1
General / Re: Your Top 5 Video Game Sound Tracks
« on: November 13, 2024, 12:37:21 pm »
Final Fantasy VI
Super Mario RPG
Chrono Trigger
Terranigma
Romancing SaGa 3
Super Mario RPG
Chrono Trigger
Terranigma
Romancing SaGa 3
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2
Classic Video Games / Re: The Best Retro Game Music - 8bit and above
« on: October 01, 2024, 09:47:14 am »
Final Fantasy VI has some of the best songs ever written. The opera scene is a highlight, and Dancing Mad is the greatest boss theme ever.
3
Modern Video Games / Re: Playstation 5 Pro
« on: September 13, 2024, 03:37:57 pm »
We need to tell those selling digital-only consoles that this will not be tolerated. The last new console I'll ever buy is likely the Switch 2.
4
General / Re: What 10 games would you show to someone who had never played video games before?
« on: August 21, 2024, 12:06:45 pm »
Tetris
Galaga
Super Mario Odyssey: This game combines great graphics, great music and fun gameplay that's easy to learn.
Final Fantasy VI: The easy difficulty combined with a grand storyline will show them the full potential of games as a medium for telling stories.
Mario Kart Wii
Metroid: Zero Mission: A Metroid game for newcomers to the franchise, and still as open-ended as many other games.
VVVVVV: A showcase for Indie games and how they transformed gaming that is forgiving despite its difficulty.
Super Mario RPG: An ideal first RPG for new players whether its the original or the remake.
Streets of Rage 2: This game will get anyone hooked on beat-em-ups.
Mega Man 10: The recommended Mega Man to start with considering it has an Easy Mode.
Galaga
Super Mario Odyssey: This game combines great graphics, great music and fun gameplay that's easy to learn.
Final Fantasy VI: The easy difficulty combined with a grand storyline will show them the full potential of games as a medium for telling stories.
Mario Kart Wii
Metroid: Zero Mission: A Metroid game for newcomers to the franchise, and still as open-ended as many other games.
VVVVVV: A showcase for Indie games and how they transformed gaming that is forgiving despite its difficulty.
Super Mario RPG: An ideal first RPG for new players whether its the original or the remake.
Streets of Rage 2: This game will get anyone hooked on beat-em-ups.
Mega Man 10: The recommended Mega Man to start with considering it has an Easy Mode.
5
General / Re: List your favorite game from your collection for each letter of the alphabet!
« on: August 20, 2024, 10:09:49 pm »
A - ActRaiser (Wii VC)
B - Beyond Oasis (Wii VC)
C - Chrono Trigger (DS)
D - Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (SNES)
E - EarthBound (Wii U VC)
F - Final Fantasy V Advance (GBA)
G - Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee (GC)
H - Hollow Knight (Steam)
I - Illusion of Gaia (SNES)
J - Jak 3 (PS2)
K - Kirby & the Amazing Mirror (GBA)
L - Legend of Zelda, The: A Link to the Past (SNES)
M - Mega Man 2 (NES)
N - Night Stalker (Intellivision)
O - Ogre Battle (Wii VC)
P - Pokemon Sapphire (GBA)
Q - Quarth (GB)
R - Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando (PS2)
S - Super Metroid (SNES)
T - Terranigma (SNES)
U - Undertale (Steam)
V - VVVVVV (3DS eShop)
W - Wario Land 4 (GBA)
X - Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii U eShop)
Y - Yars Revenge (2600)
Z - Zombies Ate My Neighbors (Wii VC)
B - Beyond Oasis (Wii VC)
C - Chrono Trigger (DS)
D - Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (SNES)
E - EarthBound (Wii U VC)
F - Final Fantasy V Advance (GBA)
G - Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee (GC)
H - Hollow Knight (Steam)
I - Illusion of Gaia (SNES)
J - Jak 3 (PS2)
K - Kirby & the Amazing Mirror (GBA)
L - Legend of Zelda, The: A Link to the Past (SNES)
M - Mega Man 2 (NES)
N - Night Stalker (Intellivision)
O - Ogre Battle (Wii VC)
P - Pokemon Sapphire (GBA)
Q - Quarth (GB)
R - Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando (PS2)
S - Super Metroid (SNES)
T - Terranigma (SNES)
U - Undertale (Steam)
V - VVVVVV (3DS eShop)
W - Wario Land 4 (GBA)
X - Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii U eShop)
Y - Yars Revenge (2600)
Z - Zombies Ate My Neighbors (Wii VC)
6
General / Re: Games you must play before you die.
