Finished the main playthrough of Crimson Shroud. I really like the way it manages to compress a complete JRPG experience--deep, challenging, meaty--into less than eight hours. There's replayability if you want it, too, with a New Game+ for a better ending and so forth. The genre doesn't need to be defined by 80-hour grindfests!

One thing I will say made me grimace, though: this game despises women. I don't mean the casual sort of misogyny that's typical of video games in general, with women characters relegated to support roles or damsels-in-distress, though there is a bit of that here. I mean a raw burning malicious hatred seldom seen outside of hashtagged harassment campaigns and the most brazen of conservative religions. From opening cutscene to epilogue, Crimson Shroud's women characters are physically brutalized, denigrated as bitches and whores, and ultimately blamed for most of the setting's evils. It kinda blew my mind in not a good way.

Finished Solatorobo: Red the Hunter. Friggin' adorable! They tried to make things more serious in the back half of the game, but mostly it's just amusing and charming. It's hard to take the end-of-the-world threat seriously when (a) literally no one ever dies (well ok Nero and Blanck do I guess but they're endgame bosses?), even when they're on board airships that explode into tiny pieces, and (b) you can take a time-out from addressing said end-of-the-world threat to go on a stamp-collecting scavenger hunt.

I thought I was the only person who ever played Solatorobo. 😂 The thing I remember most is the main character always exclaiming, "suposté!" Whatever that means. But you're right, if the gameplay had been a little more refined, it could have been a lot of fun. As it stands, I feel it's just an "okay" game.

Haha, nice! I actually looked that up, and it turns out it's "Sapristi!" which is an exclamation in quaint old-timey French, like "good heavens!"

In the process of investigating that, I also found that there was a tease of a sequel in 2018, but nothing since then...

I'm playing Solatorobo: Red the Hunter at the moment, and I bet a sequel with a bit more gameplay polish would be a real charmer. Probably never happening, though!

I would put Undertale on any such list. It's short enough not to be a big commitment, has historical significance to gaming culture, and makes some meta-level commentary on games as a medium that might provoke some thought.

Plus, it has a bit of a sorting hat effect. You get to join the crowd who loves it / finds it charming / etc., or you get the particular egoboo of not liking a thing that got a lot of hype!

Fire Emblem Awakening

Wow, this game was made for me--turn-based tactics + matchmaking sim! The character relationships are all delightful. I was lukewarm on the idea of having the ability to grind, at first, but with the enormous roster of characters and the two-generation mechanic, I don't think there's any other way they could have done things that would still let you develop the skills and relationships you wanted. I'm tempted to do another playthrough with more planning on who I want paired up with whom, but I should probably take a break with a shorter, lighter game.

If I spent a session without getting anywhere, and I'm not hyped to see what's beyond that wall, that tends to be the prompt for me to retire the game. Especially if it's aimless wandering with no clear path forward, as opposed to something that feels surmountable, like a boss I can't quite master or a level-up threshold I haven't hit. That sort of purely-useless game time is what killed Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs for me, for example.

If I'm stuck but I feel like success is in reach, and/or I'm eager to find out what's next after the trouble stretch, I'll hit up a walkthrough. Typically all it takes is a GameFAQs, IGN, or YouTube search, and I'll find that a thousand gamers before me have had the same trouble--so I can pinpoint the info I need without spoiling overmuch beyond that!

I love the speculation :)

All I will say is that it does not require a donation and is given out automatically. It is not a list of my "favorites".

Haha, thanks for the hint!

If it's automatic, then it's probably not things like "gave away freebies" (though I did get somebody a free game coupon once) or "had site feedback get implemented", as those would require manual intervention. Maybe the folks who think it has to do with game submission / editing are on the right track?

The OP prompt put me in mind of "games I enjoyed as a kid that didn't really work", haha. So I present two:

Cybergenic Ranger - Gameplay alternated between crappy 2D platforming and crappy 3D rail shooter. But usually, at least on my parents' PC back in the day, it tended to crash during the second space shooty sequence. Didn't stop me from periodically firing it up and seeing if I had any better luck!

Zone 66 - Kind of a cool take on shmups, you zoomed around a 2D map with 360-degree movement, blowing up both land and air targets. When I finally got the full version after playing a bunch of the shareware level, I ran into a bug where a single tile wouldn't count as having been bombed when you blew it up... and in order to progress, you needed to wipe the whole map. Sadness.

I might play the odd session of it here and there, but I don't think I'll pursue completion of Dissidia NT. Big disappointment--I loved and played the heck out of the 012 edition of the original. But this one's "Story Mode" is so lackluster... there's no world map, nor even fight nodes like the first version of the game; no RPG-style loot or progression; just cutscenes to unlock by grinding bot and PvP matches. And speaking of unlocks, there are eight million different widgets to unlock, most of them useless online flair, and those that have gameplay impact (e.g. charge-up skills) are completely tedious to manage. Thankfully this was a gift, so I didn't lose any $$ on this letdown, but .. sigh.

