VIRTUAL BASTION

YouTube Highlights, Weekly Edition #125

Up this week: F-Zero (SNES, 1990; Switch re-issue) – blast off with this futuristic SNES racing game that would eventually spawn its own popular series Super Mario Maker 2 (Switch, 2019) – A limited series featuring small sampling of other players’ levels from this smash-hit sequel to the original Super Mario Maker Not Zangief (multiple…

Good Night, Arthur Morgan

When I formally hung up my Red Dead Redemption II hat back in February, I had no idea how close I actually was to finishing its main story. Well…at the risk of SPOILERS, which will ABOUND in this post…Arthur Morgan’s main story, that is. I also really had no idea what laid in wait for…

Ghost Parade Might Be Worth Keeping an Eye On

There’s always something new coming out of the indie games sector these days. Some of it is great, a lot of it is terrible, and then there are some games that aren’t easy to read right away. They don’t look like a home run, but there’s definitely potential. Ghost Parade is one of these games.

Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage Review

I have now completed the first two Spyro games in the Reignited Trilogy, so it is time for another review. As is often the case with sequels, Spyro 2 adds a lot of new features to the Spyro formula. While there are a lot of improvements, there were plenty of frustrating moments, as well. Let’s…

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening is Nintendo at Their Best!

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening has finally made it to Switch, and it’s just about everything a old Zelda fan like myself could want! They’ve kept just about everything that made the game what it was, while also seamlessly weaving-in a few modern conveniences and features. It’s actually kind of strange to play: I…

YouTube Highlights, Weekly Edition #124

A Trio of Favorite Nintendo Memories

With #NintendoSeptember coming to a close, it’s fitting that we should round things out with our favorite Nintendo memories. Since my days with the magical, gray block that was called the Nintendo Entertainment System, I’ve racked up quite a few of them, from playing pass-the-controller with my siblings as we valiantly tried to conquer Super…

‘Court of Owls’ Teased for Next Batman Game

The “Arkham” series of Batman games may be over, but the Caped Crusader’s video game career is certain to continue. Lately, hints have been dropping for a new Batman game; they’ve been absolutely cryptic until today, when a tweet from WB Games Montreal gave fans their first clue as to what exactly is going on.

Favorite Nintendo Memories: Duck Edition

Alas, we have come to the final Nintendo-themed topic of the month. This time, we’re covering, as the title implies, our favorite Nintendo memories. I’d like to discuss a variety of memories, so I’ll try to keep these as short as my overindulgent self will allow.

Favorite Nintendo Memories: Training to Be a Yoshi Master

Well, here we are. The month of Nintendo is nearing it’s end, and all that’s left is to talk about some of our favorite Nintendo memories. I gotta tell ya, it was hard to pick one to share here today. I’ve got so many that I’ve either already talked about or just don’t make for…

YouTube Highlights, Weekly Edition #123

Up this week: Super Mario Maker 2 (Switch, 2019) – A limited series featuring small sampling of other players’ levels from this smash-hit sequel to the original Super Mario Maker Not Zangief (multiple consoles) – our occasional series that’s all about having fun with fighting games Metroid Prime (Wii, 2009) – follow the adventures of…

Favorite Nintendo Character: Yoshi

When asking the question of “what is your favorite Nintendo [insert subject]?”, a good deal of though is usually involved. After all, it’s not easy to quickly run down Nintendo’s enormous catalog of entertainment to pick out even a small handful of names, titles, or phrases. But the challenge of answering this week’s #NintendoSeptember topic…

Classic Dragon Quest is Coming to Switch!

Fans of the original set of Dragon Quest games are in luck, soon they’ll be able to enjoy all three NES titles on Switch. Dragon Quest, Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line, and Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation will be hitting the Nintendo Switch eShop on September 27.

Favorite Nintendo Characters: Link and Samus

As was the case with choosing my favorite Nintendo song, choosing my favorite Nintendo character is also a bit of an overwhelming feat. With no shortage of wonderful and charming characters at my disposal, I finally decided on two characters in particular that I would call my favorite. The first one, Link, should come as…

Favorite Nintendo Character: Link

So far this month we’ve discussed our favorite games and pieces of music produced by Nintendo, so it’s only natural that we move onto what is perhaps their most influential creations: their characters. Great games need great characters, and Nintendo has plenty of these! Mario, Samus, Donkey Kong, Zelda, Fox, Kirby, the list just goes…

YouTube Highlights, Weekly Edition #122

Up this week: Metroid Prime (Wii, 2009) – follow the adventures of Samus on the mysterious world of Tallon IV in this highly praised 3D action game Spyro Reignited Trilogy (PS4, 2018) – setting the world of 3D platformers ablaze is this collection of remasters of the original Spyro games Not Zangief (multiple titles)- our…

Favorite Nintendo Music: Super Mario World – Underground (with and without Yoshi)

There’s no denying that Nintendo has one of the most incredible catalogs of game music, quite possibly ever. So choosing a single tune to call a “favorite” was no easy task. In the end, my choice here came down to one factor: Super Mario World marks the first time I can remember being affected by…

Kingdom Hearts III Re: Mind DLC is Coming Winter 2019

The first batch of Kingdom Hearts III DLC is coming this winter, and…it’s looking fun at least. This influx of content will bring new bosses to overcome and a new form for Sora to master. There might even be a new area to explore too, but it’s difficult to tell from this trailer.

Favorite Nintendo Music: Song of Storms

When I tried to decide on my favorite Nintendo song, I came up with a long list of examples spanning various decades and countless games. There are, in fact, dozens and dozens of songs from Nintendo that I really enjoy, leading me to realize that I might need to look at things from a different…

Favorite Nintendo Music: Rundas Battle

Hey all! Our Nintendo celebration continues this week with a look back at our absolute favorites pieces of Nintendo music. With literal decades-worth of music to choose from, picking exactly one track wasn’t exactly an easy decision to make. However, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be; all it took…

YouTube Highlights, Weekly Edition #121

Up this week: Neverwinter (PS4, 2016) – an action combat MMORPG set in the Dungeons & Dragons universe that was first released on the PC in 2013 Metroid Prime (Wii, 2009) – follow the adventures of Samus on the mysterious world of Tallon IV in this highly praised 3D action game Spyro Reignited Trilogy (PS4,…

Favorite Nintendo Game: Super Metroid

In thinking about choosing my most favorite Nintendo game, I tried to come up with reasons to NOT pick Super Metroid. Super Metroid didn’t immediately affect the gaming world as much as, say, Super Mario Bros. 3. Super Metroid didn’t outdo more popular franchise titles in its release year (1994), like, say, Final Fantasy VI….

Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair Gets a Release Date!

When Yooka-Laylee was first announced on KickStarter all those years ago (like 2015 or something, I think), I was more than a little excited. I was all jazzed and ready for a proper successor to Banjo-Kazooie, and it was just a matter of waiting for the release date. I was also, like many others, quite…

Favorite Nintendo Game: Majora’s Mask

Our first topic celebrating 130 years of, quite possibly, THE greatest video game company of all time is our favorite Nintendo game. Nintendo is such an influential part in the world of gaming that I think the majority of gamers simply must have a favorite from their vast gaming library. If you’ve been following along…

Favorite Nintendo Game – Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

Hey all, autumn is finally upon us and so is that gorgeous-looking The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening remake. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m pretty excited. In fact, it’s pretty safe to say that all of us here at Virtual Bastion are pretty psyched. This new look at a classic…

Check Out the Luigi’s Mansion 3 Gamescom Presentation!

Luigi’s Mansion 3 isn’t all that far away now, but there’s still plenty we don’t know. Thankfully, Nintendo decided to show-off a bit more of the game at gamescom 2019, and not just another short trailer either. Instead, they had an entire 30 minute segment from early in the game available for attendees to view,…

A Super Mario Maker 2 Reminder

Good day, dear readers! I just wanted to remind you all that we’re currently taking requests to play your Super Mario Maker 2 levels on our Virtual Bastion YouTube channel. If you’re interested in sharing some Mario goodness with us, please limit two Course ID(s) per person and have them in our comments section by…

Who Else Is Ready For Link’s Awakening?

