Brickman

14 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Beating (not completing) 400ish titles took me approx. 20-30 years, and that was the easier half of the library...

Any chance you could expand on this? That seems like a really long time. I thought you beat it over 7-8 years for some reason.

I’ll check it out next year.

One thing I didn’t like about Slay the Spire is how random it could be. People here and in reviews commented how random it can be to beat the corrupt heart. This put me off and I never finished the game.

Is this game like that? I don’t mind a bit of RNG but not if I’m going to spend more time fighting against it.

First RPG for my backlog done.

Tomato Adventure (GBA) 

A little under two years before AlphaDream released the Mario & Luigi series, they created a game called Tomato Adventure. This game is essentially a precursor to those games, and it really shows. It was unfortunately never released outside of Japan.  

The story is rather simple because the game is aimed at a younger audience, it is essentially based around saving your friend who has been kidnapped, but it does have some funny and touching moments throughout and it’s the journey and people you meet that really makes this game. 

The art style in this game is nothing short of beautiful, it’s colourful and crazy. Every dungeon feels unique and sometimes utterly bizarre, like Mt S.Cream (hands down one of the coolest dungeons I’ve played in a game). 

The music is solid, but the battle music never changes. It’s thankfully a catchy tune but can wear thin by the end of the game. 

One thing that sets it apart from other RPG’s is the battle system. You slowly acquire items called Gimmicks that give you a new move. When you select the move, you need to perform a certain action or do something on the screen in a certain amount of time. For example, one move has you pushing the left and right button to fill a meter, another has you pushing the same buttons that show on the screen, another has dots moving across the screen and you need to push B every time one is in a small box a certain amount of times.   

Another great feature is you can increase the speed and difficulty of these required actions which will boost the damage the Gimmicks do. The tradeoff is that if you don’t perform the move successfully, you do very minimal damage.  

This battle system really keeps you engaged, especially when fighting trash mobs in a dungeon.  

Where this game falls a little short is just how easy the game is. Even with adjusting the Gimmick difficulty, you still can smash your way through pretty much anything. The bosses can add an interesting twist and require some planning, but you shouldn’t run into too much difficulty. 

The game also could have used a bit of a trim. Some sections and dungeons drag on a little bit too long. It isn’t a very long game for an RPG (clocked in at just under 20hours for my playthrough) but it gets very repetitive and doesn’t have a strong story to carry it through the slow sections. 

This game now has an English patch for it, so if you have been curious about it, I recommend giving it a go. 

8.5/10 

42 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Seasons 3-8 = 10/10
Seasons 1,2,9 = 7-9/10, depending on the episode
Seasons 10+ = fuck that shit/10

Pretty much this, debate over  

Season 1-2 are not seasons I watch very often but I recently re watched them and there were way more 8-10/10 episodes than I thought. I think my perspective on these episodes has changed the older I get. 

I always find it funny that every few years I read an article saying that the old Simpsons are back and they describe the episodes and they sound awful. 

Someone must be watching it though because it’s still going after all these years.

5 for since you’ve been gone but a solid 10 for rainbow in the dark. Great Dio song and one of my favourites from him \m/

3 hours ago, AirVillain said:

The first few songs are MAGICAL. Literally magical.

It’s insane how amazing Science Fiction is. Hands down my favourite musical song.

4 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

 

2 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Pikmin 1 (6.5/10)

6 hours ago, GamerSmith548 said:

I don’t think beating it with every team would necessarily be required for 100% (it’s hard when they don’t give you the requirements, and I don’t want to make requirements for the sake of difficulty)

 

But if there is such demand for it to happen, I might do it at some point. I think that, when I’m running out of games to play for the list, we could do polls to see what kind of challenges you want me to do in games (like speedrunning games, or beating a game without taking damage). Beating this game with every team can definitely be an option.

 

Hopefully I’ll have enough sanity left in me

I have never played bases loaded but what does a 100% mean to you for that game?

Imo 100% a game means unlocking everything, getting everything in the game and seeing everything. Unfortunately that definitely means beating the game with every team imo.

If you just finish it with 1 team you are only seeing the ending for 1 team. That’s good enough for a clear but not good enough for a 100% full clear imo.

I saw the ad for this non stop in Japan. It looks ok, nothing I will go out of my way for. If it’s cheap later down the track I’ll pick it up.

Back from Japan and found a few things over there. I was really hoping to find more GBA and N64 stuff but it was mostly stuff I already had or was insanely priced.

I went to a lot of retro game stores and Book Offs and for me Hiroshima and Kobe had the most reasonable stores. Tokyo is just ridiculous and more of a thing to do to laugh at how crazy the prices are. 

If anyone is going to Japan and needs a list of stores just let me know.

The best deals were the Xbox360 games. A lot of them go for $1-5. The shmups were around $25 and in essentially new condition. I wasn’t collecting 360 before I left but I guess I am now 

The switch games were well priced and with tax free they were even better.

I was happy to finally find a decent copy of Doraemon on N64. This one always seems to be trashed when I am looking for it. The other N64 games were well priced and once again tax free made it even better.

Also got the Zelda TotK pro controller which was like $30 cheaper with the tax free vs what it costs here so I was happy to grab that for a good price.

Great topic idea and I love the story.

I think for me the two most common are being too trigger happy and not fully checking the condition on BIN items and the other is not consulting my list and just winging it only to find out I do have the game.

21 hours ago, DefaultGen said:

I drove 14 hours in a rented truck with a rented trailer to pick up a 1960s big ball bowler in working condition. When I got there it was "kinda working". But I bought it anyway because I wasted a whole day of my life getting there and they're pretty rare.

Never heard of this thing but after a google search I see it is huge! Do you have this set up in your house? It must take up a lot of room. 

12 hours ago, fcgamer said:

It just so happens I have some Asian version Xbox 360 games I'd like to unload, should you want Asian NTSC J versions.

Just looking for the Japanese version for now but will hit you up if I need any. Thanks  

I’m back from my holiday which means it’s back to gaming and backlogs. Finished off Hoshi no Kirby Yume no Izumi DX for the GBA (aka Kirby’s Adventure).

Several times I’ve tried to beat this game on the NES but end up getting distracted and play something else.

I stuck with it and really enjoyed this game. It is an insanely easy game, which I guess is just Kirby games in general. I added some challenge by avoiding any health items but it didn’t add too much challenge.

That aside, the graphic upgrade looks nice on the GBA and it has one of the best Kirby soundtracks imo. The levels are fun and offer some alternative paths to discover.

Overall, a game worth playing if you haven’t and need to fill some time with a cruising game.

Just gets over the line for an 8.

Check out The Mexican Runner videos too. He has beat every game, but not 100% either.

Tough question. Ikaruga is obviously one of the greats imo.

I love bullet hells so enjoy games like Mushihimesama, Deathsmiles, dodonpachi, espgaluda etc. But I also enjoy the old school shmups like gradius, r type and salamander.

My preferred system would be to have the arcade boards and an arcade but I don’t have the room so whichever system is most accurate is the next best thing.

The only thing that has really changed for me is I keep saying to myself that I won’t start another library of games and this is it. Then I go and find some good deals and I’m all of a sudden collecting another set 

I’ve found so many great Xbox360 games for cheap in Japan that it looks like I might go for a 360 set now 

Come on Fester’s Quest!

Not my thing but it doesn’t really surprise me. The older the NES gets the more the console gets dwindled down to the popular series that everyone knows and items that started a popular series. They will be the things the mainstream collect imo. 

43 minutes ago, Sumez said:

I'm actually really curious why you'd think that. Do you think getting all boxes is more enjoyable when you can keep resetting at the latest checkpoint until you get them - banging your head against the wall, instead of needing to learn the stages and play well? I understand that it's probably more stress-free, but to me it just becomes tedium instead.  

Getting them all in Crash 2 really felt to me like I was just doing work, rather than playing a game. The worst part was when getting them relied on some obscure secret you couldn't possibly tell up-front, such as going to a different stage entirely and standing in an inconspicuous spot in order to get warped to the first stage, and get access to a bunch of crates there. That's just god damn weird!

Maybe it's just that I'm generally more into straight forward arcade-style video game with a gameplay focus, but I find the streamlined focus of Crash 1 way more enjoyable.

And as for all the things Crash 2 adds, I'd say 3 does the same thing, but better.

I didn’t go for a 100% so maybe that‘s where the difference is.

I enjoy the challenge of 1 but I overall find the levels in 2 to be more enjoyable. The environments look better and the gameplay is mixed up just enough not to feel tedious (like 3). The soundtrack is also the best.

For me it goes 2-1-4-3.

1 hour ago, Sumez said:

Anyone who thinks 2 is the best game of the series should try playing 1, 3, or 4

I have played all of those and 2 is the best of them all. Definitely found the right balance with 2.

2 was definitely the best in the series even if it wasn’t quite as hard. They took what worked and made it more fun. Peak Crash imo.

8/10.

It’s an ok movie. I don’t remember a lot of it but I do remember finding it rather funny. I don’t really have a desire to go see it again so I went with a 5/10.

Hopefully this lasts longer than your last poll  

I haven’t watched it since it was on TV. I enjoyed it back then but I don’t know if I would today so I won’t revisit it. It’s very 90’s with its edgy and different humour vs the 80’s style.

I don’t know a lot of the songs you post, so I haven’t paid much attention, but you caught my eye with John Lennon. 

All 9’s for me with this lot.