Yello's Gaming History

Earliest gaming memories (2000 - 2007)

Luckily, I got exposed to games during my earliest formative years. My older cousin would always come over to my house and have me try his games. The first two consoles I ever touched were the GameCube and SNES. He had a TON of games for each system, so it's hard for me to remember all of them. But the games I remember playing were Super Mario World, TMNT IV, Super Mario Kart, Jungle Book, X-Men, and Super Castlevania IV for the SNES, and Melee, Double Dash, and Mario Party 4 for the GameCube.

The two consoles that DID stay at my house was my sister's GBA SP and original Nintendo DS, which solidified my dedication to all things Nintendo. My sister was a massive Pokémon fan well before I was. Much like 99.99% of all kids in the 90's, she had all the hallmarks of Pokémania. Trading cards, plushies, books, pens, and yes, even video games. I was still a small toddler, so I had no idea what the concept of Pokémon was, I just know I was consuming a LOT of it. Her earliest games before I started played were Pokémon Ruby and Emerald.

My first ever consoles (2007 - 2013)

The GBA's short run

I was probably around 7 when I had my first consoles. The timeline is a little fuzzy, but the first console that I fully owned was a blue GBA SP and the first home console we had was the Wii. Since my sister already had her own SP, we shared a lot of the same games. Yes, the majority of them were licensed kids games like Camp Lazlo, The Lion King, and Cars, but I never treated them any less because as a kid, all games were worth playing if I knew how to play.

The only notable GBA games I remember playing back then was, of course, my sister's copies of Pokémon Ruby and Emerald, and a bootleg copy of Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3. God, that game was way too hard for a little kid like me. Though, somehow I remember making it all the way to World 6 without running. When my sister allowed me to restart her Emerald save file, I did the tried and true method of overleveling my starter Mudkip all the way to level 100, which I still have to this day. Past that, we stopped getting any more GBA games, which is a shame.

The Wii wonders

I was a little too young to comprehend the Wii craze. I just remember one day, our family randomly secured one with the Wii Sports pack-in around 2007 and you already know the magic that entailed. Yes, I was very impressed by the motion controls, especially as a kid. Can you blame me? Our earliest Wii games were Mario Kart Wii and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which is when I first got into the weeds of games; constantly replaying stages, exploring every feature, and even trying to complete as much as I could.

When Just Dance first released in 2009, it came at the perfect time. It was a fitness game packaged as a party game. Combine that with popular music and intuitive controls, this easily slotted into any family gatherings I attended. Thankfully this was before I grew self-conscious in my later years, so I got to spend weeks memorizing and perfecting each routine like it was my job. As silly as it sounds, the Just Dance franchise gave me the confidence to practice and excel at a video game I loved. I'm not a professional dancer, but this series combined with my K-Pop days definitely solidified my fascination with dance.

I did get my fair share of Wii shovelware like Six Flags Fun Park and EA Sports Active, but for the most part, I fully enjoyed a lot of the Wii games I received, many were sequels to first party titles I played on my cousin's GameCube. This remains my favorite console of all time because of the countless memories I shared with the people around me.

The DS days

Around this time, I also received a blue DS Lite, which mainly became a Pokémon machine, with a side of Mario Kart DS and Mario Party DS. I remember bringing my DS Lite EVERYWHERE on car trips, family gatherings, weddings, etc. I was constantly using DS Download Play with my sister or even other kids. I'm surprised that hinge lasted as long as it did.

Nintendo-obsessed (2013 - 2018)

The 3DS portal

During the DS and Wii days, I was blissfully unaware of the general gaming landscape. There were no gaming websites I flocked to, no gaming shows I tuned in, not even any gaming magazines I subscribed to. My only sources for new releases were traditional commercials and advertisements, as well as the Nintendo Channel on my Wii. Yes, this was before Nintendo had an official YouTube channel. But as I got older and became more comfortable with consuming content on the Internet, I began to immerse myself into more of the Nintendo ecosystem, which began when I bought an original 3DS in 2013 with my own money.

Mario Kart 7 was an obvious first choice for me and that was the only 3DS game I played for MONTHS. When I was a preteen, I legitimately thought that the 3DS as so cool and futuristic. Built-in apps like StreetPass and Face Raiders felt so charming and kept my brain occupied as I familiarized myself with this shiny new system. I dug into every feature this bloated device had to offer and I loved it.

