Not as active of a month as July, but did manage to achieve a few completions in September and had a lot of great gaming experiences during the course of the month.

Sonic Adventure DX - Sep 13
Mega Man 7 - Sep 17
Lego Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game - Sep 22
Metroid II: Return of Samus - Sep 26

After having waited to play the Adventure games for many years, finishing up Sonic Adventure DX was quite special for me and it was mostly a really great experience even though it was very stretched out. Quite fond of the world that is built up in Sonic Adventure and how everything connects with each other, though the overall story is very simple. Clearly mainly playing this for the gameplay as Sonic's campaign is absolutely fantastic overall and the gameplay that was great in the classic games was transferred amazingly to the third dimension. Other characters were a bit hit or miss, with me having a great time with Knuckles and Gamma, an okay time with Tails and not a great time with Amy or Big. The 100% experience took me over 30h and involved some really good parts like mastering all the stages, besides Big's which were frustrating, but also involved the tedium of the Chao Garden and the new additions in DX which just felt like padding. Found Sonic Adventure DX (with mods used to make it more like the Dreamcast original) inconsistent, but with the high highs means I'm likely to go back in the future. From the Blue Blur to the Blue Bomber and Mega Man 7 ended up being my favourite in the series so far. The visuals got a massive upgrade, the levels were fun to play with secrets to look out for, and gathering bolts to use in the shops was a great time. Happy that the series did evolve while also remaining what made Mega Man great. Been a bit since I played a Lego game and decided to continue my replays of them by going back to Lego Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game. It was a fun time re-experiencing it even though it is not my favourite game in the series partially due to limitations due to the property it's adapting, plus the Steam version constantly crashing did get on my nerves. Was a very 100% experience compared to most of them, which I did kinda appreciate and it was a good time streaming this just like the previous two games. Also decided to also finally clear out Metroid II: Return of Samus meaning I'm now closer to having cleared all the main Metroid games, with me liking this game more than I thought with me thinking the linearity made up for not having a map and liking the upgrades Samus gets compared to the first game. Still very simple, limited, repetive and Super ends up being a huge step forward later, but enjoyed Metroid II for what it was as a little Game Boy Metroid adventure.

For October my plan is to fully or almost fully focus on clearing out spooky or more Halloween theme games to fit the month, so planning on continuing with the Castlevania and Resident Evil series and clear out at least Castlevania II: Simon's Quest and Resident Evil Code: Veronica X, but hopefully I get to several games in those series. Other spooky games I am considering playing through are Nightmare Kart which looks like a fun Bloodborne-inspired kart racer which is also free, Little Nightmares II since I enjoyed the first one some years back, my first Telltale game I have played in many years in The Walking Dead: Season 1 and want to experience the original Luigi's Mansion with someone very important to me. Could be that I also end up playing something not included here or that I do not have time for everything, in that case there is always later or simply the next October.

Currently doing a 100% Playthrough of Lego Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game. I was swimming in water in area with sharks and then saved and exited the level, but instead of the result screen there were yellow numbers pointing down from 5 and after it reached 0 it went still so thought I had reset the game but then got brought into the void where I moved a bit and just instantly died and respawned back still in the void, and my only option was leaving the level without saving so did that so last all of my progress in Isla de Muerta where this happened

Ended up being very active in terms of gaming in the month of August, with this month being tied with the months of June and July in 2023 for the most. A ton of these were a long-time coming as well, with me either starting them a bit ago and finally finishing or getting to a game I have meant to get to for a while, with me having had mostly a good time this month.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles - Aug 2
Mario Party 3 - Aug 11
Punch-Out!! - Aug 11
Deltarune: Chapter 4 - Aug 18
Resident Evil 3 - Aug 24
Castlevania - Aug 25

Finishing the final of the classic Sonic games in the form of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles, with me doing the combined version because that’s how it is presented within Sonic Origins. This is my favourite Sonic game so far. I found this one absolutely fantastic, with great level designs, cool level transitions, amazing music and just the best playing of the classic quadrilogy. Getting everything was a struggle as Sonic, with having to replay the game several times, but by getting help with finding the Special Stage rings and getting good at the Special Stages felt very amazing. Playing as Knuckles was really fun and managed to do all of that very smoothly with him and was a great way of finishing this playthrough. Also finished the last of the Nintendo 64 Mario Party games after starting this one all the way back in January. Playing through all the different boards with friends was a very good time, with it being yet another fantastic entry after Mario Party 2 and many of the new additions are just great. The Story Mode was a bit of a slog to get through unfortunately with just playing all the boards with CPUs very much showing the luck based nature of these games, but after a good while I cleared it and could finish the final board with my friends. I was intending to get through Punch-Out!! in the Summer of 2020, but Mr. Dream (or Mike Tyson) felt like such an impossible roadblock that I had to stop. This time I decided I was finally gonna clear it, with getting through most of the game still being a struggle but it was doable and eventually reached Mr. Dream again. This is one of the hardest things I’ve done, but after fighting him for over 10h (yes it took that long to master for me) I finally took him down which I’m proud of. Unhappy with how long it took me to finish Deltarune: Chapter 4, but eventually did get to the second of the two new chapters and it was phenomenal with how it takes the story and introduces new gameplay elements and might be my new favourite chapter. It did take a bit longer because I had to do the regular route twice due to missing things my first time, and getting through the Weird Route but it was all well worth it and I am now highly anticipating the upcoming Chapter 5 in 2026. Resident Evil 3 I played after finishing Resident Evil 2 a few months ago and it is clear how much it has borrowed from it, mostly not in a positive way. It does improve the controls and Jill is very fun to play as, just was not fond of the structure of the game much and felt that the game peaked in the first few hours. Was also the shortest game of the franchise so far by only having one campaign, but overall I just wish this package was stronger because it was a bit of a letdown compared to the previous games. The final game I beat was another classic NES game and my first ever game by Konami, the original Castlevania and this was very difficult. I struggled quite a lot over the course of this playthrough, especially with some of the levels, but finally clearing them felt pretty good and learning the final Dracula fight was a good experience. This style of Castlevania probably is not quite for me, but I'm still looking forward to experiencing the future entries.

