I finally beat Super Mario World because I found a portal to the star world, and it brought me to the final castle. I'm going to have to come back and do more of the levels. I'm glad I gave it another go, because I used to really dislike Super Mario World.
Warning: Spicy opinions like "M&Ms are overrated." may leak from this unit!
Just finished Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge on the Xbox and that was really fun.
I have played the game before, about a year ago with my siblings, but I never finished it with them. I got an Xbox Game Pass Core sub today with the intention of playing another game with my friend, but we had issues with the sub functioning correctly with the game we had initially chose so I picked up the game again and played with a friend and a few others online earlier and finished a good chunk of the game, but I had to disconnect to get stuff done, so I ended up finishing the entire game alone, though did struggle a bit since it was only me.
It’s a really well-made and fun beat em’ up, and I am familiar with playing those since I’ve played similar ones like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game and Battletoads so I found a lot of fun and familiarity with Shredder’s Revenge. I liked the fighting mechanics, and the game exudes so much personality and humor, mostly seen with the charming characters and the amazing pixel animations. The only criticism I have is that it’s super short, but it’s a pretty minor criticism. Would recommend playing, but I strongly suggest getting one or more people to play alongside you or doing online multiplayer, cuz the game is pretty hard to play alone. I messed up way more without having anyone else playing with me.
Finished all the levels with gold stars Mario vs Donkey Kong (Switch). Pretty good game. Nothing mind blowing. Just pretty good. I really liked the "Plus" levels and "Exp" levels the best. I felt those were way more engaging than the standard levels. To me the standard levels were very hit or miss. Some were fun and some were just quick "do this do that" and on to the next one. Overall, I had fun. A good in between game to cleanse the palate before starting a longer more investment game.
On a side note I never played the original GBA version so I went into this totally fresh. I did however love the old school Game Boy "Donkey Kong" (1994) back in the day. I totally would have preferred a Switch remake of that one. I'm hoping this one sold well enough to maybe make it a possibility down the line.
"NanoApostle" - new isometric boss-rush game, a lot of fun! Quite short, only 6 x 'main bosses' (alongside other challenges) but a decent spin for the asking price.
Still not quite as good as "Eldest Souls" - my favorite boss-rush title, even above Furi and Cupheard
Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door
I love this game and I understand now why it is so beloved. When the game ended I felt a little bit sad, because I had to say goodbye to Mario's new friends. I think the ending was perfect and this adventure will always give me a warm feeling in my heart, when I will think about it.
I'm noticing it's flaws a bit more the second time round (namely, how slow a lot of things can be by modern standards, and the proportion of the game that amounts to "go from a to b"), after having not completed it for almost 20 years now.
That said, the game is still fantastic and stands among the Gamecube's greatest. Great characters/dialogue/scenarios, great art style, and a battle system that is outright brilliant in its simplicity. Definitely a game I'm glad I revisited.
Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble
Yes, this is my favourite Monkey Ball now. Everything is great, the gameplay, the music and the graphics. There is also alot of content. I beat every level and the challenge was just right. The characters are really cute and likeable. All in all, a game that gave me a great time and catapulted the Monkey Ball series to a must have series for me.
Plucky Squire. I'm all set for Thursday and Echoes.
It truly was an amazing game. Performance could've been a bit better, no doubt. But what was there was an amazing, and unique package. It's the perfect game for all those who love the lighthearted zelda games.
I cleared Metroid Prime Remastered yesterday evening on Normal mode. Still very fun even by modern standards, especially with the HD facelift. I reached 100% on items and got the best ending, but there are a couple of one-off scans I missed. Plus, unlocking every single extra means I have to go back through the game in the now unlocked Hard mode. Maybe next time.
This means my Switch cartridge slot is free for Echoes of Wisdom.
A 3D Platformer where most levels have a "wide linear" approach, where there is generally a "beginning to end" flow, but generally with a greater emphasis on exploring for secrets & CAG-lite combat encounters rather than precise platforming challenges (though you'll get a bit more of that in the latter half of the game). The best comparison I could make would be Kirby & the Forgotten Land (Switch) if you've played that (though I'd say that Bakeru's levels can get wider than that).
There a few other level types though, such as the occasional auto scroller (these all have isometric perspectives & focus a bit more on platforming than usual), or vehicle level (these tend to go by much quicker, and are easier, than most other levels & usually take the form of a race or Star Fox esque 3D shmup level).
In terms of collectables, each level has 5 pieces of Trivia to find (most levels are based around one of Japan's many prefectures, and these factoids usually relate to their specific culture/history), and 3 Souvenirs which are a bit harder to collect (these again usually relate to the area the level is set in, although the first one is always just a region pennant). A few levels also have a hidden Tanuki (a Japanese type of Raccoon) to find and are generally the hardest to locate.
You collect Trivia by talking to this little dude dressed like yellow poo, and Souvenirs are located in Gachapon capsules.
Things start out pretty linear, as you go from one level to the next on a set path on the world map, however about 15 levels in you unlock a ship called the Bunbuku (which doubles as a little hub world where your Souvenirs are displayed... and triples as a transforming mecha that you pilot in certain boss fights) which lets you freely fly over Japan's landmass & levels unlock in regional groupings (usually 4-6 levels will become available at once, and you can complete them in any order before unlocking that region's boss level).
Your Souvenirs are displayed on a wall that wraps around nearly the entirety of the Bunbuku's interior! (There are over 120 of them to collect!) The Tanuki you find also hang out there (as well as a few other story characters), and depending on the number you've found, you can get a few basic stat upgrades for it's mech form.
It's not quite as snappy as something like a Mario or Astro Bot, but it generally controls well & is fun even if it's on the easier side (you do unlock a few transformations after beating the first few bosses that augment your combat style, but I honestly never felt the need to use them. Especially since you get an achievement for beating each boss without transforming, so I did without). The only transformation I used was one that makes you smaller at the expense of being able to fight, but only because it allows you to access areas you otherwise can't within levels (it's the only transformation required for exploration). It has about 60 levels (keep in mind at least 10 of those are probably boss fights) & I completed it in just over 20 hours with everything collected (I only had to replay levels 3 or so times throughout my entire run through in order to nab a missed collectable. I mostly got them all my first run through). It helps that, aside from a few later levels, not many levels have hard locks that prevent you from backtracking to collect anything you missed. There isn't any sort of post game content or new game +.
In spite of having so many levels, each one is thematically distinct or combines things in such a way that it never became boring, and I was looking forward to what the next one would bring.
In conclusion, I'm actually surprised that Nintendo skipped out on localizing this one themselves (it's developed by Good Feel, the studio behind Yoshi's Crafted World & this year's Princess Peach: Showtime, and honestly this "feels" like a larger game than either. You can really tell it was a passion project they poured their all into). Granted, at least this means it was able to be published on Steam, where I didn't experience any of the performance issues that apparently plague the Switch version (which may play into the Big N's decision to pass on it), but it's a shame that it's probably going to be overlooked (on Switch because it released the same month as Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, and generally because it released the same month as the biggest platformer of the year, Astro Bot), because it's honestly a great time.
Currently Playing:
Switch - Blade Strangers
PS4 - Kingdom Hearts III, Tetris Effect (VR)
A whole lot of crab-walking, aiming down sights, and leave a trail of death. The signature slow motion x-ray replay of headshot kills...never gets old. Six hours to get through the campaign and it felt like the right length. Looking forward to play through Sniper Elite III at some point.
7/10
Switch Physical Collection - 1,555 games (as of March 31st, 2026)
Switch 2 Physical Collection - 4 games (as of December 8th, 2025)
Over the short break I took, I beat Final Fantasy 2. That was one of the worst Final Fantasy games I've ever played. The story was decent and the ideas they had were great, but it all falls apart with the execution.
The battle system is the biggest issue of the game. There's no proper leveling and no job system at all. Instead you build a custom class, which is cool on paper but not handled well at all. You level every spell, every weapon, and every stat individually depending on the moves you make during combat. That alone is fine- but the issue rises in the fact that enemies have EXP caps. The more enemies you fight of a specific rank, the less EXP you get from them. All until you have to start fighting your own party in order to level things up.
The map/dungeon design is God awful. Tons of trap rooms that lead no-where, and dungeons that have nonsensical layouts. The trap rooms and layouts both are issues further compounded by the fact that you're going from dungeon to dungeon with no breaks in-between. All of the towns are front-loaded in this game, and there's no optional content. Most of the game is spent going from dungeon to dungeon with random encounters every step of the way. When you do go to a town, you have to run all the way back to the rebel base.
Playing this game, I realize that this is pretty much the prototype for what Final Fantasy XVI would do years later (barring the action combat). The focus on dungeons or levels, and the return to a hub area after all of the dungeons. The only difference being that XVI doesn't have a fully fleshed out world map whilst II does.
As for the story? It's a bit more complex compared to the original Final Fantasy, but it isn't anything to write home about. The villain only appears once or so before the end of the game with his presence being felt through the majority of it. I don't really have a problem with it, but it ends up feeling a bit lackluster when the villain himself isn't really given an origin. I get why the story is a bit more basic though, given that this game was in development for the NES. Just wish the game got a Strangers of Paradise treatment, where it expanded upon the Emperor, either giving him a backstory or showcasing his journey through hell as he goes to kill Satan in order to become the Emperor of Hell.
Over-all, I'd say it isn't the absolute worst Final Fantasy game I've played (Final Fantasy Explorers is the owner of that title), but it's no-where near the best. I don't think I want to play it again, and personally I never will. Luckily I get to cross it off my backlog and wash my hands with it. Sadly though, I still have to play Final Fantasy Explorers one day.
I finished playing World of Goo 2 and it was an interesting experience.
Basically at first it comes across as...a samey sequel for World of Goo. But without pointer controls, boo! I switched to handheld quickly because of that, I'm sorry, gyro is still not a replacement for pointer controls. It's the best disappointing game since Metroid Prime 2. That being, its still awesome but it over relied on remixes of the same music from the first game, it just seemed like another version of the same game. But then something interesting happens as the narrative goes on.
World of Goo is a deconstruction of samey sequels. Or some fancy words like that. The original game was already mocking corporations but this game is extremely cynical of them, of doing the same thing while (seemingly dishonestly) saying they're environmentally friendly now, having them try to reach endless growth no matter the cost, leading to a a forgotten world of...world of goo. By its end its also really harsh but funny about how World of Goo is an IP that can be endlessly brought back for no good reason until it no longer even resembles what it was. It would be a bit much if it wasn't also reliably funny, as per usual. The writing's still pretty clever and sharp, while still being silly.
It also completely buries how much of a recurring but overhyped fad VR is at one point, which is very funny to me specifically.
It's very much continuing their games' trend of being thoughtful yet mostly funny and while it is a bit too samey for a sequel to my favorite puzzle game of all time, THE original must own indie game on a Nintendo platform...its still more World of Goo. Even if touch controls aren't perfect, I'd still rather play World of Goo 2 than most original IP, because World of Goo is just that high quality a puzzle game. If I hadn't already spent this Switch gen on too many long games already, I'd have put a lot more time into it to try to get something remotely close to a 100% run.
Yippie! The Legend Of Zelda Echoes Of Wisdom is 100% finished. And again a game that I love. It really does blend together the old and new style in a good way.
@kkslider5552000 World of Goo has only ever felt right to me when being played with a mouse and keyboard. The Wii pointer controls felt horrible at the time, so I have no hope for the implementation of gyro, lol.
Yeah, it looks very samey. For a sequel to such an old game, it sure feels like there's not a ton of new here.
Will definitely be picking it up someday when the EGS bribe money runs out and they release it on Steam.
Currently Playing: Resident Evil Village: Gold Edition
Forums
Topic: Games You Recently Beat?
Posts 3,261 to 3,280 of 3,955
Please login or sign up to reply to this topic