- Great atmosphere, world and plot.
- Has one of the most tense sections in all games making it truly special.
- OST is great and can actually be enjoyed outside of the horror elements and industrial sounds of it.
- Combat is not the strongest part of the game, i don't know if its an actual flaw but i am unbothered by it.
- Camera can be a little obnoxious.

"En mis sueños mas inquietos... Aun veo esa ciudad. Silent Hill"

Con esa frase, comienza uno de los juegos que mas me impactaron en mi vida.
Silent Hill 2 te hace sentir cosas que nunca pensé que un videojuego te podía hacer sentir. Cuando empecé la travesía de jugar esta saga, sabia que este juego venia con un bagaje muy grande, con un hype (pensé en aquel momento) demasiado grande quizá y que después de lo increíble que me pareció la primera entrega, difícil de superar.
Pero obviamente supero todo con creces, este juego cuya palabra clave es "psicológico" te pone la piel de gallina en cada momento, en cada cuarto (excepto el del perro) en cada situación en la que James se ve envuelto. Su gameplay aunque igual que el anterior demuestra una mejoría muy grande en su llamado "tank controls", también la cámara se controla muchísimo mejor, con puzzles realmente buenos y un combate quizá un poco oxidado. Aunque el trabajo de voces es a veces flojo, destaca muchísimo aquellas partes cerca del final (no quiero spoilear) que realmente son capaces de sacarte una lagrima y ponerte los pelos de punta. Finales realmente difíciles de planear, quiero decir, sin una guía conseguir un final especifico es muy difícil. Con objetos y situaciones que uno haga, se puede obtener un final o otro, y esto no solo le da una re jugabilidad divertida, sino que uno también moldea a su manera el destino de James, no deja de ser abstracto pero se siente realmente bien conseguir algo que vos hiciste con tus decisiones.
Amigo lector, te recomiendo que te pongas en el lugar de James, que tus peores pesadillas sean encarnadas en monstruos vivientes, que te atacan cada vez que estas aunque sea en su área, que tus peores traumas y miedos sean la pintura en un lienzo blanco, personificado en una ciudad llena de neblina. No importa cual es tu impulso, imagínate cualquier cosa que te haga atravesar esta bien llamada pesadilla. Es realmente aterrador, no se lo desearía ni a mi peor enemigo.
Recordemos que este juego salió en 2001, salió en 2001!!, es increíble pensar como se sintieron los jugadores al probar esto en su recién comprada PS2, LOS JAPONESES QUE FUERON LOS TESTERS DE ESTO. Si hubiera sido yo, no podría haber dormido por semanas.
Aunque ahora, en esta época y año, Silent Hill 2 como obra no da quizá el miedo que dio, da miedo eso, ponerse en el lugar de James, pensar detenidamente cada detalle y perturbarse con el significado de cada cuarto, personaje y monstruo. Pero mas que nada no es una obra que no te va a dejar dormir porque podes pensar que Pyramid Head puede entrar en tu cuarto (por lo menos no yo), es una obra que tras su final, te va a dejar angustiado, pensando en cada cosa, buscando información y video essays de dos horas explicando porque este fue uno de los mejores juegos de la década, y quizá lejos uno de los mejores juegos de terror.
Si uno piensa el guion es increíble, la dirección de arte, la música, los sonidos, lo psicológico de toda la obra. Silent Hill 2 te va a sorprender con cada final, con cada rejugada, con cualquier manera de interpretarse esta obra tan metafórica y al mismo tiempo tan humana. He aquí uno de los mejores juego jamás creados.

"Some say that it loops forever, this road that I lose you on every time..."

I sat at my desk again, like any day, like any time.
But this time something was different, at the end of one of the games, of the many I have played recently, something in my chest was waiting for some kind of answer, to whom was the question I do not know, I think I didn't even hear it, but that feeling scratched in me so hard that I sat there for a while, watching the blades of the desk fan I have in front of the keyboard, spinning and spinning.

