HighOnNeon
2008
This game is truly a hidden gem. I never hear people talking about it online but its a really unique platformer with a lot of style.
De Blob is a silent protagonist with an attitude. He’s simple, yet relatable. In a way he’s a lot like 90’s sonic.
The theme of colour and fun breaking through and defeating the sadness and mundane is cute. The cutscenes between the levels are a good touch to motivate the player to free the residents of a life of depression and bring colour to their lives.
But this game lacks in some important aspects. Movement in the air is clunky and since its a platformer this flaw cannot be overlooked. Some levels drag on. Short, focused leves would work way better Than sandboxes that can take a good while to finish.
This franchise never really took off and thats a shame, with just a little bit of extra love it could have been something great. This game has been rereleased on other consoles but without reworking the flaws it’s an outdated game. Without serious fixes and markett, I cant see it becoming a hit.
De Blob is a silent protagonist with an attitude. He’s simple, yet relatable. In a way he’s a lot like 90’s sonic.
The theme of colour and fun breaking through and defeating the sadness and mundane is cute. The cutscenes between the levels are a good touch to motivate the player to free the residents of a life of depression and bring colour to their lives.
But this game lacks in some important aspects. Movement in the air is clunky and since its a platformer this flaw cannot be overlooked. Some levels drag on. Short, focused leves would work way better Than sandboxes that can take a good while to finish.
This franchise never really took off and thats a shame, with just a little bit of extra love it could have been something great. This game has been rereleased on other consoles but without reworking the flaws it’s an outdated game. Without serious fixes and markett, I cant see it becoming a hit.
2016
Is the starfox IP doomed to just be starfox 64 remakes untill it just stops to exist? This game controls just awful. I always forget just how not-fun this game is to play.
When the gameplay isn’t fun there isn’t much one can do to redeem the product. The visuals are bland and simple, wich works for an on-rails shooter. The story is simple and you cant get invested because you’re constantly fighting with the controls.
This game is super short. Starfox games are made to be replayed, so you can try to take a diffrent route each time. But after my first playthrough I had no intent of ever returning.
The only way forward for this franchise is to reinvent the genre like mario and zelda do for there genres. On-rails shooters were new and inventive once upon a time. now the genre has gone stale and nobody’s really interested in the genre. I feel like an open space exploration game with “on rail shooter sections” would work much better than a full game in this style nowadays.
When the gameplay isn’t fun there isn’t much one can do to redeem the product. The visuals are bland and simple, wich works for an on-rails shooter. The story is simple and you cant get invested because you’re constantly fighting with the controls.
This game is super short. Starfox games are made to be replayed, so you can try to take a diffrent route each time. But after my first playthrough I had no intent of ever returning.
The only way forward for this franchise is to reinvent the genre like mario and zelda do for there genres. On-rails shooters were new and inventive once upon a time. now the genre has gone stale and nobody’s really interested in the genre. I feel like an open space exploration game with “on rail shooter sections” would work much better than a full game in this style nowadays.
This game is fun overall. I fell in love with the series with “bowsers inside story” and wanted more, so I played dream team. This game turned out to be a mixed bag. But i would still recommand it.
The gameplay is still genius. RPG’s can become really repetetive. But this series knows how to keep the player active and involved. If this review was only about the gameplay it would be scored much higher.
You can somwhat costumize your builds after each level-up. But be carefull, because the wrong choises in spread between power and defence can have major consequences. This is a genius concept for experienced players who want more challange and are rewarded with shorter battles or newer players who really need to be able to take an extra hit. But unexperienced players making bad choises here can really mess up the flow of the game.
But an RPG isn’t all about gameplay. Story and characters are important in this genre and here the cracks start to form. I think the writers ran out of juice. The plot isn’t intresting at all and most characters are 2 dimensional compared tot the great character development of bowsers inside story. I think this is also the reason they remade their older games instead of making new ones and this decision finally bankrupted alphadream.
The visuals are decent, not as lively as the pixelart of the previous titles, but still very impressive for the 3ds. The music is ok, with nothing that really sticking in your head after the journey is over.
The world lay-out is not that great, wit a lot of backtracking. But its fun to see another location than the mushroom kingdom. The constant hand-holding the game does is also very annoying, there’s a menu where everything is explained in great detail but still this game forces you into unnecessary tutorials. I’d say this game has over an hour of unskippable, unnecessary tutorials spread throughout.
