2024 Wrapped

TLDR

I played a lot of different games, but finished almost none of them lol. I managed to squeak out a few personal projects despite what little personal time I have. One of said projects being the update to my website, so I hope you like the new look.

Welcome to the third annual “things I did this year” post. I’m a bit late getting it out, but I hope you enjoy it regardless. As I did last year, I’ll bold the things I particularly enjoyed.

Table of Contents

• Games
• Anime
• Manga
• Personal Projects
  • GMTK Game Jam 2024
  • NES Cart Browser
  • The Updated Website
• Conclusion

Games

• Astro Bot (10/10)
  • My darling wife saw how giddy I was when I was watching some gameplay and reviews of this game, so she gifted it to me for Christmas ^.^. It was just so adorable, looked so fun, and played homage to so many great characters from my childhood. It definitely lives up to the hype. I’ve just been enjoying it so much. If you have a PS5, I’m sure you’ll enjoy this, especially if you have a fondness for late 90s/early 2000s PlayStation.
• Astro’s Playroom (10/10)
  • This is basically Astro Bot: The Prequel. You can see all the elements they were working out in this one and how they’ve been refined and expanded upon in the full game. This was just a delightful tour through PlayStation’s life. It has so many cute little easter eggs. I can’t believe it’s free with the PS5.
• Balatro (10/10)
  • I picked this one up on mobile since it felt like it’d be a decent “pick up and play” kind of game. Boy oh boy, I can see why this got nominated for game of the year. It hooks you. It’s very simple, but the loop is addicting and enjoyable. Certainly got me to play games on my iPad more than anything else. The music is an absolute bop, too. I’m sure this is a fine game to play with a controller or mouse, but this just feels like it was made for mobile, so I can’t imagine playing it anywhere else.
• Baldur’s Gate 3 (10/10)
  • I finally finished the campaign on this one. What a ride! Incredible from start to finish.
• Bread and Fred (3/10)
  • A great game for masochists. It has its funny moments, though.
• The Break-in (8/10)
  • If you want a great party/meme game, this is for you. It’s just so silly and my sides still hurt from laughing at the shenanigans of this game.
• Castlevania Dominus Collection (8/10)
  • I only got around to playing most of Order of Ecclesia. I really enjoyed it. I didn’t realize it had voice acting, which is a plus in my book. I still need to go back and actually defeat Dracula, but I’m really enjoying this one so far.
• Double Dragon Gaiden Rise of the Dragons (6/10)
  • I love my beat-em-ups. This one is a pretty good one. Definitely one of the better Double Dragon games I’ve played. I really like the tag system in this one. I think my favorite combo has been Billy and Marian. Billy is good at the melee and Marian is a good zoner. Got all the way through with this team, and it is great for playing in co-op too (definitely recommend that route if you can swing it.)
• Helldivers 2 (8/10)
  • Oh, man. So much fun to be had with this one. I really enjoyed the first Helldivers game, and, while I was a bit skeptical about the switch to 3rd person, it’s definitely paid off. It works really well and there’s so much fun and chaos to be had with this one. Definitely my top multiplayer game this year. HIGHLY recommend this one.
• Hot Brass (7/10)
  • This one is pretty silly. If I was rich, I would have thrown a couple extra million behind this one to give it some extra OOMPH. I think the 2d, top down puck style works fine, but I really would have loved to see this one as maybe isometric or some other kind of 2d style. It takes a while to get used to the visual cues it gives you, but it’s a fun time, for sure.
• Make Way (8/10)
  • This is a great little party game. Think RC Pro AM + Mario Kart + Legos. You have these little carts, and, after you race to the end of the track, you build upon it. As you go along, you’ll get power ups to sabotage other players, and you’re able to skip tracks entirely if you’re clever enough. Super fun game, and pretty inexpensive as well.
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (10/10)
  • I revisited this one playing the multiplayer mod for it with a friend. It was such a fun time, and it hit all the nostalgia bits in just the right places. This will forever be my comfort game.
• The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures (7/10)