My guess on "Loved", given I managed to earn it despite being a pretty light, off-and-on user, is that it kicks in if you post a forum thread that gets a ton of engagement (though no idea on the specific threshold). I don't post a lot, but my "Post Your Retirements" thing took off!

EDIT: Ah, nope. Disproved my own theory. DeathCode's "What game are you playing" thread is enormous, but DeathCode is not Loved. Mysterious!

Further clues:
- The game is usually considered a shmup
- Between each stage you can change your craft
- Japan exclusive
- Released by a company who is equally known as a developer/publisher as well as a toy maker.
- Other games from the franchise were released fo the same platforms, one of which is not a shmup, the other game was released in (parts of) Europe..
- You play the "bad guys"

Equally known as developer/publisher and toy maker... Bandai?

I can't seem to find the "Help option on the search page". Could someone supply a screenshot or a step-by-step to find it? Or are only certain users given access to that queue?

EDIT: Oh, sheesh, I didn't notice this was a bumped thread from five years ago until just now. @_@ Probably not a relevant question anymore!

After years of it sitting in a drawer because I didn't own a 3DS, I'm now at last playing Fire Emblem: Awakening. Impressions so far:

* Love the 3D. I remember trying Path of Radiance and being disappointed by the combat animations: knights on horseback attacked by trot-trot-trotting up to the opponent, stopping, and then poking them with sword or lance. The knights of Awakening actually attack with momentum! Plus the battle maps look like papercraft, giving the thing a miniatures wargame feel.

* I started on Hard because I'd played a few FE games before, then began to struggle a few missions in, with enemies one-shotting people left and right. Chastened, I attempted a restart on Normal, but that was too easy; starting enemies literally couldn't hurt the main character. So I'm back to the Hard playthrough, trying to git gud.

* Not sure how I feel about having optional encounters to grind on. One of the novel things about FE games to me was the limited experience point pool. Are enemy stats inflated with the expectation that you'll go swat wandering monsters in between story missions?

* The randomness also seems cranked up. There were always miss and crit chances, sure. But now you have support attack chances, support block chances, and skills with proc chances... already there have been a few times where I won a scenario off the back of a lucky roll on one of these, and it feels less satisfying that way.

* I wish they had tutorial/help-system content for the wireless functions. What the heck is all this stuff in my "Bonus Box" and what am I supposed to do with it?

I started keeping track of my backlog in May of 2008. Any games that I beat before that date, didn't still own on that date, and which I haven't re-acquired since that date, won't be on there. E.g. games I played as a kid in the shareware days, haha.

After that, I've tried to be pretty thorough. If I added the game to a library of any kind, be it physical or digital, it goes into the backlog until I dispose of it, retire it, or complete it. I've even broken down goofy things like Edmund McMillen's Basement Collection into individual games, hah. I might easily have downloaded some oddment and forgotten to add it, but it should be pretty close to everything!

Retired includes games I've tried and made the decision I didn't like them enough to try to finish them, as well as games that don't have a "beating" criterion. Completed to me means "ending credits" whenever a game includes them--even if that's not the "real" ending by the game's lights, e.g. Nier: Automata--and my best judgment otherwise.

EDIT: Reading some of the above commentary, I typically include DLC as a separate entry only if it's a distinct playthrough experience detached from the main game. An added side quest for horse armor: no. A follow-up episode like Dragon Age Origins' "Darkspawn Chronicles", absolutely. Completions count regardless of what hackery, modding, or cheating got me there--I'm no purist on that, anymore!

I will say, Ocarina of Time on 3DS is so vastly superior to the N64 version that if you loved that game, it's worth replaying on 3DS. The same is true of Devil Survivor via its new 8th Day campaigns, especially Amane's and Naoya's, but not everyone loves that game as much as I do so it's a harder sell (not to mention you can't skip straight to the new content like Devil Survivor 2). But I don't say a word, not one single word.

I actually found the N64 Ocarina to be disappointing. I first played it when it appeared on the Wii Virtual Console, so I missed the boat on the wow factor of the jump to 3D. And by that point it didn't handle as well as other games I'd played in the same genre. I didn't enjoy Twilight Princess either, so it might be that I prefer 2D Zelda games to 3D ones! So the question is, would the 3DS version be enough of an improvement over the N64 version that I'd potentially like it even if I didn't love the original?

I'll take the note on Devil Survivor in any case--I did enjoy the original, despite a rough patch toward the end where I needed to grind my way out of some persona choices that had worked for most of the game but didn't measure up to the boss fights.

Great, thanks everyone! I will probably skip the ones that are remakes of games I've already played (Ocarina of Time, Devil Survivor), but the remainder will make a perfect list to get started on. Particularly glad to see an Etrian Odyssey come up, those were some of my favorites on the DS!

