VideoGame_Discussion

Slickriven wrote:

So Garfield Racing would count?

I was kidding about Archie and Betty since while they are from comics, they're 100% NOT superheroes. Popeye maybe squeaks in since he gains powers from spinach and saves Olive frequently.

Garfield... is a bridge too far. He is in comics and eats lasagna but that doesn't really give him any powers. Plus from my understanding Garfield Racing is firmly in the 'You're Winner' area of rubbish titles.

Slickriven wrote:

Funny you should mention that...
[imgt w=261 h=382]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/02/Gar...[/imgt]

SupremeSarna wrote:

One-off's don't count, he's not a super powered hero - from wikipedia:

Common themes in the strip include Garfield's laziness, obsessive eating, love of coffee and lasagna, disdain of Mondays, and diets. Garfield is also shown to manipulate people to get whatever he wants. The strip's focus is mostly on the interactions among Garfield, Jon, and Odie, but other recurring characters appear as well.

This next game is kind of rough... It's Konami's terrible sequel to a bona fide classic. It's Yie Ar Kung-Fu II: The Emperor Yie-Gah ( on Virtual Console)

The original game was more or less a one-on-one fighter that was one of the influences for Street Fighter a couple years later.

This one is... less inspiring. The first part of each stage is a short three screen run while either punching or avoiding kung fu babies that fly across the screen.

Then you get to a super cheap boss fight where you get your butt handed to you unless you are very good or very lucky. And I do mean lucky - randomly a bowl of Ramen may appear to give you several seconds of invincibility to just whale on your opponent. If you get the Ramen it's almost a guaranteed win.

After 8 increasingly difficult stages (I think the final boss would be practically impossible without a random Ramen bowl or save states) you win and the game loops back to the first stage.

The controls are a bit of a mess. You press left or right to move, diagonally up or down to kick high or low respectively, up to jump, and down to block melee attacks from bosses (every boss spams melee attacks when you get close so this is crucial to do once you get a hit. The boss will stop attacking and make so distance so they can spam their special attacks).

You also have a button that will punch left or right depending on which way you are facing. If you press the attack button and diagonal at the same time, you'll counterintuitively jump diagonally, then have to press attack again if you want to kick during your jump.

Would have made a lot more sense to just have you hold the attack button and tap a direction to attack rather than split the controls like that.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/sw11LdWAKRUUqmEZ6

Anyway, I played this one so you don't have to.

January:

February

March:

April:

It's Comic book based superheroes, not comic characters that so happen to have a few superhero like examples.

This is why badges are annoying - I'm guessing @SupremeSarna and @WithinTemptation are largely messing around, but it gets tiresome having to fight the idea of what games/characters may or may not count. Part of this is my fault, I could and maybe should just say anything goes, want to claim Tetris as a Tactic's game, sure, how about Mario Kart as Sasori Vader b/c of Rainbow Road, why not. But I don't do that and push back some for almost no reason.

Slickriven wrote:

Lol, I was joking about Garfield. But in all seriousness I didn't think the Turtles would be such a stretch as super heros that you needed to change the definition of the badge They are regular turtles mutated by ooze and become extraordinary martial artist who fight crime. Heros in a half shell with super powers (at least for a turtle).

WithinTemptation wrote:

I beat TMNT Arcade earlier this month - never even thought of it for Quest for Peace b/c to me it's a Beat-em-up first and foremost, that's why I questioned it. I shouldn't have bothered.

Slickriven wrote:

Just tell people to be reasonable or you'll start taking away badges >

benstylus wrote:

Heh, I don't want to be a jerk and as WithinTemptation said, TMNT for superhero really wasn't unreasonable, that was more on me for not thinking of them (those titles) as really anything but side-scrolling beat-em-ups.

On the subject of badges: Kirby's Adventure and Super Star Ultra earn me the Girly badge. Kirby's cuteness and the games' accessibility make him popular with gamers of all ages and genders the world over. I will wear it with pride because Kirby is the best.

I had been wondering where Kirby might fit in, I like the idea that he would count for the Girly badge.
Also happy birthday @sailorneorune

Slickriven wrote:

Main story of Kirby games: not very difficult. It's the extra content and trying to 100% them that will beat you into the dirt with a rusty shovel.

Also thanks for the kind wishes as I complete another full ride on the blue dot on which we live.

'Appy birthday! @sailorneorune

It's been awhile since I played a compile heart game. I mean I liked a couple of Nep games I played. But I'm really liking Death End Re Quest 2. Very serious story, good characters. I only got it because I was looking for titles during the buy 2 get 1 free amazon sale a month back. Really getting into it.

After about a month of savoring, I've 100%ed Kirby and the Forgotten Land! @Slickriven This earns me Bear and Bird (Conker's Bad Fur Day, Kirby and the Forgotten Land).
[imgt w=1280 h=720]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRFOrETVUAApVx_?format...[/imgt]

This game is a breath of fresh air for Kirby! Shinya Kumazaki was the general director here, but it feels like he focused on creating a new experience rather than relying on his usual tricks. Animations and sound effects are largely new, the enemies and bosses are mostly new, the evolved Copy Abilities are new, Mouthful Modes don't feel like his past superpowers (Super Abilities, Hypernova, Robobot Armor, etc.)... it feels like the start of something unique. I thought the series was growing stale over the past 5 years or so when they started churning out multiple games a year, often at miniscule prices for one-and-done experiences (I'm talking 2017's Team Kirby Clash Deluxe onward, ignoring when they started releasing eShop sub-game-games in 2014). Forgotten Land was invigorating to my jaded old self!

Levels are often memorable, set in manmade locations you scarcely see in Kirby and with missions that pull you in further. The aforementioned Mouthful Modes are brilliant and super entertaining to watch Kirby use--Coaster Mouth and Water-Balloon Mouth are my favorites. The graphics ooze charm and HD detail. Music's good, too. Waddle Dee Town is a sprawling hub town that I wanted to thoroughly rebuild and explore! New mechanics are also great: Falling into pits doesn't KO you. Automatically swallowing your Copy Ability if you inhale it after taking damage is very handy, and you don't lose your ability very often. Game overs are impossible, simply costing you money for a checkpoint revival. The tournaments that replace previous games' The Arenas let you bring a backup item and even restart individual battles for a growing price. These are natural updates that make things more forgiving--in a series like Kirby, I'll embrace that.

I have a couple gripes, though. Treasure Road challenges are obnoxious; every time I'd clear a stage, I'd unlock two Treasure Road challenges I didn't really want to play. These break the game's pace if you're going for 100%, and even if you aren't, you should still play them to evolve your abilities. The game only has 12 Copy Abilities, one of which is the near-worthless Sleep, so you'd better upgrade them for variety's sake. It gets tiring running into the same handful of Copy Ability enemies and getting the same powers from them. A possible DLC pack could add some old favorites, preferably the less-common ones (I'd take Hi-Jump or Beetle over Spark or Beam anyday).

Those minor criticisms aside, I have renewed faith that Kirby's future will remain bright. He's been here for 30 years, and he ain't going anywhere! Keep making excellent titles like this, HAL! And port Kirby and the Rainbow Curse to Switch while you're at it!

I've been trying to think of another game to earn the Vault Boy badge, but just realized that I already have one. Since I beat Elden Ring for both PS4 and PS5 I can use one of them for the Vault Boy badge. I used the first clear for the Grown Man badge (Sekiro/Elden Ring PS4).

So I earned the Vault Boy Badge (Horizon Zero Dawn, Elden Ring PS5)

For the sports games I'm planning on running through Destruction Derby 1 and 2 for I'd complete the wrecking racing championship and complete all the seasons.

For the star wars badge I'm thinking of using Disney Infinity 3. There are 3 different Star Wars playsets in the game and each can count as a separate game. Incase you never played Infinity it is similar to any other compilation of games disc which are already allowed (for example the Capcom Beat 'Em Up Collection). There is the main game that serves as a hub that you can launch several different playsets. The playsets themselves are full games with a story and a good amount of content. Figured I'd write this before I play through them incase someone has an issue with it. But I don't see where it would be a problem and I could make a strong argument why they should be allowed if needed.

Beat Raging Justice on . I'm not sure how I feel about it, it was fun enough but definitely rough around the edges Streets of Rage clone. Some of the mechanics felt slightly delayed and some attacks sometimes wouldn't happen or seemed to happen a bit after I actually did it, so the timing was all around odd. I also felt they threw way too many cheap enemies at you at times, so it was just a constantly die and come back to finish them off scenario in some sections.

Destruction Derby as a "Sports" title is a stretch for me. Would be more inclined to call them Race Drivin' titles - Sports should only be base/basket/foot/volley/dodge-ball, golf, ski/snow/skate-boarding, golf, boxing, bowling, tennis - that sort of stuff. Driving a car, snowmobile, ATV, etc falls out of the sports realm and into driving.

