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52 Games Challenge 2025!!!
bikingjahuty:
Was in an arcade racing game mood last night and decided to play two 90s Sega classics I missed out on as a kid. While one I would definitely say is deserving of the title of classic, the other I'm not so sure about.
6. ManxTT Superbike (Arcade)
I've seen this game on the Saturn countless times over the years and it always had an appeal to me since it was developed by Sega and also it came out around that time when Daytona USA was on top of the arcade world. In other words, I had fairly high expectations of this game. Unfortunately, there expectations were far from met. This is just sort of boring and unremarkable for the most part. There isn't anything special or particularly interesting about the very limited stages you race through, and even the other bikers and bystanders look pretty bad, even compared with the rest of the visuals. The gameplay is also not amazing, but not terrible either. I found the AI to be fairly punishing and also the bike seems overly sensitive with anything other that fairly sharp turns. Maybe I could have adapted to it if I'd played ManxTT long enough, but I just couldn't bring myself to play this game any longer than I had to to finish it. I will say the audio is pretty good, and sadly is probably the game's best quality. While I'm happy I finally played this game and have no regrets about the 20 minutes or so it took me to finish it, I still have nio desire to replay this game ever again. (1/11/25) [25/50]
7. Sega Rally Championship (Arcade)
Now this game was a real gem! For a racing game released in the mid 90s, I was surprised by how good the racing physics were in this game, particularly how different your car handles depending on if the surface you're on is gravel, pavement, or water. Not only that, but the game is the right amount of challenge while also controlling pretty well for the most part. Visually the game looks WAY better than ManX TT too in literally every way. There are cool set pieces in every stage, there is more going on in the backgrounds, and just overall the stages look more vibrant and detailed. The audio is also better than the previous game, although by not as wide a margin as its other attributes. I can't say I'm head over heals in love with Sega Rally Championship, but at the very least it was more enjoyable than I expected and definitely can hold its own with the other mid 90s arcade racing greats. (1/11/25) [32/50]
kashell:
4. Ys X: Nordics
I had a lot of highs and lows with this one. I think I prefer Adol's adventures to be solo, but Karja really grew on me near the end. She stayed true to herself despite growing attached to Adol (in multiple ways) and learning of her origins. I liked that the story paid homage to Viking and Norse lore. The action was solid nine times out of ten. Some of the bosses were just ridiculous. It felt like I was playing a shoot 'em up. I played on Normal and a few bosses just drained me of resources. This was after I "mastered" how to perfect dodge and perfect block. Still, nailing those defensive maneuvers and seeing the cinematic attacks that followed was a rush. The story never seemed to go anywhere until the end, which was tantamount to sailing on the ocean on the Sandras. I spent more time fighting currents and waves and the stupid boat then monsters. The Sandras' crew were an annoying bunch that didn't know when to stop talking so Adol and Karja could get back to saving the gulf. Ultimately, I had fun and I'm glad I played it but this wasn't the next big thing for the series.
kashell:
5. Chrono Trigger DS - Beyond Time
I finished the game again with the best ending after voyaging through the Black Omen and taking out Queen Zeal. The three heroes from 1,000 AD hop back in the time machine to do another search and rescue operation. Seeing the Epoch fly through the different ages and landscapes always hits. This game is so damn fun each time I play it. I remember starting a new file immediately after finishing it back in the days of the Super Nintendo. That first-time magic will never be recaptured, but there's still a certain something about Chrono Trigger that keeps it (pardon the word choice) timeless.
Cartagia:
2. Metroid Dread
Incredible game that has a very steep learning curve, even if you are well versed in Metroidvanias. It throws a ton of stuff at you right off the bat, so it's not exactly one you can ease into. The map is huge and intricate, with lots of cool powerups and abilities. It is also hard as nails, especially the bosses and the EMMI robots, which is also probably one of the bigger complaints I have (and I've seen) about the game in general - the chase sequences with the EMMIs. It's fun the first couple of times, but with how hard it is to counter their insta-death grabs they became annoying more than anything else as the game went on. I also appreciate that it added a fair amount of new information to Metroid lore, especially regarding the Chozo.
tripredacus:
1. Final Fantasy (NES)
First of all, this was abandoned not for the usual reasons but because of the purpose of these threads. When I had built my backlog program, I also had included games from ROM packs that I had to also download to get the ROM for a game I had but couldn't play on actual hardware. I had done this most of last year and my backlog went from over 2,000 games to over 30,000. This was really wearing me down thinking about it so over the weekend I decided to clone my database and remove all of the ROM-based entries. This leaves my backlog only with games that are in my collection here, although I am in the process of adding the software I have on disc to that list.
So Final Fantasy on NES was fine. The music wasn't that great but it wasn't as terrible as I was lead to believe. The only real issue I ran into early on was dealing with poison. And later it became somewhat annoying to deal with the paralyzing enemies but at the point I came across them my characters were strong enough to not take a lot of damage. The point I got to was just past the town with the pirates.
This game I also used to test out RetroAchievements, which is something you can sync RetroArch with. It basically adds achievements to old games which is kinda neat.
https://retroachievements.org/user/Tripredacus
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