My thoughts on The Game Awards 2025 nomination

Hello everyone I'm XboxClown89, I know I previously covered Golden Joystick Awards 2025 in a few entries. However there's some rather interesting nominees I gotta talk about. I may reveal some of my votes as well. I will say this it's better than last year's nominations in a few awards. Yes I watched the short announcement live stream.

Now I don't plan to cover every award they're doing. I will directly discuss a few of them in more details. An handful I'll only mention because of well interesting choices. The voting begin a few hours ago. This will take place on December 11th. Golden Joystick Awards 2025 is this Thursday. A day before my birthday funny enough.

Last year it literately was my birthday. This won't be full rant but as soon as I say a few games. You may know what's about to show up lol. I do have a major issue with lag that made voting for every single award felt like an eternity!!! Especially when voting for Golden Joytstick Awards was much faster in comparison.

A brief mention Expedition 33 alone had three voice actors nominated for Best Performance. Which makes up half the total nominations for that award. Best Mobile Game award nominated Sonic Rumble!!! I still haven't tried the Steam version. Very quickly I heard bad stuff about this Sonic game. The one award that stands out from the rest in a huge way.

Best Fighting Game easily the biggest wtf happened? 2XKO is an Early Access fighting game not on Steam. It's not even fully out yet supposedly coming out this year. This bags a lot of questions why nominate an fighting game not even released? This isn't the case of Best Early Access Game award from Golden Joystick Awards either.

Two of the nominees are fighting compilation games. Capcom Fighting Collection 2 and Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection respectively. Last year, Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics nominated for the same award. Which ultimately went to Tekken 8. I knew it would win yet I wanted to support the return of such an iconic crossover fighting game franchise.

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is in the process of getting fixed up by Digital Eclipse. I'm even amazed the collection gotten nominated at all. It kinda felt like they didn't know enough fighting games. They figured to allow that in to make things easier for em. In truth, I bet the fighting community isn't happy about this.

My actual vote if you haven't already guessed by now is Capcom Fighting Collection 2. Sure I may not been as hyped as the previous entries. I still really wanna play this collection soon. Even Capcom Fighting Evolution, most of the lineup is very solid. More than enough fan service thrown in with no paid DLCs at all.

Innovation In Accessibility award nominated Assassin's Creed Shadows. Up to a point, I mostly kept hearing not great stuff about the game. At one point I was excited to possibly considered giving it a try. Then all of that quickly went out the window fast. It's mind blowing they nominated an Assassin's Creed game this hated for such an award.

For me, among the easiest votes I casted. Doom: The Dark Ages I instantly knew that's getting my vote. Best Adaptation left out Sonic 3 movie. I am not sure if I heard of Splinter Cell: Deathwatch before. Same with Until Dawn but I heard of their video game franchises. I ended up going with A Minecraft Movie.

I haven't even seen the newer Devil May Cry show yet. I'm sure parts of it I'm going to enjoy. Of course, The Last of Us show gets nominated again. I know this rant is more towards Fangoria Chainsaw Awards. The same show two years in a row won Best Series award there. Thankfully it won't get nominated next year for the same award.

I predicted Stranger Things going to win that following Best Series award. I'm not crazy about Minecraft it's alright. I do like Jack Black to a degree. It's such an out there concept for a movie. A game that allows you to creative stuff on the fly turned into a comedy movie. Honestly, it's such a bizarre concept that people ended up loving a lot.

Game of the Year award I felt is mostly better than last year's. I confessed majority of my votes went for Hades II. Which already gotten added to my long list of games. Most Anticipated Game is virtually Golden Joystick Awards' Most Wanted Game award in a nut shell. Just like there, my top choice hands down was Resident Evil Requiem.

An handful of awards I just didn't care for. I actually felt majority of them were well selected. It's just one of those things you wish a game or two could've gotten in. I don't know it's because Stuttering Craig's The Real Game Awards lit a fire for them to do better this year or not. What I do know is I'm mostly interested in Best Fighting Game award.

I'm predicting Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. World Stage getting the second most votes. Just a little above MK: Legacy Kollection. I kinda felt bad for 2XKO in this weird situation. By default going to get the fewest votes going by logic alone. Let's be honest, Power Stone series and Capcom vs. SNK series within Capcom Fighting Collection 2 too much for em.

Not only that, unlike the previous entries offers 2D and 3D fighting games. This by itself helps the collection stand out in a huge way. You really get your money's worth with this fighting compilation series. Simply packs enough punch to make the rest of em run away. Like Chuck Norris about to do the Roundhouse Kick you run!!!

In fact, I do believe Capcom Fighting Collection 2 possibly going to win that award. The collection offers an insane amount of content without paid DLCs. It's virtually fan service at it's finest especially if you love fighting games. I may be going out on a limb but that's my prediction. Game of the Year award I strongly felt going to be between three games.

Hades II, Hollow Knight: Silksong and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 respectively. Half of the nominations that's indie video games. A new record was broken following the announcement. I'm personally excited to see this happened. Beyond this point I have nothing else to say. The rest of the nominations I'm fine with.

Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor (2025) review

Hello everyone I'm XboxClown89, today I'll be reviewing another game I originally played off of Game Pass. I really gotten into playing the hell out of this game!!! Prior to getting released on Xbox as Day 1 game for Game Pass. It used to be an Early Access game. I will be reviewing Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor.

Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor (2025)

If you played games like Vampires Survivors, Brotato or Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood. Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor plays like those. However there's a major twist that helped it stand out from those. You play as dwarves breaking up rocks while fighting off alien insects. Not only that, it's actually done in fully 3D.

Majority of that style games is done in 2D that appears smaller. Basically this game looks absolutely massive even for any 1st map of a run you're doing. You get several objectives you could do. Like activating stations or kill off boss creatures in the final level of each set. Like most of those games you can randomly gain access to many weapons or abilities that could make or break runs.

Like Vampire Survivors, you also can get permanent upgrades. Although you can reset those upgrades for a different experience. You maintain every currencies in the process which is kinda awesome. Many types of rocks acts as currencies in this game. You also can get upgraded stuff your dwarves could use during the levels as well as upgrade em.

For example, you could have a low level item your dwarf wears. You could have what you need to upgrade it's level thus how helpful it'll actually be during the levels. I also liked there's outfits the dwarves can wear as well. The game is broken up into several sections. I got a few major tips to go over that's critical.

Expect to fail a lot while trying to complete the game. I even had times there's so many enemies on the screen. I couldn't even see a small path around any of them!!! It's actually quite overwhelming when it happens. In most levels, you get a few objectives you could do. Thankfully among completing those objectives they stay done.

This is also quite an achievement heavy game. Then again so was both Vampire Survivors and Brotato. Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is really replayable at it's core. I absolutely love everything audio wise as a whole. The actual art work was absolutely mind blowing!!! The levels are randomly generated from what I can tell.

Which means none of the levels will ever be truly alike. This by itself really adds to it's replay value. I'm even surprised this also in Xbox Anywhere program. Yes the difficulty will spike a lot especially in the later levels of a set. In fact, expect from start to finish to put in a lot of hours. It may not seem like a long game on the surface.

Trust me, for a longer length game it somehow maintains being fun as well as unique. I even voted for it in Golden Joystick Awards 2025 for Best Indie Game award. Not to be confused with it's Best Indie Game - Self Published award. Where I actually voted for Hades II. You get a great variety of upgrades during the levels.

Which does include speeding up breaking up the rocks as well as collecting em from a further distance. You can get a few weapons that all notably differs. It's even possible that they can't even get close to you. Unlike they are tanked enough or a boss creature. You would be very surprised how much actual depth this game has.

Elimination involves level sets with a huge drilling machine. After you finished the important objectives. Directly following killing off the bosses. You get a short time limit to get back in the drilling machine. Thank god it's a few levels within a set. The levels takes a lot longer to get through because of objectives.

As previously stated, the levels are quite huge. You have to figure where everything else every single time. Which isn't that bad due to how they set it up. I also love how the variety of level designs. Which does affect hazards to a degree. Sometimes you can't argue if you can make contact or avoid it altogether.

Escort involves a huge cutting machine that requires oil. Mostly to move from point a to point b. You could speed through these much faster. But I recommend more of a slow fast. Some parts you can move faster while others it's more wise to finish things at a slower pace. You would quite surprised how much strategies plays into everything?

Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is a spin off of Deep Rock Galactic. Which I never played prior to playing this game. I will be honest I wanna play it now!!! I know some quickly labeled this an Vampire Survivors clone. I strongly felt it does more than enough to stand out on it's own. In all honestly, I am really deeply impressed by this game.

I also gotta mention regarding the game broken up into sections. The first section has a couple level sets you must complete. This by itself will take a lot of hours to finish. Even if you aren't going for optional objectives. You really shouldn't rush playing this. In fact doing so means you'll die in record time. I highly recommend exploring around levels to gain as much level ups as possible.

The more leveled up you are by the final level of a set. The more likely you're going to succeed finishing em. I also liked every major rock you can collect differs more than colors. Some of them has notably differ textures to help you tell em apart from each other. My wife funny enough is more into rocks.

