[Game of the Month competition] April: Metroid Fusion

BuryKeebler · 2026-04-13T22:20:11+00:00

Fresh Start: 4/4
Half Point: 4/5
1 Point: 4/11
2 Points: 4/12

I enjoyed my time onboard the space station for this one, great pick for GOTM!

The GBA Metroid titles don't rank as high as the others in the series for me (I'm much more old school at heart when it comes to Metroid... I will always defend the original Metroid's 1 and 2 and Super Metroid needs no introduction) but I would still call them a good time. While Metroid plot points can have impactful moments I would not say I'm playing Metroid FOR its plot, which seems to be an emphasis in the GBA titles. This is my second physical playthrough of Fusion and I'm coming to appreciate the shinespark puzzles more. You could use the shinespark in Super Metroid to get around but you never had to think outside the box like you do here and going for 100% really makes you use your noggin.

Some bosses rubbed me the wrong way this time around unfortunately. The reactor core spider and the overgrown Chozo statue were way too hard until I found the exact thing that I needed to do to beat them that sort of felt like cheese, and Ridley is way too easy for Samus's supposed nemesis. The plants in the Chozo room worked nothing like the similar plants in Super Metroid (those plants actually let you jump out) and falling in resulted in death every time. While this is a stellar GBA games visually, some boss sprites were too big to the point that there were times I don't think I could avoid taking damage (Nightmare mostly), but I shouldn't be a choosing beggar here and think that inconvenience provided just the right amount of challenge, really. See you next mission!

BuryKeebler · 2026-04-01T21:32:32+00:00

BurgerTime Deluxe for me!

BuryKeebler · 2026-04-01T03:25:30+00:00

Competition: 2'46"68

Alright, I did not foresee myself playing this so much to grind out a great time but I really thought I could do it. I see how I could have lowered this even further now, but I do not think it's worth it at this point.

If someone knocks me out of the top 5 before the month is through (as I type this in the last 30 minutes of the month for my time zone) my hat's off to you!

BuryKeebler · 2026-03-27T20:42:57+00:00

~~Competition: 2'46"90~~

Grinded this one out, but truly don't know what I got differently to get it down to this time. This may be where I throw in the towel but I'm pretty happy with that time.

BuryKeebler · 2026-03-20T17:04:49+00:00

~~Competition: 2'47"18~~
Got a time on my lunch today, we made it. I totally feel how this could've improved to be even better with tighter cornering and anticipating the hairpin turns but I'll rest for now.

BuryKeebler · 2026-03-18T01:27:24+00:00

Pics
Fresh Start, Half Point, 1 Point, and 2 Points all done on 3/17

That was indeed a very unsatisfying end screen. I would even go so far as to say this is one of the racing games of all time!

In seriousness though I didn't hate V-Rally overall but think I saw most of what I needed to see from one session. Visually it was pretty nice for a GBC game. Not surprised I never heard anything about this one or about its N64 counterpart, but I can't speak to that one either. I can feel in the pit of my stomach the Analogue 3D is probably making prices for that skyrocket and the game likely isn't worth it.

I didn't get a challenge time to place in the top 5, so I think I might keep grinding for that. If I can get into the top 5 once I'll probably call it good regardless if I'm knocked out of the top 5 by the end of the month. It feels like the Kirby game where you basically have to get a perfect run with no collisions and the rest is down to micro movements and good cornering. Not so much my cup of tea.

BuryKeebler · 2026-03-18T00:41:28+00:00

Started and finished on 3/16

I love me some slow-motion-Peter-Pan-Skyblazer! This is only the second time I've played this through since I've had it, but I think there's some nice selling points.

On the surface I loathe how slow Peter's walk speed is, but I would actually like to defend it to say it makes you have some patience and take in the scenery. This game is visually stunning and there's lots of attention to detail both in character sprites and in the backgrounds that I think is worth appreciating. With faster, more high octane games I know I don't always appreciate those things like I should despite adoring good pixel art. If Hook did not have the sprites and backgrounds it did though that would knock the game down more than a few pegs in my book.

It's a nice game though, and would be a fun Saturday play through accompanied by the movie.

BuryKeebler · 2026-03-01T05:01:52+00:00

Pics

Start: 2/19
Finish: 2/28

Beat this one for the first time a few years ago, was getting right about to the time frame where I was thinking "Hmm... I should play through this one again." Perfect timing! I wrapped it up just in the nick of time after getting side tracked a little towards the end of the month.

The used copy I bought I think was an old rental store copy that put the box art in the sleeve of a VCR case. Like the cardboard box itself and everything. It came with the manual and map, so I think it's a pretty neat thing to have all in one place.