I was at a kind of crossroads, the feeling told me to open Word again and start expelling words, I hadn't done it for a few months, I had abandoned hope for a while, many doubts were going around my head, could I write again as I used to, could I overcome those insecurities that attacked me a few months ago, was I able to write more than a paragraph?

I quickly thought of a way to escape this cycle, this stupid cycle in which I always find myself, I told myself that I had to start with something simple, something more banal to be able to return to the point where I was before. Suddenly another doubt whips my soul like never before, could I go back to something that maybe never existed, I think that this kind of doubts are the ones that put me in the place where I am, then as a defense mechanism I ignore it, I ignore it and I continue to expel this kind of bile that comes out of my fingers and spreads in a Word document.

Then I thought about the game I had finished the day before, a game that held hostage my whole life, late arrivals to work, few hours of sleep, forgetting meals, and so on.

Very few times it happened to me that something caught me so much, it happened before, when I was younger and perhaps careless, but now hovering around adulthood that something took me, possessed me was really strange.
It turns out that Alan Wake II is not just a game that took hostage my time, but my everything.

Continuous thoughts of my own life would pop up as I played the incredible story like the flashes we see of Alex Casey in the dark place. There was a time when I would indulge myself by saying I was a "writer", as if that were real, is someone who plays a key on a piano and gets a note out considered a pianist? I really don't know and I don't want to get into that rhetoric that seems to have no way out looking at it from afar. If I really was a writer, I didn't look like one, because I never stopped doubting myself even for a second, maybe that's what every writer does? I think I hear it does, but then again, I don't know.

I was ashamed of my writing, so much so that I never showed it until I found this site and started writing some sort of reviews and posting them.
Then Alan Wake 2 (and also the first one why not) appears in my life, where the main character was a writer struggling with his writings, where in some of the videos that we can find of him trapped in that room with two windows, he also doubts about himself, about his writing, let's just say that they really got to me.

So much that it managed to get me out of this stillness, of this continuous loop that was not being able to write something, opening a blank Word and closing it, so many times that I no longer remember the exact amount.
Alan Wake II is a formidable game, it caught me as few works of fiction have done and showed me a story that although it's difficult to understand made me reflect on my own situation and life, I sometimes feel like Alan trapped in that room, he spends all his time writing, while I ironically do not, but I'm still as locked as he is in my own dark place.

I can't talk about gameplay, mechanics and the like because the truth is that my playthrough was as much a trance as the story it wants to tell. I simply say that I recommend it, more to those who have doubts and want to write, this game will at least start some inspiration, some flash of something better, whether fictional creation or something in our personal life. And since I give it five stars, I liked everything about it so there's no need to worry about those things, I know it's a videogame, but sometimes getting caught and letting yourself go is as considerable and admirable as a fantastic gameplay.
It can change your perspective and break your loop, your spiral.
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“Some say that it loops forever, this road that I lose you on every time…”

Me sentaba de nuevo en mi escritorio, como cualquier día, como cualquier hora.
Pero esta vez algo era diferente, al terminar uno de los juegos, de los muchos que he jugado algo en mi pecho quedo esperando una especie de respuesta, a quien fue la pregunta no lo sé, creo que ni la escuche, pero ese sentimiento rascó en mi tan fuerte que me quede sentado un rato, mirando las aspas del ventilador de escritorio que tengo en frente del teclado, girar y girar.

Me encontraba en una especie de encrucijada, el sentimiento me decía que abra otra vez el Word y empiece a expulsar palabras, hace unos meses que no lo hacía, hace un tiempo que había perdido la esperanza, muchas dudas rondaban mi cabeza, ¿podría volver a escribir como hacia antes?, ¿podría superar aquellas inseguridades que me atacaron hace unos meses?, ¿acaso era capaz de escribir más de un párrafo?

