I predicted that every subsequent handheld adventure featuring the Blue Bomber would be better than the last, and that remains to be true. Mega Man IV Game Boy (Rockman World 4) is a major improvement over the first three games, sticking to what worked before and implementing elements from the NES games that weren't featured in the GB predecessors like the typical boss rush, while adding in new features that became staples in future mainline entries. We have new items such as the Weapon and Super Energy Tanks, the Energy Balancer which makes its debut here, and the most notable feature of all, the shop. Predating Mega Man 7 in about two years, this uses P Chips as currency that can be obtained in levels or by defeating enemies and can be spent on 1-Ups and the items I've alluded to earlier.

For the returning Robot Masters, we have Bright Man, Toad Man, Pharaoh Man, and Ring Man from Mega Man 4, and in the second half, we have Stone Man, Charge Man, Napalm Man, and Crystal Man from Mega Man 5 with the Mega Man Killer this time being Ballade. That's cool and all, and I do like Ballade's design, but I want to give a shout-out to its presentation. It's gorgeous and a huge step up from before, and I can visually see it in its opening cutscene and Wily Battleship. My favorite has got to be the cutscene before we fight Dr. Wily where we see Mega Man running in an isometric view before he stops dead in his tracks and looks up at Wily's giant mech in the background in another angle; very impressive for a 1993 Game Boy game. I do think the levels inside Wily Battleship drag on a bit, and the recoil after Mega Man releases his Charge Shot is a bit strange; nothing game-breaking, just found it to be weird that this is the only game so far where he has a bit of kickback.

Mega Man World 4 is a solid experience that is definitely worth your time if you're a fan of the series. It improves on its predecessors and at the same time provides new features that became mainstays for console entries to come, and that's something I can appreciate. I hope the fifth and final entry in the pentalogy will continue with the pattern by improving over what came before.

Releasing this game in the same week as plumbers filled with wonder and two Spider-Men is just a recipe for disaster. Sonic Superstars is the latest 2D entry from Sonic Team that is entirely original instead of rehashing old zones and or using uninspired titles under the guise of a "new" level (looking at you Sonic Forces and Sonic 4). I love Sonic Mania, but it's clear after the game's release, it was time for something different making Superstars a bit refreshing. Sonic Team wasn't alone in making this thing a reality as this was co-developed by Arzest whose previous works include Fantasian (co-developer) and... Balan Wonderworld (goddammit). However, I was still optimistic about this game after it was shown off at Summer Game Fest because one, it looked promising, and two, since Arzest is a Naoto Ohshima studio, naturally, he got to work on another Sonic game again. He is the true father of Sonic the Hedgehog and after all that shit with Yuji Naka, I'm glad that he was able to work on his child again. For the game itself however, I've never been this conflicted about a Sonic game in my life.

Before I get into gameplay, I want to touch upon the presentation briefly. The game goes in the direction of a 2.5D platformer, and while I prefer the pixel-based look, I don’t mind this style, in fact, I like how this game looks visually. The environments are colorful, and the character designs fit right in with the classic Sonic entries quite well; plus I think the 2.5D style makes the characters look adorable. Anyway, the gameplay. While plans fell through to get Evening Star (Christian Whitehead's team) back to create the game, the physics from Mania were translated over to Superstars, and as expected, they're great. They are completely identical and genuinely the best thing about Superstars, which is good because I can't imagine Sonic Team working on this after they failed physics twice in the Sonic 4 duology. All of the character's moves were kept intact and they're all fun to play, but I want to give the spotlight to Amy. I haven’t played Sonic Origins Plus, but from what I understand, all of her moves were directly taken from the game and improved upon; from my experience, she's one of my favorite characters to play as. She uses her trusty Piko-Piko Hammer to demolish anything in her path, has a large hitbox when jumping in the air, and has a double jump which is already a plus for any character regardless of the game. I'm glad that she's a part of the team now and I hope SEGA continues to make her playable in future entries, and the same can be said with the new character, Trip the Sungazer. She’s unlockable after completing the main story, and I dig her moveset. Like Amy, she has a double jump, but it’s her Ring Rolling ability that makes her distinct from the team. It’s sort of akin to Knuckles’ climbing ability, but fast, that can make going up and down walls such a breeze.

The Chaos Emerald Powers are what Superstars added to the table. Rather than the sole purpose of obtaining them all to unleash the eventual Super Form, each emerald has its own ability that every character can by holding a button and selecting it with the wheel for a limited amount of time. The Blue emerald emits clones to attack all at once, Red transforms the player into a bullet to shoot them in midair, Cyan helps you maneuver through water levels easily, Green grows a large vine assisting you to reach higher levels, Purple reveals hidden platforms and items, Yellow slows down time, and White allows an extra move depending on the character like Sonic’s homing attack and Trip fireball for instance. To be honest, I never utilized the system that much; even when the game prompts you to use powers like Purple’s Vision ability, they were never my first instinct as jumping and running were my main priorities to progress through levels. Out of the seven, I took advantage of two emerald powers, the Avatar and Bullet, but I only used them when the game started dicking with me, but I’ll get to that later. Overall, I found most of the powers to be sort of redundant as it didn’t really change how I experience Superstars, instead I found them to be a waste of time.

Now onto the levels themselves; they’re… okay I guess. Bridge Island, Speed Jungle, and Pinball Carnival are decent, Sky Temple, Sand Sanctuary, Lagoon City, and Cyber Station are okay, Golden Capital and Frozen Base exist, and Press Factory and Egg Fortress are easily the worst. Superstars has the same problem with Sonic Adventure 2 (and probably a few more 3D Sonic games) where the first half is solid, and the second half is kind of ass. The best levels that I’ve listed above are fun and give off the sense of speed that Sonic is known for while the second half consists of annoying gimmicks like the spheres in Press Factory Zone Act 2 that they somehow screwed up from Mania and added an insta-kill timer to annoy you, or slow side-scrolling anti-gravity sections in Egg Fortress Zone in a way that feels reminiscent to Sonic 1, my least favorite in the Genesis era. There are also character-exclusive acts, which are solo adventures for each of the four characters in the main story meaning more levels for a single-player experience, but not so much for cooperative play.

I think this is a good segue to talk about the multiplayer, SEGA’s main marketing push for the game. In past 2D Sonic games, the maximum amount of players you could have was two, serving as either local co-op or duking out in multiplayer modes. Superstars goes in the direction of the modern 2D Mario games by having up to four players at once for cooperative play, which seems cool in concept, but you have to remember that 2D Mario and 2D Sonic are vastly different. Mario games are designed with a pick-up-and-play approach so everyone can experience the fun no matter the skill level. Sonic all is about speed and momentum, so having more than two players running and jumping through each zone seems like a recipe for disaster, and from what I’ve seen online, the multiplayer is not great. One, playing with other people is restricted to local co-op (very Nintendo move), and two, even if you have real people to play with you, it’ll still be a disaster as everyone will have different speeds, meaning players are susceptible to being off-screen most of the time. Heading back to the aforementioned character-exclusive acts, I should mention that I played through the whole game by myself, so going through those levels was no problem at all. The real drawback is when more people are involved and they have to wait patiently for you to clear the level that can only be done with that particular character. It just makes me question why they even exist if only one has access to them. We also have Battle mode, and unlike co-op play, this one has online functionality as you play through a variety of events to see who will come out on top. The problem is, I don’t think anyone would give a damn about this mode as again, SEGA advertised the hell out of cooperative play, and you don’t even get to play any of the Sonic cast as you’re relegated to mecha characters that you can customize by spending medals that you’ve collected in the levels or bonus stages. If you don’t care about multiplayer, then the medals are kind of worthless.

Now let’s talk about the bosses. These are what soured my overall experience playing Sonic Superstars as every boss follows a cycle where you have to wait about 15-30 seconds dodging their attacks until they leave an opening for you to attack, making them balloon in length. They can drag on for like 3-5 minutes, and if you die, you have to restart the fight; it is so freaking annoying. The worst offenders are the final bosses as this feeling of exasperation kicks in. Starting with the Eggman fight in the main story, it’s the least offensive out of the three, but it’s still not great. The wait times are even longer ranging from 30 seconds to over a minute, and you need 12 hits to take him down, and if you die, you have to redo the whole fight, and this was where I started to use the Chaos Emerald powers near the end to assist me because this was ridiculous. After beating the main campaign, you unlock Trip’s Story, which is essentially replaying the same levels as Trip, but it’s a bit harder, and for the bosses, they take even more hits to kill. Exclusive to Trip’s Story is the encounter with Fang the Sniper in his giant mech, and this was where my frustration kicked in even further. Instead of waiting around for long for an opening, how about avoiding all attacks that will instantly kill you because that’s how I would encapsulate this entire fight. With some practice, the first phase isn’t too bad, it’s the second phase where I have issues. This is where Fang goes crazy with the insta-kill attacks and where most of my deaths took place. At that point, it wasn’t really difficult anymore as it was downright cheap, and I spent more than two hours beating this boss. TWO HOURS!! I already wanted to snap this weasel’s neck after the pain he put me through. I feel like they’ve done this because of, you guessed it, multiplayer. I get that a co-op experience would make the boss encounters easier, but they left it all in for the single-player people, and even if I did experience with a few people, I think they need some tweaking.