Probably will also end up getting through quite a few games next month. Playing the first 3D Sonic game with Sonic Adventure, which will be more of an investment to fully complete than the previous games but so excited to fully experience this that I am sure it’s going to be good in the end. Aside from that I’m replaying my next Lego game with Lego Pirates of the Caribbean which is not one of my favourite entries from my memory but a good time that I’m still nostalgic for. Finally also getting to Metroid II, the other classic Metroid game that should be an okay enough time and not take overly long to get through. Also planning on continuing to play games in franchises by getting to Resident Evil Code: Veronica, Mega Man 7 and Castlevania II. Probably will be playing quite a few games so could also reach a decent number of completions that month too.

Had quite a lot of free time last month which meant more time could be spent gaming and ended up getting through 5 games, could have been more if I didn't have to travel and therefore leave my PC for a little bit. Quite happy with the month overall, got through 4 games in five different franchises that I had already started before, plus played something I had greatly anticipated.

Deltarune: Chapter 3 - Jul 6
Mega Man 6 - Jul 12
Mario Kart 7 - Jul 18
Donkey Kong Jr. - Jul 23
Kirby's Adventure - Jul 27

The release of 3rd and 4th chapters of Deltarune were my most anticipated releases of the year, which I sadly could not get to on release because was very busy with other things but feel glad that I did at least play the one of the new chapters. It was predictably really excellent, with really great focus which focused on different gameplay styles (which I found worked great for this one chapter) and both the story contained with the chapter and how the moves the plot of Deltarune forward was very excellently done and enjoyed going through it twice to prepare for Chapter 4. Finally finished the final of the NES lineup of classic Mega Man games with my completion of Mega Man 6, which very well could be my favourite so far due to keeping the improvements from the previous games, featuring fantastic presentation and just having a lot of really fun levels and set pieces to experience. Mario Kart 7 was my main childhood Mario Kart game and going back to after not touching it for so long was really great and found it to be just fantastic with a great selection of tracks and generally really enjoyed the addition of the glider and underwater driving. Think I do prefer Wii but 7 is definitely one of the best Mario Kart packages out there, but I suspect I will enjoy 8 Deluxe even more when I dive into that fully eventually, alongside World which I need to get a Switch 2 to play obviously. Donkey Kong Jr. is now the 3rd shortest game I've registered her and just like the original Donkey Kong I found it to be quite a solid little time, especially for the time it released. The final game I cleared of the month was Kirby's Adventure on my journey to experience the entire Kirby series and this was definitely a huge improvement from the first game both in gameplay (copy ability introduced) and presentation (one of the prettiest NES games out there), but did not enjoy all of the levels but definitely came out liking this one. I also started Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles and got started on the story mode in Mario Party 3.

Aside from finishing Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles, I intend to get through quite a few different games next month. Getting to Deltarune: Chapter 4 has taken me way too long so playing that will for sure happen very soon, curious to see how it stacks up compared to the other chapters cause I have seen a variety of different chapter rankings. Will not be fully blind, but not overly upset about that. Additionally I need to get through the Mario Party 3 Story Mode, which I doubt will be enjoyable but needed to unlock the final board so experiencing that board should be a good time at least. The final game I for sure know I will end up playing is Resident Evil 3, continuing my path to getting through the series and curious how I'll feel considering the mixed opinions I have heard. Quite a few other games I could see myself starting as well if I find the time and motivation, such as Sonic Adventure and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, alongside some shorter games like Metroid II: Return of Samus and Kirby's Dream Land 2.

Did not spend much time on this website as of late, which resulted in me forgetting to do an update for June so will simply do one now one month late, intend to do these updates at the regular times again. Was very busy with uni during the month of June, but did manage to find some time to game at the end of the month so managed at least one completion.

Pokémon X & Y - Jun 27

Still in the process of replaying all of the mainline Pokémon games to add to this site, and after a break of almost a year I did manage to clear what was once my first ever Pokémon game for the 4th time. My experience with Pokémon X was quite special because it was my first time streaming my entire playthrough on Discord, which made the experience a lot more fun because I was interacting with others and it did result in this taking a bit longer, ended up being one of the longer Pokémon games for me. Got very attached to my team of 7 Pokémon and had a very fun revisit, even though I have issues with Pokémon X such as the low difficulty, weak characters and flawed story. Not done a full playthrough of Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire in a decade, so returning to those for my next Pokémon games should be a great time.

