on different platforms: January, finishing game reviews and a few small games on Steam. February, Game Pass time. I try to do at least one Game Pass game a month to make the cost worthwhile, but I’ve also been sitting on some games for a while. With the frequency that Game Pass removes games, I wanted to get through several in a batch to lower the chance of multiples leaving at the same time.
In January, I finished Figment on the last possible day. It only made sense to start February with Figment 2. Comparing the two, I think I preferred the first one’s gameplay and story and the sequel’s art and voicework, though neither really blew me away. I also got through Bramble: The Mountain King, which did impress me. Fantastic visuals and story based in Nordic folklore, clever gameplay, and a final boss fight I actually enjoyed, which is rare for me. The final Game Pass game I’ve completed this month is A Little to the Left, a solid puzzle game about sorting and organizing.
As much as I wanted to dedicate as much of my gaming time to Game Pass, I did delve a bit back into Steam for some free games that took off in popularity over the month. Sheepy, a small platformer, is a truly excellent little game about a lost sheep plushie given life. Honestly, it’s somewhat of a shame that it is free, as quality work deserves to be paid for. Likewise, the same could be said for 20 Small Mazes, another free game that’s exactly what it says on the tin. No two mazes are the same, with some clever puzzles and smooth gameplay.
All in all, it’s been a fairly good month for games. So what’s my goal for March? Switch games! Let’s see how many of those I can knock off the backlog before April.
What a month! With the temporary lull in my podcast schedule, I’ve been (gasp!) playing games. February’s game of the month was Blasphemous, a challenging Metroidvania chock full of creepy imagery and religious themes. May be perfect fodder for a certain YouTube channel that launched last weekend. Just sayin’…
I’m also dipping my toe into Final Fantasy VIII and for the life of me, I can’t get into it. Physical attacks feel anemic, GF attacks take too long, junctioning is overly complex and everything is presented in abbreviations. I’m not completely punching out but – oh boy – I’m not having a good time.
On the positive side of things, The Coin Game continues to be a joy that I love to pieces. Traversing an island dedicated to playing arcade coin games is a cozy blast that more people need to check out. Cheers!
And so ends February. What have you been playing recently? What did you finish? And what’s next on your backlog? Let us know in the comments below.
Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you all again next month! Same Pixel Time! Same Pixel Channel!
Ryan Cheddi – our friendly, neighbourhood caffeine addict – is a man of many talents: an engineer, a gaming historian, a fiction writer and a streamer. He is also a self-avowed Sonic the Hedgehog fan. You can check out his cool beans at his site – Games with Coffee – or find him on Bluesky as @GameswCoffee, and Instagram as @games_with_coffee. He streams on Twitch, also as GamesWithCoffee.
