I've been replaying this a lot lately on my phone and I have to say this might be my favorite mobile game that is not a port of some kind. Its an incredibly nostalgic game for me. I played the crap out of this around the first year of its release when I was transitioning between high school and undergrad and I pretty much poured all of my mobile gaming time into this through undergrad until Mortal Kombat X Mobile released. On the face of it, Injustice Mobile is quite a simple game, where you are merely swiping and tapping to fight. There is a fair amount of complexity when it comes to gears and teambuilding though, and you want to make sure you have a team that is not only strong stat-wise but also has good synergy. Its still quite simplistic as games go but for a mobile game I still quite enjoy it. While the whole gameplay loop is pretty much grinding, I honestly enjoy the grind (as I do with grinding in general). When I'm on one of my 17 minute study breaks or walking on the treadmill or outside, Injustice makes for a nice diversion. It will never break into my gaming canon list, but honestly I kinda fuck with this game, and it brings me some sort of nostalgic joy as grad school continues to kick my ass.

For years, I have called Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom my "white whale." Like Ahab, I have pursued my Moby Dick for a decade, unable to complete the game without save states and always burning through all five (5) continues. Since high school, I have pursued the challenges of difficult games, notably the NES Ninja Gaiden trilogy, and while I have been able to complete I and II without save states, III has eluded me. I considered this game to be the most difficult game I have played, ever. This is primarily due to the five (5) continues the game offers you, as opposed to unlimited in the previous games, but also due to the multitude of changes made to the North American version to make it more difficult than its Japanese original. Yet, within the past week, I have completed this game nine times, all of which I did not use a single save state or continue, four of which I defeated all three forms of the final boss on a single life. I now question whether I think this game is truly the most difficult of the NES trilogy. While the limited continues prove a significant challenge initially, I feel that since the game asks for you to truly master it, that it might be possible that the unlimited continues of the previous games act as a "crutch" with which one can throw oneself at the challenge repeatedly with some (but not disastrous) consequences, and eventually complete it. In this sense I feel like I have truly mastered Ninja Gaiden III, as opposed to the first two, where I feel as if I have a lesser degree of mastery.

Despite having played it so many times, more than the times I have played the other two entries combined, I feel that this isn't even the best of the trilogy. The story is easily the worst of the trilogy, as Clancy is not a compelling villain at all, the plot is quite played out by this point, and the story lacks the emotional core the first game had. While having many quality of life changes like being able to fully scale and vault over walls, not having respawning enemies, as well as having less knockback and being able to see which items are in the orbs, the gameplay suffers from the changes made to the North American version, namely: the sword extension power-up for Ryu (the range he gets with the extension power-up is the default range of his sword in the original version), taking more damage from enemies and hazards, and more difficult enemy placement. If this game is such a mixed bag, then, why have I replayed it so many times within the past week?

I am currently at a crossroads in my life. The start of a new chapter. Within a month, I will be leaving my parent's home and going to graduate school to become a physical therapist and fully embark on my career. Yet, part of me still wants to remain where I currently am, since it is comfortable, even though I will not grow as a person should I fail to cross this threshold. Game designer Goichi Suda describes the ethos of his overarching series of games, known as 'Kill the Past,' with these words:

"I have seen a lot of people who only remain themselves by repeating the same things they've done in the past and I really don't want to be like them. Killing the past is also synonymous with fighting with the future, and what makes the future alive is facing the past and settling things."

I have long told myself that I am not worthy, I will not amount to anything in life, no one will ever love me, etc. This self-hatred has long kept me from achieving my dreams, seizing my inner power, and becoming my best self. In order to cross this threshold, I will need to "kill the past," as Suda says, and perhaps this is why I continue to replay Ninja Gaiden III after I have finished it once. Perhaps subconsciously, every time I beat this game, I envision myself killing my past self over and over again, destroying the weak one who hated himself, the one who could not defeat Ninja Gaiden III. Maybe finishing Ninja Gaiden III is the beginning of me killing the past, in order to make my great future alive.

