Welcome to The GameTZ Game Club! This is my attempt at forming an easy to get into book club type thing, but with games! Anybody, and everybody, is welcome to join in on the fun!
Rules:
- Each month a random game will be chosen, by myself, for the club to play. Games can vary from the beginning of gaming onward to current-generation platforms. There are no limitations!
- You have from the 1st of every month to 11:59PM EST of the final day to complete the designated game. 100% completion isn't required. The point of the club is to provoke game discussion, as well as give GameTZ veterans and new users a place to mingle!]
- For every game completed, post a picture as proof of your completion Example. This is essential in order to receive your badge and entry to the monthly raffle.
- You will be awarded with a badge each month you complete the game. All badges will be proudly displayed next to your name in the original post. As long as you "roll credits" the game is considered beaten!
- Some months will feature prizes! Every user to complete the game of the month will be thrown into a drawing to win prizes! Users will be assigned a number and users will be randomly generated at some point the following month.
- Prizes will vary. Prizes will beon a donation basis by either me or another member. Sometimes physical, sometimes digital. If you would like to contribute, drop me a message.
- If you don't own the game, and you have access to it on another platform, you're welcome to play it that way. Just make sure that it's the same version, to qualify for the prize or badge.
- If you do not want to participate in the games, but would like to join in on the conversations, please do!
- If you would like to join, just post here, and I'll add you to the list of users. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or criticism, please don't hesitate to post them!
image February 2023: Cuphead image January 2023: High on Life
image December 2022: Super Mario World image November 2022: Bioshock 2 image October 2022: Death Stranding image September 2022: Stray image August 2022: Chernoblite image July 2022: TMNT Franchise image May 2022: Gris imageApril 2022: E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial image March 2022: Subsurface Circular image February 2022: Crysis Franchise image January 2022 : Marvel's Spider-Man
image November 2021: Ori Franchise image October 2021: Until Dawn image September 2021: Guitar Hero Franchise image August 2021: Metroid | Metroid Zero Mission image July 2021: Tetris Effect image June 2021: Horizon Zero Dawn image May 2021: Ghost Squad image April 2021: Bioshock image March 2021: LittleBigPlanet Franchise image February 2021: MediEvil image January 2021: Super Mario Galaxy
image November 2020: Oddworld Abe's Odyssey image October 2020: Resident Evil 7 image September 2020: Batman: Arkham City image August 2020: Trover Saves The Universe image July 2020: Super Mario Land image June 2020: Untitled Goose Game image May 2020: Tacoma image April 2020: Last of Us image March 2020: Shovel Knight image February 2020: Portal 2
image December 2019: Outer Worlds image November 2019: Yooka-Laylee image October 2019: Resident Evil 2 (2019) image September 2019: Doom image August 2019: Steamworld Dig image July 2019: Journey image June 2019: Super Mario RPG image May 2019: Borderlands image April 2019: Adventure Island
Was kinda sad not to do a horror game this year, since every other year was Resident Evil or Until Dawn or something, but Oh just you wait. It's appropriately timed I think (hint hint hint)
1. Not a horror game 2. Current gen and/or previous gen (PS4, etc) 3. Not Quarry, oops! 4. Not made by a first party publisher 5. It's on Game Pass 6. Human Protagonists 7. Not released in 2022
8. Do choices you make matter to the story and where things end up?
I figured @Renaissance2K was thinking DS. I thought to ask if Norman Reedus was involved but once you said it was a PS exclusive and confirmed it was on GP I knew it 99% likely to be DS. I guess I should at least try it but my goodness I felt it was for sure not my cup o' tea when it came out...
> 40+ hours to finish? Gonna need a make-up month (or two) for this one.
>
Came here to say the same thing... I'm still not sure if I even want to give it a try and at 40+ hrs I might pass. It just looked so stupid to me when it dropped and in reviews. I don't love fetch questing nor walking sims either. I missed out of a few thus far in '22 including Sept's selection so life will go on even if I pass.
I honestly know very little about it, but this was recommended by @sinnie a long while ago, and seems like a good alternative to the usual horror game for halloween.
This is perfect. I stopped playing Death Stranding awhile back and had been meaning to get back to it eventually. This was the push I needed. I'm still going to try to finish Stray before the end of the month, but it's been crazy, and I've been out of town.
Started Death Stranding today. This story is wild, haha. The production value is top notch. I stopped after the prologue. So far, playing this on the Steam Deck in Windows via Game Pass has been pretty good.
I'm hoping to finish my quick play through of Dead Island before starting this month. But it's already flying by. Though I am having surgery 10/14 so I'm definitely bringing my Deck to the hospital to play. I should be able to do a lot then!
I beat Stray! It wasn’t something I would have considered worth full price, but, for a free PS+ game, it was worth a playthrough. There were some neat little moments like how you can pick up a record with your mouth and then DJ by scratching it with your claws on a turntable. The game was at its best when it just let you goof around being a cat.
Here’s my proof (pictures of the trophy popping when I completed the game, the credits, and a picture of my cat who looks like the cat from Stray and sat in my lap while I played:
I filled the options up to 8 games, including games that were suggested months ago. I also added a section at the end to make suggestions for future months!
I was going to vote, but you forcing me to suggest another title for later caused me to close the tab... but I was busy at the time. Since we did Bioshock 1 already I'll have to vote some something else now to help sway the vote.
> Since we did Bioshock 1 already I'll have to vote some something else now to help sway the vote.
