layorio
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14 Reviews liked by layorio
This review contains spoilers
I wanna say a lot of things but I think I’m gonna save them for when I come back to 100% this game. Needless to say though this is the first single player game I have finished in lord knows how long now.
(UPDATED REVIEW FOR 100%. MAJOR SPOILERS FOR BASE GAME + HIDDEN MODE AFTER GAME COMPLETION AHEAD). I have since 100%’d this game on April 17th 2024. Needless to say this is one of my new favorite games. First playthrough I did was on the hardest difficulty going in 97% blind completely unaware of almost anything. All the characters were interesting in their own ways, some i started off hating, others I liked through out the whole game, and the outliers that I hated at the beginning but ended up NOT hating as I went on with the 100% (filling out the report cards). I’ll start off by listing off each character and if I liked them right off the bat.
Makoto: (liked) he was a very, interesting? main character. He seemed too oblivious to what was going on throughout the whole game. (given that we find out at the end of the game he’s considered “the ultimate hope” or whatever I guess it kinda makes sense he was delusional to the “despair” going on around him.)
Kyoko: (liked) kyoko tends to keep a very calm and reserved tone throughout the whole game. With her starting out as “the ultimate ???” It leaves what her skill is up in the air. (even though it’s kind of obvious and I even accidentally guessed it the very second I saw her help me, as a joke.) So there is a mystery behind what could she be the ultimate of… spoiler alert!!! It’s the “ultimate detective.” Her ultimate isn’t the only mystery, she’s also super insecure of the scars on her hands which is why she wears gloves. (I believe this is touched on when you do her report card.) Later on in the game during the last class trial she is backed into a corner and forced to show her scars to everyone. Ok now I’ll backtrack a bit and talk about her “cold demeanor”. She does open up to you as the game goes on and even shows a bit of romantic interest, showing that is the fact she doesn’t really cooperate with anyone except makoto. Her whole story and reason for even being there in the first place is to look for her father which is also the headmaster of hopes peak. I like how that despite her strong stone face during the early game, her will starts to break a bit and gets driven a bit by emotion in the later half of the game, (granted she does regain composure back quickly) showing that she does have some emotions/gets emotional like everyone else. A character that is both strong and has weaknesses always adds a lot to the story, even if it’s subtle. Which is pretty cool because I believe she has the most character development out of everyone there!
Monokuma: (liked) Who doesn’t love monokuma? If you don’t like monokuma you’ll probably hate the whole game it’s just that simple. From goofy ass dialogue, to sly comments about hard on’s + his witty nature and ability to break the forth wall, you almost CANT hate monokuma. Genuinely one of my favorite antagonists truly.
Chihiro: (ultimate programmer) (loved) One of the 2 favorite characters in this game. Despite always talking about being super weak and not able to help as much, “she” arguably did the most with the help of “alter ego” “her” computer AI system. Notice how I put quotation marks on the pronouns? That’s because chihiro is a boy just cross dressing and pretending to be a girl because of his insecurities involving weakness (he also touches on this at the end of one of the school mode endings. Where he makes you touch his chest to feel not a single trace of girlhood there). I love this character and the writing and dialogue he has. I wish he didn’t die the way he did but it was crucial to the continuation of the story so I can’t be mad.
Asahina: (liked) I really really like hina! She’s like this optimistic bubble that almost can’t ever be popped. Even in her report cards she’s overly optimistic (except one where she questions her girlhood cause she never dated someone?). She just brings nothing but joy whenever she’s on screen, it’s really hard to hate her as a character. My only issue with her is that despite her being “the ultimate swimming pro” they almost never touch on that at all. She obviously has brief dialogue options of that sort. But compared to the others she almost never mentions that at all, which is just so strange to me.
Sakura: (liked) The misunderstood women. Or you could call her “the ogre imposter”. Either one works but in this case I’ll keep referring to her as the misunderstood women because that’s what she is, misunderstood. Despite being gigantic and strong, doing her report card and the school mode dialogue options show she’s just like any other women. Being “the ultimate martial artist” must be rough for someone like her who just wants to be both strong and a women. During the chapter in which her death and trial takes place it’s unknown at the time that she had taken her own life due to being mistreated after coming out as the imposter and helping “monokuma”. This in turn once found out destroyed hina so much that she was willing to throw everyone off track by saying she killed her. Because of the way we treated sakura when we found out she was working with “monokuma”. I feel like Sakura as a character isn’t respected enough for her efforts to help out despite being “monokuma’s” buddy.
Sayaka: (ultimate pop sensation) (disliked) I’m not sure if I’m gonna get grilled for this one but…. I didn’t like Sayaka. Her “wannabe” psychic abilities and boring ultimate added on top of her using her girl charm to bum makoto down into a senseless nothing of just mindlessly agreeing with her makes her just not enjoyable in the slightest. It also doesn’t help at all that she LITERALLY dies at the very beginning. As for her report card it was just more of the same boring makoto mind games. Overall not the greatest character, arguably the weakest both writing and progression wise.
Celeste: (loved) here’s number 2/2 of my favorite characters. “The queen of liars”, “the ultimate gambler”, or her real identity, “taeko yasuhiro”. She was a very fun character and she was the mastermind behind hifumis demise (yippeee). Not only do I really like her design I also love how she was written and portrayed. She was willing to give up anything and everything for her goal, nothing but 10 million dollars and a grand dream of a European castle where she will dress up male servants as vampires… can’t help but respect it?!
