I just beat __

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Yoku's Island Express (Switch)

Also available on: PC, PS4, XB1

If you thought the title of this game is read as "Yoshi's Island Express": don't worry, you're not alone. In fact, I thought this game's title was read as such at first. Despite the similarity between Yoshi and Yoku's name, there is nothing in common with Yoshi here since Yoku is a dung beetle who carries around a ball attached to it on a string. I suppose Yoshi's egg and Yoku's ball has a remotely similar thing going on, being round objects that can be used as pinballs (ala Mario Pinball Land) but by and large it doesn't operate similarly. One thing to note is that in this game, the ball is actually the "controlled character", with Yoku being the justification of the ball moving around.

In the beginning Yoku was riding in his ball to an island, where he was tasked as a postmaster to deliver mail and goodies to various inhabitants. One of the key tasks is that he need to deliver letters to three important figures around the island for an urgent meeting. The ball that he carries around ended up being instrumental in saving the island from a god figure of the island, as he helped the three important figures solve the crises they're facing along with the god figure. Thankfully Yoku isn't alone, for a number of inhabitants lent their help to the titular dung beetle when they are needed.

The gameplay of Yoku's Island Express can be simplified to "Pinball-vania", because its general gameplay style contains pinball elements like flippers, rails and bumpers. On the "-vania" side, it has quite a number of similarities to Metroid. For one, the game takes place in a single locale, and the location has several smaller areas that are waiting to be uncovered. There are also obstacles that, with the right equipment, allows the player to bypass them and expand the amount of places they could go to. (The -vania side is from the term "Metroidvania", in case you are wondering)

If there is one thing I would describe the game, it would be how ambient it is. For one, the whole island is largely rural and full of nature, with one (large) stone temple. That makes everything in it feel natural in a familiar sort of way, compared to how games like Mario and Kirby has fantasy places that could take some time to acclimate to. Sure it has odd things like pinball staples, but it doesn't feel out of place because the surrounding areas makes up for that. The inhabitants are, while somewhat fantastical, have their roots in real animals so most of them didn't feel out of place, though I do admit how quite a number of them resemble Audino. The collectible in this game is fruit, and it's required for purchasing and unlocking stuff. The game is pretty generous with fruits, and that's not too big of a deal because the island is full of nature. It also helps that the music is top notch, and the game credits musicians for the instruments they play, which is surprising to me just as it surprised me that Paper Mario: Colour Splash credited instrument players. One of my favourites is this one when you first enter the island:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktr12eRcLcc

The game has two endings, based on what is completed. The first ending requires that the main quests are completed, which is easy to do because the important places are marked on the map, so it's a matter of reaching the spots. The second ending is based on collecting all the game's collectibles Wickerlings, which look like mandrake dolls. These on the other hand are not as easy to get because they are not immediately marked on the map until you get eyeballs to find the uncollected ones, and even then, they are usually found in tricky places. There are also torches that require 10 each, some tougher to reach than others. From what I gathered in the ending, it brings up an open possibility of a sequel if there ever were one.

I greatly enjoyed this game enough to want to finish it, which is a great sign of a wonderful game, despite some tedium in going from one place to another. This is a very thoroughly enjoyed game by many people back in 2018, and I can see why it's very much enjoyed: it's cute, it's engaging, it's got a great balance in presentation and music, and more important: it felt original. It's little wonder it won the "Best Debut Indie Game".

Thank you for reading.
 
The spirit battle of BotW Zelda in Ultimate without using spirits, thank god for K. Rool's Gut Check. I also beat WoL on hard with Piranha Plant only, and fittingly, my most used primary spirit was Petey Piranha.
 
Super Smash Bros Ultimate (100% World Of Light).

