Nintendo 64

History 
I've never own a Nintendo 64 in my life but I can't forget how did I know about this console. I was living in the US with my family and I saw a commercial about this system on TV. I saw the graphics and I was like wow this must be the greatest console with awesome graphics. The controller is a bit weird though. 

The Games
The games are original titles which range from all types of genre. I think the most popular genre is action and racing with the emphasis on aracde sytle gameplay. This is the first time where the games uses 3D graphics so by today's standard is it a bit blocky

The Good 
Some of the games are fun to play but mostly on the racing and action side. Most of the great games are made by Nintendo which some third party companies makes not bad games. 

The Bad
Controls are mostly unresponsive and the games are not that fun. The analogue stick contol is too rigid for the games. Even games like Super Mario 64 doesn't control well. 

The Ugly
Everything. This was release at the same time as the ps1 and yet most of the games didn't hit the mark. With games that are not that fun and a very limited selection of games. 

Conclusion
The Nintendo 64 is part of Nintendo's history. There are a lot of gaming franchise that we made because of this but they were a precursor of whats to come. It was okay but nothing memorable. 

Sega CD  (171 games)
Sega 32X (33 games) 
Sega Saturn  (7/97 games) 0.07% replayability 
Sony PlayStation (453 games) 
Neo Geo Pocket / Color  (10/40 games) 25% replayability 
Nintendo 64  (24/317 games)  7.57% replayability 
Nintendo Game Boy Color  (8/530 games) 0.01% replayability

 

Sega Saturn

History 
I've never owned a Saturn before. But after playing the games, I'm glad I don't own one. I heard this is one of the more expensive consoles to collect. 

The Games
The games are mostly arcade ports with some original titles. It has everything but mostly emphasis on quick timed experiences. 

The Good 
Some of the games are fun to play but mostly on the racing and puzzle side. There are a lot of fighting games but they all control the same. Most of of them are actual CG cutscenes

The Bad
Controls are mostly unresponsive and the games are not that fun. 

The Ugly
Everything. This was release at the same time as the ps1 and yet most of the games didn't hit the mark. There are no stand out titles that you wish you own this console

Conclusion
The Sega Saturn is weird piece of console history. Glad I get to experience it but I am also glad that is over. 

Sega CD  (171 games)
Sega 32X (33 games) 
Sega Saturn  (7/97 games) 0.07% replayability 
Sony PlayStation (453 games) 
Neo Geo Pocket / Color  (10/40 games) 25% replayability 
Nintendo 64  (317 games)  
Nintendo Game Boy Color  (8/530 games) 0.01% replayability 

Game Boy Color

 

History 
I've never owned a Game Boy Color. I only seen it in magazine and thought having a color Game Boy is cool. 

The Games
The games range from all types of genre but in pocket form. Notably missing a lot of Nintendo games. But they do have Pokémon 

The Good 
Some of the games are fun to play but mostly on the racing and puzzle side. The animations is super smooth for a system with limited capabilities 

The Bad
A lot of the game are just blobs of color and doesn't translate well with the limited hardware. And yet they do it as well.

The Ugly
Faux 3D games that looks super ugly 

Conclusion
The Game Boy Color is a weird device. It is a transition device before the GBA. I don't think having it is great because most of the games suck. It was a good experience to play 

Sega CD  (171 games)
Sega 32X (33 games) 
Sega Saturn  (97 games)
Sony PlayStation (453 games) 
Neo Geo Pocket / Color  (10/40 games) 25% replayability 
Nintendo 64  (317 games)  

Nintendo Game Boy Color  (8/530 games) 0.01% replayability 

Neo Geo Pocket Color

History 
I've never owned a Neo Geo Pocket Color but I do have magazines with ads featuring this and I thought to myself how cool it would be to bring around my games. 

The Games
The games range from all the SNK console collection but in pocket form. The only genre that is missing is Racing. Other than that all is there even thought is not a lot. The library is super small

The Good 
SNK makes great fighting games. With two buttons they can make a deep fighting game with robust combos and mechanics. The RPG are great too but I am not a fan of them 

The Bad
Some of the games fall short due to the limitation of the hardware. So there is nothing much you can do about it

The Ugly
A lot of casino games. 

Conclusion

The Neo Geo Pocket is a forgotten gem. They have ported some of the games to newer systems but the original is still an awesome part of history. I like it. Too bad you can get bored of the games after a while. 

