Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 28/09/2026Being seeing this trend making waves across social media, so I figured I'd make my own. These are probably the 9 most important games in defining who I am and playing a role in me developing my sense of self and personal taste in games and media in general. 140
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 16/09/2026Unsurprisingly, Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter is also reviewing super well. The JRPG Apocalypse (or JR-mageddon?) tomorrow is gonna be brutal. I'll be playing Fire Emblem first, then circle back to Trails in the Sky. What will you be playing? 010
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 16/09/2026Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave reviews are coming in this morning, and it's looking quite good! It's currently tied with Three Houses as being the second-highest reviewed game in the series, only behind Awakening. Safe to say, we're in for peak gaming. 160
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 16/09/2026Video Game #41: Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster I've only played the DS remake / 3D version of FF IV, so this was my first time playing the 2D version of the game. I stand by my opinion that FF IV is the most consistent and solid game in the series. Doesn't have high highs or low lows. 100
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 09/09/2026They really named Mythra and Pyra's daughters as Shimmer and Glimmer. Someone at NoE's localization department had a field day while coming up with the English names of these characters. 050
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 08/09/2026PAX West 2026 is a wrap! I had a fantastic time! Got to meet up with some cool folks and play some great games! Can't ask for more than that! My personal highlights of the show were: Final Fantasy VII: Revelation Persona 4: Revival Stranger Than Heaven Castlevania: Belmont's Curse 030
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 04/09/2026Starting my PAX West trip with some lovely walks in Olympia. Heading to PAX West Day 1 now!! 130
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 31/08/2026Playing through the Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster, and my only frame of reference is the DS / 3D remake of FF IV, which I played about a decade ago. The Pixel Remaster is based more on the original SNES version, so it feels pretty different. A couple hours in, but really liking it so far! 040
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 31/08/2026Video Game #40: Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master I'm curious to check out the rest of the Shinobi as someone that's only played Art of Vengeance and the 3DS Shinobi. Played this and really like it. Short and sweet, great soundtrack, fun levels. Definitely feels like a classic! 100
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 27/08/2026I'll be at PAX West in Seattle once again this year! This will be my 4th PAX! Looking forward to it as always. If you're in Seattle and/or at PAX West next weekend, let me know! I'd love to connect and hangout! 010
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 27/08/2026Video Game #39: Metroid Fusion Finally got around to playing this! Aside from being very linear for Metroid standard, having bosses that take way too much screen space, and some occasional parts of progression being unclear, this is a great game! Really happy to have finally played this. 110
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 25/08/2026Video Game #38: Sonic Colors: Ultimate This is a bad port of a great game. Sonic Colors is one of my all-time favorite Wii games and contender for my favorite Sonic game. This is the first time I've played the game in over a decade and it holds up extremely well. 120
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 24/08/2026Joined a book club for the first time this summer, and our first book was I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman. An incredibly bleak story that is paradoxically very hopeful. It's also fairly short, so it makes for a quick read. Highly recommend! 040
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 24/08/2026Video Game #37: Saros As someone that really liked Returnal but got exhausted by the game's structure and rigid difficulty, this is as perfect as a follow-up could be. Way more accessible, more dynamic difficulty balancing, and encounter design and presentation that are as brilliant as ever. 100
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 23/08/2026Just finished playing Saros. Really fun game and a great sequel / follow-up to Returnal. But man, this game's story is...kind of an absolute mess? Did anyone else feel this way? 130
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 17/08/2026Video Game #36: Wild ARMs 2 This game's pretty average as far as PS1-era JRPGs go. Slow animations drag combat out, combat itself is pretty simple, and the story and characters are very basic. That said, the puzzle-heavy dungeons, soundtrack, and visuals are all great! 110
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 17/08/2026Saw American Football at First Avenue in Minneapolis tonight. 020
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 07/08/2026Felt the sudden urge to read some nonfiction about writing this week, so I read through The Forest for the Trees by Betsy Lerner. Solid read! Very interesting editorial perspective. 030
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 05/08/2026Video Game #35: Demon's Souls Yeah, I just hate this subgenre. I've tried Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice before (put about 10 hours into each of them), and didn't enjoy any of them. This was no different. Really didn't enjoy playing this. 110
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 05/08/2026I've been meaning to go through some of my backlogged games and figured to give Demon's Souls (2020) a try, and...man, I still can't get into these games at all. I've given Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro a chance and they all just leave me feeling like I'm wasting my time. 100
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 04/08/2026Just watched the Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave Direct. Man, this game looks fantastic! Really looks like it's Three Houses 2 in just about every way, plus it's adding dungeons and world map stuff from Echoes. And TURN-BASED JRPG COMBAT?! What?! I'm really excited to play this!! 061
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 03/08/2026Video Game #34: The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie This is a special game to me, because it's actually my first localization editing credit, as I've discussed before. Now I've finally gotten around to playing this game after slowly working through the series. And...it's great! 150
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 03/08/2026Video Game #33: Rhythm Heaven Groove I LOVED this game. Growing up with Rhythm Heaven on DS, I've always admired this franchise and how true to itself is. There's nothing else quite like Rhythm Heaven and this game makes it like the series never stopped at all. 110
