I'm going to start writing reviews solely because I need to remind myself why I initially liked certain games and not think I overrated them.

Celeste has stunning visuals, and an immersive soundtrack and even though I haven't played many platforming games at all before, the mechanics really felt fresh and unique.

The story isn't anything huge but its really cute with its bright characters and SUCH an uplifting plot that I got goosebumps multiple times during chapter 7. It was something about the dopamine that comes from clearing a level while our character reconciles with her personified depression that is just so beautiful.

I've only finished the base game but am SOO looking forward to experiencing the entire thing (going for 100%), cant wait for Earthblade as well!

Very recently, a friend of mine made me watch the movie Rango, and it has quickly become one of my favorite movies ever. There's so much to love about it; the animation, character designs, performances, music, etc. But what I loved most about the movie was the message it left for the viewer. Without going heavy into spoilers, Rango is down on his luck and confused about who he really is. It's at this point when a guiding spirit tells him that it doesn't matter who he is because he's allowed to be anything he wants to be. Upon this realization, Rango is able to be the person who his friends need the most and overcomes every obstacle in his way. This is a movie about identity, and watching it has made me realize how much this game failed on almost every metric.

This review has been sitting in the depths of my google docs ever since I finished the game, but I didn't really have anything interesting to say. But that's just the thing: there is nothing interesting to say about this game. Rango's journey is one that ends with him being whatever the hell he wants to be for the sake of others. Meanwhile, Sonic Lost World has no interest in forming any kind of identity of its own. For the sake of others, this game decided to be a bland blankslate to try and appeal to as many people as possible rather than being a new, engaging, and genuine experience.

The countless comparisons to Mario are heavily warranted. The worlds all have generic theming; grass, snow, desert, lava, it covered the whole nine yards. This is the game that infamously gave Sonic a run button which goes against the point of most games requiring you to build up speed over time and master the precision in controlling said speed. Sonic can now parkour from wall to wall, just like Mario's wall jumps, and I would argue that the element of vertical traversal present in many areas is also taken straight from the red and blue plumber. It even went back to its roots for the story of Eggman kidnapping creatures and making them robots (it does get a bit more complicated than that to its credit, but I would argue that's for the worse because the writing is beyond awful) instead of making some new and interesting plot to discover.

Even the best aspect of the game, the music, has nothing to say for itself. It's a really good soundtrack in terms of pure sound, don't get me wrong. This is genuinely one of the best Sonic soundtracks to date, I'll give it that. However, there is one crucial piece of the puzzle that's missing: aesthetic. This is a very simple sounding OST that is beautifully orchestrated, but it has no backbone to make it stand out. Say what you want about Forces, but when I listen to music from it, I know I'm listening to music from it. The instrumentation and general composition gives it flair, which makes it stand out from the rest. You could put almost any Lost World track in my playlist and I would only be able to tell you where it's from out of process of elimination because every other OST is so much more distinct and filled with personality. It doesn't help that it straight up reuses tracks from other games during certain points (Reach for the Stars plays when you're invincible, Sonic Heroes plays when you get the fast shoes, just to name a few).

It's not like this music is linked with any good memories for me to latch onto, anyway. These levels were not thought provoking in the slightest and didn't warrant any feeling on my end. I guess I was a bit frustrated at those stupid fruit and snowball pushing levels, but I'm grasping at straws beyond that. So, if you have a good soundtrack that doesn't stand out in a game where the gameplay is as basic as it gets and the levels aren't substantial in the slightest, then what's the takeaway? Nothing, nothing at all. It's as if the game doesn't even exist. You've likely heard this from every corner of the internet, but a bad game is better than a profoundly mediocre one. Sonic 06 is a buggy, poorly written shitshow that has remained in the minds of millions for those exact reasons. It gave people a reason to remember it. Lost World just seems content with nobody remembering anything that it did.

"Nowadays, they have a name for just about everything. Doesn't matter what they call you... it's the deeds make the man."

This entire game accomplished nothing throughout my entire playthrough. The deeds it's done don't deserve to be praised or hated, they just simply are. They will fade away from the public mind and memories of diehard fans alike.

"But my deeds just made everything worse. I'm a fake... a phony. My friends were counting on me. They were looking for some sort of hero."

At the end of the day, I don't think it was really trying to be anything special, which is the sad part. Being primarily on Wii U and 3DS meant trying to appeal to Nintendo fans, but I don't understand how making your game feel more like Mario makes it worth playing considering Sega was out of the console wars decades ago and has had a very strong presence on Nintendo hardware ever since.

"Then be a hero!"

Say what you want, but Forces tried just a bit to reestablish the status quo. It brought back most of Sonic's friends, had a new and interesting villain, a distinct look and sound, and stuck to a working formula that Sonic had been using for quite a bit rather than trying to feel like a generic third party platformer.

