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StarTopic The 2024 Completed Games Thread

12) Super Mario Land (GBA NSO): 7/10

I... don't remember it being that short haha. I think I had seen someone else describe this game as a fever dream and that's very apt. The soundtrack is absolutely bumpin' and the levels are visually different from other Mario games but in a cool way. The mechanics are a bit janky, but it does play very similar to how I remember.

Save states and rewinds were almost a must for this. I took a better approach to using those features this time around than when I played DKC. Instead of just rewinding at the slightest inconvenience, I created a save state at the beginning of each level and when very low on lives, allowed myself a little grace to use rewind on silly deaths or if I reached game over. In hindsight, it did make me realize I disliked my time with DKC more than I thought though given the amount of cheap deaths I had in that game

I'm not sure what I'll play next. Maybe jump back and finish Elden Ring? I'm like 80 hours in and have to be getting close. Would be nice to finish and then jump into the DLC at some point. Horizon Forbidden West is on my "to purchase" list but I don't know if I want to start a giant open world yet

1) Marvel's Spiderman (PC): 8.5/10
2) Jusant (PC Gamepass): 6.5/10
3) Splatoon 3 Story (Switch): 7.5/10
4) Bowser's Fury (Switch): 8.5/10
5) Cassette Beasts (PC Gamepass): 9/10
6) Pokemon Scarlett - Teal Mask DLC (Switch): 6.5/10
7) Hi-Fi Rush (PC Gamepass): 8.5/10
8) Donkey Kong Country (SNES NSO): 7/10 - retroactively changing from 7.5
9) Splatoon 3: Side Order (Switch): 9/10
10) Starfield (PC Gamepass): 9/10
11) Star Wars: Jedi Survivor (PC Gamepass): 9/10
12) Super Mario Land (GBA NSO): 7/10
 
Regulus Tera said:
10. Sonic Frontiers: The Final Horizon (1/5)

Piece of crap ass dogshit DLC. The worst thing Sonic Team has done since 2006, but whereas that had the excuse that the team making it had to be split to make Secret Rings and the lead developer left midway through, this has absolutely no justification. They actually made a very decent if flawed game into a worse experience.

The extra characters play like ass. If you bother unlocking their movesets, they break up the main gameplay conceit. Combat is still as bad as before but now the enemies require perfect parrying and have ridiculous levels of precision involved. The extra platforming challenges are poorly thought out, and can either be easily exploited or, in the case of Knuckles, have awful camera control. And the Sonic challenges go beyond just being hard into creating extra friction to the player. It's one thing to make a Kaizo-tier precision platforming challenge in a Sonic game, it's another to do so while removing all checkpoints.

The worst part about it is that every single time you think the game can't get worse, it gets worse. Oh, the combat trials are too hard? How about a boss rush where you cannot regain energy/time and that demands that you do the non-combat parts every single time you fail. Or what about a final boss that requires that you use a mechanic that does NOT get taught anywhere else in the game? And that's without mentioning how it undoes the dramatic denouement of the base game. It's fanservice for the sake of the people who whined that the original ending was an Ikaruga homage instead of something more Sonic-appropriate. Well fuck you, you just made the game more tedious and intrusive.

I hate Sonic Team. I hope Sonic's shitty friends don't make it into the next game. I have not a single good thing to say about this DLC. It was free and I still feel like I got slapped on the face.
Click to expand...

11. Super Mario Land (1.5/5)

Historical significance aside, it’s just not a very good platformer. I can count in my hand the amount of R&D1 games I enjoy and this one pretty much is exemplary of everything that’s characteristic about that development group. Their games are imaginative and quite ambitious, but it often feels like they don’t get play tested enough, and as a result they have just enough kinks that make their titles a chore to play.

Mario’s midair control is nearly non-existent. Hit boxes don’t match the enemy sprites. There’s little tell for environmental hazards. To be honest, the only reason I don’t rate it lower is that it’s a thirty minute game. It doesn’t have enough stay to truly irritate you.

Just play Super Mario Land 2 instead. Dope soundtrack, though.
 
It is, indeed, my greatest pleasure
To say I've beaten Another Crab's Treasure
With sharpened fork and mystic spells
Aquatic beasts were trounced and felled

-----

Okay, honestly, it is probably my favorite take on the Souls-like genre. Probably because going with an Umami (read: Magic) build was actually fun, especially once you've upgraded your Adaptations. Also feels zippier than something like Dark Souls, owing to its 3D platformer trappings, and I quite liked that.

Most of my criticisms are on the technical side, mostly in the latter half, where it starts getting jankier. Would get stuck in background scenery semi-frequently!

Still, loved this game. It's a treasure, for sure.
 
18. Animal Well (PC) [May 25th, 2024] - 7.0/10:
I usually have a pretty hard time separating Metroid influences from Zelda influences in Metroidvanias (I'm onto you Iga!) but this game is definitely a clear example of how the genre can be more inspired by Zelda than anything else. I mean maybe Billy Basso will come out and say he was only inspired by Metroid, but the entire way progression works in this game reminds me way more of Zelda: Items are basically just puzzle solutions, every time you get an item it's not really an upgrade to your character but basically just a way to continue playing the game. This creates a self fulfilling prophecy where items only really exist to help you progress further in the game, where you'll inevitably need another item to progress further, and so on and so forth, rather than like in Metroid where items usually serve a dual purpose of also upgrading your character and having way more applicable uses outside of puzzles.

But I'm kinda left wondering .... does this really work for a Metroidvania? I mean one of the things that works about Metroidvanias is that no matter how much they may ask of you for your navigational and puzzle solving skills, you'll always be treated to new upgrades and incentives along the way to motivate you to press on. And Animal Well doesn't really do that. Even Zelda has way more true upgrades than Animal Well. If we've seen anything from games in the last few years, it's that intrinsic motivations can be just as good if not a better reason to play a game than extrinsic ones - allowing players and designers to think outside the box and make games around the pure enjoyment of discovery. But Animal Well isn't really like that, it doesn't have any mechanics to facilitate that, it's mostly just a standard puzzle platformer, just put into a Metroidvania setting. Asking players to just press on just because, in a genre that usually rewards backtracking and critical thinking, is a big ask.

Animal Well is at its best when you're making tons of progress back to back. In this way I feel like I kind of ruined the game for myself, because I see a lot of people beating this in 5-6 hours but my playtime was probably more like 9-9.5 hours. And yeah, if I beat this in 5-6 hours I'd probably be giving it high praise. I had a long period of time where I wasn't really sure how I was supposed to progress because I didn't have the slink (I kept going back to the area where you get it multiple times, but I didn't have a key the first time I went there and forgot that it was a key door not a switch door the next time I went, especially because there was a switch in the other room next to it), and I didn't notice the bottom two flames on the map because they were out of my viewpoint. I can't really blame the game for these mistakes, but I do think that it shows how most Metroidvanias would at least compensate for these headaches by giving you some cool rewards. It was fun doing a lot of accidental egg hunts during the middle of the game when I wasn't sure what to do next, but it wasn't fun when I realized how much that affected the pacing hours later.

Lastly I'll say that because the platforming in this game isn't hard and because there's no combat, the game has to compensate by making obstacles obnoxious since there's no other way to really introduce challenge otherwise. Stuff like the second mock disc, or the crazy reflective lasers at a certain part of the game, or those weird switch block puzzles where the developer fakes you out into thinking you've locked yourself out of the puzzle, only to realize there's a switch outside of the puzzle you didn't see .... why even do that? What's the benefit of it? It's not clever when you realize that there was a switch you didn't see, it's just frustrating. Little annoyance like it being way too hard to tell what the map is showing, or the flute controls sucking also don't help. And what is with the yo-yo controls? Has to be the worst item in the game, and in general I'm not sure how to feel about how many of the items later in the game are light on player control.

I'd like to replay it someday, it's a game that with hindsight I could easily see myself loving. I'd give it a 7/10 but that feels a little generous, the highs were incredibly high and a lot of the game was easily some of the most fun I've had with an indie Metroidvania, but the frustrations were immense and the game cracks under pressure pretty quickly.
 
1. Super Mario RPG (Switch)
2. Metroid Fusion (NSO)
3. Super Mario 64 (3D All-Stars, Switch)
4. Dredge (Switch)
5. Baten Kaitos I (Switch)
6. The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (NSO)
7. A Highland Song (Switch)
8. Super Mario Sunshine(3D All-Stars, Switch)
9. Chants of Sennaar (Switch)
10. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (Switch)
11. Super Mario Galaxy (3D All-Stars, Switch)
12. The Fall of Elena Temple (Switch)
13. Super Mario Land (NSO)
14. Star Ocean: The Second Story R (Switch)
My first ever experience with the Star Ocean series and I had a really good time. The difficulty curve was odd, with me occasionally hitting sudden spikes but, usually, and especially as the game went on, blasting through things without too much difficulty. Some of that late game ease is down to the many interlocking systems that allow you to unlock stat boosts as well as paying attention to and creating good equipment, so I don't mind.

I really liked the uneven and slightly messy parts of it, though, and was astonished to find there are 99 endings (presumably counting each character ending as 1 ending with multiple for each character; I liked the endings I got, mostly, especially for Claude and Rena). That's not to suggest the game is very messy or anything - there's just a lot going on beneath the surface, and sometimes on the surface; especially in combat when you have Celine and Rena with functionally unlimited MP blasting spells on repeat. Combined with the unusual structure - mild spoilers - a traditional fantasy quest around the world is roughly two thirds of the game before the planet is destroyed and sci fi elements are embraced on a second smaller overworld and the game really showed its PS1 roots in a great way. It's proof of how wild, varied and experimental JRPGs as a genre could be, and it makes me a little sad because I really feel we will hardly ever see this kind of creative energy in today's market. There are still excellent middle budget JRPGs and Switch especially has been a real boon for that type of game; but even the games taking risks and putting twists on familiar tropes aren't doing it with the kind of reckless abandon at play here.

I'm also a huge fan of the remake's presentation. The flashy battles, 3D environments, 2D sprites and character portraits come together really well. I hope Nintendo, Camelot and Artepiazza are taking notes for a Golden Sun remake, because they could learn something from this.

