Longer sessions:
Timberborn (PC) - checked out the experimental branch with the new update adding 3D water physics, after I was in the mood for a different builder experience after Workers and Resources.
Workers and Resources: Soviet Republic (PC) - finished my autistic obsession with this game mentioned last month, will probably return to it in a year or so.
Rayman (PS1) - managed to resume my playthrough that was on hold for a few months due to PS2 disc drive issues. I'm near the end, need to backtrack to bandland to grab missing cages though. And of course I already burned through something like 370 lives trying to beat it, since the game is pretty much impossible to finish without cheats (haven't used cheat codes in any game since 25-ish years ago). Still the art, music, levels and bosses are all fantastic (well maybe except band land, fuck band land) with it being a great experience after all these years, apart from the difficulty that seems more akin to Abe's Oddysey despite limited continues and very time-consuming life farming.
Ganbare Goemon: Yukihime Kyūshutsu Emaki/The Legend of Mystical Ninja (SNES) - english patched japanese version, reached the final level yesterday, of course it turned out the game had another money grind gate level like the one I complained about last time, once again with a mid-level boss, and followed by an annoying minecart/platforming section... ugh. At least the designers were a bit merciful and the end boss of the level was a joke boss, that and the sidescrolling segments in the levels do have a pattern/easiest path you can figure out fairly easily after a few tries and breeze through them like a pro.
Shorter sessions/stuff I return to every few months depending on whims:
The Terminator (Sega CD) - try to beat it every once in a few months if I have an hour. This game is fun and one of the best exclusives for the Sega/Mega CD, some of the levels look fantastic (one of the better uses of the Genesis' limited colors with clever palette choices) and I like the CD audio soundtrack.
F-Zero (SNES) - quite possibly the best gameplay out of all glorified new console tech demo titles ever made. Racing in this is zen for me (apart from some rage when the AI slowpokes bump into you), must be the music and art even if the art has that crude early SNES look but it does have style. And the gameplay did age well.
V-Rally 2 (Dreamcast) - managed to finish some cup or championship, next one seems to have quite a bit of a difficulty spike.
Digital Pinball Necronomicon (Saturn) - I really like the audio and ambience in this.
Wipeout Pulse (PSP) - Second best wipeout IMO, after HD+Fury. Got a few gold medals in the campaing mode/grid, still a long way to go. Didn't really touch my handhelds much in July, since I had some books I wanted to read during "couch time(tm)".
Kids make me play it with them and/or just want to watch me playing it:
Sonic 2 (Megadrive) - whoever at SEGA thought having the second player control Tails in one player mode without any capacity to allow for griefing or failure was a genius.
Bust a Move (SNES) - I would play the Saturn version of Bust a Move 2 with one of my kids, but I don't have two saturn controllers so this one it is.
Mario Kart (SNES) - driving is teh hard for kindergartners, even in battle mode, maybe in a year.
Micro Machines 2 (Megadrive) - see Mario Kart.
Mario Kart Double Dash (Gamecube) - currently playing in co-op driver+gunner mode with one of the kids being the gunner due to their above mentioned driving aptitude, got gold in 100 CC in all cups, now going through 150. Also I think this builds teamwork or at least following orders (don't waste the red shell, wait for my signal).
Mario Party (N64) - difficulty figuring out the analog stick, the general weirdness of the controller and the esoteric minigame rules aside, at least one kid likes this despite all of that and actually seem to hold an attention span with this game for a very long time. Quite suspicious, maybe there is a secret nipponese subliminal signal embedded in the crappy image signal of the N64.
Crash Bandicoot 2 (PS1)- the levels and art are still pretty (especially on the gloriously radiating CRT TV) so the kids like looking at me playing this. Also they were happy to see it again after a few months break due to PS2 disc drive issues.
Crash Bandicoot 3 (PS1) - see above.
