Games Acquired 2026

[pierrot]

I quite like the Dreamcast one, but most people say the original is way better, so I am looking forward to playing it when I get around to it.

Yeah? 0_o
I don't think I understand that. I feel like most of my love for Die Hard Arcade is down to nostalgia, and always stopping to play whenever I saw the arcade cabinet as a kid. I would personally say that Dynamite Deka 2 is way better than Die Hard Arcade, nostalgia aside. The sequel is just bonkers in the best way.

[Reprise]

I quite like the Dreamcast one, but most people say the original is way better, so I am looking forward to playing it when I get around to it.

Yeah? 0_o
I don't think I understand that. I feel like most of my love for Die Hard Arcade is down to nostalgia, and always stopping to play whenever I saw the arcade cabinet as a kid. I would personally say that Dynamite Deka 2 is way better than Die Hard Arcade, nostalgia aside. The sequel is just bonkers in the best way.

Oh really? It's just what I had read in online discussions. Maybe it is a nostalgia thing. Maybe it's the very loose use of the Die Hard licence too Although the Japanese version doesn't have that, so I will have to do without.

Speaking of the Dreamcast one, I did love playing through it when I was much younger. I played it a few times with a friend too and it's just crazy fun in co-op. I had a CD-R burn of it, but I managed to pick up a real copy a couple of years back.

[Reprise]

The two other Saturn games I picked up arrived. Daytona USA Circuit Edition and Cyberbots. I have always wanted to try the Japanese Circuit Edition. I hear they fixed a lot of purists' complaints about the Western release.



January 2026:
Pokemon Pinball (Game Boy Color)
Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon (Game Boy Advance)
The Punisher (Xbox)
Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude (Xbox)
Scrapland (Xbox)
Blur (Xbox 360)
Street Fighter III: Double Impact (Dreamcast)
Armed and Dangerous (Xbox)
Call of Duty 2: Big Red One (Xbox)
Ridge Racer 3D (3DS)
Final Fantasy VII: Remake Intergrade (Switch 2)
Sensible Soccer 2006 (Xbox)
Dynamite Deka (Saturn)
X-Men vs Street Fighter (Saturn)
Daytona USA: Circuit Edition (Saturn)
Cyberbots (Saturn)

[ElkinFencer10]

Acquired in 2026 so far - 6 Games; 6 physical, 0 digital
(physical is in regular font, digital is in italics)

January (6 Games Acquired; 6 physical, 0 digital)

Choo-Choo Charles (PS5)
Star Ocean: First Departure R (Switch)
Cronos: The New Dawn (Switch 2)
Neverwinter Nights 2 (Switch)
Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon (Switch 2)
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade (Switch 2)

New for January 14-29
Neverwinter Nights 2 (Switch)
Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon (Switch 2)
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade (Switch 2)

[pierrot]

Oh really? It's just what I had read in online discussions. Maybe it is a nostalgia thing. Maybe it's the very loose use of the Die Hard licence too Although the Japanese version doesn't have that, so I will have to do without.

Speaking of the Dreamcast one, I did love playing through it when I was much younger. I played it a few times with a friend too and it's just crazy fun in co-op. I had a CD-R burn of it, but I managed to pick up a real copy a couple of years back.

I believe you--I don't trawl that much of the internets, really--I'm just kind of shocked to hear it. Everything in the Japanese version is still pretty overtly Die Hard even without the licensing, though. I don't think you need to worry much about that. Also true that maybe people who are huge fans of Die Hard find the first game more appealing for that reason.

Nothing quite like blasting a giant octopus with harpoon guns, though, that's for sure. Die Hard Arcade doesn't do that.

The two other Saturn games I picked up arrived. Daytona USA Circuit Edition and Cyberbots. I have always wanted to try the Japanese Circuit Edition. I hear they fixed a lot of purists' complaints about the Western release.

The hits keep coming! I absolutely love Cyberbots. It's one of my favorite fighting games ever. The development team obviously had a blast making it. It's so dumb.
I've never really played much of the Western version of Circuit Edition, but what I've played of the Japanese version makes me think of Dreamcast Daytona, in that it's not really a port of the arcade game.
What are the criticisms of the Western release?

