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

[SuperSonicFan Gui]

18 hours ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Para um aviso rápido, a história de Trip e a história final são consideradas parte dos requisitos de 100% de conclusão para Superstars, então você precisa fazer isso para que conte .

Sorry Ryannumber1gamer. here is the trip story and last story.

[Maple Syrup]

18 hours ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

For a quick heads up, Trip’s story and Final Story is considered part of the 100% completion requirements for Superstars, so you’ll need to do that for it to count.

UGHHHH... I can't even finish the MAIN STORY!

[Tornado]

I still haven't finished that the most violent FPS ever and I got distracted by another game that I hope to finish next week so here's another game for this week instead after I started playing another another game (Bubsy II) and realized that it was so fucking awful that I didn't want to play more than ten minutes of it, nevermind the several hours that the "full" game is

Let's go.

 

I've always liked Virgin Interactive games but when playing this a few years ago I realized that they play like games that were analog first converted to digital; and once that finally clicked with me on that playthrough I've always been able to destroy them no sweat.

Well, I say that, but if you're only 97% Cool are you really cool at all?

 

The continue system is cute, too; though I feel if you're doing well enough to perfect the bonus rounds you... probably don't need them.

 

The level design is so charming, with fun stuff like moustraps that can either hurt you or throw you across the room depending on which side you're on when you hit them:

 

And stuff like this makes me think of a sort of prototype (worse, if we're being honest) version of Toy Story.

 

But why the Genesis version, are you asking? Objectively, it's much like Bubsy. The SNES version is lousy with cool little graphical effects and stuff which you'd think would make clear that the SNES version was the "main" one (which would be kinda odd for a Virgin Interactive game).

Like look how much of a glowup that is. Plus all the sprite transparencies and shit that are probably best seen in the bonus round:

 

Well, it goes both ways.

The middle third of the game is loaded with extra level detail in every level, buuuut.

Keeping in mind that this is a Virgin Interactive game with Virgin Interactive game heavy controls, look at all the shit that you need to process while you're playing in the SNES version. Look at this parallax scrolling in some stages that make some stages look like the backgrounds are broken, compared to the much simpler Genesis version:

Why are things that are on a shelf on the wall moving at a different pace than the wall? Why is it so much harder to tell which part is background and which part is foreground?

 

 

And, for the worst one:

Like the SNES version hurts my eyes just looking at it, nevermind playing it. The two levels of parallax constantly moving in the background alongside the player moving along the train gives my brain the sort of feeling that you have when you have a VR headset on that isn't focused correctly. Also, some of the spritework in the SNES version that you see constantly (the checkpoint market in particular) sticks out as not looking like the stuff included in the game was the actual final versions of it. So at the end of the day I contend that the Genesis version, despite looking worse in theory, actually really looks better in practice.

 

 

 

 

 

But no one cares about any of that. I know this forum. You actually want to know about the first American to work on Sonic.

Well, the music in this game is great, on both systems.

 

 

However, and this is something that I knew about long before Roblox was even invented, a lot of the music is not at all... "unique" to this game. Not even the recurring end level/middle level theme:

And, well:

Spoiler

Was this the original Joey?

Or maybe:

 

 

But the one that I found first, long before I even realized that Thomas the Tallarico engine worked on both (well, was credited on both more likely) and the one I noticed first even when I was like 5 years old, was this one:

Weird, right?

 

[The Tenth Doctor]

Game 6 - Life is Strange: True Colours (100% complete)

I skipped Life is Strange 2 (go back for it at some point) on advice from my friend and decided to do a 100% run through of the 4th game. It was ok, not my favourite of the series (probably Before the Storm on that front) but its nice to have not school kids as the protags here, as well as doing a LARP in a game was a lot of fun. Very light on story this one but eh, could have been worse.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

10 hours ago, WorksOfMagic said:

Updated Game Completion Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ENT18rQXcoLnvIuqKfLuxfCcvveb5vO1yL5Cbm0oVNY/edit?usp=drivesdk

 

Another game completed today: Sonic The Hedgehog - Genesis (GBA). Yeah, this was a bit shit... Everything I loved about Sonic 1 is being butchered in the worst possible way. The later levels look unfinished half the time, the soundtrack and SFX are miserable. And the special stages can range from piss easy to "holy shit why are you so hard?".

In other words, don't get near this game. Not even with a 39.5 foot pole.

I'll get back to Sonic 1 one more time with the Taxman remake from 2013 in the near future.

 

Games completed: 16

Unfortunately, I cannot add this to the tally since you've already submitted the original genesis version of Sonic 1, due to the same game rule.

