Second GOTM finished for October 2023. An absolute favorite of mine, and arguably the best of the GBA Fire Emblem games (which are arguably the best of the series). Fantastic sprite work, a generally fun and viable cast of characters, a good-enough story with completely different branching paths, and plenty of opportunities to grind character levels and unlock additional secrets. The lack of Gaiden chapters is a little disappointing, as are some weak spots in the storyline and the relatively easy difficulty, but this has been my favorite official Fire Emblem game for a long time and another playthrough hasn't deterred my opinion.

First GOTM finished for October 2023. You always hear about how it can run on anything, how it defined a genre, how much fun it is to rip and tear. While this is my first time playing Doom, I quickly came to understand the love for it. The soundtrack and atmosphere lend itself well to a playthrough in October, and the howls, grunts, and growls of the enemies as they stalk you is legitimately creepy. The weapon variety is good, the power-ups and item pickups are fun and often located in a tense area of the map, and the movement is surprisingly good for an FPS without twin-sticks. Some very annoying level design (especially in later levels) keeps it from being top-notch, but this one is a banger and you should give it a try.

Thirty-ninth GOTW finished for 2023. This game is both a banger and a frustration. When it's clicking, it's super fun. Tight platforming, cute and charming art style and character design, unique boss design, and varied spells provide for a lot of fun. When it's not, however, it's absolutely frustrating. Some of the platforming is unforgivingly tight, some of the levels are a convoluted mess, and the grappling hook (while neat in it's theory and placement) is an absolute nightmare to actually use, especially in spots where you have to swing from one to another. I think the game is too good not to be overall enjoyable, but these spots certainly weigh down an otherwise great game.

Third GOTM finished for September 2023. Very fun, but will also absolutely rock your shit. Sprite work and graphics are very crisp, and the aiming and hitboxes felt good outside of melee attacks. Lots of tension in constantly dodging and switching between lasso and shooting. Felt really arcadey in some of the difficulty and bosses, and not necessarily in a good way, but while I don't generally enjoy those types of games I can respect that this one was still quite good. Would've been an absolute blast in co-op!

I'll start by stating that I've never played the original, but I can't imagine playing this one without the voice acting. While not always great, it was often quite enjoyable. Took the True Demon Ending, and while there were certainly some difficulty spikes the overall challenge felt good with the right amount of tension. The characters were pretty thin, which was a shame considering the overall story had more depth. The art style is incredible, and probably the biggest selling point of this game outside of the combat, and it suits the atmosphere of the game well. Punching everything to death was super fun, and the combat as a whole was enjoyable. Easily recommended.

Second GOTM finished for September 2023. Issues with the PC port aside (mods mostly fix that), I'm having a hard time grasping why this games seems to be enjoyed so much. It has a very Rockstar-vibe to the missions and collecting, and the characters are mostly fun, but the humor has not aged well and some of the gameplay loops just feel too tedious. Not having enough time to really do any missions before the AM class or between the AM and PM classes (without just running around avoiding law-enforcers while being constantly truant) also made it feel like the game took much longer than it should've. Glad to have gotten off the backlog finally, but not likely to come back to this one.

First GOTM finished for September 2023. Such a quirky Treasure game, it almost feels like a mish-mash of ideas that didn't quite make it into their other games. I have fond memories of videogame store rentals with this one growing up, and while I never did beat it back then I've been waiting for an opportunity to play this one again. While my adult version definitely noticed a lot more flaws this time around (the aforementioned need for Treasure N64 games to use every button, poor and sometimes unnecessarily vague level design, repetitive enemy and friendly NPC design outside of bosses) this game still manages to have enough goofy charm and whimsy to capture my attention all the way through many years later.

Also, the Beastector boss fights go hard and were super fun.

Solid tactics game with a nice mix of ideas and a nice bit of difficulty with the limited turns. The armlets are a fun touch, as are story characters that come and go, and the skill stone system was fun to dig into. The graphics are nice, if a little cutesy, though the character models don't really match the characters themselves at times (why are her eyes open when she's sleeping!?). The music was also quite good in this game, especially the main theme. The story can drag quite a bit, and by the end of the game I'd felt I had played more than enough, but I'm still quite happy that I finally got around to playing this one.

What an absolutely unique experience this game was. From the button-specific combat, to the unique exploration of the overworld, to the sharply poignant character vignettes, this game felt like something truly special to play. The story also felt unique, as you don't often see Nordic themes expressed so heavily in an RPG. The dungeon design was pretty terrible, and it practically required a guide to find your way around and take full advantage of the gameplay, but I kept feeling excited to jump back into this one every time until I beat it. Very, very good game with some minor quibbles that I would absolutely recommend anyone to at least give a try.