Webhead123

I've only tried playing it for a few minutes at a time. Isometric perspectives are really difficult in 2D games, especially if the game requires precision platforming or combat. Zen does look pretty incredible for an NES game. I get the feeling it's one I would enjoy more if I put some real effort into learning it but getting over that hump is tough.

Well, I'm throwing in the towel and admitting defeat with Snake Rattle 'n' Roll. Like most games developed by Rare, there's an undeniable charm and uniqueness to the game and I actually find it quite fun. It almost reminds me of Marble Madness meets Q-Bert (and I also love both of those games, although I'm not great at them). Then Level 5 happens and suddenly you realize you're playing an isometric NES game with moving/vanishing platforms. It's like dealing with those infamous Mega Man blocks but even more frustrating because you have to judge their position and pattern in three dimensions instead of just two. And since missing a jump means instant death, you can find yourself losing all of your continues in the span of 30 seconds. And the final stretch of Level 5 to reach the exit gate...yeah...fuck that. So, I still like the game and I'll continue to play it off and on and maybe...just maybe...one of these days I'll get lucky and see the rest of the game. Until that day, I consider myself bested by it and won't be subjecting myself to more undue masochism.

There are a lot of really nice-looking fighting games that have absolutely shit game play. 100% agreed.

I know I'll be in the minority on this one but...I actually kinda dig the backgrounds, colors and most of the sprites in Swamp Thing. What I won't defend, however, is the absolutely horrendous gameplay. It's kind of unfortunate because I love the character, dig the style but the game itself is just pure misery. Sticking with the NES, Galaxy 5000 is nothing to look at. In fact, in some ways it's quite basic and garishly-ugly but I think the game is actually pretty fun once you get into it.

This guy would like to have a few words with you. I kid...I kid.

It's a fine game but wasn't then and it's now one of my favorites or anything. I didn't play the original until after I'd already played Final Fantasy II (SNES), so the experience overall felt like several steps back but I did enjoy it for what it was and I think there's a reason the sprite-work became so iconic. Dragon Warrior was a much bigger deal for me in terms of my exposure to and experience with early RPGs but I had fun occasionally exploring this game. I never have played it all the way to the end and I rather doubt I ever will. Still, Final Fantasy on NES deserves a 7/10 from me. A good game, if not...well...fantastic.

I know it's fairly common knowledge in many fighting games that the AI is programmed with certain..."triggers"...which cause it to suddenly get a lot more difficult (i.e., skip animation frames, read player inputs before they're executed, etc.). There was one specifically egregious time that I wish I had recorded on video, when I was playing either Street Fighter II or Street Fighter II Turbo on SNES. I was Guile facing Balrog on one of the higher difficulties and whooping him pretty good (still at 80-90% health) when I witnessed a moment of pure programming bullshit. I hit Balrog with a flash kick which connected unblocked and reduced him to a little under 10% health. AS I'M STILL IN THE AIR, RECOVERING FROM THE FLASH KICK ANIMATION, Balrog recovers instantly and does a charging uppercut (which I can't block because...well...I'M STILL IN THE PREVIOUS ANIMATION) and air juggles me into two more charging punches which completely depletes my health bar. Round over. I turned the SNES off. I had seen enough. I've also had my fair share of questionable moments in games like Darkest Dungeon. You know the sort, like when the boss is down to like 1 hit point and an entire round of your attacks miss...then the boss suddenly gets a "very fortunate" string of critical hits that wipe your party. Yeah...suuuuuure.

The arcade game is what we all wanted and the SNES port is what we had to live with.

I think the irritation comes mostly from the sections with the moving/crumbling platforms. I also found it feeling ironically anti-climactic since the entire section has not a single enemy and is all platforming memorization where a mistake in certain sections just instantly costs you a life. When combined with limited lives/continues, putting a gauntlet like that right before the final boss feels cheap to me and kinda spoils the finale. The entire rest of the game leading up to that section was pretty awesome, as far as I'm concerned.

