(Review is of the JP version patched English patched which is the only way you should play this game)

So far everything I've played in Treasure's gameography has been super fun, chaotic, satisfying and arcadey - something I've been a really big fan of when playing retro games is that Treasure really capture a timeless feel, like a super arcadey game that feels like it could still be made today. Dynamite Headdy is another go at the Platforming genre after McDonalds Treasure Island but now using their own original IP.

This is a very special game and truly shows what Treasure are capable of making when not bound to a licensed title. It feels like the platformer they really wanted to make when making McDonalds Treasure Island taking all the weird zany art including strange world and enemy designs and just going all out bonkers with it. Dynamite Headdy feels like such a strange weird world with talking acting puppets, cats, angels - even the soundtrack is very strange in a fun way. I love it, it just feels like a fever dream on acid.

Gameplay-wise it is a platfomer we've come to expect from the 90s. The main character can attack by throwing his head in 8 directions - kinda like Rayman's punch if his fist was his head - and you can collect plenty of power ups for your head such as turning it into a hammer for stronger throws, or making it a pig snout that shoots out homing pellets like a Gunstar Heroes weapon. It's simple but satisfying gameplay, and the levels themselves aren't usually too hard.
There are lots of secrets to be found in this game that could lead to extra bossfights, so this is definitely a highly replayable game as most games by Treasure are.

Where the real challenge is are the bossfights. Some of these are the best parts of the game while others are the worst. Every bossfight boils down to dodging their attacks and throwing your head at their weak spots. A lot of these are fun, but towards the end of the game a lot of the fights are brutal to the point where it can become unfun.

Just like Rocket Knight Adventures, another great game on the Genesis, the game is full of setpieces that diversify the gameplay so you aren't just platforming. You have shmup sections, quiz sections, minigames etc etc. They're all creative, well done and I enjoy these sections as much as the standard gameplay.

This is a Treasure game so naturally the visuals/effects/feedback are all incredible. I'm not gonna get into it much but these are some of the most visually pleasing sprites for the Genesis.

Dynamite Headdy is certainly one of Genesis' gems that you don't hear about much today, probably due to the botched western release, but I really enjoyed this game and is easily one of my favorites for the Genesis. A great game that is just shy of being amazing due to some of the bad difficulty spikes towards the end.

The base Elden Ring game was one of my favorite games of all time, and Shadow of the Erdtree is just more of that, making this probably my favorite DLC ever.
I do like to use the term DLC lightly though as this expansion is essentially a whole game in terms of size. Of course, the size of the DLC isn't as big as the base game, but it's still around half the size which can be 20-40 hours... the size of most full games.

The shadow realm is a whole new continent to explore that meshes together roughly 8 new large areas and the structure of the DLC is basically the same as the base game. You start off with no map, not knowing where exactly to go, eventually expanding the map and exploring even more to power yourself up and fight bosses that are particularly challenging. So more Elden Ring. The new areas are beautiful and there are lots of surprises to be found, including new bosses and weapon types as your reward.

So it's essentially more Elden Ring, so why is it not a 10/10 like I had rated for the base game? Well there is one fatal flaw and it's the levelling/progression system that is exclusive to the DLC. Fundamentally, this DLC was designed as the "endgame" content of Elden Ring after you've exhausted everything in the base game.
Of course, by the time the DLC was going to release, everyone was going to have optimal overlevelled builds ready to triumph the new challenges, so naturally Fromsoft had to figure out a way to keep this DLC challenging for players that conquered the base game and was ready for anything to come at them.
The solution was to scale all enemies to the players level in the shadow realm and introduce a new levelling system that is exclusive to the DLC. I would agree with Fromsoft that a separate levelling system exclusive to the DLC would be a great solution to keep the game challenging, but their execution of it is the problem. The "Sacurdtree blessings" as they call it. You can attain 20 levels max for your blessings and this is the only way to get more powerful - not by upgrading your weapons further, not by getting more runes and levelling up.

