Let's talk about strategy guides. It's no secret some games have very obtuse elements about them. Often times, they're not meant to be used in a first playthrough at all and are the kind of thing one would find out from Nintendo Power ages later. One example would be the Hadouken and Shoryuken in the Mega Man X games. Then there are secrets like the Lightsaber in Ico which nobody would ever find without a strategy guide, but the player probably wants to get on their first playthrough even if they don't necessarily need it.

And then you have games that can feel completely overwhelming or even unplayable without a strategy guide. I cannot even begin to name all the point-and-clicks and JRPGs filled to the brim with labyrinthine structures, permanently missable content, bugs or intended conditions that cause the player's save file to essentially become bricked, sidequests so hidden it took decades to find them, etc etc etc.

Knytt manages to be all of this. Knytt is nearly a brilliant game. When I started playing Knytt, I picked up all but 3 items blind in under an hour. At first, I thought it was a very soothing experience with an incredible atmosphere. The ambient music is shockingly amazing, and perfectly compliments the dark yet colourful world.

Unfortunately, as I neared the end of the game, I started growing increasingly frustrated. Too many platforms were lined up in such a way the player was only 1 pixel out of reach to entering a new path. It became hard to distinguish background characters from actual enemies. And then the worst part happened; I accidentally jumped into an invisible tile in the middle of nowhere that turned out to be an important warp zone.

Within minutes, my opinion of the game lowered from perhaps a 9/10 to a 7/10 at best. I'm not even certain if the last few powerups can be found without all the other warp zones I discovered in a speedrunning video, because there are no guides online. There is no communication to the player they are near an invisible tile, and the game's world is so massive it takes about 5 minutes to run across it in a straightish line. I did find some codes for the game on GameFAQs but I don't think the game itself communicates them anywhere either https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/937276-knytt/cheats

So what are we left with? A passionate and unique game that is ultimately too messy and unnecessarily obtuse for its own good. What could have been an all time classic PC metroidvania is bogged down by adhering to the "we need to sell strategy guides" school of thought despite it being a freeware indie game.

If the game looks up your alley, my suggestion is to look for how ever many items you can naturally find in about an hour with the searchlight feature, and then watch this speedrun to find the rest https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmg_maTOSrs

Also worth noting, it is a 2006 PC game. It ran without any significant issues on my Windows 11 rig, but I did have to use Joy2Key for controller support and the fullscreen was a bit fucked in that it forced everything to my second monitor. It's nothing too inconvenient given how short the game is however.

Remember when Mario Kart 8, one of the most successful videogames ever made, featured 2 circuits inspired by F-zero and people still considered some of the best racetracks they ever played?

There is a reason for that. F-zero is more than a racing game: it's an absolute masterful ride. It's like the most adrenaline inducing and blood pumping rollercoaster you even jumped on, a game so bombastic in everything it does that it will make you come back over and over again.

If you are new to the series it can result brutal and extremely unforgiving, but the presentation, the addictive gameplay, the hyperactive energy it has in its characters, soundtrack and extremely energetic moments makes you come back.

F-zero GX specifically was the result of an "alliance" between Nintendo, Bandai Namco and SEGA, and you can feel the flavors the third party companies put into the series and this gem, which presents the same enthrilling speed of a Sonic game and the same exagerated but also goofy energy of a Tekken game.

One of the best games from the Gamecube era. Nintendo should sue itself for not porting this masterpiece on modern consoles.

went into this completely blind; didn't even know it wasn't a quake sequel. also tried the original version first, which definitely made for rough initial impact

quake ii kicks off in a way that i can lightly describe as "complete dog shit". for some ungodly reason, Club Carmack decided it'd be a nice idea to start players off with the worst pistol and shotgun combo known to mankind (even complete without muzzle flash if the og release is your preference). the fun doesn't stop not starting there, though, because then you pick up the grenades and boy oh boy - my personal favorite aspect about them is how they take 35 years to throw, which makes them only remotely viable either around corners or as a tool to very slowly kill yourself with

it was during the entirety of this first level that i thought to myself, "why does this suck so much fucking dick? who enjoys this? can john carmack really be trusted to call steve jobs an idiot for designing a mouse with one button when he actually thinks quake ii is fun?" then i got the one-two punch: the super shotgun and the chaingun

suddenly - enemies died from being shot. i no longer needed to constantly pop from cover to reliably fight hitscan baddies spongier than those seen in 'chasm: the rift' (which, ironically, is a quake clone). things only went up from here - especially in level 3 where the 90 or so grenades i'd been eagerly not using were finally given purpose via a launcher that didn't have 600 frames of startup. i'd say this is when the game really starts

