Been using this as my main thumb-twiddler the past month or so. I definitely enjoy this game, I just can’t tell if I can classify it was “good” or “well-made,” lol. One thing is has going for is its aesthetic; basically just Castlevania a-la early RPG Maker and Adobe Flash, and I kind of really liked it. Felt very nostalgic for that early era of online indie pixel nostalgia. It’s a great phone game because 1). it’s great in portrait mode and 2). it does not take much thought or engagement at all, really. I also really appreciate the variety. It feels like a game where everyone has their own favorite character (shout out to my bitch Poppea). I only got weird vibes from the strange translations for everything. Couldn’t tell if stuff like “King Bible” and “Tirajisu” are just to give off the vibe of a poorly translated NES title on purpose or if everything was just run through Google translate two or three too many times. I guess it could be both, huh? The reason I’m quitting it is mainly because I found myself just trying and failing at unlocking certain achievements over and over, and I don’t think this is a game I can enjoy without a goal set in mind. Like, I can’t imagine myself itching for one random round just for funsies. I guess that’s why my brain just gets tired of games like this and 20 Minutes Till Dawn, and only really found myself enjoying these rogue-likes with a game like Hades. Anyways I can finally offload the 1GB this game takes up off of my old 64GB iPhone and move on to better uses of my time.

Mega Man was always one of those series that I reveered as a child but didn’t exactly play a lot. I mean, this series is one of the NES franchises, and as a teen raised by AVGN and those inspired by him, I just always heard about this motherfucker. So much so, that I got Mega Man 9 and Mega Man 10 on the Wii when the released way back when. A new game with NES graphics, I mean, I ate them up at the time. I got the second volume of the Legacy Collection because it not only had those two that I played a lot of as a kid, but also the 8th installment, which I had seen recently is very coveted among true fans of this series.

However, before moving on to the latter three games in this collection I felt obligated to play this one, and it may have soured me on Mega Man before I even got going! I feel like a lot of people are lukewarm on this installment, anyways, but I think I’m just lukewarm on the whole thing. See, because Mega Man is a series defined by its legacy as a classic NES game, it feels like every new game was designed not to be updated because half of the appeal, according to the designers, are those clunky and old school things that make a game less fun. Mega Man doesn’t crouch because, well, Mega Man doesn’t crouch. It doesn’t matter how nice it would be to have different heights for your attack, Mega Man DOESN’T CROUCH! Also, spikes are an instant death. It doesn’t matter that levels seemed designed without that fact in mind, and there are sections of some levels that seem like they want to launch you in the spikes once just to teach you about a level’s gimmick, but then you get sent back to the beginning. But, I mean, what can ya do? In Mega Man, spikes are an instant death. Because they always were.

Needless to say this game made me angry. Thank god for the Legacy Collection’s “LOAD LAST CHECKPOINT” option. I was clicking that button, plenty. The password system was honestly really funny, because I haven’t played a game that used that in ages, and I figured by the SNES we weren’t really using that for these bigger games. However! Then I remembered, after figuring I would just give up on the Wily’s Castle levels, that I can input a password to get me to the end! So I did, and then the boss kicked my ass, then when the second phases started, I said “actually, forget it.”

When I first gave this version a go I found it a bit underwhelming and I’m over that now, but then am also underwhelmed in different areas. The standard Tetris game feels sooo good here. Maybe the best feeling Tetris I’ve ever played, and if I’m ever getting a twitch for it I’ll definitely be coming back to this one. The thing is the other mini-games aren’t really my jam. The ‘puzzle’ game is interesting, but fuck if I’m gonna do a billion of those, lol. ‘Catch’ is really promising, but I don’t really get it. I just never cracked the nut and figured out what could be really interesting about it. I really, really liked the ‘touch’ game’s concept but it plays so poorly. Rotating and sliding pieces never feels right on the first try, it’s like actually try to move human-sized Tetris pieces. So, like, Tetris is so perfect, and it feels so good here, and I think this is just jam-packed with some extras that range from “alright” to “good,” so, what can ya say? That’s a pretty good Tetris right there, I guess.

