HyperSonic1134
Very solid and fun collection of games, the only one I didn't rate a 4.5 or 5 was Mega Man 3, which I thought was disappointing. I already made a review for all six of these games, but some of the features in the collection I love a lot such as the rewind feature, which made playing through these casually so much easier but still fair, and the Database and Museum you can access before each game. I love those two in particular because the Database shows you enemy stats, weaknesses, and strategies to beat them while the Museum shows stuff like official art and concept art which is really cool to see. There's also challenges which I admittedly haven't dipped my toes into too much, but I plan to go back to those on my own time, I just want to review this collection as a group of six games. Overall, I would say this collection is really worth getting because you'll get a solid collection of six strong games (even Mega Man 3 is pretty good even if it's my least favourite) and a lot of content for a pretty good price.
2007
This game was so close to becoming one of my favourite Sonic games, but the grinding at the end of the game really made it worse for me. Don't get me wrong, this is still a great game. As you can see, I've given it a 3.5/5, which is deserved. The level design is much better than it was in the original, with less death pits and more diverging paths you can take. One thing about this change is that it's more of a boost to win game than the original, but due to one of the biggest flaws in the game, I honestly think that's a good thing. What I strongly dislike about this game is getting to and doing the special stages. Sonic's requires you to beat the game in order to have a chance to do a majority of them since you need upgrades for your ships, and you need two to beat the last special stage. This would be fine if you could upgrade the desired ship, but you need to upgrade the other three ships before you can get the second upgrade for the ship you use to race, and that's only the Chaos Emeralds. While the original Rush game makes you play the campaign twice, the Sol Emeralds were obtained through just playing, no special stages involved. However, in this game, you need to do various missions that are unlocked by either fighting a boss and doing a slightly harder rematch, or finding a Hidden Island and replaying the level. This wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't for the fact that WHICH islands you need to find aren't specified, meaning I had to use a guide to find them, same thing is with the Johnny races. It's also a bit frustrating that the game doesn't tell you about the boat upgrades, meaning you could be replaying a special stage for hours on end and not even know you can't do it yet. You can run into Johnny whenever so long as you get to the right spot, so it should at least be locked out without the upgrades. Other than the special stage content, again the level design is very good and much better than the original. The bosses are a lot more fun too since they don't have instant kill moves like the original did. Bosses also have more openings which means that the battles don't get dragged on for too long. The ship minigames are alright, I like some more than others but I don't hate them, just wish they could've been shorter since they start to slow the pacing of the game near the end. If the grinding wasn't there and the special stages were more fair instead of being extremely time consuming, it could've been one of the best games, but it's still a really good game. Overall, I would say if you're patient enough to get the true ending and don't mind a bit of grinding, this game is definitely worth checking out.
2005
I've been playing every Sonic game in release order so far, and this game really is a breath of fresh air compared to the previous entries. Shadow was absolutely miserable to play, but this game is simple, fun, and has a good length despite needing to play the game twice. Replaying the game multiple times was a big part of what made Shadow much more tedious, but as opposed to ten times with different missions required to beat it, this game only makes you play once as Sonic and once as Blaze. Special stages are exclusive to Sonic, which are honestly one of the best special stages next to Blue Spheres because you have a lot of control with where Sonic goes due to the use of the touch screen. Meanwhile with Blaze, there are no special stages as you only need to beat the bosses, so it makes playing through so much easier and getting the True Ending is more accessible to casual players. Blaze doesn't feel too different from Sonic, but has enough changes that, while it doesn't feel like a different gameplay experience, it feels like you have more movement options. The levels are the same in both acts, but in a 2D setting where levels are five minutes at most, this isn't really too much of a problem. While Shadow took me over 10 hours long at the minimum, Rush is only about a 5 to 6 hour game. That isn't to excuse the fact that the levels are literally the same, but it doesn't feel as bad unless you're playing levels you didn't like the first time. Speaking of, this game isn't exactly perfect. There are segments with very questionable level designs, such as the slow platforms at the end of both Mirage Road levels, the rooms where you have to defeat x amount of enemies to progress (there game doesn't have many combat options). the slowly descending platforms at the end of both Altitude Limit levels, etc. While I do appreciate that the game makes it so holding boost will screw you over, some of the ways they do that make little sense and either slow the game down completely, or aren't visually clear with how they punish you. Bosses are also very annoying in this game, since most of them have instant kill moves, attacks where you can't hit them until the animation is done, or both. For example: Egg Hammer Fortress (boss of Huge Crisis) has an instant kill move, but also has an attack where it goes to an unreachable area and does a long range bomb attack that takes quite a bit to finish, dragging out the boss to a longer length than it needed to be, especially since the earlier iteration of the boss (Egg Hammer Mega from Leaf Storm) was much quicker to beat despite only having one different move and a variation of another. Even with that, the game has a lot of stuff going for it, like the soundtrack, which is honestly probably one of my favouirte Sonic OST's so far (I think Adventure 2 or Unleashed is still my favourite). Overall, I'd say this game is definitely worth checking out and I would say it's one of the best games to start with for a new Sonic fan in the 2D realm.
