Year Plans 2023: What I've Missed

I felt like closing the year with this. All the way back in my Retrospective for 2022, I set up this new concept of the Year Plans, in which I picked a number of games from my collection that I hoped to play through and review on the blog during the following 12 months. Part of the idea was that, since I have such a large backlog, I would focus on a few titles on top of the yearly Quick Reviews.

I even thought of adding a new main page to the blog to keep track of the ones I had selected for this year.

I did go through all the titles selected for the Quick Reviews, because I like the concept and it’s an easy way to knock a couple out through a few months. The longer titles, that’s a different story; I didn't get to cover as many as I would've liked. So, instead of giving them a full playthrough and article, I figured I would either discuss what my plans were/might be for each title, or give a quick “First Impressions” after playing each one for about an hour, depending on the case.

Today, it’s a relaxed article. Nothing too complex, just me chatting about games I know and trying out a few I haven’t played yet.

Tales from Candlekeep: Tomb of Annihilation

Yet another game that’s unavailable for purchase on the Steam Store (since May 2022), I’ve had this one sitting in my library since 2021. A purchase on Humble Bundle four years prior included four DLC packs for the game... but not the game itself. It’s been odd every time I reviewed on here a game that could no longer been purchased, but I feel it’s important and interesting to do so, like keeping track of what's been lost. This entry by BKOM studios, whose headquarters are in Quebec City, is meant to be a virtual version of an existing board game, Tomb of Annihilation. It does have that tabletop feel, and the association with Dungeons & Dragons (a license expiration may be the reason why the game got delisted) is clear as day... I say that as if I have ever played that game...

On the other hand, the codes for the DLCs still worked, so... I have that to look forward to when I'll dig deeper into this one. This was a fun hour!

Gaming Memories: Mighty Final Fight

A last Gaming Memories article for the year? Let's go.

Mighty Final Fight

Nintendo Entertainment System

July 1993 (NA)

One of the NES games I recall playing the most. Outside of this entry, I have no real connection to the Final Fight series, comprised of side-scrolling beat'em-ups and whose first entry was released to arcades in 1989. This is a retelling of that game's story, delivered with a comedic tone and a super-deformed style.

The story, a classic of the era: A girl kidnapped by bad guys. In this case, it is Mayor Mike Haggar's daughter, Jessica, taken by the Mad Gear Gang. Haggar enlists the help of his two friends Cody and Guy, and all three set out to open a whole can of whoop-ass onto various bikers, thieves, and other street scum on their way to Belger, the gang's leader.

The game is set across five stages and had everything to please me: Players and enemies alike have health bars visible at the top of the screen, and enemies come in all shapes and sizes (and gimmicks). All three characters have a wide array of moves, and can even learn more as the game includes a simple (if not simplistic) experience system. Haggar feels like the Easy Mode, being tougher and having stronger moves than his allies and starting out at LV3, compared to Guy and Cody's LV1s. That said, the two guys are speedier. Alas, no 2-Player Mode, but I can't say multiplayer on home console was ever a thing I cared for.

A few sequences within levels feel like mini-games. One notable example being in Stage 1, where the selected fighter has to break incoming barrels (and may also find items that increase their EXP). The bosses are all notable; utterly silly but also pretty dangerous. Unfortunately, the game is also very short, at five stages, and can be finished in well under an hour. Bit disappointing, not gonna lie.

It's short and easy enough that I finished the game multiple times. It ranked among my favorites on the NES alongside Startropics, DuckTales, the Mario games, and more that I'll eventually get to. I can't say I consider myself a beat'em-up connoisseur, but I do think this one's worth checking out. Maybe it's the nostalgia talking, that's usually the case in these Gaming Memories articles. (At least for now, as I focus on the games I really did care for - the ones I didn't, that's gonna be a different story.)

Top 12 Boss Battle Types

Let’s end the year on a more relaxed article.

Boss battles are one of the defining traits of video games. Most genres include them in one way or another, and it’s tricky, but not impossible, to imagine a game that does not have them. They represent thresholds to cross in the story a game tells; they run the gamut from easy to insane in terms of difficulty; early ones may teach you a skill, later ones may force you to master that same skill; and they can be central to the plot, if any, or wholly unrelated.

Because I covered a lot of them, expect several
examples pulled from Nintendo games.

In over 50 years of video games, there’s been plenty of room for experimentation in how video games work and how their stories are told. As a result, we’re not lacking in types of bosses out there waiting to spring out and offer a challenge. Full disclosure, the types of bosses covered today are mostly described through their entries on TVTropes, because it’s a simple way to accurately discuss them. It’s also going to help fishing up examples for each type making the list, as I hope to pick from titles I discussed on this very blog to illustrate my choices. I’ve been reviewing stuff for 10 years now, so I ought to have examples for each of them. "Boss Battle Types" can cover the boss itself or the kind of battle we have against it.

This is, obviously, a subjective list going off how I feel these types of bosses and battles rank against each other, or above the ones I excluded. Are there any that you feel I missed out on? Feel free to comment!

Word to the wise, don’t make a drinking game out of every time I use the word “boss” here. I don’t want a death on my friggin’ conscience.

We’re starting with...

12. The “Tactical Suicide Boss”

While cutting the various types of bosses down to twelve only for the list (as my original cut picked out of 64 possible options on TVTropes’ page about boss battles), I eventually wondered whether I wanted to focus more on the bosses themselves, or the type of strategy needed to defeat them. I wound up focusing on the monsters, but there’s a handful of entries for strategies, and we open on one.

King K. Rool would be unstoppable, but he has to throw his
crown to attack, exposing his soft noggin.

The core idea behind the “tactical suicide boss” trope involves a boss that would, by all accounts, be undefeatable. There’s just one problem: To attack, this enemy must reveal the only means of harming them. This differs from battles where the means of defeat of the boss is found in the arena itself, another type of oversight on the part of a baddie we’re battling. There’s something poetic to how the fault lies entirely on the enemy themselves for exposing the one thing that can beat them, and it feels even more satisfying as a result. Due to these parameters, this specific type is more common to platform and adventure games, but has been seen in other genres as well.

DoubleMoose's "Just Die Already"

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Gaming Memories: Donkey Kong Country

Donkey Kong Country

Super Nintendo

November 21st, 1994 (NA)

I never owned a lot of Super Nintendo titles; if I recall, I've had maybe 10 total, and most came with the console, which had been gifted to me by cousins. I may have bought only one game for it. And as is normal for a kid given multiple new playthings at once, I eventually settled on a couple of favorites. This was one of them.

Donkey Kong's first major platform game on the SNES (and, ironically, the only "Donkey Kong Country" game of the era to feature him, as he has to be rescued in both sequels) felt like a game-changer in several ways. The 3D look given to all of the sprites made it groundbreaking as one of the first "2.5D" titles to exist. It featured not only the famous ape who famously had a beef with Mario in the earliest days of the plumber's career, but also Diddy Kong, a younger chimp clad in red, as well as a handful of additional Kongs serving as varied stops throughout this adventure.

The story? Oh, it's as simple as it gets, really; a group of villainous reptiles known as the Kremlings, led by the ruthless and kooky King K. Rool, has stolen the Kongs' banana hoard. Go kick their asses and get it back. The Kongs will help you, be it Funky Kong allowing you to travel to different areas (worlds) of Donkey Kong Island, Candy Kong saving your progress, and Cranky Kong providing tips, comedy and head-canings, grumpy old ape that he is.

I remember having such a good time with this game. A couple of stages had interesting gimmicks (not a fan of the mine carts, but the stage with the On/Off switches and the zombie-like reptiles was cool). The inclusion of animal helpers was great (Rambi, Enguarde and Expresso have a dear place in my heart; Squawk and Winky, not so much). And there were so many secrets to uncover and ways to earn extra lives - enough hidden areas that the game actually goers beyond 100% and is properly "completed" at 103%, and there's balloon lives, the KONG letters and even animal tokens to collect. The last battle against K. Rool is especially noteworthy with its famous fake-out ending, where credits start rolling too early - then the crocodile gets back up and things get serious.

It's such a great game and I have a huge nostalgic connection to it. With the gift of hindsight, I can see how it set the tone for the Donkey Kong franchise as a whole - its comedic edge, a staple of Rare, would be a part of the following entries, up to and including Donkey Kong 64 and most of the studio's other projects. It's a classic, for good reason, and definitely a must-play.