I guess I’m just the early-DS library’s biggest defender. Look, I’m not a Super Monkey Ball expert, but I’ve earned my stripes. I was there in the McDonalds’ PlayPlace with a GameCube controller in-hand, running the gauntlet while breathing in the stale air of a public indoor playground. I grew up mostly, though, with this title, and I’ve come back to it in anticipation of the series’ newest entry, only to find the reviews filled with anti-fun losers!

The people who complain about this game’s controls just sound like the same drones who complain about every Nintendo DS game actually integrating one of the console’s defining features into their game’s design. I personally never had a problem with the touch controls, but, also, they are completely optional? You can just use the control pad if you’re skill isn’t up to par to use the stylus, which, obviously requires a little more precision and patience and steadiness that isn’t required of button inputs. Touch controls, though, also allow for a different and more fliud kind of movement because you’re not tied to 8 different directionals. The world is your oyster. I found I was using the control pad for maps that needed speed and the touch controls for maps that needed precision.

Some of the levels here were real gems, too. Had me really under pressure, stressed, frustrated, but that coaster of emotion is, like, the core of this series. While the later levels drove me crazy, the satisfaction of beating them was there at the end every time. Those last two zones are a real doozy, just the last couple of levels took me about half of today. Super Monkey Ball is so fucking exhilirating, man.

Then there’s the party games, all perfect for the DS and its multiplayer functionality. Earlier last year, actually, my partner and I had a bit of a game night with this game and it was plenty of fun with one cartridge and DS Download Play. Remember that? By the time the DSi was rolling around, it basically ceased to be used in any meaningful way in most games, but this era of ‘04-‘07, the DS was really stressing its wireless capability, in a grand celebration of the death of the link cable.

The air hockey and bowling segments are highlights for me, I can definitely see myself getting into heated matches in the hockey game, or trying to get 300 in bowling. The “monkey war” one is just insane, though. That was where younger-me was spending the most time when I had this way back when. Then there’s the credits mini-game which you can’t skip through and are given to play after every zone of the challenge mode. Bad idea, truly, especially since the credits are accessible from the menu. Even in the credits, though, like in some of the party games, the physics isn’t completely there and there could be some tweaks to be made as well.

‘Touch ‘n’ Roll’ is an amazing display of the Nintendo DS’ features, and my reviews of past handheld titles will reveal that a game, especially a DS game, actually utilizing the console its on really reels me in. Admittedly, I guess, more than it does for most. Though, if I wanted to introduce someone to this console I would probably pick this game, honestly. Levels are great, it’s got a great look, perfectly utilizing both sprites and 3D environments.

You know, I don’t think I’ve ever actually completed a Sonic game before? The blue blur and I actually go way back. Which, lol, I say that as if i wasn’t a child born in 1997. Though, I think, actually, in a time where my family was not one to get many new games, I think ‘Sonic X’ might actually be my first worthwhile run in with the wee hog. Memories of being sat in front of a modest TV in the living room of the two-bed apartment we lived in for but a year; an episode in which Sonic and friends must finally leave the world of humans. It was a sad episode that I don’t remember the ending of, because I had a complete meltdown at the idea of the show ending and started bawling. I cried a lot as a kid and most of my very vivid memories before puberty are moments where I cried. Through all those years, though, Sonic the Hedgehog was there.

I have played the very first game, ages ago, thanks to a Sega Genesis plug-‘n’-play device that had the first Sonic along with other Sega classics that would enamor me much less than the little woodland boy. Sonic Adventure 2: Battle would be my first Gamecube game, along with some others, though I didn’t really know how memory cards worked back when I first had the Gamecube. So, I would never bolster a significant playthrough in that game until much later, but my brother and I would have many bouts in the titular battle mode. Sonic Rush was actually my first game on the Nintendo DS, a game I would opt to get instead of Pokémon Pearl Version!!! Although at this point I was much deeper into the video game paint, I still could not crack the later levels of ‘Rush’, and haven’t to this day.

