One of the coolest things that happens to us as individuals is how our opinions and feelings can change over time.

In 2019, I tried playing Hollow Knight for the first time and played quite a bit of the game, almost 10 hours, and although I was enjoying it, I wasn't captivated by the mystique that the game apparently had, like everyone else was. Fast-forward to 2024 and I start a new save from scratch and well... I think I finally understand the commotion...

Hollow Knight is one of the best games I've ever played and largely because an older (and more grumpy and tired, I admit) "me" simply sees games a little differently and has a much bigger baggage than the "me" from 5 years ago.

What I like most about Hollow Knight is how I see in it elements of several games that I love and are in my pantheon of favorites. For the first time, another metroidvania gives me the sensation of exploring the map of Super Metroid, with its twists and turns, with its dense areas, getting lost in the dark tunnels of Deepnest, being overwhelmed by the bees in the Hive, or stunned by the beauty and ambiance of Queen's Garden.

I love the game's slower pace, which demands much more from you but rewards you handsomely with each new boss.

Or even how visually, somehow, the game sometimes just feels like a 2D Bloodborne to me, oozing in visual style even though this style can indeed be somewhat monotonous and monochromatic at times. At least that brings a very unique consistency to the whole game, making all areas somehow part of the same world, regardless of the variations in temperature and height that the areas may have.

Or even how, in gameplay, it's something smooth, enjoyable to play, to move with the character, with a rich palette of tools to face enemies or simply wander through the vast map. Its combat strongly reminds me of a blend of Mega Man X with Mega Man Zero, or rather, the best of the combat from these two series in one game. And its fluid movement clearly reminds me of Alucard from Symphony of the Night.

Even though it brings me this collection of memories, Hollow Knight is still something with a strong, unforgettable identity, and rarely equaled in the genre.

It just doesn't get a perfect score because, in fact, sometimes the game just seems to waste a little of your time, the Stag Stations aren't enough, and sometimes the feeling of visual monotony can hit a bit. There's some flaws in its design too... You shouldnt have to equip a charm to see where you are on the map and you already have a button to use spells, it is RB/R1, Circle/B should be exclusively used to heal. But who knows if the game won't grow even more in my tastes over time? It certainly has the capacity for that. Hollow Knight is simply amazing all around afterall.

Animal Well isn't the first game to be defined by their secret mechanics and hidden layers of puzzles. Fez paved the way, Outer Wilds built an entire game around it, Tunic mastered it, and Animal Well...

While I could call out a number of specific issues, they all stem from one core problem: it doesnt know the meaning of restraint. Each of Animal Well's ideas are really cool, and its biggest discoveries feel like a cosmic ephiphany, a sense of omniscience in discovering a new way to see the world. With each new item, and as you learn what the details of the world are telling you, the world seems entirely different.

But also, therein lies the problem. Compared to the examples I mentioned earlier - Fez, Outer Wilds, Tunic - Animal Well has several times more of these layers. It keeps going deeper and deeper and deeper, but without changing one key element: Getting around the world is a boring slog.

While you get a few new means of traversing the world, the game remains consistently annoying to navigate. Unlike the beautiful fluidity of Ori, or the stylish and precise Hollow Knight, theres nothing particularly fun about Animal Well's movement. This wasnt a problem when just trying to complete the main game up to the credits roll. But once you get deep into the endgame puzzles, each new discovery leads to you needing to retread the entire map to find every possible use for your new toy. While I initially enjoyed discovering and solving each new layer of puzzle, it eventually turned into a miserably tedious experience.

This is still a game I wholeheartedly recommend to most people. Even if follows a lineage of other puzzle games, Animal Well is still very much its own experience, with a completely unique aesthetic and atmosphere and novel structure and mechanics. But you have to decide when you've had enough. Getting too deep into the experience might eventually transform from a series of epiphanies into a miserable chore. So if you're a completionist, beware, because this may be a rabbit hole too deep to crawl out of.

Back in the 80's and early 90's, Nintendo DOMINATED the video game scene with the NES, Game Boy, and the soon-to-be-released SNES. All of the most popular and iconic games of the time were being released on their systems, and it seemed as if nothing could even compare to them. However, it was then that a challenger came on the scene, and that challenger was Sega, with their new console, the Sega Genesis, and with this new console came a new mascot. A mascot that would define an entire generation of gamers, for better, or for worse, and that mascot would come to be known as Sonic the Hedgehog.

Say what you will about what Sonic has become, but back in the day, he was the face of the Genesis, and the first competition that Mario and Nintendo have ever had, all thanks to the game that started it all. And thankfully, after over 30 years, the original game still holds up to this day. Yes, it does have its problems, and it has aged in comparison to future installments, but this is a pretty great starting point for the series.

