PixlBit

I played a lot on Xbox Series S this week, but also used my DS, Swtich, PS4 and Retron 3. Gaming breaks included watching another episode of Mighy Orbots, Return of Ultraman, and Dragon Ball Season 2. Also saw a variety of short youtube videos.

Rewards Quest Games: Other than doing the daily quiz on Bing and Jeweled 2 on the Xbox app, I played Wolfenstein Old Blood and Serious Sam Siberian Mayhem. All of these contributed to my Microsoft Rewards points for the month which are now at 13k, well beyond the 10.5K needed to pay for my Game Pass Ultimate subscription.

I finally made it past the prison in Wolfenstein Old Blood. The sneaking and stealth killing and powering down of electrical generators really annoyed me and stopped me in plays past. It reminded me of the game Chronicles of Riddick on old OG Xbox, which also starts with a prison that I never got out of. Well, I fianlly got to the shooting and satisfying is was. I needed 50 kills, and once I had a ranged weapon in my hand, it was quick work. Weapons sound so amazing in the Wolfenstein games. 

Serious Sam Siberian Mayhem just came to Game Pass and my friend and I would be playing it at the same time but it's exclusive to the X|S series and not playable (except to stream) on Xbox One (my friend doesn't like to play streaming). It's real fun. I played just long enough to get the rewards points, which was only chapter 1. I'll save more for another time. 

New Super Lucky's Tale: I picked up a few more achievements trying to get all the pages on the first area. It was very fun even the 2D platforming levels I tend to get annoyed with. 

Main Games: Xbox: My friend Mad Krammer and I got into a good online multiplayer room with a "whale" of a player to run twenty or more levels at Hardest and Inferno difficulty in Earth Defense Force 2025. I used my Fencer and got some new weapons. I also got Hard diffuculty finished with my Wing Diver.

PS4: Played just a few levels in EDF 4.1. I love the changes in this over 2025, but I'm playing solo and its more fun with my friend on Xbox. 

Switch: Rented New Pokemon Snap from the library and played the first area. I really like it. It's just very fun to shoot photos for Prof. Mirror. What happened to Prof. Oak? 

Retro: Arkanoid DS played really great! The controls are much better and the game has a Quest mode that saves your progress. Repeating levels, like in the first mode of the game, is really tiresome to me. I also played Arkanoid Eternal Battle on Xbox. The NEO mode looks just like the DS game. I played the orginal retro cabinet mode as well and also the vs computer and online modes. I'm getting better. I used the D-pad on the Xbox controller just like I do on DS and it played better for me. I felt I had better control. 

Super Mario Bros 3: Played the NES cart on my Retron 3. I really love the layout of this game where you progress from level to level on a world map. I didn't make it past level 2 though and you have to start over again when you lose all your lives. Boo to that. I want to save my progress. 

Vindicators: I played what's called Part II on the Midway Arcade Cabinet collection on Xbox. It's a tank game. I got farther than ever before this time. You can customize your tank as you go based on how many points you get. I put it all on sheilds. It's still a tough game though. You can run out of fuel pretty easily. 

Xybots: I played this on the same Midway collection as Vindicators. It's a neat 3D shooter (like a 3D Berzerk now I think of it). You run through wire frame rooms and shoot at robots. You can upgrade your gear between levels. It gets tough too, but it's a niffty looking game. 

Wasteland: I played the remastered version available on Game Pass. It's a very neat post apocalyptic adventure game. You can move around on a world map while real-time updates appear in your log telling you what your seeing and the environmental dangers. Then you might enter a building and talk to NPCs or get into fights. Battles are turn-based. I fought some rats and then this guy Henry the Bunny or something like that. He was robbing mutated carrots or some such thing from a settlement. He kicked my team's collective butt though. 

Mega Man 2: How do you kill those tiny frogs?! I did it once but I'm not sure how. You can't crouch and punch, only shoot. I tried to get somewhere in this on the Legacy Collection on Xbox but couldn't. Love that soundtrack though. Hang banging all the way through. 

Castlevania: On the Anniversary Collection on Xbox. I tried to beat that frist vampire boss again but couldn't. I tore through the level though and felt good about that. Maybe I'm getting the hang of this. 

R.B.I. Baseball:  I have the NES cart in my Retron 3. Pretty fun. Better probably with a second player. The AI kicked my butt pretty good. Pitches are fast and fielding is fun. 

Sky Shark (also called Flying Shark): NES cart on my Retron 3. A pale shadow of the orignal arcade cabinet in terms of graphics, but still fun. Darn hard though. It's a vertically scrolling shooter like 1943 with biplanes. The graphics of the cabinet I played in college were the main draw for me. I love seeing those canvas wings of your plane seen from top down.