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StarTopic The 2023 Completed Games Thread

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1. Persona 5 Royal
2. Metroid Prime Remastered
3. WarioWare (GBA NSO)
4. Fire Emblem Engage
5. Metroid Fusion (NSO)
6. Paranormasight
7. Trails to Azure
8. Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception
9. Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth
10. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
11. Donkey Kong Country (NSO)
12. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion
13. Loopers
14. The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie
15. Steins;Gate Elite
16. Pikmin 4
17. Eternights
18. Anonymous;Code
19. Super Mario Bros. Wonder

I just reached the credits in Wonder, and I had a good time! I don't know if I would call it the best 2D Mario game, but I don't think that's important since I'm not heavily invested in this series. The most recent 2D Mario I played before this was NSMB 2 on 3DS, and I can see that Wonder is a huge upgrade over that. There were a lot of memorable levels; it never felt like I was doing the same thing over and over again. I'm glad the team took their time to accomplish what they envisioned!
 
1. Nier Automata (Switch)
2. Lunistice (Switch)
3. Super Mario Land 2 (NSO)
4. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Switch)
5. Metroid Prime Remastered (Switch)
6. Fire Emblem Engage (Switch)
7. The Legend of Zelda: the Minish Cap (NSO)
8. Wario Land 3 (NSO)
9. A Space for the Unbound (Switch)
10. Kirby's Dream Land (NSO)
11. Advance Wars 1&2 Reboot Camp (Switch)
12. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch)
13. Final Fantasy (Pixel Remaster, Switch)
14. Goldeneye (NSO)
15. Oxenfree II Lost Signals (Switch)
16. Pikmin 4 (Switch)
17. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (NSO)
18. Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed (Switch)
19. Telltale's The Expanse (Xbox Series S)
20. Sea of Stars (Switch)
21. PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo (Switch)

I bought this on a whim in the recent spoopy season eShop sale because I wanted a spoopy game to suit the season and I am really, really glad I gave this a whirl. Enjoyed it enough to seek out all six endings and enough to pause the other games I've been playing. A thoroughly enjoyable all round package, with deceptively good music, great writing and art, super fonts (I love me some good fonts) and some nice variety to it. I haven't played many proper visual novels, so this was a welcome experience and one of the surprises of 2023.

On Switch, I'll now concentrate on finishing Super Mario Bros Wonder, with Octopath Traveler 2 waiting after that. I'll keep chipping away at Starfield, while Cocoon and perhaps Jusant also await on Game Pass.
 
It's been a hot second, but we're back with a double feature - and not the one you might expect.

Finished in 2023 #17: Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Nintendo Switch)

Folks, they did it. We have a 2D Mario game that stands toe to toe with the classics. This one is inevitably going to not feel as innovative as, say, Super Mario Bros. 3 or Super Mario World. That doesn't matter because the game is so dang good.

The expected elements are here. Of course it feels good to play. Of course the level design is strong. But it goes above and beyond those expectations, pushing creative idea after creative idea. Loads of interesting enemies for level based mechanics. A well-rounded set of power ups, one of the best in the series, that blends excellently with the optional abilities from the badge system. A fresh take on the World Map system with an Odyssey style progression, leading to lots of ways to get through each world. Strong main levels complemented by bonus levels of varied complexities. And of course the Wonder Flower, remixing concepts and adding extra challenges to each of the main stages. On a pure mechanical level, everything is nailed in the way the most creative 3D Mario entries have shown.

After a rather sterile set of platformers in the New Super Mario Bros. games, we finally have a game with such charm and such character! Animations that blend together style and clarity. Worlds that break from the standard mold and use the Poplins for solid worldbuilding. Saving Poplins and actively making a difference in the world by clearing levels. The Talking Flowers adding so much flavor with their color commentary. This is a game that wants you to laugh, to smile, and it largely succeeds at that.

I need to give a massive shout out to both the local co-op and the online. This is the most fun I've had playing a Super Mario series game with other people, bar none.

Finished in 2023 #18: Venba (Nintendo Switch)

If you are interested in how mechanics and UI can be used to effectively tell a story in a video game, play Venba. If you want a moving story about the complexities of (specifically Indian) diaspora and the messy but ultimately loving relationship between immigrant parents and their children, play Venba. If you wanna see good food on screen and get more insight into how they're made, play Venba.

Is the game short? Yes. I finished it in about two hours. But I was consistently in awe of its hard hitting dialogue, incredible music, and excellent use of mechanics for its storytelling. This deserves to be experienced for yourself.

~~~

I did finish the initial story of Sonic Superstars, but I'm gonna wait until I finish the full game to count it as finished.
 
98. Access Denied: Escape

A pretty fun point and click game similar to The Room series in which you rotete a lot of 3D objects and figure out how to open them. Pretty easy overall and only took me around 1.5 hours for all 30 or so puzzles, but it's also incredibly cheap and satisfying.
 
Oh, completely forgot about 99. The Zachtronics Solitaire Collection

A really fun collection of unique solitaire games that have more logical thinking to them than a usual game would. Some include variations on everyone's favorites, some feel completely new. I guess I'll put it here because I've played and beaten them all. I will never actually complete this game 100% because that would require doing all achievements and therefore beating all games 100 times, and one of the solitaires makes my eyes bleed.

I'm not the biggest Zachtronics fan and no game of theirs grabbed me, but this is a cool chill time.
 
I hadn't complete a new game since... August. Whew.

Well, here's another one for the 2023 list:

Cyberpunk 2077 (PS5/PC)

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I have what i can only call a bad habit: A new piece of hardware means a new game to benchmark it. For the GTX 1060 it was Doom 2016, for the RTX 2060 i got Minecraft Bedrock, my current RX 6700 came bundled with The Last of Us - still unplayed lol - and with the RTX 3060ti i had for a little while i got... This.

I mean, this game became was - and still is - the poster child for Raytracing, i HAD to get it, and so i did, only to find the first two hours unegaging and leave it rotting on my SSD.

And then i got my PS5, and this was the first game i got for it, only for me to remember how unengaging it was and leave it there again, until late September or so, where i decided to see where the main story would take me if i pushed a little, and then the title drop happened and Night City opened up to me.

Honestly, i think this game gets more flak than it actually deserves. I'll start by saying one thing: It's one of the best playing FPS i ever played, and CDPR's best playing game EVER. Controls are nice and responsive - driving can be a little iffy - fighting is fun, stealth is actually effective, hacking is helpful... You get tons of options for every non forced confrontational situation. Also, while not on the level of classic Fallout or Fallout New Vegas, your choices have consequences and your dialogue picks matter. I really really found it to be very fun.

The game reminded me to Xenoblade X in that the main story is actually pretty unremarkable, it's the side missions that actually give the game its soul. By doing jobs and getting involved you get to discover how fucked up the underworld of that city of dreams is, how there's people struggling to survive while others live comfortably by feeding on others' fear, while they themselves are always fearing bigger fishes, and on top of that chain there are the Corporations, with Arasaka as the head of them all. The incredible amount of lore you get by doing side missions actually manages to eclipse the main plot almost completely, and some times the main plot literally pushes you to take secondary jobs that later, optionally, will tie into the main plot. It works way better than TW3 and its disjointed hunts in making you feel invested into the world, and the people that lives in it.

I played it mostly on PS5 due to the controller feedback, and it added a lot to the inmersion, from the way the triggers reacted to different weapons to the rumble implementation of the vehicles, it really was a VERY inmersive game for me. I wish it did the same on PC, or that at least it implemented the Xbox rumble triggers.

Sadly, despite being on v2.02 already, its glitchy nature sometimes still rears its ugly head, with some jobs not triggering because the NPC was unresponsive, or sudden animation switches, texture flickering... You get it. Also, i tried to play it on graphics mode and it's clearly a game NOT designed for 30 fps, it feels so sluggish it almost hurts, and i'm more than fine with 30 fps.

It's not a perfect game, but if it released on 2023 it would have been GOTY contender. Hell, i'm putting it on my Top 5 for the year.
 
I played through the Frog Detective collection this weekend:

21. Frog Detective 1: The Haunted Island
22. Frog Detective 2: The Case of the Invisible Wizard
23. Frog Detective 3: Corruption at Cowboy County

Pretty short games overall, but very charming. These are not difficult games to complete, basically you just have to talk to all the characters, they'll tell you something they need, and you trade items between characters to get everyone what they need. It's more about the quirky characters and the dialogue. I don't know exactly how long I played in total, but the first game was maybe 15-20 minutes long? The second was longer, and the third was longer than both of them combined probably. Maybe a couple hours to finish everything. There's also a scooter mini game you can play after finishing that's kind of like a small Tiny Hawk Pro Skater (though you have to get a high score in a 3 minute timer). I liked them overall.


List for the year so far:



1. Fire Emblem Warriors: 3 Hopes

2. Fire Emblem Engage

3. Return to Monkey Island

4. Octopath Traveler 2

5. Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed

6. The Legend of Zelda : Tears of the Kingdom

7. Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney (replay)

8. PWAA Justice for All (replay)

9. PWAA Trials & Tribulations (replay)

10. Pokemon Trading Card Game (replay)

11. Pikmin 4

12. Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope

13. Minit Fun Racer

14. Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins (replay)

15. Super Mario Bros

16. Disco Elysium

17. Pokemon Violet DLC - The Teal Mask

18. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim

19. Super Mario Bros. Wonder

20. Picross S7

21. Frog Detective 1: The Haunted Island

22. Frog Detective 2: The Case of the Invisible Wizard

23. Frog Detective 3: Corruption at Cowboy County
 
Time to catch up!

11. October 18th - Gorogoa (9/10)
Gorogoa is a puzzler that is positively gorgeous, both in a graphical sense as well as in a mechanical sense. Moving around hand-painted environments and solving surprisingly difficult brain teasers has you guide a person through a series of paintings, piecing together a story about something, somewhere, and something terrifying. The art is nothing short of show-stopping and the consistent array of a-ha's is well beyond the measure of a usual puzzle great.

That's but half of it, since it also tells a wordless story similar to games like the Playdead games and Journey. Occasionally, these games pop up, games that prove the sheer power of wordless storytelling, and how poignant it has the potential to be, especially in a medium that doesn't necessarily need words in the first place. Gorogoa is such a game, and excels in being it.

12. October 25th - Her Tears Were My Light (8/10)
A short yet dazzling and touching visual novel about Time and Space, two concepts turned characters. Together with a tiny gameplay hook, they make for a very effective little journey about love and jealousy that shows much of how little can be used to achieve a lot.

13. October 30th - Super Mario Bros. Wonder (10/10)
Holy moly.

Super Mario has always been about a game where you can, and should, expect anything. Aside from the obvious. The games follow their own rules, that makes absolutely no sense when placed anywhere else, but in the Mario universe, it all fits like a hand in a glove. In what other game can you hit a block to find a mushroom, enter pipes to emerge in other worlds, or achieving an endgame goal by hitting the top of a flagpole and have it all make perfect sense? Mario has built a universe of consistency all within itself, and it's both turned upside down, but also followed to the letter, in Wonder. The wonder flower is such a brilliant concept that "brilliant" hardly suffices. Every time I approached one I was feeling positively giddy and giggly, wondering what madcap showdown it would unleash at me: dancing enemies, moving pipes, perspective changes, time messing, transformations and trips, glitter and glamour, you name it. It's one of the most fun Mario games, and it's the single funniest Mario. The wonder flower and the talking flowers could make me gasp for air while I was howling in delighted laughter.

