The 2022 Backlog Challenge

Reed Rothchild · December 6, 2021

We all have gigantic backlogs, right? Dozens of games. Hundreds of games. Thousands of games. We've always wanted to play our dusty copy of Dragon Warrior 2, because everyone tells us it's a stone-cold classic.

But who has the time, right?

Well, we made the time in 2021. And some of us nailed it. Some of us did rather well. Some of us put in a respectable effort. And some people completely failed.

Welcome to Round Two. Apply whatever necessary lessons learned, and good luck.

Participating users will create an initial post with a list of games that they want to finally beat in 2022.
The list can be as big or small as you want. 5 games? Fine. 10 games? Better. 25 games? Go for it. 50 games? You're a crazy person, but I believe in you.
Please use that same post to make updates and track your progress throughout the year. That way it will be much easier to see how everyone is doing. You can still make new posts to notify everyone of updates, or discuss whatever you want, but let's have everyone track their progress in each of their OP.
What constitutes 'beating' a game? That's up to you.
What games are in scope? All of them.
Can you amend your list later? NO. I mean, I won't stop you, but this is the backlog challenge. Not the "What Games Have you Beat Recently" thread. Try not to change it.
Try to have your list together by January 1st. Once it's posted and the new year begins, consider it final.
Further clarifications as I think of them.

Reed Rothchild · December 6, 2021

Jackal (NES) - completed
Batman (NES) - retired
Metal Warriors (SNES) - retired
Uncharted Waters: New Horizons (SNES) - completed
Contra Hard Corps (Genesis) - retired
Splatterhouse 3 (Genesis) - retired
Gungriffon Blaze (PS2) - completed
Maximo (PS2) - retired
Killer 7 (Gamecube) - completed
Star Wars Rebel Strike (Gamecube) - completed
Fire Emblem Echoes (3DS) - completed
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) - completed
Xenoblade 2 (Switch) - completed
Okami (Switch) - completed
Quake (Switch) - completed

1/2:
Beat Star Wars Rebel Strike. Fun, but easily the worst game in the trilogy. I don't know what they were thinking with the on-foot segments...

1/17:
Rushed through Fire Emblem Echoes. Lots of things it did to change the formula up. Some good, some not so good. That's put me at 4/5 of the 3DS FE games complete.

2/6:
Finished off Xenoblade 2, which I started almost 4 years ago. And my actual run which started 1.5 years ago. Lots of fun, but definitely takes a long time to get going, and the story had lost me in a lot of ways by the end. Excited to start up Torna and XB1 soonish.

2/7:
Played Jackal for the first time since I was a kid, and beat it in one sitting. I remember that we couldn't get past the Level 2 boss, which to be fair was one of the harder ones.

2/24:
After starting it years ago, I finally finished The Breath of the Wild. Great game. Think how much potential improvement the sequel could bring.

4/19:
Finished Okami. Another great game, that looks great in HD. Kinda wish it didn't re-use the boss fights so much, and some of the brush controls are a bit finicky, but I still had a hell of a good time.

Gloves · December 6, 2021

I have learned from my past, and will be choosing max two games from each console I own to play in 2022. Gotta be realistic with my expectations.

Game Boy

Final Fantasy Legend II

Game Boy Advance

Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald
Sigma Star Saga

Game Boy Color

Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages/Seasons

GameCube

Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes
Super Mario Sunshine

3DS

Pokemon Omega Ruby (alt for GBA version)

DS

Moon

NES

Darkwing Duck

PS1

~~Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2~~

PS2

Kuon
~~Ratchet & Clank~~

PS3

Deadly Premonition

PS4

~~God of War~~

SNES

~~Joe & Mac~~

Switch

Super Meat Boy
Shin Megami Tensei V

Wii

Mario Galaxy

Log

Jan 02 - Beat Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
Jan 03 - Beat Joe & Mac
May 20 - Beat Ratchet & Clank
May 23 - Beat God of War

Renmauzo · December 6, 2021

I bit off more than I could chew in 2021 and forgot to account for random life events, sometimes not feeling like playing anything, and games that came out/new gets/replaying old games I love again instead of focusing on my list. I beat more games than were on my last list, but not many of the ones on it.

This year, I've gone with what I believe will be a more manageable list, and if I get through these, I'll add a few more.

1. Mega Man V (Game Boy) – Beaten 26/01/2022

~~2. Mole Mania (Game Boy) – Beaten 30/03/2022~~

3. The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (Game Boy Advance) – Beaten

4. Nexzr (PC Engine) – Retired

5. Rockman & Forte (SFC) – Beaten 04/02/2022

6. Kid Dracula (Game Boy) – Unbeaten

7. Wild Arms (PS1) – Beaten 27/03/2022

8. Wild Arms 2 (PS1) – Beaten 15/04/2022

9. Suikoden (PS1) – Beaten 24/04/2022

~~10. Robotech: The Macross Saga (Game Boy Advance) – Beaten 15/01/2022~~

11. Contra (NES) – Beaten 23/01/2022

12. Mega Man 11 (XBOne) – Beaten 23/05/2022

13. Mega Man X6 (PS1) – Beaten 22/05/2022

14. Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box (NDS) – Unbeaten

15. Resident Evil Gaiden (Game Boy Color) – Unbeaten

~~16. Goof Troop (SNES) - Beaten 12/03/2022~~

~~17. Lunar: Eternal Blue (PS1) - Beaten 18/05/2022~~

~~18. Final Fantasy XV (PS4) - Beaten 24/07/2022~~

~~19. Silent Hill 2 - Restless Dreams (XBOX) - Beaten 18/12/2022~~

Edited December 19, 2022 by Renmauzo
Beat Silent Hill 2 on 18/12/2022, retired Nexzr

peg · December 6, 2021

Listed in order of expected difficulty (Highest to lowest). No way in hell this is all possible in 1 year.

Ketsui Ura 2-ALL

~~DoDonPachi 2-ALL~~ 3/24/22

Mushihimesama ultra mode

Tetris NES 1 Million+ (current PB is 916K)

Dragon Blaze 2-ALL

Radiant silvergun (saturn)

Battle garegga (saturn)

~~Sonic Wings 2-ALL~~ 1/5/22

DDP DFK Omote 2-ALL

Battletoads arcade

~~Dangun Feveron~~ 4/22/22

Guwange

~~ESP.Ra.De.~~ 4/5/22

DDP DFK Black Label Bomb Style

Mushihimesama Futari Original Mode

Contra Evolution (Hardest Difficulty, No Deaths)

~~Deathsmiles Mega Black Label (Basic Clear)~~ 10/31/22

Deathsmiles IIX (TLB clear)

Mushihimesama Futari Black Label Original Mode

Edited October 31, 2022 by peg

0xDEAFC0DE · December 6, 2021

Here's my list. I thought it would mostly be a copy of the unfinished games from last year, but it turns out a bought a decent amount of games I want to play. Again, I have no impression that I'm going to beat them all. There's way too many.

Unfinished

Anodyne 2 (PC) - I just beat the first one two days before the new year, so might as well change this to the 2nd game instead
Gears Tactics (PC) - It's about time I beat a game with name in the credits
Crypt of the NecroDancer (PC) - I've put off playing this for so long
Q*Bert (NES) - I hesitated putting this on my list because I know it's really difficult. But why the hell not swing for the fences. Hopefully using continues will help a little.
DuckTales (NES) - Got it for VGS SS. Somehow didn't have it even though it's right up my alley. Also, I briefly started last year but got distracted and never returned.
Mega Man 3 (NES) - I beat 1&2 in 2020, so it's time to try out 3... except it got delayed till 2022
Metroid (NES) - Another one of those games where you beat half of it, get busy, and never come back to
Star Tropics (NES) - I've been meaning to spin a yoyo for awhile
Little Nemo: The Dream Master (NES) - A new addition to my collection in 2021. Plus I really like that one song
Ninja Gaiden (NES) - Another game I picked up in 2021 that I think is right up my alley based on me likely a lot of games inspired by it
Kirby's Adventure (NES) - I got this one in the 2021 VGS SS so add it to the list
Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (NES) - I did actually beat Castlevania II last year, so on it Castlevania III
Pipe Dream (NES) - A puzzle game I picked up recently
Loopz (NES) - What can I say, I love puzzle games
Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti (FC) - I also got a large proxy order from Japan. Most of it was Zelda games, but I got a fair number of FC too.
Babel no Tou (FC) - I mean you had to guess a good number of the FC games I picked up were puzzle games
Banana (FC) - Such as this one
Binary Land (FC) - And this one
Gorby no Pipeline Daisakusen (FC) - How about this weird one
Moai-Kun (FC) - Or this one?
Palamedes 2 (FC) - And one more
Eggerland (FDS) - Well I guess this one to, but I wasn't lying about Palamedes 2 since this is a FDS game. Definitely different.
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures (GCN) - Like Metroid beat half of it, got busy, and never came back to it.
Metroid Prime (GCN) - Another classic still unstarted
Pikmin (GCN) - I've been curious about the Pikmin series for awhile
Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii) - I somehow never bought this one until recently (recently as in last year when I originally wrote this)
Super Mario 3D World (Wii) - Another Mario game I've been meaning to get for awhile. I just got it in my 2021 VGS SS
Hollow Knight (Switch) - A metroidvania I've been meaning to play for a while
Catherine Full Body (Switch) - A new addition from a non-VGS SS in 2021
Metroid II: Return of Samus (GB) - To beat after Metroid for NES
Chalvo 55 (GB) - I also picked up some Japanese exclusive GB games. This one is not a puzzle game, it's a puzzle platformer.
Hiden Inyou Kikouhou: Ca Da (GB) - And another puzzle platformer
Picross 2 (GB) - Ok, I admit it, this is a straight up puzzle game. Although I have beaten the first one already as that one made it to America
The Legend of Zelda: A Link To the Past and Four Swords (GBA) - I've completed the aLttP part over a decade ago, but I've never played the Four Swords part. Maybe I'll convince a friend into playing that part.
Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland (DS) - I got the UKV version not too long ago and want to see why this game never made it to the US
Tingle's Balloon Fight DS (DS) - This is the JPN only sequel to Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland
Ripened Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love (DS) - And why not complete the trilogy
Picross DS (DS) - Who doesn't like Picross
Picross 3D (DS) - It's like Picross 2D with one more D. Who doesn't like more Ds.
Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (3DS) - Got it for VGS SS last year and never touched it. Now's the time.
Super Mario 3D Land (3DS) - Another VGS SS for this year that I want to play

Spoiler

Intro comments from 2021 of finished games

Momodora: Reverie Under The Moonlight (PC) - Man I didn't realize I had so much stuff in my steam backlog

Lol, I somehow ended up on exactly 42 games again. I was at 40 then I beat one game and added three more from Secret Santa. Update: I beat another, so I feel compelled to replace it with it's sequel to keep the count at 42.

Finished

Momodora: Reverie Under The Moonlight (PC) - 1/5/2022 - First game of the year and I loved it. Technically, I beat my first playthrough on new years eve, but I didn't 100% it until today. And 100%ing it took 4 playthroughs: 1 was my blind playthrough on normal which got all but three achievements. Next was a playthrough on easy to get the pacifist (can only kill bosses) and no-death (you can quit to menu when you die to avoid the dead counting) achievements. Additionally, I got ever single item in the game in that playthrough which requires beating every boss without taking damage (has to be done on easy as two items are only available there. Totally not necessary for any achievements, just my own challenge). Next was a quick playthrough on hard to unlock my next playthrough on insane. Insane has more enemies and more importantly you have 1 HP. By this time I got here I was good enough at the game that this actually wasn't too bad (still stupid hard). Mostly because the items for defeating the bosses damageless are pretty powerful. As evidenced by how much I played this, I really enjoyed it.

Edited January 6, 2022 by 0xDEAFC0DE

Californication · December 6, 2021

SFC

Parodius Da - beat 2.05.22 (5 difficulty)

Snes
Legend of the Mystical Ninja
Super Star Wars
Earthworm Jim
Plok-
Pocky and Rocky-
Sparkster-

Famicom
FC Genjin
Wai Wai World
Kid Dracula

Nes
Ninja Gaiden lll
Kabuki Quantum Fighter
Rescue Rangers
Master Blaster-
TMNT-

Genesis

Sunset Riders - beat 3.03.22

PS4
Doom Eternal
Evil Within 2
Wonderboy: Dragons Trap
Y's Origins
Kaze - beat 5.14.22
Blazing Chrome

Other new completions

1945 (Saturn) - beat 1.25.22

Keio Flying Squadron ll (Saturn) -

3.23.22

Ender Lilies - 5.11.22

Edited May 14, 2022 by Californication

ifightdragons · December 6, 2021

Just carried over a bunch from my '21 backlog. Won't get to all of these, so I just treat them as a list of games I'm currently thinking of playing.

NES
Captain Tsubasa Vol. II: Super Striker
Micro Mages
R.C. Pro-Am

SNES
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Redux ver.)
The Legend of Zelda: Parallel Worlds Remodel
The Legend of Zelda BS: Ancient Stone Tablets
Mega Man & Bass
Mega Man X
Mega Man X2
Mega Man X3
Super Mario World: 100 Rooms of Enemies

N64
Banjo-Kazooie
Banjo-Tooie
Donkey Kong 64 (Tag Anywhere ver.)
Mario Tennis 64
NHL '99
Paper Mario
Road Rash 64

NGC
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Wii
Metroid Prime: Trilogy

Switch
~~Angry Video Game Nerd I & II Deluxe~~
~~Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze~~
Lunistice
~~Mario Kart 8 Deluxe~~
Minoria
Ori and the Blind Forest
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Return to Monkey Island
~~Röki~~
Shantae and the Seven Sirens
Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2
Turok 2: Seeds of Evil (Remastered)
~~West of Loathing~~

Game Boy
Mega Man World II
Mega Man World III
Mega Man World IV

Game Boy Color
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX (Redux ver.)
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
~~The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons~~
Mega Man World V (Color hack)
Mega Man Xtreme 2

Game Boy Advance
~~Castlevania: Circle of the Moon~~
~~Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance~~
~~Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow~~
~~The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap~~
Metroid: Zero Mission
Metroid Fusion

NDS
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin

3DS
~~Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D~~

Sega Master System
Golden Axe Warrior

Sega Genesis
Mega Man: The Wily Wars

PS1
Mega Man X4

Edited November 27, 2022 by ifightdragons

Jeevan · December 6, 2021

Woooooo, in again, hopefully with a better chance to complete this time around!!!!

I know 1 game I will be putting in here right away!!!! @spacepup join me shortly after the first of the year and play some shin megami!!!!!

List:

Shin Megami Tensei V
Paper Mario: The Origami King
Ogre Battle 64 -- started 1/2
Cruisin' USA -- beaten 1/1, good game overall even though im not a racing fan
Cruisin' World -- beaten 1/1, good game, not too bad overall, still not a racing fan
Cruisin' Exotica -- Started 1/1, its ok, a bit grindy for me as i am not good. Beaten 1/4
Winback: Covert Operations
Pikmin 3 Deluxe -- beaten 5/10
Luigi's Mansion 3 -- beaten 5/14

**Borderlands 3** -- Added to the list kuz I finally got over myself and bought it for steam, i was a bit upset when it was "exclusive" for awhile.

Games beaten all year even if not on my list!

Elmos letter adventure -- Beaten 1/1
Elmos number adventure -- Beaten 1/1
Donald Ducks goin' Quackers -- Beaten 1/2
Deadly Arts -- Beaten 1/2
Fighters Destiny -- Beaten 1/2
Fighters Destiny 2 -- Beaten 1/2
The New Tetris -- Beaten 1/2
Clay Fighter 63 1/3 -- Beaten 1/3
Wetrix -- Beaten 1/12
WCW Backstage Assault -- Beaten 1/13
Monster Truck Madness -- Beaten 1/18
Kobe Bryant in NBA Courtside -- Beaten 1/18
Flying Dragon -- Beaten 1/26
Virtual Pool 64 -- Beaten 1/26
Army Men Air Combat -- Beaten 2/4

Sumez · December 6, 2021

My final list as of 31st of December 2022 (vgs.com was down on its primary domain at the time)

Metroid Dread (Switch) - Beaten 13/1
Ghost of Tsushima (PS4) - Beaten 9/1
Disco Elysium (PS4) - Beaten 30/12
Hades (Switch) - Beaten some time around new year?
Bug Fables (Switch) - Beaten 9/4
Eastward (Switch) - Beaten 6/5
Huntdown (Switch) - Probably on hold for now
Luminous Avenger iX (Switch) - Beaten 11/7
Yakuza 6 (PS4) - Beaten 30/1
Yakuza: Like a Dragon (PS4) - Beaten 27/3
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (PS4) - unbeaten
Elden Ring (PS4) - Beaten 5/3
Flying Shark (Arcade) - Beaten 2/2
Out Zone (Arcade) - Beaten 22/2
The Firemen (SNES) - Beaten 9/7
Ducktales Remake (PS3) - Beaten 2/7
Darkest Dungeon (Switch) - unbeaten
Return of Samus (GB) - Beaten 28/8
Samus Returns (3DS) - Beaten 7/9
Heart of Darkness (PS1) - Beaten 23/10
Rocket Slime (DS) - Beaten 17/7
Psychonauts (PS4) - Beaten 4/7
Dynamite Headdy (MD) - unbeaten
Plok! (SNES) - Ended 22/7
The Last of Us (PS3) - Beaten 14/9
Arc Rise Fantasia (Wii) - unbeaten
Resident Evil 1 Remake (PS4) - Beaten 23/4
Resident Evil 4 (Wii) - Beaten 14/5
Tomba (PS1) - Beaten 13/11
Secret Mission (CDI) - Scrapped for my copy not being in English
Folklore (PS3) - unbeaten
Ratchet and/or Clank (PS3) - Beaten 8/7
Dark Cloud (PS2) - unbeaten
Assassin's Creed Black Flag (X360) - unbeaten
Bravely Default (3DS) - unbeaten
Nightmare of Druaga (PS2) - currently playing
The Surge (PS4) - Beaten 20/6
Sam & Max Save the World (Switch) - Beaten 25/5
Environmental Station Alpha (PC) - Beaten 4/9
Wuppo (PS4) - Beaten 5/12
Luigi's Mansion (GC) - Beaten 13/10
Golden Sun (GBA) - Beaten 20/10
Hammerin' Harry (NES) - Beaten 4/10
Ninja Jajamaru: Ginga Daisakusen (NES) - Beaten 3/10
Ristar (MD) - Beaten 12/10
Bionic Commando (GB) - Beaten 25/8
Hagane (SNES) - Beaten 1/10
Hellnight (PS1) - Beaten 8/11
Uncharted 3 (PS3/PS4) - Beaten 19/4

Didn't make the cut:

Spoiler

Volgarr (DC?)
Nioh 2
System Shock 1
Wario Land 4
Sleeping Dogs
Alan Wake (X360)
Etrian Odyssey 5 (DS)
Godhand (PS2)
Devil May Cry 3 (PS2)
Eternal Darkness (GC)
Ace Combat: The Belkan War (PS2)
Baten Kaitos (GC)
Alien Soldier (MD)
PoPoLoCrois (PSP)
The Evil Within (PS4)
Sin & Punishment 2 (Wii)
Metal Gear Solid V (PS4)
Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow Over Mystara (Arcade)
Koudelka (PS1)
Dokapon Kingdom (Wii)
Spec Ops: The Line (X360)
Wizardry: Tales Of The Forsaken Land (PS2)
Bully: Scholarship Edition (X360)
Asura's Wrath (X360)
Mega Turrican (MD)
Breakdown (XBX)
Brave Fencer Musashi (PS1)
Blade Runner (PC)

Other games I've beaten (first time) 2022:

Tatsujin (Arcade) - 19/2
Pocky & Rocky Reshrined (Switch) - 27/4
Little Nightmares 2 (PS4) - 7/5
Resident Evil 2 (PS1) - 8/5
Resident Evil 2 Remake (PS4) - ?/?
Bomber Man World (Arcade) - 14/8
Pepsiman (PS1) - ?/?
Majuu Ou (human only) (SNES) - 24/9
Return to Monkey Island (Switch) - 26/9
The Last of Us Part 2 (PS4) - 30/9
Golden Sun: The Lost Age (GBA) - 5/11

Edited December 5, 2022 by Sumez

fox · December 6, 2021

(14/24 complete)

Switch
A Short Hike - cleared!
Death's Door - retired
Ender Lilies -cleared!
Fell Seal
Luna Knights - retired
Luigi's Mansion 3 - 50% done
Omimusha - retired
Monster Sanctuary - retired
Paper Mario
Super Hot - cleared!
Toem - cleared!
Unsighted - retired
Cuphead DLC - cleared!

PS5/PS4
Elden Ring - cleared!
God of War Ragnarok - cleared!
Gotham Knights - cleared!
Guardians of the Galaxy - cleared!
Horizon: Forbidden West - cleared!
Solar Ash - retired
TMNT shedders revenge - clreared!

NES
Ducktales - cleared!

Arcade
Turtles in Time - cleared!
King of the Monsters 2 - cleared!

GBA
Final Fantasy V

Upcoming
Silk Song delayed to 2023
Forspoken delayed to 2023
Suicide Squad delayed to 2023
Breath of the Wild follow-up delayed to 2023

Edited December 28, 2022 by fox

Brickman · December 6, 2021

Ok list mostly sorted but I will adjust before the deadline if needed.

I think I've learnt from this year to not go so RPG heavy. 2022 will be the year of hopefully shorter games so I can get more knocked off but also choose quality titles.

2021 carryover:

Persona Strikers- If I don’t finish it this year.

2022 List:

PC:
Aggelos
Blasphemous
Cuphead (Retired)
~~Guacamelee~~
~~Monster Boy & the Cursed Kingdom~~
Panzer Paladin
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Steamworld Heist
Yooka-Laylee

Switch:
~~Metroid Dread~~
Shin Megami Tensei V

3/12

N64 Games:

This is going to be an open ended list because I will just do games as I see fit for the N64 backlog challenge. Complete:

Banjo Kazooie

Doom 64

Conkers Bad Fur Day

Edited June 30, 2022 by Brickman

ThePhleo · December 6, 2021

I too learned from last year. Promising myself to play more than 2 RPGs in a year that boast their length of gameplay is foolish.

This year I want to do something different. I want to do milestones or achievements and award myself points based on that.

Play-A-Game

1 Game (1 Pts.)
5 Games (5 Pts.)
10 Games (10 Pts.)
25 Games (25 Pts.)
50 Games (50 Pts.)
100 Games (100 Pts.)

Play-A-Game on a New Platform

1 Game (5 Pts.)
5 Games (10 Pts.)
10 Games (25 Pts.)
25 Games (50 Pts.)
50 Games (100 Pts.)
100 Games (250 Pts.)

Beat-A-Game

1 Game (10 Pts.)
5 Games (25 Pts.)
10 Games (50 Pts.)
25 Games (100 Pts.)
50 Games (250 Pts.)

I won’t cheese this to build as many points as I can. I just want to do this to motivate myself to find néw games on new systems.

My gaming life revolves around NES, SNES, and Windows PC. That’s lame…I need some Sega, TG-16, Neo Geo, Xbox, PlayStation, and Arcade in my life.

DoctorEncore · December 6, 2021

2021 Final Tally

The big focus for me this year will be Japanese games, specifically Zelda and Final Fantasy. I need to wrap up a few games I'm playing now, but then it's off to the races. For the purpose of completion percentage, my goal is to finish all the currently playing games and 5 games from the focused list. The rest of the lists are just reminders for myself in case I want to do something off the beaten path. I'll give myself until the end of next week to polish this up a bit and add some retro games.

Currently Playing:

Super Mario 3D World (NSW; co-op with my son)
Final Fantasy X HD (NSW)
Witcher 3 (XSX)
Grounded (XSX)
Halo Infinite (XSX)
A Way Out (XSX online co-op with friend)

Focused List:

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade (PS5)
Final Fantasy X (Any)
Final Fantasy X-2 (Any)
Final Fantasy XII (Any)
Final Fantasy XIII (X360)
Final Fantasy XIII-2 (X360)
Final Fantasy XIII-3: Lightning Does Strike Twice (X360)
Final Fantasy XV (XBONE)
Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Switch)
Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Switch)
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii U)
Tales of Arise (XSX)
Scarlet Nexus (XSX)
~~Metroid Dread (Switch)~~
Dragon Quest 11 (Any)
Mario Galaxy (Mario 3D All-Stars - Switch)
Outer Wilds - Echoes of the Eye (XSX)
Firewatch (XSX)
~~A Plague Tale: Innocence (XSX)~~

Completed From Lists

Super Mario 64 (Mario 3D All-Stars - Switch, 70 Stars) - 1/10/22
Halo Infinite (XSX, Heroic) - 1/13/22
Sackboy: A Big Adventure (PS5, Co-op) - 1/28/22
Metroid Dread (Switch, Normal) - 1/30/22
Horizon: Zero Dawn (PS5, Normal) - 2/28/22
1. The Frozen Wilds DLC (PS5, Normal) - 3/6/22
Dead Space (360, Normal) - 3/25/22
The Ascent (XSX) - 5/1/22
Ratchet & Clank (PS5, Rebel Agent Difficulty)- 6/30/22
Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut (PS5) - 7/30/22 and Additional Pics
Returnal (PS5) - 8/10/22
The Artful Escape (XSX) - 8/12/22
Death's Door (XSX) - 8/15/22
Myst (XSX) - 8/17/22
A Plague Tale: Innocence (XSX) - 9/15/22
Forgotten City (XSX)

Completed Off-list

Tunic (XSX) - 4/10/22
Trek to Yomi (XSX) - 6/6/22
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge (XSX; "Okay" Difficulty) - 7/1/22
What Remains of Edith Finch (XSX) - 8/18/22
Dead Cells (XSX; first complete run) - 8/21/22
Gorogoa (PC) - 8/22/22
Stray (PS5) - 9/4/22
Kirby and the Forgotten Land (NSW, Easy; co-op with my son)
Guardians of the Galaxy (XSX)
Scorn (XSX)
Vampire Survivors (XSX)
High On Life (XSX)

Newish Stuff I Missed:

Spoiler

Age of Empires 4 (PC)
~~Artful Escape (XSX)~~
~~Death's Door (XSX)~~
Deathloop (prob XSX)
~~Forgotten City (XSX)~~
Forza Horizon 5 (XSX)
The Gunk (XSX)
Hades (Any)
Kena (PS5)
~~Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart (PS5)~~
~~Returnal (PS5)~~
Spiderman Ultimate Edition & Miles Morales (PS5)
~~Ghost of Tsushima Driector's Cut (PS5)~~

Retro:

Spoiler

Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap (GBA)
Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (GBC)
Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (GBC)
Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

Leftovers:

Spoiler

Bayonetta 1-2 (XBO/Switch)
Bioshock Infinite Remastered (XBO)
Borderlands 3 (XBO)
Bravely Default (3DS)
Cyberpunk 2077 (XSX; waiting for upgrade)
~~Dead Space (360)~~
Dead Space 2 & 3 (360)
Death Stranding Director's Cut (PS5)
Demon's Souls (PS5)
Gears Tactics (PC or XBONE)
Last of Us 2 (PS4)
Mass Effect 3 (XBO)
Mass Effect Andromeda (XBO)
Metal Gear Solid 2-5 (360/XBO)
Nier Automata (XBO)
Octopath Traveler (Switch)
Resident Evil 2&3 Remakes (XBO)
Shadow of the Tomb Raider (XBO)
Sunset Overdrive (XBO)
Uncharted Lost Legacy (PS4)
Vanquish (XBO)
Witcher 3 (XSX; waiting for upgrade)
Xenoblade Chronicles 1&2&X (Switch/Wii U)
Yoshi's Crafted World (Switch)

Edited December 23, 2022 by DoctorEncore

spacepup · December 6, 2021

Alrighty - List as follows!

* Ni no Kuni 2 (Switch) -- started 07-10-2022
* Shin Megami Tensei V (Switch) -- started 01-01-2022
* Paper Mario (N64) -- started 01-09-2022
* Paper Mario: Origami King (Switch) -- started June 2022
* Nier: Automata (PS4)
* La-Mulana 2 (PC) -- started ?? 2022
* MUSHA (Genesis)
* Panel de Pon (SNES) (JP) -- (re)started early 2022
* The Last Guardian (PS4)
* Kuon (PS2)
* Cubivore (Gamecube) -- started early 2022

FireHazard51 · December 6, 2021

Co-ops/Blackmailing

Overcook 2 - ( @spacepup @Jeevan)

PS4/PS5 Games (includes PSVR)

10/10 games
- Uncharted 4 - Beaten on hard mode on 1/14/2022
- Flower - Beaten on 5/30/2022
- Celeste - Beaten in June some time
- Life is Strange: True Colors - Beaten in June some time
- The American Dream - Beaten on 7/5/2022
- Psychonauts in Rhombus of Ruin (PSVR) - Beaten on 9/11/2022
- Last Labyrinth - Beaten on 11/7/2022
- Ghost of Tsushima - Beaten on 11/27/2022
- Accounting+ - Beaten on 11/30/2022
- The Curious Tale of The Stolen Pets - Beaten on 12/27/2022

PS Vita

2 games

PS3 Games

1/2 games
- Killzone - Beaten on normal difficulty on 4/2/2022

PC Games

1/2 games
- Job the Leprechaun - you're damn right I'm claiming the VGS holiday challenge game!

Switch Games

1/3 games
- Pikmin 3 Deluxe - Beaten on 5/30/2022

Retro Games (consoles not listed above)

1/3 games
- 2021/2022 Tecmo Super Bowl (homebrew/modded NES game) - Beaten in February sometime

BONUS CHALLENGE

100% games

3/4 games
- Psychonaughts in the Rhombus of Ruin - on 9/11/2022
- Ghost of Tsushima - Platinum on 12/1/2022
- Accounting+ - Platinum on 11/27/2022

So that's 22 games in total making it on average 2 games a month.

RH · December 6, 2021

Why not... Reserved.

For someone who really does enjoy playing games and not just collecting, I probably have the WORST gameplay (much less game winning) track record.

I might as well try to set a goal and see what happens.

List

Finish Metroid Dread (or get blocked for 10 hours, cause I suck)
~~Finish Mario 3D All-Stars: SM64~~ - Completed 70 stars and beat Bowser 5/14.
~~Contribute at least 1 game to the "Beat every Game Boy" forum goal~~ - Completed Xenon 2
Front Mission
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
Axiom Verge 2 (if it ships before Q4 2022)
~~Any other Switch game~~ Beat Sonic 2 from the Genesis app

Ok, hopefully this is obtainable.

Edited June 27, 2022 by RH

T-Pac · December 6, 2021

Brickman · December 6, 2021

@Reed RothchildYou mentioned in the 2021 challenge that you might look at badges or some sort of leaderboard for 2022. Got anything interesting you are going to add for next year?

Reed Rothchild · December 6, 2021

1 minute ago, Shmup said:

@Reed RothchildYou mentioned in the 2021 challenge that you might look at badges or some sort of leaderboard for 2022. Got anything interesting you are going to add for next year?

Unsure yet. I wanted to track collective completions, but people kept changing their lists after the fact lol

Badges... is that a @Gloves thing? A @CasualCart thing? Guess I should look into it.

O.G. CIB · December 6, 2021

2022

Super slow year but I did get three done. Now that I’m end of my collecting journey I hope to play more.

NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 [SW] - On NBA mode (with my son as my teammate, well he’s better than me so I guess he pulled me along) - 11/8/2022

Resident Evil 7 Gold [PS4]- Tried some VR but good game overall - July 22, 2022

It Takes Two [PS4] with my son)- Super fun game I would recommend - March 8, 2022

Edited December 22, 2022 by Mr. CIB

darkchylde28 · December 6, 2021

[~~This space reserved for whatever I don't manage to squeak in in 2021.~~]

Pre-2021 Carry Forward:

Dragon Warrior II [NES] - In Progress

2021 Carry Forward:

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link [NES] - In Progress
Conker's Bad Fur Day [N64] - In Progress
Road War 2000 [Apple II] - In Progress
Wasteland 2 [PC]
Wasteland [PC] [Apple II] - In Progress

2022 New Additions:

Gargoyle's Quest [Game Boy] - Completed (1/2/2022)
Maru's Mission [Game Boy] - In Progress
Minecraft [PC] - In Progress
7 Days to Die [PC] - Completed (3/26/2022)
Skyrim [PC] - In Progress
Shadowgate [NES] - Completed (2/9/2022)
River City Ransom [NES} - Completed (2/9/2022)
Swords and Serpents [NES] - In Progress
Castlevania III [NES] - Completed (10/23/2022)

1/1/2022 Update - Gargoyle's Quest

Spoiler

Began Gargoyle's Quest for Game Boy. Got to Rushifell (next to last boss), then turned the game off to play something else with friends

1/1/2022 Update - 7 Days to Die

Spoiler

Started a custom, random world on Alpha 20, sized as large as the game would allow. Played with my brother and one of our friends (invited Mega Tank, but he was uncertain he could/would spend the time with it to make the investment worth it, understandable). Established a solid base at roughly the Northeast corner of one of 18 large cities in the world, only managed to get killed once, but have suffered no significant gear or material losses thus far, with the other players' experiences mirroring mine. Began farming, as well as digging a tunnel at bedrock from our base out to the center of the highest, nearest peak (217M) in order to set down a forge for iron, glass, brass, and lead production, as well as avoid constant zombie horde attacks due to running said forge. Also found this absolute gem of a commerce combo downtown!

1/2/2022 Update - Gargoyle's Quest

Spoiler

Stomped Rushifell, then killed Breager, the King of Destruction after a couple of false start tries (mostly due to the long, dangerous maze you have to go through to get to his chamber). Game completed!

1/2/2022 Update - Maru's Mission

Spoiler

Started playing just after completing Gargoyle's Quest and was impressed at how much of the gameplay I instinctively remembered after not having played the title since the NA days. Made it all the way to the end boss, but managed to get a Game Over just short of killing him and ending the game, primarily due to no longer being familiar with all of the various enemies' and bosses' quirks, as well as a total lack of ability to farm health (or souls or spirits or whatever those things are supposed to be) in order to firm up my numbers before heading into the final level and boss. I'll come back to this in a day or two and see if I can shake out a win.

1/2/2022 - 1/5/2022 Update - 7 Days to Die

Spoiler

The crew and I (my brother and one of our friends) continued to do well for ourselves, carefully updating the house that I initially camped out beside and cleared out, and turning it into a full on base while still having it continue to look like and be recognizable as a house. Another friend joined in, allowing us to venture further and longer into zombie filled city we live at the edge of.

At my suggestion (based on having seen a large city there), we embarked one (in-game) morning for the wasteland, a biome where the entire landscape was nuked (leaving burnt cinders of trees, mostly single walls of houses and other structures, rubble, and land mines everywhere). We all picked up extra stacks of food and water, medical supplies, building materials, and ammo, figuring that we'd build a firebase somewhere beyond the border to have a place to fall back to, sort loot, and stage excursions from. We figured we were well enough equipped and leveled to take on the generally higher difficulty zombies that spawned there.

We quickly found a well sticking out like a sore thumb in the middle of the destruction and went to check on whether it led to a new version of the classic well base that we were very familiar with from earlier versions. About the time we got inside, someone spotted a zombie bear just ahead of us, directly on the path we were travelling, and headed our way. The group all barely managed to dive down into the well (that my brother had precariously descended and added ladder rungs to, as well as a small platform for us to climb down onto) before the bear was upon us, trying its best to tear the well apart and get at us.

Down the ladder, we discovered a large cavern, with decent sized lake at the bottom and decided that it didn't seem like a bad place at all to set up forward base into the wasteland. After taking out the few "sleeper" zombie residents that were there, a small tunnel and room was dug into the rock, chests were mounted to the walls to hold our supplies, and a couple of reinforced doors were installed to prevent any zombies who might make their way into the base from easily getting into our storage. My brother ascended the ladder to see where the bear was, only to find him right next to the well, and ready to reengage. After a couple of false starts, my brother madly decides that he's going to take on this behemoth with his sledge hammer, and somehow, due to some pretty perfect timing, he managed to kill the beast with barely a scratch on him.

At this point it's getting late in the day, so the rest of us scramble up top to scout a little bit more before night, only to discover that there are two relatively large holes in the ground which lead directly into our cave. My brother and his friend quickly got to work filling in and reinforcing the hole, while I and my friend kept watch an stood guard, with all of us ultimately disappearing back into the well just before the clock struck 22:00 ("nightfall," generally when the game allows all zombies to run, as well as issuing harder, glowing eyed "feral" variants).

All was well for about two minutes until we heard the roars of another approaching bear, followed by the sounds of an attack on the well. My brother climbed up the ladder again...only to find that several zombies had followed along with the bear, and began attempting to force their way down the now-open hatch and into our base. Despite having no fires going, no lights lit, being crouched for stealth, and not moving, a zombie horde had come right to our door, just as the most dangerous time of day descended.

A normal full day cycle in 7 Days takes 60 minutes. "Night" time runs from 22:00 to 04:00, 6 hours in-game, or 15 minutes in real time. The 15 minutes of that night are near indescribable, as the assault on us came out of nowhere and just kept escalating the longer it went on. My brother managed to position himself in such a way that very few zombies (and zombie bears) ever managed to score a hit, with most being so preoccupied with getting down the ladder to the rest of us, that he was virtually ignored. At first we used bows to shoot up the shaft around my brother at whatever was pushing him down the ladder, then, briefly, at those zombies that had pushed or fallen past him on the ladder, and onto the platform below. When the first one got up "alive," we saw its glowing eyes for the first time and realized that the wasteland was throwing all ferals at us, at our work was cut out for us.

The enemy types started with those commonly seen in the woods or in the streets in every town. Then to the uncommon ones, like huge "tourist" and "big mama" zombies, followed by hazmat zombies, then accelerating in difficulty and rabidity to soldiers, skinless wights, cops (which puke glowing acid, then charge and explode if not taken care of quickly). We were handling ourselves reasonably well, with everyone having primarily switched over to firearms to ensure nothing got by us, when a scream of "WTF IS THAT?!?!" from my brother let us know that something new was afoot--a zombie that looked like a walking pustule, leaking green and yellow glowing gas (apparently referred to as a "gasser" by the devs). It was just after this that things turned from tough but fun toward ridiculous and hopeless.

Zombies of all types, although primarily the harder types, began careening through the opening above at a rate so fast that it wouldn't be too far from the truth to describe them as flowing like water. My brother gave up his attempt to stem the tide from the ladder and leapt down to fight beside the rest of us. There was nothing but the sounds of gunfire, reloading, and shouts of warning and alert for the next 7 minutes or so. Toward the end, I had fired my gun for so long that it had broken, and I had to briefly retreat from the action so that I could use a repair kit to get it going it again. When I did, I realized that I had one reload plus two rounds left (18 total), and things were pretty hopeless, so I ran to the little room we'd created and grabbed everything I could (basically everything save half a dozen items), figuring that when the mob got us, at least I would respawn on my bed at home with everything we'd taken, so we wouldn't have to go back. My brother's friend saw what I was doing and picked up the rest, at which point we both ran back up to the entrance to rejoin the fray.

Things were even more hectic in the last couple of minutes, if that could be believed, with us finally hearing a screamer (zombie who screams when players are noticed, which summons, and keeps summoning, mobs of other zombies to the area), my brother leaping through the mob to grab the ladder and head topside to kill it. My gun ran dry quickly and I did my best to use my flaming spear to take down as many foes as possible, with my teammates pouring on what cover fire they could, but both quickly running out of ammo as well, as blast after shotgun blast rang out on the surface where my brother was.

What seemed like a long time, but was probably only 30 seconds or so later, the noise from up top stopped and my brother told us he'd taken care of the screamer who had presumably kept things going at the madcap rate it had run at, as well as what remained. At that, the rest of us immediately ascended the ladder, I dissected what remained of the zombie bear by the entrance (the third one to show up and be killed, per my brother, with the other two having despawned long ago during the overnight rush), and we all ran as fast as we could toward the border of the forest from whence we'd come, at which point everyone mounted their bicycles and pedaled home as quickly as possible.

The trip home was uneventful, the sorting and returning of items to their respective storage chests was long, but we were happy, then ecstatic, then laughing at the whole ordeal, as we realized that despite having gone out "prepared," we weren't, and yet despite being so woefully undergeared for what befell us, nobody had died, and we really hadn't given up a significant inch of ground all night. A good time was had by all, but we also agreed that we likely wouldn't ever go back out there to repeat that exact experience, at least not without building a reinforced bolt hole prior to doing so.

1/7/2022 - 2/12/2022 Update - 7 Days to Die

Spoiler

Well, it's been a while, and a lot (in-game) has happened. We all started doing jobs for the trader, something we discovered was required in this newest version of the game, in order to unlock the full tier of guns into the loot table. Somehow I managed to be the #1 zombie killing badass of the bunch (currently closing in on 4K as of a few days ago, with my closest rival at around 1.7K), and as such, leveled quite a bit. I ended up putting my points into maximizing the skills required to pull more and higher tier loot out of everything, get higher tier loot options from the trader, and get more and multiple choices of rewards from the trader when completing missions. I also boosted up my pistol skill and hip firing skill, both of which have assisted me greatly in judicious use of the SMG-5 I now use as my primary weapon. While my brother and our friend will start trying to slowly pick off zombies from the horde one at a time from a good distance, I'll just leap down from whatever we're hiding on top of and wade into them, trigger pressed. Even against zombie bears, the technique has yet to fail me.

Shortly after my last post, our friend dumped points into the Grease Monkey skill and learned to make motorcycles, blessing us with the ability to cross large distances relatively quickly.a couple of weeks later, I found and read the schematics required to make a Jeep, and about a week after that, I managed to loot both of the primary components to a Jeep, so I went ahead and assembled us some more proper transportation. Thanks to finding a schematic for the vehicle additional seating mod, our bikes became equipped with rear seats, and the Jeep went from allowing me and a friend up front to seating four. We found and explored the desert, found the edge of the winter biome, then, out of a desire for better loot and a bit of a challenge, set up a small but functional base in the wasteland biome. We've been living and thriving in the wasteland for the last 2-3 weeks, no longer really frightened by anything that happens to come at us while we're out there. My loot skills allowed us to go from whatever we could find or piece together to more level 6 guns of all types than we could shake a stick at.

The only downside to the whole experience has been the fact that The Fun Pimps (a misnomer, I assure you), the developers, pushed out two incremental updates. Which automatically downloaded, as usual. But, which also automatically updated our game in progress, which is absolutely not usually the case. Why would we object to this? Well, basically because we were actually thriving for a change in the late game, having plenty of ammo (more than what we immediately needed, but not an excessive amount), and enough of anything else we needed. Apparently in the original release, the developers messed up and made acid somewhat rare to come by. However, we had all found and read the books which allowed us a half dozen more avenues to find the material, as well as a boosted chance of looting it, so we weren't really having any issues.

The developers knew better, and pushed an update to make it more common to find, but still not something you'd regularly find under sinks (even though that's where it was always most prevalent in every other version of the game). And, they promised to fix the near 1% chance of actually finding books in book-specific containers (bookshelves, book store boxes, magazine racks, etc.), something that we noted due to pulling paper and only paper out of those receptacles 99% of the time, but finding more than our fair share of books in other containers. Oh, and they were balancing the game...by decreasing the amount of ammo possible to find by 50%. Yup, that's right, books went from 1% to maybe 5-10% to find in book boxes, acid went from like 1% to maybe 5% likely to find, and ammunition, the one thing that you desperately need the later the game gets, they nerfed it across the entirety of the gameworld by half. Then applied the update without asking. Thanks to my crazy maxed out loot skills, I've managed to keep us in ammo, but it's ridiculous the number of things this developer does to try to handicap players.

I can't remember if I mentioned it previously, but The Fun Pimps also basically destroyed farming, basically the only way to make sure that you aren't constantly scrabbling for food the entire game, or suffering from debuffs because you're malnourished or half starved. Instead of planting crops once, then hitting them when ripe to harvest what has grown but leave the plant growing to develop again over time, you now destroy the plant when harvesting and have a "50%" (HA! Closer to 25-35% chance, in practice!) chance of getting a seed to replant. Having invested points into the farming skill in order to maximize it, this doesn't affect our group, as I always harvest 6-7 fruits/vegetables per plant. However, for every seed that I don't get back, I have to use 5 fruits/vegetables to craft a single seed in order to replant and hop for more next time. If you don't have the skill at all, you harvest 2 per plant, and if you don't get a seed for each spot you planted, you enter a spiral of diminishing returns. Basically, if you want farming to pay off, you have to go into it whole hog, or you'll struggle a lot and starve anyway.

Anyway. We've had a lot of fun, become kings of our particular hill, and spent a lot of time exploring the whole overworld map and doing as many different missions in as many different places as possible. The worst inconvenience we've had has been occasionally forgetting the correct type of clothing for the environment (puffer coat + skull cap for the winter biome and cowboy hat + shorts + wife beater for the desert), but it's been a lot of fun, regardless. Until next time.

2/9/2022 Update - River City Ransom

Spoiler

River City Ransom has been one of my favorite games to play since long before I owned a copy, and at least a year or two before I ever owned an NES. My daughter had kept me busy all morning, so I missed the chance to play 7 Days with my friend who was usually down for some early morning zombie killing, and I'd been itching to use the AVS again after having it sitting out since before Christmas (using it to play holiday music through the TV via my Holly Jolly NES Mix cart), so I gave in. I'd rediscovered the location of my Satellite since setting up my N64 a couple of months prior, so I got it out, then hunted up 6 of my AA-to-C battery adapters meant for the rechargeables, threw a half dozen Harbor Freight alkalines into it, then started my adventure anew.

I played as Alex, by default, versus preference, and quickly had enough cash to buy the kick upgrade that would make my life much easier. My daughter was disappointed that I wasn't "playing zombies" (she seriously loves to watch me play 7 Days to Die, I have yet to figure it out, but she's basically become the "team" mascot at this point), but quickly grew to enjoy watching what I was doing and would frequently cheer me on or yell at me to get up on the rare occasion that an opponent knocked me down. The only time she really got upset was when I did anything repetitious--like farming the two bosses just outside of the second mall, or buying, then consuming the same cheap food(s) over and over again, in order to boost up a particular skill.

I don't know how long I played for, probably 3-4 hours at most, likely less, but it was long enough that my son came home while I was still playing, and he became entranced as well, sitting back on the love seat to watch me finish maxing out my stats, then quickly run back and forth through the town beating up one boss after another, until I'd worked my way to the gates of River City High itself. Outside of a particularly lucky henchman in the room just above the gym (the guy had a lead pipe and managed to knock me down then juggle me in the corner as soon as I entered until I managed to jump far enough away to break the cycle), I didn't have any issues making my way through all of the floors of the end level, through the twins, then beating Slick to a pulp without any real effort thanks to having all stats maxed out and all techniques learned.

Nostalgia tells me that the game lacks a little something playing the game single player, but my grown up game and play style tastes tell me that that's crap and that either one of my kids or an adult less familiar with the game than I am would just get in the way and ruin the experience. I'd been meaning to replay the game for a while and had never gotten around to it, but one lazy afternoon and the right combination of odds and ends sitting around near my AVS made all the difference in making it happen.

I forgot to take a photo of the ending while explaining everything that happened to my son, then bobbing my head along with the music during the credits, but here's a shot of my final password screen (something that'll help out anyone who's wanting to play the game but not necessarily do all the grinding to build up their character).

2/9/2022 Update - Shadowgate

Spoiler

Shadowgate is another favorite of mine. I recall seeing mention and a couple of screenshots of it in an issue of Nintendo Power, along with a light review and several hints an issue or two later. One Friday, as we were wont to do in those days, I got my parents to rent it for me at the local Blockbuster Video. Much to my surprise, after I started playing it, over time, I accumulated more and more family members as time went on, until everyone was in the living room watching me play, while shouting out the occasional hint or thought of what to do next. Every time I sat down to play it again, at least one family member would notice what I was doing and go get set up in the living room to "play" some more with me. By Sunday night the game was almost beaten, but we couldn't for the life of us figure out where to get the holy water that was obviously meant to take out the hell hound. A hint from Nintendo Power talking about that exact thing, showing the item itself, even, was no help, as it said to "use the hook to pull up the stone in the laboratory, and get the holy water.'

Try as we might, there was no hook, thus no holy water, and the game went back early the next morning. However, some time later, I asked for, then received a copy for my birthday (despite numerous inquiries about whether I was sure, since I'd very nearly beaten the game already). Within an hour or two, I was stuck back at the same point, ready to beat the game, but lacking one final ingredient to kick the whole thing off. Then, suddenly, by accident, I ended up clicking directly on the stone where the vial was supposed to be hidden and...it slid slowly up from the floor, allowing me to finally finish the game after I don't remember how long of being frustrated by it. I went and immediately told my mother, than waited until my brother and father had gotten home, then popped the game in again, demonstrated what we had been missing the whole time, and promptly ran through the rest of the game.

Despite there only being one way to beat the game, and me already having done so, I still had a blast breaking the game out and speeding through it every week or two. I was particularly proud when I showed a couple of friends and their mother how to beat the game. I'd noticed they had a copy one day when I was over, began talking about it, then asked them where they were stuck so I could help them finish it before going home. Their mom overheard and said something along the lines of, "Oh, we don't have that much time, it would take hours to finish that game, we've already tried." She thought I was just being a braggart when I told her that I could beat it in about 15 minutes or so, it was all just knowing what to do and, having beaten it so many times previously, it wasn't any big deal. In a knowing mother's tone, she stopped what she was doing in the kitchen, came and sat down in the living room and told me, "Ok, go ahead and start a new game, and let's see you beat it," smirking. A bit less than 15 minutes later, the family was watching the ending and credits, and I took my leave to go home to my own dinner. I lost my original copy of the game a few years later, when I traded it with a friend for a few weeks (receiving Uninvited in return), only to have his family suddenly up and move before I could get my game back. I got another copy later on, but had never sat down to play it since before loaning it out that last time.

Anyway, after completing River City Ransom, I still had the NES itch, so I turned on Shadowgate and began my adventure. I remembered most of the old tricks and shortcuts, although I didn't nearly remember what all the keys went to, so it took me an embarrassingly long time to get the sword and sling out of the first closet (basically had to go back and get them when it was time to kill the cyclops), and I was temporarily stuck at the end run of the game because I forgot that the door that told you it had no visible keyhole still took a key. After puzzling past those two sticking points, I made it through to the end, and on to the finale and end music, unscathed. It was mostly as fun as it had been when I was a kid, although I was a bit disappointed in myself in getting temporarily "stuck" at the two points mentioned above for as long as I did. I didn't do so at the time, but I've got the itch to play through the other two similar Kemco-Seika Mac ports (yep, all three games launched on original Mac first) sometime soon.

2/15/2022 - 2/16/2022 Update - Swords and Serpents

Spoiler

I started playing Swords and Serpents shortly after its release during a long weekend when a friend rented the game. He grew bored with it and went on to do other things, but I was pulled in by it and ended up playing it solo off and on for the rest of the sleepover. I want to say I asked for this one for birthday or Christmas, but I'm pretty sure that this is one that I bought on my own, when the price dropped to around $20 at the end of the year, due to a lack of popularity and our local Hills always clearing out titles that hadn't sold well. I remember picking it up a few times, usually with my copy of the Nintendo Power 4 Player Guide in-hand, but apparently never really got very far, as there's only a half filled out map of level 6 in the back of my original manual to give me a clue as to what was accomplished during my formative years.

I'd been meaning to pick up the game again for years, having fond memories every time I'd see the box art somewhere or spot the manual when digging through my stuff, but somehow never managed to do it. Having the AVS and my Satellite well established and out of the hands of little ones in the living room, I opted to start the journey once again this past Tuesday. I had actually planned it out, having gone out Sunday to pick up some graph paper in order to properly map everything, then also picking up some notebook paper to keep lists on (weapon and armor stats, locations, etc.), as well as a small binder to keep everything in. I figure it'll come in handy once I finish the game and inevitably opt to start up another in a long line of bought-but-never-started-or-finished RPGs I have for the NES.

The game started out quickly and smoothly, with me walking slowly so as to be able to map everything out on my own. The Nintendo Power guide did have the first four levels of the game already mapped out, but they didn't specify any of the locations of things like the sages who pop up to give advice, random hints that are scrawled on the floor, items (sometimes random, sometimes not) laying about the dungeon, etc., so I felt better doing it myself. I got through the first four levels without an issue, then started beating my head against the wall with level 5. Having not played the game in 25-30 years, I had forgotten that level 5 did not have proper borders, even though it still obeyed the game's 16 x 16 grid for maps. Little did I remember or realize, the various corridors and open areas wrapped, so while I started out putting everything in the right spot, I ended up erasing what I had already mapped and moving everything to the right 3 spaces when I discovered the "west" wall further out than it should have been. Once I realized what was going on, there was a lot of annoying erasing of the map borders and writing of dashed lines to indicate that the edge of the map was where it was supposed to be (three spaces over, actually), but did not impede movement to the other side of the map. After finishing this level, I turned off the system in frustration and watched TV for a while to relax versus keeping going, running into another such situation, and ruining my experience.

I started up again the next afternoon and manged to get most of level 6 mapped out fairly quickly, but discovered a few odd things about the level. First, there was an area in the lower right that you couldn't get through via regular or secret doors, nor using the Passwall spell I'd picked up in the level before. I also took a long while mapping out every electrified square in the upper right portion of the map, just to make sure there weren't any hidden hints, items, etc., that I would be missing by just assuming it was all trapped. I did discover a small safe room in the middle containing a new spell, as well as a single space at the bottom which failed to have a trap in it, but otherwise just took a lot of damage over time and ended up having to make a few trips back upstairs to the temple on level 5 to rest and recuperate. I then backtracked through the other levels in order to use Passwall on all the areas that I had noted as not having any visible or hidden doors, presenting a void on my map. In the upper left corner of the first level, I discovered a teleporter that finally put me into the area in the lower right of level 6 and let me finish the map. I also picked up two more ruby items (shield and ring, IIRC), as well as a much needed and overdue mass healing spell. With that in-hand, I was off to level 7.

And...straight into another situation like level 5, where the edges of the map weren't static, and it was an annoying mess to map. I buckled down and got it done, even taking the time to explore where the very obvious "surprise" Zoom Tube took me before proceeding hesitantly down one of four sets of stairs (in the same 2 x 2 room, no less) to level 8. And there, I explored a bit, but declined to try to map anything, as the game introduced yet another annoying mechanic on top of the one that was already annoying me--invisible walls, sometimes with one-way pass throughs. I did actually mange to find the stairs down to level 9, but in keeping with my desire to have everything mapped out properly, as well as just knowing that there was at least one spell hidden somewhere in the level that I hadn't explored yet, I slunk my party back up to the armory and temple on level 5 to once again unload loot and restore everyone to full health and magic before saving (just after having achieved level 12 as a party, preventing myself from losing all the experience I had built up during the nonstop onslaught of encounters while wandering level 8). If all goes to plan, I'll be picking this up again on Thursday, and continuing to do so daily until I've finally seen my way to the end credits.

Fun fact, it turns out the game was developed by some of the very same people that developed one of my other favorite games, Wasteland. My first clues were that it was created by Interplay and actually had Brian Fargo showing as the producer. Later, during play, I noticed that many of the monster designs, as well as their animations, seemed every reminiscent of what you run into when playing Wasteland. In looking up the artists, the first absolutely has the game as part of his credits, while the second could sadly only be confirmed as having worked for Interplay during the approximate time that both games were developed. Still, my instincts proved correct!

3/26/2022 Update - 7 Days to Die

Spoiler

Not a whole lot to add on this one, other than we accomplished everything that we could in this world, effectively beat it, and moved on. We initially established our base at the edge of a suburb of a decent sized city, but eventually ended up moving on and creating a well fortified, and never overrun base in the heart of the wasteland area, right at the edge of a destroyed city. By the time we had a fortified underground farm feeding everyone and allowing us to stockpile more than we initially could store, it was essentially over, but we managed to complete an underground tunnel running from the wasteland base all the way back to our home base that was large enough to ride two motorcycles through. With all challenges gone, we said goodbye to this world and moved on to other things.

9/13/2022 Update - Wasteland

Spoiler

Finally got around to hooking up an Apple IIgs to the 4K TV in the living room and getting back to playing. The last time I'd played, I was in the process of constantly throwing the party into the large river that runs North to South across the entire map in order to level up their swimming. This was pretty mind numbing, but really a requirement if I wanted to succeed in getting through the next stage of the game, the sewers under Las Vegas.

As the party got to Las Vegas, we ended up getting approached by two different groups of gangsters, both vying for control of Las Vegas. Fat Freddy was the less successful of the two, and hired us to take out his competition, Faran Brygo. This is the usual course I take when playing, but when we got in to talk to Brygo, I zigged instead of zagging and didn't immediately assassinate him, bypassing a lot of one-time loot (you can only get into Brygo's office once, and if you don't take him out, you never gain access to the other rooms in his compound, filled with a lot of high-level-for-Vegas loot). Brygo tells you about how he had been working with someone named Max who seemed to know where the robots tearing up and taking over the city had come from and, with Brygo's resources, managed to put together weapons and tactics effective at pushing them back. He sends you to talk to the leader of the Church of the Mushroom Cloud who, after you help her, shows you the secret passage that leads to the sewers.

The sewers are a mess, specifically because of the river flowing through the middle of it. If everyone in the party doesn't have as high a swim skill as they can get, the whole party will end up swept off their feet and sucked downstream from the first room. Setting foot in the first space of the "tunnel" the river flows through into the second room is enough to give every character the disease Sewer Rot, which will prevent everyone from being able to heal. If the party's total is so/so, they'll only take a little damage getting sucked under the walls of the first room and then end up able to walk out into the second or third section of the area map. However, if swim is particularly bad, or not present, everyone will get sucked completely out of the sewers, still diseased, then dumped helplessly into the river, where you'll uncontrollably flow downstream, taking damage every step of the way, until someone manages to pass their swim check. If you're lucky, that pass will happen while you're still in the river, and only one movement away from getting out of the water. If you're not, you'll end up at the lake at the far south of the map, where poor swimmers end up taking damage every move until they're either out of the water or go unconscious. When everybody goes unconscious in the water and they're diseased, it's game over, as passing time won't allow anyone to heal.

I managed to get a few more levels on everybody through combat with the various, and increasingly difficult cyborg enemies in the sewers, as well as finally training everyone in the party up to a maximum of level 6 in swimming, allowing me to begin to take on the sewers in earnest. Before stopping for the day, I managed to collect all but one of the mechanical parts strewn all over the sewer that are required to finish the area and actually advance the plot.

9/20/2022 Update - Wasteland

Spoiler

Getting set back up (this time with the IIgs connected to a portable Gaems case so I could keep something on the TV in the background to entertain me while I did grinding), I jumped back into the game and got hard to work at finishing the sewers. After a couple of hours of fighting various random encounters, leveling up a bit, and leaving to heal then coming back into the fight, I finally managed to lay my hands on the last piece needed to finish the area and proceeded to the locked up area with a steel door marked only as "LAB."

Inside the lab was one more high level cyborg to defeat, which we dispatched quickly. Then, we began the process of taking all the parts we'd found strewn everywhere and installing them into the handful of assembly stations built into the wall. Starting with the "android head" we'd found first, we installed a variety of ROM boards, servo motors, and power supply parts into the machinery, until diagnostics and assembly showed complete. Starting the final bit of machinery results in the rebuilding of Max! Yes, the "man" we'd been sent to find is actually an android! Max permanently seals the door to the lab (you can still go to the sewers to fight various cyborgs but the lab is no longer accessible), quickly talks about how the party needs to go find the secret "sleeper" base to the Northeast, advises that you might need things from Project Darwin to complete the process, and that it will all be necessary in order to stop "Cochise" before it's too late, then opens a door which exits you out of Vegas entirely and several spaces into the desert.

We proceeded to go to the now-present Sleeper Base just over the bridge to the far northeast and set to getting it as opened up and restored as possible. The first level yielded a couple of low level keycards, some guns and ammo we didn't need, as well as a single "library" space which teaches the skill "Cloning tech." There's a couple of mutant animals to dispatch, as well as one robotic sentry by the staircase. Level 2 provided a few more odds and ends, but left a few rooms locked up, as we hadn't yet discovered the keycards to access them. Level 3 consisted mostly of administrative offices and files (revealing some background about the base and its personnel, but not a lot else), the final keycard of the area, and a vault guarded by several more, higher powered robotic sentries. We unlocked and repaired the helicopter simulator on the level, taught a party member the skill "Helicopter Pilot," then proceeded back upstairs to unlock all but one room. We unlocked the cloning chambers, then correctly set the chemical levels for them, but skipped creating clones of any party members at this time. Unable to access the final room of the base (filled with the best loot), the party proceeded out the front door and south, toward "Project Darwin."

I had forgotten exactly how far south Darwin was from the Sleeper Base, and was glad that we'd come at night, as the town is completely surrounded by radiation (at which times shows visibly), and I had yet to purchase a geiger counter for anyone. We briefly checked out the little town, killed the two guards inside of the black market building so as to have later access, then proceeded into the military base at the bottom of the map that the town had sprung up next to.

The inside of the main base portion of Project Darwin is immaculate, and it's obvious that nobody is around, even though the game tells you every few steps about how clean it all is and how nobody has ever lived there. You encounter the base's administrator, John Finster, on the top level. It's interesting to encounter him, as he's mentioned in the various files within the Sleeper Base as having been the director of Project Darwin all the way back in 1995, 92 years prior to the current day's date of 2087. He brags about the mutated, vicious looking plants and animals that can be seen from his balcony within a huge terrarium built inside the base, and how they'll soon return to ruling the Earth as they always should have, threatens the party, then makes himself scarce.

When going to use the elevator to go back downstairs, an option for a "lower level" appears, but is password protected and locked out. We proceed to the ground floor, then to the south and out into the terrarium to explore, only to have the blast doors close behind the party as soon as their feet touch desert sand. Some of the animals encountered are vicious and do serious damage if not dispatched immediately, while others are relatively harmless, whether fought or not. There are a few robot "zookeepers" around which immediately attack, and it's through an encounter with one of those that we manage to come up with a couple of laser carbines and a suit of the next-best armor in the entire game, pseudo-chitin armor. The party proceeds to the east and up an incline into the next area, only to discover that it's the lower level, and that Finster imprisoned his staff in the depths of the base, either for opposing his experiments or to become some part of them. Returning to the upper level restores Finster to his desk, who immediately attacks due to the discovery of his prison. Combat is quick, and it's revealed that Finster is...an android!

Nearby his office is a small room with a "mindlink" inside, which Finster apparently used (after shedding his fleshy human body to become an android) to control the base's various functions and experiments with his mind alone. Plugging in his "dead" android head to the device, my best equipped party member steps inside, puts on the Cerebro-esque helmet attached to it, and proceeds to get sucked into the android's mind. The next events primarily involve solving relatively basic pattern based mathematics puzzles, fighting (and killing) your childhood nightmares come alive, then using various character attributes to get through various "physical" obstacles Finster has thrown up to keep you from getting through his mind. Toward the end, there are several "physical" fights with varying incarnations of the villain, until you face a final showdown with the "Leviathan" version of Finster, who finally drops the last keycard you need to complete the Sleeper Base, and tells you you'll need it to stop Base Cochise before permanently dying. I then proceed to jump into the "well" at the far side of the room, and emerge back into the real world to rejoin the party inside Project Darwin.

We make a beeline for the Sleeper Base, unlock the door to the experimental armory, only to find that the scientists grew a crystalline wall inside that absorbs virtually all type of energy hurled at it. However, high level explosives can damage it, so I proceeded to make a large number of trips back and forth between the base and various caches of loot I'd left all over the game (you can't store anything, so once you pick something up, it's stuck in your inventory until you use it, drop it, or sell it). After around a half dozen packs of plastic explosives and/or sabot rockets, we finally blew a hole in the barrier and got our hands on the armor. Every party member immediately joined the first character in the protection of pseudo-chitin armor, but left the high end energy weapons inside the vault. From here, we proceeded to the nearest town with a market that would buy all types of items, and proceeded to sell off all of the now-useless high-end armor (and various other odds and ends we'd been holding up to that point) to clear up space for the final hurdle before the endgame. After clearing out all now-lower-level armor, arms, and ammo, I restocked everyone with ammo for their assault rifles, then proceeded to the "Guardian Citadel" to obtain the last bits of gear and technology we'd need to finish the game.

The Guardian Citadel sits kind of centrally in the map and is accessible from the moment that the game starts, although it's not a place that most people would want to try to go. The reason is due to the residents, who are all somewhat religious fanatics who collect and worship pre-war technology and culture. Every Guardian you encounter inside is more powerful than all but one of the killer robots you encounter in Vegas, and typically require laser weaponry or anti-tank weaponry to actually damage. There are flags laid out in front of the complex to show where characters can safely walk without being attacked (making it a useful cut-through area in the PC version, which loads quickly on a hard drive, but dreadfully slow on the Apple II, where you've got to swap a bunch of disks back and forth to go the same route). Since this is the next step to victory, I proceed to step beyond the boundaries of the flags, and give the various Guardians a Very Bad Day.

In assaulting the Guardian Citadel, the party managed to level up a few times, level up everyone's assault rifle skill to max or near max (6 or 7), as well as level up the energy weapon skills of everyone who was capable of learning it to near maximum levels. I finished off the night by clearing the entire lower complex, cleared the helicopter landing pad upstairs (complete with helicopter!), and looted the main Guardian vault of its 5 suits of Power Armor (best legitimate armor in the game, bringing most of the party from a level 10 AC to a 14 AC that even the Guardians would have a hard time hurting a character through) before calling it a night.

10/23/2022 Update - Castlevania III

Spoiler

Not a whole lot to say. I had been thinking about playing this again for a long time, but had never gotten around to it, primarily because when I had thought most about it, MMC5 support for the NES Everdrive and Powerpak weren't up to snuff for it, and I was too lazy to go deep diving to find my cartridge. However, the Halloween 2022 Bingo contest reared its head, and I decided I needed that square to accomplish what I was doing. So, I fired it up via my Everdrive N8 plugged into my AVS (picked up Grant and kept him through the end), plodded through, and beat it. Fun fact, it's the first time I've played and beaten it since beating it way back when I first got it for Christmas the year it came out.

12/29/2022 Update - Minecraft

Spoiler

With all the things I have hanging, I figured I would be able to start up a new game of Minecraft and be able to get through to (and past) the Ender Dragon before the new year. Boy, did 1.19 do its best to make sure I was wrong.

I started out in a spruce forest and, for once, decided that I would travel a bit before settling down. Resources were scarce, but I was able to easily come up with wood and make some rudimentary tools, then quickly dug down so that I could immediately transition to stone tools and the much more rapid progress they provide. From there, I ended up finding enough sheep to quickly get a bed put together, built a boat, and started traveling. Soon enough, I ended up some ways away and decided to set up my first (only?) base on top of a rocky outcrop sticking out into the ocean.

From there, I traveled outward, searching for buried treasure using a map that I'd discovered in a sunken ship I'd encountered on my way to my new home. I didn't find anything of significant note in the chest, but did come across several more shipwrecks and sunken ruins on the way back, earning me some books and paper, some wheat and coal, as well as my first emeralds. On my way back toward home, I stumbled across a village and, luckily enough, managed to fill my pockets with all of the seeds and plantable foods that I was missing. I made note of the location, headed home, planted everything I had, then turned in for the evening. Not a bad start, but things that should be relatively easy to find, like iron and coal, are seriously elusive.

12/30/2022 Update - Minecraft

Spoiler

Day 2 began slowly and without much incident, although I quickly discovered that I seriously needed to clear the land out around my hovel and put up a fence in order to guarantee not only my safety, but that of my crops as well. I proceeded to do so, dug out a rudimentary basement in order to set up some organize storage (as the three double chests in my single room had long since overflowed), and stockpiled wood, food, and whatever essentials I came by. I also expanded the garden so that each crop had at least one full plot of its own and set up two rows of berry bushes with slabs on top so that I don't hurt myself every time I walk by or attempt to harvest them.

Next, I attempted to start a mine, figuring that the lack of available resources I was seeing was indicative of needing to go underground, something that's normally a lot higher on my list of things to do when starting a new Minecraft world. I dug down a surprisingly long way before I broke into my first small cave system and, well, the rewards were seriously lacking. Little to no resources in the small gap that branched around for maybe a few hundred feet in either direction, and then terminating in both ends instead of stretching onward into different and more varied systems of caves.

Somewhat bored with mining thanks to my lack of progress with resources, I proceeded to go back out in my boat, discovering several more sunken ships, finding their treasures, and finding my first magical (mending!) fishing pole in one of the chests. Upon returning home to empty my stretched to bursting pockets, I tried my hand at fishing, and in the rain at that. Sadly, it was not much to speak of. Either Mojang nerfed fishing the way they did regular resource generation, or the bay that I live on has issues meeting the newer requirements that enable it to produce anything other than fish. Even when fishing where the water was wide open and deepest, the only things I pulled in besides fish were a bottle of water and a single piece of rotten flesh.

Disheartened by the fishing debacle, I returned to the mine, reversed direction, and began digging downward again. In a few minutes, I managed to discover another small, but isolated cave system, but this time there was a tiny bit of redstone ore in it, the first I'd encountered. Using my iron pickaxe (which had used up most of the iron that I had discovered to this point, most of the rest of it being iron nuggets that I'd found in shipwrecks), I quickly mined it out and returned topside. Deciding to try to gain momentum a different way, I made two compasses (exhausting my iron), turned those into maps, made a cartography table, then made my first map of the area, enlarged it appropriately, and set out to explore.

While mapping my way north, I discovered what I believed to be another village, this one much more close to home than the one I had discovered while semi-lost at sea! Imagine my confusion and chagrin when I got to the front of it, only to discover that it was, in fact, the exact same village that I had encountered previously, just approached from a different (and much more easily traveled) direction, I immediately set about recruiting my first jobless villager and toting him home. Upon my return, I went into my makeshift basement and dug downward until I hit the level of the sea, opened up a chamber big enough to start housing and breeding the multiple villagers I'd need to progress, then dug out an access tunnel which led start to my sole new tenant, still resting in my boat on the ocean.

I initially just dug a small channel wide enough to boat the villager straight into the room I'd made, with fence gates at the end to prevent the water from flooding the room, but realized quickly that this wouldn't work due to the fact that I had no way of closing up the 2-wide, 3-tall opening to the ocean that I had, as doors couldn't be placed without a block under them, and trap doors aren't able to be attached sideways. Realizing that I was right next to what appeared to be an ice covered mountain, I grabbed the golden Silk Touch shovel that I'd recently found in the belly of a sunken ship and headed into the hills, hoping that I would be able to get my hands on some packed ice. Luck held, and I brought home just a bit more ice than I needed, stopping before my magic shovel was completely broken.

I replaced the waterway with blocks of ice that wouldn't melt, even when bordered by fire sources, and proceeded to put two iron doors over the entryway, as well as a couple of doors up top to cover the gap (which allows villagers to pass through without hurting their heads). I set up a couple of switches inside to keep the doors open and a button outside to quickly let me in to access them. However, upon testing, I discovered that the level of the sea was ever so slightly below the level of the ice, which completely blocked my boat from being able to enter the passage I had just secured. At a loss, I called up to my wife to inquire about what was there were to raise a boat's level in the water, as I'd tried pouring out a bucket near the door in order to give myself a "ramp" to get in the door, but had no success beyond it sinking my boat and trying to drown me. Her response as that the only way to raise a boat while still in the water would have to involve pistons, but she had no idea why I would want to do that. Eureka!

I quickly built two pistons, put them under just in front of the entryway, then tunneled my way under the ice bridge in order to set up two more switches to power the pistons. They worked! But the switches popped off immediately! Not ever having messed around with pistons and water before, I discovered that water would flow through the pistons when they were extended and, as with all non-block items, wash away whatever I had attached to them for power. I quickly solved this issue by just placing two blocks in front of them and then the switches to those, allowing both to be powered from the adjacent blocks instead of directly. I added torches, a ladder, and a trapdoor to secure my "control room," then confirmed for myself that the new setup worked as intended. Immediately thereafter, I headed back to the village to secure another villager, then brought him back to perform a successful real-world test of the new entryway.

I was on my way! However, I still needed beds in order to get the villager farm rolling, so I proceeded to use 2 of the last 3 pieces of hard-found iron to make some shears, then proceeded off into the hills to find whatever sheep I could find. I didn't have to travel far before I discovered a literal flock of sheep meandering aimlessly around the far-too-steep-for-a-birch-forest hillside and shaved every one I could find, some more than once. Armed with more than enough wool to get the job done, I headed back to the house, made some beds, gave each villager half a stack of carrots that I'd managed to farm then waited for the magic to happen. It didn't take long, as those two villagers had no shame and immediately started throwing hearts at one another mere moments after I'd supplied them with the proper motivation. I realized that I needed to speed up food production if I wanted my villager supplies to take off, so I headed upstairs to unpack a Fortune III golden shovel I'd taken off yet another shipwreck, then headed out to the up-to-that-point neglected garden to start pushing production.

Within an hour or two, I had significantly more food stores than previously, doubled the number of villagers, supplied half of them with jobs, then promptly run through my stores as I dumped all of my food through the farmers, then all of my emeralds through the librarians. I was getting tired, and I had somewhat plateaued in my progress, so I decided to call it a night, hoping that my sudden burst of progress with the villagers might lead to enough of a boost to sprint into the endgame by the next evening.

12/31/2022 Update - Minecraft

Spoiler

New Year's Eve, I picked up where I'd left off, but discovered that my homestead needed far more work than I'd put into it in order to remain functional, as the amount of things I was bringing home had started vastly outnumbering the slots that I had to store it in, and I was constantly having to search for long periods to find anything due to lack of space leading to things being thrown around willy nilly. I took the time to widen out my initial, meager basement into a decent sized room, went lumberjacking for an hour or two, then proceeded to assemble enough chests to provide for all of my current storage needs as well as the immediately foreseeable future.

During that time, I also smoothed over the landscape, covering over the many openings which led down into an exposed cave system which went diagonally from the front edge of my claimed plot to somewhere out back, making travel all around the area much more pleasant. I also tended the garden every day or two, slowly stocking back up my stores of carrots, potatoes, turnips, and wheat, as well as virtually overflowing with pumpkins due to them all regrowing seemingly every time I went inside.

At this point, I decided that I needed to return to mining, as while I had discovered a single diamond in one of the treasure chests I had dug up on one of the previous days, I needed more if I was going to get anywhere, and I didn't have nearly the resources to level a toolsmith, weaponsmith, or armorer to the point where they would supply me with diamond gear. So, to the mine I returned. I had discovered a deep section while following a little passage I'd come across while covering over open-faced-cave across my plot, but had uncovered nothing more than a few blocks of iron and coal ore, despite the depth.

Upon returning to the second part of my mine shaft, I broke through into a small passage which proceeded downward, and quickly discovered a half dozen passages which abutted one of the huge underground caves that the previous release of Minecraft had added. Over the next couple of hours, I carefully pulled what resources I could from those passages, while also making sure to light up everything as much and as far as I could (as mobs can now only spawn in areas with a 0 light level), as well as building a proper staircase all the way down, so as to facilitate a fast escape if needed (as I still didn't have the resources to outfit myself in any sort of armor). After all that preparation, as well as running away a few times (...and sneaking away, and buggering off...), I turned around (...and chickening out, and pissing off home...) and headed topside to heal up, empty my pockets, and resupply for the return.

The next visit wasn't much more eventful, but I did light up a decent enough section, that I was actually able to walk around and explore, all without being under the constant threat of being murdered. During that trek, I found a reasonable amount of redstone, and a bit more coal and iron. And then I found it! My first diamond block! In the side of a pillar holding up the cave ceiling! I quickly pillared up and proceeded to dig it out, only to discover another block behind it! And then another! Three! I had three more diamonds! Realizing that I could now begin to get some serious traction toward the endgame, I mined my way downward, intending to head home, but instead came across a well lit area that was just at the right depth for finding diamonds in this newest version of the game.

So, instead of returning to safety and getting on with things, I started digging out what would become a small branch mine. I got the opening, then the main entryway, then several small tunnels started before I broke my last pickaxe (including my iron one), and was forced to return to the surface. Upon getting home, I unloaded my pockets, planted enough sugarcane to start paper production, and reloaded my villagers with grub so I'd (hopefully!) be able to get them to spit out a Fortune III librarian for me. While the going was very tedious, I finally succeeded in getting my last unemployed villager to spit out Fortune III at level 1, locked in the trade, then immediately started working the garden hard again, so as to be able to get all of the books I was going to need.

Soon enough, I had my diamond pickaxe created, then enchanted with Mending, Unbreaking III, and Fortune III, and proceeded back into the depths to see what I could find. After running through what torches I had in the branch mine, I nearly called it quits but then broke through into an open section brimming with lava pools. Realizing I had some sticks left in my inventory, I turned what coal I had into torches and exited my tunnel to start exploring the opening(s) I had discovered. Over the course of the next couple of hours, while I did become occasionally lost, I did manage to find several more blocks of diamond ore before running out of torches and then running around in circles for half an hour before remembering how I had gotten into the area I was lost in.

Upon returning home, I found that I had enough diamonds to make all of the tools that I needed (sword, axe, shovel, and another pick), with a few left over to start saving up for armor, so I ran back out to the garden to start producing enough emeralds and paper to get everything properly enchanted. By the time my efforts were complete, with everything as enchanted as it could be (still don't have an Efficiency V villager, nor anything fancier than Looting III for my sword), it was time to put the game down and start putting dinner together.

With that, I realized that while I had made grade strides, my New Year's Eve push wasn't nearly enough to get me to where I needed to be in order to proceed to the end and take out the Ender Dragon. However, I did make it far enough that it wouldn't be such a chore when rolling the game over into the 2023 list! With that, I spent the rest of the evening listening to and watching my kids play, as well as returning to the game for a bit at my daughter's request, until it got close enough to start watching the clock.

Happy New Year!

Edited January 5, 2023 by darkchylde28

Webhead123 · December 7, 2021

1. Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master (GEN) - unbeaten
2. ~~X-Men 2: Clone Wars (GEN)~~ - - beaten - 12/27/22
3. Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (GBC) - unbeaten
4. Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (GBC) - unbeaten
5. Final Fantasy III (SNES) - unbeaten
~~6. Demon's Crest (SNES)~~ - beaten - 4/5/22
7. Guardian Legend (NES) - unbeaten
8. Duck Tales (NES) - unbeaten
9. Conker's Bad Fur Day (N64) - unbeaten
10. Grim Fandango (PC) - unbeaten
11. Destroy All Humans: Remastered (PC) - unbeaten
~~12. Super Mario 3D Land (3DS)~~ - beaten - 11/28/22
13. Metroid: Samus Returns (3DS) - unbeaten
~~14. Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)~~ - beaten - 3/21/22

Edited December 27, 2022 by Webhead123

ScaryD · December 7, 2021

Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS5) - beaten
Megaman Zero 2 (GBA)
TMNT Hyperstone Heist (Genesis)
Parodius Da (PCE)
Mega Man (NES) - beaten
Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals (SNES)
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (SNES)
TMNT IV: Turtles in Time (SNES)
Neutopia (TG-16) - beaten
Darkwing Duck (NES)
Metal Storm (NES)
Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti (Famicom)
Metroid Dread (Switch)
Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (Switch)
Tales of Arise (PS5)
Demon's Crest (SNES)

Last year I beat 8 of 20 games on my list and a couple of additional games on my backlog (Breath of Fire on GBA, Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse). This list may still be too much but I would rather have a challenge than to make it too easy.

Edited May 30, 2022 by ScaryD

Murray · December 7, 2021

I know one game I will not be playing this year. Okami

1. Clash at Demonhead (NES) - unbeaten

2. The Legend of Zelda Breath of The Wild (Switch) - Beaten 5/30

3. Paper Mario The Thousand-Year Door (Gamecube) - unbeaten

4. Dragon Quest VIII (PS2) - unbeaten

5. Shin Megami Tensei Persona 4 (PS2) - unbeaten

6. Wonder Boy in Monster World (Genesis) - unbeaten

7. Madden NFL 2003 (PS2) - unbeaten

8. ActRaiser (SNES) - unbeaten

9. Uninvited (NES) - unbeaten

10. ??? (Mail me a random game and Handsome Murray will try to beat er!) Thanks ~~@spacepup~~

Side Hustle’s:

1. Inside (switch) - beaten 6/10

2. Guacamelee! (Switch)

3. Super Mario Odyssey (Switch) - beaten 7/8

4. Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Persona 4 officially on hiatus!

5/30 update: Decided to take a page out of Brock’s playbook and go for Breath of the wild instead.
fantastic game. Didn’t want er to end.

Paper Mario is up next!

Edited July 29, 2022 by Murray
🐅time

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