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

[WorksOfMagic]

Haven't completed it, but I've been spending the rest of last week playing Sonic Unleashed (PS2) which is commonly known as the second worst way of playing the game... and as someone who's played through most of the the game - I am still going through Eggmanland, I must say, this port of the Wii game is WAY uggo... Seriously, ♪Dither's everywheeeeere! There are dots on the view screen!♪ And it's way compromised. The only positive aspect of my playthrough so far is that the PS2 Classics emulator on PS3 enhances the performance, making for a more stable experience.

Another game I've been playing is Sonic The Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles (1994), for which I have just started the & Knuckles part of Sonic's campaign. I will go on more details once I finish it and send my micro-review for it later this week.

 

On an unrelated note, I've been meaning to ask something. Let's just say I finished a game over a year ago, and have played it sporadically between the day of finishing and this year to complete it. Would it still be valid for the challenge?

[KingSonicFan134]

Game Number 3/52: Sonic Advance 2 (Finished)

I definitely think this is better then Advance 1. The music's better, the level design is fantastic, with lots of branching paths, and a consistent high-level and low-level to test each player's skill. Boss design is the best for 2D Sonic in my opinion, it manages to craft an excellent experience where it's not too easy due to lack of an actual HP bar on Sonic, and it's not too frustrating with high amounts of wait time for the player. Lastly, the pacing was actually quite terrific despite the rather short campaign.

However getting the Chaos Emeralds is an absolute chore. Having to collect 7 Chaos Rings in one act is just too much for me, so I'll just leave it at that. MAYBE I'll get back to it someday, but who knows.

Game Rating: 4 Out Of 5:

Game Number 4/52: TLOZ Tears of the Kingdom (Finished)

Boy what a game this is. 100+ hours of an absolute tsunami's worth of content here. With an absolutely sprawling overworld with a million things to do, incredibly stunning graphics and sound design, an astounding amount of gameplay mechanics that all blend together to create a very personalized experience for every player. The Ultrahand itself is such an amazing mechanic that hooked me on this game.

And yes, the game has its flaws, with quite a large departure of the carefully crafted dungeons the series is known for, in favor of a bunch of mini-dungeons that honestly, in my opinion, don't manage to fill the void the bigger and more impressive dungeons did due to the simplicity of the dungeons. The individual Champion Stories are quite unbalanced in terms of writing quality, with the Goron and Rito stories not feeling as fleshed out and interesting as the Zora and Gerudo stories. But honestly, I'm willing to overlook these flaws when the rest of the game is able to deliver such a fulfilling and unique experience the rest of the industry can't match.

Game Rating: 5 Out Of 5:

 

100% Completed: 1

Finished: 4

 

 

[Agie]

Two more games, though I did mix it up a bit with one of them.

10. Mega Man 3

To be honest, I cannot decide if I like this more or less than Mega Man 3; on one hand, the introduction of Proto Man is one that would have lasting effects on the series for a long time to come, and I have to appreciate that. On the other hand, it does, in a lot of ways, feel like more of the same. I can see why the creators aren't as fond of this one, at the very least. Nonetheless, I would recommend this one, but I don't feel like I got much to say here. Still, would recommend it in a collection.

11. Mega Man 4 (Sequel Wars version)

I stopped being lazy and finally got EmuDeck working on my Steam Deck, and...well, by then I was already too far in on my Xbox One Mega Man 3 playthrough, so I finished that before moving on to this. But at the very least, I mixed it up.

I also looked at Sequel Wars; Mega Man 5 and 6 are still in the works, so I will have to use another version for those, and far as I can tell, they haven't added the EX mode, but the version of Mega Man 4 here is completed, so I figured I'd do it here.

This time, this is the one where Roll is the main character who must stop Dr. Cossack. What? Roll wasn't the main character? Strange...she was in my playthrough. But in all seriousness, this version adds Roll and Proto Man as playable characters.

But the game itself? Maybe it's how Sequel Wars presents it, but it's probably my favorite in the classic series. That said, because I played the Sequel Wars version, Roll kinda plays like Zero. I actually did find her fun...mostly. There are points where it's clear that even with easy mode, the game was not designed with close combat in mind. Still, it helped spice up the gameplay for me.

This will probably be my preferred way to play Mega Man 4 going forward. Hoping the Sequel Wars version of Mega Man 5 and 6 will be just as good.

Edited February 8 by Agie
Forgot to bold an entry.

[castell-neath]

For this week, week 4, I decided to actually play and complete Sonic 2 in Origins with Amy. I know a lot has been said about this already, but my take on it is its just, well...a nice skin. The hammer attack has no real use and gameplay is just the same as sonic. Still, a nice experience to revist it with Amy.

 

Further to this, my check in as a agian for Horizon FW. Have now resuced Beta and retrived Posidon. As such, I have unlocked a huge amount of side quests and areas which need the underwater breathing mask. Have put the main story on hold to complete a few of these and get extra xp / explore the world. Again, enjoying this game a lot and am now up to level 28. So happy days

Edited February 8 by castell-neath

[cosmichaos]

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All: Alright, knocked out the second game a lot faster than I though I would. So, in regard to JFA, definitely wasn't as good as the original AA, though it did have a lot of charm. I feel as if things didn't actually start really picking up until the Shelly De Killer case, which is the final case in the game. Additionally, and I know this is an ice cold take at this point, but Turnabout Big Top sucked. I hated that case, and I had absolutely no like or sympathy for anyone. The defendant was a creep, and the whole premise was generally unfun. 

But, on the opposite end of the coin, the final case highlighted all the things I love about this franchise. Some of my favorite moments were all the little snippets of Miles' character growth, especially highlighted by his many talks with Phoenix and Franziska. The scene in the end where Phoenix comes to the sudden realization that his and Miles' bond is one based on trust was a good clip, and somewhat of a milestone for the two characters who started out as childhood friends gone wrong. Miles' speech about how Phoenix saved him was really cute, too. Pearl Fey is a give or take character, but she's not bad at all, and I do feel as if she contributed to the story. Maya was great as usual, and of course Gumshoe was a pleasure to see in every case. Franziska was a really good addition to the cast, and I felt for her at the very end of the game, when she nearly broke down in front of Miles, exhausted from the weight of the toxic legacy Manfred put on her shoulders. 

Though I enjoyed AA1 more, this game was a pleasure to play through, expanding on lovable characters in a sincere way, and creating a climactic and tense final fight.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

On 2/7/2024 at 6:30 PM, duckyfloof said:

So apparently i have to make new posts instead of just editing my previous one, my sincere apologies and i'd really appreciate it if i still got the week 3 check-in reward
anyways, here's the games i've beat since then:
Game 9: Sonic generations!!!

All acts S ranked, all bonus challenges S ranked, All bosses S ranked in normal and hard mode, All red star rings

i know im going a bit out of order here but with all the rumours about a gens remake i got a sudden urge to quickly go through it again, also to take a bit of a break from the absolutely gruesome sa2 grind. love this game and i pray whatever theyre cooking up honours it well

Game 10: Sonic Adventure 2!!!!!!!

All 180 emblems obtained

My favourite game of all time, this is probably my 7th time getting 100% and its still just as fun
every level in this game is a blast to play and i dont even have to say anything for the ost
im super excited for the third sonic movie and how they'll adapt this great story


To make the poor piccolo guy's job easier here's the count:
Games beaten - 10
Games completed - 9

Thanks for reading, i'll be back soon enough

The poor Piccolo guy appreciates it. @Dreadknuxshould be in touch with your profile gift soon if he hasn't already done so.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Was hoping to wait and do one big lump-sum update, but things didn't turn out that way. Oh well. I finished Apollo Justice, but I'm not doing a full submission til I finish the rest of the trilogy. In the meantime, I have one new game to add onto the list:

I really don't have much to say to say to it that I haven't said there. Mostly because Unpacking is a quick 3 hour romp. But really, that's all it needs to be. It's just a nice little charming indie game about following someone's life by unpacking their things at every house they go to in their life journey, and it has some fun little easter eggs like having some very easy to see GameCube games, and more in it. Would definitely recommend giving it a shot either way.

[Emperor Robrainiac]

Now here's a classic I just completed:

  

KIRBY SUPER STAR: 100 percent!

I admit, while I'm not really playing the games at my own leasure and I'm not usually a completionist, I noticed that the game was 99% when I completed my last game. So after finishing what needed to be done (Finding a secret level in Dynablade.) I finally got that 100% and beat Milky Way Wishes again to get the icon you see on my save file.

What can I say about Kirby Super Star? It's a game I really enjoyed when I was little, and I had a blast playing through it again. While yeah, I think Super Star Ultra really improved on this already great game, I decided I wanted to play the SNES version on Nintendo Online for old time's sake. Included in this game is seven games and a couple of mini games. Here are my thoughts on each game that counted for completion.

Spring Breeze: A remake of Kirby's Dreamland, the original Kirby game. Not much to say, a good, simple game to give you a feel for the game's mechanics and how Kirby works. 

Great Cave Offensive: Honestly, my least favorite game of the bunch. It's a cool idea, a semi-metroidvania where you hunt for many treasures. Some are stuff like jewlery, archeology stuff, and even a few nintendo easter eggs like Captain Falcon's helmet or the Triforce. Only problem is that sometimes the treasures are a pain in the butt to find, I remember spending waaay too long trying to grab treasure from a room with rapids and spike enemies.

Dynablade: This one is a more linear game, but still a good one. Another pretty simple one, following a story where Kirby has to put a stop to a giant bird that's stealing food from Dreamland. Ends on a really cute cutscene where after kirby defeats Dynablade and realizes that she was only trying to feed her babies, Kirby takes care of the babies until Dynablade recovers. Overall, a fun, simple romp.

Gourmet Race: This one's kind of a mix between mini game and a story, this game involves Kirby going up against King Dedede in a footrace to the end while grabbing the most food at the end. Fun little romp with a very memorable theme.

Revenge of Meta Knight: Ah, the game that made people think Meta Knight was a chaotic evil villain or possessed recurring series villain, Dark Matter. Really, he's just sick of the lazy lifestyle of Dreamland and wants to change it by force... And Kirby ain't having that. A very memorable game involving everyone's favorite Meta Knight as you destroy his flying battleship, the halberd. The gritty, brown, industrial style really sticks out after the more naturey and colorful environments of the previous games, and has some high stakes. Probably one of my favorites along with the next one.

Milky Way Wishes: Basically the final game in Superstar if you don't count the Arena. In this one, you travel to different planets, activating fountains of Dreams in order to awaken a mechanical wish granter named NOVA to stop the Sun and Moon from fighting. This game introduces Marx, a character who informs you about NOVA... but in the end betrays you and takes the wish for himself to gain the power to take over Kirby's home world. Very grand way to wrap up Kirby Superstar with an epic battle where you have to destroy NOVA from the inside and do battle with Marx. A classic and my other fave.

 Arena: A simple boss rush mini game. Nuff said.

Overall, a real nostalgic game for me to revisit. Got a little emotional hearing the end credits, but man, it was a good time.

 

[SuperSonicFan Gui]

I completed 100% of sonic e all stars racing transformed

[Endoian]

20 hours ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Esperaba esperar y hacer una gran actualización global, pero las cosas no resultaron así. Oh bien. Terminé Apollo Justice, pero no haré una presentación completa hasta que termine el resto de la trilogía. Mientras tanto, tengo un juego nuevo que agregar a la lista:

Realmente no tengo mucho que decir que no haya dicho allí. Sobre todo porque Desempacar es un juego rápido de 3 horas. Pero en realidad eso es todo lo que tiene que ser. Es simplemente un pequeño y encantador juego independiente sobre seguir la vida de alguien desempaquetando sus cosas en cada casa que visitan en su viaje de vida, y tiene algunos pequeños huevos de Pascua divertidos, como tener algunos juegos de GameCube muy fáciles de ver y más. Definitivamente recomendaría intentarlo de cualquier manera.

You still haven't given the prize, right? I've already check-in and I haven't received anything. I hope I'm not the only one. I don't want to bother you anymore. I just have that doubt.

[ShadowXeldron]

Check in while I remember (unless I actually already did one this week; I can't remember)

I'm on my own this weekend which means the TV is uncontested. I used this as an excuse to start playing Xenoblade Chronicles X. I probably won't beat it in time due to the limitations of home systems (and I refuse to play it only on the Game Pad), but it's pretty good. Took some time to click but it felt much better when it got started. If it gets annoying enough to have to play it on the Wii U then I'll consider dumping both my ISO and my save and using Cemu for the rest of the campaign.

Regarding the other stuff, I'm up to the World 4 Ghost House in New Super Mario Bros. and am at Mercury Lighthouse in Golden Sun. I haven't played MT2 for a hot minute but I think I'm still in the Ginza Underpass. I also haven't booted up RKA in a bit; maybe I'll do that when I have some spare time.

I also started nuzlocking Pokemon White. Five resets and one shiny encounter later, I officially no longer like critical hits as a mechanic in RPGs. At all. Hopefully if I can pass that challenge I'll get a screenshot and post it here.

Finally, I grabbed even more PS1 games: Tomb Raider, War of the Worlds and Guilty Gear. I did Sol's arcade ladder in GG but I forgot to get a screenshot of it (although I doubt it would've counted anyway).

[Dreadknux]

1 hour ago, Endoian said:

You still haven't given the prize, right? I've already check-in and I haven't received anything. I hope I'm not the only one. I don't want to bother you anymore. I just have that doubt.

Week 3's gift was already handed out. You've already received it, I can see it on your account (Sonic & Knuckles). Week 4 gifts won't be handed out until Monday (this will be the case for all weeks, they will be awarded in bulk at the end of each week, on the Monday).

[Endoian]

Just now, Dreadknux said:

El regalo de la semana 3 ya fue repartido. Ya lo recibiste, puedo verlo en tu cuenta (Sonic & Knuckles). Los regalos de la semana 4 no se entregarán hasta el lunes (este será el caso para todas las semanas, se entregarán en bloque al final de cada semana, el lunes).

Oooooh I understand, I'm sorry, I was also referring to the Sonic Xtreme gift from week 4, but since you say that it is until Monday, I have no problem, maybe I missed reading that detail, thank you for clearing my doubt, have a good day.

[WorksOfMagic]

Another day, another game completed. Sonic Unleashed (PS2).

It was an enjoyable enough experience, due to being based on a better version of the game.

Honestly would recommend playing it on Wii, if you're looking for better graphics, actual lighting, non-dithered graphics, and less lossy sfx.

[TitansCreed]

Not a lot to report this week. We've started Sonic Omens over on the YT channel, and I feel this is gonna take a while to get through, so I'll bounce back to this when it's finished.
 

Otherwise, outside of that, my free time was spent going through Lost World on Steam and getting all the achievements done. That, wa s solid few hours over several days. Yes, I am that weird person who like Forces and Lost World.

 

[Ghelatlishol]

Game #5: Sonic 3D Blast for the Genesis!

100% Completed

I have a picture of myself playing this one when I was about 7 years old, and I remember my mom and I looking at each other with "that's so cool" faces when the SEGA logo came up and screamed :)

Here's the evidence!

[NegaMix]

Only got a small update: I've finished the first world in Spyro 1 and headed for the next. Was really hoping that I'd have completed the game by now, especially as it's really not a long one, but finding even a small amount of spare time right now is extremely difficult. Things should hopefully pick up from next month, but my updates this month are likely gonna be pretty barren in terms of actual progress, unfortunately.

[Agie]

Small update, I guess; I decided to do longer games on my days off, and shorter games on work days. I'm gonna see how that works out. But I got one arcade cab beaten for the challenge, and I might throw in some more and there as time goes on. For now, two more games are under my belt.

12. Terminator Salvation (arcade)

Full disclaimer; I have yet to watch the Terminator Salvation movie, so I can't speak to how faithful the game is as an adaptation of the film...but I guess that means I can talk about the game on its own merits. On its own merits, you're in John Connor's future where you shoot up various Skynet machines, from the classic T-800s to other various machines. You also have to protect civilians...though that really amounts to more shooting. I think this probably takes place before the original movie, but hardcore Terminator fans can correct me on that one.

But the game is a rail shooter, so you're just going around shooting bots with various guns and throwing grenades as you get them. Since this is an arcade game, it's also tough as nails; I came prepared, but if you wanna beat this one, I would recommend lots and lots of quarters before even attempting it.

I think all the levels are available from the start, but I played from beginning to end, and the ending basically says the battle is won...but the war rages on. No time travel is involved in this game, either.

Fun fact; there are two versions of the cabinet that I found; the smaller one I played here, and a bigger one that has a bigger screen and is flashier. Having had some experience with both machines, the game itself is the same either way. Just wanted to mention that.

So yeah, give this one a go if you like rail shooters, just have lots of quarters ready.

13. Roll-Chan 5 (hack of Mega Man 5)

After Mega Man still remained playable in the fourth game, Roll has completely taken over for this game, and has been upgraded so she plays exactly like her brother. She is the star of this game, and apparently, that outfit she has in Mega Man 8 had its true debut in this game...what? That's not what happened at all? This is just a ROM hack?

Yes, I decided I wanted to play as Roll because I could. Far as I can tell, however, other than some color palletes changing to match Roll, there is no difference between this and regular Mega Man 5. The game itself is more Mega Man, with eight more Robot Masters. But oh no! Proto Man went bad! Surely Dr. Wily isn't behind this...okay, one look at the screencap shows he was the villain once again.

Beat is very useful for the final battle, at least. I highly recommend collecting the Mega Man V/Roll Chan letters before going on to final stretch. Trust me, you will be glad you did.

So yeah, it's more Mega Man. If you haven't had enough, go enjoy this one!

Fun fact; I took this screenshot solely to show that even Roll joins in on bullying old dudes...and while it's hard to tell from the blurry photo, in the actual game, she looks happier about it than her brother did. Also, all the NES games before and after this have Roll hacks as well, but they're still the same games otherwise.

Edited February 11 by Agie

[Danj86]

Registered Games

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

Progress Report

I could submit two new completed games as of right now, but I feel like submitting 3 or more in every post if possible, just for the sake of reducing filler. I also like to update my newest post with past posts relevant information so as to prevent the need for constant backtracking. Of course, that's only useful if my information is correct. But so far, it's been simple for me to back track to my last post.

Okay, so while I'm not submitting Another Code: Recollection yet, I am at least at the halfway point. I've now entered the part when I enter the second game, Another Code: R – A Journey into Lost Memories. I live in the European region and actually owned (And still do actually.) the original game for the Wii. Their was an element of collecting information through photography in Another Code: Two Memories that carries over to Lost Memories since they are now in the same game. I did find them all in Two Memories and I haven't noticed any replay value as of yet. I might have to discuss if taking all those pictures counts to a 100% completion because nothing in the game seems to acknowledge your extra effort.

Meanwhile, I continued to slowly progress in Johnny Trigger and reached what I was led to believe was the final level at 2457. But the game kept going.....and going....So back to the internet I go and the only possible information I could surmise to be true is that the actual end (Since it started life as a phone game with updates.) may actually be at level 10.000. So..........aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!! Anyway, I got my hands on another Metroidvania. Back to the world of Touhou I go, in Touhou: Luna Nights. But Reimu has taken up the task of a boss fight to allow Sakuya to be the protagonist in this title. She can control time, carries an absurd amount of knives and make a spiffingly good cup of tea. Only those first two things will be useful here. I've made it to the first boss fight and considering her job is guarding an entrance to her masters mansion, it wasn't surprising to be confronted by Meiling. It was surprising how she keeps murdering me though. Um...this may take a while...

I also picked up another game that I've been meaning to take a closer look at. A rather charming and very goofy looking game called Wife Quest in which you take the role of Mia, the wife of Fernando. Possibly the most laid back farmer that has ever existed. They live in a very typical fantasy world, the type that people often get isekai'd too. Well...except this world features Monster Girls that kidnap Fernando on a daily basis. Fortunately, Mia knows the way of the sword and is understandably angry with the constant kidnapping attempts towards her husband, chasing the monsters in this newest attempt. This game is more of a level based, side scrolling, hack and slash game but does share a couple of traits from a Metroidvania. Such as upgrades you can earn by completing a level and a shop to buy items to help make things easier. Since my primary console of choice is the Switch, Wife Quest also carries what would be Trophies/Achievements on the pause screen. Which means, if I chose to 100% this game, I should focus on those I believe?

As silly as Wife Quest is shown to be, you do have the option of finishing off the enemies you defeat as you play through a level. I honestly thought that maybe the enemies would get back up if I didn't do that, so in my playthrough, I've been on what can only be described as a murder spree. It's doesn't have gore, the violence is very goofy and played for laughs, but I was surprised when Mia ripped off the wings of the boss fairy lady then uses them to glide. Apparently, they'll grow back so she wasn't permanently disfigured.

Other games I've been neglecting despite purchasing them before the challenge was announced are Born of Bread, Clustertruck, Touhou Spell Bubble, Helix Jump, The Many Pieces of Mr Coo, Pumpkin Jack, Koumajou Remilia: Scarlet Symphony, HunterX, Trombone Champ and Bomb Rush Cyberfunk just to name a few.

[Blueknight V2.0]

So far, I finished 5-games this year, tho two of 'em I didn't get screenshots of due to not having trophy support. But I'll start with these 3;

A Hat in Time:

A Hat in Time is one of those games that I've known about, and wanted to try, but kept putting it off. Well, 7-years later, I gave it a try & now it's one of the best 3D platformers I've ever played! I love this game, as it reminds me why I fell in love with 3D platformers! Even platinum'd it a few days after beating it!

Basically, you play as Hat Kid. Who's ship is orbiting... I think earth? Anyway, the ships fuel source, known as Time Pieces, get scattered across the planet's surface. To get home, Hat Kid has to go get 'em back! But not without coming across some standout characters, & the amount of variety & insanity the game throws at you in a moment's notice!

One minute, your fighting the Mafia, then scaring them. Delivering mail in a spooky forest and then shifts into a horror game for like 5-minutes. I swear, this game needs a sequel! It's hecking' cute, and the DLC's are really good too! So why am I getting Spider-Man 2 pizza delivery flashbacks!?

 

Gravity Rush 2:

Gravity Rush is another series that's always caught my interest, but kept putting off for one reason or another. Finished the first game late last year, and I've been an avid fan in the series every since! Even watching the Overture animation, so I wouldn't be confused upon starting up the sequel.

Gravity Rush 2 basically took everything about the 1st game, and greatly expanded upon it! The standards of shifting gravity starts out simple, like walking on walls, ceilings, etc. Then several hours in, because it is an open-world game, you do start to gain access to even more gravity powers.

Such as Lunar style, which makes Kat lighter, allows for higher jumping, slower falling, & even the ability to go Shadow the Hedgehog on enemies! By simply teleporting to their location! And since I'm making Sonic comparisons, Kat can also pick up objects with a stasis field, and then throw them at enemies! Or even enemies at enemies. Which'd be great if Silver's ever playable again.

The game itself is pretty random at points (which just adds to the overall charm), if you go for everything. At one moment your trying to catch a dog, play frisbee with a dog. Then your delivering newspapers (what was up with these missions in 2017 games), trying to help someone with an addiction. On top of the main story stuff which gets absolutely crazy at the end of Chapter 3 (oh my gosh, what did I just witness, can I go back to Kirby please!?), and the rest of Chapter 4. Which did have me in tears by the end.

I still have questions, but does leave itself open for a sequel, despite how definitive it is. So hopefully it can happen someday, despite Sony shutting down Japan Studio some years back. Who knows, maybe the Movie can help make it happen.

 

Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time:

*Platinum earned upon completing Challenge Mode

Often considered the best game in the Ratchet & Clank series, and rightfully so. The weapons are as crazy as ever, the planets are beautiful as always! The Clank puzzles are the best in the series! The two instances of time travel feel like what majorly inspired Rift Apart's rift mechanics. One of the best additions to the series are introduced; the Hoverboots! It even still stands up as one of the best-looking Ratchet games, in my opinion!

The story is basically a culmination of everything the Future trilogy has built up to. Ratchet coming to terms with his race, the Lombaxes. Azimuth (another lombax) wanting to correct a mistake he made, which further molds Ratchet's character. Clank finding out his true destiny. And it's all wrapped into this nice & tidy package, that truly felt like the finale of the series.... until All-4-One released.

Clearly, this storyline is still going with Into the Nexus, and the recently released Rift Apart. Which they seem to still be interested in exploring.

Either way, whether it's ground-based combat, space combat & exploration, solving puzzles, or finding every Gold Bolt possible. This is still one of my favorite Ratchet games!

Edited February 11 by Blueknight V2.0

[Covskin]

On 2/3/2024 at 8:06 PM, Covskin said:

As for Ragnorak, I've done the story section in Vanaheim and headed to the side-mission to retrieve an orb.

Oh, haha Ragnorak. The orb did make me laugh, then I realised in my attempt to be as spoiler-free as possible I'd made this orb sound a lot more grand and mysterious than it actually is. Well played. I've done the next story section and am currently at the frozen Lake of Nine mopping up as many side quests and extras as possible.

I've also played through a big chunk of Captain Toad. I'm near the end of the third book so I imagine I'll finsih that before next week's check in. I've been doing all the extra objectives, but I know for a fact I cannot be bothered with the time trials.

[cosmichaos]

Pokémon Yellow: Well, I got around to finishing Yellow after a while of just having it on my 3DS, and, well, it was... underwhelming. Maybe I've just been spoiled by more modern titles, but Yellow, probably because it was a starting point, just had so many mechanics and things that made me just miserable. Like using a repel and for some reason you still get bombarded by wild Pokémon, or Psychic types being all fun and dandy until you're facing one down and your only hope is a Pokémon type no one used in that game. And don't even get me started on HM moves. 

But aside from how it holds up modern day, it was fun. I completed the game without the EXP. ALL because my stupid ass didn't know it existed, so my entire team was hilariously under leveled. For example, I was squaring up against Gary with a LVL. 41 Venusaur, and somehow I still won. 

My 3 MVPs(with my Venusaur being a close runner-up) were Zapdos, Nidoqueen, and Kadabra. Zapdos and Nidoqueen carried in the final stretch of the game, with Nidoqueen KO-ing almost all of Lance's Pokémon with Blizzard, Zapdos landed almost all of it's Thunder moves and was able to peck away at Lance and Gary's team while Nidoqueen brought the hard hits. Kadabra was an early game champion. It took out pretty much everything near the beginning of the game, and then held strong at the very end. 

Edited February 11 by cosmichaos

[Rabid-Coot]

32 minutes ago, cosmichaos said:

Like using a repel and for some reason you still get bombarded by wild Pokémon,

It repels up to the level of your lead anything higher still shows up.

34 minutes ago, cosmichaos said:

I completed the game without the EXP. ALL because my stupid ass didn't know it existed, so my entire team was hilariously under leveled.

Its not worth it to sit through the text of 600 exp becoming 6 x pokemon gained 100 exp after every k.o.

[coral_reef]

This event looks really fun and like a great way to clear some of my backlog! Since I'm still a fairly new Sonic fan, I figured a good place to start would be with a few Sonic games I haven't played before. 

 

First, Sonic Rush Adventure! I loved Sonic Rush when I played it last year, so I was excited to start its sequel. With the experience of the first game, I was getting through the levels quite easily, so I focused on getting as many points as I could. I really love the trick system, there's always something to do, even when you're just in the air. In terms of level design, I think I prefer this game over Sonic Rush slightly. I found the levels flowed a bit better.

 

I also really like the level environments, with Coral Cave and Sky Babylon standing out especially to me (I may be a little biased towards Coral Cave though, haha). My favourite overall would have to be Sky Babylon. It just feels great to play, and the amazing music only enhances that.

 

I also quite liked the boss fights, which surprised me since I thought they would really drag on with their massive health bars. I do think I would have enjoyed them more if I had played on easy rather than normal, because they did start to get a bit repetitive. I did like how you can get multiple hits in during an opening, it definitely helped the fights feel like the player has more control over the outcome.

 

I actually really liked the various water vehicles as well, which, again, was a surprise since I was worried they'd slow down the regular gameplay too much. My favourite was the Wave Cyclone, so I also really liked the Johnny races for the Chaos Emeralds. I somehow ended up doing the last one second, so I was not prepared for the difficulty to increase haha, but I enjoyed it anyway. The missions for the Sol Emeralds were just replays of boss fights and hidden islands, so those went by smoothly.

 

The Big Swell boss was also quite fun! I really liked destroying the barriers around the cannons with the Ghost Titan's own attacks haha. I was so excited when I heard little bits of Wrapped in Black in the music, I love it that song so much and I didn't expect to hear it referenced in another Sonic game.

 

Now onto the final boss, the Egg Wizard. I really enjoyed this fight. I love how you can switch between Sonic and Blaze, and how the boss can be hit basically whenever you want. I'll admit, it took me a few tries, but once I'd practiced the new mechanics a bit I managed to beat it, even if I did only have a few rings left haha.

 

So yeah, I really enjoyed this game overall! I'd love to see some stuff from it be revisited. I loved getting to find out a bit about Blaze's world, and I love Marine's energetic personality, I really hope she makes a return at some point.

 

I really want to play Sonic Colours DS now haha. Until I get a copy of it though, I have plenty of other games I need to play! Up next, I've got Sonic Generations. I can't believe I still haven't played it yet, but I figured now is a good time with Sonic X Shadow Generations coming later this year.

[SgtBloxx]

Progress Report:

College has been keeping me largely busy lately, so I couldn't get much gaming done. It doesn't help that my Xbox One controller ran out of battery and I don't have any spares, so games on the Xbox One will have to wait.

At least I am working on two new games: Sunset Overdrive and Helldivers 2 (which has a battle pass system with no time limits). Hopefully I can get those two done once I have more time.