Seriously. HOW do you make games this good? Everything in Wonder is seemingly bursting at its seams with boundless creativity and the game delights at every step, whether its in a more casual stage, an intense run towards the end, or just traversing the world map. Everything is not only air-tight level-design wise, it's also brimming with quirks and personality, from tiny animations to the biggest and most spectacular wonder effects. This is truly a testament to the power of the Mario brand, and the Mario principles, and how they have endless potential to elicit pure joy, in all ways possible.

The memorable moments just keeps coming. Cool new enemies. Power-ups used in interesting ways. Talking flower one-liners. World maps that open up. And it's all done with that impeccable sense of polish, a sense of playing such an accomplished video game product, free from jank or squash, all honed to dang near perfection.

Talk about knocking it out of all parks possible with Wonder.

14. November 5th - Fashion Dreamer (9/10)
I suppose I can write about this game in the completed games thread since it does have an "end" of the offline part, with credits rolling and everything. To get the negatives out first: It suffers from some quite obtuse and cumbersome UI/UX decisions and is eShop-tier laggy. Additionally, the game gender-locks a lot of the clothing items in a way that feels restrictive and exclusionary.

Otherwise, what an absolute rush it is to play Fashion Dreamer, interact with its systems and just indulge to the extreme in self-expression. The amount of items up for offer is of a ridiculous quantity, and the crafting both helps you boost the brand in a superficial yet satisfying aspect, as well as just give you more stuff to tinker with. Playing with your stuff, experimenting around with whatever you've got on your hand to nail that perfect look you had in mind, it's all just pure, fabulous fun. The game hands you rewards like candy, and utilizing them to achieve new looks and milestones that you set for yourself is one kick after another.

It all starts to falter after a while, when things feels a tad more superficial, but that's where online comes in. While having 11k followers and a whole line of personal clothes plays in to the true fashionista experience, going online with other people is a point of blossoming for Fashion Dreamer, where you can interact with other players and admire their respective styles through a series of systems. It all adds up to what is nothing other than the title itself, a true fashion dream.

2023 Games Completed
1. January 4th - Missed Messages (9/10)
2. January 4th - Florence (9/10)
3. January 5th - Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk and milk outside a bag of milk outside a bag of milk (9/10)
4. February 16th - Metroid Prime Remastered (10/10)
5. March 14th - Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo (8/10)
6. May 19th - The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (11/10)
7. June 5th - I Was A Teenage Exocolonist (8/10)
8. August 17th - Oxenfree (6/10)
9. September 10th - Starfield (7/10)
10. October 8th - Stella of the End (9/10)
11. October 18th - Gorogoa (9/10)
12. October 25th - Her Tears Were My Light (8/10)
13. October 30th - Super Mario Bros. Wonder (10/10)
14. November 5th - Fashion Dreamer (9/10)
 
My list so far:
  1. Katamari Damacy Reroll (NSW, 8.5/10) - I can't believe that I've slept on this game for so long! It's a really great time and very replayable. I highly recommend at full price, but I got it on a good sale.
  2. Animaniacs: The Great Edgar Hunt (GCN, 7/10) - Look, this is a nostaglia game for me so no judging! I've played through this one quite a few times, it's a really simple, fun platformer even if it is a bit janky. It's more obscure and I rate it a little lower just because it looks and feels like a budget title. I can't judge this one fairly because of nostalgia.
  3. Pikmin 3 Deluxe (NSW, 10/10) - There is a lot of content in this game and it is so much fun. I played this back on the Wii U, but I never got the DLC back then and it has been a treat to revisit those. My favorite game from one of my favorite series; I prefer the three-captain approach with management via the map to Pikmin 4's setup. Bingo Battle is a ton of fun too.
  4. Mario + Rapids: Sparks of Hope (NSW, 7.5/10) - The gameplay here is interesting, but I found the worlds kind of dull and it all just got repetitive by the end. Everything is an upgrade from the original here though, which is nice. I haven't checked out the DLC.
  5. Pikmin 4 (NSW, 9.5/10) - My second or third favorite Pikmin, depending on how I feel about Pikmin 1 on the day I rank them. Honestly, some of the changes (camera, atmosphere) were not that great for me. I would've rather had a more traditional game without Oatchi, but what we got is still a lot of fun and there's more content here than ever before in Pikmin.
  6. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (NSW, 10/10) - Everything that could have been said has already been said about this game. I didn't care much for the story, but it was miles ahead of Breath of the Wild in that regard (and most regards, honestly). The mechanics are so much fun, and it didn't even feel that bad revisiting the existing world. The Depths weren't amazing, but they don't take away from the game.
  7. Luigi's Mansion (3DS, 7.5/10) - Really fun and atmospheric game. This is my first time playing any version of the game, and I enjoyed it. The portrait ghosts were great honestly, but the controls suck on the 3DS. Aiming the flashlight/Poltergust was terrible.
  8. WarioWare Gold (3DS, 8/10) - This game is short but fun. The cutscenes were a really nice addition, and this seems like the definitive WarioWare experience.
  9. Mario's Picross (3DS VC, 7.5/10) - Once you've played one Picross, you've played them all. Nice puzzles, but the lack of QOL features that newer Picross-style games have make this more difficult to go back to.
 
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100. Alan Wake II

This game might be my game of the year. It doesn't do everything perfectly, but it's got great style, amazing music, and wonderful characters.

I think this might be both the best Resident Evil and Silent Hill game in a long time. It perfectly blends REmakes' exploratory nature and puzzles with Silent Hill's more psychological weirdness. I've seen some people say that the gameplay gets a little stale, but I never felt that. Both your characters have fairly diverse arsenal of weapons, and while the enemies are samey there really aren't a lot of them. The enviroments are crafted with such love and care that it was a joy moving around and exploring, listening and reading to various pieces of lore you can find, and backtracking to find more stuff.

Despite my high praise for this game, I feel like an actual plot is fairly weak. The reason for this is that the story is kind of incomprehensible. It's very Twin Peaks The Return inspired, but I feel like in that season of television you at least knew the characters and stakes. Let me give you an example: there's a character called Alex Casey in Alan Wake II. He seems to be a real man sharing the name with a fictional detective in Bright Falls. However, when you play as Alan, you see a detective called Alex Casey who you keep seeing as an echo, AND an actor who plays Alex Casey. This sort of layering reality makes it hard to really care about things at times since often when playing as Alan you'll just assume nothing is real. It's very stylish, it's very surreal, but it doesn't give you enough to fully gauge where the danger is and what the stakes are in your adventure.

Despite this, I've enjoyed the story of Alan Wake II more than most games I've played this year, and it's all thanks to wonderful characters, witty dialogue and some great acting. You might not "get" this game, but I feel like it makes up for it by having one of the best casts I've seen. Not only is it an enjoyable romp, but it's also INCREDIBLY funny. Definitely the funniest game I've played this year, and if not for one moment depicting suicide, I'd say it's a full-on comedy. This... Does raise another issue, however.

The issue is that this horror game is not at all scary. It tries to blend genres and tones, and it succeeds with comedy, but absolutely fails at being scary. I wouldn't mention it, but the game seems to really want to scare you, so it resorts to the cheapest tactic there is: jumpscares. This game has some Bad Flash Game-like jumpscares where you can walk around and something screams at you with a full-screen distorted face appearing. Honestly, it sucks, and the only time I felt it was done well was immediately undermined by the game doing the same scare like 5 more times in the same chapter. This straight-up sucks. It's idiotic and feels like it was added because they wanted some viral fame from streamers.

I absolutely recommend everyone play this game. It might not be for you, but it's fresh and innovative in its presentation, and exploring the woods and weird towns as Saga, as well as Silent Hill-esque dungeons as Alan is a good time. It's one of those games where I can say negative things about it, sure, but it really ends up not being important because the sheer ambition shines through all the little issues and any frustrations are gone the moment you get to another weird set-piece or find a hilarious TV commercial.
 
1. Desperados III [ PC ] - 9
2. Ace Attorney Investigations: Prosecutor's Path ( Replay ) [ DS*] - 10
3. Resident Evil Deadly Silence [ DS*] - 8.5
4. Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney ( Replay ) [ 3DS ] - 8.5
5. Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box [ DS ] - 6
6. Professor Layton and the Unwound Future [ DS ] - 6
7. Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies ( Replay ) [ 3DS ] - 9
8. Koumajou Remilia: Scarlet Symphony [ NS ] - 7
9. Gargoyle's Quest [ GB ] - 7.5
10. Ace Attorney Investigations ( Replay ) [ DS ] - 9
Capcom Arcade Stadium 1 & 2 [ NS ]
11. Cyberbots: Fullmetal Madness - 7.5
13. Giga Wing - 7
14. Progear - 8
15. Eco Fighters - 8.5
16. Darkstalkers The Night Warriors - 5
12. Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride [ DS*] - 10
17. Signalis [ NS ] - 10 - 2 playthroughs
18. Ace Attorney: Apollo Justice ( Replay ) [ 3DS ] - 6 - 3rd playthrough, first time on the 3DS
19. Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice ( Replay ) [ 3DS ] - 10
20. Ace Attorney ( Replay ) [ DS ] - 10 - This is probably my 6th or 7th playthrough overall
21. Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon [ NS ] - 9
22. Final Fight 2 [ SNES* ] - 7
23. Final Fight 3 [ SNES* ] - 8
24. Metroid Prime ( Replay ) [ NS ] - 10 - First Switch playthrough
25. Resident Evil 4 ( Replay ) [ Wii ] - 9
26. Viewtiful Joe ( Replay ) [ GC ] - 10
27. Viewtiful Joe 2 ( Replay ) [ GC ] - 10
28. Advance Wars [ NS ] - 9
29. Doom (1993) [ NS ] - 8
30. Hi-Fi Rush [ PC ] - 6
31. Strider 2 [ PS1 ] - 6
32. Kirby's Return to Dreamland ( Replay ) [ NS ] - 10 - First Switch playthrough
33. Demon Souls [ PS3 ]
34. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom [ NS ] - 6
35. Mass Effect [ PC ]
36. Last Command [ NS ] - 8
37. Mohism: Battle of Words [ PC ] - 7.5
38. The Chrono Jotter [ PC ] - 10
39. Valis IV [ PC-Engine ] - 7
40. missed messages. [ PC ] - 7
41. Peakmin 3 ( Replay ) [ NS ] - 10 - First Switch playthrough, 5th overall.
42. Eternal Darkness [ GC ] - 8.5
43. Pikmid 4 [ NS ] - 6

*F-Zero 99 [ NS ] - 6

I played this for a bit, did some 99 races, and a couple of grand prixes, it's fine. The controls and abilities are more inline with something like X or GX, but I don't think it fits that well with the level design of the SNES tracks. It's pretty chaotic in a Mario Kart way rather than F-Zero, the super boost is basically a Bullet Bill that you have control over, and it seems like the lenght of it is also based around your placement like a Mario Kart item, it being a 99 game without as much stakes and all that madness, the exp system and the rival stuff, also helps minimizing the feeling of not winning which leads to just doing races over and over without feeling bad about it, in that way plus that Mario Kart feel makes it the most accessible F-Zero title but not a direction I would like for the series. It's fine I guess.

44. Professor Layton and the Last Specter [ DS ] - 9

I ended up really loving this one, what I liked about Curious Village was the atmosphere of the town combined with the fact that the twist contextualized the game in an interesting way even if it was pretty ridiculous, the twists in the later 2 titles only made the context and story worse and since the mystery aspect isn't well developed, there isn't as much to latch onto for me with the narrative of those games.

