Games Completed 2024

[Michiel K]

Almost forgot this:

2 August: Power Stone (Dreamcast)

I always played Power Stone and especially Power Stone 2 as multiplayer games, so until this date I had never cleared the first game's arcade mode, for a more complete look at it before discussing it on Cane and Rinse.

11 August: Midnight Wanderers (ARC)

Me and my 14 y.o. kid credit fed through the run 'n gun one on Capcom's Three Wonders compilation arcade board in Amsterdam's Blast Galaxy arcade.

Featuring some beautifully crafted fairytale like world building in 2D pixelart and tight design, it felt very learnable and we were already adapting to boss attack patterns and stage choke points as we went, sometimes managing to go quite a while without dying.

It's also funny how my boy couldn't get over how uncool the 2 elflike player characters, Lou and Siva, were to him ("with those smirks, they look so full of themselves, despite looking so ugly!") and how the on screen dialogue and text scrolls flashed by so fast that we had no clue as to what was happening in the narrative thread throughout the game, making the whole thing make even less sense.

[seansthomas]

Jan 4th - Shadow of the Tomb Raider (PS5)
Jan 10th - Jusant (Xbox Series S)
Feb 6th - Resident Evil 4 (PS5)
Feb 19th - Resident Evil 4 - Hardcore (PS5)
Feb 25th - Interaction isn't explicit (PS5)
Mar 10th - The Last of Us Part II: Remastered (PS5)
Apr 16th - TLoZ: TOTK (all shrines) / Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Challenge Tombs) / Helldivers 2 (PS5) / Split Second (Xbox Series S)
May 1st - Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (Xbox Series S)
May 17th - Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways (PS5)
May 27th - Shadow of the Colossus (PS5)
July 23rd - Shadow of the Erdtree: Elden Ring (Xbox Series S)
July 24th - Lego Builders Journey (Switch)
July 29th - Metroid Fusion (Switch: NSOnline)
August 7th - Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (PS5)

August 13th - Thank goodness you're here! (PS5)

Quirky indie game with a British sense of humour running throughout it's affectionate and surreal lampooning of fictional Northern town, Barnsworth.

Not too much actual gaming to be down here, bar a bit of bashing and basic jumping, but it's a fun little experience that will resonate with anyone who loves the quirkier side of Britain or who enjoys their humour a bit Vic & Bob / Viz / Hebburn. And some of the best laughs come from the repetitive loop the game takes as you revisit locations.

Lovingly made and very charming, but I'm not sure I quite get the clamour and adoring reviews for it myself. Still, I found it enjoyable enough for the 2-3 hrs and £12 it asked of me and I did do a couple of out loud chuckles. Also, it was quite sweet how it all came together at the end.

[oni-link]

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess

I really loved this game. A throwback to the 6th generation in that it's the kind of smaller weird game we don't often see from bigger publishers/developers these days. The action combat is fluid and fun, and the strategy elements require thought and planning but in a way that means you'll rarely lose too much progress if you do get things wrong.

The visuals and enemy design are impeccable, really top tier stuff, and the music and sound design is fantastic as well. The way the music accentuates the feeling of dread as the day gets closer to night is chilling.

The game is split into a day and night phase, with the day phase requiring the player to purge the level of decay, free villages to recruit for the battles ahead, and clear a path for the Goddess, whereas the night challenges you to defend the Goddess from the Seethe (demons, essentially) until daybreak.

There are also a ton of bosses, most of which are great. The only negative I have is that the villages are more often than not a hindrance in boss battles, so it's often easier to make them all ranged attackers while you distract the boss.

If you want a game that's part Devil May Cry and part Pikmin, then it's well worth your time

[Truk_Kurt]

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess

I really loved this game. A throwback to the 6th generation in that it's the kind of smaller weird game we don't often see from bigger publishers/developers these days. The action combat is fluid and fun, and the strategy elements require thought and planning but in a way that means you'll rarely lose too much progress if you do get things wrong.

The visuals and enemy design are impeccable, really top tier stuff, and the music and sound design is fantastic as well. The way the music accentuates the feeling of dread as the day gets closer to night is chilling.

The game is split into a day and night phase, with the day phase requiring the player to purge the level of decay, free villages to recruit for the battles ahead, and clear a path for the Goddess, whereas the night challenges you to defend the Goddess from the Seethe (demons, essentially) until daybreak.

