VideoGame_Discussion

sailorneorune wrote:

I’m not sure winning one race counts as beating the game, but this is an arcade game… I’ll let it slide in this case.

I beat Mega Man 2 .
[imgt w=2048 h=1536]https://i.imgur.com/MsZRx0h.jpg[/imgt]
Beaten on Difficult mode. The stages and Robot Masters are bizarrely easy. Then you reach Wily Castle and things get much harder—almost jarringly so. Shoutout to the Mecha Dragon that has elongated knockback on his projectiles (and only those ones) so that he can effortlessly knock you into the pit below. Honestly, half my playtime went toward that castle. It's a little crazy. But still a great game overall.

Updated! I was really off on the badge count, but everything should be fixed. I clearly have too much freetime on workbreaks if I'm beating that many 3DS games each week. And somehow I took an entire month between Mega Man 4 and 3... how in the world did that happen?

Thanks @SupremeSarna! Just one small thing: I noticed that I’m missing the Level Up! badge. I previously beat Final Fantasy I and The Caligula Effect: Overdose.

Bleed_DukeBlue wrote:
Gotcha covered.

Thanks!

SupremeSarna wrote:

I just beat Shock Troopers for the 4th time now. I imported all of my PC games into Launchbox the other day and noticed that I had the PC port of this from Amazon Games so I figured I'd try that. It plays a little different as your 'credit' only earns you 1 health bar for a given character you select and I didn't do the 'team of 3' mode where I picked 3 players. So with that approach I cycled through each of the 8 characters and did okay with the faster ones and not so great with the 3-4 slower ones, which is how I've been playing before.
I also decided to try to switch the paths to the final boss. There are 3 and in my first 3 runs I did each one and this time I started in the Jungle and went to the Mountains when they give you the 1 chance, after like the 3rd stage. Anyhow doing that seemed to give me a new mission in-between the 2 paths, so for my 5th run I'll do yet another set to see if there's another in-between mission and if it's different. If so I might have to beat it 6 times to hit that final unique mission. I also beat the final boss with another person to get the 1 still shot for their unique 'victory screen'.
I do think I'll beat it the 5th time on my mini, so I need to get that hooked up.

5th of June, 39th overall, 12th
Tinykin
Likely really only counts toward Bear & Bird that I already have

Heard good things about this GP title and jumped into it the other night. It was addicting of sorts with me playing until 3AM the other night thanks to my feeling of, 'just do this one more task and be done'... only to keep doing tasks. It was an endearing and enjoyable title, though I didn't pay much attention to the oddball story and blew through much of the dialog you had to read - the aesthetic, art style and simple gameplay was the sauce. I ended up doing everything in the game except for collecting all of the pollen in 3 of 7 rooms b/c I didn't want to hunt for ~45 little bits to collect from ~7k total as some rooms have over 1k in them. But I found all the pollen in more than have of the rooms and found/did everything else.

#27

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond

I enjoyed the remastered edition quite well for the most part. I just wish the global trade system was a bit more polished and fleshed out. The final Elite Four champion gave me a little run for my money too. Took me a few tries to beat her. Other than that it was another return to my early 20’s with this one. Next I think I’ll try out Arceus to see how the new Pokémon formula works.

I beat Pikmin 3's DLC: all 36 missions and boss rematches. For some annoying reason, purchased DLC on Wii U seems to only work on the one user profile that bought. My Pikmin 3 file was User 2, but only User 1 had access to all of it. Regardless, I beat each pack. There's a ton of content here, lemme tell ya, but I wasn't particular about getting a platinum score on every stage. I got two plats, a few golds, a buncha silvers, and plenty of bronzes. I'm just not a fan of multitasking with three groups of characters, so I can't make the best use of time. But I know quality when I see it, and the DLC for this game is certainly that!

#43 down: American Idol on Game Boy Advance (emulated on my Anbernic), first clear for the rhythmic badge.

This was pretty easy but not particularly fun.

Against all odds, I beat Sonic the Hedgehog with zero lives to spare.
[imgt w=640 h=853]https://i.imgur.io/68VPCRI_d.webp?maxwidth=640&sha...[/imgt]
This game was like $2 at a garage sale last August, and now I’ve finally gotten around to playing it. Not a bad time once you get past Spring Yard Zone. This game is pretty guilty of reusing level geography—enough so that I questioned if I was replaying an area I’d previously finished multiple times. Spring Yard and Star Light Zone we’re the biggest offenders here.

I have to tiptoe through Sonic stages to survive, so a lot of the high speed fun is sucked out for me. But unlike the later games, this one was a pretty reasonable jaunt through just a few worlds, enough so to beat it in just two or three attempts. There’s no darn Death Egg Robot in this one, so I could actually beat it. (I like Sonic 2, for those asking, but I’ve never beaten its final boss. I’ve beaten Sonic 3 & Knuckles.)

After a bunch of research and asking around, I downloaded and beat Grimace’s Birthday (“originally” GBC).
[imgt w=640 h=853]https://i.imgur.io/knKRXJ2_d.webp?maxwidth=640&sha...[/imgt]
McDonald’s is currently celebrating the anniversary of one of its old mascots, apparently, and they tasked a retro game developer to make a free tie-in game that actually runs natively on Game Boy Color hardware. It even has a “please insert this into a colored Game Boy” screen like GBC games often had. The attention to detail making this a faithful retro game is admirable.

It’s a very short platformer that has running and jumping stages and skateboarding ones. Grimace face plants too often on his board, but the game’s over so fast, you’ll barely notice. The music goes harder than it needs to, which is funny. I was a tad distracted every time a character used modern slang or 2020s vernacular (“I can’t even with you, Hamburglar”), since it’s anachronistic. This game does a good job advertising the Grimace Birthday Shake, the collectibles scattered across the stages and undoubtedly a delicious treat at your local fast food establishment. The game’s greatest challenge comes in the form of the Score Attack mode—collecting all 20 birthday presents in the labyrinth as the timer ticks down can get pretty intense. Somehow I got 32/20 presents on my last run…? Weird.

Either way, this obvious advertisement game had a lot of soul poured into it, and the fact that I can play it on a modded 3DS makes it way cooler. I’m quite happy I played it! Now go try it yourself if you have the means.

“I love war!” -Grimace, McDonaldland Card Game Party

The beats just keep on coming! I beat Gargoyle’s Quest II: The Demon Darkness (originally NES) at work.
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I played Gargoyle’s Quest for GB last year, and it kinda stunk. The screen was too small to display everything it should’ve, the text was poorly translated and barely fit on screen, it was far too open-ended, and there were too many identical enemy encounters. This NES sequel is an improvement. It’s far more linear, the screen shows you enough to play well, and the translation is decent. I had more fun and beat it far quicker. It’s no must-play, but it made a nice reprieve from Mega Man.

Just my 11th clear this year on 6/16.

Might and Magic book I

I do not envy anyone that had to hand draw out each and every map for this game. Different times for sure. It had to have taken hundreds upon hundreds of hours to beat this when it first came out. Auto mapping was the best thing to ever hit the cRPG genre! I received a party score of 420,326 upon completion. This was difficult to get into at first, and the difficulty is unforgiving at times. The classic grind is completely necessary here!

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OP updated!

My first impressions with Mirror's Edge: Catalyst weren't great. I'm a big fan of the original, in spite of its flaws, and I was thrilled to see the franchise called out as Frank's Game of the Month; but the lore reboot, the clunky platforming, and the cramming of a zillion unnecessary modern gaming conventions landed like a boulder. After filling out the Movement skill tree (ugh...) and reluctantly accepting the existence of the MAG, I was starting to really crave my playthroughs and the parkour zen that the series does such a great job of cultivating. I miss the original, though, especially its simpler aesthetic and dreamy soundtrack.

Number: 20
Full Title: Mirror's Edge: Catalyst
Platform Played: EA (Origin)
Collection: N/A
Native Platform: Windows
Original Platforms: Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Applicable Badge: Girl Power (1/2)

Five days until Final Fantasy XVI takes over my at-home game time. I'll be keeping busy with Golden Sun and Daytona USA in the meantime.

Renaissance2K wrote:

You played it on an EA (Origin)? What exactly is that? How should I classify it on the Google Doc?

I beat Mega Man (originally NES). At long last, I'm done with all six games on Mega Man Legacy Collection.

I was under the impression that Mega Man 1 was a bad game, being the first in a series that was revolutionized by its second game. Turns out I was wrong! I quite liked Mega Man 1, even if it has some slippery feet and only six Robot Masters. The Magnet Beam is a nifty gadget, the Yellow Devil is a decent challenge without being the brutal beast I'd heard about, and the music and graphics were better than I'd thought. Color me surprised!

I'd rank the first six games as follows: 6>4>2>1>3>5. 6 feels like the culmination of the NES series (ignoring 9 and 10 since those are technically Wii games) while 5 feels rushed and uninspired.

SupremeSarna wrote:

Just put it down as PC.

@SupremeSarna EA Origin is their PC storefront and game launcher. Similarly Ubisoft has uPlay. I technically beat Mirror's Edge via Origin as well.
Annoyingly thanks to Origin, uPlay and others I've got 7 game launchers installed on my PC, including Steam.

Since some folks wanted to count Steam as a platform and whilst Stream is amazing, there still are plenty of games for the PC that aren't on Valve's platform, thus the need for the PC platform listing as well.

#44: Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman! (Game Boy emulated on Anberic)- counts toward the Cross the Streams badge.

This was harder than I expected. The final boss took me a bit to figure out. Not a bad game. It was nice to play a stage here and there portably.

#45: Super Breakout! (Game Boy emulated on Anberic)- counts toward the Quarter Muncher badge.

An old classic. Since this is endless, I counted it as cleared once I beat the highest score from the original Breakout that you could get before it started repeating stages.

#46: Galaga (Game Boy emulated on Anberic)- This gets me the Quarter Muncher badge (alongside the Super Breakout! clear)

Another old classic. I beat the high score and went way beyond it, but this is also technically an endless game (although it has a glitch that gives you a game over once you get through 255 levels).

40th down, 1st on 6th in June
Strider 2014 remaster
Badge - I'm claiming this for Metroidvania as unlike the original (beat it in '21) which was more linear, this was an MV candidate - you gained upgrades to allow you to access doors and such that were blocked initially, there's plenty to hunt for in terms of upgrades and so on. Earns me the badge with 8 Doors being the first title.

Been meaning to give this a shot for a good while and it was actually a lot of fun, and not crazy challenging. I ended up collecting all 10 health and 10 energy upgrades and like 11/13 of the 3 other categories, plus a good number of the collectable things for I think art unlocks and outfits. I gained access to the final non-returnable boss area with only just over 60% completion and took a little time to hunt down some more stuff, but the game isn't fantastic with the map, fast travel nor the collectable % per area. There are large health containers that I came across and didn't need so I didn't acquire them, but they count towards the collectables and overall % complete for some reason. So I did revisit some areas and grabbed some as well as used all of my unlocks to search for and find a handful more stuff. I ended the game with a little over 80% on the completion listing, not that I really cared too much.
In general most bosses would beat me on the first attempt before I would get them on try #2. 2 outliers of that was the final boss's first phase (3-4 attempts needed, though attempt #1 I only had maybe 25% health to start) and the second phase (got him on my first try). The ascent to that boss encounter was tough as right before you reached him you faced 2 of the larger and nastier mini-bosses and they were freezing me and it took me 3-4 times on that as well. But besides all of that, I rather enjoyed my 6+ hour run, though Steam says I was 'in game' for 9.5, so the game's clock likely paused when I was looking at the map or cutscenes, maybe?

Non-Strider related.
I think I decided to give myself a new challenge. With SO dang many games in my library, I got the dumb idea to try to beat the alphabet the rest of this year. So I went through mainly my Xbox library of games (including all the GP and GwG titles), as well as my massive library from Steam, Epic, Amazon and a few others and added many games for each letter to a spreadsheet. I also went through my much smaller Sony and Sega libraries and I'm ready to try this personal challenge.
Clearly some letters (D, H, L, M, R, S, T) were really easy to find games and most of those I have 20+ to pick from. Others like (#, E, J, O, Q, U, X-Z) were a good bit harder to find options, so I don't think I'll be able to fully do an alphabet 'set' too many times. But I think I'm going to try pretty hard to complete a 'set' before repeating letters. I mean I have SO many games to choose from, this sort of helps me pick my next title.
Strider kicks this off, which sort of stinks b/c S is the strongest representation with just over 40 to pick from, but that's the goal of this. I'm working through Hi-Fi Rush, Uncharted 3 and about 5 others from different letters (with less progress), so this could be an interesting experiment. Depending on how it goes, I feel like I could maybe turn this into a new GTZ thread and pick like 2 letters per month and 'challenge' folks to beat a game or 2 from each letter in that month. But with the RTT and Frank's GotM threads already, maybe I won't bother... Heck, maybe I'll find this experiment annoying and abandon it, though really it was a way for me to get a good list of around 365 total games that I legitimately want to play, from the 10k+ that I have. I have complete sets of ROMs for many systems, plus a huge Mame set that I get the 10k+ number from, so surely many of those I have zero interest in. I mentioned before that I've beat north of 300 in the last 3.5+ years, so having this list of 365 doesn't feel too nuts... but yeah it sort of is.
Anyhow if anyone wants to join me on this experiment, let me know, be fun to chat about things.

Made a slight tweak and included 2 games I beat earlier in the year for the # (8 Doors) and Q (Quake) columns as they have very few game options. Figure that will make completing this now active set a touch easier. I might add a few other games that I already beat in '23 to this set, but the point is to beat more, not backfill.
I also added a count to the spreadsheet and brought over the 300+ that I've recorded as beat recently and S is surely the most represented letter at 43 beat, with a few multiple versions (like Soul Calibur 2 on and ) M comes in 2nd with 28, then 26 for T.

I decided to be daring and play a random Wii U game I bought months ago. This is Klonoa: Empire of Dreams (originally GBA).
[imgt w=640 h=480]https://i.imgur.io/leB2fVF_d.webp?maxwidth=640&sha...[/imgt]

I dunno what Klonoa normally is, but this is a quality 2D puzzle-platformer. You grab and inflate enemies, then throw them or leap off them for a double-jump. Run through each stage and pick up emeralds and Stars of David to open the exit door. The difficulty is kind of all over the place—I thought everything in it was easy or at least comfortably challenging, then the final world and the bonus stages are brain-bustingly difficult. I wish the end of the experience were as comfy as the rest, because it’s excellent otherwise. Bonus stages 2 and 3 are maddeningly tricky, but that just means you have to master the mechanics and use your mind to the fullest!

There are also autoscrolling stages and hoverboard challenges, which are the worst in the game. I resorted to save states on the last hoverboard stage, since you have to redo everything if you miss even one collectible (that is, if you’re trying to 100% the game like I was). Those were a pain, but the platforming stages are sweet.

I definitely recommend this one. I’d better try the rest of the series.

6/20 for these next two:

#12 -- The 13th Doll
Decent tribute to The 7th Guest. The original bad guy making a cameo was awesome. The soundtrack is great, upbeat and jazzy and somehow still fits the creepy mansion vibe perfectly. Puzzles were not nearly as painfully difficult as in the older games. Multiple endings and branching paths...you can't visit all the rooms in the mansion in one run, so I'll likely be playing through it again to see all the different puzzles. This is worthy of a replay being as it only took me 4-5 hours to beat it the first time.
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#13 -- Final Fantasy IX
FF9 felt a lot like FF8 for me, but then again I played each of them to completion for the first time just in the past few years. I find it unfair to these two FFs that I played them so late after their launch. I wonder how I would have felt about them had I played them around their original release. For me, I can't say they're better than say FF7, nor would I hold them as high as most of the other great RPGs we saw during the PS1 era. It's a shame I didn't get to appreciate them for what they were in their prime. Playing them so late I think has diminished their value to me personally.
I did have one major gripe: while I enjoyed that you could steal multiple items from enemies and bosses, I couldn't stand the drop rate...even with the success rate up items. It really took away from the boss battle experience when I had to have three characters heal and/or skip their turn for 10-20 minutes waiting for Zidane to steal everything. Let alone the fact that now your main character is essentially dealing no damage the entirety of the fight. I finished up all the side content, but did not max level any characters. In fact, I stuck with my main 4 as Zidane, Steiner, Freya, and Quina. They can output damage waaay quicker and just as effectively as your casters/summoners where you have to sit through constant casting animations. Completed in about 66 hours.
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#47 down: Diablo IV on PS5. I would like to claim the Hyrulian Hero badge with this clear and my previous clear of Star Wars Jedi- Survivor.

