One of the more under-appreciated mascots of the 16-bit era. Rocket Knight Adventures feels like it was crafted with love, being one of the best looking games on the Sega Genesis.

An action platformer with a rocket boost mechanic, the game feels like Donkey Kong Country with the ability to shoot out of a blast barrel at will. Absolutely satisfying gameplay and Konami knocked it out of the park on their first try.

Difficulty is hard but fair. If you play with unlimited continues, the challenge level is somewhere around the challenge of a souls game, maybe a little easier. Bosses are easily the best part of the game.

I remember being super impressed by all the setpieces in this game, and now having finished the game, the setpieces absolutely do not slow down until the credits roll. Quite impressive again for a Genesis tile. Pls bring this boy back Konami.

Hearing that Penny's Big Breakaway were the Sonic Mania dev's take on a 3D platformer had me having a keen interest for a while. Evening Star prove they don't need to ride the coattails of a big IP to produce a banger.

The game is mostly comparable to Super Mario 3D world offering a linear fixed camera level layout with optional objectives and collectables found along levels. The gameplay is something of a mix between Mario Odyssey and Sonic, with Penny's Yoyo feeling like Cappy with the throw/swing/bounce combos you can do with it, and rolling on the yoyo feeling like Sonic in ball form. It takes a bit of time to get used to, but once you get the hang of it, it feels very free-flowy.

While I did enjoy the gameplay, it felt like it was missing something. Like it kinda felt sluggish a lot of times. The physics feel a bit too tight and could have benefited from loosening up a bit, embracing the looseness of Sonic Adventure and Mario 64, but the physics feel closer to Mario Galaxy. It hindered my enjoyment a bit when I wanted to zip through levels just to get a collectable I missed, but was hit with sort of a speed limit.

The visuals are amazing. I love the pastel Sega Saturn inspired worlds, and you can tell this was originally going to be some sort of classic Sonic inspired game before they made it into their own thing.

The music is mostly meh with some standout tracks.

There is a good amount of content here for a 3D platformer, and you will be spending a good chunk of time in this game if you intend to go for the 100%, which is the recommended way to play this game.

The most enjoyable part for me were the special levels which felt like Mario Sunshines secret levels. Here the gameplay shined the most to me, where it was still doable but a bit challenging, whereas standard levels were a bit too open and bit on the easy side. I think Penny's Big Breakaway would benefit more from having linear challenge based levels like Crash bandicoot, based on my enjoyment of the special levels.

Great game with a lot of potential, will be keeping my eye on more games by Evening Star knowing they have the dog in them to deliver us a 5 star platformer one day.

Didn't know this game existed until a few days ago when @MagneticBurn reviewed this and instantly caught my attention with the cover art. What hooked me even more is the fact that everyone is praising this as one of the best shooters on the N64.

Having now beaten the game, this is definetly a very good shooter and you owe yourself to play this game if you are into shooters.

The difficulty is just right. The game is very challenging but fair, and not very punishing as you have limited lives, but unlimited continues.

I actually recommend this for people looking to get into the shooter (shmup) genre as this one is a bit less intense than most giving you a dodge button with i-frames, which is something that absolutely makes this game more accessible to newcomers. If you take advantage of that dodge button, you can clear this game, not too easily, but it makes nothing feel unfair.

What I loved most about Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth is the graphics. It has the most charming type of 3D low poly of the generation, something akin to Mega Man legends or Sin and Punishment. It makes blasting things feel way more satisfying and crunchier.

Heard this game was underrated back in the day and now is getting the praise it deserves. Great surprise and I'm glad I played it. Now I'm in the mood to play more shooters.