Very late to the party, I just this holiday season got a Nintendo 3DS as a gift. Years ago I got Fire Emblem: Awakening as a gift from someone who didn't realize I was lacking the handheld... and that's the only game I've got! I don't have an enormous budget to fill out a library with, but if you were to recommend a top five or so for somebody brand-new and wide-eyed to the whole world of a mature catalog, what would those be?

My tastes are pretty diverse, but most of what I played on the original DS was RPGs, with a couple of Nintendo classics and some offbeat/unique stuff sprinkled in. My completed list could help.

I think there should be no such thing as people complaining about free stuff. But it seems that everybody now has the right to complain for nothing and everything. That being said, Celeste was first given back in August, I'm sure a lot of people didn't get it the first time.

Yes, it does break the "momentum", but really, who care. ;)

Finally, yes, Epic is at a lost with their free games, but at least I'm pretty sure the developper still gets his money from each key given. If that's the case, then the dev is getting a shit load of money he wouldn't get otherwise. That giving money to hard working indie devs is always good for game originality and diversity in my opinion.

From what I've read in indie devs' Twitter threads about Epic vs. Steam vs. Itch and so on, a giveaway pays out a flat amount to the dev/studio regardless of download count. How much that is, I haven't heard, and may be a per-game or per-giveaway-event negotiation.

Nuclear Throne

Lordy that game is frantic and difficult. I had to go on YouTube looking for strategies to deal with the "Lil' Hunter" boss, and even then needed a good dose of luck to get a winning run. Just the right level of frustration factor to get me to determinedly keep trying rather than give up, though.

