52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

[realpoketendonl]

4. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Booster Course Pass (DLC) [Nintendo Switch]

I always struggle a bit with when DLC is substantial enough to be considered a separate entry. After all, some DLCs are miniscule side things, while others are substantial enough to be entirely separate games. The Booster Course Pass for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which gets you all the DLC, essentially doubles the amount of content in the game though, and I think that's enough for it to get its own entry.

I recently subscribed to the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack, and that also nets you access to this DLC. I've now beaten all of the 12 additional Grand Prix on 200cc (the highest difficulty), all with at least a 1-star rank. I think that counts as beating it (plus, beating all of it got me a credits sequence, so there). What can I say? It's more Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which is a ton of fun. I really enjoyed the tracks, particularly of course my childhood favourites that returned like Waluigi Pinball and Wii Rainbow Road. Having new characters like Pauline is of course fun too. But it's literally just more Mario Kart 8. Mario Kart 8 is fantastic, and after not having played it for a while it was nice to return to it, but whether or not you'll like this is entirely dependent on how you feel about Mario Kart 8. If you like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe a lot though, and you want something to get you back into it, this DLC is well worth checking out.

[dhaabi]

35. Super Mario Kart || Super Nintendo || 05.31.2025



Despite not really being all that interested in the Mario Kart series, I enjoy playing the games on the rare occasion. I was totally unfamiliar with the game which started it all, so I decided to play through Super Mario Kart since it began the kart racer sub-genre altogether.

In short, players must compete against seven other racers in racing karts along a series of looping tracks which comprise a specific cup series. Obviously, the player's goal is to achieve the highest rank for each race, but it's actually not imperative to do so to actually win the cup. Instead, points are awarded to participants based on their ranking for each race. So, while finishing first in a race will naturally give the player a better opportunity to win the entire tournament, there is some room for error. Something that I think is specific to Super Mario Kart that was not carried over to later series entries is that players can actually lose the cup prematurely, and this coincides with player lives. If completing the final lap in fifth place or lower, players will not only be unable to collect points but also lose a life token and be given a chance to retry the race. Once all lives are depleted, though, the game over screen appears. This system actually benefits the player beyond the obvious effects should they be strategic too. If knowing that a certain rank placement must be secured to fully win the cup but it's not achievable, players can forfeit by purposely losing and being given the chance to try again.

Before beginning a tournament cup, players select their preferred driver and the level of difficulty they're wanting to play. I wasn't sure while playing since this information isn't present, but each driver has their own hidden stats which influence their driving performance such as top speed and handling. Something else I'm actually still unsure about that I'm questioning is if CPU opponents have predetermined skill levels based on the player-selected racer. I only began questioning this later on in my playthrough, as I always selected Princess Peach as my driver which seemingly resulted in Bowser always being my main competition for first place. Perhaps this was just an odd coincidence, though. Regardless, CPU racers do have a predetermined skill level to some degree—at least within a tournament cup to my knowledge. So, this means that there are those who will always lead or be toward the front and those who won't. This sort of behavior creates a lot more competition between the player and CPU, as the tournament becomes more like you versus one specific opponent. It's both a positive and negative aspect, though, since the remaining six racers have no significant importance. Also, I only played through the lowest difficulty setting that's 50CC. Despite some difficulty and frustration, I did manage to earn the gold trophy in each tournament on the first try, but I didn't feel compelled to play through 100CC. I didn't know this until afterward, but winning 100CC unlocks a fourth tournament cup and 150CC. Maybe I'll pursue that challenge in the future, but I feel content with my accomplishments as they are now.

While competing, there are two item types to collect: power items and coins. Scattered along the track, random items are collected upon driving over them to help secure the chance to win. How they operate is that item usefulness is determined by race placement. So, racers toward the front will tend to be distributed defensive items such as banana peels or even just coins, whereas those toward the back tend to be given offensive items like the star which grants temporary (momentary, really) invulnerability. Items are designed to be used at the player's disposal too, so there is some strategic element involved in their use. I didn't know this detail until just now, but not all items are available for players to use and instead exclusive to CPUs. I'm not sure why that is, but it's disappointing to find out since some items seem fun to use. However, there are also coins to collect which have far more importance than I was led to believe. When a certain amount of coins are held, a driver's maximum speed increases, so preserving them is one of the player's priorities. At the same time, coins also represent, in some form, each drivers' health. When colliding with other drivers, a coin is lost. This is generally not much of an issue, but colliding with other drivers without any coins results in being temporarily stunned and losing a significant amount of time. So, needless to say, evading other drivers altogether is important though can be difficult to manage if driving with a crowd.

