One of the rooms in this game has the shape of a heart and is full of capybaras, and if that doesn’t prove to you that this is the clear GOTY of the year of the decade of forever so far then I don’t know what will.

Despite being a highly anticipated game for me, probably one of this year’s releases that excited me the most this year… I had no fucking clue what Animal Well really was. By that I don’t mean that ‘’I didn’t know what to expect’’, there have been a ton of games I didn’t have expectations of what they would be prior to playing them, but at least I had a small idea what they were about, their mechanics, and overall ideas. But with Animal Well, I had no clue about how it could even play like.

It was supposed to be a Metroidvania? Is it Puzzle-Platformer? Or perhaps an immersive-atmospheric experience? Maybe a highly experimental take on open spaces and secret finding? I didn’t really know before I hit ‘’start game’’ to be honest, and yet, even before that point there was something that called me, that fascinated me. This world of blues and greens seen through the lenses of an old CRTV is an aesthetic I didn’t know I missed this much, or maybe is that it’s done so effectively here; the surround sound and flickering lights that accompany such abandoned yet beautiful looking structures and the nature that melds perfectly with it… I don’t know, it reminisces of feelings and memories I don’t think I can properly put into words, but still filled me with a desire to explore this rabbit hole.

Well, I finally played it, and I have finally found the answer to all of those questions that once plagued me:…

…Yes.

Animal Wells is an experience that feels like it takes inspiration from a million different places and ideas, and yet it molds them together to create something unlike any other game I can think of; is the idea that surrounds the ‘’Metroidvania’’ genre distilled in its purest form, yet it’s far from being simple.

The well is a place of few words; none of the areas have a proper name, there are no NPCs to chat with, and it’s not like the small slime-like creature we play as has a mouth to begin with. The only text present is one found in menus, small one-word prompts, and the name of the items, and that’s more than enough… because the rest speaks for itself. Each area and the animals that live in them chant a different song, each room a part of a puzzle of their own; I didn’t know for them to have a name for places to stand out vividly in my mind, like the Lake of the Cranes, or the Giant Bat’s Cave, or even smaller locations like the Peacock’s Palace or the Disc’s Shrine. The world of Animal Well may be quiet, but everything speaks volumes, like visting an abandoned virtual zoo: every encounter with a new-found critter, whether friendly or aggressive, every new interaction like distracting dogs using the disc, or every major tense moment like running away from the Ghost… Cat? Dog? I actually don’t know which of the two is supposed to be, nor do I need to know that the entire sequence and puzzle is an amazing highlight and super satisfying to overcome completely on your own… No wait, that’s also the rest of the game!

Managing to create a world that feels so well thought-out and designed so every puzzle feels intuitive, while at the same time offering such fun to use and multi-purpose items that can break open the game completely and taking ALL THAT into account is honestly worth getting up and applauding. The Bubble Wand is the clear star of the show for me; being able to create temporary platforms is already a game changer, especially when pairing it with fans and wind currents, but then you realize you can ‘bubble hop’, as I like to call it, by pressing the action and jump button both at the same time and completely bypassing many parts and sections that otherwise would have required other actions, and best thing is that even if it seems that it breaks the game at times, the dev clearly accounted for it since some rooms have passages too thin for you to maneuver or create bubbles or even animals like hummingbirds that immediately pop them once you make one. I normally wouldn’t like when a game makes a tool completely useless for the sake of a puzzle, but in here it makes total sense and balances out the moments were you make out your own path with pre-designed puzzles this amazing, and it’s not like that’s the only tool that lets you get creative anyway.

The moment you get any item, about two seconds is all you need to realize the possibilities it can offer, yet, as in the rest of the caverns, nothing is ever spelled out; you yourself and your own imagination and problem-solving are the ones that need to overcome the challenges this wildlife imposes; I’ve never felt so rewarded in such a long time than when using the Yo-Yo effectively, learning the code to fast travel to the main hub with the animal faces —which remind me of a certain game, I think it starter with ‘’Super’’ and ended with ‘’2’’… can’t put a finger on it tho—, or skipping completely the Ostrich escape sequence and its puzzles, near the bowels of the map, by using the Spring, Yo-Yo and myself. It honestly comes really close to feeling like the levels in Mosa Lina, now that I think about: you have incredibly useful tools that serve a clear purpose, but ones you can also use whichever way you like to, only with the difference that Animal Well is an already built, profoundly engaging and interesting world, and using all this arsenal while interacting with the animal and the curse that seems to affect the well is amazing, and little things like fall or water damage aren’t taken into account to incentivize and reward experimentation even more than it would have otherwise.

