If I could jump that high...would I ever find the ground again?

Is it bad to jump that high into the sky of nostalgia? To let yourself slip away and put your head into the clouds? Will those clouds of nostalgia turn you against your peers who don't see the vision? The vision of a children's playground for you to jump around to your heart's content? Planting yourself on a little conveyor and riding on it like a first-person roller coaster? Pretending to pet the non-threatening round green birds that chirp "kiwi!" if you dare to shoot them?

I wish I could jump like Robbit, I wish I could shoot lasers like Robbit, and I wish I could make funny noises whenever I took a step forward like Robbit. Why is life such a bore? Why can't it be just playgrounds and rainbows? Why can I not be just like my hero Robbit? Fighting funny evil men with funny palm tree jellyfish henchmen.

Was it my mom's fault that she bought me this during a time where I got nothing for a majority of the year due to being a poor December baby? Is she to blame for this mess? My poisonous care for a simple video game that I had played too much? The rare time where I can attach my mom to a game instead of my gamer dad? My yearning for days that I didn't need to care about getting up for work in the morning? When I didn't have a constant worry for the struggles of others? Is it truly bad for me? To just make me forget, and make me care only about smiling and struggling to hold back my emotions? To just, feel once more?

Is it bad for me to feel like a kid again? For just one hour?

Why must life be so grounded...?

Let's go Robbit, let's jump and go...for old times' sake once more....

We were young, and we were still learning. Coming into our own, yet still not quite there.

The second generation was much like some of us who had experienced the series from the beginning as bright eyed and optimistic children. Maturing, finding our footing in life, and trying to figure things out for what we really wanted out of our future. Do we continue onward with our current path and continue developing our skill? Are we seeking to make a career of said skill? Those drawings bearing a similar crudeness to generation one sprites that we etched on the back of our tests, those little characters that you made from your own two hands and the ocean of your imagination. They would need to be refined, perhaps to the point you would be sick of seeing them again through the months and months of practice. We struck gold on something we were good at, but were we ready to make this our life? How do we get ready for life? Would we even make it to that path we dreamed of?

For us, this was the sequel. A sequel to childhood, and the path to maturity.

If we were to get ready for life, we would need to learn how to maintain a schedule and utilize a form of communication to keep in touch with our contacts. Through our little battery-powered clock in our cartridges, we kept track of the time of day in order to search for different friends on different paths. We would remember what day it was, so we could participate in a bug catching contest and try to find that Scyther. If we couldn't get up in the morning early enough to catch a Ledyba, what good were we in participating in life? It was at this point we were starting to get into the thick of things, we weren't children anymore, but teenagers who aspired to be more like adults. We were excited of all that upcoming opportunity that would only be granted to us with age, and with that age in due time came responsibility and expectations to provide. Life would soon not be all about fun anymore.

It was soon time to grow up, and perhaps move away from home to master our craft elsewhere...

It's hard however to leave behind everything that you grew up with. We traveled to Johto to learn how to better ourselves, perhaps like the bike shop owner who got unlucky on their new shop placement in Goldenrod, but for us it wasn't truly home. We would long for our old pals, our old hangout spots, and our favorite order from our childhood fast food place. We desired a return trip home to Kanto, so we can say hello to everybody one last time before we begin our life's career. Home however, wasn't quite the same as we had remembered. Forests were chopped down, caves were cleared out, and Lavender Town's place of remembrance had been converted into a radio tower. Kanto has changed, or has it matured like us? Resources have been plundered for practical use over the thoughts of those who had lived there, and spirituality has been pushed to the side in the name of technological advancement. Have we lost our way, or is this what is to be expected of us in the future?

When I finally climb this mountain and end this visit home, what will await me at it's peak?

The last lingering strand of childhood I had left made manifest, the past me armed with the very first friends I had made on this adventure. If I must let go of the past, I must defeat the longing memories of what once was. Even if I were victorious, will the memories finally rest or will they continue pursuing me? With the destruction of the past, we make way for the future. This is the way. This is the way we grow up. We no longer have room for trifling matters such as our childhood friends, memories, or the places we once held dear. It's time to make way for adulthood and to only go forward without ever looking back. Home is no longer home, it's no longer even a memory for us, it was thrown back into the toybox where it belonged. With this we continue our adventure elsewhere, and we leave everything behind. It was a fad, and it's time to bury those McDonalds toys and trading cards in a box or sell them off in a yard sale.

It was never to be the same again, for we have both grown up. Us now simple mature adults, and them a fully-realized juggernaut of a franchise with no end in sight. We've defeated our childhood, there was no reason to keep going with this series obviously geared towards what we had grown out of. We could take a peek once in a while to check on them when they make the television, but we would do so with a look over our shoulder to try and maintain our mask of adulthood and maturity. It was time to only watch mature programming, and play mature games while doing other such mature things, like swearing while our parents weren't around. This is what is expected of us now, it's time to leave it behind to the next generation who will grow with the next set of games, whom may also leave once they have grown past it....with another generation to follow.....and the cycle repeats....