As far as the game's track design, I found it to be fun and varied. They aren't all just your standard roadway, as notable tracks include a series of islands along a beach, lava-filled trenches, bumpy hillsides, and icy planes. The game's 2D presentation makes visibility sometimes difficult, though, as I found myself regularly colliding with and bouncing off of level geometry. Alongside the hazards which other racers may spawn, stages have their own obstacles to avoid too. At times, there are gaps to leap over by either timed bouncing or ramps, and speed boosts are sometimes present which activate upon being driven on. Meanwhile, the game screen provides other information beyond the driving action. There are actually two visual halves, with the lower half being a top-down view of the entire course which displays each driver's placement plotted on the map. The amount of coins and item currently held alongside the total amount of player lives is also shown, which I found to be much more useful than the map. I was only ever concerned with maintaining or reaching first place—it didn't matter to me where others were since there is little influence over that factor.

It's interesting to see just how far the Mario Kart series has come in the thirty-odd years since it began. The core gameplay has not really evolved at all, so this early entry is still fun. I still haven't played its two-player mode, but I'm wanting to.

[dhaabi]

4. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Booster Course Pass (DLC) [Nintendo Switch]

I always struggle a bit with when DLC is substantial enough to be considered a separate entry.

I mean, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe itself is already a re-release of a game, only it included the previously paid DLC as part of the base experience. It's a little surprising just how long and how much Nintendo was able to profit from this one specific entry.

[marvelvscapcom2]

38. Goat Simulator 3 [PS5] - Finished June 6th, 2025



THE JOKE BECOMES THE CONTENDER


Goat Simulator 1 was a larf I enjoyed back when everyone was poking at its antics.  Everyone from Angry video game nerd to PewDiePie to probably Queen Elizabeth II picked up a paddle. Laughed at it for a few hours. And never picked it up again.  It was great at what it was though. Which is not taking itself too seriously. With most games wonky physics and terrible texture glitching are bad. The goat simulator franchise embraces these and makes them work for it.  To its benefit instead of to its detriment. But that was goat simulator 1.  Goat simulator 1 had quest like missions yes.  But goat simulator 3? Hes a bit special...


Goat simulator 3 is a full fledged plot driven collectathon.  You play as the goat. Which has a name now but I forget it. I'll name him Tom Brady for obvious reasons. The goat is zanier than ever.  Theirs emotes. Countless costumes. Hilarious automobiles to drive. And frankly? The game is far too good for what it is.  It like has no business being this much mindless fun.  I love finding new things to exploit.  I love just plunging a goat into a whales mouth and headbutting its uvula to escape. I like licking an albino rhinoceros. I like fireworks, nukes, ikea, glitter and being an eggplant colored banana that rides a jetpack to a giant golden dinosaur that craps crude oil.  Fossil fuel?  Get it. I just got that omg lol.  This game is GOLD!!   Its just made to make folks laugh. 


But what seperates goat sim 3 from 1 (never played 2) is that now theirs a general purpose for the madness.  Now you do all this insanity to level up your goat castle. Which is fun. And drives the adventure. Without it. Goat sim 1 felt like a plug and play pc joke that was made for youtube algorithm. Now it feels like a game. Made for gamers to beat...  and it even has a final boss.  It has elements of challenge. Creative.  And so much more memorable.  Its given me lots to ponder. See. And is worth its price tag 10x over id say.


You get main event quests. Challenges. Trinkets. Collectibles. Fur and skins. You can now play as other animals such as rhino which is referred to as "angry goat" I guess if.you put it that way. It kinda is. It really is.

Goat Simulator 3 is funny in namesake. Because its sooo unlike the other simulator games.  With farming simulator. You dully plow grains. Buy equipment. You really farm.  This game? Its more cooky than any other semi serious game. Its not a sim at all. Its a wacky explosion of lsd fueled ideas. And I reccomend it to anyone. It truly humbles the soul.


