Out of all of the multiplayer shooters that come and gone throughout all of 2021 Splitgate was the only game for me that stood out, because it broke up from the monopoly of Live Service, Hero Shooters and Battle Royale type games that spread all over and Splitgate was a Halo inspired shooter that was a throwback to classic multiplayer FPS games while offering its own spin on the genre. It originally started life back in 2019 on Steam as an Early Access title before eventually rebuilding it from the ground up to release on not only on Steam but also get a release on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles in 2021 in Beta form. It wasn't until finally when it got to Season 2 in September 2022 after its rough amount of days of backend errors, game crashes and technical problems that Splitgate finally got out of Beta and got a full release and throughout all of the development cycle it went through it was a full on Free-to-Play game that didn't relay on any egregious business practices and forced microtransactions to make Splitgate stand out. It had a great healthy amount of players when it first came out and was supported very well from both the community and the developers and after about four seasons including its time in the Beta the developers have sadly ended updates for the game but allowed the servers for the game to continue so that people can come online anytime and still enjoy playing it for the foreseeable future while the dev team work on the sequel Splitgate 2.

So, I already have reviewed Splitgate a long time ago on my Gamespot channel and also when I talked about the disaster that Season 2, but even after reviewing that game it has ever since grown on me and I went on to not only unlock all of the trophies on the PlayStation 4 version but also the Gold Skins for all of the Weapons and eventually 95% of the Badges. Since I returned to playing Splitgate after looking up gameplay of the anticipated sequel I figured that I should do yet another review of this game and see if it is still as great as I remember it in 2024 as well as covering some of the changes that were made to it over the years.

The gameplay of Splitgate is that it was a throwback to shooters of old with simple classic game types to play and yet it has a game mechanic that makes it stand out. You have a Portal Gun where you can shoot out a Blue Portal at points on the map that you can use it on and also shoot out a Green Portal at another spot on the map and then you can then pass through the Portal to reach the other side of the map. Using Portals is the key to not only getting around the map in a quick and easy fashion as it allows you to get to higher areas that would be impossible by regularly jumping or walking. It also can be used as a quick way to escape from enemies pursuing you and lastly to get around them and get the surprise drop on them. Using Portals effectively becomes a key component of Splitgate as you can gain an advantage against other players when you can see through them and can use them to setup attacks that others won't see coming and in some situations you can even setup Portals to prevent enemies getting to you.

You do have EMP Grenades that can be used to shut down enemy Portals to stop them from shooting from them and gaining the advantage over you. EMP Grenades do NOT inflict any damage to other players and are used to get rid of enemy portals so the gameplay in Splitgate doesn't relay on constant grenade spamming it becomes more about the gunplay and how you make use of the Portals.

You have over 11 different weapons to use in the game from the Assault Rifle and also the Carbine which are your starting weapons for most matches, the Assault Rifle fills the role of any Assault Rifle from any other modern FPS game as it deals good amount of damage and the recoil from it can be controlled from full auto if you hold the aiming down. The Carbine is great for damage and can really be good for zooming and getting some high damage shots on your enemies. Other weapons include a Rapid Fire Pistol which does very weak damage and is just absolutely worthless to use, a three round burst Battle Rifle which is pretty fun, an SMG which is a great spray and pray weapon, the Plasma Rifle which shoot slow but powerful energy shots which makes it effective if you time your aim at where your enemy is going to be and don't let the gun overheat, a Sniper Rifle that is great for getting of some perfect headshots, a Shotgun that is so overpowered that it can send any poor unsuspecting victim instantly to the shadow realm with a single shot even from mid range, a BFB which is a melee weapon that is the equivalent of Halo's Gravity Hammer where it instantly kills anyone that gets close to you but the amount of uses is rather small and runs out of juice quickly, then you also have the Railgun that charges up and fires a powerful laser blast at your enemy and kills him in one hit and lastly you have a Rocket Launcher that deals explosive damage to anyone close by and gets caught in the blast. What is great about the weapons in Splitgate is that there are no variations of each weapon, you get basically one Assault Rifle and it handles like an Assault Rifle should, you got one Shotgun, one Carbine and it is the same deal with all other weapons that you can get your hand on. Every weapon in the game serves a purpose really well and you can easily find a favourite to use in any given situation, while a couple of the more powerful weapons don't have much ammo for them and also take a while for them to respawn still the gunplay is tight and kept at a balanced level so that the more overpowered weapons don't carry you through the whole match. Easily my favourite weapons to use in the game are the Assault Rifle, Plasma Rifle, the BFB, the Shotgun and lastly the Railgun. The game's weapons also has a really good time to kill that is not too quick and isn't too slow either and is just about right that you can react to who is hitting you and get out of the way. Splitgate has the right amount of gunplay to offer for a shooter and you can make use of the Portals to gain an advantage and surprise your enemies that would not see you coming and it is satisfying to make use of the Portals and get either a Railgun or Rocket Launcher and get a shot on your enemies before they even noticed your presence. What is cool also is that some other players online can really put the Portal System to the fullest and do some really cool tricks that you wouldn't expect any normal player would try and do like being able to jump from the top of the portal cube and then you end up flying quick from above onto a safe side of the map and you can keep up the Portal momentum by portaling quick as you are flying with some practice.

You also do get different Killing Spree announcement lines from when you are making multiple kills in a row from Double Kill, Triple Kill and so forth as well as getting more kills without dying from Killing Spree to Killection Agency also which can show off how well you are doing in a match as you get medals during the course of the match. You can even get a medal for getting a kill through a Portal which is something you can do to surprise enemies when they are distracted and you can even Portal an enemy out of bounds by setting up a track that involves putting up Portals that will send your enemy out of the arena which will earn you a Portal Kill which is tough but satisfying thing to pull off.

As for the game modes there are plenty of different game modes that you can play that are split into different playlists. You have your standard Team Deathmatch which is simple kill all enemies to earn max amount of points to win the match to more objective based matches like Team Objective which have classic team based objective modes like King of the Hill, One-Flag Capture the Flag which alternates teams into defence and offence phases and also Splitball which has teams trying to take the ball for their team and have to hold onto it for enough time to capture it and score. The scoring system for Splitball is changed as the ball resets after a point has been scored now which prevents players from flying around too much and making it difficult for enemies to try and steal it. Other game modes and playlists include Team Snipers and Shotty Snipers which has all players with Sniper Rifles and also a Shotgun, Zombie VIP has one player on each team a VIP target that the other players who have only BFB bats while the VIP has only a Shotgun and cannot use Portals, Fiesta has every weapon loadout change upon respawning, Laser Tag has every with low health, run super fast with Plasma Rifles, Gun Game which has the player level up gun ranks by getting kills with each available gun in the game while meleeing an enemy knocks him down a rank, Team SWAT has you with Carbines and Battle Rifles and a single shot to the head is an instant kill with that same rules applying also to Pistol SWAT, and there is also a No Portal playlist which classic variants of Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag and King of the Hill just that you don't have Portals to use.

