Beaten in 2014

[Rickstilwell1]

Here are all the games I have beaten this year:

1. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - Arcade (Mega Play)
2. Puzzle Bobble 2 - Arcade
3. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater - PS1
4. Final Fantasy II - NES (English prototype translation on repro cartridge)
5. Final Fantasy III - NES (English fan translation on repro cartridge)
6. Golden Axe Warrior - SMS
7. Ys: The Vanished Omens - SMS
8. Golvellius: Valley of Doom - SMS
9. Double Dragon - SMS
10. Taz-Mania - SMS
11. Sonic Spinball - SMS
12. Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine - SMS
13. Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine - GG
14. Miracle Warriors: Seal of the Dark Lord - SMS
15. Sonic Triple Trouble - SMS [Hack]
16. Double Dragon - Genesis
17. The Great Waldo Search - Genesis
18. Phantasy Star - SMS
19. Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine - Genesis
20. Mr. Nutz - Mega Drive (Europe)
21. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers - Genesis
22. Ys III - Genesis
23. Crusader of Centy - Genesis
24. Fantastic Dizzy - Genesis
25. The Great Waldo Search - SNES
26. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers - SNES
27. Mr. Nutz - SNES
28. Kirby's Avalanche - SNES
29. Dragon Quest I & II - SFC
30. Final Fantasy II - SNES
31. Gex - Saturn
32. Sonic Jam - Saturn
33. Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World - SNES
34. Donkey Kong Land 2 - GB
35. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - N64
36. Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord - NES
37. Suikoden - PS1

NEW UPDATE
38. Duck Hunt - NES
39. R.C. Pro-Am - NES

[JSoup]

Normally we make the topics either on New Years Day or once it's New Years on the East Coast.
But any topic in a storm.

Still looking to see if I'm going to beat anything before the day is out. :D

[AceAerosmith]

1. Assassin's Creed IV:Black Flag (PS4) 01/01/14

[Ro-J]

1. Gauntlet: Dark Legacy (Xbox) 1/1
2. Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge (Xbox) 1/3
3. Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ (DS) 1/12
4. Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (GCN) 1/21
5. Kung-Fu Master (Atari 2600) 1/22
6. Kung Fu (NES) 1/23
7. Kung-Fu Master (Gameboy) 1/26
8. Vigilante (SMS) 1/31
9. Arkanoid: Doh It Again (SNES) 2/15
10. Contra (NES) 2/22
11. BreakThru (NES) 3/1
12. Commando (NES) 3/8
13. Teen Titans (GCN) 3/15
14. Shadow of the Colossus (PS2) March
15. Mercs (PS2 via Capcom Classics Collection) March
16. SonSon (PS2 vis Capcom Classics Collection) March
17. Ristar (Genesis) 4/18
18. Whiprush (Genesis)
19. Pitfall II (Atari 2600)

[Aussie2B]

1. Battle Clash (SNES) 1/2

Starting 2014 off right by blasting baddies with a bazooka over my shoulder. 8-) I had the urge to play some Super Scope games after years of not touching my Super Scope, so I bought some batteries and pulled it out. I've gotten up to the final battle in Battle Clash before, but I never put in the effort to finish it off so this is my first time beating the game.

[Bloodreign]

Darkstalkers/Vampire- PS2 Darkstalkers Collection with Phobos/Huitzil

Didn't take too long to beat the game with him as he's normally a boss character, but this version allows you to also be able to choose him or Pyron in the original game in the series. Also beat Vampire Savior on the same collection, secret version I unlocked, with Felicia, and Phobos. Been playing a bit almost every night trying to unlock art pieces, but all secret versions of Vampire Savior (Savior, Hunter 2, Savior 2, all upgrades) are opened and ready for play as I took the time one night after work and beat all 3 non-secret versions. The biggest differences between regular and secret, secret allows you use of all 18 characters, plus hiddens, the original arcade games don't (roster 15 due to CPS 2 limits) have an 18 character roster.

[Rickstilwell1]

2. Puzzle Bobble 2 - Arcade

I've played bits of this game also known as Bust-A-Move 2 for years on Nintendo 64, Playstation and Sega Saturn but this is the first time I have made sure I played every level of Puzzle Mode (including "Another World" with the post-game A <- -> A code) and all three difficulty settings of vs cpu mode. The version of MAME and the romset I used seemed to have a very slight frameskip applied but it wasn't enough to hinder the music or game. This game is a great improvement over the original arcade version of the first Puzzle Bobble, but it still fun to go back and play the previous title.

This was the last arcade game remaining in my backlog from last month, so it will probably be a while before any of my games on this list come from arcade platforms. I still plan to play games from last year's backlog on weekends to keep my progress fresh in my mind, but now on weekdays I can get into my full blown NES month. I'm working heavily on Final Fantasy II (English Prototype version), but it might not be the next completed game you see as it is quite long.

[Alpha2099]

Finished replaying Final Fantasy II on GBA last night. Completed both the main story and Soul of Rebirth bonus dungeon.

[Rickstilwell1]

3. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater - PS1

100% with every character. ugh that was annoying. This game had a nice soundtrack and was innovative for its time, but the play control is so imprecise (at least with this Pelican brand wireless controller I have). I kept missing the jumps required to get certain hidden tapes over and over again. Frustration like crazy. Then taking the time to do it with every character. That was overkill. The characters are all supposed to have even stats in the end but to me it seemed they still had differences. Some appeared to skate faster, some seemed to really do bad at turning.

[AceAerosmith]

1. Assassin's Creed IV:Black Flag (PS4) 01/01/14
2. Hellboy: The Science of Evil (PS3) 01/06/14

[Nionel]

Another year, another list...

1. World Heroes (PS2, 1/7)

Played via the World Heroes Anthology compilation. Easily the worst fighting game I have ever played. I moves slow, the sprites are ugly, and all in all the controls just don't feel as responsive as other fighting games of the time.

[Captain_N77]

JAN

Pikmin 3(WiiU)

I was really glad to get around to this one. I was a little worried about the fact that you'd be controlling 3 characters at once in the game, and that things might get a little complicated; that never really became an issue with the game for me. I think they did a really good job on this game and I cannot say enough how charming this game is.

[Nionel]

1. World Heroes (PS2, 1/7)
2. Ryse: Son of Rome (XBO, 1/8)

I was actually surprised by how much I enjoyed the game, though I did go in with fairly low expectations. The game isn't anything great by any means, but the combat reminded me a lot of the Arkham games and with the campaign clocking in at around 7 to 8 hours, it wasn't too much of a grind. The game is easily one of the better launch experiences on the system, but is likely to become forgotten once more software is available.

[lookouts]

Super Mario Land

[CastlevaniaDude]

Never participated in one of these before, but I've been beating a lot more games lately... So...

1. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Gen)
2. Castlevania - Harmony of Dissonance (GBA)
3. Adventure Island (NES)
4. Adventure Island 2 (NES)
5. I'm Kid Dracula (NES - Translation)
6. Kung Fu (NES)
7. River City Ransom (NES)
8. Metal Storm (NES)

[JSoup]

1. DmC Devil May Cry - [PSN] - 1/8/2014

Was surprised at how much I enjoyed this. Aside from being rather short and having some strange stuttering/lag issues, it's a pretty solid game. Beautiful to look at, amazing character animations & spot on voice work. The OST is something to hear as well, a strange mix of death metal, rave and dubsteb. I think I can recommend this.

[Nionel]

1. World Heroes (PS2, 1/7)
2. Ryse: Son of Rome (XBO, 1/8)
3. Mega Man X (PS2, 1/9)

Played via the Mega Man X Collection. Really don't have much to say here, I played and beat it on my SNES last year and here it is again courtesy of the MMX Collection I picked up from GameStop the other day. If you haven't already played it, you're probably not going to, but it's still one of my favorites on the SNES.

[fahlim003]

Cleared Pikmin on GameCube today with all 30 parts in 19 days with 369 pikmin left and 382 pikmin lost in battle. It seems it's the best ending and I suppose that's alright. I enjoyed this game on one hand and on the other would like to not bother with it again. I have no interest improving the number of days nor number of pikmin left/lost/total at the end, not for a long time anyway. It's a game I could see speed-running being popular with in order to optimize the parts route and while I do like that at times something about this game just doesn't do it for me. I have more hope for Pikmin 2 which I may try later this year.

[Nionel]

1. World Heroes (PS2, 1/7)
2. Ryse: Son of Rome (XBO, 1/8)
3. Mega Man X (PS2, 1/9)
4. Mega Man X2 (PS2, 1/9)
5. Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2014 (Steam, 1/9)

Mega Man X2 was a fine follow up to the first game, my biggest issue with it honestly is that the difficulty of other entries of the franchise just doesn't feel right with this one, perhaps it's because I've played the game a lot, but this is simply the easiest game, at least in my opinion, in the X or Classic series. While most people wouldn't complain about something like this, I feel it just takes away from the experience a little. The Mega Man games were never punishingly hard, but the series is known for at least offering a challenge to players, and I just don't feel that Mega Man X2 brings that challenge to the table. That aside, it's a fantastic game, the controls are spot on, it sounds great, and it's an easy game to just pick up and play in spurts of grind out the whole experience in one sitting.

Magic 2014 is a nice alternative to paper Magic for fans of the game. The AI can be a bit spotty at times, but the included decks are actually a lot of fun to play. The game features both a standard single player campaign, which tries to offer up more of a story this time around, as well as a sealed deck mode with allowed you to open some booster packs and build your own deck from a select pool of cards. If you can pick it up cheap, it's a great way to scratch that itch without the same investment that the real game requires, and online multiplayer is available for those who still want to be able to sling spells with another people. It's a solid game and is worth at least $5 if you can get it during a Steam sale, or whatever online gaming service you choose use.

[aryoshi]

So far:
-Faxanadu (NES)
-Sonic CD (Steam)

[Nionel]

1. World Heroes (PS2, 1/7)
2. Ryse: Son of Rome (XBO, 1/8)
3. Mega Man X (PS2, 1/9)
4. Mega Man X2 (PS2, 1/9)
5. Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2014 (Steam, 1/9)
6. Sonic Blast (GG, 1/10)
7. Sonic the Hedgehog: Spinball (GG, 1/10)

Sonic Blast is one of the better Sonic outings on the Game Gear, my only real fault with the game is that it, much like the other GG outings, lacks the sense of speed that the console Sonic games offered at the time. It's a decent game and is much better than other Sonic games on the platform like Sonic 2.

Sonic Spinball on the other hand, is still a game I just can't get into. While I like the level designs more than its Genesis counterpart, the game's physics are worse than the it's Genesis cousin and the game is still very slow and gets repetitive quickly. It's an okay game, if you're a fan of pinball, but I would imagine that the Game Gear could offer much better than this.

[Immutable]

Pizza Pop! (From a custom made, English-translated NES repro)

[Ace Comics]

01: 01/05/14 - PSN - Wonder Boy in Monster World
02: 01/10/14 - PSN - Monster World IV
03: 01/17/14 - PSN - Alex Kidd in Miracle World
04: 04/25/14 - PS3 - Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty
05: 05/09/14 - PS3 - Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
06: 08/22/14 - WiiU - Super Mario 3-D World
07: 09/01/14 - PS3 - Tales of Xillia

[JSoup]

1. DmC: Devil May Cry

2. Guacamelle!

I'll be honest, when I first started this, I was having flash back to bad flash game beat'em ups, like Shank. In reality, this is a damned amazing game. Getting the basics out of the way, it looks great, has a great (but small and repeatative) OST and controls about as well as anything. Getting to the meat, it's got that frustrating platformer thing going on (a particular part let my partner to say "This is some Super Meatboy shit right here.") without becoming unreasonable. I liked that, I really did. I highly recommend this game and all the DLC.

[fahlim003]

Two days ago I finished the 350th puzzle in Pandora's Box for Windows. Pretty good puzzle game and decent variety. I found a copy earlier last year and kept doing a couple puzzles every week. Most can be completed in a couple minutes while the last 3 trickster (boss) puzzles can take over 20 minutes each. There is also a Game of the Year edition which has 400 puzzles, which translates into an 8th boss area of 50 maximum puzzles - I may seek that out one day although in practicing some of the puzzles there's some replay here and plenty of time to do so.

[Collector_Gaming]

First game beaten for 2014

1. Lego Lord of the Rings 1/11 PC

Very interesting. I felt like this was one of the more serious lego games they made. Probably because it seems kinda hard to make a full of comedy lord of the rings game without losing the story ultimately.
Fun game regardless though 5/5

[Nionel]

1. World Heroes (PS2, 1/7)
2. Ryse: Son of Rome (XBO, 1/8)
3. Mega Man X (PS2, 1/9)
4. Mega Man X2 (PS2, 1/9)
5. Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2014 (Steam, 1/9)
6. Sonic Blast (GG, 1/10)
7. Sonic the Hedgehog: Spinball (GG, 1/10)
8. Mega Man X3 (PS2, 1/11)
9. Mega Man X4 (PS2, 1/11)
10. Super Mairo Land 2: The Six Golden Coins (GB, 1/12)

Mega Man X3 felt like a step up from X2, and with the added benefit of the version on the X Collection being based on the PSX/Saturn release, the audio was certainly much improved. The game still seemed to lack that real difficulty curve though, I mean, the game isn't too easy, but the difficulty just doesn't feel as balanced as others in the series. Overall I'm happy the game, and it's probably still one of my favorites in the series, it's just too bad that the actual SNES cart is so darn expensive.