Mondo: (liked) I actually really liked his character. He was portrayed as a tough guy, but in reality he was scared just like everyone else. Constantly swearing to keep up a “strong” demeanor. Given the title “ultimate biker gang leader”, he made reference during school mode of being afraid to leave the school because he felt like his life was halted due to dedicating so much of it to the biker gang. As sad as I am for him killing poor chihiro, I can’t actually hate him as a character because he was written so well.
Kiyotaka: (ultimate moral compass) (???) mondo’s best buddy there after the sauna incident. I didn’t really pay too much attention to him as a character because he came off as uninteresting and didn’t add much to the game even following his death. I feel like they could’ve done more with him and did a better job with the representation of his ultimate.
Leon (ultimate baseball star) (???) I’m not even gonna lie he died so fast and I really don’t remember much from his report card nor school ending so I really can’t say too too much about him as a character. Do I hate him? No. Do I like him? I don’t know. He’s very up in the air for me. I will say he had the most boring class trial in the game.
Hifumi: (ultimate fanfic creator) (disliked) if you played the game you’ll know why. Thank you Celeste.
Byakuya: (ultimate affluent progeny) (liked) I feel like I both liked and disliked him but I respect him so much I can’t actually dislike him. Both his school mode ending and report card make you lean towards disliking him. As for how I see him, he adds a lot to the class trials same as kyoko. Despite being an ass sometimes he has a point a lot of the time and it can also end up just being funny. Despite feeling like he adds a lot to the game I can’t find too much to talk about him. Just know he’s a good character if you put aside personal bias.
Toko: (disliked/liked) I started off the game severely disliking her. She was pressed heavily into that corner for a reason though. But, both her report card and her school mode ending both added so much to her character that I actually ended up feeling bad for her and ended up seeing her in a whole new light. Being the “ultimate writing prodigy”, she didn’t write her stories from her personal experiences. Instead she wrote them based on her own delusions. She makes this very clear as you’re doing her report card and school mode ending where she constantly mentions you disrupting her delusions. Alongside her first ultimate, she is also the “ultimate murderous fiend”. Meaning she has a split personality disorder that only activates when she either passes out, or sneezes?! I found it pretty cool how her murderous side fell enough in love with byakuya to the point that she would end up no longer be a murderer. Other than that I don’t have much to say about her.
Yasuhiro: (???) Dumb luck does exist and this guy is living proof of it. The fact he managed to make it to the end of the game is an absolute miracle to me. Being the “ultimate clairvoyant”, he added like nothing except for some funny dialogue and some of the dumbest questions ever in the class trials. I don’t hate him though I just don’t prefer him to everyone else there. He’s just ok and funny. I do like the ultimate representation though, it was very much a big part of his personality!
Junko/Mukuro: (???) I’m gonna put these 2 together but split my opinions on them.
Mukuro: (???) being the older twin of the despair sisters + being the “ultimate soldier” she isn’t touched on at all on a personal level. Playing through the school mode and doing junko’s report card during that, her personality bleeds through a lot and is unlike what junko is perceived as junko. even touches on this at the end of the game saying something around the lines of “she couldn’t even play the role of me right” when justifying murdering her sister. I can’t say I like or dislike mukuro because I would probably like her if she was touched on more.
Junko: (???) being the younger twin sister of the despair sisters + being the “ultimate fashionista”. She ended up being the monokuma of the game which in turn means Sakura was working for junko (maybe unintentionally). During the final class trial she showed multiple personalities, which is another instance of a split personality disorder. She was super obsessed with despair to the point where she willingly sacrificed her sister without any shred of guilt. Another character that wasn’t touched on personally so I can’t form a good personal opinion on them. I assume I wouldn’t like her that much though even if they did touch up on her more.
Closing notes: this game was one of the most fun I’ve had playing a single player/story game in a good while. This would probably be a 5/5 if it had replayability but given the nature of the game it’s just not possible to replay it and achieve the same enjoyment you get on your first playthrough. I do highly recommend this game even if it’s one of those games where the fanbase might scare you off, I went into it with 0 knowledge of it and what goes on in the fanbase and had a good time.
(Another thing I’d like to mention. If any point of this seems rushed or there might be missing information or just not flushed out, thats because this was all written in a couple days at like 3 to 4am so apologies lol).
(UPDATED REVIEW FOR 100%. MAJOR SPOILERS FOR BASE GAME + HIDDEN MODE AFTER GAME COMPLETION AHEAD). I have since 100%’d this game on April 17th 2024. Needless to say this is one of my new favorite games. First playthrough I did was on the hardest difficulty going in 97% blind completely unaware of almost anything. All the characters were interesting in their own ways, some i started off hating, others I liked through out the whole game, and the outliers that I hated at the beginning but ended up NOT hating as I went on with the 100% (filling out the report cards). I’ll start off by listing off each character and if I liked them right off the bat.
Makoto: (liked) he was a very, interesting? main character. He seemed too oblivious to what was going on throughout the whole game. (given that we find out at the end of the game he’s considered “the ultimate hope” or whatever I guess it kinda makes sense he was delusional to the “despair” going on around him.)
Kyoko: (liked) kyoko tends to keep a very calm and reserved tone throughout the whole game. With her starting out as “the ultimate ???” It leaves what her skill is up in the air. (even though it’s kind of obvious and I even accidentally guessed it the very second I saw her help me, as a joke.) So there is a mystery behind what could she be the ultimate of… spoiler alert!!! It’s the “ultimate detective.” Her ultimate isn’t the only mystery, she’s also super insecure of the scars on her hands which is why she wears gloves. (I believe this is touched on when you do her report card.) Later on in the game during the last class trial she is backed into a corner and forced to show her scars to everyone. Ok now I’ll backtrack a bit and talk about her “cold demeanor”. She does open up to you as the game goes on and even shows a bit of romantic interest, showing that is the fact she doesn’t really cooperate with anyone except makoto. Her whole story and reason for even being there in the first place is to look for her father which is also the headmaster of hopes peak. I like how that despite her strong stone face during the early game, her will starts to break a bit and gets driven a bit by emotion in the later half of the game, (granted she does regain composure back quickly) showing that she does have some emotions/gets emotional like everyone else. A character that is both strong and has weaknesses always adds a lot to the story, even if it’s subtle. Which is pretty cool because I believe she has the most character development out of everyone there!
