I grew up with Road Trip/Choro Q HG 2, and out of curiosity and fondness for that game, I decided to try out the first of the series. Choro Q/Penny Racers has some real feel-good vibes, from the cute model toy cars driving in bright environments to the MIDI soundtrack full of catchy melodic tunes. The driving feels very unwieldly at first, and the collision detection can be really frustrating, but as you get better at handling both these things the game becomes much more enjoyable.

The main Grand Prix mode has an RPG-like progression and customization that's pretty impressive for a racing game of its time. While the content is pretty barebones, the game is short enough for the progression to feel satisfying and not long winded. Overall, a fun light driving game with great tunes and a decent foundation to a series of severely overlooked racing games.

This game effortlessly exudes an atmosphere full of darkness and warmth, weaved perfectly with its classical synth soundtrack. At times you can feel the slowness of the game, especially when backtracking or looking for hidden items, but almost every effort taken to explore for items is met with useful rewards. Exploring the cleverly interlinked Ancient City was deeply satisfying, while still keeping that sense of tension and unease that King's Field is known for. A great conclusion to a great series.

As soulful as Evergrace but with a lot more digestible plot and a bit more action mechanics, though I prefer the story of Evergrace more. Stringing combos of palmira actions is pretty enjoyable, but the execution of it can be quite wacky at times. A number of systems in this game are wacky, such as the defense system and hilariously grindy upgrade system, but the soul gauge along with unique character abilities and equipment conditions are quite endearing and ambitious for its time.

The art direction is warm and nostalgic, and the character designs are very cool, continuing the unique style Evergrace is known for. The soundtrack is simply incredible; Kota Hoshino truly refined the sound of Evergrace and made an ost of earworms from start to finish. Overall, love this game just as much as Evergrace and hope that one day From can work with the artists of this game on a new project channeling the vibes felt only in this series.

The grandfather of the Resident Evil series, Sweet home lays down the foundation of survival horror while standing on its own as a horror jrpg. It certainly has its faults though: menuing can be really shitty to navigate and managing each character and their items can be quite tedious. I found myself accidently pressing the wrong menu button multiple times. The difficulty scaling is quite abysmal; once your characters reach level 3 and onwards none of the enemies will ever truly pose a threat. The quick events are usually just some object falling down on a character and you can probably select the same dodge option the whole game and not die once. Really a lot of the game's mechanics are undermined by easy the game is. The story is good too but a lot of the revelations fall flat in presentation.

Despite its faults though, I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the progression of exploring the house. The soundtrack is pretty good, the basement and fresco themes being highlights. Overall an entertaining title to play from start to finish that gives me much more appreciation of Resident Evil.