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52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

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kashell:
55. Chrono Cross Remastered

I popped it back in just to kill time, and ended up doing a full playthrough complete with the good ending. My final party was Serge, Norris, and Glenn. The added boosters were absolutely wonderful since they trimmed the fat and sped up the process of getting to all the good bits. I did about as much extra stuff as I could, too. I'm in good shape for whenever I decide to do a New Game+. I still think it's lame that you have to reacquire the final techs of all the characters that get them through side-quests or events. Also, what's the point of trying to get a summon if they don't carry over, either? I was really hoping they fixed that. Oh well! I had a great time going through this for the nth time.

dhaabi:
54. Kutar Apple || Nintendo 3DS || 08.24.2025



When I began building a digital 3DS library last year consisting of (mostly) digital-only games, I came across a series of games called Kutar. Ordinarily, I would not have even considered spending the money to play these games, but I've decided to try them out since that isn't an issue for me now. All ten games were released at once, so I've begun playing them in alphabetical order which means that Kutar Apple was first.

First, it's important to highlight that each of the ten games within the Kutar series is a standalone arcade-style game. So, what this means is that each game has one simple objective to work toward until the player fails. For Kutar Apple specifically, what this goal is is to catch the apples while avoiding the poisonous mushrooms. At the bottom of the screen, players control the titular Kutar who's ready to catch falling apples while wearing a fruit-gathering bag. Above, some unnamed person shakes the tree with a limitless harvest. Players are required to guide Kutar left and right across a 2D plane that's as wide as the where falling objects land, so there is no safe space to avoid items altogether. In general, the player's score increases by 1 with each apple collected whereas gathering just one mushroom initiates the fail state instantly. So there is some incentive to do well as a result of the high score system. I ended up playing through four quick sessions, and my high score was 157.

There are some other minor details to clarify too. First, there is no penalty for missing apples. In time, an onslaught of food rains down which will make it impossible to collect every apple anyway which only adds some chaotic tension to the simple task. This also means that there is no penalty or effect when players come in direct contact with falling items, including mushrooms. And alongside apples and mushrooms, other food types will randomly fall too which are fine to gather and are even worth more points. Another way to amass more points is by bouncing items on Kutar's head or edge of the bag. Falling apples must be placed perfectly in the bag's small opening which, in time, becomes somewhat of a challenge. Lastly, difficulty does increase. As more and more apples are collected, the rate and speed of falling items greatly heightens.

Based on the game's quality and depth, I already know what to expect from the other games, Perhaps if they were a part of some arcade mini-game collection instead of being sold separately, I can see these games having been worth purchasing for the right player if it was priced appropriately. Regardless, Kutar Apple achieves at what it sets to accomplish, which is really just to provide some basic game task for players to pass idle time. I think that, randomly, I will come back to this series despite not having high expectations for it.

bikingjahuty:
91. AquaPazza: Aquaplus Dream Match (PS3)

Back in the early 2010s, there were a few simple things that would motivate me enough to buy a game without knowing much else about it. Some of these things included anime style characters on the cover, 2D fighting games, and games published by Atlus. AquaPazza: Aquaplus Dream Match happened to check all three of those boxes, and despite me knowing absolutely nothing about the characters featured in this game or the games they originally came from, this was an easy buy for me back around the time it first came out on the PS3. And aside from my then girlfriend, now wife and I spending a few hours checking the game out back then, I haven't really played or thought of this game since. However, this game's spine on my PS3 game shelf has been staring me down for the better part of the last few years and I decided to finally give AquaPazza a go again and see what I thought of it nearly 15-years since originally playing it.


AquaPazza is a mostly...fine game. For the past decade and a half, I could barely remember anything about this game and now I kinda know why. The game doesn't do anything particularly good or particularly bad; it just sort of exists. The gameplay feels familiar and intuitive as it borrows popular combo, super and assist character mechanics from much more well know (and much better) 2D fighting games released over the past 30-years. Unfortunately, the implementation of those tried and true features doesn't execute itself into the fun, fast, and dynamic experience of a game like King of Fighters 2000 or Marvel vs Capcom. Characters mostly control somewhat stiff and heavy, which seems like the antithesis of what you'd want in a vibrant fighting game like AquaPazza. Still, it's fairly easy to figure out the controls, how to pull off various combos, and to pull off each character's specials and super specials. It all comes across as slightly better than being just okay in the end.


