I've blown past the 500 hour mark! I'm the last person in the world I'd pick ta be a "copy editor" or w/e but here I am doing it! The .hack//Link fanslation team wants feedback from players so I an others have been delivering! Course this means playing through a pretty long an only, as of now, partially translated game but I'm down with that!
An it seems I'm outta space in my original post so like many have done before me, let's get this next one goin'!
In A.D. 2014
"52 Games - 1 Year Challenge"
Chapter 02
Game 34 | .hack//Link
06/12/14 to 08/06/14
48 hours, 47 minutes
The v0.2 fanslation patch introduced some more system freezing bugs but they're all perfectly avoidable, if not alil obnoxious ta do so. Its still fairly incomplete translation wise but there's been a ton more text translated compared to the previous patch! Got a much better grasp of the story and item/upgrades/battle system! This was my 3rd time through the game an its still super fun in my book, plus that ending... way more powerful than that of the previous series! This time around I went lite on the grinding and mashed through japanese text both of which served ta greatly decrease playtime over my previous runs. Luckily my knowledge of the game made it so I wasn't greatly underpowered or anything. There's a ton of post-game stuff ta do an since I'm reporting bugs, typos, questionable grammar/translated dialogue to the team I'm gonna see it through to the end!
Game 35 | .hack//Versus
08/07/14 to 08/07/14
2 hours, 42 minutes
That's a far cry from the 20 hours it took me the first time! Of course the first time I was inexperienced an did every characters path an made sure ta try an unlock everything. Wasn't expecting ta be able to cheese this game but apparently starting a new game only resets your story progress, but you get to keep all the unlockables! Having 50% attack power bonus an other such things right from the start really made things alot easier! Totally cool fighting game btw. Sakuya's great!
Game 36 | Mega Man Legends
08/08/14 to 08/17/14
11 hours, 41 minutes
Haven't played this for at least a decade an as such had forgotten pretty much everything about it! Except how clunky the controls are, thats burned into my memory! For a game with such basic dungeons an few enemy types this ones still fresh & fun ta play if ya ask me. The buster equipment stuffs great since ya can change up your shot powers as needed or just to suit your style of being a coward and staying as far from baddies as possible! Wish they'd done alil more endgame stuff with how the ruins all connect an especially the sub-cities cause those were cool!
Game 37 | Dead or Alive: Dimensions
08/30/14 to 09/02/14
2 hours, 38 minutes
That story mode sore was clunky! Lopsided cutscene to gameplay but when that reverses many of the battles feel outta place / tacked on for no reason! It was cool they had a pre-DOA chapter an since I never got ta play the fourth game now I kinda got to see its story. All of them tutorials on how to fight seemed outta place but were welcome. Rare ta see a fighting game try ta teach players about its mechanics!
Game 38 | Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
09/03/14 to 09/03/14
9 minutes
In the spirit of cheating I played through Arcade mode on Easy! Which means I only had to go through 3 battles lol. Whaaat? I've easy moded a ton of games in this challenge, and an ending is an ending! Still love how cute this game is and how fun! There's always something satisfying about building up lovely large gems and then shattering 'em!
Game 39 | Sonic R
09/03/14 to 09/03/14
12 minutes
Took 1st place in each race! I did this cheaply by loading a save file in which I unlocked Super Sonic but none of the mecha racers, who're tougher then the regular ones. Game still looks really rad in my books, is fun to play, and has those catchy tunes! Still the best use of Super Sonic in any 3D Sonic game that I know of anyway!
Game 40 | Sonic The Fighters
09/03/14 to 09/03/14
15 minutes
Cheesey moded this, duh! This game also holds up in the looks & music departments. The gameplay however is still as awkward as ever for me cause I just never quite get how to do many moves an stuff but thats more on me then the game itself, I think.
Game 41 | Columns
09/19/14 to 09/19/14
25 minutes
10,000 points is the default hi score an I passed it... after like 4 or 5 attempts! Entered my initials for first place score as YAY lol. Super terrible at this game but w/e I still like it for some odd reason. From what I could count my highest chain was 5 an purely by accidental on my part cause I got no mind for trying ta set 'em up. Nice music btw.
Game 42 | The Legendary Starfy
10/04/14 to 10/05/14
4 hours, 8 minutes
Think Kirby but somehow even less challenging! Its nice an relaxing to say the least! I blew through it in just two sittings an the only hard part was the final boss cause I suck at dodging lightning x.x; Plus I only the base amount of health cause this was a no treasure, no sidequests run which means only 5 health instead of the up to I think 9 or 10 ya can get. While most of the games some cute looking sprites I really like the polygon backgrounds in many stages. The swimming controls are great cause well ya spend most of the game in water! Land controls are good. The one thing that bugged me was how long it takes ta get your full moveset. I think it was all the way up to World 7 (of 8) where you get the last move which is pretty weird. Really liked many of the levels especially ones where ya swim up bubbles or across rainbows! There's lotsa secrets, extras, funny expressions/dialogue which makes it a very fun an complete game all around!
Game 43 | Deep Scan
10/08/14 to 10/08/14
10 minutes
"This is a retro game that brings back memories of video games of years part." So says an instruction book from '97. A measily 16 page one all in black & white... so many conflicting feels x.x! The game is as advertised basically an old arcadey high score chaser! Its pretty hard imo! Managed ta beat my previous score by about 400 pts which is always good. Course the real reason ta play this is to rack up credits for...
Game 44 | Die Hard Arcade
10/08/14 to 10/08/14
31 minutes
I tried playing this with the default 3 credits an game over'd before beating the first stage lol. After grinding for 30-some I came back an made it all the way through! I died like 18 times so I mighta overgrinded. Still less tries then it took me when last I played this so that's a improvement maybe? This darn quarter muncher isn't easy since your life drains real quickly and the last bosses are nuts. I like how McClane's clothing degrades throughout the game and the surprisingly the large amount of moves he has for a simple beat 'em up game. btw were there really robots in the movie(s)?? An what's up with fighting firemen?!
Game 45 | Strider 2
10/22/14 to 10/22/14
32 minutes
Been quite awhiles since I last played this an as expected I set all the options in my favor! Plus I only did 3 outta 5 stages cause hey if the game lets ya do only 2 before opening the final stage well why not take the invitation?! I'm super clunky at this game an of course don't even try to play it "right" but that's just how it goes! And for my recklessness & cheating I got all E ranks lol. Fun stuffs aside from messed up gravity sections I couldn't get used to 'em!
Game 46 | Mario Kart: Super Circuit
11/06/14 to 11/06/14
55 minutes
Just a fun casual 50cc run of the 5 normal cups! Even with the super easy difficulty selection I still missed coming in 1st place twice over the whole 20 races -.-; Used Peach all the way cause full speed an least weight feels real nice. Still like this games looks and feel even if drifting isn't exactly a thing (or I'm just to bad to know/do it right). Real basic but real fun! An the music is super catchy, like way better then most Mario games so they really got that right! Oh and it was made by Intelligent Systems?! Is there anything they can't do?
Game 47 | Double Dragon Advance
11/12/14 to 11/12/14
47 minutes
As usual I deployed the powers of cheating by using a code ta give me 10 continues though I didn't even need 'em, plus picked the easy difficulty! Abusing the jump kick to say keep smashing the Stage 6 boss into the wall over and over. This games got way more instant death pits then your average beat 'em up an I used quite a few to take numerous baddies out along with myself! 2 things I don't like about the game is that accidentally dashing is kinda alil to easy to do. Had quite a few deaths because of it. The other things the camera. Its kinda bad in places and of course that leads to pit deaths!
Game 48 | Ice Climber
11/26/14 to 11/26/14
37 minutes
It took alil while but I beat my high score in the game by like 120 points lol. Still constitutes a win to me! My scores pretty bad since it could be trumped by the third mountain but w/e! The way this games jumping works eludes me to this day. Not super in love with this game but its fun enough ta give a try every now an then.
Game 49 | The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night
12/03/14 to 12/03/14
1 hour, 45 minutes
This is the only Spyro game I've played so as far as I know the whole series is pretty cool beat 'em ups! Cool but could be alil better. Regular baddies take way to many hits to go down no matter how many alleged "strength" upgrades you've gotten... an I say that having played on easy mode! Still the lil guy got some nice moves and tossing magic attacks into the mix is rad. Its story is awfully weird though! A good chunk of the game takes place in Spyro's dreams an he even gets powerups from it. Weird! And then there's an ultra cliffhanger ending because?? Also Sparx still sucks.
Game 50 | Daytona USA (saturn)
12/11/14 to 12/11/14
39 minutes
Now these are the type of graphics I'm nostalgic for! It took alot longer then expected but I snagged 1st place on each course! Advanced kicked my butt so badly I went from "easy" to "very easy" lol. Beginner was a joke as always and Expert only took me 2 tries! Still one of the greatest racers ever! Oh ya my "car" of choice was the Horse! No penalty for going into grass is a super nice benefit plus it just plain looks silly!
Game 51 | Daytona USA (dreamcast)
12/11/14 to 12/11/14
1 hour, 2 minutes
Ooohh man this is so much harder then the Saturn one. No very easy difficulty is one reason why but I found ways around that! 2 laps, 10 cars = chance of victory up+++ ! Once again the Advanced course kicked my butt until I a.) learned to slow down and b.) learned to ram the lead car to make it super crash. Since the cpu cars'll always finish in the same positions ya just gotta take out the one that always finishes in first place cause its the fastest which will prevent it from making a comeback unless ya serious screw up! See? I can learn! My car of choice was initially the Pywackett Barchetta but its soooo slow I just never stood a chance. While this version features analog controls I just can't handle it as well as the Saturn one. I miss the online mode it was pretty much the only reason I played the game since offline was so difficult!
Game 52 | Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed
08/25/14 to 12/16/14
14 hours, 18 minutes
This was alil hard ta get into at first but that's pretty much normal for first playthroughs in games right? I got used to things and kicked much butt in the end! My main gripe'd be that the city is segmented into parts instead of one big open thing and that alot of the map wasn't used. Controls could've been abit better to cause like L1 to put your weapon away and heal? Accidentally putting your weapon away in the middle of a fights mostly not good! Story an characters weren't super original but playing around with tropes is part of this games gag. The equipment and its growth systems are pretty neat since your stuff is visible and you can make your fave getup as powerful as ya can afford to! Since there's lots of unlockables and everything carries over to NG+ and its as a beat 'em up its fun more playthroughs are inevitable!
Game ?? | Space Channel 5
12/31/14 to 12/31/14
1 hour, 2 minutes
I'm to bad at memory & timing to beat this game on my own so I used a cheat code to have the game beat itself for me! Ulala is great, Jaguar is awesome, Morolians & Robots are funny, an the musics fresh! Great game even if I can't play it myself!
Total Playtime: 569 hours, 00 minutes
An it seems I'm outta space in my original post so like many have done before me, let's get this next one goin'!
In A.D. 2014
"52 Games - 1 Year Challenge"
Chapter 02
Game 34 | .hack//Link
06/12/14 to 08/06/14
48 hours, 47 minutes
The v0.2 fanslation patch introduced some more system freezing bugs but they're all perfectly avoidable, if not alil obnoxious ta do so. Its still fairly incomplete translation wise but there's been a ton more text translated compared to the previous patch! Got a much better grasp of the story and item/upgrades/battle system! This was my 3rd time through the game an its still super fun in my book, plus that ending... way more powerful than that of the previous series! This time around I went lite on the grinding and mashed through japanese text both of which served ta greatly decrease playtime over my previous runs. Luckily my knowledge of the game made it so I wasn't greatly underpowered or anything. There's a ton of post-game stuff ta do an since I'm reporting bugs, typos, questionable grammar/translated dialogue to the team I'm gonna see it through to the end!
Game 35 | .hack//Versus
08/07/14 to 08/07/14
2 hours, 42 minutes
That's a far cry from the 20 hours it took me the first time! Of course the first time I was inexperienced an did every characters path an made sure ta try an unlock everything. Wasn't expecting ta be able to cheese this game but apparently starting a new game only resets your story progress, but you get to keep all the unlockables! Having 50% attack power bonus an other such things right from the start really made things alot easier! Totally cool fighting game btw. Sakuya's great!
Game 36 | Mega Man Legends
08/08/14 to 08/17/14
11 hours, 41 minutes
Haven't played this for at least a decade an as such had forgotten pretty much everything about it! Except how clunky the controls are, thats burned into my memory! For a game with such basic dungeons an few enemy types this ones still fresh & fun ta play if ya ask me. The buster equipment stuffs great since ya can change up your shot powers as needed or just to suit your style of being a coward and staying as far from baddies as possible! Wish they'd done alil more endgame stuff with how the ruins all connect an especially the sub-cities cause those were cool!
Game 37 | Dead or Alive: Dimensions
08/30/14 to 09/02/14
2 hours, 38 minutes
That story mode sore was clunky! Lopsided cutscene to gameplay but when that reverses many of the battles feel outta place / tacked on for no reason! It was cool they had a pre-DOA chapter an since I never got ta play the fourth game now I kinda got to see its story. All of them tutorials on how to fight seemed outta place but were welcome. Rare ta see a fighting game try ta teach players about its mechanics!
Game 38 | Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
09/03/14 to 09/03/14
9 minutes
In the spirit of cheating I played through Arcade mode on Easy! Which means I only had to go through 3 battles lol. Whaaat? I've easy moded a ton of games in this challenge, and an ending is an ending! Still love how cute this game is and how fun! There's always something satisfying about building up lovely large gems and then shattering 'em!
Game 39 | Sonic R
09/03/14 to 09/03/14
12 minutes
Took 1st place in each race! I did this cheaply by loading a save file in which I unlocked Super Sonic but none of the mecha racers, who're tougher then the regular ones. Game still looks really rad in my books, is fun to play, and has those catchy tunes! Still the best use of Super Sonic in any 3D Sonic game that I know of anyway!
Game 40 | Sonic The Fighters
09/03/14 to 09/03/14
15 minutes
Cheesey moded this, duh! This game also holds up in the looks & music departments. The gameplay however is still as awkward as ever for me cause I just never quite get how to do many moves an stuff but thats more on me then the game itself, I think.
Game 41 | Columns
09/19/14 to 09/19/14
25 minutes
10,000 points is the default hi score an I passed it... after like 4 or 5 attempts! Entered my initials for first place score as YAY lol. Super terrible at this game but w/e I still like it for some odd reason. From what I could count my highest chain was 5 an purely by accidental on my part cause I got no mind for trying ta set 'em up. Nice music btw.
Game 42 | The Legendary Starfy
10/04/14 to 10/05/14
4 hours, 8 minutes
Think Kirby but somehow even less challenging! Its nice an relaxing to say the least! I blew through it in just two sittings an the only hard part was the final boss cause I suck at dodging lightning x.x; Plus I only the base amount of health cause this was a no treasure, no sidequests run which means only 5 health instead of the up to I think 9 or 10 ya can get. While most of the games some cute looking sprites I really like the polygon backgrounds in many stages. The swimming controls are great cause well ya spend most of the game in water! Land controls are good. The one thing that bugged me was how long it takes ta get your full moveset. I think it was all the way up to World 7 (of 8) where you get the last move which is pretty weird. Really liked many of the levels especially ones where ya swim up bubbles or across rainbows! There's lotsa secrets, extras, funny expressions/dialogue which makes it a very fun an complete game all around!
Game 43 | Deep Scan
10/08/14 to 10/08/14
10 minutes
"This is a retro game that brings back memories of video games of years part." So says an instruction book from '97. A measily 16 page one all in black & white... so many conflicting feels x.x! The game is as advertised basically an old arcadey high score chaser! Its pretty hard imo! Managed ta beat my previous score by about 400 pts which is always good. Course the real reason ta play this is to rack up credits for...
Game 44 | Die Hard Arcade
10/08/14 to 10/08/14
31 minutes
I tried playing this with the default 3 credits an game over'd before beating the first stage lol. After grinding for 30-some I came back an made it all the way through! I died like 18 times so I mighta overgrinded. Still less tries then it took me when last I played this so that's a improvement maybe? This darn quarter muncher isn't easy since your life drains real quickly and the last bosses are nuts. I like how McClane's clothing degrades throughout the game and the surprisingly the large amount of moves he has for a simple beat 'em up game. btw were there really robots in the movie(s)?? An what's up with fighting firemen?!
Game 45 | Strider 2
10/22/14 to 10/22/14
32 minutes
Been quite awhiles since I last played this an as expected I set all the options in my favor! Plus I only did 3 outta 5 stages cause hey if the game lets ya do only 2 before opening the final stage well why not take the invitation?! I'm super clunky at this game an of course don't even try to play it "right" but that's just how it goes! And for my recklessness & cheating I got all E ranks lol. Fun stuffs aside from messed up gravity sections I couldn't get used to 'em!
Game 46 | Mario Kart: Super Circuit
11/06/14 to 11/06/14
55 minutes
Just a fun casual 50cc run of the 5 normal cups! Even with the super easy difficulty selection I still missed coming in 1st place twice over the whole 20 races -.-; Used Peach all the way cause full speed an least weight feels real nice. Still like this games looks and feel even if drifting isn't exactly a thing (or I'm just to bad to know/do it right). Real basic but real fun! An the music is super catchy, like way better then most Mario games so they really got that right! Oh and it was made by Intelligent Systems?! Is there anything they can't do?
Game 47 | Double Dragon Advance
11/12/14 to 11/12/14
47 minutes
As usual I deployed the powers of cheating by using a code ta give me 10 continues though I didn't even need 'em, plus picked the easy difficulty! Abusing the jump kick to say keep smashing the Stage 6 boss into the wall over and over. This games got way more instant death pits then your average beat 'em up an I used quite a few to take numerous baddies out along with myself! 2 things I don't like about the game is that accidentally dashing is kinda alil to easy to do. Had quite a few deaths because of it. The other things the camera. Its kinda bad in places and of course that leads to pit deaths!
Game 48 | Ice Climber
11/26/14 to 11/26/14
37 minutes
It took alil while but I beat my high score in the game by like 120 points lol. Still constitutes a win to me! My scores pretty bad since it could be trumped by the third mountain but w/e! The way this games jumping works eludes me to this day. Not super in love with this game but its fun enough ta give a try every now an then.
Game 49 | The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night
12/03/14 to 12/03/14
1 hour, 45 minutes
This is the only Spyro game I've played so as far as I know the whole series is pretty cool beat 'em ups! Cool but could be alil better. Regular baddies take way to many hits to go down no matter how many alleged "strength" upgrades you've gotten... an I say that having played on easy mode! Still the lil guy got some nice moves and tossing magic attacks into the mix is rad. Its story is awfully weird though! A good chunk of the game takes place in Spyro's dreams an he even gets powerups from it. Weird! And then there's an ultra cliffhanger ending because?? Also Sparx still sucks.
Game 50 | Daytona USA (saturn)
12/11/14 to 12/11/14
39 minutes
Now these are the type of graphics I'm nostalgic for! It took alot longer then expected but I snagged 1st place on each course! Advanced kicked my butt so badly I went from "easy" to "very easy" lol. Beginner was a joke as always and Expert only took me 2 tries! Still one of the greatest racers ever! Oh ya my "car" of choice was the Horse! No penalty for going into grass is a super nice benefit plus it just plain looks silly!
Game 51 | Daytona USA (dreamcast)
12/11/14 to 12/11/14
1 hour, 2 minutes
Ooohh man this is so much harder then the Saturn one. No very easy difficulty is one reason why but I found ways around that! 2 laps, 10 cars = chance of victory up+++ ! Once again the Advanced course kicked my butt until I a.) learned to slow down and b.) learned to ram the lead car to make it super crash. Since the cpu cars'll always finish in the same positions ya just gotta take out the one that always finishes in first place cause its the fastest which will prevent it from making a comeback unless ya serious screw up! See? I can learn! My car of choice was initially the Pywackett Barchetta but its soooo slow I just never stood a chance. While this version features analog controls I just can't handle it as well as the Saturn one. I miss the online mode it was pretty much the only reason I played the game since offline was so difficult!
Game 52 | Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed
08/25/14 to 12/16/14
14 hours, 18 minutes
This was alil hard ta get into at first but that's pretty much normal for first playthroughs in games right? I got used to things and kicked much butt in the end! My main gripe'd be that the city is segmented into parts instead of one big open thing and that alot of the map wasn't used. Controls could've been abit better to cause like L1 to put your weapon away and heal? Accidentally putting your weapon away in the middle of a fights mostly not good! Story an characters weren't super original but playing around with tropes is part of this games gag. The equipment and its growth systems are pretty neat since your stuff is visible and you can make your fave getup as powerful as ya can afford to! Since there's lots of unlockables and everything carries over to NG+ and its as a beat 'em up its fun more playthroughs are inevitable!
Game ?? | Space Channel 5
12/31/14 to 12/31/14
1 hour, 2 minutes
I'm to bad at memory & timing to beat this game on my own so I used a cheat code to have the game beat itself for me! Ulala is great, Jaguar is awesome, Morolians & Robots are funny, an the musics fresh! Great game even if I can't play it myself!
Total Playtime: 569 hours, 00 minutes
