Beaten in 2019

[Cornelius]

1) Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance - GCN - 01/05

I don't finish a lot of games these days, but my son and I recently finished Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance on GCN. Pretty fun game. He played the archer character (as an archer) and I played the fighter. Archery was pretty clunky. Son was bummed that he leveled up slower, and we thought it was going to be longer, so wasted quite a bit of time deciding on the best stuff to keep and sell, when it turned out we never got the chance to sell again.

Started part 2 yesterday on ps2, and my first impression is that they made some minor improvements that make a big difference. (aiming and map controls for starters)

[Aussie2B]

1. Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Dancing Museum (N64) 1/7

I don't know if there's a longer mode that may have more of an ending than just credits, but in trying this game and the mat out, I saw the credits roll multiple times over as I played every song available in the regular single-player mode on Normal difficulty. So I'm counting that as beaten. Looking through the manual, I see there are a bunch more songs that can be unlocked, but I'll save that for another day since I was never planning on getting invested in this right now anyway.

[Cornelius]

1. Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Dancing Museum (N64) 1/7

I don't know if there's a longer mode that may have more of an ending than just credits, but in trying this game and the mat out, I saw the credits roll multiple times over as I played every song available in the regular single-player mode on Normal difficulty. So I'm counting that as beaten. Looking through the manual, I see there are a bunch more songs that can be unlocked, but I'll save that for another day since I was never planning on getting invested in this right now anyway.
Whoa, I never knew there was a ddr game on n64! That's cool.

[AceAerosmith]

1. Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal (PS2) 01/09/19
2. Onimusha 3: Demon Siege (PS2) 03/12/19
3. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (The Nathan Drake Collection) (PS4) 03/20/19
4. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (The Nathan Drake Collection) (PS4) 04/01/19

[Cornelius]

1) Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance - GCN - 01/05
2) The Last of Us - PS3 - 01/10

This was a great game. I was eager to resume playing whenever possible. I really enjoyed replaying certain sections to do a better job, and yet other times I just got through parts because I wanted to continue the story, and didn't have regrets. I did miss some things that really made me want to re-play at the time, but now that I've finished, I'm just not ready to revisit the bleak. I get that way with bleak shows, too, just have to stop for a while.

[gbpxl]

1/15 - Advance Wars regular campaign beaten

[Cornelius]

1) Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance - GCN - 01/05
2) The Last of Us - PS3 - 01/10
3) Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap - Switch - 01/16

Fun game. I went through it pretty fast and used a guide. Overall pretty easy, and has me wondering about the SMS game's difficulty, so I'm hooking that up to try shortly.

[WulfeLuer]

1) Tales of Graces f (PS3)

Since I fried my PS3 and 360 (yay old power strips) I'm going through and starting fresh on my PS3 library. This is one still a lot of fun, and having a proper HD screen to look at helps the experience immensely. Far and away my best run, with a lot more stops for all the little extras and secrets that Tales does and actually using the tools and resources somewhat competently now.

[otaku]

1) Tales of Graces f (PS3)

Since I fried my PS3 and 360 (yay old power strips) I'm going through and starting fresh on my PS3 library. This is one still a lot of fun, and having a proper HD screen to look at helps the experience immensely. Far and away my best run, with a lot more stops for all the little extras and secrets that Tales does and actually using the tools and resources somewhat competently now.

honestly not much I keep dabling in games like right now these-
tomb raider's latest games
call of cthulhu xbox one

but can't find the time to finish them thanks to adulting and much of my gametime is spent on mmos and overwatch with the wife

[Cornelius]

1) Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance - GCN - 01/05
2) The Last of Us - PS3 - 01/10
3) Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap - Switch - 01/16
4) Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance - GCN - 02/13

I don't think I've ever really played a tactical RPG. It was pretty fun. I played on Normal difficulty, but kind of wished I played Hard. Then again, I really felt compelled to do the battles 'perfectly' (not really, I know it goes way deeper than I really care to venture), and restarted some due to stupid mistakes that didn't really matter, so on Hard that might have been even worse. Anyway, thumbs up. Pretty sure I have the Wii sequel, so I'll probably play that next. Plus my son likes watching and contributing, because he remembers a lot of details about stats and movement that I sometimes overlook.

