Hello and welcome back to the second entry in my Byte-Sized Blog Play Logs series!

This week saw the release of Splatoon Raiders, the franchise's first ever spin-off title, exclusively for Nintendo Switch 2. Unfortunately, due to shipping delays, I didn't get my copy until Saturday morning, so I had to find ways to keep myself entertained in the interim.

I also came down with an awful cold this week, starting as a simple sore throat, but eventually manifesting into congestion and an all around gross feeling that lasted throughout the weekend and is still lingering some as I write this. But hey, at least there's the bright side of having an excuse to rest and play the new Nintendo game all weekend, right? Life's full of silver linings if you look for them.

Regardless, without further ado, I present to you this week's play data chart below:

• Ordered by first play of the week.
• All Switch/Switch 2 play data on my console is sourced from the Nintendo Store mobile app.
• All 3DS play data sourced from the 3DS Activity Log application.
• All Wii U play data sourced from the Wii U Daily Log application.
• Play data marked with a * is estimated.

As you can probably tell, the early week was dominated by not one, not two, but THREE Rhythm Heaven games, the series being my latest hyperfixation since Groove released. Then I got sick and played a bunch of Mario Kart World one evening while waiting to get my hands on Splatoon Raiders, which took me through the rest of the weekend.

But that's simply a surface level reading of my experiences this week. Read on for a more detailed glimpse into how I spent my gaming time this past week.

Metroid Samus Returns (3DS)

• Played on Monday and Saturday for a total of 2 hrs 40 mins

Monday was a scary day for my decade old New Nintendo 3DS XL. We were on the plane home from our vacation when I pulled the system out to continue Samus Returns, only to find the R button felt weird to press. It's hard to describe exactly how it felt, but it seemed to require more effort to click than before. I still worked, but right away I began to worry that something was wrong.

I put the system away as the plane began to land, but I couldn't shake it from my mind, so I kept pulling it out to ensure the R button was still working until, eventually, my worst fear was realized: it stopped responding entirely. No matter how many times I tried to press it, it wouldn't click. And this is a pretty big problem for Metroid, as I need that button to use missiles.

The entire time we were getting off the plane, collecting our bags, and retrieving our car, the only thing on my mind was what I was going to do about it. Would I have to bust out my brother's old 2DS, the only other reliably functioning 3DS system remaining in my house, to finish Samus Returns? Would I have to go buy a refurbished 3DS to replace mine that was finally failing on me after 10 years of service?

Thankfully, on the drive home, I was able to solve the problem by blowing really hard into the crevices surrounding the R button. Eventually, whatever was causing the button to become unresponsive was alleviated, and the R button worked again, though it still feels... "mushier(?)" than the L button (don't know if that's the right word, but it's the best way I can think to describe it).

So, yeah, all around a scary moment for my handheld. I still want to get a refurbished 3DS at some point, as my current one is certainly showing its age (the red paint is literally coming off in my hands at this point), but I'm relieved my hand hasn't been forced just yet.

Okay, let's actually talk about Metroid now.

I was hoping to finish the game up this week, and while I did get closer, I didn't quite get there. I'm very clearly in the end game though. Currently, I'm in Area 7, having just cleared out the three Metroids in the area, leaving just a single Metroid to destroy on the entirety of SR-388. So, I believe I'm very close to finishing the game.

On Monday, though, most of my playtime was spent on a single boss encounter in Area 6, the giant drill-bot that chased you earlier in the game in Area 4 (the same sequence that I believe was used as a challenge in the 2017 NWC, anyone else remember that?). While the game has certainly not been a cakewalk to this point, this boss was definitely the most challenging part of the game so far, really giving off similar vibes to the difficulty of Dread's bosses.

Really, the hardest part was just figuring out what to do in each phase, as I didn't find it immediately obvious how to progress each phase of the fight. This could absolutely be annoying at times, but it also made it that much more satisfying when everything finally clicked. Though, even once I understood the whole fight, it was far from a walk in the park. I still had to ensure I was focused, dodging attacks and minimizing damage, while taking advantage of any opportunities to replenish resources without getting greedy and ending up in a deeper hole.

Ultimately, while this fight took me a ton of tries, it was incredibly satisfying to finally overcome. While I can understand why it can be offputting, I personally love the sheer difficulty of MercurySteam's Metroid game, as I feel the boss fights really push me to master Samus's movement and abilities instead of allowing me to skirt by using brute force. When I first played Dread at its launch, it stood out to me as a refreshingly challenging game, and the same sentiment applies to Samus Returns.

Again, I haven't finished the game yet, so I can't rule out the possibility of an end-game boss absolutely shredding through that sentiment, but for now, I love how Samus Returns isn't afraid to be unforgiving, throwing you into the fire with no guidance and telling you to just, figure it out. It's incredibly refreshing, just as Dread was.