If I had to point out a flaw, and one that may honestly be a ‘’only me’’ thing, is the inconsistency with how it handles some switches and shortcuts. While I get and really enjoy some gauntlets of puzzles, he fact some of them reset, like the ‘’On and Off’’ switches, reset every time you teleport or get out of a room, just makes things a tad more annoying, in contrast to how the yellow door switches stay activated even if you don’t press them all or die, which makes other rooms kind of a joke and strips them from the tension found in the boss encounters, for example. I understand that this won’t be that big of a deal for many people, but when the rest of the game is so impeccably designed and each room amounts to so much, these little annoyances are noticeable.

A game that otherwise… I still don’t think I can say I've come close to experiencing all of it. In a way, it’s kinda interesting to have played this so close after beating Fez for the first time, because while both of those games have a similar sense of wonder and are brimming with secrets, that game created its mysteries through the tools you can find within a same room and code-finding through a fragmented world , while Animal Well is an ecosystem on its own, with the complete freedom that entails. Even after finding out what dwelled at the bottom of the well, it's insane how much there’s for me to find, not only the Eggs, but I’m convinced there are things that I haven’t even seen yet, and I know for sure that there are far more items than it seemed at first.

At this point, it shouldn’t be a secret that one of the things I love the most in games, or in any form of art for that matter, is when they give so much food for thought, letting the imagination run wild and feel so massive and grand even if their locations are small; Animal Well is only a 30 MB game, and it’s the perfect representation of all this, the wild desire to explore, to have fun, and to fear the unknown, even when it's scary as all hell.

I’m obsessed with Animal Well, and its ambience, roars, and silence speak to me in a way few games do, and I’m happy to see that’s a sentiment already being shared by so many people.

5 stars for the 5 turns i was asleep in gen 1 ou

5 stars for the 5 hours it took to finish one gen 2 ou game

5 stars for the same 5 pokemon on every gen 3 ou team

5 stars for the 5 viable rapid spinners in gen 4 ou

5 stars for the 5 dragon types + magenzone on my gen 5 ou team

5 stars for the 5 people playing gen 6 ou still

5 stars for the 5 pokemon that make me never want to play gen 7 ou again

5 stars for the 5 seconds i enjoy gen 8 ou before forfeiting

5 stars for the 5 turns it takes for me to lose a gen 9 ou game

First things first, I have to say that this game is an unofficial one, made by a single person and without any money coming from it, therefore, I want to take easy on it, but I can't. The visuals of the game are awesome, especially when we think about fan games. There is a lack of Mario fan games that take place in a 3D environment, and that is a major feature the developer achieved. That said, I must say that the music and the character design are also top notch.
Now, for the bad part. The game has problems with hit detection (2D characters with a 3D hitbox don't help it), bad enemy placement and AI, difficult jumps which get even harder because of perspective problems, platforms that move too fast and the game is very difficult overall. Also, even when playing on a very high end PC, the game chugs at parts, going below 30 FPS and, all of a sudden, it goes up to 60 FPS, which cause strangeness and may cause the player to miss a platform or to get attacked.
The game is also short, but has lengthy levels, having four worlds to take on.
That aside, the bosses are creative and the new power ups are nice, especially the "dandelion plant" one, which makes jumping so much fun.
Overall, it's a game that deserves to be played because of what it does as a fan game and its style, but has some flaws that will likely happen to disturb the playthrough.
Pros: visuals, sound, power ups, bosses, concept
Cons: performance issues, bad enemy placement, unfair difficulty, hit detection problems.

And to think, I thought I was done with Celeste this month. I heard this got released yesterday, and it's free, so I had to go and play it. For only being made in a week, this is very impressive. Celeste transitions surprisingly well into 3D. You lose your upward dash in this game but everything else is here. Yes even your grab which I stupidly didn't realize was a thing until 2/3rds into my playthrough. Once I did, it definitely clicked way more since I was infinitely wall-jumping to do stuff before I learned grabbing was part of her moveset. I really like the implementation of the camera and it having a big part with the various puzzles. The early 3D atmosphere was also really nice. It never got crazy difficult like Celeste but what was here was fun. It's only like an hour long so there really isn't much content, but this could be a good stepping stone into something greater. Either way, fun game..just wish it was longer.

Also, I got all 30 strawberries, that last cassette tape under Badeline was definitely the hardest part of the game but it was very cool.

