2021 in Games

I've now spend 5 years keeping track of the video games I've played and I've found it lets me play more and play more intentionally. Plus it's nice to be able to write a post like this where I can look back over what I played, what I enjoyed and how the year went.

Yes, it was mostly Battle Brothers

Time Spent

I played 49 games for 600 hours in 2021. That's much less time than I've spent on games for the last few years. I guess that makes sense working full time and (slowly) starting to build up my creative career. My PC also broke a little and I think that cut down on some of what I played, and it also forced me to be more intentional with what I play. I also dedicated a lot of my playing time this year to trying out games from the cellar that I hadn't played for one reason or another.

The curve on how long I played games is pretty sharp. I played 150 hours of Battle Brothers and would have played more if the PC hadn't started to fall apart. I feel like I spend a lot of time here writing about I like tactics games but I'm not good at them. Battle Brother's hasn't really changed that for me, but it has been really fun to play.

Everything else topped out at around 50 hours, so overall my top 10 games by time played where:

1. Battle Brothers - 150 hours
2. Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn - 59 hours
3. Chrono Cross - 47 hours
4. Trials of Mana (Remake) - 41 hours
5. Mario Golf: Super Rush - 40 hours
6. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity - 37 hours
7. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance - 36 hours
8. Trials of Mana (Collection of Mana) - 32 hours
9. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - 24 hours
10. Secret of Mana (Collection of Mana) - 22 hours

After that everything flattens out into pretty small chunks.

I really wanted to *finish* a lot of games this year, and I did, but I think I really want to *experience* a lot of games for 2022 and also focus on having as much fun when I'm playing video games as possible.

I love a good end screen.

Finished Games

I haven't kept track of the games I've finished before, but having spent more time in and around ProtonJon's community I thought it would be interesting to see what I've finished. As I said, I already thing my goal of 2022 isn't to finish as much as it is to play, but it's still interesting to see what I played to the end.

I'm counting finished as reaching the credits at the end of the story, although for practically all of these games there's a lot more to play at that point. More or less in the order I finished them, I played:

• Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
• Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury
• Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
• Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
• Trials of Mana (Remake)
• Trials of Mana (Collection of Mana)
• Celeste
• Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
• Super Mario Odyssey
• Secret of Mana (Collection of Mana)
• Chrono Cross

The only game I really completed was Bowser's Fury. It was really well designed to make it easy to pick up and play for a few minutes and get a few stars. For the others it was mostly nice to see the end of the story.

If you want a game full of cat's Cat World certainly is. Still not sure why they write it Bowser's Fury.

Favourite Games

Every game

I think the games I liked the most were (listed alphabetically):

• Battle Brothers
• Hades
• Super Mario Odyssey
• XCOM: Chimera Squad

When you do a thing right, Battle Brothers feels pretty good.

Things About Games in 2021

As I said in my Games of 2021 post, everything I played was good, but I don't think 2021 really hit the heights of 2020. I spent a lot of time trying to get really deep with a lot of the games I played and I'm not sure it was really worth while. I'm glad I played the games I did this year, but looking back on what where my favourites out of what I played, the list is weird. I only played a few minutes of Hades and Chimera Squad and not that many hours of Odyssey.

Battle Brothers is great and if I can manage the multi-headed hydra of fixing my PC (or more accurately, figuring out *how* I want to fix my PC) I'll be back to it. I think it's a great game where commitment, to characters and attempts, is really well balanced with interesting outcomes. I *like* Dwarf Fortress, but it always feels like it takes too much commitment for the "things went really sideways" fun to kick in. With Battle Brothers I've screwed something up in an interesting way after a few hours, or if things get boring, it's easy to jump out and start again.

I also like that I get a little better every time I play. I keep an eye on the Battle Brothers Reddit and sometimes I feel like I'm not getting enough from the game, or playing it right, but I'm having fun and that's really all that matters.

I'm trying to "Do" more in 2022 and I think that's going to apply to games as well. I've said it a few times, but I'd like to play more games and play more types of games. 2021 was a little bit stayed and I think I forgot to have as much fun as I can.

I recently read a tweet about how you shouldn't consider games you want to play but haven't a "pile of shame" so much as the video game equivalent of a wine cellar, where you're waiting to find the right moment and mood to open something up and I like the reframing. I think I can add that games don't go off after your start them, so there's no worry about putting stuff down and picking them up again later and you may as well have as many open games in your cellar so you can find everything you enjoy.