1990
Honestly, this one doesn't live up to the first and second game, and I have three main reasons why. First of all, I don't really like a lot of the weapon options in this game. Almost all of the weapons don't feel that good to use and the ones that do feel good run out really quickly. Obviously there are some exceptions to this, but there's only two weapons that I actually like using and one of them I didn't have until near the end. Second, the Doc Robots ruin the pace of this game for me. Having to redo four levels, and the ones I didn't really like at that, was really annoying even if they have different layouts. Not only that, but each of those have two Robot Masters from Mega Man 2 but stronger, and if you die to the first one, you need to restart the whole level. The checkpoints just feel unfair in this one, specifically for the Doc Robot levels. Having to redo these levels doesn't really help either because the game has pretty repetitive level design at times, which normally wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't for the Doc Robots. Finally, the Wily Fortress is really underwhelming. The final boss didn't even take me a minute and I literally one shot his final phase. Like, that's it? And Gamma is such a cool design too which was really unfortunate. So yeah, so far this my least favourite Mega Man game, but it's Mega Man so I still enjoyed it enough to give it a decent rating despite its issues. I will give props to the OST because that's even better than the first and maybe the second (hard to beat something like Wily Fortress I in Mega Man 2). Overall, while this game has some issues I'm not a fan of, I think it's still pretty decent since it still follows the Mega Man formula I love.
A wonderful game that starts a series that I adore with all my heart. This game is truly something special. A lot of the cases are very enjoyable and have a lot of content that would eventually lead into sequels, but it works as a standalone game too. A lot of great characters come from here, such as the beloved main characters Phoenix and Maya, along with other fan favourites like Edgeworth and Gumshoe, but also some great one off characters like Redd White (yes I actually liked him) and Yanni Yogi. Every case is fun to play through, and the game never overstays its welcome. My only complaint is that three days can sometimes feel like too much for specific cases. I feel like Turnabout Samurai in particular could benefit from a two day system like in the other games. Overall, very fun, charming game that will leave you looking for more.
Played this game not too long ago, it's as great as I remember. Sure there are some tedious parts (the desert section and only the desert section) but the game has a lot of charm to it and it's very fun to revisit. The characters are fun to see on screen and have some personal favourites like Popple. The story itself is also pretty well done and the world is fun to explore. The only complaint I could possibly think of is that the game is very easy but the final boss hits you with a major challenge, but I adore that boss so I automatically don't care. I found the game to be enjoyable overall, and that's what matters to me.
