I'm really sad to have this game at such a low score, because I so desperately want to love it but I've got really confused about how to do things and it felt so much like minecraft it honestly made me want to quit and play Minecraft instead...
The music and graphics are amazing, I absolutely adore how sweet and cosy it looks, but the game really isn't for me and I absolutely do not want to seem like an idiot having to look up a guide to use the inventory properly (there's no tutorial at all really), so yeah. One day I'll get into it properly and have the time of my life, but for now, no cigar....

During the beginning of the Game Boy's life, Nintendo was trying to bring over a lot of their NES experiences to the handheld. And many of the NES' sport games Nintendo developed were ported onto the system.
Baseball is no different, and it was the first one to get that treatment, as it was one of the Game Boy's launch titles, alongside Super Mario Land, Alleyway and the Japanese-exclusive Yakuman.

But interestingly enough, Baseball on the Game Boy is a bit more complex than its NES counterpart, and some could even call it a better version of the game.

To start things off, just like Baseball on the NES, I recommend reading the instruction manual. For the NES version, I'd recommend that to know what the controls were. For the Game Boy version, that also holds true, but now each player in a team has its own unique stats!
Things like stamina, batting, speed and skill are to be considered when choosing who's going to pitch and who's going to bat. By pressing the Start button twice, you can switch between some of the players.

Truth be told, when I first started playing this version of this game, I had no idea many of these things were even a thing. It was nice seeing players with names this time around (there's even a Mario and Luigi in the USA teams), but I didn't think much of it. But when looking at the instruction manual, I was surprised to see that there's more strategy required this time around.
Feels a bit like a prototype for more modern sport games, I'd say.

Outside of that, while there are less teams to choose from compared to the NES version, the game has an actual soundtrack that you choose to turn on and off at the start of a game.

There are also some interesting rules they added to this version, to increase the startegy element. For example, if, by the end of a round/inning, you have more than 10 points compared to the opposing team, the game ends prematurely and you win! Considering we're on a portable system, allowing skilled players to end games faster so that you can play the game in shorter bursts helps a bit.

But the other rule they added was not exactly my cup of tea. So, in baseball, whenever you pitch a ball, many of the players from the other team will try to catch it. If one of those players catch the ball before it hits the ground, it will not matter if you landed on a base or not, you are out.
This happened to me a lot and, honestly, I preferred it when that wasn't the case.

At least you have some extra options to counter-act this. I already mentioned the player stats before, but after a ball is pitched by the opponent, if you press a button, you can control the players on your team trying to catch the ball. If you don't, the CPU will try to catch it.
Giving the player that freedom allows there to be more strategy on how to approach the game.
In addition, when you're playing as the pitcher, you can also move him a bit to the left or right, to adjust your shot better.
These features all make the game stand out to its NES counterpart, and make this version more in-depth.

Alongside this, before a game starts, you can select either JPN Mode or USA Mode. The differences between are minor, as they only switch player names, the ball count indicator, the metric system used for the ball speed, and the music being played. Still, it's nice to have that options.

Overall, in spite of some small gripes I have with this version, the Game Boy version of Baseball is much more in-depth and strategic than the NES counterpart, which helps the game stand out and be a bit more fun, even if it's still a simple baseball video game.

3 years later, after the relative success of Mario land 1, yokoi would return and give us a Mario land sequel we all deserved. A sequel that improved on the original in quite a few ways. Its sequel would also end up being quite a hit, with the game getting a lot more inspiration from the recent Super Mario World and going above and beyond to make the game as ambitious as possible. So let’s dive into it shall we?

So this time, Mario land 2 actually does take place in Mario land. While Mario was away, his rival Wario took over and now Mario has to take it back by finding 6 coins in 6 differently themed areas and then facing up against Wario. This was the game to introduce Wario and would end up being the precursor to that of the Wario land games, which I promise, I will get to one day.

In terms of gameplay, it takes both a few steps forward and a step back. I said it took a lot more inspiration from Super Mario World and trust me: it really does show. The sprites match that of it and the power-ups also reflect it. This time there are two: the fire flower and…a carrot…which helps you fly. The fire flower is a lot more traditional, with the carrot being very similar to things such as the tanooki suit and the cape feather. Then there are the 6 different areas which are all accessed by a world map, which is very similar to the world maps of Super Mario Bros. 3 and obviously World. The 6 worlds include the Tree zone, the space zone, the macro zone, the pumpkin zone, the turtle zone and the Mario zone with them each having different bosses and amount of levels.

After all this we finally face up to Wario in a pretty interesting final level. Personally, this is probably one of my least favourite final levels, mainly because of its random bullshit thrown everywhere. You survive a pool of lava and then whoop- looks like you got hit by a random mechanical fist. The bane of my existence. The Wario boss is also pretty annoying but it isn’t all too bad. He just uses the different power ups you used and you have to adapt to them and hopefully not die. But then, Mario finally gets his castle back, and harmony is restored.

Something quick to mention is the zoomed in camera. My problem with the first Mario land was it was way too zoomed out which would probably be tedious to play in the wrong lighting conditions. But thankfully for this game they zoomed it out! Well…maybe zoomed it out a little too far. This was the step back I was talking about earlier. The camera is a pain to deal with. The only thing you can control is what is above you and what is below you, anything to the sides you’re just gonna have to risk it and hope an enemy or spike isn’t there. I didn’t have that many problems with it but when it annoyed me, it annoyed me.

Overall, out of the 2 games I’d say Mario Land 2 is a great improvement over the original. It applies a lot more inspiration from its console counterparts whilst still doing its own thing. While it is still quite flawed in areas, I have to admit it’s a very fun time. Whether I’ll get to the Wario land games I’ll definitely see.

Quirky sequel to a quirky game boy game, music still slaps, nice sprites, cool areas, shit camera, and fuck the mechanical arms

I forgot about this game until tonight. Pokemon Soulsilver has been great.

Look, this romhack is done well and there's a lot of fun ideas here. Lots of unique ideas like being a grunt that did fight against Red. The moment when you realize you are placed directly in line with events that happen in FireRed, that brought a smile to my face.

Buuuut man I got turned off by all the "edgey" dialogue and nasty language. I don't care if there is language in my video games if it fits the universe/story. I laugh in the face of any parent who gets mad at a piece of media that they share with their children that is clearly not meant for their child.

I don't care for this version of this game. I didn't get too far past the first encounter with Red because the constant edginess and language drove me nuts and left me feeling icky. Maybe the Pokemon franchise just needs to remain in the lane that is has been in from the beginning (of course I want the games to get better and not suck). As much as we would like it to go to a "mature" tone, I think this shows that some people will like it, but I won't be one of those people.

Alright. The time has passed, and I don't have to pretend this is the best thing ever anymore. Armored Core VI has a SHIT ton of problems. The biggest thing is that it's nothing bold or interesting. It's actually a downgrade to many previous games in the series with fewer parts and less part types and less in game mechanics in general. Whilst I don't dislike this game a whole lot, I am in the end an Armored Core fan and wish for the series to improve. First off, the sekiro stagger meter was an awful design choice for this game. It makes fights that should be two giant mechs with a shit ton of fire power just going off on each other but instead your mechanised combat machine staggers. It interrupts the flow of combat, and it makes fights feel so much less tense because you can straight up see their health bar and how close they are to getting staggered by you. The soundtrack is... not very great. While there are some standouts, the track list is quite boring. I'm a huge fan of cyberpunk sounds and the influence from vangelis is a great thing to hear but it just doesn't make for a very good soundtrack over mecha fights none of the song particularly get you hyped up or get your blood pumping or stressed it's just pretty normal stuff. The mission design is actually pretty good and is pretty on par with an Armored Core game specifically its more like AC4/4A, which usually did things much nicer. The lack of parts is quite a bummer to me and even if the mission designs are good there isn't a mission that's like super grand and amazing that makes me feel like it's utilising two generations more of power compared to For Answer. You'd think that after being told we were getting a new Armored Core for a decade and being told it was being cooked, we'd get something you know, bold. Something that does something interesting and cool, yet we get heals and a stagger bar, which is just so disappointing from a new gen Armored core game that should be huge and unique. Also, the multiplayer is like for answer in the way that it feels super haphazardly thrown together with no real thoughts about how fun it actually is. It's quite mediocre. I'm not a very big fan of the 5th generation but they had very engaging multiplayer that has kept people invested for a decade (which they now shut down cause come play our mediocre new multiplayer instead of your cool clan wars.) it's just such a disappointing thing to see. The game is just a standard Armored core experience, which makes it such a disappointment to me having to wait all this time. It'll be fine to a newcomer to Armored core because they didn't have to wait for so long and be forced to expect more. Is Armored Core VI the worst thing ever or the worst Armored Core game? No, it's just extremely safe. You could tell they wanted to cater to some souls fans too with healing and the more forgiving tracking. I think it's fine. Hopefully they do something more interesting for the next Armored Core game. I didn't wish to speak much on the story because I think it is just fine. Its quite a normal mecha story with some memorable moments but usually quite normal. The final boss also boils down to almost the same thing in each ending which was disappointing. I think the endings were fine though so there's that.