Overall this game is good. If it were the only one in the franchise it would definately be rated higher, but it isn’t and it can’t live up to the previous titles.
I may be hard on this but I was just disappointed with the overall experience. Exept for gameplay nothing here is special or memorable. This franchise fell from grace, to eventually dissapear and this is where the decline started.
The gameplay is still genius. RPG’s can become really repetetive. But this series knows how to keep the player active and involved. If this review was only about the gameplay it would be scored much higher.
You can somwhat costumize your builds after each level-up. But be carefull, because the wrong choises in spread between power and defence can have major consequences. This is a genius concept for experienced players who want more challange and are rewarded with shorter battles or newer players who really need to be able to take an extra hit. But unexperienced players making bad choises here can really mess up the flow of the game.
But an RPG isn’t all about gameplay. Story and characters are important in this genre and here the cracks start to form. I think the writers ran out of juice. The plot isn’t intresting at all and most characters are 2 dimensional compared tot the great character development of bowsers inside story. I think this is also the reason they remade their older games instead of making new ones and this decision finally bankrupted alphadream.
The visuals are decent, not as lively as the pixelart of the previous titles, but still very impressive for the 3ds. The music is ok, with nothing that really sticking in your head after the journey is over.
The world lay-out is not that great, wit a lot of backtracking. But its fun to see another location than the mushroom kingdom. The constant hand-holding the game does is also very annoying, there’s a menu where everything is explained in great detail but still this game forces you into unnecessary tutorials. I’d say this game has over an hour of unskippable, unnecessary tutorials spread throughout.
Overall this game is good. If it were the only one in the franchise it would definately be rated higher, but it isn’t and it can’t live up to the previous titles.
I may be hard on this but I was just disappointed with the overall experience. Exept for gameplay nothing here is special or memorable. This franchise fell from grace, to eventually dissapear and this is where the decline started.
One of, if not the best pokemon game.
Gamefreak used to make improvements over their last games, and i feel like this game is the peak of those improvements.
This game has so much content, safari zone, minigames, casino-games, battle frontier and the pokéwalker are all just icing on the cake. This game really packs a punch.
The graphics are stunning pixelart mixed with some 3d designs really showcasing the strength of the ds. the music and sounds are also decent.
The simple pokemon formula is as strong as it ever was, I only wish that the battles, text and some ovez were faster, sometimes it just feels like you could have done so much more already if the game didn’t restrict you to this pace.
The story is simple, charming and straightforward. good for young kids and not annoying on replay.
The one thing that stops this game from getting a better score is the return of the kanto region. Props to gamefreak for even adding it in the first place in pokemon gold. The levels however didn’t scale with back in the day making blue and red the only challenge after the elite four.
It’s a shame they made the same mistake a second time when adding it in heartgold. What could have been a challenge of skill znd knowledge is now just a snore till the end if you’re not filling the dex or making the game harder for yourself on purpose.
Ending on a positive note, this game is fun evry replay, also when doing a challenge-run. This game is pretty challenging at some points even. I just stop playing after the elite four.
Gamefreak used to make improvements over their last games, and i feel like this game is the peak of those improvements.
This game has so much content, safari zone, minigames, casino-games, battle frontier and the pokéwalker are all just icing on the cake. This game really packs a punch.
The graphics are stunning pixelart mixed with some 3d designs really showcasing the strength of the ds. the music and sounds are also decent.
The simple pokemon formula is as strong as it ever was, I only wish that the battles, text and some ovez were faster, sometimes it just feels like you could have done so much more already if the game didn’t restrict you to this pace.
The story is simple, charming and straightforward. good for young kids and not annoying on replay.
The one thing that stops this game from getting a better score is the return of the kanto region. Props to gamefreak for even adding it in the first place in pokemon gold. The levels however didn’t scale with back in the day making blue and red the only challenge after the elite four.
It’s a shame they made the same mistake a second time when adding it in heartgold. What could have been a challenge of skill znd knowledge is now just a snore till the end if you’re not filling the dex or making the game harder for yourself on purpose.
Ending on a positive note, this game is fun evry replay, also when doing a challenge-run. This game is pretty challenging at some points even. I just stop playing after the elite four.
2011
This was a triumph. I’m making a note here, huge succes.
