Games Beaten 2012

[Flake]

1/2 Cannon Spike (DC)
1/9 Mega Man X4 (GCN)
1/17 Psycho Soldier (PSN)

Okay, that was fun! Psycho Soldier epitomizes everything I loved about the arcades in the 80's. Simple, satisfying graphics and quick gameplay. As an added bonus, this game has an incredible sound track and my hat is off to SNK for actually including the vocal sound track from the 80's release, complete with all the audio impurities.

Psycho Soldier becomes a real quarter feeder towards the end (SNK bosses and all) but despite watching Athena die a hundred times, I had a blast!

[dsheinem]

1/2 Cannon Spike (DC)
1/9 Mega Man X4 (GCN)
1/17 Psycho Soldier (PSN)

Okay, that was fun! Psycho Soldier epitomizes everything I loved about the arcades in the 80's. Simple, satisfying graphics and quick gameplay. As an added bonus, this game has an incredible sound track and my hat is off to SNK for actually including the vocal sound track from the 80's release, complete with all the audio impurities.

Psycho Soldier becomes a real quarter feeder towards the end (SNK bosses and all) but despite watching Athena die a hundred times, I had a blast!

Psycho Solider is a great game, glad you tried it out! It's a sequel to Athena, and about 10000x better, for those who don't know.

[noiseredux]

Athena (the character) is awesome in just about every game she's graced except, y'know... Athena (the game).

[Luke]

Athena (the character) is awesome in just about every game she's graced except, y'know... Athena (the game).

What's wrong with Athena on NES?

[noiseredux]

Athena (the character) is awesome in just about every game she's graced except, y'know... Athena (the game).

What's wrong with Athena on NES?

Poor controls.
HORRIBLE hit detection.
Unfairly relentless and powerful enemies.

^those are my main problems. Like I mentioned, I played it a lot when I was younger. So I remember liking it then. But the adult version of me can't overlook these things for some reason now. Probably because I have a lot more games to pick from. I think Athena was an ambitious game, but didn't work well on NES. I could overlook the poor controls IF the hit detection weren't shit. And if getting hit because of horrible hit detection didn't so often mean quick and frustrating death.

[Luke]

HORRIBLE hit detection.

Can't argue with that, and nostalgia gets the best of me as I still like Athena. I also have to agree that Athena was an ambitious game, and may have more built into it than it should have. For me however, I always loved the armor and weapon leveling up system that was brand new to me at the time.

Athena is laborious to play, and isn't a top 10 NES game of mine, but I don't know man. I still enjoy playing it, but I also enjoy playing Godzilla on the NES.

[jfe2]

Games Beaten 2012

Super Crate Box - iPad
Sonic CD - XBLA
Scribblenauts Remix - iPhone

Total: 3

Super Crate Box isn't really a game that can be beat, but I did manage to unlock everything in the game so I'll consider it done. It really is an amazing game, and the virtual d-pad doesn't take away from that at all. I personally played with the iCade and it made for an excellent experience. It truly feels like an old arcade game when played this way.

Sonic CD was a fun entry to the series, but it was pretty easy and very short compared to other Sonic games. I wasn't very fond of the special stages in this one, but I may go back and play for the Time Stones eventually.

Scribblenauts Remix plays like a dream on the iPhone. It's definitely a short game, but what it lacks in actual levels it makes up for in replay value. The addition of adjectives in this remixed version of the game make for endless possibilities of what you can create. I got it on sale for a dollar, but it's worth much more than that.

[J T]

Mirror's Edge (1/18)
Deus Ex: Human Revolution (1/12)

I started Mirror's Edge a few years ago and then got stuck on this part where I couldn't find an exit. I moved on to other things and only recently came back to it.

I really like Mirror's Edge. It stands ahead of the pack as far as first person games go. There's a very tangible physicality to the gameplay that makes all the parkour running moments feel more visceral and alive. I actually want to go back and attempt some speed runs simply because I love the flow of the levels that allow for a real good run. Great game.

[alienjesus]

Super Mario 3D Land 3DS
Professor Layton & The Spectre's Call DS
Trip World 3DS VC
Streetpass Quest II 3DS
Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse - Episode 301: The Penal Zone PC
Kirby's Fun Pak VC
Golden Axe Warrior SMS
Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse - Episode 302: The Tomb of Sammun-Mak PC *NEW*
Ax Battler: The Legend of Golden Axe Game Gear *NEW*
Gitaroo Man Lives! PSP *NEW*
Total: 10

The Tomb of Sammun-Mak was a solid continuation of The Devil's Playhouse, which is looking to be a pretty consistently solid series based on it's first two entries. It follows Sam & Max's great-grandfathers Sammeth and Maximus using a cool 'movie reel' mechanic where you can flip back and forth in the story to learn information that's useful elsewhere. It's pretty clever because despite being required to complete the puzzles, it never throws up any weird paradoxes. The story is quite funny, and gives backstory to a few characters from the other series, whilst at the same time standing fully on it's own and requiring no experience with the previous games like Series 2 did. Good stuff.

Ax Battler, on the other hand, was not good stuff. It had a lot of potential, btu it felt rushed, and not quite finished. It reminded me of Zelda 2, or the action segments of actraiser, but not as polished. It was short, repetitive and the difficulty was all over the place. I said a bit more about it in the Together Retro thread for this month. Overall, it had potential, but fell flat on it's face.

Gitaroo Man Lives! might be my favourite rhythm game ever. There's only 10 tracks (12 in Lives!, but the 2 new ones are multiplayer only ¬_¬) but they're generally really good, and several of them I'd listen to amongst my 'normal' (aka. non video game) music and not feel weird. In particular, the soundtrack to the last half of the game is excellent, and I reckon you should all go listen to it. The story is a little silly and laughable, but you kinda end up going along with it and rooting for lovable loser U-1 and hoping he gets the girl and saves the day anyway. The Legendary Theme and the Sanbone Trio battle music (Born to be Bone) are particular favourites. The gameplay is fun, I particularly love the rapid button pressing for the dodge phase of battle. I recommend everyone try this on PSP or PS2 who hasn't already!

[ExedExes]

Shenmue II -- Dreamcast (January 9)
Golden Axe Warrior -- Sega Master System *NEW* (January 19)

Quest? Check.
Items? Check.
Hearts? Check.
Magic? Check.
Forests & Mountains? Check.
Underground Dungeons? Check.
Shops? Check.
Gambling areas? Check.
Hidden areas to gain and lose currency? Check.

Then I must be playing Legend of Zelda!

ON THE SMS?!?!?!?!

Noooo. Golden Axe Warrior -- takes the best of Zelda and frames it perfectly in the GA universe. Many of the characters and boss enemies were taken from the series and if you didn't notice nearly every element shamelessly and unabashedly lifted from the Shigeru Miyamoto classic, then you probably didn't have an NES

Good job on Sega for making it memorable, no thanks to somewhat clumsy control.

I now have a dis-taste for clams