This year we have found ourselves playing more video games than usual. It turns out one of the benefits of attending The Mind University is a Video Gaming Lounge! There are quite a few game releases we are really looking forward to coming later this year like: Mario Strikers: Battle League, Digimon Survive, and Gotham Knights to name a few!
Donkey Kong Country
We know, we know, you’re asking yourself, “Have I suddenly traveled back to the year 1994?” While we consider the 90s to be exceptional years for both comic books and video games, Team Geek History Lesson has sadly not perfected the art of time travel … yet! A super common trend we have seen throughout the Covid 19 pandemic is a return to “comfort food media”. Professor Ashley has written about re-reading the Tim Drake Robin solo title (also from the hallowed 1990s!), and everyone on the internet seems to be rewatching The Office or Friends for the 100th time. Part of what Professor Jason has been enjoying is a revisiting of video games loved in the past and returning to a video game system that was purchased with gusto, but there hasn’t always been the time to devote to.
Everything from Raspberry Pis to SNES Classic updated consoles with a collection of games has been released over the past five years. We snapped one up and Professor Jason has been spending more and more time diving into the world of Donkey Kong Country! The original game was so good there was even a television show which spun out of it with the same name - no kidding! No joke! While Professor Jason has mostly been playing alone there is the option for multiplayer depending on how many controllers you have access to. The side scrolling makes the gameplay super simple and even years after first playing the muscle memory shoots right through your thumbs and into the game. Collecting bananas after all this time is just like riding a bike and just as much fun as it used to be!
Star Wars Episode 1: Racer
Because everything old is new again and Star Wars is the king of all geek media you had to have guessed we’d have one Star Wars game on our list or another! For generations of gamers the Star Wars Podracer games have been legendary. It was only a matter of time before the Playstation Store (or some other console), was going to either add, upres, or remake the classic 1999 (the 90s rearing their iconic head once again!), racing game. Everything from the podracer design to the cheesy-yet-amazing lines of dialogue are firmly in place.
“Looks like you need a pit stop, buddy!”
The contemporary PS4 controller is much lesser unwieldy than the Nintendo 64 was and, if anything, playing Star Wars Episode 1: Racer at the Mind University nowadays was easier than playing the game was back in the day. To state nothing of how clean and slick all aspects of the game look on a modern system on a big ol’ contemporary television set. For those who may want to push back a stat Star Wars Episode 1: Racer is “a simple racing game” - you are absolutely correct. This is something we love about it! Some of Professor Ashley’s favourite video games in the world are “simple racing games”. Diddy Kong Racing, anyone? The straightforward physics and easier milestones to level up make Star Wars Episode 1: Racer an easy video game to hop into whether you are looking to revisit a childhood fave or check out something you may have missed.
While we are inundated with more Star Wars content than we have had at any other point in our lives there’s a familiarity in Star Wars Episode 1: Racer that The Madalorian and The Book of Boba Fett haven’t touched in the same way. If you are looking for something to scratch the Star Wars itch between now and Obi-Wan Kenobi hitting your DIsney+ subscription we can’t recommend Racer enough!
Spider-Man PS4
By this time you’ve certainly seen screen grabs shared on Twitter, heard the buzz, and probably tried your hand at Spider-Man for the PS4 and possibly even the complimentary Miles Morales game. The initial Spider-Man game released before the pandemic in 2018 and we saw a huge resurgence of fellow geeks reengaging with the world of Peter Parker and Miles Morales when stay-at-home orders were first in place. For the purpose of this blog we’re writing about the first Spider-Man game - and while Miles Morales has graced the Mind University Gaming Lounge, we don’t have a PS5, so know our experience with both games is on the same system.
Professor Jason had already beat Spider-Man when it was first released. Professor Ashley enjoyed playing the Mary Jane levels because MJ is a legendary, amazing character in the Marvel Comics canon who deserves to be highlighted for her own worth in her own adventures like this. Also they are a little more straightforward and Ashley is not as good at video games as Jason. So, while we’ve never played Spider-Man together in any sort of multiplayer we have been able to play the game at the same time which is super fun! One of Professor Jason’s goals revisiting Spider-Man was to perfect his web-slinging game! While protecting his reputation from J. Jonah Jameson, protect MJ and Miles, and keep an eye on Mr. Negative Jason managed to complete Spider-Man at 100%! It’s one of the closest experiences in contemporary video games to putting yourself in the starring role of a superhero movie.
Which video games have you been obsessed with this year? We’re looking for more stories to play!
header image via JESHOOTS.com on pexels