Games Beaten 2019

[MrPopo]

1. Octopath Traveler - Switch
2. Dusk - PC
3. Forsaken Remastered - PC
4. Tales of Eternia - PS1
5. Resident Evil 2 (2019) - PC
6. Pokémon Trading Card Game - GBC
7. Metro Exodus - PC
8. Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales - PC
9. Project Warlock - PC
10. Magic: The Gathering - PC
11. Ghost 1.0 - PC
12. Call of Duty 2 - PC
13. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - PS4
14. Revelations: The Demon Slayer - GBC
15. Mechstermination Force - Switch
16. Shadow Warrior Classic Redux - PC
17. Lost Sphear - Switch
18. Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal - PC
19. Dragon Quest III - NES
20. Rage 2 - PC
21. Blood - PC
22. Harvest Moon 64 - N64
23. Battlefield V - PC
24. Sigil - PC
25. Shining Force III: Scenario 2 - Saturn
26. Shining Force III: Scenario 3 - Saturn
27. Borderlands 2: Commander Lillith and the Fight for Sanctuary - PC
28. Gato Roboto - Switch
29. Timespinner - Switch
30. Amid Evil - PC
31. Pillars of Eternity II: Beast of Winter - PC
32. Pillars of Eternity II: Seeker, Slayer, Survivor - PC
33. Pillars of Eternity II: The Forgotten Sanctum - PC
34. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night - Switch
35. Orphan - PC
36. Project Nimbus - PC

Project Nimbus is an early access game I'd had on my wishlist for a few years now; it looked like a fun mecha game and the demo showed there was promise, although it still needed a lot of work. Apparently, since then, it got a PS4 port on UE4 with a graphical overhaul (though it only had the first two acts or something), and then that port got brought back to the PC with all the acts to serve as the "complete" game. And since it was on sale I snagged it. It's a pretty fun game, though it definitely has some of those indie rough edges on it.

The game's story is hard to describe, as it's lacking a bunch of in between cutscenes that would explain things more; you basically just get the briefing for each mission to give you story beats. This flows reasonably well at the end of the game, as events are happening fast and furious, but in the first half of the game there is enough space between events that you don't really have context. From what I was able to pick up, it's in the future where there was a major war that included some form of extremely high yield weaponry; whether it was proper nuclear or just some major thermobaric is not clear. The main impact is that sea levels rose a few feet and large portions of humanity live in flying cities. There are three major superpowers, a US led one that seems to be in charge of the Americas, an EU, and then Russia + China + SE Asia. There's also a terrorist group who are pissed and disaffected that the poor countries are left in squalor. Various events that aren't well explained happen that get the US and Russia powers into a shooting war. You will mostly play one of two ace pilots, an Amuro expy and a Char expy.

That's right, the game definitely is written as if the scenario writers had marathoned the entire UC series of Gundam and them stole all the best parts. There's an Amuro, a Char, the Char is called the Red Comet and has a red mech, beam sabers, mech upgrades that can only be piloted by the ace pilots, some newtype-esque magic stuff, and lots of angsting about the futility of war. Because the surface isn't great the militaries have all invested in flying weaponry, so you have a variety of mechs as well as larger flying ships (so if the mechs are the fighters, the larger ships are like the ships of current wet navies). I feel like with more money and time spent building up the story and rounding off some of the amateur writing you'd have a really solid story here.

Gameplay-wise, you do a bunch of missions that will have you bounce between both sides of the conflict. In addition to the two ace pilots you'll also spend some time as two other run-of-the-mill pilots for the two respective militaries. This mostly seems to be to expand the context of events, as well as trying not to fall into the trap of having two people save the world single handedly. There will be several times that you will fight specific forces you'd previously played as, and you'll kill some of the player characters you'd previously used.

