Honestly? A smidge overrated.

Super Star Ultra is a solid remake of a good game. My favourite thing about Ultra is that it feels very "DS-core", despite not even originating as a DS game. The anthology approach just works so much more naturally on a handheld than on a home console, and the bottom screen adds some quality of life improvements that improve the experience. The game also looks a bit better too, and I enjoyed the CG cutscenes. The sound is worse, but that's minor. I'd still stick with the original if I wanted to play multiplayer, but if I ever want to play Super Star in single-player in the future I'll definitely play this version. It's just a straight upgrade.

However, Ultra still keeps the flaws of the original game and in some ways worsens them. My biggest issue is the helpers. Helpers are a cool idea, but they absolutely trivialize the entire game's difficulty, in addition to just being annoying due to spawning in every time you try to discard an ability. Since Kirby games usually give you many different ways to play the game, I find it baffling that they didn't add an option to turn off the helpers. I think that single feature would've made the game SIGNIFICANTLY better.

I am also annoyed by this game's reliance on recycled content. I already disliked this in Super Star, as Milky Way Wishes and the Arena were already mostly recycled content from the game's other modes, but every single one of Ultra's new modes just exacerbates this. Revenge of the King is the only new mode that has any new level design, but is essentially just a harder Spring Breeze. Helper to Hero and the True Arena are just more Arenas. And... Meta Knightmare... what a horrible mode. I think the concept of Meta Knightmare's gameplay loop is interesting, but playing through every previous mode in the game as Meta Knight is not it. It's just lazy padding using nothing more than recycled content. It's even more annoying since that means we're playing through Great Cave Offensive, Revenge of Meta Knight, and Milky Way Wishes all over again but this time without the gimmicks that made them unique. Just a thoroughly boring mode through and through. I really don't think Ultra is as much of an improvement over Super Star as most people seem to think, because the new modes just aren't that good or interesting.

Gotta say though, Masked Dedede and Galacta Knight are fantastic. Gotta give Ultra credit for that.

I don't think MK7 deserves its reputation of being a "yeah, that happened" game in the series. I feel that MK8 owes most of its identity to this game. The controls in 8 are extremely similar to 7's, making it really easy to jump from one game to the other. Gliders and underwater driving are huge additions to the series that allow tracks to have more memorable and varied layouts; 1 lap tracks are also a great concept for the same reason. Kart customization is another great addition that I feel people take for granted. MK7 is an incredibly important game to the series, and is very fun to boot, as much as people seem to think that it's just whatever.

I actually think this is the best handheld Mario Kart game. DS easily has this game beat in terms of single-player content and... having a VS mode (I can't believe 7 excluded it), but 7 has a much better track lineup, both new and retro, and unlike DS, the controls are not horrendous. Sorry DS lol

Also, Honey Queen

Played on Switch Pro Controller because for some reason the keyboard control scheme is total crap. Celeste 64 is a decent translation of Celeste's gameplay into a 3D space with a surprising amount of exploration and discovery in such a small platforming playground. Despite the 64 in the name, the game is actually designed more similarly to a Mario Odyssey kingdom... with some Mario Sunshine PTSD cassette levels thrown in.

I can't tell whether the devs of this game thoroughly misunderstood what makes 3D platformers fun, or thoroughly understood what makes some 3D platformers shit. That might actually be a compliment? I hated playing it and for that reason I had a great time playing it. Unlike Celeste, not a single death in Celeste 64 will be your fault. It'll all be because of that pesky camera. Or the depth perception. But in some sick twisted way, that is also kind of its appeal? I think it's stockholm syndrome please save me from this polygonal hell