What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[SuperGrafx]

Air Fortress - NES

[BIL]

I nommed onto both Otogis at their release dates, knowing they were exactly what I wanted (Edge magazine's early previews of "O TO GI" were bonerizing). Sadly I've still not played either copy, owing to chronic lack of an eggs box :[ (see also ORTA and BUNVALKYRIE, and even ng_blackman.txt).

Always had a blast checking them out at friends' places, though. Enjoying reading your reports Ed! Once I escape old gamez collector purgatory, I'm gonna binge so hard on early 00s goodies.

[null1024]

Contra [NES].
You know, I'm not completely awful at this game, or so I'd like to think.
but me and a buddy couldn't get past the fucking first boss in co-op, something I don't even think about in single-player

Freedom Wars [Vita].
the fucking Code 7 exam is smashing my face in
I was so damn close to beating it, and then managed to get killed 8 times in a row, no hope of escape. By the end of the exam, there's like 8 or so opponents ganging up on you, and you're cut down by the crossfire. There is nothing as silly as respawning and then dying before you so much as touch the ground.

It felt like my damn gun took longer to reload any time I was too close to the boss, blah [5 round full-auto, vicious damage, relatively quick reloads, biggest issue it actually has is readjusting the aim every 3 seconds, but even that's not a problem]. She dies with a nice good shot easily enough, but her sniper rifle hits like a truck and I keep getting blindsided by her coming in with melee while I'm trying to fend off her entourage [if I don't go after them, I will die almost immediately after respawn].

and holy hell, how do I deal with these crowds
if I kill them, they stay on the field indefinitely, so the boss just revives them as soon as you die [and you take long enough to die that she can revive like, 4 of them before you get up, let alone reach her, although she's at least vulnerable as hell during this time if you can get enough of them down that she's still reviving people when you wake up], but even getting them off your ass is a problem

I can't mine the place well enough [they either get triggered early on or if I wait until I need them more, the minelaying animation takes too damn long and I get stabbed to death out of nowhere again/sniped by the boss]. Actually, all item use needs me to stop running, and if I do that, I usually die. Using a different gun doesn't kill things fast enough/have enough ammo [right now I'm using two Barbera's Easy Blasters because they kill quickly and have good range and allow for a decent bit of sloppiness], I can't reliably melee anything without getting stabbed and shot at in the process.
I've tried the fight like 5 times now. I'm entirely incapable of getting that last kill in against the boss.

Also, the auto-revive item seems completely worthless here -- as soon as you get up, you're getting shot at from every direction and die again. Not to mention that when you use it, you'e probably going to get killed for standing still.

The best way to get around, your Thorn, is a pain in the ass to use. Ideally, you aim it at the ground and leap forward. If you miss the ground [you aimed at the ground, but your Thorn's range is too short], you are going to get shot and killed because you aren't moving. If you aim too near to yourself, it defeats the purpose, and you might as well have just been running [also, enjoy getting shot].

This shit is nuts. I heard a few mutterings about this fight, but hot damn.

[edit]
wow, I was dumb -- stay on the top at all times, mine the corners -- the bodies of her comrades will pile up on the top, she'll keep reviving them, and the limited space there and semi-ample cover will mostly protect you and allow you to decide where your opponents enter from -- so they all tend to get blasted in the face as soon as they round the corner/run over the mines

[Ed Oscuro]

(see also ORTA and BUNVALKYRIE, and even ng_blackman.txt).

I hope my revved HugeBawks is appropriate to playing these first two games. One of the two boxen I've opened up (a 2005 model) had the dreaded Xcalibur chip responsible for failed compatibility with these games. The most excellent guide with details is here. Also, now I'm going to imagine trenchcoat weirdo peeking out of his In The Hunt submarine at the burning shell of Vigoor, shrugging, and then blasting a crowd of Vigoor Zombines with WHERE THE HOOD AT.

Back to the Otogi dripfeed of news and notes! I am really glad I checked out the walkthrough on IGN to read up on weapons (locations, mainly), magic, and the location of a few other unlockables - things would have gotten a bit hairy if I didn't understand magic house oppositions. Here's a couple easy mnemonics for magic oppositions: So-B, Su-G, i.e. the lower syllables oppose each other, and the higher also. At the magic select, each house opposes the one next over - if labeled ABCD, A opposes C, and B opposes D, where A is Soryu, B is Su, C is Byakko, and D is G. I don't bother with the names Chimera or Phoenix because enemy descriptions only list the transliterated house names, though that doesn't mean I haven't naturally remembered how the spell types match their names.

