Absolutely incredible, this is my second favorite Metroid game for sure (under Dread). I remember having a few “Metroid Moments” but they don’t stick out hard enough as having been too frustrating like some of the other games have. I love the boss fights, the world design, and the postgame story. I’m not sure why but I simply really love the progression of items and exploration in this one, more than even Super Metroid. I’d honestly say this is THE Metroid game to play first, even aside from Super or Dread. The postgame story is very fun too, expanding on Samus' origins and offering some tense gameplay. THIS is how you remake and reimagine a classic game that didn’t stand the test of time as well.

As a GBA kid, I have a lot of nostalgia for this game. In my opinion, to this day this is still the best way to experience the Kanto region. Similar to how I feel about Fire Emblem The Blazing Blade, I think this is such a core quintessential Pokémon title in that it perfectly embodies most of the series. Nothing too standout or unique but still a very well designed and solid experience. There is some imbalance in the dex as a product of being a remake of the original Pokémon games. The addition of abilities and everything Gens 2 & 3 brought with them are very welcome.

I’m also one of those people who really likes the Sevii Islands, the new locations, and the story they brought along. Probably because I spent hours trying to fill the dex as much as I could as a kid there. My only major gripes and disappointments with this game are the restriction from being able to use Cross-Gen evolutions (Crobat, Steelix, etc.) and the entire Ruby/Sapphire trade lock thing. Using cross-Gen evolutions on a playthrough team is my single favorite thing about Pokémon remakes and I’m glad this quirk didn’t carry over to the next two.

Last Playthrough team used:
Charizard, Vaporeon, Clefable, Dugtrio, Raichu, Hitmonlee

One of my biggest second-hand gaming deals came from a garage sale. A lady was selling some games from her son who was in university at the time and got some really bad grades, apparently. This resulted in me getting The Legend of Zelda Wind Waker, this game, and two sets of Bongo controllers for $5. Not $5 each, $5 total.

I grew up with this game and enjoyed it very much, the bongo controllers are very fun to play with and this was always a great multiplayer game. However, when I brought it to my college dorm years later and played it more, I realized how many of the songs were simply nursery rhymes, or had really simple charts. I do like this game and the concept but, I think the sequels might have a better selection of tracks and would be more worth playing. That said, the Pokémon theme and Rock Lobster were always fun to play.

This is the Mario Kart I have the least experience with, both in spite of and because I grew up with GameCube games. I played this often with my cousin who had it growing up, then later on I used to play it often with my roommate during my first year of college since we brought our GameCube games to the dorm for hangout nights.

I like Mario Kart Double Dash but I don’t love it. It’s got some good tracks, but not a lot that I love. I absolutely adore the soundtrack, every last piece, and the character-unique items are a really fun mechanic. In spite of me giving Mario Kart 64 a pass for this in a previous review, I’m docking this game mostly because my impression is tied largely to the controls. I do not enjoy them very much, since it usually feels like I’m turning the back of the car, and drifting can be fun at first but exhausting after long sessions.

With all that said, I’d love to revisit and play this one as deeply as I have every other entry. I have a strong feeling I’d like it more with some more time spent.

I can only imagine what must’ve happened behind the scenes for this game to turn out the way it did and I feel so bad for the developers who worked on it. This is pretty much as bad as it gets. It doesn’t feel good to control, nothing interesting happens, it isn’t visually interesting, I can’t remember any of the music in the game, the sound mixing genuinely hurts to listen to. Something must have been seriously awry with the pipeline around this time at Capcom for Devil May Cry 2 and this to happen back to back.

My thesis of that review was that it’s important to play games that are commonly trashed on to see how you feel, I feel less so with this one, at least to completion. It still warrants at least a brief look. I maintain that games like Mega Man X7 still act as cautionary tales and serve as examples of what to avoid, as harsh as that is.

An amazing action-side scroller! Fantastic graphics with a striking heavily cel-shaded style and classic film aesthetic. The main mechanic where you manipulate/edit film is really engaging, though I remember the zoom-in slow shots being the most powerful by far. Much like other titles in this era from Capcom, that sense of style and flair is NAILED in this game. I played this way back in high school but now that I’ve actually played Devil May Cry, it’s crazy seeing how much of the style is the same across both games.

