Staking my claim!
so in the immortal words of Fergie "Let's Get The Party Started…..In Herreeeeee"
1. Mortal Kombat II (32X) - PS5 (via MK Legacy Kollection), est. Playtime: 45 mins, beat the Arcade Tower on Medium Difficulty w/Scorpion on 1/1/26
I'm a long time fan of the series (I remember playing MK 1, 2, & UMK 3 in the Arcades before experiencing them on the Sega Genesis a year or so after each release) and of the original games I have the fondest memories playing the Genesis versions of Mortal Kombat II & Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. So I was tickled to death when I got the MK Legacy Kollection for Christmas and be able to revisit these games on formats I'd never experienced them on such as MK II for the Sega 32x. Now funilly enough at the time I did have a 32x (we had 3 games for it, DOOM, Cosmic Carnage, & After Burner II), but since I already had Mortal Kombat II for the Sega Genesis I never picked up/played the 32X version of the game until now and I gotta say it's imo a pretty good port of the Arcade version.
2. Mortal Kombat 3 (Arcade) - PS5 (via MK Legacy Kollection), est.Playtime: 1hr 30 mins, beat the Arcade Tower on both Novice & Warrior difficulty w/Cyrax as well as won hidden fights with Smoke & Noob Saibot on 1/1/26
When it comes to Mortal Kombat 3, it along with Mortal Kombat 4, are the only games in the series that I never played at the arcade so my only experience with them were the Sega Genesis & PS1 ports so finally experiencing the Arcade version of Mortal Kombat 3 was interesting. My only gripe with the game was that it didn't have several main stay characters such as Scorpion, Reptile, Johhny Cage, Kitana, & Mileena so I ended up maining Cyrax, Sub-Zero, & Smoke. When it came to the 2 towers I managed to breeze through the Novice tower without much trouble, but the Warrior tower gave me a bit of a challenge except for when it came to the Shao Kahn fight as I was able to cheese the ever living f*** out of Cyrax's Net attack for most of the match. Overall I enjoyed my time with MK 3 and while I was somewhat disappointed I didn't get the chance to do a stage fatality in the Bell Tower stage, but my favorite aspect of the game was the introduction of combos to the series.
3. Mortal Kombat 3 (SNES) - PS5 (via MK Legacy Kollection), est. Playtime: 45 mins, beat the Arcade Tower on Warrior difficulty w/Cyrax on 1/1/26
When it comes to the home console version of Mortal Kombat 3 I only ever played the Sega Genesis version of the game so it was very interesting to see how different the SNES version was compared to not only the Arcade version but also the Genesis version. Overall (and as a die hard Genesis kid I hate to say it but) the SNES version while easier than the Arcade & Genesis versions on Medium difficulty was a little bit more faithful to the Arcade version than the Genesis port was.
4. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (Arcade) - PS5 (via MK Legacy Kollection), est. Playtime: 45 mins, beat the Arcade Tower on Warrior difficulty w/Scoprion as well as won a hidden fight with Noob Saibot on 1/1/26
I have a lot of fond memories playing this game in the Arcades and it's by far my favorite iteration of Mortal Kombat 3 as it adds some fighters missing from the original MK 3 (including my favorite character Scorpion) as well as make some improvements on/additions to the original Mortal Kombat 3 such introducing Brutalitoes.
5. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (SNES) - PS5 (via MK Legacy Kollection), est. Playtime: 1 hr 15 mins, beat the Arcade Tower on Warrior difficulty w/Human Smoke on 1/1/26
Of the home console versions of Ultimate MK 3 the only one I had played prior to today was the Genesis version and if I'm being honest it's still my favorite home version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 even after playing the SNES version for the very first time. I don't know if it was due to the overwhelming nostalgia I have for that version of UMK 3 or the fact that I hit something of a wall (I'm thankful that I'm playing this version via the MK Legacy Kollection as the rewind feature, which I tried to use as sparingly as possible throughout my playthroughs of these games, really helped me get through some parts where the AI was really cheating) during my playthrough of the game, but I still prefer the Genesis version of UMK 3 over the SNES version.
6. Mortal Kombat Trilogy (PS1) - PS5 (via MK Legacy Kollection), est. Playtime: 1 hr, beat the Arcade Tower on both Novice & Warrior difficulty with Sub-Zero & Scorpion on 1/1/26
Between this version and the N64 version of MK Trilogy the one I have the most nostalgia for is ironically the version I (up until last year) never owned, which was MK Trilogy for the N64. The reason I have the most nostalgia for the N64 version is because my sister, cousins, & I would play this (and Goldeneye) a lot whenever we were visiting our cousins. When it came time for my cousins to visit my sister & I we didn't play the PS1 version of MK Trilogy (which we did own), but rather played the Tekken games also by that time MK 4 had come out so I didn't really play a lot of the PS1 of MK Trilogy. So it was nice to finally revisit this version of MK Trilogy for the first time in about 15+ years.
7. Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero (PS1) - PS5 (via MK Legacy Kollection), est. Playtime: 5-6 hrs, beat the game & spared both Scorpion & Sareena on 1/7/26
This is one of the few games in the series I'd never played before despite knowing about it since the day it came out and the main reason why I never played it til now was because I'd heard just how bad it was so I avoided it (along with MK: Special Forces) like the plague. Now that I've finally played & beaten the game I'm so glad that I waited to play a version that included the ability to rewind the game/reverse your mistakes cause that made things a little less stressful despite having to consult a guide during certain parts since the game doesn't tell you shit. Overall I'm glad that I no longer have to play this game (I got the 3 Trophies associated with the game) and can finally scratch it off the list of MK games I've never played.
8. Mortal Kombat: Special Forces (PS1) - PS5 (via MK Legacy Kollection), est. Playtime: 5 hrs, beat the game and earned all related trophies on 1/8/26
Just like with MK Mythologies: Sub-Zero I, prior to today, had never played this game and unlike with MK Mythologies the reason I didn't play this game for so long is because the premise didn't really excite/interest me. Though just like with MK Mythologies I was kinda glad I had waited to play/skipped playing this game for so long, but not because it was just as bad as Mythologies (it's honestly imo mediocre at best) but rather cause if I had played this game when it first came out I would've been disappointed. Mainly due to how short the game was & the shitty boss fights that you can easily win (if you can get close to them first that is) by spamming simple combos. Honestly I had fun running around beating up thugs and the (for Playstation 1 Standards) large levels you're given to explore, but other than that everything else about this game is mediocre imo.
9. Mortal Kombat 4 (Arcade) - PS5 (via MK Legacy Kollection) est. Playtime: 45 mins, beat the Arcade Tower on Warrior Difficulty w/Scorpion and earned the Platinum Trophy for the MK Legacy Kollection on 1/9/26
Of the 4 MK games that came out in the Arcades this and Mortal Kombat 3 are the only ones I didn't play when they came out and instead had one of their home console ports be my first experience with them. So it was somewhat interesting to finally play the original Arcade version of this game considering the home console versions had more playable characters, some additional modes and (if I remember correctly) not as cheap/cheating as the Arcade version was. Other than those 3 things the Arcade version was pretty close to the home console version and outside of the cheating AI (I did a few additional attempts at beating the Arcade Towers with different characters, but the cheating was so egregious that I only finished one Arcade Tower) I really enjoyed revisiting Mortal Kombat 4 (in general) for the first time since 1999.
10. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle - PS5, est. Playtime: 21 hrs ,beat the game on Normal Difficulty with 80% Trophy completion & 92% Overall Completion on 1/12/26
I'm a big fan of the Indiana Jones movies, but the video games not as much so I was cautiously optimistic when this game was announced. Now that I've played it I gotta say this has got to be one of the best if not the best Indiana Jones games I've played. I enjoyed playing the game so much that I plan on getting & playing the DLC campaign Order of the Giants as well as 100% complete the game.
11. Street Fighter EX3 - PS2, est. Playtime: 1 hr 30 mins, beat Original Mode 8+ times on Normal Difficulty and unlocked all hidden characters except for Evil Ryu & M.Bison II on 1/13/26
When it comes to the EX games my only real experience prior to playing this game was Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha, which I had a lot of fond memories playing. Now when it comes to this game I honestly have no memory of ever playing it prior to this playthrough though it could be that this entry was imo extremely forgettable. I was able to zip through most of my multiple playthroughs without using a single continue on Normal/Medium difficulty and was able to unlock all but 2 of the hidden characters in the process so as far as fighting games go it imo wasn't really deep. I'd say this would be a mild curiousity for fans of the Street Fighter series and not much else, imo if you had to play one of the 2 EX games to make it to home consoles I'd say you're better off playing Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha than this game.
12. Dr. Mario (GameBoy) - Switch 2 (via NSO Subscription), est. Playtime: 1 hr, beat the game on Low speed on 1/22/26
It's been a very long time since I'd last played this game (1995ish) and I honestly don't know what possessed me to play this game, let alone play it long enough to get to the Congratulations screen for beating the first 20 levels. All I know was that I was browsing the GameBoy NSO app for a short game to play to kill some time (taking a sh!t, waiting in line, waiting while your car's getting worked on, etc.) and for some reason this was the game that spoke to me. I will say that 35 mins of my playthrough were spent on the last 2 levels which were hard as f*** even on low speed.
13. Capcom Arcade Stadium: Street Fighter II (Arcade) - Switch 2, est. Playtime: 30 - 45 mins, beat the game w/Ryu on 1/22/26
It's been a while since I've played the original Arcade version of Street FIghter II and lets just say that I'm not a big fan of this iteration of Street Fighter II, especially it's controls (which felt slow/sluggish to me), but the Capcom Arcade Stadums added a couple of interesting quirks (like rewind, super speed, super slowmo, & 3 challenge modes) that made it an interesting playthrough. Honestly this game is a skip especially if you already have the better iterations such as Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Ultra Street Fighter II, or the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection.
14. Capcom Arcade Stadium 2: Street Fighter Alpha 3 (Arcade) - Switch 2, est. Playtime: 30 mins, beat the game w/Ryu on 1/22/26
Out of all the Alpha games Alpha 3 is by far my favorite of the bunch especially the PS1 & PSP versions and I like it so much it's one of the few games (such as Streets of Rage 2, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Metal Gear Solid, Super Mario Bros 3, and Resident Evil 3) that I will willingly quadruple dip on (I have the PS1, PSP, & 2 different compilations that include it for the Switch/Switch 2) so that I can play it when the mood strikes me. Well after being somewhat disappointed with the arcade version of Street Fighter II that was included in Capcom Arcade Stadium 1 I felt the need to pop into the second volume/iteration of Capcom Arcade Stadium to play it's version of Street Fighter Alpha 3 and satisfy my fighting game fix for now. Even though this is not my favorite version of Street Fighter Alpha 3 (the PS1 version is my favorite, but that's because I haven't played much of the PSP version which is supposed to be the ultimate/most complete version of the game & I have a ton of nostalgia for the PS1 version) it was still a satisfying (although relatively short) playthrough that definitly hit that fighting game itch for me.
15. Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound - Switch, est. Playtime: 10+ hours, beat the game on Normal difficulty with a overall B rank on 2/6/26
I picked up this game last year along with Shinobi: Art of Vengeance because I love 2D platformers and was itching for a good 2D Ninja game, but since I couldn't decide on which one to get I went with both. Going into this game I honestly thought it would be the better of the 2 games, but I was wrong, I actually liked Shinobi: Art of Vengeance a hell of a lot more than I did this game. Which was kinda shocking to me since DotEmu (the devs behind Streets of Rage 4, which I absolutely love) made it, plus I usually like the 2D Ninja Gaiden games over the 2D Shinobi games I've played. Though with that said this game isn't a bad game at all, gameplay was solid and it's an interesting side story set during the events of the original Ninja Gaiden. It for whatever reason just didn't vibe with me like Shinobi: Art of Vengeance did.
16. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Anniversary) - PS5 (via Sonic Origins Collection), est. Playtime: 3-4 hrs, beat the game with Sonic & all Chaos Emeralds on 2/26/26
I've been a long time fan of the Blue Blur and have fond memories playing & beating the original Sonic the Hedgehog games on the Sega Genesis all the way up to the day my Genesis died (f*** you NFL QB Club for killing my Genesis) so much so that I end up making up excuses to justify regularly revisit them. In this instance I'm revisiting them because I want to 100% complete the Sonic Origins Collection and earn the game's Platinum trophy which requires playing through all the games in the collection, 100% completing the in game museum, complete a set amount of challenge missions w/ S rank, do specific things (like getting a Jackpot in Sonic 2's Casino Night Zone) in each game within the collection, etc. Beating Sonic 2 and getting all it's related trophies now puts me one game away (Sonic 3 & Knuckles) from getting the last 3 trophies(Kill 10 Rhinobots, beat Sonic 3 & Knuckles, clear all 4 games) I need in order to get the Platinum trophy & 100% the Sonic Origins Collection.
17. Resident Evil 9: Requiem - PS5, est. Playtime: 11 hrs, beat the game on Modern Standard (Normal) difficulty with 36 of 50 Trophies earned on 3/1/26
18 Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater - PS5, est. Playtime: 9 hrs 43mins, beat the game on Normal difficulty with Modern gameplay, no kills & no alerts (Chameleon rank) on 3/12/26
19, Darkstalkers Ressurection - PS3, est. Playtime: 3 + hrs, beat both Night Warriors & Darkstalkers 3 Arcade mode on Normal Difficulty on 3/15/26
I'm not really into the Darkstalker series, but while awaiting the arrival of my copy of the Fatal Frame II Remake I decided to hop onto my PS3 to play a short game and that's when I remembered that I had done a blind purchase of this game years ago before it was pulled from the PS3 PSN store. So I decided it was time to finally give it a proper go and now that I've played both games that were included I can say that I'm still not really a fan of the Darkstalker games. Of the 2 games I only really enjoyed one of them (Night Warriors), but that's because I didn't care for the cheap enemy AI and the instant round setup (as soon as a health bar is depleted the game instantly goes into the next round without a pause or warning) in Darkstalkers 3.
20. Fatal Frame II Remake - PS5, est. Playtime: 20 hrs, beat the game on normal difficulty with about 75% overall completion on 4/5/26
21. Doom Eternal - PS5, est. Playtime: 20+ hrs, beat the game on Normal/Hurt Me Plenty difficulty with about 80% overall completion on 4/9/26
I have a spotty history with the Doom games as I've played just about every single one of them that's come out, but have only beaten 3 (if you include this one) of them (the other 2 being "Shareware" Doom aka Doom Episode 1 & Doom 2016) so far and to date my favorite one is Doom 2016. As for this game, well it's currently my least favorite one of the 3 games in the series I've beaten. I love the core combat, gore, level design and lore that added with this game & Doom 2016, but I absolutely hate the constant & at times insanely difficult combat arenas. The reason being they randomly ramp up in difficulty mid fight, don't feel even remotely satisfying once you beat them like they (imo) did in Doom 2016, and feel like they ramped up the difficulty just as a f*** you to the player. Due to this and hearing that the DLC essentially ramps it up even more than the base game I probably won't be touching the game's DLC at all.
22. Sonic Chaos - Game Gear (via Mega SG Game Gear Adapter), est. Playtime: 2 hrs, beat the game with all 6 Chaos Emeralds on 4/22/26
For my birthday in late1994 I got a blue Sega Game Gear along with this game (my birthday cake was also Sonic themed and there is a photo somewhere of me & my grandparents sitting in front of that cake) & Disney's The Lion King and absolutely loved it even though I never really beat it. While I no longer have that Game Gear (and I'm kicking my self for not keeping as it's apparently now hard to find) or that particular copy of the game I recently acquired a Mega SG Game Gear/Master System Card ver 1.1 adapter set and a bundle of Game Gear games that included it along with Sonic 1 & 2, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, & X-Men: GameMaster's Legacy. So of course the first game I had to pop into my Mega SG using the Game Gear adapter was Sonic Chaos and for my first playthrough of the game in over 20 years I got all the way to the final zone of the game (but without any of the Chaos Emeralds cause I'd forgotten you needed to get 100 coins to access the special zones where they were hidden and wouldn't realize it until my next playthrough) when I hit a game over. My second attempt went a lot better as I had managed to get all the chaos emeralds (though I litterally got the last one I could possible get on the next to last act) as well as rack up a lot of continues in the process. Which ended up being a good thing as the final phase of the final boss was a one hit instant kill face off between Sonic & Robotnik and I died so many times that it came down to the final life on my final continue when I managed to finally 1 hit kill the sob before he could 1 hit killed me then collect only chaos emerald you get from a boss fight to end the game with the "Good Ending". Overall I enjoyed my time revisiting this game even though it was relatively short and a breaze to play through until I got to the final phase of the final boss fight.
23. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers - Game Gear (via Mega SG Game Gear Adapter), est. Playtime: 2 hrs, beat the game on 4/22/26
This was one of the games that came in a bundle of Game Gear games I had bought after getting the Game Gear ver. 1.1 adapter for my Mega SG system and if I'm being honest this is only the second Power Rangers video game I've played & beaten (the other being Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid) which is a bit shocking cause I was a big fan of the first couple of seasons of the show (I especially loved the Green Ranger Saga) as a kid. Now as far as Game Gear games go I don't have a lot of reference in terms of quality/playablility cause prior to getting this bundle of Game Gear games I only really had 3 games (Disney's The Lion King, Sonic Chaos, & X-Men: GameMaster's Legacy) for the system and 2 of the 3 were really hard/difficult games, but I will say that outside of the random difficulty spikes (which I really hated as all of sudden bad guys you were easily beating were kicking your @$$ so badly you couldn't get a single hit in) I really enjoyed playing this game. I also enjoyed it that it included five playable characters, that you could unlock a sixth (The Green Ranger) just by progressing through the game, and that it tried (and imo succeeded for the most part) to capture the essence of the show, the music, & zords.
24. Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition - PS5 (via Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection), est. Playtime: 2+ hrs, beat the game as Grant on 4/27/26
As a kid I loved Jurassic Park and I also loved the 2 (out of 3) games that came out for the Sega Genesis even though I had never been able to beat the second game (and hadn't even known about the 3rd game until a few years ago), Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition. So when Limited Run Games came out with a collection of classic Jurassic Park games (minus the 3rd game for the Sega Genesis) buying it was a no brainer and after playing the NES Jurassic Park game last year (which I am not a fan of) I decided to finally tackle this game. Now I don't know if this is the nostalgia talking or not, but I kinda prefer the first Jurassic Park game for the Sega Genesis over this game even though it's essentially more of that game but with some tweaks. Though I will say that final level w/the T-Rex river boat chase was (once I got a groove on/gameplan) kinda fun and I also liked a few of the game's level design (such as the ship stage) compared to the first game.
25. Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition - PS5 (via Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection), est. Playtime: less than 2 hrs, beat the game as the Raptor on 4/27/26
Playing the gane's Raptor campaign was imo a lot easier than playing Grant's campaign and I'm honestly shocked at just how quickly I was able to zip through the game's campaign as the Raptor.
26. TMNT 3: Radical Rescue (GameBoy) - PS5 (via TMNT Cowabunga Collection), est. Playtime: 3+ hrs, beat the game on 5/1/26
This game continues the trend of the GameBoy TMNT games getting more & more difficult as they came out as well as continuing my dislike of these games. Unlike the other GameBoy TMNT games this game was basically a strategy guide game because there are some things (like each Turtle having a special ability needed to advance to the next area) that the game doesn't tell you and if not for the fact that the TMNT Cowabunga Collection (thankfully) included a strategy guide (a tips section & the game's full map w/item locations) I probably would have raged playing this game (especially if I had played it as a kid on a GameBoy) as it combines the enemy mechanics/philosophy from the first NES TMNT game (lots of enemies on screen and the instantly respawn when you walkaway & come back towards where they were) with the map & basic gameplay philosophy of a Metroid game. If they had removed the TMNT NES enemy mechanics/philosophy, did a better job designing the map, and communicated within the game that each turtle had a different ability then I probably would've loved this game as everything else about the game (especially for a game on the GameBoy) was really good, hell they even managed to squeeze in a version of the TMNT theme song into the game.
27. TMNT Tournament Fighters (SNES) - PS5 (via TMNT Cowabunga Collection), est, Playtime: 1 hr, beat the game on 5/1/26
As a kid I was a die hard fan of the TMNT, but outside of the oringal NES game & the NES version of the Arcade game I'd never really played any of the other TMNT games especially the TMNT fighting games. Which is kind of shocking considering I was also a big fan of fighting games when these games came out, but after playing the NES version of this game and now the SNES version I'm kinda glad I didn't as it would have infuriated me given how bad they were. The only positive thing is that the SNES version actually had something of a story and that they had a decent sized roster of fighters.
28. Jaws (NES) - PS5 (via Jaws Retro Edition) est, Playtime: 45mins, beat the game and got all but 1 game related trophy on 5/2/26
While not the best game it's one of the few LJN games (the other being Friday the 13th) that I have a lot of nostalgia for and one of the few LJN games I remember beating back in the day. So it was nice to revisit the game with some minor modern conviences like rewind & save states even though I didn't even really need it considering I beat it from start to finish in under an hour.
29. Jaws Enhanced - PS5 (via Jaws Retro Edition), est. Playtime: 3+ hrs, beat the game and got all game releated trophies except for the Platinum trophy on 5/2/26
I was originally going to count the Jaws Retro Edition as one game, but upon playing the enhanced version of Jaws (which is exclusive to this release) and seeing how much they expanded & improved upon the NES original made me realize that it's almost a completely different game. So much so that it had it was split into 4 chapters, had side quests, and a more in-depth upgrade system added on top of the rewind & save state features. While it was an impressive improvement over the original game I wouldn't recommend picking up the Jaws Retro Edition unless it's on sale or you just really love the NES game cause this was a really short experience.
jshackles
as the prior host)
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