Somehow only just now found this great idea of a thread. I'm gonna do that thing where I dump all the games I've retired, and then come back and vent when I'm sick of a new one! Also, not sure if anyone else does this but I usually log multiplayer focused games as completed and retired when I'm done with them. Lists below are mostly in the order that I added them on HLTB.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive - I was big into CSS for surfing, so barely even played this.
Monaco: What's Yours is Mine - Maybe I need to try this one again? I just didn't see the appeal when I played it a little after people were raving about it.
Dragon Age: Inquisition - Might try this again too, it only ended up on my list because of all the GOTY awards it won. Still haven't played many games like this.
Killing Floor - Played a bunch with friends, it's fun enough.
Antichamber - Should probably go back to this. I might have been trying to play it on a Mac.
Assassin's Creed - Awful first game in a pretty great franchise.
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger - Seemed like an ok time gameplay-wise, but didn't have anything else going for it. Was also playing on PS4 rather than PC.
Don't Starve - Trial and Error central. Funnn....
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light - Not that fun singleplayer.
Goat Simulator - roflmao fun-e gam for youtuberz
Legend of Grimrock - Should probably put this one back on the backlog. Haven't played any traditional dungeon crawlers besides this really.
Lords of the Fallen - Why waste my time on a bad Dark Souls knock off? Might try out The Surge though.
A Virus Named Tom - Free puzzle game, nice Destroy All Humans like quirkiness, but meh.
Sonic Adventure 2 - Played this when I was in middle-school (I think?), airing on the safe side and assuming I didn't finish it. Not really interested in going back.
Lone Survivor - Spooky. Is it good? Maybe I should go back.
Helldivers - Not compelling in singleplayer.
Final Fantasy III (3D) - Feel like I probably got lost at the time. Was another middle-school age-ish game. Maybe I should go back.
Apotheon - Didin't like it, got it with PS+ like a lot of the other games on this list. Funny how affected I could be / am affected by confirmation bias.
Dante's Inferno - Hated it. Hated the level design, hated Dante, thought the combat was fine.
Dead Nation - Probably the only game (aside from Stormdivers, which hardly counts) from Housemarque that I haven't liked. Really don't get the hype over this one.
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time - Just fell off of this one. It was fine, I think.
MotorStorm: RC - Mario Kart is the only 'driving game' that I ever have fun with, and every now and then I try proving otherwise. I failed.
Heart&Slash - Really loved the GameCube / Dreamcast feel of this indie roguelike, but at the end of the day it was just another one of those, and it was janky, and the runs lasted pretty long I think.
Super Exploding Zoo - Another PS+ game that just didn't grab me. I feel like I got really close to finishing it, too.
The Playroom
Pac-Man 256 - Great game.
Overwatch - Great game, ruined by Activision.
Race the Sun - Fun game.
Jetpack Joyride - The first endless runner on mobile to get me hooked. The first (and last) time I bought a coin doubler.
Garry's Mod - So many memories.
Awesomenauts - My first and only MOBA-like. Happy to keep it that way.
Animal Crossing: New Leaf - NEW HORIZONS WHEN.
Animal Crossing - NEW HORIZONS. WHEN.
Rocket League - Quite possibly top 5 best multiplayer games of all time.
Super Mario Maker - RIP the best course making game. SMM2 is still great, but it doesn't live up to SMM1.
Tricky Towers - Great fun with friends.
Tokyo Jungle - Endearing, weird, but didn't grab me.
Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions - Maybe the Vita version was bad.
Foul Play - Got really close to the end with my roommate, and then we stopped. And I'm not interested in going back, but it was good.
Spelunker World - Why did I play this? I remember it being fun, too. Weird.
The Jackbox Party Pack - The first of many great party games.
The Jackbox Party Pack 2 - MOM ALIVE!
Star Wars: Battlefront (2015) - These games could be good, right? Right?!
RuneScape - Selling cowhides here, get your cow hides!
Chariot - Got pretty far playing this game in co-op but my partner lost interest. Sad. Fun characters, kinda boring gameplay.
Tetris Ultimate - Somehow this was the first time I ever really tried to play Tetris, and I got really into it. Good job I guess, Ubisoft.
Kick & Fennick - PS+ game. It was fine.
Whoa Dave! - Arcade game entertained me for about as long as it would in an actual arcade, so like 5 minutes.
Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare - Fun while it lasted.
Robotron: 2084 - Best arcade game. Easy.
Galaga - Best arcade game. Easy.
Time Crisis 3 - Best ar- well actually it's just pretty ok.
Time Crisis 4 - Can you tell I added a bunch of games on the same day?
Dr. Mario - Classic.
Pokemon Trading Card Game - Too hard for my baby brain. Love the music.
Game & Watch Gallery 2 - I had no idea what these games were at the time. Fun.
Mickey Mouse: Magic Wands! - Great intro. I used to love playing games for the intros.
Pac-Man - Played a ton of this on the Atari 2600 and at a Pizza place called Mega-Bite. Apparently the Atari version was bad.
Dig Dug - Played this at the dentist. Kind of terrifying game to have at the dentist's office, now that I think of it.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES) - So hard.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (GCN) - Cool as hell. I wonder if it was good.
TMNT: Turtles in Time (Arcade) - Hell yes.
Centipede - Another cabinet at the dentist's office. The trackball was broken and you couldn't move up and down.
Midway Arcade Treasures 2 - Rampage all day.
Shank 2 - Shank 1 was good.
Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee - Too much for my little kid brain. Another one of those games with a really cool intro.
Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure - Why didn't I play more of this game? I remember loving it.
Sonic Advance 2 - I really just didn't finish games at the time, did I?
Sonic Rush - Wasn't this the one that introduced Blaze? That was cool.
Pokemon Pearl - I think I had pearl. I think I finished it.
Advance Wars: Dual Strike - Too much for my little kiddie brain. I'll probably go back and play the other Advance Wars games.
Yoshi Touch & Go - Nintendo pioneers the endless runner. Weird.
Super Princess Peach - Fun.
Star Fox Command - Cool.
Mario Teaches Typing - Mario is going to fly for you!
Call of Duty 3 - I remember when that one guy rushes you at the door, and then the one guy uses that cool word rendezvous.
Sonic Unleashed - Didn't like it.
Sonic Riders - Liked it.
Sonic 3D Blast - Really cool. That intro.
Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball - I'm terrible at pinball, and was too young to know it was bad.
Sonic and the Secret Rings - No thanks.
Mario Kart: Double Dash!! - Fun. Never understood the hype though.
Star Fox Adventures - Cool intro, I think? That's all I remember of it.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 - Cool games.
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2 - Really fun games to play with my friend way back when.
Shadow the Hedgehog - Damn!
Sonic R - Everybody's super sonic racing!
Mario Party 4 - Super Mario Party 2 when.
Mega Man X: Command Mission - Wait, this is an RPG? Ew! I should probably actually play this again.
The Hobbit (2003) - I was obsessed with this game for some reason.
Disney's Magical Mirror Starring Mickey Mouse - Yup.
Cel Damage - Fun with my cousins.
Mario Party - The beginning of a beautiful if troubled series.
Rayman 2: The Great Escape - Should play this again.
Mega Man Legends 2 - Should've kept my copy. This game's pretty rare now apparently.
Rayman - Funny to see how hard and bad this game gets. Awesome intro.
Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time - Cool intro.
Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rage - That sure was a game.
Spyro: Season of Ice - Did I really have both of these?
Sonic Shuffle - I remember this being fun?
Donkey Kong 64 - OOH BANANA.
Star Fox 64 - Played this at my daycare after my day at elementary school. Was fun, but didn't own it myself so I never finished it. Was more fun to watch the big kids play. Completed the 3DS remake but wasn't a huge fan of it anymore.
Diddy Kong Racing - Awesome idea for a kart racer campaign.
Wave Race 64 - Played this with my sister. Good times.
Mario Tennis - Hardly remember playing this, but I know I did...
Pokemon Stadium - Cool menu. I liked cool menus too.
Mario Party 2 - LOVE IT. Super Mario Party 2 when??
Animal Crossing: Wild World - Fun to look back and see what we put up with for mobile Animal Crossing. Now people put up with worse for Pocket Camp.
Mickey's Racing Adventure - Cool graphics for GBC. Rare game using the same engine as the Conker GBC game iirc.
Conker's Pocket Tales - I should go back and play this and Conker's Bad Fur Day.
Tomodachi Life - So weird and fun that I bought another copy for my partner.
Metroid: Other M - Didn't play it enough to see what was so offensive about it, but I wasn't grabbed by it.
Game & Wario - Really fun tech demo.
Pikmin - Too much for my babby brain at the time. Liked Pikmin 3. No need to go back.
Brain Age - Holding your DS sideways is fun.
LEGO Indiana Jones - Probably the beginning of the end for my love of LEGO games.
Red Steel - Cool at the time.
Spider-Man: Friend or Foe - I wonder how long I wasted on this.
Crash of the Titans - I wonder how long I wasted on this.
Animal Crossing: City-Folk - I know I didn't waste long on this.
Wii Sports - Tennis.
Wii Fit - My balance board is broken. Sad.
Wii Play - My partner still loves this game. Yay Wii Motion Plus!
Wii Party U - I got this game for free. 'Twas fun to make fun of.
Rayman Raving Rabbids - I really thought it was gonna be a real rayman game.
Snowboard Kids - Awesome rental. I should maybe go back.
Gang Beasts - Really fun at the couch co-op resurgence.
Subway Surfers - Wasted SO much time on this.
Trials Frontier - Loved it. No surprise that I really enjoyed Trials Rising that was inspired by this game.
Miitomo - Really fun for memeing with friends.
Words with Friends - Scrabble rabble rabble.
[b]Temple Run - Meh.
Temple Run 2 - Mehhh.
Threes! - Mehhhhh.
2048 - MEHHHHHHHHH.
Crossy Road - Fun!
Adventures of Lolo - Fun to see where Lolo and Lala came from.
Kami 2 - Pretty.
Uncharted: Fortune Hunter - That sure was a mobile game, wasn't it?
Flappy Bird - I wonder what my best score was? It was pretty high iirc.
Minesweeper - CLASSIC.
Tom and Jerry in Fists of Furry - I remember really enjoying this.
Ultimate Chicken Horse - One of the best multiplayer games.
Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians - One of the first Humble Bundle games I tried playing that wasn't on the Super Meat Boy level.
Blocks that Matter - I wonder if this is worth going back to.
Closure - This was cool if it's what I'm thinking of. I think it got too hard for me at the time or I lost interest.
Edge - Cool.
The Dream Machine - One of the first of many adventure-type games that made me think the genre as a whole wasn't for me. I still might think that.
Fruit Ninja VR - Smart purchase. Not.
Hot Tin Roof: The Cat That Wore a Fedora - No?
Jones On Fire - No.
Krunch - Cool style.
Revenge of the Titans - Cool style.
Skulls of the Shogun - Meh.
Snapshot - Really liked the concept, but I always bounced off of it for some reason. Reviews seem to indicate that I shouldn't go back, but I'm curious.
Ragnarok online - Played this long enough to see people roaming the free market with a ton of cosmetics and dropped it, from what I remember.
Duck Game - Quack.
Team Fortress 2 - MEDIC!
Player Unknown's Battlegrounds - A great time with friends. Never could win a match solo... I like to say it's because I'm too impatient to camp it out.
Rec Room - Amazing VR game.
Space Pirate Trainer - VR game. Never understood the hype.
Tabletop Simulator - Candyland BOIS!
Zombie Training Simulator - Noped out of this fast. Because it was boring.
Devil Daggers - Didn't get it.
Flinthook (PS4) - Finished it on PC because it plays way better on Mouse and Keyboard.
Audioshield - Killed by Beat Saber.
Climbey - Really fun experiment.
Google Earth VR - I can see my house from here!
Timberman - Fun little mini game. Good practice for future Kirby minigames.
Just Cause 2 - Really disappointed me for some reason. Still need to try out Just Cause 3.
Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One - Really tried to enjoy this, and failed.
Mario Party 8 - Creepy hat dude.
Mario Party 5 - Sure was a party game, I guess.
Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam - *Insert obvious joke about the direction of the franchise*
Pokemon Shuffle - I played a good amount of this for some reason.
Chameleon Twist 2 - Really memorable N64 rental for some reason. RIP Blockbuster.
Quest 64 - Barely memorable N64 rental. RIP Blockbuster.
Street Fighter II (Arcade) - Never got me.
Tekken 3 - Traditional fighting games really just aren't my thing.
Mega Man X7 - Ooph.
Mega Man X2 - Bounced off. Should replay.
Blaster Master (NES) - Made for great Switch games.
Ed, Edd n Eddy: The Mis-Edventures - I think my child brain bad game detector actually worked on this one.
Sonic Heroes - SHIT!
Sonic Advance - Could not be bothered to finish GBA games I guess.
The Polar Express - Grandma found a way to gift me a nonviolent game. I sure did play it.
Super Mario Sunshine - I was convinced a game called Mario Moonshine existed and that Nintendo canceled it. I was pissed. Turns out the game wasn't that great anyways.
Paranautical Activity - This game sure has seen some drama, hasn't it? It's fine.
MapleStory - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3pfsCS7fWI
Glittermitten Grove - Fun to watch on YouTube.
Ziggurat - Had a good long run, uninterested in going for another.
Spier-Man 3 - I liked it at the time, but not enough to finish it.
Spider-Man - Meh.
Scribblenauts Remix - Mehh. (Yeah, doing this again. Don't worry, no one is actually reading this far anyways. That'd be insane. You're insane.)
RUSH - Mehhh.
Elmo's Letter AdventureHell yeah. Nice C rating from the ESRB.
Eets Munchies - Fun Klei game. Tried it twice but always dropped it for some reason.
The Grinch - Cool intro level, I really liked the Jim Carrey movie for some reason.
Peggle Deluxe - Fun, but I don't get the hype.
Pac-Pix - Anyone else remember this game? Look it up, it was really cool. Pac-man where you draw the Pac-men.
Mr. Karoshi - Me when I realized how long this list was going to be.
Mr. Driller Drill Spirits - Really weird how I ended up getting this game. Fun, though.
X-Men: Reign of Apocalypse - Fun.
The Legend of Zelda: Oracles of Ages and Seasons - Nintendo, remake these like you did with Link's Awakening. PLEASE.
Yoshi's Story - Awesome style.
X-Men (Arcade) - Love seeing drunk dudes heckle people to play this with them at barcades.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
Tony Hawk's American Wasteland - Fleeps are flippin' fun!
The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction - Fun fact: This awesome game was made first by the devs of [PROTOTYPE], and it shows.
Super Mario Bros. Deluxe - Spent a bunch of time racing boo.
Sonic Battle - Really cool game.
Pokemon Snap - Shoulda played this more as a kid.
Pokemon Puzzle Leage - I can still hear the music. I was terrible at it, but it was really fun.
Mickey's Dangerous Chase - More Mickey games, huh?
Mega Man Zero Series - Sad the collection got delayed. Looking forward to playing these through.
Mega Man X4 - Kick ass.
Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter - So relentlessly cool. Sadly didn't hold me gameplay-wise.
Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku II - Cool intro.
Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury - Super fun.
Croc: The Legend of the Gobbos - Miss you, grandpa.
Chibi-Robo! - Weird! Loved it!
Yu-Gi-Oh! Worldwide Edition: Stairway to the Destined Duel - What a title!
Nintendogs Poop presents!
Mario's Game Gallery - Mario go fish!
Yoshi's Cookie
Metroid - A bad first game that spawned an awesome but underappreciated franchise.
3D Classics: Kid Icarus - Just got a tiny taste of how bad this game apparently is to try and beat.
Mario Paint - *Title Screen theme immediately plays in head*
Worms W.M.D - Meh. Never really cared for these kinds of games.
Wizorb - Cool game, kinda bad music iirc. Love Tribute games in general, though.
LYNE - Cool puzzle game. Had crazy ARG thing at the end I wasn't in the mood for.
Forma.8 - Didn't like it.
Pix the Cat - Really enjoyed the arcade game portion, but dropped off the puzzle game part.
Echoes - PSP Mini. Apparently it could be finished in 9 minutes, not sure if I did. Just keeping it on the list so I don't forget about PSP minis.
Retro/Grade - Cool idea for a rhythm space shooter that was a shooter in reverse. Wasn't in the mood or something though.
Rainbow Moon - PSVita RPG, PS+. Wasn't into it.
The Swindle - Horribly clunky feeling PS+ roguelike. Apparently it's pretty ok, but I hated the way it controlled at least on PS4.
Stealth Inc 2. A Game of Clones - I like metroidvanias which I think this game attempted to be, but I dropped off for whatever reason. Kinda boring atmosphere I think.
Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy - Got pretty far, but lost interest in continuing. Really loved my time with it though.
Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon - My first farming like game which also happened to have ARPG combat. I liked it well enough.
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask - Awesome intro, but my babby brain couldn't figure it out, especially with the time limit. Completed the 3DS remake and loved it.
Strafe - Really didn't like it. The roguelike aspect of it wasn't done well.
Devil May Cry - Too much trial and error, incredibly punishing. Probably fun to go back after loving Devil May Cry 3 and beyond, though.
Mighty Gunvolt Burst - Found the customization to be overwhelming and the level design to be awful. I like Mega Man, but not this.
TIMEframe - Very meh walking simulator that ended up in my steam library somehow.
The Jackbox Party Pack 3 & 4
Mighty No. 9 - Hahahahahahahahaha... PS+ game.
Light Fall - Was looking for Switch games, and I really didn't like the feel of this one.
Dungreed - One of the most derivative games I've ever played. It's fine, but it has no personality.
Everything (2017) - Silly, but boring after the joke gets old.
Spider-Man - The PS1 one this time. Cool, and I played it on a roadtrip.
Mega Man X8 - Not sure if I finished this one or not, I may have. I should. Maybe.
Mega Man X5 - Continues to seem really cool to me as a teen, but I never got far.
Alienation - Needed friends to play this with, maybe then it would've been fun.
GoNNER - Cool style, but not enough progression considering the difficulty.
Peggle 2 - Meh.
de Blob 2 - Would have been more engaging if I played it at launch rather than on PSNow.
Doodle Jump - RIP my first mobile game.
Tiny Wings - People really liked this one. I thought it was fine.
Fruit Ninja - ^
Cut the Rope: Experiments - Loved these games.
Zombieville USA 2 - Cool mobile sidescrolling beat'em up-like zombie shooter. Hard to describe I guess.
Draw Something - Pictionary is always great fun.
Line Rider - This game was like a movement. Awesome.
Alto's Adventure - I don't get the hype. It's pretty, sure.
Alto's Odyssey - Really, I don't get it.
Redungeon - Fun mobile dungeon crawler.
Beat Stomper - Another one of those fun mobile arcade games.
Ghosts 'n Goblins - Wasn't even fun with save states.
Rage - Couldn't handle the shoddy PC port, awful 'mega-textures' and drab world.
Chronos - Cool VR Dark Souls proof of concept feeling game.
Dead Rising 2 - Finishing these games can be quite the hassle.
DYO - DYO gets really damn hard. Really cool co-op puzzle game.
Kingdom Rush - Maybe I'll play more, but I don't get the taste for tower defense all that often.
Miitopia - Genuinely funny but massively overstays its welcome, especially if you're a completionist.
Steredenn - A nice idea, but the roguelike sidescrolling shooter proved to be far too difficult to keep me playing.
AdVenture Capitalist - 'Prestiged' or whatever the term is at least once, and the hooks were gone.
Animal Crossing Pocket Camp - Really Nintendo, a subscription model now? Ugh. I was done with this long before that, but it was already egregious then. Such a shame that the mobile consumer-base isn't interested in paying for quality games.
Arctic Thunder - The first Arcade game I ever played that blew air in your face while driving. Really cool.
Crackdown - You should really go back and beat this game, Agent.
Crackdown 2 - ...But not this one.
Chibi-Robo!: Park Patrol - I remember almost nothing of this weirdly Walmart exclusive DS game.
Just Dance 2018 - First time back to Just Dance since 2013, and I really didn't like the song selection this time around. And the subscription model felt gross.
Luftrausers - Awesome arcade-like game. Play this if you haven't.
Risk of Rain - Really fun base for the even more fun Risk of Rain 2.
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U - Played so much of the 3DS version that by the time I got my hands on the Wii U version I was a bit burnt out.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater - Awesome soundtrack! Another game that was really fun to watch the big kids play at day care.
Donkey Kong Jr. - Need to get this on my Switch to play with the Flip Grip.
Donkey Kong - ^
Fingered - Fun Edmund M. game, but beating it basically requires writing out your own guide as you go. No thanks.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! - The Holodome Onslaught - Got through like 90% of it and had to stop because I was actually falling asleep, and I'm not going back.
Budget Cuts - Runs like garbage, pretty boring gameplay. Weird to just announce Budget Cuts 2 after this critical flop. I'll be very cautious about it.