Not sure what's up next. Super Mario 3D World is next in my 3D Mario-athon; Unicorn Overlord and Paper Mario TTYD are my other 2024 purchases waiting on the shelf; Bayonetta Origins would be good for an RPG break but I might buy Master Key next week. Who knows.
• A Highland Song
• Baldur's Gate 3
• Baten Kaitos I
• Baten Kaitos II
• Dredge
• EarthBound
• Final Fantasy II
• Final Fantasy III
• The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
• Metroid Fusion
• Star Ocean The Second Story R
• Super Mario 64
• Super Mario Sunshine
• Super Mario Galaxy
• Super Mario 3D World (+ Bowser's Fury)
• Super Mario Odyssey
• Chants of Sennaar
• Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
• Ristar
• Crusader of Centy
• Bayonetta Origins
• Unicorn Overlord
• Fall of Elena Temple
• Paper Mario: TTYD
 
From Jan to end of April, manage to finish the main Yakuza game:
1. Yakuza Kiwami 2 - the last few chapters of the game, pick it up after a long holiday off last year.
Sudden change in the game engine definitely catch me off guard,

2. Yakuza 3
I think a lot of people rank this game as the lowest in the main series, but I like the kids, totally don't mind spending time resolved their problem, I like Mine, his character could be expanded a little more, maybe when Kiwami 3 is out?

3. Yakuza 4
The introduction of every character at the beginning of each part is very cool, really show the step-up in camera work of the series, don't like the twist with the rubber bullet, and can't believe they off screened Yasuko and Saejima meeting each other, it could have work so much for Yasuko's character. Apart from those, don't remember much about the story.

4. Yakuza 5
I love Kiryu and Haruka's part a lot in this one, perfectly setup for the next game too, I heard some people dislike Haruka's minigame but I don't care, the song is cool, the minigame is easy enough for even a person with bad rhythm like me can do it. But a little too convoluted for its own good with the antagonist's plan.

5. Yakuza 6
Perfect end for Kiryu (for now), loving has him going around with a baby in a small town like this, it's giving me a cozy vibes, wish there were a little more side content involved Haruto. Love the guys at Hirose family.

6. Yakuza: Like A Dragon
Perfectly introduction of a new main character - Ichiban, love him and the party, one of the best antagonist if not the best in the series. I'm a big fan of turn-based RPG, so the change is a big plus for me, but kinda missing the "fight introduction" with all the bosses. Kinda grinding when trying to fill the Sujimon dex (tried to look for 1 of specific one...), love the business minigame, easy enough and not grinding like the one in Yakuza 0.

7. Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name
Not much to say since it's shorter but the ending man... I cried so hard, I played through the whole series (saw some people advice to keep the between when first into this), so seeing those kids growing up and be so much responsible feel so much to me...

8. Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Some more good additional to the party, love they splitting the party to 2 team now, have more chance for each character to shine, loving all of these dumbasses. Didn't like the choice for the VA (Japanese) of one of the character... I understand they want their Japanese VA and when they speak English to match, but like, it took me out when they speak English... dude is clearly a white man living in Hawaii but somehow speak better Japanese than English.

Probably the most games I finished in the span of 4 months ever.
Take almost a whole May off, tried to start a few different games from Persona 5 Royal, Monster Hunter World but probably going to stick to the "open world" Assassin's Creed Odyssey for now.
 
We have been beset with a typhoon all day, and seems like the clouds will keep on crying til tomorrow. I mentioned to @xghost777 before that I'd been saving a certain game for a rainy afternoon, and well, it can't get any rainier than this.

A Short Hike has you playing this young bird, who's waiting for an important call, but it turns out the campsite where she's at had zero reception... unless she climbs to the top of the nearby mountain. Hence, the title.

Calling this game a bite-sized adventure would be accurate, but it would downplay how filling of a bite it is. The current occupants are full of charm, and their silly musings on life are engrossing. The island itself is full of character, and you'll be zipping and gliding through its treetops and snowy mountaintops. You can fish. You can drive a boat. You can play Calvinball. You can dig up treasure. It's the best parts of summer vacation wrapped into one snug little package. And the ending? It poked me right in the heart.

This was one of the shorter games I finished this year, but I think it'll stick with me for a long time.
 
Ran into a game-breaking glitch right at the end in Isles of Sea and Sky but I'm counting it as finished now.

It's basically if Zelda was only block puzzles in an open world consisting of multiple islands and with a gorgeous GBC-like artstyle. There's some really clever stuff in here and I managed to make some good progress and get most of the stuff I came across. But the longer I played the more tedious it started to become, not just the convoluted puzzles but also navigation. I think it's a tad bit too long and at times too clever for me but if block puzzles are your jam this one is really good.

  1. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
  2. Alan Wake II
  3. Rytmos
  4. Pizza Tower
  5. Hi-Fi Rush
  6. Humanity
  7. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
  8. Jusant
  9. Momodora: Moonlit Farewell
  10. Panzer Dragoon (Remake)
  11. Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon
  12. Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix
  13. Astro's Playroom
  14. Ghost of Tsushima
  15. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
  16. Birth
  17. Final Fantasy VII
  18. Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation
  19. Sifu
  20. Minishoot' Adventures
  21. Final Fantasy XVI
  22. Botany Manor
  23. Super Mario Land
  24. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
  25. Animal Well
  26. Portal 2
  27. Tangle Tower
  28. Yoshi's Island
  29. Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope
  30. Isles of Sea and Sky
 
meatbag said:
We have been beset with a typhoon all day, and seems like the clouds will keep on crying til tomorrow. I mentioned to @xghost777 before that I'd been saving a certain game for a rainy afternoon, and well, it can't get any rainier than this.

A Short Hike has you playing this young bird, who's waiting for an important call, but it turns out the campsite where she's at had zero reception... unless she climbs to the top of the nearby mountain. Hence, the title.

Calling this game a bite-sized adventure would be accurate, but it would downplay how filling of a bite it is. The current occupants are full of charm, and their silly musings on life are engrossing. The island itself is full of character, and you'll be zipping and gliding through its treetops and snowy mountaintops. You can fish. You can drive a boat. You can play Calvinball. You can dig up treasure. It's the best parts of summer vacation wrapped into one snug little package. And the ending? It poked me right in the heart.

This was one of the shorter games I finished this year, but I think it'll stick with me for a long time.
Click to expand...
Heck yeah! Glad you enjoyed A Short Hike meatbag! It’s such a great little game with so much heart!

Since you lured me here, and I do beat games a bunch, I’ll share my list of games I beat this year so far. I just finished my 25th game, Star Fox Adventures, last night, and really enjoyed it! My prior attempt at a playthrough years ago ended in quick disaster with my memory card getting corrupted, but this time I made it all the way to the end. I had heard comparisons, but had no idea the game pulled from Ocarina of Time’s design language so heavily. While the combat was weak, the Zelda level and puzzle design that regularly charts its own path was super cool. Really glad I finally beat it.

2024 Games I Beat (14)

Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes
Love Live School Idol Festival 2 Miracle Live
Mario Vs Donkey Kong Switch (All Stars)
Splatoon 3 Side Order
Like A Dragon 8 Infinite Wealth (Platinum)
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Princess Peach Showtime!
Penny’s Big Breakaway (100% Platinum)
Pepper Grinder
Granblue Fantasy Relink
Dragon’s Dogma II
Final Fantasy XVI The Rising Tide
Endless Ocean Luminous
Stellar Blade (Platinum)

Old Games I Beat In 2024 (11)

Octopath Traveler II
Fashion Dreamer
SEGA Bass Fishing
River City Girls 2 (co-op replay)
Mario and Luigi Paper Jam
Donkey Kong Land
Borderlands 2
Super Mario Land (100% Replay)
Super Mario Land 2 (100% Replay)
Gears 5 Hivebusters
Star Fox Adventures

My goal for the year is to beat 50 games, so doing well so far there. I ended up beating 60 last year and I’m on track for that too 👀.
 
Hey thread, been a while huh? I haven't completed a game since... January 28th?!?! Turns out having less time to game than usual combined with playing three different RPGs for over 60 hours each without finishing any of them is not a great recipe to complete games.

3) Persona 3 Reload

I finally managed to finish this game and despite having a lot of little annoyances and things that kept me from loving it, I'm really glad I did. The ending is quite good, and few things hit as hard as the classic Persona "walking around town saying goodbye to all your friends and confidants" on the last day of the game. It was great getting to see where so many ideas and mechanics that are further developed later in the series came from, and even though I feel like P5 does basically everything better than this game, it's hard to fault it too hard for that considering it was the first of the modern Persona formula and broke all the new ground in the first place.

Overall I think this game just edges out P4 for me, so my ranking for now is: P5>P3>P4, but 3 and 4 are very close.

1) Afterimage
2) Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
3) Persona 3 Reload
 
#21 - Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

An unexpected announcement in the last [full] Nintendo Direct was a reveal of the much loved Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. So... how is it? Well, if it were bad, I'm sure we'd all know by now!

The Thousand-Year Door starts with Princess Peach travelling to the town of Rogueport, where she ends up in posession of the Magical Map. Unsure of what to do with it, she sends it to Mario, who is drawn to Rogueport to solve the mystery; thus begins the well-known story of The Thousand-Year Door, the X-Nauts, and the Shadow Queen. While iconic, the story itself is rather basic, although there is some interesting lore; instead, the strength of the game lies in the scenarios Mario and company find themselves in along the way. From cosying up to the Pianta mafia, to rescuing little critters inside a giant tree, or even the (albeit slightly strange) story of love between (wo)man and machine, it is easy to see why The Thousand-Year Door's story is beloved, even if contemporary games like Bug Fables tell better stories overall (at the expense of chapters being less "wacky"). The writing complements the game well, with a distinct feel unlike later Paper Mario (or even Nintendo) games; the game has a fantastic cast of characters, both playable and not, with a good amount of memorable, funny, and sometimes heartwarming NPC interactions; the inhabitants of Rogueport are certainly unforgettable, if nothing else!