The story is very simple and fun, the graphics are very bright, colorful, and appealing, the music is iconic and incredible to this day, with Green Hill Zone being a great example of this, the control and movement is incredibly fast, fun and responsive, and the gameplay is simple fast-paced 2D platforming that is still wonderful, even for how simple this entry executes it.

The game is your average stage-to-stage affair, where you run through, defeat enemies and bosses, and grab rings, with the enemies and bosses themselves being very easy to take out, even if they can be bland, and some of the bosses can be pretty annoying in how they try to differentiate how you take them out, such as in Labyrinth Zone. Aside from what you would expect though, this game also gives replay value for the player in terms of the Chaos Emeralds.

If you grab 50+ rings and enter a giant ring at the end of the level, you can go through the drug trip known as a special stage in order to collect a Chaos Emerald, and when you collect all six of them, you are then granted a different ending at the end, which doesn't change much, but it is a little nicer. In terms of the special stages themselves, they are... fine. They can be fun to travel through, but I will admit, it does get disorienting and kinda annoying in some certain cases, and with all the different obstacles in there that can sometimes throw you out of the level entirely, you could be at them for a while.

In terms of complaints I would have about this game, I would say that the main gimmick of the game, that being speed, isn't exactly executed all too well. For example, you start out in Green Hill Zone, a set of levels where you can run through at the speed of sound, coupled with well-timed platforming, but then you enter Marble Zone, where you are immediately grinded to a halt, having to push numerous objects and pull off slow platforming. Sure, I don't mind this all too much, but it is noticeable when looking back. Not to mention, some of the levels themselves, like Labyrinth Zone, can fuck right off for all I care.

In addition, this game suffers quite a bit from first-game-syndrome, where again, the levels aren't always the best, and not to mention, with signature elements of Sonic missing, like the spin dash and Tails, it does feel rather weird to go back to. That being said, it is still a great game to this day, but it has aged, and can be seen more as a blueprint for where this series is taken in the future.

Overall, this is still a great way to start out what would become Sega's flagship franchise, and an icon for many all around the world, no matter how... weird the series would get.

Game #60

London Loop - your typical Tour track. pretty decent, and i love the inclusion of the chain chomps. of course the gimmick of the changing track is cool, but even that can’t save this mediocre track

Boo Lake - now this is good. i love that they took the water being hazard and just threw you straight into it. and ofc the atmosphere will always be perfect on these types of levels

Rock Rock Mountain - decent course, nothing really to talk about here other than the ending which was fun. not abhorrent but nothing to write home about

Maple Treeway - absolute classic remade beautifully for MK8. have always loved the atmosphere in this track and while it is sad they removed jerk off bridge, this remake is still great

Berlin Byways - definitely one of the better Tour tracks, but at the end of the day, it’s still a Tour track. the music is CRAZY on this one tho, those snare rolls are insane coming from Mario Kart lmfao

Peach Gardens - another classic remade beautifully. not much added new for MK8 other than near the end from what i can tell, but this is still a great addition

Merry Mountain - while i do understand the complaints with the course design people have with this, i personally don’t think it’s that bad. the visuals are absolutely stunning and due to me being such a sucker for snowy/winter-themed anything, this is a definite highlight for me


Rainbow Road - absolutely stunning both visually and sonically. the sound design and music is rly great in this one, all culminating to create an icy, magical trip through space. seriously, i can imagine what the road tastes like. a great closer for the best wave thus far.

that being said, none of these waves have been quite “great” yet. i’m still waiting for one to absolutely knock it out of the park

This was.. actually kinda great? I can't argue with complaints I've seen about the combat getting repetitive, but having played it in small chunks rather than a continuous run I really didn't feel that myself. What I did struggle with however (beyond some minor glitches that forced me to do a couple bosses twice) was the Huddle Up playlist.

It's such a great idea for the game but the lack of a customisable or even limited playlist means it's all too easy to have this big dramatic set-up mid boss fight before going full-ham, hitting play on the player and then BOOM! 'Don't Worry, Be Happy' jingles along while you kick the scut out of a big monster.. thanks game, way to kill all hype and remove any sense of badassery.

Even the final boss I was left listening to Tainted Love, which yeah is a good song, but where's the heavy guitar riff and energetic vocals? They couldn't even make the song for the last boss a specific one that goes with the tone? Huge missed opportunity.

Anyway that aside the game is the right kind of dumb fun, the characters are loveable and develop as you progress, s'good stuff I like it