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 03/08/2026Video Game #32: Star Fox This is a great remake! Despite all the visual and presentation flourishes this version makes, it all highlights how timeless the core gameplay is. I think the Challenge Mode and especially the Multiplayer are great additions! 100
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 03/08/2026Hell yeah! Best of luck! I'll be chilling in the streams as much as I can. You got this, Lydia!! 000
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 29/07/2026Played the open beta for Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls a bit over the weekend. While I love the game's aesthetic, I don't think this game's for me unfortunately. The auto combos just aren't fun to play around, and I think the 4v4 tag system is just not super fun for me. 210
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 29/07/2026Had a very humbling and special experience tonight. I've been playing through Trails into Reverie over the last two weeks - and this was the very first localization project I worked on! I got to play through scenes that I wrote. It was...really bizarre. Weird. Embarrassing. But special. 1210
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 19/07/2026Saw The Odyssey today. It really is That Movie. Go see it. 000
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 01/07/2026Video Game #31: Donkey Kong 64 This game isn't bad, y'all are just mean. I really appreciate this game's approach to level design - most levels are separated into chunks that feature activities for each Kong to do. It's fun and has lots of variety. 100
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 23/06/2026Video Game #30: Ghost of Yotei. Really, really enjoyed this. There isn't much groundbreaking or different here, but as a follow-up to Ghost of Tsushima's framework, this is about as solid of a sequel as you could ask for. 100
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 18/06/2026I really don't understand why or how Grant Theft Auto is still using the same Price is Right logo/font. They've been using this logo/font since GTA 3, and haven't changed it since. I've always just found the logo really dated and in need of a refresh. Surprised they didn't change it for GTA 6. 040
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 10/06/2026Circled games I'm interested in picking up and...it's like over half the games they showed, lol. This Direct and overall SGF season was filled with games I'm looking forward to. Incredible time to love video games. 040
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 10/06/2026Started playing through Ghost of Yotei this week, about 10 hours in so far. So far, it's basically more Ghost of Tsushima - which is not a bad thing at all! Super immersive, really polished, fun gameplay...just haven't seen anything that feels completely new or different. 130
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 09/06/2026I can't believe this is real. - ALL 4 Xenoblade games will have Switch 2 Editions by the end of 2026, running at full HD, 60 FPS - A BRAND NEW Xenoblade game, Xenoblade Genesis, is coming out in 2027. Being a Xenoblade fan is the easiest thing to possibly be. 0102
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 06/06/2026At long last, my Kingdom Hearts retrospective is finished and will go live on Monday, June 8 at 8:00 AM CST. This morphed into being one of my largest projects to date, and I'm really proud of how it turned out. Looking forward to seeing peoples' reactions to it! 160
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 05/06/2026Video Game #29: Kirby & The Amazing Mirror I can see this game getting better and better with additional playthroughs and using co-op, but as is, this is a solid game. The actual gameplay feel and speed is fantastic, but the map design isn't my cup of tea. 100
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 04/06/2026Just realized that Nintendo Directs turn 15 years old later this year. The first Nintendo Direct was on October 21, 2011 Very crazy that Directs turned into the norm for all major video game presentations and effectively replaced the traditional E3 press conference. 061
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 02/06/2026Video Game #28: Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards I have a TON of nostalgia for this game. Looking past my own nostalgia, I think this is an excellent game! My only issue is that the Crystal Shards that require certain combinations are a little annoying to get sometimes. Other than that, this is great! 100
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 29/05/2026Video Game #27: Kirby's Dream Land 3 This game rocks. May very well be the best-looking SNES game ever made. Music's solid, level design's solid. I think this is definitely the best Kirby game up to this point in the series. Really enjoyed playing this for the first time! 110
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 28/05/2026Video Game #26: Kirby Super Star While I've played this game before, this was my first full playthrough of every mode. Copy abilities are overpowered but fun, level design is solid but never super memorable. Just an all-around solid time! 130
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 27/05/2026Bro, Dragon Quest XII looks FANTASTIC! Stellar art design and character design. Really can't wait to see more! Kind of a shame that it had to restart development a la Metroid Prime 4, but this looks really promising! 151
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 27/05/2026My brain insists that someone using academic language to say "Nintendo is for babies lol" looks like this: 081
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 26/05/2026Video Game #25: Kirby's Adventure Really solid time! My first time playing this in a LONG time, and it holds up pretty well. Looks so good that the NES cracks under the pressure, which unfortunately leads to lots of slowdown and controls that can feel unresponsive as a result. 100
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 26/05/2026Watched Godzilla Minus One over the weekend in prep for the sequel coming out later this year and...MAN. This is truly a modern classic. 140
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 22/05/2026I unfortunately am unable to attend Combo Breaker this year due to conflicts I have this weekend, but that doesn't mean we can't have a stream to compensate! I'll be streaming Smash Ultimate tonight at ~ 6:30 PM CST tonight on Twitch. See y'all then! twitch.tv/derek_ex_machina 030
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 20/05/2026Video Game #24: Kirby's Dream Land 2 What an awesome game. Really improves everything from Dream Land 1 by adding the lessons learned from Adventure and new features on top of that. For the most part, this has aged remarkably well! 110
Derek L.H. @derekexmachina.com · 18/05/2026Video Game #23: Kirby's Dream Land Been playing a lot of longer JRPGs this year, so I felt like having a palette cleanser, so I think I'll be playing through a couple Kirby games. Haven't played Dream Land in years. It's short but sweet, still feels super solid! 120