First, however, to get them out of the way...
Unranked: A Horde of Atari Games
Trying to place all the new Atari 2600 games I played this year would be far too difficult. It's hard enough ranking such old games alongside modern ones as it is - with this many, it'd just be a pain and the list would be littered with them, so they all get shoved here.
Games in bold were played on an actual Atari 2600 with a cartridge. Games in italics were played on my Atari Flashback plug-and-play system.
Atari Climber - A game similar in some respects to Donkey Kong. You must climb from the bottom of the stage to the top, avoiding hazards and scoring points.
Atlantis - You control three cannons and try to shoot down flying ships that want to bomb your city. The cannons cannot aim or move, so timing is literally everything. Nice graphics for the 2600.
Demon Attack - A very similar game to Phoenix. Demon Attack is a static shooter in which you fight wave after wave of "demons". They come in many shapes, but they mostly behave the same.
Dragonfire - In this medieval quest, you alternate between two screens. The first screen is about jumping over and ducking under fireballs to reach a castle. Once there, you gather treasure for points while dodging the attacks of an angry dragon.
Off the Wall - I've never been good at Breakout-type games. Off the Wall is not an exception.
Secret Quest - One of the rare games on Atari that cries out for instructions. I can't give this Zeldaesque game a fair shake because I didn't know what to do a few levels in.
Space Jockey - Space Jockey is hurt by technical limitations - only three enemies are onscreen at once, making the game far too dull. A difficulty option to make the enemies move randomly may help your experience somewhat.
Video Checkers - Not sure how I'm supposed to win. The computer seems to counter my every move. Then again, I don't play much checkers.
Video Chess - Same problem - the computer consistently outfoxed me even on the lowest difficulty. I played chess a lot back in elementary school, and I don't remember being this bad at it.
Yar's Revenge - One of the strongest Atari games I've played. Yar's is more complicated than most Atari games, but it can be figured out pretty quickly, and it's a lot of fun. Once upon a time I had a Game Boy Color version of this game, but I wasn't any good at it and wound up selling the cartridge in a yard sale.
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21: Paper Mario Sticker StarSystem: Nintendo 3DS
Developer: Intelligent Systems
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: Action-Adventure
Date Beaten: January 21
Talking about Sticker Star just depresses me. I've said enough in the past about this game, so I'll just keep it to two things. First, if this is where the series is going, I'm out. Second, I don't even own this game any more - I traded it in to Amazon. Nuff said.
20: Growl
System: Sega Genesis Developer: Taito
Publisher: Taito
Genre: Beat-Em-Up
Date Beaten: March 22
I went in-depth concerning Growl on a blog post made shortly after beating it, and there's not much to say that wasn't said already there. It's a mildly fun beat-em-up, with the most entertaining parts of it revolving around absurdity in the gameplay and story rather than genuine quality. Some issues with gameplay and controls dip the score a bit.
19: Laura
System: Game Boy Color Developer: Playmobil Interactive
Publisher: Ubisoft
Genre: Adventure/Mini-Game
Date Beaten: September 22
Much like Growl, Laura was already covered here on the blog, so I don't have anything significant to add here. Laura may be third-to-last, but it was still decently entertaining for what it was. It and every game hereafter are at least "okay" as far as I'm concerned.
18: Bird AssassinSystem: Xbox 360 (Indie Games)
Developer: Social Loner Studios
Publisher: Microsoft
Genre: Run-and-Gun
Date Beaten: July 14
This has gotta be the redneckiest game I've ever played, putting Monster Jam: Urban Assault to shame. In Bird Assassin, you play as a stereotypical beer-drinking, Southern-accent-having hick out to get revenge for his pa by killing a nasty ostrich that killed said pa... by shooting him. With a gun
The gameplay is simple platforming and shooting. The key to victory is slowly moving forward so only a few birds spawn at a time. You can purchase new weapons at a store with money you collect in the levels, and once you've bought the minigun you no longer need to worry about challenge. The game can be finished in an hour or two and doesn't have much substance to it, but it's dumb fun while it lasts and only costs a dollar.
17: Super Mario LandSystem: Game Boy
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: 2D Platformer
Date Beaten: March 7
I first played Super Mario Land over a decade ago. The cartridge was borrowed by my brother from one of his friends, and was in our house for a week or so. I tried numerous times to clear the game, but wasn't able to get past the seahorse boss in the second level most of the time, and the one time I did, I promptly lost my last life near the start of the next stage. When I "upgraded" my Wii last March, Super Mario Land was my first game to play on it. I'm pretty sure I would have beaten the game even without using savestates. Maybe I was just worse at it years ago, maybe the tiny screen was a factor, who knows.
Super Mario Land is a strange Mario platformer that mixes up some things about the series. There are strange new enemies and unique twists to old ones, Daisy is kidnapped instead of Peach, and an alien named Tatanga is the villain instead of Bowser. Back in the day, Nintendo was more willing to change things like that when it came to Mario.
The gameplay is pretty standard platformer fare, although there are a couple of autoscrolling shooter stages to mix things up. It's a very short and simple game, so I wouldn't pay much for it, but it's decent while it lasts.
16: Daze Before Christmas
System: Sega Genesis Developer: Funcom
Publisher: Sunsoft
Genre: 2D Platformer
Date Beaten: December 21
Daze Before Christmas is a bog-standard platform game that stands out from the pack with its' unique theme - you play as none other than Santa Claus himself, and the game is thoroughly Christmassy to match. Remixes of Christmas songs are heard throughout gameplay, the "map screen" is styled to resemble an advent calendar (yes, there are 24 levels) and the stages include a lot of Christmas-like locations, such as ice caves, snowy mountains, toy factories, and Santa's own festive house. To break up the platforming, there are four bosses and four special levels that have you controlling Santa's sleigh as he autoscrolls through the skies of Britain, Russia, Japan, and the USA, delivering presents by dropping them down chimneys. The game isn't particularly difficult at any point, which I'd consider a plus. A cute and friendly Christmas game should be pretty accessible, y'know?
The Sega Genesis version of this game was only released in Australia, and finding the actual cartridge is hard to do and expensive to boot. Fortunately we have emulators. There was also a less-rare Super Nintendo version of the game.
15: Aegis WingSystem: Xbox 360 (Live Arcade)
Developer: Carbonated Games
Publisher: Microsoft
Genre: Shmup
Date Beaten: June 19
Aegis Wing is a simple scrolling shooter. It's pretty tough if you're alone, but thanks to the ability for the player ships to combine forces into a supership with improved attacking ability, adding just one additional player makes the going much easier, as I found out last June (thanks, Spy). Aegis Wing is nothing remarkable, but it's free to download so it's worth a try if you have a 360.
14: Felix the CatSystem: NES
Developer: Hudson
Publisher: Hudson
Genre: 2D Platformer
Date Beaten: March 18
Despite having never owned an NES, I have fond memories of this game because I played the first few levels while visiting a relative who owned it. Even when I was a kid, I was never too much of a console fanboy (I briefly became one for a while in my teenage years, but grew out of it). Rather than proclaim how my system was the best and the others can go die, I was excited to play something on a "new" and different system. I also played Super Mario Bros 1 through 3, Mario World, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game, Marble Madness, Donkey Kong Country, and a few others on other people's NES and SNES systems.
Felix the Cat is another pretty standard-issue platformer. The main gimmick is that Felix can upgrade his weapon by collecting milk bottles, and getting hurt will downgrade him. The more powerful weapons are on a timer of sorts, as they continually suck away Felix's milk count (think Super Sonic). The game can get tricky at times but is much easier than most of the other horrors the NES is famous for.
13: Final Fight 2System: Super Nintendo
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Genre: Beat-Em-Up
Date Beaten: September 26
HELLO THIS IS MAYOR
Final Fight 2 is your typical beat-em-up, brought to you by Capcom in an age when beat-em-ups were still common. The most notable thing about this game is that you get to play as Haggar, a fact woefully few games can place on their resume. Aside from that, you know exactly what you're getting here: assault and defeat five hundred clones of a dozen people to face down the evil boss and save the city.
This is also the first time a girl was playable in the Final Fight series, but Streets of Rage did it first.
12: Rolan's CurseSystem: Game Boy
Developer: Sammy
Publisher: Sammy
Genre: Action-Adventure
Date Beaten: March 14
The name of that developer is ruined forever. Darn it, Harpy.
I went into detail about Rolan's Curse back in a Game Room entry. To sum up, it's a slow-paced top-down fantasy action-adventure game with similar mechanics to the old Zelda titles. An emphasis is placed on making your way through mazes filled with monsters. It's a fun little adventure, albeit very old-school and bare in features and worldbuilding. Your hero doesn't even get a name!
11: Space Invaders EXSystem: Game Boy Advance
Developer: Torus Games
Publisher: Activision
Genre: Shmup
Date Beaten: December 24
Space Invaders EX is simply called Space Invaders outside of Japan, but I like to use the EX to help differentiate it from other games in the series. This one doesn't have the invaders retro shooter fans are used to - instead, the enemies are pre-rendered 3D-esque shiplike organisms. Gameplay is similar, but power-ups have been added - shoot four identical invaders in a row to get a one-use weapon. The game is divided into ten worlds, each with ten normal levels, a bonus stage, and a boss fight. It sounds like a lot, but the waves go quick and the whole game can be beaten in under an hour.
A port of the original game is also included, but it's noticeably off - the sounds aren't quite right, the invaders don't speed up as much when the ranks are thinned, the shots travel too quickly (both yours and your enemies) and they somehow managed to make the original Space Invaders lag on GBA despite the GBA being roughly 50 quintillion times more powerful than 1978 arcade hardware (the lag goes away after you've killed about five aliens, but COME ON).
10: Metroid II: Return of Samus
System: Game Boy Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: Metroidvania
Date Beaten: March 11
Metroid II, despite being only the second game in the series, is very reminiscent of modern 2D Metroid games like Fusion and Zero Mission, rather than the crude gameplay of the original. Many of the famous power-ups are here and Samus looks great for 8-bit. Par for the course in Metroid, there's a buttload of hidden items and power-ups to find and the focus is on exploring the world to find your next target, going from place to place and returning back again as you acquire new abilities.
The game centers around everyone's favorite
THE BABY
9: Robot LegionsSystem: Xbox 360 (Indie Games)
Developer: Sentry Games
Publisher: Microsoft
Date Beaten: July 10
Genre: Shmup
I went in-depth with this one back in the summer. Briefly, Robot Legions is a short, one-dollar twin-stick shooter from Xbox Live Indie Games. It revolves around upgrading your robot with cash earned from blasting enemies. The game is simple fun and is reasonably difficult without being unfair. It can be plowed through in an hour, but there are some bonus challenges (basically Achievements) to add a bit of replay value.
8: Voxel Invaders
System: AndroidDeveloper: Noctua Software
Publisher: Amazon
Genre: Shmup
Date Beaten: December 26
This stylish Android shooter was not the first game on Android I played, but it was the first that could be properly beaten. Gameplay is generally simple alien blasting - move your ship around on the screen with your finger, and it shoots automatically. The funky music and neat graphics add a very good slice of polish to the game that help it stand above the average Retro Pixel Indie Thing.
The game is broken up into four worlds, each with nine stages. Each stage consists of waves - most stages have five waves, but some have less. A few have just one. There are also some later levels that change up the gameplay, though control remains much the same. At the end of each world, predictably, is a boss. The final boss is surprisingly formidable compared to the rest of the game, but with a bit of practice it's felled eventually. Gameplay is forgiving and accessible, with multiple difficulty levels and the ability to restart on a wave (not a level, a wave) upon running out of lives.
7: Space Invaders ExtremeSystem: Nintendo DS
Developer: Taito
Publisher: Square Enix
Genre: Shmup
Date Beaten: December 17
Space Invaders Extreme isn't what I'd call "bullet hell", but it IS a little too frenetic for its own good. In Extreme, it's the usual alien blasting, but it's set to techno music with psychedelic backgrounds that are horribly distracting (you can thankfully neuter them in Options, allowing you to actually see what's going on). The game uses a power-up system similar to EX's - blast four invaders of the same color for a power-up, and if you hit certain colors and shapes in the right sequence, you'll make a special UFO spawn that triggers a minigame when hit. Winning the minigame awards you bonus points and a superweapon that is deliberately overpowered to help you tear through the next few waves quickly.
It's unfortunate Extreme is so, well, extreme. I'd love to play more and see the rest of the levels (there are alternate paths. With much effort, I made it to the credits following the easiest path). I'm not good enough to make it through them, though. Extreme is fairly unforgiving - it will save your progress after a stage, but running out of lives kicks you back to the start of the level you died on - even if you were on the boss fight. No checkpoints here. There's also a leveling system that makes your shots faster and stronger, but dying just once instantly sucks away two levels. It's the usual shoot-em-up problem of being either totally equipped or helplessly stuck with a starter ship.
6: Space Invaders RevolutionSystem: Nintendo DS
Developer: Taito
Publisher: Mastiff
Genre: Shmup
Date Beaten: December 26
It is generally accepted by the video game world that Revolution pales to Extreme in terms of Space Invaders games on DS. And hell, I'd agree that Extreme has better graphics, sound, and presentation, carries more content, and has more replayability. So why does Revolution top it? Accessibility. Extreme is simply too punishingly difficult, to the point that I won't even bother to attempt its' harder bonus stages due to how much trouble the easier ones gave me. It's a good game, but due to the very high level of skill required, it winds up a smidge under Revolution in my ranking. Next time include difficulty modes, Extreme! (they actually did - Extreme 2 has an easy mode, but it locks you out of certain levels, partly missing the point of why the feature should exist)
The box promises "over 60 levels" which is major spin. There are 19 "real" levels, and in each one you face the same challenge three times (often it gets slightly more difficult with each wave). The twentieth level is a final boss battle you only need to win once. There's also a "Stage 0" bonus level you can play to build up your Classic Invaders score by doing mini challenges like trying to hit a UFO or a series of fast-moving invaders. If you interpret each wave as a "level" you can get to about sixty levels total, but that's really pushing it.
The classic game is here, too, and it's a solid port with a couple extra features. You can toggle a sight that helps you know when to shoot the UFO, and you can turn on auto-fire (which I wouldn't recommend - this game is all about timing your shots. Just try and hit that last invader with auto-fire on).
So yeah. Short, simple, cheap, fun. Not bad at all.
5: Super Mario Land 2System: Game Boy
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: 2D Platformer
Date Beaten: February 19
Here's another game that taunted me years and years ago that I never got to finish. I even ordered a copy on Amazon a few years ago, only to receive just a manual. Somehow I missed the fine print on that one. Finally, Mario Land 2 became mine on the Virtual Console (shortly before a certain program for Wii opened new doors for me). It took a little over two hours for me to 100% the game, but it was a fun ride. With the exception of the final battle with Wario, the game is pretty easy, and if you have trouble the 3DS Virtual Console allows for savestating. SML2 is pretty easy to grab a hold of nowadays, so consider tracking it down if you'd like a slightly different Mario game.
4: Wario LandSystem: Game Boy
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Date Beaten: March 4
Genre: 2D Platformer
Wario Land is a substantial improvement on SML2, which was itself a substantial improvement on SML1. Wario's quest for treasure is significantly longer than SML2 and boasts higher quality graphics and interesting gameplay that is a fusion of classic Mario platforming and the puzzling and exploration Wario Land games became known for later. In the logjam that is the middle of the pack, I've selected this adventure as the one that rises to the top.
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Something I noticed when making this list - there were very few games I wouldn't consider at least "okay" or "good"... but only three of the twenty-one were particularly exceptional. The gap between fourth and third place on this list is bigger than the gap between fourth and seventeenth. These three games here are games I'd consider top twenty candidates if the 100 Games list had been made this year instead of last year.
3: Beat Hazard Ultra
System: PC (Steam) Developer: Cold Beam Games
Publisher: Valve
Genre: Shmup
Date Beaten: August 5
Beat Hazard Ultra lived and died by the platform it was on. The game is a stylish twin-stick shooter in which you blast enemies in waves that are generated by the music on your computer. Said music acts as a "stage" - the level lasts for the length of the track. Obviously it's a lot easier to get MP3s on a PC than it is to get them onto an Xbox 360, and you have a lot more room for storage, too. Unfortunately, computer issues keep me from playing Beat Hazard whenever I want - sometimes I'm greeted with a black screen instead of my game. That's why I said it lives and dies by its' platform - it needed to be on PC to fully reach its potential due to its' concept, but at the same time PCs are unreliable for gaming (at least they have been for me).
I had loads of fun with Beat Hazard Ultra, spending less than four dollars to get it and sinking over twenty hours of gameplay into it. I love getting value like that. Along the way I climbed the leaderboards to reach the top few thousand players and got every last achievement, a feat very few players have apparently done according to the achievement stats. It was pretty neat going through my music collection and seeing what each song brought to the table.
The "Ultra" DLC makes Beat Hazard into a much-improved game, helping ease the repetitive nature of it with new enemies and bosses to fight, plus new items and features. Grab it during a Steam sale if you're interested.
2: Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies
System: Nintendo 3DS (eShop) Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Genre: Visual Novel
Date Beaten: October 31
I've waited years for this! At long last, a new Ace Attorney game has been translated into English, after numerous delays and AAI2 being cruelly tossed aside. Even though it's restricted to the eShop and the translation was clearly rushed through as cheaply as possible (there's a horde of typos, particularly in earlier cases), it released, dammit, and that's what matters.
The Ace Attorney games are not really "games", honestly. They're more like visual novels, which is the genre I consider them to be. Dual Destinies is the most visual-novelly game in the series - the difficulty of the game has dropped significantly, making save scumming less important and allowing the player to focus more on enjoying the story than presenting every piece of evidence in the Court Record at every statement of testimony in a trial-and-error attempt to advance the plot.
Dual Destinies presents five entertaining cases with a horde of unique new characters and a nice sprinkling of fanservice cameos. There's also a DLC case if you want more after the game is done. If you like the series, you'll like this, as it's largely "the same but more", which I have absolutely no issue with. I needed my fix.
1: Pokemon Y
System: Nintendo 3DS Developer: Game Freak
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: RPG
Date Beaten: November 1
You say you want an evolution?! Pokemon Y moves the Pokemon series forward in historic ways. Trainer customization, much greater ease of online features, a significantly improved GTS, spectacular graphics and sound, trainer customization, and a heck of a lot more. Pokemon Y is one of the biggest gen-to-gen jumps the series has ever made, and I'm recognizing that in full with the number one spot.
Much like Dual Destinies, Pokemon has used the 3DS to finally make the leap to full 3D, and it turned out great! The main series gameplay is preserved, but the new system's processing power is used to excellent effect to help add eye candy and immersion to the game. Now if only Pokemon Bank would finally come out, I could get back to playing. I have unfinished business with the Kalos region...
So what have we learned today? Well uh... apparently no amount of space shooters can make me stop loving RPGs.
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SYSTEM STATS
Game Boy Color (includes Virtual Console) - 6
Nintendo 3DS - 3
Xbox 360 - 3
Nintendo DS - 2
Sega Genesis - 2
PC - 1
Android - 1
Game Boy Advance - 1
SNES - 1
NES - 1
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