I reallllllly wanted a Wii U

Since it was mid 2013, I already knew the Wii U was out, thanks to the trailers from the Wii's Nintendo Channel, but I still didn't have it yet. But because I was so unplugged from the gaming landscape, that meant I was also unaware of the collective disappointment surrounding the system. No one I knew I had it, but gaming was never a source of peer pressure for me, so I purely wanted the console cuz it was the next new thing from Nintendo.

Once I discovered Nintendo's YouTube channel, that's when I was officially plugged in. And I'd say the catalyst was E3 2013. Thanks to the Digital Event all being uploaded to YouTube, I got to see reveal trailers for Mario Kart 8 and Smash 4, both graphically stunning at the time. From that point forward, I knew to always keep an eye out on Nintendo's YouTube to get the latest announcements.

It wasn't until May 2014 that I finally convinced my family to get the Wii U (with my own money again), conveniently around the release of the new Mario Kart 8 bundle. To this day, it remains the one and only special edition bundle I'd ever get for a console. And I'm so glad my patience was rewarded because I was even MORE obsessed with Mario Kart 8 than 7. I'm talking about hours and hours of online matches just because.

If I was any older, I probably would've succumbed to public opinion, but I was at the perfect age that any new product from Nintendo was beyond magical. Staring at the menu, messing with settings, exploring every weird feature; all of that added up to a very joyful time, even if the system itself wasn't very appealing to the public.

Virtual Console deep dive

Thanks to the eShop, I began to browse other games and franchises I had yet to try. I was fully convinced that any game published by Nintendo was worth trying. I dabbled with the Wii's Virtual Console, but I didn't appreciate it at the time because I did not have the proper controllers. Please do not play Super Mario Kart with a GameCube controller.

The first retro game I tried out on my Wii U was Super Mario World. I know, trying that game at 14 is crazy, but hey, better late than never, right? I was having a ton of fun until I was hit with that old-school difficulty jump near the end of the game. I didn't grow up with many platformers, so you can imagine the constant struggle I faced. It was very humbling and eye-opening how much I needed to broaden my scope, even with Mario games.

EarthBound was a Virtual Console game I took a chance on that truly changed my life. The only RPG I ever played was Pokémon, but I always heard about the endless praises across the Internet. And boy, was I glad I did. The quirkiness, the charm, the ambience; everything just molded together to create an impossibly immersive and emotional experience for a SNES game. I was truly blown away from start to finish that I would continue to replay the game more than 4 times at this point. A masterpiece.

New franchises, new experiences

Animal Crossing: New Leaf was another successful dive into a new franchise. I never understood any of the AC references whenever I played Smash, so when I stumbled upon New Leaf as a Club Nintendo reward in 2015, let's just say it became one of those games I always snuck in past my bedtime. I did not understand the power of real-time events and daily incentives until this title. I was usually very slow with beating games, but Animal Crossing FORCED me to slow down and take my time, which was SO addicting. Yes, I even felt a connection with my very first set of villagers. A very cozy game before the genre took over many years later.

Splatoon was a brand new franchise that I got into relatively late into its initial hype. The second Global Testfire came around during the summer of 2016, so I decided to give it a try, thanks to the recommendation of some high school friends. I've never played any competitive team game before, so you can imagine how overwhelming it was. Even though I was flailing around, it was so...exhilarating? And since then, I became a life-long fan of this energetic new series.

Not all new ventures were as successful, though, In my journey to try new Nintendo franchises, Zelda was next on the menu. Obviously, I knew what the Zelda franchise was, but I never grew up with any of the games. When I redeemed my Club Nintendo reward from my Mario Kart 8 bundle, I selected Wii Party U over Wind Waker HD, which was...a choice. But fear not, thanks to a high school classmate, I borrowed his copy of the original Wind Waker on the GameCube because I heard it was a good entry level game for the series. I was having a lot of fun at first...until I got to some of dungeons.

So...a little confession. I'm pretty convinced that I grew up with easy games: Pokémon, Mario Party, Mario Kart. Notice how I didn't mention Donkey Kong, Ninja Gaiden, or Mega Man. I'm glad I played the accessible games I did, but they never challenged me in ways like problem solving, reaction time, or motor skills. Zelda dungeons were a rude awakening of a skill I failed to develop as a child: puzzle solving. Whenever I got stuck in a dungeon, there's quite literally only one solution, or else I would not progress. And for some reason, that limitation frustrated me to no end. I was too stubborn to look up a guide, so I would keep running around and by the time I stumbled onto a solution, I would be so upset at how stupid the solution was that I just wanted the dungeon to be over already. Rinse and repeat, and I basically just wanted the game to be over cuz the endless roadblocks I struggled to overcome bogged down the experience for me.

