I'm not sure how common this feeling was but I was a little disappointed when RE8 was shown off and they didn't use the gameplay style they established in RE2make and went back to RE7. Don't get me wrong, I definitely didn't dislike 7 but it's not exactly a type of game I really feel much value in doing multiple playthroughs thanks to it's emphasis on cinematic moments. I was also, kind of concerned how that would combine with the more action focus now that it's trying to be more like RE4 than RE1.
How was that like actually playing though? In some ways it works out better than I expected and in some ways exactly like I thought. Similar to RE7, it kind of takes a minute to actually feel like your proper in the game. Luckily, a lot of it is proper cutscenes and not just walking around so you can skip most of it on repeat playthroughs so that's a huge plus. Unfortunately there are a lot of little scripted moments, chase moments that I don't really find all that interesting. The moment right after you meet the four lords was really dumb. I feel like they were meaning for it to be a tense moment but a lot of it you could just casually walk through and be completely fine. I know people like to talk about how Lady D should've been in the game more but she wasn't offering a lot as a chase monster since she wasn't exactly threatening from a gameplay or story perspective. That being said, the fish chase segment was even worse in this regard. I can't even tell you if he can even kill you during that section since he didn't even hit me. I wasn't exactly being super careful either. The dollhouse section was pretty effective though. I can't see it being that way on a second playthrough now that I know when the scary chase moments happens. Either way its also thankfully short at least.
The factory was easily the best part of the game for me. It balanced out action, exploration, and some light puzzle solving as well as some minor chase moments. I kind of think my opinion of this game would've been higher if most of the game was paced more like that section. Most of the boss fights were pretty great too. The final boss in particular was a stand out moment. I do however find the 4 weapon slots were straining towards the end. I get the limitation on some level for console players but since I was playing on PC, I just couldn't help but look over at all the unused numbers on my keyboard. This was already something I thought about in 2 and 3 remake but Village has so many weapons that I usually just found it easier to play it like RE4 and just menu when I needed to switch.
As for the story, I think Ethan and the main villains motivations were pretty good. I do kind of feel like it's getting away from what works in an RE game since it feels way more magical than science fiction. It does seem like the set up for 9 will lean back towards sci-fi though. I also find some of the lore implications for the whole series a bit questionable. Also, they did my boy Chris pretty dirty with the opening and the information he held back for no good reason. Please Capcom, let Chris retire. He doesn't deserve this.

