Over the last few years, I’ve made a pretty concerted effort to finish video games. There aren’t many I start that I’m not already invested in, so this generally isn’t a problem. That said, occasionally something happens or I have some kind of reaction to a game where that just doesn’t seem reasonable.
Here’s that short list from 2025!
(This doesn’t include something I intentionally poke at for only a few minutes… but more on that later!)
Super Mario 64 (PC Port)
https://github.com/n64decomp/sm64
It’s an exciting time for all these recomps, decomps, and ports. Ocarina and Mario 64 seem to get the most attention (understandably so), which is why I think it made sense as a starting point for me.
In the meantime I’ve gone on to install a bazillion of these, particularly on the Steam Deck… which I imagine is, for most people (including myself), more fun than actually going through and playing them.
And maybe that’s a little of what happened here. I haven’t played the game to completion since its original release — all 120 stars thank you very much, as well as many of the iconic bugs and cheats of the day, like getting up to the top of the castle without the cannon, falling through the roof, etc. — and every so often I give it the ol’ college try again. I usually get my jollies out pretty fast, but the allure of free camera control with the PC port was what brought me back.
I think what broke my playing was that I was generally doing a star or two a night, and trying to go through and get every star in a single stage before moving on to the next stage… but there comes a point where you can’t actually do that anymore due to needing later blocks (I think?). I got further (40-odd stars) than I anticipated. Maybe I’ll get back to it in 2026? Doubt it, but it’s a possibility!
For those curious, I played a completely basic port with no extra mods or textures or anything; I wanted a “pure” (boosted!) experience, and that’s what I got.
Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/nintendo-switch-2-welcome-tour-switch-2/
Sure, sure… it should have been included for free, at least maybe with launch consoles. I guess. I could be convinced. But it’s also a pretty strong standalone piece! Except it’s also not.
I think I actually got to the “final” area (at least without requiring external accessories), but once I put it down, I never picked it back up.
I spent the last of my gold coins on this. Thanks, Nintendo(?).
Date Everything
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/date-everything-switch/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2201320/Date_Everything/
Just because I focus on the original Japanese version of Dragon Ball doesn’t mean I don’t know other kinds of voice actors! I know things! I like people!
OK, fine… it was really just for Ben Starr.
Once I got into the “real” game, I figured out pretty fast that I wasn’t actually going to play this to completion; that actual loop wasn’t interesting enough to hold my attention, even if some of the stories did string me along pretty well. I think I just got everything I personally wanted out of it after a few hours.
On the flip side, it was great to casually watch over the shoulder as Meri more or less 100%-ed it. Got to have my cake and date it, too!
Easy Delivery Co.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3293010/Easy_Delivery_Co/
I was pretty psyched for this! Loved the early trailers, I’m super into the scene trying to replicate PS1/Saturn aesthetics with modern sensibilities…
But I just couldn’t get into it, and I know exactly why: my brain wasn’t jiving with the map. I know on paper that it makes sense and I should be able to get around, but I just wasn’t clicking with it.
I’d really like to give this another chance in 2026 and see if it just catches me on a better day. It’s not you, Easy Delivery Co.; it’s me.
Dragon Warrior Monsters
Yes, this is “Dragon Warrior Monsters” on the Game Boy, as originally released in America! I was looking for something to poke at on the Analogue Pocket, and this seemed like the perfect choice.
I’ve played a few Monsters games: the beginning of this very game several times over the years, (just about) all of Joker 2 on DS in 2012, all of Terry’s Wonderland on 3DS (via fan translation) in 2020, and all of Monsters 3 last year on the Steam Deck.
Terry’s Wonderland — Dragon Quest Monsters: Terry’s Wonderland 3D, to be exact — is actually a full remake of this original Dragon Warrior Quest Monsters… so technically I have already played it to completion!
I went into it just curious about how archaic it might feel (a lot) and how far I might get into it (not very). It was neat being reminded of some of those early plot points and locations, and just how spruced up yet authentic the 3DS remake was.
Anyway, the original game has this incredible bit of dialog:
Mario Kart World
All things considered, this is the big one.
I classify this as a game I “didn’t finish” because the natural course of action for a new Mario Kart release is to 100% it across all the 50cc, 100cc, 150cc, etc. cups. I did 50cc to get the extra stages… and that’s it. I also barely touched the “open world” aspect.
I hesitate to say the game is a “disappointment”… because it’s not; it’s just different. Maybe too different, and in particular for what we need/expect for our Saturday night streams. I certainly understand and respect the decision to create a fully-interconnected world of tracks… but in taking that setup to their stage select screen that’s a forced cursor-movement-select across icons on a map, it’s really just contributed to a complete lack of understanding/remembering what tracks are where (and that’s on top of the tracks themselves largely been unremarkable and difficult to remember).
I really, really, really want this game to get some substantial UI updates this year… and maybe some old tracks, please…?
The Game Pokes
As mentioned at the top, this list doesn’t include games I only poked at for a couple minutes — ones I never had any real intention of playing long-term or to completion. That said, there were a couple I put more than a few minutes into that kinda straddle the line, or are notable in some other way, so here’s a short list of pokes!
Mortal Kombat II (Game Gear)
I bought a toooooooon of Game Boy and Game Gear games in the lead-up to the Analogue Pocket. The first two Mortal Kombat games were a staple of my Game Boy adventures, but I was always jealous/curious of the Game Gear side of history. Particularly with it not getting included in the Legacy Kollection, I wanted to spent some time with the Game Gear version of the sequel, and… it’s fine! Played a number of rounds with a number of characters, and it sure is that game on the Game Gear.
OutRun (Game Gear)
While I was at it, I put a bunch of time into the Game Gear version of Outrun on the Pocket. I just really like OutRun!
OutRun GB (GBC)
I love projects like this — a complete original creation from scratch attempting to “port” OutRun to the Game Boy Color. I love that they also included an actual .pocket file to run it natively with the screen filters and such.
Cannonball (PC)
As if I haven’t written enough about OutRun… this is the PC rewrite of the OutRun arcade game! In line with what I noted earlier about ports/decomps/recomps, this is one I played a good number of times, but didn’t really try to go for lap times or route completions or anything.
ASURA THE STRIKER
Alongside OutRun, I really love Space Harrier… and that’s basically what this is! I only put a whopping 7 minutes into it apparently, but it’s something I do want to get back to and dump some real time into. Or maybe I’ll just play actual Space Harrier instead.
E.V.O.: Search for Eden (SNES)
Since the PC-98 original was my favorite thing that I played in 2025, I figured it was worth giving the SNES reimagining a shot! Had I not just played the original I might have dumped more time into it, but I only just played the opening stages before I got enough of a taste to broadly understood how they changed up the game. It was neat hearing the original music done up in SNES-style, too!
Mime (PC-98)
Speaking of PC-98 games, I’ve been trying to keep up with what seems like an explosion of new English translations for this platform’s games! A turn-based dungeon-crawler RPG sounded up my alley, so I put a little bit of time into it… but it just wasn’t going to be something I really stuck with long-term. Maybe I’ll get back to it?
Capcom Fighting Collection 2 (PC)
I think I spent more time ripping and encoding the music from the game (notably the 2025 CvS2 songs) than actually playing anything it…? That kinda surprised me, since I’m always champing at the bit when it comes to getting some CvS2 matches in.
Be the first to comment