Games Beaten : 2011

[alienjesus]

Donkey Kong Jr. e-Reader
Riviera: The Promised Land GBA
Super Mario Bros. 2 Wii
King of Fighters R2 NGPC
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn DS
Metal Slug 2nd Mission NGPC
Pocket Tennis Colour NGPC
Metroid GC
Super Mario Bros. 3 Wii
Probotector 2 Game Boy
A Boy and his Blob Wii
Pokemon White DS
Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa VC
Kirby's Dream Land 3 VC
Bomberman '93 VC
Super Probotector: Alien Rebels VC
Wonder Boy in Monster Land VC
Pilotwings Resort 3DS
Deja Vu Casebook 1: A Nightmare Comes True GBC
Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg GC
Starfox Command DS
Sin and Punishment: Successor of the Skies Wii
Deja Vu II: Lost in Las Vegas GBC
Virtual On Cyber Troopers Saturn
Virtua Fighter Saturn
Athlete Kings Saturn
Guardian Heroes Saturn
Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters Game Boy
StreetPass Quest 3DS
Face Raiders 3DS
Dead or Alive: Dimensions 3DS
Wonder Boy in Monster World VC
Final Fantasy III DS
Ghost Trick DS
Banjo Kazooie N64
Sam & Max Save the World: Episode 101: Culture Shock PC
Sam & Max Save the World: Episode 102: Situation Comedy PC
Sam & Max Save the World: Episode 103: The Mole, the Mob and the Meatball PC
Sam & Max Save the World: Episode 104: Abe Lincoln Must Die PC
Panzer Dragoon Saturn
Punch-Out!! NES
Blazing Lazers TG16
Sam & Max Save the World: Episode 105: Reality 2.0 PC
Sam & Max Save the World: Episode 106: Bright Side of the Moon PC
Final Fantasy IX PS1
Crash Bandicoot PS1
Advance Wars 2 GBA
Super Punch-Out!! SNES
Secret of Mana VC
Fantasy Zone SMS *NEW*
Balloon Fight 3DS VC *NEW*
Ice Climber 3DS VC *NEW*
Total: 52

Fantasy Zone took me a few attempts, but on the time I beat it, I did it with no deaths. Having played this version, the Turbografx version and the Arcade version (via mega drive collection), this is my favourite - the screen scroll when you change direction is much smoother, meaning you run into enemies you can't see less. It is a bit easier, but that doesn't bother me, it was still quite challenging. I made liberal use of heavy bombs to kill bosses, and I used the infinite weapon trick by buying all the engines too. I enjoyed this a lot. That makes it my first Master System game beat this year. I wonder which of my consoles I still need to beat games for this year?

Balloon Fight is one of the games I got for being a 3DS ambassador. Out of the 10 I recieved, I'd never previously beaten 6 of them (I'd beaten Mario, Zelda, Metroid, DK Jr.) so I decided to try and beat a few to undo the damage it did to my backloggery .
Balloon Fight was the first of the other 6 (zelda 2, ice climber, balloon fight, NES open golf, mario & yoshi, wrecking crew) I beat, and I enjoyed it well enough. By beaten, I mean I played until it looped (around level 13). It's fun, although like many of the older NES games, it has flaws. I enjoyed it though.

Ice Climber was the 2nd ambassador game I beat, bringing my total for them to 6 beaten, 4 unbeaten now. Ice Climber is definetely flawed - the jump mechanics aren't natural feeling, the hit detection can be wonky (normally when I jump into birds, they die, sometimes I do instead), and the respawns can sometimes place you right over pits or inside enemies killing you again instantly (not an isolated incident). Nevertheless, I played through the games 32 levels, and despite getting a little frustrated, I quite enjoyed it. Probably not a game I'll come back to often though.

EDIT: For my own benefit, a list of my consoles. Coloured RED if I haven't beaten a game for them this year and BLUE if I have. Green is for consoles not working or needing parts atm.

Wii
Virtual Console
Wiiware
Gamecube
Nintendo 64
SNES
NES
3DS
3DS Virtual Console
DS
DSiWare
GBA
E-Reader
GBC
GB
Virtual Boy
Pokemon Mini
Dreamcast
Saturn
Mega Drive
Master System
Game Gear
Playstation 2
Playstation
Turbografx-16
Neo Geo Pocket Colour
3DO
Commodore 64
Amiga
CD-i
PC

This list won't be appearing in future, so dont worry about more crazy long posts

[Xeogred]

Tactics Ogre (SNES)
Ecco the Dolphin CD
Sonic CD (Japanese)
Sonic CD (US)*
Sonic & Knuckles (GEN)*
Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (GBC)
Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (GBC)
Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX (GBC)
Blaster Master (NES)*
Fallout New Vegas (PC)
Duke Nukem Forever (PC)
Sonic the Hedgehog (SMS)
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (SMS)
Shatterhand (NES)
Final Fantasy IV (PSP)
Thunder Force III (GEN)
Thunder Spirits (SNES)*
Final Fantasy II (PSP)
Final Fantasy V (GBA)
Final Fantasy III (NES)

* = replay

I have officially beaten Final Fantasy 1-10 (not ultimately authentically, with FF1-2 at least, but good enough!). It's cool to say that, I guess. Too bad you can NEVER say that about FF11 or FF14! And well... I guess it's embarrassing to say I've beaten FF13! I'll have to try and conquer FF12 someday.