As mentioned, you're always flying. The game uses a boost system to give you a lot of maneuverability, and one really well done thing is they put the top of the atmosphere pretty low. This means in a dogfight you can find yourself jetting up above the clouds and now seeing space, rather than just more sky. It makes the battles feel pretty large and epic. The regular forces mechs only have a couple weapons, but your ace pilots get a ton of weapons. One nice thing is every weapon has unlimited ammo; once you run out a recharge meter starts. You can trigger it early, as well. The better weapons take longer to recharge, so there is strategy in how you utilize your arsenal, and strategically bouncing between things is important. The only real complaint I had with the combat is that ground targets have wonky hitboxes, so you sometimes have to maneuver around to get a shot to connect even though you're locked on.

For fans of mech games and of Gundam style stories in particular I highly recommend this one.

[MrPopo]

1. Octopath Traveler - Switch
2. Dusk - PC
3. Forsaken Remastered - PC
4. Tales of Eternia - PS1
5. Resident Evil 2 (2019) - PC
6. Pokémon Trading Card Game - GBC
7. Metro Exodus - PC
8. Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales - PC
9. Project Warlock - PC
10. Magic: The Gathering - PC
11. Ghost 1.0 - PC
12. Call of Duty 2 - PC
13. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - PS4
14. Revelations: The Demon Slayer - GBC
15. Mechstermination Force - Switch
16. Shadow Warrior Classic Redux - PC
17. Lost Sphear - Switch
18. Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal - PC
19. Dragon Quest III - NES
20. Rage 2 - PC
21. Blood - PC
22. Harvest Moon 64 - N64
23. Battlefield V - PC
24. Sigil - PC
25. Shining Force III: Scenario 2 - Saturn
26. Shining Force III: Scenario 3 - Saturn
27. Borderlands 2: Commander Lillith and the Fight for Sanctuary - PC
28. Gato Roboto - Switch
29. Timespinner - Switch
30. Amid Evil - PC
31. Pillars of Eternity II: Beast of Winter - PC
32. Pillars of Eternity II: Seeker, Slayer, Survivor - PC
33. Pillars of Eternity II: The Forgotten Sanctum - PC
34. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night - Switch
35. Orphan - PC
36. Project Nimbus - PC
37. Hardcore Mecha - PC

I decided I wanted more mecha action and picked up another game off the Steam Sale. Hardcore Mecha is a 2D platformer akin to Cybernator, though the mech is a bit more zoomy and easy to control. It has a really nifty art style where everything is big and colorful. This gets turned up in key cutscenes, which will include various anime-isms to really sell this potentially being a mecha show, rather than a game, during the cutscenes. Things like motion lines and someone taking a beam to the face whiting out and having his lines slowly erased.

I'm honestly still not sure what the whole plot is. You're a mercenary, there's a group raising hell on Mars, and you get roped into stopping them. The game's translation is extremely rough; it's more like an NES caliber translation (and not a good one). If you told me the script was passed through Google translate I wouldn't question you. It's enough to get the gist across, but there's no room for nuance. But it also never feels like the game actually has any nuance; the villains never really have their motives explained, other than "omg power".

But you didn't come to this game for the story; you came to stomp stuff. You are equipped with a primary weapon, a backup weapon (think like the little vulcans from Gundam), and then a couple different melee attacks. The melee is actually quite potent, as hitstun is a big thing in this game, both for you and for enemies. You can also pick up weapons from enemies; these don't get any reloads, unlike your main weapons. You also have a booster which gives you limited flight and very zippy movement. Combined with an aiming that is snappy, rather than the tilt of Cybernator, and you have a fast moving action game that doesn't pull any punches by the end. You'll have to get very adept at maneuvering around to deal with the hordes of enemies and some of the later bosses.

The game also has an upgrade system; killing enemies and crates gives you money, and killing enemies gets you experience. Experience mostly seems to be to give you access to the skill tree; you need a minimum level to purchase a given skill with your money. You can also find blueprints for secondary weapons in each level, which can then be purchased. These are high quality weapons that unfortunately do not get reloads, so it's like always having access to a weapon you pick up from an enemy until you blow all the ammo. The upgrades each occupy a slot in your loadout, so you can't just grind cash and experience to get everything; you still have to make choices about what you take.

The game is overall a pretty fun action game. There are some rough spots difficulty-wise by the end, but nothing insurmountable. One thing the game does is vary up the environments and level design, as well as giving you a bunch of optional objectives which pay out cash if you complete them; these keep things interesting for you. There's also a shmup level near the end that culminates in you flying a giant cruiser and getting to be a boss vs. a bunch of weak enemies, which is fun. If you can look past the shoddy localization you have a fun title on your hands.

[Ack]

1. Dusk (PC)(FPS)
2. Project: Snowblind (PC)(FPS)
3. Soldier of Fortune: Platinum Edition (PC)(FPS)
4. Ziggurat (PC)(FPS)
5. Wolfenstein 3D: Ultimate Challenge (PC)(FPS)
6. Destiny 2 (PC)(FPS/RPG)
7. Destiny 2: Curse of Osiris (PC)(FPS/RPG)
8. Destiny 2: Warmind (PC)(FPS/RPG)
9. Destiny 2: Forsaken (PC)(FPS/RPG)
10. Star Wars: Rebel Assault (PC)(Rail Shooter)
11. Castle Werewolf (PC)(FPS)
12. Project Warlock (PC)(FPS)
13. Castle Crashers (PC)(Hack and Slash)
14. This Strange Realm of Mine (PC)(FPS)
15. BioShock Remastered (PC)(FPS)
16. BioShock 2 (PC)(FPS)
17. BioShock 2: Minerva's Den (PC)(FPS)
18. Blood (PC)(FPS)
19. Blood: Cryptic Passage (PC)(FPS)
20. Blood: Post Mortem (PC)(FPS)
21. Shadow Warrior (PC)(FPS)
22. Shadow Warrior: Twin Dragon (PC)(FPS)
23. Shadow Warrior: Wanton Destruction (PC)(FPS)
24. F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin (PC)(FPS)
25. F.E.A.R. 2: Reborn (PC)(FPS)
26. Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines (PC)(RPG)
27. Men of Valor (PC)(FPS)
28. Ultima III: Exodus (PC)(FPS)
29. Albedo: Eyes from Outer Space (PC)(Point and Click)
30. Midnight Ultra (PC)(FPS)
31. Amid Evil (PC)(FPS)
32. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (PC)(RPG)
33. Betrayer (PC)(Horror)

I had a four day holiday, so I ended up knocking out a couple of games, one for the Summer Challenge, one just because it intrigued me.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

I remember when this came out in 2003. I was an enormous Star Wars fan, and BioWare was a company I trust with RPGs after having spent a lot of time playing Baldur's Gate. However, despite my interest in the title, I soon learn I had to play as a Jedi, which did not interest me whatsoever. I like the seediness of bounty hunters, smugglers, and mercenary soldiers in Star Wars, not the mystical aspects of the universe. As a result, I didn't play the game for a long time...

Now here we are, over 15 years later. Star Wars has been purchased by Disney, and most of its expanded universe stripped away. BioWare lost the Dungeons & Dragons license but became an RPG power house in its own right, though over time series like Mass Effect have fallen apart. I'm also not the same person so enamored with the Star Wars universe as I was when I was a teenager. It lost much of its luster over time for me, and now I find myself looking back at it longingly for the childhood joys that can never be truly fulfilled.

I find myself back at KOTOR. Playing it was both new and familiar; new because I've never given it a proper playthrough, familiar because it bridges the gap between the eras of BioWare, from Dungeons & Dragons to original IPs with selectable protagonists and a slowly developing morality system. If you stripped out the combat of Mass Effect, threw in D&D 3rd Edition rules, and set it in the Star Wars universe, you'd have KOTOR. That's exactly what it is.

The plot is set in a recurrence of the Sith Wars, 20 years after the main wars against Exar Kun and only 4 years after the Mandalorian War. A couple of Jedi fall to the dark side and then show up with a fleet of ships, declaring they are the new Sith. The Sith and the Republic fight, with the Republic getting its ass kicked...as usual. Some craziness happens, and the Sith leader is beaten, while his apprentice takes his place. You end up on a Republic ship hoping to help the fight, only to be soundly routed and forced to land on a nearby planet. From there, you beat an embargo, become a Jedi, and travel around a variety of worlds seeking the secrets of how the Sith ended up so powerful while waffling between the Light and Dark Side.

I stuck with the Light Side because it feels like the easier choice to make; half of the additional characters you get are on the Light, with the rest being a mix of neutral and Dark. If you want a Dark Side party, there are only two characters you can use, which sucks. They're two of the most interesting characters, at least for me. They're tanks, and tanks are what I prefer. Beyond this rudimentary approach to a morality system based on the Star Wars system, you also have your general character building, but because you end up a Jedi, build for melee. Building for anything else is basically a waste, because lightsabers are more powerful than every other weapon, and you become a walking chainsaw with enough feats. I wasted two feats on blaster rifles early on. If only I had known...

By the end of the game, odds are you'll have reached the level 20 cap and stomp most everybody, so the game decides to throw hordes of troops at you in the final dungeon. This is another problem, you need to be built for combat. Talking will help at times, but ultimately it won't let you beat the game. I've seen this problem in a variety of other games, be it the Deus Ex series or Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader. Also build for combat, because talk is dumb.

Look, KOTOR ain't perfect. Not by a long shot. It can be very easy to build a character wrong because the game will force certain changes upon you, and a lot of what you can do is basically pointless and at worst detrimental. The game also overstays its welcome by a few hours, so when I did finally beat it, I was happy it was over. Goodbye, KOTOR, and goodbye to another piece of my childhood.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Betrayer

It's sometime around the 1600s. You awake on the shore of the Virginia colony, the only survivor of a horrible shipwreck. A woman in red shoots an arrow with a note that warns you away, and strange totems line the path. This is the beginning of Betrayer, a first person horror game that heavily relies on stealth mechanics and uses a stark color scheme, a lack of general direction, and forcing the player up against tough enemies that can be killed from afar or snuck up on but are more than eager to kick your ass if they notice you there.

Betrayer is about the player exploring the remains of an English colony where something went hideously wrong. Ash sculptures of humans are found in the forts and settlements. Spanish soldiers roam the countryside, but they're now strangely feral and growl like bears. The burning spirits of Natives lurk in the woods. The land is littered with the clues of murders, rapes, suicides, and worse. This is only half the world too, as the player must also explore a dark netherworld of eternal night, talking with wraiths and shadows while battling evil spirits and skeletons. And all must be done with weapons of the era, so you better get good with a bow and arrow, because your flintlock pistol takes a while to reload, and it won't save you against a crowd.

The horror of Betrayer comes not only from the strange and creepy world, the limitations on your weaponry, and the enemies you would prefer to avoid. It is also in the terrible stories that are uncovered about how poorly the colonists treated each other and the natives. Xenophobia, prejudice, and racism are a small sampling of the stories you'll hear. And then there is the sound, which you must use but drills into your brain with horrid whispers urging you onwards. In the night world, you must listen to locate your targets, but damned if you don't have to deal with some horrid sounds to do it.

The game is also quite beautiful, defaulting to a mixture of black, white, and red to emphasize items and danger. This contrast highlights, but it creates an eerie and unnatural beauty. Items glow red, as do enemies, though not always. Sometimes they don't flare up until they've noticed you, so you'll have to understand the audio queues of what is happening to know you've been spotted by something you don't yet see which is bearing down on you. I cannot emphasize enough just how important sound is for this game. Play with surround sound if you can, because you need to know if the troop of natives you can't see in the woods are just behind the nearest rock or on the other side of that distant tree to your left...but if you move, they'll see you, and they attack in force.

One thing I greatly appreciate about Betrayer is that it gives you a ton of customization options. You can remove elements or the entirety of your HUD. If you dislike the black and white scheme, you can shift the depth of the blacks and whites or even add in color at a steady rate of saturation to suit your need. Want a bigger challenge? You have the option to turn on item drop, so when you die (and you will), you lose everything and must go collect your corpse to get your gear back. Difficulty can be adjusted on the fly. It's up to you how you want to play and how tough you want things to be.

If I have any complaints, it's that eventually you realize each area should be approached the same way, and while there are some slight variations, generally each new map is approached exactly the same as the old. Also, if you're into achievements, you'll probably need to make note that you'll likely only kill around 500 folks over the course of a playthrough, which is about half of what you need to kill to complete the game. You do unlock the ability to play around after finishing the main storyline, but as most everything can be done before beating the game, it'll mean you're just finding folks to fight. That's the situation I currently find myself in.

Also, I won't spoil it, but the title Betrayer can mean a variety of people in the game. You should play and then come to your own conclusions who it refers to. Just know that I greatly enjoyed my time with the game.

[Flake]

January Games:
Megaman (Switch)
Megaman 2 (Switch)
Megaman 3 (Switch)
Megaman 4 (Switch)
Megaman 5 (Switch)
Megaman 6 (Switch)
Megaman 7 (Switch)
Megaman 8 (Switch)
Megaman 9 (Switch)
Megaman 10 (Switch)
Kirby's Dreamland (Wii)
Time Spinner (PS4)

February Games:

Megaman Legends (PSTV)
The Misadventures of Tron Bonne (PSTV)
Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii)

March Games:

Metroid: Samus Returns (3DS)
Mario Galaxy (Wii)

April

Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS4)

May

Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope (Switch)
Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows (Switch)
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (PS4)
Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment (Switch)
Castlevania (Switch)
Dragonball Xenoverse 2 (Switch)
Sonic Forces (Switch)

June

SNK: Heroines (Switch)
Cadence of Hyrule (Switch)
Saint's Row The Third (Switch)
Operation C (Switch)
Secret of Mana Remake (PS4)
The Banner Saga Pt 1 (Switch)

July

Super Mario Maker 2 (Switch)
The World Next Door (Switch)

One of the nice parts about having a story mode in Super Mario Maker 2 is that it's much easier to define 'beating' this game. Super Mario Maker 2 is cute as heck, has a lot of welcomed quality of life improvements and somehow manages to not feel like a rehash or misplaced expansion pack for the original. I especially like that it's easier to curate your levels to have them be more 'findable' by players looking for your style and vice versa. Sometimes I don't feel like spending 30 minutes in a batshit crazy ghost house maze and I can finally exclude those levels when I'm searching for something to play. I have a strong suspicion there will be DLC in the future and I'll keep my skills sharp by coming back to this game frequently.

I am completely conflicted on The World Next Door. I absolutely love the premise of everything in this game - real time combat with puzzle quest execution. Strong and divergent conversation trees for an interesting cast of characters. A depiction of a rich society of monsters. Some incredible art direction.

But there is so much promise that is never realized. The game builds up a mystery that never gets resolved. The complex character interaction options don't actually lead to any consequential outcomes. The story just kind of 'stops'. The gameplay never expands. It's almost like the devs just ran out of money, time, or both. For a low price, it's still a compelling argument about how to spend a weekend but... the unsatisfying ending looms. In a lot of ways, this game reminded me of Time Spinner. Just like with Time Spinner, I came away from this game wanting more but for a completely different reason.

[pook99]

92. Randall (steam)
93. Mega Man 6 (nes)
94. Castlevania: Dracula X (snes)

92. Randall is a sidescrolling platformer beat em up.

You play as Randall and find yourself in a nightmarish city with no memories. You desparately want to get out but don't know how and you have an inner voice constantly talking to you forcing you to press on. As the story unfolds you learn more about the world you are in and how you play a large role in that world. I won't give any spoilers but the story is decent enough for a game like this and is told sparsely enough that it doesn't intefere with the core gameplay.

Randall consists of 7 levels all connected by a hub world. When you start out it seems like the game will be a metroidvania but it actually is pretty linear as you need to tackle the 7 levels in the right order, the game does a great job of guiding you in the right direction so you will never be left scratching your head wondering where to go next.

The environments in the game are pretty drab and samey looking. The drab looks makes perfect sense in the context of the story but the variety in backgrounds leaves a lot to be desired. Despite that the platforming in this game is tight and responsive. As you progress through the game randall will randomnly remember new moves, both in platforming and fighting. The platforming in this game is a ton of fun and handled very well. You have a dash, 2 different jumps, wall jumps and hanging abilities. The level layouts are challenging but the checkpoint system is EXTREMELY forgiving. When you die you pick up almost right where you left off and never need to replay any long sections. This system keeps the frustration at a minimum and I don't think I got frustrated once, despite a few challenging parts. You also unlock the ability to control enemies and you can use their abilities to navigate obstacles you wouldn't normally be able to.

When your not platforming around you are fighting enemies, the combat starts out pretty basic with a few punches, a parry, and an air combo but you unlock new moves as you go which adds a bit of depth to the fighting. You can mostly get by with button mashing, but the combat is decent enough to keep you entertained but the platforming is definitely the star of the show. Each level ends in a boss fight, which are a mixed bag. Some are very cool and require you to learn their patterns and figure out how to damage them, others are more straightforward brawls which tend to be on the easy side.

Overall, Randall is a fun game. It has its flaws but it doesnt overstay its welcome(took me a little over 2 hours to beat) and the content it offers is fun throughout, definitely recommended.

93. Mega Man 6:

Today was probably one of the worst days in my life, so after staring at the ceiling in shock for about 2 hours, I figured my time would be best served with my version of comfort food. I chose mega man 6 because classic mega man is just soothing for me and MM6 is probably the easiest entry in the series. Sure the boss weapons suck and are easily the worst in the series, but the game is just easy and relaxing, it is definitely not in my top MM games but it is fun and I was not in the mood to be frustrated so I did a straight run of it.

If you haven't played 6 it offers nothing innovative compared to the rest of the series, I like it more than 7, 8, and 10, having said that if you never played a MM game 6 is probably a decent place to start since the challenge level is so low it could kind of ease you into the series. It is worth a playthrough for sure, because even though it is not in my top list of MM games it is still better than 80% of other action platformers out there.

94. Castlevania: dracula x

After playing through MM6 I was really in the mood for some awesome castlevania music so I decided to play Dracula X because I think it has an amazing soundtrack. Of course this game is also one of the most difficult in the series and a radical departure from the zen like feeling I had playing MM6. This game is hard, the music rocks, and the dracula fight is fucking terrible but the intense challenge and ridiculousness of the dracula fight kept me completely focused on the game and for a few hours I was able to forget the shit show that was the rest of my day, which i guess is why we all play video games.

This also seems like a good time for my obligatory, "This is the most underrated game of all time" comment that I throw around roughly twice a year on these boards.

[Ziggy]

94. Castlevania: dracula x

After playing through MM6 I was really in the mood for some awesome castlevania music so I decided to play Dracula X because I think it has an amazing soundtrack. Of course this game is also one of the most difficult in the series and a radical departure from the zen like feeling I had playing MM6. This game is hard, the music rocks, and the dracula fight is fucking terrible but the intense challenge and ridiculousness of the dracula fight kept me completely focused on the game and for a few hours I was able to forget the shit show that was the rest of my day, which i guess is why we all play video games.

The SNES Dracula X, to me, is a tech demo. The engine and assets are there, but the rest of the game is rushed. The biggest problems are the level design and enemy placement, and enemy placement is kind of an extension of level design. There's the makings for a great game, but it falls short. The graphics are very nice, the music is awesome, the controls are what you'd expect. But that damn level design! It's not even that by design some areas are really hard (especially with enemy placement and that Dracula fight on pillars), it's also that some areas are just really boring and uninspired.