Rating - 91/100


Hours to beat -  9
Difficulty - C-

[dhaabi]

36. Sasquatchers || Playdate || 06.06.2025



Slowly, I'm continuing to play through and complete as many of the included games which were bundled with the Playdate, with Sasquatchers being the next title. I haven't played a grid-based strategy game with this level of movable freedom in around a decade, so I was curious what this game would be like.

Despite Sasquatchers being a grid-based strategy game, it is a lot different than the overwhelming majority of other titles within the genre. Instead of typical turn-based combat encounters, the goal is to explore forested grounds in the pursuit of documenting wandering cryptids for social media and monetary gains. In other words, the creatures you're searching for are ones like the rumored and elusive sasquatch and chupacabra. So, the player's broad goal is to earn the highest number of views, likes, and subscriber gains by capturing quality photos. There are bonuses to earn for strategic shots such as multiple subjects being in frame and a subject being documented for the first time, but, simultaneously, there are deductions for reasons like subjects blinking, being obscured, or with a dazed condition. Certainly, the game's premise is unique which helps it stand out. As for who players control, they are a team of "fame-seeking scientist-influencers" who are, predictably, insufferable to varying degrees, though fortunately there is not much dialogue to read. They each have unique skill sets such as being able to take selfies, to lure cryptids to you instead of moving aimlessly, or to use drones to help survey far-off places.

Naturally, your party is focused on discovering cryptids who, like yourself, roam the darkness once per turn. Some of these creatures are docile yet can be provoked, whereas others seem to be aggressive by default. When in this state of aggression, they will attack crew members who can become knocked out or have their equipment damaged, thus rendering them useless or temporarily incapacitated. Additionally, some cryptids simply behave like the animals they are in ways like emitting gross odors which stun nearby party members. Moving back to the crew van or to discoverable camp sites will help replenish any status effects or health lost, and there really isn't any repercussion or even fail chance for utilizing these resources. One appreciated battle possibility is that, randomly, nearby enemies may attack crew members while trying to capture their photo. This results in either a lost turn or even equipment being broken. Unfortunately, though, this aspect disregards strategy or skill entirely, as these occurrences can't be avoided. So, it just makes completing the immediate goal longer.

Nevertheless, beyond the overarching shared goal amongst crew members, each stage has numerous missions to clear. These missions will either comprise of earning a certain dollar amount through photos per cryptid or by simply documenting each cryptid once. At first, I was irritated that each objectives cannot be grouped together with the game instead ending each mission immediately once its goal as been cleared, but I realized that some of the later game segments would become annoyingly long if numerous objectives were grouped together. With how the game flow is designed, neither scenario is strong and would benefit from strengthening the general gameplay loop. Across each mission, players will likely be performing the same basic actions while reacting to the same each turn consequences, meaning there is little variety to gameplay with diminishing returns from the game's proposed strategy roots.

Once each of the game's sixteen missions are completed, there is no incentive to continue playing which perhaps should be expected. Since missions are simple to accomplish—though there are inconveniences which obviously increase time spent playing—there is little satisfaction toward progressing through the game's campaign. Had there been greater consequences and more depth to the game's action system, revisiting the game could potentially be a worthwhile thing to do. This is especially true since there are actually two unlockable party members with unique skill sets which could allow for players to act methodically, though I actually never even used either of them since the game never really increased in difficulty at any point or proposed any reason for me to try out anything new. Nevertheless, there are five total crew members and five cryptid varieties, which is fine for a game of this scope. It's easy to accrue excess money, and I was able to purchase everything that's available before the game's midpoint which largely makes any additional funds gained useless within the context of gameplay purposes. Managing resources or equipment which could be purchased to compensate for an increased game difficulty could have been interesting to see.

While Sasquatchers is an interesting concept, it is ultimately a game that would have benefited from more development to elevate it to be a proper strategy game. From beginning to end, I relied on the same actions with the same party members, and it just felt like I was doing the same thing over and over again during my entire time playing. It's not necessarily a bad game, but I imagine many who played this weren't all that impressed.

