What are you playing?

[PretentiousHipster]

Taking a break from Zelda for another week or two. The formula of it makes the series tiresome, and playing The Faces of Evil, and getting a bit into Triforce Heroes was just hell... and I still gotta beat the latter. I will probably play Zelda 2 next because it deviates from the formula and will feel refreshing.

My newest video only got 27 views despite spending 36 hours making the video itself, but completing a video that's 36 minutes long (1 hour of work per minute I guess lol) made me feel so proud of myself, so I've decided to start another project on top of going through my backlog. The project is the original gameboy games released by SunSoft. Their first game Batman was incredibly fun. I'm a bit into Daedalian Opus and it feels like a great flash game. Of course there's nothing wrong with saying that. It is deceiving though. Some of these puzzles are so incredibly difficult, and when I completed the first 10 levels the narrator said "now is when the game gets tricky"

Blaster Master Jr./Boy on the other hand. Holy hell what a masterpiece.

[Syndicate]

...I've gotten back into Forza Horizon 4 but have Ninja Gaiden Black on deck as well. I'll probably get into some classic Sega stuff too, just haven't decided what yet.

[opa]

Dusted off the 2600 for some Space Invaders. I love how quickly it ramps up as you clear the screen of enemies. Other arcade games take too long to get at a quicker pace.

[mobiusclimber]

Diablo II for the first time in over 10 years.

I've been playing that a lot lately myself. Got a bowazon and a frenzy barb to Hell, but they're both struggling, and just started up a Paladin character (that will likely be a Smiter).

Also, lately, I've been working my way through Stranger Things Season 3 The Game on the PS4. It really feels derivative of a lot of indie games and indie-inspired games, especially the two South Park games. It's really... not that good... but it's entertaining enough for me to try to beat it. It's finally starting to get tougher, and I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. Easier to play a bad game all the way through if I don't have to struggle with it. LOL

[pook99]

Playing Contra Rogue corps on switch, not amazing, but not nearly the dumpster fire that that people claimed it was. Many people called it the worst game of 2019 and IMO, that is a gross over exaggeration, I'll write more when I finish it but for now I am having a decent enough time with it.

[Note]

I'm playing through Chrono Trigger on the SNES, and at the point where you have to go to 65,000 BC. Also, started playing OverBlood on PS1 and my goal is to finish the game this month for Together Retro. I owned the game back in the day and never beat it, so I really wanna cross that one off my list.

This weekend I also played a few different games with my girlfriend on her Switch. For some couch co-op we played through Streets of Rage 4 again, which is great, and we've had a fun time unlocking the extra characters and trying them out.

We played some Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 too, since she purchased it earlier in the year randomly, but we're mixed on the game. The gameplay just isn't that satisfying IMO, and the camera's off too. There's a lot of instances in battle where it's tough to see your character and what's going on in the fight, and there's way too much dialogue that doesn't pertain to the main plot. I think we're going to stick with the game to at least finish it, but it feels like a slog at times.

My girlfriend is also playing through Zelda: Link's Awakening and was stuck in the Color Dungeon, so I helped her finish that, and she's now up to the Angler Tunnel. I've enjoyed playing what I have of the game, and hopefully can play a bit more with her next weekend.

[stickem]

Ordered a awesome genesis repro of battle mania 2 off a site a board bro has and have been having a blast. Took a minute to get used to the control scheme, but after that felt natural. Fantastic music, graphics, and gameplay. Can't remember if it's level 5 or 6 but dam good mode 7 type shit going on, like the level from Castlevania 4. It's definitely the type of scrolling platform shooter that benefits from knowing where enemies pop out. Could barely pass level 1 with 5 continues in the beginning, but with continued play am able to get to about 6 or better after a few play throughs. Hard, but you want to keep trying, type game.

[PretentiousHipster]

Alien Logic: A Skyrealms of Jorune Adventure gives me that same sense of adventure that the Elder Scrolls games does. It seems to have a sort of trade off when comparing it between these two. The lore and setting of Alien Logic is a lot more interesting, with a sci-fi/magical setting. The game mechanics are much more interesting too, with layers of health that certain procedures heal, creatures that work with you to dig stuff up for example, the many types of crystals, and the system of gaining skills which requires you to meditate and pull skills toward the centre (I assume it's your brain). The bad part is that the combat and platforming is pretty janky, but it's somehow still addictive. What a masterpiece.

[BoneSnapDeez]

^ That game rules. Love it. Quite the surprise from Tecmo.

I'm juggling a couple of games that I want finished & reviewed before 2021.

First is Kirby Star Allies. Started this when I was dreadfully bored during a long power outage. It's quite fun, though I find that the screen gets chaotic with Kirby + his three allies + enemies. I've only died a few times and each and every time it was because I simply lost sight of Kirby's location. Still pretty great though. The levels are gorgeous and nice and meaty. There's a big incentive to change allies frequently, as certain ones are required to discover puzzle pieces and secret exits and so on, which keeps things fresh but can also get slightly irritating. Sometimes I just want to roll with one particular posse for a long stretch. Anyway, I actually finished the main game and am now just derpin' with the extras.

Then there's Super Mario Maker on Wii U. Want to play as much of this as possible before it goes offline. I've completed the 10 Mario Challenge and most levels that were added to Course Bot. Even beat the 2015 World Championship castle on my first try (though not particularly quickly.....). Feel like I'm tapping out at the 100 Mario Challenge on Expert level. A lot of these fan made courses are honestly kinda crappy. I want difficult levels that are still Mario levels, not this "trolled like a boss!" bullshit. I've also been checking new courses every day. My kids always want me to play the ones made by girls. I made like five courses of my own but no one seems interested in them. Currently in the process of recreating the Contra Jungle and Ice stages "Mario style" (plus reimagining the entirety of Donkey Kong Junior condensed into a single stage.)