Games Beaten 2012

[Flake]

1/2 Cannon Spike (DC)
1/9 Mega Man X4 (GCN)
1/17 Psycho Soldier (PSN)
1/22 Warhammer 40,000: Dark Crusade (PC)
1/28 Police 911 2 (Arcade)
2/7 Soul Calibur V (PS3)
2/26 Metal Gear Solid 2: HD Edition (PS3)
3/7 Street Fighter X Tekken (PS3)
3/15 Megaman 8 (SAT

When I first played Megaman 8 back in '99, I hated it. Passionately so. It was too different from Megaman 1-6 and I was not willing to forgive it this despite the allowances I made (and have always made) for Megaman 7.

For some reason, Megaman 8 has become a passion of mine in the last few years. I make a point of beating it at least once a year and I have every version of it released here in the states aside from the Xbox release. It's weird but I think Megaman 8 has aged really well - it might be a better game now than it was then.

[ksloth]

March 2012 - Y's 1.

[emwearz]

All Games:

Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror - Remastered - iOS
Tiki Towers 2 - iOS
inFAMOUS - PS3
The Blackwell Legacy - PC
Blackwell Unbound - PC
The Blackwell Convergence - PC
Blackwell Deception - PC
The Secret of Grisly Manor - iOS
Duke Nukem Forever - The Doctor Who Cloned Me - PC
Skate 3 - 360
Gears of War 3 - 360
The Darkness II - PC
Fallout: New Vegas - PC

Total for 2012: 14

DLC Quest - PC
A fun little indie game on Desura that is very simple (you can not actually die) that only lasts half an hour or so that does nothing but poke fun and take the piss out of the current state of the video game market involving DLC.

[dsheinem]

Golden Axe Warrior - SMS
Current - iOS
Golden Axe: The Duel - Saturn
Golden Axe - Genesis
Capcom Fighting Evolution - PS2
Metal Slug XX - PSP
Ketsui: Death Label - NDS
DoDonPachi: Blissful Death - iOS
Shock Troopers: 2nd Squad - Arcade (MAME)
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary -360
The Simpsons Arcade Game - PS3
Soul Edge - PS1
HamsterBall - PS3
BlazBlu: Continuum Shift Extend - Vita
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3- Vita
Uncharted: Golden Abyss - Vita
Ys 1 - PSP
Journey - PS3
X-Men vs. Street Fighter - Arcade (MAME)
Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter - Arcade (MAME)
Street Fighter X Tekken - PS3
Mass Effect 3 - 360 *new*
Mass Effect 3: From Ashes - 360 *new*

TOTAL: 23

2011 Games Beaten
2010 Games Beaten

Mass Effect 3 really took a long time for me to warm up to it -the first 2/3 of the game really felt very much like "been there, done that" following my playthrough of ME2 last year, and it wasn't until the last 10 hours that the game really became something more than a "bunch of new ME2 missions" and instead coalesced into something quite compelling and fun. The ending cutscene certainly deserves some of the controversy it is getting, but overall the last 3-4 hours really felt like a well-written and well-deserved finale to the series. The amount of work represented here is quite impressive, and I would have no hesitation recommending it to anyone who even slightly enjoyed the previous two games.

"From Ashes" is a relatively short DLC mission (I almost feel bad counting it, but usually Bioware's DLC items clock in at a few hours and I do count them, so...), but it absolutely adds a LOT to the game itself. I think that it is no coincidence that the game became markedly more intriguing for me once I completed this DLC (which can be done fairly early on, though I did it at about half way, myself) and got to deal with the added insight it provided for the remainder of the campaign. I couldn't imagine doing some of the later missions in the game without having played this first. It sucks that it was $10 Day 1 DLC, but I have no regrets buying it.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Golden Axe Warrior - SMS
Current - iOS
Golden Axe: The Duel - Saturn
Golden Axe - Genesis
Capcom Fighting Evolution - PS2
Metal Slug XX - PSP
Ketsui: Death Label - NDS
DoDonPachi: Blissful Death - iOS
Shock Troopers: 2nd Squad - Arcade (MAME)
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary -360
The Simpsons Arcade Game - PS3
Soul Edge - PS1
HamsterBall - PS3 *new*

TOTAL: 13

2011 Games Beaten
2010 Games Beaten

This is such an unabashedly fun and quirky game, and is exactly what I've always wished Monkey Ball's main campaign could be. Over the past few weeks I've played a few levels every couple of days until I got through all of the levels in the main campaign, and I am still playing some of the Marble Madness inspired "stunt" levels to explore some other aspects of the title. The games is irreverent, insane, and an absolute blast.

