First time playing this game and while you can tell that the combat is compromised from the original DS version, what they cooked up here manages to mostly capture that same spirit and ended up really clicking for me in its own way once I got the right pin loadouts going. But the real standouts are of course the aesthetics and the story.

Love the character designs and especially the music. While sometimes hearing the same vocal themes over and over can be a bit grating, I appreciate that they seemingly understood this and didn't stick to one set theme for any area of Shibuya or every single regular battle as most JRPGs would. Instead, the entire soundtrack (outside of boss fights, which fittingly have their own unique tracks) feels like it could pop up anywhere at any time, like you put a favorite album on shuffle. I also really appreciate how much the game remixes its own vocal tracks, again often for boss fights or for special in game days, which makes them that much more impactful in the same way a reprise in a musical can be.

The story also worked surprisingly well for me. Somewhat typical shonen fare especially at first - which may be a sticking point for some but which I love when executed well, and this is! Characters have lots of personality, big goals, go through major arcs that give them new outlooks on life, all the good stuff right there. The plot knows exactly how to create stakes and pull the rug out from the main cast at the most cruel times which feels genuinely impactful. One minor complaint is that the cutscenes are clearly extremely limited by budget, and while I think they did a great job with what they had you can feel that the ambitions of the story they wanted to tell could have been enhanced by improvements to the presentation in this aspect. Even with the changes to the controls in Final Remix making things feel frustrating in the early game, I'd still recommend this to just about anyone.

By god, NDCube might finally get it.

...now by "finally get it" I mean "not get it so badly and for so long that you realize the only way to get back on track is by just practically 1 to 1 remaking and remixing things that people actually liked wholesale and even then managing to screw up some of the finer details" but hey it's a real strong start to maybe getting some good original content in the next game at least.

I'm kidding around but really, this is pretty good! The minigames that have been brought back here have all made the jump pretty seamlessly and I think they chose a great list of games to return, with a good balance of free for all, team, and 1 v 3. One or two minigames seem to have been balanced incredibly weirdly even though they were fine in the originals, such as Hammer Drop, which gives out way, waaaay too many coins now, but they are exceptions. The boards themselves are also mostly great. They definitely could have used one more board though (one more from Mario Party 3 would make for 2 returning boards from each of the original 3, which would make sense) and I also question that of the returning boards the only one they took from 3 is Woody Woods, which on top of having a horribly uninspired name is also one of the worst boards from 3??? Regardless, the other returning boards are all great. The only downside is that I think the item shop items are a bit too cheap. This is something they've adjusted from the original games where items were significantly more expensive to encourage more item use, and while I like that idea on paper I think they overcorrected a bit too much to where now it feels like a no brainer to buy an item every single time you go past the shop.

But these are all pretty minor nitpicks when it comes to how badly they've bungled this series in the past, and by far the biggest two things they get right here are the only two things that actually are new: Online and quality of life features. You mileage may vary but I've played the main board game mode exclusively online and it ran pretty much flawlessly. It's one of very few times I think Nintendo has actually ever nailed online play, and it's just something the series so obviously needed that it's great to have it here. They've also managed to improve the pacing of the overall experience significantly, cutting down on slow explanations or animations and just letting you get straight to the game which for a party game is essential, and is one of the reasons why despite being a step in the right direction Super Mario Party was still a much weaker entry for the series.

Now that they've finally managed to make a good one of these the next step for NDCube will be to see if they can actually design some original boards that are even remotely good for whatever the next game ends up being. It's been about 10 years since they've taken over this series and they haven't managed it yet, but here's hoping!

It was pretty imperative that they didn't miss with this one with the 2D series banking on this game for its big comeback and it's my pleasure to inform you they didn't fucking miss.

Metroid Dread is easily the best game MercurySteam has ever developed and they've finally crafted a Metroidvania here that can go toe to toe with the best of the genre. Presentation wise I really enjoy what they've done here. The backgrounds are extremely detailed with biomes that get more and more interesting as you progress. The cold, clinical atmosphere the game often creates is evocative of the rest of the series, but there is definitely a bit of a sterile, less natural element at play here (with the exception of a few areas) which I think gives the game something distinct from its predecessors. I actually really like what they've accomplished with the 2.5D look as well, lighting is often used to great effect and the material work still manages to look good with the side view perspective. The only downside in the presentation, imo, is the music. Young composers and series newcomers Soshi Abe and Sayako Doi handled the music for this game. I like the fact that they've injected some new blood here but while I certainly don't think the soundtrack is bad, the focus is more on Fusion style ambience (and still not quite as well done as Fusion) than Super Metroid's perfect mix of ambient tracks and melodic yet still atmospheric tracks, which I loved. I hope that the series focuses more on Super's musical style in the future as I do think this did sometimes detract from the series' signature atmosphere.

The story is another thing that is somewhat mixed for me. I think a lot of people were expecting a very specific story to come out of this game after Fusion and if those people refuse to accept anything else they will probably be disappointed. I think the story here is still good, with hype moments, good reveals, and stellar cutscene direction, plus it manages to avoid essentially all of Other M's myriad of issues while still not shying away from some of the ideas presented in both it and Fusion (though mostly Fusion). That said, it ends just a bit too abruptly after the big climax and it's certainly not doing quite as much on a thematic level as Fusion was, though there is some interesting stuff going on here that I think should not be overlooked!! Overall I'm saying I enjoyed it and really don't think the story should be dismissed just because it wasn't directly following up on what Fusion set up (I think that could well be still to come for this series anyway).

The level design and movement are absolutely best in class. This is like, an RE4 level of fine tuned to me. It feels like a middle ground between Fusion (you always have an objective) and Super Metroid (you are not told where to go to reach that objective). They do block off backtracking a bit more than I'd like occasionally, but it never feels arbitrary or too restrictive as before long you'll acquire whatever item you'll need to break through that backtracking barrier and have things open up again. The way things loop back in on themselves and the design guides you back and forth through the game's various zones feels masterful and extremely well paced, it is by far one of the game's greatest achievements. On a micro design level, the level of execution required in some of these ability based puzzles to get Missile/Energy tanks is devious but never cheap, requiring both thoughtful planning and precise execution. This execution is never an issue because the movement is so fantastic. All abilities feel vital while also never being frustrating to control once you get a hang of the learning curve on some of them. No hesitation this is one of the best feeling Metroidvania games I've ever played.

Finally I'd like to talk about combat and the EMMI, because this is where the game shines even brighter and what elevates it to a masterclass in my book. EMMI zones are the game's biggest deviation from the classic Metroid formula, evolving the ideas present in Zero Mission's stealth and Fusion's SA-X to a whole new level. I was definitely a bit worried about how this would be handled but it turned out fantastic. There always manages to be tension in these zones, whether it's a new trick the EMMI throw at you that you must adapt to or a particularly challenging bit of level design to navigate through when one is on the hunt. The EMMI's AI is also extremely well realized, and compares really favorably to even the best pursuer enemies in video games (eat your heart out, Resident Evil!) Working in 2D and the specific concept of the EMMI has allowed them to completely avoid the issues with pursuers in many 3D games where it's all too easy to catch them fumbling around on corners or not reacting to your movements in a nuanced manner. It feels like they are genuinely smart without just automatically knowing where you are, which is the perfect accomplishment for videogame stealth I feel. I think they've also been smart in how they sometimes withhold the part of the expected gameplay loop where you find the Omega Cannon and defeat the zone's EMMI, sometimes for much longer after you've initially set foot in its zone for the first time. It makes it all the more satisfying when you finally get the abilities that allow you to discover where the cannon in that area is and be able to take the fight to the EMMI.

This is hands down the best combat in the series, made better by the fantastic movement I mentioned earlier and how they've refined all combat abilities to ensure they can be used without breaking momentum. Combat feels punchy, fluid, and all the other buzzwords you commonly associate with "good game combat." This is made most clear in the game's bosses, which are absolutely the series best in terms of design and difficulty. I was practically jumping out of my seat with how much fun I was having fighting these things and they tie the whole experience together in a wonderful way.

Play this god damn videogame. Metroid is back. I don't envy Retro, Prime 4 has even more to live up to now.

Huge points for originality here. Pretty much anything that can still get me going "oh, games can have a vibe like this?" especially after having seen so many top down RPGs of both the retro and indie variety earns some major respect from me. I don't think the battle system ended up super interesting at the end of the day, but the game's world and narrative make up for that to me. No spoilers but while it goes for a metanarrative route that is pretty old hat at this point by the end I do think the execution here is actually much better than other games with much bigger budgets that have attempted the same thing. But yeah idk mostly just vibing with this and appreciating how cool its world is. The simple graphics hide how conceptually interesting/evocative some of it's worldbuilding ideas are, like damn the sea of plastic, the smoke mines... letting your mind fill in the blanks using the dialogue as a starting point really conjures some wild imagery. So yeah! I'd definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a creative and well paced RPG with an interesting story.

TIL that this is the only Metroidvania-style Castlevania game that Koji Igarashi had no involvement in. Makes sense seeing as it's not great!

There is some charm in the music here but this game essentially feels like they've combined the very intentionally stiff, committal movement of "Classicvania" with the level and enemy design of the more Metroid styled entries and it leads to very cheap, frustrating results. Feels like a slog to play and I can't believe how easy it is to end up underleveled despite defeating every single enemy in your path on your way to every location. The DSS system is also confusing, horribly balanced, and functionally useless as the drop rates are so low you'll likely only see 10% of what it has to offer anyway. Yeeeesh.

Demo impressions:

Extremely slow, story was uninteresting, and the combat was so incredibly easy as to be some of the worst I've played in a modern rpg. The little card minigame is nice and some of the music was good (though the main overworld/battle themes sounded like someone searched "DnD fantasy traveling extended mix for DMs" and clicked on the first result... not super impressive).

Overall yeah this absolutely did not sell me lol