[Aussie2B]

1. Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Dancing Museum (N64) 1/7
2. Magic Knight Rayearth (GB) 2/21

Having heard how short this game is, I decided to start it up in earnest. I began yesterday and had it polished off early today, so I'm sure it only amounted to a few hours. I've beaten some very short RPGs that only took me around 10-12 hours, but this one takes the crown for the shortest RPG I've beaten. But it's a very simple, basic game, so the length appropriately suits the level of depth. Any more and it would've worn out its welcome. As a Rayearth fan, I enjoyed it for what it is, and it's nice to have another beaten game under my belt despite barely having time to play lately.

[WulfeLuer]

1. Tales of Graces f (PS3)
2. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (PS3)

Now that is a proper time-eater there! It's not perfect; has lots of little bugs that can get very irritating (including one that renders the main quest unplayable if you don't know about it) and has some of the usual open-world RPG issues. But damn if isn't still a fun ride. A lot of the concepts were pretty refreshing, the combat was rewarding, and abilities tended to synergize very well without having to min-max. It's a shame that the dev decided to do the corporate two-step and destroyed themselves.

[Aussie2B]

1. Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Dancing Museum (N64) 1/7
2. Magic Knight Rayearth (GB) 2/21
3. Sesame Street: The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (GBC) 2/23

This is hardly one to be proud of, haha. I was talked into playing this for a laugh during a hangout. I expected it to be mind-numbingly easy, so I put it on Hard, but that just left me wondering how much easier Easy could be. I blew through the whole thing in a matter of minutes.

So far, I'm three for three for licensed games. I gotta play some more normal games, haha.

[Aussie2B]

1. Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Dancing Museum (N64) 1/7
2. Magic Knight Rayearth (GB) 2/21
3. Sesame Street: The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (GBC) 2/23
4. Skate or Die: Bad 'N Rad (GB) 2/24

I've been doing a good job hammering out some games these last few days while I've had some free time and been hanging out with friends and family. This one was, by far, the biggest struggle, and even then, it doesn't seem like I got the best ending? I wouldn't have even realized it if I didn't want to rewatch the credits online and saw a scene I didn't get. I don't know if there's some kind of glitch going on or if there are multiple endings and I didn't meet the condition for the best, whatever that may be. There's barely any info on this game, and I can't find anything about ending variations. Either way, it took a ton of practice just to beat the game at all, so I'm happy with that accomplishment.

[Aussie2B]

1. Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Dancing Museum (N64) 1/7
2. Magic Knight Rayearth (GB) 2/21
3. Sesame Street: The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (GBC) 2/23
4. Skate or Die: Bad 'N Rad (GB) 2/24
5. Crayon Shin-chan 2: Ora to Wanpaku Gokko Dazo (GB) 2/25

Another one down (and yet another licensed game). I'm probably about coming to an end of the Game Boy games in my collection that I've yet to beat and can get a quick turnaround out of. I have about 10 still unbeaten, and they're ones I'm either not enthused about playing or they'll take a significant chunk of time. But I'm not done with Shin-chan for now anyway. This was more of a test run for me. It's no big thing to just blow through this and get the regular ending, so I'm working on beating the game with all 25 smileys. But it's good to first know precisely where the stages end, because it can be easy to advance to the next stage unintentionally before you've collected everything. I can get all five on the first three stages. I got four on stage 4 before I accidentally completed the stage. I've located four in the fifth and final stage, but I didn't have any left by the time I beat the boss. The final boss isn't hard, but it seems like it could be a little tricky beating him without taking a single hit (and thus losing a smiley).

[Steven]

First game I beat this year was Resident Evil Revelations 2. Missed out on it back when it first came out and really enjoyed it!

[Aussie2B]

1. Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Dancing Museum (N64) 1/7
2. Magic Knight Rayearth (GB) 2/21
3. Sesame Street: The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (GBC via emulation) 2/23
4. Skate or Die: Bad 'N Rad (GB) 2/24
5. Crayon Shin-chan 2: Ora to Wanpaku Gokko Dazo (GB) 2/25
6. Sorcerer's Maze (PlayStation via emulation) 3/3

Another game we came across via emulation and I then ended up playing through the whole thing. These sorts of weird budget games are one of the reasons I love the PS1's library. I ended up ordering a legit copy to add to my collection. There's no denying that XS Games butchered a lot of the stuff they localized and gave them hilariously bad covers that didn't remotely match the content of the games, but I'm still glad they were around to localize this kind of stuff that would've stayed in Japan otherwise.

