This Old Neon Forum

The Shoemaker wrote: ↑19 Feb 2025 04:57 Never been crazy about the Ratchet games, gave this one a try a year ago and fell off after an hour or so. Gave it another shot and enjoyed it quite a bit. Once you get past the opening the game opens up more and gives you more abilities and agency. Fun little story and an absolute spectacle of particle effects at all times.

Glad you revisited this one! I loved it. Thought it felt great to control and, like you said, was gorgeous throughout. Probably the only game I've played that has really pushed my PS5 to its graphical limits.

Beaten:
01/13 - Late Shift (PS5)
01/21 - Rocket League (PS4)
01/22 - Five Dates (PS5)
01/24 - StreetPass Mii Plaza: Puzzle Swap (3DS)
01/25 - F-Zero AX (Arcade)
01/25 - StreetPass Mii Plaza: Market Crashers (3DS)
02/02 - Street Fighter: The Movie (Saturn)
02/13 - Attack of the Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale (3DS)
02/13 - Tomba! Special Edition (PS5 [PS1])
02/18 - 3D Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master (3DS [Genesis])

A few new beats. Tomba! is the highlight here, creative little platformer there. Shinobi III is fun too, and Friday Monsters was a nice, short airplane game. Good stuff!

Completed:
01/24 - StreetPass Mii Plaza: Puzzle Swap (3DS)
02/13 - Tomba! Special Edition (PS5 [PS1])

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Progress - 2012 - 2013 - 2014 - 2015 - 2016 - 2017 - 2018 - 2019 - 2020 - 2021 - 2022 - 2023 - 2024 - 2025
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Finished - 0024 - 0041 - 0034 - 0022 - 0025 - 0014 - 0019 - 0025 - 0038 - 0060 - 0042 - 0038 - 0052 - 0010
Complete - 0000 - 0004 - 0005 - 0001 - 0002 - 0001 - 0002 - 0002 - 0006 - 0006 - 0005 - 0006 - 0009 - 0002
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Finished:
Jan 11. Prince of Persia The Lost Crown (Switch)
Jan 13. Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster (Switch)
Jan 14. Princess Peach Showtime! (Switch)
Jan 19. Pokemon Sword (Switch)
Jan 29. SteamWorld Heist II (Switch)
Feb 02. Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster (Switch)
Feb. 09 Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster (Switch)
Feb 15. Astro Bot (PS5)
Feb 16. The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe (PS5)
Feb 16. Wario Land 4 (GBA NSO)
Feb 18. Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart (PS5)
Feb 22. Mega Man 10 (Switch)
Feb 25. Kena Bridge of Spirits (PS5)

Kena is another game I've been meaning to get to for years. This was a much bigger game than I was expecting it to be - linear experience but tons of branching paths with little goodies to find. Reminds me a bit of old Zelda/Prince of Persia world design. Really enjoyed my time with it.

Finished Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Overall I was pretty happy with it, I can understand why it won so many GOTY awards.
I do wish it got a little further away from Persona's schedule mechanics, or iterated on them better, but for the time being at least it was relatively forgiving on schedule stuff and threw some curveballs that kept things interesting. While I can appreciate that Metaphor goes for bold new designs (re: UI, transition screens, enemies), I didn't actually like the styles all that much. I did like the characters, and the various peoples of its world and their interactions are well done, it feels real even if it explicitly presents itself as a fantasy.

Interestingly I think Metaphor iterates on many of P3/P4/P5's themes with (mild thematic spoilers)

Spoiler

Anxiety being a theme throughout all three, and being a major theme in Metaphor as well.
In P3/P4/P5 it is more specific (death/perception/oppression) but in Metaphor it is more directly story relevant

I'll be interested to see what comes next, although I need a break before another meaty game. Even if it's snappier than P5 (...and I haven't even tried Royal yet), it still got to be a bit of a slog and took me two months to complete.

February Progress

February was productive! After polishing off a couple platinum trophies that had been simmering for a while, I was inspired to shotgun Final Fantasy 2, 3, and 4 Pixel Remasters. Five platinum trophies in a month is probably a record for me, considering I've only gotten more than five in a whole year three times since 2010.

FINISHED:

01-09 - Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (PS5) — Dark Emperor / Bad End
01-11 - Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (PS5) — Ultimate Mode / Ignore Everyone
01-31 - Wilmot's Warehouse (PS4)
02-11 - Final Fantasy II Pixel Remaster (PS4)
02-17 - Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster (PS4)
02-19 - Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster (PS4)

COMPLETE:

01-11 - Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (PS5) — Boss Rush
01-31 - Wilmot's Warehouse (PS4)
02-11 - Final Fantasy II Pixel Remaster (PS4)
02-17 - Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster (PS4)
02-19 - Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster (PS4)

MASTERED:

01-00 - ()

PLATINUM:

02-03 - Wilmot's Warehouse (PS4)
02-05 - A Little to the Left (PS5)
02-11 - Final Fantasy II Pixel Remaster (PS4)
02-17 - Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster (PS4)
02-19 - Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster (PS4)

PROGRESS   2020   2021   2022   2023   2024   2025
Finished     10      2     10     39     22      7
Complete      3      1      8     33      8      6
Mastered      1      1      1      2      1      0
Platinum      2      0      2      9      2      6

PREVIOUS   2010   2011   2012   2013   2014   2015   2016   2017   2018   2019
Finished     36     59     57     96     58      7     14     17     17     11
Complete     12     27     27     46     28      7     10      9     11     10
Mastered      1      0      1      3      2      1      0      4      2      1
Platinum      5      3      2     13      8      3      4      5      5      4

Finished:
Jan 11. Prince of Persia The Lost Crown (Switch)
Jan 13. Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster (Switch)
Jan 14. Princess Peach Showtime! (Switch)
Jan 19. Pokemon Sword (Switch)
Jan 29. SteamWorld Heist II (Switch)
Feb 02. Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster (Switch)
Feb. 09 Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster (Switch)
Feb 15. Astro Bot (PS5)
Feb 16. The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe (PS5)
Feb 16. Wario Land 4 (GBA NSO)
Feb 18. Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart (PS5)
Feb 22. Mega Man 10 (Switch)
Feb 25. Kena Bridge of Spirits (PS5)
Mar 08. Monster Hunter Wilds (PS5)

Finished the Low Rank and High Rank stories in MH Wilds. Story was quite impressive, while also being a bit frustrating in its linearity. Still cool to see how far the series has come.

Beaten:
01/13 - Late Shift (PS5)
01/21 - Rocket League (PS4)
01/22 - Five Dates (PS5)
01/24 - StreetPass Mii Plaza: Puzzle Swap (3DS)
01/25 - F-Zero AX (Arcade)
01/25 - StreetPass Mii Plaza: Market Crashers (3DS)
02/02 - Street Fighter: The Movie (Saturn)
02/13 - Attack of the Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale (3DS)
02/13 - Tomba! Special Edition (PS5 [PS1])
02/18 - 3D Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master (3DS [Genesis])
03/02 - The Last of Us Part I (PS5 [PS3])
03/08 - LocoRoco Remastered (PS4 [PSP])

A couple old Sony joints knocked out. Pretty good ones too, although I don't think I liked either as much as I'd hoped. Oh well!

Completed:
01/24 - StreetPass Mii Plaza: Puzzle Swap (3DS)
02/13 - Tomba! Special Edition (PS5 [PS1])

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Progress - 2012 - 2013 - 2014 - 2015 - 2016 - 2017 - 2018 - 2019 - 2020 - 2021 - 2022 - 2023 - 2024 - 2025
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Finished - 0024 - 0041 - 0034 - 0022 - 0025 - 0014 - 0019 - 0025 - 0038 - 0060 - 0042 - 0038 - 0052 - 0012
Complete - 0000 - 0004 - 0005 - 0001 - 0002 - 0001 - 0002 - 0002 - 0006 - 0006 - 0005 - 0006 - 0009 - 0002
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Finished:
Jan 11. Prince of Persia The Lost Crown (Switch)
Jan 13. Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster (Switch)
Jan 14. Princess Peach Showtime! (Switch)
Jan 19. Pokemon Sword (Switch)
Jan 29. SteamWorld Heist II (Switch)
Feb 02. Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster (Switch)
Feb. 09 Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster (Switch)
Feb 15. Astro Bot (PS5)
Feb 16. The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe (PS5)
Feb 16. Wario Land 4 (GBA NSO)
Feb 18. Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart (PS5)
Feb 22. Mega Man 10 (Switch)
Feb 25. Kena Bridge of Spirits (PS5)
Mar 08. Monster Hunter Wilds (PS5)
Mar 09. Donkey Kong (Game Boy NSO)

Been waiting a while to play DK '94, and it was a good time. I grew up playing Mario vs. DK, so great to go back and see the inspiration for that, and just play another game in that style. Lots of great personality for DK in this game, and fun to see DK Jr.

Finished:
Jan 11. Prince of Persia The Lost Crown (Switch)
Jan 13. Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster (Switch)
Jan 14. Princess Peach Showtime! (Switch)
Jan 19. Pokemon Sword (Switch)
Jan 29. SteamWorld Heist II (Switch)
Feb 02. Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster (Switch)
Feb. 09 Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster (Switch)
Feb 15. Astro Bot (PS5)
Feb 16. The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe (PS5)
Feb 16. Wario Land 4 (GBA NSO)
Feb 18. Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart (PS5)
Feb 22. Mega Man 10 (Switch)
Feb 25. Kena Bridge of Spirits (PS5)
Mar 08. Monster Hunter Wilds (PS5)
Mar 09. Donkey Kong (Game Boy NSO)
Mar 10. Mario Golf (Game Boy NSO)

Fitting that I complete last year's Mario Day game on Mario day this year lol. Fun little golf game - golf seems to work no matter what console it's played on. Funny how 90% of the campaign in this one has no Mario characters or locals at all. It did make it kind of cool to meet up with the gang at the end of the game.

Beaten:
01/13 - Late Shift (PS5)
01/21 - Rocket League (PS4)
01/22 - Five Dates (PS5)
01/24 - StreetPass Mii Plaza: Puzzle Swap (3DS)
01/25 - F-Zero AX (Arcade)
01/25 - StreetPass Mii Plaza: Market Crashers (3DS)
02/02 - Street Fighter: The Movie (Saturn)
02/13 - Attack of the Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale (3DS)
02/13 - Tomba! Special Edition (PS5 [PS1])
02/18 - 3D Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master (3DS [Genesis])
03/02 - The Last of Us Part I (PS5 [PS3])
03/08 - LocoRoco Remastered (PS4 [PSP])
03/10 - Ninja Five-O (PS4 [GBA])
03/11 - Balatro (PS5)
03/16 - Um Jammer Lammy (PS1)
03/17 - No One Can Stop Mr. Domino (PS1)

Knocked out a quick burst of short games here. I really quite liked all of them.

Ninja Five-O is a cool, one-off ninja platformer from Hudson that fetched outrageous prices on the secondhand GBA market. It finally got a rerelease, and I quite enjoyed it.

Lammy was my first exposure to the PaRappa series, which is now one I definitely want to play more of. Really wonderfully stylish game.

Balatro needs no introduction. It experienced wild success last year, but I only just finally got around to it. Masterful make-number-go-up game.

No One Can Stop Mr. Domino is a silly, unique game, and it now probably holds the record for longest time between acquisition and me clearing it. It's possible that one's been in my possession since the nineties, but I've defintely had it at least 20 years. Feels good to beat an old backlog boss like that.

Completed:
01/24 - StreetPass Mii Plaza: Puzzle Swap (3DS)
02/13 - Tomba! Special Edition (PS5 [PS1])

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Progress - 2012 - 2013 - 2014 - 2015 - 2016 - 2017 - 2018 - 2019 - 2020 - 2021 - 2022 - 2023 - 2024 - 2025
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Finished - 0024 - 0041 - 0034 - 0022 - 0025 - 0014 - 0019 - 0025 - 0038 - 0060 - 0042 - 0038 - 0052 - 0016
Complete - 0000 - 0004 - 0005 - 0001 - 0002 - 0001 - 0002 - 0002 - 0006 - 0006 - 0005 - 0006 - 0009 - 0002
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