Real lightning-in-a-bottle situation. Defined the platform fighter and set a new standard for single-player content, roster size, music, etc. The grimey art direction is debatable, I prefer 64's cleaner toyetic look. Epochal regardless.

Very tight, made-for-console beat-'em-up. Legendary OST, great use of the Genesis palette, strong pacing, very little cheap shit, well-balanced roster with rounded-out tool kits. For some reason I can't fully get into this series, though.

Irresistibly cute. Lovely sprites, sassy animations, fizzy color palette courtesy of the Genesis. Handles pretty well, too. Unfortunately dungeon design is lackluster overall (and dungeons are like 90% of the game).

The power-mixing system is fun, even if every power set is shallow compared to Super Star. A very floaty and sort of dreamy game, the soundtrack and art direction contribute to this. Stages can be a bit boring.

Multi-player races are chaotic by design, there's a reason why this has survived so long as a couch classic. Battle Mode is also famously the most fun you can have playing a Mario Kart game. Enjoy the sprites-on-polygons look, too.

Short and well-paced JRPG with just enough depth and self-imposed challenges to hook you. Combat is fun and the writing/tone is charming. Embarrasses many 60-hour JRPGs. The lack of post-game is jarring, though.

Lovely game to clear over a Sunday afternoon. A clever non-violent subversion of the rail shooter format. The scoring system is pretty silly, but it doesn't matter. Feels kind of cheap to not have all 151 Pokémon, though.

I really like the modular, route-based "difficulty" system and the various secrets it hides; adds a lot of replayability. Some of the stages are quite enchanting and there's a surprising amount of variety. Charming setting, too.

The water physics are impressive and fun to navigate, the courses greatly reward mastery, and the "endless summer" ambiance is really special. A top-quality racing game, probably the best of the watersports ones.

In order to enjoy it you have to actually play in co-op and ignore various tedious sections/bosses, and a generally idiotic tone. But it's still a co-op RE4-like, which to me is inherently pretty valuable, and it's done decently well.

Basically the final care package for classic MonHun fans. A metric ton of content hidden behind remarkably obtuse and un-explained new mechanics. Loads of fun online, even today, but not a great starting point.

Pretty unnecessary sequel, but not a bad game. Character art experienced an obviously massive downgrade, though stage backgrounds are pretty nice. Some annoying touch-pad moments and collect-a-thon stuff.

I hate to admit that this is a pretty solid Metroidvania because I hate the character designs and general story. The WWII setting goes hilariously unused. Still, good bosses and a fun character-swapping feature.

The sleek theatrical presentation and the Rube Goldberg-style touch puzzles are great. I just wish the story didn't take up quite so much playtime (though I didn't dislike it). A pretty fun time for a non-puzzle fan.

The cel-shaded superhero theme and the Capcom roster do a lot for me. It's kind of a pre-MvC3 but wackier and not quite as lightning-quick. At high-level play it seems kind of repetitive, but I enjoy its straightforward mechanics.