2026-04-27T00:08:46-05:00speedk.ing feedThe bastion of mediocrity.https://speedk.ing/Short reviews of games played and beaten in 2025https://speedk.ing/gemfeed/2026-04-03-Game-Reviews-Of-2025.html2026-04-03T00:48:32-05:00Soviet5loSoviet5lo@disroot.orgAll games are scored in a personally used 21-point scale, ranging from -10 to +10, 0 inclusive. Games between -2 and +2 can be considered 'average', +3 to +6 being 'good', +7 to +10 being 'great', -3 to -6 being 'bad', and -7 to -10 being 'awful'. Alternatively, a visual guide:
Short reviews of games played and beaten in 2025
Published at 2026-04-03T00:48:32-05:00
All games are scored in a personally used 21-point scale, ranging from -10 to +10, 0 inclusive. Games between -2 and +2 can be considered "average", +3 to +6 being "good", +7 to +10 being "great", -3 to -6 being "bad", and -7 to -10 being "awful". Alternatively, a visual guide:
Any game listed directly underneath a game is the original/unmodified game and the score I give it (assuming I have played the original).
---Mortal Kombat II Special [NES bootleg] (-1) I always enjoyed playing the Mortal Kombat 2 port by Hummer Team but this greatly improves on the presentation. Better visuals, better music, even includes voice samples. The movelist has been improved as well and it's genuinely fun to play now. The only complaint I'd have is the lack of fatalities, but outside of that this feels like a very late gen NES port that could have been done by Acclaim. Definitely something I could see myself firing up to play for 10 or so minutes for some quick fun.
The Jetsons: Cogswell's Caper [NES] (2)
Music is good and some of the level design is nice, the bosses have some easy patterns and the visuals are decent enough, but some of the level design is cruel at times especially with a few of the bosses and the light strobing whenever you hit a switch and during the final level is just obnoxious. It's definitely a late NES-era platformer so it controls well, but it's also a little on the short side taking about an hour or so to beat. A decent licensed title for the system.
Pokemon TCG: Neo [Gameboy Color Romhack] (5)
---Pokemon TCG [Gameboy Color] (4) One thing I will note is that despite every card being changed, amusingly enough the game is made a bit easier because the Cyndaquil & Friends deck is absolutely busted; I used this single deck throughout the entire game with very, _very_ little modification. That being said, I like the different variety here with the cards being more creative compared to the ones in the original release. Then again I am a huge Generation 2 fan so I'm probably a tad biased here.
Donkey Kong Country 4 Improvement [NES Romhack] (-1)
---Donkey Kong Country 4 [NES Bootleg] (-2) Well, it's certainly an improvement. The physics are still janky but some of the spritework looks better now. In addition, the soundtrack is actually good instead of the weird tinny audio you get from typical Hummer Team games. Unfortunately, weird physics in a platformer will still hamper your enjoyment of this, and outside of maybe one or two levels the game is fairly easy and rather short.
Pokemon Polished Crystal [Gameboy Color Romhack] (8)
---Pokemon Crystal [Gameboy Color] (6) Alright, I'll just say this right here; this is the best Pokemon romhack I've ever played. The title of this game is incredibly misleading; it's not just a polished version of Pokemon Crystal, it's an entire revamp of the game taking into account roughly 25 years of homebrew development for the Gameboy Color packing in as much as possible. It not only fixes just about every flaw there is with the original game (party leveling is still a bit slow as the exp share doesn't cover the entire party like later gens), it backports quality of life features from later generations and adds plenty of content on its own that perfectly fits the game world. Multiple new routes and locations directly inspired by Pokewalker routes, evolutions and pre-evolutions introduced in later generations, revamped movesets and a much better leveling curve. The only real blemish I can even include here is the unfinished content in later portions of the game. If there's any game in this entire list that anyone must play, it's this one.
The Quest of Ki [Famicom] (5)
Honestly I kind of wanted to play this after seeing it on GameCenter CX and you know, it's actually very fun. The game is a rather simple in design puzzle platformer where you grab a key and make it to the end of the level, but its central gimmick is that you don't have any attacks and you don't have a jump button, rather an "ascend" button. Levels take advantage of this, so while the controls feel weird after 10 or so minutes you quickly adjust to the physics. Took about 10 or so hours to beat and I enjoyed it a fair amount, much better than I was expecting. As a sidenote, yes I did the famous GCCX Level 97, it took me about 45 minutes to beat.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker [Gamecube] (3)
I bought this game in 2003. I played it on and off and made it all the way to close to the end, getting the light arrows and making my way just before the puppet ganon fight. And then I left to go do a bunch of side quest stuff, with my last save being in mid 2005. It took me literally 20 years to come back to this game to finish it, and what can I say. It's an okay Zelda game but I wouldn't put it in my top 3 list. The game is way too frontloaded, the ocean is mostly empty (but that's to be expected I suppose), the triforce shard hunt can kick rocks, and the dungeons are rather linear. But at least I closed a 20 year door, so that's a plus.
