One of the more impressive ROM hacks I've played, and one I'm happy to say has seen some touch-ups since the last time I played it. A very lovingly crafted double-dozen pack of Mario World levels with gorgeous new visuals and music, a challenging but consistent difficulty curve, and a strong variety of level concepts and themes. Many aspects of this game speak to my preferences more than even the base game Mario World, which is a hell of an accomplish. A few crappy levels near the end can't stop this from being a favorite of mine. Any 2D Mario fan willing to confront a pretty legit challenge that will blow your artistic senses away, step on up.

A straight up improvement in every regard from its predecessors, PaRappa 2 easily lands its place as the best game of the trilogy. I love a lot of the PlayStation 2’s early offerings as they almost represent the end of an era, back when short, sub-20 hour games were commonplace in your console library alongside your 40+ hour behemoths. In less than two hours I finished the main game while having pure groove injected into my veins. The game overall just strikes that specific hip-hop chord for me especially compared to the first game. I’m also happy to say that PaRappa 2 unironically has great gameplay! It’s extremely easy on the default difficulty but I love the looseness of the freestyle system and the input interpreter feels just right. This is a fantastic game, emblematic of my favorite era of games and the attitude surrounding their development. It’s short, fun, and worth your time. Play this!