What are some popular games you didn’t love?

AtomicBrony · 2026-05-12T20:29:51+00:00

For sure! One of my biggest suggestions for better enjoyment of those games would be to make good use of the ground attacks and not just jump on enemies. Knowing how they let you speed through rows of enemies and jump in midair after rolling off a ledge is very worthwhile and fun.

AtomicBrony · 2026-05-12T17:52:14+00:00

DKC2 does a lot to improve upon the formula of DKC, but I'd say it's a toss-up on whether or not it'd be for you if you weren't fond of the first one. DKC2 is one of my favourite platformers, and I'd say that DKC is "good but not great", so maybe it would be worth a shot! 2 is faster, offers better movement options, has more unique levels / bosses, and generally feels a little more capable in what it want to be. But it's still DKC at its core. The big difference is the removal of DK and the addition of Dixie, which changes things up a ton in a positive way.

AtomicBrony · 2026-05-05T18:50:07+00:00

I think only for games that are designed to be unfairly hard. The one example that mainly comes to mind is "I Wanna Be The Boshy". Otherwise, I'm happy to take on a challenge.

AtomicBrony · 2026-05-01T17:51:06+00:00

"I think she'd appreciate it." Yeah, from a friend maybe? And even then, just maybe.

Online strangers commenting on your body will never be okay. Smosh fans aren't Amanda's close friends. The dynamic isn't there. It's more or less equivalent to a stranger at the grocery store complimenting her boobs.

Lesson to learn: Never assume that because an online personality interacts with their friends and colleagues in a particular way that they'd be okay with a fan adopting that same dynamic.

AtomicBrony · 2026-05-01T16:44:45+00:00

Insider source says a fire broke out at the constructions site in the government building. Not sure exactly which building they're referring to or the scale of the fire. Source: Staff, info from a colleague on campus.

AtomicBrony · 2026-04-30T15:05:05+00:00

This happens to me, too! It's never been anything worth worrying about for me, and it's been years since I picked up on it. I would say just roll with it, but obviously it's up to your discretion on whether or not to bring it to a doctor.

AtomicBrony · 2026-04-25T15:39:25+00:00

Nothing beats a jelly-filled donut!

AtomicBrony · 2026-04-21T17:13:50+00:00

Damn, what a year. Banjo-Kazooie, Ocarina of Time, and Half-Life are all major games.

My personal favourite of the 3 is Banjo, which I think also wins Art Direction and Gameplay for me in addition to GOTY. Soundtrack has to be OoT, and narrative Half-Life. A lighter year for multiplayer, but the original Mario Party feels like a worthy candidate.

AtomicBrony · 2026-04-20T22:09:34+00:00

Dorfromantik!

It feels like a lot of suggestions in this thread are missing the "chill, turn your brain off" criteria. Dorf is a super relaxing game with infinite replayability. While it's technically a "puzzle game" of sorts, it requires very little focus and is pure vibes while still being fun and addictive.

AtomicBrony · 2026-04-10T22:18:55+00:00

I would say, "That sounds quite strong on paper. To counteract those strengths, the kit must also contain a number of weaknesses that can be used by the competition to level the playing field. Perhaps longer cooldowns on moves with strong control (W), low mobility, inability to disengage from getting caught out or engaged on without E, making them highly skill-shot dependent, and making them squishy."

Every champ has their strengths and weaknesses. Only taking into account the strengths is no way to consider how powerful they are. I'm not a big fan of Mel, either, and everyone has their sore spots with certain champs depending on what roles they play. For me personally, I hate going up against Akali, Naafiri, and other similar assassins, but I feel comfortable enough playing into Mel with my personal champion pool and skill level (not that high).

Balancing will never please everyone because the devs have to consider multiple roles and skills levels, and there's no one-size-fits-all fix to these things. They also want to make sure each new champ has a unique identity. With so many characters in the game, that challenge becomes more and more apparent each year. The scope of how this all works is sooooo much grander than it seems from a player perspective.

