cavalcade

The best watching order for Lord of the Rings is 3, 1, 2.

I am happy to take recommendations for DreamCast games. I know Skies of Arkadia, Shenmue, Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi… Is Sonic Adventure good?

I'd agree with the other comments. I sold my Dreamcast in the end, as the painful truth is nearly all its games were ported or done better elsewhere. There was some joy in the actual physical hardware which I really liked (especially the mental VMUs), but it's really thin on the ground for novel games you'd want to play now (rather than a better version of them).

I like Dynamite Cop - great if you like beating up people with a baguette AND Die Hard (who doesn't).
Hydro Thunder - though it came to XBLA
Fire Pro Wrestling. Obvs
F355, hard as nails. Might still be good? And MSR - the forefather of Project Gotham.
Episode 1 Racer - lol
Mr Driller? Though there are hundreds of other versions.

And of course, Seaman.

On Halo, I was really disappointed with the CE remaster that just hit Gamepass. I know it's never really been a shooter that suits mouse/keys but I'd been really enjoying Infinite and this seems like a massive step back (which I guess it is, timewise). The movement is really floaty and slidey, like you're playing on a skid pan, and the traversal is archaic compared to nearly any modern shooter. The actual shooting is fine, I guess, but comedy aliens also doesn't really cut it, and I found the enemy AI to be way below Infinite. Even the remaster is somewhat patchy - I'm playing with everything on Ultra, and there's texture shimmer, pop in, and some level geometry that looks more 2006 than a 2026 remaster. It's also quite a boring game - it makes you do things three or four times before letting you move on. I know you had to spread the jam thinner in 2001, but it feels archaic now.

I do wonder what a PS5 player would make of it, maybe after years of hype and not having access to an Xbox or PC. I'd imagine it would be…. "is this it?" It did make me appreciate Infinite a bit more though - all the design choices and things in that (that were panned at the time) actually make a lot of sense and really make it a fun shooter toolbox.

I thiiiink, though don't quote me on this - since the Switch 2 update that pushes the TV output to the handheld screen (Boost thing), the memory leak is possibly fixed/better in handheld mode (as it was a Switch handheld issue only?). So, perhaps the TV play is fine also?

I guess give it an hour or two and see if it starts breaking down. Seemed fine to me, but I do know it tends to creep up quicker on the more complex levels.

Incidentally, Unicorn Overlord is on special on the Switch/Switch 2. I like a Vanillaware game (even though you wouldn't want to play them in front of anyone thanks to the sometimes questionable anime outfits in it) and this one has absolutely RAVE reviews.

It's a strange mix of almost an RTS, with a side scrolling fighter/action RPG. I've only played it for a bit, but it looks absolutely glorious and I can't think of another game quite like it. I'm not sure if it runs better on S2 than S1, but it seems locked at 60fps too. Voice acting is hammy and British. Story is a bit bobbins. But the game itself, well, like I say, I can't really think of anything quite like it (maybe the Tales games, crossed with an RTS?) and all the systems seem really interesting. It also has a lovely onboarding curve to it, slowly explaining the mechanics, but not in an infuriating way.

Yeah, I dunno. Sort of feels like one of those games that is probably about 10 people's favourite game of all time, but most people have never heard of.