Main ListPrevious Listbold games are games that have been beaten, previously beaten, or are unbeatable.
italicized games are in progress.
standard games are games I am not currently trying to beat.
strikethrough games are games that have been abandoned.
61.
Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero? (NS)
Not really sure why I decided to play this right now, but I did. I had started this game on PSP way back when, not really sure how far I got, but I definitely did not beat the game. I've always found Prinnies entertaining, so this series interested me, I still need to give Disgaea a try, I think I have most of the games on Switch now, just hoping 2 and 3 get ported at some point so I can play the whole series on Switch instead of jumping to PS2/PS3 in the middle. The platforming in this game is infuriating because if you move and jump, you've committed to where you're going and you can't stop it, which I guess thinking about it now, I could've ground pounded to stop early if I needed to, that might've made the game easier.
Anyway, most of the game was "difficult" but manageable, thus fun. Final boss however was infuriatingly difficult, but like Dark Souls difficult and it throws you right back into the action pretty quickly and painlessly, so it's the good difficult plus not sitting at a loading screen for 2 minutes and having to run through garbage to get to the boss, which is nice. Took me exactly 100 tries to beat the final boss, I learned his pattern quick, but I kept screwing up and getting flustered. Had to stop playing several times because my arm, hand, and/or fingers were getting too sore and full of pain. Close to midnight I finally managed to beat it after trying for literally hours. I had real good fun with this game, but damn if I never even want to do that boss fight again. That all said, I don't know if I can really recommend this game over any other platformer even with Prinnies in this game. Plus it sounds like this game isn't really an improvement over the OG game, I can think of a lot of QoL things that would have made this game more enjoyable/casual, but I feel like they at least upped the resolution and it still looks pretty good.
Rating: Soft pass.
62.
Night Call (X1)
The first in a series of games that are being delisted from GPU for June. Knew nothing of this game, but with all delistings, I look at them to decide if I'm even mildly interested in playing. Looked good enough, so much so that I chose to play it first. Some complaints up front. The lack of VO work makes the game a little jarring, I would have really loved for this game to have some French VO work to go along with the text, would have added so much to the immersion. Also, when I got to replaying the game and seeing the same text over and over, I really wanted to speed through the text, but mashing A also has you accidentally making selections while trying to speed through text, and the auto mode is rather slow. Complaints aside, gameplay is pretty good, I question the advertised replayability given that it's always the same person who done it. That said, I enjoyed the game enough that I played it for 4 hours straight and beat the scenario in one sitting. It's not often that a game gets me enough to have me dump in 4 hours right away, let alone beating it in one sitting. Plus, I definitely walked away wanting more, so I'm still playing, doing free roam and prepping to work on the other scenarios.
Rating: Soft recommendation.
63.
Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood! (NS)
Started this one up shortly after finishing the first Prinny game. I wasn't sure if I wanted to put myself through another Prinny game so soon, but it did offer a "baby" mode which I was like "Oh, yes, if it makes the game easier than Prinny 1, I'll probably enjoy it more"... nope, it basically makes the game the same difficulty as Prinny 1, because Prinny 2 normal is actually way harder than Prinny 1. It does add some "training wheels" but whatever. Difficulty in this game ramped up at an acceptable pace, no hard walls or anything. Looking at my end game results I could see each level got progressively harder going from 1 death in the first level to 6 in the 2nd, to 15 in the 3rd, and so on until the final boss where I died 121 times just in the boss fight alone. 118 of those deaths I think I didn't even deal 20% damage, literally 3 times did I make it past the first section of the boss fight, that's how complicated the first part of the boss fight was. Story is funny, voice acting is pretty great, gameplay is definitely refined over the first entry, but there are still some frustrating and unintuitive things about this game. Definitely makes me want to give the Disgaea series a go. Maybe that'll be a candidate for a franchise run soon.
Rating:Soft pass.
64.
West of Dead (X1)
Another game leaving Game Pass soon. Had been interested in this game mildly. Finally got to it, and it frustrated me. It really did. I don't like rogue games, they run on that old school arcade logic of you get value/time out of game by having to start over constantly. Not a fan of that, especially when you don't really get stronger in subsequent runs. This game is "okay" in that you get things that make starting over not so bad, but you don't get stronger or anything. I'd say other than getting better/more starting weapons that you aren't really in a position to be having an easier run than a fresh start. That said, the game is fun enough and I enjoy 3D games over 2D games so that makes it a bit more bearable.
Rating: Soft recommendation
65.
Observation (X1)
Last game pass leaving game. I played this over two sessions, first session was short and I was falling asleep and I just wasn't enjoying this game. Second session, I played for hours and burned through the entire game and had a pretty good time. That said, I did follow a walkthrough so I could come out of the game with the full 1k gamerscore and I didn't full on understand the plot. Not to spoil things, but I guess there is massive sci-fi, multiverse, alien implications going on in this game. Does make me wonder if there is plans for a sequel. It does feel like a game that would be frustrating without a guide though, I could be wrong, but I'm glad I followed a guide.
Rating: Soft pass.
66.
