Philosoraptor

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Took a bit of time with this one: Katamari Forever. I'm a big fan the Katamari series in general, but I have to say I was surprised by this one. I've heard that most people really love Katamari Damacy or We Love Katamari but consider the rest to be second-rate or worse. While this one didn't quite capture the charm of the first two, it made up for it with the better controls and the unique levels and modes. There's so much more content here. I'd honestly put it up there with the aforementioned games as the best three in the series. I need to beat ten more games this year to get to my final milestone for the year. I think next year, I'm going to mix things up a bit and throw in some new criteria for myself. I'm noticing that I'm avoiding some genres and games entirely because of the current criteria, and I'd like that to change. I'm excited to play more games in 2023!

For me, the Retron 5 opened the doors to experience a lot of import libraries, both with translations and as a way to enjoy lots of Japanese exclusives that don't require translations. I imported a LOT of stuff from Yamatoku Classic, who was a massive seller back before the pandemic. He had thousands of Japanese games, gaming-related items, and consoles up for sale at any given time, and he always started every auction at a cent. He'd also give you two weeks to run up a tab before shipping them to help reduce shipping costs. Looking through the auctions, I ended up becoming more interested in games for region-free consoles I owned, like the PSP. I then went on to buy a Japanese PS2 and an Action Replay for the Saturn. Even though Yamatoku has stopped selling for now, the passion has carried over to European-, Japanese-, and Asian-region PS4 and Switch exclusives that look interesting to me. Nowadays importing even more from Europe because of Super Rare Games, Red Art Games, and Strictly Limited Games. Of course all the exclusive SHMUPs and platformers are great, but I ended up really liking a lot of Banpresto's stuff, especially Compati Heroes, and other series that have licensing issues outside of Asia or Japan, like Super Robot Taisen or Gundam. The SRT games we get over here are OG series, which don't have characters from licensed Japanese series like Neon Genesis Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, Gundam, Mazinger Z, Magic Knight Rayearth, Full Metal Panic, and so on. If you like big robots, it's hard to live on the Armored-Core-Flavored tablescraps we get in the States.

Beat game #200 on the year tonight! it was one I had been saving for a bit: New Pokemon Snap! This is definitely more of the same greatness captured by the original N64 game, just with more to do and better controls. It's also a great game to wind-down with after a long day at work. I'll probably come back and play this one more later in the year. There's lots of postgame things to do and lots of challenges, bobs, and scores to chase. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the original or is a Pokemon fan. 9/10. Happy Halloween! Don't eat too much candy, y'all!

I've played a bunch of Metroidvanias but I've never played a Castlevania or Metroid game. I keep worrying they won't live up to the hype.

River City Ransom is both my favorite NES game and the NES game that means the most to me. One night, my brother snuck in my room and stole my childhood cart while I was sleeping. There were fights for years where "River City Ransom" was brought up until mom finally caved and bought me another one. Most things aren't worth fighting for, but for whatever reason, River City Ransom was that for kid me.

Apparently you can die if you don't jump off this ledge the right way. Timer says 8:57:20.

Lol derp that's true. I'll put together another run before bed and edit my post. Thanks for the heads up!

Edit: this time following the rules. BRB with a one-life run. Posted below.

The box art and your avatar side-by-side made me chortle. Probably Pokemon Red or Blue.

Hey, at least you've played it! I've had the cart for nearly 10 years but I still haven't.

Oof. Tough one. I gave it a 10/10, but that could be nothing but nostalgia blinders. I haven't played or beat this game since the year it came out. No clue if it still holds up today or if the controls are like some other 3D N64 games I've revisited and weren't as nice as I remember. Controls would be the only thing that could knock it down to a 9 for me.

IMO SHMUPS and Souls games are different types of difficulty. The Souls games aren't difficult, just counterintuitive. Charging in "gunz-a-blazin" gets you killed even by the lowliest enemies, but that's how a majority of newer popular games work. When Joe Rando gets home from his 9-5, takes out Halo or Gears, and puts in Souls, he's probably going to have a bad time. On the other end of the spectrum, Bayonetta is all about "gunz-a-blazin," but still can be incredibly difficult on harder difficulties. SHMUPS are different, still. They take planning, memorization, and precision, especially with bullet hells. Being in the wrong place or getting forced to the edge of the screen is almost an immediate death sentence. I'm shocked no one has mentioned fighting games. Maybe I just suck, but I've always gotten my ass handed to me on pretty much any Capcom-made 2D fighter, but especially stuff like Super Street Fighter II Turbo. The highest difficulties just seem impossible. Also surprised that music games haven't gotten much shine. Stuff like DJMax and the Miku games will run you ragged on high difficulties. Anydangway, the most difficult games I've beaten on the GameFAQs list are the Souls games, Bayonetta, Contra 1cc, Super Meat Boy, Catherine, and Lost Levels. I think the toughest SHMUP I've 1cc'd is R-Type. Shoutouts to Binding of Isaac and Rabi-Ribi as two not on this list that are also quite difficult.

