Games Beaten 2015

[BoneSnapDeez]

1. Grandia (PlayStation)
2. Jungle Hunt (Xbox - Taito Legends)
3. Jungle Hunt (Atari 2600)
4. Jungle Hunt (Plug & Play - ColecoVision Flashback)
5. Donkey Kong (Atari 2600)
6. Donkey Kong (Intellivision)
7. Donkey Kong (ColecoVision)
8. Bubble Bobble (NES)
9. Side Arms: Hyper Dyne (PSP - Capcom Classics Collection Remixed)
10. 1941: Counter Attack (PSP - Capcom Classics Collection Remixed)
11. Ys: The Ark of Napishtim (PSP)
12. The Ninja Kids (Xbox - Taito Legends)
13. Neutopia (TurboGrafx-16)
14. Golden Axe Warrior (Xbox 360 - Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection)
15. Phantasy Star Online Ver. 2 (Dreamcast)
16. Growl (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
17. Arabian Magic (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
18. Dungeon Magic (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
19. Gekirindan (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
20. Ys II (Saturn - Falcom Classics II)
21. Darius Gaiden (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
22. G Darius (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
23. Giana Sisters DS (DS)
24. RayStorm (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
25. Mr. Do! (ColecoVision)
26. Beauty & the Beast (Intellivision)
27. Boxing (PlayStation 2 - Activision Anthology)

Ah yes, Activision's Boxing for the Atari 2600.

I was going to play the actual Atari cart but when I went to look for it on my shelf I realized that I don't own it. It's bad enough that I occasionally buy duplicate games by accident, but now I'm doing the opposite apparently?!

Anyhow, this is pretty fun. You can box against the computer or a second player. Player 1 is the white guy and the computer / player 2 is the black guy (this sounded better in my head).

The "camera" is directly over the boxers, which is pretty hilarious. You see the tops of their heads, arms, fists, and protruding noses.

The game isn't particularly difficult, mainly because it's so easy to get the opponent trapped in a corner. At the end of each round, the player with the highest point value (the most punches connected) wins. 100 punches also equals a KO. There's only one round and then the game loops. I played several rounds while my daughter once again mashed buttons on an unplugged controller.

[TSTR]

atari racist as hell

1. Gone Home (PC)
2. Mario Party 8 (Wii)
3. Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition (Genesis)
4. River City Ransom (NES)
5. Persona 3 FES: The Answer (PS2)

Took me forever to finally beat this thing down, although my game time was only about 35 hours or so. I guess that speaks to the grindy nature of this epilogue. If you like Persona 3's battles, then you're in for a treat, because that's mostly what this is. There's some neat story stuff going on, but unless you're a big Persona dork (like me), then it may be best experienced in a YouTube breakdown if you're just in it for the plot. It's definitely harder than The Journey, but the balance seems a little off. I had a tougher time with some of the pre-final bosses than the actual final boss. I do feel a good sense of accomplishment after putting it away, but I don't think I could recommend it to anyone other than hardcore Persona/SMT freaks or RPG grindfest masochists.

[MrPopo]

The biggest piece of difficulty in FES is the fact that you don't get access to the compendium. That's what makes it really hard mode; you can't just fuse up uber personas for various stages of the game.

[Exhuminator]

January
1. Devil's Attorney (Android) (good game)
2. Resident Evil 5 (360) (good game)
3. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (360) (good game)
4. Dragon Quest VIII (PS2) (amazing game)
5. Gears of War (360) (decent game)

February
6. Uncharted: Golden Abyss (Vita) (decent game)
7. Orcs & Elves (DS) (good game)
8. From The Abyss (DS) (decent game)
9. Army of Two (360) (decent game)
10. Psychic World (Master System) (subpar game)
11. Endless Ocean: Blue World (Wii) (amazing game)

March
12. Journey to Silius (NES) (decent game)
13. Sword Master (NES) (subpar game)
14. Project: Snowblind (PC) (good game)

Project Snowblind was intended to be Crystal Dynamic's addition to the Deus Ex franchise. However due to Deus Ex: Invisible War's bad reviews, a decision was made to sever Project Snowblind from said series. As you play Project Snowblind it's clear a lot of Deus Ex's DNA is found within. Primarily your augmented nano super powers that let you approach problems with greater variety than your average FPS. Indeed player agency is quite high here, with lots of varied guns, wily nano powers, crazy gadgets, and multi-path level flows. There's even a hacking element allowing the player to control security robots or disable laser detection beams for example. All of these varied elements means the player can siege the enemy in many different and often fun ways. That said, Project Snowblind feels rough around the edges with its floaty physics and janky cutscene animations. Graphics merely get the job done and the OST is of substandard quality, distracting more than it accentuates. Controls are a bit overly obtuse in trying to encapsulate so many player abilities. Worst of all is if you're playing the PC version, you will be bombarded with crashes to desktop about twice an hour. (The PS2 version was the primary development platform, so play that one.) However Project Snowblind is a brief adventure; with its fast pacing and multiple combat options, you probably won't be too snowed under by its deficiencies to be entertained enough to finish it.
Decent review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zru366E_8lM

