Tackling my video game backlog

The last month has been pretty unusual for me because I actually completed two video games! They weren’t the two games I inteded to play, but I completed them none the less.

Luigi’s Mansion 3

I picked up Luigi’s Mansion 3 on release date from our local GameStop. I was pleasantly surprised with how much fun it is, being the latest home console release of the series since the 2001 original released on gamecube. I have dark moon on my 3ds but didn’t really play much of it. Some of the elements from dark moon made their way into this game and I liked it.

I found this game to be challenging in a very refreshing way. I had to actually think about how to solve certain puzzles. Certain boss ghosts were a tough fight that would take several attempts before you could finally defeat them. It’s something that I find lacking in more modern games. The game does not just hand everything to you.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

I’m pretty sure my parents got me Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas the year it came out (2004). My friends and I would play the hell out of that disk back then. Taking turns at the game just messing around. Trying to get the highest wanted level. Doing insane jumps with vehicles. Role playing as different characters just living a life in San Andreas. Abusing the game with cheat codes that you still have memorized to this day for some reason (Flying car cheat: Up,Down,L1,R1,L1,Right,Left,L1,Left).

This game was a blast. I couldn’t tell you the amount of hours I’ve spent playing or watching someone play it. But, in all these years I, myself, have never beaten the story of the game. I never completed all the missions. I think back when it came out the farthest I would get is in San Fierro.

About a month ago I saw a video about a new glitch that made the Any% speedrun for this game about an hour faster. For some reason this got my nostalgia for the game going and I decided I wanted to play it. I have a PS2 slim with RGB Scart cable and an OSSC to output HDMI, but I decided to play on PC.

I followed some guide on the steam community for modding the game to fix glitches and improve the looks. In my opinion the game has aged just fine. It’s what I’d expect from an early 2000s grand theft auto. The graphics didn’t stop me from flipping on the K-Rose station and getting flooded with happy memories of my childhood.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is my favority game in the franchise, and I’m glad to say that I’ve finally completed it.

So that’s my two games down this year. Just a couple thousand more to go!