« on: March 22, 2024, 04:07:08 pm »
Donkey Kong (Arcade)
Tetris: The Grand Master 2 (Arcade)
Adventure (2600)
Super Mario Bros. (NES)
Mega Man 2 (NES)
Contra (NES)
Final Fantasy (NES)
Rockman 4 Minus Infinity (NES ROM Hack)
Phantasy Star (SMS)
Chrono Trigger (SNES)
Super Mario World (SNES)
Super Metroid (SNES)
Final Fantasy VI (SNES)
Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals (SNES)
Final Fantasy VI: Brave New World (SNES ROM Hack)
Terranigma (SNES)
Super Mario RPG (SNES)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)
Tales of Phantasia (SNES with DeJap translation)
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (SNES)
Streets of Rage 2 (Genesis)
Beyond Oasis (Genesis)
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Genesis)
Spyro: Year of the Dragon (PS1)
Super Mario Galaxy (Wii or Switch 3D All-Stars)
Tetris (GB)
Pokemon Crystal (GBC)
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (GBC)
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (GBC)
Dragon Warrior III (GBC)
Pokemon FireRed (GBA)
Metroid: Zero Mission (GBA)
Final Fantasy V (GBA)
Romancing SaGa 3 (Xbox One or Switch)
Super Mario Odyssey (Switch)
VVVVVV (PC)
Doom (PC)
Tetris: The Grand Master 2 (Arcade)
Adventure (2600)
Super Mario Bros. (NES)
Mega Man 2 (NES)
Contra (NES)
Final Fantasy (NES)
Rockman 4 Minus Infinity (NES ROM Hack)
Phantasy Star (SMS)
Chrono Trigger (SNES)
Super Mario World (SNES)
Super Metroid (SNES)
Final Fantasy VI (SNES)
Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals (SNES)
Final Fantasy VI: Brave New World (SNES ROM Hack)
Terranigma (SNES)
Super Mario RPG (SNES)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)
Tales of Phantasia (SNES with DeJap translation)
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (SNES)
Streets of Rage 2 (Genesis)
Beyond Oasis (Genesis)
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Genesis)
Spyro: Year of the Dragon (PS1)
Super Mario Galaxy (Wii or Switch 3D All-Stars)
Tetris (GB)
Pokemon Crystal (GBC)
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (GBC)
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (GBC)
Dragon Warrior III (GBC)
Pokemon FireRed (GBA)
Metroid: Zero Mission (GBA)
Final Fantasy V (GBA)
Romancing SaGa 3 (Xbox One or Switch)
Super Mario Odyssey (Switch)
VVVVVV (PC)
Doom (PC)
7
General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2024!!!!!
« on: December 26, 2023, 02:55:56 pm »
Rules:
ROM hacks and other unofficial games are allowed, and must have at least 30 minutes of gameplay.
Tool-assisted runs are allowed.
Game Genie is banned.
If I play the same game multiple times in the same year, it must be on a different edition to count for this challenge. Playing the same game on the same system multiple times doesn't count to the challenge.
Playing:
Super Mario RPG [Any%] (SNES Mini)
Kirby's Dream Course {Any%} (SNES Mini)
Tales of Phantasia {Any%} (PC, Emulator with DeJap translation)
Quickie World 2 (PC, Emulator)
Mega Man 10 {Proto Man, Easy} (Wii)
Final Fantasy IV: Ultima {Any%} (PC, Emulator)
Final Fantasy VI {Under Level 30 Achievement} (PC, Emulator)
Super Bomberman R [Veteran Difficulty] (Switch)
Spyro: Year of the Dragon {117% + All Skill Points} (PC, Emulator)
Super Metroid {17%} (SNES)
Vitality {Any%} (PC, Emulator)
Terranigma (SNES)
Final Fantasy: Dawn Of Souls {Full Bestiary} (GBA)
Final Fantasy II: Dawn of Souls {Full Bestiary} (GBA)
Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 {Warpless} (Wii U VC)
Planning to play:
Illusion of Gaia (SNES)
Either Metroid: Dread or Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Switch)
Hades (Switch)
Donkey Kong Country (SNES)
Completed:
1. Super Mario World (SNES Mini) {No Star World} [Finished Jan 1]
Still one of the best games in the franchise. The game has a couple challenging levels, but doesn't reach the difficulty that the Kaizo genre goes to. No wonder this game has over 20,000 ROM hacks, 10,000 custom songs and 300 custom bosses made for it. 37 exits cleared.
2. Super Metroid Route Randomizer (PC, Emulator) {50 Room Challenge} [Finished Jan 6]
A fun way to get better at Super Metroid. The most challenging part of this seed was the final boss and the escape, which caused both of my deaths in this run of the randomizer. Animals saved.
3. Super Metroid Map Randomizer (PC, Emulator) {Custom Difficulty} [Finished Jan 7]
An easy to get into randomizer for one of the greatest games of all time. The difficulty can be customized depending on the user's skill level, and it was fun seeing different areas with different palettes. Would recommend this wholeheartedly. 49% of items obtained, animals killed.
4. Super Metroid Map Randomizer (PC, Emulator) {Custom Difficulty} [Finished Jan 12]
Every seed of this randomizer is a completely different game. In this seed, Bombs were only obtained after both Kraid and Draygon were defeated, and the Spazer and Space Jump were actually obtained this seed. Finding Phantoon was a bit of a challenge, but when I did, winning the game was quick. I enabled the option to fight Mother Brain 3 this seed, unlike the previous seed. 43% of items obtained, animals saved.
5. Final Fantasy VI (SNES Mini) {Any% No Sketch} [Finished Jan 12]
This game is the highlight of the Final Fantasy franchise. The characters are well-developed, the story is awesome, and Kefka is the single greatest villain in gaming history. The opera scene is one of the best pieces in all of game music, as is Dancing Mad. This is one of the very few games where every song in it is great. While Kefka's Tower is a difficulty spike, it is still such an awesome dungeon. 11 out of 14 characters recruited, 17 out of 26 Espers obtained.
6. #0 Iggy's Castle (PC, Emulator) {All Endings and Achievements} [Finished Jan 13]
A short but creepy hack of Super Mario World. The hardest achievement by far was Elusive, which requires beating a challenging final boss without taking damage once. This is one to add to the spooky season list. Less than a month after full-clearing 1.0, a major update with new endings went into beta testing.
