I'm one of the few people who thinks this game is good, at least this Super Mario All-Stars version, thanks to it saving after each level, which does alleviate the frustration and makes overcoming tough challenges more satisfying. I also think this game is overhated. Aaaaaaaaaaand, here we go, my credibility goes from zero into negatives now.

(BTW, I recommend watching this retrospective by Jeremy Parish for the context behind this game, hopefully it'll give you a better understanding on why it is the way it is)

I'm replaying some GB games for ranking, and this game isn't great. The physics and momentum feel off, and the platforming is some of the most stress enducing i've experienced. It doesnt have a good flow, as there are times where I had to play without run button held so i don't fall off. due to strange acceleration. Unlike Super Mario Bros. games on NES, where you can hold run and, well, run though the levels without any issues as they have great flow and the levels are mindful of the player's capabilities. For this game however, you're likely to die in a pit trying to land on a moving platform with stiff midair controls. Even the first Super Mario Bros. game has better physics. Sure, that one also has stiff controls, but at least the momentum and gravity are predictable, while in this game, you gain high speed the instant you hold a direction with run button held. I managed to accidentally fall into a pit a few times due to this. This game isn't bad, it's actually pretty short and has decent music, but I'd rather play any other Mario game over this.

I don't envy the developers of Arctic Tale for Game Boy Advance, having to work on a late GBA release based on freaking National Geographic documentary. But hey, hopefully it paid well. I'm going to be blunt, this game sucks!

You control a little bear from a top down perspective, and your goal is to beat a few mini-games, then beat a mini-game that actually advances onto the next chapter. The game features limited life supply and health, though continues are unlimited. Someone had a bright idea to make running around deplete your health. I mean I get it, overworking yourself is very dangerous, but that's not how reality works, you don't just become close to death when out of breath, the game should've just had a separate bar for stamina that could regenerate when not running. Aside from a bear, you can change into a fox or a walrus when near a changing cave, and these animals have special properties. Walrus can explore water sections, and a fox is super quick and can hunt hares for a little bit of health. As I mentioned, there are mini-games, certain mini-games require a specific animal. These mini-games range from alright to awful. You have shuffleboard, where you launch yourself and try to hit a center of the target, or Whac-A-Mole sort of deal but with seals, or orca race, but then you have a sliding mini-game, where you just slide down, and if you hit too many objects or fall into a pit you lose a life, or surfing on a piece of ice where if you hit too many objects... you lose a life. Both of these share the same issue, in that they don't give adequate view of what's ahead, both are vertically oriented, but you aren't at the very top/bottom, limiting the view of the obstacles. In most mini-games, failure means you lose a life, which is really annoying when you lose them all and you have to find where you played that mini-game. The game features checkpoints, but they don't feel consistent, for instance, you'll get one when you run away from a polar bear, who run around and try to chase you in the overworld, though they're easy to escape from by mashing L and R (and that awards you with a small health boost for some reason). The worst mini-games are the ones where you have to cross an icy land that has weak tiles and you have to figure out a path, and these are mandatory for progression. The first time it's whatever, but the second time, you also have very cold weather condition which also lowers your health, and you have to run to the cover and mash L and R to restore health. It's lame figure out the path + you have to act fast (and the game won't let you go if you stall for too long because there's a timer ticking, not time limit you have to get at least get bronze), AND you have to actually find where the exit is. And need I remind you that you lose lives upon failure and have to find this mini-game again each time you continue from a checkpoint that could be far away? For this mini-game I decided to use save states to get over it. Boo hoo, I'm a cheater, but who cares? I wasn't having fun in any way, and I wanted to get it over with. The game is actually really short, it's only 3 chapters, and there's no mini-game for the ending.

Graphically, the game isn't very impressive. The animals seem to use pre-rendered graphics, but they don't animate smoothly. The overworld looks pretty bland, I mean I get it, it's Arctic and there's snow everywhere, but c'mon I'm sure you can make some interesting land marks. The music isn't great, the title screen song seems to be decent and actually lengthy, but during gameplay you'll have one of the three songs that plays when you play as an appropriate animal and they're short and repetitive.

Overall, a joyless experience with questionable design decisions that feel like they would be at home in an arcade game, but not suitable for a game based on a National Geographic documentary film. The only somewhat positive thing I can say is that there's neat trivia about animals, but for that you're better off watching actual documentaries, or reading National Geographic. Or just go and play an actually good game. Like Shrek The Third by Amaze Entertainment. This is yet another unimpressive licensed game in a sea of unimpressive licensed games.

(Side note: according to an IGN review, DS version is pretty much the same game, so uhh, avoid that as well)

Super Mario All-Stars is a great collection of the first 3 4 Super Mario Bros. games. These games are mostly straightforward ports of the NES originals with improved graphics and music to match the SNES standards. And these look and sound great. The gameplay is nearly identical, save for a few oddities such as inverted bounce speed when breaking bricks in Super Mario Bros. and Lost Levels and some bug fixes.

The biggest addition in terms of gameplay is battery backed saves and unlimited continues. Now you don't have to rely on continue "cheat" in Super Mario Bros., you don't have limited continues in Super Mario Bros. 2, and you don't have to play the entirety of Super Mario Bros. 3 without shutting off the console. The save feature is especially welcome for Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels, because this game instead of saving after each world, it saves after each level. This change makes this version of Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels a definitive experience. I won't go in detail about each game in this package, I'd rather leave the reviews for the respective games under their original releases, but I do want to talk about The Lost Levels, as I have a feeling that I won't be going back to the original Famicom Disk System release thanks to the improvements this version makes, and this IS after all the first time this game released outside of japan.

With that being said I think The Lost Levels is way overhated. It's really not a bad game. Sure, some level design can be occasionally trollish, and the levels are difficult for sure, but when I beat a difficult stage (especially a castle level which lacks a checkpoint) I feel an immense satisfaction rather than relief, it's not dissimilar to any modern tough as nails platformer like Celeste or Super Meat Boy which are hard but satisfying once you overcome a brutal challenge. Then again, I'm talking about the SNES version which saves after each level, so take that as you will, but I did enjoy the platforming challenges, and I think more people should try their very best instead of repeating what others have said (aka git gud).

