New Super Mario Bros U:
I've beat
all levels and collected all stars but still had only four stars on my save.
Apparently i also need to catch Nabbit once in all worlds, and i simply ignored him entire game. Now i first have to wait till he appears, he comes up like Perfects in Rhythm Heaven games and just like Perfects you only have three tries. It's just a hassle to play levels you already collected everything on just to lure him out and then traverse overworld (which i dislike) to the level where Nabbit is. Last time i couldn't get him in three tries and that was just groove killing.
I also played challenges a LOT. Special challenges i feel are the most fun. Simple time trials are just brutal, especially the ones in Desert world levels (what's wrong with you, designers? why do you place the most vicious and tiring stages in entire game in the SECOND world for the third time in the row?).
Also, during the challenges where you have to collect coins with Lakitu i found out that analog stick works better for flying on a cloud.
And weird (or cool?) how they hid
propeller suit inside Super Star World. It doesn't come up anywhere else in the main game, except in one of the Special Challenges.
I have more notes on entire game but i'll post them once i will finish FINISH the game.
Speaking of annoying overworlds.
I tried again with
SMB3. Yeah, no. Still can't squeeze out any enjoyment out of this game. "Weird" jumping, more emphasis on air control, confusing overworld, baffling level design, don't like speed system and how flying suit requires levels to have runways to lift off.
While digging through my box of GBA carts further i also played
DKC3 for the first time. First part with swimming Dixie was confusing (again, overworlds... this is a platform game people, why am i not platforming out of the gate?) but once i got to actual level. I enjoyed it A LOT. More so than first DKC that i beat on GBA. I just played for a few levels to test if cartridge works. Looking forward to playing DKC2, and then will come back to it later.
More GBA carts.
Super Mario World. Again, played it for testing, just three or four levels. I like jumping in this game more, it feels closer to first SMB and NSMB. Spinning jump is kinda weird but okay. Yoshi doesn't float, but Luigi does. Okay, i can live with it. Also i love this music.
Gunman Clive (3DS)
It's not amazing, but hey, it's just 2 euros.
I like the artstyle. Crayon sandy look, like a Wanted poster. Wiggling texture lines also make for nice visual effect, reminds me of some of the early 90s animation.
While it's supposed to be Mega Man tribute, jumping feels too floaty for Mega Man game. And both Clive and Ms. Johnson take too much time to change direction, which can mess you up during boss fights. And overall it feels like all animations are a bit slower than they have to.
It also has that Rayman Origins disease, where everything is hand-drawn (or looks like it) and game actively hides all pixels from you which is kinda crucial when you demand
pixel-perfect jumps from a player. Again just like Rayman Origins game plays like it's more suited for analog stick than D-pad, which is somewhat true i guess, considering it was a phone game with touch controls initially.
I also loved
random aliens and that rider in space.
I beat as Clive in less than hour or so, and then went for second playthrough with secret character and now i'm playing for the third time with Ms. Johnson.
Level 9 with a duck is pretty hard, so much spam.
Very solid game on unbeatable price.
Bayonetta (360)
God dammit, that Burning City chapter. I think i had to replay the very first part like twenty or so times to get even silver. And later even that rank was obliterated by obnoxious QTEs later in this chapter. I think i "replayed" that one QTE where i had to press X in exactly at the right moment, not a millisecond before and not millisecond after dozen times or so.
I'm getting the hang of crafting and items stuff. It was just so overwhelming at first.
Some interface issues. Like after shooting angels minigame i just don't understand how to quit without buying anything. B button requires me to spend some Sonic rings on stuff i don't really want and only then i can quit. I'd also appreciate single button press to skip cutscenes or just option to skip them all during replays.
Also i want that training loading screen accessed separately from the main menu, so that i can practice combos. Or maybe it is there, i just didn't find it.
Currently stuck on that two headed dragon boss. How many times do i have to fight him? It's like fourth time. And i didn't really enjoyed fighting him first three times.
Still despite all these issues i enjoy the game lot. I remember i said wow out loud when i entered into Paradiso garden. The environments overall look great.
Of course the gameplay is the main course in this game and it's amazing. It's not even that hard, if you're okay with getting Stone Awards. I still can't get how and when i am supposed to use guns, for now i just use them to kill groups of those flying heads. Also i during Burning City chapter i kept forgetting, charged into burning angels all the time and got burned. I just don't have the patience to lure them out for Witch Time. I also wonder if that first free torture attack that you sometimes get on the very first enemy in the area is random or it is determined by some conditions.