The 2023 Backlog Challenge

[Sumez | 2,995]

25 minutes ago, Brickman said:

Maybe it was meant to be a parody of it 

Nah, definitely just trying to appeal to a certain audience. If you want to see the gun nut trope subverted there's Spec Ops The Line, but I'm sure you know this already.

I think it's a fun game, but if the game already doesn't seem to appeal to you, playing it will not win you over in any way.

[Foochie776 | 1,062]

Oracle of Ages is on the back burner for a minute, I’m enjoying it and close to being done but in a wee bit burnt out on Zelda. 
 

I did boot up Mario 64 and I’m already at 68/120. I think my personal best before was 108-109? I’ve already gotten a couple stars I couldn’t before so I’m optimistic!

[Floating Platforms | 742]

I finished two games today

Super Mario RPG is done

I never played it growing up, but in college I tried to play through emulator. I couldn't get past the second main area, though because the water textures wouldn't display properly, so most everything here was brand new to me.  I'm really not an RPG type of guy, but this alleviates almost all of my problems with the genre. Random encounters are the bane of my gaming existence, but here you can choose almost all of your fights (and most of the time, there is no quick respawn preventing your escape). Everything was nice and linear with decent, constant progression. The presentation was absolutely outstanding with a wide array of enemies, locations, characters, encounter types and a few optional objectives. It's amazing how much character there are in the sprites and how many different animations were created for 1 or 2 seconds of a cutscene.  This game oozes with personality and drowns in incredible music.  If I were to complain about anything, it's that there's too many coins for not enough purpose. I was almost always maxed out on money and items because I rarely needed to use the stuff I had.  That's pretty minor, though. I can easily see why this is so beloved.

Then, I went ahead and closed out the last couple chapters of Yakuza Kiwami to lock down the platinum trophy.

I'm already pretty well hooked into this series. Again, not a typical "RPG" guy, but action RPGs with open world elements are a whole different ballgame.  I absolutely loved this world and the characters and the dichotomy between the incredibly serious main story line and the off-the-wall bonkers sidequests.  Going for the platinum is definitely a choice and a commitment. The completion list does require grinding for money in one way or another, gambling takes too long to accomplish as well. There are a couple of really challenging points in that list but most is manageable if you want to take the time.  The climax battles were fascinating but quite difficult. I do feel like I'm better at the combat of the game, generally speaking because of them.  Beating the game on Legend was a breeze after doing the climax battles and getting the items from those. I didn't need a healing item once. The only tricky part was the on-rails shooter car chase part which took a dozen tries (and makes you do the whole chapter again to retry).  My understanding is that Yakuza 0 is maybe an easier platinum but a longer one. I'm planning on tackling that next year so I can try to maybe catch up on all of these titles.

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

Finished up Hi-Fi Rush which was amazing and Rayman Legends Definitive Edition (Switch) which was not my cup of tea. Neither was on my backlog list although Rayman certainly counts as a backlog game given how long I've wanted to play it. Deathloop remains on hold out of pure lack of interest.

I usually try to keep one Switch game going at all times since it's my go to gaming experience for early bed times. I'm thinkin 13 Sentinels or The LoZ Oracles games as my next play there. Otherwise it's going to be all Starfield and Alan Wake for the rest of the year with maybe some Sea of Stars thrown in.

[Jeevan | 8,951]

@Reed Rothchild +1

[Splain | 2,592]

I finished Cuphead. This was a lot of fun, especially the King Dice part where you kinda pick and choose which fights you want to do, I died a lot but I thought that part was great. A couple years ago I would never have thought I'd enjoy a game like this, with bullet-hell elements and try-a-hundred-times boss fights, but in the last couple of years I've played some great games that opened my eyes a bit.

Also I've put some time into Hyrule Warriors and I just don't see myself finishing it. I'm satisfied with what I've seen, I don't need to see the whole game. And the ending was spoiled for me already, so I'm just gonna retire that one.

2 out of 6!

[Gloves | 11,844]

Just not feeling Blood Omen right now.

Tossed in Medal of Honor which I picked up recently and actually haven't played before at all. 

I honestly don't know what past me was thinking each year with these lists. Good intentions I guess, but man, I need to find some way to be more realistic with myself on this backlog stuff. 

[Brickman | 4,022]

1 hour ago, Gloves said:

Just not feeling Blood Omen right now.

Tossed in Medal of Honor which I picked up recently and actually haven't played before at all. 