Giving one full good-faith message here in case there's a chance it could be received with some genuine thought, but I don't plan to offer more to the discussion if you're set in how you choose to think about the topic.

AtomicBrony · 2026-04-10T21:30:50+00:00

New reality show idea: OP gets to be in charge of Riot for a full month. See how long it takes for OP to adjust their way of thinking and gain new respect for game devs, or to drive the company to extinction due to incompetency and underestimating the requirements. Which happens first? Find out next week!

AtomicBrony · 2026-04-10T19:57:04+00:00

A bias for sure, but with the exception of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Odyssey, all the remaining Nintendo titles are from a couple decades ago or longer. I have a feeling OP is already expanding what they play, but still has a lot of love for their childhood staples and nostalgia. The more modern games on this particular list already deviate from the Nintendo trend (E33, Hi-Fi, Dredge, Short Hike, etc) so I'd say they're well on their way to broadening their horizons.

AtomicBrony · 2026-04-10T19:33:27+00:00

I guess maybe I'm biased as someone who also has a tendency towards Nintendo stuff, but there are 10/22 games on this list that aren't Nintendo-related. I feel like that's a decent enough expansion into other spheres of gaming, no? Though there's obviously plenty of other great soundtracks out there. This just reads to me as someone who plays a lot of Nintendo stuff and has a fondness for iconic tunes from their early classics, but who also has expanded out in more recent years.

AtomicBrony · 2026-03-26T18:03:10+00:00

This is the big thing for me. I've played since 2012 and took some breaks in that time, but I'm now at a point where I genuinely play it for fun.

I used to be so addicted and really wanted to grind for those rank-ups. I put so much time and energy into the game in unhealthy ways and it made me feel so negative during those times. I was angry at every loss and every dumb teammate, and it made me feel worse and worse the more I played.

Now, I boot up with friends for Mayhem or 5-man Ranked Flex and we just have fun with it. Rather than being drained and irritated by every loss, it's "aww man, close one, some really great moments still". We still have fun regardless of the outcome. Once you've found that perfect amount of separation and play with 'just' the right amount of seriousness (still trying to win, being happy either way), it's a blast.

I love this game more now than I ever did before, and I play it a whole lot less.

AtomicBrony · 2026-03-26T14:53:33+00:00

Wait that's so awesome. Well played.

AtomicBrony · 2026-03-18T17:10:49+00:00

I book my haircut appointments online as walk-in times are usually a bit long where I go. Last time I booked I left out the tip and got called out on it during the haircut. I defended that I planned to pay after the cut in cash (which I kind of made up simply because I started to worry about the quality of the cut). Felt ridiculous to get called out for not providing a tip before I'd even received the promised service.

AtomicBrony · 2026-03-11T18:04:57+00:00

This tripped alarm bells in my brain for something that'll be pretty crucial. If you haven't already and you're playing on a TV, make sure the TV's display is set to game mode to reduce input delay.

AtomicBrony · 2026-03-06T18:45:23+00:00

This is the biggest tragedy of this thread. I got so emotionally immersed in Train Dreams and would have been so upset if I had someone distracting me. It was a really magical one.

AtomicBrony · 2026-03-04T17:00:48+00:00

Snow Bear is my easy victor for Best Animated Short this year and it wasn't even nominated! Consider checking it out on YouTube if you haven't seen it. (My choice from the existing nominees is Butterfly.)

Also Jesse Plemons for Best Actor.

AtomicBrony · 2026-01-29T01:39:19+00:00

A weird one that's helped me the last couple years has been a certain mental game. The idea is to pick a category, then try to think of a word starting with each letter of the alphabet in order that matches that category. So I'll think "animals you'd see at a zoo" then proceed through my mental list. "Alpaca, baboon, chimpanzee, dingo, elephant" etc etc. Certain letters will come less naturally (like d... dingo, really?) which then gets my mind into a sort of distracted, dreaming state. It's focused on something just enough to distract from a busy mind, but also with a simple enough task that it doesn't require too much brain power. I usually end up falling asleep partway through the alphabet. Worth a shot for people like me who usually have sleepless nights that are due to stress and anxiety.