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (NS)
Another one of those Mario games that I just slow play for years until I finally beat it. Sat down and chewed through nearly the entire game in a day or so of random playing. Nothing special, just a 2D Mario game. Frustrating at bits, easy at others.
Rating: Soft recommendation... just because it's Mario I guess.
Uncounted Demo:
Tunic (X1)
Played this quite a bit since the demo went up. Played through and beat it the normal way, played through looking for all the secrets, restarted accidentally, played through obtaining all secrets I could find, still think I missed some, got the special ending to the demo. Streamed playing through getting all the secrets I knew about, spent an additional hour and a half looking for more secrets, found nothing else. Super hyped for this game. Will probably pre-purchase it as soon as it goes up for pre-order. Played through and did a pacifist run. Then I ran through and did a run where I didn't even pick up any weapons so I definitively could not hurt anyone.
Rating: Highly recommended
67.
Metroid (NSO)
Started this up mid Mummy Demastered because I wanted to play a Metroidvania game in the middle of the day and definitely couldn't continue streaming, so I picked this. Relatively fun, but the no text of anything left me scratching my head on a lot of stuff and getting stuck until I gave up and started using a walkthrough, at that point game was pretty fun. I won't necessarily knock it points for that given how old it is, but yeah, they definitely could've been like "You expanded your missiles", "You got the ice beam", etc. I enjoyed it and want more, so I'll probably play Zero Mission at some point, the only problem is that I packed away all of my handheld games.
Rating: Soft recommendation... but probably just play Zero Mission.
68.
Mummy Demastered (PS4)
Started this up because I wanted something new to play. I looked through my physical games and gave up and decided to look at my digital library and saw this and decided it was time to finally give it a go. Game is fun enough in that I do really enjoy Metroidvania games... but there are a lot of things in this game that hurt the experience. Dying and having to go fight yourself to collect your equipment sucks, it makes sense in context, but it sucks. I died in one spot 4 times and had to kill multiple of myself to get to my main self and that's where I kept dying. I died 6 times total in my playthrough, 4-5 of those deaths were in the area I died and had to fight myself. Fighting my dead self was the hardest part of the game... that doesn't make much sense. The infinitely spawning crows/ravens made the platforming a miserable experience. The final boss fight was super anticlimactic, this might have been because I collected all of the best weapons so the fight was trivial. Honestly, the game is pretty good, but it makes me yearn for better games.
Rating: Soft recommendation
69.
Blaster Master (NSO)
Started this up after Metroid because I wanted more Metroidvania and allegedly the Blaster Master games fall under that category, if loosely. I'll give later entries a try, but the game feels like a mash between Metroid and Contra, it's technically got Metroidvania elements that qualify it, but the gameplay just is weird comparatively. I'd say it's my least favorite Metroidvania game so far, it's an ok game and I enjoyed my time with it, but it just wasn't good enough. I didn't care for the controls of Sophia, that kept messing me up. I have issues with old NES hitboxes in general, but I won't necessarily hold that against it. The bosses have weird hitboxes where I fire 5 shots and only 1 manages to hit.
Rating: Soft pass.
70.
Donkey Kong (NSO)
I finished Blaster Master and my wife and son were there. My wife said to my son, what do you want him to play now, and he said the same thing he always says "Mario". I didn't feel like playing Mario, so I played the next closest thing I could think of. Donkey Kong. I played through the 4 levels like 5 times before I realized it loops infinitely, so I stopped playing and started playing the next game.
Rating: Hard pass.
71.
Donkey Kong Jr. (NSO)
Ah, yes, the next game. Donkey Kong Jr (Donkey Kong) must free Donkey Kong Sr. (Cranky Kong) from Mario. Swing from vines and get up to Mario to proceed. This actually was my first experience with DK Jr. I did the loop once I think and then gave up to go play something else. I really didn't enjoy this one as much as OG DK, but it was okay.
Rating: Hard pass.
72.
Donkey Kong 3 (NSO)
After everyone else went to bed, I figured I'd round it off by playing through Donkey Kong 3. This one has you playing as Pest exterminator Stanley. I kept dying because I didn't realize that I need to spray Donkey Kong to get him to climb upward to win. I think I did the loop twice before I gave up. Really not a fan of this one, especially since it's basically a shmup.
Rating: Hard pass.
73
Vice: Project Doom (NSO)
Started this one up after DK games because I wanted to play something else... and honestly I think I forgot the SNES app existed. I really hope they make a GB/GBC/GBA app at some point, lots of good games over there. Anyway, this was one of the first NES games I bought when I started collecting. I already owned some NES games, but like, they were gifted to me, I didn't buy them. I bought this one in a bundle of games that came with a top loading NES, it was the priciest game in the bundle at the time and honestly might be one of my most expensive NES games ignoring CIB stuff (Note: 2nd most expensive actually, just barely under Mega Man 6). Anyway, this one is mostly action platformer but has a couple of top down car levels (shmup) and a couple of arcade shooters (lightgun-esque). Story is... hard to follow... and I'd argue not very good, like campy b-movie not good. Like Robocop not good. So, sorta good, but doesn't translate into a game story well. I really don't have much to say about this one really, I didn't particularly enjoy it and won't be coming back to it. Might even sell my NES copy.
