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

[Winston]

I was pretty exhausted this week and had surgery on Friday so I didn't really have the time to get a lot of games done between prepping for that and other things in my life like work. I got like six games submitted last week anyway so I think it'll be fine, plus there's some DLC I want to get through like the new Splatoon 3 stuff and Yuffie's DLC story in FFVII Remake I want to finish before Rebirth drops.

GAME #14 - WarioWare: Move It! - Completed

That was a quick return to the WarioWare series, wasn't it? This time with the latest entry, WarioWare: Move It! Pretty much a loose sequel to WarioWare: Smooth Moves, it doesn't ever reach the highs of that game despite me still over-all enjoying it. One thing I can say for sure though is regardless, I do not think it is worth the price. It's $50, and even with a voucher, it feels like a waste of money due to it's length. I would only say get it with a voucher if you have literally everything else, or everything else on there looks awful to you. I'm a big Wario fan so I kinda had to get it, but I can't deny this feels like a $20-$30 experience at most. If you ever see it on sale for that low, I guess it's worth a pick-up.

One of my biggest complaints for this game is there isn't really enough to do. I fully completed it in like two hours, and that might be me just being nice. It's genuinely extremely short, and if you do not have anyone to play it with, most of the content you could do is locked out due to it being local multiplayer only. It's basically just the story and a few extra things that are very simple and kinda suck. I know WarioWare unlockables are typically small little endeavors, but there's usually a lot more of them than this game offers, regardless of if they're single player or multiplayer focused. This one is slightly more traditional WarioWare as compared to the last one on Switch, but even that one has more single player content. The only thing this one has over it is the full voice acting returning from Gold.

The microgames can be fun, but some of them can be hard to understand at first, and the controls aren't always the most obvious which leads to an easy loss. Granted, they did basically give you infinite continues, probably knowing that it can be frustrating since a lot of these losses don't feel fair due to the vagueness of what they want you to do, but still, it feels like they could've designed these microgames a little better. On my first playthrough, I was losing practically all the time. Now on my second playthrough here, I only got one game over, so I obviously did improve, but only because I knew what was coming. Even some of the poses you have to strike to get the infinite continues can be finnicky sometimes. Smooth Moves also had motion controls, but I don't remember them being this frustrating to pull off. They want you to do a lot more than the Joycons can actually do, which just leads to frustration even if there's a couple "wow, I can't believe that happened!" moments. Those few moments are not worth the frustration.

So yeah, a bit of a disappointing WarioWare game. I don't hate it. It's fine enough with frustrations, but I'd never recommend it at full price. Just stick with WarioWare Get It Together if you need a WarioWare game for the Switch. That one is multiplayer focused a bit too, but there's far more there to do and the single player feels pretty fulfilling. We'll see if I get to that one sometime during this event, I kinda doubt it, but hey, I don't doubt I won't play some other WarioWare eventually. 

 

[Spin Attaxx]

I'm gonna fall behind everyone else's Mega Man-athons with this, but whatever, I wanted to add some variety to this anyway.

GAME #4: METROID (100% COMPLETED)

So, here's something interesting - this is the only Metroid game where you can play through the whole game as a suitless Samus (whose design I incidently love in this one; not so much the green hair she gets with the Varia, though), and for this playthrough I used a password to start with that and no items. Genuinely surprised that this hasn't been a thing in any other official game outside of very specific instances.

Anyway, it's very much an early Metroidvania of its time. Environments look the same, there's no map, no in-game status screen or item tracker, jank up the wazoo etc. Whenever I play this game, I always find myself in a self-inflicted hell thanks to 1) the RNG with items and enemy spawning, and 2) these games instilling me with a speedrunner mindset by virtue of their timed endings. If things don't go perfectly, if I don't refill my missiles before the next red door (this happens more often than you'd think), if a specific enemy doesn't spawn in just the right way so I can go up a shaft I'm "not supposed to go up yet," with the Ice Beam, I habitually go, "Dead run, reset," and do it all over.

(And no, I've never gotten the "best" ending since I go for 100% when I play these games. With only an hour to do it, I'm positive that unless you use glitches, it's very much, "100%, best ending; pick one".)

It annoys me that the Ice Beam and Wave Beam don't stack like they do in later games, especially since the latter makes Ridley's lair less of a headache than it otherwise would be, and the bosses are... well, a joke (admittedly, I find even in Super Metroid, a game I love, most of them boil down to the same strategy of "tank hits mindlessly, shoot until it dies," albeit most of them have the added wrinkle of "wait until you can actually hurt them, which is forever if their name is Phantoon"). There isn't even much point to getting all the items aside from bragging rights either; there's two more Energy Tanks than you can even hold, so they're just glorified refills.

