Bio
Mid tier pretentious film, anime and video game nerd. I don't really have much of a favorite genre these days other than mostly liking fairly pensive games I can get through.

I procrastinate these things, so it will take me ages to finish updating this whole list, and half my logs aren't even rated, but this works for now while I go procrastinate more.

Personal Ratings
1★
5★

Badges


Popular

Gained 15+ followers

Best Friends

Become mutual friends with at least 3 others

3 Years of Service

Being part of the Backloggd community for 3 years

GOTY '21

Participated in the 2021 Game of the Year Event

Liked

Gained 10+ total review likes

Elite Gamer

Played 500+ games

Noticed

Gained 3+ followers

Gamer

Played 250+ games

N00b

Played 100+ games

Favorite Games

Drakengard 3
Drakengard 3
Death Stranding
Death Stranding
NieR: Automata
NieR: Automata
Disco Elysium
Disco Elysium
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island

704

Total Games Played

000

Played in 2024

079

Games Backloggd


Recently Played See More

Umineko no Naku Koro ni
Umineko no Naku Koro ni

Jul 24

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days
Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days

Jun 30

Firewatch
Firewatch

Jun 26

VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action
VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action

Jun 19

Night in the Woods
Night in the Woods

Jun 07

Recently Reviewed See More

This game really brings forth some truly deep existential questions, such as: "Why did the chicken cross the road?". But yeah, this game is basically worse Frogger but with a chicken.

I remember a period as a kid where I went to my grandmas house a lot and my mom wouldn't let me bring my Snes or PS1 over there, but she had a 2600 that I think was my uncles when he was a kid. It had some random games, even some iconic classics like Donkey Kong, Pole Position, and Dig Dug, but a lot of these games were quite difficult for me at the time compared to what I was used to at home, not the least of which is the nightmare which is Pitfall.

I enjoyed playing those sometimes, but I tended to get further and more enjoyment out of the random monotonous simple sports games and the game I probably played the most was this game, Freeway. As I mentioned above, this game is a worse Frogger. I've played Frogger a few times in my life but it wasn't any kind of staple for me, but Frogger has the added layer of the platform moving river segment to each level and encourages horizontal movement more because of it, Freeway is a simple two direction highway and because of it the programming is much more predictable and the game is a lot simpler.

It isn't free of difficulty at times, but it was simple enough for me to play it pretty repetitively compared to some other games I had at my fingertips. Sure Dig Dug was significantly more fun, but getting far in it was always a bit more stressful, so Freeway was probably the game I spent idle time wasting on that 2600 the most ultimately.

Is it a good game? Not really, doesn't stand out much even for its era. But it saved me from some childhood boredom more than a few times and that's worth something!

I have so much trouble rating Shadow the Hedgehog. As a prime specimen of an awkward, nerdy, wannabe edgy preteen in the mid 2000s who wore those silk button shirts with flaming dragons and shit on them, who watched entirely too much anime and liked to play with swords with my friends; This was the game I was waiting for my whole life up until that point. *I was the exact target audience for this game.

There's an amusing irony in the fact that my mom let me play things like GTA and Mortal Kombat regularly at this point already, but I didn't just want to play violent edgy video games... Bringing the violent edge to a beloved childhood franchise was undeniably a pronounced subconscious desire.

I wasn't
as* in to Sonic as some of my friends were, but I played most of the Genesis games growing up, because of friends I kept up with the Adventure games in to Heroes in my elementary years, and there were aspects of them I liked at the time. Just not to a crazy degree and it wasn't a top favorite franchise. Of course my edge infused self did like Shadow though... So when this was coming out some like minded friends and I were hyped. It was a first week purchase for me after convincing my mom to give it to me before Christmas so I could play it sooner, and boy did I have a blast with it at the time. It wasn't my favorite game ever even back then but it was my obsession for weeks, killing humans in a kids game, Sonic characters cursing, crazy aliens dominating the world, all the different weapons, the music, the edgy ass story centered on Shadow coming to terms with the duality of his identity, the branching story paths that mirror that. I explored this game for all it was worth and had a blast with it.

Now obviously even just a few years later than that looking back at my time and passion for the game was enough to always make me cringe and I tried to put memories of it behind me. Now in my mid 20s I'm generally much more forgiving to my former misgivings on my ludicrously cringe youth, and taking both my appreciation for Shadow The Hedgehog, and the facets of the game itself in to account with my current mindset I'm much less harsh on both as a result.

My main reaction to this game nowadays is purely how fucking funny it is. Everything from my feelings to it as a child and the fact this game even exists is genuinely amusing to me. And I don't even really mean that in a purely condescending way, there's something charming to be appreciated about this game in the exact over the top edge it's ultimately going for. It is exactly what a game done in that middle Sonic era Adventure/Heroes style centered on Shadow should have been. However this era of Sonic in general is a controversial one of course and Shadow is no exception to that controversy, but I do think it manages to stand out among them as something different that does fit well in to the framework this 3D era of Sonic had set up despite its obviously different tone. Does that mean it's actually good a good game though? Not really lol.

I've revisited Shadow just for the hell of it a few times over the years and I've never really made it far in it each time I've tried. I'd barely say it is remotely a good game for its time. The music is actually pretty solid to me still but not nearly the bombastic soundtrack of my life I perceived as in my youth. It has decent ideas in the level design here and there and while the story is hilarious, the branching story paths are actually well integrated and give an interesting pace that, when I loved the game as a kid, made exploring all it had to offer feel very rewarding. In this way I think it accomplishes a lot of what it must have set out to do and while it isn't great I do respect it.

Because of the cringe I felt for it through my teens I really have absolutely no nostalgia for Shadow the Hedgehog the game itself, and I'm also normally not a very nostalgic person at all in general. I have great memories of the time I did love this game immensely however and as a result I look back on the game and myself with a type of charmed hilarity. That brings me back to why I find it so difficult to rate, it is a bad game, closer to being so bad it's good than anywhere near being genuinely good and even the ironic enjoyment of is much more conceptual in its very existence than in practice actually playing it. With that said I do hold a type of nostalgia for it, at least for the time I experienced it more than the game itself. Its impact on my youth and the memories I have of the game are undeniable, and I honestly have come full circle in to appreciating the value in that time of my life, and, in turn, this ridiculous fucking game. The fact that it happened to come out, and I happened to be able to experience it at that absolutely perfect time for me is something pretty amazing that I think about sometimes.

5.5/10 for a very neutral score, not a good game, its existence is hilarious, but I admire my time enjoying it in my youth quite a lot.

Yoshi's Island is something genuinely special to me. There's many reasons it is one of my favorite games of all time that I don't even know if I could begin to properly put in to words. The main reason that comes to mind of why I think this game is so special really just comes back to how genuine and experimental it is within its simple framework.

It is almost the anti-Mario Mario game, it builds upon the formula and design sense, but mostly reinvents the entire gameplay loop and formula of the series up until that point. If Super Mario World advanced the ideas of the first 3 games to a new generation, Yoshi's Island almost rejects them. The fact that Nintendo ultimately followed Super Mario World with this specifically is truly a special moment in time.

Everything from the music, the art direction, the level design, the gameplay itself, is such a step away from the rest of the series that I can understand why it can be a divisive game for some people. However, it is for these exact reasons Yoshi's Island manages to do things that no other Mario game, no other Nintendo game, and just about no other video game period has done for me personally. It is simple, but so nuanced in all creative aspects it has and manages to be something truly special.

Yoshi's Island is unbridled, but somehow still immensely refined, creativity incarnate, and these fun creative aspects it innately hold make it a game that I can come back to whenever I want or need to and it has remained close my heart for a long time and probably will continually.