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Markies' Games Beat List Of 2024!
***Denotes Replay For Completion***

1. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
2. Jackal (NES)
***3. Evolution: The World Of Sacred Device (SDC)***
4. Skies Of Arcadia Legends (GCN)
5. Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando (PS2)
6. Sunset Riders (GEN)
***7. Tactics Ogre (PS1)***
***8. Forza Motorsport (XBOX)***
9. Riviera: The Promised Land (GBA)
***10. Darkstalkers (PS1)***
***11. Splatoon (WiiU)***
12. Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising (NSW)
***13. Dusty Diamond's All-Star Softball (NES)***
14. 3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3)
***15. Puzzle Kingdoms (Wii)***
16. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall Of The Foot Clan (GB)
17. Steel Empire (GEN)
***18. Super Mario Strikers (GCN)***
19. Evolution 2: Far Off Promise (SDC)
20. The King Of Fighters '95 (PS1)
21. Disgaea 3: Absence Of Justice (PS3)
22. Jade Empire: Limited Edition (XBOX)
23. The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse (SNES)



I completed The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System this evening!

As a child, I had found memories of playing the Capcom Disney games. Ducktales and Chip & Dale Rescue Rangers were some of my favorite rentals. Owning them and then playing through them later in life really reignited my love for Retro Games. After I had finished through most of them, it was time to move onto the SNES. I played through Aladdin back in 2020 and I was wanted to pick up the Magical Quest games, especially after having memories for that Nintendo Power cover. After picking it up shortly after beating my Backlog, I figured now would be a good time to try something different after finishing another long RPG.

The Magical Quest series were games that I never got into as a kid. I didn't pick up a SNES until much later, so I always passed them by. Playing them now, I am glad that I waited. As I get older, popping in a simple and breezy platformer is much more enjoyable. I feel like I can appreciate them more now instead of being young and feeling ripped off. The main gimmick in the game is that Mickey can change costumes. He can be a Magician, a Fireman and a Rock Climber. You are not changing costumes too much as most levels can be beat with either costume, but they do offer a fair amount of variety. The levels are short and bite sized, which help in the pacing of the game. The sprites look fantastic, the music is top notch and the levels themselves looking quite beautiful. All hallmarks and staples of Capcom design.

Unfortunately, much like in Aladdin, I also ran into some control issues. Mickey seemed too loose for me as he always seemed to be sliding and slipping away. He did have some momentum in his movement, so maybe that is the problem. Also, the bosses felt like they took way too many hits. The magician has a charged up attack, which almost kind of breaks the game. But, if you don't use that attack, then the bosses take forever and can be very annoying after a little while.

Overall, I enjoyed The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse, but I also felt a little disappointed. Maybe I was hoping for some of that Capcom NES magic again, but it just wasn't the same. The game is solid and good, but it is not a classic or fantastic in any sense. The frustrating parts sometimes outweighed my enjoyment, which is a shame. Still, if you are a fan of Capcom platformers, this is still a good one to check out!

02/17/24 - Fallout 3 (PS3)
03/09/24 - Phantasy Star II (Genesis)
05/05/24 - Tales of Phantasia (SNES)
05/30/24 - Bioshock (NSW)
06/10/24 - Fable (oXBOX)
06/19/24 - Faxanadu (NES)

Faxanadu was my third game of the summer challenge this year. I posted my thoughts in that thread.

AJ's games beaten 2024:

1. Yakuza 3 Remastered PS4
2. Gley Lancer Mega Drive
3. Flink Mega Drive
4. Zero Wing Mega Drive
5. Super Bomberman 3 SNES
6. Streets of Rage Master System *NEW*
7. Goof Troop SNES
8. Pokémon Card GB2: Great Rocket-Dan Sanjō! GBC
9. Pop'n Twinbee: Rainbow Bell Adventures SNES
10. Ganbare Goemon 2: Kiteretsu Shougun Magginesu SNES
11. Super Mario Maker Wii U *NEW*
12. Donkey Kong Land 2 Game Boy *NEW*
13. The Fish Files GBC *NEW*
14. Kirby Super Star Ultra DS *NEW*
15. Yakuza 4 Remastered PS4 *NEW*

Super Mario Maker



Super Mario Maker is one of the many games I’ve picked up over the years which has sat unplayed in the backlog due to having too much to play. I was incentivised to finally give it a go this year though due to the shutdown of the Wii U’s online services, effectively rendering most of this title’s content unplayable without fan solutions.

