2018. I'm in Minneapolis, attending Summer Games Done Quick.

I was about to join some people into a hotel room to go watch some hentai, but I never got the room number. Feeling left out, I go to the event's DDR Extreme cab for a round of dancing. Afterwards, I'm empty: I put all my desires of the night to go watch and riff at hentai with people I barely even knew. And so, I ask on twitter, where I knew that someone within the premises could answer my question: Is there anything going on right now?

I get an answer: "Come to the practice room, we're playing Pringles."

Oh fuck. What did they mean by that? I'm curious, I've got nothing else to do, so I go.

The practice room, home of dozens of televisions. Consoles and chairs galore. It'd be full during the day, but it's currently 2AM or so, so it's mostly empty. A bunch of people are huddled around two specific televisions. The pringles mascot is bouncing around, bouncing on chips and yelling "No Way" whenever he'd bounce on an oversized cylinder of pringles.

This is so dumb. But I've got to play it. I sucked at it. I spent 2 hours playing through the game while others are either spectating or waiting for their turn. We're all doing it casually, in good fun. We were playing Pringles as the developer intended.

The next day, I was craving for more Pringles.

Once again, at night, two pringles stations were set up and ready to go for anyone to play. Only this time, the person behind it, Seckswrecks, was timing people. We were officially speedrunning Pringles. I got totally and utterly sucked in: what would be a flash game from the aughts hypnotized me to play it for hours on end, enticing me to get a better finishing time, to bounce on those chips and get to the end goal in record time.

And record time, I did get. I was glued to the seat. Not a lot of people wanted to play, so I kept going. I'll never forget the discovery I made as I frantically post in the newly created Pringles Speedrunning Discord Server:

"Guys, holy shit, I found a time saver."

People hurried in the practice room, speeding directly to the Pringles station to find out this exciting new development. I found out that you can hold a button to make the main menu's animations go faster. Those animations blocked us from going from level to level until it was done. I just saved a whole bunch of time.

This speedrunning development cemented my love and dedication for this game. I returned home with hours upon hours of experience already in the game. I ordered a genesis and a bootleg cart on aliexpress. I played more Pringles at home and showed it to my friends (they had a laugh. all in good fun). I have always wanted to speedrun a video game, and I was able to do so with Pringles.

This trend continued in SGDQ of 2019, where there were, once more, two pringles stations in the practice room. Even more people joined in and had a go at the speedrunning leaderboards in real time. I've loved the game, the event, the people, all over again.

A game about a food mascot has given me some of the fondest memories of my life, and I will never forget them.

I think it's only fair to review my favorite game of all time while I suffer from executive dysfunction in relation to, well, everything right now. As it turns out: work fucking sucks the life out of you. And then some.

Speaking of sucking. Kirby does that. I'd go further on that, but the common mind would waver into the depths of juvenility. Instead, I'll just mention that Kirby can obtain abilities. That's the point of this character, right? This is the first game in the series where he... they??? they can do that. Kid me was fucking pumped for that. Did I mention this was the first game I've ever played in my life? Would that count as some sort of bias?

Either way, whether it's the first game I've ever played or not, it's also the game I've played the most times. Of course, we're not going to count playtime, that'd be cheating. I'm talking about playing a game and finishing it over and over again. I can't ever get enough of this game. Its pacing and action is so much fun. Even if it's on the easy side for an NES game, it still provides unparalleled entertainment for such a primitive console. A lot of people would complain about the framerate being bad, well I've gotten so used to it that I've been using it to my advantage. After all, what doesn't kill me, makes me stronger.

The graphics are so colorful and the palettes are used super well for each world. Every world has its own thematic and, as a kid, I would dream of going to the many castles Kirby would visit there. I still remember those dreams. I was like, 4 years old. The progression of the worlds being from more down to earth, to straight up being in nothing but a dreamlike setting, just hypnotizes me. It's something that's so hard to explain, I just love the atmosphere of this game. I want to live there.

What with the graphics comes the audio, oh god, the audio. Permanently cemented on my mind is the rainbow resort track. Nothing in this world has come close to emulating a literal dream. I am dreaming when listening to the soundtrack, I am dreaming when seeing the world of Dreamland. Sakurai just understood from the get go on how to create a literal dream world.

This game holds a special place in my heart. I bought it for every single possible platform, yes, even the 3D one on 3DS. I'm gonna piss you off however and say that Nightmare in Dreamland on GBA is not Kirby's Adventure to me. It's not the same, it just ain't. I will forever treasure the japanese copy I bought from ebay, I'm ready to call it my family heirloom.

You should play this game, I think. Dream about it, if you will.

SMT never fails to disappoint.

JRPGs always had this issue with balancing. The SMT series, for quite some while, has struck the right balance between challenging fights and, uh, bullshit. Sometimes.