2005
This review contains spoilers
Oh boy, this is one hell of a game. I'll go ahead and get the elephant out of the room, this game COULD have been good IF they added the option to go back to levels instead of replaying the ENTIRE GAME to get each ending. All you would have to do is start at Stage 4, get two of the Stage 5 levels, and you can get all Stage 6's from there and replay the Stage 6's until you get every ending. Instead, they force you to replay the game EVERY SINGLE TIME you want a new ending. For a game where you need to get ten different endings, this is such a bad idea. The story isn't even that good either, some plot points get jumbled together due to the morality system, so the story ends up not being cohesive anyway. For example, in the Pure Dark route, the army general guy sends out Diablon to fight Shadow, which makes sense as to why you would fight him. However, I did a Pure Hero run and got the Dark ending, but there was no mention of Diablon for a while, so his appearance made no sense whatsoever. The gameplay itself isn't terrible, but the boss battles are absolutely horrid. The only boss I unironically liked was Egg Dealer, which says a lot because that boss is literally "spam A to win." Getting all of the endings didn't feel that rewarding either, since Last Story wasn't even that fun or different, it was the same map as Final Haunt and Black Comet but you need Chaos Control every two minutes, plus the final boss is terrible to play. The soundtrack isn't bad, but for Sonic standards, it's on the lower side. Other games like Unleashed, Rush, both Adventure games, and the Classic games have soundtracks that stick in your head, but this game's soundtrack didn't really have that for me, maybe it's because the gun and explosion sound effects are too overbearing. Speaking of, when you do the Hero or Dark missions, your partner will be telling you what to do at every single moment whether or not you press the hint button or not, which gets very annoying depending on the character. Some of them are fine like Sonic and Espio, but characters like Tails and Charmy can really get on my nerves at times (still love Tails though). At the very least though, the special stages don't exist and the levels are shorter, though only in the Neutral missions. The Hero and Dark missions can be very annoying at times, since a majority of them are "kill x amount of enemies" or "find x amount of collectibles" which gets really tedious very fast. Some missions can be unclear as to what to do, and for a platformer that relies on speed, these missions can really slow down gameplay and ruin that aspect. At least the game is ironically funny, with stupid lines like the iconic "fourth Chaos Emerald," "find the computer room" and my personal favourite "this is like taking candy from a baby, which is fine by me." Other than that. this game is a drag to play through and has very little going for it. Overall, I would say this game isn't really worth your time unless you want to make fun of it with your friends (though I apologize to whoever plays it).
1996
Playing this game has made me appreciate the quality of life changes that came in the later entries of the series. There's a lot of things that are tedious and annoying such as the limited item space, going into the menu to use HM's (example: having to go into the menu to use Surf as opposed to pressing A in the water), and no running shoes. I understand that this is because the game is old and doesn't have quality of life features that other entries have, but those are still things I would critique about the game regardless. The story is generic, but due to the time and the fact that it was the first in the series, certain elements work (Mainly the twists with Giovanni and Blue). Sometimes the game can be a little confusing about where to go next since the map, while somewhat linear, makes you go around certain areas and come back later (example: Saffron City). The only issue combat wise is that Psychic types (aka Alakazam) are way too overtuned. The game is still fine though it does have it's issues. It's Pokémon, so I enjoy it, but the fact that it's an older game means it's somewhat less enjoyable. Overall, I'd say while not a terrible start to the series, it lacks quality of life things that are desperately needed. My team was:
Bonus - My team was:
Ena (Charizard)
Minori (Butterfree)
Tsukasa (Electrode)
Kanade (Snorlax)
Akito (Cloyster)
Leo/need (Exeggutor)
(Yes, they were named after Project SEKAI characters, blame my friend)
Bonus - My team was:
Ena (Charizard)
Minori (Butterfree)
Tsukasa (Electrode)
Kanade (Snorlax)
Akito (Cloyster)
Leo/need (Exeggutor)
(Yes, they were named after Project SEKAI characters, blame my friend)
This is a tough one to score, mainly because my enjoyment of this game is so high, but the issues I have with it are too significant to ignore. Starting with the good, I think this game looks and plays really well and it's got a good fluid pace going for it. The areas are pretty fun to explore and the Copy Abilities are all really fun to use in a Metroidvania style game. However, the main problem with the game comes from its Metroidvania qualities, mainly the map and the one-way paths. Rather than telling you where you need to go, the map tells you where you are, and it's honestly more useful for telling you where you went than where you're going. This is a problem because of the one-way paths, which means you have to go straight to a goal instead of the boss if you go the wrong way and you can't turn back. Luckily, I didn't have too many issues getting to the bosses, but there were a couple times that I hit a goal that could've been easily avoided had the map actually been useful. I genuinely think this game would be a 4.5 or even a 5 if either the map was fixed to be more useful as a guide or the goals were removed, preferably the former. I still give it a 4 though because it is a genuinely enjoyable game but the map and goal problem does really bring it down for me just by a bit. The final boss is also just REALLY long for no reason but this isn't too big of an issue because at least there's healing in between and you can call the other three NPC Kirby's to fight with you, making the bosses much easier. The ending is really odd though since the credits roll as soon as you deal the last damage and the cutscene plays after. Those things I don't mind too much but it's still something worth pointing out. Overall, it's a really fun game with lots of smooth gameplay, but the map/goal is a major flaw that prevents this game from being perfect.