Mario Maker is obviously a game where you can craft your own mario levels, although I suspect the draw for the majority of players is being able to play the wealth of fan created levels available. You can play these individually, or through the 100 mario challenge where a series of levels is presented to you in order based on the ‘difficulty’ determined by how many players have successfully beat them.

Playing through 100 mario challenge various times is how you unlock costumes which allow Mario to turn into a variety of characters when collecting a costume mushroom. I made a goal to try and unlock as many of these as I could before the servers went down, although I had to give up eventually due to a lack of time remaining and a need to beat literally hundreds of difficult levels to unlock them.

Playing through the levels was a mixed bag. The Mario Maker toolkit is reasonably limited but quite versatile, and there are some incredible levels out there for you to find. However, doing so can feel like sifting for gold as so many levels are boring auto-playing levels, enemy dumps and troll levels, or otherwise levels with no real design skill on display, probably made by 8 year-olds. Playing the easiest or hardest difficulties tended to give you the worst selection – either boring, mindless stages or infuriating troll levels.

Mario Maker is a fun time, but for me it emphasises why I don’t really gravitate much to this type of player-content-driven title. There’s a reason people are paid to design games, and it’s because they’re good at it, generally. I had an interesting time with Mario Maker, but I’d still pick up any of the classic 2D mario games anyday before wanting to jump online with stages made by joe bloggs.


Donkey Kong Land 2



Donkey Kong Land 2 is a Game Boy title in the Donkey Kong Country series. It’s heavily based on Donkey Kong Country 2, with Diddy and Dixie as playable characters, and the same level themes as the SNES title. However, although the levels share themes, the layouts of each level are generally unique, so this offers something different for fans.

I’ve not played DK Land 1 much, but from the little I have played, they have made some big improvements between the first and second title. Backgrounds feel less busy in general, making it easier to distinguish the kongs and enemies. The physics also feel way better, with more horizontal speed and movement during jumps. And in general, the presentation feels much closer to the console counterpart.

There’s a lot of levels to playthrough here, and some decent renditions of the iconic soundtrack to enjoy. Many of the level gimmicks from the console are here and fully intact. All of the animal buddies are available to play as on specific levels too.

It’s not perfect – the small screen display makes enemies suddenly appearing from off-screen and hitting you a common occurrence – especially during vertical sections. The physics still don’t feel perfect with high vertical momentum but lower than expect horizontal movement (Ice Climber syndrome!). And there’s some weird design inconsistencies, such as the rope sliding kremlins who need to be defeated by moving into their head, which seems to only work like 60% of the time and is extremely counter-intuitive as this would cause you to take damage on the console version.

Still, DK Land 2 is a very ambitious title for the console that mostly succeeds in pulling those ambitions off. There’s a decent amount to do, it plays pretty well and I had a good time working through it. There is a definite feeling that it’s a lesser version of the console game, but if you’re a big fan of the DKC trilogy, you could certainly do worse than play this if you want more.


The Fish Files



The Fish Files is a very odd title for Game Boy Colour. It is a point and click style adventure game in the vein of LucasArts classics like Day of the Tentacle, developed in Italy by only a couple of people who were still in high school. It really stands out these days for it’s graphics, which are really quite impressive for the Game Boy Colour, but the gameplay is perhaps a bit rougher around the edges.

You play as a university student who wakes up to find his beloved pet goldfish has been abducted – as have your dormmates fish and many other fish from the nearby area. You explore your uni campus, the nearby town and a few other places trying to find clues as to where she has gone. The game has a silly scifi tone and throughout the adventure you meet parodies of Mulder and Scully, invade a military base, travel through alternate dimensions and more.

