Made it to stage 2 of X-Wing Pilot Proving Grounds. I've a handle on throttle management, but didn't remember how to use the S-Foils.
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Tried and failed Historical X-Wing Combat Simulation #1 three times. I'm really struggling with having crucial commands be scattered across the keyboard. Need to set up a joystick or faff around until I have a comfortable gamepad binding set up.

Completed Sullust through to the Calamari finale.

Ehhhh. The "flight" model in this game is fucking garbage. 1h 7m
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Crashed at the end of Battle Above Taloraan. Set compatibility mode back to W98, no idea if that fixed it or if I just got lucky. Completed all missions up to Sullust.

I don't have the patience for this right now, but seems like something worth trying to clear eventually.

Defeated the Demon King. Boring tbh.

This isn't fun.

Completed the campaign. I'll likely return later to collect 100% completion.

Ah yes ... this is just Sonic Wings with no dolphins. Still, it's another one for the eventual 1CC pile.

Another good one to return to later.

This is one of the good ones.
Will definitely return.

Died fighting the first large ship.
I can't quite tell if collecting additional powerups increases ATK strength. I think PoW just refills the healthbar, and the other powerups might be non-stacking limited use?

Lost all remaining lives to the World 2 boss.

Burned most of my lives by mistiming manual bomb detonations like an imbecile on A-4.

Wiped on Lv4 vs. Not sure if I've played this version of magdrop before.

This is bullshit.

Lost to the Foot fairy. Due to my side getting spammed with bullshit that blocked each of my match opportunities with uncanny timing.

Credit fed my way past the Zone-B boss. I feel like you really need to retain your powerups from prior stages by not dying at all, otherwise you should just restart. The pea shooter feels insufficient to deal with the waves past the first early stretches.

Darius collapsed down to mostly just the good parts.
Wiped to the second boss. I realized that Super Darius actually has its own Boss Rush, this is just boss rush for the Plus lineup.

Oof, I've been meaning to play this for ages, but the cramped screen really mars the experience. It's too bad a full ultrawide version of Darius that implements the full boss roster doesn't exist far as I know.

Looks nice, but is another mediocre console STG.
Not sure if the arcade version is any better.

Wiped at Dufa.

Ran out of time j u s t before the time extension on Route 5. Bah.

Painfully mediocre.
Made it to the second stage, didn't realize dying wipes out the AF stock. Could probably 1CC this without too much effort by actually using the AF more frequently, but eh.

I'm struggling to figure out how to pass the barriers without burning a life to pass through. Supposedly there are switches I need to find. Mechanically this seems pretty good.
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Direly needs a radar function for the Bosconian-esque overhead stages. Scrolling-stage 2 expended the last of my patience with its bullshit "gotcha"s, capped off with a boss that punishes you hard if you don't have the sideshot powerup. This is an exercise in frustration.

Completed the first 15 stages, attaining A ranks on all sans the second. 54m
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Cleared the campaign with 12:09 remaining.

Damn, 9 ship choices, potentially randomized stage progression, and medals everywhere. Sensory overload.
Haven't managed to make it past stage 2 yet.

The smooth scrolling is nice, but the board feels more punishing for the first few balls until the safety castle appeared for some reason. 1,326,500.

Lost my first two balls pretty fast because I didn't realize how to use the left bumper at first, jej. 1,294,700. Really cool game.

Unlocked the Topaz tree. Didn't die until Immemorial Woods. The hitscan weapons proved too difficult to use reliably without crosshairs.