Didn't know what to expect as this was my first ever Legend of Zelda game, but I was pleasantly surprised. I had only one issue with this game and it was that certain dungeons or bosses had items required that I didn't know of prior, like needing a certain item for the boss of Turtle Rock, the penultimate dungeon. If I didn't have the item when I got to the dungeon or boss, I'd have to do a lot of backtracking and often I would need to use a guide, which got a little annoying at times, but other than that, the rest of the game is just fantastic. The sprite work is just beautiful and the animations are all so good, and the world is so colourful which I wasn't expecting. The story is pretty basic but it works for a game that focuses more on the exploration, which is just amazing by the way. I love the way the map works, especially in the dungeons as you just move screens, and while that's basic, it really helps to make the game feel alive (again, this is my first Zelda game and really first game of this kind). The OST isn't anything crazy but it's pretty good to listen to for the game it's in. Nothing I'd listen to outside of the game but I think it works for what it's trying to do. Out of all the dungeons, I think there was only one or maybe even two I didn't like, the rest all being really good even if there is an annoying gimmick or two in them. The items you can get along the way are pretty interesting, especially the Hookshot which is definitely my favourite of the bunch. Overall, I would say for a first impression into the Legend of Zelda series, I think this did an amazing job at hooking me into this series.
1991
At first I wasn't sure if I was completely sold, but nah, this is actually really good, hell I like it more than 1 and 3. I think what makes this game stand out compared to its others (even 2) is its content. We have eight Robot Masters, four Cossack Citadel stages, and four Wily Castle stages for a grand total of sixteen levels. The best part is, none of these levels overstay their welcome, which is something I can't say for something like Mega Man 3 where they reuse four level maps and aesthetics for rematches of Mega Man 2 bosses that felt more annoying to play. The weapon catalogue also feels a lot better this time around, with most weapons feeling good to play while the niche ones are used well for when they're needed. By the final boss, I had most of the weapons completely depleted but was still able to finish the game. The only issues I had were with the final bosses, Wily Machine 4 and Wily Capsule. Wily Machine 4 has a horrid hitbox in the second phase that made fighting it so much worse than it really should've been. Wily Capsule is definitely not as bad but I just don't like that you can't hit it with the Mega Buster especially since the refills come before the boss rush and due to the Robot Master weaknesses, you really need a lot of ammo. Other than that though, pretty good level design, great weapon choices, solid bosses, and a larger amount of content that doesn't overstay it's welcome. Overall, I'd say this game has a lot of great qualities that prevent the series from getting boring to me playing these back to back, and I'll be looking forward to the next one.
1992
Not much to say about this one compared to 4. I think a lot of praise I can give to 4 carries over to here. One thing I'd like to highlight is the weapons. The Mega Buster is EXTREMELY overpowered in this game, which I'm kind of okay with? Mainly because I think being overpowered is better than being severely underpowered and it makes playing through this game a lot easier. My issue comes from the fact that the Robot Masters, while having unique abilities, all feel really easy, more than the other games. Again, I don't really mind this too much, but I do kind of wish this game was a bit harder. I'll take having an overall easier Mega Man game than what 3 did by starting hard and becoming easier by the Wily Castle, because seriously that final boss was way too easy in that game. Other than that, the weapons in this game are probably my favourite so far. Of course there's still the niche one (Gravity Hold), but the other weapons I've utilized pretty well, and although I didn't end up like I did in 4 where I had everything used up by the end, I still made use of every weapon during my playthrough even though I relied on the Mega Buster the most (which I like to do anyway). This game gets a little bit of an edge over 4 only because I think I like the stages in this game a little better than in 4's due to really fun stages like Gyro Man, Wave Man, and my personal favourite: Star Man. Though, I can understand why people wouldn't like this one because this game unfortunately doesn't really do anything new, all it has is the collectables that give you Beat (which is really useful for a surprising about of Proto Man/Wily Castle bosses), but I found it to be a really good time. Overall, this game, while it's a lot easier and doesn't do anything to change the formula, still manages to be a lot of fun and is now one of my favourite Mega Man games so far.
