STACK #221 March 2023

THIS MONTH at

GAMING FEATURE

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STACK’s ROVING REPORTER

What’s your all-time favourite game series?

BEST SELLERS at

The Legend of Zelda, more specifically Ocarina of Time on the Nintendo 64. A close second would be the Assassins Creed series, since AC2 was probably the best story game I’ve ever played since Zelda.

NICKVASCONEZ @ JB Hi-Fi Hurstville Home, NSW

FEBRUARY 2023

1 HOGWARTS LEGACY

What’s the best thing about working in games at JB?

What have you been playing lately?

2 MARIO KART 8 DELUXE

Getting to experience all the different kinds of gamers across all consoles. And being able to discuss the pros and cons of different gaming items that people love to use, which helps my own personal gaming experience as well as helping others for theirs.

Apex Legends , Dota 2 , and Halo on PC, Crysis Trilogy , Skyrim , and Warzone on PS, and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon , Diamond , and Unite on Switch.

3 NINTENDO SWITCH SPORTS

You can only have one games console from any era – what would it be and why?

4 THE LAST OF US: PART I

What’s your earliest video gaming memory?

5 DEAD SPACE

Nintendo GameCube, since it had my favourite controller to date. It was the first console where we could gather all my siblings and cousins and play all together instead of taking turns, especially with Mario Kart: Double Dash and Mario Party 5 and 6 .

Playing Ninja Gaiden and Pokémon Yellow on the Game Boy Color. I distinctly remember that pressing different arrows on the D-pad before the game started changed the colour of the screen.

6 CALL OF DUTY:

MODERN WARFARE II

7 OCTOPATH TRAVELER II

It’s a good day for a swell battle with this great selection of collectible Cuphead Pop! Vinyls. MERCH MONTH of the

Cuphead Chef Saltbaker Pop! Vinyl

8 LIKE A DRAGON: ISHIN!

9 WILD HEARTS

Cuphead Devil’sThrone Pop! Deluxe

10 ATOMIC HEART

Cuphead Aeroplane Ms. Chalice Pop! Vinyl

2004

GAME CHANGERS! A YEAR IN GAMING Nintendo continued their dominance of the portable gaming space with a slick new handheld, a magical new massively multiplayer online role-playing game left millions spellbound, and the hot sequels just kept on coming, and coming…

The Game Boy had run its course after a stellar innings, and it was time for Nintendo to unleash their new portable, the DS (short for “Dual Screen”). Design-wise it harked back

Blizzard spun their high fantasy Warcraft series of real-time strategy outings into a whole new world with the arrival of World of Warcraft . While the story followed on from Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne , the pivot to online accessibility proved a winning formula, allowing players to create their own avatar with which to navigate a universe filled with

You could be forgiven for thinking that somebody had let a bunch of roadies loose in 2004, with so many games featuring a “2” in their title. Just some of the more notable first sequels included Nintendo’s Pikmin 2 , Valve’s classic

Half-Life 2 , Microsoft’s mega shooter Halo 2 , the return of Samus in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes , the amazing time suck that was The Sims 2 , the return of the raccoon and his

to the days of Multi Screen Game & Watch clamshell treasures such as Donkey Kong , adding touchscreen functionality – best used with the included stylus – to the bottom screen. Initially launched in the US then Japan in late 2004, the Nintendo DS hit Australian shores in February of 2005. With a built-in mic, Wi-Fi connectivity, Game Boy Advance compatibility and a quickly growing range of games, it took off quickly – eventually selling over 150 million units worldwide.

lands to explore, quests to conquer, and monsters to slay. With regular updates and expansion packs in the years to follow, World of Warcraft has gone on to become one of the highest grossing video game franchises of all time.

gang in Sucker Punch’s Sly 2: Band of Thieves , the localised GRID forerunner TOCA Race Driver 2 in V8 Supercars Australia 2 , Activision’s Tony Hawk’s Underground 2 , Terminal Reality’s Bloodrayne 2 , Capcom’s Viewtiful Joe 2 and, for puzzle lovers, Bejeweled 2 . Phew!

40 MARCH 2023

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