I would even spring for getting Sonic Advance 3, secondhand, probably pre-owned from GameStop for an actually reasonable price. A game I liked so much that I would make a YouTube video on it, inspired by the (mostly soiled) group of AVGN copycats that ruled the internet in the mid-2010s. Of course, because I circled the orbit of that era of YouTube, I also was deep into classic gaming takes, such as “2D Sonic games are the only good ones,” or, “actually there is not really a single good Sonic game at all.” I mostly went along with certain consensus such as those when I was a kid, I feel like a lot of people just kind of went along with what other people were saying about most games, let alone Sonic. This series has been one ruled by narratives and discourse, especially, and it’s one that really makes me feel like nobody is ever correct. People are either pouring out love for something that I don’t get or shitting on something and completely writing it off out of nowhere.

‘Generations’ feels like a response to the discourse. “Fine, you want 2D Sonic? Here it is! Look, here are some beloved levels, remixed, and the 3D Sonic fans get something, but also the 3D levels will also have 2D sections because we really don’t have any confidence to stand beside anything we were doing the last decade, I guess.” Back then, I was on board because, despite not really playing a whole lot of different Sonic games, myself, I still felt like this nostalgia trip was also my own, as well, even though back when I first played this game I only really recognized a few levels. As a kid, I was playing this on Xbox 360 back around when it came out and, guess what, I didn’t beat it back then. I’ve had this game on Steam for a handful of years and have barely touched it, so I thought I’d give it a go, what with the new rendition coming out this year. Which, I must say, it is pretty hilarious to release what is essentially DLC for ‘Generations’ instead of remastering any of the titles still trapped on the Wii or ‘Unleashed’, even.

Though, maybe this game needs it because, well, I didn’t really like it. Before I get into specifics, I will say, the PC port drove me mad. Had to really mess around and look up on forums what proper configurations would make the game stutter less and even after that, I still had so many instances where the game would stop for five seconds, sometimes, and I’d have to hope I could time my next input well for when the game resumed. It wasn’t until I got to Planet Wisp that the game had a coniption during Act I, when I tried to use the wisp ability for the first time. I had to force restart my computer because the game wouldn’t alt-tab away. Having a seperate program installed in order to configure graphics and fucking controls(?!), too, it’s a little funny that this port is still so archaic since it’s basically the only way to play this that’s not secondhand. Not for the faint of heart (people with older computers).

Besides all that, I mean, this game still has so much jank. It gets worse as the levels go on, funny enough, as the timeline of Sonic games gets deeper into its 3D era, this game’s levels start to feel more and more exhausting and torturous, as well. A wonderful parallel, truly. A lot of deaths that happened to me can be attributed to this design flaw in the homing attack. Especially when looking top-down, it’s hard to tell if Sonic’s got his feet fully-planted on the ground before you jump again. If you’re a pixel too high off the platform, pressing ‘A’ again to jump will activate the homing attack and send you flying. Doesn’t exactly attribute itself to speedy gameplay if I have to be more cautious, and this feels like something that could’ve been fixed by designing a little more lee-way for what the game considers to be an airborne Sonic.

There are a couple good levels here. But, like, a couple. Rooftop Run was really fun and then it’s so funny because the Planet Wisp level is maybe the worst advertisement for Sonic Colors they could’ve possibly made. The challenges that you have to do at least a handful of to unlock bosses can go fuck themselves. Somehow the lord our god waived his hand over the developers of this game and only made one challenge per zone required, but even then, give me a break. These challenges are exactly the kind of thing a developer has trouble making consistently interesting and engaging so you get near the end and they all feel…strange, because they’re really half-assed. The rival bosses are cute but they mostly drove me nuts. All of the bosses have at least a moment that made me feel insane, but then the final boss you barely have to think at all there’s no creativity to using two sonics at the same time at all, and that made me feel insane. The rival bosses are all about going fast and catching up the your rival to attack them and there are sometimes where you feel like that’s impossible because of some phantom force in the game’s scripting that’s acting against you despite everything.