I know these are the lyrics of the first games outro but they fit here just as much.
Brilliant level design that really puches you to think with portals, and probably the best FPS ever made.
The visuals are good and the music is fine as well. But these elements don’t affect my 10/10 score for this game. Nothing outside of these 2 elements can be improved. The story is simple, yet witty. The characters are amazing, and hilarious. The level design is great and ties in so perfectly with the world and your movement abilities.
The story wraps up so memorable, and leaves you feeling warm, and wanting more.
And this is where the multiplayer comes in. Levels designed for 2 players, with even harder puzzles, brilliant ideas and a whole lot of laughs.
Please Valve, make this a trilogy!
I know these are the lyrics of the first games outro but they fit here just as much.
Brilliant level design that really puches you to think with portals, and probably the best FPS ever made.
The visuals are good and the music is fine as well. But these elements don’t affect my 10/10 score for this game. Nothing outside of these 2 elements can be improved. The story is simple, yet witty. The characters are amazing, and hilarious. The level design is great and ties in so perfectly with the world and your movement abilities.
The story wraps up so memorable, and leaves you feeling warm, and wanting more.
And this is where the multiplayer comes in. Levels designed for 2 players, with even harder puzzles, brilliant ideas and a whole lot of laughs.
Please Valve, make this a trilogy!
1994
This is the best game on the SNES.
This game togheter with the castlevania franchise created an entire genre, the metroidvania. 2D exploration games with ability based progression.
This game fucking rules! It doesn’t hold your hand and lats you tackle the game at your own pace, if you master wall jumping and bomb-bouncing this game can be beaten super fast, and the game trust you enough to let you master these techniques to speedrun the game. The game even teaches you these tricks.
The music and atmosphere are truly alien, the snes controller is small and only has a few buttons, yet you don’t ever feel limited while moving and shooting around. The story is told through gameplay and I wish more games would tell their story through action, sound and level design.
There are many unique acts and setpieces, no 2 areas feel the same. This world really feels alive, how fascinating is that for a 16-bit platformer made in 1994!
This game togheter with the castlevania franchise created an entire genre, the metroidvania. 2D exploration games with ability based progression.
This game fucking rules! It doesn’t hold your hand and lats you tackle the game at your own pace, if you master wall jumping and bomb-bouncing this game can be beaten super fast, and the game trust you enough to let you master these techniques to speedrun the game. The game even teaches you these tricks.
The music and atmosphere are truly alien, the snes controller is small and only has a few buttons, yet you don’t ever feel limited while moving and shooting around. The story is told through gameplay and I wish more games would tell their story through action, sound and level design.
There are many unique acts and setpieces, no 2 areas feel the same. This world really feels alive, how fascinating is that for a 16-bit platformer made in 1994!
This game has a bad reputation for being the weakest link in an otherwise outstanding RPG- series.
But I don’t see it, I started with this game and played the other games later on, so I may be blinded by nostalgia. The turnbased battles are very fun. The puzzles and dungeons give the ds Zelda games a run for their money .The music is just great and takes full adventage of the unique ds-soundquality. The graphics are great for a ds game, but the ds isn’t really made to handle 3d and this does hinder the artstyle when looking back several years later.
But, there are reasons people dislike this game, and I understand why. How fun the gameplay in an RPG may be, in an RPG story and characters are extremely important. This is where dark dawn drops the ball.
The 3 main protagonists and returning characters are all handled well enough. The later allys and villians are 1-dimensional and lack a compelling motivation, especially when compared to the first two games.
The cutscenes are often way too long, unnecessary and unskippable. The world of golden sun is unique and creative with many magical events and locations. The story also has its effects on the overworld wich is always a nice touch. Sadly the game locks you out of the beginning area after a certain point. This feels like a point of no return storywise, but is an annoying blockade gameplaywise if you didnt get all collactables before this point.
The story has some fun moments, starts of quite silly wich is fine, the ending is sadly enough not very memorable.
Overall I recommand this game to all RPG fans, the game is certainly easier than the gameboy games and this makes it accessible to new players. If you don’t grind this game also had its tough moments for RPG veterans.
But I don’t see it, I started with this game and played the other games later on, so I may be blinded by nostalgia. The turnbased battles are very fun. The puzzles and dungeons give the ds Zelda games a run for their money .The music is just great and takes full adventage of the unique ds-soundquality. The graphics are great for a ds game, but the ds isn’t really made to handle 3d and this does hinder the artstyle when looking back several years later.