The ISSUE with this system is the only way to level your Sacurdtree blessings up is to explore and find these items called "Sacurdtree fragments". These are key items and they are all in specific spots around the world meaning everyone who plays this DLC will have to take the same exact journey around the shadow realm to progress their character.
In the base game, everyone could explore in their own way to power up their own character. One playthrough could be completely different than someone else's because as you explored and conquered caves, temples, crypts etc, you organically grew your character by naturally gaining levels and new items. Shadow of the erdtree progression does not have that organic feeling of growing your character as you have to take the exact same journey everyone else has to take to power up your character, kinda like how Sekiro did it. What's the point of plundering all these crypts if the item you get in it might be useless for your build? Well at least in the base game you would get a good amount of runes to level your character. DLC you still get runes, but at that point they are basically worthless since your character no longer powers up by levelling, so you could spend a good 30 minutes doing a whole optional dungeon without getting any good reward for it.

TLDR; the new progression system is badly executed and ruins the organicness of progression that the base game had. Sekiro had the same system but it was done well in that game considering the focus was more on gameplay and not having your own builds, and of course it was a linear game too.

But all in all, like I said it's more Elden Ring so it's a 10/10 with a vital flaw that bring it's down to a 9/10. The bossfights are super challenging but not impossible if you do explore and upgrade your blessings. I loved all of the new locations especially that one terrifying madness forest in the southeast. Messmer is one of the best Fromsoft bossfights ever. Final boss was also a bit too crazy for my liking, but if you do some sidequests you can get 2 extra NPC summons which makes it a little easier. Having said all that it's my favorite DLC of all time now.

Also shoutout to the OST for some of the bossfights in this DLC. Some of the best tracks ever in Elden Ring.

Man this game is so weird it feels like an interactive fever dream, something akin to the likes of LSD Dream Emulator but it's a platformer and has a bit of humor too. To no surprise the dev who worked on this game is called Feverdream Johnny, so what else would you expect?

It's a collectathon platformer with an insanely snappy and mobile moveset that has you bouncing around the room like the road runner on crack. There are 4 levels with 5 cogs each to collect, the cogs being your power stars/jiggies. It's not a hard game and it can be beaten in an hour, but man is it a weird experience. All I can say is don't play this alone at 2am or you will suffer an existential crisis.

The highlight for me in this game was the weird quirks and secrets found in some of the levels, some of the most interesting parts even just being the skybox. The other big highlight was the soundtrack which was so good it took me by surprised. It was kind of like electric DnB based music, and I was bobbing my head all the way, but it also suited the fever dreamy nature of the game.

I'm a sucker for anything feverdreamy. Shit that entices me but also intrigues and scares me. The uncanny valley of it. I'm glad I found a dev who specializes in it so I'm keen to play more of their games.

Turnip Boy Commits Tax evasion was a barebones lite Zelda game with some funny humor. With the sequel Turnip Boy Robs a Bank, I only expected another Zelda like, but massively expanded and improved as we expect from sequels. It turns out what I expected was incorrect, because with the sequel we get s a completely different type of game; a rogue-lite-lite (...?) that takes a lot of inspiration from Enter the Gungeon and Binding of Issac.

While the first game did feel more like a "joke" title, the sequel feels more like a fully fledged title, but still on the bite size in terms of length. Story-wise it is a direct sequel to the first and picks up immediately where you left off, so this game is best played right after being the first as there are a lot of continuing plotlines and running jokes. The game is still funny, but I feel like the humor wasn't a focus this time around.

The gameplay takes a lot of inspiration from Enter the Gungeon borrowing the same twin stick bullet hell with dodge rolls design. Although the layout of the bank is mostly not random, there are rooms where the locations are randomized, but the rooms themselves remain the same, which is why I hesitate to even call it a rogue-lite. The most "Random" element of this game is the weapons enemies drop.
As you continue your way through the bank, fighting bosses and unlocking shortcuts like Dark Souls, you collect money but picking up cash and treasures.

