Spiritofkoridai
1986
I’ll be honest, I was prepared to shit on this game way more than I feel compelled to. It’s still pretty meh all things considered and does basically require a walkthrough, but I can understand more of why this would appeal to audiences of the past in a way I didn’t think was possible.
The very beginning and Dungeon 8 are the parts that stick out as just being a shitty experience all around (I’ll say this is also true with BotW in the former case though), but for the most part navigating the overworld and naturally becoming more prepared for different combat scenarios can be a suitably satisfying distraction; the general Zelda framework seen in later games is visible here under some layers of abstraction, and remains fun for a reason.
It is good that the game decides that enemies should sometimes drop bombs after being defeated to compensate for the player’s limited supply. It is bad when the game chooses to have those enemies be a hoard of Blue Darknuts that have to all be defeated to progress. This game is a land of contrasts, to be sure.
Regardless, most of the game isn’t nearly as agonizing to play as I had assumed based on the first 10 minutes or so, and that’s worth something. Maybe a whole 25 cents.
The very beginning and Dungeon 8 are the parts that stick out as just being a shitty experience all around (I’ll say this is also true with BotW in the former case though), but for the most part navigating the overworld and naturally becoming more prepared for different combat scenarios can be a suitably satisfying distraction; the general Zelda framework seen in later games is visible here under some layers of abstraction, and remains fun for a reason.
It is good that the game decides that enemies should sometimes drop bombs after being defeated to compensate for the player’s limited supply. It is bad when the game chooses to have those enemies be a hoard of Blue Darknuts that have to all be defeated to progress. This game is a land of contrasts, to be sure.
Regardless, most of the game isn’t nearly as agonizing to play as I had assumed based on the first 10 minutes or so, and that’s worth something. Maybe a whole 25 cents.
2007
Yes, this game is so deeply imbrued in my nostalgia that I can remember childhood friends who I visited only once who had this game on. Yes, the game being designed in such a way that doing the final Bowser level as soon as it's available leads to exponentially more comet variety for the remainder
of the game (as opposed to being spammed by purple coin missions for trying every other level out first) is not ideal. And yes, people who are attracted to Rosalina online may have Oedipus complexes.
But for all its faults, I think there's no other game that truly fills its niche in atmospheric intensity. It's a game that, even following the standard Mario plot, is able of making its small gameplay moments feel big, and its big story moments feel small. It has more to offer than the tried and true Mario-flavored fun; it does feel, to someone with fresh eyes especially, that any upcoming level could potentially have any expression imaginable, not only possessing great level design throughout but also a striking emotional core that crops up every now and again in between the playful whimsy to really draw focus on how isolated Mario is in the space he inhabits. This game's OST catches the senses in a way that elevates every component; it is so next-level in inspiring the imagination, creating impactful harsh tones for Bowser confrontations, and capturing really genuine feelings of warmth and reassurance for anything in relation to the Comet Observatory. Space Fantasy and Space Junk are both perfect melodic representations for how this game is capable of demonstrating that loneliness and tranquility can both be found in solitude.
One of the best in Nintendo's entire catalog. Not every mission is a winner, but its peaks are insane to experience, even still today.
Does anyone else remember the trading cards?
of the game (as opposed to being spammed by purple coin missions for trying every other level out first) is not ideal. And yes, people who are attracted to Rosalina online may have Oedipus complexes.
But for all its faults, I think there's no other game that truly fills its niche in atmospheric intensity. It's a game that, even following the standard Mario plot, is able of making its small gameplay moments feel big, and its big story moments feel small. It has more to offer than the tried and true Mario-flavored fun; it does feel, to someone with fresh eyes especially, that any upcoming level could potentially have any expression imaginable, not only possessing great level design throughout but also a striking emotional core that crops up every now and again in between the playful whimsy to really draw focus on how isolated Mario is in the space he inhabits. This game's OST catches the senses in a way that elevates every component; it is so next-level in inspiring the imagination, creating impactful harsh tones for Bowser confrontations, and capturing really genuine feelings of warmth and reassurance for anything in relation to the Comet Observatory. Space Fantasy and Space Junk are both perfect melodic representations for how this game is capable of demonstrating that loneliness and tranquility can both be found in solitude.
One of the best in Nintendo's entire catalog. Not every mission is a winner, but its peaks are insane to experience, even still today.
Does anyone else remember the trading cards?
This game ruined my academic progress during the semester I spontaneously decided to play it in. I love games that are so engrossing that they ruin my life.
This review contains spoilers
The game is generally up to Zelda standards of quality, but would gain an entire star if fast travel to Kakariko in particular was introduced way earlier than it is (post-Water Temple, for clarity). The narrative benefits of having child Link be expressly outmatched by his much larger surroundings and having him trek his way through the entire world loses its luster quickly in comparison to the tedium that is felt by having to run through the barren Hyrule Field again in search for side quest progression.
Honestly, having not played any other Paper Marios, this game has the capability of not feeling bad to play in the moment. It is like a standard Mario platformer with more exploration and paper in some regards. It only really truly hit me how poorly the game is designed after noticing how much of the game was left after World 3.
I have my fill of the game's structure by the end of World 2, and next the game presents a massive forest labyrinth with required backtracking that destroys any sense of pacing, and then somehow anticipates the player will stomach that they're only halfway through. World 3 is a next-level playthrough killer for how many superfluous levels it introduces, all of the required items needed with no direction toward where to look for them, and centering on what is ultimately a large-scale fetch quest with very little personality on display. Further compounding the problem is the game's more inherent battle system issues, such as not having any leveling mechanics, in turn making scalability a non-factor, and the bosses demanding the most random thing stickers in order to present a reasonable challenge.
People debate all the time about how whether straightforwardly bad media is better than that which is boring, and usually I think it is a circumstantial matter. There are many different shades of bad, from being unintentionally entertaining to outright repulsive to experience; I think there are also different shades of boring that, depending on the work, allow us to be more or less charitable to the efforts of the creators regardless of our personal apathy of the thing itself. People can debate this forever, but the absolute bottom level for media in my book, however, is reserved for works that possess the deadly combination of being both long and the vapid kind of boring. I absolutely despise games that just waste my time for a billion hours without offering anything to meaningfully consider afterwards, other than that it was a bad idea to play that shit.
Nintendo had too much faith in this game's concepts to at least make the game reasonably short, and this translates into a product that asks for so much more of your attention and maintenance than it is willing to give back with substance.
I have my fill of the game's structure by the end of World 2, and next the game presents a massive forest labyrinth with required backtracking that destroys any sense of pacing, and then somehow anticipates the player will stomach that they're only halfway through. World 3 is a next-level playthrough killer for how many superfluous levels it introduces, all of the required items needed with no direction toward where to look for them, and centering on what is ultimately a large-scale fetch quest with very little personality on display. Further compounding the problem is the game's more inherent battle system issues, such as not having any leveling mechanics, in turn making scalability a non-factor, and the bosses demanding the most random thing stickers in order to present a reasonable challenge.
People debate all the time about how whether straightforwardly bad media is better than that which is boring, and usually I think it is a circumstantial matter. There are many different shades of bad, from being unintentionally entertaining to outright repulsive to experience; I think there are also different shades of boring that, depending on the work, allow us to be more or less charitable to the efforts of the creators regardless of our personal apathy of the thing itself. People can debate this forever, but the absolute bottom level for media in my book, however, is reserved for works that possess the deadly combination of being both long and the vapid kind of boring. I absolutely despise games that just waste my time for a billion hours without offering anything to meaningfully consider afterwards, other than that it was a bad idea to play that shit.
Nintendo had too much faith in this game's concepts to at least make the game reasonably short, and this translates into a product that asks for so much more of your attention and maintenance than it is willing to give back with substance.
This one’s pretty neat :>
Investigations in Ace Attorney are normally dreadful to play, especially up to this point in the series, so it’s great that this game refocuses the typical formula in ways that are substantial. It’s maybe the only AA game up to this point that’s given an actual shit about how it feels to play, in other words. Even the worst case in either AAI game is merely fun to experience.
Kay, Gumshoe, and the final villain are all major highlights of this one for sure. It doesn’t measure up to the sequel, but the foundation being built for it here is consistently engaging enough that it’s not exactly worlds apart in quality either.
Investigations in Ace Attorney are normally dreadful to play, especially up to this point in the series, so it’s great that this game refocuses the typical formula in ways that are substantial. It’s maybe the only AA game up to this point that’s given an actual shit about how it feels to play, in other words. Even the worst case in either AAI game is merely fun to experience.
Kay, Gumshoe, and the final villain are all major highlights of this one for sure. It doesn’t measure up to the sequel, but the foundation being built for it here is consistently engaging enough that it’s not exactly worlds apart in quality either.
Definitely a solid Mario Party, but ultimately insubstantial.
A much more substantial package after 2019’s trilogy release, it makes me so happy. Trilogy 2019 may have had the excuse of being Ace Attorney’s first step into the big leagues of the console and PC market, but this compilation right here showcases why the series should stay. Not only is this a remarkable localization of two of the series’ previously forbidden titles (ones that I myself thought would never see the light of day!), but the amount of extras that accompany it make this a worthwhile purchase even for someone who already played these games through fan-translated material like myself.
Even if I considered the games themselves to be little more than landfill material, I would still commend how inclusions like the bonus Randst Magazine episodes from the first game and the alternate costumes for the second are provided free of charge, and how the sheer amount of concept art & music on display signal how much care was put into what this product could offer players. This game even has in-game achievements for Switch players, which is a welcome addition along with being one I hadn’t considered.
Taking this on its strengths as a compilation separate from the games themselves, it is a great precedent for the rest of the series’ ports and future games to look to as an example of how substantive the content for these games can be. The score is only 4 stars as of now because of there being pre-order content. I don’t like that practice, I think the way it was executed was also pretty weird in this case, and I’ll only budge if that material is eventually able to be bought by others.
Even if I considered the games themselves to be little more than landfill material, I would still commend how inclusions like the bonus Randst Magazine episodes from the first game and the alternate costumes for the second are provided free of charge, and how the sheer amount of concept art & music on display signal how much care was put into what this product could offer players. This game even has in-game achievements for Switch players, which is a welcome addition along with being one I hadn’t considered.
Taking this on its strengths as a compilation separate from the games themselves, it is a great precedent for the rest of the series’ ports and future games to look to as an example of how substantive the content for these games can be. The score is only 4 stars as of now because of there being pre-order content. I don’t like that practice, I think the way it was executed was also pretty weird in this case, and I’ll only budge if that material is eventually able to be bought by others.
A completely functional, inoffensive modern rerelease of these games that doesn’t offer enough extra. To be clear, the newer sprites and graphics are personally fine; in my mind they’re about on the same level as their DS equivalents, and compared to certain past Trilogy rereleases, this is an abject improvement stylistically in some regards. However, it’s nearly the exact same content-wise as the 3DS version aside from having more language options, meanwhile neither compilation makes much of a stellar case against emulating the DS ports as a go-to suggestion.