I have been excited about this coming out for years, and it’s everything I wanted it to be. Easily my Game of the Year and one of my favorites overall. I am moving on to FF XVI tomorrow, but I will definitely be coming back to this later in the year and going for the platinum.

I beat Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake .
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I believe @nonamesleft wanted to hear about it. It’s a twist on capture the flag with a humorous, medieval twist. Two teams of 16 depart their castles and attempt to seize the enemy princess, bringing her back to their dungeon. There are several classes each player can use, like a strong warrior, a sniping archer, or a healing priest. You can take enemy outposts, kill your foes, and use slices of cake to fatten up your own princess, which makes her harder to capture. It’s good, but I imagine it’s much more fun in an actual multiplayer setting. I played the story mode for this clear.

As for the comedy, it made me laugh out loud a few times. One day, two princesses from rival kingdoms ate a giant cake they found mysteriously sitting in the woods, and it was so delicious, they ate themselves to giant sizes. The king is understandably upset and learns from the Oracle that the cake was cursed to have this addictive effect on its eaters. He says the only cure is the kiss of a prince, and as it so happens, Prince Albert is going to be visiting the land from afar in search of a bride. King Red becomes increasingly obsessed with making sure the rival princess is out of the picture so Albert chooses his daughter. There’s a crazy back and forth as war breaks out and casualties mount.

The funniest chapter is the dragon one, where the king swears and the game bleeps it out, but it’s obvious the VA dropped a real F-bomb in the recording studio and they just covered it up. And the kicker? The narrator who voices all the characters is Tom Kane, the prolific actor behind Prof. Utonium in the Powerpuff Girls and Admiral Yularen (the iconic announcer) in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, among many others! He adds quite a lot to the comedy, even in a match (“They’re in our base, killing our dyudes!”). There are plenty of 2000s memes in the game also, from “Pwn’d” to “All your base are belong to us.” They’re certainly a relic of their time.

So it was as funny as I expected, but you need a larger group of likeminded players to get the most out of it. There were a couple chapters that really stunk, too: You have to deplete the enemy force to 0 by taking their outposts and killing their units, but the CPU is just as fast as you and it likely to leave you in the dust quickly. Those were a war of attrition, but the rest is enjoyable.

I beat minecraft on the xbox1

Tears of the Kingdom on Switch. Now I can finally start looking for some other games to beat.

I’m probably crazy enough to do an alphabet challenge with you. Coincidentally, I actually thought about doing that earlier this year.

Slickriven wrote:

#48 down: Barbie: The Prince and the Pauper on Game Boy Advance (emulated on Anberic). This was about as bad as I had anticipated, but it did get me the second clear I needed (after beating Avenging Spirit earlier) for the Hop n' Bop badge.

7th of June, 3rd 41st overall
Uncharted 3 - Drake's Deception

When I started the Uncharted series, I was sort of expecting a similar vein to the Tomb Raider series and 1 and 3 felt that way. 2 felt a bit more action-y and over the top with the opening train section, that you had to do part of twice, as well as take on several choppers and a tank - that turned me off with just too much bombastic suspension of belief type stuff. 3 was more like 1, with mostly grounded things, but surely a bit fantastical and yes some frustrations via some oddly placed checkpoints during gun fights, but top to bottom I liked 3 way more vs. 2.

I'm also stoked to have wrapped up my run through the trilogy and think I'll take a break before trying 4.

@Bleed_DukeBlue I welcome you joining my Alphabet challenge. I'm counting the following:
# - 8 Doors
Q - Quake ('22 remake)
S - Strider 2014
U - Uncharted 3

@Slickriven Since you started this sub-challenge halfway through the year, I’m including everything I’ve played so far. So that’s…

#
A Alleyway
B Bayonetta
C Crashmo
D Donkey Kong 64
E
F Final Fantasy VI
G Gargoyle’s Quest II: The Demon Darkness
H
I
J Junkbot Undercover
K Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe
L LocoRoco
M Mega Man Powered Up
N New Play Control! Pikmin
O
P Pikmin 2
Q
R Rhythm Thief & the Emperor's Treasure
S Star Wars Episode I Racer
T Tetris 99
U
V
W Wild Guns Reloaded
X Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Y
Z Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

It’s debatable if I’ve beaten E, since I played Disney Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion, which starts with a D, but only because the franchise owner is in the title. Some people just call the series Epic Mickey, like the Disney World vs. Walt Disney World debate.

I would never complete the alphabet challenge in a single year, but I kinda want to start tracking it just as a personal ongoing challenge. I think I'll do that.

Alphabet Challenge Progress So Far:

A: A Robot Named Fight
B: Barbie: The Prince and the Pauper
C: Cult of the Lamb
D: Dead Island 2
E: Eternal
F: Final Fantasy
G: Gotham Knights
H: Hogwarts Legacy
I: Inscryption
J: Jesus: The Terrifying Bio-Monster
K: Kayak VR: Mirage
L: (The) Light Brigade
M: Marvel's Midnight Suns
N:
O:
P:
Q:
R: Resident Evil 4 Remake
S: Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
T: Tekken 3
U:
V:
W: Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman!
X: Xeodrifter
Y:
Z:

I’ll play too!

Alphabet Challenge Progress So Far:

A: Atomic Heart
B: Bayonetta 3
C: Crysis Remastered
D:
E: Evil West
F:
G: God of War: Ragnarok
H: Hi-Fi Rush
I:
J:
K: Kirby’s Dream Land
L: Little Hope
M: Metroid Prime: Remastered
N:
O:
P: Pokémon Brilliant Diamond
Q:
R: Resident Evil 4 Remake
S: Stray
T: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
U:
V:
W:
X:
Y: Yoshi’s Story
Z:

It's cool to see a number of folks jump on this goofball idea I had. I think I'll update mine to include the games I beat already this year since most are as well. Will have to update that later when I'm on my PC.

To be clear, I’m not recording these specifically. This little game isn’t an official part of Beat a Game 2023.

Got it. I only have like 10-12 games left in me to get to hopefully by the end of this year. All longer titles too and only a couple with letters I’m missing so I probably won’t update the A-Z list after today but it’s fun to see like I got 14 out of 26 letters already with the titles I’ve beaten. Pretty cool.

My set thus far in '23
# - 8 Doors
A - Aces Of The Luftwaffe
B - Bugsnax
C - CupHead
D - Doom 2016
E -
F -
G - God of War 3
H - High on Life
I - Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet
J -
K - Kentucky Route Zero
L - (The) Legend of TianDing
M - My Friend Pedro
N -
O -
P - Planet of Lana
Q - Quake ('22 remake)
R - Ryse: Son of Rome
S - Strider 2014
T - Tinykin
U - Uncharted 3
V - Virtua Fighter
W - Wreckfest
X -
Y -
Z -

I decided to exclude from above some E and F titles that were dumb, DLC or mobile games as personally I'm not sure they're worthy of counting. Plus I wanted to use this as another tool to help me pick new games to play and I want to find E&F titles to play. So I've got 8 letters to focus on next and after more time than I should've spent just now, I think I've picked some good candidates for those 8 letters.

@SupremeSarna and others - yeah I didn't want to replace the nature of this Beat a Game thread with 'Beat the Alphabet' or anything. I mainly came up with the idea after having WAY too many games in my LaunchBox, mainly my PC library. I think it can/should be a tool or mini-game/challenge for those who are interested, to simply have more ways to help pick their next or upcoming titles via.
Personally I was struggling a touch to for example find a title to play this year, so the Alphabet challenge helps me potentially narrow it down, but only b/c I have the full ROMset of that platform. So this isn't for everyone. Like Talon, I don't plan on posting my full list like I just did on every new game I beat. I will likely mention when I beat something that 'noted game checks off my letter whatever'. And once (if) I complete my set I might list them all.

OP updated! Keep up the gaming, chaps!

SupremeSarna wrote:

Not sure when your cutoff was, but you missed my #41 of Uncharted 3 - post #338

Slickriven wrote:
[imgt w=245 h=230]https://i.gifer.com/MldC.gif[/imgt]

#28 belongs to Immortals Fenyx Rising

8/10

This game was way too much fun to be put out by Ubisoft of all folks. It’s how I felt about the Mario+Rabbids titles in the sense of man how are these Ubi made games? Immortals is pretty much a Greek Zelda BOTW without such annoyances as breakable weapons. While it’s not perfect and has a lot of the usual open world tiresome tropes such as ticking off a million boxes of things to do, it’s just so much fun to engage in for the most part. The vaults (like shrines in Zelda) offer creative puzzle like challenges to overcome which rewards you with stamina upgrades and it’s pretty much the basis of the game. It’s one half hack and slash action game and one half puzzle platformer with some really unique puzzles to solve which aren’t going to stump most folks but offer just enough of a brain tease to feel rewarding and adds that sense of accomplishment once you figure them out by using objects in the environment as well as your godly powers which ranges from being able to lift up light and heavy objects or slow down time by shooting arrows in first person. The combat is fun the more you unlock abilities and godly powers but by the end of the 25ish hour journey rhe combat can become and feel a bit on the tedious side. And lastly the story is quirky as heck somewhat cheesy dialogue at times but overall it makes me feel like they were at least trying to give us a decent Greek mythology story and this version of Zeus in a video game has to be the most charismatic yet flawed version of the god that almost made me feel like he wasn’t a complete butt munch at times. Overall if you’re looking for a similar experience to Zelda BOTW without those darn breakable weapons with a story length about 1/3 of its size then this game may be worth your time.

Hi @SupremeSarna

Thanks for the update. Looks like I'm just missing one clear and one badge: #48: Barbie: The Prince and the Pauper on Game Boy Advance (emulated on Anbernic). That + my previous clear of Avenging Spirit should get me the Hop 'n Bop badge. Thanks!

#49 down: Alex Kidd in Miracle World on Sega Master System (emulated on Anbernic). I would like to count this towards the Facelift badge, as I'm planning on beating the remake.

@Bleed_DukeBlue Ah, I see it now. I think the Alphabet sub-challenge distracted me from that clear, same as Slickriven’s Uncharted 3. I’ll update all of this again on Sunday night when I return from the wedding I’m attending.

No worries at all! Have fun at the wedding.

SupremeSarna wrote:

8th of June, 42nd overall, 1st
X-Men Reign of Apocalypse
Already have badge
Gets me an X title in the Alpha challenge, need 7 more for set

With the 8 letters I had to go, X, Y, Z didn't exactly excite me for choices but I wanted a GBA title and after looking at HL2B I didn't think this would take long and I beat it in well under an hour. You pick 1 of 4 X-Men, of which the options are interesting: Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm and Rogue - I went with Logan and the game was very easy. It's a belt-scrolling beat-em-up and it was pretty easy to keep hammering A for the quick swipe and do a 5-6 hit combo that would knock down any foe, even bosses. B button was a stronger, slower attack that with Logan knocked down foes and you got a 'mutant power' that required a bar to be full to trigger that seemingly refilled over time, but also refill icons would drop periodically, health dropped this way too. Logan's power was a maybe 8-10 hit combo from his claws and against a boss, if landed, would take over 50% health.

Story sends you to an alt dimension and you fight through like a dozen stages and all have 1 or 2 bosses facing notable characters like Beast, Gambit, Magneto, Blob, Cable, etc. With only the boss to fight, it was pretty easy to keep them hit and knocked down off screen which generally meant they couldn't fight back. A few times I had to actually back off and allow the boss to get onto the screen to get a good idea of whom I was fighting - when I did they would fight back more, so that's mediocre design IMO. Normal enemies numbered around 5 sprite models (of which 1 amusingly looked like Pepsi-man), each sprite had 2-3 color variants and some levels had obstacles like spikes, falling boxes and such. With 3-6 or so foes to fight at a time, they could pose more of a challenge against nearly all of the bosses outside of Nightcrawler really. I set the game to 9 continues (the max) but after starting with 2 lives, I finished with 4 but did die like twice - so they gave me bonus lives several times, and obviously I didn't use any continues.

Oddly my ROM had no audio, so I might seek out a replacement and try it again with all/some of the 3 other characters since while it was surely easy, it was short and could be interesting to play as those 3 as I would hope they fight differently.

Ridge Racer for the PSP was the first game in the series that really made me pay attention, and it was the game that made me fall in love with the PSP as a platform. The flawless 3D graphics, earwormy soundtrack, and overflow of content was the perfect introduction to the new platform and its capabilities. I revisited it last year to collect footage for my 2022 30-Day Game Music Challenge video but got far enough long with it that it was worth finishing out the main campaign; something that I'd been wanting to do for a few years now.

Number: 21
Full Title: Ridge Racer
Platform Played: PSP
Collection: N/A
Native Platform: PSP
Original Platforms: PSP
Applicable Badge: Race Drivin' (1/2)

I'm about to start the final boss fight of Golden Sun, so I'll be back to add that game to my hit list as well as soon as I find a chunk of time to finish it. Final Fantasy XVI has me sucked in, though, and will be monopolizing my playtime for the new few months, at least aside from whatever portable games I pick up.

No picture this time, but I beat The Mummy Demastered on the car ride to the wedding/at the motel room after.

I’ve said it before, but I like this game better than Hollow Knight. It’s a short, concise Metroidvania by WayForward that sports beautiful sprite art, frantic gunplay, and five boss fights. The best thing to come from The Mummy (2017), no doubt, and probably the best thing to come the entire Dark Universe that Universal failed to fully establish. The game’s biggest flaw is how twitchy the aiming is. They want you to move and aim with the Analog Stick, but running forward will sometimes make your gun aim diagonally up, just because the stick has greater range of motion than a +Control Pad. (I confirmed that it wasn’t my Joy-Con drifting.) It isn’t a constant nuisance, but I know it isn’t supposed to happen whenever it does.

The Mummy Demastered usually goes on sale around Halloween, so I recommend buying it then. You won’t regret it!

14th clear on 6/23 - Might and Magic book II

Book ii is much more forgiving in that there are some pretty easy super level cheeses that can buff your party. Even so, some monsters/fights are just down right unfair. Even at max level and high stats there are monsters you can come across that can wipe your party in one swipe. The improved visuals and automapper were things I was truly appreciative of over the first game. The puzzles and cryptograms were still incredibly difficult to figure out on your own and I highly recommend a guide. I can now say I've officially beat each and every Might & Magic. I've enjoyed these first two games enough to continue the journey and perhaps start into my favorites in the series, 3 through 7.

image

@SupremeSarna that Mummy game has been on my Steam Wishlist for a few years now. It landed in a few 'Top Metroidvania' lists and thus why I added to my list. Nice to hear it's solid from someone actually playing it. I keep hoping some service I have access to will just give it away free (like Epic or Amazon or whatever) since I'm cheap.

#50 down: Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX on PS4. This (alongside my previous clear of Alex Kidd in Miracle World (Sega Master System, emulated on Anbernic) gets me the Facelift badge. Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX is a remake of Alex Kidd in Miracle World. The graphics are noticeably better. The controls are still not great, but they feel a little bit better to me, and the remake adds some new areas (that, according to Timetobeat, add about an hour to the average completion time). Even so, it felt like it took me less time to beat the remake, because I knew the game so much better after having beaten the original. (For example, the last puzzle takes awhile to figure out if you don't realize that you have a clue with you all along.) Also, the remake has fairly generous checkpoints which are very helpful. The Alex Kidd games are fairly unique. You die from one hit and have a very small range of motion to punch. You can get items to attack more effectively (like a ring that shoots stuff), but I mostly forgot about the items. What helped me the most was practice.

I was going to edit this tonight, but the power just got knocked out. It’ll be back tomorrow or Tuesday, probably, so I can edit things around then. Hang tight, everyone!

Sorry your power went out!

SupremeSarna wrote:

My power came back, so here's an update. Man, we really cleared 8 games in two days, didn't we?

Thanks for the update. Glad you got your power back. Just one small thing: I’m up to 21 badges. (You gave me the icons for all of them. It just says 20 in the badge count up top.)

SupremeSarna wrote:

SupremeSarna wrote:

hangin tight and hangin ten duuuude!

9th of June, 43rd overall, 13th
Hi-Fi Rush
I want to count this toward the Rhythmic badge since there is a rhythm aspect, even if you really don't have to follow that.
Alpha Challenge: I already had H, so I will save it for my next set I suppose.