The world of Rogueport is brought to life on Switch with a fantastic visual upgrade. Gone is the rather flat lighting - replaced with beautiful paper diaoramas and improved lighting and shadows that make the environments pop compared to the GameCube original. These changes also help with depth perception: a weakness of games like Bug Fables. This is a worthwhile visual upgrade and - based on the in-game concept art - it appears a lot of time and effort has gone into these environments: many were modelled in real-life before being digitised, similar to The Origami King. Indeed, this remake runs on the same engine: and although this does mean a drop to 30fps, the game appears to have been suitably rebalanced around this. Other influences from The Origami King are evident in this remake too; most notably, a remastered OST with fantastic unique chapter battle themes - and some very rock-heavy remixes - which is a welcome change, particularly as it means you don't hear the same battle theme for 30+ hours!

The gameplay of The Thousand-Year Door set the benchmark for the series, refining that seen in the original Paper Mario, such as by introducing dedicated HP for your partners, superguarding, and more. Having recently played Bug Fables, I can confidently say the badge system is stronger here: the wide variety of badges allow you to tailor Mario to both your play style and the enemies you encounter. This is because most badges can be obtained more than once; using the same badge more than once boosts their effect, but also limits the variety of badges you can use (and increases the Flower Points needed to execute moves granted by badges). In all, the badge system gives you a lot of rather organic freedom to tailor Mario as you see fit, which was really unexpected. This is contrast to Bug Fables, which had some rather contrived badges and forced "synergies" between them. In all, I had great fun messing around with badges, and if I had the time, I'd very much want to re-play the game and try one of the many challenge runs the badge system makes possible!

That said, one area where the modern Paper Mario (including fan-made tributes) exceeds The Thousand-Year Door is the level design and optional content. Unfortunately, too many of the areas in The Thousand-Year Door consist of simple linear hallways with the odd platform to jump on; and to make matters worse, too many chapters require you to walk backwards and forwards through these rather banal areas (looking at you, Chapters 4 and 5). While the remake addresses some of the backtracking, including a revamped fast-travel area akin to Bug Fables and The Origami King), it is a shame that a lot of the in-game traversal is as basic as it is. This sentiment extends to the sidequests, here known as "troubles", of which far too many involve fetch quests and talking to NPCs; and most aren't rewarding enough, although those that unlock new Pianta Parlour games or Ms. Mouz are highlights.

Other minor changes to the Switch version include two extra fights, one of which is fan-service for Paper Mario fans, Vivian being canonically transgender, a way to practice Action Commands, the Tattle Check (so you needn't waste a turn to re-read enemy stats if you've forgot them!), the ability to skip pre-boss cutscenes if you lose to a boss, and so forth. None of these are particularly major (although I do appreciate Nintendo committing to Vivian being transgender), nor do they affect the balance of the game unlike last year's Super Mario RPG remake - although I do wish they had gone a little further. I would say, on balance, that this is the definitive - and certainly most accessible - way to play the game, though.

An easy

9/10, although as I expected this, I can't say The Thousand-Year Door is my GOTY compared to Animal Well.

  1. Yooka-Laylee (05/01/2024, 7/10)
  2. Buckshot Roulette (06/01/2024, 8/10)
  3. Another Code: Recollection (19/01/2024, 8.25/10)
  4. Saga of the Moon Priestess (24/01/2024, 7/10)
  5. Super Kiwi 64: Doomsday [Update] (26/01/2024, 7.5/10)
  6. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (03/02/2024, 8/10)
  7. Mario vs. Donkey Kong (15/02/2024, 8/10)
  8. Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling (22/02/2024, 8.5/10)
  9. And Yet It Moves (27/02/2024, 6.5/10)
  10. Mario Golf (GBC) (15/03/2024, 7/10)
  11. Psalm 5:9-13 (17/03/2024, 8/10)
  12. Crypt of the Necrodancer: SYNCHRONY [DLC] (18/03/2024, 8/10)
  13. Princess Peach: Showtime! (22/03/2024, 8/10)
  14. Dragon Quest (Switch) (30/03/2024, 7/10)
  15. Froggo's Adventure: Verdant Venture (01/04/2024, 8/10)
  16. Otogi Katsugeki Mameda no Bakeru: Oracle Saitarou no Sainan!! (07/04/2024, 7.75/10)
  17. Amazing Hebereke (13/04/2024, 5/10)
  18. Tsugunohi (15/04/2024, 7/10)
  19. POOLS (01/05/2024, 7.5/10)
  20. ANIMAL WELL (11/05/2024, 9/10)
  21. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (24/05/2024, 9/10)
(plus a large amount of small (free) indie horror games and some kaizo Super Mario World hacks)
(gold - my current Game of the Year)
 
xghost777 said:
Since you lured me here, and I do beat games a bunch, I’ll share my list of games I beat this year so far
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Hehe, my scheme has borne fruit. I'm always impressed with how quick you play through games, especially with quite a few of them being chunky to play through.

SammyJ9 said:
Turns out having less time to game than usual combined with playing three different RPGs for over 60 hours each without finishing any of them is not a great recipe to complete games.
Click to expand...
At least you finally finished P3R, despite all the hassles of adult life. And that's what matters!

buildz said:
In all, the badge system gives you a lot of rather organic freedom to tailor Mario as you see fit
Click to expand...
The badge system in PM64 was fairly robust too. It's why I think of it and TTYD as games of adjusting your badge loadout, even more than the action commands
 
meatbag said:
The badge system in PM64 was fairly robust too.
Click to expand...

For sure, although TTYD is a little better because it has badges that affect your partner and the ability to equip multiple of a given badge (as enemies can drop them, and some can be purchased more than once). As said in my mini (or, well, perhaps medium-sized) review, I think that extra freedom for your "loadout" does a lot for the game compared to something like Bug Fables, which felt a little too... predetermined, I suppose, in terms of making viable character builds. I still remember picking up the various poison badges in Bug Fables, particularly those which increase attack & defense when poisoned, and the one which prevents you from naturally recovering from poison in battle, and thinking "wait, does this only exist to make the others not useless / super situational?" - something which didn't happen during my [first!] TTYD playthrough.

It's why I think of it and TTYD as games of adjusting your badge loadout, even more than the action commands
Click to expand...

I'd agree that TTYD isn't defined by the Action Comamnds, seeing as Mario + Luigi (and their shared predecessor, Super Mario RPG) also has them.
 
Been in a bit of a 8-bit mood so I played Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon again in the hopes that the energy I put out into the universe will come back and put the second one on sale (because I missed the most recent one when I was on holidays).

Anyway, really fun game. The way Ritual of the Night is basically SotN with the serials filed off, this is the same for CVIII. You gradually unlock four characters that you can switch between (though I think you can also kill them, not that I did that) and play through eight stages, each capped off with a cool boss. It's very similar to Shovel Knight in that it pays homage to the NES in terms of aesthetics, sound and "vibe" but isn't beholden to the hardware limitations. Which means it's in 16:9, the sprites don't have the same restrictions as they had on NES, there's no flickering etc. but it's all done with a relatively light touch. Especially like the music here, full of moody bangers. As someone who generally prefers classic CV to the metroidvania ones I really appreciated this even though I felt that it was a tad bit too easy at times. On the flipside, it makes it a pretty good entry point for people who want to get into CV, CVIII etc. but find them to difficult.

  1. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
  2. Alan Wake II
  3. Rytmos
  4. Pizza Tower
  5. Hi-Fi Rush
  6. Humanity
  7. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
  8. Jusant
  9. Momodora: Moonlit Farewell
  10. Panzer Dragoon (Remake)
  11. Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon
  12. Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix
  13. Astro's Playroom
  14. Ghost of Tsushima
  15. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
  16. Birth
  17. Final Fantasy VII
  18. Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation
  19. Sifu
  20. Minishoot' Adventures
  21. Final Fantasy XVI
  22. Botany Manor
  23. Super Mario Land
  24. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
  25. Animal Well
  26. Portal 2
  27. Tangle Tower
  28. Yoshi's Island
  29. Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope
  30. Isles of Sea and Sky
  31. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon
 
I got annoyed with Wintermoor Tactics Club's many technical issues, so I took a break from that and played a nice cozy run through Squad 51 vs The Flying Saucers. Mechanically it's a competent, if simple, horizontal shooter, but aesthetically, it's a delightful bomb of black-and-white, film-grain alien invasion flicks from the 1960s. Absolutely worth it for the vibes alone.
 
I got jealous of everyone playing Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, so I put my GameCube to use during these past few days and beat the game over a very rainy weekend during which I couldn't do much besides staying at home.

1. Price of Persia: The Lost Crown - 9/10
2. The Talos Principle - 7.5/10
3. Hitman: Blood Money - 8/10
4. Subnautica - 7.5/10
5. Katana Zero - 8/10
6. Hyper Light Drifter - 7.5/10
7. Hotline Miami - 8/10
8. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number - 5/10
9. Another Crab's Treasure - 8.5/10
10. Petiment - 8/10
11. Animal Well - 9/10
12. Lorelei and the Laser Eyes - 9.5/10
13. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door - 9/10
 
1. Spider Man 2 (PS5)
2. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD
3. Kuru Kuru Kururin (GBA NSO)
4. Persona 3 Reload
5. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
6. Sayonara Wild Hearts
7. Cocoon
8. Bayonetta 3
9. Blossom Tales II: The Minotaur Prince
10. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

11. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door

My first foray into Paper Mario was actually Sticker Star. I had gotten a 3DS late in its life, so I missed a lot of games that came out during that era. I was... unimpressed. The music, writing, and presentation were good, but I didn't make it very far because the battles started to really annoy me. I never had the means to try Color Splash, and I wasn't convinced Origami King would be up my alley, so I skipped that one too.

Since I had the NSO subscription, I went ahead and played through Paper Mario 64 last fall. As expected, the writing, music, and overall presentation were good, but that time, I also enjoyed the battles! The combat system wasn't that deep, but it was interesting and useful enough to do all the battles that came my way. The badge system made it possible to be creative with what type of build I wanted.

Here we are in 2024, and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door feels like a fantastic sequel to the original. The party members were much more interesting, the chapter stories were more creative, and the battle system is a bit deeper. Pair that with the ever fantastic writing and music, as well as some nice HD graphics, and you get another great Mario RPG on switch. Since it was my first time with TTYD, I can't comment on the differences from the original, but I can say that it still holds up as a great game today. If you have never played it, like RPGs in any capacity, and have the means to do so, do yourself a favor and play this game!
 
