Brain Lord (Super NES, 1994)

 

Another of the many quirky Enix RPGs for the SNES, this is probably the biggest game of theirs that I totally missed out on (this and Robotrek). Right off the bat, the box art for this game is incredible and punches well above the game's weight. I definitely would have rented/played this as a kid if I'd ever actually seen it in a store. 7th Saga had really nice art, too. This is basically a "sister game" to that one, made by the same people and using the same graphics style.

Wanted to do a retro RPG I'd never played before, and that list is short, so here we go.

The 7th Saga: Lux Solo Game

 

LUX is a character I really like, and I've been back and forth about whether or not he's the best of the seven characters. He starts with easily the strongest stats of the seven, which makes up for his total lack of weapons/armor and slow stat growth. I'm going to make a run at this game with him solo, so this should be fun.

The 7th Saga: Ranking the Apprentices

 

Ranking the seven playable characters to figure out who the best is, both as main character and partner character. Going to be reposting some old 7th Saga posts with edits/fixes, along with two entirely new posts on the game (this and a Lux Solo Game). While the game, and the characters, are all rough around the edges, I've always found this lineup really compelling for some reason. I've finished the game with all of them in my main duo at one time or another, so let's get to it.

Ranking the Elden Ring Legacy Dungeons From Worst To Best

Time for the Legacy Dungeons, which had to be their own list since they (and the criteria for judging them) are so much different from the open world areas. Smaller dungeons (catacombs, caves, etc) of the more cut+paste variety aren't going to be on here, nor will the smaller copied-over DLC dungeons like the forges and the prisons. Any dungeon that's large enough to have more than one grace point probably qualifies to be on here.

I'll be ranking them using the criteria of how atmospheric they are, how much fun they are, how unique they are, and how good the level design is. Level design is one area where Fromsoft excels, so nothing on this list is "bad" in that sense.

Ranking the Elden Ring Overworld Areas From Worst To Best

Contrary to the name, this list will include underworld areas if they're not dungeons. "Overworld" in this case basically means non-dungeon areas. The major legacy dungeons will get a separate list (hell if I try to rank all the catacombs and caves and whatnot).

I'll be ranking the overworld zones using the criteria of how atmospheric they are, how much fun they are, how much there is to do (i.e. how much they maximize their space), and how much I liked the overall layout.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater (Playstation 2, 2004 / Playstation 5, 2025)

 

Here we are, Metal Gear Solid 3, the best game in the series. Going to do the usual MGS-series thing here and give it a fairly light rundown while trying not to go too overboard with spoilers - though I'll talk about the interesting elements of the story regardless.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (Playstation 2, 2001)

 

With an MGS3 remake coming up and me having done posts for MGS1/4/5 in the past, it seemed like an appopriate time to fill in the other missing one. This game was pretty divisive in its day, but it holds a lot of nostalgia for folks who grew up with it. I always liked this one, and thought it was WAY ahead of its time.

As for why it was divisive... having Raiden take over as the main character was a terrible idea, like selling drugs in the hood without the CIA's permission.

Highlander III: The Final Dimension (1995)

 

Released during the latter half of Season 3 of the TV show, this has us revisiting our friend Connor Macleod for the first time since Season 1 Episode 1. Putting this out instead of the Four Horsemen episodes is sort of like when Dragonball Z's original run got to the hotly-anticipated arrival of the Ginyu Force and then showed The Tree of Might instead.

I don't remember being all that crazy about this as a kid, thought it was mid at best. Will I gain a new appreciation for it as an adult? Let's find out.

The Best and Worst Thing In Each Soulsborne Game

 

Been wanting to do a list like this for a while. What we have here are seven of the best games of all time (plus a remake, a DLC, and a spinoff). Having played all of them now, I might be able to zero in on the best and worst aspects of each game with some degree of accuracy. Let's go.

Star Fox 64 (Nintendo 64, 1997)

This is quite the evolution of the shooter genre. Say what you will about Nintendo, but they're the masters of having first-party franchises that people really care about... even if that isn't as much the case in the modern era. For the N64, all they had to do was bring back beloved SNES franchises, add a 64 to the end of the title, and they had a guaranteed hit. This is one of the more shining examples of this practice; Star Fox 64 is a fine game. And it adds the Charged Homing Shot, which is a game-changer that makes it so much more fun to play.

Originally posted March 2013, now with more of the game added

Star Fox 2 (Super Famicom, 1995)

 

Everyone knows the story by now. This is the missing link between the original and Star Fox 64, and never made it out of Japan. Much like Earthbound Zero, the game was finished, but just didn't get published, so it was easy for Nintendo to dig it up and put it on their modern classic consoles. I'm playing it on Switch Online, and this is the first time I've ever played it in complete form. Even the complete form seems kind of incomplete though, lul.

Star Fox (Super NES, 1993)

 

Major Super NES classic here and the first game I think of when I think of their 1993 lineup. (The system would absolutely explode in 1994, the year I got it, with a litany of incredible games that defined the whole gaming generation).

Star Fox is mostly a showcase for the Super FX Chip, which let the SNES make use of three-dimensional polygon graphics for the first time ever. ...and this particular tech didn't really stick around, so it's a bit of an artifact now. While the 3D effect is quite rudimentary, and the system was in most regards better off sticking to 2D (which it largely did after this), there's still a place for this game in the SNES lexicon. Nothing else was like it at the time.

As for my own experience with it, this was one of the many SNES games I rented circa 1995 or so. Had a great time with it as a kid. However, I was only able to beat the first of the three level paths. That first path is the one the vast majority of players did, so only beating the game on easy mode (ostensibly) is nothing to be ashamed of. However, I've been wanting to revisit it and finish the other two paths ever since. Now I finally have an excuse to.

Playing this on Nintendo Switch Online. It's cool how things like this and Capcom Arcade Stadium are making emulation less necessary to revisit retro games, as well as letting me revisit them on a TV.

Stunt Race FX (Super NES, 1994)

 

A game I've never played before, and it's on Nintendo Switch Online. The Super FX Chip (of Star Fox fame) makes a comeback here, this time in racing game form. Will this game stand the test of time, or will it demonstrate why the Super FX Chip didn't really get any use in the last couple years of the SNES? Let's find out.

Vice: Project Doom (NES, 1991)

An NES game that a lot of people have sung the praises of over the years, most notably James "AVGN" Rolfe. It's a cinematic action game that is 80's as F, despite dropping in 1991. It's been on my list for a while, and I was way overdue to hit up something on the NES, so it's time. I'm just trying to figure out if that guy on the cover is based on Reb Brown or a younger version of John Kreese.

Highlander 5x10 - The Valkyrie

 

It's Kanye West's favorite (...or least-favorite?) episode, with Duncan rocking Hugo Boss Drip as he tries to stop Hitler in 1944 and end the war (which, at that point, the winner had already been decided and it was just dragging on). Of course, what ended up being called "Operation Valkyrie" would fail, and millions more people died needlessly while Germany got folded up like an accordion. Eventually the high command ran out of morphine pills and realized they had made a mistake.

Drugs: They'll make you feel like YOU can defeat the Soviet Union and British Empire at the same time!

Not real crazy about doing this episode. In this era of people calling everyone they don't like a "nazi" (and occasionally actually believing it) it just seems like a minefield to even talk about the subject. However, as a person in full-on "doesn't really give a shit anymore" mode at this point in life, I suppose I'll just go ahead and do the episode.

I was just going to do the previous three episodes for the moment, but I'm throwing a bonus episode onto this arc because there'll be a break before the Horsemen Arc drops on here. It'll be a little while before that, and the back half of Season 5, so I can savor all of it before Season 6 falls off a cliff like Debra Campbell.

Final Fantasy Legend 3, Finale - Salida Del Sol

 

The SaGa Trilogy roars to an end. The last stop in Pureland is the Mountaintop of the Giants ice land in the north, which consists of a few small dungeons and one big dungeon. The small ones are generally unnecessary and won't have anything you need at this point, outside of this eastern dungeon, which contains the last upgrades for the Talon. This will let me get to Mt. Goht, home of Xagor.

Final Fantasy Legend 3, Part 6 - Masamune Okazaki

 

Today, I go after the remaining Mystic Swords, the big super-weapons of FFL3. Also I'm going to get into the origins of these weapons, since SaGa of course is going to draw on mythology.

Final Fantasy Legend 3, Part 5 - Meltwater Pulse 1A

 

Under the iron stare of Mr. S, our motley crew heroes arrive in Pureland. So far, it doesn't seem so pure. The people here have been petrified by a compelling unknown force, and vicious mummified cats are roving the lawless landscape.

Final Fantasy Legend 3, Part 4 - The First Bodhisattva

 

Today on FFL3: The Future. There isn't much left here because the Water Entity has engulfed most of the already-tiny overworld.

Silver Surfer (NES, 1990)

Before there was the T-1000, Marvel was making gleaming silver metal dudes cool with Silver Surfer and his rad to the max space-surfboard. This game has been on my radar for a while, as it's said to be one of the worst games on the NES. So of course I had to play it. Let's see how bad it really is. Will it be "bad" in the Power Glove sense, or "bad" in the "BAD DUDES" sense?