2: Doukutsu Monogatari (Cave Story) (Mac)
3: Dimahoo (ARC)
4: Rez (DC)
5: L.O.L.: Lack of Love (DC)
6: Rockman 7: Shukumei no Taiketsu! (SFC)
7: Ganbare! Daiku no Gen-san (SFC)
8: Super Metroid (SFC)
9: Dragon Force (Saturn)
10: Rocket Knight Adventures (GEN)
11: Quackshot: Starring Donald Duck (GEN)
12: Mario Story (Paper Mario) (N64)
13: Rockman & Forte (SFC)
14: Sparkster (GEN)
15: Lumino City (Steam)
16: Braid (Mac)
17: Kirby: Air Ride (GCN)
18: Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg (GCN)
19: Starfox Assault (GCN)
20: Terra Phantastica (Saturn)
21: Pikmin (GCN)
22: Doubutsu Banchou (Cubivore) (GCN)
23: Eternal Darkness: Manekareta 13-nin (GCN)
24: Dragon Slayer: Eiyuu Densetsu (MD)
25: Densetsu no Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen (Saturn)
Nearing the mid-point of the year, and I've beaten some games. I haven't necessarily been doing it consciously, but I've managed to knock out quite a number of games that have been languishing in the perpetuity of the realm of the unfinished. Which is to say that I've finished quite a few games that I had been playing for a while (up to years ago) but left unbeaten. Feels good, man.
Rather than write a bunch of stuff for all of these games, I put what I had written on backloggery for each one, after finishing it, behind the spoiler.
1 - "86% completion; 36/36 secret scrolls - Ugh! It's so close--so damndably close to being a good game. This mac version doesn't appear to be officially supported by the creators anymore, so a lot of my frustrations could have been due to that, but it doesn't run especially well, and my inputs were eaten all the time. Collision detection is suspect at times, and the stage design can be completely absurd in places. Aesthetically it's just fair, but it has all the trappings of a great game. It was just poorly executed. Quite charming, though, regardless."
2 - "Bad Ending, Normal Ending; 50 HP, 30 Missiles. Wonderful game. This version has some graphical hiccups that probably has a lot to do with the difference in resolutions, but still plays beautifully. Not much that I wasn't a fan of, other than that the requirements for opening up the Bloodied Holy Grounds feels like contrived bull shit. Alas, I guess I'll be playing it again--which isn't such a bad thing."
3 - "Hot damn, my board isn't dead! Set it to free play, and went to town. Final boss is nuts: Don't think I've seen reversing bullet patterns before." Swapped out the suicide battery on the board a couple months ago, and may have played through it again after the operation.
4 - "Direct Assualt - normal, and Lost Area unlocked." This game is still about as good as I remember it being. I played the PS2 version originally. Rez feels a little forgotten over the last five years or so.
5- "Well, I'm sure I won't be playing this game again. Interesting to note that this was apparently developed by the same company that made "moon" and "UFO" for the PS1. "moon" was a game I was interested in, but after playing L.O.L., I'm much more apprehensive about it. L.O.L. is just too poorly designed. It has some mildly redeeming qualities (which don't really spring to mind) but it's clunky, with mediocre presentation, and most of the ideas that went into the creation of the game just feel poorly implemented. A shame." One of the big claims to fame for this game is a soundtrack by Sakamoto Ryuichi, and it's pretty underwhelming, sadly.
6 - "'Cool guys don't look at explosions...!' I hate the Wily in this game with a passion. I played MM7 via emulation a bit in middle school, and that was probably the first I'd played of any original series Megaman games. I never saw the latter four robot masters, though. I guess it's kind of a black sheep, and I get that. It's overall a bit better than I had anticipated, but still a bit lackluster."
7 - "s'a'ight, I suppose. Controls aren't quite great; music is roughly 50% terrible; tacked on premise/story. However, the characters/enemies, and art design are a bit endearing. Only 4 levels (each broken up into two main stages, and a boss stage) and a final boss. Plays pretty well, but not a must-play. For anyone who might need to know: (Up -- Up-Forward -- Forward + attack) is the input to throw out the hammer like a boomerang, and is essentially required to make it through the game."