"Oh, no! No, no. You don't understand, I'm not even supposed to be here."

Sonic does not belong in whatever this unresounding hodge podge was; this random blip of existence was no place for the series to get comfortable. Lost World thankfully never got a direct sequel and the team went straight back to the boost formula. Although Forces made an attempt and missed by a long shot, at least it was back on track. It realized what it did wrong, took some time to recoup, and got right back at it.

"That's right. You came out here looking for something that didn't exist. But don't you see? It's not about you... it's about them."

With Frontiers now out, while not the perfect game, the fans were given exactly what they wanted. It's a fresh, new Sonic experience, with new gameplay that doesn't stray too far from the old styles, a stand out soundtrack, and some spectacular set pieces to remind everyone why Sonic is loved so much in the first place. The greatest sin that Lost World committed was trying to appeal to a broader audience by dumbing itself down immensely. Sonic Team learned from their mistakes over time and made a new experience for the fans of the series rather than trying to get sales as high as they could by broadening their horizons in the most boring way possible. In a way, this is an important stepping stone in Sonic's return to blazing glory, but what is a stone to the mountain that lies ahead? No matter what rough patches there were along the way, no matter how much Sonic deviated from the path ahead, he came back center stage to give the people exactly what they so longingly desired: a memorable Sonic experience.

"No man can walk out on his own story."

Hotel Mario. You know what it is. It is turning 27 in a few days so I felt like today was a good day to review this game. Hotel Mario is a revolution in the gaming industry. It's one of those rare pieces of media that raises topics that we still see critics discussing over today after nearly 27 years. It's the first and only game to delve deep into the psyches of the Mario Bros that no game has ever done since. When Hotel Mario was released on the Philips CD-I, the game, along with Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: Wand of Gamelon, have been praised by critics, old and new. Killer reviews all over the board. If you don't know about this game, then you're out of touch, and I'm out of time to not stop talking about this masterpiece.

I want to talk about the console that Hotel Mario came in first. Nintendo was working with Philips to make a CD add on for the SNES. That never came through and nor did Nintendo and Sony on the same concept. Phillips made their own console and had Nintendo franchises in their games. The console screams quality with exclusives that can't be topped today and a size that is bigger than the Xbox Series X and the PS5. This console may have been $1000 at launch, but there was a reason. It was meant to be a console for the elite gamers.

To say that this game has a narrative is an understatement. Hotel Mario's gameplay on its own tells a story. What may be surface level with the objective being to close every door actually tells us something about the Mario Brothers. I've come to the conclusion that they're LGBTQ+ members. What kind is left ambiguous for the player to interpret the answer in their own ways without being blueballed. The objective represents them closing themselves out from society. They're hiding themselves from the unknown. Afraid to be shunned upon because of who they are. While the enemies want them to show their true colors by opening doors, Mario and Luigi try to shut them out. While they do get the princess at the end, this question has been raised by me and only me because I am the smartest man in the world and anyone else who thinks otherwise is stupid and wrong. Do Mario and Luigi really rescue Peach? Let's rewind to the start of the game. Mario and Luigi walk into the Mushroom Kingdom. After the player sees Bowser laughing, we cut to Mario and Luigi. Mario starts with, "Nice of the princess to invite us over to the picnic. Ey, Luigi?" 2 things. First off, for years, people have interpreted that last part of the sentence as Mario calling Luigi gay. Secondly, Mario and Luigi are in the Mushroom Kingdom, a place with drug-like substances, making the user see what can't really be seen in normal eyes. The place like that doesm't exist and it portrays Mario and Luigi's downward spiral as they walk into a place that can't be real. There is no going back. There are instances where Princess Toadstool looks like she has been rescued, but she disappears out of thin air. Is the princess even real? The ending where the princess is "rescued" is the result of the Mario Bros hitting rock bottom. They gave in to their fantasies and stopped accepting reality.

As said, the objective of the game is to close every door before the timer runs out. What may be simple is turns into something that keeps you on your toes. No game has given me that feeling since Super 3D Noah's Ark for the SNES. Enemies will be closing doors and coming through them so you're constantly pressured. Mario can hide in doors which adds more strategy to approaching the game. Sets of rooms and doors are distinct from each other. Keeping the game fresh. Wendy's hotel is a commentary on counterfeit and the consequences of it. Touching her coins results in you getting damaged. The subtext beneath that is that Wendy has made fake coins to stop and frame the Mario Bros. That's genius.

Mario may have died yesterday, but his legacy within this game will not be forgotten. Hotel Mario is a masterpiece of narrative, storytelling, art direction, and music. It's legacy is the result of people still talking about this game today compared to Cyberpunk 2077. If the series were to end, then Hotel Mario would've been the best way to send off gaming's biggest icon for Hotel Mario is the apex of video games.