I wasn't sure if I was going to rate this game 5 stars at first, but after sitting and thinking about it I really see no reason not to. I love the atmosphere, the music, the game play, there's not a single negative thing I have to say about the game. Near the beginning, around the 20 minute mark, I had decided "Man I really suck at this game. I probably won't make it to the end." At the time, the controls felt unreliable and I felt like I had no control on what I was doing with the pan. The first area I visited was the dock section, where you cook a lot of fish. That section really put me through the wringer, especially those damn puffer fish. However, I came out the other side of it with a really good understanding of how to work the pan and after that I rarely struggled with any of the rest of the games challenges. So much so that I even switched to the hard mode pan for a few cooks. I was learning techniques like how to reliably flip certain items, bounce bullets in the air before they explode, I even balanced two beer bottles on top of each other AND flipped an egg at the same time. The game had given me something that I was struggling and frustrated with and forced me to get better at it, and get better at it I did! Arctic Eggs gave me the same satisfactory of mastering a new skill all in the span of 2 hours, and I think that counts for something.

Oh yeah the game's also just really fun idk

As a Paper Mario fan I always felt a sort of kinship with this series fanbase, as Chibi-Robo also had a strange downfall caused by misguided sequel attempts. So I felt a sort of obligation to finally try out the cult classic I've heard so much about!

Good points first and foremost, This is definitely a game that SCREAMS Game Cube with all it's quirks and personality! I almost wish I had gotten into it when I was younger like I did with something like Pikmin. There was just something about that GC/PS2 era that was so bizarrely charming and lovable, When games were allowed to be so much more experimental! Honestly this game gives much the same vibes as Chulip for the PS2, another strange game about talking the the various characters and helping solve their problems.

The family stuff is pretty hilarious was not expecting the word "divorce" in my silly little Nintendo game. All the toys in the house have their own funny little lives and problems, I also knew BARLEY anything about the game so when I found out about the aliens it threw me for quite the loop! But now we get to the negatives.... and like the previously mentioned Chulip this game and be QUITE tedious if you let it. I've heard Chibi-Robo compared to old point and clicks, which to me seems VERY apt, The game can be very aimless and confusing at times. I wasn't even able to do ALL the quests I wanted to do like the princess and mummy quest. Things just sorta happen when they happen, sometimes you'll be walking around for 30 minutes, you walk into a room, and a cutscene plays. The day night cycle doesn't help with it ripping you from wherever you are can be very frustrating.

A remake or remaster of this game could fix many if not ALL of these problems. Don't pull you away during the time change, a quest log keeper, maybe a hint system. despite all these issues though I just CAN'T rate this game any lower. It's just oozing so much weirdness and charm reflective of it's era that I can't help but love it! If you love games like Pikmin or Chulip I would 100% recommend it if you have the patience.

Princess Peach Showtime was a clever, cheerful, and entertaining game for the Switch late in its current lifespan. It’s a fun game aimed towards a younger audience, but my wife and I thought it would be fun to play together. We had a great time, and ended up really loving this little theater world. It took us about 4 days to play through it all, about 2 hours a day after work. It is a little short, but would be perfect length if it was made for a handheld like the 3DS. I can’t help but wonder if the people who made it were originally making games for the 3DS, and with the Switch being both handheld and a home console, sorta ended having to merge a handheld game into working as a home console game as well. It explains the short playtime, and Nintendo must have been so happy to have an excuse to slap a home console price right on top, too. That is really my only complaint, the pricing, but at this point I guess I should know that Nintendo is Nintendo… ugh lol.

Besides that, I had a very lovely time playing Princess Peach’s Showtime! It seemed to really know its audience as my wife was obsessed with seeing Peach in all her different outfits, and even getting to decorate her look when off the stage. I’m a bit more of a tomboy, but I still had fun! I like Peach (totalllyyyy wasn’t in love with her as a kid, what hm? Who said that?) and it was cool seeing her perform different roles when she’s often been typecast as the damsel-in-distress since day one. Plus, her outfits were pretty cute! I dunno, I liked it! But I can understand complaints people have had as well. Check it out if you really love Peach, but otherwise you’ll probably have more fun with something else.

3.5/5

Truly one of the most disappointing games ever for me personally. Everything good about either of the Mario RPG series is STRIPPED away here, no unique characters story or locations. Just the boring NSMB tripe we had A LOT of back in those days. Although, Paper Mario had already been struggling for a few good years at this point. This could have been a great love letter to both series, but it succumbed to the sterilization of the Mario brand.

Though at least this game is MUCH better than those sub par and foul modern Paper Mario entries. You can still just veg out and play a Mario RPG and actually level up. Bowser is always great as usual, though I don't know why Starlow is still here?? She's so mean to Luigi get her out of here!! And the soundtrack by Yoko Shimomura is wonderful as always.