This looked simply alright when it surprise dropped a few months back and I was more looking forward to games like Redfall and The Last Case of Benedict Fox from prior coverage on them. But those both came out a bit or very flat so I decided to give Hi-Fi a shot and found it to be rather enjoyable. The story/writing/jokes were great with some clever pop culture nods (hello Left Shark) and the cell shaded art really popped. I didn't love the music generally and landed attacks and interactions on the beat only around 55% of the time I'd say, but the combat was rather good and the variety of nearly 100% robot foes kept adding new ones throughout.
The final multi-stage 2x bosses were a bit much as I failed like 7 times to beat the final boss phase, which got annoying, but I also was doing what I too often do in melee games like this and was too aggressive and was way off the beat. Most of the game I was better with that, but 1 phase of the final boss you really had to be patient and the final phase was more about dodging and/or parrying and I didn't do too well with that, sort of obvious with that many retries. I had gotten better with the parry-dodge mini-interaction thing against some of the stronger enemies, but yeah that final boss phase was a challenge for me.
One bit I royally sucked at was the QTE style interactions that were around a fair amount - unlike better QTE design (sort of an oxymoron there) they were randomly all over the screen with ABXY vs. what the God of War series got right with them by putting Triangle always in the top, X at bottom, etc. Also you had to break some walls with the 1 support character and called them in via holding in the Right Trigger. With him, you lined him up and needed to release the RT on beat... well holy &^@$ did I suck at that... but really using an analog trigger for that was completely stupid.

I see I've unlocked some endgame stuff like challenges, a rhythm tower (endless enemy mode) or revisiting levels to access around 8 locked doors and collecting the last 15-20% of things I missed. I'm not sure if I will do that, I might at least seek out the first door to get an idea on what that's about... or maybe I'll just look that up online.

10th of June, 44th overall, 1st
Zen: Intergalactic Ninja
Alpha Challenge: Earns me Z, which is a main reason I tried it, down to 6 remaining

As stated I was seeking out a Z title and finding one on the NES was an added bonus since I didn't have a game for that console yet this year. Unlike years past I have been focused on my more recent consoles when I'm not just playing a GP or other Xbox game, so my older consoles and ROMs haven't had as much focus. The Alpha Challenge, in part, helps with that since older systems tended to have shorter titles.

This game sort of sucked though. I thought for a moment about applying it towards You're Winner, but it's not that bad, I just didn't like it. Technically it looks vibrant and good, the music and sound were solid and the 4 levels plus boss-rush at the end were all pretty varied, impressively. I mainly didn't like the controls b/c I wasn't 100% sure on how they worked, plus I am so used to A on the Xbox controller being jump that when it's B, that messes with me (yes I could/should have looked into switching that). Additionally, I didn't like the isometric opening level with it's fall to death platforming and would not have put up with it without save states. The next to last boss, your clone, was also crummy until I learned my own technique on how to deal with him after looking up a few others, my technique was actually better IMO.

Update on that X-Men game I played recently without sound... it was better without it.
I grabbed a couple more ROM versions and each one still lacked sound, so looked into it and found that I didn't have a GBA bios setup, oops. Got that and got sound, but unlike good games the sound is odd and bad. You get a music track starting from the initial logo screens for Marvel, Activision, etc and it doesn't change once the title screen comes up, nor if you let the idle screen saving video start. Then if you hit Start to enter into the menu, all sound goes away and there's none for navigating/interacting in/with the menus which caused me to think the audio died again. Still no sound selecting a character or the few pages of background info about the story. Finally music comes back for the opening in-level dialog btwn the characters, but no sound for them talking... then you get control of your character and the only sounds I heard was the robots going 'ah' when you defeat them, no cues for punches thrown nor landed, no cue for the 'Go' icon pushing you to advance, nor if you get hit, it's strangely just the music (which I noted the options let you turn off, ditto the sound). Rogue cried out when I let her die, but that was it, very odd, low budget feeling to it.
This felt so odd that I checked it some more and played briefly as all 4 characters. I could hear Storm's electricity and Wolverine's claws landing some of the time but nothing for grabs and barely anything from Cyclops. So I finally turned off the loud, overpowering and garbage music and as Rogue I could hear hits landed from her and on her (very quiet), but confirmed no sound for jumps, throws, the dash or even some of the hits. I reached the Blob with Storm and he had like 1 unique sound, but that was it, pretty lame.

@SupremeSarna I want to count this for You're Winner - the sound design is terrible and trying Rogue for 3 just screens was bad. I didn't notice it as much with Wolverine, maybe b/c he's a melee fighter or the missing sound, but as Rogue the controls are bad, the movement is rigid and slow and the game just feels like you're wadding through a bucket of crap. Rogue's strutting animation as she moves around was funny, saucy maybe, but her punching animation was rough. It felt like her arms were like a foot long as I couldn't seem to hit enemies and took a lot more damage vs. my full run with Logan. Storm was decent with her 4-5 hit combo making noise and seemingly doing well, but too often it was apparently weak enough that the robots weren't getting stunned and would get off a hit on her before her last strike that normally is an uppercut wind thing that knocks them down. Cyclops was almost hilariously bad, his arms/punches just might be shorter than Rogues and his heavy attack is a blast from his eyes that looked lame and was short ranged. Lastly his jump attack was the worst and he does a split and looks like a clown - reminded me of some of the Battletoads attacks.

I had initially thought of replaying this with the other 3 characters but after 'fixing' the sound and trying them for around a min each, complete pass. I see Metacritic has the game at a 61, but that feel generous. I pulled up a lets play video to see if they had better sound and to check some things deeper into the game and they kept the opening music into the menu, unlike me, so with that music on I couldn't hear any menu interaction sounds. Then I jumped further into levels and noticed that the 'ah' sound upon death that the initial robots would let out... was exactly the same for The Blob, Juggernaut, Gambit and just about any other foe - that's so lame and lazy. And the music tracks on later levels also sounded crummy and overpowering.

I beat spongebob truth or square on the xbox360

Golden Sun was April's Retro Game of the Month. Throwing yet another long game onto the 2023 pile, it took almost three months to finish. While I'm happy to have another non-Square RPG under my belt, the slow pacing and clunky puzzle system weren't my favorite, save for a couple of really well-crafted set pieces.

Number: 22
Full Title: Golden Sun
Platform Played: Game Boy Advance
Collection: N/A
Native Platform: Game Boy Advance
Original Platforms: Game Boy Advance
Applicable Badge: Level Up! (2/2)

With my portable queue clear, I picked SaGa Frontier back up after experimenting with it at the end of last year. I'm still having a hard time making sense of it and seem to either be ridiculously overpowered or underpowered, regardless of what I'm fighting. I'll continue to attempt to crack it, but we'll see.

Meanwhile, Final Fantasy XVI continues to rock my socks. These boss battles are top notch.

I have two more clears (#51 and #52) that get me the Pile Drivin badge: The Death and Return of Superman and Final Fight on SNES (emulated on my Anbernic). This Anbernic has been great. I got it for just over $40 and paid another $12 for a higher quality card to hold my games and saves. It handles everything through PS1 in full color with no problems, is really lightweight, and fits in my pocket. Using the Garlic OS, everything is automatically sorted under graphical icons for each system. Also, I don’t have to select BIOS files separately each time I switch. I just select a system and a game and can play right away. Shortcut button presses for things like save states are easy to use on the fly. It’s the easiest emulation set-up I’ve ever used. The portability and ease of use have me using this more than my Steam deck and Switch for older games.

#53: Final Fight 2 (SNES, emulated on Anbernic), beaten using Maki (the only female character)
#54: Final Fight 3 (SNES, emulated on Anbernic), beaten using Lucia (the only female character)

These two get me the Girl Power badge.

11th of June, 45th overall, 14th
Ravenlok
Badge: earns me Girl Power, with Planet of Lana and Ravenlok
Alpha: already had, so 'for later'

Watched the review of this from ACG a while back and thought meh, looks kiddy but he liked so I figured I would at least try it. It was a fetch quester with some okay fighting that took me just over 4 hrs to 'platinum' as I found, bought and did all that the game asked me to. 6/10 would be my score, moving on to something else.

Bleed_DukeBlue wrote:

I def wanna play these this year.

It was fun coming back to them. It had been awhile, and they’re still a blast.

ErickRPG wrote:

This one game is SO DIFFICULT… It really caught me off guard. I’ll probably beat it tonight, but hot dang is this a departure from what came before.

Updating... Please wait to post...

Update complete! With June now finished, we're halfway through the year. I hope it's been kind to you thus far. In that time, we've cleared a whopping 440 games! That's impressive, y'all. Here are a few stats and shoutouts:
-We cleared 66 games this month. That's not outstanding by any means, but it is better than May (58) and February (59).
-We earned 12 badges this month. Not shabby! That's less than March (16) and April (15), but still nothing to scoff at.
-@Bleed_DukeBlue passed 50 clears, getting him the second bacon badge on this forum. Congrats, sir!
-I beat 19 games in one month, with my first DLC clear of the year being one of them. What can I say, Pikmin 3 is worth playing the DLC for.
-@Slickriven has caught up to me in terms of systems beaten. Have at you, mate! I didn't adjust the cake badges, though, since I'm very close to finishing another system.

Let's keep the games going for the rest of the year!

@SupremeSarna I started a game on my 17th console tonight, I likely won't finish it for a few weeks, but it will be a target of mine in July, so I hope to get 17 complete soonish and now I might have to push to find another title on yet another system
Otherwise keep up the good work and thanks for the mid-year report.

Yikes. Been a while. I haven't played a game since early March.

razeak wrote:
Go ahead and play something. I’m always curious what people want to play at any given time.

1st of July, 46th overall, 2nd MAME
FInal Fight
Badge: Already have
Alpha: Earns me F, 5 left

I was actually looking to see if I had Bionic Commando in a few places for the RTT GotM and lastly looked at the Capcom Arcade Stadium on my XSX and while BC is in that package, I didn't have access to it. I did notice that they give you 1943 for free and I had apparently acquired Final Fight as well, but it wasn't downloaded... so I downloaded it and fired it up. I beat it back in '21 on the SNES but just got sucked in and beat it here. Since it's the arcade port and you literally play it on an arcade cabinet in the CAS application, I'm claiming as MAME vs. XSX or anything else. The arcade port seemed different as I didn't remember a few parts, but that's not really surprising as it's designed to eat quarters and well I used several. Game is cheap as a few times I revived, dropped into the fight, which knocks everyone down, and was out of health in like 5 seconds.
Oh well, it was still pretty fun and fast and earning F for my Alpha challenge was an unintended added bonus.

I beat Toy Story 3 on the xbox360 (beating this and spongebob truth or square gets me the bear and bird badge)

I toldya, @Slickriven : I beat my 17th console, and it was a real doozy. It turned out to be a twofer, as I had no idea some of the stages on the select screen were DLC in the original version. So here it is: LocoRoco Midnight Carnival and LocoRoco Midnight Carnival DLC .
[imgt w=2048 h=1536]https://i.imgur.com/q7hzVgk.jpg[/imgt]
[imgt w=2048 h=1536]https://i.imgur.com/Ot5PgHI.jpg[/imgt]

Have I got something to talk about here! This was a Halloween-themed (apparently) spin-off to LocoRoco 2 that was the last new release in the series. I quite enjoyed LocoRoco 1 a few months ago--the gameplay was a little unremarkable and lasted too long, but the rest of the experience was brilliant. Vivid colors, happy little characters, a seriously upbeat OST, and an alien language that just makes the world so memorable! So while I took a break from the series, I saw this one on the PS4 Days of Play sale for $7. How could I stay away?

One night, as the LocoRoco slept outside, the diabolical monsters mischievous pranksters known as the BuiBui rolled into town. They built their own extremely hazardous wacky theme park underground and abducted the LocoRoco! Now the LocoRoco must survive their tricks and traps in order to escape, all for their captors' sick amusement. But hey, at least the heroes will have a miserable fun time escaping!

I like that this game has a theme to it. We don't often get entire games that are going for a specific motif or holiday-feeling, so that's neat. This game also puts an emphasis on a new move, Boinging. If you keep bouncing consecutively, you'll maintain a colored trail, which gives you increased jump height and maneuverability. You need it to wall-jump, which is crucial in later stages, for example. That's a cool gameplay change.

I expected this to be a short romp through the LocoRoco world with a night backdrop. The PS Store only advertised 16 stages, so how long could it be? Initially, I was right: The stages were breezy and only occasionally tripped me up. But as it went on, the stage difficulty ratings started increasing dramatically. The game becomes like a Kaizo hack, littering spikes everywhere and forcing you to keep your balance atop tiny, spinning platforms. Want to use a checkpoint? Hope you have deep pockets, because every three attempts cost money, with the price rising if you need more attempts. I spent almost the entirety of today playing two stages! Dolangomeri 2 (final story stage) and BuiBui Fort 3 (final DLC stage) were agonizingly tough, rarely offering any health pickups and demanding precise wall-jumps around spiked corridors. Somehow three DLC stages lasted somewhere in the ballpark of 7 hours, with 6 of them going toward one stage.

I'm no stranger to challenge, but these two levels were so brutal that I nearly gave up. I ended up using the PS4's rewind feature to get through them, though I did go back and beat Dolangomeri 2 legitimately, and I only started rewinding in the second half of BuiBui Fort 3. Fun fact: The PS4 version of Dolangomeri 2 removes the checkpoint present in the delisted PSP version, so I had to start from the beginning almost 200 times. Simply maddening!
You can see these horrorshows for yourself here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RSViHPJnXY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwFF071_0wI

The first game might've been a little shallow in terms of gameplay, but at least everything came together to make a cozy game. This one is more a super game for super players, but loses a lot of the charm the series had as a result. After this, it's not surprising the franchise went dormant for 8ish years. I don't plan to replay this one.

I'm so excited I bought a new OEM PSP charger bc I lost mine. Has been a couple years at least since I last played PSP. Gonna play Final Fantasy I and try to actually beat it this time. It's all because of this thread and your hard work supremesama, thank you.

ErickRPG wrote:

Happy to pay the bills, Otto!

That's cool. I just beat Final Fantasy I for the first time this year. I'd been meaning to play it for awhile and finally sat down and did it. Although I definitely missed some of the quality of life features from newer games, I appreciated it.

ErickRPG wrote:

Didn’t they recently remake the FF1, with the main character looking like everyone’s dad? I thought I heard something about that.

haha never heard of that. I know they have those pixel remasters, but that's it. I have FF1,2 on psp, 3,4 on ds, and 5,6 on gba. 7,8,9 on ps1. 10,12 of switch, and 13 on 360.

Heh, so for my Alpha challenge I'm now down to 5 letters left and I'm working on 2 right now. But what's funny is my remaining letters spell out ENJOY... and part of me is not doing that fully with the games I picked and debating what to pick for the other letters. Finding a Y title isn't easy, I may end up playing Yoshi's Wolly World which wouldn't be terrible, I just wasn't looking to play that this year.
Frank sort of helped me out by picking the NSMB series, so that's 1 of the games I'm working on, the other is Jotun since I got it for free on 3 different PC stores a good while back and it's been on my 'yeah I should give that a shot' list for a long while. That would leave me with E and O and I'm thinking I'll go with Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, which I started like a decade ago and made decent progress, but when my PS3 died the save went with it - dumb Sony policy to HDD key-lock drives to consoles. For O, I've got 3 in mind, Operation C on the GB, The Ooze on the Gen, or Ooga Booga on the DC.

I certainly think that after I complete this set, that I'll be combining a few more challenging letters into 1 option, X, Y, and Z together makes easy sense, but Q and a few others weren't easy either, so we'll see, still playing with the idea.

Slickriven wrote:

E: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
N: Ninjabread Man
J: Jelly Boy
O: Oddworld
Y: Yar's Revenge
X: Xevious
Z: Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon
Just thought I'd help.

SupremeSarna wrote:

So you purposely picked the worst of the worst games from each letter, right? LOL
What's sort of funny is Frank selected ET (sort of as a joke), but also an Oddworld game for his GotM - I beat Oddworld eventually for that thread, am NOT interested in playing ET.
But I am trying to find good games from each letter to play, Sarna, not absolute rubbish ones. Granted my X pick last week, the GBA X-Men title would qualify as pretty crappy.

#29 belongs to Like a Dragon: Ishin!

