2026 VIDEO GAMES CATCH ALL THREAD

[Eivion]

Been playing Dragon Quest games the past month since there was a sale on the Erdrick Remake trilogy and I've had poor XI sitting in my drawer for 6-7 years waiting to be played. 

The trilogy was good fun with a lot of neat new things for story and gameplay. Only maybe beat the third game prior to this so it was nice to finally knock all three out and in sequential order story wise. 2's remake has become one of my favorites in the series though I still need to play through the post game content at some point.

I've just started Act III of XI. Damn is this game long even without the bullshit time I'm spending trying to multitask or spend other shit real quick. There are a lot of new things that I like and some I'm more 50/50 on as far changes in the series go. Still enjoying it overall and found the original story to be pretty good with a solid end. All that makes Act III coming in the way it does feel so weird. It just seems like they could have used a WAY better catalyst to push it, especially given some hints in Act 2. Not sure why they went such a flimsy route to start it, especially when it comes to fucking with time and people actually moving forward with hope in their hearts.

Edited February 12 by Eivion

[odessasteps]

One of the channels I watched just reviewed DQ 7 remaster, I think positively. 

[Eivion]

That is good to hear. I was planning to pick it up after I finished XI though I'm not sure if I will jump right in if only to take a DQ breather after a month plus of it.

[JLSigman]

Blizzard is introducing a new class, the Warlock, for D4, D Immortal.... and Diablo 2 Remastered.

[Zimbra]

Oh yeah, I've been trying again to finally beat the Diablo 4 campaign and this game is boring as hell.

[JLSigman]

1 hour ago, JLSigman said:

Blizzard is introducing a new class, the Warlock, for D4, D Immortal.... and Diablo 2 Remastered.

Also, D2 Remastered is on Steam now, for $40

[Dragon]

This is out

 

[Dragon]

https://www.consolearchives.com/en/

[Raziel]

In the midst of everything else, Capcom went and stealth dropped Updated PC Ports of Dino Crisis 1 and 2.  Basically remasters up to modern resolutions with modern controller support.  Also on sale til the end of the month at $5 each.

[RIPPA]

Finished God of War - was even further along than I realized AND way overpowered

Whilst I could start the sequel - for some reason I am starting to get the itch to do another RPG

Just have to decide which of the 50 sitting on my pile of shame to do

[JLSigman]

On 2/8/2026 at 11:53 AM, JLSigman said:

Gonna install Divine Divinity next, I think. I'm not ready to go back to Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter at the moment.

At the point of debating if I like the game well enough to restart. I'm honestly not sure yet. Might put it aside for now and do something else. 

[Cliff Hanger]

48 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

Finished God of War - was even further along than I realized AND way overpowered

Whilst I could start the sequel - for some reason I am starting to get the itch to do another RPG

Just have to decide which of the 50 sitting on my pile of shame to do

LIKE A DRAGON (clap clap clapclapclap)

[Dragon]

 

[RIPPA]

Went with The Outer Worlds

Yes I should have just gone back and finished Avowed if I wanted to get my Obsidian kick but fuck if I remember what the fuck was going on in that game

[odessasteps]

15 hours ago, RIPPA said:

Went with The Outer Worlds

Yes I should have just gone back and finished Avowed if I wanted to get my Obsidian kick but fuck if I remember what the fuck was going on in that game

I may have like OW2 better, but prefer OW’s inventory system, 

[JLSigman]

20 hours ago, JLSigman said:

At the point of debating if I like the game well enough to restart. I'm honestly not sure yet. Might put it aside for now and do something else. 

Yeah, I tried restarting a couple times, and I think I'll just put this aside for now. Time to dive back into my GOG backlog and pick something.

[SirSmUgly]

OW2 has really dragged for me. I enjoyed the first one better. The paucity of EXP points for leveling up skills is a bad choice. They should have done it like KotOR where your cross-specialist skills cost more than the skills in line with your specialization, but there are enough points to make you make those hard choices in what you spend where.

 

 

[odessasteps]

Yeah, I did a second playthrough of OW 2 with new specs because of not liking the way the build went the first time. Also, I somehow managed to alienate 2 of the potential companions. 

[odessasteps]

 

[RIPPA]

How I definitely know I am playing a RPG

Couple of hours in and already have roughly 30 save files

[odessasteps]

“Do I save this town or that town?” 
“Do I blow up X or Y?” 

[Dragon]

https://castlevania.fandom.com/wiki/Shūtarō_Īda

https://www.mobygames.com/person/485138/shutaro-iida/credits/

He started his career in 1996 it seems.

[SirSmUgly]

IT'S VIRTUAL BOY DAY

Still waiting on my VB shell, though I played some Wario Land in tabletop mode even with the teeny screens. Nintendo should really make a full-screen version of the app that can at least be played handheld/in tabletop, 3D effects or not.

