Tough one - I don’t have a hard cutoff, but I’ve certainly started to slow down on buying retro games. I’ve spent over $200 CAD on a single game in recent memory (2022?), nowadays I wouldn’t really want to go over $100 CAD.
I’ve also been reevaluating and selling off some of my collection whenever I can buy ports / digital versions of some games (eg: Chrono Trigger, bought on Steam and sold my loose SNES cart, Xenogears bought on PS3 and sold my CIB copy, etc).
I only focus on two retro systems - SNES and PS1 - and I don’t really play on OG hardware anyways (Super Nt / Pocket for SNES, PS3 / Vita for PS1), so I don’t mind “owning” digital and ultimately downloading roms if necessary.

I guess the main question is where do you draw the line for “somewhat newer stuff”? 5th gen consoles only (and then which one) or even newer?
And what screen size are you looking for?

This is awesome. Radiant Silvergun isn’t my most played shmup to date but it’s definitely so so unique, I really enjoy it.
I certainly think romhacks/patches are a major benefit to older gen titles and I’m somewhat concerned we’ll lose that with newer gens.

I picked up quite a few games - Deathsmiles, DoDonPachi Resurrection, Mega Man X Legacy Collection, Mushihimesama, ProtoCorgi, Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds Saga, TMNT Shredder’s Revenge and Ultrakill.

I’ve only played ProtoCorgi so far and I kinda love it - I mean, you’re a corgi, barking or shooting lasers at various enemies in space, what’s not to love?
I’ve already played most of the other games before and wanted to own them on Steam, except for Ultrakill (and I’m really looking forward to that one).

Je pose ça là : https://ici.tou.tv/le-dernier-canadien-francais - c’était plutôt intéressant, d’un point de vue francophone hors Québec

Ditto. tbh after hearing Ben Starr in the first few seconds of the trailer, I was hooked, but the style and gameplay showcased definitely impressed me even more.

That’s right! It’s referenced in the video as well (and from memory Neil also mentioned it in a previous video, but I wouldn’t be able to link to it tbf)

Most handhelds tbh.
I didn’t really grow up with “traditional” (home) consoles, but I always had handhelds (and a PC).
I have trouble going back to most handheld games pre-Vita nowadays, even if I remember the PSP (and GBA to a certain extent) fondly, between the controls, smaller screen and cut versions of games vs their home console counterparts, it’s hard to go back. Emulation makes it somewhat nicer for me, but still.
And let’s not begin with GB or GG games, they have a certain charm, but I usually can’t stand them for more than 5 mins nowadays.

Shmups, I’m only a beginner but I have a few suggestions:

• ESP Ra.De. - somewhat slower bullet hell with pretty interesting scoring, the “Psi” re-release has a lot of useful QoL features.
• Espgaluda II - you could think of it as a successor to the former, it has refined gameplay and recent releases have great QoL features. Somewhat faster paced bullet hell?
• Ikaruga / Radiant Silvergun - Although these are two very different games, they have entirely different mechanisms to most other shmups. Ikaruga feels like a “puzzle” game a lot of the time, while Radiant Silvergun has some light RPG elements. Both are somewhat hard to get into imo.
• Dodonpachi Resurrection - great starting point re bullet hells, the recent re-release offers a ton of QoL features and the game itself has interesting scoring / gameplay. Soundtrack is awesome.
• Raiden IV - Super biased, but I love the soundstrack. Pretty great, if simple, game otherwise.

I have many more shmups in my backlog (Ketsui, Dodonpachi Daioujou, Battle Garegga, Rolling Gunner, etc) which I’m sure I could recommend, but seeing as I haven’t played them first hand yet… I’ll leave it there for now.

Maybe? You would need to know rooting a TV is even a possibility in the first place, I had no idea that was the case and I’ve had my LG TV for over 4 years.
I’m just pointing out some specifics of the prerequisites, which the article did a pretty bad job of highlighting imo, and how this is not the miraculous solution it’s somewhat touted to be.

Not to be a Debby Downer, but you’d either need a LG TV which is already rooted, or one you can root (per the repo’s README, “RootMyTV is unlikely to work on firmware released since mid-2022” and given firmware downgrades are impossible…).
AFAIK firmware updates are opt-out by default, so as long as you connect your LG TV to internet, you’re likely to have received one, but I could be wrong.

Vancouver, BC

Oh right, that’s what I actually understood anyways, so my answer is still the same!

If the game is cross-buy compatible with PS3 & PS4, does that mean that buying it on PS3 or 4 will make the game become downloadable on the PS Vita too?

Yes, that’s the idea.

And is the PS Vita Store still online?

It is! The only caveat is if you ever want to buy something, you’ll need PSN credit on your account (paypal / credit card payment can’t be used anymore).

Can I buy a game for PS4 physically on disc and get access to the PS Vita game through cross-buy, or does it only work with digital games?

Ish, that’s somewhat iffy. If you were to buy it new, then maybe, but since it relies on a coupon (afaik) which could be expired by now, there’s no way to be 100% sure. Used, that’s a no-go.

Plus, you can buy PS4 games on the PS store for PS5, so if I buy a PS4 that has cross-buy support with the Vita on a PS5, will cross-buy still work and give me access to the game on the PS Vita?

Absolutely, that would work.

Are you looking for cross-play / cross-buy titles? In which case, I tend to reference either of those two lists:

• List of Cross-Buy/Cross-Play/Cross-Save titles
• Cross-Buy guide

Oh yeah, I know Control was very well liked in general!
I honestly didn’t bother with any of Control’s DLCs, since I didn’t appreciate the combat at all and found the amount of backtracking obtrusive.

I finally picked up Cyberpunk 2077 after the free trial a few weeks ago and I’m having a great time!
I’m about 25hrs in and I love the openness of the world so far, it feels like a slightly jankier GTA, with interesting builds / RPG aspects, tons of distractions / side content and (so far) a compelling story.
It’s your typical CDPR polish, so it’s stable enough, but there are still issues and performance troubles (playing on Series X, PS5 is better from what I’ve seen).

If you can find it for $15 USD (disc), I’d say it’s well worth it. The Ultimate Edition is $60 USD (what I got) and Phantom Liberty is even better story-wise from what I’ve gathered.

I thought you needed to play both Alan Wake 1 and Control beforehand to get the full picture?
I didn’t particularly enjoy the latter and I’ve read that the former didn’t age so well, but AW2 is on my radar, given what’s been said about the gameplay/story.

I used to be like you OP, PC-only gamer for a long while, but as I’m getting older (and got back into gaming a few years ago), I’ve mostly been using consoles or equivalents:

• PS5 40% of the time
• Xbox Series X 20%
• Steam Deck 20%
• Switch 10%
• Super Nt / PS3 / Analogue Pocket / Miyoo Mini Plus / 3DS / Vita, remaining 10%

I’ve only quickly skimmed through, but another two:

• A Short Hike, adventure/exploration game with relaxing gameplay, I really recommend this one
• ZeroRanger, “old-school” shmup with awesome gameplay and ost, if you’re into shmups it’s almost worth getting the bundle for this one alone tbh