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My Video Game Tastes Will Disappoint You In Every Way Possible

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Clearin your Calendar

Journaled games at least 15 days a month over a year

Elite Gamer

Played 500+ games

1 Years of Service

Being part of the Backloggd community for 1 year

GOTY '23

Participated in the 2023 Game of the Year Event

Early Access

Submitted feedback for a beta feature

Gamer

Played 250+ games

Famous

Gained 100+ followers

Treasured

Gained 750+ total review likes

Gone Gold

Received 5+ likes on a review while featured on the front page

N00b

Played 100+ games

Pinged

Mentioned by another user

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Gained 300+ total review likes

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Gained 50+ followers

Full-Time

Journaled games once a day for a month straight

Well Written

Gained 10+ likes on a single review

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Gained 15+ followers

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Found the secret ogre page

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Liked 50+ reviews / lists

Loved

Gained 100+ total review likes

Best Friends

Become mutual friends with at least 3 others

On Schedule

Journaled games once a day for a week straight

Noticed

Gained 3+ followers

Liked

Gained 10+ total review likes

Busy Day

Journaled 5+ games in a single day

Favorite Games

Super Mario Galaxy
Super Mario Galaxy
Doom Eternal
Doom Eternal
Mega Man X
Mega Man X
The Binding of Isaac: Repentance
The Binding of Isaac: Repentance
WarioWare Gold
WarioWare Gold

560

Total Games Played

096

Played in 2024

000

Games Backloggd


Recently Played See More

World Heroes 2 Jet
World Heroes 2 Jet

Mar 28

Raiden II
Raiden II

Mar 27

Mega Man: The Wily Wars
Mega Man: The Wily Wars

Mar 26

Mega Man 3
Mega Man 3

Mar 25

Mega Man 2
Mega Man 2

Mar 24

Recently Reviewed See More

Isn’t it always satisfying to see a redemption arc be fully completed? You know, you have this character, series, or whatever that starts out at the lowest point imaginable, where only small percentage of people could say they are a fan of it, but then gradually over time, it starts getting better and better through whatever means, until it then reaches the point where it isn’t necessarily beloved per se, but it is liked by a lot more people then before, outnumbering the others that still don’t like it. One redemption arc I never expected to see would be with the World Heroes series, starting off with a pretty piss-poor attempt at capitalizing on the success of Street Fighter II, which was greeted by groans that could be heard across the world, and then there was World Heroes 2, a sequel that definitely did improve on some elements that were featured in the original game, but it wasn’t enough to make it really great or even pretty good, like with other fighters at the time. Thankfully, I think we have reached the point where the series finally found its stride, thanks to World Heroes 2 Jet.

Despite what the title may tell you, this is NOT an updated version of World Heroes 2, but rather instead, it is the third mainline game in the series. I don’t know why the fuck they decided to name it that with that in mind, or why they decided to include the word “Jet” at the end of the title, but I’m sure it did cause a lot of confusion for plenty of people back in the day. I wasn’t really focused on that for too long though when going into this game, because I was more worried about if I was gonna like it to begin with. This was World Heroes that we’re talking about, and I knew that the second game was better than the original, but it could always drop off in quality again at the drop of a hat. Thankfully though, that was not the case, as this is without a doubt the best game in the series so far, and it is pretty damn good all on its own. Maybe I am foolishly blinded due to the last fighting game I played before this being Double Dragon V, but this game manages to be quite an improvement on the formula established in the previous games, while also improving on several elements that I am very thankful for.

The story is about as lazy and generic as this entire series is, where sometime after the previous game's villains were defeated and their tournament was stopped, ANOTHER tournament is started up by a new team of villains as a ploy to take over the world, so it is up to the previous game's fighters, along with several newcomers, to figure out what's going on and save the world again, which is a story that I expected from a series like this, but at the same time, they could've put a little more effort into it. The graphics do look better than the previous game, having a lot of new flashy animations and detailed stages, but it mostly looks the same as every other fighting game from SNK at the time, so you know what you’re gonna get from it, the music is an improvement from what we got before, with there being some pretty sweet tracks here, but most of it is pretty forgettable overall, and the control/gameplay is what you have come to expect from these games, but this game definitely feels better to play then any other game in the series at this point.

The game is a one-on-one fighting game, where you take control of one of 17 different fighters from all across time, with most of them returning from the previous games, face off against many different opponents in plenty of different stages from across the world, throw out many different punches, kicks, and special attacks to deal damage to your opponent and to throw them off their game, make sure to dodge or block any oncoming attacks yourself so that you can get that sweet perfect bonus, and take on one or two different bosses that will certainly put up a challenge and test your might. It is a 90s fighting game, so you know exactly what you are gonna get with this, but to its credit, not only does it feel better to play then other entries in the series, but there are some slight changes that do make it feel different from the other games.

Like with the last games, there are two primary modes that you can take on, but they are much more simple this time around, with Entry to the Tournament being your standard arcade story mode for one of these games, and The Forging of Warriors is your standard versus mode. Both of them work as you would expect, but what is changed is the match setups that are contained in these modes. Unlike previous games, where all of the fights work in the same 2 out of 3 wins fashion, there are a good handful of fights here where you will take on three opponents at once, one for each round, which makes these fights much more interesting, fast, and exciting. Not only that, but depending on how well you do with each opponent, it will change the ending that you get, which is pretty good for adding some replay value to the entire experience.

Speaking of, the fights themselves do feel like an improvement over the previous games, feeling much smoother, faster, and more manageable than in previous games, with there being plenty of great special attacks that you can pull off that provide some great visuals, considering what came beforehand. In addition, they actually managed to find a balance in the difficulty, which is great to see. We had a problem with the original game where it was too easy, and then with the second game, it did feel pretty hard to get through a lot of the fights, but thankfully this time, a lot of the fights feel doable compared to other SNK games, while not being too easy to the point of being pathetic. Beginners to the series, or just in fighting games in general, may have a bit of a hard time, but you should get used to it pretty quickly and take down your opponents all the same.

If none of that is interest to you though, then there is nothing else here that will catch your attention. What we get here is, say it with me now, another typical SNK fighter of the time, with it having plenty to keep fanatics of the genre entertained, but nothing too new or interesting for me to truly recommend it over the many, MANY other options that were out at the time. Not to mention, while I did say that this is the best game in the series, it isn’t too much of a substantial jump in quality from World Heroes 2, so if you weren’t a fan of either of the two previous games, then you are still not going to have a good time with this one. I managed to have a pretty good time with it, but I can’t say for certain you would as well.

Overall, despite a lack of any major changes and being as uncreative as a typical SNK fighter would be, WH2J managed to take this series and change it from a slightly passable good fighting game to a pretty good fight game, one that has fast and fun enough gameplay, some neat ideas that do make fights more enjoyable for the time they use them, and is sure to satisfy the die-hard fans of this franchise plenty… you know, all two of them. I would recommend it for those who were big fans of the previous two games, as well as those who are big fighting game fans in general, because while this isn’t quite as good as other fighters of that era on the market, there are certainly worse options out there that you can choose over this.

But anyway, before we end this off, can we talk about the dumbass dialogue that is in this game for cutscenes? Yeah, I know SNK games at the time always had horrible translations, but this one is just… chef’s kiss, it is exquisite. There are several moments in particular from the end game that stick out to me, where there are multiple lines talking about wieners, which I am pretty sure is supposed to be winner, and one of the winning quotes from the main villain basically said that I am not good enough to… pop his zits? I don’t know what kind of zits he is talking about, but I don’t want anything to do with him or his zit fetish. Seriously, if you haven’t seen the cutscenes in this game and what they say, go look up a video of it, because it is some GLORIOUS shit, it’s so bad.

Game #538

It may be pretty obscure and generic when compared to many of the different shmups to have come out from the late 80’s to early 90’s, but all in all, the original Raiden was still a good enough time. It had fun and challenging gameplay, great weapons and weapon mechanics to mess around with, and it did feel immensely satisfying to get through some of these extremely challenging sections that were present in the game, despite arcade syndrome and its checkpoint system being a pain in the ass to deal with. Not only that, but it managed to do pretty well for itself as well, becoming one of the best-sellers for the arcade during its initial years, even if things were a tad slow at first, which meant that sequels were naturally going to follow. I mean, why not, it’s not like Seibu Kaihatsu had any other extremely popular games before this one… unless you are a huge fan of Dynamite Duke. But anyway, three years after the original game would come out, we would end up getting the sequel, Raiden II.

I wasn’t expecting too much out of this game, since it didn’t look like anything too impressive considering the screenshots I had seen from it, but I was hoping to get something noteworthy considering how long it took me to set it up. I had initially tried to get the game running on the totally legal Mame emulator, but I for the life of me couldn’t find the proper files for the rom online, whether it be due to roms not having it, or other websites preventing me from looking elsewhere because of my adblocker. So, eventually, I just decided to go with the version found on The Raiden Project, a collection for the PlayStation that features both Raiden 1 and 2 on it, with the port pretty much being one-to-one with the original arcade version. That was great to find, so I finally got the chance to jump into it, and what I got was… certainly more Raiden, alright. I would say it is better than the original Raiden, but that is only be a small margin, as in many ways, they are very similar in quality, but I did end up having a good enough time with the game anyway, so that is all that matters.

The story fills all the requirements of an arcade shmup sequel, where three years after their defeat, the Crystals return to take over Earth once again, thanks to the remnants of their machines forming a brand new army to take the planet over, so it is up to the Fighting Thunder to set out once again to take them down, which is about as generic as a sequel plot can get, but then again, I wasn’t expecting much from the story regardless. The graphics are practically identical to that of the original game, with only slight improvements seen here or there in terms of the icons and animations, but it still overall looks pretty good, the music is good, having plenty of decent tracks to listen to while blowing shit up, but nothing that managed to stick with me when I was done, and the control/gameplay is also practically identical to that of the original game, so any fan of the original can feel right at home with this game.

The game is a vertical scrolling shmup, where you take control of a Fighting Viper, go through eight different stages across several generic environments on Earth and in space, shoot down any enemy that comes your way using whatever weapons that you have at your disposal, gather plenty of different power ups and bombs to get yourself better equipped for the task, while also upgrading said power ups to their maximum potential, and take on plenty of big, threatening bosses that will give you a pretty rough time if you are not a god at dodging and firing back. A lot of this is what you would expect not just from Raiden, but from any other shmup of this era, although to its credit, it still manages to be fun enough for what we get here, and there are one or two new additions that do make things a little more interesting.

In terms of the main gameplay mechanics, nothing is changed: you are still flying along, shooting people down, and trying not to die, but what you shoot down people with has been improved upon in this installment. Most of the weapons and missiles that you get, along with the power ups that can upgrade them, are the exact same, with the exception of a brand new weapon known as the Bend Plasma. At first, when you get it, it doesn’t seem like much, just another regular shot weapon for your ship, but then when you fully upgrade it, it basically takes the form of a Proton Pack, with it being a laser that automatically homes in on whatever enemy is near, which makes it an instant favorite of mine. I love me some all-powerful lasers, and having one that can also home in on people is oh so sweet to get your hands on.

Right alongside this is a new type of bomb known as the Cluster Bomb, which is basically just one bomb containing a bunch of smaller bombs, which are deployed upon use and will consecutively blow up whatever is around you. I don’t think I prefer this one over the regular bomb, as it just does a lot more damage, but this one does cover a much wider range, so it could be useful for taking out any smaller enemies that are surrounding you at all sides, which is nice. And finally, for one last tiny change that was made to the game: the checkpoint system is gone, with it working much more like a regular arcade game whenever you die, and thank god for that too. Makes things a lot less stressful.

With that being said though, it doesn’t eliminate all stress completely. Just like with the original game, arcade syndrome is in full force, as you will be dealing with plenty of things at once shooting at you from all directions, and you need to be a shmup master in order to get through a lot of it. I don’t think I would say this is as hard as something like Truxton II, but it can still get pretty damn difficult. Aside from that though, there isn’t really much else I can say about this game. It is essentially just a slightly better Raiden, which is great to see, especially since it has its own set of stages, bosses, and different power ups to try out, but if you weren’t captivated by what the original Raiden gave you, then this game most likely won’t change your mind on that.

Overall, despite a major lack of change and how it is still incredibly difficult, Raiden II is a step in the right direction from the original game, and just a good game in general, taking everything that worked from the original game, improving on it with some changes and new additions, and just making for a really solid time that any shmup fan could get behind. I would recommend it for those who were fans of the original Raiden, as well as for all those shmup fanatics out there, because while this is far from one of the best ones out there, it still manages to provide the explosive and challenging fun that many would look for from one of these games, and that’s all that matters. But before we go though, I do wanna briefly go over the slightly updated version of this game that was released just a year after this game, Raiden DX. Not much was changed with this version, except there are now a couple of new modes to try out that do change up how the game plays, which is cool, but it doesn’t really alter anything too much to where I would say you need to jump on it if you loved the original so much. And… that’s about it. I would go ahead and ask that the next game in this series tones down the difficulty like I did last time, but seeing as this game didn’t do that, I can only assume it will keep going up from here, and I will be dead by the time I reach Raiden V.

Game #537

(Part 4 of 4)

Y’all ever heard of this weird-ass thing called the Sega Channel? It was apparently this service that was around in the mid-90s that allowed owners of the Sega Genesis to play games on an online service for a monthly fee, which eliminated the need to go out and get the game for yourself if you don’t want to pay a full $60 for a game that was complete trash. It was a neat little idea, and it did last for a good while before shutting down, but while it did have plenty of benefits for owners of a Genesis, it also had plenty of costs as well. On one hand, you do get access to plenty of new Sega Genesis games and demos to play to your heart's content, but on the other hand, there were certain games that were made for the Sega Genesis that were released EXCLUSIVELY for the Sega Channel… for us Americans, anyway. This made it so that, once the Sega Channel was ultimately shut down in 1998, you could never play these games anymore, unless you wanted to go out of your way to buy a foreign copy of the game along with a Mega Drive, but who has the time, patience, and money for that? This meant that plenty of people would miss out on some truly great Genesis titles for the longest time, including today’s subject, Mega Man: The Wily Wars.

Nowadays, there have been several re-releases of this game to where you can easily play the game if you have access to it, but for the longest time, fans in America wouldn’t be able to officially play this game for the longest time, and I remember that this KILLED me inside back in the day. Knowing what this game was, I desperately wanted to get my hands on it for the longest time back then, but I couldn’t, seeing how it was only available in a completely different part of the world. It was only around when I was 15-16, I wanna say, and I went to a video game convention happening in my town where I found someone was selling bootleg cartridges of The Wily Wars that I finally managed to snag a copy for myself, and all was right with the world. It was worth it too, because even after so many years, The Wily Wars is still a pretty great game, one that gives plenty for fans of the series to play through and appreciate, while also providing new content and ideas that were great to see in action.

For those of you who are unaware, this game is pretty much the Mega Man equivalent of Super Mario All-Stars, where it takes the original trilogy of Mega Man games from the NES and completely remakes them for the Sega Genesis, featuring a new coat of 16-bit graphics and music right alongside it, as well as save points, which are not only pretty helpful, but they also make those dumbass grid passwords obsolete (and the whole world cheered). All of the games present here work pretty much exactly like they did back on the NES: they are all still 2D platformers where you run, jump, and shoot your way through plenty of different foes, obstacles, and bosses, gather plenty of different special weapons and upgrades to assist you on your journey, and question how this super-powered fighting robot is somehow unable to stop this crotchety old man from doing evil things. So, needless to say, if you enjoyed your time with any of the original NES versions of these games, then you will most likely enjoy these versions as well.

Really though, there’s not much else I can say in terms of the improvements between these versions of these games and the originals. Unlike with Mario All-Stars, The Wily Wars doesn’t really change anything too drastic about the games themselves in terms of save points, win conditions, or the content that is present, which isn’t a bad thing at all, but for those that are looking for more stuff to mess around with in these three original games, they aren’t going to get that here. They are just 16-bit versions of those original games, which, in my opinion, is still pretty great, because not only can I still enjoy these games in the way that they are supposed to be, but now they look much nicer than before, and looking at all the different sprites for all the characters, enemies, and bosses is nice to day the least, even if some… aren’t quite as good as others (Rock should really put sunscreen on before going out in the sun for that long).

However, despite how much I still enjoyed these renditions of the classic games, I can’t say they are perfect, as there are several issues that do hold them back from being the definitive version of these games, such as the music. Now, I wouldn’t necessarily say that a lot of the music remixed in this game is bad, and there are some pretty great tracks to be heard in this game, but since they are on the Genesis, most of them are accompanied by that good ol’ Genesis twang, so if you aren’t a fan of that, then you will hate listening to this game. Secondly, there is the issue with slowdown, which has been a recurring issue ever since the original Mega Man, to be fair, but here I think is where it is the absolute worst. There are plenty of sections in these remakes where it will slow down where it was never meant to, and while in some instances like with the Yellow Devil fight, it makes things easier, most of the time it isn’t pleasant to look at. Not to mention, there are also some little things that bug me as well, such as there being no difficulty option for Mega Man 2, and whenever you beat any boss, after the jingle plays, Mega Man stands there like an idiot for a good 10 seconds before teleporting out of the stage, almost as if he is waiting for his cue card.

Of course though, for those of you who know The Wily Wars by heart, then you would know that these remakes aren't all that this collection has to offer. Right alongside the remakes of Mega Man 1-3, there is also a new game mode known as Wily Tower, which can only be accessed after you have beaten the main three games. Let me tell you right now, THIS right here is the main reason why anyone should play this version of these games, as Wily Tower is the best part of the entire package. It is essentially a smaller Mega Man title bundled in with the other three, as it features its own entirely new story (and by that, I mean Wily is a dick, and you gotta stop him again), new stages, new challenges, and new bosses that you won’t find in any other game in the series. All on its own, it is really fun, not only because of all the different challenges you take on and the gameplay still being as tight as ever, but seeing all the different enemies and hazards of the main three games clashed together in this mode is pretty neat to see. Not to mention, since this mode was specifically made for the Genesis, the music doesn’t suffer from the same issues that the main games suffer from… at least, not by much, anyway.

But none of that even comes close to what is the main draw of this mode, and that would be how weapons and special items are handled. From the beginning of the mode, you are given access to all of the weapons and special items from Mega Man 1-3, but of course, since there are so many, you aren’t given the ability to carry all of them at once. Instead, before each stage, you are given the option to customize your loadout, choosing which weapons and special items that you can take into a stage, while also being able to swap out your options for whatever stage comes next. This, in my opinion, is a GENIUS mechanic, because not only does it give the player plenty of opportunities to experiment with the items they have access to, seeing what loadout is best for them, but it also allows for plenty of replayability, just to see what works best in what stages. It really does suck that this kind of feature never returns for any of the other games in the series, because it is that good, and I would say that I hope they bring this feature back for a future game in the series… but that would imply that Capcom would make another game in the series at all.

Overall, despite some issues with the music, some instances of slowdown getting in the way, and how I wouldn’t say these are the definitive versions of the classic three games, this is a fantastic collection of remakes of the original trilogy, one that any Mega Man fanatic like myself would love to play not just because of how well these games still hold up, but also because of the equally fantastic Wily Tower mode, not only providing a fresh, new experience for fans of the series, but also by doing things that the series had never done before and since this game. I would absolutely recommend it for those who are fans of the Mega Man series, or even for those who couldn’t really get into the original versions of these classic games, because while the games themselves remain mostly unchanged, the new 16-bit coat of paint and the inclusion of saving may just be all you need to give these games another proper shot. It’s just a shame though that this was initially locked into a subscription service for us Americans for so long… but hey, they at least brought it back!.... and locked it behind another subscription service……. but hey, it’s on the Sega Genesis Mini!...... that is only available in limited quantities…………………. I hate video games.

Collection #2/Game #536