One vote. We kept the supremacy of the constitution over the three individual branches by the skin of our teeth.
One... vote...
Don't consider this a victory. That it was so close is a sign that the old status quo really is dead. The three branches realize they can just IGNORE the written laws as it suits them, so long as they all work together to ignore them.
First, on the Microsoft front, a massive wave of studio closures or spinoffs is expected next week. It may be the largest mass firing and closure in gaming history. A bunch of the massive number of studios MS bought in the last decade will either be shut down or spun off, as costs keep going up out of control and game sales numbers consistently fail to meet the very high expectations necessary to make money given the high costs. Additionally, MS announced yet another Xbox price increase for later this year. The Xbox Series X I bought for $500 back when it released will now cost $800 thanks to the AI price bubble, a bubble MS is a major player in.
So, this is an opening for Sony, right? Well... no. First, they fired a lot of people at Bungie, a studio they bought recently, because of the same reasons as Microsoft. Also, Sony just announced that they are ending all disc production for Playstation consoles in January 2028, and are shutting down the PS3 and PS Vita online stores in mid 2027. Sony has also significantly increased the cost of the PS5 console, just like Microsoft, due to the same AI price problems.
What about PC gaming? Well, that's suffering the worst from the RAM and mass storage price increases. PC gaming was in good shape and getting even better last year, but now things are looking dire as people significantly delay upgrades and go with less RAM and storage than they would have a year ago or more. I sure wish I'd built a new computer early last year, it was so dumb that I didn't... I did upgrade my RAM to 64GB a year ago, but my computer is over 9 years old, it's definitely not DDR5 RAM. Even so the cost of the RAM I got has gone up but not by as much as DDR5 has.
So yeah, very bad news from all of the other candidates. But what about Nintendo? Their RAM and storage costs have gone up significantly as well, but so far they haven't increased prices. They definitely will have to do so eventually, though, no way will Nintendo eat the whole cost of their surely massive RAM and SSD price increase.
Meanwhile, console adoption numbers have been stalled for years, PC gaming is on the rocks due to AI, where does gaming go from here? Some are making dire predictions of home computing dying in favor of streaming only, which isn't impossible but I sure hope we all do everything possible to keep that from happening...
Alright, this is some kind of amazing, but it appears we're getting a modern take on the Neo Geo of all things. I'd intended to make the Neo Geo the next console I got, and my original plan was to get an arcade board and put it in an enclosure kit. It was cheap, reliable, and one quirk that set the Neo Geo apart was that the arcade and home versions were ALMOST identical.
Well, they're recreating it. Not via an emulator on a Raspberri pi, or cycle accurate emulation via a FPGA, but actually recreating all the ASIC chips themselves, in a full recreation of the home console. Real cartridges, real accessories, and all of that. It has both analog and HDMI output, depending on preference, and the controller this thing comes with, if you get the anniversary version, is wireless using a dongle in the controller port. The anniversary version also recreates Metal Slug for a starter game.
Now, I said the arcade and home consoles were ALMOST identical before. First, the pinouts were altered so arcade carts won't just plug right in without an adapter. This seems to remain true for the new version. The other difference are DIP switches, which only the arcade version had before, but they're added to this + edition. They're also recreating the memory cards, or you can get alternative after market options that store FAR more data.
In any event, this seems like the most straightforward way to have it all, for anyone interested. I say "seems" a lot in this, so that's the one thing to watch out for. I have no idea how the build quality is going to be on this thing, and it won't be known until it's out in November and in the hands of reviewers to stress test this thing. So, it may be wise not to preorder it off the bat.
Ugh, a rather unfortunate wrinkle in this whole thing is that Muhammad bin Salman, ruler of Saudia Arabia, more or less owns SNK now. That makes every purchase of one of these things a direct funding of his government. I'm not saying how you should spend your money, but at least now you're informed.
We've got the SNES game, Starfox 64 which was a reimagining of that story. Star fox 64 3D which was a graphical update of 64. Star Fox Zero, which is another reimagining of the original story.