The fact that you even scrolled all the way down here is ridiculous. I'm sorry that I wrote all of this, I don't know what got into me. Here, have a cookie. Forget what you saw here.

Highlights:

Banjo-Kazooie - I always get to click clock woods and then get bored of the game and drop it. Super Mario 64 is better, fight me.
FTL - Tried and bounced off of this multiple times. Very much not interested, though I loved Into the Breach
Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas - I REALLY don't get it when it comes to both Oceanhorn games. They're just extremely mediocre Zelda, and yet people drool over them.
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link - If anyone tells you this is worth playing through, just keep laughing until they stop talking.
Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood - Whoever bought me this for Christmas must have been pranking me.
Disney's Tarzan: Untamed - I'll never forget this game for forcing me to learn my ultimate button mashing strategy... Leading to my mild carpal tunnel.
1-2-Switch - Why in the HELL did I pay for this garbage? Literally haven't even booted it up since. I'm pretty sure it's still installed, too.
Nintendo Land - Absolutely adored it. Also lost it. Really sad.
3 on 3 NHL Arcade - Best demo available on the Xbox 360 to play with a friend.
Grand Theft Auto IV - Garbage campaign. Really don't understand why people liked this game.
Disney's Aladdin (Genesis) - GRANDMA Y U SELL THE GENESIS YOU BOUGHT FOR ME. I NEVER FORGIVE U.
Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! - Will I ever beat Mr. Dream? No, but I should probably give it a real shot. Next-Level Games' Punch-Out was awesome, though.
GunZ: The Duel - Shout out to those of us who remember ijji or other places where you played this game and did weird things with swords.
Super Mario Sunshine - I was convinced a game called Mario Moonshine existed and that Nintendo canceled it. I was pissed. Turns out the game wasn't that great anyways.
Nidhogg 2 - Without playing at all beforehand, I won the PSX 2016 Nidhogg 2 tournament, including a Nidhogg 2 OST casette tape, t-shirt, and PS+ and PSNow year subscription codes. Had an awesome time. Awesome game.
Heat Signature - Really awesome game that I'm still playing once in a blue moon, but I doubt I'll ever finish it due to how long the campaign is compared to how long it takes to feel like you've mastered the game.
Reigns - Tremendously boring game. Really don't understand the appeal here, and I even finished the sequel and still hated it.
Grim Fandango Remastered - Basically requires a walkthrough, and is somehow still frustratingly tedious. One day I'll find a truly great point & click.
La-Mulana - Far too cryptic for my liking. I wonder if the sequel is more inviting, because exploring it was really fun initially.
Pokemon Sun - Once again I tried getting back into Pokemon, and once again I couldn't keep playing. After playing other turn based RPGs, the 1v1 focus of Pokemon puts me to sleep, and the lack of compelling characters in the story (like an actual rival) keeps me snoozing. I hoped Sword & Shield might finally be the one, and it looks like it still isn't. I'm definitely not giving it a shot at my own expense anymore either, at least not until I finally enjoy another pokemon game again. I think what I'd need is to see a new core pokemon game developed without Game Freak, sadly.
Wizard of Legend - Something about the art style feels incredibly bland in Wizard of Legend, and that *really* doesn't help in a game where you're meant to play through the same areas over and over again.