[Aussie2B]

1. Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Dancing Museum (N64) 1/7
2. Magic Knight Rayearth (GB) 2/21
3. Sesame Street: The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (GBC via emulation) 2/23
4. Skate or Die: Bad 'N Rad (GB) 2/24
5. Crayon Shin-chan 2: Ora to Wanpaku Gokko Dazo (GB) 2/25
6. Sorcerer's Maze (PlayStation via emulation) 3/3
7. Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth (Wii) 3/7

I started this back in December, but as is often the case for me in recent years, games that I think I'll blow through quick end up taking me months because I'll go weeks at a time between each of my play sessions. It's even likelier to be the case when it's a home console game. But despite playing it irregularly, it was a fun game, and it's always nice to knock out another Castlevania. There aren't too many left that I've never beaten, at least not among the ones I have any desire to play (couldn't care less about the Lords of Shadow sub-series). Now that I think about it, as surprising as it may be, considering I've had a Wii since shortly after its launch, this must be the first actual Wii game I've ever beaten. Virtual Console, sure, I've done that, but I have a pretty small collection of games actually developed for the Wii and have only really dabbled in them. Of course, this is just a WiiWare game, so that still leaves regular, retail releases.

[Aussie2B]

1. Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Dancing Museum (N64) 1/7
2. Magic Knight Rayearth (GB) 2/21
3. Sesame Street: The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (GBC via emulation) 2/23
4. Skate or Die: Bad 'N Rad (GB) 2/24
5. Crayon Shin-chan 2: Ora to Wanpaku Gokko Dazo (GB) 2/25
6. Sorcerer's Maze (PlayStation via emulation) 3/3
7. Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth (Wii) 3/7
8. McDonald's Monogatari: Honobono Tenchou Ikusei Game (GBC) 3/14

I gotta admit that this feels like a bit of a dishonest victory, haha. A little over a month and a half into the in-game year that this game lasts for, I didn't appear to have anything left to do. Maybe I'm missing something, considering I don't have the manual and am far from what one would consider fluent in Japanese, but it really doesn't appear to be the case. I maxed out the protagonist and all the staff members, and with no currency or items or anything, those seem like the only goals there are. It's probably no coincidence none of the files that were already on the cart were past that second month. So I just slept through the remaining 10 months, only checking email each day for invitations to the handful of special events. The ending didn't really acknowledge anything I had done, so it doesn't seem like it was a good or bad ending. Really, it seems like they developed the five mini-games based on duties at McDonald's and then threw them in something resembling a sim without taking the time to flesh it out. In a way, the execution of it all is even stranger than the concept itself. So even though I'm still scratching my head, I guess I'm finished with it. If there's some big underlying gameplay aspect I somehow missed, then I guess I won't know until when and if there's an English patch or FAQ for it.

[eskobar]

I suppose this is for Classic Games only but I saw a few PS3 games listed, so:

Mass Effect: Andromeda for PS4.

I preordered the Deluxe Edition of this game, I am fan of the series and this was the best reason to buy a PS4 ... the reality was that I didn't purchase a PS4 because I had better things to spend my money on and borrowed a PS4 from a friend and played ME4 for a few hours, really bad reviews and lots of crap thrown at it. This year I finally bought a PS4 because I also had Dragon Quest XI, another great reason to buy a PS4, and after a few hours with DQXI I decided to play MEAndromeda.

After a few hours getting used to verticality, I started to enjoy the game, it is an excellent game and enjoyed every one of the 85 hours that I played it. Really recommend it to fans of the series. Too much content, great gameplay and great story. The characters are not as good as previous games of the series but are ok.

[Aussie2B]

Any type of game is cool. I frequently have recent releases on my lists. I think we might've had a separate topic for modern games years ago (or maybe I'm thinking of the daily playing topics), but anything goes in this topic at this point.