7. Super Mario RPG (PC, Emulator) {Most of the Stuff} [Finished Jan 16]
One of the best RPGs of all time, and the perfect game to start people on JRPGs. The music is incredible, the gameplay is fun, and the limited inventory system meant that it's likely you'll use powerful healing items. The Lazy Shell armor is so broken that even Culex is easy to beat with it equipped, not to mention the rest of the game. I will be adding this to my replay annually list of games.
8. Final Fantasy III PR (Switch) {100% Bestiary} [Finished Jan 17]
Most of the "quality of life features" this port added severely cut down the difficulty of a game infamous for its high difficulty, to the point where I'd recommend downloading the NES version's fan translation and playing that to maintain the FF3J experience. The 4x experience and gold boosts in particular are even more broken than the Vanish-Doom combo and Economizer from FF6. Of the three NES FF games, my favorite is easily FF1. One neat thing the Switch version did was allow you to choose original NES OST and Remastered OST. I played the game with the original soundtrack.
9. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES Mini) {100% Completion} [Finished Jan 22]
While I had beaten this game multiple times before, I had never 100% completed it. This game is one of the greatest games of all time, with incredible music, graphics, and gameplay. Like always, I do Thieves' Town before Skull Woods and Swamp Palace, which gives early Tempered Sword access. The worst part of 100% completion was grinding Rupees for max capacity Arrows and Bombs, but even that took less than 15 minutes. Many of the items are really useful, and there aren't any truly useless items except the Magic Boomerang. I highly recommend this game.
10. Of Jumps and Platforms (PC, Emulator) {All Exits} [Finished Jan 23]
A perfect game for those wishing to get started with more challenging Mario World ROM hacks. The music is awesome, the difficulty was never too punishing while still being challenging, and the custom mechanics are neat. I loved the custom color palettes the game used to give a sense of progression in Mario's journey.
11. Super Metroid (PC, Emulator) {True 100% Completion} [Finished Jan 26]
Still one of the best Metroidvanias, and best games of all time. The gameplay is easy to learn but difficult to master. A lot of this run, I ended up using wall jumps to get to areas early. The graphics are among the best of the SNES, and all of the bosses and minibosses were fought. True Completion requires 100% of items, 100% of map tiles turned pink, Ceres Ridley defeated, All Zebitites defeated, all map rooms visited and the animals to be saved.
12. Super Metroid Map Randomizer (PC, Emulator) {Mini-Boss Mode} [Finished Jan 30]
A nice refreshing way to celebrate one of the best games of all time. In this seed, you have to defeat the four mini-bosses. For a lot of the game, I had forgotten that Golden Torizo was right by the ship, and I ended up looking for Tourian thinking it was in there. 46% of items obtained, Animals saved.
13. Super Ghouls N Ghosts (SNES Mini) {Beginner, Tool-Assisted} [Finished Feb 2]
This game is so challenging that even beginner mode required the use of savestates for me to finish. Apart from that, it's a typical Platform Hell game that has great graphics and music for being early in the SNES's life.
14. Contra (NES) {Konami Code} [Finished Feb 13]
A nice place to start on playing the Contra franchise. I loved the gameplay, and the music. It's a shame that this port lacks some of the cool graphical effects of the Famicom version.
15. Super Metroid Map Randomizer (PC, Emulator) {Mini-Boss Mode, Custom Difficulty} [Finished Feb 18]
The hardest part of this seed is getting Varia Suit, which requires defeating Metroids with Power Bombs. After that, the major items were easy to find, as were the minibosses and Mother Brain. 26% of items obtained, Animals killed.
16. F-Zero (SNES Mini) {Beginner, Knight/Queen RTA, King Tool-Assisted} [Finished Feb 21]
While the first two leagues are fun to play as well as the practice mode is fun as well, the worst part about this game is the King League's absurdly high level of difficulty, to the point that Super Ghouls N Ghosts was easier. Also, the ending is just as bad as NES Ghostbusters and Mass Effect 3's infamous endings, not even saying congrats for beating such a hard game.
17. Super Metroid Rotation (PC, Emulator) {Any%} [Finished Feb 21]
The one change of rotating the map 90 degrees means that vertical rooms that are hard in vanilla are easy here, while some rooms that are easy become challenging affairs. I love some of the small details and changes that make this hack work, such as entering Maridia through what in vanilla is its exit. The rooms that gave me the most trouble were the metal pirates room and Draygon's room, which caused two of my very few deaths in this playthrough. Being good at walljumps and mid-air morphing is required to beat this game. 77% of items obtained, Animals saved.
18. Antinomia: Final Fantasy VI (PC, Emulator) {Any%} [Finished Mar 13]
The best thing about this ROM hack is the expansion of General Leo's character as a result of his survival. But in order to add him to your party, you have to wait for him at the Floating Continent. I also loved the turntable sidequest that plays beloved songs from FFIV and FFV, giving stat boosts to party members. Apart from that, the Colosseum being controlled duels meant that I was able to get two Growth Eggs and a Celestriad, which made Kefka fall pretty quickly. As a hack that left the gameplay intact but focused much more on adding to the story, I feel it did what the hack set out to do very well. DM me for the patch file if you want to play it. 9 of 14 characters recruited.
