An N64 game that I haven't had sitting in my backlog for almost or over a decade? Shocking! Despite that, I have wanted to play both this & Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon ever since I was going through my N64 collecting craze. During the months of scouring flea markets, thrift stores, and eBay, for one reason or another, I was never able to get my hands on either game. I found & beat a copy of Mystical Ninja a few years ago and eventually got this game soon after, but I didn't get around to completing it until recently. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as Mystical Ninja, but there is still a lot to like about Goemon's second N64 adventure.

While Mystical Ninja was more of a 3d Zelda-like game, Goemon's Great Adventure is a 2D platformer with the only thing that both games have in common being that they share the same 4 playable characters each with a unique gimmick. need to progress. The story in this one is not nearly as ridiculous as Mystical Ninja but you still get that classic Goemon goofiness.

There are a lot of positive things to say about this game. The graphics were pretty for its time and it felt great to play. It also does a great job of making each character useful since some levels will require you to utilize their different abilities like Goemon's chain pipe, Yae's & Sasuke's ability to swim underwater, or Ebisumaru's megaphone that creates small platforms. Exploring the towns and doing the various quests scattered throughout them was enjoyable and made the game feel more lively. Impact makes a return meaning you can still do those awesome mech fights just like in Mystical Ninja. Lastly, this game has co-op which I believe most 2D platformers did not have at the time. I played it all by myself, but I would have loved to play this with friends too.

It isn't perfect though and there is a reason it doesn't have a higher score. The biggest reason for this being the difficulty. While It is a good thing that the game is more difficult since Mystical Ninja was a bit too easy, it is also a bit too unforgiving at times. If you don't find any golden cats or purchase armor, you only have three hits until you lose a life. Not only that, but something TyphoonSwell mentions in his review is that there are a handful of enemies with annoying gimmicks. It was something I kept in mind as I played because I died countless times because of them, especially towards the end. The mech fights drag on a bit more than they did in Mystical Ninja if I remember correctly. I was never good at them but even with my lack of skill, I don't remember them being as long as they were here.

Goemon's Great Adventure is an underrated N64 classic that desperately needs more attention. The difficulty might be a little bs at times, but the fun & fast platforming, local co-op, and the wacky charm the Mystical Ninja series has makes it a game worth playing.

Link to TyphoonSwell's review: https://backloggd.com/u/TyphoonSwell/review/1074941/

For an entire saga that lasted for nearly 20 years, Master Xehanort and his many incarnations were the primary antagonists of the so-called Xehanort saga which consisted of every game in the series at that time up to Kingdom Hearts 3 with the exception of Union X & chi. One year after the finale of the Xehanort saga, Square Enix announces Kingdom Hearts: Dark Road. The game where will finally get to know more about the man, the myth, the legend Xehanort himself and how he came to be a villain. It sounds great but there is one major problem........its a mobile game.

I won't lie, despite thinking Union X was just average I did get some enjoyment out of it due to its story, PVP, and pulling for all the cool medals they added. While Dark Road has a decent story like Union X, it lacks a PVP mode and just feels more boring to play in general. One good thing Square Enix did with this game after they shut Union X down was remove the gacha mechanics and allow you to buy the cards without real money. It satisfies the collector's itch and it is good for picking the cards you need without having to gamble in-game currency or real money.

The gameplay is pretty simple. You form a deck of cards that consists of three types which include power, speed, and magic. In order to attack, heal, or do really anything, you swipe your screen and try to match three cards of the same type to make your attacks or other moves slightly stronger. When you run out of cards you reload by tapping your screen as much as you can. This is pretty much all you'll be doing for the 20+ hours it takes to complete the game. There is an auto button where the game can play itself automatically. It does help in making the grind necessary to get a good deck and beat the game slightly more bearable, but ultimately I was bored for pretty much the whole experience.

It was nice to know more about Xehanort's past and get more Kingdom Hearts lore, but I wish they released this on consoles & PC. Hopefully, Kingdom Hearts Dark Road will get a Re:Dark Road or a movie like chi did in the future, but for now this is the only version we have. Xehanort deserved better than this.

