Weekend Gaming Playlist (2-17-23)
It’s the middle of February 2023, and I am excited to play GBA games! A couple weeks ago Nintendo finally decided to add GB/GBC/GBA to the NSO service and I’m ecstatic. There are a bunch of games announced or already on the service that I didn’t get around to playing originally for various reasons. Either way, here is what I am playing this weekend.
Harvestella

I have put 30 hours into Harvestella so far and just completed chapter 4. I am pleasantly surprised by how much I am enjoying this game. I was skeptical about this game as I was not looking for a farm-sim experience. So far, farming has been a necessity but also a minimal part of the experience. The game is more of an action RPG with heavy time management. I find myself getting my farming duties out of the way between 6-9am and cooking any meals I can then adventuring out into the world to complete quests and tasks to progress the story and increase my relationships with some of the NPCs.
Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga

I am glad Nintendo finally decided to give us a good Mario RPG on Switch. Sadly, this isn’t Super Mario RPG on the SNES app, but this is one I never got around to as a kid and have only heard great things about it. The Paper Mario game we got a couple years ago was OK, but it wasn’t the return to Thousand Year Door we were hoping for. When GBA said it was available now, I instantly downloaded the GBA app and fired up Superstar Saga. I have played the first couple hours of the game and am really enjoying it. It’s sad what has happened to this IP and Alphadream – I’d love to see a new entry in this vein, but until then I am enjoying this one so far.
The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap

Like with Superstar Saga and in general with Nintendo handhelds, growing up we had a limited number of games so we chose home consoles and prioritized those games over handheld releases. Either way, I am glad to finally see Minish Cap return to a modern platform. I have a 2DS, but wasn’t part of the ambassador program so I didn’t get access to those games on 2DS/3DS. I don’t fully understand why Nintendo never offered a way for us to purchase them though. It’s a new Zelda game and while I am very early on, I am enjoying it so far. It’s helping pass the time as we didn’t get a Zelda release last year and Tears of the Kingdom is still several months away.
That’s it for me this weekend! What are you going to play? Let us know in the comments below, or over on Twitter. Enjoy your time playing, stay safe, and be well!