Probably my favourite Super Bomberman so far. The five dastardly bombers return with the evil leader Bagura, and you journey across five planets, restoring the spirit picture (or whatever its called) of each.

Visually the game looks more like entries such as tg16 bomberman or bomberman 94, rather than SB1 and 2. I'm a little unsure if I prefer it over 2's visual style, but its still a charming look. Most of the music is reused from previous entries but the versions here sound great.

Gameplay is the usual, although this time around levels are split into 4 sections (of varying lengths) for each planet. You're not required to defeat all enemies but rather unlock doors and gain access to parts of the spirit picture. Once a spirit picture is completed, you gain access to the boss of the planet. I like this format, the levels are fun and it makes it feel more fresh from previous games.

While you don't get individual fights with the five dastards, the big bosses of each planet are still pretty fun. Each one represents the theming of their respective planet, and are challenging in a fun way. The worst part is probably the I-frames taking too long, which is an issue regular enemies also share unfortunately.

This is also the first super game where the Louies debut. They can be found in eggs and each one has a different ability (from jumping, to dashing to kicking bombs or blocks). They're fun and cute :)

The multiplayer game has been made more interesting by having more distinct designs for the different bombers (although how well they represent their country of origin, well, i'll let you be the judge of that).

Overall, it's a pretty fun time, I'd definitely recommend this one.

Not particularly fond of this entry, to be honest.

The plot this time revolves around saving time (i guess? there's time travelling, basically) instead of the planet or planets. The gameplay is back to beating all enemies to gain access to the next section of a zone, and there's a total of 5 zones this time. New features have been introduced: Louies are now replaced by certain enemies which, when defeated, can become partners, made distinct by being either mechanical or organic; there's a good variety, each with their own ability that is the same as certain power-ups. There are cages that can be destroyed to release allies, who will destroy soft blocks for you. The music's alright, the visuals are similar to 3's but a little touched up if that makes sense.

The main antagonists this time are the four bomber kings and the Great bomber, who you have individual fights with similar to ones with the five dastardly bombers in SB2. They're a bit easier but it's alright. Defeating each one leads to the big boss of the zone, which are honestly probably the most fun part of the game? They're fun challenging bosses with interesting gimmicks.

I'm not really sure why but the levels just feel kind of off with this game. I wasn't really fond of the time-themed zones and the new partner system just isn't as fun as Louies were. I'm also not that into the antagonists this time.

The multiplayer system does let you play as the bosses though which is neat. There's also apparently bonus zones you can go to but its only really possible with 2 player mode, so I can't really comment on those.

Overall its ummmm, its ok. It's alright, it does what it does.

I just did not vibe with this game at all.

While I haven't really looked into it, it seems the 5th entry in this series is commemorating the Super Bomberman series in general: of the total 5 worlds, 4 of these represent past games' world.

SB5 takes on a non linear approach to levels, where completing each (which is back to the regular beat-all-enemies-to-progress format) opens up 2-3 teleporters, each of which take you to different levels.

I couldn't be bothered to keep count for each zone but after some levels you fought a boss, which are in the style of individual bomber fights rather than big boss battles. They kinda suck, they're just kind of a drag tbh and it doesn't help that I'm not all that fond of the antagonists' designs (they really did reach peak with the five dastardly bombers huh). The final boss is the only big boss battle in its first two phases, while being an individual bomber fight in its third phase (that you only fight if you're confirmed for good ending, which i'll get into later). It's alright, I don't really have much to say. Most of these boss battles also take place in arenas where you can fall off, which get really annoying when you're trying to run away but freeze cuz you're about to fall and need to pull yourself back up.

The first 4 zones represent the first 4 games respectively, reusing assets and sprites from them. That makes it a bit difficult to discuss the visuals of the game: the new sprites are most notable, they're nice looking. The last zone is entirely new graphics and they're also decent looking, just a bit of a shame you get to see them by the end of the game. Either way, they're pretty simplified levels. The music's also ok. A lot of hit and miss honestly.

