Jet Set Radio is the perfect example to me, that having nostalgia for a flawed retro game is not the end all be all to actually be able to enjoy it. Sure, I definitely did not enjoy it much at the beginning, but the more I got into it, that growing fondness for the game, became euphoric. I was obsessed, pretty much drooling over the sequel I still haven't gotten to finish. Constantly listening to the JSR soundtracks, literally buying a physical copy of the combo pack of Jet Set Radio Future that came with Sega GT 2002, and not being able to get it to work on a relative's 360, pain... Vibes can genuinely carry a game, let those vibes intoxicate you.

While it's not my favorite Smash, this game really gives me this nostalgic feeling that makes the game seem more ancient than it actually is. Before getting Brawl for Christmas along with my Wii, which was pretty much the best Christmas ever, I could only play Super Smash Flash and watch YouTube videos of Melee to really get a taste for it. There's this certain quirkiness to the game in general, that sticks out compared to the rest of the series, but the aspect that comes to mind is the visuals. Donkey Kong has this shit-eating grin, Yoshi's color is a darker shade of green, it has a odd visual style and the presentation in its entirety is what sells Melee as this bygone celebration of the Nintendo oldheads, Mr. Game & Watch had to join the fight even. Melee was the end of the Nintendo-only Smash era, and it delivers that with such grandeur.

After his involvement in the first Virtua Fighter as designer and coordinator, Seiichi Ishii went on to design and direct the original Tekken. Which became a competitor to the Virtua Fighter series and for the first game this is honestly fine. I definitely made sure to play on easy so I'm not stuck fighting the same opponents hours on end like I had to suffer through in my childhood, but it's surprisingly snappy and fun enough to play, even if it's not on the level of its sequels. Tekken has a more gritty tone here and the characters just have a bit more sauce compared to Virtua Fighter(I love its characters and the Sega charm personally) which gives it a broader appeal, though for the first game it also has a very strange, ominous vibe and it's clear that Namco was trying to capture something even if it's not fully fleshed out yet.

Oddly comforting, it's definitely the kind of licensed game you'd come across on the GBA, with 3D visuals and a shovelware look. Isometric GBA Spyro-esque, with controls that are a bit unwieldy at first, but do work, the more you grasp them. Has this otherworldly vibe, like entering horse racing purgatory, especially with the music that plays on the title screen. Yet the menu/in-game music has this heavenly sound, that makes me want to sleep to it, doesn't help that the game's animations run at a slow pace, like it's in rhythm to the music. For its odd qualities I do think it's worth giving a try.