I don’t know my rogue-likes or my rogue-lites, but from what I’ve played of this I can definitely tell it is not for me.

It looks visually stunning of course with how well the backgrounds are designed with a good contrast to the characters that really makes the whole world feel lived in. Even during enemy encounters nothing ever felt so cluttered and I usually have the perfect visual clarity in understanding where the enemies and Zagreus are. The soundtrack compliments the game really well with instruments that really sell the whole Greek gods mythos with a really nice crunchy sound design during combat that makes slaying enemies so satisfying. All the voice actors absolutely nail their performances of these characters in making them larger than life immortals as you can really hear the personalities just from the voices alone. At least in its presentation, Hades is pretty close to being flawless in all honesty.

But it doesn’t click with me. As well-designed as these characters are, they don’t really intrigue me whatsoever. They might have more going on beyond what archetypes they fulfill, but from as far as I got with every character and their bonding I can’t say I ever became more invested over them. I think the story as a whole is kind of interesting? I like how they leave a lot of the motivations for the characters actions but upon certain revelations i can’t say I ever had a strong emotional reaction to any of it. Maybe if I was more invested in the characters the events would hit harder for me, who knows. Its serviceable, but I want to be optimistic and assume I didn’t invest enough into getting more into the intricacies of the narrative.

My biggest grip though in Hades is definitely within its gameplay. I can’t imagine going 30 hours grinding through the same areas over and over slowly progressing to the next area and beating the boss. Apparently this is like the whole deal with roguelikes? Yeah, I definitely can’t get into this. The combat itself is pretty simple with the different attacks and the powerups you can get as you traverse through the chambers. However, its simplicity also makes it awfully repetitive to play the tenth escape attempt. Is it cool to see Zagreus being able to interact more with the NPCs whenever you fail? Yeah, but it just isn’t worth it for me from what I’ve seen of the story so far.

I think this is a good game if you can vibe with what it’s going for. It's not for me, but I’d ultimately still recommend it to many because I can see the appeal of it and the possibility I might not be giving it a fair shot.

Have you ever been on a ride in a theme park that, at first, seems like a really fun time and you are having quite a wonderful time with it, but then you find it is suddenly over after what feels like a couple of seconds? That is pretty much how I would summarize what it is like playing the original Kirby’s Dream Land: it is fun enough for the time it lasts, but it is over before it really offers you anything majorly exciting or substantial, even if we are ignoring how dated it is compared to every other Kirby game that comes afterwards. Thankfully though, this series was able to bounce back with Kirby’s Adventure, which not only took the basics of what Kirby’s Dream Land had and expanded upon them, but also added new series staples like copy abilities, fun little minigames to play on the side, LOTS to do, and some wonderful visuals and music that makes it one of the best games that you could play on the NES. So, now that they had a proper formula on their hands that was also pretty successful, HAL Laboratory knew exactly where they needed to go from here, which you can see start to blossom with the release of Kirby’s Dream Land 2.

I don’t remember exactly when I played this particular installment of the series, but I do know it was after I had already played a good amount of the other games in the series. I was bored one day, was browsing around the Kirby’s Dream Collection, saw this as one of the games on there, so I figured I would try it out, and based on what I played, I thought it was pretty good at the time. Coming back to it after all this time, I would say that I still hold that opinion to this day, as it is a pretty solid entry in the series, and a great follow-up to the original Kirby’s Dream Land. It isn’t perfect by any means, having its own issues that do make some parts of the game unpreferable to me, but it manages to still be good ol’ classic Kirby fun all the way through, and that’s all I really care about.

