VideoGame_Discussion

To those returning, welcome back! This year will go like last year, but there are a couple tweaks. For one, a few badges have been altered to be a bit more forgiving (looking at you, Days Gone By). I also added a badge for delisted games, since digital stores are disappearing left and right these days.

To those who have not returned yet, we're happy to have you. Just reach out with a console list and I'll do the rest. If you see an error in the OP, please speak up! It's always rocky in January, so I may need to work out a few kinks.

Let the games begin!

Can I join? I have a PS5 with access to PS4 games, a Series X with its’ backward compatible stuff, and a GBA.

BucketofJustice wrote:
Welcome aboard! Remember to read the rules and ask if you have any questions.

Hi @SupremeSarna! Could you please remove Stadia (since it’s dead now) from my console list and add Anbernic 35xx, NES, SNES, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, and Steam Deck? Thanks!

Also, how do we go about finding games for the Delisted badge? I have a big collection, but, so far, I've only been able to come up with two games that I bought before they were digitally delisted and which don't have physical copies that you can buy second-hand. Are a lot of the games for this badge available via emulation or something?

#1 down: Resident Evil: Village on PSVR2. I would like to count this toward the Raccoon City badge. I just finished this up, and it’s easily the best VR experience I’ve ever had. It’s just a phenomenal game all around.

#1 TMNT via Cowabunga Collection

Thank goodness for rewind functionality and save states or else I would’ve tossed this one in the trash like I did when I was 5 years old haha. It’s a very tough old school game with constant annoyances such as respawning enemies if you happen to back step then go forward again, inconsistent platforming and knock backs when you get hit. But I oddly enjoyed my few hours trekking thru this game with the quality of life improvements like rewinding up to 10 seconds and save states. Plus the music was pretty catchy and it was cool playing as each ninja turtle although Leo and Donny are by far the best of the 4 since their weapons have severely long range and that is most needed in this game to ease the brutal difficulty it ensues. The boss fights were somewhat annoying in the latter half of the game with the exception of Shredder who can be cheesed with Donny’s staff. Overall it was a classic tough as nails old school action platformer and if anyone hasn’t finished it in the last 34 years thanks to its difficulty the Cowabunga collection can make it possible thankfully.

Thought I'd be the first one to clear, but a couple people beat me. Oh well. So I'm starting out the year trying to beat some favorites for various old systems. I mean games I already have roms for all ready to play on my portables. But was "saving them". No longer! Gonna play some of my old favs! Maybe even a few for the first time! System is not yet on my list since I am using my retroid.

#1 - Dynamite Cop -

This is one of the best 3d at home arcade conversions of a beat em up game. Just so silly and over the top. You can whack people with large tuna, shake pepper in their face, throw eggs, lol. Finding funny stuff to attack with is part of the fun.

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Bleed_DukeBlue wrote:


Have you tried RE4 in VR? I've seen people from both sides saying one is better than the other, kinda making it difficult for me to decide which one I should play first.

I haven’t yet, but I plan to this year. I’ve heard RE4 is less immersive (all cut scenes are flat, and some things are less interactive), but the gunplay is better. If it makes any difference, Village is pretty quick. It only took me about 8 hours to beat in VR without rushing (although I played it before flat).

PizzaTheHutt wrote:

Bleed_DukeBlue wrote:

Can do! As for your second question, yes, emulation is ideal for that badge. It’s stunning how many lost games have been preserved via emulation.

Im in for 2024 same console list

Thanks!

SupremeSarna wrote:

Bleed_DukeBlue wrote:


Damn, one of my biggest pet peeves with VR games is when cutscenes are flat. I remember buying DOOM 3 VR on PSVR1 day one when it released and being excited to play it, but once I read the cutscenes were flat I suddenly was less interested (still to this day haven't played it yet). tbh I don't know why it bothers me so much, and I know it was a flat game to begin with so it would probably take a lot of work to redo all the cutscenes in 360°. I really hope they're not flat in the VR remake of Bulletstorm that releases later this month.

Some of the cutscenes are flat in Village too, but many aren’t.

PizzaTheHutt wrote:

Atari 2600
Atari 5200
NES
SNES
N64
NGC
Wii
WiiU
Switch
Gameboy
GBA
Master Sytem
Genesis
Sega CD
32X
Saturn
Dreamcast
Nomad
PS1
PS2
PS3
PS4
PSVR
PSP
PSVita
Xbox
Xbox 360
Xbox One
PC
MAME
Oculus

I'm in the last few hours of Aliens: Dark Descent. It's very good.

Can you put me on this years as well? Same systems as last year?

Thanks for doing this!

#2 down: Bust-a-Move on the Anbernic 35xx. This is the North American version of the classic arcade game Puzzle Bobble. I would like to count it towards the Quarter Muncher badge. There are 100 levels, some of which are really easy and others of which leave little room for error. Weirdly, I struggled with a couple of the levels in the upper 90s but found the final level really easy.

It doesn't have it's own icon still because Bill hates VR with a passion (allegedly), but I just got my PSVR2 today, so add that to my list.

PizzaTheHutt wrote:

Gotcha covered!

Mighty Goose for Switch is my first clear of 2024. Very short, but fun, Contra-like game.

I suppose this should count as my first clear of '24
Asura's Wrath DLC for the

I beat and certainly enjoyed this game last year enough to buy the full slate of DLC episodes and played 1 last year but got to the rest tonight and overall the 4 extra chapters were enjoyable and added a decent amount of content (there were 18 chapters in the main game, so this added basically 22% more). I still sort of stink at the combat here and that was evident in the next to last episode/chapter but slightly less so in the final episode which I did better at. Game is still crazy, but the story line that continued into the DLC really was the true ending and it felt like it properly wrapped things up.
Since this is DLC, I won't bother claiming for any badges. I do think I'm done with the game and won't replay any episodes to improve my ratings. Some episodes I did pretty decent, but a few too many I did poorly at, eh oh well.

@sailorneorune You're in! Is there any chance @benstylus will be rejoining this year? We're always happy to have you both.

#2 Mario Party 2 -

Definitely my favorite Mario Party. Probably because this was the one that I grew up on, playing against my best friend hundreds of times. So I have the most familiarity with it. I genuinely like the mini games in this the most. And one thing I enjoyed as a solo player that you could unlock the mini games as you played. Sort of a nice light RPG element, a reward system so to speak. Earning coins that you could spend to outright buy the mini games you just haven't had the luck to "land on" yet.

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@SupremeSarna Please add Octopath Traveler 2 to my list. Just fully wrapped up all the odds and ends today. Actually beat the final boss and the crazy optional boss awhile ago but had some side quests and stuff not finished. And like 3 areas I had to find for that particular trophy (finding all areas).

Gypsy wrote:

Which system?

@Yoshi You're in!

Can y'all believe I haven't beaten a game yet? I'm close, though.

#3 Twisted! -

This is one game that really clicked with me. If you could ask me for one game that summed up my love for the 3DO, it would be this game. Really summed up the mid to end of 90s PS1, 3DO, Saturn era of crazy FMV games. This was really corny, but it's actually good. It's a fun roll and move, race to the end game. With picture and sound puzzles, and lots of funny reactions from the contensant and hosts, mixed with old footage.

My favorite contenstant reaction, and my favorite guy to play as.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUqb0nNONds

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I think I am down to do this again.

I have:

PS5
PS4
Switch
PC

#2 - TMNT: The Manhattan Project via

The next game in my Cowabunga Collection trek thru finds me at the hands of I want to say a poor man’s TMNT Turtles in Time or The Arcade TMNT because the quality was definitely lacking even though it was playable for the most part. The enhancements were nice though to remove sprite flicker and grant infinite continues. It also came out in 1992 I see right after the Secret of the Ooze movie came out so it was piggybacking off of that having Tokka, Razar and Super Shredder in it alongside some comic book characters such as Krang. Overall while a bit bland I still found some enjoyment with it. Its not my go-to TMNT beat em up entry that’s for sure but it’s worth a peek for a playthrough and may be more fun in coop as most TMNT games are.

Finn wrote:

Welcome back!

Thanks.

I beat my first game of 2024: Shantae (originally GBC, enhanced with GBA tech).
[imgt w=1280 h=720]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GDBdcN3aAAAIUxl?format...[/imgt]
It's a charming 2D platformer with a Simon's Quest-esque world map. It oozes personality and is full of cute character interactions. You get different transformations to further exploration, especially in the fun dungeons--Zelda's got nothing on these labyrinths. The music is decent, too. In true WayForward fashion, the sprite work and animations are excellent, and the women are certainly... drawn in a remarkable way. This has definitely placed on my GB/GBC top ten list.

If I have any gripes about it, you always start a life with three hearts regardless of your max HP. Hitboxes can be a little wonky, and your hair attack is very limited range--it's very easy to take hits when fighting. The corridors are extremely long, so when you combine those two things, you're likely to die just moving from one end of the room to the other. I wish the expensive fighter's gear you buy was more useful, but the attacks it offers are situational and have poor hitboxes. It would also be nice to have a map in dungeons, too.

So it's a great game with room to grow. Here's hoping Risky Revolution releases soon--it's chronologically the second game in series, so it'd be nice to play that next.

Game #1 of 2024
The Dark Pictures - Switchback VR on PSVR2

I beat my high score on Pacman and Dig Dug both on xbox1 (beating both gets me the quarter muncher badge)

#4 Bad News Baseball -

Definitely one of my favorite baseball games. Up there with Major League Baseball for and MLB Power Pros 2008 . Very fun arcade style baseball game. I generally don't like the realistic stuff, because I can never quite get good enough of a feel of hitting. But this game just works for me. Once the pitcher's fast ball wears down after a couple of innings it's pretty easy to rack up hits!

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#3 TMNT: Fall of The Foot Clan via Cowabunga Collection

It doesn't get much more simple than this. 5 stages of simple side scrolling coupled with lite platforming that felt very stiff at times but granted this game came out over 30 years ago when the Game Boy was first created, with hack and slashing, one punching enemies to death with a boss at the end of each stage. The game literally took me a little over 1 hour to finish all 5 stages. It was also a treat to have a TMNT game that wasn't too difficult for a change. I guess after the NES TMNT game, everything feels easy though!

I beat Warbirds , so now I can put the Lynx away for another year.
[imgt w=2048 h=1536]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GDIOr_jXYAAyl7I?format...[/imgt]
It's the best game I own for the Lynx, which is a darn shame. I swear this dogfight simulator doesn't work right. Sometimes pressing up or down moves you in its respective direction, other times they both move you upward. When you respawn, you can fly upward for a few seconds before the game abruptly makes you nosedive. So you end up waiting 30 seconds for the enemy fighters to fly down to your level, leaving you vulnerable to their assault. The fighters also love crashing into you if they're low on health. It's very irritating.

At least the only song in the game is catchy. That's a silver lining.

Number 1 TMNT Shredder’s Revenge PS5

OP updated. Well done, @legendrko25 , for getting the first badge of the year!

#4 Dead Island 2

Man I adored this game way more than I thought I was going to. It’s easily the best zombie FPS/brawler I’ve played in years. Probably since the first Dead Island over a decade ago. If completely blows the likes of Dying Light out of the water too in regards to quality within not only the fluidity in gameplay mechanics but the visuals as well. I’m not sure what graphics engine Dead Island 2 uses, but it’s very pretty looking. And I almost experienced no frame dips at all as it ran in 60fps overall. The story was pretty entertaining to boot as was the dialogue and acting commentary from not only other characters but the character you choose too. I picked the Irish goth chick Dani and she was a pip and as sarcastic as they come which was gnarly. The weapon customization was very accessible and addictive to undertake as well. As you level up your character you’re constantly finding new weapons of various qualities from common to superior and you’re able to add elemental mods from Lightning to Fire to even corrosive damage. Some zombies have weaknesses and immunities to certain elemental types like firefighter zombies are immune to fire but weak to water, etc. I also loved messing around with environmental hazards too. Pour or toss a can of water on a live wire cable and watch a pack of zombies get fried and so on and so forth. And in regards to boss fights, while there was some stronger enemies they paraded as bosses that’s really the only area I felt that could have been improved upon. Even the final boss fight was a little bit weak. And if anyone is wondering if this is a sandbox like game, rest assured because it is not. There are open zones you can explore and fast travel maps to connect and transport you around between each zones but no objective was further than a couple of hundred meters within each mapped zone. And there’s no new game plus mode which I felt it could have benefited from too. Overall I loved my time with this one and I may go back to mop up any remaining side quests and such and I can highly recommend this zombie title over the Dying Light series without hesitation by far.

2nd of the month and year, 1st
The Last Case of Benedict Fox
Counting towards the Metroidvania badge or the puzzle one - depending on what I beat later in the year it could be either.

Gave this a review yesterday in the 'recent titles' thread and then a slightly lower score in the 'Last game beat' thread - have a read of either of those if you care, but the game was overall enjoyable.

#3 down: Assassin's Creed: Mirage on PS5. I'd like to count this toward the Hyrulian Hero badge. This was pretty decent. Compared to the last AC game I played (Origins), this is much more like the OG AC games (e.g., emphasis on stealth and assassinations rather than hack n' slash gameplay/RPG elements). The story was just OK, but the ending was somewhat interesting, and the setting was cool. I still don't love how these games handle platforming and climbing (which feel almost like you're on rails at times), but, otherwise, the controls were OK. The graphics are pretty decent, and the voice acting was good. This got a 76 on Metacritic, and I think that makes sense.

Thanks for the first update Surpeme Sarna! Continuing on my variety goal this early part of the year. Beat my first GBA game.

#5 Super Dodgeball Advance -

moving on from my beautiful famicom style game boy micro (sniff). I knew there was a GBA and DS Dodgeball game. And I remember not liking one, like I remember the movement being very slow! I think the DS dodgeball must have been the slow one, because this one was actually pretty good. Played through the championship and became #1. It's a great game. And if I still had a physical GBA I'd probably seek to own it. But I moved on from GBA, considering how hard it would be to get pristine games still with the plastic around every one of them. Unless I wanted to pay 2-4 times the value on every single game to buy them sealed just to open them. Nah ah. No thanks.

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I just finished Aliens: Dark Descent on . Great experience overall. 8.5. I'm definitely hoping they release a sequel and tweak it a little more. It was atmospheric, intense, and definitely difficult. I may new game plus this one.

#5 TMNT II: Radical Rescue via

This Game Boy Ninja Turtles sequel had a slight graphical sprite remodel than the first game that made it look less stiff. It also played a little more fluently too but was still limited by the hardware of its time and relied on the same simplistic punch kick and jump punch and kick offensive style. The bosses were pretty much recycling the last game’s bosses with an inclusion of some weird army looking dude that shot some type of bullets at you that you had to fight a couple of times. It also felt a bit longer than the last Game Boy entry, adding an extra stage but I still managed to finish it within under 2 hours. Next stop, Radical Rescue, the last installment of the Ninja Turtle games on Game Boy.

