I totally understand why people hate this version of the game but I honestly really fuck with it. It's got these early-3D landscapes that are pretty inspired remakes of the original scenery. More DS 3D than 3DS 3D but I don't think that's a bad thing, it adds to this atmospheric crustiness that I'm in love with. They took the fact this is "Cave" Story and made this shit dark as hell. Pretty good remixed soundtrack also, minus a few tracks that sound too soft now for my taste (Balcony sounds like it was rearranged with the Banjo-Kazooie soundfont). I'd be more okay with the endless ports and remasters of Cave Story if they got to experiment more like this but I get why most people would get turned off by it.

If you thought that Tetrisphere is a Tetris-like game that is played on a sphere then, surprisingly, you would be wrong. It didn’t even start out as a Tetris licensed game, but rather a game called Phear on the Jaguar, before ended up going to the N64 instead and published by Nintendo with the Tetris branding.

I remember playing it as a kid and being confused, but the tutorial explains the game quite well and it’s quite simple. You’ll see a shadow of your next piece. You have to line it up so it connects to two or more matching pieces, they’ll disappear – get rid of large amounts and you’ll get power ups. There are different modes, but the general goal is to clear enough of the inner sphere.

While the starting pieces need lining up exactly, the more complex just seem to need one part touching a matching piece, which ends up making them much easier to score combos with. The power ups come in different types, but seem to be just different animations for removing large amounts of blocks.

To help with combos, you can also drag pieces around by lining them up with the shadow and holding B. Tetrisphere is quite relaxed for a puzzle game, and the failure state is making three mistakes, although the shadow showing your target handily shows if your placement is good or not.

It’s an entertaining puzzle game, although while it has a lot of modes, they all still feel like the same game. The game doesn’t mix things up enough, so ends up feeling a little bit basic.

So Disney walked up to Warren Spector, the guy who helped make such games as System Shock 2 and Deus Ex, and told him "Hey, we want to make Mickey Mouse relevant to gaming again". So, he did just that. What we have is an awesome 3D platformer reminiscent of platformers from the days of PS1 and N64, like Banjo Kazooie or Spyro. All the levels are huge and beg you to explore them to find all kinds of secrets and collectibles, the art style and music is great, there's a surprising amount of replayability due to moral choices, alternate endings, and collectibles, and the story is fair enough. The only issues with the game is that sometimes the camera freaks out on you, and there are a lot of fetch quests. A great pick if you miss the openness of 3D platformers from days gone by. Has a 73 on Metacritic because game critics are much less forgiving with platformers than they are with cover-based shooters and Madden roster updates.

Has a sequel which is also on the Wii, as well as the WiiU/PS3/X360. It sold badly and got poor reviews though, so Disney shut down Junction Point. RIP.