Superman: The New Superman Adventures (AKA Superman 64). It’s a baffling time capsule of poor management, crunched game development, and lack of coherent vision (mostly due to the management thing). Is flying through the rings tough? Yup. Do the missions make no sense? Yup. Is there a charm in firing it up and remembering to be grateful you’ve lived to yet another day where you can play Superman 64? Yup.

Listen to your heart. No.

I’m so torn on this comment, because Christmas Wrapping is great, but so is Wonderful Christmastime.

I think this is a problem with any sequel to a game that features multiple biomes as locations. Metroid Prime had a lot of distinct locations: a volcano, an icy ruins, abandoned villages and temples, a crashed ship/underwater section, etc. So if when making a sequel, you have to consider if reusing these types of areas will make it feel too much like the original.

I do agree that the environment of Metroid Prime 2 is kind of bland, but there are at least some distinct parts I can remember, like the swampier area, or the dessert. I prefer that to every game being a march through the same cookie cutter areas every time.

It is most definitely a metroidvania. I got a free copy included in a Xbox 360 pack-in a number of years ago and decided to give it a try. I was incredibly impressed with how great the world design was, and how much they expected you to pay attention and backtrack. It’s not without its flaws, but it scratches that itch for a 3D metroidvania, since Metroid Prime was over at the time this game was released.

PlateUp! is a somewhat recent release that I love playing with groups on my steam deck. It’s a multiplayer restaurant sim (think Overcooked) mixed with a roguelite. It doesn’t have as fun unfair chaos as Overcooked and it feels great to play when you have a nice rhythm going.

Gato Roboto is great. It’s a fun little Metroid style game which attempts some unique things and doesn’t overstay its welcome. Collecting the color pallets is also a fun concept.

For a while my friends and I were really into Smash Up which tried hard to simulate the TCG feeling without everyone needing their own deck and boosters.

Basic premise of the game is your deck is comprised of two different factions, and you play minions to attempt to capture the locations in play. But then all of the cards have specific rules to add twists to things. It’s been a few years since I’ve actually played it. The one thing I do remember is that you’ll need to be ready to make judgements on how the rules work a lot.

And since it’s been out for like a decade or more now, it has a bunch of expansions. And it’s designed for up to 4 players, so it’s nice to have expansions so the number of faction combinations increases exponentially and it doesn’t feel like everyone is always playing the same strategy over and over.

I like seeing fond memories and Superman 64 in the same sentence. It feels like an oxymoron, but I totally get it. Even the worst games become great memories with great people.

And To-Do supports apple watch now! Great for checking off a list while shopping without having to constantly unlock your phone.

I have so many good memories of this game, friends shouting at me "DO YOU HAVE THE PRINCE?" even if the prince was already revealed.

It might be silly, but I’m excited about being able to make better highway on/off ramps. It always drove me crazy that in unmodded C:S it was impossible to design realistic highway access because the roads couldn’t slope and occupy the same space properly.