I'm too old for this game to have been my first Multiplayer obsession in my life. It was 2006 I was in 6th grade and I watched a video On IO On Demand about the best games of all time and they talked about how Counter Strike was this masterpiece of Mutiplayer Shooting and at the time I was educating myself about classic video games so I went to my local Micro Center and bought myself a boxed copy of Counter Strike 1.6 and got home and they key didn't work. So I complained to Valve in the early days of steam and they sent me a free code for 1.6, Half Life, Condition Zero basically all the early hits. So I was a complete loner when I was this young and had no previous experience playing games with others, and was I ever fucking blown away by this. I know this is entirely anecdotal but to me this was the best looking game of all time. Now at this point source was out but this game ran on my shitty desktop with integrated graphics, to me the GoldSrc engine just has so much fucking charm and life to it that I just get nostalgic even thinking about it from the visuals to the digital sound effects every gun felt amazing, every map felt massive and every round gave me this insane anxiety. The first server I ever joined was home of the Elite Immortals, there was a group of late 20s and 30s who were all talking like something out of a dive bar shooting the shit and trash talking. I had a shitty little headset that was made for telemarketers and I was so scared to talk. They instantly started taunting me because I had no idea what I was doing and I got kicked, I joined back and terrified to talk I said in my pipsqueak little voice "I'm new how do I play" They all erupted in laughter and jeering and a guy named "}{ells Reaper" said stick with me I'll help you. I played all night and it felt like hanging out with the cool adults, they taught me everything, I learned to joke with them talk with them, play competitive games of Counter Strike, what guns to buy when to save, how to traverse the maps. I went to sleep that night and all I could think of was Counter Strike I laid there thinking of routes to run, plays to make, the friends I made. I would sit in school and draw map ideas plan setups I would get home and talk to my 2nd Family, "Beantown, Johnny Ringo, Sweetleaf, Reaper, Sarah, Green Leaf" they were all this group of alcoholic degenerates who didn't play other video games in fact if you called CS a video game they would get mad because they weren't nerds, they were all rednecks who were just there to have a good time. I remember playing on Office one night and finally getting admitted into the clan, getting to put [EI] in front of my name felt so good, I felt accomplished. I got to play in some scrims and some matches when they needed an extra man, I cancelled a date with a girl because we had a big match. CS 1.6 wasn't a game it was a hang out, a place to go. The clan and server would eventually break up, I would drift in between Clerkz and other US East servers but that wasn't my family. This was the most formative years of my life and it meant the world to me. Cheers to all of the Elite Immortalz, you guys made me who I am today.

What a weird game, I don't mean this in the sense that it's bad but the fact that we are getting a sequel to an endless runner that is almost 10 years old really shocked me. The first game is a mobile classic. Before endless runners were a thing the first game felt revolutionary. It completely captured what a mobile game should be. Pick up and play and get addicted. But the high score nature of the original left alot to be desired, I never had urge to see how far I could go, I liked unlocking the cool outfits and jetpacks and that was it. So a sequel didn't make sense to me because the original is still being updated to this day. So the thing that really blew me away was what they did to the sequel that make it it's own thing. First they gave it a story mode with levels. This is foreign to endless runners because this runner very much has an end. Every level has a goal distance, if you get to that distance you either fight a boss or have a little bonus objective and then you stop. And with the next level you start right back at 0. While this seems counter intuitive to the point of this style of game it really works because between levels you are upgrading your guy for the next run. The other big change was doing something I can't believe wasn't in before, making it a side scrolling shoot 'em up. Every few meters enemies will spawn and you will have to fight them. Between this and the bosses they added a big extra dimension to this style of game. For about 10 days I was hooked... and then I beat the game, literally 100%'ed all the content, no grand ending just place holder graphics for "coming soon". Since hitting the end I really cooled off. There is no reason to keep going after that because that's the end of the game, nothing left to do, so I think I'm done. With the amount I have to play I doubt that I'll care enough to check this back out when theres more stuff added. The apple arcade model is so weird because releasing "full games" with no MTX is so nice but like this feels like there was a payment model in place and I wasn't supposed to hit the end this fast, and I'm just seeing behind the curtain of a team probably frantically trying to push out more content but like what's here is awesome but maybe it could've waited until there is more.

I remember when Rocket League came out and it had everyone like AMPED for like a week and then everyone who's normal stopped playing and there were a bunch of fucking nerds who learned how to fly through dimensions or some shit and ruined for everyone looking to just play soccer like a normal person. Well this captured my FULL attention for like a few of weeks, like my go to game I would just ignore people while spamming the GG and Laughing emotes at what I can only assume were just 6 year old hopefully crying while I flew through the air and beating them 12-0. Then I realized I was the weird nerd who I hated and promptly uninstalled.

THIS IS WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT BABY!
This is what I wanted after being disappointed by Super Metroid. A Metroid game that expands on the simplicity of Zero Mission but kept the Tight Controls and great visuals and added the incredible boss design of Super Metroid. While I called Samus Returns 3DS a perfect game honestly it's hard to argue that the highs of this game may be better than that in Metroid 2. Starting off with the things this does wrong which honestly I just want to get out of the way so I can gush about the great, the fucking Pixel hunting is maybe the worst in the series so far. Not so much in the first half of the game where they do a good job of pushing you in the right direction while not directly holding your hand, there were too many times late game where I would super bomb an area jump and ball up and roll everywhere only to find out after like 10 minutes that the block I was looking for was hidden by some grass and you had to be almost perfect in your jump to land in it. While this was only a few times at the end it really killed the fast frenetic pace of the end game and without it I'd also argue that this was a flawless game. Now onto the Excellent parts because oh boy is there so much this game did right. First off this game plays so fucking well and so tight and so fun and the shooting feels the best it has (Outside of Metroid 2 3DS). Exploring this map was so much fun and while at the beginning I had reservations with the Navigation rooms, afraid that it would take away from the exploratory nature of the first game it really blew me away how the addition of the 6 different sectors actually added to my enjoyment of exploration. While there are times at the beginning where the journey could feel a bit linear, it opens up very quick and all the navigation room will tell you is to go explore one of the sectors each of which has their own unique feel and brings about their own challenges. Those challenges mainly come in the best part of the game which is these fucking bosses which are just really mind blowing that they really outdid my favorite part of the Super Metroid series which was these Set Piece challenges which were not only incredibly brutal and challenging and fun but also really mind blowing even on a portable the scale of these fights and how each one felt wholly unique from each other obviously outside of Ridley which is kind of weaker than it's super Metroid fight and not to give away spoilers but both The Nightmare and the last real fight of the game is one of my favorites in the entire series. There is a real sense of terror in this game which really makes sense given how oozing this atmosphere Super Metroid. While you think for the first time Samus having someone to talk to would make you feel less alone it actually adds this sense of wanting to get to the next navigation center just to talk to make sure everything was okay. And with that comes my final point and that's about the story, while maybe the least important aspect in previous Metroid games, it's really great and engaging here. I really got into the mystery that unfolds through the game and it meshed perfectly with the way the game unfolds and really makes you care for not only samus but the world. It gives the game the life that the previous games were missing and it was honestly something I didn't know I needed in a Metroid game. Considering a lot of people find this game polarizing I didn't think it would arguable be probably my favorite Metroid game in the series. This is really an incredible experience front to back with only a few minor hiccups but outside of those this game really blew me away.

