Games Beaten 2015

Post by **prfsnl_gmr** » Sun Oct 11, 2015 4:31 pm

First 25

26. Rayman Legends (WIIU)
27. Gorf (ARCADE)
28. Fairune (3DS)
29. Mighty Gunvolt (3DS)
30. Ikachan (3DS)
31. Block Boy! (3DS)
32. Legend of the Dark Witch (3DS)
33. R-Type Delta (PS1)
34. Half-Life (PS2)
35. Soul of Darkness (3DS)
36. Cubit the Hardcore Platforming Robot (3DS)
37. Alien on the Run (3DS)
38. Bit.Trip Presents...Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien (WIIU)
39. Hazumi (3DS)
40. Aaru's Awakening (PS3)
41. Teslagrad (PS3)
42. Monsters (Probably) Stole My Princess (PS3)
43. Year Walk (WIIU)
44. Xeodrifter (3DS)
45. Ittle Dew (WIIU)
46. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS)

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS) is an absolutely wonderful game, and IMO, it may the best game in the series. It revisits the Hyrule from A Link to the Past, and anyone familiar with that game will very much enjoy revisiting its worlds. The combat is great; the game is full of secrets; the puzzles are genuinely challenging; and it is everything you could want from a Zelda game. Moreover, the bosses are excellent, and some of them atre genuinely challenging. (This was the first Zelda game in a while where I actually died a few times. Moreover, it is the first non-linear game since the first Legend of Zelda, and I very much appreciated being able to explore the world as much as I wanted from the outset and being able to tackle the game dungeons in any order. (My only compaint is that the game's dungeons were a bit short. There were 12 of them, however; so, I can't complaint too much. Moreover, since it is a portable game, shorter dungeons is probably a good thing.) Finally, the game is designed with the player in mind, and absolutely no part of the game annoyed me. (Being able to quickly transport between save point relatively early in the game is one of those design decisions that illustrates how much the designerrs respect the players' time.) In sum, I highly recommend this game to anyone, and fans of The Legend of Zelda series must not miss it.

Post by **BoneSnapDeez** » Sun Oct 11, 2015 7:27 pm

MrPopo wrote:I'm sure Bone can describe this game's lineage better than I can, so I'll just stick with how it made me feel.

It's a spin-off of Xanadu, which is part II of the Dragon Slayer series. The name itself is a portmanteau of "Famicom" and "Xanadu."

If you own a Saturn (I assume you don't have any old Japanese computers?) and are a true masochist you could attempt the original Xanadu.

And yeah, I do like the game more than Zelda II.

And I still need to play Link Between Worlds.........

Post by **MrPopo** » Sun Oct 11, 2015 10:03 pm

First 50:

51. Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne - PC
52. Starflight - PC
53. Skies of Arcadia - Dreamcast
54. Aliens versus Predator Classic 2000 - PC
55. Super Star Wars - SNES
56. Shadowrun: Hong Kong - PC
57. Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel - PC
58. The Catacomb - PC
59. Azure Striker Gunvolt - 3DS
60. Mighty Gunvolt - 3DS
61. Catacomb Abyss - PC
62. Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge - PC
63. Strike Suit Zero - Director's Cut - PC
64. Wolfenstein 3D Spear of Destiny - PC
65. StarCraft - PC
66. Metal Storm - NES
67. Septerra Core - PC
68. Metal Warriors - SNES
69. Zelda II - The Adventure of Link - NES
70. Anachronox - PC
71. Faxanadu - NES
72. Adventures of Lolo - NES

Guess what tune I'll have stuck in my head for the rest of the week?

Originally known as Eggerland in Japan and lending likenesses to a pair of bosses in Kirby, Lolo is a puzzle game based around moving blocks around so you can pick up hearts; once you collect all the hearts a treasure chest opens. Getting the jewel inside the chest erases all enemies and opens the door to the next level. What differentiates Lolo from many other puzzle games is that there is an action component to it. At the start everything is frozen, but once you take your first action the level unpauses. Some enemies are stationary while others will move around. Some enemies are harmless and only serve to block you, while others kill on touch (or even have a shot attack). And a couple of enemies are asleep until you unlock the treasure chest, making them a final gauntlet that needs to be prepared for between getting the last heart and going for the jewel.