[Reprise]

The hits keep coming! I absolutely love Cyberbots. It's one of my favorite fighting games ever. The development team obviously had a blast making it. It's so dumb.
I've never really played much of the Western version of Circuit Edition, but what I've played of the Japanese version makes me think of Dreamcast Daytona, in that it's not really a port of the arcade game.
What are the criticisms of the Western release?

I played some Cyberbots yesterday and you can say that again! My son was like "what the hell is this?" the girl with the pink giant octopus robot thing is mental.

Regarding Daytona, obviously the initial release was a port of the arcade version and they more or less nailed the look and feel of the arcade original, but it was criticised for having really choppy graphics, terrible draw distance and lack of content. It was rushed to meet the console's launch window if I remember correctly. So they updated it later with the Championship Circuit Edition, which used a different engine (based on the Sega Rally engine) and added new tracks, multiplayer and improved the framerate and draw distance issues. The critics mostly said it was an improvement, but fans of the original felt they changed the look and feel of the game too much, to the point where it didn't feel like Daytona anymore. Plus they changed the music, which is basically blasphemy

The Japanese version of Circuit Edition came out a couple of months after the Western release and so they put the original music back in and adjusted the handling to feel more like the arcade original. Allegedly, anyways. I haven't played the arcade game since I was a kid and I haven't even played the original Saturn port since I was in my teens.

[alienjesus]

January:
Little Samson NES
Final Fantasy VII Remake: Intergrade PS5
Tetris Attack Game Boy
Donkey Kong Land Game Boy
Kid Dracula Game Boy
Journey to Silius NES
Yoshi's Cookie Game Boy
Pokemon X 3DS
Parachute Game & Watch
Dispatch Switch 2 eshop
Total: 10 games

A pretty big month for new purchases this month. Starting with the big one - Little Samson for NES. Whilst it's not cheap per se, the PAL copy of this is substantially more affordable than the North American counterpart, and I'm excited to play it. I also picked up the PAL version of Journey to Silius for NES as well, which is one of the pricier good titles for the system this side of the pond. Neither game got a UK release - Little Samson came to me from Finland, and Silius from Australia - but like most games of the era, they're entirely in English nonetheless.

Kid Dracula was a replacement of sorts - I had a Japanese copy of Boku No Dracula-Kun, but I upgraded to the PAL version in English. I also picked up a few cheaper Game Boy games around the same time that I needed for the collection. I haven't bought any Game Boy games in a while so I wanted to give it a bit of focus.

Other than that, I also picked up another Game & Watch - I'm officially collecting these now, albeit slowly because they aren't cheap. Parachute is my 4th game for the system (out of 63 total), and my first Wide Screen game. This is the subset I think I'm going to focus on first, as they're some of the cheaper entries, with one big exception in Egg, which is probably the priciest of the whole set. Still, I'll get the other 9 then expand to something else. I think focusing each subset at a time makes it feel more manageable!

Pokemon X was an opportunity purchase from a Discord I'm on - it was one of only 3 mainline Pokémon games I needed and someone was selling it for a good price. Just Ruby and Let's Go Pikachu left to finish the set.

Finally, Dispatch was bought with some eshop vouchers a buddy got me for my birthday. It looks good, so I'm looking forward to playing it soon.

[Note]

I added Ys: The Ark of Napishtim for the Sony Playstation 2 this afternoon!

Starting last year, I have a yearly tradition of buying a game for myself on my Birthday. This year, I chose Ys: The Ark of Napishtim for the PS2. I tried to get into the early Ys games, but I could not get past the bump style game play. But, the modern Ys games look incredibly, so I have heard that this PS2 version is a great introduction into the series. So, after many years of searching and never finding, I figured now would be a perfect time to finally give this one a go.

Nice pick up, Markies! I played through Ys Book I & II via emulation and really enjoyed it. I've been thinking about adding this game as well, so I'll be curious to hear your thoughts on it whenever you get to it.

[Note]

Also, congrats on the Little Samson pick up, AJ! That is a big one for sure. I've heard it was a really fun game, so I hope you enjoy going through it.

And great to see some Saturn stuff posted recently. I'm curious to try Cyberbots after playing Armored Warriors on the Capcom Belt Action collection for the Switch and really liking it.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Little Samson! Kid Dracula!

Those are some heavy hitters, @AJ. Nice pick ups!