My personal favourite game mode to play in the game is Takedown, Takedown is a round based game mode where the goal is too take out all other enemies without letting one of them respawn back in, it not only involves good team coordination by trying to stick together as well as making good use of the Portals whenever you can. There are also the Featured Playlists that will throw in a game mode that is NOT on the main playlist rotation in Quick Play on a weekly basis which are basically the same game type modes with new rules and spins of the main game modes featured in the game. Contamination was one of the game modes that was in the Quick Play rotation until bizarrely moved to featured playlist and that one had players surviving against zombie players armed with BFB with the latter increasing with each time a zombie player gets a kill.

One of the most unique game modes that needed to be in the Quick Play rotation is Teabag Confirmed which in it players have to perform a Teabag by crouching repetitively on the enemy's body to score, that's right you score by giving the other players the disrespect. What's funny is that the developers made it clear that it was a thing players do to other kinds of noobs online which would either make them get angry at you and make you the priority target so they wanted it in Splitgate, I just wished it was on the Quick Play game mode rotation because it is such a funny game mode where you can be a massive jerk to the other players. 1047 even put a counter in the stats screen that shows the amount of times you Teabagged someone in the matches so you know that the developers knew about the Teabagging.

All of the maps are nicely detailed and are very varied and well layered out and are also great in size. They each many different spots that you can make use your Portals on and there is now a good amount of maps that you can play on with Lavawell being one of my personal favourite all time maps to play. It's nice to see that Splitgate has arenas that have a great amount of layers to them and don't rely on large open areas with loads of inside buildings for the sake of having large open areas that are poorly designed and are annoying in many modern multiplayer FPS games like in Call of Duty and Battlefield. Splitgate's map are simple to learn, has just enough places for you to make use of the game's mechanics without them being too simplistic or too large.

Matches in Splitgate tend to last roughly five or six minutes minimum and up to ten minutes max per match depending on the game mode you are playing. Connecting to matches normally is meant to be quick but however when you connect to a game lobby you are put into a Waiting Room where you can warm up and practice with other players and bots which is a great way to get used to the game mechanics before the actual match loads up and starts. You can add and remove a playlist that you want to play and also can enable or disable Cross-Play anytime so that you can chose to play with people on other platforms or you can limit the servers so that you only play with players on the same platform you are playing the game on. Enabling and/or disabling any of these can affect how long the game can take to find a server that has enough players to play, if there are not enough players in the server then a number of AI controlled bots can enter the match with you. Surprisingly the bot AI is very capable when it comes to combat, they make use of the weapons available on the map, do group up and even back up when they are getting attacked. Sure they don't make good use of portals, have some path finding problems but for the most part they are very capable bots that can hold their own. Then you also have the Ranked Matches which requires Cross-Play to be enabled and the Ranked Matches have more hardcore based variants of the regular game modes just with Radar disabled and starting with the Carbine and Pistol. Completing any of the Ranked Matches will give you a certain number of points depending on your performance and if you won the match or not. Ranked Matches can be fun and entertaining as they provide a much more challenging experience from the regular gameplay modes but connecting to a Ranked Match can often a pain due to sometimes the server will load up a match but doesn't bring up enough players to make the match start resulting in the match being terminated.

In addition to the actual Gameplay there is also the Race Mode where you take any map you want to try to collect all of the Splitballs as quickly as you can. This is a game mode that fully makes you understand the layout of each of the game's maps and fully utilize the portals to quickly make your way around in the fastest time you can make it. It is pretty fun and will have you perfecting your portaling skills.

Performance wise Splitgate runs really well on the Unreal Engine and is well optimized on the consoles especially on the PlayStation 4 which is what I played the game on. The gameplay is always at a 60 FPS despite having plenty of effects going on the screen at once and it is an amazing looking game with fantastic looking character models, brilliantly detailed environments and some great looking effects as well especially when you can see through your own portals. It doesn't have any music during the gameplay but what is heard in the main menu is pretty good, the weapons all sound incredibly impactful and that ding sound when you get a kill is very satisfying to hear, all accompanied by an announcer who is rather humorous when it comes to killing spree names.

But with many things that are very enjoyable about Splitgate there are some annoying flaws holding everything about it back from perfection. Normally you should be able to pick what game type playlists that you want to play even if you just to focus on one single playlist and it should search for a match no problem. Sometimes though the game would not search for a match and or would take either minutes or remain in infinite searching and does nothing and my only solution to getting out of infinite searching was to cancel the current game searching and then restart the search or sometimes restart the game for it to get it to search a match again.

When entering the Waiting Room the gameplay for some reason freezes up for a couple of seconds which leaves your character as a free target for other players in the Waiting Room, plenty of times I would get killed and don't get a chance to spawn back in again. Although this does not happen during the actual matches I find it incredibly annoying to enter into a Waiting Room after telling the game to search a match only for it to freeze up for a few seconds and cause me an unavoidable death because of the freezing.

Another bug I had was with the Map Creator, now for the most the Map Creator is a fantastic feature allowing you to create your own map complete with layers, Portal spots, weapon spawn locations, as well as many pieces of furniture that you can use to decorate your map. You can share your masterpiece with friends and other players in the community and also can download other people's creation to play in Custom Mode either by yourself or with other players. However when I downloaded a couple of maps that the community had made the game would bug out and caused my entire game to boot me to the Tutorial Area when I next booted up the game and made all of the character and weapon skins I got act as if I only just unlocked them by highlighting them as new when I had them unlocked for so long. Everytime I kept the downloaded maps and loaded up the game it would do that every single time and my only solution to prevent the bug from happening again was to delete the downloaded maps which really sucked because I did like some of the fan created maps. Well at least you get to play some of the fan created maps in some of the Quick Play game modes as well as the game modes in the Featured Playlist just an absolute shame that downloading some of the fan created maps but it is messed up that there is a bug in the game that can cause you to replay the Tutorial and mess with your acquired character and weapon skins like that and it was annoying. But at least during the actual gameplay I didn't experience any server lag or disconnections and it remained stable throughout matches so at the very least the online play functions really well.

The other annoying bug I also experienced was one where after a match you can optionally save a clip of the match you just played so that you can review or watch it as many times you like so you can how other players did in a match. However for me whenever I try to save a clip for myself to watch it would never save the clip and always cause an error every single time. Now none of the bugs that I have experienced so far do not outright ruin the game but they can be absolutely infuriating especially when you want to try some of the community created content for yourself without causing the game to bug out. Sure the PS4 console can actually save a gameplay clip of the game you are playing so you can save gameplay content of Splitgate that way but to have a clip cause an error in game and not save properly is just another oversight on the developers part.