1) The Last of Us Part I (PS5)
2) The Last of Us Part I - Left Behind DLC (PS5)
3) God of War (PS2)
4) Tetris Effect Connected (PC)
5) Trials HD (XSS) [Replay]
6) Aperture Desk Job (Steam Deck)
7) Need for Speed Underground (PS2) [Replay]
8) The Last of Us Part II Remastered (PS5)
9) 13 Sentinels - Aegis Rim (NSW)
10) Penny’s Big Breakaway (Steam Deck)
11) Jusant (XSS)
12) Froggo’s Adventure: Verdant Venture (Steam Deck)
13) Pokémon Crystal Legacy (GBC)
14) Halo: Combat Evolved (Steam Deck) [Replay]
15) Pocket Tennis Color: Pocket Sports Series (NGPC)
16) Super Mario Run (iOS)
17) The Firemen (SFC)
18) Inks. (iOS)
19) Monument Valley (iOS)
20) Monument Valley - Forgotten Shores and Ida’s Dream DLC (iOS)
21) SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake (Steam Deck)
22) Animal Well (Steam Deck)
23) Donald Duck no Mahou no Bushi (SFC)
24) Alleyway (GB)

25) Rollcage (PS1)

Remember those RC cars from twenty-five years ago that had wheels that were bigger than their bodies and could drive upside down or whatever? This is a racing game where you drive cars just like that.

The central gimmick is that your car can drive rightside up or upside down, and there’s plenty of opportunities throughout the tracks to facilitate all that flipping. Which is fun, don’t get me wrong, but the driving model is so twitchy that you’ll find yourself spinning in circles and flipping uncontrollably more often than not. The solution is driving very carefully, because oftentimes touching a wall or going off road is an invitation to Spin City.

There’s also WipEout-style boost pads and weapons, which don’t add much to the experience; except that missiles can target scenery around the track. So you can shoot an overhead sign or a building or whatever, destroying it in the hopes that your opponents get caught in the wreckage. The destructible environments don’t alter the track much, but it does make the races a bit more dynamic.

I’ve been told that the sequel makes several improvements. So I guess I’ll give that one a shot soon.
 
It's been quite a while since I posted in this thread, so it's time for a juicy update!

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Very solid Metriodvania, incredibly polished, but lacks a couple of things to make it into the top of the genre:
  • Combat is really cool, but feels underused. All the combo options and techniques are not really used outside of training mode. I miss harder challenges, specially as the game advanced. The special moves would've made more sense if you could select all of them and switch in real time, or at least through the pause menu, because restricting the changes to the tree menus made experimenting harder and once I found a loadout that worked for me I stopped trying things. The bosses were amazing, though.
  • The skills you unlock are very original for the most part, but are tremendously situational and poorly integrated with the rest of the map. In good Metroidvanias backtracking becomes less tedious because you can change the way you move around the map with your new skills, crossing a big screen in half a second or obliterating a once hard challenge with a new power. This doesn't hapen in PoP as a lot of the skills require some special environmental set up so if it isn't there, the skill just can't be used at all. Also, I wish that MVs were braver at this point: if you're going to have a double jump, give it to me in the first hour. Don't keep it until the end of the game, everyone knows it's coming so it creates disappointment when I'm unlocking powers and none of them is the double jump until the very end of the game. And when it comes, it disappoints as I still had the hope that it would be a somewhat different power...it's been done a thousand times already, it's time to get more creative.
  • The game is very empty, there are a lot of rooms that are just there for you to walk through them. Not even a platforming challenge, or a couple of enemies, nothing. This is exhacerbated by the unlockable powers not changing how you move through the game. Also, at some point we should've been able to unlock teleporting between trees.
Overall, a very good game, very solid and with some cool ideas, but ultimately fails to take the last step into the pantheon of great MVs.

Yoku's Island Express
I'd heard nothing but praise for this, but I've never been a fan of pinballs so I always let it pass...But I finally decided to give it a try and I have to say that this is one of the greatest MVs I've ever played. I love everything about it:
  • Really imaginative way to move around, from the basic concept, to the superbly creative new powers you get. At last, a Metroidvania that does away with the movement and power up conventions from the last 40 years and does something COMPLETELY NEW AND AMAZING!
  • Incredible map and level design, it's genius and must've been a colosal work to get right. Hats off to the level designer. It has a ton of detail, every little corner is important, yet at the same time it's incredibly easy to read and find your way from A to B. What's better, sometimes you can even get around just with the signs you find along the way without having to open the map at all! There are very clever hidden challenges everywhere around you that make you scratch your head and play with the basic mechanics to discover new ways to use them that will blow your mind.
  • I don't care much about the story in games, but this one is amazing: It doesn't intrude too much but is really nice and refreshing. You are almost the smallest bug in the game, but you manage to accomplish huge tasks, by helping others and working as a team. The typical quests to get 4 mcguffins is incredibly well integrated in the story in a very organic way: You're the postman, so you need to bring letters to the 4 chiefs to solve the big problem. No one is expecting you to solve the problem yourself because you're just a beetle, but they ask for your help for smaller tasks that are vital for greater goals. The setting, characters, side stories...everyhing is incredibly original, interesting and fun.
  • The way currency is integrated in the game is genius: You can buy stuff, or unlock new paths and change the map, or unlock alternate travel methods...This makes it so that engaging with the pinball part just to try to get more fruits is encouraged and, what do you know, ends up being incredibly fun.
  • The presentation is very good: Graphics are good, music is awesome, character and location designs are memorable...
Now the "bad" part:
  • It's a bit short, even to 100%.
  • Everything is physics based, so sometimes it can be a bit frustrating to not get the exact angle for a shot. I think that it would've been better if the game discretized some things to make basic movement easier, specially outside of pinball challenges. For example, have predetemined paths or angles in some bumpers, like how BotW accepts Korok pieces in puzzles even if the angle or spacing is a bit off.
These are minor nitpicks, this is an absolutely brilliant game in every way.


Mortal Shell
A Soulslike with a couple of interesting ideas, but some major flaws:
  • Combat is incredibly easy: Just attack, use Harden (sort of a block) when the enemy attacks, roll away to recover stamina and cooldown the Harden ability, rinse and repeat. This strategy works flawlessly for minions and bosses alike. There are also parries, but they are a losing strategy as they use your special meter and your other special moves are much more powerful and have no risk at all. There are plenty of healing items as well, so risking a parry to heal yourself is just not worth it.
  • The hub area is incredibly convoluted and a pain to navigate: Everything looks the same and there are a million loops and shortcuts so it's very easy to just walk in circles.
  • The in-game manual is glitched and the game tries to hard to be cryptic, so there are some basic mechanics that aren't explained correctly, or even at all...Like not even telling you the inputs for them or even that the mechanic exists in the first place.
The game has some very original ideas, like items having experience, or the harden mechanic itself, but feel like they could've been taken further or worked on a bit more. Apart of that, the game has many visual glitches on Switch and even some crashes. I was enjoying it, but ultimately lost interest and dropped it when I was in the last area. Not a bad game at all, but I feel like it's a prototype for a more developed game that doesn't exist yet.



Glyphica (demo /in development)
A roguelite typing game with some amazing depth: You are a static turret in the middle of the screen and must defend against incoming enemies by typing the word they show above them. As you kill enemies you gain EXP and every time you level up you can choose to improve one of your weapons or unlock new ones. The weapons are very varied, with automatic turrets, mines, drones...These weapons have several characteristics that allow them to synergize, so you can create builds around different combinations which can greatly change how you play. The weapons also have different activation conditions, for example 1 Hunter Drone will appear for every A, O or E in the words you type, but Energy Turrets will appear when you type a word that starts with J, K or L...This also affects how you play, making you prioritize those enemies that will trigger your weapons, so they can take care of the others.

The game is still under development but it's very polished already, with a very clean, elegant and minimalistic look and feel. You can find a free demo in Steam.


Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition
I just got through Vergil's campaign in a couple of sittings as I was in the mood for some DMC. Superb game, I won't rank it though as it's one of my favs ever and I just played it for a couple of days.


Link to main post: https://famiboards.com/threads/the-2024-completed-games-thread.8498/post-947076
 
Last edited:
correojon said:
Yoku's Island Express
I'd heard nothing but praise for this, but I've never been a fan of pinballs so I always let it pass...But I finally decided to give it a try and I have to say that this is one of the greatest MVs I've ever played
Click to expand...
Loved hearing the praise for the little bug exploring pinball island. Especially for the level design, it really is quite cool how the world wraps around itself, like interlocking pinball tables
 
By system:
3DS - 3
DS - 5
GBA - 1
PS5 - 3
Switch - 1

  1. Pokemon X [3DS] - 15.5 hours - 5.5/10
  2. Elite Beat Agents [(DS game on) 3DS] - 2 hours - 8.5/10
  3. The Sims: Bustin Out [(GBA game on) 3DS] - 9 hours - 9/10
  4. The Urbz: Sims in the City [(DS game on) 3DS] - 12 hours - 11/10
  5. The Sims 2 [(DS game on) 3DS] - 9 hours - 8/10
  6. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity [3DS] - 12 hours - 7/10
  7. Rhythm Heaven [(DS game on) 3DS] - 5 hours - 8/10
  8. Pokemon Conquest [(DS game on) 3DS] - 11 hours - 10/10
  9. Fire Emblem Fates: Revelations [3DS] - 12 hours - 10/10
  10. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth + Big Swell [PS5] - 145 hours - GOAT
  11. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (Legend difficulty) - 55 hours
  12. Persona 3: Reload [PS5] - 80 hours - 11/10
  13. Fire Emblem Three Houses - 40 hours - 11/10
    My first replay in four or so years, and it’s just as incredible as I remember! I spent ages roaming around enjoying the monastery and abyss. Went through on Hard this time, in Black Eagles of course. Just an absolute joy from start to finish.

    Ingrid and Shamia ended up being the MVPs of this run (my 8th total..), but Hapi is still my favourite. Apparently I hadn’t married the MC to her yet so I did so this time through. On that note, the supports are just fantastic, I tried my hardest to fill them all out and ended up seeing many that were new to me still! Petra-Dorothea, Ferdinand-Manuela, Jeritza-Constance and Rafael-Marianne are all just divine, and my headcanon pairings.