I really am not fond of how the non-linear aspect was approached in this game. Once you start a level, you can't really exit to the map again so the only way is to reset and continue your save file. This makes progressing from level to level a lot of guess work, the main indicator being a teleporter's color (yellow for new level, black for old level) which isn't really much. It's expected to complete a run from what I can tell, and then keep replaying to 100% your save file. It's kinda annoying, I much just prefer being able to go back to the world map and working from there but alas. This non-linearity also affects what bosses you will fight, whiiiich affects what ending you will get. Honestly I was too uninterested to look up which boss or boss order leads to what ending.

Best thing I liked about the game was the Louies returning, better than ever and each with a distinct design and sprite animations. It was really cool. I wish finding Louie eggs was a bit more common but its more of a nitpick on my side.

Overall, uh despite my unorganized complaining lol it's still an alright game. I'll probably replay it someday because playing it immediately after the previous 4 probably caused burn out. It's still an alright bomberman time, just didn't click with me.

Quit during the first person mode 7 shooting stage near the end lol

The super star wars games in general are really tough and its most apparent with this one. The first two or so stages give an extremely bad impression with how frustratingly difficult they are; its made quickly apparent that enemies just keep respawning and spawning on and on and on, and the platforming takes a little while to get used to due to the jump timing (and there being technically two jumps, a regular jump and a high jump).

There are mode 7 stages that just kinda suck tbh lol, moreso than the regular stages.

The game isn't all terrible which makes me even more frustrated with it. It gets better later on and there's clear effort put into making this game fun. But they really fumbled with the difficulty and that awful, awful first stage.

The game also has some really bad framerate issues for like 90% of the game. If you can I'd suggest playing it overclocked or whatever.

I don't really have much to say otherwise. I'd comment on how it portrays the star wars franchise but at the time of writing this I have not watched any Star wars movie. Game looks nice and the music sounds good, and the three playable characters are distinct enough from each other.

I'M GONNA HIT YOU WITH SONIC SPEEEEED

My experience with racing games is rather limited, but Riders immediately caught my attention with just how. Gosh.DArn.FUCKING. FUN. it is. Fast as hell hoverboard racing ooo bby yeah sign me the fuck up.

Riders is an extremely engaging game: the fast-paced gameplay just demands you to learn all of the knick knacks and get more skilled, utilizing the different character types, gears, and stage layout; it's so satisfying when you successfully pull off tricks to get an X rank, or successfully grind on rails and speed ahead of the rest. It's definitely a game most fun when you aim to master its mechanics. The story is wackity ass fun, the characters are awesome (and very expressive i might add) and its just a good time; while not necessarily getting too deep into them, the new characters (the babylon rogues) are pretty cool (Wave <3) and the rivalry between them and the main cast is fun (to the point that I wish we got too see more of Tails vs Wave and Knux vs Storm moments). The Babylonian lore introduced is fairly interesting too. The visuals and music are mwah mwah smooch smooch - the vibes man, they're good. I wouldn't really say its too heavily emphasized but there's a nice futurey-techno style here.

The biggest complaint with this game really is that its hard to get into the gameplay: Riders literally just does not explain shit to you about how the gameplay works apart from a half assed tutorial you have to look through the bonus menu to find. As a result it can really sour the racing experience when you don't really know what to do (of course, you can just experiment, but that's gonna take long). I just watched a tutorial vid on youtube to understand the game mechanics and tested out what i learned through free races, that's what I found to be the best way to learn the game for me.

That....really is just my only complaint honestly lol. It's the biggest hurdle and once you get over it, this game just gets so hella awesome.

I would definitely recommend mods like DX or Tournament Edition for a competitive multiplayer experience, as they enhance the game and add some new content with that purpose in mind.

anyways play sonic riders lol

RIDE THROUGH GRAVITY

Going from an air focused approach to a gravity approach comes Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity.

Zero Gravity can be said to be more a simplified Riders 1 by its toning down of the previous game's mechanics and easy to understand new gravity gimmicks (also helps it has a detailed tutorial, thank god). Is it still a good time? Hell yeah.

The gameplay, rather than aiming to enhance on what Riders 1 did, instead aims towards gameplay surrounding the gravity gimmick, and as such has a lot more distinct playing experience from riders 1. While riders 1 gives you a lot of freedom with its air and trick mechanics, ZG is more automated with a bigger emphasis on timing and quick thinking, I would argue. It also has a slower pace going for it (with the gravity gimmicks literally putting you in slow motion for a split second before boosting you off). I feel like for the above reasons there's also a heavier focus on memorizing stage layout to better utilize them.

