Persona 3 Portable is a game I don't entirely hate playing as its still Persona 3, one of my favorite games, at its core, but I'm giving it this mildly exaggerated score because I do believe this should never ever be your first experience with Persona 3. Here's why.

- The lack of cutscenes, despite what some people tell you, IS a big deal. In the opening of the game, the story presentation was so bad without them that I legitamately had no clue what was going on, and I had played the game before.

- The combat sucks. It's Persona 4's mechanics duct taped onto Persona 3 and I find it a major waste. If I wanted to play Persona 4, I would play Persona 4. Playing Persona 3 Portable is watching mechanics put into a game not made for them and robbing the combat almost entirely of what was unique about it. I like Persona 4's dizzy mechanics and such, but I don't play Persona 3 for that.

- The overworld is awful. Dragging a cursor around it is of course worse than a natural overworld, but man it is made so much worse by just how ugly it is. If they at least put some effort into the menus or possibly remade the graphics go make an overworld work on PSP that would be nice, but instead we have this ugly as hell flash game-esque map.

- Introduced skill cards. Might be a bit petty but I've never liked these, skill cards are way too OP and make it comically easy to power through the game with a couple personas, and this game is unfortunately responsible for inventing them.

- The female route makes some wack changes. The music is excellent and some of the social links aren't half bad, but it isn't an awful idea but the party dynamics definitely weren't made for it with how being a girl effects it, and story changes like the big one you get for doing a certain social link are awful. It's still kind of interesting, but as the game tells you, never play it first. I think we'd be better off getting a Persona game with an actual female protagonist then as an option, but that'll probably never happen.

- Numerous dumb changes that exist for no real reason. Skills from having two Personas are items now. Why? They felt like it, I don't know.

- Option to date a ten year-old if you're not playing the rerelease.

- Said rerelease has AI upscaling and compressed sound.

Game sucks, play FES. Only positive outside of music from playing the wack as hell female route is direct party member control, but the original is livable without it, and if you REALLY want it, just mod or hack FES.

Extensive Game & Watch Gallery 4 review because I didn't know I could have such strong feelings on repackage LCD games.

I like kinda love Game & Watch Gallery? 1 is pretty good but 2 and 3 are especially strong. They're very charming collections with not only fun Game & Watch games featured but great modern remakes of them. I've been wanting to play 4 for years now thinking it would be the best in the series with the greater technology and high amount of games but... No. This is easily the worst in my eyes.

Most of Game & Watch Gallery 4's 11 main games is made up of 6 reused ones from the previous games. The classic versions are still faithful and the modern versions are pretty much identical outside of the upgraded visuals. I think I've made this clear in me partially dismissing games like Katamari Forever and Rhythm Heaven Megamix but repackaged content isn't exactly something that makes me love a game. Yes Megamix features most of the best minigames in the series, but I could also just... Play those games. The ports are fine and I like the visual upgrades but the repackaged games in G&W Gallery 4 barely effect my opinion on it. I guess if you are looking for a large overall package when you're out of the house with your Gameboy Advance in 2023 though this is "the best" game in the series though.

That's especially strengthened by the 9 classic games featured in the museum actually being unlockable. It takes a lot of stars which is something we can talk about later, but I appreciate it this nonetheless. They don't have modern versions but more classic Game & Watch games being playable is never a bad thing in my eyes. Unfortunately, most of these classic games you can unlock probably deserved modern versions way more than the ones we got.

Where Gallery 4 really disappointed me though is the new games. We have the standard 5 in reality once you unlock all the bonus games. These include Mario's Cement Factory, Donkey Kong 3, Rain Shower, Boxing, and Fire Attack. I'm just gonna get straight to the point, this is by far the worst collection in the series.

I can't blame the game too heavily for this issue but the classic versions of these games outside of Fire Attack suck. Rain Shower and Mario's Cement Factory are so horribly boring and slow, especially on easy mode. Mario's Cement Factory is especially boring. I think legitimately half of the time playing the game is waiting for cement to actually drop which is the most literal equivalent I've seen a game have to watching paint dry. Boxing and Donkey Kong 3 on the other hand suffer from their own issues. The latter feels like a slow tug of war where no progress ever gets made (at least in one player mode) and Boxing has the lasting appeal of Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots without the violence.