Super Mario RPG [SNES] (6)
Okay so technically this wasn't a vanilla playthrough as I was using the MSU-1 patch to give it the soundtrack of the Switch remake, but I didn't include that info here as it really doesn't change the game at all. Nearly 20 years since I last played this and it still holds up rather well. It doesn't overstay its welcome, most of the chapters are of good length (except nimbus land thats basically a two-parter), and the game isn't too difficult. Of course if you get the Lazy Shell half-way through nimbus land then the game difficult is completely broken in your favor, but I won't hold it against the game. The isometric 3d sprites still hold up as well and gives the game a very distinctive look. Definitely still worth playing.
Paris-Dakar Rally Special [Famicom] (-5)
The best part of this game is the 10 minute entirely un-needed adventure game segment at the beginning. The first stage is almost entirely RNG, the second stage goes on for way too long, the third stage has truly awful platforming, the fourth stage is a very out-of-place underwater level, the fifth stage is a way too long drive through the desert avoiding scorpions, wild boars and snakes, the sixth stage is a random shmup level and the final stage features high speed driving through incredibly narrow crevices that instakill you. Every single level changes the mechanics that makes knowing the controls from the previous level entirely useless. You never have the chance to properly adapt to the controls as they keep changing; the first level you press down to brake but the last level you press A to brake. Nothing works in this game and it certainly has next to nothing to do with the Paris-Dakar Rally.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time [PC Fan Port] (7)
---Ocarina of Time [N64] (6) I had a bit of an urge to revisit Ocarina of Time after not playing it in over 20 years, so I decided to check out the PC port. It's still Ocarina of Time so that's a positive, but with a few Quality of Life features that are some solid improvements like assigning items to the D-pad in addition to the C buttons. I had a few issues playing this on an Xbox-style controller (using the analog stick for C-buttons is a nightmare imo) and by the time my 8bitdo 64 controller arrived I was mostly finished with the game, but I still had a good time with it. Certainly the best way to play the original release these days.
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX HD v1.14 [PC Fan Port] (4)
---Link's Awakening DX [Gameboy Color] (4) Yet another game that I haven't played in about 20 years, but I wanted to try something different like the PC port of Ocarina of Time. The fan port has been a bit of a buggy mess, with hitboxes being rather wonky, the game softlocking on occasional, and a few music bugs. However the Quality of Life changes have been incredible; no dumb dialog every time you touch a liftable object, multiple buttons to assign items to, and being able to see the entire game world at the same time is amazing, although not as useful as you'd think it to be. At the time of this writing, the current version is v1.72 which has apparently fixed a ton of bugs and improved the hitboxes. Perhaps I'll give this a second look in 2026.
Lost Kingdoms [Gamecube] (4)
A childhood classic of mine, from completely obscure developers From Software. There's a little bit of jank but it doesn't heavily detract from the game experience in my opinion. It's a strange card battling action rpg, you use cards from your deck to summon monsters to act as attacks. There's not a huge amount of cards in the game total; only 150, but the amount of variety isn't bad. Cards can be straight-forward attacks, summoned and CPU controlled, or cutscene style abilities. There's a very small amount of post-game, but I think the game as a whole is only about 10-12 hours long. Pretty good title if you want a card battler that's not the standard duel type.
Os Cavaleiros do Zodíaco [NES Bootleg] (-1)
A game from Hummer Team that nobody knew existed until last year. It's one of their fighting games and yeah, it's about what you'd expect if you know what they do. It's halfway decent for a bootleg but nothing really amazing. The biggest thing here is the voice samples and audio, assuming you play it on its native hardware, the Rinco Talkman. I do like the novelty of a Taiwanese developed game using the Portuguese dub and names of characters and being published exclusively by a Taiwanese company who released it only in Saudi Arabia. Too bad its rather short, but most Hummer Team fighters are short affairs.
Titenic [NES Bootleg] (-1)
Speaking of Hummer Team, Titenic is a beat-em-up based on...Titanic? The movie? What a strange choice. I have no idea how they misspelled the title unless it was intentional to avoid copyright, but it's very, very plainly based on the movie. The movement physics are weird, jumping feels very janky, and some enemies can be real damage sponges. The music is...okay, I guess. Visually the game looks nice, a trait shared by most Hummer Team titles. As bizarre of a concept this is, it kinda works? Vaguely? I'd play it again, especially if someone made a patch to remove a little bit of the jank.
