edit (13/11/23): this review sucks. lol

I don’t understand Pokémon fans. When Sword and Shield released in 2019, it was understandable that Pokémon fans were quite upset. To start off with, the “graphics” at the time were considerably worse and when it was revealed that some Pokémon were not going to even be in the game, the game received heavy backlash from fans and was regarded as one of the most weakest mainline entries.

Then we got Pokémon Legends, which most fans agreed was a major improvement with it’s new formula of catching Pokémon out of the wild. However this also received some backlash as well, with a common theme running that the plot was shallow and the.. gameplay wasn’t fun? Wait, hold on, Game Freak has just changed the entire meta of the game for you and you’re still complaining. The fights were too easy? The graphics were too ugly? The characters are too one dimensional? It’s hard for the common Pokémon fan to find what they enjoy.

And as of now, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet have released (although it leaked a week earlier if you know what I mean). And as of now, although a lot of positive comments, Pokemon fans are still complaining! The frame rate and performance is actually so bad now because you guys bullied poor Masuda into trying to produce good ones on a console that has the same specs as a car battery. The fights are too easy? The characters are too one dimensional? You want the mechanics back from a spin off game, even though some of you DIDNT EVEN LIKE IT????

You can hate this game. If you genuinely just don’t like this game or anything in it you are perfectly fine to criticise whatever you want, we are a website that criticises everything for god’s sake. What I just don’t understand is the Pokémon fans. Why do you guys stick with this series for so long if you do nothing but rag and complain about how bad they all are? Pokemon is a series dedicated to putting out low budget titles that appeal to 10 year olds and adults who can never seem to grow up, of course the fights are too easy and everything looks shit. And maybe if you’re favourite Pokémon didn’t make it into the new game, take it as a sign that maybe it’s time to move on and try new things. Go outside and take a nice walk.

I’m a few hours in, I’m enjoying the game. I like the fruity duck starter and the evil team leader’s a baddie so hey good job Game Freak 4 stars!!!!!

I've never played a JRPG, and will never plan to.

See, I don't know if you know the stigma that surrounds JRPG fans, but I felt like they were horny weebs with superiority complexes who constantly criticize and bash others for playing the same 60-hour JRPG with oversexualized women who are 200 years old but look about 12. And despite the fact that you should never judge a book by its cover, I bet you I avoided anything of the sort for years, out of fear that I would become a snobbish narcisistic prick. However one day I was lurking the Avg. Rating, looking at the game descriptions and comments when one particular title caught my eye. There, sitting at a nice 4.4, was Chrono Trigger.

However, one specific review caught my eye (and I hope they dont mind me quoting them:

"Chrono trigger has simple characters, a pretty simple plot, simple themes, and a simple combat system."

After reading that review I did the next obvious thing and downloaded Chrono Trigger. I loaded up RetroArch, and hit play. And after nearly 23 hours on my savefile, and completing the game and getting The Main Ending, I can sagely say that a JRPG is one of my favourite games of all time. So let's talk about it. Why is Crono Trigger such a great game?

The answer is simple. Literally. The main reason that I probably enjoy this game so much as it's so easy to understand and get into that most people can really like its game, especially with shorter lengths compared to other titles in the genre. The SNES pixel art will always age like wine, and there's a reason why people talk about this soundtrack being the best there ever is in gaming. The plot is very straightforward however flows together and the pacing. Is. AMAZING. The characters arent that complex in retrospect however are very loveable and relatable in their motives and challenges they overcome. The theme in of itself is many that people overlook or dont seem to pick up on, and I find that unfair.

You don't have to accept the world as how it is, and the dreams of your own those around you matter and have the power to change the world.

This theme continues to prove itself as for most of the game you don't even change much. You don't change anything that happens throughout history, and without spoiling you tend to not get the results you wanted. However it is with the perseverance and dreams of those around us that push us to achieve something greater. Despite seeing what the world was before and what it will become, Chrono and our heroes refuse to accept this fate and continue to grow and become stronger as people.

Combat is easy to get a hang on as well. Look, I get why people complain about this game being too easy and how the magic system is sort of bland. But it's so simple that it just clicks with you, and it feels so satisfying finding a weakness or using a Triple move. People dont need these complex systems if the gameplay flows very well. If I ever come around to playing another JRPG I'll probably go back on what I said however I argue nontheless.

