I cannot believe Dr. X is actually Dr. Wily.

Anyway, this one is my favorite. I really love the changes made and the Rush adapters are fucking cool. Tedious to switch between, but Rush Jet adapter is SO fun to use and this is the first entry where Mega Man's armor changes along with them so it feels significant and gives more incentive to change.

The game is comparably easier than virtually every entry before it, but the level design isn't as uninspired as 5 and there's more variety. This makes it almost comforting to play, which is a different but welcome Mega Man experience. The world tournament concept is neat and allows for some really memorable robot master designs as well. Weapons all feel fun competent (except for plant shield, but when are the shields ever worth using?). I really love some of the Wily OSTs in this one and find them stuck in my head frequently.

As a final entry in the original 6, it's a little lackluster, especially the final Wily being virtually the same as MM5's but easier and him just going to jail at the end lol. Overall as a stand alone title though, I love the concept, level designs, adapter additions, and fluid, comforting gameplay so much that this one is my favorite.

I'm conflicted on 5, because I really enjoy playing through it but there are some huge caveats. It lacks a lot of the frustrating bullshit found in some of the previous games; there is way less reliance on insta-spikes, pit enemies, and high health drones that force you to use your charge shot tediously. On the other hand, it has maybe the absolute worst weapons in the original hexology and the robot master skillsets are a little underwhelimng. The megabuster is the best weapon to use 99% of the time, charge shot or otherwise, and is even the preferred weapon for the lackluster final Wily boss.

The level design is also fairly bland and very "hold right to win" on some levels, very specifically Wave Man's. Cool concept, bad execution with the boat. There's also a way higher reuse of enemies, frequently just putting them in a vehicle that matches the robot master and filling a level with them.

Despite the misgivings, it's pace is quick, controls and gameplay from start to finish are consistent and tight, Proto Man being the "enemy" is cool, and most important of all, it still just feels fun to play. This ones Wily's Castle is one of my favorite ones as well. OST is better than 4's. It doesn't break new ground in the series, but it's an enjoyable and it's vastly over exaggerated how bad it is compared to some other entries.

I really enjoy that a narrative is added, however slight. The length in this one is just right, solving the tedious retreading of robot masters from 3 by adding Cossack's castle. The weapons overall feel more useful than 3 but still don't live up to the fun or memorability of 2's. Bright Man's power is totally useless outside of draining it on Pharaoh Man. The UI finally got it down though, as switching weapons is smooth and quick (you can finally do it while jumping!).

Then there's the charge shot. This really hurts the pacing of classic MM. You can tell enemy HP is designed around it, and it makes most of the other weapons pointless to switch to. I'm not sure if it's due to charge shot, but the level design also really lacks the sense of urgency the series had before (i.e. Gemini Man's level). Levels are slow and honestly, frustrating to plow through with endless spikes and pits.

The series has always punished players for jumping before looking, but the enemy placement in 4 has virtually every enemy aiming to drop you straight into a pit. There are also some ridiculous enemy design's/counters (Whopper on Ring Man's level) that ended up making me feel frustrated in an unfair "this is a bullshit simulator" kind of way for the first time in the series.

My other main qualm is with the design choice of the final level. After the boss gauntlet, Wily's 2nd form is an absolute slog to power through without drills. For the first time in the series, it HEAVILY punishes you for not playing conservatively with your weapon's against the robot masters in the gauntlet. Wily's 3rd form has a similar issue where you have to farm Imorm's to refill Pharaoh-shot to full if you used it in the Ringman fight. Difficulty is fine, but these decisions are baffling since they weren't in place before and would easily be remedied with a couple large Weapon Energies.

I ripped into it, but I did still enjoy this one. Toad Man and the acid rain is awesome. The length here is PERFECT due to having 2 castles and new characters. The OST is still enjoyable but imo the worst in the series up to this point, except for Skull Man's theme which slaps.

This is gonna sound super lame, but this game is really important to me. The Starforce series had a really troubled time and was absolutely full of flaws until the 3rd game, but there was something special here that deserved to be refined.

