COMPLETED GAMES THREAD (2026 EDITION)

The game is just a little rough, it's like that on original hardware and on Wii.

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

The Outfoxies

Second 1 credit clear of the year. I'm on a roll!

Outfoxies is a game way ahead of its time. You pick your assassin at the start of the game and and must take out another assassin one on one. Each battle area is a massive stage of varying levels and hazards that you can move and jump around. Littered around the arena are various weapons, ranging from handguns, grenades, rocket launchers to swords and whips. You can melee which does very little damage but this will knock the weapon out of your opponents hand, as will any other damage.

Basically this is Smash Brothers but the game predates Smash Brothers by a good 6 years. The cast are all either movie spy or villain stereotypes with some really weird ones like a wheelchair bound mad scientist, and a chimpanzee that works for bananas.

Controls are a little stuff but it is responsive and once you get used to them you'll realize theres a very technical game here. Although that goes out the window with how crazy the stages are. They take place in some crazy settings, from a circus, a boat during a storm, an aquarium to a plane mod flight. It's a good looking game with gorgeous sprite art. The game also makea judicial use of sprite scaling and rotation. The boat will rock wildly in the storm, while the plane will buck with each explosion set off. The game zooms out to keep track of all combatants. It can get a bit pixelated at high zoom but otherwise it's quite helpful at keeping track of the madness.

I didn't get a chance to play this in multiplayer but I expect it shines there. Outfoxies was a very uncommon game but got a release last month on arcade archives. If you want a fun single player game which will be a massive hit at parties the give this one a go.

1. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (Switch 2)
2. Salamander (Arcade)
3. Virtual Boy Wario Land (Virtual Boy)
4. The Outfoxies (Arcade)
5. Gargoyle's Quest 2 (NES)

Gargoyle's Quest 2

The first gargoyles quest was an early classic on the Gameboy. It looked gorgeous and it's wall clinging mechanics were unique and felt great. It still is one of the best portable action games ever made.

Capcom decided to focus on the NES for the sequel, although it did also end up back on the Gameboy. The game doesn't really add much to the original game. Firebrand has the same movement mechanics and also gains all the same abilities as in the original game.

The game alternates between an RPG overworld and side scrolling stages and the abilities you gain open up new areas. It might sound like a metroidvania but it's very linear. While it's a good game with attractive visuals I can't help finding it disappointing. The NES just can't handle the game like the Gameboy can so there's a lot of slowdown. It's also quite easy. It's a great NES game but I'd rather they added to the game rather than sticking so close to the formula of the original.

1. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (Switch 2)
2. Salamander (Arcade)
3. Virtual Boy Wario Land (Virtual Boy)
4. The Outfoxies (Arcade)
5. Gargoyle's Quest 2 (NES)
6. Resident Evil VII: Banned Footage
7. Resident Evil VII: Not a Hero
8. Resident Evil VII: End of Zoe.

Resident Evil VII: Not a Hero

This is a more action orientated take on Resident Evil where you control Chris Redfield and have to chase down Lucas Baker. It's a decent campaign but again the Molded don't make the most interesting enemies. There's some new mechanics. You can melee when enemies are stunned like resi 4 and some areas are filled with mold that give you a time limit to beat them in. Not bad and while short, doesn't outstay its welcome. Definitely worth a play.

Resident Evil VII: End of Zoe

This campaign is a bit more interesting. It mixes action and stealth. You play Jack Baker's brother, Joe, who finds Zoe and tries to save her. The big thing about this game is the combat is entirely melee focused. It's work rather well. While limited, the short campaign means it ends before the combat gets stale. This is a unique take on the resident evil 7 formula and another dlc campaign worth playing.

1. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (Switch 2)
2. Salamander (Arcade)
3. Virtual Boy Wario Land (Virtual Boy)
4. The Outfoxies (Arcade)
5. Gargoyle's Quest 2 (NES)
6. Resident Evil VII: Banned Footage (PC)
7. Resident Evil VII: Not a Hero (PC)
8. Resident Evil VII: End of Zoe (PC)
9. Resident Evil Requiem (PC)
10. Shinrei Jusatsushi Taromaru (Saturn)

Shinrei Jusatsushi Taromaru

This game is more well known for how rare and expensive the game is, I recently begrudgingly sold my copy for about 1000 euro. The publisher Time Warner wound down games development and publish while the game's first print run was being manufactured and only around 7000 copies made it into the wild.

It's hard to explain how Taromaru plays unless you've played the Megadrive classic Alisia Dragoon. It's basically that on cocaine. It's a standard action platformer but your attack automatically targets enemies in front of you. You can also use a second attack that will mond control a basic enemy that will follow you around as an ally and while cool looking they don't really do a whole lot to justify it. You've also got a defensive move when you double tap down. It gives you i-frames and negates or deflects enemy projectiles. It's very OP so use this a lot!

Taromaru has a lot in common with a 16-bit Konami or Treasure game. The controls are quite simple but the complexity comes from the variety of bosses and set pieces. Expect to be fighting a galleon while walking on a log, a fight with a giant frog that swallows you and then the fight continues in its belly, to fighting a giant skeleton as it tears down and terrorises a town in the background. While the bosses and set pieces are all amazing, fighting common foot soldiers is a little more annoying, but the game knows this and keeps these sequences as small interstitials between the good stuff.

Taromaru is a fun if short blast through some spectacular set pieces. It's one of the best looking Saturn games really showcasing what the hardware was capable of with a talented developer. On the other hand it can be a bit frustrating until you figure out the defensive i-frames move and then becomes a bit of a walk in the park when you realize how OP this move is. It's short length also makes it feel like it was meant for the arcades rather than a home release. What I do know is that despite how good the game is, it's really not worth the price it goes for. It's not quite the classic some people make it out to be. I don't think any game isw worth that much. But the Saturn is now easily emulated so there's no better time to try one of its most elusive games that won't take more than an afternoon or two to beat.