Last Specter is the first game in the prequel trilogy of Layton, also the first game that allows you to use foresight and some level of logic to follow along the mystery, there is still at least one twist that is pretty out there, but the rest of the story can be followed really well, and nothing ever undermines its world or characters, it also helps that in the sequel trilogy if there is some more magical element to the story it follows through with them instead of grounding them in the dumbest way possible like the first trilogy. While I still feel that this series offers much more quantity than quality and context with the puzzle design, they are mostly fun, and it adds a handful more of story puzzles within the environment, and questions to see if you have been following along with the story. Also the town's ambiance and music definitely reminds me more of Curious Village and it's great. Also after seeing Flora in the last 2 games, is even more shocking how much better Emmy is as a female character that works alongside Layton and Luke.

There is also an entire extra game in the form of London's Life, which is a simple life sim game with a bunch of characters from the series, is a cool bonus to pass the time, it was also developed by Brownie Brown, and it shows in its ambiance and sprite design.


45. Fear the Spotlight [ PC ] - 7

A experience type of horror game, with some stealth elements against a pursuer, some puzzle solving, with a nice atmosphere combined with the low poly aesthetic, is a nice and short adventure with an introverted character that gets more brave towards the end of the game, truly one of the best story troupes.

46. Life is Strage Remastered ( Replay ) [ PC ] - 7.5 - First remaster playthrough

Hella. There is something about this game that makes me really enjoy despite a good chunk of the writing being what the kids call cringe. Just hanging out with a group of really messy, flawed, selfish, to straight up awful characters made for a really engaging story for me, and how much Max will mess up time for Chloe.

47. 3D Classics: Kid Icarus [ 3DS ] - 7

A beatable version of the original Kid Icarus, controls have been improved that better fit the level design, the backgrounds are a neat addition, and there is also a save file system, plus some other fixes, also like Kirby's Adventure it eliminates the NES lag which makes for a smoother experience. Is an interesting game still with its structure, that being of a reverse difficulty curve, the game starts at its hardest and just gets easier the closer you get to the end, was nice to finally get through it all.

Would have liked a 3D Classics version of the original Metroid that tweaks the annoying stuff.

48. Super Mario Bros. Wonder [ NS ] - 9

Can't call it Super Mario Bros. Blunder sadly, but also it's nice that I found a good amount of enjoyment out of a new Nintendo game this year (dunno if I count Cereza on that).

On an interesting turn of events, the first world is the best one, the structure is interesting, adding a different biome partway through it, there are roads that lead underground, and also where you are scaling up a mountain towards the special world, not only unique gimmicks but also level types, it's pretty amazing. It's so good that most of the rest of the title doesn't live up to it, think the desert world is up there. The rest are good, some feel like they were lacking in some parts, world 3 in particular feels like it needed either different or more levels, despite the cool premise for a 2D Mario world.

World themes have more of a Kirby flair in their backgrounds, that is to say they are still pretty basic themes on the surface but have enough style and substance to make them stand out, also by mixing together themes, like ice and sky, mines and forest, there is also a better realized food themed desert than U's, and there is the lava world which in practice, in its levels, it's mostly the lava world.

Presentation wise, the game looks much better than the New Super Mario Bros. games since the Wii (for the system DS looked really good), the Mario world is much more animated, resembling more the 2D artwork, some of the enemy animations and designs like the Koopas and Boos mimic Yoshi's Island interpretations of them, which is the best one you can mimic, even Paper Mario knew that for the Boos in the first couple of games. That is all great but I feel they could have gone further with the shift and change the floor tiles and modernize more elements like the pipes, it doesn't feel all new, just mostly new.

Soundtrack is fairly disappointing, is one aspect that it feels like Nintendo holds back for some reason compared to the, uh, rest of the franchise, 3D Mario, Paper, Kart, Party, the Sports game, all have far more effort put into the soundtrack and production quality, the easiest point of comparison is 3D Land and 3D World (if for some reason someone wants to say Galaxy style music wouldn't fit in 2D Mario), their variety, sound quality is still far ahead anything in Wonder. There are still a handful of tracks I really like, the main overworld theme is one of them, and at least one of the Wonder effect tracks that sounds very Kirby, the rest are ok or forgettable, there isn't even a Ghost House theme. It's honestly a shame given the occassional music themed level, which an easy point of comparison for that would be the Origami King musical bits, which again, I find better.

Gameplay wise, Mario controls pretty similarly to the New games, with some tweaks here and there, which isn't a bad thing, those games control well, the only base move not accounted for here is the triple jump, there is also the addition of badges that adds more moves to the characters depending on what you equip, they are neat additions that can be helpful in some levels, tho I wish some of them were more permanent additions to their moveset, to be taken account in the level design, like having a dolphin swim for water segments, tho it feels weirdly stiff, it gets compared to the Retro DKC games but it's not nearly as fluid. Bosses suck, including the final boss, which is bizarre considering the thought put into the rest of the game, some worlds don't even have bosses, which isn't a bad idea, but they don't get replaced by an interesting platforming level to wrap up the world which would replace the boss fight, they just end.

Then there are the wonder flowers, that add some gimmick to the levels, moving pipes, stampedes, transformations, balloon movement, etc. They are good enough that I wish more full levels were based around them instead of being small segments of the game, my favorite one is the one that makes you play from a top down perspective, that was the one that caught me off guard.

Most people get surprised by the amount of ingenuity of the levels, I was surprised by the fact that one element that they took from the 3D Mario games is having more of a story and dialogue this time around, every world has a small story set up like in those games, Bowser fucking talks in a 2D Super Mario game, you have a follower character in the form of the Prince, he also talks. It was nice.

Overall it's a really good game that still feels held back in some areas, like the soundtrack, some of the visual design (think they could have gotten rid of the flagpole to end the levels). Feels more like a title that is still catching up on some aspects to the last 2 Rayman games, Tropical Freeze, and other great platformers, rather that being on the top again, but still a good effort towards that goal.

I would forgive any flaw I have with this game if there were more voices for the flowers, or if Mario and friends had a multi-language voices, Wario has his own voice for every language that it gets dubbed in WarioWare, so why not Mario, Luigi, Peach and the rest. I want a full mexican Super Mario dub.

49. Resident Evil 4 (2023) [ PC ] - 10 - Plus Separate Ways

A Resident Evil game being my GOTY so far, Capcom did it. Didn't have to fight the U-3 boss as Leon so this is objectively an improvement over the original, and overall that was a highlight, bosses like Mendez have a more gamey feel to it, the arena is less clastrophobic than the original, more telegraphed attacks, and the second phase has him staying on its own side of the arena, is more fun to go through, Krauser was already the best fight in the original and is even better here. The added exploration and sidequest give it a more Resident Evil esque design to them in terms of backtracking despite still being the linear action game that the original was, my favorite expanded area is most likely the lake, has a lot more to it and is all well done. Story is much less dumb action schlock than the original and I do miss some parts of that (like how Leon escapes death in the castle from Salazar's trap), but the trade off is some genuinely good character moments here and there, plus Luis entire arc, going to say definitely the best REmake story, which isn't much of a high bar besides the Lisa Trevor story of REmake (2002). REmake 2 threw its soundtrack in the garbage, 3 had a handful of highlights despite some low on the mix remixes (it also had the save room theme) and now 4 mostly traslates it well in this game, which tbf the original was already more minimalistic than the fixed camera games, there are some really good arrangements in both the main story and Separate Ways, really like the shooting gallery theme, and the merchant tracks.

The gameplay takes a different approach to the original, without the tank controls and shooting while moving, it makes the combat take a faster pace in the decision making, they are both great in their own right. On top of the plagas parasites, there is also a sort of crimson head type enemy for zombies that you don't kill off with a knife if they are still spasming on the ground. The knife parrying is great, and the added resource management from the knife and vest durability are great additions to this balancing act of survival horror RE and the action game that is 4.

Loved the minecart segments as well, in general Chapter 11 is peak all around, the Krauser knife fight takes place entirely in game, and all the insta kill QTEs are gone.

Separate Ways was neat, added some of the segments and bosses that weren't in the base title, don't care that much for the story given the characters involved but it's still fun.

Also thanks to Primera Llamada for the latam spanish dub mod, doing what Capdon't.
 
Vookatos said:
and it's kinda cool that my hundreth was in fact a special and super weird game
Click to expand...
I’m gonna look into playing Alan Wake. The first one, I mean. I wonder if the Switch port is any good?

Anyway, I’ve finally 100%-ed Super Mario Wonder. What else is there to add, it’s an absolute gem of a platformer and a brilliant showcase of Nintendo creativity. Had a big ol’ smile throughout my playthrough. Well, almost. A couple of those special levels can get pretty frustrating!
 
Vookatos said:
100. Alan Wake II

This game might be my game of the year. It doesn't do everything perfectly, but it's got great style, amazing music, and wonderful characters.

I think this might be both the best Resident Evil and Silent Hill game in a long time. It perfectly blends REmakes' exploratory nature and puzzles with Silent Hill's more psychological weirdness. I've seen some people say that the gameplay gets a little stale, but I never felt that. Both your characters have fairly diverse arsenal of weapons, and while the enemies are samey there really aren't a lot of them. The enviroments are crafted with such love and care that it was a joy moving around and exploring, listening and reading to various pieces of lore you can find, and backtracking to find more stuff.

Despite my high praise for this game, I feel like an actual plot is fairly weak. The reason for this is that the story is kind of incomprehensible. It's very Twin Peaks The Return inspired, but I feel like in that season of television you at least knew the characters and stakes. Let me give you an example: there's a character called Alex Casey in Alan Wake II. He seems to be a real man sharing the name with a fictional detective in Bright Falls. However, when you play as Alan, you see a detective called Alex Casey who you keep seeing as an echo, AND an actor who plays Alex Casey. This sort of layering reality makes it hard to really care about things at times since often when playing as Alan you'll just assume nothing is real. It's very stylish, it's very surreal, but it doesn't give you enough to fully gauge where the danger is and what the stakes are in your adventure.

Despite this, I've enjoyed the story of Alan Wake II more than most games I've played this year, and it's all thanks to wonderful characters, witty dialogue and some great acting. You might not "get" this game, but I feel like it makes up for it by having one of the best casts I've seen. Not only is it an enjoyable romp, but it's also INCREDIBLY funny. Definitely the funniest game I've played this year, and if not for one moment depicting suicide, I'd say it's a full-on comedy. This... Does raise another issue, however.

The issue is that this horror game is not at all scary. It tries to blend genres and tones, and it succeeds with comedy, but absolutely fails at being scary. I wouldn't mention it, but the game seems to really want to scare you, so it resorts to the cheapest tactic there is: jumpscares. This game has some Bad Flash Game-like jumpscares where you can walk around and something screams at you with a full-screen distorted face appearing. Honestly, it sucks, and the only time I felt it was done well was immediately undermined by the game doing the same scare like 5 more times in the same chapter. This straight-up sucks. It's idiotic and feels like it was added because they wanted some viral fame from streamers.

I absolutely recommend everyone play this game. It might not be for you, but it's fresh and innovative in its presentation, and exploring the woods and weird towns as Saga, as well as Silent Hill-esque dungeons as Alan is a good time. It's one of those games where I can say negative things about it, sure, but it really ends up not being important because the sheer ambition shines through all the little issues and any frustrations are gone the moment you get to another weird set-piece or find a hilarious TV commercial.
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we got triple digits here folks!
 
  1. Death's Door
  2. Kirby's Dreamland
  3. Super Mario Land 2
  4. WarioWare Inc. Mega Microgames
  5. Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga
  6. Metroid Prime: Remastered
  7. Metroid Fusion
  8. Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe
  9. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
  10. Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon
  11. Resident Evil 4 Remake
  12. Pikmin 1
  13. Pikmin 2
  14. Pikmin 4

15. Super Mario Bros. Wonder (NS) - I cannot believe Nintendo made me care about 2D Mario in 2023. In previous years, I winced whenever someone would suggest that a new entry in that specific lineage of Mario games was in development. Why bother, right? The past decade and change showed me that it was a directionless subset of the titular plumber's famed escapades; they were good but not great, disappointing but inoffensive, familiar but stale beyond reason. Alas, Super Mario Bros. Wonder proves that there is life in those dusty old bones.