I had suggested BioShock 2 specifically because we had played BioShock 1 last year. I thought it would be nice to return to and possibly finish the trilogy since they're such good games and we don't usually return to a series after we've played through one entry. I got no problem finishing them on my own though.
>> Since we did Bioshock 1 already I'll have to vote some something else now to help
> sway the vote.
>
>
> I had suggested BioShock 2 specifically because we had played BioShock 1 last year.
> I thought it would be nice to return to and possibly finish the trilogy since they're
> such good games and we don't usually return to a series after we've played through
> one entry. I got no problem finishing them on my own though.
>
I started replaying Bio1 when it was selected, but unfortunately didn't find/make time to get very far. The whole series is excellent for different reasons and I wouldn't mind replaying 1 and 2. So if it wins I could try to replay it as I was playing via the 1/2 remastered release on my X1 - vs originally playing both on my 360.
Got to Death Stranding and I don't know... this one might just be too wild/artsy for me. I have no idea wtf is going on. This seems like a drunken acid induced nightmare.
> Got to Death Stranding and I don't know... this one might just be too wild/artsy
> for me. I have no idea wtf is going on. This seems like a drunken acid induced nightmare.
>
>
lol yikes!
I've got it installed on my PC, but I've been far too busy between crap IRL and working on my Halloween video. I haven't had the time to actually sit down and play much of anything, besides to capture footage
Doh, I started playing BioShock a 2nd time for this thread a while back and didn't get very far. I don't know if I should just move onto BioShock 2, though if I recall 2 was shorter and a touch easier.
I'm also likely just 1 more session away from finally finishing Crysis 2 that I had started before it was a selection for this thread, so that'll at least be a make up for me soon.
Going to give it a shot on the Steam Deck. I don't think I'll be finishing Death Stranding, the amount of time to beat is just too much for me given the other games I'm interested in.
Since I suggested BioShock 2 I feel obligated to play it. But I'm so hooked on Horizon: Forbidden West at the moment that I barely want to play anything else. I'll definitely try and make time for this though, I've already got it downloaded.
@Frank I just beat Crysis2 for a make up title. I'll post an image for proof tomorrow, had to take a pick of the achievement since there weren't any credits after the sort of anticlimactic ending.
Well, it looks like GFWL has finally gone from being "in a vegetative state" to "really dead," so I'm not going to be able to ever get those last few BioShock 2 achievements from my original playthrough. Womp womp.
Dors the game winter themed (not just having a winter season among other seasons, but a focus on winter) or include Christmas-y elements like Santa Claus?
1. It was not released in 2010 or later. 2. The game does not have explicit Winter/Christmas elements, excluding JUST having a winter season. 3. It is part of a series/multi-game franchise. Hint: The franchise has had movies. 4. It is not a fighting game.
>> Are there more than 2 movies released for this franchise?
>>
>
> 5. More than 2? No, but there is a 3rd coming next year.
I want some clarification on this clue. Is it like Indiana Jones where there are really 4 but many fans say there are only 2 movies because they disavow Temple of Doom and the Shia Lebouf one? Or is it actually only 2 movies?
I'm stumped. I cheated and read an article for upcoming video game movies and nothing fits. I would guess something with Sonic but the 3rd movie has late 2024
> Well, I beat Untitled Goose Game today as my make up. I had beaten it before it was
> a choice here and got back to it.
>
>
That would have been a hard call for me to make. While I was looking forward to the game for quite some time, once I got to playing it, it started to feel more like a chore that I was happy to be done with. I don't know if I could revisit it.
>> Well, I beat Untitled Goose Game today as my make up. I had beaten it before it
> was
>> a choice here and got back to it.
>>
> |>
>
> That would have been a hard call for me to make. While I was looking forward to
> the game for quite some time, once I got to playing it, it started to feel more like
> a chore that I was happy to be done with. I don't know if I could revisit it.
>
>
think I agree. I don't think I'd want to go back and replay it either. I did double dip when it came to GamePass, but not a full playthrough. There was a Gamepass Quest for getting 3 achievements, and Untitled Goose Game had a few quick ones.
Alright here's another hint. this game had a TV show adaptation.
UGG was a fitting acronym for the game. I didn't hate it, but it and Tacoma were 100% games I would've never bothered to finish were they not for this thread.
We love the Goose game in my house. Well my oldest does. I didn't wanna play it either, but it's fun finding new glitches and fun things to do to terrorize the town. We still need to 100% it so maybe we'll do it since it seems to be the current obsession.
I think my favorite is holding onto things that are big (like fertilizer bags, or trash can lids) and dropping them down the well while holding onto them. The game glitches and sends you flying. It's pretty funny. It takes team work to get it done sometimes.
Haven't played that in years. At least it is easily accessible since I assume most of us have a Switch and pay for the online service, if you don't already have another way to play it.
With all the Super Mario Maker that I play, because it only uses New Super Mario Bros. physics I sometimes have difficulty adjusting back to the way the 8 and 16-bit Mario games play, so this will be interesting for me.
> Haven't played that in years. At least it is easily accessible since I assume most
> of us have a Switch and pay for the online service, if you don't already have another
> way to play it.
>
> With all the Super Mario Maker that I play, because it only uses New Super Mario
> Bros. physics I sometimes have difficulty adjusting back to the way the 8 and 16-bit
> Mario games play, so this will be interesting for me.
>
I've been wanting an excuse to play through it again. I'm not sure if I've ever actually beaten the SNES version since I only played it at the neighbor's, and played through the GBA version as a kid.
