Skippy B. Coyote

I made my first gaming related purchase of 2019 this week, and it's one that I'm at pretty much maximum possible levels of excitement about! I've owned a couple AGS-101 backlit Game Boy Advance systems in the past but they both had Chinese reproduction shells and buttons and I really never cared for the cheap flimsy feeling of the shells and poorly cast buttons, so I eventually sold them and decided to keep an eye out for a pristine mint condition Indigo colored GBA with all original Nintendo parts that I could add a backlit screen to myself. After a good year or so of searching I finally found exactly what I was looking for! For $45 shipped I picked up a gem mint Indigo GBA with zero scratches anywhere on the system and all original Nintendo parts, plus the seller threw in a carrying case and a few equally mint condition games to go with the system. It feels absolutely glorious in my hands, solid and sturdy with nice smoothly cast and responsive buttons, and over the next few months I'll be upgrading it with an AGS-101 LCD screen, BennVenn Voltage Regulator for maximum screen brightness, and an EverDrive GBA X5 fully loaded with every game I could ever possibly want to play for the Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Color, original Game Boy, NES, Game Gear, and Sega Master System. That's my gaming project for 2019!

I made my first gaming related purchase of 2019 this week, and it's one that I'm at pretty much maximum possible levels of excitement about! I've owned a couple AGS-101 backlit Game Boy Advance systems in the past but they both had Chinese reproduction shells and buttons and I really never cared for the cheap flimsy feeling of the shells and poorly cast buttons, so I eventually sold them and decided to keep an eye out for a pristine mint condition Indigo colored GBA with all original Nintendo parts that I could add a backlit screen to myself. After a good year or so of searching I finally found exactly what I was looking for! For $45 shipped I picked up a gem mint Indigo GBA with zero scratches anywhere on the system and all original Nintendo parts, plus the seller threw in a carrying case and a few equally mint condition games to go with the system. It feels absolutely glorious in my hands, solid and sturdy with nice smoothly cast and responsive buttons, and over the next few months I'll be upgrading it with an AGS-101 LCD screen, BennVenn Voltage Regulator for maximum screen brightness, Audio Amplifier kit from RetroModding.com, and an EverDrive GBA X5 fully loaded with every game I could ever possibly want to play for the Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Color, original Game Boy, NES, Game Gear, and Sega Master System. That's my gaming project for 2019!

Well, after watching those two videos I'm pretty sure you just made the best game on the 7800 in terms of both graphics and sound; and quite possibly gameplay as well. I don't even own an Atari 7800 anymore (I was a silly doofus and traded mine for a Sega CD a year or so ago) but I'll still pick up a copy of Rikki & Vikki the day it comes out, since I'm sure I'll get a 7800 again at some point. Plus foxes! I'm a total sucker for any game with adorable foxes.

I can say with complete confidence that if Tanglewood had been released in the early to mid 90's it would have gone down in history as one of the Genesis's defining titles. It's a master course in game design that every fan of the system owes it to themselves to play, so if you're not down to spend $85 on a physical copy then by all means get a digital copy on Steam and play it off your EverDrive. Just be warned though that if you end up liking Tanglewood even half as much as I did then you may find yourself handing over the $85 for a physical copy anyway.

Tanglewood was a shockingly good game! I ordered a copy for the misses for Christmas but it ended up being a Christmas present for both of us, since we played through it together twice over the course of the past week trading off the controller between levels. I could go on for pages about what an absolutely incredible game Tanglewood is, from the gorgeous graphics to the perfectly atmospheric sound design, challenging puzzle platforming that very much reminded me of Limbo, and the startlingly emotionally engaging story that ends up going some pretty dark places that make this game completely unsuitable for young children. Everything about Tanglewood was an incredible surprise, and I can safely say that after two play throughs it is my new all time favorite Sega Genesis game! I've had a love affair with the Sega Genesis ever since I was 7 years old back in 1992, and in all the years since then I have never had a game on this system make as big of an impact on me as Tanglewood did. It made the #2 spot on my wife's favorite Genesis game list as well, just behind Sonic 3 & Knuckles in the #1 position for her. There's not many video games that I could honestly say are worth the $85 US that Tanglewood set me back, but this is definitely one of them. It's an absolute "must own" game for any Sega Genesis fan! P.S.: For maximum enjoyment don't worry about collecting all the fireflies on your first play though. Try your best to collect them all the second time around though, it's worth the effort if you can.

While we all anxiously await carlsson's end of year wrap up with all the tracker stats for this season I decided to go ahead and do my household's year end statistics for 2018. It's always fun looking back on everything you've played over the course of the year and compare it to previous years, so let's get started… In 2018 my household played 294 games on 21 systems, with a total video game play time of 77,812 minutes (54 days 0 hours 52 minutes, averaging out to 3 hours and 33 minutes a day). That was 1 game more than we played in 2017 but still 129 games short of our all time record of 423 from 2016. We did however set a new household record for play time, topping our previous record of 73,222 minutes from 2017 by more than 4,500 minutes, and we played 2 more systems this year than we had in any previous years. Interestingly my household's average amount of gaming time per day has remained fairly consistent over the last few years, with an average of 3 hours and 20 minutes per day in 2016, 3 hours and 19 minutes per day in 2017, and 3 hours and 33 minutes per day in 2018. My Household's Top 10 Most Played Games of 2018 1. Metroid Prime Trilogy (Nintendo Wii) - 4,261 minutes 2. Pokémon Ultra Sun (Nintendo 3DS) - 3,718 minutes 3. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (Nintendo 3DS) - 3,138 minutes 4. Parasite Eve (Sony PlayStation) - 2,450 minutes 5. Resident Evil: Revelations (Nintendo 3DS) - 2,067 minutes 6. DOOM (Microsoft Xbox One) - 1,758 minutes 7. Alien: Isolation (Microsoft Xbox One) - 1,659 minutes 8. Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (Nintendo Wii) - 1,352 minutes 9. Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition (Nintendo Wii) - 1,346 minutes 10. Star Fox Adventures (Nintendo GameCube) - 1,304 minutes My Household's Top Consoles/Platforms of 2018 1. Nintendo Wii: 17,622 minutes (30 games) 2. Sega Genesis: 12,706 minutes (63 games) 3. Nintendo 3DS: 12,182 minutes (17 games) 4. Sony PlayStation: 8,394 minutes (15 games) 5. Microsoft Xbox One: 4,530 minutes (3 games) 6. Nintendo GameCube: 3,306 minutes (6 games) 7. NES: 3,171 minutes (11 games) 8. Atari 2600: 3,060 minutes (47 games) 9. Sega CD: 2,937 minutes (12 games) 10. Nintendo Game Boy: 1,843 minutes (19 games) 11. Sega 32X: 1,377 minutes (10 games) 12. Nintendo Game Boy Color: 998 minutes (10 games) 13. Super Nintendo: 980 minutes (2 games) 14. Atari 7800: 916 minutes (8 games) 15. Microsoft Xbox 360: 851 minutes (1 game) 16. Sega Master System: 827 minutes (19 games) 17. Sega Game Gear: 786 minutes (3 games) 18. Atari 8-Bit Computers: 780 minutes (7 games) 19. Nintendo DS: 232 minutes (1 game) 20. Arcade: 206 minutes (9 games) 21. PC-DOS: 108 minutes (1 game) And finally, you can find the full list of every game played in my household over the past year and their corresponding play times in the spoiler tag below.

While we all anxiously await thegoldenband's end of year wrap up with all the tracker stats for this season I decided to go ahead and do my household's year end statistics for 2018. It's always fun looking back on everything you've played over the course of the year and compare it to previous years, so let's get started… In 2018 my household played 295 games on 21 systems, with a total video game play time of 77,812 minutes (54 days 0 hours 52 minutes, averaging out to 3 hours and 33 minutes a day). That was 2 games more than we played in 2017 but still 128 games short of our all time record of 423 from 2016. We did however set a new household record for play time, topping our previous record of 73,222 minutes from 2017 by more than 4,500 minutes, and we played 2 more systems this year than we had in any previous years. Interestingly my household's average amount of gaming time per day has remained fairly consistent over the last few years, with an average of 3 hours and 20 minutes per day in 2016, 3 hours and 19 minutes per day in 2017, and 3 hours and 33 minutes per day in 2018. My Household's Top 10 Most Played Games of 2018 1. Metroid Prime Trilogy (Nintendo Wii) - 4,261 minutes 2. Pokémon Ultra Sun (Nintendo 3DS) - 3,718 minutes 3. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (Nintendo 3DS) - 3,138 minutes 4. Parasite Eve (Sony PlayStation) - 2,450 minutes 5. Resident Evil: Revelations (Nintendo 3DS) - 2,067 minutes 6. DOOM (Microsoft Xbox One) - 1,758 minutes 7. Alien: Isolation (Microsoft Xbox One) - 1,659 minutes 8. Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (Nintendo Wii) - 1,352 minutes 9. Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition (Nintendo Wii) - 1,346 minutes 10. Star Fox Adventures (Nintendo GameCube) - 1,304 minutes My Household's Top Consoles/Platforms of 2018 1. Nintendo Wii: 17,622 minutes (30 games) 2. Sega Genesis: 12,706 minutes (63 games) 3. Nintendo 3DS: 12,182 minutes (17 games) 4. Sony PlayStation: 8,394 minutes (15 games) 5. Microsoft Xbox One: 4,530 minutes (3 games) 6. Nintendo GameCube: 3,306 minutes (6 games) 7. NES: 3,171 minutes (11 games) 8. Atari 2600: 3,004 minutes (47 games) 9. Sega CD: 2,937 minutes (12 games) 10. Nintendo Game Boy: 1,843 minutes (19 games) 11. Sega 32X: 1,377 minutes (10 games) 12. Nintendo Game Boy Color: 998 minutes (10 games) 13. Super Nintendo: 980 minutes (2 games) 14. Atari 7800: 972 minutes (9 games) 15. Microsoft Xbox 360: 851 minutes (1 game) 16. Sega Master System: 827 minutes (19 games) 17. Sega Game Gear: 786 minutes (3 games) 18. Atari 8-Bit Computers: 780 minutes (7 games) 19. Nintendo DS: 232 minutes (1 game) 20. Arcade: 206 minutes (9 games) 21. PC-DOS: 108 minutes (1 game) And finally, you can find the full list of every game played in my household over the past year and their corresponding play times in the spoiler tag below.

Oh for sure, though as time goes on it gets more and more difficult to keep it up like you used to. I hear there's ways to make it look just like it did way back when though.

Time for my final update of 2018! I watched the credits roll on my last game of the year, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D Master Quest on the 3DS, at 11:57 PM on December 31st. I haven't updated my list of games beaten since October though, so here's a year end wrap up of the games I've beaten since then: 74. Growl (Sega Genesis) Growl ended up being a fun way to pass an hour or so, but didn't leave much of an impression on me past that. It's a pretty straightforward and not overly difficult single player beat 'em up that has you playing as an Indiana Jones look alike who goes around kicking poachers' butts with the help of a variety of african wildlife and the occasional M202 rocket launcher. Not a bad game by any means, but I wouldn't pay the $45 that a loose cartridge copy of it commands these days. 75. Castlevania: Bloodlines (Sega Genesis) This game on the other hand was well worth the $50 or so that I paid for it! I ended up playing through and beating it with both characters on Easy and Normal difficulty, and after 4 play throughs I can safely say that Castlevania: Bloodlines has become my second favorite game in the entire Castlevania series; just behind Symphony of the Night at #1. The developers just got everything about this game right, with gorgeous graphics that push the Sega Genesis's processing capabilities to their limit, awesome music, and fantastic gameplay that spans 6 large stages with different routes for each of the two playable characters to traverse. It was a pretty tough game, but never unfairly so and the password saves after each stage made it easy to practice and restart stages without being overly punished for failure. All in all it's just a phenomenal game, and a major highlight of my game pickups from this past year. 76. Sonic 3D Blast (Sega Genesis) Everyone's got a game or two that most people don't care for but they love because they played it all the time growing up, and for me Sonic 3D Blast is one of those games. I had all the Sonic games for the Genesis as a kid and loved all of them, 3D Blast included. It may not be quite as good as the classic 2D Sonic titles, but it still never ceases to amaze me what a good job Traveler's Tales did capturing all the elements that make Sonic games fun in the series very first foray into 3D; and on a 16-bit console no less. It's got beautiful bright and colorful graphics, a great sense of speed and flow once you get a feel for the controls, excellent music, and some neat new gameplay mechanics to boot. All it in all I think Sonic 3D Blast is just a really fun and well thought out gaming experience, even if it is radically different from every other game in the series. 77. Golden Axe II (Sega Genesis) This sequel to the time honored classic Golden Axe is another one of my favorite Genesis games. It fixes a lot of the issues I had with the original Golden Axe by lowering the difficulty level slightly to make it more manageable to beat without the need for a friend helping you out, allows you to pick up enemies and throw them behind you to keep from getting ganged up on too much, and the variable magic usage system is very cool as well. The only complaint I could really make about Golden Axe II is that the ridable dragons in the original Golden Axe were way cooler than the odd little bird creatures you occasionally get to ride in Golden Axe II, but other than that I feel like this game does everything right. 78. Metroid: Other M (Nintendo Wii) This game was a bit of a surprise for me, since I wasn't expecting much going into it. The game was dirt cheap, $5 complete in box, but it was a Metroid game and for the price I couldn't resist giving it a try. I did a complete play through of the game from beginning to end (including the extra story bits after the credits) and while it did have it's moments of frustration I thought it was a great game with a surprisingly engaging narrative that kept me glued to the TV for most of a week just to see what would happen next. My only real complaints about the game were that the difficulty level was much higher than other games in the Metroid series and I found myself dying dozens of times over, whereas I usually only die once or twice during a play through of any other Metroid game, and the game was often rather cryptic about what it expected you to do; particularly during boss fights. Still, it was a very enjoyable game and I hope that the upcoming Metroid Prime 4 follows in Other M's footsteps by giving Samus a voice once more. 79. Primal Rage (Sega Genesis) It seems like there's a good number of games that most people don't care for but I like on the list this time around, and Primal Rage is no exception. I loved it in the arcades and I played this game nearly every day for a good year or so right after it came out on the Genesis back in 1995, and I still love it to this day. It also gives me rare occasion to break out my 6-button Sega Genesis arcade stick, since there's not really any other controller that game can be effectively played with due to the need to hold down all sorts of odd button combinations to perform special moves. 80. Zero Tolerance (Sega Genesis) As the only first-person shooter on the system and not using any special chips in the cartridge to aid in processing it's a seriously impressive technical achievement, and a heck of a lot of fun for fans of the genre. Zero Tolerance is also quite a long, 10 or 12 hours give or take, and having now beaten the game I can safely say that I will absolutely be playing through it again someday. It was just an all around great game with a lot of design elements (night vision goggles, motion trackers, limited inventory space, etc.) that were really before their time. 81. The Castlevania Adventure (Game Boy) Absurdly difficult yet strangely likable, I have a love/hate relationship with The Castlevania Adventure. I know that every time I sit down to play this game I'm going to end up spending hours playing Stage 4 over and over and over until my left thumb feels like it's going to fall off and I'm yelling obscenities at my Game Boy, and yet I still go back and play through it once a year almost every year. In some ways I really like this game, since it is Castlevania and it's on one of my all time favorite systems, I just wish it wasn't so punishingly (and often unfairly) difficult. 82. Golden Axe (Sega Genesis) This year marks the first time I've ever beaten Golden Axe single player! It took a whole lot of time and practice to learn the best techniques to take on every enemy and exactly where to stand at certain points to get in hits without being hit back, but gosh darn it I did it! I've always loved Golden Axe, and I'm sure happy to have finally beaten it. 83. Dino Strike (Nintendo Wii) Dino Strike on the Wii was a game which I had been wanting to get my hands on for many years, and I ended up getting it for Christmas this year. I knew it was a well regarded light gun shooter that it was rare and commands a rather steep price, but what I didn't know was that it's actually not all that great of a game and only takes about an hour to beat. It wasn't a bad game, just a very "by the numbers" light gun shooter without much in the way of surprises and a goofy control layout that requires you to press A to reload rather than flicking the Wii remote or nunchuck upwards like you would with most light gun games on the Wii. Again, not a bad game, just not a particularly good one. I was happy to have finally gotten the chance to play it, but don't think this game will be staying in my collection for long. 84. Tanglewood (Sega Genesis) On the other hand (or paw as the case may be), Tanglewood for the Sega Genesis was a shockingly good game! I ordered a copy of this new homebrew game for the misses for Christmas but it ended up being a Christmas present for both of us, since we played through it together twice over the course of the week trading off the controller between levels. I could go on for pages about what an absolutely incredible game Tanglewood is, from the gorgeous graphics to the perfectly atmospheric sound design, challenging puzzle platforming that very much reminded me of Limbo, and the startlingly emotionally engaging story that ends up going some pretty dark places that make this game completely unsuitable for young children. Everything about Tanglewood was an incredible surprise, and I can safely say that after two play throughs it is my new all time favorite Sega Genesis game! It made the #2 spot on my wife's favorite Genesis game list as well, just behind Sonic 3 & Knuckles in the #1 position for her. There's not many video games that I could honestly say are worth the $85 US that Tanglewood set me back, but this is definitely one of them. It's an absolute "must own" game for any Sega Genesis fan! 85. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D Master Quest (Nintendo 3DS) I spent months working on playing through this game off and on and was hoping to finish it by the end of the year, and I just barely managed to pull it off after spending much of December 31st marathoning my way through the final dungeon and Ganon's castle. To finish the game in time I actually had to keep playing over dinner, with a slice of pizza in one hand and my 3DS in the other, but it paid off because at 11:57 PM on New Years Eve I beat the final boss and watched the credits roll. Whew! I don't think I could have cut it much closer than that! I had never played Ocarina of Time's Master Quest before this year but it definitely added a lot of replay value to the game, with a reversed world map, a lot tougher enemies populating the dungeons, and some new (and often seriously cryptic) puzzles to solve. I didn't like it quite as much as the regular game, but it was fun to play through and felt like a nice added value for those who have already thoroughly conquered the original Ocarina of Time and are looking for a good reason to delve back into the land of Hyrule once more. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D Master Quest brings my final total of games beaten for this year to 85, which is 14 games more than the 71 I beat in 2017 and a new all time record for the most games I've ever beaten in one year! I don't know whether or not I'll be able to complete that many next year, but I do plan to spend a lot more time focusing on playing Sega Genesis and Game Boy games in 2019 so it's certainly possible; since most games on those systems aren't terribly lengthy. To wrap things up for this year, my wife also kept a personal list of the games she beat over the course of the year (she beat 36 games this year, which was just 2 games shy of her all time record of 38 games from 2016) and you can find both of our complete lists of games beaten in 2018 in the spoiler tag below: Best wishes and Happy New Year everyone!

Coming in more than a little late this week, but it's been a crazy busy last couple days around here and this was the first chance I had to sit down and write the weekly post. So without further ado, let's get to it! Ineligible Asteroids (Atari 7800) - 13 minutes Berzerk (Atari 2600) - 24 minutes Berzerk: Voice Enhanced (Atari 2600) - 24 minutes D.K. VCS (Atari 2600) - 11 minutes Frogger (Atari 2600) - 16 minutes Gingerbread Man (Atari 2600) - 43 minutes Ms. Pac-Man (Atari 7800) - 74 minutes New Pac-Man [8k Version] (Atari 2600) - 11 minutes Reindeer Rescue (Atari 2600) - 67 minutes River Raid 3 (Atari 2600) - 15 minutes Scramble (Atari 2600) - 22 minutes Scramble (Atari 7800) - 24 minutes Space Rocks (Atari 2600) - 22 minutes Super Breakout (Atari 2600) - 18 minutes Tanglewood (Sega Genesis) - 656 minutes Tomb Raider II (PlayStation) - 82 minutes Toyshop Trouble (Atari 2600)- 65 minutes Xevious (Atari 7800) - 19 minutes Nintendo 3DS The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D - 341 minutes Nintendo Wii Dino Strike - 60 minutes Total Video Game Play Time This Week 1,607 minutes (26 hours 47 minutes) [401 minutes eligible] Individual System Play Times This Week Sega Genesis: 656 minutes Nintendo 3DS: 341 minutes Atari 2600: 338 minutes Atari 7800: 130 minutes PlayStation: 82 minutes Nintendo Wii: 60 minutes There were a ton of games played around here this past week, so instead of covering them all I'll just touch on the highlights. The first game that I spent a decent bit of time playing was Dino Strike on the Wii, which was a game I've been wanting for many years and ended up getting for Christmas. I knew it was a well regarded light gun shooter that it was rare and commands a rather steep price, but what I didn't know was that it's actually not all that great of a game and only takes about an hour to beat. It wasn't a bad game, just a very "by the numbers" light gun shooter without much in the way of surprises and a goofy control layout that requires you to press A to reload rather than flicking the Wii remote or nunchuck upwards like you would with most light gun games on the Wii. Again, not a bad game, just not a particularly good one. I was happy to have finally gotten the chance to play it, but don't think this game will be staying in my collection for long. On the other hand (or paw as the case may be), Tanglewood for the Sega Genesis was a shockingly good game! I ordered a copy of this new homebrew game for the misses for Christmas but it ended up being a Christmas present for both of us, since we played through it together twice over the course of the week trading off the controller between levels. I could go on for pages about what an absolutely incredible game Tanglewood is, from the gorgeous graphics to the perfectly atmospheric sound design, challenging puzzle platforming that very much reminded me of Limbo, and the startlingly emotionally engaging story that ends up going some pretty dark places that make this game completely unsuitable for young children. Everything about Tanglewood was an incredible surprise, and I can safely say that after two play throughs it is my new all time favorite Sega Genesis game! It made the #2 slot on my wife's favorite Genesis game list as well, just behind Sonic 3 & Knuckles in the #1 position for her. There's not many video games that I could honestly say are worth the $85 US that Tanglewood set me back, but this is definitely one of them. It's an absolute "must own" game for any Sega Genesis fan! In other gaming news this past week, we really gave the Harmony Encore cartridge a good workout and played quite a few different Atari 2600 games. First I spent some time playing the three Christmas themed games for the Atari 2600 High Score Club this round (Toyshop Trouble, Reindeer Rescue, and Gingerbread Man) and had a great time with all of them. After that the misses spent some time revisiting a few of her favorite 2600 homebrews (D.K. VCS, Space Rocks, and New Pac-Man 8K) then for the rest of the week we each just played a few Atari games here and there between the longer games we were working on. She played some Frogger, I played Super Breakout, we both played Berzerk and the disappointingly easy Berzerk: Voice Enhanced, and quite a few other games as well. We even fired up the Atari 7800 emulator on the Wii and played some 7800 games together for a while, which hasn't happened in at least a few months. For the other games played this past week, the misses put a bit more time into her play through of Tomb Raider II on the PlayStation and I finally finished The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D Master Quest! I was hoping to finish it by the end of the year, and I just barely managed to pull it off after spending much of December 31st marathoning my way through the final dungeon and Ganon's castle. To finish the game in time I actually had to keep playing over dinner, with a slice of pizza in one hand and my 3DS in the other, but it paid off because at 11:57 PM on New Years Eve I beat the final boss and watched the credits roll. Whew! I don't think I could have cut it much closer than that! Well guys and gals, I think that about covers everything for this week. I'll be doing a final year end wrap-up post with all the big statistics for my household from the past year at some point over the next few days, but until then best wishes, happy gaming, and a Happy New Year to you and yours!

Coming in more than a little late this week, but it's been a crazy busy last couple days around here and this was the first chance I had to sit down and write the weekly post. So without further ado, let's get to it! Ineligible Dino Strike (Nintendo Wii) - 60 minutes The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (Nintendo 3DS) - 341 minutes Atari 2600 Berzerk - 24 minutes Berzerk: Voice Enhanced - 24 minutes D.K. VCS - 11 minutes Frogger - 16 minutes Gingerbread Man - 43 minutes New Pac-Man (8k Version) - 11 minutes Reindeer Rescue - 67 minutes River Raid 3 - 15 minutes Scramble - 22 minutes Space Rocks - 22 minutes Super Breakout - 18 minutes Toyshop Trouble - 65 minutes Atari 7800 (Emulated on Nintendo Wii) Asteroids - 13 minutes Ms. Pac-Man - 74 minutes Scramble - 24 minutes Xevious - 19 minutes PlayStation Tomb Raider II - 82 minutes Sega Genesis Tanglewood - 656 minutes Total Video Game Play Time This Week 1,607 minutes (26 hours 47 minutes) [1,206 minutes eligible] Individual System Play Times This Week Sega Genesis: 656 minutes Nintendo 3DS: 341 minutes Atari 2600: 338 minutes Atari 7800: 130 minutes PlayStation: 82 minutes Nintendo Wii: 60 minutes There were a ton of games played around here this past week, so instead of covering them all I'll just touch on the highlights. The first game that I spent a decent bit of time playing was Dino Strike on the Wii, which was a game I've been wanting for many years and ended up getting for Christmas. I knew it was a well regarded light gun shooter that it was rare and commands a rather steep price, but what I didn't know was that it's actually not all that great of a game and only takes about an hour to beat. It wasn't a bad game, just a very "by the numbers" light gun shooter without much in the way of surprises and a goofy control layout that requires you to press A to reload rather than flicking the Wii remote or nunchuck upwards like you would with most light gun games on the Wii. Again, not a bad game, just not a particularly good one. I was happy to have finally gotten the chance to play it, but don't think this game will be staying in my collection for long. On the other hand (or paw as the case may be), Tanglewood for the Sega Genesis was a shockingly good game! I ordered a copy of this new homebrew game for the misses for Christmas but it ended up being a Christmas present for both of us, since we played through it together twice over the course of the week trading off the controller between levels. I could go on for pages about what an absolutely incredible game Tanglewood is, from the gorgeous graphics to the perfectly atmospheric sound design, challenging puzzle platforming that very much reminded me of Limbo, and the startlingly emotionally engaging story that ends up going some pretty dark places that make this game completely unsuitable for young children. Everything about Tanglewood was an incredible surprise, and I can safely say that after two play throughs it is my new all time favorite Sega Genesis game! It made the #2 slot on my wife's favorite Genesis game list as well, just behind Sonic 3 & Knuckles in the #1 position for her. There's not many video games that I could honestly say are worth the $85 US that Tanglewood set me back, but this is definitely one of them. It's an absolute "must own" game for any Sega Genesis fan! In other gaming news this past week, we really gave the Harmony Encore cartridge a good workout and played quite a few different Atari 2600 games. First I spent some time playing the three Christmas themed games for the Atari 2600 High Score Club this round (Toyshop Trouble, Reindeer Rescue, and Gingerbread Man) and had a great time with all of them. After that the misses spent some time revisiting a few of her favorite 2600 homebrews (D.K. VCS, Space Rocks, and New Pac-Man 8K) then for the rest of the week we each just played a few Atari games here and there between the longer games we were working on. She played some Frogger, I played Super Breakout, we both played Berzerk and the disappointingly easy Berzerk: Voice Enhanced, and quite a few other games as well. We even fired up the Atari 7800 emulator on the Wii and played some 7800 games together for a while, which hasn't happened in at least a few months. For the other games played this past week, the misses put a bit more time into her play through of Tomb Raider II on the PlayStation and I finally finished The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D Master Quest! I was hoping to finish it by the end of the year, and I just barely managed to pull it off after spending much of December 31st marathoning my way through the final dungeon and Ganon's castle. To finish the game in time I actually had to keep playing over dinner, with a slice of pizza in one hand and my 3DS in the other, but it paid off because at 11:57 PM on New Years Eve I beat the final boss and watched the credits roll. Whew! I don't think I could have cut it much closer than that! Well guys and gals, I think that about covers everything for this week. I'll be doing a final year end wrap-up post with all the big statistics for my household from the past year at some point over the next few days, but until then best wishes, happy gaming, and a Happy New Year to you and yours!

I noticed you live in the Twin Cities too, so if you need a 4-way/8-way square gate and happen to find yourself in Saint Paul (right around the Dale St. exit off I-94) I can just give ya one. I always swap them out for octagonal gates in all my sticks so I've got a bunch of them laying around. Just shoot me a PM if you'd like one.

Same here, I'm rushing like crazy to try and finish The Master Quest in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D by the end of the year and I'm down to just Ganon's castle left to beat so I should get it done in time. Probably won't post my household's weekly times until tomorrow night or early in the morning on January 1st though.

I was born in February of 1985 so at the moment I'm 33, soon to be 34.

Oh mother flubber! Someone just had to go and make a really good looking Atari 7800 game with adorable foxes... well, fudge. Reconsideration of the 7800 may be required.

No thanks, I'd rather wait for the 2600 version. I don't own a 7800 anymore and I'm not too keen on spending $90 on something styled after a system I don't own. Aesthetics are important to me, especially when it comes to expensive arcade stick controllers.

Wow is that ever a cool design! When you get around to making the 2600 version might it be feasible to put the black paddle controller button where the "2" button is on the 7800 version? I figure with one less fire button in the mix there would be space to mount the paddle button on the top of the controller. The only other feedback that I thought might be helpful would be to suggest putting a little rubber grommet in the cord hole on the metal front panel of the controller. That would keep the cord from getting torn up on the metal panel over time and help prevent damage when someone inevitably trips over the cord at some point. In any case, awesome work so far and I'll have my wallet ready for as soon as the 2600 version is ready for purchase!

I went back to all 3 games for another round this evening and improvements were made on all fronts! Gingerbread Man (Game 1, B/B Difficulty): 7,525 Reindeer Rescue (Game 1, B/B Difficulty): 32,225 Toyshop Trouble (Game 1, B/B Difficulty): 14,003

Finally got around to trying the games for this round! My favorite of the bunch was Toyshop Trouble, it's just such a simple and straightforward but really challenging and well designed game. Second place for me was Reindeer Rescue, which played really well too and was a lot of fun but got a little frustrating by the third level. In last was Gingerbread Man, because even after many many tries I just couldn't figure out how to collect all the balloons in the second level so I just gave up on it. Anyhoo, scores… Gingerbread Man (Game 1, B/B Difficulty): 2,360 Reindeer Rescue (Game 1, B/B Difficulty): 30,200 Toyshop Trouble (Game 1, B/B Difficulty): 7,851

I'll toss in... Alex Kidd in Miracle World Golden Axe Warrior Hang-On & Astro Warrior Power Strike Psycho Fox R-Type Sonic the Hedgehog Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap

Time for the obligatory 2018 "Stuff I got for Christmas this year" post! Dino Strike is a game I've been wanting for years and years, so I'm totally thrilled to have it and definitely going to give it a play later tonight. Contra: Hard Corps and Rocket Knight Adventures are just awesome additions to my Sega Genesis library, and while Tanglewood was a gift for the misses we're gonna play it together and trade off the controller between levels so it should be a ton of fun! And the shirt, well... If the shirt fits, as they say.

Posting a little later than usual on account of my family celebrating Christmas on Christmas Eve every year, but here's my household's stats for the week. Ineligible Contra: Hard Corps (Sega Genesis) - 313 minutes Rocket Knight Adventures (Sega Genesis)- 178 minutes Tomb Raider (PlayStation) - 332 minutes Tomb Raider II (PlayStation) - 61 minutes Nintendo 3DS Karous: The Beast of Re:Eden - 19 minutes The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D - 17 minutes Star Fox 64 3D - 150 minutes Total Video Game Play Time This Week 1,070 minutes (17 hours 50 minutes) [186 minutes eligible] Individual System Play Times This Week Sega Genesis: 491 minutes PlayStation: 393 minutes Nintendo 3DS: 186 minutes For the second to last week of the year we didn't get in quite as much gaming as usual, but it was still a fun week with a good number of games played and a few new ones arriving in the mail. I had intended to finish up The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time 3D Master Quest this week before Christmas, since I figured I'd probably get a new game or two for the holidays that I'd want to start in on, but I ended up getting a little distracted by a couple new Sega Genesis games that showed up in the mail and that didn't quite happen. After doing a play through of Star Fox 64 3D and beating the hard route on the original N64 difficulty setting for the first time the majority of my week was spent playing Contra: Hard Corps on the Sega Genesis, which arrived in the mail early in the week and certainly lives up to it's name. Any game that let's you play as a cyborg werewolf with a combination machine gun / flamethrower arm and sunglasses is awesome in my book, but holy hell is Contra: Hard Corps ever hard! After 5 hours of practice I still can't get more than halfway through the 4th level, but it's still been a lot of fun and I'm sure I'll play it many more times in the future. The other game that showed up in the mail this past week was Rocket Knight Adventures (also for the Genesis) and the misses and I sat down together last night and spent a few hours playing it, trading off the controller between levels. It's a pretty amazing and fun game, but just like Contra it gets crazy difficult in the later stages. Konami definitely seemed to have this weird fixation with making all their Sega Genesis games insanely hard, because out of the 6 Konami games I own for the system the only one I've ever managed to beat was Castlevania: Bloodlines; and even that took a lot of practice. That was pretty much it for me this past week, but the misses did accomplish her goal of beating the original Tomb Raider on the PlayStation then starting in on the second game in the series. She's planning on continuing Tomb Raider II next week and hoping to beat it by the end of the year, but I'm not so sure she'll be sticking to that plan after Christmas presents are opened later this evening. There may be a new game coming her way that I have a feeling might distract her from Tomb Raider II for a good long while. I think that covers everything for this week, so until next time, Merry Christmas and happy gaming to you and yours!

Posting a little later than usual on account of my family celebrating Christmas on Christmas Eve every year, but here's my household's stats for the week. Ineligible Karous: The Beast of Re:Eden (Nintendo 3DS) - 19 minutes The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (Nintendo 3DS) - 17 minutes Star Fox 64 3D (Nintendo 3DS) - 150 minutes PlayStation Tomb Raider - 332 minutes Tomb Raider II - 61 minutes Sega Genesis Contra: Hard Corps - 313 minutes Rocket Knight Adventures - 178 minutes Total Video Game Play Time This Week 1,070 minutes (17 hours 50 minutes) [884 minutes eligible] Individual System Play Times This Week Sega Genesis: 491 minutes PlayStation: 393 minutes Nintendo 3DS: 186 minutes For the second to last week of the year we didn't get in quite as much gaming as usual, but it was still a fun week with a good number of games played and a few new ones arriving in the mail. I had intended to finish up The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time 3D Master Quest this week before Christmas, since I figured I'd probably get a new game or two for the holidays that I'd want to start in on, but I ended up getting a little distracted by a couple new Sega Genesis games that showed up in the mail and that didn't quite happen. After doing a play through of Star Fox 64 3D and beating the hard route on the original N64 difficulty setting for the first time the majority of my week was spent playing Contra: Hard Corps on the Sega Genesis, which arrived in the mail early in the week and certainly lives up to it's name. Any game that let's you play as a cyborg werewolf with a combination machine gun / flamethrower arm and sunglasses is awesome in my book, but holy hell is Contra: Hard Corps ever hard! After 5 hours of practice I still can't get more than halfway through the 4th level, but it's still been a lot of fun and I'm sure I'll play it many more times in the future. The other game that showed up in the mail this past week was Rocket Knight Adventures (also for the Genesis) and the misses and I sat down together last night and spent a few hours playing it, trading off the controller between levels. It's a pretty amazing and fun game, but just like Contra it gets crazy difficult in the later stages. Konami definitely seemed to have this weird fixation with making all their Sega Genesis games insanely hard, because out of the 6 Konami games I own for the system the only one I've ever managed to beat was Castlevania: Bloodlines; and even that took a lot of practice. That was pretty much it for me this past week, but the misses did accomplish her goal of beating the original Tomb Raider on the PlayStation then starting in on the second game in the series. She's planning on continuing Tomb Raider II next week and hoping to beat it by the end of the year, but I'm not so sure she'll be sticking to that plan after Christmas presents are opened later this evening. There may be a new game coming her way that I have a feeling might distract her from Tomb Raider II for a good long while. I think that covers everything for this week, so until next time, Merry Christmas and happy gaming to you and yours!

I'll second the recommendation for Wade Hixton's Counter Punch, that game was awesome! I never could beat the final boss but the rest of the game was great.