Remasters and remakes make up a significant portion of today’s video game releases, so many that the idea of a new one really shouldn’t be all that exciting to anyone. Yet, many of us still get excited, don’t we? All it takes is the right game, and in my case, that game is absolutely The…

Little Nightmares II is Coming Next Year!

After two years of thinking that Tarsier Studios’ Little Nightmares was going to be a one-off kind of game, it turns out that’s not the case at all. Little Nightmares II is coming soon, and it’s looking like it’ll be even more unsettling than the original.

The Joy-Con Drift Strikes Again

It’s official, the infamous Joy-Con drifting issue so prevalent in recent gaming news has taken yet another victim. My Nintendo Switch is less than a year old, with a large portion of those months not even spent using the console (I don’t have that many games on it yet). And my left Joy-Con analog stick…

Fire Emblem: Three Houses Characters Are Actually Good

As much as I enjoyed the Fire Emblem: Fates games, their characters left a little something to be desired. From what I’ve read about the previous entries in the series, this largely holds true for most Fire Emblem games. They’re quite fun to play and some of their heroes have become pretty iconic, but the…

Fracter is Coming to PC Soon

PC gamers are finally going to be able to get their hands on another intriguing indie puzzle game soon in the form of the Steam release of Fracter. This is game that’s already enjoying both critical and commercial success on the iOS and Android platforms, so it’s likely to fit quite well into the collections…

Want to See Your Super Mario Maker 2 Levels on YouTube?

Good day, everyone! I recently got a copy of Super Mario Maker 2 and have been spending many hours playing through all kinds of cool and creative stages created by fellow Mario fans all across the globe. Which got me thinking…it could be really cool to record your Mario Maker stages on our Virtual Bastion…

Fire Emblem: Three Houses is Just the Right Mix of Old and New

The Fire Emblem series was, for the longest time, a complete mystery to me. For the longest time, all I knew about it was that Marth and Roy were in it. Who were Marth and Roy? Just two annoying swordsmen characters in Super Smash Bros. Melee. That was about all the contact I had with…

Unforgettable: The Interactive Intro of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis

When I first started playing video games in earnest, words like “Atari” and “arcade” were commonplace. “Nintendo” and “Mario” soon followed, and with them came a chasm-like leap in video game technology. After spending countless hours with relatively simple (but not simplistic) games like Pole Position and Defender, I was utterly wowed by what would…

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan’s Shared Story Mode Goes Further Than Expected

Supermassive Games is really swinging for the fences with their next branching-narrative horror game: The Dark Pictures Anthology – Man of Medan. It has everything that fans of Until Dawn enjoyed, but massively expanded and with a shared story experienced deftly woven throughout. Multiplayer may sound like an odd choice for this kind of game,…

Challenge Mode: Assorted Metroid Prime 2 Baddies

The Metroid Prime games are some of the most challenging I’ve faced. The first two, in fact, had to originally be completed over the course of years as I got stuck at one boss after another. While this issue has since been eliminated due to simply growing as a gamer, it is the second game…

Fallout 76 and ESO: A Novice’s Views

It wasn’t too long after purchasing Fallout 76 that my husband and I decided to give The Elder Scrolls Online a try. After all, I had a shiny, new PlayStation Plus membership to make use of, and he had been interested in playing ESO for some time but never found the motivation to invest in…

New Super Lucky’s Tale Coming to Nintendo Switch

Classical collect-em-up fans rejoice! Super Lucky’s Tale is no longer an Xbox One exclusive! While not enough to move a system like the Xbox One, Super Lucky’s Tale is decent enough to make one’s inner Spyro-fan jump with excitement.

New Hero ‘Sigma’ Coming to Overwatch

Overwatch will be gaining another cast member soon, but this one is going to be a little different from the rest. Like the others, Sigma has his own suite of unique abilities. Unlike just about every other character though, he’s suffering from a…split of sorts.