That said though, playing it on SNES across the street was honestly one of the things that cemented me as the gamer I am today. I owe it to myself to at least beat the original game. Plus this gives me a chance to see how many of the starworld paths I can find in a normal playthrough
Plus it had to be Mario, why muck up the 1 Mario game a year trend I've had going since 2019. If this was the "FrankTZ Game Club" there would be a LOT more Mario
I've been neglecting this club, and I'll be spending most of December working on my annual video, but I'll figure out a way to squeeze this in. I consider it my favorite Mario game.
I played through the GBA version last year and took it to 100% a few months ago, so it's probably time to beat the OG SNES version.
@Renaissance2K You've only missed like 2 games in the 4 years I've been running this, no sweat buddy.
@PizzaTheHutt I wouldn't rush it. If you're having fun just keep playing till you finish. That's why everyone can make up a game any month now. Trying to relieve the stress of rushing through
Cool pick. I too haven't touched that wonderful game in a LONG time. For me the best SNES title was LttP and I have lots of fond memories of playing DKC, but SMW was a true gem and I will certainly give it a go after not getting on board with too many others this year. Will give me another reason to bust out my SNES classic.
I'm surprised we didn't do this one already, lol. I picked up a Hallmark SNES ornament and it plays the first level music and it has me itching to play so I might if I find time!
I remember playing this with a friend back in the day, and him remarking that the SMW "The End" screen was the greatest graphics he'd ever seen. My, how far we've come.
I'm right at the end of BioShock 2. I tried to finish it before the buzzer (11:59pm last night) but I couldn't do it. So if I finish it tonight and technically it'd be a make up badge since it's December now, but can I still earn the badge for beating SMW as well? Or is it one badge per month? Other than the TMNT month over the summer I don't recall anyone going for more than one badge in a month.
> I'm right at the end of BioShock 2. I tried to finish it before the buzzer (11:59pm
> last night) but I couldn't do it. So if I finish it tonight and technically it'd
> be a make up badge since it's December now, but can I still earn the badge for beating
> SMW as well? Or is it one badge per month? Other than the TMNT month over the summer
> I don't recall anyone going for more than one badge in a month.
>
>
Oh no, you're welcome to cash in the makeup for Bioshock 2 and play Super Mario World. Essentially, if you have badges up for grabs, you can earn 2 a month (one makeup and the current game of the month)
> This is the first time I've ever played this game on a large tv with surround sound
> speakers. It really enhanced the experience.
>
>
You actually played it similar to I... only I opted to go emulation. I ended up playing through it yesterday and today, using some of the Star Road shortcuts.
I played using a modified BSNES that allowed the game to upscale with near ultra-wide resolutions.
Playing it in HD with an 8bitdo was amazing, but at the end of the day, it's still SMW... Which happens to be one of my favorite games of all time
I may have to look up some short cuts as the last 45 mins of my life were crazy frustrating. I loved SMW as a kid and I'm certain I beat it back in the day, but wow was I rusty just playing it now. I had a save-state of just overall progress on my SNES classic and seemingly I was 5-6 levels in and was playing 2-player. Well it took me at least a dozen lives from both bros to advance maybe 5 levels including the first castle and I basically rage quit on a haunted house after just failing it a few too many times.
I don't recall it requiring so much precision, dang. I do want to beat this so I will collect myself and go back to it another night. I was thinking I'd beat it without seeking out the warps, but if it continues to frustrate me that much, I will give up on that and just push to beat it fast, especially since I don't know how much time I'll get to spend on it as later in the month I'm sure to get busy with holiday things and such.
I would like to nominate an Ogre Battle month in which you could play Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen (SNES), Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber (N64), Ogre Battle Gaiden: Prince of Zenobia (Neo Geo Pocket Color), Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together (Super Famicom/Saturn/PlayStation), Tactics Ogre: Wheel of Fortune (PSP), Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis (Game Boy Advance), or Tactics Ogre: Reborn (Switch, PS4, PS5, Steam).
Frank wrote:
> sinnie wrote:
>> Hmm... are we doing recommendations for next years picks, or what?
>>
>>
>
> Sure I'm game to have January be a community vote.
Sweet. I'm just gonna throw my wishlist up here so I have a reason to buy more stuff, lol
Dying Light 2 Resident Evil 3 and RE Village Mass Effect series Fallout 4 (time for a replay) As Dusk Falls Ghostwire Tokyo High on Life -- another Rick and Morty game, bound to be tons of offensive fun Uncharted The Lost Legacy (though I'm in the middle of this one on the Steam Deck now, lol) Uncharted 4
I'm going to make the poll exclusively your recommendations this month (not mine), so if anyone else wants to throw some recommendations down, please do.
I just started Super Mario World today. I hope to have it finished in a few days, playing through one world per session. I never beat this as a kid without a Game Genie, but thanks to playing so many troll levels in Super Mario Maker I feel I'm a much better player than I was back then.
I had started Until Dawn in the past, but didn't quite finish it, so I've started it over this month and hope to finish it within the next couple of days. It bothers me the few times that I've messed up on a quick time button press and someone dies. Some of those decisions are also really tough. I'm curious to see the results of some of them.
Oh yes, subscription based. See, I don't have the time to get my money's worth out of something like that. I'd actually save money by buying games outright.
I can't believe how many people I let die! I'm guessing some of them were inevitable and just bad luck guesses, but I know for certain that there were at least a few that I could have avoided. Part of me wants to play it again and be a total dick with some of my decisions. Overall, I enjoyed it a quite a bit. It did a good job of creating tension and suspense.