I beat Gunman Clive 2 .
[imgt w=2048 h=1536]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GDWbVpoW8AA1aT_?format...[/imgt]
This one's a bit harder than the original. I admire the things it added, like Chieftain Bob, but I preferred the challenge of GC1. Still a good game, though.

First clear of the year on 1/8

#1 Close to the Sun
Recently got a new PC and it came with a free subscription to GamePass for PC. This was recently added to it and I knew I wanted to play it. Come to find out I had already picked it up on Steam at some point, oh well.
Took about 7 hours to play through it with 100% collectibles. It does a good job of nailing the Bioshock steampunk vibe. It is advertised as a horror game, and it's fairly creepy at first. It feels a bit more like a point and click adventure by the end though.

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and right behind my first clear was

#2 Braveland Wizard
The third and final game I needed to beat of the short/charming Braveland strat/rpg series (I played them out of order). This one might be the shortest as it took less than 4 and a half hours to beat.

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3 down, 1st on
Yono and the Celestial Elephants
Can I count this towards Girl Power - its 100% aimed a young audience

A personal goal of mine is to complete another Alpha set this year with a full 27 games (also have numbers/symbols) and then I want to get another set after combining some of the rarer letters together, but that's the main reason I decided to play this as I need a Y - Q, Y and Z are pretty much the lowest represented letters I have. This was free via Amazon games and for a kids focused game it had an oddly adult like story to a game where you play as a once in a thousand years elephant that mainly solves simple puzzles but also slams into foes to defeat them and fetches crap AND is the savior the the kingdom. The story was dumb but it was only in 4-5 hours and that was enough. Oh well, Y is done, and I'm nearly done with a Z title as well.

4 down, 1st on
Zen: Intergalactic Ninja

I beat the NES version of this game last year and don't recall seeing this GB version, so when I spotted it in LaunchBox library I decided to give it a go to see how it was different. Well it's a side-scroller vs. the other had 2 or 3 modes and 1 was sort of isometric. Game wasn't too bad and it had 4 themed stages plus the final boss stage, with only like 3-4 different enemy types but eh. After each of the 4 stage bosses there were some save the planet type things like the oil-slicked seagulls or knocking cans into a recycling bin. I was good at 3/4, the 4th that stunk was like a duck hunt with the d-pad and that was bad.
I don't think I really could/should claim this for You're Winner even though it wasn't great, but it wasn't that horrible either, really, especially considering the platform and lack of power of the system - I did get a few spots with pretty bad slow-down, even though I emulated it.

This is my 360th game since I started counting them shortly before joining this thread in '20 - crazy to think I beat that many... with a few duplicated across different years, still over 345-350 completely unique games beat in around 4 years+

#6 - TMNT The Arcade Game via Cowabunga Collection

Now this one takes me back to when I was 5 years old at my birthday party in an arcade and spent a good $20 in my mother's quarters to plow thru this game in a few hours. Ah, those were the days. It hasn't aged too bad also. Animations were fluid. The tunes were still catchy. Those one liners were as cheesy as ever. And the last set of boss fights, Krang and those duo Shredders were such a pain in the butt. You can tell now all grown up those fights were clearly made to drain your funds too as every time you knocked off Shredder's helmet on one of the Shredder's and he turned red, a couple of seconds later he respawned with his helmet back on. Only after about 5 rounds of this did the 2 Shredder's finally fuse into one and then he could be toppled. Overall though, this was a nice trip down memory lane and shall continue next with possibly my all time favorite TMNT game, Turtles in Time.

Game #2 of 2024
LEGO 2K Drive on

I would like this to count towards Race Drivin' badge.
The first game I cleared is quite literally an on-rails shooter, so it'd count towards Destroy the Core.

I'm a bit out of the loop. Can a single game count towards multiple badges? Now that I have PSVR2 I plan to play through both RE8 and RE4 at some point. Both would qualify for the Raccoon City and the 2nd Amendment badges.

edit: Looking at posts beneath this I think I have my answer and each game can only go towards one badge.

I beat Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo on the xbox1

#7 TMNT Turtles in Time Arcade version via Cowabunga collection

This is my penultimate Ninja Turtles experience to date. Even the very good Shredder’s Revenge still can’t top this one for me. It just holds such a dear piece of history for me and not only that but it aged like fine wine to boot. It’s still as simple and effective as it was when it came out over 30 years ago. A short, sweet and to the point beat ‘em up that doesn’t waste your time. It gets you in, off and out in under 2 hours and leaves you coming back for more and then some. I adore it right down to its cheesy one liners and oddly placed sound effects that make still me giggle. And this emulated version comes with a turbo mode so you can play it like you were if you took an ample amount of amphetamines prior to pressing start. Good times indeed!

My #1 is Assassin's Creed Valhalla: All DLC

https://photos.app.goo.gl/x8coyqfDRFz1jpJ39

I beat Lego Batman on the xbox 360

#8 TMNT Turtles in Time version via Cowabunga Collection

While I felt the arcade version was a bit superior with more audio tracks and a lot faster framerate (especially turbo mode on emulation), the SNES version was still fun as heck complete with cool bonus stages not found in the arcade version. Also the final boss was Super Shredder instead of just Shredder and they mixed it up a lot with bosses that weren’t a complete 1 for 1 from the arcade version. But the SNES version took me right back to me being 8-10 yrs old and visiting my cousin’s house on weekends and having us tear thru it in coop mode. Good times indeed!

Game #3 of 2024
Songs For A Hero - Definitive Edition on

This will count towards Hop 'n' Bop badge.

#9 TMNT Tournament Fighters via Cowabunga Collection

I had no idea this one even had a story mode and it was basically an intro to the VS mode like most fighting games but very, very short. I was finished in about 7 fights. It was just like Street Fighter II Turbo. Heavy emphasis on the turbo too with its turbo mode feeling like I was moving in super fast motion. I almost had to lower it to normal speed. It was pretty ok while it lasted though but nothing to really write home about other than pretty much mimicking the Street Fighter series in the way you block and perform special moves. I recall having more fun with the VS mode with this one as a kid but again it didn’t last more than a couple of weekends before moving on to the next game. Fighting games within most generations to me are a good rental at best or a deep, deep sale unless you’re a major league gamer and compete.

5 in the books, 1st on
Ittle Dew
Might claim for Girl Power, Puzzler or Hyrulian since it could fit any of those - though maybe a touch short for Hyrulian.

Game's been on my Wishlist for a long while, saw a recent deal for it, and its sequel (that I didn't know existed), for like $1, so I snagged it and opted to play it. I also chose it for I in my alpha set. Game was decent if minorly annoying at times. I got stumped a few times and found it a touch annoying that you can reach certain puzzles, especially the optional ones in the 'over world map' that you really can't complete until after you've acquired at least 1 other tool - so you might try it a few times only to simply not have the tools available yet to beat it. Outside of that it was more/less a decent puzzle game with a little adventuring - it gets compared to the OG Zelda and it surely took some inspiration from there, but it's more puzzle focused and has maybe a quarter to a third of the content. I ended up with basically 1 room in the castle that I could've reached via a different door that I didn't figure out (and I believe I just realized the step I missed and could've done to open that door - eh, already uninstalled it). There's also a 'master puzzle' cave that I visited after beating the final boss fight and after resorting to looking for some help and clearing only like 3-4 puzzles I gave up b/c the 1's solution you needed to be really fast, at least in the solution I found, and I couldn't get my brain/fingers to cooperate swiftly enough. I then watched this same guy's solutions to a few more puzzles later and I'm glad I gave up, just not worth the time and effort to bother.

My #2 is Assassin's Creed Valhalla

https://photos.app.goo.gl/2X1aoVVvQK15XHyD6

After 114 hours I can say I beat this game. Acquired all regions and assassinated all targets. I reached level 475. Starting off the game was great. I beat the first DLC and acquired the OP spear reward for finishing it and used it for the rest of the game. I paired it with the Spear of Leonidas to become a duel wielding spear Viking who just mowed down anything in my path. Combat became much easier and I am thankful because it would have added another 10-20 hours to my playtime. This is by far the biggest game in terms of real estate. A giant map you need to conquer with several slightly smaller maps that reveal themselves as you progress through the story. I enjoyed most of this and am glad to NOT have attempted to collect all the things. That would take another 100 hours because of just how many there are. 7.5/10

My #3 is Aperture Desk Job.

I got a Steam Deck OLED and this is the first game I beat on it. Quick little demo of the steam deck's controls and some fun dialog makes this a treat to breeze through in less than 30 minutes.
No rating

I’d like to switch my clear of Assassin’s Creed: Mirage from the Hyrulian Hero badge to the Days Gone By badge please. I finished up the platinum, and it ended up taking me 58 hours to 100% the game. Here’s my proof :):

https://imgur.com/a/Xw7EEWQ

Was playing FFII on my PSP 3000 and started getting screeching sounds and I could tell it was during disc access. I bought it brand new and used it less than 1000 hours, so this is more about age than usage.

Not sure what to do now. Take a break and try to fix/buy a new one later. Or just move on and emulate PSP games from here on out. A real bummer.

I've played through the first level of the Retro Talkshop Thread's Game of the Month dozens of times over the years but rarely progressed much further than that. I finally had an excuse to see it through.

Number: 1
Full Title: Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut
Platform Played: GameCube
Collection: N/A
Native Platform: GameCube
Original Platforms: Dreamcast
Applicable Badge: Bear & Bird (1/2)

Sonic Adventure has been an omnipresent part of my Dreamcast obsession for a while, being a launch title and one of the first games I ever played on the platform (alongside Soulcalibur). The game gets off to a strong start - the intro is peak 90s attitude and deserves a Grammy, and the opening beach level is one of the most iconic scenes of early sixth-generation gaming - but the drunken camera and obscure progression objectives prevented me from making much progress after that. Armed with a walkthrough and playing through the game on my Ashida, the remainder of Sonic's quest plays out similarly: moments of brilliance and high octane platforming, hindered by a wonky 3D engine, uneven pacing, and awful forced drama and voice acting.

Like so many Sonic games before and since, Sonic Adventure is at its best when we let Sonic be Sonic: run fast, insult Eggman, run fast some more. Everything else is like pouring steak sauce on a birthday cake.

Despite my mixed feelings about the game, I don't think I'm done with it yet. I've started another playthrough on my Steam Deck just to see how it compares to the GameCube version, and after all this time, it'd be a shame not to explore the original Dreamcast version, which will probably be the subject of one of my first videos of 2024. All this before the long-awaited arrival of Tekken 8 at the end of the month.

#10 TMNT The Hyperstone Heist via Cowabunga Collection

My last game in the collection takes me to what is probably considered the poor man’s Turtles in Time coming out on the Sega Genesis back in 1992 and felt like a rushed port of Turtles in Time consisting of only 5 stages as opposed to Turtles in Time’s 8 stages. But for what it was worth I enjoyed it. I definitely prefer the SNES version and especially the Arcade version as the penultimate version of Turtles in Time though. The Genesis version did feel a bit stiffer though gameplay wise. Attacking felt sluggish and even stuttered a bit at times. The bosses also felt a lot easier than the other versions, all having 1or 2 main moves that are easily telegraphed and they all felt like they were moving in slow motion, but I guess that can be chocked up to this game likely being rushed out to coincide with the SNES counterpart. Overall, it’s more of the same beat em up TMNT action but not my choice delicacy in the selection of turtle titles from back in the day.

Game #4 of 2024
Ven VR Adventure on PSVR2

Being a 3D platformer this will count towards Bear & Bird badge.

OP updated!

Please remove from my list. Unfortunately, it started loud screeching 10 hours into Final Fantasy II. It still reads discs. But if I can get it fixed by the end of the year, great. But for now, it's Out of Order. Not one of my "owned" working systems, is how I put it.

I forgot to post this, but I beat Mega Man X8 . This is the boxart that the seller sent me, and it makes the purchase that much better:
[imgt w=1536 h=2048]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GD10bghX0AApS5Z?format...[/imgt]

It’s a good game with some compelling new mechanics and enjoyable characters. It’s a real step-up from Mega Man X7, that’s for darn sure. The final boss gauntlet is a pain, with the final boss himself having several dirty tactics and no checkpoint. But overall, it’s a worthy adventure.

But the best part is easily this box. Seriously, why did the seller include it instead of a blank box or a printout of the original? You know the artist knew he messed up, because he didn’t bother to draw Zero or Axl. Which is your favorite feature: the mismatched eyes? The goofy mouth? The corndog arm? The massive leg? I can’t get enough of it!

My #4 is Alan Wake Remastered

https://photos.app.goo.gl/AiqE4qchrBBsrAt7A

6th on the year, 2nd on
Horizon Chase Turbo: Senna Forever (DLC)

The base game here is an homage to the Top Gear SNES title that I adored as a kid and they even got the same composer to redo some of his audio tracks for this. I have the base game on my phone and beat it a long while ago, then Epic gave the PC port away from free and I beat that not long after acquiring it. The devs are from Brazil and thus they opted to do this Senna tribute DLC and I purchased it a while back and finally devoted some time to it over the last week or so. It covers 5 phases of the racer's career with 7 to almost a dozen races per phase. I waited to claim this until I not only completed each of the 3 'Senna helmet' tasks per race, but also actually beat all ~50 races. Technically you don't need to win every race to progress through each phase, but I generally would win and opted to go back and beat or focus on those side tasks for the races which I didn't do so initially. The 3 Senna helmet tasks were a variety of things from getting a perfectly timed start (also earning you a boost) or collecting all of these tokens on the track (also a core tenant of the base game) to using or collecting boosts or fuel on certain laps. Some of the side things were generally easy to get, but a few were annoying. Thankfully you didn't have to do them all on 1 race.

As stated, I really liked the original SNES version of this game and the mobile and base PC versions were pretty good as well, but this DLC felt like a slog, I actually took a few more sessions to get through it b/c I found it sort of boring at times. I did like how it loosely followed Senna's career, which as a semi-former fan of F1, I know about the driver and tragedy of his passing. But this style of racing with F1 cars just didn't resonate, I don't know exactly why since it really shouldn't have been any different than the base game. But for the DLC they used the general track layouts of the real life F1 circuits from the 80's and 90's when Senna drove and even had liveries and tweaked named opponents from the time, so from an 'artistic' perspective, they did pretty well. But maybe b/c of the nature of the cars being able to drive and corner so much better I got too easily frustrated by some of the driving mechanics and especially slamming into other cars.
If you hit a car from behind it'll slow you down and give them a boost forward, which is just a basic element of this game, but I guess with the wider cars and sometimes narrower tracks it felt like I was at times slamming into cars a TON. Then you'd come into a fast corner and were about to pass a car, yet it was parked dead center of the track, so you could try to slide under them, taking the corner tighter, but could risk sliding out and bumping them, or you could open up and try to go around the outside which too often resulted in you going wide into the grass and getting slowed (especially in the frequently linked corners). Or you could try to let off the gas to avoid ramming them, only to lose momentum and watch them speed away or even get passed. It was just pretty annoying, especially on some tracks like Monaco where the final bit is totally bonkers with L-R switchbacks such that it gets nuts even trying to stay on track, let alone hope to avoid hitting a car. Oh well, I beat all of the races and will step away from the game for a while.