There is also so much to do during New Game+. I havent exactly dabbled myself into it yet however if youre into 13+ endings that are all intresting (and like, extremely funny?? Yeah, the game's like very funny and nobody talks about that) then definitely try out the tons and tons of post game content for you to explore.

I hope one day, as I try another JRPG, I enjoy it as much as this one, and unfortunately tranform into a weeaboo goblin before arguing about the golden era and FFVI. But for now, I reminisce about the amazing time that I had with Chrono Trigger, and I hope that sone of you out there who haven't tried this genre yet play this game too. Only this one, and afterwards break every console you know and never game ever again.

the gaming equivalent to a teacher hanging a 2010 white impact text meme on the wall. great, now ive related to the sweaty gamer xD 4chan nerdy femcel girl and have been baited hook line and sinker. and no, I will not buy your redbubble merch and follow your twitter, and subscribe to your patreon for you silly nsfw posts, I would rather look in the mirror and have a Crying Dysphoric Date Night™ thank you very much.

CDDN® is a trademark and protected copyright lawfully owned by Irumae LTD. Any unauthorised use of this material will fall under the Copyright Act and further legal action will be pursued.

In the year of 1991, company Sega created the Sonic the Hedgehog series, to compete with Nintendo's mascot at the time Mario and provide more sales for the Genesis console. The game turned out to be a booming success in places like the US and sparked the Nintendo vs SEGA war. The battle between the blue haired speedster and the Italian plumber carried on for nearly a decade, until the unfortunately SEGA stopped producing consoles and focused on making half baked titled practically holding the hedgehog hostage (but thats for another day). However most Sonic fans reminisce on the golden era of Sonic and the classic titles that made him a worthy opponent in the 90's.

I've always been the Mario man. I grew up with the DS and Wii and although playing a lot of Dreamcast and Genesis games I only touched upon Generations. After finally playing the original titles, I have to say with dissapointment the first game did not age well. Or at least, my perception on the hedgehog as a whole.

I was quite surprised to find out that the Sonic games arent always about going fast. The first game actually takes it quite slow by having lots of enemies and placed structures in the way to make you slam into walls or take more time collecting treasures and rings. This was quite.. shocking to me? One minute ill be going super fast going around cool loops and the other time all my speed will be halted down because I have to do a parlour segment. I'm Marble Zone for example, there's a part where you have to stand on a moving block as it will traverse slowly across a pool of lava. This is just boring? You shouldn't have these constant patterns of halting all my speed and progress across stupid parkour and cramped tiny spaces. People can feel differently here, but Sonic' movement does not compliment this type of gamestyle, as sometimes I feel too slippery and fast for my own good.

Lets talk about, in my opinion, the worst level design of the game. Labyrinth Zone consists of these tight cramped spaces with the exception of small moving platforms in a circuit that Sonic has to stand on and move across. The worst part is easily that 80% of this zone takes place entirely underwater. Sonic moves slower and his jumps are a bit floatier, and he will also drown if he spends too much time in the water. You've probably heard this from many other reviews, but this is not fun to play as well. And if you suck like me you'll constantly be bumping into things meaning you have to sluggishly scram to pick them all up again. I just don't understand that a game that was advertised as this speedup go fast as this cool hedgehog focuses on tight platformery levels, although it is classed as such.

However I did genuinely like some levels such as Star Light Zone and Green Hill. The pixel art and soundtrack will always be ahead of it's time and ages fairly well (seriously all OST in this game is a bop you can't take that away).

The boss fights are ok. Some like the Labrynth one are extrenely frustrating but very rhymetic and simple, which I thinks help. I dont wanna spoil the last boss but I wish it did something different as it was extremely underwhelming.

Theres nothing else to really say about the game. For the time the first Sonic title was great however outdated level design has soured the experience. However, I have heard that later titles (most importantly 3) improves on this so hopefully the game is just suffering from first game syndrome. The race of the two gaming titans continue.

"Sonic the Hedgehog. More action, More speed , Sega Genesis, it's a whole lot more for less."