@WithinTemptation for a Collection type game to count as a completion, the game beat from said collection need to be it's own stand-alone release. That's why say Sonic 1 beat within a Sonic or Genesis collection counts. Beating a 'portion' of Disney's Infinity that wasn't available solo before would unfortunately not count.

Silent Hill 2 - - - - Overall, I like this series more than Resident Evil but, modern Konami.....

Slickriven wrote:

OK your call on Infinity. I figured you would say no so I didn't even bother to play before I asked. I don't agree, but that is just my opinion. They are full story games that take 5-8 hours to complete. They are sold separately as a physical playset. Only difference is you must have the base Infinity to start the game.

I guess since these are out I can still play Super Weekend Mode vita and some other similar title. Since Fantasy Zone was allowed for the Vader badge surly this will count as well.

And I'll have to disagree on the racing games as well. Race drivers are athletes and racing is a sport. These should just be titles that can be counted for more than one badge. If the racing game offers a season or championship mode then it should be allowed. In the case of DD wrecking racing mode it would take 5+ hours to complete. Again, a quick google would show racing is a sport and drivers are athletes.

I'm trying to make an effort to play some games with real content here, but if I must I'll just use some of the older sports titles I where I can just simulate the games.

WithinTemptation wrote:

I agree that racing can be a sport. I don't know that I would call destruction derby a sports game though.

I think for me, for a racing title to qualify under sports, it would have to be related to a real life sports series.

So yes to F1, WRC, TOCA, MotoGP, etc., but no to Virtua Racing, Sega Rally, Grid, Ride, etc.

But then it gets complicated with stuff like F1 Race Stars and NASCAR Unleashed both having official sports licenses, but not really actually representing the sport.

I think it's much simpler to just keep the two separate for purposes of the badges, so I agree with how Slickriven is handling it.

Game #... no clue

Dark Souls Remastered (ps4)

Annual play through. Actually ran through it twice. Makes me happy knowing how many people are always playing this game still. co-op and pvp are very active.

However I was invaded by someone who used some sort of cheat. I have no idea how it works or what happened, what they did. But I killed them (don't think I was supposed to be able to?), and when they died I got 450M souls. AND I auto leveled up 250-ish levels. I don't know what happened. But it ruined that character. So I deleted the save file.

I got bored and beat Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (originally GB) in one sitting.
[imgt w=1280 h=720]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRJdH6vUUAE3Qgw?format...[/imgt]

Still a good Castlevania game I'm not too familiar with. I first played it for this challenge last year and called it the third-best game on the Castlevania Anniversary Collection, just below Bloodlines (1) and Dracula's Curse (2). In hindsight, that might be a little high... but I also appreciate the creative level design this game offers. If the Soleil and Dracula fights weren't so annoying, and if it had a smoother framerate, then I'd be more confident in my claim.

Still think Simon's Quest beats Super IV.

@WithinTemptation I'm not arguing against racing being a sport and the driver's athletes, but in a video game you're not really 'emulating' the athlete as much as the car/machine. I could maybe see what BenStylus said that series like F1, MotoGP and those could count but a person 100% doesn't need to be athletic to drive a destruction derby.

I'm starting to see what Kommie and DarkFact said and am just getting sick of badges...

Archer wrote:

I'm pretty sure that is exactly what they wanted to happen to your save file. Just like they people who drop modded items in your world just to get you banned.

Slickriven wrote:

I'm fine with your decision. But I can also disagree. Its all good

Probably took me longer to dig these out than to complete the seasons, but I'll sim the seasons in Madden 06 & 08 tonight to get this badge out of the way.

WithinTemptation wrote:

If I were running this thread, out of spite I would add your 360 as a separate participant and show it beating the games instead of you.

Unless you can answer how having your 360 simulating the games means that you beat them?

I don't know why I have to reiterate this, the goal of this thread is to push participants to PLAY and BEAT a large variety of games, potentially on older, disused consoles than they might normally play. The goal isn't to beat as many games as possibly or 'cheat' by triggering Madden to simulate a whole season of football. Posting what you actually beat is great and maybe you beating game X, might prompt someone else to also beat it, or to beat something similar that they forgot they even owned or they looked into your game and decided to give that title/genre another look.

You get effectively nothing for your efforts for having the most games/consoles/badges completed. I mean I could simply grant everyone all of the badges if that helps. As someone who was glad to earn the most badges in '20 and 2nd most in '21 I get the appeal of going for them, so I'm not trying to discourage or call certain folks out. Badges were added by the previous owner of this thread and were meant to further incentivize participants to beat more variety of games. At times it has felt like some folks only want the badges vs. actually putting in the effort to legit earn them - that's partly why I cut some back and added more clarity to them - like Bo Knows (beating a full season) or Street Fight'n (need 2 character arcade runs OR some longer story playthrough if present).

That said there are scores of really short titles out there that some folks might be interested in beating just to inflate their #s on here... I don't get that at all. Outside of some competitive elements, most participant here don't care if someone else beats 4, 40 or 400 games. I get I'm maybe hypocritical as I was top 2-3 in games and badges the last 2 years and effectively got burned out this year, but also I'm running this now, doing plenty of 'work' to record the completions and badges and such - maybe I drove @Antipop nuts the last 2 years with my reported game clears, or maybe not.

</rant>

I desire no badges. Honestly have no desire to beat games for all my systems this year, but I'm still participating just to keep track of what I beat.

Ya I don't desire badges. For me, this thread is a motivator for me to finish games. I'll play some short games to boost my score. But for the most part I follow the thread to see what other people are playing. I can see how managing badges would be annoying af. I enjoy tracking my own games and it's a sense of accomplishment to see a list of games i've beaten. You can always see my list on my bio page.

Question: If I beat Super Mario World do I list it as if I played it on or ?

I like the badges, but I'm not going to go out of my way to beat certain games just for a badge. I mostly like this thread for keeping track of the games I've beaten. Since I joined the thread 3 or 4 years ago, I've beaten way more games each year than I had in a long time.

DemonAlcohol wrote:

List it however you want. Less confusing.

@DemonAlcohol You can list that under SNES: (via or ) or you can list under Switch OR PC (originally ) - folks have listed either way. Or you can omit the 'originally' aspect - all of us know SMW was a SNES title.

Game #19 Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep: A Wonderlands One-Shot Adventure on

Kommie wrote:

There should be an end of year badge given out to anyone who didn't request any badges.

That way no one can get them all.

I think badges should be harder. Playing 2 games of a given genre over a year isn't that hard. Make people earn them. Less busy work.

I like badges, because they motivate me to play games I might otherwise put off. If it weren't for badges, I probably wouldn't have gotten to Cuphead for a long time, and I ended up enjoying that one.

benstylus wrote:

Better yet, a badge for the person who has told us the most that they don't care about badges.

benstylus wrote:

That is actually a cool idea. I wonder how many clears I could get a 360 and Ps3/4. Those were the only 2 games I had experience with where I could sim seasons. I'm sure there are more.

And I was just being honest, I could have just said I'd clear them and not mention the sim. It is me having to sim the games and then play the playoff games legit to guarantee a Superbowl. I didn't have any intentions of playing these games, but my attempt to play something I actually wanted to play (DD1/2) wasn't allowed.

As for the badges I see them just as trophy hunting. If I put a disc in my PlayStation that is a commitment to earn ALL trophies, no exceptions. When I joined this group that was a commitment to earn ALL badges. So badges for games I don't really enjoy I'll of course try and make those experiences better by choosing something closer to what I like. I have no desire to play through a season of MLB, I only have those football games because they were easy 1000GS. I do plan to play some fishing games this year, but really just want to get all these badges out of the way so I can concentrate on other games.

If you guys start adding badges that can't be earned by everyone then I'd just finish what I started for this year and not participate in the next one. Maybe that is what you guys want? I know I'm a pain with all these rulings on games/badges. Its like games with glitched/unobtainable trophies, I won't play them as I can't earn them all.

I'd be going for the systems badge as well, but I don't have close to the amount as Ben. So badges will have to be enough.

8th of month, 5th Android, 22nd overall
The Room

Had some Play Store credit that I wanted to spend before it expired, was aware of the game/series and it was about the only game that caught my attention in the top 100 paid apps on the store that was cheap enough to entertain. So I got it and the first sequel and beat it after 3 sessions. Was pretty good and I didn't get stumped beyond what the in-game hints could help with. Strange title of sorts since you interact with a complicated safe/box vs. a room but whatever.