I also beat some Rookie series thing that I seemingly skipped before that was meant to ease you into the game with 26 rather easy tracks that I simply dominated the competition. They also added a 5-race challenge mode for each of the around 35 cars, where you can unlock a final unique color for said car. I did 1 of those and that was enough, I don't want to race around 175 more events just for some meh paint schemes.

First game of 2024 beat. Jedi Survivor - PS5. Now working on plat before I fire up the next one.

Man, I fear I might be burning out on gaming... after my heavy focus on a big remodel last year that largely pulled me away from gaming from Sept til at least Dec, I sort of didn't want to jump back into gaming even though I was more than tired of the remodel and the disruption to my life. Since ending it, I have cleared 10 games in Dec and 6 so far this year, but it feels different. It feels less like I'm making any 'progression' through my backlog and am almost just spinning my wheels. Surely the fact that I've got LaunchBox setup on my PC and have not only my 1500+ PC games from Steam, Epic, Amazon, GoG and others all imported in there (yes with several duplicates) but I also have a MAME set of games that crests 3000 and then a huge ROM set from most of the cart based handhelds and some 12 consoles ranging from the NES to GC.
All told, I've got nearly 13k games imported into my LaunchBox and if I factor out all of the duplicates, the 300+ I've got marked as completed and even simply toss out the 3k worth of arcade MAME titles, I'd surmise I've still got a good 8k of unbeaten games in there. That of course doesn't count the several hundred I own digitally on the Xbox from purchases and GwG, and then GamePass as well as smaller collections of physical copies for the PS2 to PS4 mainly (but also others). I guess my backlog is just wearing me down lately. This thread surely drove me to beat a lot more games over the last 4 years, such that I've cleared over 360 in that time (with a few repeats), but in some ways it feels like a teacup tossed into the sea.

I created that alpha challenge thing for myself last year, initially to try to go through my libraries and list out the games from my backlogs that I generally wanted to get to, since clearly a huge amount of the games in there are just junk or not for me, etc. But I suppose I have a bit of decision fatigue in deciding what to play next and can at times get stuck playing less enjoyable titles or pushing to find/beat a specific letter for that set.
I know this is a bit whiney and dumb, so I'll stop now, might need to take a break from this thread and find some other hobbies or something. I definitely have some winter blues and feel blah overall.

Slickriven wrote:

Do what you have to do. I’ll keep you on the spreadsheet, and don’t forget to pop in once in a while.

Might I recommend trying to perfect your French fry recipe? That might be a worthy hobby.

Slickriven wrote:

My advice is to trim down your want to play list. I've done that a few times over the last few years and now I feel my backlog is much more managable. And I actually enjoy each new game. Time is something we have a limited resource of. Might as well use it to enjoy life, and not overburden ourselves with insanely large backlogs.

Once you delete several games off of your want to play list, you will feel better. Also, taking a break and doing whatever, or just doing nothing and being lazy and completely relaxing. Whatever makes you feel better.

My #5 is Alan Wake Remastered: All DLC

https://photos.app.goo.gl/tJrFzvhaN3M8eNyL8

ErickRPG wrote:

Yeah that's a decent idea. After I created the list of 'want to play' and broke it into that alpha setup I had way more S, R, M, D titles than others and then got that idea to try for a full alpha-set (or several sets) and that caused me to go back and add more games, especially into lower rep'd characters like Q, J, etc.
So that spreadsheet now surely has more games than I really do want to play and more just to give me options for all characters. Plus I've set myself around 10 goals each year and that results in me pushing to beat games that I might not want to otherwise as well. Surely beating games on all consoles was the goal of this thread and I still like to try for that, but enjoying gaming still needs to be a priority or focus.

I've felt that I was just pushing to beat goals or get all consoles or go for badges, etc each Nov/Dec as I often tried to finish out those goals/badges/etc. This past year, since I wasn't gaming as much in the lead up to then, that feeling didn't really occur, but it was surely why I didn't get too excited to game again in Dec. That said, I have pushed more to complete my latest alpha-set this month, knocking out I, Y and Z, so that's not helped with some of my choices, but even my latest completion, Horizon Chase Turbo, just didn't feel the same as how I enjoyed it in years past.

I also think at times GP can be a curse as it gives me a lot more games to potentially play and thus more decisions to make and there's the thought of 'this could leave soon, so I should seek to get to it soon' - but in reality a few games left in the Sept-Nov timeframe when I didn't even have my XSX connected to a TV and could even try to play them and the world didn't end, and for a few, I don't even recall their names to think 'I should/could look them up and maybe get them now'. So I really need to just lower my expectations on how many I can possibly play and beat.

#1 Silent Hope

I have a feeling this one flew under the radar because there are a lot of dungeon crawlers and roguelikes out there right now. As I mentioned on the Last Game You Beat thread - it's Diablo meets Rune Factory with none of the baggage. The characters are fun to play as and level up, getting loot to make better equipment is rewarding, and you even get to pet the cow.

Level Up! 1 of 2

I have to beat the again, which means one of two games: Super Mario Bros. or Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Both are legit picks, but I had a long car trip to my bro’s and back, so that made the choice obvious this time.
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Always a fun time. Only got five GOs this time, so I did better than last month.

My #6 is Alan Wake's American Nightmare

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ekq475uTYVezCg3j8

Progear through Capcom Arcade Stadium 1 for PS5. I’m glad I never have to play this one again. Fun shooter, but if you don’t like bullet hell it wouldn’t be for you.

I finished mobile earlier than most years. I completed the base game of Scribblenauts Remix.
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It's mostly a repackaged Super Scribblenauts for mobile, but with a fraction of the stages and no level builder. The rest of the stages seem to be in the $1 DLC pack. It's annoying that you have to switch your control configuation to move the screen, and you can't really rotate objects. But it's passable if you don't have a DS handy.

I finished Dredge on Switch. (Saw both endings, which is thankfully made easy to do.) I did all the quests, found all the fish and got all upgrades. Really cool game, especially considering I wasn't really sold after playing the demo last year.

#6 DiRT 5 -

My first for PS5. Was the free PS5 upgrade of the physical PS4 edition so it's a PS5 game in my eyes. This is my favorite racing game of the last few years. Just perfect type of arcade control. And out of this world crazy tracks and weather conditions. Beautiful snow, bright days, dark nights, aurora borealis, fireworks, rain, racing on ice. Dawn, dusk. Dusk on lap 1, dark night on lap 3. Rain on lap 1, beautiful sun breaking through light rain on lap 3. Just beautiful artistry, and the off road dirt racing is fudging fun.

This is my second time completely beating the carreer mode. Probably around 200 races. First on xbox series x, and now after selling my XSX I wanted to play it again on PS5, and add it physically to the collection, it deserves it's place on my shelf.

image

Game #5 of 2024
Travel The Words on PSVR2

Would this count towards Brain Teaser badge? It's a word search game.

PizzaTheHutt wrote:

I'd say so. It is a brain teaser, after all.

7th in the books - 2nd on
Solar Ash
Badge: Likely counting toward Girl Power since it was a female lead, but might be adventure so Hyrule maybe, will see.

I gave this a write up in the 'recent scores' thread a couple of days ago and gave it a 7/10 and I'd say it either stayed there or slightly improved thanks to the story. In my earlier write up I noted that the camera stunk and it didn't get better but the game was still enjoyable thanks to the world, story and how it ended. I picked up on some clues to the ending along the way and wasn't disappointed. For a world where there was literally only you and 4-5 others to interact with, the 'world building' was interesting and in that 'recent score' post I said I didn't think I would seek out the 4-6 collectable things in each of the regions. However, b/c they were logs from prior characters on the basically same journey as you, they became worth it for the whole picture and thus I sought them out. I did use a online guide to find a few and then the final region's powerup (given for finding all things in the zone) was an ability to show the other caches when you scanned, so the final 2 were easy to get. It would've been nicer to have that powerup a little earlier but eh. I had, on my own, found the set in an earlier region that gave me faster booster refills, so that was more useful and in finding the rest, none of the other powers were all that useful IMO.

Anyhow the game was solid, I put 10 hours in and got both endings by redoing the final bit and that was worth the little bit of time to do so. I see there's a speed-run type of achievement to beat it in under 3 hours. That's not for me, plus the story and world is why I played; speedrunning would bypass that, and then I'd have to deal with the somewhat buggy camera and by extension, controls - no thanks. I do think it's worth a play for a more chill game and story, especially if you put it on novice (easy) to give you more time to hit all of the weak points on the bosses (which I did). Even on easy, no boss went down on all 3 phases in 1 go without failure for me. With the overall vibe, I enjoyed not getting really frustrated trying to beat them on that easier or more lax setting.

Playing and beating this, I certainly didn't feel as 'burned out' with gaming like I said in a post a few days ago. This wasn't 'the cure' but it was an overall enjoyable experience. Not sure what I'll move onto next, hopefully something enjoyable or I should do a better job of just abandoning crappy games... and not going for the You're Winner badge -

I beat my high scores on Jetpac and Lunar Jetman both on xbox 1

My #7 is Control.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZyzNXP5VSHSNjWmC7

#4 down: RoboCop: Rogue City on PS5. I'd like to count it toward the 2nd Amendment badge. This is a little rough around the edges and campy, but it genuinely made me laugh out loud a couple of times. One time, I shot someone in the head, and he shouted "Oh! My head!" There are a few different endings depending on your choices, and some of the decisions along the way impact other characters' endings. The graphics were decent, and the guns aren't anything special, but the impact from shooting feels good with the haptic feedback. In general, the shooting mechanics were solid, and the gameplay was pretty fun (although I had to get used to the slow bulky movement, since you are, after all, RoboCop). Overall, it's a decent game and would probably be even better if you knew more of the backstory about RoboCop (which I did not).

The first 2 Robocop movies were pretty campy and 100% a product of the 80's movie scene I'm interested in that game, but am not in a hurry to pick it up, even though I did rather like the movies back in the day. We won't speak of the dumpster fire that was RC3... the remake from a few years back was okay, but didn't have the same feel.

I can’t wait to play the new Robocop game. I loved the Terminator one they did so I’m sure I’ll enjoy this one.

I’m going to sell or trade mine very soon if you’re interested. I just have a few more trophies to finish up.

TalonJedi87 wrote:

Bleed_DukeBlue wrote:

Sounds good. Hit me up when you’re ready to part with it. Thanks!

OP updated! I've now started posting in the leaderboard section, so you can compare and compete.

Thanks! Just one small correction. I have three system clears (PS5, PSVR2, and Anbernic 35xx).


SupremeSarna wrote:

Number: 1
Full Title: Sniper Elite 4 + Season Pass
Platform Played:
Collection: N/A
Native Platform:
Original Platform:
Applicable Badge: Days Gone (1/2, Proof)

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

I certainly didn't plan on this one taking 50+ hours, and it wouldn't have had I realized that some of the collectibles are locked behind co-op only Overwatch levels. If anyone is interested in doing those, please reach out. I came to this series late but really enjoy it. I'm glad 5 has crossplay so I can play with family members.

Game #6 of 2024
Pixel Ripped 1995 on PSVR2.

My #8 is Control: All DLC

8 down, 2nd on
Binaries
Badge: Puzzle I suppose, it's more of a skill based vs wrack your brain - tempted to claim for Grown-Ass Man b/c it is challenging

This is another that was on my Wishlist for a good while and I then opted to purchase it after getting some funds from Ren2k for winning some of his 40th bDay bash celebration. Basic premise is you control 2 (or later multiple) balls at the same time with 1 input and can basically only move left or right and jump to get those balls into their goals. 98% of the time there are different colored balls which need to land in their color matched goals as well as obstacles to avoid that are also color matched - such that the blue spikes won't hurt the orange ball and vise-versa. There are 101 levels and a few nearly wrecked me, especially some of the 3+ ball levels, but also you basically focus on just 1 ball (at least I did) most of the time, so you're giving inputs trying to control that ball, whilst another ball rolls right into a spike - it's mind bending, but was satisfying to beat.

Only 3.6% of players even unlocked all 101 levels, 3.5% beat all levels and of course they time you and give out S, A, B, and U ratings for your times. I joined the group that beat every level faster than the B ranking times (only 3.2%). I had to replay a handful that I initially beat on U and improved those. I ended up with only 34 S ranks, 58 A (or better, so including S) and basically 43 at B rank. I didn't push too hard to increase my times except for some earlier levels to get S as I wanted above 33% and then the afore mentioned U levels. I will leave this installed for a bit and might seek to improve more level's times, but I won't likely redo all 43 that I've got B times on to get them faster - I just don't care and it was frustrating enough at times, but it was also one of those 'retry immediately' style of games, so it was too easy to just keep trying... a lot. 1 level I failed 220 times before getting it and it was about the only level where I got even over 100 to like 150 failed attempts in a row. Worst thing about that level is that it wasn't that dang difficult but my timing was bad and a good bit of those were from not getting positioned just right from the start to not die on the very first jump, so a lot were under like 2 seconds to failure.

I beat YuGiOh master duel on the xbox1

And I already went back and improved my time rating on 10 levels in Binaries - have 10 less B's now and 3 more S's. I was 34|24|43 S|A|B and am now 37|31|33. I was only trying to improve my earlier B ranked levels and got 10 improved and pretty much improved all levels I tried to. I like that breakdown better as now I have the most S ranks of the 3 vs. before was more Bs... Now I'm not sure how many more I'll look to improve upon since I've simply got more than enough games to get to. Plus most of those 33 B's are more challenging.

#11
Horizon Forbidden West

This one has been in my backlog for almost 2 years, since it launched back in 2022 so I figured it was time to bring the ol’ girl home and beat it. First off this is a gorgeous, breathtaking game. It superseded the visual fidelity of the first game tenfold thanks in part to its performance mode which makes it run at a fluid 60fps. The lighting is also breathtaking as is the character models. The Decima engine it’s running on is pretty astounding minus some hiccups here and there I’ve noticed such as some glitches with some enemies falling thru the environment and such but it’s such a minor inconvenience in comparison to the amount of eye candy present at mostly all times. Secondly as much as I enjoyed my 30 hours or so with the game it’s honestly just more of the same from the first installment with some minor tweaks here and there such as new mounts to override and weapons to craft but it’s basically an enhanced experience from the first game and that’s mostly fine to me. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it I typically say. But with that being said I just wish the game wasn’t so packed to the brim with tedious side quests and errands. It really is just mostly samey missions just to pad your skill points and experience and level up to hit the max level cap of 50 quicker. While I did most side missions and a few errands towards the latter half of the game I decided to focus on the story and finish it and I’m glad I did because it was starting to lose it’s focus for me doing every side quest and errand that I came across I mean. The only side quest that I really thought was fully fleshed out was overriding those Tallneck beasts like in the first game. Each of the 5 you get to override were unique in their own way and each Tallneck you override is done so in a different way which I truly appreciated. The acting was pretty solid as usual and the story was a bit more expansive this time around but of course it leaves an open ending which hints at a third and possibly final game in this would be trilogy. I just hope we see more diversity in mission variety in a 3rd game and perhaps they can flesh out the flying mounts a bit more. I’d love to have flying mounts with the ability to use my weapons while airborne. That would be wicked cool. Overall if you’re a fan of the series I say give this one a go, just try your best to stay focused and not get too overwhelmed by the expansive map and dense list of side missions they throw at you.