In conclusion this is a fantastic package, the classic games play pretty much the same but have a fresh coat of paint that utilize SNES hardware pretty well, good music and the welcome addition of saving feature. Super Mario All-Stars is easy to like.

I already made a sizeable review of the original DS release, which you can view here. So I’m not going to repeat myself, and instead evaluate this game as a re-release of that game. Overall, I think it’s good enough, but could’ve been better. Not gonna lie, there are some missed opportunities to introduce more quality of life changes. But anyway, let me list the changes this game brings (or lack thereof).

First, let’s talk the positives. The performance has been improved, which is one of the more obvious improvements. The original DS version struggled to maintain a consistent framerate around enemies/NPCs or other stuff, but modern PCs and Nintendo Switch are more capable of handling the load. The graphics are also obviously better. Rune Factory 4 Special also had “better” graphics, but that was more from a technical standpoint, as artistically they were mostly just "AI" upscales, which didn’t always look very good. Rune Factory 3 Special makes an actual effort of turning upscales into something far more appealing. Maybe it’s because the difference between DS and 3DS graphics is big, so simply upscaling DS assets wouldn’t cut it. The models are new and look quite good. I think the monster designs in particular come from 3D Rune Factory games (like the recent Rune Factory 5). Only backgrounds feel like they didn’t receive the same treatment. But I applaud the devs for taking the criticism of Rune Factory 4 Special’s graphics and gave Rune Factory 3 a nice visual overhaul. Other obvious changes include the ability to use more than 2 save slots and toggle for text and voice languages, which is a feature since aforementioned Rune Factory 4 Special.

Then there are a couple of QOL changes. First, the dashing ability is now a separate button instead of double-tapping the direction, which is FAR more convenient. Second, you can skip crafting animations, which speeds up the process significantly, especially if you’re someone who likes to fail a lot to try and craft a 10% chance item. Third, the amount of space for upgraded fridge/material box has been significantly expanded. Great for item hoarders. Then there are additions that the last “Special” release introduced – Hell difficulty, which, as it sounds, is hell (maybe, I didn’t try it, and honestly, I think on normal the game is harder than I remember). Another Episode mode which is a bunch of narrated stories for each bachelorette and is a separate DLC. And then the newlywed mode, which is also a bunch of new stories for each marriage candidate, but with its own objectives to complete. Just like with Rune Factory 4 Special, the main characters use live 2D, and I still think they look kind of jarring, maybe because I’m used to looking at static sprites and now they’re moving, it’s kind of… uncanny. But maybe it’s just me. There’s also an imbalance in what you do in these stories. For instance, in Carmen’s story, you are tasked to catch a bunch of fish, but more importantly, one Sun Squid, and it was a real pain in the ass to catch. You’re given 3 in-game days to do these. While in Shara’s story, all you do is basically follow the quest marker to find an elusive Golden flower something. You’re given 16 days of time limit. This is not challenging in the slightest, and I highly doubt people play these stories as an excuse to play standard Rune Factory 3 fare.

Of course, with the good comes the bad, as this significant subsequent rerelease isn’t quite perfect. First, let’s start with the OK – the english voice acting and script are different from the DS original, which is understandable, since that version was published by Natsume, and XSEED has since taken upon themselves to publish later entries. The copyright issues are inevitable, and who knows if the original English voice work is somewhere in Natsume’s basement. Besides, I heard that the original had some mistakes in its translation, which isn’t very surprising, considering how sloppy Rune Factory 2 (and most likely the original Rune Factory for that matter) tended to be in the English script (typos and actual errors like forgetting a line break). I can’t really comment on how the new translation stacks up against that, I know little Japanese. What I can do is compare voice lines. Honestly, some of the new voice lines tend to lack the exaggerated emotion that the originals had. But I dunno, maybe I’m just being a little nostalgic to the old voice work and think its charming in its own way. I think the new voice actors did an adequate enough job, not much to say. Of course, you can switch the VO to Japanese if you want to know what the originals sounded like. Or don't, I'm not you.

But finally, let’s move onto actually bad stuff. Even though this version does introduce a few improvements, I think it missed a lot of opportunity to add more quality of life improvements. Rune Factory 4 Special and Rune Factory 5 are on the same platforms, and released a little earlier, so it’s jarring when you go to this brand "new" game and you see the backward mechanical progression. For instance, Rune Factory 4 Special had a dedicated button for escape spell, which can be used to, well, escape the dungeon and teleport back home easily. Of course, it can be argued that the 3DS version had it on the touch screen, and for platforms that lacked it (while you can use it on Nintendo Switch's touch screen, you couldn’t in docked mode), they had to map it to a button, but c’mon, nobody would’ve complained if you retrofitted that in. But, the most obvious missed opportunity to me is the lack of analog movement. You’re still locked to a D-pad movement scheme, even when using a stick. The thing is, the original DID have an analog input… If you used the touch screen. I doubt you did, but it was an option. Why didn’t the devs map that touch screen movement onto a stick? Even if the DS version didn’t have that, it’s such a no-brainer change, it’s baffling why it’s not implemented. Again, it’s very jarring going from recent Rune Factory games on the same platforms, that released just a little earlier to a decade-and-a-half-old control scheme. It also doesn’t fix the slippery movement, as you don’t instantly stop & carry a little bit of moment, which feels clunky (and I had to re-adapt again after not playing Rune Factory 3 in a while).

