Jonnas

Oh, this is cool! I read this Manga up until the end of its... first "Season", let's say. I definitely liked to see a microcosm of the wider MHA world, featuring a college student as the protagonist (IMO, what Deku should've been as well). I do remember it getting surprisingly dark at times as well. I remember one of my peeves with it was with quirk creativity. A lot of characters-of-the-week have quirks that are just "turns into an animal/monster", or a variant of super strength. Or both. But overall, fun romp. I'm glad to see it adapted!

And a little bit more! A Jonnas Arcade Update Thought I was in it for fighting games alone? Think again. Sengoku 3 So, one day, someone left the machine idle, with this game selected. The machine has an issue where you can't really... leave or change a game after it's selected. Between playing this or nothing at all, I went with "Let's try this thing I've never seen". Indeed, I played for nearly 30 minutes, without ever learning what the title of the game was (I eventually did some sleuthing at home to discover it was called Sengoku 3). This is a beat'em up where every playable character is a bladed warrior of some kind, and the enemies are all medieval Sengoku-era zombies. The game actually takes place in modern day, and you can play the first three stages (China, Japan, and Italy) in any order. Game looks gorgeous. Beautiful sprites, fluid animations, satisfying sound effects... It's comparable to Garou: Mark of the Wolves, it's so smooth. Bankruptcy-era SNK firing on all cylinders. What really brings it all together, is that there's a genuine variety to your moveset. Tired of "A to punch, B to kick, A+B to do a special move"? This game provides you with command inputs, dash attacks, desperation moves... and of course, each character handles very differently. Played it for a while and time just flew by. My only complaint is that regular enemies were too easy to handle, with a notable difficulty spike for bosses. Maybe I just need to learn my moveset better. I had to stop eventually, but I would love to explore this hidden gem on my own time. For now, 4 stars, and wishlisted the Switch version. Sengoku With a positive impression in mind, I decided to check out the first entry in this series I never heard of... Oh boy! This one feels so different... One of the main characters is the most generic '90s action hero you can think of, and the other's a flamboyant cowboy. They mainly fight with their fists at first, but they can pick up blades at some point... somehow. Didn't understand how or why that happened. I didn't really understand anything that was happening here. Regular levels are made of some apocalyptic city, but sometimes we're transported to the heavens where we're supposed to battle a horde of enemies (the same enemies from the city), and when we're done, they kick us back to the hellish city. It wasn't a bonus level, it was just... how the stage is supposed to go. Repeatedly, we go to heaven several times like this in one level. Didn't understand why. One cool feature is that under some circumstances (I think it was low health? Didn't really understand), you can transform into another form. There's a Samurai, a Ninja, and a Dog. That last one is some silly fun, its jumping attack is a Sonic-esque spin. This should be noted: these transformations are not a thing in Sengoku 3 (neither is the heaven thing, btw). Honestly, this jut felt like a drug trip. I had no idea what was going on, none of the mechanics feel consistent, the game throws multiple ideas at you all at once, and I never felt really in control of anything. 1 star, didn't understand. I still wanted to check out the second entry... maybe it'll connect closer to Sengoku 3? Sengoku 2 Nope. Still weird. I mean, it's better than the first one, in that I actually understand better what's going on. The heaven thing still happens, but at least now I have a blade at all times, and understand when and how I pick up items. The transformation thing is also clearer: you can transform into any of the other forms, but you have limited time for each over the course of one life/credit. Overall, more functional, but still not quite up to what I wanted. 2 stars So, what's the deal? Why is Sengoku 3 so different from what came before? After some research, I learned that the first two were made by an SNK in their 90s prime, trying to compete with Capcom beat'em-ups. The third one was made by another team (during the bankruptcy era), one that actually knows how to make a great beat'em up. It's a mystery as to why they decided to call their title "Sengoku 3" (it's not like it's a household name or anything), but that's the gist of it. And then I turned left and played: Alien vs. Predator I had heard of this game multiple times before. It's a true classic that Capcom won't rerelease due to copyright issues, and it's a shame, because it's sooo good... Well, this Pandora's Box had it, so I'll check it out. And holy cow, they weren't kidding, this game's awesome! Four distinct playable characters (including two Predators), varied movesets (including projectiles), varied enemy types, widly fast-paced movement, lots of guns to pick up, dozens (feeling like hundreds) of enemies on-screen, gorgeous sprites with fluid movement, and it's just... incredibly fun! Like, the essence of a genre (two genres, if you include run&gun games) distilled into its most enjoyable form. I didn't complete it (30 minutes really isn't much time), but I loved every second of it. You can now count me in among the people who are disappointed that this game isn't more available. It's a shame, because it's so good. I know recency bias is a thing, and my time with it was short, but I would be ready to give this one 5 stars --------------- Good note to end on. This is probably my final Arcade update, I've had my fill with that Pandora's Box. There are several motives behind this. As you may have guessed, the 30 minute time limit really hurts my ability to explore and enjoy these games. Furthermore, I have to hope the machine is free to get even that. There's also the faulty buttons/stick, those also hurt my general enjoyment. Looking at the remaining titles I was interested in, there was stuff like Marvel vs Capcom, Punisher, Metal Slug... Titles I briefly played here, but can get on other platforms for a better experience. What muddies the waters even further is that some of these titles are just romhacks with cheats or something (there's a title called "Metal Slug 6+" which... is clearly not official!), so even less reason to depend on Pandora for them. I originally wanted to make a Sengoku update, then do one with Capcom beat'em ups, featuring Final Fight 2 & 3 as well. What do you know, those two weren't available here So, Alien vs. Predator was the one final title to close off this featurette, and maybe that was for the better.

Predictable results. Guess I spent more time on Bloodstained than I thought. Also, that NES time was almost all Fire'n Ice. Don't sleep on that game! It was interesting to see the results month to month, because they reflected my general journey through the NSO: during the month of Shmups, the SNES app was my most played "game" (so, mostly Starfox and EDF, but the others count as well); In the month of Wily Wars, it was the Mega Drive, and so on. Surprisingly solid recommendations, too. The Nintendo algorhythm actually worked this year! (except they also recommended Animal Crossing and Mario Kart. I understand they do that to everybody, but they're F-tier recommendations for me)

I remember that in the PS1 version, me and a friend would just mash by laying down the controller and using two separate fingers for X and O. Some of the games required rhythmic mashing, too.

There was an European ruling about a year or two ago about this precisely: for whatever reason, it was imperative that "depictions of stuff that resembles gambling [e.g.: casinos]" be regulated. No steps whatsoever towards actually classifying FIFA cards and the like as gambling. It's like they heard complaints about "gambling issues in videogames" and did less than minimal research on the subject. In an age where microtransactions and lootboxes are at all-time predatory high (and countries like Belgium already took steps to start banning shit like that), it was the most tone-deaf thing I've ever seen the EU do. And that's saying something.

I know Perfect Dark gets everybody's attention and all, but reading about how the first Doshin expansion is all about tinkling toddlers has been a highlight of this series.

I haven't just been playing Arcade games, by the way. Baba is You Baba is You is an indie puzzle game from 2019, made by practically one Finnish developer (Hempuli). I personally obtained it when itch.io ran that charity fund for George Floyd back in 2020, and BIY was part of it. It's been waiting for a while. The game made some waves due to its incredibly unique mechanic: you can rewrite the rules of the game in any given level. Wall Is Stop? You can turn that off. Flag Is Win? You can change that. Baba Is You? Not necessarily. Sounds like a one-trick pony at first, but Hempuli explores this mechanic for everything it's worth. New mechanics keep popping up throughout the game, and you'll be surprised at the amount of option you'll get. Some puzzles even rely on weird edge cases only programmers would think of. You can change anything, everything, and nothing. Literally. This game will question everything you thought you knew. There have been a few puzzles where I looked up the solution, I will admit. Some of these solutions use specific exploits of the game's logic, and feel like glitches (there were even puzzles where I recognized that's what I was meant to do. Looked up the execution anyway, because much that reasoning was often beyond me). Regardless, I only recommend looking up solutions after you've exhausted everything else, because figuring it out yourself is one of the most satisfying feelings you can have as a person. Presentation-wise... the game has a unique simplistic look, and a pleasant, relaxing soundtrack. No plot whatsoever, it's a pure puzzle game. This is normally an uphill battle for when it comes to me reviewing this genre, because I believe puzzle games should have some style to go with their substance (whether it's the thought-provoking writing in Bastion, the simple charming characters and bosses in Mole Mania, or Portal's entire package, style does a lot for a puzzle game). Thankfully, the general aesthetic in BIY works really well, and the substance is incredible, off the charts. The reason I had this specific game on my pledge was because... I was determined to follow a new career path this year. One more geared towards programming and development. I figured, Baba is You represented that desire quite well. In fact, I have been playing it sporadically since... the beginning of May or so (around the time I dedicated myself full time to that goal). The credits have rolled at the end of November, but I knew there was more content. I figured out how to unlock the bonus levels and... they're a handful. Since I don't want to rush through them, I will mark this game as finished (for the purposes of the pledge) and keep solving the bonus levels sporadically on my own time, without pressure. All in all, Baba is You is an excellent game, and a mind-boggling experience. Serious contender for best puzzle game I've ever played. 5 stars Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night That's right, @RedShell, I finally did it. I think everyone here knows the convoluted and difficult history behind this iconic 2019 game. Being a Castlevania fan, and having loved the Curse of the Moon games, I wanted to play it as well, of course, but the constant updates always left me thinking "Eh, when it's done I'll play it". I actually bought a physical Switch version during the pandemic (wanted to support a smaller shop), but it sat on my shelf for a long time. Added it to my pledge half-heartedly (because I needed a 10th game), but there was a reason: I wanted something appropriate for Halloween season. Furthermore, if I like this series already, I was just procrastinating on what's supposed to be the main game. So I added it with the intention of playing it in October, and I started on its first week. October and November turned out to be busy, overwhelming, horrible months to have a curse, but I chipped at this game regardless, just a bit every night and then. Eventually finished it at the start of December. SO. The game itself was actually a lot of fun. It's an Igavania, and in that sense, it was very familiar and cozy. Helped me face it as comfort food when all I wanted to do was relax for an hour or so before bed. It controls like an Igavania, it follows the same design philosophy as one, I knew what I was getting into. And having not played OoE or SotN... I have to say, this feels like the most refined Igavania to date. It's got it all, the Souls Shards, the weapon variety (which feel much more fleshed out than in previous games), the skills (now with a much better system than what PoR was going for), the quests, the various equipment effects, the movement tricks that the game doesn't tell you about... It feels like the best version of everything that came before, while never forgetting to add new elements (boots as weapons? So fun). There's new ideas as well: the Alchemy system is low-key excellent. You can use it to craft new weapons on your preferred style, improve your favourite Shards, or engage with the new cooking system (clearly an idea that was there since PoR, where the dishes were just glorified potions. Here, not only do they need to be crafted, they provide permanent stat boosts, carving its own niche). There were sessions where I did nothing but plan something to craft, farm items, and then produce what I wanted. It's pretty well thought out, with even some loopholes and shortcuts that feel intended by the developers. You can also customise Miriam's appearance. Though that option irks me to some extent (I'm not your character designer, buddy), I do appreciate the attempt to do something new. The map feels new and familiar at the same time. Very familiar areas (like the water caves and the garden) alongside some new environments (the underground desert being one of them), and progress was handled in surprising ways at times. I could never predict which power-up would be key to explore something new, which was a nice feeling to have (only one niggle: the Aegis Plate was pretty damn bullshit to find). Beyond the mandatory parts, the castle had dozens of cool secrets to find. It was lovely to just stumble into a whole mini-gauntlet hidden behind some ceiling, or a cool secret boss designed by a kickstarter backer, or finding out on my own that you can make the fairy sing. Regarding aesthetics... I have mixed feelings on Bloodstained. Starting with the positive, the music is predictably excellent. Michiru Yamane don't miss, but even something like Gears of Fortune (Ryusuke Fujioka) matches her vibe. Sound effects are great too, as weapon strikes, monsters, and traps have the right amount of "crunch" at all times. The voicework is good for the most part (especially when Miriam chants something overly elaborate for a spell), the only awkward bits were the quipping bosses, which feel out of place. Most bosses don't quip, and the ones who do feel VERY awkward. The plot is pretty straightforward and somewhat schlocky, which is fine. I think ArtPlay was aiming for a semi-serious ambiance anyway (dark and gothic for sure, but never forgetting the sillier bits, or the occasional nonsense), so the plot didn't need to be deep. The way the backstory and worldbuilding is told via books on shelves is pretty good, it's nice to reserve those parts of the plot to side content like that. What bothers me is that the characters feel too shallow, like each one represents a trope, and that's that. You'll occasionally get a twist where a character reveals something about themselves, but instead of this fleshing them out, it just feels like they switched from to another shallow trope. It doesn't help that dialogue scenes are so... stiff. Characters barely move and emote when talking to each other, it's a notably bland spot in a vibrant game. Which leads me to a possibly controversial point: I really like the art style and character design for this game... but I don't like how it looks. Hopefully this will be clear in a moment. I knew going in that the monsters' design would be something to behold (I did play the Curses of the Moon). These monsters are very grotesque, very slimy, and still very intuitive to understand as videogame enemies. Furthermore, the developers were going for a Castlevania feel without actually doing Castlevania: considering Castlevania was doing every known horror trope under the sun, it felt like an impossible task... and yet Bloodstained preservered, with skeletons that aren't skeletons, Medusa Heads that aren't Medusas, and so on. And the bosses are something else! From satanic mermaids, to half-headed dragons, and a blood-bending vampire, there's no dearth in creativity here. But here's the thing: I've seen these guys before in (pseudo) 8-bit, and they looked awesome. Looking at them in 3D... it's surprising how underwhelming they are. They have stiffer movement, the lighting does them no favours, they don't do half of the cool shit they did in CotM... it feels like they couldn't realise their own designs, in their main game. It isn't just the bosses. Regular enemies are often reskins of each other. Human characters barely move, even during dialogue scenes. 3D cutscenes feel like they lack polish in both direction and editing. Many platforms blend so much into the background, they're easy to go unnoticed. There is a LOT in this game that doesn't look like it was meant to. I get the distinct feeling that this team never got used to 3D. Many (if not all) of these shortcomings can be explained by inexperience with the visual medium. It definitely explains some other odd moments (like how you can somehow hit enemies that look far away in the background), but I understand it was a conscious choice to make the game this way. I wouldn't be surprised if the decision to make this game 3D came exclusively from someone having the idea to do the Twin Dragon Towers. That's not the only issue: the game is so poorly optimized, it is embarrassing. I knew going in that the Switch version was the worst-performing, but holy shit, I didn't expect to notice it so often, and in the ways that I did. Random slowdowns, seconds-long freezes, the shopkeeper changes into different resolutions while you're browsing the shop. Like, come on! Handheld is a huge plus, but it usually doesn't come with so many drawbacks. Worse still, this isn't just about the Switch. Even this year, they were still putting out patches for this game, and one of those patches brought a softlock to every version of the game (easy to run into while browsing the shop). Also caused the ending credits in the Switch version to bug out and kick you off the game. These issues went unaddressed for months (they're fixed, now), and they were introduced 5 years after the release of the game! Also, from what I understand, they had a patch that improved performance on Switch, and a later patch somehow reverted it back. This is all fucking shameful, honestly, borderline amateurish. How do you screw up this kind of support? The game barely holds together as it is, and new updates make things worse? It's a serious flaw. Granted, many of these updates were needed. There a LOT of stretch goals to fulfill (the patches alone make up more than 3 GB), and these include a Classic Mode, Boss Rush Mode, randomizer and speedrunner modes, two more playable characters/campaigns (an Igavania tradition), and of course, Classic Mode 2 (which might be canon?). They might as well have made a spinoff with this much content (in fact, they did. Twice). There is a lot of content to go around here. Also, a lot of crossovers: Shantae equipment, Shovel Knight enemies, Child of Light character, a Kingdom: Two Crowns segment, a Journey boss, and who knows what else? I appreciate that the developers always found distinct ways to incorporate each of these crossovers, it feels respectful. By the end, I considered the game "Beat" after I fulfilled some milestones: 100% map, enemies, bosses, shards, and recipes, and having seen every ending. I did not bother to obtain/craft every piece of equipment, as that would be insane. Still, there's so much stuff to do in this game, this is one of those rare instances where I actually wanted to have a version of the game with achievements. I haven't done any of the extra modes. I'll leave them to play some other time. So yeah! Massive game, very cozy and fun, simultaneously well made and poorly made. I debated myself for quite a while, which score to give it. The graphical issues and the glitches cannot be ignored, but the rest of the game is pretty dang good. I keep telling myself that this game deserves 4 stars, but I also recognize that many of these issues will not be seen if you start, say, the Steam version today (but if you had started it 6 months ago, you'd likely run into a softlock). After much deliberation, I ultimately decided this game scrapes its way into 5 stars, because what it does well, it does really well. There's a lot of love put into this game, and that deserves recognition. (Fun fact, before this game, the only Igavania to get a 5 from me was Aria of Sorrow. Every other Igavania I played had some serious flaw that held it from greatness) ---------------------- So, we're in December and I've only done 7 titles from my pledge. I am clearly unable to complete it before the end of the year (there's a narrow chance I might still finish up Three Hopes, but I wouldn't hold my breath). This is fine, the pledge was non-binding from the start. It was incredibly fun to keep it as a general guide though, and I plan on doing a new one for 2025. I don't plan on ignoring the three I missed, either.

No, that's a different thing.

Was this not the shitty Mega Drive version? I could swear I searched for it before, and that's the only version I found on Steam.

Proving that TGA has no issues awarding GOTY to "Family" games... just as long as they're not from Nintendo

Long rumoured, finally confirmed! Having realised that Tekken has been going in a direction I dislike for a while now, I'm looking forward to see how this game develops. 3D fighters are in a rough spot, we need to see some life. And for the love of God, Sega, rerelease the classic titles! You're so good at game preservation, why is this your one blind spot?

Hm, having not played Blasphemous yet, I am pleasantly surprised to see such fast-paced gameplay. Looks promising. But I'm not the only one to think that this new protagonist looks a lot like Strider Hiryu, right?

The sort of thing that was on nobody's bingo card. Makes one go "Wakka hell?" Honestly? It looks good. There's a really oddball vision with this game, and I kind of want to see where it leads.

Excitebike is exactly the kind of game that wouldn't appeal to my younger self, and yet it somehow did, when I saw it in action in a videogame programme on TV. I was fascinated by the look of that game, and the track builder. Somehow, I never found it in me to scratch the itch and play it. It's there on the NSO, I'm just waiting for the right time to dive into it.

I predict Astro Bot will win GOTY, and that's literally the only prediction I'll make.