cavalcade

I had a Circle Pad pro in the past - it was quite the thing. Better than the nub effort on the new 3Dses though, to be fair.

I really like the bigger 3DS. It's a lot nicer to hold, and while you can see at times it isn't as powerful as the new model, generally it's a similar experience. I like the button and control layout too on the OG model. I think, ultimately I would get on best with a new 3DS XL, but it's a close call.

Either way I am still having a ton of fun. What an amazing game library it had. I know Switch 2 is really the Nintendo handheld of choice at the moment, but wouldn't Nintendo be on to something if they reissued a 3DS 2? I wonder if that might find a market… especially with GenZ and Alpha looking for less connected devices to consume entertainment on (hence the soaring prices of 3DSes)

Anyone else here a fan of Disco Elysium? I have tried to get into it a few times, but there's something about it I find a bit too heavy going to really enjoy the process. Well, recently Esoteric Ebb has been released and I've been quite enjoying it. It's very similar to Disco, though set in a more trad DnD setting (you essentially play The Cleric, a cross between a genius and a bumbling cretin). The game is sort of set around investigating an explosion in a tea shop. Ish? Though it also isn't. It's very odd, filled with odd people, places, plot points and…. stuff.

There's reams of text and a huge amount of dialogue, but it's also very interesting. I spent about 20 minutes in the first building chatting to myself (and other people) and facing a series of vague moral quandaries. It feels very organic and funny at times, a lot like a real DnD session. It delights in breaking the fourth wall and playing with videogame conventions. It's also very well put together and feels very confident in what it's trying to do (even though it's heavily inspired by Disco and Baldur's Gate 3). It has a LOT so say about real world politics. And the art of selling milk in a pyramid scheme.

I could see this being top of a few GoTY lists this year, but also passing people by completely.

It's going to be a birthday present for an 8 year old, eventually.

So, as I've also been merrily hacking 3DS'es left right and centre, I also hacked my Japanese Vita just to see if there was still joy to be found in the platform. You can get a cradle for the memory cards it uses and then just use normal SD cards - so mine now merrily supports 512Gb card for pennies.

And… well, I have to say next to the 3DS it has been a bit of a disappointment. I still remember the first day I saw the OLED screen and how absolutely jaw dropping it was - but it's fair to say, time has marched on, and glorious OLED screens are a bit ten a penny. The Vita still looks OK, but it is a bit grainy and low res. And also, it's clearly first gen tech, as the brightness isn't quite uniform and the black handling can be a bit odd.

There's also the games. It's hard to shake off, with stuff like the Steam Deck and Ally that you're playing slightly hobbled Playstation ports on a device that's ergonomically and visually sub optimal. I did get a little cradle for it, but even then, going backwards and forwards to the Ally is a bit of a culture and RSI shock. The 3DS is so different, it doesn't really feel like a compromise. That said, some of the titles are still pretty good and as I haven't got around to emulating on the Ally to play stuff like Sly Cooper and Ratchet and Clank it's a easy route to that (how fucking good is Sly 4, even today, why don't we get games like this any more?). Also, as Bri says, Burnout and Patapon. I was shocked with how bad Persona 4 looked on it though, I put tens of hours into it and always thought it looked great. Returning to it made me physically recoil in horror.

I do wonder if it'll ever really have quite the same retro fondness for the Vita as even the PSP in the decades to come, even if I remember absolutely adoring it at the time. Maybe I'm being harsh.