First 50:51. Akumajō Dracula (Famicom Disk System)
52. Castlevania (NES)
53. Classic NES Series: Castlevania (Game Boy Advance)
54. Guardian Heroes (Xbox Live Arcade)
55. Metal Slug (Neo Geo MVS)
56. Metal Slug 2 (Neo Geo MVS)
57. Metal Slug 3 (Neo Geo MVS)
58. Soul of Darkness (DSiWare)
59. Code of Princess (3DS)
60. Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)
61. Super Mario Land (Game Boy)
62. The Legend of Zelda 2: Link no Bōken (Famicom Disk System)
63. Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst (PC)
64. Shan Gui (Steam)
65. Space Fury (ColecoVision)
66. Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle (ColecoVision)
67. Gateway to Apshai (ColecoVision)
68. MURI (Steam)
69. Pink Hour (Steam)
70. Pink Heaven (Steam)
71. Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet (Steam)
72. Princess Remedy in a World of Hurt (Steam)
73. Haunted House (Atari 2600)
74. Gremlins (Atari 2600)
75. Alien (Atari 2600)
76. Xenophobe (Xbox - Midway Arcade Treasures 2)
77. Frankenstein's Monster (Atari 2600)
78. Ghost Manor / Spike's Peak (Atari 2600)
79. Higurashi When They Cry Hou - Ch.1 Onikakushi (Steam)
80. Dracula II: Noroi no Fūin (Famicom Disk System)
81. Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (NES)
82. Beneath the Cherry Trees (Steam)
83. Voices from the Sea (Steam)
84. Mushihimesama (Steam)
85. Sonic CD (Steam)
86. Shovel Knight (Wii U)Another fiver. Oof.
Beneath the Cherry TreesThis is an odd duck.
Beneath the Cherry Trees is a short and free visual novel available on Steam, with the text being a direct translation of Motojirō Kajii's famous poem. The game also serves as a sort of advertisement for the VN engine that was used to build it. There's some beautiful artwork showcased here, though it's juxtaposed oddly against the cut-and-paste nature photographs. And while the translation is solid the text has some spacing issues and the menus are a bit awkward to read. I'm still not quite sure what to make of this one. Recommended to those who enjoyed
The Flowers of Robert Mapplethorpe on CD-I.
Voices from the SeaAnother free visual novel! Surely I'll run out of these eventually.
Voices from the Sea is a Western game, with that recognizable pseudo-manga art style. The protagonist is a boy who has trouble fitting in. He finds a mysterious girl at the beach, who provides some much needed guidance and entertainment. The game's not a "kinetic" VN, as there are some minor choices to be made (and an inventory screen) though all roads still lead home and the game inevitably ends at the same point. The story's a bit of a tearjerker provided you're in the right state of mind.
MushihimesamaI'm far from a shmup aficionado, but a few years ago I picked up
Mushihimesama Futari at PAX East and have adored it ever since. Probably my second favorite Cave game, after
DeathSmiles. I never bothered to check out its predecessor until now as, from what I recall, the PS2 port is pricey.
So,
Mushihimesama is what you'd expect from Cave. It's a vertical bullet hell shmup. Hardcore fans will find lots to like about the scoring system, but for me it's all about the music and scenery. It's an exquisite game. I went through novice, normal, and arrange modes and I suppose I finished normal on a respectable amount of credits. What's with that final boss in arrange though? Seems impossible to beat without massive credit-feeding. Holy hell.
Sonic CDSo, yeah, the two people who read my posts here realize that I'm not exactly a big fan of Sonic. Most of these games, even the "classics", do nothing for me. I don't think the Sonic series is bad per se, but most entries simply don't click with me and I always feel as if I am playing these games "incorrectly."
That said, there are four Sonic games that I have enjoyed and this is one of them. Let's start with the negative: many of the features that drive me insane about "those other" Sonic games are still present here. The pacing is odd, hit control is iffy, the levels are too big for their own good, there are too many "gotcha" spring and spike traps, the bonus stages are terrible, the "gimmick" (a time travel mechanic) is poorly implemented, and the "false ending" bullshit rears its head yet again.
Wait, I said I enjoyed this though? Yeah, thankfully the annoyances - though present - are kept to a relative minimum and the game has a great "flow" to it. The graphical style is charming and the various game worlds are a sight to behold. The challenge feels spot-on, as there are no cheap (or ambiguous) boss battles this time around. And those early nineties cartoon cutscenes never fail to make me smile. I dig it. I've completed two variations of this game now, and neither one was on the Sega CD which is shameful.
Shovel KnightHoly shit. I expected this to be good; I didn't expect it to be phenomenal.
"Retro" indie platformers are hit-or-miss and most don't come close to measuring up to the legitimate 8-bit classics.
Shovel Knight, on the other hand, crushes 95% of what was released on the NES.
It's a very measured game. The developers were clearly inspired by what made the platformers of old so special and removed the more frustrating elements. The game is delightfully hard, but the ingenious checkpoint system prevents it from ever feeling like an exercise in frustration. I adore how HUGE the levels are (20 minutes each) and how they increase in complexity as the game progresses.
There are plenty of nods to retro games here, though none that feel "ironic" or forced. I laughed out loud in the first town when I saw the inhabitants scrolling by like they were on
Zelda II's invisible conveyor belt.
Controls are spot-on and the exemplary music and graphics feel like they could be lifted straight from a late-era NES title. I couldn't put this one down, which is something I don't say often about a game released within the past decade.