In his excellent video review/retrospective from around a decade ago, youtuber Derek Alexander of Stop Skeletons From Fighting (formerly the Happy Video Game Nerd) describes Shigesato Itoi's Earthbound (known in Japan as Mother 2) as "criminally underrated" and "one of the greatest games ever made." The first statement is, happily, no longer correct in the year of 2022. Sure, back when the video was made, Earthbound (and the Mother series as a whole) was a more niche title, heck the only reason I found out about the game and decided to give it a go was through Derek and this video. At this point in time, though in the larger gaming sphere its probably still relatively niche compared to titles like Call of Duty and Fortnite, in the JRPG sphere Earthbound is much more well-known and accessible, thanks to it being released on New 3DS XL and Wii U Virtual Consoles, SNES Mini, and Switch Online Virtual Consoles. The second claim is correct, though I found the reasoning Derek provided in the video was lacking. He claimed that the reason that Earthbound was better than most RPGs is that it has a modern setting and you are playing as a normal young boy and not some medieval, chosen hero. Modern settings in JRPGs are nothing new. They were present in the 90s when Mother 2 came out with titles like Shin Megami Tensei (though you could argue that while it begins in a modern setting, it delves into post-apocalyptic territory quite quickly) and Live A Live (though you could also counter that only a single scenario out of multiple takes place in the modern day). RPGs with modern settings are also present in the current day, with series like Persona taking place in modern day school settings since its inception in 1996 and going on to the recent release of Persona 5 Royal in 2019. I would argue that this was and still is not as unique as many tout it to be. The second point, that you play as a normal boy and not a chosen hero, is false in a few ways. Firstly, technically Ness is a chosen hero, as he was prophesized to defeat Giygas by the Apple of Enlightenment. Its not as prominent of a prophecy or as driving of a force in the plot as in games like Dragon Quest, but its still there. Second, while the trope can be oversaturated in the genre, the claim made implies that the chosen hero archetype is not good inherently, which I definitely disagree with. Such a trope is put to excellent use in games like Dragon Quest III, with Loto/Erdrick growing into that role by becoming a more worldly individual (see my DQ III review for more), but I digress. None of this is at all meant to be an attack on Derek or SSFF, they are one of my favorite channels on YouTube and Derek as the HVGN is one of the three people I credit for helping to foster my love for retro gaming (the others being James Rolfe and NintendoCapriSun). His video on Earthbound is excellent and honestly one of the best he has put out on his channel. The reason I go so in-depth in the beginning of this discussion on the reasons why he loves Earthbound is because rewatching his video made me reflect on why I adore the Mother series and Earthbound so much.

To me, Earthbound stands the test of time not because of originality of setting or of protagonist, but by virtue of its central values of love and empathy. There is no other JRPG series I have experienced that has approached its characters with the level of sincere kindness, empathy, and understanding as the Mother series. In Earthbound, and the Mother series as a whole, Itoi rarely if ever characterizes the enemies you fight as being wholly and purely evil. Characters like Frank or Everdred attack you but you get the sense that they are testing you more than anything. Mr. Carpainter and Geldegarde Monotoli are corrupted by idols or money and under Giygas' influence conduct their terrible deeds, but when you remove the influence they are repentant. Animals and other living creatures that you fight are not "killed," they "become tame." While many have jokingly (or not) chastised games like Pokemon for not having the balls to have their cute little animals die in battle, this fact is thematically relevant in Earthbound since the animals and other creatures are under the influence of Giygas and are otherwise innocent, and its telling of Ness and his friends' compassion that they would not outright kill these opponents.

This humanization of villainous characters is seen most poignantly in Pokey/Porky and Giygas/Giegue. Pokey was already quite an annoying child, and under the influence of Giygas he becomes a constant, nagging thorn in Ness' side throughout the entire game, becoming Giygas' right hand man until the end. Yet, from the beginning he is humanized as when you return him to his house next door after the meteor first crashes, you see signs of abuse in his mother and father when you talk with them. Later on, in Magicant, Pokey appears alone on a bench, saying:

"Ness, you're so lucky...I envy you. Let's be friends forever, alright?"