You also get three versions of every dwarf. By default, they also notably differ from each other. Virtually having some advantages over the other thing. The different variations starts out with different weapons. Which does make just enough of a difference to be notable. You also can get stuff to customize em that changes aspects as well.

Elimination has a couple mini bosses leading to the final bosses within a level set. The final bosses are notably a lot bigger. You even could face two of them at the same time. This is excluding a ridiculous amount of alien insects you could be dealing with. At the end of Escort level sets is getting the huge cutting machine to the heartstone.

There's a few sections of it's health bar. Where these lasers from the planet through crystals gets used. They prevent the machine from further damaging the heartstone. Also you being outside the radius has a similar effect. It's even crazier this isn't even a co-op game like Vampire Survivors more recently. They also have Weapon Mastery & Class Mastery levels to test your skills more.

In both variations of the levels you don't get to choose your character. You have to play whatever you get is a rather unique concept that's quite risky. If you finish Weapon Mastery levels you get those weapons leveled up as a whole. Which means the weapons will be even more helpful in future runs. Yes you could risk it with 5 tier levels for max weapon level upgrades.

They really went the distance literately with this indie game. A surprising great balancing on difficulty that could either get easier or harder depending on things. An insane amount of ways to keep the game truly refreshing as well as replayable. It's so satisfying nearly loss an run to complete the set. You really can figure out your ideal set up for future runs that works for you.

I really love seeing this level of creativity within the game play. Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is possibly one of the greatest indie games I ever played!!! There's no question it really will keep you busy for hours. Among the very best games of this style. I don't really have much to criticize either. I actually felt it's the perfect game of this style since Brotato I played.

Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is easily one of the finest games I played this year. You get just the right level of challenge. Depending on your upgrades could get a little easier or more difficult. Every upgrade you choose could heavily impact everything. I also gotta say this game plays perfectly on my Xbox and PC through Xbox Anywhere program.

This is easily one of the greatest games I played off of Game Pass in a long time. I was somewhat curious to check out when it gotten onto the service. I'm really glad I gave the game a try. At it's core, there's plenty of simpler mechanics with some complexity thrown in. I really love you can get creative with your set ups.

You never want too much of something upgrades wise. I prefer attempting to going as close to all around as possible. Virtually covering up all your bases truly goes a long way in this game. If you really want to max out all your permanent upgrades. You really gotta commit to that there's no true short cuts. Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor has to be one of the finest spin off games I ever played!!!

A very strong recommendation or more directly you gotta play this before you die. Trust me it's that great of an experience. One you'll remember for the rest of your time. Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is a truly impressive indie video game. Honestly, I strongly felt my standards for the genre gotten insanely high following this!!!

Overpowered 1 - Mars Infestation (2025) review

Hello everyone I'm XboxClown89, I'm back with another Xbox Anywhere game. For being the cheapest in a crazy purchase it was a little better than I expected. Not many people heard of this game because it came out a few months ago. Maybe my review could convince a few people to give the game a try. Today I'm here to review Overpowered 1 - Mars Infestation.

Overpowered 1 - Mars Infestation (2025)

It's broken up in four levels with two survival maps. There isn't much story in the game itself. There isn't even an ending when you complete it. Unless you consider the texts following completing the level that. In the main levels you get to explore. You constantly have to fight your way through rooms. It sorta reminded me of Smash TV and it's spiritual successor Total Carnage.

For the most part you can choose where to go. You get a few upgrades that helps a bit. A small variety of enemies you quickly memorize. There isn't technically a boss monster. The closest thing is Centipedes being the longest, biggest creatures. You can get more health but you gotta earn it. I know parts of this will seem like an endurance.

The true endurance are the two survival maps. There is only this dark cave design for every map. The controls are decent enough I felt. I actually like the art work of the game itself. I didn't expect to enjoy it this much for a cheap Xbox game. It works perfectly across two platforms I played the game on. Achievement hunting is honestly one of the most straight forward I ever done.

As for the survival maps I wish they were more like Endless Mode in Vampire Survivors & similar games. Just like the main levels, you face enemies. Until the timer runs out or you run out of lives. For the main levels, there's a lot of rooms with their own timers. For these maps though killing particular enemies drops upgrades.

I felt these maps ended up being my favorites. Sure it lacks exploring around the level from the main levels. At the same time, you get a bigger room than you regularly get in the main levels. Depending how well you're doing could end up with more upgrades than in the main levels. Difficulty can spike but ultimately after a few decent upgrades you'll start owning em hard!!!

I am glad I decided to purchase this game. Overpowered 1 - Mars Infestation felt held back. A few major changes would truly bring this game to life!!! Everything needs more variety is the nicest, most direct criticism I have for the game. For being a cheap game it justifies just enough. Honestly, I kinda wish there was more overall content than what it currently has.

I'm not calling the game a disappointment by any means. It just felt come to being something amazing or somewhat decent. For where it stands it's a little above alright. I will give the developer credit I sure had a hell of a time playing it. The game does not suck just needs more in the long run. Overpowered 1 - Mars Infestation I quickly made a notable impact with me in a good way.

DUSK (2025) review

Hello everyone I'm XboxClown89, today I'll be reviewing a game that took it's sweet time getting onto Xbox Series X. Even the launch trailer made a joke about it. I'm talking about a game I knew about a couple years. DUSK a famous indie boomer shooter style FPS game. I swear Xbox getting all the greatest FPS games.

DUSK (2025)

The game broken up into three episodes. Campaigns for those not familiar with that game design. It's heavily similar to the original Quake. Actually in most aspects a lot better than that. Although I found Cultic to be more like this funny enough. I always welcome an decent FPS game of this style. Like Cultic, you are facing an cult.

Not to insult Quake 1 fans everything was done better in DUSK. Character model designs are similar to Quake 1. None of them were direct copies. DUSK actually had a huge variety of enemies including Wendigos. Also like Cultic, there was Resident Evil 4 influence. The audio as a whole absolutely amazing work!!!

The levels do differ in length but still similar to Quake 1 in that department. This works very well on Xbox and PC through Xbox Anywhere program. There's some clever curve balls you won't see coming. Thankfully you can quick save for most of the game. You get a lot of weapons that differs enough. At the same time are mostly fun to use.

You wouldn't believe the greatest weapon isn't even in your arsenal. There's a famous joke weapon you can pick up. I won't sugar coat it any longer you throw a bar of soap it instantly kills em. I guess the message here is the enemies stinks very bad they need a bath lol. There's a lot of creativity within the levels I was quite impressed.

You also get the main antagonist that taunts you often aspect. This game's Shao Kahn in a nut shell Jakob. Yes that's spelled with a k I checked. DUSK is rather ambitious in it's simple appearance. None of the levels are alike. There's more bosses than I was expecting. DUSK doesn't save the bosses at the end of an episode like many 90s FPS games.

My favorite boss hands down was Big John. He's a parody of Alan "Dutch" Schaffer from Predator. He sorta sounds like Schwarzenegger with some of his voice overs. You get to collect a few colored keys to access areas. A couple times your flashlight breaks which is scripted to happen. You do get new flashlights within those levels.

Like Cultic, there's several aspects of horror. Wendigos can come after you invisible until either you get attacked or you hit em once. I really enjoyed using the bouncing platforms they truly made it a rememberable experience. DUSK was rather inspiring for me to play. I haven't tried out Endless Mode. I already know I'm going to enjoy it when I do.

I know for people familiar with DUSK. It's crazy I'm just now finally playing it. I wasn't expecting the amount of levels within each episode to be slightly longer than Doom 1. There's a lot of surprising depth in this game. There's some crazy power ups like a particular one stops time. Only you move but during your movements the enemies can move to a degree.

My personal favorite ended up being capable of jumping up anything!!! This power up can easily allow you to quickly jump up high buildings. DUSK was a truly amazing FPS game. Easily one of most refreshing I played in a long time. Then again I said that about a few games this year. I will give DUSK some respect it's not what you're expecting.

This game does so many things you wouldn't believe happens in the game. Some of which I'm not used to like a level you touch this thing. The level alters gravity sending you flying at an angle. Surprisingly you don't fall to your death here. The level in question reminded me of the first level in Postal: Brain Damaged.

You had a few houses high up with some clever platforming to get across. I did like the gore from taking out the enemies. I think what I actually loved more was how everything fits together. It's a rather crazy FPS game that takes you to plenty of interesting locations. I also liked the bosses has health bars. You can bet a lot of secrets are well hidden.

Honestly, I do prefer this over the original Quake. I still prefer Cultic slightly more in some aspects. Let's be honest, it does come close to Blood just not quite. There's no shortage what this game's potential. DUSK is a very strong recommendation. Especially if you love boomer shooters in general. I don't have much to criticize.

Some levels has a notable learning curve than others. There's some huge difficulty spikes especially with some of the bosses. Some enemies are just tricky to deal with. Despite those issues you're really going to have one hell of a time with this!!! DUSK is a great one that quickly stands out. Trust me you gotta give this a try to see what I mean.

Beat 'Em Up Collection (2025) review

Warning this is going to be quite an lengthy blog entry. Well oh okay not that one Sword of Sodan blog long. But you get the idea it's going to take a long while to read all of this.

