judgerussell
1992
1986
1993
1990
amazing penguin is strange because it is clearly inspired by Pac-Man, but it's also absolutely more than just a clone. it captures the feeling of turning tight corners well, and the mechanic of eliminating enemies is cool (hit all the points on a given boundary to fill it in and bounce off any enemies along the edges). the pixel murals are super cute. I believe I'm about halfway done after my session.
1991
1991
cave noire is a lean game-- very little is extraneous and everything feels finely tuned. still, it's not super compelling. its bite-sized rogueyness is a bit ahead of its time, and all of the art is good. if you're into Gameboy stuff u should definitely check it out!
EDIT: nah this game rules actually... it gets supremely difficult at around quest 5 for each quest type, and requires extreme goblinizing and careful decisions to continue. a very good train game
EDIT: nah this game rules actually... it gets supremely difficult at around quest 5 for each quest type, and requires extreme goblinizing and careful decisions to continue. a very good train game
1999
uplink is a solid vertical slice of Half-Life. I don't think it contains the magic of the game, but the it covers quite a bit of the gameplay in a very short amount of time. Half-Life fans should check it out, and someone interested in the first game should play it as a feeler instead of waiting on a train for 5 minutes.
2008
Mario kart Wii is a good Mario kart-- not much more to it than that. this game was very present in the childhoods of people my age, and there are a luxurious amount of tracks here, and I remember a lot of them well still. however, I never played it in the school-bus-competitive way i did Mario kart DS, and so I always felt that this game, despite its visuals, paled on comparison. in 2023 it's fun still, Mario kart is hard to get wrong. the bikes are cool. Funky Kong yelling is hilarious.
1998
just some solid gradius! the uglier visuals and unfamiliar feeling of the game boy wear off, and you're left with five levels of gradius bliss. there's some added drama too-- the game is bookended with chase scenes, the persistence of power ups are played with, and things aren't always what they seem. this gets a big game boy rec (if you like gradius-- if not, it won't change it mind, if you don't know if you like gradius, maybe try a prettier one)
2023
TBD
2023