As said by many, this is a game riddled with flaws but equally filled to the brim with heart. And (for me) if your game has a lot of charm and is mostly playable, I am willing to overlook the flaws.

Here were my 3 major issues:
1. The game is a bit on the buggy side. I came across many glitches and a lot of slow down. The hit detection is a bit wonk, with attacks either missing when it looked like it should hit and vice versa.

2. Because the game takes on a computery/digital aesthetic, there's a lot of flashing colors. I got a headache when I first played and there were many times when I had to take a step away just to rest my eyes.

3. Game concepts were half baked. Some level designs felt like randomness to the point where it was either boring or infuriating.

But in spite of these 3 issues, the soul and passion behind the game saves it.

1. The presentation... MY GOD! It's fun, exciting and so cool. Ken Sugimori's art and character designs are so awesome, unique and always a treat to see it outside of Pokemon. The sprite art and backgrounds were varied and the game has a lot of cool ways of portraying ideas, mostly in boss fights. For example, in one fight you play as Pulseman from an over the shoulder view of the main villain, looking like you are behind the villain watching him try to defeat Pulseman.

2. A lot of potential behind the game concepts. Volteccer in particular is a really great idea. Its a move that turns your into a ball of electricity and launches you diagonally. It has a short travel distance but if you hit a wall or surface, you bounce off of it and extend the distance of the move. This has a lot of versatility for movement, attacking and can serve as somewhat of a comeback move for if you miss a jump or fall down a death pit. I would really love to see this idea explored more.

Pulseman's existence represents something a bit tragic to me; that being GameFreak and it's notable figures like Tajiri, Sugimori and Masuda were a group full of ambitions and ideas, but we only ever knew them for Pokemon. So many times has the company tried to do other games but none of them ever became anything more than just attempts. I genuinely love Pokemon, but it's clear that it's shadow has grown too large for the company to escape. I hope they continue to try new things because Pulseman is a clear example that the brilliant minds at GameFreak have untapped potential.

There is something so special about Dragon Quest aside from it being the origin of JRPGs. I've played so many inventive, unique, creative and strange JRPGs before I played Dragon Quest, yet this game managed to capture my heart. It accomplished this by being so incredibly simple, and while that is a really cliche thing to say about the game, I think there's so much more merit to the "simple" description than meets the eye. That is to say, by being so simple, the game takes advantage of what I consider the most important thing to any RPG, imagination.

From the days of Dungeons & Dragons, imagination played a key role in making an RPG fun. And when the genre made their jump to computers and consoles, this remained true for some of the earliest iterations. Games like Wizardry, Ultima and Akalabeth had such rudimentary graphics and stories that it left room for the player to fill in the blanks and make these worlds feel alive. And sometimes, the player's imagination can do some real heavy lifting.

I can attest. I was the kind of kid that grew up as a fan of Earthbound and would strike poses, holding my hands out at the TV screen acting like I was Ness casting PK Rockin at the opponent. This was in 2008, when console graphics were progressively getting better and better. While the visual fidelity of the PS3 and Xbox 360 were capable of telling stories with amazing graphics, for some reason I always preferred that dusty, old obscure SNES game before anything else simply because my imagination, with the game being the foundation, took me on an adventure I still hold onto so dearly as a core memory.

I had played Dragon Quest around that time as well, but I was so Earthbound-crazy that it didn't really capture my attention for too long. I decided to return to the game with a fresh mind recently. Going into it, I was no longer that kid excited for Earthbound. I was an adult, who had gone through so many things. I didn't become cynical or anything, I just wasn't so easily excitable about games like back then.

Yet, when I played Dragon Quest, something happened. The game had various moments that activated my imagination and began to reel me in. The first one happens the moment you leave the first town. When you set foot into the overworld you are able see the final area of the game. It's far out of your reach but well in sight. That suddenly made the world feel big to me. I was some shlump with basic equipment, struggling to fight slimes, but with the final castle in my view, I knew a greater potential for me was possible. It was just a matter of how to achieve it; maybe I could grind enemies, chart out the world, get better equipment, go into a cave that was beyond my level but get a lucky critical hit to conquer it. These all are simple things in RPGs now but in DQ, it made the world feel open and it all started with the game dropping you into the world, showing you your final objective and just let's you go from there.

The second moment was as I was exploring the overworld, I came across a town that was completely destroyed. There was no inhabitants left to explain anything, hardly anything to interact with. Yet because there was very little information, I was left wondering "What happened here? Why is this town the only one destroyed?" It's such a simple thing, with an obvious explanation but I think the reason it caught me by surprise was because the game gets you in a loop of exploring, conquering a challenge and then resting in a new town for bit, repeat. This destroyed town was probably a choice to break up the pace. But it goes a long way to suddenly making you feel uncomfortable, in danger and curious.