In my previous review (of Wario World), I’d mentioned that my first partner in high school loaned a few games to me and this was one of them. I have a lot of fun memories of beating this game on Adult Mode (this game’s hard difficulty) and surpassing Fire Leo because she challenged me to. I’m glad I was met with that challenge because it’s such a fun difficulty to play and I’d highly recommend it

Wario World is great!! It nails the transition of Wario Land’s gameplay style into 3D with an expanded beat ‘em up moveset that feels crunchy and powerful. Using enemies as tools to bang and throw against the environment feels so “Wario” and never gets old. While the game is very short, its only true downside, each level and theme is so varied that they all set themselves apart with their own gimmicks so well. This is legit a great game, I would highly recommend to anyone who likes 3D platformers with a focus on finding secrets.

For a personal anecdote, I first played this game in high school when a close friend challenged me to beat this 100% without a guide. Her and I swapped games to borrow over the winter break. She loaned me Luigi’s Mansion, this game, and Viewtiful Joe. That was the last time I did a full play through of this game but I would love to return to this one some day. (I did successfully complete 100% all three games without any guides as challenged btw, I was so proud.)

I definitely liked this one more than the first game in terms of level design, the bosses are cool, the set pieces are cool, and the weapon upgrade system is more fun here. I also remember liking the soundtrack of this game more. In comparison, I don’t like Elpizo nearly as much as Copy X, he’s a pretty flat villain. The chain rod is also very finicky and that’s not fun since it would’ve been such a cool tool if it worked properly. I definitely want to return to this game someday and get more deep into the Elf system and to revisit the story.

P.S. I didn’t mention this in my review of the first game but Leviathan is very epic.

The first Fire Emblem game released outside of Japan. The second produced without the series creator, Shouzou Kaga. The third Fire Emblem I’d ever played.

Blazing Blade is a good game. To prematurely summarize my feelings, I believe it is the most quintessential and “standard FE” in the series. Not Shadow Dragon, this game, feels like it exemplifies the very very core of Fire Emblem without a ton of extra flourishes for better and worse.

While I did say this was the third FE I played, it was the first I fully completed, I only made it to the Ghost Ship of Sacred Stones as a little kid, and not far into Mystery of the Emblem after. I bring this up because I think Lyn Mode is a fine enough tutorial and boosts up a new player’s confidence by giving them so many tools, even if you’re not a Fire Emblem master by the end of it, you feel like you learned a lot and completed a big story objective. It’s a great tutorial, even if too easy for veterans.

I like the variety of map objectives in this game, the general character balance, and the characters. It might be nostalgia talking on the last two but this game’s immense presence in online circles around unit discussion and character writing sticks with me.

The plot itself is just fine to me. It’s not my favorite, but it’s good enough. As I stated earlier, it’s very standard. The standouts are the trio of main characters, Eliwood, Lyn, and Hector. They’re always fun to see interact and their differences in personality are entertaining, Hector especially. To be honest I feel that way about the soundtrack too, there aren’t many standouts to me but I don’t dislike it, the whole OST is just “fine”.

However, a big comparison that doesn’t often come up, is how often this game rips straight out of Tear Ring Saga, you can find an analog to damn near every plot element from this game in Tear Ring Saga, except that game has better map design, more fun mechanics and units, and a more compelling story. I could list them all out but I don’t want to bloat this review too much, however if anyone’s interested I could list them in replies.

I do have a big soft spot for Fire Emblem The Blazing Blade. It is a very fun game, solidly designed. The biggest flaw this game shows is just, not being super standout. It’s good but not exceptional. Definitely worth a checkout and the one I always recommend as a perfect starting point for the series.

I sincerely believe that WarioWare is the perfect design in terms of an arcade-style gameplay experience. It’s so brilliant, intensely addictive, and fun. Growing up, if I knew we were going on a long road trip, I would never forget to pack this game. Hours melt away when you play a WarioWare game and I still think this is one of the best entries in the series.

There’s beauty in simplicity, pretty much every microgame is intuitive. The premise is simple, you’re given a short hint, some wacky visuals or scenarios, about 6 seconds, and you gotta figure out how to win using just the D-Pad and/or A Button. You get 4 lives and the speed and difficulty of the games increase as you progress. It’s such a fun cycle in no small part to the fast reactions, the feeling of chasing a high score, and how strange the game is.

Wario and his cast of friends all have cool designs, nice music for their stages, and fun cartoony scenarios to watch unfold for the story mode.

WarioWare Inc. Mega Microgame$ is a stroke of game design genius. You’re not getting a compelling story or deep gameplay mechanics, but you are getting some of the most raw fun you can out of any game.

(I may also be biased since I love Wario so much.)

