This post may seem a bit early for an end-of-year reflection, but I’ll be out of town for a few weeks and likely won’t have too much time to sit down and write closer to the new year. I apologize in advance for all the blog-citement I’m going to be missing while I’m away. I’ll do my best to keep up with all your wonderful posts.
Over the past (almost) two years on this blog, I’ve been captivated by how organized all you folks are. You keep track of which games you’ve played as well as when you start and finish them. You make goals on what you’re going to accomplish, and formulate a plausible timeline to complete things in. These, along with other little pieces of data got me thinking: I’m unorganized! Sure, with the blog I have a running list of games I’ve bought and an inventory to match in various places, but I’ve often felt a little sheepish when looking at people’s yearly “completed games” lists. I’m a slow gamer. I don’t often break 10 games per year at the rate I go, but I take my time playing games for several reasons.
- I have a full time job, and it’s a job that often comes home with me at night and on weekends. It’s simply hard to make time to play as much as I’d like.
- I love the stories of games I play so much that I hate finishing them. Once they’re finished, it means they’re over, usually forever.
- I get overwhelmed with what to play next sometimes. There are so many things I want to play and I get all bent out of shape trying to choose something. I guess having too much choice is a good problem to have.
Number 3 was why I embarked on the Sega Master System RPG quest at the end of 2016, to help focus my gaming a bit. I’ve made some progress through it but am nowhere near having completed it by now, which I’m totally fine with. Hopefully 2018 will bring many more good times with my Master System, as well as a variety of other consoles and their wonderful games.
In the meantime, in my slight attempt to get organized at the beginning of 2017, I started keeping track of the games I’ve finished in my “Game Beatings” spreadsheet. These are games I finished either for the first time or for the millionth time, but I threw them all in a list to share with you all. Here they are, roughly grouped by console:
The Legend of Zelda
Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros. 2
Super Mario Bros. 3
Master of Darkness
Miracle Warriors (1st time)
Phantasy Star (1st time)
Psychic World (1st time)
SpellCaster (1st time)
Ys: The Vanished Omens (1st time)
Stackhead Iario (my glitched version of SMB1)
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Kirby’s Dreamland
Super Mario Land
Pitfall II (1st time)
Harvest Moon 64 (1st time)
The Impossible Game
It may not seem particularly impressive, but it’s my little list of completed games, a grand total of 16 (I’ve counted SMB1 and Stackhead Iario as one since they are the same game). I also played mostly through Wonderboy in Monster Land, Wonderboy in Shinobi World, and Dragon Crystal. I might work on finishing them in the new year now that my rage towards them has dwindled substantially, but as of now, they remain incomplete. There are others I could mention here as partially completed, but I’ve felt like my brain has been on fire for a number of days now. Nothing else is coming to me for the moment.
I don’t really have big goals for 2018 except to continue playing through the games I’ve collected, and find some more time to make new Let’s Plays and do some video reviews for fun. I’m definitely going to create a second column in my “Game Beatings” spreadsheet for 2018, so perhaps I’ll surprise myself with a more robust accomplished list in about 365 days from now.
What did you guys play in 2017? What was your favourite new/old game you played? My favourites by far were Harvest Moon, Miracle Warriors and Pitfall II. I am going to have the Pitfall II music stuck in my head for a while after re-listening to it.
Thank you all very much for reading. It has been a bunch of fun being on this wonderful adventure with you all. All the best in the holiday season!
-GG
hungrygoriya 
I’m not really that organized. I play what I’m in the mood for, and then review it. My job doesn’t always make that easy, as my shifts are 10 hours long. So I have to chisel my way through some of the games in bits after work every night, or jam on it all day on a day off.
I played a fair amount of stuff this year. Not a ton of new releases though I did love BOTW, Cuphead, Rivals Of Aether, and Road Redemption. Bubsy was pretty good. There were obviously better platformers but it wasn’t the terrible disaster people predicted. I think that they hired Black Forest Games (Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams) went a long way to making it a fun (If terribly short) experience. I enjoyed Mirage, but unfortunately like Lawbreakers, good multiplayer games don’t always gather a large following. It’s just the risk you take when you buy a new game sometimes.
I played a number of old games this year. Most recently, Boulder Dash XL 3D on the 3DS which I reviewed. I got Pac-Attack (which I also reviewed) at RetroWorld Expo along with Joe & Mac (Super NES), and Tapper (Atari 2600). Some other stuff I picked up off the top of my head; Star Wars Arcade (Atari 2600), Private Eye (Atari 2600) Super Mario World (again but for the Super Famicom), Street Fighter Alpha 2 (Super NES). I know I’m forgetting a few.
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Also Pitfall II: Lost Caverns is a must own for any 2600 owner. There were also ports to the Commodore 64 (which had an excellent revision of the soundtrack), Atari 5200 (Which added an extra stage if you beat the game, and added a second ending.), Colecovision, Atari 8-bit computer line, an arcade version, even a Sega SG-1000 version. There were other ports too, But the 2600 version is the most iconic because it was a technical marvel. David Crane designed a Graphics, and Sound chip specifically for the cartridge!
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I loved reading that you enjoyed Miracle Warriors for the Sega Master System. I loved it back in the day and even now but I would understand if people felt it was too slow or required too much grinding for XP. What about it that made you enjoy it so much?
For Phantasy Star did you figure out how to find Dark Falz or did you have to look it up? I’m not judging, I’m just curious. When I first beat it long before there was the Internet I was stuck for a long time until someone told roughly what needed to be done. It was a very good day 🙂
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I’m a bit masochistic when it comes to my RPGs I guess. It might be that it was my first SMS RPG and that I absolutely adored the enemy sprites, the music, the ass-backwards directions, the fear of running into really hard fights and scratching my head on how to move forward… it was all just really fun. That’s exactly the kind of game I love.
With Phantasy Star’s end boss, I quite literally hammered down until he died. It took me some grinding and finding all the Laconian stuff, but I found it all on my own without needing to look too hard into any walkthroughs. I got stuck a little when trying to interpret some of the “fly to the sky” stuff, but I had found all the items. I just didn’t know how to use them!
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It’s incredible how I fully agree with all of your points. I’d like as well to have time to go the markets, buy games and play them but unfortunately my job takes almost all the time I have during the day (and I work during the weekeds as you do…sigh…). Just like you, sometimes I love so much the story and the plot behind the games that simply I hope I will never complete them (in fact I cried when I’ve beaten Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and Day of the Tentacle) and I have so many games to play (even though I’m not even remotely close to the amount of games and systems you have) that I don’t know where to start. Since I’m a slow gamer as well I’ve beaten just a few games this year and none of them was a particularly remarkable title. The intention for 2018 is to expand my 8-bit library so NES and SMS games, start to play again the MS-DOS games I’ve begun in the past and win the lottery in order to have time to buy and play games! 🙂 🙂 🙂 I loved how you’ve found time to stream your gaming sessions, buy games, play them and edit videos for your youtube channel. I hope you can become soon one of those people that get paid for buying and playing games! (In this case I’ll be you first financial supporter! 🙂 )
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Those pesky jobs, eh? I wish I had more hours in the day sometimes! I’m glad I’m not the only person out there that feels the things I feel with respect to games and their stories. It’s so hard to leave games behind!
I hope you have great luck in the new year with finding more games and expanding your library. I’m very lucky to have had some time to sit down and do some recording and streaming. Hopefully I’ll have even more time in the new year to do some other stuff as well. It’s very kind of you to say you’d support me financially if I ever go that route. I don’t have plans to any time soon though!
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Being paralyzed by choice when it’s time to choose your next game is tough. I know that feeling all too well, haha. I look forward to more streams next year and hopefully I’ll be able to attend more as well.
Side-note: congrats on beating Sonic 2. To this day, I’ve never been able to beat Metal Sonic.
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I’m glad I’m not the only one! I’ve always had a hard time being assertive and choosing where to go next in life, not just in gaming! I’ll be happy to have you hanging around in chat in the future. Hopefully I can get back on track right after I get home.
And thanks about Sonic 2. I used to have a really hard time with metal sonic, but now I can kick his butt pretty quickly. If you wanna see me whoop him, go to 28:54 of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXNVEvYXDs4 . I am extremely proud of my performance against metal sonic these days.
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Those are some great games you beat this year and I can relate to not having enough time! I’m afraid to think about what I’ve beaten (and a few I tried to beat and gave up on) this year. It is probably a lot less than I would like haha
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Thank you! I wish I had more hours in the day and that my job was less demanding sometimes. Hopefully you’ll have some time to pick up your incomplete games and finish them sometime! Congrats on making it through some stuff though!
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Nice list here. Lots of great old-school games, I love it! Kirby’s Dreamland was one of my favorites as a kid. Not an easy game by any means. Also beat Ys I last year and it was.. interesting? The bump mechanic is bizarre and took till practically the end of the game to get used to.
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I could play Kirby games every day for the rest of my life! They’re so relaxing and cute!
Ys was something I had to adapt to as well. The bump mechanic was something I could not quite understand – it seemed to work randomly for me! I honestly hated the second half of the game so much. It was so confusing and convoluted, and in my first playthrough, I missed a piece of armour or the shield and had a hell of a time getting through the second last boss. I mean, it literally took me 2 hours of trying over and over again to make it. Just awful! I did love the story and the final battle, as well as the soundtrack and the first half of the game though. I’m interested to play more Ys games in the future!
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It’s so hard to find time to game 😦 Congrats on your list! I haven’t checked what I did this year yet, but I’m betting it’s less than 10. I blame HZD and Dragon Age Origins for stealing my year. Couldn’t be happier 😀
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You finished more games than I did! I think I’m only around 4-5, but I’m playing 6 right now. I’ve watched more than I’ve played. I have the same issues. Working full time (overtime actually as I’m writing this lol) and having tons of other projects going. I think you’re doing remarkably well 😊
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Why thank you my dear! I hope you are enjoying your 6th game. Stupid life getting in the way, eh? 😛
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Work is so ridiculous this time of year. I pretty much spend entire days working on one thing, because we have this additional huge client that’s even bigger than the huge client we were used to. Ah well, I’ll have plenty of OT in January. I need the money for my car inspection lol.
FYI did you get my card yet? I know it’ll take a while to get over the border, but a few of my American pals have already received theirs!
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I didn’t receive it yet! I was away for a little while and just got home yesterday. I had a friend and a neighbour collecting my mail, but no sight of it yet. Did you get mine?
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I did! Darn international mail 😥 I don’t get why it takes so long to go from the States.
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I couldn’t tell ya. I’ll let you know when I receive it though! Even if it never comes, the sentiment is kind enough on its own ❤
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What a great list of beat games this year! So many classics! Congratulations!!! I’m glad to have seen some of them through your awesome let’s play videos!! Truth be told, aside from games I rebeat this year with my SNES Classic, I haven’t rebeat many games this year. I’ve been busy beating a bunch of games for the first time though! I admit I’m one of those people that keep track of everything using a site called Backloggery. It’s a lifesaver because I never could keep anything together otherwise hahaha.
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Hooray! I’m glad you’ve been enjoying the LPs. I’m happy to hear that you’ve been reliving some of your awesome gaming memories through the SNES classic. I was using Backloggery more as a collection archive site, but found VG Collect, which I liked much more. I’m glad you do keep track of your games that way though. I dabble in so many games simultaneously, I always forget to update my progress!
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I might have to try VG Collect then if you’re a big fan of it! I haven’t really ventured past Backloggery, but I don’t know if I can handle manually putting in all the games into another website haha. The amount of time it took me just to get my Backloggery page in order took forever!
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Oh I know. That was part of the reason I deserted Backloggery in the first place. It was becoming too hard to upload everything in several places. VG Collect doesn’t really track progress so much as it allows you to painstakingly inventory every piece of your game collection. It lets you put what parts of a game (box, manual, other inserts) you might have from each game or item. That was the big draw for me!
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Ahhh that’s much better for a collector then! For me, I’m also a progress tracker. I like stats and that kind of stuff, so Backloggery is such a lifesaver for me. I always know where I am in a game and can also look back at my progress. I used to stare at my memory card data as a kid (I know, I’m weird!), so Backloggery was perfect for me.
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