I realise this isn’t the most exciting thing I ever share on here but I also realise we’ve probably all got better things to be doing in the week between Christmas and New Year, so it’s the best place for it! Anyway, as I’ve been doing for a good while now, I just like to record the games I’ve finished over the course of the year, with a sentence or two micro-review on each, for no greater purpose than simply doing so, and here they are…

January

4th. Duke Nukem Remastered (Evercade VS)

5th. Duke Nukem Advance (GBA on Evercade VS / Super Pocket)

14th. Duke Nukem Remastered 2 (Evercade VS)

23rd. Resident Evil 2 Remake (Xbox Series X)

29th. Simon the Sorcerer. (Amiga)

Couldn’t have started the year any better than with Duke Nukem Remastered – genuinely the most fun I’ve had with any game for a very long time!  Its sequel didn’t have quite the same impact but it was mostly brilliant all the same – just some frustrating platforming towards the end. GBA Duke was great too, especially on my new Super Pocket handheld, and that makes two very cool Evercade cartridges I got for Christmas with lots more to come from both! RE2 Remake didn’t have quite the same impact second time around either but was a hell of a good time again all the same. And Simon the Sorcerer was some good-looking point-and-click puzzling that was losing its shine by the end but glad I finally played it!

February

1st. The Sword of Ianna (MSX on Evercade)

6th. Batman: The Movie (Atari ST)

13th. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist (Mega Drive on Switch)

20th. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time (Arcade on Switch)

20th. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time (SNES on Switch)

24th. Final Fight (Arcade on Xbox Series X)

My first ever MSX game turned out to be one of my favourite discoveries on Evercade too, and its vibrant fantasy action platforming played great on the Super Pocket! Speaking of great, Batman was that and, as always, greater than the sum of its parts too. Finally got to The Cowabunga Collection, amd that might be my new favourite Mega Drive beat ‘em up, although even that doesn’t come close to its arcade inspiration that I moved to next on there – Turtles in Time is absolutely incredible and beating it in a respectable number of credits was only the start! The SNES port didn’t have quite the same polish or fluidity but a few extras make it pretty excellent too. What a game all round though! Continuing in a similar vein, so is Final Fight, although I still prefer the music on the Mega-CD version! 

March

2nd. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Arcade on Switch)

6th. Mushroom Soup (ZX Spectrum)

9th. Summer Games II (Commodore 64 on Evercade)

12th. Bruce Lee (Commodore 64 on Evercade)

17th. Level Devil (iOS)

23rd. Resident Evil 3 Remake (Xbox Series X)

New month, more Turtles, but this first of them all isn’t as refined and definitely isn’t for solo play but glad to experience it again for the first time since it hit the arcades regardless! The Spectrum homebrew scene has never been more active, and this action-puzzle-platformer is the best I’ve come across for a while – first time dev too! I’ve absolutely caned The C64 Collection 3 on Evercade, especially Summer Games II, to the point there’s not much more I can ring out of it (for now) – still love it but the cycling event really needs a joystick! Bruce Lee (or “Lee” apparently) never felt better though – still got a no death clear in me too! Can’t remember the last time I played a mobile game (although not for the want of trying) but Level Devil was the one – think minimal Meat Boy but with its own cruel ideas. And, unlike RE2 Remake a couple of months ago, RE3 had  the same blockbuster impact second time around – built for pleasure and nothing more! 

April

6th. Return to Grace (Xbox Series X)

11th. Another World (Amiga A500 Mini)

15th. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Hillsfar (Atari ST)

24th. Commando (ZX Spectrum)

24th. Commando (Commodore 64)

Lovely straight-to-Game Pass surprise and a fantastic retro-futuristic walking-sim to boot in Return to Grace… AI will definitely be the death of us though! Actually, Another World was nearly the death of me in a couple of places but after years of trying, I’ve finally got it, beaten it, and I’m now a convert! Not sure how I got sucked back in to AD&D but it’s pretty lightweight considering, and a lot of fun… As is Commando, which I’m also far more predictable with when it comes to being sucked in again, wherever I’m playing.  

May

4th. Botany Manor (Xbox Series X)

15th. Transylvania (Atari 400 Mini)

17th. Dante’s Inferno (Xbox Series X)

26th. Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II (Xbox Series X)

28th. Loom (Amiga A500 Mini)

Who’d have thought a puzzling but tranquil walking sim through a 19th century English country garden where you plant seeds could be so exhilarating? At the time of playing, Botany Manor was definite game of the year material too (see here to see where it ended up)! Transylvania would have been that back in 1982 – lovely, atmospheric graphical text adventure and my first Atari 8-bit game finished! Glad to see the back of that stupid God of War ripoff too – no place for ten hours of janky as hell (literally), button-mashing and quick-time platforming in 2024! Plenty of room for more Hellblade though, and what an incredibly cinematic, good (so to speak) time that was – game of the year contenders coming thick and fast now! Loom’s still a good ‘un too – not the best LucasArts point-and-click but it’s unique and mostly fun. 

June

1st. Kona (Xbox Series X)

6th. Zork I: The Great Underground Empire

22nd. Still Wakes The Deep (Xbox Series X)

27th. The Flintstones (ZX Spectrum)

29th. Mega Man 2 (NES on Switch)

A quick peek at Kona on Game Pass turned into the supernatural sleuth walking sim I never knew I needed so much – cold and bleak, weird and wonderful, and can’t wait to play the sequel… A lot of that goes for Zork as well – one of the original and still one of the smartest vintage text adventures! Still Wakes The Deep was very janky for something with so little gameplay (even for a walking simulator) but good seventies oil rig vibes and another good bit of Game Pass! Then there was The Flintstones… The things I do for this site! Mega Man always saves the day though, stupid boss rush and all! 

July

3rd. Kung-Fu (NES)

11th. Cruise for a Corpse (Amiga)

18th. Flashback: 25th Anniversary (Switch)

20th. Ico – US version (PlayStation 2 )

Still a Master at that Kung-Fu game! Cruise for a Corpse had a couple of pain points near the end but remains a very smart, very stylish point-and-sleuth adventure. And sticking with Delphine, I finally clicked with Flashback too, and it turned out to be the masterpiece everyone always said it was after all! And yes, same for Ico – first time playing, instant top twenty favourite game of all time, boom! (And look out for a deep-dive on that early in 2025).

August

5th. Destruction Derby (PlayStation Classic)

10th. Metal Gear Solid (PlayStation Classic)

27th. Ico – European version (PlayStation 2 )

30th. Deathsmiles II (Arcade on Switch)

Been a while since I saw the Wreckin’ Racing credits roll over my very own personalised trophy in Destruction Derby but it’s still a masterpiece of good times! Turns out Metal Gear Solid is a bit of a masterpiece too… Who’d have believed it? Much better late than never though, and another all-time favourite I didn’t see coming this month! Which reminds me, the European version of Ico is even better than the US one (and not just because I now own it)! And while Deathsmiles II isn’t even close to better than its glorious predecessor, it’s always a festive blast all the same, whatever the time of year! 

September

9th. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (DS on Switch)

12th. The Official Father Christmas Game (ZX Spectrum)

17th. Yumeme Mystery Mansion (Mega-CD on Mega Drive Mini II)

18th. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (PlayStation 2)

21st. Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (DS on Switch)

29th. Kona II: Brume (Xbox Series X)

The Castlevania Dominus Collection came out of nowhere and so did Dawn of Sorrow – never played the DS games before but this one at least is something very special! And yes, that is a Father Christmas game. In September… As said before, the things I do for this site! Yumeme Mystery Mansion was a pleasure though – the “Hollywood” visuals haven’t aged great but that doesn’t stop it being a creepy horror not-quite-point-and-click adventure! Nothing more Hollywood than Metal Gear Solid 2 though, and while the transition to PS2 is spectacular (not to mention totally bonkers!) it didn’t grab me in quite the same way as the original did first time finally playing. Finishing the flurry of games I’d had on the go all at once, another of the Castlevania Dominus Collection done, and while Portrait of Ruin was by numbers, it ended up a lot more fun than it started. Rounding out the month, the sequel to a game I loved for its relentless cold and subsequent persistent peril, neither of which carried over unfortunately, despite it being more of the same. Game Pass always makes it easier to swallow these things though. 

October

2nd. Ghost Manor (Atari 2600)

5th. Adventure (Atari 2600 on Switch)

16th. Bruce Lee (Atari 8-Bit on The 400 Mini)

An appropriately spooky and surprisingly fun and varied start to the month on the old 2600. Also on there, I’ve been meaning to properly play Adventure since it arrived with the Atari. 50 compilation a couple of years ago but didn’t realise how hooked I’d get when I finally did! All difficulty levels beat, which doesn’t happen often, but this thing deserves it! First time properly playing my old favourite Bruce Lee in its original form too but what it adds in some finicky platforming it takes away in enemy aggression, so it all balances itself out into another beautiful game! 

November

15th. The Case of the Golden Idol (Xbox Series X)

16th. Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain (PS1 on Evercade)

21st. Star Strike (Atari 2600)

26th. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PlayStation 2)

Golden Idol was such a great find – a stylish, logical and increasingly complex eighteenth-century murder-mystery I savoured over several months but conveniently finished just in time for its sequel to launch… Speaking of sequels, Blood Omen’s is on the same cartridge but the first is going to take some beating; I absolutely loved its very PlayStation vampire vibes and had no idea quite how big an adventure it was going to be! I spent way longer trying to beat Star Strike than its Star Wars echoes probably deserved but it’s way more fun than the Intellivision original all the same! MGS3 ain’t bad either! Another real blockbuster of a game, and even more bonkers than the last one too, and I can’t wait for the remake in 2025, as well as the next title in my new-found favourite series!

December

2nd. Daley Thompson’s Decathlon (The Spectrum)

8th. The Hobbit (The Spectrum)

13th. Dracula (The Spectrum)

21st. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (Xbox Series X)

Decided to give The Spectrum a proper workout (for as long as I dare!) with Decathlon, which was long enough to beat everything and get some serious records to boot! Two old text adventures on there next, with The Hobbit still the hair-tearing masterpiece I remember and Dracula, which I’ve always wanted to play, less so but surprisingly exhilarating all the same! And Indiana Jones was simply my game of year in 2024 – great plot, great production, great fan service, great fun!

And that was my year in gaming! Well, the ones I finished at least… In case you’ve read this far and don’t know already, all of these and everything else I’ve played are covered in a bit more detail than here every Sunday in the Retro Arcadia Weekly Spotlight, where we’re now well into the hundreds of editions! And in case you missed it, the other day there was also a special Christmas edition of that too! And I’ll hopefully see you again for the next one in a few days from whenever you’re reading this!

As always, I’ll never expect anything for what I do here but if you’d like to buy me a Ko-fi and help towards increasingly expensive hosting and storage costs then it will always be really appreciated! And be sure to follow me on Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) or Threads for my latest retro-gaming nonsense!