I did it. 

I just popped my 200th PlayStation Platinum Trophy. Is that excessive? 100%. No arguments here. It shows how much time I have had over the past 15 years. I heard my first “ping” in The Saboteur in 2011, and since then, I’ve achieved over 10,000 more. However, nothing feels better than grabbing that Platinum Trophy, the ultimate “completed it mate” badge. It’s the thing which shows that I’ve made that game my b*tch.

When you attribute trophies value, as you would any other collection, there comes a conundrum. If Platinums are something to be strived for, how much weight do you put into a milestone Platinum Trophy? How do you mark your 50th, your 100th, your 200th? Hell, what do you do for a 500th? 

Here is your choice: care or don’t care. You either make your milestone game meaningful or just go about your business. 

Me? I care. And that has caused me no end of trouble.

The Journey to the 100th: The Last of Us Remastered

My obsession with having meaningful milestone Platinums started at number 100. Yeah, the 50th was decent but it was purely a coincidence that it landed on Horizon Zero Dawn. For number 100, I decided to work towards The Last of Us Remastered, an incredible video game I would count in my top ten of all time. But that’s where I made a mistake…

You see, The Last of Us Remastered has two trophies that make the Platinum percentage very low (0.3% of players). They are the Hunter and Firefly trophies which are online multiplayer. Urgh. Not only that, but you’ve got to be semi-good at Factions, the online mode. Consistently. You need to play 84 matches for each trophy, and if you’re not competent enough, you can fail and have to restart. 

Anxiety, how I made you my friend. However, it was conquered, and TLOU Remastered has pride of place in my trophy cabinet.

The Journey to the 150th: Crash Bandicoot

A couple of years later, I needed to plan for my 150th Platinum. What could be better than the remake of the first game I ever played on my original PlayStation: Crash Bandicoot. Of course, Platinum Trophies weren’t a thing back in the 90s, only launching in the PS3 era, but an opportunity arose when Toys for Bob created the N. Sane Trilogy. I could finally go back and notch this one up. Again, though, I signed myself up for pain and turmoil…

Practice Makes Perfect. That’s the name of the trophy awarded for getting 26 gold or better relics in time trials. It’s an apt one. Only 0.7% of players have this trophy, which is the same percentage as the overall Platinum, and after getting it, I can see why. I spent what felt like hours on some of these levels. Remember how difficult The High Road was when you were a kid just to get to the end of the level? Now try to do it fast. It was the bane of my life. 

But practice did make perfect, and Crash Bandicoot became my 150th Platinum Trophy.

The Journey to the 200th: Bloodborne

Last year, I approached my 200th Platinum Trophy. I had no idea what I was going to choose to target but I knew it had to be meaningful. That was the first anxiety-ridden decision I had to make. Would I target a game from my childhood like Crash Team Racing? HELL NO! I know my limits and those time trials are well beyond my abilities. However, I did want a challenge. What better challenge than a game that took me three years of frustration and torment to defeat the first boss? Obviously three years intermittently between rage quits, but still! That game was Bloodborne.

Listen, I know I’m not good at Souls-like games. It’s not usually my cup of tea, and I’m fine with that. On this occasion, though, I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. This Platinum journey took its toll on my psyche. I don’t think I’m actually the same gamer as I was before, especially after the Chalice Dungeons and defeating Yharnum, the Pthumerian Queen. One ending and a boatload of Blood Echoes grinding later; I had set myself up for the last trophy for achieving the final ending…

But that’s where I f*cked up. I had been setting up this Platinum early so I didn’t have a long slog between numbers 199 and 200. But by the time I was ready, I had only achieved 197. AAAARRRGGGGHH! So it just sat there, awaiting my 199th Platinum Trophy. Then it barely took me five minutes afterwards to pop the 200th. 

Unfortunately, the screenshot taken at the time of the achievement was a boring black screen. The one thing I didn’t plan for was the accompanying photo or video for the trophy, and it was totally and utterly underwhelming. What a waste. *sigh*

Time to start planning for number 250 in a few years.