But the bullshit is far and few between, it serves as a warning to not be too cocky when playing these games.

Digital Devil Saga is wonderful because it limits much more on the bullshit than other SMT games (sans persona, of course). Building your characters become more about figuring out what the next fight will be, rather than having a long run build. It incentivizes strategy in and out of fights, making dungeon crawls much more interesting and, interactive? Not sure, but the point is that the system works flawlessly and I love it.

Boss fights have been a wonderful challenge. Even when I'm overleveled it can be tough. That's because the name of the game isn't about numbers (although it helps to have better numbers, of course), but the status effects, the resistances, the weaknesses to exploit. It's a game about setting your offense and defense for each fight, rather than building it over the course of the story.

The story itself is a bit lackluster, but that's only because there's a second game that's a direct sequel, which is why not much is explained here. That's fine, I can't wait to see what's up with DDS2.

I think the only reason I'm giving this 4.5/5 is because some puzzles leave me either wanting more or, worse, wanting less of. You know what I'm talking about.

In the gaming era where 3D worlds are still being studied and understood by the top dogs of the industry, people were subject to very inventive and, well, borderline insane game design. Thankfully, Mega Man Legends lands snugly on the inventive side.

This game has this weird tank/platforming control scheme that, in the hands of a new player, would be confusing to pick up. However, once it's understood, mastering the controls makes you feel invincible. It feels good!

This game is surprisingly short, perhaps the pacing has something to do with it. There's (nearly) a full story being told here, but the side content is far and few between, that is, if you can find it. Characters are all lovely in their own way and the cutscenes are entertaining. Perhaps its sequel enhances on everything it did well, and then some. I wouldn't know, I haven't played it yet.

Amid Evil was my 2019 Game of the Year. When the DLC got announced, I was pumped! It released right as I was going to Japan for a while so I couldn't get to play it until now.

Amid Evil is a fantastic shooter that invites you to a banquet of aesthetic mechanics, that is to say: It is not how you kill your enemies, it is how you overkill them. This simple mechanic means that your weapons utterly decimates your enemies in different ways, and my god does it feel good. Black Labyrinth wonderfully replaces two of the original game's weapons with fists, replacing the axe, and a scythe, replacing this game's version of the BFG. Both of these weapons are awesome, and I'd actually say that I'd rather them than the axe and aeturnum.

Another aspect of Amid Evil that I loved was the overall design: Every level looks beautiful, weapons look and sound (the good kind of) crispy and gameplay is fast paced, but will let you go at your own pace if you want to walk around to check out the environments. I am pleased to share with you that The Black Labyrinth does more of that. It's not home to my most favorite levels (save for one, that made me go "oooooooh" out loud), but they're delicious nonetheless.

The final boss is a bit silly, but I dig it. Won't go further than that. Experience it for yourself.

Black Labyrinth was a long time coming. It's been stuck in my steam wishlist for a while, waiting for it to release. Thankfully, it's been worth the wait, even if it's a bit on the short side. I don't care, cause I took my time enjoying it.

Is it fair to review this game without having played the original PS2 version? No clue. Perhaps I could rate it higher had I played the O.G Yakuza. Either way, I've got my qualms about this game.

Yakuza 0 is a near-masterpiece of a game. I love it to bits. It was also my first Yakuza game I've played. So when I played this game, I was frustrated, to say the least. The story wasn't very poignant. The characters, while likeable, didn't have this oomph that it's prequel had. The gameplay can be as satisfying as it has the ability to anger me. A friend told me "When I play a PS3 Yakuza game, the first thing I do is to get a certain item before doing anything else". This sort of thing definitely sours the mood: the necessity of obtaining an optional item raises questions about the game's design, and how certain enemies do what they can do.

In fact, I'll have to say this right now:

I played Yakuza Kiwami 2 years ago. I played it until the last chapter, got to a part that frustrated me so much that I exited and uninstalled the game. The frustrations were there, and I blamed it for being basically unplayable.

This year, I went through the game again. This time, I obtained the aforementioned item and breezed through the fight that once stumped me. It's not even a bittersweet feeling. I still feel frustration. And it's not like this one fight was the only one you had to encounter in the game. I'm sure Yakuza players know what I'm talking about.

I find it weird that the rating of this game highly depends on my experience with other games within the series. Like I said: would this have been 4 stars if this were my first Yakuza game, or less? Does rating this game even have a point? Should I be rating the series as is instead? I dunno, man, this game was fine. I liked the sidequests, how about that?

this is the most video game ever.

and by that, i mean that it takes its damned time. so much to do and, while the side-content is actually relevant and good, the amount of it is overwhelming.

game's good, combat is good, story is fine, characters are a high point (for once, in a jrpg!) still suffers from jrpg-itis in some aspects, but it'd be a spoiler if i were to mention anything related to it.