    This play through reminded me how much I loved the DLC for this too. The grey wolves are all great, Abyss is fun and their music is just 10/10. I love that they didn’t just add new characters for the DLC, but retconned them into the main stories too, being able to pull them into my class was amazing. Just an all time great game.

    The only negative for me is how Black Eagles is four chapters shorter than the other routes (iirc because they assumed everyone would want to side with the church? What were they smoking…), I wish we’d actually been able to fight Those Who Slither in the Darkness rather than reading about it in the credits.

    Ah well, this has me in the mood for more now, I’m off to replay Three Hopes (one of the best ever musous, and a worthy companion to 3H)
 
Finished struggling through Wintermoor Tactics Club. I wish I could say nicer things about it, but the technical issues really put a damper on my enjoyment. There's input lag for almost every single thing you do, and it's aggravating. Game even crashed on me four times!

The tactical RPG aspect is super simple, too. I had to go out of my way to be careless to get anything less than a perfect score. I enjoyed it well enough, but it didn't quite scratch the number-crunching, position-mapping, team-building itch I wanted it to scratch.

The writing is only passable. The moment the plot shifted to being about stopping an actual demon I felt like it, well, lost the plot. The latter half of the game seemed rushed, too.

Despite all that, I think I would have been come away content had it not been for the technical issues.
 
1963 73. Lorelei and the Laser Eyes

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is best described as a Resident Evil game that's fully a puzzle game.

Throughout the game you explore a mysterious mansion, solve puzzles, collect objects, open shortcuts, etc. The game is extremely stylish, and laying out puzzles in the game world makes them feel so much more rewarding.

I wouldn't describe it as a hard game. I believe if you write down things and remember your notes which you always have access to from the game, you'll solve most of it with no problem. However, every puzzle feels unique. There's nothing that I can point at that feels like a repeat, and thanks to that there are likely going to be places where you will be stumped, since our brains are all wired differently.

For me, Bug Report 2 was probably the biggest obstacle. However, at the beginning this format also works againts the game a little bit. When you don't yet know how the puzzles work, it's easy to get stuck due to a simple mistake and start "solving" things that are impossible, thinking that you have enough pieces, while you have two out of three.

I do wish the game wasn't as insistent on underlining important information in its notes, because that makes some things really easy, and even by the end of the game you'll be finding long pages with something like "TUESDAY" underlined.

That said, I loved my time with Lorelei. Beaten the game in 13 hours, which is a lot more than I would expect from an exploratory puzzle game.

As you would probably expect from my description, there is a story, and this might be the biggest meta puzzle that connects everything you know. Frankly, I'm still not sure about some things that happened. Because of this I can't say the story grabbed me, as throughout the game it was just weird and I couldn't connect with anyone. However, it's so stylish and abstract that it was still fun interacting with it.

It's a unique haunting experience that I won't soon forget, and if you like puzzles or want something strange, this is the game for you.

4.5/5
 
Finished in 2024 #25: Kanto Expansion Pak

The first generation of Pokémon games are important titles, launching one of the biggest media franchises in the world. But the first go-around is definitely a bit janky and lacks more modern quality of life features. Game Freak themselves have remade these games twice for a reason! That being said, Generation I Pokémon hasn't solely been stuck in the past. The classic metagame has a thriving competitive community, and we know more about these games than ever thanks to both continued play and leaks showing us glimpses into what could have been. Why change things when we can add to it instead, making its own unique experience in the process?

Enter the Kanto Expansion Pak. This project started as a mod for Pokémon Showdown which expanded upon the Kanto Pokédex with later generation forms/evolutions and Pokémon that were cut from Red and Green. The hack takes those additional Pokémon, adds them to the Generation One campaign, and combines beta elements with original concepts and ideas from the official remakes to form a fresh take on the original Kanto adventure.

The highlight of the Kanto Expansion Pak is, of course, the 100 added Pokémon, which take advantage of the later added Dark, Steel, and Fairy types. It starts with your first Pokémon, which now lets you choose one of five options: Bulbasaur and Charmander work as you expect, but the other starters present something new. Squirtle now evolves into the Water/Grass type Totartle (Blastoise is its own line, as suggested by beta leaks), Pikachu evolves into Raichu but can either be traded for Alolan Raichu or evolved further via in-game trade into Gorochu, and Eevee can access any of its evolutions through stones. From there, your options continue to expand. Sometimes you'll run into a beta pre-evolution (like Coinpur, the baby Meowth, on Route 1), giving you earlier access to certain Pokémon lines. Maybe a Pokémon will have a new middle stage evolution, like Weirduck in-between Psyduck and Golduck, making for a more even stat increase curve throughout the game. Perhaps, like with the Pikachu line, you can use an alternate form or a new evolution, breathing new life into an old favorite. And, of course, we can't forget about the completely new Pokémon, like the Electric type Kotora line, the Water/Fairy type Blottle line, the Normal/Grass type Ramoose, and more. Even if you stick to just the classic creatures, you'll run into plenty of new ones on trainer teams, which have been updated to use the new Pokémon throughout the adventure.

Of course, the Pokémon here exist to complement the existing Generation I metagame, not drastically modify what already exists. Original battle mechanics remain unchanged - no updated weakesses/resistences, no direct buffs to Pokémon, and only one added move for the original type pool. This is reinforced by Dark and Steel using their typings from the Pokémon Gold/Silver Spaceworld 1997 demo, which don't nerf Psychic as much and let Normal types run rampant. Fairy is still good, but less impactful thanks to a weaker Poison type and less dominant Dragon type. I appreciate the dedication to preserving what makes the Generation I metagame click while adding in new archetypes and type combinations - later generations might now have types as dominant as Normal or Psychic were, but that's part of the charm, and this hack embraces that charm.

The Pokémon aren't the only expansions found in this updated Kanto. Sprinkled throughout the game are numerous new areas inspired by beta elements or pre-existing lore, from city areas like Viridian City's Pre-Gym and Celadon University to new dungeons like the Underwater Tunnel and Cinnabar Volcano. The postgame sees the most additions, featuring boss rematches, a slew of postgame areas surronding the newly added Citrine City, and a final gauntlet packed with tough trainers.

The Kanto Expansion Pak is Generation I Pokémon, warts and all. It does feature quality of life additions, but it's not as much the focus as, say, Pokémon Yellow Legacy. Instead, this hack adds to the Generation I experience with its new Pokémon and areas, giving you loads of more options to play around with. I had a blast using new evolutions and alternate forms, and I could see myself playing this again to try out different teams of the new Pokémon sometime in the future. This is a must-play for fans of the original Generation I games, so long as you are willing to embrace the early gen weirdness.
 
VolcanicDynamo said:
Kanto Expansion Pak
Click to expand...
Oh no, not another marvelous Pokemon hack. I still have to finish Crystal Legacy. And PokeRogue. And then try Yellow Legacy out.

But for games I have been playing, I did just finish a short freebie called Doronko Wanko. You play as a cute Pomeranian whose goal is... to make a huge mess in the house you just got adopted to. Like, splattering mud everywhere and destroying furniture. Basically Untitled Goose Game but with a dog.
 
meatbag said:
Oh no, not another marvelous Pokemon hack. I still have to finish Crystal Legacy. And PokeRogue. And then try Yellow Legacy out.
Click to expand...
1160625.jpg
 
Gengar said:
1. Spider Man 2 (PS5)
2. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD
3. Kuru Kuru Kururin (GBA NSO)
4. Persona 3 Reload
5. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
6. Sayonara Wild Hearts
7. Cocoon
8. Bayonetta 3
9. Blossom Tales II: The Minotaur Prince
10. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

11. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door

My first foray into Paper Mario was actually Sticker Star. I had gotten a 3DS late in its life, so I missed a lot of games that came out during that era. I was... unimpressed. The music, writing, and presentation were good, but I didn't make it very far because the battles started to really annoy me. I never had the means to try Color Splash, and I wasn't convinced Origami King would be up my alley, so I skipped that one too.

Since I had the NSO subscription, I went ahead and played through Paper Mario 64 last fall. As expected, the writing, music, and overall presentation were good, but that time, I also enjoyed the battles! The combat system wasn't that deep, but it was interesting and useful enough to do all the battles that came my way. The badge system made it possible to be creative with what type of build I wanted.

Here we are in 2024, and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door feels like a fantastic sequel to the original. The party members were much more interesting, the chapter stories were more creative, and the battle system is a bit deeper. Pair that with the ever fantastic writing and music, as well as some nice HD graphics, and you get another great Mario RPG on switch. Since it was my first time with TTYD, I can't comment on the differences from the original, but I can say that it still holds up as a great game today. If you have never played it, like RPGs in any capacity, and have the means to do so, do yourself a favor and play this game!
Click to expand...
Reading this made me so happy. Glad you liked it! I'm an old-timey Paper Mario fan, and what I'm really hoping for with this remake is for plenty of new people to experience it and (hopefully) fall in love with it themselves. I know it's a little tough being this late in the Switch's life cycle, but man I hope it outsells whatever expectations Nintendo's got for it.
 
1. Super Mario Wonder (Switch)
2. Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch)
3. RedFall (XSX)
4. Borderlands 3 (XSX)
5. The Evil Within 2 (XSX)
6. Metroid Dread (Switch)
7. Minit (Switch)
8. Xenoblade Chronicles: DE (Switch)
9. Immortals of Aveum (XSX)
10. Ape Out (Switch)
11. Doom 3 (Switch)
12. Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes (XSX)


13. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (Switch)
8.5/10 - I loved my time with this game. The visuals were so unique and fun to look at. Despite never playing the original, it gave me this warm nostalgia feeling. It just reminded me of how it felt to play games when I was young. Unfortunately the performance issues and the last bit of the game (I did not enjoy the final two dungeons) dropped it’s standing a bit.
 
After replaying the base game of Shovel Knight I thought I'd finally tackle the DLC campaigns/standalone expansions/whatever you wanna call them, starting with Plague of Shadows.

I'm a little bit torn on this because it tends to be a bit frustrating at times though I ended up still feeling positive about it by the end. Unlike in Shovel of Hope I constantly felt like I was lacking the control I wanted from a game like this due to Plague Knight's moveset. The bomb jumps and throwables bring a certain element of chaos that makes it at times really difficult to predict where you'll land or whether you'll actually hit an enemy, further exacerbated by the sheer amount of combinations you can have. I had several boss encounters where I basically just button mashed my way to victory, except for the final one(s) which ultimately saved the experience.