Rápidamente pensé una manera de escapar este ciclo, este estúpido ciclo en el que me encuentro siempre, me dije que tenía que empezar con algo simple, algo mas banal para poder volver al punto donde me encontraba antes. De pronto otra duda azota mi alma como nunca antes ¿podría volver a algo que quizá nunca existió?, pienso que este tipo de dudas son las que me pusieron en el lugar donde me encuentro, entonces como un mecanismo de defensa la ignoro, la ignoro y sigo expulsando esta especie de bilis que sale por mis dedos y se explaya en un documento de Word.
Entonces pensé en el juego que había terminado el día anterior, un juego que tomo de rehén toda mi vida, llegadas tarde al trabajo, pocas horas de sueño, olvidando comidas, etcétera.

Muy pocas veces me ocurría que algo me atrapase tanto, pasaba antes, cuando era más joven y quizá descuidado, pero ahora rondando la adultez que algo me tomase, me poseyera era realmente extraño.
Resulta que Alan Wake II no es solo un juego que tomo de rehén mi tiempo, sino mi todo.

Pensamientos continuos de mi propia vida aparecían mientras jugaba la increíble historia como los flashes que vemos de Alex Casey en el lugar oscuro. Hubo una época donde me complacía a mi mismo diciendo que era un “escritor”, como si eso fuera real. ¿Acaso alguien que toca una tecla en un piano y saca una nota es considerado un pianista?, la verdad no lo se y no quiero entrar en esa retorica que parece no tener salida mirándola de lejos. Si realmente era un escritor no lo parecía, porque nunca deje de dudar de mí mismo ni un solo segundo, ¿quizá eso lo hace todo escritor? Creo escuchar que sí, pero de nuevo no lo se.
Me avergonzaban mis escritos, tanto que nunca los mostré hasta que encontré esta página y empecé a escribir unas especie de reseñas y publicándolas.

Entonces Alan Wake 2 (y también el uno por que no) aparece en mi vida, donde el protagonista era un escritor batallando con sus escritos, donde en algunos de los videos que podemos encontrar de el mismo atrapado en aquel cuarto de dos ventanas, también duda de si mismo, de su escritura, vamos a decir solo que calaron mucho en mí.
Tanto que logro sacarme de esta quietud, de este loop continuo que era no poder escribir algo, abrir el Word en blanco y cerrarlo, tantas veces que ya no recuerdo la cantidad exacta.

Alan Wake II es un juego formidable, me atrapo como pocas obras de ficción lo han hecho y me mostro una historia que por más que es difícil de entender me hizo reflexionar sobre mi propia situación y vida, me siento a veces como Alan atrapado en ese cuarto, el esta todo el tiempo escribiendo, en cambio yo irónicamente no haciéndolo, pero igual estoy tan encerrado como el en mi propio lugar oscuro.

No puedo hablar de gameplay, mecánicas y cosas del estilo porque la verdad mi “playthrough” fue tanto un trance como la historia que se quiere contar. Simplemente decir que lo recomiendo, mas a aquellos que tienen dudas y quieren escribir, este juego como mínimo va a iniciar alguna inspiración, algún destello de algo mejor, sea creación ficticia o algo en nuestra vida personal. Y como le doy cinco estrellas todo en si me gusto asi que no hay que preocuparse por esas cosas, se que es un videojuego, pero a veces que te atrape y que logre que te dejes llevar es tan considerable y admirable como un gameplay fantástico
Puede llegar a cambiar tu perspectiva y romper tu loop, tu espiral.

1."Serve the public trust"
2."Protect the innocent"
3."Uphold the law"

Robocop is something I fell in love with recently.

I had already seen the first movie when I was a kid, I remember not paying much attention and having my mind on something else, maybe some game, probably Pokémon.

But this year, due to destiny, it occurred to me to watch the whole saga and I'm thankful I did.
The first Robocop is a perfect movie, an action movie, with drama, science fiction and black humor. A movie whose main villain physically looks like a high school chemistry teacher, but is more evil than others I've seen with better designs, this design is more real, more believable.
It's perfect, a "reinterpretation" of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein made in the future, with shootings and crime, where we will question if our protagonist is still human and if it was worth his creation from the beginning. The following ones are not bad but they don't reach the heels of the first in the saga.
But talking about the movie is more for letterboxd not for this page so let's get down to business.
I haven't written reviews for a long time, no real reviews, I didn't stop playing and I didn't stop writing from time to time, but I couldn't find games that started that spark in me to write about them, expand on the work, think about them even after having already finished it, but suddenly Alan Wake II and Robocop Rogue City came into my life together as a kind of a strange bundle, these games unintentionally expelled from me those demons that didn't let me write about something I like.

