More thoughts on games I beat over the years
This one is from most of the 3nd 3rd of 2019
I beat Batman on my 150 NES games in 1 GBA cart. Its by Sunsoft and has great graphics and music. You got a few weapons that have the same ammo meter and a wall jump that's not hard to do. The bosses are tough but have simple patterns that can be mastered. You get 3 guys and unlimited continues but using one doesn't make you restart an area. So if you get to level 5-3 and bite it you restart on 5-3. Pretty tight controls but there's a bit of a delay to jump to have him crouch and leap. The Joker is tough and I was on my last hit before he fell. If you bite it on a boss you start on the boss but if you use a continue you restart the level. To beat Joker you gotta get close to him so he don't hit you with his huge gun and move back when he uses lightening. He seems to fire his gun when you move left/right and can hit you with a run sometimes. Tough game but fair and I'm glad I played it.
I beat Ghouls and Ghosts on my Master System Collection. Its probably the easiest one in the series as you keep armor upgrades and all the weapons are good. After busting a chest you get either a magician or a gate that takes you to a shop like Forgotten Worlds where you choose different upgrades like armor or boots. You can take multiple hits with stronger armor and you got magic you can use that uses a magic meter. You choose what magic you use at the pause screen and the Shield lets you just ignore hits. Getting the goddess power makes the 2nd run easy and none of the bosses are really that tough once you get the simple pattern down. You get unlimited continues and there's no time limit. I liked it and think its a good way to start GnG. Plus you can just keep getting shops on the same level and biting it til you got max power. Good game. Glad I got it.
Just beat Super Mario 64. What an ordeal. The graphics and music and voices are good. The gameplay is not. you got like a dozen moves with 4 buttons. Z and jump is either a hip drop or a long jump depending on if you pressed Z a fraction of a second before jump. The water controls are pretty awful. Trying to get out of the water is a pain and sometimes Mario just spazzes out. Punch and lunge is the same button so sometime I try to punch something and fly off the screen. Plus the camera is abominus. I often am either fighting it to get a good angle, or constantly readjusting it so I can actually see what I'm doing. You gotta get a set number of stars to advance to the next area. You get stars by doing missions like beating a guy in a race or getting 8 red coins. Some are ok but some are pretty insane. You can also get a star by getting 100 coins. But once you exit a level, you start over with all traps reset. I'm not bashing this because I'm used to good 3D games that came later. I hated this back in the 90s. How did people like this?! Plus Mario can't just turn around and face the opposite direction. from left to right. He has to walk around and turn in a circle to face the other way. Its a pain to try to pick stuff up as he keeps wiggling around. I liked The Legend Of Zelda Ocarina Of Time. But this was just not fun. I'm not even big on the good Mario games. I liked 1. Japan 2 I beat but it was kinda annoying. US 2 was bad. 3 I liked. World I didn't. I liked Mario Party and Kart and the GB games. But this was not a good game. I thought Bubsy on Genesis was better! Plus the Bowser final fight you just gotta throw him into 3 mines. But the camera makes it hard to see where you can throw him. And you gotta grab his tail, while he's moving, and sometimes there's fire coming at you! I've been spinning him to throw him into the mine and a blue flame snipers me. Plus its easy to miss his tail and plow into his butt and take damage. You get lives and running outta em just sends you to the title screen. You get 4 lives each time you enter a save file. At times you can have a checkpoint like on a part by a boss in its own mini world. I got the minimum stars needed to get to Bowser and never plan on playing this again. I never got the magic caps either. This game is a blight and it ruined gaming by introducing 3D as a popular fad. All those good Genesis and NES series ended and now gaming is just FPS and bad JRPGs. Jump in a meat grinder Mario! I hope you get hemorrhoids from all the butt pounding and sliding you do!
Just beat Ecco The Dolphin on my 100 Game Gear games collection. Pretty good condensation of the Genesis ver. Unlimited tries and passwords each level makes it fair. Less levels and smaller play field than the Genesis ver but it works. Start is echolocation and in the last level its a nightmare. On the Game Gear the screen is cut so there's less available view. The life slowly drains unless you keep using sonar, which is bad as the Start button is not an action button and wears out the thumb. Pausing is rough as you cant change direction and gotta hold start until the sonar returns (Which takes like 2 seconds). Its a 3 min auto scrolling level and is harder to move with the smaller screen. Its easy to get crushed and you grind against the walls if you get too close. Plus enemy fighters come at you and never stop until you reach the end. wasting 1 (which takes 2 separate hits) only keeps it off screen until the next one comes. But there's only 1 on screen screen at a time. Plus its hard to hit them as the sonar has to be dead on to get em and if they are offscreen, they're invincible. But they can still hit you. After beating it, you get to the final boss and biting it on her don't send you back to The Machine. The Asterite is much easier as he don't zap you but you gotta bring his marble back through the caves with sonic blasts. The Vortex Queen is easier as you only gotta pop her eyes and charge her jaw 12 X. But there's aliens attacking and you slowly drain life unless you sonar. Good game, with good music and colorful graphic that I think the GBC would have issues with,. Glad I played it,
Just beat Gun-Nac on my NES Collection. Infinite continues and no checkpoints means you can do it but it takes time. I played it on novice as I'm not the best at Shmups. You get various power ups and a shop that lets you increase your turbo (fire rate) and weapons. You get a blast attack based on the power up you collect based on letters and a main weapon that powers up the more of the same number you grab. My fave ia number 3 the homing attack and the W blast that rains on the whole screen. The game is fair and was done by Compile who did M.U.S.H.A. and here you can get a wing power up that upgrades your weapon and lets you take an extra hit. In there you can collect cash that lets you buy at the shop between rounds and in the last level, gives you extra blasts. Also, using a blast makes you use the standard pea shooter while its in effect but once over it returns. Good music and 8 bit graphics and it plays well. I liked it even though I'm not super into Shmups. I don't hate em but I'm not super interested. But this was a good one and I'm glad I got it.
Just beat Thunder Force II on Genesis. What an ordeal. One hit kills that take out all your weapons, not just the one selected. Playing on Easy doesn't let you play the later levels. There's a level select option that only goes up to level 5 of 9. (and I hear if you use it, you don't go to the last level after 8 but restart at lv 5. (But I never tested it)). Good graphics. Good speedo. Good music. Controls well but the game autoscrolls so you can crash if not careful. You alternate between top down levels that don't control like Asteroids (So I liked that). and side scrollers. The top down are free roaming but there's barriers and they loop after going too far. In top down you gotta hit 4 bases and power ups between top down and side view don't interchange. But they do carry over to the next top down or side view one. You get 6 continues and pressing start is choosing no while A is yes on a game over. It can be beat in like under an hour but running outta lives makes you restart the level. I wanted to beat this and III before trying TF4. The later levels are pretty tough but can be beat eventually. I'm glad I beat it but have no plans to play it again. The final round I was able to beat it on my last guy (but had 3 continues left) where I got killed and cheesed the invincibility to go in the weak point and beat it. Also I had to pause on/off a lot to get through the later parts.
Just beat Shining Force 2 on Genesis. Took under a week and it was grand. Great story and music and graphics. Not too hard as getting beat jest sends you to the church and you keep all your exp and items collected. Good Strategy RPG like Fire Emblem but it lets you make mistakes and revive dead characters. Good plot twists and a few dark turns but it has a good light feel. Good ominous music and graphics too. Its darker and edgier than the 1st one and raises the stakes from it. I played Shining in the Darkness 1st, Then Force 1, then Gaiden Final Conflict, and now this. But I'm almost done Soul 1,.Its from 94 and that had some other great Genesis games like Castlevania, Contra and Sonic 3/Knuckles. Lots of little touches that add up like the characters talking having different sounds for text scrolling based on who says it. Good sequel to the 1st game and having played the midquel a lot of stuff was alluded to that I had seen before. The battle was sorta like in Robotech where you gotta maneuver your guys and place them in the right area for best effects while trying to keep em alive. Glad I was able to play this and it was worth the 45$ multicart.