One could interpret this as the true Pokey appearing to Ness in Magicant, revealing that his true feelings underneath all the villainy and evil deeds are those of a boy abused by his family who just wants the love of a friend. This leaves out the fact that Magicant is a place in Ness' mind and the people, objects, and animals there are more like manifestations of Ness' memories of them. This does not discount the above analysis though, as with this context it can be inferred that the Pokey in Magicant is how Ness views Pokey, which not only hints at the greater truth of his character described above yet never explicitly stated by Pokey himself but also further reinforces the empathy that Itoi imbues in this character. Through all the evil antics, annoying laughter, and attempts to sabotage their journey, Ness sees Pokey as just a lonely and sad child, reaching out for love (an idea perfectly bridged into Mother 3, where in his domain in New Pork City we see a collection of nostalgic items and vehicles from Earthbound, showing that even when Pokey supposedly becomes the ultimately evil Porky, he has retained this human desire for love and companionship and is still holding on to the memory of Ness and his journeys).

The same can be said of Giygas. In Mother (Itoi's magnum opus), Giegue is defeated by Ninten and co through the power of love via the lullaby of Queen Mary, revealed to be Giegue's surrogate mother, Maria, and Ninten's grandmother. In Earthbound, as Giygas, he is torn apart at the reminder of the loss of his mother, and without this mother's love, spirals out of control into an unrecognizable and incomprehensible being of supposedly pure evil, corrupting the creatures of Earth. During the final confrontation, Pokey claims:

"So, isn't this terrifying? I'm terrified too. Giygas cannot think rationally anymore, and he isn't even aware of what he is doing now. His own mind was destroyed by his incredible power. What an all-mighty idiot! Yep, that's what he is! Heh heh heh heh... and you... you will be... just another meal to him!"

Giegue has become Giygas, the all-mighty evil power, and has lost all rationality or agency, needing to be contained by the Devil's Machine...or so the game initially claims. Throughout the final battle, Giygas cries out for Ness, and one of his dialogues is just "...friends..." You could argue that him calling out for Ness is this irrational being still grasping at the last bits of rationality left to focus all of his chaotic evil energy on his goal of defeating Ness to prevent the prophecy of the Apple of Enlightenment, but I see Itoi's empathetic hand in this. Here, Giygas is still wounded from the painful memories of losing Maria, and rather than grow and move forward, he has become distorted and is in many ways like Pokey: a lonely being seeking friendship and love.

Love is the core theme of Earthbound and the Mother series as a whole. There is a reason it is called Mother, after all. The love of not only individual human mothers but Mother Earth permeates the series and is especially poignant in Earthbound. In the same way that heroes like Erdrick in Dragon Quest III mature and become a hero by traveling the world and becoming more worldly, Ness matures and becomes more worldly by traveling all around Eagleland and gathering the Eight Melodies from various "Your Sanctuary" locations, all different places around the Earth. The center of the circle of locations when you bring up the Sound Stone in your inventory looks like the Mother Earth from the logo for the series, further emphasizing Ness gathering the love of Mother Earth to use as his power. Ness gains his power and strength from coming of age: leaving home, venturing off into the great unknown, gaining many friends and companions, yet he always keeps the love of his mother back at home close to his heart, even though he is away. By contrast, Giygas, due to the loss of Maria and his intense pain and anguish, cannot recognize that no matter how far away from him, or whether she is living or dead, Maria's love for him endures. He is too haunted by the pain and loss that he regresses into an incomprehensible mess of emotions, like that of a child, emotions lacking the the logical construction and consistency of maturity. Inside the Devil's Machine, he is a veritable "Boy in the Bubble" of his own regression. A widely circulated fan theory, and one debunked by Itoi himself, is that Giygas' sprite, when viewed in the negative, resembles a fetus. While this was confirmed as not being intentional by Itoi, it fits: Giygas has regressed so much that he is like a fetus, caught in the past of when he was a baby raised by Maria and tormented by the loss that he cannot move forward. Ness and Giygas are perfect foils, and ultimately Ness and co defeat him with prayers sent out to all of your friends and, most importantly, Ness' mother, freeing Giygas from his incomprehensible pain and destroying him with love, in what could be considered euthanasia.

