Wind Waker? Lon long? Not in the least. I replayed it earlier this year and blazed through it in no more than five days. Twilight Princess, that's the lon long one.

Time for my 20th annual Halloween Horror Games Challenge.
This year the focus is on games that actually take place during Halloween, so there's more of a quirky, cartoony vibe rather than actual scary dark horrorstuffs.
Also keeping the tradition of 'Castlevania' and 'Resident Evil' in the mix as they are the mainstays.

The list...
Halloween (1983) [Atari 2600]
HAUNTED: Halloween '85 (2016) [NES]
Spirits & Spells (2003) [GameCube]
Costume Quest (2010) [PC-Windows]
Savage Halloween (2020) [PC-Windows]
Rabi-Ribi: Cicini's Halloween (2016) [PC-Windows]
Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth (2009) [WII]
Resident Evil 4 (2023) [PC-Windows]

As per tradition, all games are fist-time playthroughs (except for remakes) and the goal is to finish them all by November 1st. Tough task for someone (me) who has only beaten 8 games this entire year so far.

And so it begins again...

Mini games? In my Zelda II?

Hey, what is this Zelda II enhanced anyway and why hasn't it been DMCA'd by the big N?

This is illegal, you know.

Curious, very curious indeed about what aftermarket NES games you can get on eShop? Check it. (Note that these vary from quality to quality.)

Alfonzo's Arctic Adventure
Battle Kid
Doodle World
Jay & Silent Bob Mall Brawl
Jim Powers
Montezuma's Revenge
Nape Retroverse Collection
NEScape!
Orebody
Parasite Pack
Roniu's Tale
Thunderbolt
Trophy
Yeah Yeah Beebiss II

There might be more I'm missing.

Hmm, you don't appear to have a Switch, but these might be on other platforms.

I shuppose I could've called him the Over Horizon guy or the Might & Magic NES guy or the Gauntlet IV guy, but let's face it, Final Fantasy Tactics is his best known work. I was surprised to see he did Radiant Silvergun. Think he also did Gradius V. What an honor!

is not playing any games.

(...but will get back to it soon.)

A li'l late, but yes! Rabi-Ribi is ****in' great! More people oughta play it! I played it last January and it was a nice surprise.

My "Best Games I Played in 2022" list...

(Which conveniently features zero actual 2022 releases...)

#12 Mad Doctor [1985, Commodore 64]
#11 Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem [2002, GameCube]
#10 Alwa's Legacy [2020]
# 9 Resident Evil 5 [2009]
# 8 Toki Tori [2001, Game Boy Color]
# 7 King's Bounty: Dark Side [2014]
# 6 Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice [2017]
# 5 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Rescue-Palooza! [2019]
# 4 Vigil: The Longest Night [2020]
# 3 Cuphead [2017]
# 2 Alice: Madness Returns [2011]
# 1 Rabi-Ribi [2016]


'Rabi-Ribi' wins with its refreshing change on an over-saturated genre. Mixing up the usual platventure formula with a more open-ended map design, primary ranged attacking, bullet-hell projectile mechanics, and being self-aware of sequence-breaking events. Also awesome party-like soundtrack and visuals (I don't care for anime-style but it's well done here).

'Cuphead' would've been my prediction as the top game initially, but it seemed to suffer a bit by repeating the same game mechanics too much. It's a glorified "boss rush" when it could have benefited from some more run-&-gun scrolling stages.

'Alice: Madness Returns' is vastly superior to 'American McGee's Alice' and I will die on top of this giant mock turtle shell!

Worst game of my year is 'Sengoku', the most unfair arcade beat'-em-up of all time (I will still attempt the sequels though).

Other notes: 'Resident Evil 5' is better than expected. Dropped the classic "survival-horror" design and instead went with pure intense action, but done well.
'Eternal Darkness' is slightly worse than expected but I'll still give it credit for its uniqueness with the sanity effects and multiple-character scenarios.
If you're an old-school "Turtles" fan, play 'Rescue-Palooza!' without hesitation.

Also the 'King's Field' series is dull. I didn't even finish the 4th game and was only doing so to prep myself for finally taking on the 'Souls' franchise for 2023.

Only 18 conquered games. Lackluster performance but decent quality games.

Sorry for the late response time.

Hellblade looks awesome! I definitely have to play that. I own it on GOG, so I think I'll take your recommendation. Love me a good psychological horror.

American McGee's Alice is a bit rough in places, yeah. Looking back, Madness Returns is probably the better game, although I just adore some of the levels and atmosphere of the original game. Both are fantastic.

Well, mostly. I still have to play NightCry, which is technically a Clock Tower game. I guess. I don't expect it'll be any good, but I'll likely still force myself through it for shits and giggles. It couldn't possibly be worse than Struggle Within, I hope.

Hope you have a good holiday season!

Hey, there! I just noticed you in a friend's multitap, and I like what I see. Some good horror games you're currently playing. I have to get around to Hellblade, at some point, and I'm a big American McGee's Alice fan.

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What age group were you in during the Pokémon craze? I do remember adults shunning Pokémon. Side note, I once saw this movie, How To Make A Monster, and it had these game makers, and as like, placeholder graphics, they had monsters that looked like Pikachu. I guess things that were seen as annoying fads is going to have stuff like that... actually, it's kinda like me with the games that are loved by kids today like Minecraft and others.

Ahoy, anticitizen. I was just wanndering. You ever thought about getting Piko or Ratalaika Games to release the NES homebrews you and the people you worked with onto current platforms?

My "Best Games I Played in 2021" list...

#13 Slain: Back From Hell
#12 VVVVVV
#11 Rapid Reload / Gunners Heaven
#10 Guns, Gore & Cannoli
#09 Blazing Chrome
#08 King's Bounty: Warriors of the North
#07 Odallus: The Dark Call
#06 Trine 4: Nightmare Prince
#05 Valfaris
#04 Shantae: 1/2 Genie Hero
#03 Ori and the Will of the Wisps
#02 Contra: Shattered Soldier
#01 Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night


Year of the "side-scrollers"! (Just like almost every year for me.)
After going back and playing the classic mode on 'Bloodstained' I decided that it deserves the uber rare 5-star ranking. At first I was underwhelmed by the whole "I've played this before... a lot" feeling but it truly is among the best Castlev- uh one of those games.
The run-'n-guns were solid as well. If not for the lackluster final stages, 'Contra: Shattered Soldier' could've been a contender for best of the series...
...nah nothing tops 'Contra: Hard Corps'.

Onward to 2022! Might make it the year of the beat-'em-ups or something.

So, two thumbs up on Valfaris? How is it compared to other indie run n guns that either play like Contra (Blazing Chrome), Gunstar Heroes (Spectacular Sparky), or Turrican? (Gunlord X)

Interesting! Tell me your experience with Barbie. I'm thinkin' it's not as bad as people say. The magic ball mechanics mixes things up a bit. It's interesting giving a creature one and it causes you to advance or an item gets retrieved. The platforming mechanics could be a tad better and Barbie's hitbox could be smaller, but it seems like a game that gets a lot of scorn just because it's based on, well, Barbie. Fair enough, I guess, but I'll give Imagineering props for making a more unique platformer.

So Puggsley on NES is just a downgraded 16-bit Addams but with a different main character? I did not know that.

I like the game but controls are slippery and there are occasional cheap moments. Otherwise, it's a solid effort from Ocean, or rather, whoever developed the game. I think Ocean was a publisher like LJN and T*HQ were.

I see ya don't got Barbie on NES! I was first introduced to it by Seanbaby twenty years back. I don't know what drew me into get it given the source material. Maybe I thought it was going to be a decent game because Hi-Tech Expressions also did Tom & Jerry, but then I see that the game was developed by Imagineering, located in Glen Rock, NJ. They're... fine I guess. I liked Ghostbusters II. Their reputation is pretty dubious though, also making them Simpsons games and Home Alone 2.

Good thing I got MUSHA w/box.

Ironically enough, Zombie Nation is now getting a rerelease thanks to the folks at City Connection (which I'm sure is Jaleco's successor, like G-Mode and Data East.)

Man... I would kill for a legit copy of Zombie Nation. $400 though? Too bad it's not the 2000s when classic games were cheap.

I've noticed that I use the phrase "too much" way too much when describing my gaming experiences...

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Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince - The last release in the best-looking side-scrolling series of all time. Hoping the obligatory "physics puzzles" don't slow things down too much.

Contra: Shattered Soldier - My biggest complaint so far is that they borrowed a little too much from 'Alien Wars' and 'Hard Corps'. Some of the original stuff is great.

Shantae: 1/2 Genie Hero - Finished with everything. An interconnected map could've made this the best in the series. A bit too much level recycling for the extra modes though.
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