But, there are reasons people dislike this game, and I understand why. How fun the gameplay in an RPG may be, in an RPG story and characters are extremely important. This is where dark dawn drops the ball.
The 3 main protagonists and returning characters are all handled well enough. The later allys and villians are 1-dimensional and lack a compelling motivation, especially when compared to the first two games.
The cutscenes are often way too long, unnecessary and unskippable. The world of golden sun is unique and creative with many magical events and locations. The story also has its effects on the overworld wich is always a nice touch. Sadly the game locks you out of the beginning area after a certain point. This feels like a point of no return storywise, but is an annoying blockade gameplaywise if you didnt get all collactables before this point.
The story has some fun moments, starts of quite silly wich is fine, the ending is sadly enough not very memorable.
Overall I recommand this game to all RPG fans, the game is certainly easier than the gameboy games and this makes it accessible to new players. If you don’t grind this game also had its tough moments for RPG veterans.
2017
All mario kart games are unique and try something diffrent to stand out. mario kart ds is slower, but thanks to the bottom screen strategizing is very fun. Mario kart double dash a fun 2-in-1 kart gimmick.. and so on... For mario kart 8 the gimmick is anti-gravity racing, and its brilliant. packing so many diffrent routes in a very small space.
The amount of tracks has once again been upgraded from 32 tracks in the previous game to 48 diffrent tracks. The returning tracks have been updated to the new standard and are all very unique. Evry track has special gimicks or a special feel to it, paired with amazing music. The new tracks are great and take full advantage of the new controls.
This game however is a multiplayer experience and doesn’t offer a lot of singleplayer options. No missions or challenges for if you just want to play alone. The character select is also quite disappointing.
The visuals are truly amazing. The carts are costumizable, and the sound design is great. The replay feature after a race can also lead to a lot of laughs.
In my opinion, mario kart 8 deluxe is the best mario kart game to this date. I would like another mariokart game on the switch, but I’m secretly hoping it will inculde more franchises like kirby, pikmin, metroid, starfox and F-zero.
The amount of tracks has once again been upgraded from 32 tracks in the previous game to 48 diffrent tracks. The returning tracks have been updated to the new standard and are all very unique. Evry track has special gimicks or a special feel to it, paired with amazing music. The new tracks are great and take full advantage of the new controls.
This game however is a multiplayer experience and doesn’t offer a lot of singleplayer options. No missions or challenges for if you just want to play alone. The character select is also quite disappointing.
The visuals are truly amazing. The carts are costumizable, and the sound design is great. The replay feature after a race can also lead to a lot of laughs.
In my opinion, mario kart 8 deluxe is the best mario kart game to this date. I would like another mariokart game on the switch, but I’m secretly hoping it will inculde more franchises like kirby, pikmin, metroid, starfox and F-zero.
This is the best one in the franchise.
Yes, this game is an enhanced port of the wii u game. But its very very enhanced. We got so many new characters, options, modes, stages, activities and fanservice. So much fanservice.
The gameplay is tight, slower than melee, but sped up compared to the wii u version. This game finds the balance between not too fast for new players, and not too slow for the experienced. The characters are balaced for the most part, with the dlc characters being the exeption. Ther are so many characters that you will find some characters you really like.
Fighting games are mostly multiplayer experiences. And at its core, smash ultimate is a multiplayer party game. But the arcade mode, world of light and spirit board are also really fun singelplayer modes. Especially world of light will bring hours of fun in a really creative way.
This game can be played with 8 players simultaneously. The music remixes are great and can also function as background music. The graphics are also stunning. This game is the smash for everyone and I won’t need another smash game for many years to come.
Yes, this game is an enhanced port of the wii u game. But its very very enhanced. We got so many new characters, options, modes, stages, activities and fanservice. So much fanservice.
The gameplay is tight, slower than melee, but sped up compared to the wii u version. This game finds the balance between not too fast for new players, and not too slow for the experienced. The characters are balaced for the most part, with the dlc characters being the exeption. Ther are so many characters that you will find some characters you really like.
Fighting games are mostly multiplayer experiences. And at its core, smash ultimate is a multiplayer party game. But the arcade mode, world of light and spirit board are also really fun singelplayer modes. Especially world of light will bring hours of fun in a really creative way.