  • I played through this online with a few friends, and it’s fun, but man is it hectic. So many foot-guns, but it makes for one hilarious experience.
• The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (9/10)
  • What a fun game! It’s a very interesting approach to game design, and I think they knocked it out of the park. The echo system really makes you think about all the tools at your disposal to figure out a puzzle or take down an enemy. The visual style is great too. I really liked that they were able to get a little bit more out of the design of the Link’s Awakening remake. Highly recommend this one.
• Metaphor: ReFantazio (10/10)
  • My personal game of the year. No notes. It feels like it was made for me. I love everything about it. 10/10 story. 10/10 voice acting. 10/10 music. The battle system is unique and I love the way Atlus approaches turn based combat. This is the high fantasy game I’ve been dreaming of for years, and it’s finally here and I have it in my hands. Now, I just have to finish it (gaming in your 30s, am I right?)
• Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind (7/10)
  • I was going to give this one a much lower score, especially since Streets of Rage 4 and Shredder’s Revenge have set the bar so high. The initial release of this one did not feel good to play. It was slow, clunky, and, gameplay wise, just felt like a rushed effort. However, I’m happy to report that the latest version (it got patched about a week after release) has changed everything. Fights are much more fluid. The non-brawler sections don’t make me want to throw my TV out the window anymore. It’s just a joy to play. While I don’t think it hits as hard as Streets of Rage 4, or especially, Shredder’s Revenge (the gold star of beat-em-ups), I think it’s worthy of standing beside these two. The sprite art is fantastic and the music is a jam. Pick this one up if you adore beat-em-ups and have a soft spot for the Power Rangers. (Now, if we can just get some Ivan Ooze DLC)
• Palworld (3/10)
  • I don’t know what to say. This game just isn’t for me. The pokemon-esque style pulled me in, but it just feels like another run-of-the-mill survival game to me. Maybe it’s changed a ton since launch, but I just couldn’t get into it.
• Persona 3 Reload (10/10)
  • Similar feelings about this one as I did Metaphor. Atlus, you S.O.B. You did it again. My only gripe with this is that this doesn’t feel like the definitive edition of Persona 3. It just feels like yet another installment. If you’re playing Persona 3 for the first time, though, make this one your first stop. I think you’ll have a better time with it. I was nervous going in because the voice cast is completely different, but I think they really nailed it and you can tell they put their heart and soul into their performances. I can’t sing this one’s praises enough. If you like JRPGs like me, please pick this one up.
• Persona 5 Tactica (8/10)
  • I was a little iffy going into this one, but I really enjoyed it. I didn’t think they’d go as hard as they did, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself. The music, while not at the level of the base game, still holds up pretty well. Baby’s First XCOM is really fun, and the story hits wayyyy above its level. This game is dirt cheap now, especially if you’re buying physical, so give it a shot. I don’t think you’ll regret it.
• Prodeus (8/10)
  • This game hit 1.0 this year, if I’m not mistaken. One of my dear friends gave me this so we could play co-op together, and I definitely think that’s the way to go if you’re going to play this. This game scratches that “explore every nook and cranny” itch I have when playing any game. It rewards you handsomely for it. The retro doom-like style of it is pleasing to these old eyes, but, I will say, all the particle effects blasting away my retinas — I could do without. That’s just gaming at this age, I suppose. Super fun game, though.
• Resident Evil 6 (6/10)
  • I played through the majority of this game with one of my friends. I enjoyed it, but I think the port to PC could be a lot better, especially if you’re playing with a keyboard and mouse. This game is meant to be played with a controller, and because the controller is a first class citizen, the keyboard and mouse controls suffer significantly. This resident evil and other PC ports like it from this era suffer a lot from just poor porting efforts. I often have to alt+tab out of my games to adjust various sound settings and such, mess with discord, etc. and this one (and the next Resident Evil game on the list) often crashes if you try to do that. Game-wise though, I enjoyed it. I’m not big on Resident Evil or other horror/survival horror games in general, but this one was campy enough to not be freaking me out every 5 seconds.
