Messages

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2024!!!!!

« on: May 28, 2024, 03:45:00 pm »

Yesterday I played through Cadillacs and Dinosaurs with my 5 year old son, taking it in turns to play. It was a little emotional because it's a game my Dad took me to play at the arcades back in the day, felt odd playing it through with my own youngster. I've deliberately avoided getting SHfan Jr. interested in video games, others have done so, so it's a great feeling that I can start to introduce him to games I love which might interest him. Now I know how you gaming dads and mums feel

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2024!!!!!

« on: December 28, 2023, 02:37:34 pm »

Ditto, if I beat it in X year then that's when it's counted, not when the game is started (terrible for half-finishing games).

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2024!!!!!

« on: December 27, 2023, 09:23:22 am »

Previous Years

2023 - 37 beaten, 14 tried and discarded
2021 - 18 beaten, 9 tried and discarded
2020 - 33 beaten, 20 tried and discarded
2019 - 45 beaten, 34 tried and discarded
2018 - 44 beaten, 41 tried and discarded
2017 - 37 beaten, 9 tried and discarded
2016 - 21 beaten

Games beaten

01] Geneforge 1 - Mutagen (STM, 2021) |2 Jan| Remake of a game from 20 years ago, still lo-fi but still delicious and with modern compatibility, nice.
02] FlipWitch - Forbidden Sex Hex (STM, 2023) |5 Jan| Extremely naughty metroidvania, excellent music and SNES-style graphics, well designed, liked it.
03] We Love Katamari REROLL (STM, 2023) |10 Jan| Another favourite from wayback re-jigged, had fun. Good start to the year but can't get complacent.
04] Livestream 2: Escape from Togaezuka Happy Place (STM, 2023) |20 Jan| Adventure/survival horror where cute anime livestreamers get pursued by a crazed orangutan mascot in an abandoned shopping mall.
05] Stasis: Bone Totem (STM, 2023) |2 Feb| Quantum leap ahead of its predecessor, excellent horror adventure.
06] Kirby and the Forgotten Land (NSW, 2022) |25 Feb| Easy but nonethless another work of art from Nintendo.
07] Rain on Your Parade (STM, 2021) |5 Mar| Task-based fun mixed with a little sandbox and score attack for flavour, nice.
08] Age of Empires III: DE - The African Royals (STM, 2021) |8 Mar| Interesting new battles and civs, divisive for the multiplayer crowd but that's not me
09] Remothered: Broken Porcelain (STM, 2020) |12 Mar| Survival horror, a broken mess which I won't be replaying, nonetheless it was an interesting experience.
10] The King of Dragons (STM, 2022) |15 Mar| Beautiful retro beat 'em up.
11] Wife Quest (STM, 2021) |18 Mar| Comical grumpy Wonderboy type game, save that husbando!
12] Maneater (STM, 2021) |27 Mar| Managed to outstay its welcome despite its relatively brief playthrough, these open-world games really do grind my gears, not even being able to scoff screaming hoomans relieved the dullness.
13] Knights of the Round (STM, 2022) |1 Apr| Another favourite beat 'em up.
14] Earth Defense Force 4.1 Wingdiver the Shooter (STM, 2018) |10 Apr| Gets a lot of hate but I enjoyed this SHMUP in railshooter clothing, a lot!
15] Dungeons 4 (STM, 2023) |26 Apr| Pretty samey but nonetheless enjoyed it, a test for my new non-potato PC
16] Dungeon Vixens: A Tale of Temptation (STM, 2024) |29 Apr| Dungeon crawler with bonus monster girls to .. er.. interact with <.< educational.
17] Cadillacs and Dinosaurs (EMU, 1993) |27 May| One of my all-time favourite arcade games, good to revisit.
18] Donut County (STM, 2018) |2 Jun| Relaxing inverted Katamari with a cheeky raccoon, not bad.
19] There's No Dinosaurs (STM, 2024) |8 Jun| Monochrome 'Where's Wally' game where you look for dinosaurs.
20] Fingun (STM, 2022) |29 Jun| Cheeky boss-rush shmup, fun little game. Now running a full month of games behind 0.0
21] Fearmonium (STM, 2021) |17 Jul| Extremely high quality indie metroidvania, loved it.
22] Trick & Treat (STM, 2016) |24 Jul| Fun free download RPG Maker game.
23] Earth Defence Force 6 (STM, 2024) |14 Aug| Massive, not quite as fun as its predecessor but still very glad to have it and to have played it through, Ranger play-through on normal.
24] Captain Firehawk and the Laser Love Situation (STM, 2024) |20 Aug| Sexy SHMUP that was indeed both.
25] Geneforge 2 - Infestation (STM, 2024) |22 Aug| Excellent remake, loved it.
26] Cadillacs and Dinosaurs (EMU, 1993) |26 Aug| and again, why not? Darn, at the halfway point nearly 3/4 of the way through the year :/
27] Marfusha:Sentinel Girls (STM, 2021) |3 Sep| Interesting little static shooty-game with anime girls at war.
28] Monster Run: Downfall of the Empire (STM, 2024) |11 Sep| Kinda beat 'em up monster cat game, very addictive to mow down mobs and knock down defences.
29] The Excavation of Hob's Barrow (STM, 2022) |13 Sep| Solid, well-voiced retro point 'n click adventure game, enjoyed it very much.
30] Maiden Cops (STM, 2024) |23 Sep| Streets of Rage 2 with added blocking and all enemies and player characters are monster-girls etc with large.. eyes. That's a yes from me!
31] Book of Demons (STM, 2018) |28 Sep| Third playthrough, this time with the mage. Beaten with all 3 characters now. Not giving up on hitting 52 this year.
32] Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse (NSW, 2023) |30 Sep| Got to beat this one at last, owned it on Wii for years before picking up the Switch version to be able to play in English.
33] Omusubi (STM, 2024) |4 Oct| Sad but beautiful dialogue-focused 2D horror game, heavy on the Japanese mythology, love and running away from fleshy monster things.
34] Yokai Art: Night Parade of One Hundred Demons (STM, 2022) |31 Oct| Didn't realize I'd finished this till the achievement popped. Plants Vs Zombies with Japanese mythology and naughty yokai.
35] EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 6 - Additional Mission Pack 1 Lost Days (STM, 2024) |3 Nov| Short and sour, not a brilliant mission pack at all.
36] Cotton Reboot! (NSW, 2021) |14 Nov| Nice horizontal shooter.
37] Cotton Fantasy (NSW, 2021) |15 Nov| OK.
38] Sea of Radiation II (STM, 2024) |14 Dec| Overhead Feeding Frenzy with mutating sea critters, great fun.

