Games Beaten 2016

[Sarge]

The first one, yeah, he said it's a near miss. He didn't talk about the awful third game.

[PartridgeSenpai]

I had a friend over today, so we played a fair bit of co-op on 360.

Gears of War (360)

He just helped me beat the final boss that I was having trouble with a month or two ago. If you wanna see my thoughts on GoW, just look at my old rant in the "Games NOT Beaten 2016" thread. If you don't wanna, here's a tl:dr version.

Game doesn't care about its plot. Enemy types are diverse and landscapes are cool and colorful. Controls are sloppy (run, take cover, and dodge roll are all bound to A). Game feels a bit too unforgiving with insta-gib enemies at times.

Verdict: Hasn't aged well. Too many other great 3rd person shooters you could be playing from that generation, let alone that console, to warrant spending time with *cough* Vanquish *cough*. Don't waste your time with it unless you really want to experience all 3 original games in order.

Halo 3 (360)

Dang, we had a lot of fun with this. I've never beaten Halo 1, and it's been like, four years at least since I played through Halo 2 with a friend in one sitting (similarly to how we did this today), so I couldn't really follow the plot too well. But it's Halo though, and being part of the original trilogy, I don't really need to comment too much because you know it's a great game. Guns are great and sound cool. A good amount of weapons, characters are even fairly neat, (even if it's mostly just neat to look at). No final boss really, but that ending escape sequence was really something else.

Verdict: A great 5-ish hour romp with a friend if you want to play a good couch-co-op FPS on your 360. Has aged well, and is just as iconic and fun as it always was.

[BoneSnapDeez]

1. Tenchi Sōzō (Super Famicom)
2. Eternal Senia (Steam)
3. Tombs & Treasure (NES)
4. Magic Knight Rayearth (Super Famicom)
5. Zelda no Densetsu: The Hyrule Fantasy (Famicom Disk System)
6. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES)
7. Seiken Psycho Caliber: Majū no Mori Densetsu (Famicom Disk System)
8. Deep Dungeon: Madō Senki (Famicom Disk System)
9. Deep Dungeon II: Yūshi no Monshō (Famicom Disk System)
10. Suishō no Dragon (Famicom Disk System)
11. Dandy: Zeuon no Fukkatsu (Famicom Disk System)
12. Lagoon (SNES)
13. Contra (NES)
14. Super C (NES)
15. Wonder Boy (Sega Master System)
16. OutRun (Sega Master System)
17. OutRun (Genesis)
18. Ninja Gaiden (NES)
19. Written in the Sky (Steam)
20. Wendy: Every Witch Way (Game Boy Color)
21. Mario Bros. (NES)
22. Popeye (NES)
23. Super Mario Bros. (NES)
24. Super Mario Bros. 2 (Famicom Disk System)
25. Phantasy Star II Eusis's Text Adventure (Steam - Sega Mega Drive & Genesis Classics)
26. Phantasy Star II Nei's Text Adventure (Steam - Sega Mega Drive & Genesis Classics)
27. Phantasy Star II Rudger's Text Adventure (Steam - Sega Mega Drive & Genesis Classics)
28. Phantasy Star II Anne's Text Adventure (Steam - Sega Mega Drive & Genesis Classics)
29. Phantasy Star II Huey's Text Adventure (Steam - Sega Mega Drive & Genesis Classics)
30. Phantasy Star II Kinds's Text Adventure (Steam - Sega Mega Drive & Genesis Classics)
31. Phantasy Star II Amia's Text Adventure (Steam - Sega Mega Drive & Genesis Classics)
32. Phantasy Star II Shilka's Text Adventure (Steam - Sega Mega Drive & Genesis Classics)
33. Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic (Famicom Disk System)
34. Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)
35. Super Mario Advance (Game Boy Advance)
36. Gunman Clive (Nintendo eShop)
37. Zaxxon (Xbox 360 - Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection)
38. Zaxxon (Atari 2600)
39. Zaxxon (Intellivision)
40. Zaxxon (ColecoVision)
41. Cosmic Avenger (ColecoVision)
42. Mr. Do! (ColecoVision)

Ya know, I said in the past I wouldn't list replays but I've lost my old lists and half the fun of retro gaming is revisiting old favorites anyway. Here's some ColecoVision madness brought to us by Universal.