[Phanstar]

honestly not much I keep dabling in games like right now these-
tomb raider's latest games
call of cthulhu xbox one

but can't find the time to finish them thanks to adulting and much of my gametime is spent on mmos and overwatch with the wife

I'm in the same boat! I started Undertale but then drifted off. Started Luigies Mansion on GCN, Started Thimbleweed Park. Haven't stuck with anything.

If you consider beating a game making the credits roll then I beat Tamodachi Life in 19 so far. That's it. I better get gaming.

Does anyone know if Zombiiu is easy to beat?

[Ed Oscuro]

Hey gang. I finally finished up the intriguing (but weird & awkward) Realms of the Haunting. That ending, though!

I've wasted a bunch of time on idle games, but I think I need to get serious about investing the time in stuff I like. Starting to dawn on me that life doesn't go on forever and I can't spend it on things I hate.

MAME's starting to support a bunch of the "old" plug-and-play TV games, from the heyday of this Forum! It'll be interesting to try some of the obscure ones like Geigeki Go Go Shooting (by Takara) or the Namco / Taito Nostalgia ones. All import-only.

[Aussie2B]

Long time no see! Welcome back, Ed!

[WulfeLuer]

1. Tales of Graces f (PS3)
2. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (PS3)
3. Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen (PS3)

This is the third or fourth run of the game I've done. It's still the same. It starts off so well, the combat is loads of fun, the Pawn system is nifty, and the climactic battle against the Dragon still makes Skyrim's Alduin seem like a joke. The ending is still fairly meh mechanically, which is a shame because there's some serious spectacle and the opponent being so wimpy feels like blasphemy in several ways. If Capcom could stop churning out cookie cutter sequels and DLC schemes long enough to put some polish on this franchise we'd have a real winner on out hands.

[Aussie2B]

1. Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Dancing Museum (N64) 1/7
2. Magic Knight Rayearth (GB) 2/21
3. Sesame Street: The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (GBC via emulation) 2/23
4. Skate or Die: Bad 'N Rad (GB) 2/24
5. Crayon Shin-chan 2: Ora to Wanpaku Gokko Dazo (GB) 2/25
6. Sorcerer's Maze (PlayStation via emulation) 3/3
7. Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth (Wii) 3/7
8. McDonald's Monogatari: Honobono Tenchou Ikusei Game (GBC) 3/14
9. Metal Gear (MSX via Vita Metal Gear Solid HD Collection) 4/14

I'm very late to the party, but I've finally joined the ranks of those who have beaten at least one game in the Metal Gear franchise. The first one has its quirks and some annoyances, but overall it was a fun game, and I can see how it was revolutionary for its time. Though, I don't think I played it quite as intended, considering I killed nearly 400 people and used up 70-some rations, haha. I guess I should get better at actually being stealthy. I plan to play Metal Gear 2 sometime, which I can play on this same collection, but I think I'll give it some time to avoid burn out.

[SeverThe7th]

1. Super Mario Sunshine.
2. Jetforce Gemini

Super Mario Sunshine was a blast and has quite a few tough challenges. The controls are fairly easy to pick up but tough to master.
Jetforce Gemini is painful in revisiting areas and scouring to find the tribals. The last two bosses are tough, the Mantis one in particular took me a long time. Its a decent game, only the backtracking substracts from the experience.

[AceAerosmith]

1. Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal (PS2) 01/09/19
2. Onimusha 3: Demon Siege (PS2) 03/12/19
3. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (The Nathan Drake Collection) (PS4) 03/20/19
4. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (The Nathan Drake Collection) (PS4) 04/01/19
5. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (The Nathan Drake Collection) (PS4) 04/24/19

[Aussie2B]

1. Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Dancing Museum (N64) 1/7
2. Magic Knight Rayearth (GB) 2/21
3. Sesame Street: The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (GBC via emulation) 2/23
4. Skate or Die: Bad 'N Rad (GB) 2/24
5. Crayon Shin-chan 2: Ora to Wanpaku Gokko Dazo (GB) 2/25
6. Sorcerer's Maze (PlayStation via emulation) 3/3
7. Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth (Wii) 3/7
8. McDonald's Monogatari: Honobono Tenchou Ikusei Game (GBC) 3/14
9. Metal Gear (MSX via Vita Metal Gear Solid HD Collection) 4/14
10. Tokyo Tattoo Girls (Vita) 4/27