The action is grid based, with you being able to move things every half grid (which is important, as blocking half of an enemy's line of sight is enough to block shots). In addition to being able to move around blocks you can get powerups. The most common is the shot powerup. One shot will encase an enemy in an egg, which can be moved around. A second shot on an egg will knock the enemy offscreen, to respawn later. Eggs will float in water and can be ridden on. You get shots in packs of two from certain hearts. The other three powerups are a hammer (destroy a rock), a bridge, and a one way tile changer (which will modify the arrow of a one way tile). Those three powerups are only activated once you collect a certain number of hearts.

The challenge comes in figuring out the right sequence of moves to block away harmful enemies, not block yourself in, and get to the hearts. A few of these puzzles require fast movement on your part. One of them was obnoxious; a race against an enemy where you have to exploit his AI. The rest involve quickly getting between areas before eggs break open or a path closes or darting between safe spots from a wandering monster who shoots at you. There was only one puzzle that I ended up needing to resort to an FAQ for: 9-4, which is the first instance of needing to wait for a respawn in order to be able to solve it (while previous times respawns were just a safety net). Everything else just needed time and effort. Quite a fun puzzler that doesn't take too long.

Post by **Exhuminator** » Mon Oct 12, 2015 9:03 am

MrPopo wrote:Quite a fun puzzler that doesn't take too long.

LoLo is a really great game (and series), very charming. The first game needed more music variety though that's for sure.

My favorite NES action puzzlers (if you're still in the mood):

http://img.gamefaqs.net/box/0/0/5/22005_front.jpg

http://img.gamefaqs.net/box/1/5/0/49150_front.jpg

Post by **TSTR** » Mon Oct 12, 2015 9:23 am

Haven't beaten either, but I remember having more fun with Kickle than Lolo.

Post by **Markies** » Mon Oct 12, 2015 10:06 pm

I beat Tetris Attack on the SNES this evening!

Oh boy, those last final levels, I cannot tell you how many times I had to retry them. Especially that fight at the end with Bowser. Since the matches would only last a few seconds sometimes, I can't count how many times I retried him. But, by shear luck and strategy, I finally got the right combos and he finally died and the game was over.

This is a very addictive puzzler which is known as Panel De Pon. I initially got interested in the style when I got Pokemon Puzzle League. So, I got this iteration and it was so easy to jump into. The gameplay is highly addictive, but the challenge in the game is pretty immense.

Post by **MrPopo** » Mon Oct 12, 2015 11:13 pm

First 50:

51. Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne - PC
52. Starflight - PC
53. Skies of Arcadia - Dreamcast
54. Aliens versus Predator Classic 2000 - PC
55. Super Star Wars - SNES
56. Shadowrun: Hong Kong - PC
57. Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel - PC
58. The Catacomb - PC
59. Azure Striker Gunvolt - 3DS
60. Mighty Gunvolt - 3DS
61. Catacomb Abyss - PC
62. Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge - PC
63. Strike Suit Zero - Director's Cut - PC
64. Wolfenstein 3D Spear of Destiny - PC
65. StarCraft - PC
66. Metal Storm - NES
67. Septerra Core - PC
68. Metal Warriors - SNES
69. Zelda II - The Adventure of Link - NES
70. Anachronox - PC
71. Faxanadu - NES
72. Adventures of Lolo - NES
73. Ninja Gaiden 2 - NES

Oh yeah, got this shit down. Playing this after Zelda 2 and Faxanadu is amazing. You control so fluidly! I kinda went into a zen mode and blew my way through Ashtar before my first game over, when my previous best was dying to Funky Dynamite. Kelberos went down thereafter, but then I started dying a lot. Act 7 is BRUTAL and I had absolutely no practice with it. But I persevered, got a few good runs in, and put the game to bed.

