Beaten In 2023

[Aussie2B]

1. SWAT Police (Arcade via MAME) 2/2
2. Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure (PSP) 2/7
3. Barney's Hide & Seek Game (Genesis) 2/24
4. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (MSX via Vita Metal Gear Solid HD Collection) 3/8
5. TwinBee Da! (PSP) 3/10
6. Detana! TwinBee (PSP) 3/13
7. TwinBee Yahho! (PSP) 3/16
8. TwinBee (PSP) 3/19

Whoo-hoo, I finally managed to clear the fifth and final boss of the original arcade TwinBee, so I'm counting it as beaten, even if there's no actual end to this game. The numbers for the stages keep going up, but Stage 6 through Stage 10 are basically just a hard mode, akin to Konami console games that stick you back at the beginning for a harder version of the game, like Castlevania and Stinger. Only difference is that there's no credits or anything in between with this. So if I've counted those other games as beaten without doing the harder loop, I'm not gonna sweat it here either. (Actually, I have beaten the harder loop in Stinger, but that's beside the point.)

[Az]

10. World Heroes (Neo-Geo) 04/12

Made a quick 1CC run through this when testing a monitor after doing some work on it. I know this is a rubbish game but I absolutely love it.

[Az]

11. Battletoads: The Arcade Game (Xbox One) 04/16

I slogged my way through this last night through Rare Replay, never played this one before. What a horrible game, and that's coming from someone that can enjoy even the worst of beat 'em ups. The fighting mechanics are unsatisfying & the levels are just way too long and boring. Pretty much every section could be cut in half and still might be too long.

Screenshots from back in the day made this look jaw dropping. After finally playing it though.. I'm not a big fan of Rare and this game personifies a lot of the reasons why. All this effort was spent on huge sprites and lame one-off stage mechanics like the cavern or shoot 'em up spaceship sections, yet the actual fighting part is no better than the NES original.

[Aussie2B]

1. SWAT Police (Arcade via MAME) 2/2
2. Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure (PSP) 2/7
3. Barney's Hide & Seek Game (Genesis) 2/24
4. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (MSX via Vita Metal Gear Solid HD Collection) 3/8
5. TwinBee Da! (PSP) 3/10
6. Detana! TwinBee (PSP) 3/13
7. TwinBee Yahho! (PSP) 3/16
8. TwinBee (PSP) 3/19
9. Brain Lord (SNES) 4/27

I finally finished this one up after over a month of very slowly chipping away at it (often playing only around 30 minutes a day). The in-game clock was at about 19 hours, I believe, which seems in line with what most SNES RPGs and adventure games tend to take me. It's only got a few dungeons, but each is pretty meaty, akin to the Zelda games that only have a few. I know the reception of this game is pretty mixed, for whatever reason, but I found it to be a satisfying, enjoyable adventure with no particularly glaring flaws. Definitely has its quirks, some a product of their time, but nothing that bothered me much. Like Illusion of Gaia back in September, I'm happy to finally have this under my belt after owning both for probably 20 years, give or take. It's actually funny how much the two games have in common, for me personally at least. I bought them roughly around the same time period, beat them for the first time only half a year apart, they're both SNES Zelda-style adventure games from Enix, of course, they were both published at practically the same time, with back-to-back features in the same issue of Nintendo Power, and they're both in loose trilogies of SNES/SFC games (four-game series if you count their PlayStation games), of which I've only played the second games. I didn't even know until after I started playing that Brain Lord is connected to The 7th Saga and Mystic Ark. It's funny because I rarely buy Japanese artbooks outside of those related to tri-Ace's games, but two of the ones I do have are one by the character designer of Brain Lord and one by the character designer of Mystic Ark. I never knew that these two artists I love worked on the same series. It's hilarious that Remeer, such a dumpy looking character in-game, has such beautiful designs otherwise. I have a copy of Mystic Ark, and I never would've guessed it's the Brain Lord guy on the cover. Heck, I always thought that cover art was of a girl.

[Aussie2B]

1. SWAT Police (Arcade via MAME) 2/2
2. Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure (PSP) 2/7
3. Barney's Hide & Seek Game (Genesis) 2/24
4. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (MSX via Vita Metal Gear Solid HD Collection) 3/8
5. TwinBee Da! (PSP) 3/10
6. Detana! TwinBee (PSP) 3/13
7. TwinBee Yahho! (PSP) 3/16
8. TwinBee (PSP) 3/19
9. Brain Lord (SNES) 4/27
10. Akumajou Special: Boku Dracula-kun (FC/NES) 5/8

I didn't even get a chance to post that I had started this game, but it only took me a few short nighttime sessions to finish it off for the first time. It may be a spin-off, but it's nice to have another Castlevania game, kinda, sorta, under my belt. I do have a copy of Castlevania Anniversary Collection, with the first-ever localization of this, but I figured I'd go through the game with the legit cart and original hardware before I mess with an emulated version. That said, it's good I have a small understanding of Japanese. You'd think what appears to be a straightforward platformer would be import-friendly for most anybody, but it's got a fair bit of text. Between the hiragana passwords and the quiz in the New York stage, I can picture people who can't read any Japanese getting annoyed, so kudos to Konami for getting it localized. Though, I wish the compilation also included the Game Boy Kid Dracula, since I don't have a copy and sure as hell am not paying the current secondhand going rate. Anyway, most of the game was pretty easy, but the two stages ending with fights against Galamoth were a pain, at least for my tired, end-of-day self.

It's hard to believe it's been over ten years since I last beat any NES/Famicom game, but I did knock out a bunch of NES games in the '00s and haven't felt like replaying most. I've already beaten more games on home consoles than I did last year, haha, and I'm well on track for exceeding the total number of games I beat last year.

[Aussie2B]

1. SWAT Police (Arcade via MAME) 2/2
2. Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure (PSP) 2/7
3. Barney's Hide & Seek Game (Genesis) 2/24
4. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (MSX via Vita Metal Gear Solid HD Collection) 3/8
5. TwinBee Da! (PSP) 3/10
6. Detana! TwinBee (PSP) 3/13
7. TwinBee Yahho! (PSP) 3/16
8. TwinBee (PSP) 3/19
9. Brain Lord (SNES) 4/27
10. Akumajou Special: Boku Dracula-kun (FC/NES) 5/8
11. BoxBoxBoy! (3DS) 5/16

I didn't get a chance to post about starting this game either. It's only been about a year since I beat the first BoxBoy!, but this game feels less like a totally new game and more like DLC adding more levels to the original. Even its "gimmick" (for lack of a better word) of creating two sets of boxes before any disappear, despite being presented as a new thing, was first in the original game (but only in post-game bonus stages, if I remember correctly), But that's just an observation, not a criticism. The first was enjoyable, and this was totally worth dropping another $5 for. Like the first game, there's a fair number of post-game bonus stages, so even though I got the ending and credits, I have more to do. Looks to me like the post-game accounts for about a third of all the stages. In total, it seems like this sequel has a similar amount of content as the original, but I've been blowing through it faster. Part of it is that I already understand the mechanics and various techniques you can pull off, and another part is that data gets carried over, so I have all the costumes I unlocked in the original. I'm almost always in the Bunny costume for the higher jump, unless the extra box granted by the Wizard costume seems more useful. The game obviously has to be beatable without those for people who, for whatever reason, skipped the first, so you could say I'm playing on "easy mode" by using the costumes that improve Qbby's abilities. But if they're gonna give me the option to use them, may as well take advantage. I've still been a little stumped here and there, so it's not like the costumes completely eliminate the challenge. And I'm all for a laid-back, breezy puzzle game, rather than something that's gonna drive me mad like Boxxle.

[Spartacus]

I was going to ask if the 3DS eShop BoxBoy! download was a trilogy or were the three 3DS games BoxBoy!, BoxBoxBoy!, and Bye-Bye BoBoy! sold seperately, but you mentioned dropping another $5 so I'm guessing they were sold individually.
I purchased the physical Japnese version called Hako Boy! Hakozume Box which included all three games and the Japanese exclusive Qbby amiibo. The amiibo is region free and now highly sought after, fetching high prices on eBay. Sadly, the 3DS being region locked, the game requires a Japanese 3DS to play the physical version.
A fourth BoxBoy! + BoxGirl! is available on Nintendo eShop for the Switch and includes multiplayer. Personally, I never download anything because they look like ass on my game shelf. But I certainly understand the convenience.

[AceAerosmith]

1.Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (PS4) 01/10/23
2.Murdered: Soul Suspect (PS4) 01/16/23
3.Call of Duty:WWII (PS4) 01/25/23
4.Sniper 3:Ghost Warrior (PS4) 02/12/23
5.Assassin's Creed Origins (PS4) 02/26/23
6.Still Life (XBX) 04/01/23
7.DarkWatch (PS2) 04/03/21
8.Half-Life (PS2) 04/25/23
9.Ratchet: Deadlocked (PS2) 05/07/23
10.Reservoir Dogs (PS2) 05/08/23
11.Call of Duty 3 (PS3) 05/31/23
12.Mafia II (PS3) 06/05/23
13.Quantum Theory (PS3) 06/14/23
14.Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater [Metal Gear Solid HD Collection] (PS3) 06/22/23
15.Aliens Vs.Predator (PS3) 07/18/23
16.Infamous:Second Son (PS4) 07/31/23
17.Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon - Wildlands (PS4) 08/14/23
18.Rogue Trooper (PS2) 11/20/23

[Tron 2.0]

10. World Heroes (Neo-Geo) 04/12

Made a quick 1CC run through this when testing a monitor after doing some work on it. I know this is a rubbish game but I absolutely love it.

It is kind of hard to go back to to the first world heroes with the likes of wh2 jet and whp going forward.

[Aussie2B]

1. SWAT Police (Arcade via MAME) 2/2
2. Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure (PSP) 2/7
3. Barney's Hide & Seek Game (Genesis) 2/24
4. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (MSX via Vita Metal Gear Solid HD Collection) 3/8
5. TwinBee Da! (PSP) 3/10
6. Detana! TwinBee (PSP) 3/13
7. TwinBee Yahho! (PSP) 3/16
8. TwinBee (PSP) 3/19
9. Brain Lord (SNES) 4/27
10. Akumajou Special: Boku Dracula-kun (FC/NES) 5/8
11. BoxBoxBoy! (3DS) 5/16
12. Code:Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~ (Vita) 6/26

It only took me 7+ years, but I finally cleared an entire route in this visual novel, haha. I got the fandiscs/sequels for this when they came out in English too, so let's see if I can actually complete them all before I die of old age.

[Aussie2B]

1. SWAT Police (Arcade via MAME) 2/2
2. Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure (PSP) 2/7
3. Barney's Hide & Seek Game (Genesis) 2/24
4. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (MSX via Vita Metal Gear Solid HD Collection) 3/8
5. TwinBee Da! (PSP) 3/10
6. Detana! TwinBee (PSP) 3/13
7. TwinBee Yahho! (PSP) 3/16
8. TwinBee (PSP) 3/19
9. Brain Lord (SNES) 4/27
10. Akumajou Special: Boku Dracula-kun (FC/NES) 5/8
11. BoxBoxBoy! (3DS) 5/16
12. Code:Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~ (Vita) 6/26
13. Mario Kart: Super Circuit (GBA) 7/24

I didn't expect to be posting about beating this so soon, and it kinda feels like "cheating" doing so, but apparently, beating the last cup on 50cc is enough to get a credits roll. I could've sworn that the credits didn't roll in Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart 64 until beating the last cup on 150cc, but I could very well be remembering wrong, considering the last time I beat either of those was back in the '90s. Which also makes this the first Mario Kart I've beaten since then. We've had Double Dash since at or near its launch, but I never got that into it. Back in the '00s, we were still addicted to four-player battle mode in Mario Kart 64. I got a copy of Mario Kart Wii semi-recently and haven't even tested it out, but I have played that and Mario Kart 8 a bit in multiplayer with family and friends. So yeah, my experience with post-2000 Mario Kart games is still fairly limited. Now to tackle 100cc in Super Circuit.

[YoshiM]

1. Portal 2 (Switch) 2/22
2. Castle Crashers (Switch) 3/4
3. Toe Jam and Earl (Genesis) 8/12

Caveat on TJ & E: this was played on a Mini and my youngest step son and I used the save states a lot.

We played this off and on for a while and finally finished it off this afternoon. That game throws everything at you beyond level 18. I can't recall encountering the ice cream truck BITD. It was a good time and he was jazzed after beating it.

[Aussie2B]

1. SWAT Police (Arcade via MAME) 2/2
2. Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure (PSP) 2/7
3. Barney's Hide & Seek Game (Genesis) 2/24
4. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (MSX via Vita Metal Gear Solid HD Collection) 3/8
5. TwinBee Da! (PSP) 3/10
6. Detana! TwinBee (PSP) 3/13
7. TwinBee Yahho! (PSP) 3/16
8. TwinBee (PSP) 3/19
9. Brain Lord (SNES) 4/27
10. Akumajou Special: Boku Dracula-kun (FC/NES) 5/8
11. BoxBoxBoy! (3DS) 5/16
12. Code:Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~ (Vita) 6/26
13. Mario Kart: Super Circuit (GBA) 7/24
14. Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Dancing Museum (N64) 10/13

I pulled this out and the dance pad that goes with it a couple days ago, and since it takes very little effort to get the credits roll, here's a quickie for the list.