Final Fight: Double Impact, Faery: Legends of Avalon, Frogger 2 and Puzzlegeddon added to Backwards Compatibility (Edit: now Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director’s Cut as well)
Four games hit the wire today, and it is certainly an assorted bag. Tweets can be found here and here. I only own one out of the bunch and that would be the Final Fight game which also includes Magic Sword (which is really the standout of the package). Really well done retro-package. The achievements aren’t too bad until you get to the last one (which I’m still missing) which is unlock EVERYTHING in the vault. Yeah, that’s when I knew to move on to something else. Frogger 2 is a poor followup to the original and should be avoided unless you are just really curious. Puzzlegeddon by the same token is a really poor puzzle game (but gives me hope that Poker Smash will be BC at some point). The only one with some interest here is Faery: Legends of Avalon which looks like some light faire rpg’ing. At $7.49 (it had a price drop back in 2012 after releasing as a $15 affair), it seems reasonably priced. The achievements seem doable and I am a sucker for XBLA rpgs since they only usually last about 8-10 hours. Enjoy.
12:45 pm Edit: Deus Ex: Human Revolution: Director’s Cut is now Backwards Compatible as well.
BC Deals with Gold for the week of May 10th, 2016
Welp, another week. These week’s deals for me personally are really a bust. Mostly cause of the headliner, Call of Duty. I can’t stand the franchise and I routinely make jokes about its very existence. It’s right up there with Minecraft and at least Minecraft is appropriate for children (even though about as many children play COD which is pretty alarming). However, there is one BC deal buried in this mess and that is the GRID 2 season pass. I will admit I am interested by the WWE 2k16 pack deluxe pack too for X1, but $36 is a bit much. I will stick it out personally with Borderlands 2 (Handsome) for another week. Hopefully we get a few BC announcements this week. Hey, Deadpool comes out today on Blu-Ray/DVD (Steelbook reserved at BestBuy), how about we push that out for BC. Oh right, port on X1, I forgot. Not really, just hoping Activision did. Have a good week kids.
BC Sales
Wait..what, $17.49 for a bunch of cars and tracks…and the download is only 3 megs. Can we say unlock? Geez, yeah I’m going back to playing my Psycho. Later.
PSA: Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection actually installs 4 games on XB1.
As you are aware, Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection is not backwards compatible at this time. While I think it is a possibility it will make BC eventually, it is much easier for them to make all of their numerous other XBLA games BC first since they take little effort. Well, I saw a couple of posts this week that suggested that the Collection will actually install several games on the Xbox One that are naturally backwards compatible. Well, I tried it, and lo and behold it installs 4 games. Golden Axe (the discontinued XBLA release), Sonic 1, Sonic 2 and Sonic 3. The interesting thing about this is that all 4 of those games were part of the original 104 released games.
August 21st, 2016 UPDATE: They probably did it sooner but I noticed this today. If you are reading this, the glitch has been corrected. It lasted a few months though, but the sad part is I will not be able to finish Golden Axe now. I should have realized it was temporary and kept playing it until I 100%ed it. Sorry, if you are reading this past the fact, it was nice while it lasted :).
Maybe it was intentional and maybe it was a let’s be nice glitch that we haven’t fixed yet. I was somewhat hoping Altered Beast, Comix Zone and Phantasy Star II would also show up since they are on the Ultimate Genesis Collection as well, just in their original Genesis forms. It’s interesting, to this point Sega has released 20 games to backwards compatibility (and probably more in the pipeline). Now Condemned is a retail release so they would probably omit that, but the other 19 are ripe for a compilation release similar to the Rare Replay that did so well. Package those up, throw in a Genesis collection (with new achievements) and sell it for XB1 @ $29.99 or even $39.99. People would eat it up. Sega you’re welcome. For the idea I only ask an advance copy.
I can wish, anyway…at some point I might put together a tiny table/spreadsheet that explains out basically the Disc, and what titles will install on Xbox One backwards compatibility. For the ones that are two or more of course. That way people would know if they throw in Namco Museum how many games are installing. I dunno, just an idea. Take care kids.
Phantasy Star II, Sonic & Knuckles, Dig Dug, Samurai Shodown II and Runner 2 added to Backwards Compatibility!!
PHANTASY STAR…PHANTASY STAR….the heck with the other four games, I could care less. Okay, well I have Dig Dug as well (and I never got that Dig achievement), but still, it’s Phantasy Star….2222222.
Twitter announcements here and here.
Phantasy Star 2 – $4.99 regularly, don’t expect a sale anytime soon but its one of the best RPGs of all time. Achievements are reasonable (if willing to put the time in).
Sonic & Knuckles – $2.99 regularly, the achievements aren’t super easy, but not overly difficult either (just as long as you beat the game, you’re fine).
Dig Dug – $4.99 regularly, can be found on the Namco Museum disc (which I’ve said repeatedly is a steal even before they BCed almost everything). Easy achievements (except for Dig).
Samurai Shodown 2 – $9.99 regularly (but did have a sale back in April of 2015), but much harder on achievements as most fighting games are.
Runner 2 – The last one of our lot and I know absolutely nothing about. The full name is Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien. Yeahh…it’s a 14.99 title, saw a sale back in March of 2014 at a 67% off though. It gets pretty high marks but looks rather difficult for achievement hunters.