And it wasn't just Wind Waker, I tried Oracle of Seasons right after to give the 2D games a try and the same thing happened: I stumbled around so much to a point where most solutions never felt satisfying because I felt dumb wasting so much time. Something about the traditional Zelda formula never quite clicks with me to this day.

The official Pokémon obsession

My Pokémon obsession continued with Pokémon X in early 2014, which was actually the second 3DS game I ever got, meaning that for nearly a year, I was stuck with only Mario Kart 7. I don't know how I survived that long. But yes, the leap to 3D was very exciting for Pokémon fans, including me. I didn't even care that much about the story, I was just so happy to sink my teeth into a brand new entry with fancier graphics and snappier gameplay. I was still hesitant to connect with people online, but I do remember spending hours doing Wonder Trade. Yes, it was kinda like a slot machine....oops.

As I got into afterschool activities and mingled with students outside of classes, I began to socialize more using games, including Pokémon. Casual battles and contests with my sister were fun and all, but the real fun began when I got to trade rare version exclusives and lose horribly in sweaty battles with my peers. At last, I understood the social aspect of Pokémon, especially during Gen 6.

Thanks to the global phenomenon that was Pokémon GO in 2016, the franchise experienced a revival from the general public and even in my own life. I began looking back at past games I never got to experience. Even during the GO craze, old Pokémon games were relatively affordable to get secondhand. So I got my hands on Crystal, FireRed, and even three Gen 5 games I was missing and started exploring new regions with new teams, which were all memorable in their own way.

As this personal Pokémarathon commenced throughout 2016, Sun and Moon were also on the horizon. And that was the first and last time I was genuinely hyped for a new generation. The aesthetics, the new forms, characters, they were all so exciting. So even though I socialized a LOT more in Gen 6, Gen 7 holds a special place in my heart when I was in the thick of being a pure Nintendo fanboy.

I was a Smash addict

Speaking of Smash, Smash 4 was such an important game in my life, but not in the way that you'd expect. I was and still am not a competitive player, especially in fighting games. But the way this game infected my entire life is still unmatched to this day. The hype was off the charts, my addiction to online matches was concerning, and the amount of people I got to played with because of this game was magical. I basically lived and breathed Smash 4 (yes, both the 3DS AND Wii U versions) for 2 straight years which truly solidified me as a bona fide Nintendo fan.

The Switch-FOMO era

Unfortunately, being a Nintendo fanboy doesn't come cheap. Eventually, the packed 3DS and Wii U days had to end at some point. Just like everyone else, I was chomping at the bit for any news about this mysterious NX system. Yes, I did watch plenty of NX speculation and rumor videos back in the day. I'm not proud of engaging in the clownery, but my god it was exciting.

So when that fateful Switch reveal arrived on YouTube in late 2016, I could not be more hyped. The problem was...I was a broke teenager that had no plan to save up for this eventual next console. Somehow I didn't have the foresight save up beforehand, so I was just hoping to have the money by then??? Yeah, that was not happening this time around.

For the first time, I felt bad that I couldn't get the next Nintendo console at launch. It didn't help that I watched my classmates enjoy their shiny new Switches in high school, as I hung onto my creaking OG 3DS. But thankfully, one new game kept me distracted from the FOMO for a while: Breath of the Wild.

Remember how I was having issues with the traditional Zelda games? Watching those BOTW teasers and gameplay videos shut me up real quick. I knew I had to get my hands on it. I was one of 5 people who only bought the Wii U version at launch and thank GOD because I would've missed out hard. I've never immersed myself in a video game so much until BOTW. All of the sudden, the Zelda franchise finally clicked for me. The sense of freedom and curiosity was so magical that I legitimately could not put the game down. I was glued to BOTW for a good few months with my 2-hour-battery GamePad.

But even genre-defining games like BOTW eventually could not erase the fact that I was missing out on Nintendo's renaissance. I failed to save up for the Switch and I didn't really have a plan to buy it later. The year was 2018 and let's just say a lot of bad things happened in my life. I was stressing about my first year of college, struggling to make new friends, and felt like an outcast, among other life events. Yeah, it was a dark time for me and all I could really do was find solace in my dinky 3DS and Majora's Mask 3D to fill that Zelda itch from BOTW.

I felt like I was drifting away from a hobby I absolutely adored because in my mind, I failed to keep up in other aspects in my life. So I didn't think I deserved a new console at the time. But even in the lowest of lows, gaming always found its way back into my life in the form of a surprise Christmas gift at the end of a dark year for me. And what gift was it? A brand new Nintendo Switch along with Mario Odyssey from my sister. It remains the most meaningful gifts I've ever gotten. I cherish it to this day.

The renaissance (2018 - 2025)

Switch-ful memories

I have to tip my hat to the Nintendo Switch for opening the floodgates for me. It restored my love of new games, connected me with so many new people, and broadened my horizons with older titles and new IP's.

Starting with single player games, this was a Mario machine. As mentioned before, Super Mario Odyssey came with my brand new system, so I fully sunk my teeth into this expansive 3D Mario. My zooming brain loved the constant dopamine hits of those hundreds of power moons. I also revisited the flawless remakes of Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario TTYD, which deepened my appreciation for them. Especially TTYD, my god. Super Mario Bros. Wonder was also a very pleasant bookend to the full Mario Switch experience, a fever dream of 2D platforming perfection with basically no flaws in my eyes. And I usually suck at platforming.

I have mixed feelings of basically licensing retro games with my Nintendo Switch Online subscription, but I can't lie about how convenient it is to access a bunch of classic titles I would've hesitated to buy otherwise. Playing games like Banjo Kazooie, Super Mario Bros. 3, and Yoshi's Island forced me to keep failing to get better in the face of challenging level design. Hopefully I fought off the brain rot for now...

Kirby had a TON of love on the Switch, including a brand new 3D adventure in Forgotten Land, which I'm pretty sure cemented this franchise as one of the big boys. I dabbled with a few Kirby games in the past like Super Star and Return to Dream Land, but Forgotten Land made everything click for me. I default to simpler games, but I never found Kirby to be that engaging until this game. Now Kirby turned into a comfort franchise I can play when I'm feeling down or anxious or overwhelming. Sometimes, brain-off games can be so beneficial.

The online friendship experience

Smash Ultimate, Splatoon 2 and 3, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Mario Maker 2, New Horizons, TOTK, Zelda games alongside friend, didn't play much Mar Par in comparison

My Smash 4 addiction simply did not hold a candle to Smash Ultimate. It's one of the few games I logged over 1000 hours into, and most of it was constantly playing random online matches. I actually got this game not too long after I initially got the console and Mario Odyssey, which might have been a major mistake for my future productivity.

My new obsession for Splatoon carried over to the Switch tenfold. Since I didn't have a Switch at launch, I finally got Splatoon 2 in 2019, 2 years later. Unfortunately, I missed all of the initial Splatfests except the final one (which my team lost). But that didn't stop my growing addiction from forming. And thanks to COVID, I formed a squad with some online buddies of mine and we'd play ranked battles almost every night. So much chaos, so many close calls, so much fun.

I took a break from all things Splatoon until the release of Splatoon 3 in 2022, which I finally got on release day. I was beyond hyped. Everything I did in 2 just ballooned in playtime, to the point where it was all I played for months on end. And yes, it also became another 1000-hour game. Sorry, I don't know what moderation is.

Back in the 2015 Wii U days, I was the most hyped for Mario Maker for most of the year until it finally came out in September. I remember spending hours creating my subpar but passionate levels, feeding on my inherent need to create. Sadly, I never completed the full 32-level adventure like I envisioned cuz I was 15 with no level design experience. But once Mario Maker 2 came out 4 years later, I knew it was my destiny to finish what I started. So I proceeded to...drop the editor and just play random multiplayer levels online. I don't know, something about completing a difficult level together hooked me much more than the few levels I did manage to make, which were admittedly much better than my Mario Maker 1 levels.

Just like the other 60 million Switch players, I also played my fair share of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. However, since I played the Wii U version SO much already, I didn't get around to the game until the height of COVID summer, when my sister got it for me as an impromptu birthday gift. I was definitely not as ecstatic to play through all the courses again, but it would be weird NOT to own this Switch game eventually. I have to give it credit for being an easy choice to play with streamer friends, or at get-togethers and general gaming events. Luckily, I was still early enough to experience the Booster Course buffet. In this case, more is always better, even with a few bland dishes.