Most recent: Breathedge
I used a month of Origin Access Premium to play through the absolutely excellent Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order, and was looking for ways to make use of the rest of my month, and found Breathedge, a comedy survival game. I played for around 6 hours and it had me laughing out loud a couple times, but the core gameplay and progression felt so ridiculously drawn out that I had to stop playing. I'd recommend it if you're a die hard of and are very patient for survival games, but otherwise the great Rare like sense of humor will only get you so far.

Ah, Sonic Chronicles. The idea of throwing BioWare at a marquee IP and turning it into an RPG was a fascinating one! But the whole point of playing a Sonic game is to go fast, yeah? It doesn't really feel right noodling around dialogue trees, taking combat turns, and wheedling NPCs into opening up map barriers for you.

My own latest, heavy-hearted retirement: Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura. The setting is fantastic, and the sheer diversity of character-building options is amazing. But speaking of slow-moving RPGs, it is such. a. drag. Picking through trash cans for tech components is an amusing conceit at first, but it gets extremely tedious before long. The signposting for main quests is perhaps intentionally vague, leaving you with an overwhelmingly huge map and few ideas where to go next. And there are a lot of "you must be this tall to ride" checkpoints where if your character doesn't meet a skill threshold, you're stuck grinding or doing something ridiculous like murdering a friendly NPC to advance. I have some five failed started playthroughs, I think that's enough.

The Legend of Bum-Bo

An entertaining run-based RPG/match-4 puzzle in the Binding of Isaac franchise. If you don't mind the inane body humor that's in so many of McMillen's creations, this is a clever way to waste a few hours!

EDIT: Hah, didn't see the comment immediately previous about it being buggy. I ran into a few minor visual glitches, and there are several QoL things that really ought to have been in there that aren't, but I never hit any crashes.

The End is Nigh

I'm never going to 100% or speedrun or even postgame one of these monsters, but it feels good to at least nail a win in a genre this brutal.

Welp. Steam regularly crashes on startup, now. I guess that's just a thing I have to put up with for the sake of, uh... UI progress? Better direct-to-eyeballs ad delivery? :|

I don't mind the design overall, but I use the Family Sharing feature, and it's gone and mixed all my wife's games into the same main list as my own, which is a distinctly unnecessary nuisance. I even saw a bunch of bug reports about it before the go-live, they just kept it this way :|

EDIT: (Yeah, I just created a collection for them, it's a workaround, heh)