Games Beaten In 2022

[newtmonkey]

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES)

It's a charming little game.  It's got a really interesting world and some great characters, and I would have loved to see them release a CG animated short or feature based on this game; I have a soft spot for this early CG stuff.

 

I must admit, I was pretty disappointed with the graphics in this game.  Donkey Kong Country still looks great to this day, and I was expecting something on that level.  The sprites and battle backgrounds all look great, but most of the areas you explore are tiny and built from just a handful of very simple tiles.  Some of the outside areas look particularly bad.  The soundtrack does help make up for this a bit.  There's some great music in here, and it all sounds great.  I'd rank it up there with the best from Square on the SNES.

 

As an RPG, it's a bit too simple for my tastes.  It's got a snappy combat engine, but the timed hits don't really add anything to the game and once you learn the timing (which is very generous) it just seems like extra work.  I hardly used any special abilities, other than Geno Boost and Toadstool's healing spells.  I seemed to plenty of damage just with regular attacks.  I do like each character really has his/her own unique abilities, and I could see how your strategy would be quite different based on which characters are in the party... for example, I completely ignored Mallow so relied mostly on physical attacks, as he's really the only character with element-based spells.

 

The platforming wasn't so bad for most of the game, but became somewhat infuriating toward the end.  You had better be using a controller with an excellent dpad with accurate diagonals, or you'll be in for a world of hurt with all the isometric jumping you need to do in the final area.  Luckily, there wasn't too much of this in the game.

 

I liked how each "dungeon" has its own gimmick.  You'll never simply be solving a maze in this game, as there's always some fun little twist involved.  Enemies mostly don't respawn unless you leave the area, and it's nice not to get constantly interrupted while exploring.

 

---

 

I'm glad to finally complete this one.  It's a bit of a "lost" game for me as this was the only major SNES RPG I never got into back in the day, even though I was a huge fan of RPGs (specifically those from Square) and Mario.  I remember renting it once shortly after it was released, but I felt like it was a step back from both Final Fantasy III (VI) and Chrono Trigger.  I was also losing interest in the SNES at that point, with the PSX already released and the N64 hype growing.

Edited May 22, 2022 by newtmonkey

[Atariboy]

I finally had a city reach Megalopolis status in SNES SimCity moments ago. Only took 25 years of trying to finally reach a population of 500,000.

 

Only one goal left to potentially accomplish. While your city status (And the accompanying background music that changes along with your city's status) isn't altered by it, you get a special cutscene if you break the 600,000 population barrier. It won't be happening on this particular city (although I still have some room to work with and spots that I could optimize), since it's the water free 'Freedom' scenario map that I've been playing on. 

 

Since it's a scenario map, you don't receive gifts like libraries and parks (I didn't even get my Mario statue for reaching megalopolis status ).  And without gifts to boost neighboring zones, it's apparently quite a challenge just to break 500k on it (I suspect the best I could push this to is about 525k). So if I'm to finally get my Mario statue and perhaps even break 600k, it will have to be on a new city on a regular map.

 

Curiously even though it's a scenario with reaching megalopolis as the goal, it's not labeled as having been completed in the scenario selection menu like all the other scenarios are. 

Edited May 27, 2022 by Atariboy

[digdugnate]

I finished a playthrough of Super Gem Fighter Minimix with Ken. 

[Razzie.P]

Dracula on NES

 

 

Been playing this for the HSC and I really liked it.  I think if I had discovered it as a kid, it would have been one of my favorites.

 

 

[digdugnate]

two-fer this afternoon for Chibi Street Fighter.  Finished a playthrough of Super Puzzle Fighter/Normal Difficulty (Ryu).

Edited June 24, 2022 by digdugnate

[+jgkspsx]

Beat Men in Black for the R-Zone. The final boss is just an animation and then the game ends.

 

[+thegoldenband]

7. Batsu & Terry (Famicom)

 

The epitome of kusoge. Is that continue code legit? Hope so, because the game's too janky to suffer through without it. D-.

 

8. Skull & Crossbones (NES)

 

Still pretty darn fun! A-.

 

9. Hook (NES)

 

From an excellent pirate game to a really lousy one! I'd like to trash Hook but can't completely, as it really is...well, playable. It's not fun, though, and it's just so ugly and cheap-looking and stupid, and has no real reason to exist. D-.

 

10. Kung Fu (NES)

 

I've beaten Game A a few times before, but this time I beat Game B without losing a life. I've been playing this game for so many decades, I have no idea whether it's good or whether I just know its quirks that well. Does it matter? B.

 

11. Mega-Bug (Tandy CoCo 1/2)

 

I've previously won a round of this game (known as "Dung Beetles" on other platforms), but didn't realize until later that there was a manual-sanctioned shortcut to Expert mode, the maximum difficulty. So I took that shortcut (hold Enter on bootup) and, after numerous attempts, beat the game.

 

The nifty technical gimmick (the zoomed-in box) is really a pretext to make the game harder, which is fine, I suppose. Handy that the pause button is so close to the keyboard controls, though I did hit it by accident occasionally! B+.

 

12. Rad Warrior (Tandy CoCo 3)

 

It's good to be reminded, now and then, of how much certain things have improved in gaming. Not everything that's changed over the past 50 years of video games has necessarily constituted "progress", but some things have been figured out pretty well, and other ways of doing things that didn't make sense have been left behind.

 

Thus, this game: it's satisfying to have beaten Rad Warrior (aka The Sacred Armour of Antiriad), but it's not rewarding to play it. It's a terrible port of a game that doesn't appear to have been that great to begin with -- since it's basically a dull scavenger hunt masquerading as an action-adventure cinematic platformer -- but this version adds unavoidable hits from instantly-spawning enemies.

 

The controls are awful, the hit detection unforgiving and erratic, and the stage design combines the worst aspects of an Atari 2600 game (think, say, Tomarc the Barbarian) and the classic European "let's hand out lots of energy-restoring items to compensate for forced hits" approach. Plenty of opportunities for walking-dead situations, too.

 

Its main saving grace is how short it is, which is another flaw. But, at least it's sort of playable and beatable, once you know how. Also, I think the manual mentions an item that would be very useful to have, but doesn't appear to have actually been implemented in the game, so that's kind of a jerk move. D-.

[+thegoldenband]

13. Marble Madness (NES)

 

As in 2020, a quick playthrough just for fun. A.

 

14. Joy Mech Fight (Famicom)

 

One-on-one fighter for NES cleverly gets around the system's limitations with segmented character design, Mega Man-esque approach. Packed with content to the point where it's almost overlong; if the collision detection, attack priority, and/or AI get a little dodgy at times, it's still a thoughtfully-designed game with clear "labor of love" qualities. A-.

 

15. Dr. Mario (Game Boy)

 

Cleared Virus Level 20 at Low, Med, and Hi speeds. Somehow I didn't choke the winning run on Hi speed, but I don't think I blinked for those 20 minutes.

 

Reviewers complain about the monochrome palette, but on a Game Boy Advance I had no issues. However I do wish success and failure weren't so vulnerable to RNG; at high virus levels, some configurations are unwinnable at higher speeds, and you end up doing little but resetting until you get a viable starting layout. B+.

[+thegoldenband]

And also:

On 7/10/2022 at 9:14 PM, thegoldenband said:

7. Batsu & Terry (Famicom)

 

The epitome of kusoge. Is that continue code legit?

Pleased to report that it is legit! For some reason, no cheat sites seem to mention it, but I finally found a scan of the manual at this excellent Japanese site, and it's right there on the page:

 

The start of the text basically translates to "How to continue", and it goes from there.

 

So, Internet, if anyone out there is searching on "batsu & terry", "bats & terry", "batsu & terii", "bats & terry", or any of the other zillion Romanizations of this game's name, rest assured:

 

Yes, you can continue legitimately in バツ＆テリー 魔境の鉄人レース by holding down A on the title screen, à la Super Mario Bros. It's in the manual.

 

[+jgkspsx]

Finished the brand new Game Boy release Gelatinous. It is fun but it is also pretty janky. So far the Nightmare Mode doesn’t seem that hard and is slightly more challenging, but I am not going to rush through it. If you want the password for Nightmare Mode, let me know.
 

I wish it told you exactly how many times you died.

[+wongojack]

Hey hey!  I won Defender of the Crown for the Atari ST.  This version of the game has excellent 16-bit graphics similar to the Amiga but has all the extra game options that the Amiga version is missing.  I grew up playing the C64 version of the game - which is excellent but lacks the graphic detail of the ST and Amiga (Apple IIgs?).  I had a friend growing up who had the Amiga version, and I was always jealous.  However, when I got older, I realized the C64 version is actually much deeper and more interesting.  This left the ST version (as probably the definitive legacy version of the game) unplayed by me.  UNTIL NOW!

 

[Atariboy]

I just won the second scenario in Aerobiz Supersonic for the Super Nintendo.

 

I was addicted to the original Aerobiz a few years ago and finally got around to this one a few days ago. I lost the first scenario that runs from 1955-1975 after investing too heavily in piston engined planes on the eve of the jet age (I couldn't resist buying lots of beautiful Lockheed Constellations and struggled for capital afterwards to buy jetliners and open new routes).

 

Then I won easily the following scenario which runs from 1970-1990, reaching the victory conditions in 1980. I avoided the temptation to buy lots of fuel thirsty, expensive to maintain, and relatively low capacity supersonic Concordes since I figured it was a bit of a trap (You can't run a mixed service across the Atlantic for an example, or I'd of introduced a few Concordes as a premium service alongside my 747's on a few long distance routes). 

 

Next up is a boost to medium difficulty (I've been playing on the 2nd out of 5 difficulty levels) and the 1985-2005 scenario, since I'm in the mood for more. There's then a final scenario titled "Supersonic Travel" (2000-2020). I wonder if they introduce some fictional aircraft into the mix?

Edited August 19, 2022 by Atariboy

[Joe C.]

Kung Fu - NES :-))

[digdugnate]

I've been saving up over the past week- FIVE titles!

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game (NES)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project (NES)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (SNES)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Arcade)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 (Arcade)

 

 

[newtmonkey]

Mother 2 (SFC)

I completed this just now. The game doesn't keep track of time, but it probably took me around 30 hours to complete. I enjoyed it, and was impressed with the graphics.

Mother 2 has a really wacky/surreal atmosphere. This is something that I think most fans of the game really love, but to me the game just felt like a bunch of crazy stuff thrown together, with you just going from one wacky situation to the next. I much prefer the whimsical yet touching story and atmosphere of the first game (feels sort of like a mix of The Goonies and The Neverending Story)... especially the music.

Mother 2 is a very easy game to play and complete. I enjoyed just zoning out and playing through this... no need to think about character builds, or to take notes or agonize over what equipment to buy. Having said that, this game is just too easy and simple. Although you get all these interesting abilities and items, simply attacking and healing gets you through pretty much every "random" encounter and even most boss fights.  In fact, the unique abilities are generally so unreliable, that they are mostly hardly worth using.

I do like the rolling HP counter. I thought this was would be a gimmick at first, but it turned out to be a really cool mechanic; it was pretty thrilling to scramble to heal after getting hit by an attack that would otherwise kill you. I also appreciate that Mother 2 has actual mazes to explore full of nice loot, unlike many 16-bit console RPGs, which tend to have tiny dungeons full of chests containing basic heal potions, 5 gold pieces, and other garbage. I even ended up mapping a couple of areas just to make sure I didn't miss anything.

---

Anyway, it's nice to complete this one!  I'm slowly running out of top-tier SNES/SFC RPGs to complete.  I'll put my SFC back in storage for a while, and will probably play something either on PSX or PC Engine next.

Edited September 11, 2022 by newtmonkey

[digdugnate]

With a newly-acquired Saturn, I'm playing through some oldies-but-goodies.  I didn't grab the Chaos Emeralds, just cleared the games. 

 

I also cleared Sexy Parodius for the first time!  I didn't meet very many of the level goals, but that'd be something to tackle next.  The game is hard enough for me as-is, lol.

 

Sonic the Hedgehog  (Sega Saturn)

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sega Saturn)

Sexy Parodius (Sega Saturn)

[Lostdragon]

Resident Evil Village PS4

 

Started from scratch, completed it in a days play, absolutely terrible. 

 

Capcom simply have no idea what to do with the franchise, that much is now evidently clear. 

 

 

Horizon Forbidden West PS4. 

 

Glad i picked it up on PS4, rather than buy a PS5 for it. 

 

An enjoyable enough sequel, the more frustrating aspects of it made child's play once you unlock a flying mount very late in the game. 

 

 

 

The ending setting itself up, plot wise for a third installment though, sorry but story wise, just no. 

[+neogeo1982]

1 hour ago, digdugnate said:

newly-acquired Satur

Really like the vid quality you get on there. Is that from the little box you have there, your monitor, or both? I wonder if my dreamcast and genesis would clean up that good.

[+neogeo1982]

Won a match in Apex. That feels like I beat a game.

[digdugnate]

1 hour ago, neogeo1982 said:

Really like the vid quality you get on there. Is that from the little box you have there, your monitor, or both? I wonder if my dreamcast and genesis would clean up that good.

Thanks!  The adapter on the table is an HDMI splitter since I have the one monitor for my Saturn and my C64 Maxi.  I'm using an RCA-to-HDMI adapter that I grabbed off Amazon that had pretty decent reviews.  I attached a pic of it also.    

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0856WDDJB?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

 

You have to provide a 5v USB charging brick for power, but they provide a USB C cable in the box.  I'm sure there's more 'crisp' ways to display the image, but this does EXACTLY what I want it to for a decent price.

[digdugnate]

One more game this morning while I was dorking around- Gokujou Parodius (Saturn)

 

 

[digdugnate]

I snagged a quick finish while playing through Fighters Megamix (Saturn).

[+neogeo1982]

23 hours ago, digdugnate said:

quick finish

Ah the VF3 move set without VF3. This game is fun but an odd duck to me.

[digdugnate]

4 minutes ago, neogeo1982 said:

Ah the VF3 move set without VF3. This game is fun but an odd duck to me.

It is a weird one! lol

 

I played enough levels yesterday that I unlocked the Hornet from Daytona USA so I'm pretty good there. 

[+neogeo1982]

6 minutes ago, digdugnate said:

enough levels yesterday

Play it once a day for a month and get some Meat 😹😹😹