Now this! It appears to once again dip into Star Fox 64 for it's core design, but this time, it's going full cinematic. I'm not really sure what's going on with Miyamoto, but the story telling bug must have bit him, because he's leaning HARD into the cut scenes this time around. Frankly, that alone might justify retelling the same story yet another time. As to those visuals, they're going more "realistic". Not ALL the way, but definitely more so than in the past. Honestly? It reminds me of the design on those old figures they made for the promotional art for the SNES game, and also of the designs in the Star Fox comic in Nintendo Power. It feels like a blend of those two styles. There's a fair share of anger over it it seems. It's funny. Back when Wind Waker came out, everyone was upset that Zelda had gotten LESS realistic, and now they're upset Star Fox went MORE realistic.
But, as I said, it isn't going for total realism, mercifully. The visuals still are bright and colorful like a cartoon. Further, the designs help to give them ironically more "human" attributes. It's a lot easier to tell that Peppy is much older than the rest of the team, for example. They've also got more expressive faces, with a lot of nuance coming through. This even shows in the radio chatter, where they are moving around and emoting, much better than the cockpit views in Zero.
They're adding Great Fox moments between missions. That's a good chance to really show some things, and it gives me "Wing Commander" vibes.
Maybe I'm just being contrary, but frankly I want to give this one a chance. I'm a LOT more open to doing so based purely on them pricing it REASONABLY for a change. Maybe they learned their lesson after that Advance Wars 1+2 remake and the port of DKC Returns sold so poorly when released at "new game" price? Or, maybe it's just the typical Nintendo move, randomly testing the waters pretty much all the time.
hay guyz how's PS5 looking these days? I just got a bonus at work and I'm thinking about splurging on one. SH2 remake is a given. I also recently saw a streamer (I know, I know) playing RE9 and it looked pretty badass. Oh yeah new Silent Hill ofc but I'm more excited for SH2. And Clair Obscur has looked pretty sweet too.
This is not a drill, it's real. Nintendo just made one of their most exciting announcements in a very very long time and easily their most exciting retro game release ever. I am still kind of shocked this is real, but... it is! Zero Racers (and Bound High) are actually coming to Switch Virtual Boy! It's shocking but true and I am incredibly excited.
Seriously, this may not mean much to a lot of people, but this is massively amazing news. These two games, along with another game called Bound High, were in development in 1996 as the key titles for a second attempt at getting the Virtual Boy to sell better, a 'relaunch' of sorts of the console. The games were pretty much completed, but then Nintendo decided to cancel the system entirely instead of releasing the games and giving the system a second chance. I have always been a strong advocate for wishing that companies would support any console they released for at least a couple of years (so long as it was financially possible for them to do so), so Nintendo's decision to ditch the Virtual Boy after less than six months has always been one I don't like. Yes, the system was never going to be a big hit, but with more realistic expectations for its sales -- 665,000 sold really isn't THAT bad, is it? -- I think that it could have been a fun little side system with support for at least a few years. Games like these would have been perfect for this concept, original titles and spinoffs of major franchises that aren't going to sell huge numbers of consoles but could excite some people.
Zero Racers is basically 3d F-Zero: Tunnel Racing Edition, and I've always badly wanted to play it. Zero Racers has been my number one most wanted unreleased game pretty much since its release, and it is just incredible that is is FINALLY going to see the light of day! I remember reading the Nintendo Power preview for the game and thinking it looked pretty good, but that's all we have ever had of it, until now. And finally we'll be able to play it! I don't know if anyone outside of Nintendo had copies of Zero Racers and Dragon Hopper that could have leaked, as happened with Bound High a few years back, but if they did they never released them publicly or showed any footage of them. Now, Nintendo has finally decided to drag them out of the vault and allow people to play the games... for no additional cost beyond the console and the VR accessory options (Virtual Boy plastic shell or cardboard VR).