It's that this game developed by Teyon is (here comes the most burnt phrase used by all the unoriginal and stupid people who review something, that's basically me) a love letter to Robocop as a work of fiction and after having seen the movies, something filled my heart, a kind of nostalgia for something I didn't live, and I concluded that I had to write about it.
The story of Rogue City takes place between the second and third movies, Robocop already more established as Alex Murphy is still working in the Metro West compound still partially controlled by OCP who makes him too many checkups and ask him too many questions. His humanity as usual in the movies interrupts with flashbacks and glitches at the time of being on Detroit's beat.

It's a semi-open game, usually we have marked a main mission, but if we explore the scenarios, in addition to collectibles we will find side missions, which are more than fun, they expand the mythos of Robocop, they give us choices of how we want Murphy to present himself to the world, as a human trapped inside a metal body, or a metal body that consequently has a human brain inside. Although they seem very banal these decisions are going to show more than anything at the ending as a kind of evaluation, of how the story developed, in other words they have a kind of impact, although in reality it doesn't really matter much, because the ending doesn't change substantially.

It is full of references and tidbits from the movies, previous villains are mentioned and appear in the game, the mythical drug Nuke is a main resource in the plot and we can explore scenarios based on different scenes.

For example, the Metro West building, i.e. the police station where Robocop resides, is fully explorable, in detail. That alone is incredible to think that it is available. Also the Steel Mill from the first one makes an appearance.
The game is full of these details that show affection to the original material, as the HUD that makes us see from the eyes of Robocop, where we can scan and aim to mark targets as we saw in some scenes of the movie.
The gameplay being a first-person shooter is fun, as we can use the Auto 9, the famous franchise weapon, and being almost a tank with legs we feel unstoppable at times with that semi-automatic weapon that can also be improved during the campaign.

But it has its little things, like sponge enemies and very fake shots that the AI gives you. But that's what every shooter has I guess, so I overlooked it.
The story itself is fun, engaging with its convoluted maps where we can complement it with small missions, but the game pretends to end a few times and that can make it feel tedious or long.
Another very strange thing is the animations, mostly of the NPCs, the Robocop model and his movements are very well done, as if most of the budget went to that side, but
the non-playable characters are repeated and do not touch the uncanny valley, they practically live inside, plus the animations seem out of a PS3 game.

Even so, this game stands out because you can tell that the people who made it love the franchise as much as we fans do. The script of Rogue City seems objectively better than that of Robocop 3 as a continuation of what was the story of Murphy, which saddens me to know for obvious reasons that all the progress of the protagonist and the characters we saw in this game, at the time of the third film in the chronology will be completely forgotten and will have no relevance.
Rogue City is a great game if we are fans of Robocop and we want more of the movies, as FPS is decent, but if one enters without any knowledge of Robocop is a very mid game, it is mostly pure fan-service but a welcome one for a saga that in the world of video games did not have many successes.

“Go ahead and do it. Dead or alive, you’re coming with me.” — Murphy

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1."Serve the public trust"
2."Protect the innocent"
3."Uphold the law"

Robocop es algo que me enamoro hace poco.

Ya había visto la primera película de chico, recuerdo no prestar mucha atención y tener la mente en otra cosa, quizá algún juego, probablemente en Pokémon.

Pero este año, por afán del destino se me ocurrió ver la saga entera y agradezco que lo hice.
La primer Robocop es una película perfecta, una película de acción, con drama, ciencia ficción y humor negro. Una película cuyo villano principal físicamente parece un profesor de química de secundario, pero es mas malvado que otros que he visto con mejores diseños, este diseño es mas real, mas creíble.
Es perfecta, una “reinterpretación” del Frankenstein de Mary Shelley hecha en el futuro, con tiros y crimen, donde nos va a poner en duda de si nuestro protagonista sigue siendo humano de si valió la pena su creación desde un principio. Las siguientes no están mal pero no les llegan a los talones a lo que fue la primera en la saga.
Pero hablar de la película es mas de letterboxd no de esta pagina así que vamos a lo que compete.

