STACK #232 February 2024

THIS MONTH at

GAMING FEATURE

visit jbhifi.com.au/stack

STACK’s ROVING REPORTER

BEST SELLERS at

What’s your all-time favourite game or series?

Banjo Kazooie baby! The game has an incredible soundtrack, level design and polish for its time. Put a pair of eyes on anything, that stuff’s funny-as!

JANUARY 2024

JONATHAN HEMMINGS @ JB Home Erina, NSW

1 TEKKEN 8

What have you been playing most lately?

2 PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE LOST CROWN

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

Lately I’ve been rolling some of the statistically worst rolls possible in Baldur’s Gate 3 , and it is so good! Finally, another reason to justify not going outside much.

Being able to express my passion and interest for gaming with customers and sharing in the hype of new releases and experiences. It’s really cool seeing people let their guard down and completely nerd out when they find strong common interests.

3 SUPER MARIO BROS. WONDER

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

4 THE LAST OF US PART II REMASTERED

Has to be the Nintendo GameCube. Despite it almost killing Nintendo, there are so many games there that I grew up with, like Smash Bros. Melee, Mario Kart Double Dash, and the Pokémon Colosseum and XD: Gale of Darkness games. All back when I had the time to sit like a slice of melted cheese on the lounge during school holidays.

What’s your earliest video gaming memory?

5 AVATAR: FRONTIERS OF PANDORA

Beating my older siblings in Super Smash Bros . on Nintendo 64 using exclusively Luigi’s Up-B special, which may as well have been an instant kill, and having them get absolutely livid with me. I was like four!

6 MARIO KART 8 DELUXE

7 LIKE A DRAGON: INFINITE WEALTH

Take chilling out with Minecraft to a whole new level! MERCH MONT H M H of the

Minecraft Puff Bean Bag Chair

Minecraft Creeper Fridge 6.7L

8 SUPER MARIO RPG

9 EA SPORTS FC 24

10 NBA 2K24

Minecraft TNT Fridge 6.7L

2015

GAME CHANGERS! A YEAR IN GAMING While actual console sales scarcely set the world on fire, the Nintendo Wii U continued to innovate and impress on the software side, while a new twist on an old sport hit big…

It may have failed commercially, but

It was a super-simple concept. Rocket League took soccer and driving, then banged the two together into one alarmingly addictive game. Kind of like TV motoring show Top Gear did, but sans Jeremy Clarkson. This one was more of

For over 30 years, the Super Mario games had treated us to the very cream of platform gaming – which it pretty much invented - with the greatest minds in game creation spending ages slaving over hot graph paper in order to do so. With the release of

Nintendo’s Wii U was a hotbed of creativity that they’ve been mining to this day on the infinitely more successful

Super Mario Maker on Wii U, we could join this elite company. It was just what it said it was: a super-slick, drag and drop opportunity to flex our game design synapses and have Mario do our bidding in our own levels based on several previous Mario outings, which could then be shared worldwide.

Switch. A wholly new IP, Splatoon saw you become a squid that could morph into a vaguely human form and go around spurting ink everywhere. It was a clever way for Nintendo to enter the FPS and online multiplayer shooter arena without bullets and over-the-top death – defeated characters were reincarnated. With two sequels so far, it’s fair to say that it’s been an ink-redible success…

a futuristic take on the new sport, where all vehicles are rocket powered (hence the title) and compete within enhanced arenas. Playable solo against computer-controlled vehicles, on local split-screen with up to three others, or multiplayer online (if you were really brave), it’s since become an esports staple.

38 FEBRUARY 2024

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