Wizard Dojo’s 2019 So Far (Q1)

Well, 2019 certainly is flying by, isn’t it? March has come and gone, which means the year is a fourth of the way through. Yikes! So to steal borrow a page from Red Metal from Extra Life Review‘s book, let’s recap what I’ve been up to during the first quarter of 2019 here at the Dojo.

First, let’s take a look at my reviews so far this year, and the scores I’ve given them as of now (titles in italics were released in 2019).

Total Movie Reviews Written in 2019 so Far: 11 

Total Video Game Reviews Written in 2019 so Far: 18

 

January Reviews

Movie Reviews = 8

Bumblebee – 7/10

From Dusk ‘Till Dawn – 5/10

Mary Poppins Returns – 6/10

The Cat Returns – 7/10

Ralph Breaks the Internet – 8/10

Unbreakable – 7/10

Split – 6/10

Glass – 3/10

 

Video Game Reviews = 5

Wario Land II – 6/10

The Haunted Island: A Frog Detective Game – 6/10

Inside – 7/10

Donut County – 7/10

Tetris Effect – 8/10

 

February Reviews

Movie Reviews = 1

Fighting With my Family – 7/10

 

Video Game Reviews = 3

Red Dead Redemption 2 – 8/10

Wario Land 3 – 6/10

God of War (PS4) – 8/10

 

March Reviews

Movie Reviews = 2

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World – 6/10

Captain Marvel – 5/10

 

Video Game Reviews = 10

Kingdom Hearts 3 – 6/10

Tetris 99 – 7/10

Toejam & Earl: Back in the Groove – 7/10

Wario World – 4/10

Sonic the Fighters – 2/10

Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble – 4/10

Tails’ Skypatrol – 2/10

Tails’ Adventure – 5/10

Sonic R – 2/10

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – 9/10

Sadly, it seems I’ve once again followed a bad trend I’ve tended to have with my site in terms of movie reviews. That is to say, I pop out a few of them in January, and then they slow down considerably. So it looks like I’ll have to try to increase my output of movie reviews in the coming months if I ever want to catch them up to my video game reviews.

February was clearly my slowest month so far this year, with only one movie review and three game reviews. In my defense, it’s the shortest month of the year, and I was going through a lot in my life during that time.

Though I haven’t managed to see too many new releases this year, I did get to a 2019 movie quicker than I did a 2019 video game, as I reviewed Glass – the popcorn fart finale to M. Night Shyamalan’s once promising Unbreakable/Split series – shortly after seeing it in January. Meanwhile, I didn’t get to any 2019 video game reviews until March, with one retail game (Kingdom Hearts 3, AKA the game in which you go to the world of Disney’s Frozen and somehow don’t team up with Anna or Elsa), and two downloadable games, Tetris 99 and Toejam & Earl: Back in the Groove.

It seems like, so far, more of my 2019 on this site has been dedicated to finalizing my 2018 video game reviews, than reviewing titles from this year. I finally got around to reviewing Red Dead Redemption 2, God of War (PS4), and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, all games I would have liked to review MUCH sooner.

Speaking of 2018, I seriously and for real plan on finally getting to my video game and movie awards for last year really soon, now that I’ve got those aforementioned reviews done. Yeah, there are a few other 2018 games I plan on reviewing (Ni No Kuni 2, Pokemon: Let’s Go Eevee, DeltaRune – Chapter 1, and Octopath Traveller, specifically), but I feel like I can get to my awards without necessarily having to beat those games first, but that I need to beat them before I write their reviews. Yeah, that might rob these games of some spots in my video game awards, but I’m only one man! If I later decide a certain game deserved better, I can always write a thing on it.

Also, you may have noticed I’ve reviewed one Wario game every month so far this year. I wonder if I can keep that up?

Also of note, I wrote my 800th blog on this site in February.

Also also, I wrote about how I plan to slow down on gaming purchases going forward, because modern games are too pricey and too damn long. As stated, I’ve reviewed Kingdo Hearts 3, Tetris 99 and Toejam & Earl: Back in the Groove in regards to 2019 games so far. Only one of them was a fully-priced, extensively lengthy title. But those aren’t actually the only 2019 games I’ve bought.

2019 games I own but haven’t reviewed

Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story + Bowser Jr.’s Journey

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Yoshi’s Crafted World

 

2019 games I have on pre-order

Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled

Super Mario Maker 2

Pokemon Sword/Shield

Animal Crossing Switch (if it even gets released this year)

 

In addition, I’ve also downloaded Final Fantasy IX on my Switch, and will probably download FFVII too so I can review them some time in 2019 hopefully. And of course, I have plenty, plenty of games in my library (both physical and digital) that I can review in the interim. Who knows, maybe I’ll finally get back to reviewing the remainder of games included in Rare Replay.

I’m also curious about the Link’s Awakening remake and Luigi’s Mansion 3, but I’m not made of money, nor do I have all the time in the world. But I suppose if some friends just so happen to get me some extra games for my birthday or Christmas or something, I wouldn’t argue with it (if any of my friends are reading this… *Hint hint wink wink*).

Admittedly, that’s quite a few games. Certainly more so than I originally planned to purchase this year. But I guess this was the year I decided to slow down on purchases, I can’t expect it all to happen at once. But I’m thinking, in 2020, I may cut things back to about four retail purchases and a couple of downloadable titles. As I’ve stated ad nauseam, I want to make my own game one day, damn it! That can’t happen if my free time all goes to playing other people’s games.

As for movies. Well, I have plenty of movies that I’d like to review, including following up my review of Reservoir Dogs last year by reviewing the rest of Quentin Tarantino’s directorial efforts. Not to mention I would like to finish my reviewing of the films of Hayao Miyazaki and Pixar Animation Studios.

2019 Movies I hope to Review

Shazam

Avengers: Endgame

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Detective Pikachu

Toy Story 4

Frozen II

Star Wars: Episode IX

Sonic the Hedgehog (I’m curious, okay?)

I can imagine there are plenty of other 2019 movies I’ll get around to reviewing, as well as plenty of older movies throughout the year, specifically those that have connections to some of the above mentioned movies (it’s about time I review the entire Star Wars saga, and Infinity War).

Also, I must once again apologize. I keep promising I’ll start writing some reviews for TV series, and make more top 5/10 lists, yet keep failing to do so. Hopefully, I can make good on those promises, and start cracking on those lists and TV reviews.

So 2019 has thus far been inconsistently busy here at the Dojo. But I hope you enjoy what I’ve written so far this year and look forward to whatever I write in the months ahead.

Will I write more recaps every three months from now on? Maybe. Or maybe I’ll just completely forget about this within three months’ time.