[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

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

New Additions

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

Spoiler

I know what your thinking, (Assuming you have been keeping track of my progress, hypothetical reader.) "What happened to March-O-Vania?" I know and get it. The only reason MvDK showed up here was because if was a new title I wished to play that came out this month. Depending on how things go, Princess Peach may also mess up my themed month, but it's not totally abandoned, I have a second game that fits perfectly into the March-O-Vania month. You already know what it is, but first, lets talk about this game.

Despite playing the original version, it was YouTuber, The Lonely Goomba and his review that pointed out that 2 worlds were added that weren't in the original and it's always nice to get some new content in a remake, as long as it's good. To get the 100% completion involved not taking damage while fighting DK, grabbing all the presents in each stage and although the game wont acknowledge it, I opted to complete the time attack challenges too.

Not much else can be said about this puzzle like game that is a spiritual successor of the original Donkey Kong. So lets move on to the game that is actually part of the theme I made up for myself.

• 13. Metroid Prime Remastered

Spoiler

Okay....so...as you can see, this doesn't mention getting 100%ed. Admitting that is painful. I knew Samus could scan points of interest. What I didn't know was that the game will lock you out of getting some. As in, you only get one chance for some and scans had it's own percentage number. What didn't help was that travelling the map in Prime got very monotonous, especially as I frequently was getting lost and losing track of where I needed to go next.

I ended up learning about the miss able scannable content while heading to the final boss. The game wouldn't be here in this list if I chose to try again for the 100% completion since that discovery happened yesterday. I just couldn't be bothered. It was more fun and faster to travel in Metroid Dread while in Prime it can be a pain, especially with those Space Pirates, who had to be the most annoying enemies to deal with. Until those multi-coloured Metroids showed up near the very end. While many see Prime as a beloved game, my very first playthrough was less than ideal. Though to be fair to the game, FPS games had never been my preferred genre and whoever thought a first person platformer was a good idea is a damn liar! The worst thing that can happen in a first person platformer is watching the platform you tried to jump on, pass your line of sight.

But don't misunderstand me. I don't hate the game. If I did, I would've given up on it and it only would've gotten a passing mention. For this challenge, I want to focus on having fun, which was another major reason for me abandoning a Metroid Prime 100% run. It wouldn't have been fun. I also consider Prime and Dread as being in my back catalogue for far too long, so it's nice to finally say I've played them.

Next, I want to see how Nintendo handles Princess Peaches second time as the protagonist, but March-O-Vania isn't over and I picked up a cute little game called Tevi which adds bullet hell elements to a Metroidvania. I've played a game like that before and it turned out the Tevi devs also developed that game too. I believe it was called Rabi Ribi.

Edited March 24 by Danj86

[cosmichaos]

Game 10: Sonic the Hedgehog 2: I just realized that I’ve never actually gone and finished Sonic 2, which is weird because i swore I did, but I suppose the Death Egg Robot just got the better of me and I gave up. Anyways, went and played it again, and after a tedious like 20 minutes beat the final zone. Overall it was fun. Much better than Sonic 1 but not nearly as amazing as Sonic 3. At least, in my opinion.

[Spin Attaxx]

GAME #8: MEGA MAN 5 - 100% Complete

Oh, Mega Man 5. I don't hate you, far from it. But you just don't have that zest, y'know? But man, there are times where you come close, and it hurts all the more for it.

As much as Ryan called this the most "meh" of the main series (and as much as I'm inclined to share similar feelings on the whole), there's some novel stage ideas here. Wave Man, for instance, eschewing the usual tropes of a Mega Man water level and becoming a shoot-em-up on a jetski halfway through, Star Man taking those tropes up but reframing them in a low gravity space station environment, and the inventive weirdness of Gravity Man, whose stage is probably the most visually impressive and striking of the main eight. Some levels even act as small stories in themselves; the one that sticks out to me is Napalm Man, whose aesthetic slowly changes from jungles and caverns to the cold steel of a secret military base, but Charge Man also warrants mention. Up to this point, we haven't seen a stage with this kind of "movement" to it and even in later games it's fairly rare; whether you're outside the train watching the clouds rush by, or you're inside and the level bobs up briefly as if running over tracks, there's no mistaking you're on a moving vehicle.