Hmm...My top 3 probably are: I will have beaten 200+ games this year (currently at 191). Completed the national Pokedex on ORAS (721 Pokemon), all legit. This was during the time when GameStop was giving away codes for all the mythicals. Was ranked in the top 10 of Gundam Breaker 3 and Sky Force Anniversary leaderboards.

This isn't one I own so I'm out this week. I took a look at all the random crossover games I own for the FC and SFC, and surprisingly Godzilla is only in Battle Baseball and Battle Soccer. He also looks to only be in one Super Robot Taisen game, X-Ω, which is/was a mobile game. That sweet, sweet Godzilla IP must be hard to get. Best of luck, everyone!

33,000 on stage 2. Depending on whether I want to play more of it this weekend, this might be it. I've owned Top Gun ever since I was a kid, but I didn't like it much and I wasn't good at it. I'm still not. However, I popped it in and landed on the aircraft carrier last year, which is the first time anyone in my family had done so. My older brother was super excited. I like it more now than I did as a kid, that's for sure.

I hate both baked and mashed potatoes. The clear winner, however, is mashed potatoes because the more other stuff you put into it, the less it tastes like sand. See: shepherd's pie.

For sure. I've found trying to get a high score, playing games I otherwise wouldn't (or haven't in a long time), and bettering myself to be a good part of the fun. I'm also typically middle of the table or lower when I compete. These days I'm not terribly competitive, so I'm here to have fun, win or lose. ...but I also know that's not all gamers. I realize this week's contest is over, but FWIW, I spent 15 minutes trying to make participation and managed two scores over it: 11,794 and 12,938. I've played a decent amount of Tetris in my life and I'd consider myself to be a pretty good gamer, but I don't think I could do much better. I don't know if that's good, helpful, or interesting information in relation to this discussion, so for all those concerned, take that for what you will.

As a past participant, I typically chose either participating in the contests (when I owned the game) or tackling my backlog. This year my full attention has been to play and beat games in my backlog for the backlog challenge and beat every game threads. However, I didn't even know what games y'all were playing most weeks. I know that's a dumb reason to not participate, but maybe if the announcement were bigger or in a more prominent part of the site, you could get more participants. I also agree with this. I'm probably going to be focused more on my backlog next year, too, but I'd be more inclined to participate if I can put in a quick run or two to get a score on the board. When I was playing tennis competitively, I had the most fun playing opponents that were at or around my same level. I played some pro-level players and, while it was fun playing them, got wiped off the court without them really breaking a sweat. Extrapolating it to VGS, I don't want anyone with copious amounts of skill to stop participating because they're too good. They've earned their skill. But maybe having multiple leaderboards might be a good idea. Maybe one for top-tier players, one for respectable ones, and one for amateur ones would keep people motivated. Hopefully y'all could come up with flashier names. The first week could be placement, and you could say "play these three games for an hour each and report the top scores you got here." The three games (or however many you feel necessary) could be a popular SHMUP, a platformer, and maybe a puzzle game. Then you could divide the participants based on the scores they report. That's my two cents.

We owe a lot to Konami for making video games what they are today, and I'm glad they're still making games, albeit fewer, today. Even though quality became spotty in the 2000s, I'd still rather them compete with and take dollars away from less palpable companies like EA. PES/eFootball is the only real major competitor to the FIFA games, and the Pro Baseball Spirits and Jikkyō/eBaseball Powerful Pro Yakyū series are basically the only games out there for Japanese pro baseball (NPB). Even though the Gradius and Castlevania series have enough copycats that I don't miss them as much, stuff like the Goemon franchise, Suikoden, Zone of the Enders, and Yu-Gi-Oh don't have as many quality imitators. Also, Konami's last fiscal year was its most profitable to date; they made about 300 billion yen, 215 billion of which came from video games, not pachinko or casino games. They're still in the video game market and have been quietly killing it with stuff like Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel, the eSports series, and Momotaro Densetu.

Massive congratulations on completing the SNES rankings! I've really enjoyed reading your episodic updates. I can guess both as a gamer and a writer how much time, effort, and energy this took you and your editors over the years. All of you deserve a pint, a long weekend, a good night out, and a good night's rest. "...But how in the world could I ever be happy enough with my writing to where I would feel confident about having it printed onto a physical page, never to be fixed up again?" The dirty little secret is you don't. Or at least I don't. Even when I publish what I write, five years down the line I'll reread it and think "that could be worded better, or that be more succinct, or this could be moved here, or..." With deadlines, you're striving for good enough or as good as it's going to get. With passion projects, you have all the time in the world. But remember, even the greatest writers of all time had multiple revisions and prints of their books to silently fix typos and errors. If you do ultimately end up making a book, just know it probably can't and won't be perfect, and that's OK. A minor wording issue on page 47 or a typo on page 112 isn't going to detract from the content you've written or the experiences you've shared.