My time was over, much like Kanto and the Game Boy, but despite what life and middle school demanded of me, I would never be too far away.

I am home, I always have been.

Kirby games are just different, man.

Is it kind of ass to play? Sure. I'm not really gonna write home about this one in any capacity. Maybe within the grand picture of Kirby I can at least say this one is "different", but that's as far as my praise really extends.

All you're really gonna find here are some cute visuals, good music, and a gameplay loop that's tired out as soon as you discover there's really only, like, 4 abilities worth having.

With that being said, I can't be mad at this guy. I mean, look at him. Whenever he sets off on a mission he looks so happy. Who am I to try to take that from him? I'll probably keep playing games starring him just to keep seeing him be happy.

Maybe I’m a victim to marketing, who knows.

For what appears to be the last game in the series, I was surprised to see how moved I was from just seeing how these games have evolved over time. It's odd watching something you played because it was free (when you were, like, ten) turn into this. I think growing up alongside something makes you susceptible to fond feelings for it, and that’s the case here. Returning to Momodora was a really great time for me.

It goes without saying that this is one of the prettiest games of the year by a mile, at least at the time of writing this review. I think that’s become something Momodora is known for, and it’s well deserved. Every environment has a certain character to it that I can’t quite put to words well. I enjoy that sort of thing.

I’m fond of the gameplay changes made. I found it less difficult than Reverie, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The sigils felt fun to find, and to some extent I experimented with all of them by the end of the game’s runtime. The movement isn’t the most pristine thing, but it’s generally fun to explore each environment, and I never felt like I was too slow to be having fun doing so.

While it lacks the depth of other examples within the medium, the narrative isn’t necessarily boring either. While it’s aided by the visuals, I did feel connected to what was going on in the world by the end of things. This could be a biproduct of playing every game in the series, and I could easily see someone playing this game and shrugging off the story entirely, but it resonated with me. To avoid spoilers, I’ll cap this by cautioning you to not go into this one expecting the same bleak world as Reverie. This one is more about hope than anything else.

Anyway, it’s a damn good game. With games such as this one the worst part is that, by the end of it, I don’t have anyone to really talk about it with. If you read this review, play the game, give it five stars, and then discuss it with me. That’s your mission. If you’ve already played it, you have permission to be my friend.

This was the first of the Shantae games I had played way back in early-mid 2018, when I had been randomly compelled to try out the series and became her number one advocate for a Smash Bros. inclusion, which... :(... but oh well. I think this is easily the one everyone should start with, as it's not as frustrating as the first game, yet nowhere near the polish and style of the later entries. It's a valuable playthrough if you're hoping to get into the series yourself, but I wouldn't blame anyone for skipping it to play Pirate's Curse instead.

Admittedly, Risky's Revenge is not quite as good as I had remembered as a kid. Dungeons are all pretty bland in design, sluggish to traverse, and the world outside of those dungeons can be rather barren. Shantae herself doesn't control the best either, her hair attacks always carry the long windup and cooldown whether she's fully upgraded or not. It's not terrible, especially for being only her second (...third?) outing, but it's not easy to come back to after playing the rest of her series. I couldn't help but think about how much more I'd be enjoying Pirate's Curse or Half-Genie Hero throughout my playthrough.

i'll also admit that i tried to play the first game before this and gave up after a short while, so hey, Risky's Revenge is definitely a fine improvement.

ff8 is a game that is very hard for me to compile my thoughts on, but i thought i might as well try now that it's been a bit since i've finished it

i can get 8 not being somebody's favorite final fantasy, but this is such a beautiful piece of art to me that it feels like most of the game's bad reputation is just a mass gaslighting campaign perpetuated by early 2000s gaming magazines and kept alive by people who are scared of earnest emotionality in their video games. not everything that happens in this game is necessarily logical and it does have its flaws—the main antagonist is good but far from the series strongest and the disc 2 twist, while not nearly as bad as anyone has ever made it out to be, is delivered a little bit clumsily—but i feel like that's in service of being such an emotionally resonant game that it can barely be seen as a downside. the story of squall and rinoa is so beautiful to me in a way that so few love stories between a man and a woman can be for me and there were multiple points where i started to tear up a bit just because of how much i loved my experience with 8's story and characters.
when it comes to ff8's gameplay the junction system is unironically one of the few times that the atb battle system has been even remotely enjoyable, and while it isn't as strong mechanically as materias from 7 and the tutorials conveying the system in game aren't the best, i think it's a bit sad how having to engage with the mechanics differently is enough to put people off to the game's combat. with just a little bit more time in the oven and an audience more willing to engage with change, the junction system would probably be one of the most celebrated battle systems in any square enix jrpg with dickriders at the level of smirk and press turn from smt, and maybe in general final fantasy 8 would be more celebrated for the amazing game that it deserves to be seen as.

also gunblades are raw as shit and are by far the coolest weapon that any square enix game has ever had don't @ me

Slaps the teeth out of Joel Last of Us's mouth when you don't have a bitch in your ear trying to tell ya otherwise.

Sega Rally Championship's legacy was a boon when it came to asking major companies to throw money into their own psuedo-simulation rally racing games, because I can never get enough of that modbogging feel of maneuvering a heavy car around obstacles and hearing my suspension smack into the ground over numerous bumps and jumps to the tune of disgusting guitar riffs echoing through the alpine mountains. A big difference between Rally Cross and it's Sega-alligned counterpart is how absurdly bouncy the cars feel, it's a constant struggle to keep yourself adjacent to the ground and to not send yourself tumbling through a corner. Huge tip if you are playing, the shoulder buttons not only flip yourself right back up, it also helps keep your wheels on the ground when you take a hard corner.

Shoutouts to me as an idiot child who played the demo decades ago, and sat there at the starting line not knowing how to shift out of neutral.

Despite an obvious inspiration, Rally Cross survives as it's own feel of slower-paced rally racing with imaginary cars named "44 monkey" with an emphasis on keeping control of your vehicle rather than just going fast. I am but a creature of chaos, thus I am drawn to chaotic vehicles, whether they fire missiles or bounce like their tires are full of gummi worms. Maybe Sony should have a dedicated rally racing game again, I think that'd be cool. It would also be cool if they shot Jim Ryan out of a cannon too instead of handing him that cushy retirement after 900 people got laid off, but alas!

not even done yet but jesus christ this is so miserable, i am literally only able to do the droll sidequesting msq content by turning my brain off for an hour or two at a time and skipping every line of dialog because if i invest any more thought than that into this game i feel like i might never want to play another video game in my life. it is insane how dragon quest 10's first version bodies everything arr sets out to do effortlessly when it came out a year earlier and also wasn't a second draft like a realm reborn is. if ff14 ends up being something like xenoblade 2 where it doesn't even get nearly good enough to make up for how much time you waste to get to the "good" part i am so sincerely never playing a game on suggestion of my friends again.

my au ra is cute at least though

FF7 has always had a special place for me despite the original not being in my top 5 games of all time, but it has been a game that even with the original i tried my absolute best to try and play the game no matter what. With the original, I had struggled to find a device that could play it in a stable state and ended up playing the scuffed mobile port as for the remake I tried playing it with the pc port only for it giving up halfway through the game which ultimately ended up in me finally being able to buy a ps5 for rebirth and i could not be any more happier
This game feels like a surreal dream come true as when i thought about a dream remake for this game this is what i imagined it would be like. The graphics and cutscenes are as amazing as ever as the game feels more open to the player to explore every region in the game and even a main side quest to discover a superboss with a fun storyline. The characters both the current and new ones are amazing and improved on the already memorable characters of ff7. The iconic locations of the game are filled with so much personality as the side quests and new characters introduced to rebirth (and remake) give them so much life. This game is filled with the brim with minigame some really fun and some not so fun with one of them being triple triads competitor, Queens Blood, which actually has its own side quest storyline which I thought was fun to go through. If you played the original game, this game does its most memorable scenes and moments in the game so well and the voice actors do so well to capture that emotion that could not be captured the same as in text boxes as it feels even more real. The story is amazing as I expected from beginning to end with its presentation as it captures these memorable moments in the game. One thing that surprised me a lot is that this game does not shy away from its lighthearted moments as there were moments where I genuinely at how they decided to do its quirks from the original. The combat is as great as ever from remake with synergy making the already fun combat even better. the new playable characters are very fun and have their own unique playstyle to go with. It's very hard to explain in words how I felt with this game but to sum it all up my expectations for this game surpassed all my dream expectations and Although the journey is not over yet, I am so glad I was able to finally play it after all these years and I will wait patiently for its incredible finale when its ready.

Look, I don't care if it's juvenile. Monster trucks are fuckin' cool. The sheer concept of a colossal vehicle built to literally crush other cars underneath it's gargantuan wheels fills me with delight, and not only can you play as one in this, but there's also a mechanic where if you run into another car from behind you'll drive over them and get a speed boost. This effectively makes the monster trucks in Off-Road Challenge the racing game equivalent of a grappler, and that's the sickest crap ever.

If that doesn't convince you, then how about watching an AI car drive into a passing by train and have the train be the loser in the exchange and explode into pieces? That sight left more of a mark on me than any racing sim this past decade I tells ya, and every time you set a record you're given a compliment and told "you're hot". Thank you Ms. Challenge! Midway arcade racers always got my back.

IGN: "oh oooh! the frame rate!"

gives IGN a swirly and steals their underpants