Japanese Niche Games Deals & Discussion Thread 4.0

[shivan128]

Welcome to the Japanese niche games deals and discussion thread!  Feel free to talk about local and import Japanese games here.  Our goal is to maintain a thread dedicated to active deals on niche games including RPGs, Visual Novels (VN), Shoot'em ups (Shmups), Musou, etc.  Also maintained are pre-orders for standard, limited and collector's edition games with key release dates provided.

I've wikified the thread to make it more friendly and open to others that can actively update with important information. You can find the wiki post directly below this one.

NOTE:  Please, leave the censorship discussion away from this thread.  It's common for japanese games to have questionable content outside of the country.  We want to keep discussions to the game itself and not about cultural/societal tolerance.

A message from Thorbahn:

Our CAG Japanese Niche Games Thread also has a community on PS4, where you can interact and game with other members of the thread.

Our moderators are: Draekon, Las_Hole, and Waffleswanton

You can basically friend any of our members, or any moderator, and you will be able to request to join the community under "Communities friends are in" tab, and a mod will approve your request.

You can also leave your PSN ID in the thread, saying you want to join, and we can invite you directly as well.

As always, have fun and enjoy your stay!

 

[Biggzy32]

Is it better than PW3 (it might have been PW2, I remember Fujitora was in it)? I liked it, but I was just grinding forever with every character and then grinding the support because I wanted the Plat. I had the wrong info on what the reqs were and didn't want all my previous grinding to go to waste so I kept going at it. Really would like to not do that again.

I haven’t played PW3 honestly. This is my first time playing a One Piece Musou type game. I’m a sucker for these kinds of games, Dragon Quest Heroes also.

 

[super1upqueen]

Same here.

The game is missing something, not sure what it is though. I beat it with Nobunaga and Mitsuhide and just gave up after. Too much grinding, and this is coming from someone who actually likes grinding to get beefed up.

Most of the weapons are trash compared to the Katana and Nodachi.

The weapon builder is awful compared to most the DW games. The attributes don't feel like they do anything. You could have frost, earth, attack, range, etc. and won't notice a thing.

I started playing One Piece Pirate Warriors 4, and holy shit this game is ing awesome. The graphics, combat, leveling up are all top notch. Complete opposite of SW5.

I liked the Odachi, Katana, Blade/Matchlock, Kusarigama (but not making that Hanzo's default weapon was super-bizarre and the Ninja Blade they gave him instead was hot garbage), both Spears (but Great Spear more), Twin Blades, and Bow. I wanted to like the Naginata, but it kind of flung your character around a little too much to actually hit anything, and the Gauntlets needed a lot of upgrades to do enough damage. The Talisman, Cannon, and Drum were stupid as hell, the Sledge was just a heavy weapon, and the Ninja Blade was easily the worst weapon in the game. It focused way too much on ninja theatrics and not enough on actually hitting things. I know that you could put any weapon on any character, but I still couldn't help but look at Hanzo with that stupid weapon and think, "Look how they massacred my boy."

And yeah, I don't mind grinding in games at all and often enjoy it, but this was just way too much. I forgot to mention the little cutscenes you can unlock between certain characters by playing as both of them in a Citadel mission. My god were those a grind! At minimum, it would take three battles with two characters to max out their friendship, and you can only do it in Citadel mode! Think you can build up the friendship between Mitsuhide and Toshimitsu in Musou mode since they share tons of battles? Nope, Citadel only! Enjoy the same ~20 tower defense levels because the game refuses to unlock more! Oh, and don't think you can use Citadel mode to level up weaker characters, because even the toughest missions don't give enough for even one level up. And, did I mention needing hundreds of materials to upgrade your facilities that you can get only in...wait for it...Citadel mode! Oh, what a delight.

Sorry, rant over. This game was just such a massive disappointment.

 

[Josef]

Koei Tecmo also needs to reprint some of the Attack on Titan 2 Final Battle copies. Yikes.

I wonder if there are licensing issues with that? If not, then yeah they definitely should reprint those to get more out there.

Heck I wish SNK would reprint the Switch physical of Samurai Shodown. I remember that coming out and basically being gone everywhere within a month. Picked a bad title to wait on a price drop for.

 

[toska]

for people who ordered stuff from playasia last month have you received anything yet? i ordered a bunch of in stock stuff and it still hasnt shipped.