It is really, really hard to throw any kind of hate on Splitgate with some of the bugs, glitches and other kinds of issues when the game itself is entirely addictive and it is a Free-to-Play game. The game has a bunch of different skins that you can get and there are different ways of getting new skins to try out. You can unlock some skins as well as drops and also a large amount of experience points by completing a bunch of different challenges from either winning matches, getting kills with the types of weapons as well as more complex challenges like going through your teams' or enemies' Portals, getting kills through portals or even getting a collateral. There are skins that you can optionally get by spending some real life money on the Splitcoins which you use to buy the skins for your character or you can get some through drops that you earn with chances of either getting a common skin, a rare skin, an epic skin or at best a legendary skin. There are many different skins that you can unlock from different weapon skins, character skins, Jetpack skins, Portal Gun skins, as well as emotes, sprays and even profile banners and nametags. Also added in where badges which were achievements that you got from your overall performance from matches and you can apply two of your best badges onto your profile, I have nearly all of them just need to work on the Badges on Ranked Matches. What really makes the skins in Splitgate worth getting and what makes the live service aspect of the game so fair is that you are not forcefully encouraged to spend real money to get the skins you want, you can earn some really good skins from a drop with some luck and the good thing is that drops are easy to come by and you can easily earn some by completing the daily or weekly challenges that change out frequently and are fun to do. You can even earn the Gold Weapon skins from completing all of their challenges and they are worth doing to make your weapons look more Gold.

Splitgate used to update on different seasons and allowed players to optionally purchase the premium Battle Pass which then would give premium skins and a bunch of other stuff. The game is quite easy to level up the battle pass because you do get a ton of experience from winning and doing all of the weekly challenges gives you a ton of experience points which will give you a couple of easy level ups for the battle pass. The game also has a weekly play thing where every day you play Splitgate you get one day in which will give you some experience as well as double experience for a full day, however playing seven days a week will earn you 100 Splitcoins and playing every single day for nine weeks would allow you to get the premium Battle Pass for the rest of the season. If you were a frequent player and played every single day than you didn't even need to spend real money on a premium Battle Pass and saved up enough Splitcoins to get it instead which is a great. Remember you are in charge with how you should spend your money. However now 1047 has since stopped updating Splitgate and has no longer decided to do any more seasons so the Infinite Season is the final season for Splitgate where everything that Season Pass gives you is for free including the best skins it offers and there is no need to spend money on it. It has a really good progression system and the amount of the experience you are going to get based on performance is going to make you get a ton of level ups through the Battle Pass. The game even gives you plenty of different challenges that you can do that will have you keep coming back for more on top of the trophies/achievements to unlock as well.

There is an incredible amount of customization that you can have with the skins that you can unlock for your character and many of them look great to try out, whenever you unlock a new legendary or rare skin especially if you unlock one that has animations you diffidently want to see what they would look like on your character which you can easily do by inspecting your weapon and then try out a new character model skin to show off to other players. One of my main goals now in Splitgate is to get my hands on all of the Forge skins and basically all of the Fiery and flame based skins in the game including the weapons in which I need two more of the Forge Flame weapon skins with hopes that I could get the Molten Raider weapon skins as well as the Ember weapon skins as well.

So do I think Splitgate is still enjoyable in the current year as it was back then? That is a straight up easy answer and I say that it certainly still is. Splitgate is more than just a throwback shooter that is Halo with Portals but it is an all round solid First Person Shooter multiplayer game with solid mechanics, great maps, great gunplay, great number of game mode types to play, a great amount of customization, has fantastic gameplay all around that makes it stand out from other shooters on the market and best of all everything it offers is for free. Splitgate can stand on its own compared to so many other multiplayer shooters that cost full price and is highly recommended for anyone tired of how underwhelming Call of Duty and Battlefield have been recently as well as wanting a break form the Hero Class Based shooters and Battle Royale type games will find a lot of things to like in Splitgate. It did enjoy some popularity when it relaunched in 2021 but mostly from PlayStation gamers because it came close to having Halo style gameplay on a PlayStation console just with Jetpacks and Portals and 1047 executed it all really well.

1047 also did do a great number of updates and patches and supported the game pretty well, there were plenty of new content that got added in throughout such as adding in a new map like the Karman Station while reworking the Foregone Destruction and the Abyss and the reworked versions of the maps look really incredible. They did change the playlist rotation in Quick Play and put a bunch of different gamemodes into different playlists and have to play the game mode and map that gets picked out instead of having seperate game modes that you can choose to play. That means that if you want to play something like Splitball but don't want to play King of the Hill or Domination you are stuck playing the other modes which is only a minor nuisense if you are going for the required challenges, but if you want to play just Team Deathmatch and nothing else you can still play just only Team Deathmatch. They also attempted to balance the game a bit by changing some of the weapons in the maps. For example the Plasma Rifle in the Stadium map is swapped out for a Sniper Rifle, the Rocket Launcher that used to be in the Crag Map has been replaced with a Plasma Rifle and some other maps have had weapon placements changed which only people who played the game when it first launched will notice and may or may not like the changes to weapon placements in the maps. They eventually changed the UI and menu interface and the resigned look of it all is great as well as having to take time to fix up the backend servers and other technical issues that were causing some versions of the game to crash during Season 2 of the game. They oddly removed the character pulling the lever to activate the Drop Items in the Drop Item screen for some reason but otherwise the changes that 1047 made to the game were really good on top of the added new modes and badges system. But if only they could have spent more extra time to fix some of the other bugs that are still present in the console versions especially on the PS4 because you have a really great game that still demands a couple of bug fixes. Sure now the player base has been getting lower and declining recently and there is less and less players now due to new games that are out but you still connect to matches and play with both other players without too much issues.

Right now, 1047 is putting all of their focus and effort into the development of the sequel Splitgate 2 and so far, the gameplay they have shown for that is really promising and looks to go beyond then just improving the Portal System and I can't wait to see what it will be like after it officially launches on all platforms including the PlayStation 5 which I'll eventually play the game on. As for the fate of the original Splitgate I have heard that once Splitgate 2 does get a full release in 2025 they plan to at the very least allow the servers for the original to continue onwards for people who still want to enjoy the gameplay of the original which unlike Counter Strike 2 and Overwatch 2 which shutdown servers for the original Overwatch and Counter Strike Global Offensive just so they could update the monetisation 1047 is doing the right thing for their games. So if you want to enjoy a Free-to-Play shooter that breaks away from the ongoing trends that are being poorly and want something that goes back to that simple times of classic online multiplayer gameplay with a unique twist then enter through the Portal and see you on the other side.

