Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Altered Beast was a Sega Genesis launch title all the way back in 1989, but I had not played through this game until recently. After beating it, it was pretty obvious that the game had some serious flaws holding it back. So in this video, I break down the good and the bad of this game.
00:00 I Beat Altered Beast!
01:10 What Went Right For This Game
03:59 Where This Game Falls Apart
Altered Beast was a Sega Genesis launch title all the way back in 1989, but I had not played through this game until recently. After beating it, it was pretty obvious that the game had some serious flaws holding it back. So in this video, I break down the good and the bad of this game.
00:00 I Beat Altered Beast!
01:10 What Went Right For This Game
03:59 Where This Game Falls Apart
![Raiden [Playstation 1] - Stage 8 No-Miss Practice Run on General mode (The Raiden Project)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/d0wOKExjxGk/mqdefault.jpg "Raiden [Playstation 1] - Stage 8 No-Miss Practice Run on General mode (The Raiden Project)
This is more footage of me practicing Raiden on General mode via The Raiden Project on PS1. This run of the last stage went extremely well. I only used one planned bomb early on. I did switch back and forth between the nuclear missiles and the homing ones at times, but that was intentional.
I also show off the famous safe spot for the last boss, which has been pretty well documented at this point but is proof of the PS1 versions faithfulness to the arcade original.")
![Castle Of Shikigami [PC] - Kuga 1CC 1.66 Billion Pts](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dKrKOTcZuMM/mqdefault.jpg "Castle Of Shikigami [PC] - Kuga 1CC 1.66 Billion Pts
Castle of Shikigami aka Shikigami No Shiro is a classic bullet hell shmup created by Alfa Systems and originally released in 2000 in arcades. It got ported to PS2 and Xbox in Generation 6 as well as Windows, but the most recent port is the Steam port from 2017, which is what I used for this clear.
Im going to have a big discussion video about this game in the near future, so Im saving a lot of my thoughts for then. However, I will say that this is one of the hardest 1CCs Ive ever done!
Steam link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/582980/Castle_of_Shikigami/
00:00 Intro
00:11 Stage 1-1
01:11 Stage 1-2
01:42 Stage 1-3
02:50 Stage 2-1
04:09 Stage 2-2
04:32 Stage 2-3
05:43 Stage 3-1
07:08 Stage 3-2
08:04 Stage 3-3
09:27 Stage 4-1
10:59 Stage 4-2
12:11 Stage 4-3
14:30 Stage 5-1
16:09 Crystal Milk!
21:40 Stage 5-2
25:18 Stage 5-3
27:37 Ending + Results")
![Cool Spot [Sega Master System] - Hard Mode Any% Speedrun 41:40](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/eJoSwhz4yqo/mqdefault.jpg "Cool Spot [Sega Master System] - Hard Mode Any% Speedrun 41:40
This is the first ever speedrun on Youtube of Cool Spot on the Sega Master System done on Hard Mode. Cool Spot got a port to the Sega Master System in1993 after the more well-known Sega Genesis version, but it was only released in Europe as far as I know. Its actually a very impressive port from a technical standpoint, as the graphics are well beyond most Master System games. The only catch is that it runs at 20-25 FPS instead of 50 or 60 FPS, though the frame rate stays pretty consistent. It is a bit more zoomed in because of the lower resolution, but not as bad as the Game Gear version in this regard. The 7 Up references this game is known for are removed in this version because Spot was not the mascot for 7 Up in Europe.
As far as gameplay goes, it translates pretty well here to the Master System. Controls are fine overall. The main issue with this game is the giant hitboxes. Spot has a very big hitbox and just about everything else does as well. Plus, there are quite a few blind jumps here and there. Im actually going to talk more about this game and its hard mode exposing the limitations of the game in an upcoming video Im working on about difficulty in games.
The Hard difficulty makes it to where you have to grab at least 90% of the red coin before you can free your friend at the end of the stage. This forces you to not skip large chunks of the levels.
As far as the run goes, this is my first no death speedrun and my best time so far. I saved quite a bit of time by avoiding the bonus stages via just collecting what I needed in terms of coins to finish each stage. There is no special ending for doing the bonus stages to begin with, as their main purpose is to grant players continues by spelling VIRGIN (UNCOLA in NA versions of the game). I did have some small mistakes here and there like going toward some dead end spots of stages when I know better, so there is some room for improvement. I could have ended the last stage a bit more cleanly as well. But a speedrun is a speedrun, and nobody else has done a speedrun of this version of the game on highest difficulty. Hopefully, this will inspire some speedrunners to give this version of the game a shot and on this difficulty. I guess this is the World Record for now until someone else beats it.
Note: Time was measured from the beginning of the Stage 1 screen to the Level Completed screen popping up at the end of the final stage. No intro in this video because I wanted to show the unedited recording as is.
00:00 Intro
00:23 Stage 1
04:48 Stage 2
10:29 Stage 3
17:30 Stage 4
20:17 Stage 5
23:40 Stage 6
31:05 Stage 7
36:50 Final Stage")
![Land Of Illusion [Sega Master System] - 1CC Playthrough](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/eQIE8J5a5Ck/mqdefault.jpg "Land Of Illusion [Sega Master System] - 1CC Playthrough
Land Of Illusion on the Sega Master System was a sequel to Castle Of Illusion, released in 1993 by Sega in PAL regions and later in Brazil. It also got a Game Gear version that saw a release in North America and elsewhere. Both versions originally came out within a month of each other.
This game is a lot bigger than Castle Of Illusion and pushes the Master System to its limits. It features an over world map kind of reminiscent of Super Mario Bros 3. The difficulty is also a bit higher than its predecessor, but it is still not a difficult game outside of a few sections here and there like the second half of the Sand Castle stage and the final stage. You unlock new abilities after beating certain bosses, which the game does a good job of testing your knowledge of the further you get into it.
I did this playthrough before my run of Castle Of Illusion and it was also done on my MiSTER FPGA. I did not go for all the stars because it would have involved a lot of backtracking, but doing so does give you a secret ending. Definitely one of the best Sega Master System games either way.
00:00 Intro
00:15 Forest
01:13 Lake
02:56 Blacksmiths Castle
06:13 Lake Revisited
07:47 Castle Ruins
13:07 Tiny Cavern
14:59 Flower Field
16:13 Toy Workshop
20:55 Palace Ruins
24:49 Craggy Cliff
27:11 Desert
31:26 Good Princesss Castle
35:53 Sand Castle
42:32 Island Stage
44:20 Phantoms Castle
48:55 Final Boss")
![Downwell [PC/iOS] - One Of The Best Indie Games Ever Made](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/eq6ccKsAuMA/mqdefault.jpg "Downwell [PC/iOS] - One Of The Best Indie Games Ever Made
Downwell is one of the best indie games Ive ever played, and I finally beat it on Standard mode. In this video, Ill break down the game in detail from presentation to gameplay mechanics. Ill discuss my strategies for beating the game, since I beat it recently. Its part review, part commentary, and should provide good tips for newcomers.
The gameplay footage is from my clear of the Standard mode. I used the Lavender palette, one of my favorites.
00:00 Intro
01:26 Discussing Graphics And Sound
04:05 Gameplay Basics And Stages
10:55 Key Gameplay Mechanics
16:51 My Approach To Playing Downwell
Music:
Duff Egan - Intention Experiment
Buy Downwell:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/360740/Downwell/
https://www.gog.com/game/downwell
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/downwell-switch/
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/downwell/id1032708262
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.devolver.downwell_rerelease
https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/downwell/9p641z19nt2s
https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP3643-CUSA04550_00-DOWNWELLUSP40001/
Downwell Achievement Stats:
https://steamhunters.com/apps/360740/achievements
Downwell Mega Guide:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=537123243")
![Griffin [Sega Game Gear] - ALL Clear 68,900 pts (Full Game)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/f7QqRT9IpeA/mqdefault.jpg "Griffin [Sega Game Gear] - ALL Clear 68,900 pts (Full Game)
Griffin is a run n gun/shmup released for the Game Gear exclusively in Japan in 1991, published by Renovation Game and developed by Telnet Japan. This game was known for being kind of expensive on the second-hand market, but it recently got re-released on modern consoles and Steam.
Honestly, once people get to play this one, theyll realize that its way too easy for a run n gun. Even a more casual players should be able to chew through this game without many continues. Gameplay-wise, I would compare it to Jackal on NES but more cramped. It is very generous with pickups, whether it be powerups, extra health, bombs, or even extra lives. You can take quite a few hits before dying.
It allows you to switch between three weapons: a regular shot, a sub shot that fires over walls, as well as a special weapon that fires slowly but is very powerful and has splash damage from the explosion. The regular shot is the only one that can fire in all eight directions as it lines up with your movement.
There is a vertical shmup stage in Stage 3 of the first loop, but that stage gets cut from the second and final loop and honestly, its pretty weak anyway. Thankfully, its even easier than the normal tank stages.
Speaking of the second loop, its hardly any different from the first loop outside of the shmup stage missing and the final stage having different enemy placement.
The controls felt good overall, but having to pause to switch weapons killed the pace quite a bit at times. The graphics are solid, especially for an early Game Gear game. The cramped perspective didnt turn out as badly as I had expected.
For an older handheld game, you could do a lot worse than this one.
Also, the video quality is a bit lower than usual by accident, but I still feel like it came out alright after watching it myself.
Steam link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3387410/Griffin/
Switch release: https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/griffin-switch/
PS4 release: https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/EP0896-PPSA26109_00-GRIFFINRATAGAMES
00:00 Intro
00:11 Stage 1-1
03:24 Stage 1-2
06:31 Stage 1-3
10:00 Stage 1-4
16:06 Stage 2-1
19:48 Stage 2-2
23:41 Final Stage")