I also have almost completely finished stuff to do in Hades 2. I finished the last of the Chaos Trials, I burned off the final Fated Prophecy, and I bought everything other than all of the alternate forms for the familiars. I'm still probably going to play runs of this game just because I like it so much. Yeah, this game is firmly on my "favorite game ever" list. It must be easier than the first Hades because I never did get the last statue (on 32 heat) or finish the Fated Prophecies list in that one - though I suppose that finishing the Fated Prophecies list is more an exercise in patience than it is one in enduring difficult gameplay.

I also grabbed a physical copy of Golden Tee Arcade Classics on a whim. I picked up the case, thought to myself that we need a Silver Strike Bowling collection (which we do - those have to be some of my favorite arcade games around) and flipped to the back of the case, where I saw that it included World Class Bowling, the progenitor to the Silver Strike Bowling games and a game that I spent quite a few quarters on back in the '90s (often directly after having actually bowled a few games in real life, oddly). i was sold, especially for only a Tubman. It's still fun in handheld mode and swipig the screen in place of using a trackball, and now I'm really hoping that Digital Eclipse does that Silver Strike collection that I'd love to get my hands on (or some Silver Strike DLC for this Golden Tee title, whatever). 

[twiztor]

On 2/17/2026 at 11:48 AM, SirSmUgly said:

IT'S VIRTUAL BOY DAY

Still waiting on my VB shell, though I played some Wario Land in tabletop mode even with the teeny screens. Nintendo should really make a full-screen version of the app that can at least be played handheld/in tabletop, 3D effects or not.

i sold off my VB 2 or 3 years ago. i thought it was a cool little piece of tech, but i would only get it out of the closet and play it once every like 8 years, so really couldn't justify holding on to it. Had all 14 US games, one Japanese exclusive (V-Tetris) and a homebrew of Street Fighter 2 ("Hyper Fighting"). i even had a homebrew VB link cable so you could (theoretically) hook up a 2nd VB and play 2-player Hyper Fighting! i say theoretically because it required knowing somebody else that had both a VB and that game, which i didn't  

to answer some questions, there's no hidden gems. the games generally regarded as the best are the best (Wario Land, Jack Bros.) and there's some decent games for what they are (Mario Clash, Mario Tennis, Red Alarm to a lesser extent). and Waterworld sucked rocks. I could never get a handle on Teleroboxer.

[SirSmUgly]

4 hours ago, twiztor said:

i sold off my VB 2 or 3 years ago. i thought it was a cool little piece of tech, but i would only get it out of the closet and play it once every like 8 years, so really couldn't justify holding on to it. Had all 14 US games, one Japanese exclusive (V-Tetris) and a homebrew of Street Fighter 2 ("Hyper Fighting"). i even had a homebrew VB link cable so you could (theoretically) hook up a 2nd VB and play 2-player Hyper Fighting! i say theoretically because it required knowing somebody else that had both a VB and that game, which i didn't  

to answer some questions, there's no hidden gems. the games generally regarded as the best are the best (Wario Land, Jack Bros.) and there's some decent games for what they are (Mario Clash, Mario Tennis, Red Alarm to a lesser extent). and Waterworld sucked rocks. I could never get a handle on Teleroboxer.

The Virtual Boy is the first console I ever bought. After saving up allowance money to rent it from Blockbuster three or four times, I was lucky enough to have a birthday right before Nintendo discontinued it. I walked into a Wal-Mart with forty bucks from various money gifts and bought a Virtual Boy and Wario Land, Red Alarm, Teleroboxer, and Golf. I was able to get four more games here and there on clearance. Once I went to college and left it at home, I have no clue what happened to it across the moves that my parents made. 

I will say that I'm going to disagree slightly and suggest that Galactic Pinball is a legitimate hidden gem; though it was well-received at the time that it was made, I think it reaches that level, and I'll explain why shortly.

Alright, I got this thing yesterday and have put enough time into it since then to talk about it a bit. First, the app and stand itself: 

The headset and stand: It's essentially the actual stand but with no guts. There is a trusty clamp for the headset, and there is an extra clip for if you're using an OG Switch or OLED Switch rather than a Switch 2; I think the size difference means that the extra clip is necessary, but I haven't put my OG Switch into this headset yet. The Switch Lite, since it has bolted-on Joycons, cannot be fitted into the headset. They even added the physical contrast and focus sliders on the helmet, though of course they are plastic molds that don't work and all of that stuff is adjusted within the app. 

The app itself: It's kinda dogshit, actually. First of all, the sizing of the Game Selection screen is awful. I am wearing glasses, which I didn't do when I had this thing as a youngster (though it probably sped me along toward wearing glasses, come to think of it). That could be part of the issue, but then I took my glasses off and pressed right up against the visor, and the Game Selection screen is still sized poorly. 

The other issue is that the games themselves are blurry. I thought tha he screen size and IPD settings were the problem, but nope; the issue is that the app doesn't run crisp graphics like the OG Virtual Boy does. This is most noticeable in Wario Land, which has significant foreground/background play. That opening cutscene with the little masked Awazonians carrying treasure in the background is a good example - the little guys are hard to pick out. I hope that Nintendo tinkers with this app and updates it to improve the graphical crispness of these games if at all possible.