Monokuma: (liked) Who doesn’t love monokuma? If you don’t like monokuma you’ll probably hate the whole game it’s just that simple. From goofy ass dialogue, to sly comments about hard on’s + his witty nature and ability to break the forth wall, you almost CANT hate monokuma. Genuinely one of my favorite antagonists truly.
Chihiro: (ultimate programmer) (loved) One of the 2 favorite characters in this game. Despite always talking about being super weak and not able to help as much, “she” arguably did the most with the help of “alter ego” “her” computer AI system. Notice how I put quotation marks on the pronouns? That’s because chihiro is a boy just cross dressing and pretending to be a girl because of his insecurities involving weakness (he also touches on this at the end of one of the school mode endings. Where he makes you touch his chest to feel not a single trace of girlhood there). I love this character and the writing and dialogue he has. I wish he didn’t die the way he did but it was crucial to the continuation of the story so I can’t be mad.
Asahina: (liked) I really really like hina! She’s like this optimistic bubble that almost can’t ever be popped. Even in her report cards she’s overly optimistic (except one where she questions her girlhood cause she never dated someone?). She just brings nothing but joy whenever she’s on screen, it’s really hard to hate her as a character. My only issue with her is that despite her being “the ultimate swimming pro” they almost never touch on that at all. She obviously has brief dialogue options of that sort. But compared to the others she almost never mentions that at all, which is just so strange to me.
Sakura: (liked) The misunderstood women. Or you could call her “the ogre imposter”. Either one works but in this case I’ll keep referring to her as the misunderstood women because that’s what she is, misunderstood. Despite being gigantic and strong, doing her report card and the school mode dialogue options show she’s just like any other women. Being “the ultimate martial artist” must be rough for someone like her who just wants to be both strong and a women. During the chapter in which her death and trial takes place it’s unknown at the time that she had taken her own life due to being mistreated after coming out as the imposter and helping “monokuma”. This in turn once found out destroyed hina so much that she was willing to throw everyone off track by saying she killed her. Because of the way we treated sakura when we found out she was working with “monokuma”. I feel like Sakura as a character isn’t respected enough for her efforts to help out despite being “monokuma’s” buddy.
Sayaka: (ultimate pop sensation) (disliked) I’m not sure if I’m gonna get grilled for this one but…. I didn’t like Sayaka. Her “wannabe” psychic abilities and boring ultimate added on top of her using her girl charm to bum makoto down into a senseless nothing of just mindlessly agreeing with her makes her just not enjoyable in the slightest. It also doesn’t help at all that she LITERALLY dies at the very beginning. As for her report card it was just more of the same boring makoto mind games. Overall not the greatest character, arguably the weakest both writing and progression wise.
Celeste: (loved) here’s number 2/2 of my favorite characters. “The queen of liars”, “the ultimate gambler”, or her real identity, “taeko yasuhiro”. She was a very fun character and she was the mastermind behind hifumis demise (yippeee). Not only do I really like her design I also love how she was written and portrayed. She was willing to give up anything and everything for her goal, nothing but 10 million dollars and a grand dream of a European castle where she will dress up male servants as vampires… can’t help but respect it?!
Mondo: (liked) I actually really liked his character. He was portrayed as a tough guy, but in reality he was scared just like everyone else. Constantly swearing to keep up a “strong” demeanor. Given the title “ultimate biker gang leader”, he made reference during school mode of being afraid to leave the school because he felt like his life was halted due to dedicating so much of it to the biker gang. As sad as I am for him killing poor chihiro, I can’t actually hate him as a character because he was written so well.
Kiyotaka: (ultimate moral compass) (???) mondo’s best buddy there after the sauna incident. I didn’t really pay too much attention to him as a character because he came off as uninteresting and didn’t add much to the game even following his death. I feel like they could’ve done more with him and did a better job with the representation of his ultimate.
Leon (ultimate baseball star) (???) I’m not even gonna lie he died so fast and I really don’t remember much from his report card nor school ending so I really can’t say too too much about him as a character. Do I hate him? No. Do I like him? I don’t know. He’s very up in the air for me. I will say he had the most boring class trial in the game.
Hifumi: (ultimate fanfic creator) (disliked) if you played the game you’ll know why. Thank you Celeste.
Byakuya: (ultimate affluent progeny) (liked) I feel like I both liked and disliked him but I respect him so much I can’t actually dislike him. Both his school mode ending and report card make you lean towards disliking him. As for how I see him, he adds a lot to the class trials same as kyoko. Despite being an ass sometimes he has a point a lot of the time and it can also end up just being funny. Despite feeling like he adds a lot to the game I can’t find too much to talk about him. Just know he’s a good character if you put aside personal bias.
