Fantastic. Love the moody atmosphere, love its hands-off approach, love (most of) the puzzles, love the character progression, love the masterclass level design, and love the ending.
Not as fond of the bosses, select button weapon switching (which gets more cumbersome as you acquire more tools), and some of the cryptic bullshit such as having to walk into what looks like a solid wall. And though I praise how clever the exploration is, it's just as frustrating when you hit a wall and have to explore every nook and cranny of this daunting map just to find the one way forward. This only gets worse as you uncover more of the map. I suppose that's the double-edged sword of its hands-off approach.
Still, it's crazy how much Super Metroid got right for when it came out and how well it stacks up against modern metroidvanias. Very deserving of a lot of the praise it gets. Looking forward to another run sometime in the future.

One of the most perfect platformers I've ever played, and my favourite of the genre. It feels a bit weird at first, but stick with it and you have an extremely satisfying platformer with more than enough room for mastery. Thanks to its soothing yet fiery soundtrack, clean visuals, swift restarts and great community replay system, Dustforce cultivates the perfect environment for players looking to master each level. It's an easy ticket into the Flow Zone which once you've tapped into, there's no coming back from.

this game deserves a sequel man. it's already good, but there's so much here they could build off of.

vanquish should be praised for trying to shake up the Third Person Shooter genre. there's a lot of really cool ideas here, just executed to varying levels of success. I wish the overheating mechanic was better balanced. going into overheat after landing a melee attack feels a little too punishing. the environments also feel too samey, resulting in a campaign that's fun but with few standout moments. they're definitely there, but a lot of the campaign just kind of melds together.

despite some missed potential, Vanquish is still a blast to play. it's got that classic platinum spectacle and charm.
you can also blow up mid-air grenades in slow motion so 3.5/5

What an absolute joy this game is. Just wish it had a proper practice room or something.

The Wonderful 101 is worth every bit of frustration you might feel getting used to its combat. Once it clicks, and it doesn't stop at that initial click either, the Wonderful 101 becomes something truly special. It just takes some time. In the director's own words, the first playthrough should be treated as a tutorial.
If you don't mind sacrificing personal satisfaction in favour of speeding up the learning process, look up Saurian's video tutorials on youtube. They're very good.

I'd recommend getting it on PC if you can. Performance on the Switch was pretty rough in my experience.

Also holy shit is the climax of the campaign amazing. Worth the play for that alone.

Certainly eclipsed in some ways by later entries, but still a classic. It deserves a lot of credit for pushing the limits of stylish action in a 3D environment.

Yeah, it feels kind of stiff, but I think the combat holds up pretty well aside from that. Every hit has a nice crunchiness to it, which is something admittedly lost in DMC5 in its pursuit of realism. It's a good complement to that badass soundtrack as you're beating on enemies once you're used to the controls. Such a blast. Incentivising clever and bold play is the style meter, which rewards you for mixing up your moves. The requirements for reaching "Stylish!" on the meter are strict but satisfying. It's all tied together beautifully, and is resonant with Dante as a character. Yes, truly, this game makes you feel like Dante.
...At higher level play anyway.
It all culminates in that great feeling when you get that S rank at the end of a mission, signifying a job well done.

I don't think any of the later entries match up to DMC1 in terms of atmosphere, and that's thanks to its music, sound design, the distinctly gothic feel of Mallett Island, and the camera angles. The fixed camera angles get a lot of flack, and rightfully so to an extent, but it does pay off at times. When the developers know how to take advantage of it, it looks good.

As impressive as DMC1 is, it's not without its crust. Depending on the context, the jumping can range from fine to downright painful. It works well for combat, but when platforming... it's pretty rough. Both phases of the Mundus boss fight are weak (not including the one in the last mission), but the finale of the game makes up for it. DMC1 doesn't sport a crazy good story, but it still ends on an emotional high point.
DMC1 is overall blisteringly hard and unforgiving to those trying to use it as a gateway into the genre. It's not going to click straight away, but it's still worth the try if you have any interest in it. And try not to sweat the low ranks too much, it's to be expected on your first run.

If you struggled or are struggling to get into DMC1 on the first playthrough like I did, start a fresh run and see if you're surprised by how much better you're doing. That second run was one of the most enjoyable and satisfying experiences I've ever had playing a game.

2 stars because it's DMC 2.

never finished it, but found what little I played very disappointing right after finishing the first game. i don't think it deserves a half star because i doubt it's that bad but... man. what happened?

my friends don't think I'm a true fan for abandoning it :(

dmc4 is undercooked as hell but i still love it as much as the other entries. like, yeah,
-the campaign folds back on itself about halfway through
- story is underwhelming and lacks the same focus seen in DMC3
- superfluous stuff like the dice game
- the savior boss
-the god damn style ruining chimera seeds, who thought this shit was a good idea
-(more of a personal gripe) not being able to equip/unequip Dante's devil arms.

despite it all, the combat does a lot of heavy lifting and was arguably the most intrinsically enjoyable it ever had been in the series before 5 came out. Dante is absolutely insane, in and outside of gameplay, and Nero, while not as deep, is still an absolute treat once you're used to him. his exceed system is just too good. and I love most of the bosses in this game.

it's hard to ignore what dmc4 could have been, but what's there is still a blast.

It's amazing how the main gameplay loop feeds into Persona 3's themes, but often times that same loop suffers from feeling dull and repetitive.

Tartarus, while cool conceptually, is the most grueling and repetitive dungeon in Nu-Persona. There are good ideas such as being able to use stairs to evade enemies, but there's not enough variety to drive away the monotony. Adding to this is how shadows you encounter higher up in Tartarus disappointingly tend to be recolours of previously seen designs. The clear highlight of Tartarus for me is its challenging bosses, though they border on unfair at times. Tell you what I did like though, it's really cool how Tartarus' music has a new layer added to it for each block. There's a nice sense of progression there.

The Social Links are of mixed quality, and forcing the male protagonist to romance every girl for a full rank run was a clear misfire so it's good that future games give you a choice. The standout Social Links are truly worthwhile though. If you know, you know.

The story is, quite frankly, paced terribly. A strong, intriguing start followed by a stretched slog of a middle. When the story does rear its head, it's very good. I just wish it did that more often. The main gameplay loop would have probably been more bearable if the player had more plot to chew on while making their way through the days, but as is it's like there's an overreliance on that loop keeping the player engaged. I really had to push myself through it.

And I'm glad I did, because the story honestly does pick up and I love the finale. It's worth clambering up Tartarus for.

Regarding the portable version in particular, I think it's a shame you can't properly walk around the over world and that it lost the stylish animated cutscenes. Having the option to directly control party members was a fair call, but I think people are too quick to write off the AI party members. They're definitely far from perfect in execution, but there's value to their design and intention. Haven't played FeMC so can't comment there.

Anyway, with a good remake, I think Persona 3 could reach the heights it deserves to. As is, it's a very special but flawed game pulled together by its strong theming and ending. Oh and the soundtrack is great. Bless Meguro.

So just to get the negatives out the way.
- The bosses remain to be the weakest part of Metroid. None of them are terrible, just annoying for the most part.
- Zero Mission has a weaker atmosphere than both Super and Fusion.
- Could have done without the statues guiding the player, but whatever. Not a deal-breaker.
- Overall not as good as Super (but that's a pretty high bar to clear anyway)
That aside...

Holy shit. Banger game. The last bit bumps this up a half star.

Super, Fusion and Metroid II (from what I can tell) have their own unique core qualities that are intrinsic to those experiences, setting them apart from each other. Other than the extra segment at the end, Zero Mission doesn't really have anything like this, but that's alright. It's a solid middle ground entry, not too cryptic nor restrictive, and probably the best starting place for a newcomer to the series. Even with how straightforward it might appear, it's still super fun to blast through, and none of the series' trademark cleverness is lost.

EDIT: Actually, I suppose its straightforwardness would be the core quality lol.