This might've been the first video game I ever played (I can't 100% remember) and that's pretty cool. There's no better feeling than absolutely pummeling Toad with the homing missile-ass red shell and hearing his pre-pubescent scream. Now THAT is nostalgia.

Side note: I wrote a whole article ranking every 64 track from worst to best if you wanna check it out here: https://andrewsgameblog.substack.com/p/ranking-every-mario-kart-64-track

Played on NSO N64

Dragon’s Dogma is a melting pot of ideas. Some of it really works. The combat is fast, chaotic, and endlessly fun. The vocation system lets you swap your class at any time making it very flexible and fun to experiment with. The open world, while a bit lacking in storylines, makes up for it with individual stories you create as you explore and encounter emergent experiences with your companion Pawns. The Pawn system is an innovative and creative way to give the player a group of changing companions that also connects them with other players at the same time. Quests are unique and memorable even if the actual stories themselves are forgettable. Some quests are structured in a way that they are completely missable after certain points in the game, require you to jump through hoops to complete them, or involve some other design element that seems designed to frustrate and inconvenience the player. This may be seen as a negative for most, and it likely will be, but I actually appreciate much of this intentional challenge and resistance the game placed on the player. The music that accompanies your adventure sets a perfect tone.

However, some of the ideas really do not work. As mentioned before, the vocal performances can range from serviceable to laughable. Some of the voice acting is so absurd that it feels intentional. The story itself has some intriguing elements by the end but by-in-large is very forgettable. A lack of major side quest storylines can make the open world feel separate from the rest of the local towns and cities. Loot, while addictive to collect, can be a bit lacking in terms of material reward. The affinity system they have is also underdeveloped. Outside of a few characters who may give you a new piece of merchandise or perhaps another excruciating escort quest, there’s not a lot of reason for it to exist. I appreciate the attempt but my affinity with each character was never relevant to my interactions with them.

This game lives on its individual moments you encounter throughout the journey. I’ll never forget moments like when I exited the giant city of Gran Soren only to find a caravan of merchants being attacked by a giant Griffin. Most of the NPCs made it out just fine but their pack-animal was grabbed by the best and taken away. Later, I hunt it down to the top of a tower and just as it is about to transition into a more powerful phase, a random dude I had helped find a book hours earlier runs up and joins the fight out of nowhere, helping me slay the beast with some new magic he had learned. These unforgettable moments are interspersed with moments of blank void where it can feel like you sunk 4 hours into the game but can’t remember a single thing you did. Dragon’s Dogma has a lot of highs and lows. There is really not another game like it and I respect it for that. I only wish the game would have expanded on and deepened some of its elements to create something that was truly remarkable. Instead, what we have is a unique game trying to soar to great heights but with just a few too many flaws weighing it down.

My true childhood Mario Kart, if I don't count Mario Kart 64, Mario Kart DS, Mario Kart Wii and the Mario Kart GP Arcade games I would sometimes get to play (all of which are probably better).

I know everyone says Double Dash is the one Mario Kart that's worth going back to if you don't want to just play Mario Kart 8, but I disagree. Sure this thing is pretty old school, but it controls and looks so different than any other Mario Kart besides the original. The Super Circuit tracks are mostly really fun (fuck Snowland for them migraines tho) and getting all the Super Mario Kart tracks is a sick bonus. It's truly fun to get good at this game, as it feels so much more skill based than some of the newer titles.

I never got passed a few cups on 50cc when I was a little kid, so I'm glad I sunk like 9 hours into this to mostly complete it now. Overall it was worth it.

But man, the Choco Island tracks don't DESERVE the Sunset Wilds background and it's so SADDDD

played on NSO GBA

My review also posted on Steam:

TLDR
A classic RPG with a great soundtrack and an interesting storyline (providing you've played Chrono Trigger!). Performance may vary but I had no real issues with latest updates. Unusual battle, leveling and party system which is likely to be divisive. Recommended for fans of classic 90s RPGs, but unlikely to persuade those who aren't a fan of the genre.

Performance
Lots and lots has been said about this. I played this in 2024 after all the patches and alternated between my ROG Ally and my desktop PC. Barring some screen tearing, which was fixed by forcing on V Sync and switching to borderless windowed instead of full screen, I had no issues and the game ran smoothly. I didn't use mods but I also limited the frame rate to a maximum of 60FPS just in case. The game was fine on both the ALLY and the desktop. Probably looked better on the ALLY as the smaller screen doesn't expose the dated backgrounds as much!

Gameplay
The battle system is a bit odd - it's not quite turn based and uses a stamina system. There is an easily missable tutorial in the first village that explains the basics. It took me a while to get my head around it and to be honest I think there's a reason we've not seen anything like it since - it's unnecessarily convoluted in my opinion. The levelling up system is also a bit different, with an overall level awarded by beating bosses and then small stat increases awarded through the regular battles. These stat boosts are finite, so it means there is little grinding, but then also it can be pointless fighting these battles in long stretches between bosses. Unlike many JRPGs, there are also many part members you can recruit (over 40!). Personally, I didn't really like this as it meant you don't get to know the characters as they don't really respond uniquely to most scenarios in the game and it feels like many characters are very similar and as you can only swap them out at save points or on the world map, there isn't really an incentive to do so regularly. These do level up with your main party thankfully, but as far as I'm aware don't gain the stat increases from the regular battles. Chrono Cross is clearly an ambitious game, trying to be different and it succeeds in that regard - but definitely won't be to everyone's tastes.

Storyline
Takes a while to get going but poses some interesting questions about the meaning of life, what happens when one interferes with timelines and even natural selection (which as a biology teacher I did very much enjoy!). Chrono Trigger fans will get more out of it - I've heard people say that Chrono Cross works as a standalone title, but I think much of the ending would be lost on you if you hadn't played Chrono Trigger and therefore the storyline would lose a lot of its impact. The story provides enough intrigue to keep you playing and provokes thought post the ending which is always a mark of a good storyline in my book. I also enjoyed the story of the Radical Dreamers visual novel that was included and one could argue that this more closely links to Chrono Trigger. There is also a brand new secret ending that you can unlock after viewing the endings of both Chrono Cross and Radical Dreamers - you can see it by watching the credits in the launcher.

Overall, I liked it (mainly for the storyline, Chrono Trigger references and soundtrack), but I'm not rushing back for a new game plus as I never really came to love the battle system or character progression.