Oh man this game is awesome! Donkey Kong '94 takes the original 1981 arcade game and expands upon it, and it's wonderful. You first start with the initial four levels from the original game, thinking it's just Donkey Kong on the go, but you are mistaken. The first four stages are like the tutorial of the game because, in reality, it is a much bigger game that we've ever realized

Donkey Kong '94 is more of a puzzle platformer, as you traverse through multiple stages that have a key that you must take to the appropriate door to clear the level, while the rest of the stages rely on you vs Donkey Kong whether it's reaching to the top or just chucking barrels at him Mario Bros. 2 style

Speaking of chucking at things, Mario has a variety of moves under his belt. You have your typical jump, but he also can do a backflip, a handstand, and he can even fall farther distances before he loses a life. He can use the hammer and toss it up before he can grab it again when needing it to use it for a higher area. Combining this with the game's tight controls, and I was having a blast controlling Mario. Mario also does a little roll after falling enough height, so you gotta be careful of where you trying to position Mario here

There's a constant barrage of new mechanics, and each one of them is presented in a little cutscene in every fourth of the level cleared, and they don't overstay their welcome. Mario can swing on wires, these little switches are floating in the air and when touching them, you can summon a giant spring and a flat surface that can be a great lifesaver if Mario can't make the fall, or can swim up on waterfalls, etc, and every single cutscene gives a little more personality to the characters and does a great job of showing you what extra things Mario can do in this game

Donkey Kong '94 is a great follow-up to the classic arcade game. With 101 bite-sized levels to traverse to, Mario's athleticism, and loads of personality make this one of the best Game Boy games of all time. Whether you play this on an original Game Boy, 3DS (Get it before it closes), SNES via Super Game Boy, emulating it, etc, you're in for a real good time

I haven't played this for long before it shut down, so I'm just going to tell you about my two-hour experience with the game. Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier is a bit of a tragedy. While I hate the oversaturation of games when it comes to the FFVII universe, I can't deny that I had some enjoyment with the game

This was Square Enix's answer to PUBG, and it's decent for what it is. You're dropped into a few familiar places of Midgar with 74 other players, and compete to become the last man standing. It's a typical battle royale game, but with a Final Fantasy VII twist. For instance, you have access to different Styles that you can equip before you start the game. Whether it's a Warrior, Dragoon, or Ninja, each one has its own abilities and advantages, and disadvantages that the player can use

For example, a Warrior uses the sword
and excels in melee combat, but they can also be at risk since they're dependent on close-range combat. They also have a set of abilities like Rush, as they can move rapidly toward the direction they're looking at. Each player also has access to magic abilities and materia. I'm not going to explain what the magic does since it's sort of self-explanatory at this point, but it's nice that it can be leveled up, and I have no comment on the materia and what it can do. I also have no comment on the Chocobo breeding side quest either since I only used it for like five minutes

Another thing exclusive to The First Soldier is that you'll see familiar Final Fantasy VII enemies in every battle, like Military Police or Bombs; so it's not just online players you have to worry about attempting to eliminate you, and you'll know this because the FFVII Remake version of "Let the Battles Begin" will play once you hit a specific enemy. Some may take forever to kill if you don't have the right weakness from my experience, but you do get some rewards from killing a certain amount of enemies like items and exp to level up your player. Oh yeah your health also increases when leveling up; cool I guess

Fundamentally, this is a battle royale game but with RPG elements that make it stand out from the others. While it's cool that we have access to the abilities alongside your guns, this also leads to my biggest issue with the game, and it's the control scheme. I don't hate it as much as others, but it’s not great either; it's a bit cluttered since we're talking a mobile game here, but I got used to it for a bit

While I only played 5 games (3 of which I won), this game had potential if this wasn't exclusive to mobile devices, and I think that is solely the reason why the game was a failure. If this wasn't exclusive to IOS and Android, I think The First Soldier could've gotten a proper shot here, but alas it's dead now

But one question remains. Since the game has shut down for good, who is exactly The First Soldier?

