Wiper

Though I barely ever played any physical pinball machines (too rare and expensive in the wild), I did love pinball games. I have particular fondness for a good few already mentioned - Dragon's Fury, Pinball Fantasies, Sonic Spinball - but none of my most played have been mentioned so far. Obsession, on the STe, was by far my favourite of the 16-bit era pinball games, though I think I may be alone in really rating it. Probably the last game I got for the ST, and I thought it was a great swansong. Tilt! was just one of those games that won me over with its glitz. It may not look all that much now, but it was by far the best looking pinball game I'd played back in 1995 when we got it for our Pentium 90. The US called this 'Hyper 3-D Pinball', and so that appears to be its common name now, despite being British-made; good ol' Americentric internet! And, finally, I can't really go without mentioning the classic of a hundred lunch breaks, Full Tilt Pinball - or, to be more precise, Space Cadet, the table from it that was bundled with Windows 2000 through XP. Assuredly the table I've spent the most time on in any game. I'm still rubbish at it. I think what we're all learning today is that I have terrible taste in pinball games.

True, he should have referred to them as Space Borines to be more accurate

There is a very brief section of To The Moon towards the end which will be a bit fiddly, but that that bit is extremely short. Tacoma shouldn't offer any problems at all.

Yeah, mine's a little bashed up sadly, but I love the expanding cover. Nice to see Paper Beast getting some recognition, though it's a personal 10; a neat demonstration of what happens when you design a game around animal behaviour, rather than just throw it at a game with no concern for how well it will mesh with your core gameplay *cough*TheLastGuardian*cough*.

First game I owned was probably this Systema Pinball game, which I loved (and is, honestly, probably the best LCD game I ever owned. Surprisingly replayable little thing). As for the first non-standalone game I owned, that would be this: My dad got for me to play on his brand new Atari STe. One of the worst platformers I've ever played. Inexplicably banging title music though, and as my first and only game for a good while I wrung a lot of enjoyment out of it nonetheless.

It's considerably more frustrating than Another World, but much shorter. And yes, it's gorgeous, a really nice use of its incredibly limited palette.

I mean, I'm definitely having a terrible time By which I mean that I foolishly agreed to take part in a flash fiction challenge (write one piece of short fiction a day, for a month), which combined with work, exercise and online social commitments has meant I've not been able to spend as much time as I'd like on Streets of Rage 4. Nor even start playing the Sakura Wars remake. Stupid Sega follow-ups/translations all coming out at exactly the wrong moment!

Yep, it's jump alone.

Yeah, that's even more hilarious if you're playing as Cherry, as there's little more enjoyable than grabbing someone, climbing onto their shoulders to pummel them for a bit (her equivalent of vaulting) , then leaping from them before you reach the punchbag limit at which point, depending on the situation, you can continue your combo by bouncing from other enemies, by landing straight onto a new pair of shoulders, or by diving punch straight back into the original grabee. Very enjoyable; she's definitely the airtime champion.

Yeah, I had to do the same with my joypad - it seems the Windows Store version of the game specifically doesn't recognise 'generic USB' game controllers, only 360 controller-adjacent ones. From what I've read, the Steam version doesn't have this problem, so hopefully it's just another symptom of the Windows Store version being a patch behind the Steam version (as opposed to it being a Microsoft Store mandated thing that games on it not support unsigned controllers...).

Ditto! Thanks for saving my economy

Frankly, the biggest issue with the Microsoft Store version is that it doesn't recognise generic USB controllers, only ones that look to the system like a 360 gamepad etc. - meaning I have to use joy2key-style software to use my USB MD pad to play the game. Fine for single player, but means no multiplayer for me using multiples of that controller (unless I buy the Steam version, which apparently happily recognises them). Love that the Microsoft Store somehow makes things worse even in game. That's some dedication to being the worst digital store in existence! Game's great otherwise, mind. Playing on Normal as Cherry I've got as far as... whatever the level after Shiva is. No continues used so far, though I did have to defeat Shiva with no spare lives, which was a bit dicey. Had to stop there because I'm not young any more and The Claw was starting to destroy my fingers. More this evening, I think!

Not exactly what you were asking for, but you might want to look at the current Humble Square Enix bundle, which includes Tokyo Dark in its £8 tier. Obviously not worth it over the Switch version for a 9p saving alone, but if anything else in there takes your fancy it's probably worth a punt.

Not exactly the most modern, but the Phoenix Wright Trilogy remains utterly brilliant. Dramatic, comedic courtroom drama. Just a shame the aesthetic, er, 'upgrade' is ultimately weaker than the GBA/DS originals. Other than that, and if you're in the mood for shorter, simpler (and more cyberpunky and bar-oriented) adventures I've a lot of love for both VA11-Hall-A (bartender simulator with a warm, light narrative) and Red Strings Club (bartender simulator with a cold, heavyish narrative). No, I'm not entirely sure how cyberpunk bartender simulator became a genre either. (If you don't mind moving away from the 'pure' visual novel format, then Oxenfree is a must, too)

All you arcade stick jockeys sicken me. I'll be playing SoR4 as god intended (when my increasingly unbearably long working day finishes):