[bikingjahuty]

5. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (PS4) - ABANDONED

Full disclosure, I'm not the biggest RPG fan. Beyond the massive commitment they require to get through, I just don't have the patience for them like I used to. My ratio of finished to abandoned RPGs is slightly better when it comes to action RPGs, but it's still not great. Overall, I probably only complete 1 out of 5 RPGs I start, which is a shame because it used to be my favorite genre of games 25-years ago, but for reasons still not entirely clear to me, it's now one of the genres I have the hardest time with. In the case of The Witcher 3, my patience with it met its end over my struggles with the combat as well as me wanting to try out side quests and finding I was woefully outmatched in most of them. I barely struggled with the main quest up until I quit, but even just traversing the world made me feel like a baby rabbit surrounded by rapid, starving wolves. I just got so tired of dying over and over again when my only crime was wanting to explore more of the world, much of which I found fascinating. I also really struggled to get a hang of the combat, specifically the use of signs, exploiting enemy weaknesses, and various other things that have me feeling a bit pathetic, but after dying for probably the 20th time within just 5 or 6 hours in, I just sort of gave up and wanted to move onto something more up my ally. I will say that The Witcher 3's story, writing, and dialogue is incredible and is why I played as much of the game as I did before finally quitting. I actually do plan on giving this game another go someday, but for now I feel like I'm getting more annoyed with The Witcher 3 than I am having fun. Maybe the game just isn't for me, but I'll wait to make that determination for another time. For now, I'm shelving this game. (6/8/25) ABANDONED

[marvelvscapcom2]

39. My Name is Mayo [PS4] - finished Jun 10th, 2025




Thats collectively a half hour of my life that I will probably forever be able to locate in my brain as wasted lol... it was self inflicted however somewhere, somehow. Right before I ascend through the clouds living both a moment in a lifetime but a lifetime in a moment. The golden film reel playing in my head. I'll probably have long forgotten this game. But if I didn't. Id just deem wow... If only I had the 37 minutes I collectively wasted of this precious sentient upright walking mammal existence back.  Id give up I am Mayo to hug my family again.  And that???   Is a shame...  never had a game make me this introspective about what really matters. Its so bad it makes you look within yourself as to why you subjected yourself to it.  Part of me wants to make this satirical praise of it. I cant. It's just really a bore. 


I understood going in that it was less than shovelware. But I somehow expected it to have more satire involved. Comedy. Making fun of itself.  Nope....  I expected silly gameplay.  Something tangible.

You tap a jar of mayonaise 10,000 times.  Thats the game.  You tap it. 

If you're wondering roughly how long it takes to hit X on a ps5 controller 10,000 times.  Roughly 5 times per second average. With maybe 1 break in the middle

About a half hour.... 

A test of patience. A condiment of favor.  Truly a why moment of my completions this year. Luckily it was followed by something polar opposite, story rich and epic.


However it is mayonnaise.  And it delivers on its promise of being mayonnaise. Which is somehow still better than Concord lol.


Rating - 27/100

[marvelvscapcom2]

40. The Quarry [PS5] - Finished Jun 11th, 2025



STORY TELLING NIRVANA


The Quarry much like Until Dawn shares its mechanics, lineage and soul with its cousin.  Both games were made by supermassive games although Until Dawn was under a wider sony studios and super massive sorta did Quarry more independently free from that umbrella.  And tbh. In my opinion.  The Quarry is 10x better.  Which trust me. Until Dawn was fantastic. This game just got snug like a bug under the rug. The characters are rawly believable.


The Quarry is bleeding with 1980s horror tropes. Cabin by the lake (friday the 13th) camp councilor, crazy woman looking for her kid by the reiver (la llorona) it's basically old ghost stories meets a sorta wendigo werewolf monster hybrid meets sicko family cult. Meets EVERYTHING.  This thing is a big juicy spook burger and we all can take a bite. But the fun thing is! It doesn't get overwhelming. 

Instead of collecting totems. This time you collect tarot cards. Such a much more introspective thing. As tarot can provide insight in similar ways but also plays into the spooky circus level cookyness of the game. It is fun to find knowing the reveals they lead to.  But you can also refuse the views into the future if you so choose.

Where Until Dawn had a wider plot of the sisters this game covers the hackett families mysteries. Which I wont share for spoiler sake. But the plot is deep as 7 layer bean dip. Its a glorious presentation.

ACTING CAST



These voice actors and body motion performers are excellent.  I mean who doesnt love Brenda Song? David Arquette?  It covers every trope.  Angsty. Confident. Frat extroverts. Emotional turmoil. Jealousy.  Its basically every emotion a clan of teens can express exploding outwards onto the viewer. The game really rocks in how it presents characters.

When you place a player into a pov format where you choose dialogue branches. I feel it makes every life or death moment feel more impactful. Like the trolley problem brought to life. Do you risk the A to save the B.

I began to engage deeply like a movie franchise with characters. In particular Laura who is a absolute Claire from.resident evil 2 level BAD-ASS. 


Like until dawn theirs dozens of ways the game can end. Which is neat.  The decisions you make effect the story unlike with some telltale games where its linear at the end. 

The graphics are phenomenal. The layout is neat. The setting is fun to me.  And the podcasts you can play in the menu is a cute touch. 

It touches on the occult. Its a horror fans dream. I personally think it lured me and kept me gripped in its talons all the way through. Barely put it down in 2 days  

The QTE events are easier but more enjoyable than others imo.  And this is by no means insulting until dawn. Just comparing two games in similar bloodline.  Supermassive had no issue with this juggernaut.  I hope we can see more epicness like this! 


The dread, fear. It's palpable.  And this game cinematically is my 3rd 100 of the year. What a great great game! One that sticks with you.

Rating - 100/100

[dhaabi]

37. Samurai Shaver || Browser || 06.10.2025



Out of curiosity, I wanted to see what kind of rhythm games were available on itch.io, and stumbled upon Samurai Shaver. I wasn't actually planning to play through the whole game despite its short length, but I found myself playing through it all.

Just as its name implies, the the sole objective of the game is to successfully shave samurais as they're brought before you along a conveyor belt to the center of the screen, one at a time and fully nude. However, it's not just their facial hair that's being shaved. Instead, hair needing shaved is in an assortment of places such as the face, chest, and legs. Patches of hair are randomly present, and the player—who I also assume is a samurai based on in-game art—must take calculated timed swings to remove it, which is executed by a simple button press. Of course, since Samurai Shaver is a rhythm game, music accompanies on-screen action. A falling line moves from each samurai's head to toe which telegraphs when timed swings need to be executed, and timing is naturally synced to the game's music. Before the line moves downward, lines indicating where the hair is appears in the rhythm needing to follow. I didn't think this added UI was helpful at first but saw its importance as the game progressed since numerous patches of hair may be grouped together to where it's difficult to know how many there are.

Inevitably, players will make a mistake while shaving which results in samurai being cut with their portrait changing to them screaming with some blood gushing. It's a funny transition. However, there isn't any penalty for either mis-shaving or missing hair altogether. Stages are short, so a simple score tally system is implemented instead based on how many samurai were fully shaved successfully. Surprisingly, but ultimately to the game's benefit, difficulty steadily increases with each stage. Toward the end, track tempo is considerably fast, and stage requirements reflect that with a faster-moving guiding line to follow and samurai having greater patches of hair to shave. I wasn't interested in perfecting the eight stages and only tried them each once, but the game's arcade-like quality definitely complements gameplay.

This was another game jam project developed which was developed in 72 hours, and it has a lot of quality. I didn't play the game's original version, though, as numerous updates have been published since its original submission. There is a lot of quality, and apparently it was well received within the event. Art is simple, but it's an illustrative style that has fun personality. Music is, naturally, the game's highlight and is well-written while combining traditional Japanese instruments such as the shamisen with some small inclusion of chiptune elements, which the latter brings a frantic level of energy and tension. On the accompanying Bandcamp page where the soundtrack is available to download, detailed estimates for how much time was spent composing each track is provided, which I found interesting from a development perspective.

On a whim, I decided to try out Samurai Shaver, and I was pleasantly surprised by this short project. Beyond the steadily increasing difficulty, there is not much depth to the game, though the developers easily accomplished their goal at developing a comical experience.

[kashell]

40. Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II - Bad Ending
41. Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II - Good Ending/platinum

The Spirit Hunter series continues to do all the things I loved from the start. This time, it does it better thanks to a cleaner interface and easier navigation. I got the Bad Ending first just to get a trophy related to it. After getting the Good Ending, I got the platinum. Still, I after finishing the EX Chapter, I'm thinking I'll go through the steps to get the True Ending. The mysteries (which were chilling, gory, gruesome, horrific, and all of that lovely stuff) were mostly solved, but the case wasn't quite closed. I'll be getting a good ol' review ready for this game and I'm excited about it.

[kashell]

42. Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II - True Ending

It didn't long to get this. I'm glad I did because it put a pretty, red ribbon on top of the good ending.

