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I have a lot of games.

In particular, I have a lot of unplayed and unfinished games. Now it's summer, so I don't have any university classes for a bit under three more months. You'd figure this would be the absolutely perfect opportunity to actually play those.

So what have I been doing for the past weeks?

Playing Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls on Xbox 360. A game which I have now played from start to finish at least six times, and a bit more since some classes had beaten the base game before RoS came out, one of them even twice. I finally did finish Act V with my Monk yesterday, which was the only character I hadn't finished it with. So that should be me done, right? Right?

Nah. I immediately jumped into Adventure Mode with my Barbarian. And for what? To get better gear. So I could play more and get better gear.

I had a conversation about this with some people on IRC yesterday. And while it was nothing new, it was the first time the specific feeling I had about it was put into words - "D3 is certainly one of those "I could be doing something better BUT" games", as said by one person - and my conclusion was basically that when I get better gear in D3, my numbers become higher, and I want to get higher numbers so I can keep playing and get even higher numbers.

For some reason, putting it into perspective like that made me figure that it was time to let D3 rest. It's time to take on the backlog. Starting today.

My intention, as noted by the topic title, is to attempt to take one game a day from my long backlog. It contains both games I haven't even started, and games I have played but never got around to finishing. And actually play it for a significant amount of time.

It's not deathly serious. The project won't be considered a failure if I miss a day. I already know there will be days where I can't really do it, as I'll be going away on cons, on ESA, home to visit parents (but that's what portable games are for, amirite?). Some games may be stretched out over multiple days. But it'll be a conscious effort to vastly cut down on the backlog, especially when it comes to the games I haven't touched at all. And of course, the end goal is to actually finish a majority of the games included.

I'll do a post about each game that gets included, which will at the end of the day be edited to include a verdict of the game. I don't believe in grading games on a point scale anymore, so I'll do none of that.

Of course, discussing the games is very welcome. And what's even more welcome is for you to join in! It seems to just be one of those truths about gaming today - infinitely long backlogs that get added onto faster than games get cleared out from it. Especially with PC games - I don't even use Steam, and I still very much have a ton of them, mostly thanks to GOG.com and Humble Bundle/Humble Store. I know you have a backlog too. Let's work on it together.

So let's roll.

Kenny's game list
2015-06-18 - Crimzon Clover: World Ignition
2015-06-19 - The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai (completed 2015-06-19)
2015-06-20 - Donkey Kong '94 (completed 2015-06-27)
2015-06-21 - Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition (completed 2015-06-24)
2015-06-22 - Sin and Punishment: Successor of the Skies (completed 2015-06-24)
2015-06-23 - Shadow Warrior (2013)
2015-06-24 - Cleanup day #1
2015-07-07 - Yoshi's Woolly World (completed 2015-07-09)
2015-07-10 - Valiant.wad (completed 2015-08-23)
2015-07-14 - Mother 3

Thursday 2015-06-18 - Crimzon Clover: World Ignition




Format: PC
What it is: Indie bullet hell that takes inspiration from Cave. Made by famous Cave shmup player Yotsubane, aka Clover-TAC. Was first released in a doujin version for PC, then an arcade version was made with some enhancements, and then that arcade version was ported back to PC and given the subtitle World Ignition.
Release date: 2014-06-06 on Steam, 2014-12-04 on GOG.com
Owned since: 2014-12-04
Status: Unplayed
Available: DRM-free on GOG, also on Steam. Goes on sale regularly.
Verdict: Absolutely fantastic. Probably the best bullet hell game on PC (emulation doesn't count). If you're into shmups at all, you're doing yourself a massive disservice by missing this game. Both Original and Boost mode are great, in entirely different ways.

this is something that ive been wanting to do something similar to; ive got way too many fucking games i should be playing and i just keep playing league of legends / smash bros instead.

honestly i might have to do this too (in my own topic if you prefer (but seriously this is a neat idea and im totally gonna read your posts))

I'm all for making this the summer backlog clearing megathread, I did mention in my first post that anyone is welcome to join in.

Edit: Added a screenshot to the post, going to have all game posts in the future come with a title image and a screenshot. Also added a list in the first post that'll get added to for each game - if other people want to use this thread as well, I'll keep lists for you too. The post about the game each day will be posted before I actually start playing it that day (and that's pretty much when I decide what game I'll play that day, I won't plan ahead much), and the verdict will be edited in as pretty much the last thing I do before I go to bed, or at least when I conclude that there's not going to be any more video games before I go to bed.

I still need to finish Project X Zone...

For real, though, I don't have much of a backlog. I have a bunch of Steam games I've never touched (got them in bundles or w/e), but I also have no intention of ever touching them so they don't count as a backlog as far as I'm concerned. I do have a few backlog games though I guess? So maybe I will participate.

Friday 2015-06-19 - The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai




Format: Xbox 360
What it is: Side-scrolling action game with a very distinct art style by Ska Studios, who later made the brawler Charlie Murder, which was my introduction to the company. Really liked that game, which led me to look up their two prior games on XBLA, of which this is the first one. Uses limited colours, primarily black and white plus red. Very violent.
Release date: 2009-04-01
Owned since: 2014-10-05
Status: Downloaded and played through the trial before purchasing the full game, haven't touched it since
Available: On Xbox Live Arcade.
Verdict: This is a damn hardcore game. Very gritty, very bloody. The difficulty was a tad unforgiving in parts (even though I played on Normal), and it did get slightly repetitive once I figured out the godly combo with the weapon I had upgraded to maximum, but that didnt really detract from it in the end. And speaking of end - I finished it. I played the whole game from start to finish in one day, spread out over three sessions. So it wasn't the longest of games, but you can replay any stage, I assume with all upgrades and weapons you have, and you didn't get anywhere near enough things to upgrade everything maximum - so there's "NG+" to be had here. Perhaps I'll dive into that sometime. Perhaps speedrunning the game with everything fully upgraded could be fun. But yeah, the a game a day project has now officially seen its first completed game. Hopefully it'll continue like that! This game has a sequel that I also have in my backlog, and at the very least, the demo of that was a bit more fun than the demo of this. And this was really fun, so I'm having high hopes. Said sequel is probably going to be part of this further down the line.

totally jumping onto this. i wrote down a list of 7 games and i hope to play them one day at a time starting monday probably. although they certainly are a lot more mainstream titles than the ones you're showing, so they probably will just seem like really dated opinions!!

Saturday 2015-06-20 - Donkey Kong '94




Format: Game Boy/3DS VC
What it is: A vastly expanded version of the original Donkey Kong game. Lots of worlds, boss fights, Mario has a whole bunch of moves. Some of the more acrobatic moves in the 3D installments originated here, but I don't think the handstand ever returned.
Release date: 1994-06-14 on Game Boy, 2011-06-15 on Virtual Console
Owned since: 2015-03-20
Status: Actually pretty far in, so mainly trying to finish it. Chose it because I'll be away at a friend's place most of the day, so needed something bite-sized that could be played for short bursts without losing progress inbetween.
Available: On 3DS Virtual Console
Verdict: Unsurprisingly, I didn't get a whole lot of playing in. I mean, I wasn't about to ignore my friends and sit down and play on my own, especially not when there was a Swedish version of Cards Against Humanity present. Most of the playing happened on the bus and tram ride there, and then some at home after I was done with everything else. At least I managed to beat the stage that had me utterly stumped last time I played it. It's a good game, nice puzzle platformer. Definitely feels like a predecessor to Super Meat Boy and the like, but (so far, at least) without the insane bullshit some of those games pull. I should definitely have it beaten before the summer is over.

Yeah I put this one up there on greatest games of all time.
It feels so long but still enjoyable and aged really well.

Sunday 2015-06-21 - Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition




Format: PC (but available on just about every currently living system, save for 3DS)
What it is: A Metroidvania with a Mexican/day of the dead theme. The daughter of the president gets kidnapped by the villain, so it's up to Juan to rescue her. To his aid he gains a magical wresling mask (after an unfortunate death and return trip to the land of the dead) which transforms him into a powerful luchador and the help of the female luchador Tostada (who you can play as by switching costumes at a save spot, which I obviously will be doing since it's more fun to play as a cool lady wrestler). References other games and stuff, not in the least Metroid, and some people got mad that it had references to internet memes. STCE is an enchanced version of the original Guacamelee!.
Release date: Original 2013-04-09, STCE 2014-06-02
Owned since: Original 2014-01-01, STCE 2015-05-09
Status: Bought and played the original up to the first major upgrade. Then STCE got released, which I initially pirated a version of but then it went on sale on Humble Store for a price I was willing to pay as an expansion pack. That is as of right now not installed yet.
Available: DRM-free on GOG.com and Humble Store. Also on Steam, Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network, Wii U eShop...
Verdict: This was really fun! Probably the most varied and fluid combat system I've seen in a Metroidvania. Really liked how almost all upgrades were also combat moves, as is fitting for a wrestler. Some of the optional content was bullshit difficulty, but barely anything in the main game reached that point. Played it nearly to the end, could have beaten it if I wanted to, but when the final area opened I decided to go back and collect more stuff. I'm going for 100%, purely thanks to that each area has its own separate % counter, so I know exactly where I need to be searching. Only a few areas where there's anything left, but some of it has me really stumped. This will be beaten before the summer is over (might have to do a "cleanup day" or two towards the end where I finish all almost-finished games...).

not to jump to gun before you talk about your thoughts on it but i played this version of Guacamelee fairly recently with a friend, and ignoring some cringe-worthy meme usage, it was super solid and i had a blast of a time playing it co-op. and apparently it supports up to 4 people on one screen, which is pretty interesting for a metroidvania style game. i highly recommend this to pretty much anyone who likes brawlers because combat is fun. not terribly in-depth but fun.

Monday 2015-06-22 - Sin and Punishment: Successor of the Skies




Format: Wii (played on Wii U)
What it is: Sequel to the N64 "classic" Sin and Punishment, which was only released in Japan but despite that had awful English voiceacting, and only English voiceacting. Mainly a rail shooter, but movement of your character and aiming on things are done individually, either through twin sticks or with the Wiimote + Nunchuck. Made by Treasure. Known as Star Successor in the US.
Release date: 2009-10-09
Owned since: 2012-01-11
Status: Unplayed
Available: On disc on Wii and on the Wii U eShop
Verdict: This is definitely one of Treasure's best games. Really, the original Sin and Punishment is too. Some boss fights definitely had massively bullshit difficulty, in some cases it was because I hadn't figured out some trick, and some was just pure luck, so that's a little minus. But regardless, it's frantic action and despite not actually being a shmup it's one of the best shmups for Wii I've come across. I didn't beat it, but the last cutscene I saw definitely impled it was endgame time, so unless there's a big bait and switch coming up I'd assume at most three more stages - including assuming that the final stage, just like in the first game, consists only of the final boss. So this one's getting done soon enough, too.

Tuesday 2015-06-23 - Shadow Warrior (2013)




Format: PC
What it is: A reboot of the 1997 Shadow Warrior, which was somewhat of an asian Duke Nukem 3D (3D Realms developed both games, go figure). Supposedly good (SK recommended it). FPS with ninjas and swords and demons and stuff.
Release date: 2013-09-26
Owned since: 2015-06-19
Status: Unplayed
Available: DRM-free on GOG.com, also on Steam
Verdict: Really fun game, this. Made my CPU go bananas and my computer tower hot, though! Man, that doesn't feel right. Ah well. This is a very good reboot, while I never did play Duke Nukem Forever it feels like this is what that game wanted to be. There's a definite emphasis on melee combat here, though - so far, the ammo I found was not anywhere near enough to rely on when it came to dealing with monsters. So there was a lot of sword action, and I like the commands you can input. And upgrade system - I liked that a lot, especially since there were three of them and they used different resources that was gathered in three completely different ways. Didn't get a ton of playing done since I had something else to do - but this is getting continued.

Won't start a new game today, actually - instead, I shall make this my first cleanup day, where I go back to and (most likely) finish up Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition and Sin and Punishment: Successor to the Skies (DK94 will be saved for when I'm away from my consoles and desktop, which will be this weekend and all of next week (ESA is happening)). And then keep playing Shadow Warrior (2013) because that was a damn fun game.

Because, really - a game can't be considered completely out of the backlog until I've beaten it. So just starting new game after new game and then put them aside for more new games seems like it would at some point get counterproductive.

Edit: Guacamelee completed 100%, woo.
Edit 2: Also beat S&P2, the system works!

So it's been a week since I started the project. Three games have been played from start to finish, so far. I'm pretty sure I'm more than halfway through Shadow Warrior. Crimzon Clover is a shmup, which is a game I'm never getting "done" with. DK94 will probably be completed while I'm away at ESA.

I'm not starting a game today either. I considered one, but given that I have to prepare for my trip and get some other stuff done, I'll just keep playing Shadow Warrior instead. Tomorrow I go off to a con that lasts until Sunday, and on Monday ESA starts in the same city as the con, so I'll be away for like 11 days. Doesn't mean the project is pausing - playing will certainly be more sporadic, but I have a bunch of portable games that will do for very nice additions.