2021 in review (games I revisited)
I first joined this site in late 2020 to log my attempts at revisiting and re-experiencing my childhood and teenhood games. I haven't gotten to all of them yet but I've made a significant dent in the list!
This list contains, in rough ranked order, all the games I've played this year that I've played for a decent amount of time previously; I'm also making a separate list for games I played for the first time this year! https://www.backloggd.com/u/gyozayellatcloud/list/2021-in-review-games-i-played-for-the-first-time/
This list contains, in rough ranked order, all the games I've played this year that I've played for a decent amount of time previously; I'm also making a separate list for games I played for the first time this year! https://www.backloggd.com/u/gyozayellatcloud/list/2021-in-review-games-i-played-for-the-first-time/
53 Games
18 playthroughs this year!
2
Barely feels dated. Admittedly that doesn't mean as much coming from a guy who plays lots of old games, but this is full of genius gameplay and level design.
Just so incredibly fun, and it's making me excited to get to SOR4 eventually!
First played this as a teen. Not my first FF so my nostalgia goggles aren't screwed on that tightly, but unquestionably one of the best. Square sure don't make them like they used to...
Watched my uncle play it on release, played it myself about 10 years ago, went back to it this year. In my opinion, comfortably the best RE game on the PS1.
Another incredibly fun game to go back to. Easy enough to beat in one session but never ever feels boring.
Never finished it as a kid because of its sheer length, I'm glad I got through it! I marginally prefer the 'feel' of Sonic 2 but the three playable characters here really push it head and shoulders above the other 2D Sonic games.
8
Possibly the best fighting game on the Playstation. Loved it in high school and still like it today.
So happy I finally managed to set this up on DOSBox. A very good fighting game with great ideas that more than holds up. Uniquely for a game of its era, the single-player experience is a real treat.
If it were a touch more streamlined and weren't so unbalanced in every way, it would probably be my favorite game!
So far ahead of its competitors (and even many of its successors), it's nevertheless been eclipsed by more recent offerings. Coming back to this was a great nostalgia trip but also a genuinely good gaming experience.
One of the rare games where annoyances like fixed camera angles and limited saves come across as a feature and not a bug.
Simple doesn't mean bad. One of my favorite ways to waste time! Protip: playing Through the Fire and Flames in the background shaves about 10 seconds off my average completion times
Enjoyed this as a kid though I didn't get very far. Can't believe how good this looks, sounds, and feels. Needs more love for sure!
A wise man once said, "I'd buy that for a dollar!"
16
Best game from the series I've played so far, thanks to actually having a playable draw distance and framerate! I enjoy it more than I did as a kid, probably because I actually know how to drive now, and this is the closest thing to a pure racer in the series.
Not just a great game, but a huge quantum leap forward from the original! Too bad about the level design from Metropolis onwards.
Most fans of the series point to this as their favorite, or at least in their top 3 - I wouldn't rank it that high but it's excellent nonetheless. This year was my third time playing it and some of its warts were a bit more pronounced this time.
Possibly my favorite Puyo clone! Not much can compare to the visceral satisfaction of racking up a huge combo and watching the opponent's sneering jerk-face devolve into panic. Happy to say that I'm much better at this now than when I was a kid.
I couldn't make it past stage 3 as a kid, and while I got a bit further I still needed savestates to get through the endgame. Still liked it though; never has something so unforgiving and mean been simultaneously so cute.
A bit unfairly maligned. It's very different from the previous games in the series, but I liked it a lot!
I enjoyed this so much when I was younger. On my recent replay I don't think it's as strong an experience as the original DOOM, but still lots of fun!
I enjoyed this marginally more than Sonic 3, mostly because of the ability to play as Knuckles
I wish Sega just waited a little while to release S3&K as Sonic 3. This was nice but felt like half a game.
25
Not quite as memorable as Rocket Knight Adventures, but plenty solid.
26
Not the tightest game, but very original. It rather reminds me of Ehrgeiz, but better.
27
Iconic for sure, but its spiritual successors added stuff (like combos) that appeals more to my monke brain.
If you have four people and only one potato computer and one keyboard, this is one of the best games you could play.
29
One of the better licensed games I've played.
Really strong first entry in the series, with really memorable characters and decent gameplay.
31
Oh so cheap and janky but it's short length works in its favor. One of my favorite art styles in any game.
I liked this a lot more than when I played it as a kid; it has a surprising amount of variety and depth.
It's been said that the bonus chapter feels more like fanmade content than an official game and I definitely see where this comes from. Way too gimmicky to live up to the original game's excellence.
Very decent start to the series, though it was still finding its feet.
Lots of multiplayer fun or a decently-paced arcade-style single player mode. Hard to go too wrong with this, even though it's not the type of game I usually love.
I'm not a fan of the series but this was the best MK pre-remake, it was rather fun revisiting this!
Super adorable but lacks some of the depth that the better puzzle games have.
38
A rare stumble from Square, the FFVII characters were probably the most memorable thing about this.
It's not as bad as I remember it, but Sonic really should have stayed in 2 dimensions.
I'm glad a DC superhero fighting game exists on 16-bit consoles, but... it just exists.
41
Best of the 3 Genesis Rash games
42
I liked the rather large movesets and the variety of stages, but this game was just mean.
43
Not my favorite puzzle game - something about having only two-color pills makes the gameplay too simplistic.
I'm glad I played it, but even with savestates I don't have the patience to finish it.
Aged like milk. If there were no blood this would barely stand out amongst the sea of Street Fighter copycats.
46
I like the concept but trying to make it feel smooth on the Genesis hardware was probably an impossible task.
47
Hardest of the Rash games I've played so far, and not in a fun or fair way.
48
Decent first half, bullshit second half.
The clumsy controls made it a lot harder than it should have been.
The good: Spider-Man's moveset and smooth web-swinging feel. The bad: almost everything else.
Unbelievably bullshit AI and not enough of an improvement over the first game to make it worth it.
I wanted to love this! But the controls were abysmal.
53
The basement farts in the Resident Evil Director's Cut didn't bother me, but I draw the line here.