I honestly don't know what past me was thinking each year with these lists. Good intentions I guess, but man, I need to find some way to be more realistic with myself on this backlog stuff. 

I'm enjoying the approach I went with this year and I have apparently reached a new record for backlog games beaten.

I've just created tiered achievements to reach. So if I'm not feeling a game I just drop it and it doesn't matter because I'll just play something else in my backlog. I found that if I put on specific games I end up actively trying to ignore them and play other stuff.

Technically everything is a backlog game to me, so why bother with a list of games? I think I'll be sticking to my tier system going forward.

[Splain | 2,592]

54 minutes ago, Brickman said:

I'm enjoying the approach I went with this year and I have apparently reached a new record for backlog games beaten.

I've just created tiered achievements to reach. So if I'm not feeling a game I just drop it and it doesn't matter because I'll just play something else in my backlog. I found that if I put on specific games I end up actively trying to ignore them and play other stuff.

Technically everything is a backlog game to me, so why bother with a list of games? I think I'll be sticking to my tier system going forward.

Yeah that's a neat system, I might do something like that next year. Or maybe a "beat 10 of the following 20 games" or something.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,598]

Last year my emphasis was games that had been sitting on my backlog for long periods of time.  Including lots of frustratingly difficult ones where I'd already failed to beat them.  I got 10/15.

This year I looked at every single unplayed/unbeaten game in my collection and asked myself "what will I probably have the most fun playing?"

The latter worked way better.

I mean, I'm most of the way through my list, and I still have Danganronpa, Last of Us Part II, and Prey to look forward to.  That's bad ass.

[Sumez | 2,995]

If you're not feeling a game, absolutely don't push yourself to keep on playing

 

... I'm saying as I quit halfways through Bayonetta 2, having absolutely no pull to go back in and continue, but still know that I'm going to do eventually.

Edited September 8, 2023 by Sumez

[Webhead123 | 687]

7 hours ago, Sumez said:

If you're not feeling a game, absolutely don't push yourself to keep on playing

This is crucial. It's okay to start off thinking that you want to play a game for whatever reason, then get into it and realize that you're just not having a good time. When you hit that point, just put it away and invest your time in something else. There's too little time to waste it on torturing yourself.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,598]

I think it depends.  I've been playing KotOR II for awhile now, and I could easily have a better time with like 100 other games out there, including all of the ones staring me in the face as I play it.

Not to say it's bad, but it's shaping up to be a 6/10.  Definitely dated and unpolished.

Do I get impatient and quit, or just knock it out and make the time more passable by watching horror movies while I play it in handheld mode?  I'm doing the latter.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,598]

@Philosoraptor is the first person to meet his goal in 2023.

I believe he was 2nd last year

[Floating Platforms | 742]

Yeah, I need to make some adjustments to my approach next year as well. I went too aggressive. I probably would meet the goal if I wasn't also doing Game Boy three nights most weeks. My guess is I'll get to 40 of 50 done, which is huge but also meant sometimes ignoring real life stuff so I could stay on track for a goal that doesn't actually matter.

Anyway, I finished Maquette late last night

As a puzzle game, it's not too bad. I still haven't played Superliminal or Viewfinder but this comes off as similar in that several of the puzzles involve playing with perspective. Here you're taking an object and placing it somewhere to make it bigger or smaller elsewhere. For many levels, there is a central hub that acts as both the interior and exterior. There are dioramas and if you manipulate something in the small world and exit the hub, the big version is also impacted. For instance, you take a small bridge and place it in a path on the small wooded area, when you leave the hub to go to the normal wooded area, a normal bridge will also now be there.  Tough to describe through words. All the levels involve growing or shrinking things and/or yourself in various ways to navigate the space in different ways but it never felt incredibly repetitive - partly because it's somewhat short.

Story wise, I'm mixed. It is all about the blossoming and ending of a relationship (that's not a spoiler as the first part talks about the ending but spoiler tag for me talking about the "how" it ended). The acting is fantastic and the dialogue is mostly realistic and feels very natural - overall a huge step above most games in that regard.  However.... the way the relationship ended did not make sense to me. There was a big effort to set up their dynamic and show how well they melded, and then there was a text box to say that cracks were starting to form.

