Lord of the Rings (Super NES, 1994)

Originally Posted: September 2010

Back in ye olden days of 1995, I played a little SNES game called Lord of the Rings Vol 1. This is hands-down one of the worst games I've ever played. Still, I went against my own best interests out of blind love (wouldn't be the last time) for the source material and played the hell out of this game. I never finished it, though. I reached the final dungeon and quit because it's a complete maze.

...wait a minute. "First Action Adventure RPG with real-time combat"? Ever heard of Secret of Mana, jerks?

Regardless, I totally hit this game up just to finish what I started long ago, and I got some screenshots in the process. The game uses a password system, so I found a password to skip to the final dungeon - albeit with underpowered characters - and went for it. This game may be awful overall, but the final dungeon is quite respectable. It's like the developers put all their energy into the Mines of Moria.

It took me maybe an hour and a half to do the final dungeon and finish the game, using maps extensively. Without maps... my God, that may well be one of the nastiest dungeons in gaming history.

Secret of Mana Remake, Pt 4 - Shattered Dreams

Today on Mana: The Ancient City, Mana Holyland, and shattered trees. Weirdly enough, this version of the game skips the second flight theme entirely, going right from the first flight theme to the third one after the Mana Fortress rises.

Run Saber (Super NES, 1993)

This is a quick and awesome SNES action game from Atlus. One thing is for sure: It's much better than Walk Saber would have been.

Terminator: Resistance - Part 3 (Final)

 While this game may take place in 2029, the posts for it will end here, in the present, tonight.

Terminator: Resistance - Part 2

We're back live, as it turns out that HKs aren't too bright. Their design is iconic and all, but I wonder about its efficiency. Seems like it consists of a lot of metal and resources to lug around just to snipe people from above. How do they not run out of fuel after one day?

Terminator: Resistance (PS4, 2020)

We've waited a really, really long time for a good Terminator game with modern visuals. After that kind of wait, all this game needed to do was be decent and not broken. Well, turns out it's a pretty darn cool game that does a lot right. It does what any post-T2 movie should have done to begin with and gives us the story leading up to the end of the war (and the beginning of the first two movies).

Parodius (Super Famicom, 1992)

From the makers of Gradius, a game that will change the way we look at shooters! Also, this box art? WTF. Is that octopus on meth?

12 Bosses That Were Tougher Than The Final Boss

Time for another list. This features mostly RPGs, but not all. Only main story bosses count. No uberbosses (Ruby Weapon, FFVII), postgame bosses (Nemesis, FFX), or optional fights (Warmech, FF1). The only criteria for this list is that it's a main story boss that exceeds the final boss in difficulty, or at least causes more grief for the player than the last boss. Also, one boss per game.

Secret of Mana Remake, Part 3 - The Lighthouse

We pick up where we left off with JESUS FLAMMIE IS COMING RIGHT FOR US

Secret of Mana Remake, Part 2 - Zanzibar

Today on Secret of Mana: Upper Land, Matango, hot and cold climes, and beyond.

Rez (Playstation 2, 2001)

Rez is an amazing and little-known PS2 game. It's the predecessor to Child of Eden on the PS3/360. Unfortunately, the series ends there, though it did get a PS4 remaster later on. This is a very unique music-based psychedelic shooter, for lack of a better term. It doesn't really seem to fit into any established genres.

Unfortunately, it's also fairly impossible to play in the original PS2 form. It's somewhat rare as is, and even if you buy a copy, it's one of those purple-disc PS2 games that barely runs right on any of the systems. That was a really common thing in 2001, unfortunately.... but I wonder what RPG Maker 2's excuse was in 2004.

In any case, emulation of this game is surprisingly easy for a PS2 game, barely an inconvenience. This is likely because it came early in the life of the system and isn't graphically advanced as a result. Enough of this extended intro, onward with the game!

Highlander: The Series 3x15 - Star-Crossed

This is one of my favorite episodes in the entire show, as Fitzcairn returns for more shenanigans. Fitz is, of course, played by Roger Daltrey of The Who. Or as the kids of 2019 know them: "The who? Are they on Tik Tok?" 

A Brief Look At World of Final Fantasy

A brief look, a quick gander. This game is quite interesting as it turns out, combining characters/places from the entire Final Fantasy series and adding a dreamlike aesthetic to all of it.

Predator (NES, 1987)

Predator was one of my favorite movies from the 80's, and it's a safe bet that I would have gotten the game if I'd had an NES as a kid. Yeah, it's another T2 For Game Boy situation. So how terrible is it?

Secret of Mana Remake (Playstation 4, 2018)

Now that Secret of Mana is available in high-def on PS4, we can confirm what we've suspected all along: Primm has beautiful boobies.

Fire Emblem Heroes - Babe Appreciation Post

Now for something completely different: An appreciation of the babes of Fire Emblem Heroes. It's a free-to-play mobile game where you collect Fire Emblem characters. As is Fire Emblem tradition, it's full of glorious babes. Will this post fly in 2019? #CancelCoronaJumper

Secret of Mana Finale - Trinity and Crossroads

With the world about to be destroyed, our heroes beeline for the Mana Fortress...to stop and farm loot!

Yakuza Kiwami II: Boss Fights

Yakuza Kiwami 2 is a visually stunning game, so this should be fun.

Yakuza Kiwami: Boss Fights

More boss videos, more liner notes. This time it's Yakuza Kiwami, which unfortunately can't hold a candle to Yakuza Zero's boss lineup. It's still a decent game, and pays off the story that Yakuza Zero builds up.

Yakuza Zero: Boss Fights

Yakuza Zero is a great game, and the strongest point might well be the boss fights. There are some sweet boss fights to be had here, to say the least. This post contains every boss fight video, with some liner notes.