[bikingjahuty]

I'm still marching forward towards 100 games beat by the end of the year. With summer around the corner, I have several games in mind that I really want to try and play before the fall. Some of these games are more summery in nature (I guess), but overall I just want to make sure I play and beat the following games before the beginning of September. Here is my current list of summer time games I plan on beating.


- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
- Donkey Kong 64
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
- Halo 2


I definitely plan on playing more than just those four games, but those are the ones that if nothing else, I definitely want to make sure I've beat them before summer's end.

Unfortunately, I abandoned The Witcher 3 earlier this week, but in its place I decided to replay one of my all time favorite games, Zelda OoT. Oh, and before anyone asks, no I didn't plan on it being the 64th game I beat this year. It was just kinda of a cool coinicidence :p


64. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)

In terms of personal, special games, there are few games, if any, that are more at the core of who I am as a gamer than Ocarina of Time. I got this game when it first came out in 1998 as a birthday gift and it was unlike anything I'd ever played up until that point. Funny enough, that ended up being a bad thing initially as I struggled with its non-linear gameplay and puzzles (I was 11 years old, cut me some slack), and decided I didn't like the game by the time I got to the Deku Tree. I let a friend borrow the game shortly after and it was him praising the hell out of it that inspired me to give OoT another chance when I took the game back. Fortunately, the game clicked for me in ways I could have never imagined. It took me around half a year to beat OoT the first time I played it and it instnatly became my favorite game of all time.


For nearly 30-years I have got back and replayed OoT maybe more than any other game I've ever played. It's a game that heavily made me into the gamer I am now, and for a long time it was an annual playthrough for me. At some point, the frequency of me playing OoT became more and more spread out, with the last time I beat it until now being back in 2018, 7-years ago. When I realized just how long it had been since I last played through the entire game, I made it my mission to make sure I beat OoT in 2025, which is precisely what I have just done again!


I often go through the individual aspects of a specific game (ie. gameplay, visuals, and audio), but there's almost no reason for me to do this with OoT. It's a game that essentially speaks for itself at this point. It pushed the action adventure genre of games to new heights when it came out in 1998 and for many years it reigned supreme within the genre. Literally, everything in this game is perfect or near perfect and that's not just for the time it came out. This game is still incredibly good and super fun to play. I don't have a bad thing to say about OoT when looking at the games objective merits. It's a game that absolutely deserves all the praise and love around it, and I dare anyone to call it overrated and be taken seriously. The only reason this game doesn't score a perfect 50/50 score in my book has to do with the more subjective side of things.


Due to me playing and replaying OoT so many times over the last three decades, any novelty this game once had is now long gone. This is one of the few longer games where I know almost exactly what to do and when to do it. Nothing in this game is a challenge for me anymore. I even know where a ton of the optional items are and how to get them from memory. I know where all the fairy fountains are, where probably 2/3 of the gold Skulltulas are, and also most of the heart pieces. There is not a single dungeon I get lost in, nor do I have any problems or difficulties beating any of the bosses. Because of this, this game feels almost too familiar at this point which has unfortunately dulled some of the excitement I once felt when playing this game or when trying to figure certain things out in it. Despite this, however, how special this game is to me and how it makes me feel on a more sentimental level are just as potent as ever, maybe even more than ever.


As I said, I played this game originally back when I was 11-years old. I'm now quickly nearing 40, and the whole concept of traveling back and forth between two very different eras is not lost on me. The Hyrule kid Link lives in reminds me in many ways of being a kid in the 90s, where everything seemed exciting, fun, and optimistic. Things weren't perfect, but overall the zeitgeist of the time was something millions of people my age look back on with the utmost fondness. Compare that to the world we live in now and it's a much more depressing and dismal place to live, much like it is as adult Link in OoT. More than anything, the entire game takes me back to a much more simple, naive time in my life that I wish often I could have back somehow. OoT also represents somewhat of a pinnacle in gaming where the games and industry as a whole as at its best, most innovative and creative, and it just seemed like a new classic game or franchise was getting released weekly. It is this aspect of how OoT makes me feel that makes me believe this game will never ever budge from its place in my top 5 games of all time. Beyond just being a very fun game, despite how familiar I am with it now, it's also a game that means so much to me on so many levels, and one I will always cherish and love. (5/13/25) [48/50]

[Cartagia]

Finished Shantae and the Seven Sirens this morning, and I think it's pretty handily my favorite game in that franchise so far.  It's feels the like the most traditional Metroidvania, and the map is fun to explore, and the abilities are cute and fun.  It is a bit too easy, and kinda rushes to the end.

