My most popular posts of 2017

Before I start cranking out forward-looking content for 2018, let's take one last look at 2017.

Specifically, here are this blog's 12 most popular posts from last year (arranged in order of most views to least). If you see a headline that doesn't look familiar, check it out. Who knows, you may have missed a real gem.

1. Five overlooked GameBoy Advance games you need to play as soon as possible

2. Ten questions with the guy chiefly responsible for the English fan translation of Ripened Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love



3. The best 3DS eShop games you've never played (or, 10 overlooked 3DS eShop games you need to try as soon as possible)

4. Nice Package! (Mizzurna Falls, PlayStation)

5. If Nintendo put me in charge of a GameBoy Classic Edition, here are the 30 games it would include

6. Five favorites: Famicom leading ladies



7. A few thoughts on Golf Story for Switch now that I've put about eight hours into it

8. Five overlooked Nintendo DS games you need to play as soon as possible

9. Nice Package! (Bubble Bobble, Famicom Disk System)

10. Don't mind me, I'm just completely obsessed with Nintendo's Mother at the moment



11. In honor of the 28th anniversary of GameBoy's Japanese release, here are a handful of my all-time favorite GB games

12. My 10 Most Influential Games: Balloon Kid (GameBoy)

I'm not finished with my "most influential games" series, by the way, although I did forgot about it for a while. The same is true of my "Welcome to WonderSwan World" series. Look for new entries for both to be published soon.

See also: my most popular posts of 2016

How I spent my time (with video games) in 2017

The 2016 version of this post focused entirely on Nintendo 3DS games. There was a good reason for that: aside from a few "retro" titles, I only played 3DS games that year.

That certainly wasn't the case in 2017. Of the 20 titles listed below, only seven are 3DS releases. Five others are Switch games, three are for Vita, and the rest are divided between the Famicom, GameBoy, DS, and Wii.

With that out of the way, here are the games I put the most time into over the last 12 months:

• Dragon Quest VII (3DS)--43 hours, 50 minutes
• Mother (Famicom)--23 hours 30 minutes
• Opoona (Wii)--20 hours
• Poochy & Yoshi’s Woolly World (3DS)--17 hours, 45 minutes
• Golf Story (Switch)--17 hours, 15 minutes
• Super Mario Odyssey (Switch)--16 hours, 45 minutes
• Dragon Quest Builders (Vita)--12 hours
• Miitopia (3DS)--10 hours, 45 minutes
• Kirby: Planet Robobot (3DS)--9 hours
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch)--7 hours, 45 minutes

• The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (GameBoy)--6 hours, 45 minutes
• Yomawari: Night Alone (Vita)--6 hours, 45 minutes
• VA-11 HALL-A (Vita)--4 hours, 30 minutes
• Monster Hunter Stories demo (3DS)--4 hours, 15 minutes
• The Starship Damrey (3DS)--3 hours, 45 minutes
• Boxlife (DS)--3 hours, 15 minutes
• Great Greed (GameBoy)--3 hours
• Project Octopath Traveler demo (Switch)--2 hours, 50 minutes
• Elliot Quest (Switch)--2 hours, 45 minutes
• Witch & Hero III (3DS)--2 hours, 20 minutes

As strange as this may sound, I have a strong feeling 3DS, Switch, and Vita games will dominate the 2018 version of this post as well.

I don't expect the 3DS to lead the way as it did in 2017, though; if I had to guess, I'd say the Switch will move into the pole position this year, followed by the 3DS and then the Vita.

If you know how much time you spent with various games in 2017, please share the details in the comments section that follows.

What a fabulous way to kick off 2018: the Ripened Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love English translation patch has been released

Eight months ago, I published a post that declared an English (fan) translation of Ripened Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love for the Nintendo DS was nearing completion.

Well, a patch containing that translation was released last night, just in time to close out 2017 with a wonderfully fabulous bang. (Download it now at tingletranslation.blogspot.com.)

I plan to start through it this coming week, and I'll do my best to share at least a few thoughts on the experience here by the end of the month.

In the meantime, those of you who are curious to learn more about the Ripened Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love fan translation should check out my interview with the guy chiefly responsible for getting the project off the ground.