Just beat The Smurfs on GameBoy. What an ordeal. It can be beat in like 20 mins but I spent almost 2 hours as you don't get continues and only get passwords for every 4 levels. You gotta go across 3 kinds of levels. platform, autoscrolling and bonus..The 4th level is a wall as you do it over a swamp and the Smurfs can't swim. So you gotta hang from vines from above. But the control is bad so your always falling off by going left of right instead of straight up. Also the running is bad as if you walk, its slow and if you run by holding B theres less control. I hated it in Mario World and its worse here. If you find all 5 starz you get a bonus level to get extra guys, hit points and leafs that can be collected to get extra guys. There's only 3 bossed but if you die on one, the hits from the last try are saved. But I don't think it carrys over after that and biting it 2x clears the damage. The dragon 2nd boss is annoying as you gotta hop on small platforms over a pit and throw bursting presents at it. With the bad controls its easy to bite it. Gargomel is the game boss and you beat him by having a bird drop acorns at you so it lands on 1 side of the see saw and jump on it to hit him. But if he touches you its instand kill. I think you play as Hefty Smurf and Smurfette is the last Smurf to save. Its not impossible but its annoying and has issues. Glad I beat it but I don't plan on playing this again. I got it for like 8$ at a Cash Converters that closed down years ago.
Just beat Shining Soul on GBA. Its sort of a prequel to Shining Force with cameos from bosses from the various games as bosses working for Dark Dragon. Looking back it don't really make sense but seems like a weird fanfic. It plays sorta like Zelda with moving around a dungeon and fighting in real time. You can't even pause to stop gameplay as the enemy's still attack while the menu screen is up. You can find and equip armor and weapons to boost stats and level up and give skill points to thing. I liked it and it wasn't too hard as if you bite it you just get booted outta the dungeon and lose the on hand cash you got (but can store cast at the village). Each dungeon has a boss and you can use items to heal by setting it to the B button. I enjoyed it and got it for like 24$. I plated as an Archer as I saw a vid of one fighting the game boss pretty well. Glad I played this. I saw it at a used shop for like 15$ years ago but didn't get it as I read it wasn't great. Glad I gave it a chance.
Just beat TMNT 3 Mutant Nightmare on DS. Pretty good game. A few things are iffy. Each turtle does the same 3 levels but some take different paths and have different levels in some cases. The play similar but each has its own moves and attacks. If you attack, you gotta wait for the animation to finish before you can move, which lead to me taking hits. Plus they move slow for ninja. But each one fights different and uses their weapons in different ways. Its mostly a beat em up/action game and there's some vehicle levels. It saves after each mission and there's no lives or continues so just keep trying until you beat it. Donatello's levels are rough as you gotta hack consoles and solve some bad puzzle in limited time or take damage that's pretty annoying. The touch screen isn't used much but you can call on other turtles. The bosses take some time and often a boss is just beating a buncha small guys but it works. I liked it and I'm glad I got this. Its even got the 4kids voices.
Just beat Shining Force The Sword Of Hajya on my Game Gear Collection. Good game. The 1st episode wasn't released in English except on Sega CD and probably won't be on Game Gear or collections. Good Shining Force game. 1 part has the force split in 2 and half the party faces 1 challenge and the other faces others. I liked how the maps weren't too big and you didn't spend several turns moving toward the foe like in other SF games. The English release roided up the magic so some spells at higher levels did heavy damage. It killed my guys often but I nuked em with it too. Good story although the Chapters are just numbered and not named. Its sort of a midquel side story set 20 years after the 1st game and this one is 2 months after the 1st Gaiden with some cameo's to 1st Shining Force on Genesis characters. 1 thing I hated was the characters named after other SF guys. I kept putting Chester the Archer next to the enemy thinking he was the Centaur from SF2 that I just beet a bit ago. Unlimited Continues and if you bite it you just regroup and try again with all EXP and Items. Some parts were tough but just trying over and over got through it. Glad I got this. Its a good one.
Just beat Alex Kidd in Shinobi World on my Master System collection. Its not long but can be tricky. You got a small katana or kunai that has little range and can get a few power ups. You start each area with 3 hits but can collect more hearts to get up to 6. Then collecting life up gives you extra guys. There's 4 levels, each with 3 areas and a boss at the end. Its a parody of Shinobi and controls pretty well but often I don't jump when I press it. You get 1 continue and if you use a continue, you gotta redo the whole level. Its not too hard but its easy to take hits. I had like 14 lives on the final boss and beat him on my last guy. Good music and nice colorful graphics and its got a chibi style. I liked it and it can be beat in like 20 mins if done right but beating it takes time to get good. Personally, I think I prefer the Master System games to the NES ones. This one is pretty good but its got some stress. Glad I did it.
So I beat Bleach DS 4th: Flame Bringer. Its pretty good. You play as one of several Bleach guys and follow a story where you fight a weird plant spider thing to save the world. You mostly fight Hollows and Soul Reapers but there's boss fights every now and then. Unlimited tries as you just continue or quit and it saves automatically. Good graphics and little use of the touch screen and there's voices from the show. Its only in Japanese and I had to import it but you don't need to know Japanese to enjoy it. Each character fights different and has different Bankai so some play better. I wasn't fond of Byakuya or Renji and liked Hitsugaya and Ichigo or Rukia the most. You can double jump, press up 2x to jump again. But if you attack and hit something, you can rejump. You got a Ki bar recharges with attacks and use it to super attack or Bankai. Alao are a few mid-fight questions I think gives you a bit of a boost if you get it right but it didn't impede me to guess. Its a bunch of little missions you beat in a few mins and move on and took me around 7 hours to beat. Glad I got it. It was pretty cool.
So I beat Dr. Mario on my NES Collection. Sim0le game. 20 levels of matching colored pills to colored virus's in a vertical or horizontal line of 4 or more. Its like Dr. Robotniks Mean Bean Machine but you only got 3 colors and it has to be a straight line. Also: Pills don't fall if you clear under em unless you cleared the pills connected to it. It drops a double sided pill often multicolored and you rotate em with A and B. After beating all 20 levels you just continue but its the same virus count so I consider it beat as I cleared all the levels. You can choose what level to play from the start on a slider. Good game. It gets into your head and when you close your eyes you see the pills and virus's. Glad I did it.
Just beat Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness on N64. I liked it. It takes a bit of getting used to but its actually pretty good. Most of the reviews said "Its good compared to Castlevania 64". Which is like saying "Mussolini is pretty good compared to Stalin". But this holds up. 3D platforming that isn't too bad. Some parts are annoying but not game breaking. If you bite it you just go back to the last save. The C buttons to handle Camera, sub weapon, close attack/environment interaction and I didn't really use Down C. A jumps and B attacks. Z is crouch but if you move and Z it slides. R shifts camera and L goes to Wolf mode (Fursona ) but that burns through Gems (Ammo ) until it runs out. There's a day/night cycle but it doesn't do much. Graphics look good and the music is nice. Good plot as its a prequel to C64 and that whole game is unlockable on here. The sub weapon can be upgraded by collecting the same one up to level 3 and there's power ups that boost your attack power. People thought Castlevania didn't do well on N64 like Mario did, but I think I like this more than Mario 64. It didn't annoy me as much and wasn't as harsh. You need a controller pak to save on here and there are other quests to unlock but I'm glad I got and beat this. Oh and you have access to items like food to heal or poison cures. You can buy em too but I never needed to do that.
Just beat Sonic Rush Adventure on DS. Pretty good Sonic game. The levels are decent and you have a boost bar that lets you boost for extra speed/power. Most of the game is traveling to islands across a sea in various vehicles and. There's a lot of touch screen stuff but it doesn't seem too bad. I got used to it. You Graphics and music are good. Lots of text and collecting materials in levels that can be used for making and upgrading vehicles. The chaos emeralds are gotten by finding this guy who looks like the son of Warhead from Vector Man and racing him. But some races are only beatable after upgrading the vehicle. You can restart and retry as much as you want with no penalty. The bosses an't too bad and if you run outta lives you just get booted outta the level and are given a chance to restart the level. Its not too bad although not as epic as the Genesis ones. But its a good game and I'm glad I got it.
