I've scarcely felt so undecided on a game, this is genuinely an oddball experience. This is basically a retelling of Evangelion but in game form. The cutscenes and sound have incredible quality, but actually playing it - crazy shit. The first couple of stages set you up to think this is a 3D fighter as you control Eva 01 and fight angels, but just as soon as you get used to that, you're slapped in the face by an 8 second mission where you're fighting with the controls trying to aim a missile. Then you're mashing buttons hard enough to give yourself an aneurysm as you chase down Jet Alone - and then its a fucking rhythm game with Asuka. Your head will be spinning, but not for long, because you can clear this entire thing in like an hour. Is it even fair to call this a game? It feels more like something you'd play with at a museum exhibit

Majin Tensei is the perfect idea on paper - mixing the demon collecting and ideological battles of SMT with the tactical gameplay of Fire Emblem. Unfortunately, the execution is severely flawed.

While this game has everything you'd expect, including a large variety of demons to recruit, elemental weaknesses, strategizing with terrain, and even multiple endings, it's all bogged down by map design that is okay at best, and unforgivable at worst.

Many maps are absolutely gigantic for no discernible reason and littered with weak opponents that serve no purpose other than to waste time. If that wasn't enough, this game also features a staggering 59 stages, not counting repeats if you want certain endings. Enemy turns play out at an abysmally slow pace as the camera pans between 30-40 demons who sit motionless. If you're playing this on real hardware without some kind of fast forward function, it's easily a 60-80 hour game. About a quarter of the stages could be cut and it would still feel bloated with nothing very exciting to show for.

On a brighter note, Majin Tensei has one of the best soundtracks on the Super Famicom, and the sprite art is pretty incredible. It's worth giving this game a look, but unless you're among the most dedicated Megaten fans or you're just really thirsty for an SRPG, it is very hard to recommend a full playthrough.

When I lived in Osaka briefly, I visited some of the bigger arcades in the area. On one such visit I saw a fairly old man playing an Initial D game with a giant wheel, racing chair and all that shit. The Eurobeat was insanely loud and he drifted flawlessly throughout the entire track.

The next day I went out in search of a console version and found this. Obviously not as extravagant as the arcade, but a great game, with one of the best soundtracks out there. Decent customization, a fair amount of courses, and the cutscenes are presented like manga panels. You do get to try and balance the cup of water on your dashboard. Really fun to pop in for 20 minutes and mess around

Quest 64 is probably one of the most badass names for a video game you could come up with. It doesn't need a subtitle or anything to draw you in, because it's that raw. When I was given this cartridge as a kid, I genuinely thought it must have been one of the greatest games ever made with such a blunt title.

Quest 64 is a JRPG without party members, equipment, or a currency system. None of the towns or dungeons are particularly unique. The plot is about going to find 4 elemental orbs and a powerful book that keeps the universe held together. Despite being overall unremarkable and lacking compared to other games in the genre, to this day I feel like its simplicity is kind of charming.

Combat is unique, being turn-based, but with a limited area of free movement where you can actually dodge attacks in real time during enemy turns and position yourself for different spells. There's a lot of background story told through dialogues with NPCs. Environments, while generic, largely look pretty good and are often quite colorful.

I've seen a lot of people call this game lazy, but I think it's the opposite and the team unfortunately just wasn't able to achieve their true vision for the game. Not a masterpiece by any stretch, but not as bad as it's often made out to be.

This was the first world I ever truly felt lost in. I played this game for hundreds of hours on a camping chair in my dad's old ass apartment. He used to burn cheap incense from a flea market and that smell instantly takes me back to the sprawling fields of Cyrodiil.

Listening to the soft overworld music walking through the streets of Skingrad, fighting back the Daedra at Kvatch, the busy port at Anvil - I could probably write a book about how beautiful this game is. This game is the absolute definition of comfort for me, and to this day, I can still turn on Oblivion and lose myself for hours. It still feels like a world where anything can happen.

The soundtrack, the painterly vistas, the amazing side quests and story - the flawed, but lovable AI - for the rest of my days I'll treasure Oblivion. As Todd Howard famously said at some point in his life - it just works.

I had always loved JRPGs growing up. I was obsessed with Dragon Quest, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy - the classics that defined the genre. Persona wasn't nearly as popular and it had slipped under my radar for years. When I finally caught wind of what these games were, it was honestly the perfect time - I was the same age and in the same year of school as the characters in the game.

It sounds corny, but I had never really connected with a game like this before, or realized that JRPGs could be so versatile. It was the first game I played that tackled the most mundane aspect of growing up - school - but made something fun out of it, and tied it into a frankly touching narrative about living life to its fullest.

Looking back, sure, this game has its flaws. But that first experience was honestly pure magic for me - the soundtrack, the suicidal imagery, the characters - I had never seen a game try anything like it, and it opened up an entire world of related titles for me to get into.