🏅90%

Super Mario Galaxy is one of my all-time favorite video games. The vibes, the gameplay, the story, the galaxies; everything was absolutely stunning and I love that game so much. While Galaxy 2 captures most of this, I'm not sure how much of what made Galaxy 1 great transferred here.

First, the absence of Rosalina in the main story is felt. I know she shows up in special world, but I wish she was in the main story. It would sort of make this a rehash, but let's be honest. The game really does feel like an expansion pack at the start. I was getting bored in world 1 because with the exception of Yoshi levels, it's basically the exact same as Galaxy 1 and removed a few mechanics only to be thrown in at the last few galaxies. While these worlds are fun and do sometimes add something cool, it felt like something was missing at the beginning and it took me a while to get fully engaged in the game.

I'm also not sure if I should judge the controls in the game as harshly as I want because I don't know if it was the game or my Wii remote making the game act up. Sometimes Mario wouldn't stop moving even without moving the joystick and spring Mario wouldn't jump over half the time. Some of it was definitely my controller, but some of it was the game's fault like spring Mario.

The rest of this game though, when I got 100% into it, is absolutely brilliant and addicting. It isn't as addicting or stunning as Galaxy 1, but this game is still ridiculously fun and delivered on a great gaming experience. In some ways it improves on Galaxy 1. The gameplay itself when it gets going becomes just as good or better. It basically has everything I loved about Galaxy 1 and honestly sometimes more.

My issue is just how long it took for me to really get into it from the expansion pack feeling and the controls. Otherwise, Galaxy 2 is truly another special entry in the Mario franchise that gives you something really special.

✅75%

Toy Story 3 is one of my all-time favorite movies, and this adaptation was honestly a surprise. I remember when I was younger I couldn't get past the train section at the beginning. Oh how my skills have grown. The train section was the perfect way for this game to start off not only because that's how the movie opens, but because it has "high stakes" action for a kids/family game and introduces the mechanics really well. After that, it sends you in two directions: the story mode and toy box mode. Story mode was the toys retelling the events of Toy Story 3 and the before and after in bits and pieces, and I'd say it has a lot of memorable things. You get to play through the opening of Toy Story 2 which is a heck of a lot of fun and there's also the junkyard portion which brings all the mechanics and characters into a great penultimate mission. Sometimes it can feel like it's steering off track of the main movie mission with an extended portion of playing in Bonnie's room, but all of the missions are really fun and provide something unique. There isn't anything super notable in the gameplay, but what it does to respect the IP and provide a story mode that doesn't actually suck gives it points.

Then we get to Toy Box mode which made the inner Disney Infinity geek want to scream. I didn't know how much Infinity borrowed from Toy Box mode before I played this, and I truly see the inspiration. The music, sound effects, mechanics, set pieces, controls, and gameplay are all transferred from Toy Box mode to Disney Infinity. The race beacon is even the same! I'm not discrediting Infinity for borrowing too much, but it made me find more stuff in the Toy Box mode to do. The Toy Box mode is basically a Disney Infinity playset but if it was in Infinity I'd consider it one of the better ones. You get to hang out in Woody's Roundup's western town with a big mine, but there's so much else to do. You go through a haunted Sid's house, Lotso's enchated garden, and Zurg's space station. All of these use unique mechanics that are so fun. Woody with a laser gun? Ok! Woody riding a dragon? Awesome! The Toy Box has a lot of repetitive missions of just dressing up townspeople and buildings, but there are so many standouts in the Toy Box. The final main mission can feel a little underwhelming, but it gives you a fun cutscene to end it all off.

Toy Story 3 The Video Game isn't special by any means, but for inspiring Disney Infinity, respecting the Toy Story IP so well and giving great missions like the Buzz Lightyear video game and the Toy Box mode as a whole, it gives an incredible experience for Toy Story fans. Easily one of the better movie to game adaptations!

