Despite having a generic open world with stage assets thrown in, reused level design and aesthetics for the Cyberspace levels, and one of the most disappointing endings I’ve experienced in a video game, Sonic Frontiers somehow manages to be a good game that is the best 3D Sonic game we’ve had since Generations.

The sense of speed and movement Sonic has, while not primarily momentum based, makes it fun to traverse the landscapes and break puzzles when utilized well. The addition of settings to turning speed and bounce height as well as a slight nerf to the boost among other things help to mitigate some of the shortcomings of the Physics. Although I’d much prefer a traditional momentum based system in a game of this design, this is the best controlling Sonic we have had in the Boost-era.

The writing is commendable too. With the addition of Ian Flynn to the staff (a well regarded Sonic comic writer) we now have the best characterizations of Sonic and Co. since the Adventure games. Dialogue is also littered with references to various titles in the series that fans will enjoy. Although the plot isn’t anything to write home about, it is engaging, expands the lore, and still a major improvement from what we have got in the Boost-era.

All in all, Sonic Frontiers feels like a good first step in the right direction for 3D Sonic after the limbo the character has been in for the past 15 years. If you are a Sonic fan, you will enjoy this game. If you aren’t but are a fan of platformers, pick it up when it gets a price drop.

Easily one of the best 2D platformers of all time. From the great level design that is organically contextualized throughout the game's worlds and levels, to the amazing soundtrack composed by series veteran David Wise, the overall presentation and polish of this game is one of Nintendo's best. The weight of the movement of Donkey Kong and the rest of the Kongs also feels great despite the very occasional instance of slipping off an edge or feeling like the game has ate your input. All in all, the game is still phenominal and I highly recommend it regardless if you are a fan of 2D platformers or not.

Despite lacking in overall difficulty, Super Mario Bros. Wonder managed to stay engaging and fun through it’s unique, zany level concepts and massively upgraded presentation. The game is filled with small details that enhanced my experience. From animations of elephant Mario barely squeezing into doors and pipes, to the facial expressions within the DKC-esque silhouette aesthetic, to the feeling of discovering a new badge, the game always had surprises right around the corner to keep things from getting stale.

Speaking of the Badge system, I was a bit skeptical going in that the badges would just end up feeling like level-gimmicks, as opposed to being versatile and organically included throughout the game. I’m happy to say that that wasn’t the case and each of the main badges do a good job at feeling like a natural extension of Mario’s abilities. They also don’t overlap abilities with power-ups, leading to a bunch of unique badge/power-up combinations that can completely change how a level is tackled and add some good replay value. Especially so when using some of the Expert badges that can be incredibly powerful in the right situations despite their large trade-offs.

The game is not free of flaws however, as is typical of the Mario franchise, the game feels a bit too easy and most boss fights are pretty underwhelming. With the exception of the final boss, most fall easily to the standard 3-hit boom boom technique. Airships have the worst of it however, with “bosses” being reduced to a small corridor with a switch at the end and minimal obstacles that can be passed in seconds.

All in all though, these negatives aren’t nearly enough to outweigh the very largely positive experience that I had with Super Mario Bros. Wonder. I see myself coming back to replay this game with friends and family often for years to come. While DKC: Tropical Freeze still remains as my favorite Nintendo platformer, only time will tell if Wonder takes the Crown for best 2D Mario game from SMB 3. Easily the best game in the franchise since Yoshi’s Island.

A short and very fun take on Celeste in a 3D environment. The N64-esque presentation is charming and the level design feels well thought out. There's even a small amount of speed tech to utilize within the physics engine even if the skill ceiling is much lower the the original game. I do think the controls could use some fine tuning, one or two of the berries are a little too obscure, and the lack of any substantial plot-line is a bummer. But considering it was developed in a week and released for free, it's easy to overlook a lot of these issues and have a great time. Hopefully we can get an expansion of this into a full game after Earthblade comes out.

Final Stats:
🍓 x 30
💀 x 142
⏱️ 1:07:11.167

The Super Mario franchise has always been based on a zany concept. A Italian plumber traveling through a pipe to a Kingdom of Mushrooms to save a Princess from a big evil turtle? Mario has always had games with unique settings that are masterpieces in their own right, but never have I felt a game has captured the true zany concept of the series as Super Mario Odyssey. Without spoiling anything, the variety of Kingdoms in this game and how massively different they feel from one another (and especially to previous settings of the franchise) is a sight to behold on it's own. The amazing soundtrack also helps to highlight every world and set piece in the game leading to moments I will never forget. These reasons, coupled with the most expressive movement and amount of level exploration this series has ever had, despite having a weak postgame, elevates this game to masterpiece status for me.

After weeks of playing and seeing all of the mixed this reception this game has gotten, I had a pretty hard time deciding how I feel about this game. However, despite the numerous performance issues I’ve encountered and one of the worst level curves in the series, I can’t deny that Pokemon Scarlet is probably the most fun I’ve had playing a Pokemon game in almost a decade.

The grounded story, the lively characters, the breadth of exploration, the stellar soundtrack, the Pokemon designs, and the competitive accessibility features are all some of the best the series has to offer that made playing through the game a blast. Because you have the option to explore almost everywhere, smart use of the battle mechanics makes it possible sequence break unlike almost all other entries. It was especially satisfying for me to take down later gym leaders or Titans earlier than expected even if it accentuated the problems with the level curve even more. The ease of getting candies for leveling and ability changing capsules through raids make it the quickest it’s ever been to make a competitive ready Pokemon. Also, this is largely subjective, but I think this is the best set of new pokemon designs we have had since the 5th generation, with this game being a first in almost all of my team’s slots being filled by new Pokemon. The climax of the story and the entire last gameplay sequence is definitely the best the series has put out so far.

I do want to mention that it does feel like a couple steps back were taken from Pokemon Legends Arceus. The catching system, crafting system, animations, and speed of battles were all significantly better in that game and are sorely missed here. This is definitely because the games were in development at the same time, but it doesn’t excuse that it is still worse.

Regardless of if you had issues with the linearity of the past Pokemon games, I think the gameplay and story provide a lot to love here if you can look past the performance issues.

I remember the pre-release of this game and going from not being interested at all at launch, to seeing the potential in the marketing, participating in the testfire, and then buying the game. Can’t say I’ve had a 180 like that about any other game.

Splatoon is just plain fun. The concept of shifting between squid/inkling forms and focusing on Turf war was a great move in helping the game to feel different among the swarm of shooters at the time. Constant updates bringing balance changes and free new weapons, stages, and splatfests helped keep the game fresh for years after launch. The single player campaign was decent too, even having a great final boss. Although the game lacked some basic features, like switching weapons mid lobby (which had pretty long load times btw), more varied game modes, and advanced player customization, I don’t think it held the experience back for being anything but great for me. It even is one of the few games that utilized the Wii U gamepad well, showing the map for quick info on where to go and making squid jumping and inkstrikes feel intuitive.

In conclusion, Splatoon is a great game that feels like a much needed, fun, new-IP for Nintendo when Mario and Zelda fatigue was high for me. Definitely in the mix for the best game on the Wii U.

Imagine taking Brawl, removing all of it’s mechanical flaws, reworking and adding new stages, and adding back in Melee characters. That is what Project M achieves with flying colors. I very much appreciate the accessibility features (like auto L-cancel) that make it easier to start diving into more advanced techniques. Despite the significantly smaller roster and worse artstyle (imo) compared to ultimate, the improvements combined with Brawl’s content make this the most complete smash experience to date.