Clyde_the_Hobo
BACKER
2016
The first half is a treasure hunt in which our characters become familiar with one another. In the second half, the focus shifts to the development of their relationship as Amber's character flaws start driving a wedge between them. It's a well written story in which our protagonists thankfully aren't boiled down to just their sexuality.
2018
Only about a half hour long, 'Florence' follows the development of its lead's relationship in a simple albeit creative manner. It's not what I would call innovative but it's got a unique approach to storytelling that I think most will appreciate.
The variety of stages is nice and each one replaces Garfield's melee attack and projectile. It's no too long or challenging until the final boss that launches all sorts of shit in all sorts of directions.
2016
From 2019 to 2022, I played this game daily and absolutely loved it. As time went on however, Niantic slowly began making changes to the game I didn't care for but ultimately, I uninstalled the game because I'd gotten what I wanted out of it and was ready to move on. I still remember my time with it fondly.
2018
A fun match-3 puzzle game that featured all sorts of Sega characters. I played it during the last nine months or so of its life and genuinely really enjoyed it. As the game wound down, item drops were multiplied, resulting in 999 of whatever you could get from the stage. This let everyone fully upgrade every character before the axe came. That dialogue between Death Adder and Cream the Rabbit has one of the hardest comebacks I've ever heard.
2020
A nice little add-on to the original that is largely just paying dress-up with Es which is fine by me since she nails whatever wardrobe she wears.
2023
A short and simple concept that replaces the standard revolver with a real man's gun. Once you survive three rounds, you gain access to 'Double or Nothing' mode which let's you play 'til you die or bail. It's one of those games that truly nails the 'just one more try' mentality.
1991
I grew up playing this on the 'Genesis 6-pak' with my brother and I remember loving it and the music. While the music is still really good, my memories of the game have failed me. Half the enemies bum-rush you from offscreen resulting in cheap hits, later stages simply make you fight two copies of the same boss, and those damn ninja girls drained a handful of lives from me without me even laying a finger on them. This has the same problem as the original 'Mega Man' in that damage input/output is all wonky and has me losing 40% of my health from a single hit in the final stages. I still really like it but a lot of my rating is nostalgia bias at play.
1994
Better than the first game, worse than the second, and the weakest in terms of soundtrack, this was actually a lot of fun to play. I can't read a word of the story in 'Bare Knuckle III' but I'd rather play a version of the game that's balanced properly than play a butchered English port because Blockbuster wanted those re-rental payments.
1994
A butchered port of the original Japanese version that renames the game's Hard mode as Normal, makes enemies deal more damage, and ultimately makes the game a chore to play. Luckily, I was playing this one the 'Sega Genesis Classics' collection and as such, had access to the original Japanese release. Sure, I could throw myself against the wall until it crumbled... or I could just play the version that's actually balanced properly?
A classic of the 2.5D platformer genre that lived and (mostly) died on the original Playstation. There's both a save option and a password system, a bunch of secrets to find, and plenty of different stages to play. The controls can get wonky if the perspective quickly changes and a lot of the weapons are situational or generally useless but it's a personally important game to me so I'm willing to overlook a few flaws here and there.
1996
Levels are a lot more linear in design, the bugs you fight aren't as cool as the orbots from the first game, and the music takes a more atmospheric approach. That said, that weapons are more creative, the new transformations are limited but cool, and Vectorman is a lot more talkative this time around. Ultimately, it's just more Vectorman and that's A-Okay by me.
1995
Some of the level design is mazelike in design and other stages are done and over with within twenty to thirty seconds. Regardless, this marriage of run 'n' gun and action platformer gameplay feels incredibly tight and looks stellar. The sound effects and music are some of the best I've heard on the Genesis and every ten seconds or so, you'll destroy something results in an explosion of flashing lights certain to test whether or not you have epilepsy.
Technically impressive on both a graphical and musical note, 'Batman & Robin' is one of the best games on the system based on sheer ambition alone. The problem is that the game is absolutely ruthless. You'll need to spend the first section of the game leveling up one specific weapon just to ensure that your weapon is strong enough to keep you alive. Dying costs you two levels of upgrades and because of this, repeated deaths or using a continue in specific points can leave you in a near-unwinnable state. It'll take a lot of trial and error and how you do in the first few sections of the game will preview just how well you do in later stages but with practice, you might just make it.
1989
An 'Arkanoid' clone for the original Game Boy that had my eyes rolling into the back of my head within minutes.