The story is about what you would expect from a Kirby game, where in the magical world of Dream Land, King Dedede, seemingly being controlled by an unknown, supernatural force, steals all of the rainbow bridges that connect all of the Rainbow Islands to each other, all as part of his plan to take over the world, so it is up to Kirby to once again set out on a journey to stop King Dedede and find out what is really going on here, which is a simple enough premise that fans of the series could easily get behind, especially with what it all leads to towards the end of the game. The graphics are Game Boy graphics, looking almost identical to that of the original Kirby’s Dream Land, but there are plenty of additional pieces of animation, much more detailed characters and baddies, and personality to be seen here, so it does look better as a whole, the music is pretty good, with there being plenty of tracks, old and new, for fans to appreciate and enjoy, despite some issues with some themes that I will get into later, and the gameplay/control is pretty much exactly what you would expect, with the game taking both Kirby’s Dream Land and the best aspects of Kirby’s Adventure and mashing them together, making for a game that works pretty well in almost all areas, and one that both fans old and new would be able to have a great time with.

The game is a 2D platformer, where you take control of Kirby once again, go through seven different worlds throughout your journey, each containing their own set of levels for you to play through, run, jump, float, swallow, and spit your way through plenty of different obstacles and adorable foes, gather plenty of food items to heal yourself and/or give you temporary invincibility, along with plenty of copy abilities from enemies that you can wield throughout the stages, such as Cutter, Spark, Stone and Parasol, and take on plenty of bosses, both old and new, that can range from being extremely easy to pretty damn difficult……. ok, well, I would only say one of these bosses falls under that difficult banner, but still, it's there. Most could just view this game as a typical Kirby adventure with no bells and whistles, nothing more and nothing less, but it does still make for a solid adventure that you can easily enjoy from start to finish, especially for big Kirby fans like me, and there are several new additions to the game that do make it more interesting to play……. for better or worse.

Obviously, the biggest change that this game introduces, as can be seen by the cover of the game, is with the introduction of three animal buddies that Kirby can find throughout the entire game, consisting of Rick the Hamster, Coo the Owl, and Kine the Sunfish. Each one of them acts as a supporting unit for Kirby, allowing them to assist not just in progressing through levels and taking out enemies, but also as a means of getting through specific terrain, such as with Coo working really well in the air, and Kine doing wonders for underwater sections, as to be expected. Not only that, but they can also use copy abilities like Kirby can, making them even more versatile than ever before, and better to use in some cases. For example, when you are playing as Kirby and you are using the Cutter ability, he just throws the one standard blade, which does get the job done, but doesn’t allow for much range other than for what is directly in front of you. However, whenever you use Coo the Owl with the cutter ability, you are able to throw three sharp feathers at once, allowing you to take out plenty more enemies at a time, making them the much more preferable option.

So yeah, using these animal buddies can be very helpful, and they definitely make plenty of the sections in the game much more of a spring breeze than others………….. but, I don’t typically go out of my way to use them that much. That’s not because I think any of them are bad to use, not at all, but there is one thing that does irritate me about them, and that is the music. Each animal buddy has their own specific theme made for them, and whenever you are on one of these animal buddies, that theme will be playing CONSTANTLY while you remain attached to them, which does really suck, especially for someone who loves hearing the different kinds of music in these Kirby games. Thankfully though, that is only a very minor issue, and I can still rely on them for help on plenty of occasions, despite their themes getting drilled into my head every time.

Other than that though, the game pretty much just plays like your typical Kirby adventure. You run around, ya jump, you suck up enemies, you do a little dance at the end of levels, it’s all the basic shit you have seen before, with there not being too many grievances to get in the way of you having fun, aside from maybe an annoying level here or there. This could, again, make the game seem generic to those from an outside perspective, as well as those who are more used to later games in the series, but, for me at least, I think the reason this game works is that it is the best of both worlds for Kirby at this point. I imagine plenty of people back in the day would play the original Kirby’s Dream Land while on a road trip with family, in the back seat of the car with nothing else going on, but would probably be disappointed by how quickly it goes by, and how it doesn’t offer that much of a reason to revisit it. Thankfully though, with all of the different additions from Kirby’s Adventure, this makes the second game much more fun and meaty, giving plenty for the player to do on said long car trips, as well as plenty to experiment with in terms of the copy abilities and how they can be used, along with the secrets that you can find throughout the levels.