• Resident Evil Revelations 2 (7/10)
  • I only played the multiplayer of this one (with the same friend), but I enjoyed it a bit more than RE6. I think it controls a bit better and, while I missed the story beats of 6, I think the gameplay loop of the multiplayer is interesting with its RPG-esque mechanics.
• Risk of Rain 2 DLC (7/10)
  • Risk of Rain 2 is already one of my favorite multiplayer games, so getting a little extra DLC is always welcome. The two new characters are fun and interesting, and the new levels breathe some fresh air into this rogue-like/lite(?). If you already own the game, the DLC is worth picking up. If you don’t already own the game, at least pick up the base game because it’s fantastic. 10/10 music, so give it a listen if nothing else.
• Roboquest (7/10)
  • What a cute little rogue-like! It’s got a great art style, the music is great, and the core gameplay loop is fun. My co-op buddy and I played through this together and I had a blast.
• Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance (8/10)
  • I didn’t really get a chance to get too into this one, but I think this is the version to pick up if you’re picking up SMT5. The OG version on the switch was great, despite the various framerate issues. Atlus killed it this year. This one is on my list to finish next year.
• Super Mario RPG (Switch) (9/10)
  • This was a lovely remake of the original that stayed true to its roots while elevating the experience for a modern audience. The autosave feature is a blessing for those bouts where you can’t justify going back, but also don’t quite know what’s ahead until you’re in the deep end with zero healing items (ruh roh raggy). The extra animations and the updated soundtrack really add to the experience. If you love the original, I think you’ll like this too. Also, it’s a great introduction to the turn based RPG genre, so give it to your kid or a loved one that’s exploring this hobby.
• Tekken 8 (10/10)
  • So, last year, I was obsessed with Street Fighter 6. I’ve always been a 2D fighting guy. Street Fighter has been my go-to for decades. I’ve enjoyed the Tekken series in the past. Tekken Tag Tournament on the PS2 was one of my first games for the system and probably the first one I beat (i.e., unlocked all of the characters). There has just been a lot to handle though for this series. The move list for any given character is astronomical compared to other fighting games (especially if you pick King). Tekken 8 feels approachable for possibly the first time in the series. The special style (i.e., Tekken’s answer to Street Fighter 6’s modern controls) gives you a good on ramp to learning the game or picking up a new character. Without having to spend hours in practice mode, you can quickly try out a character’s toolkit. It makes the story mode A LOT easier for sure. BUT, once you’re ready to graduate to the regular play style, you already know, visually at least, what the combos you were doing before look like. Plus, with the included TLDR in the character sheet, it’s easy to pick up some simple moves and combos to get you started. I bought this game on 3 different platforms because I love it so much. I don’t want to be in a place where I can’t pick up and play a bit of my new favorite character, Reina. If you love fighting games and you don’t have this already, treat yo’ self.
• Vampire Survivors (9/10)
  • This game has been on my radar for a while, but I never picked it up until this year. I see what the hype is about now. It’s really weird for the first time playing it because you’re thinking “what buttons do I press to do XYZ?” Literally none. Just walk. It does everything for you. I think this is a pretty good game to let the beginner gamers play because it’s so accessible for that audience, but it also has a ton of depth in the builds you can create when playing if you’re a more serious gamer. This game wears its Castlevania inspiration on its sleeve, and now, we actually have Castlevania DLC. Super worth picking up if you’re into Castlevania. There’s so many easter eggs and funny little bits to find here and there and to read. This game is forever $5, so you’ve got basically nothing to lose, even if you’re just picking up the base game.

