KalKeg
BACKER
Second GOTW finished for 2023. Hearing Turtles In A Half Shell through a GB was super fun, but otherwise quite boring. Basically just walk forward, hit front or back to one-hit kill enemies, then continue to walk forward. Some light jumping here and there. The bosses were at least something, but could be stunned when hit so many could just be stun-locked into oblivion. At least it only took about 30 minutes.
1997
Third GOTW finished for 2023. This game is phenomenal. Arcade coin-guzzlers aren't really my type of thing, but this game is just great at what it does. Vertical and horizontal top-down perspectives change the landscape in fun ways, and the graphics look stunning. Each of the 10 main characters has their own primary and secondary weapon, as well as different walk/move/roll speeds, helping to make each one feel unique. The pace feels frenetic and fun, without being overly difficult. Absolute blast!
2010
Third GOTM finished for January 2023. A great looking remaster, but not even nostalgia from playing in my childhood could hold this one up. Perfect Dark is arguably one of the best N64 shooters, with some of the coolest weapon designs and absolutely fantastic music. However, it's still marred by objective completion conditions that are incredibly vague and unclear, awful story and characters, and level design that makes it incredibly easy to get turned around. Interesting to play a childhood favorite with better graphics, but not interested in coming back.
1999
Fourth GOTW finished for 2023. Some really bangin' soundtracks and a great style, marred by some outright AWFUL timings, especially when you're talking about emulation. I enjoyed the game, and some songs (Fire Fire) will live in my brain for a while after playing this.
Playing the Kingdom Hearts games in "chronological" order, I played KHII before BBS. While I can recognize KHII is the better and more ambitious game, this has become my favorite Kingdom Hearts game I've played. The Command Deck feels like what Re:CoM could've been if it hadn't sucked, and leveling and melding commands was extremely satisfying. The gameplay wasn't as good as KHII, but the transition from Terra > Ventus > Aqua really felt like a developer-intended progression of the Command system, and by the time the Final Episode rolled around I felt fully in control of the gameplay systems and it just felt GOOD. I love that each playthrough of the three main characters felt almost completely different, even though they visited the same worlds. The story was great, and it was really interesting to see a "prequel" of sorts in the character storylines as well as the Disney worlds (anyone else notice it was more heavily geared towards the early Disney movies?). I had a blast playing this one, and it's one I wouldn't mind revisiting.
Oh, and Leonard Nimoy absolutely killed it as Xehanort.
Oh, and Leonard Nimoy absolutely killed it as Xehanort.
Fifth GOTW finished for 2023. Music was great (and changed across the three main characters), and the game looked great. Movement was a bit clunky, and chugged when there were multiple enemies and projectiles on the screen, but overall felt good to play. Fanservice crossover bosses were fun, but the story was pretty shallow.
1987
Woof, does this game show its age. Several platforming bits that feel pretty awful to navigate, along with some frustrating difficulty. Glitchy textures and screen transitions don't help. Music was at least mostly good, but glad this one was short.
1989
First GOTM finished for February 2023. Playing this immediately after Mega Man, MM2 is a vast improvement. The power ups are better and the environments are better. The music is also awesome (Wily Theme chef's kiss). The entire Wily Fortress bit brings this down a bit, as it feels like any skill goes out the window in place of frustrating spamming, but overall a good game.
1988
Sixth GOTW finished for 2023. I can see why this one is considered a classic, and especially for a NES title it's got quite a lot going on in terms of platform movement and shooting, but damn is it hard! Sudden enemy pop-ins and those base levels ate my lunch. Glad to finally get this one off the backlog!
Really solid SMT game. The demon and character designs are fantastic, and the game just oozes style. The environment and story are pretty neat, and definitely a turn from other SMT games I've played so far. Being able to change your difficulty, affinity system, and map display options on the fly was pretty sweet and gave lots of options for gameplay. However, the last two dungeons (and honestly some others) are needlessly complicated and lengthy, and the loyalty system (while novel) can make for some frustrating gameplay when you're trying to smack a boss and your demon with a necessary spell gives you the cold shoulder.
Second GOTM finished for February 2023. This game looks downright gorgeous sometimes, and has a few neat ideas. However, the character and environment designs are rather ugly, the story is pretty run-of-the-mill, the jump from 2D to 3D for battle sequences is jarring, and the timed puzzles were downright infuriating (especially the egg-spinning ones). The pieces were here for a good game, but the bad dungeon design and poor execution ultimately led to a poor experience.
1990
Seventh GOTW finished for 2023. Was surprised how much I liked this game. The music was great, the level design was great (except that last one), and the quick decision-making between letting go of your balloons and pumping up new ones was tensely fun. Had a blast with this one!
Third GOTM finished for February 2023. This was my first Metroid game, and it seems like it was a pretty good place to start. Being on the GBA the graphics are great, the music is great, and the gameplay was fun as well. I had the same issue with this game that I had with SotN - and will likely have with any Metroidvania - in that I can recognize that this is a great game, but I'm not a huge fan of the backtracking loop. Also, both games had ending sequences/areas that I think spoiled the overall game by being too lengthy. Had some fun with this one, but it's not entering any gaming pantheon for me.
1999
Eighth GOTW finished for 2023. Sorta fun, but the spells are incredibly unbalanced after world five. Entire-map-spanning spells, that are regularly spammed by your opponents, rarely makes for an enjoyable experience. Each character actually feels completely different from the next, which is a great plus. However, due to the aforementioned spells, you're limited to a certain few so as not to get spell-spammed to oblivion each race. At least this one was short and the credits were soothing.
1991
Ninth GOTW finished for 2023. Not really a bad game, but quite stuttery with any decent amount of sprites on the screen and PAINFULLY slow. Cutesy art style, and very Japanese.