Really difficult, but really satisfying. I loved this game.
It's pretty forgiving with the save points, each stage has multiple checkpoints and it will save your highest health that you had when you reach that checkpoint. And some are right before the boss of that stage.
It uses the hardware to its full advantage with rotating stages, 3D buildings, throws in some shmup stages. It controls beautifully.
Definitely recommend this one. Probably one of the best run and gun games you'll find.
It's short, around 3 hours and 30 minutes on normal (at least for me). Probably shorter on easy. This game is clearly made with replayability in mind as it has a high score system.

One of the many, many, many, MANY brilliant yet abandoned IPs Capcom is sitting on and doing nothing with because it doesn't start with "Street" or "Resident."

This is about the closest thing I can imagine to what a 3D Smash Bros. would be. The fighting revolves around battling your opponent in small 3D arenas packed with items and hazards over control of 3 Power Stones that appear on the stage (among other crazy items like swords, bazookas, bombs, etc.) which cause your character to transform into a special powered up version of themselves upon collection of all 3. Also like smash, all items can be turned off, even the Power Stones, and the fighting itself is robust enough that the game is still fun without them. This IS Capcom after all, they made some of the best fighting and action games of all time.

It's alot more fun with items though, running around the stages and chucking boxes and tables and chairs at your opponent to steal their stones is a blast. A Power Stone 3 sure would be nice.

I've always preferred Wario Land games over Mario platformers. While Mario has used conventionally safe mechanics, Wario games usually have all sorts of weird and experimental things going on for it. I've always fancied how they seemingly go out of their way to outright troll the player and punish heavily for missteps, almost as if there is someone carefully designing parts of the levels to take up as much of the player's time as possible. With the fourth iteration of the series that aspect has somewhat toned down and more weight is put on time trials. Every level has a switch somewhere in them that opens the end portal and starts the clock you need to race to finish while collecting whatever it is left to collect in the level.

Wario's movement remains pretty much the same from the previous games. You still have the charge and jump and the controls are really solid and satisfying. It seems that the developers dropped the powerups almost completely in favour of a larger healthbar. There are still some enemies that give the character status effects that often are required to complete puzzled for progression, but Wario himself has only one standard form to play around with.

Bosses are also more traditional platformer bosses with specific ways of beating them. Bosses and enemies overall aren't very hard by themselves, but most of the game's difficulty comes from navigating the levels, clearing the puzzles and completing the time trials. On normal, these all are pretty generous and a casual platformer player shouldn't have too much trouble.

The game's look and feel is pretty par for the course at this point. The graphics are well polished with well defined backgrounds and foregrounds, animations are all cute (as cute as Wario can be of course) and the music slaps. Each level even has a hidden cd you can collect to get the level's theme in your collection. While the "worlds" themselves usually have some overarching theme, each level takes you into a different place with it's own gimmick and look, so no single location is going to grow stale (outside of those hotel and domino levels of course).

While collecting treasures is in the core of the game, I'm kinda left missing the exploration and finding all sorts of hidden paths and unique artefacts from previous games. It seems that progression was made more straight-forward, so you'll probably spend a little less time with this one. There is some replayability with multiple endings and harder modes, which makes some minor chances, mostly just decreases the time you have to clear everything.

It's more Wario, a little less trolling and a stellar GBA game.

If I could give a game zero stars on this website this would be it. It's hard for me to say that Alex Kidd is "a product of it's time" when it dropped in the mid 80s and there was already more than plenty of decent stuff by then.

Levels are a disorganized mess, Alex controls like he's wearing butter shoes to the point where its actually really fucking hard to have any degree of precision with him, one hit kills with nothing at all to remedy it, ontop of RNG being in blocks and the Janken matches you're faced with throughout the game.

How this game was a success and spawned a franchise is beyond me. It definitely has it's place in SEGA's history but it's no shock to me as to why they dropped Alex after Sonic came into the picture.

Whenever I think of SEGA games, there's a bit of a loop to most of them that makes you want to replay it. Either just getting better for higher ranks, or having a ton of fun. Alex Kidd severely lacks that appeal for me alongside the issues it has as a game that has aged poorly.