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Game Score: 8.0/10

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Game Title: Splitgate

Platform: PlayStation 4

Developer: 1047 Games

Genre: First Person Shooter

Age Rating: PEGI: 16+

Release Date: 27th July 2021 (Early Access), 25th August 2021 (Indefinite Beta), 15th September 2022 (Official Release)

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The Good Points:

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Fantastic classic multiplayer action and gunplay

Portals that add depth to map navigation and combat

Dozens of unique skins to unlock and try out and are easy to earn

Plenty of classic multiplayer based modes with different ways to play

The Bad Points:

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Saving gameplay clips and custom made maps are seriously buggy and often don't work

Server freezes randomly in the Waiting Room lobby for a few seconds which gets annoying

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Reviewed by: Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)

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While the original Game Boy may be responsible for popularising the portable gaming market with the simplicity of their games but it has its share of some truly terrible and disappointing titles on the platform. Here are the games that suffered from terrible design, bad gameplay and awful presentation. These are the Game Boy games that you should NOT even have with you on a road trip.

10: Alleyway

Developer: Nintendo R&D1/Intelligent Systems

To kick off the list is one of the launch games for the Game Boy System. Alleyway is a variation of the Breakout/Arknoid games except not having any of the charm and execution of those games. Ball physics were off, the levels were brutally difficult as you had handicaps like making your ship smaller that makes hitting the ball back harder and there were no power ups like at all. It's like ordering up a curry and rice dish but it is missing the vital ingredients to make the curry and rice dish and in this game's case the main components that make the Breakout/Arknoid games enjoyable and give out a slightly sub-par experience.

9: The Final Fantasy Legend (SaGa)

Developer: Square

To get the whole thing straight this game isn't really a Final Fantasy game but it is actually a SaGa game and in fact the very first game in the series and it didn't get the series to a good start. While Sa-Ga had great things like having monsters in the party but the game was insanely grindy and for all of the wrong reasons which lead to a punishing difficult experience that was heavily monotonous and bland.

8: The Amazing Spider Man

Developer: Rare

More like the stupidly terrible Spider Man game that shouldn't exist. This original Game Boy Spider Man game had nothing fun or enjoyable sequences with side scrolling levels having delayed controls, awful platforming & web swinging and then you had the climbing portions that were just dreadful. What is most hurtful is that this is a Spider Man game to be developed by Rare of all companies and they couldn't even make that good?

7: Star Trek Generations Beyond the Nexus

Developer: Absoulte Entertainment

To go alongside the Star Trek Generations film there was a game to be based on that with Star Trek Generations Beyond the Nexus and what came from that was a poorly designed mess. The three different gameplay styles where really badly done from awful Spaceflight levels, terrible on-foot levels that suffering from terrible combat and path-finding areas and lastly the puzzle segments where just atrocious. The graphics were bad and the controls were completely horrible. Nobody would EVER want to be on the same ship as the Beyond the Nexus Game Boy crew.

6: Batman Forever

Developer: Probe Entertainment

The video game adaptation ot Batman Forever was horrible on both the Mega Drive and Super Nintendo platforms, is the Game Boy version of the game any better? Simple answer it isn't and in fact it is even worse. While it did remove the puzzle solving aspect from the other versions the fighting system was still unbelievably disgusting as it tried to replicate fighting game style inputs and mechanics which were executed horribly. The levels where still just as bad with poor platforming and the music was just terrible. Batman Forever The Video Game was a massive failure on all fronts so it was no surprise that the Game Boy version was a big massive Bat-Turd as every other version. Least the arcade game was fun and more enjoyable than any of these.

5: Superman

Developer: Titus Software

A Superman made by Titus Software the very same developers who would go on to make the infamous Superman 64 game, need I say anymore? While you don't get to fly through rings like in that disastrous N64 game Superman on Game Boy is a disgustingly bad awful game in its own way. Other than flying through the levels with super flight you didn't have much of Superman's powers but you did have super vision which you can make the graphics look from bad to seriously sickening from his heat vision. The levels were a confusing mess of mazes, streets and underwater levels with each level being one badly designed level after another resulting in terrible gameplay. This is a game that deserves to be thrown out the game faster than a speeding bullet.

4: Bart Simpson's Escape from Camp Deadly

Developer: Imagineer

In this Simpsons game Bart and Lisa get sent to Summer Camp that is the infamous Camp Deadly but honestly they got sent into a awfully designed pile of garbage of a game that is nothing related to the source material. Each level is horribly put together as enemies are near impossible to avoid and the controls were broken and the game suffered badly from a very unsmooth framerate and it stutters like crazy. It's a Simpsons game that can go and eat my shorts for all the bad design, bad gameplay and bad graphics that it offers.

3: Bubsy II

Developer: Accolade

Bubsy has never had it easy in the gaming industry especially when the original 2D games where just slightly average games before dying out with his one and only 3D entry. Bubsy II was an average sequel at best that didn't improve on the faults of the original and the Game Boy version was just a worse off port. Because of the smaller screen resolution of the Game Boy platform the platforming lead to plenty of leaps of faith alongside enemies that were difficult to react to. Many of the levels were confusing, poorly designed and the gameplay and the controls were seriously sluggish. Bubsy II was a perfect example of a sequel that improves on nothing and then you have a handheld port that was just worse in every way. Bubsy seriously didn't deserve sequels, it should die out.

2: Pitfighter

Developer: Atari Games

Pitfighter might have been a decent arcade game for the digitized character sprite animations and supporting 3-Player. The home ports on the other hand have not been great and suffered from bad quality and lackluster gameplay. If you thought the Super Nintendo version was bad, the Game Boy version was just the handheld port of the Super Nintendo version and it sucked. The gameplay of the Game Boy version was sluggish, slow and in fact more than the other versions, the difficulty was horrendous where you only regain health by gaining enough points rather then replenishing after every round. Everything about the game relied on solely mindless button mashing and hoping that you beat the opponent before he beats you. Everything about Pitfighter's awful gameplay is the equivalent of watching fully grown men messing about on a trampoline and it is embarrassing to watch as it is embarrassing to play including the Game Boy port.

Dishonourable Mentions

Paperboy 2 (Tengen/Eastridge Technology)

Street Fighter 2 (Sun L, Capcom)

Oddworld Adventures (Oddworld Inhabitants)

Days of Thunder (Argonaut Software)

Robocop Versus Terminator (Unexpected Development)

1: Mortal Kombat

Developer: Probe

Here is the infamous handheld port in all of video games that was so broken it was unbelievable that it was even allowed release. Developer Probe put all of their game development talent into making the Mega Drive version so good but didn't get their A-Team to work on the Game Boy version and released it in as short time as possible. The controls were unresponsive as special moves let alone Fatalities moves were just near impossible to pull off on the Game Boy's Two Buttons all because of the slow & sluggish frame rate makes the game completely unplayable. It was missing Johnny Cage and the character sprites including the character portraits just all look horrific. If there is a game that is deserving of a Fatality that would be this Game Boy port of the original Mortal Kombat as it is my pick for the Worst Game Boy game of all time.

So, I watched today's Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase X Indie World announcement video and most of the announcements were so-so announcements then this game announcement came on.