Speedrunning some stages isn't that rewarding because you have long stretches of not much but air dashes, followed by a few chains or magic blasts at the boss. It's much more fun to see how much destruction you can rack up while still holding onto magic and life beads. Some stages avoid this by forcing you to kill regular enemies, and of course that Shrine Path is deliberately designed for speedrunning. It's still not the best experience ever, but it's engaging enough for a few attempts.

The first stage I've looked up for a walkthrough is at the upside-down house of gold; I discovered that princess-voice-who-becomes-Seimei-who-was-really-a-dude-in-history flat out lied to me this time. AW HELL NAW. I was wondering why she was giving tips without my having even touched Boobs Lion! Cures me of feeling silly for not paying attention earlier to the unsubtle voice cues about the stages being upside down. (Edit: Actually, it's not a lie - just the game being cryptic. I beat this without realizing what the key is. The IGN walkthrough talks about combos, so they don't know what the key is either. Beat the stage with minimal luck in less than a minute. The key is juggling the lionette into the walls with strong attacks.)

Contrary to what I thought earlier, those upside-down stages are actually mostly nifty stuff. The only one I'm not digging is the upside down Golem's Cave, but only at the stage when you're speedrunning the empty cave.

Hydra shouldn't be too long now. Then it'll be time to go back to Kudara and Crimson King for settling scores decisively. 100% souls for a very special, and completely expected, weapon isn't any problem. My greatest challenge is still the ship's graveyard, where I've found all the souls but have only a C for destruction. Or maybe it's the training sword where I'm trying to figure out the best cheese method - chaining at the boss doesn't seem reliable since enemies always seem able to slam me after a few combos. I'm also doing my best to track undiscovered life gems - for the entire game I've only got two more (three if counting the one I've found in the current stage).

Short update: More great progress, but things come to a screeching halt at the Crimson Sea. Yes, it's that time - Idiot Preservation Stage! In the sequel, you can leave the Idiot at a waypoint and go on ahead to destroy the stage. No such luck with Firefox here. If it decides to stop and do an update in the middle of combat, you'll have to restart everything. Oh well. IGN's guide doesn't look too suspicious here.

[gbaplayer]

Tales of Hearts R (VITA)

So far iam 7 hours into the game and i really like it. Fun battle system, nice story, good graphics and sound.

[Tregard]

I picked up Earth Defence Force 2025 in the PS3 Jan sale on a whim. Damn son! I've decided I adore this game, and it only took about about five minutes. Can't believe I've paid no attention to the series before, it seems like it was made for me (particular fondness for B-movie sci-fi and arcade-style blast-a-thons). It seems to have this rep of being "so bad it's good", but so far I see nothing I don't like.

I bought it alongside Borderlands, which is flashy and addictive but strangely soulless and mechanical despite its production values and "character". EDF on the other hand is ropey as hell but was obviously put together with love, and is just pure fun to play. I can imagine the game even manages a certain small degree of tactical complexity with more players.

Playing as the lazery jetpack broad at the moment, which is fun but I'm intrigued by the Fencer, the hulking brute who can devastate huge crowds but requires mastery. Might give him a go tonight.

[iconoclast]

Persona 4 Golden
Finished this earlier today after 90 hours playtime. I loved the original Persona 4 when it came out, but this game showed me that story-driven games really aren't meant to be replayed, because once you know everything that happens, the gameplay usually isn't compelling enough to keep you going. It was interesting seeing all of the new stuff they added to the game, though. The only thing I really hated is Chie's new voice actress. She sticks out like a sore thumb in every scene because she overacts every single one of her lines with that shrill voice. The woman is a harpy from hell, I swear. The rest was good, though.

It seems to have this rep of being "so bad it's good", but so far I see nothing I don't like.

I think this is entirely because of the game's production values. Everything before EDF2025 was a budget release, and even 2025 is a little janky in places despite the big leap in graphics and animation. The games themselves are absolutely top notch, though. There aren't many TPS I'd rank above them.

[Ed Oscuro]

All done with Otogi! Already? (Mega gameplay spoilers, and some slight story ones ahead!)

