Did anyone else watch Chuggaconroy as a kid? Most of my taste in games and recommendations came from him when I was younger. I have wanted to play this for as long as I can remember but never had the means to and now with the (slightly overpriced) switch release I can.
I absolutely love this story, writing, visuals and soundtrack. They haven't aged a bit. The piklopedia and treasure catalogue are my personal favourite thing in this game and encapsulate all its best qualities, namely immeasurable charm.
The dungeons get a lot of flack and while I enjoyed them for the most part, I understand criticism of them and when beginning to analyse them more deeply they contain most of what I dislike about the game most. I'm all for the tension of no new pikmin, challenging bosses/ enemy rooms and the occasional funny bomb rock. Some dungeons are highly unique (my personal favourites being Gluttons Kitchen, Submerged Castle, Snagret Hole and Hole of Heroes. The rest are a bit bland by comparison though and when frustration isn't afflicted by something new or interesting it becomes stressful.

Hard to get in to but holds up to what I wanted from it.

Surprisingly, this is almost as good as its predecessor on the GBA which is REALLY saying something. The transformations that either function as powerups or set you back organically in the level rather than outright killing you is such a unique concept of game design. The sequel refines this by removing a lot of the tedious moments but playing this on the switch with the rewind feature almost entirely mitigates that issue. I will say there is a lot of waiting around for transformations to end which is still a sizeable issue. Other than that, it plays like simplified Metroidvania, having level select rather than one massive overworld. its actually quite refreshing, well paced and technically offers more playtime/content than the GBA game. I'll go back and 100% at some point. Also, the final boss is both terrifying and hilarious, love it.

Surprisingly enjoyable for a colour calculator game.