Doom Eternal and Ultrakill have spoiled me with the most well designed, best FPS experiences ever. With unskippable cutscenes, clunky platforming, unbalanced aresenal that doesn't incentivize expression, barely any enemy placement synergies, weak exploration, too much ammo for quickswitching which has been a well known strat in arena FPS games of old, enemies blending too well with the environments, I don't think I can play anymore of this without playing another 5 hours of Eternal or practicing Ultrakill. If you like it, that's ok. I just can't. When looking at DOOM on its own, it's eh, but compared to Eternal/Ultrakill, I hate this game.

The idea of Mario has been leading up to this one game. 36 years after his debut appearance in Donkey Kong and we got one of the best games of all time coming out along with other all time best games that year. 2017 is the best year for games ever with some of the greatest games of all time and Super Mario Odyssey is one of them.

The game starts with Mario ending up in Cap Kingdom, defeated by Bowser and this kingdom takes inspiration from Super Mario 64 by being a place to make the player get accustomed to the controls and wide moveset of the game, and what Mario can do to anything. There are hills to roll on, puddles to swim in, poles to climb up, stakes to pull, boxes to break, frogs to capture, you can jump from the tower to learn that there is no fall damage. Everthing you need to know is taught in this first level and the moves you learn later on are helpful tools for style.

The best thing about Odyssey is the main companion of the game: Cappy. Cappy is the core mechanic of the game and he strikes that perfect balance between being a mechanic for platforming, combat, and variety. For the hand of platforming, Cappy is used to be thrown to get a little bit of hangtime in the air and to be bounced off of for more height. Cutting Mario's momentum before diving was a genius idea so that the player would consistently land on Cappy unless if you move the joystick in a different direction. Throwing Cappy and bouncing off of him are the main things that can make you do over-the-top insane skips.

The platforming is at gaming's peak, with a diverse set of moves and level design that compliments it make it the best in any game. The game is filled with many skips, and with moons like the Koopa racing ones and Luigi's Balloon World, the game incentivizes you to be creative with your traversing and moveset. Cappy complimenting you for doing a sick jump is the positive reinforcement that can give you the incentive. There are no oversights in levels, making you want to search every nook and cranny and just when you think there's an oversight, you're rewarded for your curiosity.

The selling point of Super Mario Odyssey is Cappy's capture mechanic. He can capture enemies old and new like Goombas, Hammer Bros., Pokios. and Uproots. Where the game peaks is at the point where you can be a tree, obviously. The captures work well for both puzzle solving and skipping platforming sections.They add another layer to the platforming of the game. You're not forced to leave the enemy, there is no time limit, but the level design subtly tells you when the enemy has worn out their reason for now, making them nonabusable. Every capture's potential has been cranked out in this game, each mechanic has more than 1 time to shine while not overstaying their welcome. What I really like about the enemy captures is that they control really well for what they do. You get some sort of appreciation for each capture's quirks. Each one is different, but not better than the other would be the message I got out of the captures. Odyssey loves its ideas to the moon and back and sets them on the table for you to gawk at. The story is handled the best out of the mainline Mario games. Mario doesn't go to kingdoms because he goes there. He goes there because Bowser is always taking something for his wedding. You see what Bowser did to the inhabitants and their place, giving you more of a reason to stop Bowser. The story doesn't stop at the intro, it keeps chugging along. The game feels like a journey and a half with you going all over the world. Even though the Galaxy games make you travel across galaxies, you don't really feel the scope of them as much as you do in Odyssey. You even have a brochure for each kingdom, giving you their own stories, their points of interest. The game really makes you feel like an explorer; like you're finding the X marking the spot. The ending is one of gaming's most satisfying moments due to its relationship between you and Mario. Celebrating the adventures you had with Mario throughout your life with this one pop rock song, leaving a huge smile on your face as the credits roll. After beating the game, you see other kinds of characters travel to places and you get to see how they interact with the world around them.

While Nintendo put Odyssey in the Sandbox Exploration side, the game still has room for small linear levels like in Galaxy. You get the best of both worlds. In both types of levels, the level design philosophy is taken from 3D World where you're introduced to a gimmick in someplace safe and then as you progress, the stakes keep rising and rising, mixing other mechanics with seamless execution. Like in Cascade Kingdom where Chain Chomps are the mechanic of the game. The first moon you collect there can only be broken by a Chain Chomp. Later, there are 3 Chomps that can bounce off each other, then it ends with a boss fight where you use what you know about the Chain Chomp against the boss.

This game is a joy to play through. It's a game that makes you appreciate the wonders of the world like in the Jammin moons with Toad, you can get an appreciation for the types of music. In Peach's moons, you see her appreciation for each kingdom's quirks. Almost every time you see Mario, he's always in a happy mood, thanking you for bringing him on the journeys you had with him. He is the video game definition of joy incarnate and that has been building up to this game. enter image description here

Super Mario Odyssey is more than just an excellent Mario game. It is a celebration of gaming's most iconic character and the players' journeys with him since 1981. It is a game that has been built up for 36 years with a huge payoff that knocks it out of the park. This is my favorite Mario game since Super Mario Galaxy 2, the only Mario game I consider to be a masterpiece up until playing Odyssey. This is my favorite Mario game. My favorite Nintendo game. My favorite platformer. My 2nd favorite game of all time. If you're going to get a Switch, then this is THE system seller to make your purchase worth it. And now that I have 100%ed the game, I'd say it's time for me to take a rest from this game until next time.

Hotel Mario. You know what it is. It is turning 27 in a few days so I felt like today was a good day to review this game. Hotel Mario is a revolution in the gaming industry. It's one of those rare pieces of media that raises topics that we still see critics discussing over today after nearly 27 years. It's the first and only game to delve deep into the psyches of the Mario Bros that no game has ever done since. When Hotel Mario was released on the Philips CD-I, the game, along with Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: Wand of Gamelon, have been praised by critics, old and new. Killer reviews all over the board. If you don't know about this game, then you're out of touch, and I'm out of time to not stop talking about this masterpiece.

I want to talk about the console that Hotel Mario came in first. Nintendo was working with Philips to make a CD add on for the SNES. That never came through and nor did Nintendo and Sony on the same concept. Phillips made their own console and had Nintendo franchises in their games. The console screams quality with exclusives that can't be topped today and a size that is bigger than the Xbox Series X and the PS5. This console may have been $1000 at launch, but there was a reason. It was meant to be a console for the elite gamers.

To say that this game has a narrative is an understatement. Hotel Mario's gameplay on its own tells a story. What may be surface level with the objective being to close every door actually tells us something about the Mario Brothers. I've come to the conclusion that they're LGBTQ+ members. What kind is left ambiguous for the player to interpret the answer in their own ways without being blueballed. The objective represents them closing themselves out from society. They're hiding themselves from the unknown. Afraid to be shunned upon because of who they are. While the enemies want them to show their true colors by opening doors, Mario and Luigi try to shut them out. While they do get the princess at the end, this question has been raised by me and only me because I am the smartest man in the world and anyone else who thinks otherwise is stupid and wrong. Do Mario and Luigi really rescue Peach? Let's rewind to the start of the game. Mario and Luigi walk into the Mushroom Kingdom. After the player sees Bowser laughing, we cut to Mario and Luigi. Mario starts with, "Nice of the princess to invite us over to the picnic. Ey, Luigi?" 2 things. First off, for years, people have interpreted that last part of the sentence as Mario calling Luigi gay. Secondly, Mario and Luigi are in the Mushroom Kingdom, a place with drug-like substances, making the user see what can't really be seen in normal eyes. The place like that doesm't exist and it portrays Mario and Luigi's downward spiral as they walk into a place that can't be real. There is no going back. There are instances where Princess Toadstool looks like she has been rescued, but she disappears out of thin air. Is the princess even real? The ending where the princess is "rescued" is the result of the Mario Bros hitting rock bottom. They gave in to their fantasies and stopped accepting reality.

As said, the objective of the game is to close every door before the timer runs out. What may be simple is turns into something that keeps you on your toes. No game has given me that feeling since Super 3D Noah's Ark for the SNES. Enemies will be closing doors and coming through them so you're constantly pressured. Mario can hide in doors which adds more strategy to approaching the game. Sets of rooms and doors are distinct from each other. Keeping the game fresh. Wendy's hotel is a commentary on counterfeit and the consequences of it. Touching her coins results in you getting damaged. The subtext beneath that is that Wendy has made fake coins to stop and frame the Mario Bros. That's genius.

Mario may have died yesterday, but his legacy within this game will not be forgotten. Hotel Mario is a masterpiece of narrative, storytelling, art direction, and music. It's legacy is the result of people still talking about this game today compared to Cyberpunk 2077. If the series were to end, then Hotel Mario would've been the best way to send off gaming's biggest icon for Hotel Mario is the apex of video games.

Was a really fun time on first playthrough, but I was really disappointed in how stripped down the mechanics were. It feels like Capcom wanted to appeal to a broader audience by making the game extremely linear with "puzzle solving" and a much more forgiving inventory system compared to its spritual predecessor, RE4, leaving less room for decision making. Kind of the opposite of what made the gameplay of these games interesting. There are mechanics and design choices that make me think that RE8 is trying to be both survival horror and action at the same time but fumbles hard. At least combat was entertaining (even if worse than RE4) for my dumb brain and 3 mommies with milkies and a Nicholas Cage DILF.