So, that's a lot of Final Fantasy back to back there. I think I'll give the edge to FFV for the best FF experience so far of the year and a new favorite (toss up between FFIV-FFVII I'd say, those four rock). But Final Fantasy III on the NES was still different enough and had enough charms to keep me hooked. The story was literally nothing. FFII felt like a dungeon crawler mostly but had some cool idea's expanded upon even better in later games, but FFIII was just 4 six year old kids saving the world from the Cloud of Darkness! Pure dungeon crawler, but I had a lot of fun with it.

That said the gameplay and the vibe kept me going. Graphically the game was really amazing and I loved the dungeons (aside from all the damn invisible passages!). You could really start seeing how this one influenced the SNES titles, menu and battle design wise. I also cannot believe how big the OST here was for this game, 60 some tracks I believe... for an NES title. And you could finally start hearing a lot of Uematsu's brilliance in this one. Check out how haunting Water World is (raising the world = coolest segment in the game). Damn amazing stuff.

The Dark World was amazing, visually. I could definitely see where the later games got their Cyrstalized final dungeon influences from in this one. But holy hell, when people tell you about FFIII's INSANE final dungeon(S - notice the s here), they're not kidding. I think I literally spent the second week of two weeks playing this game on the final dungeon(s) itself and some grinding. It definitely felt like 10 hours worth of action there alone.

Totally worth it and it was a blast, but it's finally safe to say I'm feeling the burn and it's time for a break from Final Fantasy, finally. Haha.

Probably going to finish up a replay of Metroid here soon (FFIII got me in the mood for more moody NES stuff), then I'm not sure what's next. I do think I want to make an effort to replay FFVI sometime later this year though, for the 20th time or something. With FFIV and FFV fresh in my mind, it'll be nice to see how they stack up.

[emwearz]

And well... I guess it's embarrassing to say I've beaten FF13!

I have beaten XIII, while I was playing it there was a lot I did not like and it took some effort to see it through until the end, however once it was finished, when thinking back on my time with the game, I did enjoy the story and characters.

Glad I finished it more for the reason that I am ready for XIII-2, which looks beautiful and improves upon XIII in every way.

[Xeogred]

I had the complete opposite effect with FFXIII. By the open world chapter I felt the experience winding down moment by moment, and the ending was just sooo "not worth it" for me. So cliche' and silly. It was as deep as FFIII's ending.

[emwearz]

Maybe it was just relief from the game being over

The First 50 Games of the Year

The Stanley Parable - PC
Age of Zombies - PSMini (PSP)

Games Completed: 52

Thoughts on Games:
I was surprised how much I enjoyed this little game, its the basic SmashTV style controls that seems to be emulated all over the Iphone (Which the game is also available for), however there was enough change of location and weapons to really enjoy this.

I am going away for the weekend so the idea was to have something new and small to play on the drive, well I have not left yet and I all ready finished it, should say something about the game.

[Xeogred]

Tactics Ogre (SNES)
Ecco the Dolphin CD
Sonic CD (Japanese)
Sonic CD (US)*
Sonic & Knuckles (GEN)*
Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (GBC)
Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (GBC)
Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX (GBC)
Blaster Master (NES)*
Fallout New Vegas (PC)
Duke Nukem Forever (PC)
Sonic the Hedgehog (SMS)
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (SMS)
Shatterhand (NES)
Final Fantasy IV (PSP)
Thunder Force III (GEN)
Thunder Spirits (SNES)*
Final Fantasy II (PSP)
Final Fantasy V (GBA)
Final Fantasy III (NES)
Metroid (NES)*

* = replay

Quick and easy replay. Good times as always, might replay the GBA games again soon.

