S.C.A.T.: Special Cybernetic Attack Team (NES, 1991)

     

A jetpack-based shoot 'em up with an absolutely terrible name, this one has been on my radar for about 30 years. Seriously though, this has to be the worst-named game in the entire NES library. It's a pretty solid Natsume game, though, and deserves a bit of recognition.

Bad Dudes (NES, 1989)

Caution: Reading about the patriotic super-duo of BAD DUDES may cause spontaneous and uncontrollable arousal in women.

Originally posted in 2013, now it's back

The Art of Mana

This book launched in 2020 for around $40 USD (less on Amazon). Is it worth it? Let's jump into it.

Marvel Super Heroes (Arcade, 1995)

 

The second game in the MVC series steps things up. The first had the X-Men, while this has lots of Marvel characters in general. There's no Capcom yet, that would start with the third one. Of the ones I've played (at press time, half of the eight games in question), this is actually my favorite. More on why that is la...

...the hell is that purple thing?

X-Men: Children of the Atom (Arcade, 1994)

 

Another arcade game from the Marvel Vs Capcom Fighting Collection, this one's a fighter rather than a beat 'em up. I know very little about the X-Men except that they're mutants with super powers who other folks are afraid of, so they were all bound for tough lives until Professor Xavier took them under his wing and gave them purpose. Essentially turning their disabilities into super powers (as being different from everyone else IS a social disability, regardless of the context, and it's been well-documented by now that someone with say autism can potentially excel at life if steered in the right direction and able to find opportunities in the field that interests them... thus, being different can sometimes be turned into an advantage, and thus, the X-Men have a positive message behind them).

Pretty much all the other kids liked X-Men when I was a kid, so I heard about it all the time circa 1994. The advertisements for this game touted that it has five times the megabits of Street Fighter II, for smoother animation, so I've got high expectations. Also Psylocke is really, really hot. Let's go.

The Punisher (Arcade, 1993)

 

Another really good Capcom arcade beat 'em up, this one never got released in the U.S. back in the 90's. Eventually it got added to the Marvel Vs Capcom Fighting Collection as a bonus. It's the only non-fighting game on there. Not sure what to expect with this, but it has two-player co-op so that's what we're running.

This game is so violent, it's basically what my elementary school teachers thought ALL video games were back in 1993.

Magic Sword (Super NES, 1992)

(Originally posted July 2020; reposted to go with the Arcade version I just did)

Magic Sword is an arcade beat-em-up from early 90's Capcom. They went on to make other (better) medieval-themed beat-em-ups like Knights of the Round and King of Dragons, but this one was a good start. I played it in the arcade a couple times as a kid and it was fun, but I didn't get very far. The Super NES port is easier, so we'll see how I do.

The North American box art features a Big American Beefy Boi protecting a hot woman with his big American sword. That demon looks horrendous.

Magic Sword (Arcade, 1990)

 

The predecessor to some of the great Capcom beat 'em ups like King of Dragons. I played the SNES version of this a while back, but here we've got the superior arcade version courtesy of Capcom Arcade Stadium. It's 50 floors of mayhem as you climb the Tower of Babel with an assortment of allies.

Ranking all 80 NES Games I've Finished

Just a list, like the Sega and Game Boy lists I already did. Keeping the entries short and simple for this one.

Highlander 5x14 - Duende

 

It's 7 PM (Hawaii time) on Monday night, you know what that means. Aired February 24th, 1997. This is one I wanted to get to for a while. It's just as much a "labor of love" as Episode 100 was two episodes ago, where you can tell everyone involved put in that extra "this is a special episode" oomph. This one is all about The Dance, something Adrian Paul trained in for real when he studied flamenco. It's pretty clear that this episode was special to him in particular.

I've seen some folks not like this episode and I gotta wonder what they're smoking. Give it another watch and try to appreciate it for what it's doing.