8 - "8:15; 72% | 13 Energy tanks (3 reserve) - 170/45/40 | This game easy, tho'. Good enough, but not spectacular. Fills me up with that general feeling of ennui that Nintendo games so frequently give me, even though it kept me coming back routinely. I prefer SOTN and Guacamelee as far as metroid-vanias go. It's solid, but like the original, not something I see myself coming back to within the next decade or so, at least. Has some technical and design issues (eg. soul crushing slowdown); sound is underwhelming, but that's rather to be expected, I'd say."
9 - "Lv 27 Wain | 8/8 D-Warriors, 34 castles, 121 generals | Finally got out of that Katmandu cluster-fuck, and got to finish the game. A little surprising how easily the final boss went down. Granted, I would have been really upset if I had gotten that far only to be flattened in ten seconds. It's unfortunate that the game really dragged for the last two-fifths of the game. I enjoyed it a lot more until that point. Glad I finished it--and the game wants to compel me to find out what the endings of the other 7 characters are like--but I don't think I have it in me to play any more campaigns in this one."
10 - "'Easy' (no continues; two deaths) and 'Children' mode clears | Finally beat this game. Only took a few years. This game is really good, but is not playing around. It's a real bitch to play without knowing almost every move to make, every step of the way through the game. Part of that is because the controls (and it really pains me to say this) aren't too good at times. They're a bit slick, and that can spell disaster. Fortunately, they can be overcome relatively easily through stage memorization, and the overall experience is a delight. Definitely a classic."
11 - "Whoever designed that last stage is clinically insane. Holy shit."
12 - "Lv 27 | all star shards/super blocks/badges | Probably wouldn't care much if I lost this game. Doubt I'll ever have a reason to replay it. I guess when a bunch of kids grew up playing the, nearly, zero RPGs on the N64, this one might seem like the greatest ever. Still not sure if I really like it or not. First: I hate the story, even though it made me chuckle a few times. The game as a whole is mind numbing-ly slow, and requires a Sonic move to be playable. Most of the exposition and game play are wastes of time. I hate the combat system, wholesale. Better than the sum of its parts somehow, but still not great."
13 - "100/100 CDs | Rockman/Forte sides 100% clear | Had way more trouble with King's final form, and the boss rush, as Forte for some reason. I played this game a back in '99/'00 as Forte (never Rockman) a lot, but am surprised I was able to beat this game. I thought I might give up on King Stage 2, but I finally beat King with some strategy assistance. I find that I like this game almost as much as 8, which is only behind 3 and 2, for me. Mega Man 2 hard mode is like child's play compared to Rockman's side of this one, though. They could have toned it down, a little bit, at least."
14 - "Normal mode, no continues, Gold Sparkster. | Pretty good, but nowhere near the level of the original. Wow, they went HEAVY on emulating Sonic for this one. A pretty short romp, once one knows the layout of the game. First attempt at beating it was pretty entertaining; Second time through was infuriating; Third time through was somewhere in between. Music is pretty nice, and the graphics are colorful, but lacks the charm of the original. The jet-pack mechanics aren't great either. I'm convinced the final boss is impossible without Gold Sparkster."
15 - "Seems to work against people playing in 1080p on a large screen. It's all right. I like KAMI more."
16 - I didn't write anything about Braid. I think that about sums it up.
17 - "Air Ride - 9 stars, 39/120 checks, Meta Knight; Top - 7 stars, 9/120 checks; City - 68/120. Not sure what happened to my old save file. I know I didn't ever get the unlockable stage, so I couldn't have put too much time into it, but I decided to actually get serious about playing it, and feel fairly rewarded for it. I've had the game since release, and only truly appreciate it now. It's not perfect, but I like the course design, and graphics. The game play takes some getting used to, but there are plenty of carrots held up in front of the player's nose."
18 - "35/56 Emblems, 57/72 eggs. | My few-year-old save was apparently at the penultimate story stage. Glad to finally beat it, but it's deeply flawed. The controls, camera, movement, coding for collision on ledges and especially egg tracks are simply atrocious. The frame rate is wildly inconsistent as well. It's a promising game, if everything worked well, and the design compensated for all of it's shortcomings under the hood, so to speak. The graphics are quite nice, and the stages can be interesting, but are more often just frustrating. By about the fifth world, this game has well overstayed its welcome. Music can be grating, too."