Anime

• 365 Days To The Wedding (8/10)
  • While I haven’t finished this one just yet, I have been thoroughly enjoying it. It’s just a cute little romcom anime set in the workplace instead of the typical high school setting. The characters are charming and the situations are light-hearted and silly. Totally worth the watch.
• A Condition Called Love (5/10)
  • I don’t know if it was just the English localization/dub, but this one just didn’t hit right with me. I think there are definitely some cute moments, but the male protagonist just comes across as controlling and creepy to me. The art and music is great though, so points for that.
• A Sign of Affection (10/10)
  • This one was my favorite Shojo show of the year. It’s way too cute, and I love the fact they paid super close attention to the sign language bits. It’s fun to learn a little something while watching a show you like.
• Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian (6/10)
  • This one was decent. I like the voice acting and the premise, but I think the execution is a bit awkward in places, and I think it suffers from being a bit too anime in places (if you catch my drift). There’s one character that, any time they entered a scene, I wanted to walk away and do literally anything else. It’s not terrible, but if you’re looking for a romcom, you can find better.
• Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (10/10)
  • This one was my favorite overall this year. Granted, it started last year, but I didn’t get around to watching it until early this year. I love the fantasy setting, the romance undertones, the characters are 10/10, etc. Everything about it is top tier. Well done everyone involved in this ^.^
• Grandpa and Grandma Turn Young Again (7/10)
  • This one doesn’t go where you’d think it goes based off of the trailer and the premise, but it’s a cute time and worth the watch.
• Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable (8/10)
  • This looks like it’s going to be a run of the mill harem anime, but it subverts expectations by being so wholesome and cute. There’s definitely some anime bits in there, but it was never so bad as to distract from the plot. Fuyuki is such a terrific character. I wish there were more characters as upbeat, bubbly, kind, and understanding as her.
• How Heavy are the Dumbbells you Lift? (6/10)
  • This one is a bit too anime, if you catch my drift, but it has some useful working out tips sprinkled in and it has its funny moments.
• Makeine (5/10)
  • This one started off fairly strong, but I haven’t even finished it because it just felt more and more obtuse as time went on.
• Metallic Rouge (7/10)
  • I’m a sucker for anything that deals with the whole “what does it mean to be human” question. Stuff like Blade Runner, NieR, etc. This is right up there with those questions, and it has some good action scenes too.
• My Deer Friend Nokotan (8/10)
  • If you’re looking for a really dumb anime that feels almost like a I Think You Should Leave sketch, then give this one a go. It’s so funny and weird.
• Nisekoi (2/10)
  • I couldn’t finish it. It was just not for me.
• Skip and Loafer (8/10)
  • I’m curious to see where this goes next season (hopefully there’s a season 2 🤞). It’s really cute, and I love the relationship that blossoms between the two main characters.
• Spy X Family Code White (10/10)
  • I saw this in theaters with my wife on our anniversary. It was so good! It was nice to visit a theater again too because I hadn’t been to one since something like 2015. We were the only ones there, so it was like our own private showing. I loved how zany the story gets and that it has such a nice ending.
• Suzume (8/10)
  • This one was a ride. It’s so magical and fascinating. Terrific art style and an interesting story.
• The Apothecary Diaries (8/10)
  • What can I say? I can’t wait for season 2! This one is really cool, has some interesting characters, and is just a fun time. The ancient China setting is novel, and I totally dig the various puns and other hidden easter eggs throughout the show.
• The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses (8/10)
  • Very wholesome. Very cute. Classic middle school love story.
• Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku (10/10)
  • Holy crap this one is good. It’s a nice change of pace from the typical high school romcoms, so that’s a plus. I had to get the manga set for this one. It’s so good. All of the characters are terrific. This and Horimiya are the gold standards of romcom anime. Absolutely adore and love this one. Please please please watch it if you haven’t already.
• Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches (8/10)
  • Very weird and interesting plot. This is almost unintentionally romcom-y. If you enjoy the first couple of episodes, I think you’ll like the rest. It’s funny. It’s delightful.
• Your Name (10/10)
  • They don’t make ‘em like this anymore. This is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen, let alone anime movies. It had me on the edge of my seat and yelling at my TV. I was 100% in it. Treat yourself to watching this one night.

