The Legend of Zelda is a franchise I hold very near and dear to my heart, but unlike other video game series that have affected me in multiple ways, I never really acknowledge this one as much, so I figure that it’s finally time I give this series it’s long awaited love from me.
With Tears of the Kingdom coming out in a few months, I decided to replay every Zelda game (and play some new ones), now I say “every” Zelda game, as in every Zelda game I have access to not including spin-offs, this list includes:
The Legend of Zelda
The Adventure of Link
A Link to the Past
Link’s Awakening
Ocarina of Time
Majora’s Mask
Wind Waker
The Minish Cap
Twilight Princess
Skyward Sword
And Breath of the Wild

Well, now that you know this, here’s my review of the very first game in the series: The Legend of Zelda


So I love the Zelda series, each game I’ve played is absolutely incredible each in their own way, I love the atmosphere, the whimsical feeling of each game, the darker undertones, the puzzles, boss fights, and the great stories of each game.
Obviously with the original game in the series, there isn’t gonna be all this stuff immediately here, so I’ll go over the positives that this game has

I’ll start off by saying it’s a fun game, exploring the world in the technically first open world game is just something so nice to see, to truly go back in time and see how this all started, it’s great.
I must say, for a first game, there’s a shit ton of enemy variety here, you got almost every staple Zelda enemy here.
Of course the biggest positive here is the impact this had on the gaming industry, not only giving us the first Zelda game, but giving us open world and more explorative adventure games altogether, without this game, I doubt a lot of the games I loved would’ve been made today, it’s the reason why I gave this game a 6 instead of a 5.

Well, onto the negatives………..yeah, I can cut this game slack since it is the first in the series but just, oh god.
I think the main thing that drives most things in the other Zelda games is the story, but that’s like almost non-existent here, I mean it’s probably told in like a magazine or something but I don’t exactly have an 80s gaming magazine on me, it just loses a lot of the motivation to play the game when you have 0 idea what’s even happening, but it is an overall minor complaint because well, the NES just couldn’t handle much text on screen so it would’ve been hard to convey the story in game.
One thing I can definitely say that applies to nearly every NES game is that this game has not aged gracefully, the game barely tells you where the hell to go or what the hell to do, I hate when a game holds my hand a lot but I also hate when a game gives you fuck all for advice, they have the hints from the old man in the cave but like his locations are so random that the hint doesn’t even help, it’s very obtuse and not in a good way.
Lastly, the dungeons are just kinda plain, they’re not bad, but also just kinda………there, same with the bosses too, they’re just………..there

In comparison to many of the other games, I don’t have too much to say honestly, it’s a game I respect more than I actually like, I respect what it did from the gaming industry, but I don’t think that excuses it for its faults, and I definitely wouldn’t recommend it as someone’s first Zelda game.
I know i made it sound like I dislike this game, but I absolutely do not, I still enjoy it overall and again, immensely respect it for what it did for gaming in general

But if you do ask me, this series didn’t truly begin until A Link to the Past


Next up is Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, I’m actually very interested to try this one out, hopefully I enjoy it.

Pikmin!



I’ve always been interested in playing this series, and shit there’s no better time than now to get into this series, with the release of Pikmin 1 and 2 on switch, Pikmin 3 deluxe already existing, and with Pikmin 4 just a few weeks away, Pikmin mania is here and it’s time for others to join.
Pikmin 1 is a short and sweet adventure, it’s a game full of life, wonder, and Pikmin getting massacred in the wild, seriously this game may look relaxing, but it’s the exact opposite, it’s a game about time management, being stranded on a planet and your only means of defense being little carrot looking creatures that come out of an onion.
The gameplay loop of Pikmin is very satisfying, the simple act of building up your army and slowly but surely getting the pieces to Olimar’s ship is super fun all the way through.
The enemies all have great designs, they’re very cute looking until they fucking eat or crush or throw your Pikmin, then they’re terrifying, the bosses are also pretty fun, admittedly kinda easy but they look pretty cool and can actually kill a ton of Pikmin if you’re careless.
The game’s whole nature setting adds to the game very well, the areas being kinda connected through a whole forest theme makes the world feel very real and layered.


Not much else to say, it’s a fun little game that can be very stress inducing at times, especially if you’re running out of time and are not very close to the ship, but it’s a very solid introduction to this franchise


Now onto Pikmin 2

Great game!



Boss fights were mid though

Replaying all the games again to prepare for Ragnarok



Idk what I was smoking a year ago, this game is fucking awesome

Need i say more




It’s a masterpiece

Alright this game is like a 7.5/10, but can I just get something off my chest




FUCK HOW CLUNKY YOUR CHARACTER IS
FUCK THE SLOW ASS ESTUS FLASK
FUCK THE HORRIBLE HITBOXES
FUCK (most) OF THE BOSSES
FUCK THE BLACK GULCH
FUCK ADAPTABILITY
FUCK THE ENEMY PLACEMENT
and most of all
FUCK THE STUPIDLY FAST WEEB ALONNE KNIGHTS



Thank you for listening

Hello everyone, throughout the month of October I will be playing the five nights a Freddy’s series, well, at least most of the games in particular I’ll be playing FNAF 1, 2, 3, 4, SL, Pizzeria Simulator, UCS, Help Wanted, Security Breach, and it’s DLC Ruin.
Of course I’m doing this to prepare for the movie coming out at the end of the month.
This is a franchise I’m highly nostalgic for, so expect the early game’s scores to be higher than you’d probably expect.




Five Night at Freddy’s, an absolute juggernaut in the video game industry, and the industry in general, I mean seriously, this one simple indie horror game that Scott Cawthon made because people told him his previous games looked too uncanny is now a gigantic franchise with a multitude of sequels, a full triple A release, multiple books, tons of merchandise, and the long LONG awaited film that’s coming
out very soon.
The franchise has changed so much throughout the years, from horror focused with a light touch of lore, to the lore becoming the forefront of the series, to the many meta things this series put in, and uh, shit I don’t even know where it’s at now………all that said, going back to the original game is kind of a delight, and let me explain why.


Five Nights at Freddy’s 1 is a simple yet very effective horror game, it builds tension thanks to the atmosphere of the dark pizzeria, the very fuzzy video quality on the cameras, and of course the animatronics, after seeing some of the absolutely crazy and messy designs that would come later for the animatronics, it’s just really nice to have such simple and nice designs in this entry, they’re big robots with a lot of details and features but they never go overboard, Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica are similar to one another with their general body shape, but all each have individual colors and accessories that make them stand out, you can see how they realistically could be stage performers for children’s birthdays, but also see them as scary monsters when in the dark, they’re very nicely designed. Foxy though, he’s my favorite design in this game, all the holes in him, the pirate design and the overall aggressiveness of it, it’s really effective. Finally there’s Golden Freddy, obviously same compliments I can give to the Freddy design, but with the added bonus of a creepy pose and very small dot eyes, it’s very cool how such a minor character in this game ended up being a big player in the series later on.


All this stuff obviously culminates in the gameplay, y’all know what the gameplay in this game is at this point, two entrances to your office that you must check regularly with lights and close whenever an animatronic appears or is coming, and a camera that views the whole restaurant, each animatronic does their own thing, Bonnie goes down to the left side of the hall to enter your office, same with chica but on the right side, they’re the most simple to take care of, Freddy moves past night 3 and the only way to track him is to look through the cameras to locate him and to listen for his laughs, finally there’s foxy who only remains in his original camera, you must consistently check on him or else he’ll leave and come down the hall and jumpscare you, all of this needs to be done while conserving power over an in game 6 hour period, and I think it’s pretty decently scary, sure the jumpscares don’t really scare you once you can figure out when they happen, but I think the rest of the stuff like the general atmosphere and sound design helps in giving you a feeling of dread.


And finally, there’s the story, and for how obviously well known this franchise is for its complicated story, here it’s super simple, you’re a night guard who’s hired to watch over a pizzeria while a guy on the phone calls you and tells you what to do, the only really big twist you get in the main game is learning that the calls from the phone guy are all just recordings and he’s actually just been dead the whole time……….but of course, there’s more stuff hidden deeper, thanks to some little Easter eggs hidden around the pizzeria, you find out that five children were murdered and their bodies can’t be found, and also there’s this “bite of 87” thing that the phone guy mentions.
I think the way this game builds the dark lore is great, gives you just enough to connect the dots like with the dead children and the odor of the animatronics, while also leaving some mysteries like the bite of 87 and the mysterious man who murdered all the children………hmph, guess we’ll never know what these are am I right insert laugh track here.


Well, that’s really it for the first game, obviously there isn’t too much going on here cause the big things this franchise is known for starting coming in at later entries, but this game made the foundation on which all these games built off of, it may not have too much importance on the overall lore, but it is a very important game to the franchise and a decent amount of people growing up in the 2010s


Well, onto FNAF 2

A nice little bow tie to this SNES trilogy


DKC 3 is another wonderful journey through the world of Donkey Kong Country, it still has the same amazing atmosphere and look for the previous two, controls are still as good as ever, the soundtrack is a bop as usual, everything DKC is still here.
However, there are a few things holding this game back, I like a good majority of the levels but there are some that are just straight up bad, Kiddy Kong may move slow, and he can’t jump high, but unlike Chunky Kong he’s not even a hell of a guy, basically what I’m saying is Kiddy sucks to play as compared to Dixie, often I would just restart levels if Dixie got hit, Kiddy is just not satisfying to play as.
Also something I somehow forgot to mention in my DKC 2 review were the bosses, holy hell they were fantastic in that game, but in here they’re just ok, they’re all original so that makes it better than DKC 1’s repeating bosses but kind of a letdown compared to 2.


Hey despite its shortcomings I still really enjoyed my time with the game, it’s terrific, and a nice way to cap off this trilogy, and the SNES itself.
Now onto Donkey Kong Country Returns, played this one when I was younger so I can imagine there will be a bit of a nostalgia bias in my next review.
Sadly I can’t play DK64, I have no way to access it, but considering that I’m a collectithon completionist and I’ve heard that game is just a nightmare to fully complete, yeah maybe it’s a blessing in disguise (if it does come to switch online I’ll most likely play it)