 

[elessar123]

for people who ordered stuff from playasia last month have you received anything yet? i ordered a bunch of in stock stuff and it still hasnt shipped.

Got a shirt and two artbooks, but none of the games.

Edit: I just checked and it says preparing.

 

[gospelman]

for people who ordered stuff from playasia last month have you received anything yet? i ordered a bunch of in stock stuff and it still hasnt shipped.

I ordered two games from playasia at the end of July: Ace Attorney Chronicles LE and Hajimari no Kiseki LE. Both arrived 2-3 weeks after shipping notification. Packages sent from KY to TX. BOXC LOGISTICS INC. > DHL > USPS.
Edit: Those were both around $67 apiece after free shipping promo and 5% promo code.

 

[eternalblue81]

for people who ordered stuff from playasia last month have you received anything yet? i ordered a bunch of in stock stuff and it still hasnt shipped.

I bought a single in-stock game from them on July 31. I got it on August 23rd with DHL. Tracking didn't show any updates until August 17th when it arrived at a New Jersey distribution center.

Earlier this year I ordered 4 in-stock games on April 23 and they didn't ship them until May 11 with FedEx.

 

[Midori Monkey]

for people who ordered stuff from playasia last month have you received anything yet? i ordered a bunch of in stock stuff and it still hasnt shipped.

I have received two of the three things I ordered. The remaining item was a preorder that shipped on the 17th.

 

[nitrosmob]

Full Metal Daemon Muramasa was released from JAST USA. This one is extremely highly regarded and considered one of the better Nitro+ games. I'm more of a romance type guy with my visual novels, but I like to play the more popular ones as well. Consider it bought. Not sure I'll start on it right away, but I'll give impressions whenever I do.

JAST USA (NSFW)

VNDB (NSFW)

Mangagamer also released Uchikano - Living With My Girlfriend. Their next release is Namaiki Dark Elf Sisters ~Cocky Chicks Craving Creampies~ releasing September 30th. It has a 10% discount on pre-order. I love Waffle games so consider it bought.

Uchikano Mangagamer (NSFW)

Namaiki Mangagamer (NSFW)

HoneyHoneyHoney! is now on Steam. Even though it's classified as an adult's only title it is all ages I believe. The patch from Johren restores the 18+ content. 20% off until August 29th.

HoneyHoneyHoney! Steam (NSFW)

18+ Patch Johren (NSFW)

Parquet comes out tomorrow on Steam. It's Yuzusoft's first all ages title. NekoNyan is the translator for it.

Steam

 

[shadowysea07]

hmm just got an email that my tales of arise will be arriving between the 21st and the 24th.  I wonder why it's being delayed given that I preordered years ago. Oh well I'm still working on p5 so that will give me time to finish it up.  I just beat the 7th palace so I assume there's only a little more to go. 

 

[JohnnySako]

for people who ordered stuff from playasia last month have you received anything yet? i ordered a bunch of in stock stuff and it still hasnt shipped.

Had four separate orders and received everything. Received the final order, Empire of Angels IV (PS4) yesterday. It took about two weeks.

 

[itzd4n]

for people who ordered stuff from playasia last month have you received anything yet? i ordered a bunch of in stock stuff and it still hasnt shipped.

I bought a bunch of artbooks that were not readily available in the US or significantly cheaper. I haven't received anything yet, but got shipping notifications a while back

 

[dragonx]

Full Metal Daemon Muramasa was released from JAST USA. This one is extremely highly regarded and considered one of the better Nitro+ games. I'm more of a romance type guy with my visual novels, but I like to play the more popular ones as well. Consider it bought. Not sure I'll start on it right away, but I'll give impressions whenever I do.

JAST USA (NSFW)

VNDB (NSFW)

Already picked it up but still finishing Ace Attorney so won't be able to play it right away. Really looking forward to playing it soon. Keep in mind the price is discounted the week of release so it's cheaper to buy now.

 

[nightc1]

Neo TWEWY has entered into a bit a of frustration over the pin drop mechanics.  I'm trying to finish out the noisepedia for everything before the bonus content and I've played week 1 day 7 now a few times on Ultimate and still cant get the boss to drop whatever pin they provide for Ultimate.  The pin itself says 100% ... I'm at max level with that turned down to 1... so max drop rate there.  I have all of the characters at their max levels.  I'm giving it maybe once or twice (if I'm feeling masochistic) more and then giving up completely on this part of the game.   I can probably push through that level in around 30min... but I still have to milk through weeks 2 and 3 and stubborn drops will make this painful.  Maybe I should look up some spoilers to see if there's any reason to even do any of this stuff.

