JDubYes

The Count of Monte Cristo is the same, though there's a theory that the second half drags a little more at certain points because Dumas decided to make sure he would get paid for it for a bit longer, which I've always been amused by.

The original Soul Calibur is still unbeaten in its genre, IMHO. Six games into the series and they've never recaptured the magic of the first one.

I will not stand for this Soul Blade/Edge erasure.

The only things I can think of that haven’t already been mentioned are Marvel vs Capcom 2, Trickstyle (and I have no idea how that will have aged) and Cannon Spike, which I never actually played, but sounds cool. I did play a lot of Quake 3 Arena too.

As has already been said, so many of these games have since come out elsewhere that it’s hard to know what to recommend - my DC top 5 would probably be Ikaruga, Power Stone(s), Marvel vs Capcom 2, Jet Set Radio and Soul Calibur, and I think they’re all available elsewhere. Even the Dreamcast Resi is getting remade now.

PLAY

As well as all the arcade-y stuff I dabble in, and my continuing Picross problem…

Persona 5 Strikers - I'm still intermittently plugging away. It's a pretty good P5 sequel, and it;s implemented a lot of the Persona quirks into a Musou game very nicely, but that doesn't change the fact that I struggle a little to engage with Musou games. I need to get a good session in at some point and hope it gets its hooks back in.

Shogun Showdown - turn-based roguelite strategy, which I had "accidentally" double-dipped on, and am now slightly obsessed with. Lovely little game. My only issues are that the two versions of the game I'm playing have slightly different controls, and that I keep calling it 'Samurai Shodown', which is a very different game.

Turbo Overkill - a cyberpunk boomer shooter where you also have a chainsaw for a leg. Very good fun, even if the party piece can also render the game a little too easy at times.

Star Fox - barely dabbled, but it's lovely. Still plays great, and looks so nice.

WANT

GTAVI, at least sort of.

At some point, Stranger Than Heaven, Marvel Tokon Souls, Muremasa: Revenant Blades, The Adventures of Elliot, Final Fantasy Resonance, Persona 4: Revival and Persona 6. And the time to play them. And all the stuff I already have.

BIN

Besides the obvious, I also did not like being a little bit fat. I was running three times a week up until a year or so ago, and had gotten to the point where I was pretty lean and fast, especially for a man of my advanced years, but then injury and whatnot led to my being unable to run 5k at all anymore. I am now back on the Couch to 5k, and have a new kettlebell to throw around, which I actually quite enjoy, so progress is being made back in the right direction.

Picross S+
Holedown
Luck Be a Landlord
Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon
Azure Striker Gunvolt
Ball x Pit
Resident Evil
Resident Evil 4
Mariokart World
Alan Wake
Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana
Ridge Racer
Rave Racer
Burnout Paradise
I Am Your Beast
Nothing Door
Fashion Police Squad

Drainus
1000000
Treble Bull

1000000 is mobile game royalty, and I fancied something of that ilk, so why not go with one of the originals. Treble Bull is Balatro for darts, a little indie a saw a recommendation for, and did quite enjoy, though it didn't take long for 100% it, and there's something that doesn't quite work for me in there, even though I did enjoy it. The balance is just a little off - you can basically ignore upgrading the darts, and just focus on the items, and also fail on the first leg if RNG is against you.

Drainus though. That's the main event here.

The Switch (and therefore Switch 2) has proven to be an absolute dream for any fan of shmups. I am one of those, despite generally not having the attention span or talent to "'do it properly" - see also; beat 'em ups, and often roguelikes/roguelites - which is the case on shmups is generally fully mastering and 1cc-ing them. Basically, anything without an obvious and appreciable long-term goal or objective I will struggle to focus on, and likely eventually drift away from, despite the fact that all of these games really appeal to me in principle. Instead, for me shmups are a lovely side dish, and I'm generally fine with that.

Drainus circumvents this by a) being structured more like other games, with unlockable power-ups, builds, and also having the facility to restart levels, or indeed pick up again mid-level, plus b) being absolutely fucking brilliant.

It's an excellent shooter in its own right, also doing that thing I like where it looks like it could've been an old game while also doing things that the Mega Drive or SNES couldn't have actually handled. The upgrades and builds are fun, and the story is actually weirdly pretty good, such as it is. The big thing though is that, like Ikaruga and many other shmup greats before it, it has it's own unique mechanic that elevates it still further, which is that you have the (limited) ability to absorb enemy energy attacks to power up a powerful attack of your own. Not entirely original, but here the game is designed around it, and it is fantastically satisfying.

It's an easy recommendation for anyone who likes this sort of thing, and is up there with the Cave games, Ikaruga itself, and Crimson Clover as my favourites of its ilk on the system.

If you slow down a bit, to still go round the corner as quickly as you can, you’re keeping traction, so can then start accelerating again as soon as possible, and that’s generally the fastest way to do it, aka the “racing line”.

Drifting is normally slower because it means that you’re scrubbing off speed, because your tyres have lost traction, so you aren’t putting power down anymore, plus it takes longer to regain that control/traction and start accelerating again.

That’s my basic understanding, anyway, as well as quite a good indicator of why the best (or at least most fun) racing games are the ones that eschew completely realistic physics and instead encourage sliding around like a lunatic (and/or are rally games).