FInished on the NSO

Nowadays Mario 3 is considered the bread and butter of platformers: a classic title that it's eezy and fun to play.

What I really appreciated to this title though is how much it evolved the Mario formula esteblished by SMB and makes the best out of it, regardless of the limitations of the NES hardware.
It takes what I felt was the janky movement of SMB1 and makes it a refined improvement, perfect for more precise positioning and also for just jump through the levels without hesitations, while I find that the original SMB1 movement only hined if you just sprinted through the worlds.

The addition of the leaf suit can be considered a bit of a broken powerup, considering you can just fly through the levels, but considering the time you have to "charge" the sprint, I feel like it's not that easy to just fly across the obstacles. Not to mention that, as the second big powerup next to the fire flower, it is both a creative concept and a cool realization. Frog suit is weird but it has an interesting gimmick, and I like the hammer suit. I feel the fire flower is kinda not fun considering that shooting fireballs breaks the momentum of your run, but it is still a cool tool to have.

The level design, something that I felt was a bit unispired in the original SMB (with a lot of worlds just blending together) now is more distinct and offers a lot of cool ideas that are still unique to this 2D mario game: later titles like New SMB never brought back those nice concepts like the Pipe World with movement similar to the Arcade Mario Bros, or the world where everything is gigantic. Even the Dark world, where Bowser had literal tanks was never been reconsidered for modern 2D mario titles.

The enemies implemented are all really solid: you got some classics from the OG SMB but now the way they are positioned into the levels and the way they can sometimes just be traps for the player makes the obstacles courses more endearing. The Sun, Munchers, Boos and Stretchers, Lotuses, the little flames with legs, or the jumping desert blocks.... most of them appear just once or twice during the whole game, but the way they are implemented makes the specific level even more memorable.

The presentation is also really solid and I think the way the game introduces the concept of a map, the addition of fortresses, kings, specific bosses in the form of koopalings and the whole "theatre aesthetic is what was able to give mario its own identity as a Videogame universe."... also Peach feels like a more competent character and you can already see glimpses of Bowser's threatening but charming personality

I will say no all of the levels hut, there are a couple of stinkers like the infamous World 6-5 or some of the later Castles, but overall the levels have a lot of unique qualities to them.

SO yeah, I really like SMB3, not just as a fun simple platformer but also as a proper evolution to the formula that SMB1 introduced

A simply sublime and inventive deck building game with quite a few genre subversions sprinkled throughout. Masterful atmosphere, visuals and mechanically complex while at the same time being very approachable and digestible. Inscryption should be considered a case study of successful game design.

I gotta admit I was slightly disappointed once the game shifted away from Act 1's shenanigans, but the resulting experience more than made up for it in the end. I also love how the creator added in an optional endgame mode with expanded rules, challenges and cards as kinda of a gift for those who really enjoyed the first segment of the game.

Everyone should play through this at least once. And this is coming from someone who usually dislikes card games and is currently tired of roguelites.

The only mainline Uncharted game I hadn't played until recently!

I can see why it's a divisive entry. The plot is kind of a mess and some of the combat sequences near the end of the game severely overstay their welcome.

But man, it is STILL so breathtaking to play through some of these sequences. Escaping the burning mansion, the sinking ship, the plane crash, and the horseback chase sequence are all stunning moments that perfectly showcase what makes Uncharted special and still worth playing all these years later.

Also, everything with Sully is genuinely touching and is almost the sole reason this chapter in the story matters.

The more of this I play, the more I realize this is an un-reviewable video game.

The emotional equivalent of the coolest, nicest, hottest people you know asking you to help them move and paying you with pizza. Rebirth has some of the most satisfying real time RPG combat with one of the best ensembles in video game history-- all shoved into a bizarrely designed approximation of a "modern" open-world game.

Reflecting on FF7's world map, the openness was more of a feeling than literal design. It wasn't until you got the Highwind near the finale of the original game that you could actually go anywhere you wanted.

Rebirth, ironically, is best when it's on the rails. There are some fun side quests here and there, but there is so much fluff that it genuinely feels like half of the world map activities were designed out of spite.

Ultimately, I am such an unabashed FF7 fan that even if part three is complete garbage, I will still be grateful that this remake trilogy exists. The characters all feel like fully realized versions of themselves, and there are moments of Rebirth that are high points for Final Fantasy overall. It's just a shame that somewhere within Square Enix they felt that a 10/10 story-driven linear action game needed to be shoved into another genre that doesn't feel built around Rebirth's strengths.

I can't even remember what it was that led to me searching for "games like X" but this one came up and happened to be on a deep sale at the time, so I snagged it and decided to take my first trip into the Ys franchise. Boy am I glad that I did!

The action gameplay in this is excellent. It's fast-paced, very tight, has a good mix of hack and slash and special power usage, and features some fun platforming elements too. Great 2D pixel graphics just hit right for me and this looks amazing on PlayStation 5, with several distinct areas to explore that don't blend together at all. And, as you'd expect, the music is quite good too.

The story is apparently told from three different perspectives and while fairly slight, I felt it does a wonderful job of presenting the history of this world and I really liked how the writing handles character development. I enjoyed getting to know them and was sad when my time with them was over. I usually don't play through games multiple times but I'm definitely considering it, just to get the other two unique viewpoints of this story. If not, I'll at the very least look up that information before continuing to my next game in the franchise (which is absolutely happening soon).