That’s what playing a Sonic game always felt like, to me, really. Trying to force something in a game that doesn’t want the best for you. There’s always some weird bug or glitch or design flaw that makes you die for no reason, even when you’re flying high it’s only a matter of time before it all comes crashing down. Even when it does, though, Sonic has a huge safety net to fall on: nostalgia and legacy. Everyone has a Sonic game they haven’t actually played in years but says is good, but all Sonic games are bad except that one that’s actually good because I remember it fondly, and the next Sonic game coming up actually looks good until it comes out and then it’s a step in the right direction until it’s bad like all the other ones except for that one I like that the next game just has to replicate and then Sonic will be good again.

Have had this hanging from my keys, now, for a little over two months. I’ve run through 10 whole generations and participated in a few arena events, and I can sternly say this is one of the best Tamagotchi devices you can get. More lightweight, and smaller, but the screen is bigger than the last couple devices, the “On” and the “Pix,” that made it to the States officially. Did not spend much time with the watchstrap because, well, I’m an adult. A giant purple rubber watch that doesn’t tell time and is actually a little game with a little baby sticks out a bit too much for me.

Maybe could do with one more group of adults (some classic Tamas are sorely missed here), and they’re about to add some more things to the online “Tama-verse” that might add just the right amount of things to do to make each visit feel worthwhile. It’s not perfect, but it has so much to do. Have spent a decent chunk of time going on a walk with it, crafting a bunch of accessories and dressing up my Tama in different outfits to see what’s cutest. The games are fun, and change with each season, so I’ll probably get back to this once springtime rolls around officially, but, for now, I did feel myself starting to get a little bored with the cycle, so I’m putting it down for now to see if I miss it.

An amazing Harvest Moon title not in the sense that it is everything one of these titles could be, but it is absolutely everything that it should be. Coming off a playthrough of what is basically the newest version of this particular incarnation, it is hard to deny these older games have a certain air about them that makes these quirky, stylized simulation games so special. For instance, in newer installments, a visible meter helps you keep track of your stamina, and of how fatigued your character is of daily chores. In this game the only UI on the main screen is the date and time, which, you can even remove if you’d like to really go for it, raw. Hell, in this game, the amount of item slots you start with would seem like a war crime if implemented in a game released this decade. It is especially sociopathic in a game where you’re meant to start out by rummaging through the woods behind your farm for plants to sell, and need all of your tools to clean up and get your farm started. But, then I thought about it more, and the tenfold more amount of item slots you get in this series most modern entries started to seem less like a quality-of-life upgrade, but rather an “ease-of-life” upgrade. Harvest Moon: Back to Nature is hard because of its limitations, but not less playable. It’s trickier when you can’t see your stamina meter at all, let alone have a numerical value to measure it with. It’s harder to raise a horse when you have to guide it back into your barn before it rains or else it won’t grow well. It’s hard to raise livestock when they can be killed and- wait, killed and eaten by wild dogs if you leave them out overnight, holy shit?!

For me, it’s that slight little decrease in quality-of-life that makes for not only an interesting challenge for series-goers, but also creates a little more mystique, I think. I don’t quite know how to fully articulate it, but it is just the same as to why I prefer older Animal Crossing games to newer ones; there is something to these kinds of games being very shy to give you information, maybe even straight up being unfriendly to the player. It adds to what is usually the pretense to these games’ loose storylines: that you are a young adult on your own, trying to figure out this new life you have. Be it the secret, special events that a player could stumble into on complete accident, less obvious feedback given to the player, as well. It both creates an extra sense of wonder as well as an extra sense of accomplishment, at least for me.

