From the first day this experience was teased, I knew I wanted to go. That September, where we got another contender within the Super Smash Bros. fighting league, was one of the happiest. I knew I would lose myself whatever happened. I dreamt of what the experience could be, and knew that when it was finally revealed in full I wouldn’t be able to hold my excitement in check.
 
Then the Island Getaway Package was unveiled at the largest gaming event of the world, and I was beyond happy with what I was seeing. We might not have seen much, but the island felt larger than any previous town – despite their being very little within it.
 
Over the months since that reveal, more has been revealed about the overall Package that has proven the people building it have been focused upon an evolution of the place we’ll be going, with plenty to keep anyone occupied.
 
Now, with the date having come and gone, I’ve been here a few days and can say exactly what I think of this new experience. And it started before I even got on the sea plane to head to the island.

When it comes to mystery dungeon games, there’s only been one series that I’ve ever looked at, and that was back during the third generation of Pokémon. With Red Rescue Team on the GBA, I played through the story, enjoying a different take on the mechanics for the franchise. It might have been the usual turn-based affair, but this time positioning was critical for battles.
 
I played it through to the end, with the interactions between characters and the ever-unravelling mystery of why you got turned into a Pokémon and the natural disasters that were ripping through the world keeping me with it. It might have been standard RPG fare, but the writing was good enough for it to not matter.
 
When new games in the series released, I wasn’t much interested, with the only other being Gates to Infinity – which only saw around 14 hours of play when I bought it in 2015. So with the remake of the original announced in January, would it manage to hold me enough to keep me going until the end?

Since EA took exclusive rights to make Star Wars games, we have seen nothing to rival The Force Unleashed games, or even Knights of the Old Republic or the Jedi Knight games for those more retro players.
 
But then at E3 2018, the name of Jedi: Fallen Order was dropped, and we had just a bit of info about it. It was to be a game that Star Wars fans craved – a solo adventure within the world they loved.
 
Sure, the Battlefront games are great for making you feel a part of large-scale battles, but that isn’t the only thing Star Wars can give.
 
There’s plenty of scope for a slower, more exploration-oriented experience, and since that name drop at E3 2018, everything shown about Jedi: Fallen Order was showing that it had the story and the locales possible to pull this off. All that was left was the gameplay and how it felt, which is something no video could ever truly show.

From when they were first announced, I’ve been wanting to get stuck into this one and explore this new world.
 
From the E3 trailer, I’ve wanted to dive into the Wild Area, and wondered just how it would feel for that taste of openness for a series that, even now, has design ties to its past. And then ever since, I’ve waited until the day – this day – where I have now lived within the Galar region.
 
Now, there are some issues I have, but they’re not that important for the sake of these impressions. It’s more for the concept side of wanting the series to grow into something larger than what it is, faster than what it can.
 
The improvements within the game are a step in the right direction, and are something I want to see built on. Especially when it comes to the Wild Area.

I remember vaguely getting the first of these games and having a great time with it. Back when the Wii was still the most popular machine in the house. Back when I was still growing into the man of gaming culture that I am today.
 
But while I enjoyed the game, I didn’t get another within the series until it moved to the WiiU with the Winter Sochi Games, where I similarly enjoyed what it offered.
 
And now, the first game in the series on the Switch is here, and it again provides the fun that is expected of the series. It feels as though it has lost a lot of the charm that makes the games, however.

I’ve been playing Smash since Melee, as my post about the series shows, and while I’ve loved them all, I’m no fighter. Not a serious one, anyway. Each of the games meant different things to me, which stops me from truly ranking them in any sort of order. With Ultimate, though, I think I have that favourite.
 
I’d started up with regular Smash, and instantly found that rulesets can be created and saved before getting into a match. Straight into Stamina Smash I go then.

The presentation is slick and easy to navigate, and the matches themselves are fast and fluid without feeling too overwhelming. Well, most of the time.

When I first saw this new Pokémon experience, I was hesitant at first. It looked nice overall, but as with many people, I was unsure just how the Go! mechanics would fit into the normal catch ‘em all style of the main games.
 
As more footage released, I warmed to the new catching mechanics as the concept of the game seemed built around them and looked as though it worked well.
 
Upon first starting this new adventure through familiar ground, there was plenty I enjoyed about it. The music brings to life the old tunes with orchestral flair, with the encounter and battle themes being a delight to hear.

Wednesday. That was the day I finally got my hands on an Xbox 360. As Darth Vader would say, the circle is now complete. Well, more like a pentagon, as I now have all five generation five consoles. DS, then Wii, then PSP, then PS3, and now Xbox 360. And so, the picture shows the version I bought. The 4GB Kinect Celebration Pack. Two games - Kinect Sports and Kinect Adventures - came with it. And so, here I go.