J.J.S. Boyce

The Long Dark was my summer long boy and it took until late October to finish. This is the second time I’ve dipped my toe into the survival genre only to be shocked by the difficulty. Every trophy is ultra rare. I don’t know how I ended up among the 0.2% to #justbeatit. @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

#justbeatit Mario Forever: Community Edition (2026). @topspot123.bsky.social, did you know about this? Originally a 2004 homebrew from a solo developer in Poland. Not a SMB1 remake, but a re-imagining. It mixes Mario All Stars and SMW. Get the version without the virus! @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

I am excited to share that READ ONLY MAGAZINE issue 13: TIME is available for pre-order at a discounted price ($12.50) until Oct. 31! 🎃👻 When you pre-order your physical copy, you get instant access to a digital copy of the issue. @romzine.bsky.social readonlymagazine.com

#justbeatit for @cartridgeclub.bsky.social spooky #gameofthemonth: Dino Crisis. I have no survival horror experience so I was glad to have an excuse to check this one out. I enjoyed almost all of it: circuit puzzles, learning to steer a tank, hammy voice acting, etc. @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

Congratulations on the membership @frankcifaldi.bsky.social! That oil drum of macaroni pays for itself within 18 months.

#justbeatit 198X, a brief ode to ‘80s gaming genres, arcade culture, and teen angst, in the form of a narrative mini-game set. I would have liked two to three times as much of everything. More of each individual game, more games total, more story. But I liked what I got. @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

#justbeatit I‘ve been taking my kids to arcades lately as part of my ongoing project to download the entirety of the ‘80s and ‘90s into their brains. So Arcade Spirits caught my eye. A straight visual novel, it’s about arcade vibes, not gameplay. Still fun, though. @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

#justbeatit Zenonia, an action-rpg on 3DS (and elsewhere). I have some complaints: -unreasonable grinding -various mechanics are poorly explained -dumb meta humour that takes me out of the story -the story isn't great to begin with -it took longer than I wanted @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

First holiday #justbeatit: Mighty Flip Champs!, a sometimes tough puzzle platformer. I have let too much time go by this year without warming up my 3DS, so it's good to get back on the horse. Pictures courtesy of my laptop camera since my phone fell in the lake. @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

@topspot123.bsky.social has been recently digging into the Pico-8 ecosystem, including my first ever Pico-8 title (from five years ago), Celeste (Classic). I’ve always planned to get through it with all 18 strawberries before claiming the #justbeatit. And now I have. @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

I played along with @cartridgeclub.bsky.social’s August #gameofthemonth, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. A new IP that came out just after Skyrim, you could argue over which was the better open-world WRPG. I don’t really play these because they’re so long. #justbeatit. @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

#justbeatit Pac Motos. Not a maze-runner; you have to push your enemies off a platform before they push you off. Constant new mechanics keep the game engaging for its two-hour playtime. As with Pac-Man Arrangement I find I love the idea of boss fights in a Pac-Man game. @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

#justbeatit Pac-Man Arrangement, a delightful title that I hadn’t heard of until I unlocked it in Pac-Man Museum and played eight through. I’ve been loving this collection, and unlockables and game-specific challenges make it even more than the sum of its parts. @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

I’ve been playing Mario Super Picross and I worry most won’t realize how difficult it was to #justbeatit. Its 300 puzzles took me three months and 100+ hours to solve without looking anything up. This one really forced me to up my game compared to the Game Boy original. @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

GIVEAWAY ALERT 🦇 REPOST, LIKE, AND FOLLOW PNP GAMES for your chance to WIN a Castlevania Requiem Classic Edition for PlayStation 4! Experience two of the greatest games ever made! 1/2

#justbeatit Citizen Sleeper. I went for the platinum and got every ending. But my initial blind playthrough was the most engaging. The game is well-balanced while you are still figuring it out and making mistakes; it becomes a bit easy once you see exactly how it works. @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

Thanks to @wiedo.nl and his free games list exposing me to Daniel Mullins’ early work I moved Inscryption to the top of my must-play list. I went in blind, and #justbeatit. It was a real journey. I could write an essay on the game but won’t as you should play blind too. @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

#justbeatit Donkey Kong Jr. Math. I don’t think this is a good game or an effective way to practice math, the slow vine climbing sucked. But I’m glad when Nintendo puts historical curiosities like this on NSO for us to try. Perfect clears on every mode. I teach math. 🤷‍♂️ @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

#justbeatit Cattle Crisis, a short vertical schmup with gorgeous graphics and fun mechanics. One of my 2026 goals was to beat my first ever schmup. I’m not going to count this wiedo freebie as that but it’s a good warm-up; I had to practice and learn over many attempts. @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

#justbeatit Alfonso’s Bowling Challenge. This is super short but very fun and everyone should play it. Strong “What the Golf?” vibes in the best way, easy to play in browser with keyboard only, so there’s no excuse. Credit as always to @wiedo.bsky.social for the rec. @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

#justbeatit With the Last Moonbeam, a charming platformer from @wiedo.bsky.social’s list of free games. There’s some lovely world-building here for such a small game, I’d love to see it get expanded into a larger game or future titles. I’d shell out money for that. @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

#justbeatit Feed It Souls (game jam ver). Where’s that one egg I missed? This is an excellent action platformer (I think the map is too simple to call it a metroidvania). I ran into tech issues it took a few attempts, but this is another good wiedo recommendation. @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

#justbeatit Stormbird Song: The Iron Owl Tower. This is the new winner amongst @wiedo.nl free game recommendation picks I’ve played so far. I cannot find a fault with this Zelda-inspired metroidvania on Game Boy. And @freinicke.bsky.social is working on something new! @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

#justbeatit The Boons of Iiuir, an overhead-view adventure puzzler. This is my favourite @wiedo.nl rec so far. There is some room for improvement with regard to absent or misleading sign-posting, but the main mechanic is clever and the puzzles are well-designed. @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

#justbeatit Hungry Harry 3D on PICO-8, a fantasy console not designed for 3D. This was apparently tougher for me than others, maybe because I was playing on keyboard, something I struggle with on games requiring movement and timing. Thx @wiedo.nl for the recommendation. @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

#justbeatit Steps. Per @wiedo.nl it’s like Minit except instead of dying and after one minute of game play you die every ten steps. You need to unlock paths and find items so you can get farther in later lives, but unlike Minit there are checkpoints and step refreshes. @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

#justbeatit Aglobo, the shortest of @wiedo.nl’s recommended free games that I’ve played so far but a very fun environmental puzzler. It packs more variety into its game mechanics than you would expect in such a small package. @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

My next @wiedo.nl recommendation is Trash the Planet. I’ve only played a couple clickers but I’m discovering it’s an addictive genre for me. When I’m playing and get tired I go to bed. Unless it’s a clicker, then I need to #justbeatit. This one’s not overly long, though. @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

I have been checking out @wiedo.nl’s list of free games worth playing. itch.io/c/6970638/fr... High Stakes is a card-based roguelike where you gamble for your lifeblood from vampires. I almost won on my first attempt but then got ten game overs before I #justbeatit. Fun! @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

#justbeatit The Hyperstone Heist. I rank this at the bottom of 8/16-bit TMNT beat ‘em ups. It’s the least polished and has somewhat of a thrown-together feel—like it was cobbled together on break using leftover assets. But even the worst TMNT Brawler is pretty decent. @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

wouldn't it be funny if EVERYONE blocked this Attie AI account @ bsky.app/profile/atti... before they could do anything with it

It took all of @cartridgeclub.bsky.social SNES March Madness but I #justbeatit, TMNT IV: Turtles in Time. @captainalgebra.bsky.social suggested switching to Leo. I did and made it to Super Shredder before using a continue. Then I beat him deathless with Raph. Cowabunga! @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

It’s late in the month but in honour of @cartridgeclub.bsky.social March Madness I just finished a playthrough of Killer Instinct. This blew me away when it appeared in arcades in the ‘90s, and the SNES port is, you know, not as good, but it’s how I learned the combo system with a million quarters.

#justbeatit Horizon: Forbidden West. I enjoyed the first game so much I was inclined to just leave it there and enjoy it for the complete experience that it was. But I didn’t regret finally checking out this next chapter. I hope they stick the landing with part three. @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

First question: why even make an NES TMNT: Tournament Fighters alongside the two 16-bit versions as late as 1993? Second, is this the only one-on-one fighting game on NES (Urban Champion doesn’t quite count)? Third, is it somehow the best version of the game? @polykillpodcast.bsky.social #justbeatit

#justbeatit Castlevania Legends, a 1998 release for Game Boy (GBC launched later that year). It came out after SotN and was so disliked by Koji Igarashi he made it non-canon. It‘s lacklustre in the context of when it came out; it would have been fine as a 1990 title. @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

#justbeatit FFT: The Ivalice Chronicles has much to recommend it. QoL options eliminate the 1998 game’s awful softlocks and it’s worth experiencing a third translation and voice performance of the masterful story. I wish more character builds were viable…still, solid A. @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

#justbeatit Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournamen Fighters (SNES version). This was a weekend rental back in the day. It’s not a great fighter and the story is barely there. I’ll try the Genesis version and will report back if Sega won that battle in the console war. @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

I had Shadowgate on NES as a kid and it was way too hard for me. Decades later I decided it was high time I pick it up and finish the job and it’s even harder than I remember. I looked so much up I can hardly be said to have #justbeatit. Sometimes you run out of steam. @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

#justbeatit TMNT 2: The Arcade Game (NES). While the lesser-known TMNT 3 holds its place as my favourite classic Turtles game, TMNT 2 is solid, I even prefer it to the more powerful arcade original, as it’s balanced for home play, not quarter munching. Tough but fair. @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

How to beat Super Mario Bros. fast!

Super Mario Bros Special, the other OTHER SMB1 sequel, was developed by Hudson for the NEC PC8801 in Japan in 1986. With all new levels it provided a unique opportunity: to play my very first game again, for the first time. I #justbeatit again, also for the first time. @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

#justbeatit Zork 1. Of course, purists prefer the original version on a 1900 lb, 1152 kb mainframe computer. I got the 1981 release for QoL features such as compatibility with an electronic text display and standard household voltage. And the grues really pop in blue. @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

#justbeatit Pushmo World, my Wii U game for the year. Its 120 platform puzzles were quite challenging; more than once I was tempted to look up the solution. Instead I stepped away when I got stuck and the next day it clicked. Fun; tough: you’d call a real Topper. @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

I wanted to play a proper 3DS title before year-end and went with The Starship Damrey, a 2023 eShop rescue. It’s a modern point-and-click with some good dual screen use but also some annoying pixel-hunting moments. A decent game, even so. I #justbeatit, and guide-free! @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

This year I set a goal of beating a game on every system. My DSi had one final backlog game and I #justbeatit. Rhapsody is a NIS-developed RPG/musical. It’s as you expect, simple surface story, deep unexplained lore, weird Disgaea-like humour, and singing your feelings. @polykillpodcast.bsky.social

Good ending got!

#justbeatit Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles (Rondo of Blood remake). I got the bad ending so I’ll try again, but credits are credits, and I can knock the PSP off my every-system-challenge checklist. Cool to play the last level of and it’s the first level of SotN. @polykillpodcast.bsky.social