However, with all that being said, this game not only takes some of the best elements of Kirby’s Adventure as influence, but also some of its worst ones as well, as this game also has a problem when it comes to its length. While I wouldn’t say this game is as long as Kirby’s Adventure, it can still last for quite a while, way longer than what you would hope for from a Kirby title on the Game Boy, and while a lot of it is still pretty fun, you can definitely feel it start to drag at some point, and you are just waiting for it to be over. Not to mention, despite the fact that this game brings back the copy abilities from the last game, not only are several staple abilities missing from this game, like Sword and Beam, but they don’t introduce any new abilities in the game whatsoever, with the exception of the Rainbow Sword, but that can only be used for the final boss. I can kinda understand why these were left out, considering that some of the abilities we have here function almost in exactly the same way, but it does suck nontheless to see them ignored, as well as having no new ones to mess around with as well.

And finally, there is the aspect of getting 100% in this game… or at least, to get the best ending, because I didn’t bother going for all that other meaningless shit. In order to do this, you need to collect the Rainbow Drops, these mystical items that serve as the collectibles in this game, with there being only seven of them, one for each world. That in itself doesn’t sound too bad, and for getting some of these, it really isn’t, but MY GOD, getting some of these things requires you to do some of the mosts tedious and annoying shit I have ever seen from one of these early Kirby titles, and it does become a pain in the ass at these points.

For example, there is one Rainbow Drop that requires you to play through the level with Kine while having the Fire ability, while having you do very specific things in order to reach the room that the Rainbow Drop is in, including at one point losing the powerup to take care of one obstacle, and then immediately getting that powerup back before it disappears. Trust me, this is all easier said than done, especially with some ways you can accidently screw yourself over out of getting the shiny droplet in the first place. Thankfully though, this does all lead to the true final boss of the game, who is definitely the hardest of the bunch to fight. I remember struggling quite a bit with this guy, which did cause some frustrations, but hey, I can’t give anything but praise to a boss fight in a Kirby game that is actually challenging. Those are rare to come by.

Overall, despite some issues carrying over from Kirby’s Adventure, as well as how annoying the Rainbow Drops can be, this is a pretty solid sequel to Kirby’s Dream Land all around, and a really good game all on its own, with plenty of levels to go through, plenty of abilities to try out, lots of simple, yet fun challenges to overcome, and several bonus collectibles to go for for those that wanna go that extra mile. I would definitely recommend it for those who are big fans of the Kirby series, as well as those who were wanting even more out of the original Kirby’s Dream Land, because this game will manage to give you exactly what you needed, while still being a fun journey all the way through. Just, you know, try to hold back on the annoying-ass collectibles next time, alright?............. or at least, enough to where I won’t need to get all pissy about it.

Game #593

As one would expect, Mega Man 3 was pretty successful for Capcom, despite not being quite on the same level as the success of Mega Man 2. Nevertheless, a sequel was already being put in development shortly after, even though at this point, given how the SNES was already out, they could have just as easily ended off the NES lineup with 3 and called it a day. Instead, however, they pressed on to make yet another set of games for the system, starting off with Mega Man 4.

So, this is where a majority of people would consider this to be the start of the “lesser” NES Mega Man games. Not bad by any means, but compared what had come before, people would consider this, as well as the two games to follow, very samey, repetitive, and just not as interesting as before. Honestly, I completely understand where people are coming from when they say that… but with that being said, of course I still fucking love Mega Man 4. Would I consider it as good as Mega Man 2 or 3? No, but it is still a fantastic entry in the series, and one that no fan of the franchise should pass up.

The story is pretty much the exact same, except now changing up the characters, which is fine for me, although I don’t understand why now in the 4th entry we are getting a cutscene that details the origins of Mega Man, the graphics are the best in the series so far, even if they appear very similar to that of the previous titles, the music is awesome, no surprise there, the control is just as tight, responsive, and fun as ever, and the gameplay is also just as fun and satisfying as every other mainline entry so far.

If you somehow need a reminder of how the gameplay in Mega Man works, then you should probably see a doctor for your memory loss issues. You run through stages, jumping and shooting through many enemies, getting health and weapon supplies along the way, defeating bosses, gaining their powers, and using those powers to your advantage in other stages. Just like with the previous games, though, they do add a few new features in this game to spice things up. For starters, this is the first game in the series to give you a charge shot, which is very great to see, as it helps out with dealing with a lot of the bigger threats that you will face throughout the game. Sure, it isn’t as big or effective as future charge shots from future games, but for what we have here, it is still pretty great stuff, even if the noise it makes can make other people want to permanently clog up their ears so they can never hear it. I’ve just gotten used to the sound now.

In addition to all the new powers you get throughout the game, as well as the Rush abilities still here, there are also additional hidden powers that you can find in two of the levels, those being Balloon, which is just Item 1 from Mega Man 2, and the Wire, which is a grappling hook that allows you to get to places for extra goodies. Not only does this add replay value to the game, which is always appreciated, but the items themselves are very useful in several scenarios, so it doesn’t feel like too much stuff at once. Not much else to say about the changed gameplay, except for the introduction of Eddie, who shows up in several levels to give you an item, which you can then exploit into him giving you a free E-Tank, which is nice.

In terms of problems with the game, this goes back to something I brought up in my review of Mega Man 3: the padding. In this game, as well as the next two after this, you have to go through two separate final castles to beat the game, because the plot demands that you find out about this obvious twist that you already know going in. Granted, it’s not as annoying as it is in Mega Man 3, but padding is still padding, no matter what form it comes in, and needless to say, the game doesn’t need to be extended for this long, even if I still find it to be fun and challenging. In addition, from here on out, the Rush Jet ability gets nerfed pretty hard. In Mega Man 3, you could move about freely on Rush Jet, allowing you to get to various hard-to-reach areas with little to no trouble. Here, and in every other subsequent game to come after, you can only move up and down while moving forward constantly in the direction you are facing, which isn’t terrible by any means, but it just sucks compared to what we had before. There are also other minor things, like, y’know… Toad Man, but that other stuff doesn’t really bother me too much, and none of the problems did anything to keep me from having a great time

Overall, despite the issues that it has, this is still yet again another fantastic entry in the Mega Man series, and I would definitely recommend it not just for Mega Man fans, but anyone who wants to get into the series in general. I mean, it has the origins of Mega Man in the opening cutscene, so hey, you may as well get people started on this game instead of the first one. Probably would make for a better experience.

Game #196

Let me fill you in with some perspective. I'm someone who used to HATE this game. I hated the controls, the stage gimmicks, the combat, the obnoxious casino levels, the fact that you had to play the game essentially 4 times to fully beat it, etc. I put it down for years after I beat it and that was the end of it.

But years later when I returned to it, I was willing to try and put in the effort to work at getting better at this game's controls and mechanics, learn speedrun tech, all that jazz. I wanted to see what others saw in this game, and low and behold, after putting a lot of time in to improve at this game, Sonic Heroes has quickly become a game I despised, to one of my favorite Sonic games of all time.

I think we should start with the control issue, yes speed formation is slippery and finnicky on a first playthrough, but you have other styles to switch to, power and flight. Both of these are slower and have better traction so it's easier to get a handling on the terrain, but once you DO master speed formation, the movement abilities and cool tricks you can do is second to none. You can rocket accel up slopes and ramps to bypass fan gliding sections, use tornado jump as a means of a double jump, slide off a platform and jump before the animation ends to get crazy distance in the air, combining rocket accel with Tails or Knuckles to get crazy distance, it's super satisfying to pull off.

And in terms of the combat, I'll be the first to say that while it isn't amazing, I think it's very interesting and fun to use for a platformer. You have different means of attacks and different strategies for different enemies (like flying metal enemies needing to be stunned by Tails before it can be taken care of by Knuckles). Knuckles straight punches are super effective at clearing hoards of enemies super fast at the cost of being pretty slippery, but you also have the much safer but slower fireball dunk to take care of enemies this way. Faster combat being a trade off for looser control, while the safer option is more slow. Risk and reward design like this is present all throughout Heroes. Another example of this is using the more unwieldy rocket accel to take off shields and flip the turtle enemies (or even use poles) without slowing down versus stopping to use the whirlwind attack and dealing less damage overall. Leveling up throughout a stage also increases your combat effectiveness tenfold; each character can level up 3 times in a stage, with all levels being reset if you die, rewarding skillful play if you keep your characters leveled throughout. max level speed or flight characters can clear a room much much faster than they originally could against Power, with Power formation absolutely slaughtering giant brutes at max level. And then you get team blast which nukes the entire area you're in killing all enemies on screen, and can also have different effects depending on the team you pick. It's usually best to save Team Blast for when you really need it (such as an area full of enemies with a tough bigger brute character with armor), rather than using it whenever you feel like it.

The levels themselves are a blast to traverse through as well. The levels are expansive with different paths and shortcuts to take with a decent length to each level without any of them really overstaying their welcome. Combine this with the excellent movement mechanics in conjunction with the combat and you have a marvelous high speed platformer.

It's not all perfect though, certain issues I had with the game then still are prevalent now. The casino stages absolutely blow. I don't know who was in charge of the pinball physics needed to go up the tables or steer in Bingo Highway but they completely failed at it. The physics are just all over the place and fluctuate on a whim, often times I can be holding a direction and Sonic just refuses to go in that direction and ends up falling to his death. These can make the pinball sections take forever as you can be constantly stuck on the table because the controls just refuse to work with you at all. The special stages are also still awful. The act of getting to them is fine enough (collecting a key locked in a cage and keeping it throughout the level without getting hurt) but the special stage itself controls like garbage and it's near impossible to see obstacles coming in time while moving at such a ridiculous speed. Team Chaotix as a whole is pretty unremarkable as well, with their gameplay being mission focused. Easily the worst out of all the other teams. The game forcing you to play it multiple times can be a turn off but since I love the core gameplay and level design I'm at least somewhat willing to look past this.

Overall I get why people can not like this game I really do. And I also understand if taking the time to master the controls and mechanics and really "git gud" at the game isn't a guarantee you'll like it (heck I did the same for DMC4 and Sonic Unleashed and I still hate both those games), but I employ you to at the very least give it another look at with everything I said in mind. Sonic Heroes is a very weird but extremely rewarding experience. (Also you don't have that stupid Chao raising crap and the upgrade system is gone + no mechs so I consider this better than SA2 by default. Maybe one day I'll try and 100% the game and get Super Hard Mode.)

As I have made perfectly clear throughout past reviews, I absolutely love the Mega Man franchise, and I have considered it my absolute favorite video game series for a very long time. However… it wasn’t always my favorite series of video games. Before I had my undying love for the blue bomber, I had an undying love for the Kirby franchise as well, a love that I still hold onto to this very day. Ever since I first experienced Kirby Squeak Squad on the DS as a young lad, I have had nothing but pure adoration for this series, playing almost all of the games at this point, and having almost nothing but good things to say for every single one. To this day, I still consider Kirby to be my second favorite video game franchise of all time, right behind Mega Man, and I doubt anything could ever come along to change that. So, I figured for my 300th review on this website (jesus christ, I have wasted my life away), I figured I would finally give this series the love it deserves with its very first entry, Kirby’s Dream Land.

I don’t quite remember when exactly I first played this entry in the Kirby series, but I know for sure that it was after I played plenty of the later (and significantly better) games in the series, so going back to where it all began originally was kind of rough, especially with what had been established in later games. However, I was able to look past that for the most part, and judge it on its own merits, as well as how it works as the first in the series. So, as a whole, I think Kirby’s Dream Land is still a decent game, and a nice little introduction for this character into the world of video games. Sure, it does have its issues, and it doesn’t even come close to the quality of later titles in the series, but for what it does, it does its job well enough, and I still consider a fun little breather title.

The story is NOT about saving any specific individual, but instead saving all of the food for an entire world, so you know, I’d say that is probably a more important thing to fight for at the end of the day, the graphics are Game Boy graphics, but for as simple as the sprites are, they still look pretty good, having that distinct look you wouldn’t see from too many other titles at the time, the music holds up incredibly well to this day, even if later games would take these tracks and improve on them significantly, the control is simple and basic, but that is all that the game really needs, and the gameplay is quick, simple, and lacking any kind of complexity, but it still manages to be sufficient all the same.

The game is a simple 2D platformer, where you take control of the pink-living-blob monstrosity known as Kirby, go through several small, yet enjoyable levels, suck up and swallow or spit out any enemy that just so happens to walk in your path, gather plenty of health items, powerups, and extra lives along the way, and defeat a set of bosses filled with plenty of faces that will be recurring threats throughout the series. It is about as basic as basic gets when compared to other platformers at the time, with the only real differences to make the game stand out being the art style, characters, and Kirby’s main method of attack (which isn’t even original either). Despite how simplistic it is though, again, as the first game in the series, there is something charming about it, and it makes it memorable even after over 30 years.

That being said though, alluding to what I mentioned earlier, this game could be a little hard for new players or fans of the other Kirby games to get into it. Not because the game is bad or hard, but because of how basic it really is. This was back before the copy ability became a staple in the Kirby series, and while there are some powerups in this game that could be seen as precursors to copy abilities, such as with The Curry and the Mint Leaf, they pale in comparison to future copy abilities, and you can only use them for a limited amount of time. Now, that’s not to say that a Kirby game couldn’t work without copy abilities, because as shown with games like Kirby’s Epic Yarn and Kirby Mass Attack, you can make a fun and memorable Kirby game without them as long as you have another interesting gimmick to tie it all together, which the original game does not have. This all isn’t necessarily the game’s fault, but still, it is noteworthy for those who want to try it out at some point later.

Now, in terms of actual problems that this game has, there are few, but the few that are there are pretty noteworthy to mention. First of all, and most importantly of all, the game is REALLY FUCKING SHORT. Seriously, you can beat it in under 20 minutes, it is that short. I guess it is somewhat understandable, as it was made to be more accessible to new gamers, and it was a Game Boy title, but at the same time, you could’ve put in plenty of other levels and elements to try to make it last for at least an hour, not 20 or less minutes. Thankfully, there is somewhat of a remedy to that issue, as there is an Extra Game included, which is basically the same game again, except much more challenging, but that is just playing through the game again, with little to no new content. But hey, at least you get a Sound Test from it!........ one that is completely irrelevant, due to things like the internet, but hey…….. it is nice to have.

The second, shorter problem that I have with the game is that it has a boss rush on the last stage, and as you can imagine, it is the worst part of the game, even if it doesn’t take that long to get through. It’s not as if this is the only time a Kirby game would have a boss rush, but at least with future games, they were either delegated to a separate mode like with The Arena, or if they were included in the main game, they only used mini bosses for it rather then main ones. But here, you gotta fight all of the bosses once again, with no changes made to them whatsoever, and it just seems like padding for the sake of padding……. which would be more appreciated for this game, but not like this.

Overall, despite having some length issues and an unnecessary boss rush, Kirby’s Dream Land is still a small, sweet, and enjoyable game that anyone can pick up and enjoy to a degree, whether they are a bonafide Kirby fan or not. I would definitely recommend it for both Kirby fans or ones who wanna get into the series, as it is, appropriately, one of the best places to start. And thankfully, the quality of the games only goes up from here (for the most part). Also, nice to see that HAL Laboratory remembered Lolo and Lala exist with this game. You know, before they threw them back in their closet of dead mascots until the next time they wanna use them as a boss.

Game #300

Dropped after I found out you had to get 100% on collectibles to access the final boss.

There's such a huge 'stigma' around this game and I kinda feel it's uncharitable and casually misogynistic. The whole "ew the peach game is about her being emotional" bit seems misplaced when the entire kingdom is affected by the vibe scepter and they never imply it's something innate or special about her. Like, it's still an uncharitable concept to go for in the first solo-Peach game, but, I don't know how someone could play this and still have that takeaway. Besides, the actual 'emotions' are really minor touchscreen powerups and mean little more than a gimmick. It's simply a 'feature' in a collectathon platformer.

The real problem is that as a game, SPP is another un-noteworthy Yoshi's Island clone, down to re-using certain art assets and mechanics. It does little to stick out from the larger deluge of Nintendo platformers and doesn't have the same stage variety or production value of the original Yoshi's Island. The vibe abilities are kinda slow to use and mostly amount to key-based abilities - cry to water plants or move waterwheels, get angry to burn things, get happy to sloooooooowly fly to an out-of-reach place, stuff like that. Bosses are the most obnoxious part of the game, maybe some of the worst fights in a mainline Mario game to date.

So yeah, this game ain't 'bad' and it doesn't deserve the reputation it has, but I'm not the kinda person with the stomach for Nintendo platformers as-is. Super Mario 3D World is already out there if you want a platformer where Peach gets to kick ass.

Miyamoto recently did that press bit where he obviously lied about wanting to make Peach strong and independent since the NES, and now that he's put that out there, he's got a target on his head if the next Mario game comes out and Peach is a damsel again. There's going to be a huge audience of kids and parents who 'knew' Mario before the movie but never 'owned' a Nintendo console prior to it. They're gonna be rightfully pissed if Odyssey 2 or whatever next Mario game retroactively disempowers her again. Make her playable Nintendo. Let her do cool things. Or, just make another Peach game.

This art of Peach doing hotline bling is funny tho

If I wanted to take the easy way out, I could leave a one sentence review dunking on this game. "Every Mega Man fan's worst nightmare," right? But this game isn't that.

Say all you what about what this game was supposed to be; I hate Keiji Inafune just as much as you do. But through all the bad advertising, broken promises and baffling release cycle, Mighty No. 9 is still has good-- hell, even great, in the game itself.

That great is Beck himself. Despite it all, this game actually plays unimaginably well. His movement is excellent, and the core game design behind shooting enemies just enough to absorb them, then doing that quickly to keep up the momentum is a truly good evolution of Mega Man X (not Classic, though) gameplay. I'd say it's better than those games at this aspect, even. Beck's the most fun blue robot to play as, get over it.

Unfortunately for Mighty No. 9, making the character feel good to play as is not really a large part of these games. Jump N' Shoot Man has always typically been about the jumping and shooting; i.e, the level design.

This game's level design is game ruining.

It's just so... basic. So boring. It's like the developers didn't understand what a fun base they created and failed to utilize it effectively. While Beck plays like a Mega Man X character, the level design seems to want to be like Classic, and that creates such a big rift between how the levels are designed how the game encourages you to play through them. And regardless of that fatal disconnect, these stages aren't really good in a vacuum either. They're genuinely almost all nothing-- way too many of them are literally straight lines to boring ass enemy rooms, then a continued straight line to the end. It's so... goddamn... boring.

The bosses don't fare much better either. Again, almost all of them are boring. Usually Mega Man bosses make you interact with their attacks and movement in interesting ways, but this game doesn't do that either. You get in their faces, you mash, they die. It's not everything in the game, but it's damn close. It's unbelievable to me that people complain about Trinity so much she at least requires constant interaction from you and forces you to use actively use the base mechanics. It's a glimpse of what this game should've been.

Enough about the gameplay though-- everyone knows the deal with the presentation in this game. Popcorn explosions and all that. However, this game's graphics are like, fine? They're certainly not the biggest issue with the overall feel of this game. That would be the story. While you can ignore it, it makes this game feel childish in a way Mega Man games usually don't. "Is this game for babies? Did they know who their audience was?" came up more than once when I was playing through MN9. The music in this game is also rather mediocre. It's one of Matsumae's worst works, which is sad. She's typically a pretty good composer.

At the end of the day, Mighty No. 9 is a tragedy. Through it's development for one, but through the game itself for another. They had it all-- and it was all sqaundered because this game just has bad levels. Maybe someone will make a spiritual successor to Mighty No. 9 someday.

Not you, IntiCreates. It's over, bro. Let it go.