I played more games than I expected in September. I played a lot of two games in particular, Metal Gear Solid V and Super Mario Maker. Both of those games are going to be frontrunners for game of the year, especially with heavy hitters like Zelda and Persona 5 missing the year.

Beaten

Etrian Odyssey Untold 2 – see here

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney – see here

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain –

 review coming soon.  Thoroughly excellent, though.  

Ongoing

Super Mario Maker ―

Maybe the best idea for a game ever, and it completely lives up to its promise.  I’ve put up a couple of levels so far and played through dozens. It is hard to make levels as good as real Mario ones, but that doesn’t mean you can’t put out something that it at least interesting.  I really love this game.  It might be my game of the year.  I’ve hear people say that this is the game that shows the need for the tablet controller, though we’ve already had like five of those, and it really does.  I can’t imagine doing this with just a controller.  I don’t know that I need another game after this one.  I could spend hours and hours with this.

LBX ― I was sold this one several friends gushing about its outlandish story.  That is true, it starts with secret agencies that build children’s toys to maybe take over the world and escalates to attempted child murder, by gun toting robot toy no less, within the first half hour.  It is delightfully insane. Also, customizing your little murderbot is a ton of fun.  Unfortunately, the fighting is incredibly clunky.  It is hard to get around.  I want to like this game so much, but it is just not very much fun to actually play.

Elliot Quest ― This was my go to lunch hour game, but then Super Mario Maker happened.  I’ll finish it sooner or later. Like a lot of the games it is styled after, it actually gets easier the further you go, since your character’s abilities increase.

Shovel Knight Plague of Shadows ― Another victim of Super Mario Maker. Yacht Club Game’s completely ridiculous free DLC is basically a whole new game considering how differently Plague Knight plays than Shovel Knight.  I haven’t yet mastered how he moves, so the mode has been kind of frustrating for me.  It isn’t as fluid or intuitive as Shovel Knight himself. Still, the amount of work that went into this is impressive.

Ace Attorney Justice for All ―

I’ve only cleared the first case, but my thoughts are the same as they were for this game’s predecessor.  This is just a great series, with awesome characters and stories.

Upcoming

Yoshi’s Woolly World ― I am a little conflicted on this.  On the one hand, Yoshi games are probably my least favorite flavor of Mario, even including the RPGs and the sports games.  On the the other hand, I really like Kirby’s Epic Yarn and this game looks even better.  I’ll likely end up with this, but I don’t know how much attention I’ll spare for it.

Legend of Legacy ― Another game I am on the fence about.  It looks amazing and I loved the demo, but this SaGa like leveling system has never worked in any game, ever.  I doubt this one will be different.  Still, it looks interesting enough to give it a shot.

Zelda Triforce Heroes ― I am all about this one, though.  Assuming it does release at the end of the month. I love Zelda and I really enjoyed the brief chances I got to play 4 Swords with more than one person.  This should be right up my alley.

Yakuza 4 ―

After a few times stopping and starting trying to play this, and with the release of Yakuza 5 imminent, I am finally committing to truly sitting down and playing this game. This should probably actually be up in ongoing since I started just before the end of the month, but this is going to be my October game.

Mega Man Legends ― This hit PSN at the end of September and it is one of the best PS1 games.  I really want to take the time to play through it, though I don’t know if I’ll get to it.  Still, if you haven’t played it you absolutely should.