Before I played Galaxy 2, I only ever really played crappy licensed games on my PS2 for the most part. I was a young kid at the time so I couldn't really gauge if a game was actually good or not, I just got a game based on a show/movie I liked and that was that. That all changed one day when I was scrolling on YouTube and stumbled upon Super Mario Galaxy 2. I can't even remember what I saw since it's been so long, but I remember instantly thinking "I NEED to play this". This was right before we were going on a trip to Ocean City Maryland and I knew my dad's friend who was going on the trip with us, was bringing his Wii. I go to my local movie rental store which also had video games and rented it. The trip lasted a week and while I really should've been having a ton of fun on the beach, I instead couldn't get enough of Galaxy 2. I was addicted. I think I got up to like world 4 before I had to return the game and I had to part ways with the Wii. I also remember getting a gaming magazine that focused on Galaxy 2. I also distinctly remember a game called "Ivy the Kiwi" being a big focus in it too. God, I wish I still had that thing. I lost it ages ago and can't remember the name of the magazine, and I've tried to look it up online many times to no avail. Anyways, after the whole trip, me and my brother got a Wii and I got Galaxy 1 as you know. A bit after that I remember renting the game again and then eventually getting it for Christmas that year (I think).
I eventually did beat it, but not 100%. I never completed the game until the summer of 2015, I don't know why it took me five years but when I finally did it, I was absolutely ecstatic. This game means a whole lot to me as it not only got me into non-licensed games but it really kicked off my love for gaming as a whole.

So let's start with the biggest elephant in the room, this game's story. Yes it's very lame that they retconned the first game and that the story in general is way more lame in general compared to 1. This is my biggest criticism besides the game not being quite as atmospheric/spacey as 1. It is the reason I think I do like 1 more now, but it really isn't a deal breaker to me. I think there's enough fun dialogue throughout the game for it to still have an above average story for a mainline Mario game. Still, not nearly as good as 1's which yeah is a bit of a bummer.

However, I think the game more than makes up for this by being so much fun and more fun than 1. While 1 had plenty of good galaxies, I did think having several samey ones (the beach and bee galaxies) when there's only 15 full length galaxies was a bit of a downside. Galaxy 2 however did something different. Instead of having a mini galaxy here and there, and having your main galaxies be 6 stars, here the full length ones have 3. Now while there is a good reason they did this, this also led to the game having more sized galaxies that are way more plentiful. This along with the fact the level design is way more straight forward and faster paced, makes the game more fun than 1 I think. It's up to preference of course and I still love both games approach to level design.

Another reason this game is a blast to play is the addition of Yoshi. You wouldn't think he'd add so much to the levels but he does. He's in a good amount of the galaxies and also in them are powerups for Yoshi to use. These were also a great addition and just add that extra bit of fun to the game. I like them all but my favorite was definitely the dash pepper just because it's used in the best of ways. Alongside Yoshi and his powerups are new powerups for Mario. The drill and boulder mushroom were both cool but the cloud flower? Absolutely my favorite powerup in any Mario game. It not only just gives Mario a very pleasant design to look at, it let's you create a maximum of three temporary cloud platforms to use which is just so much fun. They clearly knew it was gonna be the fan favorite since it's used in a ton of galaxies.

While I definitely like 1's soundtrack more now, 2's is also still amazing. It's funny, while the game isn't as atmospheric as 1, it may have the most atmospheric song between both games lol. That would of course be Cosmic Cove Galaxy which is hands down my favorite song in the game, which is fitting since it's also my favorite galaxy in the game. Some other songs I love are Sky Station GalaxyYoshi Star GalaxyStarshine Beach Galaxy and Wild Glide Galaxy. The game doesn't have as moody of an ost, it's more upbeat than 1 but it still has some moody tracks and is still amazing like 1. A good example of a moody track actually and a shoutout to this one is Slimy Spring Galaxy. They did not need to give a short galaxy like this such an otherworldly and atmospheric track but they did. I never really appreciated this galaxy when I first played the game but nowadays, I actually really love it. Again, while 2 doesn't have the same level of atmosphere as 1, it really does still have its moments.

I had a bit of an issue with the prankster comets in 1, not being the biggest fan of them since there's only 5 types (and one of the types barely gets used). This game improves on them I think. Instead of appearing randomly like in 1, you have to get a comet medal in each galaxy for them to appear. Once they do, they will never leave so you don't have to worry about getting them to appear again like in 1. There's also a better variety of challenges this time. You still have your speedrun comets, your daredevil comets, your purple coin comets. However, the cosmic Mario races have been replaced with cosmic clone comets. You now have a different type of speedrun where you have to collect clocks that give you 10 seconds each. You have comets where you have to kill a bunch of enemies in a period of time. These changes/additions, plus the comets not being color-coded anymore so you don't know what you're going to get until you go into the galaxy, just make them much more fun than in 1.