Even the Robot Masters themselves have some fun quirks to them, with Gravity Man having one of the more dynamic and unusual fights of the series, and Stone Man collapsing into bricks after landing from a tall jump. And graphically, you can see how much more elaborate the designs for them have gotten since the days of yore. Seeing the disassembled sprites online and having an idea of what the NES could nominally handle with rendering sprites, it's impressive how much layering is done to achieve tricks like Crystal Man's crystals to effectively get an extra colour or two in the palette.

And yet... the weapons are sadly underwhelming, with a handful of exceptions. A large part of this is the Mega Buster, or as it's known in this game, the Super Mega Buster. The charged shots are bigger, faster (both to charge and release), and while it's NOT stronger too, the majority of enemies in this game have HP pools low enough that it will tear through almost everything just as well. The only drawback is that you lose the charge entirely if you take damage, but even this isn't much of a hurdle. All in all, it's good. Too good. People sing the praises of another weapon we'll get to, but for my money the most broken one for this game is the one you start with. Most of the time, you have little reason not to use another weapon unless an enemy is anywhere other than dead ahead of you.

But even playing with the other weapons and finding places to use them, as I did this playthrough, they come out the other end wanting. The Power Stone is one I used a surprising amount, just for the sheer novelty. You'd need to have a good grasp on physics and math to use it effectively, but smacking multiple targets with one shot is oddly satisfying... a shame these boulders do as much damage as pebbles. The Gravity Hold has an interesting drawback in that enemies don't drop items when killed with it, but it's very weak compared to 4's Rain Flush; the only practical use for it is when you're surrounded by multiple weak enemies. Napalm Bomb feels like a more practical but woefully underpowered Hyper Bomb. Star Crash is an odd weapon that discourages using it as a shield by using more ammo if it blocks a shot before you fire it (and for the longest time, I swore you could at least fire it in multiple directions). Water Wave has a nugget of potential, but thanks to the inexplicable addition of enemy i-frames, its killing potential is sharply neutered. And we needn't say much more on the Charge Kick.

Overall, it's rare that a weapon will do much more than one or two points of damage to an enemy, in a game where your default weapon can kill them quicker and more efficiently. This extends to the bosses, who've by now largely settled on the "weakness or bust" mindset, where the damage output of weapons combined with longer i-frames makes using any weapon that's not their weakness or the Charge Shot against them outright pointless. Which is honestly a shame; if for instance Power Stone did just a little more damage to Gyro Man than it does, or if a boss's i-frames were short enough that it was easier for Crystal Eye's fragments to hit them multiple times per shot, that could allow for fun alternate ways of handling a major encounter. Even when you DO use the weakness, it's not always great - Wave Man's fight seems perfectly set up for Charge Kick... were it not for his attacks piercing the invulnerability the weapon gives you for no good reason.

Gyro Attack at least is reliable as a controllable projectile, though. Some mention also should be given to Super Arrow, which is a utility/weapon combo that smarter people than I can do incredible tricks with, beyond using it as a faster Rush replacement. (Oh, and for some reason Rush Coil has been changed for this game only to be less a springboard and more a platform on a pogo that you still have to jump off of. Why...?)

But now I suppose I should have to talk about Beat, ostensibly this game's true powerhouse. ...Yeah, I rarely use him if I'll be honest. Part of this is from how late in the game he comes, with the collection quest needed to get him ensuring he'll only see much use in the fortresses (and to be fair, he is very useful at points there). But also because he's the weakness of two major bosses (well, five, really) I feel compelled to use him as little as possible. Which is a bit silly, given the addition of the M-Tank which refills all your weapons and honestly isn't even hard to come by. By itself it negates the "weapons don't refill between fake castle and real castle" conundrum; the Wily Castle even flat out gives you multiple. So for this playthrough, I decided to use Beat more often. And you're not going to get very far with him if you just sit back and let him do all the work; you're more or less encouraged to get dirty and fight enemies yourself as well to conserve his ammo, which I'm OK with. But if there's multiple targets it'll take him some time to gun for the one you want him to. Still, he is a good birb and I'm glad he's here, limited though his screentime may be.

But what of those castles? Well, I'll give "Proto Man"'s Castle this; aesthetically it's the most castle-y of any castle in the series. Every stage uses a brick motif and it feels a lot more like a high-tech medieval castle than anything Wily's used so far. Even Dr. Cossack didn't capture that vibe. The buildings in that first stage do make me wonder where it is, though. Somewhere in Germany, maybe? There's no way it's not European. The four Dark Men are quite the departure from other fortress bosses in the series - no kooky, out there giant machines, but a set of similar-looking pseudo Robot Masters that have a loose theme of evolution between each one. And they have some quirky weaknesses to them, too - they don't take more than 3 damage from any weapon, and for all of them, their weakness is all Beat. Aside from Dark Man 1 to the Water Wave, all other weapons at best do just 2 damage to them, which is jarring when you get to Dr. Wily's fortress and all his now-traditionally giant and elaborate machines take the usual 4 damage from their weaknesses. It's almost like the Doc Robots in how the midgame is tougher than the endgame, but nowhere near by the amount they were.

