I'm not a Kirby fan honestly. Just can't really get into them. My favorite is Epic Yarn for the record, which is nothing like any other Kirby. Yet this one kind of grabbed me. I was kind of bored at first until I discovered the stroke of genius this game has to offer: combining the copy abilities. This alone turns a solid platformer into one that is actually very engaging. I felt compelled to complete the whole game, and I did, making this the first Kirby game I've beat since Epic Yarn.

This is probably my favorite of mainline, normal Kirby games that I've played as there's so much going on with it. Graphics have aged astoundingly well for an N64 game too. Like this is probably one of the best aged N64 games I've seen. Had a blast and makes me want to give some SNES Kirby games another go.

After careful reevaluation, as much as I love Rayman Legends to the point I've been one to call it my all-time favorite..... I actually think this may be it.

This was my favorite game in middle and high school, and after replaying it on the Switch after all these years, I feel as though it probably will deep down always be my favorite game. There's just nothing like it truly. This game takes the concept of an already genius game and cranks it up to 11 in ways that no one could have possibly predicted. The mechanics are always finding new ways to surprise you, while the puzzles always utilize them to their fullest capacity. There's not only the portal gun itself, but the jump pads, the jump gel, the speed gel, the portal gel, the lasers, the reflection cubes, the light bridges, the tractor beams that can reverse as well, and the bombs that are only used a couple of times but still stick out. Just when I think the game can't impress me anymore, behold: the writing.

This game is so unbelievably well written, the dialogue still has me in fits of laughter. Name any character: GLaDOS, Wheatley, Cave Johnson, the faulty cores, the faulty turrets, they've all made me laugh at a point. And yet still, there's genuine dramatic intrigue behind the laughter, particularly as you dive through old Aperture, discovering why Aperture is the way it is and developing a higher level of understanding and even sympathy towards GLaDOS. The ending too, with the nostalgia I have for it now..... it hits different. Still Alive of course is the better credits song but man, before the credits. I found it weirdly emotional this playthrough. I love this game's story so much, it just elevates the gameplay way further than I thought was possible in gaming.

So yeah.... this is my favorite game. I love everything about it, and I didn't even touch the co-op in this review. Love that as well. But yeah, I adore this game, I have for years, and I probably will for years. No sense avoiding the facts anymore: this truly is the game that means the most to me.

My second playthrough of this and I still love it to pieces.

I'm not sure if it is the weirdest game I've played but it is HELLA up there. It's very weirdly relaxing too. I'd consider this a stress remover game as it's just so fun to roll up the entire world into a ball and make it bigger, only to later turn it into a star.

Love this game to pieces, a nice breezy time you can finish in a few hours or so.

Let me tell you, this was my first Metroid to beat and it was BRUTAL at times. But it's still just so engaging to explore and simultaneously find upgrades, which then make you all the more powerful. And you feel that power, oh man. This game gets challenging but at the same time, it gives back and rewards you with some exhilarating power. It's challenge that rewards players who are observant and eager to learn. The final boss is brutally long, but man was I so satisfied beating it.

So yeah, I need to finish Super Metroid, play Zero Mission, Fusion and Dread, but yeah I'm a fan. I'd say this is my favorite 3DS game and if you're trying to find a good exclusive before you can't buy anything on the 3DS eShop anymore, this is what I'd personally recommend.

Man, this sure was what I wanted it to be. I loved this experience of going through the story and I can't wait to dive into free play, because that's like a whole other game in store.

Criticisms? Well some of the levels are kind of lackluster. I vastly preferred Complete Saga's interpretation of the Phantom Menace in particular and also Rise of Skywalker was kind of dull outside of a couple of levels. Also, there are some glitches, though one you've likely heard about is incredibly funny where the characters don't render at all basically.

As for positives, more levels hit than miss, and a lot of them hit hard. The gameplay feels like a complete evolution of the Lego formula by vastly fleshing out various mechanics including the implementation of a combo system. However, you can still play it more like a normal Lego game if you prefer. The shooting mechanics are basically 3rd person shooter mechanics, which I appreciated. And the abundance of content and fun that can be had beyond even beating the story.... wow.

I love this game and I still will be playing it for the next couple of months. TT, thank you for taking your time in making this a Star Wars and Lego experience like no other.

In my deep dive into classic Nintendo games, there has been one particularly crucial discovery I have made: I do not care for the NES catalog. I think the reason for this is that a lot of the games (FOR ME) seem to be a cross between the more fleshed out games that Nintendo would make in the next generation and the more arcadey games that were commonplace in the 80s. I don't really like any of the more fleshed-out games as much as Nintendo's SNES catalog and I think Namco had much much stronger arcade titles personally.

This game, on the other hand, I got the hype here. The first Super Mario (which I've played most of) is good but a very bare-bones platformer. Lost Levels is basically that game but funny due to how rage-inducing it is. And then Mario 2 is just.... not good lol. Mario 3 has a lot of really sticks out for the Mario franchise as distinctly Mario and just generally more surprising/challenging (Lost Levels excluded).

They can say the first Mario game started it all, but this feels like the game that gave us the Mario we know now. Probably not my favorite 2D Mario, but one I had a great time with and one that I respect very much as an NES game I actually felt like completing.

As I correctly predicted, Bowser's Fury did end up overshadowing the main game. However, this game is incredibly fun regardless and definitely has one major edge over its companion game: lots and lots of content.

It's a lot like 3D Land, which is a good thing in my eyes because I do very much enjoy that game. It feels like a slight improvement to me as well, due to a greater sense of challenge (particularly with the locations of the stars, some of those are much more hidden here) and due to it not really feeling like generic Mario in its atmosphere. It has its own vibe like the best of the 3D Mario games.

But yeah, I feel about the same with this overall as 3D Land: better than most of the 2D games, slightly weaker than most of the 3D games. Switch version is definitely worth full price imo with all the content, like an entire new game that is better than the main game.

I want to love this game way more than I realistically do, because it so fun to mess around with this game and do whatever. The FLUDD is so fun to use and I just adore goofing off in Delfino. Unfortunately, I also find this game incredibly frustrating in some areas, mainly through the frustrating level design. This game would be SOOOO much better with level design that doesn't make you want to ram your head against the wall. And considering how volatile the level design can be, it makes the more platforming intensive portions much more frustrating than they need to.

But everything else about the game, I love. I like how corny it is, especially the story itself. It's such an unbelievably weird game, but one that has an uniquely fun identity compared to your average Mario game. Maybe now that I've beaten it, I'll have a better grasp on how to fight back against the controls if I decide to play it again. But yes, I love the game. Very close to a 9, but that last portion of the game was so frustrating that I'm currently feeling a high 8.

Wow.

I bought 3D World + Bowser's Fury fully expecting to beat 3D World first. But I still felt the urge to try this other game included, so I did. What was meant to be just a quick look before playing the main game turned into an obsession. I felt the urge to beat Bowser's Fury and when I did in the span of 2-3 hours, I needed more. I spent another 3-4 hours 100%ing the game. And boy howdy, I love this game.

Part of me thinks that the painfully short length knocks it down a little bit, but I also like that we have a bite-sized 3D Mario that can be conveniently completed within a few hours or so. But still, I really want more from this. I adored every second of this short little game and it honestly overshadowed the main game for me slightly. But who am I kidding, I will love 3D World as well.

I would rank this as my 3rd favorite Mario game in all honesty. This was amazing and I hope a lot of the elements come into play for whatever the next major 3D Mario game is.