Super Mario 64 is probably the single most important video game ever made. It’s also almost assuredly the single most-cited “greatest of all time” in the medium, and considering what it did to the industry, it’s no wonder why. Mario 64 is still considered king of the speedrunning scene–a testament to the quality with which Mario controls. In fact, much of my joy from playing through it came from performing the iconic speedrunning strategies like Cannonless, (failing at) Owlless, and the endless staircase BLJ, to name the well-known ones. Unfortunately, due to a larger focus on tighter platforming as the game progresses, the later levels soured my taste on the title and struggled to live up to the excellence of the early levels in my opinion. Those early stages like Bob-Omb Battlefield, Whomp’s Fortress, and Cool Cool Mountain are near perfect displays of what makes Mario 64 so Super.

Asura’s Wrath is a ridiculously over-the-top beat-em-up by Capcom that’s more enjoyable to make fun of than to actually play. Its story is nonsensical, but if treated with irony it’s palatable. The game’s writing is disastrously bad, and the universe it’s set in is entirely unbelievable. Its gameplay consists of 3 minute bursts of beating up easy enemies before being shown a cutscene riddled with quick-time events, and after each chapter is over, the story’s narrator reiterates everything that just happened and then proceeds to basically spoil the events of the next chapter. Repeat that 15x and then the credits roll. When assessed as a serious work of art, this game is a disaster. With a friend to make fun of it, however, Asura’s Wrath might just be worth its 6-hour runtime.

Strange Horticulture is a pleasant game with a very special place in my heart. The player runs a plant store with magical flora that can cure ailments of every kind or otherwise have magical effects. The problem is that you’re not very good at your job and don’t know any of the plants’ names. All you have is a book of hints and incomplete illustrations to determine which is which. Customers come in with a vague idea of what they’re looking for, and it's your job to get them the plant they need. As one might imagine, very eccentric characters visit magical plant shops, so inevitably the player finds themselves navigating an occult mystery of the revival of an ancient evil. Gameplay consists of solving the puzzles given by the customers and piecing together the mystery at hand.