Pairing down my collection update: I pulled my SNES and PS2 collections out to put among the rest of my regular games.  SNES and it's games can go.  PS2, I have a few games I want to replay and one I've been meaning to try for ages (Lupin the third ... which I know got bad reviews but it's Lupin... and that's my favorite anime franchise).    Probably in total between both systems it's maybe 20 games as I sold off much of those collections more than a decade ago... which is also the last time I played either system.   I think it'll be easier to start the sell off with the smaller collections and move towards the larger ones.   Same for the advice everyone gives for getting out of debt... start with the smallest one and move up.   Maybe before I get too ahead of myself I'll take inventory of my entire console and handheld game collection.  It's between 500 and 750 games I think... but most everything is organized so it's more writing/typing than putting things in order.

 

[booni3]

What is the cheapest yall have seen 13 Sentinels? 

 

[whitereflection]

$24.99 from GS and Best Buy. I considered purchasing it myself, but held off.

 

[dragonx]

Captain Tsubasa (PS4) $17.99 at amazon

 

[booni3]

$24.99 from GS and Best Buy. I considered purchasing it myself, but held off.

thanks. $20 is my sweet spot for it, not comfortable paying more than that for the type of game it is.

 

[Biggzy32]

What is the cheapest yall have seen 13 Sentinels?

It looks like dogshit, is it?

 

[booni3]

It looks like dogshit, is it?

I've heard nothing but praise for the game, but to my understanding it's basically a visual novel.

Vanillaware is one of my favorite devs and I'm still shocked that after action packed titles like Dragon's Crown and Muramasa they put out a VN, but I'll still support them once the price is right.

 

[gospelman]

13 sentinels is a hybrid VN with what I would call a mandatory side mode of a very basic rts / tower defense.  I enjoyed the artwork a lot, and the characters / storytelling for the most part.  Now some people love the plot much more - but personally the way the game delivers some of the plot reveals wasn't my favorite manner of storytelling.

It's certainly worth buying and supporting.  

 

[shadowysea07]

I picked it up during the 30$ sale at best buy iirc. I'll get to it eventually.  Gameplay wise people say the same things about underwater ray romano and tears to tiara so I'll see for myself. As those had plenty of gameplay portions.  It's just occasionally they had lots of talky sections. 

 

[toska]

i got a reply back from playasia apoligizing about 5 times blaming covid and saying they dont even have the games in the warehouse(which were all in stock). not sure how to feel about it, im sure i wont receice anything for another 2 months. definetly feel like i drew a short straw

 

[superxgaga]

I've heard nothing but praise for the game, but to my understanding it's basically a visual novel.

Vanillaware is one of my favorite devs and I'm still shocked that after action packed titles like Dragon's Crown and Muramasa they put out a VN, but I'll still support them once the price is right.

I was bit disappointed how the combat looked in the demo, then I played through the whole game, loved the characters, story, music and the combat was fun as hell. One of the few games I plat last year.

 

[Pheria]

i got a reply back from playasia apoligizing about 5 times blaming covid and saying they dont even have the games in the warehouse(which were all in stock). not sure how to feel about it, im sure i wont receice anything for another 2 months. definetly feel like i drew a short straw

I'm having what feels like a similar problem with Nippon-Yasan. Ordered something listed in stock in early January, didn't ship for months so I contacted them. They said it was not in stock after all and that I'd get a refund. The order status has been 'awaiting refund' for 3 months now and I keep pinging them about it.

 

[shadowysea07]

I was bit disappointed how the combat looked in the demo, then I played through the whole game, loved the characters, story, music and the combat was fun as hell. One of the few games I plat last year.

i didn't know that they had a demo for it so that is useful info thanks.

 

[booni3]

One of the few games I plat last year.

Interestingly, I heard the plat for 13 Sentinels basically just required you to finish the story, which I think is really cool. It's one thing to have "kill 1000 goblins" type trophies but what if you got all the trophies just for naturally playing through and completing the game? I think most players look at trophies to get additional challenge out of games, but what if you want the platinum but don't want additional challenge?

I really liked what Nier Automata did with the trophies. You could either do all that stuff or just (mild spoiler?) buy them with in-game currency but if you played the game through to at least ending E you basically had enough money to buy whatever you didn't unlock naturally. The DMC style trophy lists probably aren't going anywhere anytime soon, but it's nice to see devs take alternative approaches.

 

[Soma_Cruz]

I had some stuff come up which got me to cancel my NIS Classics vol 1 preorder but now I've noticed it's only $40 on the eshop so that smaller msrp will make feel better about it if I miss it. 

 

[superxgaga]

Interestingly, I heard the plat for 13 Sentinels basically just required you to finish the story, which I think is really cool. It's one thing to have "kill 1000 goblins" type trophies but what if you got all the trophies just for naturally playing through and completing the game? I think most players look at trophies to get additional challenge out of games, but what if you want the platinum but don't want additional challenge?

I really liked what Nier Automata did with the trophies. You could either do all that stuff or just (mild spoiler?) buy them with in-game currency but if you played the game through to at least ending E you basically had enough money to buy whatever you didn't unlock naturally. The DMC style trophy lists probably aren't going anywhere anytime soon, but it's nice to see devs take alternative approaches.

Yea I think you can get about 95% trophies completing the game. After that you can use ingame currency to unlock the entries in the archive, need to get S rank on all combat missions(easy difficulty works) and unlock all equipments for all 13 sentinels.

 

[super1upqueen]

Speaking of the NIS Classics pre-order, the special edition from NISA's website was originally delayed due to some issue with customs, but I just got an email from them saying that all the items were cleared and they expect to begin shipping it as early as the week of September 13th. The game comes out on August 31st, so it's only about a 2 week delay for the special edition. I probably wasn't going to play it right away anyway, so all good. I'm glad it was straightened out, since they charged me for it like 3 weeks ago.

Still playing Persona 4 Golden. I never got very far in several social links in my previous playthroughs, but since I'm playing NG+, I've been able to focus on the ones I always neglected. I got to Death rank 7 last night and it, uh...it gets really sad.

 

[superxgaga]

Still playing Persona 4 Golden. I never got very far in several social links in my previous playthroughs, but since I'm playing NG+, I've been able to focus on the ones I always neglected. I got to Death rank 7 last night and it, uh...it gets really sad.

Something about P4/P4G just makes me feel much more emotional invested than P5/P5R. The social links feels like people I know in RL, more realistic (cept lovers and fortune arcana, those 2 are on the P5 level, being mega idol and teen detective).

 

[shadowysea07]

Finished persona 5.  Final battle was alright the cutscene for the final turn  was pretty swag.

Of the s links Ouya devil iirc and Iwai hanged man lent the most useful help so I gotta give those 2 props.  The others weren't exactly all that helpful though I appreciate the thought if nothing else.  Too bad strength didn't get to participate along with a few others. 

I have to say it's quite amazing Ouya was able to help so much. Wonder what happens if you didn't do the devil link then. The one lady brought up an interesting question we never did get to see what their treasure was.  Though makoto did say it's probably a notebook as they were able to make out a shape.  

 

[superxgaga]

Finished persona 5. Final battle was alright the cutscene for the final turn was pretty swag.

Of the s links Ouya devil iirc and Iwai hanged man lent the most useful help so I gotta give those 2 props. The others weren't exactly all that helpful though I appreciate the thought if nothing else. Too bad strength didn't get to participate along with a few others.

I have to say it's quite amazing Ouya was able to help so much. Wonder what happens if you didn't do the devil link then. The one lady brought up an interesting question we never did get to see what their treasure was. Though makoto did say it's probably a notebook as they were able to make out a shape.

P5 not p5R right? For me personally temperance rank 10, helps you alot, because allows you to do stuff at night after going to a palace/memento. Also Death rank 7 also gives half off on her accessories (the one with invigorate 3, very helpful for first playthrough without OP DLC)

Edit. And the fortune teller can help you boost just about anything for money, which is OP as F.

 

[elessar123]

I picked it up during the 30$ sale at best buy iirc. I'll get to it eventually. Gameplay wise people say the same things about underwater ray romano and tears to tiara so I'll see for myself. As those had plenty of gameplay portions. It's just occasionally they had lots of talky sections.

Underwater Ray Ramano was like 95% visual novel and 5% tactical gameplay. 13 Sentinels is maybe 30% tower defense and 70% visual novel, and the visual novel part is more like 2.5D instead of just sprites talking.

 

[shadowysea07]

Underwater Ray Ramano was like 95% visual novel and 5% tactical gameplay. 13 Sentinels is maybe 30% tower defense and 70% visual novel, and the visual novel part is more like 2.5D instead of just sprites talking.

I disagree. The gameplay percentage is definitely higher than that. Especially in truth. Even deception is around 20-25 at the lowest. Ignoring that you can do free battles anytime you want.

P5 not p5R right? For me personally temperance rank 10, helps you alot, because allows you to do stuff at night after going to a palace/memento. Also Death rank 7 also gives half off on her accessories (the one with invigorate 3, very helpful for first playthrough without OP DLC)
Edit. And the fortune teller can help you boost just about anything for money, which is OP as F.

I was speaking more about the plot than gameplay. Gameplay wise I'd rank it tower fortune then distant temperance and death. Sp Regen accessories are pretty much the only use out of takemi and you don't really need them so much as they are slightly useful. But not as useful as in the older games because of how stupidly the dungeons are set up in p5. If you could bounce between Momentos and palaces that would even things out a little.

Of course if they had kept p3s vending machines instead of using p4s then you'd worry about sp even less.

 

[superxgaga]

I was speaking more about the plot than gameplay. Gameplay wise I'd rank it tower fortune then distant temperance and death. Sp Regen accessories are pretty much the only use out of takemi and you don't really need them so much as they are slightly useful. But not as useful as in the older games because of how stupidly the dungeons are set up in p5. If you could bounce between Momentos and palaces that would even things out a little.

What u mean plot? Non of the em are necessary to max for the plot, and has no bearing. And tower? For more ammo?

 

[gospelman]

I think he's referring to the down shot from the tower link.  Guns in particular are done much better in Royal.

 

[shadowysea07]

What u mean plot? Non of the em are necessary to max for the plot, and has no bearing. And tower? For more ammo?

Plot wise ouya finds the person who testified against you at the start of the game and gets her to recant. Iwai puts out the word for your safety while locked up. The others mostly just protested.

Tower wise he has a instant knockdown bullet skill for you. Incredibly useful especially with recruiting mons.

Speaking of I'd add sun being somewhat useful but by the time you could use it you are already near halfway through so there's not many mons you recruit manually. Plus you can get so many randomly just by instakill. It took my till past 100 hours to even have recruited 30 demons via negotiating.

Speaking of negotiations I only had Ann help with one the entire effing game and no one else ever. So I guess it must be like.08% chance of triggering.

 

[shadowysea07]

I think he's referring to the down shot from the tower link. Guns in particular are done much better in Royal.

I liked guns well enough in p5. Outside of crappy characters like Morgana I typically didn't run out of bullets too often and the crit occasionally and high dps on neutral targets was useful.

 

[superxgaga]

I liked guns well enough in p5. Outside of crappy characters like Morgana I typically didn't run out of bullets too often and the crit occasionally and high dps on neutral targets was useful.

Now onto P5R where bullets refill every fight. And morgana only drag you to bed every other nights.

 

[shadowysea07]

If anyone here missed it there's a ymmv amazon app promo for 2x coupons for 15 off 25 orders. makes bravery default 2 14.99.  Also good for Ys origins and preorders I read. 

 

[shadowysea07]

Now onto P5R where bullets refill every fight. And morgana only drag you to bed every other nights.

Yeah them wasting the majority of night in p5 was annoying. But sadly that's par for the course since they idiotically moved dungeon spelunking from night to daytime without thinking of replacing it with more content to do at night. At least 5 has 7 or so night s links (star moon sun devil fortune heiro hangedman off the top of my head) which is a hell of a lot better than p4's 2 fricken s links devil and tower.

 

[Covnam]

If anyone here missed it there's a ymmv amazon app promo for 2x coupons for 15 off 25 orders. makes bravery default 2 14.99. Also good for Ys origins and preorders I read.

Where did the offer show up? I added BD2 to my cart to see if anything happened, but it seemed to be the normal price. Though maybe I didn't get the offer *shrug*

 

[elessar123]

I disagree. The gameplay percentage is definitely higher than that. Especially in truth. Even deception is around 20-25 at the lowest. Ignoring that you can do free battles anytime you want.

I haven't played Truth and Deception yet. Just the original. And if you count free battles, then 13 Sentinels has 9999 levels of optional battles.