Rating: Hard pass.
74.
Rogue Legacy (PS4/PSV)
So this game had been on my shit list for years because I played it a long time ago and didn't get it or enjoy it. I think honestly, this might have been pre-Dark Souls, so I didn't get the appeal of tough games. I totally get the appeal now. I didn't get the appeal when I first played Dark Souls either, but I totally get it now and I love the trauma it gives me. I did have save data when I launched this up, but I was only like level 12 or something, I'm not sure. I kinda wish I had streamed some of this game because I really enjoyed it. I had a lot of fun, even getting to the parts when I'm just grinding for money so I can buy upgrades was pretty good too. I got to the point that I cleared every room of the castle and I was like there's nothing left to do other than the boss fight... I guess I'll do the boss fight and die again and clear the castle again for more cash... but then I beat the boss. I was very surprised that I beat the boss. Honestly, I think this game is going on my top 5 because between this and the other rogue games I played this year, this one was probably the best in that you actually get stat boosts from upgrades. It won't be at the top of my list, but it's up there, no question about it being the best, because it wasn't, but it was fun and deserves a place.
Rating: Solid recommendation.
Rant about Rogue gamesI'm really considering giving a lot of rogue games a chance now. I need to figure out which is which regarding rogue types and find a list of best and give them a go. Went on a google warpath and read many articles and came back with almost no answers. I think roguelike is the bad one where you die, you start over, that's it, no persistence. Roguelite being the one where you have some persistence of some kind, so it sounds like true roguelike games are few and far between and most games that claim rogue are roguelite. Sounds like a roguelike is more about the journey rather than the destination, so dying is fine because you just get to play again with a new character and there is no end goal, it's just about playing. Roguelike, however, has a destination, so you trudge the journey to get to the destination. It complicates things a tad because I feel like games like Rogue Legacy and Dead Cells deserve to be in two different categories. Games that give you a persistence element that makes every subsequent run easier (Rogue Legacy) and games that give you persistence features that don't necessarily make each run easier with maybe one feature that actually carries over permanently and the rest just options down the road (Dead Cells, West of Dead). Rogue Legacy you up your stats, Dead Cells/West of Dead you get health potions, that's it. In Dead Cells/West of Dead, you buy weapons/blueprints to unlock skills/weapons/etc, but you can't just choose to use those items anyway, so what are you buying other than filling a slot in your trophy case? Both games, you buy a gun, it shows up in your room when you start a new run, but you can't get the gun out of the case, it's just there to be seen. It serves no purpose. I guess once you get the upgrade to get random starter weapons from your armory it makes a difference, but you just get a lvl 1 version which you'll replace quickly anyway, so legit what's the point?
75.
Super Mario Kart (NSO)
My kid wanted me to play more Mario and I wanted to play something I hadn't beat according to Backloggery, I didn't see this on there, so I went ahead and started this up. I wasn't expecting to beat it because from what I recalled, I wasn't very good at 2D racer games like this, but I really had almost no trouble playing this game. Steering was a little weird, but I adjusted quick enough because I knew it was weird. Burned through the 3 cups in 100cc to get the special cup, ran through the special cup to unlock 150cc and got the credits to pop. That was good enough for me. I really won't recommend it though because the series peaked at Mario Kart 64 for me and anything before hand wasn't great and everything after was a shadow.
Rating: Soft pass.
76.
Dead Cells (NS)
I was going to start up Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection, but someone had suggested I give Dead Cells a go after Rogue Legacy, and I really wanted more Rogue Legacy, so I hurried up and popped in Dead Cells before I started up Mega Man. This game did not disappoint. I wouldn't call it more Rogue Legacy so much as a 2D West of Dead... or is West of Dead a 3D Dead Cells? Anyway, great game. So some notes I made elsewhere. Started meh, got better, that's my opinion of the game, as I adjusted to the controls and gameplay mechanics, I the player got more skillful in my actions, which made my experience of the game better, not inherently the persistence features. A successful run, when you get there, shouldn't take but an hour tops. Subsequent runs don't really get easier, the only thing that persists that makes it easier really is the health potions, which matter, but you have to buy other upgrades to unlock more health potions... not a fan of that, just let me keep upgrading my health potion. I got to the final boss early on, started with 1 health potion and by the time I got to the final boss I had unlocked the second health potion... I barely lost. Once I unlocked the 3rd health potion, I managed to beat the boss with a little bit of health to spare. Did a run where I cleared every enemy of every level I went to and managed to get to the boss and did well enough. My setup of choice was Frost blast main (freezes enemies), nutcracker secondary (critical hits frozen enemies), tonic skill (gives temp health up to 80% max health), and ice grenade skill (freezes enemies), mutations that heal on damage dealing, lower skill cooldown on damage dealing, etc and managed to just burn through the game. Final boss has resistance to freeze, so that made things a little hard, but it was enough.
Rating: Soft recommendation
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