I have always assumed that Nintendo had these games in their vault. After all, Nintendo, unlike most developers particularly in Japan, keeps everything of note. Nintendo keeps all their source code, all their cancelled game prototypes, everything. While most other developers erase or lose that stuff all the time -- just ask Square or Sega for their old code, they won't have it that's for sure! -- Nintendo keeps stuff. This is of course why the Mana collection was Switch exclusive, Square had to go to Nintendo to get the source code for at least one of the games. Nintendo had been given it back in the '90s for something (I forget why exactly, Satellaview? Nintendo Power system?) and, of course, kept it, while Square lost their originals. Nintendo's stipulation that the collection could only release on their system was understandable. So yeah, I always thought this was possible but didn't think Nintendo would do it. After all, on the 3DS they had a perfect chance to do 3DS Virtual Console, but didn't. Why would they now? Except... now they have. Unbelievable!
Anyway, this is amazing. I am so excited about this and the VB Switch VC. Very cool stuff.
As for the rest of the games on the Switch Virtual Boy VC app --
Golf - it's golf. I'm not a genre fan.
Virtual Boy Wario Land - An absolutely exceptional, incredibly fun game that is only held back by being pretty short and fairly easy. It's one of the all time great platformers though.
Galactic Pinball - One of the better electronic pinball games on retro consoles. Very good stuff. This is a pretty addictive, well made game.
3-D Tetris - This is the best 'Blockout'-style game I've ever played, I like it a lot. It's fantastic.
Teleroboxer - I'm not a boxing fan and this game is very hard but the 3-d effect looks great and the game does seem to be pretty good for its genre.
The Mansion of Innsmouth [aka Insmouse no Yakata or Innsmouth no Yakata or Insane Mouse Mansion] - This Japan-only title is a first-person dungeon-exploring shooter/action game. It doesn't have free movement, but still it has nice visuals and good gameplay. It's a shame this one didn't release here during the VB's life, I think it would have done well.
Mario Clash - With savestates, this previously pretty frustrating to try to play game suddenly becomes potentially fun, I would think! This sequel to arcade Mario Bros. is pretty good, particularly in 3-d where you can see the shells fly into the screen and such, but it' doesn't save, and is a quite long game to play on a system with a pretty short playtime limit before you have to stop and look away... a battery in the cart would have worked wonders. I know it doesn't have much of an ending, but still, the game needed a way to pick up a play session later, and this should provide it.
Red Alarm - Red Alarm may seem on video to make no sense due to the walls being just wireframes, but in stereoscopic 3-d the walls and floors and ships all actually make sense and work in 3d space in a way that's hard to explain unless you've played it. This is a pretty cool game that makes great use of the hardware.
And coming later --
Mario Tennis - This tennis game is still one of Mario's best tennis games ever, particularly in 3d. It's weird that the launch packin game isn't available with the launch of this service, but... okay? Maybe it'll release after the new Switch Mario Tennis game?
Vertical Force - This is a good, though not exceptional, shmup from Hudson. It's nice looking and plays well, but is kind of easy. It's lots of fun to play through though.
Space Invaders Virtual Collection - This is a very expensive import-only title. i don't have a real cart, haven't justified the expense yet. It's basically just Space Invaders but with 3-d.
Jack Bros. - I don't love this game as much as some people seem to, but this top-down action game from Atlus is certainly good, at least. It doesn't make too much use of the 3-d effect but plays well.
V-Tetris - It's Tetris, but with a slight 3d effect. There's not too much reason to play this over Game Boy Tetris really, but it's well made.
Virtual Bowling - This Japan-only title is insanely expensive. From emulation it seems pretty good, I wish I owned a cart. Now I'll be able to play it in 3d.
And of course Dragon Hopper and Zero Racers, the unreleased grails of Nintendo's vault.
I wonder, will we get Bound High also someday? Or is there some rights issue there?
