Games Beaten 2013

[CFFJR]

13. The Bard's Tale (PS2)(RPG)

I really loved The Bard's Tale, though I haven't played it in a few years. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

I might tackle it again one of these days. Hearing you talk about it has made me want to play it.

[prfsnl_gmr]

1. Okamiden (NDS)
2. Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection (Wii)
3. Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection (Wii)
4. Cave Story 3D (3DS)

My heart is still racing from defeating Ballos in Cave Story 3D...It was such an awesome game, and the final "cave" is just fantastic. My pattern memorization and reflexes haven't been put to the test like that since the NES days. Also, the game itself is just superb. Once I got the "good" ending, I immediately started a new game, and - with a little help from a walkthrough - set about getting the "best" ending. I have such a backlog, it is rare that I will re-start a game as soon as I complete it, but I just enjoyed Cave Story so much that I wanted to see all of it. In any event, I highly, highly recommend Cave Story 3D to anyone with a 3DS or anyone that simply wants to own a physical copy of this great game.

(Also, my wife (who - apparently - really, really like pinball) and I sunk a ton of time into the Pinball Hall of Fame collections for the Nintendo Wii, and we finally hit all of the goals for each table. The Williams Collection is the better game, but they are both very good and immensely entertaining. I would recommend them to anyone with even a passing interest in pinball.)

[noiseredux]

1. NHL '94 (SCD)
2. Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo (Sat)
3. Bust-A-Move Pocket (NGPC)

I've played BAM/Puzzle Bobble a bit on other consoles in the past but it never quite clicked with me. I guess because it's the only game I have for NGPC right now (besides a Japanese Pachi game) I stuck with it for a bit longer and got completely sucked into it. I blew through the 99 levels in about four days and loved it. There's something great about a puzzle game that you can really get into. I'm really glad I played this one!

[BoneSnapDeez]

Lagoon (SNES)
Genre: Action-JRPG

Oh boy......

To the average person this would appear to be a "Zelda clone." In reality it's an Ys clone, as the game's interface and graphical style look as if they're lifted directly from the great Falcom series. You also refill life and magic by standing still (there are no inns).

So Lagoon is one of those "town-dungeon-town-dungeon-repeat" style classic action-RPGs. Defeat bad guys, collect loot, gain experience, etc. Pretty shallow, but fun to play. The game's low-point (and this will be a deal-breaker for most folks) is the combat. It sucks. Unlike Ys, your sword is animated here. However, unlike most great games of the genre (Zelda, Secret of Mana, Crystalis, etc) you don't "swing" your sword - you simply "poke" it straight out a few pixels. Killing enemies is a chore as you must be extremely close to hit them. Thankfully most will walk right into you like goons, and very few have projectile attacks.

But then you have the bosses........ mwahahahahahahaha. Again, if you've played Ys you kinda know what to expect. The bosses are huge, powerful, and will likely kill you 20-30 times until you've learned to exploit their patterns and weaknesses. But again, everything is harder than it should be because of that damn butter knight. Most bosses creamed me until I gained 2-3 levels, then they were slightly more manageable (but still unfairly hard). The final boss feels completely broken.

Don't play this unless you have a morbid interest in obscure old JRPGs like I do.

Oh, and to be fair I should mention that this is actually a port. The original is on the Sharp X68000. I watched a few YouTube vids and the X68000 original does indeed seem superior, and the sword seems a bit more useful. Good luck finding that version though.

[Nemoide]

Fantasy Zone. Dear lord, Fantasy Zone. Even using the ability to save states in Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection does not make this game easy. My hands are totally worn out from the final battles! Why does this game even have loops??

One burning question will remain with me until my dying days... "Was my victory really worth the price I had to pay?"

[Opa Opa]

Fantasy Zone. Dear lord, Fantasy Zone. Even using the ability to save states in Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection does not make this game easy. My hands are totally worn out from the final battles! Why does this game even have loops??

One burning question will remain with me until my dying days... "Was my victory really worth the price I had to pay?"

Did you 1CC?

[Nemoide]

DON'T EVEN JOKE ABOUT THAT.

(Only if abusing the save system and totally cheating counts as 1CCing...)

[MrNash]

Well, I beat Blazing Lazers for the umpteenth time a little while ago. I'll never tire of that game. It's such a nice, relaxing shmup. Some of the enemies are really out there too. Those disembodied brains! XD

[alienjesus]

The arcade version is pretty damn hard. I've 1CC'd the Master System version and I still struggle with the Arcade one.

Fantasy Zone seems like the kind of game where it's basically just as easy to 1CC as it is to beat it, as you're screwed if you die and lose your power ups anyway.

[Nemoide]

Now that I think about it - can you even continue in Fantasy Zone?

I think I can get to level 5 in the SMS version, which still isn't easy.