I started this because I heard it's short, and true enough, I did get to the credits roll in what was probably just a few hours, even after restarting the game because my first time through I didn't really get what I was doing and got myself in what seemed like an impossible jam (despite the game practically playing itself). But that was just to beat it with one character. It seems like it would take a decent chunk of time to beat it with every character, and considering they play a little differently, have their own CG galleries, and their own unique cutscenes, that seems to be what's intended. And to get all the trophies, that would be more time yet, as there are trophies for playing through the game eight times over with each girl, which is pretty idiotically repetitive. Anyway, this game doesn't have a very good reputation, and I can understand why, but it's not that bad either. It's just very mobile-ish. It's shallow, and you don't do all that much. But if you approach it like playing a visual novel with a little gameplay on the side (I'd describe it more like management than actual strategy), it's not so bad as a game to just mindlessly relax with. I say mindlessly because the story doesn't give you much to wrap your head around either, so it wouldn't be good were it just a visual novel. All the characters are tropes, and they don't have any development. The cutscenes are mostly played for laughs, but aren't particularly funny either. I know I'm making the game sound terrible, but with the combination of gameplay and story elements, nothing really gets a chance to wear out its welcome before it's over. And those who actually care about waifus and fanservice and such will get even more out of it than I have.

[jb143]

I beat New Super Mario Bros DS last night.

Going on halfway through the year and unfortunately that's the only game I've had the time to really play so far.

[Cornelius]

1) Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance - GCN - 01/05
2) The Last of Us - PS3 - 01/10
3) Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap - Switch - 01/16
4) Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance - GCN - 02/13
5) Star Wars: Battlefront II - PS2 - 04/01

Not sure when we finished this one, forgot to log it, but my son and I played through all of the story and most of a couple of the other modes. Great game, I'm sure I played it when it came out, but on PC(?). I remember playing a ton of online multiplayer with a friend, but don't remember the story mode at all. Maybe it was just the first that I played.

5) Borderlands GOTY Enhanced - PC - 05/05

I've always really enjoyed the Borderlands games. Loot and fun characters does it for me. I'm not good at FPS games, but Borderlands is pretty easy. Pretty cool that they released this 'Enhanced' version, for free, at that (if you already owned the original on Steam), but I had some struggles to play it. First, it always wanted to select my Mobo's graphics, then it wouldn't launch until I renamed some random DLL, and after that I could play just fine, but only for 30-60(?) minutes before it would start to stutter, getting gradually worse until it became unplayable. Never found a fix for that. Fortunately it can be played in chunks like that pretty easily, except for the DLC, which don't have any fast travel and sometimes have some significant ground to cover. Played a ton of BL before, but never got into the DLC, despite owning them, so it was good to finally play those.

[mkenyon2]

Zelda II - NES - 4/28
Contra - NES - 5/09

[gbpxl]

Just beat Donkey Kong Land. Not sure if Im gonna go for 100% or not. Its like an uglier, zoomed in Donkey Kong Country with generic music

[Aussie2B]

1. Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Dancing Museum (N64) 1/7
2. Magic Knight Rayearth (GB) 2/21
3. Sesame Street: The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (GBC via emulation) 2/23
4. Skate or Die: Bad 'N Rad (GB) 2/24
5. Crayon Shin-chan 2: Ora to Wanpaku Gokko Dazo (GB) 2/25
6. Sorcerer's Maze (PlayStation via emulation) 3/3
7. Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth (Wii) 3/7
8. McDonald's Monogatari: Honobono Tenchou Ikusei Game (GBC) 3/14
9. Metal Gear (MSX via Vita Metal Gear Solid HD Collection) 4/14
10. Tokyo Tattoo Girls (Vita) 4/27
11. The Simpsons (Arcade via MAME) 5/25

Played through this last night with the husband and his siblings. I was playing as Lisa (just because that was the controller I got, not any kind of intentional selection). We've all played this game before, but I think it was the first time any of us have played all the way to the end?