Obviously, the biggest missing piece of these old games is homosexuality. While I might be able to easily pretend that the male protagonist is actually a butch lesbian, what with their backwards cap and love for denim, that’s not gonna cut it for everyone. Though, the thing is, at least with ‘Back to Nature’, it almost feels like the heteronormativity is the point. In our very westernized society, the ideal life of a rural day laborer is heavily entwined with the idea of nuclear family. The idea that your ordinary game of Harvest Moon is not complete without getting married and having a child feels integral to the (accidental) subtext of this simulation. You leave the city to work on a farm, you meet a wife and, well, if you get married, you’re gonna have a child because that’s what you do. Though, regardless of how you read into it, there is something about how actually fun it is to woo your woman in this game. Even though, like many other games, you are just clicking the right buttons, I think this game has the kinda of charm and well-written dialog to really make it feel like your character and another are actually getting to know each other deeper.

I fell for Karen in this run and she’s easily my favorite Mineral Town mama. Gets pregnant and her first thought is, “ah, shit, I guess I gotta quit drinking.” What a woman. The non-romanceable townsfolk in this game might leave something to be desired, and near the last couple seasons of year three, I found myself with seemingly unlimited funds and not really any goals left to achieve. The three-year test run the mayor is giving you to see if you’re fit to not only run the farm, but vibe with the neighborhood, is the perfect length to really do what mostly players need to and want to, and I really can’t imagine being the type to charge on much farther (unless you’d like to see your child grow up).

This particular port, by the way, released just last year for newer generations of Playstation, is a bit barebones. For one thing, any game that used to be made for 4:3 CRT televisions that don’t include the option for border illustrations should just not bother, but they at least had the right mind to include a scanlines filter and plenty of resolution choices. Also, maybe the most vital thing that might make it worth playing this instead of just emulation: there is a rewind option. Pretty great for a game where you might misclick and slice up a crop, or accidentally throw an egg on the floor, or maybe miss an event by an hour. For the USD$4.99 it is asking for, it is still a steal for one of the most essential experiences for those interested in this genre and series. I am still yet to play ‘Friends of Mineral Town’ for the Game Boy Advance, which is not only an improved version of this game, but also considered the best of the series by many. As much as I want to just jump into another huge farm life commitment, I do want to avoid series fatigue and maybe space out these games with some other experiences.

Maybe a game that’s making me wish I didn’t stick to whole star ratings. A high-3, if only because I still don’t love Ace Attorney’s model, It’s just a little too long-winded for my visual novel tastes (the fifth chapter’s trial had me exhausted), and a little too visual-novel-y for my adventure game tastes. For me to stay engaged in a mystery where I can start to see the beats line up along a rail, but have to wait for the trolley to chug on through them all, I just need a little more momentum. The autoplaying of dialog really saved my overall experience with this game; I even opted to use the “story mode” for the final chapter just because I didn’t have the heart to play through it all myself, and I was interested in seeing how it worked.

I cannot deny, though, my experience with The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures was leagues more exciting than my time trudging through the first couple of games in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy a few years ago. Besides the aesthetic being enormously more intriguing, the “deduction” sections help break-up the investigation segments of the game so much better and I just found myself a lot less disengaged for half of the game. Herlock Sholmes clears, what can I say?

What also got me locked in here was the general politics of it all on display. The way this game is about the British Empire imposing on the world their own systems, looking down on all foreigners, especially non-white foreigners. I mean, this is basically a racism simulator. The over-arching story really grabbed me along with the over-arching vibe, so once again I am finding myself adoring the world and characters of Ace Attorney, but just not really able to get locked into the game. Does make me deathly curious how I’d feel about Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright, since I really love the former’s gameplay and not the latter’s.

I will say, right off the bat, even as a trans woman, I do appreciate this game way more for its gameplay than its story and characters. Though, the characters are cute and charming, and the story is a more-than-serviceable tale of avoiding inward problems by giving yourself arbitrary outward tasks, I would say it is more a very functional context for what is truly some of the most satisfying, tight, punchy, addicting gameplay I’ve ever experienced in any indie game, let alone an indie platformer. It is pretty special, though, that the story runs parallel with the level design. A lot of the challenges here require dedication, perserverance, and commitment to hit the right beats to get from end to end. The game is insanely frustrating, but never in a way where it feels cheap, or anti-player. Like this is one of very few of these challenge-based games that actually feels like it respects its audience and is looking at you at eye-level. Even without the character arc of the player character basically being the game looking at you straight in the face yelling “don’t give up,” this game’s level design is just on another plane of existence, it feels.

This was the first game I ever streamed online and that was back during the summer of 2020, which might as well be a decade ago considering how much life happened to all of us and me in between now and then. I’d always toyed with replaying this game but never was able to really commit to it, but everyone talking about the sixth anniversary game got me really fantasizing about my return to the mountain. Or maybe it was FOMO. Never the less, after picking it up at the beginning of the month I found it very hard to put down, and found myself prioritizing this game over others that I’ve been playing for months whenever a block of free time presented itself. When I first played way back when, I didn’t exactly skirt all of the extra levels and challenges, but I was far from really putting a lid on this game. This time, at first, I merely wanted to make sure I was beating my old self; collecting more strawberries and dying much less. The latter being a bit of an easy task as some B-sides saw me racking up a little more than a thousand deaths on my first try.

As I toiled through this game, I not only found myself performing better at levels, but also learning better how to spot secrets. The game does a great job hiding secret passages in nooks and crannies that wink to a player who may just notice a little something is off about that corner over there. It does this, too, with subtley guiding the player to figuring out how to complete a certain challenge. It is an invisible guidance that exists only in the level design, but it’s the kind of stuff you realize is there when you nail a section on the first try because the game wired your instincts correctly. Near the beginning, the game tells the player to be proud of every death, that you may learn from each one. It seems like a cutesy little message that might remind one of how their mom cheers them up after a lost U-12 soccer match, but it is true. These platformers are all secretly puzzle games and with each death you kinda start to figure out what works and what doesn’t. Something I did differently in this second playthrough than my first, was that if something I was doing wasn’t working, I wouldn’t just die the same way 15 more times before realizing I might need to try something new.

So, yeah, I absolutely adored it on round two. Still feel far from a real desire to beat every level and even farther from wanting to 100% it, but it’s definitely up there with my favorite stuff of all time. Maybe I should try Super Meat Boy again…

A really wonderful little diner visit. Perfectly encapsulates the vibe of going to a late-night diner. There are the regulars, they get the vibe here. The machines are broken. They’re out of something. The back of house is ominous. There are two moo—two moons?! Definitely seems like something like A Short Hike where I’ll come back to it every now and then, but instead of coming back to it when I miss summertime, I’ll come back to this one when I’m feeling lonely around 1am, just like tonight. Redeemed Unity-made indie games for the time being. Reminded me a lot of Milk outside a bag of milk outside a bag of milk, in its haunting loneliness and art style (was surprised they weren’t made by the same folk). Having played that game on Switch last year opened the door for my mind to fully get locked in here. Will try for ending 2 sooner rather than later.

Some great, great monster design here. Some amazing little critters with a simple and rewarding breeding system that makes collecting and grinding different monsters a lot of fun; so much so that I found myself refusing to rush through this one as much as I wanted to get it over with, on one hand. The problem is the game is put together with scotch tape, and graphical and mechanical errors abound make it just, just, barely playable. The errors would be easier to ignore except it just really takes away a lot of agency from the player because I found it so much harder to not only stay immersed in the world, but also get a real handle on all of the mechanics. The glitches just make it feel like I’m outside of my experience of this game, like I’m not playing something real. Was basically missing that phase in the Pokémon Red & Green Versions development where a Miyamoto-type comes in and makes the game actually work at all.