As for the visual presentation of AquaPazza, the game heavily uses anime style characters as both the in game models and the stills of those characters between fights in story mode. The story mode illustrations look fairly detailed and good, but unfortunately I can't say the same for the in game models. The in game representations of the various AquaPazza fighters look somewhat flat and lack the same level of detail. This is not the came is games like Guilty Gear, Blazblue, or King of Fighters. To add insult to injury, the animations of the characters when fighting are fairly limited and lack the same fluidity and polish they do in the aforementioned franchises, as well as most others being released around the early 2010s. Backgrounds of stages are also somewhat in the same boat; while I'd say they possess slightly more detail and polish than most character models, the animations of what is occurring comes across as a bit more slideshowish rather than having highly detailed, fluid animations. One final gripe I have about AquaPazza's visuals is that there's a genuine lack of variety in the fighter roster. Maybe fans of the series would be able to see more nuance in each character, but as an outsider it's pretty much just busty waifu, busty waifu #2, loli waifu, valkyrie waifu, busty waifu #3, loli waifu #2 and so on. I think there are only 2 or 3 selectable male characters, which certainly made them a lot more memorable to me given their limited representation in this game. I do have to give some credit when it comes to the roster in that there are two separate rosters of selectable characters; one roster is fully controllable fighters, while the other roster is just assist fighters. This definitely makes the selectable characters in this game more memorable, but not enough to make me feel any better about the overall visuals.


Finally, the audio in this game is fairly good, I'd say even better than the visuals or gameplay. The music in AquaPazza is fairly catchy and certainly fits with the visuals of the game. Characters are also all voice acted competently in Japanese, although some of the female characters I have a hard time differentiating from some of the others given many of them have similar super cutesy baby voices. Overall though, the audio definitely helps this game stick out slightly more than what its visuals and gameplay would otherwise allow it to.


Part of me is somewhat disappointed I didn't enjoy AquaPazza more, however part of me is not at all surprised I didn't. As I said, I pretty much forgot everything about this game since the last time I played through it and there's a very good reason for it. This game just isn't very memorable or really that fun. It has some things going for it, and undoubtedly someone who's a fan of games like To Heart or Tears to Tiara will likely get way more enjoyment out of it than I did, but for me, this game has likely seen its very last time in my PS3 and will soon grace someone else's shelf of games after I sell it. (8/27/25) [29/50]

telly:
Game 20 - Paper Mario: The Origami King (Switch) - 25 Hours

This is honestly the best Paper Mario game since Thousand-Year Door. Bringing origami to a world focused on paper was honestly a genius decision, and makes the most sense than the sticker or paint based ideas that formed the basis of previous games. It’s a little inconsistent on whether being in origami form is a good or bad thing, but I really liked the implications for both enemy and world design. There are also so many wonderful moments both in the boss fights, side characters and general dialogue which is what Paper Mario continues to deliver on even to this day. Even though the bosses are office supplies, I thought they were used in genius ways. Throw in lots of collectables to keep you exploring the gorgeous worlds, alongside a charming soundtrack, and you have a game that is generally very enjoyable to experience.

This game even brings back some staples from previous Mario games that fans have been clamoring for for years. The return of sidekicks that can help you in battle was appreciated, though they don’t provide a ton of impact in combat. There are actually some new all-original enemies towards the very end of the game!!! That was shocking :0 (even though it really shouldn’t be). Lastly you can customize Mario’s weapon and accessory loadout which adds a little bit more roleplaying to the series. All of these changes were tiny, baby steps, but at least steps in the right direction.

Even with these welcome changes, Origami King continues to stubbornly cling to having as little actual traditional RPG combat as possible, which really started with Super Paper Mario. This time around, the combat gimmick is based around lining up enemies within a rotating target to get more hits in and increase your attack power. Truthfully, I liked this mechanic as it added an additional layer of unique puzzle solving to fights. What holds it back from being great are the lack of an exp/leveling system, and the inclusion of breakable weapons which are required for the tougher enemies (it felt awfully familiar to the expendable stickers/cards from previous games). So frustratingly, just like the previous few games, Origami King really doesn’t provide you with a reason to fight enemies. They only thing you get is money and confetti, but you can get plenty of these things in other ways through just interacting with the world.

