Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels has some really fun levels, but honestly it's mainly just the first on hard mode with worse controls and no originality. You can't tell the difference between this and the first and the game doesn't have anything to make it stand out. The boss fights are the same, some of the levels are copy paste, and the gameplay is the same and somehow worse. There are fun levels and I'd say every world has one or two good ones, which isn't good at all. I liked some additions like the wind but other than that Lost Levels is a useless sequel that I find more annoying and irritating than fun.

With the movie coming out in a few months I thought this would be a good time to start playing through the Super Mario games. This was a pleasant start to the franchise and holds up really well today. Outside of talking about how groundbreaking this was, the fact that a mid-80s video game still holds up and is better than a lot of current platformers is mind-blowing to me. To get the negatives out of the way, the big one is the repetitiveness. The levels don't look too different and sometimes the obstacles seem the exact same as the last world and by that I mean the exact same level as the last. The boss battles also don't have much difference from each other and probably has the weakest boss battles in the series of the games I've played. There are some nitpicks you can make like enemies fading and coming back and the controls, but honestly most things hold up. It's a really fun game you can beat in less than an hour that is easily replayable. It is memorable and it perfectly sets up the future games to come. Super Mario Bros. is a groundbreaking first game in the Super Mario Bros. franchise!

Abzu is the exact kind of game I needed to play. It's extremely relaxing with it's soothing atmosphere and with how immersive it is. This game had me hooked in the first five minutes of the game and I didn't want to stop playing. The graphics are stunning with how beautiful the ocean looks here. The designs are amazing and I was stunned throughout this whole game. The soundtrack is also phenomenal and now one of my favorite video game soundtracks. It was so relaxing, but it wasn't afraid to get powerful and loud when it needed to. The exploration aspects were executed so well where at times I wouldn't want to go to the next level because of how great these environments looked. I can agree that it can feel like nothingness as there isn't much else to do besides explore. While I found that fun and it's simple story enjoyable, I felt like there could've been a little more. I also felt like there should've been more punishment for some things like when you get struck by those triangle things. The thing that shocked me the most is despite how it can feel like nothing and it's less than two hours, the game felt complete and I wasn't wanting more out of it when it finished. The ending is just so satisfying and it looks breathtaking, and it was just a fantastic finale for the game. Abzu can sometimes feel empty in it's gameplay, but it is an extremely immersive experience with a top tier soundtrack and breathtaking visuals!

Seriously how is this game so good?! Usually these licensed games in the 2000s aren't good but Cars managed to be a genuinely fun game. The reason this was made was solely to make money, but I actually felt like the developers took the time to craft a really fun racing game inside the world of Cars. You are able to get NASCAR style races and original road courses set in Radiator Springs and these races just have so much charm to them. The tracks are surprisingly well designed, even if the backgrounds can look familiar since they are all in the same environment. The story can feel a bit like a collection of races and minigames in the first three chapters, but the last two start to create a nice narrative that has a lot of payoff in the end. The game also has a great roster where you can play as Lightning McQueen, Doc Hudson, and legendary NASCAR driver Richard Petty as The King. The controls occasionally didn't work, especially on powersliding, but that is either the game or how old my PS2 controller is. I also felt like the driving was stiff sometimes, but most of the time it was really good. Cars is a fun racing game with the charm of being with these characters again and one of the better licensed games out there!

DK Country Returns 3D gets a lot right, but the controls are absolutely awful and some bosses are forgettable. When it comes to controls, the jumping, dodging, and barrel rocket were all victims of poor controls. I'd often slip off a platform and die even when I didn't touch anything, the jumping and dodging were unresponsive sometimes, and the rocket steering was a nightmare. Other than the controls though, I think this game is great! The level design is very well done with a nice variety of everything. Each world has it's own unique feel to it with how these levels are made, and the platforming never felt repetitive. I liked how near the end it switched up to silhouettes which graphically looked amazing and added more to the game. The narrative is pretty good and different from the previous games. It was nice to switch it up from save this character to what they set up in here. While it controls terribly, DK Country Returns 3D is a welcome addition to this amazing franchise that I enjoyed a lot. I will try the Wii version soon though to see if the controls are better there!

MultiVersus could've been really good or really bad, and I'm so happy to say it's more on the good side! While it doesn't really do anything special gameplay wise or have anything that makes it's mark in this sub-genre, MultiVersus still has a sense of charm to it through it's epic roster and the overall amount of fun the game carries. Being able to play as Batman while fighting Lebron James is not something I would've expected to encounter in a video game, yet MultiVersus takes that idea and executes it well. It's still in beta so I'm sure improvements will be made that might even bring my score up, but as of now MultiVersus is a very fun platform fighter that is pretty replayable!

Kirby and the Forgotten Land was my most anticipated game going into this year, and it did not disappoint! This is now my favorite Kirby game and potentially in my top 10 of all-time! This game had everything you could want from a Kirby game and more. It utilizes the 3D platforming so well and is able to be extremely creative in the design. The random objects Kirby can turn into help with the platforming as there is so much to do with the car, cone, ring mouth, and more. There are racing sections, flying sections, boating, and more spread throughout the levels to make for an interesting variety. There was never a time when I was bored because of how original it was. To add even more to the worlds, it has treasure roads to make things a little different every now and then. Occasionally I felt like there were too many at once, but they were all fun so I can't complain. What surprised me most out of this was the engaging narrative and how well this story came together. It has the most pay off in any Kirby story and is the most fleshed out of any Kirby game. The ending cutscene had my jaw dropped and was really emotional. Forgotten Land is now one of my favorite games and somehow exceeded my already high expectations. It's my personal favorite Kirby game at this point and I'm definitely going to play this masterpiece again!