Where the game falls down is generally in 2 areas. The first is the translation – this game was written in Italian, and whilst the English translation is passable in terms of being comprehensible, it feels like it is missing something (mostly the humour, where it feels like some of the jokes would have landed better with superior writing).

The second issue is the puzzle design, which feels a little stretched. Old-school adventure games were often criticised for their ‘moon logic’ puzzles, but the good ones were fairly good at steering you in the right direction so you at least had a vague idea what you needed to achieve. The Fish Files doesn’t do this, so you often end up having to try everything on everything in the hope to figure it out. It also has an issue with lots of small items to pick up that aren’t made very clear, which is exacerbated by the small GBC display. The worst culprit for the bad puzzle design is the ‘multitool’ which stands in for all sorts of functions. At least 3 times in the game I forgot about this and had to use it in combination with another item to solve a puzzle, and in every situation it was different what it did.

The Fish Files is a really cool game. The ambition of the title, especially considering the age of the people who made it, really makes it stand out. But unfortunately, whilst it’s cool and interesting, it’s not ultimately much fun, or especially good from a game design perspective. I’m glad I gave it a play, but it won’t be joining my favourite games for the genre or the system any time soon.


Kirby Super Star Ultra



Kirby Super Star Ultra is a DS remake of the Super Nintendo game Kirby Superstar. The unique gimmick of the title is that it is made up of multiple self-contained ‘games’ to play through which mix up the Kirby format in a few different ways.

For example, Spring Breeze, the first game mode, is essentially an abbreviated remake of the original Kirby’s Dream Land with the addition of powers from later titles. Later game modes mix things up though – Gourmet Race features a race vs Dedede whilst eating as much food as possible, The Great Cave Offensive has you exploring a sprawling cave network searching for treasure, The Revenge of Metaknight features you smashing apart Metaknights ship whilst his crew comment on what’s going on and make plans to defeat you, and Milky Way Wishes has you finding various kirby power ups in the world to then be used as you wish, rather than breathing in enemies.

Super Star Ultra recreates all of the original game modes very faithfully, but with a graphical refresh – the art style is a bit more textured and slightly less bright than the original, and each mode is introduced with a new short CG cutscene. It’s a slightly different presentation to the original, but it still looks and sound great.

If this was the extent of the remake, it would be a nice way to play the game but not anything special. Luckily, Ultra also adds a few new game modes to the title to enjoy alongside a few new mini-games. The first new modes is Revenge of the King, a harder version of Spring Breeze based on the extra mode of the original Dream Land. It’s not as hard as that game, but it adds back in the missing 3rd boss and offers up an increased challenge vs Sprint Breeze. Second we have Meta-Knightmare Ultra – a condensed version of the original modes where you play as Metaknight. It’s fast paced and feels like a mode designed for speedrunning. Third is Helper to Hero, a version of the arena where you are forced to play as one of the helper characters from the main game. Finally, the True Arena offers a harder version of the Arena featuring harder bosses and less healing items.

Whilst the new modes aren’t anything super special on their own, they definitely help to make this the most feature-rich and definitive version of Super Star, which in turn is already one of the best and most beloved Kirby games. This is a great title and highly recommended.


Yakuza 4 Remastered



Having beaten Yakuza 3 earlier in the year, and continuing my objective to catch-up a bit with the releases in the series, I dived into Yakuza 4 recently. Yakuza 4 mixed things up a bit from the outset – you don’t play as Kiryu in the beginning, instead being placed into the shoes of Shun Akiyama, a loan broker in Kumurocho who gets caught up in a Yakuza war when a Yakuza he was financing kills an associated clan’s member and another customer he was supporting becomes a target. The story takes place over 5 characters, with Akiyama being followed by Saejima - a yakuza imprisoned for killing 15 rival Yakuza in a planned killing who escapes from prison, Tanimura – a policeman who doesn’t play by the book trying to solve the murder of his father, and finally Kiryu in chapter 4, who as usual needs to step in and fix all the Tojo clan’s drama. The final chapter has all 4 characters coming together to resolve the various issues which as you might expect are all connected.

