Windjammers is an odd game, being something of a mix between fighting games and sports games. The combination may sound rough, but it works really well, surprisingly! The game has more to it than it seems at a glance.
There are twelve characters (Biaggi is my goat) as well as a hidden unlockable character, all of which have either more strength or more speed to varying degrees. The variation may seem imperceptible, but it actually really helps each character feel unique, even if their normal moves are the same. Every character also has unique specials. In addition, there's a wide variety of stages, each having their own unique scoring system, adding further variety.
In short, Windjammers is simple on the surface with a fair amount of depth for anyone willing to try to learn. The online is rather sparse, unfortunately, which may dissuade folks from picking it up, but even then its still a good game to pop in with a friend for a little while.

Most people nowadays that pick up Xenogears go in knowing it's going to be a good game, a great one, even. Word of its quality has spread gradually over time, primarily due to the success of its descendants; Xenosaga and Xenoblade. What people don’t seem to know is how ambitious it was.
The game having a good story is practically a given thanks to the names behind it, but it's the rest of the game that really impresses. Not only does the game have a ‘normal’ form of combat, in which up to three of your party members use their three attack types to combo their opponents into hell, there’s also gear combat. Gears are the mechs in this game, and unlike the normal characters, gears need to build attack level to combo, rely on fuel, and can’t be healed normally. The game switches between these two combat forms depending on the situation, and each of them are remarkably fleshed out, making it much harder to tire of combat than it is in most jrpgs.
Besides the main combat forms, there are also side modes and mini games such as gear combat. Not the same gear combat as before, the battlin’ gear combat is a lot more comparable to an arena fighter (albeit much less fleshed out) giving the gameplay even more variety. There’s even a speed minigame, a goddamn fully built card game that looks pretty good even now.
Xenogears bleeds creativity and is fully deserving of its legacy. The game is far from perfect - there are some glitches and some party members feel a tad underdeveloped, for example - but it's a truly one-of-a-kind experience worth anyone’s time.

Neko Navy is the premiere silly cat shmup of the 21st century. It's a surprisingly competent shmup with more depth than most would assume after a brief glance, paired with a cute albeit crude artstyle that won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but certainly stands out against its contemporaries and predecessors.

Neko Navy has three playable cats when booting the game up, and three more cats (One of the cats may or may not be a cat person and another one may or may not be a fish) unlocked by completing runs on any difficulty. Each cat has their own unique bullet patterns, and five of the six have special attacks they can perform to turn enemy bullets into points that can be collected to improve the score. There are also three levels of difficulty, each difficulty level consists of the same seven stages, with each higher difficulty upping the intensity of everything. The game is pretty easy for a shmup, even on the higher difficulties, but is still a fun, charming time nonetheless.

As charming as the game is, there are some issues with the game, such as the absolutely whack balance and the game’s humor being very hit-or-miss depending on the player. Despite that, Neko Navy is a decidedly good game and one worth checking out.

Cool game and all, but funny how they waited a month to reveal the microtransaction Tekken shop instead of announcing it at launch. Surely they didn't hide it to bump up review scores, right?
(But genuinely whyyy did they do this, they have much better pricing than SF6 and MK1 and would have been fine if they were up front about it, its the fact that they hid it that's so scummy to me.)

Edit: Lol, lmao
They did the street fighter thing where costumes cost $4 in the shop but you can only buy the premium currency at $5. Also they have single use items (ie fireworks) that cost real money too, arguably worse than what MK1 and SF6 are doing somehow. Not to mention still not fixing one of the games biggest issues - rage quitting - despite pretty much every other fighting game having solved it?

Edit: They're also charging for a battle pass that, just like SF6, has basically nothing worth the cost on it. I'm not surprised but I am disappointed. Plugging problems have not been fixed, recent patches have been widely maligned by players that actually know jack about high level Tekken, so I'm inclined to believe that those arguments are valid.

I'm certain there is SOMETHING here, conceptually at least. If only this idea was executed by someone who wasn't such a massive prick.

Early in the game you have to make friends just to get rid of them to move on, and I'm sure something else was meant by it, but it feels like Notch admitting to using other people to get ahead. Fitting for a person who became rich after making one of the most popular games of all time, only to spit in the faces of those who got him where he is today.

Edit: Honestly don't bother with this, its a waste of time and there's no point giving any attention to the ass who made it.

Speaking purely in terms of gameplay and overarching systems, the first Darkstalkers isn’t anything to write home about. It’s the standard six button affair, each game is first to two rounds with each round having a 99 second timer. It’s far from bad but it isn’t remarkable in any sense. What really sets the game apart are the characters and the visuals.

First and foremost, the character designs in this game are amazing, especially considering it’s the first game in the series. Who doesn’t love a martial artist werewolf, a succubus with jet pack wings, a werecat Vegas dancer who spins like Sonic the Hedgehog, a floating mummy who can blow on opponents to turn them into babies, and a zombie rockstar from Australia that stabs people with his ribcage, just to name a few. Every playable character is brimming with personality often lacking in fighters of the time, and it’s a refreshing change of pace. Every character is distinct both in terms of play style and visuals, making all of them infinitely more recognizable than the average playable character of the time, whether it’s one of the ten starting characters or one of the two secret characters.

A large part of this distinctiveness is due to the visuals, which are stellar. Every is beautiful and memorable in its own right, all being a pleasure to play on, but the sprite work is where the style really shines. The sprites on display in the Dark Stalkers seir are some of the best in any sprite-based fighting game, full stop. The first game is no exception to this, as every animation breathes life into the characters. This helps not only make the game visually interesting and a joy to watch, but helps characterize each of the fighters and give them personality that would typically otherwise be relegated to arcade endings or supplemental material. I can’t help but what to describe them but I just don’t know if I have the words to properly explain how funny it is seeing Morrigan’s body morph into the shape of a seven as her eyes and tongue pop out of her head, for example. I implore anyone reading this to either play the game or at the very least look up a sprite sheet to see what I mean.

Besides the largely unimpressive albeit inoffensive gameplay, the main issues with Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors is that it simply doesn’t really have much of anything to make anyone want to go back to it, simply because its sequels do everything it does but so, so much better. However, this is still a charming, fun experience and one I wouldn’t want to see get lost to the sands of time. Dark Stalkers may for all intents and purposes be dead, but it’ll live in my and in many others minds.

Katana Zero is a cool ass game, easily my second favorite game that starts with ‘K’ and ends with ‘Zero’. The action-platformer gameplay is about as crisp as you could wish for, every option feeling both useful and satisfying in every situation, an impressive feat even some of the best of its ilk can’t pull off. The dodgeroll, the time slowdown, deflecting bullets with your sword, and the item throw all feel great to pull off, and chaining them into each other induces massive dopamine blasts into my stupid little brain.

The way every death and subsequent retry on every room actually makes sense and is accounted for within the game is brilliant. Rather than simply going through the act level as the character, when you are in control and trying to clear rooms, you’re actually planning it out using the protagonist precognition, an idea that I cannot understate how much I adore. In almost every single game, any given death or loss has no impact on the actual story of the game, just disappearing into the ether for the eventual successful attempt to take its place, and seeing this subverted in such a way is so fun and interesting.

The games looks amazing as well, the pixel art is all great and I love the flashy neon everywhere, which looks great in a literal sense rather than a ‘it’s great in the context of the narrative but can be sort of ugly to actually look at’ sense like in Hotline Miami. Hotline Miami, of course, being an obvious inspiration not just in the visuals and adrenaline-fueled gameplay but also in the music, which unfortunately is a mixed bag. The level music isn’t ever offensive, but I found it rather forgettable in the whole, a shame considering the music for story scenes was great, and not something I expected.

Speaking of, the story is actually really damn good! I found myself much more invested than I thought I’d be going on, which made me all the more disappointed by the end of the game. Katana Zero doesn’t really end, but rather sets itself up for a DLC or sequel, both of which I’ve heard rumblings of. Until then, I can only judge Katana Zero on what is present, which is quite good albeit not groundbreaking in a literal or thematic sense.

As a whole, Katana Zero is amazing for what it is, and left me wanting more in a way that I don’t find myself feeling as often anymore. This is an easy recommend for anyone who thinks the game looks even a little interesting, and the short run time makes it a great game to go through on a rainy day.

The Exit 8 isn't groundbreaking in any sense. Fortunately, what it does do is executed to near perfection in almost every facet. The game's fantastic visuals and audio help improve an already engrossing atmosphere, and the gameplay itself is about as good as it possibly could be given the type of game it is. I hesitate to go into specifics because the quality of the experience this game provides relies on the player knowing little to nothing going in. Because of that, I have to recommend the game to anyone reading. It's neither long nor difficult, and the experience is well worth the price. Please try to avoid any and all spoilers going in, as I wrote earlier, minimizing knowledge of the game before starting it is key, and that minimization includes even the game's store page, which reveals much more than it should. Go find your exit.

Audio Companion

The only thing even remotely bad about Lain PS1 is the menu navigation. Which sounds good, but unfortunately the 'gameplay' is the menu navigation, and the issues with it get more apparent and irritating with time. The actual idea of experiencing these tidbits of audio logs and flipping between them to try to piece together a story is really cool! In fact, the story itself is great, the writing is well done, the voice acting is immaculate, and the few video clips are all damn great on top of that. I can't say that I like it more than the anime, but its fantastic in its own right. I wish I could have experienced it all, but I seem to have been hit with a game breaking bug while going through the postgame, so I possibly missed some important info locked behind the postgame. The 99% of it I was able to experience was great, but the menu navigation is almost comically bad at times, it really brings down the whole package. I'd love for a modernized version or remaster to be made, but I know there's no chance of hell for that to occur. Regardless, this game is something special, and I advise anyone interested to give it a shot.

PS: You can play the game in browser here