Games Beaten 2017

[prfsnl_gmr]

28. Device 6 (iOS)

Device 6 is short, but brilliant, interactive novel/escape puzzle game. It is one of the most unique gaming experiences I have had in years, and it is absolutely deserving of its critical praise. IMO, Simogo AB is one of the most exciting developers working today, and I am looking forward to getting through the rest of its games. (I loved the similarly brilliant Year Walk when I played it a few years ago.)

Yes, a thousand times this! To be honest, they are really the only mobile game developer I give a shit about. Year Walk is the weakest of their more "experimental" games, in my opinion...but OMG you must prepare for the awesomeness of The Sailor's Dream!

Yes. There are a lot of good developers doing good work on the platform - Square-Enix/Taito comes to mind - but Simogo is the only one I think that is really focused on the platform's unique potential. (That is, a lot of other, good developers make games that would work on PCs or consoles, but Simogo's games really wouldn't work anywhere else.) Simogo had a sale a few weeks ago, and I picked up a lot of their games, including The Sailor's Dream, and I am really looking forward to it.

[ElkinFencer10]

GET BACK TO WORK

Working on my Metroid playing or because I posted that while I had a class?

[Sarge]

January:

1) The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition (PC) (8.5) (1/1) (~5.5 hours)
2) ActRaiser (SNES) (8.0) (1/2) (~4 hours)
3) Bonk's Revenge (GB) (6.0) (1/3) (~1 hour)
4) Tiny Toon Adventures: Babs' Big Break (GB) (6.5) (1/3) (~1 hour)
5) Blackwell Legacy (PC) (7.0) (1/5) (2.6 hours)
6) Blackwell Unbound (PC) (7.5) (1/7) (2.2 hours)
7) Blackwell Convergence (PC) (8.0) (1/7) (2.4 hours)
Blackwell Deception (PC) (8.0) (1/8) (4.7 hours)
9) Blackwell Epiphany (PC) (9.0) (1/9) (6.5 hours)
10) Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (PS4) (8.0) (1/22) (~55 hours)
11) Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (360) (8.0) (1/28) (~.5 hours)
12) Deep Duck Trouble Starring Donald Duck (SMS) (6.5) (1/31) (~1 hour)

February:

13) Quackshot Starring Donald Duck (GEN) (7.5) (2/7) (~2 hours)
14) Fire Emblem Heroes (Android) (8.0) (2/9) (~10 hours)
15) Super C (NES) (9.5) (2/20) (~0.5 hours)
16) Contra (NES) (10.0) (2/20) (~0.5 hours)
17) Mickey's Dangerous Chase (GB) (6.5) (2/24) (~1 hour)
18) My Nintendo Picross: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (3DS) (8.5) (2/25) (~19 hours)
19) Mega Man 2 (NES) (10.0) (2/28) (~0.8 hours)

March:

20) Final Fantasy XV (PS4) (8.0) (3/2) (~33 hours)
21) Blaster Master Zero (NS) (9.0) (3/10) (~6.5 hours)
22) Espgaluda II Black Label (360) (8.0?) (3/17) (0.5 hours)
23) The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (NS) (9.5) (3/28) (~70+ hours)

April:

24) Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment (PC) (8.5) (4/7) (~5.5 hours)
25) Hyper Light Drifter (PS4) (8.0) (4/9) (~8 hours)
26) Gekido Advance: Kintaro's Revenge (GBA) (7.5) (4/16) (~3 hours)
27) Vanquish (PS3) (8.5) (4/17) (~7 hours)
28) Journey (PS3) (6.0) (4/19) (~2 hours)
29) GunForce (SNES) (4.0) (4/22) (~20 minutes)
30) GunForce 2 (ARC) (7.0) (4/23) (~30 minutes)
31) GunForce: Battle Fire Engulfed Terror Island (ARC) (6.0) (4/23) (~20 minutes)
32) Mighty Final Fight (NES) (8.5) (4/29) (~30 minutes)

May:

33) Final Fantasy V (SFC) (6.0) (5/1) (~33 hours)
34) Super Adventure Island (SNES) (7.0) (5/2) (~1 hour)
35) Dragon Spirit: The New Legend (NES) (7.5) (5/3?) (~30 minutes)
36) Mighty No. 9 (PS4) (5.0) (5/6?) (~5 hours)
37) Contra III: The Alien Wars (Hard) (SNES) (8.5) (5/11) (~1 hour)
38) Operation C (GB) (7.5) (5/22) (~1 hour)

June:

39) Super Dodge Ball (NES) (9.5) (6/1) (~15 minutes)
40) Bare Knuckle III (GEN) (7.5) (6/3) (~1 hour)
41) Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES) (9.5) (6/5) (~30 minutes)
42) Wizards & Warriors X: Fortress of Fear (GB) (4.0) (6/8) (~1 hour)
43) Castlevania: The Adventure (GB) (3.5) (6/9) (~1 hour)
44) Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King (PC) (8.0) (6/15) (~8.5 hours)
45) Streets of Rage (GEN) (9.0) (6/17) (~45 minutes)
46) Ghouls 'N Ghosts (GEN) (6.5) (6/17) (~4 hours)
47) Contra: Hard Corps (GEN) (8.5) (6/18) (~50 minutes)
48) Mighty Gunvolt Burst (NS) (7.5) (6/23) (~3 hours?)
49) Exile's End (PC) (8.0) (6/24) (~5 hours)

July:

50) Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (PS4) (8.5) (7/1) (16h53m)
51) Pharaoh Rebirth+ (PC) (8.0) (7/3) (7 hours)
52) Jackal (NES) (9.0) (7/9) (45 minutes)
53) Golden Axe III (NES) (2.5) (7/9) (~45 minutes)
54) Rygar (NES) (7.0) (7/10) (~2 hours)
55) Faxanadu (NES) (8.0) (7/14) (~6 hours)
56) Tekken 3 (PSX) (6.0) (7/24) (~20 minutes)
57) Horizon: Zero Dawn (PS4) (8.5) (7/30) (38h16m)

August:

58) Contra: The Alien Wars (GB) (3.5) (8/1) (~30 minutes)
59) Super Smash Bros. (N64) (8.0) (8/6) (~20 minutes)
60) Battletoads (Japan) (NES) (7.5) (8/10) (~40 minutes)
61) Castle of Dragon (NES) (2.5) (8/10) (~1 hour)
62) The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (NES) (3.0) (8/10) (~30 minutes)
63) Strider (NES) (6.5) (8/11) (~2 hours)
64) Commando (NES) (3.5) (8/11) (~1 hour)
65) Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa (NES) (6.5) (8/12) (~1h30m)
66) Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (GEN) (4.0) (8/12) (~1 hour)
67) Dragon Scroll: Yomigaerishi Maryuu (NES) (5.0) (8/13) (~4 hours)
68) Mega Man 8 (SAT) (7.0) (8/17) (~4 hours)
69) Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap (PS4) (8.0) (8/19) (4h42m)
70) Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (PS3) (6.5) (8/25) (~30 minutes)
71) Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth (DS) (7.5) (8/27) (25 hours?)
72) Daikatana (GBC) (6.5) (8/28) (~3 hours)
73) Bionic Commando (NES) (9.5) (8/30) (~1.5 hours)
74) Adventure Island II (NES) (6.5) (8/31) (~3 hours)

September:
75) The Mafat Conspiracy (NES) (5.0) (9/1) (~1.5 hours)
76) Snake's Revenge (NES) (8.0) (9/4) (~4 hours)
77) Ys: Memories of Celceta (VITA) (7.5) (9/4) (~25 hours?)
78) Skate or Die 2: The Search for Double Trouble (NES) (5.0) (9/7) (~2 hours)
79) 1943: The Battle for Midway (NES) (7.0) (9/9) (~2.5 hours)
80) Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom (ARC/360) (5.0) (9/9) (~1 hour)
81) Arkista's Ring (NES) (6.0) (9/9) (~1 hour)
82) Bad Dudes (NES) (4.0) (9/9) (~45 minutes)
83) G.I. Joe: The Atlantis Factor (NES) (7.0) (9/10) (~2 hours)
84) Target: Renegade (NES) (2.0) (9/10) (~1 hour)
85) Gyruss (NES) (8.5) (9/11) (~1 hour)
86) Renegade (NES) (3.5) (9/12) (~30 minutes)
87) Metroid: Samus Returns (3DS) (9.0) (9/18) (11h35m) (16h total time)
88) Rambo (NES) (4.5) (9/19) (~3 hours)
89) Return of Double Dragon (SFC) (8.0) (9/20) (~1 hour)
90) Wizards & Warriors (NES) (6.5) (9/21) (~1.5 hours)

I know my rating for Rambo might be higher than you'd expect, but hear me out. The game is actually a passable, if aggressively mediocre, action adventure game. You'll run around as Rambo, recreating your trip into 'Nam just like the second movie. It follows the plot really well, especially the part where you fight skeletons and robots. Man, I loved that part in the movies!

Anyway, kidding aside, most of the game is a giant navigation puzzle, and it's made more confusing when areas wrap around on each other, but they don't do so consistently; you can go left and loop around the same screen you were on, and immediately go right and be on a brand new screen. Plus, you can go north and south on markers indicating as such. That's not to hard to fathom, as lots of games do it, but combined with the above weirdness and some nondescript areas with the same enemies, and you'll be confused for quite a while.

Still, there's a rudimentary leveling system here, beating bosses gives you extra health, and you amass a stockpile of weapons, most of which are pretty helpful (and also weaker than your knife, ha!). And it's never too bad; checkpointing is somewhat forgiving and you've also got passwords if you're not sliding through with save states. Most enemies and bosses aren't very tough, but the last one can be without a full stock of health and potions.

It's not anything amazing. But it's amazingly weird and strangely ambitious for a licensed game. I can't really recommend it unless you're really curious about it. It's not as bad as its reputation suggests, at any rate.

EDIT: I finally gave in and bought a copy of Return of Double Dragon. It's typically cheaper than the US release, and it's considered to be the better version on top of that. I played through on hard. I also jacked up the number of continues, but didn't need to; I'd have finished with the default complement.

The primary change with this one is that it's a much more typical brawler. The NES games saw fit to add a lot of platforming elements, for good or for ill. This one, not at all. Some of the move set has changed, too. The cyclone kick is done by charging your meter over halfway by holding the L/R button. If not at halfway, you'll do a spinning backfist, and the maxed meter sees you go all rage-style on folks, knocking them down with one hit while it lasts. Also added is a block/counter move. It'll keep a lot of hits from connecting, but certain blows will also catch the enemy in an armlock, at which point you can smack them or toss them.

Honestly, though, the most effective move in the game will be your fists and good crowd management. Enemies (at least on Hard) block a ton, so to get them to stop blocking, you need to be at just the right distance. Your punch length is conveniently about right for this. It's also the quickest move you have, making it that much better for just flat-out not dying.

The best weapon in the game is the nunchucks. Once you get them, you'll rip through enemies. It's like easy mode. Too bad you can't keep it from area to area.

For my money, this is much better than the first two Final Fight games. It's a little slower, but it's also got a bit more combat variety, so it gets points in my book for that. It felt to me like Technos Japan was going downhill from here, though. Too bad, I loved their earlier stuff.

[bacteria]

In the last months i've played a lot of Red Alert 2 and also Yuri's Revenge; beaten on both sides; most of the way through Tiberium Sun at the moment, beaten Dune 2000 on two of the Houses, and working through the other games too in the genre; Red Alert 3, Tiberium Sun Firestorm, Emperor of Dune, C&C Generals and Zero Hour, etc. Awesome games. Every so often i'll run these and with these (and others not mentioned) can't get tired of them either. Bought an old i3 computer (and spare one) with Windows 7, to exclusively play these old games without issues.

[marurun]

Wow, hitting the RTS hard. How do you feel about stuff like Total Annihilation and Homeworld?

[Exhuminator]

For my money, this is much better than the first two Final Fight games

As much as I enjoy FF1 and FF2, I agree. Super Double Dragon is really great, especially co-op. I love all the different moves and martial arts animations. The slower pace lends a more tactical approach.

[PartridgeSenpai]

For my money, this is much better than the first two Final Fight games

As much as I enjoy FF1 and FF2, I agree. Super Double Dragon is really great, especially co-op. I love all the different moves and martial arts animations. The slower pace lends a more tactical approach.

Have you played Return of Double Dragon, the SFC release of SDD? The version we got in the West was actually a beta version. The Japanese version is actually done, so I wanna say the differences are it runs a bit better, the music is better, and there's an extra stage or two. I had a lot of fun playing through it with a friend a while back

[prfsnl_gmr]

1. Shantae 1/2 Genie Hero (Wii U)
2. Blek (iOS)
3. Bloo Kid 2 (3DS)
4. HarmoKnight (3DS)
5. 3D Fantasy Zone II W (3DS)
6. Fantasy Zone (SMS/3DS)
7. 3D Fantasy Zone Opa Opa Bros. (ARC/3DS)
8. Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa Opa (SMS/3DS)
9. 3D Classics Twinbee (NES/3DS)
10. Rainbow Bell a/k/a Twinbee (ARC/DS)
11. The Legend of Zelda:Breath of the Wild (Wii U)
12. The Guardian Legend (NES)
13. The Clash at Demonhead (NES)
14. The Goonies II (NES)
15. Day of the Tentacle Remastered (iOS)
16. Mario Kart 64 (N64/Wii U)
17. Drancia Saga (3DS)
18. Chain Blaster (3DS)
19. Color Commando (DS)
20. Ace Mathician (DS)
21. Jump Trials Supreme (3DS)
22. Dragon Quest VII (3DS)
23. Fairune II (3DS)
24. RBI Baseball (NES)
25. River City Tokyo Rumble (3DS)
26. Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara (Wii U)
27. Arkanoid vs. Space Invaders (iOS)
28. Device 6 (iOS)
29. Rez HD (360)

Rez remains on of my favorite games, even if I'm not that great at it. The HD version looks amazing. It is a triumph so art and sound direction.

[Exhuminator]

The Japanese version is actually done, so I wanna say the differences are it runs a bit better, the music is better, and there's an extra stage or two.

I wasn't aware of any of that actually. Sounds like Sarge bought the right version.

[Sarge]

It's not massively different, but you're right, it did get revised a bit more before releasing in Japan. Lemme see if I can find a list of differences...

Review from Double Dragon Dojo: http://doubledragon.kontek.net/games/sdd/rrodd.html

From a GameFAQs thread:

Super Double Dragon:

Knife takes 1/2 of your life
Bomb takes a full life
Flying kick only hits once
Different music arrangement
missing part of the last level

Return of Double Dragon:

Options menu allows to adjust difficult and continues
Flying kick does multiple hits
Bombs and knives do little damage, maybe in hard mode is does full damage?
Game is easier, even in hard mode?