They then announced Tales of Graces F Remastered which will come out not only on the Switch but the PS4, PS5, Xbox and Steam on PC. Now I have big concerns over this, firstly if you didn't get a PS3 when the game first came out that's fine but if you experienced what happened with the lousy Tales of Symphonia Remastered re-release. I fear the same could happen with the Tales of Graces F Remastered where the game doesn't run at 60 FPS and they don't give us the option for the Japanese Voices. Then there is the rumored Tales of Xillia Remastered as well which leads to question? Are they just doing the first one or do they plan to do the second Tales of Xillia game as well?

Bandai Namco and the Tales of Series Producer Yusuke Tomizawa announced the Tales of Series 30th Remastered Project where they plan to do remasters of the old Tales of Series games and bring them up to modern platforms. I seriously and I do seriously hope that the first game in the Tales of Series Tales of Phantasia gets a modern release because it is about the time it deserves a modern release because that is lost to not only old PlayStation Platforms and the only time that ever got released in English was the Game Boy Advance.

Bandai Namco needs to do Tales of Series Game Remasters of the older games in the franchise but more specifically the ones that have yet to come outside Japan like the Tales of Destiny Remake and the real Tales of Destiny sequel Tales of Destiny 2, Tales of Rebirth, Tales of Innocence or any of the Tales of Series Crossover games like the Narikiri Dungeon games or the Radiant Mythology sequels. I know that is asking WAY too much but it would make sense to do ones on the games in the series that have not yet been released outside Japan.

So, if I were to ask for Remasters of the Tales of Series games to come out, I hope for Tales of Phantasia and maybe the Tales of Destiny Remake and perhaps follow that with a release for Tales of Eternia. What are your thoughts about this and what Tales of Series games should have a chance of a remaster.

I had a great birthday today, I got myself three presents that I wanted for my 36th Birthday. These are Maglam Lord on PS4 which is a bizarre Action RPG, Delta Force Urban Warfare on the PSOne which is a so-called "tactical" FPS game released late in the PSOne's career and lastly Duke Nukem Advance for the Game Boy Advance which is a Duke Nukem FPS built for the Game Boy Advance.

Delta Force Urban Warfare may not be great but has modern control options that my HORI FPS controller on PS3 can work with. Duke Nukem Advance is superb considering that it is a 3D Duke Nukem game on a Game Boy and does everything pretty well. I got the Tales of Series Deco Weapon Skins in Maglam Lord and while I have reached the point where I can play the game it's something that I need to take the time to get to know the game because I rushed through the storyline just to see the Tales of Series Deco Weapon Skins in action.

So, I had a fantastic Birthday and got what I wanted. I just wanted simple items to fill up the 3D Game Boy Collection as well as collecting all PSOne FPS games and everything worked all fine.

Nintendo's Game Boy handheld console is one of the most celebrated and popular devices of all time and has helped to popularize the portable gaming market. The games the Game Boy had were all simple yet they had that pick up and play charm as well as being easily affordable and being most convenient for road trips. Now we celebrate 35 years of the long-lasting legacy that the entire Game Boy line-up had and still does by having a look back at the best of the best, the disappointments and lastly the worst of not only the original Game Boy but also the Game Boy Color and lastly the Game Boy Advance. That's right I'm going to be doing Top Ten lists of the entire lineage of the Game Boy consoles so expect the lists coming over the coming weeks. Let's start with the original Game Boy console with the games that made the portable console take over the gaming market.

10: Metroid II Return of Samus

Developer: Nintendo R&D1

Starting the list off is with the sequel to the NES game Metroid. In it bounty hunter Samus Aran goes on a mission to exterminate the Metroids on their home planet the SR388. The game introduced Samus' iconic gunship alongside the Varia Suit which would go on to be the main look for Samus in countless games that followed. It even introduced new power ups including the Spider Ball power up which allowed her to climb on most walls and ceilings as well as the Spring Jump allowing her to jump while in Ball Form. Plus, new weapons like the tri-splitting Spazer Beam and also the Plasma Beam. Metroid II offered off different ways of exploring around the areas while hunting down the menacing Metroids and would also allow the storyline to lead up to the SNES game that followed.

9: Donkey Kong

Developer: Nintendo EAD

The arcade classic game Donkey Kong got a version on the Game Boy portable system that was more than just a remake. It was a complete update being loosely based of the original arcade game as well as the sequel Donkey Kong JR in which the character makes appearances in the levels. It featured 97 more levels making for a total of 101 making it bigger over the original game. It featured mechanics from Super Mario Bros 2 where you can pick up items and use them on enemies and Mario can also flip around which would also become a staple in later Mario games. It also took advantage of the Super Game Boy adapter for the Super NES as well.

8: Gargoyle's Quest

Developer: Capcom

A spinoff of the super punishing difficult Ghouls n Ghost series of games had you playing as the series' iconic enemy Firebrand (also known as the Red Arremer) who had its own adventure where he had to save the Ghoul Realm from the destroyer's King Breager. The game had two gameplay styles, one where it played like an Platform Action Game where you can not only jump around and attack with various powers that you get over the course of the game but it would also occasionally turn into an RPG where you explored towns, talked to other Ghouls and even get into Random Encounters. The game became a big hit with players and even allowed for a NES Prequel with Gargoyle's Quest as well as the SNES sequel game Demon's Crest.

7: Probotector (Operation C)

Developer: Konami

While many of the original Game Boy games are just inferior ports of NES or SNES games Operation C (or Probotector as it was known as it was in Europe) on the other hand was a completely unique Contra experience on the Game Boy platform. It not only featured side scrolling run & gun action but also featured some top-down view levels for some variety. It not only made the rapid fire the default weapon you start off with but also the Spread Shot is upgradeable from a three shot to five shot plus you even have the Fire Gun from Super C with the exception that you don't have to charge it up. A true pick up and recommendation for any serious Contra fan.

6: Donkey Kong Land

Developer: Rare

Where Donkey Kong Country was an incredible technical and graphical achievement for the Super NES Donkey Kong Land is an incredible technical and graphical achievement for the Game Boy. The design of the levels including the sprite animation looked well detailed and were smooth with the incredible pre-rendered graphics that are well compressed alongside the sound quality which all sounds really great on the Game Boy speaker. Donkey Kong Land also added new levels rather than using Donkey Kong Country's level to make up for the limitations of the Game Boy hardware and it was just a fantastic game to behold on the portable device. It also allowed for not only the sequels Donkey Kong Land 2 & 3 which all looked just as good and also allowed for the Game Boy Color version which is also worth considering.

