We’ve come a long way but the end is in sight. Welcome back to my weekly look back at pretty much every game I decided to buy the past 28 years. With no real console to talk about the past few posts I’ve been tangentially talking about other gaming related things that have happened. After all by this point we are just looking at my taste in games today so I can’t really point out a starting point for why I love this genre anymore. So why not go over E3 this time with the latest iteration of it happening in just a few days.

Most of what I remember about E3 2010 was just the press conferences. Even the GB wiki makes me realize I didn’t get hyped about much of anything. It’s easy to forget how many games are shown off at E3 and a very minute amount of them are shown off in this series of blogs. The front facing part of E3 has been all about letting the press get their hands on a bunch of upcoming games. At one point I was going to recap some of what happened at E3 but why do it when I can let the Bombcrew do it for me? Day 0, Day 01, Day 02 E3 is cool but let's get to the meat of this post and see the games I own from

2010

A parody of 8 bit Zelda like games is a great setup for a fully high resolution voxel based adventure. Letting the player choose between many a bunch of classic hero types and a bunch random other characters like a Bancho or a robot is neat. Creating your own custom hero is possible too. I also like the fact the full heath sword is huge and very useful. Early on it seems like that might make the player overpowered but it becomes tougher to keep it in the later dungeons. I wish this wasn’t on a list of games I never completed. Always seemed like it could be a fun game to play through.

Miles Edgeworth has his own unique ways to investigate a crime scene. Which makes the game more of a classic adventure game where you move him around examining clues. After finding enough he puts together the different logic clues together to find the truth. Cross examine witnesses is still apart of the game too. The new systems give this game a different vibe. Still an interesting side game that takes a bit before it really gets going.

Sometimes sticking with what worked before continues to be fun. The one thing After Burner always had was speed. Blazing across each stage rolling out of the way of any incoming missile works. Sega kept that attitude with Climax. Smooth 60 FPS while blowing up and occasionally competing some kind of extra objective is all you need. That also means it is super short but that does lend itself to easy replayability. Ex options get unlocked to help or hinder the player by giving extra continues or limiting the climax meter. Really is to bad this isn't purchasable on PSN anymore.

Atelier Rorona is the perfect example of why a good protagonist can change my mind about a game that is about collecting ingredients. Rorona is a pupil to an alchemist that doesn’t care about working. Which eventually causes the castle to threaten to close it if they don’t start helping the community. Her master lets Rorona do all the work and gives her the shop. Thus the goal of the game is just to make her new shop into a respectable establishment. A small goal but I quite like the fact that this game is small in scope compared to so many other RPG’s. After playing this again I can once again see why some players enjoy this game series.

The first act really lets shows you what this game is all about. All hope is lost and only a few knights like Gabriel have any hope of taking down the lords of shadow. His tragic past becomes apparent quickly and very important to the overall plot. I do remember this game being good at setting up each chapter thanks to some good voice over work by Patrick Stewart who narrates during the loading screens. Having the gameplay be about fighting monsters in a arena is fine because it seems like they do a good job of changing things up. Either by fighting a giant golem or riding on a magical horse for a level keeps the player interested in seeing more. Out of all the console Castlevania's this is one of the more enjoyable ones to play.

Well I think just about everyone knows the beginning of this final fantasy isn’t the best part of it. Linear hallways mixed with really basic combat isn’t the best first impression. It does get better later but the slow output of new mechanics really makes it a grind to just get to the good part. At least the excellent CG work is still on display to show off some nice action scenes.

Fist Of The North Star does not hold up very well at all and it isn’t even that old. I’m having a hard time understanding how I even liked this when it was first released. Part of why I enjoyed it was because it introduced me to the tale of Kenshiro a tough fighter who is on a journey to rescue his one true love. To bad the world is a post apocalyptic wasteland and just about everyone is a different shade of evil. Along the way he gains a few allies and does a bunch of dumb crazy moves. You are truly already dead if you face Kenshiro. Meanwhile the fighting is a bit slow but it does have my favorite dodge roll mechanic that seems to be vital to make me like a Warriors game.

So this wasn’t the Front Mission game everyone wanted but taken as a third person mech combat game it is alright. About on par with some of the early Armored Core games although it has a much more linear story to tell. Like many mech stories a test pilot gets caught up in a bigger war and only he has the skill to save the world. All the trigger buttons are used for each of the 4 weapons you can have at your disposal. Even if you're blocking attacks with a shield it is possible to damage your enemies. In the end this was a average game that created some good mech battles throughout the 6 hour campaign.

I’m sure it isn’t hard to figure out who he is but like any good JRPG hero Hercules begins with having amnesia. He is also a silent protagonist to check off that mark too. The art style is what stands out the most when looking at this game. For some reason they decided to go with a pho 3D look that reminds me of the art style in Harvest Moon 64. Overall seems like a standard RPG with the backdrop of greek mythology to make it stand out from the rest.

Quantic Dream’s games are so divisive either you love or hate them. In some ways I had the perfect experience when I watched a friend play through all of Heavy Rain. It really does have a lot of hooks that keep you wanting to see more. Since we kinda just marathoned our way though the story while somehow keeping everyone alive. Probably for the best I didn’t try to go back and see how little the choices mattered as noted by a lot of people. I think the narrative works pretty well and I wanted to see the conclusion to the story.

The thirst for a new Mega Man like game may have been really high when Mighty Number 9 kickstarter first appeared but it wasn’t that long ago that we got two new games in the original series. They may not be upgraded to modern art style but the retro 8 bit art style was still novel at this point in time. Maybe not anymore but it does do everything well. Tough stages that have a lot of instant death trips and annoying disappearing blocks is the Mega Man way. For that reason it still works today in the same way people like to play the older games.

I don’t know if anyone would ever want the sequel this game. Or maybe more people would be up for Metal Slug XXX than I think. As for XX this is a upgraded port of MS7. As with the rest it is about Marco and his cohorts taking down an evil army by blasting everything till it blows up. The first level is balanced well and fighting the worm robot as the first boss felt good. This game makes a good first impression and the boot camp mode gives you a bunch of challenges to compete. Without that this would be a very short game like the rest of them.

I’ve had this for a while but never really took any time to start a playthrough. Metroid Other M is mainly known for characterizing Samus in a way that most players disliked. The gameplay seems like it could be interesting through. The pace of the action feels good and dodging attacks using the dpad is awesome. Once it required me to go into first person during fights that seems a little iffy. Overall this seems like a mediocre action game so I can see why it is disliked.

The play, create and share motto never made too much traction. Modnation Racers tried to make it interesting to make it easy to create tracks and they were somewhat successful. Yet like LBP I preferred to just play the user levels instead of actually make one even if the tools were easier to use. In the kart racer department this is a by the numbers take on that premise. Drifting around corners and drafting behind opponents gives extra juice to boost or shield the kart depending on the situation. The usual set of pickups are in effect too like a lock on missile. Everything works well but it just didn’t have much staying power when it was released.

Namco loves to resell their old arcade games. With this being the only collection I bought it does have everything I would want from their back catalog. Pac Man, Dig Dug, Galaga, Xevious (Plus remake) and Dragon Spirit. That last one may not mean much to most of you but to me it was a NES game that appeared quite a few years ago in this retrospective. It is variation on Xevious but the enemies are fantasy themed and they were nice enough to let the dragon take 3 hits instead of one. The rest of the games are faithful ports and the remake seems well made.

Start with the START button is easily the best way to tell the player to hit the correct button. Another way to start a game is to just show you the end of it. Or at least a snippet before sending you back to the beginning. More so than the first game this one feels like they knew what people liked about the first one. Ramp up the crazy anime antics instead of presenting a bunch of normal fights. Of course the way they show off is a bunch of flashy scenes that use QTE sections where you watch Naruto do something crazy if you press the button at the right time. For me I enjoy QTE just because it lets a developer show something that wouldn’t be possible without them. Doesn’t hurt that these games look really great too.

From the the moment Travis gets back from the first fight it is apparent the brand of crazy that Grasshopper Manufacture is known for is still in effect. Not much has changed in the combat department other than giving the player two lightsabers to swing around. In general this sequel has a much more snapper pacing. The story gets straight to the point with Travis trying to avenge his best friend who was killed by some thugs. No more open world to explore and in this case that was a improvement. Kinda felt tacked on before while this version lets you go directly to any of the missions or mini games. The 8bit mini games were a highlight before and still a cool addition. Overall this kinda just does everything better although in my case it didn’t hit the same hilarious notes that the first game had on me.

A new way to force players to go for a high score is why this remake of Pac Man works. Ramping up the speed at which the player is going makes it easier to earn more points while also requiring the skill to keep up. A time limit also gives you the time to keep getting better. At least if you're willing to keep trying over and over again till you obtain near perfection. Even without the speed the neon art style fits the game well and the many different maze types should keep you busy for a while even if you don’t aim for the high score. Overall this is one of the best examples of how to reboot a old arcade game.

Perfect Dark was the spiritual sequel to Goldeneye that I didn’t know about until after the N64 was outdated. When it was ported to the 360 I finally got to play it. I’m sure this would have impressed me back in the day. Rare added in voice acting to fill out the story instead of a bunch of text. Taking on gritty future where aliens exist would have been cool too. Now I can appreciate it for what it did at the time but looking at it now is kinda tough. At least this version looks a looks better and less muddy than the one on the N64. The updated controls to make this control like a modern FPS is very useful too.

Picross has always been a good brain teaser game. 3D gives picross a unique feeling like your chiseling out a statue instead of filling in blocks on paper. The main goal of each puzzle is to fill out certain blocks by using the numbers on the side to figure out where to fill in each block and which ones need to be chiseled. Moving around a object makes it easier for me to figure it out compared to some of the traditional games. Although I still have a soft spot for the original Mario Picross on game boy. Seems like I still have a hard time competing all the puzzles. I ended up stopping mid way through the normal puzzles every time.

Remaking a older Pokemon games is always a good way for Game Freak to space out newer entries to the main series. Upgrading Silver with 3D modeled buildings with better sprites were the main noticeable addition in this entry. Allowing a Pokemon to tag along behind the player is another new feature. Some of my old saves have weird teams and I do wonder what I was trying to do. Focusing on just 2 high level Pokemon is not a great way to raise a team. Oh well it is interesting to see where I left off in all of these games. I’ve noticed it is either 2 badges or I end up with them all.

The western genre isn’t something that shows up often anymore. So I’m always curious to play just about any video game that decides to attempt to recreate that atmosphere. Rockstar’s brand of open world mayhem has been transferred over to this style very well. Although compete chaos isn’t the stand out factor this time. John Marston’s story is easily the reason to play this. Even in the opening moments it is obvious how many unique characters you’ll be meeting as John tries to bring in his former friend Bill. As for the gunplay it works well and having slow mo bar makes shootouts fun.

Red Steel 2 can go onto a list of games that improved on the premise of the first game in every way. Instead of a generic mafia guy the player is now a samurai gunman. He is very skilled with a blade and thanks to wii motion plus it now feels like you're swinging a real sword around. Shooting is also done with the wiimote letting the player seamlessly swap from melee to ranged at any time. With the addition of the very nice looking cel shaded art style this looks real good today. Also I have to give props to Ubisoft for supporting the Wii more than a realized with a selection of really good games.

This game has giant robots at some point. I know it is true because it is on the back of the box. Didn’t get to see any and actually didn’t mind that this was half a visual novel. Meeting all the girls was fun and each one has a unique personality that make them memorable. The fact I had plenty of dialogue choice was a nice change of pace. By the way the name of the game is Sakura Wars but she has nothing to do with this plot at all. Other than being at the start for a few seconds it turns out that a new division in America needs a new captain and Shinjiro ends up being the one sent to fill out that role. Things aren't that simple and he ends up being the usher instead of the captain. I’m sure something drastic happens to change everyone's point of view but wow they really spend a lot of time just setting up everything.

We are at the point where TellTale is still in the mood to continue to make new adventure games. This is the 3rd season for Sam & Max and it really just starts off in the middle everything. A talking alien monkey is trying to blow up the city and it is up to Sam & Max to save the day. Only to find out it was a vision of the future and Max has psychic powers now too. Then it goes back 26 minutes, wait I should stop trying to explain this story. It makes no sense and that is why it works so well. The humor is enjoyable but I ended up never finishing all these episodes.

Hm maybe this game wasn’t that good as my memories told me. Could just be that this game isn’t balanced to well with a low level character that hasn’t been powered up much. Although I do remember having to repeat levels because it was impossible to beat them on the first try solo. Thus requiring a bit of a grind for some more money to power up different stats for Scott and his posse. Which was the appeal of this game in the first place since it is a lot like River City Ransom. With the bosses just being a bit more over the top crazy sometimes.

This is the second game in the Shantae series by Wayforward. Weird to think of this being a series I adore now because I was quite let down by this sequel when I played it for the first time. After playing the first game this one felt like it didn’t have a good pace to it. By the time Shantae finally hair whips her way to stopping Risky Boots latest diabolical plan the game is over way too soon. The platforming and the boss fights are all top notch so it was quite disappointing at the time. Now I still think that but they managed to improve on what they started here so I don’t mind the fact this one isn’t that great.

I remember this game being a bummer because it was so short. I’m sure that is still true but wow the gameplay was significantly improved over the first game. All the moves may still be the same but the speed at which you can pull them off is a 100x better. Hard to not mention the graphical upgrade that makes this game look really good. The problem I bet most players had was the story which is about being a clone of Starkiller. The ho hum story goes nowhere and the ending is a big letdown. At least the dlc continues the silly what if stories they were doing with the last game.

Another in a line whimsical JRPG’s to come from Japan. Idea factory was really into the idea of crossover games around this time. As for the game it has some merit if the comedy is up your alley. Cause without it doesn’t do anything else interesting. Combat is the usual kind with some minor combos like hitting square 5 times. So I wish I had more to say but this is just a very forgettable game.

The start of Yakuza 3 just sets up the fact the Tojo clan is once again in trouble. This time Kazuma’s father Fuma comes back from the dead and attempts to kill the current head of the clan. Pretty much forcing Kazuma to come out of retirement because they claim the orphanage he currently runs and plan on tearing it down. This will not do so he goes off this solve this latest crisis. Sega really wants to make sure the player was caught up to the story of Yakuza. Quite a bit of time could be spent just watching the recaps they included. The game is set up like the rest with fights breaking out into a beat em up. A bunch of mini games are included like golf and a fake arcade game. The crime drama has always been my interest in this series and going by what I’ve seen here again today this does that part extremely well.

The Ys series has been flirting around the idea of different playable characters for a bit. Ys Seven was when they decided to go all in. Adol may still be the main protagonist but now he forms a party of 3 whenever he goes off to save the world one more time. At any time the player can switch between each one to launch different attacks at enemies. Taking on big bosses at the end of each area is still the bread and butter of this game. Now you just have more options than playing as a guy with a sword.

This is the simplest beat em up style of game around. You can punch a bunch of mini sentinels and use a special screen cleaning move at the cost of some life points. Even with a straightforward game like this it is possible to appreciate the visual and audio sides of the game. Konami did a good job of recreating the art style of the X-men cartoon. The main reason way old arcade games like this can work today is that they can still be fun to play through them with a friend.

Conclusion

Even with this massive undertaking we’ve really only scratched the surface. So many other games were rented along this entire timeline too. If I counted Steam this would also be a much larger list and I even have a sizable physical PC collection. Really I probably own way too many games. It wasn’t like I planned on having this massive collection. Getting rid of very few games just added up over the years. After hearing how Jeff is trying to preserve gaming history in his own way I decided I would do the same thing too. This entire blog series has just been about saying that video games are cool and are worth remembering. No matter if they just came out 5 years ago or 20 it is always fun to see them again even if they don’t hold up. Tune in next time to see Kirby get cloned and to see all our consoles get turned into anime girls.