19. Super Mario Odyssey (Switch) {Any%} [Finished Mar 26]
One of the best Mario games of all time. I loved the level design, the creativity, and the music. I especially loved the capture mechanic, which allows for players to take control of enemies. The graphics are among the best in the franchise's history. So many creative areas in this game really worked. This is a game to buy a Switch for.
20. Super Metroid Map Randomizer (PC, Emulator) {Mini-Boss Mode, Custom Difficulty) [Finished Mar 26]
In this seed, Gravity Suit was completely optional, as was Morph Ball Bombs. The last of the four minibosses was two rooms away from Mother Brain. The final boss and the escape was a huge difficulty spike compared to the rest of the seed, but it was so satisfying to win. 26% of items obtained, animals saved.
21. Soul Blazer (PC, Emulator) {All Achievements} [Finished Apr 18]
The first of the Quintet Trilogy is a hidden gem. Every amount of progress you make contributes to the game world. The decision to have achievements to beat the bosses without getting hit meant that every boss defeated was so satisfying, especially Deathtoll. Would recommend trying this on emulator before splurging on a cartridge.
22. You Have to Burn the Rope (PC, Flash) [Finished Jun 11]
This is pretty much filler to get to 52 faster. It was the easiest game I've ever beaten.
23. Final Fantasy V Advance (GBA) {Four Job Fiesta, Meteor Full Bestiary} [Finished Jun 21]
The Four Job Fiesta is a challenge where you have to play the game with only four randomly chosen jobs. However, it is a charity event and you can donate to change your jobs. This resulted in a team of Blue Mage, Freelancer, Beastmaster and Ninja. This might be in the Top 10 most broken teams possible. Control Glitch meant that I had access to Hermes Sandals before leaving for Galuf's world, and 255 of thrown items Partisan, Masamune and Ragnarok. Combined with selling 251 Hermes Sandals, this team has absolutely zero money problems. In fact, it's so broken a team that Omega, Shinryu and Neo Exdeath all died on the very first try. Now to do the Sealed Temple.
24. Final Fantasy V (SNES) {Four Job Fiesta Typhoon 375} [Finished July 5]
The next run of the Fiesta gave me the team of Black Mage, White Mage, Beastmaster & Knight. Due to playing on Battle Speed 1 Active for the whole time, this run was a very big challenge until I got White Mage, which I absolutely needed to be able to beat the Battle Speed 1 Active Toxx. Unfortunately, Omega and Shinryu live on.
25. Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster (PC, Steam) {Four Job Fiesta Normal + Fifth Job} [Finished July 21]
The second time I played Pixel Remaster I got a team of Blue Mage, Red Mage, Bard, Dragoon with the Fifth Job being Berserker. This team destroyed Omega, Shinryu and Neo Exdeath even though I skipped three of the four tablets.
26. Yoshi's Story (PC, Emulator) {Any%} [Finished July 23]
I decided to play this game after it opened up SGDQ 2024. While the game is shorter than most Mario games at only 6 levels per playthrough, it makes up for it by the top-notch visual design, one of the best looking games of its era. I recommend this game.
27. 100 Rooms of Enemies: 10th Anniversary Edition {All Exits, Tool-Assisted} (PC, Emulator) [Finished July 29]
After the Nightmare Edition was stuck in development hell for a while, Daizo surprised us all when he did an update to 100 Rooms. Arcade Mode and Do Or Die are in the same ROM, and there's even a secret path that has an alternate Rooms 60-69. Arcade Mode playthrough did the normal route while Do or Die did the alternate route. Nightmare Mode has a demo with 50 rooms in it, and that was challenging, and lost a couple lives even with savestates. Highly recommend.
28. Daughter of Darkness and Light {Any%} (PC, Emulator) [Finished August 17]
This Final Fantasy IV ROM hack is a Role Swap AU that makes Rosa the Dark Knight/Paladin and Cecil the White Mage. Beyond that, it's the same FFIV you know and love with the SFC version's difficulty.
29. LEGO Indiana Jones 2 {100%} (Xbox 360) [Any% finished August 31, 100% September 2]
Still the best LEGO game out there. I especially love the level editor and how it makes Crystal Skull so much better than the film. Willie is actually useful here.
30. Multiple Squaresoft Shuffler {Kill Chaos, Smithy and Neo Exdeath} (Windows 11 Laptop, BizHawk) [September 30]
The games were Final Fantasy (NES), Super Mario RPG (SNES) and Final Fantasy V (GBA). For FFI, I went with a party of 2 Fighters, a Red Mage and a White Mage. For FFV, I decided to do a Four Job Fiesta and got Blue Mage, Berserker, Ranger and Chemist. Mario RPG was a playthrough where I defeated Culex, Jinx and Smithy and got all the hidden chests. This Shuffler was a lot of fun, and Smithy and Neo got defeated extremely close to each other. Omega and Shinryu were also defeated.
31. Super Metroid Map Randomizer {Random Objectives} (PC, Emulator) [October 16]
Added recently to Map Randomizer was a duo of options called themed areas and Random Objectives. Themed Areas gives all rooms in an area a theme similar to the name of the area. For example, rooms that are in Tourian have Tourian tiles even if located elsewhere in vanilla. Random Objectives can give you any set of four objectives before Mother Brain is unlocked. This seed gave Spore Spawn, Crateria Pirate Room, Metal Pirate Room and Lower Norfair Chozo as the required objectives. Getting to the Chozo required killing Ridley, while Phantoon feel so that Plasma could be acquired. 30% of items collected, animals killed.
