A fun game. The tutorial is amazing to introduce you to the game mechanics and the game plays very nice. It was different than what I expected and I got used to it quickly.

The puzzles are creative and there was a lot of thought put into them and also a lot of puzzles. In summary, the easy levels and half the normal puzzles are small. In the other half of the normal puzzles through the hard puzzles they get bigger and in the hard difficulty there is less time to complete them.

The only thing I disliked quite a bit are the circle and square numbers. They make the puzzles very hard especially if the number is greater than 3. Not that big of a deal because the symmetry of most puzzles allows you to cheese them, but in some puzzles it gets tiresome, namely the asymmetric ones. Nevertheless I understand that this was necessary to keep the game interesting and not too simple. There is probably better ways to do it, but giving the size of the DS screen it was a clever decision.

The highlight for me is level 9-gold, it was a nice way to finish the game. I liked this game a lot and unfortunately couldn't play it online. I wanted to see community puzzles and try to make some, but it's fine. I don't recommend this game, though. I can see it being frustrating sometimes and I think most people would lose their minds instead of having fun with it.

MegaTheRealOne said in his review that this was basically Pizza Tower released 30 years ago and that got me interested in playing this game.

It's true, it's basically Pizza Tower in the design. There's a lot of fun sprites and some seem like they're hand drawn. As Mega said, the kitchen theme, while not something original, is done very well here, is charming and, in my opinion, is the only reason to play this game. The last level reminded me of Shovel Knight for some reason. The music is also fun but nothing special.

As for the game itself, it could be better. At the beginning it's fun, the pan mechanics are well done and the variety of weapons is something you look forward to. That is until the game starts to put unavoidable weapons in your way and there's no way to progress without switching the weapons. Besides the pan there's the spoon, which is basically a longer range pan, a plate, which works as a projectile, and the fork (the worst) that keeps you jumping and to kill enemies with it you have to jump above them. If you take any damage you lose them and get the pan back. For example, there's a section where the game forces you to use the fork. Right after, if you are using the fork, you are forced to get the plate. The worst part about this section is that both of this are horrible in said section and you are basically forced to take damage.

The design of the levels, overall, is interesting because it is as vertical as it is horizontal. But again, some sections have horrible enemy placements and weird gaps to jump over which made the game a bit frustrating for me. The health system is another problem in the design for me. Resetting to two hp points with the continues is so annoying and there isn't a reliable way to get max hp back. I have nothing to say about the mini games because I barely played them.

That's it for me. I wish I could enjoy this game more but apparently I'm too casual for it.

I never heard about picross before. I found out about it here on Backloggd and got interested, so I played this. It's a solid puzzle game.

I got addicted when I started playing it because I loved right away the concept of picross. The game does an amazing job teaching you how to play it and overall is very easy. This game is divided in three sections of 64 levels each: easy, less easy and medium. Don't expect a challenge.

Each level has to be completed in under thirty minutes and every mistake takes some minutes away from the timer. If I'm not mistaken, you can make up to four mistakes because the fifth takes all the time left. It's an interesting concept to make the game less boring and it worked well for me.

The main problem is the screen. It ended up being compact to fit all the numbers and the 15x15 grid, which can make it a bit harder to play properly. Also, they should've added a small grid for the numbers in front of the rows, it would be much appreciated.

There's not much else to say I think. It's a cool puzzle game but I'm sure there are better ways to play picross than on a Game Boy. I had a good time and only recommend Mario's Picross if you're curious about it.

I found out about this game when a friend said he got it for free on the Epic Games store. I took a glance over it and saw dungeons, and since I liked Zelda I thought I'd like this one too. Keep in mind that this is the first roguelike I played and I knew nothing about the genre. Well... the word that describes this game for me is underwhelming.

In Moonlighter you have 5 mysterious dungeons which we know nothing about. Since the main character owns a store, your job will be to explore the dungeons, discover the secret behind them and make some money selling the stuff you find along the way. Each dungeon is made of 3 levels, each one with increased difficulty and thus better loot. Levels 2 and 3 of every dungeon are behind a mini boss and, to unlock another dungeon, level 3 has a final boss. You start the game with nothing besides a simple sword and a store to sell the items and the progression is made through the money you make selling the items on your store.

Unfortunately this game felt unbalanced to me. It takes a while to beat the first dungeon and, after beating it, I felt like the game would step up and only get better. That didn't happen. The first boss is difficult and requires you to carefully analyze its patterns to avoid taking damage and dying. But that's all the challenge the game provided for me. To progress in the dungeons you need to upgrade your equipment, obviously. But the mini bosses are so tanky that if you want to beat the dungeon you need to get the full equipment, and after you do that the final bosses present no challenge at all.

The second problem then arises. To get the full equipment you need: (i) items for the smith, (ii) gold to pay the smith. So you'll be going back and forth repeating the same cycle of: going to the dungeon, getting as much stuff as you can, selling them, repeat. It gets tiring pretty quickly, for the game doesn't incentivize exploration and the enemies are very similar throughout the whole playthrough. The good thing is that the higher the dungeon the more money you get with less trips. So it gets progressively faster to repeat this cycle but you have no incentive to beat previous dungeons, only if you really want a specific piece of equipment.

The final problem for me is the dungeons. They are boring, to put simply. They all have the same layouts only varying the theme of the dungeon, they are small, the enemies are very similar and there's an annoying inventory gimmick: you need to think about the placement of the items on your bag before leaving the dungeon. It is by far the most unnecessary thing in this game as it servers no purpose at all. At one point there is a way to completely neglect this whole gimmick so it's just a waste of time.

I think I have to talk about the store management portion of the game. The only thing the items do for you in this game is to improve you equipment. If the item doesn't do that it serves no purpose other than to be turned into gold. I wish I knew that when I started playing because I kept saving the rare items thinking they could be used to something. The store management then is basically a guess the price minigame. You have an item, how much do you think it's worth? If you put the right price people buy it, if you don't, they don't buy it. That's it. To try to mix things up a little, some clients can ask you to slay some monsters or bring them certain items in exchange for a bunch of money, but again there's no incentive for doing that. The dungeons are random and the last thing you want in this game is to go around searching for some specific mobs or items. It also doesn't matter if you do these side quests or not so it is another pointless gimmick.

Where the game shines in my opinion is on the style. The edgeless and round pixel art is fun and pleasing to look at. The music is charming and peaceful. As for the gameplay it is fluid due to the (overpowered) dash, it only gets repetitive quickly. There's also a pet gimmick worth mentioning, where some mobs can drop eggs and after hatching them you get a mini version of that monster that helps you.

I really wanted to like this game but unfortunately I can't. Despite being visible the amount of care and passion that went into this project, the design philosophies are questionable. It had a lot of potential but the execution is underwhelming.

I still have to finish the new game plus. I'll be back here after I finish it.

The first Kirby game I finished and for the NES it is an impressive game. For the different enemies, power ups and the various scenarios throughout the game, it can't be denied that this was amazing for the console. But if this was made for the SNES it would probably be way better.

My complaints here are about the controls. The game in general isn't optimized so when there's too much stuff on the screen it will also have frame drops. These frame drops paired with the controls that can't process fast inputs make the game feel janky and I died a lot on the pits due to that.

As a platformer I'm not a big fan of the design. Kirby's ability to fly can be used to cheese a lot of levels here so there isn't a sense of challenge. The screen is also small so it felt claustrophobic as if there wasn't enough space to jump and fight the enemies properly.

Aside from that the game is cool. I liked the boss fights, the music, the art style and I also find interesting how the variety of power ups could provide one of the best replay abilities in a game I've played. Unfortunately I'm not hyped to go for 100%, maybe I'll be with the next titles but not for this one.

This game is great, there isn't much more to say about it.

It is easily one of the top 5 SNES games. The hand-drawn style of the game is done so well, paired with the iconic soundtrack you'll find a perfect match of style and gameplay.

While playing you will have a rich experience for there's a variety of pretty much everything in this game. First one important to mention is the mechanics because they went crazy with Yoshi. Aside from the mechanics used in Super Mario World you also have a delay from falling and a shooting gimmick. Those provide one of the best progressions and level design I've played in a Super Mario game. There's puzzle levels, hard platforming levels, auto scroll levels and combat focused levels. Every level has its special place and you'll hardly get weary of them. The variety of scenarios, enemies, and animations makes it definitely the best Super Mario game I played. I also love the boss battles. Here they are memorable in contrary of Super Mario World where the only memorable boss battle for me is the final one.

