Sonic the Hedgehog 2 has a sweet spot to its length that makes it the most played classic Sonic game for me, regardless of all the amount of times I decided to replay Sonic 3 & Knuckles as well. Huge emphasis on speed, yet retains Sonic 1's more trap-filled slow-paced platforming that was present in zones like Marble Zone and Labyrinth Zone with Metropolis Zone. Metropolis Zone literally being the only zone in the game with Sonic 1's three act structure. Piling on the pop culture references with Super Sonic's clear Dragon Ball inspiration, retconning the six Chaos Emeralds for seven and Dr. Eggman's very own Death Star. You get a glimpse of Sonic's aviator influence with the aviator badge inspired design of the first game's logo as well as this game's, so Sky Chase Zone actually having you fly on Sonic's Tornado is a cool thing to flesh out Sonic's world. In fleshing out Sonic's world, Tails "Miles" Prower is introduced, who's the iconic and cute friend for Sonic's character to bounce off of. While I was the player 2 when playing the game with my brother as a kid, Tails was never my go-to character in the classics, heck nowadays I barely play with Sonic & Tails together since he usually gets in the way during Special Stages, but occasionally I do allow the little guy to tag along and at this point Tails is just such a lovable and frequently recurring character that I couldn't imagine him not being in the franchise. The Spin Dash also makes its first appearance, being such a thrill, with the ability to maintain speed and keep the momentum going.

I think I'm fine with the game ending with the nearly impossible boss gauntlet in Death Egg Zone at this point, but with how little you hear that twisted Death Egg Zone theme if you run straight to the boss, I kind of get this weird feeling like it was meant to be a longer zone. The theme stands out to me in displaying Dr. Eggman's goofy, yet legitimately terrifying nature, but I do love that, you have to at least get caught off guard by it when you arrive. Considering all the cut content, the death pit of spikes in Mystic Cave Zone Act 2 being an infamous indicator of the Hidden Palace Zone, I wouldn't be surprised that they had more planned for Death Egg Zone. Even though the original game had a story to tell with the progression of the environments and the true ending's outcome, Sonic 2 has this emotional climax, that signalfies Tails' admiration and friendship with Sonic, Masato Nakamura's chiptune rendition of Dreams Come True's "Sweet Sweet Sweet" that plays during the ending gives the game an emotional weight, distinctive from the rest of the classic Sonics. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 does everything you'd want from a sequel, improving from the original, introducing new elements and soaring ever higher in scope.

Cw: Transphobia, present trans politics

When Haru said that she's incapable of fighting for her rights as a trans person, I felt that. That it's just too much for her to handle, it's something I've actually been grappling with, with all the current anti-trans laws, getting into leftist politics and just growing into the woman that I am. I feel like I should be able to do everything I can to fight back, I want to with all my power, but I'm just not capable of it, I can only do so much and I have to accept that and it really sucks. Even though the game takes place in Japan, the fact that it goes into how it's so hard to even go out with friends and celebrate your birthday in public as a trans person, reflects so much how society still has a massive amount of work to do in accepting LGBTQIA+ people, minorities and diversity in general. For a game to simply explore this hardship in 2019 with its easily digestible writing and cute aesthetics, remaining relevant to my life now, it surprisingly stuck with me. Despite the depressing circumstance that Haru has to deal with in all walks of her life as a trans woman, her friends doing everything they can to celebrate her birthday in whatever way regardless, genuinely warmed my heart. Despite people who are too ignorant or close-minded to be accepting and understanding, despite people who make it their mission to cause others suffering, despite everything wrong with living in a capitalist society, what makes life so unbearable to live will always be triumphed by everything that makes it oh so worth living.

Sonic Frontiers: The Final Horizon is Sonic at its most unhinged. Ranging from excitement, to frustration, this feels like an experience that I can't help, but admire, despite having a dislike for the direction it takes as well. Something about how bonkers the level design gets got a thrill out of me and it's genuinely nice to have more playable characters again, especially Amy. While, I don't think I want to play a Sonic game that pushes me to my limit like this, there's a sense of satisfaction that came from overcoming it all. It punches above its weight as the main game did, but to an utterly insane degree. With all that fucking build up, I wanted the finale to blow my damn mind and yeah, it had me in tears too. I love this beautiful mess...

Bad, very bad in a charming sense, like, martial arts film with a hilariously cheesy dub kind of bad. I had to mash to really get any specials out, but I don't know there's something about going back to my mashing roots like I'm a kid again that really resonates with me. Apparently, you're supposed to hold a punch or kick button, input the motion then let go(negative edge/release input). There's a certain kind of satisfaction in the weight of the characters and getting through the game, just one of those games that's easy to poke fun of in a affectionate way and honestly I'm not surprised that Street Fighter started and continued on from here, despite its glaring flaws. It's funny that the Bouncer of all games emulated the light/hard press mechanic this game had with the big button arcade cabinet.

Ridge Racer V is a difficult game, which is a massive departure from Type 4's more pleasant and easy going difficulty, that I feel compliments the game's entire direction. The music is a lot more abrasive, the announcer has a less relaxed cadence and a new racing queen Ai Fukami replaces fan favorite Reiko Nagase. The visual aesthetics are of that Y2K futurism era and even though it's going for a different tone, it does feel like a Ridge Racer game with the mix of urban, seaside views and drifting.
While I do enjoy how it's a tougher game than Type 4, I'll admit that a Ridge Racer game being a relaxing experience appeals to me a lot more. The fact that this game made me question if I preferred it over Type 4 says something about its quality and appeal though and I would love to be able to play the game on original hardware, or at least a smoother experience than how my PC was emulating it.

EDIT June 1st 2023: I must have been playing it on normal difficulty, because I made sure to put it on easy this time and it's a lot more laid back. Also, using a later build of PCSX2 that emulates the game better on my PC, even though it's not perfect, so uh yeah this game rules!

I was afraid that coming back to this game would be a little disappointing, but damn did it prove me wrong. What I truly appreciate about this game is that it's uniquely a Dragon Ball game, not Street Fighter, not Tekken, not Guilty Gear, not Marvel vs. Capcom, not Power Stone, Dragon Ball. Dimps perfects Budokai from this point, the gameplay's snappy and I think this aspect might be contentious the Dragon Rush where your character performs this sequence of barrage attacks that turns into a rock-paper-scissors mini-game, along with the beam struggles and Burst Mode clashes are only enhanced by the game's cel-shaded visuals and animation work. It's a PS2 game with 3D models that replicate Dragon Ball so well for the time and the animations are so expressive and cool as hell, it brings that cocky Toriyama attitude to life with ease.

Kenji Yamamoto might have plagiarized a lot of music throughout his career, but his work screams Dragon Ball Z to me and Budokai 3's original tracks are excellent. It's hilarious that the last time I actually got into this game was when I was in my teens, I did come back to it briefly years ago, but even now the controls and tech are engrained in me from the countless hours playing it. Bulma being cut as a playable character is probably the only genuine complaint I have with this game, despite that it's still one of the best Dragon Ball games ever and arguably the best there is.

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.

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.

Metal Black's surrealist imagery, bleak and lonely atmosphere, as well as its eclectic soundtrack from Yasuhisa Watanabe, unleashed a newfound appreciation for the shoot 'em up genre and developer Taito. There's nothing quite like Taito's shoot 'em ups and this isn't even the one I'd consider their best. It's honestly one of those games that continues to stay in the back of my mind and I get this constant urge that I should write an essay on what it manages to convey. Video games don't have to be filled with hour long cutscenes or be dialogue-heavy to provoke that level of thought.