The story is a little more serious this time with a heavier focus on the babylonians' history this time; the characters are back again, expressive as usual (although a smidge bit less than riders 1 to fit with ZG's tone) and an interesting story, although I do wish there was focus on the characters' rivalries again (besides sonic and jet of course). That said, it's a good time.

The style and vibes are IMMACULATE: ZG has a far more apparent futuristic techno aesthetic, from the menus to the settings to the gears and its all done super well, and its music and sound design is so great and aaa a a aa a I vibe with it so hard.

The main complaints with this game really come down to its gameplay when compared to Riders 1, but even then I'm unsure if I necessarily dislike it more. Both take on a different approach to racing that I just have to switch my mindset depending on which one I'm playing, and I can enjoy both thoroughly. That said, I'm still bummed about some of the changes: air boosting is entirely gone which makes attempts a catch up a little more hard, tricks are automated so you entirely have to rely on jump timing to get good trick scores, e.t.c. e.t.c. ; to put it short, ZG feels more restricted than Riders 1 and while that seemed to be the intention its not one I particularly like.

Regardless, I do think overall ZG's a good fun time :) I'll definitely be replaying it from time to time.

Pretty wholesome short game to pass the time with.

Basic gameplay is just making food (new ones being unlocked depending on level of currently available dishes) for the customers that come. There's no timer on customers' orders or anything of the sort, so its a relatively tense free game bar Frenzy Mode whenever you choose to activate it.

The main focus is really on the customers and their situations, e.t.c. They're all pretty neatly done, with some of their conversations being locked behind certain foods they want to eat, which encourages unlocking new dishes. The writing such as the food descriptions or customer descriptions are also pretty neat :)

It can be pretty slow-paced however as normally one or two customers arrive to eat bar when you start up the game after a while or frenzy mode. It's mostly an issue when you want to get rid of a dish on the counter with another one, since the only method is to get customers to deplete the amount of the dish you made.

Either way its a nice calm time i'd recommend :)

While 1 was a fairly simple "idle clicker" game, Moonlit Memories takes things up a notch for a more bold approach to presentation and story.

Visuals have been updated with each character having their own portraits and the new diner looking more visually pleasing (and refreshing to boot). Instead of having to increase customers' satisfaction to unlock more conversations, this time the game has an "episode" system and an overarching narrative instead.

The gameplay is the same as in the 1st game, although this time cleaning dishes is now done manually. It seems annoying at first, but it quickly becomes apparent that the game has a faster pace to it, with customers coming in more frequently; cleaning dishes as such can act as a breather since leaving them as is stops customers from entering. It's small things, but there's thought put into it as far as I can tell, and that's neat.

The change in the approach to story-telling I find interesting. Characters' stories intertwine and each has some form of character development by the end of the game (there's even bonus episodes too, which is neat), and it overall leads to a better sense of familiarity with each of them than with those of the first game. It's executed well overall, and while it loses some of the calmness the original had, it has an enthusiastic and optimistic side to it instead (if that makes any sense, haha).

Overall, if you liked 1, then you'll definitely enjoy Moonlit Memories a lot more. They really improved on the concept as a whole and it shows.

Emerald's an expanded take on the ruby and sapphire games. Fortunately for me, I never had to play Ruby and Sapphire, so i don't have to talk about them. Anyways:

Game's pretty fun, of the poke games i played so far at the time of writing this, Hoenn is the region I have the most fun exploring. That's probably the biggest positive of the game for me; it just feels quite free, is the best way I can describe it? It doesn't take too long to feel like you're not really being closed in by the terrain much so it makes the whole exploring aspect a lot more fun, including finding legendaries and such. It helps that the game looks visually nice and the music is pleasant to listen to.

Gameplay is typical poke gameplay; my biggest complaint with most of these games is that battles feel slow as molasses, and that's true for emerald too. Repels definitely become a must by late-game since the random encounter rate really gets annoying. The upside is that its fun to try out various pokemon and make an efficient team according to where you're at and what you desire, but that goes for most of the games really.