Game #7 of 2024
Max: The Curse Of Brotherhood on

I guess I'll use this along with Songs For A Hero to earn the Hop 'n' Bop badge.

One last crack at Binaries - again only looked at the B's and got to 43|32|26 - basically 6 Bs increased to Ss and 1 B -> A... and I've uninstalled it.
Happy to have more/less made a 2nd pass at all of the B's (with several I only gave a single shot or none to b/c I recall how frustrating they were to even complete). I increased what was initially nearly 50 Bs or Us to now only 26 Bs and no Us.
Time to move on.

Slickriven wrote:

Have you beaten it five times? You could get a badge if you did.

#7 Hyperdimension Neptunia ReBirth 2 -

image

first for Vita. Having played VII on Switch, and part 1 on Vita. I continue my quest to beat the original trilogy on Vita. This one was a little weak compared to the first. Mainly because the theme song for EXE drives changed (reasoning is it stars the sisters and not the main godesses). Still happy to have played it. But part 1 and 3 will probably stay in the collection. But part 1 and 3 start the song at the perfect part when you do an EXE drive. Nana naNAAAAAAAAAA!!

Shown here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LjNPaj1des

SupremeSarna wrote:

No, there's 101 levels, I beat all the levels before claiming it, then went back 2-3 times to improve several level's times by replaying them. I was seeking to improve my times after initially focusing on simply beating each level. I didn't replay every level, since some were bonkers and not worth getting frustrated over by chasing a faster time.

A few more small updates, starting with another run at the Retro Talkshop Thread's Game of the Month.

Number: 2
Full Title: Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut
Platform Played: Windows
Collection: N/A
Native Platform: Windows
Original Platforms: Dreamcast
Applicable Badge: N/A

After years of thinking that Sonic Adventure had a single adventure that could be played with any of the six characters, my big revelation after playing it on GameCube was that each character had its own bespoke adventure with its own dramatically-different play style and ending. The story threads just happen to step on each other's toes on times. With that in mind, I loaded up Sonic Adventure DX on my Steam Deck (which plays fine, despite it being marked as "Not Playable" in the Steam Store) and started the Tails campaign.

Tails completes levels and earns emblems by beating Sonic to the finish line. Considering Sonic is the fastest mammal alive, I didn't see how that was feasible, until you realize that Tails can fly and most of the levels in Sonic Adventure are vertically progressive. Tails almost felt like cheating in that regard, as he could skip huge chunks of the level simply by flying from checkpoint to checkpoint and bypassing most obstacles and choke points. The lack of a homing attack made boss fights slightly less precise, but nothing unreasonable.

After that, with Tekken 8 only days away, I thought it was time to revisit its predecessor.

Number: 3
Full Title: Tekken 7
Platform Played: Windows
Collection: N/A
Native Platform: Windows
Original Platforms: Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Windows
Applicable Badge: Street Fightin' (1/2)

I played through Tekken 7 on PlayStation 4 shortly after its release, and it barely registered in my memory. Despite getting the game's platinum trophy, I barely remembered anything from the game's story mode aside from its ending and the enormously-frustrating boss fights. Even when a DLC characters smashed my two favorite franchises together, I barely revisited the game. (It's not the only fighter with Tekken and Final Fantasy characters these days, anyway.)

To refresh my memory and brush off the cobwebs, I booted up Tekken 7 again - this time on Windows - to play through the game's story mode. I don't know if repeated patches made the game easier, or I just got lucky locking opponents with walls, but getting to the end was a much faster process. The special post-credits fight against Akuma, however, remains ridiculously difficult.

As the countdown to Tekken 8 continues, I'll be booting up another earlier Tekken game - Tekken 5 - to play through its story mode for the first time since 2005. That's if Vampire Survivors doesn't continue to distract me. That game needs government regulation....

#8 Mortal Kombat XL -

and my first for PS4. Since selling my XSX and moving forward with PS5 only I am playing some games for Playstation that I previously played on Xbox. I love all of the new Mortal Kombats starting with MKX. MKX really brought me back and made me a Mortal Kombat fan. Even though the newer ones are still great. I still prefer this darker look. I hope they return to this style again some day.

image

#5 down: Mystical Mixing (PS4). I would like to count this toward the Now You’re Playing With Plastic badge, as I played the entire game on my PlayStation Portal.

This is an odd game in which you mix ingredients to create creatures who then farm resources for you which you use to create more complicated monsters and build buildings that help you farm more. Eventually, you unlock portals to new lands where you farm more resources. I got through all of the worlds and got the platinum trophy.

Virtuaverse and Werewolf the Apocalypse on Switch. Never would have gotten through the former without a guide. The latter is a brief visual novel with several endings, I assume. I definitely got a bad one.

Bleed_DukeBlue wrote:

As the creator of that badge I'll say that were I running this still I wouldn't count that. The Portal isn't really a non-traditional controller IMO, but more of an additional means to play PS5 games. It's more akin to playing a WiiU game via the screen pad. I intended that badge to be for controllers like light guns, dance/track pads, steering wheels, fishing rods, etc.... But this is Sarna's show now, so it's his decision.

@Bleed_DukeBlue Slickriven makes a good point. You should play something with a more specialized/gimmicky controller to earn that.

It’s not a big deal to me either way. I have a bunch of non-traditional controllers. (That badge was actually my idea originally. I pitched it to @Slickriven back in the day.) I am a little confused what y’all would consider the Portal then though. Is it a system? Because I definitely wouldn’t consider it a traditional controller, so I’m not sure what else it would be (if it's not a non-traditional controller).


SupremeSarna wrote:

Bleed_DukeBlue wrote:

Does it have its own exclusive library?

Nope. That’s why I thought it made the most sense to call it a non-traditional controller.

SupremeSarna wrote:

@Bleed_DukeBlue I'll have to think about it, then.

#9 King's Quest IV -

#9 and 1st for PC. Brought out my new blu tooth keyboard to use with the Legion go. I don't think I've ever beaten most of the King's Quest game, so it's nice to finally be able to say I experienced them.

image


#10 King's Quest V -

Also beat King's Quest V. The voice acting sound like it was done by the director and a bunch of friends. It's bad. Which is funny because the next game in the series has really good voice acting. But it was a fine game to play. I love these sorts of games so even less than stellar elements are accepted in some cases! This one I could put away the keyboard since it was point n click. no direction buttons needed!

image

Another playthrough in anticipation of Tekken 8, I celebrated my favorite entry in the Tekken franchise and the series' best home release... by playing through the worst part of it.

Number: 4
Full Title: Tekken 5
Platform Played: PlayStation 2
Collection: N/A
Native Platform: PlayStation 2
Original Platforms: PlayStation 2
Applicable Badge: Street Fightin' (2/2)

Wow, that was awful.

Tekken 5 was an incredible home release. Celebrating the ten-year anniversary of the franchise, the game dropped with a huge Collector's Edition box with a decent arcade stick; arcade ports of the first three Tekken games (and Starblade, for some awesome reason); pre-rendered and in-engine cutscenes for every character; a Ghost Battle mode that let you level everyone up to Tekken Lord levels; and - most importantly to this discussion - the Devil Within story mode that evolves the Tekken Force formula into a five-level beat 'em up with bosses, puzzles, hidden paths, collectables, and secrets about Jin's origins. I played through it once when the game was released, took my million gold, and never opened it back up again. That's never a good sign when it comes to replays, but here we are...

I'll give The Devil Within for having the best brawler engine of either Tekken Force modes, or even the Scenario Campaign that launched with its successor. Fighting in the other brawlers feels like a mish-mash of competing horizontal planes that you lock on and off of, but The Devil Within is a much more fluid, intuitive 3D environment with natural movement and better handling of multiple targets. Fighting is fun, Devil Jin's attacks are legitimately worth the build-up and the health cost, and Jin plays similarly enough to his fighting counterpart that it doesn't feel like the wheel is being invented.

The levels themselves are a nightmare, though. There's a lot of blind jumping that doesn't mix well with the unlocked camera. It's infinitely easier for you to fall into a bottomless pit than it is for you to push your opponents into one. You encounter a surprising amount of sliding block puzzles, which wouldn't be so awful if they didn't require you to move so damn quickly. Worst of all, there just isn't enough save points. Most of the levels took around an hour to finish, and I only encountered one mid-level save point throughout the entire game. That's too much beat 'em up in a single session for my tastes, especially when a really frustrating boss is standing between me and taking a break.

It sounds like replays are a lot more forgiving. More collectables appear that unlock expensive items in the main game. You can select your level. You can even stay locked in Devil Jin mode without the health drain penalty. All that sounds a lot more palatable than the first run experience. Maybe I'm not done with Devil Jin yet.

Tekken 8 unlocks this evening, so that's going to get most of my attention for the next week or so, depending on how the Retro Talkshop Thread nominations go.

My #9 in Alan Wake 2

https://photos.app.goo.gl/eWN3fnCGKnZdk9tF6

Wow what a masterpiece. The best facial animation i've seen and the environments are simply stunning at 4k. The story is smart and mature, the best narration in a game i've ever played. Over the top OST that I'm going to listen to long after playing this game. My only complaints are not enough action and the rhyme puzzles are not to my liking. Playing the first game is a must, but I also recommend playing Control and it's DLC's because they link together in the same universe. 9.5/10

Xbox 360 down! I beat SoulCalibur II (originally Xbox) with Yunsung and Spawn.
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It’s annoying. I wanted to beat Hybrid on XBLA, but after buying it on Microsoft’s website, it was connected to my XBO account—which can’t play that title. So I went through a bunch of effort to download my XBO account to my 360, and then discovered that Hybrid is multiplayer-only. My XBL tier isn’t enough to get online multiplayer, and the game itself is an obscure, 12-year-old shooter. I think I wasted $5.

Bleed_DukeBlue wrote:

TBC I wasn't trying to be mean or anything and I do recall your input on the badge since I was thinking originally of just a light-gun badge but felt that was too narrowly focused and I took your suggestion.
I can see your viewpoint on it being unique, but then I think almost the opposite - if the PS-Portal is considered as an unique controller, then wouldn't playing on the Steam Deck be rationalized for the badge too? Since they're some what similar - sure the Deck has its own OS, is stand alone, but it's just a handheld PC or device - it doesn't get it's own listing separate from . Or I think of folks who play ROMs on dedicated handhelds like the Ayn Odin or Ambernic or Retroid Pocket or even ErickRPG's Legion Go - those devices are simply allowing someone to emulate an old system on a PC/phone adjacent device that IMO is more parallel with the PS-Portal vs. not.

But therein lies part of the issue when counting ROMs/emulation and was partly why my view had been that if you beat a ROM for system-X, you should at least own a copy of system-X - but how the heck would Sarna know that, so who really cares.
Sorry for sticking my nose it, this is Sarna's show and I am fine with that.

No worries. I was just confused what a Portal would be if not a non-traditional controller. I think it’s different from a Steam Deck, because a Steam Deck is a legit PC that you can download and play games on. I think of a Steam Deck as a more portable laptop. You can’t play anything on a Portal unless your PS5 is on, and, when you turn on the Portal, the PS5 recognizes it as a controller and takes control away from your other controllers and gives it to the Portal.

Slickriven wrote:

ErickRPG wrote:

"Never trust a bad guy, Graham."

DemonAlcohol wrote:

What system?

SupremeSarna wrote:

I didn't notice the writing too much. It was just the voice acting. Starting with the Owl. Sheesh was he grating. But I'll have to go back and cringe at the writing too I guess, lol.

SupremeSarna wrote:

Sorry, PC.

#6 down: Young Souls on Amazon Luna. I would like to count this toward the Pile Drivin' badge, as it's a side-scrolling beat 'em up.

Until @Slickriven mentioned it, I hadn't realized that you get free games on Luna that rotate monthly with Amazon Prime. It was really simple to plug in an Xbox Series X controller and play. This didn't outstay its welcome and was fun the whole way through. You get some interesting weapons that you can upgrade (with magic powers like the ability to summon creatures to fight for you), and the art style is neat. I'd recommend it.

@Bleed_DukeBlue Glad I mentioned it - it is interesting that Amazon doesn't promote that Luna perk very much. Heck they don't promote the fee games via legacy Twitch a lot either, unless you hit that page, but maybe I'm wrong on that a little as I don't visit the homepage on Amazon too often since I almost always have a tab open for some product on there and just search for whatever next thing I want to buy vs poking around the main site and seeing any of their ads. I also use an add blocker.

FYI, for those with Prime accts and thinking about playing a game on Luna, they used to state this, but I don't see it on the newer page layout, but those titles generally cycle out each month. So if you're thinking of playing something like Control that's currently available, you'll likely want to be sure and commit to beating it before February gets here... or opt to sign up for the 7 day trial to play it after it cycles out, which could then result in you paying for the Luna+ membership.

@Bleed_DukeBlue Okay, I think I know what to do about the PS Portal--it's effectively a modern Sega Nomad , which has its own console icon. If you can provide a logo for it, I'll add it as a separate console.

9th done, 3rd on
Valdis Story: Abyssal City
Badge: first towards Metroidvania
Alpha: 1 closer with V now complete, 5 left: #/E/J/Q/X

Man this was rough. This has been on some top Metroidvania lists and so it was on my radar/Wishlist and I purchased it recently and jumped in thanks to the V title some... I might have given up on this were it not for this thread, the game was frustrating. I'll give my pros/cons below.

Pros: Art style was solid, music was good, story was interesting enough but not amazing

Cons: Will elaborate on most of these below - Controls were floaty and button choices, while customizable, weren't great, near complete lack of direction/info, too easy for multiple foes to stun-lock you and/or knock you off the platform and down into a prior room where foes respawn and you'll almost always get hit immediately, some sort of BS boss mechanics, bad UI/UX.

* Controls - you could way too easily jump over platforms when not even in icy or windy areas. Had to hold down RT to cast a spell, but you also wanted to hold LT a good bit in hectic fights to block, well when you hit both triggers at once you got a context like menu to change your spells, so instead of hitting RT+down on the dPad, if you hit RT+LT+down you'd open that menu and instantly change the down spell from what you wanted to the next option. Also my LT kept either flaking out or was somehow also triggering an escape from the main menu and that context menu at times - it was a mess.
* Custom buttons - there was no default or reset to in the menu, so if you started to change things you couldn't easily go back to what the game intended.
* No direction - I'm less complaining about a game of this type and more about what things you do collect and what they're for, like I got 4 pieces of armor, ok now what. Had to look that up, or I wanted the double-jump that I presumed was in the game, had to look that up too and you had to visit this optional area, talk to an NPC, then he'd show up at your base and offer some upgrades (including the jump) but you needed to provide things for him, and so I had to look up where those things might be - it was just lacking in really any meaningful flow of organically progressing, even the main tasks gave you almost nothing on where to potentially go next. With the double jump, it was basically optional, and therefore you could attempt to beat the game without it, but good luck there as the final part would've been VERY difficult without it and you really have no way of knowing that.
* Stun lock and statuses like getting frozen in ice or grabbed and held by a big foe all stunk, many couldn't be blocked and if you were in the air and hit you fell and couldn't recover which sucked when trying to climb a tall vertical room only to get knocked a long ways back down.
* Boss mechanics - Most bosses had a red health and blue 'shield' bar but you often didn't have a clue on what to do to take out the shield. - 1 boss had elements in the room you needed to attack, others used this shield bar as a countdown like mechanic until they unleashed a flurry of attacks, it was just crap I didn't care for, I guess the variety was good, I'm just grumpy about this game overall.
* UI/UX - already mentioned the lack of a default button assignment, but in the game you would visit shops and they would say 2 In Stock - leaving me to figure that's how many I owned, since my inventory screen wouldn't open for these screens - nope it was their inventory. I also mentioned the dumb spell context menu, that had a dedicated pause menu, but navigating that was a mess with the dpad b/c down from the 3rd assignment slot often took you to the left where the spells were just laid out instead of the 4th assignment slot. The map had no legend, no overall map, no markers you could put on and it gave a percentage value that was completely tied to visiting all room, not collecting stuff or whatnot. Item assignment was also bad since you didn't get a screen to compare how a new armor piece would alter your stats.

Overall I wanted to like this game but it annoyed me a lot and I nearly HATED it, I WILL NOT play it more after beating the final boss, but it did keep me coming back even after cursing it frequently. With some better explaining, better UI/UX in a few areas and improved controls it could've been a gem.

OP updated!

Fair enough. How do I provide a logo?

SupremeSarna wrote:

Bleed_DukeBlue wrote:

If you can find a logo that looks different from the existing PS ones, just PM me a link. It seems the new images I post from Twitter end up with white backgrounds even when I transparentized them from the start.

Number: 2
Full Title: Double Dragon Advance
Platform Played:
Collection: N/A
Native Platform:
Original Platform:
Applicable Badge: Pile Drivin' (1/2)

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

I was a big fan of the GBA back when it launched. In fact, I imported it and several of the games before it launched in the US. Somehow this is one that I missed and regretted. Despite this being an embarrassingly bare bones port, I finally got to take it down.

Haha here's me stinking my nose in again, but IS the PS portable really like the ? Nomad is a fully independent system that is basically a portable but really you only need to own a Nomad and some games to use it, that's not true for the portable - it's basically useless without a . Duke might be more correct that is a unique controller vs an independent system.

Lol! Did I win you over to my side @Slickriven ? :)

Slickriven wrote:

What's the rules on beating a game more than once a year? Looking at playing Diablo 4 again but there is another expansion in the fall so I'll def beat it again then. Also, Alan Wake 2's new game + has some more story stuff I want to check out. I'd like those to be counted again. As long as it's not abuse such as playing a 20 minute game 100 times a week.

DemonAlcohol wrote:

Once you declare it beaten, that's it. You can play through it again on another system for a new clear, or play newly-released content for a DLC clear. If you play the exact same game five times, you get the Gamer's Day badge, but not four more clears.

Fiddlesticks!

Bleed_DukeBlue wrote:

HAHAHA... maybe. I'll simply say that I personally think the PS Portable is more akin to a controller vs. a separate system like the
Good luck @SupremeSarna

@DemonAlcohol you could really play Diablo 4 multiple times and even report it, I think Sarna's implying that he simply won't record it in the OP. But isn't really looking to discourage you from playing a game you like more than once.
Sorry @SupremeSarna, I'm injecting myself into this thread a bunch lately... Guess I'm earning that 'past gatekeeper' medal.

Slickriven wrote:

That's correct. Play games as many times as you want! But I'll only record the first time, unless you beat it for more systems.

#11 Shadow of the Colossus -

I've owned this game for so long. Never did I beat the PS2 version. So finally after so many years I finally experienced this whole game. As to whether I'd call it a masterpiece, I don't know. But it's definitely a gem of a game and worthy of it's status as a beloved classic. Game definitely looks beautiful on a large screen. Not all games do I feel my projector makes it any better, but this one, yep. Not just the huge colossi, but the large feel to the open fields. I played Atreyu's Quest from the neverending story soundtrack while I was in an open plain, haha, that was fun.

image

I beat Spotto! (originally ). Like all DSiware, this is lost to time unless you bought it on the DSi Shop or the 3DS eShop. So it’ll be the first half of Delisted for me.
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The game is pretty good. You use the stylus to line up and chuck bombs into ghosts’ mouths. Occasionally you get super bombs that, if successful, cause a targeted ghost to release a flurry of bombs in all directions, which then cause their victims to explode into more bombs. There are 50 stages, which I think is a little much. But hey, you get plenty of bang for your buck.

I already beat this in 2022, so I played Pro mode this time. You can’t see a dotted line to show where the bomb will land, so it’s more challenging lining up the perfect shot. Not too hard, though.

I fully support Intelligent Systems to make a remake, expand the series, or get a Spotto cameo in Fire Emblem.

Number: 3
Full Title: Terminator: Resistance - Annihilation Line
Platform Played:
Collection: N/A
Native Platform:
Original Platform:
Applicable Badge: 2nd Amendment (1/2)

https://steamcommunity.com/id/yossydesune/stats/95... (I forgot to take a screenshot, so the Achievements will have to do)

I really enjoyed the base game a couple years back and decided to finally circle back to the DLC. I like how it both stands alone and relates to the main story. Teyon really is a nice testament to how good AA games can be and how IP can be treated with respect.

@SupremeSarna Hey! Sorry to bother you, but I just noticed that my clear of Young Souls is listed under iOS when it should be under Luna. Thanks!

I beat my high scores on Pacmania and Pac-Land both on xbox 1

Before the month ends and I forget, I beat:

Assassins Creed Origins (PS4): I love traveling and checking all the locations. I also dig Bayek as the protagonist. This game is a joy to play, IMO. I wonder if Odyssey feels the same.

The Outer Worlds (PS4): Went back to finish this one in the hardest difficulty. It's crazy how hard some of those enemies can hit you. Adding the hunger, sleep, and thirst elements is also a bit stressful. My opinion remains the same, this is a "we have Fallout at home" game.

Strider (PS4): A quick and fun game, good way to remember the original title that I played on the Genesis. The plot is nothing to write home about, but I was there just to jump and do cool ninja stuff, so I enjoyed it lol

@legendrko25 Are you aiming for badges this year? If so, you'll have to specify that, preferably with the relevant badge you earn each time.

SupremeSarna wrote:

Im trying for badges yes ill post when i beat the games relevant to the badge

#7 down: Centipede (Game Boy) - This (alongside my previous clear of Bust-a-Move) gets me the Quarter Muncher badge. Centipede is an endless arcade game, but I beat 100 levels and it was just the same thing repeating itself over and over for the many levels I played through after 100 levels, so I think I’ve done enough to count it as a clear. This game was just not at all fun. It felt like a chore to play.

#3 Dishonored 2 on 1/31

I can't say I remember the first one ALL too much since I played it 10 years ago and had to watch a recap video, but the sequel is excellent. Be stealthy, be a brute, discover 17 ways to the same goal. You can play how ever you like and the level design is top notch. The Clockwork Mansion might be one of my single favorite levels in gaming. 8/10 easily. I played as Emily in a low chaos, mostly stealthy, and overly thorough approach that took me 18.5 hours to complete. I think I might go New Game+ as Corvo and run through in high chaos mode without supernatural powers (all for trophies). I bet I can clear it in a few hours.

image

Dishonored 2 is one of my favorite games of all time. I played it the first time on no powers no kills and you can’t be spotted once by guards. That was the most intense stealth experience I’ve had in a game.

incubus421 wrote:

After three consecutive releases that left me disappointed and nearly three recent playthroughs that reminded me of some sour spots in the franchise, Tekken 8 dropped late last Thursday, and it doesn't suck.

Number: 5
Full Title: Tekken 8
Platform Played: Windows
Collection: N/A
Native Platform: Windows
Original Platforms: Windows, Xbox Series, PlayStation 5
Applicable Badge: Street Fightin' (already earned)

Tekken 8's story mode is a longtime fan's dream come true, in the same way that Avengers: Endgame was an excellent payoff for moviegoers that had invested in Marvel's cinematic universe for ten years. After an over-the-top, high energy montage of an entry that highlight's all the game's characters instead of two grumpy MIshimas, the campaign drops brutal fight after brutal fight, seasoned with incredible setpieces, lots of fan service, and enough mysteries to keep you on the edge of your seat until the credits roll.

In the span of a few hours, on top of the expected high stakes duels between the two surviving Mishimas, you participate in the actual King of Iron Fist Tournament for the first time - with brackets, an over the top stage announcer, and other stadium antics - rather than just letting the tournament be an invisible backdrop for whatever happens over the course of the game. There's also an incredible sequence - hinted at in the intro - where dozens of prominent Tekken fighters all meet face to face on a battlefield and duke it out there, instead of a sterile tournament arena. I ate it up, along with every other throwback the writers seemed to sneak into the story. The use of music, camera angles, and even changing movesets to add impact to a moment was all incredibly well done, even if the overarching story was the overdramatic anime soap opera that we've come to expect from the genre.

None of that would matter if the fighting didn't hold up. I was originally extremely skeptical of Tekken 8's new aesthetic with its Street Fighter-esque, roided-out, hulky characters; the character names painted on screen like graffiti tags; the pile-on of new fighting mechanics and power techniques; and the "OH OH OH OH OH" character select music which seems to have been pulled from a different universe when laid down next to its predecessors. And while I'm still adjusting to exactly how jacked Law looks this time around, the actual fighting engine is a blast. Every punch and every kick lands with an impact that's unprecedented by other games in the series, and the Heat Rush and Rage Arts mechanics are both fairly implemented and impressive to look at. While I played in a few matches online that reverted back to the glitchy shuffle dance of defensive Tekken, most fights embraced new aggressive playstyles, which turned nearly every match into a spectacle.

I've been looking forward to my Tekken play sessions every day. With the main campaign over and both endings unlocked, I've been working my way through the Character Episodes and trying to unlock the last of the achievements. I even dabbled in the online mode for a little bit, which centers around a live multi-room arcade area (with a beach!) that your avatar can roam looking for challenges. With things running great on a Steam Deck, lots of DLC to look forward to, and plenty of customization items to unlock, I can see me revisiting the game a lot in the future.

Tekken 8 will probably be pushed aside for a bit to give me time to dive into next month's Games of the Month, but I'll probably get through a bunch more episodes before the end of the month when Final Fantasy VII Rebirth drops.

#8 down: Adam's Venture: Origins on PS4. I'd like to count this one toward the "You're Winner" badge. It got a 53 on Metacritic, and that's about the best it deserves. It's basically like playing Tomb Raider but with less interesting puzzles, awful controls, and annoying stealth parts you can instantly fail. It was a fairly easy platinum, but apparently only 21% of people got it, and I think that's because a few parts get frustrating, and the game isn't particularly fun. There's no fighting. You can't even jump on things unless they have a white mark on them and you do it just the right way at the right time. You basically just solve puzzles and avoid enemies.

Also, @SupremeSarna, I noticed that you added an entry for my Portal. Could you please move my Mystical Mixing clear from PS4 to there? I beat it entirely on my Portal. Thanks!

January has now passed. I shall now run through a few fun stats from the past month to entertain you:
-We've beaten 96 games so far! Good job, y'all! We'd have beaten more if I weren't being absolutely pounded with intern work right now. @ErickRPG leads the pack with 11.
-We've cleared 48 systems. That's 15.34% of the whole lot. ErickRPG and @TalonJedi87 are tied for first place, with 11.
-We've got four badges earned. Quarter Muncher is a popular one, isn't it?
-I'm adding a new console to the OP: PS Portal. I'll have its icon finished soon. I'm also making a change to the BFFL badge: It will now include games that you play and beat in a group setting, not just ones that have a strict co-op mode. For example, if you and a friend race each other to the end of a single-player game, that would count. You must both be playing for it to meet the criteria, of course--no playing a single-player game while someone else watches, with no active participation.

Thanks @SupremeSarna! Also, sorry to bother you, but it looks like you accidentally moved my Mystical Mixing clear to Luna instead of Portal?

SupremeSarna wrote:

Bleed_DukeBlue wrote:

Fixed.

Playing through Tekken 8 has made me crave some high quality fighting games again. With so many historical options to choose from, the Retro Talkshop Thread made the decision easy.

Number: 6
Full Title: Shaq Fu
Platform Played: Super Nintendo
Collection: N/A
Native Platform: Super Nintendo
Original Platforms: Super Nintendo, Genesis
Applicable Badge: Street Fightin' (already earned), You're Winner (1/2)

Way back in the day, I may have babysat for a few kids that had a Genesis and a copy of Shaq Fu at the peak of Shaquille O'Neal's pop culture penetration. I don't remember playing it for very long before setting it aside. It took a lot for me to turn away a fighter at that point in my gaming career, so it must have been pretty bad, but not bad enough to burn it into my brain as one of the worst games of all time.

The above-linked article confirms a lot of my gripes about my game, as I played through the Story Mode with Shaq himself. Shaq is so damn tall that his regular attacks go over the heads of most of the other fighters. Special moves are extremely difficult to pull off, despite the actual on-paper commands being simple, and Shaq's specials aren't really worth doing away; they are slow and do terrible damage. Moving your character is inconsistent and imprecise, like steering a car in Jaguar's Checkered Flag. Half of each match consisted of me and my opponent just jumping past each other to opposite ends of the stage. When I did manage to do some damage, it was because I pinned the other fighter to an edge of the screen and just wail on an attack button until they fell down. Reminds me of another lackluster fighting game I played for this thread way back in the day.

I'm not even bothering to pick the game's obvious low-hanging fruit. That it's a supernatural fighting game. From Delphine Software. Starring a giant real-life basketball player. With no martial arts background.

But worst game of all time? Or even the worst fighter of all time? It certainly qualifies for the "You're Winner" badge just based on its legacy, but in a universe where E.T., Fight for Life, Superman 64, and Battle Beast exists, Shaq Fu barely makes it to the loser's podium. Though the awful soundtrack (which oddly sounds like a terrible remix of Super Meat Boy) tries very hard to kill any aesthetic goodwill, the game's animations and sprite artwork are actually really nice. We can probably thank Delphine - the brilliant minds behind Flashback and Out of This World - for that. And, at least, they didn't succumb to the temptation to fill the game with basketball references and mini-games. I even like the random, stupid "twist" in the ending, though that's par for the course for any Army of Darkness fan.

There's still three more platforms of Shaq Fu I want to explore/subject myself to (five, if I can figure out how to get Amiga working on the MiSTer) and a bunch of playable characters to use for badge fodder, but the big highlight of this month is going to be a replay of Quake on my retro PC. At least, until February 29 rolls around.

Bleed_DukeBlue wrote:

Just got done beating it in high chaos mode with Corvo. It only took me another 4 hours. Just an awesome game! Again, I can't get over how detailed and intricate the levels are. I've not the patience to pull off a non spotted run. I think I'll end here.

First game of 2023 is down. Portal for Nintendo Switch.

#9 down: Skylanders: Superchargers on PS4. I'd like to count this toward the Grown Ass Man badge, as I beat it on Nightmare difficulty (which only 1.0% of players have done according to the trophy data). I've beaten other Skylanders games before on the hardest difficulty (Trap Team and Swap Force), but this was significantly harder than those. Some of the bosses basically one hit kill your characters, and, if you don't have enough to swap out, you have to start all over again.

This was a fun game. There's car, plane, and boat racing, levels in which you attack bosses or destroy targets via all of those vehicles, and a number of levels in which you get out of the vehicles and walk around, platform, fight, etc. There are some really creative ideas in this game, such as a level in which you eat a giant popcorn kernal and become gigantic. It's really cool to play as any of your characters in giant mode and wreck buildings with single attacks. I'm definitely going to go for the platinum (although it will probably take me awhile longer yet).

Bleed_DukeBlue wrote:

Was it actually difficult on that level? GA-Man is reserved for brutal expriences, like Castlevania or Ghosts 'n Goblins.

This is what the trophy guide says about it on PSN Profiles:

“For this stage, you may need a relatively large collection of Skylanders, as you will probably die A LOT. Be prepared to use them when playing through every level on Nightmare difficulty. Once you do it though, you will feel VERY accomplished.”

Bleed_DukeBlue wrote:

Then I’ll count it.

Thanks! =)

SupremeSarna wrote:

Game #8 of 2024

Shakedown: Hawaii on

I usually only open this thread only when I have a new clear to post, so I missed out on the discussion of the "Now You're Playing with Plastic" badge. I have a bunch of VR games I plan to complete this year, I assume PlayStation Move controllers count towards it?

PizzaTheHutt wrote:

Sure.

Got my 1st in Feb, 10th overall, 4th on
Astalon Tears of the Earth
Badge - Really this should earn me the MetVania badge along with Valdis Story

I've been playing more on my PC and Steam lately, suspect that's a good thing with a decent gaming rig and 165Hz monitor, but the standout thing here is how excellent this game was. I gave it a glowing mid-play review in the 'scores for games you've been playing' thread and really it only got better. I 100 %ed the map, items and beastiary and got pretty dang powerful. So powerful in fact that the final 2 fights were almost too easy, but I suspect I paid my dues by dying and being a little weak to start. I know I complained about Valdis not having a good map, having weak controls and even a poor UI/UX, well this game was the polar opposite in all regards - really the only downside of those few things by comparison, is it would've been great to be able to put markers on the map for reminders of things - similar to Hollow Knight.

But overall this was fantastic and has rocketed to my top games list. Surely the best I've played in a few years and really top 10 all time. I put 19+ hrs into my save, though the clock doesn't stop when paused and that likely bumped me up a little. I did end up looking up a few things I got stuck on, but the game was WAY better vs. Valdis with giving you hints, the map and even tools to help you find things. After being sucked into this one hard this week - up at least 3 nights til 2 playing it, I am not sure what I'll move onto next. I did unlock a NG+ and some other things in Astalon, so I might start a new run.

I beat Mega Man 8 (originally PS1), getting me halfway to the BFFL badge.
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A friend is a big Mega Man fan, so he challenged me to race him at the game I knew best: MM8. It’s great race material—it’s fairly easy by MM standards, has an item shop that can help you strategize, and it’s fairly short. It’s the only MM game that I have intimate knowledge of, as it was the only PS1 game I owned for years. Jimmy is better at the series than I am, but he’s only played it once, years ago.

We set the rules. We could not practice 8, but we could research it as much as we wanted and play other MM games to shake off any rust. We both played the Legacy Collection 2 version so neither of us would have an advantage. We batted around a scoring system, but then simplified it to “first to beat Wahwee wins.” We’d then celebrate by getting ice cream, and the loser would foot the bill.

We started. I immediately took the long way through the intro stage due to muscle memory. Jimmy reached Tengu Man’s autoscroller stage first, and we both GO’d due to hubris. I managed to take the lead (and held it through the majority of the game). I got confused in the box maze in Clown Man’s stage, but I managed and even shared the path with Jimmy when he got there. I had trouble in the second half of Sword Man’s stage, as killer lava drained my life pool.

I had memorized Astro Man’s mazes beforehand, and I cleared it with little trouble. Jimmy, apparently, had done very little prep for this friendly race, so to be nice, I guided him through and even taught him a cool double-jump trick. I struggled against the second boss in Wahwee Castle, which helped Jimmy catch up. We both fought Wahwee simultaneously, and also GO’d on him. During the boss rematch, Tengu and Clown killed me twice, leaving me with one life to fight Wahwee; Jimmy held all three lives. I was afraid Astro Man would force me to use up my only HP refill before the final boss, but I managed to stunlock Astro and beat him easily.

So we both fought Wahwee at the same time again. I took hit after hit and used my refill. Then with low health and a short-ranged Flame Sword, I defeated Wahwee and won the race! Jimmy followed about 30 seconds later.

It was quite stressful for both of us. But it was a great time! I’m too compassionate to let my opponents flounder, apparently, but that speaks well of me. I got a surprisingly good slushy-ice cream mix at DQ, and the night was merry.

#12 Pikmin 4 -

#12 overall, and 1st for switch surprisingly. Loved everything about this one. It's the best of the Pikmin games. They pretty much have improved on every aspect of the formula. Limited time during the day, but you have unlimited days to play. Time completely stops when you go into underground caves, so you can take all the time you want looking around there. The dandori battles (limited time vs. bots) thing worried me when I first saw it, but they are fun. The Dog is a fun element even though I was worried at first. Being able to ride him with the Pikmin makes it easier, not worrying about Pikmin lagging behind. Lots of quests and stuff to do.

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ErickRPG wrote:

They did a marvelous job on 4. It has the right amount of care put into it, with a sprawling world and quality Dandori. I wish they hadn't retconned the first two games to make it happen, though. Kinda feels antithetical to it being called Pikmin 4.

SupremeSarna wrote:

It's been so long I forgot 1 and 2, lol. But I did think to myself "Olimar, he's still not rescued? oh well" and kind of just shrugged it off. I don't mind that sort of thing too much.

Frank wrote:

Game #2 is done as well.

Hoa

I've been putting off playing this for quite some time. It's a pretty short experience, but a really fun one.

Game #9 of 2024

Star Wars: Squadrons on

#10 down: Skylanders Superchargers DLC. I’d like to count this toward the Race Drivin’ badge.

All of the DLC for this game are racing expansions. There is one for land (car racing), one for sea (boat racing), and one for sky (plane/helicopter racing). I beat all of the DLC tracks and went through the other stuff that the expansions add (time trials, races where you try to kill a boss in another vehicle before he or she finishes the race, etc.). The base game mostly uses vehicles for combat and traversal, so the emphasis on racing in the DLC was a nice switchup. The tracks are creative, look great, and have lots of shortcuts.

#12

Shantae and The Seven Sirens

This was the second Shantae game I experienced and the last one I played, Half Genie Hero, was nothing like this. That one was more platformer whereas Seven Sirens was straight up Metroidvania and it suited it well for the most part. While the combat is more on the simplistic side by just doing that hair toss, there was progression unlockable upgrades such as a quake, sparking and restorative abilities to unlock new areas and such. You also received character upgrades such as double and triple jumping alongside changing forms to better traverse the dungeons and interconnected map. And the story and characters were quite whimsical as always. This series typically reminds me of a morning cartoon show and it has some hits and misses in the dialogue but overall it’s a fun action adventure of the metroidvania genre.

Wanna hear more about Shaq Fu?

No?

TOO BAD.

Number: 7
Full Title: Shaq Fu
Platform Played: Game Gear
Collection: N/A
Native Platform: Game Gear
Original Platforms: Super Nintendo, Genesis

Having played all five platforms now with varying degrees of success, the Game Gear version is my least favorite. The two-button controls aren't much of a downgrade - I could barely tell the difference between light and heavy attacks on the SNES - but the Lynx-ification of the graphics kills the game's one redeeming factor, and the controls are the wonkiest of them all. Not that I'm heavily invested in Shaq's interdimensional journey, but the Story Mode is the laziest as well. You fight the final boss midway through the game just for him to "The princess is in another castle you" into another four levels, the last of which has you face off against... well... the most hideous character in the franchise.

Number: 8
Full Title: Shaq Fu
Platform Played: Game Boy
Collection: N/A
Native Platform: Game Boy
Original Platforms: Super Nintendo, Genesis

Maybe the pea soup screen is hiding all the terrible in the game, but I really didn't mind the Game Boy version that much. Having played a number of other one-on-one fighters on the platform, Shaq plays surprisingly smooth on here without as many of the shortcuts as the Game Gear version. It's still not great for all the same reasons as its cross-platform brethren, but it could have been much, much worse.

Number: 9
Full Title: Shaq Fu
Platform Played: Genesis
Collection: N/A
Native Platform: Genesis
Original Platforms: Super Nintendo, Genesis

The Genesis and Amiga ports of the game have five more characters than the SNES version because the solution to bad food is larger portions. I played through the Duel mode - which plays like a standard arcade mode where you face all the characters, ending with the final boss - with Leotsu (old Mr. Miyagi type) and Diesel (generic tough guy), and TO MY SURPRISE I absolutely tore crap up as Leotsu. There's an odd bug in the fighter code where, if you execute a special move command correctly, you'll chain a regular attack on top of your special attack, often doing twice the damage in the same amount of time. Leotsu's long reach and projectiles make him one of the biggest beneficiaries of this behavior, and I plowed through all twelve fights with little issue at all. Diesel's run wasn't nearly as impressive, especially against the final boss, but it's nice to know I found a thread to pull in the game to make things more tolerable.

And speaking of the Amiga...

Number: 10
Full Title: Shaq Fu
Platform Played: Amiga
Collection: N/A
Native Platform: Amiga
Original Platforms: Super Nintendo, Genesis

The Amiga is one of my neater discoveries of the past few years' retro boom. It's a surprisingly capable personal computer with a massive following and a huge game library. Seriously. If there's a console or PC game that came out during the Amiga's reign, it probably got an Amiga port that probably looks great but saw some serious concessions to satisfy the platform's architecture and omnipresent one-button controller.

Including Shaq Fu.

At first glance, the Amiga port looks just like the Genesis port, but once you pick up the controller, things start going awry. The game supports a maximum of two buttons with most of the third-button's functionality activating when holding a direction and an attack button at the same time. For someone who spends a lot of the match doing sweeping kicks, not being able to easily crouch and attack quickly put a damper in my plans. After a whole lot of false starts, I managed to finish the game with Auroch - who has a devastating 2-3 hit special move that's great on a cornered opponent - and Leotsu, with whom I wiped the floor with the Genesis' duel mode.

It's not the game I expected to pop my Amiga cherry, but hey, first times never go as planned.

Man, if you had told me that half the games I'd play at the start of 2024 would be Shaq Fu, I probably would have unplugged and moved to a desert island temporarily.

On the non-Shaq side of things, I've started the original Mario vs. Donkey Kong for Frank's thread. I'm not sure where I'll go from there once I finish it; either move on to the sequel, or wait for the remake to drop later on this month. Once I finish the last of the Shaq characters, I'm going to move on to the RTT's other monthly mission - Quake.

My #10 is Not for Broadcast

https://photos.app.goo.gl/2JrtegktAGW8ZRtV9

Fun FMV game where you are the man behind the cameras on a nightly news program. 8/10

2/5, #4 -- Donkey Kong Country

cleared in 2 hours 29 minutes with 68%. Gosh haven't played through this game in probably 20 years. I think a clear of the sequel is in my near future.

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It took a bit, but I beat Fire Emblem Engage . It's the first part of my Days Gone By badge.
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The rule with Fire Emblem on Switch seems to be that if you like Three Houses, you have to hate Engage over vice-versa. Comically, I actually follow this rule, but the other way around: Three Houses didn't do much for me years ago, but I enjoyed my time with Engage.

Compared to Three Houses, Engage has a simpler, more straight-forward story with only one route. It has a goofier, lighter tone than the gritty 3H. The characters are trope-y, but generally pleasant. I found the Somniel to be a step-up from Garreg Mach Monastery, as it's a homey vacation resort against a gothic college. It gets to be a bit of a chore doing the Somniel routine after every battle, of course, so it hasn't fixed that problem from 3H.

Everyone who plays Engage agrees that its gameplay is buttery-smooth compared to past games. They're right. Battles are easy to grasp, stylishly presented, and fun to play. The Emblem Rings add a fun twist, giving their owner new weapons and unique attacks--Lyn's Astra Storm lets a unit shoot five arrows across the map, and Byleth's Goddess Dance lets up to four units act a second time. These are extremely satisfying to use.

The game has its weaknesses, though. As much as I'd like to love the story, it spends too long having every character fawn over you, and a lot of it is cliche and predictable. Then there are moments where characters have massive exposition dumps and then immediately, as a cheap way of making you sympathize more with 'em. There are repetitive moments, too--Zephia is an overused (and over-defeated) villain, and Sombron steals your rings every time you run into him.

It's not a perfect game, but I had fun with it. I'll buy the DLC someday, but not any time soon.

Renaissance2K wrote:

You should definitely be counting these for You’re Winner (you counted the SNES one, after all) and Facelift. You’ve earned them.

I beat Shaq Fu . It stinks, but you knew that.
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It’s nonsense, a poor fighter, and doesn’t even let you choice a fighter for the story mode. The final boss is broken, and your continues are limited. Heck, Shaquille O’Neil looks more like Michael Jordan than his real self. Sad.

SupremeSarna wrote:

YES! I thought the same thing whenever he was on screen, but that complaint was totally dwarfed by all the others.