[Ack]

1. Renegade Ops (PC)(Multidirectional Shooter)
2. Borderlands 2 (PC)(FPS/RPG)
3. Gunpoint (PC)(Puzzle Platformer)
4. Robotrek (SNES)(RPG)
5. The Tick (SNES)(Beat 'Em Up)
6. Alien vs Predator (SNES)(Beat 'Em Up)
7. X-Kaliber 2097 (SNES)(Action Platformer)
8. Metal Slug (MVS)(Run and Gun)
9. Shadowrun (SNES)(RPG)
10. Quake II (PC)(FPS)

Well, that was a fun ride. I spent last night shoving a rocket launcher up the Strogg commander's ass and teaching him new meanings for the word pain. Despite all of his uber weaponry, the things I did to him with my railgun aren't legal in 12 states. Quake 2 is an awesome experience, though it does have a few issues that became apparent over the course of the game. But I have a lot of praise for the game.

First, the weaponry. I used every weapon at some point, and most of them saw use all the way through the end, even the starter pistol, which was ideal for hitting switches or blowing up barrels to conserve ammunition even in the final levels. I'm still really impressed by the grenade launcher here, and even once I had access to the rocket launcher, I still found plenty of situations where I wanted to bounce an explosive off a wall and around a corner. Both shotguns did admirably, the hyperblaster is a beast, and the railgun was a godsend for taking out those Iron Maidens. And the BFG cleared more than a couple of rooms for me. Unfortunately the losers in this weapon fiasco were the assault rifle, which I had stopped using by the halfway point in the game, and the chaingun, which, while still useful, ate through so much ammunition so easily that I tended to be very situational with it. But out of 10 weapons, I really only stopped using 1, so...well played.

Second, enemy design: excellent. There is a strong mix of styles which require speed, skill, a little guile in a few cases, and an intimate knowledge of which weapon is best for the job. I want to praise the design here, because some of these guys were nasty, but none ever felt overpowered once I knew which tool to use. That's not to say I like all of them, because that railgun-packing Gladiator can go eat a dick. He was probably the worst to put down because I had to stay constantly in motion while whittling at his high health and pray that he didn't get a devastating lucky shot off.

Unfortunately the bosses are where I think the game suffers. All three can easily be beaten with the same strategy: kite them around a pillar. That's it. Tank Boss and the Jorg exoskeleton easily fell to this tactic, because they present large targets and are slow moving. Makron was a little harder because he could fire a BFG blast and hit around corners too, though he didn't do this too often. Hornet had the biggest advantage, because he has miniguns on both sides that fire together, and he was wide enough to stick out on both sides of the small pillars in his arena. But you can still avoid his fire by pressing close to those pillars, and even when you do get hit, you often mitigate most of the damage you would take if you were out in the open. It felt a little cheap that all of these guys fell the same way.

Ah well, at least the levels leading up to them are well-designed, even if they are more brown than a modern Call of Duty game. It feels like I am on an alien world taking down large facilities in a massive war of attrition. I also like that the levels are facility-based like in Doom but also feel large and continuous like in Half-Life. This game bridges the gap between those two critical FPS really well, and this is the best Quake I've played, hands down.

Now I look forward to trying out both mission packs in the future. I'm thinking I'll play through Earthbound first, but after that, I'll give The Reckoning a shot.

[MrPopo]

So when I faced off against the Makron back in the day I still had a Quad and an Invincibility banked. It wasn't exactly a fair fight. That was something I liked about Quake 2's single player; your powerups only get used when you want to use them, rather than activated immediately oh you weren't ready to dive into that muck when you picked up the environmental suit sucks to be you.

[Ack]

So when I faced off against the Makron back in the day I still had a Quad and an Invincibility banked. It wasn't exactly a fair fight. That was something I liked about Quake 2's single player; your powerups only get used when you want to use them, rather than activated immediately oh you weren't ready to dive into that muck when you picked up the environmental suit sucks to be you.

See, here's the thing: I didn't use a lot of items to beat the game. I accidentally activated a quad damage a couple of times, but really the only item I used much were the environmental suits. In truth, I completely forgot I had the inventory. Sure, I liked that I could bank them, but I didn't find that I needed them much.

[MrPopo]

I agree on the not needing. I had the Quad and Invul because I never bothered using them anywhere else and remembered "oh yeah, I've got these and it's the end of the game".

[Sarge]

Aw, man, Asura's Wrath was so wacky that I didn't care it had tons and tons of cutscenes. Totally worth it. I think I paid like $8 for it, and while I was annoyed at having to pick up the DLC, it was totally worth it, too.

[BoneSnapDeez]

1. Grandia (PlayStation)
2. Jungle Hunt (Xbox - Taito Legends)
3. Jungle Hunt (Atari 2600)
4. Jungle Hunt (Plug & Play - ColecoVision Flashback)
5. Donkey Kong (Atari 2600)
6. Donkey Kong (Intellivision)
7. Donkey Kong (ColecoVision)
8. Bubble Bobble (NES)
9. Side Arms: Hyper Dyne (PSP - Capcom Classics Collection Remixed)
10. 1941: Counter Attack (PSP - Capcom Classics Collection Remixed)
11. Ys: The Ark of Napishtim (PSP)
12. The Ninja Kids (Xbox - Taito Legends)
13. Neutopia (TurboGrafx-16)
14. Golden Axe Warrior (Xbox 360 - Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection)
15. Phantasy Star Online Ver. 2 (Dreamcast)
16. Growl (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
17. Arabian Magic (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
18. Dungeon Magic (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
19. Gekirindan (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
20. Ys II (Saturn - Falcom Classics II)
21. Darius Gaiden (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
22. G Darius (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
23. Giana Sisters DS (DS)
24. RayStorm (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
25. Mr. Do! (ColecoVision)
26. Beauty & the Beast (Intellivision)
27. Boxing (PlayStation 2 - Activision Anthology)
28. Crystalis (NES)

Crystalis is a bit of a retro gaming anomaly. It's a pre-Neo Geo SNK game that was developed specifically for the NES (not an arcade port). And the game's genre is also something not typically tackled by SNK: it's an action-RPG in the vein of Zelda and Ys I & II.

Crystalis takes place in the apocalyptic and futuristic era of 1997. The planet has been tilted on its axis, most of humanity has been wiped out, and much of the Earth's remaining life has been horribly mutated. As the game begins, the hero (who lacks a default or canonical name) emerges from a cryogenic sleep and then takes but a few steps left into a medieval-styled hamlet. Just a brief look at the game's overall setting and atmosphere reveals that it borrows heavily from Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. There's an intermingling of science and technology: the hero battles malicious robots and sentient supercomputers with a sword and magic, and the world is infected with Nausicaä's characteristic bloated insects.

Spellcasting in Crystalis is used solely for healing and assistance, so all combat is based around several different elemental swords which can be switched on the fly. The hero's sword(s) can shoot projectiles when the attack button is held first to charge. Sword strength is increased throughout the game by acquiring orbs and bracelets. In an interesting twist, the developers at SNK saw it fit to make certain enemies resistant to certain elements. And by "resistant" I mean completely immune! This typically isn't particularly annoying, given how easy it is to switch weapons, but occasionally you'll find something like wind-resistant enemies and fire-resistant enemies all inhabiting the same rooms which creates something of a headache.

Much like Zelda and Ys I & II, Crystalis relies heavily on exploration. There are around a dozen towns to visit - each with inns, item shops, and - oddly enough - pawn shops (used only for selling your used junk). My favorites town is Amazones. It's inhabited solely by man-hating women, making Crystalis that one misandrist game that GamerGate dudes have been searching for this whole time. Also present are several distinct "overworlds" (fields, mountains, a desert, an ocean, and so on) and a plethora of dungeons. Dungeons are typically very brief and branching paths generally lead to items while the "main" path will either take you to the exit or a boss. Like the Phantasy Star titles, Crystalis features very few bosses and many are fought more than once. The boss fights are reminiscent of the early Ys games - the are mainly "wars of attrition" as avoiding the bosses' attacks is nigh impossible so it's a better strategy to just get up in thurr and pound away hoping that the bosses fall before you do.

Crystalis controls well. The hero moves fast and it's easy to outmaneuver most regular enemies. Combat is tons of fun, and the hero must be standing still briefly to power up his sword which adds a small element of strategy. The menus are a bit clunky, however. Like Zelda, various weapons, spells, and items can be mapped to the A and B buttons. Oddly enough though, more than one thing can be mapped to each button and certain functions tend to "override" others. I'm still a bit stumped by this honestly. Additionally, the save menu is a buried. One must press SELECT and then START to access it.

The graphical style of Crysti is one of its best features. It has a very "loud" color palette: lots of bright yellows and kick-you-in-the-nuts violets. The hero is much larger than Adol or Link and certainly stands out with his distinct headband and pink hair. The aforementioned Nausicaä bugs look awesome and nightmarish, as does the assortment of other various creatures. The game's accompanying OST is quite strong as well. I especially enjoy the bold title screen music and the ambitious scores of the pyramids and ocean settings.

I highly recommend this one. Any NES gamer looking for "more Zelda" would be advised to buy this immediately (it's surprisingly inexpensive). One last word of caution: avoid the Game Boy Color port. It's portability may be enticing, but the game is markedly inferior in every way possible.