This is made a lot worse by an issue that has somehow persisted in all these games: the star system. I don't know why Nintendo insisted that with very few exceptions players should only get stars every 200 points, but god this game might have some of the worst cases for that in the series. I swear on Cement Factory I legit played for 20-30 minutes and only got about 200 points. You're gonna need 1000 on EVERY GAME (except Boxing and the classic only ones) to unlock everything in this game by the way! Actual torture. I never failed purposely on these aside from Donkey Kong 3 by the way, they're crazy easy aside from maybe Rain Shower on hard. I just killed myself to end them faster because I was so bored. For the record, you can get 220 stars in the game, which again you need all of to see the credits scene, but even if you just want all the playable stuff you need 160! 40 of these are locked behind multiplayer content too so unless you can achieve the only thing harder than me getting laid after writing this review, finding someone who owns this game in 2023 and a link cable as well, you'll have to achieve this in all but 4 versions of the games here. So fun!

Thing is though, Game & Watch Gallery games in the past have had these issues. The thing is though that the modern versions allowed potentially good concepts to shine. My main issue with Gallery 4 is that it just completely flops at doing that. Boxing is almost identical in modern, still not very interesting. Rain Shower once again is extremely similar, however it at least feels slightly more fast-paced and definitely more difficult so I'll give it some points for that at least. Mario's Cement Factory is much, much faster-paced and falling from platforms and boos add some needed depth but the game still has a lot more waiting than I'd like, even on hard. I suppose it's okay though overall. Finally, Donkey Kong 3 somehow might be even worse then the classic version. The whole gimmick they go for is this boo that will run at you when not looking at it but needing to refuel to fight it means that when it gets close you're almost guaranteed to get overwhelmed. There just aren't easy comebacks in this game and it makes the beginning of a match the only part that matters a lot of the time.

Fire Attack is the singular saving grace of the roster here. The classic version can be a little frustrating but is overall fun, and the modern version is an instant classic. The risky point boosts with apples and chickens and the fast-paced enemies you have to react to are a lot of fun. It is kind of sad statement though when the only new game I truly like in your collection is made up of racist caricatures however.

It really upsets me because with how much this game had going for it it could have so easily been a big improvement over Gallery 2 and 3, yet in my eyes it's even worse than 1. The production here is great. I love how every main game has a cute animation on the menu, I love how Mr. Game & Watch himself congratulates you when you unlock games, and there's just so much content here. However, I've been given less motivation to come back to this one over any other game in the series in the modern day, which shouldn't have even been possible with this game. This is undoubtedly the worst game Mr. Game & Watch has appeared in in my eyes.

This was a game I loved as a kid, but soon forgot about after Katamari Forever came out and then didn't really think about for a while. After revisiting this game though, my gosh. "Masterpiece" is the simplest way to say it, but after picking this game up I just could not put it down. Even after beating the game, I just couldn't get enough, I got every collectible, did the inane 1,000,000 roses challenge, super cleared every stage, and even collected every object. Controlling your Katamari is as smooth as butter, the game is filled with tons of charm, there's tons of content on top of each stage being infinitely replayable, and I just can't get enough of it.

Atlus, while remaining relatively niche, has such a devoted fanbase that I can't help but respect them for it. This would have never happened without SMT, and I thank this game for that. Who knows, without it maybe we wouldn't have our Trauma Centers, SMT4s, Persona 5s, or Catherines. That being said, this game is an utter trainwreck.

A slow-paced, ugly game with a story that largely becomes aimless later on featuring bland characters with no direction ever pointing you in the right way. When you do find the right way, you'll find that this game has some of the most boring, repetitive, and easy turn-based combat to ever grace the SNES.

After that battle though, you'll realize that using a map in this game is incredibly clunky with no listed cardinal directions in maze-like dungeons and that you already have another encounter. This game has a comically high encounter rate, thankfully the fights aren't too long but does it really even matter when you can get eight of the same enemy in one encounter, and then get another encounter on the same space? Hopefully one of your demons doesn't die by the way, one time I lost one to an instakill move and had to pay 50,000 monies to revive them. That was almost all of mine after doing an hour long dungeon. Also make sure you make that you keep your allignment to neutral, the other routes are shorter, make you use less demons, and have way worse endings. You can also only see your allignment by how your blue overworld avatar rotates on the map by the way, of course though, nothing ever tells you this.

I think this game's horrible design came ahead to me in this one section where my party member and I got paralyzed. No matter, paralysis is usually annoying (looking at you Tales) but it's just a status effect. My demons finished the fight for me and I went to use an item to heal it. You can't use items when all your human party members are paralyzed... Alright, well, thankfully, I had a demon on me that could cure paralysis. I tried to summon them... You can't summon demons when paralyzed. Okay, so, despite being about 20-30 minutes into the dungeon, it could have been worse, so I started slowly walking back to the beginning to get it healed while I either ran away (which makes you move back a space so you'll probably get another encounter) or had my demons fight the enemies for me. After I got to the beginning, what do you know, no healing area at the beginning. That's fine! I'll just go into the overworld, there's a healing place not too far from here... Everytime you move one space in the overworld while paralyzed, the game pauses for about 2-3 seconds while the screen flashes white. That should sum up my feelings well.

The only good things about this game are the music and atmosphere, the latter of which is honestly pretty excellent for the time. I respect this game's place in history for Atlus and honestly I was teetering on the edge of giving it a 2, but honestly the more I think about this game the less and less I like it. I was in denial about this ofr a while though, so if you're interested maybe try it for a little bit? The game does have its fans after all.

I feel like the first game had a better "adventure" feel to it, the tropical island setting was a bit more cohesive than random time travel gags I feel, and it also made better usage of items in dungeons, however I don't really know why so many people see this as a downgrade?

There are some annoying parts in this game, I hate so many of the bosses for example. But man pretty much every area in the first game from the cemetery onward had some really annoying parts, but I was just having fun most of the time here. The improved, more traditional controls alone make this game way more fun to play and allows for much more dynamic gameplay. There's also just way less beginner traps and mean tricks in this game too, I felt the genuine need to pull out a map once instead of like... I don't know a dozen times for the first game? Even if some of the adventure stuff was less cool at least there's no mazes in there now, and hey all the quirky humor of the original is still here and as lovable as ever. Overall fun game it was cool I think. The Cactus Dance is iconic.

I hate to say it but Megamix disappointed me a little bit. After hearing so much about how great it was, the actual game ended up letting me down a little bit.

The new games are generally really good. I love Sumo Brothers, Pajama Party, Blue Bear, and Second Contact so much. The remixes are a bit more of a mixed bag though, while ones like Citrus and Machine are fantastic and can attempt to stand up against Fever's, there's also really bland ones like Donut and Barbershop. I think the choice to do 3 medleys wasn't the best either, Final Remix is really the only memorable one. The ported minigames are done well a5 least and I think they got most of the important ones that weren't held back by control issues. Most. All I can really say is that some DS minigames feel wrong without flicking, but that issue was inevitable. Really the issue here is just that I don't care that much for playing old content and the new content is so sparce, even if it's good.

What mainly drags me down on this game is the story and prequel games. The pacing for this game is genuinely dreadful. The dialog is charming, but I fail to find it funny or interesting at all and I was just trying to get through it as fast as possible most of the time. It just slows everything down. The prequel games make easier versions of existing games, often some of the already easiest in the series, for padding purposes and with usually pretty bad music. Not all of them are equally terrible but none of them have a right to exist. Both of those combined make the beginning of this game drag out awfully and made it really unfun to go through.

Thankfully, after all that is done with it's still comfy to just go through and play some rhythm games. The amount of content and unlockables in this game is staggering, and I love additions like the expanded cafe and rhythm items (even if the perfect rewards were way better). The Challenge Train is a little bit too screwed up and evil for my tastes but it's definitely not a bad addition. Rhythm Heaven is so fun that I can't be too upset about this game as a whole, especially when it gave us some real bangers. Still though if we get a 5th game I hope they lean away from some of what this one did.

I don't know what to say that hasn't been said. This game already has a reputation as one of Nintendo's intelligent and brilliant games ever. All I can say is that it's true. The gameplay's the best the series has ever been, the story's fantastic, the characters are genuinely very well-written, the Mother charm still runs through this game, and my gosh that last chapter. Perfect game. Please just emulate it though if I have to hear one more person say they're "waiting for the official release" I'm gonna scream.

Also play 1 and 2 first I beg of you! It makes it so much more enjoyable.

Edit: Congrats on being the best rated game on Backloggd Mother 3! I don't know how long this will last, but it makes me happy to see.