Rather difficult to speculate over the month of July since that month is almost over while I am writing this, but did indeed have a good idea what would play out during the month. Continuing with several franchises such as getting through Mario Kart 7, Mega Man 6 and at least starting up with Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles. The very anticipated new Deltarune chapters of course as well, though did indeed end up being a gap between playing through chapter 3 and 4. Also traveling abroad did result in me being limited to my Switch, affecting some ways I ended up playing. Was expecting a quite active month, and as the update in a few days will show, that did indeed pretty much happen.

Another very light month for me, but did manage to at least clear one game unlike in April, but mainly focused on other things that month.

Resident Evil 2 - May 6

I played the remake of the original Resident Evil last March and really liked so always intended to get to the second game, but took until last month for me to do so. Played the remake, likely will go back and play the OG sometime, which I feel like was a fine decision and I just really adored and got super absorbed by it. Has the fantastic metroidvania-like exploration of the original game while featuring the modern Resident Evil controls, which felt really good here and did wonders to help the feeling of exploration and the terrible atmosphere all around. Zombies felt like a real threat in this game, with them taking many bullets and you having to be constantly wary of them. Game is also in general just really scary with you feeling the threat around every corner, especially when you end up being hunted by the terrifying Mr. X and constantly have to look out for his footsteps and in general fear running into him. Started out doing Leon's campaign and then did the 2nd Campaign as Claire, with me very much enjoying both and feeling like they did things differently enough to still make the second playthrough interesting in terms of gameplay. Story worked for me as well with many likeable characters and others who had interesting things to them. My time felt very well-spent on the two campaigns and this game is one I very much rank highly, makes me even more sold on the rest of the series. Will likely return to this one later too in order to experience the side-modes, which I did not touch and also master the campaigns further.

June is gonna be another busy month for me and obviously a ton of people will be enjoying the Switch 2, something I'm not getting until a bit later cause I have other priorities and other games to play. Planning on returning to 3DS game with a revisit to Pokémon X & Y and then also highlt anticipated playing through the new Deltarune chapters, which I will also do after everybody else. Very likely that I'll touch some other smaller titles, like Mega Man 6 for example.

Nothing for me this month, which was actually the case in 2024 as well. That month last year played Tears of the Kingdom a lot however, just did not 100% complete it until early May so it ended up being the only month of 2024 where I didn't beat anything, which could become the case this year as well and obviously I failed to get at least one completion of every month of 2025 (maybe 2026 will be my year, who knows).

This month I spent playing more Mario Party 3 with friends, with me only having to go through the story mode and play the final board that is unlocked then for me to feel done with the game. Remarkably I also started playing Resident Evil 2, which I only ended up playing once during the month of April, but I'm very much looking forward to continuing with it and making it my remarkable 150th Completion. Also then going to revisit Pokémon X & Y, the first Pokémon games I played, and make them my 151st Completion on this site cause that just feels correct. Have a lot of other things planned for the month of May, but hoping to get at least Resident Evil 2 and Pokémon X & Y done before the new Deltarune chapters releases in early June.

I'm nominating Banjo Tooie.

During the month of March I started and finished by clearing two classic shorter platformers, with two beefier games between them.

Sonic CD - Mar 2
Demon's Souls - Mar 12
Mario Kart Wii - Mar 15
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins - Mar 31

In my continued journey to finish all the classic Sonic games, with the later 3D games as the big payoff hopefully, I got through Sonic CD and it was interesting. Very much classic Sonic with a ton of extra elements added, with the time travel aspects being a major focus. There was some fun in going through the past and looking for the robot transporters, but it did end up being somewhat tedious and a pace breaker from the regular Sonic gameplay. Went for all the Time Stones so also was a bit pointless anyway, but I did overall enjoy my time with Sonic CD though not to the extent of Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

The big one for me this month was Demon's Souls, which I finally tackle now after having cleared every game in the Dark Souls trilogy which made this experience interesting. It was very interesting to see how the series started and how everything that signifies the later games in the series got started here. The beginning of the game was the most challenging, which is interesting because the very beginning was not because of my sheer amount of experience but trying on optional challenges and struggling while trying to form my build was memorable. Aside from that I mostly breezed through the game, with it taking by far the least amount of time on my first playthrough out of any game in the series. Really amazing how you can tackle the areas out of order, but it also lead to quite a bit of unbalance due to the way I decided to personally progress through the game. Bosses were generally not much trouble either, though some of them definitely still showed the significant of the later games in the series. Though it does not match the amazing later games in the series, I still have to praise Demon's Souls how it set a great foundation and it was a blast to experience it.

Mario Kart Wii I had played before at a friend's house, but despite it being one of the biggest games in the series I had never really gotten the chance to substantially dive into it until this month. Just having started it was clear how much of an improvement this was from the earlier games, controlling it feels great and the addition of the tricks just made the game so much more fun. Also saw by far the best roster of tracks and characters in the Mario Kart series at that point. With me enjoying the game to such a high extent, I decided to pretty much 100% the game (not quite because 3-Stars on all cups did not seem doable at all) which was a really fun time. The item balancing was however terrible and this game's one big drawback, but aside from that it was a really fun experience that I got quite addicted to while I was in the period of playing it.

A year after I decided to put in the effort to get through the remaining classic 2D Mario games, I finally finished the final one (Yoshi's Island is a Yoshi game) and it's an underrated one at that. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins is a really solid Mario platformer with many unique and interesting level themes, enemy designs, bosses and has many other interesting things going for it such as the coin mechanics and the openness of the game. I very much recommend it if you overlooked this one, it's a big improvement from the first Super Mario Land.

For April I've encounter a bit of a dilemma, the next game I cleared will be the 150th since I started archiving the games I clear through this site and I want to celebrate with something particular. 50th game was The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and 100th game was Mother 3, so I'd love to do something grand to match those two but feel like there is nothing obvious and I don't really don't want to spend too much time of an individual game within so little time that I don't beat anything else in between. I'm currently thinking that Resident Evil 2 (2019) is the best fit, but any other ideas I would appreciate (don't want to buy any new games for this though haha). Aside from that, I know that I will be finishing Mario Party 3 and will most likely also get to play Mega Man 6. Could also be the month where I finally clear the Spider-Man DLC and maybe I will finally return to finish of Banjo-Tooie, we'll have to see.

Only ever played through each of the Metroid games I've cleared one time and believe I need to revisit them to know how they stack up, but I can say that Zero Mission is a fantastic game even though I didn't quite like it as much as Super Metroid. Having recently visited Metroid on the NES, it strikes me even more how fantastic of a remake this was. They remade all the elements of this game and introduced movements from the later titles, with this game feeling amazing to control. Aside from that it obviously has the elements with Zero Suit Samus which changes gameplay in an interesting way and also develops Samus as a character. My first game was Super Metroid, but I think this game would be a fantastic place to start as a remake of the first game that represents a lot of the best elements of the franchise.

February ended up being very one-sided in terms of games I played, with one huge investment of a replay that was already started at the end of January being cleared alongside two short games I finished for the first time.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix - Feb 18
Super Mario Bros. 2 - Feb 21
Mega Man 5 - Feb 22

After having planning to do so ever since I got the Platinum Trophy of Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories in the middle of 2023, I finally returned to Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep to get the Platinum Trophy. I enjoyed the game my first time through in 2019 and I had a good time revisiting this as well for the most part, aside from the quite tedious experience of completing everything with every character. Though Aqua took more than 10h shorter than Terra, meaning I got more efficient on accomplishing everything as I went along. Completing the list of the commands was very grindy, but also quite satisfying and I had a nice time doing all the combat objectives too generally. Terra was definitely quite rough, especially against the superbosses, but I managed everything on Critical Mode without overleveling which was a success even though it required abusing many of the broken mechanics. The minigames were the worst part, but even that was not super bad just quite a time investment. Ended up being one of the longest games I've cleared, as well as the longest PS4 game, but it was worth it in the end.

Alongside that I also finished two NES games, Super Mario Bros. 2 and Mega Man 5. Super Mario Bros. 2 was something that I had tried to play in the past but failed, so it was cool to finally clear it. I mostly had a decent time with it, but it was not consistently enjoyable and the life system felt extra punishing here, glad about the warps. Definitely a different Mario experience and I gained to respect this game more than previously, though not my Mario game of choice. Mega Man 5 was very similar to Mega Man 4, meaning I enjoyed it quite a bit. Very fun level design and keeping the improvements from Mega Man 4, mainly the charge shot, makes this a contender for my favourite one so far.

In March, I'll be playing Demon's Souls which I've awaited years to do (even though I can't do it legitimately because I do not have a PS3), plus I'm planning on playing Sonic CD and might go back and try and play more Banjo-Tooie. Ended up not playing any Mario Party 3 in February, so could potentially happen that I will enjoy that some this month instead.

I'm nominating Kingdom Hearts.

One of my favourite games ever, Bloodborne is just an incredible masterpiece and there is so much to appreciate. The combat is amazing, taking Dark Souls combat but focusing on aggressive play makes the fights really fast-paced and fun. Weapon variety is incredible, so many different play styles are offered so there is stuff for everyone, with me personally gravitated towards Ludwig's Holy Blade and Rakuyo. The bosses are often astonishing and a real spectacle, the highlight which is commonplace in FromSoftware games. Area design is really good too, with great environments, fun enemy encounters, cool shortcuts and a world that is mostly directly interconnected. The aesthetics of the game are amazing, the Lovecraft inspired elements shrine really bright. Very easily ignored by most players, but the lore and story is additionally fascinating with many great NPC quests and events that are simply amazing. The DLC called The Old Hunters makes this amazing game even better, offering what is in my opinion the best areas and bosses in the entire game. One of the best DLC I've ever experienced and should always be included on every Bloodborne playthrough. My only real issue is that I wish there was more of it, which kinda shows how much I adore it. The Chalice Dungeons offer a bunch of additional content and can offer infinite replayability with the randomized Root Chalices, but I don't find the Chalice Dungeons nearly as compelling as the rest of the game and would have personally preferred if its unique boss encounters were added to the rest of the game with new areas, cause I would personally have preferred that. Really hope Sony gives this game some love soon, I don't mind playing it in 30 fps, but a 60 fps port on PS5 and PC seems like a no brainer. A sequel with more expansive content is probably one of the games I want the most, but if it never happens at least the original Bloodborne still managed to be game of masterclass.

Did not play as many games as I thought I would this month, mostly because I became ill and also was busy with university but still definitely spent some time with games. Managed two completions, one replay and one game that had wanted to play for years. So 2025 started out rather chill, in contrast to 2024 where I played a ton of stuff.

Super Meat Boy - Jan 13
Rayman Origins - Jan 18

I started 2025 with going back to a game I had cleared on my Switch before I started tracking my playthroughs on this site, Super Meat Boy. Brutally difficult but very well designed platformer that I spent almost 20h on this newest playthrough. Most of that was spent with listening to things in the background, which I recommend if you would otherwise get too frustrated playing it. Decided to get A+ on all levels (including Dark Worlds) that was unlocked before the final boss, but then decided to stop because didn't feel motivated to touch the extra world or to get all the bandages for the time being. Later I finally finished the game I started over two months prior, Rayman Origins. Rayman Legends is one of my favourite games ever so I naturally always had intended to experience Origins too. besides what was already included in Legends. Its sequel definitely improves on the formula and I think it the level design and structure of the game is generally more interesting, but Rayman Origins is also a fantastic 2D platformer. Ended up getting 100% in the game, which PSN Profiles made me think would be a daunting challenge with its 8/10 difficulty ranking, but I didn't really struggle too much even with the time challenges and final level, though I played on Steam so no Platinum Trophy for me. Just a really good time in general and glad to have finally experienced it fully after all this time. I also started the process of getting the Platinum Trophy in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep and has so far cleared the Main Story of Terra's campaign and most of Ventus' story, clearing everything 100% will be a struggle but I feel I will conquer the challenge. So February will be mainly focused on finishing Birth by Sleep, but I also started playing Mario Party 3 with friends which potentially could be finished in February or could take longer we have to see.

Also, Mario Kart 9 is real!! Doesn't have to be called Mario Kart 9 since Mario Kart have had inconsistent naming schemes but it totally is a new game. Track is completely new, seems to be called Mario Bros. Circuit, and the art style is completely different. Reminds me a little of Super Mario Bros. Wonder based on this first look and I think it seems like an interesting new direction.

Daily Challenge - 2025-01-11
Score: 189 / 300
🟧🟧🟧 🟩 = 36 | Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun
🟪🟪🟪 🟪 = 100 | Eliza
🟩🟩🟧 🟩 = 53 | The Dark Pictures: The Devil in Me

Only sharing this cause I somehow got a perfect from a complete guess of a game I don't know anything about, I don't use the hint system. Unfortunately a poor showing overall cause also did not know the other two but still cool.

I already made a collection (which is featured on my profile at the moment) of my 10 favourite games that I experienced in 2024, but that one included Hearts of Iron IV which I played in multiplayer and very much not completed. These are my 10 favourite games that I first cleared in 2024, with limiting it to one game per franchise to avoid unnecessary repetition.

10. Mega Man 2 - 6h 6m
This is additionally basically shared with Mega Man 4, since those two were the games I enjoyed the most out of the 4 first Mega Man games that I managed to clear this year. Mega Man 4 has the advantage of the different Rush devices, the dash and the charged shot, but I found that Mega Man 2 might have been more consistent in terms of level design. The game is indeed easily broken by the Metal Blade, but you can simply decide to not use it if you want to give yourself a tougher challenge. Mega Man 2 is in general just a classic, it's a beloved retro platformer for a reason and it still defines the series in many ways.

9. Untitled Goose Game - 3h 26m
A late December surprise was to finally be able to play this game through my cousin's PlayStation 5. Just as fun as imagined it being from the footage I had seen, very fun to interact as the annoying goose and figure out how to go about achieving the different missions you are awarded with. Really wish I could have played this on my own system and gone for the Platinum Trophy.

8. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - 8h 15m
Another absolute classic, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 improves massively on its predecessor by introducing the spin dash and simply having the consistently good level design that the first game was lacking. No levels that completely kill the pacing of the game, all the levels in the game features the ability to move fast which is simply what Sonic fits best, but obviously I still prefer some levels to others. I did not really enjoy what I felt was the punishing special stages of Sonic 1, so the halfpipes were a huge improvement to me. I struggled initially, but they were quite fun once I got good at it, though I do wish they awarded extra life cause that became an issue unlike in the first game. Very much think I will end up being a Sonic fan after I have experienced more games, hoping to go through some, if not all, of CD, 3 & Knuckles, Adventure and Adventure 2 in 2025.

7. Mario Kart DS - 17h 58m
The Mario Kart game I was always aware of but never had the chance to really play, until this year where I got quite into it. This is the oldest Mario Kart game that I felt controlled really to my liking, though Double Dash!! wasn't bad by any means. I just adapted to this game faster than the previous 4 and started having fun on the tracks. Speaking of the tracks, the new ones were most excellent with standouts like Waluigi Pinball, Tick-Tock Clock and Airship Fortress. Very cool that this game brought Retro Tracks into the series, though they did leave a lot to be desired here unfortunately. Mission Mode is still fully unique to DS and going through that for the first time was really cool, that's why my playtime is so high because I spent many hours trying to get 3 stars on the different missions. A lot of variety in terms of them, even including some bosses, so that gives DS a lot of value that makes it unique from the entries before and after it.

6. Mario Party 2 - 10h 13m
Another Mario spinoff series that I got really into in 2024, with Mario Party especially being one I had not played very much of. Had a ton of fun playing through the first two titles with friends. Mario Party 1 was quite rough however, with boards that were pretty universally not very good and a mixed selection of minigames which included the terrible stick-rotating ones. The sequel sorted most of that out and made it a much more fun experience, better boards, better minigames and items made this a very fun multiplayer experience with friends. Was also great that it was possible to unlock the final board, therefore clearing the game, without having to grind with CPUs for hours unlike the first game.

5. Banjo-Kazooie 27h 15m
The most iconic of Rare platformers and it was indeed as charming and enjoyable as I expected. I had already played Yooka-Laylee before playing this, a game that I found lacking and it is clear that the game that inspired it definitely handled things much better. Gruntilda's Lair is a fantastic hub that hosts 10 levels that were generally very well designed with great objectives to obtain the different Jiggies. A lot of my long completion time was spent looking for some particular hidden ones, some which I had to google I admit, and struggling with the music note collecting which was a fairly mixed bag to me. The characters inhabiting the world are obviously very charming and memorable, with the main duo being a fantastic one. This game I actually already replayed the month I beat it, due to me wanting to get a chance to obtain the missable Mumbo Token that I missed on my first playthrough and I did in general have a fantastic time going through it again and will definitely do another playthrough in the future.

4. Resident Evil (2002) - 24h 10m
My first ever venture in the survival horror genre ended up being a game I really ended up liking. Resident Evil is obviously very much horror, but it equally combines level design similar to a metroidvania, general exploration and puzzles to figure out how to progress and I was mostly very into those things. The survival horror elements of dealing with zombies and gathering resources is also something that this game handled very well, another game I would love to go back to in order to improve on my performance. One reason for this is the remaster making "Easy" come across as the "Normal" difficulty when starting so I played it on a easier difficulty than I wish I had, though I am sure it did not affect much and I will also go back and play it on harder difficulties. Learning about the secrets of the mansion throughout the game was also very intriguing, with the 2002 version being more serious but still very much being goofy especially at the very end. This game hooked me on the formula and I am really looking forward to playing the later games.

3. Paper Mario - 39h 37m
I already wrote quite substantially about this game on the game's "Game of the Month" page so I will simply summarise the game as being an excellent Mario RPG with a charming world, great cast of characters and very enjoyable battle mechanics. Was very much a game for me and I enjoyed what the game had behind the corner every step of the journey.

2. Dark Souls III - 47h 56m
Quite surprising in hindsight that I took such a long break from playing the Souls games, I achieved the Dark Souls Remastered platinum in late 2020 and for some reason decided to not play any Souls title again until 2024. Replayed all the previous Souls games, excluding Demon's Souls but including Bloodborne, which included getting the Platinum Trophy in Dark Souls II so I was very much ready to dive into Dark Souls III and I obviously enjoyed it. Definitely would describe the game as a combination of Bloodborne and the previous Dark Souls titles, which mixes really well and Dark Souls III managed to deliver amazing new areas and bosses, the latter being the big highlight of the game for me. Did feel a bit derivative of the previous games, but that really is not a big issue and Dark Souls III ended up being a game I loved even though I believe I prefer both the first Dark Souls and Bloodborne to it. Did a brand new playthrough and managed to achieve the Platinum Trophy just a month after first beating it in July and is looking forward to finally experiencing the remaining Fromsoftare titles.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - 358h 21m
Considering the amount of hours I spent on this game, I would have been odd for it to not be on the top spot I felt. But yeah, completing this was a massive journey that dominated several months of my life and I can't say that I really regret that. I finally replayed Breath of the Wild last year and got 100% in it and felt that I really did fall in love with it, the new Zelda formula really did end up clicking with me (even though I might still be partial to the old one). Tears of the Kingdom very much is just expanding on that even more, with the same overworld filled with even more to do alongside Sky Islands and the Depths which meaned to so much more to explore and find. The new abilities you received were so creative too, had a ton of fun with them even though I didn't even do 1% of what a lot of people I have seen accomplished with them. Many people have mixed feelings on the story, which I am included in some ways, but it did primarily land for me and the ending was one of the most amazing ones I have experienced in a Zelda game which lead to a real emotion gutpunch. Collecting everything was a huge journey, obviously filling up the map was a massive part of that but upgrading clothes, taking pictures and clearing all the side quests also played huge parts. The dungeons also felt like a step forward compared to Breath of the Wild, the events leading to them were really great and solving them were mostly fun too. In the end, I am just very satisfied that I managed to achieve 100% Tears of the Kingdom cause that is by far the craziest achievment in terms of investment I have ever put in a game. Not something I want to repeat anytime soon, but I am happy I did it and was able to just be completely absorbed into this fantastic game.

The first comment on the thread is the official one, it's constantly updated by Finnedorb, everything appears to be correct there!

Okay, thank you TheDeadQuacker cause had completely missed that it was constantly updated, but also cool of Finnedorb to just share it again.

Can you put the whole list as one comment to make it extra clear on which challenges are included?

First time submitting something for this, it winning was a nice surprise. Had not touched any Mario RPGs before 2024 and thought that Paper Mario as a series could potentially interest me more than Mario & Luigi which caused me to try out the original Paper Mario, which I'm so glad that I did. This game just oozes with charm all around, both in terms of the scenarios you get into as a part of the main story to just randomly talking to NPCs, there is something new and lovely around the corner. Battle system is very satisfying too, leveling obviously plays a part but equipping the correct badges and mastering and executing the Action Commands makes every individual battle interesting. You also have a wide range of partners to make use of, both for the overworld and the battles. Definitely some I gravitated more towards than others, but they all have their use even aside from the mandatory usage in the overworld. Loved the structure too, dividing it into clearly distinct chapters allows for a variety of unique settings and experiences to be present in each one which ensures things get mixed up constantly. The short Peach section between each chapter are also really great, but in the way that they additionally explore Peach and the antagonists but also because it gives a short break after you have finished off a difficult fight before you have to head off into the next chapter.

I have somewhat gotten the impression that this game is somewhat overlooked compared to the Thousand Year Door, which I feel is more discussed even besides the recent remake, and that mostly makes me just even more excited to play it and see if it really is much better consider how incredible the first game really is. Also very much looking forward to giving the other games a shot, particularly Super Paper Mario, and also the other RPGs Super Mario RPG and Mario & Luigi. Paper Mario though is definitely worth playing, even if you have experience with other Mario RPGs I'm sure you will also get a ton out of this game.

I played more games than ever in 2024, I cleared a total of 36 games and that excluded some games I played with friends alongside replays of games I had already registered here. Notably, I cleared everything in Cuphead, got 100% in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Link's Awakening and I finally played the N64 versions of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. All of those I had a fantastic time with, but games that I played for the first time and the 4 games that I replayed but registered on HowLongToBeat for the first time (my data only goes back to 2019) were the following 36 titles:

01. EarthBound Beginnings - Jan 4
02. Banjo-Kazooie - Jan 14
03. Mario Kart 64 - Jan 14
04. Kirby's Dream Land - Jan 15
05. Pokémon Snap - Jan 17
06. Grim Fandango - Feb 19
07. Mario Party - Feb 21
08. Rayman Legends - Feb 24
09. Celeste 64: Fragments of the Mountain - Feb 25
10. Super Mario Bros. - Mar 3
11. Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver - Mar 5
12. Resident Evil - Mar 10
13. Mega Man - Mar 17
14. Pokémon Black & White - Mar 30
15. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - May 9
16. Psychonauts - Jun 5
17. Mario Kart: Super Circuit - Jun 6
18. Mega Man 2 - Jun 8
19. Mario Party 2 - Jun 10
20. Sonic the Hedgehog - Jun 22
21. Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars - Jul 8
22. Dark Souls III - Jul 21
23. Pokémon Black 2 & White 2 - Aug 27
24. Mario Kart: Double Dash!! - Sep 2
25. Golden Axe - Sep 7
26. Super Mario Bros. 3 - Sep 7
27. Mega Man 3 - Sep 16
28. Metroid - Sep 21
29. Paper Mario - Oct 1
30. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - Oct 15
31. Mario Kart DS - Oct 19
32. Mega Man 4 - Oct 22
33. Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels - Oct 22
34. Shovel Knight Showdown - Nov 29
35. Untitled Goose Game - Dec 26
36. Super Mario Land - Dec 31

Unsure if I'll ever have a year so dominated by retro titles again, but very glad that I got the chance to play through so many classics this year. Definitely still so many older titles still to be experienced, but I think I am likely to play more recent games since only 4 games released within the last 7 years. Many games were also very short this year, only one game took over 50h, can definitely see there be more of those in 2025 as well. Also intend to play more on the PlayStation 4 next year (still don't have a PlayStation 5, sorry), but Switch and PC will be used constantly as well. Another cool thing is that I managed to clear something almost every month, but missed out on April. 2025 might be the year where I clear something every month who knows.

I had quite a bit going on in December, which meant quite a bit of time spent on other stuff and less time spent on video games. I did however manage to get two completions this month, so one up compared to November at least.

