Games Beaten 2023

[prfsnl_gmr]

1. Kirby & The Forgotten Land (Switch)
2. Kirby’s Dreamland 3 (SNES)
3. Earthbound Beginnings (NES)
4. Super Mario Bros. - The Lost Levels (NES)
5. Tuff E Nuff (SNES)
6. Star Fox 2 (SNES)
7. Rival Turf (SNES)
8. Brawl Brothers (SNES)
9. The Peace Keepes (SNES)
10 Arm Champs II (Arcade)
11. All-Night Nippon Super Mario Bros. (FDS)
12. Super Mario Bros. Advance 4: Super Mario Bros 3 - World e (GBA)
13. Vs. Super Mario Bros. (Arcade)
14. Super Mario Bros. Special - 35th Anniversary Edition (NES)
15. Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball (3DS)
16. Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (3DS)
17. Vampire Survivors (iOS)

I completed the two games I wanted to beat before the 3DS eShop closes tomorrow:

Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball is a collection of baseball-themed vision training mini games. They range from pretty great to pretty annoying. (The ones requiring you to use the 3DS’s gyroscope are the annoying ones; the batting cage games and the umpire games are great.) What really sets the game apart, though, is its approach to buying the games. Specifically, you negotiate the actual, real money cost of each game by haggling with the titular Rusty, a burnt-out, balding, sad-sack, former baseball playing dog whose wife has just left him and whose business is failing. It’s bizarre. Rusty has each game priced at $4, but if you play him just right, you can usually get him down to about $1 per game, taking all of the content’s total cost to about $12. (This is a very reasonable price. The mini games, while simple, conceal a lot of content and depth.) The game’s unique approach to micro-transactions is why I really wanted to complete the game before the eShop closes tomorrow. It hasn’t been replicated in any other game, and while I’m sure you will still be able to download it through semi-legal means later, playing it just won’t be the same unless you’re haggling with real money for real deals!

Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is a mash up of the the Layton series’ puzzle solving and the Ace Attorney series’ trials and investigations. These are two of my favorite series, and I was ecstatic when the game was announced years ago. Moreover, the mash up works pretty well, and it’s mostly a good game. I couldn’t help but think it’s less than the sum of its parts, however. The trials aren’t as exciting as they are in the mainline Ace Attorney games. (I blame this on two things: (1) the fantastical setting results in the strained logic of Ace Attorney trials being stretched into moon logic territory; and (2) the trials allowing multiple witnesses to testify at the same time means that examinations are frequently unfocused.). Also, there are only 60-ish puzzles, which isn’t nearly enough. There is so much advancing through dialogue, however. So, so much advancing. (Seriously, the game’s 25 hours or so, and I suspect a good 20 of those hours are spent pressing the A button to advance the dialogue.) Still, the characters are charming, and I enjoyed the game despite it not living up to my lofty expectations. (The last trial is still awesome, though!) I wanted to beat the game before the eShop closes tomorrow because, once you complete the game, you can download 12 extra episodes that serve as the game’s epilogue. Each episode contains an additional puzzle, and each one contains a lot of comments on the game’s development. They’re very fun, and amount to about two hours of content.

EDIT: I also beat Vampire Survivors!

Vampire Survivors absolutely rules. I love it. Here’s marurun’s excellent review:

My first beaten game of 2023 is Vampire Survivors, a game that's been on Steam several months and has been all the rage in certain gaming circles. Apparently the developer wanted to outsource the mobile versions while they were focused on DLC but there were so many knock-offs appearing, including blatant full asset rips, that they decided they needed to shelve the DLC for a little bit and just do the mobile versions themselves. All in all they did a fine job, in part maybe because Vampire Survivors feels like it has some mobile-friendly or even mobile-derived mechanics in the core game.

Vampire Survivors is a game about managing waves of enemies and also managing your weapons and accessories. There's tons of content to unlock and lots of secrets as well. The graphics are fairly rudimentary 2D pixel objects, clearly Castlevania-inspired. You start out with a single character and unlock new characters, weapons, and accessories as you progress. Killing enemies yields a little experience gem which you can collect. Every time you level up you can pick from a selection of 3 or 4 available weapons or accessories, randomly selected. If you pick something you already have equipped it will level up (up to a pre-set maximum level). You have a limited number of weapon and accessory slots. Once these are full you'll stop getting new weapons and accessory options. Each weapon has a distinct attack behavior with strength, speed, area, number/amount, and duration of effect. Leveling up improves one or more of these factors. Accessories can affect this. One accessory, for example, adds 5% strength to attacks. Depending on which character you are using, leveling up may also increase a specific effect. There are also weapon evolutions and unions to unlock.

Getting into the mechanics in greater detail, Vampire Survivors isn't really an action game, at least not in the traditional sense. There is no attack button. Your character auto attacks at the speed of the various weapon you have, and all the weapons you have are always active all the time. Most weapons fire off at either set angles or auto-(or randomly) target. Your job is to move your character so that the specific attack patterns and timings of your weapons hits enemies and keeps you from getting hit by enemies or, rarely, their projectiles. For a small number of weapons you can direct their attacks with your character's facing. Basically, from the moment you start the game your sole role is to steer your little dude around the level so your auto-attacking weapon flurries can kill enemies, who sometimes sprinkle in towards you and sometimes crush in in massive waves. You also collect all the exp gems they drop. As you keep leveling up from exp drops you increase and enhance your always-on arsenal, becoming potentially an agent of chaos and destruction. And if you collect the right complement of weapons and accessories you don't even have to interact with the game except to level-up. Yes, you can put the game on autopilot simply by virtue of having an omni-directional wave of death emitting from you to hold back the hordes swarming you from every direction. Play for 10-15 minutes to get the right weapons powered up enough and then hang our another 10-15 letting your auto-attack do all the work, stepping in only to level up and maybe navigate around a little to nab some out-of-range exp gems.

There are also periodic fires or candelabras you can destroy for money or other special items like short enemy freeze (think Castlevania stopwatch), instant screen-clear, or temporary fire-breathing enhancement. Money can be used to buy access to new characters you unlock or activate enhancements (again, once also unlocked) to the games varied stats, like your speed, health, or armor or weapon speed or amount. Fortunately, not every new unlock has to be purchased. There's a tarot system that lets you pick interesting boosts or effects for the level, for example. Each card has to be separately unlocked but not also purchased. New stages also do not need to be purchased. The varied addons can also be disabled if you don't want to use them for a specific run.

The game doesn't have strictly linear levels. Beating levels or hitting certain goals can unlock new stages, and those new stages will have different enemy selections, a few set weapons or accessories scattered about the level, and different qualities like a shorter or longer level timer, increased enemy strength, or whatever. When you hit the level timer the level ends* and your money is tallied and anything you managed to unlock is revealed.

If you survive the timer length Death flies onto the screen at high speed and wrecks your shit, ending the level pretty much right there. Unless, that is, you're powerful enough to beat death, which is a daunting task.

Now, this is a desktop game crammed into a mobile device, so the graphics are all small and so is the text. If you're old like me have your reading glasses handy to play. But you can play landscape (either orientation) or portrait and you can use touch controls or a controller to move. And the game moves a metric crap-ton of stuff around on the screen once things really get going. My iPhone 13 Pro definitely got warm but never skipped a beat. Then again, the iPhone 13 Pro is also a beast, so YMMV. I did find, however, that when I was completely overpowered and throwing weapon fire and damage out in every direction, getting crowded by massive, screen-filling waves of durable enemies, and the screen was covered in exp gems and items (basically, the screen was an unintelligible wash of colors and moving objects) that the game would temporarily suspend some of the object collision rules and enemies would sometimes collide with me without damaging me and levels with walls suddenly had no power to obstruct me. And yet my deadly attacks kept hitting their targets. I suspect the developers wisely set a cap on certain interactions so that mid-level devices don't just get hosed.

The final detail of note is the soundtrack. It's not up to Castlevania quality (OK, maybe a few tracks actually are) but it is fantastic. The sound effects are certainly functional (if a little monotonous for some things like money pickups). Truth is, I typically play with my phone on silent, but the soundtrack is worth a dedicated listen. There's a variety of tunes in there and they're all pretty fantastic.

The mobile versions of this game are completely free with some ads, though they are surprisingly unintrusive. You never have to watch ads unless you want a little bonus money after a level or a single extra revive per stage attempt. Early on you'll definitely be watching some Unity ads, but later on you probably won't see an ad at all. It's always your choice whether to do so. In this way this odd little game completely won me over, and I will likely be ponying up for the DLC when it drops.

That's not to say the game is perfect. It can be frustrating early on as you stumble around blind, trying to figure out what to do and how the game works (it's not good at tutorializing, but it's also not so obtuse as to be impenetrable). But once you crack that nut it's a blast. There are some time commitments, however. Most levels have a 30 minute timer. That means if you have the skills to survive you can be playing up to 30 minutes***. Fortunately you can pause the game and background the app, and as long as your phone has enough RAM to not have to relaunch the game before you get back to the level you won't be interrupted in your progress.

I listened, bemused, to podcast hosts talk about being addicted to this game and had no idea even what it was. And then it came out on mobile and I tried it and I understood.

So I guess my recommendation is... don't play it unless you're OK with a possible short-term addiction? I mean, it's on your phone, so you can't even really escape it by getting away from the TV or the computer. I imagine for some folks it might actually be more fun on Steam, and if you've got the time, sure, go that route. So maybe don't do mobile because you'll be trapped. IT'S A TRAP!

[Ack]

1. Northern Journey (PC)(FPS)
2. Hatchpunk (PC)(FPS)
3. Might and Magic IX (PC)(RPG)
4. Star Wars: Empire at War (PC)(RTS)
5. Chasm: The Rift (PC)(FPS)
6. Real Heroes: Firefighter HD (PC)(FPS)
7. CULTIC (PC)(FPS)
8. Consortium (PC)(FPS)
9. Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 (PC)(FPS)
10. Forgive Me, Father (PC)(FPS)
11. Teomim Island (PC)(FPS)
12. Regions of Ruin (PC)(Action RPG)
13. Void Bastards (PC)(FPS)
14. Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad - Single Player (PC)(FPS)
15. Quake: Scourge of Armagon (PC)(FPS)
16. Quake: Dissolution of Eternity (PC)(FPS)
17. Bioshock Infinite (PC)(FPS)
18. Chop Goblins (PC)(FPS)
19. Ravenloft: Stone Prophet (PC)(RPG)

Mummies alive! Ravenloft: Stone Prophet is the second (and final) of the SSI Ravenloft-based RPGs. It's a dungeon crawler based around 2nd Edition Dungeons & Dragons, using an engine that was only employed for the two Ravenlofts and the standalone Menzoberranzan. This was pretty much the last hurrah of the Dungeon Master-style D&D RPGs, with the exception of a GBA remake of Eye of the Beholder; after this, Black Isle's style took off with Baldur's Gate, and things never went back.

Stone Prophet takes place in the world of Har'Akir, a fantasy world that is based around Egyptian mythology and The Mummy-esque horror a la Universal or Hammer Studios. The mummy Ankhtepot slumbers, but his dreams bring plague and death to the desert dwellers. You play a pair of Hellriders, the same two unlucky schmucks who got sucked into Barovia to take down Count Strahd in the first game. But this time it's less about fighting the evil and more about figuring out how to escape it. Because Ankhtepot is simply too powerful for the party to handle.

There are some interesting elements of Stone Prophet, the first being that you can approach the dungeons in almost any order. You're probably gonna die, because it's a Ravenloft game where enemies will happily kick your ass, but you have options. You also have a large and relatively empty open world to traverse, so you will also want to rely on the game's fast travel system of runes you must find to easily get around. And you have to worry about staying hydrated in the desert heat, much like Eye of the Beholder's food levels. This is of course taken care of with a single Cleric, since Cleric is absurdly powerful, but that's neither here nor there.

The engine powering all this has also gotten a nice facelift. Strahd's Possession looks simply rudimentary compared to the incredible artistic flourish the game has received to reflect the Egyptian theme. The monsters are an incredible array pulled from deeper looks at the D&D bestiary. Stone Golems and Desert Zombies are found alongside Salt Mephits, living fire pillars, and Scorpionmen. The audio is also greatly improved, with monsters screaming in fury at you when you are noticed. This is a fantastic way to wrap up what has been a fun side set of D&D games.

You do still have some weird quirks. For example, the Cleric is still overpowered, providing a way to negate thirst as well as status effects such as poison, utilize fire spells so you can fight trolls, and heal. The game even knows this and provides multiple NPCs to partner with who happen to be Clerics. Surprisingly, the one class the game seems to forget is the Mage, so it's a good idea to cross-class a Fighter/Mage as one of your main characters. Truth be told, my Fighter/Mage ended up one of my toughest because he was dual-wielding blades while in a magic robe, having the lowest AC while dishing out the most damage and serving as the biggest pack mule.

Stone Prophet is cryptic at times about what to do, but about midway you will enter a dungeon that explains pretty much everything you need to do to finish the game and why. This plot dump effectively fixes the cryptic riddles that have dominated not just the Ravenloft games but pretty much all Western RPGs for explaining what you're supposed to do next. I found it refreshing.

It's too bad Ravenloft RPGs ended here. I would love to have explored more of the strange horror worlds that appear in this series. But it goes out on a high note, and SSI gave a masterpiece as a farewell. I loved Stone Prophet and recommend the Ravenloft series immensely.

[Syndicate]

...I wrapped up Lost in Random earlier this week and overall it was a solid game. I don't usually go for deck building based games/combat, but I was really drawn in by the aesthetic of the game. Graphically and tone wise, the game has a real Nightmare Before Christmas or Coraline kind of vibe to it. The combat in Lost in Random is based off of the roll of your dice, well more specifically Dicey your magical dice companion. This roll determines how many action cards (based on the value assigned to the card) that you can play from your deck. Initially, you and Dicey can only roll as high as 3, but as the game goes on you'll gain the ability to roll higher numbers as Dicey is restored to her full strength. As you progress through the game, you'll build your deck, help out various residents of Random (through some short side quests), and get closer to rescuing your sister and figuring out what's really happening in the land of Random. Admittedly, after you find a deck that works for you it's just a matter of making your way through the decidedly not so random battles (which can provide some light challenge here and there) and progressing through the game's five levels. Though the game did get a bit tired near the end and leave some questions unanswered in it's ending, I think the overall charm of the presentation and the whimsical characters you meet (like the Mayor of Two Town and Royam his darker side or the unexpectedly amusing Death) is enough to recommend others check out Lost in Random. I played via GamePass, but if ever gets a physical release I could see picking up a copy for the Switch or something.

[MrPopo]

Previous Years: 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

1. Void Destroyer - PC
2. Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights - Switch
3. Raging Blasters - Switch
4. Citizen Sleeper - Switch
5. GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon
6. Hands of Necromancy - PC
7. Project Downfall - PC
8. Chasm: The Rift - PC
9. Cultic - PC
10. Kirby Super Star - SNES
11. Kirby's Dream Land 2 - GB
12. Kirby's Dream Land 3 - SNES
13. Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards - N64
14. Fire Emblem Engage - Switch
15. Mechwarrior 5: Rise of Rasalhague - PC
16. Kirby's Epic Yarn - Wii
17. Kirby's Return to Dreamland - Wii
18. Mega Man 7 - SNES
19. Mega Man 8 - PS1
20. Conquest: Frontier Wars - PC
21. Theatrhythm Final Bar Line - Switch
22. Octopath Traveler II - Switch
23. Last Call BBS - PC
24. The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure - Switch

The second game in the Crossbell arc, Trails to Azure is set a few months after Trails from Zero. The Special Support Section has a couple of new recruits and must manage things in a city in turmoil due to the events of the first game. But the movers and shakers have a plan that promises to have an impact far beyond the borders of Crossbell.

The main mechanical innovation is the introduction of Master Quartz. These are powerful quartz that are the centerpiece of your grid and provide some sort of passive benefit, as well as several points for learning arts. These quartz level up over time, and at max level they provide a special ongoing magical spell; on initial cast they provide a powerful party wide passive, and whenever your turn comes up you can elect to keep channeling. This extends the buff and deals damage to everything, but you spend EP each time. The Master Quartz would go on to be a major component of character building in Trails to Cold Steel. Otherwise things work as they did in the last game; turn based combat, each day getting a bunch of quests and some hidden ones, and the story divided into acts with multiple days per act as events unfold.

This game runs concurrently with Cold Steel 1, and there are a lot of references to events that occur in Cold Steel 1. However, this game released first; Cold Steel 1 would come a couple years later and make references to what was going on in Azure as it intersects with the Cold Steel party. The thing is, the Cold Steel events relayed in Azure are far more impactful to Cold Steel's party than the Azure events mentioned in Cold Steel, at least in the Cold Steel 1-2 sub arc. Thus, I would say from a story perspective you're probably best off playing Cold Steel 1 and 2, then Zero and Azure, before picking up Cold Steel 3 and 4. There's a natural narrative break between the first two and second two Cold Steel games, so this becomes a good way to slot things in, and Cold Steel 3 makes a lot more "you really wish you'd played them first" references to Azure. The only complication with this plan is the mechanical regression, but if you can get over it that would be my recommended play order.

I definitely wouldn't recommend Trails to Azure as your first Trails game; it relies on you playing Trails to Zero at a bare minimum, and maximum payoff comes from also having played the Trails in the Sky games. It's a really solid RPG, and so is the series as a whole, so if the game seems interesting at least pick up Zero first.

[Green_Warrior]

Games Beaten:

1. Castlevania Symphony of the Night (Playstation)

Some force in the universe really didn't want me to complete this game. It all started when I threw Strider 2 into the old PS1. It wouldn't go any further than the second mission before freezing at a load screen. I tried it in the PS2, and it only took me a bit further. I figured this was an issue with the disc, so I went with my backup: SotN. The music cut sometimes, but it worked well enough... until I got to the inverted castle. Then, my PS1's laser died. You could hear at the startup that it wasn't even trying to read the game. Then, on PS2, SotN started freezing at loading sections of the inverted castle. As an investment on the apparently fragile PS1 games' future, I got a disc resurfacer, and not one of those cheap ones. It didn't fix Strider 2, but thankfully, SotN was saved. Now, I could finally get to finishing the game... just kidding. My 200 pound CRT TV broke down next. It would turn on, but give me a blinking light next to the power button, and no picture or sound was displayed. Out of desperation, I tried smacking the side of it, and that fixed the issue for a little bit. Whenever I get that error, simply smacking the side of the TV fixes it! I'm sure it's on borrowed time, but I used that time to finish the game. Gotta love old technology!

Anyway, the game itself had always been a curiosity to me. The only other Metroidvania I've played is Super Metroid. I really enjoyed that one, but something about the style of play wears me out. In other words, no matter how good a Metroidvania is, I could never play two of them in a row. In fact, it has been close to nine years since I finished Super Metroid, and if that game is one half of what started the genre, then SotN is the other half. How does it compare?

Early on, I was struggling to understand the hype. It was fun, but didn't feel as revolutionary as everyone said. The meme-worthy dialogue was actually the highlight for my early impressions. If I could nail it down to one thing that was bothering me, it was how limited everything felt. I realize that this is a feature of the genre, not a problem with the game, but it was still a bit frustrating to feel like nearly every turn brought me to someplace I couldn't reach. Most of my attacks felt weak, or the enemies spongy.

But as the game progressed, I found myself enjoying it more and more. The big addition to SotN, and why it's considered a foundation of its genre, are the light RPG mechanics. You can level up, find a variety of weapons and armor that all impact your stats, and gain abilities that allow you to reach some of those previously unreachable areas. By the halfway point of the first castle, I no longer felt so constrained. Finding all of the "rooms", marked on your map on the select screen, became an obsession. Many save rooms are sprinkled throughout the castle, and there are some warp rooms too, so you have an easier time backtracking. These warp rooms are a Godsend in the late game, especially if you're trying to get the true ending.

Speaking of endings, there are multiple in SotN, and you're encouraged to get them all. Unlike Super Metroid, where you have to start the game over and get a better time to see different ending screens, Symphony's endings are context-sensitive and often depend on how much of the game you have completed. Needless to say, I prefer the latter method. When I got the first (and worst) ending, I could immediately tell something wasn't right. The game drops you off at your previous save point before the "final" boss, and you're free to explore. That's exactly what I did, and lo and behold, I found items that changed the outcome of the "final" boss entirely. It opened up the game even more!

I think that one of SotN's greatest strengths is its style. Victorian-inspired portraits are used for character speech bubbles whenever someone is talking, and the 32-bit sprites are often large and impressive. I love the castle setting, and it feels larger than life. When you can make a 2D game feel like a grand adventure with the background art alone, you've got some serious talent! The CD-quality music is so impressive in this game. Even though my flawed game disc would sometimes cut it off a bit, it didn't stop me from enjoying it at all. There's a surprising amount of variety, too. When the music for the Colosseum section of the castle starts playing, you think, "Oh, another eerie, atmospheric track," but no, it suddenly transitions into this smooth, funky beat that I enjoyed making Alucard dance to. Modern AAA games could really learn a lesson from games like Super Metroid or SotN when it comes to music. It seems like many devs are preoccupied with making unobtrusive music that you don't even notice, but these games prove you can be both atmospheric and catchy!

Symphony of the Night's story feels broken up. You're given plenty of cutscenes and dialogue early on, but there are stretches of the game, particularly in the second half, where you talk to no one for hours and hours. By the end of the story, the payoff doesn't feel as grand as it should. There are some interesting ideas thrown in, like how Alucard doesn't really want to kill his father, or how humans killed his mother, but he helps them anyway because it was her final wish. But these things are not touched on nearly enough to leave a lasting impact. The dialogue is more amusing than it is deep, especially because of the delivery. Dracula, for example, decides to cite a quote from the bible, and it feels so random and funny. Wouldn't a guy like Dracula hate the bible? lol By the end of the story, Maria, who is all grown up since the events of Rondo of Blood, has fallen in love with Alucard. The problem is that they shared maybe five or six scenes together in the story. It would have really helped sell the romance if she had returned in the second half of the game to help out or provide some kind of dialogue.

Anyway, if a game is fun and atmospheric, a weaker storyline is far from a big deal. It didn't hinder my enjoyment of the game at all, and in fact, I enjoy when stories are goofy and have funny dialogue. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, though.

I enjoyed this game so much that I decided to go for a complete run, 200.6% completion. This percentage is determined by how many "rooms" you've visited. Since the game doesn't require this percentage for the true ending, I feel I have no right to complain about how cryptic it is to find some of these rooms, but let's just say that there is no shame in looking up a guide for a couple of these. One in particular left me puzzled about how anyone could have possibly found it without looking into the source code. The dreaded "Merman" room gives even Castlevania 2's worst offending riddles a run for their money.

But that's about all I can offer for complaints. What a great game. It's a shame we didn't get to see more 2D games on PS1. As for which I prefer between this and Super Metroid? Man, that's a tough one to call. I think they're at a similar level, so it'll come down to how much of an impact SotN leaves on me. The problem is, it often takes me some time to realize just how much of an impact a game leaves on me. So, I'm gonna have to cop out and say: To be determined!

[REPO Man]

If you liked SotN, check out Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, as well as Castlevania Advance Collection, Touhou Luna Nights, Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth, The Mummy Demastered and Dead Cells to name a few.

And if you like Super Metroid I'd recommend Axiom Verge and A Robot Named Fight.

I'm kind of a metroidvania stan.

[elricorico]

1. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles(Arcade)(XBONE)
2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:Turtles in Time(Arcade (XBONE)

3. Kirby Super Star Ultra (NDS)

Rolled the credits on Super Star Ultra tonight. I tend to like Kirby games quite a bit as a good distraction from longer more difficult games. I picked up Super Star Ultra a few months ago, blew through the first 50% or so(because it was easy even by Kirby standards) and then put in 10 or 20 minutes every time I got the itch. All told probably about 4 or 5 hours to roll the credits for me.

Classic Kirby gameplay broken into "mini" Kirby stories. Six short games in one to roll the credits with a little more opened up after the fact. As usual even the most difficult parts only require a little bit of practice. Lots of power ups to play with and some replay value if you want to 100% the game by finding all the secrets in each of the mini-games.

If you've played a few Kirby games before this won't be anything new, but it stays on point with the usual enjoyable gameplay that the series has carried for decades.

[REPO Man]

Just (barely) beat Super Metroid for Super NES, emulated on my Retroid Pocket 3+. Literally made it out by the skin of my teeth with the better part of four seconds and only 69% of the items.

[REPO Man]

Beat Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for Arcade, via The Cowabunga Collection for Switch.

[elricorico]

1. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles(Arcade)(XBONE)
2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:Turtles in Time(Arcade) (XBONE)
3. Kirby Super Star Ultra (NDS)

4. Metal Slug II (PC)

Had the urge for more Metal Slug, and since I have 1, 2, 3 and X all free with Amazon Prime I decided to carry on the series rather than replay the first. Credit fed my way through, spending 32 credits for a first time reaching the ending on normal difficulty.

There isn't too much new from the first game except for mummies, zombies(?) and aliens are thrown in the mix. The same frenetic run-and-gun action, beautiful spritework, massive bosses and a bit of silliness all make their return.

I enjoyed it, but I think I felt the first one was just a touch more to my taste. This felt like the action got a bit bogged down in moments, like the game was just throwing more and more enemies at you in the same screen as a bit of filler/way to get another few quarters out of you.

Still, this is an awesome series and I'll keep playing these games when I get the urge - I don't expect much in the way of disappointment from any of them.