Played Co-op with a friend.
I wasn't sure what to expect going into this except a gritty shooter. And that's pretty much what I got.
For 2006 this game is pretty impressive and holds up OK.
As with a lot of games, the final boss was kind of underwhelming and with the added bonus of being unclear what you're really meant to do.
However despite all this, we had a lot of fun and the weapons + combat system in general are satisfying and only slightly annoying at times. There weren't any parts of the game that felt ridiculously hard or braindead easy, so that balance is great for consistent enjoyment throughout.
My last criticism is just that what the hell you're actually doing in the campaign is a bit of a mystery as almost nothing is explained, almost feels like we were playing a sequel.

I can't remember the last time I sat down with 3-5 of my friends and completed an entire game's campaign, let alone doing it in person.

This game was so much fun, and while it lacks a bit in character, the gameplay is very well refined and still looks good by today's standards.

Would recommend this game as a co-op for any group of 4+ players who want something fun to play

Played on Switch

It's obvious after playing this game why Mario Kart became such a hit. It's also pretty amazing how similar this game has stayed in it's 31 years of iterations, a testament to how solid the idea+execution was in the first place.

The music, art, gameplay are all very fun and especially unique in the SNES era. This is one of the best uses of the Mode 7 graphics system to simulate a pseudo-3D experience.

After all these years though, there are some parts of the game that are truly frustrating. The CPUs are essentially their own beast in this game who often have TAS level responses when it comes to dodging obstacles, paired with an unlimited supply of items that makes racing them truly a nightmare on some maps. The sound of the kart engines racing near/past you are grinding on the ears (luckily not included in 2P). And the game is just generally pretty difficult to control, especially with the lack of a brake/reverse button. Also while the Mode 7 graphics are great for it's time, most obstacles are essentially 2D and only really visible within a couple seconds of running into them, which can be pretty annoying.

Overall I was pleased with the first entry into this incredible series, but I'm certainly glad I can move onto something a bit more modern.

A vibrant, fun remake of a Playstation classic.

The gameplay, while simple, is a good challenge in some parts, but randomly extremely easy in others. I could tear through 3-4 levels and then be stuck on 1 part of 1 for ages.
My main gripe with this game is the lack of a need for full 3d for many levels, partial 3d would have worked much better and having it be full didn't add anything but confusion for some. Also the hit/hurtboxes were very odd.

Other than that, the colours, music, sound design, voice acting, animations and art style made this game a pleasure to play, as a must play for platformer fans.

I heard a lot of good things about Hollow Knight prior to picking it up. It's some of my closest friends top 10 games so I had to give it a try.
The combat and movement in this game is extremely fluid and fun, mastering it was the best part once retrieving all the movement options, I felt like I could fly around the screen hacking and slashing as I went.
I have slightly mixed feelings about the exploration aspect, but that might come from a personal like of having SOME direction, which in Hollow Knight you're given almost none at all.

Difficulty levels throughout the game felt really random. Some stuff earlier on is way way harder than the final boss (which I beat first try, not bragging as I didn't beat any other boss first try).

The high quality art style, animations, expansiveness, and characters in Hollow Knight are something any game dev would wish to get a fraction of, and the gameplay is almost unmatched in this genre.

I'm only on 56% completion as of writing this but I fully expect to return and tack on another bunch of hours in the future

Having only played Fallout 3 before this, I don't think there's any way to think of it other than a direct upgrade in many many ways.

The story and different allegiances are very fleshed out with fun missions, almost always giving a diplomatic option. Almost any build is viable, even a pistol build (which is what I went for).

Combat is fun as usual and perks are varied with lots of fun options. The map is crafted in a way that makes it seem huge & expansive, but really is just engineered that way to fit as much as possible into a small space.

My main issues with this game are a couple places where they didn't bother to improve; namely audio levels being weird, the radio still having only like 5 songs on repeat and not as interactive as in 3, speech system was made worse imo, crafting/repair system still super uninteresting&unnecessary, minimaps (especially local maps) are extremely unintuitive and unreadable, and the worst of all: CRASHES. This game crashed so many times during my playthrough, and it's nothing to do with my PC, it's just a buggy game. Once or twice I even had to do console commands to fix missions that weren't ending / triggering an event that it should have.

BUT the game otherwise is SO good and charming that I have no choice but to give it such a high rating. There was fun round every corner and it's so hard to put the game down and not just play 1 more mission.

Another incredible Yoshi's Island game, introducing fun mechanics that aren't forced on you too hard.
The music is a little unmemorable but still fits very well.
Controls and movement feel super clean and I feel like I need to check out the speedrun for this game as it feels very technical.
My main complaint is that it doesn't add much from the original SNES title, and feels a lot like an adapted port.
Getting to play this on my old DS was a nice experience and a bit of a throwback though, so can't complain.