I don't always 100% games, especially not 2D Mario games, but I honestly can't imagine playing this game any other way. This is a beautiful journey that deserves to be witnessed in its entirety, from the low stakes thrills of singing piranha plants to the more nerve-racking corridors of the bonus courses. It's true that the game was never especially difficult! It is constantly engaging, though, as every single stage presents new and exciting possibilities for the developers to demonstrate their craft. In some ways, it reminded me of a slightly more grounded version of Super Mario Maker 2, with each level introducing an idea to play with before discarding it for the next innovation. I can see why some folks felt like these ideas were abandoned too early, but for me everything felt fleshed out enough without ever having the chance to get boring.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder left me wanting more, which feels pretty crazy for a simple 2D platformer (made by the C Team) that I played for 20 hours.
 
#01 Aladdin (SNES)
#02 Disney's Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse (SNES)
#03 Magical Pop'n (SNES)
#04 Bonkers (SNES)
#05 Portal (Switch)
#06 Star Fox (SNES)
#07 Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania (Switch)
#08 Nintendoland (Wii U)
#09 Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii U)
#10 Mario Kart Super Circuit (NSO)
#11 Kuru Kuru Kururin (NSO)
#12 Super Mario Land 2 (NSO)
#13 Wario Ware Inc. Mega Microgame$ (NSO)
#14 Metroid Prime Remastered (Switch)
#15 Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga (NSO)
#16 Pokémon Snap (NSO)
#17 Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair
#18 Kingdom Hearts (PS4)
#19 Advance Wars 1 Reboot Camp (Switch)
#20 Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer Featuring The Legend of Zelda (Switch)
#21 The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom (Switch)
#22 Mario Party (NSO)
#23 Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze (Switch)

#24 Pikmin (Switch)
#25 Resident Evil Remake HD (PS4)
#26 Elechead (Switch)


My first time with the franchise was with Pikmin 3 on the Wii U and I had a blast. I always wanted to try the first two games, but I didn't buy them on the Wii U VC trusting they would get an HD release eventually, and I'm glad my patience paid off!

Pikmin 1 is a gem of a game, it's quirky, experimental, not for everyone, but still charming as hell. It's unmistakably a Nintendo game because it's not afraid of being gamey, and it's also not afraid of being complex and difficult, which is getting more and more rare these days. The time limit resulted in me getting obsessed with perfection and addicted to it, and I ended up finishing it in two sittings. Looking forward to start playing 2, replaying 3, and finally catching up to 4 soon.

I had never played a Resident Evil game before, so why not start from the beginning. I love horror movies, needed something short to play while waiting for Mario Wonder, and REmake was right there in my backlog, so I finally gave it a go.

It's... A good game, but it's irrevocably dated. I'm used to retro games but never had a PS1 so a lot of its games feel unfamiliar and ancient to me. RE is good and I can tell it's a classic, but it just wasn't very enjoyable as a newcomer. Many puzzles are cryptic and obtuse, the inventory space management is extremely annoying (yeah, I know it's by design, but it doesn't make it less annoying), and the actual horror element of the game is kinda lacking these days with zombies having come and gone from popularity like a 100 times by now. Maybe I'm dumb but the story completely lost me at some point and I also didn't care enough to try to piece it together, I kinda just wanted it to end. It's still a good game and it was a nice experience, but I probably won't ever play it again. I'm interested in playing 2 remake next, hopefully that one feels more modern to me because I like the overall vibes and I want to see more.

Elechead is a little indie title that caught my attention on some Nintendo Direct a while ago, and I got it on sale last week. It's a very cool, very creative puzzle platformer that gives you a toolset and keeps pushing you to find new ways to use it. There are a few ingenious think out of the box moments. It keeps you engaged until the end and doesn't overstay it's welcome. The music and graphics are incredibly charming. It's also dirty cheap, so I would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of good puzzle games.

Now I'm still playing through Mario Wonder (lots of work these days) and Yoku's Island Express, both of which have been a delight. As we approach the end of the year, my goal of 1 game per week on average isn't looking feasible, but I'm glad with what I accomplished anyway and I'm having a blast.
 
Superizer said:
1: Octopath Traveler (23-01)
2: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe + Wave 1-3 of the Booster Course Pass (28-01)
3: Paper Mario: The Origami King (13-02)
4: A Short Hike (19-02)
5: Celeste (25-02)
6: Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (+ Season Pass) (05-03)
7: Pikmin 4 (23-09)
8: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (10-10)
9: Octopath Traveler II (12-10)
10: Spiritfarer (16-10)
Click to expand...

11: Super Mario Bros. Wonder (06-11)
I 100%'d the game, which did not take that long, just 20 hours or so.
However, those hours were perfection upon perfection upon perfection.
The game is very well made, it's crafted very carefully. No idea outstays its welcome. It's as good as I've come to I expect from Nintendo!

I've read that some people found the game too easy, but the difficulty level was perfect for me.
A couple levels took me tens of tries in order to get everything in it, but no level was never so difficult that I wanted to give up.
I would recommend the game to every person on earth.



Currently, I'm playing Sea of Stars and Kirby and the Forgotten Land, which are both great games so far (I'm about 50% done with each).
I've also been on a secondhand Switch game buying spree lately, where I bought games that have come out earlier out in the Switch lifecycle but that I never tried. Some examples of this are Luigi's Mansion 3 and Link's Awakening.
So I already know what I'm going to play next :)
 
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39)Nier Replicant(all routes)
Took a break before doing D/E, and boy that was a wild ride. Kinda depressing overall but a fun adventure


Previous games:
1)Yoku’s island express
2)Live a Live
3)Arcade Paradise
4)The Great Ace Attorney Adventures
5)Immortal Fenyx rising
6) SD Gundam Battle Alliance
7)Nier Automata
8)Crimson Skies High road to revenge
9)Stacking
10)Conker Live and reloaded
11)Legend of Zelda the minish Cap
12)Ducktales remastered
13)Vostok Inc
14) Star Wars Battlefront(OG)
15)Kirby and the forgotten land
16) Xenoblade chronicles 3 Future Redeemed
17) Sonic Adventure(Xbox)
18)Rhapsody a Musical Adventure
19)Legend Of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom
20)The Great Ace Attorney 2 Resolve
21) Super Mario Advance(Super Mario Bros 2)
22)Lunistice
23)Ghost Trick(phone version)
24) Crusader of Centy
25)Cosmic Star Heroine
26) SMA2 SMW
27)SMA3 YI
28)SMA4 SMB3
29)SMB the Lost Levels(All Stars)
30)SMB(all Stars)
31) FFVIII
32) From Dust
33) Sonic Adventure 2
34) FEWTH
35)We Love katamari Reroll
36)Captain Toad treasure tracker
37) Super Mario Bros Wonder
38) Mario and Luigi Superstar saga
 
MissingNo. said:
I have not given an update on this since February, so here's what happened since.

Games completed in 2023 so far:
  • Tales of Arise
  • Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor
  • Diablo 3 (replay)
  • Hi-Fi Rush
  • Pentiment
  • Asura's Wrath
  • Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
  • Umurangi Generation
  • Day of the Tentacle Remastered
  • Full Throttle Remastered
  • Onimusha: Warlords (replay)
  • Halo 3: ODST
  • Halo 3
  • Doom (2016) (replay)
  • Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (replay)
  • LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
  • Halo Reach
  • Diablo IV
  • Dark Souls Remastered (replay)
  • Quake
  • Quake II
  • Battletoads (2020)
  • Vampire Survivors
  • Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon
  • Final Fantasy VII (replay)
  • Cocoon
Currently working on/retired for now:
  • Fire Emblem Engage (still; I have retired it in the meantime, but I want to make an effort to get back to it)
  • Monster Hunter World/Iceborne (still, de facto retired for now)
  • Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (at least I got this one, fami!)
  • The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (retired for now; the game has been overwhelming to me with its sheer size in a way BotW never has been)
  • Starfield (on and off)
  • Yakuza: Like a Dragon (currently on hiatus, will get back to it soon)
  • Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion (currently on hiatus, will get back to it soon)
Still on my list:
  • Don't ask (still).
Click to expand...
Progress!

Games completed in 2023 so far:
  • Tales of Arise
  • Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor
  • Diablo 3 (replay)
  • Hi-Fi Rush
  • Pentiment
  • Asura's Wrath
  • Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
  • Umurangi Generation
  • Day of the Tentacle Remastered
  • Full Throttle Remastered
  • Onimusha: Warlords (replay)
  • Halo 3: ODST
  • Halo 3
  • Doom (2016) (replay)
  • Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (replay)
  • LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
  • Halo Reach
  • Diablo IV
  • Dark Souls Remastered (replay)
  • Quake
  • Quake II
  • Battletoads (2020)
  • Vampire Survivors
  • Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon
  • Final Fantasy VII (replay)
  • Cocoon
  • Fire Emblem Engage
Currently working on/retired for now:
  • Front Mission 1st: Remake (started this on a whim; mission 14 coming up next and I'm really enjoying myself)
  • Monster Hunter World/Iceborne (still, de facto retired for now)
  • The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (retired for now; the game has been overwhelming to me with its sheer size in a way BotW never has been)
  • Starfield (on and off currently on hiatus)
  • Yakuza: Like a Dragon (currently on hiatus)
  • Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion (currently on hiatus)
Still on my list:
  • Don't ask (still).
 
Super Mario World 2 - Yoshi's Island (NSO SNES)
F-cFM0rbkAAruHR


Not much that i can say about this one, really. It's one of my favorite platform games ever, and not without reason. It plays, looks and sounds like a dream, right as we approach 2024 it's still timeless. Nintendo at it's finest.

Something i've paid attention to in this replay is the way the game introduces gimmicks and then combine them to fuck with you, like making Bat bandits interact with chomp rocks. That shit is genius.
 
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101. RoboCop: Rogue City


As much as I adore gaming shitshows, it's even more exciting to see a developer rise from the ashes as they make better and better titles. After their disastorous Rambo game Teyon made a fairly good terminator game and finally I'd say they succeeded in making a great game.
This is perhaps the only time I'm glad that the industry is run by suits because if it was anyone more creative, I doubt Teyon'd get another chance.

I've never seen Robocop, but this isn't important for this game at all. What you get is a pretty good and very funny self-contained story filled with a lot of NPCs, side-quests, and even some moral choices that will affect your ending.

On the surface, Robocop commits some big FPS crimes that should really make it a bad game: you can only carry two weapons one of which isn't changeble ever, and your movement options are barely there. However, dev understood the assignment and made gunplay some of the most fun I've seen in a game - seeing a person's head pop is always a satisfying reward. Violence in general is REALLY meaty and great-looking.

There's some exploration to this game, and the game decides to forgo weird useless collectibles for something much better: virtually everything you find gives you exp. Simple, but effective solution to semi open-world games asking you to find 100 garbage pieces for no reason. Said exp is spent on various upgrade paths that either help you or make you way cooler. There are alternate sidemissions within missions, too, and the game does have some secrets.

I do wish the game was just a tad shorter, as I believe returning to its only semi-open world area four times is a bit too much. First time you'll likely explore it and find most of the collectibles only to realize on the second and third that you're just walking around looking for quests that are not actually on the map, which is just a time-waster. I don't mind quests not showing up on the map, but I do wish every return to downtown would have something new, as it does on the final visit.

However, for a game that's supposed to be quite limited, Robocop does try to introduce new mechanics fairly often. For example, second main mission introduces fast new enemy before catching you off-guard with a mine-field, and on your way back places snipers and finally providing you with a challenge where you and another policebot see who can score more kills. Not every mission is as varied, and I do think a few go for a bit too long, but over the course of maybe 15 hours of play I've been bored for only a few minutes, and that's saying a lot.