Ninja Gaiden 2 is a sequel done right. It takes the good from the original and adds in enhancements to make it even better. The game is a test of reflexes and smart item usage, plus the occasional willingness to take a hit for the greater good. In fact, I feel like the game actually gets a bit easier if you go into speed runner mode, as many times what really piles on the damage and hits into pits is the back and forth you can get trapped in if you try to take it slow.

It also helps that I now understand how the ninpo works against bosses. Being able to maximize the damage you do to bosses with them really helps make the game more beatable. And the game is surprisingly generous with 1-ups. This is definitely one of the best the NES has to offer. Also, tons of blood in cinematics. I thought Nintendo was supposed to be censoring things?

Post by **GSZX1337** » Tue Oct 13, 2015 4:03 am

1) Cannon Spike - Dreamcast
2) I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream - PC
3) Mighty Gunvolt - 3DS (as Mighty No. 9)
4) Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X - PSP (Vile Mode)
5) StarCraft - PC
6) Naughty Bear - Xbox 360
7) The Last of Us - PS3
8] Eets (100-percented) - PC
9) Gunpoint - PC
10) The Last Story - Wii
11) Papers, Please - PC (Ending 18)
12) King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown (AGD VGA remake)
13) Dune 2000 - PC (easy

)
14) Clock Tower: The First Fear - PC (S Ending)
15-19) Sam & Max Season 3: The Devil's Playhouse - PC
20) Dishonored - PC
21) Call of Juarez - PC
22) Gargoyle's Quest - GameBoy
23) Assassin's Creed - PC

24) Fly in the House - PC

I'll be honest, I'm rather disappointed with this one. A coworker recommended this to me and I decided to get it when it went on sale for ~$3. I'm glad that I only spent $3. The meat and potatoes of the gameplay is good enough, but not enough to overcome the technical issues, the monotony involved with progressing through the game, and the lack of content.

Gameplay is simple enough: You grab items by left clicking, move them around with the mouse, and them at the fly with the F key. The objective is to kill the fly. Thankfully, it's not as hard to a fly in this game as it is in real life. The fly itself glows yellow (making it easier to spot) and the fly can be killed in midair, so one does not have to wait for the damn thing to land like in real life. Obviously, there's no surround sound, but the game's use of stereo helps in locating the fly.

The technical issues are rather numerous: The frame rate gets butt-fucked every time you do something more than moving a chair. It'll drop right into the low single-digits when multiple objects are destroyed. I don't know how good of an engine Blender is, but considering the game looks like a high-res Dreamcast game I'm thinking this title isn't very optimized. The audio isn't much better off. Frequently the music is interrupted and sometimes cutoff. The fly buzzing also cuts out, making the game much more difficult.

There are a couple gameplay issues to accompany the technical fuckups. First is that the game is much too short. There are only three levels that can be beaten in less than three minutes each. But don't worry, to extend the game's length, the game requires you to replay the stages using the number of game modes. To pass on to the next stage, you have to complete at least three game modes, necessitating at least three replays. This reminds me of Naughty Bear where you're required to complete the stage multiple times in order to cover up its lack of content. One of the game modes is an absolute chore, forcing the player to find every item hidden in a stage.

Overall, the concept of the game is an interesting one, but the lack of content, performance issues, and frustration make the game a barely playable mess.

Post by **alienjesus** » Tue Oct 13, 2015 6:20 am

First 50:

51. Deep Duck Trouble starring Donald Duck Game Gear
52. Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX 3DS*
53. Kirby and the Rainbow Paintbrush Wii U
54. Retro Game Challenge DS
55. Pop Island Paperfield DSiWare *NEW*
56. Stranded Kids GBC *NEW*
57. Bomberman 64 N64 *NEW*

Still working on my 1 game beat a weekend until Christmas attempt. I beat two portable titles in the first weekend of October, and an N64 game last weekend:

Pop Island Paperfield

Pop Island Paperfield is a DSiWare sequel to Pop Island, also on DSiWare. Both games are fun little capture the flag games with surfboarding penguins and lions with wheels. The objective of the game is to either capture as many neutral flags as possible in Playful mode, or to capture the enemies flag in Joyful mode.