There are also a ton of bosses, most of which are great. The only negative I have is that the villages are more often than not a hindrance in boss battles, so it's often easier to make them all ranged attackers while you distract the boss.

If you want a game that's part Devil May Cry and part Pikmin, then it's well worth your time

I've really loved what I've played too and I'm now nearing the end. I agree on the Pikmin comparison but wouldn't say the combat has the depth of a Devil May Cry. Another issue I have with the game is the whole rebuilding the villages between stages which just feels like busywork to do and isn't particularly fun to do either.

[oni-link]

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess

I really loved this game. A throwback to the 6th generation in that it's the kind of smaller weird game we don't often see from bigger publishers/developers these days. The action combat is fluid and fun, and the strategy elements require thought and planning but in a way that means you'll rarely lose too much progress if you do get things wrong.

The visuals and enemy design are impeccable, really top tier stuff, and the music and sound design is fantastic as well. The way the music accentuates the feeling of dread as the day gets closer to night is chilling.

The game is split into a day and night phase, with the day phase requiring the player to purge the level of decay, free villages to recruit for the battles ahead, and clear a path for the Goddess, whereas the night challenges you to defend the Goddess from the Seethe (demons, essentially) until daybreak.

There are also a ton of bosses, most of which are great. The only negative I have is that the villages are more often than not a hindrance in boss battles, so it's often easier to make them all ranged attackers while you distract the boss.

If you want a game that's part Devil May Cry and part Pikmin, then it's well worth your time

I've really loved what I've played too and I'm now nearing the end. I agree on the Pikmin comparison but wouldn't say the combat has the depth of a Devil May Cry. Another issue I have with the game is the whole rebuilding the villages between stages which just feels like busywork to do and isn't particularly fun to do either.

Yeah I can see your point, though I quite liked it as after a tough fight you had a reason to do something that wasn't stressful and the villages really are beautiful. I do wish there was a way to collect crystals from each village without needing to visit them one at a time though.

Yeah the combat depth isn't quite DMC, but it's not trying to be a straight action game either so it doesn't need to be. If anything I'd want to see more Pikmin influences if they ever make a follow up

[Truk_Kurt]

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess

I really loved this game. A throwback to the 6th generation in that it's the kind of smaller weird game we don't often see from bigger publishers/developers these days. The action combat is fluid and fun, and the strategy elements require thought and planning but in a way that means you'll rarely lose too much progress if you do get things wrong.

The visuals and enemy design are impeccable, really top tier stuff, and the music and sound design is fantastic as well. The way the music accentuates the feeling of dread as the day gets closer to night is chilling.

The game is split into a day and night phase, with the day phase requiring the player to purge the level of decay, free villages to recruit for the battles ahead, and clear a path for the Goddess, whereas the night challenges you to defend the Goddess from the Seethe (demons, essentially) until daybreak.

There are also a ton of bosses, most of which are great. The only negative I have is that the villages are more often than not a hindrance in boss battles, so it's often easier to make them all ranged attackers while you distract the boss.

If you want a game that's part Devil May Cry and part Pikmin, then it's well worth your time

I've really loved what I've played too and I'm now nearing the end. I agree on the Pikmin comparison but wouldn't say the combat has the depth of a Devil May Cry. Another issue I have with the game is the whole rebuilding the villages between stages which just feels like busywork to do and isn't particularly fun to do either.

Yeah I can see your point, though I quite liked it as after a tough fight you had a reason to do something that wasn't stressful and the villages really are beautiful. I do wish there was a way to collect crystals from each village without needing to visit them one at a time though.

Yeah the combat depth isn't quite DMC, but it's not trying to be a straight action game either so it doesn't need to be. If anything I'd want to see more Pikmin influences if they ever make a follow up

Yeah, I wish you could collect all your rewards and crystals from any completed builds between stages by just visiting any of the tents in the bases rather than having to visit each tent in each base.

[Harkatim]

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess

I really loved this game. A throwback to the 6th generation in that it's the kind of smaller weird game we don't often see from bigger publishers/developers these days. The action combat is fluid and fun, and the strategy elements require thought and planning but in a way that means you'll rarely lose too much progress if you do get things wrong.

The visuals and enemy design are impeccable, really top tier stuff, and the music and sound design is fantastic as well. The way the music accentuates the feeling of dread as the day gets closer to night is chilling.

The game is split into a day and night phase, with the day phase requiring the player to purge the level of decay, free villages to recruit for the battles ahead, and clear a path for the Goddess, whereas the night challenges you to defend the Goddess from the Seethe (demons, essentially) until daybreak.

There are also a ton of bosses, most of which are great. The only negative I have is that the villages are more often than not a hindrance in boss battles, so it's often easier to make them all ranged attackers while you distract the boss.

If you want a game that's part Devil May Cry and part Pikmin, then it's well worth your time

Bought this after really enjoying the Demo, but have yet to sit down and start it. It's great to see Capcom putting this sort of stuff out.

Cygni: All guns blazing

Played it through on medium recently and really enjoyed it. I'm not sure the shoot'em'up enthusiasts are all that enamoured with it, but I felt it offered some challenge and more than enough spectacle!

I really felt as if I was getting to grips with it by the end: powering down shields to power-up weapon damage is a fun risk/reward for players that are confident of not getting hit too often. And I immediately jumped onto a higher difficulty when done, so consider my fancy well and truly tickled.

The PC-Engine cameo in the games intro was also well received.

[oni-link]

Immortals of Aveum

I did actually quite like it. It very much a 7/10 game and it's greatest gameplay crime is that it's not that memorable, though the encounters and bosses are fun while you're doing them, but when you step away from the game not a lot stands out.

I did quite like the cast by the end of the game, and the dialogue can at times be pretty fun (and others, a little Marvel/cringey) but the fact it's a new AAA IP and a somewhat unique premise did enough to carry it for me. I'm glad I gave it a chance.

[Truk_Kurt]

Immortals of Aveum

I did actually quite like it. It very much a 7/10 game and it's greatest gameplay crime is that it's not that memorable, though the encounters and bosses are fun while you're doing them, but when you step away from the game not a lot stands out.

I did quite like the cast by the end of the game, and the dialogue can at times be pretty fun (and others, a little Marvel/cringey) but the fact it's a new AAA IP and a somewhat unique premise did enough to carry it for me. I'm glad I gave it a chance.

It gets far too much stick when actually it's decent. The combat reminded me of Doom 2016. Props to EA for funding something like this in the AAA space, it's a shame it didn't do well.

[Truk_Kurt]

Kensitsu Gami: Path of the Goddess
Really good game this, it's a game that would normally be out my comfort zone but I was in the mood to try something different and after watching some video reviews I decided to give it a try on Game Pass and I'm glad I did as it's firmly in my top 3 games of the year.

It's a mix of tower defence and action, so you have to defend the tower (The Goddess) with your villagers but you also get to fight as your character. The combat isn't the deepest but it is fun enough, the main thrust of the game comes from ordering your villagers and assigning them the right roles for the scenario you're facing. Early on I thought that the mission type could get repetitive but then the game starts to introduce different types of missions and some great bosses so that you never get bored. The monster designs are superb, up there with the designs you see in FromSoft games.

I'd say my only complaint with the game is that once you have cleansed an area, it becomes a base camp which you can repair between stages which then net you upgrades. This whole process of repairing each base between stages just feels like busywork which isn't fun and doesn't add anything to the game. It really just does feel like filler. 8/10

[Michiel K]

Cygni: All guns blazing

Played it through on medium recently and really enjoyed it. I'm not sure the shoot'em'up enthusiasts are all that enamoured with it, but I felt it offered some challenge and more than enough spectacle!

I really felt as if I was getting to grips with it by the end: powering down shields to power-up weapon damage is a fun risk/reward for players that are confident of not getting hit too often. And I immediately jumped onto a higher difficulty when done, so consider my fancy well and truly tickled.

The PC-Engine cameo in the games intro was also well received.

It's sparking a lot of conversation in the shoot 'em up community, I can tell you. A divisive game at the very least.

[Michiel K]

I played through a whole lot of Tekken for the podcast last week.