Hace mucho que no escribo reseñas, ninguna real digamos, no deje de jugar y no deje tampoco de escribir de vez en cuando, pero no encontraba juegos que arrancaran esa chispa en mi de querer escribir sobre ellos, expandir en la obra, pensar en ella aun después de haberla terminado, pero de pronto llegan a mi vida juntos como una especie de bundle extraño, Alan Wake II y el Robocop Rogue City, estos juegos sin quererlo expulsaron de mi esos demonios que no me dejaban escribir sobre algo que me gusta. Es que este juego que desarrollo Teyon es (aquí viene la frase mas quemada y utilizada por todas las personas poco originales y estúpidas que hacen una reseña de algo, es decir yo) una carta de amor a Robocop como obra de ficción y después de haber visto las películas, algo me lleno el corazón, una especie de nostalgia por algo que no viví, y concluí que tenia que escribir sobre ello
La historia de Rogue City transcurre entre la segunda y tercera película, Robocop ya más establecido como Alex Murphy sigue trabajando en el recinto de Metro West aun parcialmente controlado por OCP que le hace demasiados chequeos y demasiadas preguntas. Su humanidad como es habitual en las películas interrumpe con recuerdos y glitchs a la hora de estar en el beat de Detroit.

Es un juego semiabierto, usualmente tenemos marcada una misión principal, pero si exploramos los escenarios, además de coleccionables vamos a encontrar misiones secundarias, que son más que divertidas, expanden el mythos de Robocop, nos dan elecciones de cómo queremos que Murphy se presente al mundo, como un humano atrapado dentro de un cuerpo de metal, o un cuerpo de metal que consecuente tiene un cerebro humano dentro. Aunque parecen muy banales estas decisiones van a demostrar mas que nada al final como una especie de evaluación y de cómo se desarrolló la historia, es decir tienen una especie de impacto, aunque la verdad mucho no importa, porque el final no cambia demasiado.

Está lleno de referencias y cositas de las películas, se nombran y aparecen villanos anteriores, la mítica droga Nuke es un recurso principal en la trama y podemos explorar escenarios basados en diferentes escenas.
Por ejemplo, el edificio de Metro West es decir la comisaria donde reside Robocop es completamente explorable, al detalle. Eso solo es increíble de pensar que está disponible. También el Steel Mill de la primera hace su aparición.
El juego esta repleto de estos detalles que demuestran cariño al material original, como el HUD que nos hace ver desde los ojos de Robocop, donde podemos escanear y al apuntar marcar objetivos como vimos en algunas escenas de la peli.

El gameplay al ser un shooter en primera persona es divertido, ya que podemos usar la Auto 9, la famosa arma de Robo, y al ser casi un tanque con piernas nos sentimos imparable a veces con aquella arma semiautomática que además se puede mejorar durante la campaña.
Pero tiene sus cositas, como enemigos esponja y tiros muy falsos que te da la IA. Pero eso lo suele tener todo shooter asi que lo pase por alto.
En si la historia es divertida, atrapante con sus enrevesados mapas donde podemos complementar con pequeñas misiones, pero el juego amaga que va a terminar unas cuantas veces y eso puede hacerlo sentir tedioso o largo.
Otra cosa muy extraña son las animaciones, mas que nada de los NPC, en si el modelo de Robocop y sus movimientos están muy bien hechos, como que la mayor parte del presupuesto fue para ese lado.
Ahora los personajes no jugables se repiten y no rozan el uncanny valley, viven dentro prácticamente, además que las animaciones parecen sacadas de un juego de PS3.