 
40) Mario Party 3 (story mode)
Boy save states plus shy guy gambling means steamrolling, got S’s on all but one map! Great revisit and unlocked most the minigames


Previous games:
1)Yoku’s island express
2)Live a Live
3)Arcade Paradise
4)The Great Ace Attorney Adventures
5)Immortal Fenyx rising
6) SD Gundam Battle Alliance
7)Nier Automata
8)Crimson Skies High road to revenge
9)Stacking
10)Conker Live and reloaded
11)Legend of Zelda the minish Cap
12)Ducktales remastered
13)Vostok Inc
14) Star Wars Battlefront(OG)
15)Kirby and the forgotten land
16) Xenoblade chronicles 3 Future Redeemed
17) Sonic Adventure(Xbox)
18)Rhapsody a Musical Adventure
19)Legend Of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom
20)The Great Ace Attorney 2 Resolve
21) Super Mario Advance(Super Mario Bros 2)
22)Lunistice
23)Ghost Trick(phone version)
24) Crusader of Centy
25)Cosmic Star Heroine
26) SMA2 SMW
27)SMA3 YI
28)SMA4 SMB3
29)SMB the Lost Levels(All Stars)
30)SMB(all Stars)
31) FFVIII
32) From Dust
33) Sonic Adventure 2
34) FEWTH
35)We Love katamari Reroll
36)Captain Toad treasure tracker
37) Super Mario Bros Wonder
38) Mario and Luigi Superstar saga
39)Nier Replicant(all routes)
 
30 — Super Mario Bros. Wonder
I think most everyone expected this game to be pretty good, minimum. But the creativity and palpable joy of taking Mario into some new territory is on full display here, and I found it impossible not to get swept up in it. The Wonder mechanics. The trickier levels sprinkled in to shake up the world structure. You don’t really ever have to play as Mario! Bob-omb fireworks. Daisy and Peach in their Fire & Bubble dresses. I could go on, but I’d rather spend that time scooping up more purple coins in The Super Mario Bros. Wonder Game!

31 — Milk Inside A Bag of Milk Inside A Bag of Milk…
This game is like 20 minutes long and leaves a bigger impression than most games that get 20 hours of runtime. Singular, personal, the sort of thing that feels like it’s reaching right into your stomach. Assuming you can fuck with VNs, look up nothing and play this.

32 — Fashion Dreamer
I figured, “This is going to be a good game to put 15 minutes into here and there, between other stuff!” Nah. Fashion Dreamer rips and I play it for hours at a time. The game has its shortcomings — it’s got performance issues, the UI is fairly clunky, and many items are unfortunately locked to one of two possible body types — but there is just an incredible amount of heart on display. The developers’ fashion passion is readily apparent, and switching FD on for the first time in a day and being flooded with likes and imaginative looks from other users is always a joy. Free updates are planned, and I can’t wait to see what’s next.

★ — Not bad!
★★ — Pretty dang good.
★★★ — Blew me away.

I only really finish games I like and even a one star is a positive review! It’s just to show how much I enjoyed it in relativity.

★
Advance Wars 1+2 Reboot Camp
Baba is You
Castle Crumble
Coffee Talk
Coffee Talk 2
Diablo IV
Melatonin
Metroid Dread
Pentiment
stitch.
Vampire Survivors

★★
Cocoon
Forza Motorsport
F-ZERO 99
Hitman Freelancer
Kirby and the Forgotten Land
NYT Word Games
Quake II
The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe
The Talos Principle
Triangle Strategy
XC3: Future Redeemed

★★★
Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon
Bonfire Peaks
Fashion Dreamer
Milk Inside…
Octopath Traveler II
Resident Evil 4
Super Mario Bros. Wonder
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
Zelda: TotK
Click to expand...
 
1. Nier Automata (Switch)
2. Lunistice (Switch)
3. Super Mario Land 2 (NSO)
4. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Switch)
5. Metroid Prime Remastered (Switch)
6. Fire Emblem Engage (Switch)
7. The Legend of Zelda: the Minish Cap (NSO)
8. Wario Land 3 (NSO)
9. A Space for the Unbound (Switch)
10. Kirby's Dream Land (NSO)
11. Advance Wars 1&2 Reboot Camp (Switch)
12. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch)
13. Final Fantasy (Pixel Remaster, Switch)
14. Goldeneye (NSO)
15. Oxenfree II Lost Signals (Switch)
16. Pikmin 4 (Switch)
17. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (NSO)
18. Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed (Switch)
19. Telltale's The Expanse (Xbox Series S)
20. Sea of Stars (Switch)
21. PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo (Switch)
22. Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Switch)
Very tired and not very well today, but I've just completed the main story with this one; a handful more levels to find and the special world awaits though. First time I've played a new 2D Mario that has the level of invention and generosity of ideas as the 3D entries. Massively enjoyed it and I think this ethos needs to stick around in the future. Wowie zowie etc and so on and so forth...
 
Games finished - 2023

*Denotes Replay

1) Guardians of the Galaxy - Cloud Version (NSW)
2) Rise of the Third Power (NSW)
3) Haiku, the Robot (NSW)
4) Fire Emblem Engage (NSW)
5) The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (GBA NSO)*
6) WareWare Inc. (GBA NSO)*
7) Panzer Dragoon Remake (NSW)*
8) Final Fantasy IX (NSW)*
9) UnMetal (NSW)
10) Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope (NSW)
11) Octopath Traveler 2 (NSW)
12) Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (NSW)
13) Citizen Sleeper : Purge (NSW)
14) Metroid Fusion (GBA NSO)*
15) The Red Strings Club (NSW)
16) Earthbound Beginnings (NES NSO)
17) Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed (NSW)
18) Dungeon Encounters (NSW)
19) The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (NSW)
20) Raptor Boyfriend: A High School Romance (NSW)
21) Picross S9 (NSW)
22) Persona 5 Royal (NSW)
23) Dragon Ball FighterZ (NSW - Game Trial NSO)
24) Brotato (NSW)
24) Voice of Cards: Beasts of Burden (NSW)
25) Unsighted (NSW)
26) Kirby’s Return to Dreamland Deluxe (NSW)
27) Mercenaries Lament : Requiem of the Silver Wolf (NSW)
28) Vampire Survivors (NSW)
29) Sea of Stars (NSW)
30) ABZÛ (NSW)
31) Steins;Gate Elite (NSW)
32) Dorfromantik (NSW)
33) Diabolic (NSW)
34) Road 96 (NSW)
35) Knight vs. Giant: The Broken Excalibur (NSW)
36) Dredge (NSW)
37) Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk and Milk outside of bag of milk outside a bag of milk (NSW)

38) Super Kiwi 64 (NSW)

Super Kiwi 64 recalls the days of very specifically N64 style graphics and 3D platforming gameplay. While only an hour or so long, if you just want a quick hit of unfamiliar nostalgia you could do a lot worse than this. The game is just fun to play, and while I don't want to dive too deep on this, I found the atmosphere to be pretty creepy. Worth the $3 if you think you might be into it.

39) Super Mario Bros. Wonder (NSW)

Mario to me has always been defined by it's willingness to explore new concepts. As a kid, my first home console experiences were Combat, Asteroids, and a really bad version of Pac-Man before Mario came and changed everything. Sure, I had seen DK and Mario Bros. in arcades (read: taverns), but the original Super Mario Bros. was game changing in so many ways. And then 2 came along and while I know now that it wasn't originally created to be the sequel, I didn't know that then. Back then I thought Super Mario Bros. 2 was the coolest thing ever. It showed that a Mario game could be (and in my mind, should be) different to what came before, and still very much be a Mario game. Mario was about creativity, about change, and always about fun.

After too many games in the New Super Mario Bros style for my liking, Wonder took me back to that childhood feeling. The new powerups and badges are fun, the levels are well designed and the showstopping wonder seeds always gave me a little rush of excitement to see what was next. When I rolled credits, I did not want it to be over. Great game.

40) Signalis

I had heard an awful lot of really great things about this game before trying it. While I think it is a very good game, it didn't quite land for me like I had hoped it would. My fault really, I wasn't being honest with myself about my enjoyment of survival horror. Signals plays well, has fun and interesting puzzles, an interesting setting and story, and tried and true survival horror gameplay throughout. All of that sounds good, if not great. Sometimes a game just isn't right for you even though you can see directly why you should like it. I would still say it's an easy recommendation for those who love survival horror, especially so if you like your storytelling a bit on the esoteric side.
 
1) Super Metroid (NSO)
2) Metroid Fusion (Wii U)
3) Metroid Dread (NSW)
4) Sonic Frontiers (PS5)
5) MX vs ATV Legends (XSS)
6) Kuru Kuru Kuruin (NSO)
7) Metroid Prime Remastered (NSW)
8) HiFi Rush (XSS)
9) Final Fantasy Crisis Core Reunion (NSW)
10) Spider-Man Miles Morales (PS5)
11) Sonic Spinball (NSO)
12) Sonic 3d Blast (XSS)
13) Sonic the Hedgehog (XSS)
14) Sonic CD (XSS)
15) Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS5)
16) Donald Duck Advance (GBA)
17) Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (PS2)
18) Stunt Race FX (SNES)
19) Rhythm Tengoku (GBA)
20) Super Mario RPG (SNES)
21) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Turtles in Time (SNES)
22) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - The Hyperstone Heist (Genesis)
23) Tearaway (PSV)
24) Dragon Ball Advanced Adventure (GBA)
25) Gundam Battle Assault (PS1)
26) Final Fantasy XVI (PS5)
27) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Shredder’s Revenge (XSS)
28) Asura’s Wrath (XSS)
29) Ridge Racer (PS1)
30) Gravity Rush (PSV)
31) Ninpen Manmaru (Saturn)

32) Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (PS5)

Spider-Man 2 is the perfect sequel. It improves on its predecessors in every single way. It’s got incredible setpieces, great characters, big emotional payoffs, incredible graphics, compelling side content, improved mechanics, and so much more. If you love Spider-Man, this game is a must-play. I’d even say if you love video games, this is a must-play.
 
1) Super Metroid (NSO)
2) Metroid Fusion (Wii U)
3) Metroid Dread (NSW)
4) Sonic Frontiers (PS5)
5) MX vs ATV Legends (XSS)
6) Kuru Kuru Kuruin (NSO)
7) Metroid Prime Remastered (NSW)
8) HiFi Rush (XSS)
9) Final Fantasy Crisis Core Reunion (NSW)
10) Marvel’s Spider-Man Miles Morales (PS5)
11) Sonic Spinball (NSO)
12) Sonic 3d Blast (XSS)
13) Sonic the Hedgehog (XSS)
14) Sonic CD (XSS)
15) Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS5)
16) Donald Duck Advance (GBA)
17) Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (PS2)
18) Stunt Race FX (SNES)
19) Rhythm Tengoku (GBA)
20) Super Mario RPG (SNES)
21) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Turtles in Time (SNES)
22) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - The Hyperstone Heist (Genesis)
23) Tearaway (PSV)
24) Dragon Ball Advanced Adventure (GBA)
25) Gundam Battle Assault (PS1)
26) Final Fantasy XVI (PS5)
27) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Shredder’s Revenge (XSS)
28) Asura’s Wrath (XSS)
29) Ridge Racer (PS1)
30) Gravity Rush (PSV)
31) Ninpen Manmaru (Saturn)
32) Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (PS5)

33) Final Fantasy VII Remake INTERmission (PS5)

Short, sweet, and to the point. Yuffie is a wonderful character. She’s a joy to watch, and to play as because her abilities open up a lot of new possibilities during a fight. Maybe this DLC was a little too short at just about four hours, but I’m coming away from it satisfied. Happy that I got to spend more time in this world with these characters, and more eager than ever for Rebirth.
