yohijoey
5 reviews liked by yohijoey
Super Punch-Out!!
1994
My win lost rate is 76 W 145L. I don't want to talk about it.
The littlest Mac/10
The littlest Mac/10
Maybe making 3d platformers is kinda hard?
But for the Sonic Mania team, they make it look so easy. Penny's Big Rig Racing is a bit of an anomaly for me. On one hand, there's a ton of stuff to praise in this game. So much so, that I could put this in my list of one of the best 3D platformers I've ever played. On the other hand, the game is ROUGH. And I mean, this game needs like 6 more months of polish type rough. I tend to be a bit more lenient when comes to indie developers, but when glitches and weird visual mess-ups start to hinder my experience, I feel like I have to incorporate into how I feel about the game. With this preface, I can now ramble about Penny's Biggie Bag.
The movement in this game rivals Mario Odyssey. That is the most praise that I think I can give to a 3D platformer. This game is about moving! Moving in style, moving in grace, moving with momentum, and chaining dashes, swings, and rolling on your Yo-Yo to create your own path in each level. This game, although it does not play like Sonic at all, reminds me of what I like about the older Sonic games: momentum-based speed is peak! Every time I do a dash into a momentum-filled swing, to boost myself, followed up by a wheelie on an edge, I'm a kid again: spin-dashing in Sonic Advance, watching Sonic zoom through the screen, to blast off in the air with not a care in the world. Penny's Big Bonanza knows how good it feels, and captures it with every inch of its level design. The levels all feel like suggestions rather than paths in this game, clearly motivating players to experiment as much as possible with the movement mechanics. Entire sections can be skipped through clever use of the yo-yo's swing and a wall jump; insane amounts of speed can be gained by a well-timed wheelie on a ramp, leading to new paths to uncover. There is no correct path. It's up to how well you can manipulate the system to get to where you need to be. There's something special about going against the "intended" path in these games, and being rewarded for it. The developers recognize that their levels are supposed to be motivators for creativity, rather than hard-coded progression lines, and I can't praise them enough for putting that control in the player's hands. There's always something worth trying, and the sheer amount of ideas they put out to compliment the movement mechanics heighten quite a lot in the end game. Unfortunately, this makes the first few worlds feel lacking, but never boring. It's like they were a bit afraid to really show off how creative this game can get, so they went with more common themes and ideas that you'd see your standard 3D Platformer. At the half point, they throw that all away, introducing some rad environmental designs, and just excellent sandboxes to Tony Hawk your way through. It also helps that the soundtrack is unsurprisingly fire. You go from a Circus-y pop soundtrack, to rock/techno, to all sorts of mixing and matching to make such a funky soundtrack. I mean, even the main menu theme is undeniably sick, so you know the soundtrack is good. My favorite song is Palace Sneaktime Swing. It's the synthy-swing mix combined with the bombastic horns that just warms my heart. Tee Lopes never disappoints.
With the above praise, it makes it seem like Penny's Big Ole Adventure must be my GOTY, and a perfect evolution of the 3D Platforming genre. In my heart, yeah. But, the roughness can't go unnoticed. I don't know if I like how this game looks. I like how the environments transform throughout the game, each level feeling like an insane dream. There's never any visual clutter, and the art style is unique. However, some of the environments' colors and designs can start to feel same-y. By the end of the game, a lot of levels started to blend together in my mind, especially within each world. I had to question if I hit Retry by accident on certain levels, only to quickly notice that I had progressed to the next level. In addition, the character models are kinda ugly? Sometimes? I don't know if it's the lighting or just how the backdrops make them stand-out, but they look kinda like unfinished rigs of a character. I understand that the game is going for a more minimalistic clay-like look, but it's not stylized enough like Jet Set Radio or detailed enough like Mario. It's this weird in-between that just comes off as unfinished for me. It's odd. And it's not always like this. The 2D animation is beautiful, and I wish they leaned heavier into that expressive style, but you only have so much time. The combo system as well, is a great motivating factor for mastering the movement, but I don't think the game really adheres to its rules? For one, there are too many combo enders in levels, where in order to progress you pretty much need to end your combo (or glitch your way through). It is fun trying to find creative ways to keep a combo going, but it's weird that you kinda have to fight the game rather than master it just to have a combo stay consistent. The spin twirl is far too inconsistent for it to be a reliable combo extender. And finally, some environments have some strange object properties leading to combo's randomly dropping. This leads to my biggest complaint. The lack of polish. This game is buggy. Not your average one-off funny glitch-buggy, but your clipping through objects, almost getting soft-locked, and Penny floating on objects forever type buggy. Every level was something new. I had to question if how I interacted with things was just how the game was designed, or if it was indeed a bug. My favorite is Penny's weird tumble animation. It will consistently happen on anything cylindrical, as I think she's programmed to loop on these object's maybe? You'll walk into them and lose all control of your character, as Penny drifts to the side, spinning in mid-air. Additionally, I've fallen out of the map too many times to count. Some collision just doesn't exist yet. I have no doubt these will be patched eventually, as the developers have already put out 3 patches for the game, but it doesn't change how much it impacted me. But, I know speedrunners must be having a blast, so more power to them.