I've had a dream recently. I was driving around my neighborhood, but it was different. Vastly different. I wasn't looking at houses, I was looking at abandoned buildings. The more I explored the neighborhood, the more decrepit it became: Houses became remains of a destroyed, rotting victorian era building; establishments that were nothing but wood and the occasional gothic imagery; memories that never were, would manifest in the form of ones you would never know its full history.

Dark Souls II is exactly that dream.

Drangleic is a world that once was. You just happen to explore its end. People fight for scraps of its memories, as if there's something to salvage from what calamity has already claimed. A demented kingdom is all you will find. I fear the concept of dementia, but I'm also morbidly curious by it, much so the concept of death itself. Exploring it for the first time, I've never really realized how much these morbid curiosities are why I've enjoyed Drangleic as much as I have. I just thought it was a cool world. It's crazy how stories can be told mainly through visuals and you could totally ignore the meat of it and still get the message.

Dark Souls, as a series, explores death in different ways. Where the first one's thematic is death and how we cling on to life (perhaps a bit too much), Dark Souls 2 gives us death, and how it will eventually make us all forgotten. To me, death only comes once you're no longer remembered. In other words, you cling on to those memories, no matter how much they're degrading.

Oh, right, this is a video game. Oops.

Dark Souls 2 is also my first souls-like game. It's a game that formed me as a souls-like enjoyer. I'll always tell people to start with 2 with a win-win situation of "If you liked the others better, then at least you started with the worst and built it up. If you loved this game from the get-go, then you got a new favorite in your hands". Balance is weird in this game: it throws many bones at the player. It's much easier to get a hang of the game and breeze through it, unlike 1 and 3, and Elden Ring. But that's why it's so much fun. I get to play without stressing too much, I allow myself to get hit more often due to the existence of lifegems, and so on. It feels so much more dynamic and I got to play this game multiple times, with different play styles each time.

I've never played the Scholar of the First Sin edition, and from what I've heard, it's even more of a "gank squad central" game than before. I never had an issue with enemy placement in the original, but if it's accentuated in the new version, then I'd hate to try it out, lest it ruins my perception of this game being the best one of the series.

I'm not here to start wars about which Dark Souls is better, but I will say this: Don't trust a person who will go out of their way to tell you unprompted that Dark Souls 1 is the best one. They probably only play it for the PvP.

"You want to become stronger? Then get out there and fight!"

Never have I experienced a game so deadset to motivate you to play the game and improve as you go. Fighting games have always had a steep learning curve and, if you don't dedicate yourself to the genre, you will fall behind many other players by more than a landslide. Street Fighter 6 is not only a love letter to the fans of the series, but to the genre itself: Characters and references by the hundreds, game modes specifically designed to make you learn and improve (can you guess which one I'm talking about?), whole mechanics made for new players to pick up and play, and the list goes on. Every day, I learn something about this game that encourages people to improve and it astonishes me (in a good way, obviously) how much this game cares about your path to greatness. Never has a fighting game done this to this degree.

Street Fighter 6 loves you, and you will love it back.

Honestly, I don't have too much to say about this. If you come to this after reading my Kiwami 1 review, I've complained a lot about the fights. Kiwami 2's fighting is pretty different, for the better. I liked it. It's a bit wonky, but nothing I'd actually attribute it to being a problem. Guns were super nerfed though, that's funny.

Story was good. There were quite some moments where I shouted out loud "No Way". I enjoyed myself and smiled through till the end. And then Haruka forced me to play Baseball a whole bunch before proceeding with the story.

The sequel to the grandfather of what could be considered dating sims. It's an archaic format nowadays, sort of, but 1999 has never seen a visual novel of this grandeur.

What this game takes from its predecessor, takes it and gives it a nice spitshine. It sounds derogatory, but I don't think I have any other word to describe it. Mechanics are more or less the same, but with quality of life changes, especially with the dating system. You don't take notes as often, or at all, with this game, compared to the first one. It makes for a more streamlined playthrough where you get to manage your character and the girls you have to deal with, until one of them decides to activate bomb mode and ruins your plans for the next 3 months or so. That's the name of the game, and for some reason, I like it.

The characters range from pretty damn annoying to level headed, which doesn't mean much, but there are enough archetypes for the majority of people to find a character they "like", so long as you don't go for the teacher/childhood adult figure, you weirdo.

My main concern is over how easy it is to get a certain ending. No, not even the one where you don't get any of the girls, I'm talking about Hikari. She's head over heels for your character from day 1, so playing nice will most likely result in her ending, rather than another that you poured 90% more effort into. Tokimemo 1 had a character like this, but she wasn't the main poster girl. It feels weird to have your protagonist be a complete 180 from the 1st game in terms of route difficulty, making the game entice you perhaps a bit too much to be friends with her, leading to most likely a mistake.

I still got Kotoko though, so suck it.