This game is one of my favorites of the retro Nintendo era, and one of my favorite games in general. I am a huge fan of racing games and this one is just perfect for me. There is nothing bad in controlling the car or with the AI cars. Everything feels smooth and right. Nothing is rigged at all like MarioKart or Sonic Racing, and the only time you lose position is if you made a bad turn or wrecked yourself. The lapped traffic can knock into you, but that's because those cars aren't good. The attention to detail in this game including that is remarkable and I love all the detail on the tracks, cars, and gameplay. The tracks themselves are phenomenally designed and some of the best game design of the retro gaming era. It has the right amount of challenge for perfect tracks. The layout is fun and then add the challenging turns and boom amazing F-Zero track. I love this game a lot and it's one of my favorite games to play when I don't have much time, or favorite games period.

GRADE
A+

Played on Switch but it's not an option

After many times of starting this game but not going back to it, I finally made it through a full playthrough. I started it yesterday because I went "you know, I should play the Metroid games because Metroid Dread came out a month ago", so I did. This game is definitely a genre defining game, or really just a VIDEO GAME defining game. It revolutionized video gaming and brought things to a whole new level. Nintendo literally made Super Mario Bros, Legend of Zelda, and Metroid in 1985 and 1986. That is extremely impressive! I don't think this game has aged particularly well, but that doesn't mean it's not a fun ride! It is difficult but it is an NES game. I really only had two major problems with the game. There weren't any nitpicks. Just those two. I know it's because of the technology they had back then, but the game lags. Whenever there are a lot of enemies on screen, the game starts to go very slow. The simple solution is less enemies, which is my other problem. I'm not saying that because of difficulty, I'm saying it because of the lagging and how it effects the game. When it lags, it made it harder to move Samus resulting in random death because Nintendo wanted many enemies. As much fun as I had with it, I respect it more than enjoy it. With all it did to video games as a whole, I have to give it bonus points. I think it is a must play, but I can completely understand the complaints for the game.

GRADE
B

Wow. I really enjoyed the first Mario. It was a lot of fun to playthrough and I return to it quite a bit. Super Mario Bros 2 on the other hand wasn't very good and I had to abandon it. This one though was a very very fun playthrough. I loved all 8 worlds -some more than others- as they provided a bunch of fun in each of them. They all provide the same platform adventure with great enemies and power-ups but they are each unique in their own way to make it fresh and new for each world. My favorite world was probably World 4 or 5. The game is very memorable as well. I remember playing so many levels throughout the past days. I also thought the design in this game was really good. The maps for each world were good and I liked how you moved on them. It didn't take forever at all like New Super Mario Bros Wii. The graphics in this game are also phenomenal. This is probably my favorite platform Mario and I heard Super Mario World is even better so let's see!

GRADE
A+

I think the game is pretty fun and it's good for a nice casual sports game. It doesn't have many stakes and it doesn't have anything to make it too exciting, but that's what I like about it. It's relaxing and that's what I would want from a Mario sports game if I didn't want anything too much. I do think the gameplay could've been a bit smoother though. I also think that there could've been a better sound when you hit the ball. The sound it has just feels like your hitting cotton and not a tennis ball. I wish the sound was like Wii Sports where it felt like there was impact. This is still fun though and if you like Mario Tennis it's worth it.

GRADE
B+

I don't like abandoning games with a campaign because I want to finish the story then judge the game. That would be like watching a movie halfway and then reviewing it not knowing if the end has a redeeming pay off. But this one I had to. First off, this is an excellent idea. This game would take the idea of motion controls of the Wii and have the concept of controlling a lightsaber with the Wii remote. But the way they executed it was pretty bad. First off, it's way too hard to control. There were countless times where I was swinging the remote and nothing would happen. I would also hit the buttons to dodge and block but nothing would happen. It also had an awful idea for a campaign. I get the whole point of this game is lightsaber duels, but the campaign didn't have to be completely lightsaber duels and cutscenes. At least have some story to it instead of a loop of free play battles with awful Clone Wars cutscenes. I think the game could've been better if there was a story with the campaign and you could walk around a world and swing the lightsaber to attack enemies and then there were duels for attacking the bosses, and instead of making it completely centered around Clone Wars they could have all the Star Wars characters that used lightsabers at the time of it's release. Keep free play and the other modes too and also fix the mechanics and controls to make them a lot smoother. This was pretty disappointing and I think I have good reason to abandon it.

GRADE
D