Out of all the indie games that came out in 2022, Stray was the title that took the internet by storm for obvious reasons. You can play as a cat and interact with the environment by doing the typical things a normal cat would do. Now I'm not a cat person by any means, but I liked my experience of what the game has to offer

You play as an orange stray cat. After falling off a broken pipe, you are plunged into a decaying cybercity populated by robots, machines, and mutant bacteria, where humans ceased to exist. Little later on, you'll encounter B-12, a little drone buddy to assist you on your journey of setting out in returning to the surface. It's simple, but I think that's all you need for a game like this

Speaking of simple, Stray is a third-person adventure game involving basic platforming and an emphasis on puzzle-solving. The platforming can be done with the press of a button when near specific platforms and ledges, while the puzzles are more so moving stuff around and messing with the NPCs. The puzzles themselves for the most part are short and aren't that complex to figure out, but that's not a bad thing. With a game like Stray having puzzles that are short but give off a little challenge and making it accessible to newcomers is a W in my book

That said, I do have a few issues with the game. The first problem I have with the game is that it feels rushed near the end. I'm not going to get into spoilers, but when you get to the final area of the game, there are barely any puzzles to solve. It's just that one door you need to open in order to get access to the room that'll open up the city and trigger the ending for this orange stray. I have no problem with short games at all, but the endgame feels underdeveloped

The other issue I have is the game not letting us do more of the things cats do in everyday life. Let me explain, everyone's first thoughts when they watched the trailer is something like "oh cool, we can experience what it's like to be a cat." Yes, that is there, and that's the highlight of the game, however, the rest of the game consists of the robot citizens that I mentioned earlier. I don't hate them, I just wish we have some more moments in the story where we can be disconnected from the robots for a bit and freely wander and do the cat things the game promises, like at the beginning of the whole game

Stray is a decent indie game while also being the best video game where we play as a cat. As I've mentioned before, the game is not long at all; it should take you around 4-6 hours to beat, and there is a bit of replayability for people who love the game or completionists like myself. I recommend this to anyone who loves cats and wants a more shorter experience. I like the game, but I strongly disagree with this being the Best Indie Game of 2022 or a GOTY nominee at The Game Awards. I think there are a lot of indie games that year that deserve that spot in my opinion

After loving Sonic Adventure, I had high hopes for going into Sonic Adventure 2: Battle for the first time. I have heard online from some of my favorite YouTubers and social media that this game is the best 3D Sonic game of all time. Where do I stand with this? Let's just delve right in

First off, the game goes for a more linear structure rather than an sort of open-ended hub world like in the first game, focusing on more of the levels themselves. I don't mind that at all, and for a game like Sonic Adventure 2 being linear isn't a bad thing, most of the time. The game is split into three stories; Hero, Dark, and Final Story. Each playable character has their own set of levels, playstyles, and music

Sonic and Shadow are the fast-paced ones, with their goal being to simply reach their targeted destination. Speaking of Shadow, Sonic Adventure 2 marks his debut as the anti-hero hedgehog and the rival to Sonic. First impressions of his debut is pretty solid, and made me like the character even more. Anyway, we have Tails and Eggman's stages which consists of them riding on their mechs, destroying robots in their path and reach the goal. Lastly, we have Knuckles and Rouge's stages, which consists of finding three shattered pieces of the Master Emerald like in the first game. Speaking of, this also marks the debut of Rouge as a white bat who is a determined treasure hunter, a part-time government, and acts as a rival to Knuckles

I love how there is so much variety in all of the levels and they are fun to complete; it's just a shame that the later levels are an exercise in frustration. Enemies constantly appear and they randomly drop when I was getting constant speed. It honestly feels like I'm being punished for going fast in the Sonic and Shadow stages. I don't mind a game being challenging, but it can feel cheap at times

Remember when I said that its variety of levels are one of its strengths a few sentences ago? I think it's also one of its weaknesses too. It feels a bit underdeveloped, an example I can think of is the treasure hunting stages. It feels like a bit of a downgrade compared to the first game where the detector only detects the specific Emerald piece in numerical order rather than detecting multiple pieces when something is close to them. Meteor Herd and Mad Space are infamous example of this, as these are the longest I've spent in a level, aside from Cannon's Core. Speaking of, the Final Story takes all of the later Hero and Dark levels and combines it into one aggravating mess, with Cannon's Core and the boss, Biolizard. I wouldn't have a problem with Biolizard if they just removed the water current that screws me up sometimes. Needless to say, I was livid near the end and I just wanted to be done with it, but at least Final Hazard wasn't that bad

One of the best things to come out of Sonic Adventure 2 is the soundtrack. In my opinion, one of the best Sonic OSTs since mostly ever song featured is a certified banger. God, City Escape, Pumpkin Hill, For True Story, Live & Learn, etc, are all excellent. Live & Learn is one of the best songs for a final boss, period. While both Adventure 1 and Adventure 2's soundtracks are both greats, I'm giving the slightest edge to Adventure 2's

One more positive thing about this game is the Chao Garden. While I haven't spent that much time there, I can't deny that raising and feeding you Chaos is adorable, and one of the best things to come out of the Sonic series

Despite my issues, I still enjoyed Sonic Adventure 2: Battle. While I don't agree with this being the best 3D Sonic game, I can totally see why some people do and hold it near to their hearts. While I enjoyed my experience with Sonic Adventure 2, I still think the first Adventure is the best out of the 3D Sonic games I've played

It really is a shame that the Turbografx-16 never took off in the West and we had to miss out on Rondo of Blood until it was localized in the late 2000s. To make up for this, we had to make do with a reimagining of sorts with Castlevania: Dracula X. The plot and characters are the same, but it is a clearly different beast than its 1993 PC Engine release. In this review, I want to talk about what they've changed in Dracula X that really impacted how I feel with this game particularly

Right off the bat, there are no cutscenes in the game, which is to be expected since cramming it into a Super Nintendo cartridge is a technical impossibility. All of the same controls, sub-weapons, and item crashes all were carried over from Rondo of Blood, so I'm not going to reiterate of what they do; but what I can say is that Richter controls here are nice and responsive

For this adventure, the ones that needs rescuing only are Maria and Annette, and yes you can save Maria, but you can't play as her; it's Richter from beginning to end in this game. There are a total of 9 levels with only two altenate stages with Stage 4' and 5', with one you need to get to if you are still willing to go for the true ending, like I did

Later in Stage 3, you must obtain the key and cannot fall off because if you do, it will send you straight down to Stage 4' meaning you are unable to save the girls. You must also carry the key to Stage 4, and if you die on this stage where Maria is being held captive, you lose the key, meaning you have to go back to the menu and put in the specific password to try again. I honestly can't do this without using save states beause that is a huge task for someone who is playing this blind. And this isn't the only time I had to use save states, and oh boy I will get to that later

I can say that the music is kept relatively intact in the transition, and they are worthy to be called Castlevania music. There are a few songs I prefer over Rondo of Blood like Ghost Ship Painting and Den, but it just cannot compete with the CD audio that made Rondo of Blood's soundtrack so excellent

The major culprit here is the level design. It is needlessly difficult and that's where my frustration came into play. Bottomless pits are back full force, and I cannot tell you how stupid the level design is in the second-half of the game. For some reason, there are no invincibility frames in this game, meaning I can get hit constantly by enemies, and it's more aggravating with the smaller ones like Bats and Medusa Heads. It's like if the developers looked at Stage 5' from Rondo of Blood and implement its bullshit difficulty to all of the levels

Stage 6 in my opinion is the worst level in the game. The first-half isn't awful, but the second-half can just fuck right off. In the vertical section, there are Spear Guards placed in very awkward positions with bats coming out from the right. They randomly spawn just to ruin Richter's day and I was not having it. After the vertical section, there are certain gears Richter has to jump to, but Skull Heads can easily mess you up, and they are a one-way ticket for plummeting to your death. I was also not having it with Death either, and most of my deaths were by his spin attack. All of this combined led to an exercise in frustration and using save states as my saving grace. I don't mind a challenge, and the level design could've been decent if they got rid of the unnecessary shit and add in invincibility frames, cause this is just poor level design in the later half

Lastly, who the hell designed the Dracula fight? Dracula in Rondo of Blood was a decent challenge, but did they really have to add bottomless pits into the mix? Just one wrong move and I plummet to my death. It also takes forever for Dracula to reach the destination you were expecting him to warp to in order to attack; so not only is this frustrating, it's also tedious. The best sub-weapon for this fight in particular is easily the Cross, and please save your hearts for his second form to trigger multiple item crashes that can drain his damage. This took me about an hour to finish him off with me mindlessly abusing the save state feature that takes me back to the beginning of the fight. This is easily the worst Dracula fight I've ever encountered so far, and I don't want to think of coming back to it

Castlevania: Dracula X is ok at best, but bullshit at worst. Comparing to its SNES predecessor, Super Castlevania IV, feels like a downgrade in mostly all departments. I want to say it was decent when I first started playing it, but I can't bring myself to do that. This was a painful experience, and this was not fun to play

Neon White is genuinely the most entertaining I had with a video game in 2022. Everything about this game is awesome, from its fast-paced and exhilarating gameplay focusing on movement that encourages you to speedrun, to the gorgeous visuals that oozes style, its dumb-but-enjoyable story with its colorful characters, and the banging soundtrack. I never heard of Machine Girl before, but goddamn I think I'm a fan now!

Neon White is one of those indie games that shouldn't be missed. I haven't played a lot of 2022 games this year, but this is easily one of my favorite indie games and most importantly my 2022 GOTY

Listen, I like Super Mario Bros, and probably someone at Nintendo says "Hey, let's do more of Mario 1, but make it harder." That is a short summary of what Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels is; notoriously hard, but also kind of cheap. This is just a straight-up expansion pack of Super Mario Bros rather than a sequel. Literally, everything is the same besides a few new textures and the infamous Poison Mushroom

Howard Phillips really saved us the trouble until we recieved this game under Super Mario All-Stars. While I haven't beaten that version of The Lost Levels, I believe that is a much better way to play this game than the Famicom original, and I was certainly not going to replay the game 7 more times to play through Worlds A-D, no sir. I couldn't beat this game without the Nintendo Switch Online's save states because how were kids back in Japan were able to beat this?

This is without a doubt my least favorite 2D Mario game, and I am certainly not going to replay it in the near future, at least the Famicom original

The iconic game with the iconic mascot in all of gaming history. After replaying it via the Nintendo Switch Online service, I still find it to be ok

The controls and level design are ok, but the big issue I have with the game is that there are no continues. Yes, this was a game released at the launch of the NES, so there are no save features, but some of the later levels can be a bit difficult

It's still an important game in the franchise and it's difficult not to recommend it to see Mario's early years in the gaming world, but don't expect this to be on par with the later installments that came after this NES classic

I don't understand how people think this is the substandard version of Sonic Adventure, because, in reality, it's not. Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut in my opinion is a solid remaster of the Dreamcast original. While the visuals have aged more than the ones on the Dreamcast, it is by no means an inferior product, unlike Sonic Colors Ultimate. In fact, there are a few minor things that make DX a great experience

For one, we can now skip cutscenes with the Start button. That is huge because Sonic Adventure is by no means a short game, and some of the cutscenes are the same but with different character perspectives. There's also the new mission mode. After beating the game, there are 60 missions for you to complete. These missions range from carrying a person to their destination, popping balloons, etc. While I only played a few, I found the missions and the completion reward to be a little underwhelming. There's also the new Mini Game Collection. When you obtain a certain amount of emblem, you will unlock one of the Sonic Game Gear games, and there are 12 of them to unlock; a few that have never been released outside of the West until the GameCube era. While I didn't go for 100% (at least not yet), I love there's a reason to collect all 130 emblems instead of collecting them all just for bragging rights. Speaking of getting all the emblems, you will also unlock Metal Sonic as a playable character; and while it's cool that we got to see Metal in Adventure visuals, this reward feels a bit underwhelming in my eyes

I feel like people exaggerate when they point out the number of glitches DX has because I haven't encountered any of them throughout my playthrough. Maybe because I was playing the GameCube version and that has the least amount of glitches compared to the other ports from what I heard online, and sure there are some infamous ones (thanks Game Grumps), but it's not that bad

Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut in my opinion is an overhated remaster. I feel like people underestimate this game focusing on the negatives rather than focusing on what's improved and added over the original. If you want to play Sonic Adventure, either one of these versions I've mentioned here is fine. Sonic Adventure is janky at times, but I love it anyway

Thank you Game Grumps for not only ruining the reputation of the remaster, but also ruining the reputation of Sonic Adventure itself

Gunman Clive is a simple indie run-n-gun with a little bit of challenge that is easily worth the $2 (or $5 if you have the HD Collection). What drew me into the game was the sketch-shaded aesthetic that fits the Western atmosphere very well, alongside its music

While the whole game lasts about 30 minutes to complete, it is very replayable with three characters to play as, each control a little differently from the other

There are not a lot of video games where we can play as a duck, we should fix that

Castlevania: Bloodlines is what's considered by many to be another solid entry into the series that has been made more accessible thanks to the Castlevania Anniversary Collection (which I played for this review) and the Genesis Mini back in 2019; and after experiencing it with both characters, I can totally see why

The game takes place in a post-WW1 setting where Elizabeth Bartley, the niece of Dracula, unleashes a global war and use the souls to revive the dark prince. It's crazy to think how vampires can start a world war, but it's whatever

At the start of the game, you are given a choice between two characters; John Morris and Eric Lecarde. John is your typical vampire hunter that plays similarly to all the other Belmonts by whipping horizontally, but can also whip diagonally upward and straight down while jumping with the signature vampire killer. John can also use the whip to swing through ceilings like a grappling hook, which I found fun to use. John also serves as a tangible connection to Bram Stoker's Dracula. While I haven't watched the movie or read the novel myself, I found that to be neat

Eric Lecarde wields the Alucard Spear. While his spear is not as powerful as John's whip, I found him to be the better character out of the two, mainly because he can attack in six different directions and has the neat special ability to make a huge leap when holding down the d-pad or analog stick and releasing it, which can be great for skipping a small chunk of the level like in Stage 4. Both characters have access to the same sub-weapons and have unique abilities for their weapons when upgraded

Rather than being limited to only Dracula's Castle, you're traveling all across Europe, from the flooded city of Greece to the blood fountain that leads to the Versailles Palace of France, all of the six levels are long, more varied, and memorable. I love the visual style of Bloodlines. While it isn't as colorful and detailed as the SNES version, the game provides very richly detailed backgrounds that are striking to look at, like the blood fountain I've mentioned before

This also marks the debut of Michiru Yamane as the composer for the Castlevania series, and she did not disappoint with this soundtrack. From the first stage with Reincarnated Soul to the creepy vibe of The Discolored Wall to the adrenaline-pumping Iron-Blue Intention to the Genesis rendition of Simon's theme, she killed it

Now let's talk about the elephant in the room, the limited continues, which is the sole reason why this game is challenging. You see, I came up with this neat little strategy called utilizing the password system. Doing this helps me learn more about the level and what is a great way to persevere it, making my plan of clearing it come to fruition

Overall, I consider Castlevania: Bloodlines to be one of the best games in the series so far, and one of the best games on the Sega Genesis. When I started playing the 16-bit entries, I come to appreciate how there was room for experimentation when it came to the 4th generation of consoles that became mainstays in the franchise or have simply paid off. From the free movement of how we can wield the whip in Super Castlevania IV, to the alternative pathways and exploration in Rondo of Blood, each game stands out from the rest, and Bloodlines is no exception. While I don't think is the best 16-bit Castlevania game, that still goes to Super Castlevania IV for me; this is a Top 5 for me so far. If you have the Anniversary Collection or Genesis Mini, there is no excuse for you to not play it