I got all the endings in my little brother's file (again), and I took Greninja, Meta Knight and Sonic for the Grand Finale. The final boss was simply awesome, and I like how Galleem and Darkhon fight each other during the boss. Sure, the ending was not really special, but completing WoL was worth it, especially concerning Internet spoilers. But my favourite part has to be the part where you play as MASTER HAND! This honestly makes me want him to be a playable character in Smash 6.
 
Yooka-Laylee

Capital B is defeated, and every achievement has been earned; game is 100% completed.
 
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Rogue Warrior is a FPS published by Bethesda and starring and based on the exploits of SEAL Team 6 founder Richard Macinko. You've been sent on an undercover ops to retrieve an informant in North Korea, only for things to become a total goatfuck when it turns out the Norks are conspiring with the Soviets to make the Cold War go hot. This takes the form of a ridiculously linear and easy shootbang with broken stealth mechanics.


By far the biggest part of Rogue's Warrior is Demo Dick himself. Voiced by Mickey Rourke, who I guess really needed the paycheck or something, he is an hilarious protagonist who doesn't go a minute without professing his hatred for commie motherfuckers, telling people to suck on his balls after throwing a grenade or so on. That the game ends with a rap mix of his best lines is icing on the cake


It's also short - really short. My Steam playtime after beating the game showed 100 minutes and a good 15 of that was troubleshooting tech problems as the PC port is quite broken. I could actually refund it under Steam,s refund policy, but I know for a fact I won't as I had so much fun with this and will certainly replay for years to come.
 
Crash Bandicoot: N.Sane Trilogy

Fully completed Crash Bandicoot Warped, but I found out the hard way that the Nintendo Switch version requires you to collect Future Tense's gems and gold relic if you want to fully complete the game. That's rather odd, seeing as the first Crash Bandicoot doesn't treat Stormy Ascent as a base game level; you're not required to play Stormy Ascent to achieve 100% completion, making it a completely optional level.

Fortunately, Future Tense is not too difficult to complete, since Crash has access to moves that he lacked in the first Crash Bandicoot.
 
Mario Tennis Aces (100%)

So I finally decided to play this game a little more and I got to 100%. It's not that hard. 100% requirements:
-Beat all stages in Adventure Mode, including the Island of Trials
-Beat all three CPU Tournaments

The Island of Trials isn't nearly as hard as it sounds. The panel challenge was a little tough, though. But the final boss rush challenge? Hardest thing in the game by far. There's no time limit, but you have to somehow beat all six bosses without breaking all your rackets. The final boss fight gave me a whole lot of blocking practice the first time around, but it was still tough.

There is no direct reward for 100%, but there is a little surprise after defeating the boss rush. I sm not including character unlocks as 100%, since you can't unlock them all right now, but I have Boom Boom so there's that.
 
i guess i can bring this up now

i've recently beaten a hat in time

it was a nice game

i make dyes for it now.
 
Kirby's Adventure (Switch)

Beat the main game with all hidden switches. Nightmare was really tough and that guy on YouTube who said he was easier than Whispy Woods is nuts. Also (never knew this before today), the first phase of the Nightmare fight is actually timed, and if too much time passes Nightmare will flee and give everyone bad dreams while Kirby gets crushed by the screen. And since I pressed all hidden switches as well, I was congratulated with the "Hero of Lore" completion title.

Of course, this does not mean that I've fully completed the game. I still have to beat the Extra Game (which I will not be able to do in one sitting despite what the game says), all three sub-games on the highest difficulty setting, and the Boss Endurance.
 
Galeem on Hard difficulty using a specific spirit set:

Any high-power primary from a series of the character you are using
Hinawa (become invincible once you reach 100% damage)
Hungry Luma (extends the transformation effects, such as giant, invincible etc)

With this, you have a much better chance of surviving his own version of Tabuu's Off Waves
 
Super Bomberman R.

damn that game was short!

So I beat the game in less than 5 hours, but it sure was a challenge. The fourth boss was hard, level 3-5 was not very cakey, and don't get me started on level 7-9, which has to be one of the hardest and cruelest levels I've ever played in my life! You gotta solve a puzzle despite the screen being literally covered by enemies! Sure, this is postgame stuff, and I beat all of it. If I'll play the game again, it's gonna be for multiplayer.
 
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Hidden my game by mom (Mobile)
Hidden my game by mom 2 (Mobile)
Hidden my game by mom 3 (Mobile)
My brother ate my pudding (Mobile)
Mr Success (Mobile)

I am listing 5 games at once here, because they are all developed by the same developer, and all have the same genre: they are basically "Escape Room" games in a sense that you have a limited amount of screens to work with to fulfill your objective, although there is only one game in the list that is truly about escaping. The title of these games are indeed quite fishy, because they sound like titles of mobile game apps that are low-effort low-quality games that follows the title of a popular game. Even the English for each game is iffy! However, they are genuine games and they are developed by a Japanese company called "hap inc.", so if you see titles from this developer, you know they are the real deal.

As previously mentioned, they are basically escape room games. The "Hidden my game by mom" series is about finding the boy's game device that looks vaguely like a 3DS, while not unraveling his mother or other types of hazards. "Mr Success", the most recent release, is about a recurring character performing tricks that would impress the audience, and finally "My brother ate my pudding" is about the boy needing to escape from his raging sister after he ate her pudding.

Each level except possibly the first game's first level all have a certain twist that make the level not that straightforward to solve. For example, one of the levels have a lever where the player can put rocks, but putting enough rocks will actually result in the mother being pulled down by the rock's weight, leading to a game over. What the player needs to do in this level is to put enough rocks as to not make the mother appear, because the game is hidden under the last rock.

The game has all sorts of running gags and rules, which means that a player familiar with them knows what they mean. As an example, any stray wallet is meant to be avoided because just putting it in your inventory is an invitation for the police to chase the player. The boy's grandfather is also a safe ally unless the player gives him certain things, like a hockey mask. It also has references to other Japanese iconic properties, such as Doraemon and Dragon Ball. As an example, there is a desk with the boy's descendant providing a tool that will help him retrieve a game, referencing Doraemon's signature desk where the drawer is a gateway to time travelling.

Every game have 30 levels so they are short, although the last level are different from the rest as it's mainly about touching moments rather than the usually hijinks while the player desperately get his game back or escape from his sister, or in Mr. Success' case, perform a final act. After that, the "Random" option is unlocked, which contains not only levels that are played before, but also new levels which unfortunately doesn't get added to the selection to be replayed.

There is a Switch game called "Mom Hid My Game!", which is basically the first two "Hidden my game by mom", but it's also a paid game so I guess this is an option if you are planning to get this game on the Switch.

Thank you for reading.
 
Dark Souls Remastered. It was a tough ride, but I beat it.
 
Dragon Ball FighterZ (Nintendo Switch) - Finished the main story yesterday, the Android arc drags on a little too much for my liking.

Delta Rune Chapter 1 (Nintendo Switch) - Initially wanted to do a genocide run since I did pacifist on the PC version, but ended up doing another pacifist run. I don't think it matters much this time around unless Toby is secretly planning to pull a "Surprise! Your choices actually did matter all along, you monster." whenever chapter 2 comes out.
 
beat three games this week that I started playing at various times:

BoxBoy!
Joy Mech Fight
Kirby Battle Royale
 
The final sidequest in Ever Oasis that I put up with for so long, defeating an Octocrast. Now all of my Bloom Booths are maxed out, so I can freely decorate my oasis with the shops that are easy to maintain.
 
Splatoon 2 - Octo Expansion (Nintendo Switch)

That... was amazing. I simply have no words.
 
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Mutant Mudds Collection (Switch)

As far as I know, this collection is Switch exclusive, despite the fact that two of the games are available on other platforms: Mutant Mudds Deluxe and Mutant Mudds Super Challenge. Mudd Blocks is the only exclusive game, and is also the one that takes advantage of what the Nintendo Switch could do. The games I have completed are the first two games, since Mudd Blocks is endless (it's an action puzzler) so there is no goal to meet except getting high scores.

The basic gist of the game is that alien mud monsters called "Mutant Mudds" have invaded the earth, and it's up to Max, the bespectacled blonde boy to take up the task in tackling the threat. Max is able to use his water gun to shoot the Mudds into oblivion, and he also has a water jet pack to hover in air for a short time. Because Max moves a bit slowly, the levels are quite compact, making them nice bite-sized challenges.

The difference between Deluxe and Super Challenge is essentially the difficulty. You see, Mutant Mudds Deluxe was designed for the player to complete the level in one go, and so the levels are overall shorter and more important: easier. Therefore, when checkpoints were added for the Deluxe version, the game becomes easier because now you have a safety net in every level. This would in effect mean that the bonus levels are easier because they were short, and checkpoints made them even shorter. Not that I mind, since the game's not that easy so to have checkpoints is greatly welcomed. Mutant Mudds Super Challenge, on the other hand, is probably designed with checkpoints in mind, so it was difficult without them (you can toggle them off), but the checkpoints made the levels more manageable.

The way the bonus levels are handled is different. In every level, there is a door leading to V-Land or G-Land, which both have a colour scheme inspired by the Virtual Boy's red tint and Gabe Boy's green tint respectively. Deluxe is more or less a pure platforming challenge, but Super Challenge adds the collect-a-thon aspect found in the main levels, plus a door that will unlock a character. Another thing about Super Challenge is that there are bosses, and they are quite tough as they must be defeated in one sitting, since they will be at full health after every death. I consider some bosses to be pretty fun to tackle, namely the second, third and the final boss, while the fourth is quite tedious.

Ghost Levels are present in both, and in Deluxe's case, it's added to this game over the original (which doesn't have it). Mutant Mudds have 20 original Ghost levels that are rearranged layouts with enemies that cannot be defeated by the tradition water gun, so they are basically invincible. The only way to defeat them is to collect a different gun with 10 ammo, but it's only a temporary reprieve as the ghost Mudds will be resurrected in a few seconds. These levels are difficult precisely due to the undead enemies. Super Challenge restricts Ghost levels to only the third level in each area, plus the third boss. Even though the number of ghost levels is reduced, it's still pretty tough, especially the final level.

The game also presents 3 mutually-exclusive power-ups that can be used to make the levels more manageable and access bonus levels: Power Shot, Extended Hover and Vertical Boost. Power Shot makes each shot travel further and make it possible to fire more rapidly, Extended Hover doubles the hovering time and Vertical Boost basically acts as a double jump that makes the character jump high. In my opinion, Vertical Boost is the most useful because it makes the character jump high, and if the space is open, it even eclipse the Extended Hover in functionality because you can cover the same ground with a regular hover plus double jump. It's also a lifesaver in many situations which means that unless the bonus level requires a Power Shot to shoot down a wall, it's indispensable. By contrast, the Power Shot is mainly used to have an easier time with enemies and several bosses, so it's still got its use. In my opinion, if Extended Hover needs to be useful, it needs to have like triple the hovering time instead of double.

After completing Deluxe, Max's grandmother Grannie is unlocked, and the special thing about her is that all three abilities are activated at once, making every existing level a cakewalk. Grannie is also able to access CGA-Land, which has CGA-inspired graphics featuring the cyan and magenta colours and dithering. The levels are also larger to accommodate Grannie's higher freedom of movement. Grannie is unfortunately not available in Super Challenge, only appearing in the end.

Initially when I got this game at an 80% discount, I was hesitant to play it because of Super Challenge, which I remembered was very tough when I played the Wii U demo, but I felt that playing the Deluxe to familiarise myself with the game helped a huge lot in making Super Challenge more manageable. I would also like to thank the ability to use checkpoints and the Vertical Boost because those two make the tough levels easier to handle, leaving the bosses are the tough ones as boss levels don't have checkpoints and the area is not suited for hovering. In other words, I am surprised that I managed to beat Super Challenge and thus, it felt like an accomplishment. And it only took 396 death! (Did I mention that Super Challenge has a death counter?)

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Thank you for reading.
 
Kirby's Return to Dream Land (Main Mode 100%)

After an epic plot twist and two epic final battles, I managed to beat this game, with the help of a couple of my siblings. Not only that, but I brought my completion percentage up to 100%, which means that I beat the final boss with all 120 Energy Spheres collected and all seven Challenge Stages cleared. This game was great, and I'm looking forward to playing the Arena and Extra Mode!
 
Mario & Luigi: Dream Team. I beat Dreamy Bowser, but I had to do it in a mode to make it easier.
 
Pokemon Emerald, beat the Elite Four

I felt like diving into Pokemon for a bit. It's still fun but the game is mostly just me holding the speed up button on the emulator. Old Pokemon is begging to be hacked, as there's really no means of getting some of your favorite Pokemon in these games these days. Anti-cheat measures being in these games astound me, but they're still worked around, as I vaporized one Bad Egg with a botched duplicate glitch. But other than grabbing a female Torchic and Mudkip in the very first few moments of the game, everything else is legit.

Mudkip's line is practically easy mode, with no really bad matchups in major battles; grass attacks are pretty nonexistent aside from the odd Tropius; the common Oddish doesn't even use grass moves. I can't really say the same for Torchic, though, as Torchic has some ups and downs, but those downs really stood out to me as Torchic had to deal with paralysis running amok practically the entire game with not only never ending thunder waves but also the ever-annoying Static ability that grants paralysis on physical contact, and while Mudkip gets away by evolving and learning non-contact mudshot, Torchic has to rely on either the weak Ember and stronger double kick (a contact move). Torchic also has to deal with Wingull and Tentacool spam a lot throughout the game and Torchic has some pretty bad matchups with major gym battles (Rock (before Torchic evolves), Flying, Psychic, Water). I just can't imagine Treecko being any better though as its level up moves are pretty atrocious and it has to rely on absorb before it gets leaf blade, and leaf blade is 70 BP in Emerald and remains Treecko's strongest move while Mudkip gets Surf, Muddy Water, Earthquake, and Torchic gets Blaze Kick and Sky Uppercut. Even in the remake, Treecko is a special attacker (which useable physical to be fair) and its level up set is overwhelming majority physical; why Treecko gets Energy Ball ONLY in its base form and at level 37 which is pretty late, I have no idea but developers probably hate its evolutions that much I guess.

Grabbed Wingull, proved to be useful as she learns wing attack and water gun very early, but she fell off mid-game and had to reluctantly abandon for a more diverse team.

Early game is really rough for Ralts as he had to deal with Poochyneas spawning everywhere he goes, but he paid off once he became Gardevoir and I taught him shock wave.

Shroomish had a different playstyle in the beginning by making her opponents suffer through leech seed + stun spore + mega drain/headbutt but then she became a Breloom that kills everything with Mach Punch/Sky Uppercut but dies a lot, but can deal with some earthquake/magnitude spammers.

Magnemite was useful throughout the game since I caught it. It helped beat the Elite Four when it thunder wave + supersonic Wallace's Milotic for a hilarious to watch parafusion.

Zigzagoon was useful early game especially for pickup that granted me rare items like full heal and great balls but quickly fell off and abandoned it.

Marill and Tropius made for good HM slaves but they're a constant reminder to me how much HMs truly suck and it astounds me that it took them seven generations to finally banish the damn things. HMs aren't useful, their design runs completely against Pokemon's ideas of running a balanced team as you're stuck with either a sixth Pokemon that has to be occasionally put in PC and has some EXP catching up to do or you just sacrifice an entire team slot. I understand that you need them to get past some road blocks and beat Gyms, but there are far better ways to implement obstacles, and Pokemon Sun and Moon (which I haven't played) did it with ITEMS.

The Acro and Mach Bike split is annoying and I think they just gave the bike two gears in later generations, or at least in Diamond and Pearl.

I'm glad the Game Corner is dead in the remake. I'm actually a little disturbed today that this sort of thing was acceptable in such a game.

Breakable TMs suck especially probably back in the days when catching em all was actually feasible (again, it's not worth bothering catching 'em all today because outdated technology, no one plays it, no one nearby really has link cables and spare gbas lying around) when you need TMs if you want to try out a new Pokemon or give it some interesting moves. At least Flamethrower, Ice Beam, and Thunderbolt were in Game Corner and you could salvage by abusing coin exchange and not gamble, but Earthquake being single-use TM and not replenishable is really really bad.

The Elite Four, beat on first try, though Wallace gave some trouble but only because his Gyrados outsped and used Earthquake on Magneton, but I didn't take out Gardevoir, which probably would've killed his Gyrados with Shock Wave.
 
Kirby's Adventure (100% + Extra)

I finally beat Extra Mode in this game (with the help of suspend points, as Extra Mode doesn't allow saving). It was pretty tough, especially with my reduced lives and health, as well as the increased difficulty of the sub-games, but I'm glad that I finally did it. I now have the highest save file rank of Super Star (possible foretelling of Kirby Super Star?), accompanied by the save file caption "PERFECT". According to the NES Online app, I put almost 15 hours into this game, which is impressive for an NES game.

I have yet to beat the Boss Endurance, which apparently isn't required for true 100%, but regardless, I do plan to beat it eventually.
 
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Adventures of Lolo (NES) via NES - Nintendo Switch Online

The plot of the game is simple: Lala is kidnapped by the King Egger and sent to his castle, so Lolo needs to travel to the castle to confront the king himself. To make matters difficult for Lolo, the levels are littered with threats that won't make the adventure easy.

This game brings to mind Chip's Challenge, which is another game where you control a character on a grid-based level, where you need to collect the game's collectibles so that the exit can be accessed. Unlike Chip's Challenge, Adventures of Lolo requires collect all the Heart icons, but you need to go to the treasure chest to eradicate every enemy and open the way to the next level or floor.

The game contains 50 levels, split between 10 floors with 5 levels each. There are some levels that are easy, but there are some levels that are complex. Naturally, the toughest levels are found in the higher floors.

I don't think there is a manual for the game (through the NES app), so I had to figure out how enemies work by way of observation. For example, there are Medusa heads, but if Lolo is in their line of sight, he's out. Some enemies only become threats when every single Heart collectible are gathered, which means that the player needs to prepare for their movements. An example are skulls, which start to move around and they are pretty erratic in their movements. I didn't know the significance of grass terrain until I looked up a guide to complete a level, since it takes advantage of the grass' repelling effect on moving enemies.

Enemies aren't the only thing that differ between levels. You see, Heart collectibles might contain magic shots, which allow Lolo to encase enemies in eggs, making them able to be pushed around of cleared off with another shot. Some levels even provide Lolo with an inventory that can only be used when a certain number of Hearts are collected, which gives the game an extra puzzle-solving element.

This game contains lives, and from what I read, if Lolo loses all his lives then a password is provided to continue from the last point. It's a good thing I used Suspend Points between levels then, because it's pretty much the same outcome except Suspend Points allow me to return to the action quicker.

In case you are wondering what the ending image is like, here you go:
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With that said, I do wonder: if Lolo is in Smash, would he be from his universe or would he be from the Kirby universe since Lolo and Lala are far more popular as Kirby bosses than from their home series. On the one hand, basing their moveset from their series provides more possibilities, but the Kirby series would also benefit from more characters.

Thank you for reading.
 
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