The aim of the game is to collect as many treasures and cash as you can and escape the bank before the cops arrive, otherwise if you die in the bank, all of your treasures and some cash is left behind.
You want as much cash as you can get since you can buy more upgrades and items that will help you progress further and make some bosses easier. It's a fun gameplay loop that doesn't overstay it's welcome.

You can easily beat this in one sitting and it was fun while it lasted. It's nothing too deep. The progression is addicting and the bosses are fun and challenging. Although you're not gonna get some deep endless replayable game here like you would with Enter the Gungeon as once you've finished this game, you've mostly seen everything there is to see.
It was a fun little time playing this game , and just like the first I wouldn't buy this at full price, but if you can get it on a sale you can go wrong with a bite sized romp like this one.

I'm fully convinced this game only exists because someone wanted the Yoshi commits tax fraud meme to be a real game. And really despite being a "joke" game, there is a lot of heart put into it by the Dev.

It is a Zelda-lite, and the word "lite" is doing a lot of heavy lifting here since the game can take 1 hour to 100% and the dungeons/puzzles are really barebones that I'm more inclined to call this an adventure game due to the fact that the best part isn't the gameplay, but the dialogue. Of course with the game being based off a meme, you'd expect the Dev to deliver on the game being funny, and they do. It's silly humor that is chuckle worthy, but nothing too outlandish. I was keen to talk to each NPC in anticipation of reading something so funnily stupid.

The gameplay itself is really just a means to get to the next dialogue box as combat is barebones 2D Zelda sword attacks, and puzzles are the same bomb and portal puzzles repeated throughout the entire game.
If you do play this, make sure to go with the easy 100% as you will get a nice surprise with the final boss.

This was still a good time as a nice little joke title, but I wouldn't pay full price for this. Definitely play this on game pass or get it for at least half price on sale. It's hard to recommend this at full price.

Playing Castlevania SotN had me absolutely craving for another metroidvania because of how good it was. PoP: The Lost Crown had been sitting on my Switch for a while, but I didn't want to touch any switch games till my Nitro Deck + arrived. Good thing it did arrive just on time.

When the game was first revealed to be a 2D game, many fans of the franchise who mostly played the 3D games were disappointed after not getting a game for almost 10 years. But you either gotta have a really closed mind or absolute shit taste in games to have this sort of mindset about games because The Lost Crown is easily one of the best games in the PoP franchise.
The Lost Crown is clearly inspired by some of the best Metroidvanias of the modern times, and borrows many aspects of these games in order to make it's own amazing game with a unique PoP flavour.

PoP has always been known for being an "acrobatic" platformer, where it's not about precision platforming and double jumps, but more about wall running, flipping, spinning and climbing to solve platforming puzzles to get to a certain point or manoeuvre your way through traps. I think most people were worried about this aspect being gone or toned down for a 2D game, but The Lost Crown does in fact do acrobatic platforming better than ever.

With The Lost Crown being a metroidvania and having all of the elements you'd expect from this genre, in order to keep its platforming roots the game clearly borrows the platforming focused exploration of the Ori and the Blind Forest games. This is a genius way to have it be a metroidvania but also still keep its PoP identity with all the platforming puzzles. At the same time The Lost Crown also borrows aspects from Hollow Knight in terms of structure and combat where you find trees (aka Benches) where you respawn from if you die, and collect amulets (aka badges) to give you advantages in certain areas that suit your playstyle. It really does take some of best aspects of recent metroidvanias and meld it all together.

Speaking of borrowing aspects from other metroidvanias, the combat itself is so fun as is takes the very satisfying counter-centric gameplay that was present in Metroid Dread/Samus returns and combines it with a 2D version of a DMC inspired combo melee system, including air juggles, tricks and all. The combat stays fun from start to finish as you are regularly given new options as you progress through the game.
Because of the combat, bosses are some of the best bits of The Lost Crown as they are no cakewalk. You need to utilise new moves you have learnt to counter and dogde attacks and retaliate with your best combos.

