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General Gaming / Re: Backlaugust 2026 - (Splatoon) Raiding the Backlog

« Last post by broodwars on August 25, 2026, 02:35:56 PM »

Back again now with Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for Game Gear, which I believe is also a port of the Master System version. And I've gotta... puke! This is easily the most difficult Sonic game I've tried, and not in any way that a sane person would dream up; they must have really been worried about people beating this one as a rental! I appreciate that they needed some gimmicks to make this stand out from Genesis Sonic 2, but the janky minecarts and hang gliders were not the play. One of the final levels is a stretch of pick-a-pipe which often have spike pits waiting at the end of incorrect choices, long before Mario Maker made it cool. Full disclosure, I had to abuse the mop outta save states to make it through this one, I don't think there's any way I could beat it legitimately. I'll leave it up to the panel of judges here if it should count. Also, I'm preeeeeetty sure that the devs mistook Tails for being a girl...

I'm not going to judge anyone for save state usage here. I save that for the likes of losers like DarksydePhil, the self-styled "King of Retro". You put in the time and enjoyed the game to whatever level of satisfaction works for you.

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General Gaming / Re: Backlaugust 2026 - (Splatoon) Raiding the Backlog

« Last post by Mop it up on August 25, 2026, 01:02:51 PM »

Back again now with Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for Game Gear, which I believe is also a port of the Master System version. And I've gotta... puke! This is easily the most difficult Sonic game I've tried, and not in any way that a sane person would dream up; they must have really been worried about people beating this one as a rental! I appreciate that they needed some gimmicks to make this stand out from Genesis Sonic 2, but the janky minecarts and hang gliders were not the play. One of the final levels is a stretch of pick-a-pipe which often have spike pits waiting at the end of incorrect choices, long before Mario Maker made it cool. Full disclosure, I had to abuse the mop outta save states to make it through this one, I don't think there's any way I could beat it legitimately. I'll leave it up to the panel of judges here if it should count. Also, I'm preeeeeetty sure that the devs mistook Tails for being a girl...

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General Gaming / Re: Backlaugust 2026 - (Splatoon) Raiding the Backlog

« Last post by Khushrenada on August 25, 2026, 05:06:37 AM »

I bought the GTA Definitive edition trilogy for like less than $20.

It's been fun. And I got it well past the point where it was a buggy mess with a lot of broken stuff. Though I have seen some floating trees. And I lament some missing soundtrack pieces and the ability to make your own radio station on the pc version.

I beat Vice City, which I give an 8.5/10

and I'm 60-70ish percent through San Andreas which I also give an 8.5/10 so far.


Last Summer I played through Red Dead Redemption 1 and I give that one a 9/10

I am halfway through Undead Nightmare, but haven't touched it since last summer.

I also give Red Dead Redemption 2 a 9.5/10.

I got GTAIV too on mu backlog. I played a little bit of it before switching to Vice City.

So, I've almost played through all the major Rockstar games.

Just checking, but am I reading correctly that Vice City was the only game of this list that you completed this month so far?

And, oh yeah, I was going to comment on this earlier but, when I read ThePerm's post, I got the feeling he just saw everyone posting and talking about games they were playing right now and decided to join in as though this was the new "What Are You Playing?" thread.

And, sure, there's nothing wrong with that if anyone want to join in and talk about games people have posted here or have beat during the month but he certainly buried the relevant info of just beating Vice City this month in amongst his talk about Rockstar games he's played and beat in general.

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General Gaming / Re: Backlaugust 2026 - (Splatoon) Raiding the Backlog

« Last post by Khushrenada on August 25, 2026, 04:58:20 AM »

Elea is ....

BULL...****.

Nothing like reading a review of a game a person loved. 

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General Gaming / Re: Backlaugust 2026 - (Splatoon) Raiding the Backlog

« Last post by Khushrenada on August 25, 2026, 04:56:46 AM »

This is definitely the last Backlaugust where I'm going to make an active effort to chase the Top Spot. It's a fun novelty and it's definitely lead to me playing some stuff I wouldn't have gotten around to for a very long time (and other stuff I have no earthly idea when or why I bought it), but it does mean I'm actively avoiding playing longer stuff I would otherwise be playing.

Yeah, after inaction on my part the last couple years, I really wanted to get back into it this year and, like you say, I find it also motivates and pushes me to check off some stuff I bought for one reason or another but didn't feel compelled enough to actual get to until now. Yet, I also finally picked up a Switch 2 about 10 days ago and if I hadn't already started the race for top spot then I'd probably just be playing a couple games on that (namely Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza). In fact, I do want to get started on Bananza soon so that I can see about finishing these DK Challenges that are available before they end at the start of September. I finished all the classic DK ones so trying to get a few more games in before I likely start playing Bananza this upcoming weekend. Sometimes I wish this event was not tied to August but some other month because there have been times it just hasn't been the most convenient month. Then again, it could be that some other month would turn out to be more inconvenient than August when the next year rolls around so you just never know. I guess that's part of the challenge of the event.

Kirby Fighters Deluxe - Throw another shrimp game on the barbie. Just part of my desire to tackle all Kirby content. Although it occured to me while playing this that I never picked up the Team Kirby Clash Deluxe offering since I didn't care much for Super Kirby Clash when I tried that game on Switch. So, I guess there will be just a little bit of Kirby content I'll never get around to playing. Anyhoo, Kirby Fighters is sort of like a Kirby themed Smash Bros. In fact, I'd say it feels most like playing the Classic mode in Smash Bros. single player. It sort of follows a bit of a routine while mixing up a few things like stages and the type of fighters aka abilities you'll be facing off against as you progress along to its final battle. Since I've often played Smash Bros. more as a single player challenge in collecting all the trophies in those games, playing this Kirby themed version and having to go through the same kind of routine for each ability felt much like playing Classic mode over and over with different characters for their trophies in Smash. You can select to play it as Easy, Normal, Hard and Very Hard. Not much changes between the versions with the final Dedede boss fight being the more difficult part. I played through all the abilities in Easy. Just doing that unlocks the alternate look for that ability and then has the game credits roll so the game has been beat in that regards. I did play Normal with one ability and, even though a boss rush mode isn't something I find appealing and the case could be made that this is sort of what this game is, I do think I may go back and see about beating it on Hard and Very Hard with at least one ability because of it having that Smash sensibility which I find a bit more appealing than a true boss rush mode. Some abilities are also better or easier than others. I would not want to do this game in Very Hard with Archer or Ninja, for example. Looking it up, the only other thing that happens when beating the game in Very Hard is that you unlock an alternate Kirby color and nothing happens if you beat Very Hard with each ability aside from them getting a rainbow ribbon attached to the ability on the select screen instead of the bronze, silver or gold stars they get from completing one of the other difficulties.

Am also in the midst of another game that was supposed to be short but I'm already past the two hour mark that it was supposed to take according to howlongtobeat.com. I guess that's just me and my desire to keep poking into every nook and cranny of not wanting to miss out on something instead of just plowing through like I should be doing games during this month. Perhaps tomorrow I'll have another title to add to the list if it is still actually a short enough game.

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General Gaming / Re: Backlaugust 2026 - (Splatoon) Raiding the Backlog

« Last post by broodwars on August 24, 2026, 11:39:06 PM »

OK, wow...saw this thing in my PSN library, was curious about what it was, so I spent an evening diving through it. Well, you know what they say about Curiosity and Cats...





Elea is a first person...psychological horror...walking simulator...adventure game? Google describes it as "exploring strange, mind-bending events that test human reason, memory, and the meaning of life."

BULL...****. Oh yeah, I'll give them the "strange" part, and getting through this game sure tested my human reason, as well as making me dwell on the meaning of my life devoting 4 hours of my limited time on this planet to playing this broken piece of ****. But clearly NONE of that was intentional on the part of the developers.

It certainly doesn't start well when you hear some of the worst, barely English voice acting you've ever heard in your life before even hitting Start on the main menu, followed by this very...slowly...scrolling up the screen:



Ah, excellent. We're taking our storytelling notes from Uwe Boll, though at least he used a readable font size in Alone in the Dark. Once that screen finally passes, the player is blasted with THIS:



Because, you know, nothing quite says "easing the player into the experience" quite like shoving a one page summary of the manual in the player's face they need a microscope to read before they've even DONE anything.

What this "game" is is an excuse to have players wandering around looking at crap until the developers decide to start flashing lights in the player's eyes and cranking the sound effects up to 100 decibels. Sure, it starts out kinda ok, with you playing as a pregnant mother (no, that isn't redundant here) wandering around a house turning on lights and interacting with objects. Then...the game intentionally completely breaks with visual glitching and hitching and starts doing some Inception nonsense, revealing that this entire first 1/3 of the game is a broken memory simulation of the MC's past.



The rest of the "game", you wander around a ship clicking on stuff (or, more accurately, "try" to click on stuff, because the interact buttons rarely work and often cause the screen to freeze for several seconds) and waiting for the plot to happen. Apparently, you're looking for your husband. If I didn't know that from the title summary online, I couldn't have guessed. And if you're me, you're dreading this screen:



THIS screen was the bane of my existence. There's a part in the game's 3rd act where you have to climb into a medical chamber, at which point you have to control the character monitoring you FROM the perspective of your character in the chamber. In the dark. With a heavy glass effect obscuring your vision. With several objects in that character's way that you can't see.

And if you take too long to navigate a character you can't see who moves with tank controls from a 2nd person perspective, the game will not only hard crash your PS5 but also set you back a good 10 minutes of game time to the last auto-save.

It took me 3 tries to clear that section without crashing my console, by which point I was just playing out of pure spite. I haven't had to put this much effort into clearing a bad, broken game since the last Bethesda game I played.

So you do some stuff without ready explanation of why, you do a shitty chase sequence concluded by a button prompt that didn't work the first 5 times I tried it (leading to an instant death), you hit an escape pod, and...the game stops.

You see, Elea has another name on certain other consoles: Elea - Episode 1. This piece of **** was planned to be an episodic game. Well, Episode 1 came out in 2018. I'll just look forward to Episode 2 around the same time Blood & Bullets gets its 3rd episode. Oh wait. I LIKED Blood & Bullets.

https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/elea-episode-1/BNJL0X82JT46?wfExp=382CT

**** this game. I have no memory of having bought it or why, though considering the game is a whole $1.50 right now on PSN, I think we might have solved the mystery, Gang! 

I've played some bad games this year, but I don't think I've seen such a shining example of utter incompetence. The story is so fragmented and poorly told that you can't enjoy it as a narrative experience. The gameplay borders between being barely existent and barely functional. At least it did me the small mercy of being short.

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General Gaming / Re: Backlaugust 2026 - (Splatoon) Raiding the Backlog

« Last post by broodwars on August 24, 2026, 07:21:55 PM »

I noticed you've often posted pictures of the games you've played and never really thought anything about it. Just that it seemed like you were doing your own mini-review and including some shots of the game for that. However, on reading this, I realize that you were also posting to show a trophy and sort of prove that you beat/finished the game. Never thought about screenshots or proof before like that with Backlaugust. I've always accepted it as a word of honor premise. Plus, it's always been a hassle to make screenshots or photos from a game to a post on the forums that I'd rather just not bother. I don't know if it is something that people should do moving forward in future events when participating in this but it's something I'll probably look into particularly if I'm going to put in a challenge for the leaderboard like I am this year.

Little of A, little of B. The images add a bit of color to a sea of text, so I like using them. Plus, it helps me put my own spin on the process and might lead people to checking out the sometimes obscure **** I play. Plus, it's pretty easy to just screenshot on PS5, kick it up to the app, download from the app, post to Twitter, and then copy & past the image link over here.

Well, simpler than it sounds, anyway.

Seriously, would you believe a fairly notable Christmas Carol Metroidvania existed if you hadn't seen it for yourself? 

A pity I can't really do that with Puppeteer right now. I started my playthrough last night, and that game still looks gorgeous 13 years later. I don't think I'll have it done by the end of the month because I'd like to really take my time and savor that one, but if you have a PS3 and haven't played it, you should. It's a real shame that game is trapped on the PS3. It came out 2 months before the PS4 released and just got absolutely buried. It's the last truly great game Japan Studio made and oozing with charm.

Besides, I'm usually posting my Platinums on Social Media anyway, just to show that I went to the effort of 100% a game.

This is definitely the last Backlaugust where I'm going to make an active effort to chase the Top Spot. It's a fun novelty and it's definitely lead to me playing some stuff I wouldn't have gotten around to for a very long time (and other stuff I have no earthly idea when or why I bought it), but it does mean I'm actively avoiding playing longer stuff I would otherwise be playing.

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TalkBack / Re: Cult Hit RPG Terranigma Reportedly Making North American Debut In 2027

« Last post by Khushrenada on August 24, 2026, 07:01:47 PM »

So, the rumours were true.

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General Gaming / Re: Backlaugust 2026 - (Splatoon) Raiding the Backlog

« Last post by Khushrenada on August 24, 2026, 06:56:52 PM »

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.

I noticed you've often posted pictures of the games you've played and never really thought anything about it. Just that it seemed like you were doing your own mini-review and including some shots of the game for that. However, on reading this, I realize that you were also posting to show a trophy and sort of prove that you beat/finished the game. Never thought about screenshots or proof before like that with Backlaugust. I've always accepted it as a word of honor premise. Plus, it's always been a hassle to make screenshots or photos from a game to a post on the forums that I'd rather just not bother. I don't know if it is something that people should do moving forward in future events when participating in this but it's something I'll probably look into particularly if I'm going to put in a challenge for the leaderboard like I am this year.

Boy, now I wish I hadn't been so busy at the start of the month. I'm starting to think I might have been able to hit the 20 mark if I hadn't had such a slow start and lost about a third of the available time to participate.

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. 

Also, I can't help but feel that Luigi Dude is out there somewhere playing some kind of older game collection in order to show up at the end to say he finished 21 games this month. How many Castlevania and Mega Man collections have there been released into the world anyways?!

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General Gaming / Re: Backlaugust 2026 - (Splatoon) Raiding the Backlog

« Last post by Khushrenada on August 24, 2026, 06:22:44 PM »

It seems that, unlike Broodwars, I was the one that ended up having a few nights off from gaming after my last report. But then the weekend arrived and I was able to get back at it. What has been the result?

Carto - I came across this game in the eShop when it was on sale and decided to give it a shot based on its trailer. The idea of being able to split apart and rearrange your game map seemed appealing and I figured it would sort of all be part of a broader large puzzle of having to put back together the whole game world into a correct order but it doesn't quite go in that direction. Overall, the puzzles the game has from this mechanic aren't too challenging. There was only one at the end that I think took around 30-45 minutes for me to figure out what the game was trying to get me to do as I was thinking it was something else and trying to solve it the wrong way. While the time spent was pleasant enough, it's also a game I just don't see myself replaying. I don't feel there's much in the story for a replay and when you know the solution to the puzzles then you're not going to feel much satisfaction in solving them again. Did find all the mystery pieces to unlock the bonus/extras room so game is beat and complete in my book.

Tokyo Crash Mobs - This is a game that was on a lot of lists as something worth checking out on the 3DS eShop before it went down. Reviewers talked about it being a weird and silly game of throwing people to get through crowds. I've found fun in weird and silly games so I got it and then let it sit on my 3DS until now. Upon playing it, I have discovered that it wasn't quite at the level of silly weird I was expecting it to be. Even though there is a story mode, it's just too full of random clips to really be considered a story. You can try and infer some type of meaning if you want to them but I just stopped caring about them pretty quickly and nothing about them made me smile or laugh. As for the gameplay, the story takes place over three weeks. Each day of the week, you alternate between two characters and then on the seventh day, they combine for a bit of a different take on the game using the 3DS gyro controllers. I found myself preferring the Grace character's levels of taking out a single line to enter a location over the Savannah character's levels of having to fully take out a circular or two windy lines of people marching towards a sort of doom button. Early on, there could be some little joy to be found in throwing a person to knock out people trying to cut in a line since line cutting is one of the most hated social faux pas. Yet, ultimately, everything just becomes pretty repetitive even as the game tries to keep adding a little bit of a twist or difficulty as it keeps progressing through these two level styles. With the story adding nothing but rather detracting as it goes on and this feeling of staleness, I was so glad to be done with this game and just do not see myself returning to it.

Mega Man III - I had played the first two Game Boy Mega Man games in previous Backlaugusts so I might as well keep that tradition going by moving on to the third. It keeps my history with the series an oddity having still never played through any of the NES or SNES games and thus only the GB games as my actual point of reference to the series. It continues to be a mixed bag for me when playing these games. I remember having to force myself a bit to keep playing the first one but thought the second was a bit better. When playing this one, I was surprised at how there seemed to be some momentum for me this time when first beginning. I went in a direction of Shadow Man, Gemini Man, Snake Man and then Spark Man. I'm not sure if that's anywhere in the proper order but the levels had a bit more variety and were just more fun to play than I remembered the other games being like. While I was still using the save state mechanic to try and keep things moving along more quickly, I didn't feel like I needed it that much at first. However, after defeating those four, the game then has a second half in which you need to defeat another four and it was around this point that I felt the game slowing down and encountering more frustrating moments and things where I'd have hated to play this in its original form without save states knowing I'd have to keep replaying and replaying to try and get back to some places and trying to experiment to figure out how to get past them. There was also a strange encounter just before the Wily battle in which another robot master appears and it seemed like none of the weapons you had picked up had an effect on him. It just had to be defeated with your regular blaster which seemed odd to me since what was the point in getting getting all those upgrades. In fact, a lot of the robot master weapons felt kind of useless in this one. Looking back, I am so glad I went with Shadow Man first as that sort of ninja star weapon was probably what I used most in the levels and with a lot of the bosses. Snake Man, Skull Man and Spark Man's abilities I just could not find much use for them while playing and I did find myself returning to the regular power blaster more than I expected based on my memories of the first two games. In summing up, a fun enough first half followed by a more traditionally frustrating second half that keeps me from really embracing or liking this series as many gamers did in the 90s. Yet, I may jump in Mega Man IV yet this month because of that first half.

A Short Hike - I remember being pretty much sold on this game when it showed up in a Nintendo Direct. I put off playing it for some time though because I always felt like it would be a good game to save for Backlaugust and remember Mop it up proving that point by playing it herself and finishing it quickly in a past event. It's finally time for this game to shine and it certainly does. One of the highlight games so far that I have played. It hit me early on that A Short Hike is sort of my ideal of a video game. If someone says the word videogame, it might conjure up different things for different people. It might be first person shooters for some, could be sports sims for others or maybe it is RPGS are what come to one's mind. For myself, it's probably more Nintendo focused but also more action and platformer oriented. Things like Mario Sunshine and Breath of the Wild in which the fun comes from exploring a new 3D space and while collecting objects to finish side missions along the way of the main objective. The game as a simple premise of just getting to the top of the island you are on but you encounter many NPCs on the way and get items to help you or help them in order to fulfill that central goal. There's treasure chests to be found. Races to be won. Even a bit of Animal Crossing thrown in with digging up some marked holes in the ground or doing some fishing. While I have done the central quest and seen the credits roll, I will be returning to this game after the month is over to do a bit more clean up duty. There's still a few things I need to do like finding a missing watch, collect all the golden feathers and some parts of the island I still haven't fully explored yet but am looking forward to doing. All in all, a perfect little bite-sized pocket of gaming that just hits so many of the gaming sweet spots for me.

Catan: Console Edition - And now a little cheesing of the stats because it just wouldn't be Backlaugust without it. Mop it up is already proving that with her Sonic Origins stuff and the Namco 50 talk. Another game that I saw on sale on the eShop and decided to pick up. I've played the Settlers of Catan board game a few times over the years but don't own an actual physical copy. Thought I'd pick up this game as something to have as an alternative to the Mario Party option but also as a way to play the game myself or perhaps with others online through the multiplayer option. I've thought about possibly picking up the Clue / Monopoly / Risk games I often see on the eShop also if other people I knew were interested in getting those games and possible playing them together without having to travel and meet up. But I guess I'm digressing and getting off my point with my dreams and schemes of future possibilities. In any case, when looking up the game I Deku Deals, I saw that it had never been on sale once before until that time and it had been released for quite awhile. I decided to plunk down the dough and give it a shot. Overall, it is a pretty barebones experience. There's a quick version of the game in which it has made a few possible decisions before hand and then one where you can make a couple more decisions like how many players and what the AI avatars will look like. I had played and won a quick version game when I first bought it but when playing a full 6 player game, I kept losing. I think I played it three times and lost each time. I'd been close as a lot of Catan games often are but just kept coming up short. I was wondering if I should attempt to try winning at that regular style game mode as I'd hate to end up sinking time into it and coming up short a few times instead of playing other things but I wanted to hit that double digit 10 game mark before the weekend was up so I took a chance and I'm glad I did as I did get that win on the first attempt. In fact, it was sort of a blowout win too. Got my ten point and the closest AI player was at 6 when I made it and I could have lowered that down some by taking away Longest Road if I had wanted to but just turned a settlement into a city to end the game as I had been planning to do. And that seems to be it. There's nothing to unlock in the game. No extra player avatars or customizable features like different styled tiles or anything like that. As I said, it's pretty bare bones. It's the Catan game and that's about it. A little cheesy for the stats? Perhaps but as far as I'm concerned it counts. It's a game and I won it.