Games Beaten 2017

[pierrot]

@pierrot: Not to rile you up more or anything, but I'd be curious on what 5th/6th JRPG's you like a lot?

All of these, ma brotha':

Suikoden 1-3, Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter, Dragon Quest VIII, Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, Legend of Mana, Threads of Fate, Chrono Cross, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Elemental Gimmick Gear, Phantasy Star Online.

Terranigma

Terranigma wasn't Japan only (got a UK release), and it's far from "basically perfect".

You're 100% right. I was overzealous in trying to include more SFC games. My tongue was firmly planted in my cheek for just about all of that post, by the way. Except for the EB and IoG stuff. In fact, I'm gonna go flush those two down the toilet, right now. Wish me luck--.

Hey pierrot, have you ever played Azure Dreams on PlayStation? I'm curious what you think/would think about that particular title.

I have it, but I've only played the intro. I like rogue-likes, so I'm sure I would like it. I'm just not very good at actually getting anywhere in most rogue-likes. Asuka Kenzan made me its bitch.

I'm a pretty simple man. I see something that could be challenging, and I say, "yes."

[Sarge]

You're right, Bone. It was originally PC-98, and I don't know why I registered PC Engine.

Don't listen to Exhuminator about Terranigma, that game's awesome.

January:

1) The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition (PC) (8.5) (1/1) (~5.5 hours)
2) ActRaiser (SNES) (8.0) (1/2) (~4 hours)
3) Bonk's Revenge (GB) (6.0) (1/3) (~1 hour)
4) Tiny Toon Adventures: Babs' Big Break (GB) (6.5) (1/3) (~1 hour)
5) Blackwell Legacy (PC) (7.0) (1/5) (2.6 hours)
6) Blackwell Unbound (PC) (7.5) (1/7) (2.2 hours)
7) Blackwell Convergence (PC) (8.0) (1/7) (2.4 hours)
8) Blackwell Deception (PC) (8.0) (1/8) (4.7 hours)
9) Blackwell Epiphany (PC) (9.0) (1/9) (6.5 hours)
10) Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (PS4) (8.0) (1/22) (~55 hours)
11) Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (360) (8.0) (1/28) (~.5 hours)
12) Deep Duck Trouble Starring Donald Duck (SMS) (6.5) (1/31) (~1 hour)

February:

13) Quackshot Starring Donald Duck (GEN) (7.5) (2/7) (~2 hours)
14) Fire Emblem Heroes (Android) (8.0) (2/9) (~10 hours)
15) Super C (NES) (9.5) (2/20) (~0.5 hours)
16) Contra (NES) (10.0) (2/20) (~0.5 hours)
17) Mickey's Dangerous Chase (GB) (6.5) (2/24) (~1 hour)
18) My Nintendo Picross: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (3DS) (8.5) (2/25) (~19 hours)
19) Mega Man 2 (NES) (10.0) (2/28) (~0.8 hours)

March:

20) Final Fantasy XV (PS4) (8.0) (3/2) (~33 hours)
21) Blaster Master Zero (NS) (9.0) (3/10) (~6.5 hours)
22) Espgaluda II Black Label (360) (8.0?) (3/17) (0.5 hours)
23) The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (NS) (9.5) (3/28) (~70+ hours)

April:

24) Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment (PC) (8.5) (4/7) (~5.5 hours)
25) Hyper Light Drifter (PS4) (8.0) (4/9) (~8 hours)
26) Gekido Advance: Kintaro's Revenge (GBA) (7.5) (4/16) (~3 hours)
27) Vanquish (PS3) (8.5) (4/17) (~7 hours)
28) Journey (PS3) (6.0) (4/19) (~2 hours)
29) GunForce (SNES) (4.0) (4/22) (~20 minutes)
30) GunForce 2 (ARC) (7.0) (4/23) (~30 minutes)
31) GunForce: Battle Fire Engulfed Terror Island (ARC) (6.0) (4/23) (~20 minutes)
32) Mighty Final Fight (NES) (8.5) (4/29) (~30 minutes)

May:
33) Final Fantasy V (SFC) (6.0) (5/1) (~33 hours)
34) Super Adventure Island (SNES) (7.0) (5/2) (~1 hour)

Super Adventure Island is as back to basics as you can get. Graphically and aurally very nice, but it's basically an NES game. Nothin' wrong with that. I did use a little bit of save stating, but with the right approach, the game shouldn't be too hard. The problem is that the game lulls you into a rhythm, and then hits you when you don't expect it. Which is fine, you just have to stay on your toes... and keep moving, because you've got the timer constantly ticking down.

Super Adventure Island II is the one to play, though. Secret Monster World game and all that.

[BoneSnapDeez]

1. Chrono Trigger (SNES)
2. Gyromite (NES)
3. Lucy -The Eternity She Wished For- (Steam)
4. Ys III: Wanderers from Ys (Famicom)
5. Radical Dreamers (SNES)
6. Video Games 1 (TI-99/4A)
7. Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken (Famicom)
8. Exile (TurboGrafx CD)
9. Exile: Wicked Phenomenon (TurboGrafx CD)
10. Xak (PC Engine CD, Xak I・II)
11. Xak II (PC Engine CD, Xak I・II)
12. Neutopia (TurboGrafx-16)
13. Captain Silver (Sega Master System)
14. Märchen Veil (Famicom Disk System)
15. Vanguard (Atari 2600)
16. Kangaroo (Atari 2600)
17. Front Line (Atari 2600)
18. Mario Bros. (Atari 2600)
19. Harmonia (Steam)
20. Donkey Kong (Atari 2600)
21. Jungle Hunt (Atari 2600)
22. Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes (TurboGrafx CD)
23. Gorf (Atari 2600)
24. Neutopia II (TurboGrafx-16)
25. Dungeon Magic (PlayStation 2, Taito Legends 2)
26. The Lost Vikings (SNES)
27. Blue's Journey (Wii Virtual Console)
28. Wizard Fire (Wii, Data East Arcade Classics)
29. Super Mario Run (Android)
30. Dragon Warrior II (NES)
31. Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure (GOG.com)
32. Witch & Hero (Nintendo eShop)
33. Phoenix (Atari 2600)
34. Emerald Dragon (Super Famicom)
35. Sky Skipper (Atari 2600)

Sky Skipper is the most obscure Nintendo game out there, arcade exclusives notwithstanding.

Originally released in 1981, the game's initial arcade run was relegated to Japan, and the 1983 Atari 2600 port only appeared in North America. No Famicom release, no black label NES cartridge. Strange. Atari Sky Skipper was published by Parker Bros. so there's no indication that this even is a Nintendo game, unless you choose to read the really really fine print.

While the arcade graphics greatly resemble those of Popeye, the Atari game looks more like, well, an Atari game. Everything's blocky, but objects are detailed enough to be differentiated. There's some jingly music present throughout, not too dissimilar from that found in Atari Popeye and Donkey Kong Junior.

I suppose this falls under the vague "action" genre. Nintendo liked scaffolding back in this era, and Sky Skipper is no exception. You control a pilot attempting to rescue some caged animals. Animals are freed from their prisons - temporarily - if a bomb is dropped on a giant ape (Donkey Kong?!). Animals are collected for points, and all must be found to complete a level. A life is lost if the scaffolding is crashed into or if the fuel gauge hits zero. How is fuel replenished? By collecting the animals, of course! In later levels clouds appear as additional obstacles.

The plane moves automatically in whatever direction it's facing so constant steering is required. There are three "modes" of play, which correspond to three different plane speeds (slow, medium, fast). I suppose these speeds are ostensibly correlated to difficultly, but it doesn't quite work out that way. The slow plane sucks - everything grinds down to a crawl and it actually becomes much harder to hit the ape and collect animals. Mode 2 (medium) is the ideal choice for measured, fun gameplay.

Sky Skipper is your typical score attack, looping infinitely with some small variations to level colors. It's pretty entertaining overall, really! Maybe not up there with Mario Bros. and the Donkey Kong trio, but I'll take this over the unjumpable Popeye. A shame a Famicom port never materialized, it would have been great to experience this on more powerful hardware.

Highly recommended for all those who own an Atari 2600. Though I guess you could wait for Nintendo to put it up on the Virtual Console.

[Sarge]

January:

1) The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition (PC) (8.5) (1/1) (~5.5 hours)
2) ActRaiser (SNES) (8.0) (1/2) (~4 hours)
3) Bonk's Revenge (GB) (6.0) (1/3) (~1 hour)
4) Tiny Toon Adventures: Babs' Big Break (GB) (6.5) (1/3) (~1 hour)
5) Blackwell Legacy (PC) (7.0) (1/5) (2.6 hours)
6) Blackwell Unbound (PC) (7.5) (1/7) (2.2 hours)
7) Blackwell Convergence (PC) (8.0) (1/7) (2.4 hours)
8) Blackwell Deception (PC) (8.0) (1/8) (4.7 hours)
9) Blackwell Epiphany (PC) (9.0) (1/9) (6.5 hours)
10) Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (PS4) (8.0) (1/22) (~55 hours)
11) Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (360) (8.0) (1/28) (~.5 hours)
12) Deep Duck Trouble Starring Donald Duck (SMS) (6.5) (1/31) (~1 hour)

February:

13) Quackshot Starring Donald Duck (GEN) (7.5) (2/7) (~2 hours)
14) Fire Emblem Heroes (Android) (8.0) (2/9) (~10 hours)
15) Super C (NES) (9.5) (2/20) (~0.5 hours)
16) Contra (NES) (10.0) (2/20) (~0.5 hours)
17) Mickey's Dangerous Chase (GB) (6.5) (2/24) (~1 hour)
18) My Nintendo Picross: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (3DS) (8.5) (2/25) (~19 hours)
19) Mega Man 2 (NES) (10.0) (2/28) (~0.8 hours)

March:

20) Final Fantasy XV (PS4) (8.0) (3/2) (~33 hours)
21) Blaster Master Zero (NS) (9.0) (3/10) (~6.5 hours)
22) Espgaluda II Black Label (360) (8.0?) (3/17) (0.5 hours)
23) The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (NS) (9.5) (3/28) (~70+ hours)

April:

24) Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment (PC) (8.5) (4/7) (~5.5 hours)
25) Hyper Light Drifter (PS4) (8.0) (4/9) (~8 hours)
26) Gekido Advance: Kintaro's Revenge (GBA) (7.5) (4/16) (~3 hours)
27) Vanquish (PS3) (8.5) (4/17) (~7 hours)
28) Journey (PS3) (6.0) (4/19) (~2 hours)
29) GunForce (SNES) (4.0) (4/22) (~20 minutes)
30) GunForce 2 (ARC) (7.0) (4/23) (~30 minutes)
31) GunForce: Battle Fire Engulfed Terror Island (ARC) (6.0) (4/23) (~20 minutes)
32) Mighty Final Fight (NES) (8.5) (4/29) (~30 minutes)

May:
33) Final Fantasy V (SFC) (6.0) (5/1) (~33 hours)
34) Super Adventure Island (SNES) (7.0) (5/2) (~1 hour)
35) Dragon Spirit: The New Legend (NES) (7.5) (~30 minutes)

Well, that was surprising. I managed to get through Dragon Spirit on NES legit. I had save stated just for safety until near the end, just in case the game didn't let me continue, but it did. Either I was in the zone, or the game is relatively fair. Probably a bit of both, because there were some tricky bits. I did notice that the hit detection is pretty forgiving, though.

Anyway, if you've played Xevious, it's got aspects of that, except with a dragon. When you pick up power-ups, you can get extra heads (yup), more powerful fire, a rapid-fire shot, a spread shot, or even little tiny dragons that flank you and a "mini" power-up that shrinks you and your hitbox. It's pretty neat stuff, honestly, and definitely one of the better NES shooters I've played.

[Xeogred]

1. Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour (PC)
2. Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter* (PC)
3. Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter (PC)
4. D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die (PC)
5. Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight (PC)
6. Deadcore (PC)
7. Yakuza 4 (PS3)
8. Hyper Light Drifter (PC)
9. Doom 2: Valiant (PC)
10. Resident Evil 7 (PS4)
10. Doom 2: Ancient Aliens (PC)
11. Doom 2: Vanguard (PC)
12. Doom 2: Doom 2 The Way id Did (PC)
13. Doom 2: Community Chest Pack 4 (PC)
14. Doom: Doom The Way id Did (PC)
15. Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 (PC)
16. Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 (PC)
17. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (WiiU)
18. Dishonored 2 (PC)
19. Kirby's Dream Land (GB)
20. Kirby's Dream Land 2 (GB)
21. Super Mario Land (GB)
22. Super Mario Land 2 (GB)
23. Mighty Final Fight (NES)
24. Kirby's Dream Land 3 (SNES)
25. Trip World (GB)
26. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist (Genesis)
27. Aladdin (Genesis)
28. Streets of Rage (SMS)

* replay

That's right... Sega Master System Streets of Rage!



Pretty cool technical showcase here, which I seem to be getting a lot of with some retro stuff lately. The graphics and music are insanely good for the SMS and it's really cool to see what they could pull off here faithfully. I wouldn't say it's as good as some of the NES beat em' ups, but still... this is really well done. Some of the bosses were annoyingly programmed and an issue at times though, wonky hit detection, and some of them would lag the game for a second when they ran off screen haha. But it was really easy to cheese most of the bosses too as they would easily get stuck in a nonstop combo.

Overall pretty easy once you figure out some patterns with the bosses, get a feel for the hit detection offensively and defensively, and can get them trapped. I beat it with Adam.

I will not be playing Streets of Rage 2 SMS. It looks terrible and like a different team must have handled it.

[Exhuminator]

The best beat 'em ups on SMS IMO are Altered Beast and Double Dragon, great ports both. Dynamite Dux and Running Battle are worth checking out too.

[Xeogred]

POWER UP

I grew up on Genesis Altered Beast. I'll have to check out the SMS version sometime.

Never knew Double Dragon on SMS was a thing. It's still very weird to me Battletoads 1-2 are on the Genesis too. Though I have noticed that those versions are a little easier.

I wish they made maybe like one more Sonic the Hedgehog on the SMS. Those two games are incredibly cool. Nobody seems to really know about them or talk about them. Kind of like Mega Man Xtreme 1-2.

[Sarge]

I dunno, I think the SMS version of Double Dragon looks good, but it plays pretty terrible. The lack of hit stun overrides the good will it garners from actually letting two people play it. My dream version is an NES/SMS mashup.

The SMS Sonic games play fine, but I hate the hit detection on the rings. It's much more of a pain to pick them up than the Genesis versions.

[Exhuminator]

I might be bias on SMS DD. I had it before the NES version. I enjoy both. They both offer different aspects to appreciate. I admit the NES version plays technically better. But the content is different enough in the SMS version to warrant a play.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Sigh. Once again you guys all ignore the best console ever, and the true definitive version of Double Dragon.