A lot of aspects of this game paved the way for what gaming is today, and therefore aged like a fine wine. The cinematography is outstanding, and so are the dialogues, being the lengthy cutscenes or the flavourful codec conversations. The writing is contrived and campy, giving it the perfect tone for a somewhat cheesy, somewhat mature action flick. Underneath all the over-the-top facade, though, lies a solid (heh) philosophical undertone.

Gameplay-wise, the pacing in the first disc is almost flawless (barring the PSG-1 backtrack debacle): a barrage of tense stealth action, captivating intrigue, inventive boss fights and bombastic set pieces, all to the tune of a great soundtrack and some of the best sound design in videogame history (the "!" sound is maybe the most iconic videogame SFX ever, closely followed by the codec ringtone).

Unfortunately, the second disc is not as well paced, with bland stealth sections, lacklustre area design and obscene backtracking (the PAL key shenanigans are inexcusable), but it fortunately ends with a sequence of edge-of-the-seat boss fights.

All of this goodness would normally make me consider this game one of the best of all time, but unfortunately I didn't have a lot of fun with the controls, making most situations clumsy and clunky. Snake feels stiff and limited, most of the times I got spotted, or a boss hit me, it didn't really feel like my fault. This is especially true with the later bosses, especially metal gear's heat-seeking rockets. The bosses are also, other than really inventive, kinda hit or miss. For every genre-defining hind-D, gray fox or psycho mantis fight, there is a "glorified-merry-go-round" Ocelot, a "lob-a-couple-grenades" M1 tank, and an insipid "here's a bunch of grunts" fight.

Because of this, I feel like the earth-shattering innovation doesn't fully transfer to a new player today. But it is still an extremely tight experience, with a clear and uncompromising vision.

This is a very memorable game, and the work Rare put in to build DK's image from basically scratch is astounding.

Unfortunately, a lot of things didn't age very well, first of all the graphics. And I'm not talking about aesthetics, that pre-renderer look can be quite charming, even though it is dated. The problem I personally have with the graphics is on the gameplay side. Sure, those sprites might be gorgeous by 1994 standards, but they take up a lot of screen real estate, and a lot of the times the hotboxes feel iffy, and you can't see obstacles just a few metres ahead of you. This makes some platforming sections a nightmare, and a lot of deaths feel really cheap, often coming from enemies that come at you from the edge of the screen in the blink of an eye.

I also found the bosses pretty uninteresting and repetitive, and the general movement mechanics could have used a bit more time in the oven. I like that donkey and diddy have some slight differences (dk can pound the earth and roll through tougher enemies, while diddy can chain cartwheels), but they are way too subtle, and the two characters feel too similar in my opinion. Not that it is a bad thing per se, but I would have appreciated it the devs explored those gameplay differences a bit more.

I have to give a shout-out to the music, which is probably the best you can find on the snes (it is currently a contender for the top spot in my favourites list, along chrono trigger).

Without a doubt one of the most refined Pokémon experiences out there. Its only weak points are some pacing and tone issues with the main quest. I didn't really feel engaged with the story or the characters, and some plot points were overly edgy for the Pokémon brand. The "side quests" are also unimaginative and boring, basically chores. But they are also completely optional so I can't complain too much. Other than that, I had a blast.

There are a ton of quality of life improvements, a varied and interesting region, a buttload of team building capabilities with the sheer number of available Pokémon, and a level curve that is just chef's kiss. With the level cap feature and the exp share, I never had to grind, and I could reshuffle my team with next to no setbacks in term of playtime.

Last but not least, the polish. This game feels like an honest-to-god successor of the gen3 games, what feels like Pokémon would have naturally evolved into if it never moved away from the GBA. It reaches game freak's heights, and surpasses pretty much any Pokémon game that came out in the last decade or so.