👍68%

Sonic CD is another solid Sonic 2D platformer that to me improved upon the first game. It introduces the time travel elements and while I don't think they were utilized the best, I enjoyed how they changed up the levels a bit to add more variety and personality. The introduction of Amy and Metal Sonic were also nice to see as they are iconic characters in this franchise. This entry also has more entertainment value than the first. I was able to binge through this game easily while I took a couple of days to beat the first Sonic. This game just adds more personality and variety than the first. My issues come in at the level design and memorability. The level design is good enough, but I found myself in frustration for some levels because it just wasn't designed all too well in those spaces. I liked the speedway ones but the rest of them can kind of get mixed up with each other and not many levels stand out to me as classic Sonic levels. That is also a factor in memorability as I don't know how much I will specifically remember. I'll remember the original stuff like the time travel and characters, but the levels themselves are a bit forgettable. Sonic CD is a fun platformer that improves upon the first game. I am very excited to play 2 and 3 as I heard they're massive improvements on 1 and CD!

A very good Mario platformer but not my favorite of those first four. It has amazing levels and a lot of great bosses, but it has it's problems. I think some of the levels are very short and it takes too long to start getting more challenging. Those first 4 levels are a breeze with how easy and short they are, then you start getting a bit of a challenge in world 5. I also HATED the side scrolling. The side scrolling is super slow and most of the time I was standing there doing nothing because I was waiting for the screen to move. I also thought that the fortress boss (the guy who drops the question mark ball) was too repetitive and they didn't need that many fortresses for this game. Despite all that it's very fun. The worlds are all unique and Bowser's minions are awesome. It's a lot of fun to get through and the Bowser boss fight is very clever. The end is extremely redeeming when you beat the game, even though it's pretty easy. I like it, just not as much as a lot of other people.

GRADE
B+

👍68%

You could definitely tell that this game was made by a different studio. You shouldn't hold that against any game with a studio change, but when the style changes a bit and the overall tone doesn't quite feel like the past two, it can create problems. The problem with this was it felt like it was released as a first draft. It's good, but it doesn't reach where Asylum and City were. The story needed polishing to it and the overall execution could've been better. It also started getting repetitive unlike the last two games. My biggest complaint was there was too much back and forth and the travel just wasn't fun. In Spider-Man PS4, swinging was fun so I didn't mind long distances to missions. In this game though, gliding became a chore and it made the game less enjoyable.

Graphically the game is better with more detail in the city of Gotham and the characters look less choppy. The combat system isn't as good as the other two games, but it is still suitable. I also thought it did a good job foreshadowing things from Asylum and City without making any of it feel forced. The boss fights are also some of the best in the series. The boss fights are the highlight of the game, and if they weren't as good my score would be way lower. It is an exposition dump to introduce them all at the beginning, but when you fight them it's a lot of fun. Deathstroke and the last Bane fight were the best ones. Overall Arkham Origins is a fun game, but it doesn't live up to the past two. As a prequel it does it's job, but the execution of the story could've been a bit better.

This is easily the weakest of the original 4 Super Mario Bros. series. Technically, this isn't a Mario game. It's just a repackage of Doki Doki. But, it still is a Mario game. It feels way different from the other 3 in the original SMB series because to beat the enemies, you don't jump on them. You stand on them, pick them up and throw them into another enemy which takes way more time. This also doesn't have a timer, points, or Bowser! This game has a bunch of random bosses like a mouse with bombs and a crab that throws rocks, but not the most famous video game villain, Bowser. This game is still playable though. It has a lot of cool level designs and the boss fights are pretty fun. I also really like the look of the game. The mechanics are also really good. Those are really the only good things I can say about this game. It's pretty slow and boring to get through. I did play a lot of it at once, but the worlds are so short where I don't want to do just one or two per day, but it feels so long. It's tedious to get through and I hate how you kill the enemies, but it's still playable and I would say that all die hard Mario fans should give this a shot, even if it's just an American release of a different game but repackaging it for Mario.

GRADE
C+

Bit of a disappointment after the first Super Mario Bros. I think it gets a bit too much hate, but man it's way harder. It's stupid hard. I wanted the first to be harder but dang, this is WAY too much on the difficulty. It's not terribly bad, but it could've been better! I think outside of that it's still a fun platformer. Some of the levels do feel like Super Mario Maker trolls, but they are still fun. The mechanics in this game do suck though. There were so many times where I was hitting jump and Mario didn't jump. He just stood there and died. I did rewind occasionally, but I only rewound the game when it was indeed the controller not responding. If I lost a life from not paying attention and hitting a goomba, I'd let it go. But if it's because Mario didn't jump when I hit the button, I would. The game is alright and has a very redeeming ending, but I will not return to this game for a LONG time. The first Mario is extremely replayable, but this one is gonna be a while until I play again.

GRADE
B

🏅86%

The score seems unusually high for this game, and it could lower after I play Complete Saga since I heard that can happen, but at the moment this game was so much fun to play! It definitely isn't a perfect game or anything, but the game succeeds at everything it is going for and more. It stayed true to the prequel trilogy with the levels and didn't try to change anything and I liked that. I like the prequels just as much as Anakin likes sand, but in this they kept it entertaining and the story told was fun. There were a lot of standout levels in this like the podracing level and the Darth Maul fight, but I didn't find any levels that sucked. The controls could feel a little clunky, especially with Yoda, but overall they worked well. The game was truly a lot of fun to play and the best Lego game I've ever played. It will most likely become Complete Saga or Skywalker Saga when I play those but this game was still a lot of fun and I will not forget it!

👍68%

This game really doesn't do anything differently from it's predecessor. The level designs don't really change and it looks exactly the same way. The controls show no improvement over a three year difference (which usually happens in platformers) and the bosses aren't unique. It's basically a much longer version of Dream Land 1. But you know what, it's fun. There's no shortage of charm in this game and all of the characters are fun to play as. The game is easily bingeable and it doesn't get old at all. My biggest complaint with it though is that it feels more like an expansion of Dream Land than a sequel. It's fun regardless, but since it doesn't do anything differently and feels exactly like the first, it's more like Dream Land 1.5. Hopefully Dream Land 3 shows some improvement and feels more like a sequel. This game is a lot of fun, but there is room for improvement. I'd still play it if you like the first game though and other Kirby games!

Yikes! This is truly awful. This game could've been a lot better but the game really feels like it was still in development when it was released. The gameplay is rough as heck. This game is just the complete opposite of smooth. The fighting is not good and it lags so much and barely even does any damage. The music is also terrible. It is painful to listen to and so are the voices. The sound itself is also just bad. There's nothing good about this game. It's one of, if not the worst game I've played.

GRADE
F

This is yet another game I finally got around to playing and it's another fun one. It is a bit dated with the graphics and setup of the game, but in the end it's just a lot of fun. The game runs pretty smoothly and there isn't lag with the shooting which is good. I also thought the game didn't get repetitive and it was pure fun for all six stages. The bosses are all pretty good and have variety in how you kill them. All in all it's a fun shooter on the SNES that created a popular franchise.

GRADE
B+

👍70%

With the upcoming release of Kirby and the Forgotten Land, I thought I would start playing the Kirby games (some replays too). The first Kirby game, Dream Land, is your typical, generic platform game. It doesn't bring anything new to the genre and it doesn't try anything different. The levels look pretty much all the same as well but at least there is variety in the enemies and boss fights. The game itself isn't really that bad of a game. It's still fun to play and a nice start to the Kirby franchise. Kirby is a fun character to play as and you don't get bored of him at all. Sometimes the controls can feel a little stiff, but in the end they work. One thing about this game that I'm happy is in here, is the continue option. In some GB games, you lose all your lives and have to start over. At least this game had the decency to let you restart on the last stage if you ran out of lives instead of sending you all the way back to the beginning. This game probably wouldn't be remembered if it wasn't a Kirby game, but I would still recommend it to frequent platform players and fans of the Kirby franchise.

👎40%
The premise for this is absolutely fine. It's actually a really good idea for an NES game. The idea of finding the pattern through the gold pieces and figuring out which spaces have the pieces is great. The graphics are even fine and I felt like the look was great. Even the soundtrack isn't too terrible and it sounds like a refreshing retro soundtrack. Where it went wrong was the gameplay and the controls. The gameplay isn't very great with how there are invisible obstacles you randomly come across and then you have the black holes on TOP of the enemies. I think the idea is fine, but with how you move around with swinging around poles, it becomes a chore to maneuver around the map. This isn't coming from a difficulty standpoint, it's more of the way you move and where the obstacles are placed and go around the map is stupid. I also felt like the controls were pathetic. There isn't a set direction for the d-pad, so at times I felt like I was aimlessly roaming around the map. It also feels a bit stiff too. In the end, the premise is fantastic and if done way better, this could've been one of my favorites of the NES. But with how clunky the controls were and how bad the gameplay was, I just couldn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped to.

This is by far the best Kirby game I have played. It's the best of the platforms and the best of the franchise! A compilation of games might seem a bit risky, but this game nailed it on all nine of the games. From short but sweet minigames like Gourmet Race and Samurai Kirby to classic mini platforms like Great Cave Offensive and Milky Way Wishes. I had fun with all of them. They were all unique, but still felt like Kirby games. It's the perfect Kirby experience.

My ranking of the nine games-
9. Gourmet Race
8. Megaton Punch
7. Samurai Kirby
6. The Arena
5. Spring Breeze
4. Dynablade
3. The Great Cave Offensive
2. Revenge of Meta-Knight
1. Milky Way Wishes

GRADE
A