19 - "Bronze Clear (5151 pts) - 8/0/0 Badges - 8 Coins - 5 Flags | Not great; not terrible. Profoundly stupid story. Nice sound design, aside from VA. A competently made game. I don't think it's as bad as some people do, but I also don't regard Starfox 64 all that highly, either."
20 - "Lv 23 | Archduke ending/epilogue. This game went HEAVY on the extistentialism down the stretch. Jeanne for de facto main character. A good game, but not really earth shattering. Decent music, solid mechanics, very good characters, a good story. It doesn't really lend itself to being showered with praise, but it does a lot of things really well, and nothing truly exceptionally. Aside from Jeanne: Jeanne is life...."
21 - "All parts; 25 Days | Would have been 24 days if it weren't for that damn Bulblax. Some really frustrating mechanics, but pretty good, overall. I enjoyed a lot of the game, but a bunch of things are so unintuitive about the design. The camera and a lot of the controls stink, pikmin are uncontrollable at times, I had no idea that yellow pikmin could be thrown higher than the others, and yellow pikmins' bomb mechanics are frustrating even after the game finally told me how to manage them. Also, Oliver is a dink, and the pikmin are a menace, and a scourge. I'm really kind of conflicted about this game."
22 - "150/150 forms, max stats, realistic skins | Still one of the worst cameras I've ever seen in a video game. I played two games from the start in this one: The first time served to get me my bearings, and the second I was able to accomplish the main goal of the game. The first time through was incredibly frustrating. I had more fun the second time, when I basically knew what I was doing, and how to achieve it, but the camera is putrid, and the control scheme isn't much better. Those two things really take away from the mild amusement the game provides otherwise."
23 - "All paths complete with all spells/runes + Gladius of Light. Was compelled to complete this in order to put it away for, presumably, ever. A pretty good game. Not terribly enchanted by it. It's a nice looking game, that's often a bit marred by poor use of light sources, and contrast. The controls have some quirks that are generally manageable, but annoying when in a pinch. Feels like there are a bunch of plot holes in character motivations. Some poor communication of objectives to the player at various times."
24 - "Lv 40/40/40/40 | Good game. There are some things about it I don't care for much, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Glad I got back into this game and actually finished it. It was worth it. It feels most closely related to Dragon Quest, but with possibly a bit better story. It pokes fun at the genre a bit, also, which is kind of interesting. The ending is a bit cliche by today's standards, but may have been a bit more fresh in '89. It plays well, and looks really nice on the Mega Drive. Nicely ported, and the music is outstanding."
25 - "Lv 26 - 32 Chapters (3 Saturn exclusive) | World, Fortune, and Justice endings. Ended up with five Liches, and five Princesses. At a certain point this game isn't a ton of fun. It's not really necessary to use more than, perhaps, three to five units, and the tactics are kind of uninteresting. It has a certain charm that is somewhat akin to Gensou Suikoden, but I'm unlikely to replay it at all. Fortunately I liberated everything, revisited all the maps, and got all buried treasure, so there isn't much of the game I didn't see, other than stuff on the dark path."
2 - "Bad Ending, Normal Ending; 50 HP, 30 Missiles. Wonderful game. This version has some graphical hiccups that probably has a lot to do with the difference in resolutions, but still plays beautifully. Not much that I wasn't a fan of, other than that the requirements for opening up the Bloodied Holy Grounds feels like contrived bull shit. Alas, I guess I'll be playing it again--which isn't such a bad thing."
3 - "Hot damn, my board isn't dead! Set it to free play, and went to town. Final boss is nuts: Don't think I've seen reversing bullet patterns before." Swapped out the suicide battery on the board a couple months ago, and may have played through it again after the operation.
4 - "Direct Assualt - normal, and Lost Area unlocked." This game is still about as good as I remember it being. I played the PS2 version originally. Rez feels a little forgotten over the last five years or so.
5- "Well, I'm sure I won't be playing this game again. Interesting to note that this was apparently developed by the same company that made "moon" and "UFO" for the PS1. "moon" was a game I was interested in, but after playing L.O.L., I'm much more apprehensive about it. L.O.L. is just too poorly designed. It has some mildly redeeming qualities (which don't really spring to mind) but it's clunky, with mediocre presentation, and most of the ideas that went into the creation of the game just feel poorly implemented. A shame." One of the big claims to fame for this game is a soundtrack by Sakamoto Ryuichi, and it's pretty underwhelming, sadly.