The games available at launch: No Mario's Tennis is a bummer; it was the pack-in game, and the music that plays as you boot it up is seared into my brain. I don't exactly think that adding it to this app was going to cannibalize sales of Mario Tennis Fever, either. But I digress. Here are my quick reviews for each game.

Virtual Boy Wario Land - This game is a hidden gem in the sense that because no one played the Virtual Boy, people often forget to sing its praises when they gushabout the great Wario Land games of yore (which 3 and 4 certainly deserve, of course). I've long since argued that this is the best Nintendo game that almost no one has played and am thrilled, blurry backgrounds aside, that more people will get a chance to spend time with this one. The foreground/background play is excellent, the balance of exploration and platforming is perfect, the music is great (I love the hell out of the Virtual Boy sound chip), and NG+ remixing the locations of the treasures is a nice second-playthrough touch. It's one of two Nintendo games (the other being Captain Toad Treasure Tracker) that people always look at me funny when I speak of them as Nintendo masterpieces, but I stand by that claim after spending some more time with it in 2026. 

Galactic Pinball - The reason that I'd call this a hidden gem is that it sits in the same space for me with Nintendo's other underrated hidden pinball gems, namely Kirby's Pinball Land and Metroid Prime Pinball. This is even better than those, but the reason I say that is because the physics are slightly different, what with a) the use of a puck that slides rather than a ball that bounces and b) a comparative lack of gravity that makes the puck slightly floaty without feeling too floaty. The physics feel different, but picking up how to play the tables and hit the shots that you want is incredibly rewarding. I am loving this game, which I honestly haven't played in thirty years, but which I remember liking a lot for a video pinball game back then. I only have more appreciation for it now.

Innsmouth no Yakata - This is such a strange game; it plays like a combination between Shadowgate or Wizards and Warriors and DOOM. I need to spend more time with it, but I'm excited to because people generally regard this at the same level as VBWL and Jack Bros. 

Teleroboxer - The controls are interesting; you can either use the sticks or the buttons, but you don't want to use both. This game is what most made me miss that awesome Virtual Boy controller. I am hopeful that Nintendo will produce and sell me one for sixty bucks on their store in the next few months. The game itself has some fun opponents (the second fighter having a phase where you have to pop his head out of the protective area in his tummy and back onto his neck, and then jab the shit out of it before he can drop it back down to his stomach, is a perfect example of the sort of neat gimmick you'd see in a Punch-Out!! game if Punch-Out!! could get even weirder with it than it already does). I look forward to some shocked Gen-Z Nintendo fan posting video of the lady robot boss who shoots her boobs at you a a primary attack. It was the '90s, y'know? Once you get the controls down, this is the easiest Punch-Out!! game, which I consider a bonus because I don't have time for all the pain and anger of trying to beat Super Macho Man with point-perfect timing and shit.

T&E Soft Golf - This is a good golf game despite the lack of courses. I dug the stance adjustments and the swing meter, specifically the giant golf ball that makes up the second meter. Chipping onto the green with your wedge and striking the ball at its very bottom-center, then watching as your shot hits the grass, stops, and scoots back toward the hole feels great. The music for this game is also seared into my brain.

Red Alarm - I forgot that the driving tension in this game is keeping a balance between exploration and taking it steady, but also getting through the level before your fuel runs out. I took way too long and was way too thorough in the first level and then ended up panicking as I frantically tried to follow the annoying-ass end boss around the open arena. This game isn't hard, but it does have a nice layer of challenge largely arising from that tension. 

3D Tetris- This is probably the worst possible way to play Tetris, and that includes playing it on your TI-85. I hope V-Tetris makes it onto the app, though. Can you believe that this goofy console had only 22 titles released for it, but two of them were Tetris titles and two of them were bowling games? Incredible.

I'm hoping that Nintendo gets Atlus to release its old games onto NSO sooner rather than later. Jack Bros. needs to be on this app, and the first two Snowboard Kids games need to be on the N64 app. I'm also hoping that Space Squash is navigable enough to be released on the app along with V-Tetris and the Space Invaders Collection.  Also, there's a Japan-only fishing game (Red Snapper). Bring that shit over too if there isn't too much text. 

I'd also love, love, love it if we got an official Bound High release. I don't know what the deal is with the rights to that game, but I'm pretty sure it's finished and just got shitcanned alongside the console. I choose to dream big. 

EDIT: There's a video on Nintendo Today that says that V-Tetris and Space Invaders are on their way...along with the previously unreleased Dragon Hopper and Zero Racers. Holy shit! I remember reading a GamePro preview for Dragon Hopper!

Gonna hold out for a Bound High release even more!

(Jack Bros. and Mario's Tennis are also on their way, which rules.)

 

 

 

Edited February 19 by SirSmUgly