Sunday Roundup: 4/12/15

Having never played a Mystery Dungeon game but thoroughly enjoying my past experiences with the Etrain Odyssey games, I decided to pick this one up and give it a try. I am certainly happy I did, because it has been a refreshing take on the RPG and portable gaming scene for me. The game is constantly rewarding you with new supplies, money, item, levels, characters, and challenges every minute you play it. A near perfect blend of exploration and reward, Etrain Mystery Dungeon should be played by all RPG fans out there, especially if you’re familiar and enjoyed the source material.

A few weeks back I saw this game mixed in with the loose DS carts and thought about getting it, but at the time it was still something like $8 or $9. I didn’t value the game that much, so I passed. This week however the price gods worked their magic and the strategy RPG was reduced in price to a level much closer to my liking. I had been watching this game online for some time, thinking it might be a hidden classic from Aksys, but the price never matched up until now!

My luck with getting cheap games “new” through sellers on Amazon has been subpar to say the least. Usually the new games are just resealed and don’t actually qualify as new since they’re missing the “Y Seal” that comes from a factory produced, brand new, never been opened game. You can imagine my surprise when this game showed up in just that: a brand new, never been opened, straight from the manufacturer sealed copy! I was kind of disappointed actually, because I kind of wanted a new tennis game and this one looked to fit the bill. Oh well, in the packaging you shall remain.

Lollipop Chainsaw has been out for awhile now and I’ve been watching the price drop slowly the past couple of years. I probably wouldn’t have bought it just yet (it was still $15), but I needed a game to round out my But 2 Get 1 Free dealio, and after a bit of research on what would give me the best bang for my buck I landed on this. At least it’s a game I actually have an interest in playing, which can’t be said for a lot of other games I’ve wrote about on these Roundups.

The very first time I visited the GameStop in Santa Clara I found this game for about $6 as well and thought I’d pass in hopes of finding it again. A small little strategy game, Ninjatown remained a game I would constantly look for when browsing through used DS games. Sadly I never again came across the game, and had to resort to bidding on a copy here or there online in hopes of getting it for a cheap price. Thankfully this week I snagged my own copy. With lots of places no longer selling DS games (and GameStop never carrying anything in complete condition) I think I need to readjust my buying strategy to pick up these games the first time I see them in order to avoid a headache in the future.

Pac-Man Party has caught my eye time and time again when looking through the Wii selection at various GameStops, but I never bit until now. And even now it was only because I was forced too. I really wanted Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (See below) and figured I should take advantage of the But 2 Get 1 Free sale. I was going to get that game plus Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World  and Super Paper Mario, but upon coming back to the store only Silent Hill was available. So as a consolation, if you will, I picked up Namco’s attempt at a Mario Party clone. How bad can it be, right?

Thankfully out of all the games I originally wanted (this one, Super Paper Mario, and Tales of Symphonia), this was the one I wanted most. A one-time exclusive to the Wii (it has since been ported to the PS2, PSP, and most recently as a downloadable title on PSN, this take on the classic survival horror franchise has you moving on rails and getting creeped out my all kinds of ghosts and spooky things. Shattered Memories happens to be one of the highest rated games in the series, and certainly one of the better games in the franchise as of late. I’m really eager to get into playing this one!

Last but certainly not least is a game that never actually released! Thrill Kill was supposed to be a “Mortal Kombat killer” and come out on the PS1 way back in 1999. After EA bought the developers behind the game they decided it was too graphic to be released. All but complete, the game was never officially released but saw a ton of bootlegs and cracks appear online of the game instead. You can imagine my curiosity when I saw the game, complete with jewel case, front and back cover sitting on the shelf (it even had a properly designed spine label!). Everything here is bootleg: the artwork and whatnot are all printed from someone’s home (although it would easily pass as a real copy if you just glanced), and the disc itself is just a CD with the words “Thrill Kill” sharpied on. Quite possibly the most infamously never-released game ever, I am seriously excited to have this one, even in it’s bootleg (only) form, in my collection!