Aun asi destaca este juego porque se nota que las personas que lo hicieron quieren a la saga tanto como nosotros los fans. El guion de Rogue City me parece objetivamente mejor que el de Robocop 3 como continuación de lo que era la historia de Murphy, lo cual me apena saber por obvias razones que todo el avance del protagonista y los personajes que vimos a la hora de la tercera película en la cronología se van a olvidar por completo y no va tener relevancia.

En si Rogue City es un juego buenisimo si somos fanáticos de Robocop y nos quedamos con ganas más de las películas, como FPS es decente, pero si uno entra sin nada de conocimiento de Robocop es un juego muy mid, es más que nada fan-service puro, pero uno bienvenido para una saga que en el mundo de los videojuegos no tuvo muchos aciertos.

“Go ahead and do it. Dead or alive, you’re coming with me.” — Murphy

Back in 2022, I played Dr Robotniks Mean Bean Machine. I knew it was Puyo Puyo with Sonic characters, but I wanted to give it a try since I was playing a lot of Sonic games around that time. Turns out I sucked at it! Only got to like stage 6 before I gave up, and even then I'm surprised I got that far lol.

Kirby's Avalanche is Puyo Puyo again, only Kirby themed. This time around I only got to stage 3 before I quit(if were not counting the starter stages which I did complete). Idk man, my brain just melts sometimes whenever I'm playing. I'm way more of a Tetris guy than a Puyo Puyo guy, but those early stages were somewhat fun I'd say.

Besides me liking Kirby more than Sonic, something I definitely thought put this over Mean Bean Machije was the dialogue before each stage. Goddamn, Kirby is savage in this one. Maybe feels a little out of character, especially for how he is nowadays but it was very entertaining. Had to look up all the scenes cuz I knew I didn't want to miss them. If anything, its worth it to see them alone cuz they're hilarious.

Considering how short this game is too, the length of the OST is super short as well but the couple stage themes being remixes of Kirby's Adventure songs was nice.

Yeah, as you can see, I don't have much to say about this one. It's Puyo Puyo but Kirby themed like I said and I got filtered by Puyo Puyo yet again 😢. Guess that series just isn't for me haha. Kinda stinks this is another Kirby game I ended up not beating but it will probably be the last (unless one of the future spinoffs filter me as well). Either way, next Kirby game is Dreamland 2 so I'm happy to finally get to another mainline again.

I honestly forget where I got this game, but I remember it was one of the first SNES games I ever played. The first was Super Mario World and I absolutely adored it. Because of that game, I got really into retro Nintendo games and some time after, I bought Yoshi's Island. Part of me thinks I bought this at my local flea market because it always reminded me of going there on the weekends. Yoshi's Island in general, is a big weekend game. I remember just playing it on my days off from school, and because of that it always gave off that vibe. Either way, I played through the game and loved it. I think since then, I only 100%ed it one other time or maybe not at all. So this was only, potentially, my 2nd time fully beating this game. I'm glad I did because just like Super Mario World, it's absolutely wonderful.

The most striking aspect of the game that you'll notice right away, is just how visually appealing it is. Its crayon-like artstyle is super pleasing to the eyes, and it also makes the most of the console and the newly created FX chip at the time. The FX chip was an add on to carts created by Argonaut Games (my beloved Croc developer). Basically, created to enhance the graphics of certain SNES games, and Yoshi's Island was one of the few games to use it. The FX chip, along with the wonderful artstyle, just gives the game this timeless look. Best looking game on the SNES imo, with Kirby's Dreamland 3 right behind it.

The gameplay itself is much more complicated than Mario World. In Yoshi's Island, you can run and jump and all that, but you can also create/throw eggs. Eating an enemy, and pressing down on the d-pad, let's you create eggs. These can be tossed at enemies and items and greatly enhances the regular Mario gameplay. You can have the eggs bounce off walls and based on the angle you threw it at, collect items you wouldn't have otherwise been able to get. You can have eggs skip across water. You can have eggs reflect against or be obtained by certain enemies and then thrown/hit back at you to get collectables. The egg mechanic gets utilized super well. This along with the varied level design makes the game a blast. Cuz yeah, the level design is super good in this game and is always throwing new things at you. Whether its the fuzzy enemies that make the screen all trippy, to the ski slopes in world 5, to the temporary platforms that disappear if you jump on them too much. And that's not even getting into the Yoshi transformations which are all fun too. Never was I bored with any level. Frustrated though? Maybe a little.

