A classic game that has, in all honesty, held up fairly well. Quite possibly the most influential game of all time, Super Mario 64 has so much to offer in such an old and small package. The main gameplay of the game is great, even for the Nintendo 64's awful controller but this game was basically made around that controller. The movement can be odd somtimes, as there can be dropped inputs all over the place, moves just not working right and times when you just question the game design. The game can be plagued with invisible walls and broken set pieces that just do not move as intended. However, it has so much charm in every corner, from the dialogue of toads, to the secret rooms, to the random characters you meet in your adventures. This game's main collections, the famous Mario stars, are incredibly fun to collect and almost each challenge can be completed while having fun. The story is bare bones but the lore contained within some of the castle walls is so deep that it makes up for it. Overall, a charming game to introduce Nintendo into the world of 3D and has captured the hearts and minds of player for decades. Give this one a try if you get a chance, it's an incredibly great piece of videogame history.

This game is an odd one to me. I originally played this game as I played it fondly as a kid but see it for it's flaws now. The game is nothing extraordinary, especially compared to older and newer 3D Mario games. That being said, this is still a game that saved the 3DS as it began to flop in it's early years. The gameplay is obviously the meat of a Mario game and in this entry it plays fine but lacks any real excitement or precision. I often find myself wishing a move like a true version of the long jump or triple jump were in this game as along with the speed that Mario and Luigi run at makes the game slow to play. The difficulty in the gameplay is less so about actual difficulty and more so limitations that are arbitrarily put in place, such as the collectibles that make the game just that much more tedious to play as a portion of them are required. The story is incredibly lackluster and just makes you question what the point of it is but the way it's told is fairly nice. Most of the post game content is really unnecessary and just there to pad out an already short experience. This game is good if you like Galaxy or the New Super Mario Bros. series but if you are someone looking for a good 3D platformer, this is about as generic as they come.

Super Mario Odyssey is still one of my favorite games of all time so be aware of my bias when going into this review obviously but I have my reasons for loving this game. I have now played through the game around 5 times and each time I have played it, I loved it and yearn for the days when I experienced this game blind for the first time.

Super Mario Odyssey returns to the various small sandboxes that were beloved in both Super Mario 64 and Sunshine. While 64 failed to truly capture what was possible with those sandboxes as it effectively invented them and Sunshine could not quite capture the magic of 64's better levels, Super Mario Odyssey does its best to combine the two, as well as elements of every other Mario game before it. Taking the Sand Kingdom as an example, as I believe it's one of the best in the game, and allows me to analyze these levels without spoiling anything. The Sand Kingdom drops you off as it's being placed under attack by Bowser and it's up to you to figure out why the Kingdom has frozen over. To your right is a small pond area which you can explore freely with few enemies and a few platforms, also allowing you to get used to the ice mechanics, the flower springs, and even a few secrets to discover. To the left, is a vast wasteland filled with hills to run and jump over, and a few secrets to discover. But immediately in front of you and where most players will look and move towards a small, yet vibrant town, where villagers can explain the main conflict, how to get there and what you may face. This gives new players a direction to go and a framing as to what they should do while allowing experienced players to really go wherever, as the pool of poison or large structure in the background may already have the mind of an experienced player racing. The platforming is simple, yet open which lets experienced players make their own fun, while funneling new players so they do not feel lost. This seems to be a lesson that Super Mario 3D World had taught the devs, with its very linear platforming that left experienced players feeling alienated in certain levels. Finally, there are multiple challenges and even a boss beyond the main boss which leaves the world feeling fresh and explorable, and leaves more to do for completionists without alienating standard players.

Movement is literally heaven in this game and when it combines with the platforming. Mario moves at just the right pace, and with the variety of movement options at your disposal, it becomes hard to remember they even exist. Fortunately, there is a movement guide and Cappy reminds you of each move between kingdoms, which while it can be annoying for experienced players, it can be very helpful for newcomers and even intermediate players alike.

Of course, the new capture mechanic is one of the most important aspects of this game, and honestly, it's hard to miss the old Mario power-ups with these around. They offer so much variety to the already diverse moveset in the game that the movement never gets boring. Capturing something new will always see you have a fun new way to solve puzzles or cross the sandboxes. It does add probably the only negative part of this game, which is the motion controls, which start to get invasive when playing in handheld mode. Moving as fast as possible requires shaking the entire console in handheld mode, and making a save could have you throwing your remote around like an Uncle playing Wii Sports for the first time. While it's hard to say this ruins the game, it certainly brings down what was advertised of the Switch, which was an accessible console where you can play all the games you would play at home, on the go with no restrictions.

The presentation in this game has finally been mastered, as we are officially out of the period where Mario looks like a toy and more like a real person exploring real worlds. The environments are beautiful, the soundtrack is addicting, effects look so lifelike and it has never been more fun to watch Mario get hit by a cactus and get needles caught on his nose as it produces accurate jiggle physics.

This game is all-around beautiful and while I believe the new Bowser's Kingdom mode in the Super Mario 3D World port has topped it in terms of a fun sandbox Mario experience, I will always have good memories with this game. It will always be my immediate recommendation for a must-need Switch game.

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What can I say about this game that has not been said before? This is quite literally the ultimate Mario experience, with so much content and quirks that it makes the game hard to hate at all. The gameplay is easily the best in the series, with solid fluid movement that makes the game fun to just run around in, which is good for a game with so much to do. You can run right to the end in the blink of an eye or you can stop and truly enjoy the world and it's environments. Each environment is filled with different content, characters and charm that it is an absolute blast to play this game. The collectibles are great fun to find and the amount you have to find is about 1/8 of the actual amount of collectibles in the game. Nothing feels restrictive, however some paths such as how you make your way through each area of the game can feel linear but rarely detracts from the overall experience. I completed and did everything this game has to offer about two years ago and I still return to it just to play around with the physics. The story is limited but good for a Mario game, while just barely missing the mark as the grand plot of Galaxy. Overall, this is an absolutely amazing game with some blemishes here and there but it's nothing that detracts from the overall experience.

As the first mainline home console game in the Pokémon franchise, there was a lot of pressure to live up to expectations. Pokémon Sword lives up to many of those expectations but lacks in others. In terms of gameplay, this is one of the stronger titles. The new overworld features that were present in the Pokémon Let's Go games, such as Pokémon appearing physically and being able to pick and choose your battles, are both aesthetically pleasing and functionally well designed. The idea of being able to run through an open plain with tall grass blocking your path is not nearly as daunting and encourages exploration. Battles are mainly the same, however type differences are much more apparent which makes the game easier to understand for a newcomer. The obvious main grievances gameplay-wise is the stripped down National Dex and poor visuals which have plagued this game since it's reveal. The visuals in the game are not great, models like trees look unfinished, the pop-in is awful and the game can really drop frames in some places. The National Dex being taken away was not a bad choice on it's own but when coupled with the context that it was stripped mainly to time restrictions and became released later as paid DLC is a bummer to many. The main gimmick of the game, Dynamaxing and Gigantamaxing, are a really lame well to say 'This game has a new powerset, what do you mean?' without having to put in work to make proper unique models for most characters like Mega Evolution did in the past. If Gigantamaxing was the only thing power in this game, I would have been fine with it, but that would have required more time to work on unique and creative models. That brings up what I believe this game lacked in, time. If given more time, I believe this game could have become one of the best Pokémon games to date and I will mention later on where I believe the game feels unfinished due to a lack of time. More on the gameplay however, the overworld is pleasant but that's all I can really say. Nowhere did the game particularly fascinate me, and anywhere slightly fascinating, was typically over very quick, such as the towns of the Fighting gym leader and Fairy gym leader. The Wild Area, as advertised, is easily the best and most interesting part of the game. However, much like the other towns, it too is over far too quickly and lacks much to do, other than filling out your PokéDex. Finally, we turn to the game's story, which is overall fairly good for a game rated E but compared to how deep, or even just well-thought out the stories of the Mario and Zelda entries on Switch, there was a lot to be desired. Spoilers here for obvious reasons, so if you wish to skip over them, my overall summary of the game will be marked at the end. The game focuses around these wishing stars which are brought up at the beginning of the game but quickly forgotten about until the end of the game. Most characters and character designs are done well at beginning, but as the game moves on, the designs become lackluster and stories are wrapped up poorly. This is another big aspect of the game that could've been done beautifully if given more time, but it is what is. Hop, your rival, starts as a very generic character, until later in the game where, after being repeatedly, the player becomes more sympathetic to him, before he goes right back to being generic. Other important character, like Sonia or Bede, start out as okay character, build into better character, and almost as you reach the climax, their stories are wrapped up rather quickly and in an unsatisfying way. The main villain of the game, Chairman Rose, basically becomes evil out of nowhere, believing he needs to unleash an event known as 'The Darkest Day' in order to save the power from going out in the town 1000 years in the future. This motivation comes from almost nowhere and this plan has massive flaws that completely break his character, before he goes back to being his cheery self after being defeated and turns himself in. This wraps up the main plot but there is a fraction of post-game content that, in my opinion, could've fit nicely into the main story and actually make Rose a better villain without having to change his already poor writing. This post game content includes two new characters who are the direct descendants of hero's who saved the region long ago, and believe they are entitled to the throne. They attempt to make themselves look better by wrecking havoc on the region, making wild Pokémon look at fault and turning the legendary Pokémon against the townspeople. These two are written significantly better than most characters, and actually wrap up Hop's story in a much better way than the main game could. The gameplay in the post game content is basic but good enough to still make it worth playing through for the legendary Pokémon and the story.
---------------------------------------Summary-------------------------------------------Overall, Pokémon Sword (and Shield, for that matter) are good entries in the franchise but could have benefited from more time to brainstorm ideas, program better models and create a better story. A solid game, but I will likely not be revisiting, even to finish the PokéDex. If you are an older fan who wants to revisit the franchise or a newcomer who wants to know where to start, this is well suited for you.