But All in all, your better off playing the Super Mario RPG remake, or hell even the M&L remakes. At least their foundations are from GOOD games.

SRB2Kart wasn't the best racing game ever. However, for a piece of free software made by fans that's basically running on the DOOM engine, it's safe to say it's more than impressive. At its core, SRB2Kart is essentially free Mario Kart for your PC, with some noticeable differences, of course. Anyone could pick it up, and while they may not understand it at first, it wouldn't take long before they start getting a good grip on the basics. Download a few funny mods, get some friends in a call, and you'll be playing as Peter Griffin on Coconut Mall in just a few minutes. In a way, the experience feels somewhat cobbled together, but it's so simple and fun, which makes for a chill experience with an amazing amount of replayability.

Dr. Robotnik's Ring Racers, in its current form, is a fantastic game that is otherwise hidden beneath a heap of questionable choices. In what seems like a quest to be a full-fledged, retail-quality game, Ring Racers starts with the base of SRB2Kart, bloats it exponentially, and locks away features that were available from the get-go. For most SRB2Kart fans, it's unfortunate, given how the actual vibe and presentation of the game is so expertly crafted, professional, and most of all: fun.

When you first boot it up, you're greeted with a lengthy, unskippable sequence as they let you adjust your game settings. Even though it's a little slow, I like this intro a lot; Tails' and Robotnik's friendship is cute, the sequence overall looks and sounds great, and it sets the tone to show how much more sophisticated the whole package is compared to its predecessor.

From there, you are sucker-punched into a nearly hour-long^ tutorial as the game slings a seemingly never-ending barrage of mechanics and dialog at you. An entire Ring economy, melee attacks, spin dashes, fast-falling, easy-braking, trick pads, trick directions, hill physics, and so much more; it involves a lot more thinking than the average kart racer. It's pretty overwhelming. After completing the tutorial (with no real understanding of what I went through), I jumped into a Grand Prix cup only to get my ass handed to me on a silver platter while on Easy Mode. After a few tries, I got brought to the Unlocks Screen after winning. Once again, I got sucker-punched when I made the realization that Online Mode is an unlockable; I have to convince my friends to traverse the same gauntlet I just endured if they want to play online with me. Of course, you can use cheats to bypass this, but I don't think this should be the default experience. They're really going to scare off more casual players with this sort of first impression.

Aside from the racing mechanics and tutorial, there's a lot of other unpleasant changes: The controls don't feel as tight, mods are unlocked after you complete 4 cups, alternate character colors have to be found on each track, Time Trials are locked behind collecting character colors, the CPUs seem to rubber-band like crazy even on Easy Mode, CPUs love using the melee attacks so it feels like you get battered around more than you do in Mario Kart, the "use weapon" button has 4 different functions, and the list goes on^.

I feel like a dick complaining about it considering this is a free game that had thousands of hours put into its development. I almost feel I’m being unfair to it. As a standalone entry, it has more than enough potential to be great. I can clearly see the vision: rather than making an experimental game that feels like a disjointed mod of a mod of a mod, they instead wanted to deliver a more robust and cohesive package – a game that truly feels like a "real game” you could pick from a store shelf. A finished game that is unmistakably unique. The spritework, the tracks, the menus, and the custom music are all gorgeous and you can tell so much passion and dedication went into it all of it. As someone who attempted to make content for the original game, I can assure you making nearly anything for this engine is not an easy process.

However, due to the fact it's a sequel, it unfortunately comes with a lot of preconceived notions, like not having to unlock Online Mode, character colors, or whatever. It's very difficult to divorce it from its predecessor: a game widely popularized for being both accessible and highly customizable from the start. As a result, it's hard to not feel a bit unsatisfied with how the gameplay and progression turned out. Many players' expectations were defied, and mostly not for the better. I think they severely underestimated the value of how easy it was to pick up and play SRB2Kart on a whim.

So far, I'm more comfortable labeling Ring Racers as an alternative way to play SRB2Kart (primarily for hardcore veterans) rather than a replacement or even an upgrade. With this in mind, I do find myself wanting to play more of it despite the many frustrations. I'm not won over by this game just yet, but there's definitely something interesting here. I think I would be okay with a good portion of the changes if the CPUs weren't so merciless, but there's still some heavy adjustments to be made beyond that.

I don't have a rating on this yet because I would like to see how this game shapes up over time from feedback.

^: As of v2.1, you can exit the tutorial once you reach a fairly early point. They've also made Online, Mods, and Time Attack unlock much earlier. I'm very glad they're responsive to some of the feedback already.
Also I suppose Time Attack was not actually hidden behind finding character colors? I can't find a concrete answer, so I apologize for perpetuating misinfo if this is the case.