It's been a very long time since I've run through Super Metroid. I don't hold it up on the same pedestal as many others do at all, it's always been just alright to me.

I didn't even have a particular want or need to replay until completely out of the blue a couple of days ago after I had just started my Elden Ring DLC playthrough. I got literally minutes in at the three path cross site of grace when I just sat there, both in game and at my desk for a good half an hour and thought, nah it's not time for me right now. For some context, I couldn't afford Shadow of the Erdtree right away so I had to wait, in that time I got heavily spoiled on major bosses and plot points due to the colossal popularity of ER. As much as I tried to avoid it I couldn't so it really just put me off.

Anyway, sat at that bonfire I was suddenly struck by lightning and without pause booted up Super Metroid on NSO and played for a couple of hours each day until done, no 100% or anything, just a very brisk and casual run in which the isolated nature of SM coincided with my mood at the time. Enjoyed a lot on revisit, still don't think it is on a masterpiece level like many would suggest, I vastly prefer Metroid Fusion.

Norfair can suck me off, and morph ball controls still annoy me to this day. Good time.

Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate is truly a content machine amongst the franchise in every aspect of its design.

It's peak, no doubt about it. That being said, this playthrough was my overall fifth time playing through Generations as a whole since it's 3DS outing and whilst the bones are all there, Generations/GU is absolutely designed more as an arcade game experience imo.

If you are the type of Monster Hunter fan that just wants to hunt monsters and quest clear, GU is the de facto go to game for you, but if you are anything like me then you need a MH to be a more deliberate in it's presentation, gameplay loop aside.

The biggest shame about this game is that it is really the only easily accesible classic MH title in the modern day. I'd likely be nowhere near as hard on it if I personally had the means to play 3U or 4U in all their glory with modern day convenience. I'd likely never play GU again if that were the case.

All that being said, it's still a remarkable entry into the series and also probably the most broken in terms what the players can access with Arts and Styles. But for me, I'll always crave something a little more intimate from MH and after five playthroughs I'm quite happy to put a pin in this game as a whole.

Like with Yellow Legacy, Crystal Legacy is not a drastic departure from the original was. A lot of great changes but on a very minimal level which helps retain the identity of Pokemon Crystal, and that's great.

I did really enjoy the new stuff added to the Team Rocket storyline however, thought it was cool.

I used a Bellossom for the first time ever. It was so underwhelmingly poo, but still much better than Meganium, who in turn got boxed at level 33 for the former lol.

Enjoyed a great deal, would recommend for anyone that has a Gen 2 itch.