Seven 'old' games I'm planning to play at some point in 2017

Late last year, I published a trio of posts about the many Japanese and North American 3DS and Vita games I'm planning to play sometime in 2017.

(This post covers the 3DS games I'm itching to experience, while this post and this post cover the Vita games on my "play as soon as possible in the next 12 months" list.)

Despite my current living situation, I'm also hoping to play a number of "old" games next year. Here are the ones I'd like to tackle first:

Clock Tower (WonderSwan)--Why would I play the WonderSwan port of Human Entertainment's first Clock Tower game when I could play the Super Famicom or PlayStation versions instead? Because I want to show my new-ish WonderSwan Color system some love, for starters. Also, I can't help but think that playing this game in black and white could be kind of cool--not to mention surprisingly atmospheric. If only experiencing Clock Tower on a fairly small screen would make Scissorman's appearances a bit less terrifying.

Last Window (DS)--After ignoring it for ages, I finally played through--and thoroughly enjoyed--Cing's Hotel Dusk in 2015. (You can read some of my thoughts on it in this "A Decade of DS" post.) I have a hard time believing this sequel from 2010 will be anywhere near as captivating as the original, but I'd love for my skepticism to be proven unwarranted. Regardless, it'll be really nice to hold my DS Lite--or, you know, my go-to 3DS--sideways like a book again.

London Seirei Tantei-Dan (PlayStation)--A Japanese RPG set in Victorian England that's full of lovely sprite art and turn-based battles? Where do I sign up? Also, why did it take me until late 2016 to track down a copy of such a game? I've yet to even stick my London Seirei Tantei-Dan disc into my trusty PSone system, of course, but I'm determined to rectify that in the coming months. I'm also determined to publish a post about this game's magnificent packaging, by the way, so be on the lookout for it if that sort of thing is your cup of tea.

Metroid II (GameBoy)--I'm one of those weird folks who loved both Metroid and Super Metroid as a teen but then never played another Metroid game. I'm not kidding here--no Metroid: Fusion, no Metroid: Zero Mission, no Metroid Prime and, yes, no Metroid II. That last game is the most appealing to me, and everyone knows how much I adore the GameBoy, so I'm going to do my best to jump back on the Metroid bandwagon (if such a thing still exists after Nintendo's attempts to kill the series) with it in 2017.

Mother (Famicom)--I actually put a few hours into this game a couple of years ago. For whatever reason, though, I walked away from it after that--despite the fact I was really enjoying its rather antiquated (especially in comparison to follow-up EarthBound) adventure. I'd prefer to give it a second chance by buying and playing EarthBound Beginnings on my 3DS (ahem, Nintendo), but since that's unlikely to be an option, I guess I'll either put the Mother cart I bought ages ago to use or, you know, plug the old EarthBound Zero ROM into my emulator of choice.

Seiken Densetsu 3 (Super Famicom)--You'd think someone who absolutely loves the second Seiken Densetsu game, released in North America as Secret of Mana, would've played the third by now. Well, you'd be wrong. I find Seiken Densetsu 3's graphics mesmerizing, though, so look for me to finally put it through its paces by the end of this year. (I'd like to do the same to the similarly gorgeous Legend of Mana, to be perfectly honest, but that may be a stretch given everything else on my plate.)

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers (3DS)--When Atlus announced this 3DS  port of it Japanese Sega Saturn game from 1997, I told anyone who would listen that I'd buy it as soon as it hit store shelves in my neck of the woods. Nearly four years later, I've still yet to follow through on that affirmation. Copies of Soul Hackers are pretty cheap these days, though, so I'll do what I can to add one to my pile of 3DS cartridges before this time in 2018.

Are you planning to play any particular "old" games this year? If so, which ones?

My 3DS Play Time stats for 2016

Before I checked my 3DS Play Time stats for 2016--so I could write this post, of course--I was pretty sure I'd spent far less time playing games on Nintendo's current handheld than I had in 2015.

Imagine my surprise, then, when it became clear the reverse was true. In fact, I spent exactly 39 hours with my most-played 3DS game (The Legend of Legacy) last year. This year? I spent nearly 60 hours with my most-played 3DS game--Pocket Card Jockey.

And not only that, but I spent just over 50 hours with Dragon Quest VII and a smidgen under 40 hours with both Nintendo's StreetPass Mii Plaza titles (Monster Manor, mostly) and Yo-Kai Watch.

Will Pokémon Moon, above, make an appearance in the 2017 
version of this post? I have no idea, but I hope so!

Overall, I devoted 253 hours to 3DS games in 2016. Here's a breakdown of how much time I put into the 10 most-played:

1. Pocket Card Jockey--59:41
2. Dragon Quest VII--51:23
3. StreetPass Mii Plaza--39:25
4. Yo-Kai Watch--38:31
5. Nintendo Badge Arcade--13:34
6. Pocket Card Jockey demo--5:41
7. Witch & Hero II--4:37
8. Rusty's Real Deal Baseball--3:51
9. Final Fantasy Explorers--2:58
10. Bravely Second demo--2:58

If you'd like to see how this year's list stacks up against last year's, check out my "3DS (and DS) Play Time stats for 2015" write-up.

Also, please share your 2016 3DS Play Time stats with me (and others) in the comments section of this post. It'd be fun to compare notes about this sort of thing, don't you think?

My most popular posts of 2016

I know this is a pretty self-serving write-up, but I'm publishing it anyway in the hopes it'll make folks aware of some interesting posts they missed earlier in the year.

Which posts, you ask? The ones on this blog that earned the most views in 2016, that's which ones.

Oh, and I've decided to put them in alphabetical order rather than in order of most views to least--in case anyone's curious.

CIB Sunday: World’s Longest 5 Minutes Limited Edition (Vita)

Five overlooked Japanese GameBoy games you need to play as soon as possible

Five overlooked Japanese PlayStation games you need to play as soon as possible

Four reasons I'm planning to nab one of those adorable Nintendo Classic Mini: NES consoles once November rolls around

How to succeed in Pocket Card Jockey without really trying (or, here's what you need to do if you suck at this quirky 3DS eShop title)

Let's chat about Zero Time Dilemma's cover art

Manual Stimulation (KiKi KaiKai, PC Engine)

Nu-Bo, Nuubou, Noobow, New--oh, whatever...

Six 3DS games I'm looking forward to playing at some point in 2016

Some of my favorite SNES games in honor of the system's 25th anniversary

I'm planning to publish follow-ups to a few of the above in 2017, by the way. Can you guess which ones?

Other than that, thank you for viewing these and all of my other blog posts so many times this past year. I greatly appreciate it, as always.

Six games I bought and regrettably failed to play in 2016

I bought a good number of games this past year. Although I played as many as I could, the majority were lucky to leave their packaging for more than a couple of minutes.

I wish I'd spent quality time with all of them over the last 12 months, of course, but the following six are most responsible for my current pangs of regret.

Dragon Quest Monsters: Terry's Wonderland 3D (3DS)--I only bought this game a few weeks ago, so I probably shouldn't feel bad that I've failed to play it. Regardless, I do. Who can blame me, though? After all, this 3DS remake of the Tose-developed and Enix-published GameBoy Color cart of the same name (well, without the 3D part) is as bright and colorful as can be. Also, the monster recruiting, fighting and breeding that are at the center of Terry's Wonderland look and sound like a lot of fun. Bonus: the game's now fully playable in English, as the screenshot above showcases. Learn more about and download the required patch here.

Grand Knights History (PSP)--I'm pretty sure my eyes popped out of my head when I first caught a glimpse of this game back in 2010 or 2011. Which should be completely understandable, as Grand Knights History is drop-dead gorgeous just like every other game Vanillaware's ever made. The thing is, the initial enthusiasm I felt for this PSP game quickly faded into the ether when I read that connecting to Japanese servers (apparently a near-impossibility for people in other countries) was a must. Apparently that's not entirely the case, though, so now I'm back to desperately wanting to play this tantalizing RPG.

htoL#NiQ: The Firefly Diary (Vita)--I've long been a sucker for games with unique art styles, and this Nippon Ichi Software-made title fits that bill and then some. Unfortunately, I've heard that htoL#NiQ's gameplay isn't quite as enjoyable as its graphics. That isn't why I failed to play it this year, however, No, that would be because I basically ignored all of my Vita cartridges (and digital titles) in 2016. Thankfully, I plan to give those games--and my pink-and-white Vita--lots of love in 2017. Don't worry, I fully intend to let you know what I think of The Firefly Diary's dark adventure after I've plugged away at it for a bit.

Okaeri! Chibi-Robo! Happy Richie Oosouji (DS)--Full disclosure: I have no real experience with the Chibi-Robo! series. My goal is to rectify that sometime next year by playing as much of the Japan-only Happy Richie Oosouji as I can handle. Accomplishing that should be a lot easier than it would've been if I'd picked up a copy of the game on or around its 2009 release, as a patch that translates its text into English hit the Internet in May.

Tomato Adventure (GameBoy Advance)--Speaking of English translation patches, it's a crying shame no one has created one for this Japan-only game. Why? It was developed by the wizards at AlphaDream, best known for Nintendo's long-running Mario & Luigi RPG series, for starters. Also, it's beyond adorable, as the screenshot above proves. Thankfully, it seemingly was aimed at youngsters, so I'm hoping I'll be able to understand enough of its text to make my way through it in 2017.

Xi Little (WonderSwan)--If Xi doesn't mean anything to you, maybe Devil Dice does? That's what the first Xi game (for the original PlayStation) was called when it was brought to North America in 1998. (Oddly, the second Xi title was renamed Bombastic when it made the same trek a few years later.) Anyway, the plan is to pop this sucker--and all of the other WonderSwan cartridges I've acquired in recent years--into the translucent black WonderSwan Color system I bought late last year as soon as possible in the new year.

How about all of you? Which games did you buy and then fail to play this year?

My favorite games of 2016 that weren't actually released in 2016

Well, this is the last of my "favorite games of 2016" posts.

I'm sorry the previous pair--here's one, and here's the other, if you've yet to read them--were so 3DS-centric, by the way. The fact is, other than the couple of hours I put into the Chrono Trigger DS port early this year, most of my "gaming time" in the last 12 months was devoted to 3DS titles.

Aside from the occasional "old" game, I mean.

Speaking of which, the titles discussed below, all of which were released before 2016 (most were released years, if not decades, before), are the ones I enjoyed the most this year.

Dragon Buster II (Famicom)--No one's ever going to call this one of the Famicom's best games. Hell, only a handful of folks are likely to call it one of the system's many overlooked gems. Still, there's no denying it's an intriguing title that's worth exploring if you've had your fill with that 8-bit console's "classics."

Just make sure you don't go into Dragon Buster II thinking the experience is going to be on par with, say, The Legend of Zelda or Faxandu or Crystalis. This cart has nothing on that trio in pretty much any area--music, graphics or gameplay. I spent a good number of hours with it in 2016 anyway, though, because I find its stark, dungeon-crawling action strangely captivating.

You see, Dragon Buster II is one of those games that offers players very little information. You're plopped into labyrinthine stage after labyrinthine stage with no map and no direction or assistance other than "find the key that'll allow you to leave." Said key is hidden inside a random enemy, which means you have to stalk each cavernous locale until it appears.

That Dragon Buster II compels despite its barebones premise, and despite its low-rent visuals and utter lack of backing music, goes a long way toward explaining why I devoted so much time to it this past fall.

Great Greed (GameBoy)--I've been meaning to play this Namco-made RPG (known as Bitamina Oukoku Monogatari in Japan) ever since some kind soul brought it to my attention in the comments of an earlier post--or maybe it was on Twitter or Facebook?--a number of years back.

Why did I wait until 2016 to bite the bullet and give it a go? I honestly don't know, although I have a feeling I dragged my feet for a good, long while because I was turned off by Great Greed's one-on-one, Dragon Quest-esque battles.

I'm now kicking myself for being so foolish, as the enemy encounters here are both snappy--and not just because there are so few participants--and a lot of fun. On top of that, the game's soundtrack is shockingly good and its many environments are wonderfully atypical for the genre. (My favorite is an old record factory--complete with spinning disks that have to be strategically traversed.)

Admittedly, the text in the North American version is rough--to the point of being nonsensical most of the time--but even that generally adds to Great Greed's charm. Sadly, I've yet to beat the game, but I'm planning to do just that early in 2017.

Monster Manor (3DS)--My 3DS Activity Log says I've put more than 35 hours into StreetPass Mii Plaza games so far this year. Almost all of that time was spent with the Prope-made Monster Manor, I can assure you.

Although it's not a game you can play for long, all of my five- and 10-minute stints with it apparently added up over the course of the last 12 months.

Monster Manor's the only StreetPass Mii Plaza title I still return to with any regularity, by the way. (Well, other than Puzzle Swap.) Why? I love its part Tetris, part RPG gameplay, for starters. I also love its wacky assortment of guns (the weapon of choice in Monster Manor). Its colorful cast of ghoulish baddies is a plus, too.

Sigh, I'm going to be so sad if this kind of experience isn't replicated on the Nintendo Switch.

SaGa Frontier (PlayStation)--It's been years since I last played SaGa Frontier. Which is a shame, as this weird, non-linear RPG is one of my all-time favorite games. As for why I returned to it earlier this year, that would be the fault of a guy named finchiekins. He approached me a few months ago about playing SaGa Frontier concurrently, with the goal being to record a podcast about it in 2017.

Sadly, I'm nowhere close to completing my playthrough of Lute's story. Still, I'm getting a kick out of revisiting some of my favorite locations in the game, like Koorong, Manhattan and Shrike. I'm also having a blast reacquainting myself with Kenji Ito's rocking soundtrack. More than anything, though, I'm loving SaGa Frontier's mind-blowing battles, which to this day make me giddier than those found in pretty much any other RPG.

Honestly, if I could play this on my Vita, I'd probably plunk more hours into it than any other game in 2017.

Which games--old or new--did you enjoy the most this past year? Share your thoughts and feelings on them in the comments section that follows.