PoP games always had a good story from the Sands of Time to even the 2008 reboot title, but for some reason the Lost Crown just didn't click with me too well story-wise. Maybe it's the fact that for a game based in Persia, the writing feels a bit too "western". And it's very typical as well as it doesn't take advantage of the unique Arab/Persian mysticism that the previous titles had. This iteration of the prince isn't my favourite either. Still better than the 2008 Nolan North Prince, but not by much.

Visuals and music are A grade. Some of the bossfights feel absolutely hype due to the insane dynamic music that plays during those fights. Some of locations are well designed visually, especially the castle sections as those do have that unique PoP Arabian feel to it. Other sections such as the forest or sewers were okay but felt like a standard forest and sewer locations you'd find in any other metroidvania.

Ultimately while I love 3D PoP, I can admit that this is also a very acceptable direction for the franchise as everything that makes what is PoP is here. Most of all I really just enjoyed platforming my way through the traps of this world, and getting better and faster at is as you unlock more abilities. Despite having a weak story, this is still easily one of the best PoP games, and an overall amazing must play game for fans of the Metroidvania genre.

2D Castlevania flourished on the PS1 as it evolved into it's own type of search action genre with SotN, the N64 had what was supposed to be THE evolution of main Castlevania series into 3D, which unfortunately dropped the ball on it's first go and prematurely killed any momentum this franchise was meant to have with the 3D console games.

Castlevania 64 is not a BAD game per se, it's just a 3D take on Classicvania without any of the sauce that all the Castlevania is known for. Great music? Gone. Cool enemy designs? Gone. Satisfying combat? Gone. Challenging but fun platforming? Gone.
What you have is a very basic 3D game that feels like a student's first video game project. All of the elements of Castlevania are here, it's just all executed very basically resulting an a barebones boring video game that is not terrible, but not good either.

The story itself is similar to almost every other Castlevania at this point. Generations pass, Dracula's back, and a Belmont has to kill Dracula again... But wait you aren't actually a Belmont this time. You have the Vampire Killer whip though... weird. There are a couple of cutscenes and characters you meet along the way, but these are one dimensional surface level characters that don't have the memorability of any of the side characters in SoTN. The story just exists, and doesn't do anything new to elevate itself from the 8/16 bit games the same way SoTN did.

Gameplay-wise, it's a janky 3D platformer that you kind of expect from this era of 3D games. Generally I don't mind the jank as this era is super charming to me, but the camera and lock on system are super awful for a game that requires you to face and hit enemies that are coming at you from all angles. Everything you see from 2D Classicvania is translated to 3D here. You have your jumps, whips, subweapons, whip upgrades - it's just that everything feels really floaty instead of that satisfying weighty feel that the 2D games had. You have a secondary sword weapon that is utterly useless, so you will only be using your whip 90% of the time and your sub weapons 10% of the time. But without the weightiness, all the depth is gone of timing your whip attacks, thus the combat becomes really boring when all it comes down to is just facing your enemy from a nice comfortable distance and using the whip.

The level design is okay. It's mostly kind of linear with branching parts that are needed when you need to solve a puzzle to progress further. But nothing is too compelling. Adding infinite respawning enemies is never ever a good design choice as it just makes you want to run through a section without attacking anything. Also level 5 can go fuck itself and is one of the worst levels I have ever played in any game.

As someone who welcomes 2D games being translated to 3D when it comes to any franchise, I can see why Castlevania fans don't have too much optimism when it comes to the 3D titles. They really dropped the ball with the first 3D game and it makes me want to go play the other Metroidvania games in the series just so I can wash the bad taste this game left me with. Again, it's not a terrible game, but this is not something I would ever play again.