Cosmic Avenger is a very early horizontally scrolling shmup - I believe only Konami's Scramble predates it. Fire buttons on both sides of the controller are used, as one causes the ship to shoot right while the other drops bombs on land enemies.

Pushing up and down on the controller does exactly what you'd expect, but left and right don't simply control movement but also have a braking and acceleration effect. Occasionally homing missiles will zero in on your ship so these need to be outrun (and carefully, to avoid careening into scenery and enemies).

Speaking of scenery, the game looks rad. There's a futuristic cityscape and a "cave" section that perhaps served as inspiration for R-Type and the like.

All said, this is a nice simple romp into the world of retro shmups. The CV port is the only one available so check that shiz out - it's cheap.

Mr. Do! is a game I've always enjoyed. It's a lot like Dig Dug but far more nuanced and interesting. There are many ways to go about completing a level, though I typically go for the collecting (cherries) method as opposed to defeating enemies with the respawning projectile.

What really shocks me is that this game got a SNES port 14 years after its release, and then something of a Neo Geo remake?! I may have to track those down.

[ExedExes]

Cosmic Avenger and Scramble are nearly identical. How about that?

[Fragems]

Somewhere in the skills menu.

Edit: Looked it up, Arrow Climber, Tier 3 on Survivor tree.

Ah that's why I missed it sunk all my points into completing the Brawler class and only dabbled in the other two . It was funny towards the end when you encounter the paranormal twist enemies I was just beating the hell out of them with melee . I really wish there were a way to see just how many enemies I killed this go around it felt like it was in the thousands which is just freaking hilarious Lara Croft mass murderer survivor.

Lara Croft w/ pickaxes > Legion of Immortal Knights

[Sarge]

January:

1) Bonk's Adventure (NES)
2) Little Samson
3) Holy Diver
4) Holy Diver (legit!)
5) Mitsume Ga Tooru
6) TMNT II: The Arcade Game (NES)
7) Mighty Final Fight
8] Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!
9) Monster In My Pocket
10) Battle of Olympus
11) Gunstar Heroes (repeat)
12) Dragon Age: Inquisition
13) Dragon Age: Inquisition - Trespasser
14) Captain America and the Avengers (NES)
15) StarTropics
16) Double Dragon II: The Revenge (NES) (save states)
17) Double Dragon II: The Revenge (NES) (legit)
18) Crisis Force
19) Esper Dream 2
20) Felix the Cat
21) Moon Crystal
22) Panic Restaurant
23) Frankenstein (NES)
24) Crystalis
25) Nekketsu Kakutou Densetsu

February:

26) Killer Instinct (GB)
27) Mashin Hero Wataru Gaiden
28) Sly Spy (Arcade)
29) The Red Star (unreleased XBOX, also on PS2)
30) Adventure Island 4
31) Cocoron
32) Batman: Arkham Knight
33) Xeodrifter (Vita)
34) Doom 2
35) Brandish: The Dark Revenant
36) Magical Pop'n
37) The Ninja Warriors (SNES)
38) Phantasy Star (SMS)
39) Phantasy Star III
40) Super Smash Bros. for 3DS
41) Brandish: The Dark Revenant (Dela Mode)

March:

42) Freedom Planet (Milla, 82 lives lost)
43) Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
44) Lara Croft Go
45) Oniken
46) Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam
47) Batman: The Video Game (GB)
48) Batman: The Video Game (NES)
49) Super Spy Hunter

April:

50) Mega Man 2
51) Mega Man 4
52) Mission: Impossible (NES)
53) Mega Man 6
54) Super Mario Bros. 3
55) Sword Master
56) DuckTales 2
57) Rush'n Attack (NES)
58) Mega Man 3
59) Mega Man 5
60) Mega Man
61) S.C.A.T. - Special Cybernetic Attack Team
62) TaleSpin (NES)
63) Double Dragon III (NES)
64) Donkey Kong (NES)
65) Astyanax (NES)

May:

66) Master Chu and the Drunkard Hu
67) The New Ghostbusters II (NES, proto)
68) Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PSP, via Dracula X Chronicles)
69) Revenge of Shinobi
70) Shinobi III
71) Shadow Dancer
72) El Viento
73) Earnest Evans
74) One Must Fall 2097
75) A Nightmare on Elm Street (NES)
76) Hebereke
77) Contra
78) Wario Land: Shake It!
79) Gimmick!
80) Ninja Gaiden (GG)
81) Wai Wai World 2 (NES)
82) Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II
83) Uncharted: Golden Abyss
84) Double Dragon (SMS)

June:

85) Astra Superstars
86) Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
87) Star Wars: Dark Forces 2 - Jedi Knight
88) Star Wars: Dark Forces
89) VVVVVV
90) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist
91) Broforce (PS4)
92) Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight
93) The Terminator (SCD)
94) Aban Hawkins and the 1001 Spikes
95) Electronic Super Joy
96) Golden Axe (GEN)
97) Double Dragon (GB)
98) Double Dragon II (GB)
99) Double Dragon III (GB)
100) Super Mario Land (GB)
101) Kirby's Dream Land (GB)

Yeah, another Game Boy title. I managed years ago to snag Super Mario Land for cheap with the box and everything. Wish I'd gone ahead and picked up the other in-box games that were there, too. I didn't think they were good ones (and they weren't), but they were complete, which is rather rare in the Game Boy world. I only went for Super Mario Land 1 & 2.

Anyway, it's a good, if weird, Mario game. It's also pretty gutsy, going for a shooter stage at the end. Probably a bit of a callback to prior work on Kid Icarus. This was R&D1 that developed the game with Gunpei Yokoi at the helm, as opposed to Miyamoto's R&D4.

Technically, this brings me to 100 games on the year, but... I've got a couple of repeats in there from save-state and legit runs, so the actual number is slightly less. Although I'm very tempted to claim Solitaire that I was playing while goofing around with Windows 3.1 in DOSBox. Dang it, I don't know that I've ever had such a run of bad luck in Solitaire as I did then. It probably took 40 tries before the RNG stopped screwing me over!

EDIT: Kirby's Dream Land is really short. Like, 20 minutes short. Which I knew, but still, I'd hate to have bought a game back in the day only for it to be over that quickly. It's a fun game, and quite surprising how fully-formed the idea was back then. No copy powers in this one, though, and no dashing or sliding. And no double-inhale power star shot. You get a few items that I don't think show up anywhere else: the mint leaf, which lets you stay aloft while still being able to exhale air puffs; the curry plate, which lets you shoot fire, and a bomb to inhale, which acts pretty much like the power shot.

Fantastic looking for a Game Boy game, of course. And the typical bouncy soundtrack. Sometimes, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

[Exhuminator]

When I saw you beat a Kirby game, for a split second I thought it was gonna be Planet Robobot. How's that going?

[BoneSnapDeez]

I got Kirby's Dream Land at launch. LOVED IT. I was a kid who adored all things cute. Probably woulda used the word "kawaii" back then if I knew what it meant.

[Sarge]

When I saw you beat a Kirby game, for a split second I thought it was gonna be Planet Robobot. How's that going?

I'm probably 2/3 of the way through it. It's good stuff so far. If you like Triple Deluxe, you'll like this one. I can understand the consternation about dropping $40 on what's probably a ten hour experience, but I had some GS credit burning a hole in my wallet. (From trading in those $5 copies of NBA 2K16 and Assassin's Creed: Syndicate, naturally.)

I got Kirby's Dream Land at launch. LOVED IT. I was a kid who adored all things cute. Probably woulda used the word "kawaii" back then if I knew what it meant.

I actually played the game on a friend's Game Boy and liked it a lot. But really, it was the Nintendo Power coverage that made me want Kirby's Adventure badly. All those powers! The huge maps! The secrets! Seriously, I didn't even have to play it to know I was going to love it, and I ended up getting it for my birthday in... '93, maybe? I'm not sure I got it launch year or not, but I'm pretty sure I did. Anyway, it was amazing.

So yeah, I was a 14-year-old not the least bit embarrassed to want a Kirby game.

[Exhuminator]

I can understand the consternation about dropping $40 on what's probably a ten hour experience

Ten hours isn't too bad. But I've been watching Planet Robobot's main story mode trending at just above six hours on HLTB. $40 for six hours of Kirby is a bit steep IMO. But if you divide 40 by 6 that gives you 6.66, so maybe it's a sign.