The New Super Mario Bros series is often criticized for being formulaic and bland, and while I don't necessarily disagree with those points, I don't think it ruins my enjoyment of these games at all. In my opinion, U deluxe is all around a great platformer. The amount of content here is impressive, with main game as well as the more challenging Luigi U, you essentially have two full story modes worth of levels, with a myriad of star coins to collect and secret exits to uncover. The challenge mode is a fun side option to further test your skills. The level design is very good, there's a variety of power-ups, and the boss fights, while not particularly difficult, utilize some interesting gameplay concepts and are for the most part fun.
The only major complaint I have is that it's unoriginal and derivative. Nothing in this game is nearly as exciting as some of Mario's more acclaimed titles, or other contemporary platformers. But that doesn't stop me from enjoying it for what it is, and that's an extremely solid, polished 2D-platformer.

It's hard for me to think about this game from a critical perspective considering just how important it's been in my life these past few years. Obviously it's not perfect and there's an endless amount of things I could nitpick, and even some huge flaws in game design and execution that do significantly bring down the experience. Lackluster story mode is a big one, and the terrible online functionality is definitely disappointing.

Ultimately though, nothing I can complain about will undermine all the fun I've had playing with friends and family, watching or going to tournaments and becoming a part of the community. There's no other game that can bring people together quite like Smash Bros, and no other gaming event that generates as much hype as a bombshell character like Banjo or Steve being revealed.

Unlike some others, I don't expect Ultimate will be the last game in the series, in fact I hope we get something of a reboot for the next title. The core gameplay is and will always be brilliant, and any issues I may have with character design come secondary to that fact. It is no hyperbole to say that I would be a different person without Smash in my life, and I just hope that I can continue to feel passionate about this game in the future.

Mega Man is a series that I've always had a casual enjoyment of, and I have a pretty neutral opinion of most of the games I've tried. That being said, I found a lot of enjoyment out of 7 in particular, probably because I prefer SNES graphics and music to the 8-bit games.

It's the standard Mega Man fare, tightly designed 2D levels, action packed levels with boss fights of varying difficulty throughout the adventure. Most of the robot master's weapons are fun to use, and the ability to swap between them with the shoulder buttons is a very welcome addition. I found myself sticking with the Thunder Bolt most of the time for its high damage and range, but other weapons such as the Noise Crush and Freeze Cracker were useful.

The game also has quite a few secrets that make replaying the stages rewarding. It's not one of the more challenging games in the series, but classic mega man gameplay is always gonna be fun.

A noticeable upgrade to the already great SNES game, it contains lots of new content and quality of changes, not to mention the gorgeous redone sprite artwork. The cutscenes all being 3D animated is a nice addition, although DS graphics do leave a lot to be desired.

Superstar Ultra is basically the paragon for what makes a great Kirby game, it has all the strengths of the original; a great roster of abilities, colorful and creative level design, fun and varied gameplay between the several different sub-games. This remake also introduces some brand new modes, Revenge of the King and True Arena offer a more significant challenge, and Meta Knightmare Returns allows you to speed run through the main game while playing as Meta Knight.

Always fun to come back to, and if you're interested in the Kirby series but unsure of where to start, this is the game for you.

This game is often considered to be one of the most forgettable in the Kirby series, and honestly I have to agree. The story is kind of stupid and mischaracterizes Kirby as far more selfish than he should be. The abilities are quite unbalanced, some are basically useless, while tornado in particular is extremely overpowered and removes any potential challenge from the boss fights.

The level design is sometimes good, but often features some frustrating elements like pick-a-path levels where there's no indication of which door leads to a collectible. You have to replay these levels multiple times if you want to collect every treasure chest, which is just plain annoying. About half the game's music is reused from previous entries, namely Nightmare in Dreamland and Amazing mirror. This is disappointing, although there are some great original tracks as well.

The core Kirby gameplay is still pretty good, and ability scrolls are a neat concept, it's something that I think every Kirby game should have brought back. It's honestly kind of fun to replay Squeak Squad and try to grab all the treasures as quickly as possible, because the game includes a built in speed run mode. Oh, and Daroach is epic, 10/10 character design.

In terms of gameplay, this is the peak of the Kirby series. The level design and gameplay concepts are so imaginative, between the Robobot armor segments, the the background and foreground switching, and the traditional Kirby puzzle design, there are just so many gameplay concepts here that keep the levels exciting throughout the entire game. It's really one of the best 2D platformers I've played.

Aside from gameplay though, everything about the "technology" theme is fantastic. Old enemies are now mechanized, new obstacles and level themes are constantly being thrown at you. The music is sometimes strange and experimental, but it perfectly fits with the aesthetic.

The one major complaint that I have is that I wish the story was actually told to the player. Without getting too much into spoilers, there's genuinely some really compelling lore here that recontextualizes the entire game once you learn it. The problem is, none of it is actually told to us in game, it has to be pieced together from pause screen descriptions and miiverse posts from the director of all things. Knowing the lore isn't necessary to enjoy a Kirby game, but it's frustrating that the devs seem so uninterested in actually conveying their story in an intuitive way.