Einhander is known as one of the better shooters on the PSX, which says something as this console has many great shooters. Presenting you with charming low poly models, this works in hand with the futuristic gundam-like artstyle the game is going for.

What makes Einhander unique from other shooters is the weapon switching system. Depending on the ship you choose, you can hold up to 3 sub weapons and freely switch between them. This adds a little more strategy to the game as the difficulty is hard as hell, but if you have the right weapons for the right situations, it will help you get through this tough challenge. For example, in a section with a lot of tiny enemies that swarm you, you might want to use the spread or gatling gun sub weapons. For situations with armored enemies, you might want to use the cannon or grenade sub weapons. It's up to you, but there are multiple ways to make some of the enemies and bosses easier.

As this is a squaresoft game, you will naturally get a great soundtrack and visuals, and Einhander is no exception. It is considered not only a great shooter, but also a great experience due to Square's production. The low poly 3D used for robots and machines result in a satisfying crunchy explosion as you fly by and shoot enemies down. There are also many set pieces with that switch your camera view from a 2D to 3D plane, just so Square can flex their production and give it the epicness that their games usually have.

My only gripes with Einhander is the fact that there seems to be a little input delay on the movement which can significantly contribute to the difficulty, and also the analog controls aren't fully implemented in the sense where you can't use the analog stick for precise movement, and instead acts more like a digital D-pad. The difficulty can also be frustratingly chaotic towards the end.

I don't think we ever got another shooter like this from Square ever again (Unless you count the Gummi ship sections from Kingdom Hearts), so we like to cherish this one as a special title and experiment from the teams who were experts in delivering quality RPGs at the time.

This was a really nice surprise of 2024. I had a huge smile on my face playing this great little game and was sad to see it end in a couple of hours. Tiny Terry's Turbo Trip is best described as the modern day Simpsons Hit and Run, with a hint of Banjo-Kazooie.

You're given a nice open world to roam around and do missions + explore and find many secrets. The name of the game is go find collectables known as Turbo Junk and get enough to upgrade your car and drive to the moon. You can find these parts by either doing missions, or just exploring the world and finding them out in the open. Platforming and Car mechanics both work well, you can even upgrade your car in increments as you find more Turbo Junk to drive around faster.

My favorite part about this game is the dialouge, the writing is just so funny that I don't think a game has ever made me laugh hard consistently throughout it's runtime. It had me wanting to talk to every NPC possible just to see the dialogue. It also has a heartwarming message towards the end and wrapped up very nicely.

The artstyle stood out to me instantly. I don't think I've seen cartoony animation done like this before, but it is something devs should strive for as I was just constantly at awe with the visuals. This is such a pretty game to look at, and I just wanted to explore every corner of the world just so I don't miss some great views.

I'm not a big adventure game person, unless it's action-adventure like Zelda, however this adventure game is definitely one of the best that I have played and I will be looking forward to more games by this dev team, as they clearly do have some talent. This also makes me wanna go play Wuppo, which is the other game by the same dev that I've had in my backlog for a while.

As a self proclaimed Metroidvania fan, it should be a cardinal sin to call myself that without having played Symphony of the Night, or any of the GBA/NDS Castlevania games for that matter. Being the type of gamer I am though, I've never just wanted to jump into SotN without having played the series leading up to this game. Having beaten all the Classicvania's during the course of the last few weeks, it's finally time to play the game I was anticipating all this time.

What can I say? I did not expect anything less than a 10/10, and a 10/10 video game is what I got. Yes, Super Metroid would be the game to put Metroidvanias on the map, but SotN definitely solidified it as a genre by showing you that you can add even more depth to the search action platforming genre Metroid created, which we now abbreviate as Metroidvanias.