Storywise, Yakuza 4 seems to get a mixed rap amongst series fans. There are certainly some moments in the game that are a bit silly, but to be honest I feel this is par for the cause with Yakuza. The overarching plot however I thought was one of the strongest in the series and had some compelling twists.

Playing as the 4 characters was interesting – they have done a good job of making them all feel unique in both personality and gameplay. Akiyama is happy go lucky and features a rapid, mobile fighting style that is easy to get to grips with. Saejima is sombre and lost in the modern world after 25 years in prison, and hits like a truck but lacks mobility making him harder to get the hang of. Tanimura is a gambler associated with the immigrant community in Little Asia and plays like a grappler, putting enemies into armlocks and leglocks making him great for 1 on 1 fights but cumbersome against multiple enemies. And Kiryu comes with most of his moves from the previous games unlocked and feels experienced and capable from the outset, reflecting the fact that he’s done this all many times before.

Yakuza 4 feels like the first big move to modern Yakuza – mini-games feel way more polished here than in Yakuza 3, substories feel much more fleshed out and significant, and the completion list content is detailed and varied. There’s an absolute ton of stuff to do as well, with loads of character exclusive content as well as stuff available too all 4 protagonists. The combat feels way more refined regardless of which of the 4 characters you’re controlling too. I did try my best to work towards completing on this one, but at about 85% I decided I’d had my fill. I had a good time getting to that point though, even with some of the tasks I had though would be frustrating or dull.

Yakuza 4 was honestly a really positive surprise. Being that it’s still a PS3 title and that Yakuza 3 felt relatively dated, Yakuza 4 feels remarkably contemporary to the PS4 titles, and you can feel the series starting to hit it’s stride here. Yakuza 0 remains my favourite in the series, but this one does enough to be a contender for second place (Kiwami 2 would be the other contender I think so far). Definitely worth a play, and making me look forward to what’s next in Yakuza 5, which I hope to tackle later in the year.

January
Injustice: Gods Among Us (Xbox Series)
Metroid Prime Remastered (Switch)
Fire Emblem Engage (Switch)
Knights of the Round (Switch)
Megaman: The Power Battles (Switch)

February
Metroid Other M (WiiU)
Metroid Zero Mission (WiiU)
Super Mario Bros (All Stars/Switch)
Phantasy Star Online: NGS (Xbox Series)

March
Xenoblade Chronicles Deluxe (Switch)
Mario Kart 8 DX Booster Course Pass (Switch)
Princess Peach: Showtime (Switch)
ACA NeoGeo Real Bout Fatal Fury (Switch)
Super Mario Advance (Switch)

April
Splatoon 3: Side Order
Mario vs Donkey Kong (Switch)
Super Mario 3D World (Switch)

May
Super Mario Wonder (Switch)
Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter (Arcade)
Marvel vs Capcom: Clash of the Super Heroes (Arcade)
Super Mario Odyssey (Switch)

June
Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge (Switch)
Vampire Savior (Switch)
Megaman: Wily's Revenge (Switch)
Megaman II (Switch)
Megaman III (Switch)
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door (Switch)

No specific thoughts on these other than the Megaman GB games are a welcome addition to NSO and Paper Mario:TTYD is charming AF but definitely overstays its welcome at the end. Just let me fight the damn boss and get my credit roll.

Partridge Senpai's 2024 Beaten Games:
Previously: 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
* indicates a repeat

1~50 51. Adventures of Lolo (Famicom)
52. Adventures of Lolo 2 (NES)
53. Adventures of Lolo II (Famicom)
54. Adventures of Lolo 3 (NES)
55. Kickle Cubicle (NES)
56. Adventures of Lolo (GB)
57. Cocoron (Famicom)
58. The Darkness (PS3)
59. Haze (PS3)
60. Animaniacs (GB)