8/10

I’m glad this got a western release after I think it was 9 years. I really enjoyed the story as I do with most Yakuza titles. I loved the feudal Japanese mid 1800’s esque setting. It felt very The Last Samurai-ish and since I adored that film, it somewhat resonated here in it’s storytelling in a sense. With that being said though, the combat I felt like even with its 3 swappable play styles between swordsman, gunsmith or wild dancer (gun+sword combo) it felt a little too tedious towards the latter half of the game, even with various trooper cards you get to diversify your play style a bit. But then again most Yakuza games are a bit on the tedious side in regards to combat, albeit overall enjoyable for the most part if you can look passed the tedium. Overall length I clocked in at a little under 23 hours with doing about 1/4 of the sub stories. Technically speaking the performance mode was most good at 60fps with the exception of one chapter where there was lots of fires spread about and when fighting within the flames the framerate tended to die a bit. Since this got my Yakuza blood boiling again my next stop in my queue I think shall be Lost Judgment and the Yakuza 8.

2nd of July, 47th overall, 5th
Jotun
Did this one for my alpha challenge to get me J and break my ENJOY down - 4 left.

I didn't really enjoy this one. It wasn't bad overall, but the final boss sucked, especially with how much/far/swiftly he would move around compared with how SLOW your character was, plus I continually didn't get the controls right. Game reminded me a good bit of Titan Souls where you're really only fighting against bosses and that was good b/c the combat wasn't stellar. You got 2 strikes, X (on Xbox 1 controller) was the standard swing and that was okay but not fast, then Y was an overhead chop that was more powerful, but painfully slow. My issues came with how A was dodge roll, and B was your limited use Rune power trigger since I way too often hit that vs. A, for dodge. You collected 6 Rune powers and cycled through them with the shoulder buttons, either worked, then B would trigger the power. At the very limited checkpoints you could refill health and those used powers as you only got 2 per. A 3rd use for 3 of the 6 could be found (which I did) and they were likely the most useful - heal, faster movement and Thor's hammer. The other skills were a shield, decoy and a projectile thing. The best offensive power was Thor's hammer - it made your Y overhead attack a lot more powerful and increased the range, but it was still just so dang slow to trigger and you couldn't move, only change the direction of the strike once you hit Y. The powers were a touch under-powered I'd say, as the heal maybe did 1/3 of your overall bar and the others would expire pretty fast.
Game was hand drawn and looked great for that, the map was a little annoying since you couldn't see your character on it to know for sure where you were standing, so you had to pay attention. There were only 5 realms with just 2 levels and 1 boss fight per and the levels didn't really have foes, just some elemental obstacles to avoid or destroy. After having 3 copies of this for a good while, I'm glad I finally played and beat it. I wasn't crazy about it, but it was still a decent game and if I could've remapped the buttons and had my character move a little faster, I would've liked it a good bit.

I had a productive long weekend on the gaming front (which makes it a rather unproductive weekend by most other metrics, but whatever). I used it as an opportunity to take a break from Final Fantasy XVI and get the jump on July's Games of the Month.

Number: 23
Full Title: New Super Mario Bros. U
Platform Played: Switch
Collection: New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
Native Platform: Switch
Original Platforms: Wii U
Applicable Badge: Hop 'n' Bop (1/2)

I hit 100% on the original Wii U release of this - it was the first game I picked up for the console, after all - but barely touched the Switch re-release when it came out. Frank gave me an excuse to remedy that, and I used warp zones to power through the game. The memory of seeing Bowser's scales in HD for the first time is still up there with my biggest gaming memories, despite its relative recency.

Number: 24
Full Title: Bionic Commando
Platform Played: Arcade
Collection: N/A
Native Platform: Arcade
Original Platforms: Arcade
Applicable Badge: You're Winner (1/2)

The console versions of Bionic Commando were voted in as July's Retro Game(s) of the Month, but I added the arcade original to the list because of how readily available it is; it's only $2 in the latest Capcom collection, for example. It's not quite as awful as I remember - it does include the Bionic Commando theme in the second level - but it's really terrible, with a bionic arm that's really just a glorified stepladder and a glaring lack of enemy management techniques. It's quick, though, and you don't lose progress by continuing, so it's no more painful than a dentist appointment... which is exactly how Capcom wants their games compared, I'm sure.

There's no Metacritic score for the arcade original of Bionic Commando, but considering other RTT folks have spent the morning posting about how awful the game is, I think it's a reasonable qualifier for "You're Winner".

Number: 25
Full Title: New Super Mario Bros.
Platform Played: DS
Collection: N/A
Native Platform: DS
Original Platforms: DS
Applicable Badge: Hop 'n' Bop (2/2)

Probably the game I've been looking most forward to replaying since Frank deployed his mission, I don't think many game announcements can match the sheer joy I felt when I saw the trailer for the original New Super Mario game for the DS. When the game dropped, I basically just sat in my office hunched over my DS like a hermit, loving every second of the throwback gameplay. This weekend was the first time in ages that I'd played through it since that original romp, and while it's definitely a breezier, simpler experience than its younger brothers, it's still a lot of fun. And I love seeing my level progress on the lower DS screen.

Number: 26
Full Title: New Super Luigi U
Platform Played: Switch
Collection: New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
Native Platform: Switch
Original Platforms: Wii U
Applicable Badge: Hop 'n' Bop (Already Earned)

While I didn't play Luigi U to death like I did Mario Bros. U, it's still a fun game in its own right with quick, snappy levels and enough changes to make it feel like a discrete game. The New Super Mario series has a reputation of being too easy, but Luigi U is an obvious exception. On my breezy playthrough (thanks, warp cannons), a handful of levels nearly depleted my entire life total. In fact, I think it's the first time I've seen what the actual "Continue?" screen looked like. Bowser was ultimately no match for Green Mar...uh, I mean, Luigi, though, demonstrating once again that, while it's not easy being green, green is good.

Number: 27
Full Title: Bionic Commando
Platform Played: NES
Collection: N/A
Native Platform: NES
Original Platforms: Arcade
Applicable Badge: Heavy Machine Gun (1/2)

Rounding out this holiday romp and hopefully making up for playing through the "wet turd" arcade original, I played through the NES release of Bionic Commando. Despite being a massive fan of the Game Boy release (which is notably different from the home console release) and having played through the Re-armed release on the Xbox Live Arcade, this was my first time playing through the semi-classic NES release, from which most of the game's limited legacy stems. The mechanics and graphics aren't quite as crisp and snappy as the Game Boy version, but it still rights all of the arcade game's wrongs with selectable weapons, Spider-Man-like swing chaining, and excellent - albeit unconventional - platformer gameplay. And that soundtrack rocks, too.

Five games and two platforms isn't bad for a long weekend, but I'm still way behind where I was a year ago. Oh well. Continuing on with the month's themes, I'll probably be revisiting either New Super Mario Bros. Wii or 2 next to get 100% in those titles, as well as scared cow Bionic Commando for Game Boy; hopefully capturing a playthrough this time around. I'm missing Final Fantasy XVI, but I'm a big enough fan of July's Games of the Month that I'm happy to make the detour.

15th beat on 7/4 - Might and Magic VII For Blood and Honor

After beating 1 & 2 I decided to skip over 3 through 6. I've beat each of them in the past 2-3 years. I haven't beat 7 since I was probably a teenager/young adult. 7 was my favorite back then. Being able to choose whether you follow a good or evil storyline really captured me. This was still an enjoyable experience for me. I completed all quests and storyline in around 85 hours.

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haha, oops - in my quest to find an O title to play I ended up landing on Operation C for the only to fully recall after beating it that I beat it last year too.
3rd of July, 48th overall, 1st - I've tied you again @SupremeSarna
Alpha: down to 3 left - Y, E, N

I think I might have beat this via the ROM last year, but am not 100% sure. This time I beat it via the Contra Collection on my PC and since via the ROM or that, it would look and function the same since I use emulation, I'm counting it as my GB title. I'm thinking I might have beat it in the Contra Collection last year too since I partly picked it based on the GB box not looking too familiar in the LaunchBox UI, but I'll be sure to mark it as completed in there now. The game isn't too bad and is short, so playing it a 2nd time in 2 years didn't really bother me.

@Slickriven No, you haven't.
I beat Super Mario Run , getting me another system clear and putting me ahead of you again!
Now how do you post a picture of a game on the device you use to take pictures? Use a terrible 3DS camera, of course!
[imgt w=480 h=640]https://i.imgur.com/93QCY1N.jpg[/imgt]

The game is pretty good for mobile Mario, and makes some cool additions/changes that I'd like to see in future games. Bonus points go to the fact that Invincible Mario pulls coins toward him and Mario will do a forward roll when he lands from a great fall, which can defeat enemies. The Black Coins are tricky to collect and the Remix 10 mode lasts far too long for my tastes, but it was satisfying beating this game after all this time. There's also a customizable Mushroom Kingdom on the main screen, but that screams, "we heard customizable hubs were popular in mobile games" and not much else. I don't recommend spending $10 on this, but the Super Mario Bros. movie deal of $5 was definitely worthwhile.

Just beat my friend peppa pig on ps4 for the easy trophies.

- Warioware Touched!

As I try to actually beat a game for every system I own this year. Down is DS game #1. A very good Warioware, while not my favorite. Decent Warioware game with it's own set of unique games. And remixes of previous games using touch controls.
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I beat Weapon Shop de Omasse . This gets me the Rhythmic badge, paired with Rhythm Thief & the Emperor's Treasure.
[imgt w=1536 h=2048]https://i.imgur.com/mAcY34X.jpg[/imgt]

This game was a trip. It's essentially a comedy skit with an amusing premise: The Evil Lord f an ROG world was slain 50 years ago, but now he's on the verge of resurrecting. There are many brave heroes venturing to defeat his followers and eventually kill the lord himself... but you're not one of 'em! They've gotta get their weapons from somewhere, so Yuhan the blacksmith apprentice (you) and his master, Oyaji, start a fledgling weapon shop. You create weapons by playing a rhythm game, polish them by tracing them on the Touch Screen, and then rent them out to NPCs or important characters based on their needs. You can even keep up with their quests by reading the Grindcast forum.

The game is all about comedy. Every conversation plays like it was filmed in front of a live studio audience, with applause, gasping, boos, cheering, etc. The game is set in a medieval world but the characters love being anachronistic, as they'll text each other, use modern slang, post hashtags in the Grindcast, and more. Weapon Shop pokes fun at a lot of RPG tropes, like how NPCs pace aimlessly around town, have generic designs, and mostly exist to be damage sponges in boss fights. NPCs will post relatable comments like, "No random battle no random battle no random battle..." or "Why are there so many locked doors in this kingdom?"

And then there are the named heroes, who have memorable designs, personalities, and storylines. From the samurai immigrant with lousy luck, Izo-san, to the girly-girl pirate with terrible taste in men, Captain Malibu, they develop as they complete their quests. Malibu started as my favorite, but I eventually grew to prefer the young acrobat twins, Mei Lan and Mei Hong. Their sisterly love and youthful immaturity make them an effective, if bickering, team. Mei Hong delivers some of the best lines in the game. To top it off, the dynamic between Yuhan and Oyaji is thoughtful. Oyaji is jaded and world-wise, so he imparts good practices and philosophies to his apprentice. Yuhan is chipper and outgoing but niave for his age, so they've got a lot of good talks in between weapon orders. They have solid characterization.

The game's only downsides are the following: The minigame and the length. Forging weapons to the beat is fun, but sometimes it feels like my success is random. I'll tap with good timing and build up a chain, but the stat boosts are all in the "lame" category and the weapon turns out dull. Then other times I'll miss a few beats and get a sharp weapon, which is all-around better. I got a few Master weapons, but I have no clue what I did to earn them. And if the gameplay loop sounds a bit repetitive, it is. The game shouldn't be 12 hours long for the amount of gameplay, but it is. I feel 7-8 hours would have been better for it.

TL;DR: Game funny and memorable, minigame repetitive and length long. I'd recommend it for anyone who bought it before the eShop closed, or anyone with access to the hSho--er, forget I said that last part! (laugh track, cut to credits)

I'm getting cooking mama 2 in today. Pretty hyped to play it actually. I never cared much for it back in the day but I'm trying to expand my library. And having some games that use the touch screen heavily is kind of cool.

ErickRPG wrote:

If you want Touch Screen games, I recommend:
-Kirby Mass Attack (best game of all time)
-Kirby: Canvas Curse
-Drawn to Life and Drawn to Life: The Bext Chapter (that game makes you cry)
-Scribblenauts Collection or just Super Scribblenauts
-Rhythm Heaven
-Feel the Magic: XY/XX
-Wario: Master of Disguise (no matter what Benstylus says)
-Bookworm DS

SupremeSarna wrote:


Thanks I am getting many of those. Mass attack and canvas curse, rhythm heaven, feel the magic. I've actually owned all of those before, and currently own Rhythm Heaven. One of the DS games I never sold. It's an amazing game IMO. Cooking Mama series is just completely new to me.

@ErickRPG I actually have a spare DtL: The Next Chapter, but I encourage you to find an original version. That game had two print runs, the latter changing its controversial (but excellent IMO) ending to one with less impact. If you want the one with the original ending, buy a cart with the PIN number ending in “BDREN0J20.”

I beat Dead Island on the xbox1

I beat NES Remix . Thanks to @SherlockLogic fir the trade!
[imgt w=2048 h=1536]https://i.imgur.com/DDGRhhY.jpg[/imgt]

This game is okay at best, mediocre at worst. You play bite-sized bits of various NES games for the purpose of adverti—I mean, entertainment, completing a specified objective as quickly as possible. As the first installment, this one contains the early NES games. So there are some good ones like Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, Clu Clu Land, and The Legend of Zelda, but a lot of duds, too. Wrecking Crew, Golf, Ice Climber, Donkey Kong Jr., and even bits of Urban Champion stink up this assortment. One of the Golf challenges took me a good 20 minutes to successfully pull off 7 seconds of real game time!

There are also a handful of Remix challenges, which often leave something to be desired. A few of them do something creative, like having Link navigate through a Hyrule cave only to find himself on 25m from Donkey Kong! Then he has to save Lady while dodging barrels, but in true Link fashion, he can’t jump over barrels. That’s an intriguing mashup, and a few of the remixes do this. But sadly, most of the remixes are just a graphical filter applied to a normal challenge. Collect the vegetables in Ice Climber, but the screen goes black and white occasionally. Defeat all the enemies in Mario Bros., but the screen is constantly zooming out. Minimalist stuff like that. In a game with so many lame NES games, I’d at least like the devs to put ‘em together for some imaginative challenges.

Fortunately, NES Remix 2 and Ultimate NES Remix have much better games inside them (Kirby’s Adventure! Zelda II! PUNCH-OUT!!), so I can safely say the others are more worthwhile than this first game.

4th of July, 48th overall, 6th
Shadow Warrior 2
Badge - Played this co-op with a friend, so counting towards BFFL
Alpha: Saved for next set since I only have 3 letters remaining currently

Friend and I started this like 5 years ago then sort of had a falling out and didn't play for a while. We 'got over' that spat and resumed playing this and a few others, but were focused on this once he got his new gaming laptop setup. Game was alright. Per usual, when we play co-op, we chat about random stuff and have different priorities, so the story largely gets ignored, therefore don't ask me for too many details about that. But it was alright, got a bit annoying at times with a boatload of enemies all over us, but I suspect it scaled the difficulty for 2 players. He played via KB/M and I used an X1 controller so our inputs didn't align but overall it was decent enough.
That said, some of the GoG things and game things were a pain to deal with in terms of getting the co-op session to work, plus I earned no story progression nor story achievements since he hosted, though I do not care about that. He and I are playing another game as well, so looking forward to finishing that at some point and earning that badge.

5th of July, 49th overall, 1st
New Super Mario Bros Wii
Badge: Earns me Hop 'n' Bop, after beating Rayman prior
Alpha: Gets me N, only E and Y remain

Beat this for Frank's GotM club and hated the majority of it. I don't have the patience for 2D Mario titles anymore. I finished with ~33 lives so I'm 100% the dumbass for pushing and dying so much, but also complaining about it being challenging since that's hard to justify with that many lives remaining. My tendency to push/rush in 2D platformers for some dumb reason is why I hated this, I pushed to my death and further frustrations a lot.
By beating this I knew it would get me my Alpha challenge N title, a Wii game, and earn me Hop 'n' Bop, so that was my incentive to complete it - and I like earning badges in Frank's GotM thread too.
I left all of Worlds 4 and 5 untouched, basically all of 7 as well, plus half of 3 and a few others throughout, but I don't think I'll be going back to this anytime soon. Plus I want to move onto Yoshi's Wolly World on my since that's what I played this on, but b/c of stupid Nintendo, I was forced to use the Wiimote in landscape mode vs the far more comfortable Wii-U gamepad or even just a Pro/better controller for the Wii.

