Category: Diary

Metal Slug 1st Mission (Switch): COMPLETED!

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The two NeoGeo Pocket Metal Slug games are both much, much easier than the “proper” NeoGeo games in the series, and they’re also as much about platforming as running and shooting, which differs from the big versions too. They are, however, still both excellent on the tiny screen. I’ve completed them both before (a few times, I expect), but I hadn’t remembered much from the actual levels. There are a couple where the layout is basically a maze, which was …

SNK vs Capcom: The Match of the Millennium (Switch): COMPLETED!

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Yes, another NeoGeo Pocket game from that Switch compilation. And it seems I’d completed this previously – twice in fact. Like all the other fighting games on the NeoGeo Pocket, it’s very good, although they don’t half do a lot of asset reuse. At least in this one they had to create all the Capcom fighters from scratch though! I played through it three times. First as Ken, then as Mai, then as Leona, getting the ending for each, Of …

Dark Arms (Switch): COMPLETED!

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This game is one I have for the NeoGeo Pocket and I remember I enjoyed it at the time, but don’t remember much about it. Aside from you shoot baddies to get souls which upgrade your guns. Seems, now I’ve completed it on the NeoGeo Pocket Colour Selection on the Switch, that really that’s all there is to it. OK, so not quite. There’s a story which is badly translated and makes little sense, and you don’t just have a …

Aggelos (Switch): COMPLETED!

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Or, “I can’t believe it’s not Wonder Boy”. Since it is, in almost every way, a Wonder Boy game. You’re a boy, with a sword, and you collect money and buy better armour and unlock abilities and it looks like a 16 bit Wonder Boy game and it plays like one and sounds like one. But, it’s a bit slicker. It has a few improvements (like warps). It isn’t as impossible as Wonder Boy in Monster Land. But, it’s still …

Big Tournament Golf (Switch): COMPLETED!

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Although I don’t like golf at all, I’ve always enjoyed a good golf game. From PGA European Tour on the Amiga, which I don’t even remember buying, through Mario Gold, NES Golf, Golf Story, and so on. One of my favourites is Neo Turf Masters for the NeoGeo Pocket, which is the Other Region name for this – Big Tournament Golf. To be enjoyable, golf games need to be simple. Choose a club, aim, press a button to swing, set …

Blaster Master Zero 2 (Switch): COMPLETED!

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It’s been a few years since I completed the first Blaster Master Zero, because for some reason I forgot to buy the sequel. I have now rectified that and so here is my post. Like the original, it was great. Unlike the original, it was more fragmented, in that it was made up of lots of small levels (mostly separate planets) rather than a handful of large maps. It was still Metroidvania-y though, and a lot of fun with some …

Guardians of the Galaxy (PS5): COMPLETED!

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After the reports of how terrible the Avengers game was, and how in this game you only get to play (directly) as Star-Lord, Guardians of the Galaxy went right off my radar. Then I saw some positive reviews, and a lot of people were saying that actually, it was great. And they were right. But first, some downers. You can only play as Star-Lord, with the rest of the team effectively acting as special attacks. Every level is a linear …

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch): COMPLETED!

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Yes, I finally caved and bought Mario Kart 8 again. I have it for the Wii U so didn’t really need it on the Switch, but then they went and announced a load of new tracks will be coming to it and it was 33% off so here we are. It’s the same as on the Wii U. Only you don’t get a screen each in two player and all the cups, tracks and characters are unlocked from the start. …

Touhou Luna Nights (Switch): COMPLETED!

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Apparently this is an authorised fan-game based on the Touhou shooter series, but none of that means anything to me. I was just keeping an eye on it because it looked like an interesting Metroidvania game, and as it turns out, it is. Plot is something something fake castle world something baddie something, but what that means is Castlevania without a Dracula. It’s very similar to Castlevania, even having some similar areas (like a clock tower) and enemies (like Frankenstein’s …

Deiland (Switch): COMPLETED!

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Set in the same universe as Summer in Mara, Deiland starts out as superficially similar – chop down trees, smash rocks, grow crops – but set on a tiny planet instead of a big sea. There’s no exploration, and you only have a couple of small areas of other planets you can travel to as the story progresses, and also unlike Summer in Mara, there’s combat. Every so often, baddies will spawn on your little planet and you have to …

Millie and Molly (Switch): COMPLETED!

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This is a simple little platform puzzle game with 100 levels. It’s similar to Fire ‘N Ice, Solomon’s Key, and Catrap in terms of gameplay, although in this game you can’t step up blocks and you can’t jump. Also, many of the levels let you use two characters (Millie and Molly, of course) with one frozen, so can be used as a “block”, while you control the other. The aim is to defeat all the enemies (simply by touching them) …

Summer in Mara (Switch): COMPLETED!

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At first glance, Summer in Mara would appear to be a Wind Waker clone, but in fact it’s only really similar in terms of graphics and there’s a load of islands you travel between via a little boat. Actually, it’s much closer to something like Harvest Moon, with a bit of farming, some crafting, and a lot of fetch quests. There’s no peril, danger, time limits or any chance of death – just a nice little story about an orphan …

Hades (Switch): COMPLETED!

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I thought I’d actually completed this about a month ago, except it seems that just reaching the end isn’t enough. You have to reach the end ten times. Anyway, I’ve done that now. Hades is a roguelite action game, where you, as Zagreus, Hades’ son, must escape from hell and find your mother on the surface. You die a lot along the way, which takes you back to the start, but slowly your skills improve both by getting permanent buffs …

SNK Gals’ Fighters (Switch): COMPLETED!

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The Neo Geo Pocket fighting games are such good fun. They might all be the same, more or less, but they’re fun. Even in single player. I completed this a few years ago, but I recently bought the Neo Geo Pocket collection for the Switch so I’ve been playing the games on there a bit. This is the first one of them I’ve completed, and I did it as Yuri for a change.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS5): COMPLETED!

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New Spider-Man, same game. Well, that’s a little unfair. Miles is a bit different to Peter in a few ways. Notably, he has a “venom” power which lets him do smash attacks, and he also has far fewer gadgets, but actually the only bit difference is the plot. Set soon after Spider-Man, it opens with a fight with Rhino (with the help of Peter), before you take over New York patrols while Peter leaves the country for reasons related to …