Favorite Game:

A few games could fit the bill here (they'll probably show up later!), but OW is both the most recent and probably strongest memory of me handing myself over to something. It's maybe the only time I knew I was playing one of my favorite games WHILE I was playing it. Truly an out-of-body experience.

Favorite Series:

Despite having so so so many mixed feelings on the whole of it these days, this is probably the only series that applies. There's a timeline of personal growth w/r/t MGS that I cannot detach myself from.

I swear I'm not a "series" loyalist, I just accidentally learned literally everything about this one!!

Favorite Soundtrack:

Future music. The most violence-glorifying notes ever sequenced. Koshiro and Kawashima are criminals, geniuses, hacks. Feel free to choose.

Favorite Protagonist:

Wario as a main character is maybe the most damaging thing Nintendo ever did to Mario's image. In his platforming games, he's the toughest son-of-a-bitch ever. In his spinoff series WarioWare, he's the centrifuge of confidence that makes the entire package sing. Mario... is red and blue.

Favorite Villain:

"Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven........

......Motherfuckerrrrrr!"

Favorite Story:

Recollection can be deceitful. It seems all memories are doomed to crystallize into razor-sharp tendons, lining the mind with borders of caution. It's so tiring. But between these lines exist the possibility of new, incredible things. If we could only find a way to join these spaces together...

Have not played, but want to:

I'm actually in the middle of this as we speak, but it's currently on the backburner while I finish up a couple more time-sensitive games. One day!

You love, everyone hates:

My first Tony Hawk game is the one everyone readily places at the bottom of the "not totally reprehensible" list. Such high praise!

Skateboard culture as a driving force was in decline, maybe even totally gone, by the time AW released. The direction they took the series as an (almost) hail mary was completely literal, giving us a miniature-scale LA to skate and build into an image of the scene's past. I actually find it really charming and the OST, while containing the most obvious choices of the series, is still amazing.

You hate, everyone loves:

I could list the things I don't like but to put it simply: I think the limitations of the console it's released on hold it back as a reliably fun-hard game (especially in co-op), and this sort of agile, Reagan-era run-n'-gun is done so much more interestingly in other games that you'd be hard-pressed to find a reason to get me to play this in 2021.

Goes without saying, but I like Castlevania more.

Favorite Art Style:

I've seen so many people put this as their favorite art style, and you know what? They're all right as hell!

Favorite Ending:

Viewing "story" exclusively as an entertainment vehicle, 999's final bombastic hour or so had me screaming like a chimp. I still need to play Danganronpa V3 which, from what little I know, could very well topple this.

Favorite Boss: Father Gascoigne

Again, many things could be here, but I respect immensely From's decision to make the first required boss of their game one of the most intimidating, but ultimately easiest to topple (provided you have the means to do so). What was once the harshest early gatekeeper of the series is now a pretty reliable first-try - but those lessons he force-fed me the first few hours? Boy, I will not be forgetting those.

Childhood Game:

Many personal firsts with this game. First IP spinoff that I ended up liking more than the main series? First non-violent first-person game? First frisson-inducing mystery? I love it, especially how it's so short that replaying it to get that serotonin is only like an hour or two prospect.

- There are discussions to be had as to whether or not what you and Oak are doing in this game constitutes as a kind of violence, but as with all Pokemon-related things, it's probably best to just ignore it.

Relaxing Game:

I'm not a doctor, so do not take what I'm about to say as scientific truth. However... Tetris has been a more reliable source of levity from the stresses of my mental illness-addled brain than any hard medication has been. It's maybe my most clinical 5-star rating.

Stressful Game:

This game is SO good at what it does that it, at times, is repellant. I have to be in the right frame of mind to play it, but when I am, the catharsis of firing that rocket launcher at the end is like 500 cigarettes.

Game you always come back to:

Beautifully simple! Fun with friends! I love Aiai the monkey!

Guilty Pleasure:

I agree with everyone that accosts the existence of guilty pleasures, but when I saw this category I immediately thought about how much I've played this game.

I got it randomly from Dollar General of all places when I was a wee child and, because my family was poor (proof: I was buying a game from Dollar General), a game this repeatable and this sugary fit exactly in my brainspace.

Tons of hours played:

Playing 3S is as easy as wearing my skin. It's not about skill level, either - it's about reliability and curiosity meshing together perfectly to make something otherwise monolithic in its stature feel so inviting. I just WANNA play it.