Hello everyone I'm XboxClown89, here's another compilation game I been eyeing up for months. I always been a huge fan of beat 'em up games for a long time. In fact, it's among my favorite genres for Arcade games. None of these were pulled from the arcades. We get seven games from Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo respectively with slightly more SNES games into the collection.

Beat 'Em Up Collection (2025)

1. First Samurai

2. Second Samurai

3. Gourmet Warriors

4. Water Margin

5. Iron Commando

6. Legend

7. Sword of Sodan

I previously mentioned in my newer I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream blog. The same engine that used also presented here. Let's start with the bonus stuff. Mostly stuff you expect to see in several compilation games. Pictures of the cases as well as their manuals. You get a lot of information about the games.

You also get rewind along with cheat options. Some of these can be quite rough at times. It's actually possible to get every achievements/trophies cheating. I do like how they set up the achievements/trophies for the most part. I personally glad every game gets em to a degree. I don't like when some of them doesn't do it for every game included to a degree.

I'm not trying to throw salt either. It just makes more sense you do stuff that unlocks achievements/trophies. You would want em for every game included right? On an average, it's four achievements/trophies a game. Not counting the famous unlock all achievements/trophies. Which automatically unlocks following getting the second to last achievement/trophy.

I also wanna say don't confuse the title of the compilation for Capcom Beat 'Em Up Bundle. Which also so happens to have seven games representing the same genre. There's a few major differences like this one lacks online multiplayer altogether. Also some of the features I mentioned aren't in Capcom Beat' Em Up Bundle either.

I also gotta mention both of these are the same price!!! Honestly I do prefer Capcom Beat 'Em Up Bundle a lot more. As for Beat 'Em Up Collection, the achievements/trophies hunting is a little better. There's a few curve balls but mostly straight forward. It's possible to get all their respective achievements/trophies in a single run each.

Right now I'm directly talking about the compilation itself. Before I review any of the games. I also wanna exclude some information for a surprise. Don't worry, what you wanna know for the most part still be there. For what it's worth it's not a bad beat 'em up collection. It's not quite perfect but it's just alright enough to work.

I always welcome more Sega Genesis games. I'm fine with playing more SNES games. I had a much bigger connection with Sega Genesis growing up. I do like this is heavily 16-bit era theme compilation game. None of these following games are alike. In fact, they differ so much it's quite refreshing. There's not much I'll directly change with the compilation itself.

What's even better is surprisingly this included within Xbox Anywhere program. I own it on two platforms at the same time. This already out doing Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection. Another compilation emulating both Sega Genesis and SNES games respectively. Beat 'Em Up Collection has many surprises you won't expect.

Finally reviewing the actual games you're welcome!!! section

The lineup has a serious difficulty problem. I ended up cheating to get all the achievements. Some are a little cheaper damage wise than others. I will give some credit though. None of the games are alike making it rather refreshing to play. In terms of beating capable of finishing every game within a compilation.

Cheating wise it's very possible. I do wish two of the SNES games had infinite lives. I did notice in some of the games emulation struggled a little bit. At the same time, I never had any input lags. I felt most of the games were alright at best. My two favorites being Gourmet Warriors and Water Margin respectively.

I really enjoyed both those games a lot. Gourmet Warriors is possibly the single weirdest beat 'em up game I ever played. Previously Battle Circuit from a few Capcom compilation games had the record. Let's just say this game quickly stands out from the rest. Water Margin is guilty of stealing from both Sega and Capcom.

Funny enough even the compilation itself stated such a fact I'm not kidding. The two beat 'em up games it's ripping off the most were Golden Axe and Warriors of Fate. Yes it does also rip off Knights of the Round as well. But I actually could argue how it rips those two off a bit more. Like Golden Axe, you can use magic attacks that has special effects damaging every enemy onscreen.

Some of the enemy designs kept reminding me of Golden Axe series. Everything else including the story directly stealing from Warriors of Fate. You play as one of the characters to take down an dynasty. Personally Warriors of Fate is a bit slower. But it also ended up being the overall better experience. To be fair, Water Margin blew my mind how great it was.

In fact, it quickly became one of my favorite Genesis beat 'em up games I ever played!!! In nearly aspect this game was truly amazing!!! I strongly recommend checking out that one. It's no question the absolute worst everyone knew this was coming. Sword of Sodan is mind blowing terrible!!! It's the worst in every possible way with little to no music at all.

It also was among the shortest games in the collection. Easily the most unbalanced among em. Not only that, I actually finished that before I fully played the other games knowing it's reputation. I actually wanna see AVGN rip this game apart I'm not kidding. Let's put it in a way that truly speaks volumes about how truly terrible of an experience it was.

I rather play the original Street Fighter over this. Let's be honest that really sucks too!!! At least, SF1 had music with more interesting characters. Even the stages looked better in comparison. You know a game is really bad when another just terrible game somehow slightly more bearable to play. I highly recommend don't even bother playing Sword of Sodan!!!

Gourmet Warriors you defeat enemies to get ingredients. During bonus sections, the robot chef will make a dish out of two ingredients. Yes it does allow you to use two of the same ingredient. Assuming you are playing without codes. You could get a little or a lot of health from these sections. Some of the enemies you have to see to believe.

We are talking tiny purple men that could dance on you. Giant grill people with legs. To clarify an actual grill machine with legs!!! We even had robot bunny ladies no really they're actually in the game!!! This isn't sponsored by Play Boy. Even the playable character's names are food references. Just not in the same sense of Saiyans' names being puns of vegetables in Dragon Ball franchise.

There's also a weird power up. You defeat a particular enemy. You pick up the item in question. Suddenly there's a darker clone of your character. Your helper is as random as it gets. Sometimes they help while doing nothing or by accident attacks you. They are more of a pain than actual help. I recommend to avoid picking up that item.

The final boss is somewhat similar to the true final boss of Battle Circuit. You will be quite surprised to learn this came out before Battle Circuit. Gourmet Warriors has some truly weird animations. Even for a beat 'em up game. Not only that, I simply love everything about it. I would even say easily among my favorite SNES beat 'em up games I ever played!!!

Samurai series is vastly different from each other. I do prefer Second Samurai more. No it's not because that's on Sega Genesis either. I simply like more aspects of the game more. First Samurai had some frustrating level designs. I was more surprised what Second Samurai offered. I even felt it's soundtrack easily among my favorites in the collection.

I do felt Iron Commando was better than Legend. Both developed by the same two man team. It wasn't common for games to be made by that small of a group back then. Iron Commando offers more of a variety. Legend ends up being like Golden Axe series just not as great. I did like it's art design though. Iron Commando also allows you to pick between two characters.

Iron Commando also has shooting portions I liked. All of them differ in some way to keep things interesting. Despite mostly cheating I did find joy playing the collection. It's a rather obscure lineup of games with the most famous one being a very bad game. Which heavily impacted the collection game in the long run.

If Sword of Sodan wasn't included. I actually felt this collection would be a little higher for me. If you never played Sword of Sodan. Good don't you'll instantly regret playing it!!! I will say this though it's a good discount collection. The fact I still found ways to enjoy most these games is a good sign. I would say this is better than Sega Vintage Collection: Alex Kidd & Co. honestly.

I know many people aren't aware there's two types of beat 'em up games. Which this collection showcases to a degree. I do felt just focusing on one of them would've been a bit better. Beat 'Em Up Collection was honestly better than what I expected. This is surprisingly somewhat decent quality compilation game despite it's flaws.

WTF section

Usually that would've been the end of my review. You might've noticed I didn't say some of the weirder stuff much. I knew there had to be an entire wtf section about it. I am quite serious all of them has plenty of rather unusual stuff. I felt I wanna try getting as much of that weirdness represented here. This is a very rare case for an compilation game I had to do this.

Let's start with their US release dates. Second Samurai, Gourmet Warriors, Iron Commando, and Water Margin respectively. All originally didn't released in the United States. A couple years, Piko Interactive LLC finally rereleased all of them there. Which also goes into most of the lineup had other rereleases on most platforms.

This includes two compilation games. If you wanna count Antstream Arcade that's more of a gaming service. A lot of games including Sword of Sodan presented there. This is only the beginning to the weirdness. Three games in the compilation were released on Amiga. Which was one of many older computers with it's own library of games.

First Samurai was the closest to it's original version. However the other two games had notable changes. Sword of Sodan cut the level amount down a little. Removed a few stuff including an creature you could mount. They also had more enemies during the levels. It's not even as colorful as the original Amiga version that's pathetic!!!

You would expect an 16-bit game consoles could've easily blown it away. Second Samurai was a vastly different game altogether. Like Killing Time from 3DO to PC situation. Some aspects did remained but everything else changed. A good example of this is the secondary playable character. Originally a similar bald looking samurai.

Update: according to the compilation. Second Samurai on Sega Genesis is considered a spiritual sequel to First Samurai on SNES.

He's replaced by a female samurai character. What's even weirder is the same company developed both samurai games. Yet they're incredibly different from each other. Not to mention, a different company published the games originally. Kemco published First Samurai on SNES. Psygnosis published Second Samurai on Sega Genesis.

