Floating Platforms

Oh, by the way @Splain, I heard on my stream that the requirement to beat Yoshi is actually to get to level 28 and not 16. Apparently you get the last unique item cutscene at that level and then it just keeps giving that new item to you... It also sounds like it's kind of brutal to get that far. Yay?

Okay, I'm near the end of Exodus now - 80 levels done. Stage select only goes up to level 81 of 100, so I just need to find a large chunk of time where I can power through the last 20 levels and move on to Ren & Stimpy: Space Cadet Adventures.

Thanks for writing that all out. I can certainly understand that perspective and the positives of the series. That key word for me personally is that commitment part paired with the difficulty. Yes and no. In my Game Boy challenge, I'm facing more challenge than you might assume and those older games certainly don't always have frequent checkpoints. For that larger project, I am willing to take that time and go through the various learning curves, manually mapping things out, writing notes and spend hours on a level or puzzle as that is the adventure. So I understand that the Souls series gives that same satisfaction, but I don't have a problem with games that will ultimately take 100+ hours to beat, but I personally don't usually enjoy the process of learning tougher games when I'm trying to unwind. I am a "filthy casual" in that respect, because I prefer to keep my games relatively stress free and gear towards the easier stuff like certain puzzle games, point and clicks, open world map clearing stuff. A lot of my non-GB gaming time is subject to interruptions and distractions, so yeah games with frequent checkpoints sounds great! I'm not against "hard" games or the souls series, and maybe if I wasn't doing the Game Boy stuff, I'd be more inclined, but it's not something I'm too interested in diving into at this time.

I finished Chrono Trigger this past week while on vacation This is a game that I've been playing off and on for many years, mostly off. It was the game I would play anytime I was on an airplane and could devote a large chunk of time to it. The problem was that I didn't take many flights so each time I spent half the next session wandering around lost and trying to find something that would help me make progress. Rinse and repeat for years. Well, no more! I have pretty much no clue what happened in the first 2/3rds of the game anymore, so any story impact from the last act didn't resonate with me as strong as it probably should have. Regardless, as someone who is not an RPG guy, I definitely believe this is one of the better ones. Honestly, just reducing the random encounters was a huge help, but the timer based battle system is much preferable to a standard turn based one. The enemies and bosses had a lot of variety in style and also in techniques needed, so you actually had to think about each encounter. Plenty of team configurations, elemental abilities, etc to consider. I wish I would have dedicated more time to this from the start instead of playing it so haphazardly, but that's how things go sometimes. Now that I've gone through the game on my own, it'll be time to go through a good commentary playthrough on YT to see it from scratch and let someone else get the other endings (I got #1 according to the DS log as well as the ending for doing the post-game dimensional vortex stuff).

Yeah, as an outsider to the series that's how it comes across at least. Whenever I see it talked about, the difficulty is the first thing mentioned as if the selling point is getting newcomers to try it from a "how hard can it be, really?" mentality. "You keep saying it's tough, but I'll be the judge of that." The next thing mentioned is the atmosphere and the "story" that is told mostly through contextual means. But the difficulty is always at the forefront talking about you have to get good and learn the nuances and patterns of each single enemy, etc. That type of time commitment definitely doesn't appeal to me even if it isn't the ultimate "point"

First thing that comes to mind was what was said in the OP: Trauma Center - although I really did like the Wii implementation of motion controls and using the nunchuck analog stick to select tools...

I tend to stay away from overly difficult games or ones where the difficulty is the point (like the Souls series), but in my goal to beat every Game Boy game, I've come across some nasty ones. I think the hardest game that I've legitimately beaten is Wave Race. The 800cc World Series Circuit took about 20 hours of practice and luck to finally conquer. Right now I think my recording on YouTube is the only documentation of it being done on there (at least that I could find). The toughest game I have not legitimately beaten is Penguin Wars. It took over 40 hours to beat Stages 1-40 while using the stage select cheat code because the back half is that brutal and unfair. Beating it in one run is my white whale goal. Honorable mentions to Quarth, Hyper Lode Runner, and Incredible Crash Dummies. I know there may be other games that take the top spot away from Wave Race later (Championship Pool, Fighting Simulator 2-in-1, Dragon's Lair, Power Mission, Square Deal, World Bowling), but that's my pick for now.

So, I'm currently 20 hours into Exodus and I've completed 50 of 100 levels. The back half is remixed versions of the same stages with harder requirements. Hopefully I'll be close to done in another 20. The good news is that the next 5 games that have been picked for me are estimated to be pretty dang quick, so there's a chance I'll get some new games on the board in September.

It looks like this and Bionic Commando are un-beaten in the yearly Game Boy thread, in case you want to cross-post there. Metroid 2 is still currently the only Metroid game I've completed. I remember spending a ton of time looking in every single possible path for secrets using that sticky spider ball and feeling so proud of going into the final boss with full health and missile upgrades.