Just beat Mega Man on my Game Gear Collection. Its a port of areas from a few of the NES games with a slightly smaller screen. Also you only face 4 bosses then its the castle with 3 more and no Boss Rush. Good graphics and music.Controls pretty well. He only fires 2 shots in a row but can charge and slide. There's E tanks and M Tanks and if you run outta guys you go back to the title screen and can put in a password to resume play. But after beating the 1st 4 bosses you gotta do the last 3 in 1 continue. Its not too hard and has some good things to it. Wily doesn't have a Super Machine after you face him once and goes straight to the Capsule that teleports. Its pretty good and looks much better than NES or GBC. The Game Gear had some good games. Glad I played this.
Just beat Mega Man X6 on my Gamecube X Collection. Everyone saiid its the worst of the X games. I can see why with some of the irritating bosses and that 1 guy who can;'t be harmed so you gotta rebound his attacks, Or the 1st Castle boss which you gotta Super jump, then up+Attack to get by. But its got great music that brought me back to da 90z.. The art and animation is pretty good and it has some good ideas. If you beat a boss it makes certain other levels have a negative effect depending on who you beat. Sorta like X1. But these are always bad and don't open up new areas. There's glitches to exploit that make the game easier like using the Shield and Dash/Attacking repeatedly to get past invincibility frames and take guys out fast. Or just using either to do either. After unlocking Zero you can use him in any level and choose who to use, X, Zero, or any armor X. Some parts are pretty hard but there's infinite continues and using 1 doesn't even make you go back from your last checkpoint. There's even a trick to use Down+Buster with Zero on a breakable platform to become invincible until you use a special move or leave the area (Which makes the final boss easy). You can get a super jump and cling to the ceiling but it often gets in the way by doing it by mistake. As is the Up+Attack to use a dash/slash which often gets me hit. It may be the worst X game, but its not awful.Sorta like Robotech Season 2 not being as great as Season 1 and 3. Some parts are an ordeal but its not impossible. Plus I think my D Pad might be screwy as it kept oing right from the item select and wasting my SubTanks by mistake. Oh and you get poser ups by rescuing Reploids and can equip them after collecting enough Dark Souls. These are sorta like the Cyber Elves in MM Zero. Glad I played this.
Just beat Forgotten Worlds on my Master System Collection.Pretty cool game. You play as totally not Arnold Schwarzenegger who flies around with an autofire cannon and you have free movement. You change direction by buttons (1 goes clockwise, the other the other) and blow enemy's apart. You can get money by wasting em and can buy upgrades and new weapons. Choosing the right weapon for the right boss is key. Plus you can get a flight stone and change your speed. But getting it again resets it. The game can be beat in like 20 mins and you don't got continues but can but extra guys. You get a life bar and there's armor that protects you from a buncha hits and health ups in stores and hidden. They took out a few levels and bosses from the Arcade/Genesis ver but gave us a big crab to fight in an undersea level. The game isn't too hard but takes some getting used to. Good graphic and music for the Master System. Glad I played this.
Just beat Mario Party DS in Story Mode. You gotta win 5 maps by getting the most stars. If tied for stars, Coins are counted. Standard Mario Party stuff. Roll dice, go around the board, get stars, win Mini Games. Its pretty easy and simple but I enjoyed it. Good music graphics and voices. They changed the voices since MP1 so it was kinda weird. After beating a map you face a boss that's not too tough. Some Mini Games are luck based and others the computer always wins at. But most are fair.The touch screen ones were kinda iffy with my screwy screen. I liked this one and I'm glad I played it. It saves after every round and most games only last 10 turns. I never really lost in here so I'm not sure what happens when you do.
Just beat Splatterhouse 1 on my TG16 collection. Its pretty good. I used the Japanese version and it was fun. Simple, Not too long, Not too hard. You get 5 continues and can get extra guys with points. It plays sorta like Altered Beast on a hard 2D side scrolling thing but has minor branching paths. The music and look of the game is pure gooey gory 80s horror. Like how Castlevania is a homage to 20s-60s horror. It takes a bit of getting used to with knowing where to stand and how to fight. Also you move slow and are a big target. But its not too annoying and with practice can be beat. I beat Splatter house 2 1st, then 3 and finally 1. Sorta like how I saw DBZ 1st, then GT and finally DB. It was easier to to the slide move in here than in 2 by holding diagonally down after a Jump and hitting Attack at the right time. I hear there's a level select code but I never used it. Glad I played this.
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