I continue to keep this tradition alive, that of documenting something about every single game I touched, however briefly, within a single calendar year (previous editions: 2017 and 2016). If nothing else, at least it gives me something to write about on this blog. I didn’t even have any game acquisitions to blog about! Slow year, indeed. That, and my usual sources of games seem to have all dried up.

This is the year I finally crossed 1000 hours of total playtime on my Steam account. I don’t know how many I had at the start of the year (I think it was around 900), but I ended the year with 1114 hours logged, according to my SteamDB profile.

A few days before the end of the year, I realized that I didn’t even have any data submitted for MobyGames yet. This couldn’t be allowed to stand! I have data contributed every year since I joined in 2005. I figured the lowest effort correction to this situation would be to scrub through my game spreadsheet and find games which had been added for which I already had cover art scanned. And so it came to pass that I secured all of 78 points for the year. It’s strange, the arbitrary goals we set for ourselves.

My most notable personal gaming achievement this year was that I finally understood the game FTL. I have repeatedly tried to get into this game in the 6 years since I bought it upon release at full price amid gushing reviews and now I finally get it.

1. Defense Technica: Starting the year off strong with an old tower defense game that I have yet to master.
2. Chip’s Challenge 1: Going back to the vintage Windows 3.1 days with this one. It’s surprisingly challenging.
3. Lara Croft GO: The last time I tried this, I was still stuck on the final boss creature. I finally got past it and realized that that was the end of the main adventure. Fortunately, there is still some bonus content to complete.
4. The Disney Afternoon Collection: Duck Tales: I finally finished this game. It took me months of occasional play sessions, but I did it. Oddly, when I accomplished this, my Steam play time for the game only sat just shy of 5 hours. I recall that being roughly how long it took me to win the original when I first rented it. Of course, back then, it was all clustered into a single afternoon/evening session on a Saturday night.
5. Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion: This bills itself as a real time 4X or RT4X game, which is well outside of my normal complexity wheelhouse. I’m forcing myself to march through all the tutorials. Maybe something will click eventually.
6. FTL: Faster Than Light: I bought this game all the way back in 2012. I believe it was the first game I ever purchased via the Steam platform, and I did so at full price after I saw all the glowing reviews of this indie darling. And I just didn’t get it. I tried so many times to get into it, but the tutorial would bore me to tears. Finally, I decided to give it another try, after another unusual roguelike grabbed me (namely Infectonator: Survivors, but Dungelot on Android also warmed me to the genre) and I am finally starting to enjoy this a bit more and it was one of my most played games of the year.
7. Life of Pixel: Still a fun exploration of retro game art styles. But it certainly is challenging.
8. Saints Row IV: I’m finally trying to get into this. Mostly, it just makes me sad that I don’t have more time to commit to immersing myself in modern video games.
9. American Truck Simulator: This promises to be a good distraction game for anytime I want to play a game as background activity for listening to an audiobook or podcast.
10. Sam & Max 101: Culture Shock: There was a big Telltale game sale on Steam so I picked up season 1 of Sam & Max. I only know it by reputation. The humor is definitely something I would have appreciated more when I was younger. I certainly enjoy the art style and soundtrack now, though. Sadly, I can’t solve the opening cheese puzzle.
11. Iron Sea Defenders: This is the year that tower defense games are getting too tough for me.
12. Titan Attacks: Good old Space Invaders clone time-waster on Steam.
13. The Disney Afternoon Collection: Chip n Dale’s Rescue Rangers: I just don’t get it– I was awesome at these games as a teenager. Now I can barely make it past the first level.
14. Parcel: Trying to get back into this puzzle game.
15. Mega Man Legacy Collection: Mega Man: The classic that started it all.
16. Tomb Raider I: The original game. I’m sure I have several copies of this for different platforms but it cost less than a dollar on Steam. It’s the first Steam game I’ve played that comes wrapped in Dosbox. The controls are obtuse and I’m not entirely convinced that it’s working correctly. It makes me happy once more that I sat out the early 3D period of gaming. When this version of the game starts up, there is a 3Dfx logo. I wondered if that had any effect. Then I found some screenshots of the unadorned DOS version and I can definitely see that this 3Dfx version is the graphically improved variant.
17. Tomb Raider II: Again, less than a dollar (most of the TR series was deeply discounted at one point this year, either to promote the new TR game, or the new TR movie, or perhaps both). At least this one is Windows-native, not that it was much of an improvement. Even though I’m playing in windowed mode in order to avoid unpleasant video mode switching, the switching still happens (and messes up all my desktop windows) when it wants to play some embarrassingly 1990s FMV. I’m thinking that this game probably introduced swimming mechanics because Lara starts off pretty close to water, and the devs wanted to show off the swimming early on.
18. F-Zero (SNES Classic Mini): I finally scored an SNES Classic Mini (retail, MSRP, no scalping involved). This is the first game that I played on it. I still love it (and the music even more).
19. Super Castlevania IV (SNES Classic Mini): I completed this game a long time ago so I thought it would be another good one to try on the SNES Classic Mini for nostalgia before moving on to stuff I hadn’t yet experienced.
20. Halo: Spartan Assault: This is a title I keep trying to get into, but I just can’t bring myself to get excited about Halo as a whole.
21. Ghost Sweeper: I remember picking this up during the summer sale last year, when I just bought everything on my wish list that was for sale for less than US$5. I finally got around to trying it in order to clear it off my “Not Played List”. My first clue that betrayed the origins of this game was Steam’s silhouetted screenshot showing a map screen with a series of locations marked with 2 or 3 stars apiece. This is a pretty obvious sign of a mobile-first game. Yeah, this turned out to be some very basic platformer game available on mobile platforms. At least it had joystick support, but I couldn’t figure out all the controls. Instructions are hard to decode on this one.
