Awesome collection, Digital Eclipse does great work on these retro compilations. I never got to play any of these back in the 90's so it's fun to try them out, especially with the added options to this collection like God Mode. $40 is a little steep but for the effort put into the collection I think it is worth it.

Great compilation of classic Mario Party goodness only held back by a lack of content. What is there is great, it just could have really used more boards. But besides that it's a fun time and a great translation of the N64 games to the Switch.

2016

I love this game. I love the ocean, I love sea creatures, being able to just peacefully explore these beautiful areas and watch the sea life was great. So many wonderful moments in this game, from the fear of diving into the murky depths to meet the basking shark to swimming alongside colossal blue whales. The story is told wordlessly, and while simple was still a peaceful and emotional journey. The music is also perfect, I love the OST for this game, especially the track for the final segment.

This game is entirely worth the $20 it goes for, but it goes on sale for really cheap too. If you love peaceful games where you can just take in the experience at your own pace, or love the ocean, I highly recommend ABZU.

2023

It's a sweet little game. It's mechanics are simple but combined with the short length it does not get repetitive. A cute story of unlikely friends working together, with the "story" and gameplay seamlessly woven together through your actions. It's such a short experience I do not want to spoil, it's better to just experience it.

The price might be a little high for a 2 hour game, but I appreciate a game that can make it's mark without feeling padded. No moment felt wasted, it did exactly what it set out to do and ended.

I love the little fawn and pup, love this little story, made me cry (but that's not exactly hard to do lol).

One of my top games of the year so far.

Resident Evil 4 is one of the most timeless games, but this remake is great all on its own and stands alongside the original as a unique experience. We now just have more Resident Evil 4 in the world and that's tasty.

For a 4 dollar eshop game I think Sonic Blast is not that bad, I don't even think it was that bad for a handheld platformer of the time; the controls are a bit chunky and the camera is REALLY zoomed in, but it's a pretty average platformer, only held back by not being as good as better Sonic games on the same system.

I enjoyed the game, Zone 4 Blue Marine, that level was trash (like the worst Ecco the Dolphin level with sluggish controls and a really zoomed in camera), but besides that the levels are all pretty breezy and some of the bosses are pretty fun.

It's fine, good for a quick 40 minute playthrough.

This is a tentative review, if the game gets a deep discount, or if the DLC is substantial, I will reevaluate.

Played this game on the free NSO trial, and I am glad I did because I can not justify buying the whole game, even for the sale price of $45 dollars.

I don't think that Fae Farm is a bad game, I enjoyed the time I spent playing it, but for such a huge price tag I can't get over how unpolished and unfinished the game feels. The game does have a lot going for it, I like how smooth traversal is, I love the double jump with wings to get around, quality of life features like automatically swapping to the tool you need or spells having utility with farming/mining are really appreciated, but none of that makes it a must buy.

The NPCs are completely lifeless, most just shop keepers that all repeat the same 2-3 lines of dialogue, and even the more story important characters are written in the same way so it sounds like every single character has the same "voice." There is little to dating in a genre where dating already feels shallow in some of the best titles.

Character creation has pretty few options which is unfortunate, I don't mind the My Sims look of the characters, but they don't give you a lot to work with. You also can't rename your character without making an account outside the game... the fuck?

Inventory management is annoying, with there being no rhyme or reason to the item stacks, and items not displaying names when you scroll over them so you need to click each one.

Those are more minor nitpicks I know. The farming and mining gameplay is fine, nothing groundbreaking, but without any investment in the story or world, it feels like I'm just grinding to grind... and I did kind of enjoy that in a lazy way, but with the game doing absolutely nothing special in any regard, I could get that same fix and also enjoy a game I care about.

To me, the game is just a shallow by the numbers farm game but at a premium price. Not bad, but not really compelling either.

A lot of people seem to like it, so maybe I am just spoiled off Starwdew Valley and Rune Factory, but I suggest at least waiting for a 50% off sale or until after both DLCs release before picking it up.

Horror fishing games are a really untapped genre. Fishing games are usually cozy and horror games usually aren't, so maybe that is why the two genres aren't paired together much, but Dredge shows how coziness and fear work really well together.

There's something about the calm feeling of fishing but having to monitor the sun because you know once it goes down you need to get back to port that I find so interesting. Especially with how much I enjoy the fishing and really wanted to stay out catching fish but needed to weigh the sanity affects of being out at dark and the creepy creatures of the deep coming out. The feeling of getting your haul back to port in pure darkness while feeling like something is coming for you is such a thrill without really betraying the fishing game roots.

Dredge is really greater than the sum of its parts. The game has you fish with simple but varied fishing minigames and adding your catches to your ship's limited cargo via the RE4 style inventory minigame. You bring the fish back to port to sell for money you can use to upgrade your boat to catch more fish, move faster, and have more light for night time fishing. It's all simple on the surface but the horror edge along with excellent sound design and the simple but addictive gameplay loop fueled by constant rising and falling tension all come together to create a captivating experience.

The story is also interesting enough but the strong gameplay loop and atmosphere are what kept me hooked on the game.

I recommend it if you want a different style of cozy game or if you like fishing games in general.

I put this game down for so long, I started it back when I was in High School I think, right around the time I started getting into JRPGs and game collecting so this game fell by the wayside after only getting 1/3 the way through the game.

Finally picked it up again, playing on a frontlit NES GBA to emulate the look of the DS phat I played it on originally back then. I find some of the game design annoying, like baby Mario flying off over pits or inside bosses where he is hard or impossible to reach, and how slow the game can feel at times, but it's all really minor and I think the game is great. I'm sure the SNES version looks and sounds better but this was the only version I knew originally.

I love the backgrounds so much, especially the autumn forest ones and the caves. The cave theme in this game is AMAZING. Slightly spooky slightly soothing. I suck at video games so this game can be a little hard for me, but otherwise it is such a cozy game with pretty graphics and great music and a laid back approach to gameplay (in most levels).

If you haven't played it already you should give it a try on a lazy afternoon.

It's a cute little experience, very short but it's free so I can't really complain, but being back in this world for even a brief amount of time was lovely.

Neat little puzzle game, it's very relaxing and easy to play while listening to music or watching something. Making efficient metro systems can be tough but it's nice to see your efforts function well. Not much to say, this was my chill out game for a while when I just needed something to take my mind off other things and it did a good job.

This game was really cute. The graphics are really pleasant, and the gameplay is simple but almost zen. Also very neat how it tells a story with little to no dialogue but through the items your character keeps or doesn't and the spaces they inhabit. Very cute romance, and nice to have an indie without a huge twist, just a peaceful short experience.

This is a really fun minigame collection. Some of the minigames are definitely funner than the others (I was not as into the motion games and preferred the simple reaction games personally).

Working the payment into the story was an interesting touch, especially with the game wanting you to pay was little as possible (the final price is under half what the game would cost if you bought full price, making it a pretty affordable collection for what you get).

It has that certain charm that 3DS charm that I miss. With the eshop shutting down, not knowing how it would affect this game, I wanted to make sure I "beat" it and had everything unlocked, and I am glad I did.