A Personal Video Game Retrospective (1986-2015) 2003
by riostarwind
Time continues to flow and year by year we get ever so closer to the present. As we inch closer to the generation before this one I’m kinda bummed that I’m going to have a giant piece of my gaming timeline MIA. The 360 was apart of my collection for more years than it should have been. I eventually ended up just selling my 3rd one before it red ringed on me like the rest. Ugh I shouldn’t be talking about this now since that is still 2 years away.
Anyway it feels like each year of the 2000’s so far had a constant pattern of game titles so far. I really liked a certain brand or series and it will continue to show up for quite a while. Nintendo is always a constant although that won’t be as true once the Wii comes out. Ever since Goldeneye it seems like I ended up buying just about every Jame Bond related game ever. It’ll be a bit before Dragon Ball Z fades from this look back at my collection as well. Even now with this year the addition of Disgaea will cause me to seek out any and all games that NIS America puts out for quite a few years. Once I latch onto something it is hard for me to let go. No real recap of where the big three are at during this year. Since they are still all in the same position. So let’s dive back into one more year of my gaming history.
Forgotten games- Oops I missed a few games again when I tallied up my collection.
1999
At least in the case of this game I know why I didn’t add it to my list of games I own. I had put it in the back of my Brave Fencer Musashi case at some point and I must not have looked in the back of it when I cataloged all my games. Which is to bad since this is one of the many unique games that I’m glad I got to play back when it came out. Tail Concerto is about a police officer named Waffle who has been tasked with bringing in the Black Cat Gang. To do this he’ll need to use his custom mech to catch all the kittens while they are causing mischief on one of the many sky islands you’ll visit in this game. Control wise this game is kinda awkward with no lock on system. None of the enemies you face or bosses require pinpoint accuracy but it can be annoying to hit a enemy sometimes. I’m beginning to notice a pattern of me enjoying cartoony stylized games. Plus it is a unique setting since you don’t see very many games with anamorphic dogs and cats after all.
2001
When I look at most of the GBA library I do have to wonder if this was just going to be a remake of Super Mario Kart at one point. Instead of them being the main courses every SMK track is in this release as extra courses you can play through. The gameplay style and the course length is similar to. Most races are super short and rely on the player being able to keep control of their kart more than worrying about what the AI will do with items. I was playing on 50cc but I didn’t see the AI use items at all. On the flip side it almost seems like the player has to use items to get ahead. If this game has a mini turbo boost I couldn’t figure out how to do it. Thus using a shell was how I got every one of my victories in this session. As a throwback to the older style of Mario Kart this game is a ok in my opinion.
2002
I had forgotten that the PS2 had some really neat stage based driving games. I showed off Spyhunter earlier but Stuntman is also apart of this genre. With the very unique perspective of a stuntman doing car scenes in different movies. In each scene the director will tell the player to do certain moves like jumping off a ramp or knocking a car off a pier. Getting around 80% of all of these stunts will allow you to continue. Once every scene in a movie has been filmed you get the best reward ever in the form of a trailer for the movie mixed in with clips of your expert stuntman skills. This type of game does have one big flaw that might turn players off from it and that is the fact you need to pull everything off perfectly. Which is great unless you have to retry it 10 times. Which is okay with me but I can see why that was a issue with this was first released.
2003
I mentioned it once before but Japan loves VR MMO’s gone wrong. This first part is all about VR MMO named The World getting infected by a mysterious virus. A new player named Kite is the only thing standing in the way of the entire playerbase getting killed by this virus. Before getting into the game this does have a good amount of backstory told via emails. Plus it even has a fake forum page where you can see what other players are talking about. Once you get into the game it doesn’t take very long for something to go very wrong. Kite’s level 50 friend Orca is the first one to get infected by the virus thus sending him into a coma in real life. Now that I think about it this series might be why I prefer using a controller whenever I play a MMO. Anyway I’ll go into more detail about the gameplay in part 2.
I’m sure you can tell what this one is about via the title. The original infestation is now mutated into a new form that must be fixed. It is up to Kite and his pals to save the day. Nothing too fancy about the gameplay. This game lets you do a standard attack against enemies and a wide variety of skills to use on enemies. Depending on the weapon your avatar is wielding they will get different special skills. As you might think they come in the form of damaging attacks and support attacks. Looking at this now they didn’t do a great job of letting the player access their skills quickly. Having to go to a menu every time you want to cast one takes up a bit too much time on a controler. Combat is at least real time but it only feels that way when you're chaining a bunch of normal attacks. Kinda makes me think this isn’t a fun game to play even if the idea is amazing. Uh oh now I have to think about something to say about part 3…
Well I guess I can go over my original experience about this game. I do remember really wanting to see the entire picture. Why else would I pick up every part of this quadrilogy? Something about this section of the game left me not wanting to see the finale. Or maybe I just got tired of the repetitive gameplay. No amount of intriguing story could get me to come back for one more 12 hour adventure. Hm seeing snapshots of the in game story across each of these games has left me confused about what is going on. Other than something really bad has happened at this point in the story. You would have thought they would have done a much better recap at the start of each part but they really must have expected everyone to play one game after another. The only reason you’re not seeing the final part this year is that it wasn’t released till early 2004.
If you wanted more Advance Wars like me then this game delivers that in spades. Cosmo Land was secured in the last game thanks to the efforts of every CO to stop Black Hole from taking over. Now they’ve put their sights on Marco Land and this time they seem to be better prepared. All that really means is that you’ll have to face new CO’s from the Black Hole army as you slowly secure every continent one mission at a time. Can’t say I know what they added this this sequel since it is mostly more of the same. I’m sure a few new units show up later but the intro levels don’t show me much of anything new other than CO’s now having a Super CO power that is better than their normal one. Still a fun series to play if you want a strategy game on the go.
This could easily be my most played Castlevania game. As evident by the 100% save file still on this cart. I’ve even come back to play through this a few time since its release. Which more than I can say about most games I’ve played on this list. Castevania: Aria Of Sorrow follows a new protagonist named Soma who “accidentally” gets sucked into Dracula’s castle during a solar eclipse. He has the power to command monsters and must use that power to make his way through the castle and eventually escape. His array of weapons closely align this to play a lot like C:SOTN. But instead of having the usual tools he throws bones or giant swords at enemies via his soul capturing ability. Giving the player a ton of tools to play the game any way they like. At least if you feel like grinding on enemies a bit to gain their soul. Which is certainly a flaw but something I didn’t mind whenever I decided to play this again.
It doesn’t take very long for Dark Cloud 2 to get interesting. Between the future timeline where Monica’s dad gets killed and Max in the past with a bunch of killer clowns it’s easy to see why this must have left a big first impression. Didn’t hurt that it improved on the first game in every way. With the most notable improvement being that the visuals have been improved a lot with the addition of cel shading. Plus the combat feels a lot better with the ability to lock onto targets. They even took away some of the annoying mechanics from the first game as well like weapon degreation. I wasn’t able to get to the first town creation areas. I believe it was similar to the first game although it is now possible to play with time to improve parts of the town. Overall this might just be my favorite Level 5 developed RPG.
Dance Dance Revolution in general is really cool just cause it was the thing that got me started on the path to losing a lot of weight. I’m still not perfect but I feel a lot better about myself after years of DDR and the will to walk every day of the week. Anyway the game I am talking about is a rhythm game that uses a dance pad to get the player to dance along with the music. It may not teach you any real dancing skills but it certainly tests how much dexterity you have along with some hand eye coordination. Keeping up with the beat on standard and higher is still pretty hard for me even with a normal controller. Doesn’t matter too much since I can still enjoy the music while I take my time on light difficulty.
This is the game that finally convinced me that grid based RPG’s were worth playing. Half my enjoyment is thanks to the silly story about a demon prince named Laharl. He has woken up after years of sleep only to realize that the netherworld is in chaos and thus he must reclaim the throne to pacify the residents. Along the way he will meet quite a few memorable characters like Flonne and the ever spiteful Etna. Once you get into the game it is a run of the mill turn based RPG. Control a team of 8 units to wipe out the enemy forces in each level. Geo panels add a bit of strategy by forcing the player to use them to their advantage. In the end this is a delightful game that anyone can enjoy just for the story.
Webfoot Games did what they could to improve upon what they did with the first game. Fighting enemies no longer is a test of endurance. Each foe or boss will now be knocked back when you hit them. Which lets the player do a basic combo if you time your attacks correctly. Energy attacks are now more varied with each character getting at least one unique energy move that they can pull off and yes Goku is now not the only playable character. Honestly each character doesn’t play very differently at all. They are mostly used to unlock other unique side stories that are gated by their level. Plus to obviously tell the story of how the DBZ crew managed to beat back all the androids.
The PS1 doesn’t end on a high note at all. Instead we just get some poorly made fighting games. At one point this horrible game was worth a lot on Ebay. Kinda wish I knew that at the time but instead I got to keep this piece of trash. I do hope this was a budget release in Japan. Poor looking animations mixed with cheap looking 3D battle arenas doesn’t make the best first impression. As you continue to dig deeper into this game it becomes apparent that the only good thing about it is that it has 22 different fighters. Even the animations for super attacks aren’t done correctly with Goku’s Kamehameha wave looking like a little tiny ball of flame.
Well not much has changed since the last game. The main focus of this game was to have a united storyline for every character. Being introduced to this version for the first time was enjoyable but they the more they reuse this take on the story the less interesting it becomes. W-omega force also added in a weapon leveling system that lets the player upgrade their weapon without having to get lucky by picking up a better one from a enemy. The way the campaign is laid out is different as well. Multiple maps were introduced for each part of the story. So you’ll be fighting the Yellow turbans for 3 stages instead of 1. I assume this continues onward to the end of the game. Mostly this is just more of the same which was okay for now. It didn’t hurt that the game was balanced better for low leveled characters as well so you won’t die quickly in the first level.
This has to be one of the biggest cross media promotion games of all time. Featuring Ghost and Niobe as the protagonists of their own little side story. Both of them are playable and it does change certain scenes depending on which one you pick at the beginning of the game. When booting up the game I noticed that they shot a lot of FMV that tells the storyline of the characters when they aren’t jacked into the matrix. In game cutscenes keep the story going when are in the matrix along with a bunch of fight scenes. Looks like they might have motioned caped a bunch of kung fu for the animations. At least it looks really good although the shooting isn’t really what I would call high calibre. But it works and it is fun to get a original story told in the universe of the Matrix.
Sega knew what they were doing when creating this F-Zero game. A awesome frame rate along with a great sense of speed is how someone makes a great racing game. F-Zero GX takes what they did with the previous game on the N64 and ramps it up to the next level. Visually this looks nicer and the vehicles still have tight controls while still letting the player risk it all via health draining boosts. Seeing over 30 space racers blasting off at the start of the race is still impressive to look at today. The usual modes are here with Grand Prix letting you challenge a few tracks for the top spot. Surprisingly they decided to include a tough as nails story mode that’ll challenge your skills. Just the right amount of appreciation of how silly F-zero is makes this a fun story mode to play through.
Until I came back to this recently I didn’t realize how much this was like the Gundam Vs series. Instead of giant robots you control a bunch of miniature ones. Yet the gameplay is nearly identical. Each battle is presented in an arena where the player can maneuver around their opponent. With the overall goal of reducing the enemy's life bar to zero. Which can actually take more than one KO depending on how many points the Gotcha borg is worth. Every match comes down to how well you can dodge attacks while using your skills to blow the enemy away. Overall a fun game that I still enjoy playing today. Although it does have its flaws like the nonexistent story that doesn’t do a great job of motivating me to continue to play this more than a hour.