So yeah, I clearly hate the original Metroid, right? Well, no. For all its flaws it is still a game I rather enjoy; I hadn't played it in years, but I still knew the layout of Zebes like the back of my hand, and the 8-bit aesthetic gives the world a strange vibe that I feel Zero Mission doesn't quite capture. Norfair is perhaps the biggest example; I can't think of many fire levels in video games that are as mellow as it. The music is slow-paced and almost jazzy, and you're running around not in Generic Volcano World, but in a land of purple bubbles. Compare that to Zero Mission's Norfair, with its ostentatious choir and orchestra and the omission of those funky purple bubble areas. There's even a few setpieces here that feel rather clever. The fact that half of Norfair is behind the Chozo statue holding the High Jump, almost like you're entering a secret world. The second Ice Beam only (sort of) being accessible by entering the statue room from behind, in stark contrast to how every other item room is built up. The fact that there's a small pool of fake lava with a lava-spitting Dragon enemy in it, and it's the only place in the game where you can see what they look like under the lava (like seahorses!).

The game's rather open structure is also something I admire. Given how damn near every game afterwards steadfastly locks the Screw Attack away until endgame, it's kind of amazing how quickly you can find it in this one if you know where you're going. Granted the jank involved with enemies sometimes hitting you through it or Samus just unfurling of her own accord makes it not as useful as it is in other games, but still, you get the Sonic jump of kill everything rather quickly. Perhaps it's not as fun as outright cheating the system as other sequence breaks, but as someone wanting to make their own Metroidvania, the option to have this sort of freedom to pick up items in this order or to skip them entirely is something I'd like to capture.

So yeah, good starting point, but we've come a long way since then.

(Sorry, but NES Metroid doesn't have save files or a way of showing completion percentage, so you'll just have to take my word for it that I did indeed pick up everything. Even the two superfluous Energy Tanks.)

Edited February 25 by Spin Attaxx

[coral_reef]

Just checking in this week with Sonic Generations and Sonic Adventure again! I took a quick break from the challenge this week to focus on Splatoon 3's new DLC, Side Order. I'm mostly done with that for now though, so I'll have more to talk about next week :)

[TheKarmaCollector1994]

Zzzz…..

Zzzz….

Huh.. Whah?! How many weeks has it been since this challenge started?!

Yeah, sorry I’m late joining in with this challenge, but some IRL stuff happened which meant that I wasn’t able to get up to much gaming wise. Still, better late than never, I guess. So, better start out my attempts to complete the 52 game challenge. Here’s the first one I’ve managed to finish:

#1: Power Wash Simulator - XBOX One
 

 

I know, I know. Not exactly the first game that I would have completed for a challenge involving completing 52 games in a single year, but this actually took me forever to play, even though its premise is very simple. As you might have guessed from the title, you are playing the role of a power washer, tasked with cleaning up various vehicles and buildings throughout the town of Muckingham, as you make a living out of getting grime off of the streets. It starts off relatively simple, by cleaning just a few small vehicles like cars and bikes, as well as back gardens and fire stations, but soon you’ll be testing your cleaning skills against ancient statues and entire subway stations and so on. The more you clean, the more money you’ll make to spend on upgrading your attire and your cleaning equipment, which you’ll need to do from time to time to give yourself extra cleaning power as the dirt becomes more stubborn to remove. All whilst you uncover a mystery involving corruption, wrongdoing, and… erm… missing kittens?!

Whilst there might not be that many gaming elements to this particular title, it’s still quite a rewarding experience to progress through as you continue through the various jobs that are given to you during the career mode. You can also complete extra jobs that allow you to earn more money by completing even bigger tasks in larger environments. You can even test yourself against the clock or set limits on using water/soaps in Challenge Mode.

 

I have completed both the main career mode as well as the bonus jobs, but I have not done challenge mode yet, and I probably might not get that done any time soon as I want to focus on completing some other games, especially with how long this one took me to finish in terms of the levels, some of which took me quite a while to finish.

This is unfortunately the only game that I have managed to finish so far for this challenge, but I will try to get some shorter games into my completion/finished tally so I can catch up in the next few weeks. 
 

Games finished: 1

Games 100% completed: 0

[Emperor Robrainiac]

Finished Lunistice! Had two other characters to play as, but I wanted something that was quick and simple-ish to complete, and I was in the mood for an indie game. Didn't 100 percent it, as there were two other optional characters to play as. I'll probably play as them on my own time.