12 August: Tekken (PS1)

Arcade mode clear with Law

14 August: Tekken 2 (PS1)

Arcade mode clear with Nina

14 August: Tekken 3 (PS1)

Arcade mode clear with Hwoarang

18 August: Tekken 3 (PS1) AGAIN

Arcade mode clear with Nina

18 August: Tekken 4 (PS2)

Arcade/story mode clear x 3 with Kazuya, Jin and Nina

18 August: Tekken 5 (PS2)

Arcade mode clear with Jin

18 August: Tekken 6 (X360)

Arcade mode clear with Marduk

18 August: Tekken Tag Tournament 2 (PS3)

Arcade mode clear with a team of Nina & Jin

19 August: Tekken 7 (PC)

Replayed and cleared the final chapter of story mode

19 August: Tekken 8 (PS5)

Completed character stories for Jin and Devil Jin

The PS2 wouldn't read my disc for the 1st Tekken Tag Tournament, no matter how much I cleaned it, so I sadly couldn't play that.

[Jobobonobo]

Spoiler: show

Jan 7: New Super Lucky’s Tale
Jan 7: Super Mario Land
Jan 9: Tetris Attack
Mar 2: Yakuza: Like a Dragon
Mar 17: Legend of the Mystical Ninja
Apr 6: Stray
Apr 18: Pac-Man World: Re-Pac
May 1: Ganbare Goemon 2: Kiteretsu Shōgun Magginesu
Jun 6: Code of Princess
Jun 30: Pokemon Radical Red (ver 4.0)
July 14: Sonic Advance 2
July 26: Sonic Advance 3
Aug 2: Trials of Mana

Aug 24: Kirby Power Paintbrush

Having completed this, this is now my final Kirby title for the DS done and dusted. It is fair to say that the little marshmallow did pretty well for himself on the handheld and this DS debut naturally plays to the unique features of the DS being fully controlled with the stylus by tapping Kirby to speed up or attack and drawing rainbow lines to help him navigate levels. This new approach results in what is probably one of the more challenging titles in the Kirby series with latter levels in particular being quite fiendishly designed, resulting in me seeing the Game Over screen multiple times. It being Kirby however, meant it was not DS throwing levels of frustrating and I actually enjoyed overcoming the multiple challenges this new control scheme presents to the player. Bosses are also quite different being minigames rather than traditional battles such as using the stylus to race King Dedede in a minecart, fighting Kracko in breakout style stages and drawing the correct objects to defeat Paint Roller. You have to defeat them three times with each successive fight being harder than the last. Different but enjoyable. The final battle with Drawcia is also pretty challenging with you needing to be quick with your stylus to avoid her attacks and reflect them back at her.

As a demonstration of the touchscreen and stylus, Power Paintbrush is a nice little showcase of what the DS can do. It also still manages to mix in Kirby's copy abilities in this new gameplay style quite successfully, and like the best Kirby games integrates said abilities onto the level design nicely. Of the DS Kirby games I would still put the likes of Mass Attack above this in terms of charm and quality (also would put Super Star Ultra above this but I am only counting original titles here, not remasters) but if you are a fan of the pink ball thingy and want something a bit different then Power Paintbrush is worth a go.

[Alex79]

I played through a whole lot of Tekken for the podcast last week.

12 August: Tekken (PS1)

Arcade mode clear with Law

14 August: Tekken 2 (PS1)

Arcade mode clear with Nina

14 August: Tekken 3 (PS1)

Arcade mode clear with Hwoarang

18 August: Tekken 3 (PS1) AGAIN

Arcade mode clear with Nina

18 August: Tekken 4 (PS2)

Arcade/story mode clear x 3 with Kazuya, Jin and Nina

18 August: Tekken 5 (PS2)

Arcade mode clear with Jin

18 August: Tekken 6 (X360)

Arcade mode clear with Marduk

18 August: Tekken Tag Tournament 2 (PS3)

Arcade mode clear with a team of Nina & Jin

19 August: Tekken 7 (PC)

Replayed and cleared the final chapter of story mode

19 August: Tekken 8 (PS5)

Completed character stories for Jin and Devil Jin

The PS2 wouldn't read my disc for the 1st Tekken Tag Tournament, no matter how much I cleaned it, so I sadly couldn't play that.

All of that and not a single clear with King!

[Michiel K]

I was never any good with King!

[Scrustle]

26/08 - Darksiders III (Armageddon 2: Apocalyptic)

I was meaning to go back through this one for a while now to clear up the last couple of achievements, which I have now done. Now I've got every achievement for all three mainline games. It was enjoyable to go through again, with solid combat and some really good bosses. It's got some decent writing in some parts too, mostly with the characterisation of Fury and how it interprets some of the Sins. The world design is also pretty impressive with how intricately interconnected it is, although I didn't get to explore that so much this time as I wasn't scouring every corner as I have before.

I feel like this game runs worse than it used to though. It was always pretty rough, but it felt like it was worse this time than I remember. And that was even with me running it on lower settings than I have before. It's usually okay in combat as the frame dips tend to come from moving around the world, so there's that consolation at least. Maybe it's just a sign my PC is getting old.

[markfm007]

Spoiler: show

January 6th - Persona 5 Royal
January 11th - Control: Ultimate Edition
January 23rd - Alan Wake 2
February 13th - Batman: Return to Arkham - Arkham Asylum
March 2nd - Cocoon
April 6th - Hollow Knight: Voidheart Edition
April 20th - Persona 3 Reload
May 24th - Doom (2016)
June 11th - Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
June 15th - Astro's Playroom
July 27th - Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

August 26th - Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

Been a bit addicted to this the last few days. The platforming is excellent. Very satisfying to pull off some fairly long and difficult sequences off the cuff purely because of how intuitively the level is laid out, and how well Sargon controls. Disappointing when all you get from it is a pair of pants or another Xerxes coin, but it’s fun enough that I did it anyway. It’s a very satisfying flow state I found hard to tear myself away from.

Combat’s decently fun when you aren’t taking cheap shots or getting bounced around like a hacky sack. Boss fights are definitely the highlight, they look great and can lead to some very satisfying moments e.g. nailing the big parries. Although every boss after the snake I ended up referencing a walkthrough. The game tells you early on to dodge red attacks and parry gold ones, then ignores its own conventions and spams you with super fast effects heavy moves I found very hard to read. The bosses were fun once I understood what to do though.

It’s a good game overall and one I’d recommend, but I’d be lying if I said my eyes didn’t wander to the easy mode option every time the combat was annoying me.

[Scrustle]

28/08 - Wavetale

This is a game I’ve had my eye on for a long time since playing the demo, and the full game didn’t disappoint.

It’s a 3D platformer set in a world that has been flooded by an ecological disaster, leaving only a few small island and structures above the waves. That may seem like it’s not a good setting for a game like this, but it manages to make it work really well. The game gives you the ability to skim across the surface of the water at high speed, and your character has a really satisfying sense of momentum to them as well. So even though your move set isn’t huge, it’s a joy to zip around everywhere, using the changing waves as ramps to fly up in to the air and maintain your speed with the tricks you have. It’s got some more traditional platforming sections on the solid ground areas too, and they also have an emphasis on speeding through the air as much as possible. Level design is simple, but it’s so fun to just control this character that it doesn’t feel like a problem.

I love the aesthetic of this game too. It’s got a really appealing colour palette of soft pastel blues and pinks, with a really nice stylistic approach to how it renders the sky and the sea itself. It’s reminiscent of Wind Waker in a lot of ways, but it gives the water a sense of depth with its shifting hues and reflective surface. It’s taking simple techniques and employing them with a really keen artistic eye to create something very impressive and appealing. The character models are an example of that too. On a technical level they basic, and their facial features are merely animated 2D sprites. But they use this to give them loads of fun cartoony expressions that have a lot of personality to them.

It has a fantastic soundtrack too which gives this game a really strong tone. It’s got a hint of mournful longing to it, with its use of trombone, mixed in to an energetic, flighty feel that comes from flutes and percussion. It also dynamically changes as you play, ramping up in tempo and intensity as you progress through each set piece, complimenting the increase in challenge and speed. Again, simple techniques executed masterfully.

The story is pretty charming as well. The plot isn’t anything too revolutionary, but the characters are well written and performed, and there’s a few touching moments in there that deal with intergenerational issues and trying to process what happened the past. It mirrors the feelings that the soundtrack evokes pretty well.

Overall a brilliant little game. It’s pretty humble in ambition, but it nails everything it goes for and delivers a great experience in sights, sounds, and game feel.

---

29/08 Control (incl. The Foundation & AWE expansions)

I actually finished the main campaign of this back on the 19th but I decided to wait to talk about it until I completed the DLC, since that was the main point of this replay anyway.

Generally it’s still a great experience, with a really engaging and interesting story and setting. The sense of mystery and weirdness is really enjoyable. It’s spooky and surreal, and has a great sense of looming dread with its strange unknowable threats. But it also has a humorous side to it with its sillier aspects and quirky characters.

In terms of gameplay I do enjoy it a fair bit. The gunplay feels good and satisfying, and the powers you get spice things up nicely to make you feel like a psychic superhero as you dash and levitate around, hurling random objects at enemies between spurts of gunfire. I have always felt like this game could be more than it is in this area though. What it does have is great, and I like the experience it creates, but to me it always felt like it didn’t quite go far enough to fully realise the potential of this concept. I was hoping that the new abilities added in the DLC would help alleviate that problem, but they didn’t quite manage it. You get a few new toys, but they are either very situational or overlap slightly with what you already have.

Although now having played most of Remedy’s back catalogue, this does make more sense as being part of their legacy of generally Spartan gameplay design. They tend to focus on a more narrow set of mechanics that support the experience of the game as a whole, that places emphasis on a tighter more concise vision. When compared against their older games, there’s a lot more going on here, but still feels like they are consciously avoiding the temptation to over-bloat the game with masses of content like many AAA games tend to. This game definitely wants to be more of a gameplay focused title than Remedy’s previous work, but it comes off like only a step in that direction rather than going all in. Maybe in Control 2 they will be able to take that leap in to fully fleshing out these ideas without sacrificing their characteristic focus.

I enjoyed the DLC a lot too. I had a bit of a slow start with it, but once my motivation to get through it picked up, I ended up having a really good time with both expansions. The first, The Foundation, takes you to a new area that has a completely different visual style to the rest of the game. It’s mostly a series of caves with pale walls and red sand covering the ground. But it’s also filled with gaps in reality, breaking through in to a blinding white void. It’s totally unlike the usual brutalist office setting of the Oldest House, but still has a similar kind of vast, looming presence, where you’re never quite sure what you’ll come across around the next corner. The story is interesting too, as it gives some insight in to the history of the FBC. It gives you a juicy look in to events under previous directors, and even provides some hints at what The Former is supposed to be, but still leaves a lot up to the imagination to maintain that sense of intrigue. There’s also a cool side mission with a really stylish musical presentation that feels similar to the Ashtray Maze sequence of the main story.

The second DLC, AWE, was great as well. This is the one I was most keen to play, with it being a tie-in with Alan Wake. I have heard that this was supposed to be underwhelming coming from Wake fans, but I thought it did a really good job of tying the two games together and developing the overarching story. This one takes place in an area more like the main game, but with an emphasis on recreations of the scenes of Altered World Events that the FBC use to research them. The Bright Falls section is only one part of it, so there’s a good amount of original stuff here too. But they way it integrates Wake’s story in to this game is really well done, showing how he basically wrote himself in to this game’s story as part of his attempt to free himself from his fate at the end of his game. Seeing how the Bureau interprets and interacts with the phenomena from AW, and how things from that game get twisted and changed as they enter the world of Control is really cool.

Coincidentally as I was playing this alongside Darksiders 3, I noticed this game also seemed to have more technical problems than it did around release. Not in terms of performance issues though. Or at least not more than it had before. But this time I got fairly frequent visual bugs. Strange little bits of UI elements seemed to get stuck on screen at times. I assume it happened because the game wasn’t clearing the screen properly upon picking up stuff dropped by enemies. Simply pausing and unpausing the game made them go away, but still, kind of a weird little annoyance.

But, still a great game overall though. Really good DLC that feels like a substantial and worthwhile addition to the base game too. So now the only Remedy games I have left are Quantum Break and Alan Wake 2. As for the former, I was never particularly interested in it, but it does seem to be getting a more positive re-appraisal lately, so maybe I might give it a shot at some point now that have become a fan of this studio’s work. And the latter, I would really love to play AW2, but I don’t have anything that can run it and I don’t see that changing any time soon, unfortunately.

[Michiel K]

I completed the following games for the Cane and Rinse podcast in the past week:

25 August: DuckTales (NES)

Been a while since I did a full, complete playthrough of this favourite from my youth. It brought back a lot of memories, what a gem this game is.

27 August: DuckTales Remastered (Wii U)

I woke the Wii U up for this one. I feel so mixed on this game. The cell animated characters look great and WayForward bringing the U.S. voice cast back for the project is heartwarming as well. But I really dislike the changes to the structure they made, with these forced McGuffin hunts for every stage. On Normal and up, lives are limited and if you can't complete a stage with your small life stock you have to retrace all your steps to all corners of the map of that stage again, which really wore down my patience. It made me give up on the game back in 2013. The extra, final, stage (especially the boss fight and post boss fight sequence) can be a real stumbling block as well. But I did it, after a lot of retries and a bit of swearing.

[Jobobonobo]

Spoiler: show

Jan 7: New Super Lucky’s Tale
Jan 7: Super Mario Land
Jan 9: Tetris Attack
Mar 2: Yakuza: Like a Dragon
Mar 17: Legend of the Mystical Ninja
Apr 6: Stray
Apr 18: Pac-Man World: Re-Pac
May 1: Ganbare Goemon 2: Kiteretsu Shōgun Magginesu
Jun 6: Code of Princess
Jun 30: Pokemon Radical Red (ver 4.0)
July 14: Sonic Advance 2
July 26: Sonic Advance 3
Aug 2: Trials of Mana
Aug 24: Kirby Power Paintbrush

Aug 30: Final Fantasy IV Advance

After 38 hours or so I finally finished my second ever Final Fantasy. This has been the oldest RPG I have played thus far and I have to say that with the context of it being released in 1991, this game does some pretty impressive stuff. The fact that you begin as a dark knight leading an oppressive force gives a greyer shade to the typical RPG hero, particularly at the time. The Mode 7 graphics as your airship flies over the map would also have been mindblowing to those who grew up with the NES and older systems. The sound chip of the SNES also allowed Nobuo Uematsu to really flex his creative muscles with some really lovely pieces ranging from the evocative "Lunarians" to the bombastic "Red Wings" and the dreamy "Theme of Love". Pacing is also quite immaculate with the plot unfolding every time you move from one area to another with no filler. The fact that your party is continuously switching members in and out also ensures that things remain interesting throughout the game's short playtime. Side quests are few but are worth doing as you get some great rewards such as powerful equipment and summons for Rydia. Your party is also fun to play with as they have a wide range of uses and certain members such as Kain with his jump ability, Rydia's summoning and Edge's ability to throw weapons can make them very useful particularly during the latter parts of the game.

Where the game falters is that most of the tragedies that occur within the game get fixed up and resolved quite cleanly. With the exception of

Spoiler: show

Tellah, most other members of your party that you think are dead are revealed to have escaped their grisly fates and are alive and well. It kind of makes their supposed deaths a lot less meaningful.

It goes to show that while FF IV does tell a more mature story for its time it almost felt like Square did not want to go too dark with their storytelling in an era when games were still considered a children's past-time. Another bigger issue is one that is common with older JRPGs: random battles. This is a mechanic I will tolerate if the game is otherwise enjoyable but yeah, still think they are obnoxious. Certain dungeons can be a real pain as it feels like every couple of steps you are entering a new battle. In the last dungeon, there was a room that had one enemy, the Wicked Mask, that had loads of HP and could reflect all magic attacks which made each battle quite long. They could also do a lot of damage so healing straight away afterwards was essential if you did not want a game over. That one room alone made me hate random battles even more than I already do. Another annoying thing is that while you are in an area enjoying the soundtrack, going into a random battle would stop the music and when you were done, the track would start over which mean that you could not appreciate Uematsu's work to its fullest extent. The other Final Fantasy I played, VII, was not nearly as egregious with random battles as IV and I hope some of the other old school RPGs I plan to try out later will be a bit better balanced in this regard.

Despite these flaws, I overall enjoyed my time with Final Fantasy IV. For its time, IV does some ambitious stuff that I think was necessary for the JRPG as a genre to move forward and for the most part, a lot of the innovative stuff it does is still impressive especially in the early 90s. It is also quite a solid game even without the historical context. It makes me intrigued to try out some more of the older titles in the series. Curious if I should try V or just jump straight into VI next?