I recently remembered how much I played this game when I was younger and had the sudden urge to revisit it. My memories with it are some of my earliest of total dissociation whilst playing a game. I remember sitting in my dark bedroom with my console and small CRT TV blissfully passing through the bright color-blocked landscapes combining real life topography and supposed macro sized Hot Wheels plastic tracks. I would hum made up songs loudly to myself over the sounds of the game, not a care in the world. Revisiting it now I'm happily surprised by how much I still enjoy it. The handling feels good and extremely toy-like, which isn't to say very realistic, just that it feels more like how it's supposed to feel given you're controlling a toy car. At each jump your car wants to spin and flip uncontrollably, exactly as if flicking a tiny car in one's hand. It's satisfying to perform well and not disappointing to lose. Very relaxing game.

The House of the Dead series is probably one of my most favorite series of all time. I also love typing games. I've only ever been able to emulate this game, which has occurred intermittently over the last five years or so, but every time I come back to it I have a blast. All of the original charm of House of the Dead 2, plus even more unrestrained wackiness and humor. Not only is it enjoyable for the silliness, but genuinely challenging and very difficult at times, keeping me pretty glued. I love how easy it is these days to use my normal keyboard to play it in an emulator, and I can see myself coming back to this as long as I live.

This is another nostalgic one for me, having played it as a kid with very little appreciation for what it was going for but still enjoying the look of it. That still holds true for me now, I think it's a good looking and stylistically confident game, it just doesn't go too far beyond that. The racing format is a little confusing to me and I feel like I'm missing something most of the time. It also copies Gran Turismo's campaign format pretty closely. Good soundtrack and easy to step in and out of, but nothing too epic here.

I can see myself coming back to this series later in the future, but for the time being I got a little impatient with it because it took more than 2 minutes to get used to the controls. Maybe I'm spoiled from having sank so many more hours into snowboarding games on the GC, and those are obviously newer and shinier. I wanted to pick this up for a taste because this is just one of the countless game genres that has virtually disappeared off the face of the planet when it quintessential during this more furtive gaming period. Lots of love for arcade style snowboarding racers and downhill jams.