 

Interestingly enough, I was first introduced to this game from SAGE, and I really enjoyed what I played. It's a fast paced ps1 styled platformer starring an adorable red panda. It's pretty simple, you go from point A to point B, but you can go off the beaten paths that lead you to collectables that spell out your name, Hana. (Kinda similar Donkey Kong Country's golden "kong" letters) that unlocks an alternate exit and will contribute to getting you the secret ending. The stages are split up into 2 acts, ala Sonic, and you can either take the regular goal or collect the HANA letters to unlock the alternate exit/collectable. Act 1 contains golden Keys, and Act 2 has files that tell the game's story, revealing everything to be a digital simulation in a world that's about to face an apocalyptic event on earth.

Aside from some moments where it felt kinda floaty, or frustrating platforming, I had an overall good time with it! It's something quick, something fairly simple, very appealing art/graphic style with lore that's pretty interesting. I don't have too much else to say, I thought it was a good time.

If there's anything I love about SAGE, it's seeing the humble beginnings of indie games that have potential to make it on a big marketplace like steam, nintendo, any console really. I always like looking at the games SAGE has and wondering which ones will be released, and it was really cool seeing Lunistice becoming a full fledged game!

Edited February 26 by Emperor Robrainiac

[SgtBloxx]

Progress Report

School life decided to screw me over by making me study for and take 3 exams on the same day on Friday, so I'm going to be very strapped on time until then. At least whatever free time I do have will be focused on getting the Fortnite battle pass done.

[Endoian]

Juego 6: Hola a todos, espero que hayan tenido un buen fin de semana. Terminé Sonic Advance, por ser la primera vez que lo jugué, fue muy divertido, nos vemos mañana para hacer check-in para la semana 6. Cuídense todos, byeeee.

 

 

Edited February 26 by Endoian

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Welp, it's time again, for the weekly check-in.

The next game being added to my growing circuit of games,is Aviary Attorney. Starting in fresh and new on the venture, of which, this should prove to be a treat!
 

I've even been considering coupling its session together with Ace Attorney games just to be cheeky.

[KingSonicFan134]

Game Number 8/52: Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (Tails) (100% Completed)

Sonic 2 used to be my favorite, but Sonic CD really grew on me due to the exploration focused gameplay compared to Sonic 2's rather mundane gameplay of holding right and jumping a couple of times. Graphics were great, Music was stellar as usual, and gameplay was simplistic, but fun enough to warrant it a good rating in my book.

Game Rating: 4 Out Of 5:

Game Number 9/52: Donkey Kong Country (Finished)

I've played this game many times in the past, but I never actually finished the game. Now that I have, it was an excellent game with beautifully crafted graphics, stellar soundtrack by David Wise, a fun and cartoony world with a good variety of different biomes throughout Gameplay wise, it's a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, this game has a good batch of levels with fun and creative gimmicks, tight platforming and difficulty, and solid innovation throughout. On the other hand, this game also contains trial and error like design that I haven't seen in a long time. But overall, I had a very good experience.

Game Rating: 4 Out Of 5:

Game Number 10/52: Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem (Finished)

Had a lot of fun with this one. Managed to not complete the game in it's entirety 'cause I missed ONE item but it's cool I guess...anyway, glad I picked this one up. Decent graphics, excellent soundtrack, solid story throughout the campaign, and plenty of content even after the main campaign.

Game Rating: 5 Out Of 5:

Games Finished: 7

Games Completed: 3

[Polkadi~☆]

Okay, gather around, it's check-in time!

4. Sonic Adventure 2

Spoiler

Every A-Rank achieved! Every emblem collected... EXCEPT!! for the Chao World emblems!!

I'm thinking that I'll turn that adventure into a video of it's own...

5. maimai (OG)

Spoiler

oh god 42 songs is a lot

It's not the only thing I've been doing in the game, though. I've been going through steady progress with a lot of other goals, including the completion of a Groove Coaster collab event! The songs from that event are fun, but the final task song of the event was "Got more raves?", which is... hard.

I've also discovered a tangible improvement to my skills, as I can complete difficulty levels that I never could before. 99.6984% on Ultra Synergy Matrix Lv.12 Expert, and 98.6101% on Bug Lv.11+ Master! I'm wondering when I can clear Lv.13 charts next...?

I've also been going through the Lv.10+ Master charts, of which there are only 6 of them, and I've already S-Ranked 4. The remaining 2, I haven't even played yet :v

Once I complete the last of the Lv.10+ Master charts, I'll focus back on completing all of the OG maimai songs.

6. Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity

Spoiler

I hadn't played this game in a while. Now that I'm playing it again, this really is a fun action RPG to play. Wish I had a PS Vita to play this game with, because it's hard to justify loading up an emulator on my PC to play a game that benefits from short play sessions on the go.

The story is charming enough, but the gameplay is really the best of the whole series. You should definitely try it with the English patch sometime!

