- Nintendo 64: Looking back on 2024, the real highlight for me were some old games I picked up for the first time. I bought an "Everdrive 64 x5" flash cart for my Nintendo 64, hooked the system up to my dad's 1989-vintage 27" Sony Trinitron CRT television, and enjoyed titles like "Turok", "Doom 64", "Diddy Kong Racing", and especially "International Superstar Soccer 64" which is probably the best arcade-style football game ever made.
- PSVR2: 2024 was the year of PSVR2 for me, and I played a number of maybe not great, but at least memorable games for it such as "Kayak VR: Mirage", "C-Smash VRS", "Arcade Paradise VR", and "Ancient Dungeon VR". The best thing I played on it was "Horizon Call of the Mountain", in spite of its woke character designs. I really should emphasize buying more games for this thing: they tend to stick out a lot more to me-- har, har-- than "flat screen" modern-day releases.
- Collector's Items: I had never played the original "Phantasy Star" before-- so I bought the incredible Switch version, and made a new friend during the process of buying an equally-incredible hint guide from him. I also went in on a modded GBA, which is something I've always wanted to add to my collection.
- Game Development: I taught myself game development in HaxeFlixel, and started working on my very first release in it. There will be a lot more to come in that area, but over December of 2024 I got the whole title screen and menu systems fully-implemented, on top of the full CI/CD pipeline I'd created the prior December.
- Modern Games: It's surprising how few conventional, modern titles I actually played in 2024! These days I'm more compelled to spend my time within the hobby in other areas. Some I did play included "Palworld" and "Flight Simulator 2024", both on PC, along with "Madden NFL 25" on the PlayStation 5, and "Super Mario Bros. Wonder" on Switch. Probably the most interesting "modern" games I played were remakes of old titles, such as "Quake 2", "Killing Time: Resurrected", and the remastered original "Baldur's Gate".
Outside of gaming, 2024 was the year when my daughter landed her first-ever job; it was the year when I was elected to my Area Catholic Community's Pastoral Council; it was the year my wife became Catholic; it was the year where I had big breakthroughs in terms of my nervousness to participate in the liturgy as lector and sacristan. Unfortunately, my living situation remains just as nerve-wracking to me as ever-- hopefully 2025 will provide some kind of resolution on that front.
In terms of 2025, it will be the year of the much-belated "Switch 2", so I expect that platform to mostly dominate things for me. And as for life itself, who knows! Hopefully it will be a prosperous year where I can be consistently close to the Lord, something I struggle with at times.