32. Chrono Trigger {Reunion Ending} (Windows 11 Laptop, SNES9x on BizHawk) [October 18]
One of the best JRPGs of all time. The music is top notch, the graphics still hold up and the story is incredible. The game has lots of sidequests. Of the Fated Hour sidequests, I did Fiona Forest, Rainbow Shell, Ozzie's Fortress and Masamune Upgrade. The final boss is one of the most challenging that I have ever beaten, and this makes slaying Lavos so satisfying after seeing the ruin he brought the world in a future that was averted. Now to revive Chrono and do the rest of the achievements.
33. Chrono Trigger: Prophet's Guile {All Achievements} (PC, Emulator) [October 20]
While the story is a nice add-on to Chrono Trigger, this hack is killed by its incompatibility with anything newer than ZSNES in its commonly available patch form. I had to install the bugfix patch and start the game from the beginning to get to the Ocean Palace, this hack's final dungeon. Luckily, this game is around an hour long with all achievements done. Emulation bugs make some of the custom songs ear-grating.
34. Castlevania {Tool-Assisted, Any%} (Switch Castlevania Anniversary Collection) [October 31]
The first game in the series while good has some rough edges. The music is great as is the atmosphere, but the fact that Simon Belmont cannot turn another direction while jumping lead to many cheap death / save state reloads. I would recommend playing with savestates before attempting without them.
Gave up on:
Pokemon Fire Red: Rocket Edition (PC, Emulator)
Has way too much grinding needed to even stand a change against extremely overpowered bosses. Needs major rebalancing before I can play it again.
ROM hacks and other unofficial games are allowed, and must have at least 30 minutes of gameplay.
Tool-assisted runs are allowed.
Game Genie is banned.
If I play the same game multiple times in the same year, it must be on a different edition to count for this challenge. Playing the same game on the same system multiple times doesn't count to the challenge.
Playing:
Super Mario RPG [Any%] (SNES Mini)
Kirby's Dream Course {Any%} (SNES Mini)
Tales of Phantasia {Any%} (PC, Emulator with DeJap translation)
Quickie World 2 (PC, Emulator)
Mega Man 10 {Proto Man, Easy} (Wii)
Final Fantasy IV: Ultima {Any%} (PC, Emulator)
Final Fantasy VI {Under Level 30 Achievement} (PC, Emulator)
Super Bomberman R [Veteran Difficulty] (Switch)
Spyro: Year of the Dragon {117% + All Skill Points} (PC, Emulator)
Super Metroid {17%} (SNES)
Vitality {Any%} (PC, Emulator)
Terranigma (SNES)
Final Fantasy: Dawn Of Souls {Full Bestiary} (GBA)
Final Fantasy II: Dawn of Souls {Full Bestiary} (GBA)
Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 {Warpless} (Wii U VC)
Planning to play:
Illusion of Gaia (SNES)
Either Metroid: Dread or Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Switch)
Hades (Switch)
Donkey Kong Country (SNES)
Completed:
1. Super Mario World (SNES Mini) {No Star World} [Finished Jan 1]
Still one of the best games in the franchise. The game has a couple challenging levels, but doesn't reach the difficulty that the Kaizo genre goes to. No wonder this game has over 20,000 ROM hacks, 10,000 custom songs and 300 custom bosses made for it. 37 exits cleared.
2. Super Metroid Route Randomizer (PC, Emulator) {50 Room Challenge} [Finished Jan 6]
A fun way to get better at Super Metroid. The most challenging part of this seed was the final boss and the escape, which caused both of my deaths in this run of the randomizer. Animals saved.
3. Super Metroid Map Randomizer (PC, Emulator) {Custom Difficulty} [Finished Jan 7]
An easy to get into randomizer for one of the greatest games of all time. The difficulty can be customized depending on the user's skill level, and it was fun seeing different areas with different palettes. Would recommend this wholeheartedly. 49% of items obtained, animals killed.
4. Super Metroid Map Randomizer (PC, Emulator) {Custom Difficulty} [Finished Jan 12]
Every seed of this randomizer is a completely different game. In this seed, Bombs were only obtained after both Kraid and Draygon were defeated, and the Spazer and Space Jump were actually obtained this seed. Finding Phantoon was a bit of a challenge, but when I did, winning the game was quick. I enabled the option to fight Mother Brain 3 this seed, unlike the previous seed. 43% of items obtained, animals saved.
5. Final Fantasy VI (SNES Mini) {Any% No Sketch} [Finished Jan 12]
This game is the highlight of the Final Fantasy franchise. The characters are well-developed, the story is awesome, and Kefka is the single greatest villain in gaming history. The opera scene is one of the best pieces in all of game music, as is Dancing Mad. This is one of the very few games where every song in it is great. While Kefka's Tower is a difficulty spike, it is still such an awesome dungeon. 11 out of 14 characters recruited, 17 out of 26 Espers obtained.
6. #0 Iggy's Castle (PC, Emulator) {All Endings and Achievements} [Finished Jan 13]
A short but creepy hack of Super Mario World. The hardest achievement by far was Elusive, which requires beating a challenging final boss without taking damage once. This is one to add to the spooky season list. Less than a month after full-clearing 1.0, a major update with new endings went into beta testing.
