Is it weird to say this is my favorite classic Megaman game?

I know it is notorious for being a messy rushed title hold together by a couple of coding strings and a bit of luck.... but I dunno I preferred it a lot more than the other classics.

It legit has some of the best OST, with themes of Blues, Snake Man, Spark Man, Hard Man, Top Man.....seriously I do love this soundtrack even more than most of the tracks from Megaman 2.

The leveles are cool and even if janky really fun to traverse.
The addition to the slide give so much more to megaman's movement.
And Rush is a such better companion than ITEM-1 and ITEM-2 from MM2.

The Wily fights can be annoying, especially with the subbosses, and Proto man boss fights can be either frutrating or just boring, with nothing in between... but I dunno I still find the experience really enduring.

I also love how it feels like an "endgame" for the trilogy: it brings back the bosses from 2, even if just as data, and it has a ending that showcases everyone, not just megaman and his siblings, but also every other robot master, with a music that is able to sound emotional even with the soundfont of the NES....

I get why people don't like it as the others, but I feel this is my fave.

Everyone had Crash Bandicoot as kids, except for me, DOnald was my Crash. Unironically this was one of the only videogame that my father respected "as a piece of art".... I honestly don't know what he was smoking, but it is a fun bonding memory I have of him in my youth.

Honestly just a cute little game that doesn't do nothing wrong except legit just copy pasting the mechanics from Crash.... but it does something creative regarding Donald himself: has a platfroming hero, Donald grows anger if hit by an enemy, meaning that for the next seconds he will turn into a cartoony cloud and is able to beat up anyone that meets on his path. That is a really cute way to express the character of Donald and it makes for a cool showcase of the life bar.
The bosses and presentation are also creative too: Beagle boys and Magica De Spell shows up as bosses, Gladstone Gander is your "rival", Gyro Gearloose's lab is the hubworld..... if you are a fan of these older disney character this game will give you a giggle... but in terms of gameplay and overall experience there are longer and better adventures overall.

Also the hand that chases you in those chase levels scared the heck outta me as a kid... I dunno why but screw that hand.

I remember there was a Bowling centre near my hometown: it was pretty crowded and it also a bunch of arcade machines near the entrance: that was amazing, at it kinda sucks that now most of them are gone.

But also one of those cabinets literally scared me to death and always made me avoid eye contact with the left side of that hall for the rest of the time I went through

I remember vividly being haunted by this specific level, set at midnight, with unsettling zombies lurking around, alongside people crying or desperately trying to run away. Eventually your character became a zombie and starting vomiting blood all over the stage, all accompanied by a creepy music and all leading to an encounter with aliens??? Really tall and creepy aliens with worm heads?

I wondered for years what this title was about: what horror series was even allowed to be so publicly showcased? ... oh wait it was metal slug.

And that is the magic of metal slug, especially MS3: is a shooter that throws to you so many crazy things that while weirded me out as a kid, are so crazy and creative that now let me just.... go for the ride.

You got a cartoonishly sense of humor that doesn't shy away from more crude aesthetices, and lets you go from militry bases, horror themed settings, arctic ruins where you shoot yetis with an elephant loaded with machinge guns, aztec temples and deserts where you fight the military on top of a came (also loaded with machine guns), giant robots... and then you playable character is kidnapped by aliens and you gotta go to their base in space, defeat clones of them and fight a giant brain while falling back on earth.

It's ana amazing and memorable experience that outshines not only a lot of other arcade shooters, but also a lot of other SNK titles, famous for oozing with personality and charm from all their pores.

Of course it's tough as nails: it's a game that can result unfair at times because of the philosophy of arcade titles... but the charming graphics and incredibly addicting gameplay and options for combat are the reason why tons of people spend money on this in the first place.

MGS3 is a classic, absolutely something to try.