@WithinTemptation I totally get going for the badges to collect them as I know I earned the most across '20 & '21 combined and a few other folks have gone for a bunch these past two years. @SupremeSarna did something similar to what you've done lately so don't take it too personally and know that if you 'plan to play some fishing games this year' that the badges are for the whole year. @Bleed_DukeBlue went on a tear in Nov/Dec of '21 to take the lead away from me annoyingly so you don't have to prioritize them now.
Last year Sarna was in some ways more annoying (still glad you're here Sarna-poo ) as he asked for a bunch of new badges and I think Antipop created some for him before I took over. The new rule about allowing the top clearer getting to create a new badge was for him - I knew he would (and did) get the most clears and it limited him to only 1 new badge vs. a bunch. I also promised no changes mid-year, so I won't be creating any others, certainly not to punish someone who just has to 'collect 'em all' like you.
Just don't lose sight of the reason for the badges - exactly what Bleed_DukeBlue said, 'they motivate me to play games I might otherwise put off.' But that means you need to play them or like you sort of suggested, just lie and claim you beat them...
But they're meant as an incentive to play more genres and no one will care, besides you, if you do, or don't, earn them all.

DD1/2 are allowed, play those games if you want, but I think most folks have agreed that they really aren't sports titles in the idea of the Bo Knows badge. BTW there's a recent baseball series called Super Mega Baseball and the season isn't crazy long, you could try that, or there are scores of 8 or 16-bit sports titles that aren't really long either, like Slalom from Rare on the NES, I loved that game as a kid. I will admit that I've used HowLongToBeat.com to help me pick out some games especially last year when I beat 120, so by all means use that and find a bunch if you want. I am sorry I've moaned a little, been grumpy due to the nuts weather here and I kicked off all of this mess.

Carry on, I'm glad that you and several others are playing lots of games and keeping the thread active.

@PizzaTheHutt do you mind if I only list your latest as: Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep? That name is obnoxiously long.

I just started a new series that's won me over with its charm. It's pretty challenging, but I like all the bizarre scenarios you get to play through. It contains a lot of monkeys, a Mexican wrestler who memed online IRL, and a double-date between high schoolers and weasels. What series did I just start?

*Electric guitar goes wild as "Ee-oom, uh-oom" intensifies*

I beat area 51 on the ps1 (played on ps2 )

legendrko25 wrote:

Is that the light gun shooter?

If I remember right, you can play in "alien mode" by shooting only the first 5 civilians (not shooting any aliens).

Then your screen gets a green tint and you can shoot anything with no negative consequences.

I love hidden bonuses like that

Slickriven wrote:


Yeah, that's fine

I tortured myself by beating Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (originally NES) using just Alucard after recruiting him.
[imgt w=1280 h=720]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRU5dSdVEAAbwTd?format...[/imgt]
Ouch, ouch, OUCH. Alucard can be nimble and dodge a lot of hairy encounters with his bat ability, but his "balls of destruction" are incredibly underpowered. This makes most bosses a nightmare, especially the Cyclops in the three-boss rematch and the infamous Doppelganger--the latter basically requires you to trick the AI and abuse its dodgy programming so you snipe it repeatedly through a platform you won't let it leave. The game expects you to hit with the upgraded spreadshot to defeat most foes, so missing an upgrade or standing too far away when firing is a horrible mistake.

Just use Syfa. You won't regret it.

Noita got my first 3 orb win.. this game is tough.

I beat Kirby's Dream Land and Super Mario Land (both originally GB). It's Kirby's 30th anniversary in Japan today, so the former seemed fitting. The latter was short, so I felt like blazing through it.
[imgt w=2048 h=1536]https://i.imgur.com/l02KdKi.jpeg[/imgt]
[imgt w=2048 h=1536]https://i.imgur.com/PBPS7UW.jpeg[/imgt]

Both games are good, but I died more times in Mario Land than I expected. A bit slippery in the control department.
Happy 30th, Kirby! You've been amazing time and time again! Your future looks bright!

@SupremeSarna

Nice! I beat Kirby's Dream Land here last year. I think I even posted that exact ending pic too.

I beat Link's Crossbow Training and got all platinums for the first time!
[imgt]https://i.imgur.com/awMpY80_d.webp?maxwidth=640&sh...[/imgt]
This is a great Zelda game no one talks about. Probably because it's just a shooting range with a Twilight Princess skin. But this is pretty addicting, being a fun score attack game with tricky target patterns and enemies. It's just a cool addition to the Twilight Princess universe, one that any fan should try out. Makes me wish there were other Crossbow Training games to coincide with newer Zelda releases, like Breath of the Wild or Link's Awakening. Dare I say... for A Link Between Worlds or The Adventure of Link? One can dream.

I beat two more games:
Donkey Kong (originally NES)
Wild Guns (originally SNES)
[imgt w=1280 h=720]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRZqnLjVIAM-Gfi?format...[/imgt]
[imgt w=1280 h=720]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRaMsehUUAAGOpn?format...[/imgt]
For those keeping score, I'd previously beaten the remake Wild Guns Reloaded, but the original has enough differences to change the overall experience. The most noticeable is the lack of widescreen and other playable characters, making this generally harder for the player.

I beat Panzer Dragoon: Remake
[imgt w=1280 h=720]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRaiag9UcAIZOVk?format...[/imgt]
This is what you get if you take Star Fox 64, slow it down, remove the barrel roll, mute the characters, and cut out all optional routes. I've played far better.

SupremeSarna wrote:

I loved Link's Crossbow Training, wish they would make another one.

They made another wii sports, so it could happen

SupremeSarna wrote:


I've never played that, but I remember watching a video about it a year or two ago (might've been one of those "Did You Know Gaming" videos) and apparently the people working on that wanted it to be a lot more than what it ended up being, but Miyamoto kept shooting down their ideas.

PizzaTheHutt wrote:

Is this the video you're thinking of:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGxQIba1S_4

@Scott This video at 4:25
It sounds like Super Mario Galaxy 2 in that the devs wanted to do more with a story but Miyamoto didn't want it.
https://youtu.be/hnSeLy1e8VA?t=265

Yeah, it had a Terminator-esque plot of Link traveling in time to justify him using a machine gun. Can't imagine why that didn't pan out.

Miyamoto insisted on no boss battles for some reason, but the devs convinced him to allow one. Then they went behind his back and made a second boss battle despite their boss not wanting any, and none of them were fired over it. That takes guts.

@Slickriven I'm halfway to First Amendment.

Earned the Sasori Vader badge without needing to play Disney Infinity.

Ben 10 Alien Force: Vilgax Attacks
Lego Star Wars II

Sasori Vader (Ben 10 Alien Force: Vilgax Attacks, Lego Star Wars II)

Also I never did get around to "playing" those Madden games. I did dig them out. But didnt play them yet. Just wanted to be sure you didnt include them as complete as my comments implied I was playing them. While easy, it still requires probably 30-60 minutes of time to sim them and I really wasn't feeling like doing it that night. Now that you said I can play DD1/2 for the badge I won't bother with the football games.

@WithinTemptation Got your Sas-Vader clears recorded, consider badge earned. 10-4 on the Madden's, I hadn't recorded them.

Note that I didn't say DD1/2 counted for Bo Knows. I said this: DD1/2 are allowed, play those games if you want, but I think most folks have agreed that they really aren't sports titles in the idea of the Bo Knows badge.
If that's not clear I meant DD1/2 are games you can play, but the spirit of the Bo Knows badge is you are taking 'control' of a athlete or team of athletes in some capacity and controlling them in a physical sport that excludes racing/driving/piloting some powered craft. I watch real racing (F1, Indy, MotoGP) those guys are athletes for sure, but since we have the Race Drivin' badge then games where you race cars/motorcycles/jet-skis/planes/ATVs would count for that badge. Racing on skis/snowboards/skates/feet/skateboards or other human powered contraptions could be counted for Bo Knows.

9th of April, 23rd overall, 2nd SNES
Kirby Super Star
Badge - counts towards Girly

Never tried any Kirby game before but finally gave this a shot for the RTT GotM thread. Lovely title, if a little drawn out across the final 2 sub-games. I beat this on my Classic and that controller wrecks my hands now, even worse is the NES controller, but the idea of the grips that SONY introduced were/are wonderful. Enjoyed the style of the game and all the variety of characters that Kirby could become, as well as the companion. I will certainly look to play some other Kirby titles now/soon.

Slickriven wrote:

Thanks for clarifying. I guess DD1/2 will go back in the maybe if I have time category. I'll keep Madden around as an option if I I'm still missing the badge. I'll play 1 fishing game for sure, but they take forever and I dont want to fall behind any more than I am now. Not popular opinion, but I really like most fishing games and I have 4 of them I still need to try out.

I beat Super Mario Bros. (originally Xbox 360). It's old but good. Surprisingly, it's my favorite of the original Mario trilogy (or quadrilogy if you include Lost Levels). Just can't get into the others due to their cruel difficulty, annoying design, or slightly archaic choices compared to SMW and the NSMB series.
[imgt w=1280 h=720]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRfGHwwUcAAWYBw?format...[/imgt]

@WithinTemptation I swear I'm not trying to bust you balls. Thanks for being understanding.

