The easiest option if you want to play MTG without the need to keep updating is to buy some Commander Preconstructed decks (ideally from the same set) and keep them unmodified.

These decks meant to be played against each other and usually well balanced. Just find a collection with aesthetics that appeal to you, get 3-4 and have fun. There’s the option of “in-universe” sets with classic MTG aethetics like Tarkir, Lorwyn or Bloomburrow, or “crossover” sets with popular IPs - they just released TMNT, and there’ll be Marvel and Startrek later this year.

The biggest thing to keep in mind is that Commander by far the most popular way to play MTG - but also the most complex one.

It’s free-for-all multiplayer mode with politics, singleton 100-card decks and crazy interactions. If you have an MTG-playing friend they should be able to help you get started, but otherwise I’d suggest playing the free Magic Arena game which has some good tutorials, or look for Youtube videos - there’s a ton of content to help people get started.

Very little gaming time since since I’ve been busy with a Magic the Gathering project - building on a box of Premodern decks, a “nostalgia” format with only cards printed between 1995 and 2003.

I don’t have the time or interest to keep up with the crazy speed of MTG releases nowadays, so this type of format that doesn’t require updates suits me better. The idea is to have a bunch of decks ready and use it as a board game of sorts, just pick up a couple decks and play any time we feel like it.

Will still be working on this for a few more weeks, but now that I got the lists defined and I finished organizing which cards I own and which cards I need to buy/trade I should have more time for gaming again.

Playing Witch on the Holy Night!

Progressing through Chapter 8.

Playing Astalon: Tears of the Earth!

Current side-game. An old-school metroidvania with 3 different characters (the classic “warrior, mage, archer” trio), each with different strenghts, weaknesses, and traversal abilities. The map design is great with interesting puzzles, the challenge is “just right” so far and bosses are fun. I think the balance between characters is not great (mage seems way better than the other two), but that’s not a major issue.

However… the checkpoint system really sucks. Health recovery is very limited and anytime you die you go back to the entrance of the castle. Sure, there’s some fast travel spots and you unlock a ton of shortcuts so getting back to where you were before will be much faster than before, but these runbacks get tedious very quickly. I’d also like to add that the key required to use the fast travel is a missable item, which is just mean in a game with this design.

That’s a massive improvement in some games for those who play handheld. Probably should’ve been there from the start, but it’s good that Nintendo finally implemented it.

Playing Trails Beyond the Horizon!

Finished Van Routes 4 and 5, Kevin Route 2, and I’m now progressing through Rean Route 3. Probably in the last third of the game, but with my current schedule I think it’ll still take me a couple weeks to get to the ending.

Fully focused on Horizon so no progress on other games.

For beginners I’d recommend Drainus among traditional ("non bullet hell¨) shmups and Danmaku Unlimited 3 on the easiest settings for bullet hell.

And if you enjoy Danmaku Unlimited 3 I’d go for Crimzon Clover next, it’s one of the best games in the genre. It’s significantly harder even on Novice, but still beatable with some pratice.

A bit early to tell. There’s a lot of things being set up in all three routes, so the payoff will say how this game will end up in my ranking.

But I will say it’s looking very promising so far.

Playing Trails Beyond the Horizon!

Currently on Act 3, Van Route 4. The end of the previous act was a very interesting surprise and a great character moment.

Fully focused on Horizon so no progress on other games.

why not just upgrade to Switch 2

I will pick one up eventually, but right now it’s being held back by the combo of “only Bananza as an exclusive I care about”, “high console price”, “high SD Express price” and “game key carts”.

Besides Bananza the only Switch 2 games I have in my wishlist are “Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave” (no release date yet) and “The Adventures of Elliot” (June). All recently announced ports fall into “if I cared about those I’d already own a PS5”.

$450 for the Switch 2 is pricy, adding another $200 if I simply want to have the same 1TB I have on the Switch 1 makes it sting a lot more.

Game keys make everything much worse - I refuse to buy those as a game collector, so for a lot of games I’d end up picking up the Switch 1 version anyway (this includes Trails Beyond the Horizon) or wait for a heavily discounted digital (meaning I wouldn’t be playing them for 1-2 years). And it also adds to the storage problem too.

Playing Trails Beyond the Horizon!

Quite a bit of progress, I’m on the latter half of Act 2 having just finished the second part of the Rean route.

Seems like the route splits aren’t quite like Reverie, with Van’s side taking most of the playtime (I’d say his team gets 50-60% of the game), but despite their reduced playtime the other two routes have been far more interesting. The end of latest Rean section brought a major reveal that has me extremely interested in direction the story is going alongside a long-waited battle where they nailed both custscenes and challenge.