Christmas 2003, dad got me this game and I opened it pretty early during the gift opening. It did blow my mind, but I was distraught toward the end, as I didn't have a console to play the game, and doubted that dad got such an expensive game AND a game console to boot. "Oh look, what have we here, looks like there's one last present..." he said, and handed me my brand new GBA SP at the very end. Top ten memories contender. I played this game every available minute I had. It got confiscated a number of times because I kept playing it too heavily, and I always had to leave it with my mom before going to bed. One time I just turned the console on and off to see the intro and keep myself entertained without a game.

I had a hard time with it, of course, as one's first Mario game should be, and several sessions were spent exclusively trying to beat Bowser without really nailing the "kick shell upward" mechanic. That is, I didn't know how I did it, I just sort of flicked my fingers a certain way and sometimes that did the trick. Didn't know English enough to understand tutorials, and brute-forcing game mechanics don't always reveal everything.

My favorite thing about this game was... swimming... and sliding... for some reason those were so inherently satisfying. Also flying, when I eventually got that down. My least favorite thing were those continuously scrolling levels.

Have you ever known someone who, at one point, you used to be really good friends with, but then out of nowhere they just… start to suck? Like, they become incredibly irritating to be around, become a massive asshole, or in the worst case scenario, did something horrible to where you can no longer comfortably associate yourselves with them. Then after you and everyone else distances themselves from them, they then try to do better, and by that, I mean they REALLY try, either by improving themselves or trying to make up for their past actions, and you can really see the effort they are putting in, to a degree, but at that point, the damage has already been done, and you kinda can’t trust them again. That is essentially how I would describe how I feel about The Simpsons video games at this point. Yeah, you all know the drill by now, it is The Simpsons: Bart & the Beanstalk.

At this point, they are REALLY stretching when it comes to whatever game they can shove Bart and the other Simpson characters into. I mean, we had an alien invasion game, one that takes place in a dream, one that is in American Gladiators, and one that takes place in a camp, so after all that and the several others I didn’t mention, where do we go from there? Why, a retelling of Jack & the Beanstalk, of course! Only an IDIOT would suspect anything else, really. But anyway, as you could expect, I was not looking forward to this game whatsoever, but I figured I would get it out of the way so I can go back to playing good games again, and from what I did play, I will give it this: it is the best of these bad Simpsons games so far. Nevertheless, it is still bad, not to the point of blinding rage like Bart’s Nightmare or Escape from Camp Deadly, but more so to the point of… I just don’t care, and I wish I could feel happiness again.

The story is… well, it’s Jack & the Beanstalk but with Simpsons characters, which is a fine enough plot for one of these games, and if you somehow don’t know the story of Jack & the Beanstalk, go read a book for once in your life… you know, after you are done reading this review, that is. The graphics are Game Boy graphics, but I will give it this, the sprite work for the characters, environments, and enemies/bosses are very well done, being a massive jump in quality from Camp Deadly, but not to where I would say it is one of the best looking games on the system, the music is somewhat good, with a nice main theme that is enjoyable to listen to, but once again, we have returned to having only one or two music tracks playing throughout the entire game, and it gets very annoying to listen to after a while, and the gameplay/control is about as great as watching the grass grow, and if you are not one who enjoys the immense pleasure one can get from watching a blade grow from the ground like that, then you probably have good taste and would rather play something else.

The game is a 2D platformer, where you take control of someone you definitely have never played as in any other Simpsons game before……… Bart, go through a set of seven different levels through various environments you would expect to see from Jack & the Beanstalk, defeat plenty of enemies with your trusty slingshot that is about as reliable as using a drill to hammer a nail, gather plenty of coins to help you proceed through the level, while also sometimes healing yourself because money truly does heal all wounds, and take on several bosses that are about as fun to fight as it is to pay your taxes just one day before they are due………… can you tell that I am having trouble describing how boring this game is? It is a very, VERY standard platformer, one that does work well enough, but it doesn’t nearly do anything all that exciting or fun to make you want to play it over any other platformer that you can find on the Game Boy. I will give it this though… it does at least have one or two interesting ideas here and there.

