regmcfly wrote:

1. Tiny Toons Adventures : Buster Busts Loose Possibly still the best birthday present I ever got. Each of the 6 levels iterates madly on the general concept of jumping and spin kicking. It's over in 30 minutes, but I've completed this game 30+ times. Welcome, 2023.

3. ElecHead - Switch (2hrs)

Outstanding puzzle platformer that feels like one of those rare genius indies where everything is perfectly formed.  Think Fez or Celeste levels of flawlessness (feel free to replace those titles with The Witness/Shovel Knight/A Monsters Expedition or whatever might fuel a disagreement or two).  It's not a long game, but it's a wonderfully assured package where the puzzles designed around the limited moveset get absolutely everything right.  It controls well, all abilities and possibilities slot into focus quickly and solutions to trickier problems - which I was ready for by the time they arrived - made me want to kick myself rather than the screen.

Describing it as a sort of (thinking outside the) BoxBoy meets VVVVV via Decap Attack just about works, so I'll go with that, and suggest that anyone interested keeps extra info down to a bare minimum.  There are some deep secrets tucked away within the short adventure - I only found 7 of 20 hidden chips - which I presume provide extra challenge and a further ending.  So at full price it's £7.99 for maybe 2-4hrs of near perfection.  Lovely stuff. [9]



1. Slipstream [9]
2. Blazing Chrome [8]
3. ElecHead [9]
4. UnderMine [8]
5. Super Fantasy Zone 78%
6. My Time on Frog Island [5]
7. Mighty Gunvolt Luminous Avenger iX [7]
8. Lunistice [8]
9. Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider [8]
10. Lichtspeer: Double Speer Edition [8]
11. Resident Evil 3 Remake [5]
12. Melatonin [8]
13. S.N.I.P.E.R: Hunter Scope [6]
14. Donut Dodo [8]
15. Retro Highway [5]
16. Hi Fi Rush [7]
17. Orbital Bullet [4]
18. Swordship [8]
19. Alisia Dragoon [1]
20. Kuru Kuru Kururin [9]
21. Olli Olli World: Finding the Flowzone [8]
22. Please Touch The Artwork [N/A]
23. Alien Storm [4 out of 6]
24. Sophstar [9]
25. Gunstar Future Heroes [7]
26. Andro Dunos [3 out of 6]
27. Ninja Commando [5 out of 6]
28. Sonic The Hedgehog Pocket Advance [4 out of 6]
29. Asura Blade: Sword of Dynasty [3 out of 6]
30. Pulstar [1 out of 6]
31. Asterix [5 out of 6....but then I went back and gave it 2 out of 6. So I dunno, 3 out of 6?]
32. A Short Hike [9]
33. Onion Assault [7]
34. Robocop Arcade [6 out of 6]
35. Rastan Saga II [2 out of 6]
36. Cadillacs & Dinosaurs [5 out of 6]
37. Evil West [7]
38. Hook [2 out of 6]
39. The Cliffhanger Featuring Edward Randy [5 out of 6]
40. Shock Troopers 2nd Squad [3 out of 6]
41. Dolphin Blue [5 out of 6]
42. Bare Knuckle Z [6]
43. The Lucky Dime Caper [5 out of 6]
44. Valiant Hearts: Coming Home [7]
45. Alien Vs Predator [6 out of 6]
46. The Simpsons [2 out of 6]
47. The Punisher [4 out of 6]
48. Golden Axe: Revenge of Death Adder [4 out of 6]
49. Sengoku 3 [3 out of 6]
50. SegaSonic The Hedgehog [1 out of 6]
51. Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow Over Mystara [4.5 out of 6]
52. Double Dragon Neon [6]
53. Captain America & The Avengers [3 out of 6]
54. Spider-Man: The Videogame [3 out of 6]
55. Storyteller [6]
56. Battletoads Arcade [1 out of 6]
57. Mazin Saga: Mutant Fighter [3.5 out of 6]
58. Shadow Force [2.5 out of 6, 4.75 out of 6, or somewhere in between]
59. Tchia [7] (Tilly 4 stars)
60. Michael Jackson's Moonwalker [5 out of 6]
61. Pu-Li-Ru-La [2.5 out of 6]
62. Strider (2014) [8]
63. Adios [7]
64. Comix Zone 53%
65. Streets of Rage 2 98%
66. Violent Storm [4 out of 6]
67. Denjin Makai [4.5 out of 6]
68. Guardians: Denjin Makai II [6 out of 6]
69. Undercover Cops [3 out of 6]
70. Warrior Blade: Rastan III [4 out of 6]
71. Spinfrog: All Aboard The Frogcopter [6]
72. Sports Story [7]
73. Aliens [4 out of 6]
74. Alien3: The Gun [3.5 out of 6]
75. X-Men (32X) [N/A]
76. Bucky O'Hare [2.5 out of 6]
77. Tetris Effect [9]
78. The Gladiator [4 out of 6]
79. Riot City [3.5 out of 6]
80. Ninja Baseball Bat Man [4 out of 6]
81. Growl [4 out of 6]
82. Knuckle Bash [3 out of 6]
83. Goat Simulator 3 [8]
84. Final Fight 2 [4.5 out of 6]
85. Pistol Whip [9]
86. Sagaia
87. Darius Gaiden
88. Inscryption [8]
89. Synth Riders [8]
90. Night Slashers [4.5 out of 6]
91. Metamorphic Force [4 out of 6]
92. Terror of Tthe Hemasaurus [8]
93. What the Bat [6]
94. Panzer Dragoon Remake [7]
95. Huntdown [9]
96. Cuphead: The DLC [9]
97. As Dusk Falls [8]
98. Big Karnack [2.5 out of 6]
99. Runner [5]
100. TMNT Shredder's Revenger [8]
101. Sonic The Hedgehog 2 94%
102. Planet of Lana [8]
103. The Callisto Protocol [8]
104. Willow [3 out of 6]
105. Immortality [10]
106. TMNT [3 out of 6]
107. The Excavation of Hob's Barrow [8]
108. Sonic The Hedgehog 3 + Knuckles 95%
109. Spidersaurs [4]
110. El Viento 81%
111. Sonic The Hedgehog CD 73%
112. Monomals [8]
113. Bramble: The Mountain King [6]
114. X-Men Arcade [3 out of 6]
115. Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope [7]
116. Moss Book II [8]
117. Splatoon 3 [8]
118. Garlic [8]
119. Steamworld Dig [8]
120. The Pinball Wizard [6]

Stick the rest in this year's thread? Seems a shame to lose the write ups to them (or even just scores).

Minnesänger wrote:

hylian_elf wrote:

OP updated with images from Cocha. Went through all previous threads and updated Hall of Fame and everyone's annual results.  May have missed some.

I managed to get past the 52 mark last year: http://www.thebearandbadger.co.uk/discussion/comment/2142845#Comment_2142845 Completed a few more but wrote up 54.

Cheers, OP updated.  Edit your post above with games completed this year as and when maybe?

1 - Ailment (Xbox) - 4-5 hours

A top-down sci-fi shooter. Nothing really super scary in it but by god the music/sound effect when you encounter enemies chilled me to my very core. Gameplay is satisfactory but gets a bit samey after 3 or 4 levels [6]

Moot_Geeza wrote:

regmcfly wrote:

1. Tiny Toons Adventures : Buster Busts Loose Possibly still the best birthday present I ever got. Each of the 6 levels iterates madly on the general concept of jumping and spin kicking. It's over in 30 minutes, but I've completed this game 30+ times. Welcome, 2023.

One of my SNES favourites. It really made me sit up and realise I was in the 16bit era.

1. Firewatch. Nice little adventure mystery. Ending was a bit disappointing but the journey was great. [8]

1. The Case of the Golden Idol [7]
Investigation game that's very intuitive and easy to get into, with plenty of clever clues and entertaining plot twists along the way. It's divided into a series of separate murders, with a display of the crime scene frozen in time (a little like Obra Dinn) that you can click around to take a look at the suspects present and any clues lying around. You also flick back and forth to a solution screen where you arrange everything you've found in the form of key words and try to make sense of it all. If anything, the solution screen is a little over-helpful, as it provides colour-coded slots for you to place the pertinent clues into, and you can sometimes simply guess what it's asking for, which detracts from putting together the solution. But it's still a neat system, and the crimes themselves are well-constructed.

Still waiting for wario's review. I really liked it. A cinty rec from last year's thread.

5. Super Fantasy Zone - MegaDrive (35mins)

16-bit sequel to a series synonymous with the Master System.  There's a touch of Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle to it, whereby it looks brighter, bolder and chunkier, but feels like it's just coasting rather than attempting to improve on what came before in any meaningful way.  The graphics are nice enough, but for a 1992 release I'd say its a little weak overall.  It's still good fun, it just seems to ignore certain steps taken to improve the series with Fantasy Zone II.  Levels are single areas, much like the first game, and the shop seems to only appear as you start a stage (and fucks off immediately if you don't go in, which removes the tactical upgrades aspect as far as I can see).  I rushed through, so maybe I'm wrong with the shop thing and it returns further into a level if you ignore it initially, but it seemed weird.  Plus the laser is easily the best weapon for destroying bases, unless I'm missing something, and any alternative special weapon will run out by the time you reach a boss anyway (again, perhaps I missed something obvious and this isn't the case).

It's also a bit up and down in terms of difficulty, with most of the game feeling like a pushover compared to earlier entries in the series, albeit with occasional spikes that feel poorly designed (enemies that surround the player as they appear in a particular stage were extremely annoying, and a boss that splits into smaller versions of itself just felt off).  Music didn't seem all that fantastic either?  I dunno, maybe this caught me in the wrong mood because there's not a lot wrong with it per se, but comparatively speaking it's not in the same class as FZII, which is a shame as the series ended here.  Its absolutely ripe for a Tribute Games overhaul, imo - a modern Fantasy Zone game could be all kinds of legit.   This isn't really; it struck me as somewhere between okay and reasonably good, when a full effort Mega Drive entry could have been outstanding.  Kudos for the ending sequence though, which is in keeping with the full bonkers schtick of the franchise.  78%.

Did I even finish a game last year....?
Does Endwalker count?

Can some send me one of those Time Turner's that Moot has. Or a brain that doesn't suffer from bouts of anxiety that block me from sitting still and relaxing enough to enjoy a game. Tah.

ShabbyMcCrabby wrote:

Or a brain that doesn't suffer from bouts of anxiety that block me from sitting still and relaxing enough to enjoy a game.

I don't get time to relax.

I loved that one. Eventually. Art style did the trick for me too. Did you play Blazing Chrome?

6. My Time on Frog Island - Switch (2.5hrs)

Chosen by Tilly in an attempt to fill the void left by Lil Gator Game, which she's finished solo since we played together definitely gives 10/10.  This one didn't go quite so well, to the point where she left me to it for the final session last night.  It's not an awful game, but at the same time it's just a twee fetch questathon that's lacking the sprinkling of pixie dust you get with the best examples of This Sort Of Thing.  Your quest is to repair your boat by helping the villagers do various things in exchange for necessary items, which is occasionally baffling as they all converse in picture form - I still don't know what one frog lady wanted to swap for a scarecrow head she was carrying, but it turns out it wasn't required to set sail anyway, thankfully.

We didn't encounter any glitches, so this will probably sound like an odd statement, but it felt like a game desperate to soft lock at any given time.  I'm basing this solely on the fact that all items stay where you place them, which means if you drop, say, the rope behind a bush and forget it's there (as the bush would obscure the item completely), any chance of progression would be totally fucked as there's no option to reset item position as far as I could see.  We survived without anything dramatic happening, it just seems like an outrageous oversight to me.  Who knows - maybe stuff respawns if you lose it for more than a day or two.  

Anyway, the game itself has a certain level of charm - enough to keep it ticking over at any rate.  Not my cup of tea, so I never would have started this solo.  It's fair to say I didn't hate it in the end, even if Tilly wasn't fussed.  I can't go higher than [5] though, given the fact that it's £25 full price (the current price of £9.99 is a little more like it, but there's really not that much to do once you figure out what you need to be doing).  Switch performance is okay, but we played it all on the telly anyway, so waiting for a similar price on another console would've been a better option.  It's not a bad looking game.  

 

7. Mighty Gunvolt Luminous Avenger iX - Switch (2hrs 37mins)

Pronounced 'icks', apparently. I had the first two Azure Striker games on 3DS - underappreciated run & gun with-a-twist bangers imo - and played one of the Mighty or Burst (or Mighty Burst?) spin-offs on Vita. This is a further side offering that revolves around a character introduced in Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 (I think...I skip the cutscenes tbh). The devs make quality OTT throwback side scrollers anyway, so I bit at half price. Dull anecdote incoming: along with Stray this was one of the reasons I signed up for a month of PS+ last year, as it's suppsedly part of the Extra selection, but as far as I can tell its not possible to start the download as the listing is glitched on the storefront. And still was when I grabbed another month recently. Wankers.

The basic set-up is 'flow state Megaman', albeit with a heavy emphasis on speed running/stylish play and a difficulty level that allows you to tear through most stages with little risk of dying. The general rules of thumb are: stages put up minimal resistance, and bosses have maybe a 1 in 4 chance of being tricky - most of them are pushovers too. There are two bosses that stuck out like sore thumbs however, and the last chap in particular just seemed massively misjudged compared to what came before. Genuinely crazily difficult out of nowhere. In keeping with at least one other game in the series (memory is hazy) there's a slim chance you'll be revived upon death: a cheesy pop tune plays as you're resurrected with a full health bar, which means even the trickier bosses won't last long because there's something like a 1 in 5 chance of the game gifting you a gimme. It's an odd system, but it's clear that for the most part the devs want you to settle into a rhythm and git gud rather than git stuk. Much like Megaman certain bosses are weak to certain weapons you acquire after beating other bosses, but even after working out which ones the last guardian was weak to I still struggled, and would've been absolutely nowhere near success had the dice roll revive not kicked in at a key moment.

Instead of Megaman-esque shooting you'll spend most of your time airborne, dash tagging enemies to mark them for homing shots. Any damage you take will wipe Bullit slots before it touches your energy bar - which also serves as your dash and counter meter - and the whole thing is a controlled, kinetic cycle of zipping around while speed tagging and reloading (which you can only do in the air, and I had to remap immediately as double tapping down just felt wrong). It takes a while to get used to, but not as long as you'd think because it's a strong system that's a genuinely laudable attempt to do something different well, rather than just different. It's a lovely looking game too, which of course helps, and generally feels like a lost 32-bit classic, much like the rest of the series. There are story sections, and a base of operations where you can talk to embarrassed schoolgirls (sagely advice young lady: maybe cover up a bit then) awkward boys and over-confident junior mechanics if you like (there's a chance I've conflated two characters here actually), but there doesn't seem to be any pressing need to read any of the dialogue. What little I took in struck me as very earnest and Japanese, which is fit for purpose as they know their anime robots afaik. Bosses have three or four chunks to their energy bar, and when they're on their last legs they perform a devastating attack that's announced with a flurry of animated panels dissecting the screen, and serious shouting of silly things. It's great. A fake example of the wordsoups you'll be treated to: pulsating forces strive the vigor beneath my wings, release my soul from above. ATTAAAACK MELANOMA!!!.

Thanks to the weird difficulty I think I can only stretch to a [7] for this. If it had all been breezy that would've been fine, or if the whole thing had been evil that's fine too (easy to say now tbf), but the spikes and absolute brick wall of the final boss suggest a dev team that hasn't quite mastered all aspects of its A-game. Still, there's an [8] here for those who like to replay things I'm sure. Controls could do with being less fiddly and your companion continues to play say-what-you-see throughout the adventure, offering snippets of commentary like 'air kill!', or 'go for a combo!' despite the fact that chaining air dashes will likely be your bread and butter before the end of the first stage. It's a bit like Megaman having a bot pal that says things like 'shoot it in the face!', 'don't fall down that hole!' or 'careful now!', but there's so much going on at any given time it's not a huge deal. Good game, I'll treat myself to iX2 eventually.