As for the rest of the VB library... well, I get why Waterworld and the Gundam strategy game aren't there. Licenses. Virtual Baseball is a pretty fun game, I hope it shows up someday. The Japanese version is a licensed J-League game but the US version is unlicensed. Virtual Lab is a terrible mess, don't bother. Nester's Funky Bowling is good from what little I've tried of it, though Virtual Bowling seems better. I wonder why they went with that one over the more familiar American title, is it because of the 'license' (of their character from the Nintendo Power comic)? Virtual Bowling does have a better 3d effect but still, they both seem neat. And those are the rest of the games I can think of offhand. Otherwise, what else is missing? Bomberman Panic Bomber isn't here. It's a solid version of that game, apart from missing the multiplayer all the other versions have, but is in English, it's the only version of that game released here. I hope it shows up on this service someday. Konami is supporting it, Vertical Force is theirs of course.
Anyway, this is incredibly exciting stuff. Will Zero Racers be the best game ever? Probably not. But in 3-d it probably will look pretty cool and play well, like Red Alarm. The VB needed more actual 3d games, and that was one! I am really excited for this, it's kind of a dream come true to soon finally be able to play Zero Racers...
It used to be that the N64 barely even had a homebrew scene. Writing games for 3d is hard, and writing good 3d for the N64 is even harder, with its limited hardware and compromises to fit within its $200 budget. For many years homebrew devs wanting to work on retro hardware stuck to 2d games for consoles like the Genesis or NES, or hacking already existing games for those systems, the SNES, or others. The N64 eventually got a small game hacking scene, which has produced some nice results particularly in Mario 64 hacks, but actual original works? It was just too much.
Well, in case you all hadn't noticed, in the last few years it has happened. And some of the techdemos are exceptionally impressive. The games? They aren't on that level yet, but they're improving... they'll get there. But the tech demos? Spectacular stuff.
Two years ago, we had this.
This is pretty impressive! The textures here are so high resolution, it looks like something running on a more powerful hardware, but isn't.
But homebrew developers aren't done... now homebrew devs have done THIS. These demos are running in tiny3d, a homebrew microcode option for the N64. That means that these are not using Nintendo's proprietary microcode, and instead are entirely free of any potential copyright issues.
Yes, that is running on real hardware. If I didn't know better I'd think this is running on Gamecube or Xbox or something. The Nintendo 64 really IS a tiny little $200 SGI supercomputer, as demos like this show -- once people figured out how to get the most out of the hardware they've started to do incredible things.
And how is tiny3d doing at high-res textures?
Yeah, pretty seriously well. It's pretty insane to see the N64 doing this stuff, isn't it? It can even do portals!
The amount of particles on screen in this demo is ridiculous stuff. Exceptional work!
And here is the N64 doing full HDR.
So yeah the tech demos look incredible, but how are homebrew games doing? Well, there still aren't full, complete, homebrew N64 games with 3d graphics and the scale of a full retail title. There are only demos and smaller projects. Making a full game with just one person is a whole lot of work once you are trying to do 3d graphics, so this makes sense. In order to encourage development for the system, for several years now there has been a Nintendo 64 homebrew games jam late in the year. A year ago the theme was 'make a minigame, Mario Party style', then they put the minigames together into a launcher which lets you load any minigame.
The tiny3d guy made this one for that:
Obviously this isn't as impressive as the techdemos, but the particle effects are shown off here, as is the smooth framerate and really nice, detailed graphics. The gameplay is simple, just whack stuff and collect money, but it's good for what it's doing. The high detail graphics certainly could fool someone into thinking this is running o n something more powerful than the N64.
The guy behind the first video in this post, meanwhile, is currently working on a game. He was making a N64 port of Portal, but dropped it halfway because of issues from Valve, sadly. Now he's working on an original title. There aren't really video showing the whole game but bits of it are shown in this video:
The magic system looks interesting, but I don't like the super-pixelated graphics. I assume he turned off the texture smoothing and I don't like that look at all, myself, sorry. Still, I wanted to post a video of this game despite that.
There are plenty more little homebrew N64 demos or minigames I could mention. Here are a few.
This one is basically a very simple take on Rocket League.
This video covers some of the titles from a N64 Jam a few years ago. The same guy did another video on the 2024 minigame-themed jam:
The overall improvement in homebrew visuals shown here should be quite apparent.