Spoiler Paragraph (If you even care): After beating both campaigns and collect all the Chaos Emeralds (which are really easy to obtain), you’ll unlock the Last Story where the true final boss appears, and he reveals himself to be… Dark Barney with wings. I could’ve made this a spoiler tag, but this boss came out of left field with no build-up whatsoever that there’s no real significance to leaving a spoiler tag. It’s one of those blink-and-you-miss moments if you didn’t see the purple egg in the hub world, and even if you did, this boss just happens out of nowhere because the game does a terrible job of explaining its purpose as the story is almost non-existent. For the fight itself, it’s not as excruciating as Fang’s was, but it’s still terrible as It’s entirely based on RNG and pure chance. His attacks don’t even harm you when you’re in Super Sonic form, but you’ll just be wasting time as you scour around looking for rings. This is the longest fight in the entire game and dying just once will send you right back to the beginning and wasted ten minutes. This is the most disappointing final boss in any Sonic game, and I was so glad that it’s over.

Now let’s talk about, in my opinion, the single most disappointing element of Sonic Superstars, and it’s the music. This might be the most disjointed soundtrack I’ve heard from Sonic, and there’s a good reason why. When rolling credits three times, you’ll notice that Superstars has a lot of composers. You have some good names like Tee Lopes, Rintaro Soma, and Hidenori Shoji, but then we have the elephant in the room which is Jun Senoue. I said this in my Sonic 4 Episode II review and I’ll say it here again; Jun Senoue is not good at making or even replicating Genesis music, and his works on the soundtrack are extremely noticeable due to the overabundance of those damn snare drums. It makes the soundtrack in some ways feel stuck in the past, and given that there was Sonic 4 placeholder music before the game was released, you can tell something was up. I want SEGA to let Jun focus on what he’s good at making with his electric guitar as I do not want to see him compose another classic Sonic game ever again; just leave it to the others who know what they’re doing. Outside of him, there are also some songs in a zone that don’t have any melodic connection, like Speed Jungle for instance. The first act, composed by Tee Lopes is an absolute jam that captures the overall speed and jungle aesthetic the level is known for. Act 2, composed by Hidenori Shoji is not a bad song at all; it captures the speed, but doesn’t have that jungle feel Act 1 provided. You can literally put this in any new Sonic night level and it’ll sound better there. I can go on, but I think you get the picture here.

Sonic Superstars is the definition of an identity crisis. It fails in what it wants to be, what it wants to do, and how it executes things, leaving a middling mess of a game that isn’t worth the $60 price tag. This is what frustrates me about the new Sonic entries; they have neat ideas, but they don’t go the extra mile to make it work properly like four-player multiplayer. If this has a bit more time in the oven, I’ll be singing a different tune, but I already got the platinum in this game in December, which translates to being a one-and-done for me. While I don’t think it’s a bad Sonic game, this isn’t something I want to return to in the foreseeable future, and it’s a damn shame that it had to be like this.

From middling to a decent package. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: Booster Course Pass is Nintendo's five-year late response for DLC for the most successful Mario Kart. It started off underwhelming with the first wave with subpar tracks, or classic tracks that have been butchered like Coconut Mall. But as every wave released, the better the Booster Course Pass got with more fan-favorite tracks and new characters that satisfied fans. Wave 6 is the best in the package as they brought in the most meat compared to every other wave prior, and not only this was a great sendoff to the Booster Course Pass, but to almost ten years of Mario Kart 8. It's crazy to think that one of my favorite Wii U games will be turning ten in 2024, and I'm glad this game got a second chance on a more successful console. It's not amazing, but for $25, I think this is worth it.

