A piss poor action platformer. There's fall damage in this game, and it's pretty inconsistent, I can just walk off a ledge and fall a small distance, and somehow take damage, and sometimes not, which doesn't make any sense and it's very annoying in general. There's practically no I-frames and the enemies will drain your health fast, and you will die from quick enemies that assault you from offscreen like bats. The screen is tiny, but the sprites are large, creating screen crunch and a lot of trial and error. There are no continues, and the soundtrack is repetitive, making for a mind numbing experience. Best to avoid this.

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.

Batman: The Video Game for the Game Boy is a decent shooty platformer. The power-up system is strange at first, as the blocks that contain the items can contain both power-ups and power-downs, which can discourage breaking them, but you can memorize what item does what. The levels are breezy for the first 2 stages (or worlds if you prefer), and don't have a lot of trial and error, which is nice. The third stage consists of 2 shoot 'em up levels, and these are some of the most intense shmups i've played in a while, there's a little bit of trial and error but it is satisfying to beat the bosses of these levels. Unfortunately, stage 4, the last one in the game contains a huge difficulty spike. The game is short and not terribly difficult up to this point, but 4-2 is a hell of a level. First, this level is an autoscroller, unlike any other platforming level before, second almost every platform is populated with turret enemies that will shoot each time they take damage, so you need to dispatch them quickly and sometimes they're placed close to the edge, meaning that you'll need to precisely position yourself on the platform without taking the damage from the turret or falling into the pit, and speaking of pits, the level is almost entirely bottomless pits, with little breathing room. Air control isn't the best, but the levels before never had platforming this precise. It also feels like the jump button occasionally doesn't register, which results in the player falling to their doom. This level is pure memorization. The boss battle is also frustrating, it's similar to the boss in the very first stage, but takes more damage to defeat, and if you don't defeat Joker, you'll have to redo first levels of the stage again, meaning going through 4-2 all over again. At least the game offers unlimited continues, which is nice.

Overall, besides the brutal last stages, I think this is a fine and enjoyable platformer, shooting through the enemies and item blocks is satisfying, and the levels offer variety in terms of locations and challenges it presents. The music is also pretty good, Sunsoft was good at bringing some great chiptunes on 8-bit consoles, and this game does live up to the expectations, bringing some of the best music I've heard from the Game Boy. The game is not perfect, but I think it's good enough to recommend to the platforming fans, especially 8-bit hardcore fans.

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 think combining all 3 schools in the same universe is pretty cool, and opens up for more interesting character interactions. The stories and characters are fun, the gameplay is still repetetive but at least there's autoplay button so i don't have to do actual rhythm gameplay (then again I'm playing on emulated android and don't feel like switching to a phone). The game feels less generous compared to the previous game but you can still manage to get cool drops without spending money (also, Kasumi Nakasu is the best character, NO COMPETITION dont @ me k thx bye).

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.