7. Super Mario RPG (PC, Emulator) {Most of the Stuff} [Finished Jan 16]
One of the best RPGs of all time, and the perfect game to start people on JRPGs. The music is incredible, the gameplay is fun, and the limited inventory system meant that it's likely you'll use powerful healing items. The Lazy Shell armor is so broken that even Culex is easy to beat with it equipped, not to mention the rest of the game. I will be adding this to my replay annually list of games.
8. Final Fantasy III PR (Switch) {100% Bestiary} [Finished Jan 17]
Most of the "quality of life features" this port added severely cut down the difficulty of a game infamous for its high difficulty, to the point where I'd recommend downloading the NES version's fan translation and playing that to maintain the FF3J experience. The 4x experience and gold boosts in particular are even more broken than the Vanish-Doom combo and Economizer from FF6. Of the three NES FF games, my favorite is easily FF1. One neat thing the Switch version did was allow you to choose original NES OST and Remastered OST. I played the game with the original soundtrack.
9. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES Mini) {100% Completion} [Finished Jan 22]
While I had beaten this game multiple times before, I had never 100% completed it. This game is one of the greatest games of all time, with incredible music, graphics, and gameplay. Like always, I do Thieves' Town before Skull Woods and Swamp Palace, which gives early Tempered Sword access. The worst part of 100% completion was grinding Rupees for max capacity Arrows and Bombs, but even that took less than 15 minutes. Many of the items are really useful, and there aren't any truly useless items except the Magic Boomerang. I highly recommend this game.
10. Of Jumps and Platforms (PC, Emulator) {All Exits} [Finished Jan 23]
A perfect game for those wishing to get started with more challenging Mario World ROM hacks. The music is awesome, the difficulty was never too punishing while still being challenging, and the custom mechanics are neat. I loved the custom color palettes the game used to give a sense of progression in Mario's journey.
11. Super Metroid (PC, Emulator) {True 100% Completion} [Finished Jan 26]
Still one of the best Metroidvanias, and best games of all time. The gameplay is easy to learn but difficult to master. A lot of this run, I ended up using wall jumps to get to areas early. The graphics are among the best of the SNES, and all of the bosses and minibosses were fought. True Completion requires 100% of items, 100% of map tiles turned pink, Ceres Ridley defeated, All Zebitites defeated, all map rooms visited and the animals to be saved.
12. Super Metroid Map Randomizer (PC, Emulator) {Mini-Boss Mode} [Finished Jan 30]
A nice refreshing way to celebrate one of the best games of all time. In this seed, you have to defeat the four mini-bosses. For a lot of the game, I had forgotten that Golden Torizo was right by the ship, and I ended up looking for Tourian thinking it was in there. 46% of items obtained, Animals saved.
13. Super Ghouls N Ghosts (SNES Mini) {Beginner, Tool-Assisted} [Finished Feb 2]
This game is so challenging that even beginner mode required the use of savestates for me to finish. Apart from that, it's a typical Platform Hell game that has great graphics and music for being early in the SNES's life.
14. Contra (NES) {Konami Code} [Finished Feb 13]
A nice place to start on playing the Contra franchise. I loved the gameplay, and the music. It's a shame that this port lacks some of the cool graphical effects of the Famicom version.
15. Super Metroid Map Randomizer (PC, Emulator) {Mini-Boss Mode, Custom Difficulty} [Finished Feb 18]
The hardest part of this seed is getting Varia Suit, which requires defeating Metroids with Power Bombs. After that, the major items were easy to find, as were the minibosses and Mother Brain. 26% of items obtained, Animals killed.
16. F-Zero (SNES Mini) {Beginner, Knight/Queen RTA, King Tool-Assisted} [Finished Feb 21]
While the first two leagues are fun to play as well as the practice mode is fun as well, the worst part about this game is the King League's absurdly high level of difficulty, to the point that Super Ghouls N Ghosts was easier. Also, the ending is just as bad as NES Ghostbusters and Mass Effect 3's infamous endings, not even saying congrats for beating such a hard game.
17. Super Metroid Rotation (PC, Emulator) {Any%} [Finished Feb 21]
The one change of rotating the map 90 degrees means that vertical rooms that are hard in vanilla are easy here, while some rooms that are easy become challenging affairs. I love some of the small details and changes that make this hack work, such as entering Maridia through what in vanilla is its exit. The rooms that gave me the most trouble were the metal pirates room and Draygon's room, which caused two of my very few deaths in this playthrough. Being good at walljumps and mid-air morphing is required to beat this game. 77% of items obtained, Animals saved.
18. Antinomia: Final Fantasy VI (PC, Emulator) {Any%} [Finished Mar 13]
The best thing about this ROM hack is the expansion of General Leo's character as a result of his survival. But in order to add him to your party, you have to wait for him at the Floating Continent. I also loved the turntable sidequest that plays beloved songs from FFIV and FFV, giving stat boosts to party members. Apart from that, the Colosseum being controlled duels meant that I was able to get two Growth Eggs and a Celestriad, which made Kefka fall pretty quickly. As a hack that left the gameplay intact but focused much more on adding to the story, I feel it did what the hack set out to do very well. DM me for the patch file if you want to play it. 9 of 14 characters recruited.
19. Super Mario Odyssey (Switch) {Any%} [Finished Mar 26]
One of the best Mario games of all time. I loved the level design, the creativity, and the music. I especially loved the capture mechanic, which allows for players to take control of enemies. The graphics are among the best in the franchise's history. So many creative areas in this game really worked. This is a game to buy a Switch for.