The sixth N64brew Game Jam is currently underway, with a January 31 deadline. I'll be very interested to see what people made this year! https://itch.io/jam/n64brew-game-jam-6
And that isn't even getting into the hacking and rompatching scene, with things like Kaze Emanuar's effort to rewrite Super Mario 64 to get it running fully smoothly at 60fps with perfectly optimized code. So yeah, the Nintendo 64 has come a long way. Today the way the hardware runs is much better understood than it ever was before, and optimized code is now possible. The N64 has major strengths -- its fast CPU, its SGI supercomputer roots -- and limitations -- the small texture cache, the slow RAM access speed. Making a great N64 game requires working around those limitations. Managing RAM access is the key, apparently. That is probably the biggest cause of slowdown. Optimizing is apparently pretty challenging but obviously possible, as the results show.
According to Nintendo, I ended up playing 145 hours of Mario Kart World in 2025. It's easily my most played game of the year. On the Switch/Switch 2, second place was Mario Maker 2 at 90 hours, third DK Bananza at 7 hours. Bananza is pretty good, there's no actual reason why I stopped 7 hours in and never went back... I really should finish it.
But anyway, Mario Kart World vs. Mario Maker 2? Well, MM2 is certainly the better game, but... well, I started playing it a LOT less once MKW released. I'm just so addicted to playing some of this game on a regular basis! I mostly play the simplest, but maybe the most frustrating, online mode, online Knockout Tour. It's amazing but so unfair, I lose because of random luck constantly. Of course I shouldn't get TOO frustrated by this because that is the games' design, it is still Mario Kart at its core, but when I get eliminated because of random nonsense several times in a row I usually quit out of the game and do something else, it's too frustrating to stick with... heh.
Perhaps I should try getting better at the regular tracks instead of mostly sticking to the point-to-point-focused Knockout Tour, but I haven't done that at all. I also haven't gone to hunt for more of the primary skill challenge part of the game, the P-Switch missions. I don't know, they are pretty cool, but Knockout is just simple fun, you know? Just drive, play a few tours. see how I do... it's exactly what I want.
And all of that is why Mario Kart World has to be my pick for best new game of 2025. Is it the best game I played in 2025? Of course not, I'm still playing Starcraft of course, never mind Mario Maker 2. But it is a fantastic, addictive, brilliantly -- and irritatingly --designed game which does a lot right, as well as some things wrong. I wish that it had some missing features such as saving replays and adding a lot more knockout tours because for a game with 30 tracks and 202 routes it's just insane that the Knockout Tour mode is locked to eight preset 6-section races and that's all you get, but the game is amazing regardless.
As for the other games I liked the most in 2025, obviously the best game including old games is Starcraft. And yeah I'm still playing. Am I still horrible at it, yes, I still lose like 95% of the time and don't learn as much as I probably should. But I love the game regardless and have no plan on stopping anytime soon. It's simply the best thing.
The other PC game I have played off and on for like five-ish years now is GeoGuessr, which actually in its online multiplayer mode is also incredibly frustratingly random. The problem with the versus mode is that as a match goes into deeper rounds the damage multiplier increases, so if you get a great guess on the first round and they guess horribly you do only a little damage, but if you guess badly on the tenth round and their guess is great that's it, you lose instantly no matter what the point differential is. It's one of the worst game design concepts I have ever seen, seriously, and it's a horrible shame that a multiplier-free ranked mode does not exist; every time I play the game I'd say I quit more because of how much I hate the damage multiplier than anything else. Well, at least the single player 5-locations mode is pretty great. I haven't played this much in a bit but I'm sure I will be back.
On the Switch 2, I already discussed MKW. The other Switch game I play obviously is Mario Maker 2, which, as I said, I've played a lot less of since MKW released last summer. Even so, MM2 is still maybe the best game idea ever and is something I will never entirely stop playing. I only made four levels in '25, I should make more levels... I'm sure I could come up with some ideas.
Other than those four, well, I don't know if any other single game actually reached double digit hours of playtime, but I am still regularly using my 3DS, primarily for what's left of its Picross and other puzzle games that I haven't finished yet. I hate finger touch so Switch 2 Picross or touchscreen stuff doesn't appeal to me much at all, I'd need a good capacitive touch stylus and I tried one of those once and didn't like it much.