First of all, I am so glad I did play all the prior games leading up to SotN. There are so many callbacks, references, enemies, bosses that were all in previous games given new beautiful PS1 pixel art graphics, and some of the returning characters such Death even give additional context to the Castlevania lore and how they fit in the world next to Dracula.
Of course, playing the game as Alucard gave me a nice happy feeling, as he was my favorite character to play in Castlevania III: Dracula's Curese. This game is also a direct sequel to Rondo of Blood so I was so hyped when the prologue of the game is the ending to Rondo. Running into Rondo characters such as Maria had me whistling, pointing to the screen like Leonardo Decaprio from Once Upon A Time in Hollywood. So if you ever do plan to play SotN, do yourself a favor and play the previous games in the series first, or at the very least play Rondo of Blood before jumping in to SotN.

From the get go when you first start as Alucard, you instantly notice that the iconic whip you've been using as you main weapon in every single Castlevania game up until this one is gone. It makes sense, you are not a Belmont after all. This change of main weapon signifies that this is not your typical Castlevania that you've known and loved, this is going to be something else.

SoTN takes that search action gameplay that Metroid is famous for and dials it to 11. Everything you know about Metroidvanias is here. You get a giant map with a lot of block off paths that you can come back to once you find the ability to get you passed the blocked off point. Some of the blocked off points are locked story progression, while others are optional areas where you can find upgrades, items and even more abilities to help make your character more powerful. This constant loop of going back to previous areas to find new things is like cocaine to me. It's probably my favorite type of gameplay loop in video games, other than Monster Hunter.

What makes SoTN so good compared to the typical Metroidvania is the way that it's structed. The game is kind of split into 2 halves. The first half of the game being the familiar Metroidvania type of game that we all know, as in it's all about exploration and finding new abilities to unlock previously locked paths. Basically what Super Metroid mastered at the time.

The 2nd half of the game being unique to SotN changes things up, causing the entire map you will know and memorize by this to point to flip on it's head. Although this time the game is not about exploring to find ways to open paths, but it becomes a straight up action game, kind of like the Classicvanias. You aren't really exploring the castle anymore, but rather you are revisiting every room in it's upside-down form to find new optional bosses to kill, in order to power up Alucard to prepare yourself for the final boss. You have the choice to go straight to the final boss from this point, you or can explore the upside-down version of the castle to the fullest to find the best weapons, items and upgrades by killing some of the now challenging bosses. If you do choose to explore the castle's 2nd form in it's entirety, you will be an unstoppable behemoth that is capable of taking anything down in a blink. And that's what makes SotN so rewarding, and one of the best gameplay loops of all time.

To put it in a broader scope, the first half of the game to help bring you back on your feet, while the second half of the game is to flex all the new powers you have and bring yourself back to the powerhouse that Alucard always was.

On top of the excellent gameplay, the music is fantastic as is the usual with Castelvania. The graphics are some of the best pixel art in the franchise, and it melds the 2D art with some 3D low poly models for some enemies and objects which is the GOAT type of art direction that you will see in other PS1 games such as Tomba of Klonoa. The designs of the characters and enemies are my so so good. And the story is the best so far for Castlevania, giving refined arcs for Alucard as well as Richter and Maria.

I am so happy that I have this bucket list game finally checked off, and it was everything I anticipated. Now I can officially consider myself a Castlevania fan, and of course a Metroidvania fan who HAS played SotN. And it just makes me look even more forward to the SIX metroidvania sequels on the GBA and NDS.

The last of the Classicvania's before I enter into the era of Metroidvanias started by Symphony of the Night, Castlevania: Bloodlines ends the classic era with a bang.

The premise is cool as it takes place generations after the original Castlevania stories where you get to revisit some locales and see the aftermath of the destroyed Castlevania. It is also a globe trotting Castlevania as you get to visit many different places around Europe which gives a lot of diverse settings like a jungle, factory, castle etc. The diverse themes of the levels kept the game interesting all the way through.