@SupremeSarna are we tied with 17th platforms now, or did you get an 18th yet?

@Slickriven If you beat it on Wii U, wouldn’t it count as a Wii U game? That’s how I’ve always catalogued these.

I’ll count it for Wii if you want, though… I’m only four stages away from another system clear, anyhoo.

@SupremeSarna When I ran this and how I've classified things personally is when a game is completed, it's up to the poster to decide where to count it.
I didn't want to get into disagreements with folks who wanted to claim a game for either the system it released on (vs. where they played it), or the system they beat it on (vs. where it released).
Certain consoles make that distinction a PITA, like the X1 and XS consoles. I've largely stuck with 'if I beat it on the X1, I counted it as an X1 title', but I largely use my X1 now for 360 games, and don't keep my old 360 connected to a TV.

For NSMB-Wii - it's clearly a Wii released game, I mentioned that I had to play it with the original Wiimote controller, so the only thing that the WiiU granted me was better visuals thanks to its HDMI output and 720/1080p signal. Also the WiiU never shipped (to my knowledge) with a Wiimote, so to me I was playing a Wii game on the U, just like when I play a 360 game on my X1 or SX. I have 2x Wii consoles that I could've used, but I didn't bother. Same with emulation, I've played lots of ROMs this and prior years and haven't used my original consoles.

I finished Tears of The Kingdom last night. 130 hours

@Slickriven Gotcha. For the record, some Wii U bundles came with a Wii Remote, just not the typical ones.

I beat LEGO Star Wars , which clears another system for me.
[imgt w=2048 h=1536]https://i.imgur.com/30I7Vlf.jpg[/imgt]
This game is a fun romp through all three Star Wars movies, concluding with Anakin and Obi-Wan's fateful duel on Mustafar. You play six scenes per movie (or five for Ep II), use characters with different abilities to fight and solve simple puzzles, and collect LEGO studs and canisters along the way. Free Play lets you revisit each stage with you choice of characters, using their abilities to access previously-inaccessible areas and collectibles. There's charm aplenty here, and the fantastic John Williams score.

This game was rushed in places and feels a bit unpolished sometimes. There were cut stages, some stages that bear only a passing resemblance to the film (looking at you, General Grievous), and studs can fall through the floor or go OOB easily. The music sometimes skips or repeats in places, cutscenes are often very brief or lacking in substance, and the voice clips barely sound anything like the movie actors (Qui-Gon and Padme are the starkest examples). Future LEGO games would improve on all of these elements, but this one's still pretty fun.

Can you imagine if they had made more Star Wars movies? This game ends on a strange cliffhanger where a woman with cinnamon bun hair is messing with R2-D2 on Bail Organa's ship, and she looks kinda like one of the babies Padme birthed in the last Episode 3 cutscene, but an adult. I know TT Games was given creative freedom here, but that's an odd sequel hook considering there's no source material. If only they'd actually made a LEGO Star Wars 2, but alas, t'was not to be. Disney bought the studio that made Star Wars, realized the movies were unprofitable, and cancelled all SW projects, including video games, even third-party ones. Now all they ever make is direct-to-DVD and -streaming Strange Magic sequels. How the mighty fall when Disney takes over...

Updating the OP momentarily!

OP updated! @Slickriven , you'll never beat me, neener-neener!

#55 down: Robocop Versus The Terminator on Super Nintendo (emulated on my Anbernic). This, alongside my previous clear of Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman, gets me the Cross the Streams badge. This game was harder than I’d expected and took longer than I thought it would. The last boss was rough and then you have to complete a timed escape sequence.

SupremeSarna wrote:

You've only got 23 total systems... I've got 25, so IF I do them all, you can't hang with me - so there!!!
Of those I've got left, I've really not started anything on them. I will be jumping into Yoshi's Wolly World like mentioned on the but that will take some time. I had started on Timesplitters Future Perfect (on ) before realizing that was the 3rd game and I went back to 2, but made no progress there. I did barely start on Jak 2 on my but I only really watched the opening. So you will hang onto that cake for now, but I do want to beat several more of my systems.

Also thanks for correcting me, I do have 50 games, I listed 48th overall twice.

#56 down: Battle Axe on Steam Deck. This is a simple but fun Gauntlet-style game that poses a decent challenge. I enjoyed it quite a bit, but it’s much shorter than I had expected. For the few bucks I got it for in a Fanatical sale, it was worth it. If I had paid full retail ($29.99), I would not have been pleased though.

Slickriven wrote:

SARNA used Cut!
[imgt w=612 h=408]https://media.istockphoto.com/id/138072901/photo/c...[/imgt]
It’s super effective!

I beat Dead Rising on the xbox1

#57 and #58 down: Clue (SNES) and Monopoly (SNES). These clears get me the Chance Time badge.

6th of July, 51st overall, 7th on
Etherborn
Badge: Earns me Brain Teaser along with Block Blast
Alpha: E completed, only Y remains for my first full set

Was looking for an E title and tried out Earthworm Jim (on ) and EGG (on ) but got annoyed with Jim in 5 mins and got confused in EGG and then watched 2 video reviews on it and they both complained about how difficult it was with the fighting and I wasn't crazy about it, so I gave up. So Etherborn it was!
Game was rather short, took me 2 sessions to run around collecting these light ball things and then slotting them into places on the floor to move things around in the world. It's a 3D perspective type game, a little bit like Monument Valley, only you don't use perspective to align things, more just you run around on all 6 faces of a platform. It pretty easy, though 2-3 times I was confused for a bit. There's an almost tempting NG+ where they claim to have moved the balls to 'harder to locate' positions and maybe the levels themselves didn't change at all/much. I don't think I'll bother with that since I've simply got too many other games and this one had some philosophical-esque pointless monologue in between the levels and just wasn't all that great to want to play it again, even with an elevated challenge level. Thankfully this was an Amazon Games freebie, as paying for it would've stung, just too short and overall meh - could've been (maybe is) a mobile title.

July 10th, 16th clear:
Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer

The downward spiral in quality and 3DOs eventual bankruptcy is evident in MM8. Quality and presentation is worse than VII, and even VI I'd say. The game is shorter by at least 20 hours for a typical MM experience. Some graphics and monsters are recycled from VII, which has never been a thing from one MM to another (Heroes series aside). Still, it was enjoyable for the shear fact that I hadn't played this one in 20 years. I reckon I won't be coming back to this one in at least another 20 years! It's time for me to back away from the PC games.

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Next up:
Fire Emblem Engage
and
Final Fantasy XVI

Frank wrote:
Nice amount of hours. Time worth having spent?

For the first time ever, I've earned all three medals on a single Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon file. That requires you to beat the story (something I sometimes do), get a three-star ranking on each stage (the part I could never do as a teen), and catch every ScrareScraper ghost (something I do with glee on every file). I had no idea the bottom screen of the file select turned from purple-gray to gold when you did that! After a full decade of playing, I've learned something new about this classic. I wonder if next year's Switch remaster will replicate this gold effect, since there's no bottom screen to recolor? Probably not.

Heads-up: I’m taking a vacation on Friday, so I’ll be updating the OP again on Thursday.

#30 is Lost Judgment 7.5/10

The sequel spin off to the Yakuza franchise felt a little bit too long for my tastes in the dialog department but that’s Yakuza games for you. I did rather enjoy the 3 different combat styles though and the lite detective work. Although I will go on the record for saying the forced platforming and stealth sections did not belong at all and felt so out of place in this game. It was such a waste of time running thru those motions. Visual wise, the graphics look like they got a bit of an overhaul though which is kinda nice and I felt like the voice acting (I did Japanese) was as dramatic as ever and pretty solid. And the side cases were okay but I rather got frustrated trying to progress in some of them by using the keyword function app to find clues to their next waypoint section that felt like it took away from the overall momentum of those side cases. Other than that if you want a good action game which is lite on puzzle solving you may enjoy this one. Just forgive it’s completely awkward and wonky platforming and stealth segments.

7th in July, 52nd overall, 2nd
Killzone 2
Badge: Already have
Alpha: At this point I've got 12 towards my next set, of which I'm thinking I'll combine a few difficult letters into 1, like 1 from Q/U/X/Y/Z and 1 from 0-9/E/I/J or something like that - at least maybe.

Have wanted to focus more on my disk based systems this year, especially DVD and Blu-Ray disks, or effectively what comprises the 6th and later generations. That focus hasn't been fully realized as I've played a game on nearly all of my older, cart based consoles and a bit too many again (though it's easy to) on my XSX largely thanks to GP. But really I've paid for that active subscription, so I shouldn't (and don't really) beat myself up over playing many of those games.
I've yet to beat a PS2, GC, DC, Xbox, nor Wii-U game this year, but of the 6th-8th gen, the PS3 was the particular system that I wanted to get to more games from. While this is only my 2nd of the year, I beat all 3 Uncharted titles, just via the PS4's Drake collection since I had that and they looked and played a bit better on there (I do own them all for the PS3 as well).

Killzone is an odd series. I have all 4 of the main or console titles and played the first a LONG time ago on the PS2. It was alright, but like most Sony FPS titles, it was just not as good as the Xbox alternatives. But my dad played the first and 2nd some, so they do remind me of him and as decent enough games, they've been on my 'play eventually' list for a good while. Well 2 is finally off of that list and similar to Killzone 1 and the first 2 Resistance titles that I've played, it was just okay. The performance was acceptable, it was pretty dark at times and my more aggressive style could at times leave me dead from a melee attack as I'd get too close to a foe and couldn't move around fast enough to hit him if I missed him on my melee attempt or didn't see/expect him - i.e. the controls felt a touch sluggish at times and it was easy to get lost in all of the gunfire and mayhem. Thankfully it was generally a shorter title but they for sure setup the 3rd title thanks to Rico being a meathead - not that the story was all that interesting to begin with, it's a FPS, I'm not expecting much. I won't likely get to KZ3 right away, but I'm happy to have finally beat the 2nd game.

I beat Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing . It's a doozy.
[imgt w=1536 h=2048]https://i.imgur.com/Cp31GDW.jpg[/imgt]
I had a doctor's visit today that almost made me faint twice (apparently blood-sampling can do that despite the tiny puncture and miniscule blood loss), so when it was over, I drove to Wendy's for a pickmeup Baconator. Their lunch menu wasn't ready, so I swung by an overpriced retro game shop to pass some time. This $9 game awaited me.

Star Wars: Episode I had a number of podracer spinoff games that were intense racers--I played the GBC version of it in February--but this is a traditional kart-racer with a funkalicious style. There are nine tracks, all themed to areas in the movie, and various power-ups and weapons. The most annoying is the flashbang that turns the screen red and pixelated while making you spin out. There's no drifting, but you can jump into the air with R2 and even a free-flight mode in two of the tracks. You also have a barrier that shrinks with each hit you take, eventually spinning you out if you take too many.

If you can’t tell from the title and screenshot here, this game is friggin’ weird and I like it all the more for it. The music is upbeat ragtime renditions of classic Star Wars songs. The characters are described as “super deformed” on Wikipedia. There are cheat codes that change the language to Battle Droid (all text becomes “Roger”) or make everyone play as a Kaadu duck-mount on a rocket-powered treadmill. The game has some bite to it as well, schooling me time and again in the Generator stage (where Darth Maul is fought in Ep I). Heck, that one pretty much requires you to make a specific jump with R2 or else you're guaranteed to fall behind.

Since I don't have a PS2 memory card, I had to give it one last smile before powering off the console, deleting five hours of progress. But I beat it, so I have no regrets. Besides, various cheat codes let you instantly unlock everything I earned, so that makes it better.

I miss LucasArts. Not everything they made was gold, but their games always felt like they wanted you to have fun, like with this game's bonkers premise and the funny cheats I mentioned. EA games don't really care what you feel as long as you bought the game and will pay for microtransactions. I'm sure their Jedi games are quality, but they don't feel as homegrown as the ones made by George Lucas' appointed designers. Maybe I should play more classic Star Wars games. I've been on a kick with those this year, and Knights of the Old Republic is sitting untouched on my shelf...

first Wii clear of the year. With MK8 coming in, I figured I better finish up my first replay of Mario Kart Wii for several years. And my first time playing since I Repurchased a brand new Wii and mkwii w/wheel. I’ve always thought of it as my favorite Mario kart, but after playing it again I think it’s just, pretty good. The nostalgia for the unique control method of using the plastic wheel probably tinted my memory of it. Don’t get me wrong, I still view this as one of the best Mario karts, and worthy of staying in the collection . I’m looking forward to playing Mario kart.8 again.

Mario Kart Wii -
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I beat paw patrol the movie on the xbox1

ErickRPG wrote:

MKW was amazing for it's time, but MK8 perfected the formula so much that now, MKW just seems ok when I go back to it. I still miss the mega mushroom powerup, I hope they bring it back in the next MK!

Ok, Tears of the Kingdom has me hooked.

I beat New Super Mario Bros. for Frank's Game of the Month thread.
[imgt w=2048 h=1536]https://i.imgur.com/OqzXtsd.jpg[/imgt]

This game was a big part of my childhood. I loved the stages, the powerups, the minigames, the 1-on-1 mode, all the new gimmicks, and everything! Going back to it now, it's still an excellent time... but these stages are way easier than I remembered. I beat everything and got every Star Coin and secret exit, but I'll admit, I found myself kinda bored a few times. It doesn't help that the game frequently puts an obstacle in your path that requires the Mini Mushroom or Blue Shell to conquer--the Mini Mushroom is always found in 1-4, but the Blue Shell has no guaranteed spawn point. You'll have to trial-and-error it whenever you need one. That gets to be a pain pretty quickly. Otherwise, the controls are great and the adventure is pretty memorable. But NSMB2's "story" mode is superior to this one, even if it's less original.

Scott wrote:

True MK8 is just so good it makes MkWii not as exciting. Plus they brought back the track with the bouncy shrooms which was one of my main reasons for liking it. Plus most of the best tracks from the past are in MK8 now. I still have MK7 for the 3D, MKWii for the wheel, and MK GBA for the mode 7 style graphics.

There are a few courses that are fire on MKWii, the mushroom gorge with the bouncy mushrooms, toad's river or whatever it is, and the desert one especially is made really well for fun drifting. I think the courses are a bit more open which allows for more fun to be had using the wheel. That is the one advantage it has over MK8. doing the gyro controls for MK8 doesn't feel as good as on MKwii. I think it's bc MKwii courses were designed with the gyro in mind.

I beat Picross e4 . I’m on a roll with these Picross e games!

This game feels like a turning point for the series. It has the usual Picross, Micross, and (sigh) Mega Picross, but this one has secret puzzles only unlocked by purchasing Picross e1-3. That’s a nice bonus. Micross only has two paintings to complete, but one of them is “The Birth of Venus,” one of my all-time favorites. Mega Picross only has a few pages of puzzles, and they wisely give you the option to turn on/off the autofill-time deduction option for it. The previous game, e3, forced you to play the most convoluted version of Picross with no corrections, making it a slog to clear them all. I appreciate them letting me choose which rules I prefer for my least favorite mode. It was even fun this way, I dare say!

OP updated! See you next week!

Thanks! Have a good vacay!

SupremeSarna wrote:

Nice, Enjoy yourself!

And so you'll have some work when you get back, lol.

Final Fantasy I -
My first PSP clear this year. I'm making some progress knocking off at least one for every system I own. I had to buy a new AC adapter bc I'm too lazy to look for mine. But some nice condition OEM ones were on ebay for like $12. So no biggie. My PSP 3000 still holds an amazing charge and is in mint like new shape. So it was fun to revisit this cool little handheld!
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Zoo Park Story - IOS
And another Kairosoft game down. I really liked this one. They have release a few new games in the span of a couple months so now I have some new kairo games to enjoy!
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My #30 is Horizon Forbidden West.

https://imgbox.com/t6h9c4dr

I spent 80 hours getting 90% in this game. I haven't been this into an open world game in a long time. Got all the collectables, did all the quests, side quests, and errands in the game. Would grind to level up my weapons but I assume i'll get better weapons in the DLC. This is the most beautiful game i've played. Everything from environments to character animation is amazing. Only complaints that keep it from a perfect 10: melee combat could be better and Aloy talks too much. You'll enter a room only for her to start talking about how to get to the next one without giving the player a chance to look around or figure things out for themselves. 9.5/10

yep, loved every minute of forbidden west. More next genny games plzzzz.

#15 Ghost of Tsushima (PS4) Finally got around to playing this masterpiece and I loved every minute of it.