5: Super Mario Land

Developer: Nintendo R&D1

Released as a launch title for the Game Boy console Super Mario Land carries over the gameplay of Super Mario Bros on the NES and translates it to a Game Boy game flawlessly. This time Mario went on to save Princess Daisy, which marked her debut in the Mario Series. It also had some Gradius-style levels where Mario took to the skies as well as the sea that added more to it than the well-polished and tight platforming gameplay. It went on to be a massive hit for the Game Boy and sold over 18 million copies and spawned sequels with Super Mario Land 2 6 Golden Coins and Wario Land Super Mario Land 3 which also debuted the rival of Mario with Wario.

4: Kirby's Dream Land

Developer: Hal Laboratory

The game marked the debut of the cute pink mash-mellow Kirby. While it was aimed to be a very simple game but it was really good even though the later sequels would add and improve the iconic ability to copy other enemies' abilities and use them against enemies. Kirby can suck up enemies and split them out against enemies as well as picking up power ups in the form of food such as Spicy Curry that gives Kirby fire breath or the Mint Leaf that allows Kirby to fire air puffs without even losing flight. Kirby's Dream Land proved very popular and allowed for a long running series of games that followed.

3: The Legend of Zelda Link's Awakening

Developer: Nintendo EAD

One of the few Zelda games not to take place within Hyrule and not even feature Zelda or the Triforce Relic. Link finds himself stranded on the Koholint Island and has to get the eight musical instruments to awaken the sleeping Wind Fish and escape the island. The game featured really incredible Zelda style gameplay using gadgets not only for enemies but for many of the game's clever puzzles. The game was well praised for its portability and depth while also its fantastic musical score and well-written story. It also got an impressive upgrade with Link's Awakening DX on the Game Boy Color which improved the game a ton on top of putting the game in Color.

2: Tetris

Developer: Nintendo R&D1

Here is the game that came with everyone's Game Boy consoles when the system launched. A simple yet super additive puzzle game where the simple objective was to make a line with no gaps which will then clear it and disappear. With many different pieces to take note of and ways of getting many different lines to disappear in unique ways Tetris remains as one of the most influential and popular games known for not only the best version of the Tetris theme but also the simplicity made it perfect for quick plays. Everyone who had some small time on their hands had enough time for a round of Tetris.

Honourable Mentions:

Mystic Quest (Final Fantasy Adventure) (Square)

Dr Mario (Nintendo)

Wario Land Super Mario Land 3 (Nintendo R&D1)

Castlevania II Belmont's Revenge (Konami)

Bionic Commando (Minakuchi Engineering)

1: Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow

Developer: Game Freak

And of course, taking the top spot is the Game Boy game that would turn into one of Nintendo's biggest phenomena. Pokemon was a game where players went out searching for creatures to capture which can be traded with friends all round the world as well as battling rival trainers. Each Pokemon all had different strengths and weaknesses as well as different attacks and status effect abilities that can give your Pokemon an advantage. The original game had 151 Pokemon to collect which was possible by trading other Pokemon with friends who had their the other Pokemon version that you have to complete the collection. Worth bringing up is Pokemon Yellow allowed you to start the game with the yellow electric type mouse Pikachu who would go on to be main series mascot as well as having to go head-to-head with Team Rocket's Jessie, James and Meowth from the anime series. Pokemon would go on to be one of the biggest selling Game Boy games despite being released late in the original Game Boy's life. There are still dozens of gamers, especially kids, still in the mood for wanting to Catch Em all and the original Pokemon games remain as the best original Game Boy game.

Game Accessory: HORI Horipad FPS Plus Wired Controller

Date: 16^th July 2015

Developer: HORI

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Japanese Controller Manufacture HORI is known for creating dozens of unique controllers that are suited to their audiences whether it is making small controllers for kids or making steering wheel controllers and special fighting game type controllers. Then HORI of all things decided to create their own pro controller specifically for gamers who enjoy a lot of First Person Shooters with the HORI Horipad FPS Plus Wired Controller which is a cool controller for the PlayStation 3 & PlayStation 4 that has sadly never been released outside of Japan. Now when it comes to Japan in gaming, they enjoy their Anime games, their Visual Novels, dozens of Role-Playing Games and any game that involves a ton of fan-service content so not many Japanese gamers don't see much interest in First Person Shooters at all but they at least know it is a thing that people in the west actually like. Still, it is nice to see some Japanese Studios try their hand in creating something to try and get some Japanese players interested in the genre and the HORI Horipad FPS Plus Wired Controller is one of the most unique controllers that has the features that makes this controller different and unique when it comes to controllers suited to any serious console FPS gamer.

Unboxing the HORI Horipad FPS Plus Wired Controller the package that the device was placed in contains the device itself which is fully wired and you simply plug it to either one of the consoles' available USB slots and then you press the PS button to turn it on. Also included are the instructions to give you instructions on how to operate some of the controller features, however all of the text in the instructions is only Japanese text with no English what-so-ever, so you might want to get a Translator App to be able to read it.

The controller is compatible with the PlayStation 3 as well as the PlayStation 4 and it has a console slider located on the bottom side to put the controller in either PlayStation 3 Mode or PlayStation 4 Mode which if you are going to use the controller on either the PS3 or PS4 you need to use switch if you are going to use it on different consoles. It also has a 3 metre long cable which makes the controller great if you are playing far away from the TV.

The device itself is like the majority of the pro controllers released on the market and goes for the Xbox/Nintendo Switch control layout which makes it an Xbox/Nintendo Switch style controller on PlayStation similar to the HORI ONYX Wireless Controller. It has a Touch Pad, PlayStation style Face Buttons, two Analog Stick Thumbgrips that are the same as any other on the current gaming market, pretty sized L1/L2 & R1/R2 Bumper & Trigger Buttons and well-placed Share & Options Buttons. Also added is the Turbo Functionality where you hold down any button you desire and then press the Turbo Button to enable it, pressing it again enables AutoFire without you having to press the button and pressing the Turbo Button disables the Turbo Functionality.

There are two unique buttons that make the HORI Horipad 4 FPS Plus Wired Controller a standout from other controllers available. The first button is the Target Button located on the back of the controller; it is not a Back Button that acts as one of the controller's Face Buttons instead holding down the Target Button slows down the movement of the Right Analog Stick which is useful for long range sniping when you are going for that perfect headshot. It is handy if you are playing a game that has high sensitivity and don't have any sensitivity options. Located next to the console slider is the Target Button Sensitivity slider where it allows you to adjust the Right Analog Stick Sensitivity when you hold down the Target Button, you can either have the Target Button on the slowest setting or on the setting where it is only a little slow.

One of the other buttons added which makes this controller unique is the Assign Button which as implied allows you to assign any one of the Face Buttons, Bumper Buttons or Trigger Buttons to any of the buttons you desire. Yes, you can actually assign any one of the buttons on the controller to any other button which is what a similar thing that the Mad Catz MLG Pro Controller tried to do in its own way. To Assign any of the Buttons you want to change you hold down the Assign Button for a few seconds till the Light shown just below the Assign Button lights up and then you press what Button you want to change and lastly press any other Button that you want to move one of the Buttons to. With the controller being designed as an FPS focused game pad you can swap the Bumper & Trigger Buttons around for games that use L1/R1 for Aiming Down Sights and Firing instead of L2/R2 on PS3 games like the Battlefield games, Medal of Honor, Deus Ex Human Revolution, Time Crisis Razing Storm as well as PSOne & PS2 FPS games that use the L1/R1 Button commands for shooting and aiming to have them be at where you want them to be at.

