![\"20140801_ghg_bb_july\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.grayhairedgamer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/20140801_ghg_bb_july.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAfter a huge drop in June, I nearly got myself back to May levels in July. I only bought one<\/em> game, thanks to lackluster or nonexistent sales and a dry month at retail. I finished seven games, netting me a +6 total for last month. Anyway, the format,\u00a0as with previous updates<\/a>, is\u00a0Game\u00a0Title<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0(Platform, Purchase Price, Play Time).<\/p>\n \n <\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n <\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n <\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n <\/strong><\/li>\n <\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n <\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n \n Only five months remain in 2014. Summer’s usually slow for releases, so this was expected. If release dates stick, the holiday season could be rough. Very rough.<\/p>\n Anyway, here’s to staying in positive territory, and I hope you all have a great weekend!<\/p>\n After a huge drop in June, I nearly got myself back to May levels in July. I only bought one game, thanks to lackluster or nonexistent sales and a dry month at retail. I finished seven games, netting me a +6 total for last month. Anyway, the format,\u00a0as with previous updates, is\u00a0Game\u00a0Title\u00a0(Platform, Purchase Price, Play […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[11,428,427,328,9,143,74],"class_list":["post-1494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-backlog-blitz","tag-11","tag-android","tag-backlog-blitz","tag-july","tag-pc","tag-sega-master-system","tag-wii-u"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4yrob-o6","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":24,"url":"http:\/\/www.grayhairedgamer.com\/?p=24","url_meta":{"origin":1494,"position":0},"title":"The Backlog Blitz","author":"Mike","date":"April 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"A few years ago, I realized that I was buying way too many games. Actually, this has been true for at least the past two decades, and well, I've known it all along. I mean, it's very easy to amass a large collection of games than you have yet to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Backlog Blitz"","block_context":{"text":"Backlog Blitz","link":"http:\/\/www.grayhairedgamer.com\/?cat=10"},"img":{"alt_text":"+12 for the year so far","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.grayhairedgamer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/20140414blitz.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.grayhairedgamer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/20140414blitz.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.grayhairedgamer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/20140414blitz.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.grayhairedgamer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/20140414blitz.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1030,"url":"http:\/\/www.grayhairedgamer.com\/?p=1030","url_meta":{"origin":1494,"position":1},"title":"Backlog Blitz: The games of April 2014","author":"Mike","date":"June 19, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I slipped in April. What can I say, there were some good sales! April was also the month I created GHG, so that ate significantly into my game playing time. I would make up for it in May, but June's not looking great so far. Anyway, the format, like previous\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Backlog Blitz"","block_context":{"text":"Backlog Blitz","link":"http:\/\/www.grayhairedgamer.com\/?cat=10"},"img":{"alt_text":"20140619_backlog_blitz_april_2014","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.grayhairedgamer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/20140619_backlog_blitz_april_2014-300x218.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1712,"url":"http:\/\/www.grayhairedgamer.com\/?p=1712","url_meta":{"origin":1494,"position":2},"title":"Backlog Blitz: The Games of September 2014","author":"Mike","date":"October 6, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Hmm, going from a peak of +14 back in March to a +2 in September is not a good omen. After a good recovery in July and August, I've once again slipped into near-negative territory. As you'll see, several nice bundles are to blame, but I did finish a couple\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Backlog Blitz"","block_context":{"text":"Backlog Blitz","link":"http:\/\/www.grayhairedgamer.com\/?cat=10"},"img":{"alt_text":"20141006_backlog","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.grayhairedgamer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/20141006_backlog-300x218.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1819,"url":"http:\/\/www.grayhairedgamer.com\/?p=1819","url_meta":{"origin":1494,"position":3},"title":"Backlog Blitz: The Games of October 2014","author":"Mike","date":"November 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Oh, the holiday season. It's that time of year when companies do everything they can to get their big releases out in time for Black Friday. It's also when outlets like Steam, Humble, GOG.com, and Bundle Stars bring out the big guns, unveiling deals that for even the most resistant\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Backlog Blitz"","block_context":{"text":"Backlog Blitz","link":"http:\/\/www.grayhairedgamer.com\/?cat=10"},"img":{"alt_text":"20141117_ghg_backlog_oct","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.grayhairedgamer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/20141117_ghg_backlog_oct-300x218.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1677,"url":"http:\/\/www.grayhairedgamer.com\/?p=1677","url_meta":{"origin":1494,"position":4},"title":"Backlog Blitz: The Games of August 2014","author":"Mike","date":"September 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Where does the time go? I can't believe it's already mid-September! It was a pretty even month, even though I did buy more than I finished. However, a couple of the games I finished rank as some of my favorites of the year so far, so I'm OK with that.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Backlog Blitz"","block_context":{"text":"Backlog Blitz","link":"http:\/\/www.grayhairedgamer.com\/?cat=10"},"img":{"alt_text":"20140916_ghg_backlog_aug_14","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.grayhairedgamer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/20140916_ghg_backlog_aug_14-300x218.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1210,"url":"http:\/\/www.grayhairedgamer.com\/?p=1210","url_meta":{"origin":1494,"position":5},"title":"Backlog Blitz: The games of June 2014","author":"Mike","date":"July 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"June hurt. A lot. Although I didn't spend a lot of money ($63.75), I only finished 2 games worth $20.00. With the year already halfway over, heading into July with only a +2 advantage isn't the most positive of omens. Let's hope the rest of the year turns things around!\u00a0Anyway,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Backlog Blitz"","block_context":{"text":"Backlog Blitz","link":"http:\/\/www.grayhairedgamer.com\/?cat=10"},"img":{"alt_text":"20140701_backlog_june","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.grayhairedgamer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/20140701_backlog_june-300x218.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.grayhairedgamer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.grayhairedgamer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.grayhairedgamer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.grayhairedgamer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.grayhairedgamer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1494"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.grayhairedgamer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1503,"href":"http:\/\/www.grayhairedgamer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1494\/revisions\/1503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.grayhairedgamer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.grayhairedgamer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.grayhairedgamer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Games purchased (-1, $15.00 spent):<\/h1>\n
\n
\nYacht Club Games’ Kickstarter success story looked terrific from the start, and the final product was met with tons of positive impressions. This was the only must-buy for me in July.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nGames finished (+7, $113.00 value):<\/span><\/h1>\n
\n
<\/a>Shovel Knight<\/strong><\/em> (PC, $15.00, 10 hrs.)
\nOne of my favorite games of the year. Fantastic graphics, gameplay, and music to die for. Overall: A+<\/strong>
\nREVIEW LINK<\/p>\n
\nA tough platformer in the tradition of Super Meat Boy<\/em>, this game has awesome style, one of the best techno\/trance soundtracks of any game I’ve played, and lots of humor. Short, but great. Overall: A-<\/strong>
\nREVIEW LINK<\/p>\n
\nI enjoyed the NES game back in June, so I finally got around to playing WayForward’s remake. It has wonderful animation and Jake Kaufman’s soundtrack — who is the guy who also scored Shovel Knight<\/em> — does a terrific job here. Too much story and some weird design choices hurt it. Overall: B-<\/strong>
\nREVIEW LINK<\/p>\n
\nRecommended by a friend, this game is all about creating the number 8 and multiples of said number. Simple in concept, but difficult to master. I got over 5,000 points, so I considered myself “done” with it after that. I normally get around 1,500-3,000. Fun, but some bad control bugs hold it back. Overall: C+<\/p>\n
\nVery different from the Genesis classic, but a very high-quality game for the old Sega console. Slippery controls and inexact platforming make certain sequences very frustrating. Beautiful graphics, improved bosses, and non-linear levels round it out. Overall: B
\nREVIEW LINK<\/p>\n<\/a>NES Remix 2<\/strong><\/em> (Wii U, $15.00, 43 hrs.)
\nA sequel that improves upon the original in every way. Great challenges, better game selection, wonderful Miiverse intergration, and additional challenges make this one of the best games available on the Wii U eShop. Overall: A
\nREVIEW LINK<\/p>\n
\nMy favorite Mario Kart<\/em> game since the Super Nintendo days. Amazing graphics, buttery smooth controls, fun courses, and memorable music make this one of the year’s best. I would love to see more goal\/challenge-based single-player modes similar to Diddy Kong Racing<\/em> on the Nintendo 64 to really elevate the experience when you’re not online. Overall: A<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"