Toko: (disliked/liked) I started off the game severely disliking her. She was pressed heavily into that corner for a reason though. But, both her report card and her school mode ending both added so much to her character that I actually ended up feeling bad for her and ended up seeing her in a whole new light. Being the “ultimate writing prodigy”, she didn’t write her stories from her personal experiences. Instead she wrote them based on her own delusions. She makes this very clear as you’re doing her report card and school mode ending where she constantly mentions you disrupting her delusions. Alongside her first ultimate, she is also the “ultimate murderous fiend”. Meaning she has a split personality disorder that only activates when she either passes out, or sneezes?! I found it pretty cool how her murderous side fell enough in love with byakuya to the point that she would end up no longer be a murderer. Other than that I don’t have much to say about her.
Yasuhiro: (???) Dumb luck does exist and this guy is living proof of it. The fact he managed to make it to the end of the game is an absolute miracle to me. Being the “ultimate clairvoyant”, he added like nothing except for some funny dialogue and some of the dumbest questions ever in the class trials. I don’t hate him though I just don’t prefer him to everyone else there. He’s just ok and funny. I do like the ultimate representation though, it was very much a big part of his personality!
Junko/Mukuro: (???) I’m gonna put these 2 together but split my opinions on them.
Mukuro: (???) being the older twin of the despair sisters + being the “ultimate soldier” she isn’t touched on at all on a personal level. Playing through the school mode and doing junko’s report card during that, her personality bleeds through a lot and is unlike what junko is perceived as junko. even touches on this at the end of the game saying something around the lines of “she couldn’t even play the role of me right” when justifying murdering her sister. I can’t say I like or dislike mukuro because I would probably like her if she was touched on more.
Junko: (???) being the younger twin sister of the despair sisters + being the “ultimate fashionista”. She ended up being the monokuma of the game which in turn means Sakura was working for junko (maybe unintentionally). During the final class trial she showed multiple personalities, which is another instance of a split personality disorder. She was super obsessed with despair to the point where she willingly sacrificed her sister without any shred of guilt. Another character that wasn’t touched on personally so I can’t form a good personal opinion on them. I assume I wouldn’t like her that much though even if they did touch up on her more.
Closing notes: this game was one of the most fun I’ve had playing a single player/story game in a good while. This would probably be a 5/5 if it had replayability but given the nature of the game it’s just not possible to replay it and achieve the same enjoyment you get on your first playthrough. I do highly recommend this game even if it’s one of those games where the fanbase might scare you off, I went into it with 0 knowledge of it and what goes on in the fanbase and had a good time.
(Another thing I’d like to mention. If any point of this seems rushed or there might be missing information or just not flushed out, thats because this was all written in a couple days at like 3 to 4am so apologies lol).
It's pretty hard to give this game a true rating since Minecraft back then is not Minecraft now. This game has no nether update, no cave update and it's plagued with that annoying crafting feature the legacy editions have
BUT i do kinda love it
I loved experiencing the old nether, the basic caves and exploring the limited map size. It's probably nostalgia but this is Minecraft to me. The new Minecraft just doesn't feel like MINECRAFT
I like both though and I'm glad this time capsule is still around to be experienced like nothing ever changed
BUT i do kinda love it
I loved experiencing the old nether, the basic caves and exploring the limited map size. It's probably nostalgia but this is Minecraft to me. The new Minecraft just doesn't feel like MINECRAFT
I like both though and I'm glad this time capsule is still around to be experienced like nothing ever changed
game was boring, controls were bad, story was rushed
Mario Paint
1992
Creativity… imagination… these two elements are some of the driving forces behind the human mind and spirit, allowing many to create and share wondrous things for hundreds of years, and will lead to many other wondrous inventions in the years to come. Along with the many things made from these two elements, there have also been many different products made to help people express their creativity, whether they be tools to help you flourish in a specific field, or products that are primarily designed to allow you to create whatever you want, with the only limits being, again, your imagination. This also applies to video games, with there being plenty that’s sole purpose is to allow you to either make your own games, such as with Dreams and Game Builder Garage (you know, back when people still played those games), or just make whatever. One of the oldest, yet still enduring examples of these games that many still remember to this day would be with Mario Paint.
Somehow in the 23 years that I have been on this planet, I had never played Mario Paint until now, and I am not sure why. Maybe it’s because I never owned a copy of the game or a SNES mouse, but seeing how many still use and create things with the game to this day, it is definitely something that I have been very curious about for a long time. So, I decided now was finally the time to start messing around in it to see how it is, and yeah, people weren’t kidding, this is a pretty great creation game. Sure, some aspects about it may be a little dated, but for an art game that was made over 30 years ago, it is impressive to see how much it has held up after so long, and there is a lot to appreciate and love about it.
The graphics are extremely basic for a SNES game, at least in terms of the interfaces and icons, but they still look good and have a lot of character to enjoy, the music is iconic, also being incredibly simplistic, but it gives off the exact vibes that this game needs, and gets you excited and ready to start making things, the controls took a little getting used to, considering this is the first time I have ever used the SNES mouse (even if it was through an emulator), but this didn’t take long to do at all, and it does help out a lot in being pretty precise with what you are making, and the “gameplay” does offer a lot more than you would initially think, allowing to express your creativity in many ways while creating plenty of memories along the way.
The game is an art creation game, where you are given access to several different means of creating things, with the first of these, of course, being your typical drawing mode. You can use plenty of different colors, patterns, and symbols, use many different sizes of pen, brush, and other tools like the paint bucket and eraser to use to create whatever you want, while also being able to erase them in plenty of creative ways. This may be the bare essentials when it comes to an art program, but again, for a game meant to allow younger players to make whatever they want, it is a lot to work with, allowing for plenty of variety in what you draw and illustrate. Not to mention, you can also animate these drawings as well using the game’s animation tool known as Animation Land. It isn’t as advanced as other animation programs, but even still, you can make quite a lot with it, and it could be used as a gateway tool for those who want to learn how to animate. I mean, hey, this was the game that was used to create the first Homestar Runner episode, so if that doesn’t tell you how much it could help a creator out, I don’t know what will.