The bosses are okay. Some are good, but they are mostly okay.
Penny's Prison Break will be a hidden gem, no doubt. It packs a punch with its charm-filled, and whimsical character and environmental design, and it knocks you out with its near-perfect momentum-based goodness. It just needs a loooot more time to polish up its right hook, and it could or maybe will be a contender for one of the best 3D platformers out there. Do not pass on this game
8/10 :)
But for the Sonic Mania team, they make it look so easy. Penny's Big Rig Racing is a bit of an anomaly for me. On one hand, there's a ton of stuff to praise in this game. So much so, that I could put this in my list of one of the best 3D platformers I've ever played. On the other hand, the game is ROUGH. And I mean, this game needs like 6 more months of polish type rough. I tend to be a bit more lenient when comes to indie developers, but when glitches and weird visual mess-ups start to hinder my experience, I feel like I have to incorporate into how I feel about the game. With this preface, I can now ramble about Penny's Biggie Bag.
The movement in this game rivals Mario Odyssey. That is the most praise that I think I can give to a 3D platformer. This game is about moving! Moving in style, moving in grace, moving with momentum, and chaining dashes, swings, and rolling on your Yo-Yo to create your own path in each level. This game, although it does not play like Sonic at all, reminds me of what I like about the older Sonic games: momentum-based speed is peak! Every time I do a dash into a momentum-filled swing, to boost myself, followed up by a wheelie on an edge, I'm a kid again: spin-dashing in Sonic Advance, watching Sonic zoom through the screen, to blast off in the air with not a care in the world. Penny's Big Bonanza knows how good it feels, and captures it with every inch of its level design. The levels all feel like suggestions rather than paths in this game, clearly motivating players to experiment as much as possible with the movement mechanics. Entire sections can be skipped through clever use of the yo-yo's swing and a wall jump; insane amounts of speed can be gained by a well-timed wheelie on a ramp, leading to new paths to uncover. There is no correct path. It's up to how well you can manipulate the system to get to where you need to be. There's something special about going against the "intended" path in these games, and being rewarded for it. The developers recognize that their levels are supposed to be motivators for creativity, rather than hard-coded progression lines, and I can't praise them enough for putting that control in the player's hands. There's always something worth trying, and the sheer amount of ideas they put out to compliment the movement mechanics heighten quite a lot in the end game. Unfortunately, this makes the first few worlds feel lacking, but never boring. It's like they were a bit afraid to really show off how creative this game can get, so they went with more common themes and ideas that you'd see your standard 3D Platformer. At the half point, they throw that all away, introducing some rad environmental designs, and just excellent sandboxes to Tony Hawk your way through. It also helps that the soundtrack is unsurprisingly fire. You go from a Circus-y pop soundtrack, to rock/techno, to all sorts of mixing and matching to make such a funky soundtrack. I mean, even the main menu theme is undeniably sick, so you know the soundtrack is good. My favorite song is Palace Sneaktime Swing. It's the synthy-swing mix combined with the bombastic horns that just warms my heart. Tee Lopes never disappoints.
