Z Space Blog - 12-in-12

12-in-12, 2026 Edition

2026-01-29T00:54:00-08:00

It's already the SIXTH year of 12-in-12 for Z Space? Dang.

What is 12-in-12? It's the initiative to beat 12 games in 12 months. If this concept is new to you, check out my maiden post on the subject. Also check out last year's 12-in-12.

With that said, let's list the games I completed this year:

Secret of Mana [SNES]
Soul Blazer [SNES]
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky [NDS]
PEAK [Steam]
Soul Calibur VI [PS4]
Celeste [Switch]
Street Fighter Alpha [ARC]
Ballionaire [Steam]
Dark Souls III [Steam]

As usual, this list will update as time passes.

January

Late in the month, I took out Secret of Mana, the second game in the Mana series, and in Collection of Mana [Switch], the system I played on.

I will save the in-depth thoughts for a full review, but in short, it's a game that suffers from poor ally behavior, lots of time spent waiting for cooldowns, and too strong a focus on chaining magic spells to overwhelm bosses in a few passes. The art, music, and story are fantastic, however, and make the journey worthwhile!

February

A Soul's Chance

One day, I was prepping a stream for upgrading my Gentoo machine and other nerd stuff, combined with retro games. When I was done with the tech stuff, I decided to give Soul Blazer [SNES] another shot.

In two days, a passing interest became a realized experience. It was really cool to see what Enix was doing with the early Action RPG genre, right around the time Zelda: A Link to the Past came out. It has some rough edges, but it was a really satisfying experience without too many ways to screw up.

There are also shared themes between this, Illusion of Gaia, and Terranigma, the latter of which will be in the list at some point.

Explorer's Delight

I had already started Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky [NDS] early in the year, but the end of the story came sooner than I expected. I played it on the WiiU via the Virtual Console. It was a solid experience, and the changes from Explorer of Time/Darkness are very welcome! I consider it the best PMD game in the series, thus far.

March

A Free-Flyer Turned Climber

I was originally going to finish up Retrovirus on Steam, but the launcher seemed buggy, the game never supported Cloud Saves, I couldn't find the old saves, and when I checked on the community and game page, I found the studio shut down and the game was de-listed. Dejected, I scratched it off as a game I cannot play. It was a stream day, so I was out of immediate ideas.

So, against my general ideas and taste, I gave PEAK [Steam] a shot. My girlfriend already had a copy to play with our Twitch friends. I borrowed this copy to play with them as well, and one of them bought a copy for me so the whole group could play.

I'll be honest, the game is a little better than I was expecting, but the performance issues, weird level generation, poor controls, and generally boring world leave much to be desired as an actual game. I enjoy the game's positional audio, and sometimes the vibes are great when you're climbing. I can't help but feel this game could be better without the obscene environmental difficulty, and more focus on the gadgets and multiplayer interactions. Knocking each other out with thrown items is a huge shenanigans increasing feature!

Ultimately, this is a game that's only as good as the crew you bring to it. I honestly kind of dislike this style of game because it feels unfinished, or like I'm supposed to imagine the fun in my head. Like a chatroom with a few interactibles. Mods are almost required for quality of life benefits, and the game still doesn't have single-press to run.

That said, I did peak with a group, and solo, to make sure I got the full experience.

I'd like to see crazy modes like Unbreakable Rescue Claws and No Fall Damage, to compete for time. The engine itself has potential. The way its used is lacking.

Transcending History and the World, Again

The next game I knocked out is a bit less involved, but Soul Calibur VI's [PS4] story mode was way better than I was expecting. I've only completed the main thread for now, but there are over a dozen other storylines to go down before I can consider the single player portion complete.

I'm not sure if it's me or adjusted movesets, but character moves feel a bit smoother, and I'm still learning how the showdown-style attacks work. Overall, this installment seems at least halfway decent, but we'll see if it stacks up against Soul Calibur II as I explore it more.

Climbing the Mountain

Next up in the list is Celeste [Switch], a technical platformer that got its start as a PICO-8 game! It's one of the indie darlings these days, and the expanded, full version of it lives up to the hype. Its story touched me in a way that most games don't. I've only made it to the summit with the standard ending, so I know there's more to experience, but I'm satisfied with the game for now.

June

I picked up Street Fighter Alpha [ARC] one night, chose Rose, and played through the standard arcade mode. Despite barely learning her moves, Alpha feels like a reboot or something. I'll try to be more deliberate in choosing a character and learning some moves in Alpha 2, but I've heard the most good things about 3rd Strike. Still, I wouldn't mind giving these 'prequel' games more of a shot.

July

I was gifted Ballionaire [Steam], which is an interesting mix of pachinko and rogue-ish mechanics combined into a dopamine dispenser. It's an interesting game that's good for playing when you largely want to turn off your brain and watch the pretty colors. Not a bad thing to have on your off days, you know? There's some legitimate strategy behind it, too, and plenty to unlock.

September

After finishing Dark Souls II, I was kind of itching to push forward in the Souls series, and do Dark Souls III! I spent about 90 hours or so grinding out the main game. I think a lot of the bosses in DS3 are a bit over-powered, relying on moves that "track" the player's position and turn the model toward you, and techniques that close the distance and force a roll or block. It made some of the bosses feel more like reaction-fests than calculated combat.

Beyond that, I absolutely loved the architecture, locales, world design, story, pacing... just about everything was rock solid in this Souls iteration! I played through as a Gerudo warrioress, wielding primarily falchions, axes, and a lucerne. In New Game+, I want to lean into more lightning miracles and proper tanking, to be an Iron Knuckle!

There's still the DLC to go through, including the Dreg Heap, Ringed City, and Ariendel. Thus far, I see why people love 3 so much. Playing a Souls game at 60fps feels great, too. A must-play for anyone who appreciates medieval games with challenge!

That's it for now. More as the year progresses!

12-in-12, 2025 Edition

2025-03-18T18:12:00-07:00

Welcome to yet ANOTHER year of 12-in-12 fun. What is 12-in-12? It's the initiative to beat 12 games in 12 months. If this concept is new to you, check out my maiden post on the subject. Also check out last year's 12-in-12.

With that said, let's list the games I completed this year:

Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X [Vita]
Crash Team Racing [PS1]
Dead Cells [Switch]
Dark Souls II [PS3]
Banjo-Tooie [N64]
Crashmo [3DS]
Hypnogogia [PC]
Torchlight [PC]
Peglin [Steam]
Marble it Up! Ultra [Switch]

Totaling 10/12 games. Not too shabby, since I did art and other stuff this year!

February

At the end of the month, I picked up my Vita for a couple songs of Miku, only to finish up the last challenges of Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X [Vita]. The finale consisted of choosing one major song of each "vibe" and killing it with a great score. Considering I bought this so long ago, it's about time I get around to enjoying the main game!

March

At the end of the month, I was streaming some Crash Team Racing [PS1] for funsies via the PS1 classics on PS3, and ended up finishing the Adventure Mode! I played through as Crash, though I generally prefer Pura. It was fairly tough just to get through, and the extra challenges leave you with plenty of game to explore and savor. It reminded me of Diddy Kong Racing in its design.

April

In this month, I took apart my copy of Dragon Warrior 3 for GameBoy Color after it nuked my save AGAIN, only to notice that, uh.. the board didn't have "Nintendo" anywhere on it. And the cartridge was black, instead of the GBC-only clear cartridges. In other words, I had a bootleg cartridge! This takes it out of the backlog, despite it not being beaten. I'm going to count it as a backlog reduction if nothing else; the same as if it was destroyed or stolen. Some day I would like to play through this, but not on a cartridge that lost its saves 3 separate times since buying it.

To avoid confusion, we're NOT going to take any credit for this at the top of the post. I just wanted to share this story!

May

This month, I tackled Dead Cells [Switch]! It was nice to finish a game that's been in the backlog since 2018.

Dead Cells itself is a fantastic Metroidvania and roguelite fusion that gets better the more you play it. Permanent upgrades are unlocked via Cells, and dying resets the game and you lose your things. Each thing you put cells into makes the game that much better, that much easier, and attainable. You have to go through it multiple times in order to unlock all of the traversal abilities, so it's not a game for people with a short temper or lacking patience.

June

The tough games keep coming, with Dark Souls II [PS3] getting beaten early in the month! It was a great, if frustrating and odd sequel to the beloved Dark Souls. There's still DLC for me to get through, but I'm chomping at the bit to get through again.

This playthrough, I was a "battle mage", aiming for DEX-based weapons and high INT and ATN. Though, I must say speccing it out doesn't start to materialize until around level 100. I'm not sure how I would refine it, but I'm looking forward to exploring hexes in my next playthrough. After that, I should be ready to explore the top-level stuff like heavy armor + heavy gear builds.

Suffice to say, I actually kinda like the linearity, but it's somewhat open during a significant chunk of the game.

At the end of the month, my friend Elomeno_ and I played through Banjo-Tooie [N64]. It was a trip, full of collectibles. A ton of the game is locked behind the abilities; I'd love to play a version that has the abilities unlocked from the start.

September

This month, I finished up Crashmo [3DS]. It's a cute puzzle game where you grab various 3D shapes and can move them in the four cardinal directions. I beat the initial 100 levels, but the difficulty of them was becoming so grueling, that I didn't feel up to finishing the bonus content.

Still, you unlock a music player when you beat the game, and I believe it has a level editor, too. What else could you really ask for from a puzzle game? I might mix it up and have different play area themes instead of the same one for the whole game, but there's a story reason for that which I won't reveal.

October

My girlfriend and I played a bunch of games we found on Itch.io and other places. One that captivated me long enough to finish is Hypnogogia [PC], named after the state of consciousness between wakefulness and sleep. It's a game jam game that was developed in a single month. Pretty cool for what it attempts to do, it was a solid evening exploring the game.

November

A long-standing game in the backlog was finished early in the month. Runic Games' Torchlight [PC] came at a time when there were precious few Western ARPGs to choose from. It was okay for what it was, but playing it really made me want to go back to Diablo II: Resurrected or even just Diablo: The Hell. It's clear from the music direction and general design that it comes from the same minds that developed Diablo, but it's aimed at too casual of an audience for me to find much satisfaction in the game. I played through as a Vanquisher and focused on critical hits for much of the game. My build seemed decent for the most part. Still, it wasn't the worst 20-30 hours I've spent on a game. I'd be interested in hearing the thoughts of the original developers concerning this game, considering it was developed in only 11 months!

December

I spent most of this month working on creative stuff and playing games that were gifted to me. I beat two of them, on the same day!

Peglin [Steam] is a fun pachinko + roguelike combination that is accessible, but deep enough to warrant careful decision-making. I pulled off my first win after about 6-8 attempts and 10 hours of playing. However, there's a bunch more to unlock and see after that first win! This is a game that I see myself coming back to when I'm feeling something casual and don't want to think too hard.

Next, I finished up Marble it Up! Ultra [Switch], a modern marble obstacle game. It has multiplayer modes and a bunch of unlockables for all of your hard work finding hidden items and getting fast times! It'd be nice try out the online with people some time.

That's it for the 12-in-12 this year! We did 10 out of 12. Not my worst!

12-in-12, 2024 Edition

2024-01-06T00:00:00-08:00

What's up guys? It's time for my FOURTH 12-in-12, the initiative to beat twelve games in twelve months and take out the backlog! Newbies to this concept can check out my maiden post on the subject; then you'll get what's up here. Also check out last year's 12-in-12.

As always, here's the successful hit list for 2024:

TMNT III: Radical Rescue [GB]
Sonic CD [Sega CD]
Factorio [Steam]
Final Fantasy Adventure [GB]
MagiCat [Switch]
Yoku's Island Express [Switch]
Hades [Switch]
The Misadventures of Tron Bonne [PS1]
Persona 5 [PS3]
Resident Evil 2 Remake [Steam]
Narita Boy [Switch]

That makes for eleven games this year! Not quite hitting the mark, but we're still on track to clear this backlog! There are some stats at the end of the post, if you're into that sorta thing.

January

A Radical Finale

I started the year off with a bang, finishing Donkey Kong Country 3's 103% with a friend. I've already beaten that game, however, so it wasn't quite the accomplishment it could have been. That said, a day or two later I started and finished TMNT III: Radical Rescue [GB]! This marks the final game that I needed to beat as part of the Cowabunga Collection that I got last year.

It's a neat Metroidvania for the original GameBoy which somehow lends a special ability to each turtle, has a world that makes use of those abilities, and even a few collectibles to motivate you to explore.

The extensive use of one-way doors and unfair enemy positioning makes the game begin to get tedious toward the end, and the hitboxes for boss attacks are laughably aggressive in their disproportional power. You hit them for a single bar of damage, while they hit for 2 or 3! The gameplay boils down to locating keycards to open doors, which lead to bosses. Defeat bosses to get keys which will free each of the missing characters. Very basic design.

There are also only four collectibles that you can miss, so this may be the longest, but also shortest game I've 100%ed. Considering it took me about 3 hours to 100%, but there only being 4 collectibles, it's in a weird place of "you didn't do much extra compared to a basic playthrough" but also "it turns out this game isn't actually lengthy".

For what it is and the time period, it's impressive. I would love to see a studio do a modern take on a Turtles Metroidvania. There's a lot of potential.

Gotta Go Fast

I picked up Sonic Origins [Switch] in January, just to relive the classic Sonic games with some upgrades. It turns out the "Plus" part in the physical release is just a code for the DLC! Talk about misleading...

Anyways, I've beaten the main 4 games in the series, but didn't remember if I beat Sonic CD or not. Well, with Origins now I have! So we'll count that as beating Sonic CD, rather than Origins entirely, since it's a collection.

February

I spent a lot of the month playing classics, but also chipping away at the goals in Factorio! It's a mind-absorbing automation sim where you try to escape a planet you crash on by... building another rocket from scratch, of course!

To say that this game has infected my mind would be an understatement. I've learned about various real world engineering things simply because the way Factorio has you do them is really similar to how it's done in the real world. I can build train networks, automated warehouses, wagons with fricken artillery on them...

Honestly, if you bounced off of Minecraft or Terraria, Age of Empires or Starcraft, give this one a shot. It has many different play options, many different technology trees to go down, and a steadily increasing difficulty that doesn't feel too harsh on its default setting.

The developers of this game stood out because they don't offer it on sale. Ever. I scoffed at this idea, but after experiencing how many different interlocking gameplay and resource systems there were... I'm amazed at how well everything runs, considering the level of complexity happening. It deserves every penny of the $35 USD I paid for it.

For better or worse it's still getting new content, but it seems to be QoL or advanced interaction stuff, which is still important but feels like the refinement stage. I approve of this sort of stuff.

If I could change things about Factorio, I would lean into the Landfill and get into Terraforming. It's nice that we can lay stone down, and concrete, but we can't dig trenches (to put water in) or build cliffs. Being able to do those things would greatly add to the base planning capabilities of the game and give the player a lot of defensive control.

The team at WuBe has more locales in the making, so that's exciting! Imagine playing on a planet where there's lava, or more biomes for the standard planet!

Anyways, it's a great game and you should get it if you appreciate design and automation in any capacity. It's multiplayer, too!

March

The Beginning of Mana

I had played this a long time ago when I borrowed my brother's copy, but I recently finished Final Fantasy Adventure [GB], which is also known as Adventures of Mana or Sword of Mana, if you're playing the GBA version. I played through on Collection of Mana, for the Switch, which uses the original GB version.

Considering that it came out in 1991, FFA is a fantastic Action/RPG that captures the feeling of a fantasy game quite well. Its story is simplistic, but considering the time of its release, it avoided a lot of pitfalls that other classic RPGs missed.

One of the things that stands out to me is, you can 100% the game through a pure intuitive exploration of the world. I ventured out when it was time to find the final sword of the game, and ended up learning two spells and fighting two bosses that the story was going to send me on later anyway. It felt nice to not need to go back and do anything; the game keeps its dungeons self-contained and doesn't rely on backtracking until the very end of the game.

The title screen music is part of what makes this game stick with me. It tells such a simple little fantasy story, but holds within a deep (for its time) and fun action game!

There are really only two or three things I would fix in this game to make it top-tier for its age: faster text option, better enemy placements (just don't spawn on top of me or block the entrance, please?), and let the Bone Key double as a skeleton key for the entire game. By that point, the player's earned it. Just give it to them. It would make the post-waterfall portion much better and not force the player to farm skellies for keys in the final area. That was the only thing that slowed me down to a degree strong enough to be annoying.

Anyways, if you like action RPGs, you owe it to yourself to at least play for a few hours. Part of why this game is a big deal is because it came out before Nintendo's Zelda: A Link to the Past and Zelda: Link's Awakening, so they were paving new ground in terms of equippable weapons and magic, and in puzzles more complex than pushing a block.

July

Magical Cats?

After some considerable determination, I finished up MagiCat, on Switch. I think this was originally a mobile game. It shows due to its increasing punishments for death, rather high skill floor, and mechanics that overall feel like it was meant to be padding. There are some great gameplay ideas here, but they're all missing that extra polish that makes them feel comfortable.

One mechanic that stands out is the spirit cat ability. MagiCat stands on a button, and can direct a spirit around, which can attack ethereal enemies while his corporeal form cannot. Why do both the spirit and the physical body have hurtboxes while this power is activated?

Another: There's a mechanic where you stand on a button, and a series of blocks that you can steer come out from somewhere. Why can you move around while these blocks are reading your input, and why is the time limit for their disappearing so short? This isn't a "git gud" complaint; some of the level design for these mechanics is overly punishing and it feels like not much testing went into making these levels more feasible to No Damage or even No Dash.

If MagiCat was my game, I would tone down a few of the frame traps and near-pixel-perfect jumps needed to get red jewels, and provide a way for players to backtrack in the level, where applicable. Games that only allow you to move forward were common in the 1980s. Platformers can do better now!

Bosses are another source of frustration. Every level has a boss that's a twist on an existing enemy. While the extra effort of bosses is appreciated, it became stale quickly. I preferred the end-of-world bosses, but the difficulty for them was also tuned for a mobile game and frustrate you so you'll play more and get some paw prints in prior levels.

With just a little tuning, this game can redeem itself while still retaining 99% of its current content. The level design and enemy design need work. The end-of-level bosses shouldn't be there and it can have a mini-game or other simple reward instead. The cost for death should also be more reasonable. Doubling every death until you take 32 paw prints is kind of overkill. (so is 16 with the item)

I'm relieved to finish this game, which is disappointing because I went into it thinking it was cute and fun. I still like some of the mechanics and abilitiess, like dashing upward! I discovered by accident you can heal by pressing down and X, so that's nice too.

A Bug-driven Postal Service

The next target was Yoku's Island Express, on Switch. It took a little patience, but it was worth it. It's a fun, light-hearted pinball and Metroidvania fusion. I really enjoyed the different ways to manipulate the pinball, on top of the movement of Yoku himself. The customizable ball sprinkles were cool, and some of the sidequests weren't half bad. I finished the game at 97% even though I collected basically everything, so there's probably some small quests leftover or something. Still, it was a solid game and I'm glad I played through it. If you like both pinball and Metroidvanias, give it a whirl.

A Dark and Treacherous Ascent

Lucky me, I managed to clear Hades for Switch. It's an interesting roguelike that innovates in the storytelling department. It rewards continued play, but at a rate that is less than ideaal for my liking. Even after clearing the game once, I will need to clear it multiiple times in order to get a "true" ending. While it was a great romp, and new gameplay options are opened up, I'm rather weary of the mechanics I had to endure to get where I am now. I assume the more readily available diamonds and Titan Bloods will make subsequent runs a bit easier, but for now I'm walking away from the game due to tedium. I feel that this game, like Blasphemous, is one whose sequels I will likely be skipping out on.

August

It had been percolating for a little while, but I finally finished The Misadventures of Tron Bonne, for PS1.

It's a fun and cute game where you're essentially paying off a debt to get your family members back who've been taken hostage, but you do various missions with your Servbots to earn the money and get the upgrades you need to confront Mr. Loath. In-between, there are fetch-quests, mini-games and scouting to improve your Servbots, and conversing with all of your minions.

I finished the game in about 15 and half hours. Not too shabby, and there's more that I haven't done, like the Casino level.

I will say that the mini-games for building Servbot stats are too strict. The Attack-building one isn't all that terrible, but it still depends on getting at least one pie and bazooka for the last level. I could barely manage the second series of levels in the food serving mini-game.

Overall, I'm glad I played it despite the jank. The world of Mega Man Legends has so much potential, I'm still sad about MML3...

October

Becoming a Phantom Thief

The push for Playstation games continues! I picked up Persona 5 for the PS3 back in 2018, played it to level 7, and never got around to picking it back up until this year. My girlfriend wanted to experience it with me, so most of our time this year was spent watching movies, or playing this game.

It was a wonderful JRPG, telling a story that I think most people can relate to; of fighting injustice and fighting for those who can't fight for themselves. It's a game of self-discovery, reflection, and tenacity. It shocked, angered, surprised, intimidated, elated, and even tore at my heart.

Across the game, you and your plucky gang of misfits face up to a sexual predator, con artist, blackmailer, gang leader, and even a malevolent god. Each stage of progression makes you feel closer to each of your teammates, not as sit-in avatars for mooks on a battlefield, but as somewhat believable and relatable characters. I feel like everyone who plays Persona 5 will find someone in its cast that they most closely resemble, be it in attitude, life circumstances, or personal challenges.

It's not for the faint of heart, though. This game will trigger people who have been through trauma, if they aren't prepared to think about fictional characters going through things. Personally, I found it reasonable and found it to be a great opportunity to reflect on the feelings characters made me feel.

Futaba in particular struck my heart to its core. To say that I relate to her life experience is an understatement. Without any spoilers, I think anyone with a troubled childhood will have trouble making it through her story arc with dry eyes.

Not ashamed to admit I cried a few times. Only the truly great games will make me do that anyway. Persona 5 has left an unforgettable mark on me. When I get the time to percolate more thoughts, you can look forward to a review. A story that's over 100 hours long deserves more than a mention on a timely listicle.

Becoming a Real Cop

Not even a full day later, I wrapped up the end of Resident Evil 2 Remake on Steam. Apparently, when I paused playing in 2019, I was only two bosses away from the end! It feels great to wrap up a long-standing game right after a really long game. It was a satisfying and atmospheric game that I'll come back to some day to play through as Claire.

December

Becoming a Narita Boy

The next game I finished up was Narita Boy for the Switch. It's a decent action-platformer with basic puzzles, but a wonderful story and great art direction. It tells the heartfelt story of a man's life and how he turned tragedy into a legacy for his son. Except, you're in a digital world on the verge of total ruin and you're tasked with saving it, with no context.

I really enjoyed the storytelling in this one, and the graphics. Unfortunately, the gameplay isn't as tight as I'd prefer, enemies and mechanics are a little too simple, and you can't go back to get any of the four missable collectibles in the game. Your choices are "watch the missing memory on Youtube" or replay the game entirely for a single paragraph of text. I'm glad I didn't do a second playthrough for such a small reward, but the story itself was cool. It was a worthwhile game that has left an impression on me, which is the best kind of game purchase if you ask me.

Sadly, I wasn't able to beat twelve games in 2024. However, we finished the gargantuan Persona 5, which was one of the big JRPGs on the list. I also took the liberty to tally up my progress since blogging about 12-in-12:

2021, 16 games;
2022, 4 games;
2023, 18 hames;
2024, 11 games.

This puts my total at 49 games over four years. At one game per month, that puts me one month ahead of my projected progress at this point! There are still many more games to beat. I can't stop now!

12-in-12, 2023 Edition

2023-04-19T00:00:00-07:00

What's up guys? It's time for yet another 12-in-12, the initiative to beat twelve games in twelve months and take out the backlog! Newbies to this concept can check out my maiden post on the subject; then you'll get what's up here. Also check out last year's 12-in-12.

As always, here's the successful hit list for 2023:

Dark Souls [PS3]
Marble it Up [Switch]
FAST rmx [Switch]
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom [Switch]
Terraria [Steam]
TMNT: Shredder's Revenge [Switch]
BIT.TRIP RUNNER [Steam/PC]
Cogs [Steam/PC]
Furi [Switch]
Geometry Wars 3 [PS3]
Symphony [Steam]
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night [Switch]
Super Mario Bros. Wonder [Switch]
Castlevania: Dracula X [SNES]
TMNT: Tournament Fighters [NES]
TMNT: Tournament Fighters [SNES]
TMNT: Tournament Fighters [Genesis]
TMNT 2: Back From the Sewers [GB]

(yep, those TMNT games are each different!)

That's a total of eighteen games beaten this year! Huzzah!

April

I spent the first few months of the year dabbling in classics, but Dark Souls [PS3] had hung out in my backlog -- with an unfinished save -- since 2016! I decided to push through it, while streaming, and it turned out to be a great experience. I may come back to it some day, but I'm beginning to see flaws in the structure of the Soulslike genre. I think a little more work could be put into discoverability, but the art direction and world building is stellar. It has absolutely earned its place as a classic and I'll never forget my first time through.

I also picked up Marble it Up [Switch] in March and finished it in April, so despite the drought in game progress since Box Pusher in 2022, it feels good to knock out a long-running, 100+ hour RPG. Those are the true phantoms of a backlog, right?

Toward the end of the month, I knocked out the last of the cups I needed to finish in FAST rmx on the Switch. It's a great racing game if you're looking for edge-of-your-seat, white-knuckle driving! I got it years ago, but lacked the grit to finish out the races (placing at least 3rd) until recently. I'll come back to it from time to time, like I do most racing games that I hold onto.

June

After picking it up on release day in May, I finished Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom [Switch], a game I'd been anticipating for six years! There is a whirlwind of thoughts in my head for this game, and it's definitely changed how I view video games, and the Zelda series as a whole. I correctly predicted that we're getting a third game: the plot lends itself to a continuation for this pair of protagonists. I give it a year max before Nintendo announces work on a third game. Overall, TotK was a wonderful romp, but a kind reminder that I'm getting too old for certain genres that require huge blocks of time to get anywhere in. There are still some sidequests and collections to complete, but I've done all the shrines and exposed all the map, and most of the equipment is found too. I hope the next Zelda leans less on device-building and open world mechanics.

July

At the beginning of the month, my partner and I finished up Terraria [Steam]! We ended up cheesing through some parts using the Builder's Workshop, but everything we skipped was essentially farming and repeating stuff we had already done. We still beat bosses and crafted ingredients legitimately.

Having beaten both Terraria and Minecraft, I'm solidly convinced that sandboxes and crafting/survival games are not my cup of tea. They're two of the most famous and popular games in the genre, and I'm walking away from them rather disappointed in all the time I spent doing what amounts to busy work.

In Terraria, the primary way you discover the game is through the Guide NPC, and later other NPCs, depending on the quest. Almost none of the game is clearly conveyed to you, and it reeks of a game that has organically grown in scope creep for ten years, just like Minecraft. You really can't make appreciable progress in games like this without a wiki. Discoverability is a huge part of games, especially for games with interacting systems or concurrent mechanics.

Additionally, it's not enough to have one or two primary crafting stations. In Terraria, there are dozens of them! If I were to redesign the game, it would be in its progression. I'm totally cool with bosses being the gates for world progress, but the crafting stations and whatnot would be a single crafting station, and a single chest that has tabs/pages you can unlock or purchase. The visual mess that you end up with by the endgame is overwhelming, even though you know what everything's supposed to do.

If I ever come back to Terraria, it will be to build random creations, just like Minecraft. Sad to say, the genre has an extreme amount of work to do in the accessibility and discoverability departments. I shouldn't need an online resource to grok your game.

August

I had picked it up a few weeks prior, but once I got into TMNT: Shredder's Revenge [Switch], I couldn't put it down for a good few days! It's the spiritual successor to Turtles in Time, right down to a lot of the bosses! It feels more complete, featuring bosses and enemies from both new and old TMNT, though the focus is mostly on the old style. I like that you can finally play as Master Splinter and April O'Neill; a first since Tournament Fighters, on the SNES!

There is at least one unlockable character that I won't spoil, which is nice, but it seems all additional content will be coming in DLC form. That's disappointing, because I bought the game in physical form with the expectation that a classic-styled sequel would have 100% of its content from launch day. The release of the DLC gives me some trepidation about buying new Turtles games, despite the quality gaming experience. I expected better from Dotemu, considering that Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap launched earlier in the Switch's life and had 100% of its content on day one. What happened, guys?

September

This month, I targeted some older games in the backlog, starting with BIT.TRIP RUNNER, the first in the BIT.TRIP series.

It was essentially a precursor to games like Harmoknight on the 3DS, but unlike Harmoknight, RUNNER will bump you back to the beginning of the level if you hit ANY obstacles! The variability in playing the game is mostly "how many of the gold bars did you get?" You unlock bonus levels by completing the normal levels while getting all of the gold bars.

Also, despite being a rhythm game, I didn't feel much like I was interacting with a beat or any particularly well-placed musical sounds. Mid-level checkpoints would go a long way to improving the game's accessibility.

Machinations

Later in the month, I tackled Cogs, a fun gear-based puzzle game that's also a sliding tile and PipeDream clone, all in one! I had got it as part of a Humble Bundle back in 2011 or so, and had barely played it. I was surprised at how well I adapted to coming back to this. It's still worth booting up just to study the puzzles a little. Glad to have come back to check it out. That said, I'm definitely more of a Move guy than a Time guy. I enjoy how the Challenge modes allow you to pick between time and moves as a way to challenge yourself and get easier stars. After 300 stars, you can unlock the credits, which is a level! It's one of the most complicated in the game, and it certainly tested my skill in sliding tile puzzles. Much like Box Pusher from last year, I think Cogs has burned me out on this style of game. It was a solid playthrough, but I'm kind of over it.

Escaping a cosmic jail

Toward the end of the month, I finished out Furi [Switch]. I had left off on the third boss, then over the course of the past week, butted my head against the wall of challenges that are this game's bosses.

Overall, I believe the game is an interesting blend of bullet hell and edge-of-your-seat reflex-oriented combat. Though every boss is meant to be an immense challenge, only one of them felt unrealistically unfair and tedious: a female sniper named The Burst.

She begins the boss fight by hiding, and can shoot you from across the arena, which is 3-4 screens wide and tall. This shot can take one of your three life stocks in a single hit. Living up to her name of Burst, this makes sense for a super or something; as a primary attack, it's bonkers! Her game of keep-away is what is most annoying, because the actual combat against her was fairly well done. The hide and seek phases and one-shot kills are what make this boss fight ridiculous. By contrast, the very next fight after her is more intense and imposing, and yet he does less damage than her auto-lock one-shotter.

As the credits rolled, I was blown away by the landscape in this peaceful realm. Discovering the true identity of The Stranger was crazy, and defeating the mothership was a satisfying end to the saga for me. I do wonder what would have happened if I chose the other option, but that's what Youtube is for.

This game sat around in my backlog for a solid five years. It's a relief to bring it to rest. I might some day play through just so I can fight the rest of the bosses. We'll see. The Burst is such a bitch that I really don't want to fight her again.

October

Angular Ownage

I'm on a roll at the end of the year now, aren't I? This month is off with a bang with Geometry Wars 3 [PS3]! I bought this game very shortly after getting a Playstation 3, back in 2015. I had played the OG at a friend's house on Xbox back in 2009 or so, and had Geometry Wars: Galaxies on both my DS and Wii at some point, so the third entry in the series was a must-own, naturally. Its gameplay is wonderful and the same it's always been, with the bonus of drone behaviors you can upgrade that isn't as grueling as Galaxies, but just as rewarding. I have to admit that I don't like the weird and warpy levels, because they're zoomed in too much. The biggest issue I have with this game is the frequency that enemies will end up spawning on top of you. The pillar of light that appears before a spawn is super helpful, but perhaps not quite enough warning. Overall, I'm still satisfied with this game even if it kicks my ass from time to time.

Liberating My Music

The next target was Symphony [Steam]! It's a Galaga-style shmup that is similar to Beat Hazard in that it analyzes your music and generates levels (in this case, enemy patterns) to play to. There's a story involved, but it's really just an excuse to play more levels.

Overall I felt it was okay, but it's much easier to earn Kudos than it is to acquire Inspiration, so I reached a point toward the end of the game's progression where I would have to farm songs on lower difficulties to get more dependable rates of inspiration. There are also rare items that I still haven't unlocked yet, despite seeing many multiples of other items that, if bought, cannot be converted into a resource, nor can kudos be exchanged for inspiration. As a result, I ended up with millions of kudos, but lacking the inspiration (by around 80%) to purchase all of the equipment upgrades that I wanted to.

It was okay but I think I'm done with music games. Between Guitar Hero, Hatsune Miku, Taiko Drum Master, Beat Hazard, and now Symphony, I've played so much of the genre that I don't think there's much left to explore.

Déjà Vu of the Night

Later in the month, I struggled my way through Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night [Switch]. To be honest with you, as a backer of the game at the $100 tier, I am somewhat disappointed in the game. Not because it's bad, per se, but because it has so many technical problems. I intend to write a more thorough review when I've had some time to refine and reflect on my thoughts.

I think this is one I'll be 100%ing, despite the difficulties that come with the Switch version. The nostalgia is strong for me, and the smooth framerates and responsiveness of Symphony of the Night all through Order of Ecclesia were all fantastic! That's what lets me down the most about Bloodstained; Igarashi's past games were all great in the technical department. His staff at Konami must've had more experience or something.

I may eventually pick Bloodstained up on Steam at a steep sale so I can experience the "proper" version, but thus far I will probably not be getting aboard another Igarashi project without some proof he has a capable and dedicated team that can churn out a minimum of a solid 30 frames per second, and no input problems. This is not an unreasonable standard, even back in the mid 2010s when it was being developed. Perhaps Inti Creates should've been contracted for the main game instead of just the two Curse of the Moon games.

There are all sorts of other weird things that happen to me on Switch too, like Great Swords auto-attacking a second time if you attack in the air with any buff that increases attack speed. If you strike an enemy with the air attack, it cannot hit with the attack that starts as soon as you land. This seems like a design error; either the sword shouldn't auto-attack when you land, or it should be able to hit both times.

This marks the twelfth game beaten this year! Hell yeah!

November

A Wond(er)ous Adventure

I received a copy of Super Mario Bros. Wonder [Switch] for my birthday, and once I started playing it, I couldn't put it down. It was a blast the whole way. I ended up 100%ing it in around 15 hours. Like many other games, I want to give it the attention it deserves in its own review. It's a great game, though, so if you have a Switch, you owe it to yourself to try Modern Mario. It's great!

Following that, Bloodstained's 100% completion wasn't too far away, so I finished that up just after 100%ing Mario! I've not felt like I was making progress like this in quite a while.

X Does NOT Mark the Spot

The next target in my continued onslaught is Castlevania: Dracula X, part of the Advance Collection on Switch. After having played through it now, it's definitely not as good as Rondo of Blood, and is straight confusing if you go from Dracula X to Symphony of the Night, due to the differences in story and, in some cases, total lack of certain characters or stages from Rondo.

The chief problem I have is the relationship between the clunky movement and the invulnerability from being hit. Too often in Dracula X, you get hit out of the air, only to get knocked into another hit that you have no control of, and can sometimes be juggled, with little recourse available to you. This is because your only special move is a backflip, and the landing lag prevents you from doing any evasive maneuvers. Richer lacks his attacking dash, his slide (and its dash), he can't run or spin his whip, he can't angle the direction of his whip... Honestly one of the weaker entries in the series.

That said, the music and graphics are both great. A mod of this game with a double-tap dash and some better movement options would turn it around completely. You can still have clunky movement without super-short invulnerability times and overly aggressive AI. It feels like it was meant to be an arcade game with its janky mechanics.

Not Quite Turtley Enough

I wanted to beat the Tournament Fighters games from the TMNT collection. I was quite let down by the lack of techniques available for each character, and the utterly unfair CPU opponents that I was up against. There's not much room for juggling, parrying, reversing or blocking a grab, etc. I appreciate how different each of the NES, SNES, and Genesis versions are, but because they're so different, I feel each one is missing some depth that it would have if perhaps there was a more unified vision for the final product.

They're okay for what they were, but definitely not a reason to buy the collection. All that's left for me on the collection now are the 2nd and 3rd GameBoy games, the latter of which I'm saving for last since it's a Metroidvania!

I knocked out TMNT 2: Back From the Sewers [GB] just in time for the end of the year!

That's it for 2023! I'll see you again in 2024!

12-in-12, 2022 Edition

2022-01-16T00:00:00-08:00

Hello once again, and welcome to another year of 12-in-12, the initiative to beat twelve games in twelve months and take out one's backlog! If you want a history lesson, check out my maiden post on the subject; then you'll get what's up here.

Just as before, here's the successful hit list for 2022:

Dadish [Switch]
A Short Hike [Switch]
ToeJam & Earl [Genesis]
Box Pusher [DSi]

That's it, unfortunately. Here's hoping for a better 2023! Read on for the details, as usual.

January

I was bored one day and decided to fire up Dadish [Switch], a cute platformer about a radish, who's a dad (get it...?) gathering up his children who've run off to play and gotten into trouble. The dialogue is silly and light-hearted, and the art style is fairly clean, if a bit simple. The platforming mechanics and bosses were somewhat disappointing for me, but I wasn't expecting a masterpiece in the first place. I just learned it has a sequel, too, but I think I've had my fill of it. It was still a fun little diversion, and I appreciate that it wasn't 20-30 hours of collecting crap.

February

I played way too much Minecraft. Nothing of importance accomplished.

March

I couldn't resist picking up A Short Hike [Switch] when it went on sale. I love the art style, the humorous writing, and the general chill tone that the game conveys. It lives up to its name, with roughly 4-5 hours of content to cover. You can even speedrun it! Goodness. I beat it in like two days, but those two days were quite lovely.

July

This month, my girlfriend and I finished our co-op playthrough of ToeJam & Earl [Genesis] on the Genesis Classics Collection on Switch. We ended up using the savestates between levels, and sometimes rewound to better handle obstacles.

I really dislike how many of the enemies just plain move faster than you. Dodging is not really a thing. Splitting up creates an animation, while re-uniting doesn't. Item mechanics while both characters are on-screen versus off-screen are somewhat interesting. It allows for better teamwork I guess. Overall, I feel like it's a game with better art than gameplay. Definitely a relic of the 1990s.

September

I finished a months-long project in tackling Box Pusher [DSi]. It was a big enough deal to write about it separately. Suffice to say, I will not miss Sokoban, but I enjoyed the adventure in automated solvers.

Conclusion

Sadly, progress in my backlog basically stopped after September. Box Pusher took so much out of me, I ended up playing classics the rest of the year. Here's hoping I can get more done in 2023!

12-in-12, 2021 Edition

2021-01-08T00:00:00-08:00

Welcome to ZLG's quest to beat twelve games in 2021! My backlog has exploded to over 100 games, so it's time to burn through it!

A Brief History of 12-in-12

/r/12in12 was started on Reddit in 2018 to help people get through the list of games they want to beat, i.e. a backlog. I discovered it shortly after it was created, and have participated independently ever since. It's a good initiative for people to motivate and encourage each other to play through and enjoy their games more.

In 2023, the subreddit was shut down in protest of Reddit, Inc. charging for bulk access to their API. The original community was effectively killed. In late 2025, it was reopened by a random person claiming moderator status. The quality of the new community remains yet to be seen as of early 2026.

Some people choose 12 games to beat and try to stick to it, while people like me just try to focus on beating games at all and, if you hit 12, awesome! If not, that's fine, too. It's about putting in time to play and enjoying what you paid for.

My 12-in-12

With that out of the way in my maiden post on the subject...

Here's the successful hit list for this year:

Painkiller: Hell & Damnation [Steam]
Super Hexagon [Steam]
Koi-Koi Japan [Steam]
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD [WiiU]
Unravel TWO [Switch]
Minecraft [Switch]
Mighty Gunvolt Burst [Switch]
Final Fantasy 4: The After Years [Wii]
Strikey Sisters [Switch]
Golf Peaks [Switch]
Hatsune Miku: Project Diva MegaMix [Switch]
Metroid Dread [Switch]
Risk of Rain 2 [Switch]
Street Fighter [ARC]
Street Fighter II [ARC]
Hammerwatch [Switch]

For a whopping SIXTEEN games beaten in 2021!

January

My chosen game was The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD [WiiU].

Unfortunately, I did not beat it. Maybe I'll catch it in a month where I beat a game easily.

February

No game was chosen, but I ended up beating Painkiller: Hell & Damnation! It's a game that a friend and I had gotten in a Humble Bundle once upon a time. It has pretty wicked art and music direction, and pretty good shooting mechanics. You tend to get caught on the geometry really easily, though, so it's not mechanically refined enough to get me to come back. It was a decent romp, but not something that'll be staying on the hard drive. Still good for the price I paid.

March

I realized I had beaten Super Hexagon already, and had the hyper levels unlocked. Nice.

I defeated every contestant in Koi-Koi Japan's Postcard mode, marking it as beaten! I'm beginning to get a more intuitive feel for hanafuda now, though it's still easy for me to mix up the flower species. Koi-Koi is fun!

-- I forget this file exists --

August

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD [WiiU] is finally beaten! I went through the whole damn game without the red sail, though, because after I got the piece of heart from the night-time auction, I thought that was it for the rewards. Whoops.

September

This month, I left a job that was killing me slowly with stress and switched to part time for a while. It was much needed rest.

My girlfriend and I played through Unravel TWO, a cute co-op game about two yarn people and their search to relight a lighthouse. It follows the story of two children and their escape from various dangerous situations, but it's told visually. It was a decent game, but I ended up carrying us (players can merge) in the last level.

October

I had first played this on PC, back in 2011, but I picked up Minecraft [Switch] back in February and played it off and on. By June, I wanted to actually beat the game, so I set out to learn how to get to The End. The game is so much different today compared to what it used to be. I really wish they'd finish up development, but it doesn't look to be stopping yet.

Only a few days later, I finished up Mighty Gunvolt Burst [Switch]! I was literally two levels away from the end of the game when I left off back in 2017 or whenever it was...

The mother lode happened this month too: Final Fantasy 4: The After Years [Wii] could be considered the "dark horse" of my backlog; it sat unbeaten for 12 years! It was such a pain to finish that I wrote about it.

Next up is Strikey Sisters [Switch], a cheesy Breakout clone with magic, enemies, and bosses. It even has co-op! My girlfriend tried it but didn't care for it. It was surprisingly shorter than I anticipated, but it seems about the right length for a Breakout clone. If they make a sequel, I'd like to see the voice acting toned down and some more control options, like dashes, shield/parry buttons, or being able to move forward and backwards. Still, a fun distraction!

At the end of the month, I pulled Golf Peaks [Switch] out of my butt. It's a cute puzzle game about getting a golf ball into a hole. The catch? You have a limited number of moves that tell you how the ball will move, and you need to use the correct combination to complete the level. It feels pretty Zen.

-- I remember this file exists and fill in the details. --

November

I've spent a little less time on games this month so far, but I managed to finish playing through all the songs in Hatsune Miku: Project Diva MegaMix [Switch]! It's hard to pin down when you've really "beaten" a rhythm game, so I set the goal of unlocking and completing every song. Seems legit.

I cleaned out the CPU heatsink on my desktop machine, and now temps are safe enough to game with, so I can catch up on some games while I wait on hardware prices to lower. :)

I beat Metroid Dread [Switch] in the middle of the month. It was a fantastic experience, and I look forward to clearing Hard Mode and learning how to speedrun it.

Next up is Risk of Rain 2 [Switch], which I cleared with a friend, but ended up carrying at the end. Hopoo Games really outdid themselves in the jump to 3-D, but part of me feels like the resources provided by Gearbox were a big part of its success. Regardless, RoR2 has gotten a spot among my favorite third person shooters ever, and I'm nowhere near done with it!

Toward the end of the month, I was able to play some Diablo II: Resurrected [Bnet] and finished it, but I beat the original as well, so it doesn't really count. :P

At the end of the month, I gnashed my teeth through Street Fighter [ARC]. I must say that the mechanic of not performing a special move until the button is released is one of the clunkiest and least fun control schemes I've ever had to deal with. The utterly unfair AI that can kill you in 3 hits is also problematic. The fact that it was popular enough to get sequels is surprising, because plenty of other games from that time were playable AND fun.

Street Fighter II [ARC] was much closer to what we know as traditional fighters. However, some characters like Vega have way too many abilities compared to the rest of the cast, and M. Bison himself has crazy hitboxes. I played as Ryu, and he feels like playing Mario or Pichu in Smash Bros. Just... incredibly small hitboxes. I ended up playing footsies to get in, but there wasn't much to punish with.

In beating these games, I'm realizing that I don't like fighting games as a genre. Even with rather simple inputs, the game's difficulty comes from consistency in executing your moves and imbalanced fighters or movesets; NOT from genuinely good AI or strong mechanics. Movement and defensive options suck. Throws are inconsistent to execute, and the SF 30th Anniversary version doesn't show OR tell you how to do a throw. This leads the player to getting bodied repeatedly, until they take advantage of spacing and use their longest move to get in, and MAYBE pull off a nice combo.

I plan to beat 3rd Strike and the Alphas, too, but so far this series makes me glad I got into fighting games with Smash Bros and Soul Calibur. In both of those games, you have actual movement options, actual defensive options, and a clear system of what beats what. It's a shame the cool characters of Street Fighter are limited to such a clunky genre...

December

It turns out I was most of the way done with Hammerwatch [Switch], though I got the bad ending because I didn't have all of the bridge planks! Oops. A bad ending is still an ending! It was fun and I look forward to trying the other characters and modes.

Hammerwatch was the last game beaten for 2021! See you in 2022!