 

[superxgaga]

Yeah them wasting the majority of night in p5 was annoying. But sadly that's par for the course since they idiotically moved dungeon spelunking from night to daytime without thinking of replacing it with more content to do at night. At least 5 has 7 or so night s links (star moon sun devil fortune heiro hangedman off the top of my head) which is a hell of a lot better than p4's 2 fricken s links devil and tower.

P4 also had hierophant and justice, (and jester in p4g) for night time social links. Tokyo has a lot more night life (even more in p5R with jazz club and bar to hang out with teammates) than a small town, Shadow Yosuke says it best “living in the country is pretty boring”.

 

[KRL3307]

Where did the offer show up? I added BD2 to my cart to see if anything happened, but it seemed to be the normal price. Though maybe I didn't get the offer *shrug*

https://www.amazon.com/b?node=21423115011

That’s the offer link to see if you are eligible. I got lucky and even though I’ve used the app before, I qualified. Works on preorders too as I got Olympia Soiree.

 

[shadowysea07]

Where did the offer show up? I added BD2 to my cart to see if anything happened, but it seemed to be the normal price. Though maybe I didn't get the offer *shrug*

The options via the mobile app click a link in the amazon thread and you'll get taken to a page on your phone where they tell you whether you qualify or not. Most people do though despite saying otherwise on the page if you have a button to redeem coupon lower down.

I haven't played Truth and Deception yet. Just the original. And if you count free battles, then 13 Sentinels has 9999 levels of optional battles.

I suppose I should have been more specific. I've never played the original or the remake of it prelude to the fallen either. But yeah if you ever play the others they are largely a decent experience. Though the first one prettymuch follows the anime nearly identical on a point by point basis so that was a little boring for me having already watched it. They did change a few characters leaving the party from the anime to the game which is a positive and a negative I suppose. The final boss battle is also original to the game and is pretty dumb. I get they were trying to offer a cool videogame final boss battle but writing wise especially going by the anime it made no sense and just felt shoehorned in and in poor taste.

truth adds in a bunch of new stuff to the mix like every female character you meet ends up being a princess, generals daughter or former noble. Not a normal girl in the bunch. Plus the new temp party members which sucks since I hate when they tease you with these units then take them away. Though you can still use them all in free battles. I feel like they intended for the original cast from prelude being playable especially since they have side stories where they were given in game models. I can only guess it was scrapped but they kept in what stuff they did add and just not the gameplay associated with it. Which is a shame.

 

[shadowysea07]

P4 also had hierophant and justice, (and jester in p4g) for night time social links. Tokyo has a lot more night life (even more in p5R with jazz club and bar to hang out with teammates) than a small town, Shadow Yosuke says it best “living in the country is pretty boring”.

True I forgot about those 2 links. Though given that they are story gated and locked out for the majority of the game you can't do them at night anyway once you get so far until significantly later.

They could have your friend s links allocated to night time increases as well (golden sort of did this but you can't rank up so it makes it pointless outside of occasions where you wouldn't rank up during the day)

Jester wise that one only had a couple of ranks due to being unfinishable.

 

[nitrosmob]

Thanks for pointing out the app offer. I didn't get video game stuff, but any discount is a good one.

 

[nightc1]

Played mostly SNES, PS2, and Wii games this weekend (and some GB, GBA and DS).   Most niche japanese games of the bunch were probably Castle of Shikigami III (people flying around in a vertical shmup) and No More Heroes (which I realize it's not for me) on the Wii. Lupin The Third Treasure of the Sorcerer King on PS2 was heavenly.  I will have to grab an HDMI converter for my PS2 (I found a proper one on amazon) as I want to play all of Lupin, but not in 480i.  Same for revisiting Outrun 2006 on PS2.   I have a Wii2HDMI adapter and that makes the system (with the video set to 480p) very playable on my big screen... so having that on PS2 will help the experience a lot.

I could write a book on what I played or at least tested (to make sure they work) over 40 games... but I will attempt restrain myself.   I do want to note though, despite Advance Wars being my favorite strategy game of all time... after playing it some this weekend I realize it's a wonderful memory ... but not something I need to revist.  That was a huge surprise... and one I can apply to other series to decide do I really still love them or just the memory.

On the Metroid front... I gave Prime 3 a try.  Overall a positive experience.  If I can bring myself to play through those games then I'll get Dread.  So the series moved onto the bubble, where as before I was feeling like maybe I was done with it.