The baby Mario gimmick can be annoying at times but this is by far the easiest classic Super Mario game so it's not a big deal. Because of baby Mario you can take "infinite" damage so here the challenge is gonna be platforming your way without falling into pits. I can see someone getting bored by the design filled with pits, but the auto save (aside from providing a more free experience because you don't need to do a lot in one sitting or look for save points) makes you more carefree about lives, so when you lose you don't get so frustrated.

Overall a masterpiece. If you have a hard time with other entries of the series due to their difficulty I highly recommend this game. It is cute, it is easy and it is iconic.

My expectations when I started playing Oracle of Ages after playing Oracle of Seasons two times weren't low, but they also weren't high. As I said previously in my Oracle of Seasons review, these games use Link's Awakening as a base. This gave the developers the possibility to experiment and play with cool concepts. My main complaint of Seasons was that it could be called Link's Awakening 2, because that's what the game, on its own, feels. Hence my apprehension. But now, after playing it, I'm amazed.

Oracle of Ages doubles down on the story. Here we have, aside from Nayru the oracle, Ralph, a clumsy but determined hero, and Zelda. The game from the very start hits you with a long cutscene for Game Boy standards, so be prepared to read and watch cute animations. After that you're free to roam through Labrynna, and right away it is clear that the focus here are the puzzles, opposed to the focus on combat in Seasons. The general feeling I had is that Ages is more than its counterpart in everything that is proposed for these titles. I got this feeling from the very start with the variety of characters, scenarios and music. The time traveling mechanic that allows you to alternate from past to present is responsible to make two different maps and therefore different scenarios. It also gives us different soundtracks for the same locations either changing the instruments or tempo of the songs, a welcome improvement. Time traveling is essential throughout the whole game for crossing the map, for solving puzzles and for beating the dungeons. Also the developers were clever to change some subitems in each game to mix things up a little. Here we have the switch hook instead of the boomerang and the pea shooter instead of the slingshot (more puzzle oriented items).

Unfortunately both games suffer with the limitations of the hardware. If Seasons needed enemy variety, in Ages there's a lack of puzzle variety. In the first three dungeons I believe, all of the puzzles were already used. I didn't feel as much because I was invested in the narrative, but I can see someone getting tired of them. Also worth mentioning one of the sections where it's necessary to play a bunch of minigames to progress. The minigames weren't difficult but I felt a bit annoyed by that (I noticed I'm not a big fan of minigames in Zelda).

I forgot to mention that Oracle of Ages has a final boss. Unlike whatever that thing in Oracle of Seaons is, anything but a final boss.

I don't want to be repetitive so as far as the other elements of both games go (like the pets, graphics and difficulty) I think I covered them all on the Oracle of Seasons review because my criticism holds for Ages too on those matters. So to finish the Oracle of Ages review I'd would say that it's a fun game. The focus on the story hooked me and solving puzzles felt nicer than slaying mummies and bats. I don't know why but I like the atmosphere of this game. Zoras's domain, the library and symetry city are lovely. And Tingle is in this game, that's important to mention. There's definetly moments here I think I won't see in any other Zelda games. But as a standalone game though, I still think that Link's Awakening is the one to go.

I'm done with Zelda games for this year. The ones I got backlogged are A Link to the Past, Zelda II, Majora's Mask and Windwaker. Which one should I play next year?

------ There will be spoilers down here ------
I want to use this final section to talk about the linked game and also to appraise the execution. It's important to mention that I'm talking about my experience playing Seasons and then continuing the story on Ages. It's a small game so the main difference are some dialogues and characters from the previous game played. Despite that it is done very well, I felt like being part of a bigger story and the references to the prior adventure are always good. One example is Rosa, a "subrosian" who you help in Seasons. Here the roles are reversed and she's the one to helps you. Also, throughout the gameplay you'll encounter characters that give you codes to unlock power ups on the other game. But that doesn't do much because everything to do in the other game has been done. For the future I plan to replay both games but Ages first and the Seasons.