[elmagicochrisg]

MD Sonic 1
SNES Pocky & Rocky
DS Donkey Kong Jungle Climber
DC TrickStyle

GB Operation C NEW

[alienjesus]

Donkey Kong Jr. e-Reader
Riviera: The Promised Land GBA
Super Mario Bros. 2 Wii
King of Fighters R2 NGPC
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn DS
Metal Slug 2nd Mission NGPC
Pocket Tennis Colour NGPC
Metroid GC
Super Mario Bros. 3 Wii
Probotector 2 Game Boy
A Boy and his Blob Wii
Pokemon White DS
Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa VC
Kirby's Dream Land 3 VC
Bomberman '93 VC
Super Probotector: Alien Rebels VC
Wonder Boy in Monster Land VC
Pilotwings Resort 3DS
Deja Vu Casebook 1: A Nightmare Comes True GBC
Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg GC
Starfox Command DS
Sin and Punishment: Successor of the Skies Wii
Deja Vu II: Lost in Las Vegas GBC
Virtual On Cyber Troopers Saturn
Virtua Fighter Saturn
Athlete Kings Saturn
Guardian Heroes Saturn
Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters Game Boy
StreetPass Quest 3DS
Face Raiders 3DS
Dead or Alive: Dimensions 3DS
Wonder Boy in Monster World VC
Final Fantasy III DS
Ghost Trick DS
Banjo Kazooie N64
Sam & Max Save the World: Episode 101: Culture Shock PC
Sam & Max Save the World: Episode 102: Situation Comedy PC
Sam & Max Save the World: Episode 103: The Mole, the Mob and the Meatball PC
Sam & Max Save the World: Episode 104: Abe Lincoln Must Die PC
Panzer Dragoon Saturn
Punch-Out!! NES
Blazing Lazers TG16
Sam & Max Save the World: Episode 105: Reality 2.0 PC
Sam & Max Save the World: Episode 106: Bright Side of the Moon PC
Final Fantasy IX PS1
Crash Bandicoot PS1
Advance Wars 2 GBA
Super Punch-Out!! SNES
Secret of Mana VC
Fantasy Zone SMS
Balloon Fight 3DS VC
Ice Climber 3DS VC
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link 3DS VC *NEW*
Total: 53

Another game from Nintendo's freebies I hadn't previously beaten. This is also the last Zelda I've played, and the last I beat. I've finished every game in the series now. People regard this as the black sheep, and it is, but nonetheless, I really enjoyed it. Been playing it quite a lot the last few days.

I do admit to cheating and using a guide for the overworld sections, because I don't have the patience for the ridiculous amounts of trial and error involved and some of the things you had to do were frankly a bit obscure. I did all the dungeons myself though. The final dungeon and the approach to it were a pain, as were the final bosses, but the other parts, despite taking a few attempts, didn't feel all that tricky to me. The worst feature of the game was being sent back to the starting location whenever you run out of lives. Overall a good game, and I liked it more than Zelda 1. It still rates lower than most later zeldas for me though I think.

[Xeogred]

Tactics Ogre (SNES)
Ecco the Dolphin CD
Sonic CD (Japanese)
Sonic CD (US)*
Sonic & Knuckles (GEN)*
Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (GBC)
Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (GBC)
Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX (GBC)
Blaster Master (NES)*
Fallout New Vegas (PC)
Duke Nukem Forever (PC)
Sonic the Hedgehog (SMS)
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (SMS)
Shatterhand (NES)
Final Fantasy IV (PSP)
Thunder Force III (GEN)
Thunder Spirits (SNES)*
Final Fantasy II (PSP)
Final Fantasy V (GBA)
Final Fantasy III (NES)
Metroid (NES)*
Soul Blazer (SNES)

* = replay

You, the hero, what is your name?
[insert name]
An interesting name, alright now go and save the world.

*cue game*

Haha. Boy do I miss Quintet, really weird games for sure. This is loosely part of a trilogy made up with this , Illusion of Gaia, and Terranigma (which I beat last year finally).

This was straight up one of the easiest action/RPG's I've ever played for sure and very short. But it was definitely pretty fun and worth playing. There's like no story whatsoever, but the ending was pretty good and as usual with Quintet's games they've got some weird deep stuff dazzled in at times, I was surprised at how cinematic and good the ending was after the main game having virtually no story at all, but it had its moments.

Hit or miss music, some of it was awesome, some of it wasn't.

All in all, it was a nice break from all the turn based games I've been playing now and was pretty enjoyable. Simple stuff. If you want something in the vein of Zelda, Secret of Mana, etc, or have played Terranigma but haven't checked this one out yet, it's worth a shot.

[jfe2]

Click Here to See the First 50 Games of the Year

Games Finished 2011

• Jamestown: Legend of the Lost Colony - PC
  Dead Nation - PS3
  Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 - iPhone
  Outland - 360
  The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile - XBLA
  Dragon Age II - 360
  Fallout: New Vegas (including Dead Money, Honest Hearts, and Old World Blues DLC) - 360
  inFamous - PS3 *new*

Total: 57

inFamous was a very fun game, and the setting, story, and characters were all interesting, but I really had an issue with the way that the story was told. It almost felt like I had missed out on part of the story at times. It all came together and made sense in the end, but I felt a bit lost along the way.

Not sure what I'm going to play next. I have Red Dead Redemption, Uncharted, 3D Dot Game Heroes, Resistance, Killzone 2, Final Fantasy XIII, Donkey Kong Country Returns, and a few others all on deck.