Overrated games
This is just based off the general critical reception. Your opinions will certainly differ from mine and despite what the title implies, I really enjoy some of these games.
28 Games
All of the classic Mega Man games have issues, but I don’t get why this one is considered the best. Metal Blade outshines almost every other weapon, the weapon cutscenes are tedious, and level hazards often feel placed at random. The last few levels especially feel underdeveloped, like the team was forced to rush things. Great music though.
Still worth playing, but level design goes downhill after Mystic Cave Zone. Oil Ocean has slow platforming and one-way elevators, half of Winged Fortress can be easily skipped by damage-boosting through a propeller, and Metropolis, on top of being three acts long, has deviously-placed enemies that constantly interrupt the pace.
Influential? Absolutely. Masterpiece? Not to me. Level design peaks in episode 1 and stagnates afterward. They feel too similar in that they’re all large horizontal mazes connected through narrow hallways. There being only seven enemies with restricted capabilities limits how the designers can challenge the player. A lack of hidden checkpoints in some levels is a missed opportunity to further reward players for exploring. The sequel fixed most of these issues, so I have little interest in revisiting this classic.
I respect EarthBound’s uniqueness and there are some very memorable moments to experience. Nevertheless, it is frequently painful to play. There are a lot of unnecessarily tedious interactions, like having to buy items one at a time, calling your dad every time you need to save, and calling a courier to move items around. In addition, it is frequently unclear what must be done to progress the story and checkpoints are not provided before difficult bosses at the end of long dungeons. If the latter was really necessary, there could have been a shortcut to the boss at the beginning of the dungeon that unlocks after some exploring. This way, the player wouldn’t have to redo so much combat, which is bog-standard outside of the odometer health meter. If you do play it today, don’t be afraid to use save states. If it wasn’t for them, I might have thrown in the towel.
Still good, but it’s gameplay has been surpassed by other Metroidvanias.
I’m probably spoiled by the later 3D entries, but even after getting 100%, I don’t like how Mario controls. It is very slippery, which doesn’t pair well with the numerous bottomless pits present. Getting kicked out of levels after dying or collecting a star accentuates the issue, especially since roughly half the levels are linear obstacle courses that force completion of the same challenge several times. None of that changes how important Super Mario 64 is and there were enough fun moments for me to say I liked it overall, but later titles improved on its foundation.
I never thought I could hate a Kirby game. It’s bad enough the level design has nothing to offer, but the real kicker is the controls. Kirby moves like a snail even when running and inputs aren’t buffered for smoother control. Don’t believe me? Play literally any Kirby game before this for 5 minutes and then come right back to Dream Land 3. The difference is night and day.
I will happily play this with friends, but the series has gotten stale for me. I cannot deny that Ultimate feels good to play, but it feels like Sakurai was unsure how to expand the series beyond extreme fan service through new characters and stages. I would be happy if this was the last Smash game. Sakurai earned his retirement a long time ago and I want him to pursue what brings him joy without feeling pressured to please an audience he owes nothing to.