6 - "'Cool guys don't look at explosions...!' I hate the Wily in this game with a passion. I played MM7 via emulation a bit in middle school, and that was probably the first I'd played of any original series Megaman games. I never saw the latter four robot masters, though. I guess it's kind of a black sheep, and I get that. It's overall a bit better than I had anticipated, but still a bit lackluster."
7 - "s'a'ight, I suppose. Controls aren't quite great; music is roughly 50% terrible; tacked on premise/story. However, the characters/enemies, and art design are a bit endearing. Only 4 levels (each broken up into two main stages, and a boss stage) and a final boss. Plays pretty well, but not a must-play. For anyone who might need to know: (Up -- Up-Forward -- Forward + attack) is the input to throw out the hammer like a boomerang, and is essentially required to make it through the game."
8 - "8:15; 72% | 13 Energy tanks (3 reserve) - 170/45/40 | This game easy, tho'. Good enough, but not spectacular. Fills me up with that general feeling of ennui that Nintendo games so frequently give me, even though it kept me coming back routinely. I prefer SOTN and Guacamelee as far as metroid-vanias go. It's solid, but like the original, not something I see myself coming back to within the next decade or so, at least. Has some technical and design issues (eg. soul crushing slowdown); sound is underwhelming, but that's rather to be expected, I'd say."
9 - "Lv 27 Wain | 8/8 D-Warriors, 34 castles, 121 generals | Finally got out of that Katmandu cluster-fuck, and got to finish the game. A little surprising how easily the final boss went down. Granted, I would have been really upset if I had gotten that far only to be flattened in ten seconds. It's unfortunate that the game really dragged for the last two-fifths of the game. I enjoyed it a lot more until that point. Glad I finished it--and the game wants to compel me to find out what the endings of the other 7 characters are like--but I don't think I have it in me to play any more campaigns in this one."
10 - "'Easy' (no continues; two deaths) and 'Children' mode clears | Finally beat this game. Only took a few years. This game is really good, but is not playing around. It's a real bitch to play without knowing almost every move to make, every step of the way through the game. Part of that is because the controls (and it really pains me to say this) aren't too good at times. They're a bit slick, and that can spell disaster. Fortunately, they can be overcome relatively easily through stage memorization, and the overall experience is a delight. Definitely a classic."
11 - "Whoever designed that last stage is clinically insane. Holy shit."
12 - "Lv 27 | all star shards/super blocks/badges | Probably wouldn't care much if I lost this game. Doubt I'll ever have a reason to replay it. I guess when a bunch of kids grew up playing the, nearly, zero RPGs on the N64, this one might seem like the greatest ever. Still not sure if I really like it or not. First: I hate the story, even though it made me chuckle a few times. The game as a whole is mind numbing-ly slow, and requires a Sonic move to be playable. Most of the exposition and game play are wastes of time. I hate the combat system, wholesale. Better than the sum of its parts somehow, but still not great."
13 - "100/100 CDs | Rockman/Forte sides 100% clear | Had way more trouble with King's final form, and the boss rush, as Forte for some reason. I played this game a back in '99/'00 as Forte (never Rockman) a lot, but am surprised I was able to beat this game. I thought I might give up on King Stage 2, but I finally beat King with some strategy assistance. I find that I like this game almost as much as 8, which is only behind 3 and 2, for me. Mega Man 2 hard mode is like child's play compared to Rockman's side of this one, though. They could have toned it down, a little bit, at least."
14 - "Normal mode, no continues, Gold Sparkster. | Pretty good, but nowhere near the level of the original. Wow, they went HEAVY on emulating Sonic for this one. A pretty short romp, once one knows the layout of the game. First attempt at beating it was pretty entertaining; Second time through was infuriating; Third time through was somewhere in between. Music is pretty nice, and the graphics are colorful, but lacks the charm of the original. The jet-pack mechanics aren't great either. I'm convinced the final boss is impossible without Gold Sparkster."
