Every time I play a Mario Party title, I miraculously get fucked over in some of the most spectacular ways. Generally much past the point of recovery. Today, that almost happened again; in two turns I already landed a red space and a Bowser space back to back. I didn't have any expectations for it to get any better than that.

I played this game earlier today and won my first Mario Party session in over five years.

God.

The Sega Genesis is my favorite console. There was a point in time where I downloaded a full romset, filtered out games I recognized, and put a timer to try every game out for at least 20 minutes. Any highlights would go onto my flashcart after the fact.

This game filled me with hope. I really liked the intro; the character animation and design is right up my alley. I was so stoked!
I reset the emulator, went through the intro a second time, recorded it to send to my friends, and said something like "Have you ever instantly fell in love?"


Then I played the game.

I stopped the timer at four minutes.

I left with such a bitter taste in my mouth that I didn't play any Genesis games... or videogames at all, for the next three days.

I don't think I've ever been more disappointed in a videogame in my entire life. If the intro just fucking sucked out of the gate, it would've at least been funny.
This just made me sad.

Justice of Galaxy started playing.
The music had a moment- a dramatic sting. In perfect sync with this, the game introduces an enemy type you've never seen before in droves.

All 6 of them begin moving and shooting at the precise second the track kicks in. The rest of the stage never lets up after this.

I haven't beaten this game. I don't know if I'm going to be able to anytime soon. But things like that are what earns 10/10s from me; the understanding that the visuals and audio can be just as important to a game as its mechanics, and just as impactful if used correctly. The impression was definitely made, and now I'm committed to seeing it through.

This game wipes the floor with my ass and I keep coming back just because of that. I don't even care if the background is the same for the whole thing. It's good. And free!

This game honestly blew me away with how fun it was.

It's a pretty simple concept. No stages, just bosses. Look for openings, counter attacks, and shoot the mechs in the weak points. Basically like Punch Out but with guns, right?

After Stage 1, the game starts to mix it up. Enemies will maneuver around to hide their weak points from you. Good aim and consistent firing will break off the limbs - and even weapons! - of your opponents, and their pattern changes accordingly to compensate for the firepower they lost.

The game really starts to play around with the idea of each boss constantly circling around to fire, and their methods of movement and attack being compromised after you damaging them. I was particularly blown away by Stage 4's boss; you fight it while falling down a mountainside, and it uses its jetpack thrusters to dodge around and fire rounds at you from every angle. If you shoot its thrusters out, it's in a straight freefall, throwing as many bullets at you as it possibly can without any regard for dodging.

You acquire bonus subweapons after each successful defeat; they're single-use, but they really dish out the damage if you can time them right. It's kind of busted and TOTALLY cheap, but goddamn, it feels good.

My only complaint was that it was really short and kind of easy, but sticking around after the credits roll rewarded me with a code to "let the REAL battle begin". After such a strong first impression, how could I refuse?

Fantastic. I didn't come in expecting much, but this is one of my new favorites!
More lightgun games need to give you charge shots, man.