Speaking of COVID, talk about a more timely game than New Horizons. Just like the rest of the world, I got swept up in the hype and desperately hung onto this game for any sense of peace during a global paradigm shift. I was there when the first teaser dropped during E3 2019. And I was also there when I was frantically moving out of my dorm due to lockdown protocol, but I still had to wait another week for this paradise of a game to release. Unlike the New Leaf days, I shared this cozy experience with so many more friends and strangers, and I couldn't have been more grateful.

I hope I never have to wait as long as I did for Tears of the Kingdom because that was such an excruciating wait. But I'd argue it was all worth it because this time I could finally experience Zelda on the Switch, like I always wanted. And unlike BOTW, the launch was extra special because I played the entire adventure alongside a couple of online friends. Transforming a single player game into a bonding experience reminded me of the unique social connection that any video game can bring. It uh, just happened to be with a highly-acclaimed and popular title.

Notice the lack of Mario Party during this era. And it wasn't because I stopped buying them. In fact, I have all 3 titles on my Switch, with Superstars as my personal favorite. I wouldn't call any of them bad, but by the time I got Jamboree in 2024, I barely touched it past the first few days of playing. I was officially Mario Partied out, which sucks as a former Mario Party fanatic. But it's not all bad, that just meant I had so many other amazing games to choose from. And these chaotically fun games will always be there when I need them.

Trying new games

Thanks to the Switch's diverse library, I expanded my horizons to new franchises and genres. Starting with a guilty pleasure of mine, Super Kirby Clash. Yes, it's a free-to-play game with microtransactions. But it was simply too fun. The gameplay loop of beating bosses over and over, collecting rewards, and upgrading gear was so addicting in 2019. I was the Doctor role, by the way. I grinded that game every day for good few months.

I discovered my love for Paper Mario during the dark period between Sticker Star and Origami King by playing the highly-acclaimed first two entries. So just like the rest of the fanbase, I craved for the grand return to the original reactionary turn-based formula. So thanks to the recommendation of online mutuals, I gave the spiritual successor Bug Fables a chance, and let's just say I was completely blown away. The surprisingly deep story and characters, interesting gameplay, and SO many secrets to uncover. This game was thoroughly engaging from start to finish and I recommend it to anyone who loves Paper Mario.

Back in my childhood, I vaguely remember playing TMNT IV on my cousin's SNES. As I grew up, I always heard older folks praise the TMNT beat-em-ups. So when I heard that a new installment called Shredder's Revenge came out in 2022, I decided to give it another go with a local friend online. I'm not gonna say that I fell in love with beat-em-ups after that, but I remembered how fun mindless action can feel, especially with other people. Another core memory I have is playing this game in a hotel room with my online friend group, who flew out to meet me IRL for the first time at PAX East 2024. Such fond memories.

I never thought that I would ever enjoy Xenoblade because of how niche it looked. But at the same time, I always heard about how the original Xenoblade Chronicles was considered one of the best games of all time. Plus a couple of online friends of mine were huge fans of the franchise who really wanted me to try it. So as a curveball, I requested the Switch edition from Walmart as a Christmas present from my relatives. And wow...I'm so glad I took a chance, given that it's completely outside of my wheelhouse. Hands down, the story is easily the best part. It's literally a multi-hour movie that's dramatic, silly, heavy, and epic all at once. And the main cast easily stole the show; their chemistry was off the charts. The actual gameplay loop was definitely the type of niche I was worried about, but I eventually got over the hump and got to enjoy such a legendary title.

The Pokémon rebirth

After playing Pokémon White 2 in 2018, I took a relatively long break from the franchise, especially during the early Switch days. I was not immune to the constant controversy that plagued the games ever since they transitioned to an HD console. And I gotta admit, I listened to the chatter. I thought I was done with Pokémon like many fans on the Internet.

It wasn't until 2020 when I was given a copy of Pokémon Yellow in the mail from a Discord friend that my wheels started turning. Contrary to most fans, I never played Gen 1. I felt too young to appreciate it, but when I gave it a shot, it felt oddly quaint. Even with all of the features stripped, I still had fun with the classic Pokémon formula. I wouldn't recommend it to a newcomer today, but I finally understood the magic of the original generation.