You are well out in front on the badges for sure. You've earned 20 of them, so that means basically 2/3rds of your 62 completed titles have been counted towards a badge. I'm showing you only have 7 remaining:
Bear & Bird, Bo Knows, Cross the Streams, Girly, JRPG, Raccoon City and S.O.F.T.

SupremeSarna wrote:

Wait... WHAT??? originally ???

Slickriven wrote:

I mean total clears. I figure @SupremeSarna and I will tie both having all badges. Cross the streams might take a while as I'm going to play Lego Dimensions and I've played them before and they are pretty lengthy games.

Slickriven wrote:

Yeah, don't you know? Microsoft set the world on fire with Super Mario Bros. in 2005. They followed it up with 2 and 3, but North America wasn't ready for Lost Levels yet. The series recently celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2020. Gotta love that cheeky plumber. =]

SupremeSarna wrote:

That is my favorite version.

I never gave SMB a thought. I should dust off the NES and get another clear. I used to be able to clear it pretty fast, who knows now.

I beat Donkey Kong Jr. (originally NES).
[imgt w=1280 h=720]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRfPS0zVUAAy661?format...[/imgt]
Unlike Happy in Spider-Man: No Way Home, I don't like it. It's lame compared to its contemporaries and very finnicky.

I beat 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim on Switch. Kinda like Disco Elysium - not really a visual novel but might as well be.

Finished up Elden Ring on Xbox Series X a few days ago.

RVM wrote:

I thought you were done with this thread as you hadn't posted all year. Game recorded and will appear in the OP when I likely update that over the weekend.

Slickriven wrote:

Elden Ring has been the only game I played since it's release this year so over 2 months on it? Back to Final Fantasy VII Remake now.

I beat conkers bad fur day on the xbox1 (side note was since i was young till now my favorite game its so raunchy, nasty, hilariously wonderful and the music tracks are phenomenal)

I beat 6x1≠UNLIMITED? , bringing me halfway to the Kawaii Otaku badge.
[imgt]https://i.imgur.com/x0rotGh_d.webp?maxwidth=640&sh...[/imgt]

An okay game that gets repetitive and a little unfair, I don't understand it. There's some guy in a buff Tron suit who, as you can see, is getting possessed or something. You control six different pilots who have to mow down hundreds of polygon fighters in a cyber area. There are multiple endings, apparently, but I have no clue how to trigger more than the bad ending shown above. Oh well, it was worth the 500 yen, at least.

I beat three more games.
Bonanza Bros. (originally Genesis)
[imgt]https://i.imgur.com/D278qcz_d.webp?maxwidth=640&sh...[/imgt]

Super Fantasy Zone (originally Mega Drive), which earns me the other half of Kawaii Otaku (6x1, Super Fantasy Zone).
[imgt]https://i.imgur.com/E8SpAJ7_d.webp?maxwidth=640&sh...[/imgt]

Star Fox 64 (originally N64)
[imgt]https://i.imgur.com/LTBu8yD_d.webp?maxwidth=640&sh...[/imgt]

Good games all around.

@SupremeSarna inspired me to get out the old GB and play SMB. A couple a quick games that wont earn me badges, but I'm falling behind on the clears. Might do some trophy trash games after I finish Wario Land tonight.

I guess I get to add to my systems list.

Super Mario land
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins

I beat Castlevania Bloodlines . My favorite of the retro Castlevanias, but it does come with that classic Castlevania frustration. I had to replay the whole game after reaching Dracula because my password saved me with no lives and no continues--try fighting six bosses and a short stage with only one life (or two if you manage to break a specific candle over a pit; not so easy to nab).
[imgt]https://i.imgur.com/AFLZW9b_d.webp?maxwidth=640&sh...[/imgt]

Just finished up Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3

Also completed

My Name is Mayo
My Name is Mayo
My Name is Mayo 2

I beat Virtua Fighter Animation . Did the story twice to meet the requirement.
[imgt]https://i.imgur.com/VTg4WDz_d.webp?maxwidth=640&sh...[/imgt]

SupremeSarna wrote:

Use the "don't get hit" method. Works every time

Slickriven wrote:

It was ALL ACCORDING TO EL PLAN! WAHAHA!

*ahem*

I mean, I'm glad you had fun. Happy 30th anniversary, Kirby. ^_^

My #38 is Slay the Spire.

https://ibb.co/vPRVYWJ

#16: Astro's Playroom

Yes, it's the pack-in game. So what? It's fun.

A darn fine platformer and a charming love letter to all things PlayStation. Astro Bot is adorable. You can build a mini PlayStation museum with the items and coins you find.

This and Kirby and the Forgotten Land qualify me for Bear and Bird.

I beat some more games, WithinTemptation.
-Star Fox 64 3D
-ARMS . Used Min Min and Master Mummy.
-Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS . Used Cloud and Ryu.
-Kirby Fighters Deluxe . Used Beetle and Whip. This earns me Girly (Kirby's Dream Land, Kirby Fighters Deluxe), but hey, Kirby's worth it.
-Doc Louis's PUNCH-OUT!!
-Super Smash Bros. (originally N64). Used Kirby and Link.

[imgt w=2048 h=1536]https://i.imgur.com/gynKRLe.jpeg[/imgt]
[imgt w=1280 h=720]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRnw9pMVkAA_FlK?format...[/imgt]
[imgt w=2048 h=1536]https://i.imgur.com/U6sdSAd.jpeg[/imgt]
[imgt w=2048 h=1536]https://i.imgur.com/KTWZIuh.jpeg[/imgt]
[imgt w=2048 h=1536]https://i.imgur.com/UxETiTa.jpeg[/imgt]
[imgt w=2048 h=1536]https://i.imgur.com/Fy8gEZJ.jpeg[/imgt]

@SupremeSarna me too, been at it all day playing the Sega Genesis collection. There is 28 potential clears there (not going to play the Phantasy Star games), I'll update the post in a few hours when I get a few more cleared but I'll list a few just to take a break.

Can I count these for the ? It would be cool to add that to my systems list. But I'm not playing them on the

Altered Beast
Alien Storm
Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
Columns (I got a little over 31K on easy mode, I'm calling that a clear. This game is really hard!)
Cyber Police E-SWAT
Golden Axe
Golden Axe II
Golden Axe III
Super Thunder Blade
Sonic The Hedgehog
Bonanza Bros.
Streets of Rage

I really love how you can save the game at any time in the collection. Some of these would be near impossible (at least for me) without a save to fall back on. Even on easy with 7 lives Super Thunder Blade was hard. I can say no way I'd beat that without making backup saves.

...Why do I try.

SupremeSarna wrote:

Looks like we might reach 1000+ clears between us easy. You just reminded me that fighting games are easy clears. I originally just played them for the badge. I don't really like them, I used to long ago so I have several. I'll have to break them out for some clears when I'm finished with this genesis collection.

E-SWAT is a game that reminds me allot of what gaming was like back in the NES days. I don't feel very smart after playing this game. It took me forever to figure out you need to press up/down while jumping to reach some ledges. I was honestly stuck on the first level and had to look up a video. I'm not sure how you are supposed to know that it even possible. Then I got stuck again on the second level not knowing you could walk behind the bars. This game is really good though. Makes me wish I had this game and a Genesis as a kid. Once you get your suit and better weapons the game really gets fun.

I applaud your dedication, @WithinTemptation . I've burned through most of my sub-1h games, and I don't want to beat games I played last year just to reach a high number. I'll keep beating games, but only the ones I feel inspired to play for intrinsic reasons. Still working some quirky games I won't name...
(Wubba-dubba-dubba, zat true?)

SupremeSarna wrote:

This has been fun. I wouldn't be playing most of this stuff for clears had you and Ben not been setting the bar so high. I like the competition. I've been mostly playing "new" stuff, and by new meaning not beaten in the last few years. I think pretty much every 360 game I cleared I had beaten at least once before in the past. So it was much easier to speed run them since I was familiar already. Some of the quick trophy trash stuff I did beat last year but since I didn't participate last year I figured I could use the clears.

I am also working on longer games myself, but your recent clears made me put them on pause. lol.

Just beat Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine and am still watching the credit roll.

This game is stupid hard and the only reason I beat it is because I'd just keep continuing until my opponent randomly failed. Stage 13 you would need to be super human. It moves so fast I cant see how anyone can actually play. I just filled up the columns as long as I possibly could and Dr. Robotnik strangely had 1 single column fill up in the middle of the screen. Even doing that it was really difficult to even fill the far right column. But I dont care, seen the credit roll. lol

I definitely thought Columns was the better of these type of games in the collection.

