play this game if you like

A) very stylish presentation combined with an incredible sense of atmosphere
B) really wonderful characters, with at least one being a high chance of winning you over
C) stories about overcoming seemingly impossible tasks and challenges with the power of teamwork and intense determination
D) girls named Sakura

This is one of the most disappointing games in my life

Though I don't like the weapon balancing (there is little reason to use any weapons besides than Jewel Satellite, Black Hole Bomb, and Laser Trident) I do find the roster itself to be decent regardless, more than I thought so originally at that, the music is great as always, and I really like the cinematics... but the difficulty is all over the place. The stages are annoyingly peppered with spikes or other insta-kill paths, while the bosses have painfully dull and predictable patterns that are able go down with ease even in buster-only scenarios. Sure, exceptions exist, but overall this is just how 9 is

But whatever, all that said the game was still decent... but then the Wily sections start and the good qualities it had immediately faded away for having the worst parts of the stages and difficulty be more prevalent than ever, especially with Wily's last phase doing more damage to YOU than you can do to HIM, even with the right strat and mindset.

It's really hard to put into words what exactly makes Ape Escape extremely charming and fun, but I'll try anyway as someone who just beat it for the first time.

Despite being what's essentially a showcase of the (at the time) new DualShock, there's a number of creative ideas, setpieces, and even recurring tools usage and ESPECIALLY the use of numerous personality and short bio reads for each individual ape makes the loop of finding and capturing them a fun process to do, no matter how long or short your runs are, all rounded up with the visuals and the sound design being some of the best of the PS1 era. I'll even add that I grew to legitimately like the American Dubbing, despite its obvious issues like lack of proper lip syncing and some poor deliveries, since a number of the performances were genuinely fun to me (especially the VA for Specter and Spike).

And that's just in terms of design and aesthetics, even in the control department this is a blast to go through. From jumping, turning, and the previously-mentioned gadget uses, the game uses a lot of the twin sticks and four face buttons, and there's not a moment where I felt the game's age was showing itself. The camera itself was the closest it got, mostly due to it being a Claw Hand effect, but even then there's a reset button available on L1 that sets the camera back to your behind with ease, and it doesn't REALLY become an issue until the last few levels of the entire game.

So yea, fantastic game overall, and something I highly recommend to any platformer fan, or even someone new to the genre as a whole. There's no way you can go wrong with this title.

If there's one word to describe Sonic CD, it's chaotic.

Whether you're the type to explore or blaze through the stages in a Sonic game, most of the levels here are flatout a mess. Enemy and spike placements are questionable, the special stages have some cumbersome controls despite the idea itself being good, and the game's main gimmick, time travel, is barely achievable since Past and Future signposts are uncommonly placed in spots where activating them is a cinch, and because of that rings and even level objects are very clearly stuck in walls, to the point it's jarring.

And yet... there's also the good side of chaos here. The colors and aesthetics are some of the series best still, I don't even need to mention the music since it's still one of the most praised things about this game for a reason, and the speed and momentum here are way more fine-tuned compared to the last two games. It even made the first step towards making exploration more of a big deal, which 3&K would utilize to its fullest. And aside from Collision Chaos and Metallic Madness, the stages overall are honestly pretty damn good even with the previously mentioned design quirks.

So yea, while I do understand why "the Sonic CD effect" is a thing, this game's ironically not really something I'd say is attributed to nowadays. If anything, I think people are giving it a rather bad rep, as there's still good to be had available here. Also helps you can complete it and get all the Time Stones within like, two hours.