Hey! It’s this thing again! Now it’s officially a recurring feature! That was my plan all along, of course, but I’m kind of a flake so who even knew if I was going to even get around to writing up a second entry. That said, I’ll probably stop caring about this stupid thing by the time 2014 rolls around.
In the interest of further categorizing and complicating things, I’ve decided that MVGW needs a third header. I felt like “Now Playing” and “Game Over” were pretty self-explanatory, but you might wonder about what exactly the new “Reruns” header is for. It, my friends, is reserved for short games which I have played before and which were started and finished within the month. You can think of it as a subsection of “Game Over” if you’d like.
~ Now Playing ~
Pokémon Y (3DS) – Just assume that this is the only game I played after the 11th. Aside from short breaks to collect the Spooky furniture series in Animal Crossing. I have, of course, beaten the story, but I still have a bunch of post-game stuff to do and plenty of empty pokédex entries.
Puzzle & Dragons (iOS) – After downloading it, I played the game through the tutorials and didn’t go back to it for weeks. Now I’m pretty into it, but mostly it’s my “need to kill some time and I don’t have my 3DS” game. I have worked up to the second level of Light dungeons and can’t proceed and farther because my monsters are weak little babies.
Picross 2 (GB) – I forgot just how many puzzles are in this game. Holy Christmas, that’s a lot of picross! I <3 this game so much. I have completed up to World 4 of Mario’s game, and haven’t started Wario’s.
Final Fantasy Tactics (PS1) – Still working through this one, slowly but surely. I am super disappointed at the fact that the Samurai class is not nearly as great as I thought it would be. Guess it’s back to Monks and dual-wielding Knights for me. Just started Chapter 4, focusing on hiring secret characters before moving the story forward.
Ganpuru: Gunman’s Proof (SFC) – It’s like A Link to the Past, mixed with a little Earthboundian humour. Only instead of a sword, your weapon is a gun, and you pick up temporary gun power-ups like machine guns and bazooka, much like in Metal Slug. Also you can run straight to the end of each dungeon and kill the boss right away, but then you get a bad score and no extra lives. And main character kind of reminds me of Shin-Chan. It’s about as weird as it sounds. I’ve taken out two Demiseed Bosses so far, and it seems like I could probably get through the rest of the game in an evening if I really put my mind to it.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (360) – The game officially based on the 2012 cartoon series. It’s… pretty bad. Like, it would have been alright as an N64 or PS1 game, but something like this just isn’t up to snuff these days. The first TMNT game based on the 2003 series wasn’t so hot either, but it was infinitely more polished than this one. The really sad part is that it could be a decent game with a few tweaks. As it is, all it will ever be is a crappy cash-in. I’m about halfway through the game, and could easily polish it off in an afternoon, cheevos and all.
~ Game Over ~
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD (Wii U) – I had to start a second run, but I actually finished the Nintendo Gallery! A task I never thought I’d bother to accomplish. Also, I found all the treasure charts and pieces of heart, more things I’d never bothered to do on the GameCube version.
Wario Land 3 (3DS) – It was a harrowing journey, and one I did not totally relish, but I did it. Getting to the end of the game is pleasant enough, but when you’re hunting down all the stray treasures it gets so boring and tedious. I don’t feel like my life is richer for having slogged through this one again.
Shantae: Risky’s Revenge (iOS) – Hoo boy. Risky’s Revenge is pretty swell, but I really shouldn’t have played it on my iPhone. I ended the game just under four hours with 22/34 items found. I won’t be bothering with the 100% or speed run. Not on this version of the game, anyhow.
Radical Dreamers (SFC) – Maybe you’ve heard of this, maybe not. It’s sort of an early incarnation of Chrono Cross, but not really. It’s got a few characters in common, but that’s about it. It’s also a text adventure/visual novel. I don’t much care for text adventures, but man, did Radical Dreamers ever grab a hold of me. It was a very pleasant way to kill an afternoon, but I wouldn’t have minded being able to skip to rooms I’d already visited. Also I’m not sure if I want to bother trying to get all seven endings. I liked it, but maybe not quite that much.
~ Reruns ~
Mario’s Picross (3DS) – I love picross, but the controls make this one very hard to play at a high speed. They’re very… sticky. The cursor can’t keep up with my button presses. It’s hard to explain.
DuckTales Remastered (Wii U) – I felt like I needed to play this again, and did it on hard mode this time. It was definitely tougher than playing on easy or normal, but I still managed to finish the game with a stock of 15 lives. I still have expert mode to try, but it doesn’t let you save and I don’t feel like setting aside a big enough chunk of time to finish the whole game in one sitting.
Resident Evil: Deadly Silence (DS) – I did a bad job of playing spooky-themed games during the Halloween season thanks to my Poké Fever, but at least I managed a run of this one. It should be noted that I am not nearly as good at it as I used to be.
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (Wii) – I went back to this one because it’s pretty appropriate for the season: spooky and cold. Also it’s really easy to burn through in an afternoon. A little rougher around the edges than I remember, but I still love it. I’m sure that Wife would love it too, if only she didn’t get frustrated and quit at the first action sequence. They can be a little tough.