Okay so this is my fault. I wanted to play the Metroid games in chronological order, while Metroid 1 on the NES and Metroid 2 on the Gameboy are honestly borderline unplayable now due to the way games progressed I opted into playing their remakes Metroid Zero Mission and Samus Returns 3DS instead. While I though Zero mission was an incredible start, I thought Samus returns was a masterpiece one of the most fun games I ever played. So going into Super Metroid which is widely regarded as one of the greatest games of all time I had my expectations set really high and while it didn't blow me away like Samus returns I still think most of what's here is honestly pretty great. I'll start with what's better. The non linearity of the map made exploring so much more exciting. Like I felt like I could tackle these areas in any order and looking at walkthrough at the end to see the few missile locations I missed, I honestly did it in a complete different order than any of the guides I looked at and I love shit like that, like my playthrough was unique. I seriously for the first time felt like a true outsider on this planet and each different section felt tonally different, this is also help by the music which is easily my favorite of the series by far. I loved how the combat all throughout the game felt it had a lot of weight and while I honestly missed the parrying system, there was so much enemy variety and ways to tackle each encounter that it made up for it. Finally the thing that I LOVED most in this game were the boss fights, while my one minor critique of Samus returns was the slightly repetitive boss fights that by the end while gaining in difficulty none of them aside from a couple were super unique. Every single fucking boss fight in this game was INCREDIBLE, seriously they way they each had this grand scale to them and the intimidation honestly they felt like Dark Souls bosses with studying their pattern and figuring out when I could attack their weak point. The difficulty was brutal but in the best way and even the gimmicky fights were fun figuring out what they wanted you to do. Seriously I loved each of these encounters and looked forward to them. Now when I say the reasons for me disliking this game is my fault it's because I'm following up a game Made in 2017 with a game made in 1994. The Quality of life changes made in Later remakes make small things in this just too frustrating. First off, not marking if an item was received or not when you go through the room made back tracking SUCH a chore, which was one of my favorite parts in previous games, like not remembering if that dot on the map was a Rocket I couldn't get because I didn't have the right power up or if I did get it SUCKED, and honestly the reason this is the first Metroid game I didn't 100% because I couldn't care enough to try to remember every single location. Second off traversing the entire map while constantly needing to pause because the mini-map was too zoomed in to make me remember where I was and on top of that the inability to not be able to switch different areas on the map so I had to physically travel across the map which in parts are so confusing because if you go through a secret area and then leave and come back that is never marked on your map so I constantly had to keep switching to the X-ray attachment to be like oh there WAS an invisible wall there but I've gone through it a million times JUST MARK IT OR MAKE IT UNINVISIBLE AFTER I GO IN IT THE FIRST TIME. Like my biggest problem was half way through I had to pull up a map of the game on my iPad and make notes of where I've been where power ups I didn't get where and it felt like I was doing home work and I know the graph paper thing is an appeal to people who grew up on Metroid 1 but it just felt like I was doing homework at a point and constantly took me out of the game, which honestly was so fun when I'd get into a groove but it was the breaking up by those things that really just killed me. Also I felt like I was fighting with the controls for sections of the game, specifially the wall jumping and the screw attack, there were just too many points where I know I was doing the inputs correct and Samus would fall and I'd have to wrap back around to make sure the jump went through, same with the grappling hook. When it felt good it felt great but there were too many times where you would SEE it make connection with the block and you would just not connect and that was frustrating. But even with those complaints what is here for the time is such a great game in so many respects and seriously hold up so well, it just makes me want to ROM hack it to add those QOL changes so that it could be the perfect game I wanted it to be so bad. Either way for an almost 30 year old game it holds up pretty impressively.

I used to play Super Mario Bros. 3 as a kid and all I would ever do is crouch on the white block on 1-1 run behind the scenery and then once I beat the level I turned it off. That's true because I was a really dumb child, but now I'm a really dumb adult and wanted to go back and beat it.
Going into it I had the preconceived notion of "its a simple 2d platformer not really going to be surprised by anything" but wow is this game fucking incredible. Seriously this game is constantly throwing new challenges, puzzles and really difficult platforming at you and I was hooked until the end. People forget how fucking hard worlds 6-8 are but also some of the most fun I've had playing a game this year.

