COMPLETED GAMES THREAD (2026 EDITION)

I remember cod 2 looking amazing but it did suffer some consolisation with much smaller play areas than the first game and it's expansion.

Just putting a summary of the games from last year:

Best

Ninja Gaiden Ragebound (PC) - The Game Kitchen managed to make one of the all time great action games here while remaining faithful to the original.

Excellent

Wizardry Variants Daphne (Mobile) - wonderful dungeon crawler that despite the mobile trappings makes an excellent single player game full of atmosphere and excellent writing.

Track & Field (Arcade) - the original arcade button masher that is still a huge amount of fun.

Ninja Gaiden 2 Black (PC) - it's still a rushed game that's a disappointing follow up to the god tier original but the combat is just so visceral and fun

Super Mario Wonder (Switch) - Nintendo managed to make 2D platformers fresh again with a game that constantly surprises.

Dragon Quest 3 HD 2D (PC) - Playing this made me understand why it's so revered by the japanese. It's pretty much the template for modern JRPGs and a charming adventure itself.

Thronglets (Android) - Fun little surreal game created by the oxenfree developer to tie in with Black Mirror. Worth playing to see how mental it gets. And it's free with your Netflix subscription.

Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse (NES) - probably the best traditional Castlevania game? Excellent level design, loads of creative ideas, multiple paths and playable characters. A contender for best NES games of all time.

Gimmick! (NES) - Sunsoft set out to push the NES to its limits with this game. It might be one of the most technically advanced games on the system but it backs that up with excellent gameplay, clever mechanics and an all timer soundtrack.

Faselei! (NeoGeo Pocket Colour) - This was almost my game of the year. This game was almost not released in English but copies managed to slip out. It's a wonderful and brief little tactical RPG with fun and original mechanic where you have to program in your mech's moves and attacks before each round. I could t put this down and it's a shame it's so obscure as it deserves a bigger audience.

Parappa the Rapper (PSP) - I had issues with the input latency and how it's off time with the on screen icons but honestly, this is a PlayStation icon and a lot of fun.

Sin and Punishment (N64) - Might be the best N64 ever made? This was another game considered for best of the year. Treasure have crafted a rail shooter that is brimming with creativity and a plot that can only come from snorting the dust of ground up Evangelion DVDs.

Xenoblade 2 (Switch) - wonderful open world RPG from Monolith software. The systems might be a bit too complex but it eventually makes sense. The plot is a bit too anime compared to the excellent writing in the first game.

Brandish: The Dark Revenant (PSP) - A fantastic remake of one of Falcom's more obscure games. An excellent action RPG dungeon crawler.

Silent Hill f (PC) - I was hoping this would be good and it didn't disappoint. A great entry into the series and the beat silent hill since the second game.

Kid Icarus Uprising (3DS) - Another excellent rail shooter. It's a massive adventure with some surprisingly good character banter and humour. Well worth playing through the hand cramps to experience.

Fatal Fury (Arcade) - Surprised how much I enjoyed this game considering it's seen as a footnote in fighting game history due to being over shadowed by Street Fighter 2. Fatal Fury is a better single player game than SF2 that feels more like a boss rush.

Good

Spiderman (2018) (PC) - I was sick of it before the end up the excellent movement mechanics and fun characters meant it's one of the better ubi style mobygames.

Ace Combat 6 (XBox 360) - a weaker entry in the series. Missions are a little too long and checkpoints a little to far apparent but the core ace combat gameplay is always a good time.

The Legend of the Mystical Ninja (SNES) - the first in the SNES Goemon games. Classic Konami gameplay with some really inventive levels and bosses. The overworld areas are a bit weaker but apparently this series just gets better and I can't wait to try the sequels.

Tomb Raider 2: The Golden Mask (PC) - I feel TR2 was a drop in quality from the first game. This expansion pack however is way better than the base game with some of the best TR levels ever designed. Highly recommended not to skip this expansion.

Tomb Raider 3: The Lost Artifact (PC) - another TR expansion that is much better than the base game. Again, don't miss out of this expansion if you go back to these games.

Hammerin' Hero (PSP) - Obscure PSP follow up to an obscure series about a worker with a giant mallet. Very simple action platformer but it's filled with so much charm and sight gags with some fun boss fights. Some slightly janky moments but a good fun short game.

Shinobi (3DS) - Don't overlook this 3DS entry. Combat and level design are tight. It's very nearly brilliant, some check pointing issues let it down.

Metal Wolf Chaos XD (PS4) - From Software mecha game that also doubles as a satire of Bush era American politics. It's a little bit shallow compared to most other From Software games but dialogue and destructive spectacle are hilarious.

Parodius (MSX) - a good shooter let down by the host hardware. The MSX ratchet scrolling makes the game a little hard on the eyes. A good start to the series that wouldn't become a classic until the next game on 16 bit arcade and console hardware.

Tokyo Crash Mobs (3DS) - fun and surreal take on the puzzloop formula that adds some welcome gameplay gimmicks.

Metroid: Samus Returns (3DS) - very enjoyable remake of Metroid 2. Feels quite unique for a metroidvania due to the esoteric structure of Metroid 2 but I do prefer the fan remake AM2R

Spiderman: The City that Never Sleeps DLC (PC) - well paced episodic story that is well worth playing after the main game.

Meh

Mars after Midnight (Playdate) - I expected a lot more from a Lucas Pope game. A fun aesthetic but it's a game made for kids and not really for someone like me.

Philosoma (PS1) - An early Sony project from PlayStation. It's a pretty mediocre shooter with some interesting narrative choices.

Dragon Quest Monsters (GBC) - while the battle system is excellent and a step above pokemon, the random nature of the dungeons wore thin before the end of the game. A good starting point for better games to come.

Midnight Resistance (Arcade) - pretty much contra but competent rather than great. Some fun set pieces but a bit lacking and the arcade's rotary joystick doesn't translate to modern controllers.

Kingdom Hearts 2 (PC) - not a complete train wreck. There's some spectacle and boss fights get a lot better towards the end of the game. It's still got that floaty dated combat and the story and writing are awful.

Meh and most disappointing

Mario Kart World (Switch 2) - after Mario Kart 8 this should have been a homerun. The track design is amazing but the whole package is ruined by forcing boring point to point road races on the player. Maddeningly this could be fixed with an update. Great soundtrack.

1. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (Switch 2)
2. Salamander (Arcade)

Salamander

Salamander is a spin off of Konami's Gradius series. The two biggest differences are the power up system and how the stages alternate between horizontal and vertical stages. The power up bar from Gradius is gone, replaced with standard collectible power ups that give abilities that will be familiar to Gradius fans.

I managed to 1 credit clear this game as part of a boards high score challenge. The game is pretty difficult but also quite fair, much easier than most of the Gradius series. The second loop of the game however really ramps up the challenge and I've not even managed to beat the first stage of it. It still has that arcade Gradius issue of you effectively having 1 life as dying spawns you in with no power ups which means your life expectancy is measured in seconds.

Salamander is a real arcade classic. Great stages and music, it plays really well, although the performance can chug as the game often pushes way more sprites than the hardware can handle.

Salamander was released as Life Force, where it was rebalanced with the standard Gradius power up bar. Not a big fan of this version, but the NES conversion of Life Force is one of the best games on the system and adds new content.

Not to belittle that achievement as that is a very tough game, but the end of normal difficulty and higher has a nice little extra section.

SD Valis is a super deformed version of valis 2 on mega drive.

I forgot that they localized SD Valis as "Syd of Valis" which makes absolutely no sense. Kind of a weird localisation choice!

1. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (Switch 2)
2. Salamander (Arcade)
3. Virtual Boy Wario Land (Virtual Boy)

Virtual Boy Wario Land

Despite only lasting a few months and having such a small library, the Virtual Boy has quite a few good games on it and this might be the best one. It feels like the lost evolutionary link from the pretty standard platformer of Wario Land and the exploration based gameplay of Wario Land 2.

The game takes the excellent gameplay of the Gameboy original but designs the levels around exploration and finding secrets. The 20 minute time limit on each stage hammers that point home. Each stage has you hunt down a key to the exit before you can leave, but each stage also has a hidden treasure for you to hunt down.

The visuals are excellent with gorgeous large sprites and some excellent 3D parallax. The boss battles in particular look stunning. The makes good use of the 3D effect with hazards and enemies coming from the background. You can also jump to the background in some areas to find secrets. The VB has a surprisingly good sound chip and the music from Hip Tanaka is excellent as usual.

VB Wario Land is an excellent platformer. It plays great. There's a lot of variety. Of I could level one complaint is the lack of content, 14 stages and 4 bosses is rather short and I finished the game in less than 3 hours.

Yeah it's pretty shameless but a decent if not brilliant game. I remember it getting rave reviews at release but it think it was just due to the lack of Castlevania on the system.