Topic: Backlaugust 2026 - (Splatoon) Raiding the Backlog

[Mop it up]

I actually have the "plus" version of Sonic Origins, which includes the 12 Game Gear Sonic games as a bonus. Unlike the main attraction, they're just straight emulated ROMs with no enhancements. I don't even think I knew the Game Gear existed until long after it was dead, I've never seen one in person and never played any of its games before this. I started with the Game Gear Sonic the Hedgehog which claims it's a port of the Genesis version, but what I think they actually meant was the Master System version (another system I never heard about until the Wii Virtual Console). And I gotta say...

...and I thought the screen space felt small in the main games! Sonic was never meant to be held in hand, and the 8-bit graphics look just enough off that this feels more like playing a bootleg Flash version of Sonic. The devs may have realised this too, as the stages are a lot smaller with usually just one path through as opposed to the multiple routes often found in console Sonic. To my surprise, the second zone also features... an auto-scrolling level! How am I supposed to go fast if the screen won't let me?! The game isn't difficult until the last couple stages, which feature a maze I'm still confused about, and a sky stage with lightning everywhere: I guess this is the part where they tried to prevent rentals from beating it. One weird thing about the way checkpoints work in this game is that when you respawn at one, you have to hit it again if you want to respawn there next time, otherwise you start at the beginning! Rude!

[broodwars]

I'm going to change the ruling on Sonic & Knuckles after looking into it further. The version that's in Origins is the 3 & Knuckles version, so while S & K and 3 were sold as separate games and could be played separately at the time, they aren't presented that way in Origns like the other games are. You have to use a level skip to get past the 3 content and get into the S & K levels. You still have 16 games to use to pad your score clear your backlog, which I have to be honest I don't think I'm going to be able to overcome by the end of the month. 

And yes, I have the Atari 50 Collection, too, so I had a feeling that's where you were headed when you asked about collections, Mop.

[ThePerm]

I also got to give props to the Power A gamecube controller for switch for not running out of batteries the entire time I've played Vice City and San Andreas.

[broodwars]

Currently in the midst of playing a collection of really fucking bad games, so took a bit of a break to catch up on the PS5 version of a game I've previously enjoyed: Carrion





Don't really have much more to add about this game that I haven't said before. It's still a nice, cathartic little quasi-Metroid game where you absolutely demolish and devour everything in your path and it doesn't outstay its welcome. I wonder what the devs are up to these days. Apparently, they haven't released a game since Carrion in 2020.

[Evan_B]

I'm starting to think I won't even stand a chance against Broodwars in this competition. Makes me think his hosting of this thread is a bit self-fulfilling.

I've come to realize that I don't tend to grab lots of short games, and when I want a short game, it takes a very specific sort of combination of elements for me to really enjoy it. Let us observe Evan Bee's latest acquisitions and marvel at his strange tastes.

Boxboy is a strange creature, there's no doubt about that. However, I think that a game like Boxboy works for a very mobile sort of platform like the Nintendo 3DS, because it is so bite sized and usually low-investment. Boxboy and Boxgirl, however, is a Nintendo Switch game, and it really doesn't need to exist. I mean, I know why it exists: it is an attempt by Hal to deliver a compact eShop title that also has CO-OP! Yeah, baby. The problem is, Boxboy is just not as novel a concept as something like Snipperclips in a variety of ways: Boxboy's aesthetics are incredibly bland and I'm honestly shocked that the series(?) hasn't grown or experimented in this respect. Also, Boxboy is a very... wiggly game. When you make boxes, you don't place them on a grid, per se, but they can "overlap," which sometimes makes you feel like you're cheating the game's puzzles when you "wiggle" out a solution. It's structured, but also not? Anyway, Boxboy and Boxgirl was solitary experience, which is too bad because as a Switch 2 owner I sure wish I could play the co-op puzzles with someone online. I completed all of the challenges for the single player mode and I think I can live with that. Even a side, single player mode felt like it overstayed its welcome.

Now, another game that has very concrete and maybe controversial aesthetics is Saturnalia, which is a fascinating survival horror game set in a town that resets and scrambles itself when your playable party is all sacrificed by that supernatural horror that stalks its streets. If that sounds stressful to you, imagine the entire experience being drenched in pinks, purples, and blues that bloom onto the screen when you start sprinting or come close to a structure, paired with models that have a perpetually jittery filter effect. Personally, I find the game stunning, and the gameplay conceit fascinating... but in execution, it stumbles somewhat. Your early jaunts into the town are incredibly stress-inducing, and since you gradually gain characters by completing certain objectives, you will likely end up scrambling your town at least one or twice before you become accustomed to the creature's behavior and your own objectives. The game then settles into a sort of predictable rhythm, especially as you push out of the town streets and towards the town periphery, which is understandably constant due to the complexity of some of the environments presented. All in all, the game runs about ten-ish hours and has other difficulty modes and custom settings to make the experience all your own. Sadly, my campaign is bugged in its final sequence, which means I can't complete the very last objective to escape the town, but the entire experience up until that point was quite thrilling and multifaceted, with a number of narrative and gameplay twists that really kept me hooked. I've been pining for more novel horror/survival experiences and this really scratched an itch.

[broodwars]

I'm starting to think I won't even stand a chance against Broodwars in this competition. Makes me think his hosting of this thread is a bit self-fulfilling.

I've come to realize that I don't tend to grab lots of short games, and when I want a short game, it takes a very specific sort of combination of elements for me to really enjoy it. Let us observe Evan Bee's latest acquisitions and marvel at his strange tastes.

TBH, I don't tend to play many short games, either, as I was reminded as I was skimming through my PSN library earlier today. I mainly play RPGs. I was content to slow down and play something lengthier for the rest of the month (still haven't gotten around to playing Puppeteer), but it seems an arms race has begun. 

[M.K.Ultra]

For what it's worth, the 360 and Rare Replay versions of Banjo-Kazooie have some quality of life updates like notes always being saved when you collect them, so you don't have to collect them all over again when you die. Those versions are much easier and much less tedious to 100%.

Well now! So much for me being able to take some nights off after work and sleep, since Khush is making a serious push on the leaderboard! 

Yeah, I played via Rare Replay and was able to 100% the game without using rewind or save states.

[broodwars]

Note: Due to the PSN protest going on for the next week, that means my PS devices will be logged out of my PSN account, so no images on any new games I may post about. Well, at least not high-quality ones. I have my phone. It also means any trophies I post about won't be reflected on my PS account for the next week.

Pretty sure that whole thing is pointless, but it would be out of character for me to not take the opportunity to raise the middle finger at Sony right now.

[M.K.Ultra]

With the start of school I have been too busy for much gaming. However I still have two games to report.

First, I beat Contra III: The Alien Wars played via the SNES classic. This was my first time beating a Contra game. The SNES classic has save states and rewind making this easy to do but I limited myself to only using rewind to practice parts and then only saving between stages. So each stage was beat, in the end, without rewinding or saving in the middle. That ended up being just the right amount of challenge for me, though I am not sure if I have the patience to beat the game all the way through without saving. All in all it took about 10 hours to play. The game itself has beautiful sprite work and great controls. The stage variety is nice too with stages 3 and 5 being top down and having the objective of destroying 5 alien nests; stage 4 is one of those vehicle riding stages. In the end I did not even see the credits, only the screen shown here and then the game started over in a harder difficulty.


Now I was able to roll credits on Disney's Illusion Island on Switch. I have playing this coop with my partner throughout the summer and was glad we could finish it this month to help pad my numbers. This is a Metroidvania where you cannot attack, only avoid enemies. You can choose the difficulty by choosing how many hearts you have, anywhere from 1 to unlimited. The game is quite generous with checkpoints ultimately quite easy. I think the art style was what sold me, it really is a pretty game. It only takes about 8 hours so it is funny it took us so long to finish.



I have one more game to try and finish this month but it will come down to the wire. 

[broodwars]

Now I was able to roll credits on Disney's Illusion Island on Switch. I have playing this coop with my partner throughout the summer and was glad we could finish it this month to help pad my numbers. This is a Metroidvania where you cannot attack, only avoid enemies. You can choose the difficulty by choosing how many hearts you have, anywhere from 1 to unlimited. The game is quite generous with checkpoints ultimately quite easy. I think the art style was what sold me, it really is a pretty game. It only takes about 8 hours so it is funny it took us so long to finish.

Yeah, I played through Illusion Island last year IIRC. Was a pretty alright kid-centric Metroid game, though I felt the level layout was pretty bland and led to the game feeling pretty dull after a while. And if you're going for 100%, those time trials can **** ALL the way off. Iron Mouse mode is...special, particularly in that final chase sequence.

[broodwars]

Picked this one up as a PS1 Classic on my PS3 a few months ago when Sony announced they were shutting the store down. Always heard good things about it (it's a series that Sony seems especially proud that they published), but never got around to trying it. As it turns out, Sony also ported the game to PS4/PS5 as a PS Classic, so I also got that version.









Jumping Flash! is a PS1 1st Person Platformer, and if just hearing that phrase makes you instinctively convulse considering just how bad First Person Platforming was back then, I hear you but this is the rare exception. I had a blast with this one, and I very much wish the 2nd game had ever been released as a PS1 Classic. It's also one of the more surprisingly "happy" games I've played in a while.

The game's setup is as dumb as it is simple (and presumably spelled out in the manual, because I had to go online to find out what the plot was. The cutscenes do not in any way tell you): a mad scientist has stolen chunks of planets to form his own resort, so you (a robot bunny) has set out to kick his ass.

The game's broken up into 6 sets of 3 levels, with the last level of each set being a boss fight (aside from the last set, where the last 2 levels are boss fights). In the normal levels, you explore a relatively small area looking for carrot-shaped "jet pods". Once you collect all 4, you run to the exit and you're done. The levels are timed, and you get point bonuses if you collect the pods in the right E-X-I-T order, but for the most part that is it. Along the way, you can blast or jump enemies Mario-style, as well as collect special weapon power-ups that are extremely necessary for the boss fights. There's even 1 power-up that turns the screen all rainbow flashes as you become an invulnerable killing machine for a few seconds, very Mario Power Star-y.

The platforming in this game is so similar to what we'd later see in Metroid Prime I would be very surprised if folks at Retro hadn't been studying this game while they were prototyping their most famous one. Your character has a triple-jump, and much like MP as soon as you do that first double-jump the screen angles down to let you see where you're going to land (including a helpful shadow). Combined with that 3rd jump, this makes gives you an exceptional degree of control and confidence over your jumping once you get used to the controls, even with just a Dpad to work with.

Where I think the game substantially falters is with the boss fights. In general, they're pretty bad bullet sponges, able to take you out in a handful of hits while it takes you the better part of several minutes to whittle down their health. And they don't have the downside of a very slow turn speed when you try to dodge or jump past them. These are pretty much what you save your special weapons for, and even they will usually only take out 1/3 - 2/5 of the boss' health bar.

Overall, I quite enjoyed that one. I miss the days when Sony would put out games like this.