"It's good to live in the moment and not live in the past."

Nostialgia will often and mostly will blindside our views and opinions on the games that we play. For many, their most positive experiences in gaming would be reminiscing on times when they were younger, and one of my first every memories was me being given this cartridge of New Leaf after being stuck severely ill in hospital. Unlike most my first memories in gaming were the late DS to Wii era, where most families where brought back into gaming with its aged motion controls and outstanding "3D effects."

To say I wasn't completely addicted to my new devices would be an underestimate. Long gone were my chances of being a normal child and instead grew my passion for gaming and the medium surrounding it as a whole. For these games on these consoles, I am extremely thankful.

So what can I say about New Leaf? For Nintendo this was their 4th rodeo with the franchise, after the extreme commercial success of City Folk and Wild World that both outperformed the original by a shot, and the idea of a newer Animal Crossing with elements of both games together is a great idea considering the 3DS' portable way to be played in short/medium play sessions, making it a no brainer to release another one during the early days of the 3DS' life cycle. It is argued that this game made severe changes and improvements that, in future installments, sorta shaped the way that AC was going as a hole. The most known and important change of this game compared to the others was the player's role in the game itself.

I'm case you didn't know, New (leaf, haha) to New Leaf was the mayor role, the way that the Player can control certain parts about town and later on in the game, build new structures and facilities. Although early game is a slog as it requires you to grind until you unlock these features, it added an immense amount of replayability to the game itself as everyone's towns could be decorated an insane amount more. This has kinda been undermined by New Horizons and the ability to place furniture outside (which you can't here which sucked coming back to) but for the time this was huge. It was also Isabelle's first introduction into the series, being your secretary throughout the game, being crazy as she alongside Tom Nook has become one of the game's mascot and became a cultural icon.

Speaking about NPC's, we are introduced to a lot more characters and structures in this game. One thing I have to say bad about this game is that the villager's personalities start to blend together and you notice repeating dialogue throughout the game, which becomes hard to play towns for a long amount of time. Reese and her husband Cyrus are alpacas and run the Re-Tail shop, where you do most of selling and buying other villager's items as well as redecorating your items. This felt like a weird choice as you could've always sold your items at Nook's (although he now runs a different shop where he upgrades and decorates your houses now with ridiculous bills) but it's usually placed within your acres instead of the Main Street. Leif the Sloth runs a plant store and Dr Skunk the axolotl has a Club where music is played and he also teaches you emotions, I guess?

The last two mentioned earlier as well as other shops throughout the series are placed on the Main Street connected North of your town where by a small loading time connects you to all your shops. Some are unlocked with certain requirements and some like Nook's Cranny have upgrades that sell you more items and unique furniture, which really really helps in the long run.

Tortimer's Island is also there, I guess? The mayor from previous titles return as he owns a private island where you can play "Tours" (glorified minigames) for points which can be used to buy items. They're a really fun and nice distraction, but in my experience you're gonna be there most of the time to catch rare bugs and fish and making nice moola.

After around 3 years of release and ~1 year after the mixed release and reception of spin-off Happy Home Designer, the massive update to NL, titled "Welcome Amiibo" was released. Younger me still had no clue how updates worked so when the title screen changed I was ridiculously hyped. The game added mostly entirely new content (learn, New Horizons) and for me this was a peak of my life as I spent countless more hours discovering what the game has to offer. The update itself just added amiibo as well as other QOL, but this was my first time encountering a large scale update and DLC before in my life and changed my views on everything once again.

New Leaf faces issues that all of it's previous entries face before. Gameplay becomes tedious and relative, dialogue and dialogue all other the place. If you don't have a guide a lot of the unlockables are very hard to get as they don't tell you what to do most of the time and expect you to just find out yourself. Every issue you'd find in this game you'll probably find in all Animal Crossings (except breakable tools, a horrible decision in NH).

Some games that we once loved will age with time and sour. But New Leaf for me will forever be in my heart as the game that made me love gaming itself. This title has continued to age like wine and surpass the expectations surrounding it, and I hope it continues being an amazing experience for many years to come. Thank you New Leaf.

Unless if they port the GameCube one then idk shit I guess.