Playful mode features flags scattered throughout the map for both teams to capture, and is actually simpler for it. CPU controlled characters tend to move in groups, so the most effective tactic in this mode is to generally go it alone and grab as many unguarded flags as possible as your teams duke it out. Joyful mode is classic capture the flag - steal it from the opponents base and get it to yours. This one is more focused, which means more chaos around the 2 team flags, especially on the hardest difficulty which pits a team of 16 against a team of 13.

The game uses 3D polygonal graphics which look simple but nice. It's pretty impressive for a DsiWare game considering their tiny memory limit. The sound is good quality too, and the game encourages you to use headphones as it's full stereo too. Probably due to the DsiWare memory limit, there aren't many songs though.

You can shoot firecrackers at enemies - these arc, so it takes a little time to master shooting them. Hitting an enemy sends them flying in a random direction and makes them drop any flags they were carrying. You can also find power-ups which let you do things like blast yourself across the stage or create a spinning shield that damages enemies. Character types include characters who can swim, fly and drive, so youll end up controlling differently depending which you choose. Driving characters crawl through water slowly, but can make use of roads on land to go extra fast. Swimming characters have to jump across land precariously but shoot away on water. Flying characters can cover both and are fairly fast over both, but move very slowly if holding a flag.

Each map has 2 teams of 3 different character types duke it out. There are 6 character types per team overall, for a total of 12, and there are 6 maps. These need to be unlocked by playing and earning points. Early unlocks are quick (100, 250, 400, 700) but the last few are quite spread apart at 7400 and 10000 points. In the first game, the two teams were all based on animals, but in different colour schemes. In this one, the 'colourful rainbows' team has been replaced with a team of generic army vehicles. It looks stupid and they have absolutely no character. I have no idea why they would do this, it's a real weak element of the game. It's also odd that they took the rainbow team out, as I feel they probably had more character than the other animal team, the Almost Blacks.

The game is only 200 points on the DS shop, which is nice and cheap, and it's a ton of fun, but it's slightly misleading - 6 of the 12 animals and 3 of the 6 stages are locked off if you don't also own the original Pop Island, which costs 500 points. The original has 12 characters and 8 maps.

I'd recommend just getting the original game. I like the maps a bit more, I like the characters a lot more and you get a full set of content for you money. If you really love the game, then this is basically a cheap expansion pack with new maps. Fun, but I don't really see the need for both now that I've played them.

Stranded Kids

This is going to be slightly shorter than most of my thoughts, mostly because I'm not done with this game yet, and there's probably a LOT more I have to uncover.

Stranded Kids, better known as Survival Kids in the US, is a survival game for Game Boy Colour by Konami.

The game takes place on a deserted island which your character, a 10 year old boy or girl, washes up on after the ship they're on sinks. You must make the most of the tools and plants available to you to survive on the island and maybe figure out how to get home too.

The game is very open ended, but a little too obscure sometimes. You can mix items together to create new ones, and a few essential tools are created this way. I'd recommend looking up one or two of these, as figuring them out through trial and error could take ages. One early essential is a tool that lets you light fires, which isn't obvious to make at all. Another one is a torch that requires you to use tree sap to create it, which I wouldn#t have thought of at all.

You must keep your character alive by making sure they're well rested, quenching their thrist and feeding them. Trying new foods to see their effects can be risky, but never deadly, so it doesn't punish experimentation too much. Learning some effects can be useful - spicy plants can preserve cooked meats for example.

The biggest issue I have with the game is the incredibly restrictive inventory system. You can only carry 8 items at a time, which includes all your food, tools and weapons. I'd normally have my hunting knife, torch, fire lighter, water bottle and a big stick to move rocks with me, which left me only 3 slots for food and new tools. It very much encourages you to take a couple of items and come back with the tools you need for new areas later. It's not a bad idea, but it's just TOO restrictive for me. Some items need you to blend 3 others to make, which is almost half your inventory space.