Story-wise it's kind of a fun "b-side" where you get to see the events of Shovel of Hope from the perspective of Plague Knight which reframes certain things but also introduces several inconsistencies. I'd like to think of it as either an alternate retelling or Plague Knight being a bit of an unreliable narrator which works well enough for me. Not really something I was asking for but a pretty need title considering that it was meant to be a small add-on originally.

  1. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
  2. Alan Wake II
  3. Rytmos
  4. Pizza Tower
  5. Hi-Fi Rush
  6. Humanity
  7. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
  8. Jusant
  9. Momodora: Moonlit Farewell
  10. Panzer Dragoon (Remake)
  11. Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon
  12. Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix
  13. Astro's Playroom
  14. Ghost of Tsushima
  15. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
  16. Birth
  17. Final Fantasy VII
  18. Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation
  19. Sifu
  20. Minishoot' Adventures
  21. Final Fantasy XVI
  22. Botany Manor
  23. Super Mario Land
  24. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
  25. Animal Well
  26. Portal 2
  27. Tangle Tower
  28. Yoshi's Island
  29. Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope
  30. Isles of Sea and Sky
  31. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon
  32. Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows
 
Chibi Robo: What even is this game? Like seriously, who came up with a game where you clean a house while helping toys and saving a family from divorce. Well whoever did should be proud of themselves because this game is a sleeper hit. The core gameplay is tons of fun, there really is nothing more satisfying than cleaning the dirt and grime from the house, especially when the guitar hits. The side quests are filled with tons of great characters, so many in fact that I kinda forget they’re all optional. And I think that’s a great feather in this games cap, that all the content is of such consistently high quality, regardless whether or not it’s in the main story. The game is surprisingly funny, especially the stuff with the family and Telly Vision, the latter I 100 percent expected to be an annoying side kick and nothing more. The little music the game has is great, the art style is great, it lasts for as long as it needs to and not a second more, I really don’t have any issues here. This game really deserved someone to back it up like Pikmin had with Miyamoto, because I really think Chibi Robo could’ve gone places had they just stuck with it instead of doing what they did. 8.5/10, certified classic
 
74. Shenmue II

Despite having some big criticisms for Shenmue, it interested me enough to see where the series was going.

Reading about its history it seems during the developement somebody correctly stomped all over Yu Suzuki's dreams of an infinite saga since that'd mean second game would be entirely on a boat to Hong Kong. Instead, this game is split into two enviroments and I guess an epilogue which were supposed to be in games 3, 4, and maybe 5?

Shenmue II does a lot to be a better game: there are more mini-games, more ways to earn money, some new mechanics that make collectibles more interesting, and so on. Hell, there are even some quality of life updates that allow you to instantly teleport or skip the wait time! The game also features a lot more battles which is a nice change of pace from, well, kinda nothing.

I'll admit that Shenmue II never feels as cozy as the original, and I never formed the connection with its two cities. The sountrack is also worse with a lot of folksy Asian music as opposed to Shenmue 1's smorgasbord of genres.

That said, you can't fix Shenmue 1's problems without making a whole new series, so there are still some really really noticeable downsides. Ryo, I believe, is still a really shitty protagonist. His quest for revenge is silly and hot-headed, yet he himself is the most boring person alive. I think in this game he is specifically written as a little stupid, too.

Now, I said earlier that the game has plenty of quality of life features that help you not to waste as much time. However, this is still Shenmue, and what it means is that the story, despite being a bit more action-oriented, is still non-existent. The entire game can still be summed up in two sentences at MOST because the structure hasn't changed: someone talks about a lead, Ryo investigates, lead usually turns into a dead end, rinse and repeat. How was this game series planned to run for like a dozen entries?! This isn't a big sprawling multi-sided conflict, it's just a story of some idiot going after a man who's not even in the story 99% of the time!

The story still loves to slow down to a crawl for no reason. Let me give you some examples. Ryo, searching for a local mob boss, runs through the docks fighting some goons. He fights his way to the boss' right arm man, who says that he'll only let them meet for 500 bucks. Ryo... Agrees? I don't even mind the grind, but what kind of characterization is that? There are also points where you literally stare at the cassette player for 10 minutes to listen to dialogue or search for the right door in a maze of doors. And the time wasting is always so flimsy. The doors, for example? That's a timed event where you need to find the right person in 6 minutes. If failed, you're assaulted by 5 men and it's a game over. If you win, you'll soon fight, I believe, SIX men. For a game all about details it just doesn't make sense when you stop and think about your actions or the gameplay things for more than a second.

Thankfully, Shenmue II has a better cast of characters overall, which helps with Ryo's blandness. They aren't really developed well or are that interesting, but they at least have one trait, which is more than I can say for the protagonist. There's still an unfortunate thing of them not really being important to the story, but I've at least enjoyed my time with them.

The star of the show is the man who appears close to the end of part 1, Ren. Probably the best voiced of all the characters, he's a simple thief with a relatively soft heart, yet he's enjoyable to watch and listen to, and I wish I was playing as him. However, not everyone is equal. Towards the end of this game you'll met Shenhua, a lady who you've been seeing since Shenmue 1's attract mode. Her and Ryo share more screentime than anyone. The whole last part of the game goes for multiple hours and it's just them walking and talking intersperced with some really simple action. She is perfect for Ryo because she is JUST AS BLAND as him. I honestly can't understand how a game that came out nearly at the same time as MGS2 has voice acting this disasterous.

I get it, mundaneness can be interesting, but not like this. Listening to people who sound like robots for HOURS isn't fun. I don't think it would be fun even if they sounded good but actors could at least have some chemistry, I guess.

There are parts of Shenmue II I've enjoyed, and those parts are bigger than the ones of Shenmue 1. However, I find the entire design philosophy of those games baffling. I can handle a chill time, but Shenmue seems actively hostile to you. There's no story, and I can't believe this was something that people needed a continuation to. Sure, there's a cliffhanger, I guess, but knowing what I know about Shenmue III it's just more walking and talking and barely getting close to anything ever which it obviously is because that's what this whole series is. If anything, it just makes me think that I might've scored lesser Yakuzas too low in my head, because even the most time wasting and bumbling of those titles still has something.

2.5/5
 
Pillydillsy said:
Chibi Robo
Click to expand...
It's got that Pikmin appeal of exploring common environments from a miniature being's perspective. I want a Switch port for it...

Finished another banger today. Or should I say clanker, because Vaporum is a first person dungeon crawler set in a mechanical tower full of hissing pipes and whirring gears. It's an engrossing setting that makes you want to explore every nook and cranny.

There's a healthy variety of possible builds (I defaulted to the standard dodge tango) and the combat is reasonably crunchy. The variety of the puzzles was solid too; I especially loved the ones where you trick monsters into walking into teleporters!
 
Finished the 25th Anniversary Edition fanhack for the original Mother.

I could never get very far in EarthBound Beginnings so I was glad to finally finish this game in some form. It uses Tomato's localization and has several aesthetic and mechanical changes plus an actual overworld map. As a fan of both EarthBound and Mother 3 I generally enjoyed the world, the music and all of its idiosyncracies and just like with Mother 3, Tomato's writing is on point. It's a really sweet (and weird) tale with a powerful ending. You can really trace a lot of modern indie games back to this. But it's also an obtuse-ass game that feels very archaic in several respects, like UI or map design. I could live with the limited inventory space if it wasn't such a hassle to use and the hack does little to mitigate it.

Definitely the weakest entry but still good in its own right, just have to adjust your expectations for it.

  1. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
  2. Alan Wake II
  3. Rytmos
  4. Pizza Tower
  5. Hi-Fi Rush
  6. Humanity
  7. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
  8. Jusant
  9. Momodora: Moonlit Farewell
  10. Panzer Dragoon (Remake)
  11. Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon
  12. Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix
  13. Astro's Playroom
  14. Ghost of Tsushima
  15. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
  16. Birth
  17. Final Fantasy VII
  18. Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation
  19. Sifu
  20. Minishoot' Adventures
  21. Final Fantasy XVI
  22. Botany Manor
  23. Super Mario Land
  24. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
  25. Animal Well
  26. Portal 2
  27. Tangle Tower
  28. Yoshi's Island
  29. Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope
  30. Isles of Sea and Sky
  31. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon
  32. Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows
  33. Mother: 25th Anniversary Edition
 
Axiom Verge

This is one of the early indie metroidvanias that has quite a reputation, but imo has more lows than highs. Right off the bat I have to say that it's simply ugly. Yeah, I know it's inspired by Metroid, yeah it's an 8-bit aesthetic and all. But man it's freaking ugly. As someone who grew up with the NES let me tell you that the vast majority of the 8-bit games have aged like milk visually. So trying to replicate thier aesthetic ain't necessarily a good idea. There are some instances that the game looks okay, mostly in screens where some background looks interesting. But then they're screens that look like the most boring, generic and ugly game you can think of. The glitch effects sound good on paper, but on screen they look like the game has seizures of the worst kind. Also every single enemy looks horrible, the bosses at least look nice.
Speaking of bosses the first three are walk in the park, but some of late ones are annoying as hell to fight, not necessarily hard just annoying. The last boss is pretty terrible as well.
The music at least is pretty good with some earworm tracks, but definitely lacks the atmosphere of Metroid.

Now the level design is mostly good. There are some moments of intense backtracking, but the map is not gigantic so it's not a big deal. The secrets are plenty and mostly pretty fun to discover, but once again the visual design doesn't make the game any favours, like there are instances that you can't tell the foreground from the background.
What's interesting about this game is that your abilities upgrades are fewer than your typical metroidvania. Instead you find a lot of weapons. All of them are fun but not balanced so a few of them are way more useful than the rest. So although I do appreciate the variety in the end you're likely to use 1-2 of them at most.
The disruptor is a cool idea, but way underdeveloped. There are like 3 instances in the whole game that it's used in a creative way like making enemies into platforms while the rest of the time is just used to bypass certain barriers. The most interesting ability is the drone which is used at first for puzzle solving, but later in platforming as well. As for the teleport I didn't have much of a problem of accidental inputs like most people, but teleporting in a top platform is freaking annoying. You have to double tap the button in milliseconds to achieve such a simple action.
The story is interesting, but I stopped paying attention somewhere in the middle.