Also, the villain of this episode, Spanish nobleman Otavio Consone, is one of two or three S-Tier fighters that Duncan faces in the entire series. There's Brian Cullen (bogged down by addiction), this guy, and maybe Kronos. I'd probably lean more towards Kronos being in A-Tier (though at the top of it!) with the likes of Kurgan, Grayson, Kalas, Haresh Clay, maybe Xavier. Massive threats, for sure. Consone and Cullen are on another level though, right there with the Macleod boys.

The 1000 Games I've Beaten (#622 - 630)

 

#622 Demon's Souls (Playstation 3) – Spring 2016

After playing the heck out of Bloodborne, Dark Souls II, and Dark Souls in 2015, it was time to backpedal and see where it all began. This predecessor is basically a mood in game form. An overcast, mossy, foggy, rainy mood. The remake of this game is incredible in its own right but I don't think it replaces the original; they're still very different and the original just captures a very unique vibe. Spring 2016 to me means rain storms, FF Tactics, and Demon's Souls.

Pokemon Legends: Z-A, Part 7 (Finale) - Alsace-Lorraine

 

Cataluna came, she saw.

I'm just glad this thing is mercifully over.

Pokemon Legends: Z-A, Part 6 - Champagne-Ardenne

 

Joan Jett is the President of France! My God! "Don't Lose Your Head" plays as she stands around.

How weird is it that Ash Ketchum's name was Ash Ketchum, and he grew up to be a Pokémon catcher? It's the most wildly appropriate coincidental name since San Antonio Spurs superstar Tim Duncan. One of my top 3 favorite players ever, along with Magic Johnson and, of course, Michael Jordan. Wonder what all those guys are up to these days. Anyway, time for more (groan) Pokémon.

Highlander 5x13 - The Ransom of Richard Redstone

 

It's 7 PM on Monday night, and you know what that means. Aired February 17th, 1997, this is the weak point of my "best seven-episode run in the series". It's the only one that's a bit of an odd man out, as a comedy episode, and a lot of folks don't like it. Well I do. I like it a lot! It's great to get a Richie-focused episode for a change. It feels like he hasn't had enough episodes since he returned in "End of Innocence" with that rad new sword.

Sekiro Boss Fight Videos

 

Just a boss fight compilation, with liner notes. This might be the finest sword-fighting game I've ever played and it isn't even close, as well as one of the best games I've played. It certainly deserved Game of the Year 2019. Also, spoiler: This clocks in at my 1000th finished game.

Ranking All Six April Fool's Posts

 

I didn't have any new ideas this year, so I'm just going to do a ranking list for the other ones. People love rankings and top lists.

Highlander 5x12 - Revelation 6:8

 

And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat upon him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the Earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with the beasts of the Earth.

-The Book of Revelation, Chapter 6, Verse 8

And I heard as if it were the noise of thunder

One of the four beasts saying, "Come and See"

-Johnny Cash, "When The Man Comes Around"

Pokemon Legends: Z-A, Part 5 - Grand Est Strasbourg

 

Cataluna gets PEARL HARBORED by a vicious Beedrill. At least one of these Rogue Mega boss fights is finally using an actual appealing Pokémon.

I'll say it again, the main character's outfit is completely carrying the game. This game is...not great. And it's a shame because they could have really done so much with the France setting and re-creating some of the rain-drenched, mossy locales therein. Instead we got this one town where basically everything looks the same, everywhere you go.

Pokemon Legends: Z-A, Part 4 - Canari's Coal Mine

 

Today on Pokemon: Cataluna lures Lida up onto a rooftop. How much do any of these people actually know about Cataluna? She never speaks, and everyone knows redheads are coo-coo. I wouldn't follow her onto a rooftop.

Highlander 5x11 - Comes a Horseman

This is the beginning of what I consider the best seven-episode run in the entire show. While they've had a couple of really solid episode groups before (S1's "Band of Brothers" and a few episodes after it, S3's "Song of the Executioner" and a few episodes after it), this is the longest and most consistent run of quality they ever had. Everything from "Comes a Horseman" to "The Modern Prometheus" are A+ episodes, and knocking out those seven episodes is a big goal of mine for the near future. Then after that I've just got the final 14 episodes and one movie and then I can pretty much put the site in an antique store (have a couple other series' to finish first, too).

"Forgive Us Our Trespasses", if placed last in those seven, could even be a good place to end the series outright and have it be an introspective ending. "Duende" would also be a great finale, if you want to go out with a big battle (but it's a pretty average episode, carried entirely by the final battle). Considering that S5 is so abbreviated and ends four episodes sooner than previous seasons, they sure upped the quality level to compensate. In my view, anyway. I'm sure more than a few people would disagree with my assessment of "The Ransom of Richard Redstone" being included in this "incredible seven-episode run" but just work with me here. A Richie comedy episode is some needed levity at this point.

Aired on February 3rd 1997, this coincided with the beginning of the Sting vs NWO storyline in rasslin', and AOL chat rooms were going nuts around that time talking about both. Would Methos turn on the Four Horsemen? Who would join Ric Flair's Four Horsemen to fight the NWO?

Kronos is the biggest bad guy in this entire show; while Kalas has a longer duration of being a threat (a five-episode arc rather than two - though Kronos does pop up again several times later... sort of), Kronos is the bigger threat by a lot, and feels more like he belongs in a Highlander movie. Both of them have the distinction of having prior wins over Duncan, as well.

This season's theme of running from your past and the unavoidable consequences of not facing it...really comes to a head here.

Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams (Arcade, 1995)

 

I have a theory that this game was intended to be a replacement for Street Fighter 1. Every generation of this series has gotten a distinct "era" with multiple revisions...except the first one, which is a bit of a lost game and lost era. The project head for Street Fighter 1 left the company soon after to work on SNK's Fatal Fury, and the new showrunners made Street Fighter 2. I think that said showrunners wanted to make their own "origin gen" to replace SF1, and thus Street Fighter Alpha (or Street Fighter Zero in Japan) was born.

As a result, this game is pretty interesting to me, as a re-creation of the genesis of the series. Much like SF1, Ryu's story mode in this game is his journey to defeat Sagat (and along the way, his understudy Adon). We also get SF1 characters like Birdie. It's basically them going back and making a "Street Fighter Generation 1" that actually meets its potential.

Street Fighter II (Game Boy, 1995)

 

I'm reading that this version only contains six of the original eight fighters. Much like the portable versions of Mortal Kombat, someone had to get the axe. Who would they pick? Normally I'd guess Blanka and Dhalsim; The latter would probably be harder to program than the other characters due to his long reach, while the former never struck me as a particularly popular character. I've never heard anyone talk about how much they love Blanka, or seen anyone playing as Blanka. ...he's on the box, though, so it was probably E-Honda and Dhalsim that got dropped due to their unconventional proportions. Well, let's find out.

Pokemon Legends: Z-A, Part 3 - Club Vandermon

 

Today on Pokémon Legends Z-A, Cataluna gets dragged into more of this Poké-battling nonsense, as I begin to wonder if anyone actually goes to college in this universe. Is she never going to start the European Sex Tour with her new best friend Lida? It was supposed to be their journey of self-discovery, ending in Barcelona.

Dragon Quest VII? There is no Dragon Quest VII.

Pokemon Legends: Z-A, Part 2 - The Quest For Shoes

 

Previously on Pokémon Legends: Z-A...our protagonist Cataluna had to cancel her planned European Sex Tour to instead be a looker for the Looker Bureau. Apparently you gotta look pretty good to be a looker and solve detective cases. All of that said, the main mystery for me to solve in this game is finding some damn decent shoes.

Dragon Quest VII is on my desk, we're reviewing it right now, it's pretty shocking stuff.