This is a good segway into the other half of the gameplay I wanted to talk about, the 100% requirements. See, unlike Super Mario World, you don't just have to beat each and every level and get all secret exits. You have to get a score of 100 in each level. There are three collectables that contribute to a score. Red coins, flowers and Yoshi's health. You must get all 20 red coins, all 5 flowers and have 30 health by the end of a level to get a score of 100. Then you do this in each world, 6 times for the normal levels and two times for each boss level. Then you unlock a bonus game and a bonus level. So why is this frustrating to do? Well, first it depends on the level. The early levels aren't too bad but some of the later levels are quite hard. The red coins appear as normal coins (tho there is a redness to them that is quite visible) so these can be tricky to find. The flowers are very obvious, you just have to be sure to find them. They hide both of these kind of collectables in some devious places sometimes. Usually it's not too bad but rarely, even now after having played the game before, I had to look them up because they're obtuse. This is all fine and dandy but the real hard collectable is the health. It all depends on how easy the stage is and how often they give you health in the stage, but sometimes it can be super difficult to have 30 star points (that's what the game calls the health) by the end of the game. Especially in that last world, hoo boy did I have to use an star point item in almost every one of those levels.

That's another thing the game has, you can get items (and live) from minigames at the end of stages. When you jump through the goal, and the ring stops on one of the flowers you collected in the stage, you can play a minigame. Like I said, it can give you lives but more importantly items. Some of these items suck but 2 of them give you +10 and +20 star points respectively. Seeing as, as long as you're alive, your star count always goes back up to 10. You can get hit as much as you want, get to the end of a stage, and pop a +20 and have full star points before ending a stage. Getting these items can be quite hard depending on the minigame, but the match cards game makes it super easy to grind these items out. You can replay this minigame as much as you want with the world 4 bonus game, so as long as you can 100% that world, going back to 100% every other level will be that much easier if you suck. Overall, I think the collectables are fun to collect and 100%ing the game isn't that bad because of the item system. The game can just be somewhat devious with its hidden collectables and its difficulty near the end game (that world 5 bonus level can suck it) which is why I found it a bit frustrating at points and not as replayable as Mario World. However, once I remembered you could at least cheese the star points in the endgame, this issue lessened a bit.

Something else I really liked were the bosses. Honestly, they're not all winners but they're probably better than any 2D Mario game. They all take full advantage of Yoshi's move set and egg mechanics and are also a treat to the eyes since they're usually so flashy looking too. I can really commemorate how creative they got with them. Like one of them has you getting eating by a frog and throwing giant eggs at the frog from within its stomach. There's a boss where you must use the egg water bounce mechanic to defeat it (or you can defeat it by killing it before the fight even begins, and Kamek has his own unique dialogue for doing so, so it's not even an exploit...it's a cheeseable method the developers put in which is hilarious). Just unique bosses all around. Baby Bowser at the end is one of the best final bosses in the series too I'd say. It takes a little getting used to with the whole change in perspective but its badass nonetheless. Also, the ending after that is so very heartfelt and feels good every time, I love it.

One other thing I wanted to mention was the game's OST. It's incredibly hard to dislike it, it's so happy and upbeat a lot of the time. The entire soundtrack is awesome but my two favorite songs are the Athletic Theme and the Underground Theme. They're my most listened to songs in the entire ost, and the underground theme especially is my absolute favorite in the game. That one always spoke to me and it out of any song in the game, gave me that whole weekend feeling I talked about earlier. I really don't know why, but I love it.

I originally had this game at a 9, and even despite my small criticism of the collectables, I can't help but bump this to a 10. I'd say I love Super Mario World slightly more but this is one of my favorite games ever and my 2nd favorite SNES game now. It's amazing, it's fantastic, it's wonderful. Go play it.