Deathbots [NES Unlicensed] (-7)
I've played this game on and off for the past 30 or so years, never making it past the second level. After the MaxiVision 30-in-1 cart was dumped I decided to actually sit down and play it for real. That was a mistake; the graphics are gross, the levels are annoying to get through, inventory management is terrible with some of the worst menuing, and you just have to love enemies who can shoot through the entire level while your bullets only travel about two body lengths. Multiple corridors where you can't manuever at all forcing you to take damage from enemy shots. Music that's horribly repetitive and annoying to listen to. The worst part? I had to play through this _twice_; the version included on the Maxivision 30-in-1 (and the Maxivision 15-in-1) is simply a _demo_ version. After playing a dump of the standalone cart, my opinion did not improve. The game has an additional 2 levels, some of the enemy sprites are very, very slightly better (and a few aren't just placeholders anymore), and there's an odd shop system where you don't have any currency, you just pick between two choices? Who on earth thought this was a good idea to release to the general public. Perhaps one day I'll play the original Amiga game (yes, this was a port of an Amiga title apparently)
True Crime: New York City [Gamecube] (-4)
I bought this game as a teen and only played the first...chapter? Even back then I knew it was bad compared to the first game, but I wanted to experience the whole thing (apparently I am a masochist) and see the whole story. This game is a technical mess; glitchy, poor performance, muddy textures. A lot of the mechanics introduced in this game make sense but have very poor implementation or just feel unfinished. The voice acting leaves a lot to be desired, the story is a tad boring and it has that expected mid-00s open world GTA-clone jank. Underneath it all though, you can tell the developers had a ton of ambition for the game, but either lack of budget or lack of time (or both) just completely hampered what they could do. Honestly just check it out to see how busted it is, you might get a laugh or two.
Star Fox: Assault [Gamecube] (3)
Alright I feel like I'm the weird one here so I'm going to get this out of the way first thing; I feel like this is the direction the Star Fox series should have gone in. This game isn't perfect of course, it's linear and there's less proper arwing sections to make way for third-person on-foot segments that feel a little off, but its a good way of pushing the series forward I believe. The story is...fine, I guess? Nintendo really had a thing for assimilation enemies during this time period. Controles are just a little janky; everything feels a bit _too_ floaty. Missions are kind of repetitive as well, way too many "blow up the generator" missions when the whole game is only 10 missions long. The multiplayer is really, really fun though, no bots unfortunately.
Digimon Sapphire [Gameboy Advance Bootleg] (2)
I have never played any Digimon video game before this one so I had no idea what to expect. Honestly? This is a pretty decent bootleg platformer. Visually the game looks nice, the music is passable, the physics aren't as janky as you'd expect and there's a fair amount of levels. I feel like the boss fights can drag on a bit too long sometimes, and there's a few bugs that are easy to exploit. The lack of checkpoints in levels is also a pain, forcing you to start the entire stage from the beginning if you happen to die near the end.
Alfred Chicken [NES] (-4)
This is about what I expected from a eurojank platformer. Sprawling levels and collecting things while playing as a chicken trying to...rescue his girlfriend? I have no idea as the game doesn't have much of a story. It's only a few levels long but the levels are big and require you to release all of the balloons. There's apparently some other things you're supposed to collect (hidden items?) but I didn't really bother looking for those, I just wanted this game to be over with about an hour in. At least it gave us some funny phone call recording from decades ago.
Link: Faces of Evil Remastered [PC Fan Port] (1)
Zelda: Wand of Gamelon Remastered [PC Fan Port] (1)
After finally playing these well known memes I can say that they're passable. Granted this is because I'm playing the fan remasters that applies a ton of Quality of Life changes to them, but they're serviceable games at the end of the day. The cutscenes are laughable but that's most of the charm. The games aren't that difficult and its a bit on the short side (2 hours for each), but they're not bad. I've never played the originals but these feel like solid improvements that grant a fair amount of polish.
Speedking 2.0: no longer .local, now it's .inghttps://speedk.ing/gemfeed/2026-03-25-Speedking-two-point-zero.html2026-03-25T01:56:37-05:00Soviet5loSoviet5lo@disroot.orgOver the course of the past two months, I decided to finally upgrade from the old Raspberry Pi 3 I've been using since 2019 as a LAN-only server for a few things (mostly Gitea, but a few other smaller things as well) to something more substantial. The Pi still works, but it was showing its age and due to tech in general getting more expensive I decided to get something better to run it on before prices spiral out of control even more. Since it's a fair amount better than what I was using previously, I figured 'why not toss this whole thing online' and here we are.
Speedking 2.0: no longer .local, now it's .ing
Published at 2026-03-25T01:56:37-05:00
Over the course of the past two months, I decided to finally upgrade from the old Raspberry Pi 3 I've been using since 2019 as a LAN-only server for a few things (mostly Gitea, but a few other smaller things as well) to something more substantial. The Pi still works, but it was showing its age and due to tech in general getting more expensive I decided to get something better to run it on before prices spiral out of control even more. Since it's a fair amount better than what I was using previously, I figured "why not toss this whole thing online" and here we are.
