Topic: Games you've recently beat

@colonelkilgore @LtSarge The Americanised spelling of “Judgment” annoys me every time too..

And having played the Yakuza series, I cannot fathom why anyone would choose English dialogue for that game. Part of me would still like to hear the supposedly terrible English “dub” for the first Yakuza game with Mark Hamill and Michael Madsen though

@Thrillho well you learn something new everyday... I didn't even know there was a separate American spelling of judgement. I've just checked my shelf though... and what do you know Judgment. I'll never be able to unsee it now!

@Thrillho The thing is that you play these games for an immersive experience; you're in Japan, playing as a Japanese person, interacting with Japanese people, experiencing a Japanese life style and so on. Why then ruin the immersion by having people speak English? If I could read Japanese, I would be playing these games both voiced and texted in Japanese.

I dunno about that mate… ask @Thrillho, I can’t even spell Kiwami right 😅

@RogerRoger I really loved Spider-Man 3 on PS2 when I was younger. By all accounts it’s much much better than the PS3 version too. There’s just a lot of potential to free roam in it with the gang mechanics and the collectibles so I messed about in it a lot.

Just finished Sonic the Hedgehog 3 on PS3. I played through the first two games about a decade ago but I still hadn't played through Sonic 3 until now. It was a great game, although there weren't many levels that stood out to me. The two most memorable ones were Angel Island and Ice Cap Zone, of which the latter is easily my favourite due to the snow theme and the great music. I do have to say that this game felt more forgiving compared to the previous two and the level design was consistent unlike the first game where they introduced that annoying maze level towards the end of the game. So overall, I enjoyed my time with Sonic 3 and I'm glad that I've finally played it.

Now I have three more games left in the Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection before I'm "done" with it (since I have the latest Mega Drive compilation on Switch, so I'm trying to finish off the games that aren't on it but are on the PS3 version), which are the two Ecco the Dolphin games and Sonic & Knuckles. Since I've already finished a Sonic game, I might try out Ecco. Never played this series before so I'm curious to see why people like it.

@LtSarge Hi there friend.
Just saw your post and had to coment.
Sonic 3 was my very first Sonic game and played it waaaay to many times, even though it was the very first that alowed saving your progress of sorts. Became a Sonic Fan and played all the other ones.
I also got stuck in Carnival zone with the barrel....... Took me quite some time to figure that i need to use the d-pad up and down...... I was only eleven, That´s my excuse anyway 😜
My all time favourite Sonic levels and music are from Hydrocity and Ice Cap zones. Act 2 for Hydrocity and Act 1 for Ice Cap.
What really blew mw away was when I got Sonic and Knuckles and I could play the "full game" adventure, with 3 characters now and 14 Chaos Emeralds. It was an awesome experience.
I mean, getting the Emeralds was a pain, but getting Hyper versions of each character was a blast. And that is also how you get the Final Dr Robotnick Boss fight in spaaaaaaaaace. Portal 2 reference 😉
If you enjoyed Sonic 3, then your going to enjoy S&K. Some great levels and music on that one.
Even though I´m a Sega kid, I never played Ecco the Dolphin. Didnt see the apeal at the time.
Carry on with your Sega Mega Drive journey my friend.
Cheers, stay safe and Happy New year with more Happy gaming to us all

@RaZieLDaNtE I thought about collecting all the chaos emeralds in Sonic 3 but I didn't feel like playing those bonus levels lol. Still had a great time though! I'm glad to hear that Sonic & Knuckles will be a fun experience as well.

Out of curiosity, which is your favourite 2D Sonic game?

Yeah, it's been really fun exploring the Sega Mega Drive library. I played through the first Phantasy Star last year (granted, it's on Master System but still) and I had a blast playing it. Didn't like Phantasy Star 2 as much due to the unnecessarily confusing dungeon design. Also enjoyed the first two Streets of Rage games and the first Golden Axe. Still need to check out series such as Shinobi, Shining Force and of course Ecco. Mega Drive had so many awesome games, it must've been nice to have grown up with it.

@LtSarge Sonic 3 & Knuckles is the ultimate experience.

Getting all the hyper emeralds and the special abilities that went with that was cool. Hyper Tails had some golden birds that circled him and would automatically go and defeat enemies for you.

@LtSarge So my favourite 2D Sonic game is actualy Sonic 3 & knuckles combined, because just like @Thrillho mentioned it is the full experience. It was the very first time a videogame company or a developer released a game in two parts. They later confirmed it. You could, can also play Sonic 2 in it´s entirety with Knuckles as well.
Streets of Rage are classic games as they go. Still in love with both OSTs.
Shinobi is great as well. Golden Axe as well. And Shining Force to...... Man, all these good and found memories I have with my Sega Mega Drive. Here´s some other awesome Mega Drive games:

• Comix Zone;
• Vectorman;
• Story of Thor;
• Light Crusader;
• Gunstar Heroes.
  There´s way to many games, I can´t remeber all of them. Loved that system. Dreamcast was great to. And for fighting games, it´s a must have.
  Cheers, stay safe and all the best

@Thrillho Hey there friend. Can you belive that my 12 year old self was able to get all 14 Emeralds in Sonic 3 & Knuckles with all three characters, Sonic and Tails included? Yeah, me neither. Tried to get all of them in Sonic Mania..... Only got three of them..... I´m 37 now. All my Sonic skills went away 😜
I can beat games like Bloodborne, The Surge, Ni-Oh..... But getting all the emeralds in Sonic Mania?
Yeah, not happening 😁
Cheers, stay safe and have a good one

@RogerRoger Hi there friend.
That stupid, frekin barrel was the bane of my existence until I was able to figure it out. Never felt so dumb playing a game before. My 11 self was like "Really??? Up and Down on the d-pad???? Really?????
Oh well. Once I figured out, I finished the game on that same day. And then again.... And again.... And again.... And you get the point 😉
And that is how I became a Sonic fan, went after all the other games and played, almost all of them.
Here´s hoping Sonic Frontiers delivers, right?
Cheers, stay safe and don´t lose those precious rings. Have a good one

@RaZieLDaNtE Ha, I got everything with all three characters as well. And I got confused by the same bit with the barrels in Sonic 3 too.

I also struggled with Sonic Mania. I found those weird chase levels really disorientating and my brain also struggled with the fact that the “old” levels started out the same as the originals but then changed completely. It’s funny how I haven’t played the original games for over 20 years but instantly knew where the level design deviates from the original.

And it’s always good to see another Gunstar Heroes fan too!

@Thrillho A fellow Gunstar fan. Not that many around for some strange reason.
Points for you 👍 Love that game.
"Ha, I got everything with all three characters as well. And I got confused by the same bit with the barrels in Sonic 3 too."
First, more points for you. Second, I´m glad I was not the only that struggled with that damn barrel 😜
Yeah, the difference in levels in Sonic Mania, even after so many years, as someone who played and finished them many times, you could clearly tell all the different things they did with the levels and Bosses. But those Bonus stages for the Emeralds though..... I just couldn´t grasp it.
Cheers, stay safe and all the best

@RogerRoger You know, I am actually kinda excited for Sonic Frontiers.
With the first Sonic movie being actually good and the sequel coming with both Tails and Knuckles in it, plus the new game, warms my Sonic fan heart.
All Sega needs to do is nail the speed, the momentum and the platforming of the levels. And Combat.
This has been my personal main issue with 3D Sonic games. If the character is to difficult to control and maneuver to go to a certain direction or hiting a specific enemy, then it´s not going to work.
I´m guessing it must not be an easy thing to do, but a open world Sonic as a lot of possibilities and a lot of potential. And a Sonic game with a budget..... Like I said, potential to be a great game.
Here´s hoping. As for Sonic Origins, I´ll probably get it. As for the Chaos Emeralds, we´ll see 😜
Cheers, stay safe and have a great weekend

Finished Guacamelee last night. It was alright but I remember it being better when I played it years back. I dunno, I love Metroidvanias but it didn’t really scratch that itch.

@nessisonett I recently replayed it too and I still had fun with it but it felt kind of... empty? I've downloaded the sequel to play again at some point (and get the plat for that too) and I seem to remember that having slightly more to it, even if the underlying game is almost identical.

I've posted about this in the PS5 thread but just seen this so hopefully it's okay for me to post again.

Finished Guardians of the Galaxy tonight and I have to say I loved it. Not perfect, could use a bit more polish. However, the writing, voice acting and gameplay are all excellent. Combat can be improved on but I feel they absolutely nail the tone and feeling of playing as the Guardians. I was heavily invested in the story from start to finish. Highly recommend to people.

Just finished Sonic & Knuckles on PS3. Another great Sonic game! I was actually surprised to see that this is the one that's home to the famous Sky Sanctuary Zone. I remember playing through that stage a lot in Sonic Generations but I had no idea which game it was from. It's rather odd that most people only talk about Sonic 1, 2 and 3, but not Sonic & Knuckles as it might as well have been Sonic 4 since it's that good on its own. Although it did feel like Sonic 3 had fewer levels than the previous two games, so maybe that's why Sega wanted you to combine both 3 and Knuckles in order to get the "complete" version. But yeah, on its own Sonic & Knuckles is still a great title. It's just too bad that Sky Sanctuary only had one act since I really liked its design and music.

Finished The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. Solid 2D Zelda overall, although these games can feel a bit samey after a while. Literally just: "ALttP, but with [insert gimmick]."

Oracle of Ages: "ALttP, but with time manipulation."
Oracle of Seasons: "ALttP, but with the ability to manipulate the seasons."
The Minish Cap: "ALttP, but with size manipulation."
A Link Between Worlds: "ALttP, but you can turn into a painting."
Link's Awakening: "ALttP, but it sucks and there's an owl that won't stop harassing you with his slow-scrolling text and prompts to repeat his inane dialogue that you keep accidentally agreeing to."

The game actually does get a fair bit of mileage out of its gimmick, although this isn't always to the benefit of the game itself, as some of the size-related puzzles are annoying and slow the game down so much.

But, it's, you know, Zelda. It's fun enough. I cleared it in a week, and apparently logged in 24.5 hours, so I had to have enjoyed myself.

@nessisonett Guacamelee never did much for me. I was really disappointed when I played it on my Vita years back.