Still, a very good showing, and 5 more to the pool of games. Enjoy.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 1 & 2 Added to Backwards Compatibility! (Edit:Confirmed)
Well, May the 4th be with you, indeed. This doesn’t come from Major Nelson as usual, but from a site I frequent called TrueAchievements.com. This is excellent news (if true) and not just because I own them both on disc (and I believe I still might have the guide books, I’ll need to check). Both of these games have sales on the same week (including the DLC) as they get released to BC. Which I’ve mentioned before is the patent pending, Tekken Tag Tournament 2 secret to success. And it’s the May the 4th as well….it’s win across the board and the games aren’t bad either. Time for some updating, I will make an attempt to play one of these when I get home to make sure that this isn’t a fizzled out rumor but actual truth. Enjoy!
3:00pm Edit – The Major has officially confirmed it. Word is that the disc copies are having some issues but the digital versions are working well. I’ll let you know by tomorrow since I’ll be trying it tonight on my disc copies.
7:30am (Thursday) Edit – Was able to get my Force Unleashed (vanilla version) disc installed last night and it ran fine. I actually own the collector’s edition of FUII and it was still sealed…yeah I know. So I couldn’t bear to open that just yet. I’m sure I will snag the DLC (with achievements) for the first one and probably just Endor for the second one until I get to it.
Jet Set Radio, MX vs. ATV Reflex & Texas Hold ‘Em are now available on Xbox One Back Compatibility!
Welp, I had a feeling that there would be titles announced today. However, not in a million years would I have guessed these three games. Jet Set Radio is regularly $9.99 and pretty much has not seen a sale since it was released back in 2012 but that’s Sega for you. (I lost count how many Sega sales I’m waiting for) MX vs ATV Reflex is a rare disc release game but I would honestly stay clear of it due to the fact it has seven discounted achievements due to closed servers. Finally Texas Hold Em was basically the first poker game on the Xbox 360 and it might be cheap at $4.99 (also can be found on the Xbox Live Arcade Unplugged disc) but its simplicity explains that in a heartbeat. Also, it has one of the hardest achievements known to man where you had to get one hand of every type to unlock. Yes, that includes the Royal Flush. Basically, you had to put rubberbands on your controller (or be extremely lucky) and just set it up overnight to run through thousands of hands. Ridiculous. Anyway, enjoy.
BC Deals for the week of May 3rd, 2016
Welp, apparently somebody had heard that most of us are complaining that there weren’t any good backwards compatible sales because this week there were a ton of them this time. Of course, it’s not the Sega titles or Call of Juarez or Sam & Max that I so desperately want, but at least it’s something. For me this week, I’ll be picking up probably D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die and Powerstar Golf on the X1 side. I want to pick up the Pinball tables, but I’ve had quite enough of Star Wars as a theme in Pinball FX. Enjoy.
- A Kingdom of Keflings $4.99
- A World of Keflings $4.99
- Alan Wake $9.99
- Alan Wake’s American Nightmare $4.99
- Alien Hominid HD $4.99
- Battleblock Theater $7.49
- Castle Crashers $7.49
- CastleStorm $4.99
- Gears of War $4.94
- Gears of War 2 $6.59
- Gears of War 3 $6.59
- Gears of War: Judgment $6.59
- Hydro Thunder Hurricane $4.94
- Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga $4.99
- Mass Effect $9.99
- Motocross Madness $4.99
- Portal: Still Alive $7.49
- Shadow Complex $4.94
- Spelunky $4.94
- Super Meat Boy $4.94
- Toy Soldiers $4.99
- Toy Soldiers: Cold War $7.49
- Trials HD $4.99
Pinball FX2 Tables (Remember to download on Xbox 360 first if you want them on both systems)
Star Wars Pinball: The Force Awakens Pack $3.34
Tuesday update: Since Star Wars: Force Unleashed I&II were made Backwards compatible, it is only fitting that we include those sales as well.
It is also worth mentioning that Force Unleashed has two pieces of DLC as well that are not on sale, but since they are only $1 a piece, most people will probably ignore them. One is basically a skin DLC which allows you to play as five other characters including Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. The other one, slightly more important is an adventure called Endor (which has separate achievements too). Basically, all I need to tell you is that you get to dropkick an Ewok. Dropkicking an Ewok for any price (never mind one whole dollar) is worth it in my book. Take care.
Amazon Listing Rumor: SSX & Halo 3: ODST to be added to Backwards Compatibility in June
I try to steer clear of the odd rumors unless there is some meat to them or they have something resembling truth in them. This one has a heavy dose of truth as they are Amazon listings with the cards and printed on them is “Plays on Xbox One”. No big surprises here, these have been asked for plenty of times. Nice to also see them sell digital code cards as well, wish they would do it for more titles along the 360 line.
Never Alone (Xbox One)
A game with heart is a very special thing. A game that can move along an engaging story with the ability to change the player’s feelings from the best of times to something perhaps even worth shedding a tear for. Often times, all of that heart can help to overlook technical issues and things that a game without heart would get scrutinized against. Today’s review is Never Alone, a game with a maximum dose of heart and storytelling. But I would be lying if I didn’t mention the faults of such a heartwarming tale.
Continue reading “Never Alone (Xbox One)”
Frogger and Galaga Legions DX added to Backwards Compatibility!!
I missed this one a bit, but with the sizable announcement earlier this week, I wasn’t actively looking. 🙂 Here is the announcement. For those looking for disc copies, Frogger is on Konami Classics Vol 1 disc (and its Galaga Legions on the Namco Museum disc, not DX). If going the digital route, Frogger is a mere $5 game (hasn’t had a sale since 2013), and Galaga Legions DX is $10 (and had a recent sale in March for 70% off!). Enjoy.
