Topic: Games You Recently Beat?

Finally managed to finish the last 2 chapters of Kid Icarus: Uprising. I enjoyed the game a lot, especially the constant banter between all the characters. The parts I most liked about the banter is when the fourth wall is broken, and it gets broken so much it may as well not exist. I would have to say Hewdraw is one of my favorite bosses, as its banter changes depending on the order in which you defeat its heads. The control method worked well for the game, but unfortunately not for my wrist. Most of the time I ended up resting the 3DS on my knee or on the edge of a table.

I hope Nintendo will decide to make a follow up to this game, but let's hope it won't be another 20 years between releases (NES 1987, Gameboy 1992, 3DS 2012). I can live with a 3DS or Switch sequel, but I would love to see what Pit would look like on a home console.

Rayman Legends (2013)

I feel about this game the same way I feel about Mario Galaxy 2. It's a great sequel but to me doesn't have quite the same impact/novelty factor as playing the first game for the first time.

The game looks just as sharp and smooth as the original, with each world having a certain theme. I found it to be easier than Origins overall, with less trial and error. Speaking of Origins, they added 40 levels from that game, which is a welcome extra.

The weakest point of the game IMO were the Murfy levels. In the Vita version, the character walks automatically and you control Murfy via touchscreen. Murfy helps by raising platforms, paralizing enemies and such. I find not having direct control of you character pretty annoying, since they're constantly doing something you don't want they doing.
They're not completely awful or game ruining, but I really wish there were less of them.

I had heard it to be a difficult game, but I finished Shovel Knight & Plague of Shadows. I did have some difficulty in some spots, but never to a point where I felt I couldn't do it, which makes me wonder about what I heard about its difficulty.

That said, I feel like hearing that a game is difficult has kept me from trying out other games of similar difficulty. Has anyone else finished games like this that had that reputation?

I'd say Shovel Knight is, fittingly, of similar difficulty to the classic Megaman games (X1 and 2 as well). I do agree with you, Shovel Knight was only that difficult on New Game Plus mode and I think is only
that difficult if you aren't used to more challenging games in the genre.

Donkey Kong Country (SNES) - A very fun (and short) game, one that adult me was finally able to beat where kid me often failed. Having never been past Gorilla Glacier, the last two areas were like new; I especially enjoyed the Kremkroc Industries area. I must say, that gradual snow effect as the storm approaches in the Snow Barrel Blast level is still a cool effect even after all this time.

And, having went in blind, I almost fell for the first "Credits" sequence in the final confrontation until I actually started reading the text.

I just finished **Night in the Woods** on PC. It's... weird. Weird in good way, I don't understand anything but... I dunno. Feels like it'll stick with me and how things goes.

Really good though for the price I paid (around 7 USD or so I guess), and it's just... if you are having problems in college, from small town, depression, and all that jazz, it gonna hit you hard.

Mario Odyssey and Sonic Mania.

Tearaway (Vita, 2013)

A great platformer from the creators of LittleBigPlanet. Everything looks like it's made of paper and it makes great use of all the features of the console, from the rear touchpad to the gyroscope.
The game also asks for photos of yourself sometimes. If you are playing at night, you'll need to turn the lights on since the Vita's cameras are... not good at all. But it's completely worth it, the game really makes you feel like a character in it. The ending was also quite moving :')

Yeah, excellent experience. I got it during a PSN flash sale for 5 USD, so that's even better haha.

On another note, it's been about 2 months since I got a Vita and I'm lovin' it (tm). I've always liked portables and the Vita is quite a treat. The screen is really nice, the oval shape fits my hands perfectly and I really like how the UI resembles a modern smart device such as a smartphone. It has aged very well for a 6 year old console.

After roughly 89 in-game hours and 92 logged system hours, I finally saw the end credits of Xenoblade Chronicles X. Overall I really enjoyed the narrative, but in some ways I felt that the ending was unsatisfactory. I have a hunch that Monolith is setting up a potential sequel to XCX, though I'm not really sure....It just seems stupid to leave the "Hey, the mainframe is bleeped, how are all the mims still running?" hanging like that. If not for that post-credits scene, I think I would be a bit more satisfied. I did like how a lot of affinity missions and normal quests helped Mira come alive in other ways and gave some context and background on different characters and motives. The game was beautiful, and Mira in some ways felt alive with everything that could be done in the game. Combat wasn't easy, but I eventually learned and even embraced the complex systems within...though I'm unsure if I ever have fully grasped everything. XD I really liked the music, though NLA's night theme started grating on me a bit near the end. Plus, some of the music overpowered what was being said at times.

Overall, I really enjoyed my time with the game and wholeheartedly recommend it! I think I'll put it down for the time being since I have so many other things to play, but I could easily spend at least a hundred+ more hours on this gem. It's one of the games that I would like to see moved over to the Switch; not only to give it more exposure, but also to maybe set up interest for a future XCX2?

Tales of Hearts R (PS Vita):

A remake of a 2008 action RPG which had never been localized until this version came out. I remember reading about the DS game back then, it was curious how there was a version with 2D cutscenes and other with CG cutscenes. The CG version wasn't well received by the fans... Probably because how weird the GC models looked.

Back to the Vita version, this one adds a new character and it's all in 3D now. The graphics don't look very good for a Vita game to be honest. In-game engine cutscenes look wonky as hell. The character all open their arms in identical t-poses and they fall in a ridiculous way. It's just unintentionally funny.

The story and characters are super cliche, "power of friendship" stuff, really.
But the combat system is really fun, it's really fun to make combos and counter enemy attacks. And you can choose what to upgrade when you level up (defense, attack, etc.).

