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.

Single-handedly started one of the best genres in the industry, but only when it's done as well as this. Some titles do surpass it now and my only real major criticism would be the quite wonky aiming and swinging. Other than that it deserves all the praise it gets for being so influential, while it can be overshadowed, there are a slew of inide games on steam that don't even come close. Didn't sell well when it released and I like to think if it did the series would not be in the state as it is now. Apparently Dread is good though so I'll try that one day.

Although I never owned it, this is technically the first game I ever played. Good start.
On a recent replay I realised how great it actually is. It's short and sweet but just open enough in design and with just enough secrets to keep me coming back to levels. More than anything though this game is incredibly weird and wonderful. There are whole videos out there describing the ludicrously dynamic sound design.
We'll probably never get another Wario platformer since they only make the minigame collection thing now. A damn shame...

In the past 3 years, I've felt I have been losing interest in all video games and growing out of them. I played a lot of titles this year and I have begun to feel saturated and exhausted with them after minutes.

This has not only been the most meaningful experience I have had in several years but is the only thing that even comes a close second to Celeste. It is not to say it is the second best "video game" I have played in my lifetime: It is the second most meaningful THING I have witnessed in my lifetime. AND ITS A FUCKING DOOM WAD.

Happiness has to be fought for...

Among the first wave of truly incredible indie games from the 2010s. Absolutely surpasses the vast majority of NES platformers it is inspired by and ended up inspiring even more great games after it. All the character DLCs are brilliant, they play completely separately and tell entirely different stories; Shovel Knight is the archetypal hero story with a few clever twists, Plague has a romantic comedy, Spectre is a tragedy and King is a hilarious buddy adventure.

This was the first indie game I think I played, other than Minecraft of course. So obviously I love it.