🎉77%

Donkey Kong Country 3 may be the weakest game in the franchise, but it is still a solid platformer that's a lot of fun to play! The real issue I have with this game is that it feels like a rehash of the first two games. It borrows the story of 2 where you're saving characters (and one of them is literally the same!) and it uses the same basic level design. I still think the story is executed well enough and the levels were fun, but I wish there was a little more originality here. I did like the inclusion of the boat upgrades and how that was used in the overworld map. If it wasn't for the boat, I probably would've docked (no pun intended) some points because it would've felt too much like a rehash. The boss fights were a lot of fun with Squirt and the first Kaos fight being the highlights of the entire game. The final boss was underwhelming since the other fights were better. The game mostly controls well when you're playing as Dixie, but Kiddy was sometimes a nightmare to control. Overall DK Country 3 is a fun platformer, but it's not as good as the first two games.

A Short Hike is a very quick game that I enjoyed so much. It's extremely relaxing with it's environments, characters, and the gameplay. It is able to tell a simple story about a bird hiking up to the top of a mountain, but it is able to give the supporting characters quick stories and add more things to do while climbing. Treasure hunting, fishing, and racing- those are just a few of the things you can do along with hiking. Claire is a charming and likable protagonist and her journey gives a lot of pay off when it is finished. The game doesn't have a grand, epic story, but it's able to create this sweeping finale that has a lot of redeeming qualities. A Short Hike is a short game, but that doesn't mean it lacks content. It has so much to do and is so much fun to play, and something I'd definitely replay in the future!

Felt like playing something fun in a short amount of time, so I beat this game again. It starts off as a simple puzzle game, but then it starts getting more complex not only in it's puzzles, but it's environment and story. It builds on the place that is Aperture Laboratories and starts giving you clues and hints to what has been going on in this lab. It is able to tell a complex, deep, and sometimes disturbing story all through drawings on walls and through shooting portals at walls to solve test chambers. Portal is a very clever game that is always fun to go back to.

Kirby Star Allies does something interesting by adding allies, but the entire game is a generic platform that is way too easy. I ended the game with 55 lives which is WAY too much to end with, and it rewarded you with at least 2 lives per level. The platforming is also as generic as a Kirby game could get and it felt like there was just a checklist for the levels. Ally gimmick? Check. Buttons? Check. Collectibles? Check. I also thought that the game was unfinished. It only had four full worlds and there wasn't enough in those worlds. I thought the first one was a good enough introduction to Star Allies and the fourth one had enough in it as a nice final world, but two and three felt empty and there wasn't enough in the middle to keep you going. It makes the game feel rushed and doesn't give it any time for story. It hints something in the second world and then throws everything at you in the finale because it didn't build up anything. I do think the game succeeded at controls and graphics because this game looks amazing and controls beautifully. The swimming feels a lot better than previous entries as it controls smoother and is less slow and jagged. I also think there is good detail with the sound like how it muffles when you are underwater. If they put details like that in the actual platforming I'd probably be more lenient to this one. The Dream Palace was nice touch as well because it brought back some iconic Kirby characters that would help you in levels and I thought it was executed well. It was oddly addicting as I had motivation to finish it, but that was mostly due to it being really short and something I could binge relatively quickly. I also just really want to get to Forgotten Land. The subgames are pretty dull compared to others, so even the subgames didn't add anything to the overall experience. Kirby Star Allies is pretty lackluster with the exception of the ally mechanics, but it does supply a somewhat good time. Hopefully we get another 2D Kirby game so this isn't the last one.

Call of Duty is one of the biggest video game franchises right now, and currently they aren't putting out great entries from what I've heard. I did hear that this game set the ground for the new generation of shooters and I will say that it successfully did that. The controls were really smooth and were arguably smoother than some shooters nowadays and the graphics have aged really well. The campaign was able to tell a solid story and have a nice variety of shooting in it. To me games like this aren't as rewarding at the end of them as big stories like Uncharted and Batman Arkham, but this game was able to tell a full story and have a really cool ending. It can feel like a lot of the same at times and I didn't have much motivation to pick it up, but in the end it's a really fun game. If you want a COD game that's actually good and not the crap that's out today then I highly recommend checking this one out!

I beat this on the day the movie came out! Anyway this is honestly an improvement on the first! The boss fights have more variety, the controls feel smoother, and it feels more grounded. The story flows better and that gave me more motivation to keep playing. I liked the structure of it where it felt more like an actual story than moving from zone to zone like the first. I still really love the first game and loved that format, but I liked this better. I didn't expect to like this game more but somehow I did. The final boss is a bit underwhelming but it's still fun to play. The ending felt a bit ambiguous but I still liked it. I wish there was one more level after the final boss just with how the game was going after that but overall it's still a lot of fun. It's more fun with the Rescue Rangers and for that I owe it a lot!