22. Super House of Dead Ninjas: Clearing out another game from last summer’s Steam sale. This is also an Adult Swim title. The last game of theirs I played was Mega Coin Squad which was a pretty basic concept– an NES-style game that distills the coin-collecting mechanic. This apes an SNES aesthetic, starting with an SNES game box and an interlaced video mode (which can be thankfully disabled). I like the action in this game and it grabbed me for a bit. I can see returning to this for a few more sessions.
23. Qubic: Simple block graphics 3D puzzle game. It was on sale for less than a dollar, so why not? It seems like someone’s first Unity project, but it still kept me occupied for about half hour as I blew past the first half of the total levels. The Steam achievements were broken, regrettably. I’ve never seen that before.
24. Donkey Kong Country (SNES Classic): I know that this is supposed to be a beloved classic platformer (with an awesome soundtrack; I have heard many arrangements of the series’ tunes via OCRemix). But as the game started, I got a very chilling vibe of the mid-1990s FMV era due to the series’ famed specially-rendered sprites. The technology is lampshaded early in the game and the Cranky older gorilla describes how they never had such technology is his day.
25. Contra III: The Alien Wars (SNES Classic): I like the idea of playing classic platforming action games like this. In practice, I simply don’t have the patience to grow competent. In my teenage game-playing prime, I’m certain I could have mastered this game in 2 days; 3 tops. Nowadays, I’m afraid I can’t be bothered.
26. Star Fox (SNES Classic): This reminds me of the PC demo scene from the same time period– flat, polygonal graphics that simply didn’t age well. If you weren’t “there at the time”, this is the type of experience that is completely lost on you.
27. Unstoppable Gorg: I tried to get back into this TD-with-a-twist game but it’s not clicking with me anymore.
28. Offworld Trading Company: This had a free weekend and I marched through the tutorial. I really love the aesthetic and music. But it ultimately did not grab me.
29. XCOM: Enemy Within: Dusted off briefly for Steam’s Spring Cleaning event.
30. Kingdom Rush: I decided to start playing this again since I noticed I can crank up the difficulty and play through the main campaign again.
31. Plants vs. Zombies: GOTY Edition: Quick play of my earliest TD experience for the Spring Cleaning event.
32. Ball of Wonder: Also dusted off this Breakout/Arkanoid clone for the sake of the Spring Cleaning event.
33. Kingdom Rush Frontiers: Played for the Spring Cleaning event and I rediscovered how much I love this game. Like its predecessor, I decided to play through it again on the hardest mode.
34. SpaceForce: Rogue Universe: I have no idea when or why I procured this, or even what kind of game it is; it’s no longer in the Steam store. Turns out it’s a spaceflight/combat game. The Steam spring cleaning event motivated me to try this out and clear it from my “Not Played Yet” list.
35. Crowntakers: I tried this again due to Steam’s spring cleaning event. It still didn’t grab me although I played it a little longer this time.
36. Castle Crashers: This was free for the Steam spring-cleaning event. I love it. Finally bought it during the Steam Summer Sale. I find the gameplay to be a refreshing throwback to arcade action brawlers, but with a great sense of humor.
37. Party Hard: I picked up the High Crimes DLC on sale so it’s time to play through this again. I eventually played through the entire game again and completed the DLC and other bonus missions, and also acquired most of the achievements.
38. Forts: Free on Steam for a weekend, and it had been on my wish list. It’s a curious take on the RTS genre. In the end, it didn’t grab me, though.
39. Serious Sam Double D XXL: The developer (Croteam) had a big sale on Steam one weekend. I have never played a Serious Sam game and of course FPS games aren’t really my thing. So I picked up this platforming side scroller in the same franchise. I couldn’t get used to the control scheme. The player is expected to move with one joystick, aim with a second joystick, and fire the gun with a button. I don’t understand how I’m supposed to handle this with 2 hands.
40. Contrast: Just as I resolved last year, I am trying to concentrate on finishing some of the more fun action/puzzle games in my collection. I didn’t complete Contrast by the end of the year but I logged a bit more time overall.
41. GALAK-Z: One of the games I picked up during the Steam summer sale. I’ve had my eye on this one since it is very obviously influenced by the Robotech/Macross cartoon/anime in its setting, characters, and technology. When I started playing it, I decided I enjoyed pretty much everything about it– the aesthetic nods to “17-bit” Super Famicom (slightly different from Super NES), the CRT tracking mimicry, the smooth soundtrack, the pacing of the gameplay. The only thing that’s a little hard to get used to is the control scheme.
42. Vanquish: I first learned of this through Extra Credits’ video “The Myth of the Gun”. It’s on Steam and it was cheap for the summer sale so I decided to branch out and give it a try. It’s a modern action game that I have difficulty adapting to, but it was still enjoyable to try.
43. The Disney Afternoon Collection: Duck Tales 2: At long last, I am finally getting into this game. It’s a fun expansion on the original.
44. Super Mario World (SNES Classic): Using the SNES Classic Mini, I am finally able to dip into this title that is a huge gap in my gaming resume.
45. Klocki (Android): I generally spend any idle time on my phone reading something. But one day I found myself so bored that I checked to see which games I still had on my Android phone. I thought this game was too simplistic but I eventually found that the gameplay got deeper.
46. Darksiders: On sale via Steam in a pack that also included its sequel. I have a fondness for what game reviewer Yahtzee calls the “Spectacle Fighter” genre (exemplified by the God of War franchise). In fact, it might be my second favorite genre these days, just behind tower defense. This entry into the genre entertained me for a few hours until I got stuck in one of the post-battle puzzles. I found myself discovering what Yahtzee laid out in his review in that the combat isn’t especially varied, which is a bit of a “must-have” feature for this type of game.
47. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution: I have had this game in my Steam library nearly as long as FTL. Just like that game, I have tried numerous times to get into this game. Since FTL finally clicked for me this year, I gave this one another try. It just isn’t happening. I think it is probably designed for hardcore fans of the WH40K franchise. I simply have no idea what is going on. I wondered what possessed me to try this game yet again. I realized that it’s because as I played Darksiders, Yahtzee’s review of the game — which draws parallels to the art style of WH40K — kept running through my mind.
