Interesting write up, I didn’t know this game existed!
Sounds like it was the good kind of shallow game at least, nothing worse than a shallow game that outstays its welcome long before it’s over!
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Played and passed a route on Densha de Go Sanyo Shinkansen last night. It’s still exhilarating to be riding at around 300km/h, and to make large changes to your speed at very short notice.
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Alien 3 On the Genesis. Not my favorite by a longshot. The visuals are decent but the gameplay is just repetitive and the timer is super annoying. I hear the SNES version is better. Going to give that a try next.
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I think it’s worse but it’s basically a different game so opinions will vary. I rented the Genesis game back in the day, and then bought the SNES one thinking it was the same game with better graphics. The Genesis game has better weapon feel and is more intense. And I love the Euro-synth Matt Furniss music in the Genesis game. The SNES game’s soundtrack is solid cinematic stuff but not as catchy.
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Gonna have to agree with @NeoZeedeater. The Genesis version is the better version despite that annoying timer.
Kororinpa (Wii) credits
I played half of it in 2007 “going for all gold” and have just jumped back in to finish it as quickly as possible.
Still got secret and bonus levels to go.
Though I’m not sure I’ll bother with mirror mode.
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My first complete playthrough of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night in years. No surprise, it holds up beautifully.
While it lacks a lot of the QoL features introduced later in the series, and outside of the first 30 minutes or so doesn’t provide much challenge (even for someone like me who enjoys easy games), it’s just such a joy to explore the castle, fill out your map, seek out missing enemies, and accrue power over your play through. Timeless graphics and art direction add to that “just one more room” mentality due to the way the game switches up environments with regularity, and varies movement through those environments so the player doesn’t fall into a repetitive pattern.
I was surprised by how quickly I plowed through the second castle, though that was no doubt helped by the Crissaegrim I got early on. Seeking out the last few map percentage was a heck of a lot easier now with the Internet than it was when I was 16.
I still consider Aria of Sorrow to be the definitive Metroidvania game, but it was nice to go back to the original and be reminded of how pitch perfect Igarashi’s first take on the genre turned out.
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Super Mario World on Super Famicom. First time playing through this version and its pretty much the same as the US /EUR versions with a handful of minor differences in levels, localization, and names. The most different are the names of the enemies which were all completely different. Still a great game and I found myself really admiring the pixel art.
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Magnum Killer would never fly here with Nintendo in America hehe.
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Chrono Trigger // SNES via SNES9X on Wii // PVM-1354Q
Chrono Trigger is my favourite game of all time, and the game I’ve played and completed the most in my life. Instead of using NG+, I started a fresh playthrough for the first time since the DS re-release in 2008 on my SNES Classic a few months ago, and then stopped post-Ocean Palace when Link’s Awakening and Dragon Quest XI hit the Switch. Fast forward to now, and, being in desperate need of some comfort food gaming, I migrated my save over to SNES9X on my Wii and completed a 100% run of the game, including stocking up on Gold Studs, Prism Dresses, etc. for my inevitable NG+ playthrough. As always, it’s a brilliant game that holds up when examined from every angle. Pitch perfect pacing, wonderful, vibrant and diverse graphics, sprites, and locations, an obviously God-tier soundtrack, and a loveable and memorable cast of characters make Chrono Trigger a delight to play the first or nth time.
One takeaway from a fresh playthrough was that the difficult moments I remember (Guardian, Giga Gaia, Queen Zeal) didn’t give me much trouble. I’ve been watching 100% glitchless speedruns of CT lately, and I realize I’m not even close to maximizing my strategy, but as long as you’re smart about how you approach battles, bring a healer, and don’t make silly moves, even the most difficult bosses are pretty manageable.
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Yea, even without doing a NG+, CT is a much easier game on subsequent play-throughs once you know the weaknesses for all of the bosses.
Yup. The Golem Twins were giving me a heck of a thrashing until I remembered the secrete to beating them, then it’s a cakewalk. Back when I was a kid, I… didn’t really understand strategy in battle. Haha.
Oh yea, they destroyed me the first time through.
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Told myself I’d upload a video showing just how much the Mission Stick controller and its-built in autofire function makes a mincemat out of the original Panzer Dragoon. Was a lot of fun!
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I one-credited Alpha Mission II! (I had done it before, but on the home console “normal” setting instead of the arcade default “MVS”. Needles to say, I’m pretty pleased)
There’s no doubt in my mind ASO II is one of the best game in the Neo Geo library, and the most overlooked. Beneath the glossy Xevious clone exterior, the shop and armor system gives the game tons of depth and a long term planning aspect that’s pretty rare for the genre. It deserves a lot better than the “Generic shmup it’s Ok/10 I guess” reviews it currently gets from the “enthusiast” community.
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Just finished the PS2 remake of Phantasy Star. I wish I could thank the fan translation team personally for bringing this to English speaking folks. Great game! 
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Always enjoyed playing this game on and off but never considered it to be completable so hats off to you sir!