Tenth GOTW finished for 2024. A clunky, bumpy, sloppy-camera riddled mess that I absolutely loved. This is objectively not a great game, but it feels like it's more indicative of the state of early 3D platformers and less because of a lack of effort on the part of the developers. There's a ton of love behind this game, packed with references and nods to the show, the actual voice actors playing a part, and lots of fun ideas that were poorly executed. To be honest, due to the poor camera control, the house often felt like the greatest adversary in this game. Most of the levels I enjoyed were played outside/away from the house, while the ones I didn't involved navigating this enormous space full of crevices, obstacles, and multiple doorways that made actually completing them a nightmare. Still, I can feel the care that went into this game, despite all its flaws, and for that I still had a good time. Gotta love that wave of nostalgia!

First Dragon Quest I've ever played, and boy was it a good one! Branching storylines across multiple generations, multiple paths/endings, a surprisingly heart wrenching story and fun characters. The dialogue was great - if often a little cheesy in some places - and the graphics were absolutely stunning with the cross-screen scenes. The monster recruitment was really cool, and added an extra layer of depth not often found in an RPG. The last dungeon was a crock and I don't understand why there wasn't a save or zoom point placed in there somewhere besides the entrance, and forcing me to choose between the canon familial party characters (which I did) or the carefully cultivated monster characters I'd been honing throughout the game (which I ultimately didn't) about 2/3 through the game left me wondering why the monster recruiting mechanic was even present at all. Those two points aside, this was an absolute treat and I'm honestly anticipating coming back to this one in a few years and trying a different story path.

Ninth GOTW finished for 2024. Played Gunbird 1. Had a blast with this one! Fun, campy, good graphics and just the right amount of difficulty. The trio of baddies constantly moving around the levels to jump into mechs and bosses to fight you was really fun to see, and the characters you play as well were also enjoyable.

Frist GOTM finished for March 2024. What the devs were able to do with this game in terms of visual effects and gimmicks is borderline astounding. It looks incredible, it sounds incredible, I just wish it felt incredible to play. The platforming is awfully stiff, and needing to be precise and anticipatory with many of the inputs was a big 'ol pain. It wasn't brutal in its requirements, per se, but I don't know how many times I fell down because I didn't push up on the D-pad at the right time or in the right context when trying to go up stairs. Bosses were fun and mostly unique in their mechanics, and while the level design was a little dull it was still fun to explore the spaces. Had a good time with this one overall!

Eighth GOTW finished for 2024. I had a lot more fun with this one than I thought I would. While I don't have any nostalgia or previous knowledge of the Samurai Pizza Cats animated series tie-in, I still mostly enjoyed this little platformer. Switching out characters on the fly to overcome obstacles was fun, and the difficulty didn't feel as harsh as many NES-era games love to be. Platforming controls felt pretty good for the most part, but too many times I accidentally ran while moving left and right and used several special moves while climbing up platforms due to the use of the D-Pad for additional move sets. There felt like just a tad too many levels as well, as by the end it felt like it overstayed its welcome a bit. Still a fun and cute platformer that I'm glad I tried out!

Mantra grinding keeps this game from being something truly special, but damn if it still isn't a great game. While the tone felt decidedly SMT, especially having just come from Nocturne, the themes and symbolism in this game felt different enough to give it a "fresh" feeling when compared to other SMT games. The aesthetics and presentation were great (Kaneko designs are incredible), and while the gameplay felt a little simplified without demon fusions it was still interesting enough to play and would make for a great entry point into the series. Some optional boss slog really exposed the weakness of grinding in the aforementioned mantra system, but I still ended up having a good time with this one and would recommend giving it a try.

Seventh GOTW finished for 2024. Is it an iconic game? Yes. Is it a good game? No. The characters control terribly, the hitboxes are awful, and the skeletons that accompany the final two bosses are absolutely atrocious little shits. Nice to finally get this one off the backlog, but I didn't really have fun doing so.

Very comfy TRPG with a fun cast of characters, great music, and good gameplay. I kept finding myself coming back to this one over and over, so it obviously drew me in well enough to keep me playing. A lot of the menus are terrible to navigate, and some of the area/map layouts are frustrating (why are there so many bushes blocking paths in towns!?). Having hordes of enemies in the late-game maps that do a set amount of high damage regardless of your characters stats/levels was also a bit annoying. Still, I had a good time with this game, and can't wait to see what's in store for the second one!

Sixth GOTW finished for 2024. Good music, tight controls, and some fun change-ups with the boss battles. However, the level design was atrociously simple, with the enemies being few and far between and offering little in the way of difficulty or variety. Relatively fun, but short and simple.

Second GOTM finished for January 2024. Played the DX color hack, which was fantastic looking, but ultimately felt too simplistic and easy. Some fun level design, and the animals were a fun addition, but owl + cutter basically breaks the game and it just didn't hold my attention long enough.

First GOTM finished for January 2024. Egregious slow downs kinda kill the momentum, but otherwise still a fantastic Metal Slug game. Same fun arcade action, same fun weapon variety and level design, just all bogged down by terrible slow down.

Fifth GOTW finished for 2024. Similar to Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams that I played before, this is a short and sweet cute 'em up with a more accessible difficulty level and solid controls and boss patterns. Using bombs, spells, and collecting fairies kept things interesting, and while on the easier side the final boss was a decent challenge.

Fourth GOTW finished for 2024. Surprisingly deep mechanics and combat options in this one, but the empty story and lack of any character depth kinda left it feeling boring.

Third GOTM finished for January 2024. A simple, yet well executed rogue-mechanic game that feels ahead of its time, especially when you consider this is on the Game Boy. Tight gameplay that is easy to jump in and out for small-bite sessions. It's really short, and coupled with the simplistic gameplay keeps this from feeling like a meaty experience that has to be recommended. Still, this one was quite fun and a blast to play!

Second GOTM finished for January 2024. There were some bright spots here and there, and the depth of content available in this game was surprising and likely would've captivated me for days as a child. However, the core gameplay felt awful. Not being able to reliably target enemy parts (or enemies as a whole) left nearly every battle feeling like complete chance. This, coupled with a decent encounter rate, made for a painful slog. I'd smoke bosses, and get one-shot by scrubs. I'd get crushed by an enemy, fight them again with the same loadout, and obliterate them. Sometimes that process was 20 times in a row before it worked out. What's the point of spending all this time on collecting parts and building out an ideal unit if every time you use them you have no idea if they'll actually do what you want!? Arbitrary story checkpoints that lead to (or detract from) multiple endings isn't fun either. Apparently has some good postgame content, but I put this down as soon as the credits rolled.