Has a lot of good ideas. Like I said, the breeding mechanics are really nice, exploration is very well-designed. The world is not full of incorporated towns, but just a few here and there, and in between are these expansive areas full of secret caves and areas full of secret and optional things. Towns and kingdoms are really well-designed and, while they’re a little confusing to navigate (important buildings could do better to stand out), they look amazing. This game really nails the pixel-art, it’s clearly going for a Game Boy Color vibe and it sticks that landing, and the monster design has a very nice consistency in tone and design. The team here did a great job differentiating themselves from Pokémon, and in a climate that involves absolute gutter waste like Palworld, this was an absolutely wonderful experience.

This game does have DLC coming up, and that update might come with a graphical overhaul, but in its current state it is not an enjoyable experience. The UI is hard to navigate and when you do know what you’re looking at, you won’t be sure if anything’s working right. What I am confident of, though, is “Monster Crown 2” is going to go nuts.

This game was on my radar a bit. Like, it was a very faint blip on the edge of the display that I see and think, "oh, right, that thing..." It went on sale for $4.99 (what it is actually worth) so I decided to try it. It's definitely a really low budget Unity game. The wooden-marionette approach to its character design definitely lends itself to the quality of the entire game in the same way that Pixar decided to do a movie about toys because the animation technology wasn't advanced enough to make good-looking humans. Though, graphics are really only just one thing, and the game having a vision for its art design really does help you forget how low budget it looks. What's missing here, for me, is a compelling story, and some balance.

The wall I hit was an area being a little too difficult, level-wise, right after I had beaten an area that I was just strong enough to make it through. Maybe the consequence of a studio's first RPG that it doesn't nail level-progression too well, but it's a hump I didn't care too much to get over because the story is very tongue-in-cheek. Not exactly the type of person to find a character going "Oh, what a cliche!" very endearing. Very not-for-me on top of its problems, so I unfortunately do not care to finish this one. Which stinks because I feel like I'm not finishing too many things, but games are here to enjoy, not to toil over. I have to keep remembering that, lol.

Pretty fun as a nice challenge, as some who knows FireRed like the back of their hand, to go back to this one and try and beat it with all the first generation’s weird quirks, oddities, and limitations. Was worried I was going to need a lot of grinding, but my champion rival was a pretty easy feat, with limited healing items, to boot! Also just serves as a fun challenge because you have to account for Pikachu, a little guy with low HP and defense whose only real perks are its amazing speed and that it learns Thunderbolt naturally. I kept him leveled ahead of all the other teammates more and more as enemies became stronger and the little rodent held its own the whole way. ‘Red, Blue, and Yellow Versions’ are miracles in so many ways, and I feel like people like to dog on them, now, because it’s easy to look back at ‘Red Version’, in particular and go “wow, that game is ugly as shit and barely runs,” but isn’t that just the magic of game programming? Honestly felt like the 3DS version kinda had some porting bumps that made the game act odd (probably a result of tweaking some flashing lights and sprites when they ported this). I mean, at the end of the day I’m pretty proud of myself for actually going ahead and beating a Generation 1 game for the first time. Liked my team a lot, too, I don’t know how I keep finding ways to make the Kanto Pokédex interesting. Shout out to Fearow, the underdog MVP of my league run.

Really wanted to tough it out and beat it but, god, it’s such a tough one. So aesthetically pleasing, both musically and visually, but just feels like torture to play, and level design is very anti-player. Made worse because after a couple of levels I realized that a Scott Pilgrim game should’ve been an Earthbound-style RPG and probably would be if they decided on making a game post-Undertale, lol. Will always love this as a novelty which is why I don’t regret getting the Limited Run of it, and maybe I’d give it another go doing online co-op, but, well. Scott Pilgrim, if your life was a game I would punch it.