I beat Dead Rising 2 on the xbox1

VedicBlade wrote:

It really was an amazing game. I may replay it on PS5 as I only played it when it came out on PS4.

Did a full playthrough of Spongebob Squarepants: The Cosmic Shake on Switch. Fun way to spent 5 hours

@Frank Play it four more times and you’ll get the Gamer’s Day badge. No one else has gotten that yet, though Slicky’s working on it.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe -
beat the original 12 circuits. Will buy the DLC once the final wave launches.
image

Castle Shikigami 2 -
first PS2 clear of the year, and the game with the best worst voice acting ever. Featuring such great lines as "2 choices, A. Beaten then caught, B. caught then beaten." . . . It has an unlock system of getting one more continue per hours played. Once I had 7 continues I had more than enough to beat normal mode. Actually had 1 more unused continue. So I logged about 3-4 hours on this one. It's worth playing 2 players just to see all of the various dialogues. Will have to get a second controller and do it myself some day.
image

My #31 is Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores DLC

https://imgbox.com/9EmerqBq

Great wrap up to the story. A few new enemies and a new toy to play with. Epic boss battle. Map is pretty small and little incentive to explore it. Overall a good DLC. 8.5

#59 and #60 down: Nickelodeon Kart Racers 2: Grand Prix and All-Star Fruit Racing (both on Steam Deck). These clears earn me the Race Drivin' badge. The Nickelodeon Kart Racers game was OK but a far cry from Mario Kart. All-Star Fruit Racing, on the other hand, was more interesting. The pace is pretty fast, and every mistake matters. A lot of my wins were really really close. The cool gimmick is that you collect fruit in various combinations to use different offensive or defensive moves (and you get one unique move for each racer, such as a strawberry boost forward, a banana cannon to shoot at other racers, or a giant peach that rolls across the track to smush your opponents. It's a pretty solid kart racer.

8th of July, 53rd overall, 15th
Trek to Yomi
Badge: Already have
Alpha: Earns T towards 2nd set of which I'm around 50% already on

Decided to try this one as it looked interesting, after finally struggling to complete it, I partly wish I hadn't. It's designed to look like you're in a 50's era black and white Samurai movie and while they nailed that goal, ultimately those weren't great looking films, nor was this game. The graphics are actually a bit crummy, but a good 90% of the time that doesn't matter b/c it's either too dark or too far away to notice. A few of the cut scenes suffered from bad texture pop-in and the gameplay was considerably challenging. The settings were good and if you ignored the bad detail level, I could agree with some who've said it's good looking, b/c it spends much of the time in views that obscure how it looks up close.
Gameplay wise, you need to attempt to explore as much as possible and sometimes almost take both branching paths to avoid missing things b/c health, stamina and attack upgrades were hidden around and you for sure didn't want to miss any of them. But with zero color and mediocre graphics, they weren't the easiest to find. The final boss fight was insanely rubbish if you couldn't nail the very precise timing for parry's as he could take you down in like 5 seconds, even if you were blocking. I resorted to trying to hit him with my sub-weapons that are projectiles, but once depleted, he would rush me and wreck my day with me not getting off almost any attacks.

Mini spoiler ahead - I finally got him, but he got me at the same time and I was like crud... but a cut scene played and I was thinking okay, maybe I pulled it off, but nah there was another phase and my health fully refilled... and the screen was completely black except for his and my health bars... so I hit a few buttons, but with zero ability to know WTF was happening I died and needed to face him again. Thankfully I finally got better against him and took him down again with more health this time and the game skipped the cut scene (which was normal, I died a lot in this game and didn't have to skip too many cut scenes manually) and I was able to see and thankfully cleared the 2nd phase and got the credits.

I'm very glad I was able to stick with this to beat it. In some ways, it was a bit like Cuphead and thus was very rewarding to have completed it. I would've for sure considered this for Grown-ass Man badge and really in my view was harder than a game I claimed for that badge. But I don't see the need to claim that game for another badge, so it doesn't matter.

I beat Mega Man Battle Network on .

So close on F.I.S.T. - near end boss was an unholy massive b*srd. He ended my 1 session, tried another against him and still no luck, finally during a 3rd set of facing him I took him down, surely took me around or above 25 attempts. Thing was, he wasn't insanely difficult, but had 3 health bars and all 3 bars took a lot of hits to deplete, then a few of his attacks, if landed, would take around 1/3 of my health... and I have either all health upgrades or maybe I'm missing one.
After beating him I realized that you need to do some training to gain access to the final 3 upgrades for the 3 weapons, so I finally did that and acquired all of the main fighting skills. I also got 100% on all regions of the map except for the one against that hated boss, b/c annoyingly it seems they literally fire you out of his arena, but there was some more to explore after his room, so I'd need to revisit there - not horrible, but also annoying. I also am not 100% yet on the final section.
I did face the main antagonist and after a handful of attempts, was able to beat him, then you need to progress some more and ultimately face him again before the credits - which is where I'm at now. I've failed to beat him in this 2nd fight a handful or so times and like the crazy difficult dude, and the first fight against him, he's got 3 health bars. He's a good bit more aggressive and faster vs. the last dude, so mixing in patience is wise... and something I could benefit from.
I'm looking forward to finishing this one, it's been a generally solid Metroidvania and I've got more time invested than I expected to, but I've also explored 99% of the map and found a lot of the upgrades and such.

SupremeSarna wrote:
lol I rented it from the library and returned it yesterday. 1 5 hour playthrough was enough. 20 more hours I'd rather invest in something else.

I was gonna do airport story 5x but then kairo went and released 3 more games in a short amount of time.

Nice, beat F.I.S.T. Forged In Shadow Torch
54th overall, 9th this month, 7th on
I want to count it towards Metroidvania, that I already have, and might bump the 2014 Strider and go back and beat the original game for that Facelift badge, not 100% sure on that yet though
Alpha: 2nd F of the year - really need to play more Yoshi to wrap up that first set

I was able to do a better job of observing some patience and beat the final boss on maybe my 6th attempt today. I then reloaded my save and had 100% in his area, so I returned to the prior area and got it to 100% having to take on 2 sort of annoying foes which gave me possibly the final skin for you character's arms. I also looked up 2 things I knew I didn't have and the info on obtaining them leaves me uninterested in bothering to seek them out, since 1 is behind some training that I tried before and was crazy difficult to get the timing and inputs down accurately enough to be given credit for... and I am sitting at ~96% completion and that's good enough for me.
Fun game, solid Metroidvania, a few difficulty spikes, but some of that is on me for tending to be too aggressive at times. I put in nearly 17hrs into the game, decent length, but I'd guess over 40 mins were spent trying to beat 2 late game bosses.

I'm back, chumps! While the severity of that insult sinks in, I'll begin updating the OP. Save your vicious retorts for after the update is finished.

Updated! Now sling an equally-cruel barb if you're not chicken!

welcome back BUTT BURGLAR. Hope you enjoyed your vacay CHUMP CHANGE.

#6 Pokémon Puzzle League via Switch Online

Y'all already know I love Panel de Pon. Here is its evil younger brother that lures children into its grip and CRUSHES THEM!

Anyway, I cleared Hard Mode. I'm trying to clear Very Hard Mode, in which your opponent will pull massive chains out of nowhere. If I remember correctly, this game forces you into 3D mode against the final boss (surprise, it's Mewtwo!). I am not nearly as good at the 3D mode so I'm sure I will be wrecked by Mewtwo again and again and again. #20yearoldspoilers

Since I got the credits and Iwata Stamp, I'm calling this one for the Brain Teaser badge.

sailorneorune wrote:

What?! I thought the final boss was Giratina!
In what ways does this differ from the original Panel de Pon? Is one mechanically superior to the other?

Pokémon Puzzle League has the aforementioned 3D mode. I don't like it very much because it's harder to get chains and you have to mind a whole cylinder of blocks.
Other than that, it's not all that different.

I beat stinking PiCTOBiTS .

I was liking this one until it got about halfway in. You use the stylus to pick up colored squares and place them to destroy colored shapes that descend from the top of the screen. Line up four squares of the same color to delete them, causing pixels of that color to fill in an NES sprite. This also causes the remains of that shape to drop much faster. As the levels progress, the shapes get more complex and start moving more quickly, and the number you need to break increases. Stage 14 took several hours to get down, and I’ve never been happier to see an 8-bit sprite of Bowser walk.

One issue is that they really don’t give you enough time to put down squares after you start a chain reaction. The thing just plummets with little delay, causing the area to fill with spare blocks. Half of your time will be spent desperately sucking up blocks high on the board and spitting them out lower, only for another ominous shape to land on them and turn into more refuse. Not to mention when you whittle a shape down, you can’t place a new square in the newly-created gap. It’s tough to explain, but there were many cases where I could’ve destroyed the whole shape if they’d just let me put a square right there… but they wouldn’t.

I’m not returning for the hard versions of the stages.

could you add to my owned systems? I nabbed a nice barely used PS3 slim, super happy about that. Playing Neptunia Victory rn.

---
- Octopath Traveller II
- Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory
- Tropical Resort Story

Don't you just love it when you get a game from ebay and it's in BETTER condition than you imagined. It's happed only a few times for me. I remember getting King's Field Ancient City and the pictures looked great, but it felt untouched in person. Just got Heavenly Sword in, I don't even have to replace the case. (Yeah I'm a nutter like that, I buy brand new game cases to replace ones if they aren't glossy smooth)

I beat LarryBoy and the Bad Apple (originally GBA).
[imgt w=1536 h=2048]https://i.imgur.com/vofqykO.jpg[/imgt]
Recommended by TheLonelyGoomba YouTube channel, it's strangely similar to Mario vs. Donkey Kong (GBA). You platform, hit switches, roll through tubes, and avoid enemies while paying attention to your time limit. Every few stages, you play a boss fight that's pulled from some random old game (Donkey Kong, Breakout, Pong, etc.). The game is fairly short and easy as one would expect from a kid's licensed game, but it doesn't overstay its welcome and Expert mode limits you to one minute per stage! That definitely made it more frantic.

VeggieTales was and is a certified classic no matter who you are, and I was delighted to hear instrumental covers of several of the show's famous songs used as background music, from "Promised Land" to "The Rumor Weed" (I think the latter is based on The W's cover rather than the show's original, in fact). They sound nice! There's even a line that mentions the Stuff Mart from the old episode, "Madame Blueberry," which tells me these devs did their homework when making the game.

For $4, I had a pretty good time. Worth the price, I'd say.

#31 Yakuza: Like a Dragon

8/10

I wanted to score this a bit higher but the difficulty spikes about halfway into the game prevent me from doing so. Once you get to chapter 9, between chapters 9-11 it’s a bit of a chore to progress until you get to chapter 12 and unlock the underground battle arena. Then you can level the playing field. But alas, if anyone out there is curious to play a Yakuza game with old school Dragon Quest/Final Fantasy gameplay mechanics, this shall fill your cup and have it runeth over. Some of the summons you get too are quite ridiculous and over the top too but really awesome as is some of the more special attacks your characters get to pull off. There’s even numerous death by pigeon attacks, one of my personal faves to use. You get to play as 6-7 different party members each with their own sets of job classes that range from hero to hostess to even the culinary arts as a chef and police enforcers, etc. I mainly stuck to max out 1 job class per character though to unlock all their ultimate skill attacks. The story is pretty interesting too and full of the standard overly dramatic undertones the Yakuza series is known for and I clocked in about 40ish hours after doing most of the sub stories and main quest.

I beat Klonoa: Door to Phantomile .
[imgt w=1280 h=720]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F16_7IgaYAEOwLC?format...[/imgt]

I didn't like this one. I know it's a PS1 classic for many, and I greatly enjoyed Klonoa: Empire of Dreams on GBA, but this first game didn't do it for me. The game is a little like Kirby 64, being a 2D platformer in a 3D environment with a dynamic camera. Unlike Kirby 64, Klonoa stages usually have multiple paths, many of which are too subtle to notice, that don't give you a good idea which are necessary. You'll walk down a path and find an outcropping that looks like it could be a secret path to more items, but then it turns out the path you were already on is the secret path, and the outcropping leads to the exit door. Or you'll see a structure off in the distance that looks like a path, but when you jump over to it, there's an invisible wall there and you fall to your death. I quickly learned to stop exploring.

Klonoa is one of those annoying collectathons where dying after a checkpoint makes you lose the things you collected after said checkpoint (minus the characters you rescue). It also has this obnoxious mechanic where striking a specific character causes all the surrounding gems to double in value for a short time--too short a time, evidently, as the gems would revert to normal before I could nab them all on the first stage. I quickly learned to stop collecting.

This remake also fails at cutscenes. They pop up at various points mid-stage, they're unengaging, and they're needlessly long. You can hold R to speed them, but that makes them go by too quickly to read. If you care about the story they keep yammering on about, you need to constantly hold and release R to speed up the slow text scroll, but not skip it outright. But after looking at the garish character designs, I quickly learned to stop caring.

I doubt I'll play the other game in the Phantasy Reverie Series any time soon, if ever. I'll stick with the GBA Klonoa games, since they appeal to me more.

Parappa the Rapper -
image

Cooking Mama 2 -
image

With how few beats we've had this week, I think I'll update on Monday night. Hope that's not a problem for anyone.

Add Viewfinder PS5 to my list. Review in progress

To close out both Game of the Month threads and to check two more platforms off my list, I finished off one last New Super Mario game and one last Bionic Commando game, starting with New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

Number: 28
Full Title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Platform Played: Wii
Collection: N/A
Native Platform: Wii
Original Platforms: Wii
Applicable Badge: Hop 'n Bop (already earned)

The Wii entry in the New Super Mario series perfected the formula that sprouted with the original DS game by adding a whole lot more content, smoothing out the physics, and re-introducing fan-favorite mechanics like Yoshi and Star Road. It unfortunately relies on waggle for some tilt-and-twirl levels, as well as for the game-changing spin jump move that allows Mario to get some additional air and distance from each jump. The latter of which is a huge problem when you're on an incredible platforming run and suddenly need to shake your arms to keep it going. Fortunately, I had an ace up my sleeve. I broke out my Ashida - essentially, a portable console that shoves a Wii's innards inside of an elongated GameCube controller - and was able to map the shake to a single button press. It breathed new life into one of my favorite Wii games and carried me through a full 100% run: every secret exit, every Star Coin, and every warp zone.

Number: 29
Full Title: Bionic Commando Re-armed
Platform Played: PlayStation 3
Collection: N/A
Native Platform: PlayStation 3
Original Platforms: Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Applicable Badge: Heavy Machine Gun (2/2), Facelift (already earned)

Speaking of revisiting beloved seventh generation games, I rounded off the last of the "original" Bionic Commando versions with Bionic Commando Re-armed for the PlayStation 3. The Xbox 360 version of this ended up being one of my favorite Xbox Live Arcade games and one of the first 360 games I ever beat. I remember it being tough as nails and unforgiving, but other than the times I was straying from the beaten path to find secrets or upgrades, I didn't have as difficult a run this time around. The most enlightening part of the experience was, having finally played the NES game on which it was based this year, seeing the tremendous amount of content that was added to the game beyond the simple shifting of pixels. The levels are much larger with more secret paths, the bosses are entirely different, and the arm mechanics are expanded, but not so much as to take away from the memory of the source material.

Final Fantasy XVI took a sideline to all the Bionic Commando goodness this month, but with August right around the corner, that will change soon. August is going to see its return to my playlist, along with oodles and oodles of arcade games as part of the Retro Talkshop Thread's August of Arcade.

Cleared Pokémon Puzzle League on Very Hard mode. This does not shove you into 3D mode. I was mistaken. If I decide to take on Super Hard Mode and it pulls that BS, I'll let y'all know.

10th in July, 55th overall, 1st
Yoshi's Woolly World
Badge - already had
Alpha - This COMPLETES my set, will put them all into a spoiler tag below if anyone actually cares.

