a fun artistic outlook on what it means to be a creator, player, and hell, even yourself. i cant think of any other game this personal and emotional metacontexually that reflects its creator’s ambitions, struggles, and views. it’s a game about games but unlike nmh1, it travels deeper into the workings of what games represent and the process of making them, rather than embracing itself as a video game and the tropes that go along with that (not knocking nmh1 for this btw, big aspect of that game i love). each death drive game is bursting at the seams with creativity; remaining fresh yet faithful to its inspirations. they all contribute something meaningful to the overall plot and ideas. i love the one that straight up jukes you out, placing you in an unfinished unreal engine world where you can see vast floating terrain in the empty white skybox anticipating your eventual adventure, only to be thrown out of the game before you can even begin to ponder what awaits in the white void. sometimes shit just doesnt see the light of day. Fax received from K. travis strikes back got me sentimental when presented with shadowy figures of [kill] the past. here we’re cleaning up the mess of someone else’s past, forming our own future in the process. games as self expression, a hobby, past time, an inspiration, an escape.

some other things to note would include the gameplay which i honestly found to be pretty fun throughout, while not as integrated into the story as the previous games it’s some simple fun i can fuck with without a whole lot of thought. i adore the soundtrack, boasting popping hiphop and drumbeats that keep your head banging and thumbs wagging. welcome to hell being one of my favorites having sampled johnson’s japanese rap from sotd. the ktp/sudaverse references were also a pleasure as always. tho anyone who tells you “you need to be a true suda fan to like tsa!” is gatekeeping lol, this game is perfectly enjoyable to people who just like seeing travis touchdown get into his comedically serious lightsaber slashing adventures as usual.

theres things here i don’t completely vibe with but i really respect TSA in regards for what it does and its celebratory nature. the visual and sound design strike all the right cords with me. this marks the end of my kill the past journey (until october 11 at least) and it couldn’t have ended on a better note. a note whose sound will continue to play in my mind for years to come.

The World Ends with You is a statement, both literally and figuratively. The game has a creative approach to street culture, if you will, cultivating its most fresh and inspiring aspects. At the same time, it deals with deep seated fears and expectations of youths everywhere in the world, not just Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Clearly it's a different perspective compared to other media aimed at younger audiences but it's true, real and felt. A friend told me: "Had I played this game when I was 15, it would've meant the world to me." I did, so I can only agree.

The gameplay is different, bold as the game itself. It hits way more times that it misses and combat is extremely customizable, with pins of different brands having different effects, damage types and doing numbers depending on said brand being a hit on the streets the fight takes place in or not. When it hits, it's fun and engaging, but when it misses it's the most miserable I've felt playing a game. The soundtrack is incredible; I personally love Long Dream and Calling, but there's stuff for everybody.

As said before, TWEWY has a lot to say and to show. It means a lot to a lot of people for a lot of reasons, but mostly it's because it's a very personal tale and pushes different buttons for different people. Diverse as the brands themselves, going with the flow, against it, up and down, yet statements, always.

I'm of 2 minds with Another World. One mind that it's literally the pinnacle of the medium and a beautiful piece of art, and another that it's just a poorly made piece of shit.

FFS, it's one of the most legendary games of all time. A master class work in rotoscoping that along with Prince of Persia influenced countless rotoscoped games as well cinematic platformers in the vein of Flashback or Blackthorne.

There are no health bars, no maps, no scores, no equipment, nothing, it's like a real ass chadventure. One of the most immersive games of all time.

The alien buddy is really charming. "Mike Aruba" to you too, buddy.

But at the same time, this shit runs in single digit FPS with framedrops. There are pixel perfect jumps out the ass, especially in the cave which hard filtered me as a kid.

Once one knows what they're doing, the game is only like 20 minutes long and is pretty entertaining to speedrun if nothing else, though perhaps "Another World speedrun" is an oxymoron with how slow-paced the game is.

Also if I'm being truthful, vibes aside the game is rather shallow and there's nothing to its story.

Giving this game 3 stars doesn't feel right. Giving it 5 stars feels right. Giving it 0.5 stars feels right. I generally think the star system is a really good way to get across one's feelings and enjoy using it, but if this isn't an example of how trying to quantify a qualitative experience is silly sometimes, what is?

Anyway countless creators including the likes of Hideo Kojima, Shu Takumi, Suda51, Shinji Mikimi, and Fumito Ueda all took inspiration from this game. If you enjoy any of their works, you owe it to yourself to give this a try. Wouldn't even insist on trying it without save states lol.