This might just be one of the cutest adventure games ever. Staring Hamtaro who is a hamster who has the will to solve everyone’s problem. In the case of this game he must reunite ever couple that has been effected by a devil mask wearing hamster that has been breaking up everyone that looks lovey dovey. Although you might not think so this is a fairly complex adventure game. Along with a assortment of items that you’ll need to collect to solve any puzzles you come across the player will also need to collect a bunch of Ham-chats. As you might be able to infer Ham-Chats are emotes that convey some type of meaning to another hamster. Finding them all will be key to completing the game. Going by the intro I’m going to have to search every corner of each area to find them all. You can obtain some quickly but it isn’t always obvious what you have to do next to continue. Bye-Q!
I wonder if why I like this Harvest Moon was because it is a remake of the previous one that I really enjoyed. It may have a different setting yet every character from Harvest Moon 64 is in this release. So it turns out I just wanted more of the same with a few new additions. It does have a few original townspeople and sheep wwere added to the lineup of animals you can have on your farm. Overall the goal is still the same. Make money, possibly woo a girl and enjoy a bunch of festivals throughout the many in game years. I think this was the first HM title that let the player continue for as many years as they wanted. Even if you still get a normal ending at the end of year 2 I think.
InuYasha was a anime I was watching at the time so it seemed like a good idea to pick up a game based on it. To bad this is a brain dead simple fighting game. Both light and heavy attacks chain into sizable combos if you keep pressing the button. Also special attacks just require you to hit left/right and square to pull them off. Super specials is the only time you’ll need to do a hadoken to pull them off. The lazy approach of the translation and minimalist nature of the arcade mode was a turn off. The Feudal Fairy Tale mode is just a way for the player to unlock more characters since the story bits are nonexistent and the only reward for winning is a frame captured still from the anime. This is still a better game than DBZ Ultimate Battle 22 but that isn’t really saying much.
It is so easy to see how much influence Sakurai must have as a director. Never throw away a idea must be his model since I see some elements from this game in Modern Smash bros. Specify the city trial mode which is similar to Smash Run and Smash Tour. Collect a bunch of power ups that’ll then give you the edge in combat. The open world nature of the city trial is cool but battling other Kirby’s in a arena afterward didn't’ seem that fun. Air ride is the main mode where you race around a track while picking up power ups to slow down your opponents. Although I kinda like Top Ride the most since it is like I’m playing Super Off Road with power ups. Wow this actually has LAN support. Anyway out of the many spin off Kirby games this one doesn’t rank very high on my list. Something just doesn’t feel right about controlling the vehicle making me dislike playing it today.
Haha when I think of Nintendo I don’t really think about sizzle reels. So it is funny to see a video in this re-release that is just called HOT CLIPS. Although I do own 80% of the games they showed off in that trailer. Anyway other than running Ocarina Of Time at a higher resolution the main new addition is the Master Quest mode. Which changes the layout of the dungeons making them harder than before. This had to be one of the best pre order bonuses of all time. Being able to play one of the best Zelda games again with a remixed layout was really cool.
This game is all about color and letting the player create their very own doodle.Depending on your artistic skills I bet it is possible to create some cool looking doodles. Since the player literally has to draw their first ally to take into battle. Except you will be limited by how much doodle power the game gives you. Which isn’t much since all I managed to make was a ball with one spike on its head. After the first battle I was able to put a few arms on my doodle which looks even weirder. In battle this game uses a rock/paper/scissors like approach. For example magic attacks beat normal attacks. Once a skill has been used you can’t use it again till after the next turn so it is possible to put your opponent in a situation where you’ll always damage him. I should mention that this game has a very colorful cel shaded art style that fits in with the overall theme.
I almost think it is a requirement for Nintendo to include the original Mario Bros game in every Super Mario game on the GBA. It is somehow included in this RPG as well. At this point in the Mario RPG saga Nintendo decided to let Alpha team created a more comical adventure. As noted by Luigi getting the butt of almost every joke in this game. It may not be his finest hour but most of the jokes are usually funny. This series is also notable for giving Mario a new villain to face in the form of the Beanbean kingdom which has stolen Princess Peach’s voice. The fights in this game are similar to every other action RPG game starring the Mario Bros. Out of combat is where it is deviates from the norm. With the help of Luigi it is possible to glide spin to out of reach platforms. Other world traversing powers are given out as the game goes along. This is a good starting point for this series but it only gets better from here.
At first this seems like a good mix of old Mega Man with his new RPG self. One big issue breaks what they were trying to do and that is the boss fights. The regular stages are fine and having a limited amount of weapons doesn’t make the game to hard at this point. Fighting bosses with limited movement and tough to dodge attacks makes this game unfun. I only fought the first boss but all Fireman does as a counter is a tough to dodge attack. Looking up a video it looks like I can slide through him which would have been great to know. I’m going to put this one down as not having enough tools to succeed. As the game goes along it most likely gives you more options to deal with each situation. Still they picked a horrible intro level to introduce anyone to this game. Not a great way to get people interested seeing more of the game.
The transfer to 3D is no easy task as evident by this release. Capcom pretty much had to create Axel just to make up for the fact that you have to be able to lock onto enemies to make the 3D sections not feel like a mess. Even with the lock on it still feels like the developers were still out of their element. Between the sometimes annoying camera and poor level design every 3D section of each level is usually not good. This fact carries over to the mediocre storytelling with a bunch of voice actors that felt like they weren’t even trying to get any emotion across. Nothing to crazy about the story they are telling either with it being about Axel leaving a gang of rogue maverick hunters and deciding to team up with Zero/X. At least the 2D sections are still well made and can still be fun to play through. Yet the rest of the game is so unlikeable it is hard to gain any interest in seeing what’ll happen next.
I was quite late to the Metal Gear Solid party. I didn’t get interested in the series till I decided to pick up the extended editions of 2 & 3 a while after they were released. It didn’t take very long for me to get hooked on Kojima’s brand of storytelling. The big twist of this game was spoiled for me a long time before I got around to playing.
Although it would have been cool to not know about it before hand it didn’t really affect my enjoyment of the game. Memorable bosses and long monologues is part of the Metal Gear formula. This game has plenty of that and more. The stealth action gameplay has been augmented with the ability to shoot in first person. No longer does the player have to waste a bunch of bullets to take down an enemy with a well placed headshot being just as effective. Because this is the Substance version it includes a bunch of VR missions. Along with the silliest inclusion ever in the form of MGS Skateboarding. To bad I have to fight the controls somewhat to get a good score making it a sub par skateboarding game.
It may not be obvious from the title but this is the sequel to Journey To Jaburo. It picks up right where the first game left off. Once again it is evident that the developer really cared about the series this game is based on. The lengthy intro cinematic done in CGI animation easily gets that fact across. Unlike the previous game they made up for the relatively short nature of the game by just giving you more pilots and stories to play through. White Base is still where they put most of their time but they also cooked up an entirely original story about the Thoroughbred corps. The gameplay style has also changed with more of a focus on dodging attacks instead of relying on a shield to protect the player from damage. Since this takes place entirely in space you will have 360 degree movement most of the time with some sections being like you're in a rail shooter for a few moments before swapping back to all terrain mode. Overall the combat and the overall package is vastly improved over the first game making this one much more enjoyable game to play.
I’m somewhat baffled by what I was doing in the save that was on this cart. Looks like I spend way too much time training up 6 different pokemon early on and haven’t really started to do anything since I haven’t even met the player character's dad till I booted this game up right now. No badges obtained within 2:30 hours. I even put Mudkip in a box and replaced him with other water Pokemon. I must have been trying to challenge myself with a new way to play through the beginning of a Pokemon game. Well I had to look this up but it looks like this was the introduction of 2v2 battles and the Pokemon beauty contest mini game. Just looking at this for a little bit almost made me think they didn’t add anything new other than more types of Pokemon to catch.
I like the ROTTK games but not really the ruling a kingdom part. You might notice that the two I ended up picking up where the ones that let the player play as a ronin or lower ranked vassal. In the case of this game I like wandering around China till someone decides that I might be valuable in battle. Then I can either stay where I’m at or try to take over the kingdom from the inside. I just enjoy that aspect more than controlling everything which just takes way too much time. If I ever control a bunch of provinces I usually just let the AI do the work for me anyway. I’m pretty sure some of my playthroughs have just been me building up one province to perfection. It is just fun to do something simple like that sometimes. Half of this game is looking at menus other than when you go into battle. Battling is my weak point since it feels like half the time I end up losing even when I have an advantage. Oh well the way I usually play this leads me to almost never seeing much of that part of the game.
I completely forgot about the introduction to the world before the end of the world happens and the player character turns into a demon. Must have not left much of an impression on me compared to the crazy hard enemies in the first section of the game. Getting killed by the first boss in a RPG isn’t something that happens often so it must have set the tone of the entire game at that point in my mind. I’m sure it gets easier but I never quite made it over that hump. At the time the introduction of the being able to summon other demons as your party was really unique since I knew nothing about Shin Megami Tensei till this point. I must say the intriguing story that leaves so many things unexplained did make me want to see more. Really I do want to see more of this game one day. Even if it is just to see a random crossover character like Dante from DMC midway through the game. At least it makes perfect sense that he would be in this situation.
Now that I think about it this is the only protagonist that didn’t have a tragic past yet still manages to go to silent hill just because her father was Harry Mason. Although I’m sure the game does a good job of explaining why she must revisit Silent Hill the opening didn’t give me any insight. The oh it was just a nightmare card can only be played so many times before it becomes obvious. Once the nightmares come into the real world for no real reason is when things start to get interesting. As for the gameplay this is similar to the last time. Tank controls mixed with some new moves like sidestep and block let the player dodge damage easier than the previous games. Nothing else worth mentioning other than this also does a great job of creeping the player out via all the odd sounds you’ll hear along with the strange looking enemies.
Looks like I misplaced my giant 128 block memory card. Which means I can’t even start this game apparently. But hey the title screen looks nice. Oh well the only thing I’m missing is The Sims with a focus on objectives. For me that actually helped me enjoy this game more than the ones on PC. Sure I can like open ended games but sometimes a game with more of a focus works better to motivate me to continue to play it.
A unique setting can make a standard JRPG into a memorable one. Set in a world where flying ships is the norm and our heroes are pirates wasn’t something most players saw a lot of at this point. Of course our heroes are Blue Rogues which take from the rich and give to the poor. Vyse is the main protagonist although Aika is always at his side. Their fates change when they rescue a strange looking girl called Fina from an imperial warship. The game has a standard JPRG battle system. Which is also carried over to ship vs ship battles. Which I didn’t get to see but I do remember them being memorable. Overall this is a fun loving adventure story and it is easy to see why so many people hold it in high regard.
If it wasn’t already apparent I really like the Sonic Adventure games. This is a good port with very few improvements. Although I’m sure some wouldn’t have minded if Sega would have updated the voice acting. The only improvements other than some new Chao garden stuff is a bunch of Game Gear games. At least with the addition of unlockable games this at least gives you a reason to collect all the emblems compared to what you got by getting them all before. Not much else to say other than even I knew Sonic was going downhill at this point. Other than a few portable games and my morbid curiosity you won’t be seeing Sonic very often anymore.
The age of including completely random characters from other franchises in fighting games starts here. In case of this version you get to play as Link from TLOZ.It has been a while since I played a Soul Calibur game so it took a bit of time to get used to how this plays. Looks like if I got good at it countering attacks seems like a vital skill to learn. I’m sure combos are possible but this fighting game seems more about timing attacks better than anything else. This also includes one of the more annoying final bosses in a fighting game. Why not give the final boss 3 different forms and a much larger life bar. We don’t want this to be fair after all. Other than the standard arcade ladder this also includes the weapon master mode. Which tells the story of a unknown warrior who seeks the Soul Calibur and must compete a bunch of different missions to prove that he is worthy to wield it. Along the way the player will collect new weapons that should make the tougher missions possible. Overall a good fighting game that I never really followed up on since this is the only game I own from this series.
Oh hey SquareEnix is now a thing huh. Not sure when the merger happened but this is the first game I bought with that logo at the start. This is another RPG that I remember very little about. Not even the intro where Fayt and Sophia are on a vacation till a mysterious band of soldiers attacks the planet they were on. Things get quickly out of hand and it becomes a planet hopping adventure. The story may be fine but the combat is why I like this series. Real time combat no matter how slow is always more compelling than any other kind from my perspective. I would have liked better ways to dodge attacks but this game expects the player to get hit. None of the combat is super flashy but it does feel good to land blows on enemies. A weird quirk of this game is that MP can lead to the the party fainting just like HP. Not sure who thought that that was a good idea but it is unique I guess.
Up to this point every RPG that I have played has been made in Japan. Finally I was introduced to the western style in the form of Star Wars Knights Of The Old Republic. Bioware was even able to start molding a new part of the Star Wars timeline by making this take place 4000 years before the first movie. So they could do whatever they wanted and ran with that idea. The game opens with the player character being woken up by a Sith attack on the ship he is on. From this point onward the goal of the player character is to stop Malak from enacting whatever vile plan he has to conquer the galaxy. Depending on the whim of the player this could mean following the path of the light side or choosing to go down the path of the dark side. Depending on which side you lean it does change how characters react to you and even the ending of the game. Combat feels like it is in real time but actually it is still turn based. Animations just play out in real time as the dice gets rolled in the background. Which was a good way to make the game look cooler while still using a turn based system. Overall I consider this to be the best Star Wars RPG of all time.
Factor 5 is back for one more Star Wars fighter pilot game. As I mentioned before they pretty much covered every notable on screen battle. Now they are going to rehash a few scenes with the new addition of on foot battles to better recreate scenes from the movie like when Luke takes down a AT-AT on Hoth. One small touch they added with the missions in this game is that they split them into 3 paths. I think what they were going for was that you’ll see the different perspectives of what Luke was up to while Wedge is also off doing something cool. Then the middle path is when they are both together. The main new addition is on foot scenes. Most of these are pretty bad and I do wonder why it is so hard to make a good TPS at the same time as a arcade shooter. Might have just been way too much work for one studio. Kinda like they are trying to make two different games at the same time.
Yup this is a port of Super Mario Bros 3. Seems like the same game to me other than adding in Luigi’s floaty jump along with a few extra cutscenes. I’m sure at this point they were just playing toward new Mario fans but it would have been nice if they added something new to old experience.
Unsurprisingly this is more Time Crisis. Yet none of the additions in this game clicked like the last one. Additional weapons like the shotgun just didn’t seem that much better than the regular old pistol. Crisis mission and rescue mission feel like rehashed content from the previous game even if it is brand new. Still a fun game to play with a guncon even if it isn’t my favorite TC game.
Who knew a bunch of microgames could be this fun? Half the reason these mini games are so fun is that you never quite know what’ll show up next. Each character has a new theme and style of game too. Most require either perfect timing or expect you to quickly figure what you need to do before you fail. Seeing the intro and epilogue of each character is fun too since this has some good dumb humor to go along with all the randomness. Overall a fun game to play to test your reflexes.
Wario’s only 3D adventure starts here with him getting his very own theme park. That is after a evil black jewel transforms his castle into one full of ghosts. Collecting a bunch of red gems is the only way to turn everything back to normal by defeating the 4 grand ghosts. Greed has been his downfall for so long you would think he would have learned by now but no. Even while retaking his castle he is still collecting treasures. That unlock games to be played on the GBA via the GC/GBA link cable. Meanwhile the gameplay is basically the 2D Wario games transferred to 3D. Bashing into enemies with a dash attack followed up by picking them up and throwing them is his main offensive tools. Some platforming will be needed to collect gems to finish the level. Going by the first level the main thing you’ll be doing is slapping a bunch of enemies around to progress along with a few minor platforming challenges. It may change later on but that is the first impression I got from the start.
The first of very many Dynasty Warriors expansion packs. Seeing the alternate storylines of all the characters that didn’t get one in the original release was neat. But if Koei ever decided to do that again I would not think it was worth it. I didn’t really keep up with what they added with the rest of the xtreme legends games but I wouldn’t be surprised if they revisited these stories again. Other than the new storylines bodyguards got a literal upgrade by letting the player equip items onto them to power them up. Overall not really enough content for me to think it was ever worth buying another one of these expansion packs.
I got into Ys a bit late. It may not be obvious by the title but this is the fourth Ys game. Although I didn't really need to know about the previous stories at all. Since each one is standalone with the only throughline being the red haired protagonist Adol. No matter where he goes adventure awaits and he must be the one to stop whatever evil thing that is going on in that continent or in the case of this game islands. After getting shipwrecked by pirates Adol gets saved by a local priestess named Olha and her sister Isha. Unfortunately for him humans aren’t well liked by this race of people. Thus he must prove that he trustworthy and get to the bottom of why a constant whirlwind is encircling the island. Once the game gives the player control your main offensive skill is swinging the sword around wildly. Eventually you’ll get special skills to help out against tough opponents. Also known as every boss in this game. Ys is known for it’s cool bosses and this game continues that trend. Dodging attacks is the main focus of every fight. The one downside is that this game is rather short.
Going by all the side stories in these games Yugi and Seto have been dueling each other forever. The fact that they continue to look exactly the same is kinda silly. Anyway this game is set in 1480’s europe where a war between the red and white rose was at a fever pitch. To stave off Seto and his 7 legoneers the red roses decide to summon of duelist from the future. (Aka the player.) The game of Yugioh has been changed for this game. Moving monsters around a field is part of the battle instead of just placing them and then attacking. Summoning points are now required to summon a tougher monster. Outplaying your opponent by using magic and trap cards is still required to obtain victory. I really must have been all about Yugioh at this point with by the fact I bought 5 different games in 2 years. Kinda just a flash in the pan though with this series slowing going into decline after this point.
Well this is a horrible game to load a save up and try to play it. Konami spend some time on this release adding in a big world to run around in. If only I knew how to duel anyone. Looks like I can only duel people via the storyline and going by one of the cutscenes I ran into Seito would be my next opponent. Since I have another Yugioh game coming up I didn’t look at the card game part of this release.
This game must have came out before the last one on this list. Since this is more like the previous years Yu-Gi-Oh game. I must have picked these up over multiple years after they were released. No way would I get so many similar games over 2 years. Kinda crazy how fast they were pumping these out but it isn’t like they had to do much. Each character has about 1 line of text and most of the cards are similar to the last game. They just added more cards each time. Thus allowing the player to create better decks. The first deck they gave me seemed to be Yugi’s default deck. A good balance of offence and defense. While still letting me have a trump card in the form of exodia. I still find this card game to be a fun one to play. Yet I still wonder why I have so many of these Yugioh games. Oh well this is the last you’ll see of them since my interest in the series fell off a cliff at this point.
Compared to the first ZOE I remember this one being more fun to play. This does a great job of intermixing well animated cutscenes into 3D animated action scenes whenever the different mechs are fighting. I guess they never really explain it but Jehuty has been abandoned on this ice planet and Dingo finds it and uses it to take down a bunch of enemy AI units. Dodging around enemies and firing a crazy amount of laser bolts is just fun. With the additional fact that it is possible to dodge attacks and get up close to slash with a laser sword is neat too. With the great presentation on top of everything else it is easy to see why this game is so memorable. If only it wasn’t known as being really short as well.
Conclusion
Funny to see how promonate YuGiOh was in my gaming library at this point. I certainly enjoyed the show but I didn’t think I liked it enough to buy so many games. Card games in general aren’t really my style since I tend to use the default deck more than actually trying to make a good deck with the cards I collect. Another game reminded me that I am interested in checking out the newest Romance Of The Three Kingdoms XIII when it comes out later this year. Half the game is menus yet I love it so much. Plus I weirdly like just being one warrior among many compared to having control of the entire army. Which is odd since I usually hate that kind of thing in other games. In the end this was another varied year of video games that I enjoyed along with a selection of games that might have been better off forgotten. I never really bring up the bad games in these lists very often but the PS1 ended on such a sour note it is hard not to notice it. Between InuYasha and Ultimate Battle 22 it is like two different components were trying to make the lamest fighting games ever. It is just a sad way to say goodbye to a good console.