[YoshiM]

Just beat "The Legend of Zelda: Link Between Worlds". The concept of being able to get your hands on pratically every weapon/item from one place in the game was an interesting approach, but the game still suffered from the "use it here and never need to use it again" syndrome of the Zelda series. Plus if you are decent at playing a top down Zelda, there's no real threat of death. Having save points that double as "warp points" at every major location further reduces the difficulty, providing you warp about.

I enjoyed most of the game but as it was wrappng up I, and I think the developers, were getting "done" at that point. The dungeon progression I took landed me with a really small map a whizzed through on a short lunch break. To me it seemed like there was an intention for it to be clever but the execution didn't turn out that way. The last dungeon, with its setup, kinda reinforced to me that someone wanted the game wrapped up.

[Aussie2B]

1. Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Dancing Museum (N64) 1/7
2. Magic Knight Rayearth (GB) 2/21
3. Sesame Street: The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (GBC via emulation) 2/23
4. Skate or Die: Bad 'N Rad (GB) 2/24
5. Crayon Shin-chan 2: Ora to Wanpaku Gokko Dazo (GB) 2/25
6. Sorcerer's Maze (PlayStation via emulation) 3/3
7. Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth (Wii) 3/7
8. McDonald's Monogatari: Honobono Tenchou Ikusei Game (GBC) 3/14
9. Metal Gear (MSX via Vita Metal Gear Solid HD Collection) 4/14
10. Tokyo Tattoo Girls (Vita) 4/27
11. The Simpsons (Arcade via MAME) 5/25
12. Disney/Pixar's Toy Story 2 (GBC) 6/9

Well, that was a video game. That's about as much praise as I can give Toy Story 2. It's functional and playable, so that automatically makes it better than a bunch of other platformers. But it doesn't excel beyond that. Absolutely dreadful controls, inconsistent hit detection, lackluster level design, mediocre audio and visuals, and an all around lazy and/or rushed effort. Nothing surprising for a licensed game, I know, but considering there have been a fair number of good Disney games over the years, it's still a bummer. This is another check-it-off-and-move-on kind of game for me.

[AceAerosmith]

1. Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal (PS2) 01/09/19
2. Onimusha 3: Demon Siege (PS2) 03/12/19
3. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (The Nathan Drake Collection) (PS4) 03/20/19
4. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (The Nathan Drake Collection) (PS4) 04/01/19
5. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (The Nathan Drake Collection) (PS4) 04/24/19
6, Mirror's Edge: Catalyst (XB1) 07/01/19

[mkenyon2]

The other day I beat Samus Returns, 100% Normal mode. At a little over 18 hours my first play through, it didn't seem to long. I did get tips here and there to help me along, but it's based on the GB original, which wasn't a huge game.
My thoughts? It's awesome!!! I can't remember the last time I beat a game, and right away wanted to start it over from the beginning. Complex enough to keep it interesting, but straightforward enough to keep you moving through. Although, there were a few parts (as I mentioned) I needed tips.
The artwork, the music, the atmosphere all wrapped you in.
The homage to the original mixed with the new features was spot on!
Going into my top 10 list.

[gbpxl]

Beat Links Awakening today. I dont remember if I had ever beaten the cartridge version before. Very easy and fun game. I tried getting 100% but missed 3 heart pieces which eventually I looked up. They were hidden behind walls that didnt have any indication that you could break them unless you went through every wall in every cave, tapping with your sword. And there was one under water.

I found 20 seashells on my own but apparently there are 26 and a few of them are "if you dont get it now, youll never have a chance to get it" yeah whatever.

I am tempted to go back and get a proper 100% and with zero kills but I have other games I need to finish

[gbpxl]

The other day I beat Samus Returns, 100% Normal mode. At a little over 18 hours my first play through, it didn't seem to long. I did get tips here and there to help me along, but it's based on the GB original, which wasn't a huge game.
My thoughts? It's awesome!!! I can't remember the last time I beat a game, and right away wanted to start it over from the beginning. Complex enough to keep it interesting, but straightforward enough to keep you moving through. Although, there were a few parts (as I mentioned) I needed tips.
The artwork, the music, the atmosphere all wrapped you in.
The homage to the original mixed with the new features was spot on!
Going into my top 10 list.