Yesterday's phase had me up to Forest of Wind. It's not difficult but I did beat it the hard way - by executing combos furiously to kill the last slasher. Better way is to just spam your Dragon magic. After that, I managed to get to the Ethereal Palace and learned a bit about the layout. There's no point in beating the stage without 100% souls in all the previous stages, and that 83% soul meter on Spirit Tower had me wondering.

The IGN guide had a few critical clues here. First off, that candle on the ceiling just before the exit of Spirit Tower. As I'm playing, of course there wouldn't be any clean fly-by blasting of the candle (I did try using the defensive ring magic for this purpose once); instead I bashed around the Hydra (and got hit by it as well) a little and that seems to have brought one of its heads into contact with that candle immediately before I sailed on out to the exit. Works for me! I did not have to repeat this stage as many times as I had feared - probably something like 6 tries or so. Then Ethereal Tower seemed like it'd be a nightmare. I already played it a bit yesterday and more or less managed to get the first three bosses taken care of - I noticed that some were downright easy, but there is just enough difficulty that you can't always count on blasting magic. I left that for today to sort out, and instead spent some time hunting down a few collectables and tightening times.

Ethereal Tower puts you on top of a walk above a void. From here, jump off to the right (or dash off behind you) and head to the walkway below (on the right from Rikoh's starting position). Around the corner and inside is your first introduction to how difficult this stage can be; you need to destroy all the barriers by flinging enemies into them - or getting flung yourself, but you can't take that too many times. I lost more than half of my life orbs here a couple times. But it didn't take much to take this out. The key is Dragon magic, just as in the Forest of Wind stage, and even though the camera is no help here, your awareness of the Predator dogs rushing by you will help you aim blasts in their direction. They die quickly. Beyond that, I had one annoying death from magic running out against the Tainted Water Spirit, and I think one against the Blackwing in the fire area. No big deal. I restrained myself from destroying everything in sight this time, and went for the souls instead:

One is in the column immediately before the third and last group of seals before the Tainted Wind Slashers. You can't miss it.
Another is in one of the crystals in the Tainted Soul Caller's (Water Spirit's) arena, I think, on one of the walls. For some reason I thought one of these was in one of the wooden pillars in the hub room.
Yet another is in the Tainted Raven King's arena - this arena has the distinctive circle of torches near the entrance, a stone floor, and a couple rows of statues on long stone platforms projecting out of the back wall. The spirit is in one of the statues on the top row - a bit left or right of the center, I think.
The final one is easy to get - in the lava room you find the Mega Blackwing and also four stone islands with large torches on them, which can all be destroyed with normal attacks. The soul is in the one at the back right of the room, when looking in from the entrance. Just dash over to it, kill it, then turn left to deal with the miniboss.
When you're all done, hoof it back to the center hub room. I was thinking of a certain temple in Otogi 2 with a "warp pad" when I ran for this spot.

At this point you've now hopefully got a shiny new Moonlight Sword. I was wrong to expect that I'd have Orchid Malevolence earlier. Well, what can the Moonlight do?

Kill Kudara in two slashes for 20 seconds.
Kill the Hydra in seconds flat also (stage time somewhere around a minute).
Crimson King down in a minute at most (and this probably could be highly improved).
I already had some impressive times from magic alone - like Forest of Wind in 25 seconds, or Untamed Winds in 39 (and using a bit of a shortcut). There's some things that a sword won't solve well, like water moth/dragons, or invisible dogs with blade feet. Accessories? I played most of the stages with the Jeweled Goblet after getting it, and only switched over to the Bell of Cleansing late of the game (later than black flames started showing up, since you have to wait a while to get it). Some places could in benefit from the Prayer Beads boosting magic use count, but you don't get this one until late if you put off fighting Crimson King for time - and in any case, I felt like it wasn't necessary, as I considered magic running out as a welcome time pressure / a sign I wasn't being accurate enough with magic. In the final stages of the game, I find that you can pretty much ignore affinities again - if you are getting beaten, then your tactics suck; and most late-game enemies are from the House of the Void anyway. For roughly the last half of the game, if you need magic you'll need the Dragon for its nice homing ability. It does rate lower on the damage scale than the other magics, but I don't have time to charge magic, and I suspect that even hitting an enemy head-on with other magics is still dispersing a lot of that damage rating into the surroundings. You need to point-blank with the Phoenix, and actually have a target large enough to hit with the full blast, to do its full damage, for example.