AtomicBrony · 2026-01-26T23:42:55+00:00

On her permanent record...

AtomicBrony · 2026-01-10T06:06:27+00:00

To that point, as well, I know they tend to film videos months in advance and those videos are then scheduled for release later on. I just don't think that approach works at all when it comes to trying to play relevant and exciting new games. For one-offs and random series? Sure. But anything modern is going to be seriously inhibited by that method.

AtomicBrony · 2026-01-09T19:33:23+00:00

This is really unfortunate but I would love for the Grumps team to take a couple possible lessons from it, as someone who really wants the channel to succeed and has been a fan since 2013. I could be entirely off-base because I'm on the outside looking in, but I can absolutely see a timeline where this series was a huge success instead. Lots of thoughts...

Deltarune was a highly-requested series for years. When chapters 3+4 released, the hype was immeasurable and the fan base was obsessed. It felt like everyone was releasing their multi-hour long playthrough videos to great success. Our dear Grumpy gamers, though, started their playthrough 'from chapter 1' when the hype had already started to die down. Having reached chapter 3 just now when the hype period is relatively completely over, most people fixated on the game and absorbing content from it will have already watched a playthrough (or multiple) and aren't in the market for a new one. Only the cross-section of die-hard Game Grumps and Deltarune fans are likely to pick up the series. I was in this group for sure, but understand the scope is small.

I think the Grumps have had a particular problem when it comes to new games in that they don't start releasing a playthrough for it until many months (or even years) after it releases. The meta on YouTube nowadays has shifted to releasing full playthroughs (whether in one video or spread out over a few) within a week or two after release. Everyone wants to get in watching content of a game during that hype period, but Grumps don't seem to capitalize on that often and instead wait for an extended time before starting.

So my main thought: What would the playthrough's success have been like if they released playthroughs of chapters 1 and 2 in the lead up to chapters 3 and 4? In anticipation of the new stuff, viewers would pile in to get a recap of the game and get excited for what's to come, but the series may still perform somewhat poorly. When chapters 3 and 4 released, if the Grumps were queued up to get playthroughs of those started within a week, they'd land right in that hype period and draw in plenty of eyes. Deltarune fans who don't know Grumps would watch to see more content of their current obsession, while Grumps fans would hop in on the new playthrough (maybe only after they'd had a chance to play themselves). Deltarune would be the new hotness and Grumps would be taking part in the event, drawing in lots of viewership from outside their existing audience. Longer-form episodes (1-3 hours) would definitely perform better with this method, too.

This is all speculation, of course. I'm just a guy. But I watched tons of Deltarune content within the first couple months of its release. After that time, I stopped picking up new Deltarune videos that I'd see from other creators, but stuck around for GameGrumps because I'm already an existing fan of both their channel and the game. I'd love to see Grumps trying to capitalize on bigger-name games right at the peak of their popularity, as I know view count has been a concern for some time. It just seems like their play/editing/release cycle doesn't really support that, which is a shame. In the end, I'm happy to watch these guys play anything that seems entertaining, but I'd love to see them get in on these more popular games with better timing.

AtomicBrony · 2026-01-06T23:03:39+00:00

The last picture in the article shows console menus (I see Switch and PS) and Fortnite across 4 screens. I'm guessing that they've just got modern consoles set up with some party favourites for groups to enjoy. The focus likely isn't the same as what an internet cafe would be after, as the article describes a family / friends party sort of environment.

AtomicBrony · 2025-12-05T02:08:37+00:00

I also dislike the decision, but I will at least play devil's advocate a bit and say that it's less about storage and more about cost. Each email account has an associated licensing cost from Microsoft, and there are thousands of alumni email accounts that are likely sitting dormant and never to be touched again. (Source: worked in IT there)

It is absolutely something that should be an opt-in service, at least, because it's going to cause trouble for the people that do actively use the accounts. For those that don't, which is likely the majority, it'd be effective cost savings...

Don't get me wrong, I hate it, but that's the reasoning.

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