61. Lair (PS3) -----

62. Bionic Commando (PS3)

Markies' Games Beat List Of 2024!
***Denotes Replay For Completion***

1. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
2. Jackal (NES)
***3. Evolution: The World Of Sacred Device (SDC)***
4. Skies Of Arcadia Legends (GCN)
5. Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando (PS2)
6. Sunset Riders (GEN)
***7. Tactics Ogre (PS1)***
***8. Forza Motorsport (XBOX)***
9. Riviera: The Promised Land (GBA)
***10. Darkstalkers (PS1)***
***11. Splatoon (WiiU)***
12. Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising (NSW)
***13. Dusty Diamond's All-Star Softball (NES)***
14. 3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3)
***15. Puzzle Kingdoms (Wii)***
16. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall Of The Foot Clan (GB)
17. Steel Empire (GEN)
***18. Super Mario Strikers (GCN)***
19. Evolution 2: Far Off Promise (SDC)
20. The King Of Fighters '95 (PS1)
21. Disgaea 3: Absence Of Justice (PS3)
22. Jade Empire: Limited Edition (XBOX)
23. The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse (SNES)
24. Super Smash Bros. For WiiU (WiiU)



I beat Super Smash Bros. For WiiU on the Nintendo WiiU this afternoon!

Like many Nintendo Fans, I love the Super Smash Bros. series. I cannot tell you how many hours I put into the N64 and the GameCube versions when I owned them. They always used to be some of my background games. They were just games I would play when I was killing time waiting for dinner or friends to call me. As I have gotten more Nintendo systems, I have picked up more in the series. Last year, I played through Brawl on the Wii, which was basically the Subspace Emissary Mode and I enjoyed that. Later on last year, I picked up the WiiU version because it was too obvious not to pick it up. Now, in 2024, I needed a WiiU game to play and Smash seemed like the obvious choice, once again.

Super Smash Bros. for the WiiU doesn't have a Subspace Emissary Mode, but they do have a Board Game entitled Smash Tour which allows you to customize your characters. I was looking to unlock all the characters and the best way to do that is just to play 100 Versus Matches, so I decided to do that through Brute Force. I dabbled in the other modes and I made certain to beat the Classic Mode once to see the credits. Even though I kind of missed the Subspace Emissary Mode because it was a little different, it was still very enjoyable to play through a bunch of Smash matches again. In fact, it made me feel rather nostalgia as I used to that with the N64 and GameCube versions. For the GamePlay itself, not much has changed since the Wii version. I would say the speed of the game is a tad bit faster, but it is nowhere even close to Melee. The roster is fantastic, the stages are great, the music is enjoyable and the game looks fantastic. Obviously, you don't need me to tell you that Super Smash Bros. is fantastic, but I should reiterate that it is fantastic. My small complaint is the characters can be a bit slippery at times. It can be hard to pick up items as your characters move so quickly over them, but that hardly is a factor anyway.

Overall, I loved playing Super Smash Bros. For WiiU. My friend owns a copy of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for the Switch and we have played that a few times. Even though they are different games, it was fun to see how this game evolved into the Switch version. It's hard to rank the Smash games as I think each one vastly improves on the previous ones. But, I know this one gets overlooked, so give it a shot if you skipped it over. It is fantastic!

1. Live A Live (RPG)(Switch)
2. Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion (Action)(Switch)
3. Pathway (Strategy [Tactics])(PC)
4. Rewind or Die (Horror Adventure)(PC)
5. Tomb Raider (Action Adventure)(PC)
6. Remnant: From the Ashes (Action RPG)(PC)
7. House Flipper (Simulation)(PC)
8. Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor (RPG)(PC)
9. Wild West and Wizards (FPS/RPG)(PC)
10. SPRAWL (FPS)(PC)
11. Lunacid (RPG)(PC)
12. PowerWash Simulator: SpongeBob SquarePants (FPS)(PC)
13. PowerWash Simulator: Warhammer 40,000 (FPS)(PC)
14. PowerWash Simulator: Back to the Future (FPS)(PC)
15. Marathon (FPS)(PC)
16. Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force (FPS)(PC)
17. Rome: Total War (Strategy)(PC)
18. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (FPS)(PC)

Rome: Total War

I enjoy strategy games, but I never got into the Total War series beyond the original Shogun: Total War, which at the time played like an updated Nobunaga's Ambition. Total War games involve a high level strategy element of taking territories, building armies and settlements for funding and empowering your war machine, and sending out spies and diplomats to negotiate, influence, or even straight up kill enemies. This is the combined with a real time tactical combat system, where you lead your armies to battle against enemy forces, ransack their cities, duke it out with various means, and either kill your foe or drive them from the field. It was the real time side I never understood in Shogun, so I did not continue with the series.

