A third person shooter from the age before dual stick controls and gyro aiming, Jet Force Gemini is... not very good. It has 2 different control modes, a "free roaming" one where you can move, uh, freely but can't aim and an "aiming mode" where you aim with the control stick and can move with the C buttons... it's as awkward as it sounds, but mostly because the aiming itself controls terribly, as it's very imprecise.

Other than controls, JFG has a whack structure, being separated into 2 halves: a first one that's somewhat linear and kinda fun and a second one that's basically massive backtracking. Essentially, to beat the game you have to re-explore 95% of the levels you have already beaten (some more than once) to find spaceship parts and rescue NPCs. It's extremely tedious and basically requires a guide if you don't wanna spend an eternity on it.

Overall, I found this game to be very "meh". I wish I could say I liked it more since it has some charming aspects like a cool art style, nice graphics, interesting level design and good music but it just doesn't play well.

Ah... the SNES FF that avoided us in the 90s. I have no idea why Square didn't localize this one back then, but because of that I never got around to playing it, despite being a big FF fan in the 90's/early 00's. Anyway, I finally got to try it thanks to the Pixel Remaster, so... yay!

Final Fantasy V is a pretty standard FF game, with a medieval setting with hints of modernity and the classic ATB turn based system. Compared to other FF games from that era (like IV, VI and VII), V strays more on the silly side with characters and plot. Because of this, it takes a little bit for the game to land, since the first few hours are very vanilla. One of the most notable aspects of FFV is its job system. Characters don't have defined roles, instead you assign jobs (like White Mage, Knight, etc) to them. Each job has a set of abilities that you can learn to eventually customize your characters a fair amount. Thanks to this system, you can take Lenna, the usual princess trope, and turn her into a badass Ninja Mage instead of the usual healer role she'd have in a regular FF game (which is, ironically, the role I gave her). At the beginning of the game you are limited to a small amount of jobs but the system really opens up as you progress through the game.

Overall, I think this game is great. After its slow-ish start, the plot becomes pretty good and features some awesome moments (like that scene with Galuf). In terms of gameplay, the job system makes it stand out from other FF games thanks to the ability to customize your characters. I don't think FFV manages to move VI and IX from their spots as my favorite FFs, but it's definitely up there as a very high quality entry in the franchise.

Sequel to the original SNES classic, F-Zero X is, IMO, a major improvement and a pretty good game. From what I can tell, the mechanics and gameplay are similar between both titles, but the move to 3D let the developers go crazy with track design. Other than that, races only feature racers now, unlike the SNES entry which also had additional vehicles acting as hazards. Difficulty is also more organic now and feels much fairer than in the original game.

F-Zero X is a tough game, for my playthrough I managed to beat all the cups in Standard Mode and stopped there, since beating Expert would probably require way too much time of practice and I don't feel like it. Still, I really enjoyed my time with the game and think it's a recommended experience!