It's certainly not going to be a perfect website; it's not going to have 100% uptime (the internet here drops at least twice a week for 10 minutes, not counting the maintenance I'll be doing), it's not going to be the most performant, its not going to look super fancy with every new framework under the sun, it's not going to be ultra formal to double as a CV, and in the greater scope of internet time it'll probably be rather ephemeral. But it's mine and I'm pleased with it.
Why does this exist? Why not?
How is this site even made? If we're talking about the pages you're viewing, this was entirely written in Gemtext for the Gemini protocol. It's then converted into HTML format via Gemtexter.
What is this site hosted on? It's hosted on a repurposed Lenovo ThinkCentre I bought off of eBay, which is then tunneled through a VPS to the broader internet.
Why this specific piece of hardware? It was cheap (a little over 100 USD), capable and easy to source parts for if needed. My original choices were actually Intel NUC based devices, but why spend 150+ for one of those when I could get something about as powerful for less while also recycling some hardware?
Why the name "Speedking"? It's a JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (part 8) reference. I originally used this as the hostname on the Raspberry Pi 3 I used from 2019 to 2026 as a LAN-only server for git and a few other things. Checked Porkbun for domain names and this was available.
Why go through all the trouble of self-hosting and tunneling? Why not just use a VPS? I could have done it all on the VPS, yeah. Could have just setup everything via Uberspace, or if we want something more "retro" and simple to work with Neocities. But I had a few reasons for going this route.
Primarily, it's a learning experience.
Self-hosting gives me far more control over what I can do with everything here.
It's "cheaper" (it's actually not since I'm still paying for a VPS here)
Since it's being self-hosted on my own hardware, I can effectively upgrade storage/RAM whenever (lmao good luck with parts being expensive as they are)
I have a few spare laptop drives I can use for on-site backups of everything here (not like the backup files would be particularly big)
So...what are you actually going to do with this? I dunno. Mostly just as a blog or something really. I do have a few ideas tossed around that could be a thing later on:
Single user fediverse instance to act as some sort of social media (as I have never used anything like twitter and the like)
A public IRC server if I desire. I already setup Ergo when I still used the Raspberry Pi just to see how simple it is to get going, but I cannot imagine anyone who comes across this wanting to use IRC for communication.
Otherwise who knows. I guess we'll see where things go from here.
Short reviews of games played and beaten in 2024https://speedk.ing/gemfeed/2025-02-20-Game-Reviews-Of-2024.html2026-03-20T21:56:08-05:00Soviet5loSoviet5lo@disroot.orgAll games are scored in a personally used 21-point scale, ranging from -10 to +10, 0 inclusive. Games between -2 and +2 can be considered 'average', +3 to +6 being 'good', +7 to +10 being 'great', -3 to -6 being 'bad', and -7 to -10 being 'awful'. Alternatively, a visual guide:
Short reviews of games played and beaten in 2024
Published at 2026-03-20T21:56:08-05:00 Last updated 2026-04-03T16:02:06-05:00
All games are scored in a personally used 21-point scale, ranging from -10 to +10, 0 inclusive. Games between -2 and +2 can be considered "average", +3 to +6 being "good", +7 to +10 being "great", -3 to -6 being "bad", and -7 to -10 being "awful". Alternatively, a visual guide:
Any game listed directly underneath a game is the original/unmodified game and the score I give it (assuming I have played the original).
---Paper Mario [Nintendo 64] (+7) I personally feel like this replaces the original for me. I generally prefer the visuals, music, story, environments, characters and sidequests in PM64 over TTYD, the only thing I wish it had from TTYD is its combat. This romhack does exactly that; imports the entirety of TTYD's combat into PM64 (badges, items, combat mechanics, even enemies can utilize items and badges now), as well as adding new locations to facilitate this.
Final Fantasy Restored [NES Romhack] (+5)
---Final Fantasy [NES] (+3) Final Fantasy on NES is a good game but one that is plagued with a ton of bugs that causes about half of the game to not function as intended. Playing Final Fantasy Restored is a good glimpse of how the game should have been released as intended. Still some early Final Fantasy jank not removed by the QoL additions (spells being so limited for one), but it's a vastly better experience compared to the original release.
Chrono Trigger + [SNES Romhack] (+7)
---Chrono Trigger [SNES] (+8) Chrono Trigger is the one RPG on SNES I consider the closest to perfect (not the best however, that goes to Final Fantasy 6). I enjoyed my time with Chrono Trigger+, but I feel its a little bit weaker. Not that it radically touches the original game outside of some new sidequests, but I feel the added content isn't up to CT's standard, and while exploring 1999's map is pretty cool it's a bit underwhelming in terms of what you can do. It's also a little visually rough.
Zelda 2: Link is Adventuresome [PC Fan Port] (+7)
---Zelda 2 [NES] (+4) Zelda 2 on NES is a fine game on its own, but flawed in places. I feel like the fan remake resolves most of the issues I had with the same; there's ways to make it easier (via collecting extra items to help on your quest), enough variety to keep things from being repetitive, and there's even a post-game for the second quest. If you want to play Zelda 2, Link is Adventuresome is the way to go.