For another game, I didn't buy Kirby Air Riders in 2025, but I got it recently and have played it a bit. It's such a weird thing, kind of neat but kind of bizarre in not always good ways. My first impression is that it's good but not great, I'm sorry but I'm putting it below MKW and DK Bananza for sure.
As for Metroid Prime 4, I haven't gotten it yet.
What about my retro collection? As with other recent years I only rarely used most of it, sadly. However, one thing I got in 2025 is something I did end up playing quite a bit of: the Atari Lynx. I don't know if I mentioned here that I got a Lynx midyear this year, but I did, with pretty low expectations. I'd played Lynx games in emulation decades back and wasn't all that interested, and I don't especially like the other handhelds I've gotten in recent decades such as the Wonderswan or Game Gear. The Game Boy line are great, but I don't use them much anymore. Of course I do use the DS and 3DS regularly, but much more for touchscreen games than button ones. I thought the Lynx would be, like, yeah it has great graphics for its time, but modern systems do better, you know? Just something to add to the collection. I got a Lynx II from ebay. I had always planned on getting the Lynx II if I ever got a Lynx.
But... well, two things. First, I ended up getting a discount Lynx flash cart, which unlocked the Lynx's large homebrew library. There are a lot of Lynx homebrew games and some of them are pretty good. And... well, I actually like the system a lot! I like the Lynx so much more than I expected, it's kind of crazy. Of course it helps that I got a refurbished one that works great, but I didn't splurge for one with a replaced screen, I'm pretty sure this has the original screen, and it's really good! Yeah, it blurs a bit, but compared to the other screens of the early '90s this seems by far the best in terms of visibility and blur. It is front-lit also, of course, like the Game Gear, except way more powerful than GG, with impressive sprite scaling 3d effects. But even when games are just 2d, they seem to run better than most GG games do, usually smooth and fast. The vertical resolution of the Lynx is quite low, it's got a widescreen aspect ratio with a vertical resolution far below the GB or GG's resolution, so some games have tiny sprites, but I think the look works for the screen size the Lynx has.
As for the negatives, well, the platformer library is decidedly second rate. You have some very weird Western platformers by second and third rate teams. Too many of these games have no music and iffy framerates; the Lynx is powerful but clearly not ideal for platformer games, it's better at sprite scaling 3d and such. For Japanese platformers, ports of Rygar (the arcade game), Ninja Gaiden III (from the NES), and Toki (arcade). And that's about it from Japan. Fortunately all three ports are pretty good, though. It's neat that this is the arcade version of Toki, the Sega Genesis game is entirely different. Of course now you can play Toki HD on modern systems, but still it's a good port. Rygar... that arcade game always was kind of boring, so that it's a good port isn't saying all that much. Still it's okay I guess.
Of the other official Lynx games, S.T.U.N. Runner and Rampart are probably the ones I've played the most.
From the Lynx homebrew library that I've tried, of stuff I found, I need to buy some of the paid homebrews, from Songbird and AtariAge. A few of them look pretty good, I need to get Odynexus (there's a demo and I played it, it's pretty cool) and some others. Ynxa seems decent, and Red (or Green). Those have paid releases now too, I should get them. For free stuff, there's a little homebrew solitaire card game title that I've been playing, it's well done. There are a lot more free Lynx homebrews, many of which I've been trying on the system; I'd need to look through the list to say more about them. Suffice to say, I like the Lynx now and regardless of having the flashcart will certainly be expanding my collection of physical carts for the thing; it's just so nice to play games on.
Overall ranking for the year!
1. Starcraft: Brood War
2. Super Mario Maker 2
3. Mario Kart World (best new game)
4. The Atari Lynx
5. 3DS Picross Games
6. Donkey Kong Bananza
I did upgrade my RAM to 64GB a year ago, but my computer is over 9 years old, it's definitely not DDR5 RAM. Even so the cost of the RAM I got has gone up but not by as much as DDR5 has.