Luna did a midyear blog list and that seemed fun

I stole this from the mystical Luna, a midyear review sounded fun. Got to add random notes for games I've beaten without writing reviews.
The rankings are arbitrary.
Also if you do enjoy these poorly structured sentences and complaints more than paragraphs of dry text, my twitter has more. Let's be mutuals so we can talk about how cool our mutuals are.

Elden Ring
Elden Ring
See full review. I don't think a Souls game has been more damaged by fast travel than this one.
Pokémon Platinum Version
Pokémon Platinum Version
Just not a Pokemon person.
Inscryption
Inscryption
Fun concepts in here, but the worldbuilding didn't do much for me. Can't point to a flaw, just didn't click.
Super Mario Bros. 2
Super Mario Bros. 2
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
This game is practically perfect, so I hate to say that I just find it kinda boring. Flawlessly not for me.
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
Very atmospheric, but almost excessively challenging at times. Neat.
Hitman 2
Hitman 2
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
"It's not Streets of Rage 4" - everyone
Hitman 3
Hitman 3
Some maps in this trilogy pack sorta bothered me, I prefer it when they're vertical and layered (like Paris) and didn't enjoy the abundance flat ones where it felt like multiple levels welded together (like Mumbai). Otherwise, solid as hell stealth game.
Resident Evil: Revelations 2
Resident Evil: Revelations 2
I love how the game not being scary is a plot point. Basically serviceable, little else to it.
Dr. Mario
Dr. Mario
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
I feel like I should have a lot to say about this game considering how much I disliked it, but the devs had so little time to get it out the door that I can't speak poorly of them. It just could have been better.
Excitebike
Excitebike
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
Ice Climber
Ice Climber
Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King
Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King
My first Dragon Quest game. Very pleasant, but a touch shallow. That can have its own appeal of course.
Super Princess Peach
Super Princess Peach
The way Peach stares at you from the bottom screen judging your moves is hilarious.
Battletoads
Battletoads
Among the best game-feel on the NES, shame it ended up just being laughably player-hostile. If you play it specifically for that unfair excessiveness though, it does have an enjoyable sense of humor with its cruelty.
Kid Icarus
Kid Icarus
Pepsiman
Pepsiman
Nowhere near as hard as I had been told, so it ended up feeling a bit bland.
Star Fox: Assault
Star Fox: Assault
I played this a lot as a kid, so I did a replay to confirm how awesome it was and that everyone who badmouthed it was wrong.

Well, about that...
Ridge Racer Type 4
Ridge Racer Type 4
I found this game mostly unremarkable, so I was tempted to write a review that was a parody of the effusive analysis I've seen for it. I'm glad I thought better of it.
Comix Zone
Comix Zone
Contra III: The Alien Wars
Contra III: The Alien Wars
Games that start out feeling really serious and slowly dissolve into utter ridiculousness are very close to my heart.
OutRun
OutRun
The Looker
The Looker
Anyone who puts effort into calling Jon Blow a wanker can consider themselves my friend.
Sunset Riders
Sunset Riders
Super Ghouls'n Ghosts
Super Ghouls'n Ghosts
When you compare this game to something like Castlevania 1, you really see how little Ghouls focuses on interesting challenge scenarios, and more on simply demanding that you don't make a single mistake. So, it wasn't as satisfying to beat as I hoped for.
Star Fox 2
Star Fox 2
I loved this game, which really surprised me. Being able to choose different ships and combinations of teammates + the real-time strategy element + improved technology from the first game just made it so impressive. I love the concept of small but deep games like this, especially when they're so cutely styled.
River City Ransom
River City Ransom
Ahead of its time in terms of charm and structure. Fascinating bit of game design.
Contra: Hard Corps
Contra: Hard Corps
Wrote a full review for this one but it bears repeating: this game is so stylish and awesome it's hard to describe, but no one knows it exists. Play it if you love 2D, classic shooters.
Sniper Elite 5
Sniper Elite 5
I expected this game to be low-effort, but the stealth system is actually pretty deep and interesting. Why is the level-design so constrictive though? Fun, but yeah, room for improvement.
Fatal Fury
Fatal Fury
Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom
Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom
Super C
Super C
Total War: Warhammer III
Total War: Warhammer III
Well, this game was a bit of a shambles at launch, but I had a lot of fun with it. Looking forward to Immortal Empires.
Fatal Fury 2
Fatal Fury 2
I love SNK, but these old Fatal Fury games feel pretty stilted and weighted against the player. Maybe I suck though.
Pocky & Rocky
Pocky & Rocky
Kid Dracula
Kid Dracula
Einhänder
Einhänder
This game's really stuck in my mind for some reason. Worth a play.
Contra 4
Contra 4
After playing Hard Corps and Neo Contra and such, this big nostalgia trip focusing most of its energy on the first couple games was a bit of a letdown. Still great, but it really doesn't feel like it's expanding on 3, more like a reimagination of 1.
Shadow of Memories
Shadow of Memories
This game's pretty wacky, and I can't even tell if it's supposed to be. If you look past the silliness though, the story really isn't great, so I recommend taking it at face value.
X2: Wolverine's Revenge
X2: Wolverine's Revenge
I remember the GBA version being terrible when I was a kid, so I checked to see if it was just because I sucked at games.

It was not because I sucked at games.
Contra: Shattered Soldier
Contra: Shattered Soldier
Monopoly
Monopoly
Kicking the shit out of the bots in the Genesis version is my guilty pleasure.
Gun.Smoke
Gun.Smoke
The Adventures of Bayou Billy
The Adventures of Bayou Billy
Neo Contra
Neo Contra
...Iru!
...Iru!
Titan Chaser
Titan Chaser
Space Channel 5: Ulala's Cosmic Attack
Space Channel 5: Ulala's Cosmic Attack
This game works surprisingly well for GBA. That doesn't mean it was a good idea, but they coulda done worse.
Fates of Ort
Fates of Ort
Mad City
Mad City
The Japanese version of Bayou Billy that isn't excessively hard, it's excessively easy. A technical achievement though.

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