But after getting Rome: Total War for free years ago, I decided it was time to play it. The series had seen considerable improvement, going from an overworked map that looked reminiscent of an old map to a detailed model which made me think of Civilization 3. The combat had more options, city management was better handled, and the variety of military units and evolving time line made for a marked improvement. Also, you no longer had to take over everything, just most of it to get the win screen, because Rome is over twice as big as Shogun.

This time, I tried to really focus on the tactical side, and with a little work, I got the general idea: soften with range, pincer with cavalry, and smash into them with infantry. Even better if you can mix in morale-killing units to get them to flee and be hunted by your cavalry to ensure enemy destruction. Once I had this understanding down, combat became a treat...until it became kind of rote, because these tactics seemed to always work.

That's probably the major problem with Rome. The game is so big compared to Shogun, but once you understand how to use the combat system, you build your armies around your style and let that be that. I was eventually managing to wipe out forces five times my size with careful planning and tactics, though not always; unit AI would sometimes also go bonkers and fail to execute the order or go a completely ass backwards way to do something I wanted. But it worked out well most of the time.

Also, as big as Rome is, with a variety of different factions, only three are actually playable in single player, so it feels both so much bigger and yet so much smaller. I think it would have been interesting to try and build up an empire as the Egyptians or Scythians, but alas, no such luck.

Still, I enjoyed myself with the game, I conquered, and I crushed. What more could I have asked for? I may seek out other Total War games in the future.


Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

This is the Michael Bay of video games. The plot is nukes, betrayal, shooting, stuff blows up, patriotism. Set pieces involve running while helicopters fall out of the sky, calling in predator drone strikes while booking it to a Russian nuclear sub, and doing a running gunfight through the White House to pull out a flare and thwart a possible bombing run like in Bay's film The Rock.

It is fun to play though, I'll give it that. With a wide variety of guns, a mixture of attachments to be found on weapons throughout each level, and a shooting style that is fast and smooth, the gunplay of Modern Warfare 2 is both the highlight and the star. The shooting feels good, weapons are responsive, and even on the highest difficulty, they feel appropriately deadly.

The downside? I kind of want to lean around corners or have an instant weapon swap between my two primary guns, but it seems that isn't what COD wants. Too many times I'd forget I couldn't hit Q to swap guns and ended up throwing a flash bang instead. Which...still useful, but not exactly what I was going for.

Also, the campaign is bite sized. I beat my first time through in five or six hours. My highest difficulty run took less because I was used to the game. I'm now going back through to make sure I find all of the remaining collectables, but the main focus was definitely on Multiplayer. There is also a Spec Ops mode which involves different types of mini levels with special rules and the like, so I am enjoying myself there, though two require co-op, which is frustrating. And playing Multiplayer is a bad idea; there is an exploit that other players can use to breach your network's security and do serious damage to your computer, so just don't.

Is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 fun? Sure. It's a spectacle. It's a popcorn movie where you turn your brain off and just go. I think I'll have forgotten the plot by next week. But again, the shooting is good.

1. Chico and The Magic Orchard DX (Switch)
2. Dusk ‘82 (Switch)
3. Dusk (Switch)
4. Rock Boshers DX (Switch)
5. Metal Slug 4 (Neo Geo)
6. Bleed 2 (Switch)
7. Kid Icarus: Uprising (3DS)
8. Mighty Gunvolt Burst (3DS)
9. Love 3 (Switch)
10. Mini Mario & Friends: Amiibo Challenge (3DS)
11. Mario vs. Donkey Kong (Switch)
12. Mother 3 (GBA)
13. Princess Peach: Showtime! (Switch)
14. Avenging Spirit (Arcade)
15. Blossom Tales II (Switch)
16. The Fall of Elena Temple (Switch)
17. Finding Teddy II (Switch)
18. Animal Well (Switch)
19. Runner 3 (Switch)
20. Master Key (Switch)

Master Key, like Animal Well, is a superb effort by a solo developer that, unlike Animal Well, has not received much critical attention. That should change. Master Key is at least as good as (and, IMO, slightly better than) Animal Well, and it is now the top contender for my personal GOTY.

