Games Beaten 2020
Re: Games Beaten 2020
I think the Dreamcast Dream Match 3D backgrounds actually fit the style of the KOF 98 character sprites really well. I don’t know about Ultimate Match though. I think KOF 95 has some of the best backgrounds in the series.
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My Classic Games Collection
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The PC Engine Software Bible Forum, with Shoutbox chat - the new Internet home for PC Engine fandom.
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dust_hound
- 24-bit
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- Joined: Wed Jul 25, 2012 6:06 am
Re: Games Beaten 2020
My fav would be the second airport stage from KoF99 - the sunset colours, plus the heat haze coming from the jet engine is pure bliss. I don't think I've ever actually played through a King of Fighters game from start to finish though, but going back to my own games beaten:
19th June 2020 - Tomb Raider Anniversary (PSP, played on PS Vita)
I had played and finished the original Tomb Raider back in the late 90s on Playstation, although I had first experienced it on Sega Saturn where I liked it but didn't finish it there. It really was a big deal to have those mysterious 3D environments, a cool female lead character (the sex appeal aspect never really clicked with me - I really just saw Lara as the hero of the game, nothing more nothing less), and the imaginative environmental puzzles. Fast forward to 2007, and Tomb Raider Anniversary was released as a re-imagining of Lara Croft's first adventure. I really liked TRA, with its updated movement controls bringing it up to date with Tomb Raider Legend and Underworld, and the grappling hook adding a new dimension to the puzzles. It took me around 14.5 hours to play from start to finish, occasionally getting stuck on some of the puzzles, but the great atmosphere created by the well-designed and solid-looking environments, plus the minimalist soundtrack during exploration, kept me enthralled enough that I didn't mind the occasional frustration. The only gripes I had with it were occasional camera hiccups during some grappling hook sections, and some annoying moments in the final stage where you have to fight enemies whilst standing on platforms and can easily be knocked off by their shots. Overall I thought it was a great and enjoyable game, with plenty of secrets to be unlocked even after the storyline has been beaten. I've always enjoyed exploration of well-crafted locations, as well as environmental puzzles, so Tomb Raider Anniversary hit all the right notes for me.
21st June 2020 - Armored Core: Silent Line Portable (PSP, played on PS Vita)
I had previously tried playing ACSLp many years ago, but got turned off by the seemingly high difficulty, and getting frustrated that the controls weren't a standard twin stick setup. A few days ago, I decided to approach it from first principles, and learn the control setup on the PSP version - basically turning and forward/back on the analogue stick, strafe with L and R, main weapon on square, boost on cross, and look up/down on triangle/circle. It felt very much like a throwback to the olden days, but accepting it for what it is made me like the game more. My playthrough took around 8 hours, and I only cleared enough of the missions to complete the main storyline, such as it is - it's all drip-fed via mission briefings and emails to the player character. I'd probably go back to run through the other missions that I didn't do this time round, and it's also fun to experiment with different mech setups. Generally it was a pretty good game once I got around the mild control frustrations, and I'll probably revisit it again in the future.
19th June 2020 - Tomb Raider Anniversary (PSP, played on PS Vita)
I had played and finished the original Tomb Raider back in the late 90s on Playstation, although I had first experienced it on Sega Saturn where I liked it but didn't finish it there. It really was a big deal to have those mysterious 3D environments, a cool female lead character (the sex appeal aspect never really clicked with me - I really just saw Lara as the hero of the game, nothing more nothing less), and the imaginative environmental puzzles. Fast forward to 2007, and Tomb Raider Anniversary was released as a re-imagining of Lara Croft's first adventure. I really liked TRA, with its updated movement controls bringing it up to date with Tomb Raider Legend and Underworld, and the grappling hook adding a new dimension to the puzzles. It took me around 14.5 hours to play from start to finish, occasionally getting stuck on some of the puzzles, but the great atmosphere created by the well-designed and solid-looking environments, plus the minimalist soundtrack during exploration, kept me enthralled enough that I didn't mind the occasional frustration. The only gripes I had with it were occasional camera hiccups during some grappling hook sections, and some annoying moments in the final stage where you have to fight enemies whilst standing on platforms and can easily be knocked off by their shots. Overall I thought it was a great and enjoyable game, with plenty of secrets to be unlocked even after the storyline has been beaten. I've always enjoyed exploration of well-crafted locations, as well as environmental puzzles, so Tomb Raider Anniversary hit all the right notes for me.
21st June 2020 - Armored Core: Silent Line Portable (PSP, played on PS Vita)
I had previously tried playing ACSLp many years ago, but got turned off by the seemingly high difficulty, and getting frustrated that the controls weren't a standard twin stick setup. A few days ago, I decided to approach it from first principles, and learn the control setup on the PSP version - basically turning and forward/back on the analogue stick, strafe with L and R, main weapon on square, boost on cross, and look up/down on triangle/circle. It felt very much like a throwback to the olden days, but accepting it for what it is made me like the game more. My playthrough took around 8 hours, and I only cleared enough of the missions to complete the main storyline, such as it is - it's all drip-fed via mission briefings and emails to the player character. I'd probably go back to run through the other missions that I didn't do this time round, and it's also fun to experiment with different mech setups. Generally it was a pretty good game once I got around the mild control frustrations, and I'll probably revisit it again in the future.
Re: Games Beaten 2020
How'd you get TRA on your Vita? I bought it on PSN and when I went to install it from my download list on my Vita it said it couldn't be installed.
Re: Games Beaten 2020
85. Centipede Infestation (wii)
Centipede infestation is an arena based twin stick shooter that pays homage to the old centipede games while still feeling like its own thing.
I don't know how many twin stick shooters there are on wii, but I have to say that the controls in this game felt really good and it is a genre that probably should have been done more on the system. Obviously, you dont have 2 sticks on the wii, so the nunchuck moves while the wii mote points and shoots, the controls here are very intuitive, responsive and fast, which is great since the levels themselves throw tons of stuff your way. In addition to pointing and shooting you have a stomp move which recharges slowly and kills bugs in a radius around you, and a variety of different weapons. Each weapon when selected can be used for a limited time but there are tons of weapons around so you will usually have lots of cool weapons at your disposal.
The game is broken up into about 40 levels with a boss every 8 levels or so. The levels are usually placed in an arena and you just have to kill things until the level ends. Some levels have some extra gimmicks like turrets you can man, a person to protect, multiple rooms, and a few other things. The levels are mostly pretty short with lots of stuff to kill. There is a good variety of enemies here with all sorts of crawling and flying insects to kill. Each level also has at least one giant centipede that needs to be killed, these things split into segments when shot and spawn mushrooms when they die, just like the old arcade game.
The graphics in this game are very bright and cartoony, I dont know if this was ever a saturday morning cartoon but it certainly looks like it could be. There is a story here as well that is told in random animated cutscenes as well as stills in between levels. The story is nothing special but it does a good enough job at giving you a reason to shoot insects.
This game was a lot of fun, it is made by wayforward so that should not be surprising, but this is a game that literally noone talks about and is very hard to find, although it only goes for about 10 bucks online if you are interested. Any fans of twin stick shooters should definitely check this out, it is a fun, well made game, and doesn't play like anything else I can think of on the wii.
Centipede infestation is an arena based twin stick shooter that pays homage to the old centipede games while still feeling like its own thing.
I don't know how many twin stick shooters there are on wii, but I have to say that the controls in this game felt really good and it is a genre that probably should have been done more on the system. Obviously, you dont have 2 sticks on the wii, so the nunchuck moves while the wii mote points and shoots, the controls here are very intuitive, responsive and fast, which is great since the levels themselves throw tons of stuff your way. In addition to pointing and shooting you have a stomp move which recharges slowly and kills bugs in a radius around you, and a variety of different weapons. Each weapon when selected can be used for a limited time but there are tons of weapons around so you will usually have lots of cool weapons at your disposal.
The game is broken up into about 40 levels with a boss every 8 levels or so. The levels are usually placed in an arena and you just have to kill things until the level ends. Some levels have some extra gimmicks like turrets you can man, a person to protect, multiple rooms, and a few other things. The levels are mostly pretty short with lots of stuff to kill. There is a good variety of enemies here with all sorts of crawling and flying insects to kill. Each level also has at least one giant centipede that needs to be killed, these things split into segments when shot and spawn mushrooms when they die, just like the old arcade game.
The graphics in this game are very bright and cartoony, I dont know if this was ever a saturday morning cartoon but it certainly looks like it could be. There is a story here as well that is told in random animated cutscenes as well as stills in between levels. The story is nothing special but it does a good enough job at giving you a reason to shoot insects.
This game was a lot of fun, it is made by wayforward so that should not be surprising, but this is a game that literally noone talks about and is very hard to find, although it only goes for about 10 bucks online if you are interested. Any fans of twin stick shooters should definitely check this out, it is a fun, well made game, and doesn't play like anything else I can think of on the wii.
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dust_hound
- 24-bit
- Posts: 120
- Joined: Wed Jul 25, 2012 6:06 am
Re: Games Beaten 2020
REPO Man wrote:How'd you get TRA on your Vita? I bought it on PSN and when I went to install it from my download list on my Vita it said it couldn't be installed.
Ah, sorry - it might be a region difference. I'm in the EU, and I was able to just buy and download TRA from the PSN on my Vita.
That said, I've experienced the whole "cannot be downloaded on Vita" problem with other games that I had bought previously, like Armored Core 3 and SSX On Tour. It's infuriating as there isn't really any reason why they shouldn't be there when I could download them to a PSP, and it's just due to someone not having clicked a checkbox somewhere in their CMS, or due to business decisions to try to push people to buy more modern versions of the games on newer platforms. Regardless, to prepare for this kind of eventuality I hacked my Vita to let me put whatever games I like on there. I know a lot of people equate hacking with piracy, but for me I strictly limit it to games that I have paid for on PSN, or for which I own a disc. In these cases, I feel like it's OK just to obtain an ISO from a website whose title sounds like "seedy bromance" and load it on there. There are additional benefits to running PSP games on a hacked Vita too, like different filtering options, f-lux colour adjustment, scanlines, and save-states.
Re: Games Beaten 2020
I had my Vita hacked and using an SD2VITA card but it would keep crashing whenever it went into sleep mode. And if it was downloading stuff it would cancel the downloads but not delete the files.
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dust_hound
- 24-bit
- Posts: 120
- Joined: Wed Jul 25, 2012 6:06 am
Re: Games Beaten 2020
Huh, weird. I've never had any of those problems, although I don't have a SD2Vita and am just using an official 8gb memory card.
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BoneSnapDeez
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 20116
- Joined: Mon May 02, 2011 1:08 pm
- Location: Maine
Re: Games Beaten 2020
28. Scar of the Doll (Steam)
Anyone who takes the time to browse Steam's criminally large selection of visual novels will find some rebooted retro titles thrown into the mix. There is, for instance, the seminal dating sim True Love '95, the early Suda51 thriller The Silver Case, and this -- Scar of the Doll, originally released by an outfit called Child Dream back in 1999. The writing credit goes to one Hidehisa Miyashita, the man behind Folklore, a PlayStation 3 JRPG I don't recall anyone actually playing. This 2017 Steam release actually marks the second time Scar of the Doll was made available in English, following the (now delisted) iOS port titled A Scar of the Doll. While information about the original 1999 game is quite scarce, screenshots indicate that it made use of grainy black & white backgrounds (think of an old Macintosh computer) mixed with color character portraits. The Steam release has since modified and colorized said backgrounds, but the game is blessedly unchanged mechanically.
Visual novels and mystery stories go together like peanut butter and jelly, and Scar of the Doll presents quite the mystery indeed. This isn't the typical whodunit murder thriller. No, this is a quest to find a missing person. The player takes control of a young woman named Asumi, who has lost all contact with her elder sister. This particular sister attends an elite graduate school in Tokyo, renting a nearby apartment. Upon arrival, Asumi finds the apartment empty. When visiting the university laboratory, Asumi is greeted by hostile staff and claims of her sister never being enrolled as a student. However, after some requisite sneaking around, Asumi encounters individuals who (slowly and cryptically) offer up a series of clues. As the tale progresses, Asumi inches closer to revealing the truth.
Atmospherically, the story is quite good. It's genuinely unnerving, punctuated by some great creepy locales and frequent use of startling sound effects. The actual writing is quite straightforward. Unlike modern visual novels, which often attempt to steer the player's emotions, Scar of the Doll comparatively features significantly fewer introspective moments. There's a persistent ambiguity as well: certain events are never explained sufficiently and the game ends with some loose ends left untied. It's a rather effective sleight of hand -- the game begins as a mystery and ends as a decidedly different one. There are precious few supernatural elements found within Scar of the Doll, though oftentimes the "realistic" science fiction defies belief.
Progression through the game is accomplished via a series of frequently appearing pop-up menus. Generally, a set of choices is presented and the player is required to choose one to proceed. Occasionally, only one choice is available, which on the surface seems pointless though it provides an additional sliver of player engagement and highlights some important actions. Though a linear experience overall, Scar of the Doll does feature menu-based navigation as well, so it is possible for one to get sidetracked or caught in a repetitive gameplay loop. The game's interface is admittedly on the clunky side. There's a giant gaudy "Answer" button displayed whenever the player is asked to make a selection. And saving the game immediately closes the save menu and proceeds with the action, which is annoying whenever one wants to create multiple saves.
And you'll want multiple saves, as death lurks around every corner. Poor Asumi. She dies. A lot. Scar of the Doll features true Game Overs which boot the player back to the title screen. Death comes in all forms. There are those "troll" deaths, straight out of a Western adventure game. For instance, when exploring a certain subterranean hallway the player can lead Asumi into the "wrong" room, whereupon she will bump into a shelf, spilling hazardous chemicals, and subsequently be rendered dead. There are also moral failings. Ignoring a starving animal will lead Asumi to her doom, as will snooping through someone's private possessions. Furthermore, the game isn't designed in a way that makes all deaths immediate. It's possible to end up on the wrong "path" that leads to multiple varying deaths and no chance for redemption. As such, it is also possible to get trapped in an unwinnable state, so juggling multiple saves is critical. As a general rule, Asumi is safe whenever a new day begins (dates are displayed onscreen). So, it's wise to keep a "master save" upon the dawn of each morning, and then juggle others to goof about.
That said, the game itself often seems determined to keep Asumi alive. There's the occasional breaking of the fourth wall to announce when a dangerous situation is approaching. Additionally, whenever Asumi is killed her "mistake" is revealed to the player. It can actually be quite "fun" to experiment with specific death scenarios intentionally, and oftentimes there are intriguing plot points that aren't revealed until Asumi makes a "bad" decision. All told, the game takes but a couple of sittings to complete (maybe four hours total at most), though those repeat players that know "the route" can blaze through it in ninety minutes of so. There's a very brief "bonus chapter" narrated by one of the side characters, which provides some additional insight into the "behind the scenes" aspects of Asumi's journey.
The game's visuals are quite intriguing. Those who are expecting yet another visual novel featuring doe-eyed pink-haired chesty "waifus" may end up disappointed, as Scar of the Doll makes use of realistic character portraits. Yes, all characters look authentically Japanese and are likely inspired by real individuals. While Asumi is granted a series of portraits to express varying emotions, most of her compatriots are given but one still image, which can be a touch jarring. One specific man, for instance, always appears to be frozen in shock regardless of context. The backgrounds are quite pretty. I'm guessing they're actual photographs that have been heavily filtered to look like paintings; similar effects have been employed in the likes of Higurashi. The music is incredible. It's unabashedly loud and grandiose, fast, aggressive, and delightfully schlocky in a late-90s sort of way. For the most part, that is. There are some scattered poignant piano pieces played during the game's more melancholic moments, as well as some delicious "horror movie" synth tracks. Plus a surprisingly well-executed rendition of "O Come, All Ye Faithful" played during some holiday flashbacks. Given the game's age, it's no surprise to see zero voice acting, which will disappoint some. Additionally, there are no bonuses granted upon game completion: no library of stills or jukebox of tunes, which is a huge bummer as this soundtrack doesn't really seem to be available anywhere.
My initial thought when finishing Scar of the Doll: no other visual novel "feels" like this. It's not like one of those persistent menu-clickers from the 8-bit days, nor is it one of those massive soul-searing VNs like the best-sellers of the past decade. It's somewhere in the middle: a compelling streamlined narrative with a decent helping of player agency and a chilling ambiance. Really, I think the "issue" here is that most visual novels from this era haven't been translated, either officially or by the fans, and those that were (like Air, Kanon, Bloody Bride Imadoki no Vampire, and Pia Carrot e Youkoso!!) tend to lean more towards "slice of life" or romance. Scar of the Doll is recommended to all fans of the genre, but also to those fence sitters. The most annoying elements that all too often creep into visual novels -- bloated length, forced romance (and, uh, "eroge"), ridiculous character personalities (and appearances) -- are totally absent here. This could easily appeal to fans of Western adventures, especially those by Telltale Games. If anything, the presence of Scar of the Doll on Steam is both intriguing and delightful, and hopefully inspires additional developers to begin releasing their backlogs to a wider audience.
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prfsnl_gmr
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 12198
- Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:26 pm
- Location: Charlotte, North Carolina
Re: Games Beaten 2020
First 25
26. Donut County (iOS)
27. Donkey Kong Country 2 (SNES)
28. Donkey Kong Country 3 (SNES)
29. Contra (Arcade)
30. Super Contra (Arcade)
31. Minesweeper Genius (Switch)
32. Kuso (Switch)
Kuso is an inexpensive precision platformer with striking ZX Spectrum-inspired graphics and a fantastic soundtrack. It controls like a dream, and is very fun. Moreover, it lets you place checkpoints wherever you’d like; so, while the platforming is extremely challenging, the gameplay is generally pretty forgiving. With only 64 levels, however, it’s quite short, and you can run through it in about an hour. (Like me, you’ll probably die 500+ times in that hour, but still, you’ll get through it pretty quickly.) You’re rated when you complete the game - I got one “F” rating and two “D” ratings - and there are more challenging modes that limit your lives and ability to place checkpoints. Accordingly, the game has a lot of replay value, and I’ll be keeping it on my Switch. Recommended to anyone looking for a pleasant, bite-sized precision platforming experience.
26. Donut County (iOS)
27. Donkey Kong Country 2 (SNES)
28. Donkey Kong Country 3 (SNES)
29. Contra (Arcade)
30. Super Contra (Arcade)
31. Minesweeper Genius (Switch)
32. Kuso (Switch)
Kuso is an inexpensive precision platformer with striking ZX Spectrum-inspired graphics and a fantastic soundtrack. It controls like a dream, and is very fun. Moreover, it lets you place checkpoints wherever you’d like; so, while the platforming is extremely challenging, the gameplay is generally pretty forgiving. With only 64 levels, however, it’s quite short, and you can run through it in about an hour. (Like me, you’ll probably die 500+ times in that hour, but still, you’ll get through it pretty quickly.) You’re rated when you complete the game - I got one “F” rating and two “D” ratings - and there are more challenging modes that limit your lives and ability to place checkpoints. Accordingly, the game has a lot of replay value, and I’ll be keeping it on my Switch. Recommended to anyone looking for a pleasant, bite-sized precision platforming experience.
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BoneSnapDeez
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 20116
- Joined: Mon May 02, 2011 1:08 pm
- Location: Maine
Re: Games Beaten 2020
I don't really like the "one million checkpoints, one million deaths" style seen in so many modern platformers. Still, the idea of placing your own seems intriguing.