...and barring the last stage - which definitely gets to a point of feeling sluggish due to its over-eagerness in spamming the most aggravatingly tanky two-legged enemy in the game - it doesn't let up. every later earned weapon (that isn't the rocket launcher) continues to feel pretty fantastic. the BFG in particular took me by surprise with its insane splash and chain damaging. you can fire this thing at one enemy and it'll clear out an entire fucking room. it's awesome and thanks to it using the same ammo as the standard laser rifle, there's no shortage of opportunities to let it loose

i'm not much for movement tech in my fps, but the levels here were designed in ways where i was pretty eager to push myself even on that front. lotsa opportunity to master bunnyhopping and circle jumping. i even skipped some chunks of levels with a few well-placed rocket jumps. fun stuff and it made me just a little more interested in giving quake 3 another shot

sonically and atmospherically though, everything's obviously downgraded from q1 due to the lack of trent reznor (note: "HUH" is still intact (phew)) but the sonic mayhem soundtrack isn't totally unwelcome. i'll certainly take a competent albeit standard metal ost over the mick gordon-branded djent slop that this genre is so overly saturated with now

i've yet to play any expansions, but i did try a smidge of the n64 stages and found them to be really charming. kinda surreal to see a take of this game with so much color in it. definitely gonna get back to that, but for now i think i'm just gonna go straight for quake 4

The last Mario game I played was ah, a time, but this is exactly the kind of cozy Mario game I was looking for. Instead of the “you can’t go any further unless you head back to this world and do more chores” design of 64 or Sunshine, we have a whole world full of things to collect, with the minimum required to progress readily available and more for completion’s sake ready for you if you want. Maybe if you pile up goombas then this down-bad goomba lady will give you a moon, maybe if I smack this rabbit with my hat he’ll, etc. And unlike my last experience, plenty of reasonable checkpoints and a whole slew of coins to pool from if you happen to lose a life, so now you can jump into pools of lava and poison sludge, bump into a goomba or koopa shell, completely consequence-free. Oh sure, by all means do whatever you can to The Graduate Bowser’s latest forced-wedding service with Princess Peach, but now it also includes sightseeing, occasionally looking for collectibles if you want to, giving up if you really don’t, and amassing a huge wardrobe.

And after the difficulties I suffered with Mario last time, the costumes in this was an exercise in pure retributive sadism. How much physical and psychological harm can I inflict on this goofy little man by making omnipotent decisions on what he is to wear? Oh, are you in a desert land with blazing sun above and hot sand as far as the eye can see? I’m putting you in a down parka and winter boots. A frozen wasteland of ice and biting wind? Well, you better enjoy your fingers and toes while you still got em, cause you’re only in your skivvies now. And if you need to swing by a bustling metropolis full of modern cosmopolitan men and women in fancy dapper suits, I’m putting you in a poncho and sombrero, everyone’s going to think you’re a freaking racist. I’m going to make you stare down certain death at the hands of a hulking electric dragon in a clown suit, or maybe flippers and a snorkel, very good for mobility those. What a beautiful beach resort land full of bubbly sparkling clear water. Would be a real shame if someone were to make you wear full samurai armor. I have deep closets, I have clashing golf ensembles, French chef outfits, even the ugly purple and yellow work uniforms from the retailer that all the costumes come from. You hurt me once, Mario, and now I’m going to make you look fucking ridiculous

I wasn’t intending on making a review for this game but I decided to change my mind and give this one a nice review. I’ve always been terrible at trying to just finish these DQ games despite XI being such a great game. I decided to play the fifth entry because I know how popular it was though had I done this later, I probably would have done II instead. Regardless, let me tell you why DQ V is such a great game.

While this game is old, I don’t really want to spoil much of the story as I think it’s something that should be experienced if you have an interest in the game. The story however did surprise me, I was expecting it to be pretty basic and would work for the most part of the time. There’s so many eye opening moments and even times that got a big reaction out of me. While I don’t find the characters as memorable as other RPGs, a lot of them are still good for the game and I’m happy to find the writing to be one of the highlights of the game. There’s even some nice humor at times. It’s just overall very good.

The gameplay is also pretty fun and rarely has dull moments. One neat mechanic of DQ V has to be recruiting specific monsters from the overworld or dungeons to put on your team. I used a few of them and I’d say my favorite one was the Curer just to have a convenient healall user if I needed it. Battles require some thought and you’ll have to make use of buffs, debuffs, and statuses to win some later fights. You don’t even need to grind all that much in the game, I only did it like a few times though it might vary for others. I love all the different types of spells to use too but it does make it stressful to sometimes not go overboard and run out. If there was one thing I regret was not buying more Elven magic from the casino. I did at least prepare for the last part of the game.

The world is vast in the game and there’s a lot of places to visit and discover. One thing I love about the overworld is just the many ways to travel in it. You can go on foot, travel by ship, magic carpet, a floating castle, and even a dragon. I did find myself getting lost a few times but I did get used to it for the most part. I wish the return spell would let you travel to any location you’ve been to, it seems to be picky about where it’ll save locations for you. While the game visually might be a little repetitive for some of the locations, there’s still a lot here and it was always a curiosity to check what’s new.

The dungeon design in this game is pretty good and not much of it is that annoying or bad. It’s fun to explore these and get items and fight tough enemies. I do wish more bosses were in them though, it feels like a lot of the time you don’t fight them. There’s some memorable places like the haunted location early in the game, a cave with minecarts to ride, and a volcano with lava floors that hurt. Wait, Final Fantasy 1 already did that last one, hmm. You also sometimes can’t bring your caravan in for these places so make sure you set out a good team for this before going in. I swear a lot of the 2nd half makes you do this.

Ok I know I said to let you experience the story for yourself but one thing that was on my mind a few times was the marriage thing. You’ll try to get an item related to your quest but are forced to marry a girl by the name of Flora. By the time you’re almost done, you meet up with Bianca as she’s aged up since you last met her in your childhood years. Now I for one thought it was very obvious where they were going with this and I was expecting them to truly fall in love. When you finally get the rings, you get this plot point where the Hero struggles between the two with even a restless night and I’m just thinking “What? Why would I not choose Bianca?” I almost felt like this was just gonna force her anyway but obviously I was going to pick her. It wasn’t till later I looked it up and found out you can marry her! With some of the parts in the story, that just feels wrong. Maybe I just don’t get it? Just feels like the wrong choice to me.

There are some small nitpicks I have with the game. I really don’t like the item management with this game and how picky it is with them wanting items in a character’s inventory to use. I also felt the encounter rate at times could be a little annoying at times. This point I’m gonna bring up isn’t a problem with the game but I felt by the 2nd half, my team basically stayed the same and I felt kind of discouraged to try other ideas because what I had was working fine. There’s also some characters you can use and I find confusing why you would want to unless I’m missing something. I think it’s partially why a lot of the characters don’t feel the most memorable in my heart if that makes sense. Still, again these are nitpicks and it says a lot about the game that these are really some of my only few negatives.

Visually the game looks pretty nice for a 1992 RPG. I think the battle screens are the highlight because they actually take place in locations just like the first DQ game on Famicom. Those designs by Akira Toriyama are also just splendid here. The music is also pretty good and almost feels like I can hear the orchestra even if it’s obviously still just the SFC sound chip. I especially love the two dungeon themes you hear in the game the most. I also really love the music when you’re sailing. Even the sound effects sound pretty nice for the hardware. It’s all worth a listen if you ever have the time.

I’m happy to have finally finished this game and see it rank so high. Sure it may not be my favorite 16 bit RPG as of writing this but still being such a great game is no slouch either. You probably know already just how popular this game is and it’s very easy to see why now that I’ve played it all the way through. There are various ways to play the game now. It was first remade in 3D on the PS2 and then a more enhanced 2D version was made for the DS. The DS version was the first time it was localized too so you’ll need a fan translation to play the original or the 3D remake. It also has a version for mobile phones. Oddly it’s never been ported since which feels very odd considering the Switch’s success. A movie based on this game also exists called Dragon Quest: Your Story. Never watched it though, maybe I should. The series would only get one more sequel on the system which is kind of shocking considering how well this one did. When I watched the credits of the game, I really felt moved at reminiscing about the journey I had. It’s kind of crazy to think I played this in memory of Toriyama as he has now passed away and seeing his name makes me miss him again. Bless him and all of the talent who worked on this game. Dragon Quest V is a great game and it’s a game I’ll probably play again someday.

The first few minutes of Panzer Dragoon when your blue dragon majestically soars above the rippling water to the tune of Flight define a classic video game introduction that I doubt I will ever forget. A part of me expected the experience to be steadily downhill from there given the common complaints that I’ve heard, but to the game’s credit, it quickly established its defining hook and never let go. Panzer Dragoon was one of the first games to take total advantage of its 3D space, and it does so through its ability to rotate the player’s aim in 360 degrees. The catch is that while you can’t aim sideways/behind the dragon when looking forward, there’s a trade-off in that you can’t steer the dragon and change its mid-air position while in first-person aiming around the sides of/behind its body. As a result, there’s a precise science to swapping between these two camera modes. The macro never gets complex (shoot everything in sight while dodging and shooting down enemy attacks), but the micro is just involved enough to where there’s little downtime as you constantly peruse your surroundings and systematically pick off your foes. This is a game that wants the player to be aware of everything around them, and Team Andromeda was more than happy to let them soak in the sights given that the minimalist UI (simply consisting of a radar for spotting enemies and a player health bar) never really gets in the way. Even today, I find Panzer Dragoon to be an absolutely gorgeous game, and I can only imagine how people in 1995 felt playing this for the first time.

I’ve been warned that Panzer Dragoon’s difficulty can be a significant roadblock, but after a few playthroughs, I think it’s definitely conquerable. Besides mastering control of the player reticle/camera, players need to recognize when to utilize the homing laser lock-on (holding down the fire button) versus mashing to quickly fire the player’s handgun. The homing laser is great for getting rid of enemy swarms and easily targeting moving foes, while the handgun is a godsend for melting beefy mobs and bosses while sniping faraway targets that can’t be locked onto. In particular, Episode 3’s jumping ship boss is a notable chump check if you refuse to lock-on, while Episode 5’s airships will overwhelm you if you don’t mash. Additionally, I’ve also heard that Panzer Dragoon can feel very punishing since the player is allowed only one game-over before they have to restart a run, and the game only regenerates half of the player's health upon completing a level. However, given that the player can earn an extra credit per stage if they manage to shoot down more than 85% of the enemies in a single episode, I'd say there’s enough leeway given if the player takes the time to master its controls and meticulously defeat enough enemies instead of simply playing entirely defensive.

The only real gripe that I’d have is that enemy attacks sometimes blend into the background (ex: black cannonballs on top of dark environments) and can be tough to spot, especially when obscured by smoke effects from already defeated airships. I can still dodge most of these attacks with enough experience, having learning the enemy spawn positions, though it takes time to master given that players need to adapt to the game’s weightiness and natural response time. After all, you’re controlling a rider controlling a dragon rather than controlling the dragon itself, so it takes a bit more time to shift the model away from incoming barrages. As is, I’d still prefer if all enemy attacks were distinctly colored to stand out from both my own projectiles and the surroundings. Regardless, Panzer Dragoon was a breath of fresh air and I don’t mind its relative simplicity or brevity when it manages to succinctly capture an enthralling rail-shooting experience that I’ll gladly replay just to see myself visibly improve with every new run. All I can say is that this was no mere flight of fancy; if the base model was this good, then I can’t wait to see what Team Andromeda/Smilebit have to offer with Zwei and Orta.