This is the best Christmas game ever conceived. Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a shorter but enjoyable spin-off and continuation of the 2018 game focusing on Miles as he becomes New York's only Spider-Man for a few weeks, trying to maintain the balance of his normal life while trying to protect New York City, including his new hometown Harlem. Story-wise, it isn't as strong as the original, same with the villains as Roxxon and the Tinkerer don't compare to the Sinister Six, but it's still solid nonetheless. Gameplay-wise, the DNA of Insomniac's Spider-Man is still here, and if we're specifically talking about combat, Miles beats out Peter here with his Venom Power and his cloaking technique. Just punching, ground-pounding, and dashing through enemies and chucking them at long distances is so much fun and satisfying to utilize. I also think the side missions are better here as I love how each one we clear creates a connection between the new Spider-Man and the people of Harlem feeling like home and gives us glimpses of being the "Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man" and doing all of them before beating the main story felt appropriate to me. My favorite scene in the entire game is the conversation between him and Hailey as they communicate via sign language. It's minor, but I just found their conversation to be beautiful and this scene in particular made me interested in taking ASL, so this game has kind of an impact on me and made me realize that we need more deaf/sign language representation in video games.

I enjoyed revisiting Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales. While it's a much shorter experience than the original, everything that made that game great is still here, and swinging in NYC is a snowy backdrop is such a cozy feeling, especially when you play in the winter season when I first played it back in 2021 when I first received my PS5 (and platinumed it), making this the best Christmas game.

Finally, a NEW 2D Mario game! Super Mario Bros. Wonder is the latest mainline 2D entry after the last few entries resulted in 2D Mario stagnation. There's nothing inherently awful about the New Super Mario Bros series, but at the time New Super Mario Bros. 2 and U were released, it started to feel samey and stale. The early 2010s was more of a bland era for Mario when it comes to the quality of games. The mainline entries around that time frame, NSMB2, U, 3D Land, and 3D World were serviceable, and in some cases enjoyable, but they sort of feel generic and uninspired as opposed to the past entries that strived to innovate and revolutionize gaming as we come to expect from the Italian plumber. While they served their purpose as being solid Mario games, it's clear that 2D Mario needed to change, and change it did. Watching the June Nintendo Direct trailer took me by a bit of a surprise. It looked different visually, and it looked like they were trying to innovate with a fresh new gimmick, and watching the Mario Wonder Direct solidified my decision to pick up the game at launch. Now that the game has been released, it's about time I give my overall thoughts on Mario's wondrous adventure.

Right off the bat, the one thing I can immediately praise the game for is the art direction. It's exquisite and charming, filled with cute little animations and character expressions that I heavily adore. Stuff like how the characters sprint, the Goombas having snot bubbles while they sleep, the Koopas panicking as they're closing their impending doom, or the way how the characters look in their smaller form just makes me feel giddy inside. It is brimming with personality and takes inspiration from past entries that impacted this game. It'll certainly age like fine wine as opposed to the dull New Super Mario Bros art style that we've grown sick and tired of four games in. For the characters, we have the usual NSMB gang plus Toadette, while bringing along Peach and Daisy on the adventure. Seeing Daisy again in a mainline Mario entry after her last appearance was in Super Mario Land in 1989 to be eventually relegated to spin-offs, but as a playable character this time is huge, and I'm happy that fans were able to play their favorite princess. Nabbit from New Super Mario Bros. U returns as a playable character and Yoshis are full characters now, which is really nice. It's nice that people can play the four-colored Yoshis as individuals, though they fall under the easy mode section. I do get Nabbit since he was already one for New Super Luigi U, but having Yoshi as one would sting some people as they would avoid playing their favorite dinosaur if it meant playing in baby mode; so yeah, kind of disappointing. I do wish the character selection could use a little more variety, but it's a solid selection nonetheless.

The game is split into seven worlds with the Petal Isles being the center of the Flower Kingdom, and each world has a linear and non-linear progression. Let me explain what I mean by this. It has your typical linear progression with new paths being unlocked under the form of a straight line when clearing a course, that part hasn't changed. For the non-linear side, each world has open areas where players can roam freely and play any stage in that particular area in any order they want. Later on, when you clear the first three worlds, the game opens up a little more and lets you play the next three worlds in no particular order. It's minor, but I like how we're given the choice to play the levels and worlds however we want. The levels themselves are solid overall and are decent in length, that is until we reach the Wonder Flower, the game's main gimmick. Touching the flower transforms the stages in a variety of ways, and this is where the creativity shines in Mario Wonder. When Nintendo said "Always expect the unexpected," they meant it, as you'll see Wonder effects like a stampede of Bulrushes coming your way, the perspective changing, music numbers, floating through space, transforming into a spike ball, etc. Did I mention this game has music numbers? There are also many references from past games that make the Mario nerd inside of me happy. Not only does the game take inspiration from past Mario games, but it also takes some inspiration from other 2D platformers, like Retro Studios' Donkey Kong Country games like taking advantage of the foreground and background sections and silhouette levels, and any 2D platformer that has levels like these is a winner in my books. It felt like Nintendo was catching up to other 2D games that dominated the genre and what made them special in the first place, and that pleases me coming from a longtime Mario fan. Even if you don't remember the names of the levels themselves, you'll remember the Wonder effects like the one where you transform into a Goomba and it turns into a stealth mission or a silhouette level where the characters are stretched out or the music levels. When I cleared the second level, I knew this game was going to be special. Outside of the regular levels, we have bite-sized Break Time stages that range in variety, from KO Arenas, to music levels that take seconds to complete, Wiggler Races, and the puzzling Search Party challenges. These stages offer something different and are nice little breaks from the standard levels if you want something short and sweet or grab the collectibles.