There are more missed opportunities I can list. Like how instantly stashing an item with the R button doesn’t automatically add it to an existing stack that isn’t full, taking its own slot, which is then fixed by pressing minus button (with a Nintendo Switch control scheme) to sort everything. Or how the game doesn’t tell you what items you haven’t shipped, which was introduced in its immediate sequel (would help those looking for 100% completion). Y’know, little stuff that would smooth out the gameplay and make it feel more modern? Lastly, the Swimsuit DLC. What was originally a pre-order bonus for Rune Factory 4 Special’s Switch release, this DLC isn’t particularly enticing on its own and is clearly very fan-service-y, it added a toggle to make all characters that had a swimsuit outfit wear that until the toggle was off. However, fans haven’t been served for a while since Neverland went bankrupt, so it was relatively inoffensive and was still kind of a neat bonus to sweeten the deal. Now it’s a $10 offer on top with Digital Deluxe Edition, it’s not a separate DLC, it’s just game + this. I think it’s legitimately overpriced – it should’ve been a preorder bonus like before. Are you actually going to pay 10 extra dollars for something so minor?? Freak. Also, I noticed that the credits don’t include original DS version’s staff, which is pretty lame. Apparently this game isn’t developed by Hakama, the new team behind Rune Factory 4 Special and Rune Factory 5 that includes some of the former staff (including the series producer). That might explain the faithfulness, but idk. Just throwing this out there.

With all that said, how would I evaluate this game? As a re-release, I think I would give it a 4 out of 5. It’s a fine and accessible way to play the game which does bring in some improvements and new content, but I wish the devs rocked the boat a little more, I think it’s faithful to a fault. It doesn’t really have any other issues besides missing opportunities, it doesn’t riddle an existing product with more issues for instance (oh, hello there, Half-Life: Source). I don't think Rune Factory 3 Special is quite as "Special" as 4, although I think that was mainly because it was simply a return of the series that made it special. As a game however… I gave it the score you probably already saw: 4.5/5. I do think, on its own, Rune Factory 3 Special is a great game. It’s still the same engaging game with a colorful cast of characters and hilarious writing, it’s the same game that introduced fast-paced gameplay compared to the DS predecessors. I don’t think I enjoyed it as much as the original DS game, maybe because I was a little disappointed by the lack of changes and that it doesn’t stack up well to the modern RF games. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed myself quite a bit. I would still recommend Rune Factory 4 like most fans, but you can’t really go wrong with this one. It’s fun, quirky, and just a good time.

That being said though, I really hope the inevitable Rune Factory 2 Special and Rune Factory Special games will receive better mechanical treatment, the originals are even more clunky and not as fast paced, which will make them stand out even more. There’s nothing inherently wrong with being faithful, but I think there should be some restraint in that regard… fingers crossed!

A Bug’s Life for the Game Boy Color is an atrocious platformer from a company known for less-than-stellar games. First major issue – windup animations. Jumping, throwing projectiles, running, all take a split second before you actually perform the action, which is really frustrating. The game also features the “turbo”-like nature, where holding the button will basically act like you’re pressing it every frame. Oh, and running and a throwing projectile are mapped to the same button. Which means, when you stop running, you may find yourself accidently throwing away your ammo. These problems make precision platforming and dealing with hazards more stressful than it should be.

Second issue – trial and error. The first roadblock is probably going to be the first stage, where you have to bounce on leaf platforms. As it turns out, jumping repeatedly on the same leaf makes you bounce higher, which isn’t very intuitive in my opinion. But that’s the least of your worries. The way you acquire berries that you can throw at your foes? They drop from the top of the screen, and if they happen to land on top of you, you take damage! And their spawn is seemingly random, so good luck passing under or getting all the stuff you need. Next, the various enemies. The way the camera works is not in your favor, as you’ll be positioned slightly towards the end of the screen you’re moving towards, which means ambushing you is easy. The grasshoppers in particular are quite nasty, as they’re super fast. You’ll practically have to memorize their spawn locations and attack when needed. But not in stage 3!! As the devs decided to change the rules and make them insta-kill for some reason. You’ll have to launch the little bugs to legally murder them, and since they’re way offscreen, you’ll be have to do that over and over, praying that they’ll actually get hit. The same stage also features the spider web platform section close to the end. The platforms are created after some time, some more delayed than others, which creates more trial and error gameplay. If you try to rush, the platform may not spawn in, and at times, you’ll have to wait for more platforms to spawn offscreen before rushing in, it’s more frustrating than it needs to be.

Third and last issue – bad collision detection. Flik has a slightly smaller hitbox than you’d think, so falling off ledges when you think you can make a jump at the last moment isn’t uncommon. And again, this can make platforming more tedious than it should be, one notable example is the fourth level with moving platforms. When you think you can make it from the platform onto solid ground, whoops! You can’t land on the very corner of it, otherwise you won’t actually make it. And don’t forget about the windup animation and everything else.

The graphics are quite average, though to be fair, it’s an early Game Boy Color game and it also supports original Game Boy hardware. The music is fine. The only notable thing about this game is that it’s the only Game Boy Color game that plays an alternate soundtrack when played on Super Game Boy, but that achievement could’ve gone to a better game.

Overall, A Bug’s Life GBC is, quite frankly, a terrible game. The platforming mechanics are horrible – pretty much all the actions are on a delay, which doesn’t lead to a smooth platforming experience. The game is filled with trial and error elements and frustrating design. The only good thing about it is that it’s pretty short, which should be indicative of it’s quality. Hard pass.

Chicken Little for Game Boy Advance is an average platformer with a few mini-games thrown in. The game is surprisingly short, though it took me about 3 and a half hours, which is about right (though now that I've played a bunch of other licensed games, maybe this shouldn't be a surprise). The game is not very difficult, apart from bad racing segment and surprisingly difficult final boss. My first impression when I played it some time ago wasn't very good, but having actually beaten it, it's just alright.