Manga

• Sweat and Soap (10/10)
  • I heard so many good things about this one, but never understood why it didn’t get an anime adaptation. Now that I’ve read it…uh…I see why lol. This one is for the adults (Vol 4 warning O_O). Despite that, it’s such a fantastic love story with 10/10 characters. The protagonists are quirky in their own ways, and their quirks match the other’s perfectly. If you don’t mind your literature being a bit spicy, pick this one up and give it a read (just make sure no one else is around 👀).

Personal Projects

A few notable projects I accomplished this year. I participated in a Game Jam, made a site for the NES fans, and re-did my own website. Let’s start off with what I consider to be the biggest one. The Game Maker’s Toolkit Game Jam.

GMTK Game Jam 2024

This year, one of my friends convinced me that we need to participate in a game jam. Consider it a follow up to the “nut up or shut up” statement from last year. We ended up picking the Game Maker’s Toolkit Game Jam (GMTK) for August. If you’ve never done a game jam before, here’s the gist of how it works: You’re given a time limit (e.g., 48 hours) and a theme. You build a game based off of the given theme within the time frame. Sounds easy enough, right? This year’s theme was “Built to scale”. Themes are purposely vague so that you have the freedom to interpret it however you want. The idea we came up with for this game jam was to “scale the food chain”. So, we made a game in which you start off as a carrot, get eaten by a skunk, turn into a skunk, then try to eat carrots before you’re eaten by wolves. And so on and so forth until you’re a human. Once you’re human, you’re then hunted by the other parts of the food chain. I look back on the experience much more fondly than I did when I was sleep-deprived. If you want to check it out and play it yourself, you can play it in your browser here: https://dually8.itch.io/foodchain

NES Cart Browser

If you know me and know me well, you know that I am, how do the kids say it? Neurospicy? Whenever I come up against a problem, I will not eat, drink, or sleep until it’s complete. I’m very easy to nerd snipe. I nerd sniped myself back in March this year when I was thinking about old Nintendo games I used to play. And, by Nintendo, I mean the OG Nintendo. The Nintendo Entertainment System (aka: NES). I had one particular game in mind, but all I could remember about it was how the cartridge looked and what the game looked like. That’s kind of bad when you have the itch to play and no way of knowing what to look for when you’re looking for it online. So, I stumbled upon this site: https://nescartdb.com. If you know what you’re looking for, you can find everything you’d ever want to know about a given NES cart. It has information on the release date, publisher, PCB, and…pictures of the cartridge. So, I thought, “Well, I don’t have time to click every link on this site to look at the images, but I can write a bot to download the images and I can go from there.” So, I did. I created a project where I’d scrape the website, get the images, save them with the name of the cartridge ID, then go through it like that. Well, that’s all well and good, and that helps me, but what if someone else has the same problem as me? I don’t want them to do all of that work! So, I made a site to do just that. Introducing the NES Cart Browser website! There’s a search bar at the top if you know what game you’re looking for, and if you don’t, you can just scroll through the list, and, hopefully, you find the game you’re looking for.

The Updated Website

If you’re a regular here, perhaps you’ve noticed the new coat of paint? I’ve talked about doing this for forever, and since I’ve taken 3 weeks off of work, I finally could get around to doing it. Personally, I really like the changes, so I hope you do too. I’ve removed Disqus in favor of Giscus for the comments section. There’s a couple of things I think I’d like to tweak there, but I think it’s okay for now. The new site was built using Astro 5 and PicoCSS with a few extra custom things from myself. There was a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and love put into the new site. Much more tears than I anticipated (nothing is ever as easy as it seems, is it?) But! We’re here. We’re finally here. In 2025 with a new site and a few success stories to complement it. Time for a well deserved nap, I’d say.

Conclusion

If you got all the way here, thanks for reading. It is very much appreciated that you’d take the time to, for lack of a better word, listen to me ramble. This year has been extremely tough, and I’m sure this coming year is going to be even more so. I think I speak for many out there when I say that we’re burnt out and basically running on fumes, but, if you’re willing to keep going, I am too. Let’s do our best this year. Let’s try to enjoy the little things where we can, and hopefully, we can do more than just survive. Best wishes to you, dear reader. I hope 2025 treats you well. Take care 👋

- CJ