in the span of a few years i went from being a teenager who hated tedium in video games regardless of how it served a narrative and also one who thought kingdom hearts was dumb as shit to now being an adult who loves any given method of tedium if used well to serve a narrative and also just a more fully realized person who's more comfortable with herself and interests. this all happening around the same time made it so that a replay of 358/2 days was maybe a perfect storm for getting me to hyperfixate on a series i might not have been very fair to in the past. everyone complaining that the best kingdom hearts story is locked behind tedious game mechanics or whatever should just uhhhh get better at appreciating games as art or something

Everyone says whatever GameCube Mario Party entry they grew up with is the best one. While I haven’t played the others nearly as much to say concretely myself, I can confidently say this is my favorite unique Mario Party game.

Every map is a hit, and all have fun twists, nothing about the mechanics here feels too unbalanced, unfair, or unfun in any way. Mario Party 6 feels very refined, it’s got the core Mario Party experience on lock, especially with one of the best batches of Minigames around in my opinion. Plus, the main mechanic of switching night and day adds a fun layer of strategy to your planning.

Even as a single player experience, I remember having fun unlocking everything myself here. This is such a fun and perfect game for a friend hangout. Mario Party 6 forever!!

I first played Link's Awakening on my 3DS years ago. I got it on the eShop one day after a Youtuber I liked was let's playing it, and seeing as I was a Zelda fan at this point, I figured I'd enjoyed it. I think I got up until Eagle Tower and dropped it? I at least don't remember ever beating this game. Fast forward to the beginning of 2022, I had just gotten the remake for Christmas and was excited to play it. I actually beat that version this time and had a great time. Now with this marathon, I can finally beat this version of the game. I think overall I might prefer the remake, but this version is still good and Link's Awakening is still a good game overall.

Also quick note before the review: I was originally going to play the three CDI Zelda's next but decided against it so I'm skipping those. I also know this is the DX version, and that technically released after Ocarina of Time, however the majority of this game is still the original Link's Awakening which released 5 years before OOT so I just decided to play this first.

Anyways, Link's Awakening. This released 2 years after A Link to the Past and compared to that game and even the Zelda games before it, this game's plot and general atmosphere is very different. The story this time around is pretty simple. This is the same Link as the one in ALTTP and he regularly goes out to sea to train in other countries in case of further threats. One day, a storm destroys the boat he is on and he is washed ashore on Koholint Island. This girl named Marin finds him and brings Link to her home where he wakes up to see her and her father Tarin. Link leaves the home hoping to learn what this island is about and how he can get off of it. Along the way, he meets an owl that tells him to escape this island he must get the 8 instruments of the sirens and wake the wind fish (who resides in a giant egg) with them. Halfway into the adventure however, Link finds out that the entire island may just be a dream created by the wind fish. Whether that's true or not, Link continues to gather the instruments so he can wake the wind wish and get off the island. It's a simple plot but the first thing you'll notice is that it's WEIRD. I did not mention Zelda because she is not in this game. No Triforce or Ganon either. The big staple characters aren't in this game, instead it's an entire brand new cast. You have Marin and Tarin, the other villagers of the town they're in. There are many animal NPC's through out the world, there's even and animal village too lol. The villagers eventually can't recall how long they've been on the island. Throughout the game you even start seeing things from other Nintendo games like the many different Mario enemies, a girl gives you her photo and she looks just like Princess Peach and there's even an enemy that looks and acts like Kirby. This along with the general plot gives this game such a weird, dream-like atmosphere. That's kind of a joke but it's true, they really did a great job at making this game feel like a dream. This is honestly my favorite aspect of this game; just how weird and different it feels from other Zelda games.


The general gameplay is similar to ALTTP, tho it's not quite as linear as that game. You're still going through dungeons and what not but they aren't marked on your map. It can be a bit cryptic at times, trying to figure out how to get into each dungeon, because now you have to find each dungeons respective key to unlock it. Besides that, the overworld itself is pretty fun tho it can get a bit tedious to backtrack through. There are a couple warp points throughout the world you can warp to, but I think there should've been more because even with them, backtracking is plentiful and it's not super fun in this game. The reason for that is, and it's the game's biggest issue, there's only two item slots in this game and stuff like the power bracelet and even the sword takes up a slot. I know this is a Gameboy game, so there was only A and B to work with but having to constantly switch between items to explore can get a bit tiresome. That plus when you don't have an item, needed to clear an object, equipped, an unskippable message appears every time to let you know you need that item. So, whatever you do, don't touch any rocks without having the power bracelet equipped. Like I said, this is my biggest annoyance in the game and while I still enjoyed the overworld despite this, it can be annoying due to these issues.

