Partridge Senpai's 2021 Beaten Games:Previously:
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021* indicates a repeat
1.
Dandy Dungeon: The Legend of Brave Yamada (Switch)
2.
Dandy Dungeon 2: The Phantom Bride (Switch)
3.
Mon Amor (Switch)
4.
Terraria (PC)
5.
Puppeteer (PS3) *
6.
Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon (PS1)
7.
Project Altered Beast (PS2)
8.
Devil Summoner II: Soul Hackers (Saturn)
9.
Kirby Star Allies: Heroes in Another Dimension (Switch)
10.
Kirby's Dream Land 2 (GB)
11.
Tales of Vesperia (PS3) *
12.
Art Style: BOXLIFE (DSi)
13.
Super Robot Wars F (Saturn)
14.
Super Robot Wars F Final (Saturn)
15.
Super Robot Wars 64 (N64)
16.
Knight Gundam Monogatari (SFC)
17.
Knight Gundam Monogatari 2 (SFC)
18.
Mega Man Legends 2 (PSP)
19.
Mighty No. 9 (PC)
20. Mega Man Xtreme (GBC)
This was one of the last things on my list of yet unplayed Mega Man games, and so I set about finally getting to it. Given what I’d heard about how it controls, I really didn’t particularly want to play it on real hardware, so I ended up emulating the English version and playing it with an Xbone gamepad instead of playing a Japanese copy on real hardware. It took me about 4 hours to get the real ending with fairly light save state use.
Xtreme is effectively the handheld version of the first couple Mega Man X games, but it has handheld versions of a jumble of stages, and to get around the fact that story-wise this makes no sense, they make a story here based around going into a computer database to set right all of the memory data of past battles that are being corrupted by the bad guys. The story is ultimately fine, but it’s really not why we’re here, as is usual for the older MMX games (though this was actually made close to the year 2000, so closer to when MMX7 was released than 1 and 2, but just ignore that bit :b).
The gameplay is pretty straightforwardly handheld ports of half of Mega Man X 1 and 2. Technically you have 3 difficulty modes of Normal, Hard, and XTREME (because of course you do), but all that really changes is how many of the game’s 8 stages you do as well for whether or not you fight the real final boss (Normal is first 4 stages, Hard is 2nd 4, and Xtreme is all 4 + the real final boss at the end). Now there aren’t much in the way of new stages, but what is here are pretty darn competent versions of levels from X 1 and 2 (as well as a Sigma stage from each game). Some of the more technically difficult parts of them have been cut out or shortened down, but it’s still a really impressive version of those stages. The boss fights have been changed a bit too to work better with a smaller screen, and there are even just about all the bonus X parts from both X1 and 2 to find hidden more or less where they always were. The only real design complaint I have is that with only two buttons and a D-pad, you’re forced to use double-tap to dash, which is less than ideal in the harder wall climbing sections.
Graphically, this is a REALLY impressive looking GBC game, and it’s even more wild that it’s also a black-cart game that’d also work on a normal GB. Granted I don’t have an original GB to test it with, games like this *really* show off the differences in power between the GBC and its older brother and just the kind of stuff the little colorful 8-bit machine was capable of. The music is basically all 8-bit versions of tracks from the represented games. That’s a pretty tall order for the GBC’s sound chip, and it does its best. It’s hardly a substitute for the real thing, but it’s ultimately fine.
Verdict: Recommended. I thought this game would end up being a lot rougher than it actually is. Now sure, part of how much I enjoyed it may be down to the hardware and controller I played it with, but even still, this is a remarkably well put together game considering how rough the 8-bit portable version of the early MMX games would be expected to be. Well worth playing if you’re a Mega Man fan and looking to change things up a bit~.
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21. Mega Man Xtreme 2 (GBC)
After completing Xtreme 1, I of course immediately fired up its sequel, as it was basically the last traditional-style Mega Man game I hadn’t yet beaten that I had any interest in playing. Now, this being a proper GBC-exclusive game, not a black cart game like its predecessor, I expected something at the very least a bit flashier, if not ultimately more of the same. While perhaps not quite what I expected, I certainly got something ambitious, that’s for sure ^^;. It took me about 6 hours to get the best ending with pretty gratuitous save state use, playing the English version on an emulator with an Xbone pad.
The story is once again more or less an excuse to remake a bunch of levels from X 1, 2, and 3, but with a bit more effort put into it this time. X, Zero, and confusingly enough, some crew from the later X games as well go to a mysterious island to learn who has been stealing reploids souls, and they end up having to do battle against the island’s strange inhabitants. It does its job just fine to set up the story as well as give the game excuses to have a lot more original levels and bosses that aren’t from any of the adapted games.
For anyone who played the first Xtreme, the setup of this game will likely be very familiar. You once again have 3 routes, with the first two each having half of the bosses, and the 3rd one (unlocked after beating the first two) has all 8 of them as well as the real final boss to fight. However, instead of just differently named difficulties like the last game, now it’s X mode and Zero mode, and then Xtreme mode where you can swap between them whenever a lot like Mega Man X3 does. However, this game is just as much a victim of its own ambition as it is just poorly designed.
The adapted levels are ones left over and not yet adapted in Xtreme 1, and its pretty clear that all the best ones had already been taken. As far as both the bosses and the stages go, they feel far more poorly adapted than the previous game’s (including one of the worst bike stages in the franchise), especially ones Zero has to fight who were never intended to be fought with him. What takes the cake though are the original levels and bosses. This is up there with the other worst MM games in just thinking “good Mega Man levels are hard” and running from there. They are unfair, difficult, and grueling trials of memory and attrition, and the true final boss is easily one of the worst bosses in the whole franchise.
As far as the presentation goes, this is once again really flexing just what the GBC was capable of. The animations especially look really impressive in just how many frames they get for the player characters. The music is also once again not really anything to write home about, as while its doing its best to adapt the tracks from the games its adapting, the GBC sound chip can only do so much. They’re noble attempts, but I’d stick with the original versions myself.
Verdict: Not Recommended. This is easily one of the worst traditional Mega Man games ever made. While it isn’t the absolute bottom of the pile of the ones I’ve played, it’s very very close at either #2 or #3. Even if you’re a big Mega Man fan, this is a game where it’s pretty darn hard to get much fun out of it, and you’re likely better off avoiding it entirely.
I identify everyone via avatar, so if you change your avatar, I genuinely might completely forget who you are. -- Me