SupremeSarna wrote:

I dunno, I think we're so used to how he's looked the past 15+ years that we forget that back in his younger years, when his face/head seemed smaller

EDIT - stuck these in a spoiler as they were too big

My #11 is Ravenous Devils.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/USEi3Tek1aerYZsf7

Time management game about a couple who run a tailor and restaurant serving human meat. 7/10

2nd of Feb, 11th overall, 3rd on
Quake 2
Badge - 1st towards 2nd Amendment

Never got into the Quake series from back in my youth, was playing Doom or not into PC gaming when they arrived, but when they got remastered and made available on GP I figured it was time. I beat the first last year and it was alright, then for Ren2k's RTT GotM club Quake was part of the selection and he allowed me to do 2 instead since I wasn't going to redo 1 so soon and had wanted to get to 2 anyhow. I suppose I liked this better, but really Doom, for me, is the better series. I'm a much more methodical type of player with these, so I was backtracking a bunch and saving ammo/health when I could, so it surely took me longer than most other players, but in the end I prefer to play that way as I find more secrets and explore more. The final boss was actually really easy for me b/c I had saved an invulnerability and quad damage, popped them both and wrecked his day without concern from taking damage nor even moving around. That made it a touch less enjoyable, but the level leading up to him was tough with so many Tank Commanders I think they're called, so I was saving often and had more challenge from them vs the final boss, but I could've or should've used those power-ups sooner and I really didn't use power-ups at all. Oh well.

I will almost certainly keep this installed and give the 2x DLCs a go, but may not prioritize that.

I just played the 1st DLC for Quake 2 and whoo that wasn't easy, but it was an enjoyable challenge. I think there are 6 levels to visit and collect 6 data disks and maybe I picked a challenging one, but it started me with only the base gun and ammo capacity and some sections were nuts - I 100% had to use every pick-up they gave me for invincibility and quad damage but I beat the level and went back to the main hub. Thinking about it, each area I will need to 'deploy' a new soldier into, so I'm going to guess they'll all start with nothing but the base pistol, so they should feel similar. This level's design was pretty cool, a tower of sorts with lots of looping paths and revisiting rooms, but it was solid and I think I'll stick with it.

My #12 is Thronefall.

Simple little tower defense that uses the same mechanics as the Kingdom games. 7/10

I thought I had made a post here a couple weeks ago but I don't see it, weird.

Last year was my slowest year of gaming since like 2016 (I pretty much only played Mario Maker that year). Pokemon Scarlet took up so much of my time, and I was also still hooked on Salmon Run for a large portion of the year. This year, I'm determined to play many games in my backlog, plus replay a few of my favorites since I always have the itch to re-visit games I like. I kicked off the year with a quick and easy one, Super Mario Bros. To make it more challenging though, I beat it with no deaths, no warps, plus I collected every hidden 1-up mushroom (harder than it sounds, many of them have to be "unlocked").

Now that I'm finally done with Scarlet, my first goal is to complete several games that I started over the last year or two but didn't finish:

Zelda: Skyward Sword
Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
Shovel Knight (100%)
Pokemon Y
Zelda: Twilight Princess HD
SteamWorld Quest
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Super Mario Wonder (solo, 100%)
Super Mario RPG
Spider-Man: Miles Morales

That will be a pretty good start! Even if I only play those games this year, that would be a solid lineup. But, I hope to play way more than that.

Here's my new list for 2024:

NES - Super Mario Bros.
SNES -
N64 -
GC -
Wii -
Wii U -
Switch - ,
GB -
GBC -
GBA -
DS -
3DS -
360 -
XB1 -
PS1 -
PS2 -
PS5 -
PSP -
GEN -

1/19 - Unique systems

1 - Total games

No new clears to report but it's been awhile, figured I'd post. I have been playing some games. Arc the Lad 3 and Final Fantasy V currently.

Gypsy wrote:

FF5 only released in Japan initally, right? How does it compare to its successor IYO?

That is correct. It was one of the first fan translated games if I recall, done back in the late 90s. It was of course since released in the US on PS1 and GBA.

I think it's a truly great video game for the most part. I love the job/class system thing in general so that is always a plus for me. I have some small complaints. The main one would be every time you change your job it "optimizes" your equipment. This is generally good but I wish I could be given the choice to hit optimize (also a menu option) or not. Because sometimes it takes off equipment that is "worse" but is actually just different and better for the purpose I am using it for. Basically it only check attack value for weapons.

If I'm lumping together mainline FF games in basic groups it would look like this for me

Loved: 4, 5, 6, 9, Lost Odyssey (lol!)

Enjoyed: 3, 7

Have lots of historical value: 1, 2

Lukewarm: 10

Oh right, I did play through Lost Odyssey again. Used my clear save which reaaally made the game faster. Love that game.

Gypsy wrote:
Is this a new clear? What system?

OP updated! I hope I get more time to beat games soon. Year's been pretty busy for me so far.

SupremeSarna wrote:

Lost Odyssey

@SupremeSarna For my list of consoles, can you switch PS4 to PS5?

@Scott Gotcha covered.

@Gypsy I'll include it in next week's update. Thanks!

#13 Trials of Mana -

#13 overall. Trails of Mana for switch. Played Hawkeye, Riese, and Angela. This game is amazing. The way they did this remake, and Star Ocean 2. THIS is how to do proper remakes of old RPGs. And I still love FFVII remake. But these are great too. This game still "feels" like secret of mana. The music, the battling, the world, how you explore, how the towns and areas are separated. It really feels like playing a proper sequel to the SNES classic Secret of Mana. Loved about everything about this game. Not too long, class changing system, replayability due to there being 6 heroes. They nailed this one. Hope squareenix continues this trend. And I know we have a new mana game coming too. So that's great!

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Number: 4
Full Title: Kyuukyoku Tiger
Platform Played:
Collection: M2 ShotTriggers: Kyuukyoku Tiger Heli
Native Platform:
Original Platform:
Applicable Badge: Shoot the Core (1/2)

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I took Toaplan games seriously way too late. I always thought space ships were cooler than planes and helicopters, which is still true, and that horizontal shooters were better than vertical, which is still debatable. However, now I realize how special of a develop this was and am enjoying going back through their catalog now that they are getting both the M2 treatment on Switch and PS4 and the (unfortunately inferior) Bitwave Games treatment on Steam and GOG.

@SupremeSarna Hoa was on PS5, not Switch.

Number: 5
Full Title: Alien Crush
Platform Played: Mini
Collection: N/A
Native Platform:
Original Platform:
Applicable Badge: Quarter Muncher (1/2)

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This game has an ending, but it's really the result of a limitation. The scoring caps at just under a billion points. Needless to say, I didn't get there, as that purportedly takes about 10-hours of not screwing up. I figured filling up the leader board was good enough. The "ACE" initials are an homage to my middle and high school buddy Chris, who used to use that back in the late 80s and early 90s.

I beat Grimace's Birthday .
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It's not as magical when played on a PC almost a full year after release. It was definitely made for GBC hardware and for the year of its promotion. But it's a decent little game regardless. Though I swear you can't jump of a grind rail when you're moving left--the second stage is mildly annoying as a result.

Number: 6
Full Title: Blaster Master
Platform Played:
Collection: Nintendo Switch Online
Native Platform:
Original Platform:
Applicable Badge: Metroidvania (1/2)

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This is one of the few games I owned as a kid that I had never finished and maybe my favorite game that I had never finished. I have to say it feels good to knock it off the bucket list after all of these years. Maybe someday I'll revisit Fester's Quest...

I beat Super Mario Wonder last year but it was a co-op run with my son. I played through it again, solo, and completed it 100% today.

NES - Super Mario Bros.
SNES -
N64 -
GC -
Wii -
Wii U -
Switch - Super Mario Wonder
GB -
GBC -
GBA -
DS -
3DS -
360 -
XB1 -
PS1 -
PS2 -
PS5 -
PSP -
GEN -

2/19 - Unique systems

2 - Total games

Badges
Hop 'n' Bop (Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Wonder)

@Yoshi Nicely done Blaster Master is great. How far did you make it as a kid? Before I finally beat it, the Area 6 boss was usually the one to get me, and if I did make it past him, then the Area 7 boss was the next hold up, or just trying to get through Area 8!

I beat Fallout 3 and Fallout 3 Mothership Zeda (DLC) both on the xbox 360

Scott wrote:

I want to say it was also the Area 6 boss.

I forgot about badges. Looks like my 2 games got me the Hop 'n' Bop badge! I updated my previous post.

3rd in Feb, 1st on LUNA, 12th overall
Inertial Drift Twilight Rivals Edition

Badge - first towards Race Drivin' I suppose

I did this largely as my Luna clear and for a semi-twitchy race/drifting game, the streaming was really solid. There's a story mode that I beat to claim this with a 'story' of some sort told by dialog btwn 2 stills of you and random folks before each event - I mainly skipped all of that crap and just did the events. Luna is strange that they sell a dedicated controller like did and they want you to use it, and when I first tried this game it didn't seem to recognize my X1 controller plugged into my machine so I went with the KB controls that were interesting: A/D for L/R, then the left and right arrows for 'drift' left and right and spacebar for throttle. At speed, turning with A/D does virtually nothing and you need those drift keys to actually get around corners, which makes sense based on the title and premise of the game. The story car is super easy to drive and I handled all events until the final one pretty easily across a few gaming sessions. I got used to the dual handed controls over time and went and looked up if there was a brake key and it's S, so then I started to use that for the last few events, which helped with some corners getting pretty sharp and forgetting to let off the throttle spacebar at times caused me to hit the guardrails/walls and slowed me down. Most of the story is more about racing, either a ghost, the clock or another car (which you can't hit, explained with some totally BS story quip that I read) which was a strange since you'd think a drifting game would be more about the stylized driving - which eventually they got to near the end.

After failing the final race I took a break last night and then was reading the info page in Luna after closing the game and noticed it touting it's dual-stick controls and figured I would try the controller again. So this last session I got my controller working and after a practice run on the final track with the new controls I crushed the final event by over 20 seconds - so yeah the controller was a better setup. Beating that event triggered some credits so I'm claiming it, but there are several other things to do. An Arcade mode, Championship mode, Twilight Rivals additional 'story' mode and some Challenges. I did a few events and got to drive some other cars that handled very differently. The Challenge mode lets you unlock other cars for the Arcade and Champ modes it seems, so I did a few of those, but man some of the cars handle very strangely on how to trigger a drift or how to even get them to turn much at all, so I failed on 2 b/c their characteristics didn't gel with me - I only gave each 1 attempt. Some new cars I actually liked how they controlled differently.

I did start up the Twilight Rivals story mode and can see me playing a little more of that, yet still skipping all of the lame dialog btwn the many characters introduced in the main story that seem to be making appearances in this story as well - plus a host of new folks.
With only around a month to try out and beat something on Luna before it cycles out of the free access for me as a Prime sub, I prioritize smaller games like this, so I'm glad to have knocked off Luna and really the game isn't too bad if you ignore the attempt at a story. It's clearly neon 90's inspired and has a ho-hum cell-shaded look but it was worth my few hours of time so far.

And 4th in Feb, 1st on , 13th overall
Mario vs. Donkey Kong
Badge - 1st toward Hop n Bop, right?

Beat this as it was Frank's pick for his GotM and I hadn't got 'round to beating any of his picks in a little while and figured it was time to give one a go. I don't like too many Mario games anymore, likely b/c when I use ROMs to go back and play them, I focus too much on being nearly perfect and will just use save states to gloss over mistakes and that's messed with how I play some older games period, but it seems really bad with Mario titles as they just get too frustrating for me after a little while - that happened here for sure. There are 6 worlds with 6 stages each and then a toybox and DK 'fight' stage per and by the mid-point of world 2 I was starting to see the meh creep in. World 5 and 6 weren't great with that and I was all to happy to have it beat. I unlocked access to all 6 worlds having a + mode now... yeah this is not a game I'll be putting more time into, I got the credits, I'm done.

#11 down: Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League on PS5. I would like to count this toward the Mustache-Twirlin' badge.

This game was a lot more fun than I had expected. I agree with another poster who said elsewhere in the forum that the last third gets tedious. The last three boss fights are pretty annoying, whereas the previous ones were pretty fun. I’d give the game a 7 overall. Definitely worth playing but with a few annoyances along the way.

#12 down: FoxyLand on PS4. I would like to count this toward the Hop n' Bop badge. This was an annoying 2-D platformer with lots of ways to instantly die, but at least it was short. I wouldn't recommend it.

Slickriven wrote:

I'd call that a puzzle game, personally.

#13 down: FoxyLand 2. Alongside my previous clear of FoxyLand, this gets me the Hop n’ Bop badge.

This, like its predecessor, was not very good, but it did introduce some new mechanics. The wolf boss in world one was rough.

SupremeSarna wrote:

I need to load that up on my Analogue Pocket.

SupremeSarna wrote:

That's fine, classify as puzzler then.

5th in Feb, 14th overall, 1st on
Shaq-Fu
Badge - 1st towards Street Fight'n

Played this b/c of Ren2k's RTT GotM and it was pretty rubbish. I tried the SNES ROM first and did terrible, but on the Gen version I used cheap tactics to beat the first island of like 5 fights pretty easily. The 2nd island had 3 fights and 1 was the toughest of the game for me, where my tactics didn't work great, but I got it after a number of attempts and some help from save states. The final island had just 2 fights and the first was a little cheap, taking a few attempts, but the final story mode boss was relatively easy.
Game lives up to the earned rep as a pretty crappy title and certainly wasn't a good fighter with so few attack buttons but I'm glad to have finally tried it out.

After 45 hours in two weeks, I finished Pikmin 3 Deluxe and platinum’d its DLC. (Technically, it’s DLC from the Wii U version that was bundled in, but that hasn’t stopped anyone before.)
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Pikmin 3 Deluxe is the best version of Pikmin 3, and an easy contender for best Pikmin game. You get the full story mode, all missions with previous DLC, and two additional (easy) mission campaigns. Certain QOL changes were made to buff certain Pikmin, and certain actions are much easier to perform on the Pro Controller than they were on the GamePad. There are even three save files, different difficulty settings, and unlockable badges! They didn’t hold back with this game, and it is 100% worth the $50 price tag.

The cruelest missions are Silver Lake Remix and the 2D cavern one. There’s so much gold to retrieve and enemies to beat. Even with three captains to command, it’s too much. But perseverance is key. Fortress of Festivity is a really fun one, with a daunting number of giant fruits to grab.

I beat Persona 5 Tactica and Sonic Superstars on Switch, both of which I got on sale for $19.99 recently. I liked both more than I thought I would, especially Tactica.