Other aspects of the previous two games that reared their ugly heads yet again are the instant game overs from making tiny mistakes with environmental setpieces, and the lack of any original characters. The story, with all the promise it gave with the worldbuilding, wasn’t explained until the very end with a paltry motivation for the villain which felt really unsatisfying. I also feel like it should be a standard feature to be able to run from any fight in current games. Running away is so frustratingly tedious.

Origami King made a lot of great steps in the right direction, but still falls short in some important ways. I still enjoyed it, and I think people who have been turned off by the previous few entries in this series may want to give this one a shot.

bikingjahuty:
92. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater (PS5)

First and foremost, this is my first experience with the Metal Gear Solid 3. In fact, prior to this year, I'd never beat a mainline Metal Gear game before. Leading up to me playing MGS Delta, I had played and beat MGS and MGS2 earlier this year. On a side note, I had beat Metal Gear Rising years ago when that game first came out, but as most people know, Rising is an entirely different animal and is technically a spinoff title in the Metal Gear franchise. With all that said, most of my feelings and experience with Delta will be based on my previous experience with MGS and MGS2, especially the latter. There are many things about Delta that outshine anything I've experienced in the previous Metal Gear games I beat, however there are also a fair amount of shortcomings I ran into as well. The end result was a game that I absolutely enjoyed, but unfortunately did little to increase my overall adoration or personal investment into the Metal Gear franchise.


For the past 20-years, I've heard almost unanimous praise and love for MGS3. In fact, prior to me jumping into the mainline franchise earlier this year, it seemed like a large chunk of self professed Metal Gear fans would definitively place MGS3 as their favorite in the series. I'd even go as far as to say, easily a third of fans seem to feel this way. So to say my expectations for Delta were high would be an understatement. Perhaps I should have tapered my expectations a little before starting since MGS Delta fell short in a lot of ways that really mattered to me. I'll start with probably the biggest one which was the game's story and writing.


I want to immediately throw out the disclaimer that I didn't think the writing, story, characters, or dialogue was bad in any way. But unfortunately it did fall short for me in a lot of very meaningful ways when compared to both MGS and MGS2, especially MGS2. The plot and twists were not nearly as interesting to me personally; MGS2 did a much better job at creating misdirection and flipping everything upside down as the story progressed. That game literally had me questioning my motives as the one playing, and also actually made me side with the villain of that game at the very end of the game. Meanwhile, Delta's story, while filled with its own plot twists, just didn't carry the same impact. I did appreciate Snake's connection with The Boss and how much of the story revolves around that, but The Boss just wasn't nearly as compelling of a villain or character as Solidus was, or even arguably Liquid Snake in MGS. This really dampened the emotional impact of various events in MGS Delta, particularly towards the end of the game when it should have mattered the most. Likewise, I felt like characters like Eva, Major Zero, or Volgin just didn't do it for me the same way various other similar characters did in MGS and MGS2. And I might get some hate for this, but I felt like the dynamic between some of the villain characters was all over the place and even didn't make a ton of sense at times. With all that said, MGS Delta's writing was good, just nit as good as it was in the previous two MGS games.


I feel like when it comes to gameplay, Delta did various things which are undoubtedly superior to MGS2, but there were other things which were undeniably inferior as well. BTW, I'm not even going to mention the original MGS when discussing gameplay since that game is more or less completely inferior to both Delta and MGS2. For starters, Delta excels at its non-stealth gameplay well beyond what is offered in MGS2. Delta is the first game in the series where I didn't feel like a defenseless mouse in a house of starving cats when I spring from my hiding place or accidentally blew my cover. Especially with the new additional of third person over the shoulder shooting in Delta, combat mostly felt like a breath of fresh air and I was often easily able to get myself out of a firefight and back into hiding with little issue. This also extends to most of Delta's boss fights as well, which are among the most enjoyable I've experienced in the series thus far. Unfortunately, it's while in hiding where I feel like Delta didn't do as good a job as MGS2.