Given how the game is themed around Jack & the Beanstalk, not only are the levels themed around the locations and hazards you would typically find in that setting, but also the level objectives as well. While it is still primarily about getting to the end of the stage most of the time, a lot of the stages do require you to collect a certain amount of coins before you are able to proceed forward to the boss or the next level, and at least one of them requires you to collect specific treasures as well. In a lot of cases, this could be seen as completely unnecessary, and it’s just meant to waste your time, which is completely accurate, but to be fair, it does offer a bit more complexity than just “hold right and jump to win”, and you are encouraged to explore all of the levels to find all the coins needed to proceed forward. Not to mention, there are some levels that are pretty creative themselves, such as one level that has you jumping from lump after lump floating around in the giant’s soup. It isn’t much, but hey, little things like that are worth appreciating.

Unfortunately though, there’s not much else to be found here that I can say the same for. It is about as barebones and basic as you can get for a platformer in most other circumstances, and while it can sometimes be challenging and throw a lot of bullshit at you, it is mostly just one big snoozefest, one that is over in about 20 minutes, but one that feels like it lasts for an eternity at the same time. A lot of the said challenges and bullshit that I just mentioned can primarily be found in the last two levels, both of which are auto scrollers, and are easily the worst part of the game. These levels have you running away from Homer the Giant by running through a level you had previously played backwards, and one where you are parachuting down the beanstalk in order to chop it down, and doing both of these things is definitely easier said than done.

The first one isn’t that bad, with there being some pretty tight jumps and questionable programming decisions made all over the place, but nothing you can’t beat, while the last level feels absolutely abysmal to play, as you need perfect precision to make it through while the screen is scrolling at a million miles an hour, and it feels practically impossible to get through without getting hit by at least one thing, since you are given so little time to move around and adjust yourself before needing to focus on not getting held up to where Homer can catch you. Thankfully, these stages don’t last that long at all, and you don’t need to collect a certain coin amount to beat them either, because otherwise, they would probably have made me quit due to that factor alone.

Overall, despite some bad stages and some slight changes at progression that I can somewhat appreciate, there is nothing here that makes this Simpsons game stand out from the others aside from its theme, and it is one of the most boring platformers that I have played in recent memory. Yes, it is definitely the best of these poorly made Simpsons games that I have played by far, but I can’t really give it much credit for anything else when it does nothing to warrant any more praise other then “It exists, I guess.” I would only recommend it for those who somehow like any of the other bad Simpsons games that we have discussed so far, because if you are able to somehow stomach any of those other terrible games, then this one will probably be a masterpiece to you by comparison. Hell, I bet you that there is probably a Jack & the Beanstalk game out there that is probably ten times better than this game that you could check out instead………… I’m not gonna look it up to see if there is for myself, but hey, it is a possibility.

Game #562

While Pikmin 3 Deluxe is outdone by other Pikmin games in specific areas, like 1's narrative, 2's sense of humor, or 4's level design, it remains my favorite in the series. There are a few reasons why, but more than anything I think it's easily the most fun to master.

Pikmin 3 is, in my opinion, the fully realized version of Pikmin 1's design ethos. It's an exercise in learning the mechanics, learning the levels, and finding out how to do everything as quickly and efficiently as possible. Every Pikmin type remains useful both when completing the main objectives and when revisiting areas for cleanup. The increased size of levels and variety of objectives gives the player plenty of room to figure out what to tackle and when (Tropical Wilds especially is really fun to optimize).

And of course, the introduction of the "Go Here" command is quite possibly the best thing to ever happen to the series, opening up a world of possibilities for multitasking. It allows for simultaneous completion of multiple objectives and management of special objectives requiring multiple captains. All this, on top of managing Pikmin counts and Spicy Spray, gives Pikmin 3 a feeling of "Dandori" its prequels couldn't match and its sequel ironically refused to. It's not perfect; the timer's very lax, the balance scale puzzle in Garden of Hope is a little annoying to speed through, and placing exactly two fruits underwater in Twilight River is a bit of a dick move. But I think it comes closer than any other game in the series.

