Thank your own personal, all-knowing entity—possibly Mira the Dog—it’s Friday! I’m going to wrap up our week together with a bunch of cheapies I’ve seen on “olden year” sports titles, reduced LEGO, and more. In case I don’t see you (in some random online lobby) over the weekend, stay safe, save often, and catch you Monday!

In retro news, I’m doing a 27-barrel-roll salute for the birthday of Lylat Wars, the first N64 game to rock our world/mitts with a Rumble Pak. My introduction to this 3D rail shooter is seared into my brain. Our eyes met at a demo kiosk in Sydney’s domestic terminal as Lionel Richie’s Hello played over the PA system. 20 mins later, my parents had to chokehold me off it, lest we miss our flight. There was so much to love when I bought it later, like replay-tastic branching levels (with a True Ending), a stellar Independence Day dogfight, and striving for 150-kill medal quotas. LW also had criminally underloved 4P multi, too.

This Day in Gaming 🎂

Aussie birthdays for notable games and hardware

– Lylat Wars (N64) 1997. Get

– Onimusha 2 (PS2) 2002.

– Silent Hill 2 (XB) 2002. Redux

– The Godfather: The Game (X360,PSP) 2006.

– Super Smash Bros. (3DS) 2014. Sequel

– Party Golf (PS4) 2016. Get