This game is the perfect way to transition Kirby into 3D. While I wouldn't say no to a more Mario 64-style 3D Kirby, I do think 3D "Obstacle course" style platformers are an under-appreciated side of the genre, and I'm glad it's what this game went with. Every level is different and almost wholey unique, even ones that re-use overall themes. Yeah, there are two "Mall" levels in the game, but they're completely different in atmosphere.
This game is also killing it in terms of presentation. We feel like we could easily say this is the most gorgeous Switch game, with it juxtaposing the usual cutesy Kirby aesthetic with the long-abandoned urban locales. The OST is some of the best the series has to offer as well, with tracks like The Battle of Blizzard Bridge and Enter the Fiery Forbidden Lands being some of the tracks that never fails to get us pumped, or track as emotionally moving as Northeast Frost Street or the final boss's battle theme.
Its only flaws are a rather limiting Copy Ability selection (which I don't think ability-upgrading entirely makes up for), and in turn, Mini-Boss encounters that get tiringly repetitive when it's the same four Mini-Bosses the entire game. But it's otherwise so bluntly kick-ass that it barely matters.

While far from perfect, I have a lot of affection for this game simply for having a level of looking visually inspired more than a lot of the other games trying to hop on the train of Poke-clones. Like, the first half-hour alone gripped me harder than the 7 or so hours I played of Coromon combined.

This is also a game I can see myself coming back to over and over, with how many customization options it has, including built-in randomizer features. Even without those, it has a lot of combinations of creatures to mess with, and this game's "Shinies" come in different types as well, which adds another layer of having a little randomness in your run.

I. can't muster up the wherewithal to finish this one. It at least beats out Sticker Star because it feels like a game with some heart behind it, but nothing about what it presents impresses me. I only got it because I kept hearing that it's the return-to-form Paper Mario we've been waiting for, but all I got out of this was one of the biggest feelings of buyer's remorse I've ever felt.

There's just nothing to grip me. The badge system is "back" but in the most half-hearted way possible. Partners are "back" but they're temporary and contribute so little to battles I can't help but wonder why they bothered. The battle system seemed like an interesting spin, but it largely falls under the same problems Sticker Star did where there's no point to engage with them. And even if you do, they're either really boring or really tedious. Plus you get a button that solves the puzzle for you, the only cost being money that the game gives to you in comical amounts anyway.

I got about halfway through the desert level before just deciding it was too boring to finish. I don't even care that it's not "TTYD 2" or whatever. I just want a good Paper Mario game again, man.

Came for the spiritual Wario Land 5, stayed for the best Sonic game in the past decade.

This game was a blast the whole way through. Peppino controls a little loosey-goosey, which is fine for almost all the levels since they have a decent margin for error, but a couple levels at the very end feel a little too demanding for Peppino's tendency to fly off the hinges over a misinput.

I can't think of any flaws otherwise though. I meant it when I said it's the best "Sonic" game I've played in ages cause I've not felt the need to master individual levels and blast through them as quickly as possible to get S-ranks like this since Sonic Unleashed. The shmovement is so slick, getting a good run going is insanely satisfying.

It's also incredibly well-animated with a greasy-ass art style (and I mean that as a compliment) that feels right out of a mid-90s Cartoon Network show. Fantastic sound design to boot, including a banger soundtrack.

Fantastic game. Can't recommend it enough.

We have to put the FATTEST asterisk on that score.

This game is a mess. Like, frequently falling apart with obvious visual glitches, frame rate tanking on the regular, various other hiccups, and the game has even crashed on us once. Bugs and issues always get exasperated on social media - the "Whooaaaaaa this game is sooooo glitchyyyy lmao" clips are like. The same 10 clips every time. - But this game REALLY is just blatantly not finished. Like, in a "this is not fit for public consumption" kind of way. This is the game where Pokemon's exhausting yearly release schedule is most obviously killing the series from the inside-out and the corporate higher-ups that need to keep the merch-money-train rolling are the cancer.
But in spite of all this, this is the most fun we've had with a Pokemon game since our favorite games in the series, Black and White/BW2. It's maybe not quite the open world Pokemon we dreamed of but it's at least close. The team-building potential in this game seems off the charts with how open the game is overall. A lot of the new Pokemon's designs are kickass, very much a step-up from Gen 8. And the game has a decent variety of main tasks so you're not doing the same thing for too long. (Though it could use some more interesting minor tasks. Rare Tera Type spawns, raids, and Gimmigouls don't quite carry it.)
This also feels like the best writing in the series since Gen 5 as well. We genuinely love each of the main cast, Arven and Nemona especially feeling like some of the best characters in this series. The ending also takes a twist we didn't see coming. Like for real, how did we go from Lysander and Chairman Rose to Volo and THIS game's villain?
It just SUCKS to know there's a timeline where this game came out next year and it JUST got to be the best Pokemon to date. It was THIS close. But instead, it gets held back by its numerous technical problems that could've been ironed out had this game spent more time in the proverbial oven.

It is - For better AND for worse - The Pokemon Game of All Time

I hate saying this one disappointed me a bit. Maybe it isn't the game's fault because Rouge-likes are hit or miss for me, but I gave it a go anyway because Shovel Knight's one of my favorite games ever, why wouldn't I? Well, it ends up feeling a little tiresome after a while because of how often you're at the mercy of what the games gives you to build with. I can get a good run where I get a lot of Max HP sometimes, and thus have less difficulty surviving, but some runs it just doesn't give me any Max HP upgrades and I end up too fragile to reliably survive the lower parts of the dungeon.

Shovel Knight's hard level design works because fairly generous checkpointing allows you to learn the level design, and dying doesn't hurt so bad. Dying here feels awful because I'm trying to learn the mechanics of the water level's elements, only to get killed and not see the water level again for another half-hour because you start from the very beginning of the game, thus learning the level design becomes a chore. This came to a head when I got to the final level, reached a part that looked like a dead-end, couldn't find out how to progress, and then the drilling machine killed me. What did I do wrong? I'm not gonna find out until I play literally the entire game over again! It wants the Shovel Knight difficulty but still wants the perma-death of a Rogue-like.

Speaking of the drilling machine, I can't help but be shocked you can't turn that off in the options. Pocket Dungeon had such versatile customizable difficulty right down to removing its time limit entirely if you wanted. Why can't I do the same with Dig? The game would certainly kill me a lot less if I was allowed to take my time more.

The procedurally generated level design also rides the fine line of being sort of mish-mash, but also having whole segments that you start easily recognizing more and more. Especially in the first level, Mushroom Mines. Shovel Knight got it so right because every bit of the level design felt intentional and well thought-out, where here it's feeling a little more scattered because segments don't organically lead into one-another as well.

In the end it's still as solid as any Shovel Knight game, but this feels like a notable step down from everything else under the name. At least the pixel-art is gorgeous and the music is a banger, as usual.

I've played 1 and 3 over and over and over again, over the years. And I've been meaning to play 2 again for a long time but was always afraid of doing so because of how often I heard (and remembered) how full of shit the game is.

I was correct.

I don't know if I can bring myself to dislike Pikmin 2 because at the end of the day it's still Pikmin. It's just the least good Pikmin. Purple Pikmin make combat so trivial most of the time, but at the same time you're having to play the game like you're walking on eggshells because enemies and bombs will just drop from the ceiling unprompted. Some of which will ONLY trigger around Pikmin that are carrying something. Like I swear this game is specifically designed to make the player upset, the fuck is up with that.

As such, the difficulty curve is more like a difficulty stock market line graph. Just shooting up and down for arbitrary reasons. A cave will be a slog to get through but then the boss at the end is completely trivial. Several enemies like Bulbears and Gatling Groinks are disproportionately dangerous but also made a joke so long as you have an ultra bitter spray on you. It's just a mess.

An exhausting game that's carried by the fact that it's Pikmin.

I haven't been so genuinely charmed by a game like this in a long, long time. Calling a game "cute" or "adorable" always feels a bit like it can be read as patronizing but I really mean it for this of all games. It gets to be "what if childhood was a video game" in almost as many wonderful ways as possible, all presented by the LARPing of some kids in the playground.

It's also just plain impressive that this game is more or less a miniature Breath of the Wild. Small and short as it is, with the tiny dev team it had that's still nothing short of increadible.

It has loads of charming characters, and a really heartfelt story that can surprisingly tug at the heart strings quite a bit. The game most worthy of the "wholesome" descriptor. All while still not shying away from real-life troubles WITHOUT being a downer about it. The ending in particular not something I expected to emotionally hit me so hard, even after I had already read the context clues to figure out the twist involving Big Sis.

It's also really funny. A game hasn't gotten me to laugh this much in a while, too.

I can't overstate how much this game feels like the impossibly perfect Pikmin game of my 12-year-old self's dreams. Every Pikmin type is present and has a corosponding onion, loads of old enemies are back, and you can brave the surface at night.

They even bring caves back and they're infinitely better now that they're designed by human hands and not a robot. And have also really toned down stuff like enemies and hazards dropping from the ceiling. It's easily the hardest Pikmin game without succumbing to 2's shenanigans.

My only complaints is that this game really shows why 3 didn't have White or Purple Pikmin return in the main story; outside of caves and Dandori challenges, not every Pikmin is quite treated equal (Purples especially feel present out of obligation, beyond a couple 100+ weight objects). And the soundtrack is easily the weakest in the series.

That and I wish the autolock was something you could toggle off. I'd just rather not have it on and it repeatedly has me throwing Pikmin onto the wrong object, or at a couple points feels like it's actively trying to get my Pikmin killed.

Other than that, this is easily the best Pikmin. Like they REALLY knocked it out of the park with this one.