I've never tried to hide how much I wasn't a fan of this game over the years and while I still think this game is nothing amazing or anything like that my most recent playthrough did help me see somethings in a better light. I had more fun in the levels and just a better time overall, however like I said I'm not sure what about this game is supposed to make it one of the best games and 3D platformers of all time. There are many things I'm not a fan of. The controls are just alright, I sometimes feel mario is a bit stiff and the gravity gimmicks of the game like to fuck with them at times and make things feel very awkward and inconsistent. Levels are a mixed bag as well most of them are fine, although there are some stinkers but nothing gets to the level of pianta village from sunshine most of the time the bad levels are just boring or uninteresting. But I did overall have a better time with this game this time around i enjoyed more of the levels and while I wished mario controlled a bit better I was able to pull off some cool shortcut jumps and whatnot. Also music good. So while I'm still lost on what makes this game so good to so many people I can at least say this game is now a high 6 to a light 7.

This is a game I really wanted to like since it's so well loved but I just couldn't do it. As of right now I'm about 3 worlds in and while it's not terrible nothing has really grabbed me and I don't really feel like putting forth the effort in finishing the game, at least not right now. I don't think me also replaying tropical freeze with some friends around the same time I played this helped matters as playing that game just kinda exasperated my issues with this one, and I know I shouldn't let a game later in the series effect how I feel about an older with advancements in game design and tech and all that but I can't help but feel that. I'll probably come back to this game eventually but as of right now I have no desire to finish it.

Final fantasy IV was an overall great time, but part of me wishes I had played the American snes version, commonly more known as the "easy type" version for my first time playing this game. I didn't find this game to be hard by any means but the end game did rub me the wrong way. The game as whole was paced fairly well I didn't find any reason to grind as me just fighting encounters as they showed up was proving to give me more than enough exp for me to comfortably get through the game... that was till the endgame. Look I understand that the final dungeon needs to be a challenge but why, WHY did they think it was a good idea to make normal encounters have that much health. I was fighting what was probably the most common enemy in the final area and dealt the damage cap to it 3 times in a row and it was still alive even after that and in return in nearly one shot 2 of my characters and this was after me leaving the place to go grind. I did enjoy this game but that ending section is just a huge slog, which is why again I wished I had played easy type so that I would have had a more comfortable experience during that ending portion. Now i played ff3 through the pixel remaster so maybe this is why I feel this but that ending portion was way worse than the the crystal tower by a long shot and it's why this game is a 7 rather than an 8. I can definitely reccomend this game as up until that point with the exception of another area (lodestone cavern) this game was a great time, it's just that last stretch is a slog. Try to play easy type if you're gonna play this one.

This game was a lot of fun, way more than I was expecting. It has it's issues, the end game can burn and I'm not a fan of the fact that they brought the spell charges back for this, but outside of that, this was a good time. The world was fun to go through, the job system was fun, really glad the pixel remaster gets rid of the whole job sickness thing, the world was mostly fun to go through outside of the end game areas, although and this might be because of the remaster but the crystal tower wasn't the worst thing ever, the cave of shadows was probably my least favorite area and those bosses in the world of darkness weren't that fun either. Other than that this game was fun. Now on to FF4 with me.

Probably the best out of the advance trilogy. It still has its issues but this was definitely the most enjoyable for me out of the three. Which did surprise me cause I have heard horror stories about the level design and while some of it wasn't the best as a whole the levels were fun and a blast to run through. (Although who ever made Angel Chaos Act 3 can burn) Bosses were definitely the weak point of this game, they are either very annoying or just uninteresting. The team up mechanic was interesting, not all of the pairings are winners but the ones I stuck with were fun. I mostly used Sonic & Tails, Sonic & Knuckles, and Amy & Sonic for my adventure and all were fun to use. Back to actual level design yeah it had some of the classic run into a crusher or spikes, and the random bottomless pits these games were known for but they didn't rear their ugly heads nearly enough for it to be a big issue for me and I found the journey outside of the boss fights to be an overall pleasant one. If you're looking for some 2D Sonic action on the GBA I'd say this is the best of the bunch.

An example of how a handheld version of a console isn't always just a flat out inferior version. This and sonic colors ds feel more like companion pieces to their console versions than just flat out worse versions. Generations 3ds gets a lot right, while I think the console version beats it out by just a tiny bit this version is still great and more than worth playing. My only major criticism is that I wish that there was more handheld representation outside of water palace from sonic rush but other than that this was a great time. It has different stages, different bosses, and overall just a different enough feel to it from the console version to make it it's own thing.