Speaking of collectibles, the primary one this time around is the Wonder Seeds, and these can be collected when triggering the level's Wonder Effect. There are at least two Wonder Seeds in each level and will receive one when reaching the goal pole. Some will contain three if they have secrets and Break Time levels. The 10-Flower Coins are the replacement for NSMB's Star Coins; collecting one equals 10 unless it was already collected before, and these coins in particular can be used in the Poplin Shops that contain Wonder Seeds, Standees, and Badges. The Standees are used for connecting with people online as Live-Player Shadows and act as an excuse for the absence of online co-op. It essentially revives players who've died and transformed into a ghost, jumping them right back into action depending on where you placed your Standee. I don't have much to say about the online mode, but from my experience, it was solid. Honestly, this was the right utilization for online, or else we would've gotten another Mario Maker 2 catastrophe given Nintendo's history with online services. Outside of the Wonder Flowers, the other standout feature is the Badge system. They can be discovered in Badge Challenges, giving players a taste of what they can do and how they can assist them in levels; this is the only time where Prince Florian is useful. I love the concept of the system as it gives players some experimentation and encourages replayability as there are 24 badges to collect splitting into three categories, Action, Boost, and Expert. My favorites are the action ones, specifically the Parachute Cap and Grappling Vine as I love how it's utilized and take full advantage of it in near-death situations. Then we have the new items. The Bubble Flower lets Mario and friends blow bubbles that can suck enemies up from a distance and can be used for jumping to hard-to-reach places. It's a nice addition to Mario's catalog of power-ups but is the one I used the least because the other two were so much fun to use. The Drill Mushroom allows us to ground pound through crystals, burrow, and move through the ground and ceilings, and can be used to take down spiky and hard-headed enemies in a breeze. Finally, we have the Elephant Fruit, the most outlandish and wackiest power-up in the series bar none, and I love it. You can break through small blocks easily, knock out enemies with your trunk, store and spray water with it, and dash through large gaps. Seeing the main cast transform into an elephant is the most blursed thing to come out of this game and is easily the best item. I also like to give a quick shout-out to the audio design. From the trombone-like sound when transforming into an elephant to the silence of the main percussion when standing idly to the Marimba Blocks, there's a ton of adaptive music poured into this game, and Mario is no stranger when it comes to this type of background music.

You know, for a game titled "Wonder", the bosses are so disappointing. Most of your encounters are going to be with Bowser Jr. and while I like the battle environment is affected by the Wonder Effects, the variety just takes a hit. It's even lamer because, in New Super Mario Bros, they had a mixture of new and old when it came to the boss department, and hell, in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, the Koopalings, even if they were overused, had a bit of variety to them. They could've come up with new bosses that were exclusive to the Flower Kingdom or implemented past bosses to take advantage of the Wonder Effects, but they didn't. Kamek shows up in the game, but you don't fight him; all he does is summon airships and that's it as opposed to the NSMB games where you did; what a pussy. The Bowser fight is arguably the best fight in 2D Mario that makes the most of the Wonder Effects, but still, the boss variety is completely lackluster. While I do love the concept behind the Badges, the execution is pretty shallow. I did say that the badges offer experimentation and encourage replayability, but for a casual playthrough, you're most likely going to play through the Badge Challenges and pick a few that you like, and a few of these are OP like the Parachute Cap for instance.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder surprised me. While it does have a few faults, I love the ingenuity that is poured into the game, and what was delivered was one of the best 2D Mario games in years. Given that the development team was comprised of younger developers who were allegedly given no deadlines and had thousands of ideas that were eventually cut, it's clear that there was a lot of passion behind this game. Mario Wonder not only made me hopeful for future 2D Mario games, but it made me more hyped for mainline Mario in general, and I can't wait to see where Mario goes next.

What was new became old. New Super Mario Bros was the first new 2D side-scrolling platformer in over 13 years after Super Mario Land 2's release. During that time, Nintendo experimented and released two 3D Mario games for the N64 and GameCube respectively, four remakes of the plumber's past adventures for the Game Boy Advance, and a plethora of spin-offs. Mario was given a ton of support around that time frame, but it was clear something was missing. So in May 2006, Nintendo released New Super Mario Bros to the world on Nintendo's most successful console, the Nintendo DS, trying to recapture the experience of his past 2D adventures while making a few changes to make it accessible to a wider audience, and I think it worked both critically and financially. It takes elements like an overworld and finding secrets (in the form of exits) like in Super Mario Bros. 3 and World and has some classic power-ups that remained unchanged like the Super Mushroom, Fire Flower, and the Star. It's clear that the game was a return to form for 2D Mario, and I think they did it well.

Let's get on to the "new" stuff, starting with the movement. Mario feels so good to control, and they brought moves from the 3D outings like a triple jump and wall jump, and it's so fun to pull off. The Star Coins are the main collectibles of the game, every level has three of them, and they have their own use. You can unlock Toad Houses and additional paths to new levels at the cost of five Star Coins. They're fun to collect, and while the series doesn't reward you with anything cool for completion, they do have their worth compared to something like the Dragon Coins in Super Mario World.

For the items, we have a few new ones. The Mini Mushroom makes Mario extremely tiny, making it easier to walk through small areas that couldn't be possible with normal-sized Mario, and he also has a high jump and can run on water, and the only way to get to Worlds 4 and 7. The Blue Shell (different from Mario Kart) grants the ability to shell dash by either ducking or dashing, decimating through enemies and blocks, but is vulnerable to bottomless pits, lava, and poison if the player is not attentive. I don't like this one; it feels like you're not in control of the shell most of the time and can accidentally trigger the shell dash and lead to deaths that weren't on purpose; I'm glad this one never appeared as a power-up again honestly. Lastly, we have the Mega Mushroom, the one that was featured on the box art and was advertised as this big power-up for the game (no pun intended), but in reality, it wasn't. The item was only implemented to a few levels, and what it essentially does is make Mario or Luigi grow big for a limited amount of time, decimating everything its path while earning some extra lives. I feel mixed on the new items overall, but what about the bosses? Of course, we have Bowser as the main bad guy, but Bowser Jr. is heavily involved in attempting to stop the Mario Bros from proceeding further. We battle him at the end of every tower level and the final castle with a showdown that takes a few seconds long if you have the Fire Flower equipped; very thrilling. The castle bosses are a mix of new and old enemies from past Mario games like Petey Piranha from Mario Sunshine and new ones like the Mummipokey, Cheepskipper, and Dry Bowser. Every boss goes down in three hits like usual, but at least there is some originality here which can't be said with the Koopalings in the following NSMB games. I think you all are starting to see the picture here; there's not enough stuff that can justify as "new" in New Super Mario Bros. When looking at this game from a 2023 perspective, it's a solid 2D platformer, but it comes off as generic, and that statement can be described for all of the NSMB games that came after, starting to feel repetitive and play it safe.

With that said, why do I rate this game a 4/5 then? Well, for two reasons, and both are outside the main game. First, Mario vs. Luigi mode. This is a mode where you and another person with a DS can play locally, select one of the two Mario Bros., and duke it out in a duel where whoever gets the maximum amount of stars wins. If you've not experienced this mode for yourself, I highly recommend it; it's fun just being an ass and steal stars from the other player, it's wonderful. The second reason, and the one thing that beats out every NSMB for me is the minigames. Returning from Mario 64 DS, these were my biggest time wasters growing up, trying to achieve high scores while trying to play every minigame possible as all of them are unlocked plus some new ones that are exclusive to this game. My favorite ones are easily the table minigames featuring Luigi; there's something so addicting about betting in-game coins and playing Picture Poker or Memory Match and witnessing my coin count go up every time I win. So, thank you Luigi for teaching kids how to gamble.

I enjoyed revisiting New Super Mario Bros. While it's generic and not as remembered fondly compared to the classic 2D Mario entries, it's still an enjoyable 6-hour adventure and it has its significance to the Mario series by being a solid return to form. I have a soft spot for this one, and after replaying the whole series in out of order in the span of a few years, the DS one remains the best, all because the others don't have a mode where we can gamble with Luigi.

I played this about three decades later, and I can definitely say that it truly lived up to the hype. Super Mario Bros. 3 is the magnum opus for the NES, expanding the world and character for the iconic video game character while proving to the world that Mario remains relevant for years to come. While Super Mario Bros. is a revolutionary title that created this behemoth of a franchise as we know it today while saving the American video game industry after the disastrous Video Game Crash of 1983, followed up by a bizarre sequel, Super Mario Bros. 3 expands on the Mario formula and introduced many elements that became main staples in future games.

It added an overworld, giving us a series of stages and giving us the option to play them out of order in certain areas. Its diversity of levels is where Mario 3 shines as all of them are split into eight distinct worlds, like a world where everything is giant, a world that contains a whole lot of pipes, or a world filled with lava and darkness. These worlds bring variety, and in some instances are still unique to this game alone which is one of its biggest strengths. With new adventures mean new enemies Mario has to encounter, and in this case, the Koopalings. Serving as Bowser's underlings and their names being inspired by music artists, they are the main bosses for the first seven worlds trying to prevent Mario from approaching the Koopa King himself. In future 2D Mario entries (specifically NSMB series), they seem to be a safe bet for bosses that might've been overdone when we got to NSMBU, but at the time, they were unique and varied and brought something new to the table, and the same goes for items. Every item in this game is fun to utilize and is great for uncovering hidden areas and secrets, like a raccoon suit that has a tail attack and can fly depending on the speed or a frog suit that makes it easier to swim underwater, or obtaining hammers that can break rocks in the overworld. While I haven't uncovered some, it's great how we use these items to our advantage, creating room for experimentation, and encouraging replayability, and that's what Mario 3 feels like, a room for experimentation and new ideas that paid off in the end.

Mario feels great to control here, and for NES platformers, this is one of the easier ones. Now to be fair, this is a huge game compared to previous Mario outings, and it can still be a challenge when approaching later levels, but nothing unfair. No more limited continues, instead, getting a Game Over will result in the player replaying the levels again in the world you're currently on, and in the case for me, it was mostly World 7. With the number of levels it has, it can be kind of nerve-racking trying to survive with the limited amount of lives, but I persevered.

Super Mario Bros. 3 is one of the best games released on the NES and one of the most influential titles in the series. With its innovations like a non-linear map and new power-ups, it laid the foundation for subsequent titles to follow. A game that turned a Japanese toy maker to a global video game giant, and one that has significance in gaming history.

Who knew Jason Vorhees could be this buff? Splatterhouse is a 2D side-scrolling beat 'em up game influenced by H.P. Lovecraft and horror movie series such as Friday the 13th and Evil Dead. You play as Rick Turney as he's fused with the "Terror Mask" trudging and rampaging his way through seven stages as he punches, kicks, and slashes through hordes of monsters as he explores the mansion finding his girlfriend Jennifer.

The game's main appeal is its visual presentation. It's filled with graphic imagery and gore that helps convey its creepy atmosphere, same goes for its music. Seeing all of those varied locations that were inspired by classic horror films and seeing all of those grotesque monsters walking toward you getting dismembered is visually astonishing and impressive for 1988, and that's what made the game stand out at the time.

As a beat 'em up though, it's pretty simple gameplay-wise. Rick can jump, punch, kick, and crouch; you can pick up weapons by simply pressing the attack button or crouching when it's lying on the floor, and they can range from a machete to a shotgun. The weapons feel satisfying to use as you utilize them at the correct time, but they are limited in certain areas as you enter the following room, the weapon is gone, so most of the time you rely on your punches and kicks. He can also perform the hard-to-pull-off slide kick by jumping diagonally left or right and then doing the crouch kick when he lands on the ground, and it feels satisfying to do it. I think the stages themselves are decent, if not for some trial-and-error; you just gotta memorize when the enemies will strike and when is the right time to perform the attacks or jumps. I think Stages 5 and 6 are the worst in my opinion; they're either overly long or just have obnoxious enemy placements, but once you've learned the stages themselves, they ain't too bad.

Overall, I had a good time with Splatterhouse. While I think the combat is pretty basic with some annoying stage design, the visual horror the game is trying to emulate from popular horror films at the time makes this one stand out.

Played the arcade version via Namco Museum (Switch).

I've played a lot of Mega Man content this year, so what better way to satiate my love for this series than trying out some Mega Man-like games, and the one that caught my eye the most was Gravity Circuit. Developed by Domesticated Ant Games, the game centers around Kai, an amnesiac lone hero who harnesses the power of the Gravity Circuit and has awakened only to discover that the eight guardians who were previously protectors have joined the opposing Virus Army. He now must fight his old allies from wreaking more havoc and save the world with some assistance from Kernel of the Guardian Corps and the eccentric Nega. Kai will eventually regain his memories as he takes down more of his former allies, giving us glimpses into their dynamics and how they used to cooperate as a team. I found the other characters to be interesting when interacting with them in the headquarters, and it does a good job with characterization. The story isn't entirely original or complex, but I don't think it needs to be for a fun 2D action platformer like this, and I was satisfied with how the story was told.

What matters most in a game like Gravity Circuit is having fast and smooth gameplay that provides an enjoyable experience to the player and encourages replayability, and let me tell you, they've delivered. The game is sort of a hybrid between an action platformer and a beat 'em-up; Kai doesn't have a special weapon equipped at all times but instead relies on melee attacks, depending on the directional inputs. He can dash and also grab enemies and chuck them like they're yesterday's garbage, it's great. Kai has a grappling hook perfect for swinging through ceilings, but can also be used to reach far-items and attack enemies. It's a nifty tool for speeding past obstacles and incorporating it into your move set, using the skills you've learned and using that as an advantage towards the enemies and level design.

Kai has access to passive circuits that can fine-tune his abilities, like giving him a double jump and grip through walls without sliding down. Some of these enhancements are fun to use, and it was worth utilizing my skills to save all the civilians to purchase these abilities. He also has access to purchase burst techniques that are tied to a Burst action with a directional button press. I feel a sense of satisfaction when executing properly against a major but be mindful of these powerful moves as you're limited to how many times you can use them before they need recharging. Still, firing a powerful punch and sending a shockwave is cool to pull off and naturally fulfilling.

The levels are fun to traverse as I love using the environment to my advantage and uncover secrets that I've missed, and it's made better with quality-of-life features. In Gravity Circuit, spikes and bottomless pits don't equate to instant death like in the Mega Man games, rather it sends you back to the checkpoint or to the platform you've failed to overcome previously. It provides accessibility that doesn't interfere with the pacing while still giving the player a challenge, and the final few levels remind me of that. I would say the only flaw I have with Gravity Circuit is the headquarters, because outside of interacting with people and buying upgrades from the shop, there isn't much to do outside of that, but this is just minor.

Gravity Circuit is a damn good time. The visual presentation is top-notch, the animation and controls are fluid and snappy, the music is a jam, and I like how the characters and plot were told. This is one of the best platformers to come out this year, and if you love Mega Man X, this is a must recommend.

Minakuchi Engineering is back and... better than ever? Mega Man III Game Boy marks the return of Dr. Wily's Revenge developer creating another sequel that is more of the same as its precursors, but with different Robot Masters from pre-existing games, this time with Snake Man, Shadow Man, Spark Man, and Gemini Man from Mega Man 3 (NES) and Drill Man, Skull Man, Dive Man, and Dust Man from Mega Man 4 (NES). Every Robot Master stage has been mostly recreated on a smaller scale, and for a Game Boy game in 1992, looks impressive. They also implemented the charge shot and slide abilities from Mega Man 3 and 4 (NES) which is a godsend because some of these levels are kind of difficult without them. The challenge returns in Mega Man World 3; not as bs as Dr. Wily's Revenge, but it does ramp up in difficulty in the second half. The Mega Man 3 half isn't that bad, but the Mega Man 4 half can be sort of a pain (Dust Man and the later half of Dive Man's stage can piss off), but with some trial and error, they ain't too bad. I don't have much to say about the end game except for the new Mega Man Killer, Punk; I think he's an interesting character design-wise and Suzy isn't that bad of a mid-boss.

Mega Man World 3 is a slight improvement over 2, just slightly because of the returning challenge and the non-screeching music, but other than that, meh.

From disappointment to improvement. Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II improves on the first game while still being a mediocre product. It fixes the physics and momentum that the Dimps fucked up with in Episode 1, the levels are better designed, the special stages are a hundred times better than the claustrophobic maze, and the visuals have improved somewhat. I also like the new Tag Combo Sonic and Tails can utilize that cannot be crossed with just speed. There's a bit of fun to be had here to my surprise, but I wouldn't put it up there with the classic Sonic games. The music is hit or miss, and it's very transparent that Jun Senoue isn't the best when it comes to chiptune music, and we still see that today with Sonic Origins with a few of Sonic 3's music had to be changed due to legal issues. Even though I think the level design is an improvement, it's still bland and uninspired, and after finishing the game in about three hours, I feel nothing except pleased that I'm done with this game.

Well at least I finally played the duology, and I'm hear to say that I wasn't missing much.