Tangent:

It would be awesome if someone could make a level editor for this game. If a level editor existed, I would love to make all new levels for this game taking inspiration from the PCE Dracula X. Pretty much try and make what a real SNES port of the PCE game should have been.

I had an idea for a complete hack of this game (but of course I have no hacking skills) that would be awesome if someone ever did. Basically it would be trying to make the game as close to the PCE version as possible. So I know there's more levels in the PCE version, but that's OK. Every level in the SNES version would be changed to be as close to possible as it's counterpart level from the PCE version. Then with MSU-1, use the Red Book audio tracks from the PCE version. Also with the MSU-1, replace the still image cutscenes with the FMV cutscenes from the PCE version. I suppose a skilled enough hacker could add more levels, but I would totally settle for a level editor and an MSU-1 hack. It would be as if the SNES CD add-on was released and Konami did a proper port of the PCE engine game!

But even with the tech demo that we got, I still enjoy playing it from time to time. It might be toward the bottom of my list of best-to-worst Castlevania games, but at the end of the day it's still a Castlevania game.

[noiseredux]

I realized I forgot to update this list, so now it's updated.

1. Super Mario World
2. Super Mario Bros 2
3. Bust-A-Move Universe
4. Crystalis
5. Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
6. Donkey Kong
7. Mega Man 2
8. Bloodstained: Curse Of The Moon

I had written about Curse Of The Moon on my blog back when I beat it in May...

https://noisereduxplaysgames.weebly.com ... f-the-moon

[pook99]

@ziggy: I think the main reason X gets so much hate is that people see it as a shoddy port of Rondo of Blood, when in fact it is a totally separate game. Sure it takes its inspiration from Rondo in terms of story and characters but it is not a port at all, it is its own unique experience. I hear a lot of criticism towards its level design but I just don't see it, I think the level design in X is masterful, its challenging for all the right reasons and combined with the gorgeous graphics and amazing soundtrack it makes for one of the best action platformers on the system. I agree the dracula fight is trashy, its long, drawn out, and hard for all the wrong reasons, but I don't let that one blemish ruin the game for me, just like I don't let Rondos ridiculous boss rush level ruin that game for me.

I have also always contended that not only is X the most under rated game of all time but Rondo is one of the most over rated, and because there was so much mystique around Rondo here in the west X got judged unfairly by most people.

@noise: curse of the moon is an amazing game, one of my favorite new indies and is the sequel to castlevania 3 that I always wanted. It is one of those rare indie gems that got added to my annual rotation of playthroughs and I really hope that the success of the bloodstained franchise prompts konami to make some new castlevania games the way the success of the mighty no 9 kickstarter prompted capcom to make mega man 11.

[marurun]

@Ziggy

I think that idea of yours is pretty awesome, though I would say skip MSU-1 stuff. The SNES renditions of the PCE music are actually pretty darn good, and excellent SNES audio work, and the game doesn't need cut scenes. But I completely agree about level design and enemy placement.

@Pook

I do agree that SNES Dracula X does take heat, sometimes inappropriately, for being a "bad" port of the PCE Rondo, but I think it's actually a frustrating game on its own. The levels are pretty uninspired and enemy placement seems trollish. It's like the game was designed not so much to be too hard, but rather to be a dick to the player. I mean, I beat the game, so it can't be THAT hard, but the game did piss me off on multiple occasions. In an era where Super CV IV, Bloodlines, and Rondo had redefined what Classicvania could be, Dracula X was sort of a throwback to an older style of Castlevania, just draped in the trappings of Rondo and without some of the more inspired level design of the early titles. I can't fault you for enjoying it. I like that this game has its defenders. It's certainly not a bad game, but I don't particularly like it, and I think there's a much stronger case to be made for why it's a lesser entry in the series.

[noiseredux]

we talked about this earlier in the year I think... but I definitely prefer Dracula X to Super Castlevania IV.