Sonic CD Restored [PC Game Mod] (+6)
---Sonic CD (+5) The changes this makes to Sonic CD are for the most part minor, but added up this is probably the ideal way to play Sonic CD. The biggest benefit is "instant-warp", basically getting rid of the psuedo-loading transition between traveling through time periods. There's several minor level layout changes to make it similar to Sonic CD's original SegaCD release, allowing for more paths for speedrunners as well. And of course there's a customizable soundtrack editor so you can freely choose the JP or US OST for every zone. My preferred way of playing Sonic CD.
True Crime: Streets of LA [Gamecube] (+4)
I haven't played this game in nearly 20 years but it was fun to go back to. Probably the closest thing to a functional GTA clone on the Gamecube even though it does enough different that it's not a straight GTA clone. Definitely some jank in the game, signs that the game was a little bit rushed but it plays fine for what it does. Grand Theft Auto 3 and Vice City do what True Crime does better (typically), but if you only owned a Gamecube this is a worthwhile look.
Adventures of Tom Sawyer [NES] (-3)
One of my childhood games that I never beat until way, way later. This is a very mediocre platformer at best, with a story that doesn't involve the plot of the book at all outside of the final boss kinda. Your attack flies in an arc like the rocks in Friday the 13th which makes it difficult to hit smaller enemies closer to you. It's not the worst game I've played, but I definitely wouldn't consider it good.
Zook Hero X2 [Gameboy Color Bootleg] (-3)
This is a bootleg clone of one of the Megaman X games on Gameboy Color, all things considered its actually pretty impressive. However that doesn't make it good, with some janky controls, the "robot masters" not having weaknesses to any weapons, minibosses having some patterns that make them difficult to avoid taking damage, and the requirement of getting 4 hidden upgrades in stages to reach the final stage and boss. Amusingly enough this is the first ever Megaman game I've ever beaten.
Zook Man ZX4 [Gameboy Advance Bootleg] (-2)
Much like the above this is a bootleg clone of one of the Megaman X games on GBA. I think this is better but only by a little bit, it controls better and naturally the visuals are improved. Funny bad translation too but I guess you can make out what it says so that's a plus. The ending is odd though since there's no actual final boss, it just ends after the boss rush.
Zombie Nation [NES] (+3)
Prime example of Bakage (Stupid game) but it's a game I can easily go back to just to burn 20 minutes to have some fun. Difficult game unless you know of the HP-to-1 traps the game throws at you, after that the game difficulty drops dramatically. Some absolutely insane music and the visuals look pretty good, if you know the game well it can be beaten in about 30 minutes.
Jaws [NES] (-2)
I wouldn't go far to say that this is a bad game but it's a very boring one. You're a person who sails between two islands giving seashells to shopkeepers to upgrade your harpoon gun to be strong enough to do something more than 100 shots per 1 bar of health for Jaws, level 3 or 4 would be enough for a turbo controller. After that you ram the ship into Jaws to kill him. If this game did SOMETHING interesting with this I would have given it at least a -1, but this is a 15 minute game that you'll barely remember after finishing it.
Shooting Range [NES] (0)
This is just a shooting gallery on NES. If you typed into an AI generator prompt "A shooting gallery game on the Nintendo Entertainment System", this is what you'd get. Nothing stands out about this.
Donkey Kong Land 3 [Gameboy Color] (+3)
A surprisingly good platformer for Gameboy in the Donkey Kong Country lineage. Some people would probably consider this better than DKC3 proper as there are significantly less gimmick levels, and the game is generally shorter as a whole. The visuals look a bit muddy but that's to be expected when converting CG sprites onto an 8-bit handheld. The music was carried over from DKC3 but because they effectively had to be "demade" for Gameboy some sound a bit different tonally to me, but still enjoyable.
Super Monkey Daibouken [Famicom] (-3)
Honestly for a game that's considered at the bottom of the Kusoge pile this isn't _entirely_ terrible. It's just a really, really boring game that's completely arcane unless you know the story of Journey to the West. Combat is pointless as there's no stats to level up or weapons to get, only Son Goku has an actual attack and the other party members are completely useless, and the attack itself feels very janky. It's a very ambitious title for the time period, it's just the technology and skill wasn't there to make it.
Mirai Shinwa Jarvas Redux [Famicom Romhack] (-6)
The concept that this game has is actually really cool, but the game itself is massively flawed. The first two hours of the game is basically spent grinding just so you can have enough HP and equipment to actually survive duels long enough to grind up enough fame to access the first boss. You never truly get stronger as your weapons and armor don't contribute enough attack and defense unless your level is high enough to take advantage of it, and even by end game with the best equipment you'll get two-shot by enemies. Many of the quests are poorly explained with vague hints like "a tree to the west" being your only idea of a clue as to where to go to get something. At least the Redux patch reduces _some_ of the grinding, making it slightly more playable. This still took me 10 hours to beat though.
Super Metroid - Project Base [SNES Romhack] (+7)
---Super Metroid [SNES] (+7) I gave this the same score as the vanilla game because the vast majority of changes made in this just make the game flow faster by merging a few rooms together and giving more exploration options to do a few things early. It's still Super Metroid at the end of the day. The new movement options are nice, but they don't really contribute a ton to a casual player like myself.
Commando [NES] (-2)
This is a rather mediocre run-and-gun from early Capcom. There's only 4 levels and to get the "ending" you have to complete 4 loops of the game. Everything just feels off in this, the visuals are a little muddy and can glitch out at times but they're mostly minor bugs. The stages aren't particularly interesting either, being your generic battlefield style stage. At least this game isn't as bad as Ikari Warriors on NES.
Guerrilla War [NES] (+4)
Now this is how its done. This is SNK doing overhead run and gun games right, with good music, solid visuals and fast paced gameplay with plenty of variety. The story is a bit silly as its very, very clearly based on The Cuban Revolution but who cares about the story in this, you just want to shoot soldiers jump into tanks and blow up stuff. Commando walked so Guerrilla War could run.
Tyrian 2000 [PC/DOS] (+5)
This is an incredibly high quality shoot-em-up by...Epic? The Fortnite people? But really, this is just an excellent game with plenty of variety and a good amount of nice fast paced shooting action. If there's any weak part about the game it's Episode 5, which was created years after the original game by a different dev team and it shows. But even with that bit of a blemish, it's still more Tyrian.
Xexyz [NES] (+4)
Yet another childhood game of mine, this one has an odd mix of action platforming and side scrolling shooting segments. I enjoy it for what it is, and I don't find the game too terribly difficult. The boss fights are neat, since they tend to be rather large but with not too complex patterns. Visually the game looks great for the era, and the music is good. I can't really say a bunch I dislike about it, maybe the shooter segments in the castles are a bit repetitive since they require you to pick the right door or you loop.
Zelda 1 Redux [NES Romhack] (+5)
---Zelda 1 [NES] (+4) It's been a good while since I've played Zelda 1 and I found this to be better than the original if only because of some quality of life improvements like the map being a proper map and not just a featureless grey rectangle. Bomb-able walls also have cracks showing that they can be bombed instead of being a guessing game like the original, and arrows actually use arrows instead of rupees.
Lagrange Point [Famicom] (+4)
The only thing people really know about this game is the fact that it uses the VRC-7 chip and as a result has some very high quality music for a Famicom game. But I actually kinda like it, I think the combat is interesting enough for an 8-bit JRPG and the setting is neat, although I feel that the setting isn't utilized enough along with the story. I wasn't expecting weapon crafting and it's a bit arcane as to how it works, but I like it. I highly recommend playing with a reduced encounters patch however, as the vanilla encounter rate is insanely high.
Bashi Bazook: Morphoid Masher [NES] (+1)
I wanted to play this because it was compared to Xexyz and yeah, I can see it. Both games came out around the same time and its alleged that this game was never released in the US due to it being way too similar to Xexyz. It's an action platformer with the typical weapon upgrades you'd expect although you can miss them entirely if you don't look everywhere. I like the mechanic where the boss of every stage has more health the longer you take to reach it. Generally though if you want a game like this, play Xexyz, it does everything this game does but better.
Hoshi wo Miru Hito [Famicom] (-7)
This is definitely the worst game I played and finished this year. There are just so, so many bizarre design choices here. Why is the starting town invisible? Why is the game designed in such a way that most enemy encounters at the start will kill you? Why does the first weapon you buy do less damage than fighting unarmed? Why can you not run from battle until you learn a psychic power that allows you to run starting at around level 5, and even then it only works if it fails unless you have nobody else in your party? Why does the game require you to have at least 4 expensive keys to progress the story that are consumed upon use which can leave the game in a softlocked state? Why are you only doing single to double digit damage with end game equipment? Why are end game enemies only doing about 30-50 damage to you when you'll have about 6000 HP at this point? The only thing that's cool about this game is that your character portraits change after reaching certain level milestones.
Fester's Quest: PAL-To-NTSC [NES Romhack] (-2)
I honestly expected this to be worse but this is mostly the top-down shooter segments from Blaster Master turned into its own game but with worse controls. Using the PAL-To-NTSC patch makes shots do more damage and go through walls, fixing two of the biggest problems of the original North American release. It's still a subpar game however; some bosses still take too long to kill, like the level 3 and 4 bosses and the final boss I beat using a cheese method. But if you want your Fester fix, this patch is the way to do it.
Doki Doki Yuuenchi/Crazyland [Famicom/NES] (+1)
A platformer from VAP, this has an interesting power-up mechanic where your attacks get stronger the more damage you take. The music is pretty good too, but I feel like a lot of this is offset by some bad level design in later levels (particularly in the minecart levels), questionable enemy design and boss fights that go on for too long. The jump feels a little janky as well, but it's not the worst I've seen. It's worth a look at least, alternatively just fire up the soundtrack and listen to that.
Robocop 2 [Gameboy] (-3)
I never beat this game as a kid and playing through it now it's clear why. You move incredibly slowly, with plenty of blind jumps and instant death traps. All of the bosses are exactly the same except for a minor change like "the legs are armored", even the final boss is just fighting the same robot three times in a row. For a super fighting robot cop, you sure are incredibly weak. At least the title screen is kinda neat. The eurojank here is obvious, but what else would you expect from Ocean Software.
Menace Beach [NES Unlicensed] (-4)
Alright, this game is just bad. The later levels contain some of the most infuriating level design I've encountered in recent history, and it doesn't help that multiple enemies can only be killed via one specific item that can be entirely RNG on if you get it, and even then the item has such a long delay it's entirely RNG if the enemy will stand in the one spot for long enough. The music is dull, the level design is bad, your attack range is pitiful and the visuals look dated even for 1992. It's no wonder this was an unlicensed game; Nintendo wouldn't want to slap the seal of quality on this one.
Millionaire [NES Unlicensed] (-3)
I think Monopoly is a bad board game so making a clone of Monopoly but you're buying countries and there's no auction or trading and far less Chance cards sounds like a fun idea but the execution is so dull it doesn't matter.
Tiny Toons Adventures 6 [NES Bootleg] (+1)
An unlicensed port of Babs Big Break to the NES by Hummer Team, and is surprisingly faithful. There are a few differences, like you having more health and a few of the bosses being slightly different, but the addition of Konami's OST of Tiny Toons Adventures is actually pretty nice. There's a little bit of jank of course, but nothing that ruins the game in my opinion.
Tiny Toon Adventures: Babs Big Break [Gameboy] (+1)
And since I never played the original game TTA6 was based on I wanted to beat this to compare. I enjoy both at about the same level, but there are some things this game does better like a few extra areas and levels that weren't carried over to TTA6. Since this game is on Game Boy however the view area is smaller and the gameplay is slower in general, and I don't think the music is as good. The jump physics are consistent however so it makes some things easier to do compared to TTA6. Both are relatively short so I'd say play both.
Microreviews of games on the SuperVision 52-in-1https://speedk.ing/gemfeed/2024-10-27-52-in-1.html2026-03-30T23:48:33-05:00Soviet5loSoviet5lo@disroot.orgIn late 2024 I decided I wanted to play through and stream the SuperVision 52-in-1, the bootleg multicart that served as the inspiration behind Action 52. I typed up a text file with a roughly 2-3 short sentence review of every game I played (for the most part), shared it with a few folks and never really thought about it again until I realized I could just put it in a blog post. Formatting for Gemini aside, the vast majority of this was typed up in October of 2024. Don't take this super seriously.
Microreviews of games on the SuperVision 52-in-1
Published at 2026-03-30T23:48:33-05:00
In late 2024 I decided I wanted to play through and stream the SuperVision 52-in-1, the bootleg multicart that served as the inspiration behind Action 52. I typed up a text file with a roughly 2-3 short sentence review of every game I played (for the most part), shared it with a few folks and never really thought about it again until I realized I could just put it in a blog post. Formatting for Gemini aside, the vast majority of this was typed up in October of 2024. Don't take this super seriously.
My overall opinion on this multicart: It's better than the multicart that was inspired by this one by a fair margin, even if all of these games are early NES/Famicom titles. At least most of these games function and are playable, even though you might only get about 5-10 minutes of playtime out of some of them.
After the title of most games I have linked a video from RndStranger acting as a brief overview/review of the game, if you want something that's more than a one line summary from me. I recommend watching them as they're not long (at most 10 minutes) and offer more context.
Famidaily - Episode 0116 - Gradius Gradius is some good stuff especially for an early title. Power up system is unique too which is an added bonus.
03. P-D FIGHTING (Hokoto no Ken)
Famidaily - Episode 0133 - Hokuto no Ken/Fist of the North Star It honestly blows my mind this game released in 1986 and yet is worse than Kung Fu which released in 1985. You can make people's head explode. That's about it. No idea where the title comes from.
04. STAR SOLDIER
Famidaily - Episode 0123 - Star Soldier Honestly a bit bizzare that you cannot shoot while you're behind a background object. Otherwise, it's a space shooter. Still better than what you'd find on Action 52.
05. GOONIES (The Goonies)
Famidaily - Episode 0099 - The Goonies The music is good but it's Cyndi Lauper in 8-bit, how could it be bad? The game itself is okay, puzzle platformer of the era.
