So, playing through Assassin’s Creed: Mirage has not yet inspired me to dive full-heartedly into the terrifying morass of games I have built up over the years, but it did at least get me to look at my shelf of red-spined Switch cases and pull something down.

For me, playing an October 2023 release in May of ’25 is practically like playing it on release date.   I actually have a little more shame than usual that it’s taken me this long to get around to it, because I not only bought it on day one, I bought it on day one IN JAPAN because, gosh darn it, I wanted to buy a major video game release on its launch date there at least once in my life.  Bic Camera even threw in a clear file and some stickers as a bonus.

It didn’t hurt that the exchange rate meant that it was, like, $42 instead of $60.  Or is it $70 now?  I don’t know what Switch games cost.

I’m not super far into the game, but it’s definitely hitting all the right notes.  It’s super colorful, cheerful to a fault, and finally fixed the one thing I most dislike about Mario games:

You can save the game whenever you want.  You don’t need to play a certain number of levels to earn a save, or get to a Toad house that lets you save once, or any other nonsense.  Open menu, press save, done.

Sadly, it still has a “lives” system, which is a pet peeve of mine.  I am in my 50s, I do not have particularly impressive reflexes, I was never very good at platforming games even when I was considerably younger, and I go through a LOT of lives once the difficulty goes up a little bit.  Most of the time, when I get into a Mario game, there’s a point where I have to go back to an easy level with a few one-ups or a lot of coins and just grind the heck out of it.

SMB: Wonder isn’t there yet!  It’s actually been pretty mellow so far, and I’ve managed to accumulate a nice stash of lives.  I’m only on the second world, though.  Hopefully I find that super easy 1up grinding level before things heat up too much.

Rant aside, I’m having a blast in general.  I’m even finding myself playing levels two or more times so I can see them in “regular” mode in addition to the absolute madness that starts once you pick up a Wonder flower thing.

So, definitely a good one to pull off the shelf.   The only real problem is the number of games still up there that have never even been booted once.  I’ll get to them.  Eventually.  Probably before I buy the next system and put even MORE red spines on the shelf.

Wait, what color are Switch 2 boxes?  If they’re like blue, or something, that’s going to be weird.