twiztor

Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania so i'd never played a Rogue-like game and i was hesitant to pick this up. It looked interesting, but i didn't know if the playstyle would be for me. But then they announced a Castlevania tie-in DLC, so i was sold. I was having a decent amount of fun with this, but ended up getting frustrated and was losing interest. Just too much repetition, and i kept getting lost because all of the different realms seemed to lead in circles. That is, until i found that they had an assist mode, that gave you multiple lives (essentially turning this into a more straightforward platformer). And then i was all in on it. Finally made my way to Dracula's Castle (2nd version....apparently if you play through the first version and kill Death, it prohibits you from entering the 2nd one?) Finally made it to Dracula, and he WHOOPED MY ASS. a bunch of times. Finally overcame it. I reached AN ending, but not THE ending. credits rolled. I'm calling this one complete. Had a good time, maybe i'll return and do more exploring some day. I would like to unlock more of the Castlevania exclusive stuff, but first i have more games to play....

10/10. My all-time favorite fighting game.

this was my first thought, so i'm glad to see it here. I used to search eBay for "Aggro Crag" on a semi-regular basis. Never pulled the trigger on the couple of times i saw one pop up. This was all years and years ago.

i hate to add a clear before everyone even has their lists in, but i gotta get my gaming time in where i can. Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Nintendo Switch) This is a return to 2D Mario games, and it gets pretty weird at times. This takes place in the Flower Kingdom (as opposed to the Mushroom Kingdom of the previous games) and offers you some new powerups. The most notable turns Mario into an elephant, but i found that pretty underwhelming overall. But almost every level adds a unique twist to the Mario experience. It'll have you assuming the form of Goombas, bouncing on giant round hippos, and a dozen other new gameplay quirks. The difficulty is about the same with most Mario games like this- pretty minimal. It does give you some extra collectability challenges for each stage too. If you need the extra difficulty, the "Special World" stages are pretty tough. I haven't finished all of these, and i don't know if i will. But i've collected everything else, so i'm happy with that too.

Is there a scenario where i game gets rated HIGHER on the Overall scale?

i was almost one of those fools. My older stepbrother had the original set growing up, but i only got to play it once or twice and it was always something i wanted to try. Would look online year after year and watch the price climb, always on the verge of picking it up. When Hasbro put up their kickstarter version, i jumped at the chance. i was able to luck into the Commander box. No chance in hell would i splurge for what it goes for nowadays. I see the 2/3 of the Mythic Tier content they've rereleased in your pic. Are you hoping for a release of the Crypt of Perpetual Darkness too, or were you able to get the Mythic stuff? anything you're hoping for future release? "Wizards of Morcar/Zargon" is the last of the original material not re-released, so i'm expecting that to be announced in the near future. Would love to see the unreleased/unfinished Wizard and Dwarf quest packs as well.

my buddy convinced me to give Vampire Survivors a shot by mentioning there's an "ode to Castlevania" mode now. that son of a bitch. so yeah, currently addicted.

glad to see HeroQuest represented here. i also have picked up all the expansions since Hasbro revived it. i'm skipping this "First Light" new base set, but eagerly anticipating whatever comes next!

yes, this happens somewhat frequently. I have learned that if i'm not playing as well as i should be, that my heart/brain just aren't in it. time for something else. come back refreshed in a day or two.

not my video, but i was at this one for Halloween

went with a full 10/10 on this one. Easily the best of the Pac-Man games, and arguably the best games of the arcade era, full stop. Also, Ms. Pac-Man got me laid one time. but that's a story for another time.

making a post in the 2025 Backlog thread makes me realize i never made a post when i beat this one last month. Better late than never! Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Nintendo Switch) This game surprised me with how good it was. At its core it's a pretty straightforward 3d platformer. It's a Kirby game, so the base difficulty is pretty low. But where this game really shines is in the additional challenges for each level. It really rewards exploration so that you can take in these beautifully designed stages. It really forces you to pay attention to your surroundings and find creative ways to approach roadblocks. If you finish the game and are still not satisfied, the post-game content takes everything you've accomplished and cranks it up a notch. Plus there's mini games that require super fast timing, a colosseum mode that acts as a defacto boss rush, and collectibles on top of collectibles. I highly recommend this game.

My plan for 2024 was to finish out a bunch of retro odds-and-ends, which i largely did. Which was supposed to free me up for a dozen or so Switch games that i've been putting off for the past few years. Instead, i knocked what i wanted to off my list but also interspersed it with Switch games, which leaves me a pretty short list for this year. So i don't know how this will end up playing out. But here's what i have left, and the approximate order i plan on playing them in: Super Mario Bros. Wonder COMPLETED 12/23/24 Dead Cells: Return to CastleVania COMPLETED 1/17/25 Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom Princess Peach: Showtime Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Extra Credit (i plan on taking my sweet time with TOTK so i refuse to make concrete plans for after that game): Super Mario RPG (SNES) Switch games that were supposed to be on this list but i finished in 2024: Super Bomberman R2 (6/28), Nintendo World Championships (9/6), Mega Man 11 (10/2), Kirby and the Forgotten Land (11/11). Plus Hyrule Warriors 2, which i still want to play, but i can't put 3 Zelda games on my list. We'll see.