This game really helped shape my identity around the time I played it when I was younger. The multiplayer aspect and the story, while shallow at times, especially for an older audience, really resonated with a depressed 12 year old me trying to grow into a concrete personality with hobbies I no longer wanted to be ashamed of. I thought it was so cool how (while never explicitly stated) Geo clearly had similar issues; his journey to accept and learn how to rely on others and healthily cope with his mental struggles really connected with me. I also find the continuity impressive in that his personality genuinely grows throughout each entry.

Gameplay-wise, I like that it switched up the MMBN style. There were a lot of missteps, but there was a decent amount of innovation to make the transition to 1 row feel fresh and not limiting. The net felt much more alive than some of the BN games but ultimately wasn't as strong of a world due to being an overlay of the real world.

The second game went on to hurt the series rather than improve it in the writing department especially, and then the third was almost perfection. The series was unfortunately cancelled right after. I would kill to see a revival after the team really hit it home with the third game.

The slide really makes the series hit it's stride movement wise, and Rush is a great addition. The platforming has been tightened up from 1 & 2 and it feel MUCH more fair. The robot masters and powers are more balanced than in 2 but they're all also a quite a bit less fun and/or useful than weapons from the previous games (especially top spin, that shit sucks). Fuck though man, the Doc robot stages are super tedious, and the final boss is so lame compared to the dope flying alien from 2.

It's length is impressive in general for an NES game, and while I really enjoy it this does cause it to drag towards the latter half with the re-treading of level concepts. The level design feels a little less inspired, but is still really solid here, especially in keeping up with the fast pacing. The OST is also still jamming, specifically Proto Man's theme.

Holds up pretty well. This feels like the first real game in the franchise. It improves the controls, colors, and variety from the first while removing the (imo) arbitrary scoring system.

The new robot masters are cool and powers are all fun to use. Metal Man is dope but holy shit his ability really trivializes the whole game. In general levels are shorter, (way) easier, and ultimately less complex (and less bullshit) for better or worse. Also whoever thought of the Boobeam Trap should be locked in a basement. Legendary OST once again, especially Flash Man's stage and the normal boss theme which may be my favorite of the series.

Control is so close to being perfect for me. In terms of narrative and where it pulls inspiration (X-Files, SCP, Twilight Zone, etc), it's a 10/10, but I really got tired of the general gameplay loop by the end. The upgrade systems feel very tacked on, side quests are a chore, and switching weapon forms is so unintuitive I never used anything other than Grip and Pierce.

Aside from that, I absolutely love the non-euclidian FBC building as an open world. The subject matter allows for such a great variety of creative areas and it was always a joy scouring for collectibles while exploring a new sector. The game is also gorgeous on a high-end PC. I really love what Remedy did here and am enthralled that this story exists along with the absolute wealth of lore as a pickup per usual rather than pointless items.

Also, this is worth playing for Ashtray Maze alone. One of the coolest video game moments for me in the last decade.

I fucked this game up. It took 30 hours but I whooped it's ass. I will never stop looking for reflex/rhythm games to struggle through and then brag to my friends who give zero shits.

Super Hexagon is one of my favorites. It's incredibly simple, but really effective at drawing you in. It's one of those gems that lets you see yourself getting better with every "GAME OVER. BEGIN." until you can finally go through Hyper Hexagonist empty-minded, entranced by the screen's speed and chilling to the OST like you're Neo. The game really is just an esoteric form of meditation

All sides + Farewell, Strawberries, Hearts, 8 Goldens, Moon Berry, and 50 hours later, I think I'm comfortable saying I can put Celeste down. You really do become addicted to the struggle. The narrative is deceptively simple and transparent thematically, but works by owning that while complimenting the gameplay.

I never particularly connected with Madeline or the others despite having similar mental strife, but the actual act of struggling through these kaizo-tier rooms alongside mountain imagery and slowly improving until you reach the sky brings about a bond that the narrative can't achieve alone. Despite the game re-iterating that you don't need to prove your own worth, it's hard not to push yourself further out of personal pride. Mechanically, Celeste is smooth and even the advanced movement techniques always feel good to use. Farewell is a perfect end cap that took 4 hours to finish, but I did it.