Games Beaten 2018

[nullPointer]

Have you played Golvellius by any chance? It does the "alternating" gameplay thing as well, but with much less success.

I have not! In fact it's a game that had fallen completely off my radar. It's definitely one I'd like to try out. Looks like a really nice example of what the SMS was capable of in terms of graphics!

[Segata]

Golvellius is great.

[Sarge]

I knocked out Skyblazer and Dracula X. The former is one of my favorite hidden gems on the system. A tad easy, mind, because of the copious amounts of lives you'll pick up, but a blast. The latter gets a lot of flak for not being Rondo of Blood, but it's still a fine game in its own right. There are some tricks to that Dracula fight to make things easier, but the real key is if you think you're going to get hit, particularly with the second form, duck and just take the hit. Ducking eliminates the knockback, so you don't go flying down a pit.

[pook99]

Spring break, went away to see family for 3 days, then my car died, had been in the shop all week and will be in the shop for at least another week. Bad news is that it will cost me 5 thousand to fix, good news is that I had 7 days off, stuck at home with nothing to do but play video games, what a tragedy. Here is the list of games I beat over my vacation...

87. Ruiner (steam)
88. Castlevania: the adventure rebirth(wii)
89. Pavel quest (steam)
90. Super castlevania 4 (snes)
91. Operation C (gameboy)
92. Not dying today (steam)
93. Double Dragon 3 (nes)
94. Hikibyou 2 (steam)
95. Bayonetta 2 (switch)
96. Boogerman (snes)
97. Rocking pilot (steam)
98. Talent not included (steam)
99. Overgrowth (steam)
100. Shockman (tg-16)
101. Castlevania 3 draculas curse (nes)
102. Streets of rage 2 (genesis)
103. Loyalty and blood: Viktor origins (steam)
104. Mega Man 4 (nes)
105. Contra: shattered soldier (ps2)
106. Mega Man 5 (nes)
107. Final Fight 3 (snes)
108. Target Renegade (nes)
109. Renegade (nes)
110. Smashing the battle (steam)
111. Kabuki Quantum fighter (nes)
112. Streets of rage (genesis)
113. Kageki (genesis)
114. Batman (nes)
115. Mega Man 9 (wii)


Obviously I can't talk about all those games, but the one game that I really stood out to me is Contra: shattered soldier. I have owned this game since my managing days at funcoland, I have tried to play it once or twice, saw how insanely difficult it was and immediately turned it off. I have been wanting to really get into this game and now seemed like the perfect time to do it.

First off, I cannot express how difficult this game is. I put in the 30 life code and used all my lives by the end of stage 2, worst part is that when you continue, you only get 2 lives, so you are absolutely forced to get good at this game to make any progress. I have looked at tons of "hardest games of all time" lists, the original contra is almost always on these lists, and shattered soldier is not, this is a joke. Now I realize that I have been playing contra for 30 years, have the game memorized, and as a result contra is easy for me, but I definitely remember beating the original with the 30 life code pretty easy as a kid, where 30 lives gets you nowhere in shattered soldier.

Everything kills you, literally everything you encounter you will die on, usually multiple times. Some bosses are so difficult that you can die an easy 15-20 times as you learn their patterns. I consider myself really good at contra, I can easily beat contra, super c, and contra 3 with more lives that I start with, have finished contra 4 multiple times, and although I haven't played it in years, I did finish hard corps during my funcoland days. This games difficulty makes all of those games seem like they were made for babies.

Once you acknowledge the insane difficulty of this game and decide to give yourself to it you are treated to an absolutely phenomenal experience. The soundtrack in this game kicks ass, there is some amazing pumping metal tracks which keeps your heart pumping and your adrenaline rushing as you slaughter hordes of aliens.

The set pieces in this game are outrageous, filled with nods to classic games as well as some amazing new challenges. Everytime I ran into an old boss from my childhood rendered in beautiful new graphics a huge smile crossed my face, even though I knew I was about to die a ton of times. When I ran into the turtle boss from contra 3 a huge rush of nostalgia and adrenaline pumped through me, and these encounters are never cookie cutter remakes of the old games as they all pose some fantastic new challenges and crazy new attacks. Every level offers the right amount of balance of nostalgia and new set pieces, and I couldn't even begin to cover the amount of awesome each level is packed with.

