Topic: Backlaugust 2025 - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition

[M.K.Ultra]

I finished the main part of Bit Trip ReRunner. It is great. As I said before, it is very similar to the original game.
The biggest change is the levels now have optional checkpoints, which makes the game significantly easier. I had checkpoints turned off except for the boss levels
Like the other Runner games, I find it very satisfying to play, even though it is difficult. There is just something about the pace/rhythm of the platforming that just really works for me.
Difficulty overall is a bit less than the original game, but higher than 2 and 3.

There is a video of the final level here https://bsky.app/profile/lvaneede.bsky.social/post/3lwvylhxhhk2e

It includes a remake of the original game, so I will play through that now. There are a bunch of other bonus levels too, but I might not bother playing all of them.

There is also a online mode for downloading levels people have made with the level creator, but I havent looked at that yet.

I picked up the Limited Run disc for this on PS5 but have not had a chance to touch it yet. I really liked the first three and was able to 100% 2 and 3 but I got stuck on that last level in 1. I'm actually stuck on the last level on every part of the BIT.TRIP 3DS compilation . Maybe getting it on this remake will help me go back to that version.

We are now tied with last year's total  and I still need to go in to Discord and include anything listed there that is not here. Great work everyone! We still have a little over a week left and I two games that I might be able to finish before the deadline.

[broodwars]

Nearing the end of Robocop: Rogue City - Unfinished Business, the standalone expansion for Rogue City. So far, it's been a LOT of fun, albeit very simple fun. This is much more of a retro shooter than Rogue City was, with an emphasis on corridor shooting with big guns and monster closets.

After that, I might be done for the month in terms of completed games, though I really should get around to finally forcing myself through the Resident Evil 4 Remake's Separate Ways expansion. I just picked up the Raidou Remaster and I'm picking away at Xenoblade 2.

[Mop it up]

They finally released the Heretic + Hexen double pack on the Xbox, so I've been playing those in co-op. We started with and have finished Heretic so far, since it's chronologically first. With how many DooM mods there are these days and even officially supported on consoles, there's not really anything about Heretic that makes it stand out anymore like there may have been back in 1994. That said, DooM's general gameplay is always fun, especially in co-op, and the different set of weapons, enemies, and items still put it above the average DooM mod.

[RABicle]

Right so people have been more active here than my discord thread. That's good. No I like that.

So in addition to those listed. I beat, I think, Welcome Tour. I finished the Stamp Rally. I think there were some quizzes I could not give a **** about but maybe I'll do them too before the end of the month to see if there's anything else I need to scratch this off.

I also finished To The Moon last night. Every Backlaugust I pad my stats with little narrative games, but this one is the best yet. Very original story, well written, well directed that sorta thing. Pretty bare bones 'game' but that's fine. More than Der Me, I Was lol.

Will probably return to Beyond Good and Evil like I keep promising. I mean I've beaten this game plenty of times before but this is the 20th anniversary release! Has anything changed? Yes it has in fact they added some completely trivial nonsense to try and create continuity to the sequel which will never come out but lol.

[Lemonade]

i Played more ReRunner since my last post. I finished the Runner 1 remake levels. Runner 1 doesnt get that hard until the last few levels. I turned checkpoints on for those. Back in Wii, I remember the final boss level being very hard and it took me so many attempts over several play sessions. This time I beat if fairly easily with checkpoints. I immediately turned off checkpoints and did it again without too much of an issue. I dont know if the remake made it easier somehow, or if I just got better at the game.

I played through all the bonus levels, except for the Runner 1 "retro" levels, which I dont like very much, partly because they have no music.
The other bonus levels are really good. There is one level for each track of music in Runner 2 and 3. There are also three levels each for the other Bit Trip games with music from those.

The final level in the Runner 3 bonus levels is insane. Its the most difficult level in the game, not including the onljne sharing ones. It took me many so attempts to play through it, I think it would be impossible without checkpoints. There is a clip of it here when I finally got through part of it
https://bsky.app/profile/lvaneede.bsky.social/post/3lx35xzgqrs2s


Next, its time to finally start Little Kitty Big City.

[broodwars]

Not expecting to get much more completed this month. Family's in town helping to clean out the house, and they've commandeered the TV. Probably the most use I've ever gotten out of the Switch series' handheld mode, just picking away at Xenoblade 2.

[broodwars]

Will probably return to Beyond Good and Evil like I keep promising. I mean I've beaten this game plenty of times before but this is the 20th anniversary release! Has anything changed? Yes it has in fact they added some completely trivial nonsense to try and create continuity to the sequel which will never come out but lol.

There's also a new "Speedrun Mode" where the game challenges you to beat it from start to finish without saving. It's nerve-wracking. I did it for the game's Platinum earlier this year. It's not that the game's difficult, but you're just petrified of the game crashing, which apparently it did at launch in this mode.

[Lemonade]

Finished Little Kitty Big City, or at least the main objective and some side stuff. The game is extremely cute. Its fun to run around as a cat and collect things. Im glad its short though, it could easily overstay its welcome. Overall as a game though, I liked it less than Stray. I will probably go back to it later this year after that update is released that was shown in the Indie World video a few weeks ago.

Im now going to replay Stray, but the Switch version. I have already played through the game on PC and Xbox when those versions were new.

[RABicle]

So after starting Frostpunk and encountering a repeatable show stopping bug, 3 times, after 40 minutes of play, I successfully got a refund off Steam, despite purchasing it over a year ago! I think that count as reducing the backlog and I will celebrate it.

[RABicle]

Will probably return to Beyond Good and Evil like I keep promising. I mean I've beaten this game plenty of times before but this is the 20th anniversary release! Has anything changed? Yes it has in fact they added some completely trivial nonsense to try and create continuity to the sequel which will never come out but lol.

There's also a new "Speedrun Mode" where the game challenges you to beat it from start to finish without saving. It's nerve-wracking. I did it for the game's Platinum earlier this year. It's not that the game's difficult, but you're just petrified of the game crashing, which apparently it did at launch in this mode.

LOL. Yeah I'm playing on Switch so not fussed about achievements. That does sound hilarious though and I'm pretty sure I beat the original in one sitting back in the day.

[M.K.Ultra]

Finished Little Kitty Big City, or at least the main objective and some side stuff. The game is extremely cute. Its fun to run around as a cat and collect things. Im glad its short though, it could easily overstay its welcome. Overall as a game though, I liked it less than Stray. I will probably go back to it later this year after that update is released that was shown in the Indie World video a few weeks ago.

I just learned that there is a physical version of the game through Fangamer so I deleted it from my wishlist and plan on picking that up next month.

[M.K.Ultra]

Nearing the end of Robocop: Rogue City - Unfinished Business, the standalone expansion for Rogue City. So far, it's been a LOT of fun, albeit very simple fun. This is much more of a retro shooter than Rogue City was, with an emphasis on corridor shooting with big guns and monster closets.

Did you finish this game or is it unfinished business? 

[broodwars]

Nearing the end of Robocop: Rogue City - Unfinished Business, the standalone expansion for Rogue City. So far, it's been a LOT of fun, albeit very simple fun. This is much more of a retro shooter than Rogue City was, with an emphasis on corridor shooting with big guns and monster closets.

Did you finish this game or is it unfinished business? 

Was wondering when someone was going to make that joke. Wasn't able to play it all weekend. Had family in town assisting us in doing some major house cleaning/moving, and I wasn't able to boot up my PS5 in all that time. They're back home now, so my room is mine again. I'll likely have this wrapped up soon.

[broodwars]

OK, so that's Robocop: Rogue City - Unfinished Business in the can now, my 397th Platinum btw. I'm aiming to hit 400 by the end of the year (partially because it's an excuse to finally get serious on Valkyria Chronicles 4 to be #400), so I made some good progress on that this month.

As a standalone expansion, Unfinished Business reminds me a lot of that Wolfenstein: The Old Blood expansion from last generation, in that it takes a game that was kinda open and brings it back to basics with a corridor shooter filled with monster closets and big guns. I was actually kinda taken aback by how hard the game was at first, as you start the game basically fighting the End Game armored mercenaries from the main game, but with only a handful of upgrades and your basic gun. But it didn't take long for the balance to flip in the opposite direction as I obtained upgrades and levels.

Frankly, I think the game could have used even more paring back, as this game still includes small side quests despite its already shorter length, and they're pretty forgettable in general. I would have rather the time spent on these basic fetch quests be used on maybe another level with 1-2 more enemy types, but the experience overall is still very solid. In fact, with the addition of the flying drones; the rolling explosive drones; (prototype versions of) the Otomo ninja robots; the flying troopers; and the new heavy weapons, I'd say there's a lot more variety in combat now than in the base game. The Cryo Gun in particular is a delight to play with, and the late game is more than happy to give you encounters setup to turn into a winter wonderland. You even get to play a level controlling an ED-209, which is very cathartic (and yes, they remembered the vulnerability to stairs).

Storywise, what's here is solid but not particularly noteworthy, though it is an amusing lead-in to Robocop 3. Teyon seemed to care more about setting up a well-developed villain, but they just didn't seem to have the time to really make him truly memorable. In fact, everything ends super abruptly with a sub-30 second villain death cutscene leading immediately to credits, making me think Teyon ran out of time and money when designing the last 1/3 of the game.

Overall, I had a great time with Unfinished Business, but the game definitely feels rushed and a little buggy. I had to reload a checkpoint a few times because the game would bug out and refuse to unlock a door I needed to proceed. Gotta wonder what 80s franchise Teyon will do next, as they've already (badly) done Rambo and (excellently) done Terminator and Robocop. Die Hard, perhaps?

[Lemonade]

I just learned that there is a physical version of the game through Fangamer so I deleted it from my wishlist and plan on picking that up next month.

Yes, I actually preordered it on Fangamer and then later learned that they also published it physically in Australia too. So I could have just preordered it at EB, instead of importing it.