I finished Monday by reaching Area 7, where I'd pick back up on Saturday evening while taking a break from Raiders. This was when I cleared out the 3 Metroids in the area I was in and reduced the Metroid counter to just 1. I don't know how much game is left, but I know I have to be near the end at this point.

Hopefully next week I'll be able to report on having finished the game and entered post-game completion mode, but knowing me, it's very possible I end up putting it off for a bit and before I know it it's been months since I played the game. This happens all the time to me, so, I suppose we'll just have to see.

Rhythm Heaven Groove (NS on NS2)

• Played on Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri, and Sat for an approx. total of ~ 4 hrs

Rhythm Heaven Megamix (3DS)

• Played on Mon, Tues, and Wed for a total of 1 hr 48 mins

I'm just gonna lump these two together, as I don't have much to say on them individually.

In the lead up to Splatoon Raiders's release, I played a lot, and I mean a LOT, of Rhythm Heaven, spreading time across three different entries in the series. Heck, on Tuesday in particular, I practically chained them into each other, playing nearly three hours of Fever, then switching to Groove for an hour, and finally playing Megamix for 40 minutes while lying in bed before going to sleep. That's nearly 5 straight hours of Rhythm Heaven across three games spanning three different platforms.

I'll have more to say on Fever below, as I played it for the first time last week, and spent the most time on it out of the three, but I still spent a good chunk of time on the other two.

I'll start with Megamix as I have less to say about it overall. This was my nightcap game early in the week, the one I would play in the last hour or so of my day before going to sleep while lying in bed. During that time, I've simply continued to progress through the story, currently being at the point where I'm starting to see sequel games.

And yeah, Megamix does have a story, and honestly, it's probably my least favorite attribute of the game. It's a pretty nothing story overall that really only serves to contextualize what you're doing in the game, but it does so by forcing me to click through dialogue after every rhythm game, which I frankly find more annoying than anything. I can appreciate the effort that was put into the story, but I think I'd just prefer jumping immediately into the next game after finishing one. That could just be a me thing, I dunno. I'm still greatly enjoying the game though, that's just more of a minor annoyance.

As for Groove, there's really not much to say on it as I'm basically continuing in my attempts to get 'Amazing/Superb' ratings on every solo game. I'm in the high 60's at this point, leaving just over 10 to go, but I'm reaching a point where I'm REALLY struggling to perform well in the remaining games. Sometime soon I'll just need to buckle down and put my nose to the grindstone to get them done.

Other than that, I started diving more into the multiplayer, albeit by myself. I do this by using a pair of split Joy-Con 2, mapping the action button to the trigger of each controller. This makes for a fairly comfortable play experience and works especially well for the Co-Op games. It's a decent way of allowing myself to experience a mode that would otherwise be largely inaccessible to me, as I don't really have anyone to play it with.

Rhythm Heaven Fever (Wii U VC)

• Played on Tuesday and Thursday for a total of 6 hrs 10 mins

Because apparently I haven't played enough Rhythm Heaven lately, on Tuesday evening I decided to dust off the old Wii U and try out Rhythm Heaven Fever, which, much like Megamix, I had made sure to grab off the eShop before it shut down a few years ago.

And, wow, almost right away I could tell why this game is so highly regarded amongst Rhythm Heaven fans. Dare I say it may even be the best one.

I don't know what it is about Fever that made it stand above Groove and Megamix for me, but there's just something about its selection of rhythm games that I simply found absolutely intoxicating to play in the best way. Perhaps it's the way the Wii Remote gives you much larger buttons than a 3DS or Switch controller that are more satisfying to press. Maybe it's how some of these games are incredibly involved, giving you 3 or 4 different things to take into account.

I think the big thing for me is how genuinely challenging Fever is compared to the later games. In Megamix and Groove, I don't recall ever having to retry a stage because I didn't perform well enough. In Fever, I have had to retry numerous stages, some multiple times before doing well enough to proceed! While it can certainly be frustrating, I really appreciate the challenge, much like with Samus Returns.

That's not to say Fever doesn't have its stinkers, with one game in particular, Love Rap, standing out as probably my least favorite rhythm game in the entire series so far. The timings just feel completely unintuitive to me, and it took me a good handful of tries to get past. Not a fan.

Currently, I'm kinda taking a break from Rhythm Heaven games, as with how much of the series I've been playing lately, I am starting to get a bit fatigued. Splatoon Raiders came at just the right time, giving me something new to play just as that fatigue set in. I'll definitely return to these games at some point soon. I still gotta actually finish Fever and Megamix, and there's still a lot left to do in Groove. So, I'm not done with Rhythm Heaven, just taking a bit of a break for the moment.