Around a year ago I posted (in sincerity) a thread on /vg/ in which I asked if there were any "Masterpieces" on the Sega Genesis. This was after a long period of playing the cream of the crop on the Super Nintendo and growing up with a Genesis it seemed like nothing compared. But one game was brought up more than anything else, and I was told there is nothing like it on the SNES. See growing up I heard the praises of this game and got it on the Wii Virtual Console and it just never clicked with me. I didn't understand a fast paced shooter where the enemies respawned endlessly but you can also not shoot anything realistically and just move to the right. So I'm really not sure what spurred me on to playing this but now that I'm much older, I can't believe that I bounced off of, what I think is the best action game of the 16 bit era. Holy shit, every single one of the 4 main worlds, and the 99 different endings is so wonderfully crafted. I couldn't believe how much I loved just blowing up everything on every single screen. The control you have over your character and the things that you can do just really don't feel possible. I felt like I was just mashing buttons at points but when I slowed down I realized I was just completely one with the character. And the myriad of dive kicks, and shooting, into a throw parry, into a slide. I was doing all of it and I knew what I was doing and it just looked incredible. I really couldn't believe how tight the whole experience is. There is no fat here every single screen is crucial but also incredibly challenging and so fucking addictive. All the bosses had their own little charm to them and the was the end game plays out I physically couldn't put the controller down. I'm probably underselling it but that genesis sound chip blaring a symphony of gun shots and driving music just kept my senses high and got me through to the end. I can't believe how much I loved every second of this game and I really can't wait to play it all though again

Yeah so this falls into the "Apple Arcade games that clearly had monetization built in but ripped it out to put it on the service" So what you get is an awesome Burnout game which controls incredible, all the cars feel different and have really good weight to them, which in turn makes the crashes feel brutal, also the sense of speed is great as well. But it falls apart when there's like what feels like 1000 cars and to fully upgrade all of them and unlock everything I think it would take an estimated time of the heat death of the universe. So as much as I loved the racing the inevitable grind was too much but yeah it's really fun

To put this review into context, I spent $100 to play Forza Horizon 4 a few days early instead I spent three of those days trying to beat Double Dragon. I spent $100 to not play a game I’ve been waiting two years for, to play Double Dragon.

There’s so many flaws with this game, the graphics are pretty poor even for the NES, there’s insane flickering when 2 or 3 sprites are on the screen, there is no real style or good soundtrack, even the gameplay isn’t great considering they have you play some of the worst platforming sections jumping using the a + b button, there is no use for the punch and all you need is to spam kick.

So why would I subject myself to this, I’m not sure. The first two levels are simple and honestly boring, but the insane difficulty spike on mission 3 compelled me, it forced me to play so smart, to memorize each screen and plan every movement. It was a lot of cussing and smashing the b button of my switch into dust but I did it, I got to the final screen and I felt more accomplished than I have playing a game in a while.

I think I'm done with this game. I always hated the criticism of "a game not respecting your time" but this game felt like bashing your head against a brick wall. This was my monthly iPhone bathroom game at work and honestly the first 2 dungeons Incredible 4 and half to 5 stars, the combat felt fun and rewarding the rouge-like grind of one more run was great but holy shit you hit a wall where all the fun is sucked out of it. I was ready to 100% this game and I just deleted it off my phone. Seriously the only way I see ever coming back to this is if I have no other iPhone games to play because fuck the insane ramp up of difficulty and the only way to progress is replay the 2nd dungeon to farm gold. Really went from 100 to 0 so fast on this game so dissapointed.

Man, this game is so fucking good.
For some reason I couldn't stop thinking about when I was growing up I had a shareware floppy disk of Wolf 3d, I used to play it on an old Windows machine in my basement. It was terrifying, even with all the lights on 5 year old me would sit there and jump at every monster closet and was just completely hooked. Fast Forward to me at 26, I fired up Ultrakill and felt that as incredible as I think it is, I wasn't fully appreciating the early 90's shooter ascetic because I haven't played them so I couldn't just start at quake I had to start at the beginning DOOM. I had previously purchased this game on Xbox 360 around 10 years ago , remember playing E1M1-E1M4 and sort of putting it down and saying I get it. I didn't get it. Because in firing up doom I was expecting faster paced Wolf 3d like I remember playing. But there's one Crucial difference, I played it on Ultraviolence. This turned even the simplicity of Episode 1 into a a test into my reaction time and movements. This game is still a masterclass in every single respect. Starting off with the guns and the shooting, the shotgun is literally my favorite weapon in any shooter, it feels so great EVERY. SINGLE. SHOT. the variety makes you know what to use in every situation because the game teaches you through trial and error. There were so many times early on where I would be going up against a sea of enemies and my shotgun wasn't firing fast enough and I thought I just sucked, nope time to switch to the minigun. Was there a lot of hitscan enemies, Switch to shotgun, was there enemies that took a lot of hits rockets or plasma rifle. Every weapon serves its purpose and the game at the higher levels gives you just enough ammo to so that it keeps the game tense and rewarding. And as a little side note, people love saying that Doom isn't survival horror but these people just proved they didn't play on Ultraviolence because if they did they would know the terror of being on your 20th run of a level realizing there was still a 8 Imps left but you only had 6 shotgun shells left and maybe 12 pistol shots, it's terrifying, and then BOOM a Cacodemon shows up and you jump. And that's also just credit to how fucking incredible the Level Design is here. As soon as credits rolled on Episode 4 I went back to play E1M1 and was like taken aback by how expertly it's crafted because when I first played that level I was like wow this is a hard level but over time they sprinkle in just enough new elements per level that by the end you are managing so much you don't realize how simple the early levels are in comparison, the game teaches you how to play it with no tutorials. Like I think about how I can tell you how many shots it takes to kill every enemy in this game with every enemy because it's just muscle memory knowing by the middle of the game okay if I hit my shots right I will have just enough to clear this room and you are PRAYING there's maybe 1 more box of ammo after that. The rush of getting to the end of a level with some ammo , health and shield was so rewarding. I loved how every new episode half the fun was just learning the map. Figuring out where to go, sprinting across a room of enemies thinking you were safe and turning around and there's even more enemies there. I couldn't get over how each episode had it's own distinct feel and while some were way more puzzle solving and others were more endurance and reflex tests. They always balanced it out so the game never felt stale or predictable. The atmosphere of all of them are so great and it knew when to play the heavy, "I'm going to fuck things up" to the "You're all alone and there's death lurking around every corner" Lighting and Music. I really can't get over how much I loved this game and how much every aspect of it just still feels so fresh, a FPS WITH NO VERTICLE MOUSELOOK feels so timeless and you still felt that you had complete control over everything. Seriously it is the definition of a masterpiece.

Growing up I played Super Mario World more than any other SNES game. I just thought the movement in it was perfect and the cape and Yoshi made exploring the levels so much fun, the variation between the worlds which felt huge, ghost houses and castle were all so different. But little did I know how much of this game I was missing.

I never saw a single key, a single switch, I thought you just played straight through and there was no end, but wow this game is so fucking WEIRD, for a Mario game that is. I can put it off as me being a dumb kid who didn't want to read but making these levels have so much reliability trying too find the hidden areas really add depth to them and hunting for the hidden exits and keys make some of these levels seriously nonlinear at points.

Considering I also played through Super Mario 3 this year it is only right that my brain made comparisons. I feel like the level variety in 3 was so much greater than what there is here, too many Levels In World feel the same with not much variation. Even finding 90% of the secrets this felt like a much shorter game, which isn't bad I just wish there was more here. Super Mario 3 is so fucking hard while this there were very few moments including the final Bowser fight that felt like a cakewalk.

This is still such a great game but you really see where Nintendo was going with the Mario series and while it's a weird followup to Super Mario 3 I think it's the perfect prequel to Super Mario 64.