MegaDriveGirl
1992
Valis-esque, SFC kusoge that can leave a lasting impression due to its unsettling nature, and its even got Love-de-Lic DNA.
1983
An incredibly horny LaserDisc game with animation from Don Bluth. The Dragon's Lair compilation trilogy might be the most accessible way to play these games, but even then you'll still have to make an effort to complete it. It's honestly a game I find appealing even today, the amazing animation helps, but the way the game sells the adventure with emphasis on how the player interacts with it and its hero Dirk especially.
In a similar vein to both Vib-Ribbon and Rhyme Rider Kerorican, this is a game where you're a girl and you're strolling. Less emphasis on being a rhythm game, but the game does challenge you in the sense of jumping and collecting stars in the alotted time, as a nice assortment of 8-bit musical wonder(has a composition from Yuzo Koshiro, Yasuhisa Watanabe and Manami Matsumae)tags along.
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...
1985
Pre-Samus girlboss
2005
Not as good as the original, but still better than a lot of run and gun games imho. Love that Gunstar Red in this, is queer-coded and that playing the game on harder difficulties unlocks more plot points in the story. Definitely got me replaying the game more than I expected and I was able to grow more of an appreciation for it, despite it not being Treasure's best.
2012
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.
2002
Ikaruga is one of those games that I know for sure I'm not great at, but getting better with it on default settings and building those max chains is one of the greatest feelings to get from a video game ever. Every aspect of Ikaruga is some of the most inspired shit in a shoot 'em up too and that final level woooooo, orgasmic!
1999
This game has charm and fun can still be had even with all the sequels. The soundtrack and overall atmosphere of the original Super Smash Bros. is pretty distinct, which makes it an interesting novelty to come back to occasionally.
1993
Small packaged low-poly racing goodness accompanied by SuperSweep legends, Shinji Hosoe and Ayako Saso, assaulting your eardrums with infectious energy.
2021
Inject that Cyber World shit in my veins.
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.
2005
The Y2K aesthetic shoot 'em up.
2023
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is Team Reptile's most ambitious game. God, the fact that this passion project is trying to be the best it can be as a successor to Jet Set Radio Future and potentially better despite its budget, just makes it impossible for me to not love and get overwhelmed with emotion about it. The coolest game ever made :')
1994
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.