I last played Returns in 2011-2012 so its been 10-11 years since I last revisited it, and I liked it alot more now as an adult.

I still think it plays a little safe with some stuff (stage theming, Rambi, only the three kongs) and I still view the Tiki Tribe as very unmemorable antagonists. For the former point I'm a bit forgiving on those things cause it was Retro's first time handling the IP, so sticking with a simple scope worked especially since the last country game was DKC3 on SNES at the time Returns dropped.

As a first impression with Retro's jump to handle DKC, they did a great job maintaining the challenge the original trilogy had. A massive oversight being the Minecart & Rocketbarrel levels essentially being OHKO gauntlets which I still see as unfairly punishing despite my increased skill on games over the years.

Music was nice, game still holds up visually all these years later. Bosses didn't take as long as I remembered them being, but a fair amount really overstay their welcome. Never understood why the Wii Classic Controller was never natively supported for this game, it could've worked as I still believe the motion control was shoehorned in (which for a 2010 Wii game, its pretty silly)

I'm still not sure if I'd rank it above or below DKC1, but Returns is a game worth playing. I'm more appreciative of what it represents and what it led to and I think it should be remembered for those reasons.

Super Mario Galaxy 2, I remember the first trailers and when it released, it felt like a magical day when I finally got it in my hands as a kid. Replaying it today as an adult, it's still a great time that I generally like about the same as the original, but would slightly prefer it in some ways.

The game visually looks gorgeous, but it does lack that otherworldly presentation from the first game. I do prefer how levels were designed here, I wasn't a fan of a few of them, but I enjoyed a lot of them. They trimmed the fat that was a chunk of gimmicky motion control levels, and in it's place are more focused platforming challenges and missions that made fun use of the game's power-ups (the new ones that is, Boo, Bee, and Spring Mario were just kinda there)

Bosses were really fun and I'd arguably say that Galaxy 2 is where Mario bosses were at it's peak. I loved the variety they all brought, providing decent challenge and differing strategies on how to tackle them, alongside incorporating the power-ups & Yoshi in some encounters to spice things up. There was never a dull moment with the bosses and I wish future Mario games took notes from Galaxy 2.

Music is still peak, not much else to say.

The Green Stars, while I appreciate that they were tied to a much more rewarding prize for completing the game compared to Galaxy 1, the journey to get there was filled with tedium. A good portion of folks critique 64 & Sunshine for having a bootout system with Stars & Shine Sprites, and while the bootout system never bothered me, SMG2 is where it actually had me a bit annoyed. How did this game get a pass on it with the Green Stars?

Most of them take a couple of seconds to a minute to snag, some of them are pretty close to each other, and you have the wait time before and after entering/re-entering a level to collect more. Its time that adds up and feels like a slog. The level design hardly changes around for them either which just makes the bootout system more redundant than it already is for a post-game quest. Despite that though, I did enjoy Grandmaster Galaxy, definitely a 2nd hardest Mario level for me.

Overall, Galaxy 2 is a fun time. I still care about the Galaxy series alot, but they're a duology of Mario titles I don't see myself replaying as often as 64 & Sunshine. I like more speedy control.

Man where has this weird series been my whole life. Well, not on Nintendo consoles until now. I grew up as a Nintendo kid and even when I came across the ps2 & psp I never saw Katamari, its sonething I grew familiar with on the internet at most.

I initially planned on playing and beating the game on an NSO Game Trial but two levels in and I was hooked, bought it for 4 bucks. And its a wonderful, weird, turn your brain off and have fun type of game.

Even with the Ursa Major and Taurus levels that put you to the test with avoiding the smaller bears & cows in favor of the bigger ones, its just funny. You'll go "aw man" and then try again just to avoid the king's mockery of you.

I can't speak on the quality of this "remaster" as someone that never played the original but I had a blast. Definitely want to peep We Love Katamari later this year.

A perfectly middle of the road, cozy, and safe Mario game. I mainly played it cause Wonder is coming out soon, I never played Mario U at all, and I needed a bit of a breather after playing Cave Story & Dustforce DX back to back (both fairly tough games)

NSMBU doesn't do anything interesting or inventive, it mainly feels like a rehash of NSMBW, but I still had a chill time with it. All I could really need after playing some tough games.

Super Mario Wonder is gonna be amazing though.