Mega Man X4 is a turning point for the series, it's very obvious that Capcom stepped out the production values for this game with an all new graphics engine for the Playstation hardware, the audio is stepped up to true CD quality, the stages are much larger than the previous games in the series, the game has fully voiced anime cutscenes, and you finally have the option to play as Zero through the entire game. This game feels right, the difficulty is feels right, the game controls well, and this is all around one of the best experiences in the Mega Man X series, and arguably one of the best in the franchise as a whole. Honestly, it never really clicked with how much I liked this game until the last few years, but I can honestly say it's probably my favorite of the X games, simply from a gameplay standpoint, and you have to love that cheesy voice acting.

Mario Land 2 is that odd duck in the Mario family, Nintendo always did strange things with Mario games on the Gameboy and this one shows it the best. The levels are just crazy, though a mixed bag from a design standpoint, and while the game is fairly short and easy it can really be excused given that it was an early 90s Gameboy title and was meant to be played by kids on a car ride of something. The game play on this one is really solid and its honestly much better than the first Mario Land title, if you're a Mario fan and you're looking for something a little different, or you haven't experience this great title, definitely try it out, it worth it since it can be found fairly cheap.

[Captain_N77]

BEATEN IN 2014

JAN

1)Pikmin 3(WiiU)

2)Gradius III(SNES)

I finally sat down and beat this one on Normal settings. Granted, I did use the 30 lives code. The way I figure it, if you beat it without powerup or infinited lives/continue codes, it's legit; the 30 lives just keeps me from having to start over and over. Anyhow, the final boss was a bit of a trip. The game was such a ballbuster and you kind of expect the final boss to do the same... I really love the option to customize your loadout and the music is to die for.

[Ro-J]

1. Gauntlet: Dark Legacy (Xbox) 1/1
2. Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge (Xbox) 1/3
3. Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ (DS) 1/12

I bought Zombie BBQ years ago solely on the novelty of the title. I kind of written it off in my head as a gimmick game and didn't really give it much of a chance. To be honest, I don't think I played past the third level back then before my attention wondered elsewhere. Anyhow, I was looking through my DS library recently and decided to give it a solid try, and I'm glad I did. Although it gets a little repetitive at times, the game is a lot of fun, probably the best shooter I've played on the DS.....well it least lately, and the bosses are varied and interesting. Worth checking out.

[fahlim003]

After getting flogged by the final boss gauntlet for over an hour I finally cleared Scruge: Hive on Game Boy Advance. I played 90% of the game on my GBASP (AGS-101) but decided to finish it off on the Game Boy Player for GameCube, mostly since my L/R buttons are finicky on GBA. This is important in S:H since switching weapons and grappling items happens via L/R and often. I had 6500+ kills, 70% efficiency (or hit accuracy), and a rank of TRAINEE. Time is irrelevant since after 11 hours (or simply double digit hours in general) it begins to glitch up and minutes are no longer counted and the hour time doesn't seem to count properly. Not only but I've been working on this game for several years and every time I stopped it was very hard to get motivated to go back.

It's an axonometric / isometric perspective and is heavily influenced by Metroid - female bounty hunter fighting space creatures (in this case infectious parasites, so very similar to Metroid Fusion in that regard). It's a decent game but can get very repetitive and most often I did not feel like searching an entire area over again just because I missed 1 card key out of 9 needed to open a door to progress. The music is good (composed by Jake Kaufman) and the graphics are too however the combat is clunky. As you go further in the game you'll get more weapons and more variety in enemies. The enemy layout per room is generally fair but by the end you'll need to switch weapons several times per room. Adding to matters is the fact you are immobile when firing any projectile weapon meaning if you're in a bad spot and get hit there's nothing you can do. Plus you cannot change the direction of fire unless you stop firing and then re-orient. The adjustment the developers included to compensate is enemies clustered together of a similar type can be chained so long as one in range is shot. The issue here is in large rooms with spread out enemies accuracy is very important. The final point I'd add is the saving, which is forced due to the protagonist being infected and save rooms/points being the only place to reset the infection. All enemies drop health but there is nothing to circumvent the infection percentage so you'll be saving a lot. This is in contrast to the earlier mention final boss run which consists of 3 different enemies where the first 2 spawn small enemies but they don't drop any health and you're up against the clock. The 3rd final boss is fairly easy once you've got the hang of it but one mistake and you've got to redo all 3 over again. I don't think I'll be going through this any time soon to unlock the further difficulties and boss rush and as such there is little to go back to here pardon increased challenge. For the price ($10 CIB) it was a good Metroid clone, imperfect at that. Not sure how the DS version stacks up but it too is likely low priced.

[Nionel]

1. World Heroes (PS2, 1/7)
2. Ryse: Son of Rome (XBO, 1/8)
3. Mega Man X (PS2, 1/9)
4. Mega Man X2 (PS2, 1/9)
5. Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2014 (Steam, 1/9)
6. Sonic Blast (GG, 1/10)
7. Sonic the Hedgehog: Spinball (GG, 1/10)
8. Mega Man X3 (PS2, 1/11)
9. Mega Man X4 (PS2, 1/11)
10. Super Mario Land 2: The Six Golden Coins (GB, 1/12)
11. Mega Man X5 (PS2, 1/13)
12. World Heroes 2 (PS2, 1/14)

Ah, X5, sad to say but this is quite a step down from the previous games in the series. While the core gameplay remains largely the same, everything else just feels like a step back from X4. We loose the voiced over animated cutscenes, in favor of static images with text, the levels aren't nearly as long as X4's levels, and my biggest problem with the game is the drop off in difficulty. When the player dies, all weapon energy is recovered, which makes conserving weapon energy for boss fights pointless, when you use a continue you start from the level's most recent check point instead of having to play the level over, and the biggest issue is one of the new armor sets, the Gaea Armor. Gaea Armor is easily the most broken thing in the game, in exchange for a little mobility, giving up range on X's standard buster shots, and the ability to use your acquire weapons, you get invulnerability from spikes and insanely fast charging buster shots, literally to the point were you can rapid fire charged shots, making boss fights (including the final boss) a joke. I have to say this is easily th worst in the series so far, and it's been awhile since I played X6, but here's hoping it's better than this one.

World Heroes 2 was, honestly, a nice step up from the first game. Most of my issues with the previous title have been address with this sequel, the control now feel much tighter and the gameplay feels more fluid, the presentation has also received a nice step up with the audio receiving a nice upgrade when compared to its predecessor. Overall this was a decent fighter, no where near the some of the other fighters of the period, but I could easily see playing this again, and unlike with the first game, I'm actually looking forward to playing WH2: Jet.