While I didn't like this as much as Super Castlevania IV, I did enjoy it as much as Rondo of Blood. The game is closest to that game gameplay-wise but you do get restricted directional whipping. Not Castlevania IV 8 directional whipping but you can whip diagonally up left or right only while jumping. Still much better than not being able to whip diagonally at all and it was very useful in many scenarios. You can also use the diagonal whip as a rope to swing on if you manage to whip a ceiling, but I didn't find much use for it besides the few mandatory platforming sections that needed it.

One of the coolest new features I really like from Bloodlines is the fact that if your whip is upgraded to max, but you collect one more whip upgrade you get a blue magic laser whip that utterly destroys everything. Although if you get hit once you lose the magic and just go back to the maximum upgraded standard whip. This keep it more balanced and adds an extra challenge of not trying to get hit at all so you can keep the blue magic whip.

Balance-wise the game was very manageable the entire way through bar one of the bosses that had like 4 different forms and the boss rush at the very end that relied only on one health bar. I would say the game was well balanced if it weren't for those massive boss difficulty spikes. Also I'm never a fan of limited continues, especially in a game as hard as Castlevania. But if you are playing this on an emulator, you can always "modernize" this game and give yourself unlimited continues if you know what I mean. I am a full-time working adult and don't have the time to play through the entire game again if I run out of continues after all.

As I say goodbye to classicvania with a great final game, I look forward to the road ahead in the Metroidvania era. I mean can you believe that Metroidvanias are one of the my favorite all time genre's yet I haven't played Symphonoy of the Night? There are so many games to clear in the Metroidvania era so I'm am somewhat relieved to be done with Classicvania, yet I will remember my time with these games fondly.

The debut game of Richter Belmont and just a very good Classicvania all around. The game is closer to Castlevania III Dracula's Curse in design, but has a more cinematic flair to it.

You get some cool cutscenes which shows how cool of a character Richter is, as well as highlights Drucla being an absolute dickhead that we love. This game did wonders for the characterisations for the Castlevania cast.

Gameplay-wise, it is pretty much the first Castlevania but the controls are more fine-tuned. Richter has a cool backflip move that is handy for avoiding a lot of enemy attacks. It's a shame that they didn't give it the Castlevania IV controls considering this came out after that, but I can't complain, Castlevania 1 controls are still fun.

Gameplay is a little more brutal than all the other games. The bosses are some of the hardest I've fought so far so if you are a gamer with little patience, play it on emulator or get the PS5 port.

If you know what to do, you can unlock the secondary character who makes the game a little more easier, but let's also admit a little more fun.

The music is absolutely baginging but that's almost a given for this franchise at this point. A lot of the locales are nice nods to the past castlevania games like the fist level being a Simon's Quest town.

Overall, Great Classicvania game and one of the better ones. Didn't like it as much as Castlevania IV and maybe III, but it's still up there. Richter is my favourite Castlevania character so far.

After many very good and a single bad 2D Mickey platformer of the 16-bit era, we end with one of the best looking and animated games of the 16-bit generation.

Mickey Mania takes Mickey on a platforming journey through his most iconic episodes such as Steamboat Willy, The Giant Beanstalk, The Mad Doctor etc. All the stages and sprites feel like that came right out of the cartoons as this is some of the best animations on a 16-bit device period.

With most other Mickey platfomers being a great Mario/Ducktales type of fun arcadey platformer, Mickey Mania takes a different approach of trying to be something more of a "cinematic" platformer. Something along the lines of SNES Dragon's Lair, Prince of Persia, Heart of Darkness, Another world etc. While I do think the idea is neat for a game about Mickey's classical episodes, the execution is not great.

The game is just not fun to play and is absurdly hard relying on a lot of trial and error moments, bad enemy placement, bad hitboxes, bad platform collision in the sense where you will sometimes be falling through the floor even though you clearly landed on the platform, and enemies you can barley see. So many bad and frustrating design choices that it just sucked any enjoyment I wanted to have with this game as I loved the premise and visuals.