Anyway, the Wily Castle feels fairly perfunctory, just as it did in 4. At least Dr. Light being captured provides more urgency to chasing Wily down this time, and the music is memorable. We even have a somewhat non-standard Wily fight in the Wily Press; between this and Mega Man 2's Alien I kinda wish the series had Wily using inventions besides the usual Wily Machines/Capsules more often. Other than that, not much to say - although I appreciate the cheek of making Super Arrow Wily Machine 5's weakness when nothing else was particularly weak to it.

...Once again, I find myself writing a surprising amount on a game I'm not even all that fond of. I certainly wouldn't call it bad or mediocre, and I'm aware for some people, this was the game they were able to get into Mega Man with simply BECAUSE the broken buster made the bosses easier than in other games. And while I appreciate the glow-up from the previous game on both a graphical and technical level (this game just feels faster and more refined physically than the preceding four games), 4 on the whole feels like a tighter experience overall, with a more impressive weaponset and more compelling false antagonist. (I still think you look pretty cool though, Dark Man.)

I leave you all with this relevant animation:

 

Edited March 24 by Spin Attaxx

[SuperSonicFan Gui]

I completed Sega Sonic the Hedgehog

[SadVlad]

Game #20 MegaMan 4

Another game in the books. This is my first time actually playing through the MegaMan series, and 4 was one of the easier games so far. Overall, I'm enjoying the series quite a lot. I can't figure out why I'm 36 and just now actually giving this series a go.

[Emperor Robrainiac]

CHECK-IN UPDATE: YOSHI'S STORY (FINISHED)

Another game I loved as a kid this week! This one is Yoshi's story the sequel (or reboot I guess?) To Yoshi's Island. Not sure if this is accepted, but I wanted to highlight my favorite part of the game... When you beat each level you get a brief story of the Yoshis struggles and obsticles they go through in said level, and when you beat the game, it ties everything together to create a sort of bedtime story! There's 4 levels in each world, but you can only select one at a time, so each playthrough you can have a different story by the end. In the spoilers is the story that I ended up getting. Keep in mind, the text scrolls, so these are just parts of the story.

Spoiler

 

It's a really charming way to tell the story an when I first beat the game as a kid I realized why the game was called "Yoshi's Story" and was blown away by it... It was easily impressed when I was younger lmao.

As for the game itself... It's alright. The graphics are very endearing and charming and you can definitely tell modern yoshi games take inspiration from this entry in the Yoshi Series. The backgrounds in levels resemble arts and crafts, and there are instances where the blue sky is just straight up denim jeans, pockets and all, with cloud shaped patches on them. Then there's mario's traditional underground/sewer level where the bg is made up of shredded newspaper, where you can see words like "Nintendo" or "Yoshi" within the text. Each level in the game has a unique gimmick, for example one level has a unique creature called the Neuron, giant slug-like creatures who Yoshi can use as platforms, Shy Guy's Ship has pirate Shy Guys shooting at you in the background, stuff like that, and Bone Dragon Pit has a unique skeletal dragon enemy.

Gameplay is nice. It's a little faster paced than Yoshi's Island, and the means of progressing the level by collecting a certain number of fruits throughout the level is pretty satisfying. When you start your playthrough, one of the fruits you'll collect will be selected as a "Lucky Fruit," which if eaten, you will regain all of your health. You will have a selection of different colored Yoshi's to play as. While none of them play any differently from the others, they do have prefered fruits which will heal them a bit more. There's also a secret black Yoshi and White Yoshi, both of whom have the ability to eat chili peppers, which usually damages all the other yoshis.

One big problem I have with the gameplay however, is that the controls felt very floaty at times. Sometimes it was hard to maneuver my Yoshi onto a single platform or pipe, and there were times that it sent me to a pit, instantly killing me. Then there's some gimmicks in the levels that don't really work with the control scheme. A level, appropriately named "Frustration" has a giant wheel you have to control by walking on, but there's two gaps that you have to hop over, or else you'll fall to your death. Combine that with bird enemies and the two gaps in the wheel, and the level lives up to its name. 

But floaty controls aside, it was an overall pleasant, quick experience, and the fact that you can create a little story each time you play is just charming as all heck. Yeah, a great time overall.