[Alpha2099]

Two days ago I finished the 350th puzzle in Pandora's Box for Windows. Pretty good puzzle game and decent variety. I found a copy earlier last year and kept doing a couple puzzles every week. Most can be completed in a couple minutes while the last 3 trickster (boss) puzzles can take over 20 minutes each. There is also a Game of the Year edition which has 400 puzzles, which translates into an 8th boss area of 50 maximum puzzles - I may seek that out one day although in practicing some of the puzzles there's some replay here and plenty of time to do so.
Holy Moses. I haven't played that game in 15 years. You just took me back to early childhood.

On topic, today I just beat Game Dev Tycoon. Fun game, but the learning curve is pretty steep. Once you crack it, it gets more manageable.

[AceAerosmith]

1. Assassin's Creed IV:Black Flag (PS4) 01/01/14
2. Hellboy: The Science of Evil (PS3) 01/06/14
3. Dead Space 2 (PS3) 01/14/14

[Captain_N77]

JAN

1)Pikmin 3(WiiU)
2)Gradius III(SNES)

3)Double Dragon(WiiU VC)
Used the save state feature on the VC after a while, as it was getting frustrating to constantly breeze through the first 4 levels and then gamble on the seemingly random blocks popping out of the wall and stealing health. I think, beyond a few silly choices like the block thing, that the game has aged quite well. I love the feel of the game and, as is often the case it seems, I dug the music.

[Nionel]

1. World Heroes (PS2, 1/7)
2. Ryse: Son of Rome (XBO, 1/8)
3. Mega Man X (PS2, 1/9)
4. Mega Man X2 (PS2, 1/9)
5. Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2014 (Steam, 1/9)
6. Sonic Blast (GG, 1/10)
7. Sonic the Hedgehog: Spinball (GG, 1/10)
8. Mega Man X3 (PS2, 1/11)
9. Mega Man X4 (PS2, 1/11)
10. Super Mario Land 2: The Six Golden Coins (GB, 1/12)
11. Mega Man X5 (PS2, 1/13)
12. World Heroes 2 (PS2, 1/14)
13. World Heroes 2 Jet (PS2, 1/15)

Two steps forward, one step back. The presentation was much improved, and with the added moves and rebalancing of the combat system, this game does have some advantages over its predecessor. However, the new AI system is very unbalanced and the computer will continually spam priority moves in combat to make sure that you can't get close enough to do any real damage, however, some matches are the complete opposite, where the AI will do basically nothing and let you walk though the like nothing. It's not a big thing, but it's irritating and can really kill the game experience. Otherwise, the series continues to improve, but it still can't stand with the likes of Street Fighter, but we'll see how it concludes in the final game, World Heroes Perfect.

[drwily008]

I beat Dead Rising 3 for Xbox One, several times!

[Nionel]

1. World Heroes (PS2, 1/7)
2. Ryse: Son of Rome (XBO, 1/8)
3. Mega Man X (PS2, 1/9)
4. Mega Man X2 (PS2, 1/9)
5. Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2014 (Steam, 1/9)
6. Sonic Blast (GG, 1/10)
7. Sonic the Hedgehog: Spinball (GG, 1/10)
8. Mega Man X3 (PS2, 1/11)
9. Mega Man X4 (PS2, 1/11)
10. Super Mario Land 2: The Six Golden Coins (GB, 1/12)
11. Mega Man X5 (PS2, 1/13)
12. World Heroes 2 (PS2, 1/14)
13. World Heroes 2 Jet (PS2, 1/15)
14. Skylanders: Giant (3DS, 1/16)

A surprisingly solid game, the added ability to jump (and even double jump) adds platforming to the game and really helps the game be more enjoyable than its console couterpart. The game isn't too long, taking about five hours for the initial playthough, and levels are short which allows the game to easily to played in quick spurts during car rides or when you just need to kill ten or fifteen minutes. Overall, it's worth it if you can find the game for a cheaper price, but it's certainly not worth the game's $60 SRP.

[Captain_N77]

JAN

1)Pikmin 3(WiiU)
2)Gradius III(SNES)
3)Double Dragon(WiiU VC)

4)Sinistron(TG16)

HOLY COW what a hard game. Probably the hardest shmup I've ever finished. Thank the maker for infinite continues. The game even gave me a mild case of "Street Fighter" thumb, which I haven't had in a while.

Sinistron is a pretty solid game really. The crushing difficulty almost made me give up on a few occasions. The first 3 levels are pretty much a breeze, but level 4 onward are a pain. The graphics are pretty nice and the game has some interesting gameplay mechanics. The coolest thing is the spear thing on the front of the ship. It damages enemies and absorbs fire, but with a weapon powerup collected it can be opened like a pincer and spread your fire. Collect another and it will open wider and spread your fire wider. However, the wider it opens, the more vulnerable the front of your ship is. Something else that's pretty cool is that each level has a checkpoint you reach. When you lose all your lives and select continue, you can choose to start the level over or continue at the checkpoint. Very cool option for a game this old.

[Nionel]

1. World Heroes (PS2, 1/7)
2. Ryse: Son of Rome (XBO, 1/8)
3. Mega Man X (PS2, 1/9)
4. Mega Man X2 (PS2, 1/9)
5. Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2014 (Steam, 1/9)
6. Sonic Blast (GG, 1/10)
7. Sonic the Hedgehog: Spinball (GG, 1/10)
8. Mega Man X3 (PS2, 1/11)
9. Mega Man X4 (PS2, 1/11)
10. Super Mario Land 2: The Six Golden Coins (GB, 1/12)
11. Mega Man X5 (PS2, 1/13)
12. World Heroes 2 (PS2, 1/14)
13. World Heroes 2 Jet (PS2, 1/15)
14. Skylanders: Giant (3DS, 1/16)
15. To the Moon (Steam, 1/17)

This one was not at all what I expected, but that's not a bad thing. The game has a fantastic story, and while only about 4 hours long, the quality more than makes up for it. A fantastic indy title, and worth every penny.

[Rickstilwell1]

4. Final Fantasy II - NES (English prototype translation on repro cartridge)

I completed the English prototype translation from a reproduction cartridge I ordered in 2009. While not as easy to understand as the fan translation, the prototype translation is still understandable enough to play through.

[Nionel]

1. World Heroes (PS2, 1/7)
2. Ryse: Son of Rome (XBO, 1/8)
3. Mega Man X (PS2, 1/9)
4. Mega Man X2 (PS2, 1/9)
5. Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2014 (Steam, 1/9)
6. Sonic Blast (GG, 1/10)
7. Sonic the Hedgehog: Spinball (GG, 1/10)
8. Mega Man X3 (PS2, 1/11)
9. Mega Man X4 (PS2, 1/11)
10. Super Mario Land 2: The Six Golden Coins (GB, 1/12)
11. Mega Man X5 (PS2, 1/13)
12. World Heroes 2 (PS2, 1/14)
13. World Heroes 2 Jet (PS2, 1/15)
14. Skylanders: Giant (3DS, 1/16)
15. To the Moon (Steam, 1/17)
16. World Heroes Perfect (PS2, 1/18)
17. The Simpsons: Road Rage (PS2, 1/19)

Well, we've reached the end. World Heroes Perfect is easily the best game in the series, which shouldn't be too surprising since it's the final game in the series. The game finally switched to a six button control layout after three games games, which is a very welcome change of pace since it gives the game much better overall control than the previous games in the franchise. Presentation is about on par with the previous game, with the exception of the opening and ending cut scenes, which look great. Sadly, despite it's improvements, the game still couldn't keep up with other games of the time, by the time this game came out in 1995 people had moved on to Street Fighter Alpha, Mortal Kombat 3, King of Fighters, or one of the various other fighting games that were available at the time. While Perfect was an okay game, it was sadly forgotten due to the flood of other fighting games that were available at the item and brought improvements to the series far too late to save it from becoming a relic of its time.