[bikingjahuty]

65. Cannon Spike (Dreamcast)

One part of my life that I've become fairly nostalgic for despite it having occurred not too long ago was when I was at the height of my video game collectorism back in the early and mid 2010s. While I pretty much collected everything from the NES all the way up to the newest consoles at the time, the console that I always got the most excited about when it came to acquiring new games was the Dreamcast. I've probably mentioned it a million times at this point, but the Sega Dreamcast is my favorite console of all time, so it makes sense why the finding new games for it would get me completely amped. One of the games that I remember being the happiest and most excited about getting was Cannon Spike. Beyond it being one of the rarer titles in the NTSC/US library, it's also a game that's actually good and fun to play. I got Cannon Spike as a birthday gift from my wife years ago and aside from playing it when first got it back in 2012, possibly 2013, I haven't touched it since. One thing I feared going into replaying Cannon Spike was that I might not enjoy it as much as I did, or that my feverish pursuit of Dreamcast games back then blinding me to the game's faults, similar to what I experienced in recent years with Tech Romancer and Sonic Adventure. While definitely a game with some flaws, I was pleasantly surprised to rediscover that Cannon Spike is just as fun as I remembered it being, maybe even slightly more fun.


Cannon Spike is more or less a SHMUP that has you free roaming in a square shaped arena set to the theme of a city street or inside some top secret lab, while you blast away enemies coming in from all directions. The closest thing I can compare it to is Geometry Wars, but in a way it shares similarities to other Psikyo SHMUPs like Zero Gunner. Unfortunately, this gameplay style is hampered by the fact that you can't aim and shoot at the same time. More or less, you have to let go of the fire button and somewhat awkwardly position your character in the direction you want to fire and then you can hold down the fire button to shoot enemies in that direction. This mechanic works seamlessly in the aforementioned Geometry Wars since duel analogue sticks allow you to fire and aim intuitively at the same time. I have no doubt Cannon Spike would have benefited greatly from this had the Dreamcast control been equipped with a second analogue stick, but as is, it's certainly functional and relatively easy to get used to, but still hampers the gameplay somewhat. Fortunately, the gameplay is so fast paced and engaging that you won't mind this relatively large gameplay blemish as many different enemy types will be coming at you from every direction. Before you know it, you'll then fight some sort of sub boss, immediately followed up by the main stage boss. In all, each stage is only a few minutes long, and for the most part they're all visually distinct from one another and possess their own enemy types, bosses, and themes. One stage is literally a haunted courtyard where you'll fight zombies and a giant zombie gorilla as a sub boss, while the next takes place on a city street where the final boss is three cool looking mechs that attack you at the same time. It's all really interesting stuff and makes this game really fun to play despite it's issues.


As for the characters you'll get to play as, the game has a fairly generous roster made up mostly of recognizable Capcom characters such as Mega Man and Cammy, but also a few more obscure ones like BB Hood and Arther from Ghosts n' Goblins fame. There are also two original characters that stylistically fit right in with the other selectable characters. All characters control more or less the same, and all have an automatic basic shot which you'll be using most of the time, as well as a close range melee attack too. Aside from how they look obviously, where the characters do differ is their special attack. Your characters also have a health bar which you can replenish by picking up health power ups from fallen enemies, but also you can pick up additional special attack power ups which allow you to use your special attack more often. While some characters are absolutely better than others, mainly due to how effective their special attack is, it's still fun to play as all of them for the most part.


One final aspect of Cannon Spike's gameplay I wanted to address is this game's general lack of difficulty balancing. As you'd expect, the game does get harder and harder as you progress, however there are a few boss encounters specifically that are downright annoying, especially the final few bosses in the game which hit you with attacks I'm not even sure are possible to avoid. I get this game began its life as an arcade title, which are known for being purposefully cheap in order to get more quarters out of you, but it still doesn't change the fact that these annoying elements diminish the overall quality of the game. Cannon Spike is no different, but luckily there is still more there to love than there is to dislike.