I got about 1/3 of the way through Metroid 2 and hit a roadblock. Tried playing the other day only to find that my battery died. Ill have to replace it and go back to try and beat it. The only Metroids I beat were Super and Fusion

[AceAerosmith]

1. Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal (PS2) 01/09/19
2. Onimusha 3: Demon Siege (PS2) 03/12/19
3. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (The Nathan Drake Collection) (PS4) 03/20/19
4. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (The Nathan Drake Collection) (PS4) 04/01/19
5. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (The Nathan Drake Collection) (PS4) 04/24/19
6, Mirror's Edge: Catalyst (XB1) 07/01/19
7, FarCry 5 (XB1) 07/22/19

[AceAerosmith]

1. Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal (PS2) 01/09/19
2. Onimusha 3: Demon Siege (PS2) 03/12/19
3. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (The Nathan Drake Collection) (PS4) 03/20/19
4. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (The Nathan Drake Collection) (PS4) 04/01/19
5. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (The Nathan Drake Collection) (PS4) 04/24/19
6, Mirror's Edge: Catalyst (XB1) 07/01/19
7, FarCry 5 (XB1) 07/22/19
8. Batman: The Telltale Series (XB1) 09/15/19

[gbpxl]

I just beat Metroid: Zero Mission. It didnt suck me in like the first three Metroids but it wasnt bad. The difficulty was all over the place. Some of the boss battles were easy, some were hard... it seemed like they compensated for the higher difficulty with putting save points damn near everywhere and you restore your health and ammo completely at every save point. It took away any incentive to learn enemy movements and attack patterns and there was no real reason to use missiles since your main beam was so over powered. At the end, many of the enemies could be killed in one hit. Nintendo is usually really good at leveraging the difficulty in games but this one just felt all over the place. I wasnt trying very hard and Im not the best at video games and I was able to beat it.

[AceAerosmith]

1. Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal (PS2) 01/09/19
2. Onimusha 3: Demon Siege (PS2) 03/12/19
3. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (The Nathan Drake Collection) (PS4) 03/20/19
4. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (The Nathan Drake Collection) (PS4) 04/01/19
5. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (The Nathan Drake Collection) (PS4) 04/24/19
6, Mirror's Edge: Catalyst (XB1) 07/01/19
7, FarCry 5 (XB1) 07/22/19
8. Batman: The Telltale Series (XB1) 09/15/19
9. Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition (The Master Chief Collection) (XB1) 10/29/19
10. Halo 2 Anniversary Edition (The Master Chief Collection) (XB1) 11/29/19

[Aussie2B]

1. Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Dancing Museum (N64) 1/7
2. Magic Knight Rayearth (GB) 2/21
3. Sesame Street: The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (GBC via emulation) 2/23
4. Skate or Die: Bad 'N Rad (GB) 2/24
5. Crayon Shin-chan 2: Ora to Wanpaku Gokko Dazo (GB) 2/25
6. Sorcerer's Maze (PlayStation via emulation) 3/3
7. Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth (Wii) 3/7
8. McDonald's Monogatari: Honobono Tenchou Ikusei Game (GBC) 3/14
9. Metal Gear (MSX via Vita Metal Gear Solid HD Collection) 4/14
10. Tokyo Tattoo Girls (Vita) 4/27
11. The Simpsons (Arcade via MAME) 5/25
12. Disney/Pixar's Toy Story 2 (GBC) 6/9
13. Monsters, Inc. (GBC) 11/28

It's a shame when I have decent momentum early in the year but then go months without beating anything. I feel like I'll never be able to beat 20+ games in one year like I used to many years ago, but it'd be nice if I could at least hit 15 this year. That said, I rarely beat many games within the last couple months of the year, what with the holidays and such. Anyway, I started Monsters, Inc. right after Toy Story 2, but after only a short while playing it, I dropped it for months. I finally returned to it to clear the last two stages (and their accompanying boss battles). Both were a pain in the ass, between the second to last stage crashing as soon as I beat it, and the annoying auto-scrolling final stage. But I stuck with it and can now say good riddance to Monsters, Inc. It was better than Toy Story 2, but that's hardly high praise. Time to move on to something with more quality (I hope).

