IN PROGRESS

IN PROGRESS

Have wanted to play this since finishing the first Front Mission on SNES for my list back in 2023. Looks like an absolutely fantastic, visually stunning title, and features some of the earliest work of Yasunori Mitsuda, which I am totally down for. Have only waited so long because I was struggling to find a copy for cheap, but now that I have one, want to get on this very soon.

Finished the first one back in 2022, and while it wasn't an all time fave for me and I thought it had some issues, it was super-charming and I was keen for more. Finally grabbed a copy of this at a decent price earlier this year, so looking forward to playing in 2025.

One of the pet games of fellow Completionator user Hystericmoon, who streamed it and still speaks highly of it as one of his best niche PS1 discoveries. Thought it seemed like a really cool wee game from what I saw, and always down for more odd, underappreciated PS1 RPGs.

Cute wee 3-D adventure game from Gust back in the days before they were famous. Have wanted to play for years, and finally tracked down a copy in 2024. Hear it's not very long either, so hopefully a nice brisk adventure to offset the many longer games on this year's list.

The first game in the Gagharv trilogy was on my list for 2023, and while I wanted to leave a year between them because they don't really offer much from a gameplay standpoint, I'm keen to jump back in now. First one had some stellar music and great character writing (at least in Japanese), and I'm curious to see where things go next!

Not going to lie, I'm mainly playing this one so I can also play the sequel that Yasunori Mitsuda composed for. But it does look like a lovely wee beginners' RPG with some very pleasing art (Ghibli were involved!) and a cool premise. So appeals in its own right. Also, while this one doesn't feature Mitsuda's music, it does have music by Zuntata, which is hardly a downgrade. Looking forward to it! Think it's meant to be on the shorter side as far as RPGs go, too, which is no bad thing for me these days.

Very strange looking PAL exclusive for PS1 with some impressive visuals and what looks like a very odd mix of genres. I hadn't heard of it at all until last year when I stumbled across the cover on eBay, but it seems interesting if nothing else!

Heavily criticised at the time, this is one I've always been curious about, especially since they patched in stick controls. Finally got the urge to sit down and play it myself after getting very into Factor 5's Turrican series, and looking forward to seeing if there's anything in the game that sadly killed the company.

Going to be perfectly honest and say I bought this one solely because I like the OG Xbox, it's cheap, and it reviewed extremely well. But I do have fond memories of the demo of Abe's Oddysee, and it seems like a really neat and different take on that universe. So thought I'd give it a whirl this year.

Was quite fond of the first Pitch Black back in high school, but have seen nothing of the franchise since. Heard this is a really top licensed game, though, and it looks extraordinarily impressive for an original Xbox title. Have been meaning to play for a while, and this will be the year that every morning I wake up and open palm slam a disc into the slot it's The Chronicles of Riddick a-

Fake anime pre-Halo Bungie weirdness! Sign me up. A friend was super-stoked for this one before its release on Mac way back in the day, and always spoke fondly of it throughout high school. So has lived in my memory all these years. Heard the PS2 version isn't very good really, but I like playing on console, so I guess we'll find out for ourselves.

I watched a Matt McMuscles video on this one and thought it looked extremely cool, so I bought it and put it on my shelf. I then forgot it was on my shelf for several years until a friend mentioned the game in passing. Thought I should add it to one of these yearly lists before I forget again.

Actually one of the only Yakuza titles I've played much of despite its oddball spinoff status. I started it on stream in 2021 and was really enjoying the setting and story, but never continued for some reason. Going to finish it this time!

Really liked what I played of the first game on Dreamcast years ago. Hear this one is even better, it's a gorgeous game by the same team as my beloved Panzer Dragoon Orta, and it's a big fave for several friends. More than enough for me to be all in.

This has been the slowest series playthrough for me ever - I finished Infection in 2022, and Mutation and Outbreak were entries on my 2023 and 2024 list respectively. Outbreak was the weakest chapter so far for me, but still totally invested in the story, and hyped to see how it ends here. Might start the GU games this year too, though not committing to anything there list-wise.

After finally finishing Earthbound for the first time a few years ago, I think this is very probably the most famous RPG of the 90s that I still haven't seriously played. And I have absolutely no idea why. I love Yasumi Matsuno, and am a big fan of both Tactics Ogre and Vagrant Story. And I've played most of Square's other PS1 titles and the vast majority of the notable English language RPGs on the console. Just one that fell through the cracks for whatever reason, despite a few failed attempts here and there. Want to stick it on one of these lists so I finally play it before I'm old and grey.

Remember this one getting some quite divisive press back in the day, especially for its short playtime and lack of conventional gameplay. But always thought the premise sounded way cool, and the short runtime is no big deal at the price I got it for. Also the brainchild of Junko Kawano of Suikoden fame, which definitely adds to the appeal!

Love to see any new game being developed for discontinued consoles, but find It even more interesting when it's something that falls outside the shmup genre that tends to see the most representation in that space. So this homebrew 2-D run and gun for Dreamcast has been on my radar forever. After really falling in love with the Turrican series that is its clearest influence over the last few years, though, I finally decided to grab a copy. Seems really cool from the little that I played!

Not going to lie, I literally bought this game because it was cheap and I thought the Japanese title, Beltlogger 9, sounded funny. But it actually seems really cool! Very atmospheric from the little that I tried, and more story-driven than I expected. When I shared this list with a friend, it was the first game he pointed to, so at least one fan in my friend circle! Keen to see what I think.

As someone who was mostly out of games during the PS3 / 360 / Wii generation, I wasn't actually aware of this one until just a few years ago. But I've heard only good things, and it seems super-cool! Excited to find out what the fuss was about.

The original SNES title has so many fond memories, as it was one my little brother and I started a new coop file on every year at New Year's Eve for about four years running. Remake seems super-lovely, and while I don't think it'll be quite the same playing alone, looking forward to revisiting such a fond part of my personal gaming history in a new format.

I've never finished a post-Camelot Shining game, and while I don't think this is meant to be one of the good ones, I've always been hugely curious about it thanks to it representing Secret of Mana composer Hiroki Kikuta's long awaited return to composing for Japanese RPGs at the time. What little I've heard of the soundtrack has been lovely, and I'm eager to hear it in context, and see if there's anything else to this one.

The original version of Atelier Rorona was the first game I ever bought for my PS3 outside of the two that it came with, and had a good time with it. So I bought Atelier Totori not too long after release. Unfortunately issues with my console not reading discs and me just generally drifting away from gaming for a few years meant that I didn't get more than about seven or eight hours in. Wound up giving away my copy to a friend along with most of my collection in 2014. Have since rebought, and keen to see it all this time! I remember it being a really stunning evolution on Rorona in so many ways.