This game can be played with 8 players simultaneously. The music remixes are great and can also function as background music. The graphics are also stunning. This game is the smash for everyone and I won’t need another smash game for many years to come.
2020
Pikmin is my favorite franchise. There’s nothing quite like it.
Pikmin is the mix between an RTS and an adventure/exploration game. The graphics are great and the creature designs are brilliantly made, looking both alien and yet very familiar.
Every pikmin games puts it’s focus on something different. Pikmin 1 is the funnest for speedrunning and is quite difficult. Pikmin 2 is all about exporation. Pikmin 3 puts a bigger focus on telling a story, and is also very fun to speedrun. Pikmin 3 was the easiest of the 3, but adding difficulty modes is a very good way to get the best of both world.
The levels are brilliantly crafted expansive sandboxes that allow for experimantation and exploration. This games story wraps up nicely and if this ends up being the last pikmin game ever, we couldn’t have asked for a better finaly.
Now woth the story out of the way we can discuss the meaty side-modes.
Missions are fun speedrunning tasks, for these challanges you’ll need to hone your skills to an amazing level if you want to get platinum on every level.
Bingo battle is a hillarious vs mode. 2 people need to fill out their bingo chart collecting all the items/ enemies on it while the other player needs to prevent this from happening while filling out his own chart. This was the best multiplayer experience on the wii u, and is still amazing on the switch.
Amazing game, I recommend this to everyone.
Pikmin is the mix between an RTS and an adventure/exploration game. The graphics are great and the creature designs are brilliantly made, looking both alien and yet very familiar.
Every pikmin games puts it’s focus on something different. Pikmin 1 is the funnest for speedrunning and is quite difficult. Pikmin 2 is all about exporation. Pikmin 3 puts a bigger focus on telling a story, and is also very fun to speedrun. Pikmin 3 was the easiest of the 3, but adding difficulty modes is a very good way to get the best of both world.
The levels are brilliantly crafted expansive sandboxes that allow for experimantation and exploration. This games story wraps up nicely and if this ends up being the last pikmin game ever, we couldn’t have asked for a better finaly.
Now woth the story out of the way we can discuss the meaty side-modes.
Missions are fun speedrunning tasks, for these challanges you’ll need to hone your skills to an amazing level if you want to get platinum on every level.
Bingo battle is a hillarious vs mode. 2 people need to fill out their bingo chart collecting all the items/ enemies on it while the other player needs to prevent this from happening while filling out his own chart. This was the best multiplayer experience on the wii u, and is still amazing on the switch.
Amazing game, I recommend this to everyone.
2007
This game is amazing
The graphics are probably the best you’ll find on the wii. Every level has a unique look and feel to it. And the simple story is very engaging and some times even moving.
The controls are tight, mario 64 and sunshine had very loose controls, and those work great for the open level design. And galaxy’s controls work great for the more linear level design. This game is great for beginners, there’s never a big spike in difficulty. But this game is even fun for very experienced gamers and is not too easy.
Every level is brilliantly cafted around fun gimmicks, tricks or transformations. The first level in every world will teach you the basics in a safe environment and test your skills by fighting bosses or speedrunning the levels in the later levels, bosses or comets.
The soundtrack fits the weird and wonderfull levels, menu’s and hubworld. Even if you have no intent on playing this game, at least listen to the soundtrack on youtube. I listen to this soundtrack when I feel bad and it never fails to put me in a good mood.
The graphics are probably the best you’ll find on the wii. Every level has a unique look and feel to it. And the simple story is very engaging and some times even moving.
The controls are tight, mario 64 and sunshine had very loose controls, and those work great for the open level design. And galaxy’s controls work great for the more linear level design. This game is great for beginners, there’s never a big spike in difficulty. But this game is even fun for very experienced gamers and is not too easy.
Every level is brilliantly cafted around fun gimmicks, tricks or transformations. The first level in every world will teach you the basics in a safe environment and test your skills by fighting bosses or speedrunning the levels in the later levels, bosses or comets.
The soundtrack fits the weird and wonderfull levels, menu’s and hubworld. Even if you have no intent on playing this game, at least listen to the soundtrack on youtube. I listen to this soundtrack when I feel bad and it never fails to put me in a good mood.