When i first heard of this game, i thought it was kinda stupid! A platformer without jumping sounded like something that would get really old really fast, but goddamnit this game is so much fun. While you can’t jump, you can perform a dash, and that dash feels so satisfying. Nearly every level is designed to utilize the dash and its quirks to the fullest. Finding all the collectables in each level was a challenge, but it was totally worth it. It took me around 15 hours to 100% (all steam achievements), and overall i really enjoyed my time with this game. If you love your 3D platformers, i highly recommend checking out Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom.

Had a really fun time with this game! I loved exploring this mysterious world and the puzzles hidden throughout it, it’s probably the smartest i’ve felt while playing a metroidvania. The game isn’t particularly hard, but it was very fun, and some of the postgame puzzles were very fun to figure out. I’m not gonna go in depth with this review because i don’t wanna spoil anything, going in blind was super fun and i don’t wanna ruin that for anyone interested in this game. If you like puzzles, solving things with zero help, and metroidvanias, i’d highly recommend checking out Animal Well.

I’ve had this game for over a decade, getting it back in December 2013 when my family got a Wii U during the holidays. Over the course of that decade, i’ve tried on and off to beat the game, but always got stuck at one part or just got bored of the game. Fast forward to the present, and i’ve finally beaten The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD. After playing many action/adventure games that came out after WWHD, this game’s movement and combat took me a while to get fully used to. It feels aged, but at the same time it feels like it fits in with modern Nintendo games just right. The different attacks, traversal items, and puzzle solving items led to a lot of “Ah-ha!” moments throughout the game. Puzzles in the Earth and Wind Temples especially felt satisfying to solve. One of my biggest mixed bags with this game however is the Sea. For a game that takes place entirely at sea, sea traversal felt fine, but super boring after a while. It’s a cycle of find where you want to go, change the wind direction, sail for a few minutes, repeat. There are a lot of things you can obtain to help make this cycle more bearable, such as the song that lets you teleport to select locations, or the Swift Sail which lets you travel faster at sea and automatically changes the wind direction to wherever your boat is pointing towards. These things make exploring the sea significantly easier/simplified, however there’s one big issue with exploring the sea: The goddamn sea charts. At first they’re fun to find in chests and discover a treasure’s location, but very quickly they become tedious and feel like a chore. Some of these charts are special charts, which tell you where certain collectables are located on the map, but some of these charts are also REQUIRED to beat the main story without having a headache searching for underwater chests. It doesn’t help that you have to manually go to every spot on the map and feed a fish in order to fill out your map and find some of these treasures/main story items. I had my fun with treasure charts, but i just wish exploring in this game’s giant sea wasn’t so tedious. Now that the sea rant is out of the way, i’ll talk a little bit about other parts of this game. I liked the art style of this game a lot! It took some time, but it really grew on me, especially once i got to Forest Haven. The sharp lighting, cel shaded look, and vibrant colors were a lot of fun, and made for some very nice cutscenes in the game, especially near the end. As for the game’s story, i thought it was alright. It’s nothing too crazy, but i did like the different side stories that happen on certain islands, and i thought the main story was pretty cool too. Overall, i really did enjoy my time with this game! I may have my gripes with some major parts of it, but overall i loved WWHD, and i’m glad i gave it another chance. If you’re a fan of Zelda games and haven’t played this one yet, i highly recommend checking it out!

When i first started playing Pepper Grinder, i was concerned that the Drill mechanic of the game would get old quickly, but i was gladly proven wrong. Throughout the game, they hit you with different movement options, enemies, and types of ground to dig through, which really freshens up the gameplay. There are some mechanics that only appeared for a select few levels, and while i wish the game utilized them further, i’m glad that the levels they were featured in were a lot of fun (especially in some of the later stages). Bosses were alright for the most part, but the first 2 are easily the weakest ones. The best bosses were the last 2 which gave me an actual challenge, and the final boss in particular was so sick. After the final boss, i decided to go back and play through the optional Time Attack mode for all the levels, and it was a blast. Trying to optimize all the levels in the game was a really nice challenge, and some of them in particular were so satisfying to get the gold medal on. Before Time Attack, this game was probably a good 7/10 game for me. After Time Attack, i’m gonna have to raise it up to 8/10, it really made me appreciate the game a lot more. If you’re a fan of platformers, i recommend giving this game a shot!

Going into Super Mario Bros Wonder, didn't think it could top Mario 3 and World, but it absolutely does. Super Mario Bros Wonder is easily my favorite 2D Mario game, no contest. The game has so much character in every little bit of the game. From the artstyle, to the smooth animations, Mario Wonder has tons of love and care put into it. As for the feel of the game, i think it feels fantastic to play. Its a near-perfect blend of the snappy movement in SMW, and the modern movement of NSMB games. You can also give mario new abilities with badges, which were so much fun to mess around with. The challenge levels based around badges are purely platforming, which i really enjoyed. Speaking of levels, Mario Wonder's levels are great! Almost every level has a Wonder Flower inside of it, and all of the weird Wonder effects were a joy to discover for the first time. Levels almost never reuse wonder effects, but the ones that did return later on were still a fun surprise. Wonder effects felt like a part of the levels, not something slapped in there after the fact.

Overall, i really enjoyed my time with Super Mario Bros Wonder. If i have any complaint, its that the bosses were kind of boring outside of the final boss, but even these bosses are better than most bosses in older games like Mario 3 and World. If you like Mario games, hell, platformers in general, Super Mario Bros Wonder is absolutely a must-play title.

There's been many games over the years inspired by the Megaman series, but none had really caught my attention until January 2023 when i discovered Gravity Circuit. I played the demo and was immediately impressed by just how good it was. Fast forward to now and the full game has just released, and i can confirm it's definitely lived up to the hype.

First off, the gameplay loop is incredibly fun. The melee combat feels satisfying, and the energy gauge abilities you can pull off are badass. Each stage has it's unique theme fully implemented into the level/art design, making each one always feel fresh. As for the music, it's frickin' awesome. It fits perfectly with the stages, and each song is an absolute banger. The story in this game isn't that deep, but i still really enjoyed it. The setups during the story are more focused on getting you straight into the action, which i really appreciated.

Overall, Gravity Circuit is a phenomenal game that i enjoyed start to finish. If you enjoy Megaman games, or 2D platformers in general, i would highly recommend you check out this game.

The games in this package? Fantastic. They're some of my favorite games ever made, and being able to play some of them in widescreen/HD for the first time was great! However, as a celebration for Mario's 35th anniversary, and as a game collection in general, it leaves a lot to be desired. No renders or concept art to scroll through, no videos behind each game's development, and no ads/trailers from back when the games were revealed or when they launched. This package could have been a whole lot more, but as it is, it's an alright collection of 3 fantastic platformers.