Sega CD  (171 games)
Sega 32X (33 games) 
Sega Saturn  (97 games)
Sony PlayStation (453 games) 
Neo Geo Pocket / Color  (10/40 games) 25% replayability 
Nintendo 64  (317 games)  

Nintendo Game Boy Color  (530 games)  

Phase 2

This time we are heading towards phase 2. Phase 2 will be much more interesting since the graphics are going to be now in 3D. Mind you bare bones 3D but still 3D nonetheless

So the list of console that are covered in phase two is as follows 

Sega CD  (171 games)
Sega 32X (33 games) 
Sega Saturn  (93 games)
Sony PlayStation (453 games) 
Neo Geo Pocket / Color  (40 games) 
Nintendo 64  (317 games)  

Nintendo Game Boy Color  (530 games) 

I suspect due to the total of games I am going to take around 5 years as well to finish it. So let's see if in 2027 I can start on phase 3 

SNES

 

History 
Finally phase 1 of the All game list have been completed. We ended with the SNES. I never owned a SNES but I have played it at a friends house from time to time 

The Games
Like the Genesis 16 bit games are the same as normal 8 bit games. I think game of the 90s are more or less the same.  There are some games that stood the test of time but most of them didn't age well at all. Most of them didn't age well

The Good 
Anything made by Nintendo is always the best games to play. Some fighting games and also some beat em ups. Racing is especially good on the SNES

The Bad
Everything else. Most of the games really are just too hard to be played and it is not really fun.

The Ugly
A lot of games that try to cash in on movies 

Conclusion

The SNES shows that Nintendo has a varied history and they do make awesome games. And with that also conclude phase 1 of the All game list. It is time to move to phase 2. Which is going to be a challenge as we move from the 16-bit to the 32-bit

NES (30/787 games) 3.81% replayability
Master System (5/280 games) 1.79% replayability 
Gameboy (31/555 games) 5.59% replayability 
Genesis (28/776 games) 0.04% replayability
Neo Geo   (20/136 games) 14.71% replayability 
Game Gear  (10/257 games) 3.89% replayability 
SNES (37/784 games) 0.04% replayability

Genesis

History 
Finally after a while I finish all the genesis games that it is my list. I never own a Genesis before but I've played it once around the 90s. I remember it was Sonic 2 and Mortal Kombat 2. It was some good memories. 

The Games
16 bit games are the same as normal 8 bit games. I think game of the 90s are more or less the same.  There are some games that stood the test of time but most of them didn't age well at all. 

The Good 
Sonic and anything Sonic adjacent it a good game to play in this machine. Other than that a couple of side scrollers. 

The Bad
Everything else. Most of the games really are just too hard to be played and it is not really fun.

The Ugly
Faux 3D graphics. They control bad and the gameplay just doesn't make sense 

Conclusion

The Genesis is probably great for its time but most of the games really are unplayable and the rest just trash. 16 bit is coming back but with modern gameplay which is awesome. But for now, this will remind in the far corners of history.

NES (30/787 games) 3.81% replayability
Master System (5/280 games) 1.79% replayability 
Gameboy (31/555 games) 5.59% replayability 
Genesis (28/776 games) 0.04% replayability
Neo Geo   (20/136 games) 14.71% replayability 
Game Gear  (10/257 games) 3.89% replayability 
SNES ( 784 games)

Neo Geo

By Evan-Amos - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18260466


History 
I never own this console ever in my life. I've played a couple of games for this console in the arcades. So that's about it. I think the Neo Geo was never available in my country. Even if it is. It probably was very expensive. 

The Games
Basically all of the games are arcade games. It ranges from the fighting, shooting, driving and some action games in there. The thing I notice is that the games are face paced and are design to suck your quarters a lot.

The Good 
There are two genres that the Neo Geo excel is which is fighting and shooting. But there are only two types of fighting game that are the most popular which is the King of Fighters and Samurai Showdown. Metal Slug and any side scrolling bullet hell game. Those games are fun

The Bad
Everything else. It seems all the other games are mostly a miss. The sport games doesn't translate well to arcade (except Winjammers) and the others are just weird in a sense

The Ugly
Because they are arcade port they are insanely difficult. Its a good thing that you can have unlimited quarters.

Conclusion
There are classics in the Neo Geo but most of them are just a forgotten relic in time. Out of 136 games I've only manage to finish or enjoyed around 20 of them. They are still releasing Neo Geo games for future system. In that sense this console will never die.


NES (30/787 games) 3.81% replayability
Master System (5/280 games) 1.79% replayability 
Gameboy (31/555 games) 5.59% replayability 
Genesis ( 776 games)
Neo Geo   (20/136 games) 14.71% replayability 
Game Gear  (10/257 games) 3.89% replayability 
SNES ( 784 games)

Game Gear

History 
This console was my first handheld console. I piratically begged my dad to buy me one for my birthday. The game that I got was a copy of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (the game was not that great by I've played until multiple times). After a while my dad got me a multicart 18 in 1 game with a lot of different great titles likes Sonic Chaos and Power Rangers. The Game Gear was an awesome console because of two things. Colour and back light. There is also a very slight problem with it. It eats a lot of batteries. 6 to be exact. I remember lugging around a case full of batteries for every time a battery would die. Eventually I got a wall adapter so I can continue playing my games without any trouble (need to put a rubber band on the console since the adapter wouldn't stay on properly). The console died after 1 year but it gave me a lot of great memories. This was also my last console that I own for a while since I am a kid with no income and my mom doesn't like me playing games.

The Games
There are all genre of games represented in the Game Gear. Most of them are ports of Genesis or Master System games. Most of the great games are not from Sega apparently.  A lot of sports games for the Game Gear which doesn't play well in my opinion

The Good 
The side scrolling action genre games play well in the here. Fighting games as well translate properly and controls are responsive. Some games are even better than their genesis ports.

The Bad
The small Game Gear screen makes seeing anything in front in close to impossible. You will die multiple times in sonic because of missing a jump. Some games are not fun to play at all due to the fact the controls are not all there

The Ugly
The crushing difficulty and where some games really butcher the source material. Spider-man for the Game Gear sucks.

Conclusion
The Game Gear Games does not age well. Only 10 games from a total of  257 games that survive the test of time. Well at least this system is put to rest and will go on in gaming history as the handheld that tried to beat the Game Boy


NES (30/787 games) 3.81% replayability
Master System (5/280 games) 1.79% replayability 
Gameboy (31/555 games) 5.59% replayability 
Genesis
Neo Geo   (136 games)
Game Gear  (10/257 games) 3.89% replayability 
SNES

Game Boy

History
Now we are going through my favorite type of gaming consoles. Handhelds.. We will start with the first of it kind. The Game Boy. My first encounter with the Game Boy was always around the holidays at my cousins house. He will have a copy of Super Mario Land and Aladdin. We need to bring our own batteries but it was possible to beat that game in a couple of hours. The Game Boy with its monochromatic green screen is a challenge to play with. The lighting needs to be just right to play it which means that I usually can't play during the night.

Games
For a console with only 4 shades of gray and two buttons there were a lot of games for this machine. Every genre that you can think off is here so there is a lot of variety.

The Good
All of Nintendo's  games are of top notch quality and are still good to play until now. Konami is a close 2nd with also great games. Console ports which lacks is graphic fidelity but still great in gameplay. Rare also makes good ports of their SNES games

The Bad
Console ports which lacks in processing power. Framerate gets a bit choppy at times which makes the gameplay sucks. Games that really doesn't make sense to do it on a monochrome screens. It looks to chaotic on the screen.

The Ugly
First person anything. Nothing works in first person due to the slow framerate. Some games are borderline unplayable... The hard ass difficulty where you need cat like reflexes to beat the game.

Conclusion
Only 31 games out of the 555 that I could still play. The Game Boy will always be one of my great 8-bit portables. It doesn't stand the test of time but the memories will be there forever.

NES (30/787 games) 3.81% replayability
Master System (5/280 games) 1.79% replayability 
Gameboy ( 31/555 games) 5.59% replayability 
Genesis
Neo Geo
Game Gear  ( 257 games)
SNES

Sega Master System

Another console bites the dust.

History

I've never owned a Master System. The only memory I have of this console is at my friends house where he/she only have one game for it (Alex Kidd). Other than that there is no memory about this console. I was quite excited in trying this new system. Boy.. I was wrong

The Games 
Like the NES, the Master System has the same array of games but this system does not age well

The Good 
The Master System is good for one type of game. And those games are platformers. There are some notable ones. Anything Disney made looks surprisingly top notch. With hand drawn pixel art animation for each frame which makes the game looks amazing. The Master System also has a higher clock speed for an 8-bit console. This means that games like Ninja Gaiden performs fluidly and the colors are also bright.

The Bad
Almost everything else. Since most of these games are ported from either a Game Gear or a Genesis. A lot of their port conversion will lose something in the process. As a result, games that run on 16-bit hardware looks choppy on the 8-bit system and does not play well. Other hardware limitation as well as button limitations makes controlling any characters cumbersome and difficult. One button is usually for jump and another button is for attack. Which makes me wonder, some games like RPG requires more than a 2 button input doesn't play that well.

The Ugly 
One hit kills. Bullet swarms at random. Sluggish game controls. Gaps that are longer than the jump mechanic. A very boring library. These games does not age well.