Although my review appears mostly negative I still had fun with the game. It does interesting things like using passwords for secrets, the drone ability, disrupting the enemies and most importantly it does have its own personality despise looking like a Metroid knock-off at first. But there dozens of better metroidvanias out there.

6.5/10
 
Dardan Sandiego said:
After replaying the base game of Shovel Knight I thought I'd finally tackle the DLC campaigns/standalone expansions/whatever you wanna call them, starting with Plague of Shadows.

I'm a little bit torn on this because it tends to be a bit frustrating at times though I ended up still feeling positive about it by the end. Unlike in Shovel of Hope I constantly felt like I was lacking the control I wanted from a game like this due to Plague Knight's moveset. The bomb jumps and throwables bring a certain element of chaos that makes it at times really difficult to predict where you'll land or whether you'll actually hit an enemy, further exacerbated by the sheer amount of combinations you can have. I had several boss encounters where I basically just button mashed my way to victory, except for the final one(s) which ultimately saved the experience.

Story-wise it's kind of a fun "b-side" where you get to see the events of Shovel of Hope from the perspective of Plague Knight which reframes certain things but also introduces several inconsistencies. I'd like to think of it as either an alternate retelling or Plague Knight being a bit of an unreliable narrator which works well enough for me. Not really something I was asking for but a pretty need title considering that it was meant to be a small add-on originally.
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I think Plague of Shadows is the least liked DLC of them all: Like you say the movement of Plague Knight with the bombs can become frustrating really quickly. But keep going, the other DLCs are much better: King Knight's moveset is much better and very original and Specter's Knight's is really cool, makes you feel like a Ninja. You're in for a treat :)
 
Devil May Cry 5
After playing DMC4 for a couple of days I wanted to revisit 5 as well. I'm playing through the Bloody Palace with Nero and this time I'm putting much more effort in really learning his ins and outs: When the game released I focused too much in Dante and didn't pay much attention to Nero, partly because I didn't like that the Devil Breaker system was based on consumables instead of allowing you to freely switch through them. In the end I never used them much and never used the Break Age mechanic (a very powerful special attack that destroys the arm in the process), just like I never use consumables in games and specially in games like DMC or Bayo; I like to force myself to get better and not rely on items that can heal me or buff me up. But this time I'm focusing just on the Bloody Palace, which replenishes all your Devil Breakers every 10 levels, so that's giving me much more freedom to experiment with them and learn all the special uses they have. And I'm unlocking a new layer of Nero that is truly awesome. I'm also using a lot more the Devil Bringer Knuckle attack you get at the end of the campaign and I'm finally putting some time to learn the enemy attacks, windows for parrying, best situational combos, different enemy reactions I can cause with some attacks, special interactions with enemies...I'm unearthing new depths of the game and the combat system and having a blast.

A very special change in mind that I've made is that I need to adapt my strategy for the enemy layout, like stop charging Blue Rose after I release a fully charged shot and instead use the color shots while I charge the Devil Breaker for Break Age for special interactions against specific enemies, or popping in and out of Devil Trigger just to use one or the special moves, instead of staying in the mode and consuming the whole meter. In just a couple of days I'm improvng my records from 2019 and having a blast while this time I learn about all aspects of the game and not just Nero's combos. And this is without using the camera cheat which I always abused to keep enemies out of view so they wouldn't attack me.

BTW, this also reminds me of a big complaint I have about games of the genre (DMC, Bayo, TW101...): They just teach you the basics mechanics and the inputs and they don't go beyond that. 4 years ago I almost managed to beat Bloody Palace with Dante without knowing anything about hit reactions, enemy behaviour and attack windows...I didn't know you could break all of Behemoth's chains just by breaking the buckle on its back, or that you could trigger instant kill states for the Dead Scissors by parrying their attacks or staggering them with direct hits on their backs with something like overture. I don't think I even used Sin Devil Trigger and I used Devil Sword Dante really scarcely, yet that was enough to almost beat the biggest challenge in the game. These games really need to step up in the level/challenge design department and start teaching the players about all the depth of their systems by playing, like how Mario teaches you everything about a new mechanic in a level through challenge design. But for these games it's eiother buying a guide (if there even is one good enough) or going to Youtube and forums to look for this kind of information. BTW, if anyone is interested in the game, these guides iare amazing:




Link to main post: https://famiboards.com/threads/the-2024-completed-games-thread.8498/post-947076
 
correojon said:
I think Plague of Shadows is the least liked DLC of them all: Like you say the movement of Plague Knight with the bombs can become frustrating really quickly. But keep going, the other DLCs are much better: King Knight's moveset is much better and very original and Specter's Knight's is really cool, makes you feel like a Ninja. You're in for a treat :)
Click to expand...
I'm halfway almost done with it now, only missing the last main stage and whatever follows after it (if there is something). It's really good, definitely better than Plague!
 
75. Sayonara Wild Hearts

Sayonara Wild Hearts is a musical action-rhythm game that's maybe an hour long. That said, it's one of the best hours you can spend gaming.

A very abstract queer adventure in very creative levels revolving around collecting various hearts to boost your score while jamming to pop music. Every level feels unique and interesting with a lot of them introducing new mechanics for the player.

This game is an absolute joy. Its visuals are low-poly yet stylish, the color scheme is fantastic, and the story, as minimal as it is, made me cry.

The replay value is also there if you're up for it with 24 hidden achievements for which the game gives hints and a few collectibles per level (which also give a boost to your score!)

It's a fun time reminiscent of games like Space Channel and should not be missed.

4.5/5
 
1. Spider Man 2 (PS5)
2. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD
3. Kuru Kuru Kururin (GBA NSO)
4. Persona 3 Reload
5. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
6. Sayonara Wild Hearts
7. Cocoon
8. Bayonetta 3
9. Blossom Tales II: The Minotaur Prince
10. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
11. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door

12. Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom

Monster Boy has a great art style, but I found it to be a bit up and down with how much I enjoyed it. It starts out pretty slow, but I really started enjoying it more once you pick up a certain ability. It went on like that for a while, but the ending started to drag a bit. Many people who have played it described it as a metroidvania with a lot of Zelda influences, and I agree with that. There were a lot more puzzles than I would have expected from this type of game.

Overall, it's a solid metroidvania, but I'm glad I got it on sale. I just found myself getting annoyed more often than I would have liked.
 
Done with Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment. This was definitely better than Plague of Shadows in pretty much every way, very cool gothic vibes with a nice tragic backstory.

What stands out the most here are the new movement options, especially the slash-jump or whatever it's called, which are extremely fun and used in so many creative ways. Unlike in Plague of Shadows, they greatly reworked the levels to account for the heightened mobility and it consequently makes for a much fresher experience, despite the (understandable) asset reuse. I noticed a few leveldesign fragments from Shovel of Hope here and there but it's like 99% all new. And the soundtrack consisting of remixes and some new tracks is obviously still fantastic, Jake Kaufman never disappoints.

I'm of two minds when it comes to the story: I can't say that this is something I was craving when I played Shovel Knight and I liked that some things were left vague and only alluded to. But in the context of the Kickstarter campaign and this being something they had promised as a stretch goal, I really think they did a great job with it. What makes this work for me is that the characters and their motivations are really at the center and it doesn't deal with unnecessary lore bullshit. The playable flashbacks in are especially effective and give this campaign its own flavour and vibe.

I'm looking forward to King of Cards but might play some other things first.

  1. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
  2. Alan Wake II
  3. Rytmos
  4. Pizza Tower
  5. Hi-Fi Rush
  6. Humanity
  7. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
  8. Jusant
  9. Momodora: Moonlit Farewell
  10. Panzer Dragoon (Remake)
  11. Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon
  12. Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix
  13. Astro's Playroom
  14. Ghost of Tsushima
  15. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
  16. Birth
  17. Final Fantasy VII
  18. Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation
  19. Sifu
  20. Minishoot' Adventures
  21. Final Fantasy XVI
  22. Botany Manor
  23. Super Mario Land
  24. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
  25. Animal Well
  26. Portal 2
  27. Tangle Tower
  28. Yoshi's Island
  29. Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope
  30. Isles of Sea and Sky
  31. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon
  32. Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows
  33. Mother: 25th Anniversary Edition
  34. Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment
 
I forgot to post here for a bit, so here's what I've beaten up to now!

Freedom Planet 2
This game was just SO fun! It's like Sonic, but I can be a cat who has a motorcycle. It's got a cute, Saturday Morning cartoon style story, and some seriously great level design. There's a late level with some teleporters that I had an absolute blast in. Plus those cool opera house levels! Great, great stuff!

Don't Let Her In

A very creepy, very effective short Game Boy horror game. There's two endings to get. Love all the little details in this one. Make sure to examine stuff multiple times!

Nightmare Kart
Here's one I've been waiting for for ages! And I'm so glad it's finally here. Had so much fun going through the campaign mode! It's really funny in general, seeing these Bloodbourne analogs racing karts, listening to Mario Kart style music over very gloomy looking settings... but also it's really really fun to play! The campaign mode keeps things fresh with a variety of different objectives; regular races, deathmatches, capture the Insight... and of course, if you can find the three hidden Moon Shards, you can fight the true final boss in a very, very difficult final battle. It took me SO many tries... so happy I managed to beat it though!

Now I just need to figure out the code to unlock Bunlith...

1) Signalis
2) Gnosia
3) Sylvie miniature
4) Another Code: Recollection
5) Sonic the Fighters
6) Celeste 64: Fragments of the Mountain
7) Neko Can Dream
8) Spare Parts: Episode 1
9) Dead Names
10) 2/29
11) Alien vs Predator (1994)
12) A Tasting Flight of Names
13) 31st March, Midnight
14) Potion Stand Story
15) Freedom Planet 2
16) Don't Let Her In
17) Nightmare Kart
 
meatbag said:
Ah this is the Bloodborne-themed kart racer? Would I like it even if I haven't played Bloodborne?
Click to expand...

Yep! Nightmare Kart was originally known as Bloodborne Kart until Sony sent a cease and desist. So Lilith (the creator of the game) went and redid a bunch of stuff to make it legally distinct from Bloodborne. I think it's plenty fun even without being a big Bloodborne fan; I didn't get far into Bloodborne before dropping it (because I was REALLY bad at it!), so I think it's very newcomer friendly.

