Metroid Prime Remastered: completed!

The very first time I ever posted to this blog, back in 2005, was to talk about Metroid Prime.  Reading back, my writing skills were a little lacking, with the post being almost entirely descriptive.  It appears that that was my second time of playing the game; the first time I’d got to a “plant boss” which I couldn’t defeat, whereas the second time I progressed past this for a couple of hours.  Assuming that the plant boss was Flaahgra, that means that I’d hardly touched the game either time; I’d have managed to explore most of the Chozo Ruins, maybe, but probably barely got to Magmoor Caverns. It’s all speculation; I can’t remember 19 years ago.

Luigi's Mansion: completed!

Yes! After only twelve years, it’s done!  And people said it was a short game!

In fairness, it is a short game, and not overly difficult, but it’s actually significantly longer than, say, the single-player components of most Call of Duty games.  It’s infinitely more charming and fun.  Overall, the game took me about 9 hours to complete, and that was including a bit near the end where I ran around the whole house trying to find the last few boos.  I had collected most of them through normal play, but there were some hidden in Level 1 rooms which I had completed before acquiring the scanner.

Luigi's Mansion: a moment of revellry

The game is – necessarily – dark and a bit spooky.  Which made this part, where you start various instruments playing themselves, a welcome break.

Gaming moments: D

Dear Esther (Mac) 
The end sequence will probably stay with me for a long time – but only
when combined with the crash scene and hospital bed at the bottom of the
cave.

Dancing Stage (arcade)
I only played this a couple of times, at the Trocadero.  The machine
felt huge, and even before getting on the platform you felt energised by
the lights and colours.  I had seen someone playing already, so knew
what to expect, but the first time that two arrows came up the screen at
the same time still threw me off guard.  Unfortunately none of the home
versions quite hit the same spot, partially because of crappy dance mats.

Daytona USA (arcade)
A four-player cabinet at the bowling alley in Bexleyheath.  I had just
learnt to let the back drift out and powerslide around the corners, and
overtook my friend John doing so.  He shouted at me that it wasn’t a
powerslide, just a lucky skid.  So I did it again the next race.

Desert Strike (Mega Drive)
I actually remember this more from my playthrough on the PSP, given the
use of save states which allowed me to actually complete the game.
There were a number of memorable points, but the best was chasing the
madman across the map in his speedboat at the end of the penultimate
level.  I was raining missiles on the speedboat the whole time and it
didn’t explode.  Of course not; where would the last level come in if
that happened?

Donkey Konga (GameCube)
The instructions speeding up a few bars into Don’t Stop Me Now.  We
played this again recently, and it’s still great.

Doshin the Giant (GameCube)
I played this when it was first released, back in 2002, to completion.
I can remember very little of it now, other than the moment when I first
realised you could pick up and throw villagers.  I did it many times and
they all hated me, so I had to restart the day.

DLC Quest (PC)
Three points:

1. Being unable to move left at the start of the game, and audio cutting
   out.  I thought the game was broken; evidently not. 
2. Meeting an NPC called Phil at the end of a long cave, who informed me
   that he was just there to fill space. 
3. The ending of the game not actually being the ending of the game
   unless you buy some DLC and finish it. 

Driver (PS)
I have never completed the last level because it was just too hard. 

Game memories: D

Doom (32X)
I played the PC game a fair bit, yes, but the 32X game is where I really learnt to love Doom (and the GBA conversion kept the affair running). It played brilliantly on the console, particularly with the MD’s sublime six-button controllers.

Doom RPG (N95)
A really clever adaptation of the game, set to a turn-based first-person RPG with all the enemies and weapons of the original. I’m not sure if there’s any way to play it now, short of buying an old phone.

Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training (DS)
I played this religiously every day for ages. I’m not sure it improved my mental capacity at all, but I had fun. I have the brain of a 20-year old, apparently. Maybe that explains why I still like S Club.

Drawn to Life (DS)
A surprisingly good platformer, in which you draw the characters (to an extent, within animation boundaries). Each time you find a new thing, you colour it in and it stays like that for the rest of the game. The only issue is that the game is a little too hard for its intended audience.

Disaster: Day of Crisis (Wii)
A great experience, but I don’t think it’s got a huge amount of replayable value to it. Having said that, I never did finish it, and I last played it ages ago, so I may well start from the beginning again.

Dead or Alive: Xtreme Beach Volleyball (Xbox)
Or “look at our boobs”. The volleyball game wasn’t as good as Beach Spikers (which I forgot, oops), and the ‘gifts’ section was awful. I paid £5 for it, and that was £10 too much.

Donkey Konga (Gamecube)
I was so excited about this. I bought the game and bongos in an HMV in Kingston because they were selling it the day before release day, and carried everything home across London during rush hour. The game didn’t disappoint; the highlight to me being Don’t Stop Me Now, which, whenever it comes on in a club or disco nowadays, causes Kieron, Matt and myself to exchange knowing glances.

Dancing Stage (PS)
I had a load of these. I wish I could play them on the PS3, but there’s nowhere to plug the dance mat into.

King Kong: hear me roar

It’s really odd that I seem to be able to control this almost OK. Even when it comes to running around firing, I’m only slightly inept. Able enough to get through, in any case.

I seem to have died quite a lot, but luckily deaths don’t put you back too far. It’s an enjoyable game, with a good mix of action and puzzly bits. One part in particular had me confused for ages. There was a door and I had to find two levers to open it. In front of the door was a clearing, in which two dinosaurs were eating. I had to lure the dinosaurs away by throwing dead meat one way, then run through where they’d moved from to set fire to some bushes to find one of the levers. The other lever was covered by spiders which, again, I had to lure away by spearing a giant fly and throwing it to the other side of the room.

I’ve also played as Kong, chasing Ann through the jungle and fighting dinosaurs and big flying bat things. He’s in third-person and it’s much easier to control him.

29% done now.

Quick update

Other games which are ongoing …

Zelda: Oracle of Ages
I can’t find Jabu Jabu. Stupid monster thing.

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of … no, Oracle of Time. Ages. Something

I’m not half getting confused between the two. I wanted to use the boomerang in Ocarina of Time last night, and then realised I haven’t got one. And the switch shot would be a lifesaver in a lot of places. Equally, in Oracle of Ages, I keep thinking that I need to use my catapult, and then realise that I’ve only got a seed shooter, which isn’t quite the same.