Fuck it. Slide theme on repeat. Nah for tho the fact that not even half of sonics games a decade later can even match the sheer originality and an ambition that this game delivered is what get it's score from me. There is some absolute age to this game. Camera can have angles that are not helpful at all and the games design can feel archaic in some levels like the boi mansion area. Especially with some enemies as well if you get hit once and unlucky you have very little recovery frames and can keep getting hit until unfair death. This is a very small sacrifice for how much it got right the first time. The fact you can actually control the camera is one thing and it doesn't actively fight you as much as the competition is one thing. The non linear design is something that has set the bar for decades now. Where sonic is finally trying it's stab at a similar concept with frontiers and only hitting that success for a few now says a lot to how well this holds up now. Not only are levels themselves are open to many different paths or ways to get to an objective. But the levels usually like to also give you the choice of doing them out of order in some cases. Along with that the level select. The hub. Is one of the best hubs in gaming. Many different secrets to find and with incredibly memorable music that still tugs on the non linear design being able to choose levels at your desire. Given enough stars the game can allow you to skip entire levels of you choose to do so. Something very. Very little games actually get to even try. Movement is fun. Very fun it's easy to pick up but it is equally easy to be cumbersome with but that being said I have faced zero times falling through floor or getting stuck through walls in my hours of hundreds playing this game compared to even many of others of played that released years and years later which would happen within either a hour or two or the opening levels another fact to why I love how little Mario games there is given that there is a great Nintendo amount of polish in this titles to why they take so long. And that polish still squanders to this day on a lot of other games(looking at you sa1/2 06/heroes falling through the void for just playing the game an inch too wrong). The age shows the most here but any experienced player or anyone who knows how to play the games movement to half it's potential gets to gleam and enormous amount of fun from the levels. Where the speedrunning is still alive and well to this day. The music is like probably the most recognisable in the series and nearly of all gaming franchises too that there is another massive point to the charm of the title that I just can't help but adore. And this is coming from someone who never grew up or got to play Mario until I basically left home and highschool for shows a lot to be loved here. If you don't play a lot of old stuff and can't adjust your control mentality to lesser generation polish I can see this being an only ok time. This guy plays a lot of old shit. And I can tell you that controls aside. The competition still hasn't even been able to hold a candle to the structure,music, movement and complete package this game has served many a many of years. There are other Mario games I love more than this but this one birthed all of those in such a child like whimsical way that it's still so endearing to enjoy whenever I come to visit which is often. Also thank fuck there's no stupid story in the way of this one just game game game baby that's what I'm here for



I BEAT IT LETSSS GOOOO