Games Tried/Disliked/Got Rid Of

01] Delivery from the Pain: Survival (STM, 2019) |3 Jan| Zombie survival stealth/base building, not bad but it had shown all its cards within a couple of hours. Apparently a converted mobile game which would explain the limitations.
02] Super Bullet Break (NSW, 2022) |31 May| Ultra-stripped back turn-based RPG combat with deckbuilding. Didn't like it at all.
03] The Knight Witch (NSW, 2022) |31 May| Bullet-hell/SHMUP mixed with metroidvania, hated the character art, hated the 'penned by a 16 year old' dialogue, hated the gameplay. So much yuck.
04] Toki (STM, 2019) |11 Sep| Seems to be a very faithful remake, looks and plays nice, it's just that I didn't play Toki back in the day and this is just too old skool for me now.
05] Princess Peach: Showtime (NSW, 2024) |7 Oct| Was not expecting to be bailing on a Nintendo game, but this one is unplayable. Constant needless dialogue from identikit NPCs and constant breaks in flow means it feels more like a mini-game grab-bag even within individual stages. Big bad didn't even have any reason to be there except "because". Dreadful!

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General / Re: A Year in Review - 2023

« on: December 14, 2023, 06:56:31 pm »

Favorite 2023 Release: Pikmin 4, hands down. Sublime game design with additional tweaks to a pre-existing format which already works brilliantly, absolutely loved it.