Control is what you would expect, they added a charge shot, and your character starts with 3 weapons that you can scroll through at any time, each weapon has its strengths and weaknesses and knowing the best time to use each is absolutely critical for success. I can't believe I have owned this game for over 15 years and have not played it until now, it was an absolute blast and is a game I will revisit over and over again.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Dude...nice work. That is quite a list of games. I also beat Contra:Shattered Soldier when I was in college. It was a new release back then, though...

.....

1. Bastion (iOS)
2. LaserCat (360)
3. Zombie Incident (3DS)
4. Bye-Bye BoxBoy! (3DS)
5. Monument Valley 2 (iOS)
6. Zenge (iOS)
7. Master of Darkness (Game Gear/3DS)
8. Wonder Boy (SMS)
9. Full Throttle Remastered (iOS)
10. Adventure Island (NES)
11. Adventure Island II (NES)
12. Adventure Island (GB)
13. Super Adventure Island (SNES)
14. New Adventure Island (TG16)
15. Adventure Island III (NES)
16. The Legend of the Ghost Lion (NES)
17. Part Time UFO (iOS)
18. Adventure Island II: Aliens in Paradise (GB)
19. Adventure Island IV (NES)
20. Super Adventure Island II (SNES)
21. Adventure Island: The Beginning (WII)

The ironically-titled Adventure Island: The Beginning is the final game in the Adventure Island series, and it takes the series back to its roots. That is, it plays much more like Wonder Boy (and New Adventure Island) than it does any of the games that expanded upon the gameplay formula established by the first game in the series. It does, however, add some player conveniences - lives are basically meaningless - along with collectibles and upgrades. You can also unlock some mini games. Everything about the presentation is cheap, however. The textures are muddy; the music is a mix of MIDI bossa nova and stock jungle sounds; the level design is bland; and the controls are really janky. As a result, the game makes a terrible first impression. Nonetheless, it ends up being pretty challenging and fun, and the boss battles are exciting. So...while it isn’t exactly good, it isn’t offensive enough to be bad either.

And...that’s it for the Adventure Island series! I’ll probably play a game or two for Together Retro before heading back to the next game in my quest through the Wonder Boy games and their spin offs.

[marurun]

So I read all your Adventure Island reviews, but now that you have them all behind you, what were Your favorites and why?

[Sarge]

nullPointer, I realized that I didn't comment on your TGL review! Great job finishing it. Ironically, while you might not like the overhead sections as much as the shooter bits, I'm actually the other way around. Don't get me wrong, I really like the shooter segments (even as not really a huge fan of shooters), but the exploration for me is really fun and tight. Those sections are way better than Blaster Master's foot sections.

If you want to try a different, more janky combination of shooter and exploration, try out Xexyz. It shifts the exploration to a side-scrolling platformer, and the shooting stages also scroll horizontally. Some of the enemies also remind me a bit of the Darius games.

[prfsnl_gmr]

So I read all your Adventure Island reviews, but now that you have them all behind you, what were Your favorites and why?

I am so pleased you read my reviews! My favorites were New Adventure Island, Adventure Island II: Aliens in Paradise, and Adventure Island IV.

New Adventure Island is, basically, the best version of Wonder Boy...fast-paced, good looking, and well-designed. Adventure Island II: Aliens in Paradise is a really great portable platformer. IMO, its almost as good as Super Mario Land II. Finally, Adventure Island IV is a really fun, breezy 8-Bit metroidvania, and it is a shame we didn’t get it in North America (and that copies of the Famicom cart are so expensive).

[BoneSnapDeez]

How deep into Wonder Boy are you gonna go? So many of those games have several variations. For instance, are you gonna play ports like Dragon's Curse and The Dynastic Hero, or will you just stick to the original "Wonder Boy" titled games?

[prfsnl_gmr]

How deep into Wonder Boy are you gonna go? So many of those games have several variations. For instance, are you gonna play ports like Dragon's Curse and The Dynastic Hero, or will you just stick to the original "Wonder Boy" titled games?

I’m going in deep!

Here’s what’s on tap:

Wonder Boy in Monster Land (Arcade)
Saiyuki World (Famicom)
Whomp ‘Em (NES)
Bikkiriman World (TG16)
Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair (Arcade)
Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap (SMS)
Wonder Boy in Monster World (Genesis)
The Dynastic Hero (TG16)
Monster World IV (Genesis)

I am trying to play the “definitive” version of each iteration, along with each major variant. I still have a few games to go, but after pushing through the Adventure Island series, I am at least halfway through my quest.