This is what sets Itoi's masterpieces apart from the rest. Earthbound's characters are imbued with such strong love and friendship that you cannot help but love them. Itoi writes his villains with empathy and understanding, not in a hackneyed and overdone "You and I are not that different" manner but in a sincere and vulnerable manner. No other games or JRPGs explore the importance and power of love quite like this one.

Earthbound and Itoi's legacy is not one of quirky dialogue or outlandish difference. It is a melody of love.

The first Romance of the Three Kingdoms game (or Sangokushi in Japan) is probably the densest game I have played on the NES to date. Many NES games are action, action side-scrollers, or RPGs, and even if they may be cryptic at times, these games have a "pick up and play" attitude whereby one will understand basic gameplay mechanics not too long after playing for a while. Meanwhile, Sangokushi starts you off by setting up the game with four different scenarios (that are basically the same in terms of winstate and are not too different from each other, save the fourth one), and then throws you into the game. You are assaulted by a basic map of China and stat menus with tons of numbers and the whole thing seems incredibly confusing and obtuse. If you are like I was about 4 years or so ago when I first got my copy, you probably saw the start of the game and promptly turned it off and popped in some Castlevania or something.

For some reason, a month ago I decided to move past that first instinct and give the game more of a chance. This was the first NES game I played where I needed to thoroughly read the instruction manual to understand any part of what was going on, and even then I messed up a lot of things for the first few hours. As the hours went by, though, I really began to enjoy the game. There are frustrating moments, sure. For example, many times I would enter into a war with another country and there would be a constant push-and-pull where I would take one of their states, and they would take one of mine. While frustrating in the moment, this tug of war really wove an interesting emergent narrative specific to my campaign, and made victory all the sweeter. Seeing the color of your empire gradually spread across China as you conquer more and more gave me the same exciting feeling as playing Civilization V. Unfortunately, Sangokushi is definitely not as visually appealing as the latter. This is obviously due to technological limitations, but the representations of the states and even the battle screens leave a lot to be desired visually. The game is also incredibly slow in terms of how quickly the game executes your commands. There is not much variety in the soundtrack, and even when you do conquer more areas of China, you will really only hear three tracks for the map during the whole game. As previously stated, reading a PDF of the instruction manual is also a must, especially since there aren't as many guides on this game online that I could find. While I was still able to get used to these factors, this might be a deal-breaker for some.

Its unfortunate that Koei's historical sim strategy games never really took off in the West as much as they should. Sangokushi 1, Nobunaga's Ambition 1, and Genghis Khan are relatively easy to find in used game stores and online for a good price, but Sangokushi 2, Nobunaga 2, Bandit Kings of Ancient China, L'Empreur, and the rest of the NES Koei games are all incredibly rare and expensive by comparison. When I would search for info on the first game, or the series in general, on Youtube or Google, I would not find many results at all. It sucks because I really love these games now and they have actually got me interested in the real history they are based on. The instruction manuals include biographies of some of the generals you can play as and some more historical background that is still interesting even though it only covers a fraction of the history at play. If you are willing to really learn a new game and have any interest in the old school, strategy games, history, or any combination of those, I can't recommend this game enough.

This game is quite an ambitious follow-up to the original, with new additions such as stage hazards which I found to be a fun enough novelty, and the shadow clone power up, which was fun at times but quite difficult to control. The cutscenes and story is just as awesome as the original, with some breathtaking shots, and this game boasts a soundtrack just as good as the original.

Unfortunately, the hit detection in this game is much worse than the original. I have not found much information on this topic (for some reason, not many people talk about this???), and what information I did find online does not come to a consensus, but to my understanding Ryu's hitbox was made larger but either his sword's hitbox is smaller than in the first game or the enemy's hitboxes are smaller. Either way, what this results in is loads of instances where an attack that would have made its mark in the first game ends up whiffing here, leading to a lot of unfortunate situations. I really don't understand why the hitboxes needed to be messed with. A perfect example of consistency within a series in terms of hitboxes is the Castlevania series. In Castlevania 1-3, the hit detection is pretty spot on with the whip from title to title, so you don't really need to mess with your timing or muscle memory. You could make the argument that its fine and you just need to learn and adapt to Ninja Gaiden II's style, but I just really don't see why things could not have remained consistent within the series, especially since we have examples like Castlevania to look at.