 
25. Super Mario Bros. 3 (NS) [Finished September 17th, 2023] - 6.5:
I'm probably being too harsh on this game. I went into it thinking I probably wouldn't like it much since it was literally my first video game on the GBA and even as a kid I didn't like it much. But I do like 2D Mario a lot more now. I went in and played it and the results were kinda mixed.

Part of me wants to say that the aesthetics of this game, and especially a lot of the earlier tracks, frankly kinda suck? The yellow filter tint of this game is bizarre compared to basically any other NES game, and while this is definitely pushing the NES to its limits, other NES games that pushed the system to its limits looked way better (Mega Man 3, Castlevania III etc). Making the soundtrack show tunes was also certainly a choice. I don't want to say the overall soundtrack is bad, the tunes are catchy and I can listen to them by themselves and enjoy them sometimes. But a lot of the earlier tunes are honestly grating and really pulling the NES to its limits.

I can and did get used to that stuff though, and there are some great looking levels and some great songs in there. In particular, Mario 3 coming from a time when the Mario brand was less set in stone allows the game to be a bit more imaginative and literal with the "kingdom" aspect of the Mushroom kingdom. There is tons of different settings and worlds, and some of the music there is just great. After a while the overworld themes get very good, ranging from peaceful to creepy.

But it's the level design and gameplay that makes a Mario game, and unfortunately I find that it stacks up pretty inconsistently here. On the one hand, as basically one of the first beloved iterative sequel in video game history, Mario 3 does a lot to change and refine the Mario formula. It adds a world map, it adds more powerups, and perhaps most importantly it creates the basis for the "toybox" Mario game design that fans would come to love. Of course this in and of itself is arguably just an extension of Mario 1's design philosophy of introducing a new gimmick each level, but Mario 3 goes way further to achieving this to the point that it basically retroactively created the toybox formula. Every level has something new to do or see, and every game from Mario Galaxy, to Mario 3D World, to Mario Wonder can be traced back here.

But the actual levels leave a lot to be desired. First, this game makes the horrible decision of making Mario more slippery. In some ways it can be fun to master Mario's movement, I think a big part of the enjoyment of a 2D Mario game is Mario's Olympian-esque movement where a lot of momentum and weight has to be carried to pull off impossible feats. But it's taken way too far here, with the most slippery Mario to date and level design that loves to take advantage of this by constantly having bottomless pits. Second, the worlds in the game are very inconsistent. The first few aren't a particularly great evolution on Mario 1, both feeling too simplistic on average and also feeling annoying when a new gimmick or change pops up (shout out to the terrible new swimming controls which made the first Big Bertha level ridiculously annoying, Mario 3 is basically the reason water levels are infamous in Mario games). The first few worlds make it incredibly easy to basically just skip large portions of the level or even the entire level itself, and while this is a Mario staple crucially the Tanuki suit neither requires you to explore the levels to find pipes to skip them, nor master the controls of the power up to skip them, like in a normal Mario game.

The last few worlds are also chalked full of bad levels. Lots of them feel like a precursor to what was to come in World, but with a Mario Maker aspect to them. Want to finish a level? Find this annoying exit we put on a ceiling so you can go back and forth like a madmen to try and find it. It sucks, because they are admittedly very creative, but they culminate in some of the worst levels I've ever played in a Mario game. Especially 6-5, which is both very creative and also the bane of my existence. Don't even get me started on the overuse of the auto scrollers in the last parts of the game. Only a few levels use them creatively, and the rest are just boring to bad. My favorite part of playing these old Mario games is realizing a lot of the criticism classic Sonic gets for making the player get hit on screen by something they don't have time to react to is realizing this is literally also true for 2D Mario, I love getting punished for using the run button by being hit by something I can't see on an airship (and it happens even in normal levels).

But those middle worlds are chefs kiss. In fact, they're almost enough to make me forgive the lackluster first few worlds and the sadistic last few worlds. They're the epitome of creativity in a 2D Mario game and they have the perfect balance of difficulty and letting the player experiment. These worlds are great and easily better than most 2D Mario content. But it's hard to assess how much that should count for the game when it's just a fraction of its runtime.

Overall Mario 3 is a game I'm very mixed about, at it's best it's great to see this level of creativity with Mario, and I love how this was made at a time before Mario was standardized. On the other hand it feels like an annoying game that takes attributes of Mario too far. I still enjoyed my time with it, and forced to stack it up against games like Mario Galaxy its highs are much higher, but its lows are much lower.

1. Mario Party Superstars (NS) [Finished January 1st, 2023] - 8
2. Bayonetta (NS) [Finished January 2nd, 2023] - 8.5
3. Pikmin (GC) [Finished January 5th, 2023] - 8.5
4. Pikmin 2 (GC) [Finished January 7th, 2023] - 6
5. Metroid Prime Remastered (NS) [Finished February 14th, 2023] - 10
6. Metroid Dread (Replay) (NS) [Finished January 21st, 2023] - 8.5
7. Metroid Prime 2 (PrimeHack) [Finished March 5th, 2023] - 8.5
8. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Dolphin) [Finished March 16, 2023] - 8.5
9. Sonic the Hedgehog (RetroArch) [Finished March 17th, 2023] - 4
10. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (RetroArch) [Finished March 20th, 2023] - 6.5
11. Resident Evil 4 Remake (PC) [Finished March 28th, 2023] - 10
12. Resident Evil VIIIage (PC) [Finished April 4th, 2023] - 7.5
13. Dead Space Remake (PC) [Finished May 15th, 2023] - 7.5
14. Metro 2033 Redux (PC) [Finished June 5th, 2023] - 7.5
15. Resident Evil 3 Remake (PC) [Finished June 10th, 2023] - 7.5
16. Final Fantasy XVI (PS5) [Finished June 30th, 2023] - 6.5
17. Pikmin 3 Deluxe (NS) [Finished July 11th, 2023] - 9.5
18. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (NS) [Finished July 27th, 2023] - [??? / 10]
19. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (Remastered) (PC) [Finished August 1st, 2023] - [10 / 10]
20. Pikmin 4 [100%] (NS) [Finished August 14th, 2023] - 7.5
21. Mega Man 3 (NS) [Finished August 16th, 2023] - 6.5
22. Pizza Tower (PC) [Finished September 6th, 2023] - 8.5
23. Super Mario Bros (NS) [Finished September 6th, 2023] - 8.0
24. Super Mario Bros 2 (NS) [Finished September 8th, 2023] - 8.0
25. Super Mario Bros 3 (NS) [Finished September 17th, 2023] - 6.5

Game Ranking 2023:
1. Resident Evil 4 Remake (10) (PC)
2. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (10) (PC)
3. Metroid Dread (8.5) (NS) (Need to bump this up)
4. Pikmin 3 Deluxe (9.5) (NS)
5. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (8.5) (PrimeHack)
6. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (???) (NS)
7. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (8.5) (Dolphin)
8. Pikmin (8.5) (Dolphin)
9. Pizza Tower (8.5) (PC)
10. Super Mario Bros (8.0) (NS)
11. Super Mario Bros 2 (8.0) (NS)
12. Bayonetta (8.5) (NS) (Would probably bump this down to an 8)
13. Mario Party Superstars (8.0) (NS) (Should probably bump this down to a 7.5)
14. Metro 2033 Redux (7.5) (PC)
15. Pikmin 4 (7.5) (NS)
16. Resident Evil Village (7.5) (PC)
17. Resident Evil 3 Remake (7.5) (PC)
18. Dead Space Remake (7.5) (PC)
19. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (6.5) (RetroArch)
20. Super Mario Bros 3 (6.5) (NS)
21. Mega Man 3 (6.5) (NS)
22. Final Fantasy XVI (6.5) (PS5)
23. Pikmin 2 (6.0) (GC)
24. Sonic the Hedgehog (4.0) (RetroArch)
 
102. Cave Story

I've tried playing Cave Story about 5 times already, and I've never beaten it before.

I think it being called Metroidvania is one of the things that stopped me, as when I hear this term I'm prepared for a different game experience. Cave Story is more just a linear platformer with some split paths in the narrative and optional goodies.

The game looks and sounds good (although sounds are admittedly too blip-bloopy for me), but I think it's the narrative that makes it interesting. For a short 2D platformer its story is quite good, having both dark and funny moments.

Unfortunately, I still can't say I liked the gameplay. The controls are fine, albeit too floaty, but I feel like this is a 2 hour game that tries to be 3 hours, which it does by stretching itself via backtracking. Backtracking is also weirdly frontloaded and is done in the worst way possible. It's literally just go left - go right through the same corridor. It gets way better after first three zones though.

When playing the game I like to learn about it afterwards, and it does seem there are quite a few secrets and split paths to the game, so it easily could've gotten rid of bad parts to make replayability better. Although when reading about it it turns out there are a few pervy jokes hidden in the game which is unfortunate. I mean, it's an indie game! Please, devs, if you want to mention sex, you can! I just don't see the reason for wink-wink references that end up being creepy due to noncon nature of them like stealing one of the characters panties. Apparently it even does something in future version which is just... Goddammit.

Still, happy to cross off another famous game off the list, but I doubt I'll return to it.
 
1. Nier Automata (Switch)
2. Lunistice (Switch)
3. Super Mario Land 2 (NSO)
4. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Switch)
5. Metroid Prime Remastered (Switch)
6. Fire Emblem Engage (Switch)
7. The Legend of Zelda: the Minish Cap (NSO)
8. Wario Land 3 (NSO)
9. A Space for the Unbound (Switch)
10. Kirby's Dream Land (NSO)
11. Advance Wars 1&2 Reboot Camp (Switch)
12. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch)
13. Final Fantasy (Pixel Remaster, Switch)
14. Goldeneye (NSO)
15. Oxenfree II Lost Signals (Switch)
16. Pikmin 4 (Switch)
17. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (NSO)
18. Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed (Switch)
19. Telltale's The Expanse (Xbox Series S)
20. Sea of Stars (Switch)
21. PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo (Switch)
22. Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Switch)
23. Starfield (Xbox Series S)
No spoiler quick summary: I've hit the credits after 29 hours. Did all main missions but no faction quests, though I did probably spend about a third of my time doing one off sidequests, a handful of which were excellent, many of which were interchangeable. When Starfield kicks into gear, it's very good, but ultimately for me this is a game which felt very... old fashioned, I think. I also consistently felt that the decision to go for scale over depth held the game back on every front; not fatally so, but enough to be a persistent niggle.
Loved the Mantis sidequest, which I stumbled on and completed early in the game, giving me some excellent weapons and a great ship for the rest of the game.

I can't for the life of me understand why the main quest is so slow; partially it's to introduce you to multiple main planets, sure, but the first several quests being bland descents into identikit caves was just boring. When it kicks into gear from Neon onwards, I thought it was very good, and I really like how they wove the Starborn into a new game plus option. But Starfield's scale often felt like it was an impediment to making deep and varied gameplay.

One example: the Entangled mission initially felt extremely exciting and forward thinking. Flipping between two realities was really cool and well accomplished, but then the gameplay for the mission simply devolved into 'kill waves of bugs' in one reality and 'kill waves of robots' in another. It was also such a big sci fi concept that then felt wildly underutilised, making the slow curve of the main quest seem like even more of a mistake; imagine if the idea of flipping between and choosing between multiple competing realities was a larger part of the main quest, or fed into a new factional quest from this point on. But the idea can't be explored in depth because of all the other stuff; it's just another run and gun mission even if you unlock the optimal solution to the quandary the mission poses.

That scale again causes issues when you're navigating space, when despite that scale, you repeatedly run into the same or very similar encounters. Late in my playthrough, though, I came across a really exciting sidequest concept - a 200 year old colony ship from Earth has arrived at its eventual destination, only to find that after their departure, ftl travel means that many systems have been colonised, including their would-be home. Their would be home is a corporate world, a paradise for the super healthy ran by morally dubious executives; the ship's captain tells me her people must settle that world and she'll accept no compromise. Despite the fact that there's a 200 year old ship in orbit, the NPCs on the planet and the questline characters have next to no reaction to this quirk of fate, this emergence of actual Earth-born humans long after the world was abandoned. It's all set up and no pay off.

Again, Starfield's limitations undermine an exciting concept. Without even speaking to the ship's captain again, I'm able to 'solve' the quest by fitting the ship with a new grav drive via a short fetch quest and a rudimentary puzzle. Do the people on board the ship have anything to say about this? Is there any confrontation or debate? Do they hate me, or ask for another solution? No, of course not! There's no time, space or resources to explore or build upon this concept, no opportunity to unfold and dive into the possibilities this concept manifests. Even with the ship departing for another world, there's nothing to build on; no option to choose a garden world for them, and not even any attempt to fold this quest into one of the game's systems, outpost building.
Starfield is too often like a theme park ride or attraction where you're watching animatronics. The artificiality and limits are often too apparent. I didn't hate it, I don't think it's a weak game; but I can't help but think a much stronger, more forward looking game is buried beneath a combination of outdated technology (those floating head cutscenes...) and misguided ambition (a thousand planets!). It's a small step for Bethesda when I wish they'd taken a giant leap.

That might seem harsh; not least when dozens of hours of scripted content awaits, if I stick with it. Perhaps I'll fall in love with ship building or outposts, if I feel I have the time. The new game plus set up is really intriguing, though I might adventure more with Sam Coe in my original file first. But for me, Starfield isn't a contender for game of the year, and even if it remains an intriguing distraction, I don't think it's essential.
 
Made a big post on page 16 about every game I played this year, but that one got pretty long so I will just put future games here, starting with:
  • Darkstalkers 3: Like most fighting games the best part for me is the characters/ lore, not the gameplay. BB good is obviously the best character tho, I mean a dark version of little red riding hood with guns and Molotov cocktails? Peak. 6/10
  • Halo combat evolved: Revolutionary to say the least. Amazing music (like holy moly I didn’t expect this good of a soundtrack), tons of environmental storytelling ESPECIALLY on 343 guilty spark, the best level in the game. Gameplay is tons of fun with a great cast of enemies and weapons, this game really has it all. Only thing I wish is that the game had a few more open areas like level 2, but beyond that I think the game is perfect. 9/10, must play
  • Halo 2: honestly prefer the first game in some ways. The soundtrack stills rocks, and they made some cool gameplay additions (arbiter my beloved), but I feel like the story and level design got a bit of a downgrade. Still good, don’t get me wrong, just not as strong as halo 1. A great game regardless, 8/10
Some games I forgot to review in the aforementioned big post on page 16:
  • Dragon ball FighterZ: This game slaps y’all. Very few fighting games grab me like this one has, and that’s probably n large part due to me finally getting into dragon ball this year. Seeing the insane lengths they went through to recreate the style of DBZ in both the models and movesets was awesome, and it makes me want fighting games of ALL my favorite series. Sonic Vs Mario fighting game when?
  • Marvel vs. Street fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom 1: Like most fighting games I can’t really get into this one, but I have to commend the sprite work here. Every character has their personality thoroughly shown with the animations, but beyond that I don’t have much to say that I haven’t said on most every fighting game I played this year. 6/10
  • Mario kart 8 deluxe, booster course pass: Really good DLC. Immortalizing the tour tracks in this game is not only great for preservation, but adds new tracks for people who don’t want to play bum mobile games. In terms of the tracks from older (non tour) Mario kart games, they did a great job picking fan favorites, while surprising us with unpredictable picks. They also added a surprising amount of not course related things, with private lobbies, rebalanced item boxes, custom rule sets, and FUNKY KONG being some stand outs. The Mario kart live band returns for some of its best work, with the credits theme and Sydney sprint being my favorite music tracks. All this for 25 bucks too, I mean you would be practically losing money not buying the DLC! 9/10, please do this more Nintendo
  • Tetris attack: Personally my favorite puzzle game, got really addicted to it for a while. I feel like getting to move around the block more makes puzzle league type games better to me then say, Tetris or puyopuyo. 8/10
  • Guilty gear: Fighting game, you know the gist, 6/10
  • Parappa the rapper: Very good style. Reminds me a lot of katamari Damacy in that you have no idea what crazy nonsense you will be exposed to next. The characters are all great, and I especially love Parappa and the dojo onion. 8/10, the things it’ll teach ya, are sure to beat ya, but nevertheless it slaps
 
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Pillydillsy said:
Made a big post on page 16 about every game I played this year, but that one got pretty long so I will just put future games here, starting with:
  • Darkstalkers 3: Like most fighting games the best part for me is the characters/ lore, not the gameplay. BB good is obviously the best character tho, I mean a dark version of little red riding hood with guns and Molotov cocktails? Peak. 6/10
  • Halo combat evolved: Revolutionary to say the least. Amazing music (like holy moly I didn’t expect this good of a soundtrack), tons of environmental storytelling ESPECIALLY on 343 guilty spark, the best level in the game. Gameplay is tons of fun with a great cast of enemies and weapons, this game really has it all. Only thing I wish is that the game had a few more open areas like level 2, but beyond that I think the game is perfect. 9/10, must play
  • Halo 2: honestly prefer the first game in some ways. The soundtrack stills rocks, and they made some cool gameplay additions (arbiter my beloved), but I feel like the story and level design got a bit of a downgrade. Still good, don’t get me wrong, just not as strong as halo 1. A great game regardless, 8/10
Click to expand...
heck yes, Halo! The first three games are damn near perfect. Are you playing these for the first time?

Fighting alongside the Elites as the Covenant civil war rages was so freaking hype

I love that you shouted out the music in these games. It’s seriously some of the best music in gaming and Halo wouldn’t be Halo without it.
 
Red Monster said:
heck yes, Halo! The first three games are damn near perfect. Are you playing these for the first time?

Fighting alongside the Elites as the Covenant civil war rages was so freaking hype

I love that you shouted out the music in these games. It’s seriously some of the best music in gaming and Halo wouldn’t be Halo without it.
Click to expand...
I’m taking a small halo break, but once I’m done with kingdom hearts and Mario RPG it’s halo 3/4 time. Also yes this is my first time playing through these games AND YES THE MUSIC SLAPS. The rock version of the main halo theme that played in halo 2 was insane
 
I completed Tears of the Kingdom back in September. 10/10 game I put 210 hours into but it never felt like anything other than pure distilled fun. An absolute masterpiece of game design.

I played it so much between launch and finishing it that I’ve just been burned out of video games since then. I started Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shredder’s Revenge and still haven’t finished the story mode yet. I’ll get back into video games soon enough.
 
Mbolibombo said:
Captaid Toad: Treasure Tracker: Special Episode (DLC) [NSW]

Wanted a co-op game, so I downloaded the special episode for Captain Toad - And man, I really like Captain Toad.. I hope they release a sequel some day. Honestly, I dont understand why they havnt gotten around to it.
Click to expand...
Captain Toad is very fun! I played the 3DS version and can’t wait to replay it some day. 9/10 for me.
 
Games finished - 2023

*Denotes Replay

1) Guardians of the Galaxy - Cloud Version (NSW)
2) Rise of the Third Power (NSW)
3) Haiku, the Robot (NSW)
4) Fire Emblem Engage (NSW)
5) The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (GBA NSO)*
6) WareWare Inc. (GBA NSO)*
7) Panzer Dragoon Remake (NSW)*
8) Final Fantasy IX (NSW)*
9) UnMetal (NSW)
10) Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope (NSW)
11) Octopath Traveler 2 (NSW)
12) Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (NSW)
13) Citizen Sleeper : Purge (NSW)
14) Metroid Fusion (GBA NSO)*
15) The Red Strings Club (NSW)
16) Earthbound Beginnings (NES NSO)
17) Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed (NSW)
18) Dungeon Encounters (NSW)
19) The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (NSW)
20) Raptor Boyfriend: A High School Romance (NSW)
21) Picross S9 (NSW)
22) Persona 5 Royal (NSW)
23) Dragon Ball FighterZ (NSW - Game Trial NSO)
24) Brotato (NSW)
24) Voice of Cards: Beasts of Burden (NSW)
25) Unsighted (NSW)
26) Kirby’s Return to Dreamland Deluxe (NSW)
27) Mercenaries Lament : Requiem of the Silver Wolf (NSW)
28) Vampire Survivors (NSW)
29) Sea of Stars (NSW)
30) ABZÛ (NSW)
31) Steins;Gate Elite (NSW)
32) Dorfromantik (NSW)
33) Diabolic (NSW)
34) Road 96 (NSW)
35) Knight vs. Giant: The Broken Excalibur (NSW)
36) Dredge (NSW)
37) Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk and Milk outside of bag of milk outside a bag of milk (NSW)
38) Super Kiwi 64 (NSW)
39) Super Mario Wonder (NSW)
40) Signalis (NSW)

41) Diablo II: Resurrected (NSW)

I played all of 5 minutes of the original back when it came out in 2000. Probably says more about he quality of my PC back then, because this is great fun.
I don't think I found the class and setup that I loved. Played Necromancer for Act 1, didn't love it and started from scratch with a Druid that I used to finish. I would like to go back and try the other classes and builds someday. I'm sure playing through it once doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of the depth present in the game systems here for any build, but 50 hours is enough for me.

Controller set up feels pretty natural right away and load times are barely noticeable (aside from the connecting to battle.net bit every time you start up the game). I love being able to flip back and forth between the original graphics and this more modern graphical update with a button press. The grindy nature of the gameplay loop was exactly what I was looking for after a year that has felt full of narrative heavy experiences.

Nowadays I play to credits and start the next game, but past me would have been stuck on this one for quite awhile. I can see a world where I could grind on this for a long, long time. There are just too many great and unique games to play these days for me to dedicate the time required to fully explore all this has to offer. Maybe someday.
 
1) Super Metroid (SNES)
2) Metroid Fusion (GBA)
3) Metroid Dread (NSW)
4) Sonic Frontiers (PS5)
5) MX vs ATV Legends (XSS)
6) Kuru Kuru Kuruin (GBA)
7) Metroid Prime Remastered (NSW)
8) HiFi Rush (XSS)
9) Final Fantasy Crisis Core Reunion (NSW)
10) Marvel’s Spider-Man Miles Morales (PS5)
11) Sonic Spinball (Genesis)
12) Sonic 3d Blast (Genesis)
13) Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis)
14) Sonic CD (Genesis)
15) Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS5)
16) Donald Duck Advance (GBA)
17) Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (PS2)
18) Stunt Race FX (SNES)
19) Rhythm Tengoku (GBA)
20) Super Mario RPG (SNES)
21) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Turtles in Time (SNES)
22) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - The Hyperstone Heist (Genesis)
23) Tearaway (PSV)
24) Dragon Ball Advanced Adventure (GBA)
25) Gundam Battle Assault (PS1)
26) Final Fantasy XVI (PS5)
27) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Shredder’s Revenge (XSS)
28) Asura’s Wrath (X360)
29) Ridge Racer (PS1)
30) Gravity Rush (PSV)
31) Ninpen Manmaru (Saturn)
32) Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (PS5)
33) Final Fantasy VII Remake INTERmission (PS5)

34) En Garde! (PC)

I saw a Steam review that called En Garde! “Shrek-like”, and that’s not inaccurate. But it’s probably better to say “Puss in Boots-like”. It’s a far-too-short swashbuckling adventure full of sword fights and platforming.

The combat is pretty basic with just one attack button, a dodge and a parry, but there’s things you can do to give yourself an edge like throwing pots on a baddie’s head, parkour-ing over a table, kicking barrels down the stairs, or kicking baddies down the stairs and or into the sea. The kick is actually one of the best parts of the game; it’s very satisfying to kick open doors.

Later levels start introducing baddies that need to have their guard broken before you can damage them. You break their guard by dodging and parrying specifics attacks. Succeed and you can attack them. Fail to dodge or parry and their guard gauge fills up again, meaning you have to start the whole dance all over again. Against one baddie this is fine, but when there’s five on one and all five need their guards broken, it can quickly become overwhelming. The last level did this way too often. It forces you to fully engage with the environment, and find ways to split them up. It can be frustrating, but it’s very satisfying when you do actually succeed.

The game is very short though. There’s only four levels, and a full playthrough is only gonna take between three and four hours. There’s not much in the form of replay value either, unless you want to go for achievements.
 
42. Duck Hunt (NES) [5/10]

Revisiting this one is a big disappointment. The dog is iconic and the Game C visuals are impressive but that's basically all this game has going for it. It feels extremely boring and easy compared to Hogan's Alley Game B or C which released at the the same time, and shooting cute ducks instead of Bad Guys feels bad. I may have ruined this one for myself as I have been slowly working my way through Gumshoe, so the action in this feels even slower. I ended up restarting in between rounds because it was taking way to long to missing ducks.
 
  1. Katamari Damacy Reroll (NSW, 8.5/10)
  2. Animaniacs: The Great Edgar Hunt (GCN, 7/10)
  3. Pikmin 3 Deluxe (NSW, 10/10)
  4. Mario + Rapids: Sparks of Hope (NSW, 7.5/10)
  5. Pikmin 4 (NSW, 9.5/10)
  6. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (NSW, 10/10)
  7. Luigi's Mansion (3DS, 7.5/10)
  8. WarioWare Gold (3DS, 8/10)
  9. Mario's Picross (3DS VC, 7.5/10)

10. Rhythm Heaven Megamix (3DS, 9.5/10) - One of the best 3DS games I have ever played. The only complaint I have is those gatekeeping games that make you pay all your coins - otherwise, this is really great. The goat minigame is fun, all the rhythm games are really catchy and I can't stop humming some of them. I look forward to exploring some of the side modes and shop items, as well as just working at perfecting some of the games. I can't believe I missed this when it first launched.
 
#7. Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 (GBA NSO)

Wow, the name of this game is convoluted! Anyway, SMA4:SMB3 (lol) is a port of SMB3 for the GBA. As far as I can tell it plays exactly like the original, so in that sense it's a pretty good port. Some hate Mario's voice lines but I thought they were funny.

Now, regarding the game itself... at some point in my life I absolutely loved SMB3. The creativity in level design and gimmicks plus the great controls made me really enjoy the game. However, on this last playthrough I didn't really like it as much. The thing with games that have a lot of different ideas is that not all of them will stick, and while replaying the game I grew to really dislike the more "puzzle" oriented levels like castles and ghost houses. I also had trouble enjoying the auto-scrollers this time, which meant I particularly hated the last world, which left a bad taste in my mouth.

SMA4:SMB3 isn't just a port of SMB3 though, as it comes with a selection of around 30 new levels, which include mechanics from other games like SMB2 and SMW. Although a lot of these levels are fun, they suffer from the same problems I had with the levels in regular SMB3, so I didn't enjoy them all that much.

Overall, it seems SMB3 is a classic I'd have rather left in my memory...
 
Welp, after playing Alan Wake II for almost 8 hours, it's crashed and it won't stop crashing. It happens at one very specific scripted part. I usually don't get mad at games not working but this is admittedly pretty frustrating. I was just starting to get into the game, and having this not work when it was my destresser sucks :(
 
26. Doom (2016) (PC) [Finished September 23rd, 2023] - 8.5:
This year I've been retrying a lot of things I couldn't get into before and I've been way more generous with them than normal. Doom 2016 is another one of those games, back in 2016 I was pretty into the original DOOM and wasn't able to get into this game. It didn't represent much of what made Doom DOOM to me, it didn't have meaningful exploration, complex dungeon designs, or any type of level design that called back to the labryinthesque nature of the original DOOM.

However I was able to look past it more this time and enjoy this for what it is - a really fun fast paced romp. It represents some of the nature of Doom, just in a new different style. It's still not my preferred style, but it was fun nonetheless. My only real problem with it is that it is kind of repetitive, there is some questionable platforming gimmicks, and it takes a long time for the visuals to start getting more interesting, before that it's mostly just the same desert / lava and metallic environments and it doesn't start getting more varied till the second half. I also found the difficulty a little bit unbalanced, I played it on the second highest default difficulty which is kind of a DOOM tradition and I came away thinking there was a lot of parts where I would be killed by something I couldn't even see or didn't have time to react to, especially in the second half of the game. Oh yeah, and the music sucks. Other than that, it's too much fun for me to complain. I'm not sure if I would like this normally if I weren't in such a good mood at the time, but I'm glad I enjoyed this playthrough at the very least.

27. Super Mario Bros. Wonder (NS) [Finished October 29th, 2023] - 9:
Before this game came out I didn't really like the look of it at all. I liked some of the offscreen gameplay clips I saw and people's impressions were making me hyped but the actual trailers seemed pretty bland. I didn't like the art style of the game whenever I saw direct capture gameplay and I also found the whole selling point pretty bland, "weird" Mario is not that weird because Mario is inherently abstract and thus already weird, that combined with the inoffensiveness of the brand makes it really hard to pull of weird Mario. Once the game actually came out though, I came to really appreciate the art style. The game looks great and the way the animations work is just beautiful.

Beyond that, the game's gimmick of constantly introducing new gimmicks each level works beautifully, and unlike Mario 3 almost none of the gimmicks here are bad. I also want to pay attention to the fact that despite being a pretty easy game, levels tend to do a great job of showing off the possibilities of the gimmicks and the depth behind them, which is pretty impressive when most gimmicks are only in one level. I also looooooove how they've changed the movement, this game feels way snappier than previous Mario games and doesn't really rely on the players momentum to create challenge, it's so tight and consistent in a way that previous games weren't.

If I was to come up with some complaints about the game, I do generally feel that it's better as a game for short bursts rather than long play sessions. The high of the creativity and pure fun on display can generally tapper off pretty quickly, and part of that might be that levels rarely challenge the player in a meaningful way. I don't really mind this per say and I think it might just be suited better for what the designers are going for, but I do generally value games that can hold my attention for longer periods of time more. I also don't really like how much of the purple coins rely on doing an activity that you can't restart, I don't mind this for stuff like purple coins in auto scroller levels but it happens way too much for things that should be able to be restarted, I realize this is one of the only "challenging" parts of the game, but it's not challenge just pure repetition to force the player to restart a level to see if they can do an activity to get a purple coin. I also don't really like the badge system, it's a good idea but the fact that the badges take away mechanics from the base moveset or powerups is pretty lame, I'm like 99% sure the drill powerup was supposed to have the spin jump move and it got cut for a badge which is pretty lame.

28. Super Mario World (NS) [Finished November 4th, 2023] - 8.5:
This is a great game. I really enjoy how it takes the 2D Mario formula and makes it exploration based. It honestly feels like a precursor to Mario 64 in a way that I don't think is talked about that often, it's basically Mario 64 but in 2D. As someone who doesn't like that game that much, it's pretty cool to play this one.

It doesn't really expand on its ideas enough though, and by the end the alternative exit gimmick started to feel a little bit lame. Mainly due to the fact that so much of the alternative exits are achieved either in the exact same way, or are cryptic in a dumb way. When you look at a game like Mario Wonder, which doesn't even really have alternate exits very often, and the secrets in most levels are better hidden and accessed in a more interesting way than the ones in Super Mario World, it kind of makes you think that they might not have pulled it off as well as they should have in World. Still, it's a great game and I did have a lot of fun with it, there's no denying the secret exit gimmick is still pretty fun especially with the overworld. I also really like how the powerups this time are centered around your athletic ability in a way that is more engaging than most powerups in Mario games.

1. Mario Party Superstars (NS) [Finished January 1st, 2023] - 8
2. Bayonetta (NS) [Finished January 2nd, 2023] - 8.5
3. Pikmin (GC) [Finished January 5th, 2023] - 8.5
4. Pikmin 2 (GC) [Finished January 7th, 2023] - 6
5. Metroid Prime Remastered (NS) [Finished February 14th, 2023] - 10
6. Metroid Dread (Replay) (NS) [Finished January 21st, 2023] - 8.5
7. Metroid Prime 2 (PrimeHack) [Finished March 5th, 2023] - 8.5
8. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Dolphin) [Finished March 16, 2023] - 8.5
9. Sonic the Hedgehog (RetroArch) [Finished March 17th, 2023] - 4
10. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (RetroArch) [Finished March 20th, 2023] - 6.5
11. Resident Evil 4 Remake (PC) [Finished March 28th, 2023] - 10
12. Resident Evil VIIIage (PC) [Finished April 4th, 2023] - 7.5
13. Dead Space Remake (PC) [Finished May 15th, 2023] - 7.5
14. Metro 2033 Redux (PC) [Finished June 5th, 2023] - 7.5
15. Resident Evil 3 Remake (PC) [Finished June 10th, 2023] - 7.5
16. Final Fantasy XVI (PS5) [Finished June 30th, 2023] - 6.5
17. Pikmin 3 Deluxe (NS) [Finished July 11th, 2023] - 9.5
18. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (NS) [Finished July 27th, 2023] - [??? / 10]
19. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (Remastered) (PC) [Finished August 1st, 2023] - [10 / 10]
20. Pikmin 4 [100%] (NS) [Finished August 14th, 2023] - 7.5
21. Mega Man 3 (NS) [Finished August 16th, 2023] - 6.5
22. Pizza Tower (PC) [Finished September 6th, 2023] - 8.5
23. Super Mario Bros (NS) [Finished September 6th, 2023] - 8.0
24. Super Mario Bros 2 (NS) [Finished September 8th, 2023] - 8.0
25. Super Mario Bros 3 (NS) [Finished September 17th, 2023] - 6.5

Game Ranking 2023:
1. Resident Evil 4 Remake (10) (PC)
2. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (10) (PC)
3. Metroid Dread (8.5) (NS) (Need to bump this up)
4. Pikmin 3 Deluxe (9.5) (NS)
5. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (8.5) (PrimeHack)
6. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (???) (NS)
7. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (8.5) (Dolphin)
8. Pikmin (8.5) (Dolphin)
9. Pizza Tower (8.5) (PC)
10. Super Mario Bros (8.0) (NS)
11. Super Mario Bros 2 (8.0) (NS)
12. Bayonetta (8.5) (NS) (Would probably bump this down to an 8)
13. Mario Party Superstars (8.0) (NS) (Should probably bump this down to a 7.5)
14. Metro 2033 Redux (7.5) (PC)
15. Pikmin 4 (7.5) (NS)
16. Resident Evil Village (7.5) (PC)
17. Resident Evil 3 Remake (7.5) (PC)
18. Dead Space Remake (7.5) (PC)
19. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (6.5) (RetroArch)
20. Super Mario Bros 3 (6.5) (NS)
21. Mega Man 3 (6.5) (NS)
22. Final Fantasy XVI (6.5) (PS5)
23. Pikmin 2 (6.0) (GC)
24. Sonic the Hedgehog (4.0) (RetroArch)
 
While waiting for the mega-sales to come, I went ahead and finished up You Have To Build A Boat. I always have a soft spot for these tile-matcher-RPG fusions.
 
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