The Subjective Scientific reTROview Console Tier List - 2024 Edition: Trash Tier

This is the trash tier. Just because your favorite appears here doesn't mean the console is trash. It just means that in my experience, it's trash. If your console doesn't appear at all, by the way, that means that there's not a single game that I know of that I can confidently say that it's an 8.0 or higher. Without further ado, here are your proud denizens of the trash can!

Sega Master System (1 point):

Good Game:

Phantasy Star

This is the only Master System game I've ever played! It's pretty good.

Sega Saturn (1 point):

Good Games:

Nights into Dreams

Put that thing in the trash? It's beautiful! How dare I? This baby is just the right mix of expensive and hard to emulate to ensure that I never get the chance to experience the library. FPGA development is coming along, though. Maybe some day?

PSP (7 points):

Good Games:

Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2

Jeanne D'Arc

Excellent Games:

Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core

The PSP is a great little piece of hardware. I have two of them. Almost more than I have good games on this list. I actually use the PSP to play mostly ports and collections, and I don't consider any of those games to be PSP games.

PC Engine/Turbografx-16 (10 points):

Perfect/Iconic Games:

Castlevania: Rondo of Blood

I really need to get into this console! Rondo rules, but I know there's more out there. I'll poke around on my Pocket before too long. I'm feeling a shooter bug, and the only solution is to dive into the PC Engine, if the rumors are true.

Xbox (11 points):

Good Game:

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

Excellent Games:

Halo

Halo 2

This is an Xbox. It had a few great Halo games on it. There's probably more, too, but I am not certain.

Wii (15 points):

Good Games:

Donkey Kong County Returns

Mario Kart Wii

Punch-Out!!

Tiger Woods Golf

Wii Play

Excellent Games:

Wii Sports

Xenoblade Chronicles

This thing gave us a great month after Christmas when we received it. Wii Play and Wii Sports were very fun. I've probably touched one again less than 10 times since, particularly since I played Punch-Out!!, Xenoblade, and Donkey Kong Country Returns on other systems.

Wii U (16 points):

Good Games:

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

Excellent Games:

Super Mario Maker

New Super Mario Bros. U

Mario Kart 8

I have several more Wii U games to try, but there's actually several fantastic games on this console! Still probably not worth owning, especially since Mario Maker and Smash have been supplanted by their sequels and Kart has been ported to Switch.

And with that, my arbitrary cutoff for the trash tier has been reached. It hurts too much to put the next console in the trash tier, so I just won't. Come back soon for the I'm Pretty Sure I Should Own This tier!

- TRO

The Subjective Scientific reTROview Console Tier List - 2024 Edition

 

It has been a shocking 5 years since I first launched the Subjective Scientific reTROview Console Tier List in 2019 to little fanfare. Given that I have played a few video games since that time, I wanted to revisit my list and see what has changed. I have been playing a decent mix of modern and retro stuff since 2019, so there should be quite a bit of churn here as a few consoles go up the list, and a few go down. There is even a new console that did not exist back in 2019 that will make an appearance (the PS5). 

I will stick with mostly the same rules as last time:

• The game must be something I would still be interested in playing in theory. So Madden '05 was massively important for me back in 2007, but I would never pick it up now. Thus, it does not exist on the tier list.
• The game will appear on whichever console it first appeared on, unless it appeared on several in a short time span, in which case I will place it on whichever console I experienced it on. As a rough rule of thumb, if the game was still in its lifespan and receiving current updates on a console, it's fair game to include there. Example: Slay the Spire original appeared on PC, but came to PS4 soon after, which is where I experienced it. Thus, for the purposes of this list, it is a PS4 game. However, when I experience Secret of Mana on my Switch for the first time, I still count it as an SNES game.
• I must have had enough experience with the game to give it a fair ranking. I'm only one guy, and my time and money are limited. Getting 392 games together that I have real opinions about is a feat in and of itself. I'm also cheap, and so I don't invest in expensive games, which hurts the prospects of consoles like Saturn, TurboGrafx-16, and Dreamcast. So if your favorite game doesn't appear, or your favorite console gets put into the trash tier, it's entirely my fault!
• I use console loosely - the operational definition used here is closer to "gaming platform". Arcade, PC, and mobile are not consoles, but they make an appearance on the list, as do handheld systems. 
• I'm dropping the "I must rank the console if I own it" rule from last time. I had consoles with 0 points on the list because of that, which was silly. 

I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did making it!

- TRO

The 2023 reTROview reTROspective!!!

Back at it again for my faithful reader! I built a house this year, and that took me basically working full time at my day job, and then heading out to the house to finish construction after work, so there wasn't a lot of gaming time. I've caught up a bit in the latter half of 2023, but there were definitely fewer games that I finished this year. The following is a list of the games I completed this year, in alphabetical order.

1. Armored Police Batrider
2. Batman: The TellTale Games
3. Captain Commando
4. Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers
5. Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers 2
6. Crimson Shroud
7. DuckTales 2
8. Hogwarts Legacy
9. Knights of the Round
10. Luck Be a Landlord
11. Middle Earth: Shadow of War
12. NBA 2K23
13. Ni No Kuni II
14. Pocket Card Jockey
15. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX
16. Secret of Mana
17. Spider-Man 2
18. SteamWorld Dig
19. SteamWorld Dig 2
20. Streets of Rage
21. Streets of Rage 2
22. Warriors of Fate

Twenty-two seems poor, given that last year was an all-time (at least since I started this blog) low for me with 29. But there were a couple of absolutely massive games that I played, and I also have two of the biggest games that I haven't quite finished yet lingering on (you'll see them on the top games of 2023 list despite their unfinished state). Given that I didn't complete a single game between January and April with my house getting finished, I feel ok about twenty-two.

I definitely saw a shift back towards handheld gaming, as I've been trying to steal time here or there were I can get a few minutes in, as opposed to needing to dedicate an hour or two to gaming on the Big TV. I've also been enjoying beat 'em ups quite a bit, and those are nice quick clears for me (and can do them together with my family). Looking back through this list, I've experienced some incredible games this year! Getting a top ten together this year was tough - I enjoyed basically everything I completed, with one exception. So, here are some honorable mentions for those games that didn't quite make the cut:

Warriors of Fate/Captain Commando/Knights of the Round

At some point last year, I bought the beat 'em up collection from Capcom, and played through a bunch of the games. This year, I finished the rest with my kids, and I just have say that 90's Capcom absolutely ruled. The art style, controls, and personality of these beat 'em ups reflect the A-tier work they were doing in the 2D space from the late '80s to mid 90's. You can't go wrong with any of the games in this collection, although Final Fight is definitely the best of the bunch. Next to Nintendo and Square, Capcom is among the best developers of the era.

Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers & the sequel

People who lived through the trash years of horrible TV and movie tie-in games might see these games and assume that they're typical cash-in nonsense. They would be incorrect. These games aren't DuckTales, but they're high quality, fun, classic platformers. Capcom strikes again!

Crimson Shroud

Many thanks to the Retronauts, and Chris Kohler in particular, for the recommendation. I went back and listened to their podcast regarding the end of the 3DS/Wii U eShops and grabbed this game before judgment day. I was incredibly impressed! This is the kind of experimental, half-baked game that really thrives on the eShop, and while it's not an all-time classic, it's extremely creative and brings the pen and paper D&D experience to life in ways that not many games have successfully done. Not that I'd recommend pirating video games or anything, but you should definitely check this out if you're into the genre! They certainly won't let you buy it legally...

Now, onto the 2023 reTROview top 10!

10. Armored Police Batrider

This is perhaps teasing some of this list, but the big gaming improvement that's occurred for me this year is that I bought an Analogue Pocket! I've been loving it for playing my physical GB/GBC/GBA carts, but in truth, the bulk of my time has been spent on the incredible Open FPGA playground. I've been exposed to so many games that I never would have had the chance to play otherwise, and one of the first and most impactful of these has been Batrider. When I booted the game up, I had no idea what to expect. But what it delivered was the pure Aerofighters or Gunbird style vertical shooter experience that I've been desperately craving. Developed by Raizing, this game is a visual, audio, and gameplay delight. I've enjoyed all of the Raizing shooters I've played (they produced a bunch of them before being tasked with producing anime fighters (boo!) for the last twenty years, but this was my first and favorite so far. I'm going to try to get really good at this one and 1 credit clear it at some point, as well as dig in more to other Raizing shooters. If you like this kind of game, check it out!

9. Luck be a Landlord

While this game doesn't necessarily speak my political language, I'm absolutely here for the gameplay. Drawing inspiration from roguelikes such as Slay the Spire and tacking on a compelling slot machine-style of gameplay, this game delivers an addicting and enjoyable experience once you figure out what's going on. I wish it was balanced a bit more skillfully like Spire, but it was well worth the five bucks I spent.

8. NBA 2K23

I love 2K, and I don't think it's a stretch to say that this is the best 2K game of all-time. They fixed so many bizarre things that would happen in prior games, and overhauled the AI defense to make it much less predictable. You'll feel like it's a real basketball game, even if the guards still shoot WAY too many full-speed leaning threes to feel correct. Hopefully 2K24 is even better! And free through PS Plus, like this one was.

7. SteamWorld Dig 2

If you've read this blog for a while, you know that I absolutely love Metroidvanias. Symphony of the Night is now part of my annual replay rotation along with Super Mario World and Link to the Past. This genre really scratches an itch for me, and SteamWorld Dig 2 is a really solid newer entry. Compared to its predecessor, it's significantly more refined and directed, with less aimless backtracking and more consistent, well-crafted level design. If you like the genre, I'd highly recommend it!

6. Middle Earth: Shadow of War

One of our family traditions every year is to watch through The Lord of the Rings trilogy, along with the documentaries that go along with the movies. Along with that comes an inescapable urge to play a Lord of the Rings video game. Some years it's been Lord of the Rings Online. Others, like this year, have featured a quick play through of the underrated GBA gem Lord of the Rings: The Third Age. But last year I picked a game I'd never played before, Shadow of War. This game absolutely stunned me. It's got the Batman style attack and counter combat I adore together with an ingenious system of hunting bosses, the Nemesis System. In this game, the bosses adapt to your tactics, successes, and failures. If you try the same strategy too many times on a boss, he may learn it and become resistant to it. Each boss also has distinct weaknesses that you can exploit to make your encounters easier. They can also be turned to your side to become a part of your army and be deployed on various missions in your goal to conquer the Dark Lord. The game relies too much on modern map design, with hundreds of mostly meaningless trinkets strewn across the wastes of Mordor, but at the heart of the game is a fantastic boss hunting mechanic that, on its own, easily earns the price of admission.

5. Pocket Card Jockey

This is another game I discovered thanks to the Retronauts, and purchased before the Eshop closed. It's a horse racing game for the 3DS, but uses a unique mechanic in which the speed of your horse depends on how skillfully you play solitaire-esque card games. I promise that there is an extremely credible in-universe explanation for this. From the creators of Pokemon, Jockey allows you to train, race, and breed your horses to try to win as many races as possible. With an endless gameplay loop that allows you to build a stable of generations of horses, this is an amazing deep dive as well as a great game to just turn on and play a few races for fun.

4. Marvel's Spider-Man 2

Thanks to the tyranny of high expectations, I felt slightly disappointed by this game. Its predecessor is one of my favorite video games of all-time, and this game absolutely delivers on a ton of what made the original great. It also improves some things on the margins. It just isn't a massive step forward for the franchise, and I think this team is talented enough to make that happen. With that being said, it's also my fourth favorite game of the year, and was tremendous.

3. Octopath Traveler

The last few years have seen me delight in discovering that the world of JRPGs is alive and well; chock full of developers who grew up loving Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Pokemon and wanting to put their own spin on the genre. And spin it they have. Dragon Quest XI, Ni No Kuni, Xenoblade Chronicles, and Bravely Default all take the JRPG in new directions while letting their love of the classics shine brightly. Octopath Traveler is the new JRPG I'm enamored with, combining really strong character-driven storylines together with a strategic and immersive battle system that never gets old. They also absolutely nailed the economy of a classic JRPG, with stretch goal gear accessible only to the dedicated grinders while being powerful enough to reward said effort. The game is gorgeous, too. Despite how beautiful it is, no, we don't need a Chrono Trigger remake in this style. Perfect games don't need to be remade, just re-released. Xenogears on the other hand...get on it Square/Acquire! I'm done with five of the eight stories here, and will finish it up once I'm done with my annual playthroughs that wait for no man.

2. Mother 3

I think some people would be surprised to learn that I never touched Mother 3 until 2023. Earthbound is an absolutely seminal game for me, after all. I've told this story here before, but I visited some family friends in the late 90s, and they still had a Super Nintendo with Earthbound. I played it up until the end of Onett, and was blown away by the cutesy charm and humor of the game. When I returned from my friends, I told my friends back home that they had to play this game because it was like Pokemon but with people instead. Forgive my naïve anachronism. After my friends down the street got Final Fantasy Chronicles and told me about emulators, the doors to my JRPG addiction were blown wide open. Earthbound was among the first games I ever emulated and completed, and I remain a huge fan to this day. So why no Mother 3? Firstly, the jaw-dropping fan translation didn't release until 2008, and at that point my gaming was at its nadir. I was totally locked into sports and my gaming time was split between the PS2, my GBA, and messing around with NES/SNES emulation. I was completely offline from gaming news and developments (I didn't really even know about the Xbox 360 or what an HDMI cable even was), and was unaware that GBA emulation even existed. Once I caught up a bit in 2012 or so, it just felt wrong to play Mother 3 on an emulator, particularly with the timing-based battle system. I know emulators have come a long way, but I wanted my experience with Mother 3 to be absolutely perfect. Enter the Analogue Pocket. I finally have a way to play Mother 3 in glorious perfection, and I am loving it. I'm in Chapter 7 of 8, and have found it to be an incredible follow-up to one of my favorite games of all time. I still prefer Earthbound slightly...the SNES game feels wackier and the chapter setup in 3 bounced me around a bit too much. But this game is among the most polished video games, ever, period. They drew a ton of the enemy sprites twice, once for back attacks and once for regular attacks. They have dozens of custom animations for situations that happen once or twice in the game. The dialogue is insanely great. The characters are charming and beautifully designed. This is a game that just has to be experienced, period.

1. Streets of Rage 2

Streets of Rage 2 is the best beat 'em up of all time, period. The characters are wonderful. The soundtrack is mind-blowing. The enemy placement and difficulty balance is just perfect. The graphics are amazing. It's difficult to imagine a game in this genre sticking the landing more. Why did it take me so long to play this masterpiece? Go play it. Now!

2023 reTROview Stinker of the Year: Batman: The Telltale Series

This was so very disappointing to me. The button inputs you did basically didn't change the story at all. Your choices didn't change the story at all. The story was pretty milquetoast to begin with. In a universe chock-full of incredible characters, this one fell extremely flat. This is all even worse because I finished the whole thing. I've gotten better about walking away from games I don't enjoy, but still feel bad about abandoning movies/tv shows - I'm really not invested in most video game stories, but movies just feel different. This felt like a bad tv show I couldn't stop watching, but I won't be fooled again. This is the last Telltale game I ever play.

On to more pleasant things - let's revisit my 2023 goals and see how I did!

2023 Goal #1: Complete Secret of Mana

I did it! Secret of Mana was pretty good. I probably would have liked it more if I played it in the early '90s like everyone else, but the combat was just totally broken. Great graphics and music, though!

2023 Goal #2: Complete 25 games I've never finished before

Didn't quite make it. Since I missed a third of a year building a house, I still feel like 22 is pretty fantastic.

2023 Goal #3: Fix up my hardware

I fixed a few PS5 controllers, but other than that, didn't quite get there.

2023 Goal #4: Get a MiSTer

I didn't get a MiSTer, but I did get an Analogue Pocket! The portable nature of it just put it over the top compared to MiSTer. I know MiSTer has more cores and all, but there's a ton on Analogue Pocket, it plays real carts, and it has all of the console stuff I really want. I'll consider this one accomplished.

2023 Goal #5: Downsize my collection

I said I'd cut out 25% of my collection, and I don't think I did quite that much. But I did sell several consoles and probably 50 games or so, which is pretty good for me! I also have another 50 or so I'm planning on selling but just haven't had time to do so. I'm going to keep selling in the new year...the Analogue Pocket and my existing stuff give me 95% of what I want, and the other 5% is mostly new or nearly new releases. I also don't have a ton of money right now, so adding stuff is additionally foolish.

On to some new goals!

2024 Goal #1: Fix more hardware

There's so much of my stuff that just isn't working right now, and I have to get it fixed or replaced. I don't want to live in a world where I don't have a Gamecube (RIP my laser).

2024 Goal #2: Complete 30 new games

My gaming time has ticked up slightly the last few months, so I feel pretty good about my chances to complete 30 games. I already basically have two in the bag with Octopath and Mother 3, and my next playthrough of Super Mario Wonder will probably only take me a few days. I'd guess I can have three done by the end of January, and then I can turn my focus to some smaller experiences on my Pocket to fill in the gaps. 2.5 games per month seems about right.

2024 Goal #3: Complete Breath of Fire

One of my thirty games must be Breath of Fire. It's one of my favorite B-tier RPGs from the SNES...but I've never beaten it! It's time. I'm more than 2/3 through in some odd hours playing it on the Switch, so now's my chance.

2024 Goal #4: Complete Suikoden

I spent a lot of money on Suikoden and Suikoden II during that incredible year when I had two jobs and SO MUCH MONEY. But I've never really played them seriously. This is the year that I get around to it!

2024 Goal #5: 1 CC a vertical shooter

Maybe it'll be Batrider. Maybe it'll be a another Raizing shooter. Maybe it'll be Giga Wing. Who knows? But I'm going to try to dedicated myself to doing it in my spare time.

2024 Goal #6: 1CC Ghouls 'n Ghosts 

I'm not a huge fan of Ghosts 'n Goblins, but I have to confess that Ghouls 'n Ghosts feels like the right mix of punishing difficulty and charm that I am attracted to. I'm going to give it a shot!

Why There's Never Been a Better Time to be a Gamer

 

The gaming scene really sucks right now, right? That new game shipped in a buggy manner. Games get indefinitely delayed or canceled. Every Triple A game has the same mechanics and forced online modes to maximize the amount of time you need to sink into it. Game development is on fire with scandal after scandal. Layoffs! New consoles steal people's money with crowdsourcing and never ship. Loot box mechanics build and encourage gambling addictions in young children. Physical media appears to be dying. Playing your old favorites on modern consoles is impossible due to rights squabbles and lack of developer interest. Game developers have problematic political opinions. Retro game prices are way high. That new gaming acquisition looks a bit like a monopoly. THAT game has a season pass? I just can't get into these new games! The graphical leaps between generations are negligible. Everything's a remake, where's the new IP? Online communities are toxic.

If you've ever thought along these lines, let me bring you some hope! In my opinion, there has never been a better time to be a gamer. Here are a few reasons why...

Incredible Diversity of New Games

The original NES had over 800 games. Some consoles had more than that, and most far less. But browsing any modern consoles or platform will bring up literally thousands of options to pick from, at an incredible array of prices ranging from free to hundreds of dollars, and everything in between. For fans of nearly any genre, there's never been a better time for you to enjoy a jaw dropping selection of brand new or nearly new games in that genre. Many of the indie games of today are equal in quality to the AAA games of yesteryear, and sell for a fraction of the price. Shovel Knight can hang with ANY NES platformer. Hollow Knight is competitive with the most excellent metroidvanias ever produced. Slay the Spire delivers an incredible amount of content and originality on a budget price. And they're still making excellent AAA titles occasionally, so pick your spots wisely.

Nintendo is Back, Baby!

It looked a little dicey there during the 3DS/Wii U period, to be honest. But the Switch has exceeded all projections, and has an insane library that is up there with the finest Nintendo consoles of all time. And that's without even considering forthcoming likely gems such as Breath of the Wild 2 and Metroid Prime 4. It's good to have the big N back, and they consistently deliver quality first party experiences.

Retro Collections and Remasters

While there's never been a time when every old game I could have wanted to play was on modern platforms, the last few years have been flush with a ton of new retro material that makes classics accessible and puts extremely expensive titles in players' hands for a fraction of the cost of getting original physical copies. Digital Eclipse leads the way here with some absolutely phenomenal collections featuring Contra, TMNT, Atari, Mega Man, and Castlevania, but there are tons of these collections being produced all of the time. Add to that a very nice selection of retro NES, SNES, N64, and Genesis (???) games on Switch Online, and anyone can have tons of retro fun on a very limited budget for a long time. What's more, I would expect that there will be a lot more of these collections forthcoming, as IP holders realize that they have to do very little to prepare these, and as Digital Eclipse and their imitators expand with each successive successful collection. If computer stuff is your jam, GOG has all, or almost all, of your old favorites available for super cheap, too.

Free Games

If you had sat me down in front of a computer in 2005 and told me that there was a game called League of Legends that was DOTA, but way better, with a huge online player base, constant new content, a thriving competitive scene, and it was absolutely free, I think my head would have exploded. In fact, when someone told me that in 2010, I think my head did explode. Now, games like League of Legends are downright commonplace. Fortnite, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Lord of the Rings Online, Elder Scrolls Online, Runescape, Rocket League, Maplestory, countless mobile games...these are all games that I have burnt substantial amounts of time into. Sure, each of them has ways to get your money out of you, but I've honestly spent less than $20 on all of these games, combined. Add to that the free games you get from the Epic Games Store every week, quasi-free games from Playstation Plus and Xbox Live Gold, and you could easily play nothing but free games with a few small subscriptions for the rest of your life.

Clone Consoles and Accessories

Everyone likes to complain about the high price of retro stuff these days, but high prices mean interest and signals development from new entrants into markets. Does Analogue get as popular as they are if Super Nintendos still routinely sold for $10-$20? Probably not. Does 8bitdo produce high quality controllers for retro consoles if interest in retro gaming wasn't high? Definitely not! The market is now filled with all sorts of solutions for classic gaming that didn't exist 10 years ago, and many of these options are super high quality. What's more, we now have stratification of the market, where people who just want to walk down memory lane can get a Retron and some games for super cheap, whereas those who want something higher end can spend the money to do so. 

Advances in Emulation, Everdrives, and MiSTer

If the price of retro cartridges and discs just kills you, just end around and go for piracy, not that I would ever do that. Much like with clones consoles and accessories, there are options here for every price point and interest level, with a simple download of any emulator on most PCs for totally free, to dedicated emulation options like a Raspberry Pi or FPGA solutions like MiSTer. If you really love your classic consoles and real controllers, you can always buy Everdrives, too! What's more, this technology improves every day, with emulators getting tinkered on in real time, and new FPGA cores releasing weekly. If you can never afford a Little Samson, there are options for you!

Focus on Affordable Parts of the Market

If you really want to play authentic stuff, there are always segments of the market that are affordable. Every time I walk into a retro game store, I head straight for Xbox 360, PS3, and PSP. Why? Because these games aren't in collectors' eyes (yet), and many are a ton of fun! Try not to get sucked into the zeitgeist of what everyone else is collecting and playing, or else you'll pay through the nose. The basic rule is that you probably have a 20 year running window of time that you should stay away from. In this case, at the moment, that means Super NES up until PS2. Stuff in this window is what today's 30 year olds with disposable income grew up with, and are collecting for. But if you get into the stuff right after that now, you'll dodge the high prices before they happen. NES stuff is also trending down at the moment, so feel free to dip your toes into that, and go whole hog into older stuff, too. Atari, Colecovision, and Intellivision are all pretty affordable, if you want to. Those collectors die or lose interest and sell every day. PS4 and XBox 1 stuff is dropping too, so keep your eyes open and grab good deals when you see them!

In summary, your problem may truly be, that, like me, you are just old. If the pitfalls of modern gaming are too substantial for you, just build a little collection of stuff you love, and enjoy it! Cobble it together with clone stuff, piracy, modern collections, etc. No one is forcing you to opt in to the current generation of gaming. And trust me, no matter how dedicated you are to your gaming hobby, there is always more old stuff out there for you to enjoy. Try out a new console or series you've never tried before. Try out fan translations of Japanese games that weren't released here, or just play them untranslated. Speedrun your favorite games. Replay old favorites. You will NEVER run out of things to enjoy and experience for the first time, even if you focus only on games prior to the year 2000. 

So hang in there friends! All things considered, even if modern gaming has its drawbacks, there has never been a better time to play video games than right now. Until tomorrow, that is. Onward!

-TRO

The 2022 reTROview reTROspective!!!

Well, I guess this is an annual blog now. It's good for everyone except for my faithful reader, I guess. I love making lists, setting goals, and looking back on my year's accomplishments, so this always rises to the level I need to motivate me to get back out there and write something. Without further ado, here are the games I completed this year, in alphabetical order: 

1. Aero Fighters 3
2. Armored Warriors
3. Astro's Playroom
4. Axiom Verge
5. Batman: The Video Game
6. Battle Arena Toshinden
7. Chrono Cross
8. Crash Bandicoot 4
9. Dragon Age: Inquisition
10. Dragon Quest XI
11. Gunstar Heroes
12. Mario Party Superstars
13. Metroid Dread
14. Mickey Mousecapade
15. MLB Power Pros
16. Pokemon Legends: Arceus
17. Pokemon Scarlet
18. Pop 'n TwinBee
19. Shantae: Half-Genie Hero
20. Slay the Spire
21. Star Fox 64
22. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
23. Streets of Rage 4
24. Superhot
25. TMNT (Arcade)
26. TMNT Hyperstone Heist
27. TMNT Turtles in Time (Arcade)
28. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2
29. Vampire Survivors

My completions were slightly down from last year, but I have also never had less free time for gaming, so 29 feels super productive for me. There was a bunch of fun to be had here, such that some really good experiences fell out of the top 10. Here are the honorable mentions:

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 +2

A lovingly done remake, but it's still a remake so it feels hard to put in the top 10. The levels from 1 feel fantastic with full manual and revert support.

TMNT/TMNT Turtles in Time

I got the Cowabunga Collection once it dropped to $20, and had a blast of a few days playing through all of the old Turtles games. The two arcade games were super fun, but it did feel like they relied too heavily on flashy, quarter munching bosses with little strategy to them other than smash, bash, and pay up. 

TMNT: Hyperstone Heist

I have never played this Genesis gem before, and found it absolutely fantastic. It has the signature Genesis sound, great visuals and gameplay, and the bosses are tremendously crafted for balance, although the end boss is a bit dull. I'd give the edge to the SNES Turtles in Time as it's a bit longer and has that incredible last fight that surpasses even the arcade version, but this is a really good game. It's just a crowded field!

Superhot

Super inventive concept, memorable visuals, and wonderful execution. Highly recommended.

Astro's Playroom

What was a glorified tech demo for the new PS5 controllers ended up being a nicely crafted and quick 3D platformer that delivered some value for PS5 owners starved for content.

Batman: The Video Game

Superb visuals and sound, along with excellent wall jumping, combine to make this a standout budget title for anyone looking to get into NES collecting on the cheap.

Pop 'n Twinbee

I've been flirting a bit with vertical shooters this year, and Pop 'n Twinbee was the one I enjoyed most. The visuals were fantastic, and the powerup mechanic immediately gives this game a much different, and more frenetic, feel than most vertical shooters.

And now, the top 10!

10. Streets of Rage 4

Speaking of well-crafted beat 'em ups...wow! This one really blew me away. Great visuals, sound, and tons of fan service for long-term enjoyers of the series. The gameplay was superbly balanced, as well. This delivered everything you might want from a modern beat 'em up.

9. Dragon Age: Inquisition

We moved this year into much smaller, temporary housing while we are in the process of building a new house. All of that translated to me having to make some difficult decisions about which games to bring with me, and which to leave in storage. I chose a ton of longer RPGs, hoping to keep myself occupied with a limited number of actual discs. I finally got to this one a few months ago, and found myself enjoying it tremendously! It doesn't quite rise to the level of BioWare's magnificent Mass Effect, as I felt it aped a bit too much from other collect-a-thon AAA games designed to wring 80 hours of gameplay out of 20 hours of content. With that said, it had BioWare's typical, excellent writing and character development, and the combat was super fun. Check it out!

8. Crash Bandicoot 4

It's been a while since a good Crash game, and Toys for Bob totally delivered year. They perfectly captured the spirit of the PS1 games, and brought back to life a franchise that desperately needed it. 

7. Gunstar Heroes

This is the kind of game that if I had played it upon release in 1993, would begrudgingly have racked up another point in the "Genesis" column in my mental console wars spreadsheet (Team SNES, btw). This game is absolutely superb, with great visuals, sound, spectacle, and game play. The powerups weren't particularly balanced, but that's ok. This is a fantastic retro experience that everyone should enjoy.

6. Pokemon Legends: Arceus

When it comes down to it, I've always been part of the gang of crotchety old folks incredibly satisfied with getting a predictable, enjoyable Pokemon game every 3-4 years. I've never wanted Pokemon to push far past its familiar boundaries, precisely because I enjoyed the traditional experience so very much. My least favorite Pokemon games have come in the last few years when they seem to have been playing around with the formula the most. And yet, Arceus was an absolute masterpiece. The graphics are total garbage, there are frustrating things about it, but it absolutely delivered on the promise of iterating on the classic Pokemon formula to build a compelling world and novel exprerience. Scarlet, on the other hand...

5. Chrono Cross

This is a game I underappreciated for decades thanks to one little word. Chrono. In my opinion, Chrono Trigger is the greatest RPG of all time, and perhaps the greatest video game of all time. In an all-time run for Squaresoft, it stands alone. However, it's on me not to bring my own baggage to my conception of a video game, and after playing this game from beginning to end, I have to say that this is one of the finest RPGs of the era. Change it's name to anything else, and this is a game that would be discussed in the hallowed spaces of the PS1 Final Fantasy games, Suikodens, Xenogears, etc. It feels like it never gets that credit, however.

4. Dragon Quest XI

Crotchety old men like me can fall into a nostalgia trap of believing that the past was always better than the present. The golden age of whatever we like is gone, replaced with an amalgam of garbage poisoned by Commercialism and the bad taste of the next generation. I absolutely began to believe that in regards to JRPGs, missing the era in which I grew up, and decrying the newest era of games, despite the fact that I'd tried almost none of them. They just didn't look like something I'd be interested in playing. So, in surprise to no one, the last few years have been filled with several reminders that the JRPG is not, in fact, dead, and that the last decade have been filled with several standouts that would have thrilled and delighted me at any age. Included here are games like Xenoblade Chronicles, Bravely Default, Ni No Kuni, and now Dragon Quest XI. The last game in that list absolutely delighted me with its retro stylings, stunning visuals, and deep and interesting systems. It's always cheap, so if you find yourself jaded with the current state of JRPGs, go try one of these four. I'd bet you'll find something to like, and I'm also sure that the last few years are also chock full of games that I've never had the chance to play yet.

3. Metroid Dread

Those other games were excellent, but now we're talking all time classic levels. Because human society demands that we form into ultimately self-destructive tribes, when it comes to Metroidvania, you can count me on team Vania. Symphony of the Night is one of my all-time favorite games. I'm getting dangerously close to an annual playthrough for it, joining Super Mario World and Link to the Past. The Metroid games have never quite sat right with me. I enjoy most of them, but it feels like the jumps in progression are too small and unnoticeable and that the level design is never quite as intuitive in Metroid as in the modern Castlevania games. However, Metroid Dread completely exceeded all of my expectations with the most genius level design in any Metroidvania, ever. There are obviously always side paths you can take to explore, but the bread crumbs are laid so magnificently in this game so that you will rarely be lost, and always be finding something productive to do. The boss fights are razor sharp, the visuals are fine, music is excellent, and the EMMI sections are among the most heart-pounding, well designed challenges in gaming to date. This is a must play!

2. Vampire Survivors

The surprise game of the year! I only picked up this game because of Twitter, and found that dollar for dollar, this may be the deal of the century. Super cheap, insanely addicting, and conceptually brilliant, Vampire Survivors will absolutely be the best few dollars that you spend. It's hard to even explain what this game is like without playing it, but basically it's a game in which you only move your character, while your weapons automatically fire. You'll need to traverse the dangers posed in each level, and as you kill more enemies, you'll level up, allowing access to new weapons, level up old weapons, and even combine multiple weapons and items together into brand new, extremely powerful weapons. What's more, each level gives you a random selection of weapons and items, which, coupled with limited slots at your disposal, makes every level up choice critical as you strive to survive the hordes of enemies coming your way. My only slight disappointment with this game was that there are few enough weapons/items, and enough ways to skip options in your random rolls, that each run can get a little too similar with a skilled player at the helm. My final build was probably 90% similar to my ideal build every time, and having more options would increase the randomness and thus, the fun of having to be creative about handling different challenges. I spent dozens of hours on this game, and it will almost certainly be something that I circle back around too regularly as new content launches and as I get the desire. 

1. Slay the Spire

Wow, I love this game! It takes a dungeon crawling approach to traversal, a roguelike approach to fresh games regularly, a deck-building card-based combat, and meshes them into one magnificent cocktail of addiction. In contrast to our number 2 games on the list, Slay the Spire features a dizzying array of choices for cards, artifacts that will permanently power your character up, and pathways to make each and every run through the Spire totally and completely unique. If you try to make each run the same, the Spire will thoroughly punish you. The skilled player learns that each class archetype has many paths to victory, and that skillfully building your deck and artifacts in keeping with your very limited options will yield much better results than slavish devotion to one singular approach. This is a masterclass in game design, and I will absolutely spend regular time in the Spire for years to come.

And that's the top 10! Now, as usual, I'll review my 2022 goals to see which ones I completed:

2022 Goal #1: Complete Chrono Cross

Check

2022 Goal #2: Complete 25 games I've never finished before

Check

2022 Goal #3: Complete Secret of Mana 

Gulp. This has been a goal for several years and I never seem to get around to it.

2022 Goal #4: Abandon games that aren't fun or that I'm not enjoying

I gave up quite a bit this year! If I didn't like it, I just didn't play it. My life is too short to play bad games. I did play a few that weren't the best games, but I still found some enjoyment in them, like Mickey Mousecapade, Battle Arena Toshinden, and Pokemon Scarlet.

2022 Goal #5: Buy some pricey new physical games for my collection

I actually did this! I bought several games that were north of 50 dollars, which is very pricey for me. I was also more open to buying some new games at full price if I was excited about them, and I didn't really regret it much. 

Four out of five is pretty good. Here are some goals for 2023.

2023 Goal #1: Complete Secret of Mana

This is the year.

2023 Goal #2: Complete 25 games I've never finished before

I got 29 last year, and my gaming time is ticking back up very slightly, but who knows what the future will bring?

2023 Goal #3: Fix up my hardware

My stuff is going downhill fast. I've got broken controllers and systems, scratched discs, etc. 2023 is the year to fix all of that stuff up or replace it, and get my gaming life back on track.

2023 Goal #4: Get a MiSTer

I had a Raspberry Pi that I enjoyed setting up, so I think I'd really enjoy getting a MiSTer for higher quality output and emulation. This goal goes along with my goal #5...

2023 Goal #5: Downsize my collection

We are moving homes at the moment, and I just don't have the space for all of the stuff that I have in storage right now. What's more, the market's high and I honestly don't use a ton of my gaming stuff regularly at the moment. I probably game on my PS5 80% of the time, the Switch 10% of the time, and everything else about 10%. I'm fine with having old stuff that isn't in play regularly, but what I need to get rid of is the stuff that I don't like, I know I'll never play again, or is high priced. I found myself buying Turbografx-16 stuff, and honestly didn't even know why I was doing it. It's not that the games are bad or I'm not interested in playing them, but they're so expensive, and a MiSTer will do the trick for all of the stuff that I'm curious about. I don't even have a system to play them on! I was preparing for the Analogue Turbo clone, but that seems like a huge waste of money, given Turbo prices. I'm starting with that Turbo stuff and moving on from there. I'd like to trim my collection down by about 25% this year. I sold a bit when we moved and I really didn't miss any of it. I know that if I want it in the future, I can get it back, and it will probably be cheaper then, too. 

The 2021 reTROview reTROspective!!!

I'm back! The writing project I was involved in has concluded, and I have recently been feeling an urge to return to this blog and stretch my writing legs a bit. I did a 2019 reTROspective, and certainly played video games in 2020, but don't feel like going back through and tracking down all of the games I completed in that year, so I'm going to restart this blog with a reTROspective of the games I played in 2021. The following is a list of all of the games that I completed in that year:

Punch-out!! (Wii)

Hades

Metal Slug 3

Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

X-Men 2: The Clone Wars

Pokemon Brilliant Diamond

Shantae: Half-Genie Hero

Contra

King of Dragons

Final Fight

Battle Circuit

Disney's Aladdin (Genesis)

Bastion

NBA 2K21

Final Fantasy Mystic Quest

Mario Golf: Super Rush

Enter the Gungeon

Rayman 2

Final Fantasy VII Remake

Dragon Ball Fighterz

Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon

Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution

Madden 21

Castlevania: Rondo of Blood

Castlevania: Bloodlines

Super Castlevania IV

Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse

Castlevania II: Simon's Quest

Jet Force Gemini

Mario Golf (N64)

Card Guardians (Mobile)

Thirty-two new completions is pretty good! Far from my best year ever, but I also spent a lot of time replaying old favorites last year, including a mammoth run through of Final Fantasy X. The year was generally spent divided into three distinct periods that I can recall. First, I bought the Castlevania Anniversary Collection and Castlevania: Requiem on Playstation, and spent a ton of time trying to play through the Castlevania games that I was interested in that I had not yet beaten. I had such a great time with those games that I immediately pivoted to playing Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon, which I also enjoyed immensely. From there, I got lucky enough to get a PS5, and spent some time playing big triple-A games or new games I'd acquired on there, including Miles Morales, Final Fantasy VII Remake, and Enter the Gungeon. The last period I can remember is when I got my Mega SG and Super NTs from Analogue, and used that as an excuse to play through some Genesis and Super Nintendo games that were either old favorites or games I'd been meaning to play for a while, like Disney's Aladdin, X-Men 2: The Clone Wars, and Final Fantasy Mystic Quest.

reTROview's Top Ten Games of 2021:

10. X-Men 2: The Clone Wars

Of all of the titles on this list, I feel the most guilty including this one. It probably, in terms of overall quality, doesn't quite surpass other games that I completed this year that won't appear on this list, including Dragon Ball Fighterz, Rayman 2, and Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon. But this is my list, and X-Men 2 did some incredible things that were extremely impressive for the time it was released. Making superhero games is a tough thing. The instinct is that you can't just have heroes using an infinite amount of powers, or else it's extremely difficult to balance the game for difficulty. Too much reliance on powers, and the level leading up to the boss becomes too simple to keep the player's attention, much like the way that showdowns are frequently depicted in comic books - chew easily through the little dudes with guns before the big bad comes. That's an effective way to communicate a narrative, but for a game...not so much. As such, developers tended to give skills cooldowns or limited uses to force an engaging difficulty curve on players. This made non-supernatural heroes, or at least vulnerable heroes who need to get up close and personal, the most natural choices for games.

Enter X-Men 2. The team behind this game started with the premise that we are making this game with faithful reproductions of the mutants' powers, and that we're going to give you a wide range of mutants to play with. This sounds fraught with games design peril, but the developers absolutely NAILED the X-Men experience with their level, enemy, and character design. Every level feels increasingly challenging from the previous one. Every level is beatable by every mutant. But every level is also cleverly designed to make it easier to complete with certain of the mutants, giving you the incentive to play around with the cast in a way that other game play experiences would either default to forcing you to select a certain character for a level, or making one of the characters superior to all of the others so that you would need to select them for the vast majority of levels. On my playthrough, I literally use all of the characters at least once (Cyclops, Psylocke, Wolverine, Gambit, Magneto, Beast, and Nightcrawler are all playable).

The controls are not great. The music is bad, and the sound poor. If only we could have swapped sound and music from the otherwise dull Spider-Man and X-Men: Arcade's Revenge! Oh well. But the visuals are superb, and the core gameplay experience is as well. This is an excellent superhero game and deserves far more love and attention than it gets.

9. Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Speaking of games that have nailed the superhero experience, enter Miles. My faithful reader knows that I absolutely adored Marven's Spider-Man when it came out, and it should be no surprise that Miles was the PS5 title I was looking forward to more than any other. It's a new game that's using a nearly perfect gameplay engine, so I wasn't expecting a giant leap forward. It feels like something that was quickly patched together to give the PS5 a premium launch title, and I think that's accurate. It certainly doesn't have the length of the previous game. Controlling and fighting with Miles feels remarkably similar to controlling Peter, which is entirely appropriate, but I just wanted more to this game in the end. With all of that being said, the core engine is just too good to dock this game that much.

8. Final Fight

I had dabbled in beat 'em ups before, but I couldn't say I was particularly well-versed in the genre. My main experiences were playing Turtles in Time on my neighbor's SNES as well as Turtles in Time, X-Men, and The Simpsons at the arcade in our local Chuck E. Cheese. I enjoy those games, but Final Fight  is superior to all of them. The weapons, graphics, sound, diversity of characters, and extremely well-balanced two player experience delivers one of the finest arcade experiences of the era.

7. Enter the Gungeon

This was also the year I dipped my toes into roguelikes, a genre I'm going to pay closer attention to in the future. The repetitive nature of the genre scratches my itch for grinding away just a bit farther in challenging situations, while the random nature of the genre also makes every iteration a unique experience. Roguelikes are also interesting in that the gameplay can vary wildly between titles, as the focus of the genre is on progression rather than battle or exploration mechanics themselves. Gungeon in particular is an extremely well-crafted twin-stick shooter, but the roguelike mechanics make every decent into the bowels of the Gungeon, combined with the lighthearted experience bursting at the seams with homage to classic video games and pop culture, a very unique experience that's not to be missed.

6. Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse

I actually enjoyed all of the Castlevania games on the NES, but the progenitor of the series and its third iteration are head and shoulders above the second, which is a very interesting game with some deeply flawed mechanics and localization issues. It's hard to pick between this one and the first game, but both deliver an extremely thoughtfully designed, horrifically difficult experience that you'll remember for a long time after playing.

5. Final Fantasy VII Remake

Remaking classic games typically does little for me. I rarely view updated graphics as superior to classic ones, almost always prefer classic gameplay mechanics to the new, cut and paste combat and map mechanics that infect every last triple A game that gets released, and also love that classic games had real hardware limitations that forced developers to push the limits of their creativity. But, there are some titles that can definitely use a remake (Square Enix - you have a little game called Xenogears that might be well positioned for one!). One such title is Final Fantasy VII, a game with extraordinary impact that's tremendously fun today, but suffers from an unclear translation and visuals that, to put it lightly, look atrocious today, gorgeous cutscenes aside. 

But VII is my favorite Final Fantasy game, and I was suspicious about this remake to say the least. I haven't loved Square Enix' newest titles, and this one looked like a reskin of Final Fantasy XV, a forgettable game to say the least. But it was free on Playstation Plus, so I decided it was time to give it a go. And it was really outstanding! It did everything a reboot should do, with high quality voice acting and visuals, updated combat that's fun and engaging throughout, and faithful expansion of a universe that had a ton of creative potential for growth. The original is still superior when considered in its historical context, but this was a great remake. I can't wait for part two!

4. Hades

My roguelike journey continued this year with the best roguelike I have ever played, Hades. Using the roguelike mechanics as a method of storytelling was absolutely genius, and the writing for this game was top notch. I don't generally care in the slightest about story in games, but I found myself actively seeking out new connections between the characters and additional details regarding their stories. Throw in Diablo-style ARPG combat that's nearly perfectly crafted, and fun interactions between the various upgrades to make each run feel distinctly different, and you have an all-time classic game.

3. Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

I am very picky about JRPGs. I critique no genre more harshly, and demand exacting perfection from my role playing experiences. As a result, it had been a while since a JRPG truly charmed me. But lately, my cold, hard JRPG heart has been cracked open slightly by some excellent non-Final Fantasy titles that give me a tremendous amount of hope for the future. Xenoblade Chronicles, Bravely Default, and Final Fantasy VII Remake come to mind immediately, but none have captured my love more than Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. This game was visually charming, had solid character development mechanics, a great story, and a soundtrack that was nearing on the greatness of classic Uematsu or Mitsuda efforts (seriously). It combines the charm of Ghibli's distinctive animation style together with the meticulous attention to gameplay that has consistently characterized Level-5's development work. It would be difficult for me to find a non-Square, non-Pokemon RPG that I enjoy more than this one. I'm saving Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom for just the right moment, and am very confident that it will deliver exactly what I want.

2. Contra

I know, I know. How have I not seriously played this game before? That's what I was asking myself when I first got to the second level of Contra. This game is visually tremendous, with functionally zero slowdown on a console eternally known for it. The controls are the most perfect on the console, tied only with the greatness of Mega Man, Ninja Gaiden, and Super Mario Bros. The music is incredibly crafted and delightful. The bosses are huge and intimidating. What's more, Contra's notorious difficulty was actually the most fair that I have ever seen in an NES game this side of Super Mario Bros., giving you every piece of information and practice necessary to conquer every challenge, if you're patient and skilled enough. If you think you need the Konami code for this one, you're dead wrong. Just grind a bit every day and you'll start to see the genius game design in every enemy placement, jump, power up location, and miniboss. My only real complaint with this game is that the last level is far too easy, which cheapens the payoff here just enough to make it a notch below perfect. If you're like me and haven't played Contra yet, take it from someone who knows...go buy it! Contra Anniversary Collection is perennially on sale on every platform known to man, so you have no excuse.

1. Castlevania: Rondo of Blood

This is a game that's not generally gotten the same level of recognition in the West as the NES Castlevanias or Symphony of the Night, due to the fact that it was buried exclusively in Japan on a remarkably unpopular system for over a decade. The recent years have been kind(er) to Rondo, with a North American release on the PSP that's still somewhat reasonably priced, along with a far more accessible collection for modern consoles, Castlevania Requiem. Both also include the superb Symphony of the Night, which is worth the purchase price on its own (especially when you look at how expensive Symphony is on the PS1)! When I bought Requiem, I thought that at worst, I'd get sending another signal to the fine, Pachinko-addicted folks at Konami that I'd like more Castlevania, please. After all, I already had Symphony on the Xbox 360. But Rondo absolutely blew me away. It is, in my opinion, the most visually beautiful video game that had ever been produced at the time of its release (1993). The audio is absolutely superb, and far ahead of the pack of its peers thanks to its CD format. The gameplay is flawless, forming the building blocks that would lead to the masterpiece that is Symphony of the Night. Konami started to flesh out some of the exploratory concepts that they had introduced in Simon's Quest and Dracula's Revenge here, with secret pathways and bosses galore. The bosses are great, the level design is superb, and the cherry on the top is that you can replay through any level you've already beaten at any time! This is THE best classic Castlevania game, period.

Usually I conclude these posts with my gaming goals for the year. So far my year has been filled a few long RPGs, and those take a significant amount of time to complete. It's hard for me to set up a goal for games completed when the ones I'm choosing take so long to complete, but I'll do my best.

2022 Goal #1: Complete Chrono Cross

Already done!

2022 Goal #2: Complete 25 games I've never finished before

We're in March, and I've completed seven games already this year:

Chrono Cross

Axiom Verge

Armored Warriors

Gunstar Heroes

Streets of Rage 4

Star Fox 64

Mystery game that's up next on my triumphant return to What I'm Playing

I'm right on track for 25 at that rate, but with some longer RPGs mixed in, I might need to sprinkle in a couple of hour long Metal Slug or beat 'em up completions to make the goal. There's no shame in that. Right?

2022 Goal #3: Complete Secret of Mana

It was my goal several years ago, I didn't finish it, and now I need to finally sit down and do it. With my fancy new Collection of Mana game sitting on my shelf, there's no reason not to.

2022 Goal #4: Abandon games that aren't fun or that I'm not enjoying

I have been very proud of my OCD self for being able to do this lately, and I'm looking to continue this trend. In the last few months, I've given up playing Spider-Man and X-Men: Arcade's Revenge, Daffy Duck: The Marvin Missions, and Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City because they stink and my gaming time is too precious to waste playing things I don't enjoy.

2022 Goal #5: Buy some pricey new physical games for my collection

Money is always tight and the market is high, so this might not work out. But I'm on the lookout for solid deals on a Lufia II or a Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, and open to being sold on others if they come into my local game shop and I've had a good night at poker recently.

That's all for the 2021 reTROspective. See you soon for the resurrection of What I'm Playing! Let's say this one may be more contemporary than most of my choices.