Beaten

Bye Bye BoxBoy! – 

I want to have a lot to say about this game, but I don’t think I do. This is the third and apparently final go around for this deceptively simple puzzle platform series. You play as a box that makes more boxes. You must use those boxes to solve increasing complex puzzles. It is not complex, but it does get wonderfully difficult. I think they’ve finally fully explored this concept. Each of the three games has been great, and this one is no exception. I love these games. We might not get anymore, but I hope Nintendo keeps them around with ports and remakes.

Wonder Boy and the Dragon’s Trap – read about it here.

Super Mario World – read about it here.

Ongoing

Persona 5 – I haven’t played this near as much as I would like, but through the first week or so of game time, which is all I’ve managed to play, it is very good.  It is Persona.  The third and fourth games in the series as some of my favorite JRPGs on the PS2 and this seems to be following in their footsteps in most of the ways that matter.  Whether I like it more than those games comes down to how well it executes this near perfect formula.

Dragon Quest 8 – read about it here.  I’m still not done with it, there have just been too many other things to pull me away from what is essentially replaying a game.  Still, I have greatly enjoyed all the time I’ve spent with this game so far.

Disney Afternoon Collection –

The second release from Digital Eclipse, the first being the Mega Man Legacy Collection, they are quickly establishing themselves as the go to makers of classic game compilations. MMLC was a near perfect collection of the 6 NES Mega Man games, this one is a similarly accurate and loving collection of 6 of Capcom’s Disney NES games.  I see how they choose the 6 they did, basing it around the Disney Afternoon cartoons, but it does leave two of Capcom’s NES games on the outside looking in; no The Little Mermaid or Adventures in the Magical Kingdom in this collection.  The latter is better left forgotten, but The Little Mermaid is a better game than Talespin at the very least.  There is no real sense in complaining about what is not here when the 6 games included are more than enough to be worth the price of admission.  DuckTales is regarded as the crown jewel here, but I’ve also heard that the sequel is actually better. Talespin is a bit of a stinker, though it is an interesting experiment and Darkwing Duck should be a lot more fun than it is, but the other four are a blast.  I’ll probably have more to say after I spend some more time with these games.

Mercenaries Saga 3 – This is a solid looking tactics game, but through the first 10 chapters there is little more to it than brute force.  It doesn’t feel like there are a lot of decisions being made.  It all feels kind of rote.  This could be overcome with a worthwhile story to keep the player’s attention, but that is a no go here. I guess that’s not fair, maybe the story here is really good.  It is impossible to tell through the all but incomprehensible localization. It feels like a first pass, with most of the sentences are sensible, but they don’t really follow each other in logical ways.  It is probably worth the price of admission, but only because it is so low.

Super Mario 64 – I have never gotten 120 stars in this game, and I don’t think I will on this replay either.  I am one of the few N64 owners who didn’t own this game back in the day. I did borrow it a few times and have gotten most of the stars a time or two.  I don’t want to say too much about it before I write about it, but it mostly holds up.

Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows – I’ve only played through two stages of this, but it is a great take on the already great Shovel Knight.  The amount of work that are being put into these free updates is just amazing.  Once I get a Switch, I’ll likely double dip just for the opportunity to pay Yacht Club Games again.

Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinistrals – I’ve started on this. It is a solid SNES jrpg through the first few hours.

Upcoming

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia – I am not 100% in favor of what I’ve seen of this remake of the series’ black sheep, but I like Fire Emblem enough to pick it up anyway.

The Last Guardian – My brother handed me his copy of this when he heard I bought a PS4.  I’m getting pretty involved in Persona 5 right now, but if I need a break or somehow finish it, I think I’ll give this a play before I really get invested in Yakuza 0.

Yoshi’s Island – I’ll be playing the GBA port, since that is the one I own on WiiU.  I’ve already started, having cleared the first world sometime last year and I don’t feel like starting from scratch.  Hopefully this will be the time that this game clicks for me.

Super Mario Sunshine – After I finish with Super Mario 64, I’ll be splitting my Mario time between this and Yoshi’s Island.