15 - "Seems to work against people playing in 1080p on a large screen. It's all right. I like KAMI more."
16 - I didn't write anything about Braid. I think that about sums it up.
17 - "Air Ride - 9 stars, 39/120 checks, Meta Knight; Top - 7 stars, 9/120 checks; City - 68/120. Not sure what happened to my old save file. I know I didn't ever get the unlockable stage, so I couldn't have put too much time into it, but I decided to actually get serious about playing it, and feel fairly rewarded for it. I've had the game since release, and only truly appreciate it now. It's not perfect, but I like the course design, and graphics. The game play takes some getting used to, but there are plenty of carrots held up in front of the player's nose."
18 - "35/56 Emblems, 57/72 eggs. | My few-year-old save was apparently at the penultimate story stage. Glad to finally beat it, but it's deeply flawed. The controls, camera, movement, coding for collision on ledges and especially egg tracks are simply atrocious. The frame rate is wildly inconsistent as well. It's a promising game, if everything worked well, and the design compensated for all of it's shortcomings under the hood, so to speak. The graphics are quite nice, and the stages can be interesting, but are more often just frustrating. By about the fifth world, this game has well overstayed its welcome. Music can be grating, too."
19 - "Bronze Clear (5151 pts) - 8/0/0 Badges - 8 Coins - 5 Flags | Not great; not terrible. Profoundly stupid story. Nice sound design, aside from VA. A competently made game. I don't think it's as bad as some people do, but I also don't regard Starfox 64 all that highly, either."
20 - "Lv 23 | Archduke ending/epilogue. This game went HEAVY on the extistentialism down the stretch. Jeanne for de facto main character. A good game, but not really earth shattering. Decent music, solid mechanics, very good characters, a good story. It doesn't really lend itself to being showered with praise, but it does a lot of things really well, and nothing truly exceptionally. Aside from Jeanne: Jeanne is life...."
21 - "All parts; 25 Days | Would have been 24 days if it weren't for that damn Bulblax. Some really frustrating mechanics, but pretty good, overall. I enjoyed a lot of the game, but a bunch of things are so unintuitive about the design. The camera and a lot of the controls stink, pikmin are uncontrollable at times, I had no idea that yellow pikmin could be thrown higher than the others, and yellow pikmins' bomb mechanics are frustrating even after the game finally told me how to manage them. Also, Oliver is a dink, and the pikmin are a menace, and a scourge. I'm really kind of conflicted about this game."
22 - "150/150 forms, max stats, realistic skins | Still one of the worst cameras I've ever seen in a video game. I played two games from the start in this one: The first time served to get me my bearings, and the second I was able to accomplish the main goal of the game. The first time through was incredibly frustrating. I had more fun the second time, when I basically knew what I was doing, and how to achieve it, but the camera is putrid, and the control scheme isn't much better. Those two things really take away from the mild amusement the game provides otherwise."
23 - "All paths complete with all spells/runes + Gladius of Light. Was compelled to complete this in order to put it away for, presumably, ever. A pretty good game. Not terribly enchanted by it. It's a nice looking game, that's often a bit marred by poor use of light sources, and contrast. The controls have some quirks that are generally manageable, but annoying when in a pinch. Feels like there are a bunch of plot holes in character motivations. Some poor communication of objectives to the player at various times."
24 - "Lv 40/40/40/40 | Good game. There are some things about it I don't care for much, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Glad I got back into this game and actually finished it. It was worth it. It feels most closely related to Dragon Quest, but with possibly a bit better story. It pokes fun at the genre a bit, also, which is kind of interesting. The ending is a bit cliche by today's standards, but may have been a bit more fresh in '89. It plays well, and looks really nice on the Mega Drive. Nicely ported, and the music is outstanding."
25 - "Lv 26 - 32 Chapters (3 Saturn exclusive) | World, Fortune, and Justice endings. Ended up with five Liches, and five Princesses. At a certain point this game isn't a ton of fun. It's not really necessary to use more than, perhaps, three to five units, and the tactics are kind of uninteresting. It has a certain charm that is somewhat akin to Gensou Suikoden, but I'm unlikely to replay it at all. Fortunately I liberated everything, revisited all the maps, and got all buried treasure, so there isn't much of the game I didn't see, other than stuff on the dark path."