Very true. If I didn't publicly commit through this thread, I doubt I would have touched a lot of these games. It's a great excuse to get some non-Game Boy backlog gaming done. I'm hoping to get closer to 75% finished at this point. Some of the stuff I haven't tackled isn't that long. If there's one thing I've learned about myself while doing the Beat Every Game Boy Game project is that I'm better off forcing myself to keep playing and trying until the game is done. Before, I had a really nasty habit of starting games, getting close to the end and then stopping because I wanted to switch things up and start what I wanted to play next. I would tell myself "I'll finish [that first game] soon" but then months would pass as I got absorbed in the "next" game and then would forget everything about the original game. Even now, the urge is great to play around on the PS3 to explore random games for what I could add to next year's thread, but I need to stay the course and keep making progress on the ones I'm currently enjoying.

Dang...not even half way there with my goal. I should have several more to add in September though. Nearly done with both of the remaining switch games. I have 30 hours in Chrono Trigger with a road trip coming. I'm taking my sweet time with Control (70% of main game trophies, 60% of game chapters, haven't started the DLC) and Great Ace Attorney (keep falling asleep while playing late at night), but I might get them done and that will get me over the half way mark. I expected I would have more large chunks of time to play over the weekends and more late night time, but that hasn't panned out so much this year.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is done It's not a terrible game, but it's terribly sparse. I understand that this is much different from the NES version, and while I have little to no experience with that, it's easy to see how incredibly pared down this is. Pausing the game will show you your inventory screen with 10-12 slots, but you only "use" 5 max. The intention is to go around to talk to people and get clues, but really you mostly have to go talk to Valiant after doing certain things. I got "stuck" early on because the game told me how to do the puzzle and I was trying to do it and the game wouldn't let me. I had to go back to talk to Eddie so that he could tell me what I already knew and help me do it. That was a strange mix of hand-holding and obtuse game design. I wanted something that was a little more intricate. Give me more tasks and reasons to explore the map, since it is extremely empty. Give Benny more of a reason to be in the game. It was fun for the short time it lasted, but it was severely lacking in content. Next I'm playing the Wisdom Tree game Exodus: Journey to the Promised Land and that is estimated between 30-40 hours, so I probably can't contribute anything to this thread for a couple weeks.

I can understand where you're coming from. I would still call my playthrough positive overall, but it could use some tweaks to those hit boxes and get rid of the trolling parts of an already nasty last level

I pre-ordered it before the full list of games was revealed. There was enough that sounded worth the $2-3/game price point that I'm happy with my decision. Seeing Crusader of Centy is icing on the cake. I don't play tons of RPGs, so the Lunar exclusions aren't the worst thing in the world to me, but the Sega CD list is surprisingly underwhelming. I also think it'll be good to help me pare down my physical collection a bit more if I have some of these titles through the Mini 2.

I've never been able to contribute to this thread before since most of my retro time is spent playing Game Boy games, but it looks like I finished one that hasn't been tackled yet! Battle of Olympus is done! I put my thoughts into the Backlog Challenge thread so I won't repeat them here, but I'm happy I was able to finally sit myself down and conquer it.

I finished Battle of Olympus tonight This is a game that I loved as a kid, but never got too far in. Playing it now, I can certainly understand why. I played this blind, taking notes as I went, and I think I got everything except for one of the health bar upgrades. I got stuck several times, though and there were a few instances where I wasn't totally sure which path was best because they all seemed equally above my abilities/items. The biggest knock against it is that the combat is way too picky. It also suffers from Castlevania knock back and that makes for a lethal combination when your attack attempt is slightly too high or too low or too early or too late and then get tossed into a pit. Grinding for olives (money) was a bit obnoxious at times as well. The last level also made me rage a tiny bit, especially earlier on when it showed that going in the "wrong" door (impossible to know beforehand) will force you to do the whole thing again or exit to another town altogether. Progress was slow and methodical and there were far too may false paths considering the nasty enemy placement. Still, with all my complaining, I do enjoy this game a lot but I loved the concept of it a bit more than the eventual execution.

Knocked out two quick ones tonight Pinball Dreams I didn't have to spend much time with any of the three boards, but Ignition was my favorite as it seemed like it might have had the most going on. Steel Wheel was terrible as it was incredibly easy to lose your balls down the sides and there was a lot of wasted empty space in the upper left. I had to play this one the most and lucked out with a random jackpot. Graveyard looked like it might have been okay, but it only took two solid tries, so I have no clue. It was extremely easy to rack up points in that since I got 2.4 million my first time even though I don't recall playing all that long or seeing any special messages. As far as a pinball game goes, the physics are all kinds of awful, but if I had this one as a kid, I wouldn't be mad. There are some fun goals to shoot for, but little incentive to try for very long. Adventure Island I don't have any experience with any Adventure Island game other than the original NES, so I have no clue if this game (which is based on the NES part 2) is close to the same or a very simplified version. I found this to be very easy, generally speaking. I was able to find a lot of "secret" eggs and warp through three of the 8 worlds. The dinosaurs were a nice addition and fun to play around with. The last couple worlds had very few eggs, so I had to go through most of it with no weapon. Still, it wasn't too difficult to manage that overall. The unlimited continues added to what already felt like a very forgiving game. It was refreshing to come across an Adventure Island game that could be conquered in less than 2 hours going in blind. Next up for me is Who Framed Roger Rabbit? which I hear is also pretty short on Game Boy. After that I'm tackling a Wisdom Tree title that's not on this challenge list but is on mine (Exodus: Journey to the Promised Land) and that may take me quite a while