One thing I haven’t commented before is the quality of the Switch 1 version, which has some really odd problems - it keeps going back and forth between “this looks pretty good” and “extremely low-res and blurry” very abruptly and all the time. It’s very distracting, and given how much worse it looks than Daybreak 1/2 (which AFAIK runs on the same engine) I think they messed up something in this port.

Fully focused on Horizon so no progress on other games.

My wishlist is kinda empty right now.

If I get a Switch 2 I’m interested in the new Fire Emblem (plus Bananza which is already out), and maybe Adventures of Elliot depending on the reviews. Other than that I only have the two games from Falcom (Kyoto Xanadu and Trails in the Sky 2) and the new Professor Layton game.

Of all of these I think only Adventures of Elliot has a release date and it’s only in June!

Mario Tennis is not my cup of tea.

I’ve tried DQ games before but I almost never liked them enough to finish, 5 being the main exception. So while I might give 7 a shot it’s probably a “pick it up with a big discount” situation.

Wow, it’s friday already? This week flew by so fast, was really busy with my new job.

Playing Trails Beyond the Horizon!

Finished Act 1, and looks like from Act 2 onwards we’ll get a split storyline between Van, Rean and Kevin.

I went with Rean’s route, and this first section has them arriving at Basel, learning the lay of the land then going into a mock battle against the Republic’s new mech, the beautiful Excalibur.

Van’s route will be next.

Playing Super Robot Wars Y!

DLC2 has arrived so it’s time to get back to this game.

This DLC includes Steel Jeeg which got a LOT of love in the animation department, plus an alternate universe Getter Robo and Da Garn from the Brave Series.

So far this DLC has been on the easy side, I guess it isn’t balanced for endgame units with Level 99+ and tons of upgrades, but I’m having fun. Curious if the new storyline will be as interesting as the one from DLC1.

With two of my favorite series to keep my busy and a lot to do at work I didn’t get any progress on Hades 2 or Witch on the Holy Night.

Thankfully there’s no major game release I’m interested this month and we have an extended holiday coming soon (Carnival!) so I hope I’ll be able to go back to these games soon.

I like it a lot. It was clearly developed by Falcom’s “B-Team” but has a lot of heart.

It’s a mix of Ys-style action gameplay (though not as polished), current-world setting with supernatural elements like Persona, and Trails-style sidequesting. Cast is great, story is classic anime-style “superpowered high-schoolers fighting monsters” and they fully embrace it, I love how they even replay the game opening at the beginning of each chapter as it if was a new “Episode”.

The OST is amazing.

Excited for Kyoto Xanado (I love the previous game), and good to get a release date for the Aventures of Elliot.

Not much else for me though. Tons of ports of games I don’t care enough or I’d already own a PS5.

Yes! And in two weeks we have an extended holiday here in Brazil for me to play like crazy.

AdHoc absolutely deserves the beating they’re taking. Even if they had no way to prevent the censorship they should’ve announced this a long time ago.

Playing Hades 2!

Finally got a win over the “surface” path boss! Though it seems like I’ll need to do it a few more times to progress. I also managed to unlock the remaining aspects of the weapons.

Playing Witch on the Holy Night!

About halfway through Chapter 8.

Playing Trails Beyond the Horizon!

I know I should be focused on Witch on the Holy Night, but it’s impossible for me to resist a new Trails game. And it starts hot, with the prologue having us play with the Arkride Solutions Office alongside a few surprise additions.

That alone got me so hyped I doubt I’ll be putting down this game anytime soon.

Currently in Chapter 1.2, wrapping up a few 4SPGs before I move on.

Edit: Super Robot Wars Y just announced DLC2 will be released next week with 16 new missions. I’m glad no game I’m interested is releasing anytime soon, I have a lot to catch up now.

Battletoads

Ninja Gaiden 2: The Dark Sword of Chaos

Nintendo is trying to give PTSD to a new generation of players with these.

Crazy that the CotND team still can’t get a dev kit, they are the guys who did a Zelda crossover game that was published by Nintendo itself.

I hadn’t tried running Towerfall since getting my Switch 2. What is not working with it?

Don’t have a Switch 2 yet so I don’t know, but it’s listed in the eShop as “unsupported”: https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/towerfall-switch/

I have a spreadsheet with all my games where I’ve been tracking what is still listed as having issues.

In my library, Crypt of the Necrodancer is still completely unplayable with latest firmware. Crashes during initial loading. Two firmware patches ago (before 21.0.0) it was briefly playable but you’d have to restart the Switch 2 (full power options restart) or you’d have major sound issues.

Interesting, I also have that game and I remember people commenting that one was fixed, and according to my spreadsheet was listed as “working fine” in the Nintendo website when I last checked.

At least they have it listed as unsupported again, which shows some commitment to have the proper information there: https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/crypt-of-the-necrodancer-nintendo-switch-edition-switch/

But I wish there was a changelog somewhere to make it easier to follow this. :/