I've got a Dreamcast arriving in the mail with a copy of SA1 soon, maybe I'll try for 100% there too?

...there's a heavy SEGA bent in this check-in.

[Failinhearts]

WEEK 7:

A little bit of Mega Man in my life, a little bit of Mario on the side, a little bit of Sonic's all I need, with a lot of Game Boy slowdown in between.

GAME 30: MEGA MAN 4 (NES): 100% COMPLETE

Playing so much Mega Man at once is really causing all of these games to start blending together, but I'm doing my best to compile my thoughts. Just prepare for a lot of overlap. But it seems the further down the Classic series I go, I like the next entry more than the last. And this applies to 4, which I find better than 3.

With much more comfortable level design, a more varied endgame, the addition of Eddie, and a cool stack of unique weapons, Mega Man 4 continues to bolster the strengths that make the series so beloved. One thing I did notice that is drastically different from the original 3 games though are the Robot Masters themselves.

While until now, Robot Masters go down relatively quickly with the boss weaknesses, it is from this point onwards where they start getting some hair on their chest. Able to withstand a lot more damage, it's almost like a tradeoff in difficulty. Easier levels, but harder Robot Masters.

Overall, another fun Mega Man romp... onto the next.

GAME 31: MEGA MAN 5 (NES): 100% COMPLETE

What? Two photos? What is this image spam? Well, we have now reached the point in Mega Man where it isn't enough to just beat whatever Dr. Wily mecha hodgepodge he made this year to qualify for 100% completion. Now there is a side task to fulfill as well. In Mega Man 5's case, it's to get the Blue Bomber's new little birb, Beat. Thank God for rewind, or else I'd be facing a lot more trial and error than I'd like to admit getting the letters to unlock this winged orb with a beak.

As I said before, Mega Man 5 continues the streak of classic games I like more and more as the subsequent titles pile on. If things are easier and more comfortable to play, I'm gonna end up liking said game more. And Mega Man 5 continues this upward trend of less taxing level design, making for a relatively comfy playthrough.

What I really like is the addition of both Beat and the Weapon Tank, all great inclusions to ease out the stress further in a playthrough. Especially when you get to the weapon draining gauntlet that is a Wily Castle.

But can I say though, Mega Man 4 and 5, let's talk. Each game has TWO castles you're expected to run through with limited weapon ammo. Is it too much to ask to just refill my supply between castles? Not even stages within the castle, just between the two.

Surely Cossack and Proto Man could spare ol' Rock the juice?

Other than that continual annoyance, I still enjoyed myself with this entry.

GAME 32: MEGA MAN: WILY TOWER (GENESIS): 100% COMPLETE

Excuse the photo orientation. Phone was uncooperative when I beat the game.

Yeah, kind of a dumb decision of me to play the NES versions of 1-3 when this counted as an extra game if you played all of Wily Wars, huh? Luckily, I got permission from Ryan to get a save that has Wily Tower unlocked off the bat. I'm thankful for that chance cause this is definitely one of the most unique Mega Man experiences I have ever played.

It's short, but the gimmick is fantastic. I can use ANY item or weapon from the first three games to create my very own loadout that best suits my playstyle! The number of possible combinations can theoretically make this one of the most replayable entries in the series, and I need this gimmick back ASAP.

Even the level design embraces this concept, feeling like a mixture of all three games within themselves. It truly does feel like a victory lap for someone who played all three games in succession, like moi.

The Robot Masters are incredibly tough as a result, almost to a dumb degree that I find a bit unfair at points. But the fun I had experimenting and bringing my favorite items to tear the level design a new one still made up for the anger inducing moments.

But you know what's better than any of that?

The Wily Castle stages replenish your weapon supply between stages, dreams DO come true.

GAME 33: MEGA MAN: DR. WILY'S REVENGE (GAME BOY): 100% COMPLETE

But hey, who needs good games when you can play shit?

Time for an odd detour as I play the strange anomaly that is Mega Man... on Game Boy. It's awful. It's terrible.

If the slowdown didn't ruin your experience, how about screen crunch? Screen crunch does NOT work for Mega Man. Half the time playing a Mega Man stage is knowing what's ahead of you, getting enough distance, anticipating an enemy patter, and shooting when the time is right.

That's kind of hard to do when you're boxed in by the screen, and the enemy is balls deep at your face.

While it is cool to see what is essentially a mish-mash of Mega Man 1 and 2 Robot Masters, the novelty isn't as cool when fighting against them is a slow, colorless mess.

Sure am glad I don't have to do that aga-

GAME 34: MEGA MAN 2 (GAME BOY): 100% COMPLETE

Credits look similar, but its a different game, I swear officer.