I beat this largely b/c I was looking for a Y title and it being a Wii-U title also helps as this is my 19th console completed - I'm coming for that Sarna. Game was decently enjoyable, though the final world or 2 were a bit more challenging/frustrating. There are 8 levels in each of the 6 worlds with levels 4 and 8 being castles with bosses to clear. Each level has 4 goals to strive for to get a star on the level... I got a whole 1 star during my playing. The 4 goals are to collect 5 flowers, 5 bundles of yarn (which unlocks a new Yoshi skin), 20 stamps and finish with 20/20 health. Overall I earned 165/270 flowers and only unlocked 16/48 Yoshi skins. I did collect around 80% of the stamps that are concealed behind gems you can collect in the levels. I only finished a very few levels with full health. At this point I'm not itching to play virtually all of the levels again to collect/do whatever I didn't yet, but I also unlocked a boss-rush type mode, so *maybe I will keep this 'in rotation' and play it here and there, but it won't be much of a priority. Also if I ever get all 40 flowers from a given world, that unlocks another level in said world with at least a Yoshi skin (color pallet) to unlock... so I suppose I should try to beat more of this, but eh, maybe next year and I'll count it for then... I'll likely need some walkthrough to find many of the hidden flowers/yarns/stamps. Going for 20/20 health would be the most challenging.

TLoZ: Breath of the Wild (Switch) - An extensive game if you want to explore everything. I was a bit overwhelmed and felt like everything was so far away. I completed about a third of the shrines, and a bunch of side missions, but ultimately I went and completed the main questline. I could still do many things, but I don't feel like completing them. Great game with a lot of options though.

Grid Legends (PS4) - Nice variety of races and cars. The campaign can get a bit cringe with the acting, but overall I enjoyed completing it. Lots of stuff to unlock.

Just finished New Super Mario Bros. 2 on 3DS. Pumped for Wonder this fall!

Frank wrote:

How do you want me to list that? It doesn't look like we have an icon for that.

#61 down: Hold ‘Em Poker - Delta flight game (beat
tournament mode x5). This gets me the
Gamer’s Day badge. I managed to pull this off
thanks to two 4 hour flights on which they had
a touchscreen with various games on it.

#62 down: Venom + Spider-Man: Separation
Anxiety (SNES). This gets me the
Mustache-Twirlin’ badge alongside my previous
Cult of the Lamb clear, as I beat the game as
Venom.

#63 down: Deal or No Deal (GBA)- This gets me
the You’re Winner badge with my previous clear
of Redfall. I couldn’t find a metacritic score for
the GBA version, but the DS version got a 20
and a user score average of 2.1/10. It really is
that bad too.

Frank wrote:

I'm playing that now too! I want a little cushion so I don't play 2 mario bros games in a row. But I'll enjoy both spectacularly.

SupremeSarna wrote:

For PS5 / ? The icon is PS5 sandwhiched between two "*" without the quotations. You can just add the game Viewfinder next to my already completed PS5 game for the month. And NSMB2 or any others that may have been missed in the last OP update.

ErickRPG wrote:

I honestly might play another before Wonder releases. I picked NSMB2 because I'm fairly certain I only ever beat it once, when it initially released.

I definitely liked it a lot more this time around, vs when it launched months apart from New Super Mario Bros. U. I think there was just too much NSMB fatigue at the time.

None-the-less I'm glad to see we are getting that evolutionary step away from the NSMB games, instead of getting yet ANOTHER.

I beat wolfenstein the old blood on the xbox1

July is now concluded! Hope you've all had a relaxing summer thus far. Here are some scintillating stats for you about the month:
-Altogether, we beat 69 games in July! (I will resist the urge to make a joke about that accomplishment.) That number is the third-highest for any month so far this year, only topped by April's 92 and January's 97.
-We earned 13 badges in July. As expected, our resident badge fiend @Bleed_DukeBlue nabbed six of those, though @Slickriven , @Renaissance2K , @legendrko25 , and I got some as well.
-I lost my job a few days ago, but it's no biggie! It was a pretty lousy gig for a universally-disliked company, and I'm in a pretty comfy position for unemployment. No matter how long my job search lasts, it at least gives me more time to update this forum... and play Pikmin 4 during breaks.

Here's to an eventful August!

#64 down: Pumpkin Jack on Steam Deck. This gets me (alongside my previous clear of Horizon: Call of the Mountain) the Bear & Bird badge.

I read somewhere that Pumpkin Jack takes an average of 4 1/2 hours to beat, but it took me 7 1/2. There are lots of cheap ways to die, and the game keeps track of how many times you die. I died 212 times before beating this. Most of those deaths were to cheap falls, but several were to bosses (and, particularly, the final boss who is pretty obnoxious). This is the last of the games I was working on while out of town for the last few weeks. I'm happy to be able to get back to my non-portable systems again (and, particularly, my PS5 and PSVR2). It was pretty rough being something like 2/3-3/4 of the way through Final Fantasy XVI and then having to wait three weeks to play it again, so I'm looking forward to finishing that up soon.

It's been a crazy slow year for me thanks to Pokemon Scarlet, Salmon Run, and Tears of the Kingdom. But, I managed to beat another game. Me and the family replayed Yoshi's Woolly World for the first time since the kids were little, and had a blast with it again!

NES -
SNES -
N64 -
GC -
Wii -
Wii U - Yoshi's Woolly World
Switch - Pokemon Scarlet
GB -
GBC -
GBA -
DS -
3DS -
360 -
XB1 -
PS1 -
PS2 -
PS4 -
PSP -
GEN -

2/19 - Unique systems

2 - Total games

@SupremeSarna BTW you have me listed with 13 badges, but gave me 14

Slickriven wrote:

Fixed.

I know I said I was done with Bionic Commando games with my last update, but I couldn't let such a special Game of the Month go to waste without replaying one of my personal favorites.

Number: 30
Full Title: Bionic Commando
Platform Played: Game Boy
Collection: N/A
Native Platform: Game Boy
Original Platforms: Game Boy
Applicable Badge: Heavy Machine Gun (already earned)

I gushed about this game back in 2020 where it featured in my Year of Replays, so I only need to rehash a few bullet points. It has one of the best 8-bit soundtracks in history. It's probably my favorite Game Boy game, colorized or otherwise. And even when compared to later games in the franchise that could capitalize on better hardware, it has the most satisfying swinging mechanics this side of Spider-Man. If the NES port of Bionic Commando is considered a hidden gem, the Game Boy version - which abandons the military theme for an anime aesthetic - is even more hidden and twice as precious.

Number: 31
Full Title: Bionic Commando: Elite Forces
Platform Played: Game Boy Advance
Collection: N/A
Native Platform: Game Boy Color
Original Platforms: Game Boy Color
Applicable Badge: Heavy Machine Gun (already earned), Girl Power (1/2)

Then, there's Elite Forces. Despite being excited that the Game Boy favorite was getting a sequel of sorts, I never picked this up until this month. More of a reboot than a sequel, Elite Forces adds a female protagonist with alternate levels and some impressive Delphine-esque animated characters. What is also adds, to its detriment, are a bunch of other unwanted tropes from the Game Boy Color era: ultra low quality digitized voices that are barely understandable, a field of view that's zoomed in way too far to make calculated jumps, and flat backgrounds that can barely be parsed against equally-flat character sprites. Throw in a pack of frustrating, spongey bosses, and I don't think I missed out on that much in the two decades that I ignored its release, but the swinging is still a lot of fun when I'm not flinging myself towards a cheap death.

Number: 32
Full Title: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Platform Played: Windows
Collection: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection
Native Platform: Arcade
Original Platforms: Arcade
Applicable Badge: Pile Drivin' (1/2)

Moving on to the Retro Talkshop Thread's August arcade extravaganza, it's probably no surprise that I dove back into the orignal Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game as the first of the winning "front room" arcade games on show this month. No new revelations into this classic, beloved game this time around that haven't already been said, but I continue to be stupified by how much of a quarter muncher this monster is, particularly during boss fights. Gnarly, dude.

Okay, FOR REAL, I'm picking Final Fantasy XVI back up tonight. I'll be peppering that epic experience with the cornucopia of classic arcade titles featured in the Retro Talkshop Thread.

@Renaissance2K Are you sure TMNT is a run 'n' gun?

@SupremeSarna I should be at 11 unique systems so far.

I got a sealed copy of criminal girls for $51, an outstanding deal, because it was incorrectly labeled as EU version. Love getting the rare deal on ebay.

SupremeSarna wrote:

In my defense, there's both running and guns in the game.

Renaissance2K wrote:

In Starfield you can build up your fists. So Starfield is a beat'm up.

I beat Aladdin on the xbox1

Paper Mario (N64 original) and Oracle of Seasons on Switch are my most recent completions. Going through OoA now.

I beat SEGA AGES Fantasy Zone as part of @Renaissance2K 's Game of the Month forum.
[imgt w=1280 h=720]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F2o1DkQakAAmUtX?format...[/imgt]

I prefer the Master System port, but this one is closer to the arcade original. So no Ultra Super Big Maximum Great Strong Tot on Dolimicca or Dz Deno Roma on Mockstar. Instead, I fought the original bosses of those planets, Crabumger and Winklone. But hey, one of SEGA AGES' big features is the ability to swap out those bosses for the Master System versions, if you prefer them.

Can you beat my record score of 1549400?

legendrko25 wrote:
Was it the Genesis or SNES version?

SupremeSarna wrote:
Genesis

Arcade August is in full swing with three more completions from our Retro Talkshop Thread arcade.

Number: 33
Full Title: The Simpsons
Platform Played: Arcade
Collection: N/A
Native Platform: Arcade
Original Platforms: Arcade
Applicable Badge: Pile Drivin' (2/2)

I don't hold it in as high regard as the original Ninja Turtles arcade game, but I do remember playing The Simpsons in arcades and fun zones back during its hey day. I rarely made it past the first boss (unless I happened to be packing a fistful of quarters), but playing at home allowed me to appreciate how it was a faithful extension of the show with great animation, in spite of some hilarious mischaracterization of Smithers and Mr. Burns. The animation is great, the level designs are clever, and while it's every bit as much of a quarter muncher of other early 90's arcade games, the enemies and brawling make for a fun romp.

Number: 34
Full Title: Crazy Taxi
Platform Played: Dreamcast
Collection: N/A
Native Platform: Dreamcast
Original Platforms: Arcade
Applicable Badge: N/A

I played Crazy Taxi more than any other Dreamcast game back in the day. Fighting through blisters on my fingers (a side effect of the game's button-mashing boost mechanics), there were few better "snacks" than racing around San Francisco while The Offspring blasted in the background. I lost most of my muscle memory for the game over the years, completely forgetting how to execute boosts consistently, but after a whole lot of frustrating trial-and-error this week on multiple platforms, I got my figurative license back, taking home a $6,000 tab and an S-class license for the win.

Number: 35
Full Title: Metal Slug X
Platform Played: Windows
Collection: N/A
Native Platform: Windows
Original Platforms: Neo Geo
Applicable Badge: Heavy Machine Gun

Heading into the Back Room of the RTT Arcade, I wanted to pick up an arcade game in our list for which I already have a playthrough recorded and posted. Metal Slug X is an easy choice because I already have footage recorded, and it has a Verified port for the Steam Deck. Nothing much has changed here - the gameplay is still a pandemonium of beautiful sprite animation and cartoonish mayhem - save for a few more gameplay tweaks and some easy Steam achievements. Once again, I was caught off guard by the game's relatively-easy first level and got absolutely trounced by everything that followed, especially the mummy level.

Finishing a game on the Dreamcast means I've reached the halfway point on my platforms. Final Fantasy XVI will be another box checked off when the time comes, but other than that, expect oodles of arcade game completions in the coming weeks.

After almost a week, I 100%'d LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy .
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This game is and always will be a big step up from LSW 1. There are a few hours more content, with score attack bonus stages and bounty hunter missions. Stages now let you build piles of pieces into props required to progress, and you can now ride classic Star Wars vehicles/creatures like AT-STs and Dewbacks. They added Red Bricks to give you meaningful extras (i.e. fast building, infinite torpedoes, a tractor beam, score multipliers, etc.) and Gold Bricks to earn throughout the game, which contribute to your completion and can be assembled to unlock some of those bonus stages. The cutscenes have more charm, the level geometry is improved (dropped studs often fell through the floor in the first game; not so much here!), and the stages themselves are generally an improvement. All good stuff!

The game's biggest flaw is the endgame for 100% completion: You build a fountain that spews infinite studs a few at a time, and you just grind money until you have enough to buy the next ludicrously-expensive score multiplier, then go back and grind more til you can afford the next one. I spent at least 45 minutes just collecting cash to buy the last few extras, which isn't as fun as you'd think. (Yes, this is the intended method--the extra Score x10 alone costs 30,000,000 studs, so stacking the previous multipliers and fountain-diving is the only practical way to buy it.) This game also dropped the shootable targets and highjumping characters from LSW, and I've never known why.

Final complaint: My childhood disk. It still works after all these years, but it gets random disk-read errors when you're wandering around the hub area. Only inside the building, though; outside and in levels works a-okay. So you'll be buying things from the cantina owner and before you have a chance to autosave, the disk just stops reading and you have to reset. Now imagine you had just grinded 6,000,000 studs outside and you get that fatal error as you're walking up to the counter--you'd lose all of it! (That fortunately never happened to me, but I was briefly concerned.)

Anyway, this game's a real classic. If you want a LEGO game done right, play LSWII. LSWIII is about on par, but this one trumps it ever so slightly.

@Renaissance2K What did you complete to get Pile Drivin'? The Simpsons and...? I'm not seeing it in my records.

OP updated!

1st in Aug, 56th overall, 1st
Comix Zone
I'll take my share of that now @SupremeSarna as I've tied you with 20 consoles now.

I picked this one largely b/c I wanted a game to beat and I looked at some lists of noteworthy games and which aligned with my Mini Console as I hadn't really played anything on them thus far this year. 2+ semi-frustrating hours later and Comix Zone was completed. Game was pretty neat with the premise and some of the things you could do, but I didn't love the gameplay. I didn't look at the digital instruction manual on the Mini, and likely should have because I wasn't aware of how to perform most attacks, which were a challenge with the Mini's pretty junk dPad... which I didn't realize it was so crap until this game, diagonal directions were not easy to get working consistently.

I ended up looking for a video walkthrough to follow some, as well as a text one for some pointers. I also noticed/recalled that they released this on the and I think I might just have that. From what I could see from a guide's info about that version, it allowed for more buttons for better gameplay. That makes me tempted to see if I can give it a shot - maybe that could count for the remake if it redid the controls? I think I'd like it better with a better controller and maybe better ways to execute all of the moves more consistently.

I've been dabbling with some Halo Infinite campaign finally, but sort felt a touch burned out from games recently. Surely part of that stems from beating over 325 across the past 3.5+ years and 10+ each of the prior 3 months as well. This is also around the time of year that I start to look at my yearly personal goals and seek to focus on games to specifically earn my goals. Comix Zone helped here as I've now beat all 9 of my consoles that I wanted to focus on the least. Which is a touch funny since I now have 5 consoles with zero games beat and nearly no progress on them, but they were my personal '2nd tier' of focus - oh well. I guess I'll be looking to focus on them soon. I had got out my mini before the Genesis to try to beat that Shock Troopers game a 5th time for said badge, but it's the 2nd Strike or sequel title on there, so I'll just have to run through it on my PC apparently a 5th time for that.

SupremeSarna wrote:

The "Heavy Machine Gun" typo in TMNT was supposed to be Pile Drivin', but you guys were quicker to mock me than I was to fix it.

Renaissance2K wrote:

Gotcha. I had no idea what genre TMNT arcade was, so I didn’t pick up on that. No hard feelings, fella.

@Slickriven
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Haha @SupremeSarna

#65 and #66 down: Twisted Metal and Twisted Metal II (played on PS5 via PS+ premium). These two clears get me the Mass Destruction badge. 5 more to go! I never played the Twisted Metal games back in the day, and they are harder than I expected mostly because the controls are terrible. However, there's definitely fun to be had for sure even with them being rough around the edges.

@SupremeSarna if Twisted Metal counts towards Mass Destruction, would Wreckfest also count towards that?

Bleed_DukeBlue wrote:

The controls are terrible, and the AI opponents are cheating jerks. Still a blast, though.

It’s the weirdest thing. If I played almost any other game with such bad controls, I wouldn’t be able to get past it, but, somehow, it still is fun.

Renaissance2K wrote:

Bleed_DukeBlue wrote:

I think the wacky physics and the controls go hand in hand. Part of the reason the franchise - hell, the entire genre - didn't have very long legs is because it was displaced by shooters that required a lot more cover and precision. A game where you're essentially driving an exploding bathtub on wheels is going to have a hard time competing in that space.

I remember when the Windows port was released, and a PC Gamer review of it said something like "The controls are weird, and the physics don't make sense." That's the damn point, fools.

(They said the same thing about the PC port of Destruction Derby 2.)

Slickriven wrote:

I believe so. Any kind of demolition derby-themed game would count.