Speaking of Psygnosis, they were originally going to publish an Sega CD version of Second Samurai. Unfortunately, Sony with buying several companies before launching PlayStation 1. Vivid Image worked out a deal to get the Genesis version released in Europe. Effectively canceling the Sega CD version altogether.

What's even weirder is they had a statement not directly mentioning First Samurai on SNES. It was more questionable why they decided to do Second Samurai on Sega Genesis. They actually thought it was the more successful game console. Sadly it was second best among it's console generation. Which made swapping consoles a bit strange with no direct answers.

Most of the video game covers are fine. But Samurai series stands out like a sore thumb. I'll start with Second Samurai the male samurai wearing red on the cover. But in the game itself he's actually wearing blue. It gets weirder with the cover of First Samurai. He doesn't even look like who you're playing as. Wrong hair style along with a notably different clothes.

In the actual game he isn't wearing a shirt at all. Keep in mind, I was talking about the SNES version cover. The Amiga cover is a better representation of the game itself. Now this actually looks like the samurai you're playing as. I still got to point out for Second Samurai's Amiga cover. Despite his outfit being red again, this was a sick cover for it's time.

You have both samurais with this awesome dragon behind em. Water Margin was originally an unlicensed Genesis game released in Asia. Sega Genesis had a couple unlicensed video games during it's run. What made this stranger is it came out in 1996. Around this point, Sega being more focus on Sega Saturn. Arcade Zone gotten Legend released in the United States.

Once again Sony discontinued it's third-party publishing business on SNES. In order to focus more on their then upcoming console the PlayStation 1. Now that's two of these didn't originally come out to the United States because of Sony. Gourmet Warriors was originally Japanese exclusive for Super Famicom.

Virgin Interactive Entertainment now going by Avalon Interactive Group, Ltd. originally published the game. Around the year Gourment Warriors came out. Blockbuster already acquired 20% of the company a year prior. Which increased to now being 75% of it's stock. Hasbro had the remaining shares.

Which led to Hasbro Interactive started in 1995. They now go by Atari Interactive, Inc. respectively. Not long Blockbuster ended it's partner to give up it's stake to Spelling Entertainment. Which was a subsidiary of Viacom. The collapse in the games market made things worst for Virgin. At one point, Virgin was one of the biggest US based video game companies.

Virgin signed a deal with Capcom to publish it's titles in Europe. Keep in mind, majority of this occurred in 1995. It's no wonder, Virgin had quite a confusing, busy year. Clearly they couldn't do anything with Gourmet Warriors at the time. Another weird thing is every game in the compilation has their original release year presented.

Some companies involved became more invested in CD based game consoles. This was around the PlayStation 1 after all. A lot of people were starting to lose interest in cartridge based video games of that era. They simply went straight for new ground of the market. Not fully understanding how it would work. Simply leaving what they previously knew behind without a second thought.

Honestly, it would've made more sense to use the newer US release years for more than half the collection. Let's say someone playing this in another country. It may differ if those years might be fine or not. Another weird thing is there's technically two variations of the beat 'em up genre. Most of the world knows the more common version.

You get a few characters to play as. You fight your way through levels to take on the bosses at the end of them. A little of depth with the moves. The other beat 'em up variation is more of a platformer. You get melee attacks while attempting to nail jumps to a degree. There's some aspects you could compare between the two variations of the same genre.

This is just like comparing all the variations of a shooter game. This variation of the genre is more about trying to find your way around the levels. In comparison, it's way more straight forward where to go. I know all of this must be quite confusing for ya!!! There's no real connection between the games other than Piko Interactive currently owns them all.

Sword of Sodan is among the absolute worst Sega Genesis games. We don't even know why it's in the compilation at all!!! Let's be honest, majority of them are alright with some being a bit better than others. Sword of Sodan is a massive step down especially being the oldest game included. I guess grandpa couldn't keep it up lol.

I also gotta mention on the cover of every version as well as in the game play for Sword of Sodan. The twin sister Shardan wore barely anything like classic female warriors. They censored her outfit in the Genesis version. Now she wears actual clothes instead of that outfit. You also need to realize back then mostly kids were playing Sega Genesis during that era.

The last thing Sega needed was not censoring her outfit upsetting parents in the process. This was also during the famous Nintendo censorship era as well. In the original Amiga version, Shardan has the outfit. Her brother Brodan how creative right? Anyway his outfit remains the same in every version of the game.

Ranking

7. Sword of Sodan

6. First Samurai

5. Legend

4. Iron Commando

3. Second Samurai

2. Gourmet Warriors

1. Water Margin

I do wanna point out Sword of Sodan the only bad game. From First Samurai they start to get a little better. Then when you get to the top two games they actually quite fun to play. I haven't seen an compilation game's lineup differ so much in quality in a long time. Again avoid Sword of Sodan at all costs!!!

My thoughts on Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair

Hello everyone I'm XboxClown89, for years Quentin Tarantino wanted to do more with the Kill Bill franchise. Until this recent trailer, there were a few ideas thrown around. I'm just thankful to have something. Here's a case, what we ultimately gotten was the most unexpected. I'm here to share my thoughts on Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair.

For starters, one idea considered was a possible sequel. Although the main plot concluded with Volume 2. There also was possibly doing a prequel leading up to those movies. Which would've been quite interesting to watch. I'm not about to say I'm disappointed here. In fact, I been secretly appreciating these newer, definitive cuts.

This is a rather ambitious one at that. Combining two of Taratino's greatest movies together is quite an challenge. At the same time, I always felt it would've worked better as a longer movie myself. You virtually had two halves of the same movie originally. They also added in a new animated scene. Removing Volume 1's cliffhanger ending.

This is going to be an four hour long movie. I actually felt Tarantino made the movies so good. You aren't going to care it's that long. It would put movies like The Dark Knight to shame!!! Kill Bill is a revenge story where the main protagonist gotten betrayed by her own group assassin group. Led by Bill hence the name of course.

Volume 1 heavily played more into the Eastern direction. Volume 2 was more Western in comparison. Now Tarantino combining two vastly different movies. I gotta give him respect for doing that. We're finally getting the true definitive Kill Bill experience. This version hitting theaters early December. Quite ballsy if you ask me.

I also gotta mention, Sir Michael Madsen rest in peace. Previously was in another Tarantino movie, Reservoir Dogs. He plays Bill's brother whose in the group. Kill Bill always had this rather unique style. Parts of it is over the top but at the same time everything done with such style. Beatrix literately goes through hell to get her revenge.

This newer version going to be one of the greatest revenge movies ever made!!! Easily my favorite role Uma Thurman I ever seen!!! Kill Bill is Tarantino at his finest. Personally Pulp Fiction was my favorite among his works. But considering what's all going into this newer version. I say that's going to quickly become my second favorite.

Kill Bill has surprisingly a lot going for it. A great cast with truly amazing editing. A great story possibly made even better in this newer version. I finally can stop waiting for something to happen. I actually felt this was the best outcome we could've gotten. This is going to be like Zack Snyder's Justice League experience!!!

Tarantino is going the distance to deliver such a master piece. Let's be honest, Kill Bill series already was one. I'm very sure many people are getting heavily inspired by em including myself. I always loved Beatrix's sword a lot. Kill Bill has a great ratio to everything. It's difficult to predict at times. There's plenty of rememberable moments.

One guy actually plays two different characters true story. Gordon Liu originally plays Johnny Mo. He later plays Pai Mei aka Beatrix's sensei. Expect a lot of flash backs. All of them are critical to the overall plot. Considering both previous Kill Bill movies are early 2000s movies. I would say easily among the best of them in that era.

Kill Bill always meant a lot to me. I wasn't crazy about Death Proof myself. In fact, I prefer Planet Terror from Grindhouse series more. Which was done by Robert Rodriguez, another director I respect. Kill Bill was essentially an American revenge Samurai story. In several ways it kept reminding me of a show called Samurai Jack.

Just imagine Beatrix and Samurai Jack I'll pay to see that!!! If you surprisingly never seen either Kill Bill movies. Either go watch the old versions or wait to watch the newer version? I felt doing either is a great time. Kill Bill is something truly special at it's core. I can't compare it to a lot of movies. In a weird it's like how several genres came together in Star Wars series.

Minus Sci-Fi for more of a deep dive into the Eastern culture. Then everything goes back to the United States for the Western side of it. You see how much of a experience watching these truly like soon enough. Easily, movies you never forget no matter how old you get. They're so iconic for so many reasons.

Kill Bill is something that shouldn't had worked but amazingly works too damn well instead. The fact it's becoming a huge movie where's my popcorn at? This should be one of the greatest four hour movies in history!!! It's difficult for a movie to remain entertaining beyond two hours. I am expecting great reviews myself.

Even the little things the movies does sticks with ya. Like some of the jokes are surprisingly a lot funnier than expected. There's the famous Beatrix facing against a lot of people scenes. Which are quite bloody with a lot of body parts getting cut off. The soundtrack works too well nailing exactly the vibe of every scene that plays.

I really could talk a great deal about Kill Bill for hours. Especially with someone that feels the same as I do. I personally thank Quentin Tarantino for making this newer cut of the movies. This is going to be his finest work in a long time. Honestly, I can't wait to see this newer version soon. I already know it's a huge slash people just gotta watch it!!!