Famidaily - Episode 0097 - Twinbee Well, it's not in space. It's still a shooter though. One of the better ones on this multicart however, and it's cute.
Famidaily - Episode 0120 - B-Wings The fact that you can select your weapon addon at the start is the only saving grace here. Otherwise the graphics seem dull and the sound is awful, game is very repetitive too.
13. 1942
Famidaily - Episode 0086 - 1942 DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DOOT. I sure do love listening to the same ear grating audio for 30+ minutes. Gameplay is very slow too.
14. GYROOINE (Gyrodine)
Famidaily - Episode 0102 - Gyrodine You're a helicopter that shoots at unarmed people on the beach and cars on the street. Kinda fucked up tbh. Just another shooter, nothing special here.
15. FLAPPY
Famidaily - Episode 0043 - Flappy This has no relation to Flappy Bird. This is a weird variant of Sokoban honestly. Cute character though.
Famidaily - Episode 0056 - Front Line What the absolute fuck are these sprites. What is this audio. What is this gameplay. Easily the worst title on this entire compilation.
20. 1989GALAXIAN (Galaxian hack, speeds up player bullets)
Famidaily - Episode 0019 - Galaxian Totally not space invaders. Because it's hacked its far easier than the original game. Honestly I'd say play the original, but either works.
Famidaily - Episode 0006 - Mario Bros. I have no idea why the title screen is hacked to say "Mr Mary" but I mean, it's Mario Bros. It's still a good game especially for such an early title.
Famidaily - Episode 0021 - 4Nin Uchi Mahjong Despite what you might think that is not a penis on the title screen. Outside of that it's 4 player mahjong with tiny tiles. Good for the time but you could do better.
Famidaily - Episode 0002 - Donkey Kong Jr. The sequel to Donkey Kong. Very, very slightly more advanced than the first game. It's...maybe better than the first one, by an equally slight amount.
31. KING KONG 3 (Donkey Kong 3)
Famidaily - Episode 0016 - Donkey Kong 3 The third game that nobody remembers outside of that one time a Stanley the Bugman trophy ended up in Smash Bros. It's alright though.
Famidaily - Episode 0050 - Road Fighter It's nice that they clustered the three racing games together in this. Very arcadey, make it to the finish before your gas runs out. AI can be aggressive though.
Famidaily - Episode 0003 - Popeye Weird game and actually surprised it was released so early in the NES's lifespan. It's about as complex as you'd expect for an early Nintendo title.
39. GALAGA
Famidaily - Episode 0032 - Galaga One of those popular early arcade titles ported to the NES along with Space Invaders and Pac-Man. Pretty good port, but it's a game you'll probably play for 10 minutes before moving on.
40. GALAXIAN (Unhacked version of Galaxian)
[same video as 1989 Galaxian] It's just the unhacked version of Galaxian. So in this case, it's literally just Space Invaders.
41. PAC-MAN
Famidaily - Episode 0022 - Pac-Man C'mon, do I really need to give a review of fuckin Pac-man? If you don't know this game you shouldn't even be reading this. The NES port is okay I guess.
42. ICE CLIMBER
Famidaily - Episode 0030 - Ice Climber Probably the worst game on this multicart from Nintendo. Well either that or Baseball. Somehow Ice Climbers managed to get entry into Smash Bros with this.
43. 1989 EXERION (Exerion hack, removes limit on player bullets)
Famidaily - Episode 0031 - Exerion For whatever reason this is a hacked version that lets you shoot way more projectiles than normal. That's literally the only interesting thing I can say about it. Another space shooter. Yawn.
Famidaily - Episode 0063 - Battle City A multicart staple but this is really good. Simple enough to pick up and play, complex enough to get plenty of enjoyment out of it.
46. SKY DESTRYOER (Sky Destroyer)
Famidaily - Episode 0071 - Sky Destroyer Psuedo-3d effects are kinda nice I guess. This feels like one of those types of games that just goes on forever though, play it for 5 minutes and you've seen it all.
Famidaily - Episode 0034 - Formation Z This really feels like a worse version of the Macross game from earlier. Both were released in the same year so that's impressive. It's pretty average.
50. POOYAN
Famidaily - Episode 0065 - Pooyan Awful intro music aside this is actually okay. Like a weird take on balloon fight or something. I could see myself playing this more.
51. CIRCUS TROUPE (Circus Charlie)
Famidaily - Episode 0100 - Circus Charlie I got to the end of level 3 and made a mistimed jump and instead of landing on the finishing platform I hit the ground and lost 0/10 game sux. Seems like a game you'd get 10 minutes of enjoyment out of.
52. FANCY BROS (Super Mario Bros hack, swaps mirroring from horizontal to vertical, glitched graphics)
This isn's very fancy, this isn't very fancy at all! It's just Super Mario Bros with fucked graphics!