Out of all of the programs though, one of the most impressive and long-lasting features in the whole bunch is the music composer. It is what it sounds like, you make music with it, and you are given many different tools to do so, such as with plenty of sound effects you can use, as well as the many different levels you can place them in to alter the sound to your liking. Once again, it doesn’t offer as much as many other music programs, but once again, the many different songs you can make with this program is limitless, and people have managed to make many different impressive remixes just from this tool alone. Seriously, if you just go onto YouTube right now and type in the name of a famous song followed by the words “Mario Paint”, and 9 times out of 10, you will find a remix of it that was entirely made using this software. As for myself, I am not a musician of any kind, so I can’t use this tool to save my life, but for what it is worth, I do find the garbage I do slap together to be pleasing to the ears, so it works well enough for me.
But hey, if creating things isn’t what you are looking for, then that’s ok, because Mario Paint also offers a fully original game alongside everything else, and it is… a fly swatter minigame. Yeah. You play as a hand holding a fly swatter, and your task is to simply swat all of the flies that come on the screen, whether they be big and dangerous or small and feeble, eventually leading up to you needing to swat this HUGE-ASS disgusting fly so that it explodes into a bunch of fly guts. It isn’t anything too complex, but again, much like the rest of the game, the simplicity of this mode, coupled with the music, looks, and sound effects make this one of the most enjoyable and memorable aspects about the game as a whole, to the point where it has been brought back in Super Mario Maker, as well as referenced plenty of times in plenty of other Nintendo games. Not to mention, it is pretty satisfying to swat all of these flies down, letting them know that they AREN’T WELCOME HERE!
As great as Mario Paint is though, as one could expect, it isn’t the perfect creation tool, but that isn’t necessarily the game’s fault. As time has gone on, there have been many different other programs or games that have come out that are primarily meant to be art tools, offering plenty of other tools to use to create whatever you want, some of which Mario Paint just doesn’t have. Once again, the amount you get is impressive, but it won’t give you everything you need to create an artistic marvel, if you know what I mean. Also, as for me, while I do really love what we got here… I’m not really too into it. I have never really been into games where you “make things”, and while I can have a good amount of fun with them for a bit, they definitely aren’t the games I come back to often at all. I’d rather have a pre-built adventure given to me rather then one where I can make my own, and I probably will feel that way about games until the day I die. But again, for what it is worth, I did really enjoy my time with Mario Paint, and I am glad that I finally decided to give it a shot.
Overall, despite its limitations and how I personally couldn’t get too into it, Mario Paint is one of the best art creation games from the early 90’s, giving players plenty of tools to use to create whatever they want, and still managing to find plenty using it and fooling around on it to this day. I would definitely recommend it for those wanting to just mess around with some art tools or a music maker, or even for those who just wanna play the fly swatter minigame, because it will manage to give you exactly what you are looking for, and it may even have you coming back for more. And since I don’t know any other way to end off this review, here are a few horrible pictures that I made using this program just for you all………………. let’s just hope that Future Mega remembers to add those links in here, or else I am gonna look like a huge fucking fool.
EDIT: I remembered, you blue bitch. Have more faith in me for once
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1027013055466446958/1181291686513606666/Mario_Paint_Mega.png?ex=6580869d&is=656e119d&hm=10c03fee8e588f48f5d079f54279e40bab91b6a9ca67f0d549e7484414cafd17&
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1027013055466446958/1181291686828195900/Mario_Paint_Rating.png?ex=6580869d&is=656e119d&hm=5a9bc98e5519a7b56dfa90013b7f60ab658a9bde3db98b8107e02762ccc0709d&
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1027013055466446958/1181291687071449238/Alex_Kidd_Died.png?ex=6580869d&is=656e119d&hm=29e16ca1d1c93d2c745eedf72493508b147d80aec875f1cfe635a922c533ef99&
Game #435
Somehow in the 23 years that I have been on this planet, I had never played Mario Paint until now, and I am not sure why. Maybe it’s because I never owned a copy of the game or a SNES mouse, but seeing how many still use and create things with the game to this day, it is definitely something that I have been very curious about for a long time. So, I decided now was finally the time to start messing around in it to see how it is, and yeah, people weren’t kidding, this is a pretty great creation game. Sure, some aspects about it may be a little dated, but for an art game that was made over 30 years ago, it is impressive to see how much it has held up after so long, and there is a lot to appreciate and love about it.
The graphics are extremely basic for a SNES game, at least in terms of the interfaces and icons, but they still look good and have a lot of character to enjoy, the music is iconic, also being incredibly simplistic, but it gives off the exact vibes that this game needs, and gets you excited and ready to start making things, the controls took a little getting used to, considering this is the first time I have ever used the SNES mouse (even if it was through an emulator), but this didn’t take long to do at all, and it does help out a lot in being pretty precise with what you are making, and the “gameplay” does offer a lot more than you would initially think, allowing to express your creativity in many ways while creating plenty of memories along the way.
The game is an art creation game, where you are given access to several different means of creating things, with the first of these, of course, being your typical drawing mode. You can use plenty of different colors, patterns, and symbols, use many different sizes of pen, brush, and other tools like the paint bucket and eraser to use to create whatever you want, while also being able to erase them in plenty of creative ways. This may be the bare essentials when it comes to an art program, but again, for a game meant to allow younger players to make whatever they want, it is a lot to work with, allowing for plenty of variety in what you draw and illustrate. Not to mention, you can also animate these drawings as well using the game’s animation tool known as Animation Land. It isn’t as advanced as other animation programs, but even still, you can make quite a lot with it, and it could be used as a gateway tool for those who want to learn how to animate. I mean, hey, this was the game that was used to create the first Homestar Runner episode, so if that doesn’t tell you how much it could help a creator out, I don’t know what will.
Out of all of the programs though, one of the most impressive and long-lasting features in the whole bunch is the music composer. It is what it sounds like, you make music with it, and you are given many different tools to do so, such as with plenty of sound effects you can use, as well as the many different levels you can place them in to alter the sound to your liking. Once again, it doesn’t offer as much as many other music programs, but once again, the many different songs you can make with this program is limitless, and people have managed to make many different impressive remixes just from this tool alone. Seriously, if you just go onto YouTube right now and type in the name of a famous song followed by the words “Mario Paint”, and 9 times out of 10, you will find a remix of it that was entirely made using this software. As for myself, I am not a musician of any kind, so I can’t use this tool to save my life, but for what it is worth, I do find the garbage I do slap together to be pleasing to the ears, so it works well enough for me.
But hey, if creating things isn’t what you are looking for, then that’s ok, because Mario Paint also offers a fully original game alongside everything else, and it is… a fly swatter minigame. Yeah. You play as a hand holding a fly swatter, and your task is to simply swat all of the flies that come on the screen, whether they be big and dangerous or small and feeble, eventually leading up to you needing to swat this HUGE-ASS disgusting fly so that it explodes into a bunch of fly guts. It isn’t anything too complex, but again, much like the rest of the game, the simplicity of this mode, coupled with the music, looks, and sound effects make this one of the most enjoyable and memorable aspects about the game as a whole, to the point where it has been brought back in Super Mario Maker, as well as referenced plenty of times in plenty of other Nintendo games. Not to mention, it is pretty satisfying to swat all of these flies down, letting them know that they AREN’T WELCOME HERE!
As great as Mario Paint is though, as one could expect, it isn’t the perfect creation tool, but that isn’t necessarily the game’s fault. As time has gone on, there have been many different other programs or games that have come out that are primarily meant to be art tools, offering plenty of other tools to use to create whatever you want, some of which Mario Paint just doesn’t have. Once again, the amount you get is impressive, but it won’t give you everything you need to create an artistic marvel, if you know what I mean. Also, as for me, while I do really love what we got here… I’m not really too into it. I have never really been into games where you “make things”, and while I can have a good amount of fun with them for a bit, they definitely aren’t the games I come back to often at all. I’d rather have a pre-built adventure given to me rather then one where I can make my own, and I probably will feel that way about games until the day I die. But again, for what it is worth, I did really enjoy my time with Mario Paint, and I am glad that I finally decided to give it a shot.
Overall, despite its limitations and how I personally couldn’t get too into it, Mario Paint is one of the best art creation games from the early 90’s, giving players plenty of tools to use to create whatever they want, and still managing to find plenty using it and fooling around on it to this day. I would definitely recommend it for those wanting to just mess around with some art tools or a music maker, or even for those who just wanna play the fly swatter minigame, because it will manage to give you exactly what you are looking for, and it may even have you coming back for more. And since I don’t know any other way to end off this review, here are a few horrible pictures that I made using this program just for you all………………. let’s just hope that Future Mega remembers to add those links in here, or else I am gonna look like a huge fucking fool.
EDIT: I remembered, you blue bitch. Have more faith in me for once
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1027013055466446958/1181291686513606666/Mario_Paint_Mega.png?ex=6580869d&is=656e119d&hm=10c03fee8e588f48f5d079f54279e40bab91b6a9ca67f0d549e7484414cafd17&
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1027013055466446958/1181291686828195900/Mario_Paint_Rating.png?ex=6580869d&is=656e119d&hm=5a9bc98e5519a7b56dfa90013b7f60ab658a9bde3db98b8107e02762ccc0709d&
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1027013055466446958/1181291687071449238/Alex_Kidd_Died.png?ex=6580869d&is=656e119d&hm=29e16ca1d1c93d2c745eedf72493508b147d80aec875f1cfe635a922c533ef99&
Game #435
Metroid Prime Trilogy version played
A good sequel that solves some of the problems of the original but also makes some big ones of its own. A similar experience with higher highs and lower lows. The hint system can be a little aggressive which is a shame because this game is better than Metroid Prime at being back-tracky and confusing, with the exception of one random ass power up.
The setting and story are far more interesting and involved than the first games and the enemy design is just as good, except for some incredibly annoying enemies that phase out of existence and are a pain in the ass to kill. Also a lot bosses are just irritating and not fun.
The wii control scheme is still excellent however swapping beams is slow and tedious and gets annoying very fast. This wasn't a problem in MP1 because there wasnt such a frequent demand to swap
This game is still great much like its predecessor and I can't wait to finish the trilogy with Corruption.
7/10
A good sequel that solves some of the problems of the original but also makes some big ones of its own. A similar experience with higher highs and lower lows. The hint system can be a little aggressive which is a shame because this game is better than Metroid Prime at being back-tracky and confusing, with the exception of one random ass power up.
The setting and story are far more interesting and involved than the first games and the enemy design is just as good, except for some incredibly annoying enemies that phase out of existence and are a pain in the ass to kill. Also a lot bosses are just irritating and not fun.
The wii control scheme is still excellent however swapping beams is slow and tedious and gets annoying very fast. This wasn't a problem in MP1 because there wasnt such a frequent demand to swap
This game is still great much like its predecessor and I can't wait to finish the trilogy with Corruption.