I'll start by saying I played the currently in progress mod, Legacy of Solaris, this go around. If you're asking my out of the box score for Sonic 06 then 3/10 for the 360 version and 2/10 for the PS3 version.
As for the mod itself, it's pretty nice playing of version of 06 that runs at a solid 60 fps with nice and fast load times. I did get some frequent graphical errors where effects would break and lighting would flicker. Usually I could just restart the stage and that would solve it. This could be caused by something on my end but usually but either way not completely ideal. I don't think it's ever going to fix the game to where it's going to win over non-Adventure era fans but I do think this is worth a spin if you ever wanted.
As for the game itself. I think the main reason I keep coming back to this game is how fun Silver is to play. I honestly think you could make an entire platformer just based around his play style. It's a little bit very on the broken side but it's fun broken where there's a meta game in trying to see what you can get away. Kind of like Sonic's spin dash was in Sonic Adventure 1. Speaking of Sonic, his playstyle is pretty fun. Not a fan of it continuing SA2's legacy of nerfing spin dash to the point it's really easy to forget it's even in his move set. The high speed segments have been fixed up in this mod to where it doesn't completely suck but I'd be lying if I said I thought they were fun though. Unfortunately, Shadow is still the least fun campaign. I like the idea behind his homing attack leading into this dragon ball esque beatdown rush. Unfortunately my problem with it is when you finish the beatdown your air momentum goes into a standstill and if you don't have another target to move to you can basically chose between falling where you are or homing attack and rocketing uncontrollably in a direction, which is not great in a platformer. I also feel like his homing attack has either less range or trouble locking on to targets because I had way more trouble than Sonic when it came to reliably hitting the targets I mean to. I feel like these are things the modders could possibly fix but I can't speak for them. Unfortunately, Shadow's campaign the one where you can most feel the rushed/troubled development baked into to the level design. I was floored by the checkpoint placement in a couple of levels. Also, of all the things to bring over from Shadow's solo game, the vehicles are the last thing I wanted. I personally feel like even if they handled amazing, they'd still be the most boring part of the game. Certain levels they're placed like a weapon pick up (all the vehilcles have rockets attached) and makes me feel like at one point they were just going to give him guns like in Shadow the Hedgehog. If that could be added in, I'd be so happy. I feel like that'd be very difficult though, so I'm not expecting miracles in that department.
While were on the subject of things that can't be fixed in the game, the story is just so damn. First the time travel just makes things so convoluted and ultimately by the end, it makes the events of the game not matter. Also, not to beat a dead horse but Elise is a terrible damsel character. I generally do not have a problem with Sonic being a static character in the games but his interactions with Elise really brings that to the forefront and they collectively feel so baron of characterization. Sonic unfortunately has the worst campaign from a story perspective. I also, just think a lot of the boss fights aren't fun. Lots of just waiting around for the attack phase. This is honestly not a unique problem to Sonic 06 as a lot of bosses from this Sonic era were like this.
I'm just gonna real quick run through some of the things I wasn't sure how to naturally integrate into this review. Soleana isn't nearly as good as Station Square but I still thinks its a nice hub world to exist in. This is the main reason I chose to play this over Project 06. The mod made some changes to the side characters. Tails has the tailswipe from SA1 (originally developed for Project 06.) on top of his bomb move. Hopefully Rouge can get some kicks on top of her bombs at some point. The biggest change was definitely Amy. I actually played 2 versions of the mod, one from Github and another made for the annual Sonic Hacking Contest. Both removed that weird invisbility move that was never mentioned in the plot and was completely useless. The github one was an okay-ish improvement where she had a triple jump to make up for the extra jump cutting off her air momentum (similar to the problem I mentioned with Shadow) and the other pretty much made her a Sonic clone. Ideally, they could make Amy play more like she did in SA1 but that's just my preference. I'll take a Sonic clone though. You can also run through optional campaigns for the 6 extra characters that pop up through the 3 main campaigns. They won't exactly knock your socks off but it's a nice addition if there's any of the characters you wanted to play more of.
Also, Sonic 06 has my favorite OST next to Sonic R. Both sides of Flame Core are masterpieces.

Omega Factor straight up reeks of a limited budget with it's enemy variety in stages and there's quite a few instances of slow down whenever there's too many enemies on the screen. Those problems fade away though when I'm playing it since there's so much love for Tezuka's work, that even with my limited exposure to his manga/anime, I can't help but feel it.
They had such an excellent idea tying the progression of Astro Boys powers to meeting and connecting with characters not only from Astro Boy but from various other of Tezuka's works. I never actually watched much Astro Boy but I was shocked when I saw Tima from a movie I'd seen a handful of times, Metropolis.
As for the gameplay, it's nothing that's going to blow you away but it's really fun, solid, and bite sized action. The stand out segments are the boss fights against other robots. I highly recommend it if you're into side scrollers.

The specific entry of Pump it Up I played as a kid was the Perfect Collection. If that one gets added to Backlogged, I'll move this review over there.
I don't know what possessed the owners of the arcade at my local mall to get this dance game over the more popular DDR but I'm so grateful. I spent most of my weekends playing this game non-stop in my early teens.
I'm not even going to hid my bias here. I always felt the diagonal arrows felt more natural foot placement wise then the traditional up down left right of DDR. I also just vastly prefer this soundtracks more K-pop and hip hop focus over DDR's eurobeats.
You just had to be there, man.