The pokemon introduced in this generation are pretty rad :) legendaries very fucking ugly tho

Story's nothing special which is to be expected, but there's a clear attempt to make the conflicts and characters have more depth to them. The pokenav (just a cellphone tbh lol) lets you call variety of characters including gym leaders and other plot important characters, which gives a biiit of an insight into what that character's personality is like (it also lets you know when you can battle them again, free exp!), and the villain teams this time have more to them than just being the pokeuniverse's mafia. The legend surrounding the legendary pokemon of this gen is also cool. All in all, they tried spicing things up, and its a good enough time.

rivals fucking suck tho lmao, what were they thinking with brendan and wally

Post-game is most notable for having the battle frontier, battle facilities where you participate in a variety of challenges involving combat. Think of it like going through gyms again, since you can gain silver and gold medals for each battle facility. It's pretty neat and puts up a good challenge for those who want to test their pokemon team and combat making skills; that said, the battle frontier is frustratingly tedious. The rng aspect to what opponents you get is pretty annoying especially since you're limited to only having three party members (god forbid your opponent has a shedinja). Worse is that the only way to get silver and gold medals is to beat the frontier brain of each facility, and the only way to reach them is by keeping a certain amount of win streaks depending on facility. I got pretty burnt out at the time of writing this, but i will admit its an engaging post-game at least.

Other nitpicks:

who the fuck make up the feebas catching method, are they insane

its hard to comment on event pokemon because that's just how that stuff worked at the time, but its still a bummer to not be able to get to do the event stuff by normal means.

separating bikes into two types and being only able to switch them in one city is stupid (nevermind the fact one gets a lot more use than the other, weird bias)

LeafGreen (and Fire Red) are remakes of the gen 1 games, but i didn't play the gen 1 games so I don't have to comment on them, thank goodness.

Anyways, its like, fine. Kanto's kind of a boring region to explore, and the story and characters aren't really anything noteworthy.

I genuinely do not care for team rocket or giovanni (truth be told, masters ex trying to give heavier emphasis on him just makes me dislike him more, feels like an odd bias), though i'll give them credit for doing that one twist with giovanni (not that its hard to figure out, lol). I guess their simplicity compared to later villains can be appreciated but idk, I got more to feel about them than team rocket.

Blue's the most notable character story-wise, being your rival and all. Though he provides decent challenge, he's mostly just kind of a cocky bitch and someone I also don't really care for ultimately.

Gameplay's usual turn based, there's not really a lot to say on that. Visuals are nice, music is nice enough, and I'll give them credit for making the champion very satisfying for how its handled.

Post game has the Sevii Islands which are pretty cool, but otherwise not much else to say. That's really what this review boils down to lol, I just really don't have a lot to say on this game. It's a decent romp if you're willing to play it, but I'd rather play other poke games personally.

It's been like two or three years since I finished Black, so i'll update this review if i ever replay it:

Black was my first poke game, and I'm glad it was because it has a rather engaging start compared to the other poke games I've played; it gripped me immediately, and for most of early game it tries to keep your attention. It very much attempts to teach you the basics of the game in a way that has as much player involvement as possible and to motivate you to learn what you can exploit, all the while making you familiar with the main characters and the premise of the game. That's probably one of the best things about this game: it keeps you engaged.

Gameplay is pretty standard turn based rpg gameplay. It's more on the fast side from what i can remember, or at the least it doesn't feel like it drags on too much in both overworld travelling and battling. There's some features here and there, blah blah blah, Tri Battles and the Battle bus subway thing are really cool, yadda yadda yadda. Seasons change which is pretty awesome but sucks a little its a monthly thing. Mostly easy but there's challenging battles here and there.

B/W is notable for its regional dex only including all new pokemon (and its a very large dex at that). While it didn't really matter to me too much as a newcomer at the time, I do quite like this approach to the dex since it encourages using and experimenting with the new mon rather than relying on prev. gen pokemon (though if you happen to not like much of the regional dex, well, too bad i guess lol).

Unova is also quite a diverse region, with most of the towns and routes differentiating themselves from each other by having something unique and distinct to them; it makes it all the more fun to check out what each route and town has present. It is somewhat undermined by the region feeling somewhat linear however, hurting the exploration aspect of the region.

Story is one of the most praised things about gen 5, and while it certainly isn't that amazing among jrpgs, it certainly stands out among pokemon games. While previous gens didn't lack a narrative, this feels like the first gen where they were able to expand on the story, the characters, and the themes that it presents way more than previous gens ever did. The rivals felt well written and represented the themes of the game as well, gym leaders were a lot more active with the ongoing events, so on and so forth. It definitely kept me interested in seeing how certain characters develop throughout the story and generally it felt like the game made sure I knew what the characters' are like and why I should like or be interested in them.

Team Plasma, the villain group, is decent. I'm not really that all into them but I think its clear that they weren't intended to be morally grey, they're very blatantly about spreading bullshit propaganda and cause discourse in the region because Ghetsis, the leader, is an extremely shitty person (one of the scummiest ones in this series honestly). No one in the game really takes their words seriously; the game only really treats N's take on the whole ideology as worth considering but even then its clear that he's very much brainwashed. The team's overall just a bit weird if you choose to interpret them as being heavily related to the themes of moral greyness in the game, but I think they were always intended to be shitty people lol.

anyways its decent fun, I like B2/W2 better but who doesn't.
if you're a newcomer looking for what game to start with I'd definitely recommend Black or White.

Desta's a vibe; from the art to the music, it's mostly a comfy time, but it really nails when to bring up the tension at the right times.

The gameplay is basically strategy turn-based dodgeball, with rogue-lite elements. You mostly need to beat your enemies and utilize the different skills Desta obtains as well as learning how to effectively use their teammates. It appears simple for the most part, yet the variety in skills and teammates makes for an addicting experience as you try to figure out the most effective strategies in dealing with enemies. This is probably best represented in challenge mode, where you're given a set of skills and characters for each challenge, really displaying how handy each skill and teammate can be in what sort of situation. The rogue-lite aspect does feel like the weakest part of the gameplay however. Never really felt like utilizing it much until after I was done with the main story, and it does somewhat break the pace of the narrative too.

Speaking of, the game is narrative-heavy; through playing ball, the goal of Desta is to explore their memories in this dream world and face conflicts with loved ones they've left unresolved; they're talking it out with people through a game of ball. While I've not had the same experience Desta has had, I definitely related to a lot of the themes and situations they've had with their friends and family, and how the dream world prepared them to talk to them, to clear up misunderstandings and unresolved feelings. The game really emphasizes the different kind of conflicts that can arise between different relationships, and the importance of communication between people to solve these issues rather than prolong them for longer than necessary. I really enjoyed it and the characters.

My major gripe would be that I wish the main game was longer, but I'm satisfied with the story and I found the gameplay addicting enough to replay it and engage with the roguelite aspects. Art's a vibe, adore the music, and its a nice lookin game. I recommend it.

This review is based off of 2 playthroughs I've done so far. I plan to do more so I may edit.

It's a pretty simple yet nostalgic feeling game covering your character's life from when they're a baby to when they graduate from high school.

The gameplay loop is simple yet addicting, as it doesn't take too long to figure out the best ways to efficiently use the systems to max out your skills and stats, while keeping your mental health and parent's satisfaction meters at decent levels. Inbetween all this you get to meet and interact with different characters, and depending on what you do you can finish their storylines.

The writing is pretty decent. It's generally pretty lighthearted but effectively transitions to more serious topics or moodier tones when needed. The career related characters mostly discuss the fields they're in with you and are generally likeable; the writing really shines with the characters of your age group however, as you grow up with said characters and find out about them and their lives, befriending them and possibly even romancing them (or in worst cases, breaking off your friendship with them). The situations these characters tend to be in I either found relateable or at least knew people in real life that went through similar issues during my school years. Couple that with all the activites and figuring out your career path, it's pretty nostalgic, but at the same time kind of terrifying or dreadful. Though I guess that depends on what your school life was like.

Biggest flaw is probably the parents. The way the game handles them just makes them feel too controlling and there's hardly much noteworthy conversations with them; constantly having to meet their expectations is frustrating. It's not really hard to fulfill said expectations, but being forced to meet high expectations for most of my actual school life just made me despite this mechanic of the game lol. It's a little more disappointing too knowing that every playthrough after your first one, your parents can be the protag and who they married in your previous playthrough. Kinda just sucks the character out of them for the most part.

Overall, its a fine game. I liked it, might do some more replays for 100% completion. I loved the music and art, very much fits with that aesthetic of nostalgia it goes for.