Untitled Goose Game - Dec 26
Super Mario Land - Dec 31

Untitled Goose Game was one of those games that I really wanted to play but never went out of my way to buy, so seeing that I had some time with my cousin's PS5 I thought that I could playthrough it and I enjoyed it quite I bit like expected. Very simple premise that the game gets a lot out of, very enjoyable scenarios in this game and it's fun to figure out what to do and then execute it. Very much a game I could see myself playing through again since that Platinum Trophy seems very much within reach, but once again a game I didn't own and only had the time to simply finish. Then earlier today I picked up Super Mario Bros. 2 again, but I realised again why I put it down and I simply didn't have a good time with it so I dropped it, meaning it will remain the only unfinished game out of the NES mainline Mario titles. I simple moved on to Super Mario Land instead and that was a fun little time, took over two hours still because of you having to restart when getting a Game Over but since the game is short it wasn't a huge issue and I enjoyed that. A lot of time this month was spent with Rayman Origins, so that should hopefully be cleared sometime in January. Main game I'm planning to play is Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep and I really want to achieve that platinum, which should be a journey. A chance that I don't pick it up and I focus more on smaller games again, but hoping to finally get to replaying it next month.

I didn't discover this challenge until substantially later so I was unable to take part, I did however fit the games I cleared into these categories so I could show how I did somewhat. Also obviously could only use a game once, even though some games fit into multiple categories.

01. A new game (released within the past year) – Celeste 64: Fragments of the Mountain
02. An old game (released 10+ years ago) – Pokémon Black & White
03. A really old game (released 20+ years ago) – Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
04. An ancient game (released 30+ years ago) – Mega Man 3
05. A time sink (50+ hours) – The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
06. A quick completion (less than an hour) – Shovel Knight Showdown
07. A game you got for free – Psychonauts
08. A game you've been wishing and waiting for – Dark Souls III
09-1. A remake or remaster of a game – Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver
09-2. A game that received new translations after release – EarthBound Beginnings
10. A game with 6+ endings – Resident Evil
12. A game recommended to you by someone else – Grim Fandango
14-1. A game with an alliterative title – Mega Man
14-2. A game whose title contains the name of a color –Pokémon Black 2 & White 2
16. A game from a genre you don't usually play – Untitled Goose Game
21. A game with a female protagonist - Metroid
22. A game without any humans – Rayman Legends
23. A game where you play as a robot or an alien – Mega Man 2
25-1. A game set in a world you would like living in – Mario Party 2
25-2. A game whose protagonist you'd want to be friends with - Sonic the Hedgehog
28. A game you watched someone else play first – Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars
31. A cornerstone to gaming culture – Sonic the Hedgehog 2
32. A game that starts with the same letter as in your username – Mario Party
33-1. A “threequel” (third part of a series) – Super Mario Bros. 3
33-2. A spin-off game – Mario Kart DS
34. A bright and cheerful game – Pokémon Snap
38. A game with a subtitle – Mario Kart: Super Circuit
39. A game that surprised you - EarthBound Beginnings
44-1. A game you previously retired or put on hold – Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels
46-1. A studio's very first game - EarthBound Beginnings

2024 was heavily retro for me, most games I played released over 20 years ago. Missed out on a ton of classic games due to my age so taking steps to catch up on interesting games I have missed. 2025 will definitely see some continuation of that, mostly in the form of franchises I started playing games from in 2024 that I’ve not finished all the games of. Examples of those are: Sonic the Hedgehog, Mega Man, Classic 2D Mario, Banjo-Tooie (maybe could be done before end of 2024 but doubt it), Metroid II: Return of Samus, Kirby’s Adventure and some others.

Additionally I’d also like to play more entries of series I played one game of and would like to continuing playing, meaning playing more games from the Resident Evil series and finally get to Mass Effect 2 which I have really delayed starting.

A huge project I’m looking to start the beginning of 2025 is something I have also delayed which is replaying Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep and getting the Platinum Trophy, which will be a huge investment but I did have a good time my first time so I hope I’ll manage despite stuff I have heard.

I played a bunch of Mario Kart games in 2024, none of which I had really experienced more. The remaining games I have either some or a lot of experience with, so looking forward to revisiting the remaining 3 games. Also gonna continue playing more of the LEGO games, since those games I’ve been attached to since childhood and I’ve had a great time revisiting them and looking forward to reaching the games that I really haven’t experienced at all. I’m also likely gonna try and 100% The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages & Seasons since I’m on the quest to 100% all the 2D Zelda games after already done so with the 3D ones. The process for those two games seems overwhelming but I’m sure I’ll figure things out. Also looking forward to eventually checking out Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Demon’s Souls after enjoying many other Fromsoft games, but unsure when that will be.

So most of the games I have my eyes on playing are connected to previous games I’ve already cleared, but I’m sure I’m going to experience some stuff that I wouldn’t have expected. Examples of games I could see myself playing in 2025 are Castlevania (which would likely lead to be playing the later games shortly after), Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order, Cave Story, Yume Nikki, Golden Sun and others. I doubt I will end up playing a ton of 2025 releases, but will totally play through Deltarune Chapter 3 & 4 and definitely a chance I will play Pokémon Legends: Z-A (thought I haven't gotten the latest Pokémon games at launch in contrast to earlier ones). Definitely excited for the next Switch, but not something I will get during 2025 I'm pretty sure.

Hopefully by the end of 2025 and can look back and see that I did indeed experience many of these games, alongside others that I couldn’t predict.

Have not participated in this before but I think I want to join, going to nominate one of my favourite games I first played this year: Paper Mario