The last 50 or so hours of my gaming time has been utterly consumed by the awesome Dying Light 2, and while I’ve been having a blast parkouring around and beating the crap out of zombies and freaks and bad guys throughout these hours, a change is definitely needed. It’s come to my attention that with all that’s going on with the world, I am in dire need of some change from destroyed cities, depressing tales of betrayal, and general end-of-the-world-edness. Not to say that the whole game is depressing – it’s not, and there are plenty of side-quests that are tongue in cheek or just plain silly to pad the story line with much needed comic relief – but sometimes you need what Nintendo does best: pure, boiled-down charm.

Earlier today I checked out the demo release of the upcoming Kirby game Kirby and the Forgotten Land and I completely fell in love! Oh, how I’ve missed the big happy Nintendo land and the goofy fun that comes with it. This game looks and feels like Super Mario 3D Land (likely 3D World as well, though have yet to play it), if it created a little person with Super Mario Odyssey, particularly during the first world reveal, and it’s definitely time to get a little more excited about life through gaming again. The weather is hopefully turning up for the better, and the dark, wet winter is, ideally, on its way out.

:checks weather: aaaaand it’s supposed to snow here tomorrow. Well, shit.

Anyway, I’m still planning on finishing Dying Light 2, but I’ve got a few games planned that are just all around feel-good games that I’m looking forward to getting back into. It’s strange, but I haven’t played my Switch in what feels like ages, aside from the occasional dance party with Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Megamix, and my 3DS? Heck, I don’t even remember the last time I’ve turned it on until very recently, but it’s got to be years!

Let’s take a look at my plans for a “Nintendo Reset”.

Metroid Dread (Switch)

I believe I’ve mentioned it before, but the day Dread released was the exact same day I moved into my new house, so it was completely off my radar. It was unfortunate timing, but now that my gaming schedule is opening up a bit, it’s the perfect time to jump into a game of this caliber and length.

2D Metroids are my absolute favorites and playing it on my curved 55″ TV will be glorious. I’ve managed to avoid any and all spoilers or even gameplay videos, so this really will be a blind playthrough. I did play the demo a few months ago and it was, as expected, very fun and a little eerie, but I’ve basically forgotten it completely. I’m stoked to visit this game.

Banjo-Kazooie (NSO)

It’s Banjo-Kazooie on the N64! I complained plenty about the Nintendo Switch Online service, but my plan is simply to subscribe for a month, which is more than enough time to recapture the incredible feel-goodedness of Banjo-Kazooie. It’s one of my favorites of all time and as such, I won’t have any trouble breezing through it, trying to capture 100% if I’m feeling frisky. Banjo’s always a home run – just boiled down platforming perfection.

Every think about playing a game and realize that you still know all of the button inputs and moves? I’ve played Banjo-Kazooie so many times that I still remember all of the moves. This is going to be awesome.

Pokémon Alpha Sapphire (3DS)

I picked this one up a few years ago and never got very far in it. I never played Ruby and/or Sapphire so buying a remake may seem strange, but I fell in love with X/Y and being in the same “gen” on the 3DS, it feels very, very nice to play. I don’t know if I can get through the entire game, but where Pokemon always helps me out is in it’s ability to make me relax, near-instantly, play for any amount of time, and then save your progress wherever. It’s a really nice game to jump into and right back out.

Currently I just completed the first gym, and I may keep a progress list of gyms so that I can more easily track my progress against Metroid and Banjo. But this is a perfect example of this “reset” in that the music and feelings you get from playing it are practically medicinal.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Switch)

Of course, a new 3D Kirby game has not been released in quite some time, and considering how I absolutely loved Kirby: Planet Robobot a few years ago, this is going to be a home run, I can already feel it. My favorite parts about Planet Robobot and I suppose Kirby games in general is how easy-going the whole gameplay loop is, and finding secrets and collectibles is baked into the experience, not something you need to go back and do after you’ve completed the level.

Nintendo has that high level of polish and based on the demo, they spared no expense with Kirby and the Forgotten Land. It’ll be nice to jump into a 3D world with the pink fluff monster. The game doesn’t come out until the end of March so I’ve still got some time to play Dread, which is perfect.

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And that’s that! My gaming plans for the next couple of months. Nothing is particularly lengthy, and that’s precisely what I’m looking for after playing Persona 5 and Dying Light 2, a combined ~180 hours of games. It’s just way too much to stay focused on quite frankly.