It's been a while since I posted an update about the random games I've been beating. I've mainly been focused on handhelds recently, but I wanted to highlight some interesting ones. River City Ransom EX (GBA) - I'm a massive fan of the original RCR on the NES. It's easily one of my top five favorites on the console I revisit it as much as I do SMB 3. My GF bought me a beat-up box to keep my cart warm one fateful birthday many years ago, kickstarting my love for CIBs. Needless to say, it's got a special place in my heart. So, I've been side-eyeing this version on my shelf for years. What if it's bad? What if I hate it? Well, all that worry was for naught. In fact, I'd say it's probably better than the original. How? It's the same amazing game, but just more. More weapons. More street gangs. More one-liners. More techniques. And dare I say it...more fun. Quality of life improvements have also been added, such as not needing to specify "to go" or "eat in" for every order and you get a computer-controlled buddy instead of brawling it out by your lonesome. Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales - This one came as a surprise. I'll be the first to admit I'm not the biggest Square, Enix, or Square Enix fan. I had zero expectations for this game, but lately I've been trying to play games on my shelf when the urge strikes me. For whatever reason, this game stuck out to me a few weeks ago. I was blown away by how fun this game turned out to be. Of the dozens and dozens of mini and micro games, only one stood out to me as having bad touch controls. The diversity of control types and mini game ideas is staggering, and after playing several games that struggled to get the touch controls right in general, it's amazing they did it so well across the board. There's also a genuinely fun card game packed in here, too. The whole thing took me about 15 hours to beat, but I'd be happy to revisit it in the future and try for 100%. Might and Magic Clash of Heroes - This one I've been meaning to play for a long time. I've heard it was good, and it lived up to expectations. The story isn't amazing or unique, but it's an interesting mix of match/puzzle game and RPG where you're trying to make matches to queue attacks and bolster defenses. In standard fashion, when your hero's health hits zero, you lose. Battles are fun and reasonably quick (5-15 minutes, typically). The units and heroes you control change throughout the game, but the core gameplay remains the same. There's also enough depth here to keep an adult interested but not so much that it can't be enjoyed by a younger audiences. It takes about 20-25 hours to beat, but it's very easy to pick up and play. I also beat Sonic Blast, Sonic Labyrinth, and Sonic Triple Trouble on the Game Gear. Of the three, I liked Labyrinth the most. It's a departure from the standard Sonic formula, but it works for me. Compared to other Sonic games, you walk very slowly, however, spin dashing sends you careening around of the isometric, pinball-esque levels. It's also probably the easiest of the Sonic games I've played on the GG and SMS up to now. One other thing to note is that if you're epileptic, this is probably not the game for you. Whenever you a grab power-up, the background flashes until it runs out. Triple Trouble is a return to the standard 2D Sonic formula, but it's plagued by an extremely irritating water level that has you floating around in bubbles, avoiding spikes, and figuring out the maze in slow-ass underwater-Sonic speed. Otherwise, due to the lack of variety in its stages, it's not terribly noteworthy. However, that might be because I played the Tails route. What is noteworthy, is how awkward Sonic Blast is. It doesn't feel like a Sonic game. It's slow and plodding. The sprites look like fancy Saturn sprites that have been demade for the GG. The special stages have you running towards the horizon, but at best, they feel like a brisk walk. It also has the worst water level of any of the GG Sonic games; it's a maze of pipes, water currents, and multiple levels of platforms. It's very easy to get lost or just go in circles. The fifth (and last) stage is a maze of teleporters full of enemies that land cheap hits due to how cramped the corridors are. Here's how I'd rank the Sonic games I've played on the SMS and GG so far: Sonic the Hedgehog (SMS) (Best) Sonic 2 (SMS) Sonic the Hedgehog (GG) Sonic Chaos (SMS) Sonic Labyrinth Sonic Chaos (GG) Sonic Triple Trouble Sonic 2 (GG)* Sonic Blast (Worst) It's worth noting that, even though Sonic Blast and Sonic Triple Trouble are next to each other in the rankings, Sonic Blast is significantly worse. I'd say Triple Trouble is at least a 7/10 and Sonic Blast might be a 5/10. *Edit: After some thought, I think Sonic 2 (GG) is worse than Sonic Triple Trouble. The camera in Sonic 2 makes some stages extremely, extremely frustrating, especially as Green Hill Zone 3. It has you bouncing off of springs and essentially making blind landings in either spikes on other springs. You can't see any of them. It's all memorization. Nothing in Triple Trouble is that frustrating, including the water level.

There's a very long list of games I'd sell before M.U.S.H.A. For all intents and purposes, it's probably NFS.

Probably the only Genesis game I wanted but didn't end up with: Crusader of Centy CIB. When I was looking at it, it was $300-$400, but so was M.U.S.H.A. with the reg card. I only had money for one, and I'm a much bigger fan of SHMUPs, so I chose the latter. Nowadays, Centy ($1500) is almost double the price of M.U.S.H.A ($800ish). I sometimes think of what could have been, but I've gotten a lot of playtime and enjoyment out of M.U.S.H.A., so I don't regret it. Nowadays, the NA version of Centy is far beyond what I'm willing to spend on a game. I've toyed with the idea of buying the Japanese version and patching it with the Retron 5, but other, newer games keep grabbing my attention and dollars.

Fun fact about #13, someone recently found a two-player mode of sorts for Super Punch Out. It works for Switch Online, the original cart, and the SNES Classic Edition. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/super-punch-out-multiplayer/