I already somewhat touched on the visuals of Cannon Spike just now, but to summarize, their excellent, mostly due to the detail and variety in them. Likewise, the selectable characters you can pick from all look beautifully rendered in 3D. Attacks and visual effects are also fairly unique and cool, but for the most part since this is a SHMUP at its core, you'll see a lot of round enemy projectiles coming at you that you'll want to dodge. It's honestly hard to fault anything with Cannon Spike's visuals and overall presentations. It's just that good!


Finally, Cannon Spike's audio is also pretty awesome. Capcom games from the late 90s and early 2000s are famous for having amazing OSTs in general and Cannon Spike is no exception. While there are a few somewhat boring tracks thrown in the game, Cannon Spike makes up for it by having some absolutely excellent tracks as well. The characters are also voice acted, which has them saying limited lines if they are damaged or you use your special attack, but it's still a nice touch I was happy to see.


While they have certainly released some amazing games since then, for me Capcom absolutely peaked in the late 90s and early 2000s, and Cannon Spike is a shining example of why that is. They were just pumping out such creative, interesting games during that time, and who'd have ever guessed they'd make their own version of Super Smash Bros, but as a SHMUP and with Capcom characters of course. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll ever see such an innovative and interesting era of gaming like this ever again, but luckily we still have these classics and obscure gems like Cannon Spike to return to. (6/14/25) [37/50]

[bikingjahuty]

66. Killer Instinct -1994 (XBONE)

Leave it to me to get a modern game console and instead of playing something with modern graphics and gameplay, I instead play some arcade game port from nearly 20-years before that console was even released. Yep, while Killer Instinct: Definitive Edition was taking forever to download everything to my new to me XBOX One console, I decided to play the original arcade version of Killer Instinct which was included with it.


While i was aware of it back in the 90s, Killer Instinct was never a game I regularly played or got into. My only association with it is an older neighbor kid I grew up with had it, or possibly rented it, and for about a week he talked about it like it was the coolest game ever. I remember trying to play it with him, not thinking it was anything special, and then deciding to play street hockey or do something else. All these years later I still have barely played any Killer Instinct games, maybe dabbling in KI Gold or the SNES port of the first game for a few minutes, but never giving any of the games some serious play time. Well, that all changed this evening and well, I can't say I feel like I missed much over the past 30-years.


There are a lot of things I really like about KI, however the gameplay isn't necessarily one of them. While I don't expect every fighting game to have the gameplay balancing and polish of Street Fighter Alpha 2 or Tekken 5, I at least appreciate some level of balancing when it comes to my fighting games. KI has very, very little of that, nor does it have much polish when it comes to gameplay. CPU opponents block spam like crazy, combos, which by the way are a core mechanic of this game, are somewhat clunky and overly complicated to pull off most of the time, and this game's difficulty spikes are ridiculous. More or less, this game is not that enjoyable to actually play. Maybe it was back in the mid 90s when it came out; I mean, after all, Mortal Kombat, which was certainly the game KI was aiming for, didn't have the most amazing gameplay either, but was still fun. And don't get me wrong, KI still has its moments, but far less of those moments have to do with the combat and mechanics and more to do with the game's presentation.


I LOVE the visuals in this game! They just scream mid 90s to me like few other games do. KI definitely has that undeniable RARE look too that is also present in the DKC games that were being developed around the same time. The character models, which look like they were animated from clay models, all look cool, and definitely go with the fairly interesting stages present throughout. This game does a good job at looking 3D, while undeniably being a 2D fighting game.


While I've heard numerous people over the years rave about KI's soundtrack, I actually didn't find it particularly memorable, but still pretty enjoyable and certainly appropriate for the game's overall theme. It does have a good mix of dance music, rock, and even hip hop which in a way make this game's soundtrack feel a lot more diverse than most from this time period. Characters also have some limited voice acting, and of course there is the announcer that delivers over the top lines when you pull off various combo types throughout the game.


KI is definitely a product of its time, and I mean that in the best possible way...mostly. This game really does feel like a mid 90s time capsule and that is a huge part of its charm and appeal in our current year, at least to me. Unfortunately, the gameplay leaves a lot to be desired, especially when compared to many of its contemporaries like Street Fighter 2, Fatal Fury Special, and yes, even Mortal Kombat 2. KI is certainly memorable, but also definitely out dated as well. (5/14/25) [30/50]