[Aussie2B]

1. Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Dancing Museum (N64) 1/7
2. Magic Knight Rayearth (GB) 2/21
3. Sesame Street: The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (GBC via emulation) 2/23
4. Skate or Die: Bad 'N Rad (GB) 2/24
5. Crayon Shin-chan 2: Ora to Wanpaku Gokko Dazo (GB) 2/25
6. Sorcerer's Maze (PlayStation via emulation) 3/3
7. Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth (Wii) 3/7
8. McDonald's Monogatari: Honobono Tenchou Ikusei Game (GBC) 3/14
9. Metal Gear (MSX via Vita Metal Gear Solid HD Collection) 4/14
10. Tokyo Tattoo Girls (Vita) 4/27
11. The Simpsons (Arcade via MAME) 5/25
12. Disney/Pixar's Toy Story 2 (GBC) 6/9
13. Monsters, Inc. (GBC) 11/28
14. Donkey Kong Country (GBC) 12/4

I guess, in the grand scheme of things, I got through this pretty quick, but it felt slow going when I could casually zip through the SNES original in a day or two. It's funny that I had a much easier time with all of the final area's stages than I did with certain earlier stages, just because the size and control differences didn't seem to affect those last several stages as much. Meanwhile, I died a ton of times in Millstone Mayhem, of all stages. :/ Anyway, I'm not done with the game quite yet. I got most of the bonus rooms in the first few areas, but I'll have to get what I missed in the later stages. I have one more of Candy's challenges to complete, and I have plenty of stickers to find. I'll just use a guide because I'm not about to scour every stage multiple times over with various combinations of barrels on and off.

[Aussie2B]

1. Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Dancing Museum (N64) 1/7
2. Magic Knight Rayearth (GB) 2/21
3. Sesame Street: The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (GBC via emulation) 2/23
4. Skate or Die: Bad 'N Rad (GB) 2/24
5. Crayon Shin-chan 2: Ora to Wanpaku Gokko Dazo (GB) 2/25
6. Sorcerer's Maze (PlayStation via emulation) 3/3
7. Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth (Wii) 3/7
8. McDonald's Monogatari: Honobono Tenchou Ikusei Game (GBC) 3/14
9. Metal Gear (MSX via Vita Metal Gear Solid HD Collection) 4/14
10. Tokyo Tattoo Girls (Vita) 4/27
11. The Simpsons (Arcade via MAME) 5/25
12. Disney/Pixar's Toy Story 2 (GBC) 6/9
13. Monsters, Inc. (GBC) 11/28
14. Donkey Kong Country (GBC) 12/4
15. Super Metroid (SNES) 12/31

I succeeded in my mission to save the friendly creatures of planet Zebes. And I defeated the space pirates along the way, no big deal. I only had 4 seconds left when I reached Samus's ship, and similarly, it was down to the wire squeezing in one last beaten game before the new year. I know it wouldn't be impressive to many others, but this is the first time I've hit at least 15 games beaten in a single year since 2012, so I'm pleased with that. In 2011, I had beaten over 20, and I'd love to hit at least 20 in 2020 (not to be cute about the date, but just to improve upon this year's 15). I think that's about as much as I can reasonably shoot for, since the only year where I've documented beating at least 25 is 2005, when I beat precisely 25 between only September and December. Who knows what my actual total for that year was, but I think the days of blowing through games at that rate are probably behind me, unless I put a concerted effort into picking out games I could beat quick and skip optional content. But I like my leisurely style of gaming. The only thing I'd really like to change is my gaming droughts, like the gap between June and November on this list. Seems like every year there's a big gap at some point. Sometimes I'm barely touching games, sometimes I'm playing through additional routes in visual novels and only counting the first route as when I beat the game, but whatever the reason, I'd like to play a bigger variety of games each year.

[gbpxl]

how long did it take

[Aussie2B]

I think the in-game clock was around 9:15, so just barely short enough to qualify for the middle ending, where the helmet comes off. I don't think I've ever gotten the best ending in any Metroid game myself. I've never been a fan of speedrunning, as I hate feeling rushed.

[gbpxl]

agreed completely. personally I play a lot of games just to relax not rush through a game like a madman