The final moment was when you defeat the Green Dragon to save the princess. She asks if you can take her back to her castle and you agree. I was expecting her sprite to follow you, or something simple but no. The game displays an entirely new set of sprites of you carrying the princess. THIS IS THE MOST CLICHE FANTASY RPG TROPE EVER! And yet when I saw that they made this moment, they went through the trouble of making a whole new sprite set for this scene, it gave me this feeling of "Hell yeah! I SAVED THE PRINCESS."

Writing all of this out makes me sound like a bit of a man-child getting hyped about such a silly generic RPG such as Dragon Quest, but you know what, having that kind of imagination and excitement for a game is fun. Having that kind of excitement tells me that there's still so much more to life. That even in the smallest things, something amazing can be found. And I just gotta go out there with an open mind to find it.

Dragon Quest would go on to refine the formula they established here and would consistently up the quality with each new game. Every DQ game is so wonderful and it all began with the very deliberate design choices the developers made here. They clearly wanted the player to feel like they're on an adventure and for someone like me, they passed with flying colors.

This is why, in spite of being a 37 year old game, with so many other games having done the JRPG formula better, Dragon Quest being simple shows why and how RPGs are fun, even in their most pure, fundamental form. And that is why I am going to love this series for the rest of my life.

So I began my quest to play Western RPGs with Daggerfall and I kinda enjoyed it. The game had charm but a boring loop that didn't hold me long. Hearing how much Morrowind was an improvement, I was eager to try it.

I've given it a chance and all of the flaws that were in Daggerfall were in this.

-I hate the combat and the RNG
-I hate talking to characters only to be greeted with walls of dialogue.
-I hate how slow the game is.

I hope later Bethesda games impress me. Until then, Morrowind and Daggerfall just aren't my thing.

The most under-appreciated game in the series and it isn't hard to see why.

PiT is sandwiched between two highly beloved games. Superstar Saga was bound to be a tough act to follow with how fresh and unique it was and the legacy of Bowser's Inside Story is iconic, with memes and references still residing in the internet to this day.

But please do not skip Partners in Time. The reason why this game works for me is that the M&L series always gave off the energy of a Dav Pilkey work, specifically Captain Underpants and Ricky Ricotta. If you aren't familiar with those graphic novels, then here's a brief synopsis of what his works contain.

A big, wacky adventure with concepts that lead to hilarious scenarios. There's a cartoonishly evil villain of the week, all with their own gimmicks and the heroes must thwart those villains to save the day.

I find that Mario and Luigi have always fit this vibe, from the graphical style to the dialogue and even scenarios. They're all silly. And Partners in Time fits just in line with SS and BiS. An alien invasion of weird mushroom people? Time travelling? Teaming up with the baby versions of Mario and Luigi to defeat said aliens? With AlphaDream's beautiful and humorous presentation, how can you not find that fun!?

But something I want to further give credit to Partners in Time for is the game's attempt at a story and it's cartoonish villains of the week. The game goes for a much more darker tone. But the real kicker is the motivations for the villains. Where other M&L villain's motivation for world domination are not explained (and its not necessary for them to be explained) I love how the Shroob's motivation for world conquest is actually explained. They're here to take over the Mushroom Kingdom by circumstances of survival. Not because they are just "Evil." This isn't anything complex, but even just that context alone turns a typical cartoony villain into somewhat of a tragic villain who meets their end to a group of people who are just trying to survive as well. That goes a long way for me.

These are just a few aspects of Partners in Time that I love, but I don't hear discussed enough. It's typically about how the gameplay between controlling 4 characters is tedious and how the mazes are confusing. And you know what, fair enough, it is a game and should be critique as such. I also have my gripes in those departments. But none of those issues were enough to get in the way of all the fun I had. And with so many small, charming moments stacking up in this game, I can't help but look back at it with a unique fondness.

The main complaint towards this game is it's very clunky controls that feels like you're tossing a cinder block around rather than controlling Kirby. And to all the haters out there who say this, you have a good point.

However I can't help myself to be one of the few people who loves this game's slower pace. KDL3 is responsible for shaping my aesthetic sensibilities, I'm a sucker for anything with the crayon look. Since the game is slow, I have the opportunity to take in how gorgeous it looks and that never gets old. Couple that with the music and I find myself returning to this game to get lost in it's world and occasionally gather inspiration for doing art.

Yes the level designs are meh, yes the puzzles are cryptic, yes the gameplay is slow but I could not care less. It isn't even about that for me. I love getting engrossed in the presentation of KDL3, it's a visual and audio pleasure. Getting to explore it's world through a gamepad is just an added bonus.