I knew I was fully back in the Pokémon frenzy when I began acquiring the other version exclusive games. I started with the 3DS games while they're still affordable. Then it was the original Game Boy games, trying to snag them for $40 for less. And...yes, I bit the bullet and bought a cartridge of HeartGold for $100 on eBay because Pokémon fans have been ravenous. But unlike most collectors, I plan to actually play through all of them with unique teams. And since I could finally get myself some version exclusives, I started a challenge where I make a full living dex in every generation, which will definitely be a multiple-year endeavor.

After 6 years, I FINALLY tried my first Pokémon Switch game with Legends Arceus. Most fans claimed this game as THE one to get out of all of them, so this seemed like a safe entry point. The controls were a little clunky and it genuinely took effort to gather resources, but I did enjoy the formula switch-up.

After a local friend sold me his copy of Scarlet, I decided to give this infamously unpolished entry a try. And wow, the Internet wasn't kidding with how unoptimized this game was on the original Switch. But despite that, I was genuinely enjoying this game in way I can't justify. The story was actually interesting, the exploration was fun enough for me, and collecting items through pickups and raids was so addicting. I would never excuse the poor performance of a product like this, but sometimes it's fine to enjoy the mess anyway.

Eventually I tried the other Pokémon Switch games like Shield, Brilliant Diamond, and Let's Go Pikachu, all with varying degrees of quality, but somehow I found fun in each of them. Call it low standards, but I realized how much comfort the Pokémon franchise still gave me. But that didn't mean I blindingly loved every Pokémon game I played. I went back and played through Colosseum and XD: Gale of Darkness and I can confidently say that I do not understand the nostalgia. The stories were forgettable, the gameplay was repetitive, and the mandatory grinding was mind-numbing. So, not all Pokémon games are worth playing.

Just Dance encore

In 2023, I finally went to my first gaming convention: PAX East. It was two full days of gaming madness, chaos, and paradise, including a fiasco involving Just Dance. One of the events I wanted to participate in was a Just Dance 2019 tournament. Long story short, I couldn't enter the tournament because I didn't "check in" properly. I've never been so livid in my life because I KNEW I would dominate. So after coming home from PAX, a friend conveniently gave me a free XBOX 360 with a Kinect, which was my sign to get my own copy of Just Dance 2019 and memorize every dance routine in preparation for the next tournament.

So I spent the next several months grinding that party game like my life depended on it. But out of that spite blossomed a new appreciation for the Just Dance series, which I hadn't touched in years. I remembered how much attention went into a lot of songs with their choreography and backgrounds. Going back to the nostalgic Just Dance titles I growing up playing made me fall in love with them all over again.

This prompted me to buy Just Dance 2022 out of curiosity and I was blown away by how far the series has come. My new motivation is learning all of the extreme choreography throughout the franchise, which is proving to be challenging, yet so rewarding. Even though most gamers don't respect Just Dance in the same way as other IP's, I can't help but thank this series for adding some lighthearted fun in my life, even into my adulthood.

Crossroads (2025 - Now)

Much like the rest of the world, I was anticipating the release of the Switch 2. Even though I had plenty of Switch 1 games to play, I prepared a decent budget beforehand, so I wouldn't be left out of the hype this time around. So when the Switch 2 was finally unveiled at the beginning of 2025, it felt like a gigantic release of anticipation. Except...that $450 was a tough sell for everyone, including me. The online discourse surrounding the pricing was monumental and unprecedented.

For the first time, I was unsure about whether or not I even wanted a Switch 2. I technically missed the hype again with the Switch 2, but this time out of hesitation. Exposing myself to the perspective of both the fanboys and critics created an intense conflict in my head that I didn't know what to believe anymore.

However, after a TON of pestering my friends and family about this turmoil....I ultimately caved and got a Switch 2 for my birthday in late June 2025. Luckily, I didn't have to fight tooth and nail at my local retailers. I bought the console directly from Nintendo's website thanks to opting into their lottery system. So I'd like to think it was meant to be. So while I still don't agree with a lot of Nintendo's decisions lately, I knew I was gonna get the system anyway.

I did get the Switch 2 with Mario Kart World included, but I honestly played it the least because of the exhausting scrutiny surrounding it. I did play other people's copies in get-togethers, but I'm still putting it in the back burner until I feel the urge to play Mario Kart again. I've mainly been using my Switch 2 to complete many of my Switch 1 games, which has honestly been a lot more fun than I expected. Plus the extra performance has been nice.

And that brings us to now. I'm still very much a Nintendo fan today, but I'm a lot more conscious about what games I should spend my time with. So, we'll see what Nintendo's future will bring for me.