SupremeSarna wrote:

You didn't use save states though.

image

@WithinTemptation @SupremeSarna You 2 are trying to drive me nuts, right? 34 clears in April for Sarna and 40 for WT - what was once seemingly a @benstylus runaway lead has now been tied by WT and SS is within a TD w/extra point (BS: 81, WT: 81, SS: 74)

WT, traditionally emulated or game collection titles only would count for their original console if you actually own that original console. So if you own a then those dozen or so could count for it, if not they would be counted under the actual console you beat them on, guessing (correct me if I'm wrong) and would get the () bit added, like many of Sarna's and other's clears. And I'm counting the Bean Machine for April, even if you technically beat in May based on your post's timestamp.

SS - I'm a bit hesitant to count Kirby Fighters Deluxe for Girly. I agree with sailorneorune's suggestion of making Kirby, in general, a Girly candidate but a fighting game doesn't fit the nature of that badge - just like if there was a Barbie fighter that shouldn't count. I know you like Kirby titles and maybe already have a 2nd Kirby that could count? Let me know.

10th of April (beat it yesterday), 24th overall, 1st
Vampire Night
Get's me halfway on Plastic badge

Back in college I used some of my disposable income to pick up a few GunGon2 games like this (complete with a GC2), Time Crisis 2 (also w/GC2), Time Crisis 3, Crisis Zone, Ninja Assault and RE: Dead Aim. I really enjoyed these back then and last year after setting up a lovely CRT in my basement I beat the 3 TC series games. So it was time to try the other 3. Back in the day I surely recall playing VN the most of those 3 other titles, in fact I never played RE:DA as I got it later on and wasn't into GC2 games by then. I actually sought to play RE:DA first yesterday and wasn't a fan as it's basically OG RE (with tank controls) and then you can use the GC2 to go into a 1st person view and shoot zombies. But using the weak d-pad on the back of the GC2 was painful. I switched to the standard controller to try to move around before setting it down and grabbing the GC2 to shoot, but I was attempting to stand for all of this, so it was a mess. I gave up pretty quickly on that and switched to VN.

I fondly recalled the early stages of VN, but before long it pleasantly felt brand new and I actually didn't recall some of the later stages at all. Maybe I never beat it back then, but I know I played it co-op a decent amount, so who knows. It was fun and while I had some 9 hits enabled before a continue and credit was required, I did beat it while only using 4 continues, so around 40-ish hits, which felt pretty good since I didn't recall most of the later game boss attack patterns or whatnot. Speaking of bosses, the later stages felt more like a boss rush as there was not a lot of each stage devoted to standard foes and I surely spent more time and bullets fighting the bosses. Wow, was the writing and voice acting super bad in this - it was comical how the delivery and writing was just.... bad - it's almost worth looking up someone's YT playthrough to witness yourselves.

I think I'll move onto Ninja Assault next/soon as I do recall not playing much of it either, so it should be a mostly new experience as well.

Sarna also has Kirby Tilt 'n Tumble and Viva Pińata that qualify for Girly.

@Slickriven Then I've at least earned Bo Knows (Rusty's Real Deal Baseball, Doc Louis's PUNCH-OUT!!). I'll play Kirby Mass Attack in June, so I'll get that badge back before long.
EDIT: Like @sailorneorune said, Viva Pinata will do fine. I played that one because a female friend of mine recommended it, so Girly checks out there.

@SupremeSarna 10-4 on Bo Knows, and I had seen the older Kirby title and sailorneorune suggested Viva Pinata, so I can grant Girly too.

Didn't you say we were changing Girly's name and completion requirement? Girl Power for clearing games with female protagonists, if I recall.

Slickriven wrote:

I do own a but only have like 3 games left. So I didn't add it to my list. And at the time I had no intentions of playing it. Sonic 2 and Sonic & Knuckles are 2 of the games I own. They are also in the collection. I'll be clearing Sonic 2 for sure. Haven't decided if I'll complete both.

First clear of this month Flicky

This games is really fun and addicting. It must be good if I'm taking time to comment on it. It might be my favorite from the collection, though there are a few others I really enjoyed like E-Swat and Bonanza Brothers. Its another fun but actually hard game. Controls take a bit of getting used to, which was the hardest part. Once I figured you you can actually knock the cats out with the objects they leave for you in each level it was so much easier. But not so easy that I didn't save my game every few levels. I like this enough I might try and buy a cart only.

Comix Zone

I'll admit I used the invincibility code on the jukebox. This is a very neat title, even today I haven't seen anything like this done before. You jump from each scene in a comic book and fight through it. I thought it was cool you can even fart. This was another game I wish there was a manual as it took far took long to figure out some things. I'd love to see a similar style game made on today's hardware.

@WithinTemptation I get why you didn't list your - I was hesitant to list my N64, DC and GameGear for the same reasons basically. But with emulation I have played a few games for them in the past few years. I only ever owned like 3-4 games for each.
Since you have cleared so many for the Gen and you do own it, I'm good with putting them onto that console since playing a collection release like that is hardly different vs. playing ROMs.

@SupremeSarna Girly has changed some yes - what was originally created by AntiPop for Scott after he beat like 5+ Barbie games has changed to include female protagonists (like Life is Strange, Mirror's Edge, even Tomb Raider) but SailorNeoRune brought up a point I liked about Kirby in that those titles could count as they were targeted towards a kid or female audience. I counted a Strawberry Shortcake game for it last year.

Help me clarify what you're counting your Kirby games for, since you had listed Forgotten Land earning Bear & Bird with Conker... or maybe I made that assumption? I won't give you either Bear & Bird, nor Girly until we square this away, thanks.


I could be on board for changing Girly's name as I would not want to be considered sexist and the scope of the badge has indeed changed overall. Having a new icon to go with it might not hurt either.

------ OP now updated with April's clears

That took me well over an hour <sigh>, wasn't helped by so many clears from @WithinTemptation and @SupremeSarna in the past few days, but also updating badges and consoles and those leaderboards.... oh well.
For April's leaderboard, those 2 went nuts, each clearing in the month more games than 34 members have total on the year...
1. 40 - WithinTemptation
2. 34 - SupremeSarna
3. 10 - BenStylus & Slickriven
5. 9 - LegendRko25
6. 5 - Bleed_DukeBlue, Buster4252, DemonAlcohol

At this rate the seemingly lofty 150 clears from Sarna in '21 will be obliterated. But outside of the top 3 we might be ever so slightly down on pace. After 4 months in '21 we had 5 more clears vs. this year (649 to 644) but nobody was over 60 clears. There were 8 folks, out of 30, who had 35+ clears. This year we only have 6 folks north of 35 clears, out of 40... <shrug> #NotComplaining
Also in '21, May was the last month north of 130 total clears of the year. The next 3 months barely got above 100, then 2 months of low 80's followed by 2 in the low 90's to close out the year. So far this year is pretty similar, with a strong Jan, then the next 3 months were 137-155. Will be interesting to see if '22 trends like '21 did.

@Slickriven Thanks for doing all of this. Sorry to bother you, but I think I'm missing one badge (Guybrush Threepwood for Lifeline and Subsurface Circular).


Slickriven wrote:

Slickriven wrote:

I earned Bear and Bird from Conker and Kirby and the Forgotten Land. I earned Girl Power from Viva Pinata and Kirby's Dream Land.

I'd say Shantae's or Lara Croft's heads would be good images for Girl Power.

Bleed_DukeBlue wrote:

No bother, I wasn't 'working' on the thread update 100% - also have a bit of a headache from staying up way too late playing Tunic and then Dishonored. Will add badge shortly.

------ Minor Badge change:
The Girly badge is now: Girly Power: beat 2 games with female leads OR targeted towards children or feminine audiences

If anyone could do an icon of Shantae, Lara Croft or some other noteworthy strong female iconic female game character I will happily change from the current, possibly insensitive, Barbie one.

Slickriven wrote:

Fetch would be cool as well. But I actually like the current logo.

If this included kids games I'm pretty sure I have 2 kids games that havent been used for a badge yet. I've played a bunch of them. Maybe Open Season and Bolt would qualify?

Playing all these old games the last few days really reminds me of half the challenge back in the day was actually having to figure things out yourself. No internet to help you out. The first thing I'd do when I had to go to the store with my parents was run to the magazine section and read through all the game magazine looking for hints/codes for games I owned. I sent a few things I found myself in, but nothing ever got published.

WithinTemptation wrote:

Sounds like a more complicated, delayed version of Googling the solution.

@WithinTemptation Consider that badge earned then as those 2 sound like good candidates to me.

