As someone who completed both Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (2022) and Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (1997) back to back, I can confirm the superiority of the original to this new half assed “Phantasy Reverie Series” version.

Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (1997) is a very charming game. Much of that charm lies in its art direction. The 2.5D makes everything look different, unique and unlike anything else. All of that is lost in this version and in Klonoa (2009) from which this Phantasy Reverie version is supposedly based on. It instead looks plain, generic and like any other platformer, but with the addition of over-saturated & -exaggerated lighting and colours.

How is it possible that no-one on the entire development team ever thought of maybe removing the gigantic ”SKIP” & ”5x SPEED” buttons which smudges itself on every cutscene. It’s so distracting and it’s almost as if they want you to skip the cutscenes because of how lacklustre they are. Sometimes the dialogue can feel sluggish, other times dialogue is too fast to be able to read. In the original PS1 version you manually went through the dialogue — that way you could read it at your own pace, without being bored out or stressed about following with.

The game has some incredible music, but that’s something I didn’t realise until playing the original. There must be some odd mixing going on it the new game which prevents it from popping like it does in Door to Phantomile (1997)

It does the job and it’s undeniably fun despite its flaws. 50$ for two games you could emulate for free and at the same time be made looking and running better is what ultimately makes this bundle not worth being bought, unless you’re a console-only gamer.

PaRappa the Rapper 2 is the pinnacle of the rhythm game genre. The characters' silly and charming personalities go hand in hand and complement each other very well. I do miss the FMV (Full-motion video) cutscenes from PaRappa 1(1996) and Um Jammer Lammy(1999) since they add a lot of quirkiness and bizarreness. But in reality, it's better with real-time cutscenes since they look much better.

The jammers are back and they are better than ever before. I wanted Lammy and her band Milkcan to come back, and sure they did! Love that!

The biggest thing that sets itself apart from its prequels is the timing. In the previous games, you had to be very precise, almost a bit too precise when it comes to the timing. You will fail in this game if you aren't rhythmically correct but at a much more acceptable level.

I wish PaRappa the Rapper all the best in the future. I hope Sony will bring back the series. Unfortunately, it looks as though our hero's days are bleak because it seems as though Sony's experimental days are over and everything that gets pumped out of that company is just another static mainstream The Last of Us Part 2(2020) looking game. Not that I don't like TLoU2, quite the opposite in fact, I just feel like we need a bit more variety in the AAA industry. Please come back PaRappa the Rapper! I gotta believe!

This banger of a game improves upon a lot of things from its predecessor PaRappa the Rapper. As the title of the game suggests, it delivers many jammer(s). There was one bad track though by the name of Taste of Teriyaki, which came to a surprise since I've only heard jammers thus far. It's overall just a very joyous game that every rhythm-game fanatic needs to experience. Also, Lammy is cute af ngl.

PaRappa is an incredibly charming and quirky game. I love it most of all because of how unique and original it feels. The art style is hard to describe but it shares a significant resemblance with Paper Mario in the sense that the characters look like paper cut-outs. The music is obviously at its centre with all raps being absolute jammers including this jazzy jammer playing in one cutscene:
Smooth Life of Mine

What cuts 2 stars from my rating is how stupidly precise every input has to be. There were a few stages where I got hardstuck because of this reason. Timing is a fundamental part of a rhythm game and by failing it, the game kinda fails. It's honestly very sad since I love the game otherwise. I've heard that the remastered game for the PS4 is even more punishing because of heavy latency.

PaRappa deserves better. Come on Sony, please bring PaRappa and his friends to justice, you gotta believe!

Banjo-Kazooie is an extraordinary 3D platformer in every single way. Its characters are so charming, quirky, and comical. I love the beef between Kazooie and Bottles, or rather Kazooie's harassment of Bottles. Tooty is so fucking cute. 'Beautiful' Gruntilda is hot af.

If you really think about it, Banjo-Kazooie bears (no pun intended) a lot of similarities with Super Mario Odyssey. Each world is basically a Banjo-Kazooie level where you can collect Power Moons rather than Jiggies. There are fewer Jiggies than Power Moons but that makes them all the more rewarding. Cappy works as Mumbo Jumbo, as he transforms you into different beings. Gruntilda is basically a Bowser with personality and is at all times present by telling silly rhymes, rather than Bowser who you kinda forget about existing for most of the Mario games.

As someone who adored the original, this is not the game I remember it being. This "remaster" launched with so many bugs that it was barely playable, and it's the reason it took me so long to finish it. How dare they even call this a remaster when they didn't even optimize 60fps support on PS5 while the original runs 60fps on PS4. Eventually, it got updates that added 60fps support and bug fixes, but at a cost of visual fidelity, which blows my mind since the game still looks horrible despite its "remaster" treatment. This experience has unfortunately given me a negative perception of Life is Strange -- a game I used to love. This is more of a "demaster" than a "remaster".

Here's a little anecdote
It might sound stupid but have a tendency to end films, tv-series and games right before finishing them. I think it has to do with me not wanting to ruin my current appreciation of the work. Assassin's Creed: Odyssey is probably the most embarrassing one of those instances. After completing it for sure this time, I realised I was 2 tiny-ass missions away from beating the game last time around. This game is long (40h+), so to realise that I've already, basically completed it filled an emptiness within me. I got over it quickly and laughed at myself in despair. In the end, I think it shows how big of an appreciation I have for the game despite its few but charming flaws.