#13

Hogwarts Legacy

Well this was a game I didn’t think I was going to enjoy as much as I did due to the fact I’m not a huge Harry Potter fan but man this was such a delightfully refreshing experience through and through. From the immense attention to detail in all of the little nuances and caveats within the wizarding world and plethora of spells you can obtain to the sheer sense of wanderlust and exploration within Hogwarts castle itself, this game is truly immersive from start to finish. The combat takes cues from that of the Batman Arkham series and Spider-Man games and you can counter most spells and enemy attacks by pressing one of a couple of counter buttons and feels really fluid to execute. The graphics too powered by the Unreal 4 engine I think, were pretty darn good as well with minimal hiccups here and there in the framerate I noticed which did stutter and dip during explosive action segments. Upgrading and pumping out your fashionable character was fun as heck too. You could even breed and nurture animals to obtain upgrade materials from them to upgrade your gear and such. The story itself was of course a touch of the theatrics, having you take a deep dive into the underground seedy world of goblins and how the main goblin antagonist wants to end wizardkind. The side quests too are pretty detailed. I enjoyed some of the side quests more so than some story missions. And exploring the castle and neighboring villages and hamlets was a breeze one you unlock a series of mounts from a broomstick to a hippogriff and even a land mount which makes you travel quicker on the ground vs being airborne. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed my 38ish hour journey within the world of witchcraft and wizardry and will stick around a bit more for some post game goodies.

I’ll go ahead and call that I beat Tekken 8 on PS5. I did the story mode, beat the five fight mode to get the endings with all the characters and cleared the avatar arcade quest thing. I also beat all the AI ghosts I could to get all the unlockables I could find, and beat my own ghost. If that doesn’t qualify, let me know what does and I’ll knock it out real quick.

I beat Monopoly Plus on the xbox 1

2/15
#5) Donkey Kong Country 2 Diddy's Kong Quest

By the time I "beat" the game I was about 9 Coins short of unlocking the last bonus level, and had collected all of the DK coins. I remember finding some of these to be a whole lot harder as a kid! So I finished every level with all secrets and DK coins, and got the special ending in around 6 hours.

Oh, also, I think every song in this game is an absolute banger. A top tier retro soundtrack for sure.

image

BloodPuppetX wrote:

yeah I got tactica on sale too. Looking forward to it for sure, gotta beat Star Ocean first, and heck, Unicorn Overlord comes out March 9th babiii!

incubus421 wrote:

Which stages gave you the toughest time? There are no wrong answers here, aside from some early stages.

Well I won't be playing the additional or DLC-like story from Inertial Drift Twilight Rivals. It is structured like the main game's story with 4 chapters with 5 linear events within, all filled with pointless dialog before said events. I tried and beat the very first event after beating the main game a few days ago and jumped back into this last night with the intention of completing most of that.
The main story you use 1 car at least 95% of the time, maybe 100, and it's crazy easy to use, it'll drift just by turning the right analog stick and using it so much got me used to that as the defacto control mechanics. Well there are other cars in the game that you faced off against in that main campaign that you're now forced to use and for some reason as the car and driver basically changes nearly every event in this new story. All the cars handle rather uniquely, especially in how they enter and exit drifts and a few I really didn't like nor could get used to.

Since I couldn't select the car I preferred and simply don't wish to spend the time to get a bit better with especially 2 of the cars they've selected - I'm done. I ended up trying at least 1 event from each chapter and beat a few, largely those with cars that I got to grips controlling, but some are just terrible to control. I could practice with them or do other events and what not but 1- I don't like this game enough to bother, 2- I'm already skipping the dumb story, so I don't feel like I'm missing out on something I care about and 3- this is a rotating free Luna streaming game that I'll lose access to before to long and I'm for sure not going to buy it nor pay for Luna to keep access.

No biggie since there are tons waiting on me in the backlog, but I had at least intended to give this one some more time before bailing.

My #13 is Yakuza 0.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/TdscdWVNYp4PaqZz5

My first Yakuza game (except Like a Dragon with Ichiban). This is the prequel that came out after the original Yakuza. Like Resident Evil 0, you control two protagonists. One is trying to exit the Yakuza and one is trying to get in. It's all in Japanese so really it's a visual novel with some beat-em up action on the side. This starts my quest to play through all the main series Yakuza games this year. 8/10

Yakuza 0 was my first Yakuza game and man what a journey it was. I did the same as you were doing too. Back a few years ago I started when Yakuza 0 came out and then continued with Kiwami 1 and 2 then 3-6. Took up a good couple of quarters of the year to accomplish such a feat but it was well worth it. Enjoy!

TalonJedi87 wrote:

Which game was your favorite?

That’s a tough one. I think it would have to be between Kiwami 2 and 0. They’re both neck and neck for me. If I had a gun to my head though I think I’d probably choose Kiwami 2. All because the final set of missions had me on the edge of my seat.

SupremeSarna wrote:

Haunted Hall and the Squawks portion of Animal Antics.

Haunted Hall is so cool, I love the DKC mine cart levels so much.

I beat Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl on the xbox 1

incubus421 wrote:

Animal Antics is a doozy, alright. I always struggled on Windy Well, Toxic Tower, and Klobber Karnage. Zingers can be a real nuisance, especially when you have to line up a jump or barrel shot just right.

I beat Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (originally GB). I had a car trip to distract myself from, and this is great game to pass time with. I wonder what order I HAVEN'T play the worlds in?

My #14 is Kingdom Rush.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/2Lk5wU5F8gCicGBo7

Fun tower defense from mobile, but plays well for PC. Easily recommended to anyone interested in tower defense games. 8/10

OP updated! How have I not earned a badge yet?

SupremeSarna wrote:

Thanks man, I've got 8 unique systems though, not 7.

Slickriven wrote:

Got it done.

SupremeSarna wrote:

I always remembered Toxic Tower being rage inducing in my youth. I was dreading my return there. Surprisingly, I jumped right through it and even remembered where the secrets were....repetition as they say.


#6 on 2/18
Silent Hill The Short Message

Nothing special here. A little scary/anxiety inducing before you know what to expect. After the first half hour or so, those feelings quickly fade. I found the last 20 minutes or so to be frustrating and it really took away from the unsettling/scary setting. A P.T. game this is not. Two and a half hours to clear this.
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Just rolled credits on Final Fantasy VII. (looks like you need to add PSX onto my list)

I can't say I liked how frequent the random encounters were, but overall I really really liked the story!

I'm not the biggest RPG guy, but I'm happy with the long hours spent finally beating a FF game.

I beat Gin Rummy on the xbox 360 (beating this and yugioh master duel gets me the all aces badge)

Game #10 of 2024

Aliens: Fireteam Elite on
This will go towards BFFL badge since I beat it in co-op with a friend online.

#7 on 2/19
Mega Man 2

Favorite boss, Quick Man because using his weakness on him is fun
Favorite music, Wily's Castle stage 1 & 2
Biggest annoyance, Quick Man's stage - Falling through multiple screens while laser's shoot from right-to-left and left-to-right. They're one shot kills, and your falling off a ledge timing needs to be quick and impeccable.
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#8 on 2/19
Mega Man 3

Favorite boss, Shadow Man because he's a cool ass ninja. Pretty difficult fight without his weakness that absolutely rocks him
Favorite music, Shadow Man's stage
Biggest annoyance, Magnet Man's stage - jumping on timed blocks that disappear/reappear.
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Looks like I'm now eligible for two badges
Heavy Machine Gun: Beat 2 run 'n' gun games (ex: Mega Man).
1 - Mega Man 2
2 - Mega Man 3

Hop 'n' Bop: Beat 2 platforming games (ex: Super Mario Bros.).
1 - Donkey Kong Country
2 - Donkey Kong Country 2 Diddy's Kong Quest

I need to beat some Mega Man games one of these days...

I beat my high score on Crazy Taxi on the xbox360

Game #11 of 2024

Nirvana Pilot Yume on

GBASP down! I beat Kirby's Block Ball (originally GB).
[imgt w=1536 h=2048]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GG1s_88XkAAlyWz?format...[/imgt]
It's been a few years since I played this. I like it overall, but it's certainly a weak Kirby spin-off. Reaching the final boss requires you to clear a border line on every stage, but most of them are reliant on you getting major bonuses under a time limit. The physics are also stiff, so hitting a tiny block in the corner of the screen can take minutes if Kirby wasn't already lined up to hit it. Not the worst game in the series, but a far cry from his previous Game Boy spin-off masterpiece: Kirby's Pinball Land.

#9 on 2/20
Mega Man 4

Favorite boss - undecided, probably a toss up between Pharaoh Man and Skull Man. Both are cool characters and each can be beaten without their weakness in a fair yet challenging way.
Favorite Music - Dive Man's stage, with runner up being Pharaoh Man's stage
Biggest annoyance - Holy crap Ring Man's stage is long and grueling with moving/disappearing platforms, lots of falling, tough mini-boss enemies (purple hippo on tall platform, red eyes surrounded by shielding green rings), and Ring Man himself is arguably the toughest boss. Also, the final Wily boss in the dark is terrible! Just shoot aimlessly and hope to hit him...until you look up his weakness.

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#10 on 2/21
Roller Coaster Tycoon

Beat all original scenarios in around 65 hours. There are just too many scenarios for it's own good and not enough varied of an experience between scenarios. You can unlock most rides by about the 6th or 7th scenario. After that each scenario plays about the same as the last. They try to present different challenges throughout, but if you just delete what is present in each map, you can basically start everything from scratch each time. The second to last level was probably the most difficult because the scenario does not allow you to remove trees or edit the elevation and the map is littered with trees.

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For anyone interested in some of my theme park work:

I beat Mario Kart Wii on the wii

#14

Assassin’s Creed Mirage

It was quite refreshing to play a recently released Assassin’s Creed title that wasn’t overwhelming in scope as the past several games in the series has been. The map is much smaller. The story is concise and focused. The combat is crisp and precise. The tactical stealth is in super abundance. I enjoyed my 15 hours with this entry and would happily return a second time around if it wasn’t for the performance issues I experienced throughout. The game suffers from a lot of screen tearing from what I noticed in crowded areas where it gives the GPU a workout. The framerate stutters as well during heavy trafficking areas. And the graphics are just not that well polished. I get it though. It’s a smaller game on presumably a tighter budget so it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles as a larger scale game. What it lacks in performance and graphical fidelity it sure as heck makes up for in gameplay though. The tools you get within your arsenal to carry out your stealthy like objectives are simple, yet effective and range from noisemakers to blow darts to the game breaking daggers. Yes daggers have an upgrade that allows you not only to recollect your dagger and essentially never run out of ammo but also allows you to completely dissolve your enemy it lands on by means of a corrosive like acidic application. Quite gnarly yet quite game breaking as once I unlocked those upgrades it was all I was using until the end of the game but man was it useful! You can also upgrade your attire and weapons too by finding upgrade materials and upgrade diagrams by completing missions. And lastly the story is quite interesting and even has a twist ending I didn’t really see coming. Overall it’s a return to form for the AC franchise and I only hope it can keep up the momentum of having that familiar yet fresh reinvigorating spirit with future installments.

In anticipation of the remaster that just dropped over the long weekend, Frank's Game of the Month was Mario vs. Donkey Kong. I got a head start on the festivities by picking up the Game Boy Advance original and working my way through the campaign mode.

Number: 11
Full Title: Mario vs. Donkey Kong
Platform Played: Game Boy Advance
Collection: N/A
Native Platform: Game Boy Advance
Original Platforms: Game Boy Advance

I started the Mario vs. Donkey Kong franchise right in the middle, picking up Minis March Again at the launch of DSiWare and playing through it - twice! I never touched the original, despite the number of times Nintendo offered it up to loyalists. I liked the Game Boy reimagining of Donkey Kong that inspired this game and was happy to see it'd gotten a new coat of paint and a lot of expanded content.

While the game got off to a breezy start, the game's difficulty quickly spiked, and Mario's quirky acrobatics started to become more frustrating than charming. Mario vs. Donkey Kong presents an alternative to the hop-and-bop parkour that made up Mario's moveset from New Super Mario Bros. onward, and while I'm impressed they could fit such a huge repetoire into just two buttons, the number of backflips I've done suggest it could have been less overloaded. Aside from a few really nightmarish puzzles, the game still managed to be a fun "snack" of sorts, even though it's not as memorable as some of Mario's other portable titles.

Number: 12
Full Title: Mario vs. Donkey Kong
Platform Played: Switch
Collection: N/A
Native Platform: Switch
Original Platforms: Game Boy Advance
Badges: Facelift (1/2)

While I love experiencing the same game on multiple platforms, there aren't too many occasions where I immediately followed up a playthrough of a game with its remaster, especially so soon after the latter's release. Figuring "Why not?" I picked up the Switch remaster of Mario vs. Donkey Kong shortly before it dropped. The game adds two new worlds - each with a new mechanic to master - and brings all the graphics and level designs up to speed with the rest of the Switch library.

I couldn't put it down. The updated graphics adding a whole lot of clarity to the original's fuzzy pre-rendered sprites. The new levels and mechanics weren't particularly memorable, but they fit in perfectly with the rest of the game's original content. Most of the annoyances with Mario's moves were taken care of, and I didn't have nearly as many unfortunate accidents caused by poor timing or bad button presses. Purists may still prefer the original game and its difficulty, but I gobbled up the remaster, finishing it in less than four days.

While we're talking about Games of the Month, let's pivot back to the Retro Talkshop Thread for the other Game of the Month we picked.

Number: 13
Full Title: Quake
Platform Played: PC
Collection: N/A
Native Platform: PC
Original Platforms: PC
Badges: 2nd Amendment (1/2)

My family bought their first "real" computer - a Gateway 2000 desktop with a Pentium Pro 200 inside - right at the peak of Quake's influence on PC gaming. After putting the machine through its paces with a few PlayStation ports and classic DOS games, Quake was the first game that really blew me out of my socks. The dark atmosphere, fully 3D environment, and blazing fast gameplay were completely unlike the other shooters I'd seen up to that point, which seemed almost cartoony by comparison. I played through the Quake shareware countless times - trying out different graphics settings, console configurations, Redbook Audio soundtracks - but never actually played through the game until many years later where I used it (and its two official expansions) to break an 18-month-long gaming fast.

After loading Quake onto my retro PC, I'm surprised at how much I remember from that first episode: the six secrets in the first level, the low gravity secret level Ziggurat Vertigo, the giant lightning-shooting Shamblers that always seem to appear as an ambush, and the mad dash around Cthlon's lair once you realize all your weapons are ineffective. The remaining four episodes don't give the same nostalgic rush, especially as the difficulty spikes, but I still hugely appreciate Quake's aesthetic and its simple, fast-paced, explosive gameplay. It'll be worth checking out the recent remaster at some point, especially its new episodes.

With Quake in the record books, I started Quake II this afternoon, wondering if I'll be able to finish it before Final Fantasy VII Rebirth releases next week. On the portable front, after having so much fun with the Mario vs. Donkey Kong remaster, I decided it was worth picking up the Game Boy port of Donkey Kong that I started so many years ago.