I can't decide whether the dog makes the game better or worse, but at least it doesn't talk. The other crew members are constantly interrupting you to point at things and tell you what to do. It's unbearable and it persists throughout the whole game. But once they shut up and you get to really take in the world around you, it is lovely.

It's structured like Pikmin 2, which is one of my favorite games of all time. I had some struggles with the auto lock-on and unruly pikmin, but overall the gameplay and level design were great. It has loads of content and great extras, though the in-depth treasure log and bestiary is a bit soiled by the boring lame writing.

Graphically, it doesn't look or run as good as Pikmin 3. The constant interruptions and lack of subtlety kill the atmosphere, which was always a strong point of the series. It also suffers somewhat from a lack of originality. It might sound like I dislike this game but really it's a lot of fun. I just wish some things were handled differently.

A game without wild Pokémon where the only way to catch them is to steal them from other trainers is a great premise that ties into the story and gameplay perfectly. Then also every battle is a double battle which is actually great and makes me wish the main series went that route. On top of that, the game is set in a weirder and grittier take on the whimsical world of Pokémon that I just adore.

So this game has all that going for it, but really it's kind of tedious. The game's region, Orre, is memorable and diverse and all, but there's so little places to explore or really do anything but Pokémon battle. The battles themselves are just like the Stadium games, so they've got all these silly animations that are great, but take up a lot of time. The game's charm can keep you going for a while, but eventually it's starts to wear you down and make me frown.

The controls are bad, in general this game just struggles with certain things that the first game nailed years ago.
The level design is decent. It has a fair difficulty curve and the levels don't ever get repetitive (because the game is short). The game is generous with extra lives and checkpoints but it's also generous with it's bottomless pits, which you are going to fall into because the controls are bad.

The art is really basic, it was surely designed with visual clarity over aesthetic, which is good if you're playing it on an original big brick gameboy. Still, there's some variety in the tilesets and little decorations here and there.

One thing this game does have over other Mario games is it's theming. It's like a Mario game from an alternate universe, that's just the only way I can describe it. And the music is fantastic by the way. Overall, I would rate it higher but it's too short and the controls are bad.

I never got very far in the original, but I'd say this game does a fairly good job of transforming it into something more modern in the same way Zero Mission remade first game. Unfortunately, whenever this game tries to do things that are original it often falls flat.

The new parry system is a neat idea but they also made the cannon beams do barely any damage so the only viable way of killing monsters is to stop and parry every monster. It really seems like each monster is designed solely to waste your time in each their own unique ways than to be a threat, but if you do get hit you'll take tons of damage. It sometimes makes getting around a chore especially since the map is way scaled up from the original without adding much new stuff to justify it.

The graphics are alright. The models look good and there are some varied and interesting environments in there but the majority of the game is just yellow cave and purple cave. The music wasn't bad but it all just blends together for me (except for the tracks from Super Metroid, but why are those even in here?). The new aeion abilities are fine, just clunky to use and the controls are smooth as butter, I'll say it.

All in all, it has everything a good Metroid game would have, and then some other stuff. It is a good game, but it is the worst Metroid game since Metroid 2.

It's got a vast region with many little nooks and crannies to explore. The cities are also lively, I enjoyed just walking around and reading all the flavor text. It does go a bit overboard with HMs, there's 8 of them, and their usage is spread across the whole game.
Difficulty is fair. Story is decent. There's custom art and music, even some custom mechanics, as well as all the Pokemon and mechanics from X and Y. A lot of the art and music is unchanged though. Not to say it doesn't have unique and interesting things, but it does feel a bit bland at times. Regardless, it's a real solid hack through and through.

The game's ambition is something to be admired, as you don't often get mods like this on a scale this large. Every level has all these unique custom enemies, powerups, obstacles, and such, so much that it barely even resembles the base game. The levels themselves are pretty distinct and creative. A couple of them have some real nice original music too.

The only thing keeping this game from being great is the really awkward level design. It's got a ton of cool ideas but they often get implemented in weird or unintuitive ways. Also the story is incoherent, but that doesn't really matter. Anyway, I still enjoyed the majority of it and would recommend fans of Mario 64 to try it out.