There are apparently 8 endings to Stranded Kids, and I've found 2. In one, I fixed a radio, and was rescued by helicopter. In another, I built a raft and went out to sea. Both of these can be done very early in the game. I've seen one or two hints that there is more to discover, and I've only seen half the island at this point, which is why I said I'm not done. I've got an ending sure, but to truly finish this one, I probably need to find all 8.

So that's what I'm gonna do!

Stranded Kids is pretty excellent, despite it's flaws. It's a unique and fun experience, and I like it a lot. It can be pretty hard to find - I was looking for a reasonably priced copy for years - and it's very short, but it's worth every moment so far!

Bomberman 64

Bomberman 64 is (I think) the first 3D entry in the Bomberman series. It mixes things up a fair bit from the classic formula - in some ways for good, and in some for bad.

It's clearly more focused on a single player experience than previous entries have been. Bomberman has a lot more options for moving and attacking than he has before, although he still can't jump. Bombs now explode in a more natural(ish), round explosion instead of in straight lines as before. This changes the game quite significantly, but is probably an attempt to adapt to a more open environment.

Bomberman can kick bombs at enemies without a powerup, and can also pick up bombs and throw them at enemies. He can inflate a bomb in his hands to make it explode in a bigger, more powerful explosion, or to squash enemies with it. If he falls on top of a bomb, he can use it to bounce over gaps, like a bridge.

Bomberman can still find power-ups, as usual, but most are frankly kinda useless. Extra bombs arent really necessary, and the firepower icons have a much less pronounced effect than before. However, a heart for an extra hit is helpful (Bomberman can only take one hit otherwise!), and the remote controlled bombs are practically essential (and available in every level). There's also a super power bomb icon which make his bombs even more powerful than an inflated bomb, and is essential to progress or find secrets on some stages.

Bomberman can tackle any of the first 4 worlds in any order, and each has 4 stages included. Stage 1 and 3 are action stages, and require bomberman to find the exit. Often this involves progressing through the level killing enemies whilst solving some relatively simple puzzles. It's fun enough. Stage 2 is a mini boss fight which plays a bit like the multiplayer mode, but with the enemy having different attacks to you. Stage 4 is a full boss fight which is normally pretty tough and interesting. Definitely the games strong point. After beating all 4 of the first worlds, Bomberman can take on the 5th and final (not really!) world.

Beating the game results in a slightly offputting bad ending. This is because there's actually a secret world and better ending available if you find 100 collectables hidden throughout the game, which I haven't done. It seems more like a long-term project to me, as they're pretty tough to find and get.

Bomberman 64 has a short (about 3-4 hours) but fun single player campaign, with lots of hidden secrets to find for replayability, but it's not perfect. It's solid and fun, but not exactly a true classic. Worth a look.

Now for the elephant in the room - Multiplayer mode. Multiplayer mode uses the same mechanics as the single player mode - open arenas, picking up, kicking and inflating bombs and the dreaded round explosions. Whilst it's still chaotic and fairly fun, it just can't live up to the classic bomberman experience. Whilst Multiplayer is here, this is frankly a single player Bomberman experience.

Bomberman 64 is a fun experience, but nothing mind-blowing. As a single player game, it's a satisfying entry in the series. As a multiplayer game, its fun, but probably one of the weaker entries (discounting Act Zero). If you find it cheap like I did (under £5) it's absolutely worth it, but I wouldnt go crazy for it. Worth a look.

Post by **prfsnl_gmr** » Tue Oct 13, 2015 9:51 am

MrPopo wrote:Also, tons of blood in cinematics. I thought Nintendo was supposed to be censoring things?

Ninja Gaiden 2 is awesome, and the cinematics are great. If you like uncensored NES games, be sure to play Golgo 13 and NARC sometime...

racketboy.com

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