I can't finish my thoughts on this game without mentioning the absolute insanity that is the final boss. In classic Ninja Gaiden fashion, the final boss has three forms, and if you die on one form you are booted back to the beginning of 7-2, but if you make it back you get to start on that form. Fair enough I guess, but the absolute bullshit comes when you find out that if you try to beat all three forms in one go, THE GAME DOESN'T REFILL YOUR HEALTH IN BETWEEN FORMS. So if you have one bar of life left after beating the first form, you start the second form with one bar!!! Absolute horseshit. The first game's trio were punishing but AT LEAST on your first try they had the courtesy to refill your health after each form. I have completed Ninja Gaiden's final boss, all three forms, in one go before, but I have never been able to do the same with Ninja Gaiden II.

All of this, combined with enemy placement and level design that can get absolutely insane and unhinged, makes an experience that in my opinion is a measure more difficult than the original (people apparently think this is easier than the original and I honestly just don't see it at all). This game has many elements I love, mainly stylistic, but its ultimately hampered by the many issues above. If not for the unlimited continues and me being a whore for really hard NES games, Ninja Gaiden II would be rated much lower.

"Ryu, be always brave...."

Ninja Gaiden is one of the best games on the NES and one of the best games period, but is undeniably one of the tougher entries to grace the original NES. Much of the game's infamous reputation for difficulty is owed to the final act. While the game has a steady and fair difficulty curve in the first five acts, Act VI ramps things up to insane levels, featuring two or three of the most difficult jumps/sections in the entire game, way more enemies than usual, and a three-form final boss that will boot you back to 6-1 if you fail. Moreover, while the final boss will start you on the form you died on upon return, your health from the stage will not be refilled upon reaching him. In this sense, its easy to say that you might as well reset the game if you can't beat him in one run, but like the rest of the game, with enough determination and focus you can beat each of his forms even separately. This aspect was not the only tough part of Ninja Gaiden, but it is easily the most difficult part for me.

Despite this, I still adore this game. Anyone who knows me knows that I love difficult games. Dancing on that razor's edge between adrenaline-pumping intensity and full-on, manic, seeing-red rage is one of my favorite feelings and is up there with eating extremely spicy food as my anti-drug. The best part of this game is that it really dances on that edge for me: its definitely really tough but its just tough enough where you still want to keep going. It dares you to finish it, just one more continue, just one more play, focus enough and you will make it! Ninja Gaiden boasts the ultimate concession and the best part of the best difficult games: unlimited continues! This prevents the game from delving into that horrible-hard territory with the likes of Silver Surfer. Ninja Gaiden with its unlimited continues, I would argue, wants you to finish it.

If you have the patience to withstand its tests of your will, then you will find one of the best NES games of all time. Boasting amazing cutscenes with some of the greatest shots I have seen in an NES game (or any game for that matter, the arrival at Jaquio's castle and the sunset ending come to mind), some of the best music on the system, and a legitimately compelling story for the time, this game is incredibly rewarding for anyone with the patience and determination to hone their ninja skills.

Its a groundwork-laying classic. Killing Nazis is always fun, especially with the Death Cam. Id had not yet hit their stride with their level design until DOOM imo, but there is still some great fun to be had in these labyrinthine levels. The aesthetic of the levels fits their respective settings, although I find the areas much more bland than the inventive art direction of the levels of the DOOM games, even in the DOS era. My main complaint comes with the level design of the three prequel episodes (4-6), which take the labyrinth ethos to the extreme, even having some levels hide REQUIRED keys behind the previously optional secrets. Other than that, this is definitely a must play for any FPS fan, especially if you are an old-school FPS fan. I'm grateful for its legacy, not only with regards to the multiple series that would iterate on its design, but also to the groundwork it would lay for its own series, which would go on to produce some of my favorite games of the genre.

Mein Leben!

