this is peak video game. not only do you get a satisfying brawler and a near-endless plethora of well-crafted minigames and substories, you also experience one of the most intricately written and boldly dramatic crime stories told in vidya. a game that whole-heartedly embraces its goofiness but isn't willing to hold back its emotional punches. neither feel out of place.

will admit full stop i steamrolled the main story too quickly and got stuck/too underleved to finish the game past the point of no return so i never truly finished it (all that remained was the final boss). i will however say with absolute certainty as a JRPG fan that JRPGs have yet to be topped after this

well of course your initial playthrough is going to be a lot of fumbling and slow trial and error and pace-breaking route finding, it gets good on your 27th playthrough when you know every route and nook and cranny

bumped this up a whole star and a half after playing the fanmade mobile/widescreen version. level design is great and the platforming and unique stage gimmicks are fun, the small screen really held this game back. definitely more focused than the mega drive/genesis game and a more enjoyable game throughout when played at its full potential.