Pilchard
Beautiful, mechanically dense kart racer for the real freaks out there. Eternally grateful Kart Krew stuck to their guns and made a game that's not just Mario Kart again.
1998
Raced a friend to see who could clear any% in under an hour first (I won of course). This is actually a pretty boring game to play casually but it's really fun to speedrun, helped by it's more open-ended progression. The visuals and music are also incredible, but that goes without saying. Giving it a 4, but if I was rating a casual playthrough it'd probably be a 2.5 or a 3.
Surprisingly solid for what it is, full of that classic Treasure charm. Mechanically it's very simple but the levels change things up enough to keep it interesting for at least one playthrough.
2018
Solid 2 lane Taiko-like with hold notes and other gimmicks. An insane amount of content for the price with the "Just as Planned" DLC (though I believe it's not avaliable any more). Note timing could be a little tighter, the game is a bit too mash-friendly. I also wish there was a less grindy way to unlock all of the Master difficulties and that you could see your scores without having to click on each song individually. Still, it's hard to argue I didn't get my money's worth. Some good tracks in here too.
Pretty satisfying to go through, but not really a fan of how linear it is. Each level having it's own clearly optimal path to go down takes a lot of the magic out of something I feel like I could have enjoyed a lot more.
1998
I love how charming this game is, it really wowed me when I first started going through it - unfortunately it all just ends up feeling a bit repetitive and too long for it's own good.
2023
Great Battlefield clone. 127v127 is a bit too chaotic for my taste and the progression system sucks (though they've taken some measures to make it a bit better recently). Just nice to hop on every now and then to blow things up and hear people scream over proximity chat, good fun.
2023
Pretty cool, throwing things in this game never gets old. The enemy variety wasn't really there, but the bosses were pretty fun. The upgrade system didn't do much for me - especially the burst techniques, there were so many I largely didn't bother with them. Pretty solid release, glad I went through it a couple times.
It's fine. It looks and sounds nice, the gameplay feels solid enough, but nothing in particular really stands out to me. The motorbike sections looked cool but were incredibily boring and the game makes you wait around more than I'd like. I really thought this one was going to click with me more, I can't really put my finger on why I was so underwhelmed.
2023
Insanely good Sonic hack. Visuals and audio were top notch, loved the challenge and the bosses were all really fun. Some bits were a little cheesy and I could have done without the story, but man what a great time.
1999
Sick as hell, kind of like a rail shooter in 2D. Love how it twists your brain having to pay attention to the bullets, the terrain and where your shikigami is at the same time. Wonder why no indie dev's ever stolen this idea and ran with it because this is amazing.
1990
Ridiculously slow, easy action sequences broken up by boring RPG-style overworld sections and repeated random encounters. The whole game is just padding doing things over and over again in between short levels. I hear Demon's Crest is very good but the first game certainly wasn't. God I miss Ghosts 'n Goblins...
Despite being "Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts", it really feels like a step back. The biggest thing is not being able to shoot up and down, but a lot of other things weigh the experience down too. In previous entries you're constantly clawing forwards, not going too quickly you run straight into danger, but not hanging around in one place and getting overwhelmed. While the second level is the biggest offender, the game has a lot more sections where you're just waiting around for things to happen, it feels like it doesn't respect your time nearly as much. Also wasn't really a fan of what the double jump added to the experience. It's a shame, I really wanted to like this more with how much I enjoyed Ghouls 'n Ghosts.
1988
The first game but way better. Loved all the new additions, especially being able to aim up and down. Brutally hard but never unfair, an absolute joy to go through.
1985
It's kinda bullshit, but oddly compelling bullshit. The game makes you cautious of every step you take, the satisfaction of really nailing a section that seemed almost impossible before is incredibly satisfying. Ended up setting up a savestate at each checkpoint to make the game a lot more tolerable but also not totally trivialise it.