This is my third playthrough and my third time trying to get into the Devil May Cry series. The reason it has been so tough for me to get into this series is that I would play through the first game and it would never really impress me all that much, and by the time I would finish I would lose all of my steam to continue forward. I will say that, while I think this game is far from a masterpiece, I definitely enjoyed it a lot more on my third go-around, and I think this is largely due to the game not being great at teaching the player about a lot of its systems. It took me two playthroughs to understand more nuances of the combat, and a third to fully appreciate it. I also kind of wish there were more boss variety, as you pretty much fight the same four bosses three times each and it gets pretty old. The fixed camera angles provided some interesting shots at some points but overall proved to be a hinderance more often than not when changing angles, given that Dante does not operate with tank controls. Devil May Cry excels in its soundtrack and art direction above all, creating wonderfully gothic and foreboding atmospheres to explore. I especially love the castle theme, which samples from the same song (To Burble and Pine by David Torn) as Resident Evil 4's "Serenity" (yet another thing tying this game to RE4). I am only hoping that later titles will take the foundation that this game laid out and make something truly amazing out of it.

Definitely one of the more enjoyable gacha games but in the end, its still a gacha. I never finished any story mode for it or whatever and honestly, I don't really plan to. It always annoyed me how, at least when I played it, there was so much of an emphasis on the newer games from Awakening onward, and the extent of "classic" stuff was Path of Radiance, FE7, and Marth I guess. As someone who had started getting into the older games in the series around that time, this definitely upset me. This could definitely have changed since then but at this point I don't see the reason to play this on mobile and possibly get suckered into the gacha lifestyle when I could just download retroarch and emulate Mystery of the Emblem or Binding Blade lol.

Essentially the distillation of the best elements of Terminator Resistance into a small package. Character models are still kinda stiff even for a game but the characters themselves are a lot more interesting, even besides having an already established character like Kyle Reese. Seeing Rivers have more of a motive and reason to fight that is deeply personal to him made me like him more here and I wish there was more of that in the base game. If the whole base game were even just as good as this I would be extremely satisfied, and this expansion just further fueled my hope for a god-tier Terminator game.

I think its pretty safe to say that this is the best Terminator game, and that's simultaneously a disheartening and hopeful sentiment. This isn't a fantastic FPS by any stretch, but its fun enough and gets the job done. The gameplay is satisfying enough with guns that feel nice and enough enemy variety and scaling to make things interesting. Its greatest achievement is by far its atmosphere. Accompanied by a musical score that captures Brad Fiedel's style so well, this game really captures the "vibe" of the future flashbacks of the first two Terminator films perfectly. The final battle where you push the resistance forces towards Skynet with the main theme playing was nothing short of magical and uplifting. The game is not without its drawbacks, however. The story is serviceable at best but the characters are quite bland and unfortunately quite robotic in their mannerisms and voice, even for a videogame. The voice acting is good at best, but the real issue was the mixing. Seemingly at random, the volume of the voices would decrease sharply to little more than a whisper and I could barely hear the characters. There are also two sex scenes that are incredibly cringey. So, with a serviceable story and bland characters, really all the game has to go on is its ok gameplay and its atmosphere. When that atmosphere shines, though, it really shines. With a little more development, this game could have gone from a good game to a fantastic one, even. Despite this, if you are a Terminator fan, you owe it to yourself to give this game a shot.

What frustrates me the most about T2 for NES is how much of a vast improvement it is over the first NES Terminator game. The graphics definitely fit the tone of the film more and the character portraits are awesome. The music is also in the upper tier of NES soundtracks for me, really sets the mood nicely. This is all ultimately undermined by the gameplay which, while not as atrocious as the first game, leaves much to be desired. Combat can get monotonous which is frustrating for a game based on an action flick, and some sequences are way too difficult than they should be, especially for a game that gives you 4 lives and no(?) continues (I think at some point I managed to get a continue of some sort but that's it). I ended up finishing the game using save states but unlike the original I would play this again and try to beat it without save states. T2 is one of my all time favorite films so it sucks that this game had so much potential but ended up being just shy of decent.