Topic: Games You Recently Beat?

Started my year-long Metroid marathon by beating the original Metroid after literally 4 years of it wasting away in my backlog.

Game series very rarely hit the ground running on their first entry. Mega Man, Crash Bandicoot, Final Fantasy; all highly respected franchises that started off with pretty humble (and some cases fumbled) beginnings. Metroid is no exception to this as I so cruelly found out over the 4 and a half hours I spent making my way through the OG on the NES.

There are definitely some things that I enjoyed about the original Metroid: I think the moment-to-moment gameplay is handled surprisingly well for a NES title, with both the upgrades and movement feeling pretty alright for the most, and there's some absolutely cracking tunes that would eventually go on to become iconic to the series (KRAID'S LAIR IS SO GOOD MAN OH MY GOD). However, these positive traits are completely undermined by one crucial flaw: YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE ON EARTH TO GO. Not only is there no map to show you where you are relative to where you have to go to progress, but almost every single room looks the exact goddamn same with only variations to enemy spawns and colour palettes differentiating them. AND DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THE SHEER CRYPTICNESS OF IT ALL. The amount of hidden bombable entrances made me want to tear my hair out in the exact same way Castlevania II (another notoriously cryptic NES platformer) did near the end of last year.

Overall, Metroid 1 is a bit of a mess. It's got cool ideas and it's gameplay loop was extremely novel for the time it came out in....but actually playing it is one of the most agonizing experiences I've ever had to deal with. AND ALL OF THIS WAS WITH A GUIDE ON STANDBY; I CAN'T EVEN IMAGINE TRYING TO PLAY THIS WITHOUT ONE.

So yeah: not the biggest fan to put it mildly. I am pretty excited to move on to Metroid II whenever I find the time though as I've heard it's a bit more linear to compensate for being on the Game Boy (which, given the labyrinth I had to endure in the first game, I will gladly take).

@Fizza Not knowing where the heck to go is a flaw I find in many Metroidvanias (I love metroidvanias, I just prefer ones which are harder to get forever lost in). But yeah, Metroid 1 definitely has that issue; Super Metroid is 80 times better. I've never played Metroid 2, but now I'm curious.

@Fizza Heh...I had to use nesmaps.com for my original Metroid playthrough. I think the few people who don't use a map get by out of repetition/memory. I'm glad I played it, but I doubt I would've beaten it without the maps (and loosely following a guide for that matter). Metroid II: Return of Samus is indeed more linear since I managed to beat it playing blind - it was my first Metroid game - and managed most of the upgrades on my own too.

Overall though, the remakes of both (Metroid: Zero Mission on GBA/VC/NSO and Metroid: Samus Returns on 3DS) are better in every way. IMO, Super Metroid is loads better in nearly every department from the first two as well, sans wall jumping.

I'll double up on what tyranexx said. Metroid II is indeed worth it if you use it a guide or map. It's a great little game and was also my first metroid game.

But yea, zero mission and Samus returns are phenomenal games.

As for me, I did one full run of Hades and that's more than enough for me to say I " beat it." I heard you have to play through 10 times, but im not really into replaying games unless it's mario or zelda. With that said, I had my fill and a good time doing so, but im in no rush to revisit it.

And tbh, I don't think my joycon can handle another hour of that game lol. It's really a button masher.

@NintendoByNature I know that it took close to two years for my son to finish Hades properly, but he played it off and on, usually as a pallet cleanser after large games. It is a good game to come back and revisit time and time again.

@Tasuki for sure. I may get back to it at some point, but im not joking about my joycon wear and tear. That game has you hard pressing buttons non stop lol.

@NintendoByNature I totally understand. I don't like how flimsy the joycons feel. To me they just feel like cheap third party controller which is why I always use the pro controller when I play my Switch. I seriously feel like I am going to snap the analog sticks of the joycons whenever I use them. It makes me sad cause Nintendo's controllers use to be so durable and tough. I literally never had to replace my NES or SNES controllers and I put them through hell. Heck even my Wiimotes got a good beating. Not quite sure why Nintendo opted to make the joycons so cheap.

Back to Hades though, my son played it on the Xbox so he didn't have to worry about Nintendo's cheap controllers. Now he's just waiting on Hades 2.

@Tasuki fully agreed. I still have all my old nes/snes controllers and they're all fine. I've had to have these repaired multiple times. That's not normal.

I'll probably grab hades II myself since im interested "enough" to give it a shot.

@NintendoByNature I still have yet to get mine repaired, knock on wood but as I said I hardly use mine. I think the only time they get used is when I have company over and we play MK8.

As an update, now I have finished Lies of P and I have now started playing Psychonauts 2. I am glad I am now getting around to playing this game, since a potential 3rd entry coming to PlayStation is hard to believe due to Microsoft's acquisition. The game oozes harm just like the original, and considering how many years has passed, it is incredible that the cast was able to return. And deepening the Psychonauts lore is always a good thing.

Just beat Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Game: Complete Edition (with Scott anyway) for the very first time after about 7 hours!

An absolutely phenomenal beatemup that, while it certainly takes a bit to properly get going, never lets up on the quality, creativity and overall vibes the moment it does.

Right off the bat, you're immediately smacked in the face by the two things SPvTW nails flawlessly: its artstyle and music.

Retro/pixel artstyles may be all the rage these days, but Scott Pilgrim was one of the first to properly adapt the visual elements of classic NES/SNES era titles to the boost in console power in the 20 odd years since and the end result is utterly GORGEOUS. Every single character, whether it's the main cast, enemies or even those in the background, animate beautifully, with a shockingly high amount of unique frame counts across pretty much every animation and it ends up perfectly capturing the feel of an old game while still abusing as many modern advancements as possible, resulting in easily one of the best-looking games around even a decade on from release.

The music then meanwhile is probably the most iconic aspect of the game and for damn good reason. Anamanaguchi's instantly recognisable mixture of chiptune and rock blends perfectly with the style/feel they're going for with SPvTW and the end result is one of the best OSTs not just in gaming, but in any piece of media I've experienced. I would list my favourite songs from the soundtrack, but I feel like I'd be listing off the entire album at that point so I'll save you your time (though I must give a special shoutout to Another Winter, Skate or Live and Cheap Shop in particular)

This brings us to the gameplay then which is very much the focal point of the 'slow burn' idea from earlier. I'm gonna be brutally honest here: the first hour or two is not the greatest. You're incredibly wimpy, have basically no extra moves to combo into/get off an extra bit of chip damage and, much like the average 20-something 20-something, you have basically no money to your name. It leads to a lot of bashing your head against a wall until something works (evident by it taking me nearly TWO HOURS just to beat the first level). However, if you can make it past that barrier, you find yourself in a deeply engaging and endlessly inventive beatemup, filled with a ton of fun enemy variety, combo routes and straight up cool moves (love the Uppercut special especially), helped out even moreso by the shops constantly strewn about the place which, when you finally amass the cash for them, can be a massive help in making your way through the streets of Toronto.

It's genuinely insane to believe this had only a year or so of development (by a branch of Ubisoft that had never made a game before at that!) because this is far and away one of THE best licensed games I've ever played. It's not perfect by any stretch; the first couple hours are a slog, having to redo an entire level if you run out of lives is archaic as hell and the difficulty is all over the damn place at times. But, at the end of the day, it feels so finely crafted and filled with so much love and care for both the source material and gaming as a whole that I don't think I could rate it anything less than a 9/10

now if you'll excuse me, I gotta get back to jamming out to Anamanaguchi

Just finished up Like A Dragon Gaiden: the Man Who Erased His Name (PC Game Pass)

I don't have much experience with the franchise (which I know limited maximum enjoyment of the main narrative since it calls back to previous games a lot), but following the story in general wasn't hard. Really fun game too. The "open world" aspect of it was tiny, but it's so dense & packed full of stuff to do it really feels alive.

I recently just beat Trails in the Sky FC and am now starting SC on my computer but it's reminded me why I love playing on my Switch so much. Good games but I really do not like playing games like this with a keyboard and mouse. (Nope, I'm not getting and Xbox controller!) Good games though!

I cleared Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice For All (Switch/AAT) yesterday. This was a decent title, though not quite as strong as the first game IMO. I only felt Cases 2 and 4 were memorable here. The first was meh but can somewhat be excused since it was a tutorial. Case 3...was all over the place. At least I liked the defendant. I'm glad Maya was back (She is officially AA's version of Lynne from Ghost Trick lol) along with some other characters from the previous game. I liked some of the new characters too, though I'm not sure what to make of the main prosecutor in this game.

I think I'll wait a bit before diving into Trials and Tribulations despite knowing it's a fan favorite. I like switching game genres to keep things fresh.

@Buizel I have beaten Gotham Knigts too (on the Steam Deck). I agree with you, it is not a groundbreaking game, but I had a really fun time with it during my Christmas break. I bought it dirt cheap, so I have no complaints about GK.

I finished Super Mario RPG just now! Still a fantastic game after all these years, and the Switch remake is a very solid version of the game. It looks so much better than the SNES original (Mario and his friends look cute in the Switch remake, too), and there are some nice quality of life improvements, too. The battle system is still great, and I also like the triple moves you could do when your special gauge fills completely. I may not be as big of an RPG fan as a lot of people, but I still had fun with this one.

There's one critique I have with the game, and that's the platforming not being super great. It might have to do with the isometric viewpoint... the beanstalk part in particular is not exactly one of the game's shining moments. Other than that, I enjoyed my time with the game. I wonder if they'll make a sequel now that the remake's been made?

Castlevania Circle of the Moon from the Advanced collection. Next stop Aria of Sorrow

And Castlevania Aria of Sorrow 100% souls is done as well!

Age of Calamity just finished all the ex mission quest unlocked Soga all that remains is a mission in the Garuda village that requires Korak seeds. So Garuda village still has a star at 98% and 2 at 99% on the main map.

Almost every character is 100 Urbosas & Zelda’s weapons fully maxed

Love Esquire

After playing through The Letter last year I've been wanting to play another YangYang Mobile game. Love Esquire is a bishojo visual novel with lite rpg progression. Just as in The Letter, I like both the writing and voice work here. Unfortunately the rpg combat and progression is threadbare and sort of drags the experience down a notch.

6/10