*robotnik Voice* I ATE THAT EGGNOG

*robotnik voice* I ATE THAT EGGNOG

"and then you'll take a break right?" you fool. i have 10 more posts written for entire series that are unfinished. i will never take a break for as long as i am accosted by my dreams

(this is a joke i'm gonna take it easy in january)

most of my remaining blog posts for the year are written – all the "favorite games of 2023" reviews are done, and two of the remaining four blog posts *after* that are written too. i just need to write the other two, add images for two of them, and then i'm DONE writing for 2023

new stream archive – in which we visit some of the prettiest worlds that the Kirby series has to offer 💖

my 4th favorite game that i played in 2023 is...

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

"but sky, didn't you already play this when it came out?" yeah, and that was almost 20 years ago. bite me.

if you didn't see me stream Phantom Hourglass already: before this year, i hadn't played or seen the game AT ALL since it came out. i loved it as a kid, i 100%ed the whole thing! but all the opinions i've read ever since suggested that it's one of the more… polarizing games in the series. maybe kid me was just willing to overlook the bullshit? who knows!

now that i've replayed it, though? god DAMN, it might be one of my favorite Zelda experiences in recent memory! especially as, once again, the newest releases (BotW and TotK) didn't really do much for me.

first off: i actually like the touch screen controls – especially for what it does to the items. every single one of these items is at its most unique! drawing a path for the boomerang, connecting things with the grapple hook, and remote controlling the bombchus are some of the coolest item concepts in the entire series. even the swordplay goes beyond just "tap an enemy to kill it," which i was genuinely surprised by!

as a sequel to Wind Waker it hits all the right notes; the condensed sea makes sailing a delight, with tons of things to do that keep sailing from becoming a glorified loading screen. each island is explorable and re-explorable, especially when paired with the map system, which makes taking notes highly engaging and ADHD friendly. it's inspired me to take more notes IRL!

the story is FULL of charm from top to bottom; Toon Link's animations made me laugh out loud on several occasions, Linebeck is the perfect type of loveable curmudgeon, and the rest of the characters are full of soul! i was genuinely sad to let them go at the game's close.

even the Temple of the Ocean King, the most dreaded dungeon in the entire game, the one you are required to return to over and over again throughout the story… really surprised me with how well laid out it is! it's full of shortcuts and treasures that require the new items you get along the way, meaning no two runs ever felt the same to me. that's a HUGE accomplishment for one of the most criticized dungeons in the series.

so all of the internet's complaints can go jump in a… well, scratch that actually. to be honest, all the complaining made me go into Phantom Hourglass like it was a grand mystery that needed solving. will i like it? or will i have grown up too much? in the end it captured the kid in my heart, and that made this revisit all the more special.

and my VERY favorite game that i played in 2023 is...!

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Booster Course Pass

i'm still in shock that they made more courses for this game. i genuinely never thought this day would come! when the game first released on switch, i figured the Deluxe moniker meant it was a one-and-done "GOTY Edition" complete package that would never get major updates, and each year that passed cemented my suspicions further. but then, out of the blue, they announced new courses! for my favorite mario kart game ever!!

"sky why is this on the list—"

god i'm really happy with the course selection they brought in from previous games. lots of love for the wii, and it hits all the right notes of my nostalgia. plus i love the way they brought in courses from Tour with all the routes mixed in as one long course! i never played Tour so it's an excellent way for me to sample the course design, and some of them are surprisingly great.

"come on sky, seriously—"

and the characters?? i know they didn't originally plan to add new characters but it just feels so complete with them there. plus they added 8 new characters when i thought there was only room for 6 and—

"SKY this game's been out for almost TEN YEARS and you've been playing it nonstop ever since it came out. how does this count???"

…listen.

when i look back at any given year, the games i play are some of the fondest memories i have. so when i sent an ask to all my friends, asking them what their favorite game they played this year is… that's my way of asking them to reflect on the good times! because that's how it works for me too. it helps me look past the bad shit that happened and toward the memories i made, the fun i had.

and you know what the most fun i had all year was? it was playing Mario Kart with my friends.

each time a new wave came out, i would first play it with my partner. just me and her playing together on local wireless, touring the new courses and gushing about how well updated the old ones are and how cool the new ones are. a chance for me and her to explore a digital space together and share in that delight.

then i would stream it! and as most of y'all know, streaming each wave of DLC made for some of the best streams of the year. not for content, not for competition, but just because we could sit down and play together. a game we could all bond over!

and the dlc was the reason we kept coming back. would this have happened if there weren't new courses? maybe, maybe not! it doesn't matter. the dlc was the perfect excuse, and the quality of both the game and the courses made the return trip feel worth it.

it doesn't have to end there, either! they've effectively doubled the size of this game now. do you know how many times i'm gonna get to jump into other friends' game nights and play with them? it's already happened several times! not only do i have all these new memories, but i have even more to look forward to.

i could endlessly pore over the quality of the courses, but really, none of that matters in the long run. what matters is that they extended one of my favorite multiplayer games of all time. what matters is that i got to share it with my friends! when i think back to this period of my life, these will be some of the first memories i turn to.

so fuck the rules! fuck the idea that a game had to come out in 2023, or even that i had to first experience it in 2023. the Mario Kart DLC was the highlight of my year, and no amount of "it doesn't count" will change that.

new pre-stream archive! in which I talk about my recent successes with streaming, some exciting streams in the pipeline, and my advice for somebody who wants to get started with streaming 💖