All the way back in 2010, me and my brother were gifted a Wii during our first week of school that Fall. I had just started the 5th grade and a week or two prior I had rented and played a chunk of Super Mario Galaxy 2 on my dad's friend's Wii during a beach trip. I absolutely loved what I played of it but after the trip was over, I had to return the game back to the rental store and of course the Wii was not mine, so I craved more. Like I said, my dad gifted us a Wii and with it was Super Mario Galaxy. My brother got the Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs game so it's pretty clear only one of us got a quality title. I was infactuated with this game. I can still remember running home from school, going right to my Wii as I couldn't wait to play it any longer. I'd wake up super early on weekends too just to play more. This and Galaxy 2 were basically the first non-licensed game's I truly loved and I'm very thankful for that as it made me want to play more Nintendo titles afterwards. As you can see I adore this game, let's talk about why!

I think the defining factor as to why people love this game so much (besides the story) is its atmosphere and portrayal of space. Sure, you have more goofy or lighthearted galaxies like Honeyhive or Beach Bowl that wouldn't feel out of place in another game. But a good chunk of the galaxies in this game, as well as the Comet Observatory, just have this really unique emptyness or marvel that really makes you feel like you're in space. Take Space Junk Galaxy for example. It's a very serene and solemn galaxy where most of the setting is literal space with some junk spread throughout just like the name implies and it's very relaxing to go through. A lot of the time I would just go into first person and marvel at the scope of all the planets or just look at the different skyboxes each galaxy has. Even on this playthrough, when I've played this game countless times, I still did this..it just never gets old to me.

As I said, the story is probably the other aspect people love about this game the most. It's still a Mario game so don't expect something mind-blowing but the cutscenes that are here are all great. Be it the beginning cutscene where Mario gets shot at by a magikoopa and gets flung to the starting planet while Peach screams his name, to the ending cutscene where all the Luma's save the entire universe by sacrificing themselves. It's just all so well done. Granted, these cutscenes only really happen at the beginning and end of the game, but it's what's contained in them that matters and it's the single best story in any mainline Mario game hands down. That's not even getting into the optional Rosalina's storybook which is in itself the single best part of the story. It just adds that extra depth to her character and let's you see who she is and how she got there. And even replaying it now, I still teared up...it's that good.

The OST I also think is the single best soundtrack in any Mario game. It has it all, it has catchy songs, it has majestic songs, it has atmospheric songs, it has emotional songs. I love Galaxy 2's OST too but it doesn't top 1 in my opinion and I think that's specifically because 2 doesn't have those emotional/sad songs which I value a bunch nowadays. Those would be A Wish, Sad Girl, and Family. Those last two especially, goddamn dude, I always can't help but get emotional when I hear them. Some other more lighthearted songs I love are Gusty Garden obviously, Melty Molten Galaxy, Buoy Base Galaxy and The Comet Observatory. All in all, an absolutely fantastic soundtrack.

As for the galaxies themselves...they're good! There may be some I'm not the biggest fan of, mostly the beach/bee galaxies and that's mostly because they reuse that theme twice which kinda stinks. But in general the galaxies are quite good even if they're aren't a ton of main one's. In that regard, 2 still does it better because there's way more fun and varied galaxies in that one, but 1 still has some really great levels to play around in. My favorites were Gusty Garden, Buoy Base, Freezeflame, Melty Molten and Space Junk. Special mention to Toy Time too for being so wacky and fun. Though, honestly another small critique I have with the game is the prankster comets. I'm fine with the purple coin ones but for the ones you playthrough your first time through before Bowser, there only being 4 types is kinda lame. 2 fixed this somewhat by adding more types and making it less obvious what it's gonna be but I felt it was worth pointing out. I will also say, people saying the movement in this game sucks I will never get. Is it better than Odyssey's? Definitely not but I still think it's a ton of fun to play around with the gravity. That's just me at least.

So yeah, I know I gave a criticism or two but I still absolutely adore this game and 2 fixes those issues I have and I sort of group them together as one game so it balances each others faults out. It and Galaxy 2 are basically my favorite games ever and I go back and forth on which one I prefer regularly for different reasons so I usually group them together even if both give pretty different gaming experiences. Either way, this game means everything to me and it's a must play for every gamer I think. I love it so much. Anyways, figured I'd go and replay 2 while I'm at it so look for that review soon!

Also forgot to say, I played as Luigi this time around. He's fun to play as even if he is slippery cuz his jumps are much larger. The reward you get for 100%ing both Mario and Luigi is lame as hell though and definitely was improved in 2.

Very emotional story that really got me. A lovingly crafted world and a dark, bitter story with a twist that really turned my stomach. The way the main character's fears and ideas manifest themselves in the dream world is incredibly ingenious and creative. Unfortunately, the game does have a few long stretches. If the story had simply been better paced and the overall game shortened to 5-10 hours, it would have been an emotional narrative masterpiece, but unfortunately it was often unnecessarily drawn out. Most of the side quests were poorly designed, simple and without any real reward/impact on the story. The main game itself and its story, characters and interactions between them are really phenomenal and should be experienced by any fan of the genre. But it's really not for the faint hearted. I'm over 30 and this game about the traumas of a 16-year-old made me cry.