[Lady Marie]

Weekly Check-In:

Nothing new to add this week. Still progressing through the games I've been playing. Unfortunately, I got sick starting on Friday, so I didn't get as much progress done this weekend as I would've liked. But I did manage to get some gaming in. 

My main focus has been on FFVII Rebirth. I'm doing all of the world intel and side quests as I go so that I can get as much done as possible as efficiently as I can. It's also a good way for me to make sure I'm leveling up consistently instead of rushing into fights I'm not prepared for. I'm still absolutely loving the game. I'm only on Chapter 3, but everything about it it is so charming. The small details carry it a long way. The Synergy Abilities, the relationship meters, being able to pet the tiny chocobos (I honestly tear up a little every time I see them because they are just so darn cute). All of it reminds me of why I love the Final Fantasy series so much. I'm looking forward to see where the story's going and where I'll be at the end of it.

Other than that, I'm still making very small progress through Baldur's Gate 3, Midnight Suns, Spider-Man 2, and Virtue's Last Reward. I'm hoping to play them more in the evenings since I won't be able to go anywhere for at least a few days. It'll be a good pass time for me as I recover.

[SadVlad]

Game #21 MegaMan 5 

This one was probably my least favorite so far. The levels were fun, but easy. And the final boss was anti climactic. After unlocking Beat, he ended up doing all the work and I just had to dodge. But the ending was the best so far.

[NegaMix]

Just a quick check-in this week, as there's been a change of plans on my end:

With my brother returning from Uni for a few weeks, he's been itching to have a go at Spider-Man 2 while he's here, so I'm letting him go through the game first. As such, I'm instead gonna be hopping into something else next week, with Spidey 2 waiting for a later date.

...Possibly a much later date, actually, depending on how long my Xbox Game Pass subscription has before it runs out. There's a few games I hope to get around to while they're still available on the service.

[coral_reef]

I'm adding Princess Peach Showtime to my list of in progress games this week! What I've already played was fun and I'm excited to play more!

[ShadowXeldron]

Once again I have returned to post my weekly check-in.

I added Super Mario Bros. Deluxe for the Game Boy Colour to my collection but I haven't played it yet because I can't find my GBA. Instead, the weekend was spent fulfilling my insane desires by playing Balan Wonderworld.

Okay so call me insane but I actually like it. Having gone in pretty much blind, it's definitely not the best platformer I've ever played but it seriously isn't bad by any means. I've just unlocked the third batch of stages.

On a lighter, less hot take-infused note I also bought Dungeon Keeper on GOG today. I have done the first few stages and have been playing it on my laptop via the KeeperFX source port. It's a pretty good RTS-style game all things considered and I've heard the sequel is supposed to be better.

[TheKarmaCollector1994]

Games Finished/Completed So Far:

1. PowerWash 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% Complete
4. Sonic the Fighters (XBOX One) - Finished 10/03/24 - 100% Complete - All Achievements Unlocked

Check-in time for me this week, and this time I managed to complete a couple more titles to add to the list of completions! One was part of the planned MAR10 Day play throughs that I promised I would be doing, whilst the other game was just a quick achievement hunt that I managed to complete in less than a couple of hours. Let’s get them, shall we?

Game 5: Super Mario Bros. (Super Mario All-Stars Version) (SNES (Switch Online) - 100% Complete including Star Worlds

Ah yes, the first game to star Sonic and SEGA’s former enemy/rival, and as I mentioned in my post on MAR10 Day, this would be amongst one of the few titles involving the plumber.

BUT!

As you might have noticed, I decided to go for the Super Mario All-Stars version that was released alongside the other original titles from the NES on the same cartridge, all updated with improved 16-bit graphics and reworked versions of the iconic soundtracks. (Everyone knows the themes in this game, and if you don’t, well… uh… have you played a video game recently, like… ever?) I mainly chose this version of the classic title as it brings me back to my childhood memories of hooking up a SNES that one of my relatives used to have, and enjoying the experiences of trying my best to reach the later levels.

The game is, as you might have guessed, a true classic in every sense of the word, especially given that it pretty much set up the foundations for every platformer that would come in the future. Whilst I won’t talk about the game too much, I will talk about how much I enjoyed playing through this particular version of the game, since it provided me with a bit of a challenge when it came to some of the later worlds, and making sure that I did my best to keep hold of the Fire Flower power-up to deal with wave after wave of enemies, especially those pesky Hammer Bros. and Koopa Paratroopers that appeared in the later levels. World 8-1 proved to be quite a challenge for me in particular, as I very nearly ran out of time due to not realising that you had less time to complete the level than others. Thank goodness for the dash function then - rapidly pressing the B button repeatedly to give myself a better chance of getting to the end of the level before the clock hit zero.

