Finally went back and finished the one that started it all, the OG Fallout 1 from 1997. Its rare for me to go back to a game I dropped, even rarer still for me to actually finish it on a second time around, but I guess this franchise is just built different. Not going back to finish F3 anytime soon though.

There's a simplicity to Fallout 1 which I appreciate. I didnt miss that many quests simply because there aren't all that many. Certainly part of the reason for it is the game's dev cycle led to a whole lot of cut content, but it also means the game doesn't outstay its welcome.

The pre-rendered art deco buildings set atop the grimy post apocalyptic desert's earthy tones look great. Time has not been kind to the game's proportions, in regards to modern displays, a lot of the text is poorly readable and so much of the game is squinting at which indistinct background detail I have to click on to continue, but compared to later entries there is a more inmediate sense of scale and scene that the isometric perspective allows.

The game has a really weird difficulty curve. I am of the opinion that in RPGs areas shouldnt be scaled for the player, but the nature of the overworld grid system and random encounters means there is often one single tile of difference between being jumped by weak ass mole rats who can't even tickle you and a super mutant deathsquad who will fuck your shit up really quickly. I guess thats part of the fun, but I like the approach of New Vegas' relatively signposted dangers tempting new players to be mauled by deathclaws if they rush for Vegas early on.

What was most disappointing, other than the various bugs (one of which locked me out of hardened power armor, because the Boneyard main quest is beyond fucked) was that skill checks were often dice rolls. Now, I'm not so ignorant as to not know why this is; its a CRPG, it owes its DNA to GURPS and D&D and the like, the traditional tabletop roleplaying games where its often about using literal dice to roll for skill checks and whilst I have only played these games a handful of times, I don't think they translate very well to videogames in a literal sense. Maybe this is blasphemy, given the influence they have had on videogames, but when you're playing these games, often the excitement and intrigue comes more from the social aspect and the very literal human game master who is making sure that the results are abided by. Even then, there are re-rolls and stuff like that. These types of dice rolls CAN be used well, for e.g in Disco Elysium where often times failing can lead to just as if not more interesting outcomes than succeeding them, but here they feel kinda token at times.

Case in point, what exactly is the point in levelling up my repair/science skill or whatever if I can just infinitely try until I succeed? Sometimes there is a consequence for repeatedly fucking up checks like a locker rigged with explosives (and I think maybe if your required skill is too low certain options are not even possible to do?) but more often than not there is nothing. You just keep trying until you suceed, which isnt even save scumming, its just, scumming I guess.

Watching interviews on this topic, including GDC talks, there is an interesting evolutionary lineage of how these RPGs handled stuff. Josh Sawyer didnt work on F1 but definitely played it. In Fallout 3 again the skill options are dice rolls but are also visible, you are knowledgeable of exactly what options you can use to advance the situation in dialogue. This trades in a lot of mystery and perhaps the interesting dynamic of not knowing which options are "best", whilst also making save scumming even more viable, but also makes the player more clued in and feel rewarded for their particular build, even if in practice, a 99% speech and 1% speech characters can both pass the check with enough tries. It also removes a slight annoying aspect of 1 wherein if you dont have enough speech or barter or whatever, you will straight up not know if you can actually pass the check, and you'll wonder if there is any point in thinking about any of your choices if the "correct" ones will always be locked away opaquely.

Fallout New Vegas in my opinion improves upon 3 by making them binary threshold checks, which instantly makes build choices so much more instantly satisfying and understood by the player. Not to say that full transparency is the apex of game design, but in the case of what an RPG like Fallout is trying to do, I think it works best. There are numerous skills which help in solving quests through dialogue, not just speech, barter, medicine, intelligence, etc. Its definitely a system which can be improved however, on replay, speech is just far and away the "solve quest" button and running a non speech character nigh on demands either extreme violence or copious use of drugs and armor to make up the difference, and the transparency of it all can kinda ruin the magic, especially when you learn most quest's "optimal" solution after a few runs (though admittedly I have 500 hours in FNV so I guess its fair enough that I know it inside and out)

Disco Elysium came out and whilst it went back to rolls, the games design feels much more conscious of why it works for table top, with skills being their own characters, seemingly non-signposted dialogue choices being counted, rerolls allowed on levelling up certain skills, leading to an attitude of "well, Ill just come back later" rather than reloading a save and the general vibe of the game being one of comical failure being overcome. Most importantly, certain dicerolls being weighed by seemingly inconsequential dialogue options which are shown to the player, is a brilliant system. Not only because it makes you very careful about what you will say and it keeps some of the opaqueness that keeps the game fresh, but at the same time makes the player feel like they have greater agency over the capricious dice rolls.

Pentiment took this last innovation and honestly, it rules. Steal shit if its good man, thats how game design works. It also improves greatly upon FNV by making the RPG skills not inmediately "solve" the issues facing the player. Even though its a very accesible and easy game, there are many really tough challenges like getting on Martin's good side, or convincing sister illuminata to hand over the tome, which if you use certain skill traits will just straight up fail you. Surprise surprise, a 15th century artist making passes at a married woman doesn't go over too well. Indeed, the illuminata check requires you to both acknowledge the struggles of women in the early modern period whilst also putting yourself as the player in the shoes of religious people of the era. "Knowledge is inherently valuable and good"? Nu-uh she doesn't give a shit, this tome could be considered heretical and be bad for the soul. Simply by how these mechanics work, Pentiment is able to get the player to humanize and empathize with people from the past who's lives and viewpoints feel so alien to us via what is essentially a VN with RPG elements. Realistically, if you have the "law" trait making you knowledgeable of imperial law and use it, 90% of the time its met with "shut the fuck up you fucking nerd". Its so fucking good dude, it stands on the shoulders of giants from what feels like a conversation between designers of 1->3->NV->De->Pentiment. Sidenote, Ive actually read through all of the books in the Pentiment reading list, and I think when Im done with uni stuff I'll replay and write some overlong comparative analysis.

Oh shit, I was talking about Fallout 1 wasn't I? Err, okay what else? I did quite liberal use of save scumming, but that feels almost intended to some extent. The combat isnt particularly satisfying or interesting, especially at first when its just 2 groups of people missing 90% of their shots until someone hits a crit. Eventually things click, and somewhat begrudgingly I will admit that the contrast in combat between the initial start and more fluid endgame with miniguns and rocket launchers (on the fastest combat speed of course) were effective in making the latter feel more substantially evolved from the former. I do wish that companions were more fleshed out than just "here's a guy, he shoots people you don't like now" and more to the point GOT OUT OF MY FUCKING WAY WHEN IM TRYING TO MOVE THROUGH A BUILDING, but then this WAS the first game and budgets were low. Its also funny how weirdly the Voiced NPCs are spaced. Theres a guy in the hub with a single quest who then says absolutely nothing else (loxley) and then Im pretty sure there are none in the Boneyard unless I missed something. All that dispute between the Blades and regulators and the gun runners? No voices for you I guess. Originally one of the reasons why I dropped F1 was that the game's personality was hard to gauge when so many of the game's technical restraints seemed to make everything kinda bland, with identical looking mfers with in all honesty not super defined character voices. I think what really sold me on the game was actually having a full conversation with series regular Harold the ghoul, its an endearing performance and probably my personal highlight of the game. All in all, F1 has enough of the good to balance the bad, and Im certainly appreciative of the series it spawned, even if Im not entirely in love with it.

BTW, I wish I could go back in time and erase Monty Python from existence. Old fallout is like patient 0 for how that shit got run into the ground.

It's not that hard to make a bullet hell that puts you on the tightrope, much less a difficult one. It's enough to fill the screen of bullets with any excuse, the natural reaction will be to feel overwhelmed looking for the few safe spots at hand. What is hard to do is to achieve this level of creativity and elegance.

It is not only that DaiOuJou is the summit (or at least one of them) of a very specific style (danmaku) developed by a very specific circle (CAVE, starting from the impulse left by Toaplan and other descendants such as Raizing or Takumi) or a very specific person (Tsuneki Ikeda, who had been defining his style here for more than a decade since his beginnings in Toaplan), but it is a nonstop of ideas that, always maintaining a stylistic cohesion, keep each playthrough fresh because of its radical approach variations.

Something as simple, satisfying and seen afterwards as the sequence of giant enemies constantly canceling bullets when destroyed here is nothing more than a section of a level. Getting across between bullets, an easy method to achieve tension as seen in Mushihimesama Futari, a game a bit exceeding in this resource, achieves elegance by building on varied layers of bullet sweeps. A clear example is the wasp section of the fifth level. Not only stands out because of making the small enemies follow a very peculiar rail movement, or because of their alternative appearances covering the entire width of the game, or because of being protected by giant wasps that serve as a shield and as another layer of bullets to the obstacle course, but stands out because of the creativity and care of the whole. Because of having to rethink a new strategy when everything seemed under control.

The slightly superior Black Label version also enhances one of the greatest virtues of the original game that represents its philosophy very well: the hyper. A double-edged weapon that allows you to deal more damage and cover more screen in exchange of increasing the speed and cadence of enemy bullets, a mechanic that in this revision appears more frequently, encouraging to risk and improvise, the moments where the spirit of the style truly shines.

Of course, it could be criticized that the CAVE or Ikeda ideas are conservative, and even that they have given birth to descendants incapable of innovating making certain rules as unbreakable laws. However, to me it is not an accurate criticism. The fear, inexperience or ineptitude of some when it comes to achieving their own style or such a level of elegance is not the fault of the original inspiration, and the obsessive reiteration of an author or a circle on the same philosophy is far from the easily confused repetition for comfort and security. If anything, what is interesting about the style that culminates here, and that would attempt to reach the general public in later games, is giving everything for a genre lost in an arcade style that was already considered little more than a relic. Knowing that few were going to play and even fewer comprehend.

If what we want is the rare maturity in the medium of someone capable of working their style until it becomes unique, robust and unrecognizable from the influences that germinated it, like the style of Toaplan of which there is no trace left, DoDonPachi DaiOuJou is nothing but one of the clearest examples.

In about the year 2000 I used to try and hunt down rare JRPGS that barely got released here in the UK. At the time I used ebay, paper adverts, second hand stores, charity shops etc. It was a different time back then and I steadily got hold of games like Suikoden 1 and 2, Vandal Hearts, Wild Arms, Star Ocean the Second Story, Koudelka, special edition of Symphony of the Night among others. Legend of Dragoon I had never heard of. Walking into a video rental store that used to also do video games I saw it on the shelf, I'd never seen this anywhere else so I asked if rather than rent it if I could buy it. The clerk called the owner who said it had been recalled after two weeks so was pretty rare but said I could buy it for £17.99. An absolute steal now looking back and the game was in fantastic condition having barely been borrowed as almost no one here was aware it even got released. My friend now has that copy as I no longer physically collect media, quite the opposite but still it's a core memory of a different time. As for the actual game? I played it up to disc 3 somewhere and remember it being okay but never got around to finishing it. As it got released on PlayStation premium and my memories of it were hazy I figured now was a good time to jump in and actually finish it. Having spent 80 hours over the last few weeks on and off playing it my opinion of it hasn't really changed much, it's good.

The real issues I have with the game stem from the writing, I have heard in part it's down to a poor localization, and fans have patched the game with an improved version I understand but playing the original certainly leaves a lot to be desired. The issues stem from more than that though and into the heart of the games story. Take Shana for example, she is the childhood best friend of the protagonist Dart. Her entire personality is that she is in love with him and a woman. The game hits you over the head with this so often it's sort of ridiculous. At one point the game makes sure to really emphasize that she is weak as she is a woman (despite her proving she can fight) and instead of patrolling she should cook food for the men, of course her cooking is then also mocked. It's just painful to sit through. That said not every moment in the game is that level of, well, garbage. Though not as deep as I may have liked some moments are quite well realized with some characters, almost poignant at times it's just so inconsistent or the dialogue just glosses over what feel like quite emotionally impactful events.

That aside the game is good. Visually the game is fantastic. The character models are well detailed for the time with the baked in backgrounds. The art design is generally cohesive and well realized with some great music and it's certainly got a lot of content to it though for an RPG it's incredibly linear. I liked that you never have to level grind, it's almost impossible as you get so little experience and money that fighting most regular battles is barely even worth it. The party essentially levels up at boss fights and that's it, but it's all you need to see you through to the end.

The combat is fully turn based, 3 characters can fight at a time and party members not in battle receive maybe half the experience points so unless you swap characters all the time will become completely unusable as they did to me. There was an 8-10 level difference between my characters by the end of the game and I beat it at level 39 so I just used the same 3 characters. The combat itself rather than just select attack has some interactive prompts called additions. You have to time pressing x to squares coming into the screen almost like a rhythm game. This is pretty cool initially but quickly becomes a chore where there isn't enough variety in these once you get the strongest. Occasionally you have to press a different button to stop the enemy countering which even if successful is needlessly irritating as it blocks your view so you might fail the next input anyway on the more complicated end game additions.

The combat balance is all over the place generally actually. Largely the game is insanely easy where you can defend to regain 10% of your health and enemies aren't a threat. This is such a case that a lot of bosses have insta kill attacks you cannot stop. They are the only time I died. You can go into a Dragoon form which you can use extremely limited magic and attacks that are barely stronger than normal physical attacks in most cases so feel pointless. Add that you can only carry 32 useable items and I ended up leaving most treasure chests as my inventory was full and I had no idea if the item in there was better or not (It almost always wasn't when tested).

So overall this is a hard game for me to score to be honest because despite how negative I may seem, I don't dislike it. I like the general story idea of races born sequentially. I like Rose's storyline and the general atmosphere the whole game permeates. I can see why people like it, I can see why fans call for a remake or a sequel as this could have been something special, but it's just kind of average. Worth playing now it's more widely available for sure though.

+ Presentation values are great.
+ Decent amount of content.
+ No level grinding.

- The writing is mostly bad.
- Party in reserve get small XP amounts quickly making them useless.
- Item limit is annoying and pointless.

Here is a bonus making of video from the time. Look at those PCs!

one of the greatest action games ever made, and a worthy successor to one of the best sidescrollers of all time

rather than being focused on stylish/technical combos, ninja gaiden hails to its roots as a platformer by being purely movement-driven. swift and well-timed strikes are key, as ryu - despite his mobility - is just as vulnerable as anything he fights. there are no "pushover" enemies here. any foe can and WILL kick your ass if you take them lightly

despite that however, black doesn't really warrant its reputation as being impossibly hard or bullshit. it's consistently challenging, but certainly never unfair by any means. moreover the controls are pretty simple all around. definitely an easy to learn, but hard to master type of game. there's a fuckton of challenges and unlockables too, so completionists and masochists still have their work cut out for them

all in all, a must-play for people who like good things; avoid if you hate having fun

You know how sometimes a thing that is obvious to everyone else just passes you by until suddenly you get it and you feel stupid for not knowing it all along? Like how the slogan for Kay Jewelers, “every kiss begins with Kay,” also means that the word “kiss” literally begins with the letter k? Or how Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit is a pun, as in she’s back in the traditional head garment worn by a catholic nun? Or in the second verse of “Psycho Killer” David Byrne sings about how you shouldn’t say too much and make the same point over again, while saying too much and making that point over again in the verse. Those are all real examples on my end. Let me tell you another one on the gaming side of things.

Years ago, back when I was still in college, the Mortal Kombat guys released Armageddon, which was kinda bad for a number of other reasons, but also had an inexplicable kart-racing mini game. I had no idea why. The game boasted a roster of every character to ever appear in a Mortal Kombat game ever, but no unique fatalities or ending screens for them. No room for the fundamental components of what makes a mortal Kombat game what it is, but plenty of room for kart racing? Who asked for Sub-Zero vs Scorpion on the Outworld track? Why does this exist. Why. Why. Why? I was a fairly large Mortal Kombat fan back then and that huge roster was irresistible for me, I was ready for it to be the best one ever but was let down by the weak core game, the create-your-own big tiddy fighter, and mortal kombat kart racing. I never figured out why it was in there.

That is, until this year, when my friends in Rotterdam told me to just get the latest dang Mario Kart so we can all play sometime. Well, I did, and it was fun, but then there must have been a screen in between races that showed something called MKTV. Must be something called Mario Kart T…

That was it. MK.

Mario Kart. Mortal Kombat. MK.

Are you fucking kidding me. For seventeen years. The goddamn LETTERS are the same!

I don’t even think I’m fully recovered from the shock of it. I shouldn’t have put it past Midway, I mean the reason why DC vs Mortal Kombat exists is because they really did just say once “well, there’s marvel vs capcom, there really should be one for DC as well, and it might as well should be vs mortal kombat,” so that’s the level of imagination and creativity they’re working with sometimes, but… MK, for christs sake.

Anyway, that’s the only unique thing I can bring to the discussion about this game on www.backloggd.com. It’s the latest iteration of the popular racing/party game franchise Mario Kart. You’ve played this game to death, you have like a hundred fifty hours logged on it, and I saw it on your switch profile so don’t even act like it’s not true. Even if you never have played it, you still know everything there is to know about it just by being alive in the year 2024. It’s like a review for Star Wars on letterboxd, or I dunno, the works of Shakespeare on Goodreads. It’s Mario kart, man, what do you want.

My journey across The Planes has taken me to places that most men believe exist only in the realm of thought. These places I travelled to, the people I met, and the conversations I had fundamentally changed me as a person. I don’t fully know how, but regardless, I know some sort of change occurred. Perhaps writing about my experience with Planescape will help me better understand these changes and the person I am today.

When I was 14, I discovered Planescape: Torment, and while I thought the game was awesome, I could never really engage with the questions the game posed to me. I mean, how could I? What would the question “What can change the nature of a man?” mean to a 14-year-old who was only beginning to grapple with the concept of its own being? Looking back, it meant nothing to me. Now that I am an adult, however, the question means much more to me. Part of me is ashamed to admit I haven’t always been a ‘good’ person. Learning to be kind, understanding, mature, and responsible took me many years of struggling and hardship to achieve. Even today, I still struggle with this, but through that struggle, I came to learn more about myself and my nature. I can’t fully codify into words what my “nature” or “self” are because they are concepts that exist beyond language. Language can at times be limiting, so I look to art to help me look inward and better conceptualise these thoughts and feelings. I feel as though Planescape stirred the part of my soul that sought these answers, and despite it not giving me concrete answers, I feel satisfied with the new questions it posed to me. To me, good art never seeks to speak for the reader but instead provides them with the tools necessary to create subjective meaning from the experience they have with it. I believe Planescape does this quite well; I’d even go so far as to argue that it fully agrees with me here. When The Nameless One is posed the question, “What can change the nature of a man?” the game does not have him provide a concrete answer to the player. Instead, we are left with the game giving us the tools necessary to begin constructing our own answer to that question as the credits roll. Currently, I don't have an answer to that question, and I'm not sure if I will even have one a decade from now, but I'm okay with that. Part of growing up meant that I had to learn to be content with not always having an answer for everything; perhaps not every question needed an answer.

There’s more I could write, but perhaps it’s best that some things remain unwritten. I would love to endlessly navel-gaze, but that wouldn’t do me or you, the reader, any good. I apologise to anyone here who expected a formal review and was met instead by my self-indulgent introspection. There's really not much I can say about Planescape that hasn't already been said; it's an awesome ass game, and it deserves the reputation it has made for itself, enough said.

Anyways, I’d like to end this short write-up by saying that if you haven’t already played Planescape: Torment, you owe it to yourself to take that journey across The Planes. Sigil is known as the ‘City of Doors’, after all, so why don’t you look inside and see where one of them takes you?

Sometimes when playing retro titles the hardest part isn't choosing which game to play but which version of it. In the case of Aleste after seeing peoples opinions varying I decided to try both the Master System original release (known as Power Strike when released outside of Japan) as well as the MSX2 port released 5 months later.

I ended up playing the MSX version first which is why it's the version I'm reviewing, (that and the cool cover art anyway). The game is, for those unaware, the first part of a shoot 'em up series across several consoles ranging from Master system to Sega CD and beyond that is still going. You play the role of Raymond Waizen piloting the fighter ship Aleste trying to take down an infected supercomputer who when going rogue injured his girlfriend Yuri. This is all told in a short anime style cutscene before the game throws you into the action. And action it is! I was impressed by how smoothly this game ran with a ton of enemies and effects though sprite flickering was happening quite a lot as the MSX tried not to set itself on fire.

Aleste plays from a vertical view point with surprisingly fast scrolling. It is a fairly simple game due to the era, (remember this came out in 1988) with only two buttons for weapons. A base gun which can be upgraded with power chips for more salvos per shot and a type of gun that is interchangeable by power ups. These power ups are numbered with each number representing a weapon type from 1-8. The weapons are varied from forward lasers, spinning balls, waves etc. Though I found two of them completely useless the others were all strong in their own ways. One feature I did think was neat was the power ups move vertically away from you on the screen until you collect them. This means that it's unlikely you might pick one up by accident you don't want unless you play very front facing. It also means that selecting when to shoot a power up does matter as too quick and it will go off screen almost instantly. Of the weapon types available my favourite is no. 7 which acts like a ball of energy on the front of your ship acting like a battering ram and shield which destroyed bosses in seconds when available.

Of course the bosses themselves were easily crushed with any weapon frankly because it became apparent quite quickly they were all exactly the same following the infected computer story theme of panels and turrets in grid formations firing at you. In all honesty the bosses were brain dead and easy lacking any imagination or flair. It's rather disappointing when the main level is so much harder than the repetitive end stage challenges. To add to this the levels are extremely long with the same enemy patterns throughout meaning I found my attention drifting at times due to the monotonous nature of the action and challenges.

when starting the Master system original Power Strike after finishing Aleste it was a bit of a surprise to see there is no animated cutscene, in fact the whole first city level after it also wasn't there. Whilst the story context is less smooth I found it to be a more compact experience overall and the rest of the levels didn't feel quite as long or drawn out because of it. In fact Aleste on MSX took me about an hour and 10 minutes where as I finished the Master System version in about 45. Power Strike generally felt faster actually, the ships and pace the game moves at was really impressive. It made the smooth MSX version feel slow comparatively but equally because of that this game felt really bloody hard. Getting overwhelmed and dying happened a lot and the weapon power ups which have timers when used felt less frequent to boot. Dying is also a brutal result losing all your power chips to your base weapon really setting you back with no real way of getting back up to the power level quickly. It's either quite easy at full power or a brutal slog with little in between with mistakes punished unequivocally.

The visuals for both systems will be a matter of preference. I think I do prefer the MSX's smaller sprites, more detail and slightly less vibrant colours. Both games look pretty good though and there is something satisfying about Power Strikes chunkier visual design. What is more of a clear difference is the music where the MSX's capabilities really outshine the Master System. I like the soundtrack generally on both platforms but the quality difference is night and day. Compare Level 2 (starts at 6:15, could only find one video) with it's counterpart to see what I mean. Enjoyed both versions when playing, they have their charm but one is a far beat above the other.

So overall between the two of them the MSX version to me does edge out the Master System. Aleste's added cutscene, opening level, music and easier difficulty made it the better of the two. That's not to say the Master system's incredibly fast pace, and more compact experience don't have positive merits however.

As a game for either version though? Happy I played it but it's just fine. Some nice music and power ups but overly long and unvaried levels with no boss variation what so ever do leave the overall game feeling forgettable. For 1988 though? I bet this was pretty rad. I was only 4 then though.

+ Fast paced action.
+ Neat power up system make weapon selections easy and choices of them moving away tactical.
+ Nice soundtrack with some ear worms.

- Pretty hard.
- Levels are too long and repetitive.
- Bosses are just all the same.

Kinda disappointing coming to this after experiencing the oracle titles. I initially was going to start with this game after coming off Banjo-Kazooie because of how charming MC's art style is and how much of a fan I am of Wind Waker's art direction and expressive animation. That said, I stopped in the middle of the first dungeon since I was vaguely interested in the Oracle titles and didn't want to experience too much whiplash going from this to the game boy titles, even if they weren't as primitive as I expected. Capcom's philosophy towards this series is interesting to engage with going from the initial duopoly as Minish Cap in all intensive purposes is a culmination of their own spin on the 2D Zelda formula while also wrapping in series elements to keep that Nintendo feel attached to it.

Much discussion around this game, and similar to the Oracle titles, is how underappreciated they are in the Zelda series and even Nintendo's lineup. Funny enough these games all released on the cusp of new successive tech being pushed that I feel overshadowed their releases. Oracle of Ages and Seasons released almost a month before the GBA made its debut in the states in June 2001 and Minish Cap dropped two months after the DS released in November 2004, so it’s not too surprising that these tiles went under the radar for a long time and still kinda are despite being re-released on Nintendo’s online service recently, though Four Swords is still missing. After playing across these titles these past two weeks, I find that there is a lot to appreciate regarding Capcom’s efforts in adding more eccentricties to the pot of 2D Zelda and where they wanted to go and experiment that I feel has at least some tangible influence on the contemporary 3D Zelda titles. The Gust Jar in this game predates the similar Gust Bellows in Skyward sword almost 7 years later so I’d be hard pressed to believe that Nintendo isn’t pulling from these titles for inspiration on where to go with Zelda going forward even if the 2D titles aren’t the ones on the menu now.

Still, Minish Cap continues the tradition of unique design in a few ways with the center piece of this being the shrinking gimmick via the Minish Portals. Link has the ability to shrink to the size of a spect of dust and explore existing areas but with new secrets, puzzles and a whole different scale of things that add depth to a beautifully dressed yet vanilla overworld. I love the detail and scale that this new mechanic brings and emphasizes in the dusty crevices, waterways, and other interconnected and out of the way paths as Minish Link as the world becomes even more alive and comical such as climbing up to the dusty support beams of houses littered with the Minish people taking residence in the cramped spaces and even going outside and walking through grass blades and puddles of water that are now treacherous oceans at this smaller size. Hyrule Town's level design in particular is even more intricate than on the surface once you can shrink down in size and explore the sewers, houses and other spaces not possible at regular size and the mechanic is incorporated to decent effect in the dungeons as well, though a part of me wanted a bit more in terms of how much you can explore as Minish Link since it is still limited and gated by obstacles like blocks of grass and even the pavement of Hyrule Town, along with the number of portals to transform; there isn't no harp of ages in the second half of Oracle of Ages.

The music and sound effects in the dungeons and across the board of MC are a huge step up from the Oracle titles. While most of the selection still contained great and memorable tracks like themes of Holocrum and Labyrnna, the selection is host to many grating sounds and repetitive themes that I turned off the sound of my 3ds at points and just kept playing; shout out to Crown Dungeon in Oracle of Ages for an especially egregious track. Minish Cap thankfully doesn’t have instances like this and the soundtrack smoothly fits the scenery of each setting pretty well and makes them vastly memorable in a good way. They revisit old sounds with tracks such as the Fairy Fountain, Hyrule Field and Dark Hyrule Castle remixing A Link to the Past’s Hyrule Castle theme that serves as a perfect final climax to the game. The soundtrack is also home to new, original tunes that elevate the regions such as the dreamy electro soundscape of the Minish Village, the Temple of Droplets’ air-y and eerie wintery mix of chains and bells, Palace of Winds’ atmospheric orchestral feel representing the tense sky traversal, and finally Hyrule Town’s jovial vibes that sounds classic to all Hyrule hubs but is very distinctive to what MC brings to the table. The mix of both classic tunes and new original material shine to make this my favorite out of the top 2D titles next to Link’s Awakening, maybe even higher.

I've teased this earlier but the overworld in MC is florissantly captivating and booming with life through the extensive animation and artwork in the settings, characters, and music that makes the Oracle titles feel dated. The area theming is very similar to what was done before but still feels new: the vast forestry and fields with familiar monsters and creatures encapsulating Hyrule Field, Hyrule Town’s festive and cozy energy with so much in motion, the rocky and enemy filled terrain of the Gorons' Mt. Crenel with falling boulders and debris, the sleepy atmosphere and haziness of the Minish Forest/Village and Lake Hylia, and the aerial bloom of the high up Cloud tops, a very unique setting for a 2D title that flexes this game’s strength and is impressive in scale for the time. Even the dungeons are sufficiently distinct in their aesthetic and don't feel too similarly visually that plagued many of the Oracle ones.

Speaking of the dungeons while I did praise the visual detail in differentiating the dungeons from one another, this collection is possibly the weakest of the 2D games in terms of puzzles and overall complexity. They emphasize more of seasons' approach with a gentle mix of combat sequences with very surface level puzzles compared to some natural ones that are found in the overworld. They never really ramp up across the small selection outside of the Palace of Winds and the Dark Hyrule Castle which feel appropriately expansive and complex in utilizing all the tools the game gives Link and hit some manner of Labyrinthine design but still more guided compared to what the best Ages had to offer. These last two exhibit an excellent sense of escalation of the game's closing hours but they feel a little too late in how middle of the road most of the journey felt. The shrinking mechanic is used to fun effect at least outside of some of the dungeon items, which I also felt were pretty forgettable, but it feels like it was the only fully fleshed of mechanic used in interesting ways as the dungeons and their puzzles really started to blend together and get a little repetitive. The simplicity itself isn’t a problem as seasons felt like this and I wouldn’t call any of these dungeons outright “bad”, but I was on autopilot for most of them and the dynamism shown visually stood in such sharp contrast to how one note the puzzle solving and exploration was. I didn’t expect this game to be pretty handhold-y as well with Ezlo spoiling some (easy) secrets and solutions to puzzles before I started engaging with them.

Exploration similarly takes a backseat in a way with Minish Cap though not completely as there is still much to find in the world with each new item unlocking new secrets and pathways if they aren’t locked behind the new coin fusion mechanic called the Kinestone to unlock the chests or other secrets in the world. Initially I was a lot more negative on this but I’ve cooled on it since it does provide a cute way of interacting with the NPCs and pets in the world and they generally are okay outside of the RNG needed to get specific pieces if going for 100% which I didn’t do. While I would have preferred that the secrets already existed on the overworld map instead of having to make them spawn by fusing together the coins, I’m fine with this compromise. What is a big disappointment is that the rewards themselves don’t amount to much outside of rupees, shells for figurines or more kinestone pieces and sometimes a piece of heart if lucky, which I ended up with a lot less of comparatively to the other games by the end game. The act of exploring is pretty milquetoast and annoying outside of how some of the dungeon items impact it like the classic flippers and new Cane of Pacci, but even Roc’s Cape is vastly underutilized outside of its dungeon use which is a far cry from the Oracle games using it for some time in the overworld for secret goodies.

For what a charming game this is, I truly feel at odds with the higher acclaim that gets attached to this game and struggle to see Minish Cap as a fundamental improvement over what the Oracle games were doing outside of the visual and music flourishes added with the jump to a whole new and powerful platform. I didn’t speak much on the narrative because while it is more involved than either of the Oracle games, it still is severely underwritten which sucks with how interesting Ezlo and Vaati both are along with the Minish and their whole civilization in Hyrule’s history. MC is representative of Capcom’s efforts on the game boy with a lot of good attached at the hip that I would kill to see the team do again on a new original 2D Zelda title, but it overall feels less inspired and interesting than what they executed before. Even then, Minish Cap can be a decent comfort game to blast through with the some of the most colorful worlds and enticing music of a 2D Zelda game that is criminally short but still sweet in dividends.

Ghost Trick was one of the first games I put in my Amazon wish list back when I made an account in 2017. I remember a Youtuber I liked, Nintendocaprisun, streamed the game and the little I watched from the stream looked really cool. It sat in that wishlist for ages, eventually skyrocketing in price. It wasn't until last year, that I decided to bite the bullet and buy the game physically off eBay. It was expensive but it was a game I wanted to own for a while now, and I figured playing it on the DS would have been awesome. By this time, I was already a big Ace Attorney Fan, and knowing that this was another Shu Takumi game..I was pretty excited to play it. While I personally still prefer AA1 and AA3 over this, this was still a great time overall.

This game makes great use of the touch-screen. So, the basic premise of the game without going into story details, you the main character have died. You are a ghost and find out you have the ability to go back to the past, four minutes before someone has died, and have the potential to save them. You also have the ability to move to different objects and control them. You do this by going into ghost mode and moving your little wisp icon from object to object. The catch is, you can only move it a specific distance away. If something is too far away, you have to figure out how to get there by possibly interacting with the object you're on. This is called "tricking" and it can vary depending on the section of the story you're on. Some can be very simple while others you need to time specific actions in the real world. It might seem a bit confusing with how I explained however, it's very easy to understand in game. Either way, this gameplay loop is really fun and is perfect for a DS game. Near the end of the game, it also throws another character at you with some different mechanics. And it even combines the two at once and it can lead to some really fun puzzles. The game was never that hard, I never even had to look up a guide, however I never found them super easy.

Story-wise, like I said the premise is you die at the start. You play as Sissel, someone we know nothing about, and not even he knows who he is. His main goal from the start is to figure out who he is and how he dies, but along the way he meets a colorful cast of characters, and the game gets more complicated from there. Overall, I enjoyed the story and cast of characters for sure. Like Ace Attorney, they're all very distinct and can be very goofy. The main cast is very good tho I have to say I didn't connect to them as much as I do with the main cast of Ace Attorney. Probably because this game is shorter than your average AA game, and I was able to connect to that game's cast through the span of three games! Either way, while I didn't love any character here, Sissel..Lynne..Jowd..Cabanela..Missile..the entire cast is memorable and entertaining. The story is also full of twists and turns throughout. The ending may be a little convoluted imo but I think it was executed well and I did not see it coming at all. While not mind-blowing overall, I can at least commend the story and overall concept of the game for being unique. Always love seeing really out there stories like this.

This may be weird to here, but I don't think the absolute best aspect of this game is the story or the gameplay. It's the visuals. Honestly, some of the best sprite-work I've ever seen in a game. Every animation is so buttery smooth and really gives the game a lot of character. The look of each character sprite too, idk how they did it, but it has this very distinct look to it. Since the game is very goofy at times, the characters animations are goofy as well. The art style on the portraits is very distinct too tho those aren't animated. They're nice but it would have been cool if they had little animations as well, like Ace Attorney. Along with the sprites being full of personality, so is the dialogue. If you played Ace Attorney before this, you'd be right at home here. It feels just like Ace Attorney. Goofy and witty when it wants to be, serious when it wants to be, and full of heart throughout. In this regard, it may be better than Ace Attorney because I didn't notice any spelling errors lol.

The OST is probably my biggest disappointment compared to Ace Attorney tbh, especially since the AA1 composer did this game. The first Ace Attorney's ost is now in my top 10 OSTS of all time. I just love it so much, so I might've hyped myself up too much with this game. That's not to say this game has a bad soundtrack, I just don't find it comparable to the Ace Attorney games personally. Maybe I just haven't listened to the OST enough, as I know this is probably a hot take and others will disagree. Still, there were songs I did like. Four Minutes Before Death probably being my favorite since it reminded me of Ace Attorney the most haha.

I do wish I ended up liking this a bit more, especially since this game is praised so much and has a 4.5 average, however in this case I can totally see why it is as this game is really great. I guess maybe it just comes down to my personal preferences. Or maybe I'll like this even more on replay, who knows. Either way, while it seems I do prefer the Ace Attorney series more (sorry I keep comparing them, it's just hard not to with the type of game this is), this is still must-play DS game imo and worth all the praise it gets.

I never thought starting this year that by the end of April I would have finally played all 4 of the original classic Phantasy Star games. They have been on my bucket list for years and the experience has been a mixture of surprises and Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium is no exception.

To start with I really want to get this out the way that this game is by far the best of the 4 games. It takes all the good parts of Phantasy Star II and builds on them in all the right aspects while still linking the story of every game in the series together. It really feels like it ties the plot up for all of them while still being able to play it on it's own. It's an incredibly well made experience with a couple of aspects that really stood out in particular.

Story wise the game takes place 1000 years before Phantasy Star III and 1000 years after Phantasy Star II which in turn was 1000 years after Phantasy Star I. We are once again in the Algol star system following mercenary hunters Alys Brangwin and her apprentice Chaz Ashley on planet Motavia. They have been hired to take care of some monsters that lead them on a steadily longer world saving adventure than they could have anticipated. The writing and story of Phantasy Star IV is a massive increase in quality over it's predecessors with full comic like panel cutscenes, genuinely funny jokes, facial expressions and stand out personalities making the story moments actually a delight rather than simply a cardboard set of instructions for the next location. This was such a pleasant realisation within less than 10 minutes of starting that this was going to be a much different experience than I initially thought.

The game moves at a fast pace generally and while certainly not linear I would say it seems very focused so it's quite clear in most cases where to go but still plenty of space for side exploring and without being super grindy. The combat is still turn based and the dungeons are third person. The most interesting thing about the combat is how kind of insanely ahead of it's time it feels. Though it has the basics of the genre in that you can attack, use magic and items it also lets you can set up macros from a list prior to fights. These serve as pre selected moves for your whole party for that turn. For example I had 'macro A' set up as my opening gambit to cast buffs for defence, attack, speed up and a strong attack spell so I didn't have to manually select them each time with 'macro B' as all attack, C as spells etc. Certain combinations of spells or skills would also unlock extremely strong special attacks like a combo though you would have to experiment or look them up to know what they are and set them off in the right turn order uninterrupted.

Another stand out feature I didn't expect is the game also has a hunt system at the guild so at this point I am really feeling like Final Fantasy XII took the gambit system, hunt system and Star Wars influences entirely from Phantasy Star IV... It's obviously more limited here to only a dozen or so and are essentially side quests you (sometimes) get rewards for but with the improved dialogue, characters and towns it all comes together to make the game and world feel very alive for a title in this era.

Visually it's colourful and crisp and the aforementioned anime scenes are fantastic. I love the art style and designs that Phantasy Star II really solidified for the series. I've generally enjoyed all the music in the games so far but like everything it feels like Phantasy Star IV just cranks it up to eleven with every track creating this crunchy electronic bass the megadrive was so good at. There is even a great Phantasy Star 1 remix as part of the OST.

Honestly I really loved Phantasy Star IV and it is easily in my top games to recommend for the megadrive for it's pacing, production values, compact design and scenes but there is one thing that does hold it back from a five star award from me. It goes through party members at such an insane pace it's a bit strange with characters constantly coming and going sometimes within the space of a dungeon or two. They were often the ones I liked most leaving me consistently with Chaz who, and let's be polite to him, is an unlikeable idiot. It is however only a small nit-pick really in an otherwise fantastic RPG I would recommend.

+ Anime scenes and dialogue make the game feel slick with personality.
+ Macros are such a great feature for setting up combat instructions in a seamless way.
+ Music is fire.

- Going through party members like disposable cutlery with the story pacing.