I consider myself to be an avid trophy & achievement hunter. Usually, I go through periods where I get invested in collecting platinum trophies and then eventually get burnout and want to play other things. Despite still not having a strong desire to trophy hunt again, I decided to go for my 50 platinum trophy milestone to celebrate the 10th anniversary of my PSN account. Since I did not have the patience to go for some of the platinums I still have in mind, I thought it would be smart to look up games that are quick and easy to platinum which led me to playing and platting Duck Souls+.

Despite what the name might imply, Duck Souls is pretty easy. The levels are short and the game is very generous with checkpoints included in each level. I would say that the game could use a little extra challenge, but I came for the 1-hour platinum trophy so I can't complain.

Gameplay-wise, its very similar to Super Meat Boy but with a little jank. In Super Meat Boy, you can always run and jump around the levels and it felt seamless, but with this game, you can't run and you only get a short boost. While it isn't terrible, it does feel somewhat clunky in comparison.

It may seem like I've mostly been trashing the game but I still enjoyed it and got some fun out of it. It has charm and is a surprisingly decent platformer even with its few glaring flaws. If you're looking for a quick & easy plat or 1000 gamerscore that is decent and not total shovelware then this is the game for you.

Similar to its predecessor and sequel I will eventually finish, One Piece Pirate Warriors 2 has been in my backlog for a good amount of time. After my playthrough of Pirate Warriors 1, I wasn't looking forward to playing this one because of my urge to want to beat every character log. However, I figured if I'm gonna continue to clean out my backlog and also stick to my goal of reviewing every One Piece game on this website I figured why not? It isn't my favorite One Piece game, but it is an improvement over the original Pirate Warriors.

Unlike the first game, this game has a completely original story. Given that Fishman Island & Punk Hazard were the only new arcs in the anime & manga when this game came out, it was the correct choice to make. While I didn't pay too much attention to the story this time (I was more concerned with unlocking everything), it beats having to go through the same story bits for the 50th time. It's a shame Pirate Warriors 3 or/and 4 didn't take notes from this in that regard.

Platforming in this entry is completely gone and it plays just like your average Musou. Honestly, I'm happy they removed it because even though the platforming made Pirate Warriors a little more unique, its presence in the first Pirate Warriors was more of a nuisance rather than a pleasant addition. One Piece Pirate Warriors 2 does get a bit repetitive, but this is likely the case with every other Musou game. I did enjoy the game, but Musou might not be everyone's cup of tea and I suggest taking a break in between the main story and the other logs if you plan on unlocking everyone.

In terms of new content, it adds quite a bit. Punk Hazard is a new stage and Skypeia & Thriller Bark get stages this time after being absent in the original game. There are a bunch of new characters that honestly should have been added in the original game including Buggy, Mihawk, and the 3 admirals. The most noteworthy newcomer would be Trafalgar Law who has become increasingly more important to the story since the timeskip. The game even has both pre & post-time skip Straw Hats which is good fanservice and a nice way to pad out the roster.

One Piece Pirate Warriors 2 is an improvement on all fronts to the original Pirate Warriors. If you enjoy One Piece and Dynasty Warriors, you'll like this one.

The 3ds is a handheld that I have always held a soft spot for and was always looking forward to seeing what games would be coming out for it. This lead me to watching a video that listed and showed gameplay of all sorts of games I'd eventually come to try such as Yokai Watch, Project X Zone, One Piece Umlimited World Red, and of course this. Intrigued by its weird, dreamlike aesthetic and interesting looking gameplay, I really wanted to play this. At the time I saw this video, it was a Japan-only release so when I heard it was getting a localization, I was pretty happy even if I'd be waiting awhile to get enough money to buy it. Time passed and I eventually got a Ps Vita. Already knowing that they announced and released this port I bought it instead of the original 3ds version. I had a lot of fun playing through this even if this game tore me a new one multiple times during the 27 hours I played to get all 5 endings.

I knew well before I started playing Sayonara Umihara Kawase that it was going to be difficult, but even with this knowledge, I was surprised that it was as hard as it was. Even though I found this game to be pretty harsh difficulty-wise, it rarely felt unfair when I died. Beating the game will require a solid understanding of its mechanics, trial & error, and most importantly patience.