That ending was worth it for me to know that I had managed to get to the end of the main part of one of the most famous games of all time - but since the game was asking me to complete a more difficult quest, I decided to also complete the Star Worlds that followed, and… well, the thing is, I didn’t find it to be that much more difficult than the main game! The only real differences are that the Goombas are replaced with hard shelled Koopas (sorry, can’t remember their actual names), and there are extra Bullet Bills to avoid/stomp on, but aside from that, not that much more difficult that what I was expecting.

Overall, though, considering that this was a nostalgic game for me, I feel quite proud of my achievement in completing a game that doesn’t really need that much of an introduction.

 

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

And speaking of achievements, figured that I would throw this one in as a quick, but fun game that only took me a couple of hours to complete and unlock every achievement that it had to offer. The premise of the game is simple: you take control of a sinkhole that proceeds to swallow up everyone and everything in its way. You start off with a small hole, but the more you throw into it, the bigger the whole gets, until you can let your sinkhole cause mass destruction in a variety of environments - all with a few puzzles to complete along the way.

There isn’t that much in the way of story, but some of the achievements are actually easy to unlock, although some of them can be missed if you’re not careful or get too engaged in dropping all the objects into the hole. Nevertheless, whilst it took me a couple of tries to unlock an achievement involving making soup in one of the levels, I found that the rest of them weren’t too difficult to get unlocked. (Yes, there is an achievement for deliberately losing the boss battle at the end of the game. (And, yes, there is a boss battle at the end of the game.))

Whilst it wasn’t a long game by any means, I highly recommend that you buy this game if you’re looking for something that will be fun to play for a short achievement/trophy hunt that makes up its short game time by offering plenty of secrets to discover.

 

That’s all from me for now. My Super Mario 64 run is still ongoing at the moment - just need to get the last few stars needed for a full 120-star run and the final boss fight with Bowser, but what other games will I have in the pipeline ready for completion? Stay tuned to find out!

See ya later!

 

Games Finished: 6

Games 100% Completed: 5

[Ghelatlishol]

Been much too busy to keep at this weekly, but I present game #6. 100% Completed, it's Sonic Advance!

Played on my old DS with a GBA cartridge.

 

[Fireluigi1225]

i still feel like shit so im just gonna make this quick for everyone's sake
 

Every game listed is 100% completed.

 

20 Minutes Til' Dawn

Spoiler

Mega Man 1

Spoiler

Mega  Man 2

Spoiler

Mega Man 3

Spoiler

X-Men (1992 Arcade) (please dont open this one i dont have the energy to blur the reflections also the thing about the game not being over is because there's still credits in the machine)

Spoiler

House of the Dead

Spoiler

Area 51

Spoiler

The Simpsons Arcade Game

Spoiler

Double Dragon (Arcade)

Spoiler

TMNT: Turtles In Time (Arcade)

Spoiler

Michael Jackson's Moonwalker (Arcade)

Spoiler

that's a whole 11 games for both categories, by my count.
if theres a new rule about limiting games per post because of me im going to explode

[SadVlad]

Game #22 MegaMan 6

I have to say... This was by the best MegaMan game out of the 6 NES titles. I thoroughly enjoyed every detail about this game. SMB3 has always been my favorite NES game, but this is easily No. 2

After wrapping up the six NES games, I honestly cannot figure out why I was never into this series. I would of been blown away by these titles as a kid. But I'm on mission to rectify that, so now it's on to MegaMan 7.

[SgtBloxx]

Progress Report:

Got tons of progress done on this Xbox game called Fable 3 so far. Unfortunately, some of the achievements require a co-op partner to complete, but the online co-op system still works.

If anyone wants to add Fable 3 to your list, don't hesitate to contact me. I'd love to play this one a second person.

[Failinhearts]

WEEK 11: (FAILIN'S POSTGAME)

Welcome to the first installment of Failin's Postgame! With the 52 Game Challenge done and dusted, I will continue to post what I am playing weekly to continue the check-ins! Usually, this will be one game at a time. So, let's begin with something I intended to complete but decided nahhh, Mega Man be calling.

GAME 57: PERSONA 5 TACTICA (XBOX SERIES X)

Persona 5 Tactica is an... interesting game to get into from the start. Do I love Persona 5? Absolutely. But when Tactica was announced, especially since it appeared in the wake of the much more anticipated Persona 3 Reload, this just felt like a kinda nothing spinoff in comparison.