It's more of the same garbage, just this time, we can ruin Rush too. There's not really much to say I haven't said already, except for more imaginative ideas by the endgame with the addition of Quint. So I guess with that, we can say its slightly better?

Yeah, I got nothing. Next.

GAME BOY 35: SUPER MARIO LAND (GAME BOY): 100% COMPLETE

Probably the weirdest entry in the classic series. Very different, very horizontal level design. No Robot Masters to speak of. I only got one weapon, and there isn't even a Wily Castle.

...Wait, what do you mean wrong series?

Mario Land to me feels more bizarre than even Mario Land 2. Sure on the surface level, how can that be? Mario Land 2 has very wacky aesthetics, a very unique villain in Wario, new power ups, and a whole world where you're tiny. What about Mario Land makes it weirder?

Well, it's not an aesthetic thing, its just... how the game feels to play. It plays like Mario, it technically feels like Mario. But there's this odd feeling to me whenever I play it. Like the jump just doesn't feel right, or the aesthetics are just the tiniest bit off... It's not BAD per se, it's still bogstandard Mario through and through. But it definitely feels like a "lesser", "rougher" Mario. Make sense, its the first Mario platformer on handhelds.

But that doesn't make the game any more memorable to play. It's fine, I guess.

GAME 36: SONIC SUPERSTARS (MOBILE): 100% COMPLETE

No, your eyes don't deceive you. Sonic Superstars has... kinda, a mobile game. Presumably up for a limited time, this is a puzzle game made for the McDonalds Happy Meal tie-in that uses the levels, aesthetics, music and characters from Superstars.

The aim of the game is to swipe the touch screen to collect all the rings in the maze. But you only have a limited number of swipes to do collect them all. So the aim is to figure out how to get all the rings with as little swipes as possible. It's short, sweet, certainly a more fun Superstars experience than Trip's campaign, I'll say that much.

Like Sonic Heroes, completing the game ironically results in playing four routes, one with Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy. Hence the four extra pictures, it's me showing you that I got all of them to the final stage of the game.

If you wanna play something obscure before it becomes lost media, give this short little diversion a try. Preferably with a medium fries and some apple slices.

GAME 37: WARIOWARE: SMOOTH MOVES (WII): 100% COMPLETE

My introduction to the WarioWare series, this was always a childhood favorite of mine. And I gotta say, all these years later...

...How is this game a lot harder now, than it was then? I swear, this game was pissing me off with the number of times the game wasn't responding to my movements. How could it be? Was I dazed by nostalgia tinted glasses?

Well, there's no saying for sure why the game acts as oddly as it does at points. Of course, the Wii isn't the most accurate motion control detector in town, that was why the Wii MotionPlus came into existence, but still. I swear I never had these problems before.

In the middle of my playthrough, I removed my Wii Remote jacket and moved my sensor bar from the bottom of the TV back to the top, and I think it helped out? Maybe it's placebo. But regardless, the only thing I can truly fathom is that one of the reasons is due to TVs these days are much bigger than they were back in 2007.

Still, when it does work. Smooth Moves is as charming as it was back in the day. And I still don't regret replaying it. The microgames are (mostly) simple to understand, and so much of it just can't be done today with how much motion controls, even on the Switch is much less accurate than even the Wii. This game is truly one of a kind.

GAMES FINISHED: 37

GAMES COMPLETE: 34

[WorksOfMagic]

After finishing SMB1 and SML2 last week, I decided to start playing through Super Mario World (SNES) and All Night Nippon: Super Mario Bros. (FDC). Had a bit of fun with the former, being almost done with World 2, the RetroAchievements tracking certainly helping with 100% completion of certain worlds. The latter is another story. That game so far has been the biggest pain in the ass for me. While it is a remixed SMB1 for the first half, the second half is a disgusting cocktail of everything I hate about SMB1 and The Lost Levels. I finished it once, and am planning to make my way to finishing it 19 more times to both access the bonus worlds and to get all 20 stars at the title screen. Wish me luck on that.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Alright everyone, it's a brand new week, and we're almost a full two months into the challenge now! We're swiftly making our way through the Classic era of boxart we have lined up as well!

So this week, do a check-in or join the challenge - and you'll receive a Sonic Triple Trouble profile gift!

NOTICE ABOUT SONIC CHAOS PROFILE GIFT: 

There will be a short delay in distributing this week's profile gift (Sonic Chaos) - everyone who is due to get one has already been noted, and will receive it within a few days, so please be aware of that. 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Alright, time for my update this week. I have four games to add. Again, check out the blog posts for full thoughts on them all.

