Games Beaten 2015

[Sarge]

I used to not like Contra a lot. It's one of my favorite games ever now. Probably goes hand-in-hand with actually getting good at it. Haven't tried for a no-death run in a while, though. Record still stands at one death.

At least I'm to the point where I can consistently beat Super C without continues. I consider that one to be a bit tougher.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Original Contra is still my favorite run 'n' gun ever. And yeah, the last level is easy if you enter it with a spread gun and take it slow. Love the ambiance of that final stage. Amazing OST all-around, too.

Another NES game down (I'm beginning to see how Bone beats so many games).

It's even easier when you starting throwing 2nd gen and arcade games into the mix. Which brings me to.....

First 50:

1. Grandia (PlayStation)
2. Jungle Hunt (Xbox - Taito Legends)
3. Jungle Hunt (Atari 2600)
4. Jungle Hunt (Plug & Play - ColecoVision Flashback)
5. Donkey Kong (Atari 2600)
6. Donkey Kong (Intellivision)
7. Donkey Kong (ColecoVision)
8. Bubble Bobble (NES)
9. Side Arms: Hyper Dyne (PSP - Capcom Classics Collection Remixed)
10. 1941: Counter Attack (PSP - Capcom Classics Collection Remixed)
11. Ys: The Ark of Napishtim (PSP)
12. The Ninja Kids (Xbox - Taito Legends)
13. Neutopia (TurboGrafx-16)
14. Golden Axe Warrior (Xbox 360 - Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection)
15. Phantasy Star Online Ver. 2 (Dreamcast)
16. Growl (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
17. Arabian Magic (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
18. Dungeon Magic (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
19. Gekirindan (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
20. Ys II (Saturn - Falcom Classics II)
21. Darius Gaiden (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
22. G Darius (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
23. Giana Sisters DS (DS)
24. RayStorm (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
25. Mr. Do! (ColecoVision)
26. Beauty & the Beast (Intellivision)
27. Boxing (PlayStation 2 - Activision Anthology)
28. Crystalis (NES)
29. Dragon Warrior (NES)
30. Faxanadu (NES)
31. Tombs & Treasure (NES)
32. Kirby's Dream Land (Game Boy)
33. Kirby's Adventure (NES)
34. Kirby Super Star (SNES)
35. Hoshi no Kirby 64 (Nintendo 64)
36. Kirby: Triple Deluxe (3DS)
37. Dig Dug (Wii - Namco Museum Megamix)
38. Phoenix (Xbox - Taito Legends)
39. Phoenix (Atari 2600)
40. Pleiads (Xbox - Tecmo Classic Arcade)
41. Kangaroo (Atari 2600)
42. Final Fantasy Adventure (Game Boy)
43. Gorf (Atari 2600)
44. Richard Scarry's Huckle and Lowly's Busiest Day Ever (Pico)
45. Mickey's Blast Into the Past (Pico)
46. Secret of Mana (SNES)
47. Psycho Soldier (PSP - SNK Arcade Classics 0)
48. Genshi-Tou 1930's (PSP - SNK Arcade Classics 0)
49. Datsugoku: Prisoners of War (PSP - SNK Arcade Classics 0)
50. SAR: Search and Rescue (PSP - SNK Arcade Classics 0)

51. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)
52. Tic-Tac-Toe / Shooting Gallery / Doodle / Quadra-Doodle (Channel F)
53. Robot War / Torpedo Alley (Channel F)
54. Pinball Challenge (Channel F)
55. Elevator Action (Xbox - Taito Legends)
56. Elevator Action II (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
57. Altered Beast (Xbox 360 - Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection)

Elevator Action II

I wasn't really aware of Elevator Action's sequels until I read the Hardcore Gaming 101 article immediately after finishing the first game. Turns out it's on Taito Legends 2 - score! It's worth noting that there's also one proper console port - for the Sega Saturn. It's incredibly expensive. In fact on eBay right now you can get the arcade PCB for less than the price of the Saturn version. That's hilarious.

Elevator Action II was released a whopping 11 years after the first game. So while the graphics are vastly improved the game is similar conceptually. "Open the red doors!" remains the mission here, though this time they apparently contain bombs rather than top secret documents.

There are three characters to choose from. Edie is the best. Not only is she a girl, but her guns fires incredibly quickly and she's equipped with the best special weapon. Elevator Action II moves much quicker than its predecessor. Characters can run with a double-tap and there's the standard "go go go!" message if you start to lollygag. I honestly have no idea if the bombs will blow up eventually if not defused in time, and I didn't want to find out.

As this was released originally in '94, this time around there are actually distinct non-randomized stages, "boss battles" (generally just a flood of bad guys, similar to Commando), and an ending. The stages are no longer purely vertical, as they wrap all around in many directions. Enemies now take more than one hit to kill and the playable characters have lifebars as well. Ammo and special weapons are limited, so firing away willy nilly is a bad idea. The game's levels all look similar - the setting appears to be a futuristic wasteland - though there are some nice action sequences thrown into the mix. For instance, partway through the first stage the building you're traversing explodes! And the game ends with a Metroid-esque race to the top before an atomic weapon activates.

EAII has a tendency to occasionally get a bit too chaotic for my tastes. The camera is zoomed way out and sometimes it's tough to see exactly what's happening amid the explosions and gunfire and ascending/descending lifts. Still, the game isn't incredibly challenging. After a couple of run-throughs I felt like I had a good handle on the stage design and Edie's rapid gunfire was effective in mowing down the vast majority of enemies quickly.

Highly recommended, along with the first game.

Altered Beast

Let me start by saying that this is actually the arcade version. Both the arcade original and Genesis port are emulated on Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection, though some of the Genesis port must be played first to unlock the arcade game. I never liked having to play a later variation first to access the arcade original, but whatever.

Speaking again of Hardcore Gaming 101, they revised their Altered Beast article about a year ago but from what I recall it once read "Altered Beast is a terrible game that's also a classic." I have similar thoughts.

Perhaps the best thing about Beast is the aesthetics. This is pure 80s swords & sorcery schlock. Both the beast designs and enemies are delightfully demented. And the stage settings are vaguely medieval, creepy, and otherworldly. The highlight may be the bosses though. I'll never forget the first time I played the actual arcade cab (at a Rich's store) and encountered Boss #1 - a hulking brown massive foe that tears off its heads and sends them sailing into the air. Scary stuff.

For those who have yet to experience the game, here's a basic rundown. It's a side-scrolling beat 'em up where you play as a man (initially) who has been risen from the dead by Zeus to rescue Athena (the "real" one, not the SNK one) from the underworld. The game crawls along pretty slowly. Power-ups are obtained by defeating white wolves. After several are gathered the man transforms into a beast. The biggest issue is that playing with the regular dude kinda sucks. He's clumsy and awkward, as are his combat moves. For instance, pressing down and kick makes him kick up into the air. It's useful in taking out certain enemies, but feels awkward every time. The beasts, on the other hand, are awesome! There are several different forms, each with unique abilities. Some can fly, some can shoot projectiles. It'll make you wish the whole game could be played in beast form. Oh, and missing a transformation power-up is infuriating, as the levels loop endlessly until they're all obtained and you'll have to wait for another.

Summation: a clunky game, but worth checking out. It's historically significant, as it was eventually a Genesis launch title (which was one of the most "arcade-perfect" games around). It also has a bit of an inexplicable cult following: I have a real-life friend who cites this as his favorite game ever! So yeah, arcade or Genesis. Take your pick. But avoid the 8-bit ports like the plague.

[Xeogred]

Powerrrrrrd UP

Altered Beast is hilarious. Played the Genesis one a lot growing up. It's pretty much terrible but I love it.

