Super Mario RPG for Switch was one of the most anticipated releases of my life, and hot DAMN did it deliver. I've played the original probably close to a dozen times at this point, and this game felt like meeting an old friend for the first time all over again. It's faithful in a way that feels remarkably respectful of the source material; you can tell they got people who love Mario RPG to work on this.

This isn't just a straight remaster, either. Everything that's different feels changed for the better. The new mechanics serve to make the old battle system feel fresh, even if they do make an already easy RPG even easier. New cutscenes and dialogue were added to make the plot more cohesive and give the general party more screentime, which is greatly appreciated for how text-light the original is. The new text fits right in with the original Woolsey translation that was left mostly untouched aside from a few updated names (RIP Mack and Yaridovich). I can't think of a remix I dislike, and even my least favorites still break even in my book. The new character models resemble the janky, prerendered 90's look of the originals, recalling a time when the Mario series was still finding itself while looking stylish as all get-out.

I dunno what to say other than that this game impressed me on all fronts. This is hands-down the best ground-up remake I've ever played, and any complaints I have are incredibly minor next to everything it does well. Going back and talking to every character, rediscovering secrets, and finding new ones reminded me how lucky I am to have such love and care poured into one of my favorite games. I believed for the longest time that even seeing the likes of Geno and Mallow again was impossible, so seeing Mario RPG back in the limelight brings a tear to my eye. I hope Nintendo gets the memo that we want more Mario RPGs like this.

IT SLAPS, IT SLAPS, IT SLAPS. I genuinely love everything about this game. The battle system's a great callback to classics like Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG, the visuals and music are some of the best I've seen and heard, the characters are great (Zale and Valere are kinda boring, but the supporting cast carries), the writing knows how to be witty and serious, and the story had me no-lifing the game for days on end just to see where it all went. It does lose steam a bit in terms of pacing toward the end, which is one of the few complaints I've seen others have that I agree with, but beyond that, I got just enough of everything I wanted out of the game and nothing overstays its welcome. It's not perfect, but it simply ticks all my boxes. Another absolute banger from the lads behind The Messenger.

This opinion would probably get me crucified on Twitter, Reddit, Steam, Myspace, or anywhere else you're capable of expressing an opinion, but I really, genuinely enjoyed this game. I had more fun exploring the region and catching my favorite Pokemon as I saw them than I have with any Pokemon game in recent memory. Legends Arceus may be objectively more polished, but this game has it beat in terms of world design and pure "I want to go there" factor. I can't in good conscience rate it higher on account of the technical issues, but speaking personally, they hardly got in the way of my enjoyment. The worst I ran into were some admittedly bad framerates plus a few silly softlocks that resolved themselves quickly. Otherwise, this direction for the series is legitimately the best I've seen and I hope they keep going with it. If they can iron out the performance issues and patch out stuff like the Poke Ball dev cubes, these could easily be the best Pokemon games ever released. But only time will tell on that front.

Shovel Knight Dig is a fun little roguelite that fans of the original will probably get a kick out of. In terms of gameplay, it's probably closest to Downwell with little hints of Flinthook mixed in. The difficulty curve is kinda wack and the zoomed-in camera can be the cause of a few cheap deaths, but overall, it's Shovel Knight goodness stuffed into a neat roguelite package. However, it does run VERY short for its price point; I was able to finish a run in about 6 hours, only a few more to get the true ending, and beyond that there's not much else to do. I'm not a "$$$ = hours played" type of guy, but it makes it hard to fully recommend Shovel Knight Dig. Fun game, but expect to be done with it in under 10 hours unless you go for all the achievements or something.

God this game slaps my nuts off. The worst I can say about it is that it's way too easy to overlevel yourself and the last few chapters do seem kinda rushed in terms of pacing, but those are barely even complaints when the rest of the game's so damn good. The areas are all fun and engaging to explore, the characters are lovable, the music goes hard, and the battle system's easily the best we've ever had in a Xenoblade game (though I still prefer 2's Chain Attacks just a bit). The story may not be as mind-blowing as 1's, but it certainly has a lot less tropey filler than 2 and a lot of the lategame scenes had me feeling some kinda way. Overall, a brand new zenith for this incredible series. Monolith Soft LITERALLY cannot miss.

This game's fun. Like, REALLY fun. As in, "it nearly kicked Isaac out of the top three roguelikes for me" fun. The hack-and-slash gameplay is super engaging, the enemy design is (mostly) super solid, and unlocking and using the weapons is just pure delight. It does get a tad overwhelming in the higher difficulties (I got up to 4BC before deciding it wasn't worth it to keep going), but if you're looking for a damn fun hack-and-slash roguelike with a bit of soulslike dabbed in, this is pretty much the best you're gonna find.

This game is just the shakeup Pokemon needed. As a major Sinnoh fanboy, hearing the new remixes and seeing all the Gen 4 fanservice in this game was an absolute wet dream. The wealth of QoL changes made in this game are super welcome (PLEASE make how trade evos work here standard for the rest of the series), and what's more, this game did the impossible and made catching Pokemon actually interesting. The story is fine, not amazing, but serviceable. The bosses are probably the low point of the whole experience, but even those are merely decent for the most part (FUCK Tornadus in particular). I would've liked more trainer battles, but I ended up seeking out fights with Alphas and such often enough that the lack of trainers barely felt like an issue to me. If every Pokemon game going forward were like this, I don't think I'd complain.
(Also unlike BDSP, I can actually use Porygon-Z in this, so it's automatically better)

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania makes me feel things. This was my first Monkey Ball game, and as an introduction to the franchise, it was... something. Starting with the positives, the game looks and sounds great. The visuals are stunning and all the remixes are absolute slappers. Most of the levels are at least decently fun, although a select handful of them made me feel like ripping my arm out of its socket (Soft Cream can suck the shit out of my ass). By far the worst thing about this game is the camera, though. It does an excellent job obscuring exactly what you need to see at all times, and the ability to control it with the Right Stick isn't worth much when the regular default camera fights with it all the time. I eventually just stopped bothering even trying to control the camera at all, which kind of defeats the purpose of having camera control in the first place if the game arguably handles better without it. All in all, this is definitely a Monkey Ball game for Monkey Ball fans, with a bunch of general improvements such as no more lives and a bunch of adjusted levels, and I'm interested to see where the series can go from here.

I honestly don't understand what all the fuss is about with this game. There are specific things that bother me about it like forced easy-mode features like affection bonuses and EXP Share, and I do wish they carried over more stuff from Platinum, but even considering that, this is a great remake and easily one of the best Pokemon games in recent memory. The region looks great and is better than ever to explore thanks to no longer having to load up my team with useless HMs, the remixes are all sick, and the expanded teambuilding options via the Underground are appreciated and a much needed improvement to the meager DP dex. (Although I do wish they did a bit more in that regard - I miss Rotom and Porygon-Z.) I dunno if I can conclusively say this game is BETTER than Platinum, but at the very least, I don't think I'll be going back to that game unless I'm in a really nostalgic mood. For their first game and considering the evidently tight deadline they were up against, ILCA did a great job with this one.

If you don't hate Ed McMillen already, you will after playing this game.
The End Is Nigh is a short and sweet balls-to-the-wall difficult platformer that will make you scream, cry, and probably bleed out of several orifices. Some of the shit this game has you do looks straight out of I Wanna Be The Guy or Kaizo Mario. Thankfully, the jumping and movement controls are super tight for the most part, making the platforming fun despite the frustration. However, the cartridge levels bring the experience down a lot in my opinion due to how they needlessly shoehorn a lives system into a game that specifically benefits from NOT having one, and I find the ledgegrab mechanic to be rather finicky at times and it's something that other platformers like Celeste definitely handle a lot better. Other than that, the metal covers of various classical tunes by Ridiculon fit the game's atmosphere super well, and the overtly pessimistic tone the game takes to frankly everything serves as the perfect backdrop for this gruelingly punishing experience. If you're a fan of Edmund's work, but decide you haven't suffered enough, The End Is Nigh is worth giving a shot. (Just don't go for 100% if you value any amount of your sanity.)