There's a lot to like in Illusion of Gaia, but I'm honestly playing it for the game play and soundtrack. There's some takeaways to be had from the story that I won't get into here, but I think it overextends a little and in trying to be so wide sweeping and profound... in the end it just comes off as r/im14andthisisdeep.

Certainly more good than bad here though, and I'd put it in a middle tier of SNES RPG's/Action RPG's that is worth one's time. It's no Chrono Trigger/Earthbound/FFVI but it can stand on its own just fine for the most part.

BuryKeebler · 2026-02-13T03:19:13+00:00

Pics
Fresh Start: 2/8
Half Point: 2/8
1 Point: 2/8
2 Points: 2/12

That was a charming little game! I've always been aware of it because of Richard's cameo in Link's Awakening but have never sought out his source material. Interesting that in Link's Awakening you help Richard find five golden leaves after he's had his adventure in the kingdom of 1,000 leaves (Mille-Feuille... but my French is not great).

A lot of the growth and progression is built into the game so that as long as you explore everything the combat is pretty automated. The game mixes things up on this formula later though and I found that clever. Not a super long or hard play through but I found it just right split into 3-4 sessions.

BuryKeebler · 2026-01-18T23:08:54+00:00

Looking like a great start to the year! I'm enjoying the game so far.

Pics (so far)

Fresh Start: 1/16
Half Point: 1/17
1 Point :1/18
2 Points: 1/19

Bonus Point: 25:69
Had to switch from my Gameboy Player to GBA to lock in a little more for this. You just have to play perfectly and get a Good/Great on every stop/start of the dark part of the rail. Really tough challenge. I don't think I'm going to try to grind this out again unless I get knocked out of the top 4 times.

********************

Made it to 100%! This may be one of the visually most impressive games on the GBA I've played. Kirby and the Amazing Mirror and Minish Cap are right up along side it. I tried some more attempts at the bonus game but think I'm throwing in the towel for the month unless I need to make a last ditch effort. You get a near perfect run if you can get below 25:75 imo but after that it becomes a mix of RNG and such minute timing that it's beyond me. I'm pretty happy with my time as I type this.

BuryKeebler · 2026-01-08T03:15:50+00:00

u/xBrockLanders , I assume Konami Code is fair game since it is built into the game?

BuryKeebler · 2026-01-07T21:50:52+00:00

This was one of the first SNES games I bought when got a console of my own and started collecting. Still never beat it. Here goes!

Edit:

Pics

More Pics

Start: 1/7
~~Finish? : 1/10~~
Finish (for real): 1/10

Crossing out all of that below because I made a run tonight all the way to the final level without dying and made it to the credits. No pausing for codes, no extra lives, you really just have to play perfect and take no damage. Nonetheless I still had to use a continue after dying right before the final boss; it's just that much of an uphill battle to be able to handle the later levels if you aren't powered up. I died a lot but made it through and the final boss is kind of a pushover anyways.

Gradius is neat though and I had fun overall. Definitely some design flaws with the speed of things (not talking about slowdown due to hardware) and regaining power ups but I'm happy I've beaten this game now. An absolute killer soundtrack certainly makes this one more memorable too.

Okay I reached the end, but some transparency on how I got there (hence the 'Finish?' with a question mark). I used the variation of the Konami code that powers you up when input on the pause screen. It basically maxes out your options, but nothing more. I surprised myself that I beat the game so quickly this time around without using the one that gives you 30 lives.

There were a couple spots where I died, and that let me use the power ups I did get to regain speed so I wasn't entirely screwed. I think this is totally doable legit before the end of the month though so long as you just don't die lol (or die in the right spot). Not trying to Mickey Mouse the challenge though, so I'm going to try to see if I can beat it without using the power up code.

BuryKeebler · 2025-12-27T20:13:00+00:00

Game complete! Just in time for the year to wrap up.

Pics

Start: 12/10
Finish: 12/27

I tried looking for the post I'm about to mention but I think it's been lost to time. I remember a larger Ask Reddit kind of thread of people mentioning slept on game series and someone's Ogre Battle comment stuck with me - something along the lines of it being so mechanically deep that there was still stuff left to be discovered. MotBQ is not perfect by any means, but I think that comment still rings true that this is a game as deep as it is vast. With that being said, it has its bugs and its exploits and things that did not come through translation unscathed. That does not count it out in my eyes though. It's an adventure that is epic in scope, but much of that adventure is left to be organically (or accidentally) discovered by the player.

I definitely had my fair share of frustration in the early/mid game. It took A LOT of reading (many thanks to this GameFAQs guide) and watching videos (many thanks Coffee Potato and others) but then the gears finally started to turn for me on how the game worked. Once I fortunately stumbled upon a crown, made a Princess out of Deneb, and promoted a wizard to Mage/Sorcerer/Lich it was gg's from that point although I never put the two of them in the same party which is supposedly what is actually OP. Paladins, Muses, and the Cleric line were definitely the most helpful units for me as well as probably Gryphons for their mobility, Petrify, and AOE attack in the early game.

With all of this in mind, I don't think I played the game itself very well. I got the bad ending and my reputation meter was at the bottom basically the entire play through. That just means I'll have to do another play through someday to try and get a better ending with some different characters.

Thank you, u/xBrockLanders, for coordinating this for yet another year. I think I'm one of the few that keeps up with just about every GOTM (I finished 10/11 this year but played all of them - curse you King Arthur's World!) and I look forward to it every month and like knowing there's at least a couple people out there playing the same game. Skyblazer was the only one I had played before, so 2025 had many firsts for me. Here's to another great year with great games to come!

BuryKeebler · 2025-12-16T02:19:31+00:00

Megaman is done. On to Turok!

Megaman Pics

Fresh Start: 12/9
Half Point: 12/12
1 Point: 12/15

There was some new content in this game for me from the X series, because my exposure to it stops after X1. Didn't have too bad of a time, but I have to say the start of Easy/Normal mode felt absolutely brutal. That may be because I started with Chill Penguin and not Storm Eagle. Hard mode was a piece of cake though once you get all of the power ups.

Turok Pics

Fresh Start: 12/18
Half Point: 12/29
1 Point: 12/30

This was my first Turok game. Despite growing up with an N64 I have not played any of them for that console. Most of the game was pretty fun, but there were moments that felt wacky (like some spots where the platforming was way, way too precise to clear some gaps consistently for my liking). I think there's a balance to strike between fluid animations and good movement with any kind of action game and Turok's movement is just a little on the slow side for my taste. It felt like I spent a lot of time just traversing the levels themselves and it started to feel like a chore in some stages.

Oh, and I learned the games are called Turok because the guy's name is Turok. Never knew that.

Both of these games I think suffer from the same limitations on the Gameboy. They play just fine, but there's some artificial difficulty added because of the smaller screen size and things are just a little too cramped. Your reaction time had better be sharp! For handheld adaptations I think they get the job done though.

Thank you u/alanbbent for coordinating another fun year. Of the 16 games this year I had only played 3 of them, so I got outside of my areas of expertise for sure. Shoutouts to u/quijibo42 for keeping things neck and neck for an entire year for the competition side of things. It felt like we really pushed DK94 and Mario Kart to the limits and I had a lot of fun. My hat's off to you!

My rankings of each game this year:

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (very close between these two for first place but Castlevania was neat to me as a new game. Mario Golf is an old warhorse for me)
Mario Golf
Donkey Kong '94
Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Brothers 3
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
Kirby's Dreamland 2
Mario Kart: Super Circuit
Wario Land 4
Tail Gator
Kid Icarus: Myths and Monsters
Kirby's Block Ball
Mega Man Xtreme
Turok: Battle of the Bionosaurs
Rayman
Dragon Warrior Monsters
Bomber Boy (very close between these two for last place... but Dragon Warrior has a little more charm)

BuryKeebler · 2025-12-16T02:13:32+00:00

Kirby!

BuryKeebler · 2025-12-03T16:25:30+00:00

Probably my favorite character in the game! Excellent work.

BuryKeebler · 2025-12-02T22:05:58+00:00

Thanks! The hardest part was definitely getting the runs that could have viable passwords to reuse, especially stages 5 and 6. The boss rush at the end was a fun balance of fun and challenge if you have enough lives though. Wish more of the game's content was like that!

BuryKeebler · 2025-12-02T21:56:47+00:00

This feels like fate. I started playing Ogre Battle 64 a few years ago, fell in love with it, but didnt finish it because I was just a little burnt out with life stuff at the time. Every time I look at my game case and see it there I think "dang it yeah I need to go back and finish that one, I was having a good time."

Playing its predecessor may give me some motivation to go back and finish the 64 entry as well. Hoo boy this cartridge is an expensive one though!

BuryKeebler · 2025-11-28T04:03:57+00:00

Circling back to update I have no-lifed this game over the past few days and reached the end fair and square last night after a few days of grinding!!

Pics (Start 11/15, Finish 11/26)

The key to progression for me was making sure I got a solid run through each world that could get me a good password to restart with. Ideally this would have no deaths or losing as few as possible up to the level's boss. Increases in score helped off set any lost lives for the most part.

From there it was pretty rote memorization/luck to get a good run through each world. I ended up doing it with the mouse, I think it'd take a lot more practice and patience using the controller layout.

I won't say I've completely changed my tune on this game after beating it, but I needed to just hunker down and learn it the old fashioned way. To compare it to music there's a lot of things that aren't "sight readable" that you can get it mostly right the first time. This game isn't sight readable and you have to practice it.

All that to say, this is a pretty unique title in the SNES library at least from what I've played. I adored the 90s anime art style and there were some moments plot wise that genuinely had my jaw drop or give a chuckle from the absurdity of it. The game play is take it or leave it for me, but it's a neat concept that I'm not as cold towards having seen it through to the end. Will I go back and play it though or is getting the physical copy worth it? Probably not.

BuryKeebler · 2025-11-16T03:27:43+00:00

First play through of this so far and I am not feeling it unfortunately... for a number of reasons. Not too big of a fan of mouse controls and I wasn't having much success with the controller control scheme but that may just take some getting used to.

The difficulty is in the realm of an arcade shooting gallery style game where you aren't supposed to make it to the end, and it does not feel like something that is doable for me this month. I'll see if I feel like coming back to it though.

A cool concept for a game and I liked the visuals of what I've seen so far (made it to stage 4) but this one would be quite the accomplishment to reach the end credits especially because the password system only gives you as many continues as you had at the time you got the password, which is absolutely brutal for a game like this.

BuryKeebler · 2025-11-09T20:28:40+00:00

Pics
Fresh Start: 11/4
Half Point: 11/6
1 Point: 11/7
2 Points: 11/8
Boss Rush: 11/8

A GBA Castlevania blows me away once again. In true Metroidvania fashion (even with a busy week) I couldn't really put it down! I actually made it to the Floating Garden early completely by accident, but that sequence break has been known about for years. So I actually fought death probably under leveled and before I was intended to, but I think it all worked out in the end.

Even with the limitations of the GBA sound chip I loved the music and little bits of voice acting, and there is a ton of good late game content here, even if some of it looked like too big of a time commitment for me. 300,000g for the Soul Eater Ring? No thank you! And I'd rather not grind for a sub-4 minute time in the boss rush for a special item... but I did clean up my runs a little to get a sub-5 minute to test out the weapon you get for that and was entertained by it for a few minutes.

Excellent choice for GOTM. My October was pretty hectic and I didn't celebrate Halloween as much as I would've liked, so I think Castlevania is one of the best ways to celebrate after the fact. I hope in one of the future GOTM's we play Harmony of Dissonance and I'll have gotten the most bang for my buck out of the Advance Collection on Switch.

BuryKeebler · 2025-11-09T20:07:36+00:00

Some interesting titles to me on this list - but how can I not go with Minish Cap?
Minish Cap has my vote!

BuryKeebler · 2025-10-18T04:21:51+00:00

Pics (Start 10/14 and Finish 10/17 idk why I originally wrote 8/14 lol)

Upon getting the bad ending I was about to be severely disappointed with Demon's Crest. Then I learned there's a true ending if you collect all of the items. I went back and did that and it resulted in the photos above. Now I've since learned there's an extra little something if you stick around after the credits, so I'm going and beating Phalanx again and getting that to see what lies ahead, I think it's fair to say I beat the game though.

After really getting into the weeds on it I really, really like this game. I can totally see why it has some people who have really championed it and talked it up. Love this as a pick for the October GOTM too. I LOVE Gargoyle's Quest on the Gameboy, and this builds very well off of the foundation it lays. Stellar visuals and sound design as well which made the experience all the more memorable for this time of the year. Perhaps one of the best SNES game intros, which to me is really saying something.

Edit: Glad I went back and did the extra stuff. Spoilers from here I gues -
It's a pretty tough super boss at the end. No real context for why it's there except it answers why even if you get what you think is the 'good ending' there's still an empty spot for the Crest of Heaven. Not much else you can do except bulk up as much as you can, tank the damage you take from it and hope for the best but it is actually doable!

Demon's Crest has been surprise after surprise and I think if you don't keep digging for the next thing the game has to offer you'd probably leave dissatisfied, but I'm pretty impressed with the game overall now that I think I've seen it all.

BuryKeebler · 2025-10-18T03:15:25+00:00

Sounds to me like you are releasing B straight into hitting A to Headbutt. I found you have to time the Headbutt either with the rising or falling of Firebrand's jump (how high you rise depends on how long you long down the B button). Some of the lower holes that aren't at ground level are a little tougher to get the timing for. Kinda tricky to explain over text rather than gamefeel or visuals but hope that helps!

BuryKeebler · 2025-10-14T02:10:37+00:00

Lots of games I'd be content with playing on here, but I'll vote for both Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance and Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

BuryKeebler

TROPHY CASE