Keep in mind that OutRun was designed to give you cheap thrills at 100¥ a pop, not to provide a long winded "campaign", "tour", or "career" sim. And what a thrill it is. An unmatched audio-visual driving experience that's beaming with personality. It's infinitely fun and being able to play it on a handheld (though somewhat compromised), anytime and anywhere, is a gift. Add this to your library if you can, because even for a few minutes here and there, your life will be better for it.

It's Mr. Driller! And that's about it. The PSX version is one of the best, but this arcade puzzler is actually more suitable as a quick portable game, rather than as a home console experience. So, whether you're loading an Eboot on your PSP, or some other such device, it's always a fun time that's worth atleast a brief visit.

Imagine inserting this disc into your PS1 and being immediately greeted with CD quality voice audio and 3D CG, in 1996. This, at a time when the SNES was still going strong. The tech was Vandal Heart's strongest feature, but all these decades later, it doesn't quite hold up. The gameplay is fine, sure, and the story is serviceable, but it all amounts to a pretty barebones and dated TRPG. In 1996, there wasn't much like it, but now, you're likely better off playing something else.

Cute and quirky JRPG. Charming and unique, but held back by drab visuals and music, uninteresting combat, and clunky design choices. Worth checking out if you're a fan of the genre.

Perfectly designed in the same way pinball is perfectly designed. Kinetic gameplay, with simple rules, clear objectives, and immediate feedback. It's easy to learn, but hard to master. It involves skill, strategy, and luck. It offers variety, unpredictability, and replayability. All that, dressed in a nostalgic and aesthetically appealing presentation, while being playable anytime and anywhere with WiFi.

While the gameplay is somewhat shallow and contrived, the star here is the BGM Mode and Music Maker, which—overall—contribute to a fun little package. This amounts to Otocky playing more like a toy than game, which I'm glad Toshio Iwai embraced as a concept in the culmination of Elektroplankton. A historical oddity, for sure, and worth checking out.

It's good. Everything about it is expertly executed. But it makes for a weird value proposition. The core game is fun, but the DLC takes it to another level; whether it's worth paying full price for the full package is debatable. Regardless of how much you want to invest into it though, if you like strategy games, you'll have fun with this version of Civ.

As an action RPG, the action is about as dynamic as a clicker game, and the roleplaying is somehow even less deep than the original Dragon Quest. Not everyone is in on frenetic action or deep roleplaying though, so it could be that its accessibility is its appeal. Sure, numbers go up—and that can be addictive—and it's easy to jump in and repeat. Plus, the vibes are spot on. But is it worth revisiting? Even in 1996 there were much more engaging games... and this came out in '97.

Jeremy Parish called Monster World II a "masterpiece" of the Metroidvania genre. MWIII then, is the 16-bit evolution of that masterpiece. Westone is not given enough recognition for their contribution to the medium, and I think it's notable how many modern games are still similar to this 1991 gem. It's simplistic by modern standards, sure, but that simplicity—along with its pleasant visuals—make for a comfy game that's a breeze to revisit. A classic.

A very likeable and fun game that is marred by a now dated way of designing systems. Any game designed this way would be absolutely panned today, but given that, there's still a lot to like. Kind of a historical novelty at this point, but considering how long it is, may not be worth the time for everyone.

If you can get it at under $2, utterly worth it. Tight, fun, and challenging.

I adore this game, but it's hard to recommend. The slow pacing is often painful—especially when coupled with the backtracking—and the point and click puzzle style is clunky (oh, I had to click on the object twice to trigger it?). Still, if you're a fan of creepy aesthetics and a decent fright, you may love it too.

I loved this game. Though more a piece of interactive media and meta commentary on games (specifically, old school PC edutainment games), than an actual game, I found it extremely entertaining and laugh out loud funny. That said, I believe people with no context for those games will not find it as engaging—they may just not "get it". Ultimately the gameplay is not compelling without that context.

Basically, my other life, so it's perfect. Right?

Somewhat scant on content, but that's more of a testament to how fun this game is because I want more of it. While that may be a bad value proposition for some, I have nothing but praise for how fun and tightly designed the core gameplay is. Very fun.