The platforming mechanics are pretty simple, you can jump and climb ledges, you can ground pound with your head which is really only useful on bouncy surfaces to bounce higher and to break floor barriers. And you have your trusty yo-yo, which can be used in combat, and used in some platforming later on, acting as a grappling hook. Though to be honest I feel like yo-yo is kind of underutilized and it could've been used in some puzzles or have more utility in platforming, which is kind of what PC/Home Console version does. The enemies you meet along the way aren't a big threat, you'll find platforming obstacles such as disappearing platforms or falling tree branches. Overall, the platforming is rather basic... as a Chicken Little. There are also two theatre levels where you can play as Ace, Chicken Little's super hero alter ego, though technically you can also play as Ace in normal levels by touching a token, but only for a limited time and I'd say theatre levels is where Ace really shines. He can double jump which makes him better to control. The levels are aboard an alien spaceship and feature different gravity surfaces, like you can walk on a wall or ceiling and around spherical objects, which is really cool. The platforming is still nothing to write home about, but due to these gimmicks they're a little more engaging, and the boss battles in these are cool as well because they also feature these different gravity surfaces. You also play as Fish, though it's only for a single level (at least in the main story). It's a bit faster paced, kinda Sonic The Hedgehog-style but not really, you can move fast but watch out for the obstacles, and you have to destroy a set number of thinanigans. Not much to say. As I said, the game isn't very difficult, up until the final boss, which is a surprising difficulty spike. I get it, the final boss should be hard, but the game really wasn't very difficult up 'till this point, maybe the Theatre bosses provided decent challenge but still manageable. The final boss feels like chaos, I died a number of times. Thankfully, dying isn't very punishing, you'll be put at the last transition point and all collected stuff is remembered.

Though Chicken Little is primarily a sidescrolling platformer, there are two mini-games you'll play through main story, and are available in the menu as extras if you want to play more of them. First is Dodgeball. You have you versus opponent in the main field where you can get kicked out and game over, but you also have three companions on the opposite side who can't be kicked out but can assist in throwing a ball at the opponent and dish damage. The damage you deal to your opponent(s) is numerical, RPG style, and thus HP is also numerical, though it's shown as a green bar instead of numbers. I think this is a really cool idea and a unique take on the sport. Not that I played a lot of video games with dodgeball, but I believe not many games did this. I think this is a cool mini-game, I like it quite a bit. The other mini-game is decidedly not however. It's an isometric racing with strict timer. This is a mini-game where I felt like upgrading the vehicle was nearly required, as well as knowing the shortcuts. The driving can be obnoxious, you have aliens that shoot at you and it can be hard to avoid their shots and they can stun your car, wasting time. I didn't enjoy this one.

This game features a shop where you can by upgrades, increase max HP for the three playable, Chicken Little, Ace and Fish. The last one I find odd, because c'mon, he's only in a single level, feels like a waste. Aside from that you can buy new cars for racing mini-game as well as upgrades and color skins. Dodgeball also features new players you can buy and color palettes for the players. All of these can be bought with in-game's currency, being acorns. You can find them in levels, though limited and gain more by winning a mini-game from the main menu. While the main game is really short, there's a lot of extras if you're into that sorta thing. The game also features sound and music test as well as animation viewer for a handful of in-game characters, which as far as I can tell not many games at the time did that, so that's always nice.

The graphics in this game are about average. Some elements can be rough looking, though the characters are well animated for the most part. My favorite animation is Aces' "Death" animation, it's pretty funny. The music is also alright, there are a couple really good tracks but overall it's just alright, it doesn't help that the levels can be pretty long, so the music can become repetetive.

Overall, Chicken Little for GBA is an average licensed game, the main game is awfully short, but there are some good ideas, and it does have lots of extras for 100%, but overall it's just alright. PC/Home Console version is unsurprisingly better than this handheld one, but I'll talk about that version some time in the future.

Super Mario 64 DS is a somewhat divisive re-release of Super Mario 64, that debuted on a Nintendo console with the same number. A few concessions had to be made to fit the 64 bit classic on a handheld, and in my opinion, Nintendo did a great job that I don’t think receives enough credit.

First, I want to talk about the technical side of this version, and why I consider it to be more impressive, than, say, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time 3D. While DS may seem weak in some aspects, it does actually have a few tricks up its sleeve. For more detailed technical match, I can recommend YouTube video “How Powerful is the Nintendo DS?” by Sharopolis. Nintendo DS has more texture memory than the poor ol’ Nintendo 64, which allows DS to have textures with greater fidelity/variety. This becomes pretty apparent in the first level, Bob-Omb Battlefield. It received a complete face lift, with a different color palette, although it’s more of an artistic decision than a technical one. Nonetheless, the terrain is more varied. The character models are also a good demonstration of Nintendo’s improved grasp on 3D modeling. I highly doubt you can deny that the models in this game are worse than N64 originals. The only aspect in which they’re “worse” is the amount of polygons… which, really, is actually more impressive. The fact that the made new models for Mario and co. that look quite good AND less resource intensive is a great display of improved skills. Of course, I doubt more polys would fly in this game, as Nintendo DS has a limit on how many polygons can be displayed at any given time. But then again, coins are now 3D models instead of 2D sprites and they’re pretty common, so… I think Nintendo went with a trick that doubles that limit at the cost of half the framerate, normally it would be 60 FPS (which explains those smooth-ass 3D games on Nintendo DS), but here it’s about 30. And y’know what? I think it’s fairly consistent, I never felt like the game lagged, which I think is even more impressive, I think the original did struggle in certain areas. Don’t forget that this is a LAUNCH TITLE GAME, and launch title games are usually not very technically impressive, but this game manages to be more impressive than most of the DS’s library, including the very game this is a remake of.