The first 10 levels serve as almost a tutorial for what the rest of the game has to offer. There are also some instructions in the gallery you can read that showcase some of the tricks you'll use to move around with your lure. With those two things in mind, the game does its job in teaching you how it works and preparing for the more difficult levels.

This game has a decent amount of content in it too. You get 4 characters Umihara, young Umihara, Noko, and Emiko. Umihara is the default character, Noko has the ability to slow down time for a few seconds, and Emiko and young Umihara have the ability to make a checkpoint if you get to a certain part of a level. The variety not only makes the characters feel a little bit more unique from one another but they also help make the game a little bit easier. This version adds 10 new levels the 3ds version doesn't have and it even throws in the original Umihara Kawase as a bonus. I haven't seriously started a playthrough of the original Umihara Kawase but I probably will eventually down the line.

The only things I can really say bothered me were there were a few times where I'd try to reel the lure back to a jump and I wouldn't be able to get the momentum I should have gotten and that one last part on level 24. Where that tiny gap to door 55 is placed is absolute bullshit and I am convinced I just got lucky on it.

I may have nearly gotten filtered a handful of times, but I never gave up and I'm glad I didn't. This is the first game that I've beaten in a very long time where I am genuinely proud of myself for doing so. If you're looking for a fun platformer that will put your skills to the test then I would definitely recommend this on any available platform.

Sonic 06 was the Sonic game I was most interested in completing due to hearing conflicting opinions about it. I remember a couple of friends from long ago telling me that Sonic 06 wasn't that bad but when I looked up reviews for it, I saw that it was critically panned for reasons that I would eventually realize when playing the game. After beating Sonic 06, I think both sides of what I heard are kind of right. Don't get me wrong, Sonic 06 is a buggy piece of shit, but if Sega actually took the time to polish it, I think it would be just as good as the Sonic Adventure games.

I'll start off with what I think Sonic 06 does right. The music kicks ass. His World is one of the best songs in the whole series. If you can't get hyped listening to it, I don't know what would. Just like in Sonic Adventure 1 & 2, the Sonic & Shadow levels are still entertaining. It will never not be enjoyable running around as Sonic or/and Shadow kicking bots and taking names.......when it works. Silver while not as fun to use as the former two is a nice change of pace compared to them and at least somewhat enjoyable to use. From what I remember Silver's story was the most tolerable one when it comes to glitches. Mephiles was a villain who was not only interesting but also managed to be very intimidating in contrast to Eggman who I don't think really fills that role anymore.

Now onto the bad parts of Sonic 06 that everyone is very familiar with, the glitches. I hear the Xbox 360 version is the better version which explains why I didn't encounter as many bugs as I thought I would, but when they happen they are VERY annoying. A few at the top of my head I can think of are the numerous tries it will take to beat Silver anytime you fight him due to him grabbing you repeatedly, losing control of my character when using a boost pad or just in general, and just the lack of polish the game has in general. There were times when I felt the game was running on a string especially when the camera would shake around occasionally. All of these bugs made it a rage-inducing experience to go through, especially if it was a lengthy level. You don't just play as the big 3, but also most of the important characters like Tails, Knuckles, Rouge, Blaze, Omega, and Amy Rose. While adding more characters to the roster seems like a positive, most of them were either average or just plain unfun, especially when you encounter glitches. The hub world looks and feels like Sonic Adventure 1's but bloated and uglier. In Sonic Adventure 1, it was quick to get to wherever you needed to go in the hub world, in Sonic 06 it doesn't feel nearly as fast and is way bigger than it needs to be. Running around in the forest as anyone but Sonic is as slow as molasses which is ironic since you're playing a game about a speedy, blue hedgehog. The last thing I think is worth mentioning is that Sonic 06 gave us this abomination of a cutscene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk6cgp7RcL8.

While I haven't played Sonic Heroes due to being either incredibly lucky or unlucky that the one disc I ordered came super scratched, but the impression that I have gotten is that every 3d Sonic game after Adventure 2 has had something holding it back whether it be time constraints or a mechanic that overstays its welcome. Even though Sonic 06 is widely regarded as one of the worst games ever made, it had a lot of potential to be special had Sega taken the time to ensure it wasn't a buggy mess.

Jet Force Gemini was the last out of the five N64 games I have wanted to complete for years. I remember starting my first playthrough around the same time I started most of the other games, but due to the rather ridiculous requirements necessary to beat the game, I decided to give up despite enjoying it. I did also play Jet Force Gemini on the Rare Replay collection but deliberately quit after the first half of the game. Even when I decided I would go back and beat all of them, I wasn't totally confident that I would beat this one. However, it turned out that rescuing the tribals wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. I would say that Jet Force Gemini is pretty underrated in comparison to Rare's other N64 releases.

In your adventures as galactic pest control, you play as three characters. Juno, his twin sister Vela, and their dog Lupus. The three of them each have their own special trait that makes each of them useful by allowing them to access different areas. Lupus can use his jetpack to fly across the area, Vela can swim, and Juno is immune to damage while walking on hot surfaces. All three of them are vital in getting every ship part and tribal necessary in beating the game.

Like a majority of N64 games it seems, it does take a little bit to adjust to the controls. Every time I started a playthrough, I would die at least five or so times before finally getting the hang of how to shoot and aim. Once I adjusted, I didn't have much trouble mowing down enemies despite not being the best at shooters. The only exception being those stupid ants with the shields. I hate those little bastards so much!

The actual gameplay itself is pretty fun. You'll unlock a wide assortment of weapons and each of them feels great to use. I found it incredibly satisfying to mow down enemies with the pistol or machine gun, blast them with the rocket launcher or by throwing grenades, and occasionally snipe some of the enemies when necessary. If you collect enough ant heads over the course of the game you can unlock some cool bonus features too such as multi-colored blood and having the ants turn into Mr. Pants. There is a multiplayer mode, but I haven't played it so I can't comment too much about it other than mentioning that you will unlock content for it throughout playing the game. It may have some fun gameplay and cool extras, but its biggest flaw is one that can be a huge turnoff to anyone even slightly interested in playing this game and the reason why it took me over a decade to beat it. You have to rescue EVERY single tribal and collect twelve ship parts scattered across the worlds you visit.

In each level, there are these white bear-like creatures known as tribals. The way rescuing tribals works is that once you rescue all of them, you won't need to re-rescue them. However, you need to rescue all the tribals in an area in one go. If a tribal dies or you miss one, you'll have to redo the whole level which makes them a pain in the ass to deal with sometimes. While you can rescue them as you play through the game's first half, I would advise not focusing on them too much as some are inaccessible until the latter half of the game when you have all the necessary equipment to do so. Luckily, most of them are in places where you shouldn't have too much trouble rescuing them but in addition to having to collect twelve ship parts needed to fight Mizar again, the tribals make the backtracking a lot worse than what it could have been.

If you're willing to put up with the heavy amounts of backtracking and slightly cumbersome N64 controls, what you get is a 3rd person shooter that is heavily underrated in comparison to some of Rare's other N64 classics. Between DK64, Quest 64, Mischief Makers, Glover, and this, I think beating this game was the most satisfying and waiting till last to complete this made it all the better.

Afterthought: This is probably the longest review I have made on here so I'd like to thank anyone who managed to read this whole review.

My first experience with Glover was initially walking past it at a flea market. It was my primary place to hunt for N64 games as that was the first console I truly began collecting for. At the time, I thought it looked like shovelware so I just ignored it and went to look for something better. Not long after this happened, I got curious and looked up gameplay of the first Atlantis level in the game. Being the 3d platformer connoisseur I am, I regretted not buying it and began looking for the game. A few months pass and I eventually found another copy of the game at the same flea market. I played it, only got past the first world, and never continued from there. I believe I also tried again in 2018 but I couldn't leave the tutorial level for some reason so I stopped once again. Now having finished the game, I did not enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

Glover is definitely a unique concept that sounds genius on paper but it is an idea that doesn't carry over too well once it is implemented in video game form. In each level, you have a bouncy ball that you must have by your side pretty much at all times. The ball can also turn into a bowling ball, a marble, and a gem which are all used for a few clever puzzles. If the ball gets deflated or damaged depending on what form it is in, you lose a life. Because of this, there are plenty of levels where you'll have to be very careful to not lose it or have it fall/get damaged. While there were some fun levels, there were also just as many moments where I found myself getting frustrated with the game due to having to constantly micromanage the ball. Most of the bosses were fine but the Frankenstein's Monster really grinded my gears since it required you to throw the ball up a series of platforms that can be changed by you or the boss at any given time. That & when I played through the broken tutorial again and not being able to leave were the moments where I pretty much came to the conclusion that the game was mid and definitely could have been better.

There were still some aspects of Glover I enjoyed though. The overworld may not be nearly as interesting as Peach's Castle or Spiral Mountain & Grunty's Lair, but I still found some amusement in exploring the initially dark overworld and how it changes later on in the game. The graphics were pretty decent for their time and while most of the worlds mostly had the typical themes you'd find in any other platformer, they managed to still make them look distinct and different enough from the others.

My final opinions on Glover are mixed. It's a unique spin on the 3d platforming genre, but the gimmick that makes it stand out can also be very annoying to deal with on obstacle-heavy levels that can suck the fun out of the game. I'm glad I finally beat Glover but I would also be fine with never revisiting it ever again.

Mischief Makers was the third game I completed out of the five N64 games that sat in my backlog of games for over or nearly a decade. However, I believe this game was the last one out of those five that I bought. I remember starting my first playthrough I believe in 2014 which was a bit later than all of the others that I have reviewed and will review after this one. Besides the usual reason that 99.9% of the games I have played but never beat stay in my backlog for years, I remember getting stuck on a level but for whatever reason it didn't occur to me to look up a walkthrough. That being said, I finally beat it and like most of Treasure's other offerings is definitely deserving of its cult following.

You play as a robot girl named Marina on a mission to save Professor Theo and eventually the world from an evil empire led by Emperor Leo. In order to do so you will have to shake-shake your way through many levels that will require you to think outside the box and get familiar with how the game plays.

Similar to Treasure's other N64 classic Sin and Punishment, the controls take a little bit to get used to. It probably took me like 10 minutes to figure out how to do most basic things and longer to really get a feel for the controls. There were a few levels where the puzzles were either cryptic or just plain annoying like the one where you traverse a stormy ice mountain or the level right before you fight Sasquatch where you had to go through the right path by looking at the numbers. Despite the few frustrating levels this game had, they never dampened the experience.

There are a lot of positive things to say about Mischief Makers. The 2d sprites look great, the game is filled to the brim with charm and personality, and once you get used to the controls, Marina's movement feels great. It also is incredibly fair since you can get up to two bars of health which should be more than enough to deal with enemies and the bosses you fight. Besides the few annoying levels this game has, I thought most of the game was fun, short, and at the right level of challenge.

While it isn't my favorite title from Treasure, it is still a great 2d platformer made for a system that is criminally lacking in them. If Ikaruga, Dynamite Heddy, and Gunstar Heroes can be ported to every platform known to man, Mischief Makers should get the same treatment.

Similar to Donkey Kong 64, this was a game that was also stuck in my backlog for a very long time. I don't remember exactly when I got Quest 64 but I remember starting it around 2012-2013-ish which was not too long after my initial unfinished DK64 playthrough. Similar to that game, I had around 2 unfinished playthroughs before I decided I would put an end to the journey through it once and for all years later. Despite what a lot of players and critics think, I find Quest 64 to be a guilty pleasure of mine.

Quest 64 is the textbook definition of basic. Most of the areas you explore look basic, the NPCs are generic, the fact you only have 4 elements to cast spells from, the story (or what little there actually is of it), and even the MC's name are all so plain and average it would put most people to sleep. However, I'm an average person with a sometimes below-average taste in video games so it isn't too surprising I would enjoy it. Mini rant aside, its simplicity is also one of Quest's greatest qualities.

Before I get deeper into the game, the first thing I'd like to mention is how pretty the graphics look for its time. It's classic N64 eye-candy and played a big role in my curiosity in trying this game out. Quest 64 has 4 types of spells, water, rock, fire, and wind. Each of them have attacks that are of those 4 elements, but some additional perks like being able to heal or weaken your enemies' defenses are linked to leveling up certain elements. It isn't much, but having more doesn't always equate to being better. There are two ways to level up your spells, the first way is to do it the regular way by fighting enemies and watching your spirit/exp build up and the second is by searching for spirits scattered all around the game's towns and overworld. Collecting spirits is a clever way of leveling up as it not only benefits you for going slightly out of your way but also heavily reduces the need to grind. You also gain more MP by using spells and HP by either using your staff to attack or by taking damage. Since you will be doing that by simply playing the game, you won't have trouble building those stats and should have more than enough HP & MP by the time you reach the endgame. Quest 64 is pretty short for an RPG. It only took me about 8-10 hours long and it doesn't overstay its welcome for very long. Even though I appreciate a lot of what Quest 64 does, it still has some obvious problems.

The spells are not well-balanced at all. Besides leveling up wind for the first boss, it & fire become pretty much irrelevant for the rest of the game. A lot of RPGs have broken spells and abilities but for a game as simplistic as Quest 64, they definitely could have found a way to make each element useful. The characters have virtually no personality. It may not have the most complex story or anything, but I wish that the MC, his dad, and the villains had at least SOME personality and more information about them. The overworld and dungeons also could have included more details that could indicate where you are or/and also add a little more variety to them. I couldn't count how many times I got lost despite its linearity. This was a problem that greatly contributed to why it took me so long to beat the game.

It's certainly no Final Fantasy killer but Quest isn't as bad as people say it is and it had the potential to become a good franchise had the sequel have gotten released. For those who are new to RPGs or just want something that isn't very complex, Quest 64 isn't as terrible of a choice as one may be led to believe.

Donkey Kong 64 was one of the several noteworthy games that remained in my backlog for over 10 years. Because of that, I would say this game and a handful of others that I have and haven't reviewed yet were all a part of the key reason I made my Backloggd account. In my previous playthrough, I made it all the way up to the final world in K. Rool's lair where you were the amount of time you had to beat it depended on the amount of blueprints you collected. By the time I wanted to tackle it, I somehow forgot how to do all of the kongs' moves. Ultimately, it lead to me dropping the game. I did try to start over from scratch a few times, but I never was able to commit until I decided to beat it this year. I enjoyed it, but compared to Rare's other collect-a-thons, this one probably has the most issues.

It plays like all of Rare's other platformers where your purpose in playing is to collect a plethora of different items spread across 8 different worlds, but some of the collectibles have slightly different functions compared to Banjo-Kazooie. The golden bananas are just like your jiggys or stars, but the different colored bananas scattered around the level serve as a means to access the boss for each world which also plays a necessary role in getting to the next world alongside the golden bananas since you get a key for defeating each boss. It all sounds pretty simple, but the problem is that you aren't just playing as one character like Mario or Banjo. In Donkey Kong 64, you play 5 different characters including DK, Diddy, Tiny, Lanky, and Chunky Kong. In most cases, it's pretty cool to have a roster that big in a platformer. However, the approach Rare took in adding more characters is what is this game's biggest flaw, bloat.

Each and every kong have their own colored bananas to collect and objectives to do. The placement of a lot of where these collectibles are located will lead to a copious amount of backtracking. Another big issue that also amplifies the backtracking problem is that most of the worlds are just too big. It's fairly easy to get lost and even with teleportation pads, getting to some locations can still be rather time-consuming. Speaking of time-consuming, getting 100% in this game requires double the amount of golden bananas needed to regularly beat the game. Given how much you have to backtrack for the colored bananas and numerous golden bananas I would never do it since I'm not a madman. I salute those bold enough to 100% this game.

Personally, I still enjoyed the game a lot despite it being very flawed and straight-up inferior in comparison to Rare's other platformers. Their ambitions with this title were pretty expansive, but ultimately they bit off a little more than they could chew in some areas. If you're a diehard collect-a-thon fan and willing to put up with the repetitive parts of the game I'd still recommend it. If DK64 seems like too much, then I'd stick to something shorter and better-paced like Banjo-Kazooie.

Note: This is a review of the collection itself and does not reflect my score of the games in them. I might eventually review each game individually in the future.

