I got a laptop I used for Steam gaming eventually in July of 2012, but I honestly don't even remember if I was gaming in 2012 or just had to get a new laptop, cause I know I played Fez and Hotline Miami in 2013, but it was mostly getting to the Batman Arkham games I'd missed otherwise.
Back in the day, I didn't even notice pinball machines in the arcades. I guess they were there, I just never played them, or rarely, because I don't remember a single one. But now that FarSight Studios has brought these games to consoles, I've become a fan of them. I even go to the local arcade on occasion and play the real thing.
So today I got to sleep quite a bit. I dont get much sleep through the week at times. Work and babysitting occupy the middle of the week and sometimes I just dont get a lot of sleep between those 2. If I can survive till Oct-Dec my parents are gonna retire and take care of my niece completely so I can be free to do what I need career choice wise for me. My CNA expired so Im still trying to figure out what I wanna do going forward, especially if pharmacy tech doesnt workout. I have high hopes it will but just in case I gotta have a back up plan. Thankfully I got 4 days off starting tomorrow, gonna play video games and relax! Maybe sleep more, if you never hear from me again I put myself under the sleep spell that was used on sleeping beauty.
Pixlpeeps it’s Friday, I’ve been out all day and I am back home and ready to relax, watch TV, and of course update you on the randoms going on here in my little piece of Southern California. BaD has been a lot of fun but I’m glad it’s almost over because well it’s a lot of work (you folks know) and I do like my Monday/Friday setup. Anyways let’s get back to some Quick Hits!
So with the weekend upcoming and only a few more days of blogging left. I have to create this particular mess of a blog by pointing out other great hidden gems for other systems. The reviews will be a lot more condensed and shorter, but you may find some titles you have yet to play and want to give a shot
The Street Fighter franchise is a worldwide powerhouse that has been popular for decades, even if its cultural foot print hasn't been as large in recent years. All that is due, however, to Street Fighter II, and not this slow, clunky, horribly unbalanced first effort from 1987. Not that it has to be balanced. You start up the game and immediately play as Ryu (I've heard Ken is playable too but I don't know how to pick him). The other characters are not playable, so they don't have to be balanced. The game plays like a series of boss fights, which by itself isn't damning, even considering how things are stacked against you. It's the fact that it's, well, slow and clunky and not very much fun to play. There are so many great Street Fighter games that there is really no reason to play this one.
I didn't play Zork until '81 at the earliest because that's when the IBM PC came out. My aunt had an IBM and I played Zork at her house one family visit. I don't remember playing it for very long. It's a text-based adventure where you have to figure things out as you go along. I think I got bored of the obscure solution to the game and went back to pursuing my aunt's huge scifi/fantasy book collection.
So Im a bit behind tonight but Im posting this before midnight so I made it*technically*. Today wasnt a bad day. I got to spend it with the bf since the weather was bad and I stayed with him instead of driving home. He was closer to my work. We went out and he got me a new cat banana and manga. The manga I havent read yet but I know Im in for some strange shit. Its called Monster Musume. Its apparently for 16 and above but after lightly scanning through it I can say that should be 18 and above. It shows quite a bit is all I will say.
The Speed Rumbler, 1986, is basically Mad Max. You live in a post-apocalyptic wasteland plagued with car gangs, one of which has kidnapped your family. You have 24 hours (actually 24 minutes, I think) to get them back. You do that by driving and shooting your way through six top down stages, and it starts off pretty well. Your car drives a little stiffly but it's manageable. There are a lot of bad guys to shoot, both in other cars and on foot, as well as other hazards like exploding barrels and boulders. You can also free prisoners from little standalone jails for bonuses and power ups. If your car takes too much damage, it will catch on fire and you need to get out of it ASAP. It's cool that you can go on foot even if you're probably gonna die. If you can survive and make some forward progress, a new car will be dropped off for you. It seems like a missed opportunity, however, that you cannot jump in an empty enemy car. You'll just die and instant deaths is one of my big pet peeves with this game. Okay, you're very vulnerable when not in your car; that makes sense. But there are enemies with instantly kill your car no matter how much life you have. That is super frustrating. Continuing that theme is the time limit. You have to beat the game in 24 minutes, which gives you 4 minutes to beat each of the six levels, and the game makes this a hard limit. If you hit 4 minutes before reaching the end of the level, you gotta start it all over. So doing well on earlier levels does you no good in the later levels. You get no time bonus.
I started off with Pinball FX3 on PS4. Then I played it again on XBO. Then I played Pinball Arcade and the simulated tables. After that I played some Gears of War 4 multiplayer and surprised myself by playing it the rest of the time.
In this blog about hidden gems, we come across a more well known title. In fact, the game in question is playable in America. But for a long time, this game was secluded to being Japan exclusive, yet another Nintendo title with yet another Japan only game. Still without further ado, let's discuss today's hidden gem... Sin & Punishment for the N64.
So I'm fairly sure I didn't play anything IN this year, but I've cheated a bit to include the games I played at least pretty close to 2011. This was another one of those "transition" years where nothing happened.
Side Arms, a 1986 scolling shooter, is an interesting follow up to Section Z. Even though it came out a year later and explores some of the same ideas as Section Z, I feel that Side Arms fails in almost every way that its predecessor succeeds.
So I missed yesterday. I got really distracted around the time I normally write and post. I was doing so good too, well here is todays and the make up. Today I kinda had a good but also rough day. I woke up feeling very depressed but Im ending off the day in a better mental state at work. Im working a 16 hour shift but with the weather being what it is in my area right now I didnt mind. Id rather of drove during the day than at night with all the rain and cold. We have had some ice with it all. The tree's have a quite a bit on them and its causing some to fall over. I havent gamed much today but yesterday I played Monster Hunter World and let me say if you even think of making the Anjanath armor be prepared to grind quite a bit. Idk why but it took way longer to make/get parts compared to others so far. Its not a bad set to make especially to take down the Rathalos. Anywho Im gonna try to game some tonight, hopefully finish something.
I tried to beat some of Rangergirl's scores in Pinball FX3, built the portal for Lego Dimensions and played it, and finished the campaign in Gears of War 4.
As I continue with hidden gems throughout BaD I have yet another game I would like to highlight. This time, we're moving to the 16bit era with the SNES. And we're going for the trifecta of games never released in North America. There was an english translation and the game was released in Europe for the PAL region, so luckily we can play the game and understand it. So let's take a look at todays hidden gem... Terranigma.
Nintendo has made a lot of money off of the miniaturized editions of the NES and SNES. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug, especially when the games are really good. A N64 Classic Edition is seen as the logical next step, although there are rumors that a Game Boy Classic Edition is in the works next. But to be honest, I'm not too enthused about a N64 Classic. I would personally much prefer a Gamecube Classic Edition myself.