My thoughts on Golden Joysticks Awards 2025 (Ultimate Game of the Year award)

Hello I'm XboxClown89, don't worry I got a few future entries getting lined up. Right now it's a waiting game. For the present I will give my thoughts once again on Golden Joysticks Awards 2025. They just started their biggest award, Ultimate Game of the Year award voting. Like an handful of awards you are allowed to select up to three games.

I figured the best way to go about this since there's twelve games altogether. I should only directly talk about my three votes. Which would save a lot of time in the long run. I would say by far the best lineup for an Game of the Year award they're doing this year. You really couldn't go wrong with any of these games.

Other nominees presented down below...

Peak

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Blue Prince

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Death Stranding 2: On The Beach

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

Ghost of Yotei

Donke Kong Bananza

My number 3 choice was Silent Hill f. Two people I moderated streamed a lot of this Silent Hill game. I already knew it was going to be it's own thing. Which upset a lot of Silent Hill fans I felt they lack vision. This takes place in Japan during the 60s. You play as a high school student with some notable trauma. I will try not to give too much away.

This is heavily combat focus that actually worked for what they were going for. They brought the famous composer for the franchise. Audio as a whole absolutely amazing work!!! The game looks incredible with a decent story. Sure some parts of it could've been told a little better honestly. Not to come off racist by any means.

I just felt it has a lot of great story telling. Some of that gets either a little lackluster, confusing or suddenly felt like it's not going anywhere. Silent Hill f is worthy enough to be called SH 7. This is perfect to play close to & on Halloween kind of game. Honestly, I was very surprised how much I liked from what was shown.

My number 2 choice was Hades II. I have another friend that's a huge fan of the original Hades. Not long ago he was going wild about Hades II. There's a lot of people feeling it's better than the original game. I haven't gotten to play either of them. Although I do have them written in my long list of games I wanna play.

Hades II is a follow up to the original Hades. It's a game that constantly changes. But in a way it never truly gets boring. The challenge always going to be a bit high. You end up being more satisfy among completing sections of the game. I absolutely love Greek mythology easily one of my favorites. From what I seen of the game it's mind blowing stuff.

This game felt like how a sequel should be. Hades II improves over so much from the original game. From what I heard it's a long game with plenty of replay value. What's even crazier one company developed and published this game yeah!!! Hades II already sounds like a must play game. I was more impressed by it than Hollow Knight: Silksong honestly.

My number 1 choice aka my main vote for Ultimate Game of the Year award is Split Fiction. One of my friends I moderated for on Twitch played the hell out of this game. It's a rather unique co-op game with a truly ambitious concept for a video game. Two ladies gets trapped mentally together. They must get through many stories especially their own.

Imagine The Matrix or Saints Row IV with the simulations. Your simulations based on stories you written could be quite scary or a surprisingly beautiful experience. This looked like so many game play styles it was mind blowing!!! It's a concept that really shouldn't had worked at all. They somehow pulled off the impossible with Split Fiction.

I know many people felt the same way with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Another nominated game in the same award. The same friend also streamed the hell out of that. I'm very sure among his choices he's choosing both of those games. I just checked Split Fiction on many platforms sorry. It's quite amazing they got it to work with online as well as it does.

It's nothing personal why I didn't choose Expedition 33. My interest is rather funny among RPG games. Split Fiction having two people playing it. Which by itself helps make it a more rememberable experience. This by itself was a major reason why I voted for it. The story from what I gathered outside the simulations was well written.

The main antagonist used the simulations of great writers like a deity. In other words, he cheated by stealing their works through simulations. I won't spoil much of the ending it's a rather interesting conclusion. This almost seem like Mario Party series or Banjo-Kazooie series on N64 respectively. Banjo-Kazooie series involves two playable characters that differ in many ways.

The two ladies goes through all kind of crazy situations. We are talking many interesting transforms. Some of which you really wouldn't see coming at all. One of the developers' concept of the game was deeply inspired by their daughter. Split Fiction is a game that truly delivers at it's core. Despite a few major issues outside the game itself.

Split Fiction going to be as close to a rather exclusive experience as possible. It's no secret, games differs on co-op feature. This is both players must work together to get through levels. You simply won't believe a small fraction what happens within the simulations. In all honestly, for everything it pulls off I strongly felt it's one of an handful nominated games that truly deserves to win the award.

This game is never boring at all. The constant changing what happens keeps it refreshing as well as inspiring. Split Fiction possibly renewed interest within co-op theme video games. This is among one of the greatest co-op games I watched in a long time. Yes even compared to a few Resident Evil games as well as Sven Co-op respectively.

I know I'm really hyping up such an video game. Split Fiction is really true to it's name. I was absolutely mind blown how truly creative the game ended up being. I don't even have many games to directly compare to it. The closest one I kept getting reminded of in a weirder way was McPixel 3. A game heavily centered on mini games that often changed pacing.

The fact I quickly was hearing people absolutely loving it was mind blowing in itself. Split Fiction is a game that's among the most ridiculous I ever seen!!! There's just something everyone could love about the game. Exactly why I knew if it shown up in the voting I'm going right for the game. Split Fiction is easily worthy enough to win it all honestly.

My thoughts on Cinemassacre's Monster Madness: Screams Not On Screen (2025)

Hello everyone I'm XboxClown89, of course I had to talk about this year theme for Cinemassacre's Monster Madness marathon. Usually since 2007, Rolfe talks about movies and a few shows over the years. I had a feeling eventually he would do this theme.

Let it stand out like a sore thumb. He chosen to be more about the actual holiday this year. I know some going to dislike that. Some even feeling how uninspired of a theme. I actually deeply respect Rolfe going for it. A large thing lacking in some of his newer Monster Madness marathons.

Some of them lacked the true connection Rolfe had with his fans. At times, we could tell someone else wrote his scripts. In all honestly just wasn't the same as a lot of older Monster Madness marathons. Then he's done this huge tribute to Roger Corman last year.

Now that really felt like Rolfe being personal to us. We could tell these were his true thoughts on all those movies Corman done. It's no secret, Rolfe deeply loves Halloween. He decided to share a lot of his stories on several Halloween themes. Stuff people could do around that time of the year.

Cinemassacre's Monster Madness: Screams Not On Screen (2025)

This was a great way to connect directly to the fans. Especially close to Halloween I loved the concept behind it. We get to learn a lot more about Rolfe as a person. He kicked things off with haunted houses. In particular these awesome locations you pay to get in with a small group of people.

The people working there trying to scare ya. I been to a couple of these locations over the year myself. Really brought back some great Halloween memories. It's perfect when you had nothing to do. You get to spend time with people for a few hours. If you love horror as a whole you're absolutely going to love it!!!

I felt the best ones I experienced were mostly outside. I'm more used to similar locations indoors to a degree. But there's just something about a large amount of them being outside. Just puts chills right down your spines. You truly get your money's worth with these places.

His next entry was Halloween costumes. Majority of his viewers celebrates the holiday. I had some interesting costumes including Ghostface. I once dress up in a weird unexpected Pennywise outfit with an Pennywise mask. I think Rolfe said it best that dressing up.

Such a great excuse to be someone else for the night. I personally seen some rather creative Halloween costumes. I felt some of the finest is carefully homemade costumes. Which could be a lot cheaper than some costume stores. Sometimes being inside one of those places ends up being quite an experience.

Even if you don't often wear costumes. Just going to a place look away is a lot of fun. Especially closer to Halloween with some truly sick costumes in the stores. The one mask I remembered the most was a rather huge scary clown mask. I know some outfits requires face paint I never done that truthfully.

It's likely I just felt better wearing a mask. Then having my face painted or my standards for those being a bit high. This also brought back so many memories. Sometimes just waiting to give out candy. You see some amazing costumes the kids wore.

The next entry was Halloween Decorations. Once again this brought back a lot of great memories. Decorations can differ so many ways regarding Halloween. I virtually seen nearly every possible variation of the concept. Some are just a bit cooler than others.

There's craving pumpkins that could be fun. I'm one of those particular cravers. I just wanna make something that's decent. If I'm off a bit too much I don't care much for my work. Stickers can be nice as well as incredibly cheap. You also get these smaller animatronics that requires batteries.

Although seeing some of the bigger animatronics in stores is wild!!! Some people get really into decorating their homes for Halloween. To be honest, sometimes it stands out more than people doing the same for Christmas. It's a perfect stand in if you couldn't go to any of those haunted house locations.

Honestly, I love several aspects of decorations. Some of it seems to get a little better but an handful of them seems to differ in quality over the years. Not only that, you don't need to go all in these either. Even doing something smaller goes a long way. Jack-o-lanterns among the best examples.

You also can get these amazing lights that represents stuff to a degree. People gotten rather creative to make their homes spooky for the holiday. I especially love seeing horror movie theme stuff. Of course, I also have a thing for skeletons as well as grim reapers.

A rather unique way of viewing this. Decorating your homes essentially being your own haunted house locations. I truly have seen some rather sick decorated homes myself. In some way you truly could be passionate towards many things at once. I absolutely would love to do that with my wife one day.

The next entry was Halloween Conventions. This might come as a huge surprise. Despite being a huge horror fan myself. I never once attended any horror conventions at all. It doesn't mean I haven't been to any of them. I attended an anime convention called Otaku a couple times.

The more recent having my wife and her sister. This also was the last time the convention was in the city. Now Otakon occurs around Washington D.C. respectively. Just seeing all that footage Rolfe was shown. I may had to add that to my bucket list before I die.

Horror conventions is a massive fan letter to the genre itself. One of many universal languages the right people understands. This is also why I refused to leave an comment on that YouTube video. What's the point if I never been to one before right?

Now take a guess what the final entry on Halloween is? If you guessed Halloween Candy then you are right. I previously thought either Halloween parties or memories. Then again all of it is essentially Halloween memories to begin with.

Who doesn't remember going around an neighborhood to get candy from neighbors? It's one of those traditions I always enjoyed from both angles. Probably more recently actually giving it out. For me, seeing how much kids light up for em brings me a lot of joy.

I do love seeing Halloween exclusive variations of several candies. Part of this topic I actually been avoiding for such a long time. Honestly, this would be a good one to finally reveal. What some of my absolute favorite candies?

Although I do like some gum brands. My personal favorite always been Winterfresh. You get this awesome flavor while getting this cool chill effect. I also loved the actual appearance of the gum itself. After all these years it never changed.

Another one that some might be familiar with. Candy Buttons aka Candy Dots usually packed on a long sheet of paper. You get a few colors of these per a sheet. I haven't had anything like it since. I simply loved everything about it that stands out from other popular candies.

This might be a rather selective preference. I do occasionally enjoy white chocolate candies. Some are better than others truthfully. My family knows a few I really enjoyed. You simply want that classic satisfying white chocolate flavor.

Just in case anyone was wondering Crush and M&M's had great takes on it. White chocolate is one of my favorite flavors among chocolates. Now I'm aware it's technically not actually chocolate. All of us has our personal favorites.

Starburst in particular the classic square version. Yes I have tried a few variations. I simply prefer the square version more. Such great fruit flavors in this candy. Usually get a rather decent amount of them. Starburst is perfect for Halloween if you like fruit flavors.

Reese more recently became one of my absolute favorites. There's just something about how well chocolate and peanut butter comes together. Yes I love white chocolate version a lot. I can't say I never had one I wasn't crazy about.

Another one I love is M&M's Minis. They get a few packing variations. My personal favorite is the longer tube version. So filled with a lot of smaller M&M's. Even the bag versions has a lot of them. It's almost like what you possibly get with the regular size but double possibly triple the amount inside.

I also personally love the actual look of the packing as well. Especially the longer tube versions always stood out in my mind. I know some are wondering why do I prefer the smaller versions? My response to that is if you love M&M's.

You simply get more out of your money with this version. Like Starburst, a good variety of colors. I really wish they had an white chocolate version. Partially I remembered some of the commercials growing up.

Kit Kat also became a recent favorite of mine. Especially with a good variety of flavors. I just felt finding flavors I love. One of my personal favorites was Blueberry Muffins yeah!!! Actually tasted like them being my favorite muffins funny enough.

Twizzlers Pull 'n' Pull licorice strawberry flavor. I believe it was my mom that gotten me into this candy. Yes I had the regular licorice as well. I really do prefer this variation more. I simply love you can peel em or eat it.

Not to mention, you get great strawberry flavor. I also loved the red coloring it pops a lot. You usually get a rather decent amount in a bag. I simply can't get enough of these when I have em. These are great for Halloween that any kid going to enjoy.

Honestly, I am quite thankful to James Rolfe. I had quite a year with little to nothing going on Halloween myself. This entire Monster Madness marathon brought back such nostalgia. A lot of great Halloween memories.

This really felt like Rolfe was sharing these stories. I'm quite excited for the holiday despite things. This is already among my personal favorite Cinemassacre's Monster Madness marathons to date. He directly focus on the holiday with a lot of memories.

In other words, he gave us plenty of heart. How much everything meant to him. I'm sure other viewers including myself felt quite a strong connection with him. For a theme I didn't expect for this year, it truly made me quite happy.

I really couldn't ask for more honestly. This is exactly how Halloween should feel to people. Regardless you're still growing up or being an adult for years. There's always something special about the holiday that sticks with ya a long time.

Exactly why this Monster Madness marathon suddenly meant so much to me. I would say one of the best Octobers I had in a long time. In particular, I'm living with my wife away from my parents. A large amount of this month kept me very hyped for the holiday honestly.

I can't wait to see what Rolfe going to do for next year. This particular theme was executed amazingly well. It ended up being quite true to the name regarding the theme. Honestly, I already know I'm having a decent Halloween thanks to you Rolfe.

Happy Halloween everyone and let's hope it's a great night for ya!!!

What makes a great compilation game?

Hello everyone I'm XboxClown89, here's another idea I been considering for a good while. I highly doubt they could convince people to buy more compilation games. I been around plenty of them to know what makes them great to red flags you don't wanna see at all. This is going to be quite an interesting topic to discuss for sure.

At it's core, originally compilation games were getting more games for cheaper. It was perfect among jump starting your video game collection. Just going by 2020-2025 I played some truly fantastic games. Some of these even became among my absolute favorite games ever!!! There's a very clear difference between bundles and compilation games.

Bundles is simply every game included you must install separately. Now there do exist some compilation games you gotta buy games for. But those can actually play all the games. I know a bit confusing I apologize. I can assure you a few truly decent compilation games can go a rather long way. Personally I prefer a solid connection for them.

Either made by the same company/indie developers. They don't have to be the same genre. I do like to have some variety within the game play myself. A lot of them either sticks to one platform or attempts a few of them. Both sides of this has their advantages. Compilations that sticks to one platform. The developers has a much easier time fully emulating all the games included.

Compilations emulating games from multiple platforms are tricker. Depending on which platforms they're emulating from. This is more difficult to carefully pull off in comparison. When I gave praise to compilations doing that I do truly mean it. On one side you directly appeal to a particular fan base. Either of a particular franchise or an gaming platform.

A great example of this was Sega Genesis Classics. Which has over fifty Genesis games or slightly more in Steam version. In vice versa, it's a higher demand. You get an handful of platforms to a lot of them like Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection coming out this Friday. There's extra pressure to nail the emulation of every game included.

Obviously every gaming platform differs in many ways especially through emulation. It's like they work at different frequencies maybe that's a bit too deep. The amount of games sometimes doesn't matter much. The lowest amount to be considered an compilation game is two games. Which is pretty compare even by today's standards.

I considered these the easy compilation games to make. Not meant to directly disrespect companies doing it either. For a smaller, decent amount of games collections. It's not the amount but rather the overall ratio that truly matters. You want enough of them to feel satisfied. A good example being Swords & Souls Legacy Collection.

You get five flash games that felt complete together. Now missing a game or two could heavily impact this. Dragon Ball Z Budokai HD Collection lacked Budokai 2. Suddenly it's not an complete collection. Having that ratio is critical for finding great compilation games. Personally want the bonus content especially never seen before stuff.

This has little impact on them. At the same time, a lot of it ends up being pretty sweet stuff. Achievement/trophy hunting notably differs. Some of them doesn't include something for every game included. Just like the extra content has little impact on the overall experience. What truly does matter is emulation done right.

Also if they offer any changes to the game play. Which could be a double edge sword. Depending on the games within the compilation. Some changes could make it a bit more enjoyable or a bit easier. For some compilations, this actually could take away a lot from the experience. It really depends which games are included honestly.

Sometimes they add in some cool alternative modes. Even if some of them aren't well executed. Let's take X Challenge mode from either Mega Man X Legacy Collection game for an example. On paper, you take on two bosses at once was a great idea. Unfortunately, a lot of bosses aren't presented. Also the only real major different between the two similar compilation games.

Every third boss fight of a set was different that's it. In other words, this mode ended up as a huge disappointment. The first Mega Man Legacy Collection game had challenges that goes between the Mega Man classic games. Now majority of the challenges I played doing that was well executed. Sometimes they can't include everything for several reasons.

Either the team couldn't emulate particular platforms or legal issues or the company said no. The last being companies ultimately approves to teams making these compilation games. Which available games gets in as well as what doesn't make the cut at all. Again Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is a good example of that.

Some retro compilations mostly Digital Eclipse does additional games through paid DLCs. Honestly, I'm okay paying for a few games especially SNES Aladdin game. If there wasn't all additional games deal I wouldn't be happy about it. Majority of compilation games are finalized lineup games. A large number of them are reasonably prices.

A lot of them are notably smaller in size from bigger sized video games. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection & Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics respectively. Quite luckily, every company involved wanted to deliver everything!!! This is quite rare for licensed compilation games.

Both of those are among the golden standard compilation games. Right now TMNT: The Cowabunga Collection is the best higher game count compilation game I ever played!!! It's possible to make crazier amount compilation games to work. Just don't expect it to be like that you won't be disappointed. This might be a me thing you gotta be able to play through all the games included.

Some compilation games gives you more than enough to achieve doing that!!! I absolutely loved a new game debuts through these as well. A great example being Haunted Castle Revisited through Castlevania Dominus Collection. The same Castlevania compilation has the original Arcade version among the worst Castlevania games I ever played!!!

Then you play the new version wow it's truly great stuff!!! Suddenly I'm thankful that's in the same compilation game as well. I wouldn't had that wow factor without it. Some of these made games that bad playable is quite an statement. Just imagine how much better some of the finest video games within compilation games became.

Either you have a mostly short length compilation meaning all the included games aren't long at all. Some of them can be quite lengthy in comparison. I even felt some of those could justify not having additional stuff to still do well on their own. I know some expects some huge bugs to get fix. Honestly, if any bug that could freeze your game or cause it to crash.

Those bug fixes I deeply welcomed. Compilation games kept getting more amazingly overtime. Digital Eclipse broke new ground with it's revolutionary documentary style. Which also in the upcoming MK game as well. This also became a better method to properly bring back classic video games. I do appreciate the same teams making several compilation games.

Compared to kept swapping em out for Mega Man Legacy Collection games. Seriously what's the deal with that Capcom? I think another notable factor is this heavily represents. Retro gaming simply had games holding up better or at least ended up being more interesting than a lot of newer games. Aspects of both heavily represented within compilation games.

I wanna be clear I didn't get into compilation games because of budgets. No a lot of them instantly gotten my interest. Majority of them were quite amazing video games. Once in a while I'll run into Zombies Ate My Neighbors + Ghoul Patrol situation. I don't wanna say cash grab just everything was notably off overall.

An small handful of games collections can be truly amazing stuff. Now finding actual decent higher games amount compilations is difficult. Some of those simply has too many games for you to properly focus. Which also deeply impacts the ratio you'll need to enjoy em. I felt both Capcom Arcade Stadium games were amazing despite some issues.

There's also compilation games with many similar games included. Like half the first Capcom Fighting Collection was Darkstalkers series. Mostly two of them with every Arcade alternative versions. Stuff like this heavily depends if you're that into the franchise or not. Personally I absolutely love Darkstalkers a lot I'm fine with it.

Some also could criticize TMNT: The Cowabunga Collection that also plays into that. Same with Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics to a degree as well. Yet I felt those compilation games justified themselves for that not really being an issue. Of course, depending what's included could bring back a lot of nostalgia.

You would be quite surprised how content filled games within many compilation games truly are? We're talking virtually mind blowing stuff. Even considering bigger RPG games that's packed with content. I could argue a lot of compilation games I played beats those by a ridiculous amount of content. I know some view compilation games as budget games nothing more.

More recently, compilation games became a great way to properly bring back many franchises. Even compilation games that isn't from the same franchise. But so happened to be developed and published by the same companies is also quite often. A good example being Sega Vintage Collection games. Sadly you can't buy any of these compilation games anymore.

Yes four out of five represented particular franchises. There was one that had three random Sega classics packaged together. It had Alex Kidd in Miracle World on Sega Master System. It also included Hang-On on Arcade and The Revenge of Shinobi on Sega Genesis respectively. Three vastly different Sega games from three platforms in one collection was rather unexpected for it's time.

This is why a company connection ends up being critical as well. Without that connection don't expect your compilation games to do well. People often forget so many games included in these compilation games. Realistically cost a ridiculous amount of money for just the actual cartridges/disc. Not to mention, Arcade cabinets can be pretty expensive.

Compilation games actually saves you a mind blowing amount of money you may not even realize. I do also appreciate being able to pause Arcade games. An easier save/load system could go a long way. Two remastered compilations from Nightdive truly brought those classics back. They even added newer levels to spice things up.

Another thing is compilation games for the most part comes out on most platforms. You have no excuse not owning any of them. You might prefer one game at a time. You technically could do that with compilation games to a degree. Plus you can switch to another game when you're ready. A lot of them also includes soundtracks to all games included.

Which is rather nice you just wanna listen to music. Some of them goes out their way to make amazing intros. It's not often I see them have fun with the ending credits. The more recent of that I seen was Castlevania Dominus Collection. Compilation games became a great way to attempt getting into other platforms you may never played before.

For me trying to remember every platform across every compilation game I played. We're talking a rather long list of platforms no joke. It's perfect you want a more clear idea what to like from some platforms. You also need to realize some newer versions of video games aren't great. Which could cause people to not buy anymore compilation games.

Honestly most of the games I played through em been very decent quality. Sega Classics Collection mostly had two versions of Columns while everything else wasn't great. Sega also had issues with Sonic Origins Plus as well. Which was rather disappointing being it's main flagship franchise. In some cases, you gotta pick and choose which versions you like the most?

For me, a great example indirectly involves an compilation game. I wasn't happy with the newer version of Duke Nukem 3D for many reasons. I actually greatly prefer Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition way more. Sometimes it's the little things that ends up making the biggest differences. Especially if you're going by nostalgia alone.

Compilation games quickly became one of my most demanded genres. It easily could represent so many genres depending on which games included. A true gamer would welcome such an unique experience. Load times is virtually non existent even before they focus on cutting it down in newer video games. It's so easy to marathon a great compilation game for hours nonstop.

The insane amount of work that goes into a lot of these is really impressive stuff!!! It's hard to make over ten games compilations enjoyable. Let's be honest, it's possible to like bigger amounts compilation games. In all honestly, it's up to you. If you truly wanna attempt getting into all those video games. Rare Replay may had a couple games needed to be installed outside the compilation.

Not to mention, those same games had to exclusively be played outside it altogether. You still have two ways to playing em. Either by default if they're installed just select the one you wanna play. You also could select to play em through Rare Replay as well. Rare Replay may actually have too much content for an compilation game honestly.

To be fair, Rare Replay is such a great compilation game despite it's flaws. Some of the later Xbox 360 games lags from emulation to a degree. Battletoads Arcade has getting freeze during the final boss fight issue. I still felt it's easily among the best thirty games compilations I ever played!!! I also love they put some effort into the games selection screen.

Some of them are quite amazing stuff as well. Like TMNT: The Cowabunga Collection does this cool comic book style. Compilation games are already holding up better than actual newer video games. Which is both sad and brutal honestly really disappointing!!! I also love upon looking at the games you see game play or other cool stuff from the games.

They don't need to label years of release. Although I do welcome it on some occasions. I also liked when they specify which platform that game being emulated from. A lot of compilations I played does that. Some of them don't which is fine by now. I strongly felt eventually you'll find the right compilation game you can not stop playing!!!

I especially love you see how much some companies cares for their own franchises. When you see such a lackluster overall presentation in an compilation game. You're in for a rather terrible time. You want the compilation games given proper care. I played enough compilation games to fill up some of my digital gaming collections.

In some cases, unavoidably you'll get some that has a few famous bad games. A lot of them also has games that's rather not known by a lot of people. My best advice is if you try em. Try to find a game or two you like within the compilation games you're playing. This is always a great way to know. If you may actually end up loving it or being roughly 50/50 or not liking it at all.

There's no fourth option here. The main reason I often go for compilation games. I simply wanna play a lot of games I missed out on. Especially a few series thanks to compilation games I'm now into. Castlevania and Mega Man X to name a few. Just when you thought you never play em. A compilation game with em comes out instantly getting your attention.

It's almost like an kid at an candy store. I hope their parents doesn't buy em too much candy lol. Compilation games is a great way to better understand. Yourself as well as which game genres you enjoy more? I especially love compilation games with so many genres it's insanity!!! I do see parts of the gaming future being more great compilation games coming out.

Atari 50 already changed the world. If the gaps kept getting shorter overtime. This obviously means more gamers gotten into compilation games as I predicted. I rather spend an hundred dollars on a few compilation games than one huge newer video game not sorry GTA VI. Honestly, I'm deeply thankful for compilation games in general. 

My thoughts on Hong Kong 2097

Hello everyone I'm XboxClown89, I remembered before James reviewed Hong Kong 97. It was one of my biggest requests for the show. This is the stuff of legends, easily one of the worst Nintendo games in history. Out of no where Hong Kong 97 getting a sequel after all these years. I actually got a lot to say about this.

Hong Kong 2097 actually coming to Steam. I watched the trailer I almost was left speechless. Even considering Steam allowed Big Rigs onto their service earlier this year. For those not familiar with the original Super Famicom game. It was an endless shooter game that had a parody of an actual person being the solo boss character.

The story was mind blowing not in terms being something truly amazing. Unless you consider racism within the story. All of it is greatly exaggerated to begin with. Hong Kong 97 was a game that supposedly barely gotten sold from stores. Up till this sequel was their only video game. The background kept changing with stuff that should've gotten them sued.

There's the famous Coca Cola background. Such poorly animated well everything honestly. Some of it doesn't even belongs in the game at all. They even used a real picture of a dead person in the game. I forgot where on the internet that confirmed it. The story was about reviving an China leader as an ultimate weapon.

In a rather unusual yet mess up way Wolfenstein. Let's be honest, the original game never made sense. They even used images of both Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee. Who actually knew each other in real life. The story stated Chin aka unofficial Chan character wiped out the population of China. Don't worry I'm slowly getting to the sequel shortly.

I have to do the build up to help those reading this. Hong Kong 97 was a game that should've never gotten released at all. There's no real ending you simply keep playing until you die to get game over. Now Hong Kong 2097 trailer was among the most ridiculous video game trailers I seen all year. To clarify I seen some crazy video game trailers this year.

Very quickly I noticed parodies of several memes in the game. They attempted to mimic the look as well as the game play of the original game. Some aspects seem to be a little better while the rest actually made worst. Possibly on purpose for all I know. Nothing in the trailer made any real sense. I expect no less to a game that's a sequel to Hong Kong 97!!!

I mean wow I actually seen worst looking Steam games than this. It's possible that's the entire point a sequel to such a legendary bad video game. Hong Kong 2097 I can't imagine how over the top the story going to be. Especially after what Hong Kong 97 previously given us. They are even bringing back the famous bad theme song as well.

The same song hid within another song in either version of The Angry Video Game Nerd 2 game. Yeah one of the shortest, weirdest video game songs ever!!! I thought Bubsy 3D coming back was mind blowing. Well congratulations we're getting a sequel to Hong Kong 97 the same year!!! It's pure insanity they gotten the original people involved with this!!!

What's next CrazyBus gets the "Good Edition" treatment. Here's one of my favorite underrated quotes from the movie Bad Santa that sums it all up. "I hope not that would be the end of the human race!!!" It's kinda impressive this actually happening!!! This may jump start a new era of bad games. Yeah let's keep making sequels or remakes to those games good idea!!!

The backgrounds are even more wtf than anything else. There's suppose to be five stages I bet that's a lie!!! Honestly, this trailer nearly broke me. Which is really saying a lot it's that difficult for my mind to accept. I wish someone punch me in the face to confirm if this is real or not. I wouldn't be surprise Steam quickly removed the game.

Steam didn't previously allow Plumbers Don't Wear Ties on their service. Which further bags the question, what exactly is their quality control here? Hong Kong 2097 already sounds Chin survived an thousand years yet looks exactly the same somehow!!! I knew I needed an rant entry once in awhile.

I really wasn't expecting this though. I'm more curious if there's going to be a price or simply make the game free. Obviously by making it free the entire world can experience it. Who in their right mind wanna pay for this? I felt better going for Beat 'Em Up Collection. Yes even with Sword of Sodan included another famous bad game.

They made this more into a bullet hell game. Bullet hell are games with ridiculous amount of projectiles. They can get rather repetitive at times. I actually prefer 2D shoot 'em up a little more. If this were a parody video instead. I wouldn't had to write this blog entry. There's a chance I could've just laugh a little.

Unfortunately it's a real game coming out in December. I want Blood: Refreshed Supply bury it!!! I know I'm not suppose to take such games seriously. But this is a follow up to such a bad video game. It's ridiculous this is the world we live in. Even Duke: Nuclear Winter the bad Duke 3D expansion way better!!!

Hong Kong 97 was truly one of a kind from it's era. I can't say the same about it's sequel with many indie video games. I probably have a lot more fun recreating this game within Garry's Mod!!! I'm also curious how the meeting to make this game possible went. Everything about this bags too many questions with too little answers!!!

Hong Kong 2097 is like Dracula 2000. Oh okay let's do Dracula 3000!!! Both aren't great Dracula movies just in case anyone was wondering. I wouldn't be surprise that's exactly how the title happened. I felt flash games in 2010s was more exciting than this!!! No disrespect towards anyone who made those games in that era.

How do you make a sequel to a game with no real ending? Did Chin somehow became frozen? Then his body was found just like Captain America!!! There's no way he just survived like normal. There do exist a few people that made it to their nineties in real life. Can you imagine if someone lived an thousand years?

They wouldn't be capable of doing anything themselves anymore. Yet we're suppose to believe Chin can fight off an entire population once again? As previously stated neither of these games makes any sense!!! I would like to end things by saying the following. "What we have here is failure to communicate!!!"

My thoughts on Golden Joystick Awards 2025 (Best Early Access Game award)

Hello everyone I'm XboxClown89, I know already doing a follow up blog to my previous thoughts on Golden Joystick Awards 2025. There is a rather interesting reason for it though. Following that post I did look more into some of the games nominated. In particular, the nominees for Best Early Access Game award.

I haven't played any of them at all. Early Access program mostly for indie developers. Allows their unfinished video games on Steam. Occasionally update their games while sticking close with their communities. Every single game nominated for this award actually seems like something I wanna play. Some of them already made ridiculous amount of money despite being unfinished.

I plan to give my thoughts on all the nominees. Saving my actual vote last probably to keep you guessing lol. I'm glad Golden Joystick Awards has more indie theme awards than the other similar award shows. Especially indie developers kicking bigger game companies butts right now. Deep down we all love the underdogs.

1. skate.

This is the newest entry in Skate series. I actually never played any of them myself. All I know off hand is it's a popular skateboarding game series. This also was a free game with some additional stuff you could get. I wouldn't expect such a game be a part of Early Access program. Not to disrespect it or anything either.

Compared to the rest of the nominees it wasn't that interesting to me. I know it from a recent GrayStillPlays video. It's possible this might be out doing the newer Tony Hawk game. Which also gotten nominated in another award. Honestly, there isn't that much to say about it. Just surprised it's a free game.

2. Grounded 2

This is a follow up to Grounded. I haven't played either of them. The concept is a small group of kids gotten shrunken down to the size of ants. They work together to survive insects. I will give some credit the game looks interesting. Honestly, there isn't much else directly pulling me in. I do consider it a bit more interesting than skate. though.

In a way it has an unfair advantage since it's a sequel to a popular game. I still think since all of them are within Early Access program. It's still fair game in that regard. I do think Grounded 2 has some interesting stuff going for it despite that. Personally I find the rest of the nominees more interesting in comparison.

3. White Knuckle

Some may know it from a few Markiplier videos. This is an intense horror climbing game. This concept already more interesting than the last two I talked about. The unique art style pops along with the environment. It's a popular speed running game. You don't know what obstacles could be in your path.

You're constantly climbing or jumping your way upwards. You gotta adapt on the fly to get far. Not only that White Knuckle somehow works amazingly well. I will confess I usually don't think climbing games interesting. This particular one actually peak my interest a lot. I do think the final version going to explode in a great way.

4. Schedule 1

I know some view this as a GTA clone. This actually among drug dealer simulator style games. The goal of the game is having a successful drug empire. I was quite surprise all the possible stuff you could do in it. This has more content than you would expect from an Early Access game. It's actually possible to get into the millions through gambling.

Some criticize it because the game similar to Drug Dealer Simulator I'm serious. Yes there's some GTA aspects to the game. I gotta be honest this game blew my expectations. They recently added a new section to the map. I felt in it's current direction. The finished version going to be absolutely amazing!!!

5. 9 Kings

This is a rather unique concept for a game. I actually wanna play this myself. 9 Kings is a rogue-like army theme game. You pick one of several kings to play as. Each king has their own advantages. Just as you expect from other games in the genre. You can constantly level up to get some crazy upgrades.

Considering Vampire Survivors with a few other games killing it right now. This stands out enough from those games. This is rather ambitious to do it in putting armies against each other. I will give them a lot credit they really pulled it off!!! 9 Kings has an insane level of depth to it. I actually felt this going to change the genre in a huge way.

I actually seen some truly mind blowing videos. I would even dare to say among the most ridiculous of that style games I ever seen!!! You get a lot of ground to work with from the beginning. Honestly, I can't believe this game works this insanely well!!! I really want to see how amazing the final version going to be!!!

6. R.E.P.O. (My vote)

To clarify something no I didn't vote in last year's Golden Joystick Awards. I found out not long after I voting. Lethal Company won Best Early Access Game award. Which R.E.P.O. has some similarities to. I actually voted for it because the art design was interesting. You go around randomly generated locations to loot stuff.

There's plenty of creatures you could run into. This is meant to be a co-op game. Although I recently seen someone doing levels by themselves. You earn money following levels to spend money on upgrades. This is a rather unique co-op horror game. I am amaze this isn't even an finished game. From what I was seeing this was quite impressive.

As far I'm aware of there's no true end to the game. I don't know if there might be plans to change that or not. What I do know is it's such a massive hit on Steam. I like the actual look of the characters you play as. This is such an unique experience. I really do hope R.E.P.O. wins the award. Regardless this is among a long list of games I would love to play eventually.

Conclusion

Indie developers kept impressing me over the years. I really wish I would've notice them way sooner. Especially among seeing some of these games nominated here. Some of which are truly amazing video games. It's rather kind to have an award for games not even finished. But thousands if not more are enjoying the hell out of.

Maybe it isn't about how complete games needs to be. But rather how truly fun and in depth they possibly could get. Which is very true with every game nominated for this award. I really didn't expect my interest to explode among looking into these games. Honestly, I would consider playing all of them.

I think 9 Kings and Schedule 1 has the highest chances beating out R.E.P.O. Then again I haven't played any of these!!! I don't really know their respective communities at all. For all I know I might've voted for the most unlikely to win the award. At the same time, I do wish all of them luck. Indie developers are the future of gaming.