Games Beaten 2016

[MrPopo]

1. Oni - PC
2. Donkey Kong 64 - N64
3. Yoshi's Story - N64
4. Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide - PC
5. Forsaken 64 - N64
6. Bloodrayne: Betrayal - PSN
7. Fire Emblem Seisen no Keifu - SNES
8. Fire Emblem Shin Monshō no Nazo: Hikari to Kage no Eiyū - Nintendo DS
9. Valkyria Chronicles 3 - PSP
10. Ready 2 Rumble Boxing - DC
11. Rise of the Tomb Raider - PC
12. XCOM 2 - PC
13. Shadowrun Hong Kong Bonus Campaign - PC
14. Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest - 3DS
15. Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright - 3DS
16. Lagrange Point - NES
17. Fire Emblem Fates: Revelations - 3DS
18. Cybernator - SNES
19. Outwars - PC
20. Resident Evil - GC
21. Resident Evil 2 - GC
22. Resident Evil 3 - GC
23. Resident Evil Code Veronica X - GC
24. Dino Crisis - PSX
25. Resident Evil 5 - PC
26. Dark Souls 3 - PS4
27. The Banner Saga 2 - PC
28. Bravely Second - 3DS
29. Star Fox Zero - Wii U
30. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - PC
31. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Winter Assault - PC
32. Doom (2016) - PC
33. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Dark Crusade - PC
34. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Soulstorm - PC
35. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - PC

Short, but while it lasts it's a hell of a ride, and perfectly captures that fantasy of the Space Marine. You are fast, heavily armored, and walking death. It's pretty fun.

The game is a third person shooter that heavily requires utilization of both melee and ranged attacks to succeed. Ranged is useful for softening up an enemy horde charging you down as well as taking out enemy ranged units trying to pepper you. But many of your foes are melee and you will need to dish out to them as good as you get. The game gives you regenerating shields plus a health bar; you will enjoy having those regenerating shields in between combats. Health is harder to come by; you need to perform executions to regain it. However, unlike most games with a melee auto kill, in this one you don't go invincible when you do it, it lasts a good 2-3 seconds, and you don't get the health until the very end. So there's some very real risk in using it, and you really need to be playing smart, rather than going braindead.

The level aesthetics are amazing. They really capture what I've been imagining when I read my 40k fiction. The levels themselves are very linear; you're basically going from one fight to the next. But for a game like this that ends up not being a big deal. You get mission objectives which are the story reasons you need to murder everyone between point A and point B. But it never requires you to do anything more than activate a switch at point B. Which again, not a bad thing for what the game wants to be.

Oh, did I mention you sometimes get a jetpack? Those are definitely the best parts of the game. You jet up in the air, then can jet down and fuck the shit of anything you land on. Ludicrous gibs ensue.

[MrPopo]

So I've been doing a lot of PC lately and want to get back to some console. Anyone want to suggest something from my Backloggery in the PS1/Saturn/N64 realm?

[Sarge]

I'd say either Panzer Dragoon Saga or Shining the Holy Ark.

[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!

So, I finally got around to beating Ufouria/Hebereke. I actually own it on Virtual Console, but anyone else that has that version knows that the music is screwed up in it. It runs at the correct speed, but the music is off-key. You run into a similar issue running the PAL version on NTSC hardware. I finally just decided to use the English patch for Hebereke and play that way.

Anyway, it's a true Metroid-style exploration platformer, except you hop-and-bop instead of shooting. Well, you can shoot some things, too, just in a different manner. Eventually, your guys get a charge attack. One of them uses a mallet to hit himself over the head to pop his eyes out; said eyes attack everything on screen. No, seriously. It's just a weird, weird game. All of the companions have different powers, some of which are mobility-oriented. The main character eventually gets the ability to climb walls, the cat person can walk effectively on ice and also gets a freeze-breath attack to make platforms out of enemies, the ghost has a floaty jump, and the fishy one can obviously go underwater.

The presentation is spot-on. It's vintage Sunsoft, from the excellent graphics to the kickin' soundtrack. It's amazing how much that VC version absolutely ruins things with its discordant music. This track in particular is one of my favorites.

One of the nice things here is that you can call up a password any time once you get the crystal item. On top of that, you get a map, a compass that shows where you are, and eventually an item that reveals where all the other items are. You can even find heart containers to extend your life bar.

I think this one is probably a classic, even if we never got it. I figure if the Monster World games count, this can count in the Summer Challenge... but I just wanted to play it, regardless.

I also went and finished off my old playthrough of Wario Land: Shake It!. I remember bogging down in it, obsessing over the treasures and all like I normally do. It sapped all the fun out of it. Especially me trying to do the little challenges. I finally just said screw it and went for the ending. It's probably been like five or six years since I last booted it up.

If you can't tell, it's a fantastic-looking game. Lots of awesome hand-drawn stuff. It's a bit similar to Wario Land 4 in structure, with the escape sequence, and unlike some other Wario games, you do have a life meter. That last boss is pretty tricky until you get the pattern. There's so much additional content off the beaten path, though... it'd probably take me a while to find all the treasures, and there are also six or seven special stages that I missed.

It's a worthwhile game, for sure. If you like the other Wario games, you'll probably like this one.

Oh, and Contra. Was testing out Mednafen's NES emulation on Wii. Not much to say there, it's one of my favorite games of all time. Terrible run on my part, though, I actually used a continue. Oy vey. I'll blame it on the lag in the emulator. Yeah, that's it. (Actually, I was just playing really fast and loose.)

[Ack]

So I've been doing a lot of PC lately and want to get back to some console. Anyone want to suggest something from my Backloggery in the PS1/Saturn/N64 realm?

Play Doom 64, Final Fantasy Tactics, or Panzer Dragoon Zwei.

[ElkinFencer10]

So I've been doing a lot of PC lately and want to get back to some console. Anyone want to suggest something from my Backloggery in the PS1/Saturn/N64 realm?

I suggest Persona 2: Innocent Sin, Panzer Dragoon Saga, and - like Ack said - Doom 64. I'd definitely suggest PDS the most strongly.

[MrPopo]

Based on those I'm going to do PDS.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Based on those I'm going to do PDS.

Good choice. It's an amazing game. (It's not very hard, but it has fantastic atmosphere and a very fun combat system. There's nothing else quite like it, and you can get through it pretty quickly.)

[Sload Soap]

I would also say PDS. Just cos.

[ElkinFencer10]

Based on those I'm going to do PDS.

Make sure your battery is good; I don't think it can save or load directly to or from a memory cart, and it's a pretty lengthy game (as one would expect for a JRPG). It's REALLY good, though; it's probably my second favorite Saturn game.