Not to mention Persona spinoffs don't have the best track record in terms of narrative importance. Every now and then, you'll get a standout story that matters in the grand scheme of things like Persona 5 Strikers, Persona 4 Arena or Persona 4 Dancing All Night. However, others like Q, Q2 and the other Dancing Games are filler adventures that due to taking place within a specific part of the original game, choose to opt for the memory wipe, just a dream, or non-canon angle making the whole journey feel... pointless.

Especially hearing at first Tactica will take place around the main game's ending, I just assume that this will be a case of the latter. Another filler adventure with the Phantom Thieves where everyone is kinda flanderized and the story won't matter cause everyone's gonna forget it.

Plus, it's a strategy RPG. No offense to Fire Emblem and such, they're fine enough for what they are. But this genre is not my personal cup of joe. Being a tactical and strategic thinker is not my strongest suit.

Still, it's on Game Pass, I got some DLC to make the journey a bit easier and quicker, how bad can it be?

And honestly...? I ended up REALLY liking this game.

This game is designed to be a pretty simple, introductory entry in the SRPG genre. So in depth mechanics and tech is never the priority. So the game doesn't really serve to challenge you, which helps a lot. There are no real objectives in the game where I felt inherently super pressured, beyond the optional quests that can get really strict.

Plus the game did a great job incorporating the typical Persona combat elements into the SRPG world. From One Mores, fusions, All Out Attacks, and even Sub-Personas returning from Persona Q, you're never TOO isolated from the staples of classic Metaverse combat.

It makes for a breezy, but enjoyable little romp with my favorite Thieves when it comes to the gameplay front.

...The STORY on the other hand is where shit gets REALLY juicy.

I wasn't expecting myself to love the story as much as I did.

While technically taking place in between certain events in Persona 5, it is practically at the very tail end of the game. The final boss is already defeated and we are at the point where it's almost time for the credits to roll and Joker has to say goodbye to all his friends. Its a grey area where nothing of significance happens that allows the game to actually MATTER in the main timeline. There IS no memory wipe, people, the events of this game can still matter.

Furthermore, while Persona spinoffs have a tendency to flanderize characters to their bare aspects, almost to a detrimental level like with Ann and Ryuji and just how much their arcs are disrespected even in the main Persona 5 story, I don't really see that issue here. There isn't really a narrative moment where I start cringing, and even characters who had virtually no screentime in the original like Lavenza have some time to shine. Even was being treated respectfully, and I really appreciate that.

But I think the most genius thing of all this narrative does is because this game takes place at the denouement of Persona 5, all of these characters have fully grown. They have resolved their personal inner turmoil and its still fresh in their minds. There is no time to regress, the Thieves are as mentally fortified as they will ever be. They ironically enough become static characters.

And I'm sure you're wondering, if our favorite characters are static, where's the fun in that? That means there is no time for character development, growth, inner bickering, and whatnot? Where does the compelling drama go?

It all went to this beautiful, beautiful, plot device of a man. Toshiro Kasukabe. The entire game revolves around him, and his many, many layers of inner conflict that is spiraling in his mind. Every Kingdom, every boss, every narrative twist and turn, even the other new character Erina revolves around this guy's life and mistakes.

And every aspect of his dilemmas ties into something at least one of the Phantom Thieves had to face in the original game. From losing a loved one and blaming himself, to feeling powerless under the iron rule of someone who loved and admired. Toshiro manages to relate to everyone, and more importantly, it allows the Phantom Thieves to show off THEIR growth.

They are the mentors to Toshiro, sharing wisdom, life experiences and encouragement. We see how much they have grown BECAUSE they are static characters imparting valuable life lessons that help Toshiro grow from a timid, cowardly figure into a proud spirit of rebellion a certain someone always saw him to be.

It is GENIUS, and incredibly well done.

The story of Persona 5 Tactica is a very fitting epilogue of Persona 5, coupled with a really good gameplay experience to please Persona fans who need just another invigorating kick in the Phantom nuts.

My only gripes in terms of the game come from not understanding how balancing works. Specifically with Personas. I have very powerful Personas but it really feels like the game balances its enemies to be on your level at all times. It makes the point of levelling up feel... kinda pointless sometimes, cause I feel like I put all these efforts into fusions for nothing. There's something deeper behind the scenes to explain this, I'm sure. But I'm too dumb enough to notice.

Which leads us to this little extra portion...