For the longest time this was my favorite Kirby game, and while a superior remake has now been released, I still adore the original Wii version. In my opinion, it has the best roster of abilities in the series, every single one is fun to use. The level design is consistently engaging, getting all the collectibles is challenging, especially on Extra mode. I think I might also be one of the few people that loves the ability challenge stages, it's just immensely satisfying to grind out the perfect execution to earn platinum medals. The super abilities are not really a great gimmick but they don't bring down the overall gameplay experience.

The boss fights, are a considerable improvement on what the series did previously, now each one has multiple phases and quite a few more attacks. I love the inclusion of Extra Mode just because it offers a more difficult traditional Kirby experience, with the reduced health bar and tougher bosses. The fact that you can't start a new file on Extra mode is pretty annoying though, if I want to replay it it I would have to beat the whole game in normal mode first.

Though this game is great in terms of gameplay, I think my favorite aspect still has to be the presentation. It's hard for me to describe just how much I love how this game looks, sounds, and feels. The music evokes such a strong sense of nostalgia and cosmic wonder. The environments and backgrounds have a perfect whimsical fantasy aesthetic. Everything I love about the Kirby series is embodied within this game's presentation.

Super Mario Bros 3 is a classic and influential title, no doubt. As with any 2D Mario, it's easy to start playing and immediately have fun. I don't like it as much as some other 2D Mario games, mainly because I find some of the level design to be a bit boring or frustrating at times. The fact that there's no save files is also incredibly strange, I can't imagine trying to play through the whole thing in one sitting on original hardware.

Still, it's one of the best NES games out there, simple, rewarding gameplay, fun powerups, creative world themes, and iconic enemies make it a timeless experience that almost anyone can enjoy.

I think a lot of Sonic fans used to hate this game, but nowadays opinions are more positive. This was the first game in the series I played as a kid, so while I am a bit biased I don't think it's all that bad. The music is phenomenal for one, and I do enjoy the setting and story quite a bit. The gameplay though, yeah it could use a lot of work. It's kind of satisfying to slash your way through enemies and use the soul surge meter, but the movement overall is janky and unresponsive. If this game had the same presentation but was designed in a more open way, like frontiers, it would probably be amazing. As it stands it's just not all that fun.

This is the first modern Kirby game I played back in 2018 and it's honestly the one that turned me into a fan. I've played through it three, maybe four times since then, and it's always been a consistently enjoyable experience to come back to. Levels are creative and tightly designed, the setting is memorable and the soundtrack is great, as par for the course in Kirby Games.

My biggest complaint is probably that a lot of my favorite abilities from Return to Dreamland were either removed or had their movesets cut down for some reason.This makes the ability roster overall much less satisfying to use in my opinion compared to Return. I do like the new abilities, although Archer is so ridiculously overpowered that it kinda ruins the True Arena. Beetle is fantastic though.

This isn't one of my favorite games in the series but it will always have a special place in my heart. I'm desperately hoping that it will one day get the same remake treatment akin to Return to Dreamland Deluxe, with a campaign that elaborates on Taranza's story.

Honestly it's not that bad for the first game in the series, but the controls and visuals just don't work for me. The scrolling effect where it tries to emulate 3D visuals is definitely a cool novelty for an SNES game, but honestly I think F-Zero did it better and that game game out 4 years earlier.

The tracks are pretty meh overall, just nothing really that exciting. The fact that half the screen is permanently devoted to the map is also quite annoying. Again, first game in the series so I don't want to be too harsh on it, but you'll have more fun with any other entry.

I got this game for Christmas in 2017, and honestly I did get a lot of enjoyment out of it. Obviously the fact that you couldn't share your levels online kinda defeats the whole purpose of the game and makes it inferior to the Wii U version, so I'm not gonna defend that. But the often overlooked part about this game is that it has a full, fleshed out story mode with levels designed by Nintendo. Judging it in that aspect, it's almost as good as a normal 2D Mario game with the added bonus that you get to fiddle around and make your own levels. For what it is it's not a bad game, and since I didn't have a Wii U growing up, this was the next best thing.

This was my first mainline pokemon game, and I do like it quite a lot. There's a great variety of Pokemon available to catch and the region overall feels the most like a coherent and natural setting out of any game in the series. In terms of difficulty, it's a consistently challenging experience, with quite a few battles that require careful strategy and consideration if you want to beat them without using healing items. The soundtrack is also excellent, a lot of really memorable tracks here.

The reason I don't rate it higher is that it's just... so painful to replay. There's an endless amount of cutscenes and moments where all your agency is taken away. The routes are overall very linear and there's not much in the way of interesting exploration.

Opinions on gen 7 tend to be pretty mixed but I would recommend it if you want a more story focused Pokemon game, since there is genuinely a lot to love about these characters and the journey they go through. Team skull is also funny as fuck, so it might be worth it for that alone.