Sunday Roundup: 1/15/12

I have gone on record several times saying that I am in disbelief when I find a game that’s still in it’s box from so long ago. Really any box that isn’t plastic is a treasure to still have, and the first Summon Night complete with box and instructions is a good deal any day. This action-RPG has flown by my radar far too long: I remember my cousin giving it glorious praise, so we’ll see what that hubub is all about.

The Spyro collection grows even bigger this day, as I’ve tracked down a copy of Spyro Orange. This game has a counterpart (Crash Purple), and the two games are a crossover of universes, intertwining Spyro with Crash Bandicoot. Both games are just okay apparently, but for my money a game that puts two prestigious game characters together is worth some definite praise.

Though not complete like the first one I got my hands on, Spyro 2 for the Game Boy Advance holds a slightly better score on Metacritic, but both games are supposed to be good. I really enjoy when a series that became popular on the consoles gets full-fledged titles on handhelds, and not just cheap ports or re-imaginings. These two GBA games do it right and expand upon the Spyro universe and gameplay and come off as much better games for it.

I was inspired to pick this one up after seeing (and regrettably not buying) a copy of Point Blank 3 also for the PS1. I’ve known about the series for some time, but it was really after my girlfriend mentioned to me that she greatly enjoys the series that I decided I couldn’t let the games slip through my fingers again. Guncon games are pretty darn cool, especially before the advent of the motion control craze: they represented a huge change of pace for the genre.

I’ve been on a Harvest Moon craze as of late (and just keep reading for further proof), so when I saw this little game sitting in the glass case I had to give it a loving home. Legend of the River King isn’t really a spin-off the the Harvest Moon series, but rather a game inspired by one aspect of those games: Fishing. I have yet to play any game in the series (of which there’s a few, the most recent, I believe, being a DS game from a few years past), though if it’s anything at all like Harvest Moon it’ll be a joy.

GameStop sent me an email with their sales (as I’m sure they do most of you), and they listed many games at 50% off full price, one of which being Harvest Moon 3D for the 3DS (and it’s not-so-3D brother for the DS). I grabbed a copy for my girlfriend and I to enjoy, so let the frantic farming begin!

Here’s the game I grabbed from my local store, and I was thrilled to see it there! Really, how many times do you see Harvest Moon games out in the wild? Not very often, that’s for sure, so seeing Magical Meolody for the Gamecube was awesome. Though most games are rated fairly high, Magical Melody for the Cube is the highest aggregated game of the series. Quite the feat, I must say! I am really tempted to pop this game in right now and get the crops, relationships, and barnyard antics going ;P

Lastly we’ve got Broken Sword for the PS1. Now, I thought this game looked familiar (or at least the title), and sure enough it was released way back in 2002 for the Game Boy Advance. I remember it being a port of the PS1 title, but I didn’t know the game was actually released nine times of different platforms! That is an insane number of re-releases… the game MUST be good if you’d buy it on six systems (PC, PS1, GBA, Wii, DS, iOS). Mystery and adventure await!