Game 16: Mega Man 4 (100% Completed):

 

Game 17: Tekken 8 (100% Completed): 

https://psnprofiles.com/trophies/25534-tekken-8/ryannumber3gamer

 

Game 18: Mega Man 6 (100% Completed): 

Game 19: Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins (100% Completed): 

In terms of what I'm currently playing through, I'm doing a co-op run of Skylanders Superchargers, and It Takes Two. In my own time, I've started Mario VS Donkey Kong (the remake), and Penny's Big Breakaway. I'm also hoping to maybe squeeze in a quick run of FF7 Remake to 100% it before playing Rebirth.

[Agie]

Weekly check-in; wanted to do more games than I got to, but I ended up having a lot more to do than expected, and I had some unexpected stuff to recover from on top of it, so I only got one game today.

Before I post that, the obligatory "games I've beaten so far" note; honestly, it's more for myself than anything.

On 2/23/2024 at 1:37 AM, Agie said:

1. Super Mario RPG Remake

2. Kaze and the Wild Masks

3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan (100%)

4. Mega Man 1

5. Mega Man 2

6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game

7. Twinkle Star Sprites

8. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (100%)

9. Sunset Riders

10. Mega Man 3

11. Mega Man 4 (sequel wars version)

12. Terminator Salvation (arcade)

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

14. Kiki KaiKai

15. Roll-Chan 6 (hack of Mega Man 6)

16. Beeny

17. Roll-Chan World (hack of Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge)

18. Roll-Chan: Mini World (hack of Game Gear Mega Man)

19. Duke Nukem 1

20. Roll-Chan World 2 (hack of Game Boy Mega Man II)

21. Earthworm Jim

22. 3D Sonic the Hedgehog 1

23. Duke Nukem II

24. Roll-Chan World 3 (hack of Game Boy Mega Man III)

25. The New Zealand Story

26. Sonic the Hedgehog CD

I have some prior history with this game; having first seen the animated cutscenes via Sonic Mega Collection, I wouldn't get to play it for myself until Sonic Gems Collection. I will admit, at the time, I liked it the best out of the classic games. I later played the 360 version, and then played the Sonic Origins version. I bought the phone version some time in that point, but never played it until now; largely played it for convenience' sake. But does the game hold up today?

We all know the story; Eggman takes over little planet, Sonic goes to stop him, and Amy follows him using Tarot cards. Sonic travels through time in his adventures through the past, present, and future, and the future you get determines whether or not he succeeded.

I will admit, replaying it with the other classics relatively fresh on my mind, I still quite like the game, but now I'm with the people who say Sonic 3 is better. Some of the level design here is a bit of a mess. But then...there's the special stages.

These special stages are some of the worst I dealt with, not helped by the fact that, in most versions of the game, despite the save feature, they don't even let you go back to earlier in the game to give it another shot like Sonic 3 did. Sadly, the phone and 360 versions did not fix this issue that I could see; yes, the special stages ran smoother than they did in the Gems Collection version, but my biggest issues with them remained; those spaceship things often seem to move out of the way, or have poor collission detection if you're not hitting them head-on. I prefer the Sonic Origins version solely for the fact that the coin system at least lends me an elegant solution to try again.

But since I was playing the phone version, I just gave up after the third time stone, and I think it's a miracle I got even that one. Playing the game casually is still fun, but the special stages bring it down. The touch screen controls did not help one bit.

Still, in spite of my complaints, I still have fun with the game on a casual level, and I would recommend at least giving it a try. But I can see why this concept for the special stages rarely, if ever even got attempted again.

[castell-neath]

For week 7 I've revisted Sonic Chaos.

Now, the 11 year old me did like this game a lot when it was released back in 1993, and I loved Tails' gameplay with the flying mechanics a lot, heck you couldnt even fly as Tails in sonic 2 (16bit)!

41 year old me revisiting it found it rather "meh". The sparce amount of badniks, the somewhat flat bosses and the rather bare bones levels make it a somewhat easy, if boring game. The less said about the spring based special stages and rocket shoes the better. More of a nuisance than a challenge I thought. And as for the Sonic graphic redesign sprite...it looks like the love child of Sonic from Sonic 1 and 2 and a big Headed Talosian from Star Trek. Its just plain ugly. 

Interestingly, Mecha Green Hill would be the first time Eggman ruined Green Hill Zone, and not as its shown in Sonic Forces. So How tCanon works itself out I have no Idea??

