This was another big year for replays, but in a somewhat different manner than 2020-more of the games I replayed this year were hacks or randomizers so at least there was something new going on.

I did a noteworthy video game project: What the heck is on this $10 Retro Game handheld? Let’s find out!, an exploration of a cheap Chinese famiclone ( Read more... )

Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Director's Cut - I bought and tried this as part of a bundle in 2016. I maintain that the third game was better in a bunch of ways, but I think my opinion of the difficulty curve has softened in the interim. I think my big complaint this time was that while the game feels very open, it’s actually really linear (without ( Read more... )

Power Blade (NES, Played on Nestopia) - A later-era NES platformer that straddled the line between being an explore-em-up and a Ninja Gaiden clone by having six stages, available in any order, that had multiple mazelike paths; and in each one you have to find the contact with a keycard before you could go through the door to fight the boss. The ( Read more... )

Reverie: Sweet As Edition (Switch) - A retro Zelda-like that’s short and pretty decent. Not as good as Lenna’s Inception in terms of cleverness in the exploration, probably on par with Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King for in-dungeon puzzles. The hitboxes can be a little odd in places, which makes combat unnecessarily more difficult. I did like that ( Read more... )

You were born with a mysterious birthmark and spirited away from a kingdom that was destroyed by monsters. You grew up in a simple little village and accidentally discover your destiny as the Luminary during a local coming-of-age ritual. So begins a world-spanning quest guided by the floating tree Yggdrasil to defeat an evil Dark Lord who has ( Read more... )

Your father was the great hero Ortega, but he vanished years ago when he left to fight the Archfiend Baramos. On your 16th birthday, you’re named the new hero of the realm, and need to recruit a bunch of friends and go off to fight the Archfiend yourself.

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Benjamin’s village was destroyed and he was named the legendary hero by a mysterious floating old man, so it’s up to him to travel to the four areas of the world and restore the power of the four elemental crystals.

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The ancients left behind eight giant Wares robots, each strong enough to conquer the world. A chosen one emerges in this generation who can claim one of these robots, but a sinister conspiracy seeks to put their own chosen one into his place.

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There are a bunch of SNES action games I have fond memories of, but I only have a limited amount of patience and skill for. Some of them I developed actual skills for, back in the day, but a number of them I only beat (and generally replayed) thank to Game Genie and emulator cheat codes. An issue I’ve had with my emulator handhelds (that I feel ( Read more... )

Fortune Summoners: Secret of the Elemental Stone - Arche moves to a new town and starts attending magic school, but needs an elemental stone to do magic and her family can’t afford one, so she goes adventuring to find one. This is a side-scrolling action-rpg with a very “anime” feel, published by the same folks who did Recettear: An Item Shop's ( Read more... )