As for the story and gameplay the reward is minimal. The twins capture Zelda and since them and the other two bosses lit each their own flame, Ganon is back. So we get a 3 stage final battle, the first two stages we fight against Twinrova and the in the final stage we fight Ganon. It's a tough battle, a cool challenge that was definitely missing in Oracle of Seasons.
After that... that's it. A title screen with Link sailing away in the Link's Awakening boat. I won't lie, I was expecting more for completing the story but I think the experience is worth it. I want to point that these are games for people who love the Zelda game series. If you're not invested you won't have a good time with these entries.

Aside from A Link to the Between Worlds, I think I played every handheld Zelda game. I'll summarize my experience with them here:

Link's Awakening: charming adventure that laid the groundwork for the series. Can't recommend this enough;

Oracle of Seasons and Ages: fun entries, despite not adding much to the series they are special in their own way;

Minish Cap: By far the best handheld entry. Amazing graphics, dungeons, mechanics, characters, story, everything. Not for everyone though;

Four Swords: I wish I could play with 3 friends but playing with my friend in school was a good time. They nailed the coop mechanics;

Phantom Hourglass: don't be discouraged by the controls, it's a cool game with a lot of stumbles. Play it if you can.

Spirit Tracks: it improves the predecessor in every way except the world traversal. Play it if you liked Phantom Hourglass.

I love the idea of games that complement each other. I'm looking forward to finish Oracle of Ages after this one. This is the second time I played Oracle of Seasons and it's a pretty good game. It takes the "skeleton" of Link's awakening and tries to expand on that game.

It doesn't succeed on that, though. The game is more of the same with few variations on subitems and overall level design. That doesn't mean it isn't enjoyable (I wouldn't suggest to play the GBC Zelda games back to back). The game has good pacing that combines well with the tame difficulty. There's a bunch of puzzles (I'd like to highlight level 8 that has an annoying but creative puzzle) and could use more enemy variety that starts to get weary by the 7th dungeon. There's also one of the most cool features that are the "pets" that help Link progress in the overworld. It's a shame that they're only useful for brief amount of gameplay given the scope of the game. But even being a relatively small game, it still pushes its limits and has a second map, an underworld with peculiar creatures.

The game shines on the story it's telling. I read somewhere that usually they made the game first, meaning the devs worked on the map, enemies and dungeons first before the story. But Capcom wrote everything before that and it shows. Oracle of Seasons is packed with charming characters and funny dialogues. Also the drawings displayed on game start and on the credits sequence are gorgeous.

My main complaints are: the graphics that are the exact same as Link's Awakening and the bosses. The boss fights are either too easy or too cryptic. The worst part is the final boss that is underwhelming to say the least.

Aside from that, it's a fun game definitely worth the time. The seasons gimmick is great but it's arguably underused. The music for most dungeons is gloomy and I liked that. Overall a pleasing game that has its qualities and could use some improvement.

By now, before continuing the story on Oracle of Ages, I would still suggest playing Link's Awakening first because it is simpler.

Edit: here's my review of Oracle of Ages. I'm also updating my grade from 4 stars to 3 and a half.

If you haven't played this game, you'll stop reading and go play it right now.

Wario Land 2 is a masterpiece. At first I thought it was more Wario Land having played 3 and 4. I was wrong. The only thing all of these games have in common is the mechanics. Aside from that, they all have different structures.

Here we have a more linear game that focus on a story. At first, after finishing it for the first time, I thought it was just more Wario, which I was used to after playing Wario Land 4 a few months ago. But then the game hit me with an amazing post-game. Then I realized why they decided to focus on the story. After finishing, you get access to all the levels you played and you can go through different timelines through alternative exits on the levels. I definitely wasn't expecting that on a Game Boy game.

I'd like to highlight the variety of the levels and how they change depending on which timeline you're in. It is not a lazy post game that's just "Hey! Here are more levels you can play". It's like the game was made to be played as a whole. There's new visuals, a remaked level, new puzzles. Even though it's a GBC game and despite having 50 levels the game doesn't feel repetitive at any point.

This game is amazing. Since I started it until I finished last night, I was always excited to play it and find out what else the game had to offer. It is an easy platformer, easy to start and easily one of the best games on the Game Boy Color. Masterpiece 10/10.