SupremeSarna wrote:

Good to know, I had counted it personally towards the Outrun/racing badge but might switch that up, if/when I beat another game that would count towards either badge.

I beat WWE2K23 on the xbox1

#17 Pokemon Shield

67:02 time, 313 Pokedex. More than had my fill by the conclusion of the story, didn't stick around for the post-game content. There were some quality of life things that were nice regarding move effectiveness and fast travel. Still, these things just equate to making games easier to expand their audience reach. The lack of secret areas/paths/Pokemon was disappointing. Possibly the most linear Pokemon game I've played. Still, I played a majority of this with my kids and we had a good time with it. We just ordered the Scarlet/Violet double pack to play through and even busted out some old PTCG decks.

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I beat Club Nintendo Picross , nabbing me the Localize Mother 3 badge. I wouldn't normally pirate a game, but this Club Nintendo Japan-exclusive game was never sold for legal tender and has absolutely no chance of returning on future hardware.
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It's the picross you'd expect with Nintendo-themed puzzles, a few of which you might not expect--Tamagon from Devil World is a puzzle! I had two massively long cartrips on Saturday, so I beat the whole game in 24 hours. Good stuff, good stuff. I appreciate the lack of Mega Picross, since that mode usually stinks.

How many repetitive cycles of Rampage do I have to finish before I can call the game done? It has 128 rounds altogether, but they don't really add more mechanics or setpieces after the third round. I'm on round 43, for the record.

I gave up on Stage 65, exactly halfway through the game. Do you think that’s sufficient for a long, repetitive experience?

once your bored. lol.

If no one objects to me counting Rampage as beaten after 64 rounds, I’ll do just that. And it will earn me the cake badge back since I played it on .

@SupremeSarna Does Three Wonders count as three games or one? It's three distinct games that each take about 45-60 minutes to complete, but they only exist as a "bundle" of games in a single arcade cabinet.

If it released as a single game cabinet, I'd be inclined to call it just one game with three distinct sections, though beating just one of them would count for beating the whole thing. In this odd case, however, I'd let you call the shots on it.

After a long break from the Mario vs. DK series, I came back with Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis . I've got things to say about it.
[imgt w=1536 h=2048]https://i.imgur.com/l3uL455.jpg[/imgt]

This was the game that broke MvDK away from its roots, transforming it into a Lemmings-esque puzzler. The games that followed made smart changes that made the series shine, even without the Arcade DK vibe. This game had a lot of growing pains. For one, it's much too long, having eight worlds with nine stages each. Given how tricky these stages can be, that many stages can become a chore. The stages can be daunting, but they're mostly well-designed. In fact, I discovered that you can often miss coins, even big ones, and still get a gold star rank if you excel at getting the other bonuses. So coins that put your Minis in jeopardy can be ignored entirely if it gives you peace of mind.

One mechanic I'm thankful they scrapped later was the overuse of the stylus. You have to swipe the Mini Marios to make them move in a direction or flick up to jump. Worst of all, tapping makes them stop in place. Doing this negates your Nonstop bonus, which is essential for getting a gold star on most stages. Compounding this is the issue that swiping the Mini Marios occasionally registers as tapping them, so you'll lose your bonus through no fault of your own and have to restart.

Then there's the bosses. Good gracious, why did they make them like this? You turn a crank with the stylus to move/angle a cannon and fire Minis at Donkey Kong. You usually need to trickshot them off the walls to avoid DK entirely, landing them atop the ceiling, causing them to knock down toward the ape. Others require you to smack DK with the Minis while dodging the projectiles he drops on you. The latter can be okay, the former are aggravating. Losing even one Mini from a misaligned shot can cost you the gold star. The Floor 8 boss is especially brutal.

It's decent enough, I guess, but I'm prepared to call it the worst MvDK game. Mini-Land Mayhem will surely be better! Fingers crossed.

@Renaissance2K I'll put your Three Wonders clear as a single game for now. If you'd like me to split it into three, just say the word.

SupremeSarna wrote:

I reject, you need to beat all levels, twice and backwards too - especially since it's on another console.
But I see you and I'm maybe coming for you... I've actually been sort of sucked into Halo Infinite's story, but am around 75% I believe and I've got an game in the works for when I finish up Halo or maybe a bit sooner.

I'm finishing arcade games faster than I can post updates about them. Here's a big update with seven new arcade clears.

Number: 36
Full Title: Three Wonders
Platform Played: Arcade
Collection: N/A
Native Platform: Arcade
Original Platforms: Arcade
Applicable Badge: Heavy Machine Gun (already earned), Destroy the Core (2/2), Brain Teaser (1/2)

When I logged this game into my Backloggery, I was surprised to see that I played through this three-game collection on PSP many moons ago. Three Wonders packages a fantasy run-and-gun named Midnight Wanderers, a shoot-em-up named Chariot that re-uses some characters and assets, and a totally-unrelated Bomberman/Lolo puzzle hybrid called Don't Pull. All three games stand on their own, but Midnight Wanderers was clearly the most polished, and I had a lot of fun with Don't Pull, at least until the halfway point when the enemy aggression went through the roof.

Number: 37
Full Title: Fantasy Zone
Platform Played: Arcade
Collection: N/A
Native Platform: Arcade
Original Platforms: Arcade
Applicable Badge: Destroy the Core (already earned), Grown-Ass Man (2/2)

Oh lordy, Fantasy Zone nearly broke me.

Despite the cartoonish, brightly-covered exterior, Fantasy Zone turns from a "fun, cutesy, lighthearted romp" to an animated Gremlins movie. I discovered too much about the game's economy - notably, how upgrades get more expensive each time you make a repeat purchase - leaving me at a point where the only way I could beat the final boss was with a weapon that was too expensive for me to purchase. After seven grueling levels, each with its own annoying boss, it was pretty disheartening to have to start all over, but fortunately, the second run went a lot more smoothly.

Number: 38
Full Title: Final Fight
Platform Played: Arcade
Collection: N/A
Native Platform: Arcade
Original Platforms: Arcade
Applicable Badge: Pile Drivin' (already earned)

I played through this on the Capcom Beat 'em Up collection. In the time since, the MiSTer Project dropped a CPS-1 core (the arcade system used by Final Fight and a bunch of other 90s Capcom games), and I'd been looking for an excuse to play through it again on more accurate hardware with a real arcade stick. I don't know what it was about the playthrough, but I had such a blast. Playing it on a real screen with real buttons and the music blasting was just a lot of fun. As much as I love having so many great games on the go, playing games at home definitely strikes a different note.

Number: 39
Full Title: Mortal Kombat II
Platform Played: Arcade
Collection: N/A
Native Platform: Arcade
Original Platforms: Arcade
Applicable Badge: Street Fightin' (already earned)

Every time I've played through the original arcade release of Mortal Kombat II, it's been as part of a poorly-emulated collection. Though we're still months away from a MiSTer port, I decided to load the game up on MAME and see those gigantic digitized sprites in all their glory. The game is every bit of a quarter muncher as it is on consoles, even with the difficulty set to "Very Easy", but nothing could have prepared me for the nightmare of Kintaro. It took dozens of dozens of attempts before I was able to lock the ugly multi-limbed bastard into submission with a combination of sai throws and jump kicks, and even then, it was a learning process. Shao Khan was a breeze in comparion.

Number: 40
Full Title: Sega Ages: OutRun
Platform Played: Switch
Collection: N/A
Native Platform: Arcade
Original Platforms: Arcade
Applicable Badge: Race Drivin' (2/2)

In 1991, when I was seven years old, my extended family had a huge reunion that will live forever in my memory because (a) I had my first (unintentional) sip of black coffee, and it turned me off from the stuff for all eternity; and (b) we rented arcade machines for Street Fighter II and OutRun, on which I bounced back and forth nearly all day. I wasted hours timing out on OutRun before realizing that the car goes considerably faster if you shift it into high gear. "Passing Breeze" will forever be associated with that Game Over screen as a result.

I've been eyeing OutRun in the Retro Talkshop Thread backlog for quite a while, but Arcade August was the perfect opportunity to dig into it a little bit. It's not an easy game, and while I have a real racing wheel with which to control the game, I never convinced myself that I had set it up properly on either the MiSTer or MAME, so I gave up and booted the Sega Ages version on Switch, which had analog control, at least. It took a lot of trial and error and plenty of pattern memorization before I finally got the hang of the last segments of the course and crossed the finish line.

Number: 41
Full Title: Vampire Savior: The Lord of Vampire
Platform Played: Windows
Collection: Capcom Arcade Stadium 2
Native Platform: Arcade
Original Platforms: Arcade
Applicable Badge: Street Fightin' (already earned)

I played through Darkstalkers 3 and all its ports on nearly (or absolutely?) every supported platform two years ago when it became the Retro Talkshop Thread Game of the Month, covering all characters and secrets. Since then, it dropped as part of the Capcom Arcade Stadium 2, where I picked it up for two playthroughs with Talbain and Morrigan. The experience on the Steam Deck didn't feel very different from that on the MiSTer, but most of the latter's beta graphical issues were resolved here, and I desperately missed having a true six-button layout.

Number: 42
Full Title: Burgertime
Platform Played: Arcade
Collection: N/A
Native Platform: Arcade
Original Platforms: Arcade
Applicable Badge: Quarter Muncher (2/2)

Rounding off this giant post and the last of the Front Room arcade games, I did a loop of Burgertime this morning. I revisited the game back in 2020 Year of Replays because of the soft place I have for it in my heart (it was one of the first NES games I ever owned, and my dad and I would play it together) though I fared much better this time around, making it to the end of the fifth level and then stretching things until Level 3 of the second loop. Those pickles never knew what hit them.

I've been playing arcade games in the morning while I wait for my son to wake up and playing Final Fantasy XVI in the evening when I have some time to myself. So far, that's been working out pretty well, though it's getting harder and harder to pick up arcade games when I'm in Clive's shoes.

@Renaissance2K You beat Fantasy Zone in two runs?! Insane if so!
You should always be buying Laser Beams unless you’re up against Poppoos, when a 7-Way Shot would be the most beneficial.

In the Master System version, if you buy all engine upgrades and a special weapon, you get unlimited use of that weapon until you die once. Makes that version far more fun imo.

@Renaissance2K

That's an impressive post. Nice.

SupremeSarna wrote:

I guess a "run" in that context meant "making it to the boss". Both of those "runs" took a whole lot of tries and failures.

#67 down: Circus Electrique on PS5. This (alongside my previous clear of Card Hog) gives me the The Best Offense badge. Four badges left! I was playing Baldur's Gate 3 (and trying to convince myself to finish Final Fantasy XVI somehow along the way) when I stumbled upon something about Circus Electrique being available on PS+ premium. I gave it a whirl and got sucked in for the last few days. I ended up playing it until I finally beat it tonight, and it was a lot of fun. You recruit circus performers who you then can send off to heal, use to spy (revealing information about the maps you travel on), assign them to put on a circus show (which takes 1-4 days and takes into account various synergies between the performers and requires certain stats from them to complete successfully, resulting in some combination of experience for the performers, money, and experience for your circus overall. You can level up characters, giving them stronger abilities and better stats, assign them different artifacts, etc. Then, on the maps, you fight enemies, play shell games where you wager money and follow the ball (with 3 successful attempts in a row revealing a new path on the map), charity events, go to bars, and all sorts of other events. Then, when you engage in combat, it's similar to Darkest Dungeon with position impacting what actions you can perform and every character death being permanent. The characters have a health bar and a blue bar that's kind of like stamina, and, if it runs out, the character runs away (not forever but from that particular battle, putting you at a disadvantage). It's a game that's easy to pick up and harder to master, and the last boss was a pain in the neck before I realized how to properly use robot bears. (Yes, you can use robot bears!) I recommend this one. It probably took me about 15 hours to beat.

2nd in Aug, 57th overall, 3rd Mame
S.P.Y. Special Project Y
Badge - Can this count towards the Quarter Muncher? If not it really could be a candidate for You're Winner - your call Sarna

Thanks to Ren2k's RTT GotM's arcade focus I've put some time into my mame setup and decided to play this SPY game and it was not good. It has 5 platform like levels with 4 others where you're pushing into the background - reminded me of a Contra knockoff with 1 stage feeling a lot like Space Harrier (I think). In the platform style levels you punch and kick scores of enemies largely 1-hit killing them besides a few tougher guys and some bosses, you can also get some weapons like pistols, shotguns or machine guns. Then in the into-the-screen levels you always have a weapon and get more drops of others and can take out guys if you get close as well. But what was the most lame aspect is you reach the boss and he says 'ha you can't get me' and flies off and you cycle back to the first level again... which threw me at first, but you run through the whole set of levels, with really no changes, to reach him again and he takes 3 hits to kill... and the 2nd set of levels really didn't feel any more challenging, dumb.

Octopath Traveller 2 -
Played Castii as my main character. So stuck with Apothecary this game as well. Pretty good game, I THINK I liked part 1 better? But it might be nostalgia as the first game was like a breath of fresh air with it's HD/2D graphics. But both great games either way.
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New Super Mario Bros. 2 -
Just like another poster recently, I felt like beating this before Wonder. But for me, I had to buy it again. As I rebuild a few of my small collections. I got as pretty good deal on a sealed copy so I went for it, a good 2D mario. The 3D is pretty good too, the higher you put the 3D the further the background stretches. Pretty cool.
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Resistance Fall of Man -
I think this is my first clear on my new PS3? I figured in order to not get burnt out, might as well play part 1 of a series where there are 3 games. I'll get back to this series after a bit of a break. It's not bad. Not one of the reasons you GET a PS3 but if you like shooters, it's a good exclusive
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I beat Sonic Origins on story mode. This is basically 4 games in total, but you can just put it as Sonic Origins.

I beat Dead Island Riptide on the xbox1

Number: 18
Full Title: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Platform Played:
Collection: N/A
Native Platform:
Original Platform:
Applicable Badge: Days Gone By (1/2)

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This game led to both my prolonged absence and my triumphant return. As I mentioned in the game's thread, I believe this is the best game released since Half-Life: Alyx, though there is an important caveat that I have not yet played Elden Ring. I got all the shrines and lightroots but decided to wrap rather than wasting time on Koroks or upgrading gear. I greatly appreciated that this one was both darker and more challenging than BotW.

@SupremeSarna Would Final Fantasy XVI count for the Vault Boy badge? I’m not finished with it yet, but I was just wondering since I read that they made it to appeal to a Western audience.

Bleed_DukeBlue wrote:

I’d be willing to count it.

Sarna I just beat Shock Troopers for the 5th time. This time I went largely with the 2nd dude, but ended up switching to the 2nd woman and completing it with her. I started on the river path and switched to the mountain one, taking on the 1 train level to change paths. I also beat it on hard and in some ways found that easier, or maybe after 4x times already I was a bit better (seems likely). But on hard I did better against most bosses, beating a few without even losing a life. This earns me the Gamer's Day badge. I beat it this time via the Amazon Games sourced PC port. All in I beat the NeoGeo ROM 3x times, 1 each on each path and not sure there's any difficulty settings, seems unlikely, then I beat it twice via the PC port, both times starting on 1 path and switching when given the chance, with my 1st run on normal and 2nd on hard (that version had easy, normal, hard and insane).

Also beat another Mame game: Match It
3rd in Aug, 58th overall
Badge: If SPY can be credited for Quarter Muncher, then for sure this one can and it earns the badge for me

They give you boards of tiles to match and you have to be able to draw a line with normally only 2 turns to get the match. For example, think of a 3x3 grid of numbers on a phone/keyboard and you can match 1 with 2,3 (straight line) and 4,7 (via out, turn, up, turn back in) but not 5,6,8,9 b/c they would require more than 2 turns. Obviously the layouts were more complicated than that. It was alright, limiting you on time and such.

Also beat another Mame game: The Simpsons
4th in Aug, 59th overall
Already have badge

Beat this for RTT GotM. I don't really recall ever seeing and certainly not playing this arcade cabinet as a kid, not that I was as big into games as a kid, nor had many places near me even with machines where I lived. Was an alright beat em up I suppose. I'm not the biggest fan of that series anyhow.

Updating...
Updated! Correct me if I got anything wrong.

Number: 19
Full Title: Super Contra
Platform Played:
Collection: Contra Anniversary Collection
Native Platform:
Original Platform:
Applicable Badge: N/A

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails...

I greatly prefer the behind the character stages from the original over the overhead stages from this one, but I do enjoy the more horizontal approach to the normal stages over the more vertical ones in the original. Also, holy crap is the laser a pain to aim in this one.