2021 Game Clear Thread

[SkyPikachu]

Hollow Knight: It took for quiet a few years to get into the game and I think that's because of the map system. I hated it with a passion. Having to find the map guy in every new area was really annoying and I got lost really easy and died then couldn't find my dead body so died again then lost of my money thus keeping me under leveled a lot of the way through the game until I opened up most of the map. Early on it really really sucked and it bothered me a lot and it's one of the reason I can't rate this as a fantastic game when everything else about it is great. That being said I really enjoyed the back end of the game and once I looked at a guide every now and then for a nudge in the right direction.

Yoshi's Island DS: Horrible, just horrible. I put this game down twice over the 10+ years I had it because I was trying to 100% every level and it just became hell. The controls are awful the dual screen having an invisible gap where the hinge is makes life really hard whenever you lose your baby in the later levels it's basically restart again. There's way to may level that are just go up or go down and it's so confusing where you are suppose to be. Not to mention collection stuff has very little purpose Red coins felt useless. flowers gave you a 1up (as did 100 coins) which ended up with me having 100 lives at the end of the game. There's no wall where you must have X ammount of red coins or flowers to progress so when I finally accepted I wasn't going to 100% the game collecting stuff had no purpose. I had enough lives so they were just out of my way risks that could possibly make me lose a life and waste time.

2021 PROGRESS

FINISHED:
09-Jan - Pikmin 3 Deluxe (Switch)
25-Feb - Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time (PS4)
29-Mar - Paper Mario: The Origami King (Switch)
04-Apr - Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle - Donkey Kong Adventure (Switch)
09-Apr - Unravel 2 (Switch)
28-Apr - Yooka Laylee (PS4)
28-Apr - Pokemon X (3DS)
14-May - Hey! Pikmin (3DS)
15-May - Captain Toad Treasure Tracker (Wii U)
17-May - ABZU (PS4)
04-Jun - Dragon Ball Origins (DS)
12-Jun - Hollow Knight (Switch)
21-Jun - Yoshi's Island DS (DS)

COMPLETE:
30-Mar - Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (Switch)
06-Apr - Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle - Donkey Kong Adventure (Switch)
14-May - Hey! Pikmin (3DS)


——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Progress - 2010 - 2011 - 2012 - 2013 - 2014 - 2015 - 2016 - 2017 - 2018 - 2019
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Finished - ???? - 0025 - 0020 - 0012 - 0008 - 0013 - 0008 - 0021 - 0049 - 0030
Complete - ???? - 0004 - 0005 - 0002 - 0003 - 0004 - 0001 - 0002 - 0007 - 0005
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Progress - 2020 - 2021 -
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Finished - 0023 - 00013
Complete - 0006 - 0003
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

[The Shoemaker]

Finished:
Mar 03. Bowser's Fury (Switch)
Mar 11. Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze (Switch)
Mar 20. Resident Evil 7 (XSX)
Apr 05. Resident Evil 2 (XSX) (Leon)
Apr 11. Resident Evil 2 (XSX) (2nd Run Claire)
Apr 20. Control (XSX)
May 16. Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door
May 30. Super Paper Mario (Wii)
May 30. Resident Evil 3 (XSX)
May 31. Control Ultimate Edition (XSX)
Jun 02. Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling (Switch)
Jun 22. Monster Hunter Rise (Switch)

Complete:
Mar 03. Bowser's Fury (Switch)

Got to the ending quests of the village and hub mode. Awesome game! Will keep playing.

[The Shoemaker]

Finished:
Mar 03. Bowser's Fury (Switch)
Mar 11. Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze (Switch)
Mar 20. Resident Evil 7 (XSX)
Apr 05. Resident Evil 2 (XSX) (Leon)
Apr 11. Resident Evil 2 (XSX) (2nd Run Claire)
Apr 20. Control (XSX)
May 16. Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door
May 30. Super Paper Mario (Wii)
May 30. Resident Evil 3 (XSX)
May 31. Control Ultimate Edition (XSX)
Jun 02. Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling (Switch)
Jun 22. Monster Hunter Rise (Switch)
Jun 28. Metroid Zero Mission (GBA)

Complete:
Mar 03. Bowser's Fury (Switch)

Never played much of the original Metroid, so Zero Mission was my way of experiencing the first entry. Awesome game, feels very similar to Super Metroid!

[Claytone]

Beaten:
1/1 - Tetris Effect (PS4)
1/5 - Yakuza 3 Remastered (PS4 [PS3])
1/15 - Altered Beast (Genesis Mini)
1/23 - Beyond Oasis (Genesis Mini)
1/25 - Sexy Parodius (Saturn)
2/3 - Captain Commando (Switch [Arcade])
2/5 - Gradius V (PS2)
2/19 - Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen (DS [NES])
3/16 - Mr. Bones (Saturn)
3/25 - Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection (Switch)
4/6 - Yakuza 4 Remastered (PS4 [PS3])
4/21 - Hades (Switch)
4/25 - Yakuza: Dead Souls (PS3)
5/9 - James Bond 007: Nightfire (PS2)
5/20 - Judgment (Remastered) (PS5 [PS4])
5/27 - Virtua Fighter 2 (Saturn [Arcade])
5/29 - Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (PS3)
5/30 - Zero Wing (Genesis)
5/30 - Alien Storm (Astro City Mini [Arcade])
5/30 - Golden Axe: The Revenge of Death Adder (Astro City Mini [Arcade])
5/31 - Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown (PS4)
6/3 - Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty (PSN [PS3])
6/9 - Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time (PS3)
6/10 - Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus (PS3)
6/17 - SEGA Rally Championship (Saturn)
6/22 - Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (PS5)
6/27 - The Legend of Oasis (Saturn)

Three more beats to (probably) close out June. SEGA Rally Championship is a nice, short Saturn arcade racer port with excellent handling and fun tracks. There's little to it, but what's there is good. Rift Apart is an absolutely gorgeous game with exceptionally polished gameplay, basically zero load times, and a solid story. A true showpiece for the PS5. The Legend of Oasis is a pretty good follow up to Beyond Oasis that I'd recommend to any fan of the latter (or Zelda-like games in general).

Good stuff overall!

SEGA Rally blog post
Rift Apart blog post
Legend of Oasis blog post

Completed:
3/16 - Mr. Bones (Saturn)

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Progress - 2012 - 2013 - 2014 - 2015 - 2016 - 2017 - 2018 - 2019 - 2020 - 2021
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Finished - 0024 - 0041 - 0034 - 0022 - 0025 - 0014 - 0019 - 0025 - 0038 - 0027
Complete - 0000 - 0004 - 0005 - 0001 - 0002 - 0001 - 0002 - 0002 - 0006 - 0001
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Never played much of the original Metroid, so Zero Mission was my way of experiencing the first entry. Awesome game, feels very similar to Super Metroid!

I loved Zero Mission. Short and sweet with great gameplay. Curiously, Kong thinks the original is better, which I find to be the farthest thing from the truth. A perfect remake, imo.

[The Shoemaker]

Never played much of the original Metroid, so Zero Mission was my way of experiencing the first entry. Awesome game, feels very similar to Super Metroid!

I loved Zero Mission. Short and sweet with great gameplay. Curiously, Kong thinks the original is better, which I find to be the farthest thing from the truth. A perfect remake, imo.

Kong has many opinions we just have to accept not question

I can see the argument, it's a totally different experience if you want to go the route of the original Metroid and create your own maps and the like.

Zero Mission takes Metroid 1 and brings it up to the gameplay and visual standard of Super Metroid. I will say it feels maybe a bit too much like Super Metroid, but that's like saying all 2D Zelda's play too much like ALTTP.

[Kong Wen]

Hmm... do I think the original Metroid is better than Zero Mission?

I've certainly always made the argument than Fusion is better than Zero Mission.

And there are things about Zero Mission that I also flat out don't really care for (like the Zero Suit section, which is cool thematically, but feels awkward from a pure gameplay perspective... and the new Ridley ending, which feels like it was just added so they could say they had a proper large-scale set-piece boss fight—I think those are both strict negatives from the tight core of the original).

They don't necessarily make the original better, but they do make the remake not-flawless, so they definitely have to be considered according to different criteria.

[The Shoemaker]

Hmm... do I think the original Metroid is better than Zero Mission?

I've certainly always made the argument than Fusion is better than Zero Mission.

And there are things about Zero Mission that I also flat out don't really care for (like the Zero Suit section, which is cool thematically, but feels awkward from a pure gameplay perspective... and the new Ridley ending, which feels like it was just added so they could say they had a proper large-scale set-piece boss fight—I think those are both strict negatives from the tight core of the original).

They don't necessarily make the original better, but they do make the remake not-flawless, so they definitely have to be considered according to different criteria.

I do agree with that. The zero suit section was cool, but definitely messes with the end game pacing.


Finished:
Mar 03. Bowser's Fury (Switch)
Mar 11. Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze (Switch)
Mar 20. Resident Evil 7 (XSX)
Apr 05. Resident Evil 2 (XSX) (Leon)
Apr 11. Resident Evil 2 (XSX) (2nd Run Claire)
Apr 20. Control (XSX)
May 16. Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door
May 30. Super Paper Mario (Wii)
May 30. Resident Evil 3 (XSX)
May 31. Control Ultimate Edition (XSX)
Jun 02. Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling (Switch)
Jun 22. Monster Hunter Rise (Switch)
Jun 28. Metroid Zero Mission (GBA)
Jul 01. Metroid Fusion (GBA)

Complete:
Mar 03. Bowser's Fury (Switch)

I've played the intro to Metroid Fusion about 4 times since it came to 3DS in 2011 over the years but never got into the groove of playing it. Finally played it through, and it's fun. Not my favorite metroid, but I appreciate the emphasis on story this time around. The game was easier than your average Metroid I felt, especially when it came to discovering power ups.

One thing that tainted my experience is that the R button on my 3DS broke about a quarter through my playthrough. So anytime I need to use missiles or power bombs I would have to press the R button really hard so that it could register the input, making missiles very inconsistent, and this game loves its missiles. Otherwise this game felt very good to play.

[Claytone]

Beaten:
1/1 - Tetris Effect (PS4)
1/5 - Yakuza 3 Remastered (PS4 [PS3])
1/15 - Altered Beast (Genesis Mini)
1/23 - Beyond Oasis (Genesis Mini)
1/25 - Sexy Parodius (Saturn)
2/3 - Captain Commando (Switch [Arcade])
2/5 - Gradius V (PS2)
2/19 - Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen (DS [NES])
3/16 - Mr. Bones (Saturn)
3/25 - Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection (Switch)
4/6 - Yakuza 4 Remastered (PS4 [PS3])
4/21 - Hades (Switch)
4/25 - Yakuza: Dead Souls (PS3)
5/9 - James Bond 007: Nightfire (PS2)
5/20 - Judgment (Remastered) (PS5 [PS4])
5/27 - Virtua Fighter 2 (Saturn [Arcade])
5/29 - Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (PS3)
5/30 - Zero Wing (Genesis)
5/30 - Alien Storm (Astro City Mini [Arcade])
5/30 - Golden Axe: The Revenge of Death Adder (Astro City Mini [Arcade])
5/31 - Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown (PS4)
6/3 - Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty (PSN [PS3])
6/9 - Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time (PS3)
6/10 - Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus (PS3)
6/17 - SEGA Rally Championship (Saturn)
6/22 - Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (PS5)
6/27 - The Legend of Oasis (Saturn)
7/5 - Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness (Dreamcast)
7/5 - Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX (PS5 [SMS])

Two more quick beats over the holiday weekend. Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness was a surprisingly good iteration on the Pac formula that I had a lot of fun with. Had some flaws, but overall I'm glad I picked it up recently.

I also grabbed the Alex Kidd remake, which is among the Master System games I'd really been meaning to buy and play some day. This remake is mostly an audiovisual overhaul, but they did a fine job in that regard, and I think the game is just great. It has some old school jank, but it's well worth checking out if you like platformers. Glad to finally be acquainted with SEGA's first mascot.

Ms. Pac-Man blog post
Alex Kidd blog post
Completed:
3/16 - Mr. Bones (Saturn)

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Progress - 2012 - 2013 - 2014 - 2015 - 2016 - 2017 - 2018 - 2019 - 2020 - 2021
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Finished - 0024 - 0041 - 0034 - 0022 - 0025 - 0014 - 0019 - 0025 - 0038 - 0029
Complete - 0000 - 0004 - 0005 - 0001 - 0002 - 0001 - 0002 - 0002 - 0006 - 0001
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

I've played the intro to Metroid Fusion about 4 times since it came to 3DS in 2011 over the years but never got into the groove of playing it. Finally played it through, and it's fun. Not my favorite metroid, but I appreciate the emphasis on story this time around. The game was easier than your average Metroid I felt, especially when it came to discovering power ups.

One thing that tainted my experience is that the R button on my 3DS broke about a quarter through my playthrough. So anytime I need to use missiles or power bombs I would have to press the R button really hard so that it could register the input, making missiles very inconsistent, and this game loves its missiles. Otherwise this game felt very good to play.

Man, I gotta get back to Fusion as well. Guess I'll try to do that before Dread comes out. As it happens, I also only own it on as part of the Ambassador program, and my R button is *also* a little mushy. Hopefully it's worth the extra effort to get those presses to register.

[Sharecrow]

Dead Space 3 (PS3)
Dead Space 3: The Awakening (PS3)
Tales of Zestiria (PS3)
Dragon Quest (Kindle)
Dragon Quest II (Kindle)
Uncharted 3 - crushing (PS4)
Ghost of Tsushima (PS4)

+ Limbo (PS4)

2021 total games beaten = 8 (6 new)
2020 total games beaten = 26 (16 new)
2019 total games beaten = 28 (20 new)
2018 total games beaten = 29 (16 new)
2017 total games beaten = 25 (22 new)
2016 total games beaten = 38 (21 new)
2015 total games beaten = 25
2014 total games beaten = 35
2013 total games beaten = 17
2012 total games beaten = 37
2011 total games beaten = 35

[SkyPikachu]

Final Fantasy X HD - Story was amazing I really loved it apart from the slow pacing at the start. Gameplay was fun however the typical issue of not enough being explained and bad menuing made things annoying. The biggest complaint is the cutscenes WHY CAN'T YOU SKIP THEM!!!. They put huge cutscenes in right before hard boss fights and it makes no sense. I don't want to watch the same cutscene 5 times as I struggle to beat a boss.

Regardless of the complaints I enjoyed this game a lot more than FFIX and think they made a lot of improvements from the two however there's still just annoying parts but that could be the pokemon fan in me.

Oh I forgot to mention I love the turn based system it's amazing compared to IX and the other FF I've played.

2021 PROGRESS

FINISHED:
09-Jan - Pikmin 3 Deluxe (Switch)
25-Feb - Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time (PS4)
29-Mar - Paper Mario: The Origami King (Switch)
04-Apr - Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle - Donkey Kong Adventure (Switch)
09-Apr - Unravel 2 (Switch)
28-Apr - Yooka Laylee (PS4)
28-Apr - Pokemon X (3DS)
14-May - Hey! Pikmin (3DS)
15-May - Captain Toad Treasure Tracker (Wii U)
17-May - ABZU (PS4)
04-Jun - Dragon Ball Origins (DS)
12-Jun - Hollow Knight (Switch)
21-Jun - Yoshi's Island DS (DS)
13-Jul - Final Fantasy X HD (PS4)

COMPLETE:
30-Mar - Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (Switch)
06-Apr - Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle - Donkey Kong Adventure (Switch)
14-May - Hey! Pikmin (3DS)


——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Progress - 2010 - 2011 - 2012 - 2013 - 2014 - 2015 - 2016 - 2017 - 2018 - 2019
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Finished - ???? - 0025 - 0020 - 0012 - 0008 - 0013 - 0008 - 0021 - 0049 - 0030
Complete - ???? - 0004 - 0005 - 0002 - 0003 - 0004 - 0001 - 0002 - 0007 - 0005
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Progress - 2020 - 2021 -
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Finished - 0023 - 00014
Complete - 0006 - 0003
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————