World 2-38: Another Cave Runner

Another Cave Runner
http://www.kongregate.com/games/Arkuni/another-cave-runner

Well, I picked up this game for a second time since my original completion in order to jog my ever-so-fuzzy memory on this game. I clocked in at level 19, on my third attempt to complete the story mode. It took me all of five minutes, and very minimal effort to finish. This game was hardly entertaining; I found a similar (also free) game recently on my Android that has kept me entertained for over three hours so far, which sadly puts this game to shame.

In Another Cave Runner, your objective is simply to run to the end of the cave. There is a track bar up top to show you how close you are to the end, and a simple leveling system (which doesn't even keep track of your levels) that awards you cute little upgrades, such as a double jump, an HP increase, and more powerful attacks. Of course, there really isn't much to attack. In fact, there is a grand total of two completely different monsters: one that sits on the ground, and one that sits in the middle of the screen, both just waiting for you to either bonk into them or slash them up. But don't worry, if you take a hit you will gain some HP back after a level or two, which by the way are very frequent, coming by every 6 exp points (with 1 exp point earned for each kill). There are a couple other obstacles to keep your eyes out for, including stationary rocks, rolling rocks, and flimsy rock bridges that tear down as you cross them (but again, don't worry, because by time your path is gone you have already crossed the pit of lava and come face to face with another "obstacle.")

All in all, I wouldn't even recommend this game to a person who is just looking to burn off five measly minutes of their time. If you want a side scrolling runner game, check out Canabalt or Jetpack Joyride, both of which are available for free in various places. 

World 2-37: Hedgehog Launch 2

Hedgehog Launch 2

http://www.kongregate.com/games/ArmorGames/hedgehog-launch-2

Hedgehog Launch 2 is another typical launch game, with the only immediately obvious difference being that you launch from the bottom of the screen upwards. After a vomit-inducing amount of flipping around, your hedgehog will launch from your giant sling shot (which is, among other things, upgradable at the shop), you will be able to control his movements in the air, leaning him left and right. If you land him on the floating beams, he will propel higher into the air and score you a few bucks. Height and amount of cash is awarded in increasing amounts which are easily identified by their colour. There are also floating coins to be collected as an added bonus.

All this money is used to buy a vast assortment of upgrades, varying from standard bar height and fuel tanks, to a radar that shows the upcoming beams and coins as you fly, and parachutes which slow your fall down to allow for a more thorough collection and flight times to multiply your bonus each round (which in turn, awards you with more money!). As far as launch games go, this is not one of my favourites, but it definitely gave me a few hours of entertainment over a few casual plays.

World 2-36: Sushi Cat 2

Sushi Cat 2
http://www.kongregate.com/games/ArmorGames/sushi-cat-2

Sushi Cat 2 is (obviously) a sequel to another great game, called Sushi Cat. The games play much like Plinko, where you drop the ball (in this case, a very cute and chubby cat) and wait for it to fall to the bottom, hoping to collect as much of the prize as you can - in this case, sushi. I had a lot of fun playing this series. The graphics are absolutely perfect, the music is fun to listen to, yet doesn't repeat throughout the entire game (each level theme has a new song). There is also a fast forward button, which is great for when your cat gets stuck and you need him to fall down faster. There's also a quick restart button, which is very handy in case you mess up your first shot.

I also love the way the cat bounces around. He looks like a big ball of gelatin, and acts that way too. The momentum in this game is spot on. There are also some really cool power ups to collect in Sushi Cat 2, such as Shopping Spree, where you have a limited time to just click on as many pieces of sushi as you can to collect them, instead of having to roll over them with your cat.

Overall, Sushi Cat 2 is a really fun game, and I definitely recommend it to anybody looking for an easy to play, yet very addicting game.

World 2-35: Tentacle Wars: The Purple Menace

Tentacle Wars: The Purple Menace

http://www.kongregate.com/games/gamezhero/tentacle-wars-the-purple-menace

Honestly, I never did figure out exactly how this game works. Somehow I managed to beat it though! It was pretty fun for the first couple of levels, and then it became pretty intense and hard to figure out. Since I couldn't figure out how the game worked, I can't really write a review on this game.
Based on personal enjoyment, I'll give Tentacle Wars:

World 2-34: Reachin' Pichin

Reachin' Pichin

http://www.kongregate.com/games/KingDotCom/reachin-pichin

Reachin' Pichin is another launch game. This one was themed around a creature created in a lab to soar through the skies, yet when he hatched he couldn't even manage a single jump. So it is your job to help Pichin grow and evolve.

Unlike some Launch games, Reachin' Pichin offered pillows for Pichin to bounce off of to gain some extra air, and you could even upgrade the amount of bounce you would get through the lab. There were many upgrades and skills you could obtain in this game, and you could even view your future evolutions (well, at least the shadows), but I never did figure out how to make him evolve. Eventually it just happened for me.

The music and graphics in this game are very cutesy, and actually became quite bothersome over time since this game was fairly long. The one thing I really didn't like about this game, other than how long it took, is that you couldn't just mute the music. You had to choose between full music and sound effects, or no sound at all.

World 2-33: Meteor Launch

Meteor Launch
http://www.kongregate.com/games/KingDotCom/meteor-launch

After playing Burrito Bison, I was really in the mood to play some more Launch games. Meteor Launch was my next target, and it was a good one. It had a very cute theme. The story goes that there was a boy on a tropical island who loved looking at the stars every night, and then one night a star landed right on his island! So he did what every tropical star gazing child would do - he spent 18 days launching it back to space, so he could gaze upon the stars once more. It's not often that a launch game has a story at all, let alone one as creative as this.

The currency used in Meteor Launch is fireflies, which you can spend at the store for launch upgrades. The upgrades were also fairly creative, featuring a net to catch fireflies more easily, and adding grass to your meteor to attract the fireflies as well. I'm not sure exactly how long this game took me to complete, but I'd say it was well worth it.

World 2-32: Burrito Bison

Burrito Bison

http://www.kongregate.com/games/JuicyBeast/burrito-bison

This was a pretty sweet game. It's a launch game, the kind where you have to continuously launch your character as far as you can, gather up money, and spend it on upgrades until you are finally able to blast through the air and soar all the way to the finish line. I don't remember how long it took me to complete the game, but my best launch time was 1:09. I also purchased every upgrade.

Burrito Bison had a wacky Mexican theme, featuring gummy bears as the main enemy. It was fairly well done for a launch game, and I had a lot of fun playing this one, even after reaching the final goal. The colours matched the theme perfectly, as did the music and sound effects.

World 2-31: Collapse It

Collapse It
http://www.kongregate.com/games/Smrdis/collapse-it?acomplete=collapse+it

"Collapse It" is a puzzle/physics/gravity game with 34 levels. Your objective is quite simple - place bombs inside the bricks on each level to blow up the structures in such a way that all the people on the screen will be killed by all the rubble. As with most games of this genre, I find myself "gravitated" towards them for their simplicity and addictive nature. There are a couple different types of bombs, such as the standard bombs that you stick directly into the bricks, and drop bombs that come tearing through the sky to attack people from above. There are also a couple different brick types that will alter your strategy as well.

Overall, "Collapse It" is a pretty quick and fun game that would be ideal to fill up maybe half an hour of your time.

World 2-30: Diablo II: Lord of Destruction

Diablo II: Lord of Destruction
~PC

Once again, I have mastered Diablo II: Lord of Destruction (at least on normal mode). This time around I decided to try a Paladin for the first time, finishing off Baal at level 34. To be more specific with my build, I tested out what is called the "Hammerdin" character by putting the skill "Blessed Hammer" up to level 20. To properly pull off this build, you need to get your offensive aurora "Concentration" to level 20, as well as the defensive aurora "Vigor", but I believe I only got both to around level 6 each before I unlocked Blessed Hammer. At that point, I switched off to offensive play, since I am naturally an attacker - not a defender. By the time I completed the game, I hadn't gained enough levels to max all three skills out, but if I continue in hell mode those will be my next steps. Although I must say, auroras feel a bit awkward to me during solo play, because the only person other than myself gaining anything from my boosts is the mercenaries I hire. Then I am left standing around waiting for him to polish all the monsters off. As I said, I like to charge enemies too much, so I was always busy mashing all the enemies around me with my awesome hammer spell rather than worrying about building up my auroras.

As a first time Paladin, I found this build pretty fun while I was building up my Blessed Hammer skill. After some time, it started to get pretty boring. I'm a Sorceress at heart, so I'm used to having a whole bunch of different spells to cast at any given moment to most effectively take down the enemies I am facing. Blessed Hammer has a huge advantage in this regard, because it seems to work just as well on one monster as it does the next, and it's also a really strong attack. Much stronger than I remember my sorceress's best spells being.

Once again, I highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend this game to anybody and everybody. Not only is it amazing from music to character appearance to expansions of characters and more, it also completely involves you in the game and gives you hours and hours of lasting fun. Diablo II is definitely one of my all time favourite games.

World 2-29: Altered Beast (Arcade)

Altered Beast (Arcade version) via Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection
~PS3

Altered Beast has always been a classic in my books. There's nothing incredibly special about it, but the music always gives me a great sense of nostalgia, and the game play is simple and straight forward which makes it easy for anybody to pick up and love. The story is basic, where some sort of royalty (probably a king) asks you to rescue his daughter, so you set off on a mission to save her. There doesn't seem to be any names for any of the characters, but it works well for this game.

Altered Beast features flashing beasts which drops orbs that you must collect in order to power up and transform into a new beast in each level, true to the title of the game. It's fairly short, as there are only 4 levels (and only 3 monsters to transform into - the last level featuring Gold and Silver versions of the first beast transformation).

As a side note, the arcade version is a lot more fun than the home console version. The graphics are much smoother, the colours are better, and while my favourite music sequence that plays between levels is faster than the home version, the whole game just turned out better for the arcade. I would recommend this game to anybody who likes a simple arcade classic that doesn't have much of a learning curve.

World 2-28: Pokémon (Pokemon) Silver

Pokémon Silver
~Gameboy Color

Final Stats:

Kadabra - Lv. 70
Tyranitar - Lv. 70
Seaking - Lv. 70
Noctowl - Lv. 70
Dragonite - Lv. 72
Typhlosion - Lv. 74

Money - 211,544 (not including saved money)
Play time - 232:34

All 8 Johto and Kanto badges
Elite Four beat twice
Final Champion beat once

Somehow I never got around to playing this installment in the Pokémon series until just now. As it turns out, Pokémon Silver is a really good game! I had a tough time getting into the "new" pokémon, and often used many of the original ones instead. However, there were some pretty cool new additions to the game above a whole new set of monsters. For instance, a couple new pokémon types were added (such as steel) and even new evolutions of the original pokémon have been discovered as well. Another really cool feature in Pokémon Silver is that after you collect the first 8 badges in Johto and finish the game, you can actually continue your save file and travel to Kanto. There, you can revisit all the old cities from the first Pokémon games, collecting those 8 badges as well. Finally, you can challenge "Red", the champion of the Pokémon universe, who looks suspiciously like Ash Ketchum.

Overall, I really enjoyed playing Pokémon Silver. It featured the classic catchy tunes that made everybody fall in love with the Pokémon series on Gameboy, created a lot of great memories, and played very smoothly from start to finish. There were tough times and easy times, but all in all it will be remembered as a great classic for the handheld series of video games.

World 2-27: Super Adventure Island

Super Adventure Island
~SNES

Super Adventure Island is the first Super Nintendo installment of the Adventure Island series, which includes five previous games. The story starts when you (Master Higgins) and your girlfriend (Tina) are spending some time together, when suddenly a dark sorcerer comes along and turns her into stone! It's the classic damsel in distress, gotta go save my girlfriend video game plot, but hey back in the 90s, any story passed as long as the game played well enough.

The controls in Super Adventure Island were actually fairly tricky to master, as there is a lot of sliding momentum while running. It also takes awhile to hit your top speed, and turning around is a nightmare - although thankfully, turning around isn't usually necessary. The entire game is pretty fast paced, and has a cool sound track to boot. You can even grab a skateboard sometimes to really fly through the levels!

There are a variety of cool level themes in this game as well, such as caves, tree tops, and mountains. There's also a really smooth water level (or two) which were surprisingly really fun!

All in all, Super Adventure Island isn't the smoothest or most original game around, but I will always have fond memories of playing this game as a kid.

World 2-26: Mega Man 3

Mega Man 3
~NES

Mega Man 3 was a huge improvement on the first two Mega Man games. The graphics were a lot smoother, the bosses were cooler, and the music was also awesome. By the time this third game in the series was introduced, there was still a lot of creativity implemented by means of cool boss and level themes, as well as a wicked sound track to compliment each stage. For these reasons, Mega Man 3 is another common game seen in top 10 lists around the globe.

I found that the game play in Mega Man 3 was very smooth, and while there were some incredibly frustrating parts - the biggest one being that you are required to fight all 8 of the robot bosses from Mega Man 2, on top of the 8 bosses from Mega Man 3, all before fighting the final boss (with various forms) - it still managed to be a really enjoyable game, and one I am proud to have in my trophy room.

World 2-25: Mega Man 2

Mega Man 2
~NES

Game number 25 of my trophy room has finally been completed! I am officially 25% done my quest to beat 100 games in a year. Not bad!

Mega Man 2 is an incredibly popular game, and after having beat it once again, I can elaborate why. While the game is a bit clunky considering it's age (it was released in 1988 in Japan - that makes it older than I am), it still stands strong in the top 10 lists of many gamers around the globe. Not only does it have one of the most memorable sound tracks of all the Mega Man games, it is also notoriously difficult - even on the default difficulty setting. The graphics are bright and inviting, and there are interesting (and oh so frustrating) level obstacles introduced to the game, such as a race against beams which kill you in one hit, and stages where you must time your jumps perfectly to land on the appearing and disappearing blocks to conquer lava pits. These aspects, coupled with the all new boss set and a very interesting twist on the final boss, leave Mega Man 2 in my top 10 video game list as well.

World 2-24: God of War

God of War
~PS2

First off, let me note that I beat this game via the God of War Collection on PS3. It's been a long time since I played it on PS2, so I can't recall exactly how good the graphics were, but in this version they were SPECTACULAR.

God of War was an intensely great game. Apparently I played at least a third of this game when it was new, and I remembered quite a lot of the game. What I didn't remember is that even on Medium mode (which is the second lowest difficult), the game got pretty intense in terms of difficulty! I actually managed to get the trophy for being offered easy mode (obtained after dying too many times) without even trying.

The storyline in God of War is absolutely incredible; the base of the story is that your character (Kratos) is under service to the God of War (Ares) for reasons revealed throughout the game by means of various flashbacks. Haunted by terrible memories, it becomes Kratos main objective to do whatever he can to please the Gods so that they will forgive his merciless sins, and he will be freed of the torment.

As far as actual game play goes, the character control was very smooth, and you had a variety of different physical attacks which you could unlock by leveling up your weapons. There were also four magic attacks using mana, which are obtained throughout the game by finishing various areas. The only thing I wasn't fond of in God of War was the ridiculous amount of enemy grind. I found that even on medium difficulty, many of the enemies took ages to defeat. There was also a constant swarm of enemies spawning one after another, right from the beginning of the game, which made it hard to move through the game with much speed. It took me 9 hours and 30 minutes to complete the game, much of it spent on roaming around aimlessly while lost and taking out endless spawns of enemies. It was worth the play time though, as God of War was a game very well executed, and is such a memorable and enjoyable game that I was already itching for a second playthrough by time I was halfway done the game. The soundtrack was also beautifully done, matching every scene, level, and boss fight perfectly and enhancing the overall feel you got while playing ten fold. The voice actors were also very well picked, as each character had a unique voice to fit their perceived personality.

Overall, I give God of War a complete 10/10 for being such an awesome game. Everybody who calls themselves a gamer can't go on without trying God of War! 

World 2-23: Trauma Center: Second Opinion

Trauma Center: Second Opinion
~Wii

Trauma Center: Second Opinion is a great game in a very unique series available for various Nintendo consoles, in which you must perform surgery on a variety of patients. I have played four games in the Trauma Center series, and I have to say that Trauma Center: Second Opinion is my favourite of them all (not for any particular reason). It's a brilliantly designed game with heart pounding music that really enhances on the storyline. In Trauma Center: Second Opinion, the base of the story follows Dr. Derek Stiles as he learns how to become a proper doctor and enhances his newfound skill called the Healing Touch, which allows him to slow down time to operate on his patients at superhuman speeds. At risk of spoilers (**SPOILER ALERT**) you also get to play as a second doctor in this game, and her name is Nozomi/Naomi Weaver. The story proceeds on two separate paths (one for each doctor) until (**EVEN BIGGER SPOILER ALERT**) finally they meet up at the end of the game and must perform a surgery together.

The storyline of Trauma Center: Second Opinion follows the idea of medical warfare, in which a deadly disease called G.U.I.L.T (Gangliated Utrophin Immuno Latency Toxin) has been released into the population, and your character must follow in it's shadow, working as hard as he can to find a cure for the disease alongside his beautiful young assistant, Angie. Throughout the game, you are introduced to many vibrant characters, each with a wonderful backstory and dialogue that fits their personalities perfectly. You perform a variety of surgeries, each one harder than the last, and true to Atlas nature you will suddenly find yourself struggling like never before in a level that seems impossible, and may even have you yelling at your TV in frustration.

Overall, I recommend Trauma Center: Second Opinion to people who have patience and don't mind playing the same level over and over again, because no matter how good you are at this game, you will never finish every level on your first attempt. It took me 5 hours and 14 minutes to complete all 40 operations.

World 2-22: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

New Super Mario Bros. Wii
~Wii

The New Super Mario Bros. Wii game was a really fun play. It managed to keep all the best quirks of the original Mario games, yet still add awesome new flavours in the world of power ups, such as the helicopter mushroom (for an extra boost into the air), and a freeze flower (which was very handy in the final castle). There was a whole host of vibrant level themes, like the jungle world and the ice world. There were some cool little quirks about this game as well. A prime example of this would be that on some overworld maps, the layout was altered each time you entered a level, which would change which subsequent levels you could attempt next. For example, in the jungle world, vines would wrap around certain paths, blocking you off from entering certain levels until your next turn was up. There were also map-based enemies you could fight (usually by choice - sometimes not) for bonus power ups to be added to your inventory. This is old news in the world of Mario games, but this time around you could fight more than just the Hammer Bros. You could fight Goombas and Piranha Plants too, and instead of just jumping on the enemies, you had to collect 8 Toad Coins to reveal the treasure chest, which as it turns out, Toad was hiding in. Usually he gives you three normal mushrooms in return for saving him, which isn't much of a boost, but it does come in handy down the road.

I am still having trouble adapting to the feel of current console games, and the New Super Mario Bros. Wii game was no exception. For one thing, I almost always forgot that Mario can now wall jump, so I would ocassionally fall down into a pit of doom, accidentally jump off the wall halfway across the gap, get confused as to why Mario can suddenly jump off walls, and in a wonderful display of complete idiocy, let him fall to his death while staring at the screen with a look of sheer confusion. Asides from that, and my dreaded hate for water levels (music not included), I still found the game rather smooth and easy to get the hang of. I found myself flying through levels with complete ease the moment I picked up my controller.

Overall, the New Super Mario Bros. Wii took me 6 hours and 33 minutes to complete (bonus levels not included) and was a very enjoyable experience.

World 2-21: Super Mario Galaxy

Super Mario Galaxy
~Wii

Well, here it is - my first Wii game in my trophy room! And I have to say, it was a good choice! Super Mario Galaxy managed to introduce so many new ideas while still keeping the same basic Mario theme that everybody knows and loves. Some of my favourite levels were the ice themed ones, where if you shake the controller Mario would skate around in (sometimes frustrating) patterns. Nevertheless, it was quite a fun experience. There were also many other original level ideas, such as the bee level where you can get a bee suit and fly around for a short amount of time, and the closely related honey wall climbing level, which could only be inspired by Donkey Kong Country 2. Then there were the levels that absolutely blew my mind, such as the gravity switching levels. The background tells you which way Mario is going to fall, and you have to strategically work your way through each part without falling down the wrong way. The whole game had a lot of bright colours, and despite being the lowest class current generation console (graphics-wise), the graphics were actually very smooth and appealing. The game also featured some classic Mario music, which was so exciting to me that I actually stopped playing certain levels just so I could sit there and listen to the music.

On the negative side, I found the water levels extremely frustrating. It was so difficult to get Mario to swim in the right direction - unless you were lucky enough to come across a shell, which makes Mario swim forward automatically. Otherwise, you're stuck shaking your Wiimote back and forth, looking like an idiot, screaming at the screen trying to tell Mario that he's doing the exact opposite of what you asked him to do. And there was no shortage of water levels! The only saving grace of the water themed levels in Super Mario Galaxy were the sliding wave ones, where you would ride on top of the water, and the game played much like the Mario Kart games did. I had a lot of fun playing those water levels.

As for the movement aspect of the game, I had a LOT of difficulty getting used to the whole 3D movement thing, but I loved how your centre of gravity revolved around whatever planet you happen to be standing on, and not just flat ground at the bottom of the screen (as with 2D games). It was very frustrating at times because there were so many neat little tricks in the game where you would be flipped up onto another planet unwittingly, but it was very enjoyable at the same time because it was so unexpected and happened so fast. The whole game was pretty fast paced, and there were even certain levels where you had to beat your own ghost in a race to the end of the level to gather an extra star.

Overall, Super Mario Galaxy is a fantastic game that should at least be tried by everybody who has a Wii. In fact, buying a Wii would be well worth the money, if not just for this game. I give Super Mario Galaxy a full 10/10, despite how many times I yelled at the screen in agony.

Oh and as a side note, it took me 12 hours to finish this game, collecting 61 of the 120 stars.

World 2-20: Aladdin

Aladdin

~SNES

This game puts me at 1/5th of the way through my 100 games in a year attempt. It took me almost exactly an hour to complete.

Aladdin was a pretty solid game. Back when this game came out, many companies would remake popular movies and hope for a quick profit. Aladdin however, was done very well. It followed the full storyline without being too short or too long, not adding in any ridiculous details or leaving any important ones out. It was fairly simple, but everything was done right. The music was good, the graphics were colourful and inviting, and best of all, the character movements were spot on. Aladdin was very easy to control, once you got used to his rather large steps every time you tapped the controller. Overall, I was very impressed with this game. 

World 2-19: Earthbound

Earthbound

~SNES 

Well, after about 30 hours I finally have Earthbound in my trophy room! And you know what? I'd totally do it again. Earthbound definitely earned it's place in my top 10, with it's odd sense of humour, interesting game mechanics, and totally catchy soundtrack. There were so many awesome quirks in this game that made it memorable and worth being in everybody's trophy room. 

Overall, the game was pretty straightforward, as it was never too hard to tell where you had to go next. I count that as a big plus, because I hate running around aimlessly with no idea what to do. There was also no shortage of save points either (another big plus). One of the interesting game mechanics mentioned earlier is that if you stay out too long, your character gets homesick (resulting in botched battles because your character is off in Lala land). And on the even more annoying side, staying out too long also results in your dad constantly pestering you to save and take a break (at least you don't have to listen to him). But by far the most useful game mechanic comes into play by sheer advancement: after you reach a certain power level, you can run into monsters to initiate a fight and one hit KO them, bypassing the fight screen entirely. This is a huge time saver, and a great way to power level. 

One feature I didn't like much was that you couldn't get rid of key items, even after using them. However, you can leave items with your sister. Unfortunately, I didn't find that out until the very end of the game, so it was pretty useless to me. I ended up ditching a lot of good items because I simply had no space to keep them, even with 4 characters that each had 14 spaces to hold items. 

For leveling, I found that the best places were after you finished each My Sanctuary location, as you could go back to the sanctuary and get a free full recovery as many times as you wish. Also, you could hunt down the monsters in the place you just finished, and they would run away from you. And if you were strong enough, you could also one hit KO them. Talk about power leveling!

Without going into spoilers here, the final boss had some very unexpected twists, and no matter how much power leveling you do (I maxed out all my characters to level 99 quite early) he is still challenging, which I thought was very cool. There's nothing worse than beating the final boss in one shot without putting any effort into it whatsoever because your characters were too strong. Earthbound managed to avoid that entirely, and I was very impressed by that.

World 2-18: Super Bomberman 5

Super Bomberman 5
~Super Famicom

Well, Hudson Soft really changed the series up this time! Now, instead of set levels and worlds, you can basically choose what stage you want to go to after you finish each level, because multiple portals open up! Of course, it's a mystery which one takes you closer to the end boss, and there are even darker portals that put you back levels as well! Again, more monsters were added for riding on, and a new powerup was added as well: bombs that follow your enemies! This power up was especially effective for trapping enemies in corners, then just waiting nearby for the bomb to blow up. I still prefer the timer bomb, but it was a neat little addition to the Bomberman power-up family. 

Overall, I managed to finish the game in about an hour after figuring out how the portals worked. I can see this game taking someone anywhere from an hour to quite a few hours if you take the wrong portals, as there are sometimes up to 21 levels in each world. The bosses were also much harder this time around. It was worth the play for me, as now I have all the Super Bomberman games in my trophy room. 

World 2-17: Super Bomberman 4

Super Bomberman 4

~Super Famicom

When I originally read that there were 5 Super Bomberman games, I didn't realize the last two were only released in Japan. Surprisingly, the version I found said it was Japanese but came in full English, so it seems there was no real reason not for it to be released in North America as well - other than the fact that it was completely unoriginal from the rest of the series. There were hardly any new ideas implemented in this game that weren't there in Super Bomberman 3. The only real differences, other than the final boss (more on that in a bit), were the addition of a few new monsters to ride on and a couple new level themes. Overall, there was nothing astounding about Super Bomberman 4.

Super Bomberman 4 was much shorter than the first 3 games, featuring only 5 worlds (each with 7 stages) and the last world was just constant boss fights. However, the method for killing the final boss was finally changed up a bit. Rather than the usual picking up bombs and hurling them at him, he changed forms, much like Smithy from Super Mario RPG. That's about as far as the originality of this game went. Overall, it wasn't a bad game, but not really a great game either. 

World 2-16: Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time

Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time

~PS3

I had at least 10 other way cooler pics to choose from, but this is the only one with the trophy up there as proof that I beat the game (on medium).

Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time is a completely awesome game. I'm going to guess I spent about 12 hours playing this game, and I was nowhere near 100% done. Now that I've finished it on Medium mode, it's time to move up to challenge mode, upgrade all the guns to max level, collect all the Zoni and gold bolts, and then kick the crap out of Lord Vorselon!

Everything about this game is so amazingly structured. I never thought I'd go out of my way to admire the graphics in a game, but I absolutely LOVED how they were done. They're so incredibly smooth, and the colour scheme is absolutely perfect. Every planet you visit has incredibly defined scenery, and while the music doesn't really stick out in my head, it seems to have matched each section of the game quite well. The storyline is also really intriguing - basically, your little robot buddy, Clank, has been abducted by Dr. Nefarious as a means to access the Orvus Chamber in the Great Clock so he can use the power of time travel, which would have grave consequences on the very existence of the universe. So it's up to Clank to make sure nobody gets into the Orvus chamber. Back on Ratchet's side of the story, you and Qwark (the goofy captain you work with sometimes, and who is very similar to Futurama's own Zapp Brannigan) try to hunt down another Lombax (Ratchet's species) who is hellbent on also doing a bit of time travelling himself.

All in all, there wasn't a thing I didn't like about Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time. It will definitely hold it's place in my trophy room as one of my favourite games ever.

World 2-15: Super Bomberman 3

Super Bomberman 3
~SNES

Alright, only 2 more Super Bomberman games to go until I'm done them all. What I love about Bomberman is that there's no real learning curve - you drop bombs, you wait for them to explode, and just dodge the path of the explosion. It's a bit of strategy, but if you play your cards right there's nothing hard about it. Especially after you get the timer bombs so you can blow them up whenever you feel like it.

The cool thing about Super Bomberman 3 is that they finally added some new stuff! For instance, you can pick up a dinosaur pal in the first area. I managed to keep my dino for the duration of the game (which isn't hard at all on emulator). There were a couple new powerups, like the water bomb, which I never did figure out the purpose of. The other new feature in Super Bomberman 3 that wasn't there in the first two were doors that led to additional rooms in each level, and pillars you had to blow up in order to open those doors. So the game was a bit longer, had a few new features, but basically still rocked the Bomberman title. The only thing I didn't really like was how slow you walk around compared to the first and second games. Sure, you can get the roller blades, but they really don't help much. 

World 2-14: Super Bomberman 2

Super Bomberman 2
~SNES

I didn't even know there was a second Super Bomberman game, but as it turns out there are five of them.

I loved Super Bomberman 2 because it was quick, had cute graphics, and also had catchy music. There wasn't much expansion from the original Super Bomberman game - in fact I don't think there was a single new power up - but they did alter the graphics of the power ups and added a few new level themes too. Once again, to fight the final boss you must throw bombs at him. The idea that you need a specific power up to kill the end boss is kind of silly, but at least in Super Bomberman 2 it was a lot easier to execute.

By the time I fought the final boss, I had collected a bunch of hearts (which allow you to withstand one extra hit without dying), and I guess they stacked up because I was able to stand in one spot and spam the lay bomb/throw bomb button for about 10 seconds until the final boss was dead.

Overall, Super Bomberman 2 is a pretty fun game, taking only about an hour, maybe an hour and a half, to complete. It also has awesome replay value; I can see myself coming back to this game many more times in the future.