Games of December 2021

December was a bit weird, but I feel like trying to expect anything from a month during the pandemic is kinda useless. I ended up mostly focused on Chrono Cross, which was find, but next year I really want to play more and more kinds of games.

My top five games (by play time) for December were:

1. Chrono Cross - Chrono Cross is fine. I decided to play along with the Axe of the Blood God game club and found I enjoyed the minute to minute play, but was pretty underwhelmed by the story telling and most of the mechanics. As a sequel to one of my favourite games, Chrono Trigger, it feels deeply up its own ass in story telling. Chrono Trigger is able to get by, by not spending a lot of time integrating the plot or the time travel, Chrono Cross spends so much talking about time travel that I was just hoping to find a portal to the end of the game.
   
   
   
   The combat system is also underwhelming, partly because they tried to make it so complicated. At the end of the day most of the really fancy things they implemented didn't really work. I think if they'd leaned into the puzzle colour grid and made that a much more intentional system, rather than frustrated by the random AI. I think if they'd mixed this with Final Fantasy X's combat system, it would have worked a lot better.
   I love how colourful Chrono Cross is and I love the island aesthetic. It would have been nice to really get to enjoy the world a little bit more with less of the story sitting on top. A lot of the time it feels like they made a game and only later tried to tie it to Chrono Trigger, and I'd love to play that version that's a little more laid back and embracing the weirdness.
   


2. Secret of Mana (Collection of Mana) - Had a little bit of Secret of Mana left, so started the month by finishing that up. I ended up running out of steam fighting the final boss and ended up with 1 MP left, so had to sit there and wait for the game to knock me out. I ended up doing my old fashioned magic grinding to end the game off. Stupid as it seems standing in an inn and casting magic on myself for a few hours is still kinda fun.
   
   
   
   


3. Super Mario Odyssey - Really didn't pick this up much, but played some Balloon World and really enjoyed it. Odyssey just has a great feeling for movement.
   
   
   
   


4. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Went back into this a bit, but mostly I'm planning to spend more time in 2022 learning the game and getting good at it.
   
   
   
   


5. Celeste - Played a few minutes just to get the feeling.
   
   
   
   

Here's my total play time chart for December:

And here's a chart of how much I've played over the month:

Blog Post: Games of 2021

It's the future and some how I'm still sitting here playing Nintendo games. I only played 4 games which were released this year, and three of them were by Nintendo. 2021 has been a bit of a weird year in terms of what I wanted to play, and I really haven't felt that compelled by most of the other games released in 2021.

Everything I played this year was "good," they're all solid games you might enjoy, but none of them have really impacted me that much.

The Good

New Pokémon Snap

I don't have a huge nostalgia for the original Pokémon Snap. I enjoyed the new one, it's certainly pretty. I *may* have not figured how how to play it to advance properly, so it felt a little flat to me. Overall, I did enjoy the safari model of travelling through environments and seeing "genuine" Pokémon interactions.

Mini Motorway

I liked Mini Metro, where you have to plan out routes for a metro system and try to keep up with demand as long as you can. Mini Motorways is a nice follow up, it's prettier and the way you eventually fail feels a lot more manageable. It really runs up against the part of me that loves city building and so after a little bit of playing I'm kinda frustrated that some idiot built their house right *there*.

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury

I only touched the 3D World remake. It's still pretty good, but it really doesn't compare to Super Mario Odyssey. Bowser's Fury was good, it has a real lightness of movement and interesting level design. I also like the idea of Nintendo turning out light weight, smaller games more regularly, so if I could play a new Bowser's Fury sized game every year I'd be delighted. Otherwise Mario games are pretty good if you like Mario Games and Bowser's Fury is a good Mario Game. 

Mario Golf: Super Rush

I think I've said it a ton, but Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour on the Gamecube is one of my favourite games. I spent a lot of time playing it dreaming of how awesome it would be if it was built out to be a fuller, flashier game. Super Rush is *not* the game I dreamed of,  but it is pretty good. It's a well built golf game with fun courses. If that sounds like your jam then you'll probably like it. It has a single player "RPG" mode which I found to be underwhelming and the online modes are okay.

I appreciate the DLC support they've given the game. The big drawback to the game is they introduced a their speed golf mechanic where you sprint after your ball to hit it again as fast as possible. Even when you're not playing that mode, it still dominates the design in a way that's not bad, but a little awkward.

Blog: Games of November 2021

I don't think I've had a month before, where I haven't played five games. I was pretty busy this month, and my PC is borked, so I guess I got to be focused for November. I'm looking forward to playing a bit more over December. I'm just about finished Secret of Mana and I'm trying to decide what to play next. I've been thinking about playing Legend of Mana, but also Final Fantasy 9 and 12, and maybe Eastward, and the Skyward Sword remake. The Axe of the Blood God is also doing a pantheon/game club playthrough of Chrono Cross, which I was thinking of playing sometime soon as well. So I have no idea what I'm going to do next, but at least I have options.

My top five games (by play time) for November were:

1. Secret of Mana (Collection of Mana) - I think I've played Secret of Mana more than any other game. It's certainly one of the two games I first fell in love with as a kid (along with Illusion of Gaia). I played a bit when the Collection of Mana first came out, but decided when I finished Trials of Mana that it would be interesting to go back to where I started and play again. It's been fun, sometimes frusterating (I've tried to do a more-or-less low level run), and a little weird. There are several things I'd forgotten and a few I don't think I'd ever seen before.
   
   
   
   


2. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Continuing to try to "git good". I had a fair bit of fun, although honestly playing ALTTP makes me want to play Illusion of Gaia more often than not. They have very similar game play and IoG is beautiful (and I love it). I started to do a second play through to keep building towards "gitting good" but trailed off as the month got busy.
   
   
   
   


3. Trials of Mana (Collection of Mana) - Playing the original after the remake has been interesting. I've tried and bounced off this game quite a few times in the past. I'm thinking I'll write a combined "things" post about both the original and the remake - and Secret of Mana as well. Overall, I'm glad I played it certainly has a lot of interesting elements. I'm not sure how I would have felt if I played it back when it was originally released, and it does have some flaws by modern game standards, but it's really pretty and fairly fun.
   
   
   
   


4. Super Mario Odyssey - I barely play this, but I finished the "main game" and started on the post game bit and the flow and joy in running around this game has been great.
   
   
   
   


Here's my total play time chart for November:






And here's a chart of how much I've played over the month:

Blog: Games of October 2021

October was a busy month and I was more focused on doing things than playing things. At the same time my PC has started acting up so any chance I had to play anything on there was a bit of a crap shoot.

I'm at a point where I'd love to find a few games to play on the Switch for short bursts, 15 - 20 minutes. Celeste and -- weirdly -- A Link to the Past have been filling that niche, but I'd love to find something new and maybe something which would have a bit of longevity. 

My top five games (by play time) for October were:

1. Trials of Mana (Collection of Mana) - Trials has been an interesting game. I still think everything in the remake was better but it's been interesting. I think it's not the greatest SNES (a)rpg, but it has some cool features. I think if I'd had it back when it was originally coming out I'd probably have loved it. As it stands, I'd like it to be faster and smoother, and the level grinding is not very much fun. On the plus side, the sprite work is beautiful (if a little hard to read sometimes) and the backgrounds are lovely. I think, especially if the game were a little faster, the variety of classes would be really cool to explore.
   
   
   
   


2. Battle Brothers - If only this didn't make my video card vomit colourful patterns all over my monitor. A little tempted to find the switch version.
   
   


3. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Reaching to ProtonJon playing randomizers, I wanted to actually "git good" at ALTTP. It's been fun to pick up and to my surprise, each chunk of the game only takes me about 15 minutes. I'm certainly enjoying this a lot more than the last time I played through.
   
   
   
   


4. Super Mario Odyssey - I didn't play much, but Odyssey is always a delight. It hasn't *quite* been that short burst game I'm looking for.
   
   
   
   


5. Ogre Battle 64 - It snowed. I played Ogre Battle. I'm assuming if you've read any of these before you'll know the tune.
   
   
   
   

Here's my total play time chart for October:

And here's a chart of how much I've played over the month:

Blog: Games of September 2021

I'm discovering that trying to create an overall description of a month is kinda hard. In short, I played a lot of fun stuff in September. I finished off the Trials of Mana remake and quite liked it, enough that I wanted to start playing the original in the Collection of Mana. I guess the biggest thing for me was playing through Celeste and really working on developing the skills to get through a hard game. (Thanks PlayFrame!)

