Burning the midnight oil at noon

Nintendo Direct 69 (nice)

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these things, so…

Rhythm Heaven Groove – Don’t get me wrong, nearly everything about Rhythm Heaven is perfect and wonderful, but it’s focus on PERFECT timing is too much for me. This one looks like it’s got an adventure mode of some sort though, so I may still give it a chance.

Onimusha: Way of the Sword – I’ve never played an Onimusha game, and while it looks really cool, it also looks like it’s got heavily parry/counter-based gameplay, which never works well for me. Again, I don’t have great reflexes, so this physically doesn’t work for me.

Dragon’s Dogma II: Dark Arisen – I have this on PS5 and haven’t even had time to boot it up once yet.

Stellar Blade – See above.

MEVGWU: May 2026

~ Game Over ~

Wicked Seed (PC) – A third-person survival horror with a heroine that looks like Claire Redfield and Parasite Eve-style combat. There are tons of things to unlock, including a randomizer mode, so it’s built for replays. What more could a boy ask for? Honestly, if it weren’t for RE:Requiem and Pokopia, this could easily be my game of the year. Speaking of which…

Tower Hunter: Erza’s Trial (PC) – Remember earlier this year when I played Frontier Hunter? This is the game that came before it, and it’s a 2D-action roguelite. Controls are a bit funky, but it’s decently fun once you get into it… and are able to decipher the astonishingly bad Engrish translation.

Resident Evil Requiem (Switch2) – Booted ‘er up to try out the new Leon Must Die Forever minigame. It’s cool and all, but not really something I want to grind.

Hideously deformed

Here’s a doodle of Toxie that I drew this week. I think it’s neat.

MEVGWU: April 2026

~ Game Over ~

Minishoot’ Adventures (Switch2) – All my thoughts here.

Peglin (PC) – All Cruciball levels for all characters are finally complete. 400+ hours later, this game is DONE. At least until the next update.

Back to the Future: The Game (PC) – If I were a bigger Back to the Future fan, I’d probably have stronger feelings about it, but as things are, I just think it was a pretty average episodic adventure game. I can’t say that anything about it really stood out besides the IP, which, as far as I can tell, was used to the fullest.

Cruis’n Riders

Well, it’s just about that time of year again. In just a little over a month, I’ll be riding a bicycle for charity again, and for the fifth year in a row, I’ve been asked to create a promotional image for my team. For the first time ever, though, I’m posting it here before it goes live anywhere else. Don’t you feel special!?

Any guesses as to what this year’s artwork is referencing? It’s not exactly subtle, so if you don’t see it right away, you almost definitely don’t know.

And of course, if you should feel the need to support me in this endeavor, you can donate here!

‘Mato & Egger

Some time ago, I downloaded a cookbook that is made up entirely of recipes from Final Fantasy XV. I’ve only tried to make two of them to date, because I keep forgetting it’s a thing, but here’s how my Classic Tomato & Egg Stir-fry turned out:

I liked this dish so much that I’ve actually made it several times. It also helps that it’s super easy and all the ingredients are staples in my kitchen. It doesn’t quite look the same as Ignis’ version (below), but honestly, I think mine wins as far as presentation goes. I really like the vibrant, contrasting colours a lot more than the soupier alternative.

Now, where did I find that cookbook? That’s a good question, and I don’t remember. Google it!

Number Two

Did you know that I still draw things from time to time? Well, it happens. I just… can’t be bothered to upload them here, I suppose.

So here’s the front of the birthday card I drew for my nephew back in November when he turned two. The inside had doodles too, but I guess I never took a picture of it? Whoops!

Mini’ Review

So out of nowhere a while ago, Nintendo drops an Indie World Showcase presentation, which is basically a Nintendo Direct but without any actual Nintendo games. Usually these spotlight a few cool-looking titles that I never end up buying because who has the time for all these games? This one was different, however.

Enter Minishoot’ Adventures (Nintendo Switch 2 Edition), a game that was announced and released on the very same day, which also happened to be the day I purchased it. Now I don’t know if this game was released on the original Switch or not, but it did come out on Steam at least in 2024. And I find it baffling that I’d never heard of the game at all until then, because it is AMAZING.

Minishoot’ is kinda like a Zelda game; run around a world map, battle enemies, discover power-ups, and journey through dungeons. The twist being that instead of a little adventurer guy, you play as a little spaceship-lookin’ guy. And also the “combat” is that of a bullet-hell shooter. Quite a combination, I know, and it works marvelously.

MEVGWU: March 2026

~ Game Over ~

Resident Evil Requiem (Switch2) – I have a couple misgivings, but overall this is a fantastic video game. I will someday say more. Much more. Probably.

Pokémon Pokopia (Switch2) – What can I say about this other than it’s what I spent like 70% of March doing? I guess that all I needed in life this whole time was a Pokémon-themed “cozy” game.

The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails

In recent years, I’ve fallen head over heels for Ys, a lesser-known series of action RPGs by Nihon Falcom. The Ys series has been around for nearly as long as I have, but I’ve never really known anything about Falcom as a developer. So at some point in the last 12-24 months, I looked up what they have on the Switch eShop besides a handful of Ys titles.

One of the things I found was The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails. It sparked my interest, so I looked a little closer, and my first reaction to seeing the screenshots was “Wow, this looks very similar to Ys!” And it is a lot like Ys! Nayuta is actually a spin-off of The Legend of Heroes, which is probably Falcom’s biggest franchise, but while the Heroes games are more traditional turn-based JRPGs (to my understanding), Nayuta is a side-scrolling(ish) action RPG.

And so I had placed The Legend of Nayuta on my wishlist for some time, waiting more for a time when I would actually play it than I was for a sale. Then January 2026 rolled around, and I was all like “Well, I just finished up Clair Obscur, what do I want to move onto next?” I think the writing is on the wall for what I chose.