I've just gotten to Molly's room and this already the scariest game I've played in my life.

Following Completion Three Weeks Later

I didn't expect this to end up remaining with me so much. The Barbara section really piqued my interest, but the combination of Walter's story, the mechanics of Sam's flashback, and everything about Gregory building up to Lewis and the denouement. Wow.

Swung by my family's house to borrow my brother's switch and today I played a level where you get into a Clown Car that can spit fire and - get this - if you ingest a Fire Flower, it gets TRIPLE FIREBALLS. That's cool shit and stuff I want to see in the Ultimate Mario 3D Platformer RPG Adventure that I am speaking into existence.

Then Bowser Jr. shows up in his own fireball Clown Car with Koopa Shells and your task is to murder him. But, it really seems like canonically the Bowser breed of Koopa can survive falling into lava, because surely I will see Bowser Jr. again. It's just still somewhat discomforting to witness him being dipped in lava so casually.

Here's a debate that really ultimately doesn't matter to your health, well-being, and stability: Do you rate a piece of art/entertainment based on the context of its time or based on how it stacks up against the more evolved artifacts that have come since? I'm going to say - mix both these criteria and maybe Super Mario Bros. comes in at 4 stars. But then add a dash of "screw it," and you get my five star rating.

Nintendo has come to dominate the narrative of the 80's, painting itself as the savior of the video game industry after Atari nearly buried it in a landfill. So it'd be fascinating to see what would have happened to a franchise like, say, Pitfall, if Atari had remained in the game. Maybe then you'd get a rival to Mario. But as things stand, the sheer audacity of Miyamoto and Nintendo in taking a character from their blockbuster Donkey Kong franchise, warping him out of his vertical arcade roots, and transporting him into a world where the background wasn't stark black space created something that can still be picked up, played, and enjoyed until the heat death of the universe. Screw it, five stars.

Dark Moon came out during my Nintendo drought years. The first Luigi's Mansion was a treasured playthrough on the Gamecube, the console before the Switch that really had my attention. So the memories of the franchise when I picked up the sequel as an adult were far enough away for me to approach Dark Moon with an open mind regarding the mission structure.

I both appreciate the level-by-level gameplay and acknowledge that it breaks the immersion of the world's design. But kudos where kudos are due, part of the frustration of being yanked out of the world is due to genius level design. Combine this with a soundtrack that is both amusing and creepy and you've got a great Luigi adventure that encourages you to take breaks as needed.

In some ways, The Origami King was the most compelling and beautiful adventure I've had on the Switch. Only Breath of the Wild rivals the adventure story, but that game is much more impressionistic than the well-crafted, but on-rails plot of TOK. RPG diehards will roll their eyes at my praise for the plot, given that it's made to still be processed by younger players, without layered, episodic moments of characterization. The characters are written to be understood immediately from their dialogue, with subplots that suddenly come and go for the sake of an emotional beat. But, honestly, for someone who only has so many hours to sink into a game, it was fun and freeing to not have to worry about whether or not I'd fought enough mooks in a certain part of the map in order to level up my relationships or trigger a sidequest cutscene.

At least one thing the reviews tend to harp on is true. The beginning of the game is comparatively slow and hand-holdy. It isn't until we get to Overlook Tower where we see hints that each level is going to be more complex than we're initially set up to think. The slider puzzle gameplay is essentially a way to set things up so you can one-shot your enemies. It's fun to master, but ultimately it's fine if you don't get great lineups or if you use Toads to cheer. Enemies are to be treated like Mario enemies. If you can stomp on 'em for the coins, great. If you miss hitting them, it's rarely worth going back to destroy them. (Unless you want the Battle King trophy).

Intelligent Systems is obviously very aware of the criticisms against Sticker Star and Color Splash, some of which are outside their control. They have responded with Origami King, which leans into latter-Paper Mario tropes. Franchise fans needs to understand that this isn't a traditional RPG series anymore, and to have gotten two solid, base-RPGs featuring these versions of the characters is enough of a gift already. PM is an adventure series with RPG elements and in that regard, TOK is an absolute towering example.