With the above praise, it makes it seem like Penny's Big Ole Adventure must be my GOTY, and a perfect evolution of the 3D Platforming genre. In my heart, yeah. But, the roughness can't go unnoticed. I don't know if I like how this game looks. I like how the environments transform throughout the game, each level feeling like an insane dream. There's never any visual clutter, and the art style is unique. However, some of the environments' colors and designs can start to feel same-y. By the end of the game, a lot of levels started to blend together in my mind, especially within each world. I had to question if I hit Retry by accident on certain levels, only to quickly notice that I had progressed to the next level. In addition, the character models are kinda ugly? Sometimes? I don't know if it's the lighting or just how the backdrops make them stand-out, but they look kinda like unfinished rigs of a character. I understand that the game is going for a more minimalistic clay-like look, but it's not stylized enough like Jet Set Radio or detailed enough like Mario. It's this weird in-between that just comes off as unfinished for me. It's odd. And it's not always like this. The 2D animation is beautiful, and I wish they leaned heavier into that expressive style, but you only have so much time. The combo system as well, is a great motivating factor for mastering the movement, but I don't think the game really adheres to its rules? For one, there are too many combo enders in levels, where in order to progress you pretty much need to end your combo (or glitch your way through). It is fun trying to find creative ways to keep a combo going, but it's weird that you kinda have to fight the game rather than master it just to have a combo stay consistent. The spin twirl is far too inconsistent for it to be a reliable combo extender. And finally, some environments have some strange object properties leading to combo's randomly dropping. This leads to my biggest complaint. The lack of polish. This game is buggy. Not your average one-off funny glitch-buggy, but your clipping through objects, almost getting soft-locked, and Penny floating on objects forever type buggy. Every level was something new. I had to question if how I interacted with things was just how the game was designed, or if it was indeed a bug. My favorite is Penny's weird tumble animation. It will consistently happen on anything cylindrical, as I think she's programmed to loop on these object's maybe? You'll walk into them and lose all control of your character, as Penny drifts to the side, spinning in mid-air. Additionally, I've fallen out of the map too many times to count. Some collision just doesn't exist yet. I have no doubt these will be patched eventually, as the developers have already put out 3 patches for the game, but it doesn't change how much it impacted me. But, I know speedrunners must be having a blast, so more power to them.
The bosses are okay. Some are good, but they are mostly okay.
Penny's Prison Break will be a hidden gem, no doubt. It packs a punch with its charm-filled, and whimsical character and environmental design, and it knocks you out with its near-perfect momentum-based goodness. It just needs a loooot more time to polish up its right hook, and it could or maybe will be a contender for one of the best 3D platformers out there. Do not pass on this game
8/10 :)
Super Mario RPG
2023
This is definitely the first Mario RPG game: wit, charm, great humor, and the most basic version of the staple Mario rpg mechanics. I appreciate it a lot for setting the baseline for all the great games that follow. The art style is drop dead gorgeous albeit not totally faithful to the original. And the music is banger after banger. I wish they had taking more risks to make the remake standout a bit more, but I understand that keeping the playthrough as similar to the original game was the main objective. But a hard mode, additional party changes, and additional missions could have been a cool addition. Its great regardless, and on the SNES, I have no doubt it was revolutionary.
Big yoshi/10
Big yoshi/10
It's a Wii, Wario. What did you expect?
Peak/10
Peak/10
Cocoon
2023
Cocoon: The game that is scientifically designed to make you go "whoa" every 2 minutes. The game's level and puzzle design are very impressive from a conceptual standpoint yet at times quite tedious in execution. I spent most of my time pondering how they made a certain challenge rather than wondering how to actually beat it. The slow pace of the puzzle-solving was starting to get to me until the environment got crazy. The world moved from your typical swamp and desert to this creepy living brain world, and it only got better from there. Also helps that the game is drop-dead gorgeous, and the seamless travel from world to world feels fantastic every time. The game was at its best when it pushed the player to utilize several different orbs within each other, asking you to think two steps ahead, but unfortunately, only the end game really achieves this. Cocoon is a nice little technical marvel, that I wish I could come up with. I can't wait for the inevitable Cocoon 2 that introduces two playable characters and simultaneous multi-dimensional puzzles to the mix.
8.0/10
8.0/10