[wclem]

1. Resident Evil 4 (PS3) Digital
2. Resident Evil 6 (PS3) Disc Version
3. Dying Light (PS4) Disc Version
4. Red Dead Redemption (PS3) Disc Version (Replay)
5. Batman Arkham City (PS3) Disc Version
6. The Order (PS4) Disc Version
7. Valiant Hearts (PS4) Digital Version
8. DMC Definitive (PS4) Disc Version
9. Resident Evil Revelations 2 (PS4) Disc Version
10. God of War - Ghost of Sparta (PS3) PSP digital port
11. God of War - Chains of Olympus (PS3) PSP digital port
12. Max Payne 3 - PC

This game has a great story and the gameplay is decent. Wonder if there is gonna be a 4. Rockstar just makes incredible games. The only thing I noticed was that it seems all the DLC if for multiplayer. I may be wrong but it all said multiplayer maps. Odd they would not add some more story.

[dogman91]

Mega Man 1 on the NES.

This is probably one of hardest games I ever played. Even harder than the Konami games I played (Castlevania and Contra). Considering I had to beat this with unlimited continues, I can only imagine how hard it will be without using continues. Especially with... (potential spoilers:)

having died over and over at the Wily stage(s). Facing all those robot masters in a row, and THEN fighting the two forms of Wily without any health drops in between? Too cruel.

At first I was super frustrated with this game. Then I grew into it as I started to memorize everything and get the necessary reflexes for the levels. I appreciate it for what it is now. Pretty good game; I'm not in love with it like other people, though. I swear there are sections where you HAVE to get hit.

Music is catchy as hell.

BTW, for the ice stage... make use of the "M" powerup (the one that shoots out platforms) liberally. Don't even bother trying to get on to the "moving platform enemies" that shoot out projectiles; you glitch through them and die far too often and unpredictably.

[Sarge]

The first Mega Man is where all the groundwork is laid. It's a good game, but you can tell the balance isn't quite there yet. MM2 is when the series really took off, and it also solidifies some of the engine quirks in the first game.

That gauntlet is indeed brutal. I played it the other day, though, and strangely had a surprisingly easy time with it. No idea how that happened, but there ya go. I think figuring out Wily's pattern at the end a bit better helped, too. And I didn't abuse the "pause" trick, either!

[Key-Glyph]

1. Pokémon SoulSilver (DS)
2. Sushi Academy (DS)
3. Alcahest (SFC)
4. Comix Zone (GEN)
5. Lost Vikings (GEN)
6. Beautiful Katamari (360)
7. Toejam & Earl (GEN)*
8. Final Fantasy Legend III (GB)
9. Toejam & Earl [2-player] (GEN)*
10. Mass Effect 1 (360)*
11. Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (N64)

12. Pokémon Diamond (DS)*

Here's some stuff about my organizational compulsions and actual playthrough that will be very boring for most (if not all) of you:

This is technically not a replay, but since I've beaten Platinum once and Pearl twice, for all intents and purposes I've already beaten this game.

So why the heck did I buy Pokémon Diamond when I've already got Pearl and Platinum? Redundant storage, basically, motivated by compatibility issues. I won't go into the true depths of my insanity here, but Platinum had been my main cart, with a few hundred shiny captures in there. That was all well and good, but when I recently downloaded My Pokémon Ranch and realized I kind of loved watching my shinies run around on a farm (whatever don't judge me ), I found out that Platinum was not compatible with it.

I took the opportunity to organize my collection across a few carts, since transferring everybody over to Pearl would have exhausted all my storage space. Half my shinies are now linked with Diamond, half with Pearl, and all of those are currently living in my Wii. In the case of a Wii catastrophe, I also took one shiny of each species and put them in my HeartGold cartridge for redundancy (and also because it's my favorite Pokémon game).

Yup.

So why the heck did I play through Pokémon Diamond, then? Well, you need to in order to get the Poké Radar, which is what I use to find my shinies. But I also wanted to try something I'd never done before: beat the game with only one battling pokémon.