Yeah if you like games that give you no help, then try out Tunic - I've been playing it the past week+ and I love some aspects as it feels like an isometric original Zelda, but it does almost zero to help you out. I've resisted going to the interwebs for hints or whatever, but I have followed a guy's YT walkthrough - almost solely to sort out strategies for some of the bosses as they can be brutal. I've noticed he's playing an older version with slightly different attacks from some bosses and foes. But impressively he's not searched like I have for pickups and hidden stuff - of which there are plenty, b/c I have a bunch more things vs. him. But again I'm largely playing myself and skipping forward if I get stuck/frustrated facing a boss usually and then go back to his video.
I've struggled my way though lots of things and what's a big tie in to what you said about 'figuring things out yourself' is that the game has some pickups that are 2-sided pages of what feels like a era manual, BUT upwards of 75% of it's written in a Hieroglyphics like text, so you have to rely on images or some of the English that's sprinkled in, also there's some pen markings that seem to be from a prior owner in the margins and such - it's a cool way to slowly drip out info on the game, but also annoying with so much still missing context.
The game is solid and if some sections weren't infuriating or if the manual could be updated to show things you learned, then I'd give it a 10/10, but those 2 things hurt it really bad and caused me to take a break for a while as I wanted to snap my controller in half after facing the current situation I'm at as it's a bit like a gauntlet of foes and you're in a lowered state of health that seemingly fully ignores the upgrades you purchased/applied already.

Finished off a few more from the collection.

VectorMan 2
Sonic 3D Blast

I really liked these games. Not something I'd play allot now days, but these two would have been amazing to own as a kid. I would have played them allot back then. Sonic 3D Blast was totally not what I was expecting, but that turned out to be a good thing. I thought the controls were bad, but the game was good enough I could look past it. As a bonus your saving that Flicky bird and his friends from one of the other games I really liked in this collection. He seems to be in several of the Sonic games now that I think about it. Never knew how much he was involved in the sega world back in the day playing Sonic 2 and freeing them after a boss.

Just finished Streets of Rage 3 using the kangaroo.

SupremeSarna wrote:

You're too young to understand since I assume you grew up with internet readily available. And it was nowhere near as good as googling. I had a few games I was just plain stuck on despite playing them over and over again. We would always get to a point were we didn't know what to do next. I should break those games out and finally beat them. One of those being Legacy of the Wizard. I discussed it a few years back in the RTT thread and they gave me some ideas. I think I last played it before you were even born so I can't remember how far I got, but I do know we would just be running in circles at one point. What was told is you needed different characters to do things and I honestly dont remember if we knew that or not, but it seems like why we might not have been able to advance.

Maybe we need a new thread: Who can beat the most games in a year?

Scott wrote:

I'm sure no one wants to be in charge of that topic.

Kommie wrote:

I can think of a few people who have the time.

For April I beat:

My Big Sister (Vita): Some cool pixel graphics, the plot is so so. Might be worth checking if you're into light horror stuff.

FF7 Remake (PS4): Really enjoyed this new presentation and the expanded take on the characters. I might go for the plat later. Also, anybody that hated FF13 because of its linearity but praised this one needs to take a long look in the mirror.

Marvel's Spider-Man (PS4): Finally played this after having it for so long in the backlog. The combat system and web-swinging through the city are a blast. Currently going through the DLC.

Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires' Conspiracy (Switch): I think I've only played the first two Layton titles, so I'm not an expert, but I found this one to be rather simple. Puzzles weren't that difficult, and there was some focus on extra mini-games that I didn't really care about. The presentation and the charm are there, though.

Scott wrote:

Time, yes. People who actually want to do it though?

Game #13 Alien Soldier

Kommie wrote:

To Sarna's credit, he did offer to help out with this thread. I turned him down b/c I didn't want to monkey with my 'system' and when AntiPop and I tried to work it together it wasn't perfect either. I'm thinking for '23 I'll pass on the reigns to him and see how that goes - then he can add a new badge weekly for all I care.

WithinTemptation wrote:

I grew up with Internet, but I lacked parental permission to use it beyond a handful of sites. Fortunately, in the GameCube/Wii era, games were being more transparent in their direction. Paper Mario: TTYD and Super Mario Sunshine held many secrets, but how to reach the end of the game wasn't one of them. Cooking all the recipes and finding all the blue coins were trickier.

Slickriven wrote:

I'd probably limit my badge additions to around ten-ish. I don't want to overdo it, after all. I have a lot to learn before I can completely take over, though.

SupremeSarna wrote:

Around November I can start to get you involved so it doesn't just drop into your lap on January 1 if you'd like that. We can chat about it as time draws near.

Slickriven wrote:

Sure thing. Happy to assist.

Slickriven wrote:

I'm loosing my motivation to be clears leader now. lol. I really wanted my badge to be added Maybe @SupremeSarna will add some of my idea regardless or who wins

Scott wrote:

Not me, too busy with all these clears

Two more games to report, one for April and one for May.

On April 30, I got all the high scores in Pirate Pop Plus for 3DS (#82) I didn't realize there wasn't an actual ending, and it's just a high score chase. Since I filled the high score table with all me, I'm considering it beaten.

Fun game. If you like Pang/Buster Bros., it's that, except sometimes gravity changes to a different side of the screen.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Kn73owPg8NaHeWxf6

Next up, this evening I was cataloging what games I have downloaded to my various systems in preparation for OMG!Con. And going through my PS3, I saw the Nights Into Dreams remaster (#83) and got all nostalgic.

The Saturn, and especially Nights really defined my college years. So I finished cataloging the PS3 then started up the game.

Even with a PlayStation controller instead of a Saturn 3D Pad, it's still one of the best, more pure games ever made. I really do love almost everything about it (not so much a fan of the randomized bosses though. Some of them are much tougher than others)

https://photos.app.goo.gl/M7RDrnWRRjebcAGc9

January:

February

March:

April:

May:

@benstylus I added your April game to the OP, but didn't mess with the overall leader board to give you 82 over WT's 81 - since he's already to 86 in May... I'll button that up when I do my next larger OP update.

Knocked out a few more from the collection. Not sure how many more I'll play. There are about 10 others I have put some time into, but not sure how many I'll try and finish. Maybe I'll grind this collection one more day and see where I'm at.

Vectorman
Streets of Rage 2
Sonic Spinball

I used a cheat code to refill my health in Vectorman so it wasn't too bad. Otherwise would have been rough. Sonic Spinball wasn't too bad, but some parts of the levels were annoying. I'd make a save after each emerald. So this wasn't too bad either with save states. I could do some trial and error and just reload when it didn't work. Its not a long game, but can see it being difficult to beat without saves.

#16 down: Bound by Flame on PS4. That (alongside Foreclosed) should give me the You're Winner badge.

There's no critic metacritic score available for the version of Foreclosed I played (the Stadia version), but the PC version got a 53. Subjectively, I also thought it was pretty bad. Bound by Flame got a metacritic score of 53. I actually didn't think it was that bad, but I got it as part of Secret Satan, so, not only did it pass the Metacritic criteria, but it also was specifically given to me because someone thought it was really bad.

Bleed_DukeBlue wrote:

I couldn't beat Bound by Flame's final boss for the life of me. I don't know why it was so difficult for me, lol

Aside from that, I also thought it was ok. Certainly not as bad as some people claim.

That last boss was tough. It took me awhile, but I had a stockpile of those explosive mine things, health potions, and crossbow bolts, so I just barely got by him.

Best1989 wrote:

I liked Bound by Flame. I thought it was a decent game.

I just beat another game, but there's more content to it. I'll update you when I've finished it. Hint: It's a normally-expensive Wii game I got through the Wii U eShop.

Everyone needs to experience The Quiet Man. You think you've played the worst game ever? Think again.

Wikipedia:

"The Quiet Man is an action-adventure beat 'em up video game developed by Human Head Studios and published by Square Enix..."

Oh the Balan Wonderworld guys!

benstylus wrote:

You act like that's their claim to fame. How quaint! Any gamer will scoff and remind you that they made King's Knight, too.

SupremeSarna wrote:

Any gamer who remembers King's Knight never actually played it.

If you had, your brain would have repressed those memories for your own good.

I have Balan but haven't played it. I'm sure it's a masterpiece compared to The Quiet Man.

Kirby is the better version of Balan Wonderworld. Less songs in foreign languages (not devoid of them), better powers. Kirby can become Bleachers. Kirby can become Wheel. Kirby can become Water Balloon. Kirby can become Arch. Kirby can become Traffic Cone. Kirby can become Lid. Kirby can become locker. These powers are very good.

I think I'm on the last world, Dedede kinda freaked me out. They did a good job of making him unnerving, and KIRBY FINALLY GETS PUNISHED FOR A VICTORY DANCE, SERIES FIRST

A couple more completed, these took allot longer than the others to complete. I have made good progress on a few others and "think" I'm close to finishing DecapAttack .

Ecco: The Tides of Time
Kid Chameleon

I liked both these games. Kid Chameleon is one of those games where you need certain powers to complete different parts of the levels. I didn't like how you had to randomly find those powers in the level and they could be lost. It also wasn't really obvious what some of them were even needed for. Like why would I think wearing a knights helmet would allow me to climb a wall? I had to look up a guide as a few parts I was stuck, but the not knowing about the wall climbing was the biggest hurdle. After that it wasn't too bad. I never did feel comfortable with the jumping in this game, I thought it was awful. The parts where you need to do short precise jumps I'd just save state before attempting as I'd fail like 20 times before randomly getting through. Still was a good game and another I can see myself really enjoying had I owned it back in the day.

Completed Bunny Raiders

Not bad for a free game. Each run is randomly generated and you must find your way to the boss. There are allot of different weapons and powerups. Took about 45 minutes to find the boss each time. If you die you have to start from scratch. I had to do 2 runs as the first time I failed at the boss. I did run into a few glitches that causes me to reset, but they were all early in a run so it wasn't so bad. One of the glitches is you can't go through a door, so that is a reset. The other I got a few times was it would somehow double my character and if the double died I had to reset. I had played it a few times before, but I'd get annoyed with the glitches and stop.

I beat Disneyland Adventures for the xbox1

Shadow Hearts

After about two weeks and a bunch of hints I posted that no one guessed, I beat Rhythm Heaven Fever (originally Wii).
[imgt]https://i.imgur.com/lV0TKBU_d.webp?maxwidth=640&sh...[/imgt]

It's got a ton of charm, appealing graphics, varied challenges, great music... and tremendous difficulty. I was hooked enough to play every challenge and get all Superb ranks, and even one Perfect on Ringside. But there's no way I'd go for all Perfects.

My favorites were Shrimp Shuffle, Ringside, Karate Man, Double Date, Samurai Slice, and Flipper-Flop. I didn't like Love Rap, Tambourine, Donk-Donk, Figure Fighter, and See Saw (though the music was tight). Some I'm half and half on, like Cheer Readers, Air Rally, and Monkey Watch--they're appealing but troublesome to do well. The Remixes are especially tough but mix up the visuals and often incorporate a bopping song (one of which is seems to be about a woman wanting you to take her virginity, in an E-rated Nintendo game).

If I had the chance to make a RH mini game, it would be about mashing cartoon potatoes with a potato masher. You can quote me on that.

Now enjoy some Rhythm Heaven meme videos from years ago. Language advisory on the second one.
https://youtu.be/9S3YXXp6bOM
https://youtu.be/71Gte4wiVL0
https://youtu.be/hZMyCt3a3MI

SupremeSarna wrote:

Nah, she's singing about getting a high score in the two player mochi minigame. Go make her dreams come true!

I've been threatening to do it for ages, but ten months after first picking it up for Frank's Game of the Month, I finally finished Horizon: Zero Dawn for the PlayStation 4.

I don't pay much attention to E3 or other big gaming conventions these days, but I remember when Horizon was first announced. The trailer opened as a cross-section of many popular AAA gaming tropes of the time: a strong female character with a unique look, bows and arrows, crafting, and a massive bustling environment to explore. It'd been a long time since I'd bothered with open world titles - they were too large and too long, and I was too easily distracted by errands to focus on the main quest thread - so I was about to write the game off. Right before I mentally checked out, though, Aloy rounded a corner and encountered a sabertoothed tiger. A robotic sabertooth tiger laced with white armor, thick electric cables, and a whole other mess of high-tech anachronisms. As the clip continued, the battles - and the monsters - grew bigger and more intense.

Massive, neverending open world? Not really interested. Massive, neverending open world with robotic dinosaurs that you fight with a bow and arrow? Okay, you now have my attention.

When Frank dropped Horizon as a Game of the Month, I took it as a welcome excuse to try the game out, which had been added to my library for free with the purchase of a PlayStation 5. My qualms about the game's open world nature were immediately put to rest as I noted all the quality of life improvements that newer entries to the genre had incorporated. The map is detailed and easily customizable, supplemented not with a minimap but with a robust radar and waypoint system with its own pathfinder. The player's inventory is well-divided into categories and sections and includes the notable ability to create quests for specific materials you need, which is a very welcome in-world substitute for throwing your hands up and heading straight to GameFAQs. The combat, as expected, was pretty overwhelming at first especially with its reliance on aiming with a bow. Once you figure out the appropriate times for melee and stealth and how they're complemented by the advanced abilities of your ranged weapons, the combat becomes really satisfying. This was also the first time I made steady use of the PlayStation Back Button attachment, which made running and activating my Focus - the Google Assistant of the Post-Apocalypse - more comfortable than the analog stick's buttons.

While I was engrossed by the world itself and the Big Question of how cavemen ended up dancing with robots, I was less enthralled with the game's minor characters and their "talking head" conversation sequences. The exposition usually dragged on, especially with the odd inflections in the language of these forwards-backwards people, and the voice performances paled in comparison to Aloy herself, who was stunning to watch in motion. I also predicatably fell into the open world trap and got lost completing side-quests, filling out the map, and trying to kill every herd of machines I encountered. By the end of the month, I'd barely made it through a third of the game's main missions, and by that point, it was time to move onto some new monthly challenge.

I started every month with the plan to finish off the monthly challenges and then jump back into Horizon where I left off, but that never ended up happening. The Horizon drop was also aligned with my return to full-time in-office work, plus a string of monthly challenges that took much longer to complete than average. Oddly enough, the greatest speedbump to picking Horizon back up was when the site collectively dove into another Sony open-world masterpiece, Marvel's Spider-Man. The game rocked with its dynamic combat, excellent well-performed narrative, and perfect cinematic presentation. I was much more interested in squeezing more and more out of that game than picking up an older open world title with mechanics that were much clumsier by comparison.

I felt the same way when Horizon finally found its way back to the top of my backlog. Even with a new performance patch that had dropped in the interim, my re-entry into Aloy's world was a clumsy one with me wasting arrows, scarfing medicinal herbs, and missing critical hits as I struggled to relearn the game's combat mechanics. I slowly found my footing, and as I did, the game's inner mysteries started to crack open. As I approached some long awaited answers to questions that had been dangling in front of me for almost a year, I started to crave my Horizon sessions again. The game's final act ended up being a masterfully crafted, incredibly satisfying conclusion that made the long hiatus worthwhile.

Horizon now has a large DLC pack and a full-fledged current generation sequel that are now both firmly imprinted on my radar, but who knows when I'll get to them? I have a hard time believing either of them will top the rush of Zero Dawn's final setpieces.

One of the reasons my Horizon playthrough was delayed is because I kept bumping other smaller unfinished games to the top of my backlog. With over thirty years of gaming, I could effectively fool myself with that approach forever; there are enough loose threads in my gaming history to knit a sweater for Shaq. With that in mind, I'm going to finish off this month's challenges - Gris for Frank's thread, and Alien Soldier for the Retro Talkshop Thread - and then dive into Mass Effect 2. I've started and made significant progress in the game twice - once at launch, and once many years later - but never saw it through to the end. It's time to change that.

@Slickriven

been playing a lot of stuff but most of it episodic and unfinished so not counting that stuff til its done.

these are some recent completions though


Once in a Lifetime

STWA: The Author

Nice write up @Renaissance2K - I too didn't get into HZD basically until it was Frank's GOTM selection and while I was excited for its selection and the push to start it, it was also a hair frustrating b/c it FULLY sucked me in and there was no way I could have realistically finished it in a month, I didn't want to rush it. I therefore finished it the following month and it immediately became the best game I played in that generation and I say that not loving some of the combat. I fully agree with your thoughts about side characters. I enjoy history and the story and how Aloy's history was told and unraveled was just awesome to me. I soaked in as much lore as I could and did all the side missions too - the dude who drank the machine blood was very enjoyable as was Silas - great actor.

I also didn't jump into the DLC and want to but I don't play on my PS4 really enough but I need to make time for it. Forbidden West is the #1 reason I want a PS5, Returnal and Ratchet are also up there. But I do differ with you on the Spidey take. Again Frank's selection got me to dig that title out and I didn't like it as much as I had hoped. I know why and it's largely b/c I adored the Arkham series and Spidey felt like a rip of that, but also tried to speed things up and go it's own way. I didn't enjoy playing as Miles/MJ or even Peter and never nailed the combat such that the final fight was about zero fun for me - taking many attempts. I also got sick of being shot at and sometimes hit after about 50% of the story and the simply too numerous groups of foes all over the place - made traversing a PITA. Game was excellent looking and traversal could be fun, the details of the city were excellent, but a few too many things left a bad taste in my mouth, such that unlike most open world games I didn't attempt to do all of the side stuff and haven't really thought about going back. I did do a decent amount, but I was ready for the end once it arrived.

Finished up DecapAttack and a couple more.

