Street Fighter Alpha 2 (PS2): COMPLETED!

Erk. This was waaaaay harder than the first game. Especially when I got to Ryu, who seemed capable of countering just about every single attack I tried. In the end, I only beat him by being somewhat cheap, trapping him in the corner, and dragon punching and uppercutting the hell out of him. I still only barely managed it though – I even thought the final killing blow was a double-KO, but I must have just had a slither of …

Sonic the Hedgehog (360): COMPLETED!

And not just completed – completed without losing a life! I didn’t really even have to try that hard, actually, although I did nearly plunge to my doom on Scrap Brain Zone 1. Which would have been a bit of a pain. And I almost drowned twice on Scrap Brain Zone 3. But I did it, which is all that’s important! Then I went and started again, to try for the Win In 40 Minutes achievement and the Fast Marble …

Golden Axe (360): COMPLETED!

It’s another 400 point Sega game, also arriving on XBLA today. And I completed it on my first go. As the woman, whose name I’ve forgotten. I keep wanting to say “Blaze”, but that’s Streets of Rage. The bosses in this are just as easy as I remember. Dash attacks make short work of them, provided you can time everything right, but having other baddies floating around at the same time complicate matters. I think I lost 15 lives overall, …

Street Fighter Alpha (PS2): COMPLETED!

I bought the Street Fighter Alpha Anthology pack for the PS2 yesterday, and put it on today for a quick play. Of course, the “quick play” turned into the completion of Alpha with Kenneth. Who is, naturally, the best of all the animals. I’d forgotten how much I like this game. I used to play it for hours at university on the Saturn – literally hours playing Ken vs Ryu against a flatmate. HOURS. Of Ken vs Ryu. Good grief.

TMNT (360): COMPLETED!

It seems I only had a few more levels left to do, and a couple of them were quite short. The final one, however… took ages. Like, almost an hour. The reason? The SuckySuck(TM) bit at the end. Most of the bosses I’d fought previously all returned, one after another. Of course, the first time you come across them, they either run away after a bit, or you do. Not at the end though. The sticking point was General Mono. …

Shadowgate (NES): COMPLETED!

Never done that before! In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever got further than the Room of Fire With The Firedrake In before now. Mind you, I haven’t played it for probably 10 years or more, so I could be putting down my younger self, intelligence-wise. Some really obtuse puzzles marred it a bit, and the constant burning out of torches (although I found if you don’t die, they last longer) was a pain as I felt rushed, but overall …

Earth Defense Force 2017 (360): COMPLETED!

Well, level 52 threw pretty much EVERYTHING at me – every type of baddie yet seen (aside from the huge walker and dino-mechs), all at once, and then sent in a second wave just as I thought it was all over. But I managed it, after a few attempts, and then it was finally time to take down the mothership. And take it down I did. Of course, it seems the whole of the rest of the world has been …

Kameo: Elements of Power (360): COMPLETED!

Dear Rare: Please give me the nine hours and thirty-three minutes I spent on your awful game back. KTNX, love deKay xxx I have very little good to say about this game. But I’ll try. Well, the number of things going on at once is pretty good, but that only adds to the atmosphere, and doesn’t change the gameplay. Dull, linear, tedious, surprise-free, awkward gameplay. Lord Drok (is that his name? Big metal bloke with mallet) was easy, but took …

Lego Star Wars II (360): COMPLETED!

It might only be three days of play, but my saved game says 12 hours. Cripes. So I finished off Episode VI. The first three missions were really long, but the final couple were really short – a fight with the Emporer, and a Millenium Falcon strike on the new Death Star. And after that? It was complete! However, there’s more to collect and stuff. So I went back to Episode IV, Chapter 1, and completed it in Free Play …

Eledees (Wii): COMPLETED!

Most of today’s levels (from 13-ish up to 29, the final one) took place in a theme park, with rides and stuff. And lots of giant biscuits, chess pieces and dice. No, really. I had two bosses to contend with too – a big fat one who kept collecting baubles off a Christmas tree to power up, and then bellyflop me, and then, after the last few levels (during which I managed to lift entire fairground rides!) it was the …

Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 (DS): COMPLETED!

Yeah, already. But it’s impossible to put down, isn’t it? Besides, I’ve only done it on Medium and the real game isn’t until Hard. But I loved it. Every single track is fantastic, the final “level” is suitably epic, and it’s basically Ouendan++. Which isn’t a bad thing.

Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland (360): COMPLETED!

Into the Casino I went, and collected loads of skate pieces and chips, before making the mad dash back to the ranch avoiding the police. Which was really easy. I’m convinced it was bloody hard last time, but obviously not. Either that or I have Mad Sk8 Skillz now. And that was it. Green Pipes Point was mine (or rather, Iggy’s), and the credits rolled. Hurrahs!

Crackdown (360): COMPLETED!

None of the remaining Shai Gen generals were that difficult to defeat, although the guy in the big dome thing took a few attempts, and the geneticist was difficult to reach (although not kill) as I missed an entrance to his “prison” complex. The kingpin was alarmingly simple, but then, I did skip most of his skyscraper by entering near the top instead of from the bottom. And that all netted me three more achievements, and I gained another for …