DLC: REPAINT YOUR HEART

Remember everything I said about how great Tactica's narrative is? How it doesn't fall into any of the pitfalls of the Persona spinoffs?

Yeahhh, let's uh, bring that back to the table. Cause clearly we can see where all the bad tropes went. It went here.

The prequel DLC, Repaint Your Heart makes no fucking sense. There is hardly an explanation about how this new form of the Metaverse once again came into being, beyond a few haphazard nods to Tactica's main story. Characters are flanderized, and since this chapter takes place even EARLIER in Persona 5's story, nobody is allowed to show any growth.

AND WE GOT MEMORY WIPES, BAYBEE, SCREW YOU. THIS STORY DON'T MATTER.

The fact that Kasumi and Akechi are stuck to this purgatory as a result of Atlus' strange need to separate Royal from everything else is just a disservice to their characters. Especially since Kasumi especially is in desperate need of more screen time to flesh out her character.

It sucks cause there are some really solid emotional beats between new villain Guernica and new companion Luca. The personal relationship between the two is the strongest aspect of the DLC and the only thing keeping me invested through the brief ride.

The maps are very unique too, playing with paint and turf to limit you, or your opponents based on where you are standing, with music that ironically feels more unique and memorable than anything from the base game.

And you even get access to Akechi and Kasumi IN the base game upon completion, so that's a neat trick!

But overall, Repaint Your Heart was a disappointing addition to a really solid Persona 5 spinoff experience.

GAMES FINISHED: 57

GAMES COMPLETE: 52

[Winston]

I sadly did not make much progress this week since I took a little bit of a break from some games for another thing I'm working on, but hey. I did get some progress done with others.

I finally got back into playing some of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, which so far, has been a lot of fun and has brought back a ton of fond memories from the original. I really like getting a unique look into this games world, and having the areas more fleshed out with side quests and so on. I wish I could say the same for the card game, I do not enjoy it at all. I'm sure some people do because it is surprisingly pretty fleshed out, but damn. I do not like being blocked out of a victory because I cannot use certain cards anymore because the AI has better cards than me. This is also an RPG so I don't want to spend too much time getting to know a card game. Maybe this is just a me thing and it's fun for others, but I don't like quests being locked behind the card games. It'd be fine if they were their own quest, which they are, but now the infect other side quests besides it's own. Hopefully it is less in your face as the game goes on. But yeah, really enjoy the story even if it had a confusing start, and I love being able to play as Red XIII. I also enjoy getting more of the group hanging out together.

Another game I started, which is a replay, is Pikmin. The Switch remaster came out last year, and after 4, my Pikmin taste was not yet satisfied, so I picked up the original two as well. I had played 3 Deluxe slightly before 4 came out, so I figured I'd start all over again with 1.

Pikmin 1 has definitely aged, even though I loved it a lot as a kid. That Pikmin AI is especially annoying now, since they trip and fall behind, getting lost to die and so on. There's also issues with the bridges, where if there's too many Pikmin, they go off to the sides and if there's water below, like a ton of them will die. It's also hard getting them to move away from enemies sometimes. If you don't mind Pikmin deaths, it won't be so bad once you get a sizable enough collection, but God help you if you want to lose no Pikmin. Still, I love the atmosphere of this game, and the music plus environments are really awesome, even as a game that is over twenty years old. Olimar is also a fun character, so it's nice seeing his logs between nights and his thoughts. We'll see if I can finish this next week.

Otherwise, thanks for reading! Sorry for the lack of games again, but hey, at least I got two done last week. Maybe I'll try and aim to do some smaller older NES titles too to make things easier. Who knows.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Weekly Progress Note:

Among the many titles that I am perusing, this one is one that speaks to me massively. Partly because I have still been waiting for Part 3 god knows how long.

But yes, it's time to add Batman TellTale to my list for this challenge.

[KingKnucklesFan134]

Game Number 17/52: Paper Mario: The Origami King (Finished)

This is one of the best Paper Mario games. Obviously better then what we were fed 10 years ago with Sticker Star and Color Splash before in every way possible. This isn't exactly what us older fans want from the series, but I'll take this as a good substitute for TTYD Remake.

Game Rating: 4 Out Of 5:

Game Number 18/52: Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (100% Complete)

One of the better Fire Emblem games in terms of map design, story, and music. But one of the worst in unit design, fairness, and difficulty. Though it's still a fun time like with any Fire Emblem game, and great for beginners.

Game Rating: 4 Out Of 5:

Games Finished: 11

Games Completed: 7