Away from this, ploughing on with Horizon on ps5. Have obtained Demeter and am now heading west to track down Ted Faro's tomb. In NHL 22,my season is still going well...my Cardiff Devils are still 2nd after 15 rounds and are only 2 points behind 1st....almost like real life where the Devils are 2nd but are 12 points behind Sheffield Steelers! Still...there's always the playoffs! Lets go Devils!!Lol

Edited February 27 by castell-neath

[Salamander]

Game 9 (100%): Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King (Switch) - You know, Link's Awakening DX back on the GameBoy Colour was probably the first game I ever owned.  2D Zelda is a nostalgic, homely experience for me, in other words, and in the absence of any new Nintendo offerings in that field, I decided to pursue indie alternatives, and Blossom Tales sounded like the best fit.  Well, it's well-made, for what it is; the trouble is, it's actually not that great.  It's one of those games which show you just how much the real thing nails it.  Screens are too big and filled with empty space and random dead ends with nothing in them; enemies especially in the early game are overtuned in difficulty whilst your sword is vastly undertuned, stubby and prone to leaving you open with every swing, such that it's never your best option in a fight; enemy spam is everywhere; and bosses, with the exception of the first dungeon boss which is actually a perfectly adequate Zelda boss, are just slugfests.  But the game does have one saving grace - its dungeon design is actually pretty good; a bit too linear, but overall it feels like the designers grasp the basics.  That might just be enough for me to give the sequel a shot someday, though not any time soon.

The Switch version offers no progress marker or in-game achievements, but through reference to outside sources I am quite certain I have 100% of all items and upgrades, and anything beyond that I have no way of tracking.  Enclosed are pictures of the final boss being defeated, my endgame UI, and my endgame inventory.

Spoiler

 

[SadVlad]

Game #1 100% Sonic Superstars on Switch. Uploading playback footage recorded on true ending.

Edited February 27 by SadVlad

[Rabid-Coot]

Tails Noir (formerly Backbone) Platinum https://psnprofiles.com/trophies/14460-tails-noir/Rabid-Coot

Disapointing really sets up a some of interesting plot threads including a weird twist in the middle but nothings really resolved at the end.

Small trophy spoiler.

Spoiler

True connection. If you're following a walkthrough for this its either using the Renee mug in chapter 2 or ignoring the books in chapter 4 and writing on the back of the note you recieve that gets it working.

 

Pikmin 1 100% 30/30 Parts 5/5 challenges

Back on this 20 years later still a little on the short side not that there's anything wrong with short games its just that sometimes a game finishes before you feel done with it. Really missed some of the moveset additions from 3

Pics:

   

Spoiler

Finished: 14 Completed: 14

Edited February 28 by Rabid-Coot

[SadVlad]

#2 Sonic the Hedgehog(Sonic Origins)

#3 Sonic the Hedgehog 2(Sonic Origins)

No emeralds. 

[Agie]

Games beaten so far.

20 hours ago, Agie said:

1. Super Mario RPG Remake

2. Kaze and the Wild Masks

3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan (100%)

4. Mega Man 1

5. Mega Man 2

6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game

7. Twinkle Star Sprites

8. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (100%)

9. Sunset Riders

10. Mega Man 3

11. Mega Man 4 (sequel wars version)

12. Terminator Salvation (arcade)

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

14. Kiki KaiKai

15. Roll-Chan 6 (hack of Mega Man 6)

16. Beeny

17. Roll-Chan World (hack of Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge)

18. Roll-Chan: Mini World (hack of Game Gear Mega Man)

19. Duke Nukem 1

20. Roll-Chan World 2 (hack of Game Boy Mega Man II)

21. Earthworm Jim

22. 3D Sonic the Hedgehog 1

23. Duke Nukem II

24. Roll-Chan World 3 (hack of Game Boy Mega Man III)

25. The New Zealand Story

26. Sonic the Hedgehog CD

Another double whammy today. One as part of an ongoing Mega Man/Roll-Chan marathon, and one suggested to me by a friend of mine.

27. Roll-Chan World 4 (hack of Game Boy Mega Man 4)

Wily is back! Again! And he reused Robot Masters! Again! He also brings in a new robot named Ballade, who is another tough one. Can Roll stop his plans this time?

I say it's another good one. It felt longer than the other games, though whether it's actually that, or if circumstances just made it feel that way, I dunno. Regardless, I liked this one, even if I found it more or less more the same. The shop system makes its debut here, and I know for a fact we haven't seen the last of it. You collect p-chips for Dr. Light to buy upgrades and extra E-tanks and such.

This is the last of the Game Boy games to reuse content; I hear the next one is made entirely of new stuff. But I say this one is still good. Not much to say here.

And yes, I collected all the Beat letters, and thus 100% completion. I got a screenshot to prove it.

28. Momodora

Isadora's mother was sacrificed in a ritual for the rebirth of the world. But not all are happy with these rituals; Isadora hears of an artifact that can resurrect people from the dead...but at a great price. She sets out to get this artifact, whatever the cost.