The Simpsons Road Rage, honestly, is not that bad of a game, considering the game's license and all. At its core, Road Rage is little more that Sega's Crazy Taxi with a Simpsons skin thrown on top of it, which honestly isn't a bad thing. The game just has you play as one of that a dozen Simpsons characters, each with their own vehicles, and six different areas you can play in. Outside of the game's mission mode, which features ten different missions, there really isn't a lot of content to the game, however I feel this game will appeal to old school gamers, because once you finish the missions the game just boils down to replaying the levels to beat your high scores and unlock new characters. Ultimately, whether or not you'll like this game depends on the style of gamer you are, if you're okay with replaying levels to top your high scores, then this game is for you, if that doesn't sound like much fun to you, then it's probably best to avoid this game. It's a solid game, the controls are okay and aside from overly long load times, which wasn't too uncommon in early PS2 titles, it's worth getting if you can find it on the cheap.

[AceAerosmith]

1. Assassin's Creed IV:Black Flag (PS4) 01/01/14
2. Hellboy: The Science of Evil (PS3) 01/06/14
3. Dead Space 2 (PS3) 01/14/14
4. Dead Space: Extraction (PS3) 01/19/14

[Nionel]

1. World Heroes (PS2, 1/7)
2. Ryse: Son of Rome (XBO, 1/8)
3. Mega Man X (PS2, 1/9)
4. Mega Man X2 (PS2, 1/9)
5. Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2014 (Steam, 1/9)
6. Sonic Blast (GG, 1/10)
7. Sonic the Hedgehog: Spinball (GG, 1/10)
8. Mega Man X3 (PS2, 1/11)
9. Mega Man X4 (PS2, 1/11)
10. Super Mario Land 2: The Six Golden Coins (GB, 1/12)
11. Mega Man X5 (PS2, 1/13)
12. World Heroes 2 (PS2, 1/14)
13. World Heroes 2 Jet (PS2, 1/15)
14. Skylanders: Giant (3DS, 1/16)
15. To the Moon (Steam, 1/17)
16. World Heroes Perfect (PS2, 1/18)
17. The Simpsons: Road Rage (PS2, 1/19)
18. Mega Man X6 (PS2, 1/21)

Ah, X6, this is one I wasn't really looking forward to getting around to, honestly. Sadly, at this point it's quite obvious that Capcom was just looking to rush out another Mega Man game for the PS1 before moving onto the PS2, and it really shows. Starting off, this game is more difficult that the previous entries in this series, honestly I had more trouble with this game on normal than I did with X5 on Nightmare, and the stage design and overall feel of the game just feels rushed. The only thing I felt didn't feel glossed over in this game was the music, as it sports a better soundtrack than the other Mega Man titles on the system. Overall, I'd say this is the low point for the PS1 entries in this series, of course we aren't at the low point of the MMX series as a while quite yet, but I'm sure we'll get there eventually. For this game, I'd say play it if you're a Mega Man fan, otherwise skip it, there are much better 2D platformers out there for the PS1 that deserve your attention more than this does.

[JSoup]

1. DmC: Devil May Cry
2. Guacamelee!

3. The Wolf Among Us: Episode 1 - Faith

So, I had done no prior reading about this game before I played it. All I knew is that it was a TellTale adventure game. Didn't know it was part of the Fables series, which I have never read. Turns out this is a prequel or sorts, so nothing to worry about. Didn't care for the main characters voice and the quick time events can do straight to hell, but otherwise good.

[Ro-J]

1. Gauntlet: Dark Legacy (Xbox) 1/1
2. Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge (Xbox) 1/3
3. Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ (DS) 1/12
4. Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (GCN) 1/21

Loved Jungle Beat. Slapping the bongos and clapping your hands to move Donkey Kong along felt strange at first but you quickly get used to the controls and the game becomes immensely enjoyable. Yes, your hands will hurt after a while, and yes, the main game is a little short and a bit too easy, but it's worth it and getting enough crests to unlock the bonus stages will keep you occupied for a while. I just wish more games utilized the bongos.

[Nionel]

1. World Heroes (PS2, 1/7)
2. Ryse: Son of Rome (XBO, 1/8)
3. Mega Man X (PS2, 1/9)
4. Mega Man X2 (PS2, 1/9)
5. Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2014 (Steam, 1/9)
6. Sonic Blast (GG, 1/10)
7. Sonic the Hedgehog: Spinball (GG, 1/10)
8. Mega Man X3 (PS2, 1/11)
9. Mega Man X4 (PS2, 1/11)
10. Super Mario Land 2: The Six Golden Coins (GB, 1/12)
11. Mega Man X5 (PS2, 1/13)
12. World Heroes 2 (PS2, 1/14)
13. World Heroes 2 Jet (PS2, 1/15)
14. Skylanders: Giant (3DS, 1/16)
15. To the Moon (Steam, 1/17)
16. World Heroes Perfect (PS2, 1/18)
17. The Simpsons: Road Rage (PS2, 1/19)
18. Mega Man X6 (PS2, 1/21)
19. Final Fantasy VII (Steam, 1/23)

This one was a nice throwback, it had been more than 15 years since I last played the game through to completion and it was great to revisit it. The Steam version has some nice polish to it, smoothing out those jaggy models from the original PSX release, and of course the game does boast quite the soundtrack as well. While not my favorite game in the series, I can certainly see why people love it so much and it was great to go back and play a game from a bygone era where it was still okay to crank out synthesized tunes, despite the CD format the game was released on, and not have the game feel as linear as most modern JRPGs can feel. I'm certainly glad I gave the old game another spin, and I recommend any fans of the genre do the same.

[Ro-J]

1. Gauntlet: Dark Legacy (Xbox) 1/1
2. Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge (Xbox) 1/3
3. Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ (DS) 1/12
4. Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (GCN) 1/21
5. Kung-Fu Master (Atari 2600) 1/22
6. Kung Fu (NES) 1/23

Before there was Redbox, before there was Blockbuster, before there was Erol's, there were mom and pop video stores, and they were awesome. Kung Fu (NES) was the very first video game I ever rented. The video store I visited only had 4 games to choose from (Kung Fu, Spelunker, and two others I forget) and I remember the lady behind the counter telling me that she was only putting out the games her son became tired with. It cost $3 per week. Anyhow, Kung Fu was one of the very first games I rented, and one of the very first games I ever beat. It holds a special place, and I am feeling nostalgic. I plan to beat all of the games\versions in the Spartan X series....and maybe watch Meals on Wheels and Le Petit Amour while I am at it.

Before revisiting Kung Fu, I decided to start with Kung-Fu Master for the Atari 2600. I've owned the game for years but never beat it previously. It's an impressive release for the 2600, but the poor hit detection, lack of a jump kick (or jumping forward for that matter), and a knife thrower that will occasionally machine gun 4 knives straight into you often left me frustrated. Regardless, if I am going to properly explore this series (if I can call it that) then I might as well start with the hardest version I own. It took a while, it took a long while, but finally, after what could have been my hundredth try, I screamed out loud in triumph, and I am not ashamed. It's been a long time since I've done that.

[Collector_Gaming]

*EDIT*

1. Lego Lord of the Rings 1/11 PC
2. Deadpool 1/25 PC
3. Amnesia A Machine for Pigs

Interesting game. Think Duke Nukem Forever but in a 3rd person beatem up shoot em up hybrid. Alot of profanity and gore and humor all over the place.
It has its annoyances like invisible walls that should be there (like when ever i am low on health and wanna leap over a ledge with a railing to get away from the action to regenerate I can't because a invisible wall holds me there) and sometimes the shooting aspect doesn't work as well as it should IMO.
Its a alright game with good humor. Makes me wonder how they do this with all this sex and profanity and such when Disney owns marvel. Whatever

3/5

Its getting late so i'll make this short and sweet.

Its not as scary as the first game. The visuals are great and the design is amazing in terms of sticking to the era its based on.
The game is fun. And adds some new elements to it like being outside in the world and such. And instead of demonic beings your dealing with something more along the lines of mutants.
Interesting.
Despite not being as scary as the first i'll still say 5/5

[Captain_N77]

1)Pikmin 3(WiiU)
2)Gradius III(SNES)
3)Double Dragon(WiiU VC)
4)Sinistron(TG16)

5)Ninja Spirit(TG16)
6)Double Dragon(SMS)

Ninja Spirit was pretty fun. The last few stages were a bit challenging, but it was really short. The last stage, where you have to fall down a corridor with dozens of ninjas that pretty much kill you with one hit was pretty cheap. I really liked the setting and boss designs in the game.

Double Dragon is still fun. I'd never played it on the SMS before. The hit detection/striking range is a bit off compared to the NES version. The graphics are definitely more colorful and detailed. Overall not as challenging as the NES version, but still a lot of fun.

[AceAerosmith]

1. Assassin's Creed IV:Black Flag (PS4) 01/01/14
2. Hellboy: The Science of Evil (PS3) 01/06/14
3. Dead Space 2 (PS3) 01/14/14
4. Dead Space: Extraction (PS3) 01/19/14
5. Brink (Security campaign) (PS3) 01/27/14

[Ro-J]

1. Gauntlet: Dark Legacy (Xbox) 1/1
2. Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge (Xbox) 1/3
3. Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ (DS) 1/12
4. Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (GCN) 1/21
5. Kung-Fu Master (Atari 2600) 1/22
6. Kung Fu (NES) 1/23
7. Kung-Fu Master (Gameboy) 1/26

Although Kung-Fu Master shares the same name as the original, this Gameboy exclusive is actually a sequel to the arcade game and not a straight port of the Kung-Fu Master we all love. It's still a side scrolling beat-em-up with numerous henchman that must be dispatched before reaching each level's boss. What's different is that there are six levels now, each scrolling from left to right. Locations vary from a warehouse to the top of a train to a factory. Gone is the knife thrower, but in his place is a guy with a whip\chain. The midgets, however, still populate the later levels. Interestingly, bad guys now occasionally drop icons that help you in your fight when picked up. The icons range from a potion that grants you extra health, a heart that replenishes your entire life bar, a trophy that gives you an extra life, and a bomb that can be thrown at your enemies. Also new to the series is the ability to continue (up to 5 times) once you lose all of your lives. You also have the ability to perform a back flip kick in addition to the usually punching and kicking. Unfortunately none of these makes the game better. In fact, it makes the game too easy (even on the hardest difficulty) and ultimately a let down. If you enjoyed the original Kung-Fu Master\Kung Fu\Spartan X then this game is definitely worth a try, but just be aware that you will beat the game the first or second time you turn it on.

[Nionel]

1. World Heroes (PS2, 1/7)
2. Ryse: Son of Rome (XBO, 1/8)
3. Mega Man X (PS2, 1/9)
4. Mega Man X2 (PS2, 1/9)
5. Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2014 (Steam, 1/9)
6. Sonic Blast (GG, 1/10)
7. Sonic the Hedgehog: Spinball (GG, 1/10)
8. Mega Man X3 (PS2, 1/11)
9. Mega Man X4 (PS2, 1/11)
10. Super Mario Land 2: The Six Golden Coins (GB, 1/12)
11. Mega Man X5 (PS2, 1/13)
12. World Heroes 2 (PS2, 1/14)
13. World Heroes 2 Jet (PS2, 1/15)
14. Skylanders: Giant (3DS, 1/16)
15. To the Moon (Steam, 1/17)
16. World Heroes Perfect (PS2, 1/18)
17. The Simpsons: Road Rage (PS2, 1/19)
18. Mega Man X6 (PS2, 1/21)
19. Final Fantasy VII (Steam, 1/23)
20. Digital: A Love Story (PC, 1/28)

I know I'm a little late to the party on this one, but I had only recently heard about Christine Love's games and decided to give them a try starting with her first release. The game is short, and pretty straight forward, but it was a nice story and it certainly has me interested in checking out her other efforts. This was a nice throwback to the text based games of early PC gaming, and its UI is even influenced by the Amiga. It's a free download and worth checking out for anyone who loves those old games, I recommend it.

[gunswordfist]

Around New Year's I was a part of a pass around the controller session in TMNT IV. I never got to the first time travel level before that as a kid. It was a blast.

[JSoup]

1. DmC: Devil May Cry
2. Guacamelee!
3. The Wolf Among Us: Episode 1 - Faith

4. Broken Age (Episode 1)

Good. I liked it. I agree with the major complains that the game is, thus far, too easy. Still, worth your money. Pay extra for the OST, trust me.

[Ro-J]

1. Gauntlet: Dark Legacy (Xbox) 1/1
2. Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge (Xbox) 1/3
3. Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ (DS) 1/12
4. Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (GCN) 1/21
5. Kung-Fu Master (Atari 2600) 1/22
6. Kung Fu (NES) 1/23
7. Kung-Fu Master (Gameboy) 1/26
8. Vigilante (SMS) 1/31

Considered a spiritual successor to Kung-Fu Master, Vigilante plays very much like it's inspiration. Five side scrolling stages filled with various henchman that need to be defeated before encountering a level boss. The level bosses are challenging at first, but once you figure out their patterns (or have the nun-chucks) they become fairly easy. Avoiding the huggers\chokers is probably the hardest part of the game as they seemingly walk through your punches\kicks and latch onto you like crazed leeches. If you jump at the right time they'll walk past you, but if you miss your timing they'll drain your energy fast. Vigilante is by no means a good game, and I wouldn't recommend it to anybody, but it was interesting to see the influences Kung-Fu Master had on it.

[Immutable]

Kirby's Adventure (NES)

[Alpha2099]

Finished the SNES port of Wizardry I yesterday -- largely thanks not just to a translated ROM, but one that tweaked the gameplay to make it more manageable. Decent game. It's nice to take a peek into the early days of video game RPGs, and also to see how far the genre has come in 30 years of gaming.

[Captain_N77]

JAN

1)Pikmin 3(WiiU)
2)Gradius III(SNES)
3)Double Dragon(WiiU VC)
4)Sinistron(TG16)
5)Ninja Spirit(TG16)
6)Double Dragon(SMS)

7)Phalanx(SNES)
Phalanx was a game that I never finished as a kid. I remember we rented it and had a good time with it, but aside from the insane/awesome cover art, it just didn't really grab me. I've had it in my collection for probably about 10 years now, but only the other day did I really sit down and apply myself to it. After a few tries I was able to finish it on Easy, but had to finish it on Normal to consider myself actually "beating" it. After a while I was able to get to the 7th stage, then the 8th and final stage before using all my continues. From that point I started to use the level select code, which only let's you go as high as the 5th level. Well, I failed to finish it last night. So today, I had about an hour before my wife and I left for the weekend for a church retreat. I thought, why not give it a go since I actually enjoy the game(as opposed to being somewhat unimpressed with it as a kid). Surprisingly enough I went all the way from the 5th level all the way to the finish without having to continue. I even had 3 lives in reserve when finishing it.

I don't know exactly why I've found the game so engaging this time around, but did not so much as a kid. I think that beyond the very solid controls and hit detection, I'm particularly impressed with the powerup selection and usage. There are about 4 or 5 main weapon powerups, as well as about 3 different missile powerups, as well as satellite and energy refills to be found. Each of the main weapon powerups works really well if you are able to fully upgrade them(3 levels I think). You can store 3 at a time, though when you die you lose the one you had equipped and the remaining one or two will be taken down a level in power. Seems like a nice trade off. Also, there are three levels of speed for your starship that you can easily adjust on the fly with a simple button press. To top it off, the button layout is completely customizable.

There really isn't much story to the game. It's your typical "bad guys are here, go destroy them"-kind of thing. The graphics are pretty subdued, with a lot of earthy tones and enemies that are mixtures of bio/geo/mechanical thingies. Each mission starts out with a simple shot of your pilot(a very cool anime-looking pilot) and the name of the level. My two favorites are level 1 which starts out above the clouds/smog, then descends to above a very dreary, industrial, Courascant-looking city; the other favorite is level 6 or 7, which I think was called Advertise, which surely enough is set in an outerspace asteroid field with neon signs all over the place. The music is a nice touch as well. It has that sort of genric, late 80s/early 90s game music that really takes me back.

It's really hard for me to believe that I enjoyed Phalanx this much, as I had written it off so long ago. I more or less bought it as a time-waster with gnarly cover art. I went back to it to itch the shmup scratch I've been feeling the past year or so. Turns out I had a blast with it.

[Rickstilwell1]

5. Final Fantasy III - NES (English fan translation on repro cartridge)


I finally cleared a legit run of this game. And with this, I have finally gotten my money's worth out of the four repro's I bought from gamereproductions.com. After playing the first two NES Final Fantasy titles then playing this one, I don't understand Kupomogli's prior mention of the game being too slow. In comparison to the first two this is about the same speed as long as you make sure to turn the speed up to 8 instead of down to 1. This game fixed a lot of things that annoyed me about the first two. Especially the introduction of auto re-targeting.

I did run into a funny glitch in Eureka though. I fought a battle with an M. Knight, Karateka, Warlock, and Shaman then tried to use Exit afterward. It said I couldn't teleport from there. When I returned to the map I noticed a different character was in front. After I cycled through I realized my M. Knight was no longer in the party. He had turned into a Conjurer without un-equipping his weapons or armor. He still had a skill level of 35 that the M. Knight had instead of 1. So I saved this glitch in my second slot before changing back and continuing the game in slot 1. When I changed him back to an M. Knight I noticed something else. The M. Knight skill level was back to 1 while the level 35 skill was stuck with the conjurer. The original conjurer had not been used so the skill level had been 1. So I believe what happened was that the stats for the two jobs swapped with each other. Imagine someone who could use both summon magic and katanas. There he is. I don't know if anyone else had this happen before or not. If I can't ever replicate the cause of the glitch, at least I have a save to show for it. In the end I figured it didn't matter for my legit run because I would be changing into a Ninja soon anyway.

[Alpha2099]

Finished a ROM-hack of the GBA version of Final Fantasy V. I wanted to play it because then I could say I'd beaten each of the first seven FF titles. It's a decent game, and the ROM-hack allowed for even more customization than the base game does. The story is weak, though. I just never felt a strong attachment to what was going on, unlike other titles. I'm not sure how likely I am to play it again, or at the very least I'll say it's going to be a while before I think about doing so. Not my favorite in the series, but I'm glad I played it.

[Rickstilwell1]

6. Golden Axe Warrior - SMS

An action adventure very much like the first Zelda. This was my first time playing it. Challenge-wise I would say the majority of it is easier than the first Zelda.

[wfnjstallion]

1. Resident Evil 6 - PS3 - Jake and Sherri campaign

[Captain_N77]

JAN

1) Pikmin 3(WiiU)
2) Gradius III(SNES)
3) Double Dragon(WiiU VC)
4) Sinistron(TG16)
5) Ninja Spirit(TG16)
6) Double Dragon(SMS)
7) Phalanx(SNES)

FEB
8) Thunder Spirits(SNES)

Rather enjoyable game, but it took a little getting used to. My two main issues with the game were the graphics and the lack of true auto-fire. A lot of shmups don't have an auto-fire, but this game really could have used one in my opinion. No real charge weapons, so you are constantly firing through all 8 levels. It's also one of those games where you really need to keep firing even when there is a break in enemies since it is so easy to get bottled up or have enemies quickly pop up out of nowhere suddenly. As far as the graphics go they really aren't bad, it's just that it is so easy to lose track of your ship with some of the backgrounds, especially the first and second stage. The second stage, which is a fire/lave stage, really is a pain on the ol peepers. The background has a very distorted, wavy look to it to simulate the apparent heat of the stage. I guess it gets the point across, but man is it tough to look at.

But I don't want it to seem that I'm just complaining about the game. As I said, it is pretty fun. I liked the weapons and powerups. It controls really well. And it's always great when a game like this let's you swap between weapons and change up your speed. The bosses were pretty cool and not very challenging. I kind of like how Thunder Spirits and other shmups will make the real challenge getting to the boss, and not so much the boss itself. I really felt that the challenge was spot-on with this one. It was difficult for me to fail quite a few times, all the while I could see myself inching along to the finish line. No ridiculous or absurd difficulty like R-Type or Sinistron.

[AceAerosmith]

1. Assassin's Creed IV:Black Flag (PS4) 01/01/14
2. Hellboy: The Science of Evil (PS3) 01/06/14
3. Dead Space 2 (PS3) 01/14/14
4. Dead Space: Extraction (PS3) 01/19/14
5. Brink (Security campaign) (PS3) 01/27/14
6. Warhammer 40000: SpaceMarine (PS3) 02/04/14

[Rickstilwell1]

7. Ys: The Vanished Omens - SMS

This game was just ok in my book. It is kind of dull in comparison to some others (at least this version) but the events that took place and equipment collecting was interesting enough.

[Nionel]

1. World Heroes (PS2, 1/7)
2. Ryse: Son of Rome (XBO, 1/8)
3. Mega Man X (PS2, 1/9)
4. Mega Man X2 (PS2, 1/9)
5. Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2014 (Steam, 1/9)
6. Sonic Blast (GG, 1/10)
7. Sonic the Hedgehog: Spinball (GG, 1/10)
8. Mega Man X3 (PS2, 1/11)
9. Mega Man X4 (PS2, 1/11)
10. Super Mario Land 2: The Six Golden Coins (GB, 1/12)
11. Mega Man X5 (PS2, 1/13)
12. World Heroes 2 (PS2, 1/14)
13. World Heroes 2 Jet (PS2, 1/15)
14. Skylanders: Giant (3DS, 1/16)
15. To the Moon (Steam, 1/17)
16. World Heroes Perfect (PS2, 1/18)
17. The Simpsons: Road Rage (PS2, 1/19)
18. Mega Man X6 (PS2, 1/21)
19. Final Fantasy VII (Steam, 1/23)
20. Digital: A Love Story (PC, 1/28)
21. Don't Take it Persoally, Babe, it Just Ain't Your Story (PC, 2/4)

The second of Christine Love's visual novels, I enjoyed this one a bit more than Digital and I've got to say it's due in large part to the extra polish the game has, as this one is a full on visual novel. The writing was much more enjoyable than the first game and the story offers a few branching options, which is always a nice touch in games like these. If you're a fan of visual novels, her first two games are available as free downloads and I encourage you to look into them, they're well worth and only take about two to three hours to finish.

[Rickstilwell1]

8. Golvellius: Valley of Doom - SMS

Another adventure knocked off my play que in the same day! I'm surprised. I liked this one a little bit more than Ys but it was still tedious in the beginning. Once you get the hang of it, this game is a breeze. It uses the old password save style instead of a battery. To me it's still no match for Zelda.

[MetalFRO]

I don't have near the time to dedicate to gaming as I'd like, but I have bested a couple games this year so far!

1. Galaga Arrangement (PSP) 1/31
2. Ducktales Remastered (Wii U) 2/4

I'm still plugging away at FF7 on PSX, though I haven't picked it up in a couple months because I've been digging on the Wii U lately, but I'll get back to it soon. I'm hoping to be able to put Super Mario Bros. U on this list shortly as well!

[Rickstilwell1]

9. Double Dragon - SMS
10. Taz-Mania - SMS
11. Sonic Spinball - SMS
12. Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine - SMS

With these games I finally have 10 Sega Master System games on my future shopping list. I'll need to get the system itself at that point too as I have just been using my Genesis to play them.

With Double Dragon it took me three attempts to complete it before learning how the continue system works and applying my strategy to that. I am much more skilled at the game than I used to be.

Taz-Mania was a walk in the park. It looks kind of cool, but yawn!

Sonic Spinball (8-bit) is ok but the physics are really crazy and nowhere near as accurate as the Genesis version. In some aspects it seems the difficulty is toned down quite a bit to make up for it even on normal mode.

Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean machine is a solid port and is just as fun as the Genesis version.

[Neb6]

Section Z - arcade.

Definitely a coin-eater!


It would be awesome if someone would do a remix of the high score table music.

[JSoup]

1. DmC: Devil May Cry
2. Guacamelee!
3. The Wolf Among Us: Episode 1 - Faith
4. Broken Age (Episode 1)

5. The Wolf Among Us: Episode 2 - Smoke & Mirrors

Much more involved than the first episode. I like a game that's got decent exposition.

[Captain_N77]

JAN

1) Pikmin 3(WiiU)
2) Gradius III(SNES)
3) Double Dragon(WiiU VC)
4) Sinistron(TG16)
5) Ninja Spirit(TG16)
6) Double Dragon(SMS)
7) Phalanx(SNES)

FEB
8) Thunder Spirits(SNES)

9) Golden Axe II(GEN)
10) Disney’s Aladdin(GEN)

Finished both of these today. Golden Axe II was pretty fun, but nothing spectacular. Aladdin was much more enjoyable and frustrating. Overall a really nice game, but some of the later levels have some frustrating, gimmicky kind of elements. Beyond that, it was a real joy to play. The animation was great and it was cool to hear the classic Aladdin songs in 16 bit glory.

[AceAerosmith]

1. Assassin's Creed IV:Black Flag (PS4) 01/01/14
2. Hellboy: The Science of Evil (PS3) 01/06/14
3. Dead Space 2 (PS3) 01/14/14
4. Dead Space: Extraction (PS3) 01/19/14
5. Brink (Security campaign) (PS3) 01/27/14
6. Warhammer 40000: SpaceMarine (PS3) 02/04/14
7. Mini Ninjas (PS3) 02/08/14

[Alpha2099]

Just finished Dragon Quest V. I was using a translated copy of the SNES game. I'm probably not going to bother with the bonus dungeon, though.

Having only now played the first 5 Dragon Quest titles, I have to say that #5 is the best of them. The graphics finally looked halfway decent, and the gameplay was pretty solid with only a few minor gripes. I like the ability to catch and train monsters to fight with you because it adds not only to in-game depth, but to replayability as well.

I think I'll take a break from RPGs for a while, maybe get back to Civ V. But when I return to RPGs, I will likely go straight to Dragon Quest VI to see if it is as good or better than DQ5.

[Leo_A]

1. New Super Mario U
2. New Super Luigi U
3. New Super Mario Bros. DS (My save from 2006 only had 2/3 stars which I've now rectified)