Brutal: Paws of Fury (Sega Genesis, 1994)

 

One of the worst fighting games of the 16-bit era, and it's unfortunate because it's a cool idea. A bunch of animals, each representing a different martial art, having a tournament on an island to determine what the greatest martial art is.

When I was a kid, I actually really wanted this game. It was one of those "read about it somewhere and then ask my mom to get it" games that I thankfully got ignored on, mainly because she figured it was terrible due to the villain being THE DALAI LLAMA and the game being called Brutal. In any case, time to find out why this game should have been called Brutal: Paws of ASS.

Dragon Quest II HD-2D, Part 3 - The Bridgewater Triangle

 

The lore artwork in this remake is great, and usually accompanies a character retelling a legend or a fable. In other news, I've been reading up on the Bridgewater Triangle and all the weirdness that occurred there over the centuries, and it really is the kind of location you'd find in a DQ game. If I were designing one of these RPGs I'd probably base an area directly off of that place, and Hockamock Swamp.

Dragon Quest II HD-2D, Part 2 - Grieving Angel's Lament

 

WTF? I think this woman wants to milk us.

.......the title of this post is way too good for this post or anything in it.

Dragon Quest II HD-2D (Multiple, 2025)

 

I've had a tumultuous relationship with Dragon Quest II. For a long time I considered it the worst game in the series, due to the uneven difficulty, unappealing map layout, and one of the three characters being utterly useless. However, it also has a charm about it that I've always liked, and I never dreaded replaying it or anything. So I'm hoping that this remake will take the DQ game most in need of refinement and give it that much-needed forging.

For the record: After replaying the first seven games again in the last few years, I'd probably now rate the original DQII above DQVI and DQVII in the grand scheme of things. Those games are way over-long and most of the runtime is mundane, things DQII has no problems with. Even in the original rudimentary NES form, this game doesn't take that long to run through and each section of the game held my attention.

The 1000 Games I've Beaten (#570 - 572)

 

#570 Bloodborne (Playstation 4) – Spring 2015

Finally, something I remember and have things to say about, after months of things I barely remember. This was my first From Software game and the game that revived my interest in the PS4. The system had a pretty weak first year, with Assassin's Creed 4 and Assassin's Creed Unity being the only things that particularly got me excited for it. Then this game came along, and it looked so...different and interesting that I had to give it a try. 

EVO: Search for Eden - Finale

EVO wraps up with the Modern Era. Really interesting game here, another of Enix's weird classics that grows on you if you let it.

Originally posted March 2015, revised for 2026

EVO: Search for Eden (Super NES, 1992)

Time to look at a true classic from Enix. ...and by classic I mean a stiff, difficult grind-fest that is definitely an acquired taste. Despite that, there's something appealing and cool about this game that made it a lot of fun back in the day, and back in 1997 or so this was actually my rental of choice for a little while.

I pretty much permanently associate this game with New Year's Day, since I spent Jan 1st 1997 playing it and sipping egg nog.

Originally posted March 2015, revised for 2026

The 1000 Games I've Beaten (#551 - 569)

 

#551 Assassin's Creed: Rogue (Playstation 3) – Winter 2015

Kind of an oddball game because it was the series stepping back to "last gen" one more time, for whatever reason. This ended up being one of the best games in the series and serves as a good sequel to Assassin's Creed IV (one of the best in the series, as well). This is a departure from the norm of the series and has you playing as a Templar instead of an Assassin. I'm not sure which is better between this and ACIV, but I can say they're likely the best one-two punch of games in the entire series.

Toughest Part: The battle with the Stalkers. A bunch of stealthy female assassins who turn your own killing methods against you, leaping out of bails of hay and going for one-shot kills.

Terminator 2D: No Fate (Multiple, 2025)

 

I have waited a very, very long time to play a good T2 game. Fun Fact: T2 was the first movie I ever saw in a theater. And what a banger movie to go see. I lucked out, just like I seriously lucked out on what games I played first. It wasn't the first movie I ever watched in full, that would be Big Trouble In Little China. It aired on TV and we taped it / watched it a zillion times after that. I didn't see The Terminator (the first one) until after I'd seen T2 a couple times, so I saw them in reverse order and that certainly affected my perception of both.

This game dropped several weeks ago and folks have had time to really pick it apart since then. It's the T2 game we should have gotten in the 1990's, no doubt about it. Of all the things I could be covering on here, I wouldn't be much of a Jumper if I didn't cover this. T2 is back, and back in what is effectively a time capsule from 1995 or so. Ironically.

(Seen here with the inverted box art, which gives it a slightly-pixellated image of John Connor, and is considerably better than the store shelves box art)

Ranking all 60 of the Game Boy Games I Finished

 

Another Jason Graves style collection of blurbs. I previously did a Game Boy top ten list, and this obviously replaces that. The top ten are more or less the same across both, with a couple things moved around a bit. It's actually the same post, just edited to add the rest of them.

Not including Game Boy Color, as I'm one of the people who consider it a separate system. Here we go.

Ranking all 35 of the Sega Genesis/Game Gear/Sega CD/32X/Master System Games I've Finished

While the system came out exactly a decade earlier, it wasn't until Summer 1999 when I finally went "GIVE ME GENESIS" and picked up the system for $20 in a retro game store. Along with several games at $10 each that, by then, were generally regarded as the best the system had. There's something to be said for getting into something well after the fact. Like a TV series that ended and has a finished story to watch, or a game system where you can instantly check out all of the system's high points without waiting or wondering.

In any case, time for something a little different. I've got no real interest in doing any lists for modern systems (2001+) but I love the idea of ranking retro games, so I'll probably do a couple big Jason Graves style retro lists like this in the future. Going big here with a longer list, but expect short not-detailed entries (a bit like the RPG lists, but moreso). This is more about the ranking element than about the retrospective element, which I save for the 1000 List.

Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall #7 - Finale

Previously on Daggerfall... I managed to rescue my game and get it working again, then finally finished Dust of Restful Death, Lysandus' Tomb, and associated quests. Now, with the curse on Daggerfall City lifted and the spirits freed from their wandering, it's time to go to Aetherius and revive the ancient super-golem Numidium.

Originally Posted: September 2014, now remastered for 2025

The 1000 Games I've Beaten (#536 - 550)

 

#536 Rez (Playstation 2) – Fall 2014

Unique game here that is one part on-rails flight shooter and one part music-based experience. It isn't too long (five stages IIRC) but it's so good that you'll remember those five stages for years. It's hard to describe why this game is so potent, and those who have played it know. It's pretty unique too, spiritual successor (though not as great) Child of Eden is the only other game like it that I know of.

Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall #6 - Forest of Cutting Shadows

It's the inevitable return of Daggerfall as I try to figure out how to get the damn game to work again so I can finish this.

Featuring Medora.

She's sexy and she knows it.

Originally Posted: September 2014, now remastered for 2025

The 1000 Games I've Beaten (#520 - 535)

 

#520 Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall (PC) – Fall 2014

Does everything bigger and better than Arena, though personally I still prefer Arena to this day. This has a few years of graphical improvements, and is just as much fun to explore as the previous game. While Arena had the entire world of Tamriel, this game has one small province - and yet, it has vastly more game-space despite that. They went all-in with covering every square mile with procedurally-generated terrain. It's possible to actually run from one end of the land to the other, and the trip takes around 70 hours. No, I'm serious. 70 hours. Good thing we have fast travel!

Angry Video Game Nerd 8-Bit: Boss Fight Videos

 

Here we've got all the boss fights for AVGN's latest game. It's very 8-Bit indeed, but I definitely preferred the two old games of his (from about a decade ago) more.

Sword Master (NES, 1990)

This is a cool little NES game that nobody seems to remember. It's a bit of a Zelda II clone, a side-scroller where you go through seven levels and slash your way through various monsters. Each fight is treated like a miniboss / duel, and your character gets a variety of different sword attacks they can employ. So it's a little different from your average game, and deserves mention.

 

Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall #5 - World's End

GAZPACHO~! returns with what may be the unceremonious final post in this series, unless I fix the latest game-ending bug from this pain-in-the-ass game. In other news, that is one NICE stormy sky right there.

Originally Posted: July 2014, now remastered for 2025

Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall #4 - Dreamweaver

 Featuring boobies. Yum.

Originally Posted: July 2014, now remastered for 2025

Ranking all of Samus' Suits

Some of Samus' suits are remarkably well-designed and fun to look at, with colors and aesthetics that drip off the screen. Just absolutely sumptuous design on some of these, and it's probably a part of why the series has been successful over the years.

The ranking will be based mostly on the look and art design of each suit, with maybe 20% consideration given to their ingame abilities. It isn't about which is more powerful than which (something largely impossible to determine from game to game, given the mostly-shared ability pool). It's more about which ones are the most appealing to look at in action.

Now with Metroid Prime 4 added