PixlBit

I set up my Xbox One again just below my Hyperkin 3. Retro first. I played some Genesis, got caught up with Xbox sales and rewards by playing NBA 2k20, and then went back into retro with a wealth of collections that are now on Xbox One. 

Sky Kid (NES): This is a great port of the arcade game. It's a 2D shooter but not a crazy bullet hell one, just a normal shooter. You pilot a simple one-engine (single prop) airplane and shoot and bomb your way from right to left. I liked the controls right off. You shoot your guns and then pick up a bomb on the ground and drop it on a fortress. I kept getting shot down at the fortress though. I need more practice, but it's hard to dodge all the bullets at that part. 

Wizardry (NES): I changed one of my fighters into a samurai and took him around level 1 and 2 to level up. I got him to XP level 5 with no issues but one. Guess how many hit points I was awarded for leveling him 5 times. 5. That's all. 1 hp per level. That is rediculous! I was so angry, I stopped playing. This is like rolling snake eyes five times in a row. There is something seriously wrong with the random elements in this game. It's unfair to the extreme. 

Shining in the Darkness (Genesis): I was mapping out level 1 of the labyrinth when I got a game crash. Then I couldn't get my save file to work; I couldn't even delete it. I was worried it was the console, but I think it's just a dying battery in the game cart. Mark and I are going to figure out how to replace it. 

I also couldn't find my other two players for a three person team. The tavern barflies told me my two old friends were looking for me, but I couldn't find them. Maybe I have to finish level 1 in the labyrinth first, but it seems wrong because I can get killed going in solo if three enemies appear of a certain strength even on level 1. 

SNK 40th Anniversary Collection (Xbox One): I bought this finally. It has 30 games in it! It even has Crystalis. I wanted this from day one, but money said no. It's on sale now for $20, so I went for it since I have $10 in rewards credit. I also got Mega Man Legacy Collection Vol. 1 for $7. I've always bounced off these games becaue of difficulty, but I want to try them again, for history reasons. Xbox One really has a lot of retro collections now. I love it. 

NBA 2k20: Played this for rewards credit. I failed to get the required assists but it was interesting. I played career mode and experienced the story elements that have been added to NBA games. It's a neat story of a player's career. You get to play college level, street ball, practice matches, and combine performance trials. I kind of liked it. The one thing I didn't like was the AI. I wanted to just play my character but my AI team mates would get 3 second shot clock penalties all the time. It seems I am supposed to swtich players a lot, but I didn't want to. I started to get a feel for the controls near the end there but having to take so many 3 second shot penalties annoyed me to no end,so I quit. Just pass the ball, darn it!

Oh, and I so wanted to download the NBA 2k20 app on my phone so I could use my own face on my player, but 400 MB for an app is kind of crazy. I played the following phone game while NBA 2k20 downloaded multiple updates.

Gears Pop: I played a round online and won, upgraded several characters and items I use, and watched the opening of new Pop figures in loot crates. That's kind of fun. I love to see the characters from the Gears games as Pop figures. 

Typhoon (A-Jax): This is within the Arcade Classics Anniversary, a Konami collection. I'm focusing on 1987 this week (my strange obsession with history) and this was the one from that year. You pilot a jet fighter in overhead first-person, shooting planes as you dive in on a battleship. Then you bomb the battleship til it explodes and become a helicopter fighting in vertical top-down view. That was as far as I got on three credits. . 

Avengers, 1943, Black Tiger: All 1987 arcade games on Capcom Arcade Cabinet. Avergers is a vertically scrolling brawler. You kick and punch your way through enemies and pick up boosts and whatnot from trash cans. I was somewhat curious what to do when an enemy got me in a hold. It seems impossible to break free until he's killed you. Fun though. 1943 is an old favorite of mine. I got past the first ship using a whole lot of flak power up. I like flak because it destroys shots as well as enemy planes. It's not so great against ships though. It takes some skill to get the right power up at the right time. That's the key. Black Tiger is a platformer with shooting/chain attacks. You're a knight and jump across platforms and shoot enemies. It's a bit hard because you have little health. I played all these on Score Attack mode for achievemenets, game art unlocks, and for the online leaderboards. You don't get continues in this mode. 

I have to say, after exclusively playing retro consoles for a week or so, it was nice to boot up a new system again. I enjoyed the simplicity of retro but the benefits of the online store, community features, rewards, the plethora of games, game news, and apps make gaming go to another level of excitment; and thanks to Betsy there are so many retro collections. It's amazing.