7/10
Palworld
2024
misleading title, game didn't run in 50 FPS
Come back to us baby, you know we'll treat you better
A worthy holder of the title of 'greatest game of all time'
Undertale
2015
i really really enjoyed this game. the OST is one of the best OST's to ever come out of a video game. and the story it tells with every ending is even better. so glad i got to play this when i was younger!
This is a solid game with a few drawbacks. I think the main one being it doesn't take full advantage of the game play capabilities. One of the big points of the game when it released was that it was 2D Mario with 3D mechanics like wall jumping and triple jumping yet pretty much none of the levels really take advantage of these mechanics. Same with the power ups, there are a lot of cool power ups like the shell, mini mushroom, and mega mushroom, yet the only way to get them in most levels is just to hope the red box floats above the level you're playing which is a let down to me as these power ups could easily have entire levels themed around them. But this game ain't bad at all, the levels themselves are honestly pretty solid especially in world 8 some of those levels felt straight out of Mario Maker. And although a common complaint of the new supe series is that they're visually dull, I wouldn't really say that applies here. I know it was probably due to limitations but the low poly 3D models combined with 2D textures and sprites gave it a pretty unique art style that I definelty wouldn't say is dull. I still had a lot of fun playing this in my downtime and would absolutely recommend it, it's just a shame that it doesn't completely utilize what it's capable of as the building blocks were their to make something truly great.
The struggle for me to understand this series has been unreal. I have a myriad of things that turn me off from Pokemon, just as a franchise, that is the reason why I’ve only finished a handful of the games despite enjoying a lot of qualities about them. My main issues come from pacing and gameplay, I like JRPGs but Pokemon often feels too slow for my liking and I prefer having multiple party members out at once in my turn based games compared to being 1v1s where you swap your party out. Factor in added frustrations because of my impatience regarding level curves, exp distribution, finding which mons I want etc. and it’s a recipe for something that I can’t enjoy. But, oddly enough, I don’t try giving up on it, because I want to understand. I really do.
Out of the games in the series I played prior to this, the original Black and White was my favorite. Not just because of the story, but the pacing and linear progression made it more consistently engaging for me, and the very clearly western inspired region of Unova hit close to home. Tie that with a fantastic OST, character designs, and risky design decisions like the pokemon distribution being solely new mons during the story it was the one game that I could say I genuinely liked as a complete package.
So, clearly, the next step would be to play the sequels. And that’s correct! But this was at a time before I knew how to emulate games, and ALSO the time where this game was artificially inflated to a 100+ USD value and uh… Well yeah I didn’t get an opportunity to even try it. After getting access to emulation tools I’ve sampled this game a handful of times here or there, but out of nowhere earlier this year I finally pulled together the energy to just sit down and finish this damn game for once, because I knew I would like it.
And like it I did. Shockingly even more than I expected. BW2 pulls everything I liked about the first game and amplifies it to a crazy level. The presentation is absolutely INSANE, with all the added trainer animations, flashier UI, and drop dead amazing soundtrack. BW1 already looked great but this game makes it look like a beta by comparison. Even the character designs in this entry are an upgrade, alongside my absolute favorite art style in the whole series. Rosa’s design is still up there for me as a character design I’d put as one of my favorites in general, it strikes the right balance of colorful, cute, flashy, but practical. Nate is also amazing with his stupid Pineapple cut lmao. I think Pokemon fans are overly negative for some absurd reason but I cannot entirely blame them for being harsh on the presentation of more recent entries because of the bar set by this game.
Story was also a major draw of BW1 and… I think it’s still pretty good here! BW2’s story does something only a sequel can do. The schism between old and new members of Team Plasma is such a unique facet of the story here. Those who live in regret because they truly believed they were helping the world, vs those who still side with Ghetsis solely because they desire world domination. Hugh is regarded as a weaker side to the story, and I do agree on that. Even so, I think the intent behind his inclusion is really interesting, and opens up an odd thread regarding the use of Poke Balls as a concept, which… the game oddly drops immediately after its brought up? I’m not sure why, though. Personally the most disappointing aspect of the story to me is that we are never given a followup on what happened to Hilbert/Hilda in this game. They just sorta… disappear which is a letdown. Not even as some postgame superboss like Red from G/S/C… Oh well. It honestly would’ve been cool if they served a role in the story similar to Vent/Aile in Mega Man ZX Advent, but no use mulling over it. Overall I don’t understand why this game’s story gets so much flack. I’ve seen it criticized as being “just another pokemon story” but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Structurally, maybe, but many things it touches upon are rarely a thing in these games.
Also I need to highlight the density of content this game offers. Not only do you get so much to do in the main story, but beating the campaign is just the beginning. Pokemon World Tournament is a HUGE loving tribute to the first four generations of the series, having battles against every gym leader and champion from those games alongside full remixes and reanimated sprites. The pokemon distribution in this series is among the absolute best, giving you access to plenty of fan favorites from the older games combined with Unova’s already great new original monsters. I was constantly switching out my team because there’s so many great ones to pick from! This game also introduced wild Eevees which should’ve been a thing since the beginning, but I’m glad it’s finally here! It’s just so much fun.
Maybe the rating I gave is a tad exaggerated. Just maybe. But I also really needed this game. There’s so many things I could still write about, like how Iris is handled (so proud of u :)) or the insanity of Colress’ battle theme, or how much I adore Pokestar Studios and how it finally breathes personality into the protagonists. Regardless of my opinions on whatever Pokemon games I try after this one… Man, I’m just so glad I finally found one of these games (alongside the original Black and White) that I can say I fully understand.
Out of the games in the series I played prior to this, the original Black and White was my favorite. Not just because of the story, but the pacing and linear progression made it more consistently engaging for me, and the very clearly western inspired region of Unova hit close to home. Tie that with a fantastic OST, character designs, and risky design decisions like the pokemon distribution being solely new mons during the story it was the one game that I could say I genuinely liked as a complete package.
So, clearly, the next step would be to play the sequels. And that’s correct! But this was at a time before I knew how to emulate games, and ALSO the time where this game was artificially inflated to a 100+ USD value and uh… Well yeah I didn’t get an opportunity to even try it. After getting access to emulation tools I’ve sampled this game a handful of times here or there, but out of nowhere earlier this year I finally pulled together the energy to just sit down and finish this damn game for once, because I knew I would like it.
And like it I did. Shockingly even more than I expected. BW2 pulls everything I liked about the first game and amplifies it to a crazy level. The presentation is absolutely INSANE, with all the added trainer animations, flashier UI, and drop dead amazing soundtrack. BW1 already looked great but this game makes it look like a beta by comparison. Even the character designs in this entry are an upgrade, alongside my absolute favorite art style in the whole series. Rosa’s design is still up there for me as a character design I’d put as one of my favorites in general, it strikes the right balance of colorful, cute, flashy, but practical. Nate is also amazing with his stupid Pineapple cut lmao. I think Pokemon fans are overly negative for some absurd reason but I cannot entirely blame them for being harsh on the presentation of more recent entries because of the bar set by this game.
Story was also a major draw of BW1 and… I think it’s still pretty good here! BW2’s story does something only a sequel can do. The schism between old and new members of Team Plasma is such a unique facet of the story here. Those who live in regret because they truly believed they were helping the world, vs those who still side with Ghetsis solely because they desire world domination. Hugh is regarded as a weaker side to the story, and I do agree on that. Even so, I think the intent behind his inclusion is really interesting, and opens up an odd thread regarding the use of Poke Balls as a concept, which… the game oddly drops immediately after its brought up? I’m not sure why, though. Personally the most disappointing aspect of the story to me is that we are never given a followup on what happened to Hilbert/Hilda in this game. They just sorta… disappear which is a letdown. Not even as some postgame superboss like Red from G/S/C… Oh well. It honestly would’ve been cool if they served a role in the story similar to Vent/Aile in Mega Man ZX Advent, but no use mulling over it. Overall I don’t understand why this game’s story gets so much flack. I’ve seen it criticized as being “just another pokemon story” but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Structurally, maybe, but many things it touches upon are rarely a thing in these games.
Also I need to highlight the density of content this game offers. Not only do you get so much to do in the main story, but beating the campaign is just the beginning. Pokemon World Tournament is a HUGE loving tribute to the first four generations of the series, having battles against every gym leader and champion from those games alongside full remixes and reanimated sprites. The pokemon distribution in this series is among the absolute best, giving you access to plenty of fan favorites from the older games combined with Unova’s already great new original monsters. I was constantly switching out my team because there’s so many great ones to pick from! This game also introduced wild Eevees which should’ve been a thing since the beginning, but I’m glad it’s finally here! It’s just so much fun.
Maybe the rating I gave is a tad exaggerated. Just maybe. But I also really needed this game. There’s so many things I could still write about, like how Iris is handled (so proud of u :)) or the insanity of Colress’ battle theme, or how much I adore Pokestar Studios and how it finally breathes personality into the protagonists. Regardless of my opinions on whatever Pokemon games I try after this one… Man, I’m just so glad I finally found one of these games (alongside the original Black and White) that I can say I fully understand.
LittleBigPlanet
2008
This game is perfection.
I cannot express in words how much this game means to me and how it defined the fondest and happiest part of my childhood.
The eternal soundtrack, the lovable design and charm of Sackboy, the cute and simplistic story and look of everything, the endless creativity, and ALL the people I met on this game. Some say there are things in the world that can only be experienced once or invoke the sentiment of "you just had to be there/in the moment." This game was that for me.
Ever since the servers shut down due to hacking, it feels like a part of me died and never came back. And to be honest, I don't think the hole left behind will ever be filled. But regardless, I can't help but be thankful that I got to play LittleBigPlanet in my lifetime. I hope it'll return someday in the form of a remaster or a LittleBigPlanet 4.
Thank you for everything, LittleBigPlanet.
I cannot express in words how much this game means to me and how it defined the fondest and happiest part of my childhood.
The eternal soundtrack, the lovable design and charm of Sackboy, the cute and simplistic story and look of everything, the endless creativity, and ALL the people I met on this game. Some say there are things in the world that can only be experienced once or invoke the sentiment of "you just had to be there/in the moment." This game was that for me.
Ever since the servers shut down due to hacking, it feels like a part of me died and never came back. And to be honest, I don't think the hole left behind will ever be filled. But regardless, I can't help but be thankful that I got to play LittleBigPlanet in my lifetime. I hope it'll return someday in the form of a remaster or a LittleBigPlanet 4.
Thank you for everything, LittleBigPlanet.
Same old tedious Pokémon gameplay carried by an enjoyable premise. well designed region and gyms, decent Pokémon design, terrible regional dex, terrible end game balancing.
like why are the elite four 15-20 levels above me after fighting every trainer in the game? if you have to grind the boring combat to beat the game then its not well designed
like why are the elite four 15-20 levels above me after fighting every trainer in the game? if you have to grind the boring combat to beat the game then its not well designed
pure joy from start to end. nothing but brilliance oozing out of every enemy, sound and idea in this game. a thoroughly enjoyable experience with less than a handful of issues all fairly minor in comparison to what this game gets right. truly wonderful