Mario Kart World (NS2)

• Played on Thursday and Friday for an approx. total of ~6 hrs 45 mins

And here we have the sick day games! You can tell I was sick because of just how incredibly long these play sessions were. I rarely get to play for that long in a single day nowadays.

Anyways, I was hoping my copy of Raiders would arrive on Friday, but unfortunately, it got caught up in shipping delays, so I had to find other ways to entertain myself while I waited. I didn't really choose to play Mario Kart World for 6 hours that day, it honestly just kinda happened.

See, ever since World's soundtrack arrived on Nintendo Music, I've been making a bunch of playlists that divide its music up in different ways. One of these methods was separating the Free Roam music by time of day, with one for daytime music and one for nighttime music. That's what I spent the 30 minutes on Thursday doing. On Friday, I booted the game with the intent of continuing this, and then just... kinda got sucked in.

I ended up spending pretty much the entire afternoon and evening in the game, doing a couple mirror Grand Prixs at one point, but primarily driving around in Free Roam. It wasn't aimless driving, however, as I had a mission. With help from the guides assembled by the folks over at Nintendo Life (that site being a primary inspiration for this very blog), I was determined to track down the game's remaining collectables, starting with the P Switch Missions.

I've sunk a ton of time into Free Roam, but it's reached a point where I'm really struggling to find anything I don't already have, as the game has no way of cluing you in on where to look, a major frustration I have with the game. At the time I started on this task, I had found and completed 386 of the game's 394 P Switch missions, leaving only 8 remaining to be found. But with how vast MKW's map is, it was pretty much impossible to determine where to start looking.

That's why I surfed the internet looking for guides and maps that wouldn't be a headache to follow. Eventually, I found Nintendo Life's guide, which featured maps of each biome with the collectable locations displayed. Cross referencing these maps with my in-game map (which was somewhat painstaking, but not as bad as it could have been if I was going down a list of mission names or something), I identified the 8 remaining switches one by one, driving to the location of each one upon identification and completing its mission. And let me say, some of the P Switch locations made me feel like an idiot for not finding them myself. Some were understandable, like one that was atop a tower in Wario Shipyard, while others were just kinda out in the open in areas I just, must never have driven through previously.

By the end of the day, though, I did manage to locate and complete all 8 of the remaining missions, bringing my count to the final total of 394 and closing the book on World's P Switches... for now, at least (we're gonna get more in a DLC right???)

Afterwards I moved on to the Peach Medallions. I don't exactly remember where I was when I started, but I believe I had somewhere between 160 and 170 of the 200 medallions on the map, leaving about 30-40 to go, a significant amount more than the P Switches. As a result, I had an easier time tracking down which ones I didn't have yet. But the thing with Peach Medallions is, sometimes locating them is only half the challenge. Sometimes, you really have to think about how to reach them. There was one in particular at the top of a crane off to the right of the Pipe Highway passing to the north of Toad's Factory that gave me a fit. I thought I had to wait for a train to pass by on the rails between the highway and the crane, then use the boost ramp on the front of the train to reach the rail on the crane that took you to the medallion.

So, I spent, like, 30 minutes trying to get this set up, and eventually, it was all falling into place. I had a Feather and was waiting on the train as it moved towards the crane. And when I made my move... I went too early and undershot it.

Oof.

Yeah I was pretty disheartened after that and ended up just scrolling down in the Nintendo Life guide to see how they did it, and immediately felt like an idiot. Literally all you need to do is go off one of those glider ramp trucks and fly to the crane. It was that simple, and here I was spending way too long trying and failing at a method that, while I'm sure it COULD work, seems far too complicated to be the intended solution. So yeah, I was kicking myself over this one for overcomplicating what ended up being a pretty simple solution, as I tend to do occasionally.

Regardless though, huge shoutout to Nintendo Life for putting these guides together! I highly recommend checking 'em out!

• All P Switch Locations
• All Peach Medallion Locations

Tangent aside, I ended the day with 170 Peach Medallions, leaving 30 more to go. Still a significant sum. I do plan on returning to the game to collect those last few, however, though it likely won't be for a bit as I'm currently focused on Splatoon Raiders (which I'll get to in just a sec!).

I'm not sure what it was, but there was something about this play session that just felt warm, cozy, and nostalgic. It felt as if it harkened back to the old days of my youth when all I had to worry about was playing games, sitting on the couch for hours on end with a guide in hand as I scoured the game for every last secret. Sometimes, in this current phase of life, having an afternoon like that every now and then (even if it meant being horribly sick) I feel is an important reminder of the simple joys of life that make all the hard stuff worth it.