Spoiler

The game presents a single argument which seems very minor that could easily be resolved by talking. He closes his laptop suddenly when she comes home and that's a problem for her. Or she doesn't like how he didn't remember if she was coming home from work or from school that day so it becomes a big thing. That's it. Those were the deal breakers presented to us. Now, speaking as a guy who is in a 20+yr relationship, it's obvious that there are deeper problems that cause arguments to stem from littler things like that, but the game never goes into what those might be. So when suddenly they were totally done, I was extremely confused as the same build up that was given to the happy times was ignored when explaining how it went south. Maybe that's the point? The game is told from her perspective and the problems she had with him seemed petty and maybe the game was telling us that she refused to deal with her own lack of communication? Maybe I'm reading too much into it.

Overall, the game looks great. The puzzles are intriguing while not being overly complex. Each level plays a song which comes out of nowhere and the tracks are all good, even if they don't always fit the vibe. I'd recommend it as a short playthrough but maybe try not to get too invested in the story part.

[Floating Platforms | 742]

Joe & Mac 2 is done

I realized that the screenshot probably doesn't actually prove much more than I upgraded my house all the way (which I don't think has any bearing on anything.  I did use the NSO save states at times because the whole concept of continues in this game is pointless.  You get 3 lives and 3 continues as well as passwords in the main town (which track your lives and continues). Using a continue will not let you continue from where you were killed, nor will it send you back to the most recent checkpoint, nor to the start of the level. It will put you back into the hub town, so you really have 3 lives to get through any particular area and if you fail, its better to reload the password than use a continue. Same holds true for the final level which is basically just a long boss gauntlet with no health pickups and a new form of the final boss. If I were doing an actual challenge, I would do it legit, but this is backlog fun so I save stated through the boss rush as I've beaten those before in the main game.

I never beat Joe & Mac, but did rent it with friends back in the day and enjoyed it a lot. This was not too fun. The first level is alright, but there aren't really sub-weapons exactly but you can get one or two temporary upgrades to your club that last until you die.  Some health pickups will let you spit seeds or bones, which can be a mandatory downgrade if your club is at level 2. The enemies are pretty annoying and can move a bit too fast to react to thanks to some of the level design quirks. I also felt that they could hit me easier than I could hit them here and there.  Each level has multiple parts with checkpoints, but still getting through it all, and the boss with 3 lives did require some learning. Most of the bosses were pushovers except for the triceratops and the main boss.  There are interesting concepts in this game, like the hub world and the town that has items to buy (that are basically all pointless), but nothing was fleshed out. It's like Gargoyles Quest 2 in that you have these areas to go to (or area in this one) and you can talk to people, but it might as well be linear.  Sure you can do any of the 4 main levels in any order but there's no benefit to choosing one first. It's not like you get an item from lava world to use on ice world. Overall the game was fine. Frustrating at times and lacked better items, structure and proper continues.

[Philosoraptor | 468]

I've got to do a better job checking in here more often. Here's what I've beaten recently:

• Crisis Force (FC)—9.5/10—A wild ride with graphics that look to be straight from the Genesis, not the NES. Even though there are only two weapons, the game makes up for them with tons of unique enemies, difficult, but not impossible stages (stage 5 *cough*) and seven stages of unforgettable action. Boss fights are somewhat difficult, but not overwhelming either. The balance is perfect. You can even transform into a giant, ultra-desctructive version of the ship and take out some anger on people for a limited time. There are lots of great ideas here, and they're extremely well executed. This is one of the few FC games I've played that I'd say we truly "missed out on."
• Jackal (NES)—8/10—A surprisingly great non-traditional scrolling SHMUP/action game. Levels are top-down and scroll both left to right and top to bottom, although more of the latter. The jeep does a great job actually feeling like a jeep, too. Power-ups go from grenades to rockets that explode in cross patterns, although unreliably. Bosses, aside from the last one, are easier than most SHMUPs, and the levels are pretty well balanced. The last level is certainly a challenge, but the game isn't too overwhelming as long as you go slow. The main negative of this game is you have to get too close to the edge of the screen for it to scroll.
• Task Force Kampas (PS4)—7/10—A simple and easy top-down shooter with randomly generated stages, good music, and interesting bosses, the big letdown to this one is actually that it doesn't do very much. Stages are well made, it's very solid and responsive, and nothing seems particularly cheap or out of place, but it also doesn't stand out amongst other games like Rym9000 or even Project Starship X. There's lots of competition in this genre, and this game fun, but not necessarily something super special. I do, however, like the variety of the pilots and ships you get. They all feel different and interesting.
• Project Starship X (PS4)—8.5/10—Similar to Task Force Kampas and Rym9000 in gameplay, but an improvement over Task Force Kampas. The addition of a short warp jump that gives invincibility and can also be used to attack makes this game stand out. Warping/jumping to avoid lines of bullets or ridiculous patterns is fun, and challenging, but not unfair. There are 14 levels, 6 of which you'll see in every run, and there's augments to each that can be unlocked, like surprise patterns or altered patterns. There's also rogue-lite elements, as the power ups you get on a run can differ. Each pilot has a different amount of starting health, shot pattern, and power, so there's something here for everyone. One other thing to mention; this is a ridiculously easy platinum to get, and it only takes about 20 mintes. Same with Task Force Kampas.
• Shikhondo (PS4)—8/10—A great SHMUP with very, very interesting and unique theming based on yokai. Both The Girl and the Grim Reaper play very differently, and each of the five stages in the game look like old japanese paintings in motion. The patterns are beautiful, and the two-stage bosses are all very well-designed. Boss rush mode gives you an extra life and bomb after each clear, and the arcade mode stages gradually increase in difficulty, but they don't ever feel unfair. The system of buzzing bullets to fill a bar, getting essentially get a powered-up shot + bomb for a short time, and then further enhancing that powered-up shot with another bomb is really cool, and it adds a risk/reward to the gameplay. The negatives are that the backgrounds are typically heavy on the yellows and oranges, and there's plenty of yellow-orange bullets that are hard to see. Also, with five stages and only two playable characters, the game is short and kind of lacking on features outside of multiple difficulties. I think it would have been more interesting to have a few more characters or stages.
• Balloon Fight (NES)—6/10—Probably one of the top five best black box games, IMO, but definitely no Super Mario Bros. The main mode is a shameless copy of Joust that's a little simpler, although the bonus rounds are slighly different. The Balloon Trip mode is unique to Balloon Fight, and is a fun autoscrolling, obstacle-avoidance challenge. It's a neat, well-executed little package that doesn't have hours and hours of content, but has tons of replayability.
• Kirby's Dream Land 3 (SNES)—9/10—An unexpected, yet fantastic mix of powers and friends, Kirby's Dreamland 3 does an amazing job getting lots of mileage out of what it has. With six different helpers, all of which use Kirby's power differently and have different strengths and weaknesses, the game gives players lots of options and lots of replayability. The levels are bright and cheery, and the music is fantastic. The mix of powers, helpers, and good stage design make this one a standout in the franchise.
• Twisted Tales of Spike McFang (SNES)—7/10—This is like Secret of Mana lite. A fine game that's fine. It works without bugs or issues. it has some dialogue that slowly appears on screen. You get three hats. You have two attacks (and the cheaper jump + spin attack variant, which you can't get dizzy from, unlike the regular spin attack). That's about it. The story is there. The locales, while pretty, are few in number. I don't think it's worth the going rate right now, but you can certainly pay more for worse.
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Switch)—10/10—Not really much to say about this one that y'all don't already know. It's got everything you could dream of from past iterations and from fighting games in general. I ended up 100%ing Adventure mode on Hard, which was a heck of a think towards the end. Dharkon is a bastard.
• Pokemon (NES)—4/10—Sadly, everything they've done in this game that has charm or is interesting is either taken directly from Pokemon or is reworked to imitate Pokemon. Everything else about this game they've borked. However, because they borked so much, it comes together to make some kind of weird, parallel universe Pokemon that's painfully mid. It's uncanny to the point of horror. A creepypasta of a game. Almost no sound effects outside of the music, NPCs move in odd ways (if at all), every trainer says the same thing after defeat. Battles don't fare any better. Even the most basic battle mechanics in Pokemon are implemented poorly, broken, or non-existant. They got stat calculations wrong and didn't implement EVs or IVs, so there's no benefit to raising a Pokemon. Just catch a higher level one when you see them. Gym leaders have extremely overleveled Pokemon, but their movesets are garbage and not copied from any of the games, so they're easy. None of my Pokemon were over level 50 when I beat the Elite Four. They've even remade a significant chunk of the routes, towns, and caves, but removed trainers and gameplay mechanics. In most cases, they've even changed the layouts of each locale to where it's uncanny, but wrong. It's hard to recommend, but it's certainly an experience if you're tired of the same old Pokemon formula...to say the least.
• Get 'em Gary (NES)—6/10—A simple arcade game where you climb a building and fix broken windows while an angry guy throws bowling balls, bombs, and Sega Genesis consoles at you. You also have to avoid kites in later levels. It controls well and is, overall, a solid arcade-style game. Later levels introduce flower pots and gargoyle statues that make it harder to get to the other side of the floor quickly, and the angry guy runs faster, but nothing else of note. It's good fun, and something I could see coming out on the console in 1985.
• Jay and Silent Bob Mall Brawl (NES)—8/10—A nod to Double Dragon and River City Ransom, JASB is an incredibly well-executed mashup of the inspiration. You can switch out between Jay and Silent Bob at any time, which is nice. The diffiuclty also is very fair, which is coming from someone who sucks at the genre. This might be the only side-scrolling brawler I've ever beaten outside of River City Ransom...so maybe it's super easy to veterans. The sprites are straight out of RCR, but the gameplay, stage design, and concept is more DD. The boss fights are usually references to other franchises, like Mega Man or to Double Dragon. The only reason I didn't give it a higher grade is I didn't like the theming much. I'm not a big Jay and Silent Bob fan, and I don't like having to fight poop monsters with plungers.

Edited September 12, 2023 by Philosoraptor

[twiztor | 855]

i beat Spyro the Dragon (ps1) tonight.
it was fun. varied level design and set pieces. the music was lighthearted and fit the vibe of the game, but kept cutting out randomly....gotta love old cd based games.
this wasn't terribly challenging to just play, but the most rewarding part was exploring every nook and cranny to find all the secrets. (and before anyone asks, no i did not 100% the game). i think i ended up with 73 dragons and 9000ish jewels, so a pretty respectable showing for an initial playthrough. having the final boss essentially be a timed chase was certainly a choice that i didn't appreciate, though.
give this a try if you just want to kick back and chill with a game that won't stress you out.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,598]

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II

Kind of a lot of feelings here.  I haven't played KotOR since it came out, but I did really like it.  My time with the sequel was a lot more complicated, partially I'm sure because it was 20 years later.

The game plays like some sort of halfway point between the early Bioware stuff, and the Mass Effect trilogy.  Not on rails or anything, but definitely a bit more "hallway-sy", if that makes sense.

The balance was also completely out of whack.  The vast majority of the game is easy peasy, but then you get these roadblocks where the bosses just completely own you unless you cheese their AI.  Which you basically HAVE to do at points, especially with the final bosses.

And the sections where you are forced to either use a new party, or use some solo party member?  Blah.  Good luck with some of those.  Tedium incarnate.

The endgame is also basically a series of 100 battles against mobs of Sith, and is a complete and total drag.

Also, every connection to KotOR 1 seems teased at best.  This feels like a side story while you wait for KotOR 3, which obviously never happened.

Still, rough edges, and rough aging aside, there is fun here.  Lots of good characters, a decent story (it can get confusing though).  Plenty of planets to explore, and a pretty long runtime.  Some of the questlines are pretty cool.  It IS a good game.  Just one you have to be patient with, and really temper your expectations.

1. Elden Ring (10/10)
2. Hades (9.5/10)
3. Deathloop (9/10)
4. Baba Is You (9/10)
5. Doom Eternal (9/10)
6. Gradius V (8.5/10)
7. Control (8.5/10)
8. Super Mario 3D World/Bowser's Fury (with the kids) (8.5/10)
9. God of War (8.5/10)
10. MGS: The Twin Snakes (8.5/10)
11. Resident Evil 2 (8.5/10)
12. Ori & the Will of the Wisps (8.5)
13. Ghost of Tsushima (8/10)
14. Sin & Punishment (8/10)
15. Nier Automata (8/10)
16. Dusk (8/10)
17. Into the Breach (8/10)
18. Deus Ex (7.5/10)
19. Hellblade (7.5/10)
20. Dark Souls II (7.5/10)
21. Ace Attorney 2 (7.5/10)
22. Uncharted 4 (7.5/10)
23. Eternal Darkness (7/10)
24. Xenoblade (7/10)
25. Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold (7/10)
26. Yakuza Kiwami (7/10)
27. Resident Evil 3 (7/10)
28. Onimusha (7/10)
29. What Remains of Edith Finch (6.5/10)
30. Paper Mario (6.5/10)
31. Everblue 2 (6.5/10)
32. Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order (6.5/10)
33. Yoku's Island Express (6.5/10)
34. Dear Esther (6/10)
35. Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II (6/10)
36. Pilotwings 64 (6.0/10)
37. Contra Shattered Soldier (6/10)
38. Strife (6/10)
39. A Short Hike (6/10)
40. Mischief Makers (6/10)
41. La Pucelle (5.5/10)
42. Buck Bumble (5.5/10)
43. Indigo Prophecy (5.5/10)
44. Yoshi's Story (4.5/10)
45. Winback (4/10)

TBD:

1. Shenmue (crap)
2. Nioh (good)
3. House of Fata Morgana (too early to tell)

Not started

1. Last of Us Part II
2. Danganronpa
3. Trails in the Sky
4. Ion Fury
5. Shadowgate
6. Prey

[Gloves | 11,844]

Pivoting to just playing what I feel like, I played through Medal of Honor on PS1, and have started GTA San Andreas. 

Looking at the main mission list, I'm just under a third of the way through the game which is pretty decent for me on a GTA title. Gonna try my best to actually finish it this time around. 

[T-Pac | 7,590]

21 hours ago, Philosoraptor said:

Balloon Fight (NES)—6/10—Probably one of the top five best black box games, IMO, but definitely no Super Mario Bros. The main mode is a shameless copy of Joust that's a little simpler, although the bonus rounds are slighly different. The Balloon Trip mode is unique to Balloon Fight, and is a fun autoscrolling, obstacle-avoidance challenge. It's a neat, well-executed little package that doesn't have hours and hours of content, but has tons of replayability.

On a tear as usual, @Philosoraptor!

What were your win conditions for Balloon Fight? I'd like to tackle it myself soon, but I'm not sure what constitutes "experiencing the whole game".

[T-Pac]

[Reed Rothchild | 9,598]

9 hours ago, Gloves said:

Pivoting to just playing what I feel like, I played through Medal of Honor on PS1, and have started GTA San Andreas. 

Looking at the main mission list, I'm just under a third of the way through the game which is pretty decent for me on a GTA title. Gonna try my best to actually finish it this time around. 

A game beat is a game beat

[Foochie776 | 1,062]

I’ve been so busy and not feeling great lately so gaming been a little lack luster. 
 

I plan to finish Oracles this weekend and for Mario 64 I’m at 86 stars, so things are getting tougher. I forgot how much I loathe Tiny Huge Island 

[Philosoraptor | 468]

8 hours ago, T-Pac said:

On a tear as usual, @Philosoraptor!

What were your win conditions for Balloon Fight? I'd like to tackle it myself soon, but I'm not sure what constitutes "experiencing the whole game".

[T-Pac]

Thanks!

I used The Mexican Runner's criteria to call it beat, which is:

• A Mode - Beat Phase 12
• Ballon Trip Mode - Get Rank 1

His list is here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KDNGI76HoMNyYLL6RqWu4PqUbw-lI920tf7QTclnLLE/edit?pli=1#gid=0

VGS also has a list for the NES completions thread, and the requirements are a little easier. They are:

• Beat the high score in both 1 player and Balloon Trip modes

That list is here:

https://pastebin.com/JJ6Zy2Di

IMO, getting the high score in Balloon Trip mode is harder than getting to phase 12 or getting the high score in 1 player mode. There's a trick to it, though; if you can pop 20 balloons in a row without letting any pass by you in Balloon Trip mode, all subsequent balloons turn orange, which are worth 500 points instead of 300. If you do it again, they turn red, which are worth 700 points. I got to rank 1 because I was able to pop the first 20 balloons.

Edited September 13, 2023 by Philosoraptor

[Brickman | 4,022]

New Super Mario Bros 2 on the 3DS is done. 

This is the first New Super Mario Bros game I’ve played, so I don’t have any reference point to the series, but I do know this series seems to have mixed reviews. 

I found it to be an ok game. The levels are mostly fun and have a huge variety, but they’re just too easy and have checkpoints. Collecting the 3 gold coins per level is mildly interesting but feels added on just to extend the game.

The music is boring and repetitive. I know 2D Mario games generally don’t have a huge soundtrack but they’re always so well done that they just blend in. In this game the main theme remix just annoyed me, I played with the sound off a lot of the times.

The graphics look amazing on the 3DS though. And the 3D effect looks great. Some people weren’t a fan of the 3D effect but I loved it. It’s done very well in this game.

I paid $5 for it so I definitely got my money’s worth, but I don’t think I’ll be rushing to try out the other new SMB games.

7/10.