48. Alicia Quatermain: Secrets of the Lost Treasures: This came up for sale on Steam for less than $2 and I liked the art style from the promo images. It looked a lot like Kingdom Rush. Of course, that warned me that it might be a port of a mobile-first title. But I could find no indication that this is available on mobile platforms… which is weird, because when I played it, the gameplay definitely felt like it would be right at home on a mobile device. You only ever click on things, and that action could easily be replaced by a touch action. This is a puzzle game but the puzzles just feel a little obvious and pointless. Perhaps the gameplay gets a little deeper later on. (As I was composing this year-end blog post, I see that this game is on the Google Play store while 2 sequels have been released on Steam.)
49. Hard West: I really enjoyed XCOM: Enemy Unknown (and the expansion Enemy Within). It was my introduction to the turn-based strategy genre. I have occasionally tried other such games but could not get into them. Hard West came on sale for cheap enough that I decided to give it a whirl. It has an interesting setting– gritty old west combined with supernatural horror. As I tried it out, I wondered if playing XCOM should be a prerequisite for this kind of game? I feel that if I didn’t have 100+ hours of XCOM under my belt, I might be a bit lost. This had a quick tutorial and then the player is sort of on their own. I’m still enjoying it, though. I didn’t play it enough to get to the promised supernatural parts.
50. Kingdom Rush Origins: As with the previous game (Frontiers), I had no idea this game was coming out. As with the previous game, I learned about it when Steam gave me a coupon, likely on account of how much I played the previous installment. I immediately purchased it and began to methodically work through the levels, clearing out all the levels and and earning all the achievements.
51. Halo Wars: Definitive Edition: I have had this on my Steam wish list for awhile and it came up for a free weekend in October. May as well try it out, risk-free. I remember it being notable for its use of a controller-based input scheme, as is befitting a video game console. That turns out to be the way to control the PC version as well. It feels limiting. I got most of the way through the tutorials but was too bored to continue. I think it might suffer from the same issue I had trying the Warhammer 40K game again– since I’m not steeped in the lore of the universe, I am at a bit of a disadvantage.
52. SPACECOM: This was on sale for very cheap so I gave it a whirl. Not my thing. It’s a little strange that it has a banner for “Plays best on Alienware” which implies to me that it would be a somewhat graphically taxing game (this turns out not to be the case).
53. Mark of the Ninja: I specifically remember buying this game during the June Steam sale– in 2017 (to be fair, I bought 7 games at the time, and immediately delved into Party Hard for quite awhile). I’m finally getting around to it in October of 2018. This falls into the category of “I strongly believe I will enjoy this, but I’m just waiting for the right moment to try it out” (another notable game in that category was Papers, Please! and I was right that I would get hooked right away). Mark of the Ninja struck a chord with me right away. THIS is how you do 2D side-scrolling stealth action. Back in my day, we had to settle for the original Metal Gear game on the NES. I’m really looking forward to playing this again but I have been holding off until I get a 4K setup so I can enjoy the HD remastered upgrade. The game is just that beautiful.
54. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow: On sale during the Steam Halloween sale, I picked this up and treated myself after I shut down my house’s trick or treating operation on Halloween night. I like God of War and I knew that this game is cut from the same cloth. I guess it’s okay. It just feels a bit too hand-holdy in its tutorializing. I’m an hour in and it still seems to be telling me how to play the game. I guess with this type of game, I should just sit back and let it unfold since it is a fairly linear, movie-like experience.
55. Scanner Sombre: File this under “novel graphical experiment that is interesting for a few minutes” (not unlike Refunct). But, hey, it was on sale for very cheap, so why not? (Again, like Refunct.) It is probably a better VR experience (not that I’ll ever try it since VR reliably makes me very ill). It reminds me of the vector dots portion of Future Crew’s Unreal demo, only turned into an interactive experience.
56. SpaceChem: This is a chemistry-inspired puzzle game that I have been wanting to get into for awhile. I have fired it up a few times but didn’t have the patience to really learn it. When I finally got over the hump, I started to enjoy it greatly. It’s a good passive game to occupy myself with while listening to podcasts or audiobooks.
57. Sol Survivor: This is a good-looking tower defense game in the vein of Defense Grid that I have had my eye on for awhile. It finally went on sale for cheap enough during the Steam Autumn/Thanksgiving sale. It didn’t really grab me… at least, that’s what I recorded when I gave the game a first whirl. I decided to fire it up again the next day. Before I knew it, the Thanksgiving holiday weekend had concluded and I had racked up 11 hours in the game while completing the main campaign. So something must have clicked. The new twist that this added to the genre was that there are various commanders that can be selected for different campaign missions (and then all can be used after the campaign is finished), and each commander has a different loadout of towers that can be fielded.
58. Magic Technology: TD game, made with Unity, sort of looks like it could have been a mobile-first game, but that doesn’t seen to be the case. On sale for $0.75 during the Steam Winter Sale (and of course I scan the TD section carefully at each sale), so give it a try. The tutorial pretty well assumes I’m already on board with the TD genre which is nice. It’s not bad, but the UI is a bit wonky and I’m having trouble really adapting into it.
59. Defense Grid: The Awakening: As I scrub through this list before publishing, I realized I omitted this tower defense game, which is still, far and away, my most played game on Steam. I had a total of 294 hours invested as of the close on 2018. What can I say? It’s just my go-to “time to chill” game. This past year, I finally earned the achievement for receiving a gold medal on 100 main campaign mission variations. By the end of 2019, I expect I will have earned the achievement for 150 missions (one of only 4 out of the 87 achievements that I lack).

What happens in 2019 for me, gaming-wise? I have been itching to make a move to 4K gaming. At the very least, I will be able to get back to playing Mark of the Ninja.

Just like in 2016, I kept a log of all the games I played during the calendar year of 2017. Unless otherwise noted, I played these games via the Steam platform. My Steam stats are here. I make it a goal to keep the number of unplayed games on those stats to a minimum. In order to do that, SteamDB requires that a game be played for at least 5 minutes. Even that can be a chore sometimes.

This is the year I finally started playing some games for MobyGames screenshot recon, something I have been negligent to do for many years.

Last year, I was extremely enthusiastic about tower defense games. This year, I was a bit more interested in retro-themed platformers. By the end of the year, I started to drift back into TD.

1. RAM BOE: Block-moving puzzle game which should be right in my wheelhouse. However, I found it very tough to control with a controller.
2. Life of Pixel: Platformer that presents a very interesting graphical experiment that simulates the graphics of various retro system.
3. Ball of Wonder: I can’t stop wasting time with this Breakout/Arkanoid clone. The levels are tough, but I suppose that’s hardly the point.
4. Titan Attacks: This was the first game I got to play after taking a long break. I earned most of the rest of the reasonable achievements on this Space Invaders clone.
5. Papers, Please: I bought this paperwork simulator during some Steam sale, but I held off on playing it for awhile. I had a weird feeling it would grab me, and I was right. This is every bit as fun and addictive as they say!
6. Defense Grid: The Awakening: This tower defense game is, far and away, my most played game according to Steam. It’s what I drift to when I don’t feel like doing or playing anything else.
7. Dungeon Warfare: Another of my very favorite TD games. I eventually finished all the main missions and scored most of of the achievements.
8. Refunct: Sort of a simple 1st person puzzle platformer; I got 33% of the way through on my first playthrough, then I got stuck.
9. Saints Row: Gat Out Of Hell: This was on sale for pretty cheap. But that’s also because it was sort of an expansion based on an existing engine. Played 2 hours of this when I first started it up. I think I could grow to really enjoy this open world game.
10. Airscape: The Fall Of Gravity: Played for 2 minutes. I didn’t really understand the gameplay and it started to make me ill with its incessant spinning. I later revisited out of a commitment to minimize my “unplayed” games on SteamDB (which apparently requires that you play at least 5 minutes). I started to get into it and even got to the point in the tutorial where it teaches you to adjust the spinning speed. I still got dizzy. I’m starting to come around on the concept, though.
11. Tropico: I think I have most of these games but I haven’t tried any of them. When I tried the start of the series, it didn’t work right with my widescreen monitor. Instead, I hauled out my 4:3 monitor that I keep for older games. This fixed the problem. Alas, I got bored by the tutorial. I may revisit this by just jumping into the main game and seeing what happens, then looking for a manual to fill in the gaps. That has traditionally been a useful approach when trying simulation games.
12. 7 Wonders of the Ancient World: Whenever I boot into WinXP and fail to play other games, it’s common for me to drift into playing this for hours on end. After Golem failed to run, this was my consolation prize.
13. StarCraft: I procured a copy of this awhile ago and wanted to try the roots of StarCraft II for myself. When I got to play this, rumors were swirling that Blizzard would release a remastered version. I had this weird feeling that I should get the original experience before the remastered version comes out. As soon as I played it, I read that in addition to releasing the remastered version, Blizzard would also make the original SC v1.18 free for download. That’s when I realized I was only on v1.05. I wonder if 1.18 fixes assorted UI issues that I experienced with this version?
14. 8-Bit Bayonetta: An impossibly trivial game that still somehow clocks in at a few hundred megabytes. I guess it was a promotional game released on Steam when Bayonetta came to the platform. It no longer seems to be available
15. Goblins & Coins: A simple platformer with primitive graphics that kept me entertained for a little while.
16. You Have To Win The Game: Love the CGA aesthetic of this retro-style platformer. I made it 28% through the game on my first playthrough before it got too brutally difficult for me.
17. Dungelot: Shattered Lands: I loved the Dungelot rogue-like on the Android platform. When this title came up for cheap on the Steam platform, it was a no-brainer. I’m a bit ashamed to admit that I couldn’t figure out how to get past the introductory level. Another item off the “play every game in my Steam library” effort.
18. Chip’s Challenge 2: It was a big deal to old-school Windows 3.1 gamers when the original Chip’s Challenge showed up on Steam, along with its sequel that was in contract limbo forever. Though I haven’t made it through the first game, I put in some time on this game in order to clear it from my unplayed list.
19. Bloodrayne: Betrayal: I’ve been holding onto this side-scrolling action game for awhile. I had logged 2 minutes on it at one point and had always meant to give it another try. The “Steam Clear” effort seems like a good reason to do that. I quite like this little game even though it doesn’t seem well reviewed on Steam.
