What have you ACTUALLY played tracker - Modern Edition (2021)

[carlsson]

tl;dr: Play games from 21st century systems and post your times!

For the fourth year in a row, it is time for the Modern gameplay tracker.

 

Here are the links to previous seasons of the tracker: 2018 | 2019 | 2020

So what is this?

The basic idea is to post what games you played during each week, and for how long. You don't have to time it down to the minute (though some of us do), and estimates are acceptable. Then, at the end of the week, the statskeeper (that's me) totals everything up and we find out which games and platforms are seeing the most action. Each week, we have top 10 lists for consoles/computers and for individual games.

Guidelines:

1. Be sure to list the system, the name of the game, and the length of time you play. Please note if the game has any alternate titles by which it's better known. If you list multiple games, please group them by platform. If you play on a backwards-compatible system, e.g. Xbox 360 games on the Xbox One or PS2 games on PS3, the game should be listed under the older platform's name. This also means that games predating 2000 played on a modern system should be posted in the classic games tracker. e.g. PS1 games played on PS2, GB/GBC games played on GBA, Wonderswan played on Wonderswan Color, Windows 95/98 games on a newer PC and so forth.

2. Each week runs Monday through Sunday (at midnight), though exceptions may occur around New Year. Try to post your times no later than night to Tuesday in your local timezone. I will generally wait until Tuesday afternoon/evening Central European Time before compiling the stats. If you post after stats have been posted, your times will be counted for the next week. Feel free to indicate in your post which dates your times relate to.

 

3. Playing on actual hardware is preferred, although emulators are certainly allowed. In some cases (homebrews in development, rare arcade games) there's no alternative to using an emulator.

4. Our cutoff year is 2000. That is, eligible consoles and computers have to have been first released somewhere in the world after 2000. Basically any systems released around the PlayStation 2, XBox, GameCube, Game Boy Advance or after. Anything released before this time period (including the Sega Dreamcast) please post to the Classic Game Tracker

The same goes for computers: we count Windows XP or newer, but not 98 or older; Mac OS X or newer, but not OS 9 or older; and so on.

5. Arcade games released on or after January 1, 2000 are permitted.

6. You don't just have to post a bare list of times -- comments, stories, gripes, and helpful hints are always encouraged! If you're struggling with a level, got a new high score, or have some thoughts about what's great or what stinks about a particular game...well, that's the kind of stuff that makes this fun to read.

How to make the statskeeper's life easier:

- If you post a big list of games, please consider alphabetizing them first (after grouping them by platform).

- Posting your times in minutes, rather than hours + minutes, makes things a little simpler.
- Even if you don't know the exact time, it's better to post a specific number and say it's an estimate. If you say you posted a bunch of games for "between 20 minutes and an hour", I'll just average everything out to 40 minutes, but it's much better to have a sense of which games you played more and which ones you played less.

- If there's room for confusion or ambiguity, please address that in advance so I don't have to research it myself. Non-US releases, homebrews in progress, alternate titles, and expanded re-releases can get especially tricky.

That about covers it.

If you haven't participated before, or if you did and got busy with other things, consider taking part in 2021! You may find that it has some interesting side effects -- I've found that keeping a log dramatically changes how I think about my own gaming, and mostly for the better (though personally I very rarely play modern games).

[carlsson]

The first week in 2021 will be an extended week running from Thursday, January 1 - Sunday, January 10.

 

For posting what you played up until December 31, 2020 please add those minutes to the 2020 thread per above.

[digdugnate]

Thanks @carlsson!  I just changed mine and adjusted the times accordingly.

[carlsson]

As the 2020 summary has been posted (and I don't have privileges to change posts made a couple of days ago), I'll reverse my statement above and add late minutes from Dec 28-31 to Jan 2021.

[digdugnate]

it always seems that first week is such a pain when we go over into the new year   

[Steven Pendleton]

I think this should be everything. It's been a long time since I've gone without playing something by Compile Heart, but I have a very strong feeling they'll show up again soon...