Genuinely, not worth your time.

Is it a good game? No, not really. The controls are clunky, the camera even more so. The entire affair is emblematic of the shift to 3D and the effect it would have on quality licensed games, the skillset needed to make them becoming more specialized and the rough edges far more easily seen.

But quality is the word here, because there's clearly effort in play. Though fumbling, the game is certainly creative, packed with references and clever ideas that the execution simply cannot keep pace with. The victory lap at the end, playing as a triumphant Reptar destroying the city with colorful news commentary in the background, is evidence enough that someone working on this genuinely cared.

This was definitely an enjoyable one. Bloodlines is a bit on the easier and shorter than some of the other Castlevanias I have played before, but it's a tight and consistent experience.

Like many probably have said before, this game looks and sounds absolutely beautiful. It really takes everything it can out of the limited hardware to offer a memorable gothic experience, even showing couple clever visual tricks to show that the devs really knew what they were doing. While the level design itself is nothing really to call home about, the bosses managed to keep the pace up with their interesting designs and mechanics.

As a platformer, the game gets a pass from me. The controls feel really limited and stiff at times and while I didn't have to fight the controller itself at any point, it felt like every input needed to be firm and made with two week's notice. In the end, this didn't bother me too much since the game seems to rely more on spacing and careful actions rather than quick last-minute ones.

I can confidently recommend playing it if you're interested in more classic Castlevania games. There are two playable characters that offer some alternative routes to levels, so it even has some replay value.

Among Persona fans, there are those who proclaim Persona 2 as the pinnacle of the series, and you know what? I totally get them now.

After having played both P1 and the first part of the P2 duology, I can't help but appreciate the differences between the old games and P3 to 5. Honestly, I'm glad P1 and 2 are not all like P3 to 5 because I don't think I'd have enjoyed them as much.

P2's gameplay is a major step up from its predecessor. It's pretty much the standard JRPG experience, and it can be a bit tedious at times, but just like in P1, it was worth trudging through. That being said, the encounter rate is still shit. It's not as torturous as in P1, but it's still annoying.

But let's talk about what really shines here—the story and characters. Man, the plot is just so darn intriguing and good. It's got its dark, heavy moments, but then it throws in these bursts of humor and wackiness that really keep things lively. And I think they did a pretty good job at balancing the humor and seriousness, which enriches the overall experience and leaves a lasting impression. The cast is also great. Each member of the main cast is carefully designed, with their interactions filled with chemistry and undergoing significant development as the journey unfolds. I really enjoyed my time with them. However, after P1, the soundtrack here takes a noticeable dive. While there are a few standout tracks, the overall soundtrack is kinda forgettable, which is a shame.

P2 Innocent Sin might have some outdated and average gameplay, but it's got one of the best stories and characters Atlus has ever cooked up for a Persona game. Finishing it has only got me more hyped for Eternal Punishment, especially because I get to see more of Maya and meet even more grown-up characters, who are the main cast this time around. An adult cast in Persona? Yeah, it's really old-school, huh?

I never even knew about the show before this game and while I can appreciate that the game was certainly made to cater the fans of that show, I really didn't feel a strong connection here. At least the developers clearly knew what they were doing and instead of doing a quick tie-in game with zero effort, they actually made a serviceable platformer.

The gimmick of this game is switching out the character you're playing as to help you clear obstacles. In the end it didn't have that big of an impact to the game, the only places I actually swapped out were when a boulder or dirt was blocking my path. As a platformer, the game starts out slow and easy, but the difficulty keeps ramping up steadily. However, I never got the feeling that game was being unfair and even the trickier spots could be cleared with skill and careful maneuvering.

While the controls are generally solid, there manages to be couple hiccups. Dashing felt really awkward at times and most of the times it happened by accident since the timing to press the d-pad twice is pretty generous. Also I had to be really careful attacking an enemy when I came off ladders since it's easy to press the attack button while still holding the up button, which activates the special attack. However, outside of these little gripes, moving and mechanics felt really solid and satisfying.

If you happen to have been a fan of this show, you should definitely give it a go. For the rest, it's just an okay platformer.