Maybe I just have bad taste, but after replaying this game last week I'm genuinely shocked that there's a lot of people who either think this game is mid or terrible.

I'll agree that the humor isn't for everyone, but looking past that, it's just so much fun simply moving around and doing parkour in this game. To me, I feel like an open world game has succeeded if you don't even want to use fast travel. Even if I was zig zagging between objectives, I still wanted to find new ways to reach the landmarks and potentially discover collectibles along the way. (There are quite a few of them)

The weapon variety is also nothing to sneeze at. The same kind of ridiculousness that you'd find in a ratchet and clank game can be found here- everything from explosive teddy bears to an RC that deploys mini helicopters of death. Most of the ones I encountered really were a blast to use.

I did find some of the missions in the Fargathian/LARPer arc to be kind of a slog, and I do think that the Amp system doesn't add nearly as much to the experience as the devs want you to think. Still, this is well worth playing and it's kind of upsetting that a remaster or sequel is super unlikely.

This was among the first Genesis games I ever played- summer of 2003 when I was 7 years old and at the absolute peak of my Sonic the Hedgehog obsession. To this day, it is still my favorite entry in the series as it strikes the best balance and has some of my favorite setpieces.

Don't get me wrong- it's still a Ghosts n Goblins game and is still very challenging. However, being able to shoot up (as well as down) makes a huge difference in how the game can be approached and is a bit more forgiving because of it. It's also not "game breaking" in the way that Super Castlevania IV's multi directional whip allegedly is, as the level design and boss encounters definitely account for this nuance. Case in point- the barfing pigs at the end of stage 1 and the giant slug you take on before entering Lucifer's castle.

I also don't think people talk about the psycho cannon. It's the game's mandatory second loop weapon this time around, and it is awesome. It genuinely feels great to use in nearly every situation once you're able to obtain it. When wearing golden armor, it does not grant you any sort of magical ability (like the other weapons) but is able to cancel out projectiles which is very helpful. I'm bringing this up because, in Super Ghouls n Ghosts, the magical bracelet was awful and made the game harder if anything due to its gimped range and lack of any special traits.

Definitely give it a go- you might enjoy this game even if you didn't care for the others in the franchise. I'd consider this, Forgotten Worlds and Mega Twins to be some of the most enjoyable of Capcom's arcade-to-Genesis conversions.

[Played via the very recent NES port which can be found for sale on itch.io]

I'm going to be honest, I usually frown upon homebrews. Once the novelty of playing a new game on an old console wears off, I've always felt like I was left with a half baked product. At least, that's been my experience with the homebrew scene so far.

This, however, was rock solid. Sam's Journey is a bit Yoshi's Island (due to the collect-a-thon element), a bit Donkey Kong Country and a bit Super Mario Bros. 3. You have the large, sprawling levels that europlatformers were typically known for (thankfully not as confusing as something from the original Turrican) and a good number of suits to mess around with. Sam will find himself turning into a pirate, a wall jumping ninja, a vampire that can turn into a bat and even an Elvis knock off that can twirl around in the air.

Knights of Bytes certainly didn't skimp out on the presentation for their first project, either. This game looks just as good as an actual late release NES game, although it does get a little too busy visually. There were definitely times I struggled to distinguish the foreground from the background, but it was never game breaking. Also, the music is absolutely fantastic. It goes way harder than it needed to for a game about a kid getting yoinked into a magic warphole in his closet.

Give this one a go if you don't mind the fact that it's not on the traditional storefronts. I really hope this will come to Steam as well as Switch- it would definitely have an audience on the latter!