Finished Shinobi III. The Shinobi series is probably the defining franchise on the Genesis for me, in terms of how consistently excellent they are. While I think I still prefer Revenge of Shinobi as the best overall game, Shinobi III is no slouch and makes many improvements in graphics, control, stage variety, etc. I think the only thing that knocks Shinobi III down a peg is the final stage, which feels artificially difficult. I don't know if it was a case of "rental philosophy", wanting to keep the player from being able to beat the game in a weekend. All I do know is that, while I'll continue revisiting the game in the years to come, now that I've experienced it, I have no real desire to revisit the kind of stuff the final stage demands of you. Yes, I actually like the end game "maze of doors" level of Revenge more than the "maze of instant death pits and moving platforms" of Shinobi III. Still a great game and easily a 9/10 for me. Now I can just ignore the part that keeps it from being a perfect 10.

I've only ever played Vectorman for about 5 minutes, so I can't exactly rate the thing. From what I've seen and heard about it, it sounds like a very average experience. I do seem to remember thinking that the camera was very jerky if the player changed direction quickly and that was disorienting enough to make it hard to stomach playing.

I don't think it ever made any proper "wishlist" at the time but back when the 3DO came out, I reeeeeally wanted one. It was ridiculously expensive but those gaming magazines and TV commercials made it look so cool! I probably would have sold all my NES, SNES and GEN libraries if I thought it would make me enough money to buy one. Thank goodness that never happened...

I actually had one of those that looked something like this, although I think the handle was oriented length-wise: The screen couldn't have been more than 4-5" and it was black-and-white only. It had a power adapter that could connect through the cigarette lighter in your car, making it handy for long road trips...assuming you could get decent reception on the antenna. Actually, the very first TV I had for playing my NES on was a tiny Zenith that had a screen no more than 8". We had no stand or desk for it to rest on, so I would set it on a chair and play sitting on the floor. I remember thinking it was a HUGE deal when my grandparents would let me play NES on the living room TV on occasion...with a screen that must have been 24-26"!!! What a spectacle that was!

1. Super Mario Bros. Wonder (NSW) - unbeaten 2. Luigi's Mansion 3 (NSW) - unbeaten 3. Mega Man 11 (NSW) - unbeaten 4. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (SNES) - unbeaten 5. Final Fantasy IV (SNES) - unbeaten 6. Friday the 13th (NES) - unbeaten 7. Huntdown (PC) - beaten - 1/7/24 8. Deus Ex: Human Revolution (PC) - unbeaten 9. Shadowrun Returns (PC) - unbeaten 10. Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (GBC) - unbeaten 11. Rayman (PSX) - unbeaten 12. Skullmonkeys (PSX) - unbeaten

Hooo boy! This is a tough one for me to be objective about. It's no secret to anyone that knows me that since December 1991, the SNES has never left my side. Super Mario Kart, then, is probably one of my most-played games on SNES, making it a strong contender for one of my favorite and most-loved games on my favorite and most-loved console. Thinking of the countless hours of battle mode with my brother and with friends and the countless GP and Time Trials both solo and multiplayer...There were entire sleepovers that revolved around this game. I can appreciate that, by modern Mario Kart standards, the original can feel simplistic and I hear some people claiming issue with the controls for some reason. I'm not going to pretend that improvements weren't made as the series went along but to say that this diminishes the very first outing...well...the argument just doesn't land with me. I'll tell you a little not-so-secret secret: I was never that impressed by Mario Kart 64. Tried it and found it...meh. I thought then and still think today that SMK is the superior game of the two. Yeah. I said it. So, even though it isn't as robust a game as Double Dash, 7 or 8 Deluxe, it impresses me that I still want to return to the original and I still enjoy it just as much. Not as many partners to play it with anymore and that's a shame but this game still sings. I was tempted to (and probably should) give it a perfect "10" but I docked it a point mostly because it won't get played like it used to thanks to the series generally being so consistently excellent over the years. 9/10

I'd been dragging my feet but I'm finally back to the backlog grind again. Just a few more hours to put the nail in Psychonauts 2 and I started the process of reacclimating myself with Guardian Legend today. I'm going to give Gremlins 2 another shot, now that I've had some time to cool my frustrations but we'll see if I actually have the tolerance to beat the thing. Randomly booted up Eliminator Boat Duel and finished it for the first time. Cool little racer. I have to give props to the developers for how they kept the game interesting despite the inherent repetition. I definitely would have appreciated having it in my library as a kid, if I'd ever known about it.

Oh, I forgot to mention that this game was also one of only a handful (maybe 6 or 7 total) that I've ever committed myself to doing 100% trophies/achievements/whatever. I loved the game so much that I wanted to complete everything possible, and I did!

I believe this still stands as one of only two games I've ever pre-ordered (the other was the System Shock remake). This game pretty much consumed my free time when it came out. The visuals and character designs were absolutely mind-blowing for their time, the gameplay came the closest to making the player "feel" like they were a world-class detective and they managed to get both Conroy and Hamill to return to voice their iconic roles. It was pretty much a BTAS fan's wet dream of a game and it did not disappoint. I even, for a time, threw my hat in on the leaderboards for some of the challenge maps. While I think Arkham City did the right thing and opened the game up even further (and was also an absolute gem), having to start somewhere, this game feels like it was perfect for what it was. If I have one complaint, it's the same one I think everyone's ever had with it, and that's the rather disappointing final showdown with Joker. But if 99% of the rest of the game is basically the perfect Batman experience for its time, I can forgive a lack-luster final boss. 9/10, easily.

I haven't finished that either, although I'm not sure it would go on any "favorite" list of mine. It's been a couple years since I lasted booted it up but I just remember feeling very middle-of-the-road about it. I don't recall thinking it was deficient in any particular category. In fact, it seemed quite well-made. However, I also don't remember really being that blown away by anything it was doing, which is probably why I ended up getting distracted by something else, putting it down and then kind of forgetting about it.

I've actually never reached the end credits for Donkey Kong Country 2... I've played through the game numerous times and usually get to the final world on most playthroughs but I've never seen it to completion for whatever reason. I really need to rectify that.

Fundamentally, I play games to experience them. There are some kinds of games where "winning" is effectively the entire intent of the thing but there are many games where I just play to explore the space and ideas that the designers have imagined for me. I like to challenge myself sometimes, sure. I like games that make me think and present me with the threat of "defeat". But win or lose, I boot up a game because I want to interact with the experience that it promises, even if that means only playing for a few minutes to "satisfy" that desire.

I never did find myself drawn in by the GTA franchise overall, although I've dabbled in a few of them across the years. Where I found my niche with the genre was more Saint's Row (specifically Row 3 but also a bit of 2). GTA V was the one GTA game I put the most effort into. It was okay and entertained me for a few hours but at some point I lost interest and didn't really care about any of the main characters. There was nothing specifically wrong with the game play either. It was all perfectly serviceable. I suppose it just takes a unique hook for me to continue to spend time in most open world games and GTA was always just kinda vanilla. Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction...now there's an open world game I could spend hours upon hours goofing around in (and have)! GTA V...passable. I understand why some people love it but it lacked the chutzpah and absurdity of Saint's Row 3. 5/10...Fight me.

If a game is good (and is available at a reasonable price on a platform I have access to), I am willing to play it. For sake of convenience and affordability, I tend to play most all "modern" games on PC these days and I'm a bit behind on the console generations. While there are technically a PS4 and PS5 in my household, those are stationed in my kids' rooms and primarily used by them. I haven't owned a Microsoft console since the 360. I do have a Switch and I love it but the PC is just so flexible, comfortable and convenient, so it gets a majority of my "modern" game time. When it comes to non-PC gaming, I tend to spend the most time with my NES, SNES and GEN, both revisiting old favorites as well as plumbing the depths of their libraries for games I've never truly experienced before now.

I like twin-stick shooters. From what I've heard, Vamp Survivors is like one of those without any finesse. Also, 30-minute survival rounds sounds way too long.