twiztor

Knuckles is my favorite character of the Sonic-verse, so his introduction here was a big deal for me. the S&K add-on really makes the game complete and a lot of fun. i prefer Sonic 2 to this, but i believe that to be familiarity as i played it as a kid. but Sonic 3 looks better, sounds better, and is more grand in scope, so objectively is probably the better game. i'm rating it a 7.

thanks Reed! i did a quick Google search, but i didn't even think of GameFAQs. show how much times have changed, that used to be my go-to site! yeah, i figured this would be tough because it's so subjective. i wasn't necessarily looking for the top 25 hardest games or whatever, just a site that gave each game a ranking. user submitted tends to work fairly well but obviously isn't perfect. i feel you on that last point. i didn't grow up playing the PS1 library, so a lot of these games take a reverse learning curve where you have to put yourself back in a late 90s mindset. we do!

is there a site that categorizes video games by their difficulties? i'm thinking something along the lines of HowLongToBeat but with toughness. looking specifically for PS1 rankings, but does something like this even exist?

hope i didn't step on any toes, but i played thru SML3: Wario Land. i got all 15 treasures and beat the final boss. more details in the Backlog 2023 thread if you're interested.

managed to squeak another game in before the end of January, so that makes a double game weekend! i beat Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 tonight. This is a pretty straightforward game that has just enough twist on the Mario formula to make it interesting. this was a good game, but early on i was a little disappointed because i thought it would be great. Once i embraced what this game IS instead of what it ISN'T, my fun factor went way up. i managed to find all 15 bonus treasures along the way, and exploring for them was probably my favorite part. ended up with 94k gold, so not quite maxed out, but pretty damn close.

the SM3DW Switch release is not all that different than when "Game of the Year" rereleases would hit with the DLC content being on the disc. do those count as separate games too then? i'm not a full set collector as i have no interest in owning 700 NES games (sometimes the ~200 i own is too many already!). but to me, Stadium Events is a variant. if the only difference is the label and title screen, i wouldn't be interested in owning 2 copies of that game.

nope. Prince is fine, but i'm not really a fan of that song. i turned out to be a bit of a dissenter this round. of the 4 selections, 3 aren't close at all, and i was in on all 3 of them.

cross Mega Man: the Wily Wars off the list! more details in the Backlog 2023 thread, but this was a fun side quest to the Mega Man series.

first clear of the year! Mega Man: the Wily Wars i had a more difficult time with Mega Man 1-3 this time versus beating them on the NES due to controller issues. the Genesis one is just so much more imprecise than the Nintendo controller. the Wily Tower mode was pretty average. i wouldn't consider it bad, but the levels were fairly short and not particularly challenging. there were a couple tough spots but overall pretty straightforward. the final Wily boss fight was a breeze. had fun with this, but much prefer the NES entries.

if that is not Ezio from Assassin's Creed, then i drop to 5 points. Wiki tells me AC3 is lead by Connor, so i guess i'll take the L there.

nice! this [whole series] is on my Backlog for the year and i'm looking forward to starting this (as soon as i get clear 2 other games i have started. GRRRR i need more gaming time!)

i would also score 6/10 here.

i feel like referring to the "ness" or "sness" as words must have been a European thing or something, because i NEVER heard it here in the States back in the day. once online videos got started, i would see it pop up from Europeans and slowly caught on from there. i hate it. it was always "the Nintendo", until the SNES was released. then it was immediately referred to as "regular Nintendo". accurate. PSX was the first Playstation's designation until it got a sequel system, when it retroactively became the PS1. SHMUP doesn't bother me, although i don't really like to use it personally. sounds too cutesy for me.

nobody is doubting that there are Western collectors of the system. Just that there's not many of them HERE, so a charm for it would only apply to one or two people, and thus is not worth the effort to implement.

i haven't played 9, 10, or 11 (i'll get to them eventually!), but my ranking looks like this: 4 > 3 > 6 > 2 > 5 > 1 > 8 > 7 > & Bass i think this topic was touched upon in dedicated threads for MM5 and MM6, but this is the first specific threads for ranking the games.

i look at how many people my age (late 30s/early 40s) who consider themselves "gamers" and i just have to shake my head. when i was a kid, i was super into the NES. i was ostracized for it. most classmates wouldn't give me or gaming the time of day. fast forward 25 years and now everybody games. point of my story: people are fickle. do what you enjoy, unashamedly.

i'm not really a big fan of theirs, but on a fail/pass question i would go 'yay'.

when the pandemic hit, i had pretty much started settling into a spot where i was coming to the end of what i wanted to own. not fullsets, so much, just checking all the ticks that i had been after. Summer 2020 brought lockdowns and quarantines and time off work. it was glorious, and really was the impetus to get me back to PLAYING games. in the years since, i try to stay motivated to play, but it has definitely waned since that point. i'm still extremely happy with my collection, so haven't needed to really change much in that regard.

it's a couple years back now, but Bloodstained regularly crashed my Switch. that's the only modern game i had recurring problems with.

yeah, i'm going to go ahead and fix this one for you.

option #4.....are you the devil?

#1 shout out to @Reed Rothchildfor the yearly backlog challenge threads he makes. #2 another nod to @CasualCart, specifically his Ink-tober thread

this sums up my answer pretty perfectly. i find fun and relaxation in playing games. with both the (2d) Zelda series and the Diablo franchise, i could let hours just drift away playing these games. it is akin to comfort food. However, when my brain isn't in a "bleh" mood, i like a good challenge. Pushing my limits to just the right extent (currently: SMB2J, Cuphead) so that my skills improve and i can ultimately get that sense of accomplishment when i see the ending. i also am definitely a completionist (not just in gaming, but in life. e.g. a decade ago, i wanted to read all the stories that Dick Grayson/Robin I/Nightwing appeared in. but i couldn't find a definitive list of which Batman publications he was in, so i compromised by reading every Batman comic, ever, up to that point), so i try not to bite off more than i can chew or i will end up getting overwhelmed. Stuff like @Reed Rothchild's yearly Backlog Challenges have turned out to be a great way to keep myself focused and on task. i would strongly recommend against watering them, however.

wow, two shutouts so far (after 8 votes). IMO one is pretty surprising, the other not so much.

i would say that my time at NA was overwhelmingly positive. i lurked for years before i signed up and started posting, just reading pages and pages of obscure facts and detailed breakdowns and variants and everything in between. However, i remember a handful of threads where things got heated (notably the Atwood situation). Unfortunately, those discussions garnered the most eyeballs and had the biggest presence online, so that kind of became the lens through which NA was viewed. former posters like Pat amplified that, but it did seem like whenever a "high profile" discussion started, it turned into a lot of infighting. So it's not like the reputation was completely unfounded either.