So I actually bought this game around when it released a year+ ago but only beat it recently just on a "I'm so close to the end" whim rather then any proper motivation. I was enjoying it about as much as the 1st game but lost a lot of steam as I got to the 2nd to last dungeon and quietly shelved it.
I'll start by saying I didn't really care for the exploration minigame they have you do in every dungeon. I like the spirit behind it. It's meant to make you feel like your an archeologist investigating a lost ruin but in practice it just padded an already somewhat bloated runtime with going back through a dungeon you just got done going through for clues to solve the same lame puzzle minigame you do 5 times per dungeon. If this doesn't get drastically improved in the sequel, I think they're better off just removing it.
The active time combat of the 1st game was fun if a little on the shallow side. I still wouldn't call the combat in Ryza 2 all that deep compared to a lot of other JRPGs but I'd say it for the most part enhances what worked in the original. The way you can combo and choose skills feels very emergent and actively action-y for a lack of a better word. I do have a minor complaint about blocking. You can switch between the characters in your active party, and the other 2 just kind of auto combo-ing as you make decisions. If the enemy decides to attack your character, blocking is as simple as reacting and hitting the block button. If an enemy is attacking another of the active members, you have to manually switch over to that other character and hope you can react in time to block, otherwise you just wasted the action of the character you were actually wanted to use for attacking who is now using that turn for a simple auto combo. As is I usually ended up letting the other party members take the hits which kind of makes blocking feel half useless. I did enjoy the ability to choose a 4th character who can tag in to increase your combo momentum.
That being said, I ended up using the 4 characters from the original game once they were available since there wasn't much incentive to use the other characters and I just really didn't care much for newbies. Patricia and Clifford were fine but they didn't really move me towards wanting to waste time making gear for them. I did however straight up not understand what they were going for with Serri's character. I feel like she could've been left out of the plot and very little about the game would've changed.
The story is where the game most loses me. For the record, I don't think the plot of the 1st game was exactly a shining example of writing in video games but it got the job done just fine. Ryza 2 unfortunately really hinges on your investment of Ryza's new pokemon like animal sidekick, Fi. If you're like me, and find the thing just making most of the scenes he's in annoying then be prepared to feel literally nothing as the whole story revolves around the flying rat. The characters' story arcs are mostly non-existant. The only character who I really felt like they had a proper interesting life changing arc was Lent. Patricia's was fine too, I guess. The rest of the cast, you mostly only get interest through, "Oh, here's what they're up to now that they're a little older" which is unfortunately only fleetingly engaging.
Ryza mostly just feels like a product that suffers from being the intended middle entry. You don't get the interest from characters starting their journeys, nor do you get anything conclusive out of them either. What I'm saying is this game feels like an anime filler arc. Not the worst gaming experience by any means but one I have a tough time particularly caring about either. Hopefully, Ryza is able to end the series strong.

While I think this game's visuals and soundtrack remain untouched by most other 2D platformers let alone another Castlevania game, I think a lot about the gameplay just doesn't age all that well.
The game's difficulty feels pretty decent for maybe half of the pre-upside down castle. At a certain point though, Alucard just becomes too powerful and there really isn't anything that can really challenge him without actively restricting yourself to make the experience more challenging. I can cut it a bit of slack since heavy exploration based games with levels were somewhat new ground and this not being what Konami considered the main Castlevania project at the time but it's still a for sure issue going back. I also cannot comprehend how anyone on staff thought equipping a healing item over a weapon slot to use it makes any sense. Also this may just be my personal taste, but I've never been huge on the Iga-vania "do a semi-esoteric thing in the fake final boss to unlock the last third of the game" thing.
I still think this great game full of fun experiences well worth doing at least one playthrough in your life. Just not my favorite Castlevania game.

Going straight from RE3make to RE2make was a little jarring since it took me several hours to get over not being able to dodge roll my way out of most conflicts.
Anyways, for this playthrough I did Leon B. My 1st "2nd run" in the remake. I was a little concerned there would be no differences since they already blew there load with Mr. X in the A playthrough, but there was a few surprises and small differences this go through. I liked the stronger caliber of handgun. You'd think it'd just mean your starting stronger but having to decide if making the old handgun bullets are even worth making (they usually aren't) or to save them in case powder for shotgun shells shows up added some extra complexity to my planning. I do miss the deciding what to take and what to leave for B campaign in the A campaign.
I'll also say that after coming back to RE2make after RE3make made me appreciate the Mr. X chase segments a bit more since they didn't feel quite as scripted as most of the Nemesis ones often felt. I'm still not huge on how much he seems to just teleport to where you are, interrupts puzzle solving, and it always just feels silly when he stops because you went in a save room. IDK maybe this is just always going to be the double edged sword of special enemies that chase you.
Also, fuck the crane fight.

This game was my 1st "classicvania" experience. On my 1st playthrough I did it using the English version of the game on 3DS virtual console. I probably sunk 35-45 hours of trial and error learning the game.
I've since gone back and played through the Japanese version of the game and would recommend sticking exclusively to that version. Not only is the audio quality way better due to the better sound chip but the difficulty is more fairly balanced.
I really enjoy the branching levels and different recruitable characters to offer changes for repeat playthroughs. Other than that it's more of what Castlevania 1 great.
I can definitely see some argument for the 1st game being the superior NES "classicvania" since the experience is much tighter in progression and challenge but for me I just slightly prefer the extra gameplay options the companions provide in 3.

I honestly didn't beat the original port of this game until around a year before the HD Remaster came out so believe me when I say, my feelings on this game have nothing to do with nostalgia.
On my 1st playthrough I somewhat agreed with that popular sentiment that this game doesn't have much story. After this playthrough I thoroughly disagree with that after my 2nd run. There aren't the sheer amount of cutscenes and dialogue you'd typically associate with the RPG genre but every cutscene is extremely thought provoking and memorable. It has that "art house" movie quality where there always feels like there's more to dissect with every experience.
I think there's just something about atmosphere that brings me back and will continue to draw me in. Not only is this some of the best music in franchise, the otherworldly look of a majority of the dungeons is just so hauntingly beautiful.
As for the gameplay, this is the first MegaTen game with the press turn and for the roughness present here, they got so much right out of the gate. If I had to pick a part that doesn't age well though, it's the way fusion works. For most of the demons, it's either so rng based or cryptic on how to get them, I have no idea how you'd even get them without looking up a guide. On a casual playthrough this won't be a big issue since you'll still be able to get demons with good skill loadouts but it can be frustrating if you want a certain demon and the steps are an absolute grindfest.
I'll go ahead and bring up the performance issues present in the Remaster. I played on Switch which is apparently the version with the most of these issues present. Pretty much every battle there was slow down as the enemies loaded in. The screen would also constantly go black for a frame when turning the camera right after talking to an NPC in a dungeon. They were annoying but not deal breakers for me. Plus, I think the new translation flows way better than the original. The worst part of this remaster for me is the music sounds like it's going through a storm drain. I'll give Atlus the benifit of the doubt and maybe they lost the master tracks but I've definitely heard better quality versions of the tracks on Youtube so even and that case it's not cutting it.
Whichever version, this is my favorite game.

I can definitely see why SH2 is getting hated on. The game feels incredibly rushed especially in terms of pacing and story. I didn't even realize I was on the final level when I got there. Like when I complain about story stuff in Atlus's other latest outings, P5 and SMT5, I can at least say they did a good job of having themes and carrying out on those themes. Literally every theme and story concept in SH2 gets brought up and then never actually expanded on. A huge shame because some of the concepts like the societal stagnation could have been something really thought provoking that stuck with you.
I know everyone goes on and on about the dungeons but besides of some frustration in the later Soul Matrix I thought it was fine if fairly uninspired. I will say I do quite like the battle system. It felt like they took what worked in Strange Journey's battle system and made a massive improvement. Building up the sabbath stack was a lot of fun. I will echo a common criticism that not seeing your demons very much in the fight was a huge mistake. Or at least if that was something you were deadset on not doing, maybe the weapons could've changed depending on who's equipped to who with some varied attack animations... like literally anything. I also, don't know why some things didn't carry over from SMT5 like the physical elemental skills which would've opened up way more builds for the Sabbath system. As is, it doesn't kinda make you value magic way more than physical. I also think the system could've punished you more for hitting enemies with the wrong element.
Atlus has also been progressively worse and worse with DLC. I personally find it easy to ignore the demons and costumes and just pretend they aren't in the game. I unfortunately can't ignore the Lost Numbers dlc though. If you don't get this DLC then you're looking at an incredibly short game for a modern RPG and I don't just mean in terms of hours. Without Lost Numbers you're party only really needs to get into early level 60s at most to beat the game meaning there's a lot of demons in the game you're just never going to need to use. If you're wanting to get the most out of this games content then that DLC is basically a requirement.
Outside of the combat, I did like the core 4 characters. I wouldn't say my enjoyment of those 4 being all that much beyond surface level though. Figue is just the worst though for spoiler reasons. I can't blame anyone for disliking this game but I still found fun in it.

It's always nice to see a game come out a decade plus after the last entry and it not only feels like it didn't miss a beat since then but improves on almost every gameplay decision the previous entries made.
I know a lot people dislike how linear this is compared to entry like Super Metroid but as someone who's both direction illiterate and easily frustrated by not knowing where to go, that's only a plus. My only real complaints with the game are the lackluster soundtrack and some of the QTE boss battle moments being a little unclear when I'm supposed to be shooting while Samus does her cinematic swag on them.