flatbeek's RetroAchievements Board

[flatbeek !]

HELLO

I recently found myself clamoring at my old game-obsessed ways. Being a film student drains your time in a way nothing else I've experienced has, but a few months ago I stumble across something that'd spur me to make the time to sit down and play games...

RETROACHIEVEMENTS

These little guys got baked into Dolphin for Wii titles recently and lead me to download RetroArch for the games of every console prior. I've beaten a few games before, but for older titles and for just about anything Nintendo related I've never "gone all the way." 100% save files, all achievements, every collectable, these things didn't call to me until I saw people took the time to code achievements for me to track these milestones. I can gain arbitrary points and badges on my profile for playing games I already like? My life has been made.

Underscoring all of this is a weird urge of "I want to make something for games." It's an itch I get every year around this season and I think this year's venture will be into learning how to make achievements for this site!

The only hitch: I need 3,000 points (in "hardcore" mode). As of writing this, I've received 2,016 points. I'm getting close, but I'm still chipping away at it. I foolishly read the wrong number and applied for the "junior developer program" a bit early, but there's no limit on how many times I can apply (I think...) so I'm not too worried.

Regardless, the goal of this thread is to keep track of the many games I beat and my journey even further with them into mastery. This involves not only completing the main story, but also getting 100% of the achievements for any side quests, speedrun challenges, collectables, and whatever other hurdles the developers throw my way.

These achievements give me such a new appreciation for these games and teach me new ways to appreciate the work that goes into making every small part of them.

If any of y'all are interested in keeping up in real-time (OR if you use RA and want to be mutuals plsplspls that'd be so cool) here's my profile!​

 

[flatbeek !]

MASTERY #1
GO VACATION (Wii)

Released Oct. 11, 2011 (NA)
Achievement Set Developed by Guinea

+ + + + + + +

I. Love. This. Game.

I've done insane amounts of research and digging into it's development (the heights of which I've still not fully reached) and the more I learn about this game and experience it I can't help but love it more. It's just such a special creation. A labor of love at the end of a series made with the hardware and audience of the Wii at the forefront of the design. That sounds like the bare minimum, but in a sea of bargain-bin shovelware it's hard to find third-party software that seems to give a shit about being good. This shockingly robust design comes from the team that'd championed Ridge Racer 7 (as well as plenty from the prior installments, of course).

My only complaints come in the form of how much I hate the mini golf minigame and how much I wish they chose to expand on these ideas for the Switch release rather than make an upscaled and slightly worse version of the original. As tedious as it could feel grinding through achievement after achievement, experiencing everything this game has to offer, I never really found myself bored. I kept finding myself picking at the "why" everything was happening; imagining myself in the development cycle and thinking about this game from a design standpoint in a way I'd never thought of before.

This is why I want to make an achiement set. I'd love to learn all about a game and be able to show a new player that through the setting up of goalposts. This is a childhood favorite of mine and these achievements showed me parts of this game I'd never really given much thought to. As a first game to master, it was a hefty load of 219 achievements. Nonetheless, I've completed every single one and am honored to have this badge be the first in my journey of many.

+ + + + + + +

Achievement total: 219
Points: 1,138
Beaten on Apr. 23, 2026 (2h 41m)
Mastered on Apr. 29, 2026 (35h 42m)

 

[Super Crab Deluxe Turbo X]

here's my page if anyone wants to congratulate me on my greatest gaming achievement: mastering who wants to be a millionaire junior for the game boy advance

 

[flatbeek !]

here's my page if anyone wants to congratulate me on my greatest gaming achievement: mastering who wants to be a millionaire junior for the game boy advance

HUGE !!! dropped a follow so i can keep up with more super cool and awesome mastery moments :D

(also holy Shit pokemon rumble oak challenge mastery Woah thats a lot of cheevos wtf)

 

[flatbeek !]

MASTERY #2
Mario no Super Picross (SNES)

Released Sept. 14th, 1995 (JP)
Achievement Set by Rewsifer & Dexterspet

+ + + + + + +

Picross is so fun.

I've been up in Jersey for the past week and half visiting my partner. We both have exchanged the "being sick" role since my arrival and so a common way to spend our days has been me grinding out achievements, them playing ACNH, one of us napping, and both of us sharing the wonderful queer experience of watching almost nothing but RuPaul's Drag Race in the background of any combination of these tasks. Picross is a fun brain game and I remember specifically chipping away at this game on the Switch Online SNES emulator throughout the later parts of high school.

I'll admit, I used a guide for a Lot of the later Wario levels. It didn't make it much easier because the several minute long chase of finding the single box you missed out on still prevailed. Nonetheless, this still took AGES. These weren't awful times either (again, Drag Race to fling my eyes to when I was getting frustrated or when my ears pricked up).

It's been a fun week, and this got me a LOT closer to my point goal for the Junior Dev. Program than I thought. I'm super happy with the time I spent doing the Mario half legit, and have zero shame in using guides in the Wario levels. I love picross, that doesn't make me good at it.

A game like this, however, makes me think about the backend code to make these achievements work. They don't trigger once you're done, they don't trigger on the screen it fades to when it shows an animation, it triggers when you press A and it reveals the full image. Makes me wonder if it's using the "this is stored to memory" bit of reading the RAM or something along the lines of "this level triggered it's color reveal" in the RAM read.

Either way, seeing these things in the wild is very educational for someone who wants to start picking apart the logic behind a lot of these cheevos.

+ + + + + + +

Achievement total: 77
Points: 473
Beaten on May 24, 2026 (11h 57m)
Mastered on May 26, 2026 (27h 38m)

 

[flatbeek !]

MASTERY #3
Cars: Mater-National Championship (GBA)

Released Nov. 12th, 2007
Achievement Set by YuriRod50248

+ + + + + + +

What a short set.

That's not a bad thing. After the insane grinds that were Go Vacation and Mario Picross, I'm glad to have a set that takes less than two hours (roughly an episode and a half of Drag Race S18, if anyone was wondering...). I'm shocked at how good this whole game ran and how clearly this game played as a 3D racer on a GBA (especially a third party one that's ALSO a tie-in game).

I truly don't have much to say. This might be the easiest mastery I list here... ever.

+ + + + + + +

Achievement total: 34
Points: 188
Beaten on May 27, 2026 (45m)
Mastered on May 27, 2026 (1h 31m)