Splatoon Raiders (NS2, New Release)

• Played on Saturday and Sunday for an approx. total of ~10 hrs 15 mins

And here it is, the main event of the week!

While I didn't get to start on it until Saturday due to shipping delays, I, like many of you I'm sure, spent a lot of time over the weekend playing Splatoon Raiders and greatly enjoyed my time with the game!

I've said this before, but I've always loved the Splatoon single player campaigns, going all the way back to the original 2015 Wii U game. That campaign may have been simple and primitive, but it offered a fun diversion from the core multiplayer, laid the groundwork for future campaigns, gave our first hints at the franchise's surprisingly dark deeper lore, and ended with an incredibly memorable final boss that introduced the world to the masterpiece that is Calamari Inkantation. Unlike some single player modes in multiplayer games, Splatoon's story mode felt far from an after thought, something that would be carried forwards into all future entries.

The single player campaigns would continue to evolve until Splatoon 3's Return of the Mammalians campaign pretty much perfected the core formula up to that point. So they started experimenting with other genres, doing a rogue-like for 3's DLC campaign, Side Order. However, I always felt Side Order wasn't as fleshed out as it could've been.

Fast forward to today, and we have Splatoon Raiders, the first stand alone single player adventure in the Splatoon series, this time taking cues from the looter shooter genre.

The gameplay loop is all about collecting loot, including weapons and materials. Those materials can be used to upgrade various things, including your home base, your character's stats, your weapons, and your sub-weapons, called gadgets in this game. By performing these upgrades, you gradually get stronger and stronger, allowing you to take on tougher raids as you progress through the game.

It's an incredibly satisfying and addictive gameplay loop that's bolstered by surprisingly in-depth systems that allow for a lot of freedom in how you build your character and loadout. After every raid, I always look forward to hitting up the gear menu and the various facilities in the hub to see exactly what I can tweak, upgrade, or improve before my next raid.

Staying true to my Splatfest alliance from a few weeks ago, I've been rocking the Speed Tank for the vast majority of the game so far, and the gadgets and abilities I've unlocked throughout the game have really delivered on the promise of building my loadout and style around speed. I've also dabbled in the Tactics Tank, which offers up a set of gadgets that make you have to think about how best to utilize them, and are really fun to use.

I could go on and on about my experiences in the game so far, but I'll sum it all up by saying I'm having a great time with Raiders! The one thing I'd point out is that it can feel kinda repetitive at times, though I'd say there's enough variety in stage types to prevent this from becoming a major issue. I do wish there was a little bit more of that variety however, as it does eventually reach a point where a lot of stage types kinda blend together.

By the end of the weekend, I had just unlocked the second boss encounter in the game. I have no idea how far I am in the game relative to its length, but I feel I've made pretty significant progress in just 10 hours of play time across two days. Story-wise, nothing jaw-dropping has happened yet, but it certainly feels like the game is building towards some major lore reveals, and I can't wait to see where it's going.

If there was one thing that I'm not caring for so far, though, it'd be the soundtrack, which is disappointing because the music is one of my favorite parts of the Splatoon series. It's not bad, there's some good music in here, specifically the music that plays on the map screen and in the hub. But in the main stages, most of the music is focused on sounding offputting and creating an uneasy atmosphere, much like the Salmon Run music from prior titles. It fits the Salmonids, the main threat of Raiders, quite well, but in-game, it ends up sounding less like background music, and more like background noise. Maybe that's what they were going for? If so, they did a good job, but so far, this is a soundtrack where I can't see myself rushing to YouTube to listen to it once I finish the game. Hopefully the late game music will come in clutch and elevate this soundtrack.

To sum things up, Splatoon Raiders has been a great time so far, and I can't wait to keep playing and uncover the remaining secrets of the Spirhalite Islands. I intend to write my review as soon as I'm able, but don't expect it too soon. I still have the Rhythm Heaven Groove review on my backlog before I even get to this one.

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Whew, that was a long one. Despite having less overall games on the chart than last week, I just had more to say on each one. If you made it all the way here, thanks for reading all the way to the end! I greatly enjoy sharing my silly experiences in these funny Nintendo games each week, even if so far, it's taken far longer to do than I anticipated, creating walls of text that laugh in the face of the word "Byte-Sized". Can you see why I phased the whole 'short-term content' idea out? I just can't keep it brief when it comes to the things I'm passionate about.

Looking ahead to next week, there's no releases that I'm picking up in the week ahead, so I imagine the play log for next week will consist of a lot of Splatoon Raiders and very little else. Perhaps more Metroid if I get around to it, but Raiders will be my primary focus for the foreseeable future. So, next week, expect updated thoughts on Splatoon Raiders, and whatever else I manage to squeeze into the limited gaming time I have.

Until then, happy gaming!