Least Favorite 2023 Release: Atomic Heart, what an absolute shoddy mess, I was so looking forward to a new BioShock type game too.

Favorite Game Played in 2023: Probably Age of Empires II's new expansions (loved em) or Geneforge I: Mutagen, a revamped version of one of Spiderweb Software's best games which takes me back 20 years, fond memories.

Least Favorite Game Played in 2023: Atomic Heart. I mean, there's a few games on Steam I bought for pence from Kinguin which I spent less time on and deleted, but as far as actually investing money into a game and expecting to play it that one was a heart-breaker.

Favorite Gaming Moment in 2023: Fully beating Pikmin 4 and sitting watching the end sequence.

Proudest Collection Accomplishment of 2023: Slashing and burning most of it in order to raise cash and trade for some delicious Nintendo releases on Switch.

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General / Re: Your Own Opinion About Collecting Today

« on: August 26, 2023, 05:26:40 pm »

Where I am now is pretty similar to BikingJahuty. As far as retro collecting is concerned the horse bolted many years ago now, they're not in the wild any more they're either in collections, in lofts (in a minority of cases now I expect) or in the retail sphere in one way or another.

I had to dispose of 2/3 of my collection due to debts, and when its boiled down to it most of it was stuff I didn't even look at let alone play, despite video games still being my primary hobby. It's just not a priority any more. I still have stuff which has memories, still collect current-gen stuff (in the sense of trading my stuff for other stuff which I want to play and keep). I went from being a fanatical physical-only gamer up till about 3 years ago to primarily being a Steam gamer. Most of my games are bought cheap off Kinguin with a few cheaper titles from Steam or ones on my wishlist which go on sale by a good 50% or more.

Still happy with my collection, but still downsizing all the time and trading for more modern games (Switch physical is out of this world, there's stuff on there now which would struggle to get released post-PS2 era). Need to update my collection here and especially on Backloggery as there's much less.

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General / Re: The gamer you were when you joined VGcollect vs. the gamer you are now in 2023

« on: April 14, 2023, 04:59:04 am »

Joined at the beginning of 2016, difference between then and now is massive.

Got rid of the bulk of my games and got them back again several times over a period of about a decade, before finally settling back on collecting as much as possible within my interest areas, that was before i joined the site here. By this point I was aware that getting rid of games now means I can't afford to get them back and have zero chance of finding them cheap in the wild.

Then in 2018 my wife became pregnant, pretty much squashing my interest or ability to collect or even play games much, then in 2021 I lost a parent and had to sell a lot of games due to expenses, then continued to sell them to help with household expenses.

That leaves me where I am now, completely out the other side of retro-collecting beyond games which really appeal and ones I used to own and value as memories. Still picking up modern games where I can for the Switch and PS4, but a couple of years ago I crossed the picket-line -- I was staunchly anti-digital and would only play physical versions of game releases. I had to change that a few years ago due to lack of funds, its changed me from a console gamer into a pc gamer, its where I spend 90% of my playtime. Instead of hunting for non-existent treasures in the wild I scour Kinguin every now and then for cheap game codes, but just like my physical game collection I'm constantly pruning my Steam games so I just get left with the replayable or just plain excellent and bin the rest.

The actual types of games I play haven't changed - still hate the idea of online multiplayer and 'games as an experience' type guff, but everything else is on its head.

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General / Re: Buying games for a system you don't own

« on: January 30, 2023, 07:30:00 pm »

This is standard practice for collectors who are going for big, multi-system collections or for anyone who's not at the point of investing in a new system but don't want games at that pricepoint/condition/release. I used to do it all the time, but my habits have changed and I've downsized.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2023!!!

« on: December 30, 2022, 05:06:14 pm »

I've not even been active here for god knows how long, life hasn't been my own, but I'm back for the 52 Maybe this will be the year (nahhhhhhhh!). PS Hi guys and gals!