The stealth mechanics in Delta certainly work for the most part, but I ran into frequent issues that sometimes worked in my favor, and other times worked against me. I lost count of the amount of times I should have been spotted, but was surprised to see I was still undetected by nearby enemies. Likewise, there were other times where I was clearly hidden, but I still alerted nearby enemies for reasons unknown to me. This produced more frustrating situations that I care to admit, and at times certainly lowered my enjoyment of playing Delta.


Another aspect of Delta's gameplay which got in the way of me enjoying MGS Delta as much as I would have hoped was the game's stamina mechanic; I feel like I was pretty much constantly having to eat food to keep my stamina up since it is always decreasing, especially when engaging in more strenuous activities like swimming or hanging from a ledge. Luckily, the game does a great job of providing you with sustenance, often in the form of local animals you can hunt and eat. I just found the mechanic of micro managing my stamina and health to be more of an annoyance than an engaging, dynamic feature.


To conclude my thoughts on MGS Delta's gameplay on a high note, I definitely commend Delta on greatly minimizing the amount of tedious back tracking required to progress through the game. While there is some backtracking, it's not excessive like it is in MGS and MGS2, and I didn't find any particular section of the game outstayed its welcome. Luckily, there were a pretty nice, diverse range of areas to sneak through and explore in Delta, which brings me to the game's presentation.


MGS Delta is a damn good looking game. Between Silent Hill 2 remake and this game, Konami has been killing it with their recent remakes of their classics. Characters models and environments all look excellent and show of an incredible amount of detail you'd expect in a big AAA game like this. I feel like there is a lot of standard enemy cut and paste, but luckily this doesn't blemish the visual appeal of this game too much. The diversity in terrain and settings is also commendable and keeps Delta looking fresh and interesting throughout the game. There are also some really cool local damage effects on Snake, which also coincide with a first aid system that I forgot to discuss when going over MGS Delta's gameplay. Overall though, I have very few complaints about the way this game looks and it is likely not going to disappointment anyone used to pretty, high budget modern games.


When it comes to the audio in MGS Delta, it is mostly very good, albeit a mixed bag at times. The voice acting in Delta is mostly superb. While there is a fair amount of appropriately cheesy lines of dialogue and typical Metal Gear exaggerated delivery of lines by certain characters, it's all pretty good, impactful stuff for the most part. I guess where I felt like MGS Delta falls short, especially compared to MGS and MGS2 is its soundtrack. There are many instrumental tracks that play at various points throughout the game and these are fit in well for the most part. It's the main theme and few other tracks, mostly with vocals in them, that I just thought weren't that great. I'm sure some people will passionately disagree with me on this, but I just didn't feel like Delta's soundtrack hit in the same way as its older MGS brethren.


By the time I got to the final boss encounter in MGS Delta and watched the fairly lengthy ending cinematic, I felt like I had just played a great game, but certainly not one of the best games ever made. I will never tell someone who is madly in love with this game that their intense enjoyment of the game isn't justified, however I just didn't see this game for the masterpiece so many make it out to be. Is Delta a very enjoyable game? Very much so. Is it perfect or nearly perfect in every single way? No, definitely not. Delta is a great, very faithful remake to the original MGS3, but despite this, I doubt I'd have enjoyed it any more, or less, than I would had I played OG MGS3 prior to Delta. As it stands, I still prefer MGS2, albeit by a fairly small margin. The first MGS sits at number 3 on my top Metal Gear games list so far. The main aspect of MGS2 that elevates it over Delta for me is its writing and story really. Other than that, there are enough benefits and drawbacks to both games to where the rest is almost pretty much a draw. I guess what you can take away from that is Delta is absolutely worth the time, effort, and money to play through and I have no doubt some people will feel the opposite of me when comparing this to other Metal Gear titles. I certainly wish I'd have been able to like Delta more, but even with how much I did end up liking it, MGS Delta is a pretty damn good game and one I can understand fully why some people absolutely love it. (8/31/25) [38/50]

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