Master Key is an action adventure game played from an overhead perspective, and mechanically, it is very similar to the LoZ games for the GB and GBC. (It is even rendered in monochrome, and different color palettes indicate different difficulty settings.) It is much, much more difficult than its inspirations, however, full of cryptic puzzles, difficult enemy encounters, and loaded with secrets. Moreover, there’s almost no signposting, and the game does not hold your hand or, after the first few minutes, require you to proceed in any specific direction. As a result, the game world, which seems rather limited initially, expands organically as you obtain new items, unlock mobility upgrades, and uncover more secrets. By the end, the game world is quite expansive, and despite having only five dungeons (six if you count the totally awesome secret dungeon!), it took me nearly 20 hours to unearth nearly everything the game has to offer.

It has been my longstanding belief that the beat games reward inquisitive players with more of the game itself, and like Animal Well, Master Key does this wonderfully. The more time you take to explore the game’s world and to sniff out secrets the more unique content there is to uncover. Be warned, however, the game is not for those easily frustrated or who want to play mindlessly. I spent hours searching for the secrets necessary to uncover the game’s most well-hidden secrets, and solving a few of the game’s puzzles required a pen, a notepad, and quite a bit of reasoning. Ultimately, though, the game was extremely rewarding, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it. I really cannot recommend it highly enough, especially to people, like me, who enjoyed all the classic LoZ games but are looking for more of a challenge.

Finally, as a cherry on top, the game features 150 unique, unlockable Picross puzzles. So, even after you’ve poured 15+ hours into the main game, there’s still plenty to do!

Previous Years: 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

1. Tormented Souls - Switch
2. Battlefleet Gothic: Armada II - PC
3. Fantasy Empires - PC
4. Vagrant Story - PS1
5. Might and Magic 7: For Blood and Honor - PC
6. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown - Switch
7. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project - NES
8. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - PS5
9. Tomb Raider Remastered - PC
10. Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth - PS5
11. Unicorn Overlord - Switch
12. Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries: Solaris Showdown - PC
13. Princess Peach: Showtime - Switch
14. Fida Puti Samurai - PC
15. Fallout New Vegas: Dead Money - PC
16. Fallout New Vegas: Honest Hearts - PC
17. Fallout New Vegas: Old World Blues - PC
18. Wrath: Aeon of Ruin - PC
19. Fallout New Vegas: Lonesome Road - PC
20. Super Buff HD - PC
21. SaGa Emerald Beyond - Switch
22. Blasphemous 2 - Switch
23. Trepang2 - PC
24. Homeworld 3 - PC
25. Blood West - PC
26. Marathon - PC
27. Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord - PC
28. Little Kitty, Big City - PC
29. Dread Delusion - PC
30. Alan Wake 2: Night Springs - PC
31. PO'ed: Definitive Edition - PC
32. Space Cats Tactics - PC
33. Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree - PS5

Shadow of the Erdtree is the recently released DLC for Elden Ring. It provides a new map approximately the size of two of the major zones in the base game, divided into several zones that provides more legacy dungeons, field bosses, and small dungeons, along with a ton of new weapons and spells (including new weapon types altogether). The DLC does require you to kill a late game boss in order to access it; this ends up being a nice gate to let you know if you're ready to do the DLC or not (as you're either end game or you have the skills to rush to it and kill it).

The game is set in the Lands of Shadow, which has some aspects of being a dark mirror of the Lands Between (such as the dark mirror of the Erdtree). You are chasing after Miquella, one of the gods from the base game who was mentioned often, but doesn't show up. He's trying to do something, and you'll end up deciding that something is a net negative for the world and must stop him. The game has several NPCs who are directly linked to this quest, giving you some context on what's going on, as well as showing up as summons for several of the required boss fights. Overall the friendly NPCs drive the storyline a bit more in the DLC, compared to the bosses in the base game.