One of the most annoying aspects of the game for me is how the battles are random. There are puzzles to solve in the dungeons, and they're not hard to figure out. But good luck trying to solve them when you get constantly interrupted by random battles.
There is an item later in the game that keeps anemies attacking for a while (you can carry about 15 of them), but I still think it's pretty frustrating when the OG DS version of the game didn't have this.

Overall I had fun with the gameplay but the rest of the game was just meh to me.

Just beat NSMBU with my daughter this evening! Don't think I'll make much progress on star road though.

Finally did something I probably should have done a long time ago. I beat Donkey Kong Country. I guess I'll continue with 2 and 3 since I haven't beaten them either.

I just beat Paper Mario Colour Splash. I'm trying to get the most out of the WiiU before moving on to PS4, so I will be playing a lot of franchises I never cared about, like Paper Mario, Star Fox, Call of Duty, Lego and Splinter Cell. I never really played a Paper Mario and even back in the day when it was critically acclaimed, it never looked like my kind of thing so I never bothered. Colour Splash is alright I guess - the battle system with the cards can get very boring very fast and at some point I tried to avoid combat as much as possible. I wish you were able to whack most enemies with the hammer, thus avoiding entering battle mode, but even after collecting all the stars, you can only whack successfully the lowest forms of life, which slows down the game enormously. Some of the levels were really good, especially the quirky ones with a well defined theme such as the Train, the Tavern, the SMB3 tribute etc, but the ones with a more generic setting, such as the Forest, tend to be pleasant yet forgettable. I wish the game was all quirks tbh.

I kinda liked the humour and the italian translation was, for once, PHENOMENAL, so much so that I would recommend italians to play this game for the translation alone (as a translator myself, I tend to be cynical, but I gotta give credit where credit is due). Overall, it hasn't really convinced me to get the previous entries and hasn't really sold me on the next installment, but it was good while it lasted. In my personal ranking of recent WiiU games I beat, this would rank lower than Tropical Freeze but way higher than Tokyo Mirage Sessions.

I was finally able to see the end credits roll in Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest yesterday. It was a very enjoyable game, so much so that I'm now considering playing Birthright at some point (not sure about Revelation yet, from looking at some feedback online). The story ranged from passable to decent, though I felt like the ending left some holes/unexplained things (probably better explained in Revelation). I really enjoyed the creative maps in this game, and some of the characters on this route are now among my series favorites. The My Castle part I honestly could have done without, but it was...functional, I guess. I also felt that the Deeprealms were a bit weak when explaining where all the children are coming from/kept when compared to Awakening, but hey, I'm not gonna complain about getting more functional units!

Kirby Star Allies. I already 100%ed it, but I've just got finished with my ninth playthrough in Guest Star Mode, and I ain't stopping yet! Hopefully more and more Dream Friends come in the horizon!

Aside from that, I guess I recently 100%ed NieR: Automata.

I beat the arcade version of Punch-Out on my Switch. KNOCK-OUT!!!

Kirby Mass Attack. I've been hoping to play it for a while, and I finally finished it about a week or two ago. Like most Kirby games, it's not too hard in itself, but fully completing in the game makes it WAY harder, and he mini games were great fun. I felt so satisfied herding all of my Kirby's to a full 100% game!

Not too recent, but I also finished Kirby's Blowout Blast in the middle of my Mass Attack playthrough, which was also made harder because of the need for precision and avoiding damage, especially in the EX stages. It actually felt like I was being cheap here and there when I was aiming for the high score, though it felt cool that I could go a bit outside of the main barriers of the game.

played through Azure Striker Gunvolt Striker Pack on Switch - both games are great and it took mit over 30hrs to beat the true final bosses and see the secret ending of part 2. Inti creates did a great job to offer different experiences with the two playable characters in Gunvolt 2. Hope to see a third instalment.

I had previously finished the main world on Pokémon Picross, but decided to try and finish alt-world as well, which I finally did this weekend. I managed to get crowns on all levels (both main & alt world). I already love picross, but the optional missions definitely add a little extra to the game. I do wish Pictlogica Final Fantasy would get a translation, it looks interesting. For the 3DS I'm still working on Ocarina of Time.

On the PC side, I finally finished all the different stories for Elder Scrolls Online. It's an enjoyable game, and the stories of the different factions are very enjoyable. Next up for the PC is Rayman Legends.

I'm actually going to take a small break from RPGs for a while, as I miss playing more action oriented games after finishing Kid Icarus Uprising. I'll be getting Lego Marvel Superheroes 2 for the Switch in a week, and after that I'm considering Steamworld Dig 2.

As for the Wii U, I'm still working on Xenoblade Chronicles X, for which I'm at chapter 9, so I'm getting closer to the end now. Just got my 4th lvl 50 skell. Having upgraded from lvl30 to lvl50 skells sure has helped a lot.

Super Monkey Ball 3D (2011)

Last year I've played Pilotwing Resort and I was surprised how much I enjoyed it, so recently I've been looking into some early 3DS games I might have missed.
SMB 3D was a launch title, and it wasn't so well received. Mainly because of how short it is: you can beat it in less than 2 hours!

The levels have different themes, which I enjoyed and some great music. But it's overall pretty easy for a game in the series.
The camera can't be adjusted manually and that can be pretty annoying. There are times when you can't clearly see what's in front of you. I tried the 3D effect and to me it seemed like the scenery was bumping into me, haha.

What do you guys think about the Super Monkey Ball versions for the Wii and Vita? Are they worth playing? I heard the Wii version has a jump button, which seems unusual for a Monkey Ball game.