This was the first Zelda game, I ever finished. I never cared much for the series in the past. When I was younger, I was one of those weird kids that preferred to play something like Baldur’s Gate over Mario. I did own a SNES but I never played Zelda on it. When 3D games became the standard, I finally got a console – a PS2, not an N64. And so, the years went by and I never really cared much for Nintendo or any of their franchises. Then came the edgy teenager phase and I certainly didn’t start playing these cutesy colorful games for dumb babies, I was way too mature and hardcore for that. Yeah…I’m not proud of those years but we all had a phase like that, didn’t we? Gladly, I did grow up at some point, though it sure took its time. Still, having little to no nostalgia for pretty much any Nintendo game series, I kept on ignoring anything this company released. Funnily enough, Nintendo games first really caught my attention in my late 20s. I got a Switch, the first “main” Nintendo console I ever bought (I did own a 3DS but barely touched it) and was ready to broaden my gaming horizons a bit. The year was 2019, the latest Zelda title had been on the market for two years already and everybody loved it. So, I thought, I’d give it a shot.

And what can I say, Breath of the Wild hooked me right from the start. Now, that is actually quite surprising as I usually don’t like open world sandbox games too much. I prefer to be guided through a world by a narrative thread and not be overwhelmed by a multitude of options. But somehow, this game managed to spark my desire for exploration. The opening shot of Breath of the Wild is legendary and its well deserved. There’s a reason why games have started adopting this technique of introducing their worlds in the first minutes of gameplay. This slow panning shot over the landscape of Hyrule with the epic yet melancholic music in the background left me in awe wanting for more. Melancholy is the word of the hour as I felt like there was an overarching somberness in everything in this version of Hyrule. The world you’re exploring in this game is destroyed. The big calamity happened 100 years ago, civilization fell and now, after a long rest, it’s up to us to go out and explore this withered world. In a way, this had a very Souls-feel to it, though it wasn’t quite as hopeless and sorrowful as in those games. It was very unique, a sort of wild mixture between Dark Souls and Princess Mononoke, right up my alley.

Gameplay was fun as hell too. Riding through these beautiful meadows on my horse, just to find something to uncover in every corner of the world – be it a camp of enemies, a cave, or a shrine, I always felt like the game presented me with something cool everywhere. I know people complained about the lack of traditional dungeons but for me, having all these unique and innovative shrines compensated for that quite well. And again, I didn’t have any other game in the series to compare Breath of the Wild to, so I didn’t “miss” anything. The four main “dungeons” this game had felt very distinct and interesting to me, always with their own little gimmick and neat ideas to keep things fresh.

There were also some things I didn’t like too much. Breakable weapons are not for me. I know, it’s part of the core message of the game but I just found them frustrating. Getting a cool powerful weapon as a reward only to have it break after a couple of hits did not feel like good game design to me. Another thing that could have been handled better was the story and characters. What’s here is really cool. The cutscenes you “collect” during your playthrough were well directed and well written. They were also not in chronological order which made it hard for me to follow the events. These scenes felt too isolated for me to make up a coherent story. Then there’s the characters from Link’s past or their descendants you meet at key story points in the game. Again, I found those charming and simply wished the game had given me more time with them.

All in all, playing this game made me care for Zelda which is quite the feat considering my story with the franchise (or lack thereof). I had a blast exploring Hyrule completing all the shrines and interacting with the open world in a way, no other game had offered so far. Even though, I had my gripes with some game design decisions, I will always look back on my time in Breath of the Wild with fondness.

I think this is my favorite fps rougelike ever LOL.

This game's just so goddamn fun. The whole way through. It's even got a great balance between having reason to revisit it while also feeling conclusive if you're one of those people who just wants to pick up a game, finish and be done with it (an issue I had with some games like Deadlink).

The art and general vibe is so fucking good. I bought the artbook once I was done with my playthrough because it's that cool to look at. Music is amazing too. I also kind of liked how, even despite it really not going as deep or as far as it should imho, this game's general message about never giving up with your work even in an age like this where techbros want AI to replace creatives is really nice and honestly needed in a time like this imo, especially as more and more layoffs happen and executives make more dogshit decisions that fuck over the people on the front lines. Again, I don't think it went as far as I think it should've (granted I don't think they wanted it to overshine the goofy premise, which is fine), but again, it felt oddly comforting.

Gameplay is so good too. I was a bit worried from playing the demo that it would be easy the whole way through on average skills, as I only really died on the harder ones in the demo, but that's not the case at all. Challenging (intended dev difficulty) puts up a challenge all the way through, and shows that it's more then just rushing to the end. It's a big part of it sure, but if an enemy hits you, that's at least 1-2 seconds being cut off of your 10 second timer, and you gotta make some fun split-second decisions depending on your environment in order to compensate, on top of using your upgrades wisely and the environment to your advantage. And that's not even mentioning the enemies that get introduced in later chapters, requiring certain solutions or ways to deal with them that are different from others. It's just so engaging and fun the entire run.

I think my only real first issue is with the bosses, they feel way easier then they should be. Most of my deaths came from mastering the combat loop from floor to floor, I think I died to a boss once in total lol. Doesn't help either that particularly after the second half, they like to throw in some joke/"non-bosses" which, while cute as a one-time gag, feel ultimately really anticlimatic and like untapped potential. Which again, really stinks when the basically the rest of the game is consistently challenging and really fun.

That, and I kind of wish the "choose your last permanent upgrade to keep after death" perma-perk was locked off from you keeping your weapon, because for me it was all I ever used it for and in turn I was under the impression that the rest of the weapons save for the shotgun either ranged from okay to worthless, when that definitely isn't the case especially when doing harder difficulties or endless mode. Like by the time I got a level 2 shotgun it was all I ever used it for and I never touched any other weapons after that. That and there's a few upgrades period that feel pretty useless (what's the point of the one that shows you the exit?? there's only one in each level lol). Other then that awesome game.