Games Beaten 2013

[Balasubbie]

Monster Maulers - Arcade (MAME) *new*

Danke for the heads up. Never heard of it before, but it looks like a beast of a thing. I'll have to give it a crack sooner rather than later.

[Ack]

Thanks to ExedExes for suggesting Monster Maulers, which is more indisputable proof that Konami was in a class of its own in the first half of the 90s. A hybrid fighting game/beat em up, this one will munch your quarters and leave you enjoying every minute of it. Gorgeous sprite work, a great soundtrack, and some compelling art design (outside the player characters) make this one an easy one to recommend.

Those of you who enjoyed Monster Maulers might also want to check out Banpresto's Metamoqester, also known as Oni - The Ninja Master in Japan. It's another example of the "boss rush" style of arcade fighting games that we saw a few of in the 1990s. Here's a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La9fcoHjg78

1. Sniper Elite V2 (PS3)(TPS)
2. Teen Agent (PC)(Point and Click Adventure)
3. Alpha Protocol (PS3)(RPG)
4. Beneath A Steel Sky (PC)(Point and Click Adventure)
5. Imscared - A Pixelated Nightmare (PC)(Horror)
6. Ys III: Wanderers from Ys (SNES)(RPG)
7. Celestial Mechanica (PC)(Platformer)
8. Gravity Bone (PC)(First Person Adventure)
9. Secret of Mana (SNES)(RPG)
10. Lure of the Temptress (PC)(Point and Click Adventure)
11. Mario's Early Years: Fun With Numbers (SNES)(Edutainment)
12. CoD of Duty (PC)(FPS)
13. The Bard's Tale (PS2)(RPG)
14. The Great Circus Mystery, Starring Mickey and Minnie (SNES)(Platformer)

I've beaten this game on my own before, but my girlfriend and I decided to try out some co-op games, so we sat down with this one and ran through it one night in between competitive rounds of Pinball Dreams and some King of Dragons. If anything, it shocked her how quickly we beat it, though I'm glad I had the opportunity to share it with her, since she hasn't spent much time playing video games(not to say she hasn't played any at all, but it has never been a big focus in her life).

There is certainly some personal pride and joy to be gained from watching someone you care about steadily improve over the course of a shared gaming experience, and I noticed over the course of the evening her scores continually improved in each game. I'm glad I used this game to help ease her in to the spirit of gaming for the evening.

[Luke]

1. Batman Genesis
2. Golden Axe Sega CD
3. Streets if Rage Sega CD (I'm keeping the typo)
4. Streets of Rage 2
5. Super Mario Bros. 2 NES
6. TMNT Fall of the Foot Clan Gameboy
7. TMNT 2 The Arcade Game NES
8. TMNT Hyperstone Heist Genesis
9. Call of Duty Black Ops 360
10. Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis
11. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Genesis
12. Sonic CD Sega CD
13. Kung-Fu NES
14. Mega Man 2 NES
15. Out of This World snes
16. Flashback snes
17. Altered Beast genesis
18. Pit-Fighter genesis
19. Aladdin genesis
20. Aladdin snes
21. Ghosts n' Goblins nes, twice, *new*

Including several much needed blood pressure lowering breaks, it took me over nine hours to beat G&G twice to get the proper ending. I've done this twice now in my life, and both times it wasn't really "fun". The feeling of accomplishment: Very little. The sense of relief of turning of the NES: Satisfying.

The game is too damned much. It's exhausting, it's disorder, it's fudging difficult. The "game over" theme is stuck in my head and won't be leaving for days I fear. Not the bosses, but the red devil will haunt my dreams for months. And not skill but sheer luck helped me beat the game. I couldn't count how many times I took a leap of faith and landed on a ledge, only on one pixilated toe.

You've got to be a sucker for punishment to beat this game.

[AppleQueso]

Contraturation, Luke.

[Luke]

Contraturation, Luke.

I didn't notice the misspelling. I'm telling you, that game exhausted me.

I also played most of it like a little kid; sitting on the floor staring up at the screen.

[AppleQueso]

Contraturation, Luke.

I didn't notice the misspelling. I'm telling you, that game exhausted me.

I also played most of it like a little kid; sitting on the floor staring up at the screen.

Wow, I feel bad for your neck!

[alienjesus]

21. Ghosts n' Goblins nes, twice, *new*

You've got to be a sucker for punishment to beat this game.

Yeah, I can't stand that game. The Super Nintendo game is awesome though.

I wonder which side Ghouls n' Ghosts fall on the fun to unfair spectrum. So far Ghosts n Goblins and Ultimate Ghosts n Goblins definitely fell on the latter for me, but Super Ghouls n Ghosts was the former.

[AppleQueso]

21. Ghosts n' Goblins nes, twice, *new*

You've got to be a sucker for punishment to beat this game.

Yeah, I can't stand that game. The Super Nintendo game is awesome though.

I wonder which side Ghouls n' Ghosts fall on the fun to unfair spectrum. So far Ghosts n Goblins and Ultimate Ghosts n Goblins definitely fell on the latter for me, but Super Ghouls n Ghosts was the former.

Where do the Gargoyle's Quest and Maximo games fall?

[alienjesus]

21. Ghosts n' Goblins nes, twice, *new*

You've got to be a sucker for punishment to beat this game.

Yeah, I can't stand that game. The Super Nintendo game is awesome though.

I wonder which side Ghouls n' Ghosts fall on the fun to unfair spectrum. So far Ghosts n Goblins and Ultimate Ghosts n Goblins definitely fell on the latter for me, but Super Ghouls n Ghosts was the former.

Where do the Gargoyle's Quest and Maximo games fall?

Never played them. The Gargoyle's Quest games look pretty fun though.

[prfsnl_gmr]

I have completed Gargoyle's Quest (GB), and I have spent some time with both Gargoyle's Quest II (NES) and Demon Crest (SNES). all of the games are a lot of fun, but none of them are particularly difficult. They also play very, very differently from the "Ghouls 'n Ghosts" games, and despite the fact that the "Gargoyles Quest" and "Ghouls 'n Ghosts" games are related thematically, you really cannot a game in one series to a game in the other except on the most general terms. (Personally, I prefer the games in the "Gargoyle's Quest" series to the games in the "Ghouls 'n Ghosts" series...)

The Maximo games, on the other hand, are basically 3D Ghouls 'n Ghosts games. The first game is superior to the second, but both of them are fun and challenging. They are not nearly as grueling as Ghosts 'n Goblins (NES) (or Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts (SNES) for that matter), and I would consider them about as difficult as Ghouls 'n Ghosts (GEN).