Interesting. I gave it a solid 5/10. It sits at #82 out of the 120 I've played, so technically right now I'm with you, but when all is said and done it should be straight middle of the road. The controls are funky, but I enjoyed the variety in levels (something that seems to be across a lot of the later Disney movie games) and the midi Randy Newman. The only Disney movie game I've ranked lower is Pinocchio because it was simply too short and too easy to be worthwhile.

I usually read your reviews, but skipped this one since it was on my backlog. Good that we agree on one! I also had similar performance problems playing from Steam. I didn't notice any input lag, but it took a couple minutes for some of the stuttering and choppiness to die down when booting it up, and then any new cutscenes would temporarily bring it back.

Good to know that they're all different. This game is still 250 games away for me (locked in at game #375), but maybe I'll go through to level 20 on all difficulties to see the different stuff. I have a lot of respect for people like you who can dedicate that level of effort to do the 1cc or hardest difficulty. I know that my skill level will never be at that point, but I'll still keep trying for best endings whenever possible at the very least.

Congratulations! Is there any different end screen for beating it on Hi, or was this for a personal challenge?

Thought I could finish Psychonauts last night, but that last level was a pain and I had to settle for beating it during my lunch break today. This is a game I started 5 years ago and then abandoned because I rarely play stuff on Steam. It's tough to go back to the computer to play games after spending all work day at a computer. I had to isolate in our office and guest bedroom for a week away from my consoles, so I was able to start from scratch and get through most of it pretty quickly. I enjoyed the story, setting, humor, level concepts, etc and I can say that it definitely made me want to try the sequel, however the platforming was not great. If you're not going for 100% completion (like I was), it may not be much of a problem until that last level. I found that jumping and "hit detection" (for lack of a better/proper term) of objects was wonky and bad. There were many times when I would jump towards a rope/trapeze/branch and go right through it instead of latch on. And then jumping off had different trajectories and results. It can be difficult to know where you're going to land when jumping and so trying to get onto ropes or other small areas may also lead to a lot of unexpected misses or falls. The collectable aspect was fine. I did use a guide for a handful, and I don't like how long it takes for some of the moving figments to come back around (especially if you miss grabbing it due to that bad hit detection), but most of it's manageable enough naturally. I wish that there were either fewer psychic powers or more useful spots for the ones you are given. Some are only helpful in one or two short encounters (same with items that stay in your inventory), and some are vital to equip all the time like levitation. I'm glad I finally forced myself to play through this adventure. Aside from Game Boy stuff, I tend to float between platforms <cough, push up glasses> and games so I'm working on several others from my list that I hope to get done relatively soon-ish. Battle of Olympus was put on hold while isolating, and I want to spend more time with that next week. I'm probably about 40% (?) done with Control (which is basically serious Psychonauts), on Case 2 of Great Ace Attorney 2, on the last chapter of Murder by Numbers, and I just picked Chrono Trigger back up. My cartridge says I have about 19 hours logged on that, so maybe close to done, but I honestly don't recall a damn thing about the story to really know. I'll explain more about that later - I've done myself a disservice with how I've played this over the years. I doubt I'll finish everything on my list at this point, but I won't be too far off course.

Was sidelined by Covid for a couple weeks (thankfully super mild, but had to avoid the part of the house with my SNES and streaming set-up), but I'm back on the board with SeaQuest DSV I'm surprised that this hasn't been completed before. It's not an incredibly hard game overall, but it does require some practice. You get unlimited continues, so while there's no saves or passwords, you can at least keep trying until you succeed. Having the manual helps quite a bit, since there's a lot of variety in the levels and the in-game controls, seen by hitting pause, do not tell you everything. Even with the manual, a few levels through curveballs at you at the very end and that's where most of the time is spent. It becomes a bit tedious to spend a few minutes to get through the entire level just to get to the end "boss" and then die within a couple seconds, causing you to start from the very beginning and meticulously collect everything again. It's a fun game overall, but it would be great if the levels could be tackled in any order, or if the characters moved a tad faster at times, or if the torpedo shots were more responsive when turning. Still, I enjoyed virtually all of the different gameplay mechanics it offered. Next up for me will be Pinball Dreams, which I hope to start Monday.

Nice! I'm on tap to tackle Adventure Island 1 pretty soon (I'm currently sidelined until next week). I have 2 games ahead of it, but even though you had some trouble with it, it has to be better than the first NES game!

Very nice! Now this screenshot is making me wish they would have also ported Jr. Pac-Man to Game Boy. Loved that one on Atari 2600. Haven't played Boxxle yet, but it definitely looks like a slog. Still, it has to be better than Hyper Lode Runner!