DecapAttack
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Fatal Labyrinth

Fatal Labyrinth is pretty bad. The playthrough was basically a ton of save states and running from enemies. I hated every minute of this game and forced myself to complete it. RNG rooms where the path only appears when you get close while having a ton of enemies run after you. Way too many dead ends. So I'd make a save each floor and run in one direction, if it was wrong I'd just reload the last save. It was far too easy for the enemies to box you in and they take so little damage from your weapons its pretty much game over since you get hit 4 times by the enemies to your 1 attack on just one of them. I found some armor or something that boosted my armor stat really high, so I could tank a few hits while running.

I know I said I was done with the collection, but there is only 4-5 more games I plan to finish. Possibly some of the arcade games, I'll try them all and see if anything is fun.

benstylus wrote:

I'm surprised you know which song I'm talking about. Rhythm Heaven is one of the lesser-known Nintendo series, as far as I can tell, and I didn't link the song, lol.

SupremeSarna wrote:

I don't think I ever heard of it. I'll have to check it out to see what kind of game it is.

what would completion requirements be of wii sports? one sport pro status or all sports pro status?

I beat Super Return of the Jedi . Thanks to @dunno001 for the sale!
[imgt]https://i.imgur.com/0MlSpp6_d.webp?maxwidth=640&sh...[/imgt]

Hard game like its predecessors. I used to say it was the best of the trilogy, but there are some janky levels in this one--Ewok Village 2 and the Shield Generator are the most egregious. It's nice that you can choose your character every stage, though, like the first Super Star Wars. And it has the password feature introduced in Super Empire. But the levels are certainly a mixed bag.

I think those 3 games for the SNES are great. Super Star Wars is the least of the 3. Empire is my favorite of the 3.

Also....did this thread finally generate a trade after five years? lol.

Completed Ristar

A little disappointed with my number 84, because I do like the original game quite a bit.

This one is Radirgy de Gojaru! for 3DS. I got it super cheap on the a Japanese eshop sale. It's kind of a dumbed down shooter that takes place on a single screen, and your job is to make sure no enemies or their shots go off the bottom of the screen.

You can shoot the enemies or swipe them with a sword to charge a battery which let's you use a shot-destroying net. So that's the gameplay loop. There are four weapon arrangements you can switch through at any time (including one where the sword also destroys bullets) but the frontal spread weapon is just generally better overall 98% of the time.

Also, you are invincible so you can get hit by bullets to stop them if you need to.

And there is tons of slowdown.

Anything that goes off the bottom of the screen will damage your base, and when it hits 0% it's game over. It's a pure high score chase game, and I completely destroyed the high score on my first play.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/mK55X5smTeFBGde19

Go play the original Radirgy instead of this one. Even at the sale price it is disappointing.

January:

February

March:

April:

May:

my listing wasn't updated for starfox 64 beat at the beginning of april (April 4th). I beat star fox snes today which earns me the sasori Vader badge starfox 64 and starfox snes.

Haunting Ground


image

This quote summarizes the story of this game:

"Let me into your womb!"

No, I did not pay $350+ for this. There are other ways to play this game other than paying $350 and making the already stupid price go up even more. You're better off buying a new, cheap Capcom game to at least support the publisher cause guess what? Paying $350+ to play this game the legal way gives no money to the developer or publisher. It just further increases the stupid price. Unless of course, you're a condescending morally superior goody-two-shoes who could never fathom playing this game the non-legal way. I think you can buy it on the Japanese PSN store on PS3, but I certainly have no desire to do that.

25th overall, 1st of May, 7th
Tunic
Gets me half way towards Hyrulian Hero

This is my Game of the Year so far - lovely title that drips of the original Legend of Zelda's vibe. I loved the music, was plenty happy with the graphics, the gameplay was stellar and challenging. The secrets were excellent with many to find and lots of hints. I figured out a large percent myself and was clued in to many others that I ended up looking up as I went for the 'complete' ending. Without trying to spoil anything you can get 2 endings, the first would've required a skilled fight against the final boss, while the one I went for required all of the treasure hunting. I initially wasn't looking to go for that, but as I went along I was finding things and noticing plenty of hints in the booklet such that I eventually decided to seek them all out.

After credits, you can start a NG+ right away and I did, but I'm not sure if I'll bother going all the way through, since I put 22+ hrs in already. But so much of the unlocks have stayed with me, so I would be able to go a lot faster through the story/path, plus there's an achievement for doing the other ending. But there's also one that requires a new regular game and some stuff that I don't think I care to try for that and if I beat NG+ then that other would be the only missing one and I think I'd be compelled to try for it then.

I completely recommend this title and I suggest not looking into guides and trying to figure out as much as you possibly can on your own. The hints in the pages of the manual you collect are generally good and the game encourages exploration and has a ton of hidden paths and fun things to discover. It's also a bit Souls-like in that your corpse can be revisited for a pickup of normally 20 gold if you can get back to it. I did most times, but others I screwed up and lost that $$ for good.

@buster4252 Sorry I missed your Star Fox 64, I had it recorded in the Google Sheet, just failed to copy it to the OP. Corrected that and have you down for the Sasori Vader badge upon my next main OP update.

As for Wii Sports, that's tough b/c it's sort of an open-ended mini-game collection. I guess use your best judgement and try to get a lot of it completed. I 100% think you need to at least complete all of the sports a few times and finish well - like score above say 150 bowling, win 2 baseball games, win 2 tennis matches, etc.

My #39 is Northgard.

https://ibb.co/6gYFcL6

Kommie wrote:

I'm going to need some clarification on this, lol.

SupremeSarna wrote:

The entire game, people are basically trying to rape/impregnate (although, they're always asking for permission to do it, and being refused) and or kill the main character. Maybe even a bit of both with some characters. It plays sorta like a Clock Tower game since it started out as CT4.

Kommie wrote:

Terrible. Hope you can put them in their place!

I beat skate 3 on the xbox360 I also beat call of duty black ops on the xbox360 (beating this and call of duty world at war gets me the 2nd amendment badge)

Alien Hominid

Kommie wrote:

That was pretty condescending for someone complaining about people being condescending.

Finished Sonic the Hedgehog 3

I beat tony hawks pro skater for the xbox1 i also beat tony hawks pro skater 2 for the xbox1

Dark Souls 2 - Xbox - Fudge this game. I want to love this game. But then I play this game. This may be the last time I ever play it.

JEEZUS! FINALLY. Please add this to my list:

PS5- Elden Ring

now i can add that to the list and move on to some other games I've left in the dust since Elden Ring came out. lol.

Slickriven wrote:

ok cool thank you! I think for wii sports in order for me to feel like I've actually completed it is to get pro status in all the sports. I'm almost there in bowling and baseball.

also finally finished mother 3 on gba. ironically on mothers day lol. man this game gave the feels so much! I really hope it does get an official release over here in the west.

#17 down: Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts on SNES. This year, one of my goals was to play some games that I might normally avoid because of how hard they are. The first was Cuphead (which was probably the hardest game I'd ever beaten). Then, I platinumed my first FromSoft game with Elden Ring. This time, I decided to take down an old school game that I could never beat as a kid: Super Ghouls n' Ghosts. This game is fun at first but quickly becomes frustrating, cheap, and (when it makes you backtrack to the beginning of the game once you think you're finished) straight up infuriating. I am really glad I beat this, but I will never play it again.

Got a few more done. Had already played most of Ecco.

Ecco the Dolphin
Shinobi III

Almost done with this collection. There are 3 arcade games I plan to play and I've already started Beyond Oasis I don't plan to play any of the other RPGs from the collection any time soon.

2022
NES -
SNES -
N64 -
GC -
Wii -
Wii U - The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD
Switch - Metroid Dread, Ori and the Will of the Wisps
GB -
GBC -
GBA -
DS - Pokemon Black
3DS -
360 - Banjo-Kazooie
XB1 -
PS1 -
PS2 -
PS4 -
PSP -
GEN -

4/19 - Unique systems
5 - Total games

Badges: Metroidvania

I beat Alien Soldier for Genesis and The Caligula Effect 2 on Switch.

I should have the Guybrush Threepwood and JRPG badges now. Maybe some others but I'll look at that later.

I had a lovely afternoon with my #85...

Yakuman - Nintendo's quite plain, but quite charming 2 player Mahjong game for the original Game Boy.

I, uh... absolutely destroyed the CPU. You both start out with 30,000 points, and by the end of the match I had all their points and then some, and they were in the negative.

I don't see there is any career mode or any thing other than just to play - you can adjust a few of the rules to your liking to account for regional play styles). This is one of Game Boy's Japanese Launch titles from 1989, so you really wouldn't expect anything more.


https://photos.app.goo.gl/1Mg7iXEXTPQc3chs5

January:

February

March:

April:

May: