I remember when this came out. I was really excited. "Oh boy," I thought to myself at like 12 years old. "A new 2D Sonic game but Sonic looks like from the games I like!" And then everyone said it sucked ass and so I never played it. Well, I played it today. It's really short, which is probably why the $/hour crowd was so pissed. It's got some fun ideas but unfortunately only half of the game is good. When the game is like two hours long as most, half of that time being annoying isn't a good sign. What is good here is really good. The first world is like any Sonic game, which is always solid. The last world is fun and fast paced, which is good. The middle two worlds are slogs, although they do have some really neat ideas. Unfortunately, those neat ideas don't save the otherwise obnoxious or boring level design. The bosses are mostly pretty fun, and Sonic having the new-age homing attack makes up a little bit for Sonic feeling like shit otherwise. Decent game, but don't bother playing it when there are ostensibly better 2D Sonics out there. Also, the game looks like complete garbage on PC. Not sure if that was a resolution thing or what, but holy cow.

The last time I played this game was 2012. Over 2 days I beat it again in 2021. I think any gripes I've had with it in the past are solved by engaging with as little side content as possible. The world of OoT is largely unenjoyable and the rewards for exploration are unrewarding. That said, the NPCs usually have something interesting to say, at least post-time skip, which makes the world feel slightly lived in, although the majority of Hyrule feels far more gamey than some of the later titles. The dungeons are some of the best in Zelda, and the bosses are either really fun or really boring. OoT 3D offers a lot of great QoL improvements over both the original and the majority of Zelda games. I think OoT is most interesting and enjoyable if viewed as a sort of Zelda 1 Remake; many required items are pretty unintuitive to acquire, but the addition of 21st century graphics allows there to be some worldly indication that you do need to blow up a wall or something. Despite the criticisms of this review, I really, really had a lot of fun playing OoT 3D this weekend. The core game is easily one of the best Zelda games to date, so as long as you ignore as much optional content as possible you'll enjoy this game as well.

A short game reminiscent of some flash game I played as a kid on Miniclip. Digging and getting treasure is really fun. None of the characters are memorable and the story is only there as a way to explain why you are digging. The final boss fight is cool but odd considering how little of a focus the game had on combat of any kind, although the way it builds up is really fun and engaging. The game was really short so I don't know if I'd recommend the price point, in part because I don't remember how much it was when I bought it like 7 years ago.

64 and sunshine are good games. too bad they fucked up doing anything with a port and actively chose the worst version of 64. The joycons not having analog control made the sunshine controls god awful. Not sure if they ever changed it, but initially you could not use the gamecube controller either. Even if you could, I've heard that when the adapter is used on a switch it does not have analog triggers. Good job nintendo, you made it so you cant play the best game in the collection. At least 64 still works. Too bad they removed BLJ and mario's iconic catchphrase. Oh well. There's always Super Mario Galaxy, the worst of the three games by a long shot. I have beaten 64 and sunshine twice on 3das and have yet to touch galaxy because it sucks. Do not buy this secondhand because it is a waste of money. Do not buy this firsthand because it is not possible.

While not as mechanically sound as any of the previous Metroids (Zero Mission, AM2R, & Super), Fusion is still pretty solid. I particularly enjoyed the maps and art, and the fusion suit is my favorite design of Samus thus far. The map in Fusion is my favorite of any game, both the playable map and the start button map. Unlike previous Metroids, this game actually has a story presented to the player throughout the game rather than some small thing mentioned at the beginning or end of the game. Unfortunately, that story isn't really much of note, but it's a nice change of pace nonetheless. Sadly, this is where the praise ends. Despite being made in 2002, Fusion feels like a Wii/Wii U era Nintendo game where every fun mechanic is entirely gutted. No bomb jumps, God-awful walljumps, and only one button to aim diagonally. On top of these issues, the game is excruciatingly linear to the point of tedium. There is one section in the entire game that can be sequence broken, and even then it isn't a particularly fun one to break as you're immediately sent back to do what you should've done in the first place. A fair amount of the bosses are garbage, taking up half the screen and zipping around with the smallest damage zones of all time. I wish this game were better, as it's the only Metroid I actually own, and I've had it since I got my Gameboy Advance back in like 2003. I have a really heavy soft spot for it, but unfortunately the game just isn't that good by Metroid standards. Still a better game than plenty others I've played, but after playing the previous three games, I gotta say this was clearly the weakest.

After playing Zero Mission and AM2R, I was curious to see how Super Metroid compared to those refined remakes. Super Metroid is weird in that it's somewhat a remake of 1, but has its own story and counts as a separate entry in the Metroid canon. I haven't played the actual Metroids 1 and 2, but from what I know of them, Super is a massive upgrade. I definitely see why every game in the genre has copied in one way or another, but as far as Metroids go I think there are better entries in the series. Still pretty fun, although the map is a little clunky (but I can't be too mad considering it was the first map in Metroid). The music rocks and the game is challenging enough without being too frustrating, and it's ultimately an incredibly fair and enjoyable challenge.