But, alright, let’s put aside technical mumbo jumbo behind us, after all, the game is meant to be played, and games like Half-Life prove that technical achievements aren’t everything. The game plays about the same as the original, but the most obvious and criticized element of Super Mario 64 DS is… the D-Pad. Of course the D-Pad isn’t as reliable as the stick, especially in a 3D game. All the issues of Super Mario 64 DS should be blamed on this one input type. Awkward physics? Turning which isn’t instant? Bad air maneuverability? Slippery surfaces which cause you to slide to your doom? D-Pad, duh! I’ll be honest, I think Super Mario 64 DS is only as bad as the original. Guess what, the instant turning wasn’t in the original! If you stand perfectly still, you’ll change your direction in an instant, otherwise you do an awkward rotation. And other issues where in the original too! Let’s be real, Super Mario 64 wasn’t that great a platforming experience to begin with, so most of the problems are just inherited from that. Of course I’m not saying that the D-Pad is better than the stick, but the controls in this version are more than adequate, there are no sticks on Nintendo DS, if you didn’t know. Actually… when playing Super Mario 64 DS, I felt more confident in controlling playable characters. I have a friend who likes this game and shares the same sentiment of feeling more in control of the game. Granted, it’s possible that I just got better at playing Super Mario 64 in general, but maybe, juuuuuuuuuuuust maybe, the complaints about the D-Pad are overblown. Some people would suggest using the Circle Pad on the Nintendo 3DS, but that doesn’t magically add analog control to the game, it’s still locked to the 8 directions. I prefer playing DS games with a D-Pad, because that’s what they were designed for, and I didn’t find my experience to be all that bad, and using Circle Pad in this game didn’t feel all that great when I tried it (of course, I could’ve sucked it up and get used to it, like how I did with Rune Factory 3 Special, but that’s a different story). Alternatively, you can try using the touch screen for analog controls, this is what the Wii U version’s hack uses to integrate analog with a stick, though you would have to commit to it, and I can’t imagine it feeling all that comfortable.

The camera system is also a bit different. Super Mario 64 used quantized rotation for its camera, and it wasn’t that good of a system… in fact, the camera kind of sucked in that version. Super Mario 64 DS sorta retains the quantized rotation method, but maps it to the touch screen, in a somewhat easy-to reach area. But the most reliable way to rotate the camera is to use the camera center button, which is L button. I found it to be a perfectly fine system. I think camera center actually gives you more control on how you can position the camera, it’s smoother compared to quantized turning. Overall I found camera to be less janky in this version, not 100% free, but I didn’t find it as annoying. Speaking of the touch screen, it houses the game’s mini-map. It’s pretty helpful, as it shows where the star you’re going for is located, most of the time. It also solves one of the issues I had with Bowser fights – the fact that I couldn’t see where the bombs are because the game’s camera wasn’t helpful enough at relaying that important information. Now you can see bombs on the bottom screen, and your facing direction, so throwing bowser at them isn’t as much a pain.

Then there’s all the extra content. Remember that this is a Super Mario 64 remake? It’s not just some “tech demo”, because that would imply it’s simply showing the tech. No, it’s a game with content in it. I’m not implying that the original didn’t have content, but… ok, what I’m getting at is that the devs didn’t just port Super Mario 64 and call it a day. No, no, no! They actually added MORE! The game was originally titled Super Mario 64 x4 during its development, which I think is referring to the game’s new playable characters (rather than the game being 4 times bigger than the OG, try to count all of it’s new/changed content and see if it adds up). It’s also apparent from the box art, that yes! 4 Playable characters! You don’t even start as Mario in this game, as Yoshi takes the lead in rescuing him and then the rest which is Luigi and Wario, if you feel like it. All characters play distinctly from one another. Yoshi can flutter jump for better air control, use his tongue to eat baddies or store some fire to spit it back and turn enemies or other objects into eggs. Mario is Mario. Luigi is slower at running, but he can scuttlejump, which is also useful for better midair maneuverability and run on water for a short amount of time. Also, doing backwards somersault as him will make him spin slowly, again, aiding in air control. Lastly, there’s Wario, a power character. He’s easily the most situational – he’s slow and doesn’t jump very high, which makes him kind of pathetic at platforming. He is only really needed to break extra tough black brick blocks, and turn metal. One of the complaints towards this addition is that switching characters is a pain. Oh no! Well, anyway. Really? That’s what caps are for. Sure, you’ll find yourself changing characters in Peach’s Castle a few times, but I didn’t find myself doing that very often to find it bothersome. I do think it’s silly that only Mario can unlock bowser stages, I’m pretty sure Luigi and Wario are capable of whopping his ass, but it’s not that big a deal. You can play most stages as Mario and use caps when necessary, there are only a few stars that require Yoshi. But even then, you don’t necessarily need to switch from Yoshi after obtaining that one star that only he can obtain, Yoshi is special in that he has all three other characters’ caps available to him. In fact, you can START a stage with a specific cap as Yoshi, which makes going for a particular star even easier. There aren’t even that many stars specific to one character. Really, this entire system isn’t that bad, I didn’t find the addition of new playable characters to be a “downgrade” compared to the original or wish it wasn’t there. I find then neat and applaud the developers for ambition AND the execution is adequate.

Super Mario 64 DS feels sort of like a remix of the original. There are new stars to collect, of course, but a few of the old ones were modified as well. Like the one where you searched for hidden spots in Tiny Huge Island which is basically searching for invisible items has been replaced with a more straightforward condor-held one. The level design has been touched up as well. For example, Tick-Tock Clock, which was a platforming nightmare in the original, has been toned down by placing more platforms to land on if you fail jumping, turning one of the most frustrating ones into one of the more enjoyable experiences. These changes ensure that while there is some stuff retained, there will be surprises for those who have played the original. But, what about those new stars? Each stage now has 2 more stars, like collecting 5 silver stars to unlock one proper, or a timed switch that makes a star appear in a sphere that can be broken, acting as a timed challenge. There are also brand new levels, though these are smaller ones, mostly dedicated to rescuing each of the trapped characters, which have red coins for a bonus star, but there are a few other new ones that require you to collect silver stars. Bowser stages also received an extra star. The total amount of stars has been bumped from 120 to 150. As a result, to beat the game, the final star requirement is also boosted from 70 to 80, but it’s not that big a deal. If you liked Super Mario 64 and don’t hate this version, there’s plenty of new content to explore.

BUT WE’RE NOT DONE YET! Mini-games! The one aspect that seems to be liked enough. The one Microprocessor without Interlocked Pipeline Stages… I mean, MIPS from the original has been traded for a dozen of rabbit spawns, catching them usually yields a key for a mini-game. I tried a few, and they’re fun. Good for a quick bit of fun. There’s also a multiplayer versus mode, because why not? Though I can’t judge if it’s any good, because I didn’t play it. From what I’ve seen, it’s doesn’t seem all that great, but hey… it’s still cool that it’s there, right??