Killing the Hydra unlocks another even more fun toy, the Orchid Malevolence. It's the weapon of choice for at least three stages, and possibly more. It doesn't quite obsolete the Moonlight Sword, though, given that there are some stages where it will be extremely difficult to avoid damage and instant death (but this sounds like a worthy challenge for a second playthrough). It doesn't have a beam attack and it doesn't have the useful overhead power swing when in the air (both useful for clearing those damn stones in the Spirit Tower). What it does is make anything receiving damage in the game die - that is, if you bump something, you die. And if something takes damage - though only from the sword - it dies. And, despite its reputation, it doesn't have a useless move set - on ground, Rikoh spins around once for a relatively quick attack. What a nice tradeoff! That gets my time for Kurada down to 9 seconds (you have to move sideways to avoid taking damage as he continues on through). Crimson King was doable in one minute with the Moonlight Sword; with this, I took just 11 seconds.

Final boss? I didn't use the Holy Staff or even the Moonlight Sword. Nope, went right for it with Orchid Malevolence. Died once to his second form. Tried again, and got him in 21 seconds (watching all the cutscenes, too, though this doesn't seem to matter). Not bad.
The game's unlocked the "2nd play" option but I'll leave that for another day. As I understand it, the major change is that you can add power levels past 31, one per playthrough of all the stages, but this doesn't seem very necessary.

Hell of a ride, this game. Especially liked the final stages really changing things up. It more than makes up for the storyline getting in the way - the "Four Essences" and "8 Soul Cords" business had me worried that the final stages would be too compressed. They worked out pretty well, as it turned out. I am fairly sure I spent about an equal amount of time in the last third of the game as I did in the first stages - counting from Eternal Night, from so very long ago - stage 17 of 29 (for the sake of time played, this stage count is more like 26 stages, or less, since there are a couple that hardly count, especially if you don't go back for extra items or destruction). I'll have to go back and die to a particular sealed enemy to see if it has any comments for me, but I feel that Michizane got an interesting enough reveal in the latter stages. The opening stages didn't do much - the "Lord M..!" stuff was cheesy and didn't reveal much, but even considering everything he comes off as a cryptic character, and that's alright.

That said, in plot summaries for the game (which mention Raikoh's "sin") there is a lot of material that I didn't see in the game anywhere, except as understood backstory. My guess is that the source material is supposed to be known, or that it at least constrained the kind of story the game could tell. Finally, I feel like I made a good choice by putting Otogi 2 aside for a while, after playing its opening stages again and making good progress. It was enough to reduce the feeling of deja vu - some stages have major elements taken almost directly from the first game, and their impact is lessened if you see them after playing the first game, I think. On the other hand, getting the complete experience of the original game out of the way was rewarding in of itself and helps set up the return to the second game. Overall, I like the major enemies from the second game much better than the first - there's at least a couple distinct factions and they each have interesting subplots which expand the world of Otogi far beyond the original's plodding midgame story. One final note: I've finally worked my Restless Sea destruction score up to a B ranking. Hooray, progress!

[Squire Grooktook]

Contra [NES].
You know, I'm not completely awful at this game, or so I'd like to think.
but me and a buddy couldn't get past the fucking first boss in co-op, something I don't even think about in single-player

Were you playing online by any chance? Last year a friend and I tried a co op run of Contra 3 over netplay (a game I've 1lc'd on hard). It went absolutely horrible till midway through he adjusted the input delay and it turned out to be waaaaay too high, ha ha.

[Vexorg]

If I recall correctly, Otogi was a game I really liked, but never managed to finish because I hit a part that I could never get past. I still have my copies of both Otogi games even though I don't have an Xbox anymore though.

As for me, still playing Shadow of Mordor, and now that I've had more time to get used to the controls I'm finding that they actually work pretty well. I think I've put sixteen hours into the game now, and I think I'm about 20% of the way through the story because it's so easy to get sidetracked on other stuff.

[Obiwanshinobi]

One delightful thing about King's Bounty: The Legend is that two dragons I've met so far are not "monsters"; just large creatures who don't seem to feel threatened all the time and as such they appear pretty calm (much like many real-life large dogs, or large men for that matter).

[JBC]

Elevator Action 2 is one of the most surprisingly great arcades I somehow never played. It's like Rolling Thunder but with more explosions & better gameplay. The animations are also top notch for the time. I miss Taito.

[EmperorIng]

Elevator Action 2 is one of my favorite games. The Saturn port has provided me with hours of fun over the years. I like playing as Edie because her fire grenades are very good for "camping" at doors and preventing goons from spawning.

====

Klonoa Door to Phantomile:
Haven't gotten very far in this yet (world 4?), but it is very charming and enjoyable. Not very difficult (yet?), but the game really grows on me.

Mega Man Legends:
I am not very far in this game either (maybe 2 hours?), but I am not as sure about this one. I like the graphics, story, voice-acting, characters, and all that, but the game feels stiff and a little tedious. Should I soldier on?

Namco Museum Volume 5:
For Legend of Valkryie and Metro Cross. Metro Cross is the surprise hit of the package - the addictive timed platforming kept me and my older brother playing round after round after round. As its manual says, game over is a fate worse than death! Legend of Valkryie is a very difficult game; I wonder how anyone can manage to 1CC it given the ease in which you lose life. I should probably watch a replay.

Lunar Silver Star Story Complete:
It has a very classic RPG flair to it. I am not sure if I am a fan of the battle system. Maybe I am spoiled by the little bit of flexibility Grandia gives you. I like the music and world (still early in to the game - just got past the misty woods). It seems that all of my characters feel a little weak given the monsters in this game.

[JBC]

I lucked out & chose Edie on my first play. You can really use those bombs to your advantage during the boss segments where enemies are swarming you. Just toss a couple to each side & the inferno will take care of the brunt of their forces. I'm playing on Taito Legends 2 but will def be picking up the Saturn version just to have it sitting on my shelf. I'm tempted to credit feed playing the arcade version but it seems like a game worthy of patient mastering.

[Strider77]

Picked up Shadow Warrior / PS4 on a leap of faith after reading a few things on it. Man am I glad I did.

Fantastic visuals and really fun high paced action. No needless multiplayer crap with a nice hefty campaign.

I'm really shocked by this one. Totally under the radar and the visuals are gorgeous.

[EmperorIng]

I lucked out & chose Edie on my first play. You can really use those bombs to your advantage during the boss segments where enemies are swarming you. Just toss a couple to each side & the inferno will take care of the brunt of their forces. I'm playing on Taito Legends 2 but will def be picking up the Saturn version just to have it sitting on my shelf. I'm tempted to credit feed playing the arcade version but it seems like a game worthy of patient mastering.

I'd be worried about picking up the Saturn version with its exorbitant prices right now; the Taito port is for most intents and purposes good enough.

Kart Bradfield's grenade is also very good, but for clearing out entire floors of enemies in one go.

[JBC]

Yeah I just found that out. One of the Amazon entries is listed at $9999.00

[BIL]

I hope my revved HugeBawks is appropriate to playing these first two games. One of the two boxen I've opened up (a 2005 model) had the dreaded Xcalibur chip responsible for failed compatibility with these games. The most excellent guide with details is here.

Oof - good intel! I need to look into this stuff. Gamecube and eggs box are kind of my speciality machines, there's like ten max games I want for either but goddamn if I was going to go without the Kamiya + Itagaki goodies. Was always a bit wary of the latter and its chipset / disc drive / HDD variances.

Klonoa Door to Phantomile:
Haven't gotten very far in this yet (world 4?), but it is very charming and enjoyable. Not very difficult (yet?), but the game really grows on me.

Klonoa never gets truly intense, but it's got great jump mechanics and the later stages require fairly thoughtful use of them. There's also a postgame area that's much trickier and expressly designed for jump mastery and subsequent time attacking. Wonderful game - I only got into it a couple years back and was immediately hooked. Solid and unbearably cute pseudo-sidescroller.

I think the limited level geometry has aged surprisingly well, particularly with the benefit of an on-rails camera. The smaller early locales feel like a child's edgy but lovingly crafted papier mache project, and it never quite loses that handmade effect even on the much grander final stages. Gives me the feeling of something tangible, very vintage in a way that transcends polys.

I'm tempted to credit feed playing the arcade version but it seems like a game worthy of patient mastering.

Definitely take your time on EAR - it's not all that difficult for an arcade title. The max difficulty setting makes for a pretty good "second loop," primary change being enemies losing their startup period and attacking near-instantly. It genuinely does start feeling like Rolling Thunder with bullets flying back and forth and doors providing vital shelter.

VING and Taito had a hell of a run on Saturn. Bubble Symphony, Mizubaku Daibouken, Metal Black, Night Striker and Elevator Action Returns is a lovely set. They had a hand in Rayforce/Layer Section too according to its staff roll. I wish they'd handled Gekirindan and the Chase HQ disc as well. (I don't think they were involved with either, anyway)

[null1024]

bunch of fighting games:
Karnov's Revenge [Neo-Geo/MAME].
this game is superbly stupid, who thought fully invincible moves were ever a good idea [I did have some cool-as-fuck matches fighting as Karnov against a friend who was playing Ray, though -- it's wonderful how Balloon beats Wheel Kick when properly timed, but it's hilariously awful why it works -- Balloon simply lasts longer, since both moves are fully invincible]

oh, and apparently Ray v Ryoko is a 10-0 matchup because WHEEL KICK [that being said, it'd probably be 7-3 at the absolute best if Ray outright didn't have Wheel Kick since Ryoko has like no approaching option to actually do her grabs]

Breakers Revenge [Neo-Geo/MAME].
also dumb as fuck [it's amazing how easy super hit-confirms are in this game, it's actually insane], but much fun was had by all
Sho is the Ray of this game, except he doesn't have anything as singularly broken. He does have nasty mixups and has the easiest hitconfirm I've ever seen ever [divekick->super air-fireball, if you do it late, you'll still be able to land and do his gatling punch super and it'll still combo].

I mostly played Tia. That Psycho Crusher-like super she has is great.

Garou: Mark of the Wolves [Neo-Geo/MAME].
Decided to start playing Freeman. He's actually pretty fun. Gave up on playing as Hotaru. Tempted to give up on Dong. Currently maining Butt.

and some not fighting games:
iRogue [Palm].
It's a port of BSD Rogue for the Palm. Playing it on an m100 a buddy got me for Christmas [that he only got around to actually giving me a week or so ago]. Loads of fun. I need to get better at not dying, though.

Freedom Wars [Vita].
I finished the bulk of the main story, reached Code 8.
all of the uncleared operations I have will make me time out if I attempt them because my weapons are hilariously underleveled and I don't feel like grinding for resources to upgrade them

that being said, I'm trying to bring my sentence down [at 884k right now, ended the game with like 910k] by making a bunch of high-value medical items and occasionally doing some of the more enjoyable missions in the meantime, both for the resources and because they're fun

[J_Taishu]

Ganbare Goemon 3: Unlike the previous games it's kind of a mix between the top-down and side scrolling Zelda games. Not so much a focus on action this time as a focus on solving riddles. Can't be played without a good understanding of Japanese. The more I play the series, the more I think that the first game got the difficulty level just right.

Super Spy Hunter: It's unbelievable what Sunsoft managed to do with the NES. Super Spy Hunter is really more of a vertical shooting game than a car game, and it's really well designed. There were times when I died that I thought the lack of powerups would leave me unable to beat a level, but with a little practice even the more difficult bosses go down pretty easily. Each stage has its own gimmick, and they're all more or less well done. The last stage almost feels a little bit too easy, but that may be because I had to repeat it so many times because I kept dying on the last boss. In any event, Super Spy Hunter is a great hidden gem that never seems to get the attention it deserves.

Shovel Knight: And on the opposite side of the spectrum, a game that may be getting a little too much credit. The music is amazing, and I actually rather like the graphics. The levels themselves are well designed, but I question the inclusion of that "phase-bracelet" item that gives you temporary invulnerability. Also, while the checkpoints are generous, I feel that they discourage mastery of the levels. Even so, it took me 5 hours to go through the game. This indicates a lot of content, but not much challenge. I just didn't get much satisfaction from clearing this game, it really stands in stark contrast to the moment of triumph I felt from beating the last boss in Super Spy Hunter.

[BIL]

The third SFC Goemon is the only one of the quartet I've finished so far (kind of - didn't find all the lucky cats or whatever it was you can collect). Definitely an enjoyable Zelda II-esque adventure, and it handles as tightly as you'd expect of Konami, but what struck me the most was its production value. Seriously beautiful game. All but joins SOTN and Gradius Gaiden in making the actual PS1 Goemons look cheap and nasty.

[jonny5]

Nightsky on 3ds and Drift Stage alpha build. Had been on the fence with nightsky but bought it over the holidays when it was on sale. Having fun with it. Drift Stage is awesome and I'm really looking forward to the finished product

[Kiks]

Trying to finish Phoenix Wright: Dual Destiny on the 3DS and I started Persona Q. My 3DS has kinda become my favourite system, oopes.

[SuperGrafx]

Super Mario Land on my 3DS

[mamboFoxtrot]

Metal Gear Rising, PS3 version. Its apparently the best version now that they've patched the framerate issues, or so I've read.

Easily the most fun I've had with a video game for a while. The Blade mode is basically something I've been wanting ever since that silly quick-slice mini-game in Wii Sports Resort. Too bad there isn't a WiiU version, or at least support for Playstation Move (or is that thing terrible? I haven't bothered with it yet). Oh well, right analogue stick works well enough.

Pacing has been tops so far. I'm used to beat 'em ups and hack 'n slash games spamming gauntlets of the same enemies back-to-back, then screeching to a halt for key-hunting/crate-shoving/backtracking/other silliness, but none of that has happened with this game so far. Even when there are a lot of enemies, the Zan-Datsu or whatever its called can take stuff out quickly enough. Cutscene length hasn't been an issue for me either, despite the Metal Gear series' notoriety for that kind of thing.

I want to give an additional shout out to the music, especially during boss fights. Last I checked, most people say they find lyrics in game music distracting or whatever, but its honestly something I've been wanting more of for a while in games, given how often movies and anime play theme songs or something of the sort during intense action sequences (esp. Kill la Kill. I've heard people make drinking games out of how many times you'll hear "Don't lose your waaaaaay!" each episode).

[JBC]

I couldn't beat the final boss of Metal Gear Rising. It's a damn tough fight.

[gameoverDude]

Hard Reset: Extended Edition (PC): It's good to play an FPS that isn't another military type one(i.e. CoD/Battlefield). This one delivers a nearly Serious Sam type level of intensity and challenge. It's more about blowing the shit out of everything than story, and while there is a certain path through the level you're free to explore a bit. The soundtrack is good, with combat music somewhat comparable to Tekken 3's OST.

Some weapons have stun properties which make for good combo potential- like the shotgun's alt-fire. Plenty of environmental kill traps exist to help with the swarming enemies. You find NANO items which are spent somewhat like ADAM in BioShock to get new weapon modes or other perks.

There are some epic boss battles in this- definitely not one-minute kills. You need to knock off various weak spots before a boss gives it up for good. And the way they go down is satisfying.

HR's scoring system helps the replay value, which many other modern FPS are lacking in. It seems to be based on certain stats at the end of the level (total kills and deaths, NANO collected, etc).

[Satan]

I couldn't beat the final boss of Metal Gear Rising. It's a damn tough fight.

Did you allow the good senator to power up when he 'turned green'?

Did I miss something? I never understood why he was the 'bad guy' when he wanted to put an end to war.

[railslave]

To the moon,

I really didn't want to like it... but you know, I sat in shock for days after... heartbroken.
How did an rpg maker game and with zero combat do this

[J_Taishu]

The third SFC Goemon is the only one of the quartet I've finished so far (kind of - didn't find all the lucky cats or whatever it was you can collect). Definitely an enjoyable Zelda II-esque adventure, and it handles as tightly as you'd expect of Konami, but what struck me the most was its production value. Seriously beautiful game. All but joins SOTN and Gradius Gaiden in making the actual PS1 Goemons look cheap and nasty.

What's there is good, but the game felt half finished to me. The Kappa that gives you three plates for the trading quest and the lack of side scrolling levels are big hints. It's also really weird how complicated the level design of the second side-scrolling level is. I'm not thrilled with how toned down the Goemon Impact fights were compared to the 2nd game either, though it's possible I'm just better at controlling the robot now.

Yesterday I was playing Starfox. I had fond memories from childhood, but the horrible frame rate makes the controls feel completely unresponsive. I knew it wasn't going to be as good, but it's borderline unplayable now.