I think it's important to play a game for yourself to see how you really feel. I went into this, knowing very well the immense amount of disdain this game receives, hoping there would be some good I could get out of it and feeling hopeful. (Also going to preface this with how I feel very sorry about the incredibly unfair position the development team was in and how borked DMC2's production was)

This was not the case, Devil May Cry 2 was just as bad as everyone had said, but now I know intimately why instead of just hearing it. The combat is very empty and unsatisfying. Even aside from guns having crazy knockback, the standard attacks are very weightless and clunky. This game only avoids the lowest rating because I like the way it looks and its dreary, dull atmosphere was kind of interesting to me.

The level design in particular is the worst, consisting entirely of empty hallways with no design at all. Plus, the Secret Rooms are just big empty boxes of enemies to fight and finding them is very annoying, just flat textures that randomly are secrets.

The boss fights are very boring, consisting of naught but a few minutes of mashing the Gun button repeatedly. The Infested Chopper in particular is just that, and Arius isn't very interesting either.

Speaking of Arius, this plot is so bad. Lucia is a cool character but even then her motivations are poorly explained and she doesn't get to do much. Plot elements like the "Arcana", Argosax, or Arius doing a 180 in tone just come out of nowhere and disappear.

While most would qualify something like this as a waste of time and insist you skip this, I am going to take a rare stance and suggest the opposite. In spite of how awful this game was, I think it (spoiler for my future review) made me appreciate Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening so much more. Hell, it made me appreciate video games in general more. It made me realize I took good feeling combat and existing level design a bit for granted. It's important to gut-check how you feel about games like this so you can appreciate and fairly rate the upper tier of games too.

An incredibly strange idea for a crossover that works so well. As of writing this, it is the only Kingdom Hearts game I have completed. I really appreciate how well the concept works and how straightforward the game is. Many Action RPGs feel like they're only labeled as such because they have EXP and progression like RPGs, but this title truly feels like a blend of the two genres to me. Casting spells, character equipment, and progression all feels like an RPG but the actual combat feels very much like an Action-Adventure game.

Yoko Shimomura, as always, delivers an amazing sounding OST. This time, it's very much colored with the whimsy one would imagine suiting a Disney themed adventure. It's a very random pick but the Gummi Ship theme is my favorite for sure.

The world themes are also all great and largely pull from Disney's most fondly remembered classics. It's a very minor gripe but, I do wish they played a bit more into the crossover and that the temporary party members weren't temporary. It would have been fun building up a team of Final Fantasy and Disney icons. Namely, I had the most fun in Agrabah, Hollow Bastion, and Halloween Town. The costumes in the latter world being such cool designs.

The story is very straightforward at this point as it's just a simple hero's quest with Disney and FF elements here and there. The individual worlds basically act as abridged versions of their source movies which feels a bit meh, though I understand.

This is a very good action game with a lot of heart and charm. I have zero nostalgia for this since I played it as an adult but I easily see why so many of my friends have fond memories of Kingdom Hearts.

An amazing game with an amazing sense of freedom and exploration. This truly captures the original spirit and design intention behind the whole series. The cel-shading and toon effects are legitimately beautiful and I think this original version of the game is the best looking one to date. Many great tracks with a distinct, more light-hearted yet bombastic sound than other Zelda games, and an enjoyable story and cast. I really love how this Link was not chosen by the Gods and forces them to make him a hero. So cool.

The different items you get and the dungeons are very fun, I don't think there was a single one I didn't enjoy. I even like the puzzles in the Earth and Wind Temples, when I know most don't. The Hookshot is fun as always, the Deku Leaf is fun for traversal, and the Iron Boots' sound design is so enjoyable to me.

The downsides that later versions touch up are still here, being the Tingle Triforce Pieces and the lack of the Swift Sail. While I do appreciate those, and all the minor changes, this version of the game is still very solid.

All in all, The Wind Waker is a great-looking game with enjoyable puzzles and exploration at its core. Sailing the sea is fun and a very interesting hook as the main set of mechanics and theming. I do have a lot of nostalgia for this game but I truly do think it's timeless, in no small part to how its visuals hold up.

This was the way I first experienced this classic. My feelings on this game are pretty much the exact same as the SNES version since it's easily the most faithful of the Super Mario Advance games. It's still a great game with solid levels and visuals. I do prefer the way the original sounds but this one isn't bad or jarringly different, not even the voices, which I'm cool with. I've never played the extra secret levels added to this version so no comment there. If this is your only means of playing this game, you're still in for a good time.