 

PC
Banner of the Maid - 38
Star Wars Squadrons - 986

Yes, this game finally works for me 100% of the time now and I've gotten much better at it now that I can actually play it.

 

Switch
Blaster Master Zero - 47
Panzer Dragoon: Remake - 36

This game is super easy compared to the Saturn version. I have never finished the Saturn version, but I finished this remake on my first try in only 36 minutes and never came close to dying! I'd recommend that you play the Saturn version instead if you have a Saturn, if only for the music, but the Saturn version actually plays better as well, sadly. You'd think that over 20 years after the Saturn version's release that they'd be able to get the remake's targeting thingy to be perfect, but the Saturn's is still way more reliable. Saturn version also has Red Book audio = put it in your computer and get the music right from the game disc!

 

Wii
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - 115

I mentioned before that I hate this game and that I was going to play it anyway. I still hate it and I have no desire to play it ever again even though I want to, as weird as that sounds. Maybe it gets better, but I doubt it.

Edited January 10, 2021 by Steven Pendleton

[Kurt_Woloch]

Here are my times for the last two weeks (December 28th, 2020 through January 10th, 2021) on modern systems... including non-consoles:

 

Browser Based (Flash):

Castaway - 104 min. in 3 sessions

 

I've completed Castaway in time for the disappearance of the Flash player which will probably take away many old games with it. The trend now actually as I see it goes to phone apps and to other platforms which at least in part don't run on Windows XP at all, at least not in their current version, for instance, Unity or HTML5. Shapez.io is one of those games which only work on my laptop which runs Windows 10, but not on my desktop PC which still runs Windows XP.

[+wongojack]

Gameboy Advance

Castlevania Circle of the Moon 45

Ecks V Sever 34

Lego Star Wars 31

Ms Pac-Man Maze Madness 57

Pac-Man World 20

Wings 71

 

PC

Brave Pinball 60

Reigns: Game of Thrones 66

Witness, The 190

 

PS4

Doom VFR 377

The Order 1886 492

 

Xbox One

Doom (2016) 284

This War of Mine: The Little Ones 1196

 

I was busy.  I finished (listed in the order I finished them):

• Doom (2016)  5/5
• The Order 1886 3/5
• This War of Mine: The Little Ones 4/5
• Doom VFR 5/5

 

 

[Steven Pendleton]

I knew I forgot something!

 

PSP

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - 18

Yes, it's that weird PS4 version that emulates the PSP version that itself emulates an official PS1 version ROM hack that adds Maria. I forgot I played as Richter and Maria for an extremely short period of time to compare how they (mostly Maria) compare to how they are on Saturn. Maria is completely different, and while each of them gets some unique music for the entrance hall in the Saturn version (Maria = Vampire Killer and Richter = Bloody Tears), they have the same music as Alucard here. Saturn Maria is way better than PSP/PS4 Maria.

[digdugnate]

All Switch, all the time. 

 

Switch:

 

Animal Crossing: New Horizons -- 1420 minutes 
Super Smash Brothers Ultimate -- 834 minutes
Torchlight 3 -- 447 minutes
Zaccaria Pinball -- 423 minutes

 

I picked Smash Brothers back up on the Switch after a couple of years and boy have they added a bunch of stuff to it!  Releasing Sephiroth as a playable character helped as well.    I am terrible at the game, but still having fun playing through the hundred different modes the game offers now.

 

Animal Crossing is pretty much a static nightly gaming staple for me; my wife plays her copy a lot so it's a way we can spend time together on something common.  I worked on my island yesterday in earnest and made a zen garden on part of my island.

 

Torchlight 3 was finally patched so I spent some time working on that.  The game in its current state has a long way to go for bugfixing/stability, but at least it's better than when it was released on the Switch... I guess. ?

[StormSurge]

Xbox One

Cyberpunk 2077: 955 minutes

PUBG: 630 minutes

The Little Acre: 33 minutes

 

iOS

Pop! Blitz: 211 minutes

[Skippy B. Coyote]

 It was a super big week for gaming around here, mostly because I didn't check in on the forum last week so I had no idea that the week ended early on account of the end of the year; so this week's post includes all my household's playtime from December 28th through yesterday January 10th. I spent the last few days of 2020 first finishing up my play through of the Doom Zero add-on for classic Doom on the Switch, which was an absolutely awesome fan made prequel to DOOM 2016 made in classic Doom.

 

After Doom Zero was wrapped up I focused my gaming attention on doing a playthrough of Alien: Isolation for the Switch on hard difficulty, which was the one game I was most looking forward to playing through first in the new year. Alien: Isolation is one of those extraordinarily rare games that I could just play over and over again and never get bored of, and this playthrough was no exception. I completed it faster than ever, 20 hours on the dot, and had an absolutely fantastic time playing it. As soon as I finished I was tempted to start a new playthrough on Nightmare difficulty, which I've never tried before, but was quickly distracted by the Christmas present my roommate got for me finally arriving in the mail!

 

What he got me was an EverDrive GB X7 for my Game Boy / Color so I immediately loaded up a micro SD card with all my Game Boy goodies and dived right into it. First I did a playthrough of Contra: The Alien Wars, which was one of my favorite Game Boy games as a kid, then checked out the Game Boy Color reimagining of Space Invaders; which was actually super cool and had a lot of neat new touches. Since then though I've just been playing Metroid II: Return of Samus, which is just a fantastic classic Game Boy game and looks really nice on the Game Boy Color with the little splashes of color that the GBC adds. As far as the misses' gaming time for the first week of the year, she's just been keeping herself occupied with the Japanese import physical copy of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy that I got her for the Switch for Christmas. I think she's about 80% or so through the first game in the series at this point and is having a lotta fun with with.  

 

Well, that about covers everything for this week! Until next time, and as always, best wishes and happy gaming to you and yours! And Happy New Year! ?

 

 

 

 

Ineligible

Contra: The Alien Wars (Game Boy) - 150 minutes

Metroid II: Return of Samus (Game Boy) - 201 minutes

Space Invaders (Game Boy Color) - 26 minutes

 

Nintendo Switch

Alien: Isolation - 1,200 minutes

Doom [Classic]: Doom Zero - 775 minutes

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy - 350 minutes

 

 

Total Video Game Play Time This Week

2,702 minutes (45 hours 2 minutes) [2,325 minutes eligible]

 

Individual System Play Times This Week

Nintendo Switch: 2,325 minutes

Game Boy: 351 minutes

Game Boy Color: 26 minutes

[zzip]

I always take advantage of the Holiday Sales and the money I got for Christmas to get a bunch of new games this time of year.

 

PS4

Diablo III Eternal - just got this in a sale, my first Diablo game, spent about 5 hours in so far

Overcooked 2 - also got this on sale.  Loved the first,  this one is ok, but feels a little off.

Middle Earth: Shadow of War - had this from PS+ last year.   It started out OK, but I hit a point where I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do next, it's getting repetitive, and might stop playing in favor of other games I got from the sales.

 

Switch

Animal Crossing - IDK about hours, played it for about 300-400,000 bells.   :)

[Agamon]

PC

Civilization VI (229 min)

Cyberpunk 2077 (751 min)

Jackbox Party Pack 2 (34 min)

Jackbox Party Pack 4 (35 min)

Jackbox Party Pack 6 (138 min)

 

XB1

A Plague Tale: Innocence (62 min)

Monster Train (284 min)

 

Oculus Quest

Beat Saber (687 min)

 

Finished my CP2077 game, and the ending was interesting, could be more to V's story in a sequel, I think. Played Jackbox on Discord with friends on New Year's Day, finished A Plague Tale, started a game of Civ6 playing as Byzantium, but got distracted from that this weekend when I tried Monster Train, which plays a lot like Slay the Spire and I'm really enjoying it.

[carlsson]

Week 01

 

Top games

 

1. Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch) - 1721 min.
2. Alien: Isolation (Switch) - 1200 min.
3. This War of Mine: The Little Ones (Xbox One) - 1196 min.
4. Zaccaria Pinball (Switch) - 1146 min.
5. Star Wars Squadrons (PC) - 986 min.
6. Final Fantasy IX (PS2) - 974 min.
7. Cyberpunk 2077 (Xbox One) - 955 min. (#5)
8. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Switch) - 834 min.
9. Doom Classic: Doom Zero (Switch) - 775 min.
10. Cyberpunk 2077 (PC) - 751 min. (#2)

 

Top systems

 

1. Switch - 6583 min. (#2)
2. Xbox One - 3444 min. (#1)
3. PC - 2527 min. (#3)
4. PS4 - 1351 min. (#5)
5. PS2 - 974 min. (#8)
6. Oculus Quest - 687 min. (#7)
7. GBA - 258 min. (#4)
8. iOS - 211 min. (#6)
9. Wii - 115 min.
10. Browser based - 104 min.
11. PSP - 18 min.

 

Total 16272 minutes and 46 different games on 11 different systems.

 

Yes indeed, we have some carryover from the end of December that pushes this week to become a new record week with over 270 hours of recorded gameplay over a period of 1.5 - 2 weeks. The actual figures probably are even greater as I recorded e.g. zzip's unspecified times as 1 minute each while those probably represent a number of hours on respective game.

 

Welcome to all new participants and welcome back to all the regulars.

[Steven Pendleton]

Yeah, I really don't have much to say this time.

 

PSP
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - 116

Played for 51 minutes, decided to play the Saturn version instead, deleted my PS4-emulating-PSP-emulating-PS1 save file, started it again, played for 65 minutes, and quit. Probably will drop it and not play it again for a while, as I have played the Saturn version enough recently to be satisfied and I don't particularly like the game anyway.

 

PC
Death Stranding - 108

 

Switch

Blaster Master Zero - 71

Edited January 17, 2021 by Steven Pendleton

[+wongojack]

Gameboy Advance

Wings 190

 

PC

Wings Remastered Edition 64

Witness, The 224

 

I had a big dropoff in time from previous weeks, but I did get some time in there.  The Witness is nice, but I got distracted by playing a bunch of different versions of Wings.

• GBA - very interesting additions to the game IMO.  This version is great and even offers you the chance to fly for the Central Powers, but the actual dogfighting is the worst of any version I played.
• Amiga - still a classic, but some of the features in the GBA version made me want more from this.  For example, it would be nice to see less of your plane when flying.  The version inside the built-in emulator in the Cinemware collection (on Steam) was fine.  I wouldn't go hunting some perfect emulation settings (like I did).
• Wings Remastered (for PC) - I spent the least amount of time with this one.  Immediately, I noticed how much easier it was which was kind of a let down.  I think it does get harder, but this version also lost some of its charm with the update.  I'll probably give it more of a chance in the future though.

[digdugnate]

sick today so i'm running late with my times.

 

Switch:

Animal Crossing -- 840 minutes

Scott Pilgrim vs the World: The Game (Complete Edition) 467 minutes

The Pinball Arcade -- 124 minutes

Zaccaria -- 840 minutes

 

XBox One:

Borderlands 3 - 961 minutes

 

The new addition to my gameplay this week was with the rerelease of Scott Pilgrim on the Switch.  I spent several hours messing around with the game, playin the different modes, and levelling different characters.  I think my only gripe, really, is that the difficulty curve is kind of uneven- at some points you're practically a God, the others the bad guys are having their way with you.  Otherwise, fantastic beat-em-up for fans of the genre, graphic novel, someone that didn't play it before (or all three).

 

The other stuff is pretty self-explanatory.  Taking a 'break' from Zaccaria, I fired up TPA to play some of the Gottlieb tables.  Borderlands 3 is still... Borderlands 3.  It's improved significantly in gameplay and stability since its release.

[Skippy B. Coyote]

A heck of a week for gaming around here this week! My big focus of the week was the Metroid series, playing through Metroid II for the Game Boy on my Game Boy Color via the EverDrive GB X7 early in the week, then spending the rest of the week playing through Super Metroid for the SNES via Nintendo Switch Online and using a SNES Classic Edition controller for an authentic Super Nintendo feel. This week marks the first time in my life I've ever beaten Super Metroid, and holy heck what a game! It was definitely one of the absolute best video games I've ever played, and the ending was shocking emotional for a game from the 16-bit era. I'm not generally prone to getting misty eyed over video games, but having just finished Metroid II before playing Super Metroid... well... I'm not gonna lie, the ending made me cry a little bit >_<

 

As far as other gaming this week went, the misses spent a little bit of time trying to get past the part she seems to be stuck at in Phoenix Wright and I tried out Super Mario World for the first time and absolutely hated it. Not for any faults of the game mind you, I'm sure it's a great game, I've just always been utterly terrible at Mario games and find the floaty controls to be incredibly frustrating. So, I think I'll stick to Sonic for my 16-bit platforming needs

 

That's all for this week! Until next time, and as always, best wishes and happy gaming to you and yours!

 

 

 

 

Ineligible

Metroid II: Return of Samus (Game Boy) - 306 minutes

Super Mario World (Super Nintendo) - 245 minutes

Super Metroid (Super Nintendo) - 1,145 minutes

 

Nintendo Switch

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy - 50 minutes

 

 

Total Video Game Play Time This Week

1,746 minutes (29 hours 6 minutes) [50 minutes eligible]

 

Individual System Play Times This Week

Super Nintendo: 1,390 minutes

Game Boy: 306 minutes

Nintendo Switch: 50 minutes

[Agamon]

PC

Civilization VI (597 min)

 

XB1

Monster Train (260 min)

 

Oculus Quest

Beat Saber (323 min)

 

More of the same from last week, trying to make the world Catholic with my Byzantium empire in Civ6, and it's easier said than done, but always have the army to back it up.  Won a run in Monster Train on my 4th try, and I'm trying different mixes of races now.

[StormSurge]

Xbox One

Cyberpunk 2077: 75 minutes

PUBG: 820 minutes

 

iOS

Pop! Blitz: 386 minutes

[carlsson]

Week 02

 

Top games

 

1. Borderlands 3 (Xbox One) - 961 min.
2. Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch) - 840 min. (#1)
2. Zaccaria Pinball (Switch) - 840 min. (#4)
4. PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (Xbox One) - 820 min.
5. Civilization VI (PC) - 597 min.
6. Scott Pilgrim vs the World: The Game (Complete Edition) (Switch) - 467 min.
7. Pop! Blitz (iOS) - 386 min.
8. Beat Saber (Oculus Quest) - 323 min.
9. Monster Train (Xbox One) - 260 min.
10. Witness, The (PC) - 224 min.
 

Top systems

 

1. Switch - 2392 min. (#1)
2. Xbox One - 2116 min. (#2)
3. PC - 993 min. (#3)
4. iOS - 386 min. (#8)
5. Oculus Quest - 323 min. (#6)
6. GBA - 190 min. (#7)
7. PSP - 116 min. (#11)

 

Total 6516 minutes and 18 different games on 7 different systems.

 

While the total numbers cool down a lot from last week, in the top there is a hot and tight race. Borderlands 3 on the XB1 takes the title, with shared second place between the two Switch games Animal Crossing and Zaccaria Pinball, and good old PUBG a mere 20 minutes behind in fourth. Systems wise, the top 3 retain their positions from last week, the Switch a little over 4.5 hours ahead of the XB1.

 

Borderlands 3 (XBox One) also becomes the 6th game to exceed 20,000 minutes played.

[Steven Pendleton]

I played some bad Sonic games this week and some good ones, but mostly bad ones. I do like playing bad games sometimes, and I had fun seeing just how bad Sonic 4 is. No Death Stranding this time. Still not sure what to make of that game.

 

PC
Sonic Forces - 29
Sonic Generations - 209
Sonic Lost World - 10
Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode I - 16

I played the demo of this game on PS3 like 10 years ago. Pretty sure I insta-deleted it. There are so many things I could say about Sonic 4, but literally all of them are bad things, so I won't.
Star Wars Squadrons - 48

 

Switch
Blaster Master Zero - 13
Hatsune Miku Project Diva Mega39's - 7

Japanese version. I have absolutely no idea if there are tracks exclusive to the Japanese version or the international versions, though. I have not played this game for quite a long time and I am terrible at it again due to lack of practice.

 

PS4
Kangokutou Mary Skelter 2 - 648

I forgot how damn excellent the music in this game is. Professional studio monitor headphones are a must.

[+wongojack]

Gameboy Advance

Wings 250

 

PC

Highway Pursuit 5

Wings! Remastered 269

Witness, The 109

 

I played the same 3 versions of Wings this week that I played last week (Amiga ver. logged in modern tracker).  I managed to reach the Armistice on the GBA version which was somewhat satisfying.  The game is really more of a "war is long" simulator than anything else.  Surprisingly, the length is kinda fun as it helps with the immersion into the life of a WWI fighter squadron.  The pilots didn't know when the war would end and wondered if the next mission would be their last.  The player gets much the same feeling while playing, and while one does improve as the game goes on, there's enough random chance and difficult situations that trying to keep a single pilot alive for the entire war is fruitless.  I think part of the lesson of the game is learning to accept that - interesting experience overall for sure.

[Skippy B. Coyote]

Another busy, busy week of gaming around here this past week! I spent most of it just sorta casually playing through The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX, a good chunk of which was spent overnight in the hospital one night when I had to go into the ER for some pretty severe abdominal pain. Thankfully it ended up not being anything serious, just some really badly pulled muscles or a tweaked nerve cluster, and at least I got in a good bit of gaming time while I was there. 

 

Outside of Link's Awakening on the Game boy Color, and a couple playthroughs of Operation C on the Game Boy (which is actually a Contra game and has nothing to do with any sort of medical operation) I just played Super Nintendo via Nintendo Switch Online for the rest of the week. I had a lotta fun doing a full playthrough of Super Castlevania IV, which I'm pretty sure at this point is my favorite classic pre-Symphony of the Night Castlevania game, and I did a couple playthroughs of Star Fox as well. First I beat Star Fox on Level 1 difficulty, then I tried the Level 2 route and actually ended up not only beating Level 2 difficulty for the first time ever but actually beat it on one credit without using any continues at all! This week I also learned that... I still don't like Super Mario World. In fact, I kinda hate it because the controls are super slippery and I can't seem to last more than 20 seconds without accidentally running into an enemy or slipping off a ledge, but I keep trying to like it anyway because apparently it's a classic. 

 

As far as the misses' gaming time for the past week went, it was just a couple more hours of Phoenix Wright and that was pretty much it. I'm not sure exactly what's on the gaming agenda for next week, but we do have an original PlayStation system modded with an XStation optical drive emulator coming from Powr Up Gaming in February so there will definitely be a lot of PS1 gaming happening around here in the late winter and early spring. That's all for this week, so until next time and as always, best wishes and happy gaming to you and yours! 

 

 

 

 

Ineligible

Operation C (Game Boy) - 150 minutes

Star Fox (Super Nintendo) - 194 minutes

Super Castlevania IV (Super Nintendo) - 370 minutes

Super Mario World (Super Nintendo) - 187 minutes

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX (Game Boy Color) - 293 minutes

 

Nintendo Switch

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy - 130 minutes

 

 

Total Video Game Play Time This Week

1,324 minutes (22 hours 4 minutes) [130 minutes eligible]

 

Individual System Play Times This Week

Super Nintendo: 751 minutes

Game Boy Color: 293 minutes

Game Boy: 150 minutes

Nintendo Switch: 130 minutes