While we here at Operation Rainfall love covering the latest in gaming news and sharing our reviews of titles new and classic, we also just enjoy playing games in our downtime. So with that, sit back, relax, and check out what the oprainfall gaming crew have been up to this week!

Super Mario Bros. 3

This week, I didn’t get to play too much, but I did complete World 3 and some of 4. I should have mentioned last week; I’m playing through this by completing every stage without the use of warping or P Wings. My hopes with this playthrough are to appreciate every stage’s design, secrets, and challenge, and to gain a renewed awe for a game that provided so much fun in my childhood.

Before the ability to save, I usually skipped World 3 to get to later ones faster, but when I did play it, I thought using this boat was the coolest thing

I continue to be pretty terrible at it, though. My rusted skills don’t seem to be improving, most likely due to my inability to commit serious time to the game. Or I’m just getting older. Nonetheless, I’m enjoying all of the pleasant reminders of why I loved this game so much. That nostalgia factor is just one reason why I also love retro gaming in general.

I can still appreciate the different worlds and the creativity that went into their designs

A slight tangent now, earlier this week I was casually looking at my collection of Game Boy games and something came over me. I was remembering when I had gotten several of the games I was looking at and realized that I would never get to experience the feeling of purchasing or receiving a new Game Boy cartridge ever again. Yes I know, this isn’t quite a unique feeling, as systems have come and gone, but the Game Boy’s lifespan was quite long and was a large part of my young gaming life. It was a moment of…sadness? Loss? Longing, I think is the best way to describe it, though I did feel hints of those other feelings, too. It was strange, knowing I would never again get to look forward to the release of a new, physical Game Boy game. Nor opening the box, popping open the plastic case, or, as I often did, read the instruction booklet.

Just another indication that I’m getting older and time goes on. – Drew D.

This week in gaming I split my time between a couple of interesting titles. The first was YS 1 & 2 Chronicles. I’d never played a version of this despite playing other entries in the series, so I thought I’d give it a go. The bump mechanic is a little strange at first but it does work well overall. The game isn’t overly difficult, though there was one boss battle that gave me fits for a few minutes til I figured out exactly how to handle him. I’m just about to wrap-up the first game here, and I look forward to getting back to this later in the week.

The other game I’ve been into, Custom Mech Wars from D3 Publisher. I decided to take this one on for review cause I love mechs and EDF, so I figured this would be a mix of the two. It sorta is, but I think the mission structure could be a bit a better. I do love the almost infinite amount of ways you can customize your mechs, and the gameplay is pretty decent so far. I’ll hopefully have a full review of this one next week. -Steve

River City Rival Showdown

It’s not a secret that I have a huge soft spot for Kunio and Kunio-related games, so when the River City Rival Showdown remaster was announced for the Switch, naturally, I was interested and I picked up a copy. I loved the original version on the 3DS and I am happy to report that the game still plays well on the Switch. This game is just a real vibe with a very simple yet addicting gameplay loop. You have three days to explore town, complete quests and level up your character by beating up other gang members and delinquents. The sprites look more crisp than on the 3DS and the relatively lowpoly look works for the game giving it a rather distinct style compared to other modern beat em ups. What I forgot was just how much lore and worldbuilding is buried in this game. Just about every NPC has something to say and a lot of it further fleshes out the characters and the setting they’re in. It can be a lot to take in especially on a first playthrough, as you are trying to keep track of who is who. Still, the game lends itself quite nicely to replays as you likely won’t find or experience every event in one playthrough. There are even multiple endings based on your decisions throughout your journey. It’s a rather unique title overall and I was happy to revisit it. I’ll probably stream this one of these days. – Justin

It’s been a couple weeks since I’ve added to one of these. Honestly, I’m somewhat back in one of my gaming slumps, or at least I had been most of these last few weeks, but I’ve been playing little bits here and there. A week or two ago, I was playing various Tetris games I have on Switch simply to pass a little time when I wasn’t sure what else I felt like. And of course I’ve still been keeping up with mahjong on my phone. I actually just got a great achievement the other day in Riichi City. I got their The Path to God achievement after coming in 1st and/or 2nd place for ten 4-player matches in a row. I was one win away from the next ranked room after that, but I had two losses and now I’m not quite there yet. In addition to this, most recently I’ve been trying to get back into Atelier Ryza 2. I’ve been playing Ryza 2 on and off for the last few years. I’m not sure why I can’t seem to ever finish it, but I’m enjoying playing it again. However, I’ve realized that all of my current character sidequests, which show up in the main story tab, are quite a bit further ahead than the actual main story. A couple of these sidequests require me to craft certain things through alchemy which require materials I’m not even far enough in the story to gather yet. Ultimately, I’m not super sucked into anything right now, but I’ve been cutting back enough on games during this latest slump, I should be playing a little bit more now. I’ve enjoyed getting back into Ryza 2 again. – Jenae

What games have you been playing this week? Let us know in the comments!

You can read previous Week in Gaming entries here!