A friend of mine suggested this to me, and it's pretty short. I had fun. It's the first in a series of five games, and I had the fourth one in my backlog for a while now. But this one is influenced by Cave Story, Mega Man, even a bit of Zelda. But it follows mostly a linear path, albeit the enemies will kill you often.

Also, it's free. However, I will not classify this as 100%, since I didn't find all the items the game had to look for. Still, I say it's worth it if you're looking for a short one to play. But it has a certain bleakness to it, which I hear the sequels run with.

[Gavvie]

Game 6 Finished!

Last night I completed Dead Space on Xbox Series X. Not sure if I'll do a NG+ playthrough at any point for the alternate ending, though if I do it'll be on a much easier difficulty setting.

I'll do a post later in the week with my full check in on everything else I've been playing.

[Tornado]

I was trying to do WinBack, a game I had played a fair bit of quite a long time ago, before tabling it for a bit for the Syphon Filter games. I was having fun with it, with its cheesy and stupid story that has presentation that's so identical to Sonic Adventure 2's that it even uses Comic Sans:

I enjoyed the extremely Resident Evil design of the game, where you can basically see everything you need to go but a bunch of actually-fucking-literally chest high walls gate you down an extremely linear gameplay experience instead:

Even when it got to Pokemon-ass level of broken bridges preventing exploration:

Super counter-terrorist forces halted by a knee high wall.

 

The camera control and aiming wasn't even that bad. Janky, and not as good as Syphon Filter even though Syphon Filter used tank controls and this game used modern ones (albeit without adjustable camera elevation), but Syphon Filter cheated by making its manual aiming first person so whatever. I enjoyed hilariously overwrought cutscenes like this:

The silly characters:

The Ace Attorney-ass character deaths:

 

The really, truly absurd story:

 

 

And especially that the game was essentially entirely balanced around the fact that the default pistol's lock-on wasn't that far, to encourage you to use the upgraded weapons (that don't have unlimited ammo like the pistol does) that locked-on to enemies from a distance; not even remotely expecting that people experienced with analog control for shooters could just bypass the lock-on. which actually is really good, and not dissimilar from modern systems:

And just manually aim at everything to cheese almost all of the difficulty:

 

But what I cannot abide by is that after about 2/3rds of the way through the game the game decides that the difficulty is going to entirely consist of throwing 4-6 enemies at you at once from multiple sides that the game doesn't control well enough (in spite of how good the targeting is) to avoid eating shit; mixed in with elaborate puzzle level progression that feel like they are out of a bad Resident Evil game. And being able to reload your default pistol infinitely for no reason, like the first Deus Ex, was not enough to offset that.

 

 

 

 

So I dropped the game and I doubt I'll ever finish it. It just stopped being fun entirely, like a fucking truck drove through the game's design document. So instead for this week:

MACDONDALD GAEM

[WorksOfMagic]

Okay, made some progress on All Night Nippon SMB. I have now 4 stars added to my title screen. I also have started playing Crash Bash, and yeah... It's not a really good party game. The adventure mode is probably the most repetitive thing I've done in quite some time. I'm only 26% done with the game, but already, I can feel that it won't be fun to complete. At least, it won't be as long to complete as Crash 4: It's About Time when I inevitably get around to it.

[Covskin]

23 hours ago, Rabid-Coot said:

Tails Noir (formerly Backbone) Platinum https://psnprofiles.com/trophies/14460-tails-noir/Rabid-Coot

Disapointing really sets up a some of interesting plot threads including a weird twist in the middle but nothings really resolved at the end.

Yeah this one was a shame. The first hour is really intriguing and seems to build up quite well but as you say that twist doesn't really work. A prequel was released last year but I can't muster up the motivation to give it a shot.

As for my update - Celeste 64!

Celeste is a precise, tricky 2D platformer with a strong story and amazing music. Celeste 64 was released to celebrate the 6th anniversary of its release, and is a 3D sandbox that almost acts as a proof of concept. Sadly the controls are not as tight, somewhat inevtiable in the transition, and the camera can be tricky to manage as you try to keep up with your rotating jumps ascending towers. There are also a handful of focused platforming challenges that are reminiscent of the FLUDDless levels in Super Mario Sunshine. For something created in about a week its quite impressive, and it did bring a smile to see these characters interacting with each other again.

There's no real end-point to the game, but there a total of 30 Strawberries to collect, which took me a couple of hours. Would have been quicker but I was fighting the climbing controls on a couple of challenges. The game can be downloaded for free here.

Spoiler

Yes, I had the Six Nations on in the background.

That makes 5 games finished, of which 3 are 100%.

Edited February 28 by Covskin