Oh, and I figured out how you unlock Bunlith for Free Play mode! All you have to do is...

Go to the Cheats screen and enter the code "Yeag"!
 
Quickly knocked out the Zebeth part of Metroid Planets. Took me 2:18 to 100% on Normal.

Honestly, a really fantastic fan project that updates the original game in some very neat ways. Some random thoughts: In terms of items and collectibles the original Metroid is so barren compared to the later games. There's several long stretches where you feel like there should be an item and there just isn't. The bosses are also very pedestrian. Especially Kraid is absolutely nothing like his later incarnations. My memory of OG Metroid is a bit hazy but the game starts out somewhat tough and the moment you get the Screw Attack difficulty just falls off a cliff, more so than in the other games. Still, even as someone who is hard wired to see this map through the lens of Zero Mission, I had a lot of fun with it. There's just something really appealing to the NES look and sound and the developer managed to make it feel modern while still respecting the original.

I wanna try the Novus map now but might wait for it to be updated first.

Edit: Oh yeah, also adding the short but sweet Devil Blade Reboot. As someone who is generally not into traditional shmups, I was mainly enticed by the visuals and it delivered in that regard. Some really cool stuff in there.

  1. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
  2. Alan Wake II
  3. Rytmos
  4. Pizza Tower
  5. Hi-Fi Rush
  6. Humanity
  7. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
  8. Jusant
  9. Momodora: Moonlit Farewell
  10. Panzer Dragoon (Remake)
  11. Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon
  12. Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix
  13. Astro's Playroom
  14. Ghost of Tsushima
  15. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
  16. Birth
  17. Final Fantasy VII
  18. Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation
  19. Sifu
  20. Minishoot' Adventures
  21. Final Fantasy XVI
  22. Botany Manor
  23. Super Mario Land
  24. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
  25. Animal Well
  26. Portal 2
  27. Tangle Tower
  28. Yoshi's Island
  29. Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope
  30. Isles of Sea and Sky
  31. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon
  32. Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows
  33. Mother: 25th Anniversary Edition
  34. Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment
  35. Metroid Planets
  36. Devil Blade Reboot
 
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7. Sonic the Hedgehog (Xbox 360) [7.5/10]

Wow! This was a pleasant surprise. I spent a large chunk of 2020 playing and replaying Sonic the Hedgehog games. When I got to this one back then, I tried the first level and it controlled so horribly and resulted in so many pointless deaths I never tried again until now. Turns out this was by far the worst part of the game!

Sonic 06 is a game I would describe as “a game that makes your frown.” The game was definitely rushed and unfinished (every male NPC makes the same “hey” sound effect, and the special moves you found in the world in Sonic Adventure 2 are now purchased from a concession stand), but the basic movement seems to go beyond basic glitches to more fundamental flaws at some times, usually during Sonic stages which are the ones you play first. The result is a game that makes you frown right when you were starting to enjoy it.

That’s the games fundamental and biggest flaw, but the game is such an interesting disaster that I wanted to power through and see to the end. And I’m really glad I did! What’s here is actually really cool, the story works well and there are some epic moments even if the worst Sonic voice actor is doing his usual terrible job here. You get to play as a surprising amount of characters which comes together well in the end. Silver’s sections, while slow, have some interesting puzzles using the levitation physics and had a surprising amount of thought put into them. The Shadow story is basically just a second crack at a Shadow the Hedgehog style game but done much better in my opinion. He easily has the most badass moments in the entire game and arguably the entire series.

All in all this is now one of my favorite 3D Sonic games despite its flaws. It’s a shame it was rushed out because this is really the direction the series should have continued in, but budget (and ability?) made them pivot towards the streamlined boost games and now something even worse. I’m excited to try out Project 06 as hopefully it has less of the Frown Factor, but that won’t address flaws of the game that were clearly more ambitious ideas that had to be cut back. In a different world this could have been on Sonic Adventure 2’s level with a bit more time.

Edit: I almost forgot! At first it was weird seeing Blaze in the future setting, but by the end of the game they explain what happened which is pretty cool and gives her an origin story.
 
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1) The Last of Us Part I (PS5)
2) The Last of Us Part I - Left Behind DLC (PS5)
3) God of War (PS2)
4) Tetris Effect Connected (PC)
5) Trials HD (XSS) [Replay]
6) Aperture Desk Job (Steam Deck)
7) Need for Speed Underground (PS2) [Replay]
8) The Last of Us Part II Remastered (PS5)
9) 13 Sentinels - Aegis Rim (NSW)
10) Penny’s Big Breakaway (Steam Deck)
11) Jusant (XSS)
12) Froggo’s Adventure: Verdant Venture (Steam Deck)
13) Pokémon Crystal Legacy (GBC)
14) Halo: Combat Evolved (Steam Deck) [Replay]
15) Pocket Tennis Color: Pocket Sports Series (NGPC)
16) Super Mario Run (iOS)
17) The Firemen (SFC)
18) Inks. (iOS)
19) Monument Valley (iOS)
20) Monument Valley - Forgotten Shores and Ida’s Dream DLC (iOS)
21) SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake (Steam Deck)
22) Animal Well (Steam Deck)
23) Donald Duck no Mahou no Bushi (SFC)
24) Alleyway (GB)
25) Rollcage (PS1)

Halfway to fifty-two! That’s not really a goal of mine, but I guess it would be cool to hit that number. Playing a lot of short retro games makes it achievable!

26) Power Stone (DC)

The classic 3D arena brawler itself!

Power Stone is a blast. Beat the stuffing out of your opponents to make them drop gems, collect three gems and transform into Ultraman or a goron or a kaiju or whatever, then shoot missiles or laser beams or “instant transmission” yourself at the enemy until they’re no more. There’s weapons to pickup, boxes to throw, and environments to destroy. What a fantastic little game. I would have loved to have been able to play it multiplayer back in the day.
 
76. Castlevania Revamped

A really cool Castlevania fan-game that reimagines the original NES Castlevania as Metroidvania.

One of the more interesting aspects of this game is that it understands what Castlevania 1 is, so it tries to replicate its artstyle, atmosphere, and difficulty. While your controls here are much better than they were in NES games, it's admirable that enemies are also buffed to compensate for this, which makes you feel like you're playing a Classicvania game.

Unfortunately, I believe, the game suffers a bit in the backhalf. It starts of really strong with some great remixes of first few Castlevania stages with challenging bosses who were all given new moveset. However, around the time of you beating the Mummies something happens and the game becomes way too easy.

Due to the difficulty of the first few dozen rooms and the game trying to keep up with you by placing new enemies around the castle occasionally I believe this isn't something that was supposed to happen, which is a shame.

During the game player will collect life up and hearts up upgrades, as well as occasional money drops from candles and enemies which can be spent on cards that can be equpped on saves for up to 3 effects. One of the most unfortunate things is that every pick-up is highlited on the map, so your journey will usually be very mindless as opposed to an exploratory one. There's a Super Metroid-like dot on the screen, time to smash all the bricks.

All the elements lead to you becoming overpowered unless you intentionally choose worse weapons and cards, and the addition of the Healing Laurel subweapon seems very questionable as your max heart count will allow you to heal yourself four times over. I haven't beaten the game 100% and was able to just heal through fights (granted, I would go back and master those few fights later, but knowing that there's a way to just skip through the game is a little discouraging)

I loved what this game was doing at the beginning, but in the end I found myself to be bored - seeking map spaces that I haven't explored and dots to get new upgrades, tanking enemies or spamming subweapons with no way for the game to stop me.

I recommend this game, it's a fun time, but I do think it would benefit from fewer ways to completely break it in half.

3.5/5
 
1) The Last of Us Part I (PS5)
2) The Last of Us Part I - Left Behind DLC (PS5)
3) God of War (PS2)
4) Tetris Effect Connected (PC)
5) Trials HD (XSS) [Replay]
6) Aperture Desk Job (Steam Deck)
7) Need for Speed Underground (PS2) [Replay]
8) The Last of Us Part II Remastered (PS5)
9) 13 Sentinels - Aegis Rim (NSW)
10) Penny’s Big Breakaway (Steam Deck)
11) Jusant (XSS)
12) Froggo’s Adventure: Verdant Venture (Steam Deck)
13) Pokémon Crystal Legacy (GBC)
14) Halo: Combat Evolved (Steam Deck) [Replay]
15) Pocket Tennis Color: Pocket Sports Series (NGPC)
16) Super Mario Run (iOS)
17) The Firemen (SFC)
18) Inks. (iOS)
19) Monument Valley (iOS)
20) Monument Valley - Forgotten Shores and Ida’s Dream DLC (iOS)
21) SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake (Steam Deck)
22) Animal Well (Steam Deck)
23) Donald Duck no Mahou no Bushi (SFC)
24) Alleyway (GB)
25) Rollcage (PS1)
26) Power Stone (DC)

27) Sonic Pinball Party (GBA)

Unlike Sonic Spinball, this game is actually good!

This one doesn’t see Sonic as the ball; instead Sonic plays actual pinball machines in a tournament against Eggman. There are three tables: a Sonic one which is the main table in the game, a NiGHTs table, and a Samba de Amigo table. There’s a “story” mode, and arcade mode, a Chao garden, multiplayer modes and a casino mode. Lots of good stuff.

This game was made by Jupiter, of Picross fame.




 
I am forever fashionably late to the party, but I have at last played and finished Bugsnax, and it is a bonafide treat. I already knew I would love the gameplay loop based from the trailers-- you're using all sorts of gizmos to entrap and capture those culinary critters, reminiscent of something like Ape Escape. This is the type of gameplay I wanted from Legends Arceus! Down with the mindless Pokeball throwing!

What I did not expect was the sheer charm of the Grumpuses (the furry peanut people that are the Homo sapiens of this universe) trying to make their home on the island. They start out as stereotypical grumpy farmers and gossiping socialites, but each one hides a surprising amount of depth. My heart just about melted when I saw Chandlo reading books and Snorpy working out in the credits sequence, making a visible effort to communicate better with each other.

Lastly: that song is infectious. Get it out of my head. Get it out of my head!
 
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