In addition to the standard levels, the game introduces two new pieces of power scaling. There are two sets of collectable items that can be spent at sites of grace to increase a track for yourself and a track for your spirit ashes. Each of them gives a percentage increase to damage and a percentage decrease to damage taken; maxed out for yourself you deal 2x damage and take 50% damage. This boost only applies in the Lands of Shadow and is your primary source of power in the DLC, as by the time you're ready for it you should be hitting soft caps on your main damage skills. Like the base game, don't be afraid to turn away from an enemy that's too difficulty and come back later when you've leveled up these tracks and maybe got a new piece of gear that works particularly well for you.

Overall, Shadow of the Erdtree is a strong extension of the base game. It took me about 30 hours to get through, compared to about 80 hours for the base, so there is a very solid amount of content. There is far less boss reuse compared to the base game (a couple of bosses from the base and a couple of the new bosses get a second appearance), and the new bosses have some interesting attack patterns that really keep you on your toes. If you enjoyed the base game I highly recommend the DLC.

Markies' Games Beat List Of 2024!
***Denotes Replay For Completion***

1. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
2. Jackal (NES)
***3. Evolution: The World Of Sacred Device (SDC)***
4. Skies Of Arcadia Legends (GCN)
5. Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando (PS2)
6. Sunset Riders (GEN)
***7. Tactics Ogre (PS1)***
***8. Forza Motorsport (XBOX)***
9. Riviera: The Promised Land (GBA)
***10. Darkstalkers (PS1)***
***11. Splatoon (WiiU)***
12. Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising (NSW)
***13. Dusty Diamond's All-Star Softball (NES)***
14. 3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3)
***15. Puzzle Kingdoms (Wii)***
16. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall Of The Foot Clan (GB)
17. Steel Empire (GEN)
***18. Super Mario Strikers (GCN)***
19. Evolution 2: Far Off Promise (SDC)
20. The King Of Fighters '95 (PS1)
21. Disgaea 3: Absence Of Justice (PS3)
22. Jade Empire: Limited Edition (XBOX)
23. The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse (SNES)
24. Super Smash Bros. For WiiU (WiiU)
***25. Final Fantasy X-2 (PS2)***



I completed Final Fantasy X-2 on the Sony Playstation 2 this evening!

With Final Fantasy X being my favorite game of all time, it was quite easy for me to fall in love with Final Fantasy X-2. For the longest time, I was ashamed that I love FFX-2, but now I have embraced my feelings for it and enjoy it without any regard. It's not the greatest game in the world, but for me, I love it. So, I have been playing the game off and on for several years now as I lost track of how many times I have gone through it. All I had left was get the final Blue Bullets for the Gun Mage and with my desire to replay the PS3 Remaster Version growing, I decided it was time for my all Gun Mage run. After having a relatively easy time, it took me an entire day to get the final one and I can safely say that it is now Complete.

Final Fantasy X-2 was the first sequel in the franchise and uses many of the assets of the original Final Fantasy game. There are some new areas, but the majority of the game is retreading old ground and revisiting familiar places. For somebody who loves the original, this brought back so much nostalgia. It was great to see places and people that I remembered along with seeing how much their lives have changed. The game has a very different feel to it, so its nice to see the characters I knew change because of the world around them. Besides that, almost everything else in the game has changed. It has some fantastic music and one of my favorite soundtracks. The opening piano melody will always cause me to get a little emotional. The battle system is quick and fast paced. The ability to change jobs on the fly and have so many at your disposal allows for so many different combinations. In fact, the battle system and the job system is probably why I love it so much. It is so easy and so fun to just get into a fight and quickly disperse your enemies. Some of the late game bosses and areas can be very unfair, despite your level, but most people won't even notice it while regularly playing through the game.

Overall, I still absolutely love Final Fantasy X-2. It is hard for me to differentiate it from Final Fantasy X, so I find it hard to judge it on its own merits. But, if you loved the first one, then this is something you should try it. The game takes a big risk on the normal Final Fantasy formula and it succeeds in creating something unique and never done before. For me, it will always hold a special place in my heart!