Donkey Kong Land 2 (GB) (R) Played another colorization mod. Honestly, this game is damn good, and an appreciable improvement over the first in controls and camera. My only real complaint is that the save system is frustrating for a portable game. Gusty Gulch's save point is a marathon. 8/10

Donkey Kong Land (GB) (R) Played a colorization mod. Honestly, DKL is better than I remembered it. If it wasn't for the slow movement and getting hit by an enemy over a pit resulting in instant death even if you have a spare Kong I would call this great. The final boss was annoying, though. 7/10

Everybody talks about the title screen, but nobody mentions the potato quality Portuguese dialogue of the announcers screaming when someone scores a goal.

I ordered an Everdrive 64 just to record DK64 Tag Anywhere on real hardware. Now that I can record any game, you know what that means...

I just played DK Barrel Blast for stock footage, and it's really weird how the toss off motion waggle racing game does way more to celebrate the franchise's legacy than the fourth and fifth Country games. They even brought back stuff from DKC3, which DK64 didn't even do.

Jeez Louise. It is done.

Seriously, dude. Fuck this.

What is going on with my Perfect Dark cartridge? I tried to load a save, only for it to tell me the save was corrupted. Now the file select is empty, but it refuses to make a new save because the cart is "full." But it also won't let me delete anything.

Escape From Ever After (2026) A Paper Mario like that uses corporate colonialism of storybooks as a metaphor for IP mining and over-sequelization. That's not a joke. It's pretty good while it lasts, but it only has 5 chapters and a prologue and the ending is a bit rushed. 8/10

I just finished editing the VO. I may have gone too far in a few places. Is this my longest single review yet? I think it might be.

This might be a new record for an unedited voiceover in one of my videos. Six hours and forty eight minutes. Holy smokes.

Widescreen playthrough recorded. New record for me.

Mina the Hollower (2026) It was good. 9/10

At long last, we wrap up game of the year 2025 on Unversed Cast by talking about the breakout hit of the year, Clair Obscur.

Next Unversed Cast. We talk about two of the biggest releases of last year, Hollow Knight Silksong and Donkey Kong Bananza. Also, @kingklonoa.bsky.social and I both reminisce on Donkey Kong 64.

Continuing our game of the year discussion, a bunch of racing games came out last year. We talk about two of them.

Next up on the GOTY 2025 train, some mild disappointments and one enjoyable game.

Star Trek Prodigy (2021-24) I was skeptical of the "CGI animated Star Trek kids show for Nickelodeon," but watched it after seeing all the Trekkies standing up for it. Turns out, it's a great show that pays homage to the Trek of the past while building its own characters and mythos.

Next up on the GOTY 2025 podcast, a discussion of a disappointment eight years in the making: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.

I've finally got a GOTY 2025 Unversed Cast episode for ya'll. This time is some catch up games and some 2025 games.

I can't seem to find solid confirmation anywhere, so I need to defer to the internet. Does there exist a revision(s) of the Sega Genesis Model 2 that when unmodded (no Triple Bypass) will output duplicated mono audio over the stereo pins in the multi out?

Crash Bandicoot: Warped (1998) (R) This is the best one yet. The visuals have some much appreciated extra variety, which in turn is reflected in the best soundtrack so far. While the game is generally easier any%, that's more than made up for with the relics, which are a worthwhile addition. 8/10

There's still a lot of interesting stuff in it to make it worth reading: Sega of America begging Japan to remove the fangs, spiked collar, and "Madonna" from Sonic's original design. The origins of the "welcome to the next level" campaign. Why Yuji Naka moved from Japan to Sega Technical Institute.

I just listened to an audio narration of Console Wars, a book about the 16-bit war told primarily from Sega of America's perspective. It's a mixed bag in that the author wrote it in the style of a novelization rather than straight up nonfiction. The embellished dialogue strains its crediblity.

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (PS1) (R) This game is one step forward one step back for me. The controls are tighter and the production value is good. I see a decent any% here. 7/10 On the other hand the gems range from fun and reasonable to even more frustrating than the first's. 6/10

Crash Bandicoot (1996) (R) I feel like there's a solid any% experience in here. The design is competent and has a good handle on evolutions and expansions. The controls are even a little better than I remember them. 7/10 Then you go for all the gems and it becomes really frustrating. 6/10

The gem in Fumbling in the Dark took me 45 minutes of attempts. I need to commemorate this moment, because that was ridiculous.

Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It (2025) A fascinating book about why platforms bolstered by big tech oligarchs like Google and Amazon reliably got worse over time and what that trend represents politically and economically. Well worth a read or listen.

Red Hat out there naming their package manager like a 16-year old Zoomer cat-calling a girl on the street. "Girl you got that dandified yum!"