Playing any First Person Shooter with the Horipad FPS Plus Controller truly feels incredible, the controller is comfortable to hold and the Buttons and the Analog Sticks feel really good to press. All of the Buttons respond very well and during my playtest I experienced no latency issues or any form of input delay, even the Trigger Buttons are outstanding as they feel like the L2/R2 Trigger Buttons designed back on the PSOne or PS2 instead of the squishy Trigger Button setup and I really like that. Playing an FPS game that uses the L1/R1 for Aiming and Shooting allowed me to use the Controller's Assign feature to set the controls to how I want them to be and it is very handy to set the firing controls to the button setup that they should be making every shooter on the PS3 more comfortable to play. To be able to set the controls in those games to L2/R2 using the Assign Button Feature makes the controller the best way to play First Person Shooters on the PlayStation 3.

Outside of FPS games the Horipad FPS Plus Controller also works fine with other types of games, the Turbo Button is great for games that relies on a lot of mashing without you having to frequently button mash a lot. The D-Pad works well for 2D games and if you want to play fighting games with it the directional inputs read pretty well when doing special moves if you take the time to practice. The HORI Horipad FPS Plus Controller is truly amazing when it comes to playing First Person Shooters on the PlayStation 3 and the Turbo Functionality adds that Rapid Fire button mashing feeling that you don't get with Third Party Controllers today.

There are only minor things wrong with the controller which they had to make sacrifices in order to make the controller affordable which means that certain features of a normal controller are absent. These include no Headphone Jack so that means you can't communicate with other players in chat, the Horipad FPS Controller also lacks a Light Sensor as well as lacking Six-Axis features so if you were thinking of using the controller for games like Killzone 2 or any games that relay on Motion Controls you might want to be aware of that.

By far the biggest crime the HORI Horipad FPS Wired Controller commits is not having any Vibration Rumble Features like at all. Like seriously HORI you couldn't even have the Vibration Feature which lets off the feeling of the action happening on the game screen. I guess having the Headphone Jack, Light Bar, Six-Axis and Vibration Features included also would have made the controller more expensive but not having the Vibration Features especially at the PlayStation 4 Generation of gaming is inexcusable considering that controllers are a big part of gaming and keeps the player on edge when something is happening in game. These are only minor things holding this Wired Controller for being perfect but they are not a big deal if you are using this controller only for First Person Shooter games and have other methods of communicating through chat. If you are playing games like Call of Duty, Battlefield alongside other competitive First Person Shooters on PS3 and don't care about some of the minor controller features then you got plenty on the PS3 to use the controller for. The downside of using it on the PS3 is with some games that have different Analog Stick response behaviours and if you have played on the PS3 with different Third-Party Controllers you'll know what I'm talking about. The HORI Hori Pad FPS Plus works specially well on the PlayStation 4 console with no issues and it is designed well for the First-Person Shooter games on the console. Even though the PS4 console has the Accessibility Features that allow you to alter the controls to your liking still the controller is fun to use on the PS4.

When it comes to playing competitive First Person Shooters on both the PS3 & PS4 consoles the HORI Horipad FPS Plus Wired Controller delivers the goods for what every serious FPS player wants, being able to swap around the buttons to anywhere you want including L1/R1 and L2/R2 Buttons, Turbo Functionality and having great functionality & response overall. It will work with other types of games on the PS3 & PS4 as long as the controls support it and it works fine on all consoles outside of Japan as well which is what you need to know. If you are looking to pick this up online shop websites will have it in stock that will go for about £50 to £60 or £70 depending on the colour variants. If you are a serious First-Person Shooter player and want an Xbox Style Controller that allows you to play these types, the way they should be thanks to the Button Assign Features and don't mind the lack of Motion Control and Vibration features than the HORI Horipad FPS Plus Wired Controller is a must have for a PlayStation user who has full love for the genre.

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Review Score: 9.0/10

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The Goods

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Swap around any of the Buttons using the Assign Button to where you actually want them be at including swapping the L1/R1 & L2/R2 Buttons

Fantastic Turbo Functionality

Quick and Responsive Trigger Buttons

Target Button allows you to slowly control the Right Analog Stick for perfect sniper aiming

The Bads

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No Headphone Jack, Light Sensor, Six-Axis or Rumble Features

Instructions and Setup are in Japanese, No English Translation

With the Summer Gaming Showcases coming to a close it is that time again to announce what had the best gaming showcase and the worst gaming showcase this year. So what got the showcase awards this year? Well, that was easy for me to pick out.

Worst Gaming Showcase: Sony State of Play Showcase May 2024

Easily the worst of the Summer Gaming Showcases was the Sony PlayStation State of Play Showcase that took place at the end of May 2024. There were plenty of things that was bad about the showcase from plenty of previously announced games to showing PC ports of Until Dawn and God of War Ragnarök which required PlayStation Login Accounts to play them on PC. There just weren't many major big game announcements aside from Astro Bot for the PS5 which did show off promising gameplay with the DualSense Controller. Lastly the gameplay they showed off for Concord was not very good and didn't look like it stood out from other hero based First Person Shooters. So, it really sucked really hard for Sony to have a terrible showcase.

Best Gaming Showcase: Nintendo Direct Showcase June 2024

Nintendo without a doubt delivered a Nintendo Direct Showcase that had a game for everyone and their showcase took everyone's expectation and set it on fire. The moment they threw their first game announcement with Mario & Luigi Brothership you knew that Nintendo Direct was ready to light everything up on fire. Their announcements of Dragon Quest I, II & III HD-2D Remakes hyped up everyone like crazy, Perfect Dark the Nintendo 64 masterpiece returns back on the Nintendo Switch Online Service, Marvel VS Capcom Collection took all fighting game fans for a ride, Ace Attorney Investigations finally gets announced for an English release and a new Zelda game where you actually play as Zelda in a unique take on the formula. To top the WHOLE Nintendo, Direct off after a long, long wait we got to see a new trailer for the upcoming Metroid Prime 4 Beyond and hype train for that was unreal and it just looks so good to be true. So, Nintendo had without a doubt one of their best direct showcases with a game that was for everyone to see.

What did you think of the Summer Gaming Conferences and what did you think had the best summer gaming showcases?

