Thundercblob
Improves on almost everything from BOTW and there was actually some plot to keep me hooked this time. Took me a long time to beat but it didn't seem to drag as much as BOTW with all the shrines being more fun.
It's like they looked at everything I like about Metroidvanias and threw it all in.
Movement and controls are perfect, the castle and upgrades are satisfyingly paced, and the game looks and sounds amazing. The main gimmick of the soul cards is also awesome and makes killing the enemies rewarding; every enemy gives you a unique spell or ability.
I think, because this is a GBA game, the only thing holding it back is the sense of scale. The castle is fun to explore, but it distills the essence of SotN into a tight, extremely fun, handheld experience. While SotN excelled in atmosphere and spectacle, this game necessarily doesn't have the grandiose sense of scale in areas like the clock tower or catacombs; everything is a little smaller.
Overall though, this is a must-play Metroidvania, and one that beats a lot of Metroid games for me.
Movement and controls are perfect, the castle and upgrades are satisfyingly paced, and the game looks and sounds amazing. The main gimmick of the soul cards is also awesome and makes killing the enemies rewarding; every enemy gives you a unique spell or ability.
I think, because this is a GBA game, the only thing holding it back is the sense of scale. The castle is fun to explore, but it distills the essence of SotN into a tight, extremely fun, handheld experience. While SotN excelled in atmosphere and spectacle, this game necessarily doesn't have the grandiose sense of scale in areas like the clock tower or catacombs; everything is a little smaller.
Overall though, this is a must-play Metroidvania, and one that beats a lot of Metroid games for me.
Extremely solid. You can easily see how this is the inspiration for games like Hollow Knight, but also so much more: elements of Rogue Legacy, The Messenger, and even the Soulsborne games.
The map was fun to explore and the progression was decent, although I wish some upgrades were needed more often, the double jump becomes a bit useless once you get the bat. I loved the visuals, the cheesy ridiculous PS1 dialogue, and the familiars.
It's a testament to this game that it still feels pretty modern compared to other metroidvanias. A lot of games are still emulating this formula. While I enjoyed Super Metroid a little more, I think this is pretty much nearly as good. The only negative thing is the combat really; the bosses feel a bit messy sometimes and difficult to read, and the upgrades make combat very easy by the end.
The map was fun to explore and the progression was decent, although I wish some upgrades were needed more often, the double jump becomes a bit useless once you get the bat. I loved the visuals, the cheesy ridiculous PS1 dialogue, and the familiars.
It's a testament to this game that it still feels pretty modern compared to other metroidvanias. A lot of games are still emulating this formula. While I enjoyed Super Metroid a little more, I think this is pretty much nearly as good. The only negative thing is the combat really; the bosses feel a bit messy sometimes and difficult to read, and the upgrades make combat very easy by the end.
1996
Didn't expect to enjoy this so much and I really don't have much to fault. Camera is a bit janky, yeah, but it's from 1996 and honestly, it's really not that bad. The graphics, level design, and music all have such a great character about them and the game is just 100% focused on fun.
I went into this expecting to blitz through and just complete the levels but ended up getting all 120 stars because it was too fun to put down. I always thought I preferred linear Mario games but, actually, jumping into the levels to get the different stars gave them a lot more depth and made them more memorable. Awesome game.
I went into this expecting to blitz through and just complete the levels but ended up getting all 120 stars because it was too fun to put down. I always thought I preferred linear Mario games but, actually, jumping into the levels to get the different stars gave them a lot more depth and made them more memorable. Awesome game.
Prefer this to the new version honestly. Controls much better and I just love the pixel art. Crazy they managed to fit this on the GameBoy. Found the dungeons more enjoyable this time, don't know if that's just cause it was my second time round though, but still felt pretty fresh.
Really enjoyed this one a lot more than I expected given that it's usually given middling reviews. I found it to be familiar in all the best ways, bringing back characters and iconic locations from previous games, and i'd even say it has one of my favourite overworlds. It's also pretty unique, the minish are fun and some of the powerups I hadn't seen before in other Zeldas.
The dungeons are pretty easy but satisfying and visually unique, and they're spread between minute-to-minute overworld puzzle-solving that is much more fun and engaging than usual. The final dungeon is great and the final boss fight is a real challenge. There's not too many of them, but it didn't feel detrimental to the game like how I felt with Majora's Mask. Dungeon puzzle-solving is just spread out everywhere instead.
The characters are quirky and the visuals still look great, and I don't think this game gets enough praise.
The dungeons are pretty easy but satisfying and visually unique, and they're spread between minute-to-minute overworld puzzle-solving that is much more fun and engaging than usual. The final dungeon is great and the final boss fight is a real challenge. There's not too many of them, but it didn't feel detrimental to the game like how I felt with Majora's Mask. Dungeon puzzle-solving is just spread out everywhere instead.
The characters are quirky and the visuals still look great, and I don't think this game gets enough praise.
I liked this one, but the dungeons felt kind of underwhelming and forgettable. The puzzles were mostly fun but I just felt they lacked any independent themes. Usually, I can recall a few standout dungeons from each game but for this one, I can't say I can differentiate them and I just played it through over the last few days.
Aside from that, the visuals are nice. The overworld is fun and the weird tone is the game's greatest strength. The story is basic, as per Zelda, but it has one of the best endings in the series.
I also found the performance a little lacking. In both docked and handheld modes there were frame drops all the time in the overworld when there really didn't need to be; this is a remake of a game boy game. I want to jump in with the original at some point now it's on NSO so I can compare.
Aside from that, the visuals are nice. The overworld is fun and the weird tone is the game's greatest strength. The story is basic, as per Zelda, but it has one of the best endings in the series.
I also found the performance a little lacking. In both docked and handheld modes there were frame drops all the time in the overworld when there really didn't need to be; this is a remake of a game boy game. I want to jump in with the original at some point now it's on NSO so I can compare.
2002
I like this as a follow-up to Super. It's linear, but feels more like a narrative mission than other Metroid games and the space station feels unique from the other games which all take place on alien planets. It has some great visual design, great movements and controls, and the puzzles are all really good.
The bosses in this game are a little wonky though. Some are really easily spammable like Ridley, while others are gimmicky and simple. There are a few harder ones but they don't match the clever bosses of Super or especially Dread.
Overall though I like how this is markedly different from Super. As a sequel, it feels fresh and I preferred the X parasites to the Metroids.
The bosses in this game are a little wonky though. Some are really easily spammable like Ridley, while others are gimmicky and simple. There are a few harder ones but they don't match the clever bosses of Super or especially Dread.
Overall though I like how this is markedly different from Super. As a sequel, it feels fresh and I preferred the X parasites to the Metroids.
As a big fan of the 2D Metroids, Prime is a game that I've heard a lot about, but never got the chance to play. This remaster is probably the highest-quality game on the Switch in terms of performance and visuals, and is one of the most immersive games I've played full stop; the atmosphere is great.
That said, there are a few things that I missed from Prime's 2D counterparts. The game is slower-paced and the combat, although not the focus, is just kind of too easy; I found the bosses frustratingly easy to read.
Mostly though, I think this game misses out on the one thing I really love about Metroid: the 'power creep'. In Super or Dread, the mid-to-late-game powerups completely change how you traverse the world and your weapons easily tear apart enemies that troubled you in the early game; you feel the weight of the upgrades. In Prime, most upgrades, especially the grappling hook and Gravity Suit, feel like they are needed once or twice and then lose their novelty. I never felt much more powerful than I started out, which is pretty much the reason why I play these games.
That's not to say Prime is bad, it's just a different kind of Metroidvania. I think one of the reasons the backtracking feels so much more tedious here is this lack of tangible progression. Most of the game feels like the final few hours of a 100% run of the other games, searching the same 3 or 4 areas for stuff you've missed.
That said, I definitely enjoyed it enough that I'm likely to jump back in very soon and give it another go. Maybe my expectations were in the wrong place.
That said, there are a few things that I missed from Prime's 2D counterparts. The game is slower-paced and the combat, although not the focus, is just kind of too easy; I found the bosses frustratingly easy to read.
Mostly though, I think this game misses out on the one thing I really love about Metroid: the 'power creep'. In Super or Dread, the mid-to-late-game powerups completely change how you traverse the world and your weapons easily tear apart enemies that troubled you in the early game; you feel the weight of the upgrades. In Prime, most upgrades, especially the grappling hook and Gravity Suit, feel like they are needed once or twice and then lose their novelty. I never felt much more powerful than I started out, which is pretty much the reason why I play these games.
That's not to say Prime is bad, it's just a different kind of Metroidvania. I think one of the reasons the backtracking feels so much more tedious here is this lack of tangible progression. Most of the game feels like the final few hours of a 100% run of the other games, searching the same 3 or 4 areas for stuff you've missed.
That said, I definitely enjoyed it enough that I'm likely to jump back in very soon and give it another go. Maybe my expectations were in the wrong place.
1992
Overall pretty good but just quite short. It captures a lot of the fun that makes Kirby interesting; the sprites are creative and the boss fights are the focus of the gameplay loop.
Super weird and I am here for it. Almost every level has a unique twist and the different zones all have really strong themes. Feels so creative for what could have easily been phoned in.
1988
The best NES game I've played by far, it improves on the original in every regard. The physics are tweaked to make the platforming near-perfect, there are more useful power-ups, and the level design is thematic and gimmicky in the right ways; the individual worlds feel distinct.
Still surprisingly tough though, world 8 took me longer than I'd like to admit!
Still surprisingly tough though, world 8 took me longer than I'd like to admit!
1985
Still holds up. I have almost no nostalgia for the NES original and grew up with New Super Mario Bros. on DS. In fact, I am not really a fan of NES games because they're usually clunky and have awful hitbox detection.
However, they pretty much got it all right on the first go with this one. Level design is engaging and deaths usually feel pretty fair. I was taken aback by how difficult this one is though compared to modern Mario. Power-Ups become super rare in the late game.
However, they pretty much got it all right on the first go with this one. Level design is engaging and deaths usually feel pretty fair. I was taken aback by how difficult this one is though compared to modern Mario. Power-Ups become super rare in the late game.
2021
I feel like it's a definite step down from the first game in terms of combat, but the exploration is actually pretty fun despite the world being more linear.
The music and visuals are just as good if not better than the first game but it's just let down a little by the super easy boss fights and lack of ranged weapons. I had no idea what was going on in terms of the narrative though because I played half of this game at the start of January and half in the last few days.
The music and visuals are just as good if not better than the first game but it's just let down a little by the super easy boss fights and lack of ranged weapons. I had no idea what was going on in terms of the narrative though because I played half of this game at the start of January and half in the last few days.
I played this for like 3 months straight every day last summer and in September I just sort of stopped for some reason. The game is fun for a while but I think there's just too little things to do and progress towards after you finish the 'campaign'.
I think you have to have a lot of patience and creativity to make steady progress through the post-game where your efforts are focused on terraforming, decorating, and redesigning your island and I didn't really have the motivation to stick it through. Maybe I'll jump back in sometime in the future.
I think you have to have a lot of patience and creativity to make steady progress through the post-game where your efforts are focused on terraforming, decorating, and redesigning your island and I didn't really have the motivation to stick it through. Maybe I'll jump back in sometime in the future.