Romancing SaGa 2 Remake (Multiple, 2024), Part 1 - The Lion and the Sun

 

This is a really, really good remake. Wow. I think it flew under the radar to an extent. I really enjoyed playing the original version of this game and it's obscure enough that I'm surprised to see it remade. This is a bit of a hidden gem in the Squaresoft library, and the original RS2 is probably the best out of all the SaGa games outside of maybe SaGa Frontier. This series is very spotty, very hit-or-miss. Looking forward to seeing if this remake surges out ahead of Frontier to become the new SaGa best-in-series.

Rather than being HD-2D, they gave this one a full 3D makeover. It's different from most 3D remakes though, with a very distinct visual style that prioritizes light effects and really nice environments over framerate. On Switch you're stuck at 30 FPS or so, but damn, the visuals in this game sure do have a lot of personality regardless. I tried the PS5 version and that's at 60 FPS, presumably Switch 2 is also pulling that off. The visuals are so distinctive and classy that I didn't even particularly mind when it was 30. Anyway, I'm not going to cover this game for real until/unless I wrap up the SaGa series, but I'm down to check out the demo now and I might as well post it rather than leaving it for later.

The 1000 Games I've Beaten (#596 - 621)

 

#596 Assassin's Creed: Syndicate (Playstation 4) – Fall 2015

This impossibly-hot character isn't from the game and has nothing to do with the game. It's just a reminder of how cool it'd be to have ever gotten a female version of Ezio, a female assassin main character who is just absolutely gorgeous and formidable. Not very subtle, but still, the outfit can be explained by her working in a cabaret or as a dancer/woman of the night in order to get closer to a target she's hellbent on felling, before being handpicked to join the Assassin Order.

I mention all of this because Assassin's Creed: Syndicate... is the first main-series, console AC game to actually give us a female protagonist! We waited a long time to get a female protagonist in this series, watching absolute lay-up Elise de la Serre get passed over as playable in AC Unity.

Pokemon Legends: Z-A (Switch 2, 2025), Part 1 - Eurotrip and the Looker Bureau

 

I interrupt this DQ-palooza to briefly check out the latest Pokémon game. I wasn't crazy about Arceus, while lots of others were. Last I checked, this game isn't exactly getting rave reviews, so maybe I'll conversely really like it. They took the bold step of making this a real-time hybrid action game (with dodge rolls, for some reason, cause everybody wants to be a Soulslike now).

This game takes place entirely in the hub city from Generation 6's Kalos. It's an interesting idea that I'm not sure really pans out. At least they're trying new things with the Legends games; Arceus introduced some open world concepts that were then heavily-refined by the Generation 9 games (IMO Gen 9 is waaaay better than Arceus specifically because it takes what worked and makes it much more appealing... sorry the framerate is bad and whatnot, but Gen 9 otherwise worked).

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, Part 9 (Epilogue Final) - Father and Son

 

DQIII's postgame was too much for one post, so here's the back half. Will Erdrick get closure with the loss of his dad? What will the final postgame superboss be? Will I get the platinum trophy? Will I ever move on to Dragon Quest VII? Tune in to find out.

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, Part 8 (Epilogue) - Rainbow Push

 

The Dragon Quest III HD-2D posts were over a year ago, but I'm going to go ahead and add to the stack. That's right, I've been revisiting DQIII to do the platinum trophy and (hopefully) dominate the endgame that gave me quite a bit of grief the first time.

Have a score to settle with King Hydra, and a wrong to put right for Ortega.

Dragon Quest II HD-2D, Part 13 (Finale) - You Are Beautiful On The Inside

 

Today on the final post of Dragon Quest II (ever), I must Rock The Dragon.

Dragon Quest II HD-2D, Part 12 - Surrounded By Demons, I Fight

Next stop, I go and get all the Ultimate Key chests. The undersea world doesn't have much in it, but it does have these store-rooms with Ultimate Key chests and optional semi-bosses.

The Best And Worst Thing In Each Yakuza Game

 

This will include the Yakuza games that I've played (which is all of them, but not the original versions of some of them from 20 years ago, just the most current and modern versions of each).

Dragon Quest II HD-2D, Part 11 - Deep Lies The Snow

 

Rhone gets built up a lot in this game. As well it should be. It takes a lot more to give the audience the same kind of feelings that snow tiling did on the NES almost 40 (Jesus) years ago.

"I am cold like December snow!"

Dragon Quest II HD-2D, Part 10 - Panem et Circenses

At this point I have no problem saying that this is one of the best games in the whole Dragon Quest series. While the original DQII is still down a few tiers, this remake could be up there with the DQVs and DQXIs of the world in the upper tier.

Four sigils down! One sigil left! Because it's time...for our main event. Brrrrr.

Mortal Kombat Master Post

 

Here are all the MK links in one place and a tier list now that I (completely) finished the series. What a completely bonkers series.

MK Mythologies: Sub-Zero (N64 and PS1, 1997)

They should have called this MK ULTRA because it's torture.

Originally posted a few years ago, now completely re-written

The 1000 Games I've Beaten (#592 - 595)

 

#592 Dark Souls (Playstation 3) – Fall 2015

Now this was the perfect Halloween game, and I basically spent the month of October playing it. Out of the Fromsoft Big Seven (Dark Souls 1-3, Demon Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro, Elden Ring) this is the one I enjoy revisiting the least; it's dark, grungey, muddy, and just generally the least-sexy of the lot.

That said, it's still one of the best of those games from a world design standpoint. Everything clicks here. After playing the hell out of Bloodborne and Scholar of the First Sin a few months previous, I was willing to go back to PS3 yet again to play what came before.

Wasn't sure what to expect with this one, or how playable it would be with the lower-res, lower-FPS visuals. Well, once I got used to the system downgrade, it was fine, and it very effectively captures the retro vibe of challenging games on the NES, SNES, PS1. It doesn't hold your hand, and it's all about finding your way through an interesting series of interconnected levels. In short, it feels like a GAME, and it steps back and lets you PLAY. Which both seem obvious, but they weren't a given anymore by the 2010's.

The 1000 Games I've Beaten (#581 - 591)

 

#581 Fallout: New Vegas (Playstation 3) – Summer 2015

This game has five expansions and they're all great. Each one tells a different story and the game almost takes on a Twilight Zone type episodic feel because of it. I started this one way back in mid-2012 after Fallout 3 and played a lot of it then, but it didn't grab me the same way FO3 did at the time. FO3 has that incredible setting with post-apocalypse Washington DC, while this is less post-apocalyptic and more just a desert. It's got a completely different mood.

This one feels more like a Western, more like Twilight Zone, more like something out of the 1950's. FO3 feels more futuristic, with lasers and whatnot being emphasized while this game errs more towards the classical weapons.

Code Vein Boss Fights

 

This is a great game. It's basically Souls with less polish, much worse world and level design, and way more attractive characters. The sum total of all of that is that it's a blast. One thing's for sure, ally characters being able to revive you (on a 30 second or so cooldown) really saved me in this game. Recorded all the boss fights, here they are.

The 1000 Games I've Beaten (#573 - 580)

#573 Final Fantasy XIII-2 (Playstation 3) - Summer 2015

In some ways, more like a Chrono Trigger sequel than Chrono Cross is. A game where you travel through time to various eras of the planet's history to solve problems and put right things that once went wrong. While Lightning is featured heavily in the game's artwork, cases, etc, she takes a backseat to Serah in this one. Serah was more or less the "8th main character" that was never actually playable in FF13, so it makes sense that they'd bring her out for the sequel and make her the focal point.

This game is very, very solid. I liked FF13 more than most people already, but I admit it has numerous flaws. This game managed to fix most of them, and was a rare instance of a developer actually listening to player criticisms. Not many people played it, but the ones who did generally sung its praises.

Mortal Kombat: Special Forces (PS1, 2000)

 

My God. Look at how they massacred my boy.

This spinoff centers around Jax versus Kano and his Black Dragon Syndicate. It's safe to say that right now (or the last few months, anyway) is the most that anybody has played or thought about this game ever (yeah, even when it first came out). It got a lot of press due to being included in Mortal Kombat Legacy Kollection. I previously did a post on this and MK Mythologies: Sub-Zero, but it only covered the first few minutes of each game before I tapped out. So I dug that post up specifically to actually cover the whole game now that it's available and playable on a TV. I'll also be re-doing MK Mythologies: Sub-Zero and covering that.

God Help Me.

Originally posted a few years ago, now expanded

Dragon Quest II HD-2D, Part 9 - Debts From The Atlantean Age

Today on Episodio Nueve: Ocean, ocean, and more ocean, as I finish off Sigilquest...by convincing mermaids to kiss our heroes. Oh Yeah. Which lips, though? Where exactly do we need to kiss these mermaids?

Dragon Quest II HD-2D, Part 8 - Conquistar el Mundo

 

This is like reading self-censored online posts that are trying not to run afoul of some view-stifling algorithm. So instead of "shot" they say "sh*t" and it makes it look ten times worse.

Today on DQ2: I reclaim the Sigils and all of their buffs, as this super-good game rolls on. Now that I've finished the game in real-time, I'm booking it towards the end on posts.

Dragon Quest II HD-2D, Part 7 - Guajira Guantanamera

 

Today on DQII - Lots of sea travel, as I talk to the Maharaja of Medals, mermaids, mermen, and get things generally sorted out. Oh yeah, and start the game over on an entirely new system.

Dragon Quest II HD-2D, Part 6 - The Cannock Dynasty

 

Just going to take a minute to say, this DQII remake is really, really, really good. It was a game with potential that was in dire need of fixing and improvements, and...they did everything it needed, and then some. It's so good that it retroactively elevates the original, and I no longer think of that as a series-worst game (I'd play the original version of DQII over the original versions of DQ6 or 7 any day of the week...largely because it can actually be played in a day, rather than requiring the better part of a month like the others).

I wasn't super crazy about DQ1 HD-2D and some of the changes it had, a lot of which didn't work. That midgame difficulty-spike (which was more of a wall) with the five-on-one, and various other issues, kept it from being my favorite version of DQ1. However, it's still an important game and worth playing as a lead-in to this much better game. Kind of like what FF7 Remake is to FF7 Rebirth. Not great in a lot of ways, and a bit tedious to get through at times, but an important playthrough regardless to lead into a much bigger and better quest.

As for DQ3 HD-2D...it is what it is, was perfectly decent although, again, I didn't like some of the changes. It's interesting, the worst aspects of the 1 and 3 remakes tend to be new things created for them, while the best aspects of 2 tend to be new things created for it. Especially dialogue scenes and the like.

Just some thoughts on this about halfway through. It's a pretty damn good game and I respect what they accomplished here.

Dragon Quest II HD-2D, Part 5 - The Voyage Home

 

Today on DQII: I've obtained the ship, and now it's time to make the voyage back to Alefgard and find the Sigils. Excited to see how Alefgard is realized in this remake.

We are leaving space dock, and it's a good thing we got permission to take this boat because otherwise we'd have to sabotage Excelsior to get away.

Dragon Quest II HD-2D, Part 4 - The Nippleheim Incident

 

Our heroes get visited by God while sleeping at the inn, and gives them one mission: Find the boat. But what does God need with a boat? Nothing, actually, it's specifically for me. That's today's journey: Finding the boat. Not finding the little man in the boat, finding the boat itself. I've delayed this long enough, time for The Nippleheim Incident.

Mortal Kombat 1 - Khaos Reigns DLC

 

This is the DLC expansion for MK1, kinda like what MK11: Aftermath was. They're canon and basically sequels, running about a third of the runtime of their respective games. This one serves the purpose of getting lame-ass Havik out of the way so that the next main series game can move on to an actual interesting bad guy.

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.