20. Super Metroid Map Randomizer (PC, Emulator) {Mini-Boss Mode, Custom Difficulty) [Finished Mar 26]
In this seed, Gravity Suit was completely optional, as was Morph Ball Bombs. The last of the four minibosses was two rooms away from Mother Brain. The final boss and the escape was a huge difficulty spike compared to the rest of the seed, but it was so satisfying to win. 26% of items obtained, animals saved.
21. Soul Blazer (PC, Emulator) {All Achievements} [Finished Apr 18]
The first of the Quintet Trilogy is a hidden gem. Every amount of progress you make contributes to the game world. The decision to have achievements to beat the bosses without getting hit meant that every boss defeated was so satisfying, especially Deathtoll. Would recommend trying this on emulator before splurging on a cartridge.
22. You Have to Burn the Rope (PC, Flash) [Finished Jun 11]
This is pretty much filler to get to 52 faster. It was the easiest game I've ever beaten.
23. Final Fantasy V Advance (GBA) {Four Job Fiesta, Meteor Full Bestiary} [Finished Jun 21]
The Four Job Fiesta is a challenge where you have to play the game with only four randomly chosen jobs. However, it is a charity event and you can donate to change your jobs. This resulted in a team of Blue Mage, Freelancer, Beastmaster and Ninja. This might be in the Top 10 most broken teams possible. Control Glitch meant that I had access to Hermes Sandals before leaving for Galuf's world, and 255 of thrown items Partisan, Masamune and Ragnarok. Combined with selling 251 Hermes Sandals, this team has absolutely zero money problems. In fact, it's so broken a team that Omega, Shinryu and Neo Exdeath all died on the very first try. Now to do the Sealed Temple.
24. Final Fantasy V (SNES) {Four Job Fiesta Typhoon 375} [Finished July 5]
The next run of the Fiesta gave me the team of Black Mage, White Mage, Beastmaster & Knight. Due to playing on Battle Speed 1 Active for the whole time, this run was a very big challenge until I got White Mage, which I absolutely needed to be able to beat the Battle Speed 1 Active Toxx. Unfortunately, Omega and Shinryu live on.
25. Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster (PC, Steam) {Four Job Fiesta Normal + Fifth Job} [Finished July 21]
The second time I played Pixel Remaster I got a team of Blue Mage, Red Mage, Bard, Dragoon with the Fifth Job being Berserker. This team destroyed Omega, Shinryu and Neo Exdeath even though I skipped three of the four tablets.
26. Yoshi's Story (PC, Emulator) {Any%} [Finished July 23]
I decided to play this game after it opened up SGDQ 2024. While the game is shorter than most Mario games at only 6 levels per playthrough, it makes up for it by the top-notch visual design, one of the best looking games of its era. I recommend this game.
27. 100 Rooms of Enemies: 10th Anniversary Edition {All Exits, Tool-Assisted} (PC, Emulator) [Finished July 29]
After the Nightmare Edition was stuck in development hell for a while, Daizo surprised us all when he did an update to 100 Rooms. Arcade Mode and Do Or Die are in the same ROM, and there's even a secret path that has an alternate Rooms 60-69. Arcade Mode playthrough did the normal route while Do or Die did the alternate route. Nightmare Mode has a demo with 50 rooms in it, and that was challenging, and lost a couple lives even with savestates. Highly recommend.
28. Daughter of Darkness and Light {Any%} (PC, Emulator) [Finished August 17]
This Final Fantasy IV ROM hack is a Role Swap AU that makes Rosa the Dark Knight/Paladin and Cecil the White Mage. Beyond that, it's the same FFIV you know and love with the SFC version's difficulty.
29. LEGO Indiana Jones 2 {100%} (Xbox 360) [Any% finished August 31, 100% September 2]
Still the best LEGO game out there. I especially love the level editor and how it makes Crystal Skull so much better than the film. Willie is actually useful here.
30. Multiple Squaresoft Shuffler {Kill Chaos, Smithy and Neo Exdeath} (Windows 11 Laptop, BizHawk) [September 30]
The games were Final Fantasy (NES), Super Mario RPG (SNES) and Final Fantasy V (GBA). For FFI, I went with a party of 2 Fighters, a Red Mage and a White Mage. For FFV, I decided to do a Four Job Fiesta and got Blue Mage, Berserker, Ranger and Chemist. Mario RPG was a playthrough where I defeated Culex, Jinx and Smithy and got all the hidden chests. This Shuffler was a lot of fun, and Smithy and Neo got defeated extremely close to each other. Omega and Shinryu were also defeated.
31. Super Metroid Map Randomizer {Random Objectives} (PC, Emulator) [October 16]
Added recently to Map Randomizer was a duo of options called themed areas and Random Objectives. Themed Areas gives all rooms in an area a theme similar to the name of the area. For example, rooms that are in Tourian have Tourian tiles even if located elsewhere in vanilla. Random Objectives can give you any set of four objectives before Mother Brain is unlocked. This seed gave Spore Spawn, Crateria Pirate Room, Metal Pirate Room and Lower Norfair Chozo as the required objectives. Getting to the Chozo required killing Ridley, while Phantoon feel so that Plasma could be acquired. 30% of items collected, animals killed.
32. Chrono Trigger {Reunion Ending} (Windows 11 Laptop, SNES9x on BizHawk) [October 18]
One of the best JRPGs of all time. The music is top notch, the graphics still hold up and the story is incredible. The game has lots of sidequests. Of the Fated Hour sidequests, I did Fiona Forest, Rainbow Shell, Ozzie's Fortress and Masamune Upgrade. The final boss is one of the most challenging that I have ever beaten, and this makes slaying Lavos so satisfying after seeing the ruin he brought the world in a future that was averted. Now to revive Chrono and do the rest of the achievements.
33. Chrono Trigger: Prophet's Guile {All Achievements} (PC, Emulator) [October 20]
While the story is a nice add-on to Chrono Trigger, this hack is killed by its incompatibility with anything newer than ZSNES in its commonly available patch form. I had to install the bugfix patch and start the game from the beginning to get to the Ocean Palace, this hack's final dungeon. Luckily, this game is around an hour long with all achievements done. Emulation bugs make some of the custom songs ear-grating.
34. Castlevania {Tool-Assisted, Any%} (Switch Castlevania Anniversary Collection) [October 31]
The first game in the series while good has some rough edges. The music is great as is the atmosphere, but the fact that Simon Belmont cannot turn another direction while jumping lead to many cheap death / save state reloads. I would recommend playing with savestates before attempting without them.
Gave up on:
Pokemon Fire Red: Rocket Edition (PC, Emulator)
Has way too much grinding needed to even stand a change against extremely overpowered bosses. Needs major rebalancing before I can play it again.
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General / Re: 2024 Gaming/Collecting Goals
« on: December 26, 2023, 02:54:48 pm »
One of my main goals is to expand my Switch collection and get Mario Wonder and Pokemon Violet for it. Another goal is to add Lufia 2 to my SNES collection.
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General / If the SNES-CD had released in 1993, what would gaming be like today?
« on: August 24, 2023, 09:52:35 pm »
For one, if Nintendo and Sony released the SNES-CD, the PlayStation line wouldn't exist, whereas if Nintendo and Philips released the SNES-CD, the PlayStation would still exist.
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General / Re: What Are Your Top (Four) Consoles Right Now And Why?
« on: August 23, 2023, 10:00:13 pm »
1. SNES
So many of the greatest games of all time are for this console. Not only that, but I love the soundchip and the graphics of this system. There's something so awesome about suplexing trains, slaying gods and exploring Zebes. I keep on discovering hidden gems for this system, and people are still making ROM hacks of Super Mario World and Super Metroid, giving the system new life.
2. DS Lite
Compatibility with the GBA as well as an incredible line-up of first party games makes this system worth it. This combination makes it an RPG powerhouse, and was the first system to have a competent touchscreen. This one also has a huge nostalgia factor, as the first portable system I ever had.
3. Switch
The greatest of the modern systems has incredible versatility, and can be used on either a TV or as a handheld. Exploring the various kingdoms in Mario Odyssey is an exciting adventure. I also love how convenient it is to pick up and play.
4. Xbox One S
While I mostly use it as a 4K Blu-Ray player, it is still a really good game console. With 360 compatibility, many of the best 7th gen games can be played here.
So many of the greatest games of all time are for this console. Not only that, but I love the soundchip and the graphics of this system. There's something so awesome about suplexing trains, slaying gods and exploring Zebes. I keep on discovering hidden gems for this system, and people are still making ROM hacks of Super Mario World and Super Metroid, giving the system new life.
2. DS Lite
Compatibility with the GBA as well as an incredible line-up of first party games makes this system worth it. This combination makes it an RPG powerhouse, and was the first system to have a competent touchscreen. This one also has a huge nostalgia factor, as the first portable system I ever had.
3. Switch
The greatest of the modern systems has incredible versatility, and can be used on either a TV or as a handheld. Exploring the various kingdoms in Mario Odyssey is an exciting adventure. I also love how convenient it is to pick up and play.
4. Xbox One S
While I mostly use it as a 4K Blu-Ray player, it is still a really good game console. With 360 compatibility, many of the best 7th gen games can be played here.
11
Video Game Database Discussion / Re: Should we create a [QC] TLD for Québec-specific releases?
« on: March 25, 2023, 09:56:32 am »
There was a translated Quebec-specific cartridge for A Link to The Past, and the copies of that game sold in the rest of Canada have the same ROM as the American version. This is a scenario that a [QC] TLD would work for.
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Classic Video Games / Re: How Many Of You Forum Attenders and Viewers Still Play Retro Video Games
« on: October 02, 2022, 01:33:46 pm »
Most of the games I play are either retro or a ROM hack of a retro game. I'm not that interested in first person shooters, Microtransactions or Online-Only. Kefka is so much more fun than most gaming villains nowadays.
13
General / Re: What are your favorite hidden gems in your collection?
« on: February 03, 2022, 07:37:28 pm »
Terranigma is a game very few have heard of, yet it's one of the best Action RPGs on the SNES. The music in this game is incredible, as is the story and gameplay. Since the PAL version is unoptimized (and the only official English version), I went with an NTSC repro cart after my first playthrough on emulator.
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General / Re: January 2022 - Recently Added to Collection/Recently Purchased
« on: January 04, 2022, 07:46:30 am »
My first purchase of 2022 is Super Metroid for SNES, one of my all-time favorites that I loved playing on emulator.
15
General / Re: A List Of Some Video Games You Think You Are Good At Playing
« on: May 11, 2021, 01:35:23 pm »
Final Fantasy V. I've defeated Omega and Shinryu in most of my playthroughs, and always play using Four Job Fiesta ruleset (which is harder than normal play).