Khromak

Excellent art there, looks beautiful.

Castlequest is done, I quite enjoy this game but I would have major anxiety if I didn't have a guide because I'd be petrified of soft locking myself by spending keys the wrong way. I'm not sure if that's possible, but I'm terrified all the same. With a guide though, it's fun

3d worldrunner is done! I did quite well this year, got to the end of world 5 before needing to continue, only used a couple continues on 6 (hate that world), deathless on 7. 8 was rough but once I figured out where the first jump was (using the background) and could continuously farm the 1up there, it was over. Don't think I died on any bosses until the final one, who got me a couple times.

Oh the controls are terrible with a single controller. I ALWAYS play it with 2 controllers, it's actually amazing that way. I've done it with a friend a few years ago using 4 controllers (2 each) and it was a blast. Thanks! This one is actually pretty forgiving with the powerups, they drop constantly. It also helps that most of the enemies don't actually shoot anything. I have a fair bit of experience with Smash TV, I've beaten it 3 or 4 times now I think. It's definitely not too tough, at least for me. Maybe it's because it's less about memorization and more about reactions? I ended up losing lives on the bosses mostly, it was fairly rare that I would die in one of the rooms, and it seemed like most (all?) rooms spawned an extra life. There were a couple occasions where a 1up would spawn when I was already at 9 so it went to waste.

I'll be getting back about ~11k, ~8k of which comes from the solar tax credit for putting solar panels on my roof last year. I'll be spending most of it to pay off the last of the loans I took out to pay for the solar panels, which seems counter-intuitive but I'll have solar panels for another 30+ years so let the savings roll in! I will be picking up a couple things for myself though, like a new phone I kinda need. No video game tapes though, I'm in a pretty good place with my collection and am not really hunting anything right now.

Just beat smash tv, in my first try, without even looking at maps. This game's for babies! In fact, the game said I might be the best smash tv player ever. Not sure how it would know that, but I'll take it Edit: I thought I would try this game on Playchoice via Powerpak, but unfortunately since the game thinks you're holding the controllers sideways, the joysticks don't line up with screen directions. It might be possible to re-train your brain, or I guess you could re-wire your joystick, but it would be very difficult. I was really hoping for true twin-stick action.

Just finished mystery quest. It's not great but not too bad once you get used to the controls. There's no reason they had to make it loop 4 times to get the ending though, that's just silly.

The answer here is pretty obvious: sellers put "rare" in their listings to increase attention/price/interest. It's marketing fluff to try to increase the perceived value of their goods, not an objective measure of the relative rarity of any item compared to all other carts.

Just finished Fire 'N Ice. This one's great. Simple mechanics but somehow they still come up with really tough levels, but not so tough that i feel like i have to give up. One of the best puzzle games for the system

Excited? How much have you played it before? I really enjoy the 3d space-shooter sections where you're flying around taking out tie-fighters, but the shooter sections are brutally difficult for me. I was practicing the game with save states at the beginning of each level but God damn some of those sections are really unforgiving. Even trying them dozens of times in a row, I still found myself dying regularly to the same stage. Trying to string 8(?) of those together in a row would be an absolute mess. I quickly realized why it's got 7 pain points. This was a couple years ago so I can't remember all the details but damn was it a doozy. I'm sure if you can memorize enough of those sections and/or have better reactions than me, it might not be so bad but boy howdy did that game hand me my ass. On a more positive note...I'm halfway through world 8 in Fire 'N Ice, so that one should be done soon. Either tomorrow or this weekend, depending how busy I am tomorrow.

Good for you. I picked it up the other day to try to go through it since I'd never played it before but lots of people said good things about it and the gameplay looked interesting. Once they started spawning enemies behind me, I folded like a wet napkin and had basically no chance of making it through the end of the game (I presumed) so I gave up on it. It doesn't help that I'm terrible at shmups in general and have no patience, I might've been able to do it with enough persistence but the game won.

Tiny Toon Adventures is done, what a frustrating game. Maybe it's just because I'm tired, but I was definitely screaming at my TV for seconds of this one. There were a couple parts where as soon as I saw the level entrance I knew I was gonna be pissed, remembering past traumas. Turns out I was right

Solstice is done. I normally really enjoy this game, but this time I was following a different guide and it had terrible advice for the last puzzle so I spent almost an hour trying to do his shitty strategy before I looked up another guide with much better advice. Guess I probably could've figured it out myself, but the isometric angle makes it hard to tell what you can and can't do. That last part is my review of the game too: I love the graphics and sound, the controls are tight, and the mechanics are fun, but the isometric angle that makes it so memorable also makes it really frustrating at points

Lolo 3 is done. I had to look up hints for a couple levels and the solution for the final level (it's insane no human could figure that out), but overall did better than most years in terms of spoilers. The game is very tough, bordering on the line of unfun for a couple levels. I prefer the earlier games, but this one is still good

This is incredibly good news because I've tried the intended method and it is a slog, plus quite difficult. I'd definitely like to knock this one out using this strategy, it's haunted me for a while after a few attempts. It was on my list to try to beat this year.

I'm on the last few stages of Lolo 3 but got distracted earlier in the day so I won't finish it until tomorrow at the earliest. After that I have a few more lined up but haven't picked anything yet.

I still have almost 50 games left on my list of games I'd like to beat this year that are still on the list. Some for points, some first time clears for me personally. That definitely won't happen, I'm sure other people will clear half+ of them before I get to them, but they should get done one way or the other. I think we're gonna crush it this year! Maybe once we finish the list we can add bonus games later in the year to celebrate.

Beat ren n Stimpy, and for the first time (I think) i 1cc'd it, with 8 lives to spare at the end. I'm entirely too good at this game considering how bad it is. Looks like I made 47 million dollars, not bad

8 eyes is done, another one which coincidentally falls victim to comparison. If it wasn't so similar to castlevania, I think it would be held in higher regard. Pretty decent game judged on its own merits

Beat deadly towers. I quite like this game, despite some of the cheap deaths. The early game is fraught with danger, but once you get all the good equipment you feel like a beast. Without maps and shop info, it would probably be quite a bit more frustrating

Contra force is done. Worst thing this game did was name itself contra. The frame rate is obviously awful, but other than that it's a fairly competent game. When compared to contra though, oof.

Surprised it was still on the list, but zelda 2 is now done. I beat it with 7/7/8, due to taking some gambles with my exp and taking some bad deaths, and also not using the palace bonuses too well. It's nothing compared to the challenge from last year

True, but how many times has a cart sold for hundreds/thousands since then? Nowadays I guess the cart is mostly a collector's item and the price -> rarity situation still applies.

I think part of the difference is you can get a Battle Kid 2 rom and you can't get a Starkeeper rom. If you want to play Starkeeper you have to have a cart, so the demand is higher, and supply is lower. Economics will tell us what happens from there.

I love Pool of Radiance and I've beaten it several times, it's really awesome. It's definitely not balanced, as you said the incapacitating spells are just broken AF and it probably overstays its welcome, but I always enjoyed the exploration, writing, and the combat is quite involved and engaging, despite the imbalance. I typically go for a pile of F/M, some F/C, and one straight cleric, just to speed up the healing process. There are probably tons of viable compositions though; shame Thief is utterly worthless.