[EVENT] The Sonic Stadium 52 Game Challenge 2024! - New Prizes every week! Current Prize: Sonic Heroes Profile gift!

[Danj86]

Registered Games

Spoiler

1. Sonic The Hedgehog: Triple Trouble 16Bit

2. The Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown  -  1st: 100% Completion

3. Klonoa: Phantasy Reverie Series P1 - Klonoa: Door to Phantomile

4. Klonoa: Phantasy Reverie Series P2 - Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil

5. The Pedestrian

6. Another Code: Recollection P1 - Another Code: Two Memories

7. Another Code: Recollection P2 - Another Code: R - A Journey into Lost Memories

8. Touhou: Luna Nights - 2nd: 100% Completion

9. Afterimage - 3rd: 100% Completion

10. Yohane The Parhelion -Blaze in the Deepblue- - 4th: 100% Completion

11. Metroid Dread - 5th: 100% Completion

12. Mario vs Donkey Kong (Switch Version) - 6th: 100% Completion

13. Metroid Prime Remastered

14. Tevi - 7th: 100% Completion

15. Princess Peach Showtime! - 8th: 100% Completion

16. The Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog

17. Grim Guardians: Demon Purge

New Additions

18. Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons - 9th: 100% Completion

Spoiler

This was a weird one. We all know Double Dragon, right? Go right, hit people trying to hit you, go right some more. That's typically what a Side Scrolling Beat 'em up is. That's true for Rise of the Dragons too. Except this also gives you the choice of what order you play through the levels, starting with four to choose from. Additionally, once you complete a level, the remaining levels get harder, adding mini-bosses and lengthening them with a new segment. The maximum the levels can have, is three segments, each separated by a boss. The first ones being mini-bosses while the last one is always the main boss and gang leader. Depending on the order you pick, some of the gang bosses become considerably harder. The bosses even getting a new type of form when they are saved for last. One guy you fight on a roof, rides a helicopter when it's saved for last. You have to jump up to him while he's shooting at you and knock him down. While it's always funny to knock a boss out of bounds, you actually want him to land on the roof or he'll just respawn back into the helicopter, prolonging the fight and making it more likely for you to take a barrage of bullets to the face.

Once you've completed the four levels, you are offered a new choice. Join the Mayor and become a ruthless unit that keeps the peace or oppose his plans and fight the toughest boss with an insane army and the four gang leaders showing up to help him? What?? I actually chose to get the bad ending in one run, joining the Mayor and getting a large cash (In game.) prize which I could use to unlock stuff. Then do another run and oppose the Mayor, the prize for opposing him actually doubles the amount he gives you. Though you can pick up money by defeating enemies with special moves and smashing breakable objects as well as completing levels. This money can then by used to buy credits if you are defeated. Once a level is complete, you are also offered a variety of buffs which also cost money. But I've not mentioned a significant feature in this game. It's a Rogue-lite. I believe that is the correct term. If you can't afford any credits after a defeat, that's it. Game Over. You get to keep whatever money you have left and that can be used to buy unlockable. (To reiterate, this is all in game money.)

I guess since the campaign is short, you don't really have a traditional file select screen. Well, one kinda exists, but you'll only ever see it if you have to suspend a playthrough of the story and since the story is so short, I rarely needed to suspend a run. That's why I took four different pictures to show my 100% completion run. (But I did forget to take a picture indicating I completed the story.) Hopefully my word is enough regarding story completion. It wasn't easy and meant using all (Not most.) of the money I gathered by then, just to stay in the fight. Because this was a Roguelite which is generally not my kind of genre, this week has felt strange. In fact, the only times I completed the game was the specific times I was going for the good ending and the bad ending. The money lost trying to get those, weren't really worth it when I was focusing on unlocking everything. But I was slowly getting better and since you can unlock the boss characters as playable, you can take advantage of their unique attributes to make things a little easier. But once you are stuck taking a combo, you kinda have to accept it. Being juggled by the enemies is not a good feeling either.

Edited April 15 by Danj86

[Tornado]

This week I got the first ending for Deja Vu on the Game Boy Color.

This is a fantastic enhanced port of the NES version of the seminal influential Icom Simulations MacVenture game from 1985. Shadowgate is the most well-known of this "series" of games but I've always felt the Deja Vu games were the best because (at least in the NES versions that the GBC ports are derived) they are fantastically open ended (especially for an adventure game, of all things) and legitimately reward creative thinking. You legitimately have tons of ways to solve half of the puzzles in the game and I can't think of any solution to any of them that didn't make any sense. For example:

Spoiler

Time to the ending where you

keep yourself safe:

15 seconds.

Even though it turns a mouse-based interface (MacVenture) into a cursor-based one, the original game wasn't really point and click as it would be considered today until the 90s Windows version so it still controls well enough for that port. If you like adventure games you really should check it out, either this one or the Windows one. It's also on Steam with the Macintosh and Apple II GS versions, but the Windows version and GBC ones are better; and not just because the GBC version has a great soundtrack.

 

 

In all seriousness though:

Spoiler

 

 

I wanted to play both versions of this but I really don't like how the SNES version plays so I'll probably just do this one.

Conceptually I really like the parkour-sorta Prince of Persia-almost gameplay that is probably more accurate to the tone of the film than Aladdin just going around stabbing everyone; but the weakest part of Prince of Persia (and Tomb Raider) was always the enemy encounters and Aladdin on the SNES is lousy with them. And while I really do think the Capcom game looks very good itself, with what was clearly a ton of time and effort and care put into making its spritework (like the enemies with different animated reactions depending on whether an attack hits you or not)... man the Genesis version is probably the best looking game of the entire (Neo Geo-excepting) console generation and it really does shit all over what Capcom worked so hard on. And the music is terrible. Just generic SNES soundfont slurry that even makes the handful of leitmotifs from the movie nearly unrecognizeable.

Really, while the SNES version I can maybe see the argument that it plays slightly better than the Genesis version once you really get a full grasp of all its controls the presentation of the Genesis version is so unfathomably ahead that I don't see how the two can be compared.

They even put tween frames in the animations to make them even smoother than they appeared.

His shit-eating grin in this always got me.

 

Like everything in this game is polished to perfection, graphics and audio wise. It feels like the film constantly even when its stuff that wasn't in it. On a CRT with the dithering smoothed out I think this game would look every bit as good in person as something on the Neo Geo

Disney GONE WOKE!?

Disney putting PORNOGRAPHY IN CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT!?

Who wouldn't trust someone with a mustache like that?

coolspot1upmusic.mp3 (I'll get to this later)

Human Pete!

Even this stuff *looks* amazing. You see stuff like this all the time in Sega CD and PC-Engine CD and Neo Geo games but on a Genesis? Granted I think they should have had it so the text was aligned vertically and not horizontally since it looks like Jasmine is having Aladdin thrown in the dungeon and Human Pete (the pretty princess) wants him spared.

The artwork in this game has no right to be this good. To the extent that it really looks too good because sometimes enemies blend in with the background because it pops so well. Like these fucking bats:

 

lmao these fucking goobers.

Sebastian died for your sins.

When you're queuing for Space Mountain but you don't have Fastpass.

Like seriously holy shit this artwork.

What an OSHA-friendly dungeon!

There is some kind of amusing hitbox dissonance in this game, that you can fully exploit later.

Sandopolis Act 2

: (

Like there's no reason to put this much sprite detail into this it's a fucking licenced movie game.

Chased by a coco puff.

Even this level isn't really anything like the kind of shit you saw in Battletoads.

Except perhaps when the warning they give you is that you're going to draw a Chance card.

That being said, the game does have it's downs:

This level is great. Really cool and imaginative. Looks great. Music is great. Really feels like something from the movie even though most of it is original. Buuuut

This is also the first level where the traditional, "heavy" Virgint Interactive platformer controls like in Cool Spot and Earthworm Jim start to hurt the game, and it comes up later too. The character just isn't responsive enough while in the air to do this "hanging jump to hanging jump" platforming very easily.

This part is also kind of unreasonable because the game just hurdles you into shit and expects you to be able to react to it, so hopefully if you just spam the attack button you'll kill anything that gets near you.

God it's so pretty.

And even for this game the animation for this boss is absurd.

Circling back, the game absolutely controls too "heavy" for stuff like this, though luckily you can see that stuff is coming before you get to it.

Except when you can't because they hide shit behind the foreground layer. : /

Luckily just in this level, the last, at least.

Oh shit it's Jafar.

Oh shit it's a snake!

The way the game I think wants you to beat this boss is to just keep jumping to avoid Jafar's tractor beam and hit him with apples; and then when he transforms keep jumping to time yourself over his flames while also hitting him with apples. Buuuuuut:

If you enter this area with full health and stand about here you can just fucking unload apples into him and he can't damage you fast enough (even with the worse-than-Popful Mail mercy invincibility) to kill you before you transform. And then when he snakeifies:

You can just mash that button as fast as you can and he generally keeps getting stunlocked and can't even launch his flame attack.

All told this is truly a fantastic game. Absolutely beautiful, and while I have some quibbles with the game that mostly only crop up towards the end it is every bit the classic that its reputation implies. The animation is beautiful. The gameplay is legit, and probably actually the best use of Virgin's game engine. And the music masterfully captures the tone of the film even when its original compositions.

All because of, you guessed it:

Though I suspect that Don Griffin is in fact the prototype version of Joey Kuras because that's the guy who made the music for that Monopoly game that Tommy stole and put into Cool Spot, so he probably actually made the music for this game.

Either way, I'd give it a solid 9/10. 8/10 gameplay with fucking perfect presentation.

 

 

 

Also, I spent the last week burning through this:

This looks like licenced schlock now, even divorced from the context at the time of the "Tycoon" wave that hit the industry following the release of Rollercoaster Tycoon. And the developer's credits is a truly depressing list of... uh... well, just look at it. 3 SeaWorld games? And Hasbro recently reused the name for a truly horrendous looking piece of shit mobile game with vaguely similar gameplay.

But this game fucking slaps. Really extremely clever mix of Monopoly game design with what is more or less a competitive city builder. The soundtrack is also excellent, but is the reason I've not played this much at all in 15 years because it last worked with Windows XP and I've not had a computer that ran XP since Windows 7 came out.

Spoiler

 

 

 

Not in the "the music doesn't play" way, either. In the "unless the music is turned off the game crashes so hard Windows locks up" way. Sean keyed me in that this is something that has somewhat recently been fixed though, and man.

Spoiler

I fucking played the shit out of all of the campaign mode.

I really like the nice touch that the city shown in the credits is the city you played in the final scenario of the campaign, showing all the buildings you exploited the game's systems to steal from the AI built.

Like look at this annihilation. There's fifteen years left in this scenario and the AI effectively cannot play the game anymore. Not just "can't beat me" but literally cannot do anything.

I bankrupted this idiot without even actually trying to do that ten years prior.

My statistics at the end are basically just the STONKS meme:

 

And even having played this game through completely multiple times for dozens of hours and being intrinsically aware how to do things like that, as well as how to kite the AI into acting ultra aggressively towards properties that are basically worthless in the late game:

(that property originally cost $550 by the way, and he paid $1200 more than he had in cash to buy it, ten years before the scenario was set to end and 30 years after it was worth buying shit like that)

I was more than happy to boot it up again and blow through the entire career mode for another time on top of the countless times I have already. I highly suggest everyone give it a look nowadays because it's abandonware (especially after Hasbro replaced it with a shitty mobile game of the same name) and it's far far far better than it had any right to be.

 

Thanks Sean!

[SadVlad]

Game #33 Toejam & Earl

I don't think this game can technically be 100% because it's a rogue lite game. There's not much to do besides beating the game. But I didn't find all the items or the secret stage so I guess this just counts as completed. Still a surprisingly fun game. I can't believe I didn't get into this as a kid in the 90s. I remember seeing it but it never clicked with me.

[SadVlad]

Game #34 Altered Beast

Finally for the first time in my life I have beaten Altered Beast. This game is painfully difficult, and I'm happy to have this one finished

[NegaMix]

No progress to report this week. Been preoccupied with IRL stuff and the occasional game of Pokémon with my brothers (the game was already finished last year, so I'm not playing it for the challenge).

My brother's headed back to university tomorrow, though, so I should have more time to get back to either Spyro or Spider-Man 2.

[ShadowXeldron]

This week I opted to play more Balan Wonderworld because of course I did. I still think the game is pretty good and is way better than people give it credit for, but to be honest now that I'm 10 chapters in it's starting to outstay its welcome. 8 or 9 chapters would've been a more optimal duration. Additionally, the flaws of the one button control scheme become more apparent the deeper you get into the game.

I also gave into the peer pressure and gave Sonic Riders a try. I'd say it's pretty good all things considered but the high skill floor is seriously harming its appeal.

[FReaK]

Just checking in this week, there was no major progress, just a little Sonic Heroes here and there.

[Dreadknux]

Finally made some progress! I completed Halo: Combat Evolved on the Master Chief Collection. I feel like I need to get all the terminals, skulls and par/score times before I can say I 100% the game, so I'll consider it just 'Beaten' for now.

Also did that thing I always do and got sidetracked by adding another game to my list; started playing Mario's Picross on SNES yet again as it's on the Switch NSO service. I already beat it on 3DS and WiiU Virtual Console, but I'm a sucker for Picross so why not eh?

Beaten:

1. Sonic Adventure (Xbox 360)
2. Turnip Boy Robs A Bank (Xbox Series X)
3. Murder By Numbers (Nintendo Switch)
4. Tunic (Xbox Series X)
5. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (Ace Attorney Trilogy, Xbox Series X)
6. Pentiment (Xbox Series X)
7. Limbo (Nintendo Switch)
8. Jetpac (Rare Replay, Xbox Series X)
9. Revenge of Shinobi (SEGA Vintage Collection: Alex Kidd & Co., Xbox 360)
10. Assault Heroes (Xbox 360)
11. Halo Anniversary (Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Xbox Series X)

100%:

1. Sonic Adventure (Xbox 360)
2. Turnip Boy Robs A Bank (Xbox Series X)
3. Murder By Numbers (Nintendo Switch)
4. Tunic (Xbox Series X)
5. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (Ace Attorney Trilogy, Xbox Series X)
6. Limbo (Nintendo Switch)
7. Jetpac (Rare Replay, Xbox Series X)
8. Revenge of Shinobi (SEGA Vintage Collection: Alex Kidd & Co., Xbox 360)
9. Assault Heroes (Xbox 360)

In Progress:

• Judgment (PlayStation 4)
• Club Nintendo Picross + (Nintendo 3DS)
• Super Hang On (SEGA Vintage Collection: Alex Kidd & Co., Xbox 360)
• South Park: Let's Go Tower Defence Play! (Xbox 360)
• Alien Breed: Episode 1 (Xbox 360)
• Phoenix Wright: Justice For All (Ace Attorney Collection, Xbox Series X)
• Mario's Picross (Super Nintendo)

[TheKarmaCollector1994]

Games Finished/Completed So Far:

1: Power Wash Simulator (XBOX One) - Finished 25/02/24

2: Unpacking (XBOX One) - Finished 07/03/24 - 100% Complete - All Achievements Unlocked

3: Tecmo Bowl (NES (Switch Online)) - Finished 09/03/24 - 100% Completed

4: Sonic the Fighters (XBOX 360) - Finished 10/03/24 - 100% Completed - All Achievements Unlocked

5: Super Mario Bros. (Super Mario All-Stars Version) (SNES (Switch Online)) - Finished 21/03/24 - 100% Complete - Star Worlds Included

6: Donut County (XBOX One) - Finished 24/03/24 - 100% Completed - All Achievements Unlocked

7: Open Roads (XBOX One) - Finished 31/03/24 - 100% Completed - All Achievements Unlocked

Hey guys, how’s it going?

Time for my weekly check-in once again. Starting off with an update on some of the games I’ve been making progress in. I have still yet to finish my Mario 64 run unfortunately, as certain stars have been proving to be a massive pain in the ass to complete, but I have made some progress in my Super Mario Bros. 2 playthrough, and I have also started to play Super Mario Land 2 on the Game Boy through Switch Online and have already cleared the first world “Tree World” and gained the first of the six Golden Coins. As for Sonic Adventure DX I have been playing through Tails’ story recently, but I haven’t completely played through that yet. Once that’s done I will go through Knuckles’ story before continuing the rest of the game.

As for game completions, I managed to add another two to the list. I had hoped that the number would have been higher for this week, but IRL stuff got in the way again, although I think things should be a bit better next week as I should have more time to play through some more titles. With that said, here are the new additions!

Game 8: Kirby’s Dream Land (Game Boy (Switch Online)) - Finished 13/04/24 - 100% Complete (Extra Game Included)

OH NO! That greedy penguin King DeDeDe has stolen away all of the food and the Sparkling Stars away from Dream Land! Now it’s up to our pink puffball hero Kirby to take back the possessions of Dream Land’s citizens and save the day!

As the first outing for the mascot that made Masahiro Sakurai famous (you know, before a certain mascot vs. mascot fighting franchise made him even more famous…), this was the title that gave Kirby his debut. Whilst it is in essence a short title to complete, I found this to be a highly enjoyable platformer - especially when it came to using Kirby’s flutter jump to traverse large gaps, and his infamous ability to swallow enemies whole - I sometimes managed to swallow several minions at the same time and use them to attack other enemies that blocked the way. With only five levels to travel to through, including the obligatory boss rush ahead of the final fight with DeDeDe, I never once got bored or frustrated with the experience - well, at least the first time around…

That’s because I played the extra game for 100% completion - which adds extra spiked enemies that can drain your health, and makes the bosses somewhat more difficult to deal with, as they have extra attacks that you need to avoid. That being said, though, they are not that much of a challenge overall. Whilst you also don’t have Copy Abilities in this game, it is great to see that this helped to establish the key elements of future Kirby games - fun, engaging and clever gameplay that isn’t too challenging even for those that usually struggle with platformers or other types of video games.

 

 

Also just wanted to say that the soundtrack to this game is a thoroughly enjoyable experience, from the iconic melody of Green Greens, to the relaxing soundscapes for Float Islands, and King DeDeDe’s boss theme, it is one video game soundtrack that I could listen to even when I’m not playing.

Game 9: Sonic Spinball (SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis (Switch Online)) - Finished 14/04/24 - 100% Complete

However, this one turned out to be on the opposite end of the spectrum, where the soundtrack… well, let’s just say isn’t that great in some places (I’m looking at you, Options menu theme…), but nonetheless, I still enjoyed playing through Sonic Spinball for what it is, an addictive, if sometimes frustrating take on pinball games, which sees the Blue Blur take on a variety of pinball style levels to try and stop Robotnik’s latest scheme to enslave the animals and build his evil empire. (Seriously, Eggman, a set of giant worlds based around pinball powered by the animals you roboticised? What were you thinking?!)

I had originally planned to play this through my SEGA Mega Drive Classics disc that I have for my XBOX One, but at the last minute decided to play the version available through Switch Online, even if the Mega Drive emulator is not the when it comes to the range of titles available. I think the Rewind feature did come in handy though, as I kept getting frustrated whenever I made a mistake, or when I ended up losing a ball through no fault of my own except the table’s. Still, I managed to clear each of the levels with patience and a bit of luck, and whilst the final showdown against Robotnik was frustrating at times, especially when trying to avoid his “smelly socks” (yes,really) and failing to launch Sonic with the flippers at the right times so he missed hitting the right targets on occasion. Grrr…

Nevertheless, I felt an overwhelming sense of relief when I finally defeated Robotnik, especially with how difficult that level was. I managed to end up with quite a high score considering how much time I spent on each level whilst trying to gain the emeralds needed to access each boss, but overall whilst Sonic Spinball can be a very stressful experience at times, I still managed to find several aspects of the game enjoyable, and even though I don’t plan on revisting it any time soon, I don’t think that it is a bad game overall, at least not to the extent to what some other people may claim.

 

That’s all from me for now. See you later for the next update!

Games Finished: 9

Games 100% Completed: 8

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

On today's weekly check-up routine, I recount how I've been introduced and drawn into....Fortnite of all things.

But yes, the tipping point of the iceberg was indeed, the Avatar collab of Fortnite. Plus, some convincing from a band of friends, and next thing I know, I'm on the train, or battle bus of the pass.

So, with my foray into the world of Fortnite, I must say that the game, while partly being what i expected, does go above and beyond, especially for Free-To-Play fare.

For starters, there are actually a countless amount of different man made games to be found within Fortnite aside from the usal run-and-gun Battle Royal motif that the series had established for itself. And while the characters do tend to be essentially just glorified skins for the same player character, I can't deny a level of charm with how some of them tend to be animated in that regard.

Of course, there is also, very much the novelty of seeing characters not known for weilding such weaponry in on a battlefield (with interesting proportions at that). I don't see myself dedicating countless time to Fortnite, but I can safely say that it is a game worth looking into, although, it's best done when a character of your interest pops up.

[TitansCreed]

So, not sure whether to tag this as a finished game on the pile or not?

So, over on YouTube today our last part of the main story playthrough aired of Sonic Superstars...
 

I might of had some fun with some choice edits for it. But it leads into what you get as unlockables for finishing it...
 

Spoiler

Seeing as you unlock Trips story, and playable Trip in the normal story, I am unsure if this counts as finished, as completed will obviously require Trip's story and anything that unlocks after that (I don't know, I'm still playing blind). Taking a break for tomorrows video, but we'll come back to continue after that I believe.

My quick thoughts: I went in mostly blind, just hearing the odd tune here and there and seeing the odd level structure. Like I mentioned in the previous post, it struck me very much as Sonic 4 Episode 3 going into it, and post playthrough, with the Emerald powers being the big gimmick, I still hold that position.

I never had a problem with Episode 1 or 2 outside of 2's tag gimmick, and I still go back to them every now and again. Wouldn't surprise me if this wasn't called Episode 3 just to distance itself from the previous 2, and obviously, SEO searches. 

But Superstars grew on me, I didn't expect the breadth of content it had to offer. I don't think I would of enjoyed it as much if I paid top shelf price for it, the fact I got it for 50% off in one of the more recent Steam sales for like £27 was not only appealing, but am happy for the content amount for that price.

New video tomorrow. We'll probably tackle some of Superstars unlockable content and go for the 100% achievement completion soon.

[Emperor Robrainiac]

WEEKLY CHECK IN: XENOBLADE 3: IN-PROGRESS

  

Hey, remember when I said that I was gonna put off Xenoblade 3 and focus on something else? Well... uh... funny story. I was gonna play the first hour and the first hour ended up becoming like... 28 hours? Yeaaahh.... l

But you know... it's funny. Whenever I start a Xenoblade game, there's always some kind of expectation that makes me think I either won't like it or won't like it as much. For Xenoblade 1, I thought that I wouldn't like the combat mechanics, but i ended up really liking that game. For the second one, I thought it being more "anime tropey" would make it inferior to the first game, but (Most) of the anime tropes made it kind of charming and I ended up liking it better than the first. As for Xenoblade 3, as excited as I was to start it, there was some part of me that thought I wouldn't like it as much as 2, because of the darker tone and the fact that it's centered around war... and truth be told, I'm not the biggest fan of war stories. That said, I was still eager to hop into this game and see what was up. As you can see from the title screen, there's what appears to be the Sword of the Mechonis from the first game, and the corpse of a Titan from the second game... Which makes me curious to see how this game connects to the previous two games.

What I'm finding very interesting about this game is that despite being its own story, it's also a crossover between the two previous games. Like Final Fantasy, 1 and 2 take place in their own separate universes, but in this one, the universes may have merged. While it's not clear at the moment, you can tell that the two warring nations seem to have technology and fashion that represent their respective games. Keves, the nation where we start off in, represents Xenoblade 1, with a grittier and industrial aesthetic and their mechs seem to resemble the mechons of the first game, whereas the nation of Agnus's aesthetic is a lot more cleaner and kind of regal very similar to the robots seen at the end of Xenoblade 2. 

So needless to say, with the first two games in mind, this really got me curious as to how this game connects to the first.

But that's not to say the story and characters aren't any good! Despite the crossing over of two games, the story is a sort of war story where it follows deserters who question why they are fighting in the first place and go their own way, facing off against a group known as the consul who seem to be pulling the strings behind the wars, and turning the allies of our heroes against them. As usual with the Xenoblade games, the characters are very likeable. This time around, this game follows characters from warring nations whom initially are reluctant to work with together, but end up finding things in common with one another and as the game progresses, they grow closer.

I've recently made it to chapter 4, and it's been a very gripping experience. Great gameplay, which has the familiar mechanics of the first two games, beautiful environments, very likeable cast, a very interesting story with twists I didn't see coming, and questions I'm really excited to see answered.

So yeah, as usual, I came in with... I don't wanna say low expectations, or even moderate expectations, but I have to say, it's already topping Xenoblade 2 as my favorite in the series so far... but given the war themes, I have a feeling it's gonna have a sad or bittersweet ending and I don't think I'm prepared lol.

[SadVlad]

Game #35 Sonic 3D Blast (100%- All Emeralds)

It was a "blast" revisiting this childhood game. By unpopular opinion, this is my favorite Sonic game on the Genesis/Mega Drive. I was a little kid when they released. Regardless of it turning out to be a commercial failure, this game was hyped so much prior to it's release. 

I read about it all over in magazines and the Sonic comics(that I were obsessed with). I never had so much excitement for a Sonic game in my life. I have been hyped for many other titles after this one. But this one hit me harder as a kid than any others.

I rented this game several weekends and begged my parents to renew it constantly. And all this is taking in the fact that I couldn't even beat world two. This game isn't nearly as hard for me now as it was when I was younger. But I finally got all the emeralds for the first time ever.

[Winston]

I didn’t get any games done this week, but I wanted to send an update on the progress I have made thus far. 

I didn’t start any new games this week, but I did continue to play Suicide Squad with some friends even though I already marked it as finished. But still, fun to play with others. It might be added to completion once all is said and done.

I have been playing some more Fortnite lately too, I’m at level 49 now. I’m hoping that I will be able to at the very least mark it was finished before the end of the season, which I think is in about a month. It’s also fun playing with all the new avatar abilities, even if I’m not really the biggest fan of fire or earth. Water is a pretty good long ranged attack though and I enjoy the airbending for the mobility in brings. It’s a quick way to get around, and it’s very helpful with a full team to have it so you can move faster together. It’s a nice game to play with friends and have all our favorite things come together, me primarily playing Peter Griffin of course. 

I sadly didn’t get around to Pikmin 1 or Final Fantasy VII Rebirth again, but mark my words, they will be on this list hopefully by the end of… well, probably May. I hope. I think Pikmin 1 will be possible by the end of this month though once things slow down a bit. Been a busy month, but things should probably slow down by the time my birthday comes around. Other than that, yeah, this is all I really have to say for this update. I’ve been having fun mainly playing co-op games lately on Discord, and I might start focusing on single player stuff mostly in May. Primarily because Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door releases and I’ll definitely be sinking a lot of my time into that.

Thanks for reading!

[Lady Marie]

Weekly Check-In:

No games finished this week, but I've still been making some progress. Mainly focused on working through Suicide Squad with friends and Rebirth on my own. I'm still enjoying both a lot, especially Suicide Squad since I get to play alongside others. It makes the experience so much better and keeps me motivated to progress and understand the game better.

I did start a new game this week too. Well, a new BP really: Fortnite's new BP that dropped. Thanks to some more kindness from my friends, I got the BP again for this season. It's been fun having play sessions with friends to make progress and work through the quests needed to unlock characters. It's been a fun time and makes me appreciate multiplayer games more than I have in the past. It also helps that part of this BP focuses around Avatar: The Last Airbender, which is one of my favorite shows from my childhood. Also reminds me of how the crossover aspect was what pulled me into Fortnite, so I'm glad I started playing when I did so I can make the most of it.

When I have a chance to play a game solo, I'll focus back on Baldur's Gate 3, Virtue's Last Reward, and Midnight Suns. Gonna be a while before I finish them, but I'll keep chipping away over time.

[Failinhearts]

WEEK 14: FAILIN'S POSTGAME

GAME 60: SONIC ADVANCE (GBA): 100% COMPLETE

A fun game by Dimps that signalled a new era for Sonic by paying homage to what came before. Just stay away from a certain pink hedgehog. Check out my thoughts, and see the proof of completion below!

GAMES FINISHED: 60

GAMES COMPLETE: 55

[SgtBloxx]

Weekly Report:

Not much progress made, and with finals coming up, it will be tough to do any large amounts of gaming. At least I am making decent progress in Fortnite's battlepass so far.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Finally time for a proper update this week. Still have blogs to write up for two of the games and I'll post them here when I'm done, but for now: 

Game 29: Jak & Daxter The Lost Frontier (100%) - 

https://psnprofiles.com/trophies/26431-jak-and-daxter-the-lost-frontier/ryannumber3gamer

Game 30: The Simpsons Hit & Run (100%): 

Game 31: Megamind Ultimate Showdown (100%) 

https://psnprofiles.com/trophies/611-megamind-ultimate-showdown/ryannumber3gamer

Game 32: Sonic Heroes (100%): 

Game 33: Shrek 2 (GBA) (100%): 

Game 34: Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League (100%): 

https://psnprofiles.com/trophies/25604-suicide-squad-kill-the-justice-league/ryannumber3gamer

5 hours ago, TitansCreed said:

So, not sure whether to tag this as a finished game on the pile or not?

So, over on YouTube today our last part of the main story playthrough aired of Sonic Superstars...
 

I might of had some fun with some choice edits for it. But it leads into what you get as unlockables for finishing it...
 

  Hide contents

Seeing as you unlock Trips story, and playable Trip in the normal story, I am unsure if this counts as finished, as completed will obviously require Trip's story and anything that unlocks after that (I don't know, I'm still playing blind). Taking a break for tomorrows video, but we'll come back to continue after that I believe.

My quick thoughts: I went in mostly blind, just hearing the odd tune here and there and seeing the odd level structure. Like I mentioned in the previous post, it struck me very much as Sonic 4 Episode 3 going into it, and post playthrough, with the Emerald powers being the big gimmick, I still hold that position.

I never had a problem with Episode 1 or 2 outside of 2's tag gimmick, and I still go back to them every now and again. Wouldn't surprise me if this wasn't called Episode 3 just to distance itself from the previous 2, and obviously, SEO searches. 

But Superstars grew on me, I didn't expect the breadth of content it had to offer. I don't think I would of enjoyed it as much if I paid top shelf price for it, the fact I got it for 50% off in one of the more recent Steam sales for like £27 was not only appealing, but am happy for the content amount for that price.

New video tomorrow. We'll probably tackle some of Superstars unlockable content and go for the 100% achievement completion soon.

It's finished, completion is Trip + Final story.

[Spin Attaxx]

GAME #10: MEGA MAN 6 - 100% COMPLETE

So back to the game I would have written about last week if not for things being hijacked by Big. And probably would've written about sooner if not for things being hijacked by game development (it's still in my house and refuses to leave, it's threatening me with long saving and compile times.)

By dint of this game never seeing release on the Wii's Virtual Console (and indeed not seeing a UK release of any kind until the 3DS Virtual Console), Mega Man 6 was the classic NES Mega Man game I had played the least, and even now it's a bit uncommon for me to play this one. Maybe it's because this is where we see Mega Man games kinda discourage going against the idea of playing in whatever order you want if you want to get everything efficiently (which admittedly we've been doing since day 1 if you factor in the Magnet Beam).

See, the Jet and Power Adaptors are locked behind two Robot Masters, and Beat's letters are behind four separate paths that require one adaptor or the other to reach. So with just Blizzard Man and Wind Man as stages with no unlocks, you pretty much have to fight Plant Man or Flame Man ASAP if you want to avoid playing a Beat stage twice, even if the palette changing in said stages at least gives the stage a new aesthetic. I don't typically even use Beat all that much, but I still feel compelled to go for him every time I play. Used him a lot more this go-around, though, just to see what mileage I could get out of him.

The physics also feel stiffer compared to previous games, particularly when it comes to sliding. Once you start, you can't jump out of it until you stop, and for a few frames after stopping from a walk, you can't jump. None of this makes the game unplayable by any means, but it does lead to a clunkier experience on the whole.

(Oh yeah, I got the Energy Balancer too. Thanks Proto Man, very cool.)

Anyway, as someone who's kinda involved with Mega Man fangames, the adaptor concept is something I'm surprised few if any of them have ever used. Maybe it's a matter of the spritework being too involved for most devs, or just a basic preference for Rush's typical "assist summon" function (and/or a lack of awareness that he'd been anything else at some point). While the Jet Adaptor is a pretty standard jetpack with not much to talk about on my part, the Power Adaptor has a remarkable level of interactivity if you know where to use it. Against the Robot Masters, results may vary, but it acts as a fun alternative to their weakness, and in some ways makes the fight easier - you can get more hits in on Plant Man, for instance, and you can almost play keep-away with Yamato Man and his spear. And when you get to the Mr. X/Dr. Wily stages, the Power Adaptor not only has similar added functionality against its bosses, but it gets upgraded from "weakness replacement" to full-on weakness.

That said, the Adaptors tread close to overshadowing the Special Weapons entirely - I can see players choosing to use the former over the latter most of the time, if only because Jet is good at evading big enemies that aren't parked in small corridors. Part of this is how weapon damage has changed: 6's set is nowhere near as underpowered or underwhelming as 5's, and the Charge Shot's been brought down to a more sensible level of size and power, but no matter what enemy a weapon is used on, the damage it does to them is what it'll do to every enemy. As such, you seldom have reason to use anything other than the Flame Blast since it just does the largest amount of damage for the least amount of ammo or effort. Everything else feels more situational than in the past, though Knight Crusher's still pretty fun. (Plant Barrier can still do one, though - probably the least useful shield in the series.)

Beat, meanwhile, has some interesting changes to how he works. Rather than doing a small amount of damage to enemies, he'll always kill them in one shot and take whatever HP they currently had as his ammo cost. While I can see many calling this a nerf (especially since bosses and mini-bosses aren't anything he can target anymore), in a way it encourages you to get in on the action alongside him, so as to have more ammo for future use.

In fact, it occurred to me fairly recently that each of Mega Man's helpers, coincidentally or not, each personify a core aspect of the series' gameplay. Rush is used for platforming - he's there to let Mega Man move around obstacles in one way or another, but isn't anyone who directly helps fight enemies. ...Y'know, aside from this game where he turns into boxing gloves that let Mega Man punch people in the face. Eddie helps with resource management - you can't control where he shows up, but when he does, he's always got a helpful item to refuel your health or ammo in the middle of a stage, or to give you insurance against future challenges. And Beat is all about combat - he can fly anywhere onscreen and either pick off one enemy while you focus on another, or he'll target the same enemy alongside you until it's dead. When you factor this in, it's kinda sad that after this game Eddie is relegated to being an optional shop consumable (if he appears at all), while Beat gets demoted to the Bottomless Pit Rescue Service (and also an optional shop consumable).

To end things off, artistically the game looks as great as you'd expect a twilight-years NES game to look. While it's not quite Kirby's Adventure, these backgrounds and large bosses are still very impressive spritework for the era. And aside from the Stardroids and the bosses from the first game, I think these Robot Masters are the only ones to have a coherent unifying theme to them, instead of being the usual grab-bag of assorted concepts and motifs. Both the bosses and the levels have a distinct "worldwide" feel to them, and it helps the world feel bigger than it was in past games. Like sure, the world was always in danger, and we went to space once or twice, but the jungle feels distinctly South American, the wilderness distinctly North American, the old cyber-ruins distinctly Greek/Roman etc.

So yeah, maybe not as good as 4, but better than 5 and a solid end to the series' time on the NES.

(Also if you haven't read the Rockman 6 manga by Shigeto Ikehara, you're missing out - it goes WILD with the plot in places.)

[KingSonicFan134]

Game Number 22/52: Sonic Heroes (100% Complete)

Thought I would dislike it more after playing through it again, but I was shocked to find out I liked it more then before. Not perfect in terms of polish or mechanics, like obtaining the Chaos Emeralds for example, but still fun nevertheless.

Game Rating: 5 Out Of 5:

Game Number 23/52: Sonic Advance 3 (Finished)

Sonic Advance 3 on the other hand, not quite as fun. the Sonic Advance trilogy in general just didn't sell to me. This being the worst of them. Really I would only consider SA2 to be a good Sonic game really.

Game Rating: 2 Out Of 5:

Games Finished: 13

Games Completed: 10

[Bortificatin]

Check in. I’ll be real, no games beaten this week. Did play some arcade games (Waku Waku 7 and Dragon Ball Z V.R.V.S.) for some downtime but no games finished nor completed. Might try to complete Radirgy at some point. 

Edited April 15 by Bortificatin

[Gavvie]

Hopefully I've not missed this/last week's profile gift as I forgot to post yesterday with my update!

I haven't actually made a lot of progress anywhere except for the Star Path on Disney Dreamlight Valley, so that was pretty much the only game I played all of last week.

[Fireluigi1225]

No idea if i missed cutoff at this point but im gonna get something done today anyways.

100%: Monument Valley 2 (for some reason the last achievement is glitched but its just for completing a very short extra level which I did, so please take my word for it)

Spoiler

I dont got much to say here, this was just kinda boring and i didn't like it. It took me a few weeks bc i was just dreading playing it.

 

Side note i didn't know there was an achievement for april fools and im gonna be eternally salty that i missed it. I fucking hate depression 

Edited April 15 by Fireluigi1225
Whoops it took me a lot less time to finish than i thought

[Ryannumber1gamer]

1 hour ago, Fireluigi1225 said:

No idea if i missed cutoff at this point but im gonna get something done today anyways.

100%: Monument Valley 2 (for some reason the last achievement is glitched but its just for completing a very short extra level which I did, so please take my word for it)

  Reveal hidden contents

I dont got much to say here, this was just kinda boring and i didn't like it. It took me a few weeks bc i was just dreading playing it.

 

Side note i didn't know there was an achievement for april fools and im gonna be eternally salty that i missed it. I fucking hate depression 

You’ve temporarily been given the reward. Post a screenshot of Big in any game by the end of the week and you’ll keep it.

[Sean]

#12/52 - Dark Seal: Gate of Doom (Arcade)

Fucking atrocious Data East (sorry for the redundancy) D&D-like beat em up. There's a sequel that's supposed to be marginally better. Sigh.