This will always be my second favorite Doom. It has the best atmosphere out of the classic series- the beautiful skyboxes and stages with lightning effects being real show stoppers for me. Then there's the unsettling OST which literally features crying babies and distorted groans to set the mood- you really get the sense that you're not wanted in this world. Then there's the demon keys/Unmaker. Going out of your way to complete the secret levels not only aids in upgrading this new weapon, but it'll also net you a trio of keys to seal off some monster gates at the very end and (ultimately) give you an easier time with the final boss. This was a really nice addition to reward exploration even further.

Map design is mostly great with more emphasis on puzzle solving, but the levels never get as massive or convoluted as the worst of Doom II's map. There are a few stinkers and instances of clunky first person platforming (with no jump button, because it's Doom), but I found myself enjoying these stages far more than anything in II.

If you can forgive the handful of overly cryptic puzzles (such as the yellow key in Final Outpost- there's no defending it) then Doom 64 will prove to be a good time.

I played this a lot around the same time I was discovering shows like Beavis and Butthead as a kid, so that probably had something to do with the amount of enjoyment 9 year old me got out of it. As it stands, it's a decent platformer based around the gross-out humor of the 90's, but it still has the trappings of western game design. Wonky hit boxes, large (sometimes confusing) stages and of course secrets tucked behind phony walls. It's not as good as Earthworm Jim, but it's serviceable if you can look past those qualities.

Like Cruis'n Blast, this cabinet is really loud and over the top. The announcer is as 'Murican as you can get, but I got a laugh out of how stereotypical he sounds. The game itself is basically a mix between Twisted Metal and your standard arcade racer, with plenty of powerups ranging from a mounted machine gun to oversized tires to flatten your rivals with.

The primary gimmick is jerking your wheel to slam into the guy next to you, as well as a gnarly skull-headed crank for you to pull to trigger power-ups. The more aggressive you are, the more your "Jerk-O-Meter" goes up. It's delightfully edgy in an early 2000's sense.

Dirty Drivin' isn't the most deep or engaging combat vehicle/racer out there, but much like Blast, it's a nice little slice of comfort food worth checking out if you can find a cabinet. Although I couldn't see a direct port faring well on account of its simplicity, I definitely wouldn't mind seeing another arcade racer marrying combat with traditional racing like this. It would just need more content and a little more depth.

Among the very last physical games I bought from Best Buy before they began to phase out physical media along with PacMan World:Re Pac. This is a suped up port of the arcade game, and to its credit, it does add quite a bit more content. There are far more tracks and far more "vehicles" including a whole ass unicorn and tank. While it's still enjoyable on account of just how ridiculous and arcadey it is, something definitely gets lost on its trip to the living room. Part of the fun of this game, to me, was the cabinet itself. It's very loud, over the top and flashy- not necessarily something you can really emulate on a couch. The main disappointment, however, is the lack of online multiplayer. This kind of game feels made for that, but at least there's still couch co-op present.

The best way to describe it is arcade racing comfort food. The cabinet itself is loud and the back seat is going to vibrate as you tear through the handful of tracks available. Despite being so contemporary, it has that 90's feel. The announcer will shout "WOAH DINOSAUR" as one pops its head out in one track, and you'll literally be turning cows into steak patties in another. There's also a few ridiculous "bonus cars", including a Triceratops.

As for the game itself, it's rather basic and not difficult to place well in. The only thing you need to worry about other than steering are the nitro boosts, but I do think the game is a bit scripted in the sense that you are always going to be going toe to toe with either the person sitting next to you or the AI. This really isn't a "skill" based game, but it's still a lot of fun.

If you're ever in Illinois, they have a set of Cruis'n Blast cabs at a new startup bar/arcade called Game Over in Alton. At the time of writing, all of their machines are set up for free play but you ought to do your part and buy some booze or food (wings and fried mushrooms are to die for) to support it.

Dear god- why on earth aren't they using the Genesis box art here?

A cute and relatively easy hack-and-slash that plays out like a linear Wonder Boy with the anime factor cranked up just a bit. I used to play this a lot in high school before catching the bus for some reason. Maybe because it's one of those games that takes under an hour. I just wish it had more depth- especially on the bosses. From what I remember, most of them were simply a matter of making sure you had the sword upgraded via the coins you picked up in the stages and mashing attack to stun-lock them into oblivion.

This developer never seems to miss no matter what breed of shm'up they decide to tackle next, and Missile Dancer 2 is no exception. I'm not the biggest fan of rail shooters like Space Harrier, but I still found myself enjoying this one immensely.

The game mimmicks Sega's classic super scaler arcade games and plays similarly to the aforementioned space harrier, after burner and super thunder blade. That being said, it's somewhat more forgiving due to having three hit points and waves that weren't meant to munch quarters. I feel like anyone with a passing interest in the genre could pick this up and play it without being frustrated too much, at least on normal. (There is of course hard and expert, so it's not like the people who live for these kinds of games are necessarily left out)

The only real issue with this game is the same issue I've had with the older quarter munchers in this genre- visibility. Even after multiple playthroughs, I still had moments where I'm not exactly sure what hit me due to the perspective. There are also white puffs of smoke that cloud the screen whenever you use your missiles (which you'll be using quite a bit) and they just so happen to be the same color as the regular bullets coming from enemy crafts. One other person actually pointed this out on steam, but the dev's response claimed that adding transparency would "change the design" of the game. Weird.

I do hope that issue gets resolved at some point, but as it stands, this is still another great game that provides an arcade experience sans the steep learning curve. If you enjoyed the dev's other games (raging Blasters, terraflame to name a few) you should enjoy this as well.

It's Drill Wisp- The Game.

In all seriousness this is a serviceable bite sized platformer with pacing similar to that of DKC. Like Ristar, it takes one primary mechanic (being the drilling in this case) and stretches it to its absolute limit. Some of the things this game does with the mechanic are pretty fantastic. The game is at its best when you're using the thing to blast through chunks of ice to scale a waterfall or powering up a giant robot to plow through obstacles.

Unfortunately, the game's combat is just not fun and it just so happens that two of the major levels (bear in mind this game is only four worlds long and personally took me 3.5 hours to finish) decide to focus on this aspect. 4-4 was absolutely fucking miserable as it crams in an overly long elevator sequence and a mini-boss with no checkpoint in between.

As mentioned before, this is also a really short game. Typically, I don't have a problem with this but it left me wanting more in a bad way. It feels more like a demo or early access edition. Baffingly enough, the game apparently took eight years to make. You'll most definitely get more than I did out of it if you happen to be apart of the speedrunning niche, as there are time trials and the par times are pretty unforgiving. Even then, it's still kinda anemic in content.

As one other reviewer has suggested- wait for a sale. (Unless you're obsessed with speedruns)

I can't say this is my favorite game to come of the $5-psuedo arcade game trend that I've seen take place over the past couple years, but it's still a solid effort and fully worth your time. Essentially, Hop Top meshes a contemporary mobile game (Doodle Jump) with the arcade classic Galaxian. It's a novel idea, but I feel like the execution is hurt a bit by its randomness in the main campaign.

The formations stay the same, but depending on your luck, it seems like you may either get a really easy set of obstacles to contend with or a harder set. You may get 1-ups and plenty of power-ups (keep in mind that, in campaign mode, you don't get extends based on scoring at all) or you may not. I understand that a lot of people love roguelike design, and by default arcade games always do have a bit of randomness to them, but I much prefer the "fixed" layouts of games like Donut Dodo and Cash Cow.

Still, despite my gripes, this is a fun pick-up-play experience and I will give it credit for going out of its way in a way even my favorites didn't. You actually get two games in one here- an arcade mode that shows what "Hop Top" would've looked like in the 80's and a campaign mode that gives the game a gorgeous 32 bit makeover. This was brilliant, and the latter gives off serious "Arranged Mode" vibes from the Namco Museum collections in the PS2 era for those old enough to remember. I would love to see this kind of thing done more often.

To put it blunt, I loved Astro Bot Rescue Mission. It's like one of 15 or so games I bothered to get a platinum trophy on and was the sole reason I even bought a PSVR in the first place. It was everything I could have possibly wanted out of a linear 3D platform in VR- insanely charming, constantly introducing new gimmicks and mechanics and offered a bit of challenge when scouring for collectibles.

Max Mustard is essentially diet Astro Bot. This isn't necessarily a bad thing as, outside of Lucky's Tale and Ven, there are basically no other traditional 3D platformers on Quest (that I am aware of). Considering how great Astro Bot (and Lucky) were, I was dying for more of the same.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't have fun, but outside from lacking its own identity, this game also suffers from being way too easy (for the most part) and not really making the most out of its gimmicks. In Astro Bot, you really had to look around to find your captured buddies. Here, the mud puppies (this game's primary macguffin) are almost always in plain sight and you barely have to go out of your way even when they're not. Sometimes you'll use a fan to open doors or push a platform along, but it's not as exciting as guiding your character along a rope created by a hookshot or using a flashlight to illuminate platforms (referring to Astro bot yet again).

Even though I did have fun playing it through and it does get the basics of the genre right, I was left wanting a bit more (in the bad way) factoring in the 30 dollar price tag. I know, bringing up price in a review is kind of tacky, but it's hard not to considering Astro Bot launched for 10 dollars less and offered quite a bit more. Lucky's Tale also launched at 20 dollars for Quest 2 a couple years ago, and while it still didn't feel like a full fledged adventure, it definitely had more depth and polish.

As it stands, Max Mustard is slightly above average. It doesn't necessarily do anything wrong, but it also feels incredibly safe and by-the-numbers. I'd advise playing Lucky first if you haven't already and waiting for a sale.

I walked away enjoying this far more than Golden Axe and the first SOR. It's a bit faster paced and you have the ability to run as well as dodge roll which makes it feel surprisingly modern for an early brawler. The on-rails shooting sections also help break up the monotony that plagues even the best in the genre- the final boss being set up this way really took me by surprise.

It can still play a little dirty in some spots as it is a port of an arcade quarter muncher (I just like saying that because I know it triggers elitists like Mark from the electric underground haha). For instance, there were spots in those aforementioned shooting sections where taking damage seemed inevitable as you're using a slow moving cursor. At least there aren't bosses who can one shot or chop your life bar in half like SOR or anything remotely close to the bullshit that is Golden Axe's magic spamming final boss.

Despite its problems, I think this may be one of my favorite early titles on the Genny alongside GnG and the fantastic port of forgotten worlds.

This is a mostly fun set of episodes to go through in VR with QuestZDoom- which is how I went about playing the entirely of Freedoom. Each episode brings larger maps and a (for the most part) solid difficulty curve. By episode 4, you're going to see 200+ monster counts and while that seems daunting its all manageable with careful play.

It's too bad that the campaign ends off with what's basically a troll level, and the last few missions had a few too many random ambushes for my liking. Still had a great time up to that point at least.

As was the case with Tanuki Justice, I'm surprised people on here seem to dislike this game.

Flying Hero is a vertical cute 'em up with an aesthetic that reminds me of Kirby above all else. You get three different power ups (although one of them is pretty much useless), bombs and homing missiles on top of the ability to curve your blasts by tapping the shoulder buttons. In addition, you have a hit point system similar to some Compile games where getting hit will just take you down a level with death occurring if struck holding a tier 1 weapon.

The way powering up actually works in this game is a bit confusing. Unlike most other shmups, collecting the same weapon two or three times will not increase its strength. Instead, you need to collect three cupcakes for level 2 and another three to be at full power. It sounds confusing, but even an idiot like me was able to adjust. It's also quite easy to manipulate this system- just avoid the cupcakes if you have two (kept track of in the right hand corner of the screen) and full power. Next time you get hit, you can just snag the third one and be back at the tier you were on before.

Design wise, flying hero really doesn't do anything too unique other than the curving shot trick but it more than makes up for it in charm. The whole time I was playing...it felt like something I would've loved as a kid had I discovered it in the early 2000s around the same time I was enamored with Kirby, monkey ball and klonoa. Sure, Twinbee is better, but I still found a lot to like here in the seven stages presented.

I do have two grievances to bring up other than the somewhat odd powerup system. First, your character sprite is pretty damn big for a shmup. It's a good thing that the bullet density is kept pretty low or else this would've made the game frustrating. It also explains why the health system is so forgiving- this would not have bode well under normal shmup rules. Second is that none of the three speeds really felt right. Speed 1 was a bit too slow, speed 2 is zippier than I would've liked, and I only used 3 on the final boss' last phase since he charges at you incessantly.

That said, the game is still worth playing especially if you're looking for an easier entry in the genre to play and finish in under an hour. Just don't expect it to be among the best of the best or brimming with originality.