Well my one kid is only partially verbal. If he starts saying some of this crap I won't even care because it's talking, lol. The other is 8 months so not gonna worry. Didn't go on sale but I'll be grabbing it on Steam and hopefully playing on the Deck.
This one is way better. Humor is more out there, and the gameplay (while completely different) is much better. Still just average gameplay, but the humor and story make it worth it.
Alright, finally got around to finishing up Super Mario World. That took way longer than expected. I originally was going to do one world per day and they just felt super short and then I wound up just not touching the game for a few weeks. image
> Stray is one that I would love to play some day. I'll just have to wait for a good
> sale.
>
>
I honestly respect that. I wouldn't have played it myself, had my buddy not bought it.
He's like family, so we use Steam's family share feature. Very convenient, because it's made me play games I otherwise wouldn't have bothered even looking into.
I finally got around to starting this today, only got to beat the first bounty but was enjoying it. Reminded me of Trover and overall was fun, though I didn't love that bounty fight as the grapple/swinging wasn't great. The dialog was fun, especially after getting the knife. I'll likely push this one to the top of my priority list for the rest of the month. I've been wanting to play it and was stoked it got picked as some extra motivation, but I just messed around with some other titles on my XSX and been playing on other systems as well.
Made some good progress in my last 2 sessions in the game, like Trover, the voice of Kenny and some NPCs is starting to annoy me but the game is still decently enjoyable. I'm working on the 7th bounty so I'm nearing the end. Some things have been fun and funny, others not so much but I suppose that's to be expected. Looking forward to finishing this, this weekend.
Ended up not waiting until the weekend, I beat this just a little bit ago - forgot to take an image during credits, so image here is of my earned Achievement: https://photos.app.goo.gl/3CVR6xESsBqzBfBW7
Game was fun, glad the thread pushed me to beat it now vs. waiting as I was able to run through it and revisit some areas looking for chests (before the final battle) in like 8 days, while I may not have pushed that much otherwise. Game was a bit buggy for me. Like some enemies spawning or falling into the floor. But the biggest one that sucked the 2 times it happened was the respawn failing b/c I feared my save was busted. First time was near the end of a longer session last night where I triggered a fight that I didn't want to, so I opted to pause > reload last checkpoint, well that kicked me to the main menu/screen, thought that was odd, so I hit continue, screen cycled and back to main screen, uhh... ok Load > my save... back to main... Fudge, it better not be screwed up... killed the game and restarted, and thankfully it was fine. The 2nd time was concerning as it happened in the fight against the final boss after I died. I didn't stress too much and killing the game and restarting was enough to resolve it.
> 3. Was the game originally released on or after January 1, 2010?
>
>
3. Yes
1. The game was not initially released during the current generation's time period. 2. Part of a series, but not a series of games. 3. Originally released on or after January 1, 2010.
Oh please not Cuphead. That game nearly gave me carpal tunnel by the time I beat it last year. It’s hard enough on simple mode, but then you have to raise the difficulty and beat everything on regular mode to be able to unlock the last area (Inkwell Hell) and roll the credits. Some of the bosses on regular took me literally hundreds of attempts before I beat them. The final bosses (and some of the ones before you get there) are brutal.
I'm only still on the first island/area in Cuphead after buying it early last year but sucking at it. So I would be up for giving it some more attention, though I suspect that I might not complete it in the month because I stunk at it.
Next month was recommended in by @EB who has also kindly offered to give away a $10 gift card to one lucky participant who collects the Cuphead badge.
I myself never actually finished it either, and I've always felt shameful because of it. While I don't include myself in the prize raffle, since I'm the host, I am looking forward to trying to play through it again and actually finish it!
Cuphead is one of those games where the more you play the angrier and worse you get. I’ve Gotta set an attempt / night limit on those for me to succeed.
I never finished it either. Around the time it released on Switch the dev team said they were going to patch in Xbox Live achievement support into the Switch version, so I set the game aside expecting them to follow through on it. Nearly four years later and they have never mentioned it again. I'm fine playing it without achievements, it just would have been nice to have something to show for completing a ridiculously hard game, but I still never went back because I was sidetracked by so many other games in the meantime.
I beat Cuphead + the DLC last month (also nominated it for this club), so I'll try to do it on Expert difficulty this time. There is a trick that lets you summon the genie for double health if you're having trouble.
I probably died to Grim Matchstick the most. Almost certainly would have been the robot if not for this cheat. (I used it for this boss and two of the later run and gun stages just to get them out of the way lol.)
I turned on my Switch Lite, ready to play, and oh wait the Switch was out of battery, of course.
I'm a big fan of the Switch Lite, but a disadvantage to not having the system docked is the battery potentially being dead when you're about to play a game.
> Slowly but surely making progress. Really scared about some of the later levels if
> I'm already having this much trouble with the first world.
>
>
I wonder which bosses you'll find to be more challenging and which less. There were some that based on the progression of the game should have been difficult and were easier for me, but others that I would have thought would have been more difficult but turned out to be much easier.
Initially I was thinking that Cuphead would be great for me and my daughter to play together, but after reading a little bit about the two-player mode, I think it would be a bad idea. Apparently when you play in two-player mode, the amount of damage that each player does is cut in half. This means that both players need to be really good in order to beat this game. Yikes.
I beat the frog duo after a couple of tries. I spent my first four coins on the spread upgrade. That shot is a beast if you can get close enough to the target.
My previous playthrough, I think that Spread was one of the last items I bought. I highly recommend it. It can make things trickier, being up close, but it really packs a punch.
