ANEsdk2
Most of these thoughts are echoed in the final video I just posted today, but as far as DK hacks go, this one was pretty reasonable? Nothing in it was horrendously terrible outside of Gusty Glade, although the levels that were harder tended to be worse, generally speaking. The big innovation that I would love to proliferate is the "half-level" concept where the levels that were the most bullshit and the most demanding were also only half as long, with a second, harder section for if you actually care about the DK coins and/or bonuses. I don't know what other DK hacks are out there so we might be quiet for a bit but we'll figure something out soon.
Aspire: Ina's Tale
And from the "well it was $2 off the eShop" rack, we have Ina. It's...well, it's a mostly competent cinematic platformer that owes a whole lot of debt to Gris. It uses "spirits" for puzzles that mostly amount to "you can make this platform move" or "you can turn this light on to burn 'darkness' webs blocking your way." I liked the story for having actual dialogue in comparison to a lot of these kinds of game, and the art and music are both pretty good (the art especially), but as a whole...yeah, it was on sale for $2 for a reason.
Case of the Golden Idol: The Spider of Lanka
A neat set of add-on cases that loosely explains how exactly Sebastian and co got their hands on the Golden Idol. It's...fine? It's more Golden Idol, and I'm not gonna complain about that, but it's only three cases and only the second one anywhere close to being as complex and interesting as the late-gane cases.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed
It's very funny that Future Redeemed is the big fanservice crossover that everyone expected Xeno3 proper to be, even to the extend of pulling in the Deep Xenosaga Lore™. The actual game itself is fine, if maybe a little short? But if the alternative is the community requirements from Torna then I'm happy to settle for 15 hours instead of 40. Honestly, the funniest thing about the whole experience was Rex doing so much damage that he consistently out-aggro'd both of the tanks and had to die for anyone else to get targeted.