My top five games (by play time) for September were:

1. Celeste - I'm not sure the last time I felt really proud of myself for finishing a game, but finishing Celeste, I feel really proud. It took a fair bit of work and a lot of time doing the same thing over and over until I got better at it. I think there are some lessons there in how to practice. There are maybe also some lessons for someone in their late 30s who doesn't move enough, as this is the first game (in a long time) to put me in physical pain.
   
   
   
   I like when games give you a deep knowledge and bond with the spaces in the game and Celeste does a really good job of of linking you with the mountain in the game. There are screens I remember clearly and I think if you showed me any screen in the game know I'd know (more or less) exactly what was going on there. I'm playing through now to find all the strawberries and B-sides, but I've also taken the game up on its very open challenge to speed run it as well.
   


2. Battle Brothers - The brothers roll on. The only thing that's really holding me back is the bit where something seems to be cracking in my PC and Battle Brothers sets it off worse than anything else ... or maybe it's just that Battle Brothers is the game I'm playing.
   
   


3. Trials of Mana (Remake) - This game is pretty good. Not great, but pretty good. I enjoyed playing, and the combat was fun if not a really complex system. I think with the option of six protagonists that all played very differently they were limited in how complex they could make the game, especially on a low-to-mid-tier budget. I've started playing the original in the Collection of Mana and I'm impressed at how well they honoured the core feeling of the game in the remake while polishing up the rough edges.
   
   


4. Super Mario Odyssey - I needed something I could play without the strain of Celeste or the headspace needed for Trials of Mana so I found myself picking up Odyssey again. It's still good. In fact, the more I play the more interesting things I find.
   
   


5. Mini Motorways - I had a few days where Mini Motorways really captured me. After a while, though, the bit where it's a randomized puzzle game and not a city builder really started to drive me nuts. It is beautiful and if you're there for hooking up elements in a puzzle you might love this game (especially if you loved Mini Metro).
   
   
6. Mario Golf: Super Rush - Super Rush was pretty good, but the shine has come off for me a little bit. Considering how much I still go back to Toadstool Tour over the years, there's just something that keeps ringing hollow with Super Rush. The new courses they just released are okay and the new golfers they've added are okay, but the whole thing is just missing some life.
   
   
   The online has been a real bust for me. I guess I'll do enough to grab the monthly prize, but it's just not that much fun to play against people, when the only correct move is to wait as long as possible for everyone else to take their shots. The alternative "Timed Golf" mode is too unreliable to play, so the whole thing is just poorly designed.
   

Here's my total play time chart for September:

And here's a chart of how much I've played over the month:

Blog: Games of August 2021

Time feels like it's absolutely blowing by right now. Looking back at August I can't even remember what all happened, but I did play some good games.

My top five games (by play time) for August were:

1. Trials of Mana (Remake) - I picked up Trials of Mana at a point where I really wasn't sure what I wanted to play while sitting down on the couch. As it turns out I'm really glad I did. The game is fun. The combat doesn't have a ton of depth, but has enough that every fight is interesting enough. The story isn't great, but the story wasn't great in the original either. The game looks pretty good overall. I don't like some of the models they've chosen, but even those are fairly faithful to the '95 original. I don't know that I can totally recommend it, but I've had a lot of fun.
   
   
   
   


2. Battle Brothers - This game has just the right amount of challenge and decision making to give it some really nice flow. Sometimes it flows in a bad direction, but usually when I finish playing, however long I play I'm pretty happy. I don't quite know how to describe or encapsulate how that flow works, but I think it revolves around keeping the stakes of any decision low enough that a bad choice doesn't cripple you.
   
   
   
   


3. Mario Golf: Super Rush - If Nintendo had a bullet proof network infrastructure, their new online play mode would have me pretty hooked. Since they don't it leaves me kinda interested. The online mode also illustrates how much their focus was on the running-around-the-golf-course mode compared to the traditional golf mode. Competitive matches tend to resolve into two or more people just waiting for everyone else to go. Unfortunately, the running-around-the-golf-course-mode stutters and chugs when played online.
   
   
   
   


4. Civilization VI - As always, I want to love this game the way I love Battle Brothers. I read Sid Meier's Memoir, and it left me wanting to play Civ, but perpetually the image of Civ I have in my head is more fun than the one I actually play.
   