On top of all that, it has some absolutely phenomenal extras. Mission Mode is a fantastic addition that pushes your time management skills to their absolute limits. Bingo Battle is a really fun multiplayer mode, though I haven't played much of it. The option to take photos is a neat extra, especially with a game this beautiful. And the stuff Deluxe adds is no slouch either. The Piklopedia's back, complete with Louie's cooking logs. Co-op in the main campaign is a blast to play with a buddy (and is such an obvious addition I question why it hasn't been a thing since Pikmin 2). And there are so many charming Easter Eggs and little bits of dialogue that add so much to the experience. It's really good! I don't know what else to say.

Legit the first ever game I have ever have memory played. While I am pretty sure I trued other titles before this, Donkey Kong was the first one where I went "I like this one! HE monke!"... so much so that when I saw him in games like Mario Kart, I thought Mario was not the protagonist and it looked weird.

Eheheh funny that this is where it all started for me, because King of Swing is a weird one: it takes the Donkey Kong world in a moment in time where the series didn't really knew what it was, and turns into a... Clu Clu Land sequel? (Bubbles from Clu CLu Land is even playable)

First of, the best thing: the artstyle: in an era where most of the Dk characters and villains got removed off the scene, King of Swings brings back every major character with an incredible pixel-art, that makes everyone shine with personality and charm... even K. Rool, which looks fantastic in 2D. Even classic enemies are all here after being shafted in titles like Jungle Beat, and they are adapted pretty well to fit the new gameplay formula.

The graphics and music is also really memorable, and accompany really well the level themes: its start with classic jungle levels, but you are soon sent to travel pirate ports, menacing ice castles, mazes of giant cactus, and THE INSIDE OF A TORNADO IN THE DESERT.

Now the gameplay is.... divisive for sure: it's a puzzle platformer, where you use the side buttons of the GBA to control, DK's hands and climb dozens and dozens of platforms. While the idea is weird, especially for a DK title, this formula is used really well: every level has a cool gimmick that is introduced and evolved fairly well for most of the adventure. Once you will see yourself holding a platform with hone hand while throwing a rock or a bomb with the other, then using a similar movement to pull leers, then chasing Kritters that climb and move exactly like you. Even the bosses uses specific interesting gimmicks (except the first one that is a literal nothing) that plays really well and makes for really cool encounters.

The moveset can be clunky for a lot of people, and especially the final levels can require you too much, but overall I will suggest this short but sweet DK spinoff to all the fans of the series.... or at least look for the sprite work, it's really great!

Jin was already one of my favorite characters in Xenoblade 2, but this game adds a ton to him. On top of that, it gives characterization to Adam and Lora, builds onto Mythra's backstory in a great way, and fleshes out Brighid and Haze. The core story isn't as strong as base game 2, but it's a great backstory, and really gives you a new appreciation for the events of the base game.

A lot of the issues with base 2 are smoothed out, and there are some great QOL improvements here (especially with the tutorials). Combat's also really fun and streamlines 2's ideas really well, although I do prefer the base game's simply because it gives you a lot more options. Having less does work for a game Torna's length, but it's not necessarily my preference. In terms of level design, Torna itself is fantastic while Gormott is really just a lesser version of the base game's Gormott Province (which isn't saying much because I adore Gormott Province). I actually don't mind the Community requirements because I think the sidequests integrate really well with the story. Plus, it's how I play Xenoblade anyway, although I can see it being an annoyance for other people.

Overall, a fantastic DLC, even if it's not quite on the same level as the base game. I heard someone say (I think it was about Witcher 3's DLC) "If all DLC was this good, EA would be my favorite company." And yeah, that about sums it up.