Previous Years

2021 - 18 beaten, 9 tried and discarded
2020 - 33 beaten, 20 tried and discarded
2019 - 45 beaten, 34 tried and discarded
2018 - 44 beaten, 41 tried and discarded
2017 - 37 beaten, 9 tried and discarded
2016 - 21 beaten

Games beaten

01] Black Book (STM, 2021) |6 Jan| First of the year, been thinking about doing the challenge again so long, didn't want to have to wait till March to start.
02] Q-YO Blaster (STM, 2018) |7 Jan| Fun horizontal shoot-em-up, retro-styled, weird too for bonus points. Finished on Easy mode.
03] En-Train (STM, 2021) |17 Jan| Weird little post-apocalyptic shooter game where you're on a train trying to reach a city.
04] Mokoko X (STM, 2022) |17 Jan| Qix with lewds, unexpected bonus beaten game for the day.
05] Undead & Beyond (STM, 2021) |19 Jan| Easily one of my favourite games ever, had bugged out last time I played it, this time I got all the way to the end, fantastic zombie game.
06] Lost Ruin (STM, 2021) |25 Jan| Wanted to play this for more than a year, bought it this morning and finished the game just before midnight, very nice game too!
07] CastleStorm (STM, 2013) |30 Jan| All good.
08] Kill it With Fire (STM, 2020) |3 Feb| Spider squashing fun.
09] Tiny Civilization (STM, 2023) |6 Feb| Civilization meets match 3, tidy little game which I enjoyed.
10] Grunnd (STM, 2023) |14 Feb| Slightly surreal walking sim presented as an adventure game, not a lot else to say.
11] Undead Horde 2: Necropolis (STM, 2023) |10 Mar| Cut-down version of Overlord, brilliant. Starting to slow down already - hurry up!
12] Necrosmith (STM, 2022) |20 Mar| Up to date! Love this one and literally just found out there's a sequel coming, yes!
13] Orwell: Ignorance is Strength (STM, 2018) |21 Mar| Ugh.. narrative thing, why am I buying these? Decent for what it is, but I like games with game in them.
14] Hero's Hour (STM, 2022) |25 Mar| Warlords-style turn-based strategy with real-time combat and a cute 8-bit vibe, very nice.
15] Book of Demons (STM, 2018) |2 Apr| Rogue playthrough, bloody brilliant papercraft Diablo tribute, one of my favourites.
16] Attack It! Devil Legion (STM, 2019) |3 Apr| No comment.
17] Wall World (STM, 2023) |12 Apr| Run up and down a wall in a giant robo-spider then mine for resources and fend off weird creatures, fun and compulsive.
18] Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Dynasties of India (STM, 2022) |13 May| Brilliant DLC, ugh, but now I'm just barely on-track for the challenge.
19] Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Return of Rome (STM, 2023) |19 May| A bit "hmmm" about this one, it's OK, maybe future updates will sort it out better.
20] Boneraiser Minions (STM, 2023) |19 May| Humorous top-down arena type game, several beaten runs down I'm calling it beaten for the purposes of this.
21] Loplight (STM, 2022) |20 May| Short, quirky and unsettling pixel game cross between the twin-stick shooter and LoZ. Unusual but good!
22] Luna's Fishing Garden (STM, 2021) |20 May| Yeah.. colourful relaxing thing. Not a lot else to say.
23] Harmony's Odyssey (STM, 2021) |31 May| Beautiful family-friendly sliding-puzzle game, a real pleasure to play.
24] Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Lords of the West (STM, 2021) |3 Jun| Loved it, particularly the new civs, very fun campaigns.
25] Bulb Boy (STM, 2015) |10 Jun| Delightfully gross adventure, can't wait for the sequel.
26] Internet Generation (STM, 2022) |26 Jun| Weird and wonderful beat 'em up set on an internet server full of internet users personified as monster girls.
27] Exolotl: Zian (STM, 2023) |27 Jul| Short platform game, too long for a game to be beaten - in trouble now!
28] Pikmin 4 (NSW, 2023) |13 Aug| A pleasure from start to finish, bravo Ninty!
29] Cornucopia (STM, 2023) |26 Aug| Retro-pixel Harvest Moon type game on Steam early access, thoroughly enjoyed the main quest and the hours spent farming.
30] Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion (STM, 2021) |10 Sep| Short, cute, slightly naughty Link to the Past clone.
31] Stasis (STM, 2015) |12 Sep| Horror point and click, good story but a mediocre game.
32] Stubbs the Zombie (STM, 2005) |20 Sep| So that's what it's like. Took forever for me to finally play but that was a lot of fun.
33] Jars (STM, 2021) |26 Sep| Ace little strategy game that looks like a cross between a Tim Burton movie and a kids comic.
34] Terror of Hemasaurus (STM, 2022) |28 Sep| Fun Rampage clone, had a blast.
35] Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - The Mountain Royals (STM, 2023) |8 Nov| Liked it! Not liking my iceberg-speed progress
36] Idle Catfarmia (STM, 2023) |10 Dec| Bizarre idle game where cat fairies grow crops which their slime friends pick, while mice with bows see off thieves.
37] Kirby and the Forgotten Land (NSW, 2022) |26 Dec| Started off "meh", quickly accelerated, now one of my favourite 3D platformers ever, masterwork.

Games Tried/Disliked/Got Rid Of

01] Library of Ruina (STM, 2021) |6 Jan| Wanted to play this for ages, but the reviews had me worried and once I started playing the whole thing seemed a badly designed, clicky mess. Refunded.
02] Everhood (STM, 2021) |24 Jan| Seemingly a cult classic RPG-skinned rhythm action game, loved what I saw (and heard) but it's just too tough for me to get anywhere with.
03] Panzer Paladin (STM, 2020) |31 Jan| Lovely presentation and plays great, getting into it then BAM, missed a jump, landed on spikes, sent back to the start of the level. Nope, there's old skool and there's outdated, no thanks.
04] Impossible Creatures (STM, 2003) |31 Jan| Have good memories of this but real problems with compatibility with modern PCs, can't be chewed, deleted.
05] Dragon Quest Treasures (NSW, 2022) |7 Feb| 'Open World' = empty world, very little content in this game and certainly not enough to carry it to its conclusion.
06] Grunnd (STM, 2023) |14 Feb| Beaten, but I'm not going to trudge through this again, hate it when non-games are misrepresented as adventures etc.
07] Axiom Verge (NSW, 2017) |9 Mar| Very decent metroidvania in the classic Metroid mold, just not quite interesting enough to keep me hooked all the way through.
08] Fobia - St. Dinfna Hotel (STM, 2022) |16 Mar| It's one part decent survival horror, one part clicky/squinty mess, just not quite 'there'.
09] Cute Invaders (STM, 2022) |17 Mar| Fun for awhile but relies on an eye-watering difficulty curve to artificially prolong gamelife, can't be chewed.
10] The Spiral Scouts (STM, 2018) |29 Mar| Cute, funny and vile puzzle adventure, was really enjoying it till the 'controlled substances' world, sorry, partial to lewds and gore but injecting etc. is a massive no-no for me. Bummer.
09] Forgive Me Father (STM, 2022) |14 Apr| Loved the gameplay of this retro-styled FPS game with bonus Cthulu, restart points are too punishing however and I lost too much progress to keep banging my head against the wall. Pity.
10] Rogue Lords (STM, 2021) |16 Apr| I'm just not a lover of games which constantly reset you to zero all the time, I like at least some sense of progression (usually), this one just didn't hit the spot.
11] Bartlow's Dread Machine (STM, 2020) |17 Apr| Shooter from the makers of Voodoo Vince, unfortunately it's a polished train wreck of a game sad.
12] Wonder Boy Collection (NSW, 2022) |27 Apr| Incomplete collection, arcade versions (so WBiML is damned impossible), disappointing.
13] Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World (NSW, 2022) |27 Apr| After wanting to play this for decades I hate to admit it, but it's not as good as its predecessors and is nowhere near as good as games being churned out on Steam.
14] Atomic Heart (PS4, 2023) |18 Jul| Gutted. Been waiting on this for years. After trudging through the tiresome opening sequences I was sick of it within 30 minutes of playing the actual game. Looks lovely, but the controls are clunky, basic enemies are overpowered and it's incredibly easy to get snared on something and pummeled, only to have to wait through the overlong re-load. Irritated on a number of levels. Atomic Arse, in short.

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General / Re: A Year in Review - 2021

« on: December 03, 2021, 05:07:52 pm »

The worst year of my life, not a lot of time for gaming.. but still found a little so here goes:

Favorite 2021 Release: Metroid Dread, from what little I've played of it - a masterpiece.

Least Favorite 2021 Release: Haven't played many games from this year at all and can't remember if any of them got chucked on the trade-in pile.

Favorite Game Played in 2021: What game this year earns your spot for best game ever? It could be released in 2021 if you like.

Least Favorite Game Played in 2021: Disaster Report 4 - completely abandons everything good about previous entries in the series.

Sleeper Hit of 2021: Metroid Dread

Favorite Gaming Moment in 2021: Really discovering Steam and ogling massive lists of tower defence, metroidvania and RTS games.

Proudest Collection Accomplishment of 2021: Got a lovely condition Toe Jam and Earl 2 (Panic on Funkotron) for the Megadrive in a charity shop for £8

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General / Re: June 2021 - Recently Added to Collection/Recently Purchased New

« on: June 18, 2021, 08:10:34 am »

Used my game store credit on some Switch games:

Hades
Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove
Shantae - Half Genie Hero

Really pleased with all of them, got rid of my Wii U Shovel Knight in favour of the Switch version but had yet to replace it, Shantae is always good, Hades is yet another Switch game they don't seem to have manufactured enough copies of - it's already turning into Ebay fodder, so to pick it up for £30 new (and credit to boot) was a real bargain.

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General / Re: What are you playing?

« on: June 15, 2021, 03:48:54 am »

At the final area of Link's Awakening for the Switch, otherwise pretty quiet on the gaming front. Looking to start a new Switch game soon (or pick up Dark Souls Remastered again and take on Nito) and to find something new (and cheap) to play on Steam.

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Off Topic / Re: Netflix Resident Evil Live-Action Series

« on: June 14, 2021, 05:10:48 am »

You're right, I'll never make it in this industry 

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Off Topic / Re: Netflix Resident Evil Live-Action Series

« on: June 12, 2021, 02:45:02 pm »

Its main character will be a guy called Alan, who after two series will be revealed to be a clone produced by the Parasol Institute, a food and drinks manufacturer with a development kitchen in Badger Town.  He'll be joined by Bill Valentine, a wheelchair user with 8 mothers, each of whom is of a different ethnic background, along with Bish Greenfield, a post-operative species-fluid flying space otter who identifies as mildly ticklish.

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General / Re: 2021: where are you as a collector and/or gamer right now?

« on: May 21, 2021, 11:22:11 am »

Sorry to hear that hoshichiri, but it's good to see you nonetheless, stay safe.

Since Covid hit things have changed for me massively. I've been unable to go out and bargain hunt (which in turn gives me swappies to actually get games with), money has been extremely tight, my health has been poor and I'm primary carer for my 2 year old. So stuff coming in has been pretty lightweight beyond some Switch games obtained by swapping my existing stuff.

I've embraced Steam through necessity, got tired of trying to get my PC CD-ROMs to work on a Windows 8 machine, I won't be paying 'proper' money for games, on sale or GTFO, since not owning a physical copy goes against the grain, but the horror games and titles under genres like tower defence and metroidvania are a sight for sore eyes.

Collecting-wise this year I've designated PS1 and before as being an actual collection - stuff I like the look of etc. but nonetheless it's stuff I don't have set up to actually play. PS2 onwards are a different matter - I either like them or I don't, slowly been picking through a few games from this era and will continue to try them and see if they're to keep or to trade. I've sold most of the valuable PS2 games in my collection now anyhow, so no point in holding onto anything except what I really want to keep.

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General / Re: March 2021 - Recently Added to Collection/Recently Purchased New

« on: March 20, 2021, 01:30:47 pm »

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury and Link's Awakening for the Switch, both bought new with credit from my local independent game shop. Been clearing out, always clearing out these days.