Another thing Galaxy 2 did better than 1 is the extra 120 stars. In 1, to get all 242 stars you have to play the exact same stars as Luigi and then your reward is two extra purple coin stars that I just never found good. In 2, you have 120 green stars to find. A lot of people don't like the addition of these and I never understood why. Sure you can say it's filler but they are brand new stars and they're usually placed in fun creative ways. They act as a sort of scavenger hunt for you to find and you can use the sound they make as a sign you're close to one. Sure, they're not quite as fun to get once you replay the game and know their locations. But a bunch of them still require more advanced techniques to get like triple jumps and stuff so I never found it tiresome to get them all even on this replay. And the reward you get is a fun challenging galaxy that blow's Galaxy 1's reward out of the water. Overall, I think it's a very good postgame and well worth doing it just for the Grandmaster Galaxy.

Just a couple of little changes I noticed between both games. The first is one I noticed all the way back in 2010 when I played both games. When you spin into a launch star in 1, there's like a little couple second delay until it activates. 2 fixes this issue and let's you activate it right away which is super nice. Something I noticed on this new playthrough is unlike 1, 2 doesn't let you spam the spin underwater. I don't know why I never notice this until now lol. I also think the automatic saving instead of giving you a prompt asking you to save is a nice addition in 2.

I love both Galaxy 1 and 2 so much, it really is hard to decide which I love more. While at this point, I'm sticking with 1, it really does flipflop back and forth a bunch for me. Chalk it up to me playing 2 before 1 maybe? Idk if I'd feel the same way if I played it way after 1 or something. Either way, I still feel the same way as I did with my 2022 replays. Play 1 for the much better story, better atmosphere and better OST. Play 2 for the better polished, all around more fun experience. The real answer though is to play both as they're both fantastic games.

Also my top 5 Galaxies now are Cosmic Cove Galaxy, Starshine Beach Galaxy, Slipsand Galaxy, Clockwork Ruins Galaxy, and Throwback Galaxy...among many others, there's just too many good ones in this game!

Despite being a fan of Mario Kart, I only ever played the newer games (DS and onwards). I never touched anything that came before, and that's like half of the games. While I'd still like to play 64, Super Circuit and Double Dash, I figured I'd play the game that started it all. My dad used to reminisce on how he loved playing this game with his friends back in the day, so I figured it would be a fun time. Sadly, I was mistaken as I found it to be kinda sucky.

I'll start with the good parts though. The game's visuals are pretty nice even if the mode 7 can be sort of weird on certain stages. In general though it's nice and colorful and looks good for a SNES game. The ost is also decent with some really solid tracks here and there. I also found the first cup to be alright course-wise even if I ended up only getting 2nd place.

That's it for the positives however, because as a whole this game is just unfun. I said the first cup was alright course-wise and while that's true, I still had an issue with the controls while playing through it. This game is so slippery, if you bump into anything you go flying. The drift feels so loose and is tricky to use, so you'd wanna use it as little as possible. However a good majority of the courses have so many sharp turns in them, you're forced to use the drift. That plus the bumping everywhere aspect just make's it super frustrating to play.

That's not even getting into the CPU's that actively cheat by just having stars whenever they want. I played on 100cc and they were brutal, I'm surprised I was able to get 2nd in the first cup. Once I got to the 2nd cup, I lost halfway through and because I wasn't having much fun to begin with, I just decided to play through the rest of the courses on time trial mode. You can't even unlock special mode until you beat the first three cups on 100cc, which I just said screw that. Oh also the courses are lame for the most part in terms of theming cuz, with the exception of Rainbow Road, they repeat two to three times each (with Mario circuit appearing a whopping four times) and just feel so samey.

Sadly I wasn't able to enjoy this like I thought I did and I think I'm maybe being a bit generous with giving it a 4/10 cuz I really did not have fun. Rainbow Road having an absolute banger song may be why I am not rating it any lower idk lol. Now I'm worried for Mario Kart 64 even tho I've heard good things about it.

Super Circuit is the final game in this Mario Kart marathon that I had not played prior (sorry Double Dash). My friend Wheatie really loves this one but sad to say, I thought this was a big downgrade from 64 and is more comparable to Super in a lot of ways.

I know this is the first portable game in the series so I'd like to cut it some slack but honestly it's just plain unfun to play. Your movement, like Super, is just god awfully slippery. Maybe even moreso than Super at times. And again, the courses are flat and similar to Super in regards to its turns so the drift just sends you flying usually. I barely used it in this one and even still, on 50cc I had to take my finger off the gas a lot just cuz of the stage design and slipperiness.

Even though the courses are still boring design-wise like Super, I will say they definitely have a bit more visual flair than Super's even with it being a portable title. That and stage themes don't get reused as much (besides Bowsers Castle which gets reused a whopping 4 times) makes it better than Super in that regard. The AI was also better this time around in terms of cheating though I also only played on 50cc cuz I didn't even want to deal with the game's physics on 150. I played Peach Circuit on 150 and I just wouldn't be able to handle every cup on that lol. I did come in 1st on every cup on 50cc though which is more than I could say with Super.

I also didn't touch the battle mode at all so I don't know how that fares but I have a feeling it's not very good just cuz of the games controls. Also didn't unlock any of the Super stages cuz it felt pointless to play through those since I just did.

I also did find it interesting how this was a combination of both Super and 64. Super with the controls and stage design while most of the voice clips and character designs are from 64. Kinda makes it feel like it doesn't have much identity outside of some of the original course themes.

In the end, this is probably just slightly better than Super. But, even though this is the series first portable title, this game came out almost 10 years after Super so I'd expect it to be way better. Ah well, next on the Mario Kart marathon is DS and that one I actually did play as a kid and have fond memories of. So, I'm definitely looking forward to that one!

The next game in this Mario Kart marathon, Mario Kart DS, is actually the first one I had played beforehand and isn't brand new to me. I don't think I ever owned it back in the day, and apparently I still don't seeing as I had to emulate this one, but I remember playing it all the time with friends on the bus. Though, since I never owned it, I always had to use Shy Guy and also never really played the mission mode. That changes now as I got gold on every 150cc cup and did every mission, including the secret one you unlock.

I'm gonna start with my gripes I have. First, I think in terms of how the characters look, this is the weakest in the series. Some of them just look so off and blocky. Mario Kart 64 didn't have this issue obviously because they weren't actual models but this one really does. Some are better than others but, I guess I can cut it a little slack since it's the first portable title in 3D, a chunk of them just look kinda ugly. While the new courses have some really solid picks, some of them are just really forgettable. There are some absolute bangers like Waluigi Pinball, Tik Tok Clock and Airship Fortress. But then there's courses I find to be super bland like Figure 8 Circuit, Yoshi Falls or Desert Hills. Overall, I'd say it's a decent new track line-up but it's hit or miss. The retro track selection though, I found really weak. Half of the courses are from Super Mario Kart and Super Circuit so I just found them boring and then some of the picks from 64 and Double Dash are meh. The last cup does have Banshee Boardwalk and Yoshi Circuit so it was probably my favorite cup, but then it also has an awful course in Choco Island 2 so it's a bit conflicting. Overall, not a great selection of courses between both new and old but again there are some bangers here and there.

In terms of how the game controls, it controls leagues better than the last portable title Super Circuit. Instead of feeling super slippery, it feels way more similar to the newer titles. Only thing is, it has the old speed boost where its dependent on you going left and right on the d-pad rather than holding your drift for as long as possible. If you're used to Wii and beyond, it takes a little getting used to, but once you got it down it's pretty fun.

That's all fine and dandy, racing is fun but not that great in this game. What I remember the most was the battle mode and while I barely played it this time around, I remember absolutely loving it. Considering what Wii and 7 does with their battle modes, this is one of the better ones in the series. The maps are mostly all great and both balloon battle and shine runners were a ton of fun. Again, I'm mostly going off memory but this truly was the most fun aspect of this game at least when I played it as a young lad.

As I said before, I never played missions as a kid, but I can tell you I would've enjoyed them a lot back then. This along with the battle mode really saves DS from it's faults I listed before. None of the other games have something like this so you have a reason to come back to this one for sure. With so many missions, there's bound to be some that aren't the best but most of them were really cool. The fact there were bosses at the end of each level, and almost all of them are really fun, is just icing on the cake when it comes to mission mode. They should really bring this back for Mario Kart 9, would love to see what stuff they could come up with nowadays.

Of the 4 Mario Kart games I've played thus far, this is my favorite. While I didn't think the actual racing aspect was the best due to the course quality, the battle mode and missions make up for it and are THE reason to come back to this one. Been a long while since I played DS, had a ton of nostalgia when playing the battle mode specifically, so I'm very glad I was able to play this one again. Next in the series is the fan favorite Wii, I always liked DS more than Wii but that may change cuz I forgot how good that game's tracks were. Either way, look out for a Mario Kart Wii review coming soon!