Prior to when this compilation was officially revealed, it was something that was the topic of numerous rumors and speculation. Despite owning all 3 games, I was really hoping for it to be real since I never completed any of these games at the time and the idea of playing the past 3d Mario games on a portable device was one that I found fascinating. However, I didn't just want these three, I was hoping they'd add Galaxy 2 and maybe 3d Land & 64 DS too if Nintendo were feeling generous. Unfortunately, my wish did not come to fruition.

One good thing I can say is that the games that are in this compilation remain virtually untouched. Each game feels and plays exactly like they did when I played them on their original consoles. I also like how they allow you to use your pro controller for Mario Galaxy. I still had to waggle around my pro controller a little bit, but it successfully managed to carry over the motion controls from the original version nicely. For those who have not played the originals or own the consoles they were on, these are good versions to play. I would recommend this collection to those people if it is still sold at a reasonable price as in terms of quality these games range from good to fantastic.

In terms of extras, the only extras added are the music player mode that plays tracks from the three games. It's a neat feature, but this collection definitely would have benefitted from having a few more extras. Several collections usually have an artwork/memorabilia gallery, challenges, or behind-the-scenes videos like what Rare Replay had with the Rare Revealed videos. Even some of Nintendo's past compilations have had more content and care put into them. Kirby's Dream Collection had most of these including even a few episodes of the anime.

While I'm happy this collection exists, I'm disappointed in how low effort it is. The lack of Galaxy 2 and extra features in this compilation really make this feel like a half-assed attempt at celebrating Mario's 35th anniversary. Mario is the most iconic & influential video game character in the world, our plumber deserves more than a lazy, incomplete collection for his 35th birthday.

Octopath Traveler was a game that took me by surprise with how much I enjoyed it. Initially, I wasn't interested in the game due to it resembling Bravely Default and because I got filtered by both Bravely Default & Octopath Traveler's demos when those were released. In retrospect, I went into them hoping for and expecting them to be games that I could play and keep my brain turned off. Before & during my playthrough of the first Octopath Traveler I realized I was a total idiot. When I finally gave the game a proper chance, I found the strategy required in taking down bosses and enemies to be one of the best parts of the game. Octopath Traveler II keeps everything good about the first game and improves upon its shortcomings to deliver a fantastic RPG that is sure to become a classic in due time.

The gameplay is mostly the same with all of the primary jobs from the first game coming back. Even the new secondary jobs share some similarities to the ones in the previous game. However, they added one new mechanic and it is one that can become a game-changer in tough situations, Latent Powers. Each traveler has a unique one with different benefits. A few examples would be, Partitio's latent power that allows him to have max BP, Agnea's which allows her single attack moves to attack all enemies, or Hikari's & Ochette's which give them access to special attacks. I can't count the number of times this mechanic saved me from what would otherwise have been a game over had it not been added. There are also EX skills that grant you access to more powerful abilities but I didn't use them as much as I probably could have. They may not have been vital additions to the game, but they are welcome ones that make the game a little bit easier and each character more unique.

The biggest issues with the first game were the story and the 8 travelers you play as barely interact with each other. While there were a couple of travelers from the first game whose stories I ended up enjoying more, in most cases the stories were more interesting and an improvement over the first one. The pacing for each story was better too. Some chapters are split into two parts that give the game a little more breathing room to flesh out the story a little more compared to everyone in the first game where they only had 4 chapters. They fixed my biggest gripe with the first game's story and that was the lack of connection between each traveler's quest. The final chapter unites all of the characters together in order to save the world and also adds some lore that pieces some events in their respective stories together.

The travelers interact with each other a lot more and in a handful of others ways than they did in the first game. There is the banter dialogue which is a lot easier to find than it was in the first game (I didn't even know it existed in Octopath 1 till the end of the game), the crossed paths chapters that involve two of the travelers going on an adventure together, and the final chapter that unites them all. Seeing all your party members interact with each other might seem like a small, unimportant oversight, but it comes a long way in enhancing the experience.

While the first Octopath Traveler may have a special place in my heart, Octopath Traveler II is a game that surpasses it in pretty much every way. If this game is an indication of what is in store for the future of the Octopath Traveler franchise, then its a series that has a bright future ahead of it.

No More Heroes is one of Suda51's best games and by far his most popular one compared to his previous games such as Killer7, The Silver Case, and Flower, Sun, and Rain. Two of which were not released outside of Japan when this game came out. No More Heroes was a game deserving of its popularity not just because it was one of the few mature games released on the Wii, but also because of its simple but fun gameplay, creativity, and good story.

The game starts off with a badass introduction to Travis Touchdown and a first level & boss that give you a feel for how to use Travis's beam katana in combat and some of the game's other mechanics like the quickstep you can do by dodging at the right time or managing & charging your battery for the beam katana. It's a fantastic introduction as not only do you get straight into the action almost immediately, but also is a fantastic setup for the game's main story.

In contrast to just about every other game by Grasshopper, this game's plot while not completely devoid of serious moments is mostly pretty goofy. Up until the fantastic twist at the end of the game, No More Heroes is about a broke dork who enters a tournament where he kills people for money to buy the typical things an otaku would buy and to get laid. However, in order to progress in the tournament, he still needs to earn money by taking jobs around the town of Santa Destroy.

The open world of Santa Destroy might not be the best hub world to exist, but with the odd jobs around town you'll need to do to get money or the places you'll need to visit to get various items and enhancements it still is successful in getting you immersed in the world of No More Heroes. There are a handful of different jobs including lawn mowing, collecting coconuts, or filling up cars with gas. Some of these are more enjoyable than others, but they are all a unique, alternative way to earn money besides just killing goons.

Over the course of Travis's battles, we get a look at who Travis is as a character and how he grows in his journey to becoming the assassin he is. One primary example is when Travis expresses regret for not killing Holly Summers after she berated him for his hesitation. It adds a level of realism and depth to his character that I enjoyed seeing unfold.

Over the years No More Heroes has become a successful franchise with a handful of games. The series even managed to get representation in Smash in the form of a Mii costume for Travis in Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Given the amount of creativity and care that went into making this game, it is very much deserving of the success it has received. It is a fantastic hack-and-slash that is more than worth your time and money.

There was a point in time after I initially completed the 3ds remake of Ocarina of Time when I was fascinated with Zelda and was clamoring for more. However, there was a problem, I was a kid who only got money on a few occasions throughout the year. Because of this inconvenience, it took me a pretty long while before I finally got to purchase most of them, but by that time, the Zelda craze I had was long gone so I didn't get far into playing them. Now that I've finally beaten Wind Waker, all I can say is I wish I played this sooner.

In terms of visuals, Wind Waker is a game that I personally don't think needed too much of an improvement as it still looks a lot more presentable than og OoT and MM partly in thanks to its cartoonish art style. Even with that in mind, the remake was still successful in improving how the game looks since it looks more beautiful than ever in HD.

For the most part, it's your typical 3d Zelda which pretty much entails that you will be exploring the overworld doing quests, venturing through dungeons, and solving puzzles. There is one key difference though and that is how you explore the overworld, sailing. It may not always be the most convenient way of traveling as you will have to change the direction of the wind multiple times, but exploring the seas is a fresh take for Zelda that I still enjoyed. The dungeons in the game were pretty enjoyable and filled with plenty of puzzles that while not absurdly difficult or cryptic will still kick your noggin into gear. Another thing that I wanted to point out is how quickly you go from each dungeon. While I did enjoy exploring around Hyrule in OoT and doing certain tasks before exploring dungeons, I still appreciated that you pretty much just go from one dungeon to the next until a certain infamous part of the game.

The Triforce quest while significantly toned down in this version based on what I've read was still an annoyance. Having to find the Triforce charts adds a repetitive step in getting the Triforce pieces and having Tingle decipher the Triforce charts is not cheap and also makes the quest more bothersome. The reduced amount of 3 charts to find and as a result, the fewer amount of times you have to visit the weird fairy-obsessed man, luckily only makes the whole quest slightly annoying. I can't imagine what it was like in the GameCube version knowing you have to find 8 charts and spend a ridiculous amount of rupees to decipher them all.

Triforce quest aside, its a fantastic Zelda game, GameCube game, and an even more fantastic Wii U game.