Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Booster Pack (Nintendo Switch, 2022)

 

The Switch version of Mario Kart 8 ended up adding an entire game's worth of extra DLC courses, which is kinda nuts. Especially considering how they started adding this stuff 5 years after the game came out (2022 vs 2017) which was an entire 8 years after the Wii U game came out. This adds 48 tracks (yes, 48, as many tracks as the main game). These are a mix of real-world "touring" tracks taken from the Kart phone game, retro tracks from other Karts, and some entirely brand-new tracks (usually one or two for every wave).

Basically, this was a Mario Kart 9 in everything except name, and it got a staggered release like FFIV: The After Years. Now that we have Mario Kart World, I guess this pack is Mario Kart 8.5. Which begs the question of why they didn't just put this out as a new game and rake in coin. They could have easily sold this for $50 (instead of the $25 total that it costs), plus an actual release would have gotten some fanfare and people like me wouldn't have forgotten it existed, so it would have sold a lot better as well.

So how is it? Well, right off the bat, they missed a big opportunity by not having this add Booster from Mario RPG as a playable character. This caused them to lose out on numerous potential sales from Booster-enthusiasts and Booster-maniacs the world over.

Alright, here we go, 48 (Jesus) new tracks over 12 (Jesus) new cups. I better pack a lunch, this is gonna take a while.

Pokemon Legends: Arceus (Nintendo Switch, 2022)

 

It's 2/22/22, you know what that means.

Editor's Note: Reposted for closeness to the rest of the game, which is now being worked on for additional posts.

Live-a-Live Remastered (Nintendo Switch, 2022) Pt 1 - Prehistoria

 

Got a pretty sweet 2D-HD remake thing goin' on here. After how good the SaGa Frontier remake was, I had high hopes for this one. It still shows its age, but it's worth a play. They fixed some of the issues the original had, and the new visuals are great.

Going to be a bit more concise with this remake since the original had a massive amount of posts. One scenario : one post. It's different enough to be worth covering all over again. It even got an "RPG of the Year" nomination which is pretty awesome. Then Elden Ring rolled over it like the HK tank rolling over the skulls in the Terminator movies, but Live-a-Live was there. It was there.

The Rest of TMNT: Shredder's Revenge

 

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLE.

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLE.

HERO IN HALF SHELL. TURTLE POWER.

TMNT: Shredder's Revenge (Lots of systems, 2022)

 

There's a new Ninja Turtles game, so of course I had to get it and check it out. Let's kick, and I quote, shell.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Nintendo Switch, 2022)

 

It's Kirby in post-apocalyptic Earth! ...WTF? I seriously have no idea what to expect from this game going in, so let's find out.

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin (Playstation 5, 2022)

 

I've never covered the original Final Fantasy on here, yet here I am covering its remake. That IS what this is, right? I don't know! Let's find out.