I thought this was going to be difficult, but it was surprisingly easy. I went with Turtwig because Torterra rules, and watched his strength against ground moves and beastly attack stat own everything in his path. I barely had to use potions in actual battles at any time. I realize a lot of the ease was due to this starter choice, though. If I'd chosen Chimchar I know that life would have been very difficult for us, what with all this Earthquake-spamming I saw among the Elite Four who were desperately trying to take out my fantastically overpowered war turtle.

Speaking of, I have to tell you, I felt a legit surge of joy when Turt took down the champion's Milotic with a critical hit in the second turn. This champion has always been the hardest for me, and is infamous among players for being difficult. Approaching the battle makes me nervous. This time I was never at a disadvantage, and I was only using one pokémon! Seriously, this kinda blew my mind.

As a general rule I've always filled up my parties to the maximum and kept everyone evenly-leveled. Now I think I've been doing it wrong all these years!

And here's the short review/recommend portion:

The funny thing about the Diamond/Pearl/Platinum series is that... well, they're kinda bland. Somehow they don't have the personality of most of the other titles, and that includes past and future. Did I enjoy playing through again? In a way, yes, because it took me back to when I first played the game, which was a happy time. I also think the dialog in this game is some of the best in the Pokémon franchise -- it's surprisingly funny, in my opinion, and is loaded with enough natural English colloquialisms and idioms that it comes to life in a colorful way. This was a pretty big departure from what came before, if memory serves.

But would I have replayed it if I weren't in it for the shinies? Probably not. I've grown to like the world of Sinnoh because of the post-game stuff I engage in and not because of the main game itself -- kind of like learning to love a town just because you've lived there so long.

If you are looking to start with a Pokémon game, it shouldn't be this one. But if you've played a bunch and are just looking for the same formula again, it won't disappoint you in that regard.

* = replay

[marurun]

So where should you start if you're curious about Pokemon and want the best experience?

[Key-Glyph]

So where should you start if you're curious about Pokemon and want the best experience?

I think mileage probably varies widely on this one.

My personal recommendation is always HeartGold/SoulSilver. In my opinion the original Gold/Silver (the second gen games) had the best worldmap, the best music, and the best set of new pokémon added to the additional 151. In the remake they added a lot of touches that I think built a very successful world and atmosphere, like brief full-screen artwork renderings of the environments you're walking into and letting the first pokémon in your party walk behind your character. It's the perfect marriage between the Game Boy days and what was then the current-day stuff, and it hit all the right notes for me. You can feel that it's a sincere homage to the original, and I enjoy it immensely every time I play through it.

That said, you won't be able to battle or trade with anyone over wi-fi because those servers are gone, which is a huge problem for a lot of players.

I predict other folks will recommend X/Y. That was definitely the most fun I've had with a pokémon game since HG/SS -- I didn't care for Black/White at all -- and there are the huge perks of being able to customize your trainer character, connect with an active online community, and so on. You can also hand-feed your pokémon and pat them when they do well in battle. The game is set in a France-esque region, which was cool and different, but I missed the Japanese flavor of HG/SS. That's just me, though.

I haven't played the Sapphire/Ruby remakes, so I can't speak to those beyond the footage I saw on YouTube of someone's playthrough, which did look seriously fun.

[darsparx]

So where should you start if you're curious about Pokemon and want the best experience?

To be honest I want to say yellow, it's not as feature packed as the newer titles or even have as many pokemon to get as the newer ones but honestly it's great for what it is(I had all intentions of finally sitting down and beating that one this year too but I need to track down another copy or find where the heck mine went). I really don't think there's a bad starting point main series wise...but yellow is great even for being the technical third game(combo of red and blue, but sorta played from ash's perspective). The odd thing though it seems like from what I've heard they've brought back the pokemon following you in more recent titles which is the big reason I loved yellow, it was great having pikachu follow you around. After that silver/gold/crystal isn't a bad idea either(and sadly I got the all three starters save hack to work on that one...what can I say I love the idea of having all three on it...)