NES vs Master System
The NES has the better library while the Master System lacks a decent one = 1 point NES
Same games for both system runs faster on the Master system, looks better on the Master System but plays like crap on the Master System. The NES games are built with the hardware limitation and the gameplay was design around it. = 1 point NES
Mario, Donkey Kong, Zelda, Gi Joe for NES... and the Master System has Alex Kid, Sonic and Streets of Rage (these games doesn't stand the test of time) = 1 point NES

Overall the NES is a better 8-bit console

Conclusion
Tried 280 games but only a handful of them stand the test of time. This system is not missed by any and 95% of the games sucks. Now I am moving on to the longest handheld every built.. The Gameboy


NES (30/787 games) 3.81% replayability
Master System (5/280 games) 1.79% replayability 
Gameboy ( 555 games)
Genesis
Neo Geo
Game Gear
SNES

Nintendo Entertainment System

I finally did it. I finish the entire library of NES games. So I am going to give my ramblings about the NES.

History
This was the first console I got me into gaming. I remember I got this after my parents were separated. My dad sees his way of giving love is by buying expensive stuff. But I was not complaining. I remember that the version that I have was the Famicom version with the top cart slot. I had only one cart which was a 120 games in 1 where most of them were just modded versions of other games but there was one stand out which was Contra. I remember me and my brother can't wait to get back home from school to play 2 player co-op. Good times indeed. Eventually my Famicom system was busted (probably due to dust), and so my dad got me another off-brand "system". It was call the micro genius machine. It is just the NES with a better body and controllers. I think I had that console until I was around 10 where after that I stop playing with games for a while a mostly played PC games. But I will never forget the console that started it all

Games
The NES has wide array of library with a multitude of genre to choose form. The problem is I think the developers are idea can't translate well to the NES due to its hardware limitation.

The Good 
Some of the games does stand the test of time. Of course Mario being one of it. The key to any good game is balancing the difficulty and the speed of the game. Great games are tend to be faster than crappy games. They have a clear objective and usually the pixels are not all over the place. A good example of this is Gi JOE. They game is clearly fun and deep. The enemies are challenging but not to the borderline of insane. Games that work for the NES are side scrolling action platformers, top down shooters (which I get it during that time can't work, I myself find that genre boring). Other than that is quite tough.

The Bad
Some of the games have slow framerate which makes it hard to enjoy. While others have the ability to put you in a situation where you need to time precise movements to jump and dodge attacks. The game play is fun but it is extremely taxing on a player with only 2 lives. Besides that there are a vast majority of shooting clones. From top down to side scrolling, on the ground, the air and in space. I think that is an easy design choice of avoiding bullets.

The Ugly
Some games are clearly on meant to be on the NES. Among them are 3D adventure games. Due to the limited number of colours and pixels that can be displayed. You need to have a lot of patience to play a game that requires a lot of reading. I myself did not fancy any text based RPG. Games with one hit kills, and there are a lot of them. I can imagine way back in the past where a kid just a got a cool game only the end up dying in the first 2 minutes. Dying again and again.. And again. Which makes me wonder, do the developers who develop the game at least test their own product. I do understand that NES games are surprisingly short. So up ramping up the difficulty, it will make the play factor a little longer. Racing games also doesn't fare well. They are trying to do a 3D approach but, the NES doesn't have MODE 7 graphics so there is no depth in the tracks. Which makes racing a little more challenging.

Why?
Why most of the games comes with a timer?
Why is the difficulty ramp up to extreme?
Why most of the games involve you going from left to right?

Conclusion
There were 787 games on the NES that I've played but only 30 still stands the test of time. Which is not bad considering there were a lot of crappy games than good ones. Consider this is my last foray into the 8-bit machine. Thank you for everything and making me to who I am as a gamer today. Next on the list... Master System

NES (30/787 games) 3.81% replayability
Master System
Gameboy
Genesis
Neo Geo
Game Gear
SNES

Am I ready???

I am trying to do the impossible. I will play every video game in the history of videogames. Well anything that can be emulated by my PSP, PC, and Shield. So what does this mean for my new games releases and stuff. Well I still play them. This is a marathon not a sprint. So I guess we go as slow as possible.

Here are the list in order of consoles that I will try

Phase 1
NES
Master System
Gameboy
Genesis
Neo Geo
Game Gear
SNES

Phase 2
(coming later)

Phase 3
(if phase 2 is ever done)

There are a couple of caveats during this review. Since I am not going to play a game that is boring. The purpose of this experiment is not to finish all games in the list but more to see after 20 years does the games still hold up until today.

So here are the rules to make it on the board

1. Must be played for at least 30 mins to make a review. If the game can't hold me for 30 mins I can skip and move on to the next game. If not there will be a lot of unfinished games in the lot.

2. Minor Japanese text is acceptable.

3. Graphics won't be a factor since all of them have standard 2D sprites.

4. Review format will be reformatted.

5. After everything is done, a postmortem will be conducted.

Wish me luck