After beating the Remake, which has become one of my very favorite games in recent years, I dipped into both this and the unenhanced original. The way you have to interface with the game in the original almost makes it a whole different experience, and I could understand someone preferring playing it that way if they're used to it.

This enhanced version adds a lot of small changes to controls that can drastically speed up the combat and exploration, and the significant bump in rendering resolution gives it a faithful but legible look on modern screens.

The thing that is most impressive after playing the Remake now and exploring the station in this is not only being bale to further appreciate how great the remake is, but seeing how much this game did well and got perfect from the beginning.

Particularly had a great time in the first hour or so, not because I didn’t enjoy the rest of the game, but because of the experience of the game’s difficulty. Often in a jrpg (this ain’t a “j” game but… clearly there’s some Mother here) you might have to grind a bit against weak enemies to ease your progression. In Hylics there’s a bit of openness to progression, so everyone’s experience might be a little different. Mine personally was getting my hylic kicked any time I ran into an enemy , eventually cowering my way around and avoiding them I amassed enough money to buy an item that spared me the blind status and I could fight my way to recruiting the first ally, which greatly improved my chances. Something about the experience of starting out beneath even being able to grind against the first enemies is going to stick with me.

The remake is interesting in that it very clearly from the start isn't intending to be a simple remake and is instead going to tell a different story parallel to that of the original, itself serving as a meta narrative about the legacy of the game in our culture.

The things it does well are the boss battles and some of the now expanded narrative sequences. The character models for all the main characters are incredible too, (though I'll always think that Nomura didn't necessarily have to take the Tifa design in the delicate anime figurine direction) and the music is outstanding.

As for what it does less well... FFVII was a very formative game for me when it came out, I've played it many times in the decades since and had my recent playthrough just before attempting this remake. Certain things just "belong" to FF7 in my view, so to a new player maybe they won't care but the sunnier and more upbeat/populated interpretation of the slums doesn't at all rhyme with the dour, dark, and sketchy slums of the original. A ton of the personality of the game is gone in this remake overall, and some sequences such as the Shinra HQ one are just outright inferior to the original. There's also just a lot of stuff that is straight up not fun, which makes you wonder why things which took a minute or three in the original had to be expanded into a few hours of monotony.

It's a good game, and hopefully gets people to check out the original, it might be interesting to contrast and compare what is changed and what you prefer.

I did play a few hours of the INTERgrade dlc with Yuffie, personally I found it incredibly uninteresting as it has nothing at all to do with events from the original and functions more as a way for players to get some extra gameplay and content they liked from the remake. In that sense it's totally fine, just completely not why I'm here for this game personally.

If you enjoy doing the activities this game offers, namely mostly laid back adventure exploration and simple environmental puzzle solving as well as the wild tank battles, then you'll have a good time throughout. It's a game that's clearly aimed at a younger audience so I can't complain that after about five hours I felt like I'd thoroughly had my fill. The sprite work is really awesome and the music is great too, especially the main town theme. The writing is also very fun and lighthearted, lots of good little jokes here and there.

At the time of this review, I’d have to recommend waiting for a sale, mainly because there will hopefully be patches by then. I had my share of fun all the way to the game’s completion, but as it stands the game is plagued with a lot of collision and animation bugs. You’ll often get stuck in level geometry or fall into the abyss.

I’ll take up some positives. The most important element of the game, the movement, is masterful. It takes a little while to learn but once you do it’s really satisfying, and you’ll find that you’re able to swing your way out of seemingly hopeless predicaments. The visual style is also great, reminds me personally of Megaman 64 which I rented a lot as a kid. The soundtrack is also another great work by Tee Lopes.

The main issues with the game could be sorted into what could be fixed and what couldn’t. The bugs can be fixed. Some elements in the levels could be adjusted, such as hazards that are difficult to see.

What can’t be adjusted are a lot of the level design choices, which could be perhaps best described as caused by a confused design philosophy. There’s a timer counting up and a score system, is the player supposed to be using the great moveset to zip through the level, or should they be systematically platforming and exploring around to find the often well-hidden side-quests and collectibles? Should a quick-witted player be able to grab everything in the first run, or will multiple attempts be needed? If so, why does the game alternate between both? Is the game about encouraging quick-witted nimbleness and momentum, or throwing water on the player with dull and punishing hazards? The water torrents are such an example, getting caught in one either drops you down into an abyss or deposits you to the bottom of a pool you can only sluggishly walk your way out of. Is it really more fun for lava to be instant death rather maybe cause a single merciful bounce first? All of this is further complicated by a lack of visual clarity that often makes it hard to judge exactly where Penny is in the moment, usually because the camera angle is not very well situated. The boss designs are similarly poor and feel rushed.

It’s a shame because very often the game feels awesome to play, with great designs that have you dashing and swinging acrobatically through a course. It’s the fact that you’re often brought to complete halt for bad reasons that makes it unfortunate that the game hasn’t really fulfilled its promise.

The d-pad and touch-screen centric control scheme for a basketball game is initially a little odd, but as soon as you get the feel of it it’s a very natural and satisfying approach to thinking and feeling like you’re playing basketball.

The music is really great and the graphics are awesome and very polished, it’s up there with the best-looking 3D titles on the DS. It’s a shame then that despite the varied and wonderful environments, theres a pretty limited amount of things to do once you’ve beat the brief campaign. Even in the game’s heyday the lack of internet play meant you were limited to playing the game with others on local play who also owned a copy of the game. I might rate it higher if I had someone beside the simple AI to hone my skills against.

It’s hard to know how to assess this game, because it only ever wanted to be another Kirby game for people who want another Kirby game. In that respect it has the breezy intentionally low skill requirement gameplay that Kirby fans want, as well as a system for assorted collectibles and functions that add some spice to playing each level, as well as a system on the touch screen to combine some pickups to create new ones. This one also sees an (optional?) event every level where you have to make off with a large treasure chest before the squeak squad nabs it from you.

If you’re not already a sicko for this stuff though it’s hard to say this is the one to boot up to convince you otherwise, but it wouldn’t be the worst either?

The art and animations are good, music’s perfectly fine, the setup is cute, plot becomes more involved as it goes on, and importantly the game is quite fast to load and responsive which is perfect for a handheld game. Levels just fly by.

This game represents the stillbirth of the Wariovania genre.

The gameplay concept is pretty basic Metroid-style exploration of a 2D cruise ship environment, where different disguises (switched between by drawing symbols on the touch screen) enable you to interact with and reach different parts of the levels. You’re trying to collect treasure which appears in mostly optional chests that contain perhaps the least inspired warioware minigames in existence. In between all this is an array of exposition and interruptions that are mainly annoying, at their height mildly amusing.

It’s simply not fun. The level design is uninspired and there’s not much satisfaction from successfully solving puzzles or navigating the maps. I played through several levels to give it a fair shot and while it wasn’t an outright offensive experience, there is simply no fun to be had here. The only thing of much value is the 3D renderings of Wario being a stinky slob.

The moment-to-moment gameplay is very addictive and well-presented. The mechanics at work may be sort of opaque at times, but that ultimately serves to create the illusion that the game can't entirely be understood on the fly and therefore you'll have to simply make decisions based on your own judgment. It has an organic feel to it in that sense.

The music and themes for each character are nice, and there's a really wonderful variation in artwork for the environments and each character. Seasons and special events will mean new locations are depicted, and characters have a surprising variety of outfits and expressions for different occasions. And that's not to mention the special events with certain characters which you may or may not see in a given plathrough, giving the game an interesting sense of mystery and replay factor.

One thing that the game does capture to an almost unpleasant degree is the nature of dating, it's a social arena defined by so much artifice and charade that as you play the game you feel that same loss of a sense of self, of making choices not based on what you really think or feel but which will perhaps lead to a desirable outcome. There are a lot of things to reflect on while playing, at least for someone who can't, won't, or shan't go back to high school and do it all again.

Hugely grateful for the translating team who made it possible for us non-japanophones to finally play this game!

This Switch version of the game is a perfectly fine one to play, and easy to recommend. Played it to get refreshed on a game I've loved since it came out in '97 and played so much with my friend that our eyes bled. It's ambitious, creative, unique, and odd in ways that we've rarely seen in the world of video games. Even though it was surpassed by VIII from a technical standpoint soon after, and further by IX in the realm of visuals, character development, and storytelling, it has stood the test of time on the strengths of its plot, characters, and just being cool as hell.

Part of my reason for a replay was to be prepared to finally get around to the Remake, but all I could think about while playing was how the game doesn't need remaking at all, it's so engaging and approachable right away.

World of Horror is a roguelike adventure game with some rpg elements, wrapped in an mspaint horror aesthetic. Each play of the game is unique, with many different variables, choices, and outcomes. There are minor progression elements which unlock through an opaque achievement system, adding items and characters to the pool of what's available in a future playthrough.

The game has its moments, but delving deeper and uncovering its secrets is often so obtuse or so up to chance that there's not a lot of draw for the player to try to master its systems in order to game them and get more out of it. For someone who is very into this premise though, the game does seem very well made and robust for many hours of creepy fun.

The games in the collection are based off the beautiful Wonderswan Color versions, and add features and fixes onto all the additions that version had as well. For both games that means the merciful ability to save whenever and wherever, as well as a lot of streamlining and various bugfixes that bring the games more on par with the SNES era Final Fantasy games.

Final Fantasy I in this version is very approachable for the most part, but as with the 2nd one there's plenty of really bad design decisions. At times it's pretty clear what you should do and where you should go, but other times the game seems to think you'll find it fun to wander aimlessly for hours to happen upon where you should be going. The dungeons aren't well designed or interesting, but usually aren't too terrible either.

The second one is way more compelling story-wise, with a whole new approach to characters and storytelling that laid the foundation for what future games would aim for. The stat progression system, however improved by the Wonderswan/GBA improvements, is pretty counterproductive and obtuse. The dungeon designs are also horrible, you should take no shame in using the very well-made fan maps that are available online. Some constellations of enemies will just obliterate you in the later dungeons, so don't be shy to use that save system either.

I played this on my DS Lite, and while the sound is ok I recommend using headphones from time to time when you can, as the music is much better when you've got the left and right properly separated.

What makes the gameplay engaging is what made it unlike other games of its time-- it favors cinematic presentation and fluidity of motion over precision. Well, most of the time. Beyond the basic aspects of the combat, kicking and punching at different heights, there's the added aspect of having momentum to your movement and needing to maneuver yourself before and during confrontations. It creates a real tension when you're deeply studying the enemy behavior in order to figure out how you're going to go about the fight-- should you back up and try to fake them out, or would a well-timed step forward and downward kick open an opportunity for some damage?

Two little design choices make it a bit rough, the existence of a trap that instakills you and isn't very easy to figure out how to maneuver past, as well as a mini-boss in the form of a vulture that requires more precision to fight than anything else in the game, which is very tough considering the considerable lag between input and action. Both constitute a difficulty spike that will easily kill a player who otherwise, through careful and considered approach, could beat the game in a few attempts after getting into the feel of the combat well enough.

I found everything about the game very impressive, it's visually very beautiful, the music has a lot of effect for being so minimal, and the sense of momentum and flow in the movements seems like something that just shouldn't be possible on such a platform. Shows you what can be achieved within tight limits if you have the vision and know-how.

Played on The Making of Karateka (2023) documentary game on steam. Of the included versions, this original was my favorite, I just thought it felt the best in moment-to-moment action and visuals. However the sound is way cooler in the others, and the remake in that collection is pretty faithful to the core design concepts.