Written by Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)

Last year Limited Run Games entered the gaming showcase arena with the birth of the Carbon Engine and the first games they announced that were coming to the Carbon Engine were great. This year I was hoping to see more of the classic games come to the Carbon Engine and while they announced a couple of games that were previously announced like Clock Tower, Tomba and Gex Trilogy there were some new announcements that are coming to the Carbon Engine as well as some other new games I liked that are coming.

The new Fighting Force Collection looked cool, the Beyond Good & Evil 20^th Anniversary Remaster announcement is good, the Hitman Blood Money Reprisal announcement looked pretty cool, the original Fear Effect is coming to new consoles and the announcement looked great, the Lollipop Chainsaw Re:Pop looked awesome, the new Rugrats game Rugrats Adventures in Gameland looked really good, the previously announced Gex Trilogy looked amazing, Tomba and also Tomba 2 are coming to the Carbon Engine and they even announced Bubsy In The Purrfect Collection where they are bringing back that annoying bobcat in a gaming compilation.

Of all of the classic games I saw in the showcase was Clock Tower Rewind which is going to be a re-release of the original Clock Tower game on SNES that never got released outside of Japan. I am hyped and am ready to revisit the original Clock Tower game when it comes out.

So, it was a great showcase of classic games and I do want to see Modern Vintage Gamer and the Carbon Engine get more creative with what classic games they bring to the Carbon Engine and branch out to maybe RPGs that need a chance in the West.

Written by Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)

After watching the PlayStation, Xbox and PC Gaming Conferences it was time to see what Nintendo unveiled in their latest Nintendo Direct Stream. Like always I will be saying out my personal favourite game announcements that I enjoyed the most and there were some truly outstanding game announcements.

Mario & Luigi Brothership

The first announcement I enjoyed was one for the new Mario & Luigi RPG game called Mario & Luigi Brothership which is the first Mario & Luigi game to come in 9 years after the release of Mario & Luigi Paper Jam Bros on the Nintendo 3DS. It will be developed by Nintendo making it the first game in the series to not be developed by AlphaDream after they got bankrupted. It will have new locations and evolved Bros moves.

Dragon Quest I & II & Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remakes

Next up are HD-2D Remakes of Dragon Quest I & II and also an HD-2D Remake of Dragon Quest III. These are remakes done in the same HD-2D graphical style as the Octopath Traveller and also the Star Ocean The Second Story R so one for the classic Dragon Quest games was very necessary.

More Classic Games for the Nintendo Switch Online Service including Perfect Dark

Recently Nintendo has finally begun to take action against Emulation Pirates and Rom Sharing websites and getting people to take down all of the Nintendo Roms. So that means Nintendo have stepped up their game now with the Nintendo Switch's Online Expansion Pack Service, right? For the most part yeah, they seemed to have because they put Zelda Link to the Past Four Swords alongside Metroid Zero Mission on the Game Boy Advance into the service. They also brought up the Mature category for the games now so that the games rated PEGI 16+ or 18+ cannot be played by kids. With that they announced Turok Dinosaur Hunter which there is already the remastered version from Nightdive on the Nintendo Switch that you can still get so I don't get why Nintendo put the N64 version of Turok Dinosaur Hunter onto the service, personally Turok Rage Wars would have been a better option. Lastly of the classic they announced and I have been waiting for it is the Nintendo 64 masterpiece Perfect Dark coming to the Nintendo Switch Online Service. Because if Banjo Kazooie & Goldeneye are on the Nintendo Switch Online Service then it was inevitable that Rare's other popular shooter Perfect Dark was going to join the service as well with online play. So at least Nintendo is adding some more classic games but they are going to need to step it up some more to convince people to go to the Nintendo Switch's Online Service Expansion Pack.

The Legend of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom

The next game that got announced was another new Zelda game but this one is very different. It is because Link who has been the primary hero of the Zelda franchise gets taken away and you actually get to play as Zelda herself, you know like what the game series is called. Playing as Zelda is going to be very unique experience because you use a Rod instead of a sword to create Echoes that can be used to get around various puzzles or to use against enemies. You can even create Echoes from enemies so they fight alongside you.

Metroid Prime 4 Beyond

Lastly Nintendo showed us gameplay footage of the upcoming Metroid Prime 4 many Nintendo Switch owners have been waiting so long for. The trailer looked amazing showcasing Samus against a new enemy threat but also all of the incredibly excellent gameplay features you want for a Metroid Prime game and better. Finally seeing a trailer after a couple of years gives everyone hope that the new Metroid Prime will deliver.

So that was all of my personal game announcements on Nintendo Direct. It was a fantastic direct that gave us all of the announcements of the games we have been waiting for. For me the Perfect Dark announcement alongside the Dragon Quest HD-2D Remakes and the Metroid Prime 4 Beyond trailers were the best game announcements on the show. The only thing I need to say is that Nintendo does need to step the classic game announcements for the Nintendo Switch's Online Service Expansion Pack especially since they started going after popular Emulation websites and taking down various ROMS of their previous Nintendo Console generations.

Written by Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)

Next Summer Gaming 2024 conference show I watched is the PC Gaming Show 2024 which was celebrating the 10^th Anniversary of doing their conferences by looking back at the shows they did which were funny to watch. They did have games that were announced on their show and plenty of them but I will NOT be writing every single game announcement that was shown because I want to talk for hours about each single game that was shown. I will instead only talk about the five game announcements that I liked the most and give quick thoughts on them. With that here we go!

Streets of Rogue 2

The first game announcement I liked was Streets of Rogue 2 which is a sandbox RPG where all of the craziness of the original and it is even more insane and crazier with the sequel. You get to fight, sneak, farm, build, steal or you can talk your way out to power up and strike against a corrupt president.

Wander Stars

Wander Stars was the second game I liked, it had a Turn Based Combat system where you learn words that have different abilities in combat and there are about 200 different words that you can use. It has a really nice Anime look to it as well.

Fallen Aces

Another excellent game I liked was Fallen Aces which looks like a 90s comic book come to life and looks brutal with the over-the-top executions, violent gun play and a nice variety of locations of weapons to boot. The first episode of the game is coming out next week for everyone to check out.

Killing Floor III

Tripwire's co-op horror shooter has had two fantastic games that were really fun so they are working on a third game. While the gunplay is great it is going to need to do some things to try and make it stand out above the previous game and I'm sure the dev team can accomplish that.

G.I. Joe Wrath of Cobra

The last game announcement I liked was the one for G.I. Joe Wrath of Cobra. Much like the upcoming Power Rangers Rita Rewind Game Wrath of Cobra is a Retro Throwback Side Scrolling Beat Em Up game where you play as different members of the Joe Team and take on dozens of Cobra troops and villains from the cartoon series. Yo Joe!

So, these were the best announcements I liked for the PC Gaming Show 2024. Overall, it was a good show of decent game announcements even though it had a lot of indie developed stuff and not a whole lot of AAA game announcements. There were some announcements I did not like and the show did go on for too long than it needed to. Still it was good and the hosts were humorous.

Written by Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)