In conclusion, I want to say that Super Mario 64 DS is a fantastic remake of the old classic, it’s not just some emulation (Super Mario 3D All-Stars, cough, cough, sneeze) or a lazy port for cash money, or something that breaks the core game (Half-Life: Source, cough, cough… hack!), it actually went above and beyond. The graphics are improved – you may prefer old models for their charm, but the new models are more recognizable and technically better, the texture work in general is pretty good. There’s a lot of new content and I mean a LOT of new content, as well as some redesigned and reworked existing content to make the experience smoother. The controls aren’t amazing, but they’re good enough given the hardware, and it’s not like the original’s were flawless. While it’s not superior in all regards, I DO find Super Mario 64 DS to be superior overall. By the end of playing Super Mario 64 (via Super Mario 3D All-Stars), I just wanted the game to end and get it over with. However, when playing Super Mario 64 DS, I actually went back to collect a few more stars. That’s how much I enjoyed this version compared to the original (with an asterisk, because you could argue 3DAS version isn't quite the same). The experience transformed from a somewhat average one into a good one. I still don’t think it’s a masterpiece or great really, the controls and physics are still janky at times and the final boss battle is frustrating, but overall I had much more fun playing this classic. Super Mario 64 DS is a great re-release and a good game in its own right.

I prefer this over the SNES original for it's quality of life improvements, like being able to save anywhere and the life count doesn't reset after shutting the game off. The boss fights are also improved.

That being said, this is still Donkey Kong Country, which means it still inherits some issues from the original. While some bonus barrels are now clearly visible, some stuff remains cryptic. Ropey Rampage still features that offscreen barrel that leads to the bonus room, and the bonus within bonus in Oil Drum Alley is still the worst. The game is still frustrating at times, with some trial and error. Not only that, this remake adds its own issues. A little bit of screen crunch is probably expected, but my issue is the new collectible required for the completion: the photos. Some of them are just lying around, but most of them you get by destroying certain enemies in a certain way, but it's not clear which enemies and in what way you're supposed to defeat to get the photos. This is something DKC2GBA improves upon, by having certain enemies have a photo float over them and defeating them will give you said photos, and the game also offers in-game hints on where to find them. I had to whip out a video playthrough to find obscure bonuses, but I still have to find some of those photos, which is why I haven't 101%ed it yet (now I did, but I had to whip out an official guide, I wouldn't have figured out that, for example, you have to clear all levels in a world as Diddy or Donkey gives a respective photo).

That being said though, I still had some enjoyment playing this game, but it didn't age as well as the later entries. If you didn't enjoy original Donkey Kong Country, you won't enjoy this remake, but if you did, then I can highly recommend this one. It'll still provide you with decent time.

Whether Star Wars: Dark Forces is a clone of Doom or not is completely irrelevant in this review. In fact I won’t mention Doom a single time. In any case, for this review I did 4 playthroughs of this game. First, I played original DOS version on Easy, then I played The Force Engine source port on Medium, then Playstation version on Easy, and for the last one, I played DOS original on Hard.

Star Wars: Dark Forces is a first-person shooter from the 90s. You shoot your way through storm troopers and other unpleasantries, but it’s not a simple “get to the goal” affair, the objectives in each level are different, like getting Death Star plans in the first level, then getting to the rooftop to the space ship, or putting detonative charges in a few others. Shooting the enemies is satisfying enough, blast your enemies or shoot/throw explosives at them and strafe to dodge the incoming shots, which is especially vital on harder difficulties, since the aggression and their number increases. You have two types of health, shield that can soak energy blasts and can max out at 200, and standard health, with a max of 100, that can be damaged by physical contacts, regardless of shield, or from other attacks when that is depleted. The arsenal is gradually expanded by acquiring new guns or other weapons, such as Thermal Detonators (which are like bombs) and a Jeron Fusion Cutter which looks like a musical instument. The ammo is plentiful, so you’re unlikely to run out… unless you play on hard difficulty, since I was more proactive in dodging and shooting and I was using Stormtrooper Laser Rifle in first few levels, which is fast but not super accurate or powerful, and consumes 2 energy units per shot (though I thought it used 1 ammo until I finally noticed that on my PS1 playthrough. I guess ammo really wasn’t a concern up until that point). Even then, by the IVth mission, I had enough to get by. The selection of weapons is decent enough, I used all of them in all of my playthroughs, though obviously some more than others, for instance I saved a plasma based weapon that looks like a butterfly wing (it’s not listed in the manual for some reason, so I don’t know its name, it’s mapped to 0 key) for the toughest foes like the titular dark forces or the final boss.

Aside from weapons, there are also items that have a passive effect. From the start of the game you have a flashlight that can eliminate dark areas, but you can obtain infrared goggles that give a sort of night vision, allowing to see in the dark. There's a gas mask which really is only needed in one level and I never used it ever again. Lastly, there are Ice Cleats that remove icy physics, again only found and useful in one level. Aside from shooting, there’s also secrets to uncover, a staple of first person shooters like this, containing goodies. There are more traditional bonuses you can find, aside from usual ammo there are a few power-ups, such as Shield Supercharge, which makes your shield infinite for a short time, making you invulnerable to most damage, Weapon Supercharge which makes your weapons shoot twice as fast, revive which maxes out health & shield, and lastly 1-ups. There are lives in this game like in the good ol’ Wolfenstein 3D. I only ever lost all of them once on my initial playthrough, and all it did was send me back to the previous state I’ve been in before entering the mission. I don’t know if the punishment is more severe on harder difficulties (like losing all gear), as I’ve been conservative with my lives, particularly on hard difficulty where I only allowed myself to lose a single life per mission (2 in particularly stinky ones), though most of the time I just quit the mission, which doesn’t save your life count, which can be abused.