   
   
   


5. Celeste - I started rewatching Carrie play Celeste on PlayFrame, as an exercise in seeing how someone who doesn't play much can take on a really hard game. I don't usually play those hard games, but I felt inspired. I'm having fun with it, although my hands do hurt.
   
   
   
   

Here's my total play time chart for August:

And here's a chart of how much I've played over the month:

Blog Post: Video Games of July 2021

July was a much quieter month than the last few. I'm still working on finding my happy point for balance between getting stuff done and getting stuff played, but generally I was pretty happy. I found myself struggling a little bit with finding a game to play to relax with, but with a little bit of energy Trials of Mana has turn out to be a delight.

My top five games (by play time) for July were:

1. Mario Golf: Super Rush - This has turned out to be a good game to play when I need something to pick up at lunch (as with World Tour before it) and it's been something good to play quickly. It's not great and definitely has a noticeable lack of depth, but the moment to moment play is fun.
   
   
   


2. Battle Brothers - Other than the bit where my PC seems to be having some issues, especially while playing Battle Brothers, this continues to be a great game the play. I'm continuing to learn more and more and the depth required to play well has been really compelling.
   
   
   


3. Trials of Mana (3D Remake) - I've stalled out playing Seiken Densetsu 3 a few times. It kinda lacks the drive of early Secret of Mana and also suffers (for me) from not *being* Secret of Mana, so it results in a lot of huh, that's good but different. The combat in is also, not terribly easy to read. The 3D remake is pretty good, I've enjoyed the combat and I think they've made some reasonable chances, streamlining some of the rough places in the original.
   
   
   


4. Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn - This took a little longer to finish than I'd hoped. From my perspective it provides a list of all the quality of life features that were eventually implemented in later games. On the other hand I *like* the story and the characters and compared to the games before it's much more dynamic and interesting. I think it was worth playing through, especially just after playing Path of Radiance, but I'm in a good spot to wait a little bit 
   
   
   


5. Peggle - I've ended up playing Peggle and Zuma when I've needed to get a break without getting up from the desk. (And really I *should* just be getting up from the desk.) Peggle takes a little bit longer to play than Zuma, so it ended up just ahead of it in the list.
   
   
   

Here's my total play time for July:

And here's a chart of how much I've played over the month:

Blog: Games of June 2021

June was quite a busy month and a little unsettled, so I didn't play all that much. Honestly, there's just not that much to say about the month in terms of games. Still I did have some thoughts about the games themselves.

My top five games (by play time) for June were:

1. Battle Brothers - The game is great, but it's also very quick to pick up which is how it managed to get as much play as it did this month. I've probably spent too much time looking at how the very 'expert' players play, which sometimes feels like it's too much optimization. Still haven't had a 'successful' run, but it's been fun to play around in the world.
   
   
   
   


2. Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn - I'm feeling frustrated with how hard it is to keep everyone alive in the later missions and that's driving down how much time I play. I'm certainly glad they made later games easier to play, even if I think this one has my preferred story.
   
   
   
   


3. Mario Golf: Super Rush - Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour is my favourite golf game. Super Rush hasn't managed to replace it, although it certainly is pretty and has a well designed video game golf mechanic. Weirdly the big thing I'm missing is the chance to play in tournaments. I'd love a mode where you can just play on tour after you finish the story mode (I haven't finished the story mode, so maybe this will have it, but I'm not optimistic). I do like the speed golf mode, I haven't tried the battle golf yet.
   
   
   
   


4. Peggle Deluxe - I was recently reminded of Peggle and threw it and Zuma on my Steam Wishlist. They went on sale for $1 each so I picked them up. (Not that I don't have other versions ... somewhere, but who knows). I've played a lot of Peggle over my life, and I'm pretty happy to have picked it up again. I'm still working through the "tutorial" which limits it a little, but hopefully it'll pick up speed before too long.
   
   
   
   


5. Zuma's Revenge - I've played quite a bit of the Facebook version of Zuma back when that was a thing. The full version is quite good and I've really enjoyed it. It's a nice counterpoint to Battle Brothers. I do really miss the old Popcap games though.
   
   
   
   

Here's my total play time chart for June:

And here's a chart of how much I've played over the month:

Blog: Games of May 2021

May was a pretty good month over all. I definitely had some ups and downs, but I feel like I'm settling into my new job and finding that balance between all the things I want to do in my life. I still want to do far, *far* more things than I have time for, but I think I'm doing ok and more or less, I'm playing games that are really satisfying.

My top five games (by play time) for May were:

1. Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn - I'm still not sure whether or not I ever finished this game. The "third act" definitely has all our armies finally pointed in the same direction. The game does feel a little disorganized still and there are still a lot of things they took and did better in following games. One the plus side our hero being asked "Do you mind if I call you 'Dark Bag of Organs'?" is a real Fire Emblem high point.
   
   
   
   


2. Battle Brothers - This continues to be a really great strategy game. The more I play the more I wish there was a bit more variety of things to do at the strategic level, but the actual main game play loop of taking contracts and fighting bad guys is really rewarding. It's also the first game where I feel like the speed of the game really works with the idea of things falling apart "fun". If you fail there's no real penalty to starting again and finding something else new and interesting. I think it's along the lines of the Super Meat Boy approach to 2D platforming, but in turn based strategy.
   
   
   
   


3. New Pokémon Snap - I think I'm playing the game wrong. I seems to have stalled in a way people talking on Twitter don't seem to have experienced. Still it's very rewarding and a nice short game play loop.
   
   
   
   


4. Super Mario Odyssey - All of the other games I played this month are a bit slow in their play style and it's been nice to having something to fire up and feel kinesthetically free and skilled in. Having also finished Bowser's Fury not that long ago, I think Odyssey still feels like the best "Mario" experience of moving and exploration.
   
   
   
   


5. Kirby's Dream Course - I was a little mad that I couldn't figure out what to do, but I'm learning. For a game I didn't play (or maybe rented once) this really triggers my SNES nostalgia and it's been fun to play. That being said, I'm completely ready for Mario Golf: Super Rush.
   
   
   
   

Here's my total play time chart for May:

And here's a chart of how much I've played over the month:

Blog: Games of April 2021

April was a pretty good month. I did better at striking the balance between enjoying playing games and getting other stuff done too. I didn't play as few games as I did last month, but I was pretty focused and enjoyed what I played.

My top five games (by play time) for April were:

1. Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn - The Wii sequel to Path of Radiance. It feels like the developers got to take all of the things that worked well in Path of Radiance and build on them. Unlike pretty much any other Fire Emblem game I can think of, it's divided into several parts where you run totally different armies with a lot of different characters. That's been interesting from a story perspective and it does let you make better use of all of the characters. I'm pretty sure I played this all the way through when it came out, but I really don't remember any of it any more.
   
   


2. Battle Brothers - It's still a ton of fun, but the game does seem to require some good decisions (and luck) early in the game to succeed later on. I think the heavy world randomness is also making the game a little bit harder than it needs to be. I find that interesting because in the battles, the game does a very good job of allowing you to manage and mitigate bad randomness (certainly compared to the Fire Emblem games, for example) but it feels like some worlds are just less winnable than others. Still, overall, I'm really enjoying the moment-to-moment gameplay and learning about the ways to do better later in the game.
   
   


3. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance - Compared to Radiant Dawn, I do remember this one pretty well. I think some of my enjoyment stems from nostalgia, but it seems like a very balanced Fire Emblem game both in terms of difficulty and in terms of gameplay and story. I think every aspect of the game gets improved on in later sequels, but it feels like this has a lot of seeds for what went well in the later games.
   
   


4. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - I am bad at this game and I would like to be not quite so bad. I picked it up thanks to watching Play Frame's Let's Play of the Link to the Past / Super Metroid randomizer. I've enjoyed it and I want to keep playing to some extent just to get to the point where I can play through mostly knowing what I'm doing and not getting myself into stupid situations. Playing this also left me really wanting to replay Ocarina of Time, particularly thinking about how OoT built out so many things that are hinted at in A Link to the Past, but aren't really included.
   
   


5. New Pokemon Snap - I suppose I played the original game, but I don't really remember doing it. I feel a bit like I was mostly interested in New Pokemon Snap because it's a new game that I could pick up day one, during a pandemic where I'm feeling a little cabinfevery. It's bright and sparkly and pretty fun. I think it also has quite a bit of depth and replay, although I'm not sure I'm interested in mastering it.
   
   

Here's my total play time chart for April:

And here's a chart of how much I've played over the month: