GAMES THRASHED: 2024 EDITION

 JANUARY:

Primal Rage (Game Gear)

Battle Blaze (SNES)

Astral Bout (SFC)

Street Fighter 2' Hyper (Arcade) Cleared as Zangief

Bio Mutant (PS4)

Street Fighter 2 The World Warrior (Arcade) Cleared as Zangief

Dynasty Wars (Arcade) 

Forgotten Worlds (Arcade) 

Kinnikuman (Game Boy, Jp) Defeated with no losses with Warsman!

FEBRUARY

Darkstalkers The Night Warriors (Arcade) Completed with various fighters.

Metamorphic Alpha (Arcade)

Aliens (arcade)

Destiny of an Emperor (NES) Wow! This was a really fun old school RPG! Not a lot of people talk about it but its one of the best ones on the system. Definitely a gem that more people should play. I like the fact that you can recruit over 150 generals! Really cool!

MARCH

FINAL FANTASY VII (PS1) Finally! Finally! I beat this game and yes, it is the greatest JRPG of all time in my books. My final party was Cloud, Tifa and Cid in their mid 70s. Game of the year for me this year for sure. I don't think any game I beat will come close to this one. What an excellent game!

Crypt Stalkers (Steam)

Final Fantasy 2 (GBA) What an excellent JRPG! Lots of fun and cant wait to play Soul or Rebirth mode!

APRIL

Godzilla Domination (GBA) Very short, but incredibly fun and addictive beat em up. Well, more like an arena brawler like King of the Monsters!

Final Fantasy 3 (NES) What a great JRPG from beginning to end! I wasn't sure how much I would like the job system, but it was great!

MAY

Final Fantasy V (GBA) One of the best JRPG's period. It was a lot of fun and loved the job system. 

Gradius Galaxies (GBA) Simply put, the best shmup on the handheld. Awesome game!

McKids (NES) Finally put this game to rest after playing it for well over 20 to 25 years! Brandon had this one and I remember me, Matt, Brandon and Mike playing this game at the Big House in Grande Pointe. Great game!

Werewolf (NES)

Bucky OHare (NES)

Wayne's World (NES) Garbage! No way? Way!

JUNE

Snoopy's Silly Sports Spectacular (NES) A fun and cute little mini event game. Got a silver medal!

Castle of Dragon (NES)

House of the Dead Remake (Switch)

Robocop 2 (NES)

Robocop 3 (NES)

Arms (Switch) Good game! Very solid and colorful and lots of fun to play.

JULY

Soul Blade (PS1) Awesome fighting game! Probably top 3 on the console!

Tekken 4 (PS2)

AUGUST

Anticipation (NES)

Haunted Castle Revisited (Switch)

SEPTEMBER

Dungeon Hack (Steam)

OCTOBER

Streets of Rage 4 (Steam) Probably the best beat em up ever made! It's so good.

Games Thrashed: 2023 Edition

Last year was another banner year in terms of game beating! And without further ado, here's the winner of retro game of the year for 2022!

That's right! Hydlide! A childhood game that terrorized me, I finally put it to rest after first getting it in 1995 at a Byway store! Not sure if this one is better than Deadly Towers but it's another one off the childhood list! lol!

JANUARY:

Power Insticnt (SNES): Now here's a REALLY cool fighter that not a lot of people talk about. This one was a lot of fun to play and has practice and survival modes! It even has destroyable side areas to extend arenas! Wow!

Crash Bandicoot (Switch)

FEBRUARY:

Sonic Mania (Switch) Wow! This could possibly be the best Sonic game ever made! Finished it with all the chaos emeralds too! Such a stellar game.

MARCH:

Phantasy Star (Master System) Played the excellent Sega Ages version by M2 on my Switch. One of the best JRPG's I've played in a long time. Lots of great quality of life improvements by the Dev team, great game!

APRIL:

Dragon Quest 2 (Switch)

Dragon Quest 3 (Switch) I think I like DQ3 slightly better than the second game on the Switch, but both are fantastic remakes!

JUNE:

Final Fantasy Adventure (Gameboy) An excellent game with an stellar soundtrack!

Shadowrun (SNES) Wow what a fun little action RPG! Very cool game with lots of fun things to do. I may tackle the game on the Genesis too someday!

Double Dragon IV (Steam) A flawed but fun beat em up. A little more time and polish and this could have been one of the best Double Dragon games ever.

Double Dragon V (Genesis) A pretty good fighting game, nothing mind blowing but fun. Finished it on HARD mode and did a 1CC to boot.

Ducktales 2 (NES) Hard to believe halfway through the year and this is the first new NES game I finished! Oh boy! Still this one is excellent though, and a crazy late release at 1993!

RBI Baseball (NES) Beat the game with a perfect 9-0 record with the American All Stars team!

JULY

Battletoads Double Dragon (NES) Not as tough as the origianl Battletoads but still has some tricky moments. Stage 3 in particular is long and quite brutal. Still, it's a lot of fun and I finished it as Billy Lee.

Power Blade 2 (NES) This game is quite rare and expensive, even cart only, but it's fantastic. I really like the different suits you can get and the Newt suit that has you climbing around like a monkey is awesome. While the music is really good it doesn't hold a candle to the first game.

SCAT (NES) As far as side scrolling shooters go, SCAT is actually quite good. It reuses a lot of sounds and effects from Natsume's other shooter, Abadox, but this one is a fun ride.

AEW Fight Forever (Switch) They did it. A company finally made WWF No Mercy 2! Beat All Elite mode on Normal setting as my created wrestler The Preacher. The gameplay is almost perfect as well as a modern upgrade. Hopefully we'll get an update with way more clothing options in the create a wrestler and a few more modes like a cage match, tournament and league modes would be awesome. Overall, my favorite modern wrestling game since Fire Pro Wrestling Returns. And I would pick AEW over Fire Pro Wrestling R anyday!

Double Dragon Neon (Steam) Finally got around to playing this game and I must say, it's REALLY good! And a lot of fun to play as well. The music is phenomenal too! Excellent addition to the franchise and I'll definitely be playing this one again!

AUGUST

Double Dragon Gaiden (Steam) The newest DD game and quite a good one! It's in the style of TMNT Shredder's Revenge but not as good. Don't get me wrong it's still a FANTASTIC game with the music being one of the standouts but not as good as the Turtles. Still, it's going to be a lot of fun to unlock all the characters and things, something Shredder's Revenge lacked. BIG thumbs up and finished the game as the Lee Brothers.

Smackdown Just Bring It (PS2)

Smackdown Shut Your Mouth (PS2)

Legends of Wrestling (PS2)

September

Xexyz (NES) Used the boss rush password to beat this one. Really cool little game and the shooter boss fights were good. I especially liked the boss design!

Willow (NES) Wow. Talk about an epic the scale of the original Legend of Zelda. Although way more linear this is a really awesome top down adventure game. Had a blast playing it and the music is top notch. Used a Nintendo Power magazine with the maps and all the tips, felt like a kid again playing with a mag!

Legacy of the Wizard (NES) Finally! Put this one to rest after having the game since...my first year of high school? Fun game but without some kind of guide there's no way I could have beat this one!

OCTOBER

The Oregon Trail (computer)

Super Mario Strikers (Switch)

NOVEMBER

Magic Darts (NES) A very fun and quick little game here! Played as the Alien against 3 expert computer players and beat them first place in 701 game mode. Like Championship Bowling this is an awesome and humorous cart!

Ikari Warriors (NES) I did it! Finally after all these years. Used the stage select code and the continue code but I don't care, I finally beat this game. That last level is an absolute nightmare.

Golgo 13 (NES) Finally! A childhood nemesis has finally been finished off! Used the stage select code to get to the last few missions but I beat all the previous ones when I was a kid. Still those last levels are brutal!

Prison City (Steam) Awesome new retro game! Difficult but fair with good music and excellent NES like graphics!

GAMES THRASHED: 2022 (ALL GAMES EDITION)

WOW! 2021 saw me finishing off 33 NES carts last year! A great achievement that I've probably never done (well maybe as a teenager?). But 2021 was a banner year for sure. Off to see how many I can beat over the course of 2022.

And of course, time for my pick of RETRO GAME OF THE YEAR!

This year it's going to a game that haunted me from my childhood. One game I finally took the time to research and use some online help to get me through it. DEADLY TOWERS! Yes, it's not a perfect game. But once you find out where the secret items are and get equipped with a better sword and armor, it gets better!

Congratulations to Deadly Towers for winning my Retro Game of the Year!

JANUARY:

Ikari Warriors 3 (NES) Not the greatest game, but the music is pretty good! Still infinite continues makes this the most forgiving of the three Ikari games.

Arch Rivals (NES) Here's a fun basketball game with no rules! The precursor to the NBA JAM series and a really fun nintendo game too. One of the best basketball games for sure. Won by a score of 71 to 64 points.

Gotcha! The Sport (NES) There's only 3 levels in the game and it loops once you see the snow field. So yeah, its counts as a finished game. Pretty good capture the flag game and it uses both the zapper and the controller too!

Hydlide (NES) It took me 27 years but I finally sat down and put some big time effort into beating Hydlide! A game I had as a child (since 1995) and one of the first games my twin brother and I got after moving into the city. Not a great game, but not horrid.

Balloon Fight (NES) Game Mode A I beat all 12 rounds (loops after)and a high score. Balloon Trip cleared with high score and Rank 1 achieved! Fun game but Balloon Trip can be a HUGE pain!

Magic Johnson's Fast Break (NES) Finished the game and beat the computer by at least 10 points. Simple game and any difficulty will get you the same ending. Not a bad game, but not the best basketball game.

Baseball Stars (NES) THE best baseball game on the system hands down.

River City Girls (Steam) An excellent successor to the Double Dragon and River City franchise. Lots of fun and Matt and I finished it together! Got the secret ending too!

FEBRUARY:

Best of the Best Championship Karate (NES) Finished off Cogneur to claim the gold and beat all the other contenders. Pretty darn good fighter on the old Nintendo too.

Wayne Gretzky's Hockey (NES) The worst hockey game on the system hands down. Fortunately, one of the easiest games to beat as you have to win any one game against any team. So I picked the Edmonton Oilers and defeated The Great One's own LA Kings 5 to 1.

Harlem Globetrotters (NES) Not the worst basketball game but certainly not the best. Around average but you do get some trick shots as the Globetrotters which was pretty cool!

Snow Brothers (NES) A cool little Bubble Bobble clone but not nearly as difficult! Two players too and quite fun!

Metal Storm (NES) Solid platformer with good music. The anti gravity mechanic to the game is very interesting, although the fifth and sixth stage can become nightmares. However, with the password system and the very generous checkpoint system in the last boss rush made things a little easier. Also, this is my 300TH NES GAME FINISHED!! An odyssey that began as a child in 1991 has reached this point as a man in 2022. Time flies when you're having fun!

Puss n Boots (NES) A generic but cute little platforming game. Very short too! Did a 1CC of it as well. Not bad!

Jeoparty 25th Anniversary (NES) Had a heck of a time finishing this one and only one more Jeopardy game to go on the nintendo!

MARCH:

Kid Niki (NES)

Art of Fighting (Genesis) Good game but damn is it tough! Broke out my genesis to play it on real hardware and I couldn't finish it with 3 credits. Made it to Mr. Karate and it was too much so I opted for my emulator and finished it with save states to essentially give myself infinite credits. Still had to do the legwork to get there, I call it a win and I don't ever want to play single player mode again in this one.

Primal Rage (Genesis) Beat the game using Chaos, used the one hit kills cheat code so I may come back to this one later. Still, that last boss gauntlet would seem like a real run killer.

APRIL:

World Heroes (Genesis) Beat the game with a 1cc on Normal mode with Dragon. Very disappointing game but it has some charm to it.

Thundercade (NES) Good lord the last area with all the multiple canons was NOT fun to plow through. But got the job done even if I used a stage select code. Glad to have this one in the finished pile.

Ballz (Sega Genesis) It's an okay game, nothing great but it has a sense of humor to it.

Clayfighter (Sega Genesis) Not a bad little fighting game, lots of interesting and funny characters. N. Boss is tricky to beat on HARD difficulty though (that's the only way to get an ending is on that difficulty). Played as both Taffy and Tiny.

Infernax (Steam) Excellent new retro game here! Like Simon's Quest and Zelda 2 rolled into one! Got both good and best endings too.

MAY

Final Fantasy Legend (Gameboy) One of the true great RPG's on the handheld! Finished this one up in a few days with a party consisting of 2 Mutants and 2 Humans. Lots of fun!

The Sword of Hope (Gameboy) Another excellent turn based RPG that isn't too long. It's lots of fun and mixes the point and click Kemco NES game style with RPG leveling up and random encounters. A solid game!

Gradius The Interstellar Assault (Gameboy) Wonderful little handheld shooter. Finished it the first time I turned it on. I still think Nemesis is the better game, but this one is no slouch either. And very short too!

Zen: Intergalactic Ninja (Gameboy) What an excellent little platformer! Short and to the point. Plays a lot like TMNT Fall of the Foot Clan which isn't a bad thing!

JUNE

Tetris (Gameboy) Finally finished B-Type mode, 9-5! It even has an ending and doesn't continue on, so it's a true ending here. Wow!

Looney Tunes (Gameboy) A fun platformer but gets pretty tricky towards the end. Still, Sunsoft did a nice job with this game.

WWF King of the Ring (Gameboy) Probably the worst wrestling game on the handheld. You can literally beat the whole game by mashing the B button over and over again.

WWF Raw (Gameboy) This one plays almost like the SNES and Genesis versions out at the time. Lots of slowdown but not bad really!

WWF Rage in the Cage (Sega CD)

TMNT Shredder's Revenge (Steam) Quite possibly....the best Turtles game ever made! Wow what a great game!

JULY

Streets of Rage 2X (PC) Excellent fan game that surpasses the original Genesis game!

AUGUST

World Heroes (SNES)

Super Dodgeball Advance (GBA) Better than the original and that's saying something because the NES version of SDB is excellent! More teams and finished the game with Team Canada and got all the hidden teams too.

WWF Attitude (GBC) A surprisingly good little wrestling game here! It's a slightly upgraded version of WWF Warzone on the gameboy, which I had as a kid. Good game, defeated all the modes, with challenge mode being the main one you want to play. Finished that with Stone Cold, and then beat Career Mode with Undertaker.

ECW Hardcore Revolution (GBC)

SEPTEMBER

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (NES) Not a stellar game by any stretch, but not awful. Best of all the game is very short at only 5 stages.

Thunderbirds (NES) A vastly underrated shmup! This game was a lot of fun and not quite as I had remembered it so long ago as a kid. I got it from my friends and didn't really play it all that much but I'm very glad to have finished it. Was a lot of fun!

Rambo (NES) Not a good game by any stretch and some parts were a chore to get through. Still, glad to have taken this one down!

Power Ranger: The Movie (Genesis) Quite possibly the best Power Rangers game I've played! This one is NOT a tournament fighter but a beat em up! And what a loving nob to the franchise. It even has a flashback level where you beat up Lord Zedd and the Putty Patrol! Zord battles with numerous gigantic robots to pick from....VERY well done!

OCTOBER

Frankenstein: The Monster Returns (NES) Not a bad little game, excellent cutscenes. A little more polish and this could have been something really special.

20 Minutes Till Dawn (Steam) Like Robotron 2084 except with power ups and loads of characters and weapons, very fun!

NOVEMBER

Blazing Chrome: Steam, What a stellar game! Picked it up last year but finally put time into this year. Finished it off on Normal mode and yeah, it is both brutal and awesome!

Cyber Shadow (Steam) Another excellent game that is part Ninja Gaiden and Shadow of the Ninja on the NES. Awesome and a lot of fun to play!

DECEMBER

Zen Nihon Pro Wrestling - All Japan Pro Wrestling (SFC): The japanese version of Natsume Championship Wrestling with a lot more wrestlers and moves! Excellent game!

Zen Nihon Pro Wrestling Dash (SFC): Sequel to the above game and even better! 

 

Games Thrashed 2021 Edition (All Games)

Covid 19 was running amuck and no relief in sight as of yet. I was off work for three months and decided to knock off a lot of games that have hounded me. Even as far back as childhood! A whopping total of 75 games were thrashed last year....how can I ever top that?! It won't be easy, but I'll give it a whirl. 

And now unto my RETRO GAME OF THE YEAR AWARD!

Given out at the beginning of the new calendar year, I award a retro game that I have completed top honors. Here's a little rundown of the last few winners throughout the years:

2013 - TMNT (NES)

2014 - Blaster Master (NES)

2015 - Robocop (NES) First official year for award

2016 - Abadox (NES)

2017 - Mighty Bomb Jack (NES)

2018 - The Castlevania Adventure (Gameboy)

2019 - Sonic and Knuckles (Genesis)

RETRO GAME OF THE YEAR 2020 GOES TO.....

Contra 3 gets the nod as it's taken me decades to finish this one on HARD mode to get the actual ending to this SNES classic. It was well worth it!

GAMES THRASHED 2021:

JANUARY:

Midevil (PS4) Lots of great weapons and it's actually quite a humorous game!

Woody Woodpecker Racing (GBC) underrated kart racer! Lots of fun to be had here.

Rachet and Clank (PS4) Excellent game that was a ton of fun to play. Never played back in the PS2 days but I'm sure I would have loved it then.

Archon (NES) - You can beat the game in ten moves! It's a very short game and very interesting chess like mechanics. A lot more fun than actual chess in my humble opinion!

Bionic Commando: Elite Forces (GBC) - A great game and a solid entry into the Bionic Commando lineage. You don't hear a lot of people talk about it, but it is a solid action platformer. Not as good as the NES version, still good though.

FEBRUARY:

Battle Chess (NES) - Had this game as a kid that I got from my best friend Brandon Emms. He gave us his entire NES collection at the time (probably around..20-30 games) and this was one of them. Not a bad little chess game, can be defeated with a certain pattern.

Dead Space 2 (PS3)

Streets of Rage 3 (Genesis) beaten with Super Axel, fun game but really tough.

Resident Evil 3 Remake (PS4) Simply wonderful! Shorter than the original but tons of replay value in unlocking things!

MARCH:

Batman Returns (NES): Good beat em up but kinda clunky. I got one of the bad endings but there's like four of them and I don't feel like getting a better one for a slightly nicer ending. lol.

Adventure Island 3 (NES) Excellent game!

Flintstones: Dinosaur Peak (NES) Another top notch game that's way too rare!

Flintstones: Rescue of Dino & Hoppy (NES) A solid game and quite short!

Toki (NES) Excellent game, lots of fun and humorous too.

Iron Tank (NES) Great game but can get very tough during the last level

APRIL:

Bubble Bobble (NES): Beat the game with the best ending possible, so yes I was playing single player and could add in a second player during the last boss fight! Great game too.

Tag Team Wrestling (NES) After owning this game for well over 20 years I finally finished it. Made it to round 43 and could have kept going but decided to stop.

Classic Concentration (NES) One of the better Gametek TV show games, but that last bonus round can be tricky! Still a lot of fun though.

Yoshi (NES): Defeated Game Type B and all 16 levels.

King's Knight (NES): Fun shmup with a medieval twist. Was a bit of a pain until I did some research on the game. Gathering all the four powerup for each character and finding the four hidden dungeons was the key to the success. And allowing me to unlock and use each characters magic power.

Breakthru (NES): Finally finished this sucker, had it since I was teenager and got it from one of my best friends, Brandon Emms. A quick little game but perfect for that pick up and play style.

Cobra Triangle (NES): Beat this game and a 1CC to boot!

MAY:

Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (GB): Fantastic game from top to bottom! Leagues better than the first one too.

Kid Dracula (Famicom) : Cute little game that has some difficult sections to it.

Hydro Thunder (PS1): Excellent arcade racing game by Midway. 

D&D Tower of Doom (Arcade) A wonderful beat em up that is tons of fun. Use the spellcasters and you'll have an even better time.

JUNE:

Double Dragon III (Gameboy) Wow, never going to play this game again. Absolutely cheap CPU and terrible hit boxes. Stay away from this game!

Best of the Best Championship Karate (Gameboy): Pretty solid handheld fighter! Lots of fun even though the last gauntlet of challengers is a bit much.

Power Rangers (Gameboy) Quite a challenging little game at first. Once you get the hang of it the game gets a little easier.

Power Rangers The Movie (Gameboy) A lot friendlier to newcomers, this one was a lot of fun! A great side scrolling action game with 6 different characters to play. And each of them have advantages it seems.

King of Fighter's '95 (Gameboy) One of the Takara Fighter trilogy, KOF 95 is great! Beat it on normal with Kyo.

Hammerin' Harry (Gameboy) Great exclusive to Japan and Europe, but the last two levels are NOT FUN. The challenge ramps up really high really quick during those levels. Really brings the fun factor down a bit.

JULY:

Prototype (PS3): Doesn't seem like much except it uses the same game engine from the Hulk PS2 game! Which was phenomenal!

Jewel Master (Sega Genesis): An excellent game that nobody talks about. Mixing and matching rings to give you different magical attacks is a lot of fun to do.

Pit Fighter (Sega Genesis)

AUGUST:

Chiki Chiki Boys (Sega Genesis): Got the bad ending on this one, but an ending is an ending! Great game too.

Thunder Pro Wrestling (Sega Genesis): Beat all the wrestlers on normal mode even though it didn't give me the end credits...if there is any? Fuck this game, way too hard and kills the enjoyment you could have had.

WWF Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game (Sega Genesis) Talk about an underrated wrestling game! This one right here is LEAGUES better than the SNES port (which I also really like). Defeated the game with Bret "The Hitman" Hart too.

SEPTEMBER:

The Three Stooges (NES): My friend Mike used to play this one back in '95. Finally got around to beating this one. Not bad of a game once you get used to the controls. And it has voice samples from the Stooges!

Deadly Towers (NES): Almost 30 years later...finally I have finished this game. Flawed as it is, I found myself enjoying it! That is, with a walkthrough. That's the only way I was ever going to even try to beat it.

Battle of Olympus (NES): A great Zelda II clone, probably the greatest, and it was a ton of fun to play. Although a guide is needed. lol.

Pinball Quest (NES): Finally put this one to rest. Used to borrow this game from my Uncle Marc who had it back around 1992. Derek would take us on his bike to his place to try out all kinds of NES games back then. Decent game with an RPG mode to playthrough, so yes, there is an ending!

Pictionary (NES): Beat this one after I finished up Pinball Quest! Pretty good party game by LJN, although programmed by Rare. Excellent music too!

OCTOBER:

1942 (NES): Finished all 32 stages and managed to pull off a 1CC too!

MTV Remote Control (NES): Whooped the two computer players with 195 points! This game is right up my alley and lots of fun to play. I was quite surprised.

720 Degrees (NES): I must say, once you get used to the controls to the half pipe, this game rocks! Does it have a better soundtrack than Skate or Die? No. But the competitions and the skate park hub world are great. Plus you can upgrade your gear! Beat all 4 classes with 1st place finishes. Well, except the Downhill, I got 3rd there. lol.

Soccer (NES): As my hometeam (France) I whooped Brazil 3-1 in penalty kicks. Also, beat the game on its highest difficulty which is 5.

Ring King (NES): Won all the titles in ranking mode as well as won the tournament mode. Very fun boxing game. This is my winning boxer's password: 86M9YP0FB2S

World Champ (NES): Was in a boxing mood it seems! But World Champ is just as good as Ring King, although I like the actual boxing in Ring King, this one is a lot quicker to play through. Was undefeated too!

NOVEMBER

Wheel of Fortune (NES): Thought I had beat this one but I did not. In fact, I haven't finished any of them until now!

Wheel of Fortune Jr. (NES) More of the same here, but these games are surprisingly fun!

Wheel of Fortune Featuring Vanna White (NES): What else can be said? Fun little games with good replay value!

Phantom Figher (NES): A game I had as a teen but now I finally finished it off. Good game but the controls take some getting used to that's for sure!

DECEMBER

Donkey Kong 3 (NES): Game Mode A, Round 13, 163,000 points. Technically it never ends but, once you've seen everything and achieve a high score I count that as a win. Plus those are the parameters other Nintendo players use so that's a win!

Millipede (NES): Game Mode A, Round 22, 93,000 points. Again a game that has no ending screen so after making it to round 16 the game loops so here's another win and top score. Love this game!

Jordan vs. Bird One on One (NES): Not a bad half court basketball game! Finished all the modes there was and this one was surprisingly difficult. In a good way actually, that 3 point contest is no joke!

Ring Rage (Game Boy): It's a fighting game in the guise of a wrestling game. lol. Not a bad little game and it's saved by the EXTRA MODE, where you can pick your opponent and where you want to fight in. Not bad!

 

 

Games Thrashed 2020 Edition! (ALL GAMES)

Wow! A new year, a new decade, new games to beat! Or should I say old games to beat? Last year's tally was remarkable. NES and Gameboy were tied at 15 new games beat during 2019! Incredible. Sega Genesis was the true standout though. During the summer I had just acquired a bunch of games and made a special effort to finish them.

Not only that but my retro game of the year belongs to the mighty Genesis. Without further ado, I present to you...

THE RETRO GAME OF THE YEAR!

Yup it's Sonic and Knuckles! Although you could put Sonic 3 in here as well (they are meant to be played together). So I beat Sonic 3 with all the chaos emeralds and got all the super emeralds for Sonic and Knuckles as well! Great games and a fitting end to the series on the Genesis.

JANUARY:

This one took me a week or so to beat. And for the record, this is an EXCELLENT installment of the Keaton era Batman. The music by SUNSOFT is killer and it's almost as good as the NES version. Aside from that, everything else is tight and fun. You also get to drive the Batmobile and the Batwing!

Ugh, well I finally beat it. With my last credit I finished off Princess Noiram (who was a total pushover, just stand right in her face and mash the kick button). Incredibly poor hit detection and music that is good, but WAY TO LOUD! This one could have been awesome if Technos Japan (or even America) had developed this one. Flying Edge Studios, stick to your awesome wrestling games.

Man was I addicted to this game! I knew it was good, but it was also a funny game. I mean, it was like watching an episode that's how good it is. I chose one of the most broken characters in the game too, the Speedster. He's got this ability to take two actions in one turn...pair that with your fart clone and it's pretty much game over for the competition.

Finished the SNES version as a kid, and now I've finished the Genesis version too! And yeah, it's a lot easier too (well, not THAT easy). Beat the game with Gunloc and also did a PERFECT title defence mode too! WOW!

Double Dragon is actually pretty good on the Genesis, but the music is WAY to loud. Also, you can elbow smash basically everyone in this game to dust.

A real late entry to the Genesis. They were pretty ambitious with this one, but it ended up being really choppy. Like REAL choppy. It was fun, and has good music too.

This one is actually pretty sweet. Its a grounded shmup and has quite a few weapons at your disposal. The game isn't super long which is fine by me, also, the music is awesome and yeah, it gets a bit tricky towards the end. But a good time with anime like cutscenes!

Really good shooter on the NES, most likely top 3 in the entire genre. Very good with excellent weapons and sub bomb weapons to boot! Rare game on the system unfortunately.

Not as easy as you would think! Loved the books as a kid, but the nes game, eh....not great. lol

I love this game way more than the game I grew up playing, Track & Field II. Scored well over 100,000 points and completed all the events once. My favs include: the javelin toss, the long jump and the triple jump! Archery is pretty fun too once you get used to the controls.

You know something? These GAMETEK games aren't half bad! This one was kinda tricky because to get the good ending you need to win the car. This would be fine except the fact that you have to pick a key and a car, which seems completely random!

You wouldn't think a bowling game on the NES could be fun. But actually, you'd be wrong! This game has tremendous character and heart. It's also incredibly easy to play and a lot of fun!

A game I must add to my collection soon! This right here is a perfect pick up and play game where its easy to play, and tough to master! The later levels get hectic, but it is possible to do it! Hugging the inside of the street curb can help you avoid cars, and staying close to dogs (no need to bolt for the road) and tossing a paper at them is key too.

FEBRUARY

 Popeye was finished on Game Mode B, with all 5 stages complete and with high score too!

An excellent Mega Man clone that is really short, but full of charm. However, the music is a bit lacking, but the power ups are pretty cool!

Meh, a bit overrated to be honest. It has cuteness and charm but aside from that, something I will not play over and over again.

Damn good Mega Man clone here. The arrow plunger actually does the most damage so I used that for the boss fights. Pretty enjoyable once you figure out the tricky bits. Make no mistake, this is a tough game.

Ignore the small picture. Dare I say that Shaq-Fu is one of THE BEST gameboy fighting games? Because it may very well be. It looks great, has fluid movements, sounds pretty damn good too. The only catch? You can only play as Shaq! Bogus! Was a lot of fun and the game is a pushover too. Still, lots of fun to be had here.

Who doesn't love Yoshi? Yoshi's Cookie is a lot more fun than his other puzzle game (that being called....well...just Yoshi!).

So it say its a Jaleco game, but this is a NATSUME game all the way! Love, love, love it! Excellent graphics and music. With just the right touch of difficulty too. Need to find a physical copy of this sucker!

MARCH:

Little Samson : Great game, most likely worth its weight in gold ( I kid!)
Mortal Kombat 3 (Game Boy) Not a good game by any stretch of the means. Choppy and clunky like the first game on the handheld. Such a shame because they were trying to cram as much as they could in this game.
WCW The Main Event (Game Boy) A fun little wrestling game. Turned out you can just spam the running dropick or clothesline to beat the game! If you get into any real trouble just smash on the select button to hit your finisher! Nice.
Raging Fighter (Game Boy) A good little fighting game. Great graphics and sound, but the controls are a little wonky.
The Punisher (Game Boy) Another great little title. Short auto scrolling shooter. Lots of fun that no one talks about!
TMNT Back From The Sewers (Gameboy) Now here's a game that is even better than Fall of the Foot Clan! Which is quite surprising! Excellent animations, great music and it even has quite the challenge near the end. Plus, each turtle has strengths and weakness'.

APRIL:

Donkey Kong Land 2 (Gameboy) Now here's an excellent GB game! Beat everything too, got all the Krem Coins and the DK Hero coins too. Finished of the King K Rool second fight too. Such a great game! 100% too!

Simpsons: Escape Camp Deadly (Gameboy) This was a stinker of a platform. Some parts are fun but its not a great platformer. Sadly. Although the sprites like Bart, Lisa, Moe?, and Nelson all look great.

Sonic the Hedgehog (Game Gear): Holy crap what a fun game. I'll have to track the other two sequels because I remember playing them.

Shinobi (Game Gear): Another great game gear game that I remember my best buddy Brandon having. This is actually quite a tough game, with platforming and enemy placement that is quite unforgiving. But, it's still a wonderful and fun game.

Crisis Force (Famicom) (1CC/Easy): A Japanese shmup exclusive from Konami. A great masterpiece of a game. Really fun and lots of options to choose from in terms of weapon selection. Very good game!

Secret of Mana : What can I say but WOW! What a game! Kinda wished I had played it as a kid because it could have easily been one of my favorites.

Space Mega Froce (SNES) : Most likely one of the best Super Nintendo shooters. A great game with a lot of different power-ups, but not as good as Gradius 3. In fact, Gradius 3 in my opinion is still the better game (even with all the slowdown) and it's a lot tougher too.

MAY:

Contra III (SNES) : After almost 25 years I finally got the true ending as I finished it on HARD mode!

Sonic Blast Man 2: Excellent comic book style beat em up! Love the fact that you get a screen clearing attack (that doesn't use up you health) as well as a special attack (that also, doesn't drain your health!). Great music too. A great two player simultaneous game as well (the gf and I's first game beaten together! may 2020).

Sonic Blast Man : You can run, it's only single player and you can only play as Sonic Blast Man! Ugh. Not a bad game at all, but with all those things against it, it's about tied with Final Fight in terms of overall quality. Good music though, and again, an interesting screen clearing attack that doesn't use up your health!

Rival Turf : Not a bad little beat em up! Decent music and graphics, but only two playable characters and not the best animation. It can feel a bit stiff too. But fun for short bursts and most likely a lot more fun with two players!

Brawl Brothers : A definite upgrade to Rival Turf! You can pick from one of 5 characters that all play a little different. My favorites, Lord J (who was the big boss of Rival Turf, and Bill a.k.a. Oozie from the first game. More moves, more weapons, secret moves (bill's fire attack Y+X is broken!) and handles a bit better too (not as clean as Final Fight but a lot better now!).

Final Fight 3 : Now here is arguably the premiere beat em up on the SNES! Finished this game on the highest setting, Expert, as well I did it as a 1 Credit Clear! Amazing game with a lot of moves, finesse and 5 playable character with branching paths! Whew, this is the King!

Ghost Chaser Densai (Super Famicom) : A weird beat em up that was strictly released in Japan. Decent game with some really interesting characters. A straight forward brawler with some cool moves and a stamina bar for your special attacks, which is always a welcome addition. Pretty short, but a good time!

Magic Sword (SNES) : A game our cousin Ron used to lend to us. This is a straight forward hack and slash action platformer. Its really good though because you get a lot of powerups and the ability to find partners who are captured in the tower. A lot of fun and even has two endings!

Final Fight 2 (SNES) : Another childhood game stricken from the list! Finally beat this one on Expert mode to achieve the best possible ending. Very fun game and even achieved a million points twice. Great game.

Stone Protectors (SNES) : One of the easiest, if not the easiest beat em up games on the SNES. That's not a bad thing mind you. Plenty of playable characters, hidden moves, charged attacks, cut scenes, two player and single player co-op....really good game! Beat it on the maximum difficulty too.


JUNE

The King of Dragons (SNES) : Another great Capcom beat em up! Really quick levels which I love. Awesome music and five different classes to play as too.

Rock 'N Roll Racing (Sega Genesis) : I'm very familiar with the SNES port, but the Genesis version is just as good. And I think it has more voice over clips from the announcer so that's really cool. Great game and super addictive.

Robocop vs. The Terminator (Sega Genesis)

Alien Storm (Sega Genesis)

Golden Axe III (Sega Genesis) Defeated with the best ending as well!

Splatterhouse 2 (Sega Genesis)

Dynamite Duke (Sega Genesis)

Moonwalker (Sega Genesis)

Splatterhouse 3 (Sega Genesis) Beat it with the best ending too!

JULY

Rolling Thunder 3 (Sega Genesis) Finished it on normal mode.



Marble Madness (Sega Genesis): This version is WAY tougher than the NES port. And just as good too.

Ghouls 'N Ghosts (Sega Genesis) Defeated on Professional Mode and beaten both loops.

Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 : Finished with all the major endings and all upgrades too. Excellent castlevania-esque game!

AUGUST

The Amazing Spider-Man (Gameboy) - Almost did a 1cc of it but messed up in the last level! lol

Nekketsu Koha Kunio Kun (Famicom)

God of War 4 (PS4)

SEPTEMBER

Tecmo Bowl (Game Boy) Played and won with the L.A. Raiders

Heiankyo Alien (Game Boy) I nice little single screen action game!

Play Action Football (Gameboy) Played and won with San Fran! No ending either! What the hell Nintendo!

OCTOBER

Guardian Legend (NES) Excellent game that I need in my collection.

Dead Space (PS3) Played and finished with Fran! Excellent game too! Lots of fun!

Mega Man 7 (SNES) A great installment! Not as difficult as most people claim. Also really cool that you get the rush hover jet from 6!

Ninja Gaiden Trilogy (SNES) Finished the first game.

Run Saber (SNES)

NOVEMBER

Addams Family (SNES) Tricky platformer but it has a TON of secrets to find. Lots of fun once you get used to the slippery controls too.

Earthworm Jim (SNES): One of the toughest SNES platformers I have ever beat. And the funniest too! Excellent game!

Ghost Sweeper Mikami Nice Body (SFC): A really cool Japanese exclusive. A fun platformer by Natsume.

DECEMBER:

Bloodstained Ritual of the Night (PS4)

Cadash (Genesis) Beat both the Fighter and Wizard characters with a 1CC! Really great fantasy hack and slash game. Took me by surprise!

Cadash (Turbograx16) Defeated the game with the Ninja!

Outrun (Genesis) One of the best racing games to not get a port to the USA sadly.

Books Thrashed 2019

Towards the end of last year it was a real struggle to get any reading in. In the new year, more of the same! Although I always have reading material at my fingertips, sometimes getting around to it in the later evening proves difficult! I'll try to do better as the year rolls around. Although reading DENSE books like DUNE does not help!

FEBRUARY

Dune
Phantom of the Auditorium

MARCH

Dragonlance Chronicles Vol.1

APRIL

Nightmare at Camp Moon

August
Dragonlance Chronicles Vol.2
The Whisperer in the Darkness

Sept-Oct
The Pheonix on the Sword
The Dunwhich Horror
The Colour Out of Space

Games Thrashed 2019! (All Games Edition 2)

2018 was a banner year for me. I completed a lot of great, and tough, video games. From the NES, to the Genesis, no stone was unturned. I quite like the addition of putting in all the games I defeated just as a nice reminder of games that I completed throughout the year. Mind you, this doesn't include all the games that I've re-beaten (because I love to replay my old favorites).

Here's a nice little pyramid graph of all the first time beaten games of 2018:

As for my retro game of the year? Wow, this was a tough one because I finally finished off a ton of childhood games. And a lot of them gave me fits of rage as a small kid. From Operation C, Festers' Quest, Wizards & Warriors III...but I think above all of them the winner is....

Retro Game of the year for 2018 goes to a game I first played in 1995. The Castlevania Advenutre was lent out to me by my childhood friend Gerry Grisson. I remember trying so hard to beat that game and could never do it. This was a favorite of mine when Matt and I would visit our Memere and Pepere in Grande Point, we would play until the batteries were dead....then we would have nothing but the TV to watch. lol.

Upwards and onwards to 2019!

JANUARY:

Made it to level 19 when I actually lost a race. Great game that gets overlooked because of its top down view.

Beat Shao Khan on my last continue! Waaaaay better than Mortal Kombat 1, almost night and day really. They did a wonderful port of this sequel for sure.

I NEED to get this game in my Game Boy collection ASAP! What a great looking and sounding game. Essentially this is a reskinned Shadow of the Ninja game by Natsume. I guess the NES version didn't sell that great so they slapped on the Ninja Gaiden property? ****1/2 stars!

Here's another great game, while not as good as the NES version, this one still rocks. Surprisingly difficult too! A great addition for anyone's Game Boy library. ***1/2 stars.

Really cool game that I need to get into my collection. I got it on my 3DS and finally beat this one. Pretty damn good, with nice music. I like the fact that you can swap back and forth between two characters. ***

Another Gameboy game I finished on my 3DS! Another game by Jaleco, and I give them props, they try new things with their GB games. I think the "possession" gimmick of the game is fun, but a pretty frustrating experience. Oh apparently this game is rare and expensive.... **1/2

The last time I played such a difficult game was Kung-Fu Heroes a few years back! From start to finish, this game took me over five hours to beat. When I did manage to beat the game it was just part 3 AM. Ugh! Not a bad game, but some of the level designs are pure evil! **1/2

Another game I have on my 3DS that I finally beat! Wonderful game that stands up on its way very well. Some of the bionic arm swings are nuts! totally different game from its bigger brother game, and I can't wait to add this one to the collection! ****

NintendoAge claims that beating the high score is the way to beat this game, and that's what I did. Tricky game, but fun! Scored well over 35,000 points too boot! **1/2

FEBRUARY

GREAT game! Way better than the first one (and that's a game I LOVE) and was a ton of fun to play! Really wish I had this game growing up as a kid, but I remember getting a 1995 issue of Nintendo Power as a kid, and this game was the cover game for it. A must have game for sure! ****1/2

Great game and highly addictive! 24 stages in total before it loops, so lots of fun to be had here! ***1/2

Another addictive game that gets little to no attention. I'll have to change that on my channel! ***1/2

DOULE DRAGON RELOADED: its a hack of double dragon 1 and 2 arcade, but its amazing! So I'm counting it here because it's just that GOOD. ****1/2

MARCH:

Finally beat this one! Had it in my collection for quite a long time now and glad to have finally finish it. Fantastic game too by the way, should be in everyone's genesis collections. ****

Growl

Ultimate Qix

APRIL:

Ys III

Rocket Knight Adventure

Spiderman vs Kingpin

Sonic 3

Sonic & Knuckles (retro game of the year candidate!)

MAY:

Eswat

Gradius 3 (1CC!)

Captain America and the Avengers (nes)

Trog

Section Z

Starship Hector

JUNE:

Star Soldier

Mega Man 11

Contra (Arcade)

The Magic of Sheherazade

Wolverine (beat it twice in a row!)

Flying Dragon

JULY:

In Your Face (gameboy version of HOOPS, and...it's a ton of fun!)

Adventure Island II (finally defeated this game, 27 years in the making!)

AUGUST:

Act Raiser

Super Fire Pro Wrestling X Premium

Dick Tracy (Gameboy)

Super Fire Pro Wrestling

Super Fire Pro Wrestling 2

The Ninja Warriors

Blades of Steel (gameboy version beaten on hardest difficulty)

NBA All Star Challenge 2 (Gameboy, hardest difficulties all modes beat, the best basketball game/one on one basketball game on the handheld)

Double Dribble 5 on 5 (Gameboy game beaten on the hardest difficulty setting, best team basketball game)


SEPTEMBER:

Castlevania Dracula X (got the best ending and this game is probably the toughest game in the series)

NBA JAM T.E. (finished off the game with the Houston Rockets, great and fun team to use!)

OCTOBER:

The Punisher

Total Recall

Uncanny X-Men

A Nightmare On Elm Street

NOVEMBER:

Until Dawn (PS4)

Double Dragon Advance

Resident Evil 2 Remake (Both Leon and Claire)

DECEMBER:

The Magical Quest 2 (gba)
Fist of the North Star (PS4)
Black Belt (Master System) this is a censored Hakuto no Ken (Fist of the North Star) video game. Simplistic, but a LOT of fun once you can figure out the Boss Patterns.