The enemies are eager to tear you apart, and this game contains what is probably the most inaccurate depiction of Storm Troopers. They should miss 99% of the time! But seriously, the enemies can blast you as soon as you open a door for instance, which does feel a little unfair at times. Besides the level of aggression, higher difficulties also place more enemies in levels. If you thought fisting 2 dragons in Mission X: Jabba’s Ship is bad enough how about… four? Although I did find an exploit so you can fight one dragon without alerting the other at the very beginning, but still, that’s at least 3 dragons to down. There are a few occasions where it seems like there are “infinite” enemies, particularly in mission VIII: Fuel Station, where Stormtroopers appear in corridors seemingly out of nowhere, or in a big circular area with a spinning bridge, the enemies appear at the entrances even though there’s no way for them to just appear in there. I find it odd but not game breaking. IMO the most dangerous enemies, besides Dark Troopers, are Thandoshans, with their Concussion Rifle. I still don't really know how the gun works, but it basically shoots an invisible bullet that'll burst once it hits an obstacle. They're particularly nasty on hard difficulty, where they're harder to take out and damage you a fair bit. The aformentioned Dark Troopers are a threat, which is nice. The ground ones will deflect most of your shots, I found throwing explosives at them the most efficient way to take them out. The flying ones are even more dangerous, they shoot at you with aformentioned butterfly wing gun's projectiles that hit very hard and can shoot a missile. Strafing around and dodging their shots is kind of fun, if you have enough space to strafe in that is.

One innovation this game brings is the ability to look up and down (although technically Heretic did it earlier (if you want to be even more technical, CyClones did it even earlier)). In DOS version, by default, it’s mapped Page Up and Page Down keys, which is a little unwieldy, as I have to move my hand from mouse to these buttons to look where I want. Thankfully, there aren’t many places where looking up or down is necessary, and the game automatically aims at the enemies that are below or above, though changing your vertical look can increase accuracy. You can also crouch, which is used to fit into tight areas, which is used quite a bit throughout the game. In general, the game features greater emphasis on verticality compared to other games from the time. That also brings in the ability to jump, and the game features a fair bit of platforming. It’s not too bad, and I rarely missed a jump even with lower framerate which means there’s little delay, but you still have to be wary of falling off if you don’t time your jump right.

The gameplay is honestly pretty decent… if you aren’t getting lost, which isn’t all too uncommon in this game, with its labyrinthine design. It actually made me drop the game a couple times on my first playthrough, because wandering around figuring out where to go isn’t very fun. The first roadblock is Mission III: Anoat City, where you have to go through sewage tunnels and activate switches until you figure out the correct path to the destination. Mission VI: Detention Center is a multilayered tower with some walls that can be cracked with explosives, tunnels and stuff. The path forward isn’t obvious on the first playthrough, though after you figure out the way forward, it becomes routine (the way forward I found is through some ventilation, which seems to be the safest one, there must be some other way in though). However, getting stuck and confused isn’t your only concern. Some stages feature ceiling turrets that hit hard. There are also mines, while a mild annoyance on easy, they become a more frequent problem on harder difficulties. Part of it is because of their poor placement, at times they’re buried in bonues, or around the corners, or even right next to the door you’re opening, resulting in a surprising blow to your face. The best example I can list is Mission X: Jabba’s Ship, they’re almost everywhere, and as annoying as ever. Why won't they explode other enemies? We can trip our own mine, why can't they? Besides walking close to them and backing away, you can chuck explosives at them to detonate, which is a safer strat. Their placement often ends up being cheap and unfair.

Lets move onto the game’s visuals and music, where the differences between 3 different platforms are the most apparent. The original DOS and PS1 versions run at a low resolution, with further objects being the most pixelated. DOS original does feature graphical settings to increase fidelity, at the cost of the framerate. I actually lowered them to get some frames for Hard difficulty, because I felt the FPS did hinder my ability to play the game. Mind you, I don’t really care for framerates or resolution as long as the game is playable and they don’t impede my enjoyability. Given that Star Wars: Dark Forces is a pretty old game, it can’t be helped. With that being said however, I think the graphics are honestly solid, low resolution be damned. The textures are quite nice and fairly detailed, there are even neat little details, like “EWOKS SUCK!” or “PWR CELLS” in Mission VII: Ramseed Hed or someplace else, which I find kind of cute. The level geometry is nice as well, like the canyon divide gradually expands at one point, starting with a small crack in Mission IV: Research Facility, and there are rotating, moving and spinning objects in giant ship levels and other places, not only look good and make these levels more alive, but also can hide a switch that can be activated with a timed shot. The actual polygonal models like a spaceship or turrets on the other hand look primitive, the geometry isn’t very complex and the textures are lacking on some surfaces. Not to say they look bad, but they contrast with what is otherwise a solid presentation. Of course, having a big 2D spaceship would look a bit out of place. While they look basic, they’re technically impressive, at least I would assume so, I haven’t played many 90s games that feature 3D models. For cutscenes, the game uses some FMVs, as well as 2D animated cutscenes reminiscent of LucasArts’ own point and click adventure games, and the voice acting is decent. The music takes cues from some of the films’ music, and I can’t help but think that it lacks its own identity. The music isn’t particularly memorable, aside from bits that sound like classic Star Wars music. That’s not to say it’s bad, the music tracks are fitting to the levels they’re used. One credit I can give to its implementation is that its dynamic, though not in PS1 version. The music can change to battle music if the situation gets hairy, and the transition is seamless. The music is MIDI, The Force Engine makes use of uncompressed instruments, while PS1 version seems to use fully uncompressed music. It sounds great, though there are moments where the music ends and there’s silence for a few seconds before it can play again. The sound effects are quite good however.

DOS version runs at a fairly low framerate. Now, you could argue that DOS version DOES run at 60FPS, or at least it can. And I agree, it CAN run at 60. This is a difference between the game’s distribution sites and DosBox configurations. The GOG version sets its cycle count to max, meaning it can run at 60FPS. The Steam version, which is what I played, caps cycles at 20000, which is fairly low, resulting in lowered framerate. Of course, I could’ve just set that to unlimited and play the super smooth experience. But I’m a purist like that, if the publishers set it to 20000, then they must think it should provide a good experience. Anyway, moving to PS1 version’s performance, it’s not very good. The PS1 definitely has potential, if I look at a wall, the game actually runs at 60. If the game was adapted to use PS1’s 3D capabilities, then I’m sure it would’ve made for a better time. Unfortunately, they didn’t. At times it actually runs worse than the DOS version. That is on top of PS1’s unwieldy controls, I actually dreaded playing PS1 version, the aiming isn’t precise enough and you have to hold a trigger to strafe or look up and down. Of course, The Force Engine mitigates most of the issues of the base game, you can play at a higher resolution, making the picture look sharp, and at a high framerate, and you can look with a mouse both vertically and horizontally, and other goodies like mod support. If you want to play this game, the stock DOS version is fine enough, but I can highly recommend checking out The Force Engine for the quality of life improvements. Unsurprisingly, I don’t recommend the PS1 version. PC supremacy wins! I think The Force Engine shows the potential for an official remaster, in the same vein as System Shock: Enhanced Edition or Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour. While I doubt the level design would get changed or fixed, the sharper visuals and increased framerate do make for a more enjoyable experience.

Overall, Star Wars: Dark Forces is a fine enough first person shooter on its own, and it does bring some innovations and technical achievements to the table, but it’s not perfect. The level design can be confusing and the placement of mines and hazards can be an annoyance, which age it a bit. The game isn’t bad enough for me to not play it 4 times though… well, that includes PS1 version which isn’t very good, but y’know what I mean. If you’re a fan of Star Wars and/or old First Person Shooters, I can recommend this game, but be warned of its dated design.

original "review":
One of my childhood games, I remember it being fun but surprisingly difficult.

new review:
Continuing the tradition of revisiting my childhood games but on different platforms (a PS1 version for this one). I thought the game was decently fun, though the difficulty feels inconsistent. Sometimes you can have a win for free, and sometimes you get wrecked, mostly in levels with tight turns. I had a feeling that this game had a Crash Team Racing-like mechanic of slide boosting, because, c'mon, some of these turns are ridiculous, and only when I got to the Jungle Cruise I realized that R1 isn't a simple jump button, but is used exactly for that, power slide. That does make the races a little bit easier. No surprise I found this game difficult as a youngster, I probably didn't know about this boost mechanic. Another important thing for victory is knowing the shortcuts, which I remembered most of. With that, the game isn't very difficult to beat the first time, you'll probably have to restart the races a few times because the AI can be quite ruthless, but it's pretty manageable. On the positive there doesn't seem to be any rubber banding, if you get far enough ahead, other racers won't suddenly speed up to catch up. I repaired the machine in about 3 and a half hours. Of course you can play the races again for cups and other goodies for 100% completion, which I'd imagine are more difficult to obtain, but I'm focusing this review on the any% completion. Besides the races there are these little challenge stages where you have to find 30 coins in a time limit, and these are basically like small open worlds where you have to get these things. These aren't very difficult either.

The settings for race tracks are varied and imaginative because they're based on the attactions at Walt Disney World. I think. A small touch I like is that in every track you're riding a different vehicle, in the first level (Big Thunder Mountain) you're riding little trains (or I think they're like trains) for example, and boats in Pirates of the Caribbean level, which is fitting.

There are some things that I don't like however. The rings that you race through and unlock a shortcut aren't consistent, I swear sometimes I race through all of them and the shortcut doesn't open. Perhaps it's a power-up hitting me that resets the ring progress but that feels unfair since other opponents can race through these shortcuts as well. Exclusive to this PS1 version (well I assume it isn't much worse in a Dreamcast version) is some abysmal lag. Now I'm not a framerate snob, while the framerate isn't very consistent the game is very much playable, however I still aknowledge that the inconsistent framerate is there, and sometimes it can get pretty low (most noticeably during water races), and some other players may be put off by this.

But overall I think this is a fine racing game. Sure it might be just another Crash Team Racing clone, but the formula works and I enjoyed the game a decent amount.

Ratatouille for Nintendo DS is a 3D platformer spiced up with touch screen cooking mini-games. The platforming aspect is decent enough, you can wall scramble by mashing the A button and wall jump by pressing B. Your objective in most levels is to find required items which involves a little bit of exploration, or the levels can be a linear (or non-linear) A to B affair. I think the level design in this game isn't as dull as it is in GBA version, I kinda enjoyed myself, but this game does have a big issue. There aren't many unique levels, so you'll find yourself playing the same levels a few times, which becomes a bit repetitive. Another issue, which is similar to GBA version, is that it's lacking in challenge. There's plenty of hazards, but the health pickups are also almost everywhere. There are also stars, with 100 earning an extra life and lives themselves can be occasionally found. By the end, I've earned more than 30 lives, and only died a single time. The only challenging part of this game is cooking. You use touch screen to draw different patterns in tap in some way to prepare ingredients, which is timed. Then you cook the dishes by stirring the cooking, then throwing some stuff in when its time. You can use a microphone to cool down the dish if its about to burn. Unlike GBA version, I have not burned a single dish. Lastly, you finish the dishes with more touch screen action. These mini-games aren't as common and serve as a nice break from 3D action. Even though I failed finishing the dish/preparing an ingredient a couple times, I didn't feel like there was any sort of punishment, I guess the only punishment is spending more time doing these, since the cooking is on a time limit. Still though, it felt more stressful than the 3D platforming, that's for sure. The graphics look pretty decent with few slowdowns, but the music is pretty much the same as in GBA version, it has that French style but I didn't think it was super special. Also, it doesn't loop properly in this version, transitioning into ambient noises. In the end, repetitive platforming does knock this game from being decent to average, but I do think it's vastly superior to Ratatouille GBA. If you wanted to play a Ratatouille videogame, this DS one wouldn't be a terrible pick, though Asobo's version and, as I've played recently (in 2024), the PSP version are much better options.