20. Shadowgate: MacVenture Series: I got this as a bonus for supporting the new Shadowgate game on Kickstarter. It contains the original Shadowgate games for the Apple Mac (high resolution, black and white) and Apple IIgs (lower resolution, but in color). I like the original Shadowgate, but I’m most sentimental for the 8-bit NES version. I can’t seem to get into either of these versions which notably lack the soundtrack featured in the NES version.
21. Moustache Mountain: This was on sale for a dollar and I’m really enjoying picking up these pixel art platformers. It gave me a few minutes of entertainment, which I guess is enough for the dollar I put into it.
22. Fiery Disaster: Simple tower defense game on sale for a dollar. I put a few minutes into it but it didn’t grab me.
23. WarCraft: Orcs and Humans: I wanted to go back to the roots of the series. It’s… primitive. I painstakingly got through the first few campaign missions. But I still want to give it another try. I picked up the audiobook version of the novelization of the big-budget WarCraft movie. This motivated me to watch the movie. This, in turn, motivated me to track down the original game to see how well the story actually matched up, since I heard that the movie is supposed to tell the origin to the series. To be clear, the WarCraft movie greatly expanded on the lore presented in the opening of the first game.
24. Fuzion Frenzy (Xbox): This marked the point when I made an effort to play games to capture screenshots for MobyGames, mostly of the Xbox and Dreamcast varieties. This casual party game was quite a slog– 45 minigames to screen cap and catalog.
25. World Soccer: Winning Eleven 8 International (Xbox): I couldn’t wrap my head around this one. I just got enough footage for a few screenshots.
26. Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2x (Xbox): I’m not great with stunt games. Just did the basic screenshots recon for this one.
27. NHL 2K6 (Xbox): Did my best to collect MobyGames screenshots by cycling through the party games.
28. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (Xbox): Here we go! This one grabbed me pretty quickly. I like the God of War games and this strikes me as a PG-13-rated game of the same genre. Plus, I collected some screenshots.
29. Deep Fighter (Dreamcast): Underwater adventure. I couldn’t figure out much about it, except for the fact that putting your 1st person perspective game underwater is a great excuse to have a poor draw distance. Screenshots successfully collected, though.
30. Monaco Grand Prix (Dreamcast): Racing game that probably has realistic car elements to it, but I just treated it as an arcade racer. The intro cinematic seems to be setting up some kind of horror or psychological thriller, depicting a driver at the starting line flashing back to growing up while playing with toy cars.
31. Sturmwind (Dreamcast): Awesome homebrew/indie game for the Dreamcast. I played it a little when I first got it years ago and I’m happy to get another chance to enjoy it in order to capture screenshots.
32. Namco Museum (Dreamcast): This was a pretty rote slog to collect representative screenshots for all the vintage arcade games on offer (Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Pole Position, Galaga, and Galaxian). The most novel thing I found on this playthrough was the settings screens which simulated DIP switch settings in the original arcade cabinets.
33. Star Wars Demolition (Dreamcast): I didn’t quite get the hang of this during my screenshot recon, but it was still enjoyable playing through all the possible settings and checking out all the set pieces on offer (like the super laser on the Death Star arena).
34. NFL 2K2 (Dreamcast): No idea, just a bit of screenshot recon.
35. NHL 2K (Dreamcast): Really no idea. I don’t seem to have any control over the action. But I got a few screenshots anyway.
36. Party Hard: Right about the time I played this, the new Friday the 13th game was getting all the press. This serial killer puzzler grabbed me immediately, though, quickly rising to my Steam top 10 by hours played. I completed the game and earned most of the achievements.
37. Bleed: Promising pixel art action game, but it proved too tough for me on normal difficulty. I just can’t get used to the control scheme.
38. Terraria: This is a game I keep trying to get into but it still hasn’t clicked for me. I wonder if I’ll ever understand the appeal?
39. Dungelot (Android): Got caught up in this on my phone when I didn’t feel like doing anything else. I can’t believe how I can waste 3 hours on one round of this dungeon crawler.
40. Dungelot 2 (Android): I got a severe case of “They changed it, now it sucks.” I really got sucked into the original mobile Dungelot but this sequel doesn’t do anything for me. The goofy art style and general light-hearted attitude of the game is gone, replaced by something with a much harder edge.
41. Defense Grid 2: Even though I’ve 100%’d this TD game I still waste a bit of time with it.
42. Ultra Street Fighter IV: I built myself a new Windows 10 PC and this is the first game I tried. I wasn’t disappointed.
43. Shantae: Half-Genie Hero: I backed the Kickstarter on this one, on the strength of Wayforward’s previous outings. This is a very enjoyable modern platformer.
44. StarCraft II: At last, I once again have a PC capable of playing this.
45. Alien Breed: Impact: The first of 3 Alien Breed games that I bought in a bundle recently from Steam. This one is built on Unreal Engine 3 and created by Team 17, the folks responsible for the Worms franchise. Alas, this didn’t make much impact on me.
46. Mushroom Wars: Tower defense continues to be the genre that always grabs me and won’t let go. I appreciate this slightly nuanced take on the genre. Come to think of it, it’s more of a simplified RTS vs. a raw tower defense game since the goal is to both defend and attack.
47. Fist Puncher: Retro-style beat-em-up Adult Swim game. I gave it a few minutes but it didn’t really do anything for me. I might be tiring of the retro pixel art style games.
48. Zenge (Android): From the Humble Bundle Android Puzzle Pack; appropriate trivial.
49. Hook (Android): From the Humble Bundle Android Puzzle Pack; really enjoying this logic puzzler.
50. Klocki (Android): From the Humble Bundle Android Puzzle Pack; also a fun puzzler.
51. Mighty No. 9: I watched a lot of controversy swirl around this high-profile Kickstarter title. I realized at the time of its release that the controversies surrounding Kickstarted games had shifted from games that were never finished, to games that were finished but didn’t quite live up to the lofty expectations of the fans. When I would watch gameplay videos of this title, I didn’t see why people objected so much. When it went on sale for cheap enough, I snatched it up… and I like it just fine.
52. Deus Ex GO (Android): From the Humble Bundle Android Puzzle Pack. I like Lara Croft GO but I can’t figure out how to get very far in this game.
53. Lara Croft GO: Fun game to take in while doing something else since it’s just a puzzle game that doesn’t require a lot of concentration. It was nice to return to it after I couldn’t figure out Deus Ex Go.
54. Deja Vu: MacVenture Series: Clearing this off of my “Not Played Yet” Steam list. I gave it 5 minutes. I’m still sentimental for the NES version of these games, rather than the mouse-driven early PC versions. Plus, Deja Vu was least interesting to me out of the MacVenture trilogy.
55. War For The Overworld: I finally got around to trying this but I can’t figure out how to do anything in the game. I just can’t figure out the interface or how to control the most basic workers. At least I cleared it from my “Not Played Yet” list.
56. Contrast: A PS4 launch title that is now on Steam (and for sale, which is why I picked it up). Fun puzzler with a unique visual style and setting that I could get used to.
57. Infectonator: Survivors: A very interesting title. I’ve never played anything quite like it before and it hooked me pretty quickly. It’s hard to describe– roguelike real-time tactics team-based zombie survival game done in a 16-bit graphical style. While it grabbed me right away, I wriggled out of its grasp almost as quickly as the frustrating gameplay got to be too much for me.
58. Girls Like Robots: Gave this one another spin. I couldn’t remember all the specific mechanics and trying to refresh my memory by running through the original levels bored me too much.
59. Hard Reset: I decided to give this one another chance since I have a fresh, up to date Windows 10 machine. I was able to get farther this time, probably because I started a campaign in easy mode, something I normally eschew.
60. Crowntakers: A unique-looking fantasy RPG game that was on sale, so I picked it up. Unfortunately, it totally bored me in the first 5 minutes and I couldn’t see any reason to invest more time.
61. Crookz: The Big Heist: I loved XCOM so I like to try other turn-based strategy games. I haven’t been able to find one that grabs me the same way that XCOM does. This is similar to how StarCraft II is the only RTS I have been able to get into.
62. Batman: The Telltale Series: Telltale games are reliably my cup of tea. Not a lot of mental overhead of trying to learn new gameplay. This game sets the tone immediately by opening with a bullet to the head of a security guard. And being a Telltale game, it starts off a bit heavy on the action quicktime sequences. But it’s still a good time.
63. Mega Man Legacy Collection: Played Mega Man 1 so far. Back in the day, I completed #1-4. Maybe I’ll eventually do all 6 thanks to this collection.
64. Alan Wake: Bought this when it went on clearance before disappearing from Steam (music licensing issues, apparently). I held off playing it until Halloween rolled around. I didn’t really get into it.
65. Cally’s Caves 3: This simple, retro-style platformer RPG grabbed me pretty quickly.
66. Ms. Pac-Man: Quest for the Golden Maze: Finally started doing screenshot recon for Windows games and this was my test case. Turned out to be harder than I expected– screenshot recon, not this upgraded Ms. Pac-Man variant. This game used some weird video modes which thwarted my capture software.
67. 8-Bit Invaders!: This could best be described as Lego/Minecraft rendition of StarCraft. And I guess that’s okay. It is actually starting to draw me in, something no other RTS has been able to do since I played StarCraft II.
68. Last Hope – Tower Defense: A disposable TD game that I picked up during the Halloween Steam sale. It’s reasonably enjoyable, even if the English dialog is a bit wonky. There’s something weird about it– there are upgrade trees that require “researching” and when I select a research option (and I have enough in-game currency), I see a brief glimpse of “1s” and then the research is complete. This leads me to believe that this was a mobile free-to-play game with IAP to advance the skill tree faster. This turns out to be precisely the correct assumption. Between this and Zombo Buster Rising, I’m going to need to ensure that any future Steam purchases did not begin life as IAP-enabled F2P mobile games.
69. Space Pirates and Zombies: I don’t quite recall how I came to own this game. I think maybe I got the Steam code for free somewhere. I had 6 minutes on record from years back. I decided to give it another whirl in order to properly clear it from my “Not Played Yet” category. It does seem like an interesting resource management game in space, but it hasn’t grabbed me.
70. Rock ‘N’ Roll Defense: It’s time for the Thanksgiving Steam sale and of course I scavenged to find a bunch of sub-$5 tower defense games. This seemed like a fairly primitive and simple TD game based on the screenshots. At $1, what did I have to lose? It hits all the right notes, no pun intended. It also features an intimidating number of Steam achievements (240), which fits into my plan. The heavy metal soundtrack can get a smidge repetitious. I 100%’d the game (all levels and achievements) in 5 hours of playtime.
71. Iron Sea Defenders: Another TD game yielded by the Steam Thanksgiving sale. This is an interesting contrast to the easiness of Rock ‘N’ Roll Defense. Just the first 2 levels actually challenge me to get all 3 stars.
72. Defend Your Life: TD: Another cheap TD game from the Steam Thanksgiving sale. This is making me start to wonder if the Unity engine has a standard template for crafting TD games since there is a certain same-iness to many TD games I try these days. This one had a unique flair, though, as the setting is your body and your goal is to ward off various diseases and infections.
73. The Disney Afternoon Collection: Fascinating bonus artifacts that don’t require unlocking. I played Duck Tales and Rescue Rangers so far. I’m disappointed by how bad I am at playing it since it was one of the easiest games I played back when I was an NES ninja (rented and won it in about 4 hours, and that was with having to figure out the controls by trial and error).
74. Unstoppable Gorg: Just when I wonder what else TD games can do to appeal to me, and what a game’s aesthetic can do differently than what I have seen before, this comes along. I love the cheesy retro sci-fi feel of this TD title (live action, poorly costumed video segments). I also love that it adds a new twist to the TD genre in the form of movable towers. I also love that I managed to play all 5 of my Thanksgiving Steam sale purchases by the end of Thanksgiving weekend.
75. Azkend 2: The World Beneath: I got a fair amount of enjoyment out of the original mobile version of Azkend. Apparently, it was made by a Finnish developer because this sequel was available on Steam during their Finnish sale. It’s all right, I suppose. But I don’t care much for simple casual puzzle games that try to have too much story or deep tutorializing. Plus, there’s a game mode that I simply don’t understand. I think it’s a hidden object minigame, but I’m not sure. Based on Steam activity, I might be the only person who has played this.
76. Mega Coin Squad: Adult Swim Games can be counted on to produce some enjoyable retro art style games. This game distills the essence of coin collecting from Super Mario Bros.-type platform games. I gave it a spin and quickly thought, “Okay, I got it. I got the concept. I can move on now.”
77. Invert – Tile Flipping Puzzles (Android): Part of a Humble Bundle of Android indie games. Great simple casual tile-flipping game.
78. Snowball (Android): Part of a Humble Bundle of Android indie games. It’s a snowball-themed pinball game that reminds me of Adventure Pinball: Forgotten Island.
79. Jets’n’Guns Gold: I know that I tried to play this once before on Linux, and it booted, but I couldn’t figure out how to make it do anything else. I wanted to clear this off of my “Not Played Yet” list so I tried it again under Windows. I got it to play, but I couldn’t figure out anything about it. I figured out how to move but not how to shoot, even after studying the controls. I have tried a lot of retro-themed games in the past year or 2, but this one really does feel like it comes from a bygone era. Doing a bit of research, I found that the series is a bit old, but not nearly as old as I expect– only 2004. I would have expected late 1990s at best. It’s challenging, but not in a retro-ironic sense.
80. Defense Technica: This was one of the earlier tower defense games that I tried and it did not impress me at the time. However, I decided to give it another whirl since I have experienced such a wide variance of quality in TD games (i.e., I have seen a lot worse that the genre has to offer). I’m actually getting a bit more out of this title than I did the first time around. It does still feel like a pale imitation of Defense Grid, but it has its strong points, notably a better controller configuration than DG.
81. Alien Breed 2: Assault: I tried the first in this series earlier in the year. It didn’t leave much impression. However, the game came in a trilogy bundle. So I decided to clear the second one from my “Not Played Yet” list. For a moment, I wondered if I would be confused by the story if I didn’t finish the first game. Turned out now to be an issue. Honestly, I couldn’t really tell the difference between this game and the first. And I invested about as much time into it. Also, I couldn’t get the sound to work.

What does the new year hold for me, gaming-wise? I still have hundreds of games that need MobyGames screenshot recon, so that’s a good place to start. As for the games in my Steam collection, I would like to try buying fewer games on Steam, clear the remainder from my “Not Played Yet” list, and try focusing more on one game at a time. There are numerous action games that I truly enjoyed during my initial playtime — including Mighty No. 9, Cally’s Caves 3, Life of Pixel, and Shantae — but I need to commit to playing through them. Coming back to them after months of inactivity does not fly since my muscle memory for the game has evaporated, as has my notion of what I am supposed to be achieving in the game.

I feel terribly embarrassed. I bought the wrong high-tech Christmas present for someone. Here’s how it happened:

2 years ago, I handed down my old Nintendo GameCube to some relatives and they have been enjoying it quite a lot. I got them Super Smash Bros. Melee as well as 4 GameCube controllers.

In the weeks before Christmas, these same relatives mentioned that they would enjoy having a Nintendo Wii along with Just Dance 3. Lo and behold, I happened to see exactly what they wanted in the store– a bundle that included the Wii and Just Dance 3, and it seemed fairly inexpensive (the whole bundle cost less than I had been seeing regular Wii consoles go for). Since they liked Melee, I also got them Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Since the Wii sports backward compatibility with the GameCube and has ports for 4 GC controllers, they’ll have all kinds of 4-player fun.

What Went Wrong?
All told, things went pretty well. They were surprised to see the Wii and associated games on Christmas morning and have been getting plenty of use out of them. However, when I visited a few days later to see how things were going, they reported that the Wii didn’t have ports for the old GameCube controllers.

Wait, what?

It turns out that what I purchased was not the original Wii but apparently a newer version called the Wii Family Edition. It looks like this:

It sacrifices GameCube backward compatibility, both in software as well as controller ports. It only has USB ports now.

Oh well, they can still enjoy the old GameCube and the new Wii separately. I was just disappointed that they won’t be able to play multiplayer Brawl until they get some more Wii controllers. Moreover, I felt terribly embarrassed that I am not up to date on current video game technology, particularly Nintendo’s offerings, after being a hardcore Nintendo nerd during my teenage years.

All in all, I can’t fault Nintendo for this move. This is a standard type of cost reduction method. The Wii is 5 years old now and has more than enough of its own software that it doesn’t need to draw from the pool of last generation games to expand on its offerings (it still has Virtual Console for the really old stuff, too). This also reminds me of the top-loading 8-bit NES (for which I paid US$99, used)– that had the interesting cost reduction measure of removing the composite A/V output meaning that you absolutely had to use RF to connect to a TV. Not great, but the console was rock-solid otherwise.

Curiously, the top Amazon search for Nintendo Wii (“Wii Black Console with New Super Mario Brothers Wii and Music CD”) is a new-style Wii yet the features still list GameCube compatibility. No, wait– on closer inspection, the “Product Features” bullet list states, “Nintendo GameCube software and accessories are not supported”, while further down, the same page has an outdated Amazon.com product description table comparing the current generation consoles. This table features the old Wii and the old capabilities.

Oops.

I just picked up this piece of light reading before the holiday break: 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die. It’s quite thick:

Close to the origin of this blog, I learned of various efforts by dedicated (or bored) individuals to slog through all chapters in assorted long-running game franchises. These efforts included Dragon Quest series (blog is gone); Zelda series (he didn’t seem to get too far); and Ultima (hats off! this person made it through the series). Now I’m waiting to see if a new blog crops up to chronicle an effort to play through all 1001 of these games. I promise it won’t be this blog.

The games are listed chronologically, though there is an alphabetical index. Through this index, I was able to determine that I have played a paltry 12% of the video games I need to play before I die. That doesn’t seem like much, but it’s still 120 games. It’s important when reading through this book — as it is with any random “Top X of something” list — to not assign too much cosmic significance to the data, and certainly not to construe the contents as an affront to your own personal tastes. That means you’ll stay sane if you can keep yourself from constantly wondering “How could they have not included [my all-time favorite game in some genre]!!”

The list was compiled based on the opinions of a bunch of game critics. A number of franchises are well-represented, among them: Every Halo game, most Final Fantasy games, most Zelda games, every Metal Gear Solid game; every Resident Evil game except for #3, and most every game that has ever begun with the words “Super Mario”.

It’s also curious to note that the preface of the book is written by famed game designer Peter Molyneux. I mention this because, cross referencing with his MobyGames rap sheet, it seems that most of his games made the list.

For my own reference, here are the 12% of these very important 1001 games I have had the privilege of experiencing:

I know that it’s old hat to see such ludicrous, catch-all advertisements. But every now and then, one grabs you. Like when I was refreshing my memory recently regarding the T-virus of the Resident Evil series. Amazon promises to hook me up with a good deal.

To be fair, there seems to be a song by that name by an act named Atyss.