Exploring the overworld, you'll find many optional secrets just like ALTTP. Like that game, there are caves all throughout and you'll usually need a dungeon item to get whatever treasure is inside. The puzzles in these might actually be more complex than ALTTP's, either way it's good that they're back in this game. You'll also find those weird NPC's throughout the world as well. There's actually a long trade quest in the game, that you would think would be optional due to how long and exploration based it is but it's not. It's required at several points to progress and also the reward you get at the end of it is too. It's not the worst thing in the world but I had forgotten how to do parts of it so I had to look some of it up online so that might stump new players.

Next I want to talk about improvements this game makes compared to past games. This is a Gameboy game so obviously I can't compare its visuals to ALTTP but for a Gameboy game this looks super nice and compared to the first two Zelda games, this also looks nice than them. They did a great job with all the pixel art in this game and I can see why some people prefer this version of the game compared to the remake, based on the art style since it's super charming here. This game also improved on stuff from ALTTP as well funnily enough. You could collect items with you sword in Zelda 1 but not ALTTP for some reason, luckily, you're able to in this game again. I also found the Pegasus Boots better in this game due to you not needing to press and hold the item button again and again when you want to dash constantly. You just need to hold it and Link will start to dash on every screen he's on now. Something that's kinda weird compared to past game is the rupees. Every rupee that spawns in the overworld from cut bushes or defeated enemies is a single rupee. The only way to get more than that at once is with chests and they can give you 20, 50, 100 or even 200 rupees. It's an interesting change but probably a needed one since this was a Gameboy game and this game was already probably pushing the system to its limits.

The dungeons in this game are actually really solid. They're not as vibrant or as memorable visually as ALTTP dungeons however they're full of puzzles, maybe even moreso than ALTTP. That game has a bit more of a focus on combat, and I still might prefer that games dungeons just because of the aforementioned visual memorability. But even still, very good set of dungeons that even stumped me a bit at times. The items you get in these though are pretty solid. You have the aforementioned power bracelet, the magic rod from past Zeldas, the hookshot from ALTTP as well as the flippers. A lot of these are just older items but the standout item, and the one that actually makes the game more fun to play in general tbh, was the roc's feather. When you equip this, you can jump. That's it but it makes a world of difference in how you can play and can absolutely just destroy some bosses super-fast if you're skilled enough. If I didn't need any item to progress, I just went with my sword and the roc's feather. That was my go to set of items. There was an annoyance I had with the items. Since there's no way to speed up text, you'll be seeing the same dialogue for the map and compass over and over again. The map is fine since it's so short but the compass is like three times as long or something and they decided to let you know there's a new sound that plays whenever a chest is in the same room as you. That's cool...you don't have to tell me every time I do a dungeon tho! The bosses at the end of dungeons might also be an improvement from ALTTP. They aren't as flashy of course but they also don't require red/green potions sometimes to defeat, they all have dialogue this time which gives them more character and they're also just really weird or goofy which fits the setting of the game. I'd say they're overall maybe simpler to fight than ALTTP's bosses but simple doesn't equal bad. The final boss tho, had several different phases that took the form of bosses you fought in past games, and it also made use of several of Link's items. Because of that, it was easily the best boss in the game.

The soundtrack in this game, even tho its a Gameboy game, is really melancholic at times and is charming as hell. The signature Ballad of the Wind Fish(I sent Marin's version is easily my favorite song in the game. Mabe Village,Tal Tal Heights and the Ending Theme were my other favorites. The whole soundtrack is good however, and something else this game had over ALTTP is the fact each dungeon had their own unique theme. Now I can't say I prefer any of them over the two ALTTP had but they're still mostly solid here.

While I did have some issues that held this game back from being better than ALTTP, this is still a really solid Zelda game and one that is unique in the story it tells and the atmosphere it provides. It must've been amazing having a game like this on the go back in the day. Like I said as well, I do prefer the remake just because of the some of the improvements it made. I'm kind of known as the original game enjoyer, so for me to prefer a remake over the original is very odd. We'll get to that game way down the line but even if I like that one more, it doesn't stop this version from being good. It certainly has its own charm as well.

I think I'm going to take a small break in between this game and Ocarina of Time. I'm thinking maybe my Plants vs Zombies replay is next? Either way, stay tuned for that and then Ocarina of Time after in the near future!

Managing to get Jaguar emulation working has single-handedly ruined my entire weekend, it's raining out and I'm depressing myself by playing a Bubsy game.

Even putting aside my personal beefs against Bubsy himself and wanting to slap a rear naked choke on him and strangle the life out of the bastard, it was incredibly difficult to get any kind of entertainment value out of Fractured Furry Tales. The stages are just as bamboozling as ever, with enemies blindsiding you with cheap shots out of nowhere from the outskirts of the screen. A classic game of "oh it's not so bad if you constantly stop every two seconds and use the look ahead button" type of fake-ass "skill issue" garbage. The most unfun way to possibly play a character desperately chasing the popularity of Sonic The Hedgehog.

The worst part of Bubsy in Fractured Ass is that it manages to also bore the player into a coma. That's right, in addition to the game itself being frustrating it also somehow got me to feel a bit drowsy. It lacks all the pompousness of the prior Bubsy games, and dulls the life out of everything with it's crappy Fairy Tale aesthetic and Bubsy shockingly doesn't have as much to say except for when you die five thousand times in the first minute of the game with repeating lines of "oh sure, let's all torch the Bubster!" I would gladly do so if I had access to a blowtorch, but I'm afraid I can't oblige due to being banned from all flame-producing equipment. It's simply astounding too, because with how upset you'll get at the random Asshole Mario-esque enemy placement and Bubsy's amazing ability to slip off platforms, you'll also be very upset at how the stages refuse to end. Levels that time forgot, if only it did, because unfortunately there's still a time limit. A time limit that isn't as generous as it seems. Terrible game, boring game, the worst of both worlds.

Now if you'll excuse me I'm off to flatten bobcats with a cartoonishly big mallet and some grand pianos.

Despite being really active in the Persona community, I generally wasn't expecting myself to like this as much as I did, but oh boy I was wrong. I loved pretty much everything about it from the characters to the story to everything else. All of these make it a top 5 favorite game for me.

The cast is my favorite out of all the Persona games. They all feel so real and human and even after their initial arcs it still feels like they're growing as characters and we're learning more about them. It still feels like they have a lot of involvement in the story

From Kanji to Rise, it genuinely feels like there isn't a single miss in terms of the IT at all (except for Teddie lol). The supporting characters are also really great too, with the Dojimas in particular being ones I love. Best antags too with Namatame, Izanami, and ofc Adachi.

Story was great too in that it has some insanely high peaks like 12/3 and the confrontation with Adachi. I also really like the thematic ideas shown here with how society only wants to believe what they want to believe and how that's shown with the Midnight Channel.

At first it seems like the Midnight Channel shows only the hard truth, but it turns out it only shows other people's perceptions of the person on there. That's why the others had a hard time accepting themselves, so you should always find the truth and be yourself.

I think what draws me into it more than the other Persona games is the atmosphere. I'd honestly say it's on the same level as stuff like Silent Hill 2 and Mushishi, it's THAT good. It's the perfect balance between being warm and inviting and being downright creepy.

The OST is also my personal favorite in the series and helps to further enhance the atmosphere and Inaba as a setting. From the happy and lighthearted Signs of Love and Your Affection to the relaxing and atmospheric Heartbeat Heartbreak and Heaven, there's just no misses anywhere

Admittedly, the gameplay isn't that good and Persona 5's was better, but it's still fun nonetheless. It's fun just hitting each enemy with their weaknesses and getting one mores and then doing an all-out attack once they're all down. I like the extra party sl skills.

Overall, this game is a masterpiece and I love it so much. It does so many things perfectly and even if you don't like it, you're still always gonna get something out of it by the end of the game. Up there with MGS2, Disco Elysium, SH2, and Outer Wilds as one of my fav games ever

Bounced off this game when I first tried it about three years ago. After giving it a second chance I really enjoyed it. But I want to rant about this series' awful fanbase that spoils everything as a joke. I can't imagine how engrossing this story would've been if I didn't know the villain's identity before I even started. I also know important details on 3 and 5's stories without ever having looked for them. If Xenoblade fans can keep that game's final party member a secret for 13+ years there's no way Persona fans have to reply to every tweet going YEAH BUT X IS THE KILLER LMAOOO

Not the game's fault ofc, still enjoyed my time with it.

really telling and pathetic that "hardcore gamers" signed petitions by the thousands to "rewrite/fix TLOU2" instead of campaigning to "force Yoko Kanno and Holly Herndon and Imogen Heap to co-compose the OST for an Ar Tonelico reboot directed by Yoko Taro at gunpoint"

here are a few OST highlights so you dont need to play through this dumb mess that once again sounds inexplicably incredible:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFdRhJpUKt0
https://youtu.be/w3WR-OiMhtc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8a4xBISGVQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeSUaKHRz44