DzNutsKong
The battling system is horrible. Luckily the game doesn't make you battle trainers too much though. The gameplay loop of going around catching stuff and filling a checklist is weirdly fun in a way I can't explain. The game's still really janky though and while it looks better than most 3D Pokemon games, it's still not perfect.
1985
Weirdly fun to revisit, the controls and game design have mostly aged pretty nicely even if it kinda goes without saying that better games have come out since then. Everyone should play this at least once.
A solid enough 2D Mario where multiplayer makes it really shine through. Otherwise, nothing special. It's a good way to waste a few hours beating it but there's almost definitely another platformer you like more than this one even if you only play Mario games.
This game did not need to exist. All the coins do is let you have an extremely inflated life counter. Technically a fine game in a vacuum but very creatively bankrupt.
You could argue this is the best NSMB game but it's so derivative of its predecessors that I wouldn't say that. It's the same game again. Technically fine, very polished and the level design is good, but Mario isn't the kind of game you can give different level design and call it a day. They all are going to play very similarly and you need to be careful about how you combat that. This game does nothing to solve this.
2015
Really charming level builder with practically everything you could ask for and more. One of the most beloved Wii U games and for good reason.
2019
Very similar to the first one but I'd say I prefer it because of the multiplayer. Online PvP is amazing in this game.
I think it holds up better than most people would give it credit for. There's a lot of content here and it handles very differently from newer Mario Karts.
2005
Snaking is an insanely fun mechanic and I think this is where the track design started going from good to great. The retro tracks do kind of suck but aren't enough to even damage my experience with it. I hold no nostalgia towards this game and it's still easily a top 2 Mario Kart game, although I haven't played Double Dash yet.
2008
By far the best mechanics of any Mario Kart game period. Getting hit is more punishing here than any other but every Mario Kart game is still like that and player skill is a bigger factor here than any other. The shortcuts are mostly great other than some Ultras ruining the tracks they're on even if most players nowadays are going to agree to not use them. If the Thundercloud wasn't in the game it would easily be five star. Worth note as well that most people won't find the controller options to be that great but I've never minded using clawgrip on GameCube for a game like this.
2011
There's nothing too special about this one to me. If there's one thing, the track selection here overall is better than any other game in the series although anything from DS onward is good enough for me to not care. Glider mechanics are pretty fun but driving underwater feels horrible.
2017
Much more boring than other Mario Karts. Mario Kart Wii has Chain Wheelies, Mario Kart DS has snaking, this has nothing. You just hold A and drift when you hit a turn. The new and recently-returning items are all horrible for the game and its mechanics feel more limiting outside of hopping giving you crazy turning which is fun. The two saving graces to this are 200cc and customizable items. No, I don't think having 96 tracks saves it when you're never playing all 32 tracks in one sitting in any other Mario Kart game as is, not to mention how some of them do not fit in with the base tracks artistically at all.
Genuinely amazing spin on the Pokemon formula. The difficulty is just right and it actually makes you think about what you're doing instead of mindlessly clicking A as whatever Pokemon you're using's strongest move tears down the whole game. Each individual run takes too long for my liking though.
Don't want to be too harsh on it but this game isn't worth looking at if you haven't played it yet. Level curves are ridiculous, story is stupid and there's just nothing to give it an edge over mainline or even plenty of the other fangames out there.
2003
The focus on double battles and how generally weak most of the Pokemon you get lets you abuse some really cool strategy without it feeling too strong. It was rough around the edges even for the time and might feel dated if you've never played it, especially since most Pokemon lack good attacking moves completely.