After getting through a chuck of many trial and error moments, just shredding lives and continues to get through most of the game, the game has the gull of letting you know that this game actually does NOT give you infinite continues despite being based around trial and error. Normally I don't have an issue with finite continues, but the game doesn't tell you and whenever you are on the continue screen there is no counter of any sort. So you have a game that really wants you to die and try again but also forces you to start all the way from the begging if you do die. Really bad design and I won't be continuing this one.

As a kid, whenever I saw an arcade cabinet of Metal Slug, I would flock to it begging my parents for just a quarter so I could play a bit. At the time (and perhaps still today) Metal Slug was one of my favorite arcade games of all time. But because I was a kid, and this was an arcade game, getting around to finding an opportunity to play it was really hard.

In this case, having metal slug on a portable system such as a Neo Geo Pocket Color would have been more than serviceable to me between the moments of not being able to play the arcade game, and would've loved owning Metal Slug: 1st Mission. A portable Metal Slug, but rather being a downgraded port, it is it's own unique game.

The title implies this is a prequel to Metal Slug, but like who cares the story in Metal Slug doesn't really matter anyway. It plays exactly like metal slug except the physics are a little weird. The turns are a bit delayed and not as smooth and the jumps are a little higher and longer due to this game having more of a focus on the platforming element.

The arcade games being known for their beautiful pixel art animations are not found here. Of course, this is expected from portable titles at the time, but the pixel art animation is 90% of the Metal Slug charm, so you just gotta accept that you won't be getting that going into this game.

So what we have left is serviceable portable 8 bit graphics, barely any animation - mostly being choppy, and okayish feeling floaty controls. The only stand out difference in it's design is the level design. I guess because this is not an arcarde title, there is less focus on the run and gun and more of a focus on platforming. I don't mind this change, as verticality means good level design, but some of the later levels go really crazy with some of the jumps and platforming sections to the point it doesn't become fun.

I would have loved having this as a kid, but today this is just more of a product of it's time. Today there are many ways to play the arcade Metal Slugs portably, so there's no real reason to visit this one unless you are a die hard Metal Slug fan that just wants new levels and bosses.

This is a great Kirby game, similar to Squeak Squad it doesn't doesn't do anything absurdly new to differentiate itself from the general mainline Kirby games, but it follows the design principles of Kirby's Adventure and does it pretty damn well.

The first thing that stands out with Triple Deluxe to me is the presentation. This is a damn gorgeous colourful kirby game that is very pleasing to the eye. Every world and scenario just has that Kirby charm that Kirby's Adventure established but maximized. Everything has tiny details down to enemies snickering if you manage to miss hitting them. Just so many tiny details that give this game's world so much soul.

Gameplay-wise it is pretty much exactly the same as Kirby's Adventure, most of the copy abilities from that game are back along with some new ones like the Circus or Bell abilities. They are fun to use, but not the most practical. All copy abilities have a big moveset, even Stone which is one of my least favorite copy abilities is so fun to use in this game with it's expanded moveset.

With this being Kirby's first game on the 3DS, most levels are designed around having a foreground and background you can at times switch between. A lot of puzzles and setpieces play with the 3D perspective in creative ways. Of course, you can always play with the 3D turned off and it still won't feel out of place.

The big selling point of this game that is also on the box-art is Kirby's Hypernova, that allows him to just swallow everything in his path. These are cool segments in levels that give this game a more cinematic feel, but doesn't really do anything for the gameplay, it's mostly there for presentation. There are some cool puzzles they hypernova sections to have, but those are usually brief and rare.

I enjoyed my time with Triple Deluxe as going for the 100% was also really fun. Similar to Squeak Squad, 100%ing this game usually has you exploring levels more to find special items, in this game being sun stones, and are usually easy to come by. A lot of them involve solving some sort of puzzle which was fun. One of the better 2D Kirby titles, does everything right - though nothing too groundbreaking.