1993
Finished this on the same night I beat Mega Man 5. I wanted to finish the first Legacy Collection since I realized how short these games really are, but man are they such a blast, and that goes for this game too. I didn't know what to rate this one at first so I slept on it, and honestly, I think this is my favourite of the NES series. What makes this stand out to me are the Robot Master themes, I love that the tournament they were going to hold consisted of four Elemental and four Warrior robots. It made the game all the more satisfying because I started with Wind Man and when I beat Plant Man I thought "the Elementals are down, now for the Warriors." Something as simple as that really put a smile on my face while I played it. Also, the levels here are really good, especially since some of them have diverging paths, and going to those diverging paths in the Warrior Robot Master levels unlocked Beat if you did them all. I honestly didn't use Beat too much, but I thought he was a great addition to Mega Man 5 so I'm glad he returned here. Anyway, the weapons you get from this game are probably my favourite of the bunch, mainly because there isn't a singular niche weapon here, closest being Centaur Flash, but that's only really niche because Wind Man is the only boss that takes damage from it. I'm okay with Centaur Flash as opposed to other niche weapons because of what it does, where it kills enemies on the screen and can ignore enemies that have shields, but this can freeze Mega Man in place. I also actually found a use for this weapon as opposed to something like the Gravity Hold in Mega Man 5 where I just thought it'd be better to save it for later if I ever needed it (like in the Boss Rush) since the Mega Buster already did a lot of damage and I could rely on that better. The other weapons are all really fun to use because most of them are really simple to use and the energy of each weapon feels fair for what they do, most of them not using too much up so I could really get a good use out of each weapon instead of worrying about saving it. There's also the Rush Adaptors, which I really love, especially the Jet one. The Power one is really fun to use because you can charge up punches or go one at a time and I feel like a big brute which is really cool, but Jet is super useful and I love how it controls compared to some of the other Rush mobility options in previous games. I don't know if they'll bring it back for Mega Man 7 or any other game going further, but if they do, that would be a very welcome addition for the future games in the series (I don't know anything about 7-11). Overall, I would say that in my opinion, this is the best NES Mega Man game, since it has a lot of content, great weapons, fun stages and bosses, and a great new gimmick.
1993
It's hard for me to give this a fair review; this game is basically 30 years old. I feel like when I played this, I was comparing it to the other Kirby titles I've played before (and plan to revisit sometime soon) and I realized that the main flaw of this game was that it was one of the firsts. Kirby's Copy Abilities make gameplay a lot more fun, but there's only so many things you can do with them in this game compared to some of the older games. While I understand that this was the first game with the Copy Abilities, it doesn't change the fact that this game, to me, wasn't the best experience for me. I'll still give it three stars because while it wasn't my favourite game out there, there's a lot of stuff that I can praise the game for anyway, such as the soundtrack (Kirby OST's never fail to disappoint) and the sprites that look really nice for the NES. Overall, this game was decent at best, but it paved the way for great games to come.
2008
OFF is a strange game. I don't think at any point I understood what was going on, but I had a lot of fun regardless. I plan to look more into the lore later but I wanted to write my review as soon as I finished. The story, while it makes no sense to me, is really good. I think the presentation of everything is good, I'm just too stupid to understand it personally. Also, it's weird playing this after OMORI because that game gives me similar vibes to this, especially the endgame of both. Going around and solving puzzles is fine, though a lot of the puzzles are really annoying as they involve lots of memorization and backtracking. I had to use a guide for most of this game because it felt cryptic at times and I rarely knew what to do. Granted, that's not a bad thing, but it can get a little annoying at times. The combat is sort of mixed for me because it's not bad, but I wish there was a little more to it. I still think it's pretty fun, especially in boss fights where you need to be on your toes constantly, but the shorter battles can be a little boring at times since you don't need to think as much as you do for bosses. One thing I will heavily praise this game for is how incredible the soundtrack is. I said it before and I'll say it again, but indie games manage to make the most irritating sounds and make them into masterpieces of music and it's more impressive for this game as it's an old game meant to convey a creepy and disturbing vibe, and it does it perfectly. The OST manages to be catchy, relaxing, and creepy all at the same time and I'll love it for that. Overall, I think for as old as this game is, it has a lot of good elements even if there are some things that could be improved on as it's really cryptic, even if that is to the game's advantage.