There was this guy trading in a stack of just shovelware Wii games and the owner gave him $3 total. Then he pulled out a copy of Rule of Rose and the owner actually gasped. Offered him $400 on the spot. I never knew that game was worth that much. Anyone else find hidden gems like that in pawn shops or retro stores?
I bought an off-brand Xbox controller off Amazon for about $60 back in November. The left thumbstick started drifting bad by February, right in the middle of a Borderlands run. I tried updating the firmware and cleaning it, but nothing fixed it. So I had to shell out another $70 for an official Microsoft one that actually works. Anyone else get burned by cheap third-party controllers and learn the hard way?
Last month I was visiting my 10 year old nephew and he beat me 3 races in a row on Mario Kart 8. He kept taking this shortcut on Rainbow Road I had no idea about, over a gap I thought was death. Turns out he learned it from a YouTube video last year. I been playing Mario Kart since the SNES days and this kid showed me something new in like 20 seconds. Anybody else get humbled by a younger player lately?
Been playing Hades on both for two weeks straight and the difference is actually huge. The Steam Deck sticks have way more resistance and my aim feels twice as precise when dodging around enemies. Meanwhile my left Joy-Con started drifting on day 3 of the same game. Has anyone else noticed the stick quality gap or am I just unlucky with my Switch?
I was deep in a Splatoon match around 10 PM Tuesday. Suddenly my character starts spinning in circles and firing randomly. My roommate's tabby, Mittens, had jumped on my controller. She walked right across the buttons. We lost the match hard. Now my roommate keeps calling her the MVP. Has anyone else's pet ever cost you a ranked game?
I was totally against motion controls for years, thought they were just a gimmick. But last month I gave the gyro aiming a real shot in Breath of the Wild during a boss fight. I was trying to hit those weak points on a Stone Talus and kept missing with sticks. After three failed attempts I flipped the gyro on and nailed it in one try. The fine tuning on the reticle just feels way more natural for precision shots. Has anyone else had that moment where a setting you ignored suddenly clicks?
He thinks PC gaming is all about bragging rights while console people actually play games. What do you all think - is there real jealousy there or just different priorities?
He literally held his hands up like he was clutching an invisible controller for 10 minutes straight to prove his point and I just stood there nodding because honestly the shape is kinda perfect for my small hands lol has anyone else ever had a stranger go full demo mode on you in public?
Last month I was dead set on getting the new RPG everyone's raving about. Saw it at $70 and hesitated. Downloaded the demo instead. 45 minutes in and I realized the combat feels clunky and the story drags. Saved myself with that trial. Now I check demos on every platform before dropping cash. You guys do the same or do you just wing it?
I was playing Metroid Dread on the bus a few weeks back and some guy in his 20s goes 'oh you still play that kiddie stuff?' Meanwhile he's glued to mobile game ads on his phone. I've been painting houses for 15 years and my crew mostly plays Switch on lunch breaks. We got guys who run Halo and guys who do Zelda runs and nobody's calling anyone else a kid. Why do people still gotta put a label on what someone plays.
I was playing Splatoon 3 and kept getting wrecked in ranked matches because my aim was all over the place. After like 3 weeks of frustration, I bumped the sensitivity down by 10 points and turned off the Y-axis inversion without even thinking about it. Suddenly my flick shots started landing and I climbed from B- to A rank in one session. Has anyone else had a random settings tweak just click like that for them?
Watched a dev talk about how the random boon combos actually create unique stories each run, and now I'm 40 hours deep on Switch, so has anyone else had a single video flip their opinion on an entire genre?
Bought a copy of Super Mario Sunshine from a local seller on OfferUp last week, listed as 'tested and working'. Got it home, popped it into my GameCube, and it freezes on the first cutscene every time. The disc is scratched to hell, and the guy blocked me when I messaged him. Anyone else get burned by a game that looked fine in the photos?
For years I avoided games with cross-platform play. Figured PC players with mouse and keyboard would just wreck console folks like me. Then I tried Fortnite with my buddy on Xbox while I'm on PlayStation last summer. Lost the first round badly but honestly? The skill difference wasn't that huge. Matchmaking seemed pretty fair. Now I'm actually looking for cross-platform games on purpose. Anyone else change their mind after giving it a real shot?
My brother left his Switch in his truck last July during a heat wave here in Phoenix. By the time he got back from work, the screen was warped and the right Joy-Con had literally separated from the rail. I told him to try leaving it in the fridge for 20 minutes just to see if it would snap back, but nope, totally dead. Has anyone else accidentally cooked a console in the car or am I the only one who learned this the hard way?
Tried running Elden Ring through remote play on my Switch Lite last night and the input lag was brutal compared to just playing it natively on my PS5, has anyone else had better luck with a different streaming setup?
I was all set up for a late night session of Hades on my Switch, but the left Joy-Con just wouldn't connect no matter what I did. After tearing my couch apart looking for a phantom Bluetooth signal, I realized I had accidentally grabbed the wrong controller from my drawer - it was my old Xbox One pad. Has anyone else mixed up their controllers in the dark and felt like a total goof?
I was riding this trail near Boulder last month and this older guy on a hardtail catches up to me at a rest stop. He asks why I'm grinding my gears so bad and I told him that's just how it sounds when you climb. He laughs and says I've been using the front derailleur backwards the whole time. Turns out I was cross-chaining like crazy and wearing down the cassette for no reason. I thought the little lever on the left was for going up hills and the big one on the right was for speed. He showed me the proper combo on the spot and my bike actually felt 10 pounds lighter. Has anyone else had some random trail stranger fix a dumb mistake you made for years?
I kept getting stuck in Zelda Ocarina of Time on the water temple. Looked up guides but they spoiled too much. So I tried using the sheikah stone hints in game instead of going online. Actually worked way better for me. Anyone else find hidden mechanics that help more than walkthroughs?
I just thought you had to run away from every guardian until I saw him do it on accident last Tuesday, and now I'm mad at myself for all the wasted ancient parts - anyone else have a basic mechanic they missed for way too long?
I was looking up repair guides for my old Xbox that stopped reading discs, and stumbled on a forum post about the debug menu. You can get to it by holding some button combo on boot and it shows CPU temp, fan speed, and even lets you test the DVD drive manually. Been using Xbox since 2002 and had NO idea this existed all this time. Has anyone else found a secret menu on their console that blew their mind?
Found my old Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate save on a Wii U that's been in my closet since 2016. Wanted to move it to my Switch. Nintendo's transfer tool for that is discontinued, so I bought a third-party adapter off eBay for $60. It corrupted the data on the first try, and I spent two hours redoing it with a different USB port before it finally took. The save was for 200 hours of hunting that I'll probably never touch again anyway. Anyone else ever fork over cash for a janky accessory just to move old game files around?
At PAX East last March, some guy in the handheld freeplay room saw me struggling with sweaty hands during a Tetris run. He pulled out a strip of cheap grip tape from his bag and showed me how to cut it to fit the back of my Switch Lite. Now I never slip during intense sessions, and my hands stay dry. Anyone else tried controller mods from strangers at conventions?