Games I’ve Been Playing | 12/6-12/12

• F-Zero
• Super Mario World
• Pilotwings
• Top Gear
• Super Hang On
• Skitchin’
• Inertial Drift
• Grip: Combat Racing
• Super Mario Odyssey
• Burnout Paradise Remastered

Racing Games Take the Lead

F-Zero has pulled me in full-force this week, taking the crown for my most-played title. It’s going to get it’s own dedicated posts, but I’ll just mention here that I finished Knight League on expert this week as well as dipping my toes into driving with the Wild Goose and Fire Stingray. Finishing a league on expert triggers the game credits to roll and opens up the master class for that league.

Both for comparison and because racing in F-Zero is so much fun, this week had me sampling a variety of games in the racing genre. For 16-bit titles, Top Gear on the Super Nintendo stood out as something I can see myself digging into more deeply. It’s racing mechanics are very distinct from F-Zero as you manage shifting gears as well as fuel.

It’s also a racer that’s well regarded for the SNES, though no where near the same level. 16-bit consoles aren’t as known for racing games as they are for other genres such as sidescrolling platformers, RPGs, and shooters, so most of the conversation of classics begins and ends with Super Mario Kart and F-Zero.

A notable modern release I spent some time with this week was Inertial Drift, a twin-stick racing game where you control the intensity and angle of a drift with the right stick. As the name implies, it heavily emphasizes this mechanic over the traditional left stick steering and pressing of a button to initiate drifting. My first impression is that it’s a well-developed mechanic and worth setting as my main racing game to dig into at some point (a much later point when I’ve moved on from F-Zero and it’s notable contemporaries).

…But Also SNES Launch Titles

Not alone as a Nintendo-developed launch title on SNES, F-Zero was accompanied by Super Mario World and the first title in the small Pilotwings franchise. I already completed a playthrough of Super Mario World this year but I’m going to be doing a full 2-player run through with Derek over the course of the coming weeks. Looking forward to that as well as continuing to set some time aside to wrap my head around Pilotwings.

A Gaming Notable That’s Not a Game

This past week was also the week of the 2021 Game Awards (sarcastic cheers, applause and exclamation). It was not a great show and you don’t have to go far to find a chorus of agreement about it’s failings as a show. Instead, I just want to mention a couple of the notables and highlights for me.

First to mind is the Cuphead musical performance and dlc trailer that included a concrete release date of June, 30th, 2022. It is worth a watch and I thought it was the highest quality piece of peformance and/or marketing of the evening.

Just as they treated many award categories on the show, my mention of the actual awards is going to be quick and brief. It Takes Two won Game of the Year, a pretty surprising but seemingly deserved result. That one is on my to- play list. Also on my list of games to play is Metroid Dread, which won best Action Adventure game. Hooray for a title rooted in retro design seeing both critical and sales success. Lots of other stuff happened there, not much of it was impactful, but here is a condensed reel of top moments, winners, and reveals from the ceremony.

That’s more than enough going on about this last week. Hope you are finding some good time to enjoy some games and reflect ona what stood out to you over the last year, gaming and otherwise.

 

Cheers,

Brady