Here's Classic Game Room HD's review if you are on the fence on this one:

HamsterBall! I didn't think anyone else had ever played that. I picked it up (the PC version) for about 5 bucks at Target a few years ago. I found the later stages to be pretty tricky, but the game was easy to "hack" and add more time to the time limit. I must admit I never beat it without cheating, I found to mouse and keyboard controls to be a bit awkward. Really fun game overall, my students and I used to play this on "free days" (ie: the day before a vacation).

I don't normally keep up with this thread (mainly because it reminds me of the games I didn't finish and how little time I have to play games) but I guess I'll drop the names of the six I've completed in 2012 thus far:

Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen (DS)
Star Ocean: Second Evolution (PSP)
Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride (DS)
Ys Book I & II (TCD)
Ys III: Wanderers from Ys (SNES)
Ys: The Ark of Napishtim (PS2)

[Whatever]

My long list

Skyrim (pc)
Ikaruga (xbla)
Triggerheart exelica (xbla)

[alienjesus]

in fact, the last boss im pretty sure is impossible to beat unless you get to him with the POW.

He's not, but it is basically impossible to get the good ending, even if you have enough lives to spam the explosion spell for a bit

What does the good ending consist of? Never knew about multiple endings. And how do you get it?

What do you mean by spam the explosion?

Some mild spoilers here:

Your girlfriend is visible in a cage in the background of the final fight in revenge of shinobi. The roof above her is slowly falling during the fight. If you kill the boss before the roof crushes her, you get the good ending where she is rescued. If you don't manage it in time, you get the bad ending where you kill the baddie, but your lady friend is dead. It's quite a strict time limit.

As for spamming explosions, you get 4 types of ninja magic, the lightning which works as a shield, the fire which damages all enemies on screen, the shadow which makes you jump higher and the explosion spell, which kills you but does big damage to all enemies on screen. When you die, you get 1 new spell to use, so by using explosion over and over again you can keep casting the spell without running out, at the expense of lives instead.

[alienjesus]

Super Mario 3D Land 3DS
Professor Layton & The Spectre's Call DS
Trip World 3DS VC
Streetpass Quest II 3DS
Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse - Episode 301: The Penal Zone PC
Kirby's Fun Pak VC
Golden Axe Warrior SMS
Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse - Episode 302: The Tomb of Sammun-Mak PC
Ax Battler: The Legend of Golden Axe Game Gear
Gitaroo Man Lives! PSP
Panzer Dragoon Saga Demo Saturn
Asterix SMS
Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse - Episode 303: They Stole Max's Brain! PC
Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure DS
Picross DS DS
Half Minute Hero PSP
Soul Calibur Dreamcast
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials & Tribulations DS
StarTropics VC
Faselei! NGPC
Ninja Commando VC
Wario Land II Game Boy
Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse - Episode 304: Beyond the Alley of the Dolls PC
Poképark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure Wii
Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse - Episode 305: The City That Dares Not Sleep PC
Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut GC
LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias WiiWare
Dead or Alive 3 XBox
Ys: The Vanished Omens SMS
Trauma Center: Under the Knife DS
Art Style: Rotohex WiiWare *NEW*
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition DSiWare *NEW*
Lords of Thunder VC *NEW*
Total: 33

Rotohex is my favourite Art Style game on the Wii, but it's also one of the harder entries in the series. To beat it you have to match 6 hexagons of each of the 8 coloursed tiles in the game. To do this, you can rotate the triangular segments around the arena. It's a cool system, but there's a bit of a learning curve as you get used to how things move. The game starts of pretty easy, but adds new colours every time you clear 6 of the previous colour, making it get very frantic and confusing later on when you have 6,7 or 8 to deal with. Finishing the last colour practically requires frequent use of the glowing tiles which drop occasionally. By making a hex out of those, you'll either drop a bunch of tiles out of the bottom of the arena or turn all of one tile colour into another colour. Around the mid point, changing colours is very handy for quickly clearing hexes, but at the end, you'll be wanting to clear the arena as often as possible. Luckily, the game lets you choose which power up you'd prefer - by rotating the glowing tile it changes from glowing white to glowing black, with each colour representing a different power. The best thing about this game though is the soundtrack. As each colour adds, the music changes into a more complex song, and as you clear each of the 6 hexes, the music builds in rhythmic and melodic complexity before changing tracks upon completion of all 6. It's an awesom mechanic, and combined with the simple but stylish visuals, it really lets you settle into that puzzle game trance.

4 Swords is technically a game I beat previously, back in the day on the Game Boy Advance with one of my friends, but playing the game on the DS and 3DS was a much more convenient experience, and I also managed to enjoy the game with 4 players this time around, which it is all the better for. The game is fun, but feels a little rough after completing 4 Swords Adventures on Gamecube with the same friends. The game also seems a little more teamwork focused than 4SA, due to your total number of rupees being added together to determine your rank, which I didn't enjoy as much as 4SA's forced co-operation in a competitive game. The bonus dungeon added by Nintendo to this release though was excellent, and a real tribute to the series.

Each of the 3 courses in the dungeon is based on a different classic zelda game, using the games original tileset (with a few modifications for 4 swords). There was a Link to the Past stage which took you through Hyrule Castle's exterior and interior, a Link's Awakening stage in the marsh, complete with bow-wow, pea soup colour graphics and 8 bit stylings (with the colour of the links' tunics being the only non Game Boy colours visible) and finally a classic Zelda stage based on the original game, which allowed you to wander around some of the overworld, and a level based on the games first dungeon.

Overall, this bonus turned a decent game into an awesome tribute to the zelda series, which I enjoyed. A cool freebie for sure.

Lords of Thunder is an awesome horizontal shmup for Turbografx CD, with possibly the most awesomely hard rocking soundtrack in any game I've ever played. It's incredibly 80's in it's stylings, with big hair metal hair, wailing guitar solo's and funky bass riffs. It's also a pretty damn fun shooter. You can choose from one of four armours of each stage, each of which has a different bomb and a different weapon, the latter of which has 3 stages of power. The power of your weapon can be raised by grabbing power ups from enemies, or buy buying them in the shop using gemstones which are also dropped by most enemies. You can also use gemstones to buy extra health (your meter doesn't replenish between rounds), shields to block hits, extra lives or an elixir which heals you fully upon death. The armour choice available is nice and diverse, with my favourite being the water armour which shoots waves slightly backwards and horizontally forwards above and below your character. The fully powered up form shoots in all 4 diagonals aswell as straight forward. On the other hand, this armour is one of the weaker ones damage wise, and it's bomb isn't great. The fire armour has good power and decent spread, but is slow, the earth armour is the most powerful but has bad spread at lower levels whilst the wind armour just sucks. Getting hit by enemies will deduct health from your health bar but also lowers your weapon gauge, making your weapons weaker, so you cant be too overconfident when you're maxed out. The levels offer a nice variety in all the usual tropes - fire, ice, forest, water, desert, sky and evil tower, with the first 6 being selectable in any order. The difficulty of the levels isn't consistent though, with the desert and water stages being pushovers compared to the ice and sky levels. I've heard a lot of people call this game easy, but I had my work cut out getting to the end. The final boss was awesome, the end credits music was awesome. I can't recommend this game enough!

[dsheinem]

Lords of Thunder...The final boss was awesome!

I agree.

[noiseredux]

1. Sonic CD (PSN)
2. Golden Axe Warrior (PS3)
3. Ico (PS3)
4. BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger (PS3)
5. 3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3)
6. SoulBlade (PS1)
7. SoulCalibur II (PS2)
8. The Simpsons Arcade Game (PS3)
9. Sonic Sega All-Stars Racing (PS3)
10. Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock (PS3)
11. Ys I (PSP)
12. Heavy Rain (PS3)
13. Street Fighter x Tekken (PS3)
14. King of Fighters XIII (PS3)
15. Knights of the Round (PS2)

Me and my wife quarter-fed through this one. The verdict?

Why haven't we played this before? It's like Streets of Rage with swords!