An confident entry in the Zelda series. As a sequel to A Link to the Past it takes that familiar setting and changes the central progression mechanic, giving the player access to rent (and eventually purchase) all of the necessary dungeon items. The result is that the player is, and feels, very free to explore any which way they feel. The rewards for going a little extra further also feel appropriately rewarding.

I'm sure the game will escape its 3DS confines some day, but man is it a nice use of the 3D effect.

The visual design of the game, including the animations, is above and beyond. There’s a lot of variation in the environments and settings, and the great music and renewed sound effect designs make the experience really fresh and engaging.

Usually the new powers and mechanics work out for the level designs, but there are a good few instances throughout where I came away from a level pretty underwhelmed or just didn’t really get what they were going for. I often didn’t feel really compelled to get the collectibles, which I normally do in these games, maybe largely because rather than feeling satisfying to acquire they seem like potentially more trouble than they’re worth. Which is a shame because the Wonder Seeds often had a pretty fun gimmick to them.

The final boss fight is fun but it would have been beneficial to the game overall if the boss fights were more interesting and involved like that one.

Decent presentation of the history of the game, using the clean and simple UI you move along a timeline, getting information and images/videos you can scrutinize to your liking. At any time you can play the included games, though each included game is presented appropriately along the timeline as it becomes relevant.

Beyond the inclusion of the Apple II original version of the game, the contemporary Commodore and Atari ports are also included and fully-featured. Playable prototype versions are also included, as well as brand-new remakes of the two main games in the documentary.

This is the first entry in the developer’s “Golden Masters” series, which I’ll be keeping an eye on in the future. I do hope that the production quality of the interviews will be better in the future, however.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.