I’m a decent way through Cuphead (about halfway through Isle Three). Got most of the way through it a couple years ago but never finished it, so started a new save and the first half of it or so wasn’t too bad. It’s starting to really kick me now though. I hadn’t heard of the Genie thing until someone here posted it. Saved me during Dr Kahl’s Robot, that one is so hard.
Yep I still am barely mediocre at this game. I had only beat 3 of the first island's bosses when I played this around April. I had been sort of stuck on the 2nd optional level and really didn't bother with it this time. Went to face the orange flower and that took a bunch of tries, but I got it. Next I faced the 2 guys that turn into a huge cash register, they were actually rather easy for me, taking a handful of tries. That opened up the 2nd island and I went to the candy lady first. Did a good dozen tries before I even got to her final phase and that sucked so I walked away. Then I tried the genie and faced him on simple difficulty and beat him quickly, but then I changed to regular and after around 8 tries got him too. Game is challenging for sure, facing the candy lady again will suck, just too many things to hit you from so many different directions, with some hard to spot. Not sure if I'll want to nor get to put in the time this month to beat the 9 or so remaining bosses, this is a game where it feels wise to set an attempts limit on myself and then turn it off.
Just beat the first flying stage, Hilda. Almost got a perfect score. I would have just needed to do 2 of those parry moves, but I was purposely destroying the little ships in order to focus on the boss, and those little ships release the pink things. I guess I could have parried the pink stars later on, but I dodged them instead.
This game's sole reason for existing is to cause me to want to break my controller. I went back and did the 2nd Run'n'Gun level that caused me to quit on this ~9 months ago and for a simple level it still took me yet another 15+ tries. Was satisfying to finally beat it and the 5x coins were useful I suppose. I then did the 2nd museum level and that wasn't too bad. Then I did the candy lady and did better against her today vs. my last try, I'd guess after another only maybe 8 tries I got her which opened up a new area, I first took the hidden 'shortcut' and tried another Run'n'Gun level where you ended up on the ceiling - the frigging duck got me so many times. I actually decided to switch up the controls to make LT shoot, so I could hold that in all the time and moved dash to X which let me be a touch better at that level but I still didn't complete it <sigh>. So I went back and faced the 2 other boss levels I gained access to - against the flying dragon in the sky and the birdhouse one. Dragon was easy in his first phase, but that 2nd, what a PITA - I could reach the 2nd phase generally w/out issue but in 10+ tries I couldn't get past his 2nd phase. In the birdhouse fight, I did rather well against his first 3 phases, then couldn't really do his 4th and the one time I did finally get it, I didn't survive his final phase - ugg.
I like the use of LT for fire and I'm getting used to X for dash, but my pinky got sore pretty quickly holding down LT constantly - I'm likely gripping the controller too tight, this game is flarking frustrating. I'm 'glad' I've got the first island fully done now, but it hardly feels like I'm getting better at it overall.
The fact that each level takes less than two minutes is what makes it palatable. If I was losing ten minutes of progress every time a robotic duck stepped on me, I'd probably have given up by now.
I love that this game is getting some great discussion. I haven't played it yet and not sure if I'm going to be able to fit it in this busy month, but I sure do enjoy hearing y'all talk about your experience with it.
I agree with you @Renaissance2K it's frustrating though when everything, every level takes so dang many tries. I'm also playing a Metroidvania with similar mechanics (8 Doors) and some sections and some bosses are difficult, but I'm making progress. I just beat a recent boss in that game and it took me around 8 tries, each try was around 2 mins, but I made decent progress leaning his attacks and 8 or so attempts wasn't too bad. With Cuphead because there's nothing but boss fights or the nearly as annoying r&g levels it just doesn't feel like I'm hardly making any overall progress. Since you've gotten past me onto island 3 already, that's maybe not the case for you and hey I'm happy to hear some folks can beat these levels unlike me. I might have to try to beat the bosses on their simple difficulty to at least get familiar or exposure to their general patterns and phases. I did the genie that way and then noticed that on regular his health was likely higher, but each phase had more things to account for in the higher difficulty level. But I at least could expect things a touch better I suppose.
Drip-drip of progress... I think the key for me is to not get sucked in to the whole 'just one more try' pull. I fired this up tonight and beat 2 levels. First I faced the birdhouse again and was going to try on Simple difficulty, but his opening egg attack acts differently and I nearly died right away, so I figured that I was better off with him on Regular. And after reaching his final phase and eating it quickly due to his stretched out form, across the bottom of the screen, I remembered that I had a different weapon and tried that when I reached his final form a 2nd time. I got further but still died - grr but was doing way better with the new weapon and on the next try I got all the way to his final form with either no or just 1 hit and I got him - Woot! Next I did the first RnG level in the carnival and the opening section where you bounce on the trampoline was annoying at times, but after maybe 8-10 tries I was getting the hang of it and completed that one too. Then I faced the roller coaster clown and wasn't a fan, so after 3-4 failures I quit for the time being, but got sucked back in and got better with him, 1st phase is easy enough, 2nd sucks, 3rd's not too bad and I've only hit his 4th phase a few times and with only like 1 stinking HP left. I'm up to 183 deaths according to the water fountain - <sigh>
I was at 28% before yesterday's progress, then 38% after yesterday. Today got me to 45% which sounds about right with 3/5 bosses and 1/2 RnG levels completed.
Sorry for more updates, but I've unlocked the 3rd island - woohoo! Clown took a handful of tries and I realized that using different weapons was wise and I switched to the spread-shot and that was very useful in phases 2-4 as he's close/stationary in at least 2 of those. Dragon took me longer, I used the glob-shot on him initially in his 2nd/3rd phases but realized that it was decently effective in all 3 actually. Took a few too many deaths in his final phase but having to continually jump forward to the right while shooting back to the left was annoying.
I only faced the 2 newest bosses once each really and now I'm kind of bummed about the choices I've made with my coins. I only have the glob and spread weapons and the ship really needed another weapon I'm guessing since the gob wasn't great and you need to distance yourself from him at times, thus the spread isn't ideal either. Bee was another challenge with the platforms.
> Sorry for more updates, but I've unlocked the 3rd island - woohoo!
> Clown took a handful of tries and I realized that using different weapons was wise
> and I switched to the spread-shot and that was very useful in phases 2-4 as he's
> close/stationary in at least 2 of those.
> Dragon took me longer, I used the glob-shot on him initially in his 2nd/3rd phases
> but realized that it was decently effective in all 3 actually. Took a few too many
> deaths in his final phase but having to continually jump forward to the right while
> shooting back to the left was annoying.
>
> I only faced the 2 newest bosses once each really and now I'm kind of bummed about
> the choices I've made with my coins. I only have the glob and spread weapons and
> the ship really needed another weapon I'm guessing since the gob wasn't great and
> you need to distance yourself from him at times, thus the spread isn't ideal either.
> Bee was another challenge with the platforms.
>
> Oh and the King-Dice song is really good.
>
>
The dragon took me many tries. The glob shot was surprisingly effective against him once I tried it. You just need to calculate the arc of the shot. But it's pretty strong when you hit.
I need to figure out what weapon to use against the ship since I'm not sure the glob-shot will work great. @nonamesleft I found I could actually hit the dragon from almost anywhere with the glob so long as I was higher up, him filling the left or right sides of the screen meant so long as I was high enough up, the arc would reach the far side of the screen and hit him down low.
I figure the glob should work okay with the Bee, and it did in the first phase, it was just a challenge avoiding the other stuff and not falling. But I only tried each once so we'll see. Stinks that you can't earn more coins, or can you replay the RnG levels and collect the coins over again?
Yeah I went in and verified that coins can't be re-collected, crummy. But after verifying, I knew the 5x from the 2nd island's 2nd RnG level would be rather helpful so I tried that again and looked up a YT vid on how the heck to actually avoid the dang ducks. Dashing forward in that section could give you a gap btwn the end of the first ceiling car-train and the first duck, then dash like crazy again on the ceiling and you can void out the 2nd duck entirely! So I did that and after maybe 8 tries I finally got that dang level, yea! So islands 1&2 are fully complete now. I then decided to use some Google assistance and watched a clip against the ship and picked up some pointers and spent some coins on the Roundabout shot, which was listed as the 2nd best weapon, behind the spread. I then faced the ship a good 10 times and couldn't get him, I think I got a little too impatient, but with things coming along the pier/ground, from him, the falling barrel and his 'called in buddies' it gets chaotic and some times you basically can't avoid taking a hit. I've been using the +1 health charm this whole time, but I think I might need to use the no-damage dash one and rely on dashing more against the Captain with that charm. We'll see, I really disliked this pick initially, but now I'm getting determined to beat it.
@Renaissance2K the glob-shot is actually called the Lobber.
Roundabout shot is pretty great. I think that was the first one I bought the first time I played the game. It made the battle against the frog duo much easier.
Dash invincibility is a kind of niche, but it can be very useful strategically. But your timing has to be spot on.
Would you like to know a neat trick regarding the Captain battle? It's a minor spoiler though.
Great job so far by the way. Keep those updates coming.
The top-end supers don't generally feel all that effective, so I agree with @Renaissance2K that they can feel like a waste. They take too long to fill up. I purchased and switched to the one that puts you on the other plane, basically preventing you from taking any damage, but it lasts like what 4 seconds? One thing's for sure, the game makes you feel very under powered. The strong attacks, if used before becoming a super only his 3 times. Granted I really want to see boss's health meters. I did consider buying the charm that will cause the meter to fill up on its own, but wasn't sure about the effectiveness of that.
@nonamesleft sure I'll take a pointer on the captain, I'm not sure there's much story to spoil but you can PM me if you want, vs posting in here.
Made some progress, finally got the captain ship beat. Had to change my approach and switch to the basic gun after the cannonballs started coming out, vs being right up close with the spread shot. I also learned how to avoid his bubble attack which helped. Note if you're ducking underneath an attack, do not switch weapons as that will force you out of the duck enough to take damage. After getting him that opened up access to the 1 RnG level and the sea-queen/Medusa boss. I tried her only like 3 times as she stunk. I then went to that RnG level and nearly snapped my controller. I used the one weapon that fires lime green 'frisbees' and really liked that weapon as it took out the flying fish in one shot. I could get through 75% of that level reasonably alright but the final part with the octopus you had stay on was crazy challenging. Thankfully I eventually got that final stupid section. I then went to the final mausoleum and had to get better at the parry to beat that. With that done I spent some coins and then called it quits. Slow grind...
> Sounds like you’re making pretty fast progress. I need to play this more. Liked it
> but I only got passed the first plant dude I think.
I'd say it's more been perseverance, I'm only up to 65% according to the save record. I'm seeing more boss contracts to collect on the 3rd island, when compared to the first 2 <sigh> It's 100% frustrating at times and I think anyone who plays it should only do maybe 8-10 runs at a time otherwise you can get SO ticked at failing over and over.
I only have 1 contract in island 3 so far and have tried 3 other bosses at least once.
I should learn to take my own advice... I just spent far too long against I'll call it the Cat & Mouse boss. First phase wasn't too bad, 2nd was a touch difficult to avoid taking damage though it shouldn't have been but I would make a wrong move and a lot of the screen is filled by him. 3rd phase also wasn't too bad, but too many times I'd take my last hit before taking him down, I saw the progress bar so close to done after death it was annoying. So now I've got 2 contracts from the final island.
This. Game. Has. Sucked. Me. In. Did another session, got my 3rd contact of the 3rd island, the Theater lady. She wasn't really too bad. Took a handful of tries to get used to/good against her 1st & 2nd phases, 3rd was easy to pick up her patterns and once I got to the 4th it only took me like 3 times to get her. Frisbee weapon was good against her and the cat & mouse, that's my favorite weapon right now. Beating her opened another area and I found a shortcut so I've now tried all levels on the 3rd island. The huge robot dude wasn't fun as there was a ton going on the try to keep track of. The final RnG level didn't seem difficult but I didn't get too far on my only maybe 5 tries, need to figure out what weapon will work best, possibly the one I don't have yet - Chaser. Also the battle against the train guy was interesting, only tried him once. I'm now at 285 deaths, good grief. Plus I've resorted to pausing and restarting a level if I've taken a hit or two a bit too early in a fight, especially once I've felt like I know what to do in the earlier phases of a fight and just missed a jump or dodge. There's really little point in taking 1, or especially 2-3 hits early in a fight and keep pressing on, better to cut losses, save time and restart.
I just had a panic moment and thought I deleted my Cuphead save after I swapped my SD card out of my Switch; the Analogue Pocket just got PC Engine CD support, and my Switch barely has any content on it after picking up a Steam Deck.
Fortunately, the save was stored in the cloud. Pretty sure that's the first time Nintendo Switch Online ever did something right.
@Slickriven Great progress! Keep it up. That robot boss took me awhile, but there was at least one boss in the 3rd island that I defeated almost immediately. I'm considering it beginner's luck. I don't know what happened.
The frisbee weapon is great. It was my go to weapon the first time I played the game.
The train boss can be tricky but once you notice certain patterns, it's not very difficult, imo. Though maybe that's the case for any game?
I do the reset thing on the RnG levels specifically. Nothing quite like getting out right at the end with just 1 hp. Happened to me against that giant mosquito.
Sweet! I took a 7 min break from work and... beat the giant bee boss. She might have gone down the fastest for me. I only faced her 3 times just now and I want to say like only 5-7 more in prior sessions. 1st and 2nd phases the frisbee worked best because its return arch could land if you just kept firing while you were forced to jump around on the platforms. Allowing yourself to drop down low infront of the cop, firing away, then climbing and dashing over him caused me to take him out quickly. Then I switched to the lobber shot for the final phase since she's nearly 100% below you. I'm stunned that I beat her after just 3 tries today.
Was planing on taking a 15-20 min break, but since I took her down so swiftly I decided to just stop there and live on the high of some success,
>> I just had a panic moment and thought I deleted my Cuphead save after I swapped
> my
>> SD card out of my Switch; the Analogue Pocket just got PC Engine CD support, and
>> my Switch barely has any content on it after picking up a Steam Deck.
>>
>> Fortunately, the save was stored in the cloud. Pretty sure that's the first time
>> Nintendo Switch Online ever did something right.
>>
> Thank goodness. Would you have restarted had it been deleted?
Unclear. On one hand, getting back to the third island probably wouldn't take as long because I've figured out the bosses/levels by now, and know to look for the Bob Loblaw bullet in the shop.
On the other hand, I tend to get really discouraged when I lose progress and need to take a break.
Played a little just now, got the final RnG stage, wasn't too bad, the frisbee is pretty good here. I nearly missed 2 coins on my first attempt where I got pretty far, so failing that run didn't bother me. Final section, the frisbee was a must. With all coins now collected, I couldn't afford 2 upgrades, which is a crummy design IMO. After that I gave the robot 4 or so more attempts and couldn't even manage to get past his first phase, grrr. So I tried the sea queen and on my first run I reached her final stage and was feeling decent, but the turn you to stone attack sucked and did me in. On the next handful of attempts I could barely get back to her 2nd phase, that damn seahorse stinks, but I think shrinking helped. With just 3 bosses left in the 3rd island, plus whatever's upcoming in the final area, I'm now at 80% on my save. The only difference btwn the two playable characters is their color, correct? I've been using the blue mugman up until this last season when I just randomly decided to switch things up.
Heh, jumped back on my system to check something with achievements and decided, well I'm here, let's take 1 shot... And I beat the sea queen and got an A-. That's my 4th A ranking. I can confirm that if you shrink when the stupid seahorse is spewing water that makes it a lot easier to escape the stream. I didn't do anything else except for check my percentage and I'm now at 83%. 2 bosses left on island 3. I'm feeling like the robot is going to suck more since his attacks can take up so much of the screen. But I've only faced the train guy once so who knows how I'll feel about him after a handful of attempts. I've tried to avoid looking ahead, so while based on achievements I'm aware of some things to expect in the final area, I'm curious to learn the details. Once I get there I'll likely stick my casual updates like this into spoiler tags. I don't think I've really spoiled anything so far since merely mentioning bosses doesn't give away any of the near non-existent story, but I figure the final section ought to be discussed differently.
@Renaissance2K You asked about those super attacks. I just used it against the giant mosquito in the RnG tree stage. Once I hit the bug with it, it was so easy to defeat. I think it's worth holding onto the super attacks fully charged, as opposed to using the smaller ones.
I hope the following wasn't a mistake, but I just spent 4 coins on the Charge weapon. I had a couple of other options, and was tempted to go for lobber because I know it's good, or the extra heart, but I figured I'd try something new. I just beat the last stage of the first island.
Speaking of supers, what does the 3rd one even do? I had it equipped when I tried the last RnG level and fired it off a few times, seeing the large ghost-like guy appear and move forward, but I wasn't fighting a boss, so it hardly hit anything.
> Speaking of supers, what does the 3rd one even do? I had it equipped when I tried
> the last RnG level and fired it off a few times, seeing the large ghost-like guy
> appear and move forward, but I wasn't fighting a boss, so it hardly hit anything.
>
Maybe I just used that one wrong the first time around, but I honestly found the first super you get to be the most effective and simplest to use. I hardly used any other.
I am starting to fear that the robot might be the end of the road for me... I played again recently and beat the train. Train wasn't horrible but F those dang flying pumpkins and their dropped bricks. First phase wasn't too bad as long as I could time the parrying of those bricks. 2nd phase the bricks were more detrimental, but I eventually learned a few things about timing and placement to avoid taking any hits. 3rd phase was about the easiest, but cart placement was key and I used the frisbee weapon while facing the opposite direction and hit him on the return trip. That final phase though was rough to avoid damage with a good bit going on. On my victorious attempt I stunningly hit the final phase with a full super meter and zero damage taken, and I still took 2 hits but beat him. Doing so granted me access to the final area but I need all contacts to do anything there, so it was time to go back to the robot. I tried the robot a good dozen plus times and I'm not sure how to do his final phase. Getting to that phase without damage was about impossible for me. I think in the few times I reached that final phase I only had either 1 or 2 hits and just couldn't navigate all of the stinking stuff going on there...
I'm going to have to watch some people play that section to see if I can hone in on any sort of pattern or path to follow, but dang it just seems so erratic, plus the stuff that passes in the foreground blocking your vision royally sucks. If I get this far and get stuck I'll be really ticked.
He's brutal. He's who I'm working on right now. I can get him almost all the way to the line, but can't quite seal the deal.
I keep telling myself I just need to focus on dodging during his last phase, hold the trigger down, and just hope for the best. It's the first phase that drives me nuts, though. The secondary hazards that unlock as you start to destroy his pieces are all maddening, especially those bombs with the splash damage.
Holy Moly, I just got that SoaB!!! And I got my 6th A ranking (also got against the train and sea queen). I watched a few YT vids and got some pointers. I fully agree Ren2k, that first phase was frustrating for sure. It just felt like TOO much was going on and taking up your space. I also forgot to use my supers against him, but one vid suggested that you use the ultimate-super against his head after the body's done and that with like 1 more bomb hit will blitz that phase. I also changed my focus in the first phase. Initially I was focused on the 2 lower hit areas as those planes sucked, but I switched to getting the laser first, then the chest and lastly belly. I learned to dodge or destroy the planes and delaying the seeker/splash damage bombs was key, plus the ultra against his 2nd phase meant I only faced like 4-5 of those in my victorious run. My biggest pain point in the final phase was how to dodge all that chaos, but sticking back and 100% focusing on dodging while just hoping/presuming that my shots were landing was my best approach. Then firing off a super when he switched his 2 diamonds. I didn't try to parry any of the pink since I'm not great with parrying anyhow, plus spotting the pink from the red wasn't easy and I'd rather not get hit vs. trying to gain a super. Now it's time to visit the final area.
> He's brutal. He's who I'm working on right now. I can get him almost all the way
> to the line, but can't quite seal the deal.
>
> I keep telling myself I just need to focus on dodging during his last phase, hold
> the trigger down, and just hope for the best. It's the first phase that drives me
> nuts, though. The secondary hazards that unlock as you start to destroy his pieces
> are all maddening, especially those bombs with the splash damage.
>
>
Even though he's not easy, and when I first fought him I was stuck for a long time, I think it might have actually taken me more tries to defeat the Dragon.
It turns out that the Charge weapon is pretty solid. It really packs a punch. You have to be on target with the aim, but it's pretty great. It's how I beat that flower boss on the first island.
So I've got into the final area, at first I was like fudge this gonna suck. But after heading to YT to get some pointers my recent 2nd attempt went decently well. I didn't complete anything yet but I was able to consistently reach the final phase of the level I'm doing. I just need to get the parry timing down in that phase and I think I can get it.
I haven't played in a few days (since wiping out my SD card) but I loaded the game up today and beat that damn robot on the first try. Whoever suggested to save my super for the flying head mode gets 3 Internet points.
Knocked out the last Mausoleum and one of the run and gun stages after that, enough to finally get the Lobber.
Woohoo I'll take those internet points, need to find a place to cash them in... I finally got the first level of the final section, it was tough but I switched to the auto-parry charm and started to figure certain things out, was crazy elated to beat it. Onto the next one!
I love hearing you guys fight through this one, but I just don't think I have the fight in me right now. Too many other games to play, and things to do.
Boom! Beat this game... this might be the